Slow Internet

I am very frustrated by the slow internet speed.  So decided to blog as blog do not requires high speed.  I check the internet speed at it is at a pathetic 492kbps.  I am using optical line and paid for 100Mbps.  So it is so frustrating to have internet at tortoise pace.  Now B2 is having his new project and use the table I had for workshop and I had turn my workshop into a storage space.  So many things has to be tossed out.  It is spring cleaning time tonight.

Bak Kut Teh at Corner Coffeeshop beside UE Square

I remember the bak kut teh was very good when my wife's colleague's husband brought us there to eat.  That was maybe twenty years ago.  Today, the same coffeeshop has a bak kut teh store which I wanted to try last month but my colleague was a vegetarian.  So no luck. 

Today, I tried it with another colleague.  I thought the bak kut teh is just average.  It is below the standard of the stalls in Hong Lim market.  So I will not be eating from that bak kut teh stall again.

Late Night Calls

I am working now doing conference call.  This is wonderful life of an employee of a global organisation.  I have early morning and late night calls.  It is business as usual.  The good thing is I get to keep in touch with my colleagues around the world.  But it also a little unwieldy.  The global is now a village with the conference call and internet system.  Everything is instanteous and mails sent are received immediately.

So it quite amazing to discuss things happening around the world.

Arowana

My arowana is a big eater.  I am giving it a lot of pistol shrimps.  It can moved very fast to catch the shrimps.  I fed it with swimming crab once and it need a few bites whereas the pistol shrimps are gone in a single bite!  Arowana is quite excited when there is live food.  It will try to jump out.  Luckily, I have a wire mesh to prevent it from jumping out.  This arowana is with me for many years now.  I am happy that finally I am successful in keeping one alive for so long. 

When I was inexperience, they all jump out and died.  It is the wire mesh from $2 dollar store that works!  I put two together to get to the right size to cover.  Another two as a separator to prevent it from going out into the main tank as the main tank is impossible to cover since I have a water fountain.  At first, I had to keep replenishing my goldfishes and mollies as the mesh size is big and the fishes go through and never seen again.  $2 store come to the rescue again.  I bought the washing bag and use it to cover the separator and the mesh is now so small that the mollies and goldfishes cannot pass through and be live seafood.

It is relaxing to have an aquarium and watch the goldfishes swimming about.

Gokul Vegetarian Resturant

We made appointment with my in-laws for brunch in Indian veg.  I told my mother-in-law we meet outside Mustapha.  My father-in-law found a car park and just go to Gokul resturant.  Then he called to say he is in the resturant.  It is really a miss. 

Anyway, since there are no carpark in Mustapha, I decided we walk there to meet him, mother-in-law and eldest sister-in-law.  The three are true vegetarian in the family.  We went to Mustapha on Sunday mornings before but nowadays it is impossible to get carpark at about 11am.

Back to Gokul resturant.  The menu is very broad.  The food is quite good but I feel it is not even close to Raj's.  My eldest sister-in-law ate so much food in Raj that both my wife and I were very surprised by her appetite and ability to eat so much.  It is unusual as she rarely eat big quantity of food.  We had stirfried laksa, rojak, roti prata, paper dosai, masala dosai and chappati stuffed with potatoes.  The taste is above average I would say but I have no desire to go back to eat there again.  I prefers Raj by a long shot.

Paradise Inn at Seletar

I refused to go to Paradise chain after bad experience with rude Chinese Waitress in AMK hub.  But Boh Tong blog about his lunch there.  So I decided to try it with B1 and B2 today.  B3 went to watch Avengers movie with his friend in Bishan.  B2 is also watching but at 12:30pm in Cineleisure.  We reach the resturant at about 11:45am and it is empty except for one table.  We are the 2nd customer.  We ordered fried rice, tofu and Thai style pork collar.  The food is pretty good.  Tofu is a little on the sweet side.  Both B1 and B2 like the food.  But it is more dear than Din Tai Fung.  The service is better than AMK hub.  So we will be returning there to eat.

Fridays!

I always remember Fridays or rather TGIF.  My boss, Grant Smith is an American.  It was 1983, ya! that long ago.  He brought me to TGIF and explained to me it means Thank God, It's Friday!  I gave him a skeptical look and he looked at straight into my eyes and said I am not kidding you.  He enjoys the atmosphere of bar and resturant.  He is a brillant designer.  I learn a lot from him.  He uses the yellow paper printed with small squares and draw the circuits out.  He did what I learned in poly.  He is completely self taught!  The difference is he build up circuits from all the components.  He is like the Evil Genius.  Thinking and designing all the time!

Today is Friday and I just thought of my old boss.

Personal Cloud

B2 bought a personal cloud for the family to use.  I requested and paid for it but he did the actual purchase.  The cloud is an easy back up system for my Samsung phone.  I also tried putting in my DVDs into the cloud.  It takes a long time to copy the files over.  Then when I tried watching it on my TV, the video keeps on freezing while the sound continues.  It is not so good even though I use the latest homeplug with 500mps.  So I have to ask B2 to find ways to improve and speed up the system.

Best Tahu Goreng

I tried the Mizzy nasi lemak and it was terrible.  I also remembered that tahu goreng looked very good.  So I decided to try it during lunch and indeed, it met my expectations.  It reminds me of the tahu goreng in the hawker center outside Botanic gardens before the place was shutdown and removed.  The sauce is thick and crushed peanuts generous.  It is a little spicy for B2.  So I will have to check if they can spice down next time.  There are plenty of car park lots but still insufficient for lunchtime crowd.  So will have to queue for some time before getting a lot.

Crabs!

Today, I got lucky!  There are many crabs when I went to collect seawater.  I lost a fairly large crab before.  This time using a net, I managed to scoop one up.  I scooped into the sand and it works!  I caught a smaller crab as well.  The key is to get close.  It is easier said than done.  I am very happy to be able to use a hand net to catch crabs especially since B3 had requested I catch them for him.

Dim Sum

On Sunday morning, we decided to try the dim sum shop beside the hawker center.  It is quite popular.  But we were disappointed.  The quality of the dim sum is poor, but the price is affordable.  To make up for the not so good experience, we decided to go to Nan Bei or Imperial Treasure in Taka for dim sum.  The quality is a world of difference.  Although the price is over double that of Chinatown, it is better value as place has nicer ambience and food taste much much better.

Hot Hot Hot

The weather is so hot!  I used up all the ice in my ice box making ice lemon tea.  I drank at least 2 litres of ice tea!  This does not include Pepsi or hot coffee or tea.  We are all using cars to go about our business and spend time in airconditioned malls pumping more heat and carbon into the atmosphere.  We are accelerating the warming process.  We are building lots of HDB flats.  Just around my home area, most green cover are gone,  The ground are raised and flatten getting ready to new flats or condo.  The buildup increase the temperature of our surrounding.  With the 7 million population target, we are in for potential disaster.

Living in Another Country

The extensive coverage of temperature rise in Singapore makes me think about living in another country again.  It is so expensive here and Grandma has to be exported to Johore in today's news.  So I will have to seriously consider another countryto retire and I am sure the Govt will be happy to have one less "senior" in Singapore.  We have such a pragmatic government where you work till you die and struggles during your twilight years.  In Western countries including Australia, living comfortably and with dignity in retirement is a citizen's right.  The policy in Singapore is Confucius-ism i.e. it is family duty to look after the aged.

Good Catch

It is low tide at 3:33 pm today.  I am out to Punggol Point to catch pistol shrimps and other baby shrimps.  I got lucky today.  The tiny shrimps are in abundance.  So I caught plenty.  I also caught is goby fish.  There was another one that got away.  After sieving out enough baby shrimps, I managed to catch a few pistol shrimps.  Some girls caught two and gave to me.  It is very fun and rewarding to have a good catch!

I was out for two hours.  Time passes quickly when the catch is good.  Plenty of holiday makers follow my leads and were busy turning up stones to catch the pistol shrimps.  With so many people harvesting the tiny Punggol beach, I wonder how sustainable this will be.

Have to Find a Cooler Place to Live In

Front page news!  Temperature is confirmed going up.  Sea level is also going up.  I think I have to seriously consider living in a place with cooler climate without using airconditioning.  I seriously think Canada is a good option especially Victoria or Vancouver.  Toronto is very nice with huge Chinese population.  Therefore food is no issue.  However, the winter is long and cold.  At least two to three times each winter, temperature will go to minus 20 celcius.  It is deep freeze!  Vancouver on the other hand, hardly snow.  So it will be easier on the aging body.

Chia Seeds

Chia Seeds is hot in the Law Faculty!!  B1's classmates are eating chia seeds to improve their performance.  So B1 decided to try as well.  It is available in Fairprice in Seletar Mall.  The price is quite high.  I promised to buy for him in Mustafa.  There are more brands in Mustafa and I bought one that cost $7 plus for 340 grams.  There is another brand that sells for $15.50 for half kg.  I thought it is a fad and decided to risk less money.  Since I am already buying the latest fad, I decided to get a pack of Quinoa as well.  Hopefully, together B1 gains an edge over his classmates.

Frankly, I think this popularity is started by Whole Food in USA.  Whole Food keep educating their customers on the exotic foodstuff so that they can sell at higher price.

12V Fan

My 12V fan which I use in order to tap use the solar energy system I built is very noisy.  So B1 paid for a fan in Chinese website and B2 execute the purchase.  The price is lower than the fan I bought in the hardware store.  It is quieter as it uses centrifugal blades.  I like the fan as it has an On/Off switch and so much quieter to use.  The only problem is the fan coverage area is much more focus.  So only a small part of my body is cooled down. 

On the news, the department stores sales are down on a year to year basis.  The reason is more people are shopping online.  I love the online purchase as the items worked and at much more competitive price.  Best of all the selection choice is so much broader.  It is nice to get "exotic" model not available in the shops.

Liang Court

B3 wanted to go Liang Court.  So we decided to fulfil his wishes.  He just wanted to revisit the place and have his crepe.  We went to Tampopo for lunch.  I like Tampopo and the Berkshire Black Pig menu.  I had my usual tonkatsu set.  B3 had black pig ramen.  We also order Salmon Eburi sushi.  Mummy just ate from our bowls.  The food is excellent!  I also bought the cream puff which is one of the best in town.

After our lunch, we shop at the Japanese Supermarket.  It feels like we went to Japan for a couple of hours.  But we also spend like tourist in Japan!

Simple Happiness

I am very easily satisfied!  Today, at low tide I caught a few pistol shrimps which is ok.  As the tide is coming in, I caught baby shrimps!  This makes me happy.  I move location hoping to get more shrimps but it seems like the shrimps only congregate in one location.  One wave however topples my bottle and the water in the bottle was spilt.  I was aghast that all my catch was disappearing into the open water.  Luckily I was fast enough the catch the bottle and turn it upright before everything was gone.  Since I lost a lot of water, I was thinking of replenishing but the waves are coming in quick succession and I was worried that getting more water can cause me to lose even more baby shrimps.  So I decided to quit while I am ahead.

When I reach home, I fed the arowana with dead pistol shrimps as two died when I caught them.  The arowana become excited and keep jumping up and knocking on the metal grill I placed on top the prevent it from jumping out of the water.  I see the baby shrimps swimming about in the saltwater aquarium and feels very good about it.

Yes, I am happy today!

Bicycle Maintenance

I am glad that we have a bike rental shop in Sengkang Community cum Sport Center.  My bike is squeaking loudly and I thought the brake pads have worn out.  But it is just dirty.  Matt just take out the brake pads and spray with degreaser and light it up.  Then he rub it on the floor brick and clean it up.  Fix it back in and the brake is like new.  I also replace the handle grip which he notice is worn out.  The grip cost $30 and cleaning cost $5.  Then I also request he check out the chain which has a "sandy" feel as if there are sand on it and feel gritty as I pedal.  He just spray the chain with the degreaser and it works!  With a new phone holder and a touch holder, I feel my bike is like new.   Works well.  I am happy with a well maintained bike.

Home-made Switches

B3 has a physics project.  He is in a group to make the model of a apartment and wiring all the lights.  There are 6 bulbs and the students have to make home-made switches.  He spends lot of time making the house looked like a doll house with all the furniture and there is even a painting on the living room.  He has the home-made rheostat using pencil lead.  The home-made switches are paper clips and thumb tacks.  I am so proud of this boy boy.

Little Drops Make an Ocean!

My friend and fellow blogger, Boh Tong did not realised either, he says "Oh really? I better check mine too. Thanks BL for the info :-)"

It is this little leakages over long time can become lots of money.  I had not touch myCPF investment account for maybe 20 years.  The bonus stock that is worth less $100 which I was unable to sell previously cost more than $160 to maintain.  If I had sold them off say 10 years ago, I would have save $80 per counter.  Good for a fabulous meal with my family in any famous zhichar stall.

CPF Investment Account

It is inertia and laziness.  I let my CPF investment account stay dormant.  However, the bank deducts $2 for every counter per quarter. I have a number of counters with 96 shares or 36 shares.  I am losing money all these years as I did not do anything about the shares.  The shares are worth less than $30 and every year, $8 is deducted by my bank for custodian purpose.  So I am paying out service fees and losing money on all the bonus shares I received over the years.

Today, I finally clear them from my account.  No more service fees!

PS Cafe

I had heavy breakfast with dim sum from the AMK Ave 5 & 10 hawker center.  So really do not need lunch.  However, B1 who ate very little of the dim sum wanted to have a quick lunch.  We decided to go to Orchard as B2 has to meet friends in Cineleisure.  We parked at Lucky Plaza as usual.  Thinking and figuring out which cafe to go to.  The B1 remembered an expensive cafe in Paragon.  He bought a chocolate cake for his friend's birthday there.  A slice is $16!

Since we have not been there before, we decided to try.  We had a crunchy onion burger, flat white coffee and a chocolate cake.  The bill comes to $60!  Although we shared the food as both mummy and daddy just finished breakfast.  The burger is not bad but at $29, I don't think it is good value.  But it is a popular cafe and well patronised but no queue.  I checked on the net and it has good reviews on food but bad on service.  I think the moist chocolate cake in Secret Recipe is better. 

So in terms of value, I do not think it is good.  Hua Ting is expensive but I feel it is good value as the food is very delicious.  PS Cafe?  I do not think it will become my approved supplier.

Not Much Life Left on the Beach

I go to Punggol beach regularly at low tide to collect pistol shrimps and any other sea creatures I could find.  Now it is very hard to find anything other than ragworms and pistol shrimps.  The sea anemones are dying (all turned white).  No goby fish and no baby shrimps.  The beach is black in colour signifying death of many sea creatures and all rotting and turning black.  Yesterday, I saw a fairly large mudskipper.  It is very shy and hard to get near. 

Chinatown Morning

B1 requested for fish as he is studying for exams.  He is very disciplined.  All his classmates shared similar secrets when it comes to studying.  They all take fish oil and eat fish.  So it is off to Chinatown.  We bought squid aka sotong and sliced batang fish.  Then we break fast in the hawker center up one level.  B3 like to nyonya bak chan or rice dumpling.  This time he had 2 before he go for his CCA.  He enjoys the breakfast.

I had laksa yong tau foo but I think it is average, full of flour and msg.  Must try different stall next time.  After breakfast, mummy bought cooling herbal teas for the boys.  It is a nice short outing.

Eve of Public Holiday

So good that it is holiday tomorrow!  I just finished conference call.  Working late at night is normal in the new connected global world.  Now I will take a walk to Seletar Mall which I planned to go after dinner.  But wait, B2 just called and he request for pickup.  So there go my walk again.  I will go and pick him up as he is tired and did not sound so good.

Garden Aquarium

Today, I fixed the water pump for my saltwater aquarium in the garden.  It started to rain and I decided to carry on with the wiring.  It is not good to do a rush job!  I short-circuited the wiring and the ERCB or earth residue circuit breaker tripped.  So it is bad decision.  After the downpour, I have to redo my handiwork.  Remove the insulation tape and rewire the pumps again.  Reset the ERCB and it works!  I am happy.