A cuppa

Didn't realise that nescafe came out with instant ipoh white coffee

Too bad the price is too high, so I chose my old fav aik cheong

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Plus 1

Another accident at this dangerous junction sigh

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Missing the point

2 letters to the press mentioned that high prices reflect the true market value of public housing...

Yeah but they forgot who are the people that squeezed the supply to "create" these high market values...

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What purpose?

Everyone has a purpose in life...the key is whether one understands his...and the truth can be very cruel...

Somehow I think life is fundamentally miserable...joy is usually sporadic and seldom last for long...

Anyway just get use to it haha...

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More and more boutiques: have we got enough?

We watch with anticipation the opening of new boutiques in the coming weeks and months as new shopping malls are added to the fray: Cvstos the brand is the latest to open at Mandarin Gallery...... And of cos there will be more additions when the IRs are fully operational....

Both sincere and cvstos seem very confident with their latest move and I wish them all the best........ Even though I am open-minded when it comes to young brands, I cant find any love for them as the designs and concepts are far from being refined and graceful: the case design is awkward and dial busy and confusing.....

The full colour and 1-page advertisement in today's The Straits Times does the brand no favour at all.........

More importantly, with the dollars they are asking for, they are pricing themselves out of the market...... OUCH..!

 

1 million...

So?

Nothing to be proud of when long before the 1 million flat is built, they are not longer affordable....

They are now priced at market value less puny "subsidy"...

Right from the start, preowned flats shouldn't be sold in the open market... All should be returned to the hdb with a preset rate of capital appreciation...

Sigh...

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Eating right...

At ikea: many people are eating fried chicken wings: ultra super oily deep fried chicken wings!?

However from their estimated BMI, they should be eating chicken feed rather than chicken wings..

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Goondus...

Why do people spend so much money on aircon to cool the room and yet spend money on halogen lamps to heat up the room?

Siao ah?

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Water damage

Oh do remember to check if your motor vehicle insurance policy includes flood cover...

I am glad to say the $960 quote includes that and other acts of nature...

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Abalone!?

Credit card issuing banks run promotions all the time ...and thanks to OCBC I managed to grab a can of premium abalone...

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Deprived!?

It feels sick when one had only 2 hours of sleep..and worse when today is a working day...

I can't believe I made it through...

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A page from old

For over 2 hours, I listened to many CDs: some recent & some not so new... With the latest addition, listening is becoming even more enjoyable than before...

Lastly I pulled this one...one that i've not listened for years & again the music brought back memories from yesteryears...

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The mook factor...

I was listening & something wasn't quite right......the lateral soundstage kinda collapsed...

Piqued, I went forward to check: ah one of my shunmook mpingo disc was out of position... No wonder! Things just seemed to be weird out of a sudden...

After placing it back, everything snapped into focus once again! Haha so that is the power of divine wood...!?

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Biwiring with acrolink

After months of day-dreaming & agonising over how & what to do, the speaker cables upgrade is done...

For awhile I was using a loan set of xindak jumper cables... I knew it wasn't an ideal arrangement...but I can't bear to purchase 2 sets of the new speaker cables...

To DIY a set of high quality jumper cables also dun make money sense ...cos a good set of spades or banana plugs dun come cheap...

Therefore the interim solution is to get a more affordable pair of acrolink speaker cables to link up the low frequencies...that should do the trick... And from my first minute with the s-1010, I know it's better than the jumper cables...

Finally a happy ending!

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The rolling good times

Life used to be simple & straightforward...

There were no multiplexes & one can choose between stall & circus seats...

There was no cable TV & we have only SBC & RTM..

And every 4 years, without any hiccups, world cup matches (some) will be shown on free-to-air TV....of cos with the help of 555, benson & hedges, dunhill, marlboro etc...

Now? Too bad... No money no talk..even highlights of football matches can't be shown on the news!? And the mediacorp can only make do with still pictures! Haha so pathetic...

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World cup woes 2...

Singapore pools have clarified that they will not step in to sponsor the telecast of world cup 2010...

Well if nothing is shown on tv, how much less bets will they lose?

They better think twice...

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World cup woes...

If there is no telecast of world cup matches in singapore, doctors will suffer...

Why?

Cos with no late night matches, less people will need to report sick for various illness associated with too much football... Which means less business for doctors....

Haha

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Finally it's friday...

Yeah! Finally it's friday!... I've been waiting for it since monday haha... Especially since it has been a tough week...

Now that I realised my seasonal down mood at work is back, every single hour spent at work seems to stretch longer & longer...

Fortunately the bunch of guys with me are fun loving & appreciative & this makes bitter medicine much easier to swallow... Very often their antics & behaviour make for good entertainment to help me pass time...

Yeah so even though the times may be rough, having good people around can be very comforting...

Let's hope friday will be smooth & easy...

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Big gap!

For insurance renewal, aig wants about 1500....while a competitor quotes 960...what a difference!

Is there a cheaper offer? I am waiting for another offer so let's see...

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Only halfway

Yeah it's only mid week but I can't wait for the weekend to come...this week has been especially bad: my sleep hours are messed up totally... I wake up looking forward to go back to bed every morning and there's nothing more tempting than sleep when the Z monster calls...

Ok ok i'd better go to bed now...if not it will be another zombie morning in a few hours time...sigh

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achieving the perfection in case materials....

what is the ultimate in case material for you??

i am sure you demand beauty, durability, finish, practicality, cost and so on for your dream watch and in what ways have the manufactures responded...???

all these years we have seen use of materials and treatments such as

platinum (always expensive)
gold (yellow/white/red/rose)
stainless steel (the usual stuff watch cases are made of)
titanium (very light)
alusic (must be hideously expensive)
ceramic (always dark and black)
bronze (not common)
aluminium (light)
PVD / DLC etc.... (surface treatments)
carbon (expensive)

since the enemy of most watch lovers are scratches, i sincerely hope the industry can innovate seriously and give us a super durable finish that can withstand daily wear and tear....... at the moment, the in-favour high-tech material ceramic is still pretty expensive but it can get only more affordable in time to come......

my choice? i dun expect much so give me a super DLC finish in choices of clear coat or black...... just like the transparent / translucent films and skins we all use for mobile phones and laptops......

any BANG interest..???

wow, it must have been quite awhile since i wrote about watches.... maybe the passion has been diluted or perhaps i was taking a break ...... and if you didnt know, right now is the SIHH season: where many manufactures launch new products..... many are technological breakthroughs or aesthetically interesting but not this one....

so there is the new alinghi KING POWER watch from hublot since AP and alinghi broke up.... and i find it BORINGGGGGGGGG as usual and the alinghi logo looks tacky at best.....

if you have yet to see any hublot king power watches, u should.... cos they are much much BIGGER than you can imagine... and still BIG in the bore factor....

Very smooth...

Very often u can spend more & get less...but my experience with acrolink & their high purity copper cables has been extremely positive...the more u spend the better the results...

It can be a journey of no return if you are not careful...the transparency & rich harmonics are very addictive & poisonous...

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What's that?

Haha what do you think this is?

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Taxed!

Very soon the month of january will come to an end; which means it's time to renew car insurance & road tax...

Last heard: insurance premiums are still rising & still...the tide of increasing costs continues unabated... Ouch!?

I only hope that everything can be less than $2000... Sigh all bcos I need the convenience of having a car...

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No spades?

Sigh why is it so difficult to find a decent pair of good quality copper spades in singapore at reasonable prices?

You either get generic made-in-taiwan stuff or the more expensive choices..

The shore

The advertisement is all over the tv but I couldn't catch where it is...until I saw it... Ohh east coast road...but isn't it not very near the shore?

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Cortina sale...

Ok another sale is coming up...

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Outrageous claim?

Who can say one has a right or no right to use a certain word...especially when a word doesn't even belong to a certain group of people...

It's arabic! For god's sake! And even the arabs have no issue with it... So why are some people making a meal out of it!? Ridiculous...and the issue has become a laughing stock internationally...

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Refill? No thanks

Saw the recent tiger beer tv ad?

I am not a fan of how tiger beer tastes...so I will say no thanks if they keep filling my glass with this beer...

Too much of a good thing is too much while just a little bit more of tiger beer? No thanks

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Unwelcome contact

Friday: went to oneshift.com office wanting to collect my prize but alas they were closed... & when coming down from the multi-storey carpark, there was a slight contact at the lower lip against the ramp... Damn!

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Musical chairs

A new chief of defence force? So soon? I think they are just playing musical chairs...

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Massage!?

Many of the companies in the fiercely competitive industry launch new models every few months...

They hope to attract old & new customers to buy their range of machines that massage almost every part of the body from head to toe... 


Except the ego haha...

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the 1st 30 mins...

here are the comments so far:

more air, more details and richer harmonics....

more transparent and better separation....

a deeper soundstage....

bass abit murky...

vocals still slightly boxed-in....

jab

Ok finally here's my h1n1 jab...

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January's outlay

For january, the planned purchase of acrolink speaker cables will come true...  I will find a beautiful sunday to buy the ultra high-purity copper cables haha...

Maybe I should buy pre-owned: there's one pair for sale in echoloft now... Haha but since I am always a sucker for brand new things, I have to decide within this week to buy new or used....

Other than that there's nothing on my plate right now...  I dun think I will buy a new wallet or new bag this soon... Cos I am still on $ saving mode...

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A firm ride

I'm abit anal about tyre pressure... So when the steering felt kinda loose monday morning I knew it must be off... But I can't do anything back then cos I have to be early

First thing after work I was at the petrol station to fill the tyres... & everything was fine again...

So do remember to check tyre pressure weekly if u want optimal performance & feedback... U need all the grip to attack the corners on the way!! Haha..

X2

The new sony x2 is out at the stores selling for about $698 to $798...

But when it sports an identical processor & screen resolution, why should owners of x1 dump their handsets for the x2?

Even if they wish to upgrade, they may go for the iphone...

They are not going to sell too many x2s...

no coverage....

out of curiosity i went to the singtel mio TV website.............

KNS.... no coverage for my area right now!!!

haha, wanna watch champions league also cannot ah..... wanna pay also cant get the content.....

KNS singtel.... why challenge for pay TV....???? for what???!!!

hmmm so can i get ESPN over starhub for the coming F1 season .????

Very popular

As you can see, the heavy traffic leading to parkway on a sunday can be very bad..

That explains why I chose to walk haha..

how do they do it....??

in the new tucson SUV, hyundai has given it a fresh new 2.0 engine that breathes 166 hp.....!!

this is a pretty amazing figure if one considers that the honda civic 2.0 and mitsubishi lancer EX 2.0 sports only 155 hp.......

so how do they do it......???

i really wonder.....

cover with LV...

if you are the ultimate LV fan, what do u think of covering yourself up with this LV blanket in damier azur while you sleep.....??

haha i hope it feels very good and very luxurious......

More troublesome?

It used to be a case of swop & go when one bought a new handphone ... Just switch the sim card...

But with modern smart phones, a lot more work & steps are required to bring over existing memory & information: Backup & sync

So troublesome...

Turbo of cos

Christopher Tan of the straits times wrote that the new porsche 911 turbo has an equivalent 0-100 timing of better endowed ferrari & lamborghini cars...

However he failed to include the fact that the cars from italy are naturally-aspirated while the german car is force-fed... Between the 2 of cos there is a difference...

Turbo = more power...

Immediate switch

Haha given the very first opportunity, I had no trouble keeping late nights again... In fact I had a good nap after work which enabled me to stay awake... So I can see the sunrise in a short while...

No more discounts

Received the following from esprit:

Dear Member, your Esprit Club Card has expired on 31 Dec 09.To qualify as member for a year, simply spend $150nett in a single receipt. We hope to see you soon!

I think that's easier to achieve than to accumulate $600 of spending every year just to renew the membership..

From 1988

Tonight's listening: the 2 faces of kylie minogue.. 1 from 1988, her debut album... And then from 2008...

Can you spot the differences...??

Get smart...

It's forever a battle of wits between the bombers & the men who try to stop them... Day & night 24 / 7...

Explosives used to be bulky & easy to detect... & then it became smaller, lighter & more powerful e.g. Plastic explosives...

Now faced with high tech alternatives like liquid explosive, the reality is stark & serious... Almost impossible to detect, the job to catch the bad guys who use these devices is getting tougher...

So flying continues to be a risky business & till now there are still no easy ways to catch the bad guys... Sigh & amen...

it's all about traction....

a classic car vs bike shoot-out....... but so so interesting.......

It's only human

The more one tells them not to, the more likely they will do it...

E.g.

A man came to visit a friend & saw a pair of speakers... Owner said pls do not touch the drivers as they are very fragile... The moment the owner left the room, the man used his finger to probe & TADA!! The tweeter was dented!!

Oh thank you itchy fingers pls pay up... You touch you pay

act innocent...

some ppl only tell their loopsided story when they are caught.... perhaps they want public sympathy... perhaps they want to discredit others..... whatever it is, they are just fools.....

they never never ever wanna tell the whole truth bcos everyone will know how foolish they are and how much they deserve the repercussions....

acting innocent and pleading that it was their first mistake are just their usual tricks....... but if one digs deeper, oh gosh, he is just a recalcitrant that deserves to be whacked ......

such ppl exists everywhere... and you can read about them in the newspapers, your surroundings: real and virtual.....

100%!!

recently air security is becoming news again......

and to make air travel safer, authorities worldwide should strip search every air traveller and crew...

check everything including underwear, inside the butt, inside the shoe, inside the body etc....

just to make sure no one can secret any items up the plane and blow everything to bits......

amen....

Stiffer

After close to 2 months, i've decided to add on 2 clicks for the front dampers in the car to make it stiffer... To my surprise, the ride height today was exactly the same as day 1 and the alignment is still ok so no adjustment was needed for the dampers...

I will be able to know the difference for the new settings when I take the usual roads on the way to work tomorrow morning...

conflicting response....

when i am at work:

i will think of lunch, think of knocking off, think of going for vacation leave.... and getting away from work.....

but after a long break, i would somehow think of going back to work.. cos i cant be lazing around all the time, cant be going shopping all the time and cant be listening to audio/watching tv all the time...

during the workweek, i wake up on time, have breakfast and lunch on time and are engaged in purposeful activities. however, during vacation, i sleep at odd hours, skip breakfast cos i wake up late and have lunch at odd hours: very unhealthy behaviour .....

so.... there lies a need to strike a balance between work, leisure, rest and idling...... too much work is no good and too much play is no good .....

welcome back to work..!!

Muted response

In the past i'd be pretty excited to know more when retail prices for watches are raised...

But when rolex increased their prices in 2010, even I myself was surprised at my own muted response.. I didn't visit any AD or did I make any phone call to get the new price list...

Maybe I am not so bothered anymore...

Check things out...

Wow... I am surprised to read that the SMC wrote to the papers to protest against the interview on Dr martin huang...

I read the piece... & I can't pick out any part on glorifying the man.. Isn't it another regular monday column...? I read that facts are facts..

Well he was charged & he pleaded guilty.... I consider the case closed.

the in-house factor....

someone posted a question in a watch forum: comparing the rolex daytona against the vacheron constantin overseas chronograph..... and wanted to know which is the better watch...

well.... for me, i'll pick the one with the in-house movement which is, the rolex daytona..... and what's more the daytona is cheaper ... and way better looking.....

what an irony, the watch with the in-house movement costs less..!!??

The bond car

Spotted 1 aston martin dbs at meritus mandarin this afternoon..

I think there were only 2 in singapore a few months ago?? Even rarer than ferrari & lamborghini & rolls royce...

Similar fate??

From what I can see, i'm afraid that somerset 313 is going to be another souless mall out there.. just like its neighbour orchard central.....

The only saving grace? It stands above a subway station... which will provide much needed human traffic....

What to look forward to?

In the days of national service, some higher ranking people are fond of replying 'what's so good about the morning' when one greeted them...

Similarly when there are only more work & troubles ahead, then what's so good about the new year?

More terror? More disaster? Sigh... We can hope & pray for goodness but I think chances are slim...

Change for the better

Uncle lkk says... The new facial wash feels shiok..

Hey use facial scrub leh haha.... Then afterwards he should buy face protector & eye-cream haha...

Go shopping go!!!

cant imagine......

errr..... the moment i saw this, this came to my mind: how is the rider going to do u-turn with this vespa.....?????

pic from autoblog

where's the brain...

some people just do not think before they speak or write.... and very often when they get a warning, they deserve what they get.....

that's the rule of the game everywhere.... break the rules? face the music......

if another decides not to follow the rules over and over again..... then what else do they expect?......

when ppl has no respect for rules and regulations, they deserve to be hit..... so that they will wake up....

car review contest.....

right now there's car review contest at oneshift.com..... if you are interested, pls get yours submitted by 4th Jan 2010....

yeah i am already on the leaderboard...... no 5 on the list....

congrats haha..... and the prize? a bottle of liqui moly speed tec fuel additive valued at S$28.....