Fallen Tree

While I was away in Penang in Oct, the tree outside my house fell...!

According to my Filipino maid, she claimed that a huge delivery truck passed by and brushed against the branches sticking out.

The driver and passengers came out to see the fallen tree but no one from the 2 houses came out so they drove away.

Since the tree fell and landed in front of my neighbour's house, he called the authorities to remove it and it was done almost immediately.

Unfortunately, they also removed the lovely big fern growing on the tree.....sob...sob....

Installing IDE Hard Disk Onto SATA Port

Hi,

I am so happy that I managed to installed one of my old Samsung 80GB hard disk into Jason's desktop PC.

The challenge was that there was no more IDE port and I did not want to install it using the IDE connection that was already used for the DVD Rewriter since there are 3unused SATA port.

After some research on the Internet, I found that there is such a gadget to link an IDE to a SATA connection or vice versa.

So off to Sim Lim Square (SLS) to look for it.

I bought it for S$18 and after fiddling around with it, I got it working....!

Hurray...!

It was quite challenging as it did not detect the HD initially and then only managed to detect 32GB out of 80GB in the HD.

If you know how and patient enough, you can get reasonable help from the Internet and then you do some trial and error.

I managed to overcome all the obstacles and I met my objective of installing the old HD into Jas's PC to give him more disk space.

Earlier, I also did some housekeeping and salvaged some disk space on his existing HD too otherwise, the PC could not even do a fragmentation as there was not enough work space for it.

Well, I enjoy playing with the PC upgrade.

A few weeks ago, my Filipino maid asked me to help her go to SLS to get a DIY PC for her to bring home; ie pay the shop to assemble a PC. It was slightly cheaper by at least S$100 but the QC and installation was done by me after all the components were assembled.

I dare not offer to build it for her though I did it a few years ago and it was also given to her subsequently and I believe it is still working in his brother's home in Philippines.

It has rekindled my interest in building a PC or looking at the motherboards and CPU, etc.... but I have no excuse to spend $$ building one for the fun of it. So the next best thing is to look into upgrading the Jason desktop PC......ha...ha....

Over the past few months, I have also be shopping for notebooks for a friend at the PC shows. One is coming again later this Nov.

So if you got an old PC for upgrade or even an old notebook to dispose of, give me a call ........ hopefully, I can help you or salvage some components that I can use or play with.....ha...ha...

David

Budget Flights

Hi,

The following observations are based on my own travels to and fro Penang over the past 6 months; flying at least once a month on the budget flight.

I have flown Air Asia once but subsequently flew on JetStar as I found that the pricing and flight times suit me best.

However, I must also said that I prefer to travel by JetStar as I can use the aero-bridge at Pg airport whereas Air Asia requires their passengers to walk from the aircraft to the airport; ie you have to climb the stairs and walk on the airport tarmac. I do not like it as I have a bad left knee.

Also, though I have only flown on Air Asia once only, I observed that the JetStar air crew are more helpful and service oriented.

JetStar allows me to carry a hand luggage of 10Kg which is sufficient for my purpose of travel. It also allows me to choose my seat without any additional charge.

The other observation on the booking of such budget flights are :

- Watch out for promotions as I manage to get a special price of S$30 for both ways; but you may have to book during a very short window and very early like 3 months ahead. So u need to know your schedule way ahead..... but may work well for those who are retired and have a flexible schedule.

- Check the travel dates, time and prices of a few budget airlines for comparison

- Flying different day and even times may have different prices

- One day difference in booking your flight can mean an increase of S$20

But being budget flight, it is definitely cheaper than a normal flight; eg my average price for JetStar is abour S$80 compared to S$315 on MAS or SIA.

But, you will not be pampered and no food and beverage allowed unless you buy from them. So book the meals when you are booking your flight as it may be cheaper else be prepared to pay S$3 for a bottle of mineral water.

My elder brother and younger sister flew Air Asia from Melbourne to KL and KL to Pg to visit my parents recently. It was about 7 hours of flight.

So conclusion.......

In my opinion, for short flights and if you are quite flexible with time, flying by budget airline is acceptable.

But for longer flights, you may want to re-consider budget flight unless you are prepared to rough it out;eg you may not be able to sleep well as the seats are not that comfortable and you should bring your own entertainment like watching a movie on your laptop.

I am quite lucky to-date, as I have no problem calling their call centres and booking online. So far, only one flight delayed for 1/2 hour only.

My family and I will be flying to Pg in Nov by budget airline again.

David

Happy 83rd Birthday to Mum-in-law

Hi,

This is one of those rare occasions that we manage to celebrate my mum-in-law birthday as she is the type of person who does not want any fuss or inconvenience to her children.

She is as old as my own father who also just have his birthday in Oct too.

Since she does not want to go out for a meal, we bought her a birthday cake for lunch at her home as my wife and I visit her every Friday and buy lunch to share with her.

So Happy Birthday, Mum....!

Happy 83rd Birthday to Dad in Penang

Hi,

While I was in Penang, we also celebrated my father's 83rd birthday.

After my Mum's medical appointment, we went to have a western lunch at Secret Recipe at Plaza Gurney.

I must say that the service was excellent and the staff was very nice and went all the way out to ensure that we have an excellent dining experience there; eg. one of the staff even show us the way to the public toilet as we are not familiar with the place, they offered to put the ice cream back into the fridge since my Mum was away in the toilet,..

I asked a staff to help take a family photo and I mentioned that it was my father's birthday and she happily obliged, asking me to check the the photo is well taken else she can take another one.

Much to my surprise, the supervisor presented my Dad with a slice of cake and got the staff to sing him the birthday song.

We were caught off guard else I would have taken a group photo with them or even video it.

It was indeed a pleasant surprise and my Dad was still talking about it a few days later as his birthday actually fell on 19 Oct but we were celebrating it earlier.

Here is a photo of Mum waiting for a taxi to take us home. A very rare occasion too as she does not like to go out unless necessary.

We also got him a birthday cake and we have another round of celebration at home that evening.

Happy Birthday, DAD...!

David

My Penang Trip in Oct 09

Hi,

I flew back to Penang again to bring my Mum for her medical appointment and at the same time, sent my younger sister off to Melbourne.

My younger sister was back in Pg for a month to care for my aged parents, esp my Mum who is recovering from a mild stroke.

Here is a photo of Wei, taken outside Plaza Gurney after our 'makan' at the nearby hawker stalls. There was some rain earlier on and we saw a nice rainbow in the background so we quickly grab the opportunity for a great photo of it. Unfortunately, the rainbow was not very evident in the photo as it appeared like a white streak of light from the sea to the sky.....

Anyway, Wei looked good too with a very natural smile indeed...... so ok-lah!

BTW, Wei is a fantastic shopper too..... taking advantage of the Deepavali sale and also the strong Aussie $$.

David

Happy Birthday to ME...!

My family and I went for a western dinner to celebrate my birthday on 9 Oct.

Jas met us after school since he has no tuition that evening, so he appeared in his school uniform in the photo below.




On the actual day itself, I bought some durian as a special treat for myself too.








D24 durian....

I ate one box myself and shared another box with my dear wife, for dinner...!

Jack was also wanting to have some of it and was waiting patiently for it but he almost snatched it from the table when I got up to greet one of my neighbours.

Naughty Jack!

Anyway, he got to lick some of the leftover on the box and he enjoyed it too.....!

Also, birthday greetings and wishes to Soo Leng and Tatt Cheng who also have their birthdays in early Oct .......!

Singaporeans More Animal Friendly

My Paper reported that Singaporeans seem to have become better friends to animals.



Fewer animals have been abandoned and more adopted over the last 5 years at SPCA.

So if you are looking for a dog, you should drop by at SPCA and see if you could find a dog to adopt before you buy one at a pet shop or farm.

Yesterday was World Animal Day .........

Singaporeans Are Gracious

Hi,

I have been wearing a knee brace for almost 10 months now and it enable me to walk more than 1 hour without pain or having a need to rest.

But it is not always comfortable wearing it and I do not mind sitting down in buses or MRT trains instead of standing as I am still exerting pressure on both knees or more on my right knee.

When I am wearing long pants or jeans, it is not obvious that I am wearing a knee brace.

I was just telling my family that all these months even when I am wearing bermuda, so my knee brace is obvious to the public, I was never offer a seat in the buses or MRT train.

Why am I complaining suddenly?

Well, my knee has been playing up lately and I am feeling some pressure or discomfort when I have to stand too long.

But there was hope though, recently.....

2 days ago, a man tap me on my back and gave me his seat in the MRT train. Honestly, I gladly took it and said 'Thank you' to him, of course.

Yesterday, in a crowded train again, a young or a girl in her late teens also tap my shoulder and gave me her seat.

I was surprised by these two gestures and they were not sitting in the 'Priority Seat' section.

Well, in short, I think Singaporeans are a gracious lot and it just take them some time to show it..

David

COMEX 2009

Just before I left for my Pg trip, I managed to go to the Comex 2009 IT show held at Suntec City.

Initially, I wanted to buy a new photo colour printer but then decided to defer it to the next PC show in Nov 09 since I do not think that I will be needing it in the coming months and can wait a bit longer though the color printing by my current photo printer is a bit off.

Instead, I ended up shopping for a NetBook for a friend and also brought my Filipino maid to shop for her IT accessories as she will be going home for good in late Nov 09.

I managed to collect sufficient brochures and do an evaluation on the spot, and then got my friend's consent to buy her an ACER netbook as shown below.

I bought her a Ruby Red colour netbook and it looks good indeed....! I spent the evening and following morning setting it up for her. Needless to say, I enjoyed the shopping and playing with such a new toy.

So much to see that I was tempted to go back to have another look especially at the new models and offers.

It would not have seen appropriate if I did not buy anything for myself no matter how small it is.....ha.....ha.....

I chanced upon a set of earphones that I wanted and it only cost me S$10 whereas it was retailing outside for at least S$25 so I just grabbed it. I am very happy with it as I took it along for my Pg trip and it served me well and I am also using it now. Value for money if you look hard enough during the show.

So where got recession in Spore...? I guess most of us took advantage of the reduction in prices and the retailers have decided to sell more at a lesser profit as oppose to sell less at a higher profit. Possibly, newer models are coming out too so better to get rid of old models.

A good business model as it is a win-win situation for both the Buyers and Sellers!

So until the next PC or IT show in Nov 09 as I definitely have to buy my colour printer and I hope they will give a better price and freebies too.....

BTW, I have been helping friends to buy notebooks for the past 3 shows .......... but no excuse to buy myself a NEW notebook......sob...sob....

David