Video of the Day: DHL cheerleaders (full video report)
Wonder why DHL charges so much for even simplest express delivery service?! Because it likes spending lots of money itself. I've already posted about our trip to Belgium for 3-day EuroCup football and cheerleading tournament (this year they bypassed us for "interesting reasons", but this is not a discussion of this post). Below is the video of the best moments of the cheerleading competition that I shot and compiled altogether (No video for our football games as I was playing myself). Although I uploaded it to Youtube long time ago, I never posted it here. To my surprise I found my own video posted in some other sites. So I'd also like to share it with my small loyal and daily unique visitors. Enjoy and watch how Swedish girls rocked the day!
(Some photos were taken by professional photographers. Some are from friends' cameras. All credits for them)
My guest for the party - Aigerim
That's what I like about corporate parties; "Can I have a bit of this? And this! That one, as well. Oh that one?! Sure!..."
"Can I have avocado juice?!" - C.Yilmaz :)
Theme for the night; Latin Dances - Salsa
I missed the desserts. I was somehow too busy with beef steak... and of course "socializing" meanwhile!
Well, I really don't understand why there was such a booth at corporate salsa party, but anyway it offered some good amount of amusement for people. All these fancily carved fruits is work of art by this dude.
Now, this was cool! At least good piece of entertainment.
AIESEC style photo
The only Central Asian gang of the evening (Kamilya, Adil, yours truly, Aigerim, Yulia)
hairstyle 2.0
Alex, Kamilya and Vanessa
Though I had bad luck with broken remote control system.
Our Kazakhstani beauties
It started with some live music performances and salsa dance shows
Salsa performance by some colleagues
Circus :)
another one
Host group of the evening. That reminded me the actual theme of the evening. Though many guests just turned up in evening dress.
You probably have noticed that sports games are one of the preferred advertising and marketing tools as they attract thousands of people. Besides the thousands of spectators, there are millions of people watching them on TV or nowadays from the Internet. Thus, it is some sort of huge human traffic seeing these ads (maybe one day Google start putting its Google Ads in sports as well?!). So it is a hue business itself bringing big incomes for sports clubs and sportsmen (F1 racers, NBA basketball players, some football players being few of the ones that mostly benefit from this). Ads are everywhere; in stadiums, ice hockey rinks, sportsmen jerseys and even shorts (and even on the back side of the shorts, right on the butt!), on the cars, on live broadcast, etc.
That was introduction. Anyway, I have no intention to turn it into boring article, rather I like entertaining people by videos and pictures. For that I chose the very company I work for - DHL. It is very obvious that it's been spending crazily over the past few years (after Deutsche Post bought it) on marketing and advertising. Some of them are here;
- DHL Formula1 Car - The DHL Balloon — the world’s largest tethered helium balloon - DHL Sponsorships in all kind of sport tournaments, you just get sick of seeing its yellow-red logo everywhere. Forget about all those vans and trucks you see on the roads...
One thing I've been personally expecting is to see DHL sponsorship ads on the jerseys of a big football club like Chelsea, Real Madrid or you pick it! Too expensive? DHL's got tons of money. Not a good strategy? Better than those sponsorship deals with all kind of X sports like windsurfing or futsal. I did quick search on that and it seems it actually bought shirt sponsorship. Urawa Reds, Japanese Football Club is the only well-known professional soccer club that has DHL ad on their shirts I've seen so far. No offense to Urawa Reds, but I'd ask for more from DHL!
Speaking about this team... They have fantastic supporters! 12th player... Reminds me those Korean supporters from World Cup 2002. Dressed in similar color team jerseys, banners, flags, cheerful support, excitement... Now, lean back and watch the penalty shoot outs from this year's Asian Champions League semi-final game between Urawa Reds (Japan) and Seongnam Chunma (S.Korea). Watch the crowd behind the goals rather than the players; that's what makes football a beautiful game - supporters!
Some other teams with DHL shirt ads; (1) Irish Exciles Rugby Club, (2) DHL Ostrava Volleyball Club (Czech Rep.)
Coming back to Formula1 sponsorships, DHL is planning to register its own F1 team soon (I am not sure how long this "soon" will take, I heard from colleague). Now this could be 4x4 on-target marketing, advertising, showing off campaign! What's more, DHL will be awarding the pilots who made the fastest laps with its own special "DHL Fastest Lap" award. See the picture below;
Well, DHL / Deutsche Post used to have its car in F1 race in 2002 - DHL Jordan Honda team. Takuma Sato And Fisichella were the pilots.
Besides, that DHL also takes part in American Le Mans Series races with its Penske Porsche RS Spyder cars. See the candy below;
Speaking about DHL ads, probably you have seen this funny one from US;
And last but not least, here's my own contribution. First picture is the imaginary future football jersey design for Galatasaray SK (Turkey) with different ads on it. Here it assumes that Google and Yahoo will go for this (yet it doesn't make sense, I know, they are the last ones to need to get advertised), and of coz Aibasoft (imaginary as well :)).
and yeah, that's the conclusion. Below photo was taken in Singapore 3 years ago, I was playing as a striker(!) for DHL FC (Die Hard Logistics, hehe!), and managed to score 2 goals whole season. I wouldn't call it that bad if we count the average number of goals we scored in each game! :))
And this one is taken this year. Again DHL team, but Europen one. Here I am back in my goalkeeper position. :) Not that I can't play on other striker position, just that there was a need for a keeper and I stepped forward ;).
Trainings Within past few weeks I had 2 trainings related to UML at Unicorn Education. And I have 2 more few-day-trainings within following few weeks. Our company is offering many trainings (both computer based and classroom trainings) to choose from, so it is good opportunity to take as much as possible while there's opportunity. Not all the companies give or even care about that.
Fancy glass-walled Unicorn Education building
Projects Nowadays I am working on two projects, thus getting really busy. This is part of my "next 6-month high proactivity" plan. To put it simple; full concentration on work/trainings and learning few key skills that my position requires in the market and not even to think about new job or position somewhere else. Evaluation will be done after 6 months. Thus it quickly put me into "Busy" mode. So I've been terrible in replying to emails from friends, and even meeting up with the ones here in Prague. Some people were thinking that I even left Prague! Also, I haven't been posting here as well. Still pending stories from Vienna/Budapest, Karlstejn and Cesky Krumlov trips. Well, after work I am staying at home in front of my computer; reading a lot of blogs, digging around different web-services, thinking of how to shape Jamboola (my experimental tech blog), and when my brain stopped functioning properly I've been watching the film series (finished Prison Break Season 1, currently watching new chinese-mongolian series "Chenghiz Khan"), or Facebooking.
Squash We had DHL squash tournament last weekend. I asked Kamilya to come with me as well, so we had preparation game on Saturday, and we joined the tournament whole Sunday along. I never tried this game before, so it was fun to try and spend Sunday more actively. Could be an option for winter sports activity in winter when no football.
Halloween Actually I am not excited about such things anymore, I guess everything has its own period in our life. Thus I didn't go to any of those costumes parties, and I was also very tired and sleepless recently. Yet The Park management amused us with their Halloween decoration by installing gravestones in front of our building and around The Park, baloons and Halloween booths. We had expats Haloween Party yesterday, some of friends attended it with their costumes. I liked Jenny's costume; Facebook page (later I'll share the photo of me writing on her "Wall").
Here are just few shots taken during the lunch break.
It attracts attention especially when you have some fancy Volkswagen car as a top prize. It's both simple and hard to win it by...................... playing the car-race computer game! I bet NFS fans would get crazy to have this chance to use their skills to race for it.
These days there is this small LogiTech booth just opposite our office building in The Park in Chodov. It has two sets of modern car-race game equipments; seats with the wheels, gear handles, brakes and gas pedals, and big screen in front. Employees of the Park have been enjoying them for past few days. Then I saw these score-board with some Best Timing records by some DHL and Honeywell employees. What is more, the main prize was the car!
I tried my luck as well.... :)) Not that easy though. Managed to make it in about 3:01 in the first trial whereas the record is 1:57 something. You can only try it once a day.
Now it makes me think that I could fight for top-prize if there was such tournament for Football Managership game like CM or FM... :))
New position, new department - something that I've been looking forward to, now let's talk about challenge and motivation, time to polish old technical skills. This time I am more confident that this is the correct step in a so-called career path, and more prospects visible from there. That could stick me to Prague for couple of years. Hopefully I will get the project related to integration of our DHL ITS Europe systems with those in IT Center in Bonn, then I will be visiting Germany more often. Which means that I'd get long-term Schengen visa! That would make my weekends more interesting and busy again.
New home - finally moved to the new flat in one of the central areas of Prague (Vrsovicke Namesti, close to Namesti Miru). I'll be paying rent twice more expensive than for the one in Hostivar, but what comes in package worth it; old-style building in the center, fully furnished flat with spacy bedrooms, living room and big kitchen, tram stops in front of the house, shops, pubs and restaurants around, close to where most of my friends live. And it's Moskevska street! Will be sharing it with Blandine (colleague, France) and Linda( AIESEC friend, Netherlands). We have 2 couches in the living room, so book your place in advance if you are planning to visit Prague ;). I will need to buy some curtains for my room, need someone to go shopping with. Ladies? :) I will have internet connection at home finally. Internet is my power and my weakness.
New haircut - Ok, this is not about the new haircut saga of symbolizing the beginning of new chapter in my life, just that I felt like growing it a bit longer. Should be more noticeable in following weeks. Btw, for the foreigners in Prague who have some trouble in finding skillful and English-speaking hairdressers, I can recommend Chang (Korean guy) at Modry Slon. It is more expensive, but worths it.
New targets - So I will stay in Czech Republic for couple of years. Once I settled with this thought, it will be easier to concentrate on how to spend this time in a best way. First comes career planning. In the resource center, I will have the environment and projects that will put me into progress. Plenty of online courses still pending for my attention. In a long-term, I put as a goal to achieve wider understanding and knowledge in all the phases of software development cycle. And as well as understanding business side of the project. In terms of social life, I have already planned few trips in upcoming months, one possible trip to either Switzerland or Poland in July. If I get long-term visa, then Vienna, Berlin, Munich is on the beginning of the list. Besides that still many places to see in Czech Rep. I've read of possible bike trips to Karlstejn Castle which I am intending to do sometime soon. Also this puts me back into getting more involved with Czech language. I even bothered myself to buy a book "New Czech Step by Step" by Lida Hola, this one is suggested as the most useful book. Then I want be complete my attempt to learn Hiragana and Katakana alphabets, so far I did some of it, and actually it is more fun than boring.
Was it either compensation for the cancelled annual Christmas Party by DHL, or some other reasons, but it was another great parties of my life in a fantastic atmosphere of 20ies and 30ies. People dressed up like as they used to do 80-90 years ago, and it was hard to recognize the colleagues that you see everyday. I was not expecting people to give much effort to dress, but it turned up that they did. The venue was fantastic - Obicni Dum (Municipal House).Not mentioning the food (especially roasted beef) and drinks whole evening with pretty waitresses serving around the food. That is one good treat from DHL to its employees this year. At least it should have done it during Christmas, but better late than never.
The party was held at the Obichni Dum, historical symphony music and opera house building, one of the attractions of Prague.
It started with some 20ies-30ies music, ended up with 80ies and 90ies music.
Theme for the evening; 20ies & 30ies dress and music
When I was a kid, I used to dream imagining myself as the captain of the pirates, at least it came true for a moment of flash :).
Leila, Kazakh colleague
Byt nebo nebyt - to je otazka!
Municipal House in Prague (taken from www.contipromotor.cz)
Singapore to house world's largest tethered helium balloon (DHL Balloon)
I took this photo and article from Nacho's blog. When I was working for DHL in Singapore, many buses, trains were decarated with DHL theme, DHL spent a lot for branding itself, now it seems it was not satisfied with it. One day "they really will move the world". :)
Singapore will soon be home to a new $2 million attraction. Considered the world's largest tethered balloon, it will be inflated on Wednesday night. It may seem like a strange sight - 40 grown men and women fussing over layers of what looks like plastic. But more than 12 hours of hard work later, it will morph into what's called "The DHL Balloon." Cleared by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore to fly 40 storeys high, the balloon will start taking passengers on April 27. At $23 for a 10-minute ride for adults, and $13 for children, passengers will be sent floating up into the air on a balcony. They will have a 360-degree panoramic view of the Singapore skyline. Some 250,000 people are expected to take to the skies in its first year, generating some $3 million in tourist receipts. Manufactured in France, this balloon system is the only one of its kind approved and certified as an aircraft.
Well, time flies sometimes... When you have really nice time, it is short... Good things should be short, we value them better then. Time to pack and time to make next step. DHL is over for me now, this time i will do my best for my new company, Datatronics, and try to enjoy life in Taiwan. many nice memories for this traineeship in yellow-red logistics company. Many nice memories for life in Singapore. Many friends to leave behind again to find new ones. I am sure i will meet another Devrim, another Nacho, another Gitti, another Triin, another Michal, another Sharon, another Tee, another Jing Wen, etc there. No need for emotions. I just hope to meet these guys in future and come to visit in Singapore. ... Now I gotta go and complete exit clearance form, return the entrance card, take some photos with colleagues, exchange contact information, hugs, nice wishes, formalities,......, and that's it.
First of all, I am really happy to work in one of the world's biggest companies, one of the leader companies in global logistics. It is DHL ("We move the world", "No one knows Asia Pacific like we do", bla bla...). In DHL, I am working as Applications Programmer, implementing some software tools/products, at Business Process and Organization department of DHL Danzas Air & Ocean. My task is to help to optimize existing AspaNet project (which I was supposed to do but later different projects were given to me), develop new software applications. Our department provides all kind of support to other departments of DHL Danzas, and some trainings. My part is in IT support. Briefly, my colleagues are Mr.Ko Guan Seng (head of BP&O in Asia Pacific), Andrew Goh (deputy to Ko Guan Seng), Hou Boon Ang (my boss, software engineer), Joe Poon, Hai Thong, Jacques, Jo Prisca, Sherry, Linda, Nello and Terry. The first big project that I was given was OceanSMS, software program which will be used by DHL Ocean Freight. Later I worked on different versions of this project; multi-language version, client-server ftp module integrated, later I developed Air SMS and then they were combined as Air&Ocean SMS project. My office is located on the 23rd floor of Parkview Square, it is one of the most beautiful buildings in Singapore. There is a nice view of Singapore from up there. Working environment is very professional, people I work with are professional so I have everything to become professional too (hopefully). Projects are not easy, challenging, with strict deadlines. Most important is that I am learning a lot.
So the new chapter of my story begins, and after flying over 40 hills and 40 seas, I landed in Singapore? (we had a short stop at Bangkok, Thailand) Yes, I was finally in Singapore!!! Frankly, after many stressful days of exams, preparations and rush, it was hard to believe that I am in Asia Pacific, another part of the world. Tong Lee and Sharon (my reception officer from AIESEC Singapore, who is responsible of me) were waiting for me. They were my first friends here. Everything seemed ok till I got my first shock; when I just walked out of airport, I was hit by very hot and humid air! That reminded me that I was in tropical climate. First days I stayed at Fortune Jade with my new big future friends like Devrim(US/Turkey), Teresa(New Zealand) and Nacho(Argentina). All of them are AIESEC trainees and they work for DHL too, or what we call here as mafiosas! Well, I was nominated as Mafiosa-022. Also there are Gitti (Hungary), Krishna (India), Steve (Kenya, ex-trainee), Cecilia (Hong-Kong, ex-trainee), Lars (Germany, ex-trainee) and in September there will be new mafiosa, Michal (Slovakia), arriving for traineeship. All of us work in DHL Regional Office in Parkview Square, which is located at Bugis, one of the central places in Singapore. Jane, Zafirah, Weihan, Chong Wey, Qian Wen, Dong Wei, Triin, Marek were among first friends that I met here. I am very grateful to all these people, especially to DHL Mafiosas, who helped me a lot in my first days, shared their house and time, guided me how to make my stay in Singapore easy, fruitful and fun! Most of my time I spend with them, we hang out a lot, travel to other countries, share all fun together.
