Kitchen Failure

My first attempt at salt-baked chicken ended in failure.  We have to microwave the chicken after we take it out of the hot salt.  I was trying to cook minimally to ensure tenderness.  What I got instead is undercooked chicken.  The other issue is the chicken was frozen and will requires longer time to cook.  I should have take into account this.  The salt baked sweet potatoes and yams are quite good.

I am disappointed with my poor showing.  My wife insisted to microwave the chicken.  It was a big chicken and straight out of the freezer.  I felt awful and sorry for myself:(

Tomorrow is a holiday.  I may try to cook the salt-baked chicken again.  Or maybe the laksa from Prima Taste is easier.  It comes in a kit form and just follow the instructions.   The result is always consistent and good.

Potential Death Trap in Tangs!!!!

Tangs is under renovation.  The stairwells and escalators in the basement are all sealed off.     The only way to get out from inside Tangs is through the elevators.  Huge crowds were queuing to get through.  It is impossible.  I wonder why the Fire Department did not go to Tangs and stopped them from doing business.  The renovation works sealed off all access at the same time.  It is very dangerous!

Hordes of Philipinos were queuing up to get through the escalators probably to go to Lucky Plaza.  The staircase that says lead to other levels did not work either.  The crowd was huge and situation was getting out of control.   So we get out of the mall as quickly as we can. 

As well run and efficient Singapore is, the potential dangerous situation like this can develop.  I have no idea what the management in Tangs is thinking.  Are they trying to save costs while doing the renovations?  Why are the store still open while access in is easy through the underpass and getting out of the building is impossible?  Do Tangs need a repeat of the Robinson fire 40 years ago to in order to learn the lesson again?

I am very disappointed with Tangs for compromising the safety of her customers and public by its action.  I do hope the authorities will find out and do something to correct the situation.

Good Sunday Morning

Early in the morning, when I was in the wet market for tea, my ex-colleague in Taiwan send message to me.  It was a surprise.  She did not contact me when I was feeling blue.  I support her when she was lonely in Australia.  Anyway, she is still a nice girl.  I chatted with her on IM.  She is up early on Sunday to do her schoolwork.  She has two case studies.  She is taking MBA part-time.  She is working hard to learn and improve her capabilities.  She is very intelligent.  She has a Masters in Mathematics or something similar from one of the big name university in US.

It is nice to hear from friends.  I consider her a friend although it is not close as I felt left out as she was not there when I needed some support.  However, it is good she took the initiative to start a conversation with me. 

Alternative Views

With the internet, it is good to get alternative views.  The http://temasektimes.wordpress.com/ has alot of information that is not published by the mainstream media.  I like reading all the juicy bits on the sex scandal in Singapore.  Even the New Paper with its sensational headline grapping my wife to pay 70cents has practically no information of value.  She felt cheated and when I read the news article I am in total agreement. 

I found the temasektimes way more informative and has plenty of pictures.  Albeit, the girl's eyes are blacked out to protect her identity.  Apparently, this girl make the men feel like they have a young sweet girlfriend.  A few men are repeat customers due to her good service!

Singapore, the straitlaced society, love sex scandals!  I wonder what is happening to the two Senior Home Affairs officers.  News blackout again.  I guess maybe there is no wrong doing and our government may be embarrassed by what take place between two consenting adults?  Or is the whole incident going to be covered by the government?  Over time people will forget.  I wonder.

I believe life for average Singaporeans will get better when more opposition are in the Parliament.  Instead of policies explained over and over again, we may get better policies and policies responding to feedback from the ground.  When Ministers earned millions, they can sympathise well.  I doubt they can empathise since they do not live the life of getting crushed in the MRT trains.

Early to Rise

I am up at 5am or 6am Tokyo time. Am I suffering from jetlag? It is only one hour difference between Singapore and Japan. I just watched the video on blogger and realised my editor is different from what is in the video.

Maybe I need to set-up in the setting. I have to spend some time to figure it out. Right now, there is no way I can do a line spacing or set paragraphs. I need to get to the right editor.

Sweet Taste of Home

My flight for delayed by more than half an hour due to headwind. The flight was quite bumpy like going when I was going to Tokyo. My weight has past 89kgs now. It has increased further. A lot of the increase may be due to fluid intake. I drank a lot onboard until my urine turns clear. A good sign. Only problem is the calories that come with plenty of fluids especially coke and fruit juices.

Lunch is prawn noodles and then it is to Fairprice for grocery shopping. Mangoes are a great deal. It is also good to exercise where I cycle and swim. Running is not an option since my knees will act up. We have a fabulous home-cooked dinner with char siew and fried chicken from Fairprice.

Japan is nice to visit. The cabin crews loved Japanese. I love tonkatsu, yakitori and tempura. My weight increase indicate I am enjoying Japanese food. Wherever I have been, it is always good to come home.

Rained All Day Long

What a dreary day in Tokyo. It rained not stop. The rain however is quite light unlike the heavy shower we get in Singapore. Luckily, I am in meetings and do not feel a big waste however, I still wished it stopped for my last evening here. I have to get up at 4am tomorrow morning. Yuckkkk! Will not be watching any suspense or horror movie. Otherwise I will have only a couple hours of sleep.

I was wandering about trying to decide what to eat for dinner and I remember the Cabin Crew Chief told me the crews are crazy over Japanese food and will not eat in the aircraft during their break in order to enjoy more Japanese food. I was alone and it is hard to decipher what the resturants offer even with pictures. Finally, I decided to try sushi since I am in the land of sushi. I need to know really how good it is compared to home since it is geninue and authentic. The rice is nice and warm. Tamago is sweet. However, I do not find it much better. Maybe because the California roll come with raw salmon. It is quite tasteless which mean it is fresh. However, I still do not like the texture. So I did not enjoy my California roll. Tomorrow, I will get teh halia, chicken rice and fishball noodles....

A Wet Morning

Watching horror movie in a small hotel room is not what I would recommend. Horror movies are usually screened late at night. Unfortunately, in Japan most channels are Japanese. I stayed in an American chain, so at least there are two English/bilingual channels. BBC World and movie channel that screen old movies. Usually, I have the tv on all the time while I work. Last night, after I switch off the tv to go to bed, I want to watch the ending. So I turned it back on and it is past 1 am before I can fall asleep. Then I wake up early. I thought I will go to the fish market to see the action. Unfortunately, it is raining and I pass this opportunity. Now I am back in my room to blog. Starbucks do not have free wifi in Tokyo. Lousy weather is not fun.

Lucky when Polite...

I am so lucky! My host decided to bring me to eat tempura as I requested cooked food. The fish market is nearby and sashimi will be fresh and at good price. However, my raw diet is cucumber, lettuce and maybe carrots. So sashimi is out of the question.

Anyway, the reason why I feel lucky is because after dinner, my host lost his way. I had wanted to ask him where he is going when he went the wrong way. I know the way back to the hotel. But being polite, I just followed. Because we crossed the road and walk along Ginza street, I saw Book 1st bookstore. I have walk past the building a couple of times but did not realise there is a bookstore on the 6th floor.

I am so happy to see the bookstore. I search the store and found the science magazines I like. It took a couple of round. This ia adult science magazine with kits. The kits are sophisticated machines. I like to buy them to keep. B3 always take them out to fix. He is good at fixing up the scientific toys nowadays. Yes, it is lucky I did not lead my host straight to the hotel. I found my favorite haunt.

Tokyo Yokohama Tokyo

The day start with going to the exhibition in Tokyo Big Sight. Then it is off to Yokohama. After meeting, dinner with an old friend and back to Tokyo again. What a long day. My waistline is growing even though my weight is not going too much. I think my bone mass is dropping while the soft tissue i.e. fat is gaining mass. Yakitori has been our last few meals. Tomorrow night, I will have another dinner host by our customer. So it is more wine and dine. Since I do not wine, I compensate with the dine and eat more than usual. I noticed drinkers eat very little. They drink and then nibble and drink more. Maybe they feel full. So while the two drinkers drink, I ate their share:) Then regret when my waistline looked bigger:(

Tokyo

I forgot to write yesterday! I must be busy and in a hurry to pack up for my trip to Tokyo. I am now in Tokyo. My ex-colleague picks me up from Narita airport. My friend from Korea is in Japan at the same time and he arrived about half an hour earlier. He is staying in a hotel close by to my hotel. We travel together in a BMW stationwagon. My ex-colleague make sure he stopped smoking in the car for a few days to clear the smoke smell. It was actually not too bad as he spray anti-odour chemical as well.

Tokyo is a city full of lights. Quite like Hong Kong except the neon lights are more organised and less cluttered. It is very safe to walk about at night. Plenty of empty cabs. There are less pachincko shops in Ginza than TCAT. TCAT is Tokyo City Air Terminal which I used to stay. Ginza is more gitzy. Tokyo is just a concrete jungle. There are not trees or greenery. Small patches here and there, so unlike Singapore. Now I know why others say Singapore is not just a Garden City but a city in a garden. Although trees do fall during heavy thunderstorms and strong winds, it is a small price to pay for living in a garden.

I also noticed the female folks looked much better than before. Japanese women may be going for more cosmetic surgery to look better. As I do my usual stroll to explore the area surrounding my hotel, I realised it is not as busy as before. This is an indicator that the Japanese economy is not humming like before.

This is Home-Cooked Meal!

We have dinner at home as usual. This time we tried salt-baked chicken, a new recipe we learn from a woman who was selling cooking pan from Korea. It is very easy. Just season the chicken and wrapped it in paper and baked it in coarse salt. The result was amazing. It tasted the same as the store bought salt-baked chicken! B1 had requested for fish since he has two wisdom teeth extracted. He cannot eat hard food. I bought fish from the wet market this morning. A red garoupa and two SABA fishes. We steamed the red garoupa, it is fresh and therefore does not taste fishy at all. We fry half a Saba fish and then I barbeque it to make Ikan Bakar, the Indonesian-style barbequed fish. Mmmm! it is so good! For vegetable, we had the leftover sayur lodeh from yesterday.

B3 pronounced this is what I call Home-cooked meal! His standard of home-cooked meal is resturant-style eating. We are quite tickled by his comment and the whole family was very happy to enjoy a sumptious meal together. After dinner, we had dessert. Azuki beans soup with ice-cream and ice-cream with azuki bean. The boys also baked Korean pastry with honey. It was really fun meal and enjoyable with our boys loving the food. This is good bonding time. We had a good time.

Google Chrome

I am trying out Google Chrome to see if the editor work better than internet explorer. Change always cause complications even though it is supposed to be better. I am typing every sentence with a line in-between to check if works.

New and Improved?

Since the "new and improved" blogger.com, I have been unable to paragraph my entries as you can see below as well as this entry. Before, I could "enter" a couple of times to do break into paragraphs. Now I get only one paragraph no matter how many "enter" I did. It looked correct on the editor but when it is published, all the enter or return are removed. So it is one big paragraph making it less readable. I have sent a feedback to google. I hope this get fix. Otherwise I have to break up all entries on each different topic or change in pace or subject.

Fully Booked!!

I have a guest from out-of-town tomorrow. I told him I will bring him to an award winning chef. I just tried to book a table and was unable to as it is fully booked for two weeks! What a shock! So I have shift to plan B. I have to search for the best Chinese resturants and look for alternative. Of course, the one I wanted to go was there. There are 9 other choices but some are too far or too expensive. I settled on Li Bai in Sheraton Towers as it is open early and right near Orchard where my guest is staying. Phew!

This morning, we had breakfast in Bishan. Josephine Teo, the MP for Bishan has a Kopi Talk at 9:30am. She came at 10am. It is interesting show of power. She sat down on the table and then asked the next table of old "aunties" who do regular exercise to join her. After some time, the old aunties excused themselves and then the assistants asked other people to go to the table. It is interesting format. She has many "volunteers" to help her. These volunteers will get people to go to her. It does not like serving people. People are serving the MP from my observations. Josephine Teo is there to explain the new healthcare program. However, I wonder how many will benefits as most who need it most are not educated or read the papers conscientiously. Neither will they be able to fill up the forms required to qualify. It is sad. At least the PAP government is trying to address the voters unhappiness. Our government is always very logical and explain rationale very well why the policies are the way they formulate. It does not matter how ordinary people are suffering or not getting the benefits of the policies. Losing one GRC has huge positive change. Now, there is recognition of aging workers' plight, healthcare issues and foreign talent. Before, it is we know best and it is really good for you as a community and good for Singapore.

Now, if losing one GRC can bring about this positive change, I am sure losing a couple more GRCs will improve the performance of the government even more. Let's hope the electorate wise up and vote more GRCs to opposition. We will get good and effective government who have no choice but to care for the people who elect them.

Hot Hot Hot

The thermometer is rising. It is so hot. My father-in-law is warded in Tan Tock Seng Hospital and he requested to be upgraded to B1 from B2. B1 is airconditioned. I am feeling tired due to the heat. It is only April and hot months are coming. Another interesting phenomenon is lightnings are flashing frequently tonight but no thunder. Recently, I noticed more lightning storms without rain or thunder. The climate seems to have changed as this is a new observation.

Firefly

Flying Sin-KL sector with Firefly is so much better than Silkair/SQ. Budget Terminal is has less people and less flights to process. So immigration and security checks is so quick and easy. Even computers need not be taken out of the bag! Landing into Subang Airport is the best. My office is like 10 minutes away and my colleague can come and pick me up. Better still he does not even need to pay carpark as he can park kind of illegally along the road. Budget Terminal has small shopping area but it has every different type of shops. I had lunch in Subang Airport today and the choice are very good. The price of the meal in Changi Budget Terminal is also very competitive and is actually cheaper than Ah Kun or Toastbox. The aircraft is small and turnaround is very quick. So from boarding to taking off make me feel like I am taking a bus or ferry. Every thing is like clockwork. The disadvantage is the flight is more bumpy and noisy. There are two flight crews and the girls are dressed smartly and well groomed. Their make-ups make them looked very attractive - can fight with Singapore Girl!! I have fallen in love! I will be sorry that Changi Budget Terminal close in September. It is a good way to travel. I must say Subang is so nicer than KLIA. I enjoy local foodfare and in KLIA you have to go to the staff canteen to eat local. Everything else is expensive.

Mid-Valley Mall

It is nice to be back to one of my favorite mall in Asia - the Mid-Valley Mall. I wish I had bottomless appetite. There are so many types of food I want to eat. There are so many temptations. I need my sncaks too. Sigh! This is bad for waistline, cholesterol and blood pressure. I have a really weakness for food. What a glutton I am!

I thought MPH closed shop as Uniqlo is taking over the premise. Then as I explore the basement...actually I was checking out Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, I found that MPH has relocated to basement. I love the extremely rich Krispy Kreme Doughnut. Actually, the first time I tasted Krispy Kreme as in September 2001. I was in San Diego for a week training and the HR lady bought the doughnuts for the trainees. I ate quite a few each day. I was younger and slimmer then and can afford the calories then.

Borders does not seems to be well patronised. I wonder how long it will last. I love Borders and hope it will continue to be a ongoing business in Malaysia.

I have a chance to meet all my ex-colleagues this afternoon. They are happy to see me and I am glad they are working hard as usual. Actually, they are working harder as one is on maternity leave. It is a pity I missed her. Anyway, I shall be back and we may be able to have meal together.

Happy as a Bee

It is a busy day! Work and work. Work and work! I think this may be a lyrics from a song. I am always happy to work and exercise. Tomorrow is travel day. Will have to go to airport early for a short hop.

Maybe it is the exercise or may it is the dinner. I feel happy as I write my blog. I had watermelon that was cut a couple days ago and just cut our papaya. I enjoys cutting up fruits for the family. I was very happy in US to cut mango for the younger boy after dinner. It is very therapeutic to see the boy taking the cut-mango as I slice. He obviously enjoys the ease of eating as I sliced off the skin and cut the mango into bite-size pieces.

Eating as a family is a great way to cement relationship. My friend always have dinner as a family. We have dinner as a family. It was quite different when I was growing up as we do not eat as a family as my mother is always busy running a retail store. It is good to connect with our boys everyday although I wished B1 can come home more often than on the weekends. Even weekends, he may be on duty and does not come home. After army, he may go oversea for study. He just called from camp as I am writing! Tomorrow, he is going to the dentist to have his wisdom tooth extract. It is going to be a complicated operation as the tooth is impacted. Actually, both his wisdom teeth are impacted and horizontal. This according to my dentist who was a Professor is the most difficult to extract.

He is young and I hope he recovers well.

Monday

Many stalls in the wet market are not open as the slaughterhouse for pig has Sunday as rest day. So I have morning breakfast in AMK Hub Toastbox and then buy some grocery at NTUC Fairprice. Only Toastbox is open at 7am in the morning. I like wet market as my favorite coffee stall open at 4:30am. Also there are a few coffee stalls and if my favorite is not open, the back up is.

B2 starts his lessons today at Nanyang Polytechnic. He bought lecture notes and have more to pay. My nieces who were in University and one still in Nanyang Poly must have cost a lot of money for their mum to support. It is tough to live in Singapore where everything cost money and more money. My father-in-law is sick and my wife brought him to see the family doctor whom we have not seen for a few years. Her consultation fee alone is $90. Medicine is separate cost. When we first see her 10 years ago, her consultation fee is $20 to $30. Now it is so high. It is good to be doctor. The fees increase you can charge is way faster than inflation rate.

Monday is start of the work week. It is busy time for everyone as business activities are high. So it is back to the grind for Singaporeans.

Hot Spot - Punggol PCN

NParks did a good job of promoting the PCN. The Punggol PCN is busy in the morning and evening with many out for exercise. In the evening there is even roller-blade class. The PCN is swarming with people running, cycling, walking and roller-blading. Everyone has to watch out as some cyclists overtake at a high speed and is dangerous.

All 3 boys jogged together this afternoon. B3 has to improve his fitness as he will be having physical fitness test soon. B1 is now training B3. B1 and B2 were trained by me before their physical fitness tests before. Now both B1 and B2 trains B3. I am glad to be able to delegate this training to the older boys.

B3 is quite unfit and his face is totally red after the run. He also took a long for his elevated heart rate to recover. Hopefully, his fitness level improve enough for him to pass his NAFA test.

Busy Orchard Road

After dinner, we need to go to Plaza Singapura to meet my brother-in-law to exchange SIM card from our Singtel to his M1 to test the New iPad. Our new iPad has been giving problems with 3G. It keeps latching up and datalink is lost and requires Singtel to reset the network.
It was impossible situation finding carpark lot in Plaza Sin. We had to wait to for mum to go and do the exchange and then go off. The privilege for waiting in the multi-storey car is $2.14 even though we did not get to park our car. Instead of going home as we are already in Orchard Road, we try our luck in other mall. 313 has empty lots. I like 313 as there are designated lots for hybrid cars. Yes, there is a lot just right beside the lift.

We pass time doing window shopping. Orchard Road is jammed packed with merrymakers. All the young adults are out! There are some families like us but they are few and far between. Since all our three boys are together, we try out the Cold Stone Creamery. Two mid size ice-creams cost $17! It is a treat as the last time we had Cold Stone with all three boys was in Korea probably 4 years ago.

At 9:30pm, the crowd is everywhere. Seems like many like to stay out late in Orchard Road. It is a happening place on Saturday Night.

Busy Day

It is a busy day. Up at 4am and now close to midnight. I just finished the estate meeting. What a day! I am pooped. Luckily, it is Saturday tomorrow and I have only tuition for B3.

On the Road to Recovery

My baby niece is on the road to recovery. I just saw her facebook entries. She is no longer in pain and eating. I am very happy to see her improving and healing from the surgery. She is well taken care of by her mum's sister. Family is important in times like this. Her sisters are also taking good care of her.

Up Early

This time it is not jetlag. I am up at 4am this morning. The reason is because I have to send B1 to his camp at 5:45am. I worry I will oversleep and there I could not sleep well. Mum is up now cooking for B3's breakfast and recess.

I have the tv for company. The morning is quite. I went to the roof garden to observe the stars. The stars constellations are different in the morning than at night. No joy when it comes to UFOs. I still harbour the hope to see an UFO one day.

I have to leave in 15mins. B1 is up and ready to go.

Wikinomics

Wikinomics is about new way of doing business. The business models are changing rapidly. Most of the examples are influence by internet and the web. The established model of hierarchy, control and information security is made obsolete by collaboration, information sharing and gaming.

Wiki is tapping the netizens and global talents. Many times for free. The new most valuable companies are Google, Facebook, eBay, Craiglist are all internet based company. Luckily, the old school of not going away yet. Many are still employed in traditional business. However, traditional business are losing market share.

Singtel is on the news yesterday. CEO Chua Sock Something is considering service like viber and whatsapps. The two has been chipping away the sms and voice business of Singtel and billing per customer is dropping as many are using the data plan to do free sms or voice call. Poor Singtel is stuck with expensive infrastructure and overhead. It is going to be a rocky road ahead for Singtel.

A Big Mess

Our aircon has maintenance contract and undergo routine servicing today. The technician recommended chemical wash as the condenser was clogged up with "jelly-like" substance. It is going to cost $200. So I thought I will just go to the hardware centre and buy the chemical and clean myself. The chemical cost only $13.50 and I was congratulating myself for saving money DIY in long form - do-it-yourself. Little did I know how mistaken I am.

I sprayed the chemical onto the condenser and a little splash onto my body and it stings! After that the chemical touches my fingers and they hurts!! The chemical is caustic and I did not use any protection. For an untrained person handling unknown cleaning chemical which is quite strong, I am not really equipped to do the job properly. After I sprayed the chemical, it start to foams out and drips to the floor with all the dirt. The floor even though protected by newspapers. The newspapers were no match. The chemical soaked through and damage the parquet floor. Rinsing the chemical means I have to spray water and lot of water. The drain pipe cannot handle and overflow causing more dirty water to drop onto the floor.

The mistress of the house and master of the universe was furious. NO! That was an understatement! She was so upset that I made just a big mess and dirty the room that my profuse apologies did not reduce her reprimands or criticisms of my sloppiness. Luckily, I have someone to help clear up the mess I made.

I had to eat water melon and pistachios nuts to calm my nerves. Everytime I felt bad, I had to snack. No wonder my weight is now at 89.5 kg. Exercising hard is not making an impact in my weight control.

On the positive side, I am busy at work organising and trips to meet customers and prospects. Today, I just found out one is based in Singapore. So I can meet up with them for lunch. It is nice to have customers in the same country.

Happy Thoughts

It is important to delve on happy thoughts and gratitude. So I decided to stop the entry below and change the subject with a new heading.

We are happy all our 3 boys came back home and have dinner together. B2 and B3 were out for tuition and B1 was out shopping. We also reload our fridge with grocery. I always enjoys going to the supermarket and buy snacks and fruits. I leave the REAL food to my wife. I can live on eating just snacks and fruits.

This morning, instead of my usual tea, I had yinyang or tea mixed with coffee. It is actually quite nice and refreshing.

First Casualty

Haaaiii...a man's body found yesterday morning floating at the Punggol PCN yesterday's morning. Luckily, I did not cycle early in the morning. Many a time when I was distracted during cycling, I find the risk of going down into the water is quite high. It is actually quite safe if we pay attention. The water is very shallow anyway.

I hope this is the first and the last case. I shudder when I think of Bedok Reservoir series of drownings. I am very glad it has stopped.

Paper Chicken

I have a Japanese customer in town and host lunch for him, his wife, his daughter and two grandchildren. The little girl is 7 years and boy 5. The girl is very adorable and quite interactive.

We had lunch at a resturant that is quite popular with Japanese. Hillman Resturant has been around since 1965. My father used to bring us there when we were kids. The original resturant was at the corner of a row of shops below a block of HDB flat and has since been torn down. Today, The Pinnacle stood in its place.

Now the resturant is in Kitchener Road. The sister resturant, Manhill is in Pasir Panjang. The daughter has been to this resturant before. I am glad they like the food. Paper chicken and shark fin omelette are compulsory for Japanese. The steamed fish is so fresh and not fishy at all. It is the first time I enjoyed eating fish. King Pork Rib and claypot noodle for the kids. The tofu is minced meat tofu.

The meal went very well. I am glad that the family enjoyed the meal. They keep saying "Oshi" which means delicious.

JCUBE

JCube was on the news yesterday. So we decided to explore this new mall in Jurong East. It is Singaporeans' favorite pastime! New Malls. The place was crowded with other explorers like us. Many shop are still not ready yet. The ice skating rind is quite busy with many rather good skaters. I am surprised that without many skating rind, we have so many competent skaters. This is the first skating rind many years after the Jurong Skating Rind was closed due to poor business.

The mall is quite small and easy to cover. The problem is it is too crowded due to the publicity. There are a few shops specialising Korean products and a 3-D joyride machine made in Korea as well. Korea is very successful in exporting their culture, products and services. As a country, it has surpassed Japan exporting music, pop culture and even serial dramas.

We are lucky all three boys are available and with us. We had lunch in American resturant chain, Chilli's. This is one of my favorite resturant. It is good my boys are with us. So we order bbq baby backribs, chicken and beef fahitjas and ranch chicken quesdillos, and of course, chilli which is minced beef in tomato sauce. Lunch was yummy. So after enjoying the heavy duty American meal, I feel a little guilty about my weight gain.

UCLA Talk

UCLA held a seminar in Shangri-La hotel this afternoon. There were 77,000 applicants for this year's intake. Undergraduate population is 26,000 students. The school is in Westwood and is surround by "rich" real estate. So it is relatively safe according to the admission director.

The school's symbol is Bruin or Bear. One of the parent raise the point that funding has been cut and the programs and facilities are deteriorating. The response was it is about $200million out of $4 billion. so the impact is not significant in the big picture. The school has raised school fees as well. Overall, it is not is good shape I think.

The attraction factor is weather and diversity. Food is great as there are plenty of ethnic resturants. We have to attend to more talks to make more informed decisions...

My Niece Had an Operation

My youngest niece from my brother had a operation to remove her cyst. It is quite big 17cm X 11 cm X 8 cm or thereabout. She is warded in KK Hospital. The poor girl is in pain although she is recovering now. I am very sorry to see her in pain. She is only 18 years and will miss school for the next 4 weeks.

I hope she recovers well. She is a very brave girl and I am proud of her. Her elder sister keeps her company all day long and I am very proud of her too.

We had duck porridge for dinner and B3 felt hungry about 9pm and ate 3 packs of Korean seaweeds. I am not sure if consuming too much seaweeds can cause potential health issue. The sodium and iodine levels are high.

Busy Punggol Water Park

The PCN is busy in the morning. Many people are out exercising. The track is wet in many place where the water from the field continue to flow out. NParks need to do drainage in some of the places. The water flows out continously for a few days and the track become slippery with moss and fungi.

The PCN is a great concept. It gave Singaporeans healthy pastime to exercise, keep fit and enjoys nature in the city. The Punggol Water Park is busy and the fountains are turned on. It is very relaxing. The fountains also aerate the water and let the fishes thrive.

I enjoys cycling and listening to audiobook. Right now, it is Wikinomics. Wikinomics is about the new world of cooperation and collaboration using internet. Several companies have leverage using giving or opening up their R&D (Merck) or let users hacked into their products (Lego). It is very interesting examples. However, most companies are still operating in the traditional mode. As the world evolves, some companies will thrive and some will become extinct.

Fruits Galore

I am stocking up our fridge with fruits. Two watermelons, mangoes and Barnfield oranges. It is healthy to eat more fruits. My wife says since I returned home, she is eating more, lots more as I keep on buying snacks, fruits and other foodstuff. I enjoys eating well and many times not so healthy. I add potato chips and chocolate wafers. High cal and probably has transfat as well.

I just received a call from my brother his youngest girl is in hospital. I will visit her tomorrow. She just had a operation and still in pain.

Plenty of rain today. My grass patch in the roof is slowly turning green again. My maid cut it too short while I was in US and my nice and green patch had turned completely brown and black. It is recovering and I have given strict instruction for her not to cut it anymore. I spend a lot of time and effort to keep it green. I was very proud of my roof garden until I returned home two weeks ago.

Monitors Up

I am glad I managed to setup the new monitors for my computer system. Now I realised I need a keyboard and a mouse. Sigh! I should have bought the keyboard and the mouse when I bought the monitors. Setting up the system on my own is a little tedious as I do not know all the parts I will need to set up the complete system. Also I need to figure out which brand is better. It takes time to do research and salespersons may not be the best source of information.

My weight today climb up further to 89.5kg. Not good for a man trying to diet. I guess my willpower is low when it come to food.

I have not been doing my 3 gratitudes consistently. I think my happiness level has increased since writing down my gratitudes. But it is just a perception and maybe it has not changed and I am just suffering from the Hawthorne Effect. Maybe self-delusion as I am both the subject and object of the experiment.

Weight Increased

I gained weight due to the good food I had in US expecially steaks. Now I am home, I am having teh halia, teh C and coke - all high calories drinks. Then I have to revisited all the food I like. So my weight has gone up by another kg. Now I am breaking new record at 89kg. I am going to take more oats, more brown rice, more fruits and less deep fried butterfly, deep fried springrolls, deep fried dough sticks, deep fried banana,frenchflies, potato chips,... sigh...I love deep fried food. The most unhealthy food on the planet and they are all filled with cheap but bad palm oil.

New Week

Today is the start of a new week. B2 will be going to school next week. He has been busy as an instructor for Robotics. He enjoys the work and helping out the students. The pay is low but the gratitudes he received from the students after they achieved top 3 positions in the competition gave him a big boost in his ego and sense of accomplishment. He is also happy he overachieve his saving target. I am glad he will be starting school soon. Waking late everyday is not a good thing. At least he was up early for work when the Robotics competition is on.

Meanwhile, B3's maths homework is stumping mummy and I was rope-in to help. The question goes like this - Abe, Thomas and Zach has some stamps. Abe has 1/7 of the stamps, Thomas has 1/7 of Zach. Zach gave away 70 stamps for Abe and Thomas to share. How many stamps did Abe has in the first place? I have not got this figure out yet. I shall do this question tomorrow.

The maths problem nowadays is tricky. I have no idea in real life this kind of calculations are needed.

Lights were out except One

I checked with B3. Yes, we participated in the Earth Hour. I am proud of my boys. However, mum was not cooperative. She insisted on that she needs her light to blow her hair. Sigh...women! Refusing to be environmentally-friendly especially my wife!!

We need to reduce our carbon footprint. Our Mother Earth has taken care of us humans for million of years. We need to take of care her! We must always Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

The 3R should be our way of life. Our future generations will inherit a healthy vibrant Mother Earth.

Nice and Quiet

It is very quiet this morning. No lightning or thunder. No croaking of toads...except once in a long while. The whole neighbourhood is asleep on a lazy Sunday morning. I was asleep last night during the Earth hour. So I did not have a chance to see if my neighbours participated by turning off all the lights.

B3 was very excited about the Earth hour. I do not know if he will make sure we switched off all our lights. I have to check with him when he wakes up. B3 was also asking abot 2012. In a few months, the world we know is supposed to come to an end. I told him nothing is going to change, our conciousness will increase and we will be more spiritual.

There is a fire in Lee Gardens Hotel in Hatyai. It is directly opposite the Central hotel we usually stayed in when we were there for meetings. Thankfully, no Singaporeans was injured even though there were about 50 injured. I do not like Central Hotel in Hatyai. There are no visible emergency exits and the only way to get in and out of the hotel is through three lifts on the reception that is on the 5th floor. The first four floors is the Central shopping mall. I always feel uneasy staying there as I feel trapped. It is fine when everything is normal and running. If there is a terrorist threat or fire, the hotel is a death trap. Anyway, I will not have to go the Hatyai anymore. I will be sorry if any of my ex-colleagues get into any incident there in future.