Demo to company

I did a demo of WordPress to my colleagues.

Remittance through MasterCard MoneySend

MasterCard has launched a money transfer service called MoneySend.  This service allows you to do a money transfer through your MasterCard to another MasterCard or Maestro account, and is available on the Internet.  Currently, only DBS-issued cards can be used as the funding account, and transfer money to overseas participating banks.  That also means that you can only remit in Singapore dollars to other currencies.  There is a list of participating banks available for you to check.  For current promotional purposes, the service fee is zero.  Seems like a good deal.

MasterCard MoneySend is at https://moneysend.mastercard.com/singapore/dbs/moneysend.

Obama, new name for an old drink

In Singapore, there are 2 traditional drinks that are commonly sold in the many hawker centers located all around Singapore.  One is chin-chao, also known as glass jelly.  The other is soya bean milk.  They are frequently sold side by side.

They are also given quick short names, so when you order a glass of chin-chao, you can call it “black”.  If you order a glass of soya bean milk, you can call it “white”.  If you order a mix of chin-chao and soya bean milk, it’s called “Micheal Jackson”.

One enterprising hawker in West Coast surprised us just last week.  When we ordered “black”, he replied “Obama”.   Seeing us confused, he said that’s the new nick for chin-chao drinks.  It’s the new black, and he’s very popular too.

Just reporting on what’s happening on the other side of the world.  I’m in no way associated to any hawkers, any beverage companies, nor being mean to any races or person.  It’s just the world over here.

Golden Ears

Do you have golden ears for sounds and music?

You can test yourself at http://lggoldenears.com/.

I managed to score 84%.

Back from my annual visit to my in-laws

I would have written while I was on my vacation, unfortunately I was blocked out from WordPress.com by China’s firewall.  It’s really an annual visit to my in-laws.  Can’t get away from it.

Now back home, I’ve 2 weeks worth of dust to clear.  So here’s a summary.

I saw pigs giving birth.  The family bitch gave birth to 2 cutesy puppies too.  A swallow built a nest at my in-laws’ home.  So it was a pretty productive 2 weeks.

I did some coding, documentation and preparation work for the work I’m about to face this coming weeks.  Well, they hooked up Internet back there, so I couldn’t get away from it all.  Nothing much to do except to eat, sleep, watch pigs giving birth, or till the  land to grow vegetables if there wasn’t Internet.

The weather was nice.  Not too cold, nor warm, with the occasional rain.  May is a good time to go to China, with lots of fresh vegetable coming into season.  October will be a better time if you don’t fancy the rain.

Shocked by the massive earthquake at Sizhuan.  Originally planned to visit Sichuan with mum, but dropped it due to cost.  Lots of TV time was used to cover this natural disaster and human tragedy, and how the government and military are helping the victims.  Lots of inspirational stories, miracles, fund-raising shows, men getting into action.  If you had been there, you would have felt the whole PR engine kicking into gear.  Not saying those are not necessary, but it was just a tad too much for me.  Out of it all, Wen Jia Bao left me an impression of a good leader.

It’s good to be back home.

Free Straits Times online

This I have to write! This is specially for those who are pissed by the Straits Times’ price increase 2 years back.

You can get free Straits Times online from our National Library Board. You can the exact printed copy of the Straits Times, excluding Classifieds. 🙂

Go to http://www.nlb.gov.sg, login and go to EResources on the top menu bar, and go to ENews. You need to register for a free account if you do not have one yet.

I won’t recommend you to read this unless you have broadband. The pages are huge in size. Other than that, enjoy!

Update:

This is no longer available.  Sucks.

Warm breakfast

Today, we decided to make a warm breakfast before heading out to work.  But things started to go wrong when my wife was still muddle-headed from sleep and insisted on doing the cooking.  In her haste, water dripped into the hot pan while she was breaking the egg, and hot oil splattered on her fingers.  The result was 3 blisters, lots of rattling, nerves shaken and a terrible looking egg.  In the end I took over the cooking and washing up.
Her work of love.

My heroic rescue.

It was a lovely breakfast in the end.  Nothing like a warm breakfast and a cup of coffee.

Why

I started a search on Python, and the first site shown up on the Google search was titled “What is Python, and Why Python”.

Ok, before anyone goes shaking his head over this late bloomer, at least I am getting started right?

But it strikes me that for everything that happens, or is done, there is a beginning with “Why”.

Why should we do this?  Why should we create something new?  What is the purpose?

Before we do anything, there should be a “Why”.  Rarely does something turn significant if it did not start off to tackle a “Why”.

In going down all the way to the beginning, why are you here?  What is the basis of your existence?  What is your purpose?

Nokia 6280

Finally, my old Motorola A668 decided to call it a day! When I flipped it open to make a call, all it gave me was a white face. Yes! I have a good reason to junk the A668 and get a new phone.

My new Nokia 6280 can slide, sing, vibrate, download and expand!

My first photo with the new phone: