zm. the poor bloke.

recent rail outages

2011-12-16T23:22:00.003+08:00

i think if you are reading as a singaporean, you should be very much aware of the train disruptions that plagued mostly SMRT's NSL/EWL and even the newly commissioned Circle Line.

it's interesting to note, NSL/EWL are the nation's core / heavy capacity lines with 6 cars. The CCL was designed as a medium capacity line, that is the reason for 3 cars.

as a layman and touch-and-go public transport enthusiast, i can't comment much on what exactly is wrong that causes all the disruptions. But i feel SMRT has lost much of its focus as a transportation provider which manages the 24 year old core railways that our ex President Ong Teng Cheong worked so hard to push through. Since it is listed in the local stock exchange, their focus in on cost cutting, profit maximisation and growing ancillary revenues, maybe from their shopping xchanges at the various MRT stations.

all these are not wrong, not right. Now that there is possible mismanagement that led to the disruptions today, SMRT has to bring their focus back to their basic purpose - effective and effective transport. Given their state of rail management and public anger today, it might be heading for an overhaul. I hope they can also realise that their bus operations are in dire need of expansion to cope with emergencies. We seen yesterday, there were rail disruptions but alternative means to move on were in bad order - lack of shuttle buses (fyi buses were frantically pulled from feeder services but still not enough), lack of communication.

i don't know how to help SMRT, the PR is not receptive to public's suggestion. I just hope someone with hindsight and foresight can help bring back this operator from its sleep since Miss Saw took over.

tanjong pagar railway, good bye

2011-06-30T22:21:00.002+08:00

i have not gotten the chance to grab a train ride to/from this station this year. Sad it has to go though.

my family and i had much memorable time at this train station. Recall from my childhood days, every year we would take a taxi from Bedok and catch the train at 9am to Kluang. During the new year, the station would be very crowded at the old metallic gate. Onboard the non-airconditioned cabin, we would stand or sit near the door till we reach.

hopefully in time to come, i can have some time to board the train from Woodlands. Meantime, good bye!!

MACS - Malaysia Automated Clearance System

2011-05-15T22:45:00.004+08:00

recently, i have been a frequent traveller to Malaysia. If you frequently get out of our small dot, you will understand the hassle of filling in white cards, no matter which country.

heard that there is a way to avoid this white card problem, if you get into Malaysia via the land checkpoints. The prerequisite is minimum 4 trips a month. Cost wise, RM30 plus a passport size photo. The arrangement is valid for a year. A sticker will be affixed onto the next empty endorsement page.

although i drive in, for the purpose of this application i decided to take 170 instead. For drivers, park nearby the checkpoint and walk in. The 24 hours "one stop centre" that entertains the MACS application is just located behind the counter where white cards are issued to travellers. If you take any bus in and follow the crowd to the arrival hall, you won't miss this OSC. Take an application form, fill it up, then take a queue number and wait.

my experience
the only problem i faced, there were long queues (peak hour) at the hall. I thought since i was applying for MACS, i can bypass these queues. But the lady told me to first chop my passport at counter 17/18 (MACS lane), then u-turn back to OSC to continue the application. Even for MACS lane, the queue was horrible. Anyway, went to queue at 17, but realised the queue was not moving much after a while. Then i went back to tell the lady, she said counter 18 instead. At counter 18, an immigration uncle came over and said the queue was meant for people with special needs, such as elderly and parents carrying their baby. The queue barely moved 10m in 1.5 hrs. Got a little upset, went back to the lady and told her politely that the queue was really taking too long. Then she got her colleague to 'bypass' the chop and process the application straightaway.

within 15 minutes the sticker was ready. But we lost the interest to continue the queue (my partner did not have MACS), and asked for permission to return to SG via a glass door that leads to the Singapore bound bus bays.

i have to say, despite this sour experience due to the slow-moving queues, their staff are generally polite and on-hand to answer any questions. Just speak to them nicely and in simple english, they will return the favour. This was a far cry from the days of the stuffy and tiny passenger checkpoint before 2009. Appreciate their level of customer service, they have come a long way.

for those who are driving, the medium-term link is also up since early this year, no more F1 circuit course (short-term access) leading to the checkpoint anymore.

other links:

Online application portal

FAQs

my grandma...

2011-04-27T13:38:00.003+08:00

it has been close to 2 months... i still get reminded of my grandma.

there is a funeral procession opposite my home, the gongs are bringing her to my mind again.

till now i always regret not having to see her before her death. I am very sad.

political scene seems much alive on internet than now

2011-04-23T02:41:00.003+08:00

compared to 2001 and 2006, the Internet is now playing a bigger role in educating our local citizens to be more aware of the political landscape and the effect on our daily lives. Especially citizens born in the 1980s and later. Because it is also this generation that will be impacted from whatever govt policies meted out in the next 5 years.

so a question - would it be a better choice to hold your big ticket purchases (i.e. housing) till the GE is over, because the HDB market would meet an imminent end soon? Or buy now because PAP will soon adjust the 4 room flat price from $400k to $700k? Hmm...

IPT 2/8

2011-04-09T22:59:00.002+08:00

till trying to find out Bedok FCC's way of operating their IPT, because i remembered Maju FCC was way better organised...

should list out the sequence of going for IPT -

1. Check-in camera hp outside camp

2. Park my car at the mscp (it's too small, unlike Maju)

3. IPT inpro at some random counter, which they will only announce when it's ready. Long wait and confusing here if there's IPPT and RT going on at the same time.

4. Collect a particular colour tag (they have yellow, blue, green and red to confuse everyone)

5. For session 1, take the CAT test (IPPT). For session 2 today, i went to the gym to take my body "age".

6. At the end of session, prepare to outpro. The person who owns a particular coloured tag and number, say 01, 11, 21, 31, etc will help to collect the tags from next 9 guys. Return the tags and get the outpro receipt in return.

7. Get out of camp.

when love is no longer present...

2011-03-31T23:49:00.005+08:00

recently heard that a long time friend of mine parted ways with another friend of mine. Although we are all so mature and close to an age band where such things would be quite unimaginable, it actually happened. The only possible consolation - they aren't married nor they had any shared assets.

i won't know the reason behind, but definitely there must be some great underlying motivation and courage to sever a bond that was in place for years.

i can only hope it was not any temptation involved. I always feel that at the end of the day, differentiate between someone who really loves the other and a 3rd party who temporarily distracted a relationship.

5-10 years ago, we can get together easily, sit down and discuss. That was what i did and many of my friends really gave good advice. But now at our age, it seemed really awkward to talk about it, since each of us would appreciate some privacy and decisions especially in matters of the heart.

class 95 morning express

2011-02-11T00:00:00.003+08:00

sometimes it's good to wake up early and join the rush hour drive to whichever customer in my schedule. Otherwise i wouldn't turn on the radio.

what FD and Glenn said seemed funny but were somewhat true and more importantly, made sense. These are roughly what they said, but not exactly word-by-word

"girls always think they can change their men. Then 5 years down the road, they realise they couldn't get married with that guy because it finally seemed impossible."

"sometimes the man actually changes, the girl regretted it."

i think the best is not to harbour expectations. But some of us are little perfectionists and tend to micro-manage things. I hope myself and friends around me would not turn a relationship into a doctor-patient problem. If there's things to remedy all the time, something is extremely wrong.

movies tally

2011-02-03T21:29:00.005+08:00

the tally so far!

2008

Wall-E

2009

Ice Age 3
Up (Cinema XXI)
Avatar

2010

2011

hong kong march 2010 - 4 days

2010-03-17T01:52:00.010+08:00

this travelogue has limited pictures, requested by my Missus.

as my faithful readers are aware, i'm a big lover of Hong Kong. Even joked to my girl, maybe we should have a kid holding HK citizenship, learn some good Cantonese and have good skin complexion owing to their seasonal climate. Singapore is just too stressful to bring up a kid, the cost of living is too high even for people holding citizenship. This is something our political leaders keep ignoring....anyway enough of the political mumbo.

day 1

this time round i chose Cathay, the same airline as my very first trip almost exactly 3 years ago. CX710, the early morning flight that required us to be checked in by 6.15am, and the homecoming flight CX735. Both are codeshared flights, so we saw some prominent groups of people, such as Japanese businessmen going home via HK, etc.

CX710

booking via Zuji seemed a bad move though. Not sure whose fault it was; we checked in rather late at 7am and got seats that separated us. Of course the lady was understanding and immediately changed our seats to babyseats (the seats right in front each section, more leg room). Went to T2 to have a quick breakfast at BK, then back to T1 just in time before the gate closed.

we're quite well seasoned travellers to HK by now, so going through the arrival procedures felt almost the same as going to JB. Decided to give Airport Express a miss this time, took bus S1 from the T1 bus terminus to Tung Chung MTR. From there, we took the normal MTR to North Point. Saved lots of money (HKD3.50 vs HKD160, excluding MTR charges), enough for 1-2 meals!

S1 - your normal double decker

checked in at our Ibis hotel at North Point, which offered a decent view of the harbour. In front is a giant carpark and a ferry terminal, that seemed to ferry people to Kowloon City. We didn't try that though. As usual i had problems adapting to the climate there - it was about 15 degrees with some winds, and had a headache.

Ibis - no bells and whistles, but decent accomodation

after a short rest, we went to Shun Tak at Sheung Wan to get our Macau tickets, then walked to Central Pier 5 to board bus 15. Bus 15 offered a really good experience up to the Peak Tower. Most tourists would take the Peak Tram since it's unique. But it's not so special to me by now! Bought tickets to access the Peak Terrace, which offered a reasonable view with some fogs.

Costs HKD25 to go up to the top

our dinner was simple, settled for a cha chan teng (Tsui Wah) at Causeway Bay. Wished the girl happy birthday when the clock struck 12!

day 2

The mess after only a night...

went to Ho Choi at Yau Ma Tei for dim sum, but it was full. I hated the wait, so i decided to forget it and we had normal breakfast nearby.

took the train to Sheung Wan and went on to board the fast craft. We were blur folks, joined a queue which was meant for the next trip. Then we saw people getting up and going direct to the exit gate, and realised we were queuing up for the wrong timing. zzzz...

Once inside the fast craft, not too bad

it's her first trip to Macau, so more attention paid to this part of the trip. She wanted to visit Venetian, so that was done. But before that, we took the Emperor Hotel's free shuttle and hopped over to Casino Lisboa for some Sic Bo. Lost HKD200 there...

Walked over to Lisboa...

The original Lisboa

Senado Square

then we went Ruins of St Paul, and took a cab to Coloane Island. I really loved the place, and wanted to revisit it. Thank god we managed to make this trip, felt happy when she enjoyed the time there.

The original Lord Stow's cafe

after walking through Venetian's nice Grand Canal Shoppes, we hopped over to City of Dreams, which is a relatively new casino that opened in June last year. Managed to recoup my losses, but lost it all plus another HKD200. Decided to stop the stupid gambling and left..

Venetian's bustling gambling fish market

City of Dreams Casino entrance

remembered we queued up earlier? We did this again, thinking it's for us. Then we only realised our foolishness after some people went into the gate directly. The boat ride back was alright for me, but she got seasick. So we didn't have our hotpot and went back to North Point. Happened to pass by a chan teng selling congee, so we happily ordered some nice stuff.

day 3

it's our 2nd last day, and the only actual full day left. But still woke up quite late, decided to give Ho Choi another try. Managed to get in, but had much difficulty ordering dimsum because of the Chinese characters. Can't even find siu mai!

Ho Choi's menu

we took the MTR to Kowloon Tong and transferred to the ex-KCR East Rail. Alighted at Tai Po Market, hailed a NT cab in green to Bride's Pool. Took us quite a while to get there, which was unexpected. And further in surprise was the location - it's in a hilly area, and it was part of a larger hiking trail! Didn't mind much anyway, because the weather was cooling and we had to keep warm anyway.

TPM MTR

Bride's Pool story...

Never knew HK has this right?

i learnt some basics of hiking from this nice little adventure. Lucky it was rather easy to complete, and hope to go for similar trails in future.

after spending few hours at Tai Po, zoomed over to Sha Tin and had some small shopping there. She wanted to see Snoopy, initially didn't find it and thought it was demolished. Then managed to find it, and got no time wasted to take pictures with the dear dog and the companions...

dinner was at Little Sheep, Mongkok branch. Loved this meal as well, although we again had problems ordering the food in Chinese. Cost us HKD313, which is around $58.

Order freely at HKD128/pax, not inclusive of service tax

day 4

we had to be at the airport by 12pm, so we didn't do much. Decided to opt for the in-town check-in at Hong Kong MTR, and realised an Airport Express ticket is required. Wanted to go Yuen Long since there's spare time, but she suggested not to due to the distance.

so we went to Sogo to get our biscuits, had lunch again at Tsui Wah. Then it was home sweet home!

afterthoughts

i hope my kid will be a Hong Kong citizen! (just joking...)

random

2010-02-18T16:46:00.003+08:00

this year's CNY is a non event for me... simply no time to enjoy new year shopping and the actual new year.

some pictures from my camera...

Silver is in

At Geo-Tele

After work...

Removal of door panel...

Panel over here...

Centre - solenoid and motor driving the power window

Crossover buried beneath the door panel for the speakers...

75,000km servicing

2010-02-02T01:06:00.006+08:00

wanted to do a minor checkup through Riverview's standard servicing package at $160, so they can help me identify any stuff that needs changing at 80,000km. I was more interested in the fan belt and rear brake pads check, the rest were alright... so i thought.

The candidate for this round

on reaching there, told Vincent i brought my own Redline oil, he jokingly said should use his oil. As cheeky as he was (and myself), i proclaimed my interest in trying different oils and specified that i could skip the engine bay and car wash. So instead of the standard package, he just charged me the oil filter + standard checks for $38, brake checks for $27 and a surcharge $15 for bringing my own oil. This is perfect alright, because i'm rather impressed by their mechanic's technical skills during the first visit.

then the checks started at 1.30pm, and ended at nearly 5pm. Reasons being...

1. Drain plug out of stock. The aluminum plug become thinner after few rounds of engine oil change. Sourced from their partners, still don't have. Small problem actually, the mechanic Ang used white tape to prevent leaks.

2. Rear brake pads worn out. One was finishing, the other just finished. So got it changed, and surprised that they used OWS Quit Squeal on the brake pads when taking them out. No additional charge.

3. Tyre damaged, discovered during rotation. The inner sidewall of one of my Falken ZE522s started to tear in 4 spots. According to them (and 2 more tyre shops) it's a explosion risk. Changed to a brand new set of Yokohama S.drive at Chen Jin Trading. More on this later...

4. Too much gap on NGK Iridium sparkies. Ang offered to re-gap for me, but i declined - no more Iridium plugs that cost $80-150 for me. Asked for a set of copper plugs, only $22.

The iridium plugs from NGK, Huat Lee charged me $85 1 year ago

Too big a gap...

5. Coolant filled incorrectly. I remember from the 70,000km servicing it was done at the tyre shop at AMK Ave 1. My reserve coolant tank was empty, and the main tank was still not full. Apparently it needs to be drained via vacuum, otherwise it's not properly done. That tyre shop overfilled my engine oil too, so i've learnt a great deal - never use a tyre shop for servicing.

6. Other checks - third brake light bulb burnt, they charged me $3. Quite alright, but should have told them i'll switch to LED one. And they checked the spare tyre too.

the trip to RV cost me $180, which wasn't expensive considering the extensive checks and change of sparkies and brake pads.

the tyres cost me $145 each, with unlimited free rotation and balancing at their Serangoon and Woodlands branch. Learnt something from this shop as well - the tyre shop i went to did their tyre balancing on the outer side only, not the inner side. Scary stories ....

S.Drive

thinking aloud

2009-12-31T01:14:00.002+08:00

have been a while since i posted anything here, been somewhat busy after clearing my leave.

i just read a facebook update that my buddy alerted me. Felt rather angry upon reading it. I must say it's her right to post whatever she likes, so i'll keep my comments right here.

even if there was no good ending from a previous chapter with my friend, i would rather she kept her mouth shut and not risk hurting the feelings of her ex. Does making that comment online on her facebook make her a superior mortal cum lover than before? I guess it does.

on the same note, i hope the guy who dumped another friend of mine can be kinder on his words. Not going to mention names here...

some lessons to learn from car grooming...

2009-12-09T20:28:00.007+08:00

shall compile some important lessons gained from own muscle grease...

1. change of microfibre cloth occasionally. How to know it's time to change? Compare a MF cloth brand new hanging on the shelf in Autobacs or Homefix, and yours. If the cloth is coarse and has lots of large particles stuck in between, better not risk creating swirl or scratch marks on the paintwork.

This also explains why you shouldn't use tissue to wipe off dirt...

of course, i always advocate not using sponge, especially used ones, on the paintwork. It's a big no-no.

2. rinse before shampoo. Some of us do it to our skin, hair, etc - same principle; get rid of the dirt before using soap. For cars, it prevents dirt from clogging up the microfibre cloth, making it more lasting.

There is a difference between 1st and 2nd/3rd bottle. The first strips wax.

3. claybar, polish, seal, wax. My major cleanup every 2-3 months involves all 4, or skip polishing in between. An excellent article by Meguiars is here.

my claybar: soft99 077 metallic ($19)
my polish: Autoglym Super Resin Polish, red label ($30)
my sealant: Autoglym Enhanced Gloss Protection, yellow label ($25)
my wax: Meguiars Ultimate Quik Wax ($19)
my cloth: Mr Clean Wax on/off cloth, pack of 3 ($3/pack)

The tools

most of these items, except the soft99 claybar, can be bought from Autobacs, Homefix or NTUC AMK. Costs about $100, which is about the cost of a single session of grooming by professionals. But this $100 can last you a year at least!

now to the technical side:

the claybar removes all the odd large particles that got stuck over time. Some say it also removes the sealant, and a non-waxing shampoo will remove previously coated wax. I believe in the latter but not really the former... but still use the claybar.

heard that polishing actually removes a layer of the clear coat, so i only do it when necessary. Such as paintwork getting dull, some stubborn spots like the ones caused by tyre gel.

a good sealant is self explanatory, it protects the raw layer of paint after polishing. So far, i'm finishing my bottle Autoglym gloss protection sealant, and will be moving on to Meguiars #21 Synthetic Sealant 2.0 next year.

to top all the hard work off, wax is required. In fact for lazy people, you can skip everything above BUT not wax. Singapore's weather is hot and wet and there are bird waste and tree sap, which will cause big problems with the paintwork if there's no wax to take the first blow from these elements.

there are various forms of wax available, from paste wax (longest lasting) to liquid wax (less lasting) to spray wax (least lasting). I converted from liquid to spray recently, because it's just too tiring after the polishing and sealing rounds. Although it wears off easily, i can easily respray on a weekly basis. It's so simple that i go around recommending friends to use them.

4. quick detailer. I'm still trying out this product. It claims itself as the missing link between washing and waxing.

5. foam vs silicon/gel tyre shine. I have not tried any foam based shine yet, only Meguiars Insane Tyre Shine (petroleum based) and Endurance Tyre Gel (silicon based). I prefer the petroleum based, because it didn't blacken my fender area. And the blackened parts can only be polished off. Beware...

1st ICT - 7 to 9 dec

2009-12-09T20:21:00.002+08:00

my buddies have already completed 3 high keys and this is only my 1st low key, not even high key! SIAN!

anyway this ICT was meant for IHL peeps, so i met all the nice people that are studying in NTU, NUS. A small number of us are finished with studies, so we'll join the gang for a major exercise in 2011.

over the 3 days our DyS3 briefed us on the training programme and some expected events for next year and year after. In 2010 the division will be occupied with SYOG, so no military callups except for range in Sept. There's also mob manning in Mar/Apr, which they claim high possibility of activation. In 2011 there will be a major exercise.

other stuff, there was ippt and healthy lifestyle run. Plus a CO conference where we got to interact with all the key appointment holders. But my company's OC and CSM went off early... so never got to talk to them personally about my appointment. Hopefully there are no hiccups with it...

polishing...

2009-12-05T18:49:00.004+08:00

just done a 5 hour marathon on the car, the usual polishing, sealing, waxing and quick detailing. The bottle of Autoglym sealant is almost used up, time for a new one. And also the dashboard protectant and a set of microfibre cloths...

Shine #1

Shine #2

Organised mess

Side indicator

Sometimes when one is too itchy handed... it's not so good - broken clip

Direction indicator - big bulb!

My colleague should put his 9288 beside this...

70,000km servicing

2009-11-30T22:49:00.006+08:00

i realised i'm servicing the car much quickly compared to normal schedule. To be exact, every 3 months. With my new implementation of servicing every 8,000km, actually there's quite a bit of cost. For simplicity, i round up the numbers instead of saying 58,900km, 67,000km... etc.

the last servicing at 60,000km was really dull, simply change of engine oil and transmission fluid. Used up 4 quarts of Amsoil 5W-30, with 1 quart still lying around at home. The transmission fluid is Honda ATF-Z1, to prevent incompatibility issues. Will be doing the tranmission again at around 80,000km.

this 70,000km, i changed the choice of engine oil yet again. This time, OWS NA racing oil, thinner at around 5W-20. Plus, change of coolant and front brake pads, which i used original Honda Type II coolant and OEM Nissin pads from the Honda stockist Thian Seng. The left front pad was fully used up, thank god this was discovered early...

Packaged just like normal cooking oil...

Direct replacement, no need to mix with distilled water...

the only problem out of this servicing - the engine oil seemed to be overfilled! When the engine was warm, the dipstick still showed oil at the max indicator! Need to drain off some of it...

the next 80,000km will be a nightmare, since it's a major servicing point. Reminder for me...
- tyres (inspect)
- rear brake pads (inspect)
- transmission fluid (change)
- brake fluid (change)
- spark plugs (inspect)

gonna be broke...

my birthday

2009-11-23T21:44:00.003+08:00

many wishes from people in facebook and some through sms! Thank you all!

she did much small stuff...

1. mee sua with shredded egg and mushroom
2. a slice of cake
3. wrapped 2x t-shirts
4. 2 boxes of jellies, 1 big bear!

i'm looking forward to a BBQ or steamboat...!

Cookiess

The munchies she got from home

BIG BEAR HUG!

some thoughts...

2009-11-15T23:26:00.004+08:00

this year of the ox, there are some major events.

- decided to get a car (and get some rather big financial burden in the process)
- graduated from school

many of my colleagues, ex and current wondered how these 2 can be possible, especially when the car came before graduation. This is a problem that is slowly manifesting itself. It constricts my personal development, because i'm not so willing to switch to a perhaps more rewarding career yet pays less. Due to the current job, i don't have quality time to spend with my loved ones, let alone going for language and career related courses to increase my value.

there's much money if i claim over time and mileage, but somehow this path don't seem to be a wise one.

maybe i'm a thinker, i think forward and imagine consequences. Yet i made the above decision without much thinking...

there must be some sacrifices made...it seems. Some advise from people who walked this path or not is appreciated.

getting over a failed relationship...

2009-11-12T22:57:00.005+08:00

each of us has a different mechanism in handling matters of the heart. One can be normal during the onset thinking nothing has really happened, then found out things were more painful than expected. Another can be normal too, but is internally bitter and angry for a long time. Saying hello to each other seems normal, but there is much anguish underneath. Slowly, the promise of being good friends faded. It is just not possible then.

what i observed of recent made me recall these emotions again. For a period when i became alone, i was determined to set the so-called bad points straight, to prove to the other one. Needless to say, these actions became redundant and rather immature on realising it. For example, i spent much money going overseas, back to a place we went together. The trip was still fruitful, because it somewhat made me wake up. Basically, money made the world spin again. But, i am who i am. Some things just cannot be changed.

we all do silly things. But we cannot go on and do them forever.

the dangers of outsourcing

2009-10-15T21:49:00.012+08:00

i've been in my new job for 3.5 months. Been to much data centres, and find that the ones that give somewhat bigger problems are managed by internal outsourced teams. 2 cases that i see:

- a well known household brand locally until it was absorbed into another financial institution in 1998. A not-so critical clustered logical partition failed with data corruption. The joke - sysadmin specialists requesting software support to recover a crashed OS, when they support their own software requests. Next joke - the backup was undated, and there were multiple ones. Next joke - the boot disk started to fail 4 months ago, and was only partially mirrored.

oh yes, the clustered system failed to work. High availability... indeed.

- a tyre brand. Server is in a particular off-site location, principally managed by a Blue team in China, co-managed by a local team. The local member asked for technical support insisting we go on site to look at a server that is down. Yes, down (lightning strikes). So we went on site but nobody was at the location. He was sitting nicely at Changi, happily acting as a middleman between me and the Chinese engineer using his phone. He was clueless as to what happened, saying "i'm not sure, i don't know" and kept asking his Chinese counterpart to call me all the time. The Chinese guy thought i'm part of his Singapore local team when i'm from maintenance, asking me to do things that i'm not authorised to do.

why the hell these sysadmin are employed for? What are the data protection policies for? If they are doing a lousy job for too long, it's time for the managers to take action and tell them to go.

on a more positive note, i have praises for...

- a well known electronics company based in Japan, you'd always pay a premium for their products. The server rooms are well furnished and managed. The staff are always seen using only products from the company, such as their monitors and laptops. When there's a disk failure, the sysadmin will do the necessary to move out all the data from the disk without any intervention on our part. The boot disks are always properly mirrored with another.

secrets of Marsiling

2009-10-13T21:38:00.002+08:00

i'm a happy resident of this little corner just beside the causeway for 13 years. When i was in secondary school, our PE teachers will bring us for a 2.4km run which starts from Marsiling Lane towards the road just opposite JB and back using Admiralty Road.

was reading up on Marsiling shrine, soon read about Marsiling dungeon and a possible network of bunkers from that lonely road facing JB to the area where SAF Yacht Club is. That's a huge network if it exists(ed)!

here are some postings made by medi in a forum, roughly 5 years ago...

Anyway to cut the story short, i wish to share with u in-depth of this mysterious Marsiling Dungeon that few people knew abt. Only those that lives in Marsiling and did some serious exploring of the forested area near the old Custom might knew it.

This thread might be a little long so bear with me ya!!

This happened when i was still studying in primary school. Since young, i've always toyed with the idea of adventurous explores... There is this stretch of road which faces directly opposite JB. Towards the end of the road, on the right hand side, lies this bunker-like structure. When I was young, my dad always droved past that stretch of road and I never fail to see taoist priests doing rituals at the 'bunker'. I decided to explore that place together with my void deck buddies...

The 'bunker' has 3 compartments.. the 1st one is very eerie,dark and seem to hide a passage within. The 2nd and 3rd one lies the opening of coffins.. I had absolutely no idea why the coffins are there...it wasn't exactly coffins lying inside the compartment, but rather the 'End-View' of a coffin on the wall inside... the 2rd and 3rd compartments were visible from outside, so it wasn't that hard spotting..Though I found Guan Yin statues and some pray offerings thats left behind for a long time.. The 1st compartment is the interesting one... We went inside and boy was it dead silence... We can only hear water dripping..and its very clear..there were bats flying out too... then we slowy penetrated deeper and found a rectangular door lying flat on the wet ground... We suspected that was the coffin(but still cannot find a reason why coffins were there in the 1st place). There were 2 handles at both ends of the door. One of my buddies tried to open the door but it was really heavy...He only lifted half-way and all of us dun even freaking dared to look inside... The air suddenly turned really dead COLD and we began to have goose pimples, all of us... Felt something is amiss, so we fled...U know lah, when young, all scrammed and run for the exit, like there is no tommorow!

---

All of us didn't dare to even talk abt the spooky experience after that...Then we gradually went on to sec. sch... I wasn't that satisfied with the exploration and got together the same old buddies during the last expedition. We began to explore that place a bit and found out that there was this 4 buildings that looked like its for storage purposes.. It has got the British style in it. So i gathered those could be built by the british army during the colonial days... As usual, the 4 buildings were abandoned, nothing inside... but traces of condoms can be found (that was the 1st time i ever saw a condom!) and some ritual offerings, most likely to do with Satanism.. The reason was becoz we found really serious drawings of the pentagram and other satanic words...It seemed like we came to a dead end.... Until we chanced upon this uncle, believed to be in his 70s...jogging by the road.. He looked at us in a bewildered manner.. Later we had a small chat with that uncle. he told us the forest wasn't 'clean'. The offerings we found at the 'bunker' was to appease the spirits thats been disturbing the kampung people living in the Marsiling Area ( Thats right..in the early 80s, there were still kampungs in Marsiling near the SHELL refinery there ) That gave us a head-start....

We were armed with only lighters( smokers that time ,so young smoke liao siah ) and began further exploration of the jungle. We found the remains of a normal kampung area, with bird cages... podiums.. and some parts of zinc roof. We didn't find anything unusual, kept on walking and walking...and were worried that we might lose our way back... Time wasn't on our side, becoz its already 6 plus and the sun was slowly setting down.. Then..suddenly I saw this trench on the right hand side of the hill and was quite curious abt it.. We followed this trench and to our freaking astonishment of our lifetime, We found this myserious bunker that was builded under a very big tree... its hard to explain how the whold thing looked like, but it was enuff to scare the lights out of us...

Its really eerie and the roots of the tree gradually blocked the gate of the concrete bunker.. The gate was seriously corroded and it was easy to gain access to it.. But we decided not to...it was almost night time and we decided to head home... All of us had a hard time sleeping well for weeks, becoz of the image we saw inside the jungle...

Years passed by ,and i found out from the same group of friends that they actually went inside..and it was like going deeper like 100m...and there was many entrance, like a maze.. But they couldn't continue deeper... the tunnel was being covered up.. by concrete bricks.. Some of us heard that people saw bones...skulls inside...but dunno if its true or not....

The government had tried hard to erase any traces of the WWII remnants, including demolishing the infamous 'japanese gate' in the beginning of the road...and also sealed up the 'bunker' at the side of the road, with iron grilles.. But I seriously dun think the authorities knew abt the 'tree dungeon' that was situated deep in the jungle...

The last time i went there, around 4 mths ago....the forest grewed and covered up the bunker near the road. Unless u know the exact location, u wouldn't have realised its there.. As for the 'Tree Dungeon', I myself also forgotten the path...went there to search for it..but cannot find... its been over a decade and memories had faded...

Ok guys...thanks for bearing with me... Just wanna reveal the secrets of the marsiling jungle..Becoz nobody had NEVER talk abt it...all those red/blue/white/purple/rainbow houses, OCH...very 'commercialised' ...but not this 2 eerie places that I spoke abt...

Also hope that if there is anyone who knew abt this dungeons, maybe shed some light on it ( U gotta be a resident of Marsiling b4 to even know this! )

---

hey my friend.. I had revealed abt why the coffins were there.. It might not be a real coffin..but maybe duplicates of them, to appease the spirits and give them a home.. I went inside the compartment and found no coffins..only a door thats d**n heavy and most likely a passage-walk down......

One thing i found out too... from a most unlikely person.. Vietnamese refugee..! In the past, there was this Vietnamese Refugee camp, called 'Hawkins Camp', situated along the old Admiralty road... This vietnamese guy told me that he actually squeezed his way through the tunnel and come out of the 'bunker'.. from Sembawang!...i was impressed and told him can he demonstrate..but he wasn't that willing lah...haha

---

and..

there is one heritage trail site named rotterdam gate that is located at the road mentioned above. is it the japanese gate where it stands opposite to another gate? there is a very very big and old tree beside rotterdam gate and a steel roof hut is located beside the gate. a shell refinery can be located up the slope. is that the location you are fascinated with?

that place is indeed mysterious.

i was there with my teammates 2 yrs ago on a heritage trail project and we were to find and do a report on rotterdam gate. we somehow or another located that gate on the road that is directly opposite johor bahru. that stretch of road hardly has cars passing through it. we decided to explore that stretch of road. we didn't go further, but we have seen quite a few things.

start from the gate itself. it stands opposite to another gate which is literally devoured by weeds. it is inaccessible above the point. the house that stands beside rotterdam gate is quite mysterious. we were wondering why was it there in the first place. check it out.

as we move along the road starting from rotterdam gate, we found lots of buddha statues. this raised lots of queries. initially, the trees grew so thick that we couldn't see what lies behind the undergrowth. but then we could see some rundown fence and some giant pipes above that cover. as we move more we found a path leading right into the jungle. we stopped and took a look at it. it was a house. a house with bloodstains on it. nice discovery. we didn't make it into the house though. thought we would be trespassing, so we backed off. and we didn't go beyond that part of the road.

we didn't find out about the house with bloodstains nor the statues nor the gate or house. are they somehow related to the bunkers in sembawang?

remember that the japs landed on northeast side and marched the causeway to singapore. battles took place on the coast. anything to do with this?

i am simply glad to find someone that explored that stretch of road. i heard that it leads to sembawang naval base. wonder if answers can be found...

and...

anyway, i have bring this up to my encik b4...he use to live in SBW during the kampung days.

he said that the underground british bunker have been closed in many parts...esp since the development of Sembawang New Town thus doubt that people can now travel underground from Marsiling to Sembawang.

i understand from him that the bunker could be very huge in size, since he mentioned that it is also accessible from ottawa road( behind sembawang CC). My other seniors told me sembawang pk can access.

u pple say Marsiling can access...so its indeed a huge huge system.

BUT, Ottawa road access is not available anymore due to the buildings there...and that place is rather heavily guarded and patrol by the Army and Police frequently thus i recommend no exploration and photo taking there... else sure will get into trouble.

there's a pictorial post on another person's blog.

car audio saga

2009-10-11T19:20:00.004+08:00

about half a year ago i went to upgrade the car audio system at AE. Changed the component speakers and then added an amplifier in 2 stages.

then recently, the right front speaker started to sound coarse and static. Initially it was when turning a sharp or wide left, all the sound will 'flow' to the left. Now even bumps and holes on the road can reproduce the problem.

brought it to the shop, they were quite nice to look at the problem for free. But they couldn't isolate the problem, and told me it might be the HU. Maybe a possibility, or maybe a sales pitch to upgrade my HU?

looked for some resources on the net, such as the audio connector diagram and steps to dismantle the right dashboard. Today's weather was almost perfect for the task...

The bottom panel below steering wheel

Bottom and top panel out

HU/aircon control panel out

The audio connector

the connector is strange. It's the original connector from the old Alpine HU, but the new wires from the amplifier are spliced into the connector. So prepared the tools and redid the particular pair of wires that lead to the front right speaker.

pray...

... there were some small problems too:

- 1 screw that secures the HU rack to the dashboard chassis is missing

- 1 clip that does the above was lying around (didn't know that clip's purpose until today)

- the whole HU wasn't properly secured as a result. Quite poor workmanship...

door visor saga

2009-10-04T22:52:00.006+08:00

end of august, i got a set of door visors from a person in the Civic forums. I'm a sucker for 2nd hand items, since i've gotten so many stuff as the 1st owner - the value drops incredibly upon handing over the cash.

The "normal" visors

Both 3M tapes, but the left is 10 metres at $10.
The right costs $9.50 and is only 1.5 metres.

the visors came from Kah Motor, probably thrown in free when he bought the car. Price was quite alright at $30, except for the mess of old tape that he didn't remove. Plus scratches that you normally see on plastic and acrylic surfaces. So got a bottle of Meguiars PlastX to do some touch up.

the sticky problem is actually getting the best tape to stick it onto the door frame. Got a roll of 3M black foam tape from a home-based automotive trader at $10, which offers 10 good metres of tape. Then waited for my car wash day to mount the visors up.

after a while, i came to conclude

- the 3M tape holds well
- the purple tint of the visor looks oldie and headache to me
- the Mugen visors look better in terms of design and tint. Design is gapless between the front and back doors, more stylish and tint is similar to sunglasses.

Notice the differences??

so spent another $40 on a pre-owned set of Mugen replica visors. The real deal will cost me $200 brand new, so it's definitely more worthwhile to get the $40 ones. At least i can use the bottle of PlastX to touch it up, and i already have the tape. I don't get any additional ego with spending extra, so replica is not an issue.

installed it, another problem - the 3M tape couldn't hold the front passenger and driver ones well, because i flexed it to stick strictly along the contours of the door frame. Obviously this can cause it to snap off and become a flying saucer on the expressway, so took them down and used a better 3M tape and less forced flex.

so far, so good. The last problem is that it's a replica, so there are minor cosmetic differences such as absence of clips, holes and of course the Mugen badge. Ah well, heck.

how to rejuvenate this blog?

2009-09-24T22:42:00.010+08:00

seems that full time working life is draining some time resources from me - i'd wake up at 8am (pretty late for salaried employee actually), play Street Racing a little and take my 1st job at 10+ if there's any pre-arranged ones. Otherwise, wait for IBM KL to give me a call and assign something to me. If i'm done by lunch, i'll touch wood during the later part of the day. Sometimes i get the 2nd, sometimes i don't. So the time is spent waiting or helping my colleagues in their installation jobs.

taking a job is quite stressful actually. For the very first call, i almost freaked out since training don't cover 90% of all problems - training materials present the very perfect scenario, no need to troubleshoot you see. By the way, the first call was at a really obscure location - Singapore Prisons HQ.

besides the technical side, i have to get my partner for the day to tag along. Some days, i really had problems finding anyone free, so in the end had to grit my teeth and go down alone. It's scary actually, especially if the customer tries to be funny.

so there are many things to handle in a typical job - the machine, my brain (skills and experience), plus the customer. I always liked touching computer hardware, so loving it is not an issue. But then it's a totally different world, not the cute little hard drives, processors and Microsoft Windows we use at home. A misstep can mean everyone's Internet banking application goes down, a factory production floor halts... you get the idea.

lucky i'm able to move around, not stuck in a cubicle from 9-6pm. There's no need to report back to office, unless there's real admin work to do. So i see some data centres more often than i see the IBM HQ in a week. But it cuts both ways, highly debatable.

i'm given some formal responsibilities; assigned the backup engineer for 3 companies; 1 ministry, 1 govt linked healthcare group and a health supplement MNC. Seems that the workload will get heavier soon...

i'm also at a mental crossroad at this time regarding my career - should i continue to develop my skills in IBM AIX hardware and software, never mind the physical nature of the work? Should i move into software programming? Or should i join civil service (if i can even get in)? I feel the 1st option will be the most valuable in 5-10 years, even more than software development which anyone can do it with a couple of books and projects. The 3rd is purely for the pay packet, but i don't think prospects and compensation curve are that great in the same 5-10 years.

but why am i not decisive over this?

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

so what happens besides work? Go out with my dearest, do nothing on weekends, recoup some freedom lost during the weekdays. How boring life can be?

hope i can take down more snapshots and details of my life, and spice up this blog a little!

batam august 2009

2009-08-16T01:02:00.003+08:00

had a wonderful time over the national day celebrations. Stayed at the resort-chalet styled Harris for a night, and went to look at places such as Barelang bridge, Batam Center and Nagoya.

we (who? secret =p) got a room in the newer block, it was well furnished with a sleeping sofa beside the tv. Lots of empty space and a balcony to look at the terrific pool below. Had our dinner at Arirang Japanese-Korean restaurant, then went back to rest. Truly relaxation with a light itinerary.

Nice!

Looking out from the balcony

Barelang Bridge #1

Soup and rice from KFC?? I liked the soup a lot.

transportation wasn't that pleasant though, with aging taxi fleets and poor traffic condition. But we can't ask for the best everywhere we go right? Anyway this wasn't a big problem.

kayaking after a long break

2009-08-16T00:47:00.005+08:00

it's really long, because we stopped around the time Marina Barrage was about to be opened. That was in October 2008 if we go by the soft opening of the barrage.

my colleague CK who is a dragon boater said the water is cleaner after Kallang Basin was sealed up to trap freshwater. To me, i observed the following:

- less rubbish, but still some rubbish swept onto shore
- the shoreline along Marina Promenade is covered with grass... no more sandy beaches.
- water is no longer salty (duh)
- water still looks the same (yucky colour and little can be seen through the water)
- no more "sea-hum", only the shells remain.

i think the water quality can still be improved. But because the Marina Reservoir is fed by 3 key rivers and many smaller canals that snake into older developments of Singapore, it's a difficult problem.

something interesting too; in the middle of the basin there are some big orange floats. Around it would be pockets of water bubbling from the bottom, as though there were some filtration or aeration going on. Don't know what these are for, but it's somewhat smelly when we went over them. I only see it in the fish tank in my house, not in such large scale..lol.

refuse chute renovation

2009-08-08T11:19:00.003+08:00

our chute columns are so dark and sometimes smelly. How does the contractor work inside it, from ground floor up?

It's gonna rain...

We should try setting up 7-11 on top of these blocks...

The exhaust pipe that channels fresh air from the ceiling.

free tools

2009-07-29T01:22:00.002+08:00

free tools? Yeah, i'm entitled to an order of the tool bag and tool box, which was quite scary:

Delivered to my office

What you want, sure can find inside

she made some sushi for the picnic this weekend:

Yum~

remembering army daze

2009-07-23T00:42:00.009+08:00

was chatting with Alvin about the new ITI when i started to recall some small stuff... like.

- the ultra long running track throughout Jurong Camp, from Division HQ to the old SOCE and to 30 SCE. 4km (really?) long, get to run the entire border, sometimes running into SAFTI cadets and some really eerie corners. I remembered i ran the track 3-4 times to prepare for AHM.

especially the old SOCE, which is now ITI. Other than the cars zooming by PIE, the building itself was abandoned when i was there. Imagine a building with corridors, staircases, doors and some windows nailed with wood but there are still lights in one of the room!

- guard duties, tuang-ing at that old SOCE building. Don't really understand how i picked my guts up and walked into one of the disused room with that 30 SCE guy and slept there. Don't ask me! Another spot was the vehicle workshop near 30 SCE, and the guy's bunk. We really tried to break the limits during NS.

- camp food. Apparently the best after Pasir Laba or SAFTI, but we still went for canteen and mat store all the time. The wanton mee or nasi lemak still win camp food any time, except for the price. In any case these are still miles better than the cookhouse at Stagmont.

- daily bus 182 or 193 to and fro the camp. Plus the strong and choky chocolatey smell every morning.

- the bunk with TV and entertainment gadgets. Had trouble hiding them (anyone tried to hide a TV will know) when MP comes, yet life is boring without these. Craved for internet, which i managed to get later.

- battalion day (or night). The CO ordered good stuff, can't really remember. I recalled having laksa or satay specially prepared by a chef standing at his table. Then as usual MDC sent some of their guys and girls over to perform the same old stuff. How about asking Wonder Girls to perform their famous Nobody instead...

- live firing. The BMT one was bad, real bad. Somehow i failed that and had to go again. Maybe it was the specs i wore, was difficult to take aim and ended up being a bobo shooter. The unit one was much better, because i became smarter and used contacts. There was the push cart (what's the name??) offering all kinds of food. If don't have, the uncle will come back with the order later. The only problem was no-sleeping, mozzies and the boring clearing up of the butt and swearing "i xxx NRIC ssssss hereby swear....... SIR!" Not enough spent rounds, gg. Kena f*** big time before going back.

too bad there weren't any photos. I personally liked the design of the range, because it was completely done in wood painted black with big numbers. Argh... no photos.

i'm still alive

2009-07-18T13:44:00.005+08:00

work started for half a month already, still riding the learning curve. The curve is still manageable, but there are pockets of free time here and there. Could have been put to better productive use in office.

i'm working with System p server hardware, which is based on IBM Power architecture (the old Macs use this; the PowerPC all the way up until Apple switched to Intel). Along with it would be the System Storage solutions, such as storage enclosures, SAN, tapes and what not.

the learning curve is steep i don't know server hardware, and we don't hook these hardware up like a PC, which can fail when any component goes down. It's difficult too due to the Unix based operating system - lots of work with console, AIX commands...

my focus now would be to be a good employee and manage my free time better. But it's going to be tough.

Deskmount? Rack? Frame?

The 7th generation of Power chip

a member of AlumNUS

2009-06-29T23:36:00.003+08:00

went to collect my graduation robe from campus. As usual, any event would attract advertisers. In this case, they were the banks (alumni credit and debit cards by SCB and DBS), NUSS (the graduate club), plaque makers and photography companies, etc.

received the invitation package and AlumNUS card too. Basically, it wraps up my undergraduate study with NUS. I would be good if i can return and continue my Masters programme there too - if there's such a chance.

making the move...

2009-06-28T20:45:00.002+08:00

i'm changing my job environment on 1st July 2009 - my new employer is IBM at Changi, with an intermediary company as the agent managing my payroll and administration. Am i sad? I think i am, but the move must be made since i've completed my bachelor's degree and cannot remain in the temporary position for too long.

i've been with NYP for many years, 2000-2003 as a student then 2006 till now as a staff. Factoring out army, it's already 7.5 yrs. I seen level 6 uncovered (it was covered up in late 2007), LTL3 red seats (it still is), blk M up to level 4 only, the unrenovated Mac and previous Food Junction. Many things changed subtly over the years, but the general look remains.

some key memories during the course of work was the 2006 period i was depressed and spent many nights at the level 5 office. Only the ghosts saw me. It's somewhat entrenched since it was part of the life experience.

then came the larger events, such as the Oracle workshop in 2007 where i had the chance to handle the event, the stay at the campus accomodation at Blk 170 and in early 2009, the Xin Min Symposium.

i had much satisfaction building up (and tearing down) labs myself - CL 1, 2, 3, 11 and M310. CL 11 is my favourite, because i built it up and tore it down few times in 3.5 years. I put in effort to make sure the smaller details were included and the labs would be neat and tidy even after few semesters of usage. No messy or dangling cables in these labs!

there are many emergency incidents from small to big in the course of work too. Projectors and instructor PCs go south at the wrong time, requests come when there is only me, people getting hurt or vandalism of property, card readers going crazy, thumbdrive virus busting. Interesting incidents.

i certainly hope students at large are satisfied with the dept's customer service level. I would say we have progressed in small steps towards a student-centric learning environment, where we try to understand their needs and problems. Like SIT Club, instead of being defensive against their requests, we have largely changed towards listening and supporting them wherever possible. There is still much to be done though.

more photos to be updated in this post later.

FINALLY

2009-06-27T10:43:00.004+08:00

after making so many attempts. Let's talk about last weekend 1st - i went in to try and the breakdown was:

#1: put in the tag at the reader, mounted the bar and did only 1 when PTI said Sir, you haven't inpro yet? I looked at the LED screen, **** it told me to inpro first without registering the 1x.

i almost wanted to scream at him because i wouldn't have gotten the tag without inpro first.

#2: mounted the bar again, 4x. ARGH

#3: mounted the bar again,..... 4.5x. I JUST COULDN'T DO 0.5 MORE!

just now was better. Did 5 without much ado. Only had to swing a little to do the 5th.

PASS LIAO LOH!

No monetary reward? It's ok. Just get this year's done and over with

fishing (changi point)

2009-06-21T17:47:00.003+08:00

went for a different experience in fishing with CL, my colleague. Met a graduate EI student and his brother, and i invited WQ and girl too. Took Ah Long's boat out, and armed with his powerful Garmin GPS and fish finder we went to many spots between Tekong and Changi coast in the search for big fishes.

there were many new things for me. 1st was the fishing rod, quite heavy and hard to handle (i have wrist pain due to computer work). When the line got sang-kok by some rock, its so hard to extend the line. Flip the switch and the handle will wind itself by crazily, which blue blacked my fingers.

2nd was fishing with live prawns, learn to handle it was quite easy. But sensing for bites with the live bait in the water was really difficult. Couldn't feel a bite at all for the whole day. So you can guess, i was the unlucky one who caught nothing, only 1 decent bite but didn't have enough tension cos' my wrist was feeling weak.

Ah Long's boat

Preparing to set off

Chewing gum of the oriental (it didn't make it back to shore, cut up as bait)

Not bad, from 0830 to 1730 hrs.

summary of interviews

2009-06-21T17:40:00.000+08:00

actually, interviews need practice and some homework. Read about salary negotiation skills (don't give a range, give a fixed number but suggest the competitive market rate before giving that number, ...) and working history problems. For example, how to explain job hopping in a nice way - unfortunately, any decent explanation would look bad on the applicant.

so far i applied 55 job positions, received 6 requests for interviews. You can guess the catch rate is around 10%! Went to ST Electronics, IBM, Philips, HSBC, Standard Chartered (PS) and NP, some turned out fine and some were superficial. Had 2 more calls from Hitachi and through a banking friend's referral, but i had to turn down since i received an offer.

come to this offer itself, decided to accept it since the terms seemed alright. The salary was not the best, but acceptable in such tough times. For the next 4 days, no response from the agency. I should give the staff a buzz tomorrow.

50,000km servicing

2009-06-21T17:37:00.004+08:00

did my 50k servicing at the start of the month. Just a simple engine oil change and tyre rotation and balancing. I think I got 'carrot headed' for the oil though.

OEMed by Idemitsu

Battery is fine

did it at Soh Tyres at AMK. More known for rims and tyres, but so i was impressed with the tyre rotation part.

job searching, interviews, (repeat)

2009-06-02T23:01:00.003+08:00

to date i've knocked on the doors of about 50 employers. Not real doors though, only their email inboxes. Through the online agents such as JobStreet, JobsDB and JobsCentral. Along the way, recruitment agents got my information through the portals and job applications and contacted me too.

still, the chances of being shortlisted for an interview is really, really rare. Yes, rare neither occasional nor frequent. I just went for my 1st, with ST Electronics (ISS). I knew that company and some of their staff through the former SES back in army days. Surprising what i did in army became of use in the interview!

maybe i'm having tough luck due to my salary expectation and what i'm trying to apply for. I'm willing to go a little lower for IT operations and support (+ management executive roles or similarly non IT ones), but not willing to budge for software development jobs. The latter can be extremely intensive, i'd make sure my time is well compensated.

there are 3 more interviews, but i'm thinking of canceling one. I need more interviews, please.

hmmm...

2009-05-08T00:09:00.006+08:00

dear just left for her home, 3.5 long days =( sent her to airport, we hung around at T2 before saying goodbye.

anyway, it has been quite a busy week, because...

i'm more seriously looking for my 1st full time job. The stress of job finding is now in, submitting a truckload of applications and yet not receiving any response! And i can't really take my time. Mindef is the first company to reply, i'm going down for the psychometric test next Friday. Hope more replies stream in.

other things to do include my transcript, commencement paperwork. Actually not exhaustive, but these just appears on the top of everything.

i became a pestkiller too, but couldn't catch the cute rat hiding in the Blk L lift. It's sooooo cute, because it was trying to hide at one moment, then it came out and saw me and scurried back into the corner!!! Can't even say hello to it lor.

maybe get a nice warm nugget to tempt it into the trap. Call me PSO - Pest Support Officer.

peaceful summer

2009-04-30T01:53:00.004+08:00

as the weather gets heated up, i remember Fish jiejie singing 宁夏 in her last concert here.

very melodic, very cheerful, very happy feeling. Lyrics are really simple, i think it's a nice number for k歌.

宁静的夏天天空中繁星点点心里头有些思念思念着你的脸
我可以假装看不见也可以偷偷地想念直到让我摸到你那温暖的脸

宁静的夏天天空中繁星点点心里头有些思念思念着你的脸
我可以假装看不见也可以偷偷地想念直到让我摸到你那温暖的脸

知了也睡了安心的睡了在我心里面宁静的夏天
知了也睡了安心的睡了在我心里面宁静的夏天

宁静的夏天天空中繁星点点心里头有些思念思念着你的脸
我可以假装看不见也可以偷偷地想念直到让我摸到你那温暖的脸

那是个宁静的夏天你来到宁夏的那一天

知了也睡了安心的睡了在我心里面宁静的夏天
知了也睡了安心的睡了在我心里面宁静的夏天

can she change her hairstyle back to the one in the video?

my colleague's hitched

2009-04-29T00:29:00.009+08:00

our colleague and graduate from IT06 Lionel has officially taken out the hot seat for helpdesk support. He has a nickname - Helpdesk 小王子!

a year 1 girl went up to him, asked for his hp number. A night later she declared her feelings to him! Fortunately (or unfortunately) he is already attached, so he had to say no. She's also attached (hmm, the choice is hers, as long as she 欢喜就好). The saga continues...

then he mentioned to another girl at his earpiece was spoilt. The girl got a replacement earpiece for him!!

how come no girls did these for me uh. Actually got lah, but i don't say only (pui =p). I want a VW Golf though, any girl can give me? lol...

good luck to everybody who're going for their exams soon

cycling on sunday

2009-04-27T23:49:00.012+08:00

went for my 2nd cycling with dear after the 1st one with the girls... realised i'm still quite unsteady. And can't seem to turn left/right without losing balance. Maybe not enough confidence. She's so much better than me, that's of course! =p

had a picnic style lunch, she prepared fried rice, soup and agar agar! Very nice of her =)

stopped at our school awhile, i took the chance to freshen up myself. Went to town to browse around, had dinner at Magic Wok. We ordered tom yam soup, steam seabass, some rice and had a nice time enjoying the food. Really, it has been a while since we had quality time together.

perhaps i was really too tired, messed up myself at a traffic junction at Middle Road. I saw 2 junctions (one for Bencoolen Street, next for Selegie), and saw the further junction in red and somewhat assumed the nearer junction was clear to go. At the 1st junction, she said it was red and i noticed it was impossible to stop at the junction, and impossible to proceed safely (pedestrians crossing at the other end of the box). Came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the junction and given free dosages of horns. Reversed out of the box, and didn't check the pedestrians. Literally kenna left, right, front and back.

before this, i got horned by some bugger at right turn from Sungei Rd to Bencoolen St. How can that bugger horn me when he wants to go straight from the lane 2? That lane is a right turning lane leh. He should have some cow sense to keep left and and not insist on going straight since he's already sandwiched between me and lane 1. Darn rude and brainless driver.

i tell you, the Middle Road experience was quite traumatizing. To myself and more importantly to her. Cannot account to her elders if something happen. Didn't send my brother later on, because i was in no mood to drive.

anyway, an interesting blog on North Korea - The forbidden railway

clearing my cupboards...

2009-04-25T14:42:00.005+08:00

at my place, my official properties include my computer table (that looks really messy all the time since i'm at my comp whenever home), a fish tank plus 4 cupboards, where 3 stores all my computer stuff. Amazing eh...

had to make some space to create an "automotive" cupboard, so throwing out some of my old computer stuff. Realised i have lots of electrolytic capacitors, which i overbought for motherboard repairs in 2005. Plus some old boxes for ACRyan fans, casing accessories for casings which aren't here anymore, 10 year old power supplies and such. Gonna keep my box of fans and heatsinks, since it really wasn't cheap to get them.

10 years supply of fans stashed into a box

Threw these away, mostly emptied of valuables

For sale

anyone interested in 2x2GB DDR2-800 RAM for notebooks, ~~2x1GB DDR2-667~~ RAM for desktop or Western Digital Raptor 36GB?

50k servicing #1 - fuel filter

2009-04-21T15:31:00.004+08:00

this is the 1st instalment of the 50k servicing. Time (and mileage) flies since the 40k servicing, isn't it? Actually the mileage is only at 49,000km, i intended to service only at 52,000km. Quite easy to clock 3,000km more, based on 500km/full tank and i topup about 3-4 full tanks a month.

had 2 incidents this month where the 1st cranking was bad. Either the engine failed to start or it started with the engine rumbling half dead for a few seconds. Some said it could be the spark plugs or battery, but these were replaced during the 40k servicing.

the fuel filter (as meant by its name) is supposed to be changed then, but delayed since it's normally very clean due to the quality of petrol here. Maybe the 1st cranking is due to a problematic fuel filter, so decided to change it. Hopefully i can stretch the next change to be at 120,000km.

found a very good deal in the forum, the workshop at Defu Lane 10 does it for almost half the price off from other workshops.

Ah Heng from Soon Kiang

Dismantling of rear seat and back to access the fuel filter

Ah Heng removing the cover plate to filter

Cover removed, the dark brown round cylinder entrenched into the fuel tank

Removed and wires transported over to the new set. Quite messy since it was so oily

a very labour intensive operation. While he removed the seats, i realised the seats are so light! Lots of long hair and dirt stuck to the sponge too. Will find the right tool, dismantle it myself for a good cleanup when i have the time.

learnt a little more from him - actually the fuel filter can last until 80,000 or 120,000km. Wanted to change my coolant, but he said the stock Honda coolant is of very good quality and shouldn't be changed normally until 80,000km. Once the stock coolant is changed, we need to change coolant more frequently. Nice and honest fellow.

the second instalment of the servicing will be on the engine oil and oil filter. Unless the cranking problem is solved, it's going back to Kah Motor for the servicing and warranty claim...

the new 2009/2010 mazda 3

2009-04-20T23:02:00.003+08:00

since i'm ogling cars more than hard drives, motherboards, memories nowadays, i think i should blog about this new model. Because it looks even better than the incumbent!

but under the hood, it seemed only minor improvements were made. It's still 1.3 ton and the number of horses is still 104. So it might not be able to shed its reputation for being a fuel guzzler...

let me plagiarize a photo from the Mazda Club forum:

Axela on the left, new guy on the right

actually if you look carefully, the front looks like a very happy frog! Much tamed compared to the fiercer looking Axela.

Mazda 3 Sedan (2010) with pictures
Mazda 3 Hatchback (2010) with pictures
Mazda 3 (new) on SGCarmart

end of remedial training

2009-04-17T00:11:00.003+08:00

wednesday marked the end of RT! POP loh!

met Alvin Pang and YB at Maju, chatted a little before i went to try the chin up bar. Mounted it and pulled a total of 4.5 times.

just that 0.5 more would be a pass! Never mind, i will and must clear it, plus avoid IPT.

ICE - in car entertainment

2009-04-17T00:06:00.006+08:00

this is a sequel to the poisoning status on FB.

Incumbent - Civic 1.6 panel with Alpine headunit

Trial - Civic 1.8/2.0 panel with integrated Alpine headunit

AudioEdge at Toh Guan

This poison...

Ah Huat helped out in the installation, nice

End state

somehow, the integrated headunit seemed more like a downgrade due to lack of tuning options. I liked the neat and integrated look though. Due to the Focal component speakers, the clarity is miles better, so much that the bass was drown off. My old Alpine might be able to improve the bass, but it's kind of LPPL if it goes back in?

warning to myself: ICE can be very poisonous

remedial training phase 2

2009-04-02T11:13:00.003+08:00

i'm nearing the end soon, in 2 weeks. It has been 1.5 months going in and out of Maju.

Partial failure..

going to burn my upper muscles. Aim for no IPT and straight pass?

tan tua lui!

2009-03-29T21:31:00.007+08:00

i have been really busy with physical training and getting headaches. Luckily still can get by, since the transportation to camp is quite seamless. Got make up pay somemore! No wonder some people sign-on RT. It's true.

but seriously i think these people benefit if they fully commit themselves to their career or anything else and do little or zero exercise in their lives. I have seen fellow camp mates who keng with their lives in camp - if it's a module in poly, then they may be able to get distinction for it. For some odd reason they keep falling sick and ill, but they are fine once they are out of active service. Give them football, suddenly their leg problems disappear. Give them army half marathon, suddenly can run without feel head pain, throat pain, or whatever pain that caused the downgrade. Give them a chance to run for a bus or train, they surely catch it (successfully). I agree in army we shouldn't give 100% effort, but not 100% avoid work as well.

the slack-ish mentality will stick beyond the 2 years.

have another form of stress from work. Realised it is a crime to drive a car. When a person says it once, it's a compliment. But when the same person says it again and again and to a wider crowd, he definitely has negative feelings and axe to grind. Seniority at work don't mean you can step on junior ones and say things you deem fit. Sadly the attitude and humility of junior ones are also undesirable. So please, don't go overboard.

The lone car - Sim Lim and me

TAN TUA LUI!

human nature (and greed)

2009-03-28T21:29:00.008+08:00

i think vic covered this topic sometimes; that many of us are very absorbed into our aims and goals, that we neglect the better things in life - our loved ones, friendships or even our health.

i think people of around my age is particularly a problem. Because we are in our prime years. We could be fighting hard to prove ourselves in careers, studying hard (most people should be done by now) or other pressing circumstances due to family issues. Such as saving up for a car, family, a home of our own. We will seem to fight extremely hard for the next many many years.

after a while, we forgot the people around us. "Oh, he's always happy one lah. Oh, it's ok not to meet up, because i need to earn more money. I'm terribly busy and can't care about others now." Then suddenly one day, shit happened. Often than not, we end up compromising on our quality of life in the later years.

it's a gentle reminder to my friends and myself. Cherish the ones around us.

Link - Covetousness

sick day...

2009-03-23T20:35:00.003+08:00

was feeling very sick on sunday. Maybe overexerted myself during RT the day before, and didn't drink enough water. Went to RMG to get some medicine, and interestingly the GP told me i had not went back for a year! Anyway, the visit was really expensive ($64 inclusive of $18 medicine).

doc mentioned i have moderately sized tonsils. The general population has small sized ones. No wonder i get throat problems more often than others...

my hands and legs went numb the whole day. Particularly over the night, where my hands was practically not usable. Is this normal? I don't think so...

did my 1st tyre detailing using Meguiars Insane Shine Tyre Spray. The tyres were getting brownish and scrubbing did no help. Couldn't figure out how to 'activate' the spray nozzle, thought it was spoilt and applied it with a cloth. Oh i was stupid, found out i had to turn the nozzle to the 'on' position. No wonder there was 'on' and 'off' engraved onto the nozzle.

The shine is back!

My resident companion - doraemon

2nd in command - Sergeant Keroro

Backup - Numero, kiasu #1 from Dooodolls

just for my record... i'm looking into:

- aftermarket horn replacement
- engine detailing
- LED lighting for interior
- DIY engine coolant change

xin min science and technology symposium

2009-03-16T21:53:00.008+08:00

this symposium last Wednesday highlighted the successful collaboration between the secondary school and NYP in science and technology projects in the past year; our lecturers provided guidance to XMS students in the research and prototyping of key topics and inventions.

was the supporting guy for my 26 baby computers outstationed to Xin Min Secondary School. Schools today have indeed changed in their facilities. Definitely an improvement; because i see things such as a lift, airconditioned hall, nicely tiled parade square, etc. BUT the lift wasn't really meant for the handicapped - many staircases are found upon exiting the lift. So what is the lift for..?

the setup was army style, i have 2 movers helping me with the muscle building tasks such as moving them from lorry to the school hall. I was supposed to connect everything up one by one, but all the lecturers came and started connecting up themselves. So, i simply opened up my 'stocks' and let them 'loot' first, then stock-check later. Went around tidying up and duct-taped the power cables. 1 man for the entire hall... really... speechless.

Very nice hall

The actual event

?

Blk L is undergoing another renovation ever since the major level 6 refurbishment. Most of us who came from there would have booked project rooms or at least went into one. Thinking of that, i remembered it was my area to take a quick nap in between classes! Now the project rooms are being converted into notebook labs. There's another minor change at the infamous fish tank at level 3 as well.

southern islands - preview

2009-03-08T23:03:00.007+08:00

my good friend is still preparing the facilities on his yacht to make trips more comfy, so this trip is considered preview of the good things to come!

today is surprisingly a hot day after many days of rain, so i was badly burnt on my arms and face. But had great fun going from West Coast to Pulau Hantu and Semakau.

Despite its forbidding name, Pulau Hantu is a favourite haunt for fishing, scuba diving and snorkeling enthusiasts because of its sheltered beaches, swimming lagoons and inviting waters. The islands are also popular with campers and day-trippers who prefer a unique outdoor experience.

Pulau Hantu has rich reefs despite its proximity to Pulau Bukom's refineries. A wide variety of corals can be found on Pulau Hantu, and mushroom corals are particularly abundant in the waters surrounding the islands. Common sea life that can also be found include the clown fish or anemonefish, damselfishes, wrasses and angelfish. The rare giant clam and the seahorse can sometimes be seen. There is a small patch of mangroves between Pulau Hantu Kecil and Pulau Hantu Besar, where native seashore plants also line their beaches.

according to WQ, Hantu is good for snorkeling and diving when tides are high, and fortunately his yacht can still go through the waters of the 3 lagoons during relatively low tides.

Semakau houses our only landfill left in Singapore, which actually sits on Pulau Sakeng and then joined to Semakau. It looked surprisingly clean, except for a construction smell drifting from the landfill station.

went fishing, but my luck wasn't good. Not really bad about it, probably only male fishes were nearby during the day. The ladies got much better catches!

Our transportation for the day

Powered by a giant Yamaha engine

Rest cabin for belongings, float and stuff (remember the curtain bro)

Our fishing gear, courtesy of WQ

Pulau Hantu, one of the lagoon

Another lagoon and jetty at Hantu

Ms Tan - first catch

Me pulling up something

Parrot fish!

Ms Wong with her prized chermin

Our host

The landfill station at the background

Beautifully lined up with small trees every 100m

Water looks good despite the landfill

Going back - i believe this is Bukom or Busing

Rocky mangrove formation at Semakau - it's a nature island!

Courtesy of my dear

She loves clouds! - Cloud #1

Cloud #2

had a refreshing bath at the club before leaving. Good enough to relieve my headache...

anyone keen to experience the Southern Islands over the weekend? Do give us a beep. Assemble a cosy group of 4 to 6 and you're ready to explore!

remedial training

2009-03-08T00:05:00.004+08:00

back to army after years of studying (slacking). Failed ippt last window, paying for it by attending RT. Like the OC of the Maju FCC said, since we're there treat the sessions as a good time to recondition our bodies, other than reasons such as networking, talking cock, slacking, hiding, etc...

luckily, the petrol is partially subsidised by my service pay.

largely, i'm enjoying it so far. But to pass ippt in Phase 1 seems difficult. Most likely promote to Phase 2..

3 more sessions to end of Phase 1

since i have company for the RT, we always carry on for dinner at Bt Timah. Today was at West Coast Plaza. Had sinful NYNY.

WX's Pizza

KW's fish n chips

My sinful spring chicken

my ride so far...

2009-03-07T23:54:00.002+08:00

ever since the accident i'm more careful in multi storey carparks; really turn and look for crazy drivers who treat them as playgrounds.

went to Kah Motor to claim warranty on my slow power windows, slightly burnt head lamp covers and my right side signal indicator that was glued on with foam tape all the while, until it came loose during repeated washings. Don't really blame the car dealer, actually it's surprising i discovered this only now! May return to them for 50k servicing, since the warranty is until December.

had the chance to remove my K&N air filter since i was claiming warranty. Had cleaning, washing and oiling for the first time:

Lots of dirt since it filters air to the throttle body

Dirt closeup

Oiling process after cleaning and drying (red area just oiled)

seems to be a good investment, since there is no need to change air filters every 10k. However, there is still a need to wash and re-oil using the recharging kit.

卓文萱 - 一句话

2009-03-04T22:59:00.004+08:00

爱上你那时爱到不象话
后来想尽办法忘掉
到最后我就合上嘴巴
多说像对自己撒谎

星空下说永恒额头上的吻
你双手将我环绕
未来即便它是一个问号
也能对自己炫耀

有一句话再也都听不到
那些过往只好放在心上
你爱我太美好时间会知道
怎样去熬成一句动人的话

有一句话再也都听不到
那些过往让它自己燃烧
我爱你太美好时间会知道
怎样去熬成动人一句话

记忆里说我们相同的体温
一想到就不会冷
未来永远都是一个问号
也是种天荒地老

这是一种成长还是一种逞强
我的寂寞很善良陪我到任何地方

有一句话再也都听不到
那些过往越呼吸越明亮
我爱你太美好时间它一定会
把它熬成世上最动人的话

visit to RSYC

2009-03-02T11:51:00.004+08:00

have not went to the yacht club for at least 4 years. Previously, some of my secondary school mates used to gather at WQ late father's yacht. Quite fun actually, since i'm not really prone to seasickness. Went over to view his new leisure craft, now under 'renovation'.

drove there, parked at the roadside. While going to West Coast Plaza for tea, i made a right turn right in front of a police car when they had the right of way. Needless to say, the 2 men in blue stared at me thereafter.

Grand lobby

Poolside

Very comfy restrooms, can even sleep inside

The yacht area

Seashaw - guess the owner?

if there is anyone interested to go out to Southern Islands for swimming, fishing or just relaxing, buzz me!

newbie to motoring (accident repair)

2009-02-22T21:29:00.003+08:00

got a very value for money workshop to do up my bumper; Khek Joo Workshop nearby Tampines Safra. Brought my car down to let him assess the damages, got quoted $100 for panel beating and reinforcement of the bumper retention clips. Sent it in 2 days later, and got it back within the same day.

the repair is flawless, except for a spray mark at my fog light cover. Plus some invisible spray marks on my right headlight that felt rough during washing. Used my claybar on it, got them off too.

met up with AL for our detailing session; lasted 4 great hours into the owl night. I was somewhat faster than him, maybe wasn't too detailed at the procedures. He had to do extra stuff too; the polishing.

Was doing waxing, he was doing polishing i think

See the accident spot?

Hardworking on his jazz

Finished with wax, wiped off the haze

GLOSS!

danga city mall

2009-02-15T00:57:00.005+08:00

took off from work, went with vincent and melvin to the heavily advertised mall in JB via KTM rail. The mall is special because the existing track runs past it, so the authorities created a platform and allowed boarding/alighting. However, the mall has been there for at least 10 years. Originally called Plaza Best World, the entire mall was abandoned due to poor business. It is (still) in front of a busy flyover, that's the problem. No buses or taxis can easily stop there.

the mall itself is rather disappointing - the major tenant was Metrojaya, somewhat like our dept stores. More than 50% of the shops were unoccupied. In the end, we took a taxi to City Square and spent more time there.

Nicer tickets now

The same notice board

The very familiar platform

Free seating?

Interior

the railway station has much value to me. For about 14 years my parents took my siblings and me to Malaysia for our CNYs via rail. Used to cramp into the cabin, stand for 3-4 hours in the burning heat. The airconditioned cabins were available, but were going for a much higher price. Eventually we took coaches up after shifting to Woodlands, since it is faster and more comfortable. Anyway, past times were bad, finance was tight. Must appreciate the present.

newbie to motoring (accident)

2009-02-14T12:42:00.005+08:00

very unfortunate to get into an accident just less than a month after getting the car. To make things short, i wasn't careful in multistory carpark, and had bumper-bumper collision with another car. Lucky the other party's damage was limited to his bumper, not his doors (if he braked later) or anything else. So we agreed to settle it privately without any claims through our insurers.

Accident spot

My bumper

Much cosmetic damage, protective bar beneath it was slightly bent too

His damage

the good thing was, the other party had no temper and was accommodating. On the other end, i was very kanchiong because it's my first encounter. Brought out my camera, took some photos like a cam-pimp and we quickly exchanged particulars. There was one red Accord driver who made his presence known by sounding his damn horn, but i treated him as a class lower than us. Really rude and maybe blind as well.

met up with him at his factory with WQ, got a quote for the repair works. Now looking around for mine too, unsure to just do up the bumper, or change the bumper and then do up.

it's time to list down the hazardous areas i encountered as a new driver so far... which driving schools or instructors don't really teach.

- turning: most people don't practise stopping at stop line, checking is dead important here

- carparks, especially HDB multistorey: Turning on headlights is not enough, need to horn or high beam if necessary. There can be cars or humans speeding or lurking around ramps.

- parking: don't reverse all the way in. Never know what's at the back that may crush your rear bumper or exhaust.

- expressway driving: filtering out, exit filter lanes

- blind spot: some big cars have blind spots, found that i can spot a motorbike or even a car beside my passenger doors, when my mirrors didn't show them.

Lord Stow's Bakery

2009-02-10T00:52:00.007+08:00

my dear gave me this; a year ago i pulled my buddies from Macau main island to Coloane Island on an expensive taxi trip, for this fantastic eggtarts. Didn't regret spending that MOP 120 fare.

it's a pleasant surprise!

Make no mistake, it's the best eggtart so far.

PS: Besides Coloane Island town centre, it's available over at HK's Excelsior Hotel. But we didn't manage to find that branch even after going round and round for 30 minutes...

newbie to motoring (poisonous)

2009-02-10T00:35:00.005+08:00

when one really gets into something, there will surely be poisonous stuff along the way. Say as a result of my computing hobby, i have tons of vintage hard drives, tons of old memory modules plus many other spare parts. I think it's happening to my new possession, and must take care to differentiate between the needs-vs-wants.

some highlights:

K&N oil based drop in filter

As the description says, just drop into the air filter box and latch up

RainX for the rainy days

The dirt remover

read so many types of mods for the air intake; drop-in, cold air induction (CAI), etc. I'm not keen to make any real alterations to the engine bay, so decided on the drop-in variant instead. Then there is the K&N oil based vs Hurricane stainless steel drop-in. Saw someone selling the K&N more than half price off, so went for that. The improvement is quicker up-gear response for slopes.

picked up the RainX and Black&Decker at Autobacs BB... trust me it's a poisonous place to be.

the mighty shoe

2009-02-06T13:04:00.003+08:00

Your shoe is prohibited... really?

do we have to go barefooted for high security talks and presentations soon?

we have seen a reporter throwing his shoe at former US President George Bush, few days ago a similar incident happened to Chinese PM Wen in Britain. Mind you, it was at University of Cambridge. Why can't (even) educated people fight it out, you may ask. However, the shoe thrower should have carefully considered the repercussions of his action, before deciding to do so. I don't think he has done that. Personally, i admire PM Wen for his work and don't think he deserved to be treated this way.

newbie to motoring (car detailing)

2009-02-03T23:49:00.007+08:00

learnt this term '"car detailing" from forums. In layman terms, it's to beautify the exterior aspects of our rides; through many techniques such as washing (the basic that everyone does themselves or by paid car wash), claying, polishing, sealing and waxing. Sounds all the same eh?

i read up some local forums, such as Singapore Honda Club or SHC, and Singapore Civic FD Club. In the process of understanding car detailing, many other tips in servicing and accessories to get (read: poison) came along. All these nice tips are bookmarked in my delicious profile, freely accessible.

being overly enthusiastic since it's my first car, i did price surveys at 2 Carrefours, 2 Homefix-es and 1 NTUC. In conclusion, apart from price differences, i find NTUC AMK Hub to be very competitive and well equipped for everybody's needs. Homefix comes second. If you happen to shop for grocery, then visit Carrefour. There's another well known and super comprehensive Autobacs at BB, but the prices are not exactly attractive.

car detailing part II

I gathered many views and opinions, and took this path -

1. washing

there are all kinds of car wash, from popular brands such as Meguiars, Armorall, 3M, etc. I bought the Armorall initially, but prepared the Duragloss 901 for my future waxed washes, since it's pH neutral. The Armorall would be for cleaning my wheels and stripping off treated layers when required.

found myself to wash in 3 smaller steps - wetting the car while removing all dirt (1 pail), shampoo-ing (1 pail) rinsing (1 pail) and drying. All by hand, maybe shampoo-ing with a microfiber cloth, to prevent swirling and scratches.

2. claying

took the soft99 claybar. It's like plasticine or art clay, but it's designed to run over surfaces and pick up stubborn stains. Ran it over the entire car, and found it to be only quite useful for door handles, boot area and bumper where stubborn dirt lies.

the claying process can be done between shampoo and rinsing. Soap water is good enough as a lubricant.

3. sealing

actually, i should have done paintwork touch up using polishes or swirl removers, but decided this can be delayed for another time. Went on to seal up the clayed exterior using AutoGlym Extra Gloss Protection. It smelt like some alcohol when i applied it on, and i let it turn to a haze for 30 minutes. Then, the haze was rubbed off.

other accessories: Mr Clean wax on/off cloth

Haze appearing after a while

4. waxing

another extra layer of treatment over the sealed layer for (supposingly) extra gloss and protection. I got 3M's liquid wax for this, application wise similar to the AutoGlym sealant. However, the haze was harder to observe. Maybe i was already quite tired, so didn't spend much effort on this.

used the wax on/off cloths from the Mr Clean pack; it has 4 pieces, just nice for sealing and waxing.

results? Quite happy with the improved gloss, and non-grainy feel when i run my fingers over the paintwork. Plus personal satisfaction. Will probably do the sealing and waxing every 2-3 months.

uncovered some paint chips after sealing, my 2nd hand dealer's touch ups all came off. All the flaws uncovered... but it's part and parcel of buying 2nd hand stuff.

now is to do the water beading test.

Hmmm..

self service - replacing the aircon/cabin filter.

Previously, the car didn't come with the filter, only the plastic frame.
It's not the second hand dealer's problem, but Kah Motor's.

Removal of glove compartment

Kah Motor didn't put in that paper filter into the frame! How much can it cost? Even public buses have sponges and foams over their aircon intakes!

i'm positive about self servicing my car, since it lowers down costs. Changing engine oil, brake fluid, etc would be impossible for me now, but i hope to learn them to bring down labour costs to $0.

no air freshener in my car, no plan to get it. Might be adding a carbon filter into the plastic frame to remove odours. I'm a sucker for air quality, if you read my past aircon posts.

poly class photo

2009-01-30T10:55:00.005+08:00

normally we have our K1, K2, primary or secondary class photos. How about poly class photo?

managed to find this:

Mugshots of everyone

looks good for tagging in Facebook!

newbie to motoring (40,000km servicing)

2009-01-25T12:49:00.006+08:00

had the privilege of sending my car for servicing so soon, since the previous owner didn't do the 40,000km maintenance. It's a major servicing point, so i expected many parts to have worn out. Indeed it was, and more stuff had to be changed...

didn't send it in to my authorised distributor since they quoted $506 with only the basic replacements - engine oil, oil filter, transmission oil, brake fluid and fuel filter. The workshop recommended to me did these at $430. But due to additional wear and tear, the gentleman Nigel told me to postpone the change of fuel filter, and replaced the air filter, aircon filter, battery and spark plugs instead (!). The throttle body was also adjusted FOC. The total cost was $540, which is still cheaper. Kah Motor would have charged me much more.

Hoisting it up... drain the oils

Checklist

Motul 300v engine oil

Voltronic brake fluid

Automatic transmission fluid and oil filter

Air filter

Aircon filter (yes, no filter previously installed)

Old battery

Spark plugs faulty...

Courtesy of my brother's camera

newbie to motoring (starter kit)

2009-01-23T23:08:00.009+08:00

so many things to prepare for this set of wheels:

Microfibre cloths, waffle towel

Antislip mat, 1.5L water, interior detailer, carwash concentrates

IU cover

motoring

2009-01-21T17:47:00.006+08:00

before the collection day, WQ and his gf, plus me went to Old Airport Road hawker centre.

had ~~escargot~~ gong gong for the first time!

Gong Gong! Sotong! Kang kong!

Chicken CHOP

drove a rental car from Eazi Car Leasing last tuesday. WQ drove me to Turf City to collect the car. The staff looked rather beng-ish, but their service attitude is still good. Just don't act tough while talking to them lah. They even washed the car before i took over.

with the ex-policeman beside me it's difficult to get lost. Went to many places as far as the airport, kent ridge, 99 bends, did vertical parking, mscp and expressway driving to boost my confidence on the road. Had some near misses, such as assuming there's a filter lane when there isn't, nearly crashed into a container lorry, and went too near to some structures.

Fit 2008

Compact and zippy car

now the more important pictures:

Civics in line

if you realised, my parking is not centered...

Engine compartment

going for 40,000km servicing this weekend. Hope i can learn more about the engine then.

new responsibility...

2009-01-18T17:02:00.004+08:00

Civic

more details in my private blog. Password protected though, get the code from me. If i don't respond... i'm sorry! =)

very busy

2009-01-14T01:25:00.000+08:00

just to create a post to tell people i'm still alive. Have been so busy and stressed over some matters, hope it'll be done and over soon. Please wish me well =)

the reality of driving

2009-01-08T00:41:00.005+08:00

have been super excited about driving ever since 5 Jan. Now there's a new web site in my bookmarks, sgCarMart!

started to read up more on the essentials of driving locally, financial readiness etc. Also saw a few companies renting out cars, some even to p-platers. Quite keen to try them.

drew came over to campus despite his NS schedule to let me get acquainted to real parking. It's easier than the circuit's vertical parking, just slant the car at 45 and enter. But i think this requires practice and of course, a familiar car to be proficient. Then i drove out from campus to YCK MRT, where we said goodbye.

of course, he took over the car from there lah. I took the train home.

my feelings? I was trying the school's Civic for months, so felt out of place with his Kia Rio. Driving wise, no need to stop at stop line all the time anymore! No need to practise lane discipline! Or rather, only L-plates seemed to practise that. It is so awkward; wanted to change to the extreme left but he told me it's not necessary. Somewhat a culture shock.

still have to worry about parking coupons when i do rent out a car. Plus p-plate, street directory, etc etc. Quite a chore after all. It's so fortunate being a passenger rather than a driver.

fishing trip last sunday

2009-01-06T00:34:00.004+08:00

fished out some pictures from my Diamond, although these were taken last year (New Year Eve) it's well worth to publish them:

Shiok! But what is Ms Tan rubbing ...?

Ladies, massage your guy with this from the kitchen.

had the first fishing trip with them for 2009. Shupei was supposed to turn up, but had too much drinks. Aiyo, teacher ah teacher...

i seen a few more new spots this time. Even went the fenced off borders of Ubin.

had sporadic rain which made us roll down the canvas, then it stopped after 5 minutes -.-

caught lots of small fishes who were schooling around existing structures. Dropped my line down and instantly fishes were pulling the baits away! Learnt to cast the fish line further too.

2 in a row

To be updated: don't know what name. But nice silvery fish
Got 10+ of them.

Stressed up sergeant majors. Food for the bigger fishes

This stonefish looked uglier than my catfish man.
But they say catfish is uglier! Omg!

Best catch of the day - Jin Mu Lu

OUCH. SUNBURNT!

driving - #30

2009-01-05T13:21:00.011+08:00

lucky number: 130

have not updated my mega revision post for ages. In total, i took 29 lessons; 17 for subjects 1 to 30 from 19 Sept to 31 Oct, then 12 more revision lessons from 7 Nov to 3 Jan. The revisions took longer because of exams, and of course a 2 months wait for TP slot.

this was my last lesson, which is the warm up before TP. Booked the 0915 hrs slot, warm up was at 0820.

my past popular mistakes were...

- not stopping at stop line (learnt this the hard way, tio kan by my regular instructor too many times)

- directional change (mount kerb when reversing in or moving out from lot)

apparently, this is the #1 immediate failure reason for auto learners at SSDC too, because testers will often bring us to 17A which is the narrowest of all directional change lots. The Civic body is larger than most other L plate car models, also the turning radius is not as wide.

- some exotic instructions not given before requiring multiple manoeuvres in the circuit. A typical scenario is to do lane change and right turns after turning out from minor road, all in less than 20 metres. Lots of points can be awarded if careless.

the warm up was largely fine, except i forgot to stop at the stop line after doing ramp (terrible habits die hard, immediate failure!) and improper technique for e-brake.

then the instructor brought me up to level 3, helped me handle the paperwork and i sat at the waiting area for my tester and test route. About 10 testees for the test session, all looked so tense. I didn't get nervous until i was the 3rd last to be called. One uncle called me in a business tone, told me my test route (#1) and told me to wait at my test car.

then he took so darn long to come down la! Only left 2 girls driving manual waiting at the test area. Had a chance to say hello to one of them before we finally left.

- 17A (directional change)
- 25 (parallel parking)
- 16 (s and crank course)
- 14B (vertical parking)
- 27 (slope)
- 13 (ramp)
- test route #1 (u-turn at AJC)

demerit: 2 points for turning steering wheel while car is stationary at 25. The lot has uneven surfaces, so not much of a choice unless i stepped on the gas and risked knocking down poles.

went back to school, hastily parked the car and followed the tester up. Then he showed me my result slip! Watched the graduation video, picked up my training booklet from counter 1.

thanks to these instructors. Fierce or kind or boring, they facilitated my learning process:

- Mr Raup (5833); took me for first 2 lessons
- Mr Tan KP (5532); very friendly+fatherly instructor
- Mr Yeow SC (5621); my most regular instructor, no-nonsense principle in teaching. Screw up and you're dead. But he gets his job done.
- Mr Ramesh (5414); took me for last few lessons, extremely encouraging

- Mr Tham KY (5643 and Chiau TK (5428): riding instructors, met them only once but knew my weaknesses and made me improve on them.

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

my humble advice to those learning in progress...

- learn as much as you can during practical lessons

- don't cram lessons if you cannot absorb (i'm guilty of this, luckily i had enough revision lessons)

- don't rote learn according to notes (that's what i did), learn to perform corrective actions advised by instructors

- don't be embarrassed to make mistakes in circuit, it's not painful as long as it's not your TP

- maintain constant --> frequent revision lessons towards test date. It was during revisions that my funny problems crop up... such as the mount kerb problem. During training, no such problem.

- aim to get your license to DRIVE on the road, not to pass TP.

looking for buddies to teach me real life parking!

dec 25th to 31st

2008-12-31T16:19:00.010+08:00

quite many things happened, but didn't have the time (nor sufficient photos) to blog them up. So i'll try my best to provide a coherent picture.

my pocket had 2 big holes. The first hole was made at Courts Megatex, a Toshiba Regza LCD (RV500 series). Fell prey to those bidding style selling tactics dangling ultra low prices with lots of free stuff. Luckily, that Regza was quite a good one; full HD 42', 3 HDMI ports, $100 NTUC vouchers for just $1399.

Colours weren't as brilliant as Samsung or Sony though

2 troublesome chores followed with this tv. Had to move the existing 34' CRT into my father's room, and prepare a spare PC so the new tv can play Bukit Timah movies or surf net on it. The CRT was damn heavy, and i kinda pulled my muscle while carrying it.

i couldn't remember doing anything useful on Xmas. Maybe i did something but forgot. Update this later if i can recall.

boxing day was with army peeps, dining at AMK's famous crab stall. That stall has taken over the entire coffeeshop space after renovation. Diedie must make reservation unless you prefer to stand outside and queue until you salivate by looking at people eating crabs for 1-2 hours.

Lined up with crabs, literally

Quite a nice dining ambience

Before

After

27th was at JB. Was having a bad headache (the case recently), took painkillers and slept but still no use. Decided this was no good, took a cold shower plus some of my own methods to get myself better. Indeed it was gone by the time we got past the causeway jams and City Square crowd. The photos are with the various people, i felt so in pain that i just brought myself and my passport in.

28th was the day my pocket burnt a 2nd hole - Vaio Z. Below photos courtesy of my brother, the innards are taken by me. So you can see an obvious difference in quality.

Vaio

"I can last long, or i can finish it quickly... "
*grin*

The Apple-d keys

Innards (bottom left the hard drive, right side is optical)

The keyboard

didn't really want to open it up, but the Toshiba 5400rpm hard disk was feeling laggy. I have my Hitachi 7200rpm screamer, so there wasn't any reason not to swap.

changed the OS to Vista 64 bit after burning out my recovery discs. Hit some snags because 64 bit isn't officially supported on the Z series yet, but the 64 bit signed drivers are still available online. After getting them installed, the whole experience was as normal as my previous laptops.

other than that, this model is a good buy despite being the first generation of the Z series. The current upgrade to this Z17 is Z27, which comes with a 7200rpm hard disk default from factory, Blu-ray optical drive & premium carbon lid. Both are retailing at the same price of $4299, but i got a hefty discount from mc2.

i can now safely say ThinkPads are reliable (i dropped mine few times, proven) and has a good support and drivers base, LifeBooks are simple to use and upgrade but software support is not that top notch. Vaios look absolutely stylish, but software support is rather poor. Also notable, Sony disabled VT permanently, so for those who need hardware assisted virtualization especially on 64-on-64 platforms will be out of luck.

lastly, my driving revisions are in overdrive mode. It's getting more stable now, and i hope it remains this way for the test next week.

xmas lunch

2008-12-26T16:33:00.003+08:00

so many things happened on the day of the lunch; xmas eve.

1st was the train fault. a 2 mins wait became 20 mins. Good thing was, i managed to board the first train that came in from Marsiling. Bad thing was...

i reached driving centre on time, despite the rain and the train. To my horror my name didn't appear on their TV. So went to check my account... and realised i forgot to make payment for the trysell slot the day before. Wasted trip...

pants was 1/5 wet by the time i 'completed' the walk to NYP, via a longer loop.

Huge spread

Tuck in!

Shake!

release of results - 2008/2009 s1

2008-12-23T14:47:00.001+08:00

i can call it my last semester, the parting shot:

CS1280: S
CS3266: B+
CS3267: B+
ST2334: C

Examination Status: Fulfilled degree requirements. To be awarded Pass Degree

time to look for job.

does the Minister know his portfolio?

2008-12-23T10:33:00.008+08:00

several online blogs such as The Online Citizen, and forum posters have attacked our Transport Minister Mr Raymond Lim, after his comments recently:

Mr Lim tempered hopes that current falling oil prices will translate into a similar drop in fares, saying that there is no direct correlation between the two.

my take is - maybe he is saying there is still a link, which was the basis for some fare hikes in the past. Noticed he has used the words 'direct correlation'. Maybe there's really no link... but this meant our transport companies have been lying to PTC (and the people taking public transport) for years?

i'm quite confused what he meant. Maybe it's too scholarly for me.

our wish is that our politicians need to be better in touch with the ground - so i would hope he has already sensed the confusion going on, and clarify his comments through his press secretary or some other communication means. If he failed to address this wave of comments, it is yet another failure by the government to listen to its people.

another take from me is to split the Transport Ministry into 2; hive off land transportation from the current ministry to be managed alone. Air and sea transportation, traditionally viewed as important assets to Singapore, have a even better focus if separated. Let another capable Minister champion for local issues instead.

ps: he made a promise to increase GST to 8.5% in return for free public transportation. Maybe it was a threat? Careless remark? A very careless politician making gaffes in the making!

the army linkage

2008-12-21T01:48:00.030+08:00

had a small gathering with some army friends, at Jason's place. Has been quite a while since i met up with some of them, because everyone's busy.

realised time has passed a great deal, it's about 4 years since we knew each other. In Dec 2003, we were just out from BMT, posted to Signals Institute, then accidentally got bundled into the same infosys platoon because of our education background. So, we are from the engineering/technology sector (and still is, for those employed), except for the JC mates. After training for 2 months, 95% of us went to 3 Signals.

the rest of 2004 and 2005 was spent in the unit, then later with the higher ranks of my unit's division level. As the same goes with any army guys, the worries were mainly on time outside camp, physical fitness and unit exercises plus saikang. Later on at the division, the time outside problem was gone, but was quite tiring due to transportation - wake up at 5, take 1st bus at 5.20, reach camp at 6.30, end at 6, reach home at 8). Then there was girlfriend to worry about - so many things!

luckily for us, the entire division was mobilized for NDP 2005; the large scale of preparations for the 40th year of independence meant constant book-outs to City Hall, only a minimal number of military exercise; better welfare in general. I followed my superior to all parts of Singapore for his meetings and rehearsals, and even got to view a 'sample' of fireworks at Tanjong Gul Camp. In short, without the NDP preparations, it would be plain boring for 2005.

closer to ord, we all had our plans then. Those who could make it to local university were prepared to put rusty minds to use, Elvin even started studying part-time before getting out (Signal battalions traditionally have a higher number of well educated soldiers, so the culture is different compared to that of an infantry or combat engineer battalion, for instance.) The rest were getting ready for working life.

after ord, there were the frequent kopi sessions where we talked about girls, rather the lack of them, studies, career, etc etc.

now those who are studying are almost done, those working ones are doing well in terms of career advancement and earnings. Jason and Dan have gotten married, many of us are happily attached. There are new goals in life now, no more pursuing of IT gadgets crazily, but to plan for more serious stuff; personal set of wheels, marriage, having children, just to name a few.

suddenly, age is catching up. Getting closer to the number 3. Cannot play play as though we are still 20 or 21. A wrong step and we will be left behind.

let's see where we are again when we reach 30.

ps: butties, i want my kayak sessions to come back!!!!

Kastam Sultan Iskandar - poor planning and testing

2008-12-19T01:39:00.014+08:00

Forum talk

if you drive, you're screwed with the narrow lanes and the use of their Touch n Go card. I have no issue on the TNG card, though. The infrastructure was flawed from the start - just need a car to break down anywhere along the bottleneck-ed flyover, the rest you can observe when you're stuck there. 76 lanes? No use. The immigration staff will be catching mosquitoes instead.

if you take public transport, you're further screwed with the free-for-all boarding area. Queue? Malaysia does not believe in that. Actually, things has not changed since the olden times. Except that the sheer amount of people waiting for a single bus has accumulated to cause a stampede.

if you walk, you're gone ******. There is no pavement for you to walk into the CIQ.

if you swim, you're the champ. Wait a minute, the coast guards are lurking by.

the best? Perhaps is to get a train ticket.

observations
1. Malaysia, truly Asia...

2. Going by the frustrations of the CIQ users and denials by various officials in Johor, i think naming the CIQ after the Sultan is degenerating into an extremely embarrassing decision. I would think, oh even with the Sultan's support and guidance even though in name, people get this kind of (horrible) standard?

3. Business opportunity for Singapore - ask Johor to outsource the operation of the CIQ. Some commercial entity from Singapore (read: GLCs?) takes over the day-to-day operations. Pray and hope for 100 days there are some changes for the better. Meanwhile let Dr M charge at us with his crooked bridge pet project.

Prudential - avoid at all costs

2008-12-17T23:59:00.009+08:00

i have yet another story to tell, and that is regarding Prudential.

Change of agent statistics
Policy #1 - 2 times

Policy #2 - 2 times

both in a space of less than 2 months. I'm not very pleased when i see letters from Prudential nowadays, because it is about some darn bad news - new agent taking over my policy, and now the last straw - policy #1 got suspended.

some investors should know about the restriction of investment of monies from ordinary account that took effect earlier this year. I told my former agent, he said it will be settled. Come months later, i received a letter that the CPF premium is due. Knowing my instruction probably got lost because i'm not a very high value customer, i ignored it and waited to see what would happen.

now the company has suspended the policy.

i blame the company for not training their agents properly - a basic instruction wasn't conveyed from the customer to company. Secondly, they treated customers like clothes - an agent leaves, assign another. That another one leaves, assign yet another.

HELLO PRUDENTIAL, CUSTOMERS ARE PEOPLE PUTTING MONEY IN YOUR FIRM. WHY ARE YOUR AGENTS LEAVING AND LEAVING AND WHAT YOU CAN DO IS TO KEEP ASSIGNING ANOTHER? WHAT DO YOU TREAT US AS?

damn angry. Going to call and fry their asses tomorrow.

always online

2008-12-16T02:12:00.007+08:00

there are some ironies in this video...

- the growing popularity of netbooks (small notebooks). Lenovo IdeaPad S10 is used by the female character

- sad yet eerie feeling

变色的生活
平静的跳搏
疯狂的蒙住了头
短短的守候
是他的温柔
还是少了点什么
遥远两端爱挂在天空飞
风停了也无所谓
只因为你曾说
everything will be ok
准备好了
three two one
i'm always online
和你one to one
爱开始扩散
我们连接了穿越天空银河
开始倒数
three two one
渗出我的孤单
more and more即是深刻
爱亮了
爱笑了
i'm always online

you can listen to the track here:

Always Online - Lin Jun Jie 林俊杰

marina barrage

2008-12-16T01:45:00.004+08:00

went to view the new tourist destination a month after it opened, the marina barrage.

took the free shuttle bus from Marina Bay mrt station, directions available at prominent turning points. The only problem is the dust around the area, due to the Marina Sands construction. Once inside the bus and at the barrage, the air is better. Saw lots of locals having picnic, while the rest simply hung around at the green patches, water outlets or viewing pod.

This was where the shuttle loading point was

Photographers should love this place

The barrage from the top

Why the reservoir water is so ....

Live demonstration of how the barrage works to solve 3 problems

had a belated birthday celebration, but the date didn't matter at all.

Thank you! muack!

vista x64 - an evolution coming near you

2008-12-15T13:00:00.007+08:00

Full 6GB of goodness

1 or 2 years ago, we observed the prices of memory (DRAM) fall. We thought the initial fall was temporary, some expert users even part-timed as investors, buying up more memory sticks than they need. But when they hoped to sell it off later, the prices slid even further. Now, you can get a basic 2GB stick at only S$30. This price level was unheard of, only until recently.

now new desktops and laptops offer a minimum 3GB of memory, some vendors even pump it up to 4GB. You may ask, why 3GB - because of the 32 bit operating systems that most of us use can only address up to 3.2GB of memory, the remaining portion is sitting idle unless 64 bit editions are running.

what other factors to upgrade?

for software developers, the increased horsepower gives momentum to virtualization, which is the emulation of additional platform(s) on an existing base platform. Using a selected operating systems as a base, we can run some other systems on top of it, saving computing resources, electrical energy, real estate space, etcetra.

the technology behind this evolution is; surprise surprise, AMD64, from AMD (duh). Initially created by AMD, it was later adopted by Intel for the mass consumer segment, after the Intel-HP IA64 initiative failed to gain traction. The greatest selling point of AMD64 is the support for both 32 and 64 bit computing by adding 64 bit support on top of the x86 architecture, which IA64 failed miserably. Demands for increased performance and better support for 64 bit drivers and applications should accelerate the adoption further.

what are the benefits to the average user? Besides removing the memory addressing restriction, there are some improvements on operating system security, such as the Data Execution Prevention (DEP), requirement for more reliable signed device drivers, and finally better preparation for future operating systems, such as Windows 7 which should be more 64 bit oriented in future.

how to go about doing the upgrade? Since a Vista product key should work on both 32 and 64 bit editions, there is no extra cost to move between the 2 architectures unless you're upgrading from older Windows versions. Hardware wise, minimum requirement is (only) a 64 bit capable processor plus 64 bit signed drivers for any internal and external devices you plug into the system. Factor in your ancient stuff, such as USB scanners, printers, keyboard/mice combo, card readers, etc. All of these shouldn't be a problem if they were purchased in the last 2 years.

software wise, except for Starter edition, all other editions from Home Basic to Ultimate have 64 bit counterparts. Just get hold of the 64 bit DVD installer, legitimately through Microsoft or not-so-legit through Bukit Timah.

Links
Microsoft - compare editions
Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows: Windows Vista feature focus: x64 support
Windows Vista 64 bit computing

JJ Lin and 阿 Sa - 小酒窝

2008-12-12T02:26:00.001+08:00

have not put up songs for a long time. Here's one:

（JJ）我还在寻找一个依靠和一个拥抱
谁替我祈祷替我烦恼为我生气为我闹

（sa）幸福开始有预兆缘分让我们慢慢紧靠
然后孤单被吞没了无聊变得有话聊有变化了

（合）小酒窝长睫毛是你最美的记号
我每天睡不着想念你的微笑
你不知道你对我多么重要
有了你生命完整的刚好
小酒窝长睫毛迷人得无可救药
我放慢了步调感觉像是喝醉了
终于找到心有灵犀的美好
一辈子暖暖的好我永远爱你到老

（sa）幸福开始有预兆缘分让我们慢慢紧靠
然后孤单被吞没了无聊变得有话聊有变化了

（合）小酒窝长睫毛是你最美的记号
我每天睡不着想念你的微笑
你不知道你对我多么重要
有了你生整完成的刚好
小酒窝长睫毛迷人得无可救药
我放慢了步调感觉像是喝醉了
终于找到心有灵犀的美好
一辈子暖暖的好我永远爱你到老
小酒窝长睫毛迷人得无可救药
我放慢了步调感觉像是喝醉了
终于找到心有灵犀的美好
一辈子暖暖的好我永远爱你到老

xmas lunch

2008-12-10T14:07:00.006+08:00

The nice spread

Tucking in...

Camera shake!

taipei december 2008 - thoughts

2008-12-10T14:07:00.005+08:00

if there was some pre-planning prior to going there, i believe some 'show-stoppers' would have been detected:

1. Sweet Dynasty is no longer a 'celebrity' restaurant; Jacky divested his share already

2. Jay Chou didn't open any shop, we couldn't find that Omni shop either.

3. Metro Muzha Line is closed on and off in December for Neihu line integration testing.

4. Maokong cable car is closed due to mudslide in Oct 2008.

5. Shifen Waterfall at Pingsi is closed indefinitely due to land dispute with government.

transportation
those who went to HK would have been spoilt by the friendly tourist maps and direction signposts all over the territory. There are even signposts in Tai-O!

this was the main difference i felt on reaching Taipei - it tried to be tourist friendly, but unfortunately there aren't many signs everywhere. Furthermore, the railway system is quite cumbersome to move around, especially when making transfers. The lack of integration with EasyCard has intensified the confusion.

people
the people i came across was generally helpful, you can trust us on that because we asked for directions along the way. They are different from our local people, who puts on glum faces everywhere. The disappointing episode was obviously on the theft case; although i wouldn't blame the Taiwanese fully for that.

wish list
i missed out on Sun Moon Lake and Taroko Gorge. Hope i can visit them the next time.

taipei december 2008 - day 7

2008-12-10T04:00:00.004+08:00

home sweet home!

had a longer rest in bed. Had a lunch gathering in XMD, before going to airport via hotel bus/Free-go transfer. Since the group was split into SQ/3K airlines, we bid farewell at Taoyuan itself.

This stall seemed nicer

Taoyuan T2 - SQ at 2A

Niu rou mian!

The departure hall of T2

SQ879 - returning

taipei december 2008 - day 6

2008-12-09T11:59:00.006+08:00

places: Longshan Temple, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, ZX Dunhua (Sweet Dynasty) and ZX Xinsheng (Taipei Leechi cake shop)

had a full day shopping. Browsed NOVA computer arcade too, but paled in comparison to Guanghua.

xr came over to dine with us, but unfortunately something bad happened.

Longshan Temple

Crazy sale in this building

NOVA computer arcade in the background

Sweet Dynasty desserts

Full

Taipei Leechi cake shop

Bought bings here

WX?

Mojito!

Bang.

The thiefs

zw's shopping bag with his personal stuff was stolen while we were in a clothing shop. It was rather an oversight, but disappointed at the above 3 whom we suspected to have taken that bag away. Called the police and yada yada... and a good impression of Taiwan turned sour...

taipei december 2008 - day 5

2008-12-08T01:49:00.006+08:00

places: XMD, Muzha, Taipei 101 and Shilin

had a brief moment in Ximen for lunch, at the modern toilet restaurant. Nice concept.

Toilet style, add urinal container for $30

No joke!

Hmm...

=x

then we wanted to go towards the direction of zoo, which required us to transfer to Muzha Line. But...

Muzha Line CLOSED! Why???

then we wanted to take the Maokong cable car - also closed!!! Quite disappointing that tourism board didn't put up notices to say its closed. Actually it's our fault since we didn't do much homework before going.

Maokong cable car also closed!! WHY????

Giraffe chimney in the background

went for our long awaited Taipei 101. NTD400 to fully browse all floors, 88F, 89F and 91F (the highest floor subject to weather conditions). Worth the money.

Shuttle bus to 101

Nice damper babies

Only my camera can zoom in perfectly! =p

On the lift up - fastest lift in the world, 1010m/min

Getting dark...

Night view around SYS Memorial Hall (i think)

The big damper at the 92F, stabilizing the top

Open view at 91F

The peak of the tower

went to Shilin for late dinner, had chops for dinner. I had pork chop, keong had steak, zw had chicken chop. It's nice! Stall 140 or 341.

Back to Shilin NM

The locals' favourite - chicken cutlet - too floury for my taste

This drink is nice

BBQ prawn stall

No need to peel shells!

taipei december 2008 - day 4

2008-12-07T00:42:00.005+08:00

places: Guanghua Digital Mall, Zhongxiao Dunhua, Hotel, Wufenpu

a trip is never complete without a trip to the local Sim Lim Square. Guanghua is one of the local favourites i think, just refurbished. More spacious with SLS style pricelists. But the stuff aren't that cheap, except for WD Scorpio 2.5 hard disks for notebooks - 7200rpm 320GB costs below S$200. I saw a Buffalo wireless N router for below $100 too.

then my roommate and i continued to window shop at one of their Sogos at Zhongxiao Fuxing. There are around 3-4 of them distributed around that metro station. Had a group meal at Din Tai Fung, but alas was rather wasted because i was having a bad headache by then. They proceeded to Wufenpu for bugis style shopping, and i went back hotel to rest.

slept for 2 hours, then was feeling damn cold. Pulled myself up for a hot shower, then forced myself out of the hotel. Indeed i got better.

Breakfast

Lu Rou Fan

Guanghua Digital Market

New Touch Diamond!?

Familiar?

Pricelists. They prefer customers to ask than to just look.

Next stop: SOGOs

Thriving here in Taiwan

One stop down to ZX Dunhua - Din Tai Fung

Back to Ximen - Derrick!?

Back to shop mode after a short rest

Bought a brown cap

Girls are lucky!

taipei december 2008 - day 3

2008-12-05T22:56:00.006+08:00

places: Northern Taipei City (Beitou and Shilin) and Danshui (Fisherman's Wharf, Lover Bridge)

first stop was to Beitou, Xinbeitou to be exact. There are a number of hot spring resort/hotels in the area. There's even steaming spring water flowing along the side of some roads. Notably, the water is rather sulfuric for Beitou's hot springs.

took S25 to the hot spring resorts area. Do check with the driver when boarding, to confirm the direction of travel. We took the wrong direction and went 2 stations backwards, at Qiyan. The best is to board at the bus stand outside Qiyan station, to prevent confusion.

zh, keong and me chose the private hot spring package, NTD2900 for the whole thing. It looked like a hotel room, but with 2 sections - 1st section is a small living room with sofa, etc. 2nd section is the enjoyment section, 2 tubs plus japanese styled bathing facilities.

the other group opted for hot spring cum massage, NTD3950/SGD188 each! Lasted roughly 2 hours.

Beitou first, Danshui next

S25 is the shuttle to take to hot springs area

The various rooms available, outdoor/indoor/private/public

The 2nd section of the room

Hot spring water

Shiok lah.

next stop was to Danshui. On the outside, the station looked like our local Chinese Garden station. Took a long winding ride on 26 to the Fisherman's Wharf.

Danshui station

She was at Danshui coincidentally

The nice coast of Danshui River

Fisherman's Wharf - 漁人碼頭

Fisherman's Wharf in the background

The seaview at the wharf

Boardwalk - too chilling to stroll

Strong winds, the camera kept going off balance

Lover Bridge

then we went downwards to Shilin Night Market. Tried lotsa finger food, browsed their Bugis Street equivalent. But theirs is 3-4x much bigger.

A trip to Taiwan is incomplete without this visit

Orh jian

Chou Tofu

This stall - recommended, especially for beef eaters

Shilin Streets

I LIKE!

Popular stall

One of the many 100s of stalls

White bitter gourd..?

Hebe~!~!~

taipei december 2008 - day 2

2008-12-04T23:17:00.007+08:00

warning: extra long post with over 40 pictures

places: North Eastern Taipei - Ping Si (Shifen Waterfalls) and Keelung City

the signages are really hard to read! Wanted to go to Shifen, which required us to take the metro to TMS and transfer to TRA's Yilan Line. There, there would be a spur line to Ping Si, which has many good old attractions such as Shifen Waterfall, bridges, etc.

Mac breakfast

Our launching pad - Ximending

We realised these machines could dispense EasyCards

got a mild shock on TRA - some of their rolling stock are still non electrified, much like our neighbouring KTM's trains. But the airconditioning worked well, IMO much better than KTM. We got the 2nd class (莒光) tickets, which skipped certain stations along the line.

Pricelist - !?

Yet another one!?

Ticket #1 - TMS to Ruifang

Looking for car 6...

Locomotive train to Ruifang

KO, TW

when we reached Ruifang station, there was only about 5-10 minutes to make an immediate transfer to Ping Si Line. We had to ask the platform staff, get past a security staff who manually collected our previous tickets, then go to the ticketing station many meters away. By the time we reached the opposite platform, the train went off.

Platform 1, i remember. Had to go down and up to opposite platform

Walking to this counter took 5 minutes.
Another 5 minutes to interpret the massive pricelist

so we stopped at RF for lunch. Had a hearty encounter with a kind old man, who was working with the railway station.

Ruifang town centre

The train station

Yummy 'kopitiam' with local foodfare (and atmosphere)

One of the stalls

Ticket #2 - one day pass on Ping Si Line (NTD54)

On the diesel powered train - sounds like a truck because it 'accelerates'

The trainset

Can stop here and walk down railway...

we thought walking along the railway was dangerous, so we took the slope next to it. It practically got nowhere, even with the farmers' help. We could have shortened this walk by just walking along the tracks.

Back to the track...

Yup. Becareful

Had to exercise 100% caution - passing train can kill

Shifen Waterfalls

CLOSED!

mini drama here - the government has forced the operator to close! Apparently, the operator has bought up the surrounding land of Shifen Waterfalls, sealed up the place with concertina wires and charged for entry (NTD180). So it had to be shut down.

we eventually broke in through the concertina wires, then took some pictures of the good view. Some older folks also wanted to come in, so we helped them. The owner suddenly came back and roared at us. So... got chased out.

Still we barged in...

The bridge from Shifen Waterfall to Spectacle Cave

Spectacle Cave

Potholes from erosion

More waterways and scenic bridges - Siguang Suspension Bridge

We found this notice on the way... but we came from the other direction.

Shifen Old Streets

Ticket #3 - Ruifang to Keelung (transfer at Badu)

Train car number, trip number and class

Slightly different train

Transferring at Badu to Keelung

stopped at Keelung, who involved another transfer from Ruifang, at Badu. Then took the line upwards to Keelung. The transfer was boring but worth it - Miaokou's food selection is great.

Keelung

Miaokou - FOOD GALORE!

Quail eggs - a stick for NTD15

Pork ribs

Didn't really like this - tenpura

Taipei 101 - too late for it

People counter - present in some buildings, 101 inclusive

But not too late for this!

XMD at 10.30pm - small stalls started to 'gather'