The Milk Fiasco (Part 1)

There is a refrigerator in my department's office. I use it like my own. I put stuff in there like my kaya and cheese. Last year, I forgot to take my stuff out once the school year is over, so they cleaned it and threw it away.

I was upset. It was a good waste of food.

I also take the milk from the fridge for my cereal and milo, which I drink twice a day. I end up using about a carton a day, but since it was provided by the department and it was replaced when it was finished, I always thought it was free. That is, until Tuesday. An internal email was sent to the entire department:

"Dear all

We are very lucky in that the department pays for all our milk, tea, coffee, sugar and chocolate. It seems that some people are taking advantage of our generosity and using milk for breakfast cereals and for full mugs of milk for hot chocolate which is causing a shortage for morning/afternoon tea. In 2010 we paid out over $3,000 for milk alone and we cannot afford to keep increasing our supplies.

Therefore, can you please provide your own milk for your breakfast/hot chocolates if you think you are using more than what would be a reasonable amount.

Regards
Resources Manager"

I swear she was talking about me.

Regardless, the very next day, I brought my own milk and started to show it off like it was my cute fluffy pet dog.

'Hey! I brought my own milk! You shall be my witness!'

I poured a third on my cereal and went back, happy that I got to be a role model as a responsible employee and good citizen.

That afternoon, I opened the fridge and saw it was almost empty.

Now, either the fridge was alive and out to get me, because it found my kaya and cheese very nice and now it's after my milk, or that there are some rotten anti-models of responsible employees and good citizens running amok in the department.

If it was the first, it would have been easier, because I could just hate the fridge back and kick it.

But instead, I'm dealing with a phantom menace. One with an ugly red face and likes milk.

You know what?

Society has reached its lowest when it takes your milk without asking.

To be continued...

Finger Licking Good

Today i just went to the Engineering High Achievers Luncheon in the Banquet Rooms at Campus Centre. A very influential scientist by the name of Dr. Ramesh Mashelkar gave a talk about the role of engineering research and i must say, just as he was inspired by his Physics teacher who focused the sun's beams onto a paper and consequently setting it on fire, i was inspired as well (as far as practicable, something i learned today in CHE4161 class). It was refreshing to once again remember the reason i went into Chemical Engineering and sustainability. In the past century the same revolution trends have repeated themselves: textiles, railroad, automobiles, computers/IT have boomed at one point in history and eventually plateaued. According to Dr. Mashelkar, the latter will have reached its peak in 2025. But something new will eventually boom, and that's the one i'm preparing for: the sustainable technology revolution. i also got some good feedback about the PR process, postgrad research in Monash, and much help in my after-graduation direction in life.

But one thing that was brought up in the talk: can we survive the 21st century? Dr. Mashelkar referred to another fellow scientist who gave that talk. To him, this century is a critical one. Are we going to engineer for profit? Or are we going to engineer for people? ($100 laptops in the making in Malaysia, woo hoo!) i always dreamed of making such an impact like that. But then i remembered how Pastor Ian always talked about how near the end times are are how we are the generation who will live to see it. There's supposed to be a 'might be' somewhere, but i not sure if there is any.

Oh yes, and they had wonderful finger food. I ate a lot. (That means i'll have to fast dinner. Doi!) Hence, the title. Hopefully, you smart people out there can sort of guess the trend i'll use when writing my blog post titles. i did it once in my favourite comic. Back to the food. Squid balls. heart heart heart (must avoid temptation to use that as basis for lame and inappropriate joke...ngghhh)