Finally things quiet down somewhat at the office. Managed to clear some of the backlogs. Was able to take a few hours off last Friday to watch WALL.E with my family. Re-started my gym schedule. I even have the luxury of time to have breakfasts with Gabriel after my gym sessions. Wat a relief!

Saturday, as usual, spent almost the whole day at United Sq. Had a jamming session with Firuz and 2 boys. But there no singer and no 1st guitar playing, so I had some difficulty. Keep losing my count after a while. heehee.. sorry lah.. still green lah! Drum exam is in November. That's less than 2 months. So I better start practising for it.

Had dinner at Youtei Sushi Restuarant. The one at United Sq. closed down and the staff was reassigned to the outlets at Marina Sq and Forum Galleria. Rachel & I were such regulars at the old United Sq outlet that we became friends with the waitresses and managers. So it was not just dinner but also to visit them too.

And after dinner, I went to Vino Vino to meet D. She & Akie bought me a bag. So sweet of them! Had a nice time chatting with D. Akie wasn't feeling too good, might have caught a chill. According to him carrying a brolly wouldn't look cool. Luth didn't look too well either.  Said he slept only 3 hours the night before.  But they still had to continue entertaining the patrons. Poor chaps.  Noticed Rafi, Zul and Ros yawning away earlier on too.  This was their 1st week of fasting so i guess they're still adjusting to it.

On Sunday I made orange sorbet. It was quite easy .. 300ml of freshly hand-squeezed orange juice, 30~40g of sugar depending on sweetness of the orange, 15g of Granfruttosa, and 1 tbsp orange zest. That's it! Simple yet delightful! I could use a juicer for the orange but I choose to hand-squeeze them cos the fibrous part will leave a bit of bitterness.  Rachel, the family fussbudget, loved it.

I was quite tired the rest of Sunday since I slept at 2 am. But I still had 3 baby showers to attend. Gu's, Anthony's and Leon's. Jeff passed me a gift for Leon and I almost gave it to Anthony by mistake.  I saw Anthony's iPhone.  He 'jailbroke' it and it looked totally cool!  I'm so tempted to try it myself.  Gotten the websites from him.  But I'm waiting for the release of iPhone 2.1.  Supposed to be today together with iTunes 8.  Let's see what improvements have been made.. and then I'll jailbreak my iPhone too!

I submitted everything to the sparkling contractor at 12:40 pm today. Hard copy, soft copy hand-delivered to his office. Feel so liberated! I'm going to ignore all his calls from now till I restore my health.

For 2 whole freakin weeks I was either working till 2-3am or through the night. Keep making changes...freakin stubborn too... Right now what I've submitted is for tender only. I dare not think what will happen if they really get the job.

But I actually admire their level of committment. There's no way a local contractor would go to such extent.

.. wait.. oh no.. he just sent me a sms.. he's coming over now... arrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!

p.s.

he's nickpicking!!! typo errors, fonts too small, my report presentation style... some more had the audacity to complain he couldn't fly back because the reports weren't complete and he's very unhappy.... LIKE HELL I CARE! it's his own bladdy fault. He wants perfection then he has to give me time! Each time he makes changes he expects me to deliver that same day. WTF!

But I wasn't too upset with him today.. know why? because he looked very stressed and tired. Looks like he's going through some sleepless nights himself too. hahahahah... oops... *snicker*

I was right about the Sparkling contractor wanting more changes. I slept only 2 hours yesterday. I was ok for most part of the day since I had a reasonably good rest on Sunday. But by 6pm I was feeling the effect again. I'm definitely getting old. I used to be able to go 3~4 days without sleep.

Came home, slept for 2 hours and got up at midnite to work on the tender again. I'm nocturnal. I do stay up late as a habit. But to read, to listen to music, to watch the stars, to surf and/or work on my long list of want-to-dos. And I hate it when I'm under pressure to deliver work.

But this should be the last round of changes since the contractor will be concentrating on the pricing next. Anyway I'll make myself unreachable to this fella once I submit my final report. I had enough.

And I still haven't collected my ice-cream maker. grrrhhh.

Last Saturday, after the mad rush to send out the reports, my adrenaline tapered off, leaving me in a half-zombie state.

Hubs dropped me & Rachel off at United Sq. for breakfast. And for the first time in my life I felt like puking when I smelled the coffee. (ok.. coffee at McDonald's wasn't great but it wasn't that bad..) I had 5 mugs of coffee in the past 6 hours and I just couldn't take the smell of coffee any more.

After I walked Rachel to her class, I went straight to AoR. Wasn't in the mood to do much. I chatted with Leon and rest of the people at AoR. But half the time I wasn't sure what I was saying. I have slept like 6 hours in the past 72 hours and basically I in a sleep-deprived-comatosed-state.

I took 1/2 of my drum lesson but was too tired to continue. I got Rachel to take over the rest. Cancelled my guitar lesson with Akie too, cos my mind couldn't process anything else.

I finally got home at 3.30pm, took a flu pill and knocked myself out. The 2-hour uninterrupted sleep did wonders. By 6.30pm I was fresh again, ready to face what's left of Saturday. Sent a text msg to Sophia to confirm our meet-up. So at 9.30pm, me & Sophia were chilling out at Vino Vino. Dee was there too. I finally found out her full name. Iylia. Nice name. Asked her why is everyone calling her Dee since her name starts with a I. She has no idea too! hahahha. It was fun chatting with her. And Akie, he kept making fun of me about my afternoon's zombie-state.

Went to Timbre at Substation after that. Goodfellas was playing. They were belting out a Cantonese number when we arrived. It was a popular song by Beyond but it took us a while to figure what they were singing...hahaha. Teased Rafi about it when he came over to chat during the break. There are a few video clips of Goodfellas at Timbre. But all rather low quality videos. Told Rafi I couldn't see him in many of the clips. Ought to raise up the drum platform a bit.

It was quite enjoyable... the company, the live music, the people-watching and the booze. Although I had to keep a lid on the booze part since I was driving. We stayed till closing time. Sophia likes the place. Me too. This place's a hidden gem. So looks like we'll be going there pretty often before she leaves for Oz.

Sophia stays in Jurong, so I drove her back. Cab fare would have cost a bomb and she already paid for the drinks. It was way past 2.30am by the time I reached home. As long as it's not work, I dun mind the late early hours. hahha

Finally I got most of the stuff out for the silly tender. BUT! (there's always a big butt but) tender is closing on 8 Sep, which is still 2 weeks away, and knowing how this group of Sparkling contractor work, I won't be surprised if he asks me to re-check and further refine my design again..and again..and again..and..

Didn't sleep the whole night and now I'm bushed. Managed to email him the report this morning. Perhaps he'll feel bad to see my emails sent out at 2.45am and 7am? Ha!

Whatever! Hopefully I get to pass a peaceful weekend. Been receiving multiple SMSs from him for the last 2 weeks and boy! I really hate reading his SMSs. I suppose it's because he doesn't speak English that well. His SMSs always sound so bladdy rude.

I think this week I averaged 5 mugs of coffee and 3 hours of sleep per night. If you open up my veins now you'll probably see coffee flowing out. I could have asked my staff to help but they are relatively new. They lack the experience to know what modifications to make in order the design work. In fact, the calculations I did last night? My engineer was working on it for the whole of last week.

*sigh* my ice-cream maker was ready for collection on Wednesday and I haven't even picked it up yet. I was hoping to start making ice-cream this weekend But not much chance of that cos now I have to rush my other projects. Because of the 2 big tenders, all the rest of my projects are jammed up. Need to make use of this weekend to clear my backlogs. Imagine! My backlogs have backlogs. Wish me luck...

nah...

just get me another Long Black...

Worked till 2am this morning to finish the pile deign ...Only to find out my Excel template had a mistake. ARRGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I gave up my sleep for NOTHING!!! NOTHING!!!!!!

Then the engineer from the Sparkling country (pay attention to TV ads and you'll know which country I'm refering to) said he wanted to come over to go through the calculations. He was here since 11am and would not leave until I gave him some design reports. I had to skip breakfast & lunch to rush out 1 set of report and finally managed to get rid of him for the time being. Bladdy slave-driver. Tender closing on 8 Sep not tomorrow.. dunno why rush me until like that. Now I'm supposed to give him another 2 more reports by 6pm. Which I better try to or else he will come over and sit again.

My boss was laughing at me asking me what I've gotten myself into.

I'm in a murderous mood.

This is my last dealing with them.

I really don't know what to do with Mr. CoW. For the past 1 week I keep losing my temper whenever I speak to him. I'm a fairly friendly person and I will try to avoid confrontations whenever possible. But with Mr. CoW, i can actually feel my blood pressure rising every time he opened his mouth.

After my chat with him, he behaved himself where addressing me is concerned. He's idea of small talk is weird...I still can tahan a bit. His way of reporting is long-winded, but I can also tahan a bit more *sigh*. And when I'm in a good mood, I can laugh it off.

But today! argghh!

My clerk would usually help me to filter his calls. But she happened to be on another line and he slipped through.

I was planning to keep him until his contract expires. But I'm not sure I can take any more of his nonsense any longer. And I'm getting kinda worried too. This guy seems to be developing (or already developed?) some mental problems. If I keep him I'm asking for trouble. But I fire him, will he start stalking me or will he get depressed and committ suicide?

Arrrrghhhhhhh!

Ought to be in dreamland... BUT!! still working...  *sigh*  

Yesterday wasn't so bad.. managed to clear some work.  I was really moody on Wednesday.  So stressed that I sent out 3 distress SMSs.  Something I don't usually do.  All responded immediately.   So nice to have great friends!  Boon and Syafiq responded with words of encouragement.   The best was Fen. He called offering help with some of calculations and drawings. Many thanks, pal!   I owe you one!

The main source of my distress is this PhD engineer from a well-known contractor from a 'sparkling' country in Asia.  Bloody slave-driver from hell.  For God's sake, this is only a fucking tender we're working on.  But the details he asked for were as though they were awarded the job.  His mannerism was what irked me.  Kept comparing my work with another big-time MNC 's work.  Bloody condescending and sarcastic.  Told him I'm already doing my best with the manpower I've got.  If he's not happy with that he could get someone else. 

Anyway this isn't my the first unpleasant encounter with engineers from this country.  Those guys are MCP!  This time and age!  WTF!  

Feeling kinda burnt out for the last few days. While having my breakfast coffee this morning I started listing out the projects I'm currently working on.

17!

No wonder I'm feeling so stressed up. I've got so many people behind my back chasng for reports. Phone's been ringing non-stop too. Everybody's asking for theirs to be given priority. wtf! Maybe I ought to tell them whoever brings the check first will have theirs attended to first.

Shit! never felt so tired. and this bladdy headache just refused to go away.

yup.. today is one of those 'down' days.

Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow. Although.. I doubt so. Already have 4 meetings lined up. Was hoping to go to the gym tomorrow morning. looks like I'll have to miss it again *sigh*

I've told my friends about AoR, and two of them decided to visit last Saturday. Sophia is interested in guitar and thinking of signing Saffron up for drums. Tang is interested in drums but his son wasn't sure yet. His son played a few instruments, so far no formal training. He's more interested in music arrangement. Too bad AoR is currently not offering that.

T & his son stuck around to watch how the lesson was conducted. Which was basically, standing outside my window, watching me for the entire 1/2 hr lesson... made me so conscious of myself.

Rafi said they (Goodfellas/Soulfellas) would be performing at Esplanade over the weekend at 8.30pm. I guess must be at the new Esplanade Outdoor Theatre. No wonder Esplanade was rushing for us to complete the works there... probably have performances lined up for the NDP celebrations. But I had to miss it. There was a NDP preview that night. No way I was going anywhere near Marina area. And I couldn't go on Sunday too since the next day was a school day. Oh well. Another time perhaps.

Had lunch with the Tangs and then I went Scotts Square for site inspection. No place to park on site and had to park at Hyatt Hotel. So imagine me walking through the posh hotel lobby and down Scotts Road in my construction boots & helmet. New fashion statement at Orchard! heheh

I was back at AoR for guitar lesson at 6. I still can't figure how to grip the guitar and spent the next 30 mins contorting my fingers. Akie made it looked so effortless. But how? Can't stand it. I got to do it somehow.

After a quick dinner, I went over to the expressway site. Need to witness backfilling sequence since my Mr. CoW was on medical leave. Left site around 9.30pm and headed down to Cathay Ben & Jerry's to watch Luth & Akie. That area around Cathay was teeming with young people. In fact there was still a queue trying to get into Cathay's carpark. Parked at Plaza Sg. Just a short walk.

As usual, very young crowd at Ben & Jerry's. Ordered an double Espresso instead of ice-cream. Watching my weight. But next time I would get a Double Expresso Double. Their double was so tiny.

Luth & Akie..as usual, very entertaining. One of the songs they played was Jason Mraz's I'm Yours, my JM fav. So guess what song I'm humming now?

I hired Mr. CoW to help with this PUB project, the same project that encountered problem at the major expressway. So far he MIA-ed at the 3 critical stages of the repairs. First was when excavation exposed the pipelines. Second when the cutting shield was retrieved exposing the damaged pipes. The 3rd was last Saturday when the damaged pipe was finally repaired and backfilling commenced.

So why wasn't he around this time?

He was given 3 days MC.

What for?

Ahh... here's where I''ll backtrack...

The whole of last week was one accident after another for him. On Monday, he told me he was coughing blood. Later found out what he meant there was slight blood tint in his phlegm (I hope no one's eating while reading this!) What a drama king!

Came back the next morning and couldn't wait to show me his MC. He pretended he couldn't read what the doctor wrote, which I'm sure the doctor has explained to him. Anyway the word was "bronchitis". I told him to take the day off to rest. But he insisted he's ok and he's worried about the projects and since I was so nice to him, he felt responsible to make sure work progress ok. He's trying to make me feel guilty. Not working!

On Wednesday, his finger got caught when the van's door slid shut. He ended up with a blue-black finger nail. Again he couldn't wait to show me. Again told him to take the day off. Again he refused, citing reasons as above. I was quite exasperated and told him I've handled my projects without him for the last 20 years. I was pretty sure I could manage without him for the next couple of days. He just wouldn't listen.

On Thursday, he went to Holland V to collect a cheque for my clerk and walked right into a glass door. He ended up with a huge lump on his forehead. He called back and said he was going to A&E at SGH to check in case he had concussion...hmm.... He was given 3 days MC.

This morning he appeared at office with a huge bump on his forehead just above the eye. He's now walking around the office wearing his shades.

I don't know whether to laugh or to sympathise with him.

I know I may sound mean. But even my very good-natured clerk came to me saying she understands why I always get very agitated when I talk to him. You got to meet him in person and you too will know why.

Going to have one very soon..

That silly 'o man is driving me up the wall. He called me like 10 times today harping on the same issue.. that the contractor was not using the correct equipment, that they were not installing the sheetpiles according to our design and that he suspected contractor was trying to cheat. And after listening to his tirades I have to suffer his SMSs... samples

The problem is I can't fire the silly 'o man because he's doing what I've hired him to do, which is to keep a close watch on the contractor's work. That and there's a severe shortage of supervisors now. But his half-hourly, long-winded reporting with all that drama is giving me a headache.

My boss is not helping much either. He was very keen on a Marine Coastal Expressway tender and pulled 3 of my staff to work on it. That put a severe strain on my workload. I have about 8 clients chasing me for reports. All are urgent and now I don't know how to deliver.

Now where did i put my Panadol..

The work at rescue shaft is finally coming to an end soon... hopefully by end of this month. I'm not attending any more of the daily morning meetings unless specifically requested to. But I'll let the silly 'o man attend since he seemed to enjoy those meetings.

Last Saturday, we had our regular morning meeting. The rest was discussing the pipe repairs. Pipe repair was outside my scope of works. So I was doodling and only half-listening to the discussion. But then I noticed Mr. CoW sketching something on his notes. I was mentally prepared when he whispered to me he had a solution to the repair works. I cut him off and told him not to get involved. He said he wanted to help the contractor and his solution was a simple one and sure can work one.

I patiently explained to him (I must have been in a good mood that morning!) that since he's my site rep, whatever come from him, the rest would think I'm backing him up. But I'm trying to limit my scope of works since there is a high chance I won't even get paid for what I've already done so far. In short, I told him to mind his own business.

Apparently my message didn't pass through that thick skull of his. Coz 10 minutes later, he suddenly stood up, interrupted the discussion and announced to all he had an idea. There was silence when everyone turned to look at him. I groaned and looked up to the sky "why me?" (see? I also can be drama one, ok?) Of course his brilliant idea was shot down. What else do you expect for half-baked solutions? *sigh*

Anyway enough of him.

Rest of the day passed quite pleasantly. I was hanging around at AoR, waiting for Rachel to finish her lesson. My guitar instructor, Akie, asked me to try jamming with him & Luth. I wasn't sure. I'm well aware of my limited skills. But Akie-san was quite encouraging. So there I was, at the drums, Akie on bass guitar and Luth acoustic guitar. And I had my very first impromptu jamming session that Saturday. Didn't think I embarrassed myself too much. Tried a few songs. It was quite fun. And well, I won't mind doing it again!

Later part of the afternoon, I was back at the site to witness the rescue of the TBM. I wanted to make sure the shaft (my baby!) was ok during the process. Mr. CoW couldn't make it. Everything went surprisingly smoothly. So everybody present was in a good mood. I saw the damage pipe. The TBM actually cored through quite a substantial part of the concrete pipe. Since the temporary shaft was ok, I've fulfilled my duty. Now is for contractor to repair the damaged pipe. Hopefully they can get it done within the week.

This is about silly 'o Mr. CoW. He's real drama mama. I think I could actually write a book on him. The latest being this.

Last Saturday night, Akie & Luth, both instructors from AoR, had a gig at the Cathday’s Ben & Jerry’s outlet. So me, Rachel, with our 2 friends from AoR, Fandy & Lynette, headed there to give our support.

It was quite enjoyable. So imagine my irritation when I received a call at 10.00pm on a Saturday night from the excavation crew that they had exposed the shield.

Excavation at the recovery shaft in the middle of the expressway was on-going. Mr. CoW was supposed to be there in the afternoon and to keep me informed of the progress. But the excavation had proceeded on to next 2 stages without me carrying out the inspections and certifications!

So no choice, I quickly sent Rachel home and rushed to the site. Stayed there till after midnight. I was back again at 8.30am Sunday morning to sort out the paperwork with the contractor. I could have done all these Saturday afternoon had Mr. CoW been keeping an eye on the site.

Monday when I finally saw Mr. CoW, he tried to explain his absence. Said something about the excavation crew being slow and unlikely they could do much so he left the site at noon. I felt like strangling him. At the very least sms me!  I could have gone to the site in the afternoon!

He must have been worried by my show of displeasure. Coz after that he carried out my next set of instructions to the extreme until the excavation crew called me crying for help. I received 12 phone calls within a span of 30 minutes ranting about Mr CoW being too strict and had stopped their work. The project manager called to complain that Mr CoW had no right to stop their work since his duty was to observe and report the site progress.

Mr. CoW became very defensive when I questioned him. He claimed the site crew was lying blah-blah-blah... said he had photographic evidence that they weren’t doing their work.. etc etc etc. *sigh*

On Tuesday morning he told me that he was very upset by the lies, that he would demand an apology from the contractor, that he couldn’t sleep, that he vomitted a few times the night before and that morning too. Said he’s going to buy a heart-monitor to check his heartbeat.

Well, if he was expecting TLC, he’s not getting any from me. Told him that if he’s going to let something so minor affect him that much, then he’s not suited for this line at all. He ought to know how contractors are like since he's been in the construction industry for so long. Anyway I asked him to decide whether to stay on this project or be assigned another project. He became very quiet and suddenly said he would resign.

Ha! No aces yet dare to show-hand. ok I accepted his resignation on the spot. But he was apparently very unhappy with my lack of concern. Coz he walked off and drove away without telling me where he’s off to even though it was still office hour. Very stylo-mylo except that the van he drove belongs to my office leh. Heh heh. 

But this morning, he called and said,
(1) he cared for me & company a lot so he didn't think it's right for him to walk out just like that,
(2) he's a responsible man and he would feel guilty,
(3) he is still healthy and can carry on working,
(4) if I found someone more suitable, he can resign anytime,
(5) if not, he would like to stay until end of this contract & then perhaps retire for good.

ROTFLOL

The project at the major expressway is giving everyone a headache.

I had to rush the design for the rescue shaft. Got it completed at about 5pm yesterday. Then I was supposed to send the document to the consultant but decided to get Mr. CoW to do it instead. As usual, conversation with him is the highlight of the day.

He appeared about 15minutes later, carrying a little red plastic pail. He smiled and waved the pail at me. For a moment, I thought he didn't have time to pee and had to standby a pail.

But he volunteered the info. He needed the pail to wash his bladdy @$#% car.

Well.  Everything we worry might happen has happened...  hence the Murphy Law reigns.

Pipe-jacking resumed this morning but at 1pm.  The site staff noticed undulation of the road surface in the slow lane and a slight depression in the middle lane.  This time the operator saw clean water flowing through the shield face.  It seems like they hit or damaged some underground water pipe.  This is a totally new set of problem.  Jacking stopped while the site people try to trace the source of the leakage. I was on site at about 3pm and stayed till 5pm.  Nothing much I could do.  This is pretty much a site construction issue not design issue.

I'm handling a project involving pipe-jacking underneath a major expressway. I'm engaged by the contractor to design the jacking & receiving shafts and also to come out with the construction impact assessmment. There are definite risks involved and these have been highlighted to the contractor. I've emphasized the importance of putting in place an action plan in case of sinkholes and also to station workers at all times on site to observe the expressway for signs of distress. But do they listen? No! They think I'm being paranoid.

Work proceeded generally problem-free until Thursday night. A depression was seen by a EMAS vehicle on a lane. They alerted LTA but it took LTA a while to find out that it was our project. By then it was close to midnight. LTA mobilised to repair the depression and I wasn't informed until the next morning.

Anyway after discussions with main consultant and contractor they decided to continue with jacking despite my reservations. My advice was for them to apply to close the lane during jacking works. But again, the rest felt it would take too long to get the permission and they had this deadline to meet. So they continue to jack however with proper supervision team this time.

And today, another depression appeared on the road. The lane was temporarily closed. When the contractor dug out the bitumen, they found a cavity 200mm wide gap about 2m by 2m and 1.5m deep 1.3m below the road surface. This confirmed what I'd been telling them all this time. Since there is 1 more lane to cross, again I asked the main consultant and contractor to talk to LTA about closing off that lane during jacking.

The reply from LTA is almost silly. The officer we spoke to has the authority to order lane closure. But she's not gonna do it if there's nothing wrong with the road, not even as preventative measure. She suggested that we monitor the next stretch of jacking and should there be settlement than she'll allow closure of this lane citing danger to public as a reason. I pointed out that already a cavity has formed in the previous lane. Isn't that reason enough? But apparently not. wtf!

It seems like LTA wants to see damage before they take any action. But this is stupid! Cavity forms but it may not be obvious because of the bitumen. And the sinkhole may appear suddenly if a heavy vehice goes over it, I mean, who knows? So why take such unnecessary risk? Just close the bladdy lane, jack the bladdy pipe and if no sinkhole.. good.. if sinkhole form.. no danger to anyone since the lane is close. Hell! what's so bladdy difficult to understand about that?

The contractor is more than happy to continue jacking since LTA did not impose any work-stop order. And I have no power to stop the contractor since I'm engaged by the contractor. Guess I'll have to send an email to put on record my objections. At least if something goes wrong, they can't point the finger back at me. But I hate having to do this. These people just never learn.

I was in a crappy mood today. Already I missed my drum lesson because I had to rush to the scene when the call came in. And it looks like I'll need to be at the site tomorrow too #$@%

I spoke to Mr Z yesterday. It didn't go too badly. In fact Mr Z was aware of the conflict he's having with our boss. The only reason he didn't resign was that we had been quite supportive and understanding when he had that problem with his thesis submission. So the session was quite amicable.

Anyway the market is still very hot for geotechnical engineer and I'm sure he should be able to get another job soon. I wish Mr. Z all the best.

I sat down with him Monday evening to have a "heart-to-heart" (yeeeh... my flesh creeping already) talk with him. Basically I told him I wasn't comfortable with his terms of endearment.

He tried to explain saying ever since he became a Christian, he treated everybody like a sister or a brother and that he was trying to be friendly. That may be true but I'm a Christian too, my boss is a Christian too, we don't go around calling our employees "girl-girl" or "boy-boy". And I didn't see him being "friendly" with the rest of the fellow colleagues too. wtf. I asked him to try calling our big boss "boy-boy" and see what would happen.

Anyway I was quite blunt and firm with him. I told him his actions were making me very uneasy and if he wouldn't stop... I wouldn't be able to keep him any longer, it would be termination on the spot. Mr. CoW got my drift and said he knew what to do and where to draw the line. ok that settled one problem.

Now the next problem. I have an engineer (Mr. Z) from China. He came to Singapore in 2002~2003 to do a PhD at a local uni (name withheld to protect the guilty). He joined us in 2005 as a part-time staff and became full-time in 2007. Mr. Z's actually quite a nice guy... very hardworking, easy to get along.. not a clock-watcher nor calculative type. But my boss & him had some communication problems.. well.. the short of it... I was asked to let him go.

Why me? How on earth am I going to do that?!! With the silly Mr. CoW, it's easy. Just give me a reason & I'll fire him immediately. But not with this engineer!

And I felt so bad for Mr Z. especially when he somehow had suffered a string of unfortunate events. He was doing his Engineering Masters in China and during his last year of the course he was offered a chance to come to Singapore to do a PhD. He took it up and left China without completing his Masters.

After 3 yrs of research & labour-intensive lab testings, Mr Z was ready to start his thesis. That was when he joined us as a part-time engineer. But 1/2 way through his thesis, Mr Z's supervisor claimed Mr Z had made some errors in the setup and the results were not usable.

So Mr Z had to re-do most of the tests and was ready to start on his thesis again when his supervisor suddenly resigned without arranging for another professor to take over. The poor guy was left dangling, not knowing what to do. The faculty department didn't try to help either. Finally a professor agreed to take Mr. Z on but the new supervisor found that Mr. Z's findings were in total disagreement with published literatures.

By then 4.5 yrs have gone. The poor chap had no choice but to submit his thesis and hoped for the best. The last time I checked, Mr Z said his thesis was returned with a "major correction required" comment. He didn't seem very optimistic about getting his PhD. If that's the case then the last 5 years was a total waste of time. Poor guy.

My boss wasn't as sympathetic. He thinks if a guy can spend 5 years on a subject and still not know what went wrong then he's hopeless.

Mr Z was actually planning to get married soon too. His fiancée is in Singapore. She just flew in recently from China.

*sigh* not sure how to approach the poor Mr Z.....

Today. I parked my car near my office block and had a nice, lesiurely breakfast. As I walked towards my office block I was deciding whether or not to send my laptop for servicing. The moment I saw Mr CoW in the distance walking past my car and it was decided. I made sure I stayed out of his line of sight, walked quickly to my car, jumped in and took off.

I received an sms from him a couple of minutes later..

Mr CoW was supposed to pass me the site reports & photos. So I called my clerk instead and asked her to take those from him. She said he made some remark saying if only his ex-wife was 1/3 as capable and good as me. yuck!

Anyway I still had to talk to him over the phone. Phone call ok.. as long as he's not in my face. But I got rather agitated when I found out he didn't have information on some crucial matters. You know what Mr. CoW said? He said "don't worry, don't worry, girl girl, I will make sure I get all the info from the contractor. I will keep an eye on the project."

He called me "girl girl" ?!! I'm the one signing his pay check and he called me "girl girl"?

I've asked him to come in this evening and I'm going to show him what happens to an employee who dare calls his boss "cute & adorable" and "girl girl".

For one, he's very fawning. Imagine having someone praising you all day long and together with God in the same sentence. He's always complimenting me on my ability to juggle work with family, on my dress sense, on my driving skills and lots of other things. He reminds me so much of Collins in Pride & Prejudice, excessively flattering. Even a simple thank you from me will evoke long strings of you're-so-polite-it's-my-duty-no-need-to-thank-me responses.

I'm usually in the office at 7.30am every morning. Mr. CoW comes around 8am and has been asking me to join him for breakfast. But I'm quite particular about my breakfast personal time cos that's when I'm getting myself mentally ready to face the day. So I rather not spend breakfasts making small talks. And after a few rejections, he offered to buy me breakfasts instead.. and lunches... and afternoon teas, which I politely declined many many times.

When I go to sites, Mr.. CoW is worried that it's too hot for me and he actually opens up his brolly to shelter me. He thinks that a 20 minute walk through the muddy site is too tiring and dirty for me (I wouldn't be a soil engineer if I were afraid of sun & dirt). Apparently he also thinks I'm too weak and frail to carry my own bag or my own file or my own cup of coffee.

It was so *arggh* to the extent that I actually make detours to avoid him when I see him in the distance. I told him off a few times already. His job is to carry out site inspections not to be my man-servant.

Last week again I refused to join him for lunch. I have no intention of forcing myself to chit-chat with him. Mr. CoW said something like.. don't worry he'd buy me lunch. I said no I wanted to rush back to office to prepare for my meeting. And he called me cute & adorable. CUTE & ADORABLE?????!!!! I felt like firing his bladdy ass on the spot and see if he still thinks me cute & adorable. arrrghhhh!

On Monday he told me he dreamt about me. That I was being bullied and he had to fight the bully off. Oh boy.

Today he said he was worried about me cos I didn't come in at my usual time. WTF!

He's quite old, divorced and his only daughter just gotten married & moved out. So my clerk thinks he's either infatuated with me or he's treating me like his daughter. Both thoughts are just as scary. Whatever it is, he's giving me the creeps.

I've decided to terminate him... either when the project is completed or when he pisses me off again, whichever comes first.

I read about this girl in the papers. May. She was young, only 29 I think. I'm not sure whether the autopsy has been completed. But her family & friends believed she died from over-work.

She was thrilled when she landed a job as a admin executive/manager. But what May did not count on was how demanding the job was. It was common for her to wake up at 3.30am and start work at 4.30am in the mornings. She worked long hours even on weekends. In her last blog entry, she complained of stress and failing health. But she decided to hang on because she was a contract staff and she would need to compensate the company should she quit then. All she hoped was to endure for 1 more month.

The irony was that in the same entry she mentioned a contract staff in another company died of a heart attack. She went on to say she didn't want to end up dead for the sake of money. 2 days later she collapsed after working at her laptop for 8 hours non-stop. Doctors suspected that she might have died of Deep Vein Thrombosis due to long hours of inactivity. It is really sad.

Her boss attended her wake and denied he had given the girl too much work.

This particular piece of news caught my attention because I too have been complaining lately of stress and heavy workload. But I have been mindful not to over-stretch myself. I find outlets... I listen to music, chat with friends over the phone, I find time to go to gym plus I am lucky to have my wonderful kids to distract me.

Whatever it is, please listen to your body. No amount of money is worth dying for.