Want to Sweat 600 cc?

Learn to roller blades! I weigh myself before and after on a digital scale and yes, I weigh 600gm less after roller blading for half an hour. The almost never used muscles are activated. In order to roller blade beside falling forward, you have to be in a "horse stance" to lower your CG or center of gravity. I am slowly gaining traction in roller blading. I can roll forward slowly. There is a long road and I have begin with the first step. I will sustain my effort to make sure I am a competent "roller blader". This is my resolution.

Falling Forward

I read a new book. It is on Alexander technique. This is quite popular in England as the titles are all authored by Brits. Alexander is an actor who lost his voice and he seen many doctors and the doctors' prescription is rest. If he rest, he has no income. So he decide to observe himself. He can speak normally and only when he is acting that he lost his voice. He notices the tension in his neck muscles and trained himself to relax those muscles. He successfully cure his voice problem. He went on to look at posture and movement. Kids learn to walk by falling forward. So I remind myself to fall forward when I rollerblade. It works! Albeit, I did not dare to go fast. I can move from point to point. Slowly and without falling. I just need more practise. The challenge with learning this sport is alot of the muscles are weak with disuse. I am sore and my feet cramped after less than half an hour on wheels.
Anyone learning to skate or ski, please remember to fall forward.

Old Airport Hawker Center

This hawker center has long of famous stalls. There are many award winners. At night, the place is very very crowded pack full of diners. Beside the local hawker fares, there are Japanese food, Taiwanese, muffins, Belgian Chocolate and other non-traditional hawker fares. I brought my boys to try out the Belgian waffles with chocolate dip. They tried it and it is just so-so. It is interesting and exotic but at $2.50 per piece or $4.20 for two, it is kind of expensive. Taste is actually not bad. Somehow, if they serve cappuccino then the menu is right. I tried with teh-C and the result is not bad but not the usual experience. It is meant to be unusual anyway.

Republic Polytechnic

This is a spanking new Polytechnic in town. It is so far away that no one heard of it. The school start probably 5 or 6 years ago. It occupy an area close to the size of Singapore Poly maybe bigger. The Sport Complex has olympic size pool and a smaller pool, a basketball court, indoor stadium for floor ball, gymnasium well equipped with weights and other paraphernalia, a football field with artificial turf and two lanes track, tennis court and the best of all, a resturant that sell Lobster Porridge. It is kind of a statement for Singapore as well. It is very modern and stylish, kind of show visitors what money can buy. There is an Adventure Learning Center with all the ropes, shaky boardwalks and rope bridges set up high above ground to give student a slice of how life can be outside the city of Singapore.
B1 had school concert in the Cultural Theatre where art clubs in school can show off their talents. The younger generation has all the hardware. I hope they will be equip with right software when they graduate and going into the society.

Plenty of Good and Cheap Food

Yeah! For foodie and lover of hawker food, Kallang Airport Hawker Centre is back after renovation. I had the FHM aka fried hokkien mee and wanton mee. Both at $3 a serving. Both are award winning and highly recommended by U-Channel. It is kind of hard to reduce weight when I keep going for food tasting adventures. I am thinking of bringing the boys to experience the food. Hawker food is cheap and good. Menu is quite similar everywhere i.e. fishball noodles, duck rice, fried kway teow, wanton mee and so on. However, the preparation and taste is different. This is how popular stalls become "famous" and a must try. I understand hawkers who do well lived in bungalows and drive Mercedes. Like most professions only the top makes all the money. Most hawkers just get by.
I am exercising to compensation for my calories intake. Still I am gaining a kg a year. Not a good thing.

An Old Friend Called!

I had a wonderful hour talking to an old friend. She is young and pretty mum, mind you but an old friend for me. It was good conversation. We share and updated each other on our latest development. We had fun discussing about our work (I know Janette will find this boring). Friendship is something I treasure. It is the engine for human interactions and bonding. Have friends and life is wonderful.

Bicycle Broken

I broke my bicycle today. So it is good excuse to get a new bike:)) I went to Carrefour to look for one and about to purchase when a customer who came by and told my wife he bought the bike I was considering for half price at the sale last weekend. I was disgusted and decided to hold my purchase for now. So my bike adventure lasted only two days:(

Cycling

I dusted off the bicycle for my boys and sprayed WD40 on the bearings, pumped up the tyres and now I have a new way of keeping fit. Cycling! The only problem is I am still learning how to ride a bicycle properly. Yeah! you read correctly. I am learning to ride. Just a couple of weeks ago, I hurt my left wrist trying to learn roller blade (note: trying to learn). Now that my wrist is improving (it still hurts when I put pressure on it like when I am balancing myself on the bike), I am on to my next learning adventure. For Malaysian readers, I know it will befuddle your minds and reinforce your impressions of incompetent and incapable of fun of the city bred boys from Singapore.
Hate to admit this, girls and ladies from Malaysia! Boys and men from Singapore are good at mugging and taking exams and short on basic life skills like canoeing, mountain climbing, cycling, roller blading, etc. However, in Bill Gates' 10 rules of life one of the rule is do not laugh or bully nerds, you are likely to work for one when you leave school.

Travelling Back into the Past...

I could not believe it. Just half an hour from KL and I travel back to my childhood days. Days of attap and zinc roofs, stalls using wooden planks, open air meat store, provision shop that my grandma's style and dogs lazing in the middle of the road. The ceiling in the coffee shop is made of cardboard and where rain leaks, there will be watermarks and holes. It was a nostalgic trip. I visited a factory and it amazes me that this kind of lifestyle is still available less than half from KL. I wished Singapore have kept more of our kampung. Where I live is a last surviving kampung and lucky for Singaporeans, the owner refused to sell to developers who have offerred her hundreds of million dollars to buy over her land. She is still renting out the houses she own for twenty to thirty dollars per month.

Live History

Zinc roof that is red in colour due to rust and will leak when it rains causing water marks and holes on the ceiling below...

An open air pork seller...

This is the coffee shop where tea is still at economical RM1 per cup.

Two Latest Books

Today, I bought two books both from the Innovation shelf. Weird Ideas that Work - How to build a Creative Company by Robert Sutton and Solving Tough Problems by Adam Kahane. Will do a quick summary when I finished reading these two books.

Headache!

Home is sweet. However, boys can cause headache. B3's demand is ceaseless. Daddy! DARE Deeee! He keep calling non-stop. No rest, no break from my adorable and very demanding baby. Now, he is quietly watching a movie. Phew! Peace for the moment.

Home Sweet Home

Glad to be back home. Was out and did not sign in as internet cost RM58 in the hotel per day. I was not going to be rip off even though the company paid for the bill. No internet no updates. Sorry for not writing.
I have a long three days trip in KL. Had meetings, interviews and conference call. Man! It was work at high intensity. I am pooped now. Home is the sweetest thing!

Brains!

I decided to skip and go right to the end. It is exciting with interesting twists. The protagonist is Dr. Martin Philips who is a radiologist researching on using a computer to read skull x-rays. He discover he has been used by the FBI and CIA as what he thought was his friend a computer genius, Micheal. Basically, young women about 20 to 21 years old who go to gyneacology for routine pap smears are "volunteered" without their consent for brain research. Their brains are then harvested and keep alive in cerebral fluids and connected to a computer. Scary thoughts! Horrible scenarios. Dr. Martin has no choice but to cooperate in the end or otherwise he and his wife, Denise will be terminated. Epilogue: Dr. Martin seek political asylum in Sweden. He and his wife disappeared. So I guess it is a good ending:)

Brain - Robin Cook

I borrow a novel from the library. It is yellowing and the cover is all creased and torn. It is rare that I read novel. Coma by the same author was quite interesting and was made into a movie. So when this title caught my eyes, I decided to read it. So far it is quite interesting. It is about siezures due to brain problems. I am half way through. Seems like doctors have interesting life. Many scary things happened in the hospitals. Reading this kind of story make me worry every time I step into a hospital.

PC Show - Suntec City

Yes, the FM93.8 was right! Only brave souls will try to drive to the PC shows. Today is the last day and on the last hour i.e. at 8pm I became the brave soul trying to find a parking space in Suntec City. Me and my smart idea. I thought since the show is closing and it is late Sunday night, who would be crazy enough to go. Indeed, another 10,000 people with similar idea. It is like a busy pasar malam, auction house, flea market and exhibition all roll into one messy, noisy, crowd jostling sea of humanity.
High tech is still going strong. Color Laser printer for $298, incredible bargain. Deals and price slashing all the time. Everyone is buying like there is no tomorrow. Hmm! Economy is still not that bad with all the purchasing power. It is nice to see business booming.

Day Dreams

Just day dreaming today on doing my own business. How much money do I need? Will I be able to get customers? Will anyone buy from me? What to sell? Can I make a living being an entreprenuer?
Maybe a year back, I was reading Daniel Pink's "A Whole New Mind" and "Free Agent Nation". Microbusiness he called it. Doing contract work and having multi-clients or multiple employers. With all the changes in the economy, it is happening everywhere.
The question now is "When will I be an entreprenuer?" and not "IF I will be an entreprenuer?"

Sunshine after Rain

Chinese Wisdom:
After Rains, there will be Sunshine
After Disaster, the Survivors will enjoy Prosperity.
When the inflations stop, when oil price stablise, when food prices drop and when income exceeds expenses, Happy Times will be back.
Crisis is Dangerous Opportunity.
I am toying around an idea. It is good to daydream... I would be an entreprenuer. I will run the company so that I take care of my customers and company's employees. The ways recommended by the leadership and management books I read. I think it will be an awesome company where people enjoys working and customers loved us.

Lucky Me!

I am still nursing a painful and bruised left wrist. My Wife insisted on going to the hospital for X-ray. The diagnosis is no crack or broken bones. There are 5 different x-rays that need to be taken. There is a particular bone that the doctor want to be sure of. It is the one that articulate and joins to the thumb. He says if this bone is injured, care is needed to make sure it mend properly. Otherwise, it will be a problem. Rather a huge problem.
Lucky me. Everything is alright. I just need to rest and let my wrist mend before trying to rollerblade again, phew:))

Sprained!

Typing on the computer is tedious with one operational hand. I sprained my left wrist trying to rollerblades. I need instructions. Learning on my own is stupid and a huge risk. And it hurts!

What the Heck is Happening???

Prices are going Up UP and AWAY. Why are prices going up? Is there any rhyme or reason? Oil prices just shoot up last year. There was no major event so to speak like the Iraq Invasion or major oil fields suddenly depleted.
There are 3 types of people:
1. Those who make things happen
2. Those who watch what happened
3. Those who wonder what happened
When it come to this price increase, I belong to category 3. We all know increased incomes in China have generated huge demand. Drought in Australia diminished production. Have demand for oil or energy been so dramatic? Is there a decrease in production capacity? US dollars weakening is due to mismanagement of the Bush Administration - Iraq war is an example. What else is happening. It is hard to fathom all the changes that is causing huge hardships around the world.
Is there an invisible hand? Is God punishing us? How can God effect prices? Is Man the root cause by destroying the Earth and causing Global Warming? I remember the oil crisis in the 1980s. There were huge interest in alternative energy such as wind, solar, waves and geothermal. Then oil fields were discover in North Sea and Russia. OPEC is no longer controlling all the production. Oil prices dropped over time to a low of US$20 per barrel. Now it is at US$139 per barrel. US dollar was stronger in the 80s. Still it is a 7 fold increase from the historic low and more than 100% increase from last year.
Buckle up, it will be a wild ride in our immediate future ahead.

Earth's Core

I was watching this documentary I bought in Shanghai. Earth's core is rotating liquid metal. Rotating liquidified metal generate magnet field. It is this magnetic field that shield us from the harmful cosmic rays. The earth's poles have shift many times in history. Scientists mapping the magnetic field found in an area in Altantic the magnetic field is going in a different direction. This is an indication the pole shift may be imminent. Also we are about 60,000 years behind for the next magnetic pole shift.
When will the pole shift happen? Will 2012 as the Mayan calendar predict to be the end of the world?

Family Gathering

My sisters are over for bbq dinner. They brought the highlight of the dinner - chocolate fountain. The kids were excited and had fun. B3 had more than 10 giant marshmallow dipped in melted chocolate. It is messy and enjoyable treat for everyone including the adults. My nephews were enjoying themselves too. I was slow in cooking the chicken wings and have plenty leftovers. So will be having bbq chicken wings for the next few meals:)

Up and Up

Prices keep going up. Everything from fuel to rice. Electricity and water prices has gone up. The only thing that is not going up is pay. Pay is not catching up with inflation. Life as we know it is changing. Our purchasing power is decreasing day by day. Life must be getting hard for everyone except for the rich.
This is a serious social issue. I wonder how many are getting hungry. Price is going up non-stop. I also wonder why the increase is so sudden and so huge. In the 1980s, it was due to the oil crisis when OPEC decides to restrict oil production to increase price. Now, who know what is happen?

Life's Ponderings

I stumbled into someone blogging about life. Why coming to earth empty handed and will return with nothing, that she must burn midnight oil for exams and worry about making a good living?
Here is my perspective. While we are born with nothing and cannot carry anything to afterlife, we are here to learn. Living requires effort. We have now organised ourselves such that basic survival is no longer enough. The trouble is more and more of us are born in the civilised world. We are unable to live off the land. So we all have to find some thing that someone will pay us for to order to buy basic necessities such as food and shelter. After basic necessities are met, we look to fulfil our "higher needs" remember Maslow? After a while, we think the rat race is tiring and endless. We questioned again about life.
The rich get anxiety over money. Here is an excerpt from New York Times:
NANCY CHEMTOB, a divorce lawyer in Manhattan, has found that her days have become crammed seeing clients, all worried about how an economic downturn will affect their marriages.
CUTTING CORNERS Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made.
They seem to have nothing to fret about: their net worths range from $5 million to $1 billion. A blip in the markets shouldn’t send their chateau-size Park Avenue co-ops to foreclosure or exile them to Payless Shoes.
But Ms. Chemtob’s clients are concerned all the same, she said, because their incomes have shrunk, say, to $2 million a year from $8 million, and they know that their 2008 bonus checks are likely to be much less impressive.
One of her clients recently confessed that his net worth had decreased to $8 million from more than $20 million, and he thinks that his wife will leave him. He has hidden their fall in fortune by taking on debt to pay for her extravagant clothes and vacations.
“I literally had to sit there and tell him that he had to tell his wife that she had to stop spending,” she said. “He was actually scared she would leave him because their financial situation changed so drastically.”
The wealthy don’t generally speak publicly about their finances, in good times or bad. It’s in poor taste, for one, and their employers could fire them for talking even a little. But people who provide services to the wealthy — lawyers, art advisers, personal trainers and hairstylists — say they are getting an earful about their clients’ financial anxieties.
For the full length article, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/fashion/01rich.html?scp=1&sq=rich+anxiety&st=nyt#

The Bermuda Triangle

Heard of Bermuda Triangle? It is off the coast of Florida. There were many missing ships and aircrafts in that area. Shipwrecks and planes crashing is not out of the ordinary. In Bermuda Triangle, they disappeared without a trace and in good weather conditions.
According to Lobsang Rampa, a Tibetan Lama, he says that the "Power Crystal" of the Atlantis is there. This Crystal has tremendous powers and used to power the entire city. The scientists were working on the destructive power of this Crystal to cause earthquakes to destroy their enemies. The Crystal exploded and cause a huge thermonuclear explosion that is more powerful than our current hydrogen nuclear bomb. Hydrogen nuclear bomb is about 1,000 time stronger than the bombs that destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
To read more about Lobsang Rampa go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobsang_Rampa

Documentaries

I bought about 20 documentaries dvd in Shanghai. These documentaries are by National Geographic and Discovery. The dvds are at a very reasonable price of RMB15 each. Since I am such a tightwad, I feel I am saving money buying more! The quality of the picture is ok. The shows are in English with only Chinese subtitles. They are for sales only in China.
Some of the titles are as follows:
Great Books: The Art of War
Naked Science: Alien Contact
Extreme Machines: Super Trains
Animals of the Chinese Zodiac
Many think documentaries are boring. I find them interesting and informative some time. I agree there are many boring documentaries.

It never felt so good to feel hungry

After no food for the morning and most of the afternoon, it is great to feel hungry for food in the late afternoon. I know I am on the road to recovery. Dull headache is a small bother after the stomach cramps. I went to the Kuan Yin temple to pray and thanks Kuan Yin for the recovery. Durians are in season. Bugis street is full of durians, mangoes and mangosteens. I love fruits and bought some R2E2 mangoes.
The rice dumplings season is on and there are many makeshift stalls selling Bak Chang. The price is now an incredible $2.50 each. Inflation and seasonal price is making Bak Chang now a delicacy!
Borders is having a 3 for 2 sales for children books. We brought B3, our youngest boy to buy the books he likes. It is good to encourages our kids to read. Borders is really getting their act together and is giving Kino a run for their money. I am frequently Borders more and more importantly buying more books from Borders instead of Kino.

Never Eat A Few Days Old Cut Fruits

I wake up with severe stomach pains. It is horrible. I could not figure out what happened or why. I know it must be something I ate yesterday. My Wife immediately remind me that I ate the water melon which was lying in the fridge before I left for China. This is not my first time. I had problems with cut pineapple as well.
Bad bacteria must have developed over time in the fruits even though they are kept in a airtight container. I am the kind who have been taught and trained never to waste food. I must now unlearn what I was taught to make sure this pain episodes do not repeat again. This is umpteened time I was hit. Many times, it was painful but not as severe. A few episodes before I felt I am dying just like this morning.
Friends and readers, beware! Never eat cut/exposed fruits that have been lying in the refrigerator after one day.