Blood at work

I recently went to the blood bank. It was the second time. The first time was a bit unnerving. The second time was just as bad, especially since they said I couldn’t donate this time, due to a low haemoglobin count. In any case, somehow knowing what to expect doesn’t seem to do any good in this instance. The experience didn’t seem to help.

There has been some wrestling going on between heads of departments in my workplace. I guess it was a bit of sword waving. No blood letting – yet. The company recently entered into a major agreement with a biggish entity and this agreement represents a significant investment with significant returns.

However, another biggish client who is an ordinary course of business client hasn’t been too happy with this new relationship. This client is about to absorb this other entity and has recently spoken to the company’s main contact person about reviewing that relationship. Potential conflicts of interests galore on the surface. In reality interests may be consistently aligned across the board, at least for the short term. Contractually however, the company is obligated in ways which require client communication to be managed in a different way.

So what does the Legal department do in a situation like this? Pretty easy answer, but the consequences and the implications are complex. If not handled properly, it could mean dire consequences, including loss of jobs. It wouldn’t be just a consequence of shutting down a section of operations but also that the major agreement was entered into in the face of adverse numbers or factors. It wouldn’t be pretty.

The whole thing is a bit political. Characters seeking to look after number 1 will act in ways which aren’t wise from the corporate perspective. The numbers which are immediately available aren’t the only numbers involved and a conflicted person would either not see, refuse to see or refuse to be affected by them. It is often difficult to deal with such characters. It often ends in blood letting. No matter how often one goes through it, one never gets used to it. It doesn’t become easier. It’s a bit like a visit to the blood bank.

Royal Trinity

A cousin flew in from Perth on business mid week. We caught up, together with another cousin and his parents, over dinner at the New Royal Garden restaurant. The somewhat hefty bill was hijacked by the Western Australian relative. I love WA hospitality. I had thought that as “hosts”, I’d pick up the tab. It was great to have family catch up this way.

An ex partner (of the legal practice) is in town for a short holiday. I caught up with him and his wife for drinks on Monday night and will be seeing them again for brunch on Saturday. I have booked the New Royal Garden for that.

This Sunday, the home group I belong to wants to hold a break-up meal. New Royal Garden is a favourite restaurant of a member in that group. So guess where we will be going?

Three visits to the same restaurant in one week suggests the restaurant must be really good or we don’t know many other places. New Royal Garden restaurant is on the south-west corner of Blackburn Road and High Street Road, in Mount Waverley. It is probably the closest Chinese restaurant to us which serves decent food. In fact it is quite good. A couple of joints nearer our home are to be avoided as much as possible. The “Treasure” on Springvale is pretty good but it is also rather more expensive.

Kiddo’s Saturday class is at the Mount Waverley Secondary College. As it turned out therefore, that restaurant is also a convenient one when we need to drop her off her for class. 3 strikes in a week.

Time flown by – Muir 04

This time 4 years ago, I had just signed a lease for our first home in Melbourne. I remember looking at the house and thought it would suit, given its proximity to the Mount Waverley Primary School. We had decided on that school for kiddo and had enrolled her for Year 6 when we settled into that home.

18 Muir Street, Mount Waverley was an old house. It was however clean and well maintained. The kitchen was recently renovated and it was bright and very clean. It had a few disadvantages. The carpet was gaudy (but clean), the over was electric (including the burners) and it did not have any storage – no garage or shed. Other than that it was perfect for us.

It had 3 bedrooms. The one in the front was very big. The middle one was average sized and the one right at the back was probably an add-on. It had newer carpet and had a tiny ensuite. That became the master bedroom. Kiddo decided (via pictures I sent via the internet) she wanted the front room. We converted the dining room into a study and the family meals area became our dining.

With the lease secured, I had gone about purchasing necessities. I spent several days assembling beds, tables and shelves and got appliances installed. In total I spent something like 3 weeks full-on doing up the place, after which I packed up and went back to Malaysia to get Tress and kiddo. Time has really flown by.