My One Week Trip of HK

Just came back from a trip to Hong Kong with my side of the family. Yes, it’s a trip rather than a vacation or holiday for me. A tiring trip if you ask me. The weather is hot there, even worse than in Singapore in my opinion. And who say it's cooling in Hong Kong this time of the year?

Carrying two boys, weighing 8kg each, around is no joke. On top of that, we still have to backpack their milk and diapers. Not that we did not bring a stroller. But the stroller unfriendliness of the Hong Kong MTR and environment make the stroller almost redundant. In the end, the stroller acts more like a trolley for our backpacks.

As for the trip itself, it is a roller-coaster ride. We hop to Macau and Zhuhai in between. In Macau, we visited the famous St Ruins to take some been there done that photos, buy some almond biscuits and egg tarts and that's it. After all, it's a gamblers' paradise, nothing much for non-gamblers like us. We have lunch at an authentic Cantonese restaurant that serves steam egg with fish intestine, a dish where Mum used to cook for Dad and me. Nice memory for the father and son ;)

We hop over Zhuhai from Macau for a one day trip. Nothing exciting to talk about from me. I can see Angie obviously enjoy the shopping there at the famous underground shopping center. Much better than Shenzhen I say. Not so sleazy and much cleaner. They also don't smoke in the shopping center, making the air more breathable. Oh, the seafood feast at the end of day trip is really worth it. $150 RMB and the dishes kept coming in till we can't take it anymore. Really worth it.

Back at Hong Kong, we did not go to Disneyland or Ocean Park. Sons too young to appreciate it. We took the cable car to Lantau Island to visit the Big Buddha statue. Shop a bit at the famous Woman's Street night market. Best moment is the breakfast at 妹记 porridge. The porridge is solid and the fish skin dish is really a nice surprise.

Overall, there are not a lot of enjoyable moments for me. It's a good experience and nice opportunity for my side of the family to be close to the boys. One final note, must better estimate the amount of milk powder to bring in a kiasu way.

Who Will I Vote For President?

A simple analysis by my sister-in-law, which I agree.

1. Dr Tony Tan: Too PAP extreme
2. Tan Jee Say: Too Opposition extreme
3. Tan Kin Lian: Too suspicious :P

That will leave with? On second thought, I might throw in a blank vote. 6 more days to decide.

IBM Reveal First Generation of Skynet

IBM today reveal a CPU that mimics the human brain. First we have the BigDog, now this. Life mimics friction? When the CPU gets self-aware, will it be the beginning of the end of mankind? Or the next evolution?

Pain In My Ace

Unless you are planning to buy their top end flagship mobile phones, don't ever consider Samsung brand. Their low and mid-tier product totally sucks big time. Build is crap and support is total non-existent. I recently a Samsun Galaxy Ace as my iPhone 3G is slowing to a halt due to IOS4 (Thanks Steve Jobs, great idea of forcing iPhone 3G owners to buy your new iPhones). Turns out it's a totally different set of nightmare, maybe slightly worse. The battery life of the Galaxy Ace is downright horrible. X-p

Imagine this, I went home at 7pm with my phone fully charged. Once I got home, I left it on my desk until next morning. In the morning, it shows battery level is less than1 20%! WTF! What is it doing at night? Share its idle power over the internet to do folding calculations? A check on the net shows that I'm not the only one experiencing this. And damn Samsung don't even bother to look into it Android Gingerbread has been out for so long and there is no update of the Ace to it. So far, only Samsung Galaxy S phones have this upgrade.

This is not the first time I have experience poorly design phones from Samsung. My father-in-law used to own one that SMS to the wrong people even though the input contact name is correct. -_-" And when I brought the phone back for service, they don't have a software fix for it. Major FUBAR! This is my last time getting a Samsung phone. Once iPhone 5 is out and my bloody M1 contract is up (that's another pain), I am switching to Singtel and back to become Steve Job's bitch.

Moments That They Really Brighten Our Day

The Little Things We Have To Give Up

No more lazy afternoon naps
No more quiet meal times
No more waking up at 11am on a Sunday morning
No more dashing out for late nite supper or movies

These are some of the little things we have to let go from our lives. Gone are the days when we can go ahead and do whatever we like. Now whatever we do, we have to put the two of them into the equation. Not that I'm complaining, somehow every now and then we do yearn for such things. But then again, when you look at them, you know everything is worth it

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Learning to Throw Rubbish

The boys are learning more and more day by day. Came back from work today and they show me that they know how to throw rubbish and understand the meaning when their mother told them so. Ok, it may not be a big deal for some but it's a milestone for us. Arm with this new skill, we will no doubt have more things to watch out and take note of, like checking the rubbish bin when we clear it to make sure there are no "invalid" items in it. ^_^

Too Small Also No Good

Whoever the creators/designers are, why do they want to create the Micro-USB connector? It is so damn difficult to connect to a Micro-USB port. I recently changed to the Samsung Galaxy Ace Android phone after my patience ran out on my iPhone 3G (yes the one without the S) sluggish performance with IOS4. The problem now is Samsung handphone uses the Micro-USB connectors which is damn difficult to plug in. I always end up trying to figure the orientation and alignment. Yeah, I am that stupid. Yes, it's small and slim but at least they should make it in such that there is a clear distinguish between either side mah. I am so afraid that one day I will damage the connector.

Still Can Get $2.50 Meal?

I would like CASE to show me where can I get $2.50 mixed vegetable rice in Singapore, as claim in their report. Currently place I know is at my office canteen at Ang Mo Kio industrial area.

SINGAPORE: Food at hawker stalls was still affordable in April, according to a survey by the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE).

The survey, which covered 611 stalls in non air-conditioned coffeeshops and hawker centres, focused on chicken briyani, chicken rice, fishball noodles, roti prata, and mixed vegetables rice based on the cheapest single portion available. It showed 54 per cent of the stalls sold cooked food at S$2.50 or lower.

CASE also encouraged all stall owners to display the prices of food items prominently so consumers can make informed choices.

Two stalls had inconsistent pricing with what was displayed on their signboards. One charged S$4.50 for chicken briyani when the signboard had displayed a price of S$4.

Another charged S$5 for the same dish when the price displayed was S$5.50

When Is The Bus Coming?

One of the first app I download on my iPhone is the SG NextBus. It uses the SBS Iris NextBus system to tell us the arrival time of various buses at a particular bus stop. As it gets more and more popular, similar apps sprang up to follow its success.

Lately, all such apps are unable to work. Turns out SBS has installed a measure to prevent automated scripts from grabbing the bus timing info from their system. For this, I have thanked SBS or Comfort Delgro. Firstly, you gave us a lousy website that only allows us to check for one bus service at one bus stop. When people devise a more efficient way to make use of this, you block them from accessing it, forcing us to use your new but poorly written app. Rather than upgrading your server hardware to handle the increased load, you went with the bully way by blocking and rejecting without reason requests to access the database. Once again, you have shown us what a world class public transport service you are.

Oh, between using your new crap that you called SBS Transit Iris app and going back to waiting for the bus without knowing when it is coming, I am choosing the latter.

Seen or Heard: How Come It's My Fault?

"Mas Selamat ran away. But PM Lee said that Wong Kan Seng was not at fault and should not be punished in any way. The reason being that Wong Kan Seng personally did not do anything which allowed Mas Selamat to escape.

Strangely, if your maid runs away, it IS your fault and you SHOULD be punished. Even if you did not personally do anything to let her run away (apart from giving her a day off)."

Good discussion on maid responsibilities posted on CNA forum regarding the recent news of the body of a maid found in HDB watertank.

Quick Reactions to the SIngapore General Elections 2011

1. Oppositions lost Potong Pasir SMC but gain a GRC. Is this a good results for the oppositions? Worker's Party maybe. Though I'm happy that a GRC has been won. Prove that GRC is not a sure win bet for PAP anymore. I am sad that Potong Pasir is lost.
2. Overall winning margin for PAP is down compared to last elections. Still a strong mandate?
3. Who care about George Yeo? Chaim See Tong is the one we should feel sad for. Goodbye Mr Chaim, it's nice knowing you, thanks for the sacrifice and good fights you gave out. I feel sad that you gave your all for the people of Potong Pasir and they betray right at the end. For those 242 void tickets voters, WHAT THE FUCK are you thinking?
4. From the oppositions' results, it looks like Worker's Party is the de facto leader of the oppositions as their candidates all score better as compared to candidates from other parties.
5. With the WP A-team in parliament, there will be a lot of debates in future parliament sessions.
6. Most number of opposition members in parliament. Lowest overall winning margin since independence. One small step at a time. Their powers are eroding.

The Day That Will Define Our Future

This is it. Today will mark down in our history as the date that will change our country's future. For better or worse, I don't know. For the past 9 days, we especially the residents of Aljunied has been threaten, tempted, given the sympathy card and even apologized. I don't know about the others, but I am sure not convinced by all this. Even Angie, who usually don't bother about such things started to read up on this elections. This is after I told her this election is not about us but about our boys' future and how we can determine it.

We don't want any change of government, we just want an alternative voice in parliament. Someone there to ensure that responsibilities are taken and policies are made with the people, not the country's growth, in their mind. The speech by Sean Pean below in the movie Fair Game holds true to our situation now. The responsibilities of a country is not in the hands of a privilege few. It should be our responsibilities. I do hope my fellow country will the right thing.

Seen or Heard: Equating Singaporeans as Prostitues

Posted in the comment section of a MrBrown post.

They equate Singaporeans as prostitues. With a little difference. Prostitues got paid, after being screw. Singaporeans got paid, before being screw. Prostitues got paid every time they are screw. Singaporeans continuously screw for 5 years.

The World Needs More Men Like Chris Medina

Not a fan of American Idol and I don't know who this Chris Medina is until I heard his single on the radio yesterday. Turns out that Chris is an aspiring singer, who is engaged with his girlfriend, Juliana in 2007. They had planned to wed two years after getting engaged, but shortly before they could walk down the aisle, Juliana suffered a brain injury in a tragic car accident, leaving her almost paralyzed and severely brain damaged. Some guys will walk away since they have no obligations to take care of the girl (they are not married, remember?). But rather than doing that, Chris stay on. As he puts in his interview on American Idol, "What kind of guy would I be if I walked out when she needed me the most?" Well Chris may not have won the singing competition (he didn't even make it to the Top 24), but he has won my support. Below is the video of his American Idol audition as well as the lyrics of his single. If only the world have more men like Chris.

Anywhere you are, I am near
Anywhere you go, I'll be there
Anytime you whisper my name, you'll see
How every single promise I keep
Cuz what kind of guy would I be
If I was to leave when you need me most

What are words
If you really don't mean them
When you say them
What are words
If they're only for good times
Then they don't
When it's love
Yeah, you say them out loud
Those words, They never go away
They live on, even when we're gone

And I know an angel was sent just for me
And I know I'm meant to be where I am
And I'm gonna be
Standing right beside her tonight
And I'm gonna be by your side
I would never leave when she needs me most

What are words
If you really don't mean them
When you say them
What are words
If they're only for good times
Then they don't
When it's love
Yeah, you say them out loud
Those words, They never go away
They live on, even when we're gone

Anywhere you are, I am near
Anywhere you go, I'll be there
And I'm gonna be here forever more
Every single promise I keep
Cuz what kind of guy would I be
If I was to leave when you need me most
I'm forever keeping my angel close

Too Smart For Her Own Good

Proof that intelligence cannot be measured by how many certificates you have...

A SINGAPOREAN lost RM240,000 (S$100,290) at a casino when she tried to win back the RM500 she had previously lost, Sin Chew Daily reported.

The woman, who is a professional with a double master's degree, said she tried to win the money back by using all her savings as well as borrowing from others.

She is now looking for someone to give her a loan to pay off her debts as she does not dare disclose it to her family.

'I am worried that my husband may divorce me if he finds out,' she said

Seen Or Heard: Perfect Response

"He has the right to say that, but I was brought up by my parents to show modesty." Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke

Another Doomsday Event?

First it was the Y2K bug, then the asteriod hitting our planet. Lately the popular one is the catastrophic environmental changes. Meet the latest end of the world scenario. With all communication channels gone, you will have *hold breath*... no access to Facebook. That definitely will bring fear to some people. ;)

Learning To Drive?

Disturbing KorKor When He Is Sleeping

Look at Aiden cheeky face.