A Drive Down Upper Pierce Resevoir Park

The last 3 posts have been KIV for a few days. Took the opportunity to complete it and post it out at one go. :p

Back to the main topic, found out about this park thru Erica. The sincerity and scenery provide a relaxing environment and let you break away from the hectic working life. Now I know how Erica can manage her stress so well. ;)

Anyway, it was planned to be a beautiful day having a nice picnic with my wife at the park, enjoying the beautiful and relaxing environment. But the weather have to be a spoilt sport, raining the entire day. But we still go ahead without the picnic session though. One thing good is we managed to see a lot of monkeys along the path to the park, begging for food. Even though there are countless roadsigns asking the public not to feed the monkeys, we still see people doing it. *Sigh* In all, even though the rain spoilt our plan, we still had an enjoyable trip.

The differnce between a sunny and rainy day...

Cycling @ East Coast

My buddies at Motorola organise a cycling cum roller blading gathering at East Coast Park (ECP) today. It's been more than 10 years since the last time I cycle there. But it was a nice trip down memory lane. With most of the ex-Flex people not around and Serene have to leave halfway thru, I feel like the odd one out among the remaining non-Flex ones. Sorry lah, I am a shy one, need time to warm up with people I am not familiar with. But it turns out we can click well. Feel just like my U days with my gang of 损友, talking rot, joking around and making fun of each other. Come to think of it, we hardly talk to each other when we work under the same roof. Only after I have left then we have so much to talk about. Hmmm...

Mad Jack Cafe

Got a treat by my wife at Mad Jack Cafe along Jalan Kayu. The place is quite crowded, maybe it is a new place plus it's a Friday night. The fish and chip seems to be quite popular here from the number of times we saw it appearing on other diner's table. :p Overall, it is quite a nice cosy place for gatherings. They even have a foosball table for added entertainment. The price there are quite reasonable. The set dinner with a choice of 3 main dish comes with drinks, dessert and a soup of the day cost only $14.90. If you dun feel like having a filling dinner, there are also a large variety of cakes, mostly sinful chocolates ones, to choose from. Menu can be seen here.

Tired of your girlfriend or husband? Trade them off at the MAD Market. :)

Our Dialect, Our Culture

This post has been in my draft bin for a long time. Finally, about to get my thoughts right and put it down. It started when a few months ago, my wife asks me when we have a child, and will we talk to the kid in Chinese or English. Will we let the child learn our dialects? My reply is that we must teach our child our dialect. To me, our dialects are part of our culture, a part of our heritage. Just because the rest of the world is speaking in English and of lately Chinese (due to China's economic boom), but lets not forgot our roots. Learning our dialect not only retain our culture, our children will also be able to talk to our elders who some have little education. I still remember my mother have difficulty communicating with my English speaking (aka Jiak Gang Dang) nephews. A bit of Chinese mixed with Cantonese coupled with all kinds of sign languages are used. Btw, My mum did not received any education while my dad only gone through primary school education and both are Cantonese. It is only until they attend primary school then they can have a decent conversation with my parents but in Chinese. The closeness and sense of belonging when talking to someone in English/Chinese does not feel the same as compared to talking in your own dialect. And it's a shame that we have people learning Korean or Japanese to watch their respective dramas while they have yet to master their own mother's tongue. For me, being raised from a pure Cantonese family, Canto is the only dialect I knew of. I only get to expand my dialect vocabulary during my National Service, no thanks to my sergeants whose dialect vocab mostly consists of the female and male genital parts. :p

Lastly, some dialect words and phrases do not have the same ring when spoken in other languages. For example, "Ai Kian Tio Ho, Mai Gei Kian", which translate as "Be smart but dun act smart". Somehow the English equivalent does not have the same witty feeling. All the humorous essence are lost in the translation. Just ask any guy, swearing in Chinese won't be as effective and provide that UMPPHH! feeling as in Hokkien when inquiring about the genital part of ones mother. :p Hence, yes... we must move with the times, but we must also not forget our background, our culture and especially our dialects.

Is it Ready???

Was looking at the Singapore MRT map when I came upon the Chua Chu Kang LRT lines. Turns out there is a LRT station that is not ready yet. I wonder when it will be. Hmmm... :p

All In One Acupuncture?

Found these placed at an acupuncture clinic windows. Now you can have your acupuncture done together with your dog, cat, pig or even a horse! lol.

Bloopers on TV

Some bloopers seen today

1. Caught Zhao Geng on Channel 5 News.
Reported on Mr Brown, this blooper was caught by the eagle-eyes forumers at HardwareZone's Eat Drink Man Woman forum during Channel 5 news coverage of last nite ZoukOut party at Sentosa. As usual, the forumers are quick enough to capture the scene and soon it was the hottest topic on the forum. To cap it off, the caption at the "bottom" :p really hits the punchline.

2. HK Singer Caught with Pants Down
Reported in The New Paper. HK singer, Yumiko Cheng, got her pants pulled off during a charity stunt on national television. HK viewers are quick to upload the video of the blooper on YouTube, which has since removed all the videos from their database on request from the TV station. Luckily I am able to catch a glimpse of it. Hehehe. But people are still uploading the video to Youtube as we speak (You go find yourself). The reaction of the host after the incident is pricless. Pity the singer who has to endure the embarrassment for the rest of her life.

Are We Getting Mad?

Lately I notice there a trend in the movies where gruesome torture or mutilations are the theme. It all started with the movie Saw follow by Hostel, The Hill Have Eyes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning etc. The weirdest thing is people are flocking to see them resulting in sequels to them. Are we getting sick? What kind of sick mind would want to go watch such movies? It is like back when Freddy Krueger or Jason of Nightmare on Elm's Street or Friday 13th fame terrorise the viewers during the 70s or 80s. And way before that, the gladiators games during the Roman era. Just that scenes are getting more and more real and the method/tools used are more sick than ever. I shutter to think of what's going on in the mind of the people who wrote this films.

"Ok. You will die by the dildo while he'll die by watching Titanic 100 times..."

Seen or Heard

Some thoughts on things seen and heard.

Who is the Owner Now?
Saw a maid bringing out 2 dogs for walks along my way to work this morning. The maid look bored tugging the two dogs along. This makes me wonder how come it is the maid who is walking the dogs and not the owners themselves. This is not the first time I encounter such scene. I believe this scene is repeated around the island in every neighbourhood estates. And I can bet my money that it is the maid who is feeding and washing the dogs. These so-called owners just want the enjoyment of having the pet without the responsibilities. Leave that to the maid... Who's the real owner, the maid or the owner themselves? Paying for the animal's food and expenses does not qualify you to be a dog owner k!

And for those without maids, the way they walk their dog is a disgrace. Dragging the dog along without letting the curious one have a sniff of the interesting scent along the way. More like strangling the dog if you ask me. I can't understand why these people are so damn lazy. Is this the so-called love they express to their pet? The saddest part is there are those who abandon the poor animal when the responsibilities start to become a burden. It saddens me to see people buy/adopt a dog and neglect it when the thrill dies down. To these people, I say, "^&@%&$#%@*! IF YOU CAN'T BE RESPONSIBLE, DUN GET A PET!"

Between Time and "Space"
Everyday, we at least will have to take a long journey to work or back home be it in a car, bus or train. What do you do during the long ride? Some read a book or the newspaper while others watch the world goes by or take a nap. Lately, I saw a chinese drama serial where the scene shows a girl lament the guy for wasting his time staring into space on the bus. She points out that the time should be put to good use by learning something to upgrade yourself. This makes me wonder, what's wrong with watching the world goes by? I for one belongs to this type. I believe that doing this gives your mind a rest. Let yourself takes a breather from the stress. You work the whole day and during the ride home, you still want to stress your brain somemore. By staring into space, I get to think about the things I wanted to do and about my personal life. Even this post was thought up during my ride to work :p. It is a time when we get to break away from all our worries and stress, why should we tax ourselves more?

A Brand New Day

Time really passes very fast when you are idling. It seems like yesterday I just left Motorola. And here I am writing this blog entry at my new office desk. Dun seem to remember doing any meaning task during my one week break and whoosh... it's over. It's my 3rd job in 2 years. How things have change. And this time, it is a big change. Unlike the previous companies where they have their own buildings and large manpower, this time it is a small office with a handful of dedicated engineers, most are my former Flextronics colleagues. There is a beautiful view of the Central Business District (CBD) area to help you destress plus Muslim prayers from the nearby mosque twice a day to calm your mind. ^_^ Nevertheless it's another brand new day and a brand new chapter. Here we go again...

More GST Lies

I believe the public outcry of news of the upcoming GST hike must have reach the government's ears. Now they are doing damage limitations by giving all types of idiotic excuses. Latest one being the promise by Second Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam that government fee will not increases after the proposed GST hike for one year. My first response is what a nice thing to say, but if the Minister have a poor memory, let me remind him that government fees have been raised long before the GST hike news came out. Of course he can say this. Secondly, read the phrase carefully. He says G..O..V..E..R..N..M..E..N..T fees. The key word here is government. So it does not apply to private companies. So if you suddenly find that your chicken rice cost more or the amount of chicken meat is lesser, you'll know why.

Code Breaker

Lesson learnt today. Never ever forget your combination lock number. Taking out my luggage from the storeroom and I realise that I have forgotten the combination lock number. I ended up running through all the possible combinations starting from 000. Turns out the code is 911. Took me almost 1 hour to get there and I even have to stop at 500 to give my poor fingers a break. :( Should have started at the other end. On a brighter side, at least it is not a 4 digits combination lock. :p

Not More Free Internet

Ever since the arrest of the teen who illegally tap into his neighbour's wireless broadband network, a number of my friends have been calling me asking me the price of broadband service. I never approve my friends of commiting such acts. Yes, it is the owner's fault/stupidity for not securing his wireless network (typical Singaporean excuse), but the owner is the one paying for the network not you. What rights do you have to use what people paid for without asking their permission? Surfing internet and charging your phones/MP3 players in office is still ok cause your company is loaded ;) But HELLO! We are talking about your neighbours here, people you know and staying just next door to you. Folks who paid for the broadband with their hardearned money. It is soooo morally wrong.

Well I am glad the incident educated a lot of wireless network owners and lock up their networks. Hence no more free broadband, people are starting to suffer from broadband withdrawal. They LPPL have to sign up for broadband subscriptions. Coupled with the SITEX 2006 happening this week, I see a lot of new sign up accounts for the next few weeks.

P.S. A conspiracy theory from me, I think the teen is used as a scapegoat. The plan is to educated existing owners to lock their network and scared the illegal users to subscribe their own network access.

Just Follow Law

Finally a movie to take a whack on our inefficient civil services. Taken from A Nutshell Review, this is one movie I will watch out for next year. I like the part where Gurmit Singh complains the need to apply for a permit in everything we do. Very true...


P.S. Frankly, I dun think our civil service will be any better after this movie is out.

ByeBye Moto!

The title is a funny take on the Motorola slogan - HelloMoto!. Well today is my last day at Motorola. I will definitely miss my friends over there. It is never easy to leave familiar surroundings and the people you knew so well and start everything all over again elsewhere. I feel really blissed to know this bunch of friends, and I am really shock at the number of colleagues that attended my farewell teabreak yesterday. I do hope we will continue to be good friends and maybe one day work together again. You never know...

More Stupid Reasonings For GST Hike

An update on the upcoming GST hike. Our Minister, Teo Chee Hean, pointing that the upcoming GST hike will not affect us as quote "the expected wages for middle and upper-income groups should offset the two-percentage-point increase." Ha! What a big joke. When did our wage increases? I think he meant HIS wages is increasing...

Kiwi

This is a heart warming but tragic video. Although it is just a 3D animation, it really warms my heart. A show of the sacriface one will take to achieve a dream.


p.s. For those who can't understand the video: Kiwis can't fly. By nailing the tree to the cliff and jumping off it, it fulfills its dream of flying even though it will cost its life (signal by the "thud" sound at the end of the video)

Spider-Man 3 Trailer

*gasp* OMG... need... air... can't... breathe...

Cute Dogs on YouTube

This is how I sound when my wife tries to wake me up on a weekends ^_^


This cute little baby is having a dream

The Final Nail

So finally, the government decides to hammer in the last coffin nail. After raising the price on the ERPs, utilities bills, public transport service, it is obvious the last thing left is the the Good, Service Tax (GST) raising it from 5% to 7%. And what a joke of an excuse the Prime Minister made when he announce the plans to raise the GST in the upcoming February budget review. As usual the government paints another nice picture in an attempt to con us into believing how important the raise is for "our survival". Well, we are tired of all the same old excuse. Why every solution to a problem is to raise the cost? Dun they have anything new? When we complain, the government says we only know how to complain without providing solutions (then I want the government for fark?!). And when we provide solutions, they criticize that our solutions is not viable or naive. Like that they win lor... Forums now are speculating that the GST will push up to 9% or even 10% in the upcoming years. Started with 3%, then 5% and now 7%, thus it is natural the next increment will be 9% mah. Odd Numbers 3, 5, 7, 9!

This is what I have to say on the news report.

Mr Lee explained that the hike was necessary to finance the enhanced social safety nets, needed to help the lower income group...

Safety nets? Where? If it is there, the poor chap won't have jump onto the tracks of the MRT train. Even if it's there, do you know there is so much requirements to meet that the net is as good as not tied above ground but laid there on the floor. SMACK!

...as medical technology improves, people age and more will go to hospitals to get more treatment, so spending is bound to go up. As we tilt the playing field across the board, the lower income will be getting another boost, not just once in a while. Therefore its better to start building resources now so that when we spend more, we have the means to do so," said Mr Lee.

Ya right. Building resources for them or for the people? As if the medical fees will be cheaper for the poor when the GST goes up. Tilt the playing field? The only way to tilt the field is to reduce the damn MPs salaries. Wasting money on useless pricks like a certain Wee.

It is a whole set of measures which we are taking in order to tilt the playing field in favor of the lower income group, which is what we have to add and tally in the balance, and my purpose is to help the lower income group. For the middle income, it will be generally about ok; for the higher income, I think the higher income should end up paying more overall. ...but I have to make the adjustments of 2% which I think is fair and I think Singaporeans will support," added Mr Lee.

Can somebody explain to me how does raise the tax benefits the lower income group? For the rich, all they have to do is eat fewer abalones and buy one less LV bag but for the poor, we dun have any luxuries to save on and bloody hell we are getting charged more for our basic needs! Playing around with numbers again. I say it is a 40% increment, 2% increase over 5% equals to 0.4. Yes sir, you have my support... Plus my 2 middle fingers.

He explained that it is better to do the increase now when the economy is doing well, rather than wait till later.

Increase because economy is doing well?!! Then how come our CPF cut is still not restore since economy is doing well?!! How come price is not decrease when economy is NOT doing well? *sigh* Whether economy is doing well or dying, price and tax will still increase in this damn country!

All in all, GST can be benefical to the lower income family but only provided other taxes are reduced as stated in here. But I think the way our government is implementing is very wrong. So much for a world class government.

Many critics have argued that the GST is similar to a regressive tax, which has a more pronounced effect on lower income earners, meaning that the tax consumes a higher proportion of their income, compared to those earning large incomes. However, these claims are somewhat mitigated due to the corresponding reductions in personal income taxes, state stamp duties, federal wholesales tax and some fuel taxes that were implemented when the GST was introduced. Thus, according to the Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, people were effectively paying no extra tax

Goat Farm

Today we went to visit the Hay Dairies Goat Farm with my family after paying our respect to my Mum. It's a what I call a little family outing since I rented the car for the day. The place is quite deep inside Lim Chu Kang but we managed to find it thanks to my navigator, Angie, and the clear directions from the road signs.

The place quite crowded where people comes in to buy goat milk, which is said to be good for the skin ;) as well as families bringing their kids here for a family trip. Why not? The dragon fruit farm is just next door some more.



Grass are sold to allow visitors to feed the goats. My wife, whose been here for her school's expedition, told me there are more than 1000 goats here.



For all the goats being kept here, the place hardly have any smell. Kudos to the farm owners for keeping the place clean and odourless :D. In conclusion, it was a very nice outing. Only regret it was very short as my Dad wants to rush off for his weekly Sunday mahjong session. Spoilt-sport....

People Watching

Saw this funny scene at the market at my place in Jurong. Now who says only human likes to people watch?

The Truth About Slimming Ads

Insanepoly did a post to reveal reveals how slimming centre may be doing their ads. For all my female friends out there, this may be the reason why Olinda looks so slim in the ad

Is photoshop her secret to slimming?

My Links Update

Update the website listed in My Links as I notice some of the sites have become stagnant or I have seldom visit them liao.

1. Updated Moongster's blog to the new one
2. Shifted Talk Rocks blog to bottom of list since he seems to stop talking :p
3. Shifted Michael's homepage since it is still remain unchanged all these while. Sorry Michael :p
4. Added Insanepoly and Simple is the Reason of My Heart as well as Mr Brown Show in the list.
5. Added a blog about local food plus another blog showcasting rude/incosiderate Singaporeans. *sigh*

My Take On The Wee Shu-Min Affair

I haven't been posting any blogs lately as i am busy with both work and personal matters. Finally some time to post this.

I guess by now everybody is have heard about the big hoo-hah from the comments made by Wee Shu-Min (she closed her blog, full article of her reply can be found here) to Derek Wee's blog post. I am not gonna comment on this. I leave that the all the piss off bloggers out there. What I want to say is from this incident, we can see that the gap between the rich and the rest of Singapore are widening. So much so that the self-proclaimed "elites" are starting to look down on ordinary folks like us. To the extend of 狗眼看人低. The problem is caused by a society that drums the thought that only results and performance matters. Every time we scored a first or No.1 on the world scene, our news media will boast about it, while censoring any negative domestic reports or news that may embarrass the Singapore's image. How come I never see reports of our media's world ranking? BTW, It's 147th out of 167 countries if you dun happen to know, just slightly better than Iraq and Libya. Hence, people become proud and develop the paper chase attitude. We become self-centered and start to reject those that could not meet the standards. You may see it cause you have close one eye to it. When taking lifts, people can walk into the lift, press the button of floor they want and proceed to the back of the lift without thinking of holding the door for those behind. Even if they do, how many times have you heard them ask the floor you're going? I bet our fast food restaurants are the only ones which employ cleaners to clear the tables. In countries like America, Taiwan and Korea, customers clear their tables once they are done. The worst of the lot is a scene my wife spotted. In a pharmacy, someone accidentally toppled some items onto the floor. Rather than picking it up, the person just walk away. The best part is other shoppers will detour or route around the items rather than pick them up. WTF! Their thought is why they should pick them up when they are not the ones who created the mess in the first place. This is the job of the sales assistants. Is this the attitude we want to teach our next generation? I won't expect much change from our government. After all, they are the one who started all this.

So people like Wee Shu Min may one day become a minister due to their qualification. By hanging on the coat tails of a high-level minister in a GRC, just like her dad did. For those who are interested, the entire Wee Shu-Min Affair can be found here. This incident has cause so much rumble in the local internet scene, that someone has started a comic strip for our Miss Elite

And I find the article written here to be very true.

I Want A Gearbox

Ever since, I saw the game trailer for Gears Of War (GOW) for the XBox360, I am deeply hooked on it. The concept as well as the gameplay is truely top-classed. If Halo is claimed to be THE reason why people buy XBox (which explains why Xbox is called Halobox), then GOW is the reason why people will be buying XBox360. Couple with news that Microsoft may slashed the price of their console by half when Sony roll out their Playstation3 next year, the Xbox360 will be known as Gearbox. GOW's makers, Epic Games, confirmed news that there may be a PC version of the game. But that may take too long for me plus console convert games are still not as good as the console original. And even if it is good, the hardware requirement may be staggering = money to upgrade PC. Like this, I might as well buy the console itself. Hence, I will propably wait for Xbox360 price to go down. In the meantime, you will find me standing outside those PC shops fighting with kids to play on the Xbox360 demo/display set. :p

P.S. For those eagle eyes, ya I have added the Xbox360 as one of the things to get on my desire list on the right. ^_^

Yawning On The Job

This guy is gonna get it when his superior sees this. Taken from ChannelNewsAsia website. Link here

Happy Holidays

To all my friends, Happy Holidays...

Volunteer Service @ MINDS

I join the company volunteer program today. Initially, my main motive is just to fulfill the 8 volunteer hours stipulated by my company. IN the end, I got a totally different view. The volunteer program I was in required that we visit one of the MINDS centre in Hougang. MINDS is a non-governmental organization, which takes care of the well-being of the intellectually disabled in Singapore. The focus of MINDS is to help the intellectually disabled and their families, helping the disabled to overcome their disabilities and integrate back to our society. Something which I can connect to as my aunt is suffering from down-syndrome.

For our program, each of us is assigned one of the disabled for a trip to the nearby hawker centre and Heartland mall for lunch and shopping. Although, this is quite normal for us, it is a exciting experience for those with intellectual disabilities. Upon reaching the centre, we are given a short briefing of the program follow by a tour of the centre. The centre got a main contract worth more than a million dollars from Singapore Airlines (SIA) recycling earphones used on the airline planes. They also have contracts with Popular Bookshop (pasting price tags) and various embassies (folding immigration forms). These works may be boring for an average normal person, but it is stimulating and enjoyable for them. The idea behind these is to allow the disabled to have something to occupy their time and work for an earning, rather than staying at home doing nothing. IN the process, they can learn to be independent and thus slowly be able to be integrated back to our society.

My assigned partner is Irene, who is a young chatty girl. She is quite a friendly and cheerful one but loses her focus quite easily. We have an enjoyable time and talk a lot. We walk a lot and explore the area. For people like her, they seldom have anyone to talk to other than their "colleagues" at the centre or go out alone. Everything they do and have is decided by their parents or siblings. Hence they are happy and excited when they see us and when we allowed them to make their own decision in the food to eat and the things to buy

At the end of the day, everybody had a very enjoyable time with their fellow disabled friends, where some were relunctant to see us go. As they waved and say goodbyes to us, it really bring a tear to the eye. They are so friendly, innocent and forgiving. Let's hope our society can do the same to them too. Click on first photo to see more photos

And Now The Weather Report

Hazy... The weather is really bad these days with the haze in Singapore reaching an all-time high in years. No thanks to the lack of control in forest burning in Indonesia. Just to show how bad it is, see the photos below I taken of my place in the morning.

Updated: Now my wife's right eye is infected and swell up quite badly. I also have a flu and a sore throat. This haze is making everybody sick.

Without the haze.

With the Haze. See the difference?

One Big Wireless "Hotspot"

Our Prime Minister just announce plans to implement free wireless broadband in all public areas. Although this signals a way forward for our country, I have a few concerns. Firstly almost every household have their own wireless network. How can we ensure that the network access we having currently are from the free one or our private line? On a broader view, with such a large scale implementation, there will be a lot of technical issues that need to be iron out before it can work smoothly. In addition, the large number of wireless signals in the air competing for free bandwidth as well as the number of users, I don't expect the speed will be high. Lastly, as one VR-Zone forumer points out, with the island congested with the signals from the mobile/pager network, the 3G network and so many different comms networks, not forgetting the TV and radio frequencies, we are "really bathing in coherent radiation." All these radiation more or less will have some effects on our biological and psychological health. We are really going to be in one big "hotspot".

Went Botak Today

My colleagues and I went to Botak Jones today for lunch. I saw this American food stall being recommended on Channel 8's HDB Tai Tais. When we reach there, there's a long queue for it and we were told there is a 45mins - 1 hour wait for our order. But I'm glad we waited for it. I order a giant chicken sausage set meal and when my order came. I tell you, they really meant it when they say giant. The sausage is HUGE! And the food is just like the American way, Sinful. :p We had a wonderful lunch and had a great time. It is a nice break from the tense working environment.

A Change in My Blog

After much thought, I have decided to close this blog for good...

Haha! Gotcha! Yes, there a change in my blog, name change that is. Decide to change the name to something more suitable. The idea came about when I was listening to the song, Semi-charmed life by Third Eye Blind. Felt this is more appropriate for the posts I put up here. Other than this, everything else will remain unchanged. :)

Lunch @ Equinox

Proof of "I'm There"

After slogging it out for the past few months, my colleagues and I are rewarded for our hardwork by the management with lunch at Equinox. We are very surprise and excited by the as Equinox is quite a high class restaurant. I tell you, the view up there is breath-taking. You can see the entire central business district, Esplanade and Suntec City from up there. And I thought the view I had from the balloon ride is amazing. However the lunch buffet is so-so only. Does not justify the $70 per pax charges. The food variety is quite limited and other than the foie gras, nothing special. All in all, a good relaxation from the hectic work schedule, especially coming after last week's rewards where we are given free A1200 and L6i (our project) phones by our software manager for all the effort and OTs we put in our project. Click on the photo above to see more photos of the Equinox lunch.

My New Toys From Motorola

Where's the Wood?

I like to see the mod (geek translation: modifications) people made on their casing. I came across a project by this guy who saw a section out of his Ikea cabinet so that his PC window can be viewed. Much to his as well as mine surprised when he saw the interior of the cabinet board. !!! Not even plywood, just cardboards. Imagine we are paying more for less. So better think twice when you shop at Ikea next time.

And we thought it's plywood inside

A Silly Thought

I had a silly thought that other day during my project meeting. I look at the sole of my track shoe and wonder how they come out with this design. Do they design it based on some studies on the foot movement or just design it in an artistic way? Hmmm... Hehe, yes, I was bored at the meeting :p

Smooth E

This is a very innovative Thai commerical for a facial cream product. It is mini-love story where the product is integrated into the story, which is divided into 4 parts or commericals. Very refreshing

Online Ah Long?

Quote From Too Paiseh to ask for money owned? in New Paper

IT'S a familiar headache.
The bill arrives after dinner. Some in the group don't have change. Some didn't bring enough money.

After a few awkward seconds, you gallantly foot the bill, hoping that your friends will pay you back.

But often, they forget.

And you're too 'paiseh' (Hokkien for 'embarrassed') to ask them.

Now, here's some help.

Wow online ah long (loansharks) sia. Do all the dirty work of pestering your friends for money owned. For those who are interested, click on this link: BillMonk

Sometimes A Hug Is All That We Need

This is a real story happening in Sydney, Australia. Sometimes we are so busy with our lives, lost in the rat race that we have forgotten our humanity. We lost the connections with our friends and love ones. And it is only when they are gone then we realise how we have miss them. Before I met my wife, I dun believe in hugs. I always have the impression that hugging is for couples in love. But ever since, I understand its importance. It is a way to show affection n love as well as giving comfort and strength to the ones you care about. But sadly, I dun think Free Hugs will work in Asian countries, cause we are conservative and touching a total stranger is quite uncomfortable for most of us. But I still advise to all my friends to give your love ones a hug. Go on and you will feel the difference. Ya, my wife and I still give each other hugs but I still trying to overcome the barrier to give one to my family :p

Taken from the info section

Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, A man whose sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives.

For those who can't view the video, here is the link

PS: Here's an interview with Juan Mann as well as a news article

A Miserable Little Dog

Our little boy took a cut on his left eye and we have to take him to the vet. The incident started when we take him for a walk on Monday and met a terrier. The 2 dogs initially just sniff each other out, and suddenly Mickey started to attack the terrier. The poor terrier in the process of defending itself, gave Mickey a kick in the face, causing a cut on the left eye. For the past few days, the poor fella looks gloomy n tired n his injured eye started to swell. Thus, we have no choice but to take him to the vet. Ended up having to wear the "lantern" (it looks like those table lamp cover what) to prevent him from further aggravating the eye. My father-in-law says moon cake festival is here, so Mickey have to wear lantern. -_-"

But the poor chap looks so miserable n sad. Really heartpain to see him suffering like this. He just sleep whole day now and everywhere he goes, the lantern hits onto something. Can see he is very miserable. Heartpain man. :(

I look like a table lamp

Hollywood Lost Its Creativity

Has Hollywood lost its creativity? Seems like the movies coming out of there lately are either remakes of old movies/TV series (Charlie's Angels, Miami Vice) or hit Asian films (Ring, Lake House, The Grudge). The latest being The Departed staring one-time super hearthrob, Leonardo Dicarpio. This movie is basically a Hollywood glamorized version of the hit Hong Kong movie, Infernal Affairs. Since I have watched the original and knew the ending, I probably will skip this. The only reason I can think of to watch this is Jack Nicholson.

Back to the main topic, other than remakes, the rest are just teens flicks, repeated sequels or just brainless comedies. The materials are really very boring and repeative. There are nothing refreshing or give you the Wow factor. Even the movie names are such so straight-forward. A check on Quicktime Movie Trailers shows a lot of upcoming movies using the idiot-proof name of The "something". I counted more than 10 movies with such titles. The Departed, The Return, The Reaping, The Quiet, The Queen, The Protector, The Hoax, The Last King Of Scotland, The Marine, The Bridge, The Guardian etc. Are they so lazy that they dun even bother to think of a decent name for the film anymore?

Time For A Laugh

Employee of The Year!

More Weird USB Gadgets

Accidently came across this on the net. Gives a whole new meaning for "Thumbdrive". More weird USB drives can be found here.

Top 10 list of Gadgets

Yummy... It's a USB Cable

Another Stupid Idea

Last week, our bus operator SBS release a SeasonPass which allows unlimited trips on buses for $98 a month. On initial thought, you might find this SeasonPass to be a very good deal. But if you read the terms and conditions, the pass can be used for SBS buses only. This means, you can't take the LRT, MRT/NEL or even SMRT buses, making it totally useless. They claims that it will reduce waiting time because rather than waiting for the direct bus service, you can bus-hop to get to your destination faster with no extra cost. My question is how many people do that? Bus-hopping is even more time wasting as you have to wait for the different buses. You will be greatly restricted on the bus you can hop between due to the bus service restriction. In addition, we usually takes the trains for long distance trips. Who the hell will opt for the long n winding bus rides? By the time I reach the destination, I will be vomiting. Lastly, since the pass can used for SBS buses only, does this mean we have one seasonpass for SBS bus and an Ezlink card for other service lines? If this is the case, my SBS bus expense will definitely be less than $98 per month. If the Ezlink card can be used for all publice transports, why can't they change its settings for the Seasonpass? My take is that not much people will apply for the Seasonpass. Another perfect example of an impractical idea came out by bo nao (aka brainless) people who never takes the public transport.

A Trip Down Memory Lane: Batman

I was channel surfing and I chance upon this. Batman the TV show from the 60s!! Wow! I remember watching this show as a kid enjoying the KAPOW! whenever Batman & Robin bash up the villians and their henchmen. Haha, how Batman has evolved comparing this with the one in Batman Begins.

Batmen Then: Look at the spare tire around his waist

Batman Now

Smile, Yes. Frown, No.

Seems like our government dun have a good sense of humor. Just found out a Singaporean activist was arrested last Wednesday for starting a 400 frowns campaign to counter the Government's 4 million smiles project. Bet this was never reported in the news for fear that this will tranish our government sparkling clean image. The sadest part is he was arrested without given any reasons. Sigh...

Check out this funny blog post on the IMF and FT issue.

Angie spotted this during our shopping at BIG Harbourfront. It is a knives holder. Good for anger management. Groovy :p

IMF Meeting Finally Over.

FINALLY! the IMF meeting is over. Shoo, shoo... go back. Suntec is freed, dun have to smile anymore and we can regain our normal life. You all should know by now how much I hated this IMF thingy. The reason being our government is so swah koo. Make such a big fuss. The government even resort to create a new arts festival to show how much our countries are into the arts scene (Read: Singapore Biennale 2006). So coincidence that the festival's inaugural opening is held at the same time as the IMF meeting meh? You think we are 3 years old kids ah? Let's see does this festival receive the same amount of publicity when it comes around next year.

Back to the meeting itself, so much time, money and resources spent to organise this meeting. Just look at the troubles n cockups we have to endure for the past 10 days. Other countries also organise such meetings, but how come they dun have so much hooha? Everyday for the past few months, we are bombared with news of what have been done and what are the IMF delegates been doing. So and so have scratch his ass... blah...blah... How come we dun get this much news on IMF activities when it is held elsewhere other than the protest reports? And in the end, after all the balls-carrying, nothing changes. Even got a slap on the face from the very ones that the government tried so hard to please. Sia sway man...

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
Singapore inflicted enormous damage to reputation
Row heats up over Singapore crackdown on activists
More protests, now from the World Bank
S2006 organising committee says it has not breached agreement with IMF/World Bank

Troubles and Cockups
Civil groups threaten to take legal action against Singapore
Crew barred entry to Suntec
Sluggish sales for Suntec City Mall tenants
Where are the shoppers?
Motorists face extra ERP charge
Limousine drivers worst hit
Strict entry rules into Marina Bay area
Taxis in short supply at Suntec area