Hi,

I don't have time at home this weekend 'coz I only made a rush decision to come back on Saturday evening and planning to get back to work early next morning. However, to supplement, I wrote some things when I was 'bored' at the office when the systems were down. Enjoy!

7/4/99
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Reached office at 9.22am! Wow, have never been this late in my life. The colleague whom I regularly get a lift from, overslept. Unfortunately, although he did pass by our designated pick-up point, I had been away to give him a call. Tried a few phones but many were not working and one did not connect to his handphone. By the time I got to a phone that works, he was on his way at the Federal Highway. So, I had to get a cab or bus then.

It was already 8.00am then, and thinking I should either get a cab or get to the LRT (which should be faster with no traffic jam troubles). Anyhow, the taxi I hailed is not going to KL side. After that, it was pretty hard to get cabs as many were occupied and there were other people waiting for cabs as well. I made up my mind to take the LRT because it wouldn't be a hassle.

I got up on the bus which was suspiciously 'free' to the nearest LRT station. I think it was a day where luck was not on my side. Upon reaching there, I was told that the LRT will not be functioning for a week due to an upgrade program. Is there another 'acronym' that would represent my situation that is similar to "adding salt to injury" in sense?

Anyway, for compensation, PUTRA LRT provided free bus services for its route. Therefore, I took the bus going to Pasar Seni. While waiting for the bus to depart, guess what? There was a Chinese newspaper reporter (I regret not finding out the newspaper name), who interviewed me on the situation. So, I just told them my situation where I only knew it on that day and wasn't even told of it when I got on the bus to the LRT station. He asked whether I thought it was acceptable that the PUTRA LRT compensated this by providing the free bus services. For me, I said I do not know as I'm not in a hurry because I was already late but I told him that it would be unfair to those who are pressed for time. Unfortunately, the bus had to depart then, and I only managed to give him my name as Li Li.

I think Malaysians generally are a don't-mind kind. This I assume judging the reactions from the commuters as not being very distressed by the whole situation.

While on the bus, although it was a longer journey then taking the normal buses, I wasn't cursing the LRT at all. I was just smiling and wondering how the morning had been. I guess I've been through ups and downs that this is definitely such a small matter that shouldn't get me too fidgety. I think part of the reason is also because of stories whereby the point was that it's you, yourself which makes how your day is gonna turn out and not to blame other parties. And for that, I did enjoy my bus ride which surprisingly went smoothly without any jams. Later, I took a cab to KLCC.

I'm now relating to you this account because I can't do much at the office at the moment as the system is down and I'm unable to do any programming. It is now 12.20pm.

16/4/1999
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I am in one of my moods to ramble randomly again. My thoughts are in a 'Did you know' kind of style.

Example:
1) Did you know that sometimes I have to refer to the R2 system to see what the old program does? Well, it's those kind of MS DOS environment - with green writings and black background. Yeah..... back to the 'old' days...
2) Did you know that my 'windows' from Petronas Twin Towers faces the Sungai Besi road... makes the heart feels kinda tender when you think it as facing home sweet home (Seremban).
3) Did you know that I have to take the lift to go down two floors to get plain mineral water? Unfortunately they only have the hot water at my floor.

Learn a few things on ABAP/4 programming:
1) interactive reporting like what Subra has done for his RAMOS batch session error solving (at line-selection)
2) logical databases (transaction code = se36)
3) selection screen checking (at selection-screen on ).

I've actually brushed up my programming lately as I have more time to read the help and more time to experiment new commands. I am grateful that up till now I do have a better 'relaxed' time compared to my previous company.

Regards,
Li Li