charles' footsteps

Overcast holiday morning - to sleep or to jog?

2011-05-02T21:49:00.003+08:00

I had always enjoyed a slow morning jog on a holiday. But it had been sometime since I did that. So when I overcame my lethargy and incredibly comfy bed in the fantastic weather this morning to go jog amidst the overcast skies and light run, I had time to reflect. I believe my life had evolved over the past year, where I understood myself a little better.

So much has changed ... got attached and recently detached... previous department was divested so was forced to change jobs, but landed a new role with much less travels... made huge decisions on life plans... I would like to think that I am in a better place now, but somehow, it just feels like I am back where I started.

After completing 10 marathons last year, I had thought it would have good to stop the chase for personal challenge. But after not doing the full marathon last December, I sorta missed the exuberance of completing an arduous run... which would have been okay if my recent training had been easy on my body. Maybe age is catching up. :P

天目湖

2010-06-09T23:09:00.004+08:00

天目湖 - part of the seminar that the customer organized. This was a nice lake, made a tourist attraction. I always appreciate a large water body, though the company of close friends and family would have made this lake more interesting.

Marathon 10

2010-05-30T15:20:00.005+08:00

Sunday, May 30, 2010
Marathon 10
Refering back to last year's post...
http://charles-footsteps.blogspot.com/2009/12/marathon-9.html

Did better this year, with trainings up to 2.5 hrs... First night marathon... the Sundown Marathon, which began last night at 2359hrs...

Decided to take part on this event late last year, inspired by friends, and this is the first time I'm taking part in the night event with lotsa good pals running together or supporting.

1. Mobil Marathon 1999 5hr 48 min
2. ExxonMobil Marathon 2001 4hr 33 min
3. StanChart Marathon 2003 5hr 00 min
4. StanChart Marathon 2004 5hr 22 min
5. StanChart Marathon 2005 4hr 47 min
6. StanChart Marathon 2006 4hr 50 min
7. StanChart Marathon 2007 4hr 32 min
8. StanChart Marathon 2008 4hr 53 min
9. StanChart Marathon 2009 5hr 07 min
10. Adidas Sundown Marathon 2010 4hr 57 min

This makes 10, hitting my original target. Yeah!

The knees did not hurt as much this time, and it was more the abrasion, the sleepiness and the boredom that got to me. haha... now the question is... what will I do for this year's StanChart event?

A typical weekend ...

2010-03-29T00:29:00.009+08:00

Taiwan Up 2010 ... and really tired

2010-01-13T07:41:00.004+08:00

Arrived in Taipei since Monday, but with heavy thoughts. The upcoming meetings were not going to be the most fun, and the cold weather and winter environment made the mood somewhat darker.

This is the first time that I come across the Taipei 101 building. Walked by last night, and took a look and a snapshot. Strangely, the aspect ratio and the surroundings actually make the building NOT seem very tall.

Sadly, I did not have the mood to roam the streets of Taipei at night, being extremely drained after the meetings and discussions. In fact, I did not sleep on the bed last night, but on the coach, waiting for phone calls and discussions. Zzz... Let's see if my mood improves tonight, to make a trip to at least relax in this nice city.

My "Heart Rate" Diary for 2009

2010-01-05T08:25:00.010+08:00

It might be interesting to compare 2009 against 2008.
http://charles-footsteps.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-heart-rate-diary-for-2008.html

And below is the diary for 2009.

Into 2010

2010-01-05T08:17:00.003+08:00

New Year's Resolution Time!

1. Sporting events + swimming, v.ball, badminton and tennis ... stay fit and active!
2. Property hunting ... better start now! >1 viewing per quarter
3. Being smarter and trust my instincts more
4. BUT not my driving or direction instincts!

With regards to 4., perhaps I need a GPS from here on. Kept losing my way recently, even on expressways. Wow!

the end of another year

2009-12-31T08:30:00.003+08:00

it is time to review on the resolutions set out earlier this year, and to see where there had been success, and where I had fallen short...

1. Marathon + Sporting event
Not the best timing on earth, but completed the 9th marathon this year; Also joined the Passion Run in June...

2. Golf
Gave up before completion. Obviously didn't like this sport much.

3. Sports (badminton, tennis, beach volleyball)
This is a "cheating" resolution, since I would definitely be doing these! And did all these whenever I could.

4. Property hunting
Did not go ahead with this. Being lazy was the key reason, but potential job change was also another demotivator. No excuse for 2010?

5. Quality time with family
Yupz. Great year for this. Weekends, Genting trip... more next year!

6. 学以致用 - Dale Carnegie's concepts
Did not complete this course yet! Will continue next year. Using some of the concepts, though I must admit that there is some sort of personality clash with being good. :-P

7. Trust, share & learn
A little I guess, but nothing to be proud about. At least not as silo-ed as before.

8. Smile
Think I have been smiling more than before. Not that I frown less, but there are more reasons to smile sometimes. Small reasons, but reasons nonetheless.

Here's looking forward to the new year.

Marathon 9

2009-12-06T12:24:00.003+08:00

Refering back to last year's post...
http://charles-footsteps.blogspot.com/2008/12/marathon-8.html

This year, I had actually trained up to 2 hrs (only once... and only upon refering to that previous post did I realize that last year's training sucked as well). However, frequent travels and being sick twice recently did not help with the training.

Having returned to Singapore from Penang last night, I had a couple of hours of rest before heading to the city. It was a great run, to be honest, and it was only my training (or lack thereof) that set me back. The weather was uncharacteristically fabulous until 10am. One thing about this year's run was that I convinced myself that it was okay to stop and relax anytime. Walking to completion aint too bad. And thus, this year, I did a 5hr 7 min clock time (but about 5hr 20+min gun time)

1. Mobil Marathon 1999 5hr 48 min
2. ExxonMobil Marathon 2001 4hr 33 min
3. StanChart Marathon 2003 5hr 00 min
4. StanChart Marathon 2004 5hr 22 min
5. StanChart Marathon 2005 4hr 47 min
6. StanChart Marathon 2006 4hr 50 min
7. StanChart Marathon 2007 4hr 32 min
8. StanChart Marathon 2008 4hr 53 min
9. StanChart Marathon 2009 5hr 07 min

One more to make the 10 that I told myself to complete before I hit 40... depending on how my knees hold up, maybe I can up the ante to 15???

Xintiandi on a Saturday Night

2009-11-07T23:55:00.003+08:00

Shanghai Xintiandi - The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaves

Took me an hour of hesitation, before deciding to come over to Xintiandi. A last minute meeting change resulted in my staying an extra few days out in Shanghai... and while I would have preferred to go home for the weekend, Shanghai for a few days ain't that bad either. And one of the draws was to experience the night life here... NOT. WIll pass clubbing and pubbing for a episode or two of Brothers and Sisters.

Got in touch with David (previous Shanghai "correspondence" was John) and we planned to catch up tomorrow. It had been two months since he had returned to Shanghai, after about a year in Singapore, and being close to our gang of friends. Now, without Facebook, it will be good to catch up a little with him, and find out how quickly he had gotten used to the life back in China.

The cafe is at a nice place to people-watch, and there are a lot of good-looking people around. Certainly better dressed than my t-shirt and jeans, but not that I am too conscious about my dressing. There is only so many pieces of clothings I could have packed for the work trip, with the cold weather and all. I wonder how cold Tokyo would be... I do not have my winter coat with me, and will probably miss it for the warmth and the stylishness. Probably reduced to wearing more layers of clothings, and risk mis-matching the business jacket with the down-winter wear. Maybe I should go shopping tomorrow?

moments before 32

2009-10-04T23:59:00.004+08:00

spent the whole weekend watching 17 episodes of Brothers and Sisters... and when I finally went out for my first meal of this sunday (okay... 2nd, if you count buns and yogurt as brunch), I was also keen on taking a walk to move some of the lazy muscles.

it was only then that I realized the lake next to the hotel had a musical fountain with laser and hip-chinese music show. it was actually quite entertaining, and I like water afterall...

the bright spot in the top background is the moon on the 16th... supposedly at its roundest. Quality of the blackberry camera for night shot is poor, but at least the camera caught some of the moving lights.

Really could stay there and watch the dancing water jets, in the cool weather with the nice night sky. The laser show was quite good, reflected at various depths of water, rushing up, or splashing back down. If the music were different, and if there were good company, with a container of hot coffee, it would have been a perfect night. :-)

in China during their holidays

2009-10-04T08:43:00.004+08:00

China's National Day... Mid-Autumn Festival... The adjacent festivities almost meant a standstill in China, since people are inclined to return home for a much deserved long break. In the past, this would be critical, as people needed to return home via rail, which could take days. Today, it is still important, as not everyone is rich enough to take the more expensive modes of transport.

Anyhow, despite the customer's plan to complete the work during this period, reality caught up, and there were insurmountable problems and hence delays. The result was the "burning" of holidays for many of the people around the project.

Photos from the park - day & night:

China's 60th National Day

2009-10-01T12:08:00.003+08:00

It is a big deal, the 60th National Day of China. The parade began at about 10am, and is still ongoing in Beijing, with a dramatic level of participation. There was military display, some group performances, and now, the parade floats are going around Tiananmen. There are mainly floats from the various provinces, but also includes (at least one?) foreign participants. The floats are quite elaborate, with iconic features of the provinces, rotating parts, people in various customers posing or waving to the people, and also large screens that show highlights from their regions. There is some more marching now, from the bands and other groups.

Wonder if they will be having fireworks in the evening? Should be an excellent display, if this morning's parade is anything to go by.

Of course, I am watching the parade in the hotel room in Heze. The same hotel room that did not have electricity from 2-6pm yesterday. The same hotel room that has questionable quality of water and questionable cleanliness of the towels. While I am fine with waiting for things to happen at the customer's site during this period, the local Chinese who are also supporting the customer are not the most excited bunch since they would probably prefer to be having their long-awaited long holiday.

A few more days to go...

the 100th post - awake at 3+ am in China

2009-09-30T03:29:00.003+08:00

Travelled to China after 1 month of enjoyable stay in Singapore. Almost looked forward to overseas work trips...

I'm awake at such a late hour, as dinner included too much alcohol. Upon returning to the room, I had only enough consciousness to bolt the door, remove my phone and wallet, before collapsing into the bed. That was about 4 hours of sleep? Anyhow, got up some time ago to do some work, and now preparing to go back to bed.

Thoughts on business dinners in China
Looking at it positively - chance to taste different delicacies, at company's or other's expense, free opportunity to drink alcohol, understanding another culture and history

On the flip side - too much of a waste of food, too much alcohol, and too much smoke
Why is there still a need to have too much food on the table? I hope that sufficient food that we can all finish will become the norm in the near future, but how do we promote this?

It doesn't help that I don't really fancy "delicacies" or alcohol all that much, so good luck to me for the next 5 days or so.

Bangkok 2009

2009-09-08T07:50:00.004+08:00

Went on a last-minute holiday over last thursday to sunday, planned and confirmed only last monday-tuesday.

It was a good decision, to put down everything and take a break. Besides a few work calls and email checking, I was free to use my mind for my own purpose. Did some shopping, clubbing, and most importantly, roaming around with the same gang of friends.

Finally saw the Jatujak market, and despite the complaints of how hot, messy and unpleasant the market could be, I actually quite liked it. Well... I cannot understand why they are selling used shoes in the market, but the sale of some flowers, plants and pets did add something different to the typical flea-market style.

We went to a club two nights in a row (a third too, for those who stayed), and the crowd was amazing... amazing as in that it was almost impossible to move through the people, and we were pushed around more often, then moved by our own accord. The music was nice for these two nights though, and it was really enjoyable.

IPPT and Holiday

2009-09-03T03:01:00.000+08:00

Just took my IPPT on tuesday, and there were two takeaways:
1. There was a need for us to sign a declaration form on H1N1, and the nominal roll for the IPPT test takers was about 5 pages long, in NRIC number order... and i was in the first page... guess i was one of the older participants.
2. I was not really prepared to run too fast in the 2.4km run, since i had hardly had sufficient training prior to the test date, and i was having some muscle sore from recent trainings. But when the run started, there were two guys who were consistently fast, and pacing behind them, i managed to complete the run in 10mins 07sec. I amazed myself!

After some toggling back and forth on going and not going for holiday with the gang of pals, I had finally decided to go for it. Booked the flights, hotels and arrangements on Monday, and in less than 6 hours, i will be taking off to a nice and lazy holiday. Woohoo... photos will come later!

Journals from a week in Dushanzi

2009-07-26T21:55:00.006+08:00

Journal log:18 July 1230hrs
Flight CA1901

Left Beijing this morning and took a little notice on how huge the airport is. It is pretty amazing from the vantage point I had.

Anyway, last night's news splashed on the bomb attacks at the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels almost simultaneously. It felt so surreal,especially since Iam heading for Urumqi en route to Dushanzi. What safety precautions can l fall back on, if something wereto happen? Not my most comforting moment right now.

Well, at least l'm entertaining myselt with my new Kohjinsha UMPC. Nice...

-----

Journal log: 18 July 2120hrs
Maitark Hotel 1006
Day 1 of "Disconnected from the world"

The trip to Dushanzi was uneventful, and on reaching the hotel, it became clear to me soon that there will be very few ways to be connected to the outside world. There is no internet, no connection on my mobile phones, even the local phones will not be able to make international calls. My only connection will be via my Beijing colleague, the Chinese agent and another Singapore colleague who has a China-registered number, by calling any one of them.

Let's see how my sanity holds with so much difficulties to be connected.

-----

Journal log: 19 July 0810hrs
Maitark Hotel Room 1006
Day 2 of "Disconnected from the world"
Weight - 66.4kg

7 hrs of sleep! Without much to do, and not wanting to work at those outstanding but non-urgent issues, without any TV shows that is worth watching, I slept more than I did for months. And I am looking forward to sleeping more tonight.

While strolling the streets last night, I noticed that the indoor lightings are always quite dim... dim compared to the lightings used in Singapore. Perhaps I am too used to the clarity with bright lights back home. And with regards to street design, the roads at Dushanzi are flanked by trees. It looks nice, but I must comment that the design was not well done. The branches of the trees were too low, and these trees are planted over pavements ... pavements that are now inaccessible by people taller than 1m. Duh...

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Journal log: 19 July 2205hrs
Maitark Hotel Room 1006
Day 2 of "Disconnected from the world"

It is really wierd, not having phone connections while mobile. There is no need to take my phones out, and that feels really strange... Will I get used to this?

I jogged around part of the town, and took some nice photos of the nearby mountains. It is not every day that I get to stay in a town near a snow-capped mountain, with some broad expense of green plains. The Dushanzi town consists of very new buildings, nice new estates, older style estates, as well as slums. The contrast of this small city/town is amazing.

-----

Journal log: 20 July 0715hrs
Maitark Hotel Room1006
Day 3 of "Disconnected from the world"
Weight - 66.9kg

Going back into the plant in the morning. Hope the progress will accelerate, but I understand that in this line, it is more likely for delays to occur. I wonder how I can handle this upset in the original plans.

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Journal log: 20 July 2150hrs
Maitark Hotel Room1006
Day 3 of "Disconnected from the world"

Probably getting fatter due to the heavy lunches and dinners. This is despite the morning 5BX that I have started to do. Perhaps I will remain fit after this trip? Well, I plan to skip dinner tomorrow in favour for a jog... think this is going to happen?

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Journal log: 21 July 0752hrs
Maitark Hotel Room1006
Day 4 of "Disconnected from the world"
Weight - 67.3kg

Another day here... hope things smoothen out at work. But I also look forward to having a day off to go touring. Hmm...

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Journal log: 22 July 0800hrs
Maitark Hotel Room1006
Day 5 of "Disconnected from the world"
Weight - 67.0kg

Not so much as disconnected from the world now. I could receive phone calls on the blackberry and the contact engineer also got me a local number for my use. But internet connection is still not there and I still cannot make international calls. Hope the government will decide to resume connectivity.

There is a solar eclipse taking place right now. Wonder if I will see it on the way to work later?

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Journal log: 22 July 2147hrs
Maitark Hotel Room1006
Day 5 of "Disconnected from the world"

Just came back from a swim at the next door public pool. Nice, though there is way too many people. But swimming does provide some much needed exercise. Dinner is going to be a Dove chocolate bar, yoghurt and oats cereals. Hmm...

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Journal log: 23 July 0757hrs
Maitark Hotel Room1006
Day 6 of "Disconnected from the world"
Weight - 66.4kg

Work is to begin today. Let's hope things go smoothly!

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Journal log: 23 July 2216hrs
Maitark Hotel Room1006
Day 6 of "Disconnected from the world"

Loading started, but with all the problems that I had previously envisioned. and we hanged around waiting for things to happen such that I only returned to the room around 9+. And my colleagues tried super hard to reach me with this one-way comms situation... so grateful... well, let's hope for a more smooth day tomorrow.

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Journal log: 24 July 0757hrs
Maitark Hotel Room1006
Day 7 of "Disconnected from the world"
Weight - 66.0kg

Light breakfasts and dinners over these 2 days have resulted in some reduction of weight. Guess I should continue to only have light dinners, though next week may not be in my total control.

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Journal log: 26 July 0952hrs
Flight CZ317 - Beijing to Seoul

Left Dushanzi yesterday, and was finally "connected" in Beijing, at the pretty good Crowne Plaza Hotel near the airport.117 emails for the 8 days of disconnection, with a myriad of issues to handle, some within the next 3 days. Oh dear... Hope I can get through these without too much pain.

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Taiwan - part 1

2009-06-21T11:16:00.005+08:00

Done with part 1 of the work in Taiwan, and shall be having a more (read: too) exciting week ahead, with meetings in China and Korea.

Went to Taichung yesterday, to get some stuff, and took a few photos in the wet evening...

And now for a "Guess what is this photo all about?" game... What, do you think, is the focus of this photo and where was it is taken? (Clue: this was not taken in Taiwan)

The person with the closest/most creative answer will get a box of wheat tea (if I remember to get a pack in Korea). ..... really wonder if anyone reads this, and bothers to guess .. ???

Shanghai Shanghai

2009-06-14T19:59:00.006+08:00

Some photos taken in Shanghai over this weekend:

Travel thoughts (from June 12)

2009-06-14T02:10:00.006+08:00

Thoughts - June 12 early morning
After more than 24hrs away from Singapore, I have yet to reach my destination. The heavy rains in southern china had effectively delayed my flights for a whole night, and I had gone with the flow, to stay in the hotel assigned by the airline. The hotel staff had the audacity to suggest that the passengers share rooms! A few of us did not agree, and so they agreed to let us have individual rooms but asked that we may have to share if most passengers were stranded. Most unacceptable, but I was not in the mood to argue. The thing that really bothers me is that the internet does not work. Unbelievable. In hindsight, I should have just stayed in the more expensive Novotel.

Thoughts - June 12 late morning
The Best Day - Taylor Swift
Got her Fearless album, and was told that 'The Best Day' is a great song. While I was listening to it a couple of times in the car, I must admit that it did not feel like a very special song. Whilst stuck at the Xiamen airport yesterday, I took the time to listening to the lyrics carefully... And realized why my friend had recommended the song. In fact, the whole album was a great waiting companion. Now, hopefully the trip this morning to Maoming will be more smooth.

The trip and meeting in Maoming went pretty well, and the 4-week work trip continues...

Korean food; Sense of wonder

2009-05-23T11:19:00.008+08:00

Just came back from a short but fruitful Korea trip, and was shutter-happy during dinners...

Of all the things above, guess what I did not eat...

And i have finally found the song that was partially stuck in my head... (partially cos I forgot the name of the song until today)...

It begins with "I hope you never lose your sense of wonder", and that is how i feel about travelling. Sometimes, I do get 'lost' while travelling and lose the spirit of curiousity and wonder. But when I open my eyes, a lot of things become more visible... the towering skyscrapers in Tokyo, the wooded hills in Seosan/Daesan, the snow in Daqing, the Japanese-style restaurants in Kaohsiung... More travels for work will continue from now onwards. More photos to be taken.

rainbow connection

2009-05-16T23:40:00.004+08:00

this song was going on and on in my head recently, and just heard it on the radio moments ago... prompting me to do an online search...

here are two versions...

Tiramisu ... a new recipe, a new attempt

2009-05-11T21:50:00.003+08:00

Made another attempt on making the "simple" tiramisu last friday, and managed not to destroy the whipping cream (by hand-beating... which was tiring). The resulting tiramisu sans-eggs was actually edible... wohoo....

This time round, I was more willing to serve the tiramisu to friends, and had mostly positive comments... :-) of course, if the cream could be lighter, it might be better?

time to say goodbye

2009-05-05T08:41:00.002+08:00

it is like everything has an expiry date to it... it had to come down to this.

i had thought that i could make it last. changed parts of it to make sure that it can go on for a while more... i had taken very good care of it, being cautious as always. of course, there were times when i was careless, but isn't that inevitable?

i remember the good times of June 2006 when it began. it was how i got through the weeks in Taiwan, how i got through many of the things in life. and even though i did not get the support of most of the people around me, i stuck with it, enjoying the company.

but as mentioned, forever is unattainable... ... good bye, my N80...

limitations in IT usage

2009-04-29T07:46:00.003+08:00

i had a rude shock on returning to office early this week... MSN (web version), facebook and a pletora of other websites are effectively blocked in the company's network. sigh...

oh well, i guess i shall need to keep my personal leisure web activities to my leisure time at home... the company doesn't pay us to do our personal stuff on company resources, so this makes sense...

But should we keep all our work activities strictly to the office??? somethings don't work both ways.

nice video suggestion from 100.3

2009-04-05T23:18:00.002+08:00

Was listening to the radio this morning, and the DJs were talking about this video in Youtube that was really cool... thought I should share it below.

and the real deal...

a weekend in KL

2009-03-30T14:39:00.005+08:00

(this is written partially while I was at the Starbucks in Pavilion, KL... on Sunday)

Am sitting here, alone, as the other guys let in their road trip back to Singapore. As the flight is still hours away, it was nice to just lounge in a cafe, read and write.

Last night, the gang went to this club near KLCC, which was fashioned like a house. The dance floor was like the size of a large living room, while the roof-balcony had a large chill out area + bar. For the first time in a long while, I had entered the dance floor, with a drink in my hand... and it was awkward. At that time, it was still very easy to glide through the room, to get around, and the 'platforms' were still unoccupied. After moving a little to the music, I felt really uncomfortable, and decided to take cover, but going upstairs. Got a seat and decided to vegetate for a bit.

The gang came up too, and then down to the dancefloor for some action, while I continued to seek refuge at the comfort of the seat. I eventually did go down, and was "danced" about by the packed dancing bodies. Remembered that I used to move more easily to music... perhaps my drinking capacity had improved too much. Or maybe I am so uptight that I could not let my hair down. But still, this gang of friends made it really fun to just hang out (and soak up) on the dancefloor. "Soak up" from the dripping bodies around us... *gasp*

Anyhow, it was a really fun holiday, and will certainly look forward to another holiday with these guys soon.

Snowfall @ Daqing; Scene from Tokyo

2009-03-13T02:30:00.006+08:00

Saw my first heavy snowfall in the morning. Was quite a fantastic looking sight...

Of course, i was again underdressed for the cold. Oops. No thermals, no ear muffs. Super freezing...

And from an earlier visit to Tokyo, I had tried to hold a fresh perspective on the surroundings, and found that the city did look very vibrant and interesting, despite not having gone on a leisure walkabout... yet.

Would you spend 19 dollars for a less-than-perfect shirt?

2009-03-08T21:49:00.002+08:00

Even though it is not so much as an habit, I do sometimes do a thorough inspection of the clothes that I am buying... When I do see some flaws, it would be very difficult to convince myself to get the item.

Now, how about if the item only costs 19 bucks? Even that would require some convincing in my books. This article of interest is this long-sleeve tee that I really liked when I saw it. Nice material, nice colour... but one of it had pen-stain, while the second piece had some dirt on the back. Why pick up an item that I may grow to dislike?

But what if it was 19 RMB?

a little bit tired

2009-03-02T08:17:00.003+08:00

just back from a different time zone, and while there is no real problem with jet lag (don't think I had actually gotten used to Houston's time), there is a major issue with energy level.

But the most striking thing was this conversation I had with Alf. While having dinner at the old airport road market, I remarked that Alf was having the same food as he had the last time "he was here", and his remark was that there had been quite a couple of times between both western food dinner that they had dinner there. It is like, the whole world is still moving, while I am lost in time from my messed up travelling lifestyle.

SpeedPost? Does it really deliver?

2009-02-22T12:32:00.007+08:00

Chronological sequence of preceding events:

Feb 7 (Sat)
Article could not be delivered, cos no one was home. A delivery notice was left, to which I responded online to request for a redelivery on Feb 9 (Mon) morning.

Feb 9 (Mon)
Article not delivered. No attempt made to inform me about the lack of intention to deliver.

Feb 11 (Wed)
Made a call to check up on the delivery status. Was told that they had missed the delivery request, and could re-do the delivery, not on Thursday (too busy) but on Friday. Arranged to deliver on Feb 13 (Fri) morning. Was also told that the article was in their Paya Lebar branch.

Feb 13 (Fri)
Article not delivered. No attempt made to inform me about the lack of intention to deliver.

Now sequence of emails - parts in red are highlighted for information with my comments in (blue):

Monday, February 16, 2009 9:20 PM
From: Me; To: SingPost Pickup (SingPost)
Subject: Article SF### - failure to deliver

To whom this may concern,
The above-mentioned article was not successfully delivered on 7 Feb (no one was home at the time of delivery), and while there was 1 online request to re-deliver on 9 Feb, and 1 phone request to re-deliver on 13 Feb, both requests were not met, and there was no information from Speedpost that these delivery would not be followed through.

Could you please let me know if it is possible to get this article? Or perhaps you can request for the original sender to contact me directly?

Regards, Charles

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 11:18 AM
From: SingPost - Courier Priority (SingPost) To: Me
Subject: RE: Article SF### - failure to deliver

Dear Mr Charles,
Thank you for your email.

Regards to your item, record shows it has been returned to sender on 9/2/09 therefore I am unable to arrange for any redelivery or redirection to any post office. (fine... so I must contact the sender myself... thanks for the non-solution and lack of explanation what-so-ever)

Item is a 2009 Management Diary & Calender from Singapore Airlines (SIA). I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience it has caused you.

Yours Sincerely, XXXXX

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 4:32 PM
From: Me To: SingPost Pickup (SingPost)
Subject: RE: Article SF### - failure to deliver

XXXXX,
Thank you for your response.

It is very strange that even though it is stated that articles will only be returned to the sender after 3 days of non-collection (which should mean Feb 10, since the original delivery was Feb 7, if we think Sunday is included), the article was returned to the sender on Feb 9.

Moreover, the online redelivery request was made to be done on Feb 9 morning. On calling the service line on Feb 10 (or 11), the customer service personnel informed me that the article is in Paya Lebar, and agreed for the delivery on Feb 13 morning.

Could someone provide a better explanation for the situation? I am not concerned about the article in question, but about the amount of time my family had wasted in waiting for the delivery attempts.

Regards,
Charles

Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:33 PM
From: SingPost - Courier Priority (SingPost) To: Me
Subject: RE: Article SF### - failure to deliver

Dear Mr Charles,
Thank you for taking time to communicate to us why our service did not meet your expectations.

First of all, let me apologise for the inconvenience of the non-delivery of your item. It has been noted in the system that you have requested for a redelivery of the item on 9/2/09 & 13/2/09. However, due to the surge in our volume during the peak season, we needed more time to retrieve the article in order to proceed with your requests. (Good reason. I'm sure the delivery service's job is NOT to deliver and NOT to follow through.)

In addition, we will further evaluate how we can prevent this problem from occurring again in the future.

Mr Charles, while we realized that your experience with Singpost could have been more pleasant, we thank you for giving us another opportunity to provide you with better service.

Moving forward, another check has been made with the relevant department. We have managed to retrieve the item & arrangement has been made to redeliver the item on Friday 20/2/09 between 2pm to 6pm. Please let me know should you need to make any changes to the appointment. (So somehow, you have managed to retrieve the article, which was actually in your care, or did you contact the sender to get the article to resend? Perhaps the previous response was just done without checking, and now you've FOUND IT!!! Amazing. And you arrange the delivery on the next day, expecting people to be waiting for your delivery all the time? Nice move.)

Please accept our sincerest apology for any inconvenience we have caused you. Again we highly appreciate your feedback and suggestion as it will assist us in becoming better at what we do. It's our goal to retain you as a satisfied customer and will hope to serve you again in the future.

Yours Sincerely,
XXXXX

Friday, February 20, 2009 11:46 PM
From: Me To: SingPost Pickup (SingPost)
Subject: RE: Article SF### - failure to deliver

Dear XXXXX,

I am glad that the item had been retrieved from the sender again to be delivered. I am away for these few weeks, and hope my family had been at home at the time of today's delivery.

Thank you for taking time to reply to my feedback, and hope that the company will be able to handle volume surges during future peak seasons.

Regards,
Charles

-----------------------
Just for fun, I googled "SingPost", "SpeedPost" and "complaints" and came up with only 105 results. Below are the links to a few...
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/singpost-speed-post-service-c25563.html
http://comment.straitstimes.com/showthread.php?t=16651
http://www.sgclub.com/singapore/lousy_service_speedpost_68084.html

chawanmushi & pocky for men?

2009-02-19T09:15:00.003+08:00

Dinner and snacks...

So there is a gender-specific Pocky too... hmm...

a new view in Tokyo

2009-02-17T16:34:00.002+08:00

This should be the sixth time that I am in Tokyo, and may be the first time when I looked at the streets during a car ride, and enjoyed the city view. At this hotel (changed from the previous one near Tokyo Station), the view was also better... or is it because I am in the hotel before dark?

This is a work trip nonetheless, and despite my preference to update this blog than to do work, ... work doesn't get done by itself. Sigh... Shall have to plan a personal holiday to Japan in future, and really enjoy the sites, tastes and sounds.

the Flyer

2009-02-15T08:05:00.005+08:00

Honestly, i did not think i would be interested in a ride up on the Singapore Flyer, and when the incident of the wheel stoppage occurred, one of the thoughts that went through my mind was "what if I never get to board this touristy vessel before it ceased to operate?" ... of course the other thought was about how tough it was to stay without a toilet break for 6 hours...

When my pals suggested to take a ride yesterday - and it was an instant "OK" from me. The day ride gave us a better view, and we might have been a very rowdy bunch... much to the horror of the 3 couples who boarded the same cabin. But hey, it was fun for us...

Felt like a tourist in Singapore, which was quite a nice feeling, I must say.

a page from the past ...

2009-01-28T11:52:00.001+08:00

was browsing some old files that i had kept ...... and this brought back memories...

1st snow? underdressed for the weather...

2009-01-14T23:15:00.009+08:00

Saw my first snowfall on Monday, in Daesan, South Korea... Actually, it was just small snow flakes falling for a short duration of time, so maybe the super tiny flakes I saw in March 2007 (also Daesan) would be the more accurate "first snow"... was i expecting to see a snowstorm as we see so often on movies and TV?

Anyhow, was at Harbin last night and took the opportunity to go to the 哈尔滨冰雪节 (http://www.harbin-ice.net/). When we were asking the concierge, the immediate comment was that I was underdressed... clothings too thin, shoes not appropriate... Nonetheless, we were brave (read: dumb), and decided to go ahead. Before leaving the hotel, the concierge commented that I'd better get some more protection, and immediately offered me a cape, ear muffs (this was an essential).

It was pretty amazing... amazingly cold, walking among the ice and snow. The feet were suffering, and the shoes were also unsuitable for stable walking (fell once, and nearly fell N times). In the end, we travelled between the "safe havens" quickly, to save our feet. The ice buildings certainly look great, with the inner light tubes. There was also a bar (see above), which we did not enter, and slides, which we did not play. Guess getting a cold butt, or the risk of getting stuck on the way down wasn't appealing at all.

Today, at the customer's site in Daqing, more than one person commented that what I was wearing was absolutely insufficient for the weather. And not one commented about my boss... was it because I look positively vulnerable? Maybe I should really invest in some winter wear better suited for this -22°C weather condition.

My "Heart Rate" Diary for 2008

2009-01-10T09:12:00.005+08:00

2008 - A year of exercising...

These are courtesy of the Polar website, that tracks the activities based on the diary in the watch that my sis gave me for X'mas 2007. Each table is a month in 2008, with the red boxes refering to days when I had recorded physical activities (not inclusive of ball games and swimming... or days when I forgot to bring the watch or the strap along). Looks good? Except for a month of "inactivity" in April, when I went to 2 locations multiple times for work.

i guess for someone who doesn't follow the heart rate monitor in terms of maintaining a certain range of heart rate for improving on performance, the diary tracking at least helps to motivate me to jog a little more. :-P

tokyo, 3.8°C, big sushi and snow ice

2009-01-06T21:18:00.004+08:00

Came to Tokyo again, for the fifth time over the past 1 year. Since the previous trips were all with unresolved issues and problematic meetings, I had never quite enjoyed Japan... this time, armed with new and positive experiences in Singapore, plus a new camera (that I stole from my sis), this has got to be a better trip than before!!!

Zoom into the photo above to see the temperature reading...

My dinner just moments ago...

8 weeks later

2009-01-04T11:20:00.010+08:00

all good things must come to an end? or do we only appreciate the good things when there is a time limit to them? how do we know what is happiness before we experienced misery?

i had gotten used to the past 8 weeks, of not having to travel around for work... of being able to spend more time with family and friends... of making new friends and playing more sports... of having more time to exercise... of enjoying a nice christmas and new year period...

gonna miss a couple of beach volleyball and badminton sessions from here on. nevertheless, better try to keep fit during the work trips, and avoid growing too round again.

a new year... a new wallpaper for the blog! below is the one that lasted 2008... with photos from various trips before 2008... the new one is with photos from Project EuroWedding 2008!

a new year (again) and new resolutions?

2009-01-01T12:47:00.005+08:00

I had only been "rudely" reminded that I had set resolutions for 2008, in late November... and realized that I had *gasped* not achieved them........... in summary (with excuses)

2008 Start introductory golf lessons - tried some lessons, but failed to continue due to heavy work commitments
Volunteering work - never got down to this. no excuses. sigh.
Tennis & Dragonboat - only played a couple of tennis games. did not even try to join dragonboat, since my schedule can hardly be regular.

So now, for 2009, let me set some goals and resolutions! If not for these, what drives us ahead?

1. Do my 9th marathon plus another sporting event this year ... don't let work be an excuse to miss these out.
2. Golf lessons ... started lessons again, and this time, I will work towards the PC test
3. Badminton, tennis, beach volleyball ... ok, this is obviously cheating, cos doing these 3 activities that I like need hardly be on this list...
4. Property hunting - get sometime, or at least learn how to get there
5. Spend more quality time with the family
6. Actively use the knowledge and skills from the Dale Carnegie course in my life and work. Stop being bitchy and whiny...
7. Trust family and friends more. Share and learn.
8. Smile more.

And to do better, I shall include the resolutions on my side-bar! Haha...

So, what are your resolutions and goals for 2009?

restarting golf...

2008-12-28T08:17:00.005+08:00

last evening, saturday... started golf lessons again, beginners with 10 lessons. While the Orchid Country Club lessons that started late last year to early 2008 were not completed, I do hope I will be able to complete this particular series of lessons, especially since this is now a solo-session thingy. Cannot trust my upcoming schedule...

One of the things I like about golf courses and driving range had been the evening/night view. After the 1-hr session, there were some golf balls left and Marc left me to drive them OTOT with the pitching iron.

Blackberry Bold perspective

Nokia N80's perpective

the christmas - new year period has so far been an enjoyable time, spent with family and friends. despite that, during a recent day of leave, i found myself enjoying a few hours of solitude at one of my fav cafes...

to more good things in life... cheers!

the "fat shirt" ...

2008-12-18T09:39:00.004+08:00

background
my sis got for me these 2 shirts a while back, and they were just a little too tight for me. this black one could at least fit snugly at that time, but as time went by and business trips began to increase in frequency, that black shirt became tighter at the mid-section. i had 2 colleagues who would tell me that i was fatter each time i wore that shirt, with the lady saying "your tummy is growing... how many months already?" the shirt went back into the wardrobe and did not see the light of day for some time.

present
and so when i saw the shirt last weekend, i was a little surprised and disgusted that the shirt was a little moldy. this meant that i had been out of shape for pretty long ! with my recent bouts of illness, training for the marathon and the marathon itself, i had finally slimmed down sufficiently, and could put on that shirt without looking too bad. phew...

not sure how long my "slimness" would last, but perhaps, i should just chuck this shirt away when it does not fit again this time round.

X'mas lightings along Orchard

2008-12-11T23:51:00.003+08:00

Drove along Orchard just a while ago... was almost in the X'mas mood...

Marathon 8

2008-12-07T11:55:00.003+08:00

Never knew my knees could hurt so bad... the marathon that I had just completed took place on a fabulous Sunday, with a wonderful weather that should have given the runners advantage over previous runs... but the body is weak.

I ended up walking much of the last 15 km, but better to have my knees intact. :-)

A quick flashback ...
1. Mobil Marathon 1999 5hr 48 min
2. ExxonMobil Marathon 2001 4hr 33 min
3. StanChart Marathon 2003 5hr 00 min
4. StanChart Marathon 2004 5hr 22 min
5. StanChart Marathon 2005 4hr 47 min
6. StanChart Marathon 2006 4hr 50 min
7. StanChart Marathon 2007 4hr 32 min

and today's timing is about 4 hr 53 min (give and take 1min)

I guess having only trained up to 1.5 hrs is really insufficient to prepare for the marathon, and I better buck up next year!

5+1 showers

2008-11-24T00:15:00.002+08:00

shower
... jogged for 1.5 hrs
shower
... badminton for 2 hrs
shower
... grandma's b-day "lunch"
** heavy shower -- rain **
shower
... wedding dinner (with a "wrong hotel" episode)
shower
... sleeping soon

location & frame of mind

2008-11-10T08:05:00.005+08:00

Was at 2 separate "beach resort" locations over the recent month, and while it would have been a nice place to relax, these were only resting points for work (and unfortunately flu for most part of one).

the one in South Korea ...

As the year draws to an end soon (it is scary how fast 2008 is going by), I am looking forward to a more leisurely december. More time for sports, rest and perhaps nice time at the beach.

But for now, it is another trip to Indonesia!

a very busy time

2008-10-19T13:42:00.003+08:00

gosh.., it has been almost a month since my last post. work has just been crazy, and i am so drained that i just wanna phase out every chance i have.

(random photos on the way back from Ginza to the hotel)

had been to taiwan and japan since the last post, and while still in the midst of all the incomplete work, there is another trip to thailand... it is supposed to be fun work, but that is little comfort when there are still loads waiting to be done.

weekend in Changzhou (again?)

2008-09-20T12:02:00.003+08:00

i'm back in Changzhou again!

so much to do recently, that i feel so drained everyday. and finally had a puking session after getting too much to drink lats tuesday. that did not feel good. (duh...) it was after 3 glasses of 白酒 and a glass of beer. and i did manage to puke only when i returned to the room. however, my aim wasn't great, and the drainage of the bathroom sucks... btw, this happened in Heze and not Changzhou.

with the current toxic milk scandal, I wonder how much melamine I had already ingested from my first visit till now. but i really like milk and diary products... and how about the milk in coffee? oh good grief... anyhow, i still had my cereals with milk this morning. the waitress was pretty funny, when i asked her candidly if the milk they served (this is the Traders Hotel) was safe, and she smiled sheepishly, saying "最好还是不要喝".

well, i really should get some work done, before going to town for dinner later. should really do things to bring my spirits up, instead of mopping around in the hotel.

Czech Republic ... quickly, before the charms are lost ...

2008-08-24T11:49:00.009+08:00

Czech Republic (21-25 June)

From my impression, Prague had always been one of the most intriguing locations in Europe. Heard a lot about this lovely city when it first opened its arms to tourism, and people were all commenting about how great this city was. Of course, I was there more than ten years after hearing and reading about all that...

The astronomical clock & the old town square... how often does the square get "vandalized"? EuroCup 2008 coincided with our visit, and the square was set up for people to watch the matches together. We had the chance to watch the quarterfinal matches there.

The views of the city from elevation can be breath-taking. The view of Prague castle looks as magical in daylight (above) as well as at night (below). I particularly liked the view along the river at night.

Felice had the greatest idea ... to go to a play/opera/ballet at one of the nice places in Prague. And that we did. We did not care what we were watching, since there were probably not many shows that we could understand, being in Czech Republic and all. The venue was most important. And we wanted to dress up. Hee hee... Even though it was bloody hot that day, we were wearing things that made us (mostly me) regret eventually.

The Opera House was small, but looked very nice on the inside. The ballet was Cinderella, so it was (1) very easy to understand, and (2) was a very family-oriented program. People were dressed well too, so we weren't too out of place. As it was summer, while the ballet started around six and ended before eight, the streets were very warm even when we left... ooo... I definitely cannot survive in that kinda condition for long.

Cesky Krumlov

Heard good things about this UNESCO Heritage Site, and decided to spend a day there. While it was pretty and all, it was a place which would be better experienced by spending a night there, and doing activities like trekking or kayaking. Somehow, I can imagine living in a place like this. :)

世纪婚礼 - Jun 27-29, 2008

2008-08-19T19:33:00.009+08:00

It has been more than a month since the vacation in Europe, and I had not managed to allocate any time for presenting and sharing the photos and stories from the trip with the wedding of the century…

Now that I am in Taiwan, where I can get more than 6 hours of sleep everyday, it is time to do some “work”. Don't expect too much for my photo editing skills (or even photo-takings skills for that matter), since I only have Microsoft Photo Editor at my disposal here.

1st up, the wedding of the century. Now, this was a one-of-a-kind wedding. The groom wanted a medieval themed wedding and invited people from all over the world to take part. It was incredible...

the wedding march, from the hotel to the cathedral ... traffic stopping

after the cathedral proceedings, exiting with style!

proclamation from the bride and groom

Now, how many weddings have you been to where they have fireworks, or pyrotechnics, or firing cannons? How about a castle setting, with a massive yard dinner on well decorated tables and archaic cutlery? And people all dressed up, in various costumes, from young kids to the older folks? And probably not many weddings would be accompanied with live poultry, goat, pigs and cow... ha ha ...

And for those wondering, this type of wedding is not common in Switzerland.

dumb city guy

2008-08-17T22:15:00.003+08:00

wouldn't usually call myself dumb...

arrived at this remote site in Taiwan by late afternoon, and instead of scouting around for food options, i lazed about in the room until 7+... and then found that everything nearby was closed. on asking the receptionist, there was supposedly a 7-11 "nearby". About 20 minutes or more by walking.

and so, the idiot in me decided to jog there. and being the 路痴 that i am, i did not clarify the directions and ran ahead. and so off i went, into the night, hunting for somewhere to buy dinner.

the roads were not well lit (1). seriously, Singapore is like a glowing indoor city with the lightings we have. here in Taiwan, the street lamps were far between, and there wasn't any pedestrian tracks (2). so i ran in darkness, along the light traffic (3), without any idea if the direction i was heading was right (4). running along, i heard dogs barking away, which was fine, until there was this one barking that did not seem to become distant with my jogging pace... was the dog chasing me? what if the owners of the dogs did not chain them down (5)? and so i ran faster...

giving up when i did 40+ minutes, i decided to make a U-turn. let's make it back when i am still in one-piece. so with the 5 main reasons above, i conclude that i am pretty dumb today! i should have (i) gone looking for food when i first arrive, (ii) take a cab to look for food instead, and (iii) leave the jogging for day-time when there is light.

... by the way, i did not get my dinner. oh, just as well... i am getting fat anyway. better be dumb but look good than otherwise, i guess.

Team Singapore, Short-sighted driving & Lazy weekend

2008-08-03T20:13:00.009+08:00

before i begin to put in the long-delayed photos of the Europe holiday and wedding, i must relate my experience of this lovely weekend.

work had been busy and crazy, sucking so much energy from me that i was almost like a zombie by friday. so i was not in the mood to plan too much for the weekend. volunteered to drive the Bride (not in Kill Bill) to the airport for her morning flight on Saturday... early Sat morning. And at the airport, we met Team Singapore, departing for Beijing (same flight as her). There was a large following, of people cheering them at various stages. And my cynical self surfaced.

there was this recent discussion on the support that Singaporeans give to our athletes, that when they come back defeated, there is seldom a well-deserved welcome. some people blamed it on the lack of publicity on their return time, while others were apathetic about the sports team. on this saturday morning, the noise level from the crowd was nice to have, but then when i saw the make-up of the crowd.

See if you could tell what i meant from the photos above...

Short-sighted driving
I was curious today, while driving in the evening. The evening sun was glaring and as i had not put on my contacts, the sun-glasses were not suitable for use... or were they? Being playful, i took off my glasses and went with the sun-glasses with a -3.50 short-sighted vision. It was actually quite okay! Surprise surprise... i was not as blind as i thought i was. of course i couldn't really see the lanes, nor the cars with my side mirrors (gasp!) but it was safe enough with the kinda speed i was going at. However, I should not dare to try this with my pathetic night vision.

Lazy weekend
Did nothing much this weekend. Less than 2 hrs of jogging in total, about 500 m of swimming, about 2 hours of playing with the kids (before i knocked off), and now, shopping, eating and "working" at Raffles City. It was kinda nice to not have any expectations and just BE.

Project EuroWedding ends ...

2008-07-09T08:35:00.003+08:00

Returned about 24 hours ago... after the 18-day europe tour (though it is probably more accurate to say 17).

will spend the next couple of days sorting through the loads of photos and trying to recall how to work before work travelling begins again, and will put some of the interesting episodes and photos from the trip soon. watch out for it! it is going to be legend.... dary (gotta watch "How I met your mother" to understand this)

Day 0 of Project EuroWedding

2008-06-20T23:51:00.002+08:00

it was a crazy day at work, with not enough time to complete the tasks at hand... made worse as I would be "out of touch" for the next 18 days. It has been quite a long while since I had more than a day beyond close proximity to my work laptop. Now, I would be thousands of miles from it... guess I should be happier than, you know, paranoid.

well, most of the plans are in place, and we will make the best use of our time there. for legs of the trip that we had not made ample plans on the itinerary, we will just make them up as we go along.

here we go...

back at last, for a while

2008-06-15T22:00:00.002+08:00

after 27 nights, 17 flights, many road travels and hotel stays, i have finally reached home, and had the much needed rest... where 10 hours of sleep was truly 10 hours long. besides the aches in the body (punishing badminton session on sat), i must say that i feel rested at long last.

just came home from fetching my parents. it was just from a bus-stop distance away, but since they asked, and i was really free, why not... then only at the carpark at our place, i noticed that my parents were walking really slowly, and i only found out later that my mom had strained her back in the afternoon (and it was only cos my father offered that information). I felt a little ashamed that I did not ask earlier, but then, I was smiling within. Smiling becos there they were, chatting happily, arm-in-arm and walking very slowly. :-)

the essense of the upcoming vacation planning is complete, with only some to-do lists to be thought through! yeah! 2.5 weeks of break from work. hope i will not be too stressed before or after that at work.

Beijing weekend

2008-06-08T23:22:00.004+08:00

i was planning grand things for this trip: get the wedding suits tailored, meet up with the soon-to-be-weds, go to the Great Wall...

Tailoring was done last night, and I was supposed to check it out this morning, in case there are corrections to be done. My friend and her husband-to-be had a home BBQ and I joined them and their two friends at their appartment. After getting lost on the way there, and 6 flights of stairs in darkness, I found them, and had a great time with food, red wine, and whisky... and cigars for two of them. By the time I was back to the hotel, I was tipsy and a bit too happy for my usual self.

anyhow, i tried to do some work and drank my routine cuppa coffee before turning in at about 2 am. and I had set an ambitious 6.30 am to wake up. well, i woke up at 2pm, destroying all my plans... Rushed to get out of the room to check out the clothes, which fit okay. Perhaps it is cos I was easy. Now, the only thing left to do is to get a luggage (cos mine just died) and maybe do some sightseeing before 6pm. It is now 3.25 on at Saripon's Pizzeria at Xiu Shui Jie...

--- ---

the above was written while having breakfast/lunch/tea... I did get a luggage (not a great price, but hey, not as if I have much of a choice at this moment), and only got to go to the Beihai Garden. Dinner was pleasant, but the usual tourist stuff was not accomplished at all. Oh well, there will be other times in future. Meeting up with friends was entertaining, so I do not regret oversleeping this morning. Less than 20 days to their big day.

more than usual

2008-06-05T22:46:00.004+08:00

It was disturbing, with the heightened security for entering China thru' Harbin. It had always been a breeze to come to Harbin or Dalian, that I had come to take it for granted.

On walking towards the immigrations, I was looking intently at my blackberry with one hand, and passport with arrival card on the other. It came as a surprise when one of the immigrations officer asked me where I was from. On ascertaining that I am a Singaporean, and my boss joined me, he asked us to go to a waiting area, without any explanation. Soon, a number of people, including some elderly passengers from Australia joined us. Two Chinese nationals and one Korean also joined in the group, while the other Chinese nationals and Koreans went smoothly across.

Guess it was pretty awkward for us travellers, and probably for the security officers too... they tried to ask everyone to take seats, when there was obviously not enough for all the people they had brought in. And some people weren't too interested to sit down, and would rather know what was going on. Anyhow, me and my boss were called in to have our hand carry luggages checked. They checked through EVERYTHING... took all the papers and flipped through them. Checked every compartment, and asked about almost everything. Cameras were turned on, and photos were browsed. Laptops and thumb drives were taken to be inspected away from our sight, which was pretty disturbing for me.

I maintained to be cheerful and cooperative throughout the situation, since there was nothing that I could do to ease the situation. Whatever they wanted to check, I let them, and was very obliging to provide all the details that they wanted. The security officers that handled me were quite friendly, though they did not divulge what they were looking for or why they were going such a thorough inspection.

Well, not everyone was this lucky or patient with them, and the ladies were probably the most upset... and some photos in some cameras were probably lost in the process. And they did not allow the folks to go to the washrooms unaccompanied, making everyone feel like prisoners. Of course this was to be expected for a heightened security situation, but seriously, nobody there looked even the least bit dangerous.

We made some small talk with the Australians. A very nice lady (Trish) was sorta a head of the group, and was trying to look out for the rest. However, they had difficulties communicating with the officers and I went forward to help. Just some translation. Of course she had her points, that the elderly travellers were all tired and needed to rest, and the security officers had their red tape and could not be very flexible, so being a translator for that part of the conversation was not the most fun. But we managed to get the security officers to go out to help them inform their travel agent about the situation, and ensure that the agent remained waiting for them.

The whole ordeal took a little over 90 minutes and it was just lucky for us that we were not in a hurry. But this was enough to convince us to really avoid coming to China until the Olympics is over. Well, hope the rest of the China trip will be much better!

Korean "storm"

2008-06-05T07:06:00.003+08:00

As I sat on the flight to get to Incheon from San Fransico, I looked at the time on the entertainment system… Time at SFO… Time at ICN… and my laptop had Singapore’s time. And then I looked at my analog watch and decided to set to Korea’s time. Try to imagine adjusting the time on an analog watch, where the minute arm turns round and round … with the limited lighting conditions, I was temporarily brought into a movie-like sequence, and it was almost like magic, a little magic in life... where the hands of time went spinning round and round. After 2 weeks of U.S. clock, it is time to get back to the regular time zone. I returned with some Coach bags, lots of incomplete work, important assignments and some heavy feelings.

and the "storm" refers to a flurry of activities here in Korea. it was nice to revisit some places, as well as going to a new one. the weather had also been excellent here, though I hadn't the time or mood to roam around, and quickly, 4 days had passed...

a troubled period

2008-05-31T12:11:00.004+08:00

at this point of time, i'm half way through the current work trip with the U.S. leg complete, and customer visits will begin soon. work is piling up quickly and there is no chance that i can settle stuff before the wedding in June... and there is more clarity on the uncomfortable situation here...

i had thought that it was awkward when some new people came to the Singapore office to replace some existing staff as their functions were to be migrated to another location. the transfer of knowledge and equipment took place over a year, but imagine how the outgoing staff must have felt. it was awkward when i was not directly involved... it is much worse now, with some of my colleagues leaving. 4 to be exact. and during the meetings and meals, i was very conscious about what i say. maybe too conscious... if i were closer to them, we might have been more candid. but it would not make a difference.

well, this is no time to be too affected by the current situation. less than a month away from the long await trip.

Baseball in Houston & Walking around in Boston

2008-05-25T11:53:00.011+08:00

Houston ...
As part of the team building, we went to catch a game of Houston Astros vs Chicago Cubs at the Minute Maid Park... a game of baseball that is. As the last baseball game (or 40% of a game) that I had watched was more than 2 years ago, the knowledge of the game was almost negligible. Luckily for me, the new R&D manager who was sitting by my left was enthusiastic enough to share his knowledge of the game. Not that I would be a fan of baseball in any case, but it certainly made the activity more interesting.

Boston ...
after a (adjective not to be included) meeting in Boston, there was time for me to roam around a bit. as i was still under the weather, it was difficult to really be enjoying the whole opportunity. as it turned out, Boston looks like a great city to live and work in. Perhaps it is because the weather is pretty excellent and not freezing cold, like it would be more than half the time in a year.

the beginning of a long one

2008-05-19T17:52:00.002+08:00

it was a very long sunday,.. with an extension of 13 hours by travelling to Houston. while i was healthy and sharp at the beginning of the flights, i was sneezing like mad just before i slept 3 hours ago, with a throat in pain right now. Ouch...

this is the beginning of a long one... a long work session. Austin in a couple of hours, Houston for the days after, Boston for the weekend, Houston for some meetings, Korea for a few customer visits, China for a couple of follow ups. Feels tiring just thinking about it.

the labour day special

2008-05-01T05:36:00.003+08:00

April - it was a Bintan overnight department meeting, a messy meeting in Japan, some difficult meetings in China, with many proposals being due, and then a mid-duration work trip in Korea... Kinda tough, especially when I had very little time back home, and lotsa follow-up items not done. But it was good that I did not get a chance to go for the conference (otherwise known as a holiday for the "participants" who were not there to meet customers and discuss work). Missed a trip to San Diego and stayed at Daesan, South Korea instead? Fine by me.

Too early at Daesan with the delays that went on and most of the time was spent doing work from other customers. But as I followed the work pattern of the other people around me, it became 12-hour shift days, so more time was spent at "work" than I would have liked. Energy level went to all time low for the past few days... so really glad to be leaving today. However, there is still one more stop before I get back. Back to Yeosu!

20 RMB and charity?

2008-03-25T21:36:00.004+08:00

Was walking back to the hotel after a nice dinner when a family of 3 walked past me and then spoke from behind me. The man asked if I could spare some money to buy some food for the child. There was a very young child in the woman's arms, and my heart immediately went soft. "Okay", and I went ahead to the convenience store nearby.

Of course there was some thought in my head that these people might not be genuinely in need, but what is a little money for food gonna hurt? Instead of following me into the convenience store, the man was shy and asked me to just get anything. I insisted, so that he could choose the food for the child. It was nice that he wasn't expecting much, and kept apologizing. Even when I wanted to get some food for him and his wife (I had assumed their relationship as a family unit), he kept saying that it would be enough to just have food for the kid.

Anyhow, I went ahead and got them a little food and drink, without thinking very much. After thanking me, and before I left, the lady went on to ask if it was possible for me to get them a cheapest room, so that they can stay for the night to wait for their family to turn up tomorrow. The man said not to bother me anymore, and it was good enough that they had food. I did not think it was appropriate for me to do anything more, and who knows if the "charity" would escalate. But as I left them to eat, my heart did go out for the kid...

To take the nice and heart-warming moment away, closer to the hotel, a lady and her kid approached me too, asking for money to buy food for the child. Deja vu? I was not too keen to bother this time round, especially when the kid was doing a fake whining cry. But after they bothered me for some distance, I decided to just give them 5 RMB. Small amount, but anything to get them off my back.

On reaching the hotel, I went to talk to a few hotel staff at the concierge. There were two ladies there, and when I asked if it was normal for people to be asking for aids on the streets, they told me that these people were most likely just cheats. And the kids may not even be their own (gasp!). Another female staff joined in, and we started chatting, and one of them elaborated on the locations where this sort of situation was even more prevalent. Oh well... as long as the little child gets to have some food, it really doesn't matter if the "parents" cheated or not...

Back in Changzhou ... last leg of this almost-3 week trip

2008-03-23T21:07:00.002+08:00

Came back to Changzhou after the presidential election in Taiwan, and now to get continue with the never-ending work. Of course this is to be expected, but a real break would be nice.

Another nice song from Ken Hirai...

Taiwan Elections - Short of the finalization

2008-03-22T18:07:00.004+08:00

The gap is pulling further, and it is firm that the blue camp won. Mr Ma had won the elections with KMT, to lead Taiwan for the next 4 years.

fireworks celebration in Kaohsiung - (a DPP-stronghold) ...

On the TV, the DPP supporters are very upset, but at the moment, the fervent supporters are still gathered waiting for the counting to be completed, even though the results are already clear by now. Wonder if I will see anything when I venture out for dinner in a couple of minutes...

Taiwan Elections - Counting of Votes

2008-03-22T16:16:00.002+08:00

Wow... there is live screening of vote counting, with the numbers jumping in the main screen of channel TTV. They were also focusing on this particular location where the vote numbers had been known to coincidentally match the overall results in the previous election. A few more hours before the results are finalized.

Taiwan Elections

2008-03-22T12:48:00.003+08:00

Today is the day!!!

People started voting at 8am, and the news channels have been covering all the various aspects of it. There had been footage of the previous president and wife's voting, footage of the wife of one of the most influential business person in Taiwan, shots of the presidential hopefuls doing their various things.

The opinion poll results are currently showing that the Blue Camp (KMT) is in the lead in most localities, but things may change towards the end of the day...

election fever in Taiwan; KMRT; Ken Hirai

2008-03-19T10:58:00.008+08:00

for someone who has lived in a politically sanitized country all his life, the vibrance of the political scene in Taiwan was refreshing. Don't be mistaken, cos I am not unhappy about the peace in Singapore, but it sure gave me some interest in looking at the activities that are taking place around where I am right now. Voting will take place on Saturday, and I guess I will be glued to the TV to catch the latest updates.

KMRT
The mass rapid transit is finally up and running, and they had "free travel" for one month, up till 6 April. When I was here more than a year ago, the cab drivers were saying that this would be an expensive toy, to be used by only visitors, students and the elderly. The rationale was that the locals were all very used to going around in their cars and scooters, and were unlikely gonna be interested in limiting their mobility with the trains. Well, during this free travel period, lots of locals and foreigners alike were taking this mode of transport. They despatched lots of urshers to maintain order at the stations, and hopefully people will be used to allowing passengers to alight before boarding the trains, etc. We shall see, especially on how the situation will be when they start to charge for the rides...

A local had told me that this free travel period coincided with the election period for a very specific result. After he said that, it became very clear that they were not only trying to get people interested to give the KMRT a go...

Ken Hirai 　堅。平井

a great time in Shanghai

2008-03-17T00:32:00.009+08:00

Decided to pop by and stay in Shanghai for a night, in between the China and Taiwan legs of this current work trip. I always have problems switching from work mode to fun-travel mode. So why did I decide to go to this exciting city instead of staying back in Changzhou where I could get more work done?

it was only the chance of meeting up with a friend whom I made last August (see previous entry) -Tianxiang-ge ( :P sounds intimate, right?) that had me decided on going to Shanghai the saturday that just past, instead of staying in Changzhou where I could be getting more work done.

Eating along the river, strolling at the river for the afternoon view and later the night one, joining the crowds in the subway, prowling the streets of xintiandi, sipping coffee/tea lazily in the afternoon, walking in the cool air of the night along Nanjing Street... the company made the day most memorable.

Thanks John. Hope to see you in Singapore some time.

RyanDan

2008-03-09T22:48:00.003+08:00

chose to fly economy, to have a reasonable departure and arrival time, so that work can progress properly tomorrow...

anyhow, there was really insufficient spacing between the economy seats for comfortable sitting, and I do wonder about flying economy for longer trips, like the personal one in the middle of the year. perhaps I am just too pampered by "business class" ...

As usual, I would browse the Music Video section of the entertainment system, and listen/watch whatever SQ had to offer. Had been pleasantly surprised many times. I was concentrating on something else when another song began, and I had thought that the lady singer's voice was very unique. On looking at the screen ... it was a guy. Oops... and then some seconds later, were there two guys, or just some camera trick? Two guys in different clothings... were they the same person? Perhaps just brothers? ... Nope.. identical twins.

Found the sound and song very much to my liking, so decided to share it here.

sauna on a monday, lighter and a crowded carousel

2008-02-29T22:52:00.002+08:00

a quick 2-week had passed... and it had been a very busy period, with strange activities on some days.

the japan trip was crazy, with the meetings and all. the follow-up work promises to sap more energy from me, so I'd better get some help soon.

the recent week in china was more interesting. after a meeting on monday, we had a lunch session with 2 different customers (they are close friends), and we had "yellow alcohol", which was served hot. while it was supposedly only about 30+% in alcoholic content, the shock did hit hard. perhaps it was also the consumption of the rice wine afterwards that gave me a really hard time. anyhow, i was not in the best shape after that afternoon drinking session. before we left, they distributed some lighters, with a light function at the other end to project various images that would cause most people i know to blush.

thinking that it was the end to that day of "work", i was a little relaxed, until i realized they were heading for a sauna. so i was feeling giddy, sleepy and with a headache, and had to take a warm bath, and get a massage. now, not wanting to be rude, i just went ahead... but once in the room, with the massage therapist, i told her that i just want a drink , and at most a head massage. sleep was the main thing on my mind... which wasn't working too well at that point of time.

so sleep i did, and even after they sent me back to the hotel (around 6pm), i collapsed into the bed for 2-3 hours. ended up not having dinner, but worked a little into the night. i wonder if my stomach cramps are caused by the drinking.

--- --- --- --- ---

now, fast-forward to only 3 hours ago - at the carousel in Changi airport, i was irritated by the situation at the carousel. Multiple choice time - If you were to pick up your check-in luggage/s from the carousel, would you (multiple answers acceptable):

(A) Stand real close to the belt, and close to where the luggages would first appear, so that you can grab your luggage/s as soon as it/they appear

(B) Stand about 2 meters away from the belt, at somewhere between the carousel and the exit gate, knowing that people need to be able to see their luggages and need some space to actually collect them

(C) Step in front of those people dumb enough to stand 2 meters away from the belt, so that you can have quick access to your luggage/s when you see it/them. Hell, best if you have the trolley that can provide extra barrier to those morons who are courteous enough to give space.

Felt like snapping the heads of those people who are (C)-choosers... ooo...

choices on a weekend in Changzhou

2008-02-24T18:08:00.003+08:00

Back in Changzhou again, almost 1 year since I first came to this town-city. With the crazy barrage of meetings over the past week, as well as the work piled up due to the "army vacation" and the chinese new year leaves, I am more stressed than ever.

Having arrived on Friday night, I knew that I had at least a day of "free" time, where I could rest and recover, and catch up on work. In such a situation, what would you choose as the activity to relax?
(A) Sleep
(B) Go to town and shop around a bit
(C) Go to the gym or the pool
(D) Go online and watch online shows and listen to music
Guess which I did not do.

Had my good friend call me last night, to catch up a little, and talked about her trip back to Singapore (and hope I can catch her by returning home earlier than planned), her upcoming wedding, etc. She revealed that her new and current job is like mine, where she would be flying around in a haphazard schedule. And all she would want to do when she returned home was to do nothing. Just like moi, as she rightly pointed out.

Lotsa work left to do, and my preference was to watch Kyle XY (caught at least 5 episodes this weekend), listen to 达尔文, swim. But what was more disturbing than the tonnes of work was the process of thinking about the Appraisal, Goal Setting and Individual Development elements of my job. "Disturbing"? How do you plan for your distant future in career when you seriously doubt that this would be the source of your happiness?

another night in Tokyo

2008-02-18T23:10:00.005+08:00

Japan. Sounds fun?

busy day it had been. it is already past midnight here, and i'm still working on tomorrow's presentation. not even complete with some of the work for monday. and there's still lots to rush.

Night scene of the Tokyo Station from the room

It sure was cold, for a tropical boy. It took all my clothes + blazer + winter jac to keep me warm. Probably bad due to the winds in the open, but imagine what I will be experiencing during the later part of this week... China with many sub-zero days.

While I had been confined to the hotel, offices, and travelling between these places, I must admit that there are some pretty good-looking people here in Tokyo. But I probably haven't seen it all, and may not be in the mood anyhow. Let's hope my work load lightens a little for the next few days... (as if that is even possible)

a simple gesture ... 1+1 ... expectations ...

2008-02-15T18:26:00.003+08:00

sometimes, a simple gesture of asking "how do you do?", "do you need any help?" can do wonders... sincerely, though, these words must be spoken. are people around you in need of support? are your concerns always the most pressing?

1+1 =? sometimes, it is amazing how people do not understand the simplest of things. do you (A) get angry at them quietly, or (B) point out to them politely?

expectations. with it, there is always a chance of disappointment. without (much of) it, it shouldn't be surprising when things don't go very well.

2 more days ...

Rat ... CNY ... 3rd day

2008-02-09T11:58:00.000+08:00

3rd day of the Chinese New Year. Supposedly a time of great fun, of family gathering, of friends getting together... was pretty quiet though.

Had a nice 2nd day at my maternal grandma's side, playing a little with the children of my aunts and uncles. It is like the "change of tides", since about a decade ago, the paternal grandma's side was more happening. People do grow older and families grow apart when they start nuclear families of their own... and then the things that we share and want to talk about reduce with time. Facts of life? Or just the lack of will to maintain close relationships?

Remembered that I had told myself last year, that I would try to skip out of the relative visiting this year, so as to avoid 2 things: (1) the specific question that would make me grimace ... and (2) receiving of angbaos. But of course, without a valid reason to siam, the least I can do as a form of respect to my parents was to turn up. I was proud that I did not repeat my low-EQ outburst of "关你什么事" to some of those pesky relatives. And this year, against tradition, I decided to dispense angbaos to some of the kids! That was actually kinda fun.

A "home-rest" over the past 2 months is finally becoming tiring for me, despite my saying that I do not look forward to the upcoming trips. Perhaps the work trips are a perfect way to remind me of what I like here at home. Some say that while work trips can be a real bitch, it can also be addictive... and a perfect way to escape the mundaneness of everyday life at home. Well, the crazy life is going to start again for 2008!

a hurt back ... and a forgotten face of the past

2008-02-02T19:20:00.000+08:00

It was like a relapse, with great pains felt at the lower back, making it difficult for me to move around. It was almost like the back sprain experience a couple of years ago, though not as bad. Anyhow, it decimated any plans for a more active weekend, and relegated me to staying at home to have "complete" rest.

Instead of just rotting at home, or even doing some work (yes, there is some work to be done), I decided to go through some of my old photos and scan them into the computer, as I had promised that I would do for the longest time. Should do the loose photos that are not already sorted into albums... and I had left a lot of photos in the original envelopes, or as loose pieces... It was fun to see the old photos, to see how young everyone looked then, and to realize that I was so very skinny in the past. Uni photos, photos from various trips, and army photos...

And that was when I saw a couple of envelopes. The names on the envelope are people whom I was supposed to pass the photos to, before I left the army about 10 years ago. However, due to the timing of the last overseas trip (where the photos were taken) and my ORD, I did not have the opportunity to pass these photos... and I let it slide. The names of all these people are familiar, with the exception of this "Saw Yong Kee".

Apparently, we might have been quite close, at least during the trip. We had a photo taken together, with one shot of him having breakfast (must be during the R&R?) and another at a temple. The wierdest thing is that... I do not recall knowing him at all. None of the scenes in these photos were even familiar to me!!! He could not have been with the battalion, as far as I can remember. So where did he come from? And why was he there? The mystery is bugging me ... ...

いちご　と　マスカポネ

2008-02-01T00:08:00.000+08:00

Took a day of leave on wednesday, and did the necessary shopping for an attempt to bake something new, out of a recipe book given by a friend. Fun. Strawberry mascarpone cake... how hard can it be?

I was taken by surprise when I saw the price of mascarpone cheese at Cold Storage, even though this was not the first time I had bought it. But it just came back as a rude shock... wow... it is probably cheaper to just buy ready-made tiramisu, etc...

Anyhow, the fun of baking is in the process, as much as in the results, and it was fun to do some of the steps and come to realize that there are plenty of things that could have been done better. Like using a better gauge for measuring out 70 grams of sugar (think I put too little), using more mascarpone (but I was too cheap to buy more anyway) and not using so much strawberries that the whole cake looked strange (oops).

Well, the end-state was quite presentable, and tasted okay. Not the kinda dessert that you may crave for after a taste, so I wouldn't call this a success... yet. Now, the only thing left is to bring this cake to some unsuspecting friends... hee hee...

all sorts of people

2008-01-27T22:50:00.001+08:00

after >2 weeks of wearing green, i recalled a comment i made to myself many years back. you meet all sorts of people in the army, so different from your usual social circle ...

There was this guy, a spec, who was posted into my company. He told us that his job nature required him to be overseas very much and it was difficult to keep coming back for ICT. Putting ourselves in his shoes, we just thought, sure, just work through this ICT and hope he will be deferred indefinitely. Won't give him any extra responsibilities or expect too much from him.

Turned out that he was one extremely whiny guy. While he could work quite well sometimes, he bitched and whined so much that he affected the mood of everyone around him. And there was no shutting up. It was complain-this-and-that whenever he could have an audience. He would raise his voice at people around him, and make crack comments, totally unbefitting of an adult. Perhaps the rest of us just wanted to quietly and efficiently deal with our time in the army and just let it slide. No point getting ourselves riled up. And then there were 2 incidences where I could not "forgive" him for...

Incident 1

He overheard some superiors making snide comments that could be perceived as being directed at us. With that, he came back to where the rest of us were and used a furious tone to describe the whole situation and blasted about how he was gonna complain all the way up in the organization. At that point of time, having heard so much rubbish from him, I wasn't about to listen to his nonsense without more than a pinch of salt. But just as I was about to dismiss what he was saying totally, one of the more mature guys managed to calm him down and tried to let him get into the right perspective. That helped me as well, for with that, I decided to find out a bit more and then perhaps give him some sort of a follow-up or even closure.

Something else happened later the next day, which led me to believe that he did not hear the full story, though part of his perspective was undoubtly right. While the superiors were not insulting us specifically, the words that they had used were totally inappropriate. (Having said that, I am not beyond believing that he was making up those words...)

A more refined person would not have made such a scene, and would have seeked resolution in a more progressive manner ... but he did not ... and frankly, I thought it was beyond the call of duty to set him on the right path.

Incident 2

As a specialist, he was granted the authority to command the men to do the work. Sure that this was his first time with the gang, so it might be difficult to get everyone to cooperate. During one of the last days, most of the guys went off without helping the few of them handle the stores. Upon seeing me and the 2IC, he shouted at us to get our attention and then barked his complaints, that the other people were not helping out. I was pretty hot for a couple of reasons: (1) he raised his voice and shouted at us and (2) this was something he was supposed to be able to handle. In response, I shot back ... "Do you know what you are doing ... shouting at us ...". Luckily for us, another guy nearby said something totally unrelated and we ignored the insane guy.

Well, I certainly hope he gets his wish, to be deferred or better yet, be transferred completely out of our unit. It would be absolutely unfortunate if he were to appear for our next ICT. Then again, if he is really around the next time, perhaps I will spend a little time to give this kid a basic education. (Imagine me cracking my knuckles)

a gold ... thanks to 'transition'

2008-01-16T00:26:00.000+08:00

at this point of time, the most fruitful part of wearing green is getting a gold in the IPPT... thanks to the fact that i have just transitioned in terms of age category. this may be one of the few times when growing old is not such a bad thing.

let's hope i can survive well for the next 2 weeks. whoever said ICTs are relaxing must just be lucky.

simple pleasures

2008-01-06T10:39:00.000+08:00

just thought to share simple pleasures as they come along in life...

driving on a cool evening, dark skies, light rain, bright lights from cars and street lamps... sweet company, music, a relaxed mind

(blur photos couldn't be helped...)

Terminal 3 - to be opened soon

2008-01-01T22:45:00.000+08:00

Felt like strolling around the new airport terminal and pulled a good friend along for a "great photo shootout".

The new terminal was apparently not opened in that the shops were not ready as yet. Some of the shops (read: Fairprice) were already furnished, while others laid bare. Eateries were mostly furnished, though only Ya Kun was operating on this first day of the year.

a new year and its new resolutions

2008-01-01T14:34:00.000+08:00

Never liked to make new year's resolution... guess was never certain that I wanted the pressure of having to do something over and above the other things in life. Laziness?

Well, the X'mas gift from my sis is this Polar F11 watch. Apparently, there are a lot of functions, but like my dSLR and handphones... I have not explored them fully.

There's also the Polar Personal Trainer website and programmes... Once I have these figured out (which may take the entire 2008), I shall share the findings.

Actually, there are lots to look forward to in 2008. Going to start introductory golf lessons, volunteering work (hopefully can sustain this for over a few months, unlike my previous attempts) ... If time and energy permits, tennis and dragonboating should be on the agenda as well. And this year does provide an extraordinary opportunity at work, where I have a chance to shine and then plan an exit strategy - to be fair to the organization. Time to perk up and 加油!

Taipei & Flu

2007-12-17T22:41:00.000+08:00

Feeling very sick now, having caught flu while in Taipei... Guess I was totally weakened after the marathon and became susceptible to bugs. Sigh...

Anyhow, came back from a short business trip last week, based in Taipei and travelling all over Taiwan for 2+days. Had time to do some strolling on the first night, and decided to take some "tilted" photos.

Instant Mee & Chocolate Mud Cake

2007-12-09T19:55:00.000+08:00

Spent the last 2+ hours in the kitchen, messing around with the production of a chocolate mud cake... and i realized something ...

I had recently made a mistake with a friend's wedding - thought it was a lunch, but it was actually a dinner; I had recently mistaken an appointment date from another friend, such that I thought the appointment was one week earlier; and just now, somehow, a 100 gm portion of unsalted butter became 250 gm... siao liao! And that part is the icing, which is the most important part of a chocolate cake, according to moi.

The whole "ordeal" of baking and clearing up took so long that I became very tired and settled with instant noodles for dinner. Of course, the explosive 7-Up over-shadowed the mess from the cake, but that is another story.

The cake turned out a little dry, and messy... but at least it tasted like cake. Ha ha... it is surprising how low expectations can help make things seem okay.

婚礼进行曲

2007-12-03T07:54:00.000+08:00

听了这首胡彦斌唱的歌，觉得他唱得非常感伤...

Perfect for building on to melancholy for that ideal dark cloudy and windy day...

Marathon with personal best time

2007-12-02T17:23:00.000+08:00

Just completed the Singapore StanChart Marathon with my personal best time according to my watch. Felt really good during the run, while I was initially worried about "cramping out" in the middle of it. The key milestones were 20-21 km (where I had embarassingly succumbed to leg cramps during a half-marathon few years back), 25-26 km (where I had to walk instead during a previous marathon), and between 30-42 km. But I wasn't particularly concerned about the last part, since cramp-then-walk-lor...

The weather was great, being mostly cloudy and windy in the early part. The sun did come up about 9+, but it was manageable, even with the sparse shade.

One worrying thing during the run was a strange and cold sensation on the head, and a weird heart beat. The cold sensation on the head could be due to my attempts to lower my body temperature by dousing water on my hair. Probably not a great idea, since I had not done so in the previous few runs.

The weird heart beat was more of a concern, with the number of runners who complete their ordeals and seemed fine, but collapsed some time after. Better monitor myself from here. No longer the young 20-something guy.

Just remember the great feeling during the run: hey, this is going well. my body is tired, and in pain, but all within tolerance. and i am moving pretty consistently, only stopping to drink water every now and then. i can stride, but choose to move slowly. i can look at the people around me, at their REASONs for joining the marathon, though there were a lot less people who put their REASONs on their back this year. i choose to smile at the supporters, who were cheering the runners on. i choose to smile and be curious about this lady who had a rag doll of a child strapped to her back, as support for the Children's Cancer Foundation.

Now that the 7th marathon is complete, i wonder if 10 is really all i should be planning to do. Well, we shall see.

somewhere over the rainbow

2007-11-21T13:44:00.001+08:00

vacation at Waikiki

2007-11-18T16:37:00.000+08:00

It is less than a week since my holiday in Waikiki, after the conference in Kauai. It was a well deserved holiday, after a crazy year, and especially the past 2 months.

As there was very little time to plan, I settled for a short break at Waikik on the way back. Even rented a car, even though I was not at all confident of driving on the other side of the road. In fact, I was nervous when I first gotten the Jeep that I did not know how to start the car properly.

Anyway, I did not choose this SUV initially, but the person at the rentals was saying that I will have to wait for some time if I want to get the small car. And hey, when will I ever get a chance to drive a Jeep again?

So began my adventure, with driving and navigating. For those who may have been driven around by moi before, you should be able to guess how bad I was. But it was fun!

The room and the hotel turned out very well, and I really liked the location, the lobby area (was surprisingly nice, and the bar area was very cosy too).

Walking around the Waikiki beach is a must, and I did just that. Walked through that for one afternoon, and lazed on it for another. Beach bumming is nice...

One of the standard tourist sites is the Diamond Head State Monument, which is actually the crater and the peak of an extinct volcano. The photo below is actually the crater.

The walk up and down took about 2 hours. Good cardio exercise in prep for the upcoming marathon?

Driving around to sightsee was a highlight on this trip. And I was lucky enough to have the company of 3 fine young people, to have dinner and drinks with for each of the 3 nights of this break. Perhaps I do like drinking afterall... just needed the right company.

Work ends and Vacation begins?

2007-11-08T17:04:00.000+08:00

Well, that's me on the right with two of my friends (guess where they are from...), and that was after our 50+ minutes shore dive. While the water was not perfectly clear, it was still very fun, having seen the turtles, the "dragon" fish, the "car wash" fish, etc... apparently i cannot recall the actual names of these fishes.

Another enjoyable thing we did was to just laze around in the pool and jacuzzi. So looking forward to that again.

The work is complete, or so I think. At least the bulk of the day-time work is complete, and can probably work off the blackberry. Tonight, i shall need to plan for the itinerary for the next few days, so that i can have a good time in Honolulu. Gotta reward myself for the good work so far. (shameless, aint i?)

Waikiki... wonder if i would just laze around at the beach, drive around and get lost, visit all the touristy stuff or go clubbing or partying like mad.

a lazy 2nd day in Kauai

2007-11-04T12:26:00.000+08:00

yes, it may be inexcusable... i was so lazy and lethargic that i slept in for the morning, after a short run/gym + breakfast. i only got my ass out of bed when my korean customer/friend called me.

meeting them for lunch, i hung around with the folks until most of them got their rooms, and strolled along the beach there after.

then we had a good time lazing in the hotel pool... this is probably more relaxing and better for my well-being than going out to look for adventure. at least for today.

well, still have not decided on where to stay or what to do during my vacation following this conference. perhaps i will decide on this hotel near this clothing-optional beach... ooo... and the beautiful wife or a handsome colleague/customer was telling us that you will never see what you hoped to see at these beaches. haha... but i think i will "watch out for the bridge as i get there". better be more prepared for the dinner later, and the work/trips tomorrow.

a little breathless

2007-11-02T18:21:00.000+08:00

how do you respond to stress?

when i was much younger... (as much as 6 years back), i would respond with an itch from under the skin. i was puzzled for the longest time, until a dermatologist told me that there seemed to be nothing wrong with my skin. it seemed purely psychological.

i would like to think that i am older and wiser now, and not so easily stressed. in fact, i had not had the "itch attack" ever since university days.

now, however, i have been feeling congested at the chest. it was like i needed to sigh continuously to release the pent up frustration from within. there was no single event that resulted in this, i think, but a combination of lack of rest, work pressures, and emotional conflicts... and there is only 1 thing i have control over......................... must get some rest soon.

Back in Yeosu ... part 2 of work

2007-10-20T23:55:00.000+08:00

Having spent a night in Seoul (only for zzz... since only reached at midnight), I have returned to Yeosu for the second part of work. Due to advancement of schedule, I had to work on this saturday night. Not a problem!

Finally a photo of me... was a little bored in the office, so played with my N80 again. Goofy look: plastered hair (cos of cap) and school boy pullover/polo tee.

And I had a little time a few days ago, and went snappy with the E-510. A view from the hotel room, facing some houses/shops instead of the bay...

And the photo below tells a story. Yes, I know it is not nice to just snap photos of people without their consent, but if you can see my point of view from the photo, you will agree that it was justified. So what was I trying to capture?

Yeosu ... contender for World Sea Expo 2012

2007-10-14T17:45:00.000+08:00

Shall be staying in room/s like in the photo below... "/s" and "like" becos I will need to shuffle between rooms, since I did not reserve for sufficient days, and the plans were so fluid that perhaps I will need to go somewhere else real soon.

Just came back from an 1.5 hr run, and it was almost great. The run was around the bay area (again), and instead of getting lost in the city area last thursday, the bay area was a familiar (read: boring) place to jog. Great only because it was very cool, and there was very little perspiration. And I must say that I am proud of myself! 3 jogging sessions here so far! And this is only my fifth night.

When I was jogging around the bay yesterday, there was this kid who climbed onto the ledge by the pavement, that led to the stone-pebble beach some 3-metres below. I was so horrified that I stopped and stared at him. And then I carried him and set him down on the floor. He was so cute that he just looked at me, slightly puzzled. Not a shred of fear for this strange uncle who looked shocked. And I don't think his mother, who was tens of metres behind, was very impressed.

Anyhow, as I was jogging at the same area again, there were several kids doing the same stunt. Perhaps I was desensitized now and did not do anything... but the previous concern arose cos I am ... paranoid? No. I would want someone to look out for my loved ones as well, especially when it is a simple thing of stopping a dangerous action.

One of my favourite songs these days is a tribute to Ella's dog. It is such a sweet song that when I heard the song clearly, I fell in love with the feelings... Oooo... touchy-feely sia.

Anyway, just thought of dedicating this song to someone whose name has a similar ring to it...

A month long at home

2007-10-09T07:57:00.001+08:00

It is hard to come by, with close to a month of sitting at home, driving around aimlessly, and doing very little about my life... errr ... the last part is at least constant wherever I am. Having turned 30 just a few days back, my favourite present was this phone call from my brother, with him, sister-in-law, niece and nephew singing the birthday song to me over the phone. While we already had a cake-celebration the weekend before, it was still nice to have people I love doing that.

Under the instigation of my colleagues, I have finally gotten my hands on a digital SLR - the Olympus E-510. Good package, I must add. Sure, it is not one of the "big-two" brands, but it is probably what I need at an entry level. Anyhow, it may be another of my 5-minute passion ... and if I think I can start taking good photos from now on ...

With the StanChart marathon drawing near, I had been training progressively. However, after the last 18-km run, there were the familiar abrasions at the standard places. And I also fell ill, not unlike the time after the first marathon. Then there was this news about the Chicago marathon on Sunday, where a man died, and many were admitted to the hospital. While the heat conditions were not unfamiliar to us in Singapore, it was probably not what the people expected in Chicago.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-10-08-voa26.cfm

With a long trip to South Korea starting tomorrow, I guess there will be less time to train (excuses!). Perhaps since there is no way this guy would be trying to complete the run in record time, he should be safe... but I better know my limit.

After ...

2007-08-22T17:26:00.000+08:00

Only stayed home for 8 nights, and am now in Taiwan, for a couple of meetings, before heading over to the States.

Weighing 66.5 kg before the China business trip, I now weighed between 66-67 kg on the new machine at the gym. Guess the skipping of meals in China had helped to maintain my weight. Now, I shall see how many kilos I will gain from eating American food. Will probably need to work out like crazy when I get home next month.

Day 25 in Daqing

2007-08-13T22:15:00.000+08:00

Well, I had enough of staying here, with further delays at work. Forced a departure date for tomorrow, and since the delays were not my fault (though I did hold them back for about a day, but that was rightfully done, and one day is nothing compared to the weeks that I have stayed here), they did not hold me back.

Taxis ...
Would you take a taxi that already has some passengers in it? I guess the context had to be clearer. If you were in some god-forsaken place, without other options in sight, that might not be such a bad idea. Of course, there is a risk that the gang could be in cahoots, and there might be smoe dire consequences from entering that taxi... but I sure did not think about that while I was here. Perhaps it is just the environment, where the people are not shady and just want to go about their life. It is not so 'complicated' here. But I think in a large part, it is me. I just do not have sufficient ability to be wary of my surroundings. Especially when I am tired and frustrated.

And how about allowing your taxi driver to pick up someone along the way? Again, context. If it seemed like a preplanned thing on his part, perhaps it would be a good idea not to agree. If it were in the middle of nowhere, perhaps it is also good to ask if it is a wise thing to do. After being picked up in a partially occupied taxi twice, I was quite agreeable for my taxi driver to pick up a guy from a road off the highway towards my hotel. It was not a place where people would be waiting for taxis, but there he was. I did not even attempt to see if he was potentially dangerous. I did not think very much at all. I think I have got to be more sharp while I am in a foreign place. It is nice that the people in Daqing are a pretty okay lot, but that does not apply to other places in general. Must remember that.

Connection
It was funny, cos I had this opportunity to meet this other guy who is in the same field, and we had so much in common that it was such a pleasure to chat about everything from work to life. For someone with my job scope, I might think that the only people who could really understand what it is like are the colleagues. But even among colleagues, you may be lucky to find more than one who can relate to you that well. I think I now have someone to look up if I decide to go to Shanghai for a weekend trip now!

In the event that I do decide to go overseas for holidays... I will go where friends are... I think.
Friend/s in
... Shanghai - 1
... Beijing - 1
... Amsterdam - 2 (the other in the Hague doesn't count, since he is returning home soon)
... Edinburgh - 1
Not a very international list as yet.

But now, I am just looking forward to going home. A little more than 24 hours before I reach home!

Day 19 in Daqing

2007-08-07T09:33:00.000+08:00

A sunset view, along my usual jogging path around a nearby 'lake'.

And they have this ball thing on the lake, that they put kids into, to trap them before abandoning them on the lake, and letting them asphyxiate slowly ... haha... too imaginative here. Reminds me of some previously-aired gladiator type programme, where contestants would combat each other in some contraptions like these. Does look kinda fun.

The use of solar power is very directly relevant to China, where the electrical power distribution may not be as extensive or as cost-effective in certain parts of the country than elsewhere in the world. Here, there is a strong business case for going green. Of course, this is only a small drop in the ocean of energy needs, and I have this nagging question on the 'providers of solutions' here ... about the quality of the products. You might too, if you saw the commercials they have on TV.

Day 15 in Daqing

2007-08-03T21:54:00.000+08:00

More than 2 weeks here ... there has been some more delays at site, hence pushing back the effective start-date of the 2nd part of my work here. That equates to a later return date. Sigh... I would like to think that I can deal with boredom, since this is not the first time that I am waiting for things to happen. Work in the room, surf net intermittently, watch a couple of shows over youtube or tudou. I think the food is getting to me though.

It has been a rotation of the options for food. BBQ, chinese food at some small eatery, chinese food at the restaurant in the 'hotel'. It is getting so boring that I have even taken to skipping meals, or taking cereals instead of a full meal. Of course, there were also trips to the shopping areas, where I had McD for one afternoon, and KFC for another. And no, the shopping areas were not particularly interesting. And the prices of the imported stuff are not too different from the prices you would find in Singapore. There was nothing that compelled me to make a purchase.

Day 12 in Daqing

2007-07-31T16:18:00.000+08:00

What should have taken only 3-5 days took a total of 12 days!!! This includes a night-long fight against the elements yesterday... sigh.

While I should be glad that this first part of the work is completed, I am to remain here until the second part begins, hopefully in 4 days' time. From there, I would need to put in at least 5 more days... So many days to be spent here.

Day 6 in Daqing

2007-07-25T23:02:00.000+08:00

Though technically the 7th day in China, I had only arrived in Daqing past midnight into the second day, with the incredible delays at the Beijing airport.

Progress at work had been slow, with delays from other areas. This is unfortunately a typical aspect of my job. While it is great to have the time to skive once in a while, this is getting ridiculous. I wonder how much more patience I have in myself.

A nice thing about work today was that on leaving, some folks whom I am not familiar with invited me to have dinner together. They were very warm and friendly, and of course, they were curious about Singapore. It was a good exchange of information, with some steamboat food. It certainly beat my previous idea for dinner (just drink milk in the room) hands down.

It was nice, as these people were very human. Some of them had to leave in the middle of dinner to go home and settle stuff. And no one really minded. It was so free and easy. I guess this is the best kind of dinner affair, without a clear need for hierarchy at the dinner table.

During the course of dinner, I purposedly dropped a familiar name to them. It was one of their (ex-)colleagues. She was a very kind and responsible person whom I had worked with a year back, but had been "out of action" since late last year. The problem with this information was that no one had given me a very clear picture. Even the person closest to me seemed very unwilling to tell me more, and had most recently changed topics when I asked about her. What I had understood was that she was ill, and had to rest at home. In a normal situation, he should have offered me her contact information, so that I can decide whether I want to reach her. But nothing.

The people at the dinner table began discussing excitedly for a while, about someone hurting another person, and was thus held in custody, awaiting trial or something like that. It sounded like a really complicated situation, and I had the feeling that my dear friend could be in trouble for something that she did. There was a bit of a sinking feeling, cos she had been a wonderful person, a responsible supervisor, a doting mother, and a loving wife to a colleague. But as the people at the dinner table mentioned, that was not a glorious thing, and it would be best if I did not know exactly what happened.

But that made me a little apprehensive over the other people whom I had been very close to at this site. Perhaps I am still a foreign visitor that they feel obliged to show off only their best, or at least not to show anything problematic and potentially shameful. Perhaps the level of "friendship" or 关系 is nothing to speak of proudly... Perhaps it is just as well, to avoid feeling too much, feeling too sorry.