I have uploaded my first piano performance. Its a piano solo and the piece is dedicated to the memory of Glenn Westerman, a friend who was the former CEO of Lexmark Philippines.

I feel proud on this because this video was recorded and edited by my 15  year old son, Earl christianson Ng

Looking forward to your comments:

I’d like to thank the hundreds of people who took time to listen to our music in myspace.

Also the people who click on the right sidebar upper link where you can get samples of our music.

If you like it, and is ok to put it in your blog or site, please do so.

The following code should work:

<div style=”width:220px;”><object width=”200″ height=”280″><param name=”movie” value=”http://media.imeem.com/pl/NUblpYESuU/aus=false/”></param><param name=”wmode” value=”transparent”></param><embed src=”http://media.imeem.com/pl/NUblpYESuU/aus=false/” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”200″ height=”280″ wmode=”transparent”></embed></object><div style=”background-color:#E6E6E6;padding:1px;”><div style=”float:left;padding:4px 4px 0 0;”><a href=”http://www.imeem.com/”><img src=”http://www.imeem.com/embedsearch/E6E6E6/” border=”0″  /></a></div>

It was a matter of time. The author did not go into all that trouble without trying to benefit!

Conficker virus begins to attack PCs: experts by Reuters: Yahoo! Tech

BOSTON (Reuters) -

A malicious software program known as Conficker that many feared would wreak havoc on April 1 is slowly being activated, weeks after being dismissed as a false alarm, security experts said.

Conficker, also known as Downadup or Kido, is quietly turning thousands of personal computers into servers of e-mail spam and installing spyware, they said.

The last few months, i have been practicing on my piano again, and we formed a band called the Asian Troubadours.

We recorded some music, and I would appreciate your visit and comments either on the website, or on our MySpace Website.

I also have put up a music player on the upper right sidebar of this blog, and you are free to double click any music selection you may want to listen.

Fortune released their 500 list.

One statistics that is significant - Fortune 500 companies collectively had $645 billion in profits for 2007.  In 2008, that went down 85 percent to only $98.9 billion.

Exxon Mobil overtakes Wal-Mart to top Fortune 500 - Yahoo! News

Exxon Mobil Corp. unseated Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the 2009 Fortune 500 list, shrugging off the oil price bubble and weathering what the magazine called the worst year ever for the country’s largest publicly traded companies.

Fortune’s closely watched list, released Sunday, ranked companies by their revenue in 2008. Irving, Texas-based Exxon took in $442.85 billion in revenue last year, up almost 19 percent from 2007. The company also raked in the biggest annual profit, earning $45.2 billion.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart had held the top spot for six of the last seven years but fell to No. 2 this year. Still, the retail giant’s 2008 revenue climbed 7 percent to $405.6 billion, as the battered economy sent more consumers searching for bargains. The world’s largest retailer took in $13.4 billion in annual profit, an increase of about 5 percent.

In Japan, I cannot help but notice how many people are so polite, helpful, and most of all, they decline your tip.  That makes you feel good in the sense that you get the feeling that the smile, and the courtesy was so genuine, and not eying some short end returns , like a gratuity.

IN the United States, people are polite, until you don’t give them not only their tip, but their expected amount, and they give you a glare.

Human relationships used to mean that since we live together, and/or cross paths, then we have the obligation to be courteous and civil to each other.  That helps builds a society that has meaning, and satisfying.

Excellent service used to mean that since I am patronizing my business, I deserve to get some attention, and courtesy.  If i am happy because you went out of your way, and did more than the usual, then I may give you a small appreciation.

However, tips nowadays seems to be obligatory, and that being said, it does seem that more obligations is now put into the customer rather than the person serving.

I still think Americans are becoming too materialistic and too short term minded.

IN Japan, most everything is expensive, but then everybody pays the same high price, and gets the same personal attentive service….

We always need to hit our short term goal, but we should not forget always the long term objective… What was the purpose of the tip in the first place, and when you see that it has become a tool for service companies to underpay their people, and therefore the people have to be forced to do whatever tactics to strongarm their customers to get their extra tip which the employer has had to give in the first place, then it becomes a hideous tool.

my kid graduated salutatorian and plans to be valedictorian for high school graduation. I’m terribly proud of him.

Me, I don’t mind his honors. But it matters that I did not have to push him to do it, and the resolve comes from him.

What matters is he has a plan to excel ( I always believe that we should choose an endeavor that will improve the lives of people around us, and also an endeavor where we could achieve self satisfaction by our being able to do something better than most people) and knows how to execute that plan.

Its great to have ambition but better, to put hard work and passion behind that ambition. Many people are proud they have great Ambition but ambition without work is but just a daydream.

Last Sunday, I brought the kids to swim.

We had a great time.

But what is valuable is what i noticed.

I tried to swim slowly and consistently as I lapped.

My kids say I moved too slow, and consistently overtake me.

But they stopped earlier because they got tired. I continued swimming.

Which is probably how I see competition.

We have lots of competitors who try to outswim us.  but they did not opt to go for distance.

After a while, I am still there, and they already are not.

Business is a marathon, not a 100 meter dash.

what is important is whether you will still be there 15 or 20 years from now.  There is no value to outshine all others, and burn out early.

I just read a very scary advisory from a CNN report, and felt compelled to do some reports further.

As I said earlier, it has been sometime since viruses made the headlines.  People will remember the IloveYou virus or the Melissa viruses which tends to shut down the use of computers and entire offices for hours, and therefore create a lot of news, headlines, and pain.  But in recent years, there has not been that kind of virus although viruses keep increasing all the time.  Most hackers have concentrated on making viruses that does not destroy, but rather try to hide, and now inside the computer, now try to steal information or make the computer send spam email, which practically speaking enables the hacker to make money.

However, a new virus has started spreading since last November.  It is called the Conficker virus, and by various estimates, this virus has infected over 15 million computers.  This virus is normally hidden, and how do you know that you are hit?  Here are some symptoms:

“ You cannot update your Windows, or your domain controllers respond slowly.  Most important, you cannot run Windows Defender, and you cannot access anti-virus websites to get updates.”

What worries experts at the start when Conficker started to show was that it was a very sophisticated piece

Read the rest of this entry »

Not long ago, CEO compensation was in the tens of millions.

Now, anybody earning a few million is either an object of envy or an article of hate.

Yahoo! News - Intel CEO gets $12.4M in 2008 pay by AP: Yahoo! Tech

The value of Intel Corp. Chief Executive Paul Otellini’s compensation package rose slightly to $12.4 million in 2008, a year in which the chip maker’s profit was whacked by a global slowdown in personal computer sales.