Adventure: Point for Reflections

A series of unfortunate events that has occured this week has come to a point where every single one of us, including you and me is to reflect on whatever that has been going on in our life. What is life to you if you are crippled? Imagine yourself having short of one hand or one leg, a life without facebook or twitter. These are analogies that one can think of, definitely relative to what has been happening to our lives the past few days. What is life to you without our public good, MRT Service? 5th day in running, 4 days not in operation. Have your lives been difficult? While you guys are complaining about bad service, bad maintainance and all, have you guys reflected that you guys may have taken the 24 years of good MRT service for granted all these while? Is there any point of time where you guys have greatly appreciated the government or SMRT & SBS Transit for providing you the comfort in moving from place to place? Have you guys notice the bus fleet renewal these 2 years in particular?

Well, it's normal. Human Beings tend pick out one bad thing out of the million good things. It goes the same in life too. You may be frustrated with things that are going on in your life now, like how your friends treat you, your living conditions and whatnot, but wait a minute, aren't you blessed that you are actually living in Singapore, with good public transport system(despite recent cork ups, but relatively still better than other countries), a rather steady government(despite the current hasn't been performing well these few years), and a comfortable environment to live in? Yes, we judge people according to their performance and all, there are definitely ways and areas they have to improve and we should support and give them chance. Maybe there should be new blood to take over the current batch of leaders or management for better delivery? Well, we wouldn't know what goes on behind the scenes but there definitely are struggles within each and every one of them in order to deliver, whether they really have the heart to serve people or for their own self interest or not. There certainly are struggles. Errors are inevitable, whats most important is how we can prevent the same thing from happening again? What, we commuters can do, to actually make life easier? Besides complaining, maybe we can help people around us to plan their journey, and also plan our own journey when we dont have the luxury of public trains. And also, don't get so worked up and be calm. Mr Lui definitely is under alot of pressure now, it is not really his fault that the trains break down, as he just took over this role as a transport minister and perhaps may be still in the process in getting a clearer idea of his job scope and all. 

Well, besides that, results are released. I'm particularly disappointed with it, considering that I have actually worked hard for it. Perhaps not hard enough. The problem I faced was time management. I couldn't really manage my time well and spend equal focus to each module. Something I have to really work on in semester 2 and I'm all set out to emerge victorious in semester 2! I will not be defeated! :)

Had a few good talks with my fellow comrades and I felt so much better. Thanks everybody!

Attended T's 21st birthday party, well, his birthday was 1 mth plus belated but still I wished him all the best and all. Met up with D and K to go early for the chalet to help out. I guess that's what I could do as a friend of theirs since we didn't have to pay or prepare for the food. It's a form of appreciation which I thought was necessary. Reached Coasta Sands Resort at 4.45pm and both Y and T haven't arrived. We ended up walking along the beach under the gloomy sky, but breezy weather, it was nothing but COMFORTABLE! :) #likeashiok only. 

The scenery was rather nice and I really need to sit there and think and reflect over my life and what needs to improve. D has been making alot of noise along the way but I'm really appreciate D and K for accompanying me at the beach. Ive taken a few pictures..

Somehow or rather, I love to take pictures of trees, both individual trees or a group of trees. Somehow they give out a refreshing feeling and they are like things that were with us since young. 

Saw the rainbow? It seems cool. I love this picture because the trees seemed to have darkened to really show the scenery well, plus the rainbow! :)

Why does the dustbin has to be there? :)

D said we should waste our time because they wasted our time. This is wrong. Y and T may have been held up in preparing the stuffs thats why they were late so we should understand. We cannot be always complaining about other people, it's time to really analyse why things happen and perhaps they have their reasons for doing so. Everybody have good intentions to start with :)

Finally we met up with Y and T, helped them set up the bbq pit and prepare the charcoals and all.. fun! First time I actually tried to set up bbq pit and the fire myself, with the help of T of cause! 

A, C, P, J and S came later but nevertheless we had a real good time! :) The polaroid pic was nice! 

Lol it has been really long since we last had a great get-together! This clique is a very special clique of mine and I really cherish them. Played game and had a talk throughout the night and finally we all went to sleep. 

The next day we went to downtown east to have our breakfast and we noticed the train disruption again. Well, find alternatives! :)

After which, went for study meeting, I'm glad that I have gone to the study meeting despite not enough sleep. I need these study meetings to really learn how to behave as a first-rate human being. :) 

After that I went for chingay. What a busy saturday! But still, I enjoyed every single moment I had yesterday because time was well spent!

I have never been in the Singapore Flyer before, but I was training just right beside it and finally had a real close look of it. It definitely looks awesome!! How I wish I can really be inside and enjoy the moments of looking at the scenery of Singapore. It will be good! :)

This is part of the MBS but I can't really figure out what is this place. Is it the casino? Well, the building looks awesome too! :)

Well, before I end, just want to share something. Went to JB the other day for a short while and had the wonton mee there. 

The stall looks very very simple, just a cart and there the old couple start cooking and selling their wanton mee. It then came upon me the fact that people in this kind of area are working so hard to make a living. I can see both of them had problems walking, but they still persisted. Question that came in my mind, "why aren't they children helping out? " I feel that life's really hard for them thats why we all should really appreciate whatever we have! :)

Blooper: Enrichment Lessons Smacked in the middle of the Holidays!

I guess SMU is relatively an interesting school. It gets you all stressed up in the whole of the 3 months of a semester, it gets you stressed up and can't really enjoy the holidays well by not telling you when they are gonna release the results for every module. Suddenly an email appears in your handphone and you know the results are out. The uncertainty is always there, up till now. 

Of course, the most exciting 'incentive' for SIS students ever, is to having to be called back into school for a 5 day pre-course lessons in school. Where all students from other schools are all sleeping and enjoying their holidays, we are all having our own time in school from 9.30am - 6.30pm having lectures. Not that I dislike it, I actually appreciate what the SIS Professors are doing for us. I guess we really need this 'incentive' to get us started and prepared of what we are to expect for the next semester. Results have been out in stages, and I guess most of us more or less know how well we have done and how else we can improve. I believe we all can do much better in the next semester. Whether you think the professor's gradings are fair or not, I don't think you can really change anything out of it, so what one can do is to evaluate yourself, what have you done well, and not done so well and needs to be improved and be back in semester with a full force and resolve to achieve victory at all cost! :D

For me especially, I believed the problem I faced in this semester is not being able to manage my time well enough. That's definitely something I will work on in the next semester. Also, I have to push myself to class participate more because I myself see how subjective professors can be in the gradings for such a component. So yea, that's something I would work on too. 

Well, shan't brood too much on school stuffs, it's the HOLIDAYS MAN! :D

My friends and I went to town on sunday to shop for a friend's present. It was a short 3 hours outing but we had quite abit of fun. I guessed it was all natural to be shopping for our own stuffs instead of picking and choosing presents for friend. But well, we still managed to settle for something which I felt was not bad. Really hope that birthday boy will like it man :)

While walking, we came across this beautiful decoration. I thought it was awesomely displayed. The reflection of the lights, that formed up a shape of a pyramid in the waters just seem so beautiful! How can I miss the chance to snap a photo of it, right? :)

Guess it's usual to see the mass decoration in Orchard road to fit into the festive seasons. What really appeals to me is actually not the things that were hung on the trees and all, but these sculptures that has always been there. Somehow, it's value seems to be magnified with the presence of all the lightings around it. Loving it :)

Yesterday, a few of my friends managed to find time with me to attend the 7th Student Peace Lecture at SMU, organised by Singapore Soka Association. I'm really glad and grateful that they actually took the time off to come down for this event and I'm pleased that they enjoyed the talk. THANK YOU VERY MUCH C, S, P and V! :D

After which, we did not forget that the Starbucks 1-for-1 deal was still on! :) Went to bugis with V, P and S to of course enjoy the #cheapthrill :) 

Awesome $2.50 per cup of STARBUCKS! :) ToffeeNut for the win! Nice. 

How was your experience of the Starbucks 1-for-1 cheap thrill? :)

Had quite abit of catchup with them, talking about life, love and relationships and all. Really wished we had abit more time with each other that night :) If not for my lessons my next day, I would have stayed longer :)

Anyway, i finally got hold of the picture of the new SMRT MAN A22 Bus on the streets! It was on Sv 61! I think this bus is rather awesome looking and no wonder SMRT wanna buy MAN buses because i believe they can be as strong as our MAN Trucks :) Nice picture! 

Fan of buses? Connect with me !! :D

Happenings: The Journey to Strive to be a Better Me

The past few days has been rather crazy for me because I was very busy. However, all the work and effort in the things I do were very worthwhile and I thought time was damn well spent. All thanks to R for giving me such a good opportunity to be able to share a part of the Gosho with W. 

Through the preparation and study of the Gosho, Ive really learnt alot, alot and alot. Seriously 非笔墨所能形容的. It also reminds me that there are still so much more to the Buddhist teachings that I've yet to discover, and I shall really go read up and seriously strive to be a better me. Everyday I shall be a better person than I was the day before :). 

The sharing was yesterday. Nervous and all, but we still manage to really facilitate it quite well and manage to lead all of them into very good discussions. Through discussions and all, we also can think and reflect on our past actions and also how we can do better. I think this is what really matters :)

Chingay was fun so far! Yesterday was finally a day that I can really have a get-together with my fellow SMUSDs! hahah Awesome people! I really feel damn happy attending Chingay and be with my fellow comrades! They are really the group of friends whom really do not mind anything about you and shares great joy and encourage you all the while. Comfortable friends!

Sigh no YMDs, so I'm with all the YWDs. We had lots of fun anyway! :)

We had a chill-out at the Singapore Flyer, walked around there, some of us had ice-cream and some had bubble tea. Then, interesting enough, we all slowly became tourists :) the sceneries there were awesome!

I editted this photo and I thought it was nice! 

But I also like the original take! hahaha What about YOU? :)

This was not an emo-intended pic! Haha, I only realised that 1 person was standing there looking at the sea, "EMO-ING" after i took the picture. Nice pic!

I personally like the lightings of the different statue-like stuffs on the grass patch! The word "Singapore" shines very brightly too! :)

It was shag for me because I had to attend to a friend who had some problems in the midnight the day before and also prepare my sharing stuffs. So basically I only slept for 3 hours and then I went to chill out with my friends again right after chingay. But, I know I want to be there for friends :). So I shall do it :)

Meet Up: Something We Have All Been Waiting For

It's another day of outing for me! It's also another day of spending! Yesterday I had a long day, planned to go swim in the morning but due to unforeseen circumstances, waiting for my sister to leave the house for the office before I can drive the other car. When she finally left for work, rain start pouring down and there goes my plan to swim! 

After which, I have decided to step out of my house and do a loner bus touring and shopping myself. Sometimes I truly enjoy being alone, don't ask me why. Sometimes I truly enjoy staying at home too. That's when I can really read my stuffs and reflect on certain matters. I took a Mercedes Citaro SMRT857 to Yishun, then i took a Mercedes Citaro SMRT855 to HarbourFront. The trip on Sv 855 was something that I feel that I should mention.

I was waiting at the bus berth with this other passenger. A blind man came by and start asking if this bus is Sv 855. Then the passenger and I helped him along. He starts to say his story about his life. It's rather sad, because he was not the only handicap and all. I seriously feel the need to help him. We helped him board the bus, asked the bus captain for directions and all. Throughout the journey, I have been thinking deeply: 

:: It is very inconvenient for people who are handicapped to take a bus, hence most of the time these people will choose to take a taxi which they could barely afford. And I still dont understand and cant figure out why Taxi Fares are still going to increase ridiculously! I really feel sad for these people and the society. How unfeeling. ::

I felt the strong urge to help him all the way to the Alexandra Hospital. Fortunately, there's this lady who is going there as well, he is well taken care of. So I was relived.

After arriving to VivoCity, I went to walk around, then I settled down at Starbucks to read up on my stuffs. I think it's rather chillax.. Soon enough S came and we went to walk around. Bought a tshirt and then sat at the outdoors to chill. 

After which, met up with my fellow army mates. 

We had so much to catchup on, since we really hadnt seen each other for a very long time! We had our dinner at Bei Chuan Steamboat Restaurant. The food was okay. It's good to have a meetup over steamboat because we can really catchup well and long enough. 

We went up to the outdoors again and sat down to chill. We had a whole lot of fun! I really love this christmas tree. It's damn nicely decorated and lighted up. Celebrated A's birthday and chill for a while before we all disperse for our last buses and trains. 

D came with me home to collect the bag he bought for his gf. The whole time, I had a very good and thorough heart to heart talk with him. I have no idea why I told him so much about stuffs, but I guessed I have learnt quite alot from his advices and all. I appreciated the time spent and I hope we can really chat and talk again. Nice bro!

Hope you had fun too! =)

Refreshing Local Display: Already Famous

I had a long day of outing on Monday, and of course, a whole lot of money spent too.Finally I had the time to meet up with my fellow army mates, and I really enjoyed going out with them. It's like we have been talking and chatting in the whatsapp group for long but we didn't meet up much. So it's kinda great to see them once again. Spent the whole afternoon singing songs in the PartyWorld at NEX. 

As much as I like singing, I must comment that PartyWorld @ NEX is seriously not up  to standard. Well, the sound system, choice of songs were okay, but the aircon temperature was seriously last warning. We were like stuck in a very stuffy room for the whole 5 hours. It's good that we all were okay with it, and we had lots of fun. J, D, V, M, Y and M had lots to catchup on. I would like to go kbox with a few up to date people so that I can sing new songs! woohoo! lol.

After that, I went to meetup with my secondary school clique for a dinner, followed by a movie. The always-atas group brought us to Sushi Teh for dinner. I have not met up with this clique for damn long also, so I really cherished all the time I have with them. It's like a cool. Talked about studies, holiday plans and all. I really appreciate to be able to have this close to 9 years of friendship. It didnt come easy. Forever friends yo. 

After which, we went to watch the first Michelle Chong's movie, Already Famous. 

Reference

As far as I want to be objective, I can't help but compare this movie to all the previous Jack Neo's films. I felt that Michelle have already made a great effort in producing the movie. The storyline was okay, cast was ok, of course, with more credits given to the guest artiste XiaoGui,   in terms of humour, I guess Michelle is still not there yet. Yes, there are funny parts in the show, but I felt that she can do better. All in all, this show is quite enjoyable to watch and I kinda love it. 

Rating for this move: 2 / 5

After so much spendings and all, Ive been telling myself to save money save money, and here I am going out again. Meeting my vtw people for dinner later. Great catchup yo. Hopefully I can really set down to do whatever I planned to do soon. I can't seem to wake up early now. I have to change it. My bed is just too tempting! :)

Have you watched this movie too? Share with me your views? :)

A Chill-Out Place That Was Never Discovered...

It was a Sunday all by myself. I did not want to head out. I just wanna stay and slack at home. Honestly speaking, I really enjoy every moment at home, sometimes I would rather stay at home than go out. Although I have to face the consistent questions of concerns by my grandparents, regarding whether I have eaten or what do I want to eat, I still enjoy staying at home. Why do I say consistent questions of concerns, can you imagine having to answer these questions more than 10 times a day? Not that I need alot of food in me. But well, as what my mother has always told me, these things are probably the very few things that my grandparents can talk to me about. I appreciate that and I know they are concerned about me. 

Had plans to run in the afternoon after my favourite 933 lhb results yesterday. I intended to explore new places for a refreshing run, so I decided to make a trip to Sengkang Riverside Park, for my run yesterday. 

I knew this place exists recently but I did not have the time to come and explore. After I parked my car, I realised that this place is huge! Thus the running plan was shelved and I have decided to go and explore the place, with my Samsung Galaxy S2 and myself :)

Personally I found this sign rather interesting. "Be Considerate, Keep your dog leashed, pick up your dog's poo". The picture seems cool too. However I don't see anyone with any dogs around yesterday. 

I love this picture quite abit. I somehow speaks a thousand words. I believed different people can actually take away different feel and stories from this picture alone. Lonely path?

I am not sure if you guys can see the whole flock of seagulls. They were beautiful, and awesome! It's really rare to see this kind of sight in Singapore, especially in a residential area. Nice :)

Many greeneries to talk about. This photo is one of my more satisfied shot of the green :)

Lonely path again? This photo seems rather symmetrical! I think it's nice. This bridge leads you to the floating island. 

Somehow, I feel like I was in the teletubby land. Patches of greens with some trees growing and I was hoping to find some holes to jump in. It was beautiful :)

Nice stairs. Leading you to a shelter, resting point :)

I couldn't spend more time exploring because it started raining like 1 hr after I arrived. Can u imagine, it was scorching hot when i was there (looking at the photos), and then followed by a thunderstorm. What a weather! 

Nevertheless, the short discovery of such place is definitely something meaningful, it manage to bring me out of my troubles for a while. I really love nature and I believe I would come back again :)

Post Exams - A hole in the pocket!

The most anticipating post exams period has already arrived. Somehow or rather the post exam mood weren't as awesome as I thought. The releasing of results within any other day didn't help either. But who cares, I just want to sleep as much as I can and embark on my exercise routine, which I have neglected for the past 2 months at least. 

Of course, the holiday period is meant to meet up with friends whom I haven't met for a long time, and of course my close friends. It's awesome to be meeting them up again and we had lots to catchup on! Last day of exams, went to welcome T back from Australia, and met up with A, Y and D. Had a great dinner + chilling out session with them at Changi Village. We passed by the Old Changi Hospital because D wanted to have a peek at it. Half of the time we have been talking about supernatural stuffs, all thanks to A, leaving our hair stand for the whole night. Poor T, having to face all these upon arrival to Singapore. But we had a fun night!

The next few days were full of activities. 2 of my friends and I went to watch You Are An Apple Of My Eye. It was an awesome movie. No wonder the great ratings! Though there were inappropriate content but it was a rather meaningful movie! Love the storyline and all, what's more important - Chen Yanxi is damn pretty and cute! :)

Reference

The recommendation came rather late because I didn't have time to watch it until after exams. I believe most of you guys have already watched it! Memories of my school days just came back and this movie really make me feel like having a girlfriend soon - :P but well, good things have to wait, or i will be #foreveralone.lol 

Ratings for this move : 3.5 / 5

Jokes aside, went out and watch Puss In Boots on friday, and moved on to Old Airport Road for an awesome dinner! Of course, how can we miss out LaoBan TauHuay?! Guess how many did we buy?

Reference[1]

A total of 26 LaoBan TauHuay! It was damn good, haha the tauhuay really melts in your mouth and you can totally enjoy the taste and it's texture and whatnot! Queued for 30 mins and finally we can get the tauhuays and seats to get our dinner. We had 

:: Fried Prawn Noodles ::

:: Grilled Stingray :: 

:: Grilled Sotong ::

:: Lala ::

:: Fried Oyster Egg ::

:: BBQ Chicken Wings ::

Didn't manage to take pictures because we were all too hungry that we just started eating! Yeah had a great meetup and chat with all of them! 

I still have a few more outings in the pipeline and I really have no idea how much Ive spent and I should really control now. Still have the JB trip and the Genting Trip to talk about! 

Sometimes, I really hope I weren't that free. My brain just can't afford to have nothing on its mind. It must have something to think about and more often than not, negatives just keep creeping into my mind, bothering me. Not enough dmk. Must really chant more and bring up my life conditions. 

Oh well, all will be good! :)

How are your holidays?! :)

Im back!

Hey guys, whether you have been looking back once in a while for updates in this blog, just to tell you guys that I really appreciate it. Semester 1 is ending soon, with my last paper on Tuesday, and I guess Im now more free to blog about the bits and pieces of my life so far, and my thoughts.

University Life has been rather hectic and stressful. I'm rather glad that I have managed to be in the positive mode most of the time, although there were some setbacks in the past 3 months so far. Time flies, I'm a 3-mth old University Student already! How are all of you? Have you guys been doing great? 

Some things about SMU that I like to share.

1) Your timetable may look as simple as it is, but when you finally entered the semester and you will realise that there is never a fixed time for a certain module! Recalling the days where I've burnt midnight oil, rushing projects, assignments, presentations etc. Those days really left an indelible mark on my mind. Yea, those days were tough, but I really like the idea of working so hard for something I desire. I kinda enjoyed the process of such life but I wouldn't ask for more, DUH! 

2) Class participation is meaningless when students start to participate in class for the sake of participating.This is especially seen in the School of Business. Phew and luckily I'm in SIS. Im quite glad to have scored a decent class part marks though, considering that I'm rather introverted. 

3) When peer pressure sets into place, you will actually feel guilty for not studying, or sleeping. This might sound funny, but it's true. There were days where I've completed my work and it was around 11pm. There was this constant thought of "you are a bad student if you are really going to sleep this early. I know it sounds funny, but this is exactly what most SMU students feel. HOW competitive! :)

4) Of course, not all negatives about SMU. I'm personally very glad to have the few awesome professors in my course of study for semester 1. Firstly, they are really good profs, and they can actually connect to their students rather well. Next, I'm really glad to have awesome group mates! LTB and IS101 group mates were awesome! We managed to clique well and present the best that we could offer! Professors and students were rather helpful and Im really hope all these will continue in semester 2 and the rest of my uni life. 

While schoolwork have been constantly keeping me busy, I have gradually firmed up my stand and ideas on some issues that I have at hand, and I'm confident and shall stay on my stand. Different people having different perspectives is alright, but I do believe that one should not impose his/her own perspective/views onto another. THis is something I really believe in. I don't think I shall give this matter too much thought anymore. Of course, keeping quiet does not mean that I approve of what one is doing. Time will tell if you have been doing the right thing.

On a lighter note, I'm welcoming back two of my close buds from Australia and we shall have a good time together! 5 weeks of hols not that long to speak of but I believe we'll all make the best out of it. 

So many thoughts in mind, but I cant really pen it down offhand, well maybe I shall mention some of them in my future posts :).

CareGroup

CareGroup was a team of health-care professionals dedicated to providing the best quality care to patients in a highly personalised manner. 

• world renowned academic health centers 
• outstanding community hospitals
• physician offices
• community health centres

October 1, 1996

• CareGroup was formed (merger of The Beth Israel Hospital, the Deconess Hospital and the Mount Auburn Hospital)
• produced $1.6 billion in revenue after merger
• reasons to merge was due to the intense compeititive environment in the Healthcare industry in the mid-1990s
• The hospitals felt that they need to bulk-up negotiating power to push back against the HMO(individual patients and employees and hospitals and patients)*
• HMO is also under great financial pressure from various Banks
• aim to drive down medical costs

The factors that brought CareGroup together

• contacting power needed by the hospitals against the HMOs(increase in size, increase in negotiation and contacting power)
• the possibility of developing integrated services across the hospitals(the hospitals exchanges knowledge with each other and can conclude the most effective methods of healthcare in terms of quality and costs. Thus improves quality of services and drives down costs.)
• The need for a strong balanced sheet in a complex price war(maintain competitveness)

Quick note on the parade state: 

CareGroup has currently 13,000 employees and 2000 medical staff

::Food for thought:: With such a wide scope in their business, how are they going to cope with all the data required? 

My opinions: There is a need for a good IT System to manage the Human Resource side at least. There is a large number of employees in this CareGroup and there is a need to monitor their statuses, and payrolls etc. It is an uphill task if all these are to be done manually, because of the large number of employees. 


Dealing with Issues:
There were alot of financial pressure faced by the CareGroup under two CEOs. 

1. Mount Auburn Hospital - the most profitable hospital for the past 15 years suddenly produced a $10 million loss,and had to reengineer its operations
2. While salvaging MAH, Beth Israe Deaconess began to lose significant amounts of money. 
3. Mid 2002, a change of CEO, he did recover abit, however, Baptist Hospital suddenly incurred a $20 million loss, thus there was a change of new management

However as time passes, each hospital was managed by a different CEO, and financial stability issues went negligent. 

1. Operational coordination across hospitals were difficult (due to history of independence)
2. However, the joint contracting with the HMOs had been very successful(Good)
3. There is an unexpected success in the development of an integrated technology system that linked the entire group together.

Food for thought: It was great that they actually developed an integrated technology system which helps the organisation to work more efficiently. The unexpected success will probably lead to more revenues for this company. 

One of the business processes : IT support by CareGroup

It is able to deliver ample IT support to the hospitals associated with them. This helps to deliver a greater efficiency to the Healthcare hospitals in general and also generate more revenue. Instead of focusing on it's primary job scope, Healthcare, CareGroup actually expanded its scope on IT side. 

November 1, 1998 

CareGroup was given a $41 million project to deal with the Y2K problem. 

Halamka became CIO of CareGroup. Halamka is a talent. 

• Developed a software company at an age of 18
• well educated
• headed a group of 50 data analysts and Wed soecialists developing Web applications for CareGroup

Therefore, with Halamka taking over as CIO, it actually serves as an asset to the company. It can greater enhance the company's already good IT System. 

CareGroup IT

Before Halamka took over: 

• IT organisation was decentralised, nonstandardised operation
• each hospital ran its own system that predated the merger
• complicated computer systems
• antiquated lab system with hand typed results
• 10 yr old homegrown system with non integrated lab and radiology systems
• problematic lab system
• self developed payroll system
• failed operating room system installation
• limited network incapable of remote access

After Halamka take over:

• Common system with Meditech software at the centre
• all had state-of-the-art email, networking, PCs, and clinical/financial informations at costs similar or reduced.
• drop in IT budget(there isnt a need for this budget)
• believed to have the most advanced network in healthcare
• all applications Web enabled - able to access patient's personal health records, X-rays, and records of office visits for the past decade
• three backup generation, tried and tested with lightsout - did not suffer and data outage

Pros:

It made the whole network more organised

Consolidating of data is much easier

Obtaining information of individual patients were much faster and easier

Increased productivity

Increased efficiency

Drop in cost

Cater for larger needs

Cons:

Should there be any crop ups, there are no ready instant information at hand for backups. 

(to add on)

Boxes

HP/Compaq were initial suppliers

Chaned to IBM because they offered better deals

more efficient IT

Outsourcing

CareGroup outsourced their Logistics to PeopleSoft.

- Handle HR, payroll, accountspayable and other logistics 

2002, Halamka suggests modernising the network

wrong decision as there was a significant impact and thus lead to his departure.

CareGroup 

had managed to cut capital budget expenditures by 90%, within 3 years from 2003.

• recognised to provide the best knowledge management service in the United States BUT

13 November, 2002

NETWORK COLLAPSED

why?

• something happened to the monopolised switch
• important part of the network
• algorithms for computing alternative data paths could not operate correctly

Areas affected

• physicians who are accustomed to using technology to prescribe and identify drugs had to do it manually
• doctors, nurses, employees are too dependent on network, had quite abit of problems using paper and write

Despite many recoveries, there network stability remains, failures continued to occur

Outsourced to CISCO

to help solve the problems.

Why CISCO?

They had adequate equpiments ad team to build an entire core network to get CareGroup systems up and running again. 

• CAP Process
• there were flaws

Decision to remain on Backup Procedures

Guns and Dolls, Parenting

Guns and Dolls, Parenting
Renkl, M

Toys may be said to be part and parcel of one's childhood. When it comes to children's choice of toys, does parents really have a say? Or children will go for their choice of toys no matter what hinders them? Does gender really matter? These questions have been in a debate tussle for a long while and no one can actually conclude which side was more correct.


Renkl mentioned that children are actually the source of gender division of toys themselves. She thinks that from young when they were not mature enough, they tend to observe whats happening and finally when they can have some reasoning skills on themselves, they can actually conclude that boys are meant to get dirty,aggressive toys and girls will need to have long hair and look pretty.She also mentioned that when children starts to get older, peer pressure picks up a role in their choices too. Through observation they may have observed certain things like guys dont wear skirts, dont play barbie dolls etc, that might not have caused them to make a different choice, but looking at their peers toys, and their preferences, it may really have caused them to change their choice preferences. I agree with the author about children observe their surroundings from young and depended on it in their choice of toys, and it was made worse with peer pressure. It will tend to be weird if you are a boy and you dont play cars and superheros figurines. Also, it will also reduce to a state of being outcasted if you do not play these kind of toys when all your friends of the same gender are. This contributes to a valid point. However, I would like to question if only through observations and pressure that affects children's choice of toys? It seems like there is an increasing trend of girls picking up aggressive toys like guns, and guys picking up domestic products, however in general, boys still go for their stereotyped toys and girls too. Perhaps the author could have mentioned that kids are also influenced by the presence of media which kind of brainwashed them into choosing the types of toys they want. 


In the middle part of the article,the author suggests that a toy is just a toy for children to past time, and it has no relations to the child's development. This claim was supported by Harvard psychologist Dan Kindlon, stating that there was no link established that toys determine the kind of adult they become. Well, I disagree to this claim as I thought that this sentence is rather based  on an assumption rather than with supported evidence. With the emergence of aggressive and violent toys like transformers,spidermen etc, it is only natural that the character traits in these characters are instilled into the child. These fantasy toys are produced with the common theme of victory or destroy, there is sure a significant influence on how the child would behave, being exposed to such toys. Perhaps, this is not the author's viewpoints, as she merely picked the source from somewhere and put into the essay for us to think through. Maybe it's better for her to critique on this claim too. 


The author also suggests that banning a toy could actually backfire. Parents tend to concern in how the child's character is developed, and thus it is only natural that they only allow certain toys to be given to the child. I agree to her point. Somehow, gender stereotype is something cultivated since young, as it is natural for guys and girls to go for different toys. It's in their genes. Even if a parent gives her boy barbie dolls, the boy might not even like it or play with it. However, when we talk about backfire, we may also be saying that child will go do things otherwise behind their parents, which actually might result in a worse consequences. 


So, can child be nurtured from young? Or is just a natural behaviour and it is impossible to change? I would pick nature. No matter how much you try to nurture your child not to fall into the gender divided loop, there will always be a distinct difference in the choice of toys for boys and girls. The author is also good to suggest that in the nurture aspect, unless the father and mother are willing to cross dress to bring up the child, it is not possible. The child picks up through observations, and they can observe the most from their parents. Thus I think nature should be the reason.


In conclusion, since gender stereotype is ongoing for ages, and there is not much alternatives one can change such a trend, other than educations from school, parents. However, it all depends on how the child is reacting to toys and this behaviour comes from the genes which one cannot really fathom and change accordingly. The author has made the essay such that we can actually think through, and these points are not necessary her point of view but sources taken from different places. It's good that we get to evaluate and analyse each point and we can come to a conclusion. This never ending debate will still go on, it's more important that we know our views. 

What toys make of little boys

What toys make of little boys
Pat Caplan

In the modern world today, when we talk about toys, it would still be a common thing that people will  refer certain toys to boys and others to girls. It has been a trend, or rather, a stereotype that has been generated since ages ago. In the past, where the technology were not so advanced, and there were not many variety of toys, we see children coming out and play things like 'Paper Aeroplanes', and ball games together, regardless of gender, there were not many topics of gender stereotyping to talk about in that context. However, with the generation of toys, there is an increasing trend of gender stereotyping of toys, which makes one wonder why such a trend actually occurs.


The author states that the gender stereotype is actually blown out of proportion due to the effects of the media,marketing and advertising strategies. There have been many toys generated in the past ten to twenty years, from simple toys like cars and dolls to fantasy toys like Power Rangers, Transformers. Looking at how the producers actually market and advertise the toys, where we often see males taking up the dominant roles such as car racer, superheros, and girls are often protected, and likes to doll up in several television series and advertisements, I will conclude that it has thus influenced the way on how children actually feel about certain toys. I agree to a large extend that gender stereotype is contributed by media and advertising strategies,  as with the effect of media, the thoughts of a normal children will actually be altered, and it may just feel rather strange if boys go for barbie dolls and girls take up guns. However, I thought that the writer could have mentioned more about why are toys actually marketed in this manner, as I personally feel that there is this nature aspect in every boy and girl where boys will want to go for more aggressive toys and girls will tend to want to look pretty and doll themselves up.  With this aspect, the claim that gender stereotypes has been blown out of proportion due to media would have been more valid.  The author should not just contribute everything to the media without crediting the nature aspect which kicks off the children's choice of toys in the first place. 


The author mentioned that the effect of gender stereotyping of toys actually could have detrimental effects on a child's behaviour. With the high profile development of the fantasy world, where superheros, monsters, robots come into place, where violence and destruction were the only two keywords they knew about themselves in their world, could have influenced the children to think in this way. I agree to the writer that such influence is caused by the great development of the fantasy world, and the intensity of such idea being fed to the society today, it actually gives rise to violence and aggression among boys, since such genre of toys are catered mainly for boys. This is evident from things that are happening in the world recently, where there is an increase of violence in the U.S., where children at the age of 15 can actually carry guns and carry out a major shooting in schools of the U.S., and also in our home ground, we see a sharp rise in the gang violence which had proved to be fatal. The author also mentioned that such behaviour is rather encouraged and there were no programs to actually discourage such behaviour and educate the young on how such things are to be coped with. I would like to refute his claim on this as this is not true, because there has been quite alot of educational programs in the media that actually mentions about the consequences of their actions, shows like "crime watch", and documentary channels actually catered to this kind of education. I would say this kind of education programs are largely overshadowed by the high profile media on the aspects of the other world, and not none at all. So what the society could do now is to actually place emphasis on educational programmes by including the focus on such programmes in school, media. 


In conclusion, the gender stereotyping is actually expanded in the recent years, which is largely contributed by the influence of media and marketing strategies. The impact of such stereotype is also detrimental. The writer actually gives very good points for us to think through but he failed to provide alternatives and solutions to what is happening now. When we talk about education, I believe parents have also a large part to play. A child will take an example from their parents as they have a direct contact, and things would have been different if the father weren't that manly and the mother weren't that feminine. Education starts from young and the direct source of education is actually from the parents, and not the schools. Thus, the writer could have mentioned more about his. Well, there is a benefit of doubt here as the title suggests what toys made of little boys, strictly speaking, there is not a need to suggest solutions, because the writer just wants to talk about the why and impact of the trend, and not how the society could manage such an impact. 

Army Clique Meetup + Grandmother's Bday! :)

My first post for July 2011. We are embarking on the 2nd half of the year, and have you worked or achieved whatever you have set out to achieve for the 2011? 6 months have passed, and I'm grateful that it has been rather smooth for me.


Finally my contract for my temporary job ended on thursday. It has been a rather tiring 3 months. I wouldn't say I have done a very good job, but I'm rather satisfied with my job. I have to deal with hard-to-get-along colleagues, and I've also met very nice colleagues. So grateful to have them with me, if not my job will be 10x more boring. 


Well, 1st July, finally a day set out to meet up with our long-time-never-meet army clique! I organised the event. Despite a few disappointments where I was expecting the people to be more involved in providing suggestions on where to go and what to do, and not waiting for things to happen, I really appreciate Y and C for actively helping me out with the planning. 


Nevertheless, we went out to Lalala. This is my first ever time to visit Teo Heng Karaoke at Katong Shopping Centre. When we first got there, we were like.. "howcome got so many maid agencies? Are we at the wrong place?". hahah It was correct and we entered Teo Heng karaoke. The karaoke lounge was rather budget and shabbily, the room was rather small. However, we have all that we needed to satisfy our cravings for the major karaoke jam! 


7 people contained inside a small room leave us with quite a small space to move around. We had quite alot of fun! :). 


After lalala session, we proceeded on to have our dinner at Hong Kong Street Chun Kee. Oh well, we holland-ed on the way, not my fault but the wrong postal code given by the website. It doesn't matter, we took bus to the correct place. I've never gone there before but I have eaten the food from the same restaurant at some other branch, so the food was expected to be somewhat of the same standard. And there you go! 


Hong Kong Street Chun Kee 
240 Tanjong Katong Road 

Yam Ring

Pork

Omelette

Har-Chiong-Kai(Fried Chicken)

Kang Kong

Metal Plated-Tofu

San-Lou Horfan 


The choice for Tze Char was purely voted. We had countless times of western, japanese, and we thought of switching to tze char for a change. I'm glad that this Hong Kong Street Chun Kee provides rather good food. We had enjoyed our dinner. And what's more important was, we spent only about $11.60 per person. It was super worth it. 

Of course, how can we exclude a group photo? 


After dinner, we had time, so we made a trip to city area, and then into MBS. MBS area never fail to attract me. The buildings, the lightings and all, simply attractive! 

Look at this!!

We came across this part where there are many trees planted, and each tree actually represents a country. The picture above shows the one representing Singapore. Cool.


After which, we went to watch the free show at Waterfront again,my nth time, and still counting. Nice and attractive :)


Later, the 8 of us sat at the food court and talked about anything under the sun! We had a great talk. It's actually rather sad because T and S are leaving for australia to further their studies soon. Hope we all still can keep in contact. :)


Yesterday, my family and I were at home celebrating my grandmother's birthday!! Very fun indeed! :)

Wonderful birthday cake!!

Presenting our presents! (omg i shldnt have worn admin tee, so unglam).

Over at the dinner, we had so much fun with my dear cousins and nephews! Yes, have to really admit I'm an uncle now. hahah. 

I really love this photo! All of us look so good! :) My mischievous nephews made their usual unglam faces. 


After that we started cam-whoring. We decided to do the shock faces! 

:O

and.. my father JOINED IN! ahhahaah this is a very nice photo! I love it loads!


I'm very thankful and happy to see smiling faces on everyone's faces on this very night, especially my grandparents. We all had alot of fun in this night itself. And we all spammed our karaoke songs, with only one intention, making everyone happy. I love my family. 


That's all :)