Drunk Cat

If any of my words dun make any sense.. cos I'm drunk. Met up with my noc collegues , went for dinner then go clubbing. Initially walk all the way from clarke quay to Butter Factory, but it turns out that it's closed for some function. In the end we went to zouk. Have to say that it's my first time there. The long island there is super potent... really... drank some and i start to have those drunk feeling (some ppl call it high). Later saw my noc boss. He's just back from US for a short while. He treated us to long island, but this time round, i take only a few slips cos i know that i cannot take it anymore... i have reached my alcoholic tolerance limit. This time round, I;m more drunk than the previous time. SH manage to convince jarJar to come down at around 2am, but too bad i got to leave by 2.30 cos going JB tml...or rather a few hours later... wonder if i can wake up on time... better go and get some sleep now. nitez...

Firmware update is useful

haiz... Take about 25min just to verify 1 DVD... really cannot stand the long time taken. So what to do but to take a little gamble. If win, I'll have a better dvd burning experience... else I would have to say bye bye to my dvd burner. Downloading the latest firmware and installing it really takes some determination. Heartbeat increases when i click on the update button. Thankfully, the update goes successfully...

A new lesson in DVD buring

Last night only get to sleep at around 3am, then got to wake up at 7am for work. So effectively slept for <4 hours. So what have I been doing??? It's all be cos of my dvd burner lor. Trying to burning some stuff on the newly bought DVD+R discs, but somehow, it manage to burn successfully, but failed during the verification process. Study the log file, but can't determine what wrong, only see the KEY_MEDIUM_ERROR in all the unreadable sector. So goggle around trying to find a solution. But alas, this is the first time google failed me. None of the stuff I found actually relate my problem.

Played around the idea of flashing my dvd burner with the latest firmware, but the process seem tedious, need to mess around with mythfire's internal environment which I'm quite reluctant to do so... This will only be my last resort...

Then I remember something... in my previous burining adventures, I used DVD-R type of discs and nero did not set the booktype to DVD-ROM, but when I use the DVD+R, nero actually set it to DVD-ROM. So dig into my treasure chest, took out a burnt DVD and pop it into mythfire. Using the various nero tools, it's confirmed that those discs' booktype remain as DVD-R. A thought occurs to me that this might be what I'm looking for..... Messing around with nero's settings, I configure the booktype to be set according to the media's physical booktype and duno act smart suga suga auto set to DVD-ROM. And this time round, itworks liek magic. Pass the verification process.

以铜为镜可以正衣冠，以人为镜可以知得失，以史为镜可以知兴替 - 唐太宗 (李世民)

Good Luck to those having exams soon

May the Luck be with you...

The Five Factor Personality Test

Another test that I did when bo liao-ing

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have medium extroversion. You're not the life of the party, but you do show up for the party. Sometimes you are full of energy and open to new social experiences. But you also need to hibernate and enjoy your "down time." Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness. You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly. Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone. You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is low. You're a pretty conservative person, and you favor what's socially acceptable. You think that change for novelty's sake is a very bad idea. While some may see this as boring, many see you as dependable and wise.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Birthdate and Char

true or not... I let you decide. haahahah....

Your Birthdate: February 4

You have an extraordinary character - moral, responsible, and disciplined. Your sincerely and honesty shine through in almost every situation. Driven and focused, you rarely let your emotions get the better of you. You're level headed and rational. People count on your to look at things objectively. Your strength: Your unwavering loyalty and ethics Your weakness: Your rock solid stubbornness Your power color: Navy blue Your power symbol: Shield Your power month: April

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Dominant Intelligence

saw this thing on jar jar's blog and so decided to do one for myself. It seems that I'm in the correct profession.hahahaha....

Your Dominant Intelligence is Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

You are great at finding patterns and relationships between things. Always curious about how things work, you love to set up experiments. You need for the world to make sense - and are good at making sense of it. You have a head for numbers and math ... and you can solve almost any logic puzzle. You would make a great scientist, engineer, computer programmer, researcher, accountant, or mathematician.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

遇到害怕的事时, 你一定要面对它. 只有这样, 你才能克服它,战胜它 ...
- [大冒险家]

"you gotten take chances for things you care for... "
- Eight Below

Keep Computer Science Fun

"I think that it's extraordinarily important that we in computer science keep fun in computing. When it started out, it was an awful lot of fun. Of course, the paying customers got shafted every now and then, and after a while we began to take their complaints seriously. We began to feel as if we really were responsible for the successful, error-free perfect use of these machines. I don't think we are. I think we're responsible for stretching them, setting them off in new directions, and keeping fun in the house. I hope the field of computer science never loses its sense of fun. Above all, I hope we don't become missionaries. Don't feel as if you're Bible salesmen. The world has too many of those already. What you know about computing other people will learn. Don't feel as if the key to successful computing is only in your hands. What's in your hands, I think and hope, is intelligence: the ability to see the machine as more than when you were first led up to it, that you can make it more.” -- Alan Jay Perlis (April 1, 1922 - February 7, 1990)

爱的宣言

To love someone is something.
To be loved by someone is another thing
To be loved by someone you love is everything

-heard this on 933

Reflect

Sometimes, when we do things, we need to know why we are doing. To quote a friend of mine and which I agree: "An organisation fail becos it has lost it's mission" We must not forget our roots, the aim and mission of the organisation. Staying relevant is the key to survial. Having stuff and activites that promotes an organistion's standing in the international stage is one thing, but we need to ask ourselves what value does all these create for the mass stakeholders. Will our stakeholders suffer if the organisation cease to exist?

A Day of Mixed Feeling

Friday is really a day of mixed feeling.

One of my collegues has received an edict and will will be transfered back to the capital city. So we had a farewell lunch for him at marina square. Had ribs, super full. Had another farewell lunch for him with another group of collegues (Guess it's the first time we had lunch with them) on the previous day.

That very night is also nussu's appreciation dinner 2006. NAD is meant to thank each and every nussu member who had make significant contribution to nussu activities. It's already my third time attending, awarded cert of distinction for 3 years + a long service award last year. Get to meet up with my old friends from cblc, some whom i have share 3 years with. PK was also saying that I'm getting emotional. Maybe got infected by that nvac guy bah.

Chia was saying that receiving the LSA is like you are v. old liao. This year's LSA award is quite few (maybe becos last year is the 1st time giving out bah, so more ppl qualify, then this year not many ppl qualify as many already recieved last year bah). Looking around, it seems that abt half the LSA goes to cblc ppl. GNN commented that those who get silver normally siong siong do 1 year then slack forever. But hey, here we dun siong for 1 year, but consistently do things that are really related to students' welfare in nus.

A Week in Brief

Mon
Celebrate Ah Pooh and Zhiyang (belated) 's birthday at Wheellock's fish & co. Had the fish & chips (or rice rather) with new york cheese. Also get to try out the passion fruit drink.

Tue
Met a financial adviser with Orange n Junior. Spent a total of 3++hrs talking to her, filling up pages after pages of questionnaire.

Wed + Thurs
Uneventful cos continue to write for the conference paper

Fri
Went back to YIH to celebrate Mooncake fes with the CLBCians. As usual, CS bought us 2 boxes of sushi. The current MC and their members were playing games (1 team member 比手画脚 to another and this process carries on till the last person and that person suppose to say out the phrase) to bond together. Of cos the activities for the night includes movie screening and playing LAN games. The moive is a korean comedy (multi-cellular gal) which basically has no plot but good for some laughs. Compared to last year, the turn out rate for the sub-comm seems to be quite low... But maybe becos it's the actual day for mooncake fes and people want to go home and celebrate bah.

Sat
JB trip. 1st stop is still the same city sq. Had our lunch at the shop selling duck rice. Total bill is RM15 per person. Then we move on to Jusco Tebrau City, followed by the 2nd largest Giant in JB. In the end, we spent RM390 at Giant!!! Had dinner at Karlim Restoran Orang Asli. The food there is not really superb and more expensive than the one at Tamah Sri Tebrau Hawker Center. Don't even have the stingray that we want. Don't think will go back there to eat again. Also the place is so ulu. The road going there reminds me of Area D sia. Went back to TSTHC to eat the hk style chee cheong fan and then it's home sweet home

HYP Revisited

Finish writing my part for the paper that's to be submitted to an international conference. Actually, supposed to finish writing long time ago one. But then due to delays at the other side, so only wait until now then got the instructions on what to write. Actually shouldn't be difficult to write since it's based on my HYP project. But then hor, my projected was completed almost half a year ago! So ended thinking what, why and how I did certain things. More brain cells ROD liao. Now only hope that the paper will be published, then at least it will be worth the weekends burnt both by my hyp partner and me

[finger crossed] + [pray hard]

Lingz Birthday Celebration @ 鲜得来

Had a belated birthday celebration for huang on fri @ 鲜得来 at Liang Seah Street. 鲜得来 serves steamboat in a buffet style, and like most steamboat buffet, it is a yuan yang pot. Total, we have 3 pots cos 13 people mah. For my pot, it's the spicy chicken and clear soup. The spicy chicken meat is tasty and we take it out to eat before the soup is pour in. I'm sure the owner must be laughing at us in some hidden corner. hahahh. oh ya, it cost $21/person for the dinner

Unlike those opp shaw tower, this one is more like an ala cart buffet. Have to place order for the kind of meat, veg etc, then the ppl will serve us. The quantity per serving is quite small. So we will always ask for more serving, eg. 5 plates of beef, 8 plates of prawns etc. Well..well.. that GNN eats the most prawn for the night. His plate is full of prawn shells.

We got a present for lingz and QY wants us to guess what it is use for. That thing got some blades and a container to collect whatever it shaves... Ans range from armpit hair shaver, leg hair shaver, fan etc. But the real ans is..... to shave off those tiny fabric thigns that appear on the clothes after washing. Then we also collect some notes and fold it into heart shapes and give to lingz.

After dinner, we went to this pub along napier road. Last time there was about 1 year ago wor. Chit chat there, wan to play cards..but the pub no longer supply cards... By the time left that place already 1am liao... and have to summon the owl to take me home..

Ah Jie's Birthday

Orange's 25th (or is it 35th) birthday is finally here and over!!! In the past, be it elf's, bean, ahleelee, orange or my birthday, we'll always go out to celebrate... dine in some restaurants or go overseas (actually is just malaysia!!! hahhahaha). But this time round, we decide to DIY the whole celebration.

DIY #01: Chocolate Cake
Bought the premix powder from Giant. Follow the instructions to prepare the cake. But I add in 2 pieces of dark chocolate to add some really chocolate taste. Due to the small size of our baking pan and oven, i bake the cake in 2 pan and layered them together, gel by a chocolate mixture.. yummy!


DIY #02: Steamboat
elf drove us to redhill ntuc to buy the various steamboat ingredients needed. Back in elf's little elvendon, orange and i set out to prepare the steamboat. Orange decide to make some stock soup.. MSG free!!! We make some wanton, orange prepare the fillings (oh ya, i got help to diced the garlic, apple and spring onions) while i do the wrapping (1st time doing leh). Ok, the final wantons looks interesting (should be able to get some creative awards bah), but at least the fillings did not drop out of the wanton when cooked :) of cos, as the culinary expert, orange proceed with slicing the various meat


DIY #03: Chocolate Fondue
This is the most sinful thing we eat! When fresh strawberries, banana, apples and grapes dipped in thick, tasty chocolate sauce... the feeling is heavenly!!! How to prepare the sauce? Simple, just cook some milk and add in cooking chocolate (never know got difference between cooking chocolate and hte normal kind we eat everyday). But we wan to be special abit, so add in 4 pieces of dark chocolate. The effect is superb!!!


DIY #04: Manjong
Of cos must be DIY lah. People cannot play on your behalf right? Learn more new rules of this game. But i'm just not cut out to be a manjong player. Only manage to win once. Orange and elf keep on winning lor. Lucky, there's no monetary stuff involved, else sure have to eat grass for this week liao!


The next birthday celebration will be in feb 2007 and it's for........ ME!!!! So any surprises? Will be waiting from you guys.. muhahahahahahahaha

<<锦瑟>> 李商隐

锦瑟无端五十弦，一弦一柱思华年。
庄生晓梦迷蝴蝶，望帝春心托杜鹃。
沧海月明珠有泪，蓝田日暖玉生烟。
此情可待成追忆，只是当时已惘然。

heard this on liao zai on channel u earlier.

无题

3 weeks nvr blog liao.. how time flies wow.

Dragongate

Went dragongate for the dim sum buffet with the cblc khakis. Also to celebrate Kevin's birthday. It has been years since I went there liao. Still the same setting, same staff... Food wise is ok. For that kind of price, you can't really expect to see those sharkfin based dim sum right?

Peaceful Bistro

A good friend of mine brought me to this place call Petals & Leaves Bistro for dinner yesterday. The food there is not exactly fantastic, but the atmosphere is superb. I had a Kranji's Fish and Chips while he has the Chicken Chop with mushroom sauce (serves with butter rice). The restaurant will play those kind of relaxing music while you dine. And not forgetting the big pond in front (9m deep, got fishes, tortoise). The place is done up with a rustic, Bali kind of feeling (though more improvement can be made). It's really a good place to relax in, out of the urban setting that one's so familar with. And the best thing is that place is still not heavily patronised, so not crowded, no kids running here and there to spoil the feel, no noisy people around... So wan to know where is it? It at Neo Tiew Crescent
(near Lim Chu Kang, Kranji... those farms there lah). Inconvenient to go? No worry, they got shuttler bus there. Anyway, heard they are going to build some resort...

The URL: http://gardenasia.com/2006/templates/bistro.html

Finally got my pass

After 6 weeks of working, I finally got my security pass on my 7th week. Finally canuse the side gate liao!!!

No more walking through the maingate everyday. No more exchanging of the Vistor pass with my IC at the pass office. No more signing in and out of the vistor log book. No more grilling by the the security guards with the same questions everyday, despite seeing me everyday (except weekends of cos).

Would like to thank SC and YM for escorting me up to the office everyday, without any complains. Also want to thank ES for acompany me in using the main gate after lunch esp when he can use the side gate is is a distance saver. 谢谢你们!!!

Batam

Went to batam with JAOZ over the weekend. Stayed at Harris. Duno why, this trip doesn't seem to be as fun as those that we had before... maybe my expectation too high esp after hearing the experiences of my cblc kakis who went there last year. But anyway, as usual, some funny things do happen. The most happening is O. During go kart, O, being a reckless driver, duno how, managed to mount J's vehicle. For me, my camera bag n hand kena fed with black oil.

Went fishing in a fish farm. That one is super kelong one. No matter how u fish, you will never catch the fish. The fishes are so small, that they only nimble the bait andso won't get caught in the hook. JAZ rolled up the fish food into cakes or balls and scattered them into the pond to feed the fishes instead. SGD $10 wasted for nothing.

Sat lunch is just a simple fare of pizzas. But dinner is the indonesian food cum bbq buffet. Nothing exotic though. Best is the corns. The desert drink (looks like our chendol) doesn't suit my taste bud cos there's too much coconut sugar inside. yucks

Went to Nagoya to do some shopping on sun. But quite disappointed. Nothing to buy at all. The driver told us there got a robinson, and we were so excited, determined to find it. Being recee trained ppl, we have no difficulty in nagivating around in unknown terrain without a map. Finally, we found robinson and 此robinson非彼robinson. It's just a shopping mall call robinson, nothing to do with the one in Singapore. Level of Excitment dropped instantly. Worst shopping experience.

Had KFC for lunch. My conclusion is the chickens in batam are organic chickens. So small!!! Must be never use those chemicals to make them grow big and fat. The drumbstick is like only 1/4 - 1/3 the size u find in Sg's KFC. Want organic chicken? Then you knwo where to find. But then hor, be prepared to visit NKF if you eat too much of the chickens there. Utterly salty.

4pm batam time, we set off for the jetty. The jetty is almost empty, so unlike the bintan one. After clearing the customs, no one to guide us to anywhere. But we smart, go and find the ferry ourselves... else might have to spend another night in batam...

On the journey back, O was sharing with us about the australia's experience. And that's our next major overseas destination. In the middle of the journey, I went up to the upper open air deck to eat some sea wind. Feeling bo liao, I took some pics of the setting sun and the sentosa island that appears soon after.

Back in Sg, and guess what we eat. PIZZA again. This time round, we went to SPizza at harbourfornt. Order 3 large and 1 medium (cos O has a voucher for 1 medium pizza). Can't remember the name of the pizzas, but We ordered the J, F, U and S. Nice pizzas, delicious. Anyway, that meal was paid for by O and me as a treat for our birthday boys: JAZ.

汪汪

No bones about it, you're a perky, loving Cocker Spaniel. (Think Lady from Lady and the Tramp.) Playful and energetic, you're a real people person — er, dog. People can't help but fall hook, line, and sinker for your friendly, well-rounded personality and natural charm. It's a subtle thing, though — being outgoing and flirtatious, not showy, is the name of your game. Friends, co-workers, and potential dates can't help liking you. How could they not? Your winning-yet-humble ways make you popular, admired, and a joy to be around. Woof!

*************************
Tell me if this is true...

More Ritz Carlton Photos

More photos... Look at the food taken by Jing Wen

Smart IT Pros Still Do Stupid Things

but aren't they humans too?

http://www.eweek.com/slideshow/0,1206,pg=0&s=700&a=186516,00.asp

感动... Touched..

Sometimes, it's a small gesture that really touches the heart of the people. Here, would like to say a big thank you to Kevin and his gang (namely Gerard and Chia, did i miss out anyone else?) for the pen holder that you guys handmade for each of us graduating mc. Really touched sia, almost want to drop tears liao. Okie, I know it's a bit dramatic here, but you know the feeling right...

Each piece is truly unique and not available for resale...

NUSSU CBLC 14th MC End of Term Dinner

19th Aug 2006 - This is the day to remember. Why? Cos it's the day whereby the 14th MC went to Ritz Carlton's Greenhouse for the end of term dinner. Well, it's a bit late but the wait is worth it.

So what did we have there? Seafood International Buffet!!!! The lobster is juicy and sweet. The pan-fired lobster is even better... so cruncy, but abit salty though. Of cos the usual stuff like oyster is there as well. But if compared to Shangri-la's The Line, the oyster at Greenhouse is consider smaller... Overall, the spread of food at Ritz Carlton is not as much as the one at Shangri-la, but a smaller selection means we can eat more of the better one. Anyway, I only touch the seafood and none of those beef, noodles, rice etc. :)

Is the food nice? You see what how much gerad eat lor: 3 lobsters, 10 oysters, 10 prawns, 5 scallops and many many more. Heehee... As you can see, I didn't take many food pic cos busy eating (think my waist line going to expand again. hahaa). But here's 2 of them, the the shark fins soup and the delicious lobster:



Want to know the cost? It's $56+++, so final price is $65.

Early in the week, we ordered a White Choc Raspberry cake from Coffee Bean for the aug babies. Can you imagine, 3 of us took a few hours to discuss on msn on which cake to order? In the end, we settled on this cos this is the Cake of the Month!!! Taste not bad, especially like the raspberry in the middle. It's the not normal kinda of cake cos it's make of cream inside and not those noraml flour. At 1.6Kg, it may seems big but we did mange to finish it, though the birthday boys and gal gave part of it to another birthday gal at another table. So today, go to Suntec's coffee bean to collect the cake. Oh ya, forgot to mention who's the birthdae boys and gal hor. It's Kevin, Liquan (actual day) and Chewy. Can't remember who said that Kevin and that gal got 夫妻像. haahahah



After dinner, we went to KBox. Initially, the lady there wants to charge us $21+++ for all 13 of us... Later she see us hestiate and make us another offer, charge us for a 10 person package. We go out and discuss discuss. Then she send her ka kia to talk to us and they gave us their ultimate offer: 13 ppl, but pay only for 8 ppl!!!! Really kio teo. hahaahha.... Then we sing all the way to 4am... As usual, keep on kena mock by Gerard.

After that the 2 x JH and I went to Mac and idle around cos we dun wan to pay the midnight charge, intending to take the 1st train home. But alas, 1st train is at 6.30... cannot take it liao.. so take cab home, but heng no midnight charge cos it's already 6.0x am when we board the cab....

House of Pictures

Went to the PictureHouse @ The Cathay today to watch My Super ex-girlfriend. It's a comedy, not bad..but not the funniest that I've watch before, and could pretty much guess the ending so not much of a thrill... But the seat there is superb lor. The best I've seen in Singapore. There's a lot of legroom, so no worry will kena the economy class syndrome. No No..these are not any special seats, but those normal priced seats. Actually, some of the neighbourhood cinemas (like Princess) also got good legroom... but their seat is super uncomfortable, like seating on a plank like that. But picturehouse one is different, GV kind of finish, with ample legroom. Somemore, the tickets are cheaper than GV!!! Good environment, good price.. must go there more often!

Convention

Todae got staff staff convention at Suntec's Rock. So productivity in office v.low... Also 1st time go out for lunch got rain.. Want to order from pizza hut.. but the stoopid person say due to overwhelming response from depot road, they are not going to accept our order!!!! What the fish. Got bz also dun wan..How to be a service hub? GEMS is dead!!!! then super suay also draw cards, T n I drew the smallest card so got to ta bao for the rest.

Got a tea reception before the convention. Food wise so so only. The sushi doesn't taste nice but duno why it was the 1st to be cleared completely. But I gotten the last piece with baby optopus!!! muahahahaha

Then saw a video showing the various activites that the coy organised. So much welfare for those at HQ..... Then the MC wan to remind ppl to swich off/ slient the hp.. Duno why so extra, must play a video showing Chicken Little to do so...

Then the Uncle Tan gave his talk..after that get the indonesian sub's MD to talk also. But duno what that indonesian talking abt cos i went to play chess with Grandpa Zhuo. lol.. Then immediately by Uncle Tan's talk, we went off...

Goodbye YIH...

This post is meant to be created on 5th aug 2006... Today is my last day of cblc duty. My first cblc duty is on 19 aug 2002. Begin with YIH, end with YIH. A circle is fullfilled indeed.

Feel sad when leaving YIH..afterall, it's like my 2nd home. It's a place when i share the joy and sweat with my fellow commards. It holds the memory which i believe everyone of us treasures.