Okay… It’s been a while since I last wrote an entry and it hasn’t been because I have nothing to write about. On the contrary in fact, I have been so busy that I haven’t had a chance to keep the blog updated.
So since I last wrote I took a trip to Desaru, Malaysia where some friends and I sat on the beach and vegged out for a couple of days. It wasn’t the most exciting trip in the world, but it was exactly what I was looking for. I read a book, got a little bit of a tan, rode jet skis, ate some great food and even got a little hike in up to a waterfall. It was a great time of relaxation
and good company.
Life at work has been all but relaxing as we are seeing the fruits of the GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS every day. The market has been volatile to say the least since the first of the banks went down and it is actually somewhat good news for our company in Singapore and as a whole as the majority of the cost to make a tire are raw materials and they will be declining with all of the commodities around the world. The prices for rubber will hit the limit that they allow for it to fall in a single day and then be back up the next. Overall, the price for rubber has fallen as much as 50% from the record highs we were experiencing right after my arrival in Singapore and many think we still have some to go. The major producing countries have recently reacted by trying their best to put out the impression in the market that supplies will be limited to keep the prices from falling. However, as many conferences that they hold or articles that they have written… the local farmer still needs to put food on his table tomorrow and he is not likely to restrict his small contribution to the supply. And the majority of the market is made up of individual farmers. The rubber price has shown astounding gains over the past 10 years and prior to this recent downtrend, and was undoubtedly over priced for what the bottom line of the farming and production. Just today with more news from surrounding government regulators the market jumped to a limit up in the morning session. 20 minutes in to the afternoon session we were back at a zero change from the previous close. Just to put that in perspective: limit change in one day is 16 US cents per KG and the average lot size is 100.8 metric tons… so I saved over $16,000 per lot by staying out of the market this morning (we usually purchase 15-30 lots in a normal day). I’ve included some pics of my co-workers here… they are all great!
I have been hanging out a bunch with all kinds of friends from all over the world. It has really been a blast getting to know so many diverse people and I know that I have only seen the tip of the iceberg. I have also spent a good amount of time discovering the city. Looking around every corner and wondering down every alleyway. One of these journeys took me into the Singapore president’s house that they open up for a “white house tour” of sorts on local holidays.
The Wakeboard Tour comes to Singapore!
Another adventure that I caught was the wakeboard tour’s stop in Singapore. I always been a huge fan of wakeboarding and there for a while during college was going quite often. I hardly get to get out anymore and haven’t been since I’ve been in Singapore, but it was great to get to see some of the big names (Rusty Malinosky, Dallas Friday, etc) and feel like I was at home for a bit. They even set up an inflatable pool cable park for a rails competition that produced some epic spills.
This last weekend I got the chance to join a group of traders for a golf outing. I was up and at the port by 7am to meet the group and catch our ferry. We took an hour long ferry ride over to Batam, Indonesia where we were picked up and were out of the course by 8. The round was great. I got the chance to spend some time with some of the other guys and not learn too much (other than golf skills), but just establish better relationships and joke around that will then carry over into the work week. After the round we headed back into the massive club house where we were treated to a nice shower, messages and big meal. By the time we played, laughed and ate… we all slept on the ferry ride home just before night fall.
Well, those are just a couple of examples of my recent adventures. I miss everyone and wish that I could see them, but I am also enjoying my time overseas. I promise not to be so long in between entries. In fact, I will follow this one up quickly as I will have to let you know about my trip to Kuala Lumpur this Friday to attend a dinner for work!
