Cowboy Caleb the liberal arts, grown-up stuff & random mischief

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Mismanagement Due To Cultural Misunderstandings

Remember how I sent one of my staff home earlier this week because she had chicken pox and I didn’t anybody else to catch it especially one of my other staff who was pregnant?

Turns out I mismanaged the situation big time.

You see, in China if you get sick - you only get paid 80% of the minimum wage (currently RMB25/day) for each day that you are on MC. I had totally forgotten this.

The poor girl was about to have her paycheck for this month reduced to 40% of her basic salary because she had been sick for 1 week, and had to spend another week at home because I told her not to come to the office.

And there I was, thinking that she was relaxing at home, playing with her kids and watching television all day long. This would be true, if we were in Singapore but we are now in China!!!

She was very very unhappy when I called spoke to her today. I apologized and said I would see what I can do.

I can’t believe the cultural screw-ups I am making over here. What’s wrong with me?


9 Comments

Joanne Peh, Jade Seah and Jesseca Liu In Bikinis

Remember Fiona Xie, Jeanette Aw and Felicia Chin running down Orchard Road wearing bikini in an idol drama The Champion in 2004??

Apparently, MediaCorp did it again this time round with Joanne Peh, Jade Seah and Jesseca Liu in the upcoming Beach.Ball.Babes!!

Click here for the full story and here for the nose-bleed inducing photo gallery. (Via)


1 Comment

List Of Stuff Not Happening This Lifetime

Recently, I got to thinking that I ain’t exactly a spring chicken anymore (I’m 30 this year) and my life is almost 40% over. Here is a list of things I’ve decided I won’t be accomplishing in this lifetime.

  1. Running a marathon
  2. Buying a BMW (because of 5 recent horror stories from close friends about their lemons)
  3. Growing long hair again (balding already)
  4. Playing another MMORPG (Anarchy Online was my last)
  5. Going back to school for another degree (my next will be an MBA)
  6. Climbing a major mountain (nah… I like my beer)
  7. Threesome sex in an airplane

How about your own list? Is there anything you think you’ll be striking off. I mean it’s not exactly going to reduce your life’s rich banquet in anyway…


11 Comments

  • The World Ends With You (Nintendo DS) - is the kind of game I’d like to get my hands on if I had a weekend on a beach with nothing to do but have sex and drink pina coladas (cause you can’t be having sex all the time) #

F*ck, Singapore! 2008!

click on the campaign image above to read!


Throat Inf87ktion

I have a very very very bad throat inf87ktion. Caught in China without antibiotics, I’ve been attempting to medicate with liberal doses of beer, but a few sips of Bacardi last night set my throat on fire.

Am now at work despite a high fever.

Oh lawdy….


  • The 75 Skills Every Man Should Master
    (23) Be loyal. You will fail at it. You have already. A man who does not know loyalty, from both ends, does not know men. Loyalty is not a matter of give-and-take: He did me a favor, therefore I owe him one. No. No. No. It is the recognition of a bond, the honoring of a shared history, the reemergence of the vows we make in the tight times. It doesn’t mean complete agreement or invisible blood ties. It is a currency of selflessness, given without expectation and capable of the most stellar return. #
  • DJ’s Glenn Ong and The Flying Dutchman on Stray Cats Apparently the Cat Society is unhappy because they compare feeding of stray cats to feeding of monkeys and said feeders should be fined heavily too. They said they have seen people feeding many cats and stray cats mess up the rubbish bin and leave their poo around. They are inviting listeners to send in sms or call in till 10am today. #
  • Advice: Fairness, idealism and other atrocities
    We were the moron generation. We were the generation that believed we could stop the Vietnam War by growing our hair long and dressing like circus clowns. We believed drugs would change everything — which they did, for John Belushi. We believed in free love. Yes, the love was free, but we paid a high price for the sex. #
  • WTF: A Proposal For Christian Pornography
    “It must depict only married couples engaging in sexual acts. This means that any sexual partners in a Christian porn production must be husband and wife, both on and off screen. All actors must be married in real life and portray married couples on-screen. And they must only be depicted having sex with their wedded spouses.” #
  • Msian Gay Blogger Gets His HIV Test Results
    After the blood was dripped to the test kit, it is then put into a plastic bag, into the folder and then transported to the counselor. More waiting as there were several others that are going for the screening. #

Is Adverlet’s Online Football Betting Campaign Legal?

I’ve learned from Jialat.com that Adverlets is currently running a campaign for Ascorts, a Phillipines-based online football betting site.

Adverlet’s has indeed announced that this campaign will run for China, Malaysia and Singapore.

AscotSports would like to let you in on the action, and are offering a sponsored posting opportunity for Advertlets bloggers to help get the word out about their service. Read more below for details! Also of note: We are also running banner campaigns across the entire Malaysia, Singapore & China network for this, but it is opt in only, only bloggers that are keen on this genre of ads will be included. For those keen to opt in for gambling/betting/sportsbook based ads, please make sure to update your ad genre preferences in your Advertlets account.

Adverlets is even going to have sponsored blog posts for Ascorts.

While this is very exciting, some questions come to mind - Isn’t online gambling illegal in all of those three countries?

I know it’s most definitely illegal in Singapore and most of the online bookies have not been accepting Singapore credit cards since 2002. Same thing for Malaysia as well. And the communist party in China has most definitely has identified gambling as a social ill.

Does anybody have any idea?


  • Getting Steamed - What’s the best handheld fabric steamer—and can it replace your iron? Bachelors and people living alone, read this to maintain an even lazier lifestyle. #
  • Japan, Home of the Cute and Inbred Dogs
    Rare dogs are highly prized here, and can set buyers back more than $10,000. But the real problem is what often arrives in the same litter: genetically defective sister and brother puppies born with missing paws or faces lacking eyes and a nose. #

Top Malaysian Blogger Jailed For ‘Seditious’ Article

The woman above is Altantuya Shaariibuu. She was murdered in October 2006 and her remains were never found because it was blown to bits with C4 explosives. Her crime? Consorting with the powerful overlords of Malaysia.

Regardless if she was a whore or a saint - one thing remains sure - she was murdered.


The man above is Raja Petra Kamaruddin. In disgust over the manner the entire Altantuya Shaariibuu trial was being handled by the “Law & Justice” in Malaysia, he wrote an excellent article entitled “Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell”.

At 1230pm today, he was sentenced to jail. Bail as set at RM5000 - he refused to pay and opted to stay in prison while RM1 was collected from public, one person at a time to raise his bail.

That’s right, just RM1/person from the public.

Justice will prevail!

Update: At 4.14pm today, the public accidently donated RM28,000. Only RM5000 was needed. Looks like the public is with RPK!


  • My Gay Friend And I
    I don’t remember how I found out he was gay. I think he was the one who announce to me that he was gay. I was only 13/14 when he told me that he was gay. I’m like “okay, let’s talk about something else.” At that age, I’m not exactly sure what is gay. There are no information about them when I was in that age. #
  • Does bloggers’ opinions not count? (Sorry) HELL NO! (again)
    Deducting the same readers and attendees from the “recommend” list, we can effectively say the “good coverage” isn’t really as good as it was claimed to be. Apparently the hundreds of readers who didn’t wish to pong all the coverage felt otherwise I assumed. Hence being in the top 10 posts of Ping.sg daily, bears little significance or the slightest indication of “success”. #

Kentucky Fried Chicken Pox

One of my team leaders came down with chicken pox last week. Today, she returned to work as she was feeling much better. The problem was that another one of my staff discovered she was pregnant yesterday.

Just in case, I sent the lady with chicken pox home immediately because she could still be contagious - and chicken pox could have disastrous effects on unborn fetuses.

Sometimes, we have make decisions based on values instead of goals. Yes, having another pair of hands in the office is important but at what cost? I can barely cope right now at work, and sending her home is a big blow to my project. But the health of my team takes priority over everything else.

Being a leader means having to make a kinds of difficult decisions that your subordinates do not realize and your superiors will not appreciate. That’s not an excuse to avoid doing the right thing.

A manager might shrug his shoulders and try to close one eye in order to meet performance targets, but a leader takes care of his people first.


FOR HETEROSEXUALS ONLY - If You’re Gay, Don’t Vote

Equality. Or so we were told. Or so we pledged to the betterment of our country. And yet we go about slapping a S$15,000 fine on a free-to-air TV station for airing a programme that showed a gay couple and their adopted baby. No, they were not doing the deed in full view of their baby on TV. They were talking about how they’d go about dressing up their nursery on a home and decor TV programme. No, I kid you not.

My pal Blankanvas has a survey FOR HETEROSEXUALS ONLY. If you’re gay, DO NOT TO PARTICIPATE in this survey at all. Instead of having the authorities tell us what they think, and therefore the nation think the same, I sincerely want to know what the real truth is. Hence, if you are gay, please DO NOT PARTICIPATE in this survey, for you may cause the findings to be corrupted.

Please pass this survey on to anyone you know, who may be straight!

Click to begin survey


  • Women You Need To Avoid (part I and II). Oh and ladies, if you read this and find yourself described, do try to change yourself. Hahahhaa. #
  • “I’m middle-class, not poor. I can’t believe I have to do this to buy gas.#
  • Webapp Flauntr Turns Any Photo Into A Mobile Phone Wallpaper #

OHAI IM IN UR GUANGZHOU



Sent from the mobile phonecam of cowboycaleb.

OHAI IM IN UR GUANGZHOU, WURKIN DIS ARFTERNUN

Sent via BlackBerry from SingTel!


  • Malaysian Police Fail To Shakedown Prominent Blogger
    “Hey, don’t say that. I am giving you an alternative. We can either both walk out of here and I will buy you a beer or you can throw me in the lockup. This is Friday evening so I will not be brought before a magistrate until Monday morning. That means you have me for two whole nights.” “I don’t drink,” the police officer replied. “What? You don’t smoke and don’t drink? What’s become of the Malaysian police force? It has certainly gone downhill from the old days. What sins do you have anyway? You must have at least one.” #

My MRT Fantasies Are Shattered

“Doors closing. Next stop - Raffles Place Interchange”

Now that Juanita Melson has been revealed as the voice behind MRT annoucements, yet another of my fantasies have been rudely shattered.

link (via Lancerlord)