The most effective cough medicine in the World

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

Iris Ho, the SIA Girl

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

Missing in Action

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

Weight Issue

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

Busy Train Station

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

Japan Trip

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

Global Food Crisis

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

Osaka Can Cook

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

Another Great Japanese Dinner

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

Tonkatsu Time!

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

Making Money

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

Intention

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

Good News!!

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

Motorola V9 Phone

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

Flew the Coop

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

Procrastination

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

Waking Up Early

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

Buddha

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

From Kidney Stones to Gall Bladder Stones

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

Birds are singing

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

Life in a Big Company

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

What to do if the world come to an end?

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

The End of Earth

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

Stanford Executive Briefings

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

Vietnam - an interesting place to visit

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

Millionaires

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

Choked Drainage

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

Herbal Cure for Kidney Stone

I found out that a herb called Parsley Piert or Parsley Breakstone is a natural herb that helps break up kidney stones. I tried looking for it in Mustafa but cannot locate it as the counter staff are not there. I will have try again between 12 to 8pm on a weekday. I also manage to get a Torx screwdriver and Epsom Salt there as well.
Mustafa is the place to get anything especially exotic and difficult to get items.

Pain-free Surprise

Today, I am totally surprise by my pain-free episode. I drank my usual tea as well as 1.5 litre of distilled water. I am relief that pain did not hit. Waking up in the middle of night several times mean I did not get enough rest. So I had a nap in the afternoon. I understand kidney stone may take a week to 4 weeks to come out. I am eagerly waiting and hopeful my anxieties will be over soon as it is now 9 days since I went to Mt Alvernia Hospital. I know this may boring to my readers but it is intend to document my life experience. When memory fads, my blog will reminds me of events past.

Build Up

I am looking out of my windows. I realise my views are getting obstructed by new flats built in SengKang. When I first moved in July 2004, only 5 blocks of orange and yellow HDB flats are in clear view. Today, 3 more blocks are up, although not completed yet has reduced my view of the white clouds and blue sky. My million dollar view is worth less and less. I always enjoys the paranormic views, something rare in Singapore. Growing up in a flat, city living makes us less connected to nature. The favorite pastime is shopping. The aircond makes it comfortable compared to walking in Botanic Garden.
The sky view I enjoyed in the past few years in my current home is slowly encroached by expansion of the city. Sigh!

Effective Painkiller

I was in pain all day. Tyernol and panadol did not work and I almost reached the maximum dosage of 8. I had six. I know I will not sleep well with the pain on the right of the abdomen. Finally I decided to take the once a day tablet given by Mt. Alvernia. It work! I had a more restful sleep.
The brand is "Arcoxia". The drug is etoricoxib, 120mg. This is a wonder drug for pain!

Is pain suffering?

I am suffering from pain all day. I am also thinking now whether if pain is suffering. Pain is good because the body is healthy and saying something is wrong. I wondering why do I need to suffer the pain. If the world is balanced like Yin and Yang, did it mean I had too much joy and pleasure and now I have to pay back with pain? What are the joys and pleasures? I think it may be too much teh halia, too much rich food and coconut milk. Enjoys the food now and pay it back with the pain later.
Dark thoughts or enlightened thinking? I wonder.
Is pain synonymous to suffering? The question at the back of my mind as I am in "labour pain" as my wife puts it. The dictionary explains suffering is bearing pain, emotional or physical. Now I know that I am suffering physically. The title of this entry is double positive i.e. I am in painful pain?!

An Evening Out

B1 gave me a coupon for a BOGOF (or buy one get one free) drink in Gloria Jeans. So I decided to go to Raffles City to redeem as there is a store right outside MPH in Basement One. The traffic was jammed and not moving going in Raffles City. Some big event must be going on. So I park in Marina Square instead. Times Bookshop has change it store layout. The selection range is still limited relative to MPH.
I tried to ask for a rain check to extend the redemption of the coupon but was turned down. I was disappointed with the attitude of the counter staff and his response to my request. There are only two tables occupied with a total of 5 customers in the cafe. With this kind of attitude, I can see why Starbuck is a lot more popular in Marina Square.
I decided to walk to MPH in Raffles City and Gloria Jeans there is as crowded as the Starbuck located just outside the train station. I thought to myself, attitude and training of counter staff makes a huge different to the store traffic. I suspect the leadership of each store plays a huge part in the sales and profitability. The outlet in Marina Square is poorly run and hence no customers and in Raffles City it is popular.
People makes a difference!

Today is 19th day of 2nd Lunar Month

This morning, the urethra colic hits. I walks as advised by Dr. Loo of Mt. Alvernia. Of course I also take the medications he gave - painkiller and steriods. After walking, I had infrared heat on the abdomen that hurts. The pain passed in one hour. This is a huge relief! After the pain subsides, I feel the urge to go to my favorite temple in Queen Street or 4-horse way in Chinese.
The crowd was huge today. Devotees were lighting their josssticks from outside the temple and walking in. There is a barker urging people in a loud hailer, not to take too long in their prayers and to keep moving. He explains in English today is 19th day of 2nd Lunar Month or Kuan Yin's Birthday. Everyone was donating and I practically have to push my way into the donation box after figuring out in a few minutes that waiting patiently to get in is impossible.
No idea why I have to urge today to visit the temple as I do not know that it is Goddess of Mercy's birthday. However I do feel good I go and pray today by instinct.
All will be well.

Tired Easily

Maybe it is water overload, maybe it is worrying about the stone. I seems to feel tired quite easily today. I am comforted by my readers who gave me tips on travelling with my conditions and expressing their concerns for me.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Water Overload

I am drinking tea like there is no tomorrow. My stomach feels bloated. The urine output has increase dramatically and now I go to "we we" every half hour. Somehow, I do not feel the stone moving downwards. I wish my kidneys are like taps. The flow can be regulated or increase quickly when needed, just like flushing the toilet. Then I can be sure all the stones are flushed out when they are still small...

The Kidney Stone

The emergency doctor when he when he has to refer me to a specialist, I told him I will see my classmate, Peng Kok. Then I told him Peng Kok's wife Lay Tin was my classmate and a Cardiologist, Yung San too. He looked at me and asked why am I not here! I forgot my response. I should have told him this is my big regret or I prefer engineering. Anyway, Peng Kok told me my stone is quarter way down and the x-ray did not show where the stone is and therefore I have to wait for three more weeks before going for another CT scan. He can do a procedure to retrieve the stone but high chance of the stone going back to the kidney.
Since I have to travel, he suggest if I am really in pain, I have to go to a reputable hopital especially in a lot of countries in Asia.
Today, I did not have any pain. I stopped the painkillers and constipation stopped as well. Now I am in suspense and worry about when I will be hit by the sledgehammer or mother all of pains.

Birthday Party for B3

Today, B3 invited his friends and neighbour's kids over for his party. Again, I did my favorite signature cooking the BBQ. We had lots of chicken satay, less mutton satay, chicken wings, grilled green bell peppers, grilled eggplants, grilled sweet corns and bbq sotong. The kids had a great time with the food. The birthday cake has a little train on top.
After opening the presents, our place is like a little toy shop. Full of toys. There were two volcanoes kits, a radio controlled airplane, cross bow, hot wheel set, magnetic tyransaurous model, books and a few other which slipped my mind now. I am very glad he had a good birthday party and thoroughly enjoyed himself.
Happy Returns! B3. I love you!

Drinking Water and other fluids

I am drinking like no tomorrow. I met another doctor who send her daughter to the same gym class as my B3. She says drinking two to three liters of water will cause the stone to flow out. It is going to hurt as it come out even though she is of the opinion that it is a small stone. Another gym mother says that her mum has the same problem and there were infections and inflammation of the kidney. It quite "easy" to treat as the doctor just blast the stone to bits and all pass out through urination.
Although my condition hurts, I am assure the treatment is simple and can be fixed easily. May cost me a lot of dollars. I will find out once I see the specialist.

CT Scan and X-rays

I had a CT scan and x-rayed my chest and abdomen. The CT scan confirmed I have a kidney stone size of 5 mm and it has moved to the urethra. Also there is a gallstone of 1.5cm. I do not know. Seem like I may have a problem in future.
Look like my body needs some repair and maintenance program...

Intense Pain and Discomfort

Now that I know I have kidney stones, it makes the pain understandable and bearable especially since Dr. Loo told me the stones usually pass out by themselves. I now realised that I had a bout of cramp and backache before in the swimming pool. I attribute that to the cold water and I know it is the kidney stones acting up on me.
Last night, I have intense pain and discomfort on the right of my abdomen right to the rear. So it is a tummyache that you cannot get rid of by doing bowel movement. It is the backache that cannot be relieve by the heat treatment. The pain kept me awake up until the wee hours of the morning. Yes, I had two different class of painkillers. And yes, as I toss and turn, I wonder why painkillers did not work! This is suffering.
Hopefully, the scanning later will get to the root of my pain.

Worse Morning of My Life

I woke up in the morning with severe pain in my right abdomen. I thought it must be something I ate yesterday. I cannot sit or lie down. No position was comfortable. Sweat pouring out of my body profusely. I felt I was dying. I took Tyernol and Po Chai pills. My wife gave me Lactifort, a medicine for tummy upset. I recovered and thought it is ok. So I turned on my computer to do work and emails or "net working". Then the pain hits again. I was groaning like an injured animal. This time we suspect it may be appendicitis. Immediately we set off to Mt. Alvernia, the nearest hospital. Dr. Loo was on duty. He examined me and asked a few questions. Did you go oversea? Have you eat any food in the morning? Did you feel nauseous? Are you allergic to any drugs?, etc.
Then he order blood and urine test. The long and short of it is I did not have appendicitis or colic. It is kidney stone maybe stones. Dr. Loo says kidney stones are usually small and can make grown man cry like a baby. The pain cause my blood pressure to rise to 156/130. I have an injection into my buttock and 500ml of saline. The effect was good. It take about 45 mins and I feel much better that I feel hungry.
I am so glad the hospital can make my acute pain right away and I am fit to go home. Since today is a holiday, I will have to come back to the hospital to scan to look for the stones tomorrow.

Starbucks Experience

Thirteen ringgit and 50 sens. That is the price of a caramel macchiato in Starbucks. It's served in a white mug with with a line drawing of a princess in green emblem. The milk is frothy and the caramel draws a criss-cross neatly on the foam. It is like an art served. Why did I pay thirteen bucks and more for a cup of coffee? Inside the airport, prices of anything is higher than outside. The price of Starbucks drinks is the same whether it is inside or out. Also I can get free internet access with my cuppa. It is the consistent expectation of drinking a Starbucks coffee that make me return every time especially while waiting to board my flight. It is a relaxing way to rent the space, experience the ambience and at the same time read or surf the net. Starbucks has the formula right for a cash machine.

Mall Crawling

Today, I have a chance to crawl at Mid Valley Megamall as it is a public holiday today. When I work, I do not know the public holidays as usual. So I have a "surprised two hours" that I can spend in Mid Valley. I love this mall. There are two big bookstores, MPH and Borders. I will lose myself there. Mmmm, great books, great time.

Coughing Fits

I am suffering from coughing fits again tonight. After giving the talk, my cough recurs and now it is back with a vengence. It is tough when cough refused to go away. I have tried Western medicine, Chinese medicine, Honey, cough drops, and Fisherman's Friends. Any other remedies my readers would like to suggest? I will be grateful if your remedies cure me of my cough.

How to get your kids to eat vegetable?

It is early in the morning and I am up and about in the hotel and wondering what to write. Turning on the TV to keep me company in a cold and strange room is my usual habit. A British program on How to get your kids to eat vegetables is on the channel as I am thinking on my topic to type out in this column. Several ways were tested out by psychologists.
1. Have a role model to show them the way. Several child actors and actresses were sent to the school to mix with the kids. During lunch, the child actors and actresses eat veggies and the school kids observed and followed put veggies in their mouths and enjoying it. Three days later, the kid, who professed to hate broccoli eat the broccoli at home without his mum asking him to.
2. Rationing the snacks. The experiment is done in a nursey school. First all the dried fruits were tested. Two fruits, rasins and dried mangoes were tested neutral by the kids were used. During the first break, only dried mangoes is allowed. During the second break both dried fruit were allowed. By day 10, all the kids rushed and pushed each for raisins during the second break. When asked, raisins is now their favorite snacks. So rationing increases the desirability of the snack.
3. Does sugar caused hyperactivity? The experiment show that sugar does not make kids hyperactive. However it will make them fat.
4. Eating in front of the TV makes kids eat more.
There are more on the tv however it is hard to concentrate on the tv and write at the same time. So I missed out a few other facts and fallacies on food.

Building Brands

I gave another talk on building brands to an audience of 70+. It was a good talk and the audience enjoys some laughter. We all had fun and it is a great experience for everyone. I love the engagement and selling my ideas to large group. This is the third time for me to talk on the same topic. Like wine, talk improved with age and experience:)
My colleagues and I adjorned for braised duck dinner and talk about everything under the stars.

Puzzle

I know of a man called M. M is a regular kind of a guy and a good friend. We know each other more than 30 years now. M is very thrifty and has a humble beginning. His father is a hawker and mum, a homemaker. When we first go in the working world, he save most of his income. He gave one third of his gross income to his parents. We spent a lot of our weekends together with another classmate, Ah Seng. We share our experience on the working world, trade stories on colleagues and the backstabbing politics in the corporate world. Over time, we get busier with our career, then courtship. After I marry, I emigrated to Canada. Ah Seng marry earlier than me and emigrated to Australia one week after I relocate to Toronto.
This is story about M. M got married much later than me. He has an ambitious wife. We used have family get together during Chinese New Year and chill out. A couple of times, we had a "boys" outing and M kind of implied he is not too happy with is marriage. However, things continue as usual and M's wife gave birth to a daughter. Today, the daughter is in Primary One. M lost his job a few years ago and is the homemaker looking after his daughter. A few months ago, M's wife initiate divorce proceeding. She is tired of supporting him. I understand she makes "obscene" amount of money as she is a senior manager in an MNC. The car that M drives, the house they lived in are bought by the wife.
M was desparate and in despair when he broke the news his wife is divorcing him. He has no money to engage a lawyer and the terms of the divorce were all dictated by his wife. After the divorce, M try his luck as a real estate agent. I understand he has cut a few deals and making reasonable income about $10K in three months.
Here come the question that is up in my mind. M is still looking after his daughter and living in the ex-wife house. The difference is now he sleeps on the sofa instead of the bed. Why would a man live with his ex-wife and sleep on the sofa?
Please give me your opinions.

Saturday Night Movie

It is a Saturday Night Movie for me and my two boys, B1 and B2. We were kind of glued to our seats. Usually, I would fast forward the shows so that I can see the ending quickly. When the boys are around, we watch the movie unfold at its own pace and it is very interesting and engaging. Maybe it is the company. With the boys, as we watch the show, they will be asking questions. I will be trying to answer and watch at the same time. It is good for bonding. This is better than watching in the movie theatre where talking will be an issue. Hmm! maybe we should have dvd movies together more often.

50 Prosperity Classics

This is starting to be a series like the Chicken Soup for the Soul. The first book was 50 Self-Help Classics. It was a huge success and I enjoyed reading the succinct, condensed idea of each book. Then 50 Success Classics and 50 Spiritual Classics. Before this 50 Prosperity Classics is 50 Psychology Classics. So now there are 5 books or a total of 250 Classics books and ideas you can read. I have read many of the books that are in the "classics" category. Reading the condensed version give a brief idea and some history of the author. Reading the book itself give a totally different sense. When a book is well written, it sound so commonsense. The Good-to-Great is a prime example. Jim Collins wrote about companies who have turn for a "good" company to a "great" company. His opening statement is "good is the enemy of great". The reason for so few companies that are great is because they are good enough. Great company gives huge stockholders return i.e. stock price go up a lot higher than good company. Great Companies are like hedgehog who does one thing well. They have a selfless leader who has great ambition for the company and not himself, a level 5 leader.
Warren Buffet is a good example of the Level 5 leader. His pay is only US100,000 per year. His performance measure by stock price is huge.
I would recommend reading 50 Prosperity Classics. You will become wealthy in the process.

The Bicycle Thief

Remember, the bicycle thief story? I saw the boy! He is in his late teens and actually quite handsome. He is riding his bike and is in full riding gear. I remark that his clothing look nice and my wife told me they are very expensive branded stuff. It take a woman to recognise this kind of things.
This boy lives not too far from our home and my wife saw him before riding in our estate and she check with our security guard who told her who this guy was. We were reaching home when my wife told the family this is the guy who stole the bicycle and I slow the car intentionally to have a good look at him.

Dictionaries

Oxford English Dictionary or OED is well know brand. I have an American dictionary, Webster and a Canadian dictionary as well. I thought I will get an OED today or an English dictionary since there is 25% discount in Times Bookstore. When I get there, there are so many other dictionaries like Cobuild, Longman, Collins, etc. The choices are bewildering because each brand offer seems to offer different things beside the meaning of words and the number of words it contains. Finally, I decide on Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary as the price is at a reasonable $31.40 nett (no discount). The reason I pick Cambridge over my original choice of OED is because there is a section on Idioms and CAL explains the meaning of English idioms. I find it is good to get the precise meaning of the idioms as it is succinct and add flavour to day-to-day communication. Now I have another tool to help me improve my English.

RISKS

• To laugh is to risk appearing a fool
• To weep is to risk appearing sentimental
• To reach out for another is to risk involvement
• To expose your feelings is to risk rejection
• To place your dreams before the crowd is to risk ridicule
• To love is to risk not being loved in return
• To go forward in the face of overwelming odds is to risk failure
• But risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing is nothing.
• He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he cannot learn, feel, change, grow, or love. Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave. He has forfeited his freedom
• Only a person who takes risks is free.

Headache!

Headache can be troublesome. It may be the low pressure, it may be stress. Headache is a pain and is crippling. In car lingo, it is on 3rd gear or sar kang hei in Hokkien. Tyernol Extra Strength is the wonder drug for me when it come to headache. First two did not give me relief. However, another two in the late afternoon did the trick. I realised my bottle of 500 pills is running low. This is a sign I have been drawing down my inventory.
For gentle relief, use Tyernol. Yes, I am advertising free for Tyernol, my favorite pain-relief.

Rambo

It is interesting to watch the old movie, First Blood. The blood and gory, the one hero who sustained intense pain and terrible injuries and overcome all odds to vanquish his enemies. I love action. The story line may be weak, secretly I want to be the hero in this show. I want to conquer all odds and celebrate in triumph over my competitors and enemies. Wouldn't life be wonderful?

Evening with Friends

BT came with his beautiful wife were right on time. He brought along a gift, a bottle of wine. It looks really nice. Since he does not drink and I don't either, so the bottle was left unopen. We had plenty of good and animated conversation. After a quick tour of my place and I am very proud of my castle, we gather around the bbq to cook the food and chat. It is the old fashion way of getting to know each other. True, we learn about each other through blogging. The basic and most reliable method is still face-to-face contact. This is why even with teleconferencing, net conferencing, emails, telephone, blackberry, etc, etc, business travel is growing and growing. People still need to conduct business with direct personal contact. Anyway, I continue to bbq the food. We had prawns, chicken satay, green peppers, eggplant or brinjal, unagi, roast pork, and sotong. B3 was playing with his friends and pass by the bbq stove. He saw the satay and requested for it. His two friends heard and took my offer of satay. The best part is they came for more and request some sticks for other friends who were playing with them. Satay is a favorite for kids. BT and Mrs. BT tuck in my bbq food heartily. This is my best compliments. They like my food. I am very happy....

Stood Up!

SL, my fellow blogger who I invited over is not coming:( She probably forgot or chicken out at the last min. I was a little disappointed as I follow up with email and she did not reply. Finally, while shopping for tonight's dinner, I send a SMS to check. True enough, she says something cropped up and she is not coming. Maybe, next time....

More New Neighbours

New neighbours bring in new dynamics into our little kampung or village. We will have a new neighbour that own two "huge BMWs" and a Australian family will be moving in as well. I have one friendly and helpful new neighbour and the other is a stuck-up woman who pretend not to see you. This is like "Compare and Contrast" topic that is required in GP(general paper) during Pre-University or Junior College. New member always bring in change to a group. So I guess a member's departure will also bring in changes as well.
Good or bad, we have to adapt otherwise, we will be phased out. Charles Darwin

Power and Control

People in power like control and at the same time do not like to be controlled. It is interesting for me to observe how critical the new centre of power in Asia is of their master. It is like Animal Farm by George Orwell. For me who is at the bottom of the totem pole, I can see the bosses doing exactly what they criticised their boss for. The eye sees but sees not itself is so true. It is so easy to see the faults of others and not our own.

Home At Last!

The flight was delayed during takeoff and we therefore lands 15mins behind schedule. It was good food, good company and packed full of activities and energy. One full week is enough. Next week is time to catch up with all the other work. Let's enjoy the weekend. Savour the time with family and with myself. Oh! I have my fellow bloggers over for bbq this weekend as well. Meeting and making friends over internet is true. For a technosaur like me, this is an incredible achievement. Kids, please do not do this at home! I am just an old guy who is uninteresting to sex predators.

Sigh! It is just good to be home. Sweet!

TGIF

Thank God It's Friday! I am now at the airport in Bangkok looking forward to go home. Unfortunately, the earlier flight is full and I am stuck to my original flight which is at 6:30pm or 7:30 Singapore time. This has been a long week and I am looking forward to relax back home. Swim in my tiny pool and laze by the poolside. This is life!
I met a lot of new colleagues this trip. It is nice to get to know people and get used to our big company. Plenty of old friends and some regulars i.e. those in my team.

Mrs. Balbir

Mrs. Balbir is an ethnic Indian resturant serving authentic indian food which is very tasty. It is at Soi 11 of Sukhumvit Road. Excellent and delicious Indian food. The naans, roti, biryani rice, chicken tikka, lamb korma,....hmm! yummy!
The train station is Nana and it is only a 5 mins walk. If you are ever in Bangkok, this is the resturant to try....

Sumptious Dinner

There are about 45 of us going for group dinner at the Thai resturant. The food was fabulous. We had assorted appertizers, pandan chicken, tom yum kung(hot & spicy soup), braised duck with cashew nuts, fish with coconut sauce(which I did not eat), and mixed stir-fried vegetables. Finishing up with mango sticky rice. Excellent food and excellent company. I observed the master at work. He is a white Australian and speaks Thai well. The waitress who served was absolutely gorgeous and attractive. My table companions keep praising her beauty. Handsome is 60 years old and he is so good at talking to the girl. He know the right way to praise her and get to know her well. He also asked her to give her contact to him at the end of the dinner. This is a real treat for me. Observing and learning from the master. I am learning his selling skills and not trying to pick up girls which is not my interest. Books are my interest!
It is good to interact with everyone in our big team. I enjoyed the company and sharing our experience.

Grand Sukhumvit Sofitel

The hotel is a converted apartment. So the rooms have kitchenette and a microwave with a separate living room. It is very homely to write my blog and watch tv at the same time. The aircond is a little cold and does not adjust well. So I decided to turn it off.
It's been a longtime since I have been downtown Bangkok. Now with the skyway, it is very convenient. 3 stations to Central from Nana. Central has a modern Siam Square and Siam Paragon. The two shopping malls are very modern. There is a Kinokuniya on the 4th floor. It is nice to wander around the megabookstore. I had a good time.

Dinner with Me

Travelling on Sunday has lot of advantages as I discover today. The airport is not so busy. The queues are short everywhere i.e. Q for boarding pass, Q to check your boarding pass to enter immigration, Q for immigration clearance, then Q for security screening to enter the holding area at the gate, Q, Q, Q!
When I arrived the airport, my pickup was not there. After searching for 15mins, I gave up. I started to call people with numbers in my cellphone. Two did not pickup. Finally, Aida pick up and told me the name of the hotel. I was lucky as usual. Aida help me give directions to the taxi driver. When I arrived at the hotel, a few of my colleagues were at the lobby waiting to go for dinner. I decline their offer to join them as I rather have my room first. On the way to the hotel, I notices Tony Romas is nearby. I have decided to eat my favourite meal, bbq ribs.
The good thing about travelling is being alone, the bad thing about travelling is it can get lonely.
I had dinner with myself for company. It is interesting to observe myself eating dinner alone. First, I get distracted by other customers sitting beside me. There is big man with a tummy the size of a heavily pregnant sitting on the next table alone. I find it hard to decide on my choices and wish I have someone else with me allowing me to order more varieties of food. I could not decide whether to eat greens(salad) or drink soup. I also like potato skins. Finally, I decided to go for the creamy baked potato soup and half a slab of famous Tony Romas bbq baby back ribs.
The soup was full of potatoes and cream topped with cheese and chopped crispy bacon bits. It warms my soul to eat the soup. I was thinking to myself we should cook this kind of soup at home. Together with buttered warm minature french loaf, it is a comforting simple meal. I think I must teach my maid to cook thick western style soup. Other thoughts came to my mind. I always enjoys meals with my family and have our conversations. I realise while talking, I usually do pay attention to the taste of the food that is in my mouth. Eating alone, I savour all the different flavours and experience the texture and the warm taste of soup and bread. It is an interesting and enlightening experience. I also find the taste of the ribs is much better than Tony Romas in Shanghai or Singapore.
I find dinner with me enjoyable and resolve to have dinner date with myself again in my next trip.

Breakfast with B1

Our usual Sunday morning is going to Bishan for breakfast before sending B3 to his gym class. While B3 is busy learning to flip and fall, I will bring B1 and B2 to Bishan branch library so that they can do their homework there. Today, we cannot do this routine because I have to travel. So I decided to walk to the nearby noodle stall for breakfast and B1 accompanied me. We had to walk for 15 mins to get there. I find that walking is a good way to have an easy conversation. He is more open to listening and asking questions. I do not get excited or short-fused unlike when I am behind the steering-wheel. The need to stay focus on moving vehicles is stressful and therefore make a person lose temper easily. Also the walk is through an open field and there are no distractions of consumer items or snacks or drinks unlike in the mall. I find this walk more engaging and results in better after-feelings.

The old fashioned walk is therapeutic for me.

Loved!

My youngest sister-in-law who I will call Sue is staying at our place for sleepover. She has two boys and B3 is very excited. It is past 12 midnight and they are still up playing. Sue is 10 years more junior my wife. When we were first married, Sue was still in school. She always has many boys and men who is interested in her. When we relocated to Canada, we sponsored Sue over so that she can continue her studies. She is very close to my wife. Rather my wife pampers and spoils her. She will be over at our place whenever she need company or support to look after her sons. We had also enjoys free trips to Japan when Sue was not married as she is an air stewardess and one of her fringe benefits is free tickets for her immediate family.
My goodness! Her baby is loud. I have forgotten what it is like to have a crying baby.

In a Chaotic situation, people will self-regulate

When pressure gets high, workload increased like crazy and then the office starts breaking down... the result is chaos. "In a chaotic situation, people will self-regulate." pronounced my wife in the car on our way to lunch. In her opinion, a properly trained accountant will follow systems and processes, exercise self control and carry out instructions. Accountants have the advantage of understanding the broader picture. Unlike Business Admin grad who are trained on "no worries, if there is a chaotic situation, self-regulation will occur".
This morning, I drove to Riverside Plaza in Sengkang. The multi-storey carpark have a very small turning circle going up. There are two foodcourts - Kopitiam and Koufu right opposite each other. The foodstalls are busy and food choices are the traditional hawker food. The decor in Koufu is newer and cleaner. The food stall in Kopitiam offers more nostalgia with more rundown furniture, lower prices and comfort food like chee cheong fun. I go to Kopitiam to bring myself back to growing up days. After breakfast and morning read, it is time to drive home. It is raining and cars are coming into the car parks. I get out of my car park lot and start to drive down.
Cars were getting out at the same time as me. After going two levels down, I was stuck and waited patiently. After sometime, I realise we have not moved, so I turn up my favourite station FM90.5. A few minutes later and impatient horning, it is dawn to me that we are caught in a deadly embrace. Cars going up the car parks are blocked by cars going down because the circle is too small to accomodate both directions. I got out of my car to figure out where the constipation is. There were two other drivers like me when around and start moving the cars to get rid of the obstruction. We advise the cars going into the carpark to clear the way for cars getting out. Giving them instructions to put the car in the right position so that traffic and flow again. One driver ask a yellow car who is coming in to block all incoming cars. I get into my car to move out once my path is clear.
Yes, my wife is right, in a chaotic situation there will be people who will come out of their comfortable driver seats and unravel the traffic jam.

Chen Li Ping's Husband

My boys is taking tuition in Learning Point in Thomson Plaza. I decided to work away from my regular "away office" or home office, Swensen. Chen Li Ping's husband was walking looking bored waiting outside for his kid. His mannerism reminds me of myself. Women are good at waiting for kids and standing in queues. Men like me are impatient and get bored. Not only our minds are like monkeys unable to keep still, our body can stay still either. We have to keep moving. He is walking about in his red polo t-shirt with the collar straight up. My wife has a close encounter with him before and she says he smile at her.
If you are keen to have a chance encounter with Chen Li Ping or her husband, be at the entrance of Swensen in Thomson Plaza at about 5:45 pm on Fridays.

How true could you know a person only tru interview??

I have a question from my reader and it is a very good question!
I will answer this question with another question.
After months and years of courtship and hundred of hours of contact time i.e. both quantity and quality, how true do you know the person you are marrying?
Please asked both married and divorced to get a balance view.

Interviews

Interviewing is an art. Trying to figure out what a person is like and whether she will fit the requirements is a game. A game that can only get better with practice. Today, I met and talk to 4 girls. They are an interesting mix. Their command of English range from atrocious to passable. What intrigue me is we have two students who speak better English than the interviewees. Why? In Malaysia, the education system is single language. The school are either Chinese or English. Malay is a compulsory language. So everyone speaks Malay well (at least by my standard). The Chinese educated have trouble with English and vice versa. The two with unacceptable English were striked off immediately. One with ok English and can handle Chinese well demanded high salary and is slick. The final interviewee has good attitude and team spirit. Her pay expectation is also reasonable. What is more important - she has a caring nature. She got my vote!

Lunch...

KH just joined as CEO as I was serving notice to leave for Canada. He flew down to Singapore to interview my replacement. The interview was conducted in Orchid Country Club. Lunch was interesting as he has stories about a stockbroker who is a well known flirt. KH worked in disk drive industry for many years and keep tabs of the famous names. After the interview, we parted ways. He works in Penang and I in Toronto. Recently, KH chance into another colleague, WC. WC suggested we have lunch together.

Today, 9 years later we meet again. This time updating each other with old colleagues and KH is now a potential customer. So we will be in touch...

Hamster

B3 is in Primary One. He is keen on having a pet. He found out that a Hamster cost only $10 and is very keen to acquire one. As you know, boys are going to be boys. Buy a pet and play with it. After a few days, they get bored and found it a chore. Mum, dad or maid will take over the responsibility of caring. So we have a solution to prevent a pet from coming into our home. Set a goal...a goal that will mean serious effort. So mummy told him if he come first in standard i.e. the whole of Primary 1, he get his hamster.
This is a win-win situation. If he really did top in his standard, I would buy him the pet because he DESERVES it!

Words, Words don't come easy

Many have found my blog boring. It is run of mill about my life every day, routine, deary, factual and a complete lack of excitement. I merely state facts without adding colours to them. My writings would be black and white pictures with some shade of greys. I always get inspired by Sunday Times. We now have a stable of columnists who write about a broad range of topics, viewpoints and opinions. For example, I would write about looking for syntax or gammatical errors whereas Janadas Devan put it as "a train wreck of syntax errors". The metaphor conjured the picture of a super long sentence like a train that if wrecks, will be like the train disasters you see in the news. The other observation I have about my writings is they tend to be short and sharp. My fellow bloggers BT and SL entries contains 3 to 5 times the amount of words compared to mine articles.
I realise while blogging is a way to discipline myself to write, words don't come easy to me....

Grrreat Party!

We had a fantastic party and it is very nice. We enjoys every much catching up with old times. The kids are all growing up and we share our parenting issues. Seems like we all share very similar issues with growing kids and maids. The story teller, Lacy was hilarious. She is very talkative and recount the story when the Chinese teacher during Primary School asked for the chatterbox. Obviously, she has not changed after 30+ years.
Character is clearly something for life!

Matriarch Classmates

My Wife invited her classmates over for our favourite entertainment and my signature cooking - barbeque. She is now busy preparing and marinating the meat, seafood and vegetable. I will be doing the cooking later. I sneak to take break and update this blog. It is a lot of fun to set up everything and get everything ready to receive our guests. We will have curry chicken, bbq chicken, chicken satay, egg plants, green peppers, prawns and cuttlefish. The mainstay is still chicken. We are a chicken fan!

Stress increases Weight?

Recently, work load has been heavy and stressful. My friend SL thinks she indulged in food to relief stress and I believe she is right. I tried to eat less to no avail. Sitting all day in front of computer is the best way to increase waistline and I am no couch potato. Maybe it is time to go for stress management course, it will bring my weight down. I wonder how BT keep trim. He likes Japanese food, it is actually hard to see an overweight Japanese. So it may be his diet. Frankly, I know a rather stocky Jap and I think it is because he loves rice.
I tried to exercise hard today and my weighing scales refused to cooperate and gave me a number higher than yesterday.
I have no time to exercise but have time to eat. Since money can solve the problem, I may consider liposuction.

Edison Chen dethrone Casanova

With 1300 photos of rich and famous women nude and in various compromising positions, Edison Chen will go into history records. He has dethrone Casanova by a huge margin. He bring the term "playboy" to a new height, a level which will be hard to match not to say breach. He did what Tiger Wood has done in golf but in Sexploits.
He admits the photos were taken by him in the press conference and is articulate in his Canadian accent. While he say he is not the role model, I am sure many in the audience around the world especially aspiring actors now have a clear standard who to beat to reach the peak.
While I do not condone his acts or behaviour, I salute to his "achievements". He has in business speak "changed the rules of the game". It is a solid "Blue Ocean".

Edison, "heal your soul". You will get a lifetime achievement award in the far future.

Bogged down by Weight Issue

My friend like me is bogged down by weight issue. Recently, my weight has creep past 88kg. I am fairly concerned and try to exercise as much as I can by walking and swimming. Alas! my calories intake seem to be higher than output. I drank plenty of tea with no sugar to stem my hunger. The biggest contributor to my current dilemma is sitting, sitting. I now sit in front of the computer all day long.

So instead of "Sitting sitting the grass grow green" a zen poetry,
I am "Sitting sitting my stomach is bursting!"

Anyway, my friend SL is kind of in a fix and you can read it in http://gszeli1.multiply.com/journal/item/122/Weight_Gain

Wonderful World

Rising costs and lower price. The world is amazingly wonderful right now. I wish I can increase price like our hawker centre and food court. Inflation is everywhere. People are making more more money and bigger bonus. I wonder how much is real. Maybe Straits Times like to report positive news. Now price of rice has gone up.

Another interesting observation is the winds are very strong nowadays. I wonder if the El Nina effect or it is just fluke or global climate change.

The World will have a dramatic change in 2012 theorize some authors as the Mayan calendars end in the year 2012. Is the world coming to an end?

Service Industry

It is really hard to be a service staff. Paid to serve rather pay to be served. Service is the key touchpoint between the company and the customer. My favourite airline is SQ - the service is good, food is ok, some of the girls are pretty, most destinations out of Singapore and of course the frequent flyer points. I enjoys chatting with the girls and the senior stewards. It helps break the monotony of the flying. I know chatting part of their job because they are always polite and willing to entertain my small talks.

I cannot imagine getting slapped hard just because I am doing my job. I heard from "inside" sources that it was the man who went to the gallery to talk. This add insult to the injury as the recipient of the mega tight SLAP on the face was not the initiator of the chat.

I support the stewardess who sued and get redress for the humiliation and emotional distress. Hopefully, she win big and send a signal out to all the jeolous pots to watch out. Just because you have the money does not mean you can throw your weight around.

The Story of a Tail

There a kitten in the back alley. This kitten was chasing it own tail. Chase, chase, chase and catch, bite and let go and chase and chase again and again. An old worldly cat walked by and look at the small cat and wondering what is happening. After a few minutes, he could stand it no more. He stopped the kitten and asked "What are you doing?" The kitten told the veteran I just visited the Cat Guru... he told me happiness is in my tail. I want happiness. So I am chasing after and catching happiness."

The Veteran "You know what, I visited the Cat Guru when I was about your age too. He also told me the same thing. Happiness is in my tail." "After all these years, I got it figured out..." he continues "if you go about doing your own things, you will find your tail will follow you wherever you go."

I Want to be Edison Chen's Computer

This is what a columnist in Sunday Times want to be in his next life. I would say he is not ambitious enough. What is so good about becoming his computer and see the pics of Edison collecting his trophies of beautiful actresses undressed and performing sexual acts with him. Becoming his computer is just looking or seeing. What is the fun and where is the enjoyment? If this is his dream, it is pathetic. Next life, he should be the Edison Chen. Film and photograph all the gorgeous women exposing their innermost secrets. Enjoy sex conquests and captured them in video. That should be the right dream.
Why be the computer and when you are sick, some one copy your files when fixing you up. It is like getting raped!

Home Style BBQ

It is actually quite simple to barbeque meat. The important step is to clean the meat thoroughly.
Use generous amount of salt and rub all over the meat.
Then rinse off the salt.
Next use alcohol to marinate the meat.
Do not do the typical local style of adding soy sauce and pepper to the meat.
Add dried rosemary to the mixture to give the smoky favour to the meat.
Heat up the bbq stove for 15 mins on high heat.
Put meat on the grill and turnover the meat about two minutes and reduce heat to low after another two minutes.
This will seal the meat juices and lower heat will cook the meat inside without burning the surface of the meat.
When the meat are evenly cooked, remove from the stove.
Serve warm and if unable to finish, keep it in the fridge and you can reheat in a toaster oven or eat the bbq meat cold.

Long Day at Work

Two of my old girls has resigned and moved on to greener pasture and brighter future. They had spent four and five good years with us. I am both sad and happy to see them go. Sad that I am losing good competent staff and happy they are moving onwards and upwards. My current office manager will now have to bear the brunt of the transition and training new staff. This will be a real test for her mettles. She will be going through baptism by fire. Hopefully she will become the stainless steel that look back and know that as wrought iron she was not needlessly tortured.

Rare Find!

I found a hard cover non-fiction book at $3.90 in Popular. It is all wrapped and sealed in shrinkwrap plastic. When I pay at the cashier, the cashier could not believe the price and turn the book over to look at the price tag. Yes! it read $3.90. The title of the book is The Origin of Brands by Al and Laura Ries. Al Ries co-authored the best seller and classic on branding. The title is Positioning. Positioning is still the best book on branding and I will recommend this title to Marketing folks and anyone in business.

Butter Cake - Yummy!

Fresh warm butter cake just out of the oven tasted heavenly. My wife makes the best butter rivalling Polar Cakes and Puffs version. It is so rich, full of flavours and the cake melts in your mouth. I am trying to weight by cutting down and as I chow down the cake, all I could think of is let me start my diet tomorrow.
If she can come up with a few more variety of cakes, I am sure we can start a bake shoppe.

Mum Goes Home

My mother left Singapore today. She had been here for 3 months and missing out of the bitterly cold winter in Toronto. She was a little emotional before entering the secured area. My sisters eyes went red as well seeing how she cried. My younger sister's younger son wrote her a note with many hearts and "Ma Ma" on a tissue and stapled to the note. He is very creative and is very attached to grandma. Mum says Sheldon keep going in and out of her room last night. He could not bare to see Ma Ma leaving.

Ma Ma will go to Hong Kong for 10 days to stay with her youngest sister. Then she will head home to Toronto. Bon Voyage Mum. See you next winter.

Broken Wrist

What a start to the first day of school for the new year! Yesterday, B1 complained about spraining his right wrist while playing basketball. Today, B2 fell during PE and hurt his wrist. He called from school asking me to bring him home. When we get to the school, his wrist has a big swelling and it is the right wrist as well.

His mum took him to KK hospital and they found 1 centimeter crack line. So they put a cast. So his right wrist will be out of action for a few weeks.

Honest Singapore

Every year, Reader's Digest will conduct a survey of the honesty of the different cities in Asia. Singapore always come up in the top few. This morning I personally experience Honest Singapore.

I was enjoying my morning tea and breakfast in a coffee shop at Bishan. I ordered fishball noodles from Million Fishball. The coffee shop is opposite CPF building. It is early Sunday morning and there are not many patrons. I read my favorite newspaper Sunday Times leisurely. The author of "Towkay, Ho Sei Boh?" was featured. Sumiko Tan wrote why she dislike Hillary Clinton. I finished reading and decided time to go. As I was driving back toward AMK Central, I was thinking to myself maybe I should stop by AMK Hub to buy fresh food to cook lunch for my mum. I look for my wallet and it is not in my back pocket. Maybe, it is under the newspapers...I picked them up and look underneath and not there! Sh**! I told myself. I must be dropped it in the coffeeshop. Up in my mind, I begin to panic. I have to call all the credit cards companies to report lost cards, police station to file report for lost IC and driving licence.... I made a 180 degrees U-turn and go back to the coffeeshop. There was a man sitting on my seat and eating noodles. I approached him and ask if he has seen my wallet. He just stares back. Meanwhile the coffee lady who as nearby overheard my question and say "YES!" go to the counter. I hurried to the counter and spoke to the counter ladies. One of them take out my wallet and paused.

She asked "do you have your IC in there?" I said "yes!" She opens my wallet and hesitated as there are many cards. I pointed to her where to take. She looks unsure and seems uncomfortable to touch my wallet. So I took it and take out my driving licence for her to see. She take a look at my handsome picture and agree it looks like my face and gave me a nod. A wave of euphoria sweep into me. My emotions just went from panic and fear to happiness and joy. I check the cash and everything is intact.

I salute you! Singaporeans. I live in a honest city and country.

New Interests

I have discover new sections that interest me in Kinokuniya. How I get to know the new sections is through books I bought in Borders or other bookstores while I was on my trips. After I bought the books, I wonder why I did not see them in Kino and then check out the bookweb. I would find that they are put in different bookshelves from where I usually frequently. My favourite is Business, Leadership, Success, Training, Psychology, Self Help and New Age. Recently, I find the shelves on Brain and Business Communication have a lot of subject matters for me to discover.

I am glad I am broadening my interest somewhat although the subject matters are still related. Peter Drucker recommends that we take a completely different subject. For example, he is a minor expert in Japanese Art and Culture. Learning a totally different subject allow our mind to make connections and apply one sphere of learning to another giving greater insights and making one's learning more impactful.

Peter Drucker is a world renowed Management Expert. He studied economics in University and not business. Philip Kotler also studied economics and mathematics and become a guru in Marketing.

Family Breakfast on Edison Chen

We were having breakfast in Toa Payoh Central Koufu after praying in Shuang Ling Shi. During breakfast, the topic of Edison came up. I told B2 who is good with movie making that he may be able to come up with something like to Edison Chen to be instantly world famous. I say I have no idea who is Edison or Cecilia Chung or Gillian Chung or Bobo Chan before. Now I know them.

My wife violently objects. She told him you need not display your penis to gain fame. My comeback is there are millions of pictures and videos of penises in porn website. Nobody cares. However, my point to B2 is he should be like Steven Spielberg and come up with good movie ideas. Porn was not what I am advocating.

B2 may come up with some creative bionicles movies and be a famous director and movie maker in future. I can retires then and become his business manager.

Interesting Pastime of Edison Chen

Edison Chen is an interesting guy or rather he has interesting interest that caught up with him. He loves film-making and photography. He is artistic in his own way and he is the director as well as the protagonist in the pictures and video. He takes pictures of starlets in their naked glory and his sexual acts with them. The scandalous release into the net came out in the news last week that it overwhelm the bigger news of Chinese New Year Celebration. He is now famous, very very famous.

It is entertaining news. Everyone is so obsessed with the pictures. I tried seaching in Google and cannot find anything except garbage commentaries. While the news papers say that it is in the net and the pictures are downloaded at 10,000 copies a minutes, they do not mention the websites. I guess I am not in the loop or do not spend enough time on the new to get to the pictures.

Technology is wonderful and a great leveller. Now you can be infamous at lightspeed. However, there are still laggards out there like yours truly who are clueless. The younger generation are much better. They know where to go to get the right info. Yes, it is your turn to make the world a better place, young ones...

Family Day

It is the tradition of visiting relatives starting with the most senior. We brought our boys to their maternal grandparents in the morning. I did what a lot of men do when they do visiting... my brother-in-laws do it as well when he come to my place. Maybe it just run in our family. What do you thing I did?

My mum, and two of my sisters came over with their kids for dinner. We had a good gathering. My brother-in-law did his own reading and I prepare dinner. However the woman folks gather together and do a lot of small talks. My nieces are all grown.

Family tradition and family values in Chinese New Year give us a reason to get together for a meal. Old fashion time together improves and renew our ties. Also my boys get to see grandma and maternal grandparents and their aunts and uncles. In today city living and fast pace of life (tuition on the weekends instead of climbing trees or marbles with cousins) it is good our boys have some contact time with their extended family.

May the Year of Rat bring joy, peace and prosperity to all my readers. Happy New Year!

Super Long Queue

It looks like some major is going to happen. Everyone is queuing to pump petrol. I had to send my mum to my sister's home. On the way back, I decided to detour to pump up petrol as I am not sure if the petrol stations will be open tomorrow. The queue was incredibly long. There was a 2nd long queue!! Everyone was queuing up to wash their cars. It cost $6 for this privilege. The car washing companies are making a killing. Looks like a good business opportunity. Hire some foreign worker, get car shampoo and a place with water point, hey presto....

Reunion dinner is a quiet affair for us. My mum came over this morning. She stayed with us the whole day. We had steamboat. At 5:45pm when I was relaxing at the poolside, my wife came over and told me to buy rice as she like our rice container to be full for CNY. This is a tradition. I tried Sheng Siong but it was closed. I heard the Giant's radio ad this morning. "Go to Giant for shopping after reunion dinner, it is open and it will be open tomorrow, carpark is free." So off to Giant. Yes, it really is still open. There are more Malays and Indians. A few Chinese like me are last minute shopper. Thank God for free enterprise.

I was explaining to my son that only in Chinese New Year does everything in Singapore shutdown except for Indian stalls, McDonald's, 7-elevens and hotels. Christmas and New Year, the big malls are closed but all hawker centers are open. This is show the Chinese presence in all the small businesses in Singapore and also show how hard workers they are.

The malls in KL are all opened during Chinese New Year. In this aspect, Malaysians are luckier than us.

Have a Fantastic RAT year.

Mad House

It is a mad house in all supermarkets. Trolleys is impossible to navigate and checkout lines are long and the waiting time seems eternal. Yet, everyone is quite patient and there are lots of people who have wonderful discovery of a short queue. I wish I jump queue. No, I just stick to my line as a typical kiasu Singaporean. Hence extending my checkout time by more than 10 mins, which will be eternity at any other time. This is new year. We are all looking forward to new beginnings, new starts, new outlook, change - positive change, change for the better. Yes, the Rat year will be a good year for everyone.

I wish one and all - Kong Hee Huat Chye.

Will Winning A Million $$ Make Me Happy?

I decided to do this thought experiment. What if I have a million dollars dropped down from the sky i.e. Toto, lottery or some wonderful generous soul who decide to give me the money - no strings attached.

What will I do with the million dollars? Will I quit my job? Work is becoming a drag lately. The bad news keep coming. Costs continue to increase and price is under pressure to come down. Competitors are getting stronger and everyone want a bigger piece of the pie. With the stress should I quit and enjoy the Million Dollar windfall?

How about take the family for a holiday to places they always dream of going? Paris the romantic city, gorgeous Banff Mountains in Alberta, Whistler where skiing season is almost all year round, sun soaked southern Europe, maybe the plain vanilla London. We love to go for a tour where we need not watch our expenses. It will be wonderful to be carefree for a few weeks of our lives.

Another serious consideration is donating the money or rather using the money to do worthy causes and make the world a better place. School Pocket Money Fund is one I support when it was first started. Now, the charity has grown to $4 million a year. Maybe they don't need the million. I just heard that my favorite charity World Vision which we sponsor kids from poor country only 25 cents of the dollars get to the kids. The rest go to "administration".

What about the passion of most men? A nice, sleek, brightly coloured sport car. One that attracts the beautiful and gorgeous women. Hmmm! A Porche, Lamborgini, sigh! I can't think of any other brand. My passion is not fast cars.

Maybe it is better to invest the Million Dollar. Where to invest in is the question! Stocks or Property. It will be nice to have a property that give me regular income. Warren Buffett world's 2nd richest man wealth is through investing in stocks. Maybe I should invest in Berkshire Hathaway.

Looks like my head is filled with so many questions and decisions to be made. Having a Million Dollar increase my stress level.

What will you do if you have a Million Dollar?

Reunion Dinner with my Outlaws

We had our reunion dinner with my in-laws. Since they have daughters who are married, reunion dinner are usually held the weekend before the new year's eve. We usually eat at our parent-in-law's house. This time we had it at Lao Di Fang, Chinese Vegetarian Resturant in Apollo Center.

The 2nd daughter, my wife has 3 sons, her younger sister, the 3rd daughter has two boys and small ye-ye, the youngest daughter has two boys. So it is a little interesting. My in-laws have 5 daughters and 1 son, and they now have 7 grandsons and no granddaughters. Come to think of it, my mother has 7 granddaughters before I break the trend with B1. After that, my younger sister, the baby of our family has two sons. My generation i.e. my brother and sisters as well as my sister-in-laws has either only daughters or sons.

My in-laws are strict vegetarians. They are religious and wonderful folks who does not think twice to help the less fortunate.

After dinner, my family adjorned to Chinatown. It is almost 9 pm. We walk by Lim Chee Guan and there is no queue like what was reported in the news. However my son also notice they have ran out of bak kwa. In the cool night, the crowd makes the place hot literally. It is really impossible to move at a pace faster than a crawl. The festive atmosphere was fun but the crowd was a little overwhelming for me. So we walked only one street which took an hour to cover and decide to come to our home sweet home.

A Walk in the Gardens

I took a walk around our estate and the new contractor for cleaning and landscaping is doing a much better job than the previous contractor. It is good to see the landscaping spruced up for the Chinese New Year. With fertilizers, I am sure the plants will have new growth and look healthy, strong and vibrant.

It also shows the importance of competent help or contractors. The quality difference is clear. It is now a pleasure to walk in the gardens again.

Olivia Lum Cont'd

One of the questions posed to Olivia in the dialogue session is "Olivia, you are so successful and a role model, is there anytime you are depressed?"

Olivia takes up the mike, pause for a few seconds and she smiles "I feel depressed many times!" The audience laugh loudly. "It is lucky we can sleep. So when I feel depressed, I sleeps." My wife who is a "kun queen" in army terminology or sleep queen, look at me triumphantly and feel vindicated.

Right now, I need to take Olivia's prescription. I should go to sleep...