experiences; EXTRAordinary.

How it all began...

2012-01-16T20:17:00.000+08:00

And it all started with an innocuous "Hey still awake?"

Fingers crossed... Only time will tell!! =)

2012. NTL.

2012-01-02T22:19:00.001+08:00

NTL = Nothing To Lose.
A friend commented such, on one Sunday evening's ice-cream session @Udders, Serangoon Garden, last year.

With abated breath, I did what I felt I had to do...
Definitely a memorable end to 2011 and entry into 2012.

Whatever happens, I now can heave a sigh of relieve, and look back at this day and say, YESH, I DID IT! Finally. Phew...

Many months have passed... and these to recap last quarter of 2011...

2011-12-24T03:21:00.001+08:00

Jacky Cheung 1/2 Century Tour in August. My First, and simply out of this world - Immaculate voice quality and boundless energy, worthy of a man half his years!!

Sept, Singapore Grand Prix. One of our many training sessions - This was in Pasir Gundang.

Helped out as track marshal for a local racing event (even chanced upon a sec fren who's race team is participating!)..

And this was the very aggressive Integra who took the chequered flag..
Oh, coincidentally, I do have some Integra driving experience too, but definitely not with one as souped-up as this...For they say, racing is a rich man's sport! Ha...

Colleague's wedding in Spore and Malaysia.. even doubling up as amateur photographer during the Mysia leg! =)

Pity I was still exploring the use of external flash and various ISO/Aperture/Shutter Speed combinations, in an attempt to capture sharp pictures in low-light environment, w/o whitewashing the shot. Think I've gotten it now, but still not quite "THERE" yet..
Need to be more adventurous and play with different settings instead of sticking to one default combi - though the moment may slip in all that hesitation.

Hmmm.. Be damned if you do, be damned if you don't!!?

Asia Pacific Technical Conference 2011 in Oct.

Big effort by colleagues who are roped in to be organizers, having to juggle day job and this biennial event. Really nice venue/hotel, isolated away from bustling City Center, so attendees can participate whole-heartedly in the day's programs we've lined-up for them. Myself was fortunate (or unfortunate??!) enough to be invited 'cos of a presentation I was "volunteered" to do... LOL

Glad I was of-help to the committee in some of the logistics and administrative duties... =)

I was real impressed by the artistry of the house-keepers. Guess this is what we term climbing up the value-chain - Provide value-adding services that make you stand-out from the competition! Never had I seen soooo much effort put into laying out the towels... What an art!!!

And this is the view from the main lobby... Daytime.

and when night falls... simply picturesque!

and here I am, fumbling about on stage - good thing I was 80% hidden by the Podium ie 80% less embarrassment! LOL

Nov, was my little nephew's 1st Birthday Party, followed by the same-evening travel to Customer's site in India. The 3.5hrs bumpy-road-chauffeured-drive from Airport to Site was quite an experience... adding on to the 10pm-dinner-in-the-Jungle experience on our last night with Customers - simply memorable!! =)

This same month was our inaugural Ride-for-Charity event.

Also the inaugural Ride of my jie-fu's road bike from AMK all the way to Seletar, albeit in the wee-morning hours, and late evening hours.

It also marked my first bike-fall in eons, and it wasn't a simple trip and fall, fall, it was a sliding fall during an acute corner, with lots of misjudgement and plenty of adrenaline to go speedily. Damage done? Abrasion wounds along right leg and lower chin, and a bruised ego, falling right in front of the supporting crowd.. Muahahaa!!!

And then we count to the last month of 2011 - Dec, which led me to a 2-wks job in Indonesia, before I hurriedly transited over to Malaysia for another work stint.

And here I am, in Malaysia, to count down Xmas and welcome in 2012...

Sure hope I get to keep my room on 31st Dec... The fireworks view must be superb from up here!! ;O)

Embrace Life. Always Wear Your Seatbelt.

2011-08-20T22:19:00.000+08:00

This was shown to us by our instructor after our Confined-Space Entry course.

He wanted to remind us to drive safe and belt-up as we drive our way home that afternoon (although I took cab home that day).

I felt this ad is really very creative and striking - Sweet and Straight in your face.

Enjoy and spread the message!!! ;O)

B.O.W. 2011

2011-07-17T23:16:00.000+08:00

This coming Friday will be our inaugural Community Project, B.O.W. 20111, organized by our local group. Guess whose driving this project!!? Heh..
B.O.W. = Bowling-on-"Wheels". Wheels as in wheelchair.
I've initiated contact with The Singapore Cheshire Home, and picked up Bowling with their Residents as one of the more interesting, meaningful and feasible projects to work on.
Community projects are nothing new to me; Getting support from fellow colleagues is.
I was quite apprehensive for the fund-raising portion, as I secretly had a target of 100 packs of Milk Powder, not knowing how generous we all are in the office.. at the same time, quietly confident of getting volunteers for the event, since most people are willing to contribute time (esp since Boss has given green-light for half-day off) and less so parting with $$$...

Surprise, surprise.. I found out our folks are more generous with $$$ and less able to spare the time!! ..Guess my perception was formed during Uni days when students have more free time on hand and less easy-cash! haa..

Conducting a final recce on Tues morning, and maybe a short internal briefing on Wed, and we're good-to-go on Fri afternoon for the BIG Day.. Looking forward.. ;O)

RSAF Openhouse 2011

2011-06-17T00:32:00.000+08:00

Went to the RSAF Openhouse couple weekends ago...
Finally had the chance to put my 70-200mm f2.8 IS (ver 1) to good use!! heh..

Actually I read somewhere the best way to prevent lens from molding is to use it, as frequently as possible!! (Besides keeping lens in dry cabinet when not in use, and keeping the humidity level to 45%.. not too high, which defeats the purpose of having a dry cabinet, and not too low, as the seals/plastics may deteriorate in properties and crack..)

Give Me Everything (Tonight)

2011-06-17T00:14:00.001+08:00

Another "heard-on-radio-but-dunno-title" song which took me couple of days before I heard it on radio again, and this time paying particular attention to the artist and song title!!

Some shots taken during our visit to the Tiger Brewery...

Just some of the varieties of beers you're able to find at the brewery...

Yep, we were there after-office hours.. by the time we were concluding the guided-tour, it's almost dark already.

This was taken when I went outside to look for a colleague who "suddenly disappeared", albeit pretty drunk and high..
Later on we telephoned him (NOTE: Starhub has no reception at this brewery.. being located at the way in the western-most part of Singapore, meters away from the 2nd Link), and from his gibberish, semi-drunken state, found that he had actually boarded a taxi and was already on his way back home! This was the "more-sensible" colleague. =)

One of them is the "more-sensible" one, the other, the "hopeless-Dad-of-two"!! LOL

Asia-Pacific Brewery Visit - Company Event.

2011-06-11T16:10:00.000+08:00

We visited the APB last evening - a company event.
Things were moving along fine until the free-flow of beer, not just Tiger - includes Kilkenny, Heineken, Erdinger, Archipalego, Baron's, and a few others, kicked in, and some of my colleagues went past their drinking limit (luckily i was driving so I limited myself to 1.5 bottle, thereabouts!!)

One of them was still sensible enough to grab a taxi home before he totally passed-out.
Another, who was "instigating" the sensible one to drink more, got soooo pissed, we can probably leave him sleeping by the road-side with no problems at all - that's how pissed he got.. Ugly. :Ol
This latter one puked twice (luckily none in my Jie-Fu's car! Phew...), and now I finally fully comprehend the meaning of "Dead-drunk"!!
I had to literally drag him all the way from the car, 100m towards the lift, before we sobered him up a little outside his flat, for him to be able to bring out his keys and open the door. Oh, did I mention he's also 130% my own weight!!?! (not that he's heavy, just that I'm light! LOL)

The biggest lost that evening, is probably his spanking new Spain Worldcup Champions Soccer tee-shirt, which was stained with his puke!

Aftershock

2011-05-30T23:27:00.001+08:00

According to the authors, there are 2 more bubbles yet to burst.

To-date, Real Estate bubble, Stock Market bubble, Private Debt bubble and Discretionary Spending bubble have already burst.

The final two to pop are the Dollar bubble and Government Debt bubble, projected to take place latest, 2013/14. When that happens, the best aftershock investments would be to invest in products that take advantage of a falling stock market and a falling dollar.

After the pop, the best job to be in will be Healthcare, Government and Education and their related businesses.

This's quite an easy read (though it took me almost 1+mths.. can tell how much of a voracious reader I'm! haa..).. With a scary future to paint, this book sure tell us an alternative economic future which not many will wanna listen to - a bleak and depressing one that is... :Ol

May - Start of a new Wave...

2011-05-30T23:04:00.000+08:00

Little out-dated, but I just hava post these to show I was part of this Historical moment! Haa.. A small step, towards something bigger!!!

So what exactly qualifies a 20-something MP!??

And what qualities are exemplary of an MP?!?

I am not a good judge, but I do know if I'm really not happy with riding on tailcoats of giants, I should take action on my own, instead of lamenting of what's just and what's not.

Time will tell.. for now, lemme resolve my own 30-crisis before I embark on my vision to... to... ... SAVE THE WORLD!!! LOL

BEP - Just Can't Get Enough

2011-04-29T01:03:00.000+08:00

Some nice songs (in my sense) simply get me ultra-frustrated.

Heard it once on the radio but din note down the title nor the singer, and the repercussion is next few days of futile searching online for that particular tune - googling blindly for Top 40 charts, Top 100, etc, hoping that song is indeed a recent chart-topping hit.

This BEP Just Can't Get Enough is one such example (I din even realise BEP = Black Eye Peas!!)
First heard it on 99.1FM while on the drive. I was attracted to it's first liner - "Boy I think about it every night and day"..
The techno-mix towards the end is quite special as well..

Up next.. Elections 2011!
Woooh.. it's gonna be interesting! ;O)

2011-04-13T01:00:00.001+08:00

I'm not usually a dessert-y nor tart-y person. Happened to be at the Basement of Raffles City with a group of seldom-see friends for dinner at a Taiwan restaurant last Fri, and we decided to drop by the Fruit Paradise cafe opposite for desserts.

Attempted the Mango-Banana Tart - must say it was not bad; not sure if it's 'cos I've not have had sweet food for quite a while.. Guess the fresh ingredients used must played a part too!!? Nicee.. worth a try, albeit its a Japanese cafe.. heh...

(click for more details)

That same evening another group of colleagues were having dinner @Suntec for another colleague's farewell. She's been with the firm for 20 years. T-W-E-N-T-Y YEARS!!!!
Goshh.. almost as old as I'm liao - plus a bit more lah..
For the most part of the last eight years, she was our Big Boss's PA.
I cannot fathom how I'll feel if I'm in her shoe - speechless, teary, void, sudden-loss or... ??!?
..but before that, I'm not even sure I can come close to 20 years of Long-Service!! :Ol

I'm impressed.

Another busy week ahead - gota settle some work order (already got "threatened" by LD), looking forward to first F1 training session this weekend, and another work-trip coming up (this time Down-under) and of course, the return of Tree and our catching up (and special delivery from UK!!)! LOL

Singapore F1 Trackside Volunteer Trainee

2011-03-17T01:09:00.000+08:00

Oh, did I mention I'm gonna be part of this year's Singapore F1 race!!?! ...pending me clearing the few mandatory courses - Sure hope I can arrange myself to be in town during these course dates!
Just got a "congratulatory" note, 2 days ago in my gmail saying I'm selected as one of this year's volunteer trainee ;O)

Hmm.. wonder what I can do as a volunteer..
Maybe I'll volunteer myself to be the Safety Car driver!!!?! LOL

Another 1st...

2011-03-17T01:03:00.000+08:00

Another 1st - Our 2.50pm SQ flight this afternoon to Brunei was delayed for 4hours.
The initial engineering assessment estimated it'll only take 30mins to resolve the fault. But the defective Ground Proximity Warning System turned out to be more of a handful than a 30min's job...
Eventually we had to change to another plane, via another Gate.

Probably the latest delay I've experienced to-date. Makes me think twice next time I've a connecting flight with only 2hr's buffer!! :Ol

Not exactly a good start to a new job.. We even had a splashing welcome when we touched-down. It started pouring excessively just as we started the taxi journey to our hotel. The rain dampened and slowed the drive and took us almost another 2hrs before we arrived at our hotel =(

Main Reasons why "Leftover" People Remain Single

2011-02-26T02:12:00.002+08:00

Saw this interesting article about Singles in the local Chinese papers 2 weeks ago... based on their definition of "Leftover", I'll qualify for entry really sooooon siah!! Kaozz..

BUT, what really intrigued me in the article was this:

Breathing on the bright side, my parents are not contributing to the statistics.. well, at least not yet!! LOL

Limited Edition Trainer

2011-02-26T02:05:00.000+08:00

It's usually not easy to earn my consumer dollar. I've become pretty numb to consumer-goods, in a way of-sorts. 麻木 to marketing/advertisements liao.. BUT, when I chanced upon this pair of trainers whilst I was on job in China, I simply knew I had to get it!

Truely Limited Edition loh!!

Those who knows my choice of trainers, will know I swear by ASICS and New Balance, in order of preference. To me, Nike and Adidas are more for their designs, so more apt as casual sneakers.

Here I present to you my latest buy - A pair of Nike with the latest iconic Reebok ZigTech sole technology!

Or should I say RebEOk's ZigTech sole technology!!?! Hahaa..

Chinese innovation @work!! LOL...

13 years later... ...

2011-02-26T01:40:00.000+08:00

This CNY must be the largest turn-out for our Sec school gathering, in recent memory..
Excluding the ASEAN Scholars, I would say we have almost 50% turnout; Possibly even 60% if a few of them were not away for holiday! =)

It's quite amazing how after soooo many years, I still can recognize certain distinct traits in some of my classmates.. behaviour-wise, humor-wise, "pattern"-wise.. LOL

Amongst this bunch of outstanding chaps, counts a doctor, dentist, analysts, consultants, entrepreneur, engineers, teacher, civil servant, sabbatical-leaved, a manager and a Dad.
I would think our form teacher will be pretty proud and pleased with the way we've turned out (esp when compared to our havoc school-days!)!! ;O)

Young Forever or Forever Young

2011-02-06T02:49:00.003+08:00

Let's dance in style, lets dance for a while
Heaven can wait we're only watching the skies
Hoping for the best but expecting the worst
Are you going to drop the bomb or not?

Let us die young or let us live forever
We don't have the power but we never say never
Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip
The music's for the sad men

Do you prefer this Young Forever version (Jay Z + Mr Hudson) or the original Forever Young (Alphaville)??

Personally I hinge towards Mr Hudson style...

春到河畔

2011-02-05T21:12:00.002+08:00

Initially wanted to go check out 春到河畔 look-see what's in-store after hearing and reading about it in the news, in the end, ended up snapping more of the skyline instead of the on-going festivity! Haa..

For this particular shot, I actually took it already and was about to leave.. Then I saw a Raging Bull zoomed by, followed by another Prancing horse. Was inspired to capture one of these beasts in the foreground of the Casino, aptly associated to the high-rollers I guess, but my 10min wait in the Sun was futile. In the end decided to frame in a SBS Bus instead - not only high-rollers are attracted to MBS, even commoners are flocking there this festivity too!! =)

An eye for the wheel?!
Ensuring a prosperous year ahead for Singapore Eye, perhaps?!?

An ominous start for the Financial market this Rabbit Year!??
Hmm... ...

This sight wont be around for too long I guess.. esp with the rapid pace of development in and around Marina Bay Financial Centre area...

Overcast sky over CBD... Gloom and doom, for things to come??!!! LOL

新兔年快乐！！

2011-02-04T01:48:00.002+08:00

新的一年里，就赠送你孔子“人生三宝“！ =）

知者不惑，仁者不忧，勇者不惧。

Getting 红包's used to be a norm...

2011-02-02T00:12:00.000+08:00

Once-upon-a-time, getting 红包's used to be a norm.
Then it started to feel weird when my 大姐和姐夫insisted on giving me one! :O
Of course I could kindly decline, but being the good-sport I'm always am, I graciously accepted their token! Heh..

Like what I told my Boss after I bid him 新年快乐 before leaving office today - This time the challenge is how to politely decline good-willed tokens of 红包, and not turn it into an awkward situation..
Luckily there ain't too many households to fuss about these few years!

..maybe I DO miss spending CNY on overseas assignments?!? HA...

WSCAA Official Launch - 28th Jan 2011

2011-02-01T23:51:00.000+08:00

4 years later, seems like the WSC bug is back to bite me!! =)
Ideas for our very own WSCAA have been bouncing around for ever since OUR days, but nothing concrete has churned out until this 28th Jan, when our AA is finally officially launched @ our very own NTU Alumni Clubhouse (next to Buona Vista MRT).

The current committee are all very familiar faces as these are the same bunch of seniors/clubmates whom we worked with very closely together, slogging through various fund-raising events and beneficiary programs.. bitter-sweet memories, mostly-sweet! Ha..

This only shows the crowd which I can squeeze into my 28-70mm APS-C camera.. If I step back any further, I would have toppled over the buffet dinner for that evening! LOL
Quite a decent turn-out I would say - Decent enough to nicely fill up the venue @Verve Pizzera.

And these are some of the ex and current Elders peez...

It always brings back warm fuzzy feelings whenever I catch up with my clubmates... must be due to the experiences of having been through "thick & thin", "blood and sweat", "stress & sorrow", "fun & laughter", "A's & B's" which makes it all so more memorable!

EDB 50th Anniversary Heritage Run

2011-01-23T02:11:00.003+08:00

Participated in EDB's 50th Anniversary celebratory run this past Tuesday.

Ours was part of the north route, and our leg starts from Yishun Ave 6, pass the scenic Lower Seletar Reservoir, before finishing at our soon-to-be new home @Seletar West camp area.

It was a pretty safe fun run, with accompanying auxiliary police bikes (02x), a community ambulance, minibuses (02x) and a lead cyclist. The only irk I had was the non-runner friendly company cap which we were supposed to wear as identity -It's not the runner-friendly lightweight, dri-fit-like type. So prolong wearing may cause some discomfort..

Here we are probably somewhere about 10mins into our run..

At the finishing - Here I come!! haa..

and the whole gang of us (from various divisions) who volunteered our time that cool, cloudy Tues morning to represent our company to partake in this "meaningful" Heritage run...

I prolly do not know most of the peez in the previous shot.
These are then the peez I work with, and know on a personal level, less one of the ladies..
In the background will be our soon-to-be office.
(This shot was taken on my colleague's Apple iPhone4 - Pretty alright for a bright outdoor shot! heh)

2011 F1 Singapore Grand Prix Volunteer Registration - Now OPENED!!

2011-01-23T01:44:00.001+08:00

(Click Banner for more info)

Amy Chua - The Tiger Mother

2011-01-16T15:19:00.000+08:00

Recently Amy Chua - a professor at Yale Law School - drew quite a bit of flakes/comments for her article on WSJ.

I find this article to be an interesting read as well.. Am sure it's true not only for Mums in foreign land, also for some Mums here on our very own little Island!

Here's a little excerpt. (For full article, click HERE)

"First, I've noticed that Western parents are extremely anxious about their children's self-esteem. They worry about how their children will feel if they fail at something, and they constantly try to reassure their children about how good they are notwithstanding a mediocre performance on a test or at a recital. In other words, Western parents are concerned about their children's psyches. Chinese parents aren't. They assume strength, not fragility, and as a result they behave very differently.
For example, if a child comes home with an A-minus on a test, a Western parent will most likely praise the child. The Chinese mother will gasp in horror and ask what went wrong. If the child comes home with a B on the test, some Western parents will still praise the child. Other Western parents will sit their child down and express disapproval, but they will be careful not to make their child feel inadequate or insecure, and they will not call their child "stupid," "worthless" or "a disgrace." Privately, the Western parents may worry that their child does not test well or have aptitude in the subject or that there is something wrong with the curriculum and possibly the whole school. If the child's grades do not improve, they may eventually schedule a meeting with the school principal to challenge the way the subject is being taught or to call into question the teacher's credentials.

If a Chinese child gets a B—which would never happen—there would first be a screaming, hair-tearing explosion. The devastated Chinese mother would then get dozens, maybe hundreds of practice tests and work through them with her child for as long as it takes to get the grade up to an A.

Chinese parents demand perfect grades because they believe that their child can get them. If their child doesn't get them, the Chinese parent assumes it's because the child didn't work hard enough. That's why the solution to substandard performance is always to excoriate, punish and shame the child. The Chinese parent believes that their child will be strong enough to take the shaming and to improve from it. (And when Chinese kids do excel, there is plenty of ego-inflating parental praise lavished in the privacy of the home.)"

And could this be the reason why Shanghai kids did better in the recent test for 15 yr-olds??!?

Are you one of these Tiger Mothers?

2010年我做了些什么？！？

2010-12-30T00:52:00.000+08:00

In a flash of an eye, another year whizzed past, just like that..
As my title reads "2010, what have I done (or not done)?!?"

Plentiful memorable, meaningful, world-discovering events, and some regrettable and more personal ones..
Each being a learning experience in its own - Some more enjoyable, others more forgettable.

Wanted to cap of this year's final entry with some interesting, and more recent photos. Realized its been almost 2 mths since I've last updated anything.. not that I FB or Tweet in this loooong absence. Well, partly its due to the Chinese blanket ban on Blogspot, so I had no access while I was there for work..

This was taken some time back in Sept when 3 of us were @Site.
We wanted to try something different from the usual noodle dishes, so ordered Dumplings instead. The old granny convinced us that we needed 两斤 worth of Dumplings, otherwise the 3 of us will not be filled. So we ended up with these 4 bowl-ful of beef and mutton dumplings.. which we of course couldn't finish!!
Dumplings were a nice change from the noodles, nonetheless... =)

And this was taken at the start of Singapore Stanchart Marathon 2010 on 5th Dec.
On recap, I thought it was a decent run, less the final 5km where cha-pa-lang runners all merge together into one massive crowd heading towards the finishing line..
Being an excellent excuse not to continue running, I kinda slacken off once I see the huge wave of runners flooding into the converging point 5km prior to the finish line. The additional effort required to continue pushing on the final lap and yet having to zig-zag to avoid walking traffic, kinda turned-me-off..
The only real motivation came when I saw the Big Yellow clock reading 4:58:00 as I round into the final bend, with about 500m to go.. From there, it was a dash to the finish and towards my goal for the day! =)
Oh, pretty pretty XMas lightings in the wee morning hours along Orchard, ey!!?

..and this last photo, was cropped and used for a fun submission to a Canon online photo contest thingy. The theme was Light, and I named my Light Descend. I wonder how apt or way-off my submission is from the theme - do they consider a pun on the word "Light" as a form of creativity!?? hahaa..

Batam

2010-10-25T23:12:00.000+08:00

Just completed another job @Batam.
This time was more meaningful and intense (albeit tiring) as the job was scheduled for 2 weeks. This is the first time we're doing this activity, and we had a Sssss-ME (@Subject Matter Expert) flown in from the States to advice and guide us. The good thingy is I had another experienced local colleague involved in this job, so I had 2 leads to learn from..

The next time this activity is required, we will hava depend on ourselves liao - My exp colleague will prob be the lead, while I can be the 2IC of-sorts! lol
Hopefully the photos I took of the the sequence of activities will come in handy the next time!

The downside was I didn't have the chance to visit the gym nor the pool for the past 2 weeks, as we leave hotel 7am every morning (weekend included) and end work 7-ish pm.
By the time we arrive back in hotel and wash up, it'll already be 8pm before we walk 5mins to the next door shopping center for dinner.

With the SGP Stanchart looming round the corner, I really should buck up a little and pile on those mileages!!
Hopefully my next job in Darwin will be less hectic, so that I can find time to clock some miles - My colleague who's there now did mentioned there's a scenic 45min walking path he always walk.. sounds tempting!! haa..

Ningxia, China

2010-10-04T18:20:00.000+08:00

Couldn't really update my blogger in past weeks 'cos China apparently blocked us off Blogspot.. Even the only 5* Hotel in the Capital City is not spared.

This is my maiden trippen to Middle Earth, and she sure has left me a pretty good impression - took about a week+ of "getting-used-to" though.

The good:

Brilliant Lodging. We were chased out from our lodging for a major Chinese-Arab Economic Forum in late Sep, and had difficulty finding decent lodging in other bigger hotels. In the end we put up in a motel-ish like Hotel, right next to the Shopping Belt. Those few nights were like sleeping in a chiller!! Recep says they wont turn on the heater until Mid-Oct, so in the mean time, we only have air-conditioning!
You can imagine the HUGE sign of relieve when the Forum was finally over, and we're able to shift back in to our initial PROPER hotel.. with one of the bestest rooms I've ever stayed in before, with new gym set-up (with accompanying sauna, steamroom, hot/cold pool, shower and locker facilities), and even an indoor pool!
It helps that the hotel launched real recently, in July, this year...
Language. Not that we spoke brilliant Chinese, but it sure breaks down the barrier when we are able Monkey-Action, Chicken-Talk our message across to our Customers and their engineers. I sure learnt tons of Chinese Bolts and Nuts language on this trip than in my whole life (not that I'm an avid Chinese user after JC1...)
People. I had initial apprehension being sent to work @Site w/o any "Old Bird" to tag along with - A huge part of this trippen were up to us to complete the tasks and troubleshoot any "features" (ie problems, in my colleague's language). I'm really glad we had enthusiastic and understanding Customers and engineers to work with. Even under time pressure, we were able to agree on critical activities and get them completed first before moving on.

The Bad:

Traffic. Each day, crossing the road, is a life-endangering activity. There are proper traffic lights and line-markings and such - problem is, people drive the way they would ride a bicycle!! Den again, miraculously, if you learn to cross the road like the locals - simply cross w/o looking - you will somehow still manage to get to the other side, intact, say 80% of the time!?? haa..
Attitude towards Service Crew. We are still not quite used to the howling and barking to attract the 服务员's attention.
Irritating Air China Passenger who sat behind my seat. On my return from Ningxia to Peking, there was an irritating passenger who kept hitting against my backrest!! I thought those were just accidental knocks and such, but the frequency didn't stop and there was relentless complain-like noise coming from behind (I was plugged to my headphones, so I didn't pay attention to what she was blabbering about). I didn't realize she was actually complaining loudly to everyone on-board the plane on how I deprived her of her space by tilting my backrest all the way back - That she's choking from a lack of space, blah-blah..
She really shd simply tell me nicely and I will most gladly oblige - Do I look that much like an Ang-Moh (though I was reading the English papers)!??
Last I checked, she wasn't that overly well-endowed, so I have no idea why she feels choked!?! Ha..

Recap...

2010-08-22T23:43:00.000+08:00

Been back for more than a month liao..slowly getting back up to speed, and waiting for the real field action to take place in a couple of week's time..
Hopefully the conditions are bearable, though I've always tot of miself as being very hardy - just like viruses!! LOL

Since I have the free time now, tot I'll share some photos of my SF/Yosemi trippen.
Finally brought my 7D along to test its capability on this trip, and realized there are still tons to learn about it's function!! In fact it was not into my 4th or 5th day that I learnt Canon has a tendency to overexpose it's photo in outdoor/landscape shots, so we need to compensate the metering by lowering it one or two notches. Learnt this from one of the residental photographer from Adam Ansel Gallery (in Yosemi), who organises weekly walk-about

Fort Mason, this area is where my hostel was located. I stayed at the SF Fishermen's Wharf HI hostel. It's in a pretty nice location - right beside the bay.. walking along the coast, say for 15-20mins, will eventually bring one to the popular, touristy Fishermen's Wharf area - Essentially area with many shops and restaurants along the numerous piers.

The first thing that struck me was how hilly SF is..check out this shot - see how the road slopes all the way down and curve uphill again??
Some of the roads are soooo steep, the car is literally doing a 70 deg climb up/down hill!! Cool! ..and the best part?! You climb all the way to the top and find yourself at a 4-way stop X-junction.. really hard to see if any cross-traffic coming, so you just inch forward bravely, assuming cross-traffic obeys the stop lines and slow to keep a lookout for you!
Lucky I was driving a automatic vehicle.. so that helps stop-start on STEEP slopes! =)

And this is the world's MOST CROOKEDNESS STREET in the world.. another touristy attraction. Within this short narrow stretch of road, the road winds around 8 (or is it 7??) times from the top to the bottom.. See how all the cars are queuing up to slowly inch their way down the windy road?!? Most of them have frens on standby at the bottom just to help catch them in action as they wind their way down..
There are also rows of pretty, brightly-coloured houses lined up alongside this world's most crookedness road.. nice..

Taken on my last day in SF before I set off on my 4 hours drive, towards Yose.. This secluded vantage point is located somewhere near the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, within Lincoln Park, in the Northwest. The 2nd thingy that struck me about SF is that it's darn blardy windy!!!Not your normal breezy cooling, but chilly-cold-type wind. I was way under-dressed for this trip as I was expecting summery warm cooling weather along the West Coast. Had to resort to buying this blue fleece jacket from one of the local sports shop. Out of the 4 days I was in SF, think 3 days were gloomy and cloudy. Hence I wasn't able to take clear shots of the Golden Gate bridge. Even if the sky is clear, it only last a couple of hours, during the late morning til early afternoon.. Rest of the time is cloudy, gloomy, cold and windy.. :O

It's also at the same park area, where this Holocaust Memorial is found. Quite haunting...

And this is apparently one of the first authentic Fortune Cookie manufacturer, with a history of 50+ years, sited along an inconspicuous corridor in Chinatown.. I tried some of the sample cookies - tasted yummy, so I bought about 4 packs..

And this is how Fortune Cookies are made...
One can even custom make the message in the cookie! Just scribble your good luck greetings, lovey-dovey notes or dirty-nasty curses onto the thin strip of paper, and they'll be most willing to insert that into the cookie for u - just be careful not to hand the wrong cookie to the wrong person!! LOL

The final thing I realized is that SF has a strong push for green vehicles - they have the largest number of hybrid vehicles running on the road, of all the places I've been. AVIS even offers a USD15 rebate for the rental of hybrid cars. I got my hands on the Nissan Altima Hybrid - the "silent" engine took quite a while to get used to, albeit a nice change to the whinny (or sometimes rumbling) engine noise I'm used to (no wonder manufacturers have to add sounds/noise to electric vehicles so that pedestrians and the visually-handicapped will be "more aware" of these silent vehicles' presence!)
The green-roofed building in the background is my hostel.
The downside about vehicle rental in SF is that the taxes are exorbitant - almost 40% additional from various taxes levied - one person renting a car is not exactly the most economical move...

More shots of Yosemi next time..

Last Day.

2010-07-17T23:56:00.000+08:00

Finally the time has come. Time to close yet another chapter and start another.
It has indeed been a most pleasant and memorable stint for this final leg.
--> Weekly soccer, mindless Banters, new parents talk, daily 2-times exercise walk to Shopfloor, couple of chill out sessions, numerous explorations, lunchtime sneakout to watch World Cup, new toys/gadgets... ...
Like I keep telling my colleagues, it's gonna be a bitter-sweet feeling now that the feast has ended （天下无不散的宴席）

Oh well.. Life goes on - the Earth will keep spinning and revolving, The Sun will still rise in the East and sets in the West, We will still need to pay our bills at the end of the Month, etc etc...

Jetting off on Sunday morning, and after 20+ hrs, should be touching down in hot, humid, sunny SGP on Tues morning.. Am sure looking forward to "exciting" times ahead!!! ;O)

Oh, and this is my Rendition of the Golden Gate Bridge (nothing even close to that I smooched from Wiki!)

and Mirror Lake from Yosemite (slightly better comparison, but the lake is dwindling in size due to sedimentation gathering on the bed)

There are prob hundred more shots, as I was enthusiastically happily snapping away with my new toy, but each is like 10MB and it's gonna be pretty tedious getting these huge files uploaded. Shall try to find time to arrow out those nicer ones, so that can resize, upload, and convince all of you out there a trip to Yosemite is a MUST, esp for nature-lovers and budding hikers!! ;o)

San Fran & Yosemite beckons.. on this final lap

2010-07-02T12:25:00.000+08:00

Yet another last min travel plan, in an attempt to maximize whatever remaining days I have left in the States - Booked flight on Monday, booked lodgin for first half of trippen on Mon nite, second half of journey on Tue afternoon, and off to the library for Guide books on Wed evening, and now Thurs evening, a feeble attempt to research on internet while watchin Late Night with Jay Leno.

Considered a few locations - Should I do a drive trippen within a 5 hours radius around Ohio, or should I fly further and check out the west coast, or maybe further north?

In the end, decided on Yosemite National Park as my primary objective..

and San Francisco as my secondary goal..

The national park is about 4 hours drive to San Francisco, so will be along the way. And with 4th Jul approaching, I'm timing myself to arrive in SF in time to catch the fireworks that will be set off along the Fishermen's Wharves (presumably with the Golden Gate Bridge as the backdrop!??).
Though I'm nearly fully-equipped for my new DSLR toy, I'm still lacking a tripod, camera bag, flash, diffuser.. so not sure if night shots will be any good.
I do have my 2 lens (finally!) which I'm been eyeing for a looong loooooong while. The 2nd lens took me forever to decide!!!

It crossed my mind maybe I should check out Las Vegas + Grand Canyon.. however in the end I decided on San Fran + Yosemite as my colleagues who share the same room with me both strongly encouraged me to make the trip to Yosemite, which they say is absolutely beautiful, beyond words... ... ...
It helped that my manager just spent 2+weeks there and has some handy maps to pass me for my reference..

Hopefully this trippen will be as smooth as my Washington DC and NYC travels... esp since this time I'm not intending to meet up with any JC pals! LOL

...and the countdown begins.

World Cup Frenzy.. the Effects

2010-06-23T10:35:00.000+08:00

Was back at Prime Outlet for the discount stores on Sat and caught some beautiful skys..

Some last minute shopping and checking out shin pads, for our weekly soccer game (although I'm left with 2 or 3 kick-about sessions only) - after one of our colleagues broke his collar bone in a freak accident last week, and another broke his ankle couple of weeks ago, I decided better some protection than none at all! :O

Really freakish - Guy who broke his collar bone was the keeper for the opposition, and one of my team players (medium-build, sprinting ahead at full force) collided with him head-on, shoulder to shoulder, and think he, being smaller-build, took the impact quite badly - collar prolly absorbed most of the forces, cracking it. Really uncalled for. Then again, that's the sporting risk one has to bear in contact sports I guess.

Couple of weeks back, another colleague mis-stepped on the ball as he was going for goal glory, slipped, fell awkwardly, and cracked some bones in his ankle..
Didn't see a doctor until a week later when he went home for Mother's Day, and was given the marching order to visit the hospital..

Amazing what the World Cup frenzy can do to normal people like us! ha...

Arrrghh...

2010-06-12T08:42:00.000+08:00

This is sooooo nerve-wrecking!!

Finally took the plunge and got myself the Canon 7D Body - Just the Body- early this month.
It's been like 2+weeks and the body is still sitting inside it's box waiting for a mating lens.. which I'm taking forever to decide which to get.. I've not even charged the battery nor played with any of the controls!
..not forgetting the need for a Compact Flash card, Camera bag, UV Filters for lenses, possibly a Flash, and also a tripod?!??

Time and cash are not on my side manz...

Argghhh.. so 麻烦！！！

On a brighter note, WORLD CUP 2010 is finally here!!!!!
Gooooooo SPAIN! ;O)

Ohio State University Flash Mob

2010-05-27T10:45:00.005+08:00

If you are a fan of GLEE, you'll spot some similarity with what OSU did early this month... pretty neat stuff. Imagine all the preparation, behind close doors, and getting their President involved too!! cooool!

If video doesn't load, pull the streaming bar forward to "kick start" it!

Oh NOoooooOOOOooo!!!!

2010-05-27T10:08:00.000+08:00

Oh NOOOoooooO!!! Mama Sox didn't make it!!

天理何在！！？！啊啊啊。。。。。。

Finally BAGGED it.

2010-05-25T11:05:00.000+08:00

After eons of scanning the web for the BEST travel pack scrutinizing "hundreds" of bags every other day to see which meets my stringent demand - having to be tough and durable and long-lasting, able to live up to my Porter 46's expectation (better if it's able to surpass it!), able to meet my aircraft handcarry requirement (for those backpacking escapades w/o hassle/cost of check-in), able to swallow a decent amount of load, okie-looking, comfortable for long journeys, straps-packable (in case boh-bian hava check-in), lifetime no-nonsense warranty like Osprey's All Mighty Warranty (Osprey will repair for any reason, free of charge, any damage or defect in our product – whether it was purchased in 1974 or yesterday!), value-for-$$$, waterproof to most extent, lockable and a few other nitty-gritties.. heh..

I finally zoomed in on the following 4:

Osprey Porter 46

The North Face - Backtrack 50

Lowe Alpine Travel Trekker Pro 60+16

Eagle Creek Thrive 65L

Finally BAGGED the Eagle Creek Thrive 65L, mainly for it's good reputation for DESIGNED TO MAKE TRAVEL EASIER design philosophy, it's Guaranteed for Life, it's ability to meet most of my stringent requirements (on paper at least! haa..), and lastly BING's 20% rebate offer on the particular online retailer selling this bag - which I felt was an offer not to be missed!! The detachable daypack is a bonus... =)
Admittedly, out of all these 4 decent traveler's backpack, it may not be the most "good-looking" of the pack, I trust it to function superbly over form! heh..

Hmm.. don't think it will arrive in time for NYC though.. probably test it out for LV or LA instead??! ;O)

UEFA Champions League Finals + NYC Beckons... ...

2010-05-23T09:57:00.002+08:00

Spent the afternoon at D's place watching the UEFA Champions League finals btw Bayern Munich & Inter Milan. His place was pretty cool - fronted by a 52" Samsung LCD TV!!

When I saw his email invite to join him to enjoy the match on his 52" tele, I tot he was kidding, in an attempt to enthuse chaps to go over to his place; Didn't realize he aint kidding wor..

I bought and brought a carton of Newcastle Brown ale and 2 packs of Lays chips over, but the turnout was not encouraging. Only 3 of us turned up.. and they ordered pizzas also.. so more than enuff food and titbits to munch on.

The smaller crowd was prolly a good thingy as well, as we had enough couch space to ourselves! ha..

This year the match wasn't that exciting for me. Guess after Liverpool's dramatic 3-3 comeback against AC Milan back in 2005, every other Champions League finals pales in comparison!

The following Monday will be a PH over here for Memorial Day - an excellent opportunity for a long weekend getaway.. and so it was decided -- NYC Beckons!! =)

I have been eyeing cheap flights to NYC for past few days, and never really managed to do decent research on what to do and where to go in the Apple City (besides borrowing 4 different NYC travel guide books from the library). After seeing cheap tickets at USD230, increasing to USD270 and finally today USD400+, I finally took the plunge and booked my flight, and hostel. I managed to secure tix at USD300+, but it's not to any of the 3 main airports in NYC - J F Kennedy International, LaGuardia and Newark International. Instead, this flight will bring me to White Plains Westchester County Airport, abt 27 miles from NYC.
Looking on the bright side, the slight detour to Chicago for transfer to New York can help me clock a little more Krisflyer miles, towards my goal of a free flight to Japan (or Aussie) some time next year!!? heh..

When I sounded out to my manager that I may take couple of days off over Memorial long wkend (which he was agreeable to), he did question why don't I drive over to NYC? (which prolly will take 9+hrs). One reason I didn't jump at the USD230 flight was because I was still exploring the feasibility of my mgr's suggestion to drive - drive and stay at a better hotel VS fly and put up in a hostel.
The former sure sounds more attractive, since a good night's rest is pretty impt for an energized start to the next day!! LOL.
Alas, hotel rates within downtown Manhattan are above the roof for my budget.. prolly looking onwards of USD150/night (not including parking).. It didn't help when most online articles advise against driving in NYC.. furthermore, with recent foiled attempts at Times Square, think vehicular movement in the city will be closely scrutinized, and promptly towed away..

I figured it's definitely better to be traveling in groups (unfortunately I'm unable to convince pals to join me here.. darn!!), since the driving can be rotated, hotel cost can be split, safety in numbers and memories/stories can be shared!!!

The only problem I have to solve now is to figure out how to get from Westchester to Central Park - there is no direct metro from the airport to Manhattan (nor from any of the 3 previously mentioned airports)!! From preliminary investigations, seems like I'll need to take a local bus and transfer to another coach to Manhattan.. hmm..

I'm In, are You??!

2010-05-20T11:08:00.002+08:00

SCMS 2010 is now OPENED for Registration!!

inaugural special (20th may - 4th jun) - SGD45 for full-distance..what are you waiting for??!?

2 Decembers ago, I rem vividly calling it quits.. It's amazing what 1+yrs of traveling around in cooler and "jogging-friendly" places can do to bring back the motivation! heh..

I guess sabbaticals do work! ;o)

Marry Him - The Case for Settling for Mr Good Enough

2010-05-16T11:11:00.000+08:00

Couple of weeks ago I was in Barnes and Noble and saw this bright, red book with interesting front cover design - This:

Read a few pages and was intrigued.. but wasn't motivated enough to buy it there and then - anyhow guess the targeted audience wasn't me! haa.. Interesting to see perspective from the other camp though.. =)

When I saw it in the local Mount Vernon library, new arrival shelf, I jumped at borrowing it immed!! I'm not much a reader and so I'm still struggling to finish it..
2 new terms I learnt and I think it does describe me to a certain extent - there are two kinds of people in the world: Maximizers and Satisficers.

"Say you want to buy a new sweater. You decide that it needs to be well-fitting, stylish, not itchy, a pretty color, and in your price range. Say it even has to go with a specific outfit. A satisficer walks into a store or two, finds a sweater that meets all of these criteria, and buys it. She's done.

A maximizer, on the other hand, walks into a store, picks out a sweater that meets all of the criteria, and thinks, This sweater is nice, but maybe I should look at that cute store down the street. Maybe I can find something I like better. Maybe I can find something on sale. So the maximizer hides the pretty sweater on the bottom of the pile (so that nobody else buys it) and goes to check out another store (or five)."

Well, all this rattling 'cos I realized I missed out on the Bing 8% eBay cashback to secure the Canon 7D at USD1300+ instead of USD1600 (at today's retail price)!! Darn..
Now that time is running out, guess I can only afford to wait 2 weeks max before I pull the trigger.. Keeping fingers crossed there will be some promotional discounts coming up for Father's Day!

AI Convert

2010-05-14T10:28:00.001+08:00

I think I've become an American Idol Season 9 convert!!

Been looking forward to rushing home every Tue and Wed evening for the performances and results.. think it's more significant being in America (though most of my colleagues couldn't give two-hoots), and that Mama Sox hails from OHIO!

Sure hope she wins all the way.. and make it back to her hometown for a tribute performance.. then I confirm will make the 2hrs drive journey up north to catch her live!!

3 other things you didn't know about Columbus, OHIO:

#1 Zoo in USA - Columbus Zoo
#15 Best Places to Live - Westerville
Columbus was named for explorer Christopher Columbus

D-Day

2010-05-06T11:17:00.001+08:00

That day was D-Day.
D for the manager's name. I don't really work for him but 插-in anyway! LOL
D-Day as everyone was supposed to dress like him for this photoshoot - Can you guess which one D is?!?

(Taken with Canon 40D mated to Canon 17-40mm L lens.)

6 of them are part of our Thursday soccer Khaki gang!!

Capital City Half Marathon

2010-05-02T09:24:00.002+08:00

Day for the Capital City Half Marathon Columbus, Ohio, finally came and went.

Think I was over-hyped-up for the run, trying to arrive about 2hrs before race start, in case I can't get a lot at the free parking outside the Art Museum.. Woke up at 5am, rush-rush, and out by 5.45am, arriving at the museum 6.10am, and not a single soul was there!
Kaoz.. Should have slept in for a wee bit longer!!

Then again, where I park, is a good 15-20mins walk to the start point, so I guess most will be parking nearer there, and prolly pay USD4-5 for parking.. After the run, I did see a few summons for a few cars on the street-side parking lots.

The day started off reddish/orangish/purplish, typical day-break colours - nice.
However it didn't take long for the dark clouds and strong winds to take over. Weather forecast says it's gonna be a cloudy day, with threat of Thunderstorms in the late afternoon. By the time I was patiently waiting at the start point, it was pretty chilly, with occasional light raindrops.

Today's objective was simple - Better than previous!!

Well, at least this time I did clocked some training mileage, albeit sporadically, last-minutely, over the past 2 weeks, and some soccer run-abouts too.
Did covered about 15km, which is a record for pre-run day mileage - usu never trained more than 30% actual race route distance!! hahaa..
Though it didn't helped that I played soccer on Thurs again, and sustained some bruises on my calf/thigh and a blister. It was worth it nonetheless.. running around kicking a ball in the cool Mount Vernon afternoons is very refreshing and rejuvenating!!
At the start point, I had my eyes set on the 8mins/mile pace-setters from MIT (nope, not the university - it's the Marathoner-in-Training). Works out to be about 5mins/km.

The weather and run condition are probably amongst the best I've experienced - Cooling, light drizzles, well-spaced route, stopped vehicular traffic. The last time I had such good weather back home for a run-day, I was run-stop-walking due to a hangover from previous night! What a waste then..

This was the route I covered.

Initially thought can run and enjoy the City centre sight and sounds at the same time, but I realized there really isn't much to see - or maybe with all that huffing and puffing, the surroundings don't appear attractive to me!!?

I was doing a-O-K keeping pace until the 6mile mark when the pacers began to drift off.. They were still within sight for the next 3 miles, though the gap was widening.
I did my mental sums, and knew I just hava maintain 5.30min/km, and I'm on course to meet my objective for the day - so I went steady and comfortably.
That's one good thingy about the Forerunner 305 - it's able to tell me my pace "live"! Sweet!!!

I also just realized throughout the run, I was working my heart about 5bpm faster than what I usually do on my normal runs in the park. Hmm.. either the excitement got into me (while waiting at the start point, it was reading 80bpm, though my normal rest rate hovers @70bpm), or the cold weather is making my heart work harder for faster warm blood circulation, or I'm simply slacking too much for too long during my so-called "training" runs w/o realizing!?? Ooops..

I'm pretty pleased with the race. I suspect I won't be able to better this race, especially not in hot, humid & sunny SGP...

Yep, here I'm, back at the museum CP. Pleased and drenched.
Check out the square watch on my left wrist.. a pretty chucky accessory which works - gave my avg HR (174), avg pace (5:04), calories (1304), time was 10sec off from official race time, and read 21.39km at the finishing line (half-marathon's officially 21.0975km)!! I'm impressed with the accuracy of this chucky accessory!

Aftermath.
I didn't realize my reversible socks were actually 2 socks sewn together, one in black and the other in contrasting white..Ingenious New Balance @work!!

This cost me USD70, an hour of my beauty sleep and another half a morning! ;o)

Consolation was that at the finishing line, there were water, powerade, banana/apple/orange, bagel, pizzas & muscle milk..filling enough for breakfast!

Oh, I was placed 703 out of 6165.

What a Gloomy Weekend

2010-04-26T07:46:00.000+08:00

What a gloomy downcast weekend, with numerous thunderstorm warnings - though I didn't see any torrential downpour over my area, mostly light passing showers.
Supposed to be out for a leisure afternoon jog today, in view of an upcoming run in Columbus next Sat 1st May, the Capital City Half Marathon, Columbus, Ohio. Alas, after I'm fully dressed and attired for the jog, the rain came splattering down again. So I decided to blog a little.. whilst waiting for the rain to pass.. Hopefully before it gets dark..

Wanted to post some lovely pix of Washington D C as well.. but that will need quite a bit of time and effort. Maybe later or another time...

Tmlo's gonna be an interesting one - I was invited to join in the interview for a new candidate for the position I'm standing in now. Apparently he's a good student with couple of months of working experience in another firm. Bet the experience will be quite surreal - usually I will be in the interviewee position being grilled, not the griller!! heh..
Hmm.. Hope when I share my work experience with him, it won't scare him off, like what happened to the previous candidate! Oops.. haha..

If there's one compiling reason to take up the offer, I will say it'll be the good and happening manager (which one can't really tell until after joining us and working for him, yah!??).. It's probably an added bonus that there will be plentiful opportunities within the department or across departments for future development too...

50 Reasons why Singapore is No. 1

2010-04-24T08:47:00.001+08:00

(This pic has been smooched from CNNGO Asia Beta site. Pls Click on Pic to find out more/support them)

Some I didn't even know!!

Did you know...

2010-04-23T11:01:00.000+08:00

That today is Earth Day!!?!
What have you done for Mother Earth??!?

Think I'm considered not too bad already - I switch off all lights, I use reusable water bottle and bring a mug to office, I take shorter showers (sometimes none! LOL), etc etc...

As the song titles - it's A Beautiful World. Indeed, and we all should strive to keep her that way!

It's another soccer Thursday for us. This time, the turnout was even better!
Think we had 22 peez in all, just nice for a proper match.
My Manager joined us too!! He's quite happening siah.. Think he's one of the most ONZ ones amongst the managers & VPs... Niceee.
I was pleasantly surprised that the camaraderie within the team is pretty strong. Can't imagine rounding up 20+ peez back in my SGP to go for a kick-about.. especially when everyone seems busy-busy, always..

Had quite a bit of knocks and smacks this time round. Was pretty hyped up for the game as I just got myself a pair of boots specially to join in the kick-abouts, but it din started off well. Inner thigh was already feeling the strain from an "ambitious" jog early this week. Next, got an impactful knock onto my left knee in a collision. The "best" incident has to be the shot/cross right into my left ear. I immediately dropped to the ground clutching my left ear, as the ringing continues.. luckily no concussion (to-now) and after my world stopped spinning, I was able to get back up on my feet.
Can't rem when was the last time I was so gungho liaoz.. LOL!

Scary Day.

2010-04-21T12:05:00.000+08:00

10.30am this morning, we were all suddenly rounded up and herded into a smallish conference room. Nobody knew what was happening, and my neighbour was speculating that it must be some bad news - maybe we are all out of job or something!!?

Well.. it turned out to be less dramatic.

Apparently someone from our team was let off this morning, but it wasn't a smooth process.
闹到要惊动附近友善的邻警。

Usually, I guess it'll be quite common for people to come and go.
It probably feels terrible, momentarily, too.
Shit does happen, and I can vouch for that first-hand. We can't always expect things to go the way we envisioned them to be...
Probably need some time to reflect, recompose and move on.

BUT another neighbour told me this guy actually collects guns and have some strong views on certain subjects - a "peculiar" individual.

Hmmm.. 不知道他会不会神志不清，一怒之下，一枪扫公司！！？！
还好我跟他不熟，没有生仇大恨, 只不过是一面之交。。。 Phew!!

Scary.

Great Day!

2010-04-16T11:29:00.000+08:00

What a brilliant day - getting all stressed up and tensed in the day, and a great after-work soccer game with 14 colleagues!! Can't rem when was the last time I kicked a ball, proper.
As usual, I wasn't a very effective player, but I did managed to clock some good mileage over the hour+ game. =)
There were even 2 female colleagues who joined us!! I was pretty stunned initially, and was pleasantly surprised that none of the guys went easy on them - we tackled them as we would with any other! Cool..
The running shoes I was wearing didn't help one bit - pretty slippery for the field, esp with much twists and turns, trying to keep pace with the opponents.
Hmm.. maybe its time to start online shopping for a pair of boots?!?

Can't rem when was the last time I put on my contact lenses too. But I sure didn't lose touch in getting them on. Prolly hava fiddle with them for couple of minutes.. and in they went!
Was quite surprised that I didn't feel any irritation since it must have been 2+ years since i indulge in such "luxury" of daily disposable lenses??!

Stress and tensed, 'cos I'm little behind in my work priorities.

Rightfully, my current role is a temp one. One colleague decided to head back to college for his Masters, so I was assign his job in the interim while a new perm staff is found.
The new perm staff, who transferred from another department, joined us this week and was scheduled for 3 days of orientation. After Day 1, he decided to leave us, presumably with a better offer elsewhere... He must have broken some company record for the shortest employment stint of-sort!!!?

I was baffled and irritated because he kinda made me look like a fool as I even kindly brought him to our office on Monday evening to show him around, introducing him to the few colleagues I know by name.. Should have told me he's still considering his options mahz!!

Now my boss will hava scurry around to look for another replacement perm staff..

..and I can't get back to the initial job i was assigned to! Actually it doesn't matter which side I focus on, since both are equally important - one is critical for getting our goods out from the shopfloor, another is important to pacify our staffs who are setting up our goods at customer's site.

Oooooh.. Friday is here again. Another week gone. Another day less as I count down to "End-of-Honeymoon"... :O

and this is what the Garmin Forerunner 305 can do... ...

2010-04-13T10:48:00.000+08:00

and this is what my new Garmin Forerunner gadget can do! Cool, ey!!? hahaa..

maybe one day, just maybe, I'll be able to map out the shape of Sunny island Singapore!!?! (either on a bike or in a car that is! 哈哈。。)

It's a pretty comprehensive watch 'cos it includes a HRM (heart rate monitor) - the type where you wear a chest belt transmitter to monitor your heart bpm - shows the local time, shows your "live" average running speed, shows your running time (with the capability to auto-pause when your speed falls below a preset value, ie when you hava slow at traffic junctions, etc), and also the distance covered.
Of course, its pretty huge as well.. though not heavy.

Some online reviewers did mentioned that sweat and salt and moisture tend to seep into the watch over time, through the small beeper opening on the back, causing corrosion, resulting in a useless watch; I decided to purchase the additional 3yrs 3rd party warranty for USD7 (+ USD5 for shipping the documents! I was thinking what a rip-off.. shipping cost almost as expensive as the warranty coverage itself!!!?! How ask me never do homework beforehand, didn't purchase both watch and extended warranty together to save on separate shipping charges.. oh well..)

Haven't really played around much with the software and statistics, but from what I read online, seems like there's quite a lot that can be done.. Shall slowly slowly explore.. Just hope at the end of the day, will be continue to be motivated to go the distance, and put the new gadget to good use! ;O)

This past weekend, saw another lobang for the Canon 7D which I've been eyeing for quite a while already.. SEARS had a one-off employee discount on all products, and the Canon 7D (body only) fell to as low as USD1370 (an equivalent of SGD500 savings!!!). Mainly due to a few factors - they did not remove the outdated Canon discount for month of March (where Canon lowered the retail price for the 7D by USD100) + they having their one-day one-off employee discount + Free shipping.
After contemplating for an hour, and confirming I'm able to survive on bread and water for my remaining 3 mths, and re-confirming my sums in the bank, and reassuring myself its a "Good buy", I decided to go for the plunge - at the back of my mind, in any case, if I do have a change in heart, not wanting to survive on bread and water only, I can always return the camera within 30-days yah!?? LOL
Alas, the camera was Out-of-Stock. Knew it!! Offer tooooo good to be true!
Looking on the bright side, I'm still safe from the deep abyss of dabbling in costly digital SLR photography.. Phew! :O

Today I also finally faced the music for the lost of my Toronto guide-book which I borrowed from my local library. I lost it together with the theft of my backpack couple weekends ago. I was already prepared to pay for the cost of the Insight City Guide (Toronto) - which I eventually found to be USD16.95.
However, there was a pleasant surprise for me!

Nope, the thieves were not kind enough to mail the guidebook back to the local Mt V community library (I wished!); I didn't have to pay for the lost book immediately.. The librarian helped me renewed my loan, and told me to try and source for an equivalent book, which could possibly cost less than USD16.95 from Amazon or such.
I felt that was a nice gesture, especially since that was a 2006 edition, and probably outdated and had depreciated in value over time..
Now, just hava do some online shopping/googling to fulfill my end of the deal! =)

Online Spreeee...

2010-04-09T12:20:00.000+08:00

After weeks of deliberation and serious considerations and hesitations and such, and still having nagging thoughts even after my self-imposed 30 days "cool-off" period, and tempted by the opportunity for a USD25 mail-in cash rebate offer by eBillme, I finally decided to grab myself this portable "computer" watch, the Garmin Forerunner 305 (pretty old model I must add) just before the cash rebate offer expired on 31st Mar.

Expecting it to arrive some time tmlo.. Hopefully it works a-o-kay!!

Already had 2 unpleasant online purchase experiences - One was a 3cm tear in a pair of Levis SUPER skinny jeans, and another was the iPhone sync-and-charge cable which doesn't charge. A replacement jean is supposed to be on its way, and the replacement cable doesn't work as well - Guess it's a pirated cable which my 2G Phone doesn't recognise. It's quite a big inconvenience not being able to charge my phone and having to keep it turned off at most times, only to switch it on occasionally to check if I've got any missed calls/smses..

Will be targeting a MP3 player (with FM) next.. need it for my jogs (if I do manage get my lazy bum off the couch that is! LOL)

Who's Real, Who's Not!??

2010-04-04T21:07:00.003+08:00

Japan unveils humanoid robot that laughs and smiles

Scary, scary!! :OL

R.I.P.

2010-04-03T13:45:00.000+08:00

Got this sms from a ex-schoolmate/ex-colleague/pretty-good-friend just as I reached back my hotel, not before "running" an unmanned Toll booth (not by choice wor.. I din have exact change, so boh-bianz.. I did reverse and inserted a USD1 note into the basket-thingy though, which apparently is not helpful as the basket-thingy did not recognize my note - coins only I guess.)

"Yo bro.. not sure if u can receive my msg but just to keep u informed that our good friend XXX have passed away from an accident in malaysia... ..."

Came as a huge shocker to me as our mate is around our age, and definitely one of the better young engineers at our previous company. We even attended his wedding in Malaysia 2 years ago!! :O

Life is fragile.

Hmm.. DC for Easter?!?

2010-03-31T13:17:00.000+08:00

Still undecided on what I should do for Easter looong weekend.. until I saw THIS.

Probably just about the right timing for a trippen to DC?
Hope I can still secure some decent hotel/hostel deals this late though..

Oh, this time will be another 7+ hours drive, in a Honda Accord (finally!! after going thru' 3 other makes..)

Keeping fingers crossed lighting don't strike 4 (or is it 5!!?) times!!! ha...

Happy Eastering! ;O)

Tornado Toronto

2010-03-28T12:06:00.000+08:00

Took my first road trip way up North over last weekend - a really looooong one that is.
Rushed off after lunch 1.30pm and arrived at the ominous Municipal Carpark @ 10 Portland Street Toronto 12.40am. The drive itself probably took 6.5hrs in total, with the rest being coffee-break time, about an hour at a factory outlet to help a fren grab some COACH bags, slow moving vehicles due to police car presence on the highways

Here I am, crossed the Peace Bridge and approaching the Canada border. Kinda exciting then.. it was probably about 10pm when I arrive at the checkpoint. The wait lasted about 30min, and all was well, except for the immigration officer. Was asked for a document which sounded foreign to me (until I realized later she was actually asking for my DS-2019) - she hesitated for a moment, checked with her colleague at the next counter, and stamped my passport eventually.. Phew~~ Not sure I wanna make a U-turn back to Westerville at 10.30pm (It's gonna be another 7.5hrs back home!)

Here, Mr Garmin says I'll reach my destination @ 12mn.. and this is the last time I'll see Mr Garmin, a complimentary goodwill loan from Den.. =(

Eventually arrived at 12.40am because one stretch of the highway was totally blocked off, abruptly. All traffic on 4 lanes were diverted to 2 slip roads and drivers had to re-route that 300m stretch. I din quite get it as I only see numerous police cars with blinkers on and no inkling of what in the world was happening!!? Standoff between cops and highway chase/robbers?!? Highway collapsing?!? Nobody knows...

This is where KX stayed, and where I thick-skinly bunked over for 2 nights! heh..
Nice cosy environment, but it's only expected for the kinda $$$ KX paid for his week long stay. Oh, he was in town to check out the University of Toronto Open House - am sure it's pretty exciting to travel thousands of miles away from home to check out a new studying environment!! For me, even checking out NTU/NUS/SMU couple of years back was already quite a forward-looking activity - what more jetting to Toronto!! ;O)

and with some good luck, KX was given the 3rd highest floor!!
Check out his window view... .. and note how much straighter the shots are!! (putting my spirit level meter to good use! haha..)

as we pan towards the left, we can see the CN Tower in her full glory..
yah.. the weather wasn't too kind that Saturday. Day before, Friday, was pretty good though.. sunny and balmy. Sat and Sun were cloudy, cold and gloomy.. probably a premonition which I didn't take much notice of.. bad move.

Night view..

Some shots while I was still unaware of the misfortune I'm about to face...

Really nice, picturesque environment for a college, yah!??

There's KX and SW (our local guide - an exchange student from NUS @University of York, Canada, classmate of KX's bro) at the end of the hallway.

Here we are outside ROM - Royal Ontario Museum. Did pay to go in as when we reach the museum, it was almost closing hours already. Think the tix wont cheap also...

That evening, we had to return to our vehicle to renew the parking charges.
This lot seems pretty decent for overnight parking, but alas, looks are deceiving...

My vehicle is the first one on the right.

and this was the shock I was in for.

Tough luck...

Whatever that was left... my food supplies for the long drive.

My initial thought was - what a bad joke!!? Someone smashed my window for fun??! What-the-hell!!!?!
It was only after I opened the trunk that I realized the son-of-a-^*&!%^$&%!^%@$ wasn't just smashing window for fun - he was in for the kill. Took my office laptop, my beloved Osprey Porter 46 backpack, Den's Garmin, whatever loose change I had in the car. Haizzz..

I sure have a knack for trouble. 又被 Nick 说中了！！！ (who had told me to stay off trouble for this final stint...)

What transpires next was the ordeal of waiting for the parking management to send their security officers over to take my statement (took them 1 hour before they arrived!!).
The officers were pretty professional. Could even tell us how the window was smashed. If you examine the shot carefully, zoom in to the top left apex of the triangular window. According to the officer, the son-of-a-*$&#^*&%@!*&%$@*&^*&$^!*&^$*&@^*$ simply inserted a screwdriver and pry hard and that will weaken the glass and a few knocks on the glass panel itself, and wella, you'll have free-access to all!
Neat. Bad neat.

Police report next. Swoop for a new vehicle next day. And a wrecked remaining "holiday".

It's quite an irony.. back home I dun usually think twice parking at the ulu, dark and isolated FREE Armenian Street carpark.
Here, I paid CAD12 for overnight parking, in a well-lit and security camera-ed shelter parking, only to have my vehicle broken into.

SO you ask - Why didn't I remove my barang barang from the vehicle!??
That &*(#@!^&@(**&*$@ sure had a lucky evening.. It just so happened that as I had arrived in the wee morning hours, I didn't wanna lug my backpack and laptop for the 15mins walk to the hotel. Also didn't wanna alert the hotel staffs of "illegally" bunking over... :OS

What were my losts?

Dell D620 Laptop
Western Digital 320GB HDD (with my whole collections of photographs!! Damn.. lost 3yrs of visual memories, happy and sad!! sad.
DS-2019 (this got me into quite a bit of troiuble with immigration when I returned to the States - was kept for 40+mins for the I515 form to be generated, essentially a form saying I was not in possession of the DS-2019 upon return to US, and had to get my sponsor to generate a new DS-2019, and to have this new form sent back to the authority within 30 days, beyond which my VISA will be revoked. Haizs...
Security Pass/VPN Keyfob
DBS Keyfob (SGD 20 for replacement!!)
Police Report for lost of wallet in Coventry (Imagine making a police report for the lost of a police report!! haha..)
Oakley Dictate 4.0 glasses (Din even wore this for much.. what a shame..)
Apartment Keys
Den's Garmin
Canon G9 battery charger
USB cable for iPhone and camera (害我 have to switch off my phone for most part of this week to conserve battery juice as I have no other means to charge it.. same goes for my camera - didn't dare to take much photos this week as I have no means to get the batteries charged)
Osprey Porter 46 backpack (Haiz.. now I hava go for my travel/drive trips with a smaller backpack.. unless I can find a just-as-good backpacker backpack!)
Shure earphones
Sony MP3 2GB player (luckily its a cheapo low capacity player.. just that I had no "my" music for the long return drive back to Westerville)
2 bananas
1 unopened box of Nature Valley snack bar
Ski pants
4 packs of tissue paper
Toronto guidebook (from my local library!!)
Few pieces of clothes and undergarments
...
...

Guess if I think hard enough, I'll be able to list out 95% of what I've lost...

I 左看右看　also don't see anything that's really of much value..

Probably the HDD, GPS, Laptop parts (since the lappy itself if password protected and my power adaptor is not included in this heist! ha..) are of some $$-value?

Maybe the Osprey backpack is valuable to some backpacker as well?

Not sure if the thief will be a happy one anot.. I doubt it.

Lessons learnt?

One. You know how mobile phones can be used to dial emergency numbers w/o a sim card? I tried 911, and verified it works!! ha..

Two. Be wary of driving foreign license-plated cars. It's a magnet for the undesirables. Not everyone plays by the rules in our society. I figured my Louisiana plate was the reason - as most other drivers we asked for for direction to the nearest police post claim they have never experienced such an ordeal before, even if they park overnight. It was quite a pleasant neighborhood where the carpark is located, I must admit.

Three. Don't leave belongings in the trunk. I usually don't. Like I say - that was a lucky son-of-a-($#!&(*$^&@*^(*#&!(.

Four. Don't drive. Take public transport! (save the environment too! ha..)

I've been through worst.

So life goes on; Holiday continues, albeit dampened.

Day 2 was a relaxed one. Spent first half of the day in the hotel as KX was suppose to give someone off on her wedding day, virtually.

After he was done "giving away", we were racking our brains for things-to-do for the rest of the evening. Eventually we settled for Niagara Falls, a 1.5hrs drive away - which was a good decision as I didn't have to spend the next morning to stop by the falls en-route back to Westerville.

The street leading to the falls.

The following views were from the Canadian side. I think if one was on the US side, the view will be more restricted.

I thought this shot is pretty good.. as in we arrived at a good time - just as the sun was setting.. providing the orange glow.

Yep, we were here!

This is the horseshoe falls.. Falls in the shape of a horseshoe

This must be my favorite shot for the trippen. A lonely, bare tree, set in front of the horseshoe falls, against a setting sun backdrop.

More falls shots...

We had dinner @Wendy's and made a detour to the falls to check out the night scene before we finally made our way back to Toronto. A faster lens would have come in handy here..

That was about it, for a Tornado Toronto.

This past week, I experienced one of the most spectacular weather - It had stopped snowing 2 weeks ago, and we've had spells of sunny and rainy/dull days since then.
However, overnight on Thursday, we woke up to 5 inches of snow!!
Out of the blue the snow came back again.. how weird.

And on Friday, the sun came out.. causing most of the snow to melt.

Took this shot as I left office on Friday. It was about 7pm then. Lovely pale moon set against a lovely blue sky.

To put the moon into perspective.. Pretty smallish, but nice..

and yep, this is the replacement vehicle for the broken-in-to Toyota Camry.
Pretty cool Nissan Altima - keyless entry, and push-start button!

4th time Unlucky

2010-03-23T07:14:00.000+08:00

Haiz..又被 Nick 说中了！！！ :OL

If you know me, I'm pretty sure I am probably one of your suay-est pals around, after this 'confirmation' episode.

Now to face the music and hopefully the mess is relatively easy to "sweep up"... ...

Haizzzz... *shake head*

Spring beckons...

2010-03-18T09:25:00.000+08:00

AS Spring approaches, more innocent "lives" are taken from the road - road kill that is, bringing new meaning to the phrase 马路如虎口。。

Just this morning as I was cruising along (on cruise-control) @60mph, the only 2 vehicles in front had to slow to a halt as a family of deers skipped across the road gracefully, with a few more left behind looking at them brave the crossing - adding to our confusion as to whether they will suddenly spring into action to join the cross-ers or remain stay-ers..

This family was lucky. They had good vision.

Some others wont soooo lucky - This week alone, there were already 2 mornings I've witnessed a police car with their blinking lights on parked behind another vehicle, both keeping to the side of the road, and a motionless deer lying on the road couple of steps away - 马路如虎口 indeed :Ol

First Stop - 多伦多

2010-03-16T10:22:00.000+08:00

Wooh.. Exciting!! Last minute brought forward my Good Friday trippen up to Niagara Falls to this weekend instead!
Hmmm.. which means my Good Friday weekend can be freed up for another trippen! YEAH!! ;O)

Why!??

Just heard from KX late last week that he's headed for Toronto this week to check out University of Toronto's Open House.. and he's wondering if I wanna meet up.
I'm not very good with geographical location of Toronto and Niagara Falls, but after a quick consultation session with Mr Google, I realised they are actually pretty close - in fact enroute to Toronto from Ohio, I'll hava pass through Niagara Falls. It will be another 1.5hrs drive from there.

The only downside I foresee will be the tedious 7.5hrs drive, each-way.
I'm trying to psyche myself these few days for this new "challenge", knowing that driving sleepily is a real dangerous, bad move (not only to oneself, but other road-users as well).
Some keeping awake strategy I've learnt for long-distance road trippens include having drinking water nearby (with easy-to-drink mouthpieces), chewing sweets and gums, stopping for coffee breaks (recommended at 2hrs-interval), blast music aloud, singing aloud, slapping oneself (or get passenger to slap you) awake, find a safe parking area to catch power naps.. any more??!

Guess the bigger motivation is the fun, joy and laughter of spending time with good pals over a simple cup of coffee in a foreign environment, simply chilling and rotting.. LOL
Oh, did I mention KX's gotten himself a room at Hyatt Regency and I've 厚着脸皮to bunk in with him! Heh..

DVDs Galore..

2010-03-14T09:19:00.002+08:00

Finally got myself registered at the local community library in Mount Vernon last weekend! =)
Which I should probably have done earlier if not for the snowy conditions - 'cos members can borrow DVDs FOC too!! Though not most recent collections, they do have probably 200-300, and some foreign films as well.. They even have volumes like Heroes, West Wing, Desperate Housewives, etc..

Watched X-Men during the week and Vitus yesterday.

Found Vitus to be very enjoyable.. Not to forget mentioning the brilliant piano playing scenes were real! Done by the child prodigy actor Teo Gheorghiu himself.

Below's one rebuttal which I should've learnt earlier - could have come in handy last time!! Muahahaa..

This exchange took place when the students were told to work out some calculations w/o the calculator; Vitus carried on reading his newspaper.. but was able to provide the right answers anyway..

Prof: Correct. But your arrogant behaviour is an insult to my intelligence.

Vitus: Excuse me, sir. But if I'm insulting your intelligence, there are after all, two people in here who have some intelligence. (classmates broke out into laughter in the background - I thought they should be angry instead for being insulted??!

Jeffersonville Prime Outlet / Coulumbus Arts Museum

2010-03-10T09:04:00.003+08:00

Finally had a sunny cool past weekend, which was actually quite pleasant for a jog.. But I already had other plans in mind. First to check out the factory outlet - Jeffersonville Prime Outlet - an hour's drive away, headed southwest towards Cincinnati direction.
I arrived at the shopping belt area at about 1pm.. and left about 7.30pm. Though the shops close at 9pm, I didn't linger any longer as night was falling and with Spring approaching, you never know what animal will dash out onto the road!
Have been noticing a significantly higher numbers of road kills these days when driving to office..
Took these few shots before I left.

and for the record, Coach was the only store which I had queue to go in.. machiam like LV back home!

The Prime Outlet area probably contains 100 stores? I didn't managed to window-shop through all of them, only zipped past maybe 15?
I did buy something though.. bought a 30-Minute Cookbook from Borders, which was closing down.. with 50% disc off all books - USD3 for 400 quick 30-mins recipes and appetizing food shots, quite a bargain I must say!! heh..

The following day, Sunday, I had initially wanted to make a trip to the Akron Art Museum since it's free entry for every 1st Sunday of the month.. BUT I didn't realize its a good 2 hours drive away, each way, and with my fuel tank showing quarter level, and the sudden spike of gas to USD2.67/gal (again!!), I decided to put this journey off til next month.. By then I'll probably have asked for a more frugal 33mpg Chevrolet Malibu (as claimed by their ads).
Will be more economical for my intended 5.5hrs drive up north towards Niagara Falls as well!! =)

The backup plan was a trippen to a nearer Arts Museum, the Columbus Arts Museum - only 30mins drive away and entry is free on Sundays. This is the main entrance.

Alas, most part of the museum is closed for renovations, except for one on-going exhibition by Dale Chihuly - Chihuly Illuminated. "Chihuly has led the avant-garde in the development of glass as a fine art."

This is the first exhibit that greeted everyone when we stroll through the hallway.. lighted glass sculptures against a dark, black backdrop. Not easy trying to get sharp shots in the dark. Had to tweak quite a few settings, and compromise with noiser pictures.. eventually I simply placed the camera on the glossy black platform and used 2-sec timer. You prob can identify these from the angle of the shot and the much sharper images...

More blown-glass..

This reminds me of the blanket my grandma made last time by patching together pieces of scrap cloth!!

This platform supports a kaleidoscope of colourfully lighted glass sculptures. What's really cool is - check out what the almost camouflaged little ger at the bottom left is doin!
They have this transparent board which you can doddle with..so kids & adults will be able to map out what they see in front of them!
(Reminds me of an apple app which is suppose to let you "see through" the phone.. so that you can SMS and "see" where you are walking at the same time!)

Some zoom-ins of the scultpures..

More art installations...

This is an interesting one. An alternative to Chandeliers!?? =)

As mentioned earlier, pretty tough to take clear shots in the dark.. especially when trying to snap an unsuspecting visitor in his/her natural pose!

The following has a "truer" colour to the original displays after I switched from Auto-white Balance to Fluorescent..

I was also lucky to be able to time it nicely to join in a lecture series on the Development of Telescopes. Learnt something new - Subaru is actually the Japanese word for Pleiades, a cluster of Stars!! See the similarity between the star clusters and Subaru's logo!??
The coffee and cheese refreshment after the lecture was also a good break!! (though pple already started to help themselves even before the lecture started!)

Took this as I left the museum and headed for home. The arts museum is actually right beside the Columbus College of Art and Design.

When I got home and started reviewing my photos, think I like the following best.. =)

2010-03-03T08:08:00.000+08:00

This piece of decal stuck to the driver side windscreen is evidence the fix has been implemented (or so they claim!) ha..
My colleague was speculating they didn't simply do a mechanical accelerator pedal replacement; They probably took the chance to upload/change the electronics/software too..

This is the striking RED Camry..

Another view from the front. Sense anything missing!??
I didn't notice it as well, until I was looking at this shot and it struck me.. Hmmm.. Something's not right.. ...

Okie, maybe the shot is a little slanted, which is also why I decided to get one of these - a Spirit Level Gradienter on Camera Flash Hot Shoe Unique Single Axis:

Not sure if it's gonna be a white elephant anot.. But @USD2.99, shipped from China within 2 weeks, I thought why not!?? Especially since I've had seen many of my own shots and wondered to myself - was my head tilted or was the ground not level!??

Still can't spot what's amiss from the Camry??
Clue: Look at the front bumper.

Toyota Camry

2010-03-01T05:49:00.001+08:00

Ooooww.. got one of those recalled and repaired Toyota Camry for this month.. and in striking Red somemore!!!

I did have a choice of a few other makes, but they didn't have my first choice of Honda Accord.. and since Camry is quite popular back home, thought I should go for it to try-try.. having faith in their remedial actions from the recalls.

The debate now is whether the fault lies in the mechanical pedal or electronic controls!?

Hopefully it doesn't accelerate out of control after the fix, like what sooooo many articles have reported.

In any case, I've rehearsed, albeit mentally, how to turn off the ignition, jam onto the brake pedal and parking foot brake all simultaneously.

In the worst case scenario - how to jump out of a moving car at 100mph, and breaking fall gracefully, just like in one of those Chinese Kungfu action flicks! LOL

2010-02-23T08:39:00.001+08:00

First caught this on CNN.
Thought it's a good remake.. I liked the added hip-hop rap element towards the end..
and how the song faded off with Hai-i-ti, Hai-i-ti.. Hai-i-ti, Hai-i-ti...

We Are The World 25 For Haiti @ Yahoo! Video

Not sure how big a news the Haiti earthquake is back home - it sure is being closely followed over here in the States..

2010-02-22T00:44:00.001+08:00

and then, there was light - SUNLIGHT!!
Phew, Mr Sun finally decided to make its appearance after being MIA-ing for quite a few days. Friday was the first bright sunny day I can recall in recent memories!

It's really quite a nice cosy feeling walking about, "baking" in the Sun's ray amidst the cold wintry weather. I loved taking in deep cold breathes in the open too.. the cold air feels shiok and very revitalizing, just like how our engines like cold, dense air to increase performance!! =)

Seem like the weekend's quite balmy as well..so far so good. Managed to make my way down to checkout Easton Town Center, which's about 15min's drive away.
It's a lovely shopping belt with quite a few Big names like Abercrombie, Apple, American Eagle Outfitters, Tiffany & Co, Nordstram, Burberry, etc.. nothing that excites me in particular, and nothing as LOUD (and in-your-face) as those branded names found in Dubai malls!! ha

The good sun may not last though.. some colleagues were telling me there were reports of more snow later tonite til Monday morning.. Darn!

Prior to the Sunny days, the icicles outside my balcony grew and grew!!
See how it's almost gonna touch the ground! :O

Can't imagine being struck by one of those falling icicles manz!!
It's probably gonna be one stealthy killing weapon of choice - once the killer icicle melts away, the murder weapon would have literally vanish into thin air and disappear!

Regular 87 Gas Price

2010-02-18T08:16:00.001+08:00

07:20hr Regular Gas Price: USD 2.30 per gallon
18:00hr Regular Gas Price: USD 2.55 per gallon

Was quite startled when I first saw the "huge" spike, especially when I'm not used to oil prices increasing by 10's of cents.. More used to the usual 4, 5 cents increment.

Then after I "calmed down" and tot about it more logically, seems like it's Relativity@Work again!! =)
I figured it prolly works out the same, since 1 gallon = 3.785 litres.
So relatively speaking, each litre now cost approx 6 cents more, rather than the seemingly deceivingly huge spike of 25 cents...

Then again, an increment of 10% here, relatively speaking, is still a huge spike!!!!

Oh, my Kayano arrived.. and it's a glove-fit!!! GREAT! ;o)
Now for spring to arrive... heh

Cold.

2010-02-17T09:34:00.000+08:00

I always knew my fingers were cold from the cold, especially when I hava spend time in the cold trying to get remove "snow blankets" from the car... YESSH, sometimes as thick as 10cm coat of snow!!

What I didn't realise was how cold, cold is.. until this evening!!

Off work today, I bought a packet of frozen chicken breast from Kroger, a nearby hypermarket, and immediately threw it into the freezer when I returned home.
Instinctively, I sensed something was wrong as I was putting the pack into the freezer - Why's the freezer sooo warm!!???

After triple checking both the fridge and freezer and verifying both are functioning as per design-specification, it was then I understand what COLD is...

You see better when you put issues into perspective; Relativity@Work.

我恭喜你发财我恭喜你精彩!

2010-02-14T02:06:00.002+08:00

新年快乐，万事如意，虎年行大运！！!

Our regional VP sure know how to time the VB news-release, so that we will welcome 虎年 on a happier note! ;o)

Hava great one, everyone!!!

And this was what I noticed as I woke up this morning to welcome in a brand new lunar year - Icicles forming right outside my balcony!!

A more "artistically-framed" shot of the ice..

and this final shot here, was an attempt at Bokeh - aesthetic quality of the blur.

Got intrigued and inspired to find out more about how to achieve Bokeh after seeing one my fren's blog where my fren maintains that was a briliant Bokeh shot of a couple.. though that one shot blurred out everything, altogether!! hahaa..

Found out that Bokeh can be achieved on PnS cameras as well - the trick is either to use Macros, or tele-zoom all the way, like what I did below.. focus on the icicle and the background is blurred out. The trade-off is that one may find it hard to frame the shot, with everything "blown-up" in proportion...

First Blood

2010-02-13T15:08:00.000+08:00

In forumer's speak, this is my first poison!! =)

Wanted to make use of Paypal's and DBS 8% + 10% rebate offer before it expires after CNY.

Took me quite a few days searching for the best online buys and Paypal-payable retailer before finally settling on one called Sierra Trading Post.
They did not offer free shipping nor was their selling price the cheapest.. but they did have this colour-combi in the size I was looking for (keeping fingers crossed the size fits!!).
What won me over is I managed to google a discount coupon which provides a 20% discount off the selling price (catch is must purchase >USD100 than can qualify)!! There was also one coupon code which provides free-shipping (alas, I found out I cannot use both at the same time - darn! 'cos the shipping was USD10+!!)

The map was simply to top-up to meet the USD100 requirement, and no, I did not get Maine's.. I got one for my region.. think it's prolly one of those outdated maps selling at discounts, but I just needed 5c to top-up, and these maps were the 2nd cheapest I could find at 45c. The cheapest was 20c - some fishing accessory. I thought a 80% accurate map is prolly more useful than Fishing Tippet material!?? (whatever that is!!) hahaa...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It has been a white-washed chilly experience for the whole week..besides being late for a few mornings, due to being "road-hogged" by VERY CAUTIOUS drivers driving at 40% below the speed limit, in view of the snowy/icy road conditions. A 46mins journey thus can take up to 80mins.. and driving on cruise control for long stretches with a tired mind, is no joke man!!
But being confident and assuming of the road conditions - zooming along at the "higher threshold" of the speed limit - to reach the destination faster, is not advisable as well. Had to learn it the "hard" way - this time with a pleasant ending (unlike last year's! heh..)
One morning I was zooming along on cruise control at 55mph on mostly seemingly clear dry road when I approached a gentle bend with small patches of "remnants" snow spew right ahead for a 50m stretch or-so?!? The milliseconds of vehicular slide and control-less feeling was sufficient to make my heart drop (kinda like feeling of free-fall), and jolt me wide awake from my sleepy morning drive.. Phew!! luckily the skid was minimal.. prolly just 1 turn of the steering wheel in the direction of the skid and a 2nd in the opposite direction to get back into lane, before I got out of the "ski-zone" and managed to regain control of the wheel.

Now I can better appreciate why some drivers rather play-safe and hog the road than land themselves in icy situation..

It's also times like these when one wonders if its better to ask for Subaru's 4WD or AUDI's Quattro? (trade-off being higher fuel consumption...)

What a way to head into Year of the Tiger! :O

Woman charged with stabbing man with stiletto heel

2010-02-12T07:54:00.000+08:00

Be aware of what your lady friend has on her feet if you gonna share a cab with her!! =)

Woman charged with stabbing man with stiletto heel

more commericals...

2010-02-10T11:19:00.000+08:00

Which's your favourite??

I like the "Pony" and "Truck" ones best.. =)

"Even kids know it's wrong to hold out on somebody."

"Even kids know it's wrong to hide behind fine print."

"Even kids know an offer shouldn't come with ridiculous conditions."

"Even kids know it isn't fair to leave someone hanging when they're counting on you."

VW Punch Dub Commerical

2010-02-10T10:39:00.002+08:00

When I first saw this commercial on tele, it reminded me of something funny... ...are you thinking what I'm thinking!!?! hahaa..

(You may wanna let this buffer first for a smoother viewing experience)

I thought this was another strikingly good advertisement from Das Auto... particularly liked the little kid in red punching his grandpa, and the stunned look on that chap's face - the one with a cup of coffee in one hand and his cell in the other.

Of course, I like the VW Passat CC as well!! =)

Enjoy 8% + 10% rebate (from now to 14th Feb 2010)

2010-02-10T06:50:00.002+08:00

Saw this Paypal & DBS rebate offer from one of the "thousands" of daily ads/spam emails I received in my inbox.
Thought it's quite a good deal especially if you are already thinking of buying stuffs online via paypal.. only downside I can think of, is the rebate will be credited into your paypal account instead of directly off the retail price or back into your DBS account..and rebate amount is capped at SGD25 for each paypal account.. :O

Snowmagedon - as CNN describes it

2010-02-06T21:56:00.002+08:00

Now you see it...

Now you Don't! =)

What a whitewashed Friday evening!! It's still raining snow even as I draft this entry.. been like some 18hrs of non-stop snow raining??! Someone sure isn't too happie up there... :O

Some more shots of my white-washed neighbourhood.. makes me wonder how to get the car out onto the road comes Monday morning manzz!! ..and this's why one will like to hava private garage for parking!

Like those cars safely stored within these - garages found directly opposite my balcony.

Had a brilliant meetup and dinner with CK last night. It's always good to catch up with fellow Singaporeans in a foreign land. =)
He's here for a 2 years stint..
Braved the snow last night and went to TGIF for the dinner. I had the USD16.99 3-course dinner with a bottle of Kronenbourg 1664 beer. Couldn't finish the dessert so had it 打包 to-go. Now the vanilla bean cheesecake is still sitting in the fridge waiting patiently for consumption! LOL

First weekend's agenda - set up bank account and continue to explore neighbourhood for best buys!! =)

White-Out

2010-02-06T06:04:00.000+08:00

It's raining SNOW!!!

Left office at 3pm today because of weather warning of heavy snow brewing.

Heard from my colleague it's gonna be a Level 2 Snow Emergency Classifications.

"LEVEL 2: Roadways are hazardous with blowing and drifting snow. Roads may also be very icy. Only those who feel it is necessary to drive should be out on the roads. Contact your employer to see if you should report to work. Motorists should use extreme caution."

Westerville, OHIO

2010-02-05T11:54:00.007+08:00

As mentioned previously, I was delayed twice, and each time not less than 1.5hrs!!
Here, I was delayed at Frankfurt airport, waiting for the next flight to Chicago, transiting on a domestic jet to Port Columbus, OHIO.

Believe locally, it was about 9+am?

Managed to catch one of the planes towing in-action. I use to wonder how planes go-astern - Is it similar to the way cars reverse!??

Then I found out planes can only move forward when they fire up the engines, such as during taxi-ing and taking off. To reverse, they need the help of the "tow-truck".. which provides the opportunity for companies like WheelTug to design motorized wheels so that planes and taxi forwards and backwards, on their own, w/o having to fire up their engine.. hence reducing fuel burnt and fuel load, translating into lighter payload or longer distance.

See WheelTug's motorised aircraft wheel @work HERE.

The lucky thingy was that I have the lounge access, so I'm able to kill time by helping myself to the cakes and sandwiches and coffee and papers and etc.. weirdly, I didn't manage to tap into any free WIFI at Frankfurt's lounge, something which was possible back at the Oryx Lounge in Qatar International airport. I thought free WIFI should be quite prevalent these days ritez?!?

Being my first exp with Biz flight, I actually read through the seat operating manual in order to figure out which button works for what!! I was darn impressed by the spaciousness lah.. the seat can fold so far back, it can flatten out to become a bed!! no wonder my fren says once you've tried Biz, you will never wana go back to coach! 真爽！！哈哈。。。

And after 22+hours of traveling.. Finally arrived at my apartment! Ta-da!!
This's my living area.. where my lugguage in the fore-ground..

My barang barang (close-up)..

Little, well-equipped, kitchen and dining area, right beside the living room.

Underutilized "walk-in" wardrobe...

Bedroom..

With CRT tele and a nice ceiling fan-light.

Toilet..

And I nearly miss out on this balcony beside the living room, as it was hidden behind the blinds. Little too cold now to maximise the use of the balcony though.. will be ideal for a hot cuppa and a good read or movie in summer, or possibly BBQ with few good mates!!?

This was taken on Tues morning as I woke up and prepared myself for work. The first car is mine - at least til Sunday! I've requested for a Jap car instead.. On my hire car collection day last Sun, they didn't have any avail, so they told me to go back on coming Sun to swop vehicle.. Keeping fingers crossed it'll be a Honda Accord and not Toyota Camry, esp in view of recent Toyota brake's failing issue!!! :O

And today was a foggy, misty day with no snow. I think visibility fell to as low as 50m!??
Kinda scary driving in the fog in a foreign land.. Good thing is 'cos I'm unfamiliar with the roads, so I tend to go slow anyway..
And it's times like this, when you drive looong distance at a constant speed of 55mph (recently upgraded to 60mph after testing water and not gotten burnt yet! heh), cruise control comes in very very handy!! ;O)

Numbers and Rulers

2010-02-04T10:31:00.000+08:00

"You’re better than the best... ..."

Uncle Kracker - Smile

Some numbers and rules I've mastered within these couple of days:

32.5 miles. Distance from home to office.

46 mins. Time to get to work.

55 mph. Max speed limit.

$2.35. Cost of gas per gallon.

Stop sign must stop.

At stop-sign X-junctions, he/she who stops first goes first; Either that or Scissor, Paper, Stone - whoever wins, goes first! (okie.. the latter is crap.. but really no hard-n-fast rule on who has right of way if all 4 stop at same time!!)

Turn right on red.

Turn right, keep right. Turn left, keep right. In short, just keep right!! (wise words from an old pal.. and a good mantra to live by, for now!)

Work's getting busier, having to juggle new commitments and slowly letting go of old ones.. Hoping there will be tonnes of meaningful work lined up for moi!!

2010-02-01T03:14:00.000+08:00

The #%@%*&%@$@%@*&(*@ who scratched my Jie-Fu's car better dun lemme catch him/her when I'm back home!!!!

Guess such are the things that boil down to bad luck - being in the wrong place, at the wrong time, spotted by the wrong people... :O(

Delayed Flights. Clueless Driver. Corked-Up Nice Apartment.

2010-01-31T11:44:00.000+08:00

1hr 45mins Flight Delay @Qatar.
1hr 40mins Flight Delay @Frankfurt.
Clueless Taxi Driver from airport to apartment.
No keys to apartment.

Not exactly the smooth journey I'd envisioned 24hrs ago!! =(

The consolation is that the temporary housing provider eventually managed to send one of their chaps down at night to pass me a spare key.. and the apartment is really quite lovely!! ;o)

Flight Delayed

2010-01-30T06:02:00.000+08:00

So much anticipation.. all for nothing - Didn't expect my first business experience to turn out to be my first flight delay experience as well!! =(
And with snowballing effect, I'll arrive 3 hrs later than scheduled - 6.20pm.

Hopefully their early evenings wont be that chilly!

I'm just glad that I'll still be able to self check-in even though the apartment's leasing office closes at 5pm... and of course, being able to use the lounge (to draft this entry as well) lessen the flight delay upset, a little.. ;o)

Last Day. New Beginning.

2010-01-30T02:01:00.000+08:00

Last day in Sunny DOHA, QATAR.
Wrapped up this day on a bright, golfy mood. Woke up early this morning 7am to get about packing my luggage, so that I can meet my mgr 9am to head for the Doha Golf Course to catch the Qatar Masters 2010.

Quite an eye-opening experience. Learnt a bit of the technicalities of the sport.
But at the end of the day, I find it weird that supporters are willing to spend 2-3 hours following the players around as they move from hole 1 to 18. If it's only for one group, I guess it's still alright.. but to repeat that again for the afternoon session, total 6 hours of following, stopping, clapping, following, stopping, wooh-ahh-ing, following - I found that tiring and taxing. Likely 'cos I cant appreciate the skills and strategies of the players, being a non-golfer myself.

It's sure changed my perspective of golfing as a lazy sport!
I also like the fact that in golf, you are competing with yourself - as what my mgr said.

30mins left b4 I set off for the airport. Hoping it will be a smooth ride!! =)

SINGNET BROADBAND 3Mbps@SGD27.90/mth or 10Mbps@SGD23.45/mth?

2010-01-28T03:34:00.000+08:00

Quite a no-brainer right?!??

Question is, does such a plan exist!??
--> 10Mbps @SDG23.45/mth and only contracted for 1 year, with free Wireless Modem and possibly free 1 year MIO TV as well too!!?

Check it out HERE.

I was about to recontract the 3Mbps @27.90/mth (for 2 years) as my previous contract has ended on the 5th Jan 2010 and Singnet started to charge me the normal rate of $41.
Luckily my finger itchy, decided to google for any current Home Broadband promotions, esp with CNY round the corner.. And that's when i chanced upon this deal from the forum in the link above. Sweee!! hahaa..

Think less than 20% of the population will be aware of this.. since it's not in any of their marketing materials - Not online, and I believe not in prints too.
Word of mouth/forum is still quite a powerful "marketing" tool - In this case, win-win for consumers like us..
Good things are meant to be shared, yah!?? heh.

Oh, btw, APPLE launched their latest gadget as I'm drafting this post --> iPad.
Expect more buzz about it in the coming weeks...

Last Fri Buffet Luncheon

2010-01-25T22:46:00.002+08:00

Was treated to a 2nd superb luncheon at Hotel Intercon, with free-flow bubbly! =)

Actually my colleague was going to lunch at the hotel with her hubby on Fri, and she jio-ed my manager and me along, offering to foot the tab.

I took it as a "farewell" meal of-sorts.. Nicceee!! heh.

As there were 2 couples and a single, I was given the honour of sitting at the "head of the table". This was already my 3rd round helping.. with 2 plateful of sushi and crayfish prior to this. Those seemingly innocent Bubbly sure can become quite "potent" for me just after a few glassful! :O

This is just another view, from my seat, where the background isn't over-exposed. Right through that door leads one towards the pool and further on, the beach. We probably could have chosen an outdoor seat on Fri since it was a balmy nice afternoon.. Though it will be a handful having to juggle plate-filled of food and opening those heavy swing doors.

And these are the wonderous people whom I worked with and work for!! =)

Lady in the middle is our very efficient admin officer (hubby to her right) and gentleman seated down is my very affable manager (with wifey to his left).

If there's any regret in having to move on, it will be to part with this team of superb friend/boss/colleague. In fact we are a small outfit of only 3 of us! Small, cosy and effective efficiently - just the way I like it, ah-ha ah-ha!! ;O)

My manager is also retiring in another 2 month's time, so there will be big changes in the office for our admin officer - not forgetting we are relocating to another floor with a bigger office space, starting Feb 2010..

Anyhow, I'll be looking forward to my successor joining us on his first day tmlo.. Hopefully he's a fast-learner and able to get the hang of things within 3 days!! Schedule's little tight, but no choice..since I already delaying my nxt stint for 2 weeks already.. and he was delayed from leaving his previous firm, having to give advance notice.

To ensure a smooth handover, I've prepared a list of "Things-to-Do" on a daily/weekly/monthly basis, as a checklist to help him in his new role. Hope this helps settle him in!

My manager is actually pretty worried because the previous hire left just after 2 weeks.. and he suspect that's because she was overwhelmed with the tons of spreadsheets/charts/figures/etc thrown to her in her first week.. so keeping fingers crossed history doesn't repeat itself.. 'cos if it does, then the job will be thrown back to moi!!! :Ol

WoooohoOOoo CNY approaching.. exciting!

How Does It Know... ....

2010-01-21T03:50:00.000+08:00

Just hava jot down this famous quote from my manager..before I forget it couple of years later (memory fades with age!).. comes in very useful whenever someone ask you a question and you do not know the answer.

"How does it know, how can you tell, and does it matter??!"

Guess how many times I've used this on my manager!!? hahaa..

Happy 1st Month-Day!!

2010-01-18T00:27:00.000+08:00

Okie.. This wasn't exactly taken on my little nephew's 满月day. Took it whilst I was back holidaying last month.. sometimes schedules just dun pan out the way you wish it would.
Had to miss his 1st month celebration due to current training..

Anyhow this was my first "close encounter" with the little one, when I was "certified" clean and ~~sterile~~ sterilized, and "approved" to carry the vulnerable one.. and guess what struck me most!??

His heartbeat!! I could literally feel his whole body pulsating with every beat.. and learning the delicate art of baby cuddling - support the neck and DUN.LET.GO.EVER!!! Haha..

我人虽没到, 礼物却到!!
Combined resources with B Sis and Hubby to get the little one a lovely outfit for when he's little bigger, and a small precious metal bar, part-investment-part-present. =)

Up in the Air

2010-01-17T04:35:00.003+08:00

Don't you talk for a living, motivational-type stuff?

I tell people how to avoid commitment.

What kinda f***-up message is that?

It's a philosophy.

It's stoopid.

Good show for a lazy Sunday (in my part of the world, Saturday-equivalent) afternoon!! =)

2 Weeks Left.

2010-01-16T00:03:00.000+08:00

Time flies. As always. Especially the Good Times..

Everything seems to be in good order for my next assignment in another continent.

VISA, approved. Passport, collected. Flights/Car Rental, Booked (pending approval). Housing, sorted. Weather, fingers-crossed.

Next will be to start researching and getting recommended "Must-Go" places and to plan for when to embark on these escapades, balancing taking ALs with doing a good job during training.
Prolly hava sort out my shopping list as well.. ASICS Kayano, Garmin Forerunner 310XT, Canon EOS 7D, Levis, Canadian Maple Coin... ...

Also hoping my understudy will be joining us real soon - within the next 2 weeks - so that I can give him a proper handover/takeover before I vacant my position. Else I'll still hava continue doing my job even while embarking on a new training! =(
And it doesn't help that my manager, is also looking forward to his retirement end-March!!

With 2 weeks left, the only forward looking event will probably be the upcoming 2010 CommericalBank Qatar Masters at the Doha Golf Club, end-January.

In fact, I decided to jet off a day later so that I can join my manager and my colleague to soak into the competition spirit. Never been to an actual Golf tournament.. so it's kinda forward-looking. Though must admit, I'm not a huge golf fan, unlike my manager and colleague.. I know pretty much nuts about golfing - besides Tiger is taking a hiatus now!?? haa..

2010-01-11T22:02:00.004+08:00

Been doing some homework on DSLRs and narrowed down to these two advanced-intermediate level camera.. Weirdly, from online forums and websites, seems like SGP's pricing may even be cheaper than the states!

That wasn't the case when my B Bro got my current G9 in Utah 2 yrs ago wor...

and it won't be a cheap/easy proposition to jump onto the DSLR bandwagon - Camera Body, Good 1st Lens, Lens FilterS, Camera Bag, External Flash, Spare Battery, 3M Microfibre cloth, CF Cards, Dry Cabinet, Tripod, More GOOD Lenses, Muscles to lug those Kilos along. Did I miss out anything?!??

I used to and still have this buying "policy" that if I still think about IT after 30-days, then it probably means I really want to get IT. I've been thinking of DSLR since... last year??
I guess it's always about the opportunity cost of plonking that couple of thousands into an 'affair' which may only be 三分钟热度。。。 hmmm.. *ponders*
There will always be more practical and "rewarding" things to buy?? Say... Silver? Gold??! Maybe Blue-chips?? well, well... ...

hoping there will be some "closing down" sales middle this year where I can grab some real good buy-gains!!!

In the meantime, I'll hava "make-do" with my trusty G9 - not a bad 'companion' at all. Only wished she performs better in the dark! LOL

There was a Book Fair over the weekend, so I decided to take the 10mins walk over to the Doha Exhibition Centre to check it out. I wasn't too thrilled as there won't many English books available... mostly were in Arabic.

This is the front of the exhibition centre.

A zoomed view...

Weirdly, the Book Fair opens from 9am to 1pm, and 4pm to 10pm. I didn't realise this and with a struck of luck, I left my apartment at 3.15pm.. so I didn't hava wait/loiter too looong before I was let into the exhibition hall. While waiting, I went ard to snap some shots.

Yep, in the far distance is where my office's sited.. Noticed the little red car? Nice compliment to the vast desert-y brown.. and notice how there are no roads, but the car still managed to find its way about!?? ha..

I kinda like this composition of roughly 25% red, blue, whitish-brown and gray-black.

As more pple continues to stream into the exhibition centre...

Centre entrance...

As dusk falls, and I was about to depart.

Bumper-to-bumper cars still streaming into the carparks as I left. Okie, I left pretty early.. that prolly explains why pple still arriving..

This is the new St Regis hotel which is still being completed. The 5 storey building to the bottom right is my service apartment - easily dwarfed by St Regis!

Sunset views into the far distance..

For the remaining following shots, it's mainly of the same view. I set up shop at a little corner by the Persian Gulf, which oversees the City Centre and provides quite a vantage night skyline.

This beach area is also where one can hire jet-skis and have some fun in the Persian Gulf. It's actually the same beach front as the Hotel's private beach.. but because it's fenced, I had to walk a detour to set up shop.

As always, a parting shot for memory-keepsake. Oh, of course, my little tripod came in handy for all these dusk shots.. else, I dun think G9 will be capable. As the night wears on, temp was dipping further as well.. so hava fasterly seek shelter back home.. heh.

Qatar Exxonmobil Open 2010 - Quarter Finals

2010-01-08T23:29:00.005+08:00

Had lobang to catch this year's Qatar Open quarter final matches at Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. Exciting!! =)

My manager's wife has kindly got me an extra pair of tickets so i can join them on an afternoon of tennis. Swee!! hahaa..

Besides the match ticket, my manager also treated me to a burger meal before we sat in for the matches at 4pm ydae. When I offered and attempted to insist on treating them instead, my manager says he treats everyone equally - He treats all apprentices/trainees who works for him. He rationalized that he's earning much more than me (which I wont dispute), and doesn't have any more financial commitments. He told me to save my money instead.. Of course I told him its not abt the $$$ - it's about 礼上往来嘛。。。

To which he said "What you can do is to 'Pay It Forward'. Next time when you are in my position, you can treat your apprentices/trainees who work for you!!".

I thought that's a brilliant idea!

Here's the games village entrance, guarded by two of tennis' greats.

This is actually my first experience at a proper tennis match, so I was quite thrilled! heh..

Of course being able to catch the current best 2 was a huge bonus! ;O)

We had to wait for a game to end before we could join in for the 1st quarterfinal game btw Viktor Troicki and Lukasz Kubot. So while waiting, I snapped this from the stairs.

Our main objectives for that evening were... .. guess who!!?

Must admit all my photos were biased towards Nadal and Federer.

Nadal's match was a little disappointing as his opponent, Steve Darcis, had to withdraw with backpain 30+mins into the game. Nonetheless, I still managed to catch quite a bit of him in action..

This's how you receive the Nadal's way..

And this's the Nadal's way to swerve a cracker! Look closely and learn!!

Of course, perks of watching LIVE matches - you get to see some of the off-court undressing moments! Oooh-lala.. Hahaa..

Media interview after the Nadal-Darcis match.

Check out those gigantic tennis balls!! Nearly wanted to get one too...

Okie.. that was a so-so game. Nothing to rave about..

Now switching attention to the current World's Greatest - 费德勒！！！

It was getting quite chilly as the evening wears on.. prolly reaching 10 Deg C??

I guess that's why Federer was still in his jumper while warming up..

This's how you SURF on the court! LOL

This is him in his proper competition attire. Blue and white. Nicceee...

(Nadal's orange and white is oso nice!!)

Besides surfing on court, you need to know how to waltz too!!

The Federer's Serve.

I did a digital tele-zoom here to try and capture Federer's mood and state of mind, 2 sets into the game. It was 1 apiece at that time. It was a real exciting game - His 21 yrs old opponent Ernest Gulbis could whip up swerves of 210+km/h, notching 13 aces against Federer!!

(I noticed a typical first swerve will be less than 200km/h..)

Definitely not a walk-in-the-park, explaining for his little troubled and irksome expression here, maybe!?? Hahaa..

I was caught off-guard when he suddenly started stripping (top only i meant)!!

Maybe its a practice to "change the tide around"? Some lucky ritual??! Or maybe Nike's Dri-Fit technology not drying his polo T as quickly as he'ld like!!?

Getting dressed, preparing for the final showdown.

As he re-focused to trya get back his winning momentum in his final set.

This was the general view of the stadium I had as I was seated in the last row of the Middle level. It's pretty good seats, especially when considering it's free-seating and it wasn't full-house. So it's still possible to get closer to the court if we really wanted. Probably can shift 15 rows below? The seats were very well angled, so even if there's someone seated in front of you, your view will still be pretty much unblocked, unlike in cinemas back home..

And this's how you do the Federer hop!

Here's the suspense-filled first match point point, which Federer unfortunately couldn't "finish him off". We were quietly hoping he will end it all with an Ace.
When he did "finished him off", my video mode wasn't working well.. hence didn't managed to capture that "winning moment".. =(

After he won, and doing the media interview - Busying tidying his hair while speaking..

Noticed his die-hard fans from Pakistan with the white banner in the background!??

Yes, yes, we all know you won and you are a happy man.

(Actually he was throwing autographed tennis balls into the audience. He was the only one who didn't use the racket to hit the ball towards us audience.. and he was the only one who throw the ball towards my direction, albeit not hard enough!! darn!)

And that's how I spent another memorable "1st" moment in Doha, Qatar =)

Interesting Read

2010-01-06T20:49:00.006+08:00

The Singapore Solution

How did a sleepy little island transform into a high-tech powerhouse in one generation? It was all in the plan.

2010-01-04T22:03:00.002+08:00

Depeche Mode - Somebody

I want somebody to share
Share the rest of my life
Share my innermost thoughts
Know my intimate details
Someone who'll stand by my side
And give me support
And in return
She'll get my support
She will listen to me
When I want to speak
About the world we live in
And life in general
Though my views may be wrong
They may even be perverted
She'll hear me out
And won't easily be converted
To my way of thinking
In fact she'll often disagree
But at the end of it all
She will understand me

I want somebody who cares
For me passionately
With every thought and with every breath
Someone who'll help me see things
In a different light
All the things I detest
I will almost like
I don't want to be tied
To anyone's strings
I'm carefully trying to steer clear
Of those things
But when I'm asleep
I want somebody
Who will put their arms around me
And kiss me tenderly
Though things like this
Make me sick
In a case like this
I'll get away with it.

2010-01-03T03:33:00.001+08:00

I want somebody to share, share the rest of my life
Share my innermost thoughts, know my intimate details... ...

(Nice song with brilliant lyrics!!)

Happy New 2010!!

2010-01-02T14:38:00.002+08:00

Very Merry XMas!

2009-12-27T22:14:00.000+08:00

It has indeed been an EXTRAordinary Christmas this year round. Never had it this "in-tensed" :O

Moving on - Suspense. Exhilaration. New Year. New Believes.

Welcoming the "Little One"

2009-12-24T02:33:00.000+08:00

Peek-a-Boo!!

Now I see you...

Now I don't!!

That's one happy, carefree little fellow for you! =)

Okie, here I hava "keep my distance" as I wasn't exactly in a "clean" condition - Just touched down that morning, never bath, never brush teeth, never "sanitize" yet...

It's sooooo exciting having a new addition into the extended family!!

Makes my wonder what sort of world he will grow up to, what kinda life he will have, what sort of person he will mature into, etc, etc..

So many possibilities, so many unknowns, so many discoveries to be made - Exciting!! ;o)

And it's moments like these that strongly justify having a decent DSLR with good (aka expensive lenses) - Money can't buy memories, but cameras can freeze them!!

Hmm.. I've another couple of weeks to "make up my mind"...

Uncle Tee

2009-12-17T23:34:00.000+08:00

It's official.

I'm officially Uncle Tee henceforth.. Wah leow!!!

oooh.. exciting! ;o)

Counting-down

2009-12-15T01:56:00.001+08:00

Doha @Night

2009-12-12T22:46:00.001+08:00

These were some night shots I took few weeks ago while wandering around my ususal haunts in town.

That's the Intercontinental Hotel where I go to for their gym and swimming pool facilities..

Have seen quite a few exotic cars parked there previously (din managed to take any photos of them as I dun lug my G9 along when I go swimming or the gym).. noticeably, the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722, with its iconic exhaust quad-pipe coming out from its side (instead of the back), and..

Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione.

Oh, its also where their Cafe Restaurant serves up 249QR brunches, with great international spread, and free-flow of bubbly. Here's mine, and I forgot to snap a shot until halfway thru the feast!! ha.
Was a real sumptuous, bloating Friday afternoon "complimentary" treat..

And right beside my place is another on-going Hotel construction project - St Regis is setting up shop here. And I heard the owner of this new establishment is the same person for the Intercontinental Hotel. Seems like business sure is booming in this strategic location!!

This is the City Centre mall which my apartment has hourly shuttle buses ferrying guests from the hotel and apartment there. It's also where we go to buy lunch on workdays.. since right across it is my office.

This is my office tower.. notice the 6 lanes challenge we have to jay-walk every day to go buy lunch??! To make matters worse, there were no traffic lights previously to slow traffic down.. so every crossing was a real challenge!!
Luckily the lights went live in past 2 weeks, so cars slowed down a lot more these days.

And if you see here, there are plentiful construction of sky-scrapers around my area. In fact the rate of building is so fast, that today the 2 buildings beside my office is almost as tall as my office tower already - All these in a span of less than 1 month!!

Another night-shot of some of the neighboring office towers..

2009-12-12T21:36:00.002+08:00

Facebook accounts hacked

Check out the conversation the hacker initiated at the bottom of the article. Quite credible, I must say.. Think next time we will all needa have a code-word or code-phrase for everyone, so that we can verify the other party's identity behind the computer screen!! LOL