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I read this book 52 Projects by Jeffrey Yamaguchi. There are lots of creative ideas. One is just help me wrote the article below on Why I chose Toronto to live in. JY has a website on the projects. In fact he has many and you will be linked to all his other sites. Please do explore. It will help you get your creative juices flowing...

Why did I chose to live in Toronto?

Project 10 - Write a Story of Why you moved to a city... as suggested in the book 52 Projects.
I have never gone out of our tiny island Singapore growing up. My family is not poor i.e. we still have enough to eat every day. My mum was born in Swatow, China and immigrate to Singapore when she was 9 years old. My dad was born in Singapore. Although bus tours to Malaysia was affordable, we have never venture out. So I do not have a passport until I am working for a company for Gould HB. In fact, my passport was paid for by Gould as they have to send me to Malaysia to service medical equipment. I can vividly remember my first trip out of the country was on a rented Mercedes Benz by my boss. A few months later, I have to go to India and on business class as the trip is more than 4 hours! 24 months after my first trip out of Singapore, I have travelled to several major cities in US, Europe and Asia. I was proud that I have gone "around the world" twice. In one three weeks trips, I fly to US via the Pacific and continue to Europe via the Altantic before coming home. The President of Asia told my boss he should not be sending me globetrotting!
Within a short time, I have become a "seasoned" traveller. I visited a lot of interesting and exotic places. It is wonderful to experience different cultures. I begin to feel somewhat hollow. Living in place for a week in a hotel is not experiencing life or culture. It is a light touch like a dragonfly touching on the water. I have this strong desire to experience a different life from Singapore. In order to achieve, I tried to apply for a job oversea in my company. I talk to everyone I met when I am on my trip expressing my desire to work with them there. It dawn to me that no one from Asia is transferred to US. Only Americans come over to Singapore to work.
In order to achieve my dream of living overseas, I realise I have to immigrate like my mum has done when she was nine years old. I applied for Canada's Landed Immigrant status and was successful. I got married and together with my young wife flew to Toronto on a one-way ticket and a couple of phone numbers of people who are already in Toronto. Why Toronto? Everyone I talked to told me Toronto is the city of commerce in Canada and easiest to find a job there. Back in the eighties, there was no internet. The way to do research is through libraries and newspapers. I visit Province of Ontario office in Singapore to get their advice as well. I was surprised that the head of the office talk to me for a couple of hours encouraging me to go and live in Ontario. Why was I surprised? Because I was very young and junior and this guy who is high up on the hierarchy is giving me his time generously.
Toronto is a melting pot with whites, yellows and blacks all mixed in. The population of Chinese is huge probably the largest outside China. The Chinese foods are mainly Hong Kong and Vietnamese. There are only two resturants offering Singapore food - one in downtown and the other in Mississauga. Over time, my wife and I learn to cook Singapore food from recipes. We do miss fishballs noodles, braised duck, char kuay teow, etc. Hong Kong food is good but cannot replace our Singapore flavors. Now, I can have my home flavors anytime. It is nice to be back home to Singapore! Sweet!!

Busy as a Bee

It is non-stop work and work. Monday blues? Of course not! Work is joy - Sometimes. Aand Work gives meaning to Life -Always!
It is school holidays time for France. So our local French school is on holiday as well. My neighbours are back for their home leave. It is nice to be an expatriate.

Alfresco BBQ Dinner

We have an alfresco bbq dinner on our roof garden. It is like going to a resort because after dinner, we enjoys looking at the stars and listening to the crickets. It is a good way to be in touch with nature. B3 loves to eat at the roof garden. This time he is distracted by his friends who were playing outside and keep begging to leave the dinner. Finally, I relented. B1 and B2 had good conversations with mummy. I did all the cooking and it is very fun.

SQ Positive Response to my Feedback

Below is the reply from SQ Customer Service Manager
Dear Sir,
SQ12 / 21 April 2008, Singapore to Tokyo
Warm greetings from Singapore Airlines and I trust this email finds you well.

Thank you for taking the time to communicate with us, providing us with valuable feedback on your experience when you traveled with us onboard SQ12 on21 April 2008. I am sorry to learn of your disappointment with our inflight reading materials.

Nevertheless, we review the types of magazines we uplift and I will bring this to the attention of our Inflight Services Manager. It is such a pleasure to acknowledge your compliments for the level of service displayed by our cabin crew member, Ms Iris Ho. I have informed our Cabin Crew Performance Manager of your praise and she will certainly convey your words to Ms Ho.

From your email, Ms Ho's performance is exemplary and deserving of merit and I am sure she will be delighted to learn that you have recognized her efforts and your kind words will certainly inspire and motivate her, to continue giving her best.

It is always a pleasure to hear from our customers and we greatly value your support for our airline.

Sir, thank you for flying with Singapore Airlines and we look forward to welcoming you on board our flights again soon.

Yours sincerely,
Pearline Lee
Manager Customer Services

The most effective cough medicine in the World

Cough is one of the hardest problem to get rid of. I had Chinese herb, some mysterious powder that look like sawdust, liquid exporant and even my OTC medicine from Canada did not work this time. Codipront was the medicine that the doctor in Mt. Alvernia prescribe. The effect was immediate. My racking cough disappeared. The side effect was constipation. I told the doctor that I was very impressed and he told me it is the most effective cough medicine in the world. It is quite expensive slightly more than a S$1 per pill. This is why he says most GPs do not prescribe it.

Iris Ho, the SIA Girl

On the way to Tokyo, I was quite impressed by the attitude of the stewardess who was serving my cabin. She is always smiling and very polite. I noticed she was always on the move asking passengers if they need anything else, serving water after the meal service, collecting used utensils, etc, etc. I was feeling cramped in my seat sitting on my ass for too long. So I go to the emergency exit to do some stretching exercises. Immediately, Iris Ho asked if she can get me anything, a drink perhaps? I declined and we chat a little and her fellow stewardess pop the same question to me. They must be trained to offer passengers out of their seats to drinks or anything things they desire (in case you have any funny idea, it must be within the SQ service offerings of course!)
Anyway, I found out that Iris has work in SQ for 9 nine years. I was surprised because most girls with her attitude and work ethics would be a Leading Stewardess in 6 years. She says she always missed by a few points when her promotion is due. I am not sure what this mean. Will find out more in my next few trips out to understand the promotion process for SQ cabin crews. Stay tuned...

Missing in Action

Sorry for not writing for a few days. I was caught with a crisis in the office. I now have a new team in the office. They are stressed as they are going through the learning curve. I have to spend time coaching and dealing with all the issues that my previous staff would have dealt with.
Enough about work!

Weight Issue

My friend and fellow blogger reminds me about my weight with all the delicious meals I have been eating when I was in Japan. I just weigh myself and the scale read 88kg. The good news is 88 is a lucky number, the bad news is I have gain one kg in this trip. I will have to watch my diet in the next few days until my next trip again. As Buddha put it well, the Middle Way. Not too much food and not too little.

Busy Train Station

At 8am in the morning, the Osaka train station is full of people rushing about. It is a wonder that people do not knock into each other. MRT in Singapore is crowded, Osaka Central Station beats the most crowded MRT station hands down. As I was told, a picture is worth a thousand words. You can now see what I mean...

Japan Trip

Creme Brulee in Osaka
My host, enjoying her dessert...

Global Food Crisis

As I was writing my blog on the wonderful dinner, my tv is on. Usually tv keeps me company in the hotel. The report on the soaring food prices keep repeating over and over again. Around the world, the severe rise in food prices is impacting from the poor to the middle class. It is really scary. I wrote about inflation and the pinch we felt as a family. With the stories in CNN, it is really scary. There are many possible reasons. Biofuel converting what used to be sold as food and converting them into fuel, drought in Australia reducing crop yields, rising incomes in developing country like China and India has increase demand tremendously, etc. It looks like the future is quite scary - inflation and possibility of world recession. I know we will somehow pass through this period. Life will still go on as usual. I am very sorry that we all have to struggle and figure ways to survive and live better.

Osaka Can Cook

I must apologise to my readers that I forget to take pictures again on dinner. You have to rely on my words again. Ok, I did not forget totally. I remembered after I finished my desserts. So I can only take pictures of dirty dishes... I was lucky because my host's dessert come late. So I manage to take a picture of her creme brulee. I will try to upload to this at a later date.
Back to the dinner. First, I lost my way trying to walk to the resturant by myself. My colleague has to come and pick me up. Obviously reading a map Japanese is not one of my strengths. The resturant is like a maze inside. Every table is like a separate room, very small and cosy. There is a long and narrow fish tank along the backrest of my seat. Live goldfishes and small carps swims about give the room a nice atmosphere. The lights are warm downlight lighting up only the table. The meat come in raw and we have to cook on the table in a micro stove. There is a piece of red hot coal in the middle and a tiny wok or pan. It is quite interesting concept. The beef is cook on a thick square shape porous stone about 4" square by 3/4" thick. The meats are well marinated and when cooked is soft and juicy. The scallops were giant size.
I finish up with mashed red bean and ice-cream with mochi. The mochi is coated with cocoa powder. Mmm! I wished all of you are here with me. It is an awesome dining experience. The dinner cost 16,000 yens.

Another Great Japanese Dinner

Starter was cold tofu. Then came the deep fried fish cake seasoned with bonito flaks. Mmmm, Yummy! Yakitori was different here. The taste of unseasoned barbeque chicken skins and chicken fillets without the sweet, black sauce is not as appealing. The tamago or egg omelette come in a bevel-edge cut square log. The salad come with crispy fried micro-fishes. Plenty of alcohol for the Japanese. They started with a mug of beer and then another three glasses of white wine. I finished the meal with a fabulous green tea ice-cream.
Sorry, I was too busy enjoying the food to remember to photograph. Will try to remember the next time:) I forgot to include the cost of dinner. For 5 heads the dinner cost 18,000 yen.

Tonkatsu Time!

Landed into Tokyo and my colleague met me at the airport. I checked in Royal Park hotel which is just right beside TCAT or Tokyo City Air Terminal. After checking in, we went looking for a tonkatsu resturant. In Tokyo, the resturants are specialised just like our hawker stalls in Singapore. A yakitori resturant sells only yakitori, sushi resturant sushi, ramen, tonkatsu and so on. It is not possible to order a mix of say tempura with ramen soup. We had two different cut of pork - loin and tenderloin. It is Japanese and I am only guessing the cuts. We had deep fried prawns coated with bread crumbs or same style as the tonkatsu. The meat was tender and juicy. The whole meal cost only 3,750 yen. Relative to the hotel which at a "special" price will cost 5,250 yen per head, dinner is low cost for two.

Making Money

Doing your own business is the best way to build wealth. I just met someone who is a distributor of heavy equipment. He has properties and education business as well. My neighbours who run their own business clearly has the flexibility of time. Most of them are at home during office hours. There are so many advantages of running our business. I am asking why are most stuck in a deadend job? Fear! It is better to face the devil you know than the devil you do not know.
There are many how-to advice books. I remember reading one book that says if it is so easy, the whole world will be fill with entreprenuers. If everyone follows the advice of all the how to start your own business books, then employees will be the minority in the job market. Why are books on starting your own business so popular?
Like Estee Lauder, the books are selling.... a very important ingredient.... hope. The hope and dream to be your own boss.

Intention

Intention is a book that proves that Thoughts can translate to Reality. A major portion of the book basically talks about experiments conducted by different scientists in various specialties from physics to lie detection that links thoughts to responses by plants and other living things. Behaviour of atoms at nearly zero kevin or theoretical limits of temperature has shown that atoms do behave in tandem or sympathy with each other.
The last few chapters explains how you can experiment with intention. You must first breathe, relax and meditate first before sending your intention. There is a website you can visit and do a group intention experiment. If you are interested to know the website, let me know on the comments field.

Good News!!

Chirpy is back. Albert, our security guard who look after Chirpy found that he was up in the tree nearby. Chirpy initially refused to come down when he whistle. He must be hungry and finally he came down but still refused to fly to Albert. So Albert went to catch him by hand and bring him home to his cage. I am glad Chirpy is back for a few more days. Chirpy will fly off soon as he has grown and becoming more independent. Now he just need to learn to feed himself.
I am happy to see him back even though it is for a few more days.

Motorola V9 Phone

This is really cool. The phone is sleek and slim. The sound system is good and pictures from the still camera are quite good. My only complain is video quality is quite poor. I am a technology laggard and very reluctant to changing gadget (requiring me to learn everything again as functions and buttons are different).
I am now a convert to my new phone. I am enjoying the quality of the music. Best of all, the headphones and the speakers are loud enough for me to hear clearly. My old Samsung now is really a piece of crap by comparison. I finally changed because the headphones of the old phone broke down again preventing me from taking calls while driving.
Lesson learned. Changing phone is good. Especially since it is actually free with the renewal of the contract with the service provider. So go ahead and change to new phone and update to the latest technology every 21 months. The fun begins with a new phone.

Flew the Coop

"Chirpy" the baby mynah we caught during Sunday gym class has flew away and did not come back. It is a sad feeling. He has grown. While trying to find him back, another neighbour told us that a pet bird of her next door neighbour was eaten up by a cat. Or they suspect is a cat. There is no carcass. Only a few feathers left near the cage. The lesson is not to leave the cage on the floor. Somehow, the cat manage to open the cage and grap the bird.

Procrastination

Finally, I submit my medical and dental claims. I have not done so since January this year. When it come to taking care of myself, I procrastinate. Business and work come first. This is why I am disappointed whenever the company does not treat employees fairly. On the positive note, most companies are good employers and take good care of employees. Profits does come before people. When people are first, profits usually follows. So enlightened companies like to have happy employees who are engaged. It is very important we treat employees with respect. This way, employees will perform their very best.

Waking Up Early

Waking up early has its rewards. The sky is still dark and getting lighter. Birds are singing and chirping loudly. Sunlight starts streaming into the house. Life stirrs and get active at a leisurely pace. I feel more connected.
Usually, I wake up and it is a rush to send my boys to schools. Then for a cup of tea and reading the papers to update myself on world event. Turn on the computer and it is work, work, work.
The cool breeze of the morning blows gently and hearing sound of nature in a distance is very comfortable and relaxing. With more time, life can take a more leisurely pace.
Sigh... I wish it is like this every morning...

Buddha

I am feeling under the weather lately. A perpetual nagging headache, rushing from one activity to another, work and work, it is all wearing me down. If the world really comes to an end in 5 years or 4 and half to be more precise, it is worth it to be running around like a chicken with its head chopped? I wonder.
What will Buddha do if he is in my shoes?

From Kidney Stones to Gall Bladder Stones

Stones can hurt and can immense pain. As you know, I had kidney stones and it was one of my most painful episodes I can remember. Toothache was my other terrible nemesis. Last night, my father-in-law was in huge pain. His abdomen was tender and extremely sensitive to touch. Light touch cause him to wince in pain. He was send to Tan Tock Seng and they did a CAT scan and found his gall bladder obstructed and inflamed. He had to be operated immediately. At 1am in the morning he was wheeled into the operating theatre and the offending gall bladder was removed. He came out of the operation at 4am in the morning. The wonder of modern medicine!
He is now in high dependency unit and his stomach is under suction so that he does not have any food. This is to give his intestine a chance to rest. He is also give PCA or patient controlled analgesia. PCA allow him to control the doses of painkiller. Research has clearly demonstrated that patient controlled analgesia uses less doses and less drugs for the pain. So I am glad our government hospital is up to date with medical treatment.

Birds are singing

It is good to just listen to birds singing. It connects me to nature. I am very lucky to live where birds are abundant. We get to see migratory birds when they are in season and see them looking for food in the grass fields and canals. Our greens in the concrete jungle helps attracts the birds to take a break and look for food. I am glad worms and fishes are plentiful. If I am lucky, I get to see the pair of colourful woodpeckers.

Life in a Big Company

I was busy this week preparing for my boss who visited and want to learn about my business. I brought him to a couple of customers. I have to recce the place we are going first. My business partner says it sound like the army. I realise I am doing what my counterparts do whenever their boss comes to town. It is I would say an interesting week. My boss has come and now back home in Sidney. He is open and frank. We had good discussions and learn how to move the business forward.
The incident that marred the visit is I had a minor accident with the car when I was parking. Murphy's law rein supreme - If anything could go wrong, it will!

What to do if the world come to an end?

Patrick Gelb, the author of the Orion Prophecy which predict the world will come to an end on 21st-22nd December 2012 wrote and publish another book on how to survive 2012. I do not think I am want to survive as life will be tough and we will be going back to stone age. My friend and fellow blogger suggest we should stop the stresses of accumulating wealth and knowledge if the world is really coming to an end.
I agree, let's live and live. The problem with the prediction is what happen if the prediction did not occur. Then we will be hungry and penniless. It will be a terrible state. However, what if it is true. Then everything we work so hard to accumulate will be gone or worthless.
I like Buddha's approach. The Middle Way. If we stay in the Middle and true to our nature, we should do alright.

The End of Earth

The Orion Prophecy by Patrick Gelb predict the end of the world is near. The exact date is December 21 to 22, 2012. Sorry, it is The Mayan Prophecies that predicted this date for Earth to be destroyed. If this is true, maybe we should just stop working so hard to accumulate money for retirement. We should just enjoy ourselves for the next four years, go for tour, dance like no one is watching, make love everyday, bbq and have friends over, travel to exotic countries, go for spas, read and read, go to the beach, and so many things I love to do. I love to work too. I enjoy teaching and find it rewarding. Of course money is important so I can buy lot of consumer goods and services. No stress, man.

Stanford Executive Briefings

In Bishan Library, there is a set of videos documenting breakfast talks by key industry players and professors. You have to sign up for premium membership in order to borrow videos/cdroms. The Stanford Executive Briefings is a series I have learn a lot from. It is a video seminar. Technology has brought the lectures by Chip Health (How to make your ideas stick), Gary Hamel - Innovation, Branding by the CEO of book for Dummies, etc.
The premium membership is only $21 per year. There are other documentaries by National Geographic and BBC. I like the Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. In the video based on the book by the same title, Jared attempt to explain why some societies are poor or have not much material wealth and other societies in the West has all the technology and material things.

Vietnam - an interesting place to visit

Just returned from a holiday in Vietnam. It is interesting. The last time I was in Ho Chi Minh City was more than 15 years ago. There were lots of changes and there were also not much changes. Let's start with the changes. There are more cars and traffic is slowing to a crawl. There are contruction in lots of places. New offices, condos and landed homes are coming up. So the traditional "progress" is happening in HCM. What has not change? The shops and shop front looks the same. The merchandise however is now mainly pirated dvds, flat screen tvs, electronics gadgets. I notice more resturants international standards and airconditioned shops. Previously, the shops sells mostly hardware and basic necessities. There are fewer street hawkers selling pho, the Vietnamese beef noodle in fact, there are none at all. I remember on my last trip, there were mobile kitchen and the smell of aromatic beef pho is very tantalising and is now missing as we walk along the street. The street hawkers nowadays sell mainly fruits and freshly made Loveletters.
Another sign of economic progress is there are more motorbikes and scooters and less bicycles. In fact, bicycles are few and far in-between.

Millionaires

I become a millionaire yesterday after I change S$100 to Vietnamese Dong. I had 1 million and 95 dongs back. It feel good only for a while because when noodle cost 32,000 dongs. I do not know why the Vietnam government do just simply knock off 3 zeros or 4 zeros behind their currency. It would make it easy to count.
We were at the War Museum and the horrors of war was captured in pictures and there were old warplanes, helicopters, cannons and tanks. The museum present a lopside view of the war. It portrays the cruelty of Americans and how they torture the prisoners as well as kills innocent villagers. I am sure the American did committed all the atrocities. I notices what was missing - what the Vietcong did to the Americans. After all they won the war. In war, you do not win by being the victim.

Choked Drainage

Our kitchen drainage is choked and water overflowing out of the drain hole. Man, what a mess! Stinking water, dirty and slippery, YUKKK! Pumping it with suction pump did not work. Finally, I have to call a plumber. Luckily my neighbour had used one before and he is not bad. He came over right away and use a flat rubber washer kind to push through and pump it a few times. The water drains right away. What a relief!
It is expensive. The cost of clearing which takes less than 10 mins is S$150. This can pay for 3 persons to attend a 3 hrs cabin crew course conducted by Luke Tan, an ex-CCE from SIA.