Trips in 2007 so far

1. Phuket, Thailand, Feb 2007
-- planned, celebrate 3rd year wedding anniversary

2. Beijing, China, Apr 2007
-- unplanned, visit husband at Beijing during his business trip

3. Seoul, Korea, May 2007
-- planned but also unplanned as husband joined due to golden week in China

So, it seemed to me that I have gone on many trips with my husband just in 4 months' time!!! And don't forget that I am still having full-time job + part-time study. I am proud of my time management and planning. So, although he is on a 2+ month business trip, I have seen him 3 times during this period! We are so far but so near.

He will be back on Saturday. Hope he has a safe trip back home.

沒有XXX的日子第67日 晴

有看溏心風暴的你便知道這標題是什麼.
剛巧老公最近要到外地公幹兩個多月,所以看常在心和程亮這一part特別投入.
其實寫blog的人都像他們一樣,有很多說話想跟別人說,但又不一定想直接對對方講,但又想發表一下意見或抒發一下感情,有時又想一些你渴望他看到你文章的人會剛巧看到你的文章等...
有點神秘,有點浪漫,也有點甜或有點酸.
我本人也很喜歡林峰和鍾嘉欣.林峰唱歌極好聽,聲底可以很厚,很有男人味.樣子有點像我IBM的舊同事加現在的同事的混合體.希望他的星途愉快吧.
記得讀U時也很喜歡寫.plan,差不多日日都有啲update,而同學之間也會互相finger對方,看看別人最近有些什麼感想,或者有無interesting的分享.年輕的你或者不知道我講什麼,唔緊要,我認老.
曾和一個很友好的男同學因為.plan的內容而攪出一些誤會,後來更有點疏遠而繼而變到失去聯絡.這真是有點可惜.不過這也是青春的"激情"吧,大家往往在言論上也不必顧後果,不像現在出了社會做事便要小心慎言,講錯一句說話可以導致嚴重的後果.
後來發覺我老公竟曾和該男同學在某個時期是在同一家中學同一屆讀書呢!世界真細小.
我也聽說過,當年他公司outsource IT給我舊公司,理論上我曾和他做了一段時間的同事,不過當然係完全無聯絡過啦...其實我也不知道他現在用什麼英文名.
Tell u what, my old finger name was: Amejai, 因同學都叫我做Ame仔.
上一份工,很多人叫我Ame姐,現在份工,有較我遲入來的同事叫我A姐!這多年來的變化真大!
唔該pliu不要再叫我A姐,好老!

很多感想

最近可能老公長時間不在港,所以對生活有很多感想.
遇到很多做緊IT但又極不看好IT前景的人.
有些是在公司,有些是在HKU MFin中碰到的.有些是我老公啲friend.
一時間,好像有很多IT人都想像我一般走去讀Finance:
我老公個表弟,我由韓國relocate來港的同事,我office嗰位靚女SecAdmin女同事...
坦白說,有一半人是想,能轉到去I-Bank做工就可以拿高薪水.
但他們究竟對Finance有幾多熱誠便真是很難說.
就算現在讀緊Master的同學,也不是個個都有熱誠.
讀緊最後兩科,我已sense到有很多人在捱日子,一上堂就開始瞓,做project都無晒衝勁.

今日和一位舊placement student食飯,他本是一個怕醜的IT人,但連他也告訴我他除了正職外,現在正在國內攪紅酒和護膚品生意!更和很多人大和什麼什麼要員吃晚宴.這很值得我思考...

不過,我都遇到一些對IT很有熱誠的IT人.也遇到一些對Finance很有熱誠的MFin同學.
舊同學的老公很積極地聯系他人脈內的IT業界朋友,他好像很有心要influence其他人覺得IT是很有商業價值的工業項目,我們也不應自己踐踏自己的行業.不過要知道香港人是習慣了"快",如揾快錢,靠跳槽來升職加薪快,急功近利,見利忘義等.從事IT像要投資很多effort才會有回報,也要付出比別人較多的力量和心血才會得到相同的待遇...很多人都怕做不到四十歲便要被迫轉行,都幾灰呢.

讀Finance都遇多一些很有心學習和研究的同學,更發覺Finance的knowledge不比電腦容易,也不是古老的學問,現在還有很多題目有待研究.如要成功,原來要有很深的數學和統計學根底.為什麼我讀中學的時候從來都無人告訴我原來數學是可以應用在一個這麼practical的科目上呢?以前的老師只令我們知道知識上和理論上的東西,完全局限了我們的潛質...我簡直覺得是有點資源錯配...往往是文科或商科的人才會走去讀Econ或Finance,反而讀理科的人就讀了其他科...難怪外國返來的人在I-Bank會較吃香,起碼人地讀得Finance的就會有較好的Maths/Stat background.

快讀完了,也要開始摸索究竟前路要怎行.也要開始諗如何將所學的知識和閱歷貢獻給教會和社會(這一向是我的心願).求問上帝的心意和計劃是很難的.要有耐性,也要學習等候.現階段我只能說,上帝似乎是要我留在荷銀好好地發展,也要看看這個once-in-a-lifetime 的 M&A project,這應該會是一個汰弱留強和洗牌的大好機會.呃飯食的人很快便會露出馬腳.Smart的人更可考驗自己的信心,和遇強越強.

How is Ame today? Enjoy work, enjoy study, enjoy life!

Michael Scofield

Suddenly I like to know more about the actor playing Michael Scofield in Prison Break. He is Wentworth Miller. His eyes are so so so attractive. In fact, his father is half African American, one quarter English and one quarter Jewish, while his mother is of French, Dutch, Syrian and Lebanese descent. But his skin color does not reveal his African race. Some people said that his two eyes are of different colors. But I seldom can see his eyes directly. So, I can't tell...

Wentworth Miller was born on June 2, 1972 in Chipping Norton, England. He has acted in Mariah Carey's music videos, "It's Like That" and "We Belong Together".

I think he looked great in the MTV.

When my husband travelled in Seoul, he saw a casualwear shop selling T-shirts modelled by Wentworth. The brand is Bean Pole International.

More photos to share:

And this one is the best!!!

同場加插Prison Break Season 3 Trailer

工作

在職場上,有人力爭上游,有人純粹呃飯食,有人盡力做好呢份工,有人嘻哈渡日.有人一份工做好耐,有人年靚兩年就轉一份工.有人靠不斷轉工來增加薪金/升職,有人默默耕耘在工作上取得成功感.有人常常怨自己份人工是below standard,有人對公司的加薪心存感激.
現在公司的同事來自很不同的背景和國家,各人想在這份工上取得的東西都很不同.不過management完全沒有align各人的personal agenda,人的turnover rate亦很高,但偶爾也有幾個同事是做了二十多年的.

我有三個team-mates,特徵如下:
1. 老但工作年資短,為人無責任感,純粹呃飯食,係人叫佢做嘢都先同人argue點解要做.已經有很多個degree但仍然讀緊書,日日六點(或以前)必走,全靠肯幫啲女同事擔擔抬抬賣人情帳才生存至今,完全係email forwarder.無份工做得長,除了現在這份(this reminds me of the "Monster" cartoon, once the "Monster" finds a good place to stay, it will pretend to be "normal" and hide his identity)成日同人講話現在份工浪費了他的talents<--好嘔心,佢又秘密地安排緊轉team,不過以佢的英文水平和為人,都幾難有其他team接收佢.
2. 加國回流,腦的轉數較慢,好似好知人情世故,但有時佢問的問題仍然令別人感到很奇怪和尷尬.為人圓滑,與高層/老外有傾有講,常常唔係位,coffee break特多,被#1話過很多次仍然無改善,無厘醒目,日日例牌遲放工,但係唔知點解佢要咁遲,似係要揼波鐘,唔講真係以為佢好多嘢做,其實係日頭好少埋位做嘢,眼光咸濕.明明做開network,唔知點解要回流返來做寫report.
3. 為人醒目,沒有太大問題.不過每份工都做唔長.都未做夠一年,已經plan咗去荷蘭總部做另一team.浪費了之前hire和train佢的人的心機.

就我觀察,以上三個人都做唔長.無耐無耐又無耐.

感想

有人成立了反聖經的網站,最近亦因中大學生報事件令這個網站"很受歡迎".
看了一點該網站的layout,網主很像聖經中的使徒保羅,現在正處於"掃羅的階段",在逼迫基督徒.
他其實在大前題上做了一個極錯誤的假設,以致他在整個網站內"挑戰"聖經的內容的立論很弱.
他用了很多方法去令人覺得他是一個很懂聖經的人,令人要信服他其他的批評都是有根有據的.
但是他錯誤地假設了基督教是要導人向善和信耶穌是令人生活無憂和完全不再犯罪.
事實上,只是非基督徒話基督教是一個導人向善的"宗教".但對基督徒來說,我們不是在選擇一個宗教,
而我們其實只是確認上帝就是主宰,聖經就是真理. This is a fact.
No matter God's characters are difficult to understand or sometimes people
feel that He is so mean, it is something that we have to accept. It is a
fact cannot be changed. 所謂"導人向善"其實只是信了耶穌後的一個possible outcome.
信上帝不代表會一切順利,如果係咁,咪等於當上帝是"黃大仙"?基督徒的生活亦會遇到很多試煉和試探.
看看藝人陳敏兒/廖啟智,劉美娟/張崇德,梁藝玲的遭遇都已經夠震撼了."神未曾應許天色常藍"
基督教的信仰建基於世人都犯了罪,要透過耶穌被釘死在十字架上及我們接受這救恩而得救.
從來無人話過信了就不會再有罪.
該網主在聖經中斷章取義,立論只基於某章某節,完全沒上文下理可言,
就等於在法庭上只憶述某些獨立懷疑相關事件,但無法把它們串起來成為有力證供.
我發了電郵給他:
標題:願主祝福你
自始祖開始,世人都犯了罪,但上帝愛我們每一位,只要信祂便得救
願主的愛有一天臨到你,我怕你會像保羅一樣,變成一個比一般基督徒更有能力的使徒呢!
--
希望用以德報怨的方式去感動他,而不是去說上帝會懲罰他.

第四次去首爾公幹

Seoul is wonderful for travelling in May. The flowers blossom and the sun shines brightly. I feel so good (even when I have come back). This time, the trip is a bit different, as it may be my last business trip to Seoul under ABN AMRO entity. If merger will be successful, who knows whether I will still support Korea. So, my Korean colleagues and I have the feeling of "saying goodbye" after this encounter.

This time, I have a guest joining me. This is good for both of us. But we missed to do a few things: having the grill eel meal and going to JJ @ Grant Hyatt. Anyway, we experienced many wonderful developments in Seoul and were surprised at how Seoul is trying hard to make itself an international city.

If I don't have the language barrier, maybe I would enjoy working in Seoul. Anyway, I think I am a pure Hong Kong person who loves to breathe the Hong Kong air so much.

Goodbye to my friends in Seoul!

Barclays? RBS? BAAB?

There is so much news about my company these few days.
Merging with Barclays will bring us to the World's Top 5.
Merging with RBS will bring us to the Top 4.
But job cuts will be sure.
Asia may be less impacted due to less overlapping of business.
Singapore may be affected more.
The name of my company will vanish, though.
The Dutch will feel that their identity is lost.
It's like losing HSBC in Hong Kong.
My company just celebrated "100 Years in Hong Kong".
People originally guessed the name to be Barclays Axx Axxx Bank (BAAB)!!
So innovative.
The combination of British + Dutch reminds me of 八國聯軍.
Last year we also had big Re-org, with slogan "One Bank, One Team, One Goal"
Now, some colleagues joke that the "One Bank" is a forward-looking view of having One Bank in the whole world.
But somebody also jokes that "One Bank, One Customer".
People seem so excited about the merge.
No bad mood yet.
Nobody seems to be afraid of "layoff".
For me, if I am afraid of it, I still have one way out. Ha ha.
Will new projects be on hold? No one can be sure.
Will audit approach / standard be changed?
Will my boss need to downgrade himself to accommodate the Barclays' guy?
Will I still support Hong Kong, Korea & Japan in the future?
Will I still be able to buy mutual funds at good rates?
Will I get better mortgage / medical plans?
Um, yet to be found out.
My team-mate is so mad that he does google search all these days to check the Barclays' security team head. I don't see him doing any current work. This guy is CRAZY. He only stopped when I asked him not to SPAM my mailbox.
He is lucky that our boss is in Singapore. Otherwise, I don't think he dares to do so.
But why am I having so much work on hand! That "lazy" guy affects my working mood a lot! What a bad team-mate. He used to blame a team-mate of leaving the seat or sneaking out too often. But, 有口話人無口話自己!

Equestrian 2008

My husband is working on this!

My encounter with Fuwa (Friendlies) 我與福娃

MSN Live.com 個 blog 好似易用啲...

http://kittyame.spaces.live.com/

MSN Live.com 個 blog 好似易用啲...
尤其是放相,上載和編輯caption的工具都好似較好用

H&M Craze

H&M has come to Hong Kong. Here comes a link for dressing up a model in style.
http://hm.mvm.com/hm_ctx/jsp/sim.jsp

教你讀名牌

Useful Web site:
http://bbtraveldiary.blogspot.com/

Back from Phuket! Phuket is Back!

Banyan Tree Deluxe Villa
"奔欣"Tree 套房

More photos!

2/3 done

Finally taken 8 courses. 4 more to go. The tension becomes less after adapting to the way of lectures, courseworks and exams. Will need to decide what to major in, either Risk Management or Financial Engineering. If chances allow, may take double major. Seems that most classmates will try to graduate this year. I may make it next year due to several reasons and limitations.

HKU FBE Prize Presentation Ceremony 2006

My photo with Acting Dean of Faculty of Business and Economics, Richard Y. C. Wong 王于漸





A group photo with some other Master classmates and students

Muji & Uniqlo

Muji & Uniqlo come to City Plaza! 東區終於有啲潮啲的日本鋪頭!

我的師弟結婚了,大個仔啦!

原來我最近take的Spreadsheet Modelling的lecturer竟是我師弟IS的舊同學(即都是我師弟). Oh my God! He is already an assistant professor and I am still a Year 2 student for Master degree! 哈哈.

今天聽了一篇很好的道

殷兆威牧師今天的講道很好,很感人,亦很能刺激我們思考.
他既能帶出今天的主題,就是在驚濤駭浪中如何去感恩,亦道出一個個長者基督徒在病榻時所表現出的信心和忍耐.好讓我們年青人能學習並懂得欣賞和尊重長者.
原來聖經中亦指出了很多信徒之間的人際關係問題或教會管治的不合一,我們可從聖經中借鏡如何去處理意見的分歧,亦要知道大前題是上帝會在我們中間帶領和掌管我們.He will lead our way.這正正便擊中我教會現存的最大兩個問題:就是年輕新進長執破壞了教會的規律和諧,以及因主任牧師的緣故所導致的分黨分派.教會長執在討論的時候好像缺乏了肢體之間的愛心,亦忘了聖經的教導,往往只順從人的意思去行,用世俗的管理學問和知識做決定.
最近知道很多人被抑鬱病嚴重影響生活,原來這病將會很快變成香港人口第二號殺手.導致抑鬱的原因有很多時是因為人和人之間的關係變得緊張,如處理不當,會變成心理病.讓我們學習去愛別人,關心人,讓都市化的香港仍有綠洲.

今天很唔開心

今天早上接到教友的電郵,告知我以前的一個主日學學生於今晨跳樓身亡.這段新聞更登在蘋果日報的要聞版呢.
其實他在小學時代已常來主日學,亦很勤力和聰明,但人緣卻一般,常被人誤會.
但當他進入中學後便因要讀書而減少到教會. 後至會考更完全沒再到教會. 他曾告訴我回教會是很浪費時間的. (雖則他是住在教會旁邊)
但怎也想不到他原來在會考中只有13分而更因壓力問題導致患上精神病,真可惜.
要為他的家人和妹妹禱告.

在日本極紅的雜誌Model

蛯原友里Ebihara Yuri
http://www.jap.co.jp/ebihara_yuri/

1. Can Cam 專用Model


2. Shiseido Anessa 防曬廣告Model


3. Samantha Thavasa Deluxe 手袋和首飾Model&Designer

4. Fran 朱古力條廣告Model

5. Finepix F30 相機廣告Model

又被人利用

New class starts. The module needs us to form groups to do homework. Lecturer asked us to form groups of five. My usual group may turn out to have 5+1, and I know that another group may only have 4, so I want to join that group. However, even without my consent, the cheap classmate by default thought that I would join his group and told lecturer that we wanted to have 6 persons due to synergy blah blah blah (bull shit) and include my name in his group! The cheap guy will ride on others' success and get the marks for him to pass the course! I really don't want to talk to him at all.

What I can say is: cheap, Cheap and CHEAP!
God, please help me to get away from Satan! Please save me!

Branded Bags

1. Louis Vuitton
2. Samantha Thavasa / Vega
3. Porter
4. Rabeanco
5. Koji
6. Arnold Palmer
7. Tite

Brands 4 - 7 are at good price and quality! Good value for money.

Cute stuff

Cheap people

I learnt two cheap guys recently:

1. A master classmate
- an ex-colleague
- he joined our group project once and then sticked to us forever
- relied on others to get marks
- no contribution in group assignment
- pretended to be knowledgeable
- disturbed others during lectures
- could not follow lecturer's progress and asked about fundamental things while lecturer was teaching new stuff
- very thick skin
- even asked me to help look at his own assignment (and I found that he has not given a thought to the assignment at all)

2. A new colleague
- thought I was the secretary / admin staff when he came for interviews
- pretended to be gentlemen, but actually was a salty-pig hand
- always touched on females' shoulders unnecessarily
- not capable in doing his work and asked irrelevant people how to do his work

I don't know why there are so many cheap people these days! Let me learn how to deal with them. If I succeed, I think my people skills will improve much!

ABN AMRO Van Gogh Banking Branches

Taipei Branch

Shenzhen Branch

明洞餃子 Myeongdong Gyoja

The Seoul office is just next to the Millenium Seoul Hilton hotel. So, we usually stay in this hotel. Given that Seoul Hilton is so close to Myeongdong 明洞, I visited Myeongdong every time. It is an exciting place for ladies, as you can quickly know the Seoul fashion trend by looking at the shops and the people. Also, they have some hawkers selling cheaper stuff e.g. accessories.

You can easily find the following stuff: necklace, hair clips, watches, belts, bags, shoes, sunglasses, socks, pantyhose, etc. In the Migliore department store, you can get all kinds of business shirts, skirts and coats. They like to wear dark blue, beige and white clothes a lot. Knitted wear is so common for summer time.

Other than Migliore, people can get variety of goods from 明洞衣類. Also, the Amore Star shop is where you can buy Laneige cosmetic products. The underground shopping mall in the Myeongdong station also sells cheaper stuff. I highly recommend a stall selling corn-taste small buns.



For food, there are not many choices. I heard that 明洞餃子 is very famous. I think it is true, as there are long queues for all the 3 shops inside Myeongdong. Since I was on my own, I could get a table easily. In my first visit, I thought dumpling (mandu) should be the most famous food so I ordered that. However, it was not that good. After some observation, I found that most people were eating noodle instead of dumpling. So, in my second visit, I ordered the noodle that was shown on wall. However, again, my decision was wrong. The one I ordered was cold noodle while others were enjoying the hot dumpling soup noodle (kalguksu). Too bad! I must go there again to try the hot noodle!



People can just order one noodle but can ask for unlimited kimchi and rice! People first ate the noodle and kimchi. After they finished the noodle, they just added the rice into the soup and mix them. Wow, they are not wasting anything.

This shop has one very good design. As I need to share a table with a stranger, they have installed a partition between me and the other customer. So, I can get privacy but at the same time can see other customers in the restaurant.

My Tokyo trip (2)

About shopping

Years back, I spent quite some money to buy Hello Kitty stuff in Japan. I also liked to visit Ueno 上野 to buy some market / household stuff. Before I set off for Tokyo, my husband had warned me not to spend money on useless stuff. I bare this in mind.

This time, I tried to look for reasonably-priced good-quality stuff. I bought the followings:
1. Burberry towels and handkerchief (can also be used as a small cotton scarf)
2. Ultra-light umbrellas


3. Porter bag for my husband (ace-company.net/~coolcat)






4. Samantha Vega bag for myself (www.samantha.co.jp)









5. Majolica Majorca cosmetics (www.shiseido.co.jp/mj/index.htm)

6. Anna Sui bracelet (+ phone strap as a gift)
7. Some clothes from Suzuya Japan
8. Hello Kitty x Anna Sui towel + Charmmy Kitty stickers


Originally, I planned to buy Burberry Blue Label bag / Agnis B bag. However, the prices were not as cheap as what people told me. Also, for Uniqlo clothes, there were only a few good choices but they were not cheap. I used to think that Japan department stores have summer sale from July to August. However, when I was in Tokyo near end of August, not many shops were offering discounts. The Sanrio shop at Ikebukuro used to have very lovely Hello Kitty stuff. But this time, the goods were just so-so. In the past, I mainly took JR Yamanote line 山手線. This time, as my hotel is close to Metro station, so I tried hard to take Metro as much as possible. This is really new experience for me.