My poor ah boy. We found that he has some fluid inside his left ear, so have to bring him to the vet today. Turns out to be a blood clot and need to drain it out and have it bandage. Like human, old dog got a lot of problems. Feel so sad for him. Nowadays he look so moody all the time, sleeps the whole day. Furthermore, he is becoming a bit senile and blind. Feel so sad for him.

Melissa Theuriau

Lucky French. I believe the men there dun mind watching the news all day as long as it's reported by her.

Taipei Again

Been back from Taipei for almost a week. Yeh, I know... Went there last year. This trip is some short of a make-up trip for all the things that I did not visit the last time, namely 九份. Although I did visit the place as well as the Lover's Bridge in 淡水 this time round, I still failed to visit other places like Miramir Ferris Wheel, Taipei 小巨蛋, 庙口老街 @ 基窿 and the Toilet(马桶) Restaurant (more like can't find the place for this one). Nevertheless, it is an enjoyable trip, a break away from the depressing Singapore life. We even met up with my ex-colleague and friend, Alan, who is working in Taipei, giving us a very good insight of the life and culture in Taipei.

It could have ended badly. Weather reports shows that it will be raining during the days while we were there. On the day of departure, both my father and father-in-law came to send us off. We chatted and overlook the time, almost missing our flight. We have to dash to the departure gate when I realise that the gate is closing. :p And when we arrived, the journey from the airport to the hotel is jam all the way. The traffic jam is bad that Angie started to have a very bad headache. And if it wasn't bad enough, when we reach the hotel, the receptionist told us that we are at the wrong hotel. Can you believe that, same name but different location. Both are named 万事达旅店 but one is call Wonstar while the other is Onestar. -_-" Luckily the hotel is not too far away. So the both of us have to drag our luggage in the drizzle, searching our way to the hotel. When we finally arrive at our hotel and got into our room, we realise that it does not have a bathtub. Just a shower room. :( All in all, it was a turbulance day one for us. However, we are not angry or even flare up. We did not let any of these incidents affect us. And the entire ended up on a happy note. All in all, it was a wonderful trip. This is the 3rd year in a row I visited Taipei. Angie says this will be the last time we will not come here for some time. I am planning Macau next. ^_^

Real Life Bat-Man

Unbelievable. Although he lost his sight since young, this boy still can do things as per normal. What's amazing is that he uses echoes to help him find his way around n identify things around him. He is really a human bat. A proof of the triumph of the human spirit. By the way, there is a documentary on him on Arts Central this coming Monday (24 Sept).

A Near Death Experience

I was almost killed in an accident just now. I was on my way home, crossing a zebra crossing. The street is clear before I made my way across. As I was halfway across, a speeding motorcycle came out of nowhere and heading right towards me. I can see the surprise on the face on the rider. At that moment, I was totally stunned and tried to step back to avoid the oncoming vehicle. It got so close that at that point, I thought to myself, "This is it..." Before I knew it, the rider sped past me and sped away. I tried to take down his vehicle number but it was speeding so fast that I was only able to take down the first few numbers, FT 96XX. I was totally left stunned standing there. What really piss me off is that the rider don’t even bother to stop or look back to see if I am ok. Bastard m$*&%f#&ker.

I have a number of similar experiences where I saw drivers do not slow down as they approach a turn where there is a zebra crossing, assuming no one will be there. Most of the time, they will emergency brake when they see the pedestrians at the last minute. But this is the closest I experienced. If it was any closer, I won't be here posting this. This is really a very reckless and inconsiderate behavior from the drivers. They knew there is a zebra crossing there but they just dun bother to slow down. Damn all these reckless drivers.

Apple New iPods

So much for the iPhone. I guess many people who bought the Apple iPhone, not so much for its phone function, but rather its multimedia and WIFI capabilities, will feel cheated after Steve Jobs announce the new iPod yesterday. The new iPod have a striking resemblance to the iPhone. Other than lacking a phone function, all the other functions on the iPhone can be found on the new iPod Touch (seems like starting to run out of i-Names). Other than adding in WIFI and video playback on a larger screen, it still does not have FM radio or voice recording. Furthermore, a check on the local Apple website shows that the new iPod Touch cost a whopping $498 for 8GB! The biggest memory size they got is 16GB. How much stuff you can put it there? And for that price, I rather get the Meizu M6 which by the way is much cheaper, have better sound quality and at least have a FM radio or something that has a bigger memory size. Some may argue that if you want a bigger memory size, you should get the iPod Classic instead. Then why come out with the iPod Touch then? Why made 3 products that lack of something the other two have? Apple sure knows how to con the dough out of people. Anyway, as Apple fans will say, it is a lifestyle as they are paying for.

Oh, Apple also reveals a new iPod Nano and it looks horrible. The Apple design team fails big time for this one. Already people are nicknaming it as FatPod or iFat, according to Mr Brown. Bring back the old slim and slick iPod Nano please.

Real Life Dumb Blonde

Recorded from a Miss Teen USA contest. After listening to her answer to the judge question, i go "HUH???" A true blue dumb blonde. Oh by the way, she is named the 2nd runner-up. Proof that you dun need brains to be a beauty queen. World peace anyone?

Paper Munching Dog.

I bet most of us have read about the news of the “cardboard buns” story. Luckily the news turns out to be made up by the relevant news agency reporter to generate sales and ratings. Well even if the story turns out to be true, I think nobody will be hurt. Best proof is my mischievous dog, Mickey. Every time when he is left alone at home, he will go round biting newspapers, magazines and anything made of paper. We still unable to explain why he likes to chew cardboard so much (maybe it’s the taste?). The most amazing thing is after swallowing so much paper and cardboards, the little bugger show no signs of pain. All the undigested papers end up in his poo. So there you have it, if you happen to eat some cardboard, don’t worry. My dog has proven that you will be fine. Ok, maybe a bit of indigestion. ^_^

Stop Calling Me!

Getting real piss off by all those telemarketing calls these days. Everyday I will receive at least 1 - 2 such calls, promoting credit transfers and credit cards. I usually will stop them halfway and tell them straight that I am not interested. I wonder whose the one who gave them my number. Not as if I dun have to pay for whatever bills I charge to it. From now on, I will reject any unidentifiable calls with a landline caller ID. Why do I need so many credit cards in the first place?

Heck, I am even canceling my UOB credit card because of their stupid billing system. They are so fucking retarded that they create 2 separate account numbers your main and supplementary card? It makes it so troublesome when you need to pay the bills to the correct account number. The most ridiculous thing is that any outstanding payments you made on one account will only deduct from the next one AFTER they charge you with late payment charges on it. Yes, they are such dumb ass. Can't they follow other banks, whereby you only have one account number? Two cards is more than enough liao. Owning more cards will only result in incurring more debts.

Don't you hate it when you wanted to resolve something but resulted in causing more problems instead? My sis laptop started to run very slowly lately. Worrying that it may crash, I tried to create a clone of her hard disk as backup. Ended up killing the lappy and almost my sis :p Literally gave her a heart attack as she has a report to submit on Thurs. So it is a mad dash to the service center plus a lot of begging and pleading for them to repair it ASAP. Luckily, it is just a hard disk failure. A change of hard disk and the lappy is alive again. Unfortunately, the old hard disk is gone together with all the data in it. Feel very bad about the whole episode. If I do a data backup rather than a hard disk cloning, we won't have so much trouble and my sis data will still be there.

Was preparing to go to work this morning when I happen to see the 2 finalist of the Campus Superstar2 on TV. Just as I predicted a few weeks ago, one of them is Shawn Tok and I believe (you heard it here first) he WILL be the overall winner. Not that I heard him sing before nor do I follow this silly show, but right from the start, I knew he is already earmark by the Mediacorp's producer to be the winner. Why? One thing about these types of competition is that they all follow the same pattern. The eventual winner usually is someone who has a huge following, been kicked out of the competition and came back through the 翻身赛 or revival round. It has all gone too familiar. If this chap commands such a strong followings, how he managed to be kicked out in the first place? This is after all a popularity competition and the judges’ scores dun really matter. My guess is this is a ploy by the TV station to boost up the call numbers. I really pity the parents whose children frantically watch such competitions and waste so much money calling in the votes. It is plain silly and a waste of money. It is Mediacorp’s money making machine. Who is gonna remember these so-called superstars one year later?

P.S. Here’s another prediction from me. The eventual overall winner will definitely be the guy. Reason being most of the youngsters watching such shows are the girls and they normally support for the guy rather than the girl. How many boys even bother to watch these shows? It is a waste of time for them.

Updated: 27 Aug 2007: See I told you right. Shawn Tok won. The whole bloody competition is fixed.

Which Transformer Are You?

I AM
57%
STARSCREAMTake the Transformers Quiz

My colleague sent me a the above link. As much as I want to be Optimus Prime, I end up becoming Starscream, the despicable Decepticons. Damn.... Well luckily it is only 57% nia...

Starscream
Starscream has delusions of grandeur. He chose to resemble an F-22 jet because it’s the pinnacle of human technical achievement. He serves Megatron but longs to fill his shoes.

Like Starscream, you are not compassionate and harbor evil thoughts. Your leadership skills are weak at best. You will never be the commander of the Decepticons. In addition, you enjoy technology and are aware of the latest trends, but you stick with what works for you.

The 8 Lies of A Mother

This post titled "The 8 Lies of A Mother" is a touching story someone posted in the forums. After reading it, it really touches my heart and reminds me of my mother. My mother is a thoroughly great person, often sacrificing herself for her children and family. Although she has little or no education at all, her thinking and views are way more advanced and open than an educated person. It is a pity that fate has to take her away before she can enjoy her life in her latter years. Maybe this is her greatest sacrifice for the family for after she left, my family relationship has become even closer. My father is no longer the stern looking father figure, who often distances himself from his children. Nowadays, he will talk to us about his daily routine or ask about how we are doing, something which he seldom does when mum's around. We also show more affection to him and not left him out of the loop of anything we do. I guess mum from the heavens will be very happy to see the progress we made. Her only regret must be that she can't be here to share our happiness. Thank you mum for all that you done and all that you gave....

P.S. This has been a very emotional week for me. A lot of things have happen around me and made me did a lot of thinking. I am actually quite a pessimistic person. I do hope that everything will turn out well for everyone. The sky might be dark now but the sun will shine again one day. After all, it don't rain all the time, the sky won't fall forever ;)

A bleak week it is...

Only half-way into the week and yet news from our media is already full of gloom. If you read carefully into the news, public transport fare set to increase again. "Meanwhile, ahead of the August 1 deadline for annual fare increase submissions to PTC, SMRT has confirmed that it will be asking for a small increase" it says. If you ask me, that is a clear indication that the next time you tap your Ezlink card, it will deduct a few cents more. As usual our government agency and media is trying to play down this fact by claiming that they will implement stricter regulations on our transport services to justify the increment. But how many times this has been said while we still got the same crappy services? Car owners are also not spared with renewed ERP rates. As a matter of fact, ever since the New Year, we have been bombarded by news of increment from GST to the price of sugar cane. It's no wonder that the rainy weather looks gloomier than it seems these days. I always tell myself and people that it won't rain all the time, the sky won't fall forever. But now, even I am beginning to doubt that myself. My family and friends are curious why I want to learn market trading and be stressed when things does not goes well. My answer is this is THE only way to a better life. I am tired of scrapping through each day to make ends meet. It is not like we have a choice. Our pay will not increase overnight. What can we do? Pray to the gods? Truth is I have lost my faith in religion, especially when people starts to abuse believer's trust. So where does that leave us? We are still standing here; the bills are still stacking up. My wife and I are in the process of starting a family. Sometimes I wonder should we go through it. Why bring a life here to this world and be a prisoner to the system?

Queen No More

Pregnant Zoe dropped by MediaCorp! Imagine my surprise when I saw this news heading. On further reading, it is found that her contract is suspended during this period of time. The reason for doing so...? She is pregnant!!! Actually I have no interest in what happen to this over the hill actress. Her time has passed. It is just another piece of news to get attention. What's more concerning is the reason for her suspension. What kind of ridiculous excuse is this? This is pure discrimination against pregnant women. Just because she is pregnant and she is unable to perform her duties (even though she does not have any these days :p ), the company has no rights to suspend her contract and cut costs. To think that this is from one of the more prominent media company in this region. What kind of example does this set for other companies? And how can our government allow such things to happen? On one hand, they are encouraging the population to have more babies while on the other hand they are letting this to happen.

As for Zoe, her worries that she will have no income is total bull. Cut down on your high life, Zoe! Welcome to the middle income family life.

My 1st Movie

Reinstall my PC the other day and came across the Windows Movie Maker app in Windows. Always wanted to do something for Angie,recording down the journey we walk together so far. So here is it... ^_^

Mid Life Crisis

Lately I have been wondering whether if this is the work I want to do for the rest of my life. I have been slowly losing interest. I start to understand how Seck Tien feels when he told me he change line. I feel like I am stuck in the limbo, somewhere where I know something but not enough to go anywhere. When people say something, a lot of question marks hover over my head. Worse still am I seem to have forgotten the things I have done or learn last time. Feel very demoralize. 6 years in the workforce and I seems to be going nowhere. Started entertaining such thoughts ever since I left Motorola. 1 year there really zombified a person. How wish I can get out of this now. But on second thought, if I dun do this, what can I do? Could this be some stage in life that everyone will go through? Is this the so called mid life crisis people are having?

Transformers, More Than Meets the Eye!

One of my favourite cartoons from my childhood finally hits the big screen. I still remember I had the autobot, Hound, the one which transform from a military jeep, mimicking the transforming sound as I transform it into a robot. Although the movie brings back a lot of memories, there are also some disappointments namely the look of computer animated transformers in the movie. Other Optimus Prime, the other simply looks too mechanical. And what happen to Bumblebee? He got a face lift? The name implies that it should be a small and cute vehicle; they should stick back of it to be a Volkswagen Beetle and not a stylish sports car. The producers explain that this is to keep up with times and make the robots more realistic. Maybe they are right, guess we old school prefer the way they are in the old days.

Check out this video of a transforming phone. As some say, it is literially an "iPhone Killer"

The Croc-eats-Dog promotion.

Here is a nice and clever promotion idea. Taken from directdaily

The brief was to draw attention to the Zoo and achieve an increase in attendance. According to the motto “Come to the Zoo before the Zoo comes to you” a promotion-team walked a dog that obviously became a crocodile’s lunch. Because half of its body was put into the mouth of an almost life-sized crocodile costume. Additionally, the promotion team handed out discount coupons for the Zoo. The dog was walked through the most popular pedestrian zone in the city of Neunkirchen on four successive Saturdays. As the promotion team walked the dog, the passers-by came up to the team all by themselves wondering what was going on – which made the promotion very effective. It resulted in an increase in attendance of about 15% compared to an average month. Besides, croco-dog became a very popular picture motif.

Day After Tomorrow

A forum reader is contemplating that what happen in the movie “The Day After Tomorrow” will become real one day and questioning what can we do to stop global warming. Well global warming is very real. Dun you guys find that the weather outside is getting hotter these days? The earth temperature is getting higher n higher each day and organizing concerts like Live Earth only cause more damage than putting the message across. I always feel that we are just slowly down the process with our recycling efforts because the pollution and wastage is far too much. Nevertheless, my family and I are still doing our part in saving our earth. After all, where can we go if this place goes? You may not feel the full effect now, but that day will come n when it does, it is sad that our children will be the one who will bare the consequences of our misdeeds.

Here are some of my efforts.

1. Recycle every paper-based material. This includes cereal boxes, all the unwanted bills n letters from the mail box and even the cardboard cover from the energizer battery pack is not spared.

2. Switch off electrical appliances if they are not used.

3. Give unwanted clothing to Salvation Army or sell them to cash converters.

4. Recycle all plastic bottles and materials. I won't throw the plastic soft drink bottles I bought outside. I bring them home to recycle.

5. Don't on air-con unless it is really very hot. Use fan

6. Print on both side of paper or use recycle paper. Better still, if document is not important, print multiple pages on a single page.

7. Switch off your PC when I leave my office.

8. Take public transport (taxi not included) if possible. If distance is short (~15 mins), walk. Treat it as a form of exercise.

9. Use rechargeable batteries. Recycle all alkaline batteries.

10. Use recycle bags when shopping at supermarkets, not only on 1st Wed of every month. Try not to take plastic bag from seller if item is small n not heavy.

As you can see, all the above are little actions that can go a long way. It does not cost much or take a lot of effort.

Here's some useful info
Recycling Bins / Collection Centres in Singapore

"Man always realize his mistakes only when the punishment is being handle out"