Lead / Follow / GTFO

Lead / Follow / GTFO - an effective heuristic. I have been impressed by and proud of my colleagues who stepped out of the way when they did not receive support from their bosses. 

I have been been disappointed by those who would neither lead their bosses, nor follow their bosses, not leave their bosses. Likewise I am often disappointed by bosses who do not lead, do not follow, and do not abdicate.

Marrying for Money in Malaysia

I've had chats about this pop up at parties. And with some people I date from apps. Here are a few preliminary considerations.

1. If you need to determine an operating income which would make it worthwhile, take your professional rate and double it. If your salary is RM 20,000, you're going to need the deal to be worth RM 40,000. Why? The law does not prioritise pre-nups ... in a worst-case scenario, you lose half of what you own, plus or minus this and that.

2. If you don't like people, coaching, negotiating, and servicing with hospitality, you may want to double your rate again. Lol. Fortunately I already enjoy all of the above, so I am cheap.

3. There's a period of marriage where you can undo things - via an annulment. Following this period, for simplicity's sake, all property to be considered mutual should be in both spouses' names, or divided down the middle and transferred. This reduces messes in the event of any divorce, slightly, unless damages are sought for this or that, then you have to recalculate.

4. Generally unless one partner is exceptionally wealthier than the other, these deals don't make a lot of sense for reasons listed above. 

5. You probably want to get a legal consultation before you agree to marriage. Do this without your potential spouse. Then do it again with them, if you love them.

6. If you ignore all the legal and financial opportunities and risks of marriage, then you may be in for more fun than you anticipated. Nevertheless, the blind approach works for many people, so you shouldn't feel too bad if you belong in this category.

Template for refurbishing a built environment (WIP)

1. Walls and ceilings first, floors last. Move all fittings to the centre of rooms, freeing access to walls and ceilings as necessary.

2. Delint before scrubbing, scrub before wiping. 

2.1. Vacuum off all loose fibres and cobwebs, THEN

2.2. scrub down surfaces with a firm brush, THEN 

2.3. scrub/wipe off water-soluble stains with a rough towel, AND 

2.4 use NaOh to remove grease and protein, or thinner and acetone to remove polymers, as necessary.

3. Uncovering plaster damage. This will involve 

3.2. scraping off paint bubbles, 

3.3. digging under cracked surfaces, and 

3.3. deedging the plaster where it has expanded to protrude from the wall by as little as 50 to 200 micrometers ( 0.05 to 0.2 mm ).

[ Identification and replacement of faulty pipes and wires would be around here. Future note. ] 

4. Leveling plaster. 

4.1. Any cavity deeper than 3 mm may be considered for a base-level of cement, perhaps made with latex plasticiser instead of water. 

4.2. White plaster can be coarsely applied as a base for paint - this may take a few iterations of 

4.2.1. laying with a scraper / trowel / screed / level of apprpriate width,

4.2.2. drying, 

4.2.3. post-dry levelling, and

4.2.4. pre-painting with sealer / primer.

5. Painting. 

5.1. If by mistake a paint of the wrong tone or sheen is obtained, supplies can be used on the undercoats.

5.2. Whichever layer of paint is final, should be examined from a slanting angle against bright light to check for the matching of sheen.

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Operational Timings

A few hours of drying and setting time are required between certain steps. So work on a site may need to be spaced out in gaps of four to hours, for a tropical climate. This provides up to three work sessions per day.