The 2 main issues that will bog you down is that:
I know that it can be solved by defining some CSS code but do you have to do that for every site that you change to?
To me there are 3 stages when you want to move house. The easy part was to decide that you want to move, the following 3 stages that you will go through will then be very tiring. But believe me it will be fulfilling after the dust has settled.
Getting the House
This stage will include the buying and the preparation of the house. If you don’t set your limits and constraints right from the start, you will soon be flooded with choices and that is not good. For us it was love at first sight, thus it was an easy decision to buy. And since the house come furnish with most things that you need (cabinets, wardrobes, oven, cooker hob and hood, air conditioners, central water heater, and floor tiles), the preparation part was also easier. We still need to decide which 20 lights to buy, what curtain to install and what colour to paint the wall with. Believe me these 3 things alone can take up a lot of your time.
Relocating
This is the actual moving. You won’t believe how many things you have until you start packing, and then you will want to go back and check to make sure that that little corner in your house can actually store that many things! Our 58 boxes of things took us until 3am, 9th June to finish packing. The mover came on time at 9am, and we still have some stuff left unpack! But the mover just took the stuff and go, without packing! The scene was so chaotic that I’ve even forgotten to count the box, let alone numbering them. It was until we unpack all the boxes (and count them) that it is confirmed that we had 58 boxes! The scene at our new house was as chaotic, the mover keep asking us “Where to put this”, “Where to put that”, “This can’t go in here” and so on. In the end, I’ve to admit that my planning skill need improvement.
Spreading the news
This is the fun part. Party! You get to invite all your friends and relatives to share your joy. Endless tour of the house and dirty dishes to wash came next. But knowing that your guests really enjoy themselves make it all worth while.
So here I am, 3 weeks plus into my new house and I am enjoying every bit of it. And I hope all my friends and relatives enjoy “warming up” our house as well. Here’s to more good years!
I’ve always wonder how something that seems to be so simple can turn out to be quite difficult. Take for example the installation of a hand spray in the toilets of my new house. To me it should be just half an hour job for both toilet. So after buying the connector pipe (to divert the original water source to the new hand spray), I went to the new house to install the hand spray. Disaster! The connector I’ve bought is a T shape and a L shape pipe, since the original pipe is close to the wall, I can’t screw the connector pipe in! The pipe can’t turn freely because they are not straight (the bent end will hit the wall and thus can’t turn). So back to the drawing board. After some thinking and some finding, I need to use a straight brass pipe and then use 2 screw head to secure both end, one to the T shape connector and the other to the original pipe. This way, the screw head can be turn and tighten even though it is just beside a wall. So, happily went to the new house to install, then another problem. One of the flexible pipe is not long enough because the use of a short pipe and a T shape connector has increase the length of the original pipe. Thus needs to go out and purchase a longer flexible pipe. After solving all the problem and fumbling with the fixing of the new pipe connector (especially in such a tight corner), the whole thing that should just last half an hour, took more than 3 hours to accomplish. Sigh…
My third aunt is a cheerful lady. She always tries to use our way to communicate with us. My generation was educated mostly in English, so she will try to use some English to amuse us, to make us laugh when we greet her. Although I seldom see her, it was always a joy meeting her. She is also a very strong lady, who single handedly brought up 3 children, at a time when Singapore was still not as prosperous; All 3 of my cousins grown up to be successful in their own way.
She passed away last Wednesday at the age of 79. After paying our respect yesterday, my family accompanied her on her last journey this morning. I will miss her laughter and her cheerful smile.
Last week, I was on a much needed vacation trip to Hokkaido for 7 days. Actually its just 5 full days in Hokkaido as the first and last days were spent traveling to airport after airport after airport. The initial flight of 6 and a half hour take us to Tokyo’s Narita airport, then we need to take a coach for another 1 hour to transfer to Tokyo’s Haneda airport and take another flight of about 1 and a half hour to reach Hokkaido’s Chitose airport.
Overall it is a nice trip. It would have been a great trip if not for the constant need to travel in a coach. Hokkaido scenery is really very nice; when you get to the top of certain mountain, you can actually see the opposite mountain with clouds floating below your current level. This is definitely a rare sight for us city dwellers.
The floral plantations are simply magnificent. We actually went to 2 of the bigger plantation. The above plantation is somewhere near to Furano and it is called Four Season Plantation (a somewhat direct translation from the Japanese name). The other which is an even bigger plantation is situated at Furano, call Tomita Farm. There you can see one whole big patch of rainbow flower plantation.
Hokkaido is also well known for its seafood spread. Every meal for us consists of seafood: salmon, crabs and more crabs! At the above place, Otaru Seaport, you can find live king crab that cost a minimum of 10,000 yen, which is roughly equal to SGD $138!
“Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun” Anyone still remember this slogan from McDonald? They used to have a campaign whereby if you recite this slogan at the counter under a certain time limit and you will get a cheeseburger free! In Singapore they have a Chinese version as well, so I believe it might be also be translated into several other languages. This slogan is so popular that some American can still remember it after so many years but they can’t seem to remember their Pledge of Allegiance (America’s National Pledge). A few other cartoons like Bart Simpson and Spongebob Squarepants had make use of the slogan one way or another as well.
I was reading The Old New Thing and Raymond was talking about how to use the bike rack on a Metro bus which even include a detailed instruction on how to use one. This is really something new to me. In Singapore, your own bike can’t go on to a bus, and no external rack is there for your bike to be secure to. So how do you get to a place that is suitable for biking and which is much further from your house?
There are only 3 options available. You can ride all the way to your destination, which for me is very tiring. So unless you are those type that participate frequently in triathlon or marathon running, you wouldn’t want to choose this option. Or else if you have a car and a bike rack or if your car has space to store your bike, then you can surely drive there with your bike. Since car is expensive, this will normally not be a viable option. That bring me to the last option, you can’t take your bike along. Most of the time, those places that are suitable for biking will have a few bike rental shops around. Thus you can always rent a bike at the destination and enjoy your biking adventure.
It would be really great that Singapore can adopt a system like those in US but then again what will happen to those rental shops?
I would. So would Yahoo’s chairman and chief executive (CEO) Terry Semel and Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt or even Google’s co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They all earn US$1 annually. Why would they do that? That’s because instead of an actual decent annual salary, they are getting their pay through stock option.
Terry Semel has since raked US$429 million for the past three years by selling 18.1 million of his stock option. He was able to do this because ever since he took over as CEO of Yahoo, the share price has increased 3 fold. By accepting a pay cut from US$600,000 annually to just US$1 annually, he get another 6 million stock options at an exercise price of US$31.59 – the closing price on the Nasdaq last Wednesday. Google’s CEO and 2 co-founders has also rake in millions of dollars through stock option.
This way of rewarding CEO has the effect of pushing CEO to make sure that the company will keep on growing. If not their stock options will just be some form of waste papers. Thus their pay will really go down to just US$1.
P.S. Its 4 days to the World Cup!!!
I went to PC Show 2006 at Suntec City yesterday. Apart from the amazing amount of people there, there were also an amazing amount of litters everywhere. Everywhere you walk you were bound to step on some thrown away brochures some where. We are still very far away to become a litter free country.
Although the streets outside are clean and green, this is not due to the elegance of Singaporean, this is the work of our cleaners. Can’t you just hold on to that several pieces of brochures before you reach a trash can? At least I have done my part. Those brochures that I have collected went with me all the way home till they rest in peace in the trash can.
Recently I have read an interesting news on Europe whereby they are clamping down hard on fake designer’s stuff. The strictest of them all is France, which will have a jail term to boot. Custom officers have been trained to identify fake products, and if you are found to be in possession of such a thing, a fine or even a jail term might be on the hand. However even if you are rich enough to carry a real Louis Vuitton bag, you will still need to go through the hassle of being questioned thoroughly and check upon. In my opinion this seems to be counter productive, if carrying a designer’s bag and stuff is so troublesome, why should I buy one?
So next time if you are traveling to Europe, remember your Louis Vuitton bag is not welcome there.
A lot of people will know or at least remember that BC means “Before Christ” but few will know or remember what AD means. AD actually stands for “Anno Domini” and it is actually Latin for “in the year of Our Lord” which to Christian refers to Jesus Christ.
There is now a new trend to use CE to replace AD and BCE to replace BC. CE stands for “Common Era” and BCE stands for “Before Common Era”. This is so as to be sensitive to non-Christian. The usage of CE and BCE is also more accurate than AD and BC. Today technology reveals that Jesus Christ was not born in the year AD 1, but actually in the year 4 BC. So to say that 1 BC is “Before Christ” is actually not very accurate.
Some people are saying that using CE and BCE is just trying to be “politically correct” but let’s forget about whether we are trying to be “politically correct” just remember that using CE and BCE is more for politeness, consideration and accuracy.
An old lady in China found a stainless steel ring and decided to try it on. To her horror, she can’t take it off. No matter how hard she tried, the ring stay on. No its not because the ring is a “cursed” ring, so it has no magical power to prevent someone from removing it. Its just that the ring was too small for the old lady’s finger. She must have forced it on.
The next day, her finger became swollen and it became very painful for her. She decided to seek help at the hospital. However the hospital did not has the necessary equipment to help her. Instead the hospital staff brought her to a workshop that specialize in precision cutting and it took about 20 odd minutes for the ring to be freed from the old lady’s finger. The old lady was thankful and vows not to repeat the mistake again.
Would you put a ring on if you found it?
I’ve read with interest about an article that was submitted to the Straits Times forum. This writer’s friend who is an Australian told someone who was washing his little girl’s bottom in the public basin, that it is not polite to do this as it will soil the basin as well as expose his little girl’s modesty to all the men in the toilet. That Singaporean instead of getting embarrass, threaten the Australian and ask him whether he is trying to pick a fight. Even though the writer and the Australian tried to defuse the situation, that Singaporean continued to threaten the writer’s friend and the commotion subside only when that Singaporean’s parent pulled him away. The writer goes on to tell his shocked Australian friend that this is a typical Singaporean attitude.
This is far from the truth. After staying here for so long, I haven’t met anyone who wash his little girl’s bottom in the basin. And most Singaporean will not challenge someone to a fight just because that person told him off. Thus I find that tagging this as a typical Singaporean attitude is so unfair to most Singaporean.
I am most puzzled by why a single bad behaviour by a fellow Singaporean and someone will label it as typical Singaporean attitude. What happens to those who lend a helping hand when someone get into an accident which happen so frequently? Doesn’t this shows that Singapore is also a civic-minded society? Did the government impose a “if you don’t help someone who is involve in an accident, fine $5,000″? I don’t think so.
Or I should say total freedom does not exist and should not exist. With freedom comes responsibilities, which will then create a limited freedom. We exist in a world where there are lots and lots of different people and with modern technology, interaction between these different different kind of people has become much more easier. Thus total freedom that disregard the feelings of others does not exist and should not be allowed to exist. If it exist, it will lead to destruction of human society and in the end a compromise will be reach whereby a limited freedom come into play.
Freedom should exist in a sandbox guarded by our rules and sensitivity to others. If I can just go into your property and disfigure one of your tree, that is not freedom, that will lead to total chaos. If I can just create a story about someone’s reputation and state it as fact, that is not freedom, that is total disregard of the meaning of freedom. Freedom in itself comes responsibilities.
I had a meetup with my college friends last Sunday. It was such a long time since last we met and some of them already have 2 or 3 kids. How time flies. Luckily we still have plenty to talk about and the meetup was quite a good one.
Overheard on the radio a story related by a lawyer. He was handling a case whereby the compensation given by the government to relocate was too low for a particular family. That family consist of an old lady with kidney failure and her daughter who did not finish her primary education. They are quite poor and thus are getting monthly allowance from a certain charity. So the lawyer was trying to argue the case base on the financial difficulty of the family in order to secure a better pay out for the relocation.
Come the actual day of the court case and the lawyer was waiting for the family outside the court as they were late. Finally they appear, the old lady was still wearing her normal everyday clothing, but the daughter went for a hairdo and was wearing a brand new pink long sleeve shirt. Furthermore her shirt’s first few buttons was undone, both sleeves rolled up and a thick gold necklace can be seen shining brightly. She was also wearing a shiny gold bracelet.
The lawyer was furious, there he was waiting to tell the judge that the family is poor and the daughter was looking anything but poor. He ask the old lady what happen and the old lady told him that her daughter wanted to look the best since this is her first time in court. Then he asked her about the gold necklace and bracelet, the old lady replied that those are left behind by her old man (meaning husband) and that they are the only valuables they have left.
Its not that they are lying about their financial status, they have the proper documents from charities and government organization to prove, it just that for traditional Chinese you need to look the best when attending important event. The lawyer went over to scold the daughter and help her to button up the shirt, straightened the sleeves and remove all the jewelry. The daughter was still grumbling about one should look one’s best for occasion like this. The case was heard and the family got a much reasonable payout. But for the lawyer he always remember the Pride of Chinese.
It appear that a name will cause confusion even in a serious place like the court. Recently, I have read an article in The Straits Times, that talk about this guy, let’s call him Huat. Huat went to the court to hear out his charge, which gave out a fine and he paid the fine immediately. But later on, Huat was arrested on the charge of not appearing in court after a summon was given out to him. There he was, back in the court, and the judge ask him what he has to say. Huat told him that he did answer his charge and produce the receipt to prove that he even made the payment for his fine. That is when the court realize that there was a mistake, there is another guy with the exact same name as Huat with the exact same offense. Huat turn up to answer for the other guy charge and paid the fine for the other guy. Thus the court revised the sentence and make the fine that the original Huat paid effective for his own charge. Huat later on told his wife that at least he gain some experience about court order.
This morning, as usual, I came to the multi-storey carpark to take my car. The once quiet carpark was pack with cars queuing. This never happen in my years of stay here. Then I realized that the church opposite the carpark is having an event and that all the cars queuing are driven by middle-age ladies. This is so very strange.
It’s raining again. I hope this time we will get a cooler Chinese New Year in Singapore. The other time though, it was so hot that, parking at one of my relative’s place caused my plastic Honda Fit model to melt! I forgot that Tamiya’s model can’t withstand too hot a temperature.
How do you know whether you are a geek or not? When your blog’s post categories has 5 computer related type out of a total of 7. Geek.
In Singapore, before you can own a car, you need to purchase a Certificate Of Entitlement (COE), and this piece of paper is not cheap 5 to 6 years ago. This is partly due to the close bidding system at that time, meaning anyone who wants to own a car bid for a price without knowing what is the current highest bid. So at that time, that paper cost about SGD 40,000 – 50,000. Together with tax, owning a 1.5 litre Honda Civic will rip you off SGD 100,000 in total! Back to modern day Singapore. We are using an open bidding system now, anyone can find out what is the current highest bid and thus the price normally will not go outrageous. The latest bidding exercise ends with just slightly over SGD 8,000 for one COE!
But I still like my Honda Fit!
Not the artistic type but the layer of thing that you will put on your walls so as to make it look nice. It does not help that Chinese New Year is just around the corner and that a bunch of spring cleaning “work” is waiting for you. Nowadays, the paint quality is so good that it helps you to avoid certain paint defects and with the invention of foam roller, the job gets done faster. But this is still not an “adventure” that I will partake annually.
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