Gastric problems ...

Visited Dr Fong this morning as my gastric continued to give me problems for the past week. =/ Hopefully will recover soon, else going to be bloated and in discomfort for a long time.

Well, my date of transfer is fixed at 16 Jun, quite sad to leave Seraya, but at the same time relieved. So a bit tacky ba. As i learn more about rotating equipment and reliability issues, it is definitely very interesting and challenging but at the same time, realised that there is a lot more knowledge out there which I have yet to learn. Too bad have to stop at this point, but still, glad that i have done some improvements to Seraya before i am transferred out. =)

By chance, going with NTU anglers club to malaysia for fishing on 7 and 8th Jun, as i got into contact with Houyi during CCHS meet up. =) So i guess that will serve as a short break before i get busy learning new stuff as a trading operator.

GTKY session

Hmmmm.. tomorrow's the GTKY session at Shell House. Its at 3pm, so logistics is going to be a nightmare. What logistics? u might ask. Well, i will have to head down to the sea water intake pump to have a visual inspection of the suction bowl, its impellers (it is 2 stage) and to determine if it requires to be brought to Sulzer for servicing.

That will definitely cause me to perspire a lot and ... that means i have to get changed and freshened up before I head to city for the interview. Else the RTLs will find me stinky, which is obviously not a good start. Halfway done with my K2301/K2302 and K3201 report, will have to complete P6238/P6237 as soon as possible too. Now have to juggle those 2 with coming up with the new bad actor excel format and hold a meeting next week. =P Busy busy busy, which is good as it is still in the eu-stress range. Have to also look at P6202 and possibly the status of P5502A's plan for modification in Germany. If P5502A gets the go ahead, it will be another thing to accomplish as much as possible before i leave Seraya. Well. That is if they find me okay during tomorrow's GTKY session.

Weekly update liao

Looks like its going to be a weekly update of my blog nowadays. =P Loads had happened this past week. An ex student of Wheng had been knocked down by a car, and was in a coma for 2 days before passing away on around midnight on Wed. We had visited her for 2 nights at the ICU in CGH, praying for her to pull through. Rather saddened by the news although I didn't know her.

Well, life goes on and yes, reminded me again on the importance of my family and friends, though i must say that i need no reminding. Celebrated mother's birthday on 1st May. Actually wanted to bring her for fishing competition, but no competition was held cos of the higher costs nowadays. Thus only went for dinner at Long Beach restaurant, where the portions seemed to have gotten smaller although the price remained the same. =P

Quite happening in the workplace. With the drive towards reliability, will be tweaking the bad actors list and some reports. Good news is that the people there are having more confidence in me as my recommendations (some with help of my senior colleagues + supervisor) are proven to be effective. Ideas are being accepted, aka less challenged, as I have a bit more experience from other similar pumps and thus can provide better justifications. Not so good news would be that I will probably be leaving Seraya by June, leaving after getting into the job and having to start all over again ... hmmmm... well. At least I am leaving Seraya wtih goodwill and had contributed to Seraya in my short stay of about 6 months now.

Wonder how the GTKY session will be on 8th May. If i get to choose between Dubai and Singapore posting, I will ask for Dubai. Since I am still 'young', think should seize the opportunity to head out and explore other countries. In theory, I would be able to put more efforts into self development over there as I will not have the chance to play mahjong, meet up with friends etc. Instead, starting would be able to concentrate on picking up whatever skills i need to do well in my new role and to make new friends and have some self development within the next 3 years. Furthermore, hopefully by the time i come back, I would have healthy savings and the property market is in the lull. =P

Changed my engine oil to full synthetic 5w-30, Pennzoil platinum, which is owned by Shell actually. Chose this over Shell Helix as Shell Helix only comes in 5w-40, which i will use only when my engine gets older. =P Hopefully my fuel efficiency will increase from the current average of 14.8km/l.

Back home in less than an hour

Got back home today in less than an hour, rather smooth traffic throughout the journey. Left office at 5:45, drove off at about 5:55 after the engine had warmed up and stuff, was pleasantly surprised to have parked my car at 6:45. =D

Read the papers and walked to the coffeeshop near my place for dinner with my parents and younger bro. So nice. Makes the cost of the car very worth it. If money can let me have time with my family, it is definitely worth spending. =D

As for work, it is getting packed as i assume the responsibility of the PODU side, things are piling up with more projects to do. At least i had completed one which i had started, and several small ones are closed too. =) My supervisor is also setting up a rather 'big' time presentation for me next month, hopefully my presentation will go well, and i have to start preparing tomorrow, cos Feb is coming and there are always things cropping up during the day. Hmmm... maybe will need to spend some time working at home or during weekends. Heh.

i guess the good news is, i am happy with the challenge. Hope i can go through this smoothly and succeed. =D Then is looking forward to the course at KL this coming March, then another course in Changi this April, which means i get to sleep in more.

Starting to get busy preparing for the Lunar New Year, had completed delivering the new year goodies (consisting of 1kg ba kua and 1 box of peanut based CNY goodies) to all my aunts and uncle. For their support during my fight with cancer and also for having completed University and started work. =D I think it is just what i can do, a small gesture of appreciation. The most common reaction to seeing me was .... 'wah! Getting married ar?' Or 'Sending out wedding invitations?' =P

All in all, a happy week so far, and time is really flying by when one enjoys it. =P Another thing is... market is crashing, and looks like there are opportunities to profit from the stock market again, except... probably wait for it to settle a bit first. ;P

CSI?

Driving given me more freedom and time, =D Period. So started to stay back later in office, so that i can learn more stuff, do more reading up etc. Started my gears going... finally, hopefully can reach full steam in 3 months time. Have to start slowly, and maybe my goal of improving ONE pump by end of 2008 could be achieved sooner than i thought.

So many things to write... but ... where to start. hmmm... anyway, still have yet to take photo with my car, and it will be going for servicing on Sat. heh. Already done 1390km on my car, after driving for only 12 days so far. Good news is.... the fuel consumption is unbelievably good. Cos for the top up today of 25.54 litres of Shell 95, i had travelled 429km with it, giving a cool 16.79km per litre. Hopefully it gets better after servicing. =D

Drove my family down to Suntec last Sunday, amazing cos of the time saved. No need to wait for bus and train and squeeze with all the people. Parking costs $5+, but for 6 people, worth it and apparently, so is the fuel. Hope the fuel consumption continue or gets better. Heh.

Why the CSI tag? Cos learnt a new skill at work, which is to listen to pipes. Yes, literally place my ear on the pipe (pumping service water at ambient temperature, of course) and listen. Then also use hand to turn shafts, feel for vibration, heat (for products that are not that hot). Woot! so much stuff to learn, and to get experienced enough to know what i am hearing. After 2 days and about 10 over times of listening to the piping, finally can distinguish between piping with fluid flow and no flow. But for that particular pipes only, will need to see if have chance to try on other pipes. =P

Still not put up any photos... will have to do so soon, else my blog only words.. =P So sianz.

me .. all alone? *gasp*

The horror ... my supervisor headed back home early today as he was feeling unwell with headache. I hope that his vaccination works and he will not get infected with chicken pox. Else that will mean that i will be the ONLY rotating engineer around, with no one to get assistance from. Scary? a fair bit. Exciting? a good bit.

I would rather he be around to guide if stuff crops up, else i will be the only RE during morning meetings with ops and maintenance people. And i can ask for more assignments to handle once i finish up the two i have on hand. One was requested for yesterday and the other was tasked with today. Good 'work out' as i learnt quite a bit more on mechanical seals by doing so. The AIT with Flowserve and getting a report up on seals on site. Previous reading done in my first few days and explanation from Clement was the required basics, and i moved on to looking at failure reports and usage of different plans for different situations.

To think.. never been exposed to mechanical seals in the academic world, and it is such an important equipment for usage of pumps and motors. Maybe it is more used for this particular industry. Hmmm.. nonetheless, the working principle is rather interesting actually, although to design it is rather complex. But i supposed to help in troubleshooting and thinking of possible improvements etc etc. heh .. now only understanding and gaining knowledge and experience stage. =P

Well....looks like i will get used to the travelling soon. This is good news, the not so good news is that... i did not win the car.. YET. The free mazda 2 slipped from my fingers today, but it is not over as there will be other lucky draws and chances to get $100 COE. =P Failures are just terms for 'success that have yet to arrive'. =D

riding in silence ...

Today was my 1st day in the process area alone. As 2 of my colleagues were out of office, and will be for about 2 weeks - one in Bukom for a short assignment, the other kana chicken pox. I wonder if the vaccine i received in Army days is still valid, else i may get it too.

Anyway, was assigned to check out a pump in the process area and after wearing the required PPE or personal protective equipment, which includes a set of earplugs, i cycled into the plant. With the ear plugs on, everything was quiet, very quiet. No sound of wind, nor can i hear myself. When talking to myself, i hear my voice coming from my throat.

With a map in hand, just in case, i reached the area and it was rather big. Luckily saw a fellow worker and asked him on the pump location, of which he helpfully pointed out to me. It was the last pump at the other end of the area.. *phew*! lucky i met him, else will take a long time to locate the pump. Too lazy to proceed to another building with bigger map. =P

Anyway, looks like i will be tackling any challenges that crops up this 2 weeks as it is only me and my supervisor, the senior engineer, as the other 2 are away. Good time to learn, unfortunately, will be on my own to a large extend. But i get to learn a lot, as i had to think of what i think it is and how should i confirm stuff.. haha. Feel like an engineer? not yet, cos i had to double check my suspicions with my senior technician before informing my supervisor. Looking at drawings and at the actual pump is definitely very different. =P

Learning curve established?

Things got exciting over the past 2 days, with me attending more meetings and getting to do a preliminary root cause analysis (RCA) of a defect. Although it has already been thought through by my supervisor and seniors, i missed the meeting cos it was held when i was away on course.

The date has been set for my taking over, which will be on Jan 15. Meaning that i have approx. 2 months to take over from Clement and also to know much much more on just about anything. Exciting and i hope that i can maintain clement's high standards and push it up a notch or two in a year's time. Truth is... it will be difficult as i started from scratch BUT .. it can still be done, and hopefully with as few mistakes along the was as possible. Must treat it as in Navy, where ZERO mistake is my target ... cos mistakes can cost lives onboard ship. So.. i guess zero mistakes is being perfect, and that means i am a nobody. =P

Anyway, apparently my testing with the moisturiser is working as wheng and joanne can spot which side of my face has been 'anti-aged', and that was about 20 hours after i had applied it. So i had just applied the cream to my entire face, doing it nightly as it says 24 hours on the label and i guess my face gets to revitalise itself during the night. =)

1st day at course and rash outbreak!

Today is the first day of my Ministry of Manpower: Oil/Petrochemical Industrial Safety Supervisors Course conducted by NTUC at Redhill there. Woke up at a gloriously late time of 7.30am. heh heh. The course is from 9.30am till 4.30pm, so can wake a lot later than usual.

Reached there just in time at 9.28 as the location is very close to redhill mrt station. Surprisingly met a fellow colleague from Shell Chemicals Seraya, Katherine from maintenance, thus i didnt have to undergo the course alone. Which is a good thing as the course did get rather boring and i get to know and understand a bit more on what maintenance engineers do at seraya. Not to mention the cute picture of her baby gal is always smiling on the screen of her handphone. Oh! And also get to know that she is a professional engineer or PE and recommends that i try for that if possible after i accumulate 5 years of experience. heh heh.... maybe can incorporate into my plan...good stuff to do for semi or full retirement. =P

Too bad didnt get to go for badminton session today as i had to pay a visit to my family doctor at bedok reservoir, having hitched a ride from yongxi. Eczema was the cause and was given antibiotics, cream and anti-itch pills. Thank goodness i did not go for badminton, else will be scratching like a cat during tomorrow's session.

Learnt of a good thing today, which is.. i get to claim allowance for taking the course, so heh heh, a bit of extra income to compensate for going to the doctor's for my eczema. =P

On the serious note, really considering the option of buying a car so that i can sleep one more hour in the morning and also enable me to stay in office late and not be restricted by the bus schedule. Need to slowly move up my tempo at work and hopefully start to contribute more soon. heh.

Over one gigabyte of reading material

Back home today with the cute piece of hardware, otherwise known as portable harddisk, loaded with over 1 gig of reading material for rotating equipment(RE). Although i am not rubbing my hands, drooling with anticipation over reading such large amount of data at the moment, there is a part of me that wants to read them for i need to fill in critical gaps in my knowledge of RE.

Luckily, it does seem rather interesting in finding out the root cause for pump/compressor failures. Had my first chance of encountering a pump which was brought to the workshop and observed effects of corrosion and erosion on the impeller, diffuser and the casing itself. Thus my first 'On the Job Training' or OJT in Shell, my last being 9 years back as an AO onboard RSS Victory. heh.. brings back memories.

After which was sitting in a discussion in regards to a blower (a type of compressor) and a meeting regarding the Co-generators, of which we were given a physics/electrical lecture by the Lead electrical engineer (who is a PE). Luckily i can still recall my Electric circuits and physics module.. i think.. so understand the front part until it came to E=44.4 x f x N x flux and V=E-IZ (where I is inductance and Z is impedance).. then the subsequent complex formulae. Woot! So cheem for the electrical part. Finally understand it when he ran through that again (some other mechanical engineers also got lost) and then the impact of it on our gas turbines.

So anyway, looks like i would have some stuff to do at home for this 2 weeks as i will be on course at Redhill area, which is good as i feel rather '做 bo' for quite a while liao. So other than reading up, is to level up in my knowledge of MS Excel as i will have to tidy up the data and maybe learn some usage of macros along the way, so looks like the 'help' function is going to be my best friend again. =P

Busy weekend =)

Played approx. one and a half hours of badminton on friday night..before getting a ride to the airport by clement as he picked up his wife from the airport. It was so physically demanding, with the guys so pro in badminton. Heh. Leaving me with amazed look on my face and breathless after trying to dash, stretch and jump after their powerful shots.

Headed home and went for mahjong session at Wheng's place and slept at 3 am. =P Woke at 11 am and packet lunch home for my winning 11 appointment with yongxi. After a few games, it was the house warming event at my aunt's place, where we played mahjong again till 9pm. heh.

After late dinner, not done yet, as we (wheng, yongxi and me) headed to wheng's place for soccer watching with leslie n jean. Popcorn, beer, choya n cheeseballs were the tidbits for the night. And after watching thrashing of Middlesbrough by Man U and goal galore for Chelsea, Yongxi dropped me off at home before he went to his bro's place for the night. With all the back to back activity, yongxi and i called dawn to wish her a very happy birthday + a share in the gifts too!! =P Hope her luck will turn and all will be smooth sailing from now on!

Hiaz, adjusting back to working life again as it is a long time since i know that i have to rest on Sunday night .... since 5 years ago. heh. Gotten to know quite a few colleagues through badminton on Friday and they were a wonderful bunch, hopefully i can recover by next thursday for the next badminton session. Right now, not only my thigh muscles hurt, but it is the muscle group that goes all the way to my buttocks. My right shoulders and arm, especially my forearm... are sore too! hiaz... Too long without exercise liao.

Will have to invest in a portable harddisk by tomorrow, so that i can download some very important reading material that will aid me in my understanding of engineering applications for rotating equipment. Need to compile a list of essential formulae, unit conversion etc for quick reference, and the most important will be... where all the information are located. heh. Too lazy to head down to Sim Lim for the harddisk... hopefully Challenger will NOT be that expensive as compared to stuff in Sim Lim. else.... may be forced to head down anywayz.

Short day today.

Read, read and read..learning basic knowledge of the pumps and mechanical seals would not be enough by just reading alone. Just as i was wondering how long before i will be exposed to an actual problem, i was tasked to follow up on a compressor which had generated too high a vibration today. Or rather, tasked to investigate concurrently with more experienced engineers so that i can have on the job training.

Well, looks like its going to be more challenging very soon. =P

Anyway, heres a picture of the stuff i bought from Hong Kong for myself, not to mention a surprise find in the hotel washroom.... it is none other than.. Darlie's sister. =P




Well, need to go pack for badminton with colleagues after work tomorrow. heh.. going to get some exercise liao. =P

Where my time went ...

Well, after a few days of monitoring, just confirmed today that i spend approximately 4 hours a day travelling. At least i can catch some sleep in the morning as i can sleep on the train and on shuttle bus, which means i could recoup about an hour of sleep during the morning trip, as for the return trip, only 20 minutes of sleep during the shuttle out, as the train will be packed and finding a seat is a 1 in 4 chance so far. =P

More self study today, plus another meeting. Looks like i will be sitting in on morning meetings liao. And try to pick up stuff from there. Looked at a few pumps that are taken out for maintenance, and by doing so, i realised there are lots to read up. So.. read about 140 pages worth on pumps, the different types and stuff today. The formulae definitely looked familiar, thank goodness they are applied liao, no need for me to calculate. heh.

Well... wanted to jog a bit today, looks like too late. Maybe tomorrow... hmmmm... need to exercise a bit before the badminton game on Fri, else sat will be sore muscles throughout my body liao.

Period of self-learning

Was slightly late this morning after i missed the feeder bus to the MRT and was delayed by 10 mins which snowballed all the way as i missed the shuttle bus too! Thank goodness i caught the 715 just as it was about to leave the bus interchange.

Completed the Safety Induction Course and went for a meeting in the morning, sat in the meeting actually and listened to the updates etc. So learnt much and at the same time, realised i didnt know much too! =P

After the morning meeting, it was back to the terminal to settle administrative stuff and it was mainly online learning. Good news is, i received guidelines on my job scope, not that good news is the requirement for knowledge of Computational Fluid Dynamic analysis, and luckily, at my stage, will only require awareness of it. Lots of other stuff required too! So i guess it will take some time for self learning before i can brush up my competency in various fields from awareness to knowledge of and in the longer term - Mastery !!! =P

Well. Looking forward to exploring the plant this week and gain a better perspective of how the pumps work and relevant considerations.

As for the people in there, mainly a fun bunch with good attitudes. There will be a badminton session this Friday and will probably join in for some sweating out and much needed exercise.

Packed with activities for the past few days

Well, its a good thing, not bad. =) So packed with activities that i cant be at the com long enough to blog. heh.

Anyway, spent Thursday getting the workstation up and running as the software has to be updated (took almost an hour!) and then logging on to settle my email, personal particulars etc. Getting more settled in and toured a small part of the area, to the other buildings, but not to the plant itself as i have to undergo a safety course on Monday 1st to ensure that i know the dangers and of course, the safety precautions/practices before i am certified to go to the plant. May be getting a pager as handphones are not allowed in the plant, only intrinsically safe pagers are allowed for safety reasons.

Then it was mahjong on Thursday evening, and went to Shell house at UE square on Friday, which lasted till afternoon and i met up with Fen and Boon Tat for lunch as i was in the area. Long time since i last met up with cbt. More mahjong on friday night, and unfortunately, lost my 老大 position to cbt in snooker. Well, he deserved to win as he has be training regularly.

Yesterday was spent driving around to help my aunt 請神 to their new place and perform some rites. So toured Hougang for quite a bit, now a bit more familiar with that place liao. heh. It was then makan with my family before heading to pick Winnie up to go to Reiko's 21st birthday party at Home Team chalet at pasir ris park. Nice party, too bad winnie and i couldnt stay long as she has to rush back NTU for her FYP experiment results and for me, more packing up and only managed to catch 1st half of Aston Villa vs Man U before conking off after a long day.

Well, Queen Zee, will have more updates on the job by tomorrow ba. =P Think will take a while to settle in and probably will tag along with the technicians to take readings on the pumps and compressors on tues or wed, after i pass my safety course on Monday.

My 1st day ... and 200th post!

First day to Shell Chemicals. Rather long journey to the west, taking 78 minutes to reach Jurong East interchange. Took the 715 to Jurong Island, which took another 18 minutes, and arrived 14 minutes early at the pass office. As the pass office for employment passes only opens at 0830, i queued up as there are 6 in the queue (being the kiasu Singapore). Luckily i was kiasu.. cos just before 0830, another 10 queued up behind me. =P

Made my pass, went thru rather tight security and onto the bus to my workplace. Due to good satellite images from google maps, i knew where to go, or rather, my guess was correct. heh =)

Well, they were surprised to see me as they got the news that some new guy is coming only yesterday as the HR was on leave for the past week plus. So.. nothing was prepared for me, they were apologetic but i am totally fine. Cos i get to meet people as i hunt about for my stuff. Met almost all the department people, grabbed the last PC available, had my pass made and drew my overalls, helmet (apparently NEW design with shell logo in front as everyone also happily went to draw it), raincoat (in a cool bright yellow colour), torchlight, safety glass and safety boots. Will be tailor-making my clothes next wed and also my own prescription safety glasses. so cool!

Also learnt about organisation structure, roles and responsibilities, pumps - centrifugal, rotary, positive displacement and mechanical seals. Of which, there are so much more info to absorb so that i can troubleshoot and implement predictive maintenance? i still not sure yet, but heh.. its only the 1st day. =P

The only downside so far... is that i have to wake up at abt 0545 in the morning, so that i can make it to the 0730 shuttle bus at Jurong East Interchange...hmmm..maybe if the COE drops further, then can consider getting a car more seriously. =P For that hour plus more of sleep everyday.