dec 25th to 31st

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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