Weblog of Quests » Off Beaten Track

Passing of a visionary

Louis — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 04:06:43 +0000

Yesterday was a day of sad news. It was the day when I read about the death of Steve Jobs, the main creative force behind the rejuvenated Apple (since he was brought back in 1997). He doesn’t know me and I have never had the privilege to meet him in person. However, love him or hate him (and there are plenty of those people, with a passion!), his company’s products – and some would say the results of his single-minded vision – have defined and continue to define much of the consumer technological landscape of the last decade to the present day. Ask someone what is an MP3 player, you’d probably either get a blank stare or iPod as an answer. When you are used as a benchmark (say, iPhone, iTunes, iPad) by all your competitors, you are on to something surely!?

Here is Jobs at the famous Stanford commencement address. As some people have commented, his passing – at such a young age too, I might add – seems to have triggered some form of self-examination: have we done enough with our god-given talents, with our lives?

Rest in peace, Steve.

Riots and human dignity

Louis — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 09:42:31 +0000

We can probably analyse to death the social causes for the riots going on in Britain. However, personally I think there are no excuses for the disgrace taking place right now. Maybe there are lots of repressed frustrations, inequalities, blah-blah-blah…, at the end of the day each one of us needs to answer to our own actions – are we fighting for a cause or just satisfying our impulse for destruction and greed?

I am utterly impressed by the brave actions of this lady – seeing that innocent by-standers have been robbed or beaten up during the past few days of riots too.

Assasin’s Creed Brotherhood

Louis — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 07:31:38 +0000

Just finished the main storyline of Assasin’s Creed Brotherhood early this morning. This is really the game to lose some sleep over!

Although the story of the Assassin’s Creed dates back to 2007, I only discovered this wonderful game mid-last year when I bought a PS3, together with Assasin’s Creed II (which by the way is head and shoulders better than the original, although it was quite a hit during its time too). After seeing the improvements made in Brotherhood, as well as trailers and gameplay presented at this year’s E3 (in the embedded clip), can’t wait untill the next edition, Revelations, comes out in November when the Ezio (and possibly Desmond ) saga will come to a glorious conclusion. Incidentally Uncharted 3 – another favourite of mine on PS3 – is slated for a November release too!

Mid life

Louis — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 06:30:50 +0000

As people approach the middle of their lifespans, what do they usually think about?

Can’t speak for others, but I think about my mortality and legacy. Have I made best use of my god-given abilities? Is there anyone to carry on my work/name?

More lessons

Louis — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 06:11:48 +0000

Learnt something valuable at our company’s team building event a couple of days ago.

When working or competing against other groups/departments, never assume that they have the same objectives as you – even if they are in the same company as you.
What’s valuable to you or your team may not be valuable to others.

Making the wrong assumptions cost our group some valuable points during the exercise. However, in real life situations, the consequences are likely to be more serious.