Thanks to Ryan Carson’s article on Vitamin, I finally realize why I feel bad for spending so much time online. The recent bubbles of web2.0 have at least doubled the time I used to spend on “random surfing” - something which I deem necessary for keeping myself updated with the latest trends and technologies in the industry. I have not only had difficulty controlling myself jumping from one blog to another endlessly, I have also found myself lost in the sea of various social software because I signed up with almost anything I stumbled upon. Ryan is right:

One thing’s for sure, in my experience once you get to the “career stage” of your life everthing changes. You’re looking to simplify your life and solve your current problems. In a way, you have to become more selfish with your time. If something doesn’t directly help you, your family, or those you love, it’s probably going to fall to the bottom of your priorities.

Simplify your life, how powerful these three words are! This is exactly what I have in mind for years (without knowing it!). These are a few things on my to-do list to achieve this goal:

* Check email only once every 30 mins (as opposed to every 5 mins).
* Login to social software LinkedIn, Friendster, Flickr, aNobii and a bunch of others only once a week or when new message arrives.
* Disregard all “check out this funny website / photo / movie” emails during office hours.
* Limit the reading of blogs / forum / online magazines (whether work-related or not) to a maximum of 14 hours per week. If it’s a really good article, print it and read it on the bus or train.
* Outsource the ironing work to my part-time cleaning lady, no kidding, ironing takes me 5 hours per week!

Inevitably, I found some really good ones that fit into my “selfish timetable” so I probably won’t cut time from using them:

* Basecamp - project management tool at work.
* Gmail - necessity, but I don’t use any gmail notifier

Oh, almost forgot, Happy Birthday to my brother Henry!

To Henry: Hey dude, you’re extremely lucky that I didn’t sell my PowerBook. As soon as you find someone in Sydney to take back your soaked iBook to Hong Kong, I’d let you have my PowerBook. Good luck!

It’s always been a struggle to attach a job title to myself. I can be a zillion things: Founder, CEO, Managing Director, General Manager, Sales Manager, Marketing Manager, Project Manager, Account Manager, Consultant, Designer … or Office Assistant, you name it.

When you are the boss, you can call yourself anything you like, the only problem is: it’s too expensive to print so many different versions of name cards. Besides, no matter what title I use, people just realize what I truly am when they found out this is a small start-up. All they care about is my quality of work - whether I could help them - not what title I am using.

Den ganzen Beitrag lesen…

There are two questions that I’ve been constantly asked about in the past six years:

1. Why didn’t you become a lawyer? - at least twice a week

2. When/how should I start a business? - at least once a week

Am I bored? Yes, especially for question #1. So I tried to tweak my “model answer” every time to keep my sanity. Maybe I should put up a FAQ section on my blog for that.

For question #2, it’s not *that* boring because I would take the chance to listen to a new story and try to share what I think. Nonethless, I do think that there’re answers that I don’t like to repeat anymore, this article got a good summary of what I truly believe:

Anytime is the Right Time to Start a Company

Point #1 to #4 … checked, ok … #5 “Have an exit plan” … What is an exit plan? Shit, I’m screwed.

Other useful links to check out:

Particletree: A Guide to starting your business
Poductivity, getting things done and lifehacks blog
Small Business Bootstrappers
WorkHappy.net: Killer resources for entrepreneurs
You’ve got to find what you love
Advice for Future Entrepreneurs

Have you found what you love yet? I’m so grateful that I have found it.

If you’re not sure what you love doing, don’t start a business. And — Multi-level marketing (MLM 層壓式推銷) is not a good idea.

Is Apple listening? When will they update iSync to support this dream phone of mine? Since I got my first Bluetooth phone in 2003, I wouldn’t put up with any phone that doesn’t sync with Mac, especially for a PDA phone that comes with Calendar, To-Do and Notes functions … what a shame!

Came across this sign board in Tai Mei Tuk (大尾篤) after playing golf at the Tai Po Sheun Wan Golf Driving Range, thanks to Bill for taking the picture with his camera phone:

What an interesting way to promote their shop! That somehow reminds me of the movie Forrest Gump. I have seen that movie for more than 5 times and still not bored!

Den ganzen Beitrag lesen…

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome - the 2-week old Mr. Perth Cheng, proud product of my SSC classmates Jose and Elva! Isn’t he lovely? Congratulations to the Cheng family!

Den ganzen Beitrag lesen…

After serving me with utmost solidity and endurance for nearly three years, my beloved 15″ G4 PowerBook will have to leave tomorrow. It was such a tough decision to make.

On one hand, it has never failed me, not even once in all these years while running nearly 20 hours a day, 365 days a year. I couldn’t imagine living without it for even one hour. It travelled with me to Europe, America, Japan, China Mainland and every day at work and at home. It is the first thing I touch when I get up and the last thing I touch before I go to rest, it’s my best buddy.

On the other hand, it’s getting old as a computer. It becomes sluggish at times, probably because I only put it to sleep (by closing the lid) instead of shutting it down. The warranty period is already over and it will cost a fortune to fix anything if something fails. After very careful consideration over the past few months, I feel that the best time to sell it is NOW. I got a fairly good offer through a local online Mac community, and tomorrow I will complete the deal after the buyer tests it out.

A few days ago I got the Intel Core Duo Mac Mini back from my sister (she finally got a new Toshiba laptop!) and started using it at work with a new ASUS 19″ Widescreen LCD Monitor (with 90 degree rotation capability for only HK$2,300). This is only my first Mac desktop after my switch in 2001 actually. The experience is so different, everything seems much faster on a desktop and the 19″ widescreen is just gorgeous! I imagine that I wouldn’t leave my office if I got the 20″ Apple Cinema Display instead.

So until I get a new Apple laptop, the MacMini will be my only Mac and I would be missing my PowerBook very much. Guess what, I wouldn’t really be upset if the buyer cancels the deal. Maybe I am making it too emotional, after all, it’s just a piece of hardware.