Welcome to Gimmy's website

Photo from Bangkok

2018-11-24T14:43:00.001-08:00

Photo from Biei

2016-12-20T20:24:00.001-08:00

Flowers from Hokkaido

2016-08-06T03:54:00.001-07:00

Peace Can Happen (Christine Kingery)

2016-04-06T01:34:00.003-07:00

I am now reading a book called "THIS I BELIVE (life lessons)" Edited by Dan Gediman with John Gregory & Mary Jo Gediman.

While I enjoy every piece of valuable personal experience shared in this book, "Peace Can Happen" stands out for me.

Below is an extract of it and I hope you enjoy it as I do.

Peace Can Happen (Christine Kingery)

My grandmother was born in northern Russia to a large family of fourteen siblings. She was sixteen years old when World War II broke out. Her first job was going on to the battlefield to dismantle bombs that hadn't exploded.

She was captured by the Nazis when she was seventeen and taken to a 'work camp' in Germany. They shaved off her waist-length hair and tortured her. Grandma never saw her parents and siblings again. Her mother died when Grandma was young. Her father was taken away to Siberia for political reason and never seen again, and most of her siblings died in the war.

My resourceful grandmother escaped the camp and worked for many months as a nurse in underground movements in Germany and Belgium. She was captured by the Nazis again and put into another concentration camp. This one was bigger. A death camp. There she met my grandfather, and the two escaped.
..................

When I was young, I heard many stories about the war. One day when I was eight, I said to my grandmother, "I hate the German for what they did to you. Don't you just get so mad at them?"

......She said in her broken English, "The Germans are my friends. When I escaped and had nowhere to go, the Germans gave me food, shelter, and clothes. They were my friends even in my camps. The Germans are the kindest people I know".

Her answer shocked me, and it was my first introduction to the meaning of compassion.

A few years later, in high school, I had the chance to visit Japan. My host family took me to Nagasaki to the Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park. It was the fiftieth anniversary of the bombing. I was terrified, being so white skinned and so American.

I walked slowly through the crowded exhibits, looking at the black-and-white photographs. In every picture, in every Japanese victims's face, I saw my grandmother's reflection looking back at me. The experience was overwhelming, and I began to cry. I needed to get air, so I went outside.

There in Peace Park, beautiful, colourful origami cranes-- thousands of them!-were draped over statues and trees. I sat on a bench and cried. I cried for the suffering of the Japanese people. I cried for the suffering of my own family in Europe during World War II..........

An old Japanese lady saw me on the bench......... She sat next to me and put her wrinkled hands in mine. She said "Peace starts right here. Peace starts with you and me. It starts today."

She was right. I didn't have to suffer personally in order to understand the pain of others. I believe that through compassion, peace can happen. It echoes from the heart of a single individual.

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We meet people in our daily life. They can come from same/different background, religion, social status, ethics and culture.

Our experience with them can be good or bad. Violence is not the solution and I don't agree releasing our anger and disagreement with violence. The sin that is committed by the evil soul should never be the reason to harm people from the same background or those we assume are from the same background or sharing the same religion and culture.

When we are about to speak evil and do evil, stop for a second and ask, am I doing/saying something that make it a better world.

"Peace starts right here. Peace starts with you and me. It starts today."

Have a nice day.....

My Fish

2015-12-29T16:21:00.002-08:00

New Hobby - Colouring

2015-12-29T15:47:00.000-08:00

It is the long year end leave I am always looking forward to. Last year, my friend and I drove all the way to Fountain Gate Westfield on Boxing Day, it was a good shopping. Comparing to the city and chadston, it is definitely less traffic and shoppers. Oh Lord, this year is a different story. We arrived earlier, but it was full of people. What a nightmare. No way I am going there again.

Anyway, while there is not much really good deal going on, I found new thing to do for my holiday.
As my friend and I passed by a book store, we saw some colouring book for adults. What is that for? My friend told me that may be I can do colouring when I am bored. As I flipped through the pages, it is intimidating... Why... so complicated. As lazy as I am,. the thought of go through all these complicated pattern did not sound appealing at all.

You know what? When I woke up the next morning, I changed my mind again..... as usual. I went to nearby BigW, do some shopping and that include buying a couple Colouring Book for Adults. I then went to Officeworks for colouring pencils before I changed my mind again.

It is not that bad after all. It is another relaxing way. The beauty is, I listen to music, picking up any colours and do the colouring without thinking anything. Good way to clear my mind and enjoy a sense of achievement at the end of it.

I hope you like my colouring as I do.

Happy New Year.

Leadership - Interesting Read

2015-08-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we are getting frustrated at work and wonder why are we reporting to some managers who we don't see they are fit for their position. You might even wonder why you haven't progress further from you position.

I just came across this article about Why you are not a leader. It is an interesting article and probably the most concise list that I have found.

Great Quote - O

2015-04-29T00:16:00.000-07:00

Opportunity

Some men see things as they are, and say 'Why?' I dream of things that never were, and say, 'Why not?'
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Great Quote - B

2015-04-29T00:03:00.000-07:00

Business Ethics

Nearly all man can start adversity; but if you want to test a man's character, give him power
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
John Wooden (1910-)

Great Quote - Q

2015-04-28T23:57:00.000-07:00

Quality

Quality means doing it right when no one is looking
Henry Ford

Great Quote - F

2015-04-28T23:51:00.002-07:00

Failure
Once we realise that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes.
George Soros (1930 - )

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
Albert Einstein

There are two kinds of failures: those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought.
Laurence Peter (1919-1990)

Great Quote - T

2015-04-28T23:41:00.003-07:00

Time
Wisdom is the power to put our time and our knowledge to the proper use.
Thomas J. Watson (1874-1956)

Great Quotes - C

2015-04-28T23:37:00.001-07:00

Change
Change before you have to.
(Jack Welch)

Little men with little minds and little imaginations go through life in little ruts, smugly resisting all changes which would jar their little worlds.
(Zig Ziglar)

There are two kinds of fools: those who can't change their opinions and those who won't.
(Josh Billings: 1818-1885)

Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one. Try, instead, to work with what you've got.
(Peter Drucker)

The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow. (Rupert Murdoch: 1931-)

Great Quote - D

2015-04-20T22:46:00.001-07:00

Decision Making
There are 2 primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exists, or accept the responsibility for changing them.
Denis Waitley

Difficulty
Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be.
Jack Welch

Great Quote - M

2015-04-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

Management
If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings - and put compensation as a carrier behind it - you almost don't have to manage them.
Jack Welch

Money

If you do the right job, they money will come to you. Because people who need you will request, will ask for you, will attract you, and will be willing to pay you for your services.
Jose Silva (1914 - 1999)

Money does not change men, it only unmasks them.
Marie Jeanne Riccoboni (1713 - 1792)

Singapore Bonatic Garden - EP 4 (Orchid) - 新加坡

2014-10-25T21:02:00.001-07:00

Singapore Botanic Garden - EP 3 (Orchid) - 新加坡

2014-10-25T20:58:00.003-07:00

Singapore Botanic Garden - EP 2 - 新加坡

2014-10-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

Singapore Botanic Garden - EP 1 - 新加坡

2014-10-25T20:31:00.005-07:00

Singapore Zoo - EP 2 - 新加坡

2014-10-25T18:44:00.003-07:00

Singapore Zoo - Ep 1 - 新加坡

2014-10-25T18:24:00.003-07:00

I have recently visited Singapore zoo. Compare to other tourist attraction like Sentosa and Garden by the Bay, it seems more work needs to be done to make it more exciting and interesting. It just feels like a place being neglected.

The night safari lining up time was horrible.... I think I waited nearly 2 hours and guess what, I was seeing animals I met during the day, but only at night... More work needs to be done there.

Having said that I was still very excited to meet the animals as usual.....

China Got Talent - My Favourite

2014-06-22T05:23:00.003-07:00

1. Fantastic skills from a 16 years old boy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqyF4NXERN8

2. For those who miss 邓丽君

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__NubZLFrpY

Britain Got Talent 2014 - My favourite

2014-04-15T04:20:00.003-07:00

Love watching Britain Got Talent, it is always full of surprises.

1. Collabro Sing Stars

    Beautiful voice from these guys.

2. Salsa from Paddy & Nico

     Wow... can't imagine to dance like that at 80s.

3. Brilliant Magician - Darcy Oake

4. Body Popping - Kieran Lai

5.These men dance in heels.... High Heels
I can't even walk with these heels and they danced amazingly with them.

It is just too convenient to say I don't know

2014-03-26T21:59:00.003-07:00

Just got a question from a colleague.

Ask: "Is it possible to email this report in pdf rather than excel?"

Answer: "Yes, please refer attached document, page xxx and also make sure you change the output file type to .PDF. Also, press F1 for Help when you login to the program, there is also step by step guidance".

Email was just forwarded to the client without testing.

Ask: "Sorry, not working. Does it work on yours?"

Answer: "When you are in the report section, look at the output type, what is showing there?"

Ask: "Yes, the output type is showing .xls, is it possible or not? Sorry, I don't know the product"

Answer: "Follow the steps in the document, change the output type to PDF. I am sure if you try it once, you will know next time".

Gee.... is it just me? DON'T KNOW is NOT the ANSWER.

If you don't know, at least show some initiative to learn something... I am just asking her to look at a 1 page guide and make 1 change in the output type..... unbelievably ridiculous.

Did I ask her to build a rocket or something?

Bloody Ridiculous.

There are thievs for everything.....

2014-03-26T00:23:00.001-07:00

It was rubbish collection day a couple of days ago ... I left my bin by the roadside for the day and expected to see an empty bin after work.

Ooi....... Lef to Right... Right to Left... Left to Right again... where on earth is it?????

My bin has gone missing...

May be someone took it by mistake.... after all, I live in a building with 24 units..

I checked the parking lots where the rubbish bins were, no sign of it...

I then called the council the next day and asked what to do...
Interesting enough, it is common that bin got stolen...for whatever reason.
Well, for all I know, there are thieves for money, jewellery, any valuable stuffs... But... rubbish bin...!!!

Thanks to the GENIUS, now I have to request for a replacement of RUBBISH BIN which I never expect to be stolen.

Bloody Ridiculous........