Getting back to blogging - a quick update

It has been a while since I update my blog. Life, both personal and working, has been full on. So many events have taken place. I do not know where to begin. Study wise, I have finally got my Doctorate degree. I have received the academic transcript, the completion letter, and a hard copy of my thesis from the University of Southern Queensland (Australia). The major event follows the completion of my degree is the graduation ceremony, which takes places on the 28th March. To top it up, I was invited, which I have accepted, to be the 2010 Valedictorian. I have three minutes to deliver my speech, which I have prepared and briefly rehearsed. It will focus on three key lessons that I have learnt from my PhD journey: be persistent in achieving your goals; be passionate with what you do; and be grateful of everyday we have and the people have rendered guidance and support to us. I will spend a week in Malaysia and travel to Kuching (the capital city of Sarawak) with mum, dad and Samantha after my graduation ceremony.


Work wise, things are going well. I have achieved most of my performance targets for 2010, except one which is the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP). To achieve this, I need to submit a 7000-word reflective assignment on my teaching practice to the Centre for Educational and Academic Development (CEAD) by early May. If I pass this assignment, I will get my PGCAP. My teaching workloads are a lot more manageable and reasonable now. Initially I was put down to contribute to five modules, a mixture of undergraduate and postgraduate marketing modules. I was feeling overwhelmed and thus I sent a whinny email to my existing and soon-to-be Heads of Division. Both deemed my whining to be reasonable and thus have released me from one postgraduate module and also have reduced the proportion of my contribution for another postgraduate module. Both Heads are also looking into halving the number of my postgraduate supervisees by hiring an associate. At the moment, I have been allocated twelve students. I am really grateful of what the Heads are doing for me. They might fail to get an associate; I will still appreciate their intention and attempts.


I should head to the sack as it is already 2305. I should post a blog after my graduation ceremony and I will share some of my graduation photos as well. Buona notte (good night in Italian).

Guilty conscience or showing off?

Have you ever done something naughty and yet, without being provoked, you feel obliged to defend this act to others? I have and this happened yesterday. I went to a Starbucks cafe in Guildford with two of my colleagues. I ordered a grande-size hazelnut hot chocolate. When I received the grande-size mug, I suddenly realised that Starbucks is disposing their current coffee mugs due to an undergoing re-branding exercise. In this exercise, Starbucks is revamping its existing, ubiquitous logo and, consequently, it is replacing everything that is embellished with the existing logo. The re-branding exercise involves making the Starbucks siren (the face of the woman appearing in the existing logo) larger and dispense with the white-on-green lettering that surrounds her. Moreover, the black-and-white colours decorating the siren will also be updated to green-and-white. Because of this re-branding exercise, it has triggered a frenzy in people to collect Starbucks objects that are decorated with the existing logo, and one of these people includes me. Therefore, after consuming my grande-size hot chocolate, I decided to keep the mug as a memorabilia. As I did not wish to pay for the mug, I quietly 'took' the mug with me when I left the cafe. As a branding enthusiast, I strongly feel that I need to have ownership of a Starbucks object with the current logo before it becomes extinct.

When I was taking my new mug to the staff common room for a wash, I met a group of administration staff and, strangely and naturally, I felt the need to explain to them what I had just done. I did not know why I felt compelled to defend or publicise my 'naughty' act to them despite that I was not provoked or interrogated. I could have kept my mouth shut and not said anything to them and they would not have a clue. I doubted they would ask anything about the mug. One of the administration staff, indeed, said: "If you had not told us, I thought you bought the mud." Why? I ask myself this question after chatting to the administration staff. Why did I feel the urge to convey my act to them? Is it because I felt guilty of my act and consequently the need to seek approval and understanding from them? Or, is it because I was thrilled with my act and thus the desire to promote my excitement to other people? In other word, was I showing off? Or, is it a combination of both? What do you think?

More information about Starbucks rebranding is reported in 'Starbucks gets a new face – and drops the mugs' by Zoe Wood.

My PhD journey has now concluded!

I never thought this day would come as it was like climbing the Mount Everest. I have dreamed about it for many days and nights. It is a bit too surreal for me. What am I talking about exactly? I have finally finished my PhD and it is official! The Associate Dean of Research (University of Southern Queensland) has approved my PhD corrections and the senior research administrator (Research) is in the process of preparing the paperwork to be signed off by the Business Faculty. Following that, I should be hearing from the Office of Research and Higher Degrees about the requirements for my graduation.

How do I feel? Thrilled and relieved. If you asked which feeling was more dominant, I would say I felt more relieved than anything else. This PhD journey has been very long and bumpy. There were many downs, but few ups. Most of these downs were self-inflicted and some of them were simply out of my control like my principal supervisor was having a series of dramas at work and not being PhD-focused. Throughout this PhD journey, I have experienced so much anger (at myself, my ex-partner, and my supervisors), anxiety (wondering if I ever finished and passed this bloody PhD), fear (constantly worrying about my writing and research findings), and stress (juggling between meeting chapter deadlines and fulfilling my teaching responsibilities). The more I fed myself with these negative feelings, the less motivated I became in finishing my PhD.

At that time, I did not have the right mindset when pursuing this PhD journey. My initial prime objectives were to stay in Australia with my partner at that time (now ex-partner) and to apply for permanent residency once I had completed the degree. I did not envisage doing the PhD as a learning and self-actualisation journey. Only after I have joined Surrey University and working with some talented, research-active colleagues, I suddenly realised that my view about this PhD journey was too narrow-focused and lacking strategic directions. I needed to think bigger and wider! Doing a PhD should not be about finding a (legitimate) reason to stay with your partner or applying for permanent residency, but it should be about gaining knowledge, challenging and updating your mindset, and sharing your interest and knowledge through publications. In a nutshell, doing a PhD is about self-discovery and self-actualisation.

I could not have completed this PhD journey without the moral support of my family and many good friends like Ian, Phillip, Ho Yin, Frances, Eric, James, Avital, Gang, Vicky, Ginee and Atanu. Dawn and her beloved family have also played a major part in my PhD journey. Dawn and her family provided me with a shelter, which was never boring and full of love. During my stay with them, I learnt so much about self-respect, self-determination, positive thinking, and sharing your feelings with your family (something that I did not learn from my childhood). To my family, friends, and Dawn and her family, thank you! Thank you for your support, thank you for having faith in me, I did it! I have got my bloody PhD now! It is a bloody good feeling to have reached the mountain peak!

Never ditch your guests at a party, period!

This blog is about me ditching my guests, consisting of work colleagues and friends, at a dinner party that I co-host with my flatmate, Avital. Not only I woke up with a minor hang over this morning, I also woke up with a sense of guilt and shame. I have embarrassed myself again!

Towards the end of the dinner party, I unintentionally, went to bed without saying good night to my guests. My behaviour is inexcusable! I cannot say enough how shameful and embarrassed I am about my party etiquette. Yes, it had been a long day. I had an appraisal meeting with the Head of the Division and School, I had two lectures to deliver, and I had to prepare and cook the dinner. Still, I should have never, never ditched my guests at my own dinner party. Other than apologising, how else I can redeem myself?


Pic 1 - starters


Putting my inexcusable sleeping behaviour aside, I think I have cooked a nice dinner for my guests. For starters, we served dim sum (Sainsbury's), crumbed Mozzarella (Sainsbury's), and prunes wrapped in prosciutto (homemade) (see picture 1). For main courses, I cooked satay chicken (satay = a Malaysia peanut-chili sauce), Pad-Thai prawns with seasonal vegetables, and stir-fried pak choys with cherry tomatoes (see picture 2). For dessert, Avital made tiramatsu and it was very yummy.

Pic 2 - Pad-Thai prawns

Going back to my little saga, there is a number of lessons I can learn from it. First, I will discipline myself in terms of my drinking in future parties. I will really pace how much I drink even though there is a plenty of free alcohols being served at a party. Second, I will never desert my guests at a party. I will stay alert until the end of my party, say goodbye to my guests and probably give them a hug. Third and final, I will help cleaning after my party. Poor Avital, she tidied, put the dirty dishes into the dish washing machine, transferred the leftover to the containers, emptied and put the wine bottles into the recycle bin. Thank you for the hard work, Avital.

'Smart' use of smart phones by university students

This blog is about how university students 'smartly' use their smart phones in seminars, and the other possible applications of smart phones in facilitating students' learning and social experience at universities.

26th November, I conducted three seminars for Marketing Principles (an undergraduate level 1 module). In the seminars, students were divided into groups and asked to create a brand name for a moisturising cream. The main purpose of the seminars was to demonstrate the complexity of creating a brand name. Hence, when developing the brand name, students were asked to consider four key criteria: it should be distinctive in terms of its personality; it should convey the product's benefits and/or attributes; it should be easy to pronounce, remember and recognise; and it should be expandable to other product lines or categories. During the brain storming process, at least one student in each had naturally taken out his or her smart phone and started searching for ideas or information on the Internet. One group had even use the smart phone, as a prop, to assist with their presentation. This phenomenon fascinates me because it suggests the possible use of the smart phone in facilitating students' learning.

It is common knowledge that young people frequently use their smart or mobile phones to engage in social activities (e.g. texting friends, checking messages on Facebook, chatting on MSN or Yahoo Messenger). However, we have little knowledge on how young people also use their smart phones to assist with their research or learning activities at the university (or at the school).
In the retailing sector, many retailers (e.g. Tesco and Amazon) have created mobile applications (e.g. websites) for smart phones in order to entice their customers to engage with their brands more frequently and to encourage them to spend more. Perhaps, universities should follow suit of this retail practice. That is, universities should consider developing mobile applications that will enhance the learning and social experiences of their customers, namely, students. Examples of mobile applications that universities can create include:

• library database which students can easily browse for journal articles on their smart phones;
• timetables which students can easily check the room and time of their seminars (many modules tend to have seminars in alternate weeks);
• academic calendar which will remind students about assignment deadlines, exam dates, and major social events, and last but not least;
• digital discount bar codes which students can use to get discounts for meals and/or coffee on campus.

It is no denial that we have become more and more dependent on smart phones in our daily lives, and this is more obvious among young people who are born and bred with information technology. For this reason, universities should start thinking and acting like major retailers (eg Tesco and Amazon) by embracing this digital technology i.e. smart phones and devising plans that enable them to use this digital technology to add value to their customers' experiences, either learning or social experiences or some mix of both. After all, students will be paying a lot more for their education (the tuition fee may go up to £9000 in 2012) and, thus, universities need to find new ways to serve them better. The use of smart phones can be one of these new ways.

No one to blame, but myself!

On the 21st November, I came home at around 1710 after visiting some friends in Newbury (Berkshire) over the weekend. Like usual, I went to my room to drop off my travel bag and netbook. At first, I did not notice anything unusual in my room. But, a few minutes later, I realised that my Lenovo laptop had disappeared from my study desk. The laptop was unplugged from the power cord and the mouse. I got a bit annoyed as I thought one of my flatmates might have borrowed my laptop without telling me. I would not mind lending my laptop to any of them. But, he or she should have asked for my permission or should have, at least, informed me. I 'hate' people borrowing my stuff without telling me.

Call me a control freak if you wish, but I would like to know who is borrowing what from me and, preferably, when the stuff will be returned. Harbouring my annoyance, I thought I would unpack my travel bag first before questioning the flatmate whom I suspected to have borrowed my laptop. When unpacking my travel bag, I found some coins it. As usual, I tended to 'transfer' the coins into my work bag so that I can use it to buy coffee or snacks at university. Right at this moment, I realised that my work bag has also gone missing. That is really bizarre! I doubted that any of my flatmates would have borrowed my work bag in addition to my Lenovo laptop. It did not take me long to realise that my room has been broken into. The burglar(s) must have entered my bedroom through one of the windows and taken the laptop and my work bag. Neither of the windows in my bedroom was shut and locked. I seldom shut my bedroom windows, an act which now proves to be unwise. My bedroom is facing the backyard garden and I often get breeze flowing into my room. For this reason, I like leaving my windows to catch the breeze.

Because of my carelessness for not locking the windows, I now have to pay for the price. That is, a burglar has entered into my bedroom and nicked my belongings (a Lenovo laptop and a brown canvass bag). In the bag, it also contained my staff card, office keys, and a digital audio recorder. I have reported the burglary to the police. An officer named Ed dropped by last night to take a statement. Another officer named Eddie came by this morning to undertake the forensic test. This afternoon I also received a call from another officer (I cannot remember his name) hoping to meet me at my residence to talk about crime prevention procedures. Unfortunately, I was unable to meet this officer as I was at university preparing my lecture for this Thursday. I wonder if he was called Ed or Eddie. Edward seems a popular name in the Surrey police department.

This burglary has provided me with a learning lesson. That is, unless you have a sensor alarm at your residence, you should never leave the windows unlocked when you go out or go away for the weekend. I just wish that the burglar will treat my Lenovo laptop well as it has been a very good laptop (it seldom breaks down) and it has travelled with me to many places (eg Australia, Malaysia, and Switzerland). I have had this laptop for many years. Goodbye Lenovo, may you rest in peace!

How long will you wait for your Starbucks?

In a cafe, how long are you willing to wait to be served? Do you have a maximum duration that you are willing to wait until you will wait no more and leave the cafe and probably feeling annoyed? Last week I visited some friends in Newbury (Berkshire). Since we had no idea on what to do on Sunday, we drove to the Newbury Retail Park to have a bit of wondering around and kill some time. One of my friends, Ian, suggested to check out the new Starbucks at the Retail Park. Ian is a big fan of Starbucks. He thinks Starbucks is a fantastic cafe. Sadly, I do not share his passion for Starbucks.

This Starbucks at the Retail Park is not the first one. There used to be a Starbucks on the second floor of the Borders bookstore. But, the bookstore closed down in June this year so did the Starbucks. I presume this new Starbucks is the one from the Borders bookstore and it has made a geographical transition from a bookstore to a fashion retail store. This new Starbucks is located on the second floor of the New Look store. The collaboration between Starbucks and New Look is pretty novel, at least to me. I have not seen many Starbucks built inside the New Look stores, not in London, Oxford, Reading, and Guildford. When we arrived at this new Starbucks, it was not that busy. There was a queue next to the counter and a few people were waiting to be served. There were two female staff, also known as coffee barrister, serving behind the counter. Looking at the ratio between the number of waiting customers and staff members, our impression was that it would not take long to get served and to acquire our coffee. Sadly, our impression was wrong. Instead, we waited for around 20 minutes to get served. After placing our order, we waited for another 10 to 15 minutes for our coffee. More shockingly, the staff member had forgotten one of our order. It was my order actually.

After we had got our coffee, the queue extended from a few people to, at least, 10 or 12 people. I was surprised to see that these people were willing to wait for their Starbucks. This incident raises a question in my mind, namely, how long are customers willing to wait to be served? Is there a maximum duration that customers are willing to wait before they leave a retail premise before acquiring anything? I compared this incident with the incident of people queueing for hours to purchase an iPhone 4. I can understand why people are willing to wait for hours at the Apple store in either Covent Garden or Regent Street to buy iPhone 4. This is because the Apple store in Covent Garden and Regent Street are the few places you can buy a contract-free iPhone 4. Otherwise, you will have to sign a contract with a telecommunication service provider like O2, Vodafone or Orange if you wish to have a iPhone 4. The contract generally lasts between 18 and 24 months.

I do not understand why people are willing to wait for, at least half an hour, to have coffee at Starbucks. Unlike the iPhone 4, the types of coffee offered by Starbucks, I think, are not unique or innovative. You can acquire similar types of coffee, let it be cafe latte or iced coffee, at Costa or Cafe Nero. Going back to the incident at the new Starbucks I mentioned earlier, I noticed that people were queueing for a long time to have their Starbucks. No one, I mean no one, retreated from the queue. People did not seem bothered with the queue at all. I cannot help wonder why. Was it because it was a Sunday and people were not in a hurry and/or they had nothing else to do? Or was it because they loved Starbucks so much and thus they were willing to wait for the coffee? Was it because they perceived the coffee or experience at Starbucks was so unique and they could not get it somewhere else? Neither at Costa nor Cafe Nero. Maybe, I will find the answers for my questions from my friend, Ian. After all, he is a die-hard fan of Starbucks. Ian, can you tell me why people will wait for their Starbucks? How long will people wait to be served at Starbucks before heading to the exit?