Last Day :(

From the title you will know that this is the last day of my internship and I can't wait to return to work after the report and presentation.

Since today is the last day there is a lot of things I need to handover to Ms Lily to handle. It took me almost an hour to collate the complete and ongoing activities that is going on at our various projects. I would say today is not a productive day but more of a relaxing day. I had been tasked to open all the hamper which is sent by the various contractors and Mr Chan had given out the goodies equally to all staff.

I also bid my farewell to the prawns/ fishes/ plants that I had been taking care throughout these few months. I fed and water them for the last time and wish that they will be better after I return in March.

When I was walking home, stress suddenly hit me when I remember that I forgot to bring my log book back. I will be going back to retrieve it on Monday. Hopefully I won't be late for the meeting with Ms Chan.

Invitation to resume work :D

I am feeling delighted today as Mr Chan had offer me to continue in the company for the period until I start National Service. The pay is not decided and I did not ask him about it. This is because I felt that there are still much to be learnt and it is already very kind of Mr Chan to teach and at the same time pays me $1000 every month during this internship period.

Some may think that I am stupid to not ask about the salary if I were to continue my position in the company after the internship. But the purpose of me continuing to work here is because of the knowledge and skills that I can acquire from Mr Chan & Ms Lily. Hence I would like to address this thinking of mine to my friends that money is not everything and knowledge is much more valuable than the monetary benefits that you are getting.

Badminton w/ Mr Chan

Stress had been part of my day today. The stress did not come during working hours but arrived when Mr Chan invited me to a badminton game at Singapore Swimming Complex after work.

At the beginning I thought Mr Chan is going to highlight my flaws but it turn out to be just a casual game with his University friends. The whole game went smoothly and we even have supper after the game.

Mr Chan had shown me another side of him and also reminds me of what my mentor used to tell me when I was young. Which is to "work hard and play hard", Mr Chan may be very serious at work but after working hours he removed his "aura" and started to joke with me. He had taught me that we don't have to change our personality to suit the job but adapt to changes necessarily. One can never be too serious as it will drive others away and stay serious when the environment requires you to do so. I hope to note this down to remind me of the lesson I had learnt today.

Three more days to go...

Tuesday

Today is a tiring day as I had just attended the Annual General Meeting for Gentle Reflection.

Basically the main purpose of an AGM is to review the annual accounts and make necessary adjustment to meet current expenditure or reduce unnecessary variable costs.

An example of a variable cost is utility usage for every month, measures like changing normal bulbs to LED bulbs and changing taps to key taps are ways to decrease these variable costs. Since the PUB is adjusting their rates every quarterly or semi-annually, the forecasting or budget allocated must include this variable too. Hence if the Managing Agent fails to include this factor, it is the responsibility of the council members to inform the MA.

Audited accounts not necessary means there is no errors. Therefore a secondary check by the respective council member is greatly appreciated. Council members should also make should breakdown is included for high expenditure items in order to be well-informed and safe from unnecessary spending.

I feel that I can never be able to be less careful as I always wanted to be prepared before any meetings. Hence reading, checking, identifying errors beforehand is a practice and because of this I am very tired and feel like sleeping anytime soon.

Hope that I can wake up tomorrow morning :D Cheers.

Last Week of Internship

16 weeks of internship is coming to an end this week. I am having mixed feelings about ending this, I hope that it will never end as I had really enjoyed myself throughout this process and everyone treats me like a family member. This internship had also build up my interest towards development and how it is like to be a developer.

Mr Chan is a thoughtful person and Ms Lily is a resourceful person, together they make a good team. I had always wanted to start my own business and this experience had taught me that I need to more partners and these partners must have distinct personalities and specialities in order for me to run the business smoothly.

You may be wondering why am I writing this entry today instead of Friday. This is because I have a strange feeling about this week and it is telling me that a lot of reflections will be going on in my mind. In order not to forget any crucial points that can assist my future development, I am planning to write an entry everyday until Friday. I hope Mr Chan will ask me to continue working as there are still many things that I can learn here.

NTU talk

Today i had went for the NTU talk in Grand HYATT Singapore located at Scotts Road. After listening to all the course talks, i had decided to read more on Civil Eng and EEE. Though i had always thought of going into Business courses, i felt that Civil Eng will be more enjoyable since the experience at TGL. There are lots of thoughts running in my mind and basically i cannot decide on the field specialization that i supposed to choose after i get into the course. Everything seems fine to me but i know if i make a wrong choice i will definitely regret it in the future. I really hope someone can give me guidance on how i should choose in Uni.

Btw, Internship is ending in one week time and i feel i will not be able to finish all the tasks i had at TGL. Hopefully i can arrange everything before i leave and best if Mr Chan ask me to continue after the internship :D Wonder how much will he be willing to pay me :P

No matter what the outcome is i just want to say i had enjoyed my 15 weeks at TGL. The stress may be high but the amount of knowledge i had gained has far exceeded the stress level. I would like to thank Mr Chan and Ms Lily for taking care of me and wish that TGL will continue to do well in the future :D

Chinese New Year Holiday & EPS System

This week is a 2 day week since work only started on Thursday. I had a great 5 days packed with activities and visiting to relatives houses. But the only disadvantage to having such a long holiday is the number of emails and mails that had been sent and posted during the CNY period. It took me 2 full hours to finish reading and reply to those inquiries from the resident. The number of phone calls did not stop even during lunch time....

I am barely able to read up more on the Electronic Parking System (EPS) that Mr Chan hopes to implement on one of our commercial buildings. Let me share with you some basics to EPS.

Common EPS that can be found in most carparks

Components of EPS System

The following is how the system work when a car enters a EPS equipped carpark;

1) Upon Entering; EPS Antenna reads the IU serial number in the car, non-local motorist will have to insert their cashcard into the Entry Station to get a ticket

2) Data will be stored in the validation terminal/ Data of season parker will be stored in here too

3) Upon exit; those with IU will had their fee deducted directly, while those with tickets will have to insert their cashcards to pay for the fee

The reason why i chose to read up is because of the meeting with the supplier of this EPS. Hopefully the meeting will not dragged and we will be able to focus more on the cost of this system.

Spring Cleaning/Painting and Work!!

Lunar New Year is round the corner and i had been busy at home. Everyday after work i had to clean and paint my house. It is the worse week for my body and i will barely survive if there is work tomorrow...

The most draggy assignment for this week is the continuous work schedule for Gentle Reflection. Let me state the things i had to supervise and coordinate with both contractor & owners;

1) Inform and make sure all cars is out and specialist start their work on time and end on time

2) Coordinate the draining of reflective pool water before and after the work at the roof terrace

3) Supervise the rectification work for 3 units and update the progress everyday

Luckily Mr Chan asked Huo Lin to help out with the supervision, i just have to make sure everything is going according to plan. After working for so many weeks i had learnt to include buffer time for work so that the time frame known to owners will always be more than required. This is to prevent negative and sarcastic feedback from the owners.

Next Wednesday will be a company off day, will update if Mr Chan gives me a blessing ( Hong Bao) next Thursday :D Happy Lunar New Year to all my family/friends/brother&sister/lecturers/acquaintances/ etc, May the Dragon be with YOU!!

Lapidolith :)

"Lapidolith" is the a scientific name for concrete hardener. I chose to write about this is because ever since i left secondary school, i had not been in touch with chemistry. This is a study done due to the need to increase the intensity of our carpark area in our estate. In the end, i had not only achieve what i wanted but also got the feel of chemistry once again. The following are some pictures that will illustrate where hardener can be applied.

This is a picture of hardener applied in a big factory flooring

This is a picture of hardener applied on walkway

Basically lapidolith can be applied on any concrete surfaces to increase the hardness of the surface. In the process of hardening the surface, it also increases the resistance to wear and tear and the ease of cleaning concrete flooring.

The nature of concrete is porous hence it will absorb most liquids. If the liquid is oil, it will be hard to wash off and cause a dirty patch or unevenness on the flooring. This is important to the aesthetic of estates as visitors will see and comment to the owner and thereafter complaint will start to flow in as "design flaw". Although we know that it is not a design flaw but we are doing it out of goodwill to improve the relationship between the developer and the owners.

The above is the chemical formula for hardener

In short, when hardener comes into contact with concrete it will react with the limestone in the concrete to form a compound that had a higher hardness than limestone.

After studying the reactions and effects of hardener, i went further to outsource and found a contractor that is willing to do our carpark at a low rate and it will be done next week.

Three more weeks to end of internship and i already starting to miss this job. Had learnt so much more in just thirteen weeks and Mr Chan & Ms Lily had been so kind to me. Really hope Mr Chan will call me back after this internship.

New Year - 2012!!

Hi all, i had a wonderful count down at Holland V :D Hope everyone had your fun that night too.

This week is a refreshing week, especially the sleeping time i had for the whole of Monday... The first day of work started off with filing of accounts for submission, i was not tasked to do it but Mey (Accountant) had shown how much work is required to compile the whole year accounts together.

As for me i suddenly remembered Mr Chee telling me about the SPRING S'pore funding for SME, therefore i started searching for more information online. After reading the material, i downloaded and printed a copy of the application form for Mr Chan to fill up. According to the website, this scheme is to encourage SME (Small-Medium Enterprises) to take in intern. It requires the company to plan for the learning path for the intern plus the employment after the internship semester. Which means the intern will be a official employee of the company after he/she finishes internship.

The key factor that lure me into researching is not the employment after internship but the bonus that is promised at the end of the programme. It is stated that each intern can enjoy a $2100 bonus when the internship had completed. Unfortunately the company that wish to participate in this scheme must apply before the internship started. Hence the application that will be posted will not affect me but i hope that future intern can enjoy this bonus :D

Happy New Year to all the readers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!