For whatever reason, Friday at Duke-NUS is dress-down Friday. It brings a short casual atmosphere to a typically charged and energic work place. I usually arrive between 7:15 and 7:30 and the only folks there are Belinda and Mimi. Today I took my camera, just to capture the wake-up faces of our group in Block 3 (and a few others).
Why do this? Duke-NUS is really a special place to work and learn. Smiles everywhere and its one of the few places I've worked in the world where smiles are endemic. Call this a study of Duke-NUS smiles.
Belinda's place is usually my first stop each morning. This morning, she was clearly not prepared for an early morning photo - but here she is
A variant
This is Evelyn - with her own smile. Evelyn is an artist in hiding. She did the first graphics of our Watch us Grow. She transformed plain-jane black/white graphs into something quite colorful.
Walking from Block 1 to Block 3 is sometimes quite interesting. I think this is the car of one of our staff
This is our peopleless work area where we explore and develop new tools for enabling better and more fun learning
This is where my team lives - minus Walter, Leslie, Erna and Ning
This is to avoid confusion. Our team is so friendly, they are often confused with HR and Finance - who try to out-smile us
This is where Sam sits (back) and where Martha and Nintendo (Urgent care) sometimes live
This is Mimi - usually beats me to work before 7:30
This is Eron waking up
Mimi liked my smile - so here we are
and Eron a few minutes later - after waking up
This is Raphael - who really is an early bird - usually 7am or before, and always with a smile
Alina - a member of Corinna's team
Corinna popped into my space - curious about all the flashes - check out this smile
Li Fook and Tony - our architects that make things happen
Me, Matthew and Tony
Matthew and his smile which is continuous. Only continuous smile I've observed at Duke-NUS
Eunice is a pianist in disguise when not smiling at Duke-NUS
Corinna in her home
Lay Peng waking up
Lay Peng after waking, with smile
Kok Eng - 1st office - who is the chief smile manager for HR
Sandrine - part of Tony and Li Fook's team. Her smile is what I would call a quiet smile that speaks gently
Martha -- who manages me
Mei Leng - waking up
Christine - fully awake
Stage 2 of Mei Leng's wakeup. Mei Leng follow's Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's path from initiating event to acceptance. This is part of the denial phase
Stage 3 of Mei Leng's wakeup - this is a continuation of denial
and this is acceptance
This is Lai Ming with her calm smile. If there is a storm brewing - Lai Ming will calm you
Tony want's to make sure everyone sees his smile
Ignatius - I hope not a temp smile
Ying Ying - in stage one of wakeup - denial
Sam - hesitating
Josephine with an infectious smile
David and a partial smile
Erna - she is a virus in disguise and will infect you with her smile
Walter in denial
Walter seeking a 2nd opinion
Ying Ying - fully activated - two smiles
Walter, fully activated - mega smils
Pauline - another quiet smile that calms stormy waves
Ting Ting - who knows where I'm coming from and none-the-less, smiles
Ian - his smile and always anxious to help. He is a major enabler
Lynn
Ning - who is full of dry humor - keeps our team energized with trying to figure out the humor part
Leslie - a smile and mega-enabler
Over to block 1 - where our learning enablers live: Sok Hong
Seya - without these two, my IMT sessions would be chaos
Anita
Fritzie and her infectious smile
Hui Min - Hui Min was one of our first to travel the troubled waters between Block 3 and Block 1. She has grown up with us since the beginning and now we can't live without her
Kakak - of our cleaning staff
With Hui Min
Kelvin - who was among our first - manages the practice program for our 1st year learners
Geok Hong in denial
Partial acceptance
We have a Nintendo Wii - mostly to explore positional and tactile feedback as used in the gaming world. There are a couple of medical games - Urgent Care. Before you can do any game - you must play Urgent Care and complete a follow-up form. It actually works. Here is lunch time distraction.
See - it really is a medical game
Our support team
Team 2:
It really is lunch time - and Mei Leng and a group are off to Mr. Song's for Lime Juice and yummies
Back to work - making the new building work
Li Fook - trying Live View option on my camera - Lai Ming and myself
The stuff of our new facility
Demonstrating live view for macro photos
Exploring the world of signage
My place - mostly a whiteboard and lots of macro photos of spiders
Pat Casey (an invader from Block 5) and his team with Li Fook
Dolliss
Esther - Ranga's PA - in her surprise smile configuration
Esther in her composed smile configuration
Cecilia
And our head cheerleader, Ranga
C. Frank Starmer