Things to Do In Singapore

Feeling bored in crampy, small Singapore? Refer to this calendar of events for the goings-on in town!

(Ed: I'd need to update this with some interesting content, but for now, this will have to do)

Update:

Digital Art & Technology Exhibition
Event Dates	:	10th Nov 2007 to 1st Jan 2008
Time of Event	:	10am to 6pm (Tuesday to Sunday)
Venue:	:	Singapore Science Centre
Category	:	Exhibition

New Year Resolutions

Merry X'Mas to one and all! As the year wraps up, people start taking vacations, go for holidays to refresh and recharge, and take stock of what they have done for the past year and what goals they have for the year ahead. Some of us may want to perform an annual life audit like our very famous Mr Wang.

Thanks to all for your support and stopping by my blog all this while. You know who you are, lemme know who you are! For those who said they will read, but didn't show up, I know who you are too :P. But no worries alright?

What are some of the most popular pages on my blog? Here they are, in no particular order:

• Wedding Emcee (Significance of champagne pouring)
• How Many Days A Year Do You Work? (this is actually a satire)
• Dilbert's Talented People Are Busy
  

I'm quite disappointed that my tourist guide to Singapore was not found by anyone. I think it's a pretty good writeup! (But then again it is outdated).

Yes, we all know what they say about new year resolutions, after so many years of my life, this is the first time I am thinking about some serious resolutions.

I do have quite a lot of things to blog about, but have been lazy (and busy) to keep up with everything.

For now, let me start with my new year resolutions.

1. Build up sources of passive income (path to financial independence)
2. Keep regular sleeping hours (i.e. sleep by midnight and wake by 7am)
3. Have better time discipline and stop procrastinating. (this one is hard)
4. Spend money prudently, invest money wisely.
5. Improve my financial planning (this is related to building passive income). (yeah, insurance agents and FPs will come a-knocking :D)
6. Spend less (frivolous) time on the computer. (I REALLY mean it!)
7. Improve my organizational skills.
8. Improve my people skills.

I've also been wanting to do this for years - digitizing and posting a few of my essays written in school that I was quite pleased with. Not that these will be of any literary merit or be accepted by the New York Times (or even by *gasp* The Straits Times). Let me just list them out for my ailing memory's sake.

• Urbanization Essay (1994 GP Prelim Essay)
• Satire (1997 Rhetoric 105)
• Root searching in Guangzhou (广州)
  

Look out for them.

PAYM Youth Policy Forum @ Tanjong Pagar GRC

Topic: Are there increasing opportunities for youths to develop their careers in Singapore? What are they?

Date: 19 January 2008, Saturday
Time: 2.30 pm to 6.00 pm
Venue: Velvet Underground, Zouk

Guest-of-Honour Associate Prof Koo Tsai Kee Minister of State, Ministry of Defence Adviser to Tanjong Pagar GRC Grassroots Organizations

* Register for the Forum now!
Just send your details (Name / NRIC/ Occupation / Contact Number) to tanjongpagarforum@gmail.com with the subject title: “PAYM Youth Policy Forum” to sign up.

Closing date: 31 December 2007, Monday

For more information on the forum, please log on to www.paym.org.sg

Update: I kenna arrowed to be one of the note takers again. Should have brought my laptop along and let my incessant typing irritate the hell out of the panel speakers and guest-of-honor.

what is Linux??

This should not be in Comsul since it is more interesting than technical (or should it?).

A pretty Taiwanese singer 萧萧 has done a promotional event for Ubuntu Linux, and she is asking on her blog what Linux is.

Haha ... thanks a lot 萧萧, even though you are not a Linux user, it's gratifying enough that you are interested. But all the better, since an artist should know about the products that they are endorsing.

I shall leave you with a picture to whet your appetite ...

Finger Painting

Err ... I didn't realize that this post was left blank (until I received notification of a comment left on this entry) as a result of a botched attempt at email submission of attached pictures! Apparently Blogger (Google) is not so advanced yet.

I received these finger painting pieces via email, looked good enough for me to try to forward the email to my blogger posting email, but unfortunately, the attachments got thrown out of the door.

Alright. Enough of rambling ... here they are, enjoy!

(Updated Dec 20, 2007)

Consolidation

After so long, it's time for me to get my stuff in order.

• Consolidate my music library (in progress)
  
• Transfer songs from cassette to MP3
• Transfer songs from CD to MP3
• Edit/convert ID3 tags to Unicode
• Remove duplicates and bad songs
• Photos
• Gather all the digital photos
• Gather all the print pictures
• Books
• Catalog all the titles
• Email (in progress)
  
• Gather all mails from all ages into one place
• Both personal and work
• My preferred format is IMAP (dovecot on Linux)
  

New Book - The Fountainhead

Having decided to continue my journey with Ayn Rand, I've been looking for one of the other books besides Atlas Shrugged - The Fountainhead.



I've searched high and low for this one. I didn't try Borders or Kinokuniya, instead trying the numerous second-hand bookstores in Singapore. Last week I made calls to all such bookstores that are listed on the Internet, and all are out of stock, or they are not even familiar with Ayn Rand. Are these books really so popular that they get sold out all the time? Or are they so esoteric that shops don't bother to stock too many, unlike titles like Kite Runner which seem to be flooding every shop.

This past week I made many trips (due to my bad memory) to VivoCity (and by gosh, it is really a city, because it has EVERYTHING! You can practically LIVE inside there!) and by chance, the friendly computerized store directory (sponsored by VISA) told me there is a SAN Bookshop when I tried to look for "books" (PageOne was not the first result). So off I went to the far corner of the complex, only to find the shop, but not the book. "It's sold out, may not come in for another 2 to 3 weeks." "Okay", I said. "Could you let me know when it arrives?". "Sure!" and I left my name and number.

Just TWO days later, I received a call, "Mr Cheng, your book has arrived. We shall reserve it for 3 days only." Darn, I was going for Sitex that day, Library@Orchard closing on Friday, leaving only Saturday free to collect the book.

So off I went on Saturday after finishing my chores at home - mopping the floor, tidying my room, cleaning my desk, and messing around with my MP3 player - by then it was almost 5pm! Fortunately, the book was still there, with my name stuck on the cover :). I happily paid the $18 for it. It's a six month lease, but I'm not sure if I want to return it. Like the girl at the bookshop told me, "usually people who read such books won't return them - they will have them for keeps".

So kudos to SAN Bookshop (Vivocity)! You have made my day/week/month/year. Not forgetting, that I got my TWO copies of Atlas Shrugged from SAN Bookshop (Suntec) too!

SAN Bookshop Vivocity: #02-130 Vivocity, 63769332.
SAN Bookshop Suntec: #03-30 Suntec City, 63342326.

I shall post their carrier design later. Oh, and they wrap the books nicely too! THANKS! :-)

The End of a Chapter

Library@Orchard, one of my favourite haunts has finally closed its doors for the last time on November 30, 2007. I'm sure many a library lover who has spent some good times here would miss the place. We look forward to seeing it reopen it's doors 'soon' in 2010.

I remember fondly hanging out here after work on some Friday evenings when I just don't want to go home, catching up on the books on programming, networking and browsing through the magazines for interesting reads. Incidentally, the other places I frequent include Kinokunia two floors down, and Borders further up/down Orchard Road.

The library organized a Moving On party in the library premises, where there are food and drinks, bands, magicians, etc. I left work on-time to attend this event (for which I have registered two weeks in advance), but was caught in a jam at City Hall MRT station caused by a purported service disruption from dunno-where, and I arrived after the opening ceremony. This is truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where all the rules in the library are openly broken - loud music, eating and drinking in the library and taking photos (is that disallowed in the first place?)



I took this video with my mobile after being chased out of the library. This documents the symbolic act of closing the doors for the last time. There was still a large crowd which I doubt would disperse anytime soon, and so I took my leave.


I leave you here with a few other links to other blogs covering the closure and this event.

Simply Jean

• http://blog.simplyjean.com/2007/12/01/st-tearful-farewell/
• http://blog.simplyjean.com/2007/12/01/libraryorchard-video-series-magic-shows/
• http://blog.simplyjean.com/2007/12/01/a-golden-globe-award-moment/

Ian

• http://onthereddot.com/ian/2007/11/20/libraryorchard-moving-on/

Discoveries

Can you believe it?? I went grocery shopping on Sunday evening - 10 years after I first started doing it in college, which stopped when I returned to Singapore.

I was walking around in Cold Storage looking for kiwi fruits, seedless grapes, Hawaii papayas and Ribena, when I chanced upon this! It looked so novel and irresistible that I simply had to buy it to try, see that it's like! And the bottle cap - it's so quirky! I thought they phased these out 20 years ago!! :-)

It's a four-pack. The half empty (full?) bottle on the right was drunk by me (burp!).

Oh, here's a real-life shot of my new phone (needs charging every 2 days!)

Please pardon my dirty desk (if you have not noticed, it's supposed to be white Formica).

Ok, pardon my sleepy head. It's way past my bedtime .... koonzzzzzzzzzzzzzz already!

Shaolin: Temple of Zen The Exhibition

Man! This week is just SOOO filled with activities!

Today, I learned that Shaolin is so much more than just gongfu/kungfu fighting.

We have all been hoodwinked!

• The Shaolin martial arts displays that tourists see are actually performed by secular students of the neighboring schools who have shaved their heads and donned monastery robes.
• Shaolin martial monks NEVER spar amongst themselves
• Each of the monks follow their own training, and have their own speciality

Read the newspaper scan posted below for more information (that is if you read Chinese!).

Dad alerted me to this photo exhibition that was featured on Zaobao on Saturday (24-Nov-2007), held by Justin Guariglia (an Italian-American photographer whose passion for Chinese culture drew him to China to study Chinese and marry a Taiwanese wife) in Singapore.

Visit Justin's website!


Location: PageOne bookstore VivoCity
Date: 24-Nov-2007 to 30-Nov-2007
Time: 10am to 10pm (10:30 on Friday and Saturday)

I'd most likely be going after work - join me!

The following article was quoted from ChannelNewsAsia. For posterity, I've taken the liberty to post the full text here after attributing the source (see the link just now):

Mention Shaolin monks and most would associate it with kung fu fighting.

With Jackie Chan and Jet Li acting as martial arts masters in Hollywood movies, most people including US photographer Justin Guariglia equate kung fu fighting with inflicting physical violence on others.

However, this view changed for Guariglia as he was privileged to be the only photographer to be given total access to the Shaolin monks in the famed Buddhist temple in the central Chinese province of Henan after eight years. Most monks and journalists are not given this opportunity as more often than not, only the commercial aspect of Shaolin monks are presented to the masses. This, Guariglia said is an absolute façade, for most importantly, what happens inside the temple is not explained to the people.

Having earned the trust of the monks of the Shaolin Monastry, the photographer who is also a contributing editor to National Geographic Traveller, published a book with pages of photographs, hoping to provide the true definition of martial arts and enlighten the world of the real and rare view of what takes place inside the famed temple and its occupants.

The Shaolin Monastery was built by the Emperor Hsiao-Wen in 496 CE, and the first abbot of Shaolin was Batuo. Batuo was an Indian monk who travelled from southern India over the himalayas and into the Shaolin Temple which ended up being the birthplace of Zen Buddhism and Kung Fu.

Monks consider kung fu the vehicle for Zen and a form of meditation and not violence. The real Shaolin monks that live in the temple study Zen Buddhism and practice classical Shaolin kung fu forms, which are rarely seen outside the temple. These Shoalin monks practice kung fu not for the sake of fighting but for self cultivation.

These monks have not toured in traveling shows since the 1990s and those who perform in various countries, are actually students whose primary role is to entertain the public. These students are trained in schools outside the Shaolin Temple. None of these schools are officially sanctioned by the temple nor are the students trained in any form of deep inner Zen Buddhism, but instead, are taught wushu, a contemporary form of martial arts.

However, the monks aren’t afraid of this misconception that these students are showcasing to the world as they understand through popular culture that it is the sparring in martial arts that captures and holds the interest of people. Thus, such tours will help to keep the name of Shaolin alive in the minds of people, even if its meaning is not exactly whole and right.

Should you want to learn more about the life of Shaolin monks, a talk and slideshow presentation will be conducted by Guariglia on the 21st of November at 6pm at The Arts House.

S-POP HURRAY!

So excited!

Just caught the repeat of S-POP Hurray! on TV just now, and it was great! Brought back so many wonderful memories of songs and singers, both past and present (especially the past). This series of programs aims to showcase the talents of Singapore's Chinese pop industry from the 1980's to the present. Reminds me of all the good times back when I was a kid and teenager (yeah it was that long ago ... )


The TV happened to be on Channel U when I was having a late dinner, and I, seeing that this is a show not to be missed, I immediately started recording with my hard disk recorder (haha, no more fumbling for video tapes along with the cursing and swearing when there is none!). I simply love this gadget!

This 18 installment entertainment series, whose aim is to rejuvenate and encourage the development of the local popular music scene, is a MUST-watch for any fan of local Chinese pop music way back from the xinyao era.

The first 2 installments are 2-hours each presented mini-concert style, so these will be perfect for reminiscing the old, enjoying the current, and previewing the future. I shall continue to record the 2nd installment.

26-Nov-2007: 7pm to 9pm
03-Dec-2007: 7pm to 9pm

The rest of the installments start from 8pm every Monday, till the finale on 23-Mar-2008 (Sunday) where it will be telecast live! from the Singapore Indoor Stadium from 7:30pm. I'll be sure to record that as well!

During this period, there will also be OUTDOOR PERFORMANCES with time and venue to-be-announced! I'll definitely attend if I can make it!

More words are unnecessary - find out all the information you need about the event by visiting the official website linked from the title of this post, or the S-POP logo above.

Now I know what songs I will be singing on my next karaoke outing! :-)

New Mobile - Nokia E65

On the very day that my mobile contract reached 21 months (20-Nov-2007), I headed to the Singtel shop at VivoCity to recontract my mobile plan and get a new handset. As I have been getting quite a number of long incoming calls recently (I expect the trend to continue), I finally decided to switch from my Classic plan (for which I already have the best loyalty price of $21/mth after 7 long years as a customer) to the iOneValue. Darn ... there is no benefit of being loyal these days anymore, be it with an employer, telecoms provider, and sometimes even friends!

Seeing that my broadband subscription has matured as well, I decided to re-contract to a slower 1Mbps plan for $35/mth with one month free subscription instead of taking the free Ethernet ADSL modem/router (I have TOO MANY of these already). Considering the amount of time I spend at home surfing, I really do not need the kind of speeds at 3.5Mbps up and 350kbps down. Paying $10/mth less gives me $120/year that I can use to supplement my health insurance (MediShield/IncomeShield).

Since a few months back, I have already decided on the Nokia E65 over competing choices from Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, Motorola. Reason being it is a capable phone with good enterprise applications and connectivity options, besides being a smart phone which I can write my own applications on (run a web server or something).

My trusty Samsung X210 has served me well for a good part of this year - I have taken good care of it, and it still looks like new. I will still bring it around for a few more weeks as a backup just in case my new phone decides to act up one way or another, like running out of juice. Transferring contacts, fortunately, has been successful, thanks to the ubiquity of CSV export/import capabilities of the phone software among different manufacturers. Outlook/WindowsAddressBook capability is still the 'preferred' way of transferring contacts, but for a hacker like me, plain old CSV still holds a certain charm. My only other gripe is the lack of a good transfer mechanism for SMS messages, so now I have a whole CSV of my old SMS messages in the new phone as a data file. I'd like pointers on transferring SMS messages if there are any.

Since this is my first smart/camera phone, I've had fun taking mug shots of people, associating them with contacts on my phone list, like a child with a new toy. Hee, some things never change.

I am listening to music played (on looping Random Play) on my E65 as I am typing this. I've always wanted to have a all-in-one device that allows me to do everything - phone, camera, storage, music, radio, Internet, PIM, and games - but I fail to realize the catch with these AIO devices - that while they do everything, they do not do everything WELL.

File transfers are slow, even via the USB cable, not to mention the need to install the phone driver on the PC (these can never replace conventional USB thumb drives, so my Cruzer Titanium need not fear being neglected), playing music or games drain the battery pretty quickly (not leaving you much for phone calls), and the picture quality from the camera leaves much to be desired (they are grainy and unfocused). These jack-of-all-trades gadgets are good as backup devices when you do not have your regular camera or MP3 player at hand, but you should get dedicated devices if you want to enjoy the best experience.

The Nokia E65 being rated as the most trendy geek gadget in the mobile phone category was one of the strongest affirming reasons for my decision to get it as my next phone. I find that the other phones from Samsung/LG (too flashy without much substance), Sony Ericsson (good features but too proprietary) not really suitable.

Things I like about the E65:

• sleek, fashionable look
• quadband, 3G support for full world-wide usage (yes, I am a traveler!)
  
• built-in wifi
• camera for taking pictures and videos
• able to read PDF and Microsoft Office documents
• good, strong speakers for playing music
• large screen
• gamut of connectivity features, IR, Bluetooth, USB cable
• support for custom applications written in Java MIDP, C++, and Python (my favourite language, yeah! did I mention I wrote applications for the iPAQ and N70)

Some of my other gripes about the E65:

• lack of a thumb-grip for sliding the phone up and down
• holding the phone with one hand tends to have the index finger covering the camera lens
• lack of FM radio
• lack of stereo headset
• poor camera/picture quality, only 2MP, not 3.2MP
• lack of 2nd camera for 3G video calls
• bundled data cable cannot do charging

As I finish this post, my newly charged phone since this last night is just beginning to run out again. I shall keep playing music from the phone till it's drained and stop typing to charge it.

Hmm ... now the N81 looks rather good too, in terms of features, even though it is bulky and heavy, and it costs the same! Sigh, you can never get good enough I guess :). I shall pine for my next ideal phone which has Wifi, 3.5G, Quadband, FM, MP3, 3.2MP, external memory to be had in 12 months time when I am eligible for another handset upgrade! Right now, the only phone that fits is the SE W960i, but too bad it is LATE! Any other good recommendations?

Random Play

I've learnt something new. Random Play suddenly became infamous thanks to FaceBook.

Thinking that the phrase was quite fun, I tried to edit my profile to include that, but try as I might, the option is NOT showing up for me! So off I went to do some research on the Internet. Turns out that FaceBook users who are not part of a college network (i.e. not college students) are not eligible to list their relationship desire to be Anything I Can Get, or Random Play.

Another comment here.

The argument is, imagine you are a working professional in a 'respectable' multi-national company, or you have already climbed the corporate ladder, taking up leadership positions. Your boss, or subordinates, or even head-hunters find at your FaceBook profile and noticing that you are looking for "Random Play", snigger to themselves in amusement and never look at you the same way at the office again. There goes your promotion AND respect.

Actually, Anything I Can Get is fine, though I don't see it as having any specific meaning. Simply "Friendship" is good enough to mean the same thing. Anything I Can Get borders on desperation - let's be temporary friends, or pen-pals, or have a couple of dates without obligations, I just can't stand being alone!

I don't see what's the big deal with Random Play. In fact, I like Random Play. Life would be so boring without it. Random Play is a good thing, and I highly recommend everyone to Random Play. Millions of people around the world are already engaged in it!

Don't believe me? I've got the most trendy company in the world to back me up.

Other uses of Random Play:

• Online Music Website
• Movie
• Pop/Rock/Reggae Music Band

Radin Mas BMW Adventure Trail

Organised by Radin Mas CC

• Date: Sunday, 02 December 2007
• Time: 8.00am – 1.00pm ( ** Reporting Time at 8.00am sharp ** )
• Reporting Venue: (Start / End Point) Radin Mas Community Club
• Participation Fee: $10 per team
  

Come & explore the division on foot, bus or train. Form a team of 4 people* and enjoy a Sunday morning full of fun, joy as well as win yourselves attractive prizes. Why wait? Registration is now open till 26 Nov 2007. Limited places. so submit your application to Radin Mas Community Club soon!

* Bonus point will be given to team consist of family members especially from 3-tier-family.

Registration / Enquiry
Radin Mas Community Club
1 Telok Blangah Crescent
Singapore 098915
Tel: 62735294
Fax: 62730768

GUEST OF HONOUR
Mr Sam Tan Chin Siong
MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC

Leave me a comment for the registration form, or you can pick it up from Radin Mas CC at 1 Telok Blangah Crescent.

Update: Did you know what BMW stands for? Bus, MRT, Walk! This event is the first of a series of adventure trails which might include food, places of interest, etc.

How Much Do Rankings Matter?

In this year's THES-QS World University Rankings 2007 of the world's top 200 universities, there have been several large changes from last year - the different grading criteria leading to the large shifts in positions of several top universities, including our beloved NUS and NTU.

33= 19= National University of SINGAPORE Singapore

69 61= NANYANG Technological University Singapore
73 77 University of ILLINOIS United States

NUS dropped from 19 to 33, and NTU dropped from 61 to 69. UIUC made slight progress from 77 to 73. (Darn! I should have stayed in Singapore instead of freezing my butt off for 3 years.)

Just last year, NUS was proudly embracing the honor of being the top 20 universities in the world. In fact, as of today, the reference to the 2006 rankings is still on its front page!


Then today's print edition (it cannot be found on the web edition) of 早报 quoted NUS President Prof Shih as saying that the reputation and stature of universities are built over tens, even hundreds of years, and should not be change significantly over just one year. He also reportedly said that NUS would not be taking this year's ranking seriously (article to come). This reminds me of Gold 90.5FM's slogan "Hear only the good stuff!" How typically Singaporean to welcome and applaud only glowing praise from others while downplaying negative reports or criticism.

The same 早报 report also stated, however, that the judging criteria have also changed, so the change in rankings should not come as a surprise. Another accusation pointed out the fact that QS is a British company and this year's report had UK universities occupying 3 of the top 5 (up from 2 in 2006). It's also notable that UK's UCL leap-frogged from 25 to 9 while traditional American powerhouses Stanford and UC Berkeley dropped from the top 10 into the 20's.

How reliable are University rankings anyway, and how seriously should we view them? In Singapore pre-tertiary schools (primary, secondary, JC), standardized tests like PSLE, GCE 'O' and GCE 'A' levels can be used for meaningful comparisons. In this respect, the rankings are meaningful and easy to understand.

At the university level, things get more complicated. The lack of standardized examinations and curriculum make for difficult objective comparisons. Rankings can only be based on subjective measures like opinion polls, where people in industry are asked to rate universities, and faculty are asked to rate other institutions. To inject a slight measure of objectivity,

• the percentage of faculty with PhD's,
• the amount (proportion) of money spent on research,
• the number of papers published (the scale of the conferences at which these papers are presented also matter),
• the number of references from papers published by other institutions

are also taken into account. At this level, results can be influenced by manipulation of numbers without much significant real world benefit to improve a university's ranking. For example, more 'popular' or productive research programs can receive more funding and administrative support, never mind if the papers produced are too esoteric, impractical, or too common-place.

Take a look at America's Best Colleges from the US News and World Report, where the methodology is heavily based on opinion polls, where college deans are asked to evaluate other schools on a scale from 1 to 5.

All that said, the usual wisdom applies - rankings should NOT be taken at face value - people should think about what they are looking for in a university, performing independent research to evaluate the schools. This applies to high-school graduates choosing a college, PhD's looking for research/teaching jobs in university, government agencies or venture capitalist evaluating schools for giving grants/funding, companies looking for academic partners for research collaboration, equipment or monetary donations, etc.

It is important to look at the specific area of interest when choosing a school. For example, a university that is ranked 73 (overall) may actually have one of the best engineering programs in the United States, being consistently in the top 5 among Electrical Engineering and Computer Science programs and being one of the feeder schools of fresh engineers to companies like Intel, AMD, HP, Texas Instruments, etc. It may also have one of the best Agricultural or Mass Communications departments. Or a relatively unknown university in California may have one of the most exciting solid state electronics research departments in the world.

Unfortunately, in 'meritocratic' Singapore, (good) rankings matter most, bad rankings are ignored, and objective evaluations fall by the wayside.

Welcome to Singapore!

Update: I just found this report, linked off Wikipedia, by the Shanghai Jiaotong University (上海交通大学) that puts UIUC at #26 in the Top 100 universities in 2007. Check out their ranking methodology. It's interesting why our Singapore institutions did not quote this report at all. NUS and NTU are ranked #110 and #329 respectively. You can download the full list here.

Personality Assessment Quiz

Imagine you are on a trip around the world in a hot air balloon, when suddenly the balloon starts to sink, as if something on board is overweight. Given a choice, which of the following would you jettison?

1. Camera
2. Clock
3. Luggage
4. Lamp
5. Tin cans

Submit your answers! To be announced in the next (few) installments.

Weekly Updates

Weekly Reports

Don't you just think writing weekly reports is a drag? It is a necessary evil at work, where doing so maintains your chance of survival in the company, but how about in daily life? If your life is so drab, uneventful and boring, what is there to write about, and what business is it of everyone else in the first place?

Fortunately, this is one of those weeks that comes with some discoveries. I haven't been out in a while, and I think it is time for me to catch up with my surroundings and what's happening around me since I am rather free these few days.

Change is the Only Constant

I would like to continue on my time-capsule theme by sharing these pictures of the construction going on in Orchard Road. If this blog is still around when the buildings are half, and fully complete, then I can further post photos of the same scene at those times. Does anyone know what they are building there?

This is taken at the corner of the junction outside Borders and Orchard Boulevard

This is taken from Paterson Road in-between Orchard Road and Orchard Boulevard outside Borders.

Harris bookstore beside Popular at Orchard MRT is closing. Everything is going for 20% off store-wide. There are still some good books there - grab them while you can. It's rather surprising to see them closing shop, but maybe, just maybe, rents are too high (this is Orchard MRT no doubt), and they are selling mainly mainstream books. It make more economic sense to move the business elsewhere and let more profitable/popular businesses (like Popular?) take over the place.

Hmm ... I am wondering, is the rent there really expensive?? Just beside it, there is a discount fashion and shoe shop with hardly any decoration to speak of (is the money saved from lack of decoration the reason why that shop is able to last for so long while other hippy looking shops like Harris are closing??)

Moving Back in Time?

Saw this article in today's 晚报 (yeah yeah, I read such trash)。

Exorbitant prices of bread and ice-cream at a time when the economy is supposed to be booming.

All of a sudden, prices are escalating like crazy - from oil, to flour, and now ice-cream? I was looking for something to eat on Friday night in Chinatown, and settled for my favourite Pad Thai at the edge of the food street. A simple Pad Thai dish ($8) and a Lemon grass drink ($3) costs $11! The place is one major tourist trap! I let it go because I was glad to be satisfying my craving for my tasty 泰式果条, but this is really ridiculous! I miss the good old days when coffee or tea costed 3 cents and a bowl of noodles went for 5 cents.

我的战利品

今天在逛商场的时候看到了几张光碟，结果忍不住就买了整套《咏春》（2007）（上下集）连续剧。真的不敢相信，我竟然买了谢霆锋演出的作品 （这下糟了，肯定得罪锋锋的粉丝了）。那其实也没什么关系，因为我把它当作买给我老爸看的。

精明的读者们就会发现为什么还有一份《杀破狼》的电影光碟呢? 对了！真聪明！那是因为昨天在电视上看了一遍，而且觉得里面的动作场面蛮精彩的。 这张光碟还是未经删剪的呢！一回家就看了，果然是由一些镜头是电视版所没有的。

由此可以看得出我对武术动作片还挺感兴趣的。我本身也学过一年多的咏春拳， 很惭愧得自己还不能成什么气候。应该开始继续练习啦！

Totally unrelated plug: die die must buy Straits Times on Thursdays, throw away all other sections except Urban (cos my friend is in the editing team).

Reflections

I've been carrying my baby around ever since I got it (because it is so small and light!). Many a time, I come across some nice scenery and had a sudden inspiration to take pictures of these places.

No prizes for guessing where this was taken. This is the night-time version of a similar photo taken a couple of years ago. It's very 'interesting' to compare photos of the same place after some time.

Notice how good the partial reflection is at hiding the photographer (me)? I am nowhere to be found!

Here's another photo log of Tiong Bahru estate, which has recently been featured on the Monday, October 29, 2007 edition of "my paper" (我报) for it's attractive yuppie charm.

TiongBahru	WoBaoTiongBahru

Coincidentally, I snapped the photos the previous Sunday, when I passed by the place on the bus on my way home. I suddenly had an urge to take a few pictures of the place/neighborhood where I spent 2-3 years of my early childhood! A lot has changed - the place I used to stay in has been torn down, with only an open field in its place.

Anyone interested to visit Tiong Bahru for the traditional yummy porridge and yuppie style cafes?

One of the antennas atop Mount Faber has Christmas lights! Here are some shots fo the antenna and my neighborhood from my floor. I encourage you step out to take a look at your surroundings from another angle - gives you new perspectives - this also applies to real life when dealing with people and emotions.

Celebrity Blogs

Spent my entire weekend waiting for a mobilization that never came (which is just as well 'cos i really don't want to lug all the stuff to and fro). What matters is that we are well-prepared.

My attempt to sleep before midnight this Sunday evening has been thwarted yet again, this time by a woman no less. :-) Well, I know how some of you might interpret this, but no, I am not that lucky, even though I secretly (what an oxymoron) wish for it to be a recurring 'problem' :-P.

I visited for the first time ping.sg (linked off tomorrow.sg) for some news feeds. From there, I chanced on a blog which had links to various celebrity blogs, the first being that of Live the Dream babe host Andrea Fonseka and I just clicked the link almost by reflex.

Knowing full well that people do NOT put their innermost feelings on their blogs and you can never draw any conclusion about a person's character from reading their blogs, I have to say that Andrea comes across as a rather sensible girl. Hence I would recommend her blog as a celebrity blog worth reading.



Alright, time to hit the sack, otherwise I may get the sack for getting in to work late. Good night!

Meanwhile, I'll drop another bait to whet your appetite - my favorite female singer Joi Chua 蔡淳佳 - listening to her has such an amazing calming and soothing effect on me, every time. She appeared on local TV last Sunday, and she was really beautiful, absolutely stunning!




P.S. ECE Alum Dinner on Wednesday, 31 October 2007, 7pm, Carlton Hotel

P.P.S. I've updated my books entry several times over the weekend too. See if you can catch the difference!

Talented People are Busy

I've been subscribing to Dilbert since 2003. (Hmm, I did a lot of things in 2003) Anyway, notice something interesting about this strip - notice who Dilbert is talking to - the garbage guy is enlightening Dilbert about the real workings of the world. What is Scott Adams' underlying reasoning for using a garbage guy?


Any ideas?

My New Car

On my way home just now, I was escorted by an orange-yellow Lamborghini. In a demonstration of my appreciation, and also to suit my playboy image, I've decided that my next car should be ...

2005 Lamborghini Gallardo Coupé

No offense to Lamborgh owners out there, but the company really made a reputation for itself as a car for rich playboys because of their decision not to get involved in the racing business.

I don't go for the latest and greatest. I'll settle for something slightly modest and mature. I just hope it is low enough to go under the barriers in the multi-storey carparks (heh heh .... siam the parking fee) :-)

Nature Shots

Here are some nice shots. I have some skillz yeah?

Printeet!

I'm doing a plug (voluntarily) for a friend who runs an online extension to their printing business. Click on the title of this post, or visit the "You shoot it, We print it!" (the caption had input from me :-)) link by the side.

I like combining the wonders of modern Internet technology with traditional brick-and-mortar businesses. The technology is there, and the possibilities are endless. It really takes an open-mindedness and a forward looking attitude to make these things possible.

Companies should really take full advantage of all this booming technology to improve their business processes. The era of running your business and operations on spreadsheets has passed, but sadly, so many companies are still using methods from 20 years ago.

What is the winning combination? Just remember this acronym: N.O.T.I.T.!

Need, Opportunity, Technology, Imagination, Talent.

I'm a Cubist

09-Nov-2007: Sob, sob ... my cheapskate cube broke already. I shall put this on my X'Mas wish list - a smooth durable Rubik's Cube!

History, MyStory, Literally

Books are a luxury these days. The only reading I've been doing is on my computer. Technical datasheets, Request for Comments, TR-069/TR-098, PDF copies of the Linux Journal, Linux Man-pages, Wikipedia, news websites, blogs, the list goes on.

When was the last time I actually read a book from start to finish? I cannot remember the number of books I've picked up from the library only to return them, having only read as much as BEFORE I checked them out.

Besides Unix Network Programming, DHTML and CSS, TCP/IP Illustrated, Python Cookbook, Singapore Street Directory (*gasp* does that count???), what REAL books have I read? I'd better write them down now than to struggle to remember them when my memory starts failing.

Most recently in 2005, I remember reading 3 out of 4 installments of Dan Brown over a few months. The daVinci Code, Angels and Demons, Digital Fortress. Particularly, I started daVinci Code during the outgoing flight on a business trip to the US, read it through my jet-lagged induced insomnia in the hotel, and finished it on the flight back a week later.

In 2004 2003, a (former) colleague recommended Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, saying I would be able to identify myself with the book. I feel very flattered that he thought this way. Atlas Shrugged, with it's classic question "Who is John Galt?", was one of the hardest books I've ever read. I would bring it to the office and read it everywhere.

The book cover shows Atlas (a Greek Titan made by Zeus to hold up the sky after losing a battle with the Olympians) buckling under the weight of the huge book title. What would happen if people of ability - or Atlas - went on strike? The result is tantamount to the sky falling down! And the world as we knew it would end! I shudder at the thought of such a possibility.
Here I am with Atlas at Rockerfella Center in New York in July 2007. Thank goodness he's still holding up. :)

I bought two copies of the book in total - I left the first one in the elevator or something and I could not find it since. When someone asked me which character I liked most in the book, I could not readily answer. Now I have realized that I really like Eddie Willers. He is the epitomization of the common man who makes an effort.

I do not claim to be John Galt, Hank Rearden, or Francisco d'Anconia - I am not worthy, yet. I am Eddie Willers - I TRY.

To see why I really like the book, why my friend thought why I would really like it, why I feel that it really captures the mindsets of most people in the world, even up till today, read the following excerpt:

"I'll count to three," she said. "Then I'll shoot."

"Wait! Wait! I haven't said yes or no!" he cried, cringing tighter against the door, as if immobility of mind and body were his best protection.

All around me, I see people with this mentality, especially at work. If you can understand the above, and appreciate what it means, then we can be best friends or even soul mates, really. If you also enjoy this book, please get in touch with me. Managed to influence other friends to read the book, and I am very happy that they did.

To illustrate how impressed I am with the book and its ideas, (I have updated this portion of this entry close to ten times, but that's just the beginning) I have two computers at home - the laptop is called JohnGalt (aiding my creativity, engineering, and productivity) and the Linux server desktop is called Dagny (always reliable, never whines, never letting me down, plus she looks sexy to boot).

I encourage you to read this book too. I could never find it in the library, but you should be able to get a copy at one of the many used bookshops in Singapore. I bought mine from San Bookshop at Suntec. You can try Sunny Bookstore in Far East Plaza too.

Oh, and did you know, former United States Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan is a Randian?!

Update: A film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged has been scheduled for 2008 (finally after years of delays). Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt will be starring! Both Pitt and Jolie are Rand fans as well, can you believe it? (If only all Dagny Taggarts in the world looked like Jolie!!) Check out the reports at AmericanHeritage and variety.com.

Besides technical material, I've had an affinity for detective thrillers (推理小说) because of the logical reasoning element involved. But of course, often when I read books with the intention of trying to guess whodunit, I fail miserably because the author never reveals enough to let you deduce the twists in the stories.

I forgot when I became a fan of John Grisham - I read A Time to Kill - it reminds me of the same racial themes in To Kill A Mockingbird which I had read in secondary school. I cannot recall what I read about the book by now.

I have Sherlock Holmes among the other detective novels I have read, or are in my possession.

During my later years in primary school, I had a fabulous gift from my aunt and uncle - something that my parents could never afford for me - The Charlie Brown Children's Encyclopedia. You would be wondering what kind of freak reads ENCYCLOPEDIAS!!! Yep, I was that freak. I was freaking engrossed with the series then. I can't remember right now, but within a year, I had polished off all 15 volumes of the encyclopedia. They make for really, really good reading! With all this knowledge, I managed to ace all my science tests and was able to answer secondary school geography test questions that I have never studied for!

Another manifestation of my freakish behavior came in the form of me bringing along a pocket dictionary everywhere I went. My dad bought me "The Little Collins Dictionary" on August 14, 1986, 2 days before my 10th birthday. (I remember this because it is still on my shelf, and I just opened the cover to see that I have written the date of purchase on the first page!) I looked up every word I saw that I was unfamiliar with. Such was the thirst of learning. I also made a goal of reading a few pages of the dictionary each day, but regrettably, that did not last very long.

I started reading the Lone Wolf series of game books in primary school on the recommendation of my cousin, and I got hooked ever since. Over the years as soon as a new copy was released, I would open my kitty, carry $5.50 in coins to my favorite hangout Times the Bookshop in Specialist Center to buy the book. All from my own saved pocket money (50 cents a day).

I finished the last few books up to the 20th and last book in the GrandMaster series "The Curse of Naar" during my army days when I was hospitalized for a week at NUH due to tonsillitis. By then I was a already an invincible GrandMaster - breezing through all the combat situations without even needing to pick from the RNT (Random Number Table). I also had more gold coins, potions and weapons than I could ever use. :)

I still have all 20 volumes lined up orderly on my bookshelf!

There is now a Lone Wolf revival movement, and Joe Dever, the author of the Lone Wolf series, has agreed to open-source his works under Project Aon!

I owe my writing proficiency in English to reading Lone Wolf books. I was still in Primary Three, and my english composition scores were barely passable, like 23, 24 out of 40. After reading these, my scores increased significantly to 33, 34 and even 35! Ironically, I felt that I have reached a plateau after that, and my english proficiency never really progressed from my primary three level. :-) (Does this entry look like it's written by a primary three student?)

Lone Wolf, obviously, were not the first books that I started reading. Like many other children of my time, I started on Enid Blyton, moving on to Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew (*gasp*). Reading these books were sort of fun, but they were not really useful in improving English proficiency. The whole school was practically reading these, and I didn't see them (nor myself) getting anywhere. I guess, maybe, that my limited maturity at this point (I was only 7 or 8 years old at that time) didn't allow me to really learn from the books.

I'll stop here and post this entry. If you are in my generation, I hope you will find it memorable, if not interesting. Next time, I hope to write about my trials and tribulations of learning the Chinese language, and my experience with an old game that has recently returned to popularity: the Rubik's cube.

How Many Days A Year Do You Work

I was 'prompted' to make this calculation to prove that we are indeed slackers who are paid more than we are worth:

• 52 weeks a year
• 5 days a week
• 18 days of annual leave
• 11 public holidays
• 14 days of medical leave
• 14 days of hospitalization leave
• 30% each day spent chatting, idling, and sitting on the bowl

=> ((52 * 5) - 18 - 11 - 14 -14 )) * (100-30)%
= 142.1 days (39%)

And I have not applied the theory of Monday blues and Friday moods, which would practically reduce the effective number of working days a week to only ONE (Wednesday).

Not to mention that lots of extra money that goes into, and the frequent flyer miles earned from company sponsored business trips that translates into personal free tickets. Mileage claims, entertainment expenses, overseas travel allowances, hotel stays, transport claims, medical/dental claims, etc., all come into the picture.

See how fortunate we all are - and you dare ask for a raise???

Joke of the Day - Procrastination

A: I have a problem.
B: What is it?
A: I'm prone to procrastination.
B: What are you going to do about it?
A: I guess I'll take care of it later ...

__________________________________
Yahoo! Movies - Search movie info and celeb profiles and photos.

http://sg.movies.yahoo.com/

It's a Rainy Morning Today

Could not catch a cab. The bus took a long time.

What to do?

Quote of the day: "maybe she's like chocolate...sweet on the outside, nuts in the inside. "

You go girl!

今天在7-11里的一本杂志上看到了一张熟悉的面孔。原来是我的大学学姐。这就是真正的女中豪杰！

Welcome the new additions to the family

Came in by VPost this morning. Bare, no case, no card, but soo small and cute.

Visited Comex over the weekend with my brother in law. (Yay, no women and kids in tow :))

Anyway, I bought a Brother DCP-130C for my scanning and printing needs. My mum is making enough noise already. She wants to print her recipes.

Out of sheer vanity, I got myself a SanDisk Cruzer Titanium 4GB ... am I satisfied? Maybe ... but it can be better. :-P

Heh, there is a real addition to the (extended) family. Sophia biaomei's Darell is having his first month celebration and Baby Shower this coming Sunday (tomorrow). It's interesting cos this is the first time I have heard of the baby shower concept. I'm sure my 'baby' will have lots of fun with baby Darell. I'll post them here, or on Picasa maybe.

From left to right: Aunt Anita, Rachel, Aunt Mabel, Mum, Cat, Aunt WaiChing, Edmond (Cat's boy), Yvonne (sis).

My item on Alangaaram should be around 11:30am tomorrow (Sunday) at Radin Mas CC.

I've 'completed' the scheduler for our own TR-069 ACS (I am open to business opportunities). More info up and coming in Comsul.

OK lunch time (it's 3:40pm now)!

Alangaaram 2007

Come down for Alangaaram 2007 at Radin Mas CC this coming Sunday. I'll be there ...

Shopping List

1. Nokia E65 for its WLAN, connectivity features, VoIP, camera (wish it was 3.2MP), and slim form factor. (Maybe getting in November.)
   
2. Canon MP160 All-In-One for basic printing and copying. (Update: I got the Brother DCP-130C instead because at $98 it is much cheaper than even the MP145 which was supposed to replace the aging MP160 and MP180).
   
3. Canon LiDE600F for power scanning abilities, fast, lightweight and film scan for archiving all the old photos. (I haven't got this yet.)
   

Buying Good Camera for Cheap

BuyDig was recommended by a friend for digital cameras, camcorders, etc. Prices are quite low according to what I have seen. They offer a free shipping option too!

Amazon, is quite good too. I found the lowest base price there, but including shipping brings the cost higher than BuyDig.

Most American online retailers do not ship outside of US, but things have now changed with vPostUSA! Take note of shipping charges (quite reasonable), insurance and custom GST.

Happiness Is ...

... being able to give your team members a promotion

... being able to give your team members a pay rise

... being able to treat your friends to a nice dinner

... being able to feel like you are adequately compensated for your contributions at work (not quite there yet ...)

Policy Forum @ Tanjong Pagar GRC

YOU ARE INVITED!

The Radin Mas CC YEC will be organising the Policy Forum @ Tanjong Pagar GRC,

Topic: "Working / Living Overseas - Home away from Home” on

Date: Saturday, 12 May 2007
Time: 1.30pm - 5pm
Venue: Zouk, Velvet Underground
17 Jiak Kim Street
Singapore 169420

Guest-of-Honour: RADM (NS) Lui Tuck Yew, Minister of State for Education

Programme

1.30pm Registration & Lunch
2.45pm Arrival of Speakers
2.50pm Arrival of Guest-of-Honour (GOH)
3.00pm Tanjong Pagar GRC PAYM Policy Forum Commences
Opening Address and sharing by GOH
Sharing by Guest Speakers
3.45pm Dialogue with Panelists (GOH & Speakers)
4.30pm Reception
5.00pm The End

Target Participant: Working youth age between 25 and 35 yrs old

The organising committee invites you and your friends to join us in the forum
You may RSVP your attendance by 08 May 2007. E-mail on contact:

Ms Tracy Tan

Deputy Constituency Manager, Radin Mas CC
Tel: 62735294 Fax: 62730768
Email: tracy_TAN@pa.gov.sg

We look forward to seeing you on the day.

Vacation Photos

Take a look at the photos from my trips here:

New Mobile - Samsung X210

My Philips Xenium9@9c LCD display conked out on me right after I landed in Newark at the beginning of my 2 week US+Carribean business trip.

Upgrading my handset on my current phone contract is not an option, so I went to get myself an X210, simple, no frills phone for the new year.




Thanks to ST for the standby phone loan while I was choosing the new handset.

Virus Removal

Was bothered by a virus that I could not seem to eradicate with avast! free antivirus. I am not linking to it because it is not good! I switched to ClamWin antivirus and found the following:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\e1.dll: Worm.Stration.XL-6 FOUND
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ipv6rasm.dll: Worm.Stration.XL-5 FOUND
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ipv6rasm.exe: Worm.Stration.XL-4 FOUND
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ssdprasa.dll: Worm.Stration.XL-2 FOUND
C:\WINDOWS\system32\tlntqedw.dll: Worm.Stration.XL-1 FOUND
C:\WINDOWS\system32\vdieasyc.exe: Worm.Stration.XL FOUND

Try as I might, I could not remove the files, until I found Unlocker from The Free Country.

ClamWin is not a on-access/realtime scanner. Combining it with WinPooch makes it so. There is reportedly a Firefox extension to do the same thing.

Here are some more links:

• Unlocker
  
• ClamWin
  
• WinPooch