Asian Tiger

The title of this post reminds me of “Mind Your Own Language” when Ali Nadim of Pakistan favourite phrase is “Oh! Blimey!”.

That aside, today I wanted to write about the condition of my office blinds.  Currently, I have venetian blinds installed on 3 of my office windows but everytime when there is a breeze, the blinds start to flutter and make horrible, irritating noises.  These kind of noise does disrupt my train of thoughts.

I am thinking of replacing them with wood blinds that are more strudy, classy and looks more homely (not that office should be homely). Using wood is not a straightforward process as it needs to blend in with the rest of the office furniture.  Nevertheless, I am seriously considering this but of course, money would be the main consideration.

I love traveling.  My wife loves traveling.  My kids bug me to go for vacations. All of us want to go to exotic destinations but the price tag is something that I can ill afford or not willing to pay for.  It has been my greatest aspiration to take a long family vacation at least once a month and I think the timeshare concept may actually work out for me.

If you do not know what timeshare is, it is actually a group of people buying a piece of property and all joint owners have access to the property at different times of the year.  Though timeshare does alleviate the traveling cost associated to accomodation, there are other considerations to think about; e.g. air tickets, travel insurance, ground transportation, etc.

If you are a traveler who prefers the “tour company” way, timeshare is probably not for you.  I’ve long ago given up on tours because they are “hurry burries” and they take me places where I really don’t like.  Most of the time, they will make unscheduled stops at shopping areas so that they can earn commissions from your purchases.

Note that timeshares are long term commitment and if you are not up to travel periodically, you should consider other alternatives.

In my course of discharging my duties, I find myself working with more and more clients on a global scale.  With business flourishing (more work for me), I find that I being to lose touch on the details.  This is something that I am unable to escape as I have many clients and many ongoing projects with many more in the pipeline.  Looks like work is cut out for me for the next 2 years.

I suddenly realized that I need tools to help me in my work to increase my efficiency and productivity.  I needed tools to help me collaborate on documents with a multitude of customers and fellow project members.  I need something online and yet free. I found 3 tools that I could use.

First is of course Google Docs.  Totally online and easily shared among netizens.  However, I’m quite limited to word processor, spreadsheet and presentation.  You will need to work entirely online on the documents.  If you do not have a stable Internet connection, don’t bother. You will need a Google account for this.  It’s free.

Second is Microsoft Office Live Workspace.  I am able to create folders and share specific documents or the entire folders.  All that is required is a Windows Live account. I found that I was able to upload other types of documents into individual folders or workspaces.  There is a Microsoft Office plugin so that you can work directly on your local machine and yet update/create documents on Office Live Workspace. It’s free.

Third solution that I found was Zoho.  It has a multitude of applications including project, CRM, word processing, spreadsheet and the works.  Loads and loads of tools.  However, the free version has it’s limitations in terms of users and storage.  You will need a Zoho account.

In the end, I chose Office Live Workspace as I normally work with Microsoft products and the same for many of my clients.  I love the fact that I’m able to work offline and yet update online on an on-demand basis.  If you are in my shoes, try any of these tools.