Something you obtained.
Something you like to show off to all your friends.
Something you might be proud of.

Something that doesn't really have a practical purpose.

Trophy... I empathize with you... the past few days

I haven't been in a good mood for quite a while, I think. I'm pretty proud of myself.

I decided to wear a scarf today. I realize that it sounds completely stupid, and I'm well aware of that, but it's more of a symbol for me. I'm usually too shy/lazy to get a look I want, but today I actually succeeded (and with minimal effort! =o except for the mental prep/convincing it took to get myself to go through with it, but that's all internal v_v ) and I'm very happy for it. I was very comfortable with how I looked, and I think I was a lot more confident because of it.

Someone told me I'm lovable when I'm hyper, too. Which I kinda of knew; I know I like being hyper, and I enjoy myself more when I'm hyper, but I've gotten... scolded... for being hyper before, but never complimented. People don't realize how far little things like that go. And it doesn't take much to say something like that. And I knew they meant it, which made it significantly more meaningful.

Anyhow, overall, today was a very good day.

I understood Calculus. Now, you don't realize how incredibly insecure Calculus has been making me. I usually excel at school with only moderate effort, which sounds terrible. Then all of a sudden along comes Calculus--no notes, no instructions, just homework and reviewing said homework. When you don't get it, you can't very well apply it. And it sucks. I had NO idea what I was doing. Then we did a visual project, and I get it. The world can spin again. :]

It's terrible how much these little things affect everything. Quite frustrating. And then something little happens, and everything is fixed. But until it happened, you were completely and utterly stuck, not knowing what to do.

It makes one feel quite helpless.

Novel Writing has been a roller coaster. Most of the time I'm loving my characters and hacing a blast. Unfotunately, Ian has been giving me a lot of trouble. Rebellious little twit that he is. See, he's very apathetic, and I can't make him do anything. He won't let me in, won't let me work with him, and I can't get a solid relationship built with him. Probably because I can be a very passionate person. I gave him some of my impartiality, but not my passion. We have a lot of trouble connecting.

Gil, Rae, Nate and I are working on it. >3 We'll have him cornered before long. I'm sure I can get to him through Nate, his twin. Nate's good that way. Lovely boy. <3 Gil is less cooperative--smarter, more of a mind of his own. Don't tell Nate I said that, he's convinced he's completely independent.

Wow, I just get weirder and weirder. [all of these are characters from her novel :] she really is turning into a crazy novelist/artist. Good for her]

Someone else complimented me who never does, and that was a real confidence booster. I don't particularly value either of these individuals' opinions, though they are friends of mine, but compliments go a long way with me. Not when they're intended for flattery, though. If the attention is one me, and the only purpose of the comment was for my benefit, that's bad. I don't take those very well internally. I smile and say thank you, but I'm not flattered. I like things that comment on my decisions, not my looks. I like it when people approve of something I've slaved over [only when they don't know, of course] because it meant that someone noticed what I put time and thought into. Like my artwork, or my clothes. I view it as a reflection of my actions, not myself, my skills, or my appearance.

I'm just realizing all of this now, bee tee dubs. Epiphanies are wonderful.

Anyhow, that's about it. I'll be back when I have something else worthwhile to say. Ja ne. [roughly, bye-bye in Japanese]

( Oh come on, Theresa! Don't be afraid of failure. You're not even in the interview yet. You still haven't given it a try and you're already thinking of failure. Failures are the ways to success. And don't think that if you blew this job opportunity, you won't get any other chances. There are a lot of banks out there who are in need of internal auditors. Give it a try and see what happens. If you fail, find your mistakes, improve on that area, then move on. There is one career meant for you. Don't stop until you find it. Don't be afraid to try. Give it a try and give your best shot. You go, girl! ;-) )

Everyone knows the basic definition of the term “customer”. It’s a person who purchases your goods or services. This definition applies to most business transactions.

Now let’s look at the customers of a government office. In many cases the person does not purchase or pay for the service so we need to revise our definition. So our definition of customer becomes: a person or group for whom you provide services or products.

These two concepts are similar in that in both the group is providing services or products to an outside entity, an individual or group. One could say that these are external customers.

Internal customers are those individuals or groups within a company or agency who are (supposedly!) helping to provide/sell goods and services to the “real” customers.

Each department or division of a large company is each other’s “customers”. The sales department is a customer of HR. Shipping is a customer of sales. All departments are customers of reception or the call center.

In fact in any company, large or small, each employee is a “customer” to all of the other employees.

Most companies and agencies focus more on external customers. This can be a grave mistake. In any company with more than maybe four employees a majority of the customer’s complaints stem from a lack of communication or coordination between employees, sections, groups or departments.

I’ve seen this in countless businesses: the wait staff bickering with the cooks; the technical support staff cursing the sales staff; the management critical of the employees, and vice-versa.

Have you ever seen an employee who is awesome with customers but treats the other employees at the company with disrespect and impatience?

It’s hard to be friendly, courteous and smile to the customers when someone you work with is being rude, nasty or disrespectful to you!

If you have different factions or departments bickering in your company you had better get busy. Right there is the source of some, if not all, of your customer service complaints.

People are not less important because they are not paying customers. Anyone on your team needs to be treated with the same courtesy and respect as your best customer.

As you study today about customer service keep in mind that how managers and employees treat each other sets the level of external customer service.

Setelah beberapa hari penulis tidak menulis sebarang artikel di blog ini, hari ini penulis berkesempatan sedikit untuk membicarakan isu-isu semasa di negara kita. Tajuk artikel penulis pada kali ini berbunyi " Menanti Kejutan Lepas Raya!".

Artikel penulis kali ini berkisarkan perkara-perkara yang mungkin terjadi selepas raya nanti terutamanya di dalam arena politik tanah air. Beberapa Forumer MYKMU.NET mengatakan 'ada kejutan selepas raya nanti tetapi tidak dipastikan kejutan yang bagaimana.

Namun penulis mengandaikan 'kejutan' tersebut mungkin melibatkan kedudukan Presiden AAB sebagai Presiden UMNO dan juga Perdana Menteri Malaysia. Boleh jadi juga ia berkisarkan penolakkan kepada keputusan Majlis Tertinggi UMNO berhubung Pemilihan Agung UMNO yang ditunda sehingga Mac 2009 kelak. Ada juga kemungkinan bahawa Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak tidak menunggu waktu "Peralihan Kuasa" yang dijanjikan oleh Presiden Flip-Flop AAB.

Tidak lupa juga mungkin 'kejutan' tersebut adalah kemungkinan orang yang sudah lama berkempen untuk jawatan Presiden UMNO sejak dari mula akan berjaya mencapai matlamatnya dan sekaligus menjadi Presiden UMNO yang baru dan juga bakal mengenepikan orang yang selalu dikaitkan dengan "Peralihan Kuasa" iaitu Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Walaupun individu yang ingin bertanding jawatan Presiden UMNO tersebut adalah seorang yang boleh dikatakan 'lone ranger' namun kita boleh memandang lekeh padanya kerana beliau begitu berpengalaman bukan sahaja di dalam bidang politik tetapi juga ekonomi. Individu yang dimaksudkan ialah Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah yang turut dikenali sebagai Ku Li dikalangan rakyat jelata dan juga merupakan Kerabat Diraja Kelantan.

Satu lagi 'kejutan' yang berkemungkinan akan berlaku ataupun tidak berlaku langsung ialah penubuhan Kerajaan Katak apabila usul tidak percaya kepada Perdana Menteri diusulkan di Parlimen oleh Ketua Pembangkang yang baru iaitu Anwar Ibrahim. Selepas kegagalan 16 September beliau terus mencanangkan tunggu sehingga Parlimen bersidang, jadi lepas raya ini kebetulan pula Parlimen mula bersidang kembali. Apakah kesudahan dan apakah kejutanya sama-samalah kita nantikanya dengan penuh sabar.

The problem faced by DrKW is that being an investment bank that has no habit of sharing knowledge, it is trying to encourage its employees to start blogs in the hoping of accumulating enough knowledge to start a knowledge management community. However, the CIO, Rangaswami is pushing for management to accept the idea of using blogs as a knowledge management tool, but is finding it hard to conceive a concrete strategy to support his vision. On top of that, there are issues relating to whether employees are allowed to freely publish external blogs instead of having them only sitting in the internal servers.

WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS?

Given the above situation, Rangaswami can consider the following:

1. Push existing efforts in rolling out more user-friendly blogging tools to get as many employees within DrKW to pick up blogging. Hopefully a community will build up within the company that will drive the knowledge management process and have people who demonstrated quality blogging skills to develop external blogs.

2. Invest in money to develop a proper knowledge management system to fully milk the potential of employees’ blogs. Allow the internal blogging community the option to flag good posts to be entered into a central repository and allow users who read the posts to rank them, therefore allowing the process of natural selection to keep the most useful and relevant blogs within the system. The same process can be used for blogs intending for external publication. Allow internal users to judge whether they are suitable for publishing through the flagging and ranking process, before allowing administrative personnel to vet popular posts intending for publication before releasing to the public.

3. Develop a more advanced search index that analyzes popular blog posts that attempts to display its search results according to popularity, therefore assuming the most popular posts are the most useful or relevant posts.

WHAT ARE THE EVALUATION CRITERIA?

Criteria to consider are relevance, effectiveness, sustainability and costs. A good knowledge management system should be able to harness both tacit and explicit knowledge from its contributors effectively. Not only that, the system should be able to aggregate and maintain the most relevant knowledge and be able to provide the right information upon request easily. The best, easiest and most efficient way to ensure relevance will be to allow the community to exercise its judgments on the work contributed by its fellow members. The process of natural selection will automatically siphon the most useful and relevant materials to the top. Having such a system to rank the contributions not only provides a platform to display ranked search results but also have a central repository of useful knowledge that can persevere through long periods of time and also remain even when the original contributor has left the company.

WHAT IS YOUR RECOMMENDATION?

Given these criteria, the solution to be chosen will be solution 2.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES?

Because this will involve a myriad of different web technologies, it will be rather costly to develop the technologies to be used to manage the blogs. A system, such as the commonly used “Digg” which allows any user to flag for posts for the central repository to subscribe to, will have to be developed. The central repository should also have a fast and efficient search engine built into it as well not only that, results should also be calculated according to rankings given by fellow blog readers. A tagging system for bloggers to tag keywords to aid in the post search has to be integrated into the existing B2volution blogging engine.
Maintaining a low budget in the midst of developing and polishing up this knowledge management system is going to be the biggest challenge, therefore a strong case of the benefits of such a system has to be clearly illustrated to the top management.

This has included interrogation by the FSB security service, defamatory state television coverage, a warning for home worship and a fine for preaching in public. The congregations concerned all belong to the Baptist Council of Churches, whose communities do not register with state authorities.

In one example, two FSB security service officers in Kurgan Region separately questioned two Yurgamysh church members for four hours about internal church matters. Regional state TV later broadcast a program on the church called "Criminal News". This made unsubstantiated allegations, such as that children from the church are "retarded, downtrodden, dress differently from other [school] pupils and often have to repeat the year," and that church members live off illegal business.

The region's parliament is to consider proposals "to protect citizens from religious sects" on 30 September. Proposals include compulsory notification of the existence of an unregistered religious group and compulsory registration for communities with ten or more members.

Report from the Christian Telegraph

Why must it be?
Oh why is it m/e?
How life creates so much strife
Within our hearts

Though love itself
Is sat there on the shelf
Like an advertisement
My heart is at descent

We have,

Our ups and downs
Smiles and frowns
A walnut descending
Like the voice of a scale

My love, my life, my passion
Has become nothing but pale
I sit waiting, just waiting
For our internal love to show

By Luke Baldwin-Smith

Read More...

"God [is] Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:24

What is it?

I'm not here to talk about the Eucharist, though that's a good form of communion too. The word "communion" simply means sharing something in intimate fellowship/friendship. The kind of communion I am talking about is the internal relationship we have with the Holy Spirit.

Why do it? Well firstly, it is repeated over and over that Jesus communed with the Spirit (Luke 4:1, 10:21, John 1:33, etc.). I also find it interesting how much Jesus stressed abiding with the Spirit right before He went to the cross (read John 14-16).

In my own life, I find that the more I focus on communing with the Spirit on a moment-by-moment basis, the less I sin: I make better decisions because I follow His leading and I am generally more joyful as I remember God is walking with me throughout all my circumstances.

I have posted this quote before, but I believe it sums up communing with the Holy Spirit better than I ever could:

“There is a way of ordering our mental life on more than one level at once. On one level we may be thinking, discussing, seeing, calculating, meeting all the demands of external affairs. But deep within, behind the scenes, at a profounder level, we may also be in prayer and adoration, song and worship, and a gentle receptiveness to the divine breathings.” - Thomas Kelly

Practical Steps

Jesus said the Father would give the Holy Spirit to His children if we ask (Luke 11:13). I don't have bullet-points for this type of prayer, just suggestions.

Try to develop an awareness of the Spirit within you all the time. You may have been consumed with the natural all day and then all of the sudden remember about Him — that's great! Talk to Him internally when that happens. If you're stressed out, thank Him for who He is (e.g. "Thank you Holy Spirit for your peace").

As I've progressed in this, I find that I can have a normal conversation with someone and be consciously adoring the Lord and as I have to make small decisions, I ask Him what I should do. Sometimes He gives me specific direction, other times I know that that it is my choice.

Recommended Reading

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence is a small but insightful book on communing with the Lord throughout the day

Clowning in Rome by Henri Nouwen is an easy read on unceasing prayer, among other subjects

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This post is a part of a series on different types of prayer. Click here to read the rest of the series.

Please leave a comment with your email address, so that we can update you on new opportunities.

Semua UMNO Bahagian Mestilah Bersuara itulah diantara petikan kata-kata calon Presiden UMNO iaitu YBM Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah selepas diminta memberi komen berhubung penangguhan Pemilihan Agung UMNO yang ditangguhkan sehingga Mac 2009 nanti. Beliau juga yang turut dikenali dengan nama Ku Li turut menggesa semua Bahagian-Bahagian UMNO seluruh negara menolak keputusan penangguhan yang diistiharkan oleh Majlis Tertinggi UMNO itu.

Selain Ku Li, anak kepada Mantan Presiden UMNO iaitu Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir juga mempersoalkan tindakan penangguhan itu. Pada pandangan penulis, pandangan yang diberikan oleh kedua-dua pemimpin ini sememangya ada asasnya. Lagipun berapa kali nak tangguh Pemilihan tersebut, kerja bertangguh tidak akan selesai dan matlamatnya tidak akan tercapai.

Sementara itu, penulis mendapat maklumat daripada beberapa forumer MYKMU yang mengatakan Datuk Seri Najib juga menentang penangguhan Pemilihan Agung UMNO tersebut. Namun, penulis tidak pasti kesahihan maklumat tersebut. Mengikut mereka lagi, Kenyataan-kenyataan Najib yang dikatakan 'menyokong penangguhan' tersebut sebenarnya hasil 'manipulasi media' yang di dalangi beberapa individu tertentu untuk menyelamatkan kedudukan Presiden AAB buat masa ini.

Berbalik pula dengan komen Ku Li yang mencadangkan supaya semua UMNO Bahagian menolak ketetapan penagguhan Pemilihan Agung UMNO yang dibuat oleh Majlis Tertinggi Tersebut. Secara dasarnya penulis amat bersetuju dengan cadangan Ku Li tersebut, kenapa kita perlu tunggu lama lagi, tambahan pula punca masalah adalah Presiden AAB sendiri. Jadi untuk selesaikan masalah kita kena selesaikan punca masalah bukan simptomnya.

Bahagian-Bahagian UMNO mesti berani bersuara, usah difikirkan hendak menjaga hati sesiapa dalam menyuarakan pandangan. Sebelum kita menjaga hati seseorang pastikan orang yang kita jaga hatinya menjaga hati kita dahulu dan jangan pula hujan kain pelikat membuat sesebuah bahagian UMNO berubah kain pelikat boleh dibeli, tapi kuasa tidak boleh dibeli.

Uttar Pradesh, September 26 (Compass Direct News) – Police on Sept. 21 arrested pastor Sunil Rana in Gonda district on an anonymous tip that “forcible conversion activities” were taking place at his church’s Sunday worship. A representative of the Evangelical Fellowship of India told Compass that at around 12:30 p.m. police came to the Believers Church to make the arrest. Pastor Rana was charged for “forceful conversion” and released on bail on Sept. 23.

Karnataka – Police on Sept. 20 arrested a pastor and others in Siddapur, Uttara Kannada district on false charges of “forcible conversion.” The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported that the independent pastor identified only as Biju and five evangelists were speaking with children in Guya Palakere village when a local Hindu extremist identified only as Halappa angrily questioned them and falsely accused them of forcible conversions. Halappa telephoned other local extremists, and soon a mob of nearly 25 intolerant Hindus surrounded the Christians and took them to the Siddapur police station. They were charged with “hurting religious sentiments,” statements conducive to public mischief and unlawful assembly. With GCIC intervention they were released on bail on Sept. 22.

Karnataka – Police on Sept. 19 sealed Bethel Church in Mysore city and detained pastor Samuel Channaiah. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported that at around 10:30 a.m. three policemen led by a senior official identified only as Shivaram came to the rented church and questioned Channaiah about the prayer services. Shivaram falsely accused Channaiah of forcible conversions, sealed the church and took the pastor with them to the Vijayanagar police station. With GCIC intervention, Channaiah was released at around 5 p.m. without being charged. “No Sunday worship was held on Sept. 21, and the landlord has asked Channaiah to vacate the premises,” a GCIC representative told Compass.

Karnataka – Police on Sept. 17 stopped a pastor’s training program in Arsikere, Hassan district. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported that independent pastor Hoysala Raj was attending a four-day training at St. Thomas Church on Sept. 16-19 and staying at the Vijayalakshmi Lodge. As he was returning to the lodge after a session, a policeman identified only as Nemiraju recognized Raj, whom he had previously arrested. At around 11 p.m. Nemiraju and two other police officers came to the lodge and began beating and cursing Raj. Nemiraju then took Raj to the police station, angrily questioning him about the training program and the pastors who were attending. With GCIC intervention, Raj was released Sept. 17 at 8 p.m., and he received treatment at a private clinic for internal injuries. On Sept. 17 at around 9 a.m., police went to St. Thomas Church and forced the organizers to close down the training program.

Madhya Pradesh – Three suspected Hindu extremists vandalized and set fire to St. Peter and Paul Cathedral at Pentinaka, Sadar, Jabalpur at 8 p.m. on Sept. 18. Father Anthony Rocky said the attackers broke into the building unnoticed and broke window panes, desecrated the altar, destroyed a cross and statues and burned Bibles. “They carried kerosene oil packed in polythene bags and spread it in the entire church,” Fr. Rocky said. “Setting it aflame, they absconded.” Father Davis George, principal of the adjoining St. Aloysius College, said that bystanders informed him about the fire in the cathedral. “There is no doubt that the Dharma Sena, led by Yogesh Agarwal has done this,” Fr. George said. He told Compass that the Hindu extremist group threatened church leaders some 10 days prior, saying, “We will turn the face of the church within a week’s time, as done in Orissa.” The Dharma Sena and Agarwal have been involved in many cases of intimidation and attacks on the Christian community of Jabalpur. Father Anand Muttungal, spokesman of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, said Madhya Pradesh has seen more than 110 cases of violence against Christians since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in December 2003. “In spite of clear evidence, the authorities have failed to take any action against the culprits,” Fr. Muttungal told Compass. “As the elections are at hand, the authorities don’t want to annoy the majorities.”

Andhra Pradesh – Hindu extremists on Sept. 7 stormed a prayer meeting in Ayodhya Nagar, near Madanapally in Chittoor district. Dr. Sajan K. George, national president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), said independent pastor T. Peter was blessing the new house of a widowed Christian with about 25 others present. As the prayer service was in progress, nearly 20 Hindu extremists led by a Vishwa Hindu Parishad state leader, B.R. Narendra, barged into the house shouting curses at the believers. They slapped Pastor Peter and made false allegations of forcible conversion, beating and chasing away the participants. A GCIC representative told Compass that Ravindra Babu attempted to shield Pastor Peter and the Hindu extremists repeatedly slapped and punched him, breaking two teeth. The intolerant Hindus returned to the house at around 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 8 and warned the widowed homeowner that her house would be bombed if prayer meetings continued there. Pastor Peter filed a complaint against the Hindu extremists at Madanapally police station, and the attackers concocted a complaint against the pastor for “forceful conversion.”  

Report from Compass Direct News