Last month I received this letter form the Royal Bank of Scotland to “correct” their typo in a previous letter: their total asset figure.

I can’t comprehend the difference between 2.4 billion and 2,400 billion, but I honestly don’t feel comfortable keeping my money with a bank that doesn’t get “numbers” right.

My first response was … ouch, someone would have been fired. A month later, when I looked back now, maybe the wrong figure would become “real” soon …. crazy times.

讀畢今期壹週刊裡黎智英《事實與偏見》專欄中「不許成功見白頭」一文，很有共鳴。因為壹週刊的網上內容是要付費的，所以唯有連結到有轉貼的討論區。

這幾句實在寫得很好：

你可以將你的 vision 作為信念圖騰 ，卻絕不可能以此為發展計劃 。

做生意的目的只有一個 ，那就是滿足顧客的需要 ，而不是膨脹自己的 ego 呀 。

不要只顧幻想生意會做得多大多大 。人不是要做大生意才會開心的 。

不止一次被問到：你對公司的發展有什麼大計？何時會擴充？五年後會怎樣？十年後會怎樣？我都是這樣的回答：我不知道。有時我更會補上一句：我享受這種　“未知”，如果將來真的如我所料，那就很沒有趣了!

“像好些事情一樣 ，做生意順其自然好了 。” 　沒錯，我真的要常常提醒自己保持一顆平常心，無論做生意或是其他，隨緣就是了。

認識我的人都知道我係「夜鬼」一個，我最喜歡半夜三更開工，貪夠靜夠專心。可惜最近都愈來愈少機會有一刻清靜，連睡覺都不能。講出來都覺得很搞笑：隔離單位有對年青夫婦不停吵吵鬧鬧，搞到我要打電話去管理處。

可能佢地以為半夜三四點人人都睡了，就走出來走廊嘈，但係我就正正給他們搔擾。我無興趣聽佢地嘈什麼，但感覺到「火藥味」很重，好擔心會遲早有一日會「出事」。我們這個年代的人鄰里關係冷漠，除非有人嗌火燭或救命，否則多數都抱「多一事不如少一事」的心態。

坦白講，我擔心有「血案」多過有噪音，但又唔知道可以做什麼，難道走出去勸交？這對年青夫婦家裡還有個小孩，我很難想像「出事」起上來會有多嚴重。我記得自己幾歲大時見過父母鬧交，雖然只是斯文的口角之爭，已經嚇得我又喊又失眠，事隔多年都重記得，那種影響可想而知。都係那句：諗得好好好好 … 清楚先好結婚生仔，唔該！

As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

Steve Job’s commencement speech at Stanford is one of my favourite sources of inspiration, I never got tired of reading it. In terms of finding what I love, I’ve been very fortunate. One of my two passions has turned into a career (creating websites), and another (tennis) has brought a lot of fun and good friends. If I could choose how I die, I would love to die while doing either of these.

Recalling the first day when I found my “true love”, I actually didn’t realize it was something I would love so much. I think the bit “you’ll know when you find it” takes some time to sink in. That length of time varies, definitely not “love at first sight”.

For many years, I still did not believe that I would make websites for a living, or keep playing tennis for life (16 years and counting …). I’ve never stopped questioning myself: Is this what I really love? Have I made the right choice?

The hint from the speech is: It would get better as the years roll on. So I guess the answer is “time will tell”. I’d hope that it applies to relationships too, and I wish I live long enough to see the answer.

年紀大，開始鍾意懷舊。呢輪好掛住以前日日寫中文、講中文的日子。自問中文底子不差，但自從迷上網後，用中文的機會買少見少。上網看的多數係英文、撰寫報告和建議書用英文、電郵用英文、IM用英文、SMS用英文、同九成客開會要用英文，最近公司多了外籍同事，連內部會議都轉了英文 … 最恐佈係，連放工後同朋友消遣時都要用英文！！！

很累，真的很累。外籍的客人／朋友，我不是討厭你們，但我真的很想講多些中文。

Last week HSBC called and alerted me of a suspicious online transaction (2 UKP) with my credit card, so I agreed to have it terminated and replaced with a new one. I’m actually quite happy with their service, every time I went abroad or made some big purchases they would call to verify the transaction. Having a new credit card means all my auto-pay bills have to be updated, not a huge inconvenience as compared to being subject to fraud!

My only two auto-pay bills are both with Netvigator, Hong Kong’s biggest Internet Service Provider, one for my home broadband and another for the paid NOW TV channels. So I logged on to their Netvigator Customer Service website to update my credit card details as soon as I got my new card. As expected, it would take them much longer to update the record on their end, so I got emails today telling me that my card was rejected and I have to pay the bills manually. Fine, so I logged on to Netvigator’s website to download the “online bill” in PDF.

The bills, whether online or offline, never contain breakdown of the charges, so I only see a total (HK$238) and always thought that it was for my broadband since I subscribed to the service in May 2007. Out of curiosity, I clicked an adjacent button called “Plan Details” and was shocked to see that they have been charging me HK$48 for a “Valued-added service” MOOV.now.com.hk all this time!!!

I swear to God that I have never subscribed to this service!!! (MOOV requires installation of a desktop software that only runs on Windows PC, sorry, I use a Mac!) So I called their customer hotline immediately and requested a refund. After an hour of wrestling, I could only manage to get 3 months of refund (HK$48 x 3) and the whole process was VERY frustrating.

Their CS website clearly showed that I terminated whatever “Value-added service” they offer back in May 2007, but the lady on the line just kept repeating the same sentence, “Sorry madam, but our system shows that the service is ACTIVE.” …

Anyway, I’m putting this up to warn every one who lives in (or plans to move to) Hong Kong:

• Never trust the sales of any telecom, paid tv or ISP here.
• Always check through your service contract carefully before signing.
• Always check the details of your bill (and breakdown) every month.
• Avoid auto-pay if possible (even at the cost of losing a better rate).
• Turn down or cancel any “free trial” service or add-ons as soon as your account is active (or better still, reject them on sign-up but usually not possible).
• Always keep records of everything they said, oral or written. A mobile phone with voice recording function would be helpful.
• Be wary of hidden charges: some charge you a fee for sending a paper bill!
• Even if you get their assurance over the hotline that something has been terminated already, don’t trust them. Get a written record and make sure you remember all the details of the call: date, time, number, name of the person. Again, voice recording would be very helpful.
• Call them again a few days later and have another staff verify the changes they promised to make. You wouldn’t believe what you’d probably hear: Sorry, we could not see any such request/update in the system (repeat 10 times!) …
• Last but not least, always keep track of your contract terms. Set up a reminder 45 days prior to the contract renewal date. As they may start charging you the “normal” price (which is of course higher than what you’re paying now) as soon as your contract runs out, or if you plan to switch you must file a notice 30 days prior to the renewal.

I’ve actually been to the Small Claims Tribunal a few months ago and witnessed numerous disputes relating to these service providers. The most notorious one is Cable TV Hong Kong. I could write 5,000 words about my bad experience with them.

Over the years I’ve always said Netvigator is “the least worst”, but it seems that I was mistaken. All of them are horrible.

The general rule of thumb is: Don’t trust any of them.

七一回歸日無端端星期二有一日假放。星期日晚睇完歐洲國家杯決賽（德國抵輸！），尋晚睇溫布頓又睇到今朝五點，可以休息一日調整番「時差」都幾好！今日難得咁好天就搭船入去大嶼山梅窩行下，下午四點到，太陽不太猛，躺在沙灘上享受陣陣海風，感覺一流！就這樣消磨到傍晚，成個人re-charged晒，同行的朋友一致認同：咁至係放假！

可能我地都比較另類，不熱衷行街 shopping，更不想賴在家睡覺／打機／睇碟 … 香港雖然係石屎森林，但去郊區只不過大半個鐘車（船）程，比係銅鑼灣等位食壽司不知快幾多！講開 shopping，我真不明白點解咁多人當係一種「放假活動」。我理解好多人平日放工很晚，要等 weekend 才有幾會買野，但係… 個個 weekend 都去 shopping, 有無咁多野買呀？

去碼頭時路經 IFC Mall, 見到時裝店裡人頭湧湧，好似要搶咁，試衫要排隊、俾錢更要排隊，相信都不會有很「殷勤」的服務。一星期五日都要留係室內上班，點解唔趁放假出外逛逛，活動一下？怕熱？

人棄我取，你們迫商場，我就去郊外啦！

很久沒有寫中文了，不知怎的今晚特別有興致。可能最近因旅遊和工作關係大部份時間都轉了去「英文台」，有點累。

想說的又是那個老話題：創業。今日和 Lifehack 的 компютри втора употребаLeon 在咖啡店短敍，談起對創業的看法時有很多共鳴。Leon 在澳洲多年，又在那邊受教育，相信也是透過最近在本地大學作分享時才對普遍香港年青人的想法有所了解。而我在這裡土生土長，接觸的人比較多，所以對這些想法一點都不感意外。

我要強調「普遍」，因為絕不是所有香港年青人都是這樣想，至少我自己以及認識的幾個有創業的朋友不是。

「普遍」的想法是：創業是為錢。說得粗俗一點：創業是要發達。

我沒有做過民調，不知道這樣想的人真正有多少，但我個人覺得是大多數。遇到新相識的朋友問起職業時，我定必如實說公司是自己的，但只是「蚊企」一間（即蚊型企業，連小也談不上）。但得來的反應十居其九是：「哇，老闆來的，發達啦 … 」又或者是：「你就好啦，一定賺到錢啦 … 」。其實我想聽到的是：「我真替你難過！」。

可能香港首富（李嘉誠、李兆基等）白手興家的故事太過深入民心，大家以為創業就是致富的不二之途，創業不是為錢是為啥？

Leon 和我都不約而同地說：創業不是為錢！

你可以有一百個理由去創業，但如果這是唯一或最主要的理由，我怕你會失望。因為創業的風險高得離奇，一間新公司能捱過頭兩年巳是萬幸，更不要說發達了。

我不知道怎樣可以發達，我只知道我能夠做自己喜歡的工作是莫大的恩賜。賺錢不是出發點亦不是目標，而是 side effect (副作用）。

After more than 6 months of implementing GTD, I’ve only set up the ticker file (the “43 Folders”) today. Since I’m not a quick (and committed) follower of any sort, it takes me quite a while to appreciate its necessity - after all, not everything can be digitalized. Hopefully this would mark the end of my “desktop chaos” era.

What’s next?

• Respecting the Friday weekly review ritual
• Setting up a reference cabinet
• Going back to my beloved Filofax personal organizer

Looking for GTD gear in Central? You’d find all the physical, non-electronic tools you need at my favourite stationery store in Central: Yat Fat Stationers on 2/F, #44-46 Des Voeux Road Central. Shopping for stationery is one of my obsessions (yes I’m a weirdo), and this shop is just superb, they have everything you could imagine (esp. the old style stuffs) and the shop keepers are helpful, friendly but not pushy.

Kung Hey Fat Choy! Wish every one a very happy New Year of Rat! 2008 is special, not only it’s a Olympic Year (hosted by our country), there’re also many celebratory events to come: my sister is getting married, my dad is turning sixty (yes, he’s a Rat!) and my little business is turning 5th!

It’s been crazy for the past two weeks, working my ass off at work but hopefully it’d bring fruitful results very soon. Although we lost in the WIF 2008 Pre-Selections the depression only lasted for a day. There’s so much to do and so little time to grieve!

Chinese New Year is a pretty routine business for me every year, except this year I no longer live with my family and there’s a lot of commuting to do. I do miss the old days when my dad woke me up in the bed with his red pocket money!

As usual, I’ve scheduled the rest of the time to catch up my work and play tennis. It’s so cold these days and I got myself an electronic under-blanket so that I could sleep well, finally. But that doesn’t help my freezing fingers when I type on this computer, any idea?