0080. What shall we do at the days of Typhoon

Typhoon is here again. Usually, we would know if the day is off in the morning. This time is different, 'cause it is really windy and rainy before Typhoon steps onto the island. The wind is big enough to break my big umbrella. :'( My big umbrella is a good one, its bones not too bad. Actually, all typhoons this year brings in strong wind as well as the huge rain. I often heard people still go around the cities during those typhoon days. I pity them because they have no clue what could do on typhoon days. Today, from my colleague's typhoon-day activity, I realize that some people really ..., never mind, I don't know how to describe these. My colleague got off the work early and guess where she went? KTV!!! (NB. for those you don't know, KTV is a place to sing.) I can't believe this! Sing on those days. I am totally speechless. As for me, house chores, writing, reading, crafting, lots of things to do. I don't need to KTVing to pass time!

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0079. Work Swirl (11)

A big surprise waited for us when we arrived at the office, especially for several male colleagues.
The head of this department, vice president, wrote an e-mail inform the entire department changes of human resources. This change was ordered on August 18th by the president. Basically, he re-organized the company into four divison: manufacture, customer relation (CPM), research and development (RD), and quality assurance (QA). RD contains two sets of hardware RD, Wireless RD, and application software RD.
Therefore, there is huge move of people and works between departments. Even though all QA suppose to merge to the large division, but managers in our department wish to keep a few for internal quality controls. However, the job description for staying in the department is not clear. From the time we knew this, we all thought we have the rights to decide whether to go or stay.
Besides my boss, I am the first to know where to go. Originally, I sent an e-mail letter to vice president and wish have a chat about my future development. Praise the Lord, I never thought that this is also happened to the time of change and therefore, I have new direction of work. One of the change is that third party applications and licensing are now combined with application software development. Those third party stuff require several people to handle communication, survey, and verifications. I don't want to be a QA for rest of my life. This new job has similar skills of planners. Therefore I decided to take the new job. The new job title is Feature PM (FPM). During the whole time, I have peace. Believe God will help and lead me at the new work.
As for my rest of colleagues, well, the e-mail we received in the morning decided their futures. For those having hard time to make decisions, they are happy that someone made the decisions for them. But it is a surprise to those three being ordered to stay, especially the one who wished to go to testing division. He didn't expect to stay and was in a crappie mood. I was surprised that top management didn't speak to those three colleagues before they announced the change. I don't agree the way they did. We all thought we have the right to make decisions but never thought the fate is arrived before decisions are made. Then why don't they assign at the beginning? Now I am more curious how top managers are going to comfort them.

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0078. Skype v.s. Google Talk

Skype is really poplular these days. It is so convenient to talk over interent without paying large sum of long distance phone bill. PChome Online, an internet service in Taiwan, also made Skype popular by incorporated Traditional Chinese display. When I first tried Skype, it has the ability to call a fixed line. Now, Skype also provides voice mail services and virtual numbers that others can call in. My division at work even officially requested us to use Skype for internal quiet communications.

Last week, Google announced Google Talk. The UI of Google Talk is a bit like iChat I am using on my iBook. In fact, I can log in with iChat. So far, only people who owe a Gmail account can log in to use. But, if I invite a person who has no Gmail account, Google will send out an invitation to that person. However, if someone's Gamil account has no invitation, then Google only sends out notification without a link to registar a Gmail account. This Talk application does not have many features as Skype - talk and text chat.

Skype is used widely these days. Therefore, Google Talk now has better voice quality (less trafic). It's hard to tell which one will win the battle. Skype functions widely while Google Talk still in beta version. It will be interesting to watch those "talk" battles.

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0077. Work Swirl (10)

Several weeks ago, I changed my attitude while chatting with another colleague about my current status. Not long after our chat, we are reading two books related to work attitudes in our group study. I also read a similar sentence in the book "Investing yourself". The point is the attitude we use to face the situation. The situation may not be the best. However, our attitudes affect our working methods and feelings. Therefore, I decided to talk to my boss, not just work quietly. When I started thinking from a different angle, I felt different.
There are discussions in these days, about the structure changes within the company. We, as QA, are either going to another bigger QA department, or stay at current department with a different title. I may change my job. I will go to the details once everything settled.

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