I Hate Myself for Loving You - Joan Jett and the Black Hearts

Another hit song from Joan Jett and the Black Hearts. Joan looks a lot younger in the video.. Well, that's a recording from the 80's :P

Beware of robbery in Alhambra

Yesterday, my friend told me that her friends got robbed in the parking lot behind Phoenix Inn Chinese Cusine on Valley Blvd. It was around midnight and they got robbed by four people, three threatening them and one driving. All of them wore some kind of masks and were armed with knifes. Her friends gave them all their valuable belongings but fortunately no one was hurt. They called the police afterwards but I'm not sure even anyone is caught at this point.

This is the third time my friend's friends got robbed in the Alhambra area already (I don't know why her friends are so unlucky).

Man, when did Alhambra became so dangerous?

My friend said that it's probably due to the increasing number of light clubs and bars since those patrons serve as very good "targets" for robbery.

Did a little bit of research about preventing and reacting to robbery and would like to share with you:

Preventing robbery

• Avoid going to/through places where lighting are inadequate
  

• Walk with a group of friends (2 robbers probably won't target a group of 10 people)
  

• Glance behind you from time to time
  

• If there're suspicious people on your way to the parking lot/in the parking lot, go back to the bar/club/restaurant and call for help
  

• If you sense that someone is following you, go to places where you'll find people around you as soon as possible
  

• Bring a personal alarm with you. Trigger it immediately when you're very certain that someone approaching is going to pose a danger to you (if s/he has a knife or gun in his hand!)
  

• Have you keys ready when you come close to your car. Don't stand alone and look for it in your handbag since you won't know someone is approaching you!
  

• Watch around before stepping into or out of your car
  

• Check if somebody is already in the backseat before stepping into your car!
  

• Keep the car doors locked and windows rolled up when you're driving
  

• If you car is being followed, drive to the closest well-lit gas station, or, better yet, police station
  

• If you get into a car accident at late night, signal the other driver to drive to a well-lit public place. You won't know if he's trying to hit your car and lure you out to rob you
  

• If someone suspicious approaches you when you stop at a red light or stop sign, blow your horn repeatedly
  

• If there're suspicious people hanging around your home, drive to some public place where you can call for help
  

• If some "good" fellows tell you that your car has some problem (like a broken tire), drive to the closet well-lit public place to check it
  

• Don't stay out too late!
  

Reacting to robbery

• Stay calm and don't scream. The robbers may attack you to "make your mouth shut"
  

• Even if no immediate weapon is visible, believe that the robber is armed if s/he claims so
  

• Cooperate with the robber! Your life is much more valuable their your money and belongings
  

• Silently note the physical appearance of the robber: height, sex, race, face, clothing, etc.
  

• Although we say that you should cooperate with the robber, there're exceptions. If the robber is trying to (1) attack you, (2) force you into his/her car, you have to resist!! (Think about it, if s/he only wants your money, why would s/he take you to somewhere else?)
  

• This one is obvious: dial 9-1-1 as soon as the robber leaves. Listen to the instructions given by the police
  

In any case, remember that your personal safety is the most important. Be careful!

Telling your boss about your ideas

Just read CK's post 夠膽講 and the comments there and it makes me think about the issue of expressing one's ideas to the managements.

If you don't know Chinese, the post is about how CK was unhappy about the dead air when he asked his employees for their ideas/suggestions. In a nutshell, no one was willing to share their thoughts because

• they're afraid that their ideas may offend the boss
  
• they're afraid that other coworkers will think that they're "saying too much"
• they only care about their salaries and not the company
  

After reading the post, I've a feeling that most people in Hong Kong think exactly like the three items I mentioned above and it scares me so much. If I have choices, I'll never work for a boss who doesn't listen to his employees and with coworkers who only care about their paychecks. It's just no fun to work in such an environment.

I don't treat the job duties of a manager (or boss) being superior to the ones of a subordinate. Instead, a manager is merely doing a different job. I'd guess that, to the minds of many people, a manager's greatest responsibility is to lead the team and make decisions. There're certainly merits in this thought but I think it's sub-optimal. Rather, I think that a manager's biggest job is to maximize the productivity of the team.

In this regard, the manager doesn't necessarily have to be the smartest/know the most about every issue that may come out from the project/work s/he manages. Instead, s/he should always think about how to help his/her team members to achieve more, for example, giving them the best work environment the company can afford.

If you think about it, actually, how can one individual knows all the details of a considerably big project? It's not just that it's unnecessary for the manager to know everything, it's infeasible for one to do so. If this is true, surely it's unwise for the manager to make decision without listening to other people.


Because of this, it's the management's responsibility to make the work place a friendly place to exchange ideas. Not only one shouldn't be punished for making suggestions, one should be encouraged to do so. If people are discouraged for voicing opinions, as time goes on, no one will speak out his/her thoughts anymore. There're two results

• People who can still stand the company will just "work for money" everyday (The company doesn't care about him, why should he care about the company?)
  

• People who can't stand will just leave the company

People who just "work for money" won't be happy about the job and coworkers around them can feel it, so in turn they won't be happy also or even be unhappy. When turnover rate is high, people will lose confidence in the company and this in turn leads to even higher turnover rate. It's just bad to the company, the boss, the managers, to everyone.

If you read Joel's post Two Stories, you'll know that the managers at Microsoft not only listen to the employees, they actually would like them to make decision themselves: (it was the old days of course, probably not the humongous Microsoft now)

At Microsoft, if you're the Program Manager working on the Excel macro strategy, even if you've been at the company for less than six months, it doesn't matter - you are the GOD of the Excel macro strategy, and nobody, not even employee number 6, is allowed to get in your way. Period.

As a conclusion, if you're

• a boss/manager, stop practicing defensive management and listen to your employees. Better yet, let them make decisions as much as possible; mistakes make them learn and grow.
  

• an employee, voice your opinions in a respectful way and encourage your coworkers to do so also. If it's impossible to do that in any way, LEAVE.
  

Be assertive guys! :)

Do you have lots of stuff?

Just read a nice article written by Paul Graham: Stuff. I think one golden rule to remember is that

When you own some stuff, it owns you in some way in reverse also.

Stuff will consume

• Space: You need space to put it
• Time: You usually need to think about how to deal with it (Keep it, give it to someone or trash it?)
• Money: Obviously, you need to spend $$ to buy it in the first place?

Girls often like to buy stuff just because it looks nice or "it's such a good deal!" and this kind of mindset usually leads to a house full of useless stuff. Read Paul's article laidies! :P

Wish you all the best Jill!

Today is my supervisor Jill's last day at UCLA. She's one of the best supervisors I've ever had in my career life.

How many of your supervisors actually care about your work environment? Jill is one good example. Thanks to her, I have a perfect place to work: good monitor, keyboard tray, ergonomic chair, etc. If you've read my post about ergonomics, I can tell you that I have everything I need that let me do what I mentioned in that post. I seriously doubt that if there're 50% of the bosses in the US who are willing to give their employees such a good work environment.

So long Jill. I wish you all the best for you new life in Texas :)

How many hours of sleep do you need?

Recently I find that I need more and more sleep. I still remember the days when I had a full-time day job as an engineer and a part-time night job at a restaurant as a buy boy; there's just no way I can do that anymore now. Every night I need at least 8 hours of sleep in order to function okay at work. I feel that it's a lot despite the common belief that 8 hours is normal.

Is the standard of 8-hours sleep normal or a myth? I really don't know. If you have a few seconds, I would appreciate that you participate in the little survey on the right hand side so that we can have a rough idea on how many hours people usually spend on sleeping. Thanks a lot! :)

I Love Rock N' Roll - Joan Jett and the Black Hearts

Went to the Alhambra Summer Jubilee event tonight and saw the performance of Joan Jett and the Black Hearts.

I must confess - before today I didn't even know who Joan Jett is. When I first saw their performance, I thought to myself: "Let's see what kind of local band perform tonight". After listening for a while, I started to feel that this band can't be just a local band; the singer sang exceptionally well and their performance was professional and full of passion. However, a famous band wouldn't perform at a small event in a small city like Alhambra, at which no one had to pay anything to watch the show, right?

And it turned out that I was totally wrong.

Man! They're not only famous; Joan herself was named "The girl Elvis" and "Godmother of Punk". Their song I Love Rock N' Roll ranks no. 28 of all time on Billboard. Talking about how ignorant I'm in American music. Damn.

Joan, you and your band just rock. Someday I hope I can see your live performance again. Keep up with the good work :)