On Holiday in Melbourne

Hi,

I should have landed in Melbourne by now..... I have prepared this posting but scheduled it for uploading only on Sat 31 May morning.

I am visiting my siblings living here in Melbourne and will be there for 2 weeks +.

I expect to have limited access to the Internet so you may not see any postings during this period.

My family & I are looking forward to the cold weather as it is winter downunder.

For those in Singapore, enjoy your June school holidays too whereever you are....

Happy holidays!

David

Seat Belts for School Bus

Hi,

It is sad that it took an accident and death of a student before parents and bus drivers have a debate over the safety of the kids.

Even more appalling, the authority needs to do a study that will take 6 months to come up with a report and recommendations....!!!

On the same topic, what about workers sitting at the back of trucks? And even passengers in public buses too?

Sometimes, even my own family members are 'lazy' to put on the saftey belts in the taxi.... All it takes is a reckless driver knocking into our taxi from behind and then we hope for the best....?

One bus driver was commenting that even if there are safety belts, the students do not wear them and are very playful in the bus.

So at the end of the day, while the right thing should be done, ie having seat belts, education and awareness of safety must be conveyed to the passengers.

On a similar topic, I am very annoyed to see my fellow passengers still talking on their mobiles when the aircraft is about to take off. Or switching it on before the aircraft is parked. What is the hurry...? Sometimes I think it is pure ignorance on their part, most of the time.

Do you know that the newer models have the option of flight mode so you can use the other functions like playing your MP3. What if the user did not realise that the mobile is still on normal mode...? I hate to be tumbling down the sky though I am sure that the possible interferece from the mobile may be minimal but why take the risk...?

My family and I will be flying off to Melb to visit my siblings and will be away for 2 weeks. If I have adequate Internet access, I will post a few photos of my travel there.

Take care!

David

Chinese Chulture Camp at Downtown East

Hi,

Jason was nominated to attend the above camp and was at Downtown East for 3 days and 2 nights last week.

Frankly speaking, Chinese is not his favourite subject or liking, just like most of the students studying in English schools. Therefore, I was surprised that he was nominated and he also did not back out of it.

Surprisingly, he was looking forward to it and emerged from the camp a very enthusiatic Chinese speaking student........! Since his return he has been speaking Chinese or Mandarin to us and his friends most of the time until he is driving some of his classmates a bit mad and told him off. Jason even covers up the English subtitles when we are watching the Channel 8 shows now.

As for us, my wife & I are pleased with the outcome of the camp as we were concerned that he might not have been able to communicate with his friends in the camp. Majority are from Chinese schools and speak fluent Chinese!

Today, he went to an old folks home , as part of his school Community Improvement Programme (CIP) activity, in Marine Parade and entertain them with a Chinese song - Lau Su Ai Ta Mee. He said that he was more confident in his conversation in Chinese this afternoon.

Over dinner tonight, I told him that we are impressed with his recent interest in Chinese and I casually asked him what happened that change him. Jason told us that he only spoke to his camp team-mates when spoken as he could not expressed himself well. But he likes to socialise with them. So as a result, he realised that Chinese is important and after all, we are Chinese.

So we are speaking more Chinese and he even sms in Chinese. I also managed to install Chinese language for MS Office for his use.

Jas & I agree that while we could understand most of the Chinese phrases but we struggle to recall them when we need to speak it out.

Anyway, our Chinese is bound to improved if we continue practicing it daily......

David

Earthquake in China - Charity Drive

Hi,

I turned on the TV the other night and saw the performers and audience tearing during a Chinese programme to solicit donations for the earthquake victims in China. A very commedable effort indeed.

However, I felt that the programme could have just shown photos and interviewed the victims and the rescuers instead of having TV celebrities singing on stage. It just felt odd seeing them in tears..... Of course, this is different from other charity shows.

With so much publicity in the news and I just received a powerpoint too on the heros in the disaster, people should be willing to donate if they want to rather than having such a 'sad and teary' charity drive.

In today's papers, reporters are asking the celebrities how much they have donated too..... I think this is a personal matter and not to compete who has donated more. Even one radio station was discussing on this matter today.

I hope the reporters are not running out of news to publish...? Also, I feel that the reporters should let the victims families grieve in peace and private; not only in disasters but also in other accidents. Why must they go to interview family members and dig up the past etc ...irrespective whether there are any juicy background to report..... I stopped reading such news and just flip the page.

Do not get me wrong, I support the initiatives to get funds to the victims of disasters like those in China and Myammar.

I just hope that we are also generous daily to the local poor and needy too....

David

Manchester United (MU) Won UEFA Championship League

MU won both the English Premier League(EPL)

and the

UEFA Championship League

this season.

Van Der Sar, the goalkeeper, who saved the crucial penalty that gave MU the championship.

2 great players from MU....Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs!



Giggs has now exceeded Sir Bobby Charlton's number of games played for MU.

MU rocks......!!!

Blind Man Running Around With Eyes Opened ?

On Vesak Day 19 May 2008, my family & I went to the Goddess of Mercy temple to pray.

It was crowded as it was the a special day to celebrate Buddha obtaining his enlightenment.

Guess what we saw and could not help laughing initially, especially Jason & I.

We saw a man with his dark glasses pushed up to his head, one hand holding a blindman cane and the other hand holding a packet of tissue rushing around searching for something. Then it dawn on us that he was supposed to be a blindman selling tissue packs....!!! SO what was he doing as he was blowing up his cover...??? It was funny but no one reacted to it as it was at the edge of the crowd and everyone was busy with their prayers.......

I suppose that maybe someone left him a big note and it flew off...???

We did not stay around to watch as it was so crowded but it was really a ridiculous scene.

It is sad that there are such cheats around town.....

Sigh.....

Jason with his New Electric Guitar

Hi,

After Jason's term assessment, we went to shop for an electric guitar as discussed. And we bought one not at the shops that we were eyeing but another shop instead by chance as we were given good service.

So Jason managed to try a few guitars and bought one. We also met a customer ( claimed to be in his 60s ) and he gave us some advice on what to buy. He even showed me photos of his musical instruments at his home. Music has kept him alive and young and he definitely does not look his age.

BTW, I used to play a bit of guitar when I was studying in Melbourne through the influence from my brother.


Our new rock star in the making......









Here we have father and son jamming
away.....






BTW, Jason has 3 guitars now; a classical, acoustic and electric guitar within 6 months...!!!

Anyway, as long as he is serious about playing the guitars... we are happy with it..... and no hanging around with smokers and drug addicts, etc....

I met my a friend and he told me his daughter is taking electric guitar lesson and wants to form a girl band; she is 2 years younger than my son... I was surprised that he did not mind. He told me it is a good hobby for her. Derek, I am proud of you!

I think we just have to keep up with the current trend....

David

Manchester United (MU) Won EPL Soccer Championship

The Championship League.....next....!!!

We bought these T-shirt and jersey from a Nike shop during our last holiday in Penang in March 2008. We tend to be in the mood to shop during our holidays though it is not necessary cheaper.

Happy Mother's Day !

Hi,

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there....!!!

This a card I made for my dear wife and Jason has booked a lunch reservation at Jack's Place tomorrow.


Good-night....

BTW, Jas & I went shopping and bought him an electric guitar as shown in the photo above...!!! Cool man ...!!!

David

What a HOT Day !

Hi,

Singapore is sunny throughout the year and a bit wet occassionally but it was terribly hot this afternoon.

I was brushing the dogs fur in the car porch and sweat was dripping down my face which was unusual.

I only have sweat dripping all over me if I am engaged in some sports or games!

Well, we look forward to our coming holidays in Melbourne as it should be the start of winter there by end of May.

Hope we will have a cooler weekend....

Even my 2 dogs went under the palm tree in our garden for some shade and these photos were taken in the morning...

Take care,

David

Iron Man Movie Theme

Hi,

I just changed the the background music to the above, another of those songs that Jason likes and influenced me too.....ha..ha..

BTW, this song Iron Man by Black Sabbath was written years ago before the movie was produced..!!!

Again, if this music is giving you a headache, just press the pause button on the right column....ha..ha...ha... but it can grow on you too!

Oooops.... I am not making much progress on learning the song, Smells Like Teen Spirit, on the guitar as I have not been practicing enough or at all....

I am still working on shortening my time to solve the Rubik's cube.... the fastest is 3.5 minutes to-date but most of the time around 4 minutes. I do it at least once a day.... good for my hands co-ordination and memory too...ha..ha....

Stay tuned!

BTW, Tomorrow is Jason's last term assessment paper so freedom for him ......... I may have to make an appointment to see him from tomorrow onwards.....ha...ha...ha.....( not so bad-lah! )

David

My New Cabinets From IKEA

Hi,

If you read my earlier posting on shopping at Giant, Courts and Ikea, you would have known that I bought 3 cabinets from Ikea; 2 display cabinets and 1 book case.

Well, they were delivered this afternoon and I spent the whole afternoon assembling them with some help from Jason, of course.

Not really difficult for a DIY guy like me....ha...ha....

Jason showing off his medals in the display cabinet.

As you can see, there are 2 display cabinets and the tall book case. The other display cabinet has my dear wife's trophies and my medals.

You will have to pay 10% of the item price if you want Ikea to assemble the items for you. I do see customers paying for it as they either do not have the time or not DIY inclined.

Well, I am happy with the items and my assembly efforts.

David

SPS Term Assessment

Hi,

Jason is having his exams. now so busy studying and I am also helping him a bit especially in Social Studies and History.

I must say I learned quite a bit too from reading his text books, some interesting facts like the conflict in Sri Lanka though I read about it in the papers but I now appreciate the causes of these conflicts.

He has tuition for Chinese, Additional and Elementary Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics....some are beyond me unless I have to put in extra effort to re-learn them.

Actually, his tuition teachers are making good money and some of them in the market are really very professional in the sense of running it like a business with fantastic website too!

BTW, I have taken my nephew's JAE booklet to see the requirement for going into a JC, Polytechnic and ITE. The point for JC is below 10 easily and you definitely need the 2 points from CCA to offset your total score.

Jas has expressed that he is targetting for admission into a JC like Temasek or Victoria. Well, I am glad he has set a target and we will do whatever we can to help him achieve it ; eg tuition and guidance on how he should be managing his time in CCA and studies.

Though I must say that students who are already focus on certain industry or career, going to the poly may be a better choice than JC and we are seeing quite a number of such students opting out of JC for Poly recently.

Rgds

David

Gardening - Lawn Repair

Hi,

I am now in a project to repair the backyard and the lawn in the frontyard too.

Luckily, there are a few nurseries near my house so shopping for sand and carpet grass.


Let talk about the backyard first. We found a big rat hole and, my maid and I cleared up that area and found some rocks or broken bricks to fill up the hole. I poured some cement over it.

BTW, if you have read my earlier posts last year, we have caught about 10 rats todate.

I bought 4 packets of lawn sand and 4 strips of carpet grass ( 5ft x 1ft at S$7 each ), and repair the backyard as due to rain, wear and tear, attacks by weed..... all the carpet grass have died or over-ran by weeds or mosses...?



I checked the Internet and consulted the people at the nursery on how to lay the carpet grass before I embarked on it.

Surprisingly, I was told to get cow grass instead as it is tougher and the roots are quite compact so very little weeds are able to grow in-between them unlike carpet grass. It is about double the price of carpet grass ! A strip of 2ft x 1 ft is S$5.50 after special discount for me!

Anyway, I am also looking into repairing the lawn in the frontyard as after > 10 years, the snad have sunk and it is undulating now. Some patches of carpet grass is dead.


I bought lawn sand for the edges and a strip of drainage cells to cover the edges to prevent my dogs from digging. Realigned the pots of plants in a neat row.

To excavate the front lawn and re-turf it will set me back by S$600 based on 2 quotes... So I think I will try to do it myself if I am successful with the backyard repair. Not necessary going to be very much cheaper by DIY but I can take my time and do some gardening etc.... to relax a bit instead of hiding in the house, in front of the PC or TV in the evenings....ha...ha...ha...

Will keep you posted on the progress.....

David

LCD & Plasma TV

Hi,

Have you ever noticed that the LCD and Plasma TVs in the showrooms seems to show very sharp images and beautiful displays?

I have bought 2 Sharp LCD TVs not too long ago and I do not seem to get the same type of performance or display as in the showroom.

In a recent visit to Courts Tampines, while waiting for my shuttle bus back to Bedok MRT station, I started to talk about it with a saleperson there. He was very frank and told me that all the LCD and Plasma TVs in the showrooms are connected with High Definition(HD) facility and playing Blueray DVDs which we typically do not have at home.

Ah ha.... I suspected it as I am not on HD as there are not that many programmes being offerred now and I have to pay more for it too! Same for Blueray DVDs and players though prices could have dropped a little by now.

When a technician came to repair my old faithful Sony 29" TV ( bought when I got married..... that means more than 20 years now! ), he commented that Sharp LCD TVs are the better ones. He also shared with me an interesting phenomenon...... that if we have too many metallic structures near the TV ( CRT or LCD type ), it may affect the colour of the picture due to the influence of magnetic field.

How this came about?

He did a general servicing of the TV motherboard and when he put it back, the colour ran and he used a special gadget to neutralise the magnetic field. He asked me if I put any speaker on the top of the TV and I told him that I used to put a central speaker there. Apparently, it has affected the magnetic field and since I removed it, the colour ran. That's why most speakers claim that they have a magnetic shield but may not be effective.

He advised me not to put any speakers too near the TV. He shared with me one incident whereby a new LCD TV was installed but the colour ran and after much testing, the vendor of the TV could not find anything wrong and proved it by placing the TV in another part of the house. Eventually, he was called in and he found a few metallic structures at the back wall where the TV was placed. Since the TV has to be placed there, they tried to neutralise the magnetic field by placing magnets around that area. Does it make sense or he is bullshitting me?

Anyway, so weary of the above....

David

GIANT, COURTS & IKEA in Tampines

Hi,

Before I proceed further, my other website at http://www.davidpoh.com/ is up now after being down for more than a day since Wed night.

My wife & I went to the above place since there was a free shuttle bus from Bedok MRT ( similar shuttle bus is also available from Tampines and Pasir Ris MRT station too ) and we wanted to check out a glass display cabinet to put Jason's medals and awards that he has been winning from his sports etc.... as the item was on offer and a savings of S$30/=.

GIANT supermarket is BIG and similar to tha one in IMM Jurong. We did not buy anything there as there is another branch at Parkway Parade and we go there quite often during weekends.

We went to Courts to look for a digital clock that can project the time on the ceiling of the room for Jason's room. We have one now and he claims that that alarm will wake him up. The brand is Oregon and is about S$65 when I bought it a few years ago for my Xmas present.

We then walked over to Ikea to hvae lunch. Much to our surprise., it was quite crowded unlike the typical weekday scenario but we found a place and enjoyed our Swiss meatballs and the day's special, Fish & Chips!

We ended up buying 2 units of the glass display cabinets and 1 bookcase for Jason's room. But as they are quite bulky, we have them deliver at a cost of S$40 which we think is quite a hefty bill but no choice. Luckily, the savings from their offers managed to cover the the delivery cost.

Well, do visit this place as it is quite big and we spent about 5 hours there. We not only saw office people having lunch at Ikea but also students.....? Reasonably cheap and good food, I suppose, + free transport.

I look forward to next Tue afternoon to receive the items we bought.......! I will enjoy assembling it....... no wonder my dear wife said that I have to wait for my toys to come....! ha..ha..ha....

David