Yeah it's been *that* long since my last post, but a string of midnight shifts, last minute "urgent" requests and rescuing pple from electrically locked doors puts a big strain on the human mind, body and soul.
The Marina Bay Sands opened today. And all site work was halted for this one day. Work will resume tomorrow, but at least that gave me a little time to breathe and write at least this blog entry. And thanks to sze li for taking up a good 4 hours of my free time... Hehehe jking - it was fun.
Humans are pretty stupid. We have system setup - called the Mantrap setup. Basically it consists of 2 interlocked doors. You go through one door and enter a room, with another door at the other end. Unless the door behind you closes, you wont be able to open the next one. Simple right?
Well apparently not, people still get *trapped* in these Mantraps, bcos they're too screwed in the head to realize that the door behind them is still open. And they call us, screaming "HELP ME! IM TRAPPED!!" Well, that's why it's called a ManTRAP, hello?? It's supposed to trap out the RETARDS.
Marina Bay Sands staff are also idiots, they demand for everything, but when we ask for specifics, they have no idea what they want - except that they want it by tomorrow.
Havent been hitting the gym a lot. Getting fat. Havent been playing tennis either - slowly going crazy already.
And the project phase is ending - time to start the next phase of maintenance. That'll kill me - and I might consider switching jobs.
We'll see.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
E for engineer
Office exploded into a myriad of fireworks and screaming early this morning. Apparently, someone didnt do something, did something else, and did that something else VERY badly. Something like that.
I had to remind everyone that we had a deadline and they should get the hell out of the office and bury they're heads in they're work for the rest of the day.
When they finally cleared up, i could finally conduct my own surgery.
Yes SURGERY.
Here's what happened. Our mortise locks have taken quite a beating on-site. Fresh out of the box and into the door, they've been hit, swung around, and absolutely manhandled by the american boses who're irritated being behind schedule.
Finally one of them cracked. Couldnt open, couldnt close, absolutely jammed inside. Take a look at the picture, you can tell that once one part of it takes a hike, it'll jam like the causeway on a Saturday holiday lunch rush hour.
What really pissed me off was that the contractor barged in, exclaimed in his freakin dialect something about not enough time, shit hitting the fan, female genitalia, someone's mom and loads and loads of screws and bolts going missing.
That REALLY PISSES ME OFF - IRRITATING WHINEY PEOPLE. U give them the SIMPLEST job on the planet and once they stub their toe, or a piece of the equipment goes missing, they sit on the floor, cry and start complaining.
BABIES. FULL GROWN ADULT BABIES.
So i blew a fuse, snatched the thing from him and told him to get lost, go to site and find something else to do. I placed the mortise lock right in front of me.
... the hell am i doing... ?
Well, i could just OPEN it up, take a peek and see if there's something elementary in there that i can remedy.
You know how god likes to throw you these, you-didnt-think-it-would-be-that-bad-but-hahaha-guess-what-it-is-and-even-worse-than-you-think situations?
Yeah, right here, today. On a rainy friday morning.
Unscrewed it and opened it. Pop! Something goes flying here and levers inside go into a tangled mess.
I need a bloody drink.
I take a good LONG look at it. Dad always said, "Start with the basic stuff."
Started with the trim handle, snapped that into place, moved on to the next lever, and the next, and the next. Inserted the solenoid. Snap the microswitch back into place. Adjust the cylinder switch. Done!
Easy as pie, turns out.
Close the lid and oops... ... doesnt work... Hehehe... turns out the cylinder lever shouldve been adjust before one of the other levers so that it would work into unison...
Close the lid and tada! It bloody works now! I turn to the costing sheet on the board, and guess what, this simple system of levers costs almost a thousand bucks. Seriously. I kid you not.
I was half thinking of keeping it, since it was almost written off as junk, but my director walked in and i had to do it all over again to explain what went wrong... Hehehehe...
Damnit.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
bare bones...
Walking past the guardhouse as i got back from a full day Saturday's work, i saw something that made me think i was hallucinating.
No, it wasnt Linda Evangelista topless on a tricycle dragging a giant Goonch catfish through an inflated swimming pool of mayonnaise. No. PRETTY sure of that.
Something more mundane.
First thing i thought to myself - "Holy shit, is that a bench press machine on the CCTV?"
I ask the guard, "We have a gym here?"
And he says, "AAWW HELL YAAAW!"
And im like, "AAWW HELL YAAAW!!"
Turns out there was one all along - it's been there for years. The only thing that ticked me off slightly was that it used to be a Squash court that they had gutted and mutilated with mirrors and tiles and frankensteined it with machinery and threadmills everywhere.
It was already 630pm on a Saturday - my tennis hopes had been dashed, so i was thinking of packing up and embarking on a 30min bus ride to paya lebar to get to the company gym, so this was a welcome change-up.
Boy was it DIFFERENT.
Beside the pool, there's a small club house, with a games room and changing rooms, and a flight of stairs that leads down. Down to the pump room, where u can hear the engine whirring through the old wood door. But the stairs dont end there - they go further down one more floor, where a tiny strand of light peeks out from underneath the door at the bottom.
Open that up, and there it is - the gym. I call it the Dungeon - and was a dungeon through and through.
The Dungeon is what people will call, the titular Bare Bones Gym. This place is not for the pampered. What makes it a bare bones gym? I'll tell ya:
1) No airconditioning - this reason is typically enough to keep women away
2) No radio - this reason keeps posers away
3) No modern day machinery.
Yeap, you heard me right. Bare as bare can be. Back to the basics i would say. I step into the gym and on the threadmill for a warm up, and im already sweating like a pig. There are mostly free weights, with only the basic bench press, lat pull down and thigh stretching machines. Nothing else. So those of you looking for an assisted pullup machine, or a guided preacher curl, or a "low impact" leg exercise - SORRY, try some place else.
Immediately i realize that I've been spoiled by the company gym. While I can usually manage 40kilos on a bench press, in the dungeon, im struggling with 30kilos. While i can usually manage a 35kilo shoulder press, here im barely getting past 20. My deadlift went from 40kg down to 30kg. Basically, every weight that i could usually manage, i had to cut down by at least 20%.
Without the assisted machines, i did only pure free weights and basic exercises. And the "heat" of room temperature sapped my strength away. This is endurance training at its finest - and i dont remember sweating as much as i ever did. And i struggled to get up the stairs back to my apartment.
Excellent stuff. I'm going back there tomorrow morning.
No, it wasnt Linda Evangelista topless on a tricycle dragging a giant Goonch catfish through an inflated swimming pool of mayonnaise. No. PRETTY sure of that.
Something more mundane.
First thing i thought to myself - "Holy shit, is that a bench press machine on the CCTV?"
I ask the guard, "We have a gym here?"
And he says, "AAWW HELL YAAAW!"
And im like, "AAWW HELL YAAAW!!"
Turns out there was one all along - it's been there for years. The only thing that ticked me off slightly was that it used to be a Squash court that they had gutted and mutilated with mirrors and tiles and frankensteined it with machinery and threadmills everywhere.
It was already 630pm on a Saturday - my tennis hopes had been dashed, so i was thinking of packing up and embarking on a 30min bus ride to paya lebar to get to the company gym, so this was a welcome change-up.
Boy was it DIFFERENT.
Beside the pool, there's a small club house, with a games room and changing rooms, and a flight of stairs that leads down. Down to the pump room, where u can hear the engine whirring through the old wood door. But the stairs dont end there - they go further down one more floor, where a tiny strand of light peeks out from underneath the door at the bottom.
Open that up, and there it is - the gym. I call it the Dungeon - and was a dungeon through and through.
The Dungeon is what people will call, the titular Bare Bones Gym. This place is not for the pampered. What makes it a bare bones gym? I'll tell ya:
1) No airconditioning - this reason is typically enough to keep women away
2) No radio - this reason keeps posers away
3) No modern day machinery.
Yeap, you heard me right. Bare as bare can be. Back to the basics i would say. I step into the gym and on the threadmill for a warm up, and im already sweating like a pig. There are mostly free weights, with only the basic bench press, lat pull down and thigh stretching machines. Nothing else. So those of you looking for an assisted pullup machine, or a guided preacher curl, or a "low impact" leg exercise - SORRY, try some place else.
Immediately i realize that I've been spoiled by the company gym. While I can usually manage 40kilos on a bench press, in the dungeon, im struggling with 30kilos. While i can usually manage a 35kilo shoulder press, here im barely getting past 20. My deadlift went from 40kg down to 30kg. Basically, every weight that i could usually manage, i had to cut down by at least 20%.
Without the assisted machines, i did only pure free weights and basic exercises. And the "heat" of room temperature sapped my strength away. This is endurance training at its finest - and i dont remember sweating as much as i ever did. And i struggled to get up the stairs back to my apartment.
Excellent stuff. I'm going back there tomorrow morning.
Monday, April 5, 2010
single time
My manager nodded towards me and said, "Chris, can you handle this?"
"Yeah," I replied.
"Well, you're not married after all, so you should have the flexibility and time," he concluded.
...
...
...
WHAT THE FUCK DID HE JUST SAY?????
What the hell has my unmarried life got to do with work? And why the hell do people assume that the single and living alone guy ALWAYS has the time to do extra work??!!!?!?!
M*therf*cker!!!
Think about it. When the married guy goes home at 8pm, when he opens the door, there's dinner waiting for him, nice and warm. Doesnt have to do the laundry either, the missus has got it covered. And guess what, the place is decently clean too.
When the SINGLE guy gets home, the place is EXACTLY as how he left it. If a retarded bird had flown into the apartment moments before he left for work, puked its guts out and died RIGHT THERE on the floor, when the guy gets home, the dead retarded bird will be EXACTLY where it puked it guts out and died.
The single guy has to cook his own dinner. The single guy has to do his own laundry. The single guy has to clean his own place. He has to do EVERY SINGLE FUCKING THING.
HOW THE HELL DO I HAVE TIME FOR ANYTHING ELSE????!?!?!?!!?????
It has suddenly pinged into my brain that perhaps the married man has a working wife and thus she may be a dominating kind of independent woman (rubbish, whatever). But STILL, as a married couple, im pretty sure that they'd at least DIVIDE up some of the chores.
He wouldnt have to do EVERYTHING on his own.
Dont forget the single man is just as he is - SINGLE. This means he has the added pressure of having to make himself attractive to women (national geographic voice-over pls). So he has to either spend an hour styling his hair, or working out at the gym, or finding some way to mutilate his face with needles and metal studs, to find that special someone and get married.
The married man dun have to do that kinda crap. He can just sit there and get fat and slack. So long as she gets as fat as he is, there shouldnt be a problem and the car wont tilt to one side in the morning.
Of course some may argue that if they had KIDS, then yeah, maybe the married guy would have less time. BULLSHIT. I'll bet that by the time they can remember, they'll be locked up in their rooms playing Bioshock or DoTA - which i dont think will take up much of the married man's time. Unless of course, u beat ur kids since young, so they wont turn into spoilt little brats that talk back to you. If it's this, then YEAH, perhaps they'd take up some of the married man's time. After all, nothing soothes the soul like a tight slap across the face of a defiant youth.
So dont u ever dare say that the single guy has more time on his hands.
"Yeah," I replied.
"Well, you're not married after all, so you should have the flexibility and time," he concluded.
...
...
...
WHAT THE FUCK DID HE JUST SAY?????
What the hell has my unmarried life got to do with work? And why the hell do people assume that the single and living alone guy ALWAYS has the time to do extra work??!!!?!?!
M*therf*cker!!!
Think about it. When the married guy goes home at 8pm, when he opens the door, there's dinner waiting for him, nice and warm. Doesnt have to do the laundry either, the missus has got it covered. And guess what, the place is decently clean too.
When the SINGLE guy gets home, the place is EXACTLY as how he left it. If a retarded bird had flown into the apartment moments before he left for work, puked its guts out and died RIGHT THERE on the floor, when the guy gets home, the dead retarded bird will be EXACTLY where it puked it guts out and died.
The single guy has to cook his own dinner. The single guy has to do his own laundry. The single guy has to clean his own place. He has to do EVERY SINGLE FUCKING THING.
HOW THE HELL DO I HAVE TIME FOR ANYTHING ELSE????!?!?!?!!?????
It has suddenly pinged into my brain that perhaps the married man has a working wife and thus she may be a dominating kind of independent woman (rubbish, whatever). But STILL, as a married couple, im pretty sure that they'd at least DIVIDE up some of the chores.
He wouldnt have to do EVERYTHING on his own.
Dont forget the single man is just as he is - SINGLE. This means he has the added pressure of having to make himself attractive to women (national geographic voice-over pls). So he has to either spend an hour styling his hair, or working out at the gym, or finding some way to mutilate his face with needles and metal studs, to find that special someone and get married.
The married man dun have to do that kinda crap. He can just sit there and get fat and slack. So long as she gets as fat as he is, there shouldnt be a problem and the car wont tilt to one side in the morning.
Of course some may argue that if they had KIDS, then yeah, maybe the married guy would have less time. BULLSHIT. I'll bet that by the time they can remember, they'll be locked up in their rooms playing Bioshock or DoTA - which i dont think will take up much of the married man's time. Unless of course, u beat ur kids since young, so they wont turn into spoilt little brats that talk back to you. If it's this, then YEAH, perhaps they'd take up some of the married man's time. After all, nothing soothes the soul like a tight slap across the face of a defiant youth.
So dont u ever dare say that the single guy has more time on his hands.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
*sigh*
Stayed until 10pm on Thursday night to find a solution for a system error.
Worked through most of the week on a termination table that isnt even part of my scope of work.
Still completed my own share of work.
Rushed a progress chart on Sunday, bcos coworker only passed the info to me on Sunday itself.
Finished progress chart in under an hour and sent it straight back to the director.
Stopped by the office on Sunday night after work to clear up some loose reports for the directors' meeting on Monday.
Sent out 3 reminders to my colleagues for their own assignments.
Withdrew those assignments and decided to do all of them by next week, since colleagues should be busy.
Still havent received the SGD$1k claim that i paid in cash for equipment.
Discovered that all my highlighters are missing again.
Left a note to draftsman highlighting several errors i discovered in the CAD drawings as i was going over them on Friday.
Pick up a heavy roll of CAD drawings to complete the next phase of termination table through the night.
Leave office on Sunday night 1030pm. Catch a taxi home. Caught in a jam. Taxi fare is 50% more than usual.
Get home.
At 11pm, receive an email from director thanking some people for their hardwork.
My name isnt on the list of appreciated people.
*sigh*.... Oh well...
Worked through most of the week on a termination table that isnt even part of my scope of work.
Still completed my own share of work.
Rushed a progress chart on Sunday, bcos coworker only passed the info to me on Sunday itself.
Finished progress chart in under an hour and sent it straight back to the director.
Stopped by the office on Sunday night after work to clear up some loose reports for the directors' meeting on Monday.
Sent out 3 reminders to my colleagues for their own assignments.
Withdrew those assignments and decided to do all of them by next week, since colleagues should be busy.
Still havent received the SGD$1k claim that i paid in cash for equipment.
Discovered that all my highlighters are missing again.
Left a note to draftsman highlighting several errors i discovered in the CAD drawings as i was going over them on Friday.
Pick up a heavy roll of CAD drawings to complete the next phase of termination table through the night.
Leave office on Sunday night 1030pm. Catch a taxi home. Caught in a jam. Taxi fare is 50% more than usual.
Get home.
At 11pm, receive an email from director thanking some people for their hardwork.
My name isnt on the list of appreciated people.
*sigh*.... Oh well...
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