More of her Moments

There are times when fathers have too much time and a working digital camera. Couple that with the insanely easy caption tools of photobucket,

We get more of her moments

Her as an exit sign



In deep thought (Yoda Pose)



KungFu Baby (Her dad has been branded as the Kungfu Panda)



Lian-ish Baby (Father is certified Beng after all)



Caught being naughty



When told that this is the last idiotically captioned photo

Disclaimer
No Baby was harm in the making of this blog post.....
Please do not try this at home unless you are a trained parent with your own kid

The Devil Himself

This is interesting

You are The Devil

Materiality. Material Force. Material temptation; sometimes obsession

The Devil is often a great card for business success; hard work and ambition.

Perhaps the most misunderstood of all the major arcana, the Devil is not really "Satan" at all, but Pan the half-goat nature god and/or Dionysius. These are gods of pleasure and abandon, of wild behavior and unbridled desires. This is a card about ambitions; it is also synonymous with temptation and addiction. On the flip side, however, the card can be a warning to someone who is too restrained, someone who never allows themselves to get passionate or messy or wild - or ambitious. This, too, is a form of enslavement. As a person, the Devil can stand for a man of money or erotic power, aggressive, controlling, or just persuasive. This is not to say a bad man, but certainly a powerful man who is hard to resist. The important thing is to remember that any chain is freely worn. In most cases, you are enslaved only because you allow it.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Her Moments

There are time that our daughter is like an angel, all blissful, serene and pleasant..

There are time when she is a kicking, screaming siren to be heard 3 floors down....

And there are those time in between where she made excellent material for one liners

The warning before the storm


All hell break loose


All Hell Break Loose - ala 300


After the feeding frenzy


Not quite done yet.....

Disclaimer
No Baby was harm in the making of this blog post.....
Please do not try this at home unless you are a trained parent with your own kid

Don't be a nice guy

I find this from EDMW (yeah, of all places... but it makes a damn good read.

"What Happened to All the Nice Guys?"
Date: 2007-11-19, 3:52AM PST


I see this question posted with some regularity in the personals section, so I thought I'd take a minute to explain things to the ladies out there that haven't figured it out.

What happened to all the nice guys?

The answer is simple: you did.

See, if you think back, really hard, you might vaguely remember a Platonic guy pal who always seemed to want to spend time with you. He'd tag along with you when you went shopping, stop by your place for a movie when you were lonely but didn't feel like going out, or even sit there and hold you while you sobbed and told him about how horribly the (other) guy that you were ****ing treated you.

At the time, you probably joked with your girlfriends about how he was a little puppy dog, always following you around, trying to do things to get you to pay attention to him. They probably teased you because they thought he had a crush on you. Given that his behavior was, admittedly, a little pathetic, you vehemently denied having any romantic feelings for him, and buttressed your position by claiming that you were "just friends." Besides, he totally wasn't your type. I mean, he was a little too short, or too bald, or too fat, or too poor, or didn't know how to dress himself, or basically be or do any of the things that your tall, good-looking, fit, rich, stylish boyfriend at the time pulled off with such ease.

Eventually, your Platonic buddy drifted away, as your relationship with the boyfriend got more serious and spending time with this other guy was, admittedly, a little weird, if you werent dating him. More time passed, and the boyfriend eventually cheated on you, or became boring, or you realized that the things that attracted you to him weren't the kinds of things that make for a good, long-term relationship. So, now, you're single again, and after having tried the bar scene for several months having only encountered players and douche bags, you wonder, "What happened to all the nice guys?"

Well, once again, you did.

You ignored the nice guy. You used him for emotional intimacy without reciprocating, in kind, with physical intimacy. You laughed at his consideration and resented his devotion. You valued the aloof boyfriend more than the attentive "just-a-" friend. Eventually, he took the hint and moved on with his life. He probably came to realize, one day, that women aren't really attracted to guys who hold doors open; or make dinners just because; or buy you a Christmas gift that you mentioned, in passing, that you really wanted five months ago; or listen when you're upset; or hold you when you cry. He came to realize that, if he wanted a woman like you, he'd have to act more like the boyfriend that you had. He probably cleaned up his look, started making some money, and generally acted like more of an asshole than he ever wanted to be.

Fact is, now, he's probably getting laid, and in a way, your ultimate rejection of him is to thank for that. And I'm sorry that it took the complete absence of "nice guys" in your life for you to realize that you missed them and wanted them. Most women will only have a handful of nice guys stumble into their lives, if that.

So, if you're looking for a nice guy, here's what you do:

1.) Build a time machine.
2.) Go back a few years and pull your head out of your ass.
3.) Take a look at what's right in front of you and grab ahold of it.

I suppose the other possibility is that you STILL don't really want a nice guy, but you feel the social pressure to at least appear to have matured beyond your infantile taste in men. In which case, you might be in luck, because the nice guy you claim to want has, in reality, shed his nice guy mantle and is out there looking to unleash his cynicism and resentment onto someone just like you.

If you were five years younger.

So, please: either stop misrepresenting what you want, or own up to the fact that you've ****ed yourself over. You're getting older, after all. It's time to excise the bull**** and deal with reality. You didn't want a nice guy then, and he certainly doesn't ****ing want you, now.

Sincerely,

A Recovering Nice Guy



To all the nice guys out there... Stay true to urself even if it means u cant get the gal. This is wad i call MAN!

End of the day, to all the nice guy out there.... just get this... girls don't dig nice nowaday......

To all the girls lamenting the lost of the nice guy... guess what... you are the cause of it

She had arrived

It was a friday night after a heavy buffet with CQ and James...
We arrived home at about 11 and that Its my turn to the shower after my wife....
Halfway through, she came into the bathroom and told me that her waterbag has burst.

Finishing my shower and packing up a few item, we rushed down to the hospital... knowing that this is probably it.. what we had been waiting for 9 months has culminated to this..

At the hospital, the table was probably the only thing separate me and the strangulation of a slow and imperturbable nurse who is doing all the registration and question in first gear. We got the delivery suite ready and she was officially warded.

My wife had amazing pain threshold and that throughout the night, it was the chart that tells me that she was in contraction.

In the morning, knowing that I will not want to be stuck in breakfast while my wife is in labor, I had to rush down at 6 then 7 for my breakfast.
it was nothing more than eggs in a cup which I gobbled down in 1 quick gulp and 2 toast with a hot coffee, which I brought it into the delivery room.

It is now that the contraction started to be more painful and that I will need to start to soothe her as it progress. I still managed to get the video cam out, soothe her while finishing my breakfast...

The doctor arrived on the spot and remarked dryly that she cancelled our appointment at the clinic and now, at the appointed time, she has to come to perform the delivery... I don't blame her, the whole timing is so impeccable that I will have a 5 days rest and that we saved 1 appointment with the doctor... what was even more amazing was that, on the exact time she arrived into the world...



After 2 nights stay at the ward and winning the shouting match in the nursey despite the fact that she is the smallest kid there, she is now happily sleeping in her own bed after a full hour of feeding, which she wanted more after.



How she will turn out and what she may accomplish in life, I do not know yet;
All I know is that, this little bundle of joy will now change my entire household and probably how I look and deal with the world from hence forth

Idiot proofing

Just to prove that... no matter how hard you try to idiot proof, the idiots will proof you wrong

Lolipop -Mika

Hey, what's the big idea?

Yo mika

I said
Sucking too hard on your lollipop
Or love's gonna get you down
I said
Sucking too hard on your lollipop
Or love's gonna get you down

Sucking too hard on your lollipop
Or love's gonna get you down
Sucking too hard on your lollipop
Or love's gonna get you down
Say love, say love
Or love's gonna get you down
Say love, say love
Or love's gonna get you down

I went walking in with my mama one day
When she warn me what people say
Live your life until love is found
'Cause love's gonna get you down
Take a look at the girl next door
She's a player and a down right whore
Jesus slows up, she wants more
Oh bad girls get you down

Singing
Sucking too hard on your lollipop
Or love's gonna get you down
Sucking too hard on your lollipop
Or love's gonna get you down
Say love, say love
Or love's gonna get you down
Say love, say love
Or love's gonna get you down

Mama told me what I should know
Too much candy gonna ride your soul
If she loves you, let her go
'Cause love only gets you down
Take a look at the boy like me
Never stood on my own two feet
Now I'm blue, as I can be
Oh love couldn't get me down

Singing
Sucking too hard on your lollipop
Or love's gonna get you down
Sucking too hard on your lollipop
Or love's gonna get you down
Say love, say love
Or love's gonna get you down
Say love, say love
Or love's gonna get you down

I went walking with my mama one day
When she warn me what people say
Live your life until love is found
Or love's gonna get you down

Singing
Sucking too hard on your lollipop
Or love's gonna get you down
Sucking too hard on your lollipop
Or love's gonna get you down
Say love (say love), say love (say love)
Or love's gonna get you down
Say love (say love), say love (say love)
Or love's gonna get you down

Mama told me what I should know
Too much candy gonna ride your soul
If she loves you, let her go
'Cause love only gets you down

Wow, woow, woow, lollipop
Wow, woow, woow, lollipop

Sucking too hard on your lollipop
Or love's gonna get you down
Sucking too hard on your lollipop
Or love's gonna get you down

nice? I dont do nice......

There's alot of time that I look at people and I see a reflection of me. I mean... not a picture of 100kg or looking like a fucking shaven bear... rather, the attitude towards life.

When I came out to work, there is always this need to serve; What you asked are delivered, with a smile and at 120% if I can.
However, as time goes by, there will be people who take the 120%, asked for more, turn around, stab you in the back and expect you to thank them and asked for more.

Eventually, one old Navy LTC's word began to come back to me

When its your ass and my ass on the line, it will always be mine that I will take care... anytime....

That gave me a new outlook in life.... learning that everyone has an agenda and that I will probably be better off serving mine then theirs..i still believe in moral and integrity and all that stuff, but now, I realise that the only way that I can still have my integrity and not having someone imposing theirs over mine is that if I stay on top of everything.... The whole idea here is simple... I do not believe that I am mightier than anybody out there, but I will need to make sure that my own interest are served first and foremost, to be able to still stand tall and keep my belief...

Watching Kingdom of Heaven for the Nth time, I came to realisation that we had only advanced in the ways and doctrine of conflict.... conflict is still rife and the other of the day stays that as long as I am not subjugated, I can keep my say.

While my wife enjoyed having me making silly faces all the time when back home, it all comes down to the fact that, in work or any part of the world out there, while I am working, I will need to advance, be it the dpt, coy or friends, to advance all the common goals....
To give nothing that I am not willing to give and take everything that is deemed my.
As for being nice, sorry, I do not do nice.... If you are in my way, get out of it or get run over.. it is that simple....

For those who do nice, don't... I am asking this very simple, I will not ask for anything that you are not willing to give and for everything that you give to me, you can ask for something that I am willing to give in return.... it is that simple....

Words uttered in madness

To the local support staff

I applaud your valiant effort to help the users; However, sometimes they are best helped by putting a bullet in their head.

In jest about work

The boss will tell you that nobody is indispensable. When you ask for a promotion, you will be told that you are indispensable in your current post..... making you... a nobody

Being Idiot proof

Idiot proof is impossible; it requires an intelligent being to think like an idiot which any idiot can beat by sheer experience and idiotic tendency

Choice

Anyone can come up to you tell that you always have a choice; but they will not tell you its between the blade and the deep blue sea

Great Expectation

No, not the dickens....

but rather, the kind which everyone have for themselves and later in life, for their children.
It is only natural, to either get the children to follow on one's own footstep if one feels that the accomplishment was indeed something, to go down another path when one felt that the path in one's life is not good nor savory.
Or to pursue a dream that one set aside due to circumstances. But end of the day, as far as I am concern, the expectation is not for the child to be great, but to be able to realise their own full potential and to be allowed to go after their dreams and live their life in dignity and fulfillment.

What I feel, that expectation carried to an extreme will be something like this

Our local Champions

Once in a while, our boys in blues and all their home team buddies needs a boost.
And nobody had done it better than Mr Brown

Here is the lyric to the song:

They laughed at you
When he got away
He did the crime
But you kena pay
A small mistake
A toilet break
And suddenly the mobs are pointing their fingers at you!

But you are so champion, Home Team
We sure support you to the end
You are so champion
Don’t listen to them
No time for bloggers
And kopitiam uncles of the world

Causeway so jam
People blame you
But illegal workers and cigarette smugglers
You’ve caught a few
Your boss is kind
He don’t resign
Stay back to give his moral support to encourage you!

You are so champion, Home Team
You mustn’t feel so down and sian
You are so champion
Burn all your weekend
This is all bo pian
But we know you’ll catch him…

You are so champion, Home Team
You are just like us, a common man
You are so champion
Work hard and you can
Be a faultless minister
Then you’ll be the champion of the world.

Instructions

One of my friend is concerned that as a first time parent.. experience might be wanting...and sent me some instruction for the care of baby

Do not stand at my grave and weep

If there is ever a Tombstone or an ephitamy
to remember me by, I hope this will be it

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.

Full Dress Rehersal

It seems like even at a tender age (0yrs, -2mth,which translate to 34 wks...) My daughter has a penchant to ensure that her parents are not overtly complacent and that we are always operationally ready, she decided to give both of us a little scare.

On last Thursday, while her mother was on her way to work, she felt that the little rascal was not moving in her safe cocoon. upon reaching her work place, instead of taking the lift to the office, she took the bus to KK.

They hook her up to a CTG (do not ask me what it is... I have no idea..) and found that her heart beat was rather erratic.... After about 2 hours, they decided to ward the mother and the baby for further observation (Duh... try warding the mother or the baby.....) Thanks to the bug flu... They did not get her a ward until I reached the hospital (Short stop over home to grab her admission bag) and had lunch with her...

Thanks to the bed shortage, she got a free upgrade to a A1 bed for the night. Which I guess is consolation for her not able to attend her company D&D. I had to go off for my driving test and only to get back to the hospital after.... It was quite challenging to get into the hospital after 9 and having to negotiate all the strange accesses into the building.... But heck... I managed to play with the lift and reach her ward....

We were rather optimistic that she should be able to discharge after a night's rest but alas, the baby decided that she be the center of care and stayed back for another day...And that my wife finds that the hospital food is much better than the food court fare

Her colleagues visited her on Friday, they were rather nice and brought a basket of chicken essence for her.. Mother also popped by after work and we went back together.



On Sat, her gynae popped by in the morning and given her the all clear for discharge... I guess the baby decided that her dad is too tired for another day of shuttling and decided to be a good girl.....This time, I get to witness the food first hand, and it is rather decent, better than the Delifrance Fish


My wife got another pleasant surprise, the doctor gave her 17 days of rest... which means 2 weeks of solid resting at home.. yipee... the nurse was very nice and helped out quite a fair bit for the discharge.


It is then home sweet home for all of us and hopefully that the next time my wife is going to be warded will be the actuall delivery...in a month's time

But basically... I do have a feeling that our little girl may be a little drama queen in the making and turns out to be like her

For those being odexed

I am forwarding this call, to anyone reading this, do help to circulate this on your blog or any forum that you visits, thanks

Ware ware wa Celestial Being.

Oops, NG. Wrong start.

We are Xedo Defense.

I am one of the Odex'ed victims, whose names had been wrongfully indicted for copyright infringement.

Over the past month, we saw that the Judge ruled that Odex was not the correct party to initiate lawsuits. It is, therefore, my imperative to start out a roll-call for all those who have been served the letter from Odex, regardless of whether they had or had not paid any settlement fees. Supporters of the Anti-Odex movement are also appreciated.

I start out this thread, in the hopes of gathering all Odex'ed victims, to come out from their homes and contest in a legal suit against Odex. The odds are against Odex, and with your support, we can right the wrong, and prove ourselves that we are not to be trampled upon like cockroaches.

The reason I posted this thread is because I believed the time is right to act and pursue a recourse, to act against the actions Odex has pursued against what is potentially their customers.

This is not a call to support piracy: this is a call to make right what Odex has wronged. Odex has wronged us in many ways, labelling us as pirates and other negative connotations, all in the name of "defending the interests of copyright owners."

Without them, we still are able to enjoy anime, not through television, but by the Internet. The Internet has allowed us to be exposed in a myriad and variety of shows that would've otherwise been unknown in Singapore.

Before Bleach made its way to cable, we already enjoyed its goodness.
Before Naruto became famous, we were light years ahead.
Before all other anime shows become the third rated VCDs on the shelf, we had already knew them by heart.

At the heart of our fandom, is the freedom of information, and with it, the right to watch, not watch, like, and dislike, the shows that deserves our attention, and credit the people behind the shows.

What Odex had done is to disturb the cordial relationship between us fans and the creators of the shows. Without properly researching their legal rights, they made use of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (F.U.D.) over us, to make us feel "guilty" of our actions. To scare us about the struggling anime industry, citing figures from various sources to expound their claims of justifying the clampdown.

What they do is similar to RIAA, the infamous entity that has sued dead people and grandmothers for hefty somes of money. All over claims that are shaky in its foundation.

The worst sin they committed, is to sue a nine-year-old girl, forcing her parents to comply a Letter of Undertaking, a letter full of legalese that will confound an average Singaporean.

Another victim was wrongfully accused of infringement. The irony, was that at the time Odex stated he was doing so, he was physically out of Singapore. He has an alibi to accrue his credibility.

The company Odex used to target Singaporeans, BayTSP, is also of question. Another company of similar operations, MediaDefender, has been exposed and made famous online to use privacy-invasive tactics to interfere with otherwise legitimate Internet traffic. There are also statements from clients of BayTSP, admitting that their tactics are not always 100% effective. This has been examplified by their "mistakes" of sending cease & desist letters to people in France, the US and Japan.

We regret that Odex's website has been hacked into, and we deplore such acts. However, this shows how they backtrack on their promise of a video-on-demand service back in Oct 2007. They had not sufficiently secure their servers, and the long absence of Odex's website shows that they never intended to provide a service to us customers.

I think by saying all these, it's my objective to raise the collective voice of everyone affected by this and all those who felt that Odex has done a great wrong and injustice, to effectively set the record straight, and applaud businesses that are rooted in sound business realities. The money that has been used to pay the "settlement fees" are still left unanswered. Where are the audit reports, the claims of "sending the money over to charities?" We have not heard from them since Judge Woo's last ruling.

If by now, you still think that Odex is right, I will like to say that, they had been proven wrong time and again. The titles whom they choose to import has nothing to do with what the fans want, but by arbitrary choices. Their so-called "errors in translation" were done in the purpoted idea of censoring for conforming to Board of Film Censors' (BFC) standards, something which the BFC has publicly denounced. They have not made the transition to DVDs, even though the target audiences are increasingly clamour for it. Anecdotal accounts reflect their blase attitudes of unprofessionalism: they used fan-made subtitles and pass them off as their own. Will one actually tolerate a company that had committed all these foul practices and yet unrepentant of their wrong-doings to continue? The choice is now in your hand, to take up action against them or to lend your support to them, or be the silent accomplices of all the horrendous things inflicted by Odex.

Now it's the time to act. I have relayed this thread over to SGCafe, sgForums, HWZ Forums and VR-Zone Forums, to spread the message of a swift action. The time to hesitate is through, there's no time to wallow in the mire. Act now, and we show the world that Singapore otaku aren't to be trampled upon like beasts.

If you wish to join in this call for action, you may contact FND, member of the Xedo Defense, via email at aranril AT gmail DOT com, through http://theodexed.wordpress.com, or through the user that posted this call.

Those who have been Odex'ed, step out. Supporters, lend me your ears. To the public, we are serious.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not getting you there

With the recent spots of rain, the other worries that I have is also transport. As you know, I do not have my own sets of wheels (Not even the licence to operate my own set of wheels, yet) I have to go public about it.

Now, our transportation is still rather decent, but I am afraid that pride and complacency (damn this word, I might end up using this word in every post and bold it in 08) makes our public transport "World Class" in our brags.... I am sure it is world class...but not sure if it is top of the third or bottom of the first..

Mr Lim recently revealed a plan to improve our already excellent public transport and goes about changing and tweaking it to make it even more world class least we start getting complacent. It would have been perfect if not for those blasted Taxi company coming about and raise the taxi fare a few prior to that... Now, Taxi is not really public transport in case that you wonder. They are a privately owned commercial entity who gives people false impression that it is a public transport. So, a fare increase is something more of a commercial decision. Only little thing here is that, the majority of the taxi are owned by 1 company (which incidentally belongs to a public transport company which runs both rail and buses as well), so when the price goes up, even if it is just one company, you are assured that at least 3 in 5 taxi on the street are affected. And in a manner that in other sector would be considered price fixing, almost every other single company raised their price to the same level. And while most would consider price increase is the part and parcel of everyday life in this decade, Nothing trumps it more when the increment is in effect 35 to 40%, which is only paled by our GST increase (5 to 7 is not 2%, it is a 40% increase)

Most casual taxi riding folk did what any sane rationale people will do, they give their favorite cab ride a miss and starts to join the fold of the MRTs and buses. SO much so that during peak hours nowaday, it is not uncommon that people miss the train due to the sheer density of people in it. But I am pretty sure that this is just my daily hallucination as we can easily pack 1200 people per train.

Most should be envious if not seething with emerald tint jealousy at the taxi driver as they now pocket most of the extra earning as told by 1 MP on a local TV show. But I would ask you to put down that torch and pitchfork for now... while the fare increase for more than 35%, their earning went up from about 290+ to a grand figure of 307 on average.... Now, isn't that fantastic. It doesn't really matter if you are wheelchair bound, no idea where you have to go and no idea where the taxi stand is, you will have to alight and board at the taxi stand..... do not be surprised if some policeman or his outsourced counterpart runs out from a nearby bushes and book you in record quick time in case you are caught flouting this law...

If that wasn't enough, anyone that is rich enough to take a cab in the CBD area are now required to wait or alight at taxi stand or at some private side roads..... and that you will have to pay 3 dollars more for this world first privilege....Sounds like a great deal to me.... But I guess now that as buses will be the new king of the road.. it make business sense to actually start a bus service that lets you travel in comfort from a bus stop near your house to the CBD.. but sorry... soemone beat me to it before I can finish typing the title "business plan"....

What I should be grateful is that there will be new MRT line in the pipeline so that we are not too complacent with our rail network in case it becomes less relevant..... we have not 1 but 2 new lines adding to our MRT network.... One thing I will make sure when my daughter is old enough is that she does draw a cute big elephant in white... I am sure that there is a market for that...

In case you eschew our fantastic public transport network and try to go for your own set of wheel, you might like to know that just last year, you had an increase in about 9% of road users, this despite the fact that only 1 agency can print the COE and knows intimately how much road is available and how pack they are.... They did say that they will peg it at 3.5% this yr which means that the COE can only go up...

On top of that, there will be more ERP to ensure that you have a smoother flow on not just highway... it could be as close as right outside your carpark....

Where Art thou

Its been raining for the past few day, and I am worried. Worried that the weather might not be helpful to recover that missing person and even more so, how it will make our country's image more unrepairable.The hunt for MSK till today is still on and that there is this little wager between me and my wife that he will not be apprehended.

It took the nation 4 hours to know that he got away, it took a few days for the police to tell us what he was wearing. A few more days for the Minister to say sorry, and it took time, time which is like century for a country that prides itself in its efficiencies and measures its speed to turn around in hours if not minutes.

Conspiracy theorists are having a field day and as the escape draws on, the toilet break becomes a new buzz phrase to take another snip at our often seen infaliable government.

While the board of inquiry is still being formed and that they are probably still trying to find a good day to convene, our dear MM has single-handedly found the culprit of it all - complacency, which incidentaly, might be the latest buzzword of 08. One feisty lady in the parliament made an impassioned And my question is about the formation of the board, which are form by ex-judge, former police chief and current HOD of the ministry, makes me wonder if the entire inquiry will one of those with gloves on, and enshrouded as State Secret and never see the light of the day. Not that the disclosure in the event of some damning findings will result in the media baying for somebody's blood, or that there will be a lynch mob somewhere wanting to tie someone to a stake to burn.... hell, it will be quite a day if a permit for that will actually be granted.

The media is now running on overdrive, to try to give everything a positive spin.
But I feel that they should just come out and say that we have indeed achieve another world first, "Being the first country to let a JI leader escape from a high security prison."

And if there are victims in this debacle, it will be the transport drivers that ferries between Singapore and Johore as they are stuck in that long jam in the name of national security and 100% vehicle check. In the same light, our Boys in blues and green, being made to comb (albeit ineffectively) all the woods and rocks to try to find our dear limping man.....

Nursing a broken heart

It is quite common at one point or another of our life that we fall out of love. It should equal to n-1 time of us falling in love. Love has always been elusive and that many great men and women to not just pursue it but to define it. So much so that the concept of love have become as profound as the evolution of our culture. Love however can be a simple thing and that no matter how it is define, it is strong yet fragile.

It is as simple as bouquet of flower to tell my wife I love her, the simple 3 words that I utter every now and then for we both knows that love like any other elusive things, needs reaffirmation.... preferably a few times a day.

For those that has yet to find love, fell out of love, this might seems like rubbing salt into your wound. What I want to say here is as simple as this. I have been out of love, not once, but a few times.

I understand the pain and anguish that accompanies it, the withdrawal and all those negative feeling that leaves one no more than a hollow shell.. thats what a person might feel.

But what I can say is that, whatever that doesn't kills you, only makes you stronger.
Get your friends, a few of them, mobilize them to be your support and healing party.
Take up a new hobby or rekindle a new one, being out of love means more time to yourself to do what you always wanted to do... but please don't try to be a jumper.
In a way, falling out of love means that the other party is not the right guy/gal/whatever, and that for the 1 or few times that happens will allow one to cherish the right guy/gal.

A song which is most apt....

分手快乐
梁静茹

我无法帮你预言 委曲求全有没有用
可是我多么不舍 朋友爱的那么苦痛
爱可以不问对错 至少有喜悦感动
如果他总为别人撑伞 你何苦非为他等在雨中
泡咖啡让你暖手 想挡挡你心口里的风
你却想上街走走 吹吹冷风会清醒的多
你说你不怕分手 只有一点遗憾难过
情人节就要来了 剩自己一个
其实爱对了人 情人节每天都过
分手快乐 祝你快乐 你可以找到更好的
不想过冬 厌倦沉重 就飞去热带的岛屿游泳
分手快乐 请你快乐 挥别错的才能和对的相逢
离开旧爱 像坐慢车 看透彻了心就会是晴朗的
没人能把谁的幸福没收
你发誓你会活的有笑容
你自信时候真的美多了

Get the man an apple

For the longest of time, I had never figured out why some man goes for Apple. True, its sleek, its design sets standard. What I can't stand however, is that all these comes at a hefty price and not something that I could afford at the earlier of my life and definitely something I don't want to shell out for at this point of life.

But it seems that many guys are willing to pony out the cash for the cool factor, the sleek design.... some coz they used it as their bread and butter coz it kicks ass being a designer's platform.

As for some of the male that swears by their Apple, they are just being happy.....

Seems like someone found another reason why
from
Android

and

Cosmo

Name it a cool place to hang out, and a place swarming with cool guys.

Just be careful and confirm that they are straight.

And I finally realised why DK got himself an Apple... Hope he got the nice hot chick that goes with it...

And also... in case he needs to bling it out... he might like to consider this




To all unattached geeks out there.... Now is the time to start visiting that Apple Store near you.....

Being B

Working in IT allows me to come into contact with interesting users, but I do feel that one of my co-worker is probably a more interesting character.

To protect his identity, I shall refer to him as B.

He is 1 of those that works in shift, which means that he sometimes come to office earlier than us and of course, he leaves the office earlier as well. That, to me is just part of work requirement and I am fine with it, during 1 of my previous job, that was also in the job description and that I know what that entails. Working shift is fun and I do enjoy it as it affords me the time after shifts to sometime go out and actually visit the bank, catch an early movie and generally bum at home when nobody is around.

What I really have problem with, is his attitude. Which boils down to :

1). B is always right
2). When you proved B wrong, B will come down hard on you
3). B is always there to tell the boss who did wrong

Which incidentally, is fine by me if he keeps to himself and do his daily share of work. Unfortunately, he hardly keeps to himself and he loves to whine.....

Whining isn't so bad if you are cute or do it cutely, imagine a hairy 900pound walrus whinning..... You get the picture.

Being in IT, we more or less expects that he can take care of his own computer, after all, someone managing huge IBM and HP super computer should be able to take care of their puny notebook? No!!! In my 10 yrs of IT support, I had never come across somebody asking me for a screw driver, just so that he can remove the battery from his notebook to find out if the battery is due for a recall....And when I showed him that all it take was 2 opposable thumb, What I got was," I am not trained in Hardware. Don't expect me to know that." After a fully illustrated email showing how the battery was to be removed.

Being the guy in charge of security, I constantly come to know of security bleaches and that some of the guys getting to the top of the shit list. But for most of them, they are there because they are the 1 doing the checks on the machines. Now, it is one thing to have a software key generation program in one's computer. It is another to have it in the company's laptop and definitely takes the cake when confronted to actually says that the offending piece of code was there in the computer for quite some time and that only recently did the scanner picks it up...... I am just wondering how the policeman will feel when haul up a drunk driver only to have the drunk retorting that he had been drink driving for a few years, did a few hit and run and what took the police so long to catch him....... I would probably lock him up, throw away the keys with a whole bunch of hungry hyenas.....

Speaking about drunk.... I have no qualms with people drinking.... Heck, drinking during lunch time might not be so bad if you watch the limit and remains decently sober when its time to get back to office or just ask for the day off if you felt too tipsy.... But what really take the cake would be to get another colleague on the team to go out, drink, come back to the office after 4 hours, still roaring drunk, telling another colleague that he is in trouble with the married women in the office and should turn to him for help..... Then waltzing off when the shift is up......While his just as inebriated team mates stumbled and nearly fell down a flight of stairs.
That really got our dear B into the shits....from what I heard, this isn't the first time with the last incident happened only recently.... And I do hope that he really wakes up...But the whole thing just made me feel, and it sums up nicely with this picture..

Lost In Singapore

I am worried, I am very worried....
It was once said that we live in one of the safest if not the safest city in the world.. Seems like the bubble of security was quickly pricked by reality and probably with help from a healthy dose of complacency.

The top guy of JI in custody had escaped, and according to our dear Minister Wong, he escaped on the pretext that he needs to go the toilet during family visitation. Wow, from what I heard, it is now almost 24 hours and he is still at large.... What makes it even more ridiculous is the fact that, he got out... Limping.... You hear right, we are not talking about David blane, David copperfield or X-men, a cripple got out of what was suppose a high security installation.

Makes one wonder how secure we really are.

I used to be able to go about proudly to say to foreigners that they can walk without fear even at night alone... Now, even I am a bit worried about who they let out.

Is this really an isolated incident? I have no idea and I certainly hope so...

It took them 4 hours to disclose this to the public when they realised that someone this high profile is lost and they are nowhere near catching him...

How many more had fallen through the crack..... we have no idea, from what I know, this is far from being the only case of people under custody managed to get out...

With our first class public transport and road that can brings you from one part of Singapore to another in 20 min, I will not be surprised if he probably had dinner yesterday at Lau Par Sat, Checked into Shangri La, visited Sentosa, had lunch in Geylang and now having High Tea and having a good laugh in Good Wood Park.......

While people like me have nothing more than a pair of eyes and hope that our boys in blue and green can wisen up anc catch hold of him soon..... If he has not skipped the country

Square 2 or Scam 2

I must admit, I am no exception like all Singaporean to the love of shopping and being attracted to a good deal.

When something like this came up,


I know that I just could not miss it.

A few reason that I feel that it is a good deal:

1). My Wife works in the next building
2). I need to meet up with her on every Friday for her ante-natal class
3). There are a few items worth more than $50 that we need to purchase and some shops there sells it.

Given all these, we went ahead and spend our money there.... not because it is most convenient and cheap, but we felt that prize redemption beats ang bao wrapper and lucky draw at any given day.

Well, what turned out as a good deal was nothing more than a gimmick.

Yes, I got what I wanted, a steamboat for the reunion dinner but that is after 2 trips and a very long queue from 8am.

If you think that I was pissed, you should see these people


And if you asked me, I believe that they have good reason to, as when I was there on Saturday, at about 12, which was 1 hour after the opening of the redemption, this was how it was


On a closer look




And 1 short video of some very angry shoppers


And all these you can find here

And what I felt was bad management pure and simple was,

1). They started off being really slack about the terms and condition and started to make up more rules as they go along.

2). Was it that there were cases during the promo that some of the tenants actually went to exchange for the higher priced items resulting in those high value items being completely replenished just 1 to week into the event.

3). The whole idea of having a quota each day for redemption is in a way, rather silly as it will require people to keep going back to not shop, but just to queue to redeem the items. What they could have simply done was to :
a). Have a while stock last and close the event when the items run out and reduce all these grief
b). Stock up more of the items just so that shopper that spent money actually can redeem their items.

4). When the higher valued items ran out, asking the shoppers to redeem the lower value items, Now, the problem with that is, the value does not really equates, and given the limitation of 3 items per person, it means that the shopper will have to walk away with 3 packet of Yeos Drink instead of the Yu Yan Seng Hamper, does that measured up? Hardly. And I can assured you that nobody will be grateful for this swap.

Some people actually made a deliberate choice to shop there based on the fact that the promotion makes it worth their while to go there and bringing their money with them.
Fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice, shame on you.....
Those disgruntled shoppers may very well not take the bait come the next round. Maybe they do not care as there are one new sucker born everyday.

From the response on STOMP, I am not the only one and there are some more nuance and incidents of a poorly managed event

muahahahaha said on 04 Feb, 2008

wow, i was told that one of the reason that the abalone ran out so fast is that some of the staff working there actually kept reciepts that customers left behind and through 'relations' get teh abalone... maybe novena should actually check on it. not sure how true it is...

muahahahaha said on 04 Feb, 2008

yap! same scenario as Sash, my aunt was told "the next day", which is today, my aunt made a trip back again and was told, everything is fully redeem! end up only have few packet of water~ cheat!

Sash said on 04 Feb, 2008

However, I think she cld b friendlier & more consistent cos I think she only checks in d morning when ppl r q-ing. According to a fellow customer in q with me, Cynthia "abused" her authority on 28 Jan morning when she cut q and redeemed for her friend.

Sash said on 04 Feb, 2008

I heard a lady named Cynthia who checked ppl's receipts b4 they can redeem explained they had lost a stamp used to chop the stamps for every $50. That's y d need to check and also to prevent Square 2 tenants fr abusing the promotion.

Sash said on 04 Feb, 2008

It's ridiculous to expect customers to come back the next day to q to redeem gifts. I'd to go twice cos the abalone ran out. There was this aunty who q-ed at least 3 days in a row like 9am. Each time she redeemed at least 2 big items.

Sash said on 04 Feb, 2008

There are lots of terms and conditions. It was the same for Xmas at Square 2. Many customers felt con as the retail sales ppl made them buy stuff saying they can redeem gifts, which were fully redeemed already.

End of the day, Caveat Emptor. Even if it sounds like a good and reasonable deal, you may have to run through loops to get it or get royaly shafted.

But the real hero, are those customer service staff there. From what I understood, they were there day in and day out, putting up with shoppers which could be either angry, unreasonable or just down right abusive. This together with the unforgiving terms and condition, and from what I understand from 1, a management that were never present but reprimand them at the end of the day, they are the one that deserves our salute.

As for the Managements of Square2, shame on you.

Public housing???

Got this off from a thread in Hardware Zone EDMW

Feel that it make sense..

Posting it here in case the mod there decides to lock that thread

Topic: ROOT CAUSE of "sky-high" HDB flat prices


Note for readers:
1 Reproduced below is the full text of my letter to TODAY Voices section --- which was rejected(read: censored) for publication for the obvious reason that I had exposed "The HDB Flat Pricing Scam" (which not many S'poreans are aware of).

2 Key Issue --- The HDB (under $2m Minister Mah Bow Tan) had used the clever term "market subsidy" to confuse buyers of HDB new flats into thinking their flats are "heavily subsidized" (Mah's own words) by the PAP Govt.
In fact, there is no "cash subsidy" at all and the HDB is actually raking in a cleverly-disguised profit !

3 For greater public awareness, please help to forward to as many people as possible and ask them to do likewise (for "the multiplier effect").
More informed voters can then vote appropriately at the next 2011 General Elections to send a strong message to the PAP Govt to provide truly-affordable housing for the people.



Original Text of my email letter to TODAY newspaper:

In his letter "Resale flats out of reach" (TODAY Jan 17), Mr Anthony Tan highlighted the problems faced by many first-time HDB flat-buyers. Allow me to trace the root cause behind their dilemma.

As a 60-year old educated Senior Citizen, I surf the Internet regularly to gauge the true concerns of young Singaporeans, who are mostly hesitant to speak up openly.

I empathise with their growing despair on home ownership. Many are resigned that private flats are now way beyond their reach. All they simply want is a basic no-frills inexpensive flat --- with enough money left to decorate it to their own personal taste into a cosy home!

However, even with HDB flats, they are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea --- either wait 4 years for "expensive" new flats or else pay "sky-high" prices for resale flats. They are rightly concerned that a $1 million HDB resale flat may not be that far-fetched.

One worry is that, despite such high prices, few buyers will feel the pinch immediately because up to 90% of the cost can be financed by long-term home loans stretching up to 30 years.

So many seldom give a second thought that if they borrow, say, $300,000 under a 30-year loan, they could ultimately cough up nearly $600,000 in total capital and interest repayments.

Another worry: If a young couple have to sink so much of their hard-earned income and CPF savings into their brick-and-cement flat, how much monies will there be left to raise a family and sent their children to university --- not to mention providing for their own healthcare and retirement needs in their golden years?


In the 1970s, the starting graduate salary was $1000 per month. Then, in the HDB Marine Parade Estate, prices of new 5-rm, 4-rm and 3-rm flats were $35,000, $20,000 and $17,000 respectively. In 1990, average price of new 5-rm flats was $70,000. Such prices then reflected a "cost-based pricing approach".

Now, starting graduate salary is 3 times higher at $3,000 per month but prices of similar HDB new flats have gone up by 10 times to 30 times. The massive price hikes were largely the result of the HDB switching over to a "market-based pricing approach".


Since 2002, many have queried the HDB in newspaper forums on how its new flats are actually priced. Last December, the HDB finally confirmed that "the prices of new HDB flats are based on the market prices of resale HDB flats, and not their costs of construction."

This is a simple-to-understand example using data from 2000, when 5-rm new flats were priced upwards of $200,000.

However, from actual tendered contracts of HDB Building Contractors, the Construction Cost per flat was about $50,000. Adding on an estimated $70,000 for Land Cost & Other Related Costs, the Total Breakeven Cost per flat was about $120,000 --- which HDB should set as the selling price, since it is supposed to be a not-for-profit, low-cost public housing developer.

But, under the market-based pricing approach, HDB will first look at the then prevailing market price of, say $260,000 of a 5-rm resale flat. It will then pick a lower figure of, say $200,000 as the selling price for the 5-rm new flat --- never mind if its actual Total Breakeven Cost was only $120,000.

The HDB can then say the new flat buyer is getting a "market subsidy" of $60,000 arising from the difference between the resale flat price and new flat price. Notice, under such an approach, there is absolutely no "cash subsidy" granted at all to the new flat buyer. Instead, the HDB is actually collecting a profit of $80,000 per flat (representing a 67% profit margin). In contrast, private developers normally earn around 20% profit margin for assuming business risks.

Most importantly, this HDB market-based pricing approach had resulted in new flat prices and resale flat prices chasing each other in an upward spiral ---- that is financially disadvantageous to buyers of both new and resale flats.

Should HDB deem the above example as simplistic or misleading, the onus lies with it to rebut and substantiate with its own detailed data.

HDB should also provide its public response to this remaining burning question --- Why is the HDB not really helping first-time buyers of new flats by passing on to them the substantial cost-savings from economies-of-scale in massive HDB developments through pricing new flats on a "cost-based break-even" approach?


We have also since moved from small "pigeon-holes" to tiny "bee-hives" --- extremely costly beehives, to be precise! HDB new flats are now built smaller, closer and at higher price.

The HDB itself had stopped building the larger 1200 sq ft 5-room and 1400 sq ft Executive flats. Current prices of 1000 sq ft 4-rm HDB new flats range from $200,000 (in Senkang) to $400,000 (in Telok Blangah) and up to the whopping $590,000 (in Boon Keng, under Design, Build and Sell Scheme by private developer).


Our politicians constantly exhort Singaporeans to treat Singapore as "home" literally and figuratively. To help solve our Procreation Problem, young couples are also reminded not to delay marriage and have three or more children. Pray tell us how do you squeeze two parents, three children, one maid and possibly one or two elderly in-laws in a 1000 sq ft "bee-hive"?

When young, educated and mobile Singaporeans are short-changed on such basic "quality of life" aspirations as a truly-affordable and decent-size home for their loved ones, is it any wonder many are contemplating to be "quitters" rather than "stayers"?

Misadventure of 2 bears Part 2 (M-18)

Misadventure of 2 bears Part 1 (M-18)

Mean Testing or just plain mean

We were told that Mean Testing will be done for public hospital. While you can read about all those good things and great measures that will be in place to prevent abuse and make those B2 and C wards better while not being abused.... I wonder, will it just plain and simple raise the cost of healthcare once again or that more people will be write off from using those "subsidised" ward....

Now, while mean testing is all good and dandy.... I feel that it is plain mean. What it does is that, it writes off people, most likely people who are better to do... to use those wards. Now, isn't those people who paid tax which are then being translated into the healthcare budget? Or is it that the healthcare today is now an industry which out of the kindness of its heart, subsidise those wards from the money made from other sources?

If I remember correctly, with exception of the New Changi Hospital, all the hospital were built with public money that are derived from tax and other government income (not surplus) in that case, while it may be morally objectionable for the well-to-do to crowd out the lesser in public health care, taking public money to see if they deserve public subsidies.... seems so wrong.

I will have no qualms if this is done to prevent the casual visitor to our fair shore to the highly "subsidised" place. But think again, for those who are well-heeled, would they actually subject themselves to a less than better treatment when they are ill? even our MM managed to convert a SIA jet to bring his wife back to Singapore for treatment..... would anyone go for the lower standard public healthcare?
I think not.

So, unless it means that the B2 and C ward are actually cheaper after mean testing and are more readily available, the whole exercise would just be another administrative barrier out to take up more public resources and waste our time and money.....

Another year, another start

DK used to tell me that I will need cleaning services pest control due to amount of cobwebs and spiderwebs on this blog. I am even more pleasantly surprised that there are still people that comes to this blog, intentionally or unintentionally. For that, I thank those who visited.

For a good part of 07, it was business as usual with all the plans being made and scuttled. There is 1 however, that allowed no turning back, and as far as I can concern, will change my life forever.....the arrival of a baby girl in 08.

While the world moves on, events taking place.... I couldn't help but felt disjointed with the rest of the world as I started to make plan, thinking of names, getting stuffs , attending classes and making sure that the house is ready....

I couldn't help but to have worries...if the kid will turn out all right, will we be good parent to the kid......

In short, this is now a 9 month project which will lead on to a 20+ yr development cycle....I just could not but felt ill-prepared for the change in life....

Yet, like a lot of other milestones in life, this you do not get to choose.....
While we deliver the baby into the world, we do not get to choose how they are, besides their name and how we treat and educate them... the rest, will be hard work and hopefully with some luck... the kid will turn out all right.