The Craftsman’s Forge

I’ve been so busy over the last month, I haven’t had time to do anything on the Internet, which means not much updates on the blog as well.

I’ve just completed my 4 weeks audit of the environment, and also just finished writing up my final report which I will be sharing with my 3 bosses over the next few days. The environment, if you haven’t gathered by now, is pretty stressful. There’s always work to do. More so for me, cos the situation isn’t too good for IT, and there are lots of things I need to clean up on. I’ve basically set a work plan in place, so that by Sep 09, things should have pretty much stabilised and I would be able to relax a little.

But, the most important thing I’ve gathered so far, is not that things are so difficult to get right here, or that the environment is tough and people could potentially be difficult, etc. But, I’ve learnt that when I place God above all these things, then I know that I am able to do all things through Christ who strengthens me! I know I’ve been placed here for a purpose, and God will provide me with all the resources that I need.

I’m also praying that I will get loads of PDA opportunities so that I can share the relevance and goodness of God with colleagues.

To God be the Glory! Amen.

Just finished my 3rd week. Things are getting better, and I’m getting the hang of things. Also have a much better idea why things were so bad previously. Have a general sense of how to get things cleaned up and move the team to provide more value add work, but its gonna take time. My bosses also have expectations of me which can be stressful at times. Forgot to add that I have 3 bosses. One is my functional boss, the CIO who sits in Hong Kong. My local boss is the country MD. BUT the guy who really calls the shots, is my BIG BIG Boss, the Regional MD, who hired me. Both the CIO and Country MD reports to him, and he wants regular updates from me too. He’s the one who’s really tough.

So far, things are going ok. Every week day is challenging, much more challenging than when I was in my previous company. It took about a week to 2 to settle in and get my mind wind up again. I’m praying every single day. I’m glad that God is in this with me, and I’m happy that He will guide me and that I can rest easy, knowing that God will provide the resources that I need for every single thing. Amen.

I made it!!!!

Thanks and praise be to God!!!! Amen!

The mailer came out already!! If you are heading down to Giant Hypermart, don’t forget to pick one copy up. You can frame the pictures up if you wish.

I survived the 4th Day!!!!

Still a very packed day, but I’m starting to learn more stuff, and more importantly, today, I finally got a small piece of work done! Network diagrams of one of our sites!!!!! Thank God for a good infrastructure manager.

I’ve got some pretty important work to do tomorrow. Hope that I can get it done by tomorrow so that I can enjoy the weekend. I can’t believe that I’m actually starting to enjoy this a little.

I need to keep perservering. I know God has a reason why I’m here. I’ve already found out that 2 of my guys are Buddhists. another 2 free thinkers. don’t know about the other 3 yet. I pray that I will be an impact to the lives of my colleagues. Thats the most important thing.

Would still covet your prayers, and my bosses are pilling more stuff on me. There are requests coming in for Indonesia already! Woah…… even before I stabilise Singapore. Sigh….

It was another relatively packed day, with orientation meetings packed back to back. I sat through with the heads from the business units and understood the business from their perspective. I had so little time with my own staff, that it was frustrating. But, I know that its important for me to understand the business models and the problems they were encountering from an IT perspective.

Once I finish orientation with the different business heads, I can begin to plan more concisely with my team in earnest. Thursday has alot more breathable room for me to talk to my team.

Most importantly, today is the first day I ended with no more headache!!! Praise God!

I had to run a big errand this morning, and got the morning off from my boss to settle the sale of my flat. I got back just after noon, and it was mostly meetings back to back in the afternoon. Its still a lot of information that I need to go through, but my brain is feeling much better than the day before. Thank God.

I still have much to learn and catch up on. Today, I interviewed a candidate, and will be bringing the person on the team. Hopefully we can get this settled in the coming days.

Until I stabilise the team and understand the warehouse system better, I will be in this state of discomfort. But.. I’m thankful that there’s progress day by day. Thanks be to God!

I was flipping through the channels while in my room last week, comatosed when I saw this on TV….

Ps Kong Hee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My goodness! City Harvest Church is on TV in HK!!!!! Woaahhh!!!! Creation TV that is. They’re a local Christian TV station. Their website is here.

I had a nice time listening to him while half awake.

Was completely tired out after my first day. Hope things will get better. I know that God has placed me here to stretch me, and will thus provide the resources. Help me oh Lord.

Appreciate and covet your continued prayers. Please pray in particular that I will pick up the logistic lingo and terminologies quickly, and that I will be able to resolve the issue of team performance of one of my teams.

Just finished reading my bible for the day, and I am reminded as I read Numbers 13, (where Moses sent in 12 spies into the land of Canaan) that this is the “land” that God has sent me into. Its now up to me to see the land with the eyes of God and not with my own. Its up to me to have the faith to believe that this land is for the taking. and not be cowed by the “giants” of the land.

What a wonderful parallel and learning moment! Thank you Lord!

Numbers 13
Twelve Scouts Explore Canaan
1 The Lord now said to Moses, 2 “Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes.” 3 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He sent out twelve men, all tribal leaders of Israel, from their camp in the wilderness of Paran. 4 These were the tribes and the names of their leaders:

Tribe — Leader
Reuben — Shammua son of Zaccur
5 Simeon — Shaphat son of Hori
6 Judah — Caleb son of Jephunneh
7 Issachar — Igal son of Joseph
8 Ephraim — Hoshea son of Nun
9 Benjamin — Palti son of Raphu
10 Zebulun — Gaddiel son of Sodi
11 Manasseh son of Joseph — Gaddi son of Susi
12 Dan — Ammiel son of Gemalli
13 Asher — Sethur son of Michael
14 Naphtali — Nahbi son of Vophsi
15 Gad — Geuel son of Maki

16 These are the names of the men Moses sent out to explore the land. (Moses called Hoshea son of Nun by the name Joshua.)

17 Moses gave the men these instructions as he sent them out to explore the land: “Go north through the Negev into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like, and find out whether the people living there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 See what kind of land they live in. Is it good or bad? Do their towns have walls, or are they unprotected like open camps? 20 Is the soil fertile or poor? Are there many trees? Do your best to bring back samples of the crops you see.” (It happened to be the season for harvesting the first ripe grapes.)

21 So they went up and explored the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. 22 Going north, they passed through the Negev and arrived at Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai—all descendants of Anak—lived. (The ancient town of Hebron was founded seven years before the Egyptian city of Zoan.) 23 When they came to the valley of Eshcol, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes so large that it took two of them to carry it on a pole between them! They also brought back samples of the pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the valley of Eshcol (which means “cluster”), because of the cluster of grapes the Israelite men cut there.

The Scouting Report
25 After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned 26 to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land. 27 This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces. 28 But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea[g] and along the Jordan Valley.”

30 But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”

31 But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” 32 So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. 33 We even saw giants[h] there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”

Its been a week of stress in Hong Kong. The amount of information downloaded from my colleagues in Hong Kong was simply too much! Wow.. I was so stressed, as there was so much to understand and learn. Learning the logistics and distribution business, the applications supporting these operations, and on top of that, managing the expectations to revamp IT in Singapore and resolve the problems… sigh… I was really really stressed out.

Many nights, I had to pray and pray, and remind myself that this is where God placed me, and that He is guiding and watching over me.

The last 8 months or so of really doing nothing much in my previous company did not help. Things were too relaxed, and this is sort of a workload shock! I have to get used to the amount of work again, and I have to remind myself how much I enjoyed working hard, especially when I was in Pharmalink.

I know I will have my work cut out for me in the coming 6 months at least, and I need to change my paradigm of work again. Do pray for me that I will be able to cope with the workload, the politics, and the shenenigans in my new company. Oh dear…. so stress when I haven’t even stepped into my Singapore office yet!

Thanks be to God!