Art Deco

This New Year's eve will be a nice quiet one (other than the children running around later at my uncle's house). I started the day by rearranging my bookshelf on this beautiful Saturday morning. Okay, I was initially gonna skate, but I woke up late and had a heavy breakfast of Jwee Kuay (some oily flour cakes topped with salty veggies is the best way to describe it for you non-local folks), so there was no way I could skate till later. Anyways, why would I want to rearrange my bookshelf? Well, I wanted to find out more about Art Deco, but my book on architecture (yes, I do have a book on architecture, and one on art too, despite the nerdy engineer that I am...) was quite inaccessible, and I guess it's about time to make way for my recent purchases, and upcoming purchases. Why do I suddenly go shopping for books at this time of the year? That's because the Economist is taking a break from printing and there's suddenly a dearth of material to read; but still there's so much for me to learn, and since I'm shopping, and there's a big xmas sale at Times and MPH (20% off xmas catalog items!), I'm just stocking up on all kinds of reads.

So what's the big deal about Art Deco? Well, as previously mentioned in my blog, I visited the lovely wine place at Parkview Square recently, and enjoyed the atmosphere while sipping a 2000 Chablis Dom Simmonet. I didn't even realise the design was called Art Deco (shame on me!) till I read it in RT's blog. After going through my book on architecture, I realised why this form of architecture never really caught my attention: Art Deco is almost an aberration. (Wah, I'm using complicated cheem words now huh?)

Art Deco grew out of the era called Modernism, which lasted approximately from 1900-1965. This era saw buildings that were "spare and square", with free form (abstract, geometric shapes), free plan (less boundaries for better interior flow) and free facade (no ornamentations, unpainted), yet inspired by the age of science (revolutionary materials and techniques). We do see some elements of this at Parkview Square, especially the free form, free plan (wine bar on the ground floor is "columnless"), unpainted exterior, and the numerous statues paying tribute to Darwin, Freud, Dali etc. However, Art Deco is an aberration to Modernist architecture because it champions the use of ornaments protruding from the facade, which gives it an eerie, almost Gothic feeling. In fact, some people mistakenly consider Parkview Square Gothic. How can it be true Gothic without the spires, pointed arches and flying buttresses? A classic example of Art Deco is the Chrysler building in Manhattan: sleek modern skyscraper with its aluminium spire and protruding gargoyles. Perhaps the "Gotham City" look may sound like "Gothic" to the uninformed, which would explain their mistaken belief that Parkview Square is Gothic...

Three Wise Men

Here's an interesting take on the Three Wise Men:

The story of the Three Wise Men and the birth of Christ is one of the world's most told tales. It's also one, which, for women, illustrates all of the male species' traits that frustrate them. First of all, they simply assumed the heavens revolved around them - the star shining in the East had been put there expressly for them to follow. Secondly, they didn't arrive at the stable where Jesus was born until more than two months after the event, most probably because they refused to stop on the way and ask for directions. Thirdly, what possible use would a newborn baby and his exhausted new mother want with gifts of gold, frankincense (a resin used for fumigation) and myrrh ( a strong-smelling plant oil used for embalming the dead)? And, finally, Three Wise Men? Who's ever seen such an unlikely sight?

Imagine if the story had starred Three Wise Women. They would have asked directions, arrived in time to help deliver the baby and brought practical gifts, like nappies, bottles, toys and a bouquet of flowers. They would then have put the animals outside, cleaned the stables, made a casserole, stayed in touch by mail, and there would be peace on Earth for ever more.

Note: Moses wandered in the desert for 40 years. He wouldn't ask for directions either.

Discovery Channel

Don't you sometimes think life is much easier on the Discovery Channel? I just read this in a book:

"A woman needs to know but one man well to understand all men; whereas a man may know all women and not understand one of them." - Helen Rowland

We are the only species that has continual trouble with the mating ritual, courtship and relationships - other species have it all worked out and get along fine. Even the Black Widow spider and the Praying Mantis, who kill their mates right after mating, know the rules of the mating game and stick faithfully to them. Take the octopus for example. It's a simple animal with a tiny brain. But octopi never argue about male and female differences, sex or the lead up to it. The female comes on heat at a certain time and the male octopi all come around waving their tentacles; she pciks the one with the tentacles she likes best and gives him the green light. She never accuses him of not paying her enough attention, and he never worries whether it was as good for her as it was for him. There are no interfering in-laws giving advice, and the female octopus doesn't worrry whether she looks fat, and she never years for a mate with a 'slow' tentacle.

I love to eat octopi. Especially the cold dish at wedding dinners. Yum! Wait, there's more good stuff in this book:

They say it's great to be a man because motor mechanics tell you the truth, wrinkles add character, your underwear costs $4.95 for a six-pack and chocolate is just another snack. People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them and you don't have to leave the room to adjust yourself.
They say it's great to be a woman because you can talk to the opposite sex without having to picture them naked, taxis stop for you and you can scare male bosses with mysterious gynaecological disorders. You don't look like a frog in a blender when you dance and if you marry someone 20 years younger, you're aware that you look like a cradle snatcher.
Maybe one day, men and women will be like each other. Perhaps women will love watching racing cars drive in a circle, shopping will be considered an aerobic activity and men will have to spend one month a year in a PMT simulator. Maybe all toilet seats will be nailed down, women will only talk during commercials and men will only read Playboy for its literary value.

Do women really want all toilet seats nailed down? I'm not so sure about that.....

Genetically Modified Crops / Jesus the businessman?

Today scientists use thermal neutrons, X-rays, or ethyl methane sulphonate, a harsh carcinogenic chemical - anything that will damage DNA - to generate mutant cereals. Virtually every variety of wheat and barley you see growing in the field was produced by this kind of "mutation breeding". No safety tests are done; nobody protests. The irony is that genetic modification (GM) was invented in 1983 as a gentler, safer, more rational and more predictable alternative to mutation breeding - an organic technology, in fact. Instead of random mutations, scientists could now add the traits they wanted.
... (Feeding a growing population) will mean either better yields or less rainforest - which is why fertilisers, pesticides and transgenes are the best possible protectors of the planet.
- The Economist, Dec 24th 2005

Sure, organically grown crops are most desirable for subsistence. But can sustainable farming exist if not for "modified" crops? Let's not forget that the world would not be what it is today if not for the "modifications" brought about by the "Green Revolution" which started in the 70s.

Here's another interesting food for thought from The Economist:
Bruce Barton, an adman turned evangelist, pictured Jesus as a savvy executive who "picked up twelve men from the bottom ranks of business and forged them into an organisation that conquered the world". His parables were "the most powerful advertisements of all time".

Complacency

Some people have said to me that there's no point complaining about what our society is lacking, it's just too depressing. Instead, they say, we should focus on being contented with what we already have, since there is no such thing as a perfect place. They call it a "having a postive attitude". Well, I tend to think of it as "complacency". Here's a nice quote from this week's double issue of The Economist:
"...were Americans not so incurably discontented with their lot, their great country would not be half as dynamic as it is."

Rejoice, for Christ is born!

Have a blessed and merry Christmas everyone! I had my fair share of Christmas parties today, had a great time meeting up with everyone, and I hope your Christmas will be filled with love and joy too!

Divine Wine Extraordinaire

Thursday night was the second time I had drinks at the "Divine Wine Extraordinaire" at Parkview square. For those of you folks who haven't been reading my blog, that's the place where there's a 3 storey high wine cellar and a "fairy" that flies up and down. We had absolutely no difficulty getting in (that's 2 out of 2 times already!) and even got good seats where we could have a good view of the live band! The place was quite empty, just the way I like it, and the singer was really really good. The lighting was good, the service was good, the decor, which never fails to impress me, added the final touch to create the perfect ambience....

The only thing lacking was that nobody seemed to have ordered a bottle on that night, so we didn't get to see the "fairy" in action. In fact the "fairy" had to double up as waitress since there was nothing for her to do..... But it was alright, our attention was captivated by the songstress anyway. We walked around after closing and noticed that what makes Parkview Square unique is its unusual mix of ancient and modern. The building really is a modern building, yet it has all these greek vases, gothic ornaments, and statues of great people of the past. And that weird artpiece on one wall of well-dressed modern people dancing in front of an ancient egyptian man standing next to egyptian building columns just amazes me! It's the kind of mix of old and new that just makes the place so mysterious! Oh and there's also that golden goose out in the courtyard with chinese inscriptions below it, totally out of place! Feng Shui maybe?

The most bizarre train ride

The most bizarre thing happened to me on the train today! I changed trains at Jurong East MRT on my way to work today. The train headed towards Yew Tee was almost empty, at least at the section I was sitting in, so I picked a nice seat and proceeded to read my economist. Just at this moment a relatively good-looking girl comes right in and SITS RIGHT NEXT TO ME!!! This section of the train was almost completely empty, and people didn't start coming in till the next eastbound train arrived, so she had plenty of other places to sit but she chose to sit right next to me, and pretty close too! I almost freaked out and ran out of the train but I managed to keep my nerves! Maybe its an "illegal worker" from China.... Is that the most bizarre train ride or what?

Pluses and Minuses

Life's about pluses and minuses. You won't score points all the time but you probably won't keep losing 'em either. So just try to keep the pluses more than the minuses! ;)

Christmas Spirit

Today I helped decorate the Christmas tree at Grandma's place. The rest of the night was spent writing Christmas cards to some of my friends overseas. Wow, the Christmas spirit's really getting to me now! Yah, its kinda late, since decorations have been up for more than a month, but better late than never! I guess I've been too caught up in work and all that to really appreciate that Christmas is coming....

Anyway, I actually drove past (in my friend's car) the Orchard Road lightup on Friday. I've seen it before, but not the full thing. Somehow it feels lacking. There's lights and glitz and all, but the feeling of warmth is not there. All those tents, gazebos and stages by the roadside kinda spoils the mood. And the stupid ribbon thing on those banners across the streets? That's just an eyesore! The best Xmas decorations I have seen are actually not those put up by department stores or the tourist promotion board. The best Xmas light up I've ever seen was driving down a street in Albany and seeing all the homemade decorations adorning everyone's yard and the glitzy white trees inside. Now that's what I call warmth! Sometimes less is more....

The Other Side

In Afghanistan's violent Helmand province, an American special-forces captain... analyzed his furtive Taliban enemies as thus: "They're cowards. Why don't they step up and fight like men?" Apparently, he had not considered how he might fight if he had no armor, no radio, an ancient rifle and the sure knowledge that if he fought like a man, he would be obliterated in minutes.
- The Economist, December 17th

Capital Punishment

"State-sponsored killing is inhuman, its effectiveness as a deterrent is as best unproven and it is no less prone to miscarriages of justice than more easily reversible sentences."
- The Economist, Dec 17 2005

Fiat Lux

I have seen the light!

Burrrrp

Roast pork belly, mussels in white wine, fries, beer, and the company of a fellow Cal CE grad. Was it a wonderful evening or what?

PocketPC at Macs

Have you experienced PocketPC ordering at McDonalds? Today I had dinner at the Tiong Bahru Plaza Macs outlet. I originally wanted to go to the food court but since it was late and I was too lazy to climb upstairs, I figured I'd just grab a quick bite. However, once I got in line and realized how crowded it was, I started having second thoughts..... until this girl came up to me with a PocketPC and said "can I take your order sir?" Well, she came up from behind and I almost freaked out right there, until I realized they have this new system where the waitress takes your order in the line using a PocketPC! She then gave me a number to present to the counter when it was my turn; fast and efficient, the way fast food is meant to be! Oh, the waitress was wearing a LiveStrong band. Why does it matter? Cos the LiveStrong band is for a good cause, is made by Nike, is made of silicone, and is cheaper than all those knock offs out there, so go support the Lance Armstrong Cancer Foundation!

Ok, so what the hell was I doing at Tiong Bahru Plaza in the middle of the night anyway? Well, today was a very busy day. Work just kept coming in the minute I stepped into the office. And it just kept coming and coming.... On a Monday too huh? Thank goodness bonus is coming in a few days' time, at least that's something to look forward to!

So just as I was about to leave the office at around 8pm, somebody called on my cell phone. "Hello M, E here." Nobody calls me at 8pm, if its a friend, usually its an sms, so I figured it must have been somebody from the bank soliciting. Probably trying to sell me some unit trusts linked to CAO or citiraya, or maybe another credit card or something. So I sheepishly answered "Yes??" And she replied, "Eh, I ask u something ah..." It was only then that I realised it was somebody I haven't talked to in such a long time, and I almost shouted "OMG, WHASSSSSUPPPPP!" when I realised that my boss (and his boss too) were still in the office! What an eventful Monday evening!
;)

Freakonomics

In the bestselling book "Freakonomics", Steven Leveitt advocates that "abortion was one of the greatest crime-lowering factors in American history." This conclusion was based on research done by himself and John Donohue which was published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics in 2001.

However, an article (Oops-onomics) in last week's issue of The Economist states that 2 economists at the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston recently discovered that Messrs Donohue and Levitt committed "an inadvertent but serious computer programming error" which, if removed, shows "that the impact of abortion on arrest rates disappears entirely"! Ooops!

Anyway, shame on anyone who thinks that unwanted children should just be aborted to reduce the crime rate. If that's the case, is he advocating that unwanted people be killed off too? Those jobless do not contribute to society so does that mean they should be killed off? How about those unreformed criminals who are a burden to tax payers money? Kill them off too? What a ridiculous argument some pro-choice people have!

An apt conclusion to the article in The Economist sums up the boo boo: "To be politically incorrect is one thing; to be simply incorrect quite another."

Is there any environmentally friendly source of energy?

Is there a panacea to our every growing global energy woes that does not cause environmental pollution? At the moment, no. Oil, coal and gas, which require large amounts of combustion, are obviously out since their waste products contribute to the greenhouse effect and global warming.

A few decades ago, hydroelectric dams, harnessing the power of moving water, were cited as the next big thing. However, today, dam construction has proven to be ecologically damaging, resulting in siltation, adverse thermal gradients upstream, destroyed habitats, amongst other woes. Many parts of the US have banned the construction of new dams, and environmentalists have condemned the Three Gorges Dam in China.

Lately, there has been a lot of revived interest in nuclear power. Politicians say less greenhouse gases are produced by nuclear power, so it solves all our problems! If only things were that simple.... Firstly, nuclear power plants discharge large amounts of hot water (product of the water-cool process) which gets dumped into the rivers and lakes, killing all the fish in the vicinity. Secondly, there is NO KNOWN method of safely disposing nuclear waste. And yes, I mean it, despite what those politicians tell you, there is NO KNOWN method of safely disposing nuclear waste.

So what about wind power then? What can be wrong about wind power? Well, its been shown that to generate sufficient wind power, you have to use lots and lots of wind turbines. So many that people use the term "wind farms". And wind farms need to be placed at the top of a hill to be effective. This takes up a lot of good land and kills scores and scores of birds! Yes, you'd be grossed out by the carcasses found below the wind turbines.

Now we come to solar power. Harnessing the power of the sun is probably the best we've got. However, for it to be of any use, you need to have a large solar farm, which is very expensive, and difficult to maintain. By the way, solar cells are made of silicon, and producing silicon creates pollution.

Geo-thermal power was supposed to be the next big thing. Except that it didn't become anything... 'nuff said.

So is there ever an environmentally friendly source of energy? Probably not. So are we doomed to having to live with a dying planet? There may not be an environmentally friendly source of energy, but there is an environmentally friendly solution: ENERGY CONSERVATION.

There was a fish....

There was a fish
Just a teeny weeny fish
And the fish was on the hook
And the hook was on the rod
And the rod was on the hand
And the hand was on the boy
And the boy was on the rock
And the rock was on the bank
And the bank was by the stream
And the stream was on its wa-ay.....
And the moon shines high in the clear blue sky
And all is bright and gay!

Theta Chi

That's Chris with the axe after this year's Big Game. We just had a little alumni gathering just now to watch the Big Game, and LV was there! I haven't seen LV in more than 3 years. 3 years seems like a really really long time ago! The last time we met, we were playing basketball with the Indonesions along with N, PP and YJ at the Albany Middle School along Brighton Ave. After shooting hoops we adjourned to the usual lunch at the mee pok place at Ranch 99 (where I usually just park my car illegally somewhere at the back). That particular day I had a long chat with LV and N after lunch, and after that, I never saw them again, and never really played basketball again for that matter.... I did, however, in my last days in the "Land of the Free (and home of the Bears!)", introduce my juniors to this wonderful basketball court, so that the tradition of Saturday basketball would carry on...

LV said that this Indonesian guy in his batch "revived" a frat along with some other smart guys he gathered. These smart guys would go on to win the frat "academic honors" and eventually steal the StanfUrd tree! I thought about it for a while, and I remembered that there was indeed one frat which had an Indonesian and a lot of smart guys, and that was Theta Chi on Frat Row just to the south of the Piedmont "circle". I used to hang out at Theta Chi with my floormates in freshman year. Theta Chi was an unusual frat. They didn't drink much (I think I enjoyed the free drinks more than the Brothers did), but they had real good BBQ ribs! There was this real tough guy called Art who was like one of the big Brothers. He was a personal trainer at the RSF and would be the bouncer at the door during parties. All you had to do was to befriend this guy and you'd have no problem getting in! I gained his respect by trashing him at pool one day after he had downed like 10 drinks (I don't really play pool haha). Towards the end of freshmen year Theta Chi bought a karaoke system, and they practically karaoked to "punk" all night long! I had absolutely no idea that "punk" was karaokeable....

Our sturdy Golden Bear
Is watching from the skies
Looks down upon our colors fair
And guards us from his lair!
Our banner gold and blue
The symbol on it too
Means fight for California
For California through and through!

Infantry

More exerpts from "The Yom Kippur War" by Abraham Rabinovich:
"The Israeli armored units, no longer presuming to win the war by themselves, called for foot soldiers.... As at Tel Shams on the Golan, the infantry proved capable of rapidly overcoming resistance that had stopped armor."
Armor calling infantry for help? Go infantry! Now that's what I'm talking about! Hooah!

Bread of life

Bread of life and cup of hope
We come as gift to you
Change our hearts, fill us with peace
Transform our lives anew
Open our eyes so that we might see
Your presence in one another
Your life poured out in love today
Unites us all in you!

Loving Lord, Creator God
Open our eyes to see
The good that lives in each of us
That called the world to be
And when we fail to see the good
When friendships falter and crumble
Give us the courage to forgive
That we may live in peace!

Living Word, O Son of God
Your love shows us the way
That we may live in harmony
And from you never stray
Wipe all oppression from our midst
Give us a love for all people
Your song of justice sing in us
To live for peace today!

Scorpions: Silent and Effective

On my way home this afternoon, the cab passed by Bedok Camp at the eastern end of East Coast Road. Bedok Camp was home to the Scorpions (3SIR) for the last few decades, but now it stood silent and deserted, ready to be torn down. I haven't gone by this area in ages, but it still seemed the same, and I could almost hear the men of the 8th mono chanting "Scorpions, To be Respected!" in the parade square after their Saturday 8km run. Across the street was our favorite "Bedok Corner" hawker center, which has now been renovated and given a name: Bedok Food Center. I wonder if they still have my favorite salted fish fried rice (Giam Her Char Png), ching tng and Hokkien mee. And right next to the camp was that little patch of "forest". They didn't allow us to dig holes in the camp, so myself and the Mortar Platoon were marched to this "forest" outside to practice "digging in". It's funny how the Mortar men spend most of their time during an exercise just digging and digging, and then digging again; but when they are finally done, its time to cover up, redeploy, and start digging again. What good training for a second career as a gravedigger!

Since the appearance of the Main Battle Tank (MBT) in WWII, armies throughout the world regarded the infantry as second class soldiers whose only role was to clean up after the armor had finished its job. The blitzing tank was too fast for artillery, and could run down infantry. It was practically invincible in large numbers on the battlefield. That perception changed in 1973....

In the opening days of the Yom Kippur war, Egyptian infantry inflicted devastating losses on the Israeli tank divisions at the Sinai front. The armor fought valiantly, but were no match for the swarming infantry armed with saggers and RPGs. Limited Israeli artillery batteries did not do much damage to the dug-in Egyptian troops (that's why infantry practice digging when they are not moving...), while themselves being subjected to counter-battery bombardment. The tank was king no more...

Alrite, enought depressing war talk already. It appears that I'm very likely to be joining PromiseWorks. If anyone else is interested, just let me know!

Unetaneh Tokaf

This is the prayer every Israeli chanted on the morning of Yom Kippur, 1973:
"On Rosh Hashana it is written and on the day of the fast of Kippur it is sealed... who shall live and who shall die, who in his allotted time and who not, who by water and who by fire, who by the sword..."

The Yom Kippur War: The epic encounter that transformed the middle east

I have finally started reading "The Yom Kippur War" by Abraham Rabinovich! I've been anticipating this book for months, and even ordered it on acmabooks.com.sg a month before its official release. Yet, when it finally arrived, it sat on my bookshelf for a whole month, 'cos I was just so busy with other stuff! I finally opened the wrapper yesterday. I was motivated to buy this book after reading "The Six Day War" by Michael Oren. That other book was really deep and analytical, so deep that most people thought I was crazy reading such stuff, but it was really good. So I opened "The Yom Kippur War" expecting another round of deep analytical reading (I'm an engineer, bring it on!). Surprisingly though, its been quite a pleasant read so far! Just the right mix of analysis and narrative, concise and precise, just the way I like it! Michael Oren critiques that it's not as analytical as most readers would like to see, but what the heck, it makes for a good bedtime story.....

The background:
Israel was formed some 50 years ago by Jewish immigrants leaving Europe for Palestine after the Holocaust. These Jewish immigrants received weapons and ammunition from the US for being an ally during the Cold War. The Arab countries, resentful of the Israelis, received military aid from the Soviet Union. In 1967, a whole bunch of Arab countries decided to attack Israel in what was known as "The Six Day War". The main culprits were Egypt to the West, Syria to the North, and Jordan to the East. Though largely outnumbered, Israel destroyed the entire Egyptian airforce on Day 1, and subsequently won the war in 6 days, capturing the Sinai in the West, Golan Heights in the North, and the West Bank and Jerusalem in the East. Small skirmishes followed in the coming years, but Israel pretty much became complacent after they established military superiority in the region.....

The setting so far:
The year is 1973. It is the week before Yom Kippur, one of the holiest days for the Jews.
Egyptian infantry, armed with water cannons, RPGs and sapper missiles are preparing to rush east across the Suez in a daring raid on the Israeli outposts at the edge of the Sinai peninsula. Anticipating an onslaught of Israeli tanks, the amount of antitank weaponry they are carrying will allow them to create a beach head with the densest antitank defences ever faced by any military. Meanwhile, SAM sites on the west of the Suez are ready to provide anti aircraft coverage, while tanks positioned on ramparts provide a barrage of fire on the incoming Israeli tanks.
On the east of the Suez, the Israeli outposts are thinly manned by reservists behind 60-ft high sand embankments. Fortified tank positions (known as "fins") are unmanned, and the Israelis are not anticipating an attack.
The story contiunes......

Quotable quotes from the Today paper

"Rich or poor, each of us has only one life to give to protect what is ours."
- Raphael Leong

"GEPer, leper -- I wonder why the words look so similar. Coincidence? Perhaps not... It's nice to have brains, nice to have a label recognising that you're not doing badly in school. What would be much, much nicer would be not having the ego to match."
- Edric Sng (former classmate)

Conformists

Just read this in the Today paper:
"One problem is that "gifted" individuals are often "non-conformists" who have difficulties blending in..... Gifted individuals are the ones who scan the environment and decide what is worth doing and what is not..."

It is unfortunate that GEPers and the GEP program have been getting a lot of flak from the public lately. A recent issue of The Economist described Singapore as a "highly conformist society." A couple of people I spoke to actually thought that was a compliment. Trust me, The Economist had absolutely no intention of singing our praises! It would actually do us some good to have "non-conformists" who are able to think creatively and out-of-the-box.

Then there is the accusation that "they become so comfortable with other GEPers that even outside the classroom they prefer each other's company." Hello! At that age who doesn't hang out with their own kind/classmates? Ah Bengs prefer each other's company, so do secret society members. What about the jocks who do sports training everyday? Or the "english-educated" rich kids? Or those in SAP schools? Hey, boy scouts and girl guides hang out in little cliques too! I can't believe anyone could be so narrow minded as to think it is a problem for kids at that age to hang out and form cliques with others who they see in class everyday.....

Italy's economy/ growing old

Just read this in The Economist:
"The World Economic Forum in its annual competitiveness league table recently ranked the country (Italy) a humiliating 47th, just above Botswana."
Botswana?? Super ouch!

Quite a few ppl have commented that I look older than I really am. The usual questions I get are, "So you've been working here for quite some time already?" and "Are you married?". And you should see the shocked look on their faces when I say no. Ok, this is usually at work, not in a social context. Is that a good or bad sign?

Longkang Jwee

Today is possibly (and probably) the last time I'll see YW before he wanders off to north (and south) America for the rest of the year. I still can't believe that somebody can enjoy Whistler-Blackcomb on the pretext of work while work for the rest of us ordinary folks means slogging away in our cubes! Anyway, to celebrate the occasion, we had steamboat, chou dou fu and drinks in the Bras Brasah area. What better way to chill out after a hard day's work? Of course, as always, the company was more important than the food!

It's funny how chou dou fu (aka smelly toufu) just smells so bad, almost like longkang jwee (drain water), but once it enters your mouth, it just tastes soooooo good!!! It's crispy, and once u take that first bite the smelly juice just flows around your tongue and you get that "high" feeling! Just close your eyes and let it get to you.... So how does this correlate with the theory that 80% of taste is smell? Sometimes the best things in life are those that appear the least desirable....

Anyways, enjoy yourself YW, and remember to bring back the Sam Adams! Bonus points if you can find the special "Winter Brew"!

Villa Bali

I had dinner at this place called Villa Bali last night. Getting there was like going to some place in the middle of nowhere... Dark unlit streets with no sidewalk and all (maybe we just happened to get in by the back door)..... It was a pretty nice place, Balinese architecture and decor although the food and music wasn't the least bit Balinese. Food was Kashmiri or something, basically like Indian. The ambience was great, the music was soothing, the cushioned seats were so comfortable, but most of all, the company was excellent! A wonderful night out indeed!

Engineers

I'm posting too many posts at one go now. But I've just read a real interesting quote and how can I resist?
"Mechanical engineers get paid to make weapons; civil engineers get paid to make targets."
- Ray Seed, UC Berkeley Professor

California Dominates Stanford In Big Game, 27-3

Headlines today:
"California Dominates Stanford In Big Game, 27-3"
"Cal's inspired defense sacked Stanford's two quarterbacks eight times in another one-sided edition of Northern California's biggest college rivalry"
Does StanfUrd's football team suck or what?
Go Bears! We got the Axe!!

California Dreamin

"If you want a laidback lifestyle, I begin to think, you should go to Perth; if you want beautiful beaches, head to Thailand; if you want cutting edge youth culture, turn to Japan. But to say all this is to be shortsighted about aspiration. We are as dogmatic in our dreams as in our beliefs. We need to have a place we can retreat to in our imaginations when we're sitting under house arrest in Burma, or battling traffic in Lagos. This place is called, naturally enough, "California," and it has a life more resilient than any reality, and is sustained by every rerun of Baywatch or reprise of "California Dreamin'," every new screening of City of Angels...
... It's hard for many of us in California to accept that we're leading lives that other people dream of. But the evergreen Shangri-La dreamed of and diligently preserved in every corner of the global imagination is the place where we're hanging up the wash and going to see the lawyer this afternoon."

- Pico Iyer, California Monthly, Nov/Dec 2005

Read read read!

I have lots of things to read this weekend! There's California Monthly and the latest issue of "The Economist" on my desk right now (it came in time this wk ;) ). And there's 3 books sitting on my bookshelf that have been waiting for me for more than a month.

One of the books that is in my list of favorite books is actually on my bookshelf and I haven't read it yet. Does that make me an untruthful person? I haven't read the book but it's my favorite huh? Well, i've read an extensive review with excerpts and quotes, does that count? I better go read it soon to make sure its really a favorite hahahaha......

Ouch!

This week's issue of "The Economist" describes Singapore as a "highly conformist society". Ouch!

Service with Honor

I was a Far East Square again last night for Belgian beers, and there was this group of youngsters nearby doing hip hop line dancing! I didn't know hip hop and line dancing could go together...

Anyway, that's not the real point of today's blog entry. I was in church this morning and we had a gospel about the Master and his three servants. The Master gave his servants 5, 2 and 1 "talents" respectively and went away. The first 2 servants went out and invested their "talents", doubling their returns. The last servant buried his in the ground. When the master returned, he was mad at the last servant for being lazy, and took away his only "talent".

Father Patrick was rather blunt in his sermon following the reading. He said that God gives us many talents, but many of us keep it and use it for our own selfish interests. He further said that such people are like the servant with one talent buried in the ground: lazy and good for nothing!

By that definition, if I look at myself and many of those around me, we are indeed "good for nothing" huh? How many of us have lives that revolve around wearing the coolest clothes, drinking or dining at the most happening place, clubbing at the most hip club, or just chasing the 5 C's? How many of us actually believe in serving some greater good other than the occasional donation to some celebrity charity show? Cheers to M & HB, who are always so enthusiastic and dedicated to their volunteer work. May you inspire others to join your ranks and serve with honour!

Make me a channel of your peace
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
In GIVING, that we receive
And in dying that we are born to eternal life!

SJ has made it big!

My NUSSU Union Camp "Pyron" groupmate is now a famous singer! See page 11 of the Life section in today's papers for more info on Kaira Gong! Best of luck SJ!

Words of inspiration

Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me bring your love
Where there is injury, your pardon Lord
Where there is doubt, true faith in you

O Master grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love with all my soul!

California

Colombia Supremo (from TCC) is the best thing to have on a cold rainy Wednesday evening! One whiff of that strong aroma and I'm already on a high before I start tasting it.... SH says that 80% (or was it 90%?) of taste comes from smell, and I think I understand why......

The associate director of international relations at Cal was in town specially to meet up with some local alumni, and I had the priviledge of having dinner with her and S at Oscar's. I had the Carbonara Fettucini, and it was so good! It reminded me of the Macaroni Grill in El Cerrito (the last meal I had at the Macaroni Grill was with Mary, Anne and Dave, and I so miss y'all! I promise I will be in SoCal for the wedding!). We had a pretty good discussion 'bout the Cal alumni in Singapore, and plans for possibly reviving the official society as it once was. The associate director (or was it the university?) picked up the tab, and in return S and I pretty much pledged to do whatever we can for the alumni in Singapore! Days at Cal were some of the best moments of my life....

Somebody happened to suggest that we invite the Stanfurd alumni to some of our events. This is all I got to say:

So then its.... Up with the Blue and Gold
Down with the RED!
California's out for the victory
We'll drop our battle axe on StanfUrd's head (Chop!)
When we meet her our team will surely beat her!
Down on the StanfUrd farm there'll be no sound
When our Oski rips through the air
Like our friend Mister Jonah StanfUrd's team will be found
In the tummy of the Golden Bear!

Belgian Ciney

YW is back in town! And I thought he was gone for the rest of the year, what a pleasant surprise! YW, Z and I had some pretty good Lebanese cuisine (over some cheers to Rafik Harriri!) at this place called Kazbar which is located at Far East Square. We actually had this "private room" which had curtains all around it, cool!

After dinner we headed to Ooster's for some Belgian Ciney. The Belgian Ciney is a new brew that just arrived in Singapore yesterday, and we were like the 4th (or so) group of people to try it! That stuff was sooooo good! It really was so so gooood!!!!

YX, it was a nice chat we had over coffee and all, hopefully we'll get to finish the coffee next time ;) !
RT, hope u didnt have to OT too much at AMK!

One of my frens was pretty upset today. All I have to say is LiveStrong, be yourself and don't worry bout what others think, the best is yet to be!

Hartman

That reminds me, I once had 2 packets of Hartman solution squeezed into me in Thailand after a military exercise. Trust me, you don't EVER want to have 2 packets of Hartman squeezed into you! Because after that, you CAN'T STOP GOING TO THE BATHROOM!!!!

Seek, Save and Serve

One of my friends is a firefighter. He always complained how tough his job was, and how it didn't appear to be as rewarding as he expected it to be. Just a day or 2 ago however, there was a car crash on the AYE. His team was activated, they rushed to the scene and saved a life. Now he says that having saved a life makes the job that much more worth it! It started to get me thinking 'bout my own "life and death" experiences.....

I was once a young medic of the field, sworn to seek, save and serve my fellow soldiers. I received a distress call from the middle of the Brunei jungle about a fallen comrade. Since I was the nearest medic, I immediately rushed to the scene with an evacuation party. We bashed through thick undergrowth and undulating terrain for more than an hour before reaching the casualty. The casualty was comatose, and there was already a doctor with him. Together, we squeezed every packet (and I mean squeeze EVERY packet) of Hartman I had into him, but we failed to revive him. Time was running out, and the young doctor was panicking, I could see he was about to cry. And that totally freaked me out.... The stretcher party didn't seem to care much 'bout this guy; they were laughing and joking away. There was no way we could get the casualty out the way we came in because nightfall would come in less than an hour. Once its nightfall in Brunei, you can't see, so this guy would essentially be a gone case 'cos he wouldn't have lasted the night without medical treatment.....

We picked up the stretcher and walked in a general direction. Miraculously, less than 10 minutes before sundown we heard shouts. Somebody had found a way out to the main road, and there was a vehicle nearby. If we had been 10 minutes too late, that would have been it.... That night I didn't speak a word. I couldnt even reply when barked at by my Encik (or Sergeant Major for u non-military folks) aka Mad Dog. I had lost my voice till I was sure this guy was alive.....

That was 6 years ago. Though the guy I saved never was very grateful, that event changed my outlook on life. 6 years is a long time, and I thought I'd forget about it, but the look on his comatose face and the "about to cry" look on the doctor's face still lingers on....

To those of you who's daily work involves saving (or attempting to save) lives, I salute you. Though the career may not always appear to be as rewarding or respectable as you expect, do not give up. There is no greater honor than to seek, save and serve.....

Looks

How do you rate someone's looks on a scale of 1 to 10? Beauty is subjective.... Would a curvaceous buxom babe be 10? Fiona would certainly qualify. What about the cute innocent girl look? Or does it have to be a blonde? Kahlen from America's Top Model would fit the blonde category perfectly....

Beauty is subjective and I guess society's norms only work to a certain extent for me. On a scale of 1 - 10 a buxom chick or an innocent looking cutie may rate close to 10, but someone who brings a smile to your face everytime you see her would truly tip the scale.... That magical number 11 I would like to meet....

Ice Skating

I went ice skating today! So ice skating isn't really that different from in-line skating. The basic moves are the same I guess, xcept that its a lot more slippery, and nobody wears guards so expect to get some bruises.... Oh and its really wet when you fall! It's like falling into a puddle of water! I've nvr had so much fun going round and round in a circle hahaha!

After skating we checked out Yann Arthus Bertrand's photographic art pieces along orchard road. Strangely enough, we noticed that some of the most colourful pictures were those of polluted waters. The world is probably better of with less colour sometimes!!

Where's My Economist?

It's Friday. Okay, not any more. My "Economist" didn't come today! I am actually having withdrawal symptoms. Can't sleep. Can't get myself to read anything else. Can't trust the regular papers....

Oh, F has finally subscribed to the "Economist"!!! Finally one more person has seen the light! As they say, Fiat Lux, let there be light (and there was light....)! That was a great dinner we had tonight F. Feels great to know I have a true friend. The food was great, but the company better!

It's 3am and I'm real tired. But I still can't sleep. I'm not sure if its the lack of my favorite periodical or the latte at 9pm. Or a combination of both for that matter.... Today was an eventful day, but tomorrow will be a more eventful one. I'll be going ice skating, followed by checking out some art installation on orchard road which everyone says is good stuff. I have only ice skated once, a long time ago. I wonder if its anything like inline skating with less friction? If it is, hell yeah, I'm gonna love it every bit!

In the papers some ppl were lamenting bout the closure of local ice skating rinks, with Fuji being the last one alive. They are trying to find investors to set up rinks so that they can organise skating courses. Take a look at the successful ice skating rinks in California and what do you see? Ice Hockey! With the growth of international schools here and more Ang Moh style education, ice hockey is the only way an ice skating rink can survive and remain profitable. and spectator ice hockey that is. One skating rink for each international school home team! I pick ACS (International) for the championship! Already some Ang Mohs play ice hockey at JEC. Now we need to expand it into a proper league. And if the local sports school and sports powerhouses such as ACS, RI, SJI, Saints etc wanna join in, that'd be even better!

Political inclination

http://imunimaginative.deviantart.com/

Democrat 92%
Anarchism 58%
Green 58%
Socialist 42%
Communism 42%
Republican 33%
Nazi 8%
Fascism 8%

So I'm a through and through democrat. 'nuff said.

Conversations

I had the most interesting conversation with the most interesting person today. And after work I had more interesting conversations with my former JC classmates! Can we ever do without interesting conversations? ;)

Cal Cafe

After a long weekend of clubbing and weddings, I finally turned on my computer and discovered Cal Cafe (calcafe.berkeley.edu). This is the ultimate "friendster" for all Cal Alumni! I've practically spent the entire holiday creating groups on this website. So far I've got:
Cal Singapore
Chi Epsilon
Tau Beta Pi
ASCE
Cal Football
Californians
Concrete Canoe
If you are a Cal Alumni and belong to one of these categories, now's the time to add yourself to the list!

You win some, you lose some

Some people have been complaining that I don't update my blog enough. Maybe it doesn't occur to them that SOME people actually have to work. Or that SOME people don't actually go shopping for good deals the whole time. Maybe it's just that SOME people don't actually have very much energy left to blog after work.....

Anyway, I finally found something that I love doing. Unfortunately, it is related to WORK! And sometimes I feel that I'm not getting enough support or appreciation for doing what I love doing at work. I guess that beats some ppl who absolutely detest their job (or is that most people, going by a recent unofficial survey?). You win some, you lose some. Dynamic equilibrium. :P

Beating the Monday Blues

My junior from Berkeley CE made this website for a new company serving Singaporean food in the Bay Area: http://www.primatasteusa.com/index.html
They do catering too. Sounds good huh? Those of you still in Bear Territory, check it out and give me some feedback. Oh, the Bears beat Washington State 42-38 (by a whisker) last weekend! Go Bears!

I have the day off today. What better way to beat the Monday blues than to go skating at East Coast Park all morning? Ok, skiing down Whistler Mountain on a Monday morning would've been better, but no prizes for guessing why that's not gonna happen anytime soon (yw, u lucky b******!).

From Marine Parade to Changi (and back) on an almost deserted asphalt path, devoid of the usual weekend chatter, I can hear the birds chirping and the waves crashing onto the shore even through the mp3s blaring in my ear! Now that's what I call music! Coupled with the 15 minute break enjoying the shoreline and cityscape from Bedok jetty, what a great way to start the week! I don't want to go back to work anymore hahaha....

Anyway, I'm learning to skate backwards. I know the basic strokes already, but I think there are more advanced strokes to master, because I'm still going too slow to be on the path, and I can't see where I'm going.... So if anyone's got some tips, please holler out in the comments section!

I've been tagged

Tagging is supposed to be 1 list 5 items. I don't know how it evolved to this.

7 things that scare me:
the "lady dressed in white" on the jacob's ladder
seeing someone die and not being able to help (came close once)
high ski jump
to stop believing in a better tomorrow
being struck by lightning (had a few close shaves last month!)
being hit on by a gay who wont back off
getting stuck in a toilet cubicle (it did happen before, i almost had to break down the door to get out)
7 things i like the most:
skiing
skiing
skiing
skiing
skiing
skiing
skiing black diamond (advanced only)....
7 important things in my room:
me
bed
alarm clock (tho i still can never wake up in time for work)
radio
mobile phone
fan
window view of the sea
7 random facts about me:
sociable
like to ski (if u havent already noticed)
likes to listen to some S.H.E. (hahaha)
enjoys clubbing (but not paying for it)
listening to 9.33fm right now
will take skating if i can't ski
would love to find an "S" (you probably wont know what the hell i'm talking bout here)
7 things i plan to do before i die:
win the nobel prize (yah right)
make a billion dollars
be the next Warren Buffet
have kids
get married (ok this is not in the right order but i'm too lazy to rearrange)
travel across the world
the great american road trip (all 52 states, ok by boat to hawaii and alaska)
7 things i can do:
reading
writing
'rithmetic
skate backwards (kinda learned the proper technique only today)
ski ski ski!!! (black diamond, no moguls please....)
love
get a conversation going
7 things i can't do:
snowboard
hockey stop
backflip
run a marathon
high ski jump
360 spin on skates
moguls (arghhh, my biggest disappointment)
7 things i say the most:
Whack first talk later!
Then how? (only at work)
**** must advise (you probably won't get this either hahahaha)
man
wah lau
don't pray pray!
I need a raise.....
7 celeb crushes:
(no real crushes but fav celebs i guess)
Fiona Xie
Helen Hunt
Nicole Kidman
Stefanie Sun
Monica Belucci
Athena Chu
Warrent Buffet (He's my idol!!!!)
7 people who could do this:
The next 7 ppl who read this, you're tagged! make sure you fill up all the lists! :P

carpe diem

I've been attending a customer interaction course the last 2 days, which would explain why you haven't been seeing me in the office (except after 5). Oh and I got the best trainee award! I haven't had any awards in the last 2 years, so I guess this is a happy occasion. As Forrest Gump says, "Life's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get!" So, in the words of inspiration from the Dead Poet's Society, we've got to Carpe Diem (seize the day)!

I'll be in chinatown for Oktoberfest this saturday night, if anyone's interested in joining me for a pint or 2 drop me an sms. It'll be a little hot compared to Munchen but I guess we'll still feel the atmosphere. Which reminds me right now of the best foreign film I've watched in the past year, a German movie called "Das Wonder Von Bern". A lot of Germans think I'm mistaken for a swiss movie cos Bern is in Switzerland and the swiss speak German too! But trust me, it's a German movie. Who came up with this term "foreign film" anyway? Every movie we have here is really a "foreign film" from the US or HK or something yah? It was probably the Hollywood chaps who came up with that term. We can come up with something better.

Back to Munchen. A lesser known gem of Munchen that is not Oktoberfest, or that shopping district, or its churches, is the Munich Museum of Science and Technology. I can't describe it, and we chanced upon it accidentally. I read bout it in some travel guidebook, and i suggested we check it out tho it was only 2 hrs before closing. But I can tell you, that museum is absolutely amazing. You can't even imagine what I'm talking about. You would need 2 WEEKS to see and appreciate the whole place!!! Now that's what I call a real science museum!

Build your house on a rock!

Don't build your house on a sandy land
Don't build it too near the shore
Though it might look kinda nice
But you gotta build it twice
Oh you gotta build your house again!

You gotta build your house on a rock!
A firm foundation on a solid spot
Though the storms may come and go
But the peace of God you will know!

superplasticizer

I added another wikipedia entry. Boy, am I addicted to wikipedia or what?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superplasticizer

Pozzolanic ash

I'm trying to expand the "stub" in wikipedia for "pozzolanic ash" into a full article, so all you civil engineers out there please contribute!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozzolanic_ash

The most bizzare incident....

I witnessed the most bizarre incident on the bus today. Just one stop away from Tiong Bahru MRT station, 2 young kids and 4 middle-aged adults (parents, aunt and uncle I presume) got up the bus. One of the young kids was just over the 0.9m mark, and did not have a concession pass, so I suppose the driver asked his parents to pay the full fare. The mum was not too happy, and expressed her displeasure at the driver. What followed was the most bizarre thing....
The aunt suddenly started swearing hokkien vulgarities at the driver! And boy, not only was she shouting very loudly (the whole bus could hear), but the vocabulary she was using (which cannot be repeated here) was pretty intense! And she didn't stop till she got off at the MRT station. That middle-aged lady was insulting the Indian driver's parents and all, with language that I thought I would only hear in an army camp! And in front of their kids and all the other kids/office workers/ students etc on the bus too! Everyone was just staring at them the whole time!
So much for the ugly Singaporean.....

Face Analyzer

http://www.faceanalyzer.com/member.aspx?id=63615 (Thanks for the link CY)

Race Analysis
100% Chinese
0% East Indian
0% Middle Eastern
0% Eastern European
0% Southern European
0% Anglo Saxon
0% S0uth East Asian
0% Korean/Japanese

Personality Profile Rank
Celebmatch Bruce Willis
Intelligence 6.2 Average Intelligence 11983
Risk 5.4 Average Risk 5369
Ambition 5.6 Average Ambition 24861
Gay Factor 1.8 Very Low Gay Factor3586
Honor 6.0 Average Honor 3702
Politeness 6.7 High Politeness 4103
Income 6.2 $30,000 - $50,000 17168
Sociability 5.3 Average Sociability 20615
Promiscuity 2.5 Very Unpromiscuous28773

Your Archetype: White Collar

Personality Profile:
You particularly enjoy the traditional way of life. Having drinks with your friends, attending parties and relaxing while watching TV are some of the simple pleasures you indulge in. You may also enjoy physical exercise. Your driving force is to retire as early as possible, so that you can do the things you enjoy more often. Your main source of ambition comes from this desire. You dont particularly like your job but you do it without complaining. You realize that the income that it provides is essential to your lifestyle. You are friendly yet competitive with your co-workers. This competitiveness may lead you to squander your earnings to match other peoples' possessions. You operate most effectively when there is a set power structure, and the lines of authority are clear. You know your place in the ranks, you play by the rules, and will deliver what is expected of you. You do not care for responsibility; you would rather be care free.
Your view of other types
You sometimes disagree with Boss types, but you respect them for the most part. You may even be envious of their lifestyles. You find Academic types boring and uptight. You have very little in common with them. However some White collar types may respect the accomplishments of certain Academic types. You think that Artist types are unrealistic and immature. You like interacting with Charmer types, and sometimes envy their charisma. You perceive Gambler types mostly as loners and untrustworthy. However, since you may have to interact with them on a daily basis you are not hostile to them. You believe Drifters are too lazy to work for a living but you sometimes feel pity for them.
Other types' view of you
Boss types may have some things in common with Blue collar types, but for the most part they only interact with you during the course of business. Academics see White collar types as unsuccessful versions of themselves, but because of work situations they may have to interact with you often. Artists do not interact with you, for they consider you to be a slave of conformity. Charmer types may associate with you; they find that the collar types are the people that mostly want to hang around them. To the Drifter types your repetitive routines seem boring; they would prefer having more fun and excitement. They may however enjoy the company of some Blue collar types.

The Big One

I just read this article http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/172816/1/.html predicting that the next big earthquake in San Francisco has a 25% chance of occuring in the next 25 years. The authors of the study say that "As we approach the 100-year anniversary of that event, critical concern is the hazard posed by another such earthquake".

Well, most buildings in the Bay Area are designed to sustain minimal damage (continued occupation) in a 10% in 50 year event, and the more important ones are designed to sustain minimal damage in a 2% in 50 year event. Even the regular buildings are designed for life safety in a 2% in 50 year event, so I think you're pretty safe in a building, at least much safer than outside (falling glass hazards, fault rupture etc).

By the way, I was on the Bay Bridge when that quake in 2004 occured (the one that toppled some tower in the south bay). It was quite a big jolt in the city (I heard it on the radio) but guess what? I didn't feel a thing on the bridge. As I said, you're probably safer on a bridge or in a building than on the streets haha!

Oh, and lest we forget, the 1906 earthquake was actually more of the 1906 fire. More people perished due to the spread of fire than anything else. I'd say the fire protection engineers are the ones who should be on the alert rather than building designers....

The San Andreas Fault slips every single day. It's only a matter of time before the earthquake comes, so its no point being frantic just because the 100-year anniversary is approaching. Just remember your drills.

Here's my top ten tips:
1. Hide under the table if there is one. you dont want the lights or cupboard crashing down on your head.
2. Open all your room doors and unlock them before you hide! you don't want to be stuck in the room if the door gets jammed!
3. If there's no table hide in the doorway, stuff is less likely to fall on your head there.
4. If you are stuck in a corridor, run to the staircase. They are usually safer and u can make a quick exit from the rubble or fire.
5. Stay away from parking structures (don't ask why, just stay away!!!)! If you are stuck in one, hide in the staircase.
6. Don't run out into the streets! You are more likely to be hit by falling windows and stuff especially if you are in the city.
7. Don't run to the beach like those silly people who drove to the beach when there were tremors here! You might get hit by a tsunami! sheesh.....
8. If you could have anything in the world, it would be a hard hat. Just nice to protect your noggin from all those spalling concrete/shattered glass/flowerpots...
9. The safest place to be in during an earthquake is a hospital. Don't ask why. Though it wouldn't have been too nice to be in the Kobe general hospital in '95 (though they all made it out alive...).
10. After you've survived the Big One, don't take it easy just yet, there could still be aftershocks, floods, fires, etc!

Back to work....

Finally got back to work today. I turned on my computer and there were over a hundred emails!!!! It actually took me half a day to go through and act on all of them... Am I popular or what???

the magnificent pinnacles! 

did u know there's a reservoir on top of the wave rock? 

Big ass sand dune truck! 

The Koka is the weirdest animal ever! A giant rat that walks like a kangaroo.... (walks, not jumps) 

how did the peacock get up the tree? 

it was a long and hard bike ride to the Rottnest Island lighthouse. But it was worth every bit of sweat! 

check out this lifelike chalk drawing! YK, u gotta start practicing.... 

finally, great food 5: Exotic Kangaroo meat, medium rare! YUMMY! 

great food 4: freemantle barramundi and chips 

great food 3: oysters galore! 

great food 2: perth giant snow crab 

great food 1: lobster seafood platter 

It's the little things

It's the little things that we share
The love and joy that's in the air
The children's laughter everywhere
And all our favourite things...

ENFJ

I just tried out the free quiz on this website, http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp, which is supposed to be similar to the famous (and very expensive) Myers-Briggs personality type indicator test. The results show that I'm an ENFJ. Thats:
Extraverted
iNtuitive
Feeling
Judging
Never really thought I was much of a teacher, but the detailed analysis of my personality seems quite accurate, even on other websites that talk about the Myer-Briggs test. Try it out and tell me what u get!

Stem cells

I just read this article in the Economist about stem cells: "Some analysts in the past have forecast a US$10 billion market for stem-cell technologies by 2010... but not Michael Steiner and Nils Behnke, consultants with Bain and Company... come up with a far more modest (and convincing) forecast of US$100m for stem-cell therapies by the end of this decade...."
Well, $10 billion and $100m is a world of difference! 100 times to be exact! If this is really true, I wonder what's gonna happen when the biotech bubble bursts.....

Wine

I just found the coolest wine place today! Their wine cellar was 3 stories high. The waitress (dressed as a fairy) hooks on a harness and flies up to get your wine bottle after you place an order! And she goes up and down all over the place (like a mini performance) before she gets to your drink! How cool is that?

solving problems

"There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see, yet small enough to solve."
Mike Leavitt

Kudos

Kudos to the pilot who landed the Jetstar airplane this morning over LA! Would that malfunction have happened if it were not a budget airline?

Stereotypes

People say its wrong to stereotype/generalize or put people in categories. But hey, everyone stereotypes others to some extent, and as long as one is not a bigot, I guess there really isn't much harm done.
I realise, from having intellectual conversations with others, that people can really be divided into 3 categories: Those who read The Economist, those who do not read The Economist but read the papers regularly, and those who do not really read any form of news. Oh, and reading the New Paper doesn't count in the second category....

Southpark

Did I come to the right party?

Good service at last!

I had dinner at Dome Cafe at Shaw Center (Lido) tonight. The service was pretty good, although the check was really slow to come, though the waitress was quite apologetic about it. She actually asked me how was the food, whether I come here often, have I tried this dish before, etc, and for a moment there I thought I was in another country! They probably sent her for some customer service course after all that hoo-haa in the press about bad service lately. What really spoiled a great night was the Ang Moh sitting at the next table. He whistled (rather rudely) for her to come over and serve him as she was talking to me, as if she was his dog or something! And they say Ang Moh's make much better customers than locals.....

Brain drain

"Better brain drain than brain in the drain."
-Rajiv Gandi

Price of Peace

Yesterday marks 60 years since the day the Japanese surrendered Singapore to the British after 3 years of occupation. I happened to visit Changi War Museum and was reminded of the atrocities committed and the brave troops that fought the northern front till the very end even though they knew they were no match for the incoming Japs. May we never forget the price of peace!

Agnelli and Nelson @ Zouk

Party on!

Singapura

Here you go folks! Singapura, Oh Singapura, sunny island set in the sea....

Google Earth

Google Earth is cool! Check out the Cal campus:

Bowles Hall and the Maxwell (Kleeberger) field...

How about the stadium during a football game?

Finally some Asian food at Ranch 99!

Coming up next: Some pics of Singapore for those of you in the US...

Looting

Let's say you are stuck in a town which has just been hit by a hurricane and its all flooded all around you. Everything is messed up, your house is gone, your family is missing, and there are dead bodies floating around everywhere. You are cold, hungry, wet, tired and need medical attention. The authorities were slow to respond, so nobody's there to help. Then you see a Wal-Mart. The shelves are all messed up by the flood, and the store's probably gonna be torn down anyway. So you go in and help yourself to the half soaked food and get some clothing.

Should anyone really blame you for "looting"? Come on, the merchandise is not sellable anymore anyway, and you still need to survive! I'd be damned if you actually stood outside the Wal-Mart and die of starvation because of "upholding the law" or some bullshit.

Some people compare it to Sept 11 where there was general law and order in the aftermath. Well, a few pointers:
1. Sept 11 affected a small area of the city. Survivors could still walk to the unaffected parts to get some food, medicine and aid. If your entire city is destroyed and there is no place to go, that's a whole different story.
2. The authorities were fast to respond in Sept 11. Most people could get some form of help within a few days, if not hours, of the incident. If you ain't getting any help, you gotta help yourselves.

Someone's getting married (Again!)

It's hella late, I need to wake up early tomorrow morning so I gotta sleep real soon. But I've got to post this blog. Someone's getting married! OMG, I can't believe it!
All I can say is that this Saturday, we're gonna party till the sun comes up! Congrats guys! :P

chicken wings

Yesterday we had dinner at Hooters to celebrate my good friend's bachelor's party. Hooters, as we all know, is the great american sports restaurant well known for its chicken wings. I had a choice of medium, hot or 3-mile. I picked hot, since I figured this is Singapore, so hot should be pretty hot, for me at least. Turns out that hot is really only "mild" by my standards. Sheesh..... No kick at all! That got me wondering: why is the last category called 3-mile? It was only a few minutes ago that I recalled what 3-mile is. 3-mile island is the large nuclear reactor in North America, where there was some nuclear accident some years back. Ah, it must have been pretty hot in there!

That just gets me thinking about another chicken wing place, University Chicken in Santa Clara. University Chicken, also known as UC (not to be confused with the real UC) serves chicken wings coated in spicy habenero sauce. There are multiple grades of spicyness (10 i think?) with the hottest called "global thermonuclear". I tried the second hottest, thermonuclear, and it was so hot i couldnt get past the first one! Wonder how anybody can finish a plate of the hottest one....

Habenero just reminds me of the time when JM and Rory challenged me to finish that Habenero in the ASCE office. That just cracks me up! Ines totally freaked out man....

flash set

Hmm. My friend says that flash setting could be the reason for the concrete not setting. Flash setting due to excessive gypsum that is. Something to consider....

Concrete setting

I attended a course last week on contract management. The speaker started talking about concrete, which happens to be something I am quite passionate about (read the blog description). So Calcium Chloride is an accelerator while sugar is a retarder. And if you know your concrete, Calcium Chloride is not that good for concrete, because Chloride attack causes corrosion of steel rebar, and Calcium encourages alkali-silicate reaction (if you have reactive aggregate) which deteriorates your concrete in the long run.

So what's the point anyway? Well, the speaker, some expert, said that there was a lawsuit involving some contractor whose concrete could not set during construction. And after checking the site log, it appears that during casting it started raining and the workers ran away. So according to him it's the contractors fault cos anything could have fallen into the concrete, e.g. soft drinks with sugar, when they ran away, causing the concrete to not be able to set.

So what's the big deal anyway? Well firstly, if its just a couple of soft drinks, only a small area would not be able to set, not the whole slab. Secondly, sugar is a retarder, but unless u put a whole lot in, I think the concrete will still set if you just wait it out yah? I don't know the facts of the matter, but seems to me like the guy missed the point entirely. I don't think it was contaminants that caused the concrete not to set at all. In fact I think it's most likely a combination of poor concreting and mix proportioning that caused the concrete to HEAT UP too much during casting. I think what happened was "Delayed Ettringite Formation" also known ask "Internal Sulfate Attack" which occurs quite rarely because the concrete has to heat up till over 70 degrees celcius during casting. And yes, concrete can get that hot in Singapore, you'll be surprised. That's why we usually cast in the morning.

So, what's the point again? It just baffles me that the expert won the court case without having to actually find out the actual cause of the concrete not setting. He just pointed to the site log that the site was unattended. Which means there might have been some undesirable practices that were not discovered and corrected....

Interestingly enough, I wonder how many of you civil engineers out there even know what "Delayed Ettringite Formation" is? First time you heard of it? Even in a place where setting concrete can potentially reach 70 degrees celcius?

It's the little things

It's the little things that we share
The sound of joy that's in the air
Children's laughter everywhere
and all our favorite things....

kaka

kaka bo baka
fee fi mo maka
Kaka!
Good to hear from u again after such a long time! :P

Berkeley Bunch 2000

Berkeley Bunch 2000. It's been 5 years since the day we stepped into Berkeley, and life has never been the same again. Thanks for the last 5 years of happy memories!

Tragedy

Thought for the day:
To not learn from a tragedy is the greatest tragedy of all

Bird

I met a bird.
A small small small small bird.
It wanted to fly but it couldnt fly high enough.
And the tears flowed....
Flowed like a river.....
I looked out my window and I saw a red figure
And then it was blue, and then it was yellow
And the yellow turned green
Green with the grass on the Glade

The chain was gone
The circle moved to the third
And the cold wind blew
On that lonely road to Bowles

Oh that lonely road to Bowles
Was it really that lonely?
For my brothers await
And together we drink till tonight
And we drink till tomorrow
For I met a bird
And it taught me to fly

Cal Drinking Song (Full)

Ohhh we...... had a little party down in Newport
There was Harry, there was Mary, there was Grace
Oh we had a little party down in Newport
And we had to carry Harry from the place
Oh we had to carry Harry to the ferry (to the ferry)
Oh we had to carry Harry to the shore (to the shore)
And the reason that we had to carry Harry to the ferry
Was that Harry couldn't carry anymore!

California! California!
The hills send back the cry
We're out to do or die!
California! California!
We'll win the game and know the reason why!

And when the game is over we will have a keg of booze
And drink to california till we waddle in our shoes
So drink, tralala
Drink, tralala
Drink, drank, drunk last night
Drunk the night before
Gonna get drunk tonight like I never was drunk before
Cos when I'm drunk, I'm happy as can be
Cos I am a member of the Souse family

And the Souse family is the best family
That ever came over from old Germany
There's the highland Dutch and the lowland Dutch
The Rotterdam Dutch and the Irish!

Sing glorious, victorious
One keg of beer for the four of us
Sing glory be to God that there are no more of us
Cos one of us could drink it all alone, damn near!
Here's to the Irish, dead drunk!

The lucky stiffs.....
They had four fifths....
A keg or two....
Of homemade brew....

And there was grandma
Sitting on the outhouse door
Without her nightie......
And there was grandpa
Wishing he could get some more
But he was eighty....
Don't you know you gotta GO BEARS!!!

Run on skates?

I tried something new today. Tried to "run" while skating. Yeah, run run, like legs stretched out, back leg pushing out, knees bent and all. And guess what? I found out I could..... FLY! Weehoo! I was going so fast, its almost like downhill skiing! Better keep that helmet on tight....

Colors

Red and yellow and, pink and green.... Purple and, orange and blue.... I can sing a rainbow! Sing a rainbow! Sing a rainbow too....

The Team of '03

Alright now u got me started. This is the team, right here! #3 in Nationals, Best Paper, 2nd Presentation, 5th Races, Tony P Chrest Innovation Award. Summer of '03. Now that's what I'm talking about! Go, Big Blue, Show 'em what you can do!

Drunk Girl

This is the crazy girl drunk on race day back in '03. Sorry I forgot you were in the car screaming when I almost got us crashed while watching the high speed car chase.... Alright, I'm sorry, there're no car chases in Singapore and it was my first time!

Rocky

Burgers remind me of Philly Cheese Steak at Pat/Geno's (the origninal). This is where Rocky stood while eating a Philly Cheese Steak. Was it Pat's or Geno's?

Burgers

Had Carl's Junior today. The burger was SO HUGE but..... it was COLD! Nothing is a bigger turnoff than a cold burger man.... The beef chilli cheese fries were good (and hot) though. Now this is starting to remind me of In-N-Out.

In-N-Out burgers are so good! The fries are so salty and the shakes are so thick! Name your favorite In-N-Out outlet. It's gotta be the last one on the 80 as you head east towards Lake Tahoe. Nothing beats an In-N-Out burger just before you head up the Sierra Nevada (or when you're coming back from a disappointing canoe showing at Reno...)! It makes that long drive worth it!

So is it faster to drive through or to get "to go" at the counter? I've never really figured out the answer to that question. I guess the line at the drive through seems longer.... Oh 2nd best In-N-Out is the Hilltop one in Pinole. Right next to Krispy Kreme hell yeah! Double-Double no onions, fries and chocolate shake then head over to the 'ol Krispy Kreme for a free sample or 2! I remember that one time, my last day with a car, where I had this chocolate doughnut filled with custard and almost squirted it all over myself in front of Mary, JM and gang. Was Rory there? Well how was I know there's only one way to eat a doughnut with filling? No, now I remember, Rory wasn't there, neither was JM. It was me Mary and Aviva. That was the very last time I saw Aviva. And I almost crashed the car on my last day in it, because there was a high speed chase on the freeway and I was watching the chase rather than the road hahaha!

OMG, I miss you guys, can you come over and get me some good 'ol In-N-Out to go? Canoeicks rock!

PJ just did it!

PJ just swam the English Channel! He's really an inspiration to all of us! I mean, the only channel I deal with is the one which u can control using the remote..... Wait a go PJ! The Best is Yet to Be!

Quote

"If the inputs and outputs are wrong, you'll never get it right no matter how you change the process." That's the most brilliant thing I've heard all day. All week for that matter. The classical "rubbish in, rubbish out" that you hear from those doing structural mechanics. I guess the structural engineers are more crude.... Should I just post a "quote for the day" everyday? That might just keep my blog updated.

Grr Rah!

University of California-Berkeley student turns the corner in the conrete-canoe slalom race at the 150th Anniversary National Student Conference of the American Society of Civil Engineers in Madison, Wis. (Photo/Andy Manis)

Big C

On our rugged Eastern Foothill, stands our symbol clear and bold! Big C means to fight and strive and win for Blue and Gold! Golden Bear is ever watching, day by day he prowls; And when he hears the threat of a lowly STANFURD brat, from his lair he fiercely growls! Hey what u say? He says: "Grrr rah! Grr rah! Grr rrr rrr rah!"

Language

Some people say I don't update my blog enough. The last entry was quite some time ago I guess. I was thinking about it. Some people actually blog every day, and their daily blog is pretty long! How does one find so many things to talk about? And the energy to put them all down in words too..... Maybe I just don't have enough to talk about. But then again a lot of people say I always have a lot to talk about. hmmm.....

Well I suppose there are a few group of frequent bloggers out there. One group would just treat it as their personal diary, talking 'bout every single feeling they have every single day (much like what this is becoming...). Another group assumes a fictitious persona such as Darth Vader or something, or maybe just prose; the aspiring authors I suppose. How 'bout those who like to comment? Just commenting about everything under the sun especially politics. Now, it might come across to some indivduals that these "comments" appear to be more like "complaints". So that leads to the conclusion that locals "complain" too much. Firstly, what happened to the first amendment (oops wrong country!)? Why bother if people like to comment/complain? Secondly, if "comments" in local blogs really do end up to be lots of "complaints", maybe it really means some things need to be changed/improved, not that we are a society of "complainers".

Nuff said. Now lets talk about language. I'm a sticker for good language, be it spoken or written, though much has to be said of my own mastery of my second language. Did u guys watch that dating show on Channel 8 at 8.30pm? Well, basically its on Channel 8, so its a Chinese show. Most of the participants could barely finish a sentence in Chinese without breaking out into English. That just shows the state of Chinese language education..... What's even more amazing is that I know some Higher Chinese former classmates who pretty much gave up Chinese after Secondary school and now can hardly read or write. So much for Higher Chinese, the creme de la creme......

Speaking of language, my favorite magazine is "The Economist". Ah, that nice British magazine or shall I say periodical? On page 36 (Lexington) of the Asian edition this week, there is a typo. "There is no clear conservative partly" should be read as "There is no clear conservative party". This is not the first typo that I've found in "The Economist", and yes, I do read (almost) all the articles. When I used to read Newsweek (younger days) and Time (even younger days), I never found that many typos. Come on you guys, mind your language!

Ramly burger

Went to the neighbourhood pasar malam at Tampines today. They have pasar malams there pretty often, right outside Tampines mall. I was watching a movie, so just decided to pop in and get a Ramly burger, which I most definitely enjoyed.
How many of you don't know what's a Ramly burger? I see a lot of hands raised... Well, if you ain't had a Ramly, you ain't really experienced a Pasar Malam! Ok, its a Malaysian streetside burger, chicken beef or fish. First an egg is poured onto the grill, then the pattie is placed on top of the egg and fried. The pattie is then wrapped up in egg, covered with a whole variety of sauces and served between burger buns. Lagi shiok!
Turns out that the whole pasar malam is entirely brought over from Malaysia. Yes, the entire pasar malam. I was wondering why I kept hearing the Malaysian accented Chinese/hokkien every where I go... You know the accent with a flat tone towards the end of the sentence? You can't miss it..... No wonder they were selling stuff so cheap. Original VCDs and DVDs for less than the price of the pirates. Must have just brought over from Johor and converted from Ringgit.
Did you know the cost of living in Singapore is higher than New York City? I read it in some article. Infamous Tokyo, as everyone knows it, is the number one most expensive city to live in. New York City was ranked number 23 and Singapore was ranked number 19. Whenever I visit NYC we're like "wah so expensive to live here", heh, what 'bout our own backyard? Sure, people will say that's because car and house are expensive to purchase here mah, because we are congested mah. Well, NYC is congested, and many people do not own a house (they rent) or car either! So I'm sure they took that into account in the "cost of living" calculations. The next time you feel that you are not earning enough to get by comfortably, you know why....
If only we have foreign-import Malaysian pasar malams (which sell things dirt cheap) more often. Maybe we'll be ranked lower than NYC next year.....

Found it!

Finally, a decent article in Sports Illustrated (see previous post)! Guess they have something more than swimsuit babes after all.... I thought OLN or the official Tour de France website would at least have quicker news.... I mean, newsflash is called newsflash cos it's supposed to be out fast! Well, that wasn't the only weird thing today. One of my friends apparently has not heard of the Tour de France!!! And he happens to be one of the more outdoorsy kind..... Guys, keep those LiveStrong wristbands on and make sure everyone out there knows what it stands for!

Missing Tour de France?

I can't find any articles right now on Stage 8 of the Tour de France!! Is it just me? Looks like Lance Armstrong is still in yellow after the end of the Stage 8 race. But it's taking quite a while for any website to write an article about it.... Maybe cycling just isn't popular enough....

Canoe gets Number 4 placing

California Concrete Canoe is number 4 in nationals! Hell yeah! HELL YEAH!
Over here for the complete rankings:
http://www.uah.edu/student_life/organizations/ASCE
And looks like it was the oral presentations that made all the difference. Still remember when it was me up on stage a few years ago. Had a bit of stage fright back then, but we managed to get number 2 in presentations just behind Wisconsin.
Keep it up Cal! Number One next year! Let there be light!