回想起

回想起那一段青涩的岁月，
第一眼看见你，
并没有特别的感觉，
在日后不断的相处后，
一点点感觉不断的累积，
这才惊觉你已在我心中，
占据了一个角落，
无奈逝去的时光不在，
你已经在我的生活中悄悄的溜走。

Blog to be yourself

Yeah, just be true to yourself. Blog about something you have genuine interest, something you have expertise on or something you have different view on.

Stop attacking, stop posting unhealthy content which only meant to attract the eye ball. After a while, people sick with your behaviour.

I personally won't click on the post if I know what type of post this author is going to put. This is a self censorship, I don't want to help the guy to gain hit which is what he is after. I know people has curiosity, but you can do your part to stop these kind of unhealthy practise.

Cramp down on Lasik ad

I think for the past 1 year, I have seen too many Lasik advertisement. I was a bit tempted to go, but afraid of the consequence. In another word, you can say kia si. Although many of my friends have gone for the operation.

MOH has issue warning for the specialist/clinic,

• Not to use celebrity endorsement
• State no of operation perform
• Highlight success story

The rule is a bit tough. Because, that's usually what you do in an advertisement. Now, if clinic cannot claim on those thing, how are they going to attract patient?

Having said that, as consumer/patient, I would think it is a good thing. As in one would not be blinded to think that it is without risk. EVERY operation involves risk, no matter how small it is. That's should be the major consideration for any people who wants to do that.

I am an IT professional which stare at the computer screen almost at least 10 hours a day. I am not comfortable in going, as my job would definitely cause harm to the eyes. Even you have corrected the problem, it would not guarantee that it would be gone forever. Think carefully before making the final decision.

Video for Fed chairman

Today just come accross a video made for the Fed chairman, Bernake. The MV is called "Every Breath Bernanke Takes". Funny but true. I am quite amazed by people's creativity.

Sleepless city

Today knocked off after 10pm, went to Mac Donald at Tampines central for a quick bite. Surprisingly, the place is crowded! At 10:30pm, the restaurant is almost full. You see people like youngster and working adults occupied almost all the tables.

I guess that's the reason why Mac wants to open 24 hours, because there is a demand there. As the city advance, people wants to stay up late, do nothing, hang out at the cafe. Imagine they are still eating fries and coke at this hour. The slimming centre would have more business.

However, for the last few years, Mac Donald has been trying to keep up with health conscious consumer by introducing more healthy food like corn, apple, green tea etc. At least people have more choices.

FA clinches big TV deal in Asia. Implication for fans?

In the recent news, English Football Association (FA) has signed an improved TV deals with ESPN Star Sports, M-League and IMG in Asia. The deal is worth US$300mil compared to current US$80mil.

Well, the EPL is so popular across Asia, it is no wonder they would be able to ask for more money. Sometime I think the football industry is a bit crazy, those famous footballer is earning 80-100k pounds per week. Where does the club got so much money to pay them?

It is through improved merchandising deal and TV deal. Supporters are indirectly paying the bill for the footballer salary. More people support the club, more they can increase the ticket price, side product price and TV broadcast right royalty. Ultimately, you just have to pay Starhub more money for watching the game!

Blog that sucks

After been to so many blogs, I would list down the characteristic of a blog that sucks

• Have a overwhelming of advertisement. Left right up down centre and they keep blinking and scrolling.

• Too many widgets and links which cause the site to be super slow
• Font is super small. Don't forget many people wear spec.
• Black background with grey words or white background with yellow words
• Use a funny background for no reason
• The theme and colour just do not match
• Link to site full of spyware

Marina South - lush Eden

According to news.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan on Friday unveiled details of a S$900 million plan to turn Marina South into a lush Eden. Apart from 'Cooled Conservatories' where flora from cooler climates will be displayed, visitors can also expect to see some 'SuperTrees' – tall skeletal structures on which climbing plants will grow.

After the park is ready, it is expected to be a major tourist attraction. People can work in the financial district, go to the park to relax during the lunch time, chill out at the Singapore river/IR during night time. Thus, they can make sure majority of the money you earn would be given back to the society.

If the park is really that fantastic, we might see people hang out there during the night, instead of MOS. Foreign worker also changed their regular meet up place to be at Marina South park. You can bbq while viewing the breathtaking scenario. Listen to bird sing, while accessing internet and do your blog. These would make Singapore a truly global city!

How to work without email?

I remembered in year 2000, my company did not have personal email for employees. Only one company email account, using the 56k modem. Working life back then was way easier than nowadays.

Emails received were mainly enquiries email or some small customer document. We usually talk to the customer through phone, go to their place for discussion and take the documents. We received orders in office via meeting, memo. Most of the time, employee concentrate on their work, instead of making communication. Back then, handphone was not common either. You don't expect somebody to call you during the lunch.

Looking at current time! Everybody is having a individual company email. Bosses giving instruction through email. Customer make request through email. Just because everyone send out the mail instantly, they expect instant action. Without thinking that the poor employee has other concurrent things on hand also. Then, I discover most of my time is spent on checking email, coordinate things, try to clarify problems that were able to be solved through face to face meeting.

We have multiple channel of communication now. If customer can't get instant reply on email, they call you, they sms you. You can enjoy your lunch, you cannot sit on sofa to watch tv. Even if you are in meeting and does not take phone call, they send you sms.

Give me a chance. I would like time to roll back to where it was.

Bus on fire in JB (pic)

This bus caught the fire on the main road. Don't know why, maybe lack of maintenance.

TPE Deevapali Holiday

I predict tomorrow morning, TPE would not have traffic jam. Almost every week day, the bus would jam after the punggol exit. But since today is Deevapali, there should be quite a lot of people taking Friday leave. Thus, no jam on TPE.

I really hope so lah. Early this week, the rain has caused the jam to get worse. I do hope Friday would get a break.

Battle of Web 2.0 – omy vs xin

Most of the people have been to local portals like omy.sg or xin.sg already. They are the new generation of news information portal which adopt the Web 2.0 design concept. You see big icons, more audio/video, blogs and some elements which cannot be found in earlier generation of the web site. Mediacorp first launched the xin.sg and followed by SPH's omy.sg.

The term Web 2.0 only emerged in these few years. Actually, the definition is not so clear cut. Example of such portal is like Flickr, Meebo, Blogger etc. A typical Web 2.0 portal is more interactive and accepts user content.

Let's examine what they have put into the portal to attract more readers.

News
omy focus mainly on local and world news. In some of the news, they allow people to listen to voice translation, watch video and participate in news discussion. xin contains all types of news like local, world, business and sports. They also have video and allow people to comment. The video content is generated using the past tv news.

Entertainment
omy entertainment section contains the entertainment news, music and movie review. It also has video and allow user comment. xin's content focus on local artist and some other region entertainment news. They also have music, movie review and video content.

Lifestyle
Everybody has their own unique selling points. omy has shopping guide, collector, car test drive, food, multimedia, games section etc. xin has food, comic, books, technology news etc. However, omy appears to have more sections on this topic.

Forum & Blog
Both provide forum for the user to participate in all kind of discussion. omy hosts some of the blog of local famous people. xin provides links to Mediacorp singer/artist's blog.

Unique section
xin:
Poll – Allow user to vote on one topic
DV Campus – Show case student DIY news
Blend into Singapore – Provide information for new immigrants
Special report – For current hot topic

omy:
Citizen journalism – Allow user to report news and photo
Showtime – Highlight special
Y-zone – Place for the young people
Lobang – A user participation classified section

After going through the two portals, there are certain similarities. The font and pictures are bigger, more user participation, discussion and visual components. Everyone has their own unique contents. People would be spoiled of choices. Or just simply visit all of them!

99c sushi, not worth a penny

I believe most of the people have heard of the 99c sushi selling in one of the restaurant. It is an amazing price, but I don't believe the quality would be good.

I have never been there, until today. I went into the shop around 8pm, not many people. I sit down and listen from the people there how to make order. After that, I went to the kitchen and took the food. I thought this way of serving food sucks, especially you still have to pay for the service charge.

Inside the kitchen, I looked around. My focus was on the sushi, because that is the cheapest item. I also took a look at the other item price. Those food are substantially more expensive than you can find else where. So, that's how they cover the cost. They hope you order other items, then they can earn back the money. Looking at the presentation of the sushi, it doesn't looks good. Well, we make the final call after tasting it. I got a few plates and went back to seat.

First I start off with salmon sushi. The very basic sushi in any jap restaurant is going to be a salmon. Here I goes... How does it taste? The overall quality - pathetic. Serious, it is worse than poor.

The fish itself is still ok, still consider fresh and cut into proper size. However, there is a major flaw with the sushi. The fish on top drop off easily from the sushi rice. Furthermore, the sushi rice is non-sticky and fall apart easily when dip into the soya sauce. Can you imagine this? Can this still called sushi? You take one sushi and dip into the soya sauce. When the fish touch the soya sauce, everything fallen apart. Finally, I have to search the rice inside the soya sauce.

Subsequently with the rest of sushi, they had the same problem. The quality is simply not there. Even the Japanese would throw their chop stick away. It is made simply. Just because it is cheap, you have to accept this kind of standard? More and more good food would disappear.

Verdict: Not worth a single penny. I would prefer to pay more in I****** sushi or S**** sushi to have a proper and enjoying experience.

Subaru challenge

Saw in the TV news that the Subaru challenge has started for this year. Basically, they would park a few cars in front of the ngee ann city and a group of challengers would place their hands on the car for as long as they can. The last one standing would walk away with the car. Since a car is expensive, there are many participants every year.

This year the condition is really bad. As there is no rain, all the people stand there day and night. Going through big sunshine and sleepless night. The sun is especially torturing. I don't know I should laugh at those people or admire their courage.

I know it is in terms of xx k of money. But would that be silly? Unless you are the only one left in the contest. Imagine your hand leave the car when you dozed off or careless. What about the damage to the body? the sun burn? I think there's better way to earn money, don't have to torture yourself. Anyway I wish them good luck.

Gadget craze

Singapore is a gadget craze society. It has never failed to amaze me on the number of people going to IT show/PC show or the number going to Sim Lim/Funnan. Everytime I went there, it is packed of people. Any new gadget would get their audience. A new iPhone, iPod, PSP, Wii etc etc.

People just buy and buy. From generation 1 to generation x. I don't know is this related to the technology advancement or in a big city people is always too lonely. They seek things to keep them occupied. Listening to music, playing games on the go.

But what happened to the youngster? Do they read books now? I think they are busy with their iPod or video game, and failed to enrich themselves. There is a danger. 10 years down the road, do we have people who is more knowledgeable than now?