IBM Websphere Business Integrator Adapter

My recent work is much on maintaining an adapter called Kenan Adapter deployed on an IBM product called IBM Websphere Business Integrator(WBI). This product basically picks up XML message in the queue and processes the particular messages. I was struggling on getting the web services call to work. I tried a few methods but the web services call just did not work. My project manager who has a very solid technical background could not provide a solution too. In the end he concluded that an RMI program cannot just call another RMI. The WBI framework itself is RMI based. Hence he helped me to build a standalone Java application that listens to the queue all the time, picks up messages then calls the web services. Last Friday i tested one round. The web service call was successful!

Should i change job again?

Recently i was sent to a Telco company to service them. I will have to be based at there for a long time. I was very shocked on the first day that i need to take over a colleague's task that is in testing phase and he is going to fly off 3 days later! I did not expect something like this could happen. It should be well arranged in such a big corporation. They could not just get some one new in and expected the him to fix problems asap! A proper hand over must be done and the process should be given a proper timeline but not to make it like cooking instant noodle! The project could fail due to something like this! If i need work have a few late nights i do not mind but the quality will not be guaranteed! That is for sure, that's happening to everyone especially when a project has to be completed in hurry. Normally the project would end up being delayed due to lots and lots of bugs! How can you give birth to a baby in 9 months???

What most frustrated me was, last Friday 4 somthing the client's manager showed some problesm to me and expected me to fix it! I told him directly that i did not really have the idea of what he was trying to explain to me of the problem! Well, that is ok. I can liase with my colleague back in The Philipines. But, this manager kept calling and asking the status. I was frustrated. My sickness nearly came back again! He made me very tension. He should have trusted me more! If things continue this way i would consider to leave this big corporation!

I am looking forward to further my Master study and focus on research & development field. I believe that is something i want. Wish me good luck!

别开生面的婚宴

上个星期六晚，我见证了一场别出心裁的婚宴。

婚宴以自由餐形式来进行。老一辈可能认为这怎么行吧？因为自由餐于人有点寒酸的感觉，不好看。可是，那场自由餐婚宴盛会并不难看，反而简单又隆重。场面布置得非常典雅高贵，令客人有如处身在热带丛林内用餐。那种感觉非常的和谐，可能就是“天人合一”的境界吧？呵呵。

婚宴特别之处在于，有一个小小的婚礼见证仪式。新郎及新娘站在会场中心处，说了好多令人感动的话。由于新娘是辅导员，所以说得一口非常标准之华语，表达能力更不用多说。新郎则看得出不善发言。这我很早救知了，只因我与新郎共事了一段日子，所以对其个性我还蛮了解。新娘的同事也一个接一个上台发言，个个也是说话高手，在场的宾客获益不浅啊，呵呵。

新郎新娘还请来了一支乐队为宾客们献唱，他们的素质都很好，大家吃饭时也不会闷，有悦耳的歌声陪伴。

食物方面当然及不上普通婚宴酒席的菜式。可是我很满意，因为我吃得刚刚好，不会有太胀的感觉。我对普通婚宴酒席的铺张与浪费早就不认同了，所以自由餐正和我意。

有机会跟新郎说说几句，他说，“你就参考参考吧！”。呵呵。

特别感谢新郎这次邀请我去他的这场婚宴，我得以大开眼界。我认为，这场婚宴偏重于西式。这很好，值得鼓励，我们该不时融合中西的优点，来创造出新文化，为我们的原有文化锦上添花，增添活力。

Back to old tech? Oh no...

So today, i met with Lim KY. He is a project manager. He is currently handling a bank system project team. I am not sure what system is that but i was told it is already a phase 2 project. I may take part in the UAT session of phase 2, and phase 3 too.

After bidding farewell to him, i asked one of the team members what technology they use. Unfortunately they are using those obsolete technologies such as Java 1.4, EJB2, Struts 1.2 and so on. Oh no, not even using Object Relational Framework or Dependency Injection Framework. I need to dig deeper in those areas. I want to try out JBoss Seam, more Spring, EJB3, more Hibernate and so on. I need to sharpen those. Now my dream will likely break. I know it is normal for a client like bank to use those technology they are comfortable with because they are proved to be stable. So i can not blame. I am wondering if i shall talk to my manager to avoid working on something i do not like.

I do not know how long will the phase 3 last. I just know that working in this project will not offer me a chance to travel to oversea. That is what i am looking forward to: to communicate with oversea colleagus or clients, i want to improve on that part. Furthermore now i am going to use the obsolete technologies. It is a double blow to me. I do not want to waste my time doing things i do not like. I want to achive my goal as soon as possible before i get married. As you guys out there know, normally man will lose lots of freedom after getting married. Sorry, i should say this phenomenon is common in Asia.

Wish me good luck.

Great conversation with friends

I had a gathering with my university mates at 1U on 17 September 2008, which is a holiday in Selangor. We had a great conversation.

We talked about religions. One of my friend, who is a Methodist, said his Christian fellow will get angry every time he questions on the logic of certain Christian teachings. For example, if there are only heaven and hell for human to go to after death, then the number of being in hell is surely greater than the number of being in heaven as the rule to the heaven is so strict. Then the power of devil who governs the hell is surely greater than 'god' who governs the heaven. That is only one of many relevant topics that we discussed. Of course we did not only talk about Christian, but other religions as well.

We concluded that religion is a system. A system will surely have logical flaws. Of course we do not know if there is something that is beyond the logical flaw but for certain if based on the current knowledge we have, nothing can really explain the logical flaw of every religion or every system. It is a universal law.

Happy mid-autumn festival 中秋节快乐！

The mid-autumn festival is one of the 4 major festivals of the Chinese. You may refer to the complete description of this festival here

The other 3 important festivals are the Chinese New Year(Spring Festival), the Qing Ming Festival (means Clear & Bright) and the Duan Wu Festival.

Luckily this year it falls on Sunday. Therefore i managed to reunite with my family members on this day. Reunion on the full moon day means everything to Chinese family.

It is quite unfortunate that it was raining in the night so i could not see the beautiful moonlight. Anyway i had seen it the day before. The scene was weird. Clouds were gathering around the full moon and the moonlight penetrated through the thick clouds. You could see rainbow ring surrounding the full moon. Fascinating!

Happy mid-autumn festival to you guys out there! Hope you guys will complete your whatever things out there as full moon means complete!

New Employee Orientation

Well, i joined IBM Malaysia eventually. The first few weeks were just quite bored. I am not given any assignment. Today i attended the New Employee Orientation. I learned something here!

I realized the power of 'innovation'!

We were put in different groups. The trainer was asking us to play a game. Each of the group member has to touch 4 balls in sequence. He demonstrated the normal way we did it and asked us to improve the process.

The game was so interesting. Initially we achieved a 5 seconds record. He was not satisfied and in the end we managed to finish the task within 1 second!

That's the power of 'innovation' , 'think'

Wow....