Author Archives: The Traveller

Barcelona

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Barcelona is an enchanting seaside city with boundless culture and fabled architecture. The city is big. I stayed there for a week and still found that I have not seen enough. I am waiting for another opportunity to visit Barcelona again.

From the airport, I took the bus and later changed to the metro to get to the place where I have booked the accommodation. I stayed in the Saint Jordi Hotels for 3 nights. This is about 10 minutes walk to the famous La Sagrada Família. Later I moved to Christopher’s Inns Hostel and stayed for another 3 nights. Both hostels provide good buffet breakfast.

For dinner, I got food from the nearby supermarket and and heat them up in the microwave.

I joined the walking tour in the morning. In the evening I joined the food tour where the guide took us to a local restaurant to taste the Spanish tapas.

The walking tour is very popular and we are divided into a few groups. The tour is free by we are expected to give some tips to the guide after the tour. This is cheaper than taking the tour from travel agent.

In the others days, I walked around visiting other places of interest.

The street performers were amazing. Will need to pay to take pictures with them.

The Street street performers were amazing. Tourists will need to pay to have pictures taken with them.

I also took the train to 2 nearby places, Sitges and Toledo, for a day trip.

The Flood in Bangkok

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I arrived from Beijing to Bangkok on a late evening flight. Surprisingly, certain places in Bangkok were flooded and the taxi refused to take me to my destination. Somehow I got a taxi driver to take me to a dry place to stay for the night, with an over-charge. The next day I moved to Khao San area and stayed there for a few days. These pictures are taken somewhere near Khao San road. 

Flood.52 Flood.145 Flood.8 Flood.20 Flood.124 Flood.113 Flood.122 Flood.30 Flood.125 Flood.114 Flood.144 Flood.120 Flood.115 Flood.17 Flood.18 Flood.27 Flood.22 Flood.100 Flood.21 Flood.117 Flood.59 Flood.142 Flood.93 Flood.81 Flood.50 Flood.90 Flood.105 Flood.84 Flood.85 Flood.72 Flood.79  Flood.77 Flood.82 Flood.62 Flood.39 Flood.71 Flood.38 Flood.43 Flood.108 Flood.91 Flood.89 Flood.110 Flood.103 Flood.96.1 Flood.104 Flood.54 Flood.95 Flood.139 Flood.138 Flood.109 Flood.130 Flood.129 Flood.132 Flood.131 Flood.135 Flood.136 Flood.137 Flood.49 Flood.98 Flood.141

The Roman Number System

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The Roman number system is based on seven letters, all of which are assigned with specific values. These seven letters, with their Hindu-Arabic number equivalents, are:

 I (1)       V (5)      X (10)      L (50)      C (100)      D (500)      M (1000)

There are a few rules in the Roman number system.

Rule 1: When a letter is repeated, its value is repeated.
Examples : I = 1, II = 2, III = 3          X = 10, XX = 20          CCC = 300

Rule 2: When a letter follows a letter of greater value, its value is added to the greater value.
Examples : VI = 6 (5+1)       XV = 15 (10+5)        LX = 60 (50+10)        DC = 600 (500+100)

To write 70 in roman numerals, we just need to add XX to L (10+10+50). So, 70 will therefore be written as LXX. To write 800, just add CCC to D (100+100+100+500). In this case, 800 is written as DCCC.

Rule 3: When a letter precedes a letter of greater values, its value is subtracted from the greater value.
Examples : IV = 4 (5-1)                       IX = 9 (10-1)                      XL = 40 (50-10)
                   XC = 90 (100-10)             CD = 400 (500-100)

The smaller value I is in front of V, means subtract 1 from 5 to get 4. In the same way, X is in front of the L reduces 50 by 10 to get 40. In like manner, X is in front of C means 100 less 10 and CD denotes 500 less 100.

Note: Generally, the symbols are not repeated more than three times to denote a number. To show the number 40, we would need to write XL (50-10) and not XXXX. (10+10+10+10). As for 4, it is usually written as IV (5-1) and not IIII (1+1+1+1).

Rule 4: A horizontal bar over a letter or letters indicates that the value given to the letter or letters is to be increased one thousand times.
Examples : MCD = 1,400 (1000+ 500-100).
____
MCD = 1,400,000 (1,000 times of 1,400)

Summary

VII = 7          XI = 11          XIV = 14         XVIII = 18         XXII = 22      XXXVII = 37
XLI = 41       LXII = 62       CXIII = 113     CCX = 210      MCM = 1,900

__                              __                               ______    
XICCC = 11,300       CLXX = 150,020         MCMV = 1,905,000  

 __                         __
 M = 1,000,000       XCC = 10,200

Source : “Arithmetic Made Simple – Revised Edition” by A.P. Sperling and Samuel D. Levison. Revised by Robert R Belge, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Syracuse University. Published by Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

Learn about using Colours

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According to Diane DiResta, using the right colour in a presentation could make a greater impact in the delivery. This is because colour creates associations in the minds of the audience members. It adds drama, affects moods and changes perceptions and motivations.

DiResta suggested that we should consider the purpose of the presentation when choosing the background and graphic colours.

Red stimulates emotions. It works well for sales and marketing presentations. Red means passion, desire, competition, danger, stop, error, downturn. Bright red may be too intense for some people. Burgundy is an alternative. Red is the appropriate colour to show a loss. “The company is in the red.” Red is a good choice for persuading or moving people to action.

Green inspires involvement or interaction. It’s a good colour for training sessions or other presentations when you want people to participate. Green also means social, intelligent, open, growth, money, readiness, spring, new beginnings. A green arrow on a slide would signal an upturn or growth.

Gray communicates a lack of commitment or neutrality. A gray background would not be the best colour for persuasive presentations. Instead, gray is best used as a bridge between different segments. If your sales module is in red and your marketing segment contains green backgrounds, a gray slide between the two subtopics would work well.

Blue is a clam, conservative colour. It suggests trust, stability, loyalty, tradition. Many corporate logos are blue. Where red has a stimulating effect, blue lowers the listener’s blood pressure and heart rate. To increase your credibility, use blue.

Yellow is associated with cheerfulness and hope for the future. It also signifies restlessness and change, and it can create feelings of anxiety. Yellow is too bright and stimulating for a background colour. It reflects the most light and will produce a glare in the eyes of the audience. It’s best to use yellow in headings.

Purple has a mystical quality. It may represent fantasy or take on a childlike quality. Purple is not a good colour for business information because it may not be perceived as important. Purple backgrounds are better suited for fun, humorous, or light topics.

Brown is perceived as passive, searching for something solid. So it’s best not to use brown for business backgrounds. It will be seen as unstable and less credible than other colours.

Black signifies power and sophistication. Black absorbs all light, making objects appear closer to the eye. A red square on a black background will look larger than it will on a white background. If colour can stimulate emotion, black represents the absence of emotion. A black background is ideal for things that have happened or situations in which the audience has no choice but to accept the data. Unchanging financial data or information that is a done deal will work well on a black background. Black removes emotion.

Source: “Knockout Presentations – How to deliver your message with …..” by Diane DiResta. Published by Raffles, an imprint of SNP Editions Pte Ltd

Learn about The Geese Story

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Found this article and think that it might be good to share it with you. This is the story of the geese where they work together to reach their destination. This is about Teamwork.

In the fall when you see geese heading south for the winter flying along in the “V” formation, you might be interested in knowing what science has discovered about why they fly that way. It has been learned that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.
People who are part of a team and share a common direction get where they are going quicker and easier, because they are travelling on the trust of one another and lift each other up along the way.

Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go through it alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the power of the flock.
If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation and share information with those who are headed the same way that we are going.

When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back in the wing and another goose takes over.
It pays to share leadership and take turns doing hard jobs.

The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep their speed.
Words of support and inspiration help energize those on the front line, helping them to keep pace in spite of the day-to-day pressures and fatigue. It is important that our honking be encouraging. Otherwise it’s just – well honking!

Finally, when a goose gets sick or is wounded by a gunshot and falls out, two geese fall out of the formation and follow the injured one down to help and protect him. They stay with him until he is either able to fly or until he is dead, and then they launch out with another formation to catch up with their group.
When one of us is down, it’s up to the others to stand by us in our time of trouble. If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other when things get rough. We will stay in formation with those headed where we want to go.

The next time you see a formation of geese, remember…

IT IS A REWARD, A CHALLENGE AND A PRIVILEGE to be a contributing member of a TEAM.

Learn about Raving Fans

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“Raving Fans”, written by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles, is about the revolutionary approach to customer service. According to Blanchard and Bowles, in today’s world it is not good enough for us to just having satisfied customers. If we really want to retain our present customers and attract new customers, we would have to create Raving Fans, which is the ultimate in customer service. A Raving Fan relationship goes far beyond the company’s product/service. Customers are only satisfied because of two reasons; one is their expectations are low and the other is that nobody is doing better than what we are doing now.

We don’t own any customers. Customers just parked in our doorsteps and would be more than glad to move away if they find somewhere better. If we really want to own them, we would have to go beyond satisfied customers and create Raving Fans.

Here are the three magic secrets found in the book for the creation Raving Fans.

(a)       Decide What You Want

When we have decided what we want in customer service, we would have to create a vision of perfection centered on when the customers use the product/service.

Once we have a real vision, what we need to do is to bring down the picture from our mind to the level of what was actually happening in the organisation and see where the bumps and warts are. The perfect vision would not be a frozen picture of the future as customers’ needs and wants change all the time.

We would have to use own initiative and be flexible to change our vision when necessary. Visions would either grow or die. And when vision dies, it’s customer service that gets buried. We have to be ready to change direction when the vision changes.

(b)       Discover What The Customer Wants

Discover the customers’ vision of what they really want and then alter our vision to fill in the gaps if there is a need. The secret to discover what our customers really want is to ask them for their visions. We could be altering a few times before finding out what the customers really want. Instead of just suggesting improvements, we should show the customers exactly what we could do.

There might be some unhappy customers whose expectations are far outside our window and we would not be able to satisfy their needs. We would have to tell these complainers politely that what they wanted wasn’t part of our customer service package. Rather than give them extra time and attention and further diverting the company from the true vision, we should suggest that these customers to look elsewhere where they could find their needs. Good service means looking after every whim of the customers within the window we have defined in our vision and strive to be the best.

(c)       Deliver Plus One

We would have to deliver all the time and there should be not exceptions contemplated or allowed. We might want to start with a limit number of services where we want to make a difference as this would allow us to be consistent in our service.

We could always build towards the total vision once we are successful with one or two things. We should not introduce new things when we couldn’t even get the old ones right. We should not offer something that is too big or difficult to get right all at once. There is no sense for us to do big things if we could not successfully implement them quickly. It would be better to do smaller things that we could deliver consistently. If we promise something and do not deliver, we are cheating the customers.

We would have to meet first and exceed later. Regardless of what we promise, it’s consistency that’s important. Customers allow themselves to be seduced into becoming Raving Fans only when they know they can count on us time and time again. Consistency is critical in good customer service as it creates credibility.

Once we are consistent, ongoing improvement is equally important. The one percent rule is to keep us moving ahead and focused beyond our vision. It reminds us that all we have to do is to improve by one percent. If we improve one percent a week, we will be ahead of more than fifty percent after a year.

The rule of one percent also lets us constantly monitor the customers’ needs and alter our direction when they alter theirs. Listening to customers is powerful. Responding to what customers say is dynamite.

Source : “Raving Fans” by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles. Published by William Morrow and Company. Inc., USA.