littlecipi

I felt pretty mad at my boss yesterday. For somehow he couldn’t understand how have I been working so hard lately. That’s what I thought at the first place. He didn’t know I have been working overtime everyday for the past two weeks. Do I even get paid for it? Of course not. It was simply because I respected him and wanted to be as professional as I can be and get the job done.

Friday evening, he gave me an assignment to polish the application I’ve made. I worked on it until 11 P.M that day and continued to work again at home until 3 A.M in the morning. I promised Epi that I would go out with her instead of going to the office so I just knew I had to finish the assignment the Boss gave me that day.

And so I thought I’ve done my part.

It was 10.30 A.M when I woke up with a start, seeing there were already 5 text-messages appeared in my mobile phone. One of them was from the Boss.
It says : “Nathan, are you at the office already? I’m on my way there.”

Immediately after I read that message, I replied :
“I’m sorry, Sir. But I’m afraid I won’t be able to go to the office today. And don’t worry because I’ve already done what you told me yesterday.”

He replied me again after that and somehow I can feel the dissapointment from his message. I called Epi to discuss about it, if she thought the same way as I did. And I was right, she can feel it too. So I told her that I’d only go to the office if she let me. Otherwise, I’d just gonna be stubborn and ignore the message.

Once again, Epi proved to me that she’s a worthy girl to be together with. She understood completely of what condition I was in and told me to go and get my work done. I was happy but on the other side, I was completely upset too. Not just because I’ve worked all night already but also, I didn’t get any message or anyone to tell me that I have to go to work on Saturday. I’m not exaggerating about this, because Hendry, he was told to come but I wasn’t. When I found out about it, I felt myself rejected. Unwanted.

I tried my best to stay positive about it. I thought, it’s okay if noone wanted me to come as long as my Boss still wants me to. He showed how upset he was when I told him I won’t be able to come. In other words, he wants me to come. He needs me.

Just at the moment I thought everything is fine (as in I wasn’t upset anymore), I was wrong. Apparently, when my Boss checked the result of my work, I’ve carelessly left some parts undone and for the very first time, he talked to me with such an angry tone.

I clenched my fist and jaw so tight because I was trying so hard to suppress my anger and dissapointment. I’ve never thought of such treatment after I’ve very much showed my efforts. But at the same time, I knew that I was wrong and he was right.

I remember one time I talked to one of my juniors.

“In this company, it doesn’t matter if you come on 11 in the morning and go home on time as long as you got your works done. And of course, it also doesn’t matter if you come on time but go home late at night if you can’t get your works done. You got what I’m sayin’ ?”

That is one point. The second one, too, I told to the same person.

“You want to know why I am being so hard on you? Telling you to debug all the time? Not telling you the exact answers, but the clues to the solution instead?”

He nodded.

“Because I have a high expectation of you and I know that you have the ability to solve the problems by yourself. If I don’t care about you, I’d just give you the answers you need and I won’t be so much caring about the results of your work. I’m doing all this so you’d become better.”

And so I realized this is what exactly my Boss did to me. Obviously, if he doesn’t care much about me, he wouldn’t be that upset, would he? If he doesn’t believe I have the abilities to get the job done, he wouldn’t be speaking with such an angry tone, would he? Not to mention he had all rights to be upset at me because I didn’t get the job done.

Just when I talked to Hendry about this, he made me flattered by saying he was impressed by the improvement since he’d known me.

“Seriously, compared to the first time I met you in this company, you’ve improved way better. You have become more mature now and could control your emotion better.”

With a big smile on my face, I continued to happily finish my work and went home at 6.30 P.M that day. Then I went to pick Epi up, rent a DVD and watched the movie Coraline together with Epi.

My Notebook Specifications.

(Currently) 953 Lines of VB .NET Code.

..and finally, 1499 lines of ASP/HTML Code.

All I could say about what happened this day is that – I am very proud of myself, the team and the Boss for all the hard work we’ve done for this new project. We made and delivered the application right on schedule and the presentation went good. We got some positive feedbacks and in the end, the audience gave us applause. (Not to mention the text message I got from the Boss which very much pleased me.)

I am so ready for my next project – full conversion of CGISS core applications from desktop version to web version. But before that, I think I could use these two days to rest a bit, especially when he is currently away on his holiday.

Finally. After exactly a full week of hard work, one part of the big project I am currently working on is reaching the end point.

Started from last Monday, the team which consists of me, my colleague – Hendry and the Boss himself, began our work to build the Agency Information File (AIF) management system, which system is similar to Multi-level Marketing, though AIF is more focused on Insurance business.

There are five main processes on this system, which are Registration (including for new agent, registry-process, agent-training and agent-benefits), Transactions (promote, demote, movement and termination), GWP and Fee Amount Processing, Inquiry and Reports.

Now here’s the thing. I and my colleague are still new to Visual Studio 2008. With such limited time, the Boss figured we needed to split the tasks. I got to make the Registration part and Hendry got the Transactions one. Meanwhile the Boss got the GWP and Fee Amount Processing part.

To be honest, for an instant time I felt kind of mad with my Boss. Because we had the schedule way before and yet, one week before the deadline we just started to build the application. Rushing is never good and it’s none of his fault, I know. Lots of clients just kept asking and asking him for “help” or some kind of “program-enhancements”, whose requests are very ridicilious most of the time.

For example : one of the clients asked my boss to rebuild the upload utility system, because the current one was too slow in verifying and processing the Excel data in a bulk number. My Boss agreed on it and it was supposed to be a six-months long project. But the client’s IT-director couldn’t (or wouldn’t) accept the “six-months”.

She asked it to be done by one week. Seven days. Did I mention about the part of the clients being so ridicilous?

Anyhow, in the end it was done within over than just seven days. See? From the very beginning, it was supposed to be a long-term project. A project which needs lots of testing and error-checking. The Boss knew it and like I said, it wasn’t really his fault, since he couldn’t let his employees handled the job by themselves. The truth is – it’s a long story, which will end to a fact that the company’s dependency to the Boss is very high. This is not good, I know. Even him told us so. That’s why I have been working so hard – so that someday I am able to become his personal right hand.

I couldn’t blame it on the others too, especially the ones who are still new to the company. They only have been working here for three months. Back then on my first three months, I barely could do of what they do now.

But what’s done is done. We started to build the AIF management system and it wasn’t any easy for either me or Hendry. We have been working overtime everyday starting that Monday, which also means last Wednesday, the day of the election, I also went to the office.

Surprisingly, I didn’t feel a bit of any kind of bad-moods-you-can-name-of. I really enjoyed myself working for this week. Really. Last Friday, I got myself home at midnight. Then I ate my late dinner, showered and continued to work again ‘till two in the morning. Seven hours later, I woke up, showered and went to the office and worked until six in the evening.

All I wanted to say, the hard work pays off well. Not just for the new knowledge I just obtained, but also the relationship itself between us, CARE’s employees and the Boss. I never thought of him sitting down on my chair and debugging on my laptop, to help me find out what’s wrong with the project I was building. I was flattered. Happy with the support he’d shown.

Anyways, I continued working on it until five in the morning last night and gave the final touch to the application just this noon. One final retouch on Hendry’s part (which is currently being tested and checked), and it will be all done. We are ready for the presentation on next Wednesday. There’s only one thing to do – to make a documentation and a powerpoint file for the presentation so everything will go smoother.

The fact that this project is currently the most important under-going project, made my Boss made a decision to put a new employee to our division. She is no new to the company. In fact, she have been working here for more than a year, only at different division. The thing is, that division has an application based on .NET and she was one of two employees on that division. In short, she has a lot of experience and knowledge of building applications with ASP .NET.

I was very excited to hear the news from him. Her attendance on the team will not just make everything easier, but also smoother and (hopefully) faster.

Asides from my current project – last Friday, I trapped myself inside the toilet after the door somehow locked itself up. For twentyish minutes, I was trapped. The funny thing is – the one who first noticed I was inside, was the Boss. After that, my colleagues came to the rescue. They tried to do their own Macgyver-thing, but failed. So they did the last resort – they broke the door down. Sadly, I forgot to bring my mobile phone with me, otherwise I’d take a video of it.

My Mom finally came back from her two-weeks tour to Middle-East Europe and brought me a Bacardi White and an Austrian white wine. I was so glad she’d finally came back, because when she’s not around, the foods are horrible. The moment I noticed her out from the immigration, I ran towards her and kissed her on the cheek. Despite of her temper, she’s still a female. And all-female love affections. She visited one of the places I badly want to visit – Prague. I saw the beauty of old architectures of Prague from her photos. Someday, someday I will make it. I will travel to Prague – not just Prague, but all-around Europe and the other continents.

That is all main events happened for the week (that I remember). Tomorrow is another new week and I will be ready for the upcoming events, especially the presentation.

(Cheesy Potato Wedges, Cheesy Nachos and Vietnam Coffee.)
Location : Dante Coffee Shop – Kelapa Gading Mall, Jakarta.

The place is recommended, ’specially to those who indulge coffee with genuine taste, along with a comfortable place to sit and talk to your friends. As for a personal rating, I’d give it an eight out of ten. So yeah, it’s good. You should try it out someday.

(Photo taken by Epi with Canon IXUS 95 IS.)

Phew. It was absolutely not an easy thing to do.

Well, I could see it clearly that no-one had enough guts to do it (or at least I thought so). I always wondered why, but then I sort of got the answer myself. We (yes, that means me too) were so afraid to ask for it because we barely could see whether we meet the standard or not.

I have always been a man that act-first-before-i-think. Ah yes, I know it should be the other way around. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think while I’m actually acting (if you know what I’m saying). So I did it anyways.

With the encouragement from some people, including my best friends at the office, I managed to write an electronic mail to my H.R.D manager. I wrote the mail in English, intentionally (and hopefully) I could get rid of some awkwardness that could come out of Indonesian, because I wrote it in such a formal way.

Not very long after I clicked the button ‘Send’, I began to think whether I have done something stupid and so wrong. I started to feel anxious about it, feared I couldn’t meet the standard. Oh well. Did I mention I’m a type of guy who think-before-i-act? Eh, I mean, act-before-i-think. (See what I mean?)

But anyways, the sort of feeling didn’t last very long. A few hours later, a text came from my mobile phone. It was from my boss. I need not to tell you details about it, but surely, it was good (at least it is, for me). See the part that sometimes just-act-don’t-think is better than think-carefully-before-you-act?

The key part was my confidence. I very much believed I have proven my abilities (and results) and deserve of more appreciation. Once, my ex-colleague told me that his ex-boss (or should I say, my boss) is a very fair person. You show him what you got, and you’ll get fairly rewarded.

And so he did to me.

Just this morning, when I was busy trying to figure out way to do my reports, a Yahoo! message box suddenly appeared on my laptop’s window. It was my H.R.D manager. I was requested to go to her room.

Honestly? I wasn’t really thinking about that good part I mentioned before. I could have got the first warning letter (or some of you call it SP1), because recently, I uploaded a picture of me smoking on the second floor, which supposedly is a non-smoking floor. Silly me, I know. But hey, it could be enough reason to pull that nightmarish letter!

Luckily I was wrong. That was the letter I have been hoping for. A love letter from my boss. Without thinking (and after thanking my manager), I rushed to the toilet and opened it. I sighed heavily.

A joyful sigh. At last. This would certainly be a good start for me since I have decided to do some kind of money investment before the big journey and stuffs.

Though it didn’t really match what I was hoping for, I still am grateful. I had this thought of my boss wants me to prove myself MORE. Surely, he’ll get it.

The later evening when I was having a coffee break, I thanked my boss and told him that I will not let him down. He chuckled his usual laugh, which can double the meaning. It could be “Yeah yeah, it’s all right. You deserve it.” or it could be “Just wait until I give you more assignments so much that you’ll wish you had never asked me.”

Which either way, is totally fine.
Cheers for the next big step!

Years ago, I always wanted to be a rich person. Rich as in materials, having lots and lots of money. I even thought about myself owning thirty-one different cars in my garage so I can choose which car to drive distinctively every single day. Now, I laughed at myself every time I remember that thought. Such a shallow mind I did have back then.

Now things have changed. Some of what happened recently have made me become more mature and understand what things are important. (Though still there is a slight issue on my emotion.)

I want to travel around the world.
Not just traveling as in.. having a vacation. I just can’t see by having lots of money is considered important anymore. It’s not exactly the term of ‘rich’ I’m looking for.

To be able to live, see and experience the whole world, that’s rich. To be able to experience the attraction of silent places, of large silver moons and the splendor of stars, where people sees the glory of sunrise and sunset in the wild places, unworn by man, changed only by the passing ages of time everlasting. That’s what I call rich. This is my ultimate goal.

I figured I need to spend more efforts on money investment so I can get enough cash to move out from Indonesia.
So. The first step I should take, is to get my Master degree. Just like my Mom always wanted me to. And for that matter, I already chosen my destination. Prasetiya Mulia Business School. There, I’ll try to get my Magistrate of Management Degree. Hopefully, since it’s one of the best business schools available in Jakarta, it can help me achieve my goal.

I remember last December when I almost got out from Indonesia and moved to New South Hampshire, United States. That time I recklessly thought I could survive without my significant other, Epi.

The same thought occurred again just a couple weeks ago when Epi left for a vacation to Hong Kong. I wasn’t really expecting that those six days would become some of the worst days I’ve ever had. I felt anxious all the time. Insecure. Those days made me realize that her presence means a lot for me. So next time, when the right time arrives, I’ll bring Epi with me. We are going to travel around the world. Together.

I guess the only constraint I have for that matter is her parents only. But honestly I’m not really worry about it. I’m quite sure that my persuasive talks can convince them to let me take Epi with me. After all, I never fail to convince someone.

The registration for Prasetiya Mulia Business School is already opened until the 19th October 2009. Means, I have a lots of time of preparation, to prepare everything especially for my current ASP.NET project, Care Version 2. And there certainly would be no mistakes. Because I can’t afford any. I have to do this right and hopefully with some luck, I’ll start my very first own life in two years from now.

Hmm.. I’ve been posting too many negative posts lately, haven’t I? I realized that (of course), so now I’m gonna post something good.

But hold up, ‘good’ is not enough word to describe how the service is in this restaurant, Ramen Sanpachi 38. Just like the title says, its main menus are all about Ramen. I did some internet browse and google it, the result: this ramen restaurant is actually existed in other countries. (No wonder it tastes good.)

Anyhoodle, I was first told by Epi of this restaurant. Actually I wasn’t really feeling that enthusiasm over ramen since I had some bad experiences with it. But she told me that this restaurant serves a good quality and tasty ramen, so I decided to give it a shot. I called up Anung, one of my closest friends, asked him what’s his suggestion. (Yes, I didn’t ask the waiter for ‘Chef’s Suggestions’ menu, because I trust Anung’s taste better. Somehow.)

He told me to order ‘Jigoku Ramen’. It’s a spicy and hot ramen (obviously). Speaking of which, I still remember how Anung solo-ed and emptied a full bottle of chili sauce at Pizza Hut while eating pizza.  So, feeling rather curious, I asked him what level of hotness did he order for the ramen. From 1 to 10, he ordered 7.

Anung (still on the phone) : Try level 3 and see if you can handle it.
(At this point, I still didn’t know how hot the ramen is gonna be, and I really believed that I could handle it.)

And so I did. I ordered a Jigoku ramen with a level 3 hotness, curly noodles regular cooked. Oh I forgot to tell you. Here, in this restaurant, you can choose between curly or straight noodles. I prefer curly. Somehow it tastes better, but you can choose either one. And you can ask the waiter whether you want the noodles to be medium-cooked, regular cooked or well cooked. My preference is it to be regular-cooked. As for the drinks, I ordered red/olong tea. It is quite pricy, but it’s refill-able, so it’s good since I drink a lot.

(In case you’re curious, Epi ordered a Curry ramen. It tastes good too!)

Now comes the good parts of this restaurant.
1. The waitresses. They’re all females and they are well-educated of the restaurant menus. They are nice too, of course. I was surprised and satisfied with the explanation. You can try to ask them if you ever visit this restaurant about the menus and I’m sure you’ll know what I’m saying here.

2. It only takes like at most 5 minutes from the order arrived to the Chef and then the ramen came to my table. Fast service! Lovin’ it.

3. Remember the refill-able tea? Everytime I drink my tea ’till it’s only half of the glass, the waitress came to my table and immediately refill it. Seriously dude, you don’t even have to call her. She will spot your glass is half-full and rushed to your table to refill it. I think they got some kind of radar that would tell them if the glass is not full. Who knows.

4. Immediately after I finished my ramen, she cleaned up the table from the empty bowls and replaced them with a dessert as a compliment. (I got a jelly pudding). That was some astonishing quality of service, I must say.

Oh, I haven’t given out my opinion about the ramen, have I? Here it is:
The ramen I ordered, Jigoku ramen, I really have to say that was so far the dangdest, most delicious ramen I’ve ever had. I tasted the soup first and it tasted great. Like I always do when I eat delicious food, I literally smile like an idiot. Next, the noodles. I put it into my mouth and I know that the noodles was fresh. Fresh but soft, it melts when you chew it. This time, I giggled.

Everything was well-served. Jigoku ramen level 3. It is tasty. It is delicious and it is indeed so freaking hot. (Think I said around 10 or more “ohmygod”s and “anjingpedesbangetnihramen”). It’s so hot that I got all-sweaty like crazy. (Don’t ask me how much tissue was spent for wiping my sweat). As I was eating and feasting myself on this fantastic dish, I remember what Anung had. Seriously. I can’t imagine how hot is level 7 gonna be and how the hell can he eat such a hot food like that?

So guys, I really recommend this restaurant to get your visit someday. Maybe at first you’ll see how pricey the menus are, but let me tell you this. It’s all worth the price. (And like I said, Anung’s preference of foods is a must-try or perhaps, a must-follow.) Let me know if you want to know his mobile.