Diversifying Ruined

2011 Valentine cum Wendy's bday

2011-02-17T23:15:00.004+08:00

Insurance

2011-01-11T00:08:00.002+08:00

Isn't it amazing that a person with less than a year of experience is allowed to sell you insurance, potentially dangerous product that offers you more harm than protection? Why would any guy on the street be willing to fork out a chunk of your monthly savings to buy into these products on the advice of these ~~salesman~~ wealth agents?

Short term wants

2011-01-10T23:55:00.001+08:00

Feb - First smartphone in my life (Android? Blackberry?)

Mar - Fibre Optic 100mbps student plan, new notebook?

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-25T12:13:00.000+08:00

Updates

2010-10-01T22:27:00.000+08:00

School started last week. Didn't get a good timetable; resulting in having lesson each day for 4 days including SATURDAY morning. Can't blame anyone but SIM.

More and more students can be seen in the campus as the year progress; resulting in overcrowded canteen and bus-stop during peak hours. Can't blame anyone but SIM.

Manage to get a part-time job at UOB working 2 and a half days per week till Dec. Work starts next week, hopefully everything goes well. And hopefully I am able to complete my 20 to-read books and pick up VBA by end Jan next year before going full time into revision.

Getting less and less interested to update blog ever since theres facebook (short msg rather than a blog post).

Do you think MBS will invest in forecast technology?

2010-09-19T18:36:00.000+08:00

Q. Can we get to the SkyPark if it’s raining?
A. The Sands SkyPark is equipped with sophisticated weather forecast technology that will alert our operations team of incoming weather patterns, including possible thunder storms. We will try our very best to keep members of the public informed when the Sands Public Observation Deck might be closed due to extreme weather conditions. Should you have limited time to visit the SkyPark, you may wish to call ahead to confirm that tickets are available. Please call +65 6688 8868.

Good try MBS! I don't believe though.

Roast Pork (Shao Rou) 2nd try

2010-09-17T18:14:00.000+08:00

Probably need another 2 or 3 tries to get the timing and temperature right.

Roast Pork (Shao Rou)

2010-09-14T17:33:00.003+08:00

1st try.

Scored skin, rub skin and meat with combination of salt and 5 spice powder.
Baked at 250 degrees for 25min.

Result: Skin not crispy enough but taste great!

End of Internship dinner

2010-09-10T14:38:00.002+08:00

Marutama Ramen @ The Central

They only got 3 ramen dishes; all with same chicken soup base. Just choose any cause they are all nice!

Left: Dumpling, average.
Right: Best egg ever

Friday after work dinner

2010-09-06T15:38:00.002+08:00

Arrived at around 8.30pm and waiting for about 15min.

Unfortunately, the only dish that can make it is the dumpling on the right ($5.80).

In the end we agreed that even Ajisen serves better ramen at a cheaper price. Volcano ramen anytime!

Breaking Point (Every Singaporean Son Episode 09)

2010-08-31T20:19:00.003+08:00

Ladies, this was what we went through in the Army; some experience tougher, some experience easier camps. And this is the most basic camp of all.

Non-Video and Non-Article Post

2010-08-19T10:19:00.001+08:00

Finally after few weeks, I am posting my first non-video and non-article post i.e. a literally typed post.

Ah nan Char Kway Teow

2010-08-18T20:59:00.000+08:00

Mosquito song (With Lyric and Sing along) - MrBrown Show Production

2010-08-11T20:19:00.000+08:00

So you might ask...

2010-08-09T12:00:00.000+08:00

Q: In what way will you get a higher chance of entering US Congress?
A: Be a top executive at Goldman.

Every Singaporean Son (Episode 4: R & R - Run & Rehab)

2010-07-27T20:18:00.000+08:00

There is a choice.

2010-07-27T11:19:00.000+08:00

Another great article by Wilfred Ling, a professional fee-based financial planner.

There is no law in Singapore that prohibits financial advisers from recommending other products that are not carried by their own principal. There is also no law prohibiting the financial adviser from charging a fee.

However, many insurers and IFA firms prohibit their own advisers from charging a fee. Why? There are two main reasons.

First reason: If advisers can charge a fee, they would have less motivation to sell products. Do you know that insurance advisers earn commission based on 3 – 6 years on a declining basis but product manufacturers earn perpetual revenues as long as their clients do not terminate the product? Are not these advisers fools to keep on selling when the one who ultimately benefits are the product manufacturers? Many advisers do not realized that they are being made used of. Advisers must keep on selling and pushing products to earn a living while product manufacturers earn perpertual revenue once the sale is closed. Advisers who want to escape from this trap must quit from this kind of working environment.

Second reason. Many firms prohibit their advisers from recommending other people’s product and prohibit them from charging a fee. The reason is because the firm views these advisers as salesmen. Salesmen must be loyal to their bosses. They must not have a conflict of interest selling other competitors’ products. Salesmen loyalty lies with their companies. Each prospect is a chance to milk and squeeze more money so that their bosses will be happy.

Many “financial advisers” join the industry thinking that it is going to be a noble job. Unfortunately, they are not “financial advisers.” They are just product salesman in the eyes of their firm. Frankly speaking, I really pity these people. I have friends who are trapped in such situation but they must keep on selling and pushing to make their bosses happy.

To the end consumer, this is very dangerous. A salesman that keeps on pushing product is not going to care whether the product is useful or not. There is a conflict of interest too. The salesman is unable to recommend more superior product to the detriment of the client. Consider a television set. The maximum lost of being cheated for buying a wrong TV is capped at the cost of the television. But when comes to financial advisory, the maximum lost has no upper limit at all. There is no cap.

I strongly urge all my peers to rethink their business model and consider whether is this what you really want in life. You do not need to be a salesman. Singapore is quite a free market. There is always a choice. The choice is up to you to decide whether you want to ruin other people’s life in order to serve your Master or help others achieve their financial goals.

Every Singaporean Son (Episode 3: Strip)

2010-07-20T21:39:00.000+08:00

一個人模仿32人唱《星光依舊燦爛》

2010-07-17T18:16:00.000+08:00

HP Battery VS Notebook Battery

2010-07-11T20:12:00.002+08:00

How do you determine whether its the HP or notebook battery industry that have better technology? Look at their charging/usage time ratio.

Every Singaporean Son (Episode 1: My Buddy)

2010-07-08T21:17:00.000+08:00

Definitely one of the most memorable times in my life. Army isn't tough if you take a positive attitude towards it; rather its so fun that most people will miss their army times.

The Sneezing Baby Panda

2010-07-07T23:16:00.000+08:00

The cockles of my spy

2010-07-03T00:47:00.000+08:00

Jamie Ee never fails to make me laugh

By JAIME EE

I DON'T mean to alarm the public unnecessarily, but after the story broke about Russian spies posing as ordinary Americans living in the suburbs, I can no longer look at my neighbours with a straight face. Like the woman spy with the flourishing hydrangeas, I too have unnaturally lush bougainvilleas crowding the common corridor outside my unit - and they are not there to hide my ugly shoe rack.

You see, I am a Russian spy. Well, at least I used to be one but I have since switched sides and now spend my time helping people to identify spies in their own backyards.

Remember how people used to think taxi drivers were spies - pretending to rail against public policies just to make you lower your guard and add in your two cents worth of grouses? Well, it's true. I know because my agency used to recruit them. Unfortunately, this scheme didn't last long because our spies went so deeply 'native' even we couldn't tell them apart from real taxi drivers.

Whenever we thought we identified one from the tell-tale signs: not knowing the difference between Shaw Towers and Shaw Centre; difficulty understanding English; tuning his radio to Gold 90FM because he thinks Singaporeans like listening to Air Supply and also because that is the same radio frequency our agents use for communicating with our satellites - it turns out he really doesn't know where he's going and he really likes Air Supply.

However, that doesn't mean there aren't spies around and here are some tips to identify them:

# The neighbour who likes to take your favourite parking spot just when you get home from work, only to disappear after you have spent 15 minutes parking several streets away. Watch him. That could be a satellite hot spot and due to the time difference with Russia, that could be the only time he can communicate with his headquarters.

# Spies can be found even in hawker centres. Some well-known char kway teow hawkers are well versed in Morse code. Next time you order a plate, count the number of times he hits the pan with his spatula. Then look around for someone drinking sugar cane juice and discreetly taking notes. When that same guy then orders a plate of char kway teow, watch carefully. If he gets several more cockles than you, you know they're passing secret messages.

# One of the best-known ways of passing information from one agent to another is by secretly exchanging identical-looking bags when they pass each other in a public place. The next time you are at the Great Singapore Sale and another woman starts a tug-of-war with you over a handbag you saw first - she might not want it because of the discount.

# If you ever notice how part of your street is always being dug up by people supposedly fixing the cables or water pipes but you never see any improvement in your water pressure or broadband speed - they could be agents looking for a hidden cache of money.

As for me, I now work undercover in an office. You can tell who I am from the stash of identical-sized paper bags I keep at my desk, and the way I yell at anyone who tries to take one.

BusinessTimes

4th week of internship

2010-06-27T12:36:00.004+08:00

Google, Wikipedia, Baidu, Wiki Chinese etc have been my best friends for the past 2 weeks since I have been tasked to find out relevant info about China's airports and compile them into a spreadsheet. And guess what, some of the airport only has Chinese web site #$*(%#)(*%#. Among my best friends, Google Translate has been the closest to me so far cause I have spent tons of time on it.

Luckily the pantry and canteen food here ain't bad. The best is still the airport staff discount we have and we are able to go into transit as and when we like :)

And it is 12pm on a Sunday morning. Why am I blogging at home? I should be out there in the sun to kick some ball!!! stupid rain.

Baby Elephant Sneeze

2010-06-25T20:32:00.000+08:00

Foreign Nations Offer Gulf Spill Aid to US—for a Price

2010-06-20T20:10:00.001+08:00

When other countries are in help, US gave free aid. But when US are in trouble, countries offer help... but for a price?

At least 22 nations—including Britain, home country of beleaguered oil company BP—have offered oil-collecting skimmers, boom, technical experts and more to help the U.S. cope with its worst-ever environmental disaster. But their generosity comes with a price tag.

Foreign countries around the world have offered to help the U.S. battle its worst spill in U.S history, but only Mexico has offered anything free of charge.

The State Department confirmed that nearly every offer of equipment or expertise from a foreign government since the April 20 oil rig explosion would require the U.S. to reimburse that country.

The offers reveal a hard truth about the United States' international friendships: With the U.S. widely regarded as the world's wealthiest nation, there is a double standard regarding foreign aid after a crisis, especially with offers from relatively poor countries.

U.S. disaster aid is almost always free of charge; other nations expect the U.S. to pay for help.

"These offers are not typically offers of aid," said Lt. Erik Halvorson, a Coast Guard spokesman. "Normally, they are offers to sell resources to BP or the U.S. government."

Only Mexico, with wide swaths of poverty among its population, offered the U.S. anything for free. It said it would give the U.S. government some containment boom. BP separately purchased 13,780 feet of boom and two skimmers from Mexico in early May, according to the State Department.

The stingier countries include:

—Britain, America's closest ally and headquarters to London-based BP, said it would sell chemical dispersants and containment boom for use cleaning up the spill. London's mayor, Boris Johnson, has previously complained about what he called "buck-passing and name-calling" in the U.S. against BP.

—Russia, which received $70.5 million in U.S. aid last year and $78 million in 2008, said it could send boom, oil containers and ships if the U.S. paid for them.

—China offered containment boom for a price. When a major earthquake struck in northwest China in April, the U.S. quickly gave $100,000 for relief supplies, and after another major earthquake in southwestern China in 2008, the U.S. donated $500,000 through the U.S. embassy in Beijing to the Red Cross to buy and deliver emergency supplies there. Congressional researchers estimate the U.S. spends roughly $30 million on foreign aid to China each year, including educational exchanges and health programs.

—Israel, which receives roughly $3 billion in U.S. military aid and other assistance, also said it would send containment boom, if the U.S. paid for it.

—France offered to send chemical dispersants and equipment to clean oil off birds but only for a price.

—Kenya, which received more than $24 million in U.S. aid last year and $11 million in 2008 for humanitarian aid, offered to send fire boom but only if the Obama administration paid.

—Vietnam offered a ship with oil-collecting sweep arms if the U.S. paid for it. The U.S. spent $102 million in all types of aid to Vietnam in 2008. When Typhoon Ketsana hit that country last fall, affecting 3 million people, the U.S. spent $100,000 on relief operations.

—Romania made a "general offer of support" but asked the U.S. government for payment. After heavy rains sent in July 2008 sent four major rivers over their banks and killed five people, the U.S. gave $50,000 for emergency supplies.

—Croatia offered to send technical experts and plans, for a price. The U.S. gave Croatia $50,000 to buy local firefighting equipment in 2007 when more than 800 wildfires broke out during an unusually hot and dry summer.

Source.

Honey, is the Bentley okay?

2010-06-18T23:09:00.002+08:00

An interesting article about the recent flood in Singapore.

ANYBODY outside of Singapore who saw photos of submerged cars, rescue workers carrying people to safety and other scenes of chaos and devastation caused by Orchard Road's mega washout on Wednesday would be forgiven for not believing their eyes. A natural disaster sweeping through Singapore? After all, a lady interviewed on TV hit the nail on the head when she disbelievingly said that she never thought something like this could happen in a first world country.

It's true that such scenes are more likely to be associated with developing countries but if you look closely enough, you would be able to see the tell-tale signs that such a disaster has taken place in Singapore. How can you tell? Easy. Just check out our list of the top 10 differences between a flash flood in a developing country and one in Orchard Road:

10: In Orchard Road, the only bodies you see floating in the water are the mannequins from Massimo Dutti.

9: Anguished men rush home to their families, crying, 'Oh my god, is the Murcielago/ Bentley/Ferrari all right?' or 'Check the cable TV reception - can we still watch the World Cup?!'

8: Singaporeans do not really know how to loot. Instead of taking whatever beauty products they can find floating in the water, they wait to see if something more valuable will float by, such as a camera or a leather iPhone cover. Other more enterprising looters will insist that rescue workers carry them to the Hermes boutique, just in case a slightly soiled Birkin floats by.

7: Rescue workers have trouble carrying out submerged patrons from Starbucks or Wendy's because they won't leave until they get a voucher for a replacement meal.

6: People are taking photos to upload on their Facebook pages.

5: Rescued victims will lodge complaints that their rescuers took their umbrellas to help other people and did not return them.

4: Firefighters have to counsel drivers still in their cars half submerged in water, muttering to themselves, 'I can make it, I can make it. . .'

3: Bystanders are watching the same drivers along the sidelines, placing bets on whether they will make it.

2: After the same drivers are finally extricated from their cars, they can be heard muttering on the side of the road, 'The weather forecasters did this. That dummy from Massimo Dutti did this.'

1: Stranded commuters insist that rescuers send them to their workplaces in their civil defence vehicles.

And so ends an exciting week in Singapore. So if you ever thought that the only interesting thing happening during this World Cup season was learning a new African word, vuvuzela, think again. Yes, it took a clogged drain in Tanglin to create this nationwide calamity, but well, the next time it happens, we'll keep you updated on the most worthwhile looting locations.

Source.

Trying comparing to this.

5023 Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2 569526

2010-06-12T00:07:00.000+08:00

Left: Hotplate Deer Meat
Right: Samba Chilli Lala

Left: Kang Kong
Right: Mee Goreng

Including 3 flower crab, total cost of meal is $63. Not too expensive and their food taste good too!

D.I.Y Pasta

2010-06-08T00:29:00.001+08:00

Of course the person making is not me. Maybe will consider doing it when I retire next time. Can see that he enjoy it very much (if you cannot see, just listen to the music :))

Dread wearing tie

2010-06-06T19:22:00.000+08:00

Starting internship tomorrow at Changi Airport International. Attire requires tie! So uncomfortable and I realise most of my office shirts are too exotic for the common ties!

Chicken Chop

2010-06-05T23:21:00.001+08:00

New stainless steel WMF fan courtesy of Kuah Wee Hian

Marinated with thyme, rosemary, olive oil and garlic

Voice from an insurance agent

2010-06-01T12:53:00.003+08:00

Dear Mr. Tan,
As im currently a new agent with one of the big insurance companies in Singapore, im finding its a lot different from what I was told or expected.
For example at the start we were told to emphasize needs based selling in order to meet the needs of our clients (basically what the MAS regulations said). Later I found out that nobody does needs based selling and all we do is get clients to sign on empty forms so we can go back to the office to fill them up later. End result : Client is clueless about what their needs are and how we are meeting them, if at all. Instead of talking to them about what THEY want, we spend our time giving presentations about interest rates and talking about how our relative racked up a huge hospital bill without insurance to pay for it.

The commission structure is also highly flawed and contributes to the high turnover rate of agents in the industry. There is absolutely zero incentive or point for agents to recommend products with lower commission rates. In fact, meeting a client to sell a term plan actually loses an agent money(unless it is a very big term plan) because the commission rate is simply not high enough to pay for the time + bus/MRT fare involved.

In my case, neither I or my colleagues were ever given product training on anything but the products with the highest commission rates. Also, this is actually a job that requires you to spend money in order to make money. The problem is that for most new agents, they will not be able to set sufficient appointments or close enough cases to make money for the first 1-2 months at least, unless they have a lot of contacts who are interested. The end result is they spend hundreds of dollars in food and transport expenses, and in the end all they keep hearing is “I’m not interested”, and quit because they are heavily in the red and still can’t find people who wants to buy insurance. It would be better if new agents were given a basic allowance of $400-500 for living expenses till they are seasoned enough to close cases on a regular basis.

With the high turnover rate of agents in the industry there is a high incentive to simply not train agents properly since a manager is spending too much time training someone who, according to statistics, will quit in a month or two anyway. Simply give them basic training, send them on whatever appointments they can make, and see if it works out. If not, oh well, go recruit more people. I was given a few days of training total, only a few hours of which was product related, and was told to go to my first appointment with the aim to do a presentation and simply convince him to buy and not ask questions. I ended up making stuff up when the client started asking about things I was not taught about. I felt pathetic.

As it is I am currently in the unenviable situation where I spend money travelling back and fro my office, making phone calls, doing surveys, doing coldcalls, mainly to hear phones ringing that people never seem to pick up (I never had any idea how under-utilzied handphones were in Singapore before) and I am not even able to set a single appointment because people keep postponing or simply dissapear off the radar and never pick up their phones again. All of this is costing me money and worst of all I cannot see a way to improve my situation. I do not have any senior agents I can look to for guidance since they are all busy rushing to meet quotas and my manager just keeps telling me to go out, do more surveys, make more phone calls, find and meet people, etc, but it is simply not working.

I have no clue where, exactly, I am supposed to find people interested in buying insurance or doing investments since almost everyone i meet simply recoils in horror at the mere mention of “savings” “investments” “protection” or any other key word that you can possibly use.

A scary amount of middle aged adults still believe themselves immortal and that they cannot possibly get hospitalized or worse, affecting their ability to provide for their family. Most young working adults simply go from paycheck to paycheck, saving $0 every month and heading straight for disaster the moment a situation calls for usage of emergency funds which do not exist, or they just dump a token amount into their bank account every month that dissapears into the newest xbox or ipod the moment they get enough. Most young working adults do not even have a clue what medishield or medisave is, other than that it is something CPF related.

I feel like im constantly rolling dice and seeing if I can get a lucky combination just to find a single interested person. I would like to continue on in this line of advising people on financial planning, but I do not see how as most people simply want to go through life without any financial planning or insurance protection at all. And actually I don’t even know whether what im doing can be considered financial planning anyway.

Source.

This is a very typical but unheard of voices among the insurance agents in Singapore where the commission structure present a conflict of interest. Its an open secret only to the minority who belongs to the financial savvy group. We often heard of people having no time to do their own research and planning, hence they just leave it to the financial planners thinking they have the knowledge and skills necessary. This might be true but in reality, it is hardly the case if the adviser is skewed towards making enough money just to put food on the table. In this scenario, they would be more likely to recommend products (Whole Life, Endowment, ILP etc) that are not in your interest because the commissions are huge; imagine 90% of your first year premium goes to the pretty/handsome adviser.

My advise is to at least read up what insurance you might need and ask your adviser for comments. I favored IFA (Independent financial adviser) over tied-agents as the former has more sources; however whether he/she has the expertise to filter out the bad ones is subject to individual.

Post-Exams Day 16 to 20

2010-05-31T23:08:00.002+08:00

Went for a 5D4N Hong Kong trip with Bella and her family with the latter arriving on our Day 3 trip.

Early morning 6.40am flight at the "run-down" Terminal 1 (compared with T3)

Right: On the bus to hotel (Metropark Kowloon Hotel)

Hungry Bella with her bread after the starving Jetstar flight.

Our lunch at Tang Dynasty (Tang Chao at Tsim Sha Shui)

Arrival of Bella's family. As usual, all arrived with hungry stomach so we brought them to the super nice seafood store at Temple Street.

Left: Bella attempting to conquer the baby oyster (she don't eat oyster)
Right: Cheap and nice Blue Ribbon beer imported from USA

Super nice and cheap seafood dinner at Temple Street (find those that has the least number of foreigners but most number of locals)

Dinner at Hotel restaurant (overpriced food that is not worth showing)

Waiting for ferry to Macau

On the ferry to Marcus

Left: The casino we went
Right: Must-try Portuguese egg tart

My last night's 12am supper

Must try food at Dundas Street (Mongkok area)

Left: Bacon with hotdog
Right: Curry fish egg

Super nice cold noodle at Argyle Centre

You ain't go to Hong Kong if you did not try their Dim Sum.

Post-Exams Day 15

2010-05-25T21:37:00.001+08:00

Going Hong Kong tomorrow!

Post-Exams Day 14

2010-05-24T18:03:00.000+08:00

Met up with ex colleagues with lunch at Raffles City food court. Saw the famous Kian Hock on the way back.

Post-Exams Day 13

2010-05-23T23:09:00.000+08:00

Typical Sunday.

Morning soccer and dinner at Bella's house.

Post-Exams Day 12

2010-05-23T14:59:00.003+08:00

Saturday Brunch

Home-made pancake

After brunch, we head off to Bugis to get Bella's Her World Subscription done. I also got my ingredients from Cold Storage for dinner.

Saturday night dinner

Left: Appetizers (Pan-seared Scallops, prawn mixed with flour and parika, brussel sprouts )
Right: The usual suspect

Post-Exams Day 10 & 11

2010-05-22T11:21:00.002+08:00

Short getaway to Bintan Agro Beach Resort

Photo of the trip

Post-Exams Day 9

2010-05-19T23:56:00.003+08:00

Nothing much today. Went for a swim with Wendy in late morning and thats about it.

Post-Exams Day 8

2010-05-18T22:21:00.002+08:00

Are you risk-averse or risk-aggressive?

I met up with my MysteryMSNFriend for our weekly jog cum dinner. Sky was filled with red clouds signifying high probability of raining. We figured we have 2 choices.

A: Jog our usual route; that means running the risk of being shelter-less when downpour begins. (Risk aggressive)
B: Jog around a small little park with shelter being less than 5 meter away. (Risk averse)

We chose to have our hokkien mee and bee hoon immediately.

Just kidding, we still managed to do a respectable 15min jog before our legs started to weigh a tonne.

Post-Exams Day 7

2010-05-18T11:18:00.003+08:00

Had a great night with my poly friends with dinner at Chomp Chomp followed by some drinking session at Liquid Kitchen. And when this group of friends gather, what other thing better to do than gambling? albeit not with money this time round. This is the group when together, we play mahjong, poker cards especially texas holdem, dices etc to the extend of buying mahjong table, poker chips. Only thing left is probably visiting the casino as we figured out instead of money going towards the evil corporate, wouldn't it be better if the money is rotated among ourselves?

Don't be mistaken, we are a bunch of beer guys. Just once in a blue moon, we tried wine (I believe it was our first wine bottle together). And thanks to Jits for sending everyone of us back and poor him have to drink full glass of water instead of alcohol for punishment when playing games.

P.S My previous post was left intentionally blank because it was what it was....blank for the whole day.

Post-Exams Day 6

2010-05-17T19:29:00.001+08:00

Post-Exams Day 5

2010-05-16T23:09:00.004+08:00

Watched IP Man 2, definitely a must-watch show. Last scene leaves guessing whether there would be IP Man 3 with Bruce Lee as a disciple. However, I read from Wikipedia that IP Man accept Bruce when the former was 70 years old. So I guess even if there would be a part 3, the focus will not be on Donnie Yen anymore.

Finally manage to kick some ball after months of inactivity. Stamina dropped tremendously as I was seen grasping for air and running at snail pace in the first half. I would want to believe that it was actually due to the humid weather (Bella always said I live in denial)

Post-Exams Day 4

2010-05-16T19:04:00.000+08:00

Post-Exams Day 3

2010-05-15T12:30:00.001+08:00

Post-Exams Day 2

2010-05-13T21:04:00.003+08:00

Went to Serangoon Gardens for breakfast with mum before getting going to pet shop to get some canned food for her dog.

Super nice big intestine and the sauce

Rest of the afternoon was spent sleeping and watching Capitalism: A Love Story by Michael Moore.

Wanted to go for a jog but realised that the after effects of yesterday's swim and jog - after 2 months of inactivity - was too much for me. Hopefully it will recover fast to let me swim tomorrow.

Post-Exams Day 1

2010-05-12T21:31:00.003+08:00

Lets see what did I accomplish today after months of studying.

- Woke up at 10am, attempt to ghost my current windows image. Notebook auto shut down half way through; failed.

- Went for a swim at 11am upon seeing the sun. Reached the pool, swam a few laps with the sun appearing 10% of the time. Got out of pool when I saw droplets from the sky. Went out of the swimming complex only to see the sun back out scorching hot again; as if mocking at me, failed.

- Reach home not long before meeting Patrick for lunch downstairs as he just finished his morning paper.

- Came back home and attempted to ghost again but fail, went on to install win7 direct. After few tries (few tries = few hours), managed to install the x64 version but realised my webcam driver is not working. Installed the x86 version instead and it works. Everything went on smoothly until... I plug in my earphone; only to realise that the youtube video is still playing...with the sound from speaker, failed. Install back winxp after 7 hours of experimenting.

- Went for a jog after like 2 months? Brought along my shuffle too as I was jogging alone (usually I will jog with my MysteryMSNFriend. Just when I was raring to go, I realise the shuffle doesn't power up, failed.

- Thought I could do some 30min jog for a start, only to see myself panting like a dog after 15min. Literally...like a dog...you know.. crawling on four no joke. If you think I am exaggerating......you are probably right.

How to retire?

2010-05-09T13:58:00.000+08:00

By Cheng Huang Leng

Four Pre-Conditions for Retirement

I retired in year 2000 at age 52. I am now 61, thus I can claim that I got more experience at retirement than most! I thought I should share my experience with mariners because I have seen too many friends and neighbours who became so bored that they have become a nuisance to their spouse and children and to others!

A few of them have solved the problem by going back to work. They were able to do so because they have a skill/expertise that is still in demand. The rest (and many are my neighbours) live aimlessly or are waiting to die – a very sad situation, indeed.

You can retire only when you fulfil these 4 pre-conditions:

1. Your children are financially independent (e.g. they got jobs),
2. You have zero liability (all your borrowings are paid up),
3. You have enough savings to support your lifestyle for the rest of your life,
AND most importantly,
4. You know what you would be doing during your retirement.

DO NOT retire till you meet ALL 4 Pre-Conditions. And of course you should not retire if you enjoy working and are getting paid for it!

The problem cases I know of are those who failed to meet Pre-Condition #4.

When asked, “What would you be doing during your retirement?” some replied, “I will travel/cruise and see the World”. They did that, some for 3 months and then ran out of ideas. The golfers replied, “I can golf every day.” Most could not because they are no longer fit to play well enough to enjoy the game. Those who could, need to overcome another hurdle - they need to the find the “kakis” to play with them.

It’s the same with mahjong, bridge, badminton, trekking and karaoke – you need “kakis”! Most could not find others who share their favourite game and playing/singing alone is no fun. AND when they do find them, a few of them found that they are NOT welcomed like my obnoxious neighbour whom everyone avoids.

Thus if you are into group sports or games, you must form your groups BEFORE you retire. You need to identify your “kakis”, play with them and discover whether they “click” with you.

The less sporty “can read all the books bought over the years”. I know of one guy who fell asleep after a few pages and ended up napping most of the time! He discovered that he did not like to read after all. We do change and we may not enjoy the hobbies we had.

Routine Activities To Fill Your Week

For most people, your routine work activities are planned for you or dictated by others and circumstances. When you retire, you wake up to a new routine – one that you yourself have to establish as nobody else would do it for you!

The routine to establish should keep your body, mind and spirit “sharpened”. A good routine would comprise:

a) One weekly physical sport – you need to keep fit to enjoy your retirement. If you are the non-sporty type, you should fire your maid and clean your home without mechanical aids. Dancing and baby sitting are good alternatives.

b) One weekly mind stimulating activity – e.g. writing, studying for a degree, acquiring a new skill, solving problems or puzzles, learn or teach something. You need to stimulate your mind to stay alive because the day you stop using your brain is the day you start to die.

c) One weekly social activity – choose one involving lots of friends/neighbours. Get yourself accepted as a member to at least 3 interests groups. Unless you prefer to be alone, you do need friends more than ever as you get older and less fit to pursue your sport.

d) One weekly community service activity – you need to give to appreciate what you have taken in this life. It’s good to leave some kind of legacy.

With 4 weekly activities, you got 4 days out of 7 covered. The remaining 3 days should be devoted to family related activities. In this way, you maintain a balance between amusing yourself and your family members. Any spare time should remain “spare” so that you can capitalise on opportunities that come your way like responding to an unexpected request to do a job or to take advantage of cheap fares to see places or to visit an exhibition.

Mind stimulating activities

Most judges live to a ripe old age. They use their brains a lot to decide on cases. I am sure MM Lee’s brain works overtime. He’s 80+ and still going strong. In “Today” you would have read of 2 inspiring oldies. One is a granny who learned to play the guitar at age 60 to entertain his grandchildren. She’s 70+ today and those grandchildren have grown to play with her. Another is an Indian radiologist who on retirement, qualified as an acupuncturist. He’s age 77 and still offers his services (by appointment only) including free ones to those who have no income. I guarantee you that they are happy people who discovered a “2nd wind” to take them to the sunset with a smile on their faces.

Mind stimulating activities are hard to identify. They require your will to do something useful with the rest of your life, a mindset change and the discipline to carry it through.

Your Bucket List

Despite your busy routine, you will at times be bored. Then it’s time to turn to your Bucket List.

Your bucket list contains a list of things to do before you kick the bucket. They are not routine and are usually one off activities. You need them to have something to look forward to. These include anniversaries, trips (and pilgrimages), visits to friends and relations abroad, re-doing your home, attending conferences (related to your hobbies), acquiring a new set of expertise. 4 such activities that are spaced our quarterly would be ideal.

Retirement Is A Serious Business

If you can afford to retire and want to, do prepare to live to your fullest. You need to be fit to enjoy it – therefore get into shape now. You do not want to get up on a Monday and wonder what to do each week, therefore identify your set of weekly routine activities now and try them out to confirm that they are the activities that you will be looking forward to doing each week, week after week. You bucket list of “rewards” or “projects” or “challenges” is needed to help you break away from the routine thereby make live worth living. Start listing what you fancy and refine it as you chug along in your retirement. You will have so much fun, you would wish you were retired since your turned 21!

I will be happy to share my personal retirement experience with mariners. Just write to me.

Cheng Huang Leng
chenghuangleng@gmail.com

Birthday dinner

2010-05-05T00:07:00.000+08:00

At my favorite Heng Huat dishes at Ming Chun restaurant. Msg me if you want to know the address.

Left: Lor Mee
Right: Mian Xian

Left: Prawn Ball
Right: Salted Vege with Fish

My all-time favorite La-La

Birthday brunch

2010-04-29T16:55:00.000+08:00

Had a family brunch at Tong Luk Seafood for their Dim Sum + Seafood buffet
$26.80++/pax

Left: Some kong bao chicken (not nice)
Right: chee cheong fun (nice!)

Left: Har Gao (average)
Right: Siew Mai (average)

Left: Honey sauce prawn (Nice!)
Right: Butter Oat prawn (average)

Left: Char Siew Bao (never eat)
Right: Beancurd skin with prawn (nice)

Left: Gu Lao Rou (not nice)
Right: Eeeee Fu Mian (average)

Left: Steamed rib (nice)
Right: Salmon Sashimi (yes its included in the buffet! Average though)

Left: Chrysanthemum jelly (nice)
Right: Chicken meat and char siew (average)

Left: Food galore! All for 4 people, we couldn't finish.

Overall, the dim sum is average and the seafood is average. However, now that we know the dishes to avoid and aim for, we would definitely make another trip in the future.

Birthday eve lunch and dinner

2010-04-26T18:41:00.000+08:00

Lunch: Bee Hoon with CP Wanton

Left: Bella and me
Right: Bella and me

Our steamboat ingredients
Birthday bonus ingredient (bottom right): Pork shabu shabu $10

Clock struck midnight twelve and out come my Swensen ice cream cake
Don't bother to count, there are 7 candles; 1 big, 6 small

Thank you Bella for the cake :)

Stay tune for my Birthday brunch and dinner.

Shrimp & Scallop Scampi Fettuccine

2010-04-23T20:37:00.000+08:00

You got to love this Chef!

The Great Firewall Of China

2010-04-20T20:54:00.000+08:00

Something that is worth knowing about China.

Random Picture

2010-04-17T10:01:00.000+08:00

Threw a die that shows a 1. And this picture's file name happens to start with the number 1 so I uploaded this picture.

I was just kidding. I deliberately uploaded this picture and the above statement is just to educate those who are still using the word "random" happily in facebook photos.

Assumptions

2010-04-15T20:26:00.001+08:00

Q: Why soldiers are never good economists?
A: The latter make assumptions to simplify the complex world into workable models while the former kana *toot* when making one.

Hows this for exams question?

2010-04-13T23:39:00.000+08:00

We are back!

2010-04-10T23:36:00.001+08:00

Something pondered upon me while I was plucking hair one fine night. If given a Manchester or Liverpool jersey for free, will I wear it? I thought it through with sense and rationality (I'm not a irrational fan!) before concluding I would look awful in them. Just imagine me......wearing a Manchester United jersey. Yuks!!

Cut me and I bleed black and white and I would pay to have a Newcastle jersey rather than receiving Liverpool, Manchester, Chelsea, Arsenal jerseys etc for free! Yes I am irrational after all but then, which die hard fan isn't?

Illustration of irrationality
Case 1: Newcastle lost the match due to controversial referee decision.
Newcastle Fan: Damn, we could have won the match if not for poor refereeing, UNFAIR!

Case 2: Newcastle won the match due to controversial referee decision.
Newcastle Fan: Well, this is football, you gain some you lose some, its fair. (i.e. We won the match and we don't care how we win it as long as we win)

wow Beer Appreciation

2010-04-06T23:15:00.001+08:00

http://www.cfasingapore.org/Lists/Events%20Calendar/Attachments/702/NW_20100429_beer.pdf

Economics: An Art or Science?

2010-04-04T17:16:00.000+08:00

To Make a Difference - Pre-deployment

2010-03-30T20:34:00.000+08:00

Those who were from the same camp with me should see some familiar faces.

Take care of your money, women

2010-03-25T20:43:00.000+08:00

Although they can do it, 80% of women don't actively engage in investment planning for their financial well-being

WHO'S better at investing: men or women?

'This is not only a fun question but it is of great practical value,' says INSEAD assistant professor of finance Lily Fang, who hosted a 'Women and Money' forum at INSEAD recently.

Some studies suggest that women are better investors than men; but dig a little deeper and the picture isn't so clear.

What is clear is that too few women take an active role in investing their savings. Since women on average live longer and have lower lifetime income than men, it's important that they learn more about investing, Asst Prof Fang says.

In a large number of academic studies of investment gains, men and women actually come out about the same on a net basis. Women do better in the end because they trade less frequently, so they don't run up expensive trading costs.

Assistant Professor Lily Fang believes it's very important for the family - both the man and the woman - to come up with a financial plan together and to invest together. Research evidence shows that, as a partnership, men and women make better decisions when they decide on investments together.

'(Men) take higher risks, and higher risk is rewarded with higher returns. But after you take out the transaction costs . . . men are slightly worse than women,' she says.

In fact, Asst Prof Fang says both men and women tend to underperform the major market indexes when they trade as individuals. 'The more you trade, the more you lose out against a passive index. So, compared to men, women might lose out a little less,' she says. Surprisingly, men trade almost 50 per cent more than women.

The statistics are the same if you compare women and men who are professional traders, but the sample size of women professional traders is so small that Asst Prof Fang is reluctant to draw conclusions.

She's much more confident about the obvious conclusion: 'The evidence should give women the confidence that they are perfectly capable of taking care of their financial well-being, and we need to get that message out there so that people can start doing the planning. Then it's a matter of educating yourself,' says Asst Prof Fang.

Unfortunately, the bad news is that the bigger picture indicates that 80 per cent of women actually don't actively engage in a financial plan.

Long-term financial planning is a particularly important issue for women, Asst Prof Fang says, because people are living longer and women have a longer life expectancy than men (often by 10 years or more). Also, in old age, women tend to be afflicted with long-term illnesses such as osteoporosis and arthritis.

'If you don't have a financial plan in place that you started thinking ahead of time, once you get (older), a lot of people are quite shocked' by their financial status, she says.

Women should know that it's never too early to start planning. Asst Prof Fang says women should start saving and investing when they land their first job.

Women shouldn't fight their instincts. Asst Prof Fang lists some important attributes that women employ when investing their money:

# They trade less frequently to keep costs down.

# They tend to hold more diversified portfolios than men.

# They're more ready than men to acknowledge that they need to find resources.

# They tend to have a longer-term perspective when investing.

# They tend to seek personal financial advice, instead of relying on advertisements and advice found on the Internet.

These attributes should serve investors well. But as a lot of women are busy with careers and family, some don't want to think about their long-term financial future and tend to leave financial planning to their husbands, Asst Prof Fang says.

She believes it's very important for the family - both the man and the woman - to come up with a financial plan together and to invest together. Research evidence shows that, as a partnership, men and women together make better decisions. Now it's up to women to take greater control.

Source.

Auntie Anne's presents "CCB" (Cheesy Chicken Bites Deluxe!)

2010-03-23T22:59:00.001+08:00

Great!

2010-03-21T18:19:00.000+08:00

Nice, I called to terminate my Starhub MaxOnline few days ago. The CSO said they will call me back few days later to confirm. I thought they were trying to formulate an offer I could not resist (Which obviously is hard. When I have decided something with regards to IT, most likely I have done a reasonable amount of due diligence and you think those majority ignorant sales person able to persuade me?)

And so few days went pass - not a single day without youtube buffering of course - I received a call today. Without second guess, it was from their terminating department trying to persuade me to stay. What was their tool? This is the best thing. They gave me an offer that is EXACTLY the same as the one advertised on their PUBLIC domain i.e. an offer that is available is every peter, john and larry on the street. So much so for being a hub club member for years.

No prize for guessing correct the action I took.

Easiest answer ever

2010-03-17T17:04:00.000+08:00

Q: How do you watch youtube smoothly without buffering on Starhub MaxOnline?
A: YOU CAN'T!

Double Declining Depreciation

2010-03-12T23:25:00.000+08:00

My Starhub notebook has been doing straight line depreciation for the past 2 years until recently it has switched to the double declining method to my horror. I genuinely believe it is due to wear and tear of the hardware inside because.... see the description of the blogger at the top of the page. And all the slowness is really not help by my ISP SLOWHUB!

49th Month Anniversary

2010-03-10T14:58:00.000+08:00

Amidst the private property in Serangoon Garden, I discovered a nice looking restaurant while doing my weekly jog few months ago. And I decided to bring bella here for our 49th month anniversary. Those who are interested, I can pass you the address.

8 stars for the decoration

7 stars for the inner ambiance

1 STAR FOR THE FOOD (We thought waiting ONE HOUR for our pasta equates a top notch quality recipe that needs that much time. Unfortunately....)

Now, who still want the address?

Better World Books

2010-03-06T23:45:00.002+08:00

Recently, I ordered 3 textbook from Better World Books.

A short quote about them from their web site.

Better World Books collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide. With more than six million new and used titles in stock, we’re a self-sustaining, triple-bottom-line company that creates social, economic and environmental value for all our stakeholders.

And I am pleased that my books gave me a heads up before they come by emailing me the below.

Hello Collin,

(Your book(s) asked to write you a personal note - it seemed unusual, but who are we to say no?)

Holy canasta! It's me... it's me! I can't believe it is actually me! You could have picked any of over 2 million books but you picked me! I've got to get packed! How is the weather where you live? Will I need a dust jacket? I can't believe I'm leaving Mishawaka, Indiana already - the friendly people, the Hummer plant, the Linebacker Lounge - so many memories. I don't have much time to say goodbye to everyone, but it's time to see the world!

I can't wait to meet you! You sound like such a well read person. Although, I have to say, it sure has taken you a while! I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but how would you like to spend five months sandwiched between Jane Eyre (drama queen) and Fundamentals of Thermodynamics (pyromaniac)? At least Jane was an upgrade from that stupid book on brewing beer. How many times did the ol' brewmaster have one too many and topple off our shelf at 2am?

I know the trip to meet you will be long and fraught with peril, but after the close calls I've had, I'm ready for anything (besides, some of my best friends are suspense novels). Just five months ago, I thought I was a goner. My owner was moving and couldn't take me with her. I was sure I was landfill bait until I ended up in a Better World Books book drive bin. Thanks to your socially conscious book shopping, I've found a new home. Even better, your book buying dollars are helping kids read from Brazil to Botswana.

Eagerly awaiting our meeting,

Financial Markets & Corporate Strategy
Macroeconomics
Macroeconomics

Girls...

2010-03-03T20:40:00.001+08:00

Click to enlarge

Marcus Luttrell, author of "Lone Survivor"

2010-02-23T22:39:00.001+08:00

Marcus Luttrell (born November 7, 1975) is a former Petty Officer First Class[3] (pay grade E6) and United States Navy SEAL. He received the Navy Cross for his actions in 2005 facing Taliban fighters during Operation Red Wing.

Everyone in this world should read his book.

Shanghai Woman Forces Man Into Buying Car

2010-02-20T05:45:00.000+08:00

Volatility

2010-02-11T20:02:00.001+08:00

What can be more volatile than stock price? Speed of Starhub MaxOnline connection.

Starbucks

2010-02-08T00:22:00.002+08:00

While waiting for Bella to finish her facial + detox at Cuppage's Rustic.

Worker looking at nude photos in background (Miranda Kerr) - Seven News Update

2010-02-03T10:46:00.001+08:00

Pass!

2010-01-27T18:59:00.000+08:00

December 2009 Pass Rate
Level I Pass Rate: 34%

Multiple Choice

Q#	Topic	Max Pts	<=50%	51%-70%	>70%
-	Alternative Investments	8	-	-	*
-	Corporate Finance	20	-	-	*
-	Derivatives	12	-	-	*
-	Economics	24	-	-	*
-	Equity Investments	24	-	-	*
-	Ethical & Professional Standards	36	-	-	*
-	Financial Reporting & Analysis	48	-	-	*
-	Fixed Income Investments	28	-	-	*
-	Portfolio Management	12	-	-	*
-	Quantitative Methods	28	-	-	*

Stats about my preparation of CFA Level 1

Estimated Time Spent - 500 hours
Estimated Questions Attempted - 6000
Estimated Pages Read - 2500
Estimated Amount Spent - SGD$2000
Estimated Opportunity Cost - e^x (where x is time)

Starhub tsk tsk

2010-01-26T23:44:00.003+08:00

Last month Starhub made an announcement that they will be upgrading their cable to improve overseas speed, more notably mentioning that Youtube's speed will be improved at least 30-40% if I remembered correctly. In addition, they also mentioned that the speed will be "felt" in Jan 2010. Unfortunately, almost the whole of Jan has passed and I have not experience any improvement yet.

My MOL Express Plus contract will be up in March and if by then things doesn't improve, I will most probably cross the river to join the red army (Not the Thaksin camp!!).

Bill Malone - Sam the Bellhop

2010-01-26T11:29:00.001+08:00

Team FATA cum BTACC BBQ

2010-01-25T21:44:00.001+08:00

More.

Even animals appreciate car

2010-01-22T17:37:00.000+08:00

More "elite" than Commandos

2010-01-22T00:04:00.001+08:00

Heard of this Master Degree?

2010-01-19T17:22:00.000+08:00

Click to enlarge.

Elite or Mad Koreans?

2010-01-18T17:05:00.000+08:00

I came to know about the South Korean's academic scene when I was given an article to read during a SMU undergraduate admission interview.

I managed to find the article at New York Times dated 27th Apr 08.

Some main juices from the article below, but I suggest reading the full one here.

It is 10:30 p.m. and students at the elite Daewon prep school here are cramming in a study hall that ends a 15-hour school day. A window is propped open so the evening chill can keep them awake. One teenager studies standing upright at his desk to keep from dozing.

Kim Hyun-kyung, who has accumulated nearly perfect scores on her SATs, is multitasking to prepare for physics, chemistry and history exams.

“I can’t let myself waste even a second,” said Ms. Kim, who dreams of attending Harvard, Yale or another brand-name American college. And she has a good shot. This spring, as in previous years, all but a few of the 133 graduates from Daewon Foreign Language High School who applied to selective American universities won admission.

“Going to U.S. universities has become like a huge fad in Korean society, and the Ivy League names — Harvard, Yale, Princeton — have really struck a nerve,” said Victoria Kim, who attended Daewon and graduated from Harvard last June.
And, oh yes. Both schools suppress teenage romance as a waste of time.
“What are you doing holding hands?” a Daewon administrator scolded an adolescent couple recently, according to his aides. “You should be studying!”
“Even my worst students are great,” said Joseph Foster, a Williams College graduate who teaches writing at Daewon. “They’re professionals; if I teach them, they’ll learn it. I get e-mails at 2 a.m. I’ll respond and go to bed. When I get up, I’ll find a follow-up question mailed at 5 a.m.”
“Preparing to get to the best American universities has become something of a national obsession in Korea,” said Alexander Vershbow, the American ambassador to South Korea.
Ms. Kim developed fierce study habits early, watching her mother scold her older sister for receiving any score less than 100 on tests. Even a 98 or a 99 brought a tongue-lashing.
Their average combined SAT score was 2203 out of 2400. By comparison, the average combined score at Phillips Exeter, the New Hampshire boarding school, is 2085. Sixty-seven Daewon graduates had perfect 800 math scores.
Kim Hyun-kyung, 17, scored perfect 800s on the SAT verbal and math tests, and 790 in writing. She is scheduled to take nine Advanced Placement tests next month, in calculus, physics, chemistry, European history and five other subjects. One challenge: she has taken none of these courses. Instead, she is teaching herself in between classes at Daewon, buying and devouring textbooks.
A banner once hung on a Minjok building. “This school is a paradise for those who want to study and a hell for those who do not,” it read. But it was taken down after faculty members deemed it too harsh, said Son Eun-ju, director of counseling.

Just for Laugh (Singapore edition)

2010-01-15T21:17:00.000+08:00

IQ Test

2010-01-13T15:32:00.001+08:00

I came to know about this guy called Chris Langan who was profiled by Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers. He was alleged to be the world's smartest person with an IQ level in the 190s range; Albert Einstein was 150 where the average joe is 100. Its a very interesting book and I strongly recommend anyone and everyone to read it.

I googled for more information about this guy. He appeared in a US game show "I VS 100" where he competed against 100 people for a million dollars. In the book, it was mentioned that after reaching $250,000, he did a mental calculation and walked away with the cash saying that the risk involved outweighed the potential benefits. Also, for every answers answered previously, he did not hesitate twice and never utter words such as "hmmm...", "erm..", "i think..". Below is part 1 of 3 of the interview video I found on youtube.

I also googled for IQ test and chanced upon this site. On that site, a list of people with the highest IQ level are given along with a IQ test. If you have got 40min to spare and are interested to know your IQ level, take this test. I got 118. You would probably take less than 40min to complete the test unless you have got the determination of South Korean kids. Why so? Stay tuned for next post about South Korean's academic culture.

Excellent Questions: Youth In Revolt

2010-01-12T00:30:00.001+08:00

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

2010-01-09T00:38:00.004+08:00

Its been some time since I last read a good book and apparently, not many of the good books I have read are related to finance or investment though I preach that I have strong interest in them. hmmm.....

The previous good book I read is "Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School" by Philip Delves Broughton. It talks about a 2 years personal experience of an overage student in the MBA programme of HBS, rather negatively that is. And it even invited critics that talked about his motive for entering the programme (some jokers even accused him of entering HBS just to write this book! Imagine the time and effort needed.)

Now, my current read "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell is even more amazing! Just watch the interview below to find out more.

As a tease, the book answered question such as "Why are most Canadians in the top 2 teams in Candian youth league born between Jan and Mar?", "How much talent and IQ helps in Bill Joy and Bill Gates' path to richness?", "Why did Chris Langan, someone with IQ level of ~190 carry labour-intensive job such as bouncer, construction worker, cowboy etc?" etc etc.

Singapore updates

2010-01-06T23:09:00.003+08:00

SINGAPORE is one of the first four places in the world where Google's first 'own-brand' mobile phone will be available. Called the Nexus One, the phone was unveiled at a private press-only event at Google's headquarters in the United States on Tuesday

More.

Toyota offering up to $6000 discount for its Altis and Vios models.

More.

Also, the Lee family once again dominated headline with another of their prodigy. Crowned as top debater worldwide, 24-year-old Li Shengwu is a son of Lee Hsien Yang.

More.

The world's tallest skyscraper unveiled - The Burj Dubai

2010-01-06T11:19:00.001+08:00

Skybridge at Pinnacle@Duxton opens for non-residents

2010-01-02T10:26:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE: The Skybridge at the Pinnacle@Duxton offers a commanding view of the city.

Residents are definitely enjoying what they paid for, but from Friday onwards, non-residents can enjoy the view too for a price.

Non-residents can access the Skybridge, which straddles the 50th floor of the buildings, by paying S$5 per person.

As of 5pm on Friday, 26 people had taken up the offer, soaking in the panoramic view of the area.

Source.

Christmas Outing: Kranji Farm Resort

2010-01-01T16:39:00.004+08:00

As mentioned in my previous post, I booked a surprise package at Kranji Farm Resort to celebrate Christmas with little Bella.

Slight drizzle while on our way there

Took the free shuttle bus from Yew Tee MRT

Luckily, it never pour

Left: Our personal villa
Right: Each with own personal parking lot!

Interior is not big but not too cramp either

Left: The under-utilize "balcony"
Right: Open air bath anyone?

Bella's Christmas gift

Our first prawn fishing experience; 2 prawns an hour lol

Left: The seafood restaurant
Right: The long waited seafood dinner

This seafood dinner is included in the package. Nice food!

My supper

Grumpy bella with no supper

Left: How can bella resist food, especially when I have mine?
Right: The super nice cereal calamari from the seafood restaurant

After our nasi lemak breakfast, we took a walk around the farm.

Of course, just when everything was looking to end (imagine Bella's sad face), I whipped out another surprise when we reached Bishan. I took her to watch "Bodyguards & Assassins" that I made the reservation of the tickets few days ago. Not a bad show but if you are watching because of Donnie Yen, you would be disappointed.

After the nice history movie, Bella thought everything ended. And yes it did. :)

Need a house mover?

2009-12-30T11:44:00.007+08:00

Posting on behalf of my friend.

Hiap Chuan Movers is an all rounded house mover that provides multiple services like house/office relocation, Exhibition/Event moves,Contract monthly services etc! And be pampered by their complimentaries of NO GST, FREE CARTON BOXES & FREE DISMANTLING AND ASSEMBLING!!!

Hello dear friends and buddies,

My boyfriend, Edwin had set up a mover's business.

I'm showing him some support by emailing you guys his contact & info.

Please kindly recommend if you know of anyone who needs moving or transport services.

I had great feedback from friends who engaged his moving services.

Kindly help me by forwarding this email to any of your friends who is planning to move house / office or need any relocation services.

Do call or email him for an no obligation quotation:

HIAP CHUAN MOVERS

8, Sungei Kadut Street 5
Singapore 728955

Hp: 9649 6310
Fax: 6285 1703
Email: edwin@hiapchuan.com

Please see attached flyer for more info and contacts.

Thank you.

Merry Christmas 2009

2009-12-24T23:44:00.002+08:00

So, how did you spend your Christmas eve? Heres mine.

Woke up at 11am and waited till 4pm literally. Reason? Waiting for the sun to come out so that I can go swimming and sun-tanning. But the stubborn sun was just not intending to appear on a chill Christmas eve.

Bella came over in the evening to "deposit" her bag at my house so that we can go out straight away tomorrow morning. Venue? Kranji Farm Resort! Shall post the photos after the trip. And then off she goes again to meet up with Xiao Wan and Lifang for Christmas buffet dinner at Swiss Hotel. ($98++ per nose)

At around 8.30pm, I went for a 30min jog before meeting my Mystery MSN friend for another 15min jog. We settled our dinner at the nearby zhi char. By the time we finished it was around 10.30pm. We ended our Christmas eve with some snack bought from the Pasar Marlem below my house.

And thats the end of my gay Christmas eve gathering. Stay tuned for our trip to Kranji Farm Resort!

Faith The Dog

2009-12-24T00:35:00.001+08:00

Perspective

2009-12-22T18:02:00.000+08:00

The thing about Random

2009-12-19T17:51:00.007+08:00

People understand the word random by itself. However, they tend to misuse the word, most notably in facebook; "random photo", "random uploads" etc.

A quick look at dictionary.com explain random as

"proceeding, made, or occurring without definite aim, reason, or pattern: the random selection of numbers".

In statistics term, it means choosing an object from a pool of samples with each object having the same probability of being selected.

Now, if you were to upload some random photo, you should not be selecting the photo yourself. Instead, you could give each photo in a pool a number ranging from 0 to 66. Then throw a fair die twice and select the photo based on the outcome of the die i.e. First throw give you a 1, second give you a 5, you proceed to upload the photo with number 15 assigned to it previously. Of course, you would be nuts if you are doing this when uploading photos to facebook.

Now that you know you have been using the wrong word for quite some time (yes you, you and you.), time to kick away that habit; a better word might be miscellaneous instead.

Mad TV - Job Interview.

2009-12-19T16:12:00.001+08:00

Malaysia enforces fuel cap on foreign vehicles

2009-12-17T00:59:00.001+08:00

(KUALA LUMPUR) The 20-litre fuel cap on foreign vehicles travelling within a 50-kilometre radius from the border will be implemented today, Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said.

He said the ruling was aimed at checking smuggling of petrol and diesel at border areas until a new mechanism on fuel subsidy was implemented in May next year.

Full Article (After 6pm only).

No more going to KL to pump petrol already

How are financial companies helping consumers?

2009-12-15T22:37:00.003+08:00

Contributed article from someone who came across my blog.

Debt consolidation companies have gained increased prominence owing to the fact that they have helped many debtors to become debt free. Debt consolidation is undoubtedly a good debt solution but you have to play your part too. Once you enroll for a debt consolidation program, it is important to take the process to completion and not leave it midway.

You seek professional assistance only when you are in a financial mess. There are times when you don’t mess up your finances but your circumstances force you to. Under such circumstances you can take help of a credit counselor who can suggest ways to regain financial stability again.

When you consolidate your multiple debts into one with the help of a debt consolidation company, the firm you are hiring will take care of your debts. The company will negotiate with your creditors on your behalf and convince them to reduce rate of interest. If the interest rate is reduced, the amount you are paying each month is also lowered. You will also get a repayment schedule that will enable you to keep track of your payments and your payments become more organized and structured.

The debt consolidation companies may be for-profit or non-profit making firms. Once you enroll for a debt consolidation program, make sure you don’t miss your payments again. This can be very troubling and can land you in serious trouble. Studies reveal that approximately 30% to 60% debtors in United States don’t repay their debts.

However, lately there are many debt consolidation companies that have come under the spotlight. And this time due to the wrong reasons. The Federal Trade Commission, state regulators and attorney generals have received several complaints from the consumers that there are few debt consolidation companies that are taking debtors for a ride. These debt help firms promise you that they will be able to help you get out of debt but in reality they fail to live up to their promises.

In majority of the cases, it has been observed that debt consolidation firms charge very high upfront fees; they make verbal promises and avoid writing down their services in paper. The incidence of debtors dropping out of the program isn’t uncommon and when they do so, debtors lose all their cash.

However, not all debt consolidation companies operate illegally and if you intend to hire the services of a debt consolidation company, make sure you check the Reliability report of the Better Business Bureau.

Post-CFA Week 1

2009-12-12T00:09:00.000+08:00

Lets see how much things I did in the past week.

Sunday night after the paper at expo - Went to Jurong East for Justin's baby 1 month celebration. Unfortunately, only Wee Hian and Galvin made it there.

Monday - Whole day at home lazing around. Felt a bit strange to not studying on a full day. And I actually wasted the whole day trying to overhaul my operation system. Spent a ton of time trying to do the ghosting only to realise that my cdrw failed on me. RAHHH

Tuesday - Went for lesson in the morning followed by gathering with ~~gamblers~~ Poly friends. Played 1 round of mahjong followed by 3 hours of Texas holdem at Gavin's house. Then went to Alex's condo for 2 hours of tennis. Dinner was settled with a nice plate of mee goreng.

Wednesday - Went for lesson in the afternoon followed by family dinner.

Thursday - Met up with Yong Zhi (Ex-UOB colleague) during his lunch hours at Raffles City. Hope he clinch the new derivatives job. Went for an 80mins jog in the night. Started from my usual route at Serangoon Garden, I ventured further to Serangoon North, went round the industrial park at AMK Ave 3. I also ran past my secondary school. Nothing has changed; all the technical building, basketball courts still around.

Friday - Went for a 2 hours swim cum tanning session in the morning followed by 6 hours lecture in school. Just finishing eating my usual Friday night supper Bak Chor Mee and now spending 10min to blog.

As for Saturday, I am bringing bella to watch her long-awaited Christmas Carol 3D at Vivocity. Luckily the show is still broadcasting. After which, it will be photo taking session for her new collections of clothes. I have to simultaneously juggle between taking photo for her and setting up her new MSI notebook (installing fresh win 7, install drivers, softwares, ghosting etc).

My schedule for next week has been fully booked as well. It will probably be the end of third week when I will accomplished all the stuff I have put on hold for the past 2 months.

Help Bella campaign

2009-12-08T23:01:00.001+08:00

Won a Ocean & Earth shirt through some contest. The shirt is worth $35 while the short is $60. I am keeping the short and selling the shirt.

I told bella that after I have sold my shirt for $25, we will have money to eat DIY steamboat and her favorite kway chap.

Her reply was "wha but then lidat means have to wait til u sell of the teeshirt then have $$$ eat"

So, if you want to fulfill Bella's wish of having her steamboat early, you can drop me a mail if you are interested in the shirt.

Its over!!!!!

2009-12-07T15:18:00.000+08:00

No more checking of AnalystForum and opening up QBank daily.

And of course, no more this amount of materials to be examined in a single day....

provided I pass.