Detailed Description of Seletar Mall

My friend, Boh Tong is a very detailed blogger.  I have short and sweet and you will have to visit Seletar Mall to see for yourself.  Whereas Boh Tong will give you the full details and even describe all the food he has eaten there.  I have not drink or ate at the mall yet.  I think it is too long a queue and want to avoid the madding crowd.  Plus I am stingy.  I want to have a good experience for the money I am going to pay to eat in a resturant.

Anyway, you can learn more about the mall by clicking here.

HOTTEST Mall

Seletar Mall is so crowded all day long.  Everyone in the neighbourhood go there to experience our latest mall.  I feel dizzy walking in there.  Must avoid knocking in other mall crawlers at all time.  B2 went there in afternoon and he says there are no space to walk.  B1, B3, mum and I go there after dinner and the situation has not improved.  It is an amazing hunger for mall in this neighbourhood.  Mum says it is an oasis in the desert.  Only mall around the residential estate.

Talk a little about the big bag of mollies.  At least 5 did not survive and become food for arowana.  I am happy to see two black goldfishes doing well.  A couple of small red goldfishes in the bag as well.  I added more salt to the water.  Hopefully the fishes survival rate improves.

Seletar Mall

Finally, finally, after more than a year of waiting, the Seletar Mall is open today.  The mall looked very small on the outside.  Inside it is packed with lots of shops and resturants.  I guess the architect knows how to design and maximise the space.  The shops are on the circumference and the middle is a big airwell.  So it is not claustrophobic to walk about.  The cinema is not ready yet.  NTUC Finest is open and Din Tai Fung is popular.  The mall is very crowded with lots of people like me curious to see the latest mall.

After a while, it is like any other mall.  The chain stores are all there - Popular, Starbucks, Coffee Bean, McDonald's, Subway, Uniqlo, bread stores and snacks.  But it is walking distance from my home.  So it is pretty good.  Now I can go Swensen for tea and get the 1 for 1 icecream deal.

Molly Fishes

Today, I went to the aquarium and bought a bag of mixed mollies.  I wanted half but the old man insist I have buy the whole bag which cost $20.  Without a choice, I bought the bag as I paid $15 for a bag of red fishes before.  These mollies are large.  I found two black goldfishes inside.  They would have cost me $2 each.  Maybe less since they are a lot smaller than those in the aquarium.  But I feel less pain for paying so much and buying too much.  But it is good to have a lot of fishes in my pond.  I transferred some black mollies to my tank in the living room but they cannot survive.  Maybe the water quality is bad and the filter may be toxic.  I do not know why but so far they have a hard time surviving in the small tank.

I may need to get a new water filter to see if the fish can live longer there.

Plenty of Travel Ahead

I will have a full schedule in the next few weeks leading to Chinese New Year.  I have not travel like this for a couple of years now.  I have 4 trips lined up to January.  So it is busy time.  I have to prepare to give training and also do research and report back.  It is going to be challenging as I do not have any support staff and have to do everything on my own.  Well, nowadays everyone has to work very hard just to stay afloat.

Seoul Next Week

It is going to be cold but what can I do.  I am going to Seoul for work.  Now I am dependent on others to set up meetings.  So it is frustrating.  However, I have no choice.  It takes some adjusting to.  I am a go-getter.  So I like to work things out early rather than last minutes.  But others are different.  They have plenty of other priorities.  So now I have to compete for their attention.  It is not easy since they have no desire to learn the business.

I am looking forward to visit Seoul and go to the largest bookstore.  It will be cold and I may have to take a cab.  I do not like taking public transport especially since I do not know the language.  Anyway, it is good to travel again.

Tadpoles

With heavy rain pouring frequently, the drainage system at the PCN accumulated enough water that it pond.  So now tadpoles are on the drain.  I was hoping for earthworms to feed my arowana but no luck.  Anyway, I caught some to bring home.  Maybe they will grow to become toads and repopulate my pond again.  Nowaday, no more croaking of toads when it rains.  I missed the days when toads will come to my pond to spawn.

A Good Sunday

We decided to do a "Japan tour" this morning after discussing on where to go for holiday.  So our micro Japan tour is Liang Court.  We tried out a new Japanese resturant with free flow of side dishes.  Pretty good meal.  We had stirred fried pork, hamburger and grilled chicken for main course.  I was still full from brunch which was porridge so ordered a grilled cuttlefish.  After our Japanese lunch, we toured Meida.  There are a few stalls with sampling.  Pretty good food.  I bought a $20 bento box which has sea urchin and Alaskan crab meat for B1 who is studying for his exams.

I also tried to change my bike tyre and puncture the inner tube instead and has to go to the bike shop in Sengkang Swimming complex to get a new inner tube for $8.    After my tire was fixed, I have to put it back to my bike and this was really challenging without a proper bike stand.  Finally, I managed to fix my rear wheel back and my hands were black with grease.  I have to wash and scrub 4 or 5 times before I manage to make my hands look reasonable.

We did not want to have dinner to reduce calories intake but B2 wants dinner, so we went to AMK hub for him to eat.  The 3 Bs went off to food court while I and mummy go window shopping at Fairprice.  We bought frozen stuff for breakfast and I could not resist the XXL Chicken from the Taiwanese food stall.  So I bought one and the 3 boys enjoys my chicken as well. 

Now we are home and it is end of the nice weekend.

No View of Malaysia!

My niece new house is beside the Punggol Waterways.  So there is no view of Malaysia.  There is a slope hiding the Straits from our vantage point.  We can see the fountains on the reservoir.  The flat is quite good as the view is clear and not obstructed by other flats.  The kitchen and rooms are quite small.  So when my sisters comes, the place is very crowded.

It is good to catch up and meet up with my sisters.

Exams Time in Law School

B1 has his first paper today.  He has been studying diligently and eating only fish for his meal.  He is napping now.  The exams takes a lot out of him.  He says it is the first time he worked so hard.  I see he is studying day and night.  Mum wants him to be a professional. He has thoughts of switching course.  My boy is a bright kid.  He has display high intelligence.  But he has to study so hard in order to get a professional degree.  Now, with the flood of lawyers, it is not easy to get to a law firm.

My eldest niece has housewarming this evening.  It is a new neighbourhood in Punggol and looked over to Malaysia.  I am looking forward to visiting her.

HomePlug Cannot Work - A Solution!

I had a cctv tv system that is in the cupboard.  We used the homeplug using the home electrical wiring as the line to connect the internet.  Initially, our internet was right beside the cctv system when we use twin wire i.e. using the phone line.  But we have to move the internet router to living room after the fibre was installed. 

The dvr was not working well.  Finally, I bought a new dvr from Sim Lim.  For $532, I get a 2TB drive and an infrared camera.  $180 plus GST for software installation.  But the homeplug system stopped working.  I went searching for solution in the internet to find a solution for wireless to LAN.  It is called a bridge.  And I can convert old wireless routers to make this bridge.  I tried but unable to get my old routers to work. 

Today, I went Sim Lim, yes the infamous Sim Lim.  We bought our printers from Global IT in level 3.  We trust the owner.  We need to replace ink for our printers anyway.  So I check out the TP link gadgets there.  The sales guy recomment this TP Nano router.  After two hours of trying, I finally got it to work.  I am so happy and feel so accomplished!

The Nano Router can be use to convert wifi into LAN connection.

Hurray!

I am very happy to received official  confirmation that I need not do submission of any structural plans for my solar panels.  I will install my solar energy once I can install them.  I will install them once I have the money.  Pretty expensive still.  Anyway, I will have more studies done.  I have very happy to be able to be green.  Right now the proposal is 14KW.  I may change it slightly to get more capacity. 

Although it is going to cost more money, being green is very important to me.  I like to leave the world a better place.

Battery Powered Fan

Mustafa is the place for everything.  The target market is Indians and Bangladeshi.  So it is my first time to see battery powered fan.  I feel stupid to buy the old type of fan use by yellow top taxi of yore days.  Now the battery powered fan is like a regular fan.  Some come with light and radio.  I am looking for a normal fan to be charge by my solar panel.  Unfortunately, all the fans are using 6V rechargeable batteries.  So I will have to find a controller to step down my 12V output to 6V.  Right now I have another option.  So I should explore Mustafa more to find more battery powered device.

Emotional

I get emotional at work easily nowadays.  It is hard to work when there is dysfuntional culture of no-answer.  I am not a political person and get upset with people who play politics.  I had a good time doing selling to my customers.  Now I have to get people to work and do their part.  This is really a challenging task when they do not want to do and find ways not to do it. Maybe I am too sensitive and over-reacted.  I shall be calm and let whatever will be will be.

Literature

I enjoys stories.  I also remember enjoys playing with words and writing short poems that rhyme in school.  Now, it is kind of dead.  I tried reading poems through audiobooks but unable to sustain interest for more than a few minutes.  I enjoys thrillers like Baldacci.  Now B3 has To kill a Mockingbird as his literature, I remember reading this book a couple years ago. I also bought the guidebook.  It makes a lot of sense after reading the guidebook.  Now I am a fan of guidebook which give digested version and discuss about the author's ingenuity or frame of mind or whatever questions that will come out in examinations.  I wished I read guidebooks during my secondary school days.  My literature result would have been much better than the borderline pass I get.

Wet Sunday

Heavy rain poured just before lunch.  B2 needed to go to Plaza Sin.  So we decided to go there to relax and go to a cafe.  The rain stopped before we reach Orchard.  So it is only heavy in AMK/Yio Chu Kang area.  When we reached Plaza Sin, the queue to the carpark is immensely long.  So we change our mind and dropped off B2 instead.  Then we try our luck in Marina Square.  It is pretty good actually meaning plenty of car park lots.  So we window shop and wander about the mall.  The mall is not so busy unlike before.  The mall business is getting really competitive.  There are not many interesting shops there for me.  Times is closed for renovation.  Food is so-so and price is really high.

So after an hour or so we head back home.

Coincidence?

This morning, I took my electric scooter out planning to buy aquarium fishes.  Unfortunately, half way there, my rear tire punctured.  The last time I went to aquarium, the drive belt broke.  Somehow, the electric scooter does not work well when I want to run errands especially going to the aquarium in Pasir Ris Industrial Park.  I wonder if it is a coincidence or is there something more than that since this is two times in a row...

Easy Day

B3 has CCA training on Saturday.  So he had his tuition yesterday instead.  Since it is a weekday, we did not go to Queen Street to wait for him.  Usually, we will go and get wholesale supplies for dried goods like nuts, beancurd skin, deep fried pig skin or abalone.  I like it there as the price is a lot more reasonable and it is ok to buy in bulk since the dried food can be stored for long time.

Mummy wants a "sit-down" lunch meaning no hawker center.  So we went to Sakae Sushi.  B2 and B3 had a good time.  They enjoys picking the plates off the conveyor belt.  I ordered some dishes from the menu.  We had a good time.  After lunch, B2 goes to Turf City for paintball game with his friends.

In the afternoon, I was tired and had a nap.  I think I did not have good sleep at night.  Usually, I do not like sleeping in the afternoon.  Our maid cooked dinner and after our meal, we had our night out at our usual haunt, NTUC Fairprice.

An easy relaxing day come to an end.

Books in my library

My new maid is good at cleaning.  She can spend hours cleaning up a specific area.  She cleaned my library a couple days ago.  My wife think she is good because she always give feedback that the area is very dirty and the previous maid did not clean, blah, blah, blah.  However, I am not sure about her standard of cleanliness.  She mixed up my books in the book shelves and they are no longer in order.  Books are my most previous things.  Now the books are no longer organised by author or by the same size.  They looked messy and it is hard to locate specific books as they are no longer in a logical order.  Sigh!  It is time for me to repack my library.

Amazing Internet

I was up early and feeling a little bored explored the internet for some people I know.  I could see the pictures of those I worked with in Canada and all have aged significantly.  Most have also moved on to different positions in different company.  I am simply amazed that it is so easy to recall once I see their pictures.  All have gray hairs.  I saw the picture of the manager who works for me responsible for Montreal office.  She has matured nicely (euphemistic).  She is French and still quite good looking.

It is very nostalgic to see the pictures of all my ex-colleages.  This can only happen in today's age.  Before, there is no way to recall except in the faint memory of what is between my ears.  Now Google do the recall and refreshed with the latest pictures!!

Cool Feature of Note 4!

I cycle a lot for exercise.  Today, I cycle out at lunch time.  The bright hot afternoon sun is beating down on me as I cycle.  While cycling, I am listening to music or audio book.  This time I noticed that I can read my Note 4 screen when the sun is shining directly on my LCD screen.  It is a huge improved over Note 3!  I loved it!

In Note 3 and iPhone, when the sun shines onto the LED or LCD screen, it just looked like reading a dark glass.  Now I can see all the icons in Note 4.  I can continue to use the phone normally unlike before, I have to come to a shaded area to activate any functions.

My New Samsung Note 4

I am using the Note 4 now for a few days.  The screen is sharper than Note 3.  The sound system seems better as well.  It may also be my new Nakamichi headphones which gives clearer and warmer sounds.  The camera is definitely better with sharper image.  I have to get used to new OS.  Most of the functions are the same except the buttons are different and situated in different part of the screen.  So it is guesswork but this keep my brain active and slows the aging process.  Instead of transferring my old 32G memory card, I bought a new 64G card for $62 from Challenger(member's price).  As I use my phablet more and more, I feel there is definite improvement over my previous model.

I am enjoying music more as I have organised it properly by labelling my CD properly after I transferred it to my computer.  It is also great to use original phone cover.  Now I can swipe the phone without opening the cover.  Sometimes, it does not work and I still have to flip the cover and use the regular slide button.

Simple Pleasures

Tonight is full team i.e. all 3 boys have dinner with us.  I made the soup.  It is simple.  Leftover King Soup, add duck bone soup from yesterday.  Add fishballs and fish dumpling or hee kiow.  Put to boil.  The secret is the pot!  I use our cast iron pot from Staub.  My boys loved the soup!  After dinner, I peeled Barnfield oranges and skinned and cut Asian pear from Korea.  We had good conversations.  Now B3 is passing time watching tv and munching his potato chips.  B1 is studying for his exams and B2 is surfing the net.  Mummy is busying sewing.  Our helper is doing household chores.  It is wonderful evening.  Everyone is busy or passing time.  I wished B2 and B3 would spend more time reading.  Reading is no longer a habit.  Attention span is short because net surfing makes it so.  Except for B1 who is very focused on his study, B2 and B3 seems unable to stay focus on reading material for long time.  They used youtube to get video instructions.  It is different from words and drawings.

I am happy to have everyone at home and enjoying simple dinner together. 

Uploading Music

I spend the day editing the titles of my CDs in my computer so that I can upload the songs into my new Note 4.  I bought a 64G microSD and so will have plenty of space.  I need to organise the CD names so that I know which I have downloaded.  It is quite difficult as many of my CDs are Chinese or Hokkien songs.  I was getting confused with the songs I have in Note 3 as they were all jumbled up with some of the CDs in same boxset having Chinese titles and other in English.  So I do not know if which album comes from the same set. 

A few of the CDs is now unreadable.  I lost them since I deleted the albums in the computer before trying to upload them again.  Good thing is when I am cycling, it will be easier for me to know which album I have played.  This way, I need not feel that I have repeated playing the same album without being sure.

Mustafa

Our maid do not know how to cook Chinese food well.  So we brought her to Mustafa today to get her supplies as she will recognise the groceries that she knows how to cook.  She took banana to make goreng pisang, shallots, jackfruit stems and many other items which I did not pay attention to. She is much happier cooking dinner tonight.  She cooked corn patties, sayur lodeh using jackfruit stems and I cooked soup with abalone.  My soup is quite popular as I added frozen King Soup from Taiwan.  The Mexican abalone is very soft and crunchy firm.  It is nice to chew on it.  After dinner, I cut Harumanis mango.  We had good dinner conversation.  It is very nice to have the family together just talking about the day's event.  I am very lucky indeed!

Note 4 Cable Issue

I brought my Note 4 to the Samsung Service Center in Plaza Singapura.  They told me it is the cable fault.  I looked for the cable again and found the original.  I had so many cables with the same connector.  Unfortunately, they are all charging cables for my cube speaker cum radio or battery power bank.  So not all the pins in the connector are wired.  With the original cable, my computer recognised my Note 4.  However to transfer songs from computer to phone takes a long time.  I am blogging as I transfer.  I bought fast memory too.  So the connection is not as good or the transfer protocol is not as good as Apple iPhone.  Conversion is required as the files are being transferred.

Anyway, I am happy now I can try to use my new phone.

Galaxy Note 4

My computer is not recognising my Note 4.  I have switch cables, reset my computer, reset my Note 4 and still no joy.  The suggestions in the internel did not help.  It is challenging and frustrating.  My Note 3 works but the new phone does not.  Why? Why? Why?

This is why Apple is so successful.  It is a true plug and play.  I did not like the fact I could not add memory and put in a lot more songs and audio books.  Now I have to switch back to my Note 4.  There may be an issue with my new phone.  Tomorrow, I may have to send it to Samsung Service Center and see if it is user problem which mean I have no clue how to use my phone!

Body Response After Sunday's Run

My low back is sore and stiff.  It is clear I have backache.  This is the bad news.  Good news is my knees are fine!  I will need to strengthen my core muscles.  I am happy that my knees have improved but my back is worse off.

I had back issues since army days when heavy lifting wrench my low back or waist in Sinseh's terminology.  With yoga and back exercises my back pain can be controlled but it keeps coming back.  I look at how my boys climb the stairs and know age is catching up with me.

Sandfly Infestation

In the last few weeks, I keep getting bitten by sandflies.  I have been cycling on the PCN for years now.  Sandflies are very tiny and their bites cause angry rashes and itches incessantly for at least a week.  Then scars are terrible unlike mosquitoes bites which will disappear after a few days.  I have an example fresh bite which was yesterday and one that is a few weeks old.  Applying iodine does not work!

Out of Shape

Although I cycle an hour everyday when I am not travelling, I could not jog!!  I have not been running for years due to menicus abrasion.  I run a lot during army and before getting married.  I was poor and stingy.  My shoes were not running shoes.  I always thought why spend money on "running" shoes when any shoes would do.  I run on the pavement beside the roads breathing in all the fumes and exhaust from cars and trucks.  I could run for a couple of hours and after my run, I would peel off my t-shirt and wring out the sweat.  It will pour out like it is just soaked in a pail of water.

This morning, for family exercise I decided to keep the Wife company.  After walking for long time, I try to jog a little.  I get breathless very quickly and in short distance of maybe 10 metres.  Yes, you read right!  The rest of the day, I felt the aches all over my body.  I thought I was too tired but boredom set and I decided to cycle out for a break.  Guess what?  It is so easy to cycle that I do one hour, no sweat!

I guess my body fit for cycling but totally out of shape for jogging.  I remember my knees would swell and it hurts for a week before I can walk properly again.  Next few days, I will know if my knees have recovered enough to jog again.

KFC or Korean Fried Chicken

We walked past this place every Saturday.  The picture is so appetizing and mouth watering.  It must have been there for some time but we hardly notice it as we tend to watch out for cars as we crossed the road to the hawker center.  I saw the picture last week and wanted to try but the shop is not ready yet.  I have completely forgotten about this and was again walking past picture to go to the hawker center.  I saw and remember that I wanted to try.  So I check it out.  The boss was not there but his staff is and told us that the boss is late but he can take the order and cook.  So we decided to try. 

The choice was between crispy or spicy.  We ordered crispy.  Then the helper came and told us that crispy is not available.  So we decided to try spicy.  The batter is good.  The chicken pieces are quite big.  But the price is high at $14 for 4 pieces.  The spicy is hot, too hot for our taste buds.  So I requested for 4 pieces to be pack.  The boss just gave me two paper bags and a PE carrier bag.  I understood what he meant.  It is terrible service.  B3 complained and told us not to come back.  Mummy scolded him.  "If you know that it is spicy you should have cancel the order.  Since you had it, then do not complain."  I was whispering to her to explain how we get the spicy chicken.  Then the boss came to explain to her that the bag of flour looked the same and they did not know they ran out of crispy.

I agree with high price and poor service, there is no need to return to patronize the food stalls.