New Toy

Thank you, Wifey, for the wonderful gift! Smooth shaving days ahead!



Image credit here.

Post Date: 13 Oct 09

Philly and Fishie

More than 20 years ago, a dorky, awkward teenager met a sweet-looking girl at his orientation. She had her long, bouncy hair tied into a ponytail. Her tan complexion was due to the love of outdoor sports, especially swimming. She smiled a lot, and her laughter was especially contagious.

Their OG was an active one, meeting up regularly for lunches and outings. They both enjoyed the company, and nothing happened at first. But as the group then settled into their regular routine, he realised that he has taken a fancy to her. "She is wife material," he sniggered to himself. Phone conversations became more frequent, and he had a hard time trying to coincidentally bump into her along the corridors.

Over one of those long conversations, he asked to be her boyfriend. She was somewhat cornered, and rather hesitantly, said yes. It was August then. He was overjoyed! Over the moon! You see, unbeknownst to her then, he had 2 things on his mind. Using a sports analogy,

1. He needed to move up to midfield to attack
2. But before he can do that, he needed a solid defence

He had already identified that she will be the proverbial woman behind the proverbial successful man. With her support on the home front, he'll then be able to focus on taking on this world. Something like 男主外女主内.

They enjoyed their "paktor-hood" thoroughly, strolling in parks, going to movies, taking photos, etc. They had their 小情侣 squabbles, of course, but there was never shouting or fighting. Never. They were mostly disagreements, thrashed out civilly. They also learnt to manage each other's expectations. In all, they disagreed for less than 5 times. But he also learnt his lesson. Everytime she cried, it pierced his heart. He vowed never to make her angry, and will love and protect her.

Knowing that he found himself a good catch, dorky teen got worried when NS time came. She was too important to him and cannot afford to lose her. But what if...? She had a hard time reassuring him, but did so ever so patiently. She meant what she said, when twice she waited for him outside his camp. Imagine, a teenage girl outside an army camp! That's simply asking for trouble (meaning, cat calls, whistles, stares)! But she did it. When dorky nerd saw her standing there, he couldn't believe his eyes! He so badly wanted to hug her there and then, but had to restrain himself. He was so, so touched, and loved her even more.

Their love story continued much along the same lines, of surprise gifts, silly jokes, lots of love but even more respect.

Today, they have been together for 20 years, and married for 10. Come next year, there will be a new addition to the small family, one that they have been praying for.

So Happy 20th Anniversary my Princess, for comforting me when I'm sad, for encouraging me when I'm down, for bearing with me when I'm incoherent, for supporting me when I feel weak... most importanly, for being there for me. Of all the wrong things I've done, I am so proud I did one thing right: asking to be your boyfriend 20 years ago.

I love you, dear. May we have many, many more 20-year anniversaries to come. And I want to dedicate this song to you, the song that we liked so much and has grown to represent our relationship.





Image credit here.

Post Date: 31 Aug 09

"Your time will come"

While driving home this evening, I started thinking about the thousands of people who have bought private property, and wondered how they did it.

And then this thought entered my head: don't rush into things. Your turn will come.

Well, they did say patience is a virtue ...



Post Date: 13 Aug 09

The Eagle Has Landed

Today marks the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11's landing on the moon.

That triumph over the (then thought) impossibility so intrigued a particular Singapore boy that he became interested in the moon, and astronomy in general, and he constantly pestered his parents to allow him to buy space books. His first astronomy book was a thin hard-cover book bought from Emporium. He still remembers its yellow-coloured price tag and that it has, on its cover, sun rise over Earth, seen from space.

Secretly he wanted to be an astronaut. Neil Armstrong was his hero. He wanted to get the best seats in the house when it came to space exploration. In his kiddy mind, the excitement far outweighed the fear of not coming back. However, when confronted with the school composition topic of "What I want to be when I grow up", he didn't write about being an astronaut. Apart from the lack of a space programme in Asia (then), he was also afraid of being laughed at. (This inferior complex will continue to haunt him into his adulthood, with no remedy in sight).

He read that the astronauts were mostly engineering graduates and fighter pilots. Alas, our dear boy didn't make the cut. Not only did he suck big time in science (C5 for 'O' level Chemistry and C6 for Physics), his stubby existence (pun intended) meant that he'll never fit into the fighter cockpit. That one briefing at the RSAF is at the far end of his failing memory.

Despite the setback, he continued his dalliances with astronomy, buying the occasional book and DVD boxsets. He considers the purchase of the DVD set of the TV series From the Earth to the Moon a coup, considering that he searched for it for years.

To date, he has yet to haul his big, fat ass to the shelf to retrieve the box, remove the shrink wrap and pop the DVDs into the player.







Image credit here.

Post Date: 20 Jul 09

New Mazda 3

Went down to the showroom today. The 1.6 luxury sedan model costs $69,988, less $1,000 early bird discount if book by tomorrow.

The look and feel is not bad, but I think the price is steep. Have yet to read any reviews though.

I will need to pay another $2,000 odd to the finance company after trading in Elliot. I'm not for increasing my monthly installment of $600. Based on the installment calculator:

- Mthly installment: $625
- Interest rate: 2.5%
- Loan period: 10 years
- Loan amount will have to be $60,000

Which means I need to fork out about $10,000, including the $2,000 to the finance house.

$10K? From where??



Image credit here and here.

Post Date: 27 Apr 09

Orgasmically yummilicious

Was down at Velocity yesterday when I realised Mazda was running a roadshow there. Heard so much about the new Mazda6 that I had to take a look.

When I saw the car, I was really stunned. It had all the right curves at all the right places. Based on looks alone, it was already a winner. Large by comparison (I think) to Elliot, it exudes confidence, style and sophistication all at the same time. This car is a serious good-looker. The newspaper review actually placed it in the same class as the BMW 5 series. Not too sure if that was pushing it, but it did prestige and stature a lot of good.

A look at the pricelist tells me the Sports version is about $98,000 - money that I don't have.



Video and photo above shows the V variant.



Photo credit here.

Post Date: 15 Apr 08

Nokia N82

So the story goes that I had wanted so badly to get the Nokia N95, the phone of my dreams. While the price was still high by my standards, I was willing to wait out, what with my contract still not due. Moreover, the existing N73 was worth $200 if traded in.

But things were not meant to be. 2 weeks before the contract was up, the N73 got wind of its imminent demise. While I was multi-tasking having lunch and SMS-ing, it slipped from my fingers and merrily frolicked in the bowl of fishball noodle soup. Even when I angrily plucked it out of hot soup (literally), it threw tantrums by clutching along some mincemeat and what nots.

The gall of that ingrate! Although pretending that it was none the worse for wear, it eventually succumbed to its own foolishness and the lights died out soon after.

So poor old me, who was supposed to get $200 off the price of the N95 from the trade-in, is now left with nothing. $700 is too much for a phone; $500 has always been the comfort zone. But now am too tulan to fork out $500. As such, the new budget is now $300 (as in $500 - ingrate).

So last night, budget-challenged me forked out $318 to buy the N82, and to re-contract the service. Apart from the miniscule buttons, everything else seems to be ok. And let's hope the PC Suite (unlike the previous version) actually works ...



Photo credit here.

Post Date: 7 Apr 08

Canon 400D

I have finally succumbed to temptation and am now a proud owner of the 400D.

I've pondered for almost a year on whether to get a DSLR, and if yes, which model to get. The Sony Alpha came really close, but the 400D won the day.

What tipped the scale was a well-placed advice, reminding me that I only live once, and since I like to capture memories, why not?

Being the newbie that I am, I have to put everything together, little by little. To start off, I have been loaned an entry level kit lens to use "until you feel like returning me". Another kind soul offered me his 2nd hand bag. Dry box will be phase II. Extra battery, card and tripod only when going for holiday.

The only thing missing now is the out-of-stock lens book, which will take me from lesson 1.

As my boss said aptly, "It's time to reward yourself".



Image from http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Canon400D/images/Canon400D_main.jpg

Post Date: 12 Oct 2007

Creative Zen Stone Plus

Went to Comex yesterday intending to buy an MP3 player. It needed to be light, handy, and must have a complementary set of accessories. With the choices and myriad of models, I narrowed down to 2: Sandisk or Creative Zen. Was eventually won over by the Zen Stone Plus. $99 for the 2GB model, with a skin with clip thrown in.

Ok, that's one item checked on the to-do list for the Singapore Marathon 10km run!



Image from http://sg.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=744&product=16757

Post Date: 10 Sep 07

Shop, Shop, Shop

There are a number of people I need to thank for achieving my targets, so I whipped out my allocation list and went shopping over the last few days.

To date, I have "procured":
- a nifty 20" Sharp Aquos LCD TV for Big Boss, for her immense help
- the Osim iSqueez for Big Boss' family
- the Nokia N73, after trading in my N70 (finally, after lusting after it for sooo long!!)
- my happiest purchase: 2 Gucci bags for Wifey. They may have been over my budget, but they were the most overdue

More purchases on their way!



Post Date: 9 April 2007

Alternative Energy

Article on Channel NewsAsia on 26th March.



EDB to pump S$350m to develop Singapore's clean energy industry
By Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia Posted: 26 March 2007 2115 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore will pump in a total of S$350 million to develop its clean energy industry.

This includes the previous S$170 million announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong recently.

The money will be spent to develop clean fuel products and groom manpower over the next five years.

There are also plans to export locally developed products overseas.

The fuel cell car, currently on trial in Singapore, is powered by electricity.

Such prototypes and more are expected under the Fuel Cell Community, set up at Temasek Polytechnic's School of Engineering, which is supported by the Economic Development Board (EDB).

Its focus is to help local companies and technopreneurs get started on developing fuel cell products.

Companies can even test-drive their prototypes at the poly's S$5.5 million fuel cell application centre, which will be completed in November this year.

Cham Yew Thean, Head, Temasek Engineering School, said: "We'll be initiating projects with members and partners in the hope of developing fuel cell commercial products for the market. These fuel cell products will develop an industry. Once we commercialise the products, then we're able to generate an industry manufacturing plant to produce these systems."

The Fuel Cell Community currently has about 17 members, including Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council, which can partner companies to test their products at housing estates.

All these come under Singapore's Clean Energy Industry Blueprint.

Headed by a newly formed Clean Energy Programme Office, the blueprint sets out to fund projects, build world-class research centres and groom manpower to power up the industry in Singapore.

Lim Siong Guan, Chairman, EDB, said: "EDB wants to do the same for the broader clean energy industry, not just fuel cells. We want to position Singapore as a global clean energy hub where clean energy companies can come to incubate, develop and produce solutions not only for Singapore, but to export to the world."

EDB said another reason why Singapore is going big on the clean energy industry is because of the growing market due to rising prices of fuel.

Nearly one billion people live without electricity in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and companies in Singapore can bring their clean energy products into these markets.

The clean energy industry is expected to boost Singapore's economy by about S$1.7 billion and create 7,000 jobs by 2015.



I need to find some way to wriggle into this field. I strongly believe, not only is there money to be made, it's going to change the world.

And I just learnt that my big boss is interested in renewable fuels too.



Post Date: 28 Mar 2007

Mazda CX-7

Sent Elliot for servicing this morning and walked past the showroom.

Got attracted to the CX-7, so I walked in. It is a real beauty.


A 2.3l with direct injection engine, 9-speaker Bose sound system, keyless entry, electric sunroof, and many, many more features.


I am only $100,000 away from owning this baby.



Post Date: 17 Nov 2006

Blink blink

Wifey and I were at a particular outlet of a jewellery chain last evening as they were having 50% off. Wifey went through a few items, and some she really liked.

I have always wanted to buy her a second solitaire diamond ring after the 求婚戒指 from years ago. This second one should be 1-carat, although she has protested it will be too big.

I checked out the prices - the 0.5-carat ones were already in excess of $5000. That would mean the 1-carat ones would be more than $10k??

Gulp. 老婆, it is still my wish to get you one, and I know I will get you one. I just don't know when!




Post Date: 13 Nov 2006

Sony DSLR-A100/B

Wah lau eh, can't wait to lay my hands on this mean-looking entry-level DSLR. While this is Sony's first foray into the DSLR market, I have faith in them, and have read good reviews of this model.

All I need now is $2100 to buy the body plus 2 lenses.

Post date: 6 Nov 2006

Object of Desire

This has caught my eye, but I'll wait for the price to drop further.

















It's now $768 without line. 3.2M camera with Carl Zeiss lens! My first digital camera, a Sony 3.2M without Carl Zeiss lens already set me back $1000!

TMD.