same shit different dae

Cheese Baked Chicken Rice

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:05:00 +0000

Woo hoo! Can't imagine how much I'm salivating when I'm writing this! We took a step further to improve on our culinary skills and this is what we came up with.

Preparing the breast meat. Seems like I have a knack for marinating meat nowadays. Dear said just follow my intuition and all will taste well.

In fact, cooking cheese baked rice is quite easy, it's almost like cooking pizza. The problem is to make it taste right! We attempted to replace the cheddar cheese with mozarella during our 2nd try last Sat, but the cheese tasted really bland.

Eew... Reminds me of leeches.

Dear already predicted the rice will take some time to bake so she started baking garlic bread from Sunshine. Tastes great!

Yawns.

After waiting for like an hour, we finally get to sink our teeth into our first cheesy creation.

Looks presentable ain't it?

Some lessons learnt: it's better to cook the rice separately first, if not the baking time will be very long. Also, we found out that we have to set the heat coming only from the top, because the base will chaotah if even the bottom grill is turned on!

Next challenge: Black Pepper Crab. Slurps ~

This sucks

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:44:00 +0000

There's one in the workplace. There's one who's supposingly my closest friend. But why? Why are they always giving me a hard time?

Why are women so hard to be with????

First attempt at cooking Wanton Mee

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:42:00 +0000

Roti Prata with mushroom and cheese? Check. Udon? Check. Wanton Mee? It's not so simple as it seems!

Been having a penchant lately for cooking with Dear. It's the only special activity that's worth every cent spent, plus it's a great opportunity to improve on my culinary skills. Especially when there's nothing much to do in SG nowadays, one has to keep thinking of new things to do other than watching movies.

A recipe that I copied from a cooking website

Chop garlic also must act garang.

For the Wanton, since the Missus doesn't really like pork, we tried to substitute it with minced chicken meat instead. Stirring the meat with oyster and soy sauce plus some pepper and salt, it's hard for me to gauge whether if the condiments are enough, as the meat is raw and I can't taste it. Dear said just go with my feelings but I can't relate!

Anyhow, we gotta start wrapping up the wantons with corn flour and water, which purportedly acts like a 'glue' to seal the wanton skin. Dear was stingy with the meat servings for each wanton while I dumped a big serving into each skin, thus resulting in the skin tearing. Sick!

Those in the background are hers while the bigger ones in the foreground are mine. I purposely made them to look like dumplings. After around half an hour of struggling with the wantons, we finally dumped them into one big pot of hot water and let it cook for a few minutes. The only regret was not finding out how to make the black sauce which is used as the base that hawkers normally do, so I had to use belachan chilli to make the noodles tastier.

After cooking it with hot water, dipping the noodles in cold water and then cook back with hot water also helps make the mee 'Q'. Tested and proven!

Dear also managed to make some chicken soup stock as she wanted a soupy wanton mee while I preferred a dry one.

Verdict: Soupy wanton mee tasted better! And also, DO NOT USE MINCED CHICKEN MEAT for this delicacy! There is a CCB (chao chicken bee or smelly chicken smell) and it'll make you wanna puke just like I nearly did! Next time we will use pork for sure. =D

HTC Tattoo Launch / Quick Review

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:59:00 +0000

This post is long overdue! Thanks to an invite by DK, I had the opportunity to attend my first ever mobile phone launch at ButterFactory. Speaking of which, I have not been to ButterFactory for some time. The most recent moment I've been to it was when I kena bua'ed by my Boss for forgetting to send an email to notify my colleagues for a meeting. It was nothing short of being an unHappy Hour. =(

Thus, when I reach Robertson Quay on a warm Thursday evening, I was being redirected by a kind lady from a nearby pub to Fullerton One, where ButterFactory was being relocated to. Thinking that it should not be very far, I chose walking as my mode of transport and I got there in like almost half an hour! Shacked.

Ok basically at the event, there were more guys than girls, which makes it comfortable for me knowing that Dear will rest assured that I will not try anything funny. The show kicked off with a talk by someone I presume to be the company's spokesperson, both the introduction and my throat got abit dry so I went to order Bourbon Coke, and was surprised that I gotta pay for it.

Swarku me later realised that I can get complimentary drinks, provided that I had to mix with an Asahi brand liquor, which is one of the sponsors for the night. Well, didn't tasted too bad and I had 4 glasses and one beer. Shiok!

Not forgetting my main motive, I checked with DK and he told me there was a test set available, so I approached one of the friendly HTC guy to check out the phone. Given my tipsy state and unfamiliarity with the phone's Android UI, I must say I'm pretty impressed by the slickness of it all.

My first perceptions is that it is lightweight, though on the more 'plasticky' side. The buttons have a nice tactile feel with each of them adequately spaced apart. Some common applications can be found on the homescreen and perhaps they could be reconfigured.

What I liked about the on-screen shortcuts is that the applications can be easily identified, either from the icon image or the description below it. My N97 only shows the icons and sometimes it can be rather confusing to determine which icon stands for Images or Note, as both have a small picture of a photograph present.

Very neat menu layout, with a fair bit of description below each submenu title.

Ahh .. iPhone styled. Nice.

One bad thing is you can't use the camera or other functions without a memory card, and it will keep prompting you for the card even though there's already a 512MB built-in memory.

The phonebook was like, erm, not displaying enough contacts though. I'd prefer it to be sorted by a few favourite contacts so that I don't have to navigate all around the phone just to call my dad.

Hmm.. Bedok Thai? Sounds like this guy got a Thai fling eh? Feeling alil cheeky...

I called this 'Bedok Thai' up! Kidding lah. Immediately hung up man!

And the calendar. Didn't feel like probing further if not I might discover a whole list of f**k schedules. Keke.

Of course, a free tattoo session should be available for such an event especially when there's so much in common! I thought they were gonna spray paint on my phone but I was disappointed when it's I knew it's not.

This babe actually took dunno how long to get her tattoo done. Another 'tattooist' was finished with 3 clubbers already but she's still sitting there. This is the first time I got impatient waiting for a tattoo job. Grr!

Alas, my turn. An unknown blogger was actually beside me snapping away at my selection. I asked him why don't he capture my face too (hehe so that I can get free publicity on his blog)? He just said he don't want to expose the person who got that design.

Yes that's my arm.

It's for the Missus!!

I've Passed!

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:43:00 +0000

Yaay!

Poor Nokia N97

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:58:00 +0000

I am utterly disappointed with recent Nokia products, especially this N97. As promising as it looks, it fails to perform in many aspects and weird bugs appear every now and then. Some of the peeves I get are, in order of annoyance:

1. Screen hangs when someone calls.

2. VERY POOR RECEPTION. Calls keep dropping even though I'm in my room.

3. VERY POOR BATTERY PERFORMANCE. The BP-4L lasted longer on my E90!

4. The Nokia Tune replaces my 'Signum' tone for no apparent reason.

5. New Problem: The backlight sometimes do not turn off even after the timeout duration is set.

6. Inflexibility to choose the mode of online connection for certain applications.

7. Screen and buttons lock themselves up out of a sudden. I had to remove and replace the battery while keeping the slide open and the locking switch pushed down.

7. Laggy performance in contrast to the Apples.

8. After storing my messages in the Mass Storage, it will revert back to C drive (which has a pathetic 30 odd MB of storage space) after I connect to PC suite.

I was so desperate for a firmware upgrade (which Europe and some other countries have already, but not in Singapore) that I had to change my product code to get this update, even if it means voiding my M1 warranty if the Nokia Care Centre finds out about this. And guess what, my twin bro who also got this phone called me and asked for a fix within a month of usage.

After changing the product code and updating the firmware to 20.0.019, at least the phone becomes more serviceable. The above points in bold still persist though. Those who attempt to change the product code, you can change back to the original product code with the newest firmware still installed. But remember, once you've upgrade the firmware, you won't be able to downgrade!

The Nokia Discussion Boards have been pegged with complaints of N97 as expected, with a handful stating that the N97 will be their last Nokia phone. Orbi good to Nokia. Time to associate their phones with fruits lah.

Not only does the list of problems go on and on, I actually broke the part where I hung my landyard!

View from top

View from inside. The mini plastic axis is broken!

All because I tugged at it with some force. I wonder why they don't use a metal axis instead. Sigh. And they had to proclaim this as their flagship phone. Think it's more of a FatShit phone instead.

Well I guess this should be my last Nokia product too. GoodBye Nokia. Sobs.

My head whirls when I'm at Body Worlds (and at the Omni Theatre too)

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:27:00 +0000

The much anticipated Body Worlds exhibition came to Singapore only recently, and I bet many out there are wondering if it's worth a visit. A few things to note: every piece of display artifect is real, some of them are dismembered in such details that you can see the many dimensions of the organs inside the human body. If you faint at the sight of pig intestines, then this is not for you.

A very sombre atmosphere engulfs you the moment you step into the hall. Since the exhibit emphasizes on the cycle of life, a showcase touching on human birth and erm, sex, is presented. I was shocked by the display of foetuses, not one, but in around 6-9 stages of pregnancy. The sight of the poor lifeless babies were so heart-wrenching that I almost teared on the spot. Dear realised that those dead foetuses were real only after we left the building. I guess she couldn't stomach the fact that unborn babies do perish in this cruel world.

I was thinking, if it was an abortion, how could the baby be vacuumed out in one piece? Maybe there was a terrible car accident involving the mother and the child, and you know what happens next. Shudders ~ I've ever watched a video posted by Ally on her facebook, showing gruesome scenes of the remnants of abortions, especially when someone uses a tweezer to pick up a broken leg from a mangle of bodies. Or the part where the dead foetus (roughly 6-7 months old) was being wrapped up like Chai Tao Kuey with a paper. Eeeew!! From that day onwards, I am an Anti-Abortion Alan! A.A.A!

There were various other things on display, some which I felt are very disturbing and left a deep impression on me. Some models worthy of a mention are:

The Chess Player:
Since this is one of the few plastinations that are seated, the brain is at a comfortable level for viewing. Make sure to check out the back where you can see a cross section of his spine.

Rearing Horse with Rider:
Another breath-taker. The setting of this display is rather thought-provoking, as the rider and his skeleton are adjacent to each other while both are riding the horse. The rider is also holding his own heart in one hand, and the horse's in another!

Giraffe:
I do not have to tell you where to find it! I was blown away with this one, especially at the back where you tend to compare your body parts with it. Hmm. The buttocks were already at a higher position than my head. I think the giraffe is a wonderful creation by god, nothing comes close to its height! I've read about World Book comparison charts of Man and other Mammals in the past, but the experience is not as real as this. Maybe too real?

A body that is dissected into many parts and left dangling in the air, with some reindeers in front pulling a sledge:
It looks like it's trying to portray Santa Clause and the reindeers. This one can make all of Rudolph red.

Emphasis is on leading a good life, that's what most of the posters found in the hall tell you. An interesting fact that I've learnt is that given our size according to the mammalian rule, human beings can only live up to 20-odd years. But over the years, the knowledge to our way of survival is being passed down from generation to generation, and we outlived our initial lifespan by 4 times! Woah imagine if I'm living in prehistoric times, and I'm about to die now? My driving instructor is surely going to hammer me for disrupting his coaching schedule.

Teehee.

Or maybe he'll flatten me with his Flintstone road-roller. Teeheehee.

Anyway, there is also a body donation programme going on and if you are interested in more details, kindly click on the link below

Plastination and Body Donation

Don't worry, they won't stuff you with Play-Doh. Plastination is a very sophisticated process to preserve your body which involves using materials like acetone, plastic and silicone rubber. I'm considering whether to donate or not, I'm just afraid it'll be a big OUCH when they dissect me after I die, and I'll end up chasing everyone in my birthday suit and a half-cut penis, not to mention marbles dangling between my legs like instant noodles with fishballs tied to them.

Those interested in the exhibition may book online. Tickets are priced at $22 and $14 for adults and children respectively, inclusive of $1 booking fee per head, with the body intact of course. Better hurry if you wish to go on the during the upcoming weekend as the tickets are often being snapped up fast.

After the intensive 2 hours of Body Worlds, we caught Space Station at the Omni Theatre. It was the last day of screening for this show and surprisingly, only 4 rows of seats were occupied. The 40 min show is puke-inducing and boring, Dear can vouch for that! What's up with watching astronauts floating and repairing space equipment? There's nothing much I can say here except that the commentary was done by Tom Cruise. I'm thinking of all people, why choose him? Why not Aerosmith???

Still, it was hell of an education tour for us last Sunday. Thinking ahead, we should try to eat healthily and exercise more! And the most important thing I've realised for this trip is -

Wei wei wei, this rule applies to all the wanting-to-be-smokers out there also hor.

Another embarrassing Ris Low video.

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:03:00 +0000

I hate to say this, but is she going to be a female version of Steven Lim??
Maybe I can still tahan Steven Lim, but Ris? OMG.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpHoHJ4DFIQ&feature=player_embedded.

Really speechless.

Sembonia Bag 'My Style' - Bag Design Competition at Zirca

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:44:00 +0000

I happen to be one of the er.. lucky ones to be invited by The Missus to a Sembonia Bag Design Competition at ~~Terka~~ Zirca this evening. Frankly speaking, my impression of this brand is at least better than the parent brand Bonia. Somehow, it doesn't look too trying as Bonia with all the boring monograms mounted on it. At least I think if I'm a woman, I'd sling a Sembonia to work!

Like how Mindee Ong (881) flaunts it. Looks Prada-ish IMHO.

I'm sure it suits her pretty well!

We were late for the Fashion Show cos all of us were busy filling our growling tummies earlier at Central. When we reached there, a band was playing various commercial hits on an accoustic note. We plunged our asses comfortably on a sofa behind a pillar that was blocking our view. No wonder it was unoccupied in the first place.

Performing Jason Mraz's I'm Yours.

The door gift was pretty thoughtful too.

One of the door gifts.

Can you make out what is it?

A 1GB Thumbie!

Pretty cool design huh? There's even a $30 voucher in the bag. I wonder if I can use it to upgrade the thumbie to 2GB.

And the ladies.

Dear, Chewling and Evelyn.

My 1st clubbing experience with her.
I think she was hoping I could dance with her, but that never materialized!

Dear, I'll give you a private lap dance tomorrow ok? Shhh ~ Keep it on the low.

Then the results for the winning bag was going to be announced. While they were anticipating which design scored points, I was more interested in looking at some other bags: that is to keep an eye on my companions' belongings.

The results were announced within moments and Dear said that the winning design is not what they expected it to be. Oh no! But I don't really bother lah, all the while I was trying to get high with just one glass of Bourbon Coke. I'd wish Dear would invite me to a Prada Bag Design competition anytime. Hehe.

The event ended literally as soon as it started. That's it? Still hungry for entertainment and having time to kill, we ended up looking for somewhere to chill and landed ourselves at this dessert shop Nectarie le Dessert Patisserie in Clarke Quay, just beside Lunar.

Tiramisu with Coffee IC.

Raad Wine Pear Strudel with crustz that go Boomz.
(Throws out both palms wide open)
Can't detect any hint of red wine in the pear either.

Overall verdict: Slightly above mediocre.
Er.. Mediocre'dit' ?

I had an additional Iced Latte that tastes like Mcdonald's. The bill amounted to $48 which I think it's still ok given that we were very full after finishing the pastries. My personal favourite is still the Tiramisu as I'm a fan of coffee. It's not too sweet nor bitter, feels just nice on my tastebuds. At least it doesn't give me the twisted-lips effect like what the others did.

Service is applaudable, with the crew captain making sure we were shifted from a smoking area to a non-smoking area, as soon as someone from the non-smoking area left. Our order was also served promptly. Well, it'll be a nice place to visit if you just want a chill-out session.

Alas! That's our Friday evening! Can't wait to blog about the launch of HTC Tattoo at ButterFactory's, if I'm invited that is.

Baby's near railway death: Hindsight in design of railway platform?

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:39:00 +0000

Me and the Missus caught the news report on the baby who was literally rolled over by a train. From the CCTV footage, it's clear that the pram rolled towards the edge of the railway and toppled over just moments before the train came to a screeching halt. Everyone including the mother who was interruptedly rudely from her conversation with another woman, was equally astonished and shocked while they helplessly watched the train mow over the pram with the baby still in it.

See the full shocking video here.

I was shocked too. The moth flying around the living room could've just landed in my agape mouth. But the good news was that the infant was alive and escaped the tradegy with a bruise!

How in the world is that possible? It was very clear that the pram 'emptied its contents' onto the railway after hitting the tracks upside down. And the train went directly over it. It's a pure miracle!

That leaves me with one afterthought: Why is the platform constructed in such a way that has the slope declining towards the tracks? If you have noticed, the pram moved rather fast so that suggests the slope is quite steep. But I personally feel that it's a major fault that the Melbourne authorities have overlooked. We in Singapore don't face such problems but I think more could be done to prevent such things from happening.

We've seen many cases last year, where people have committed suicide by jumping onto the tracks. Why aren't the local authorities doing anything about it? What if an accident happens? Can't there be any grilles or glass windows to seperate the tracks from the platforms, like what they did for underground MRT stations?

I hope someone can take action soon, especially for the transport authorities in Melbourne. My heart goes out to the mum whose baby has miraculously survived the incident, and to those whose Sunday shoppings on a trolley have become pancakes once too often. Allelujah!

I want to listen to Damien Rice

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:53:00 +0000

all over again. It's been a long while since it felt so painful.

The intensive Nokia N97 review

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:52:00 +0000

After contemplating for some time, I've finally decided to ditch my E90 for something smaller and lighter. My initial intention was to get the iPhone, but I was afraid that it'll explode at my ears while talking on the phone or transmit electric shocks.

Unboxing

Stylus

Saffiano inspired 'U' leather case.

Manual, warranty card, charger and charger converter,
microUSB and remote controlled earpiece.

Something that you might wanna note is the charger, which uses a microUSB port. No longer can the old one with a mini round head work on the phone. But a converter is supplied for both the big and small old charger heads. If you wish to purchase another converter, it'll be around $38.

Hardware

Sorry if I keep comparing N97 to E90. This is because I am so used to the convenience of having a mobile lappie with me albeit its bulky size. There are trade offs between these two. The former being smaller and lighter, and being a touchscreen phone will render some tasks easier like browsing the web and flicking through photos.

The E90, even though being much heavier and looks like a remote control, is more stable and has a better keyboard than most phones, at least for my pudgy fingers.

This touchphone has a sensor that will know and lock your screen when you are picking up calls, so that your ear will not accidentally touch other buttons.

What I dislike most about the QWERTY is that even though the full stop is one of the most frequently used punctuation, you'll need to press the blue arrow (function key) once and then press the comma button, where the full stop is located. Or you could press the Shift key once for the same purpose. Sometimes I get so lazy that I'll just end my sentences with a comma! If there's a need to punch in a string of numbers, you may have to press the function key twice to initiate a numlock, and then press your desired numbers.

Also missing is the ability to use any shortcuts for Copying, Cutting or Pasting. But in Messages, Notes or some other writting applications, you can select the line of text with your fingers (I'm surprised it is quite accurate) and a 'Copy' button will appear beside your selection. This is only in N97 software version 12 and later.

Of course E90's keyboard is designed to be like a conventional keyboard. I had to give up that one for N97's smaller size. If you still think that N97 is not slim enough, there's another N97 mini coming up. In fact after looking at the dummy set at AMK Hub Nokia Shop, the overall size didn't really differ much from N97. Overall, it'll take sometime for you to get used to the small-sized buttons and awkward Shift key, which I feel sometimes is too closely placed to the left directional Navigation Key.

Thanks to the 3.5mm AV connector, this phone feels less like a virgin and it greets most earphones with a warm welcome. You can see it from the way it vibrates with glee. Oh yeah.

Camera lens with sliding cover

To remove the microSD card, you'll need to remove the battery cover. Sian!

If you can slide your PSP into your left pocket, you won't have a problem with this one. Just make sure you lock the screen before doing so, because the touch sensitive screen will just throw open any programs at a slight touch, draining your battery power unnecessarily.

Touchscreen and GUI

iPhone's touchscreen works on static electricity, you can only use your fingers to touch and not the fingernails or styluses. Multitouch is only available on iPhone or LG Prada 2. And there is no Kinetic Scroll! Not until somewhere in October 09 when they release the firmware update version 2.0. I'm very much looking forward to it.

N97 works on pressure, and there is NO multitouch available. To show how much pressure is needed, please see the following illustrations.

iPhone

N97

Also in some submenu or options, you might need to double-tap to enter or select your desired option. You'll also need sometime to get used to and appreciate this function which I think is a good approach for indecisive people like me.

For SMSing in portrait and landscape mode, there'll be no virtual QWERTY keyboard, which is unlike the Nokia 5800. This is a real headache as messaging in landscape mode is sometimes a little confusing, because the keypad will be on the right side and it takes some time for you to get used to this inconsistency.

Editable Homescreen that goes Boomz!

Up to a maximum of 20 shortcuts are available on the screen. When the phone is first purchased, Some of the homescreen shortcuts are being set to the Facebook, Straits Times or Accuweather widgets. Make sure you remove them and set them to be one of the 4 applications in a row, like what I have done for the ST (Straits Times) application above. If not, these independent widgets will be running in the background and you can't exit from them even after pressing the 'Hang Up' Button. What's worse is that every now and then the phone will keep prompting you to connect to the Internet to update the widgets, which gets very frustrating after awhile.

Icons on the top right screen

For some reason, seeing an icon that resembles a satellite gives me the creeps. Everytime it appears, I had to stop acting like Michael Scofield from Prison Break.

You can also tap on the top right hand corner for quick access to
Connectivity, viewing unread SMSes and Missed Calls.

Shortcuts in Homescreen enables fast access to favourite contacts.

Applications and Multimedia

Two of my favourite built-in applications are the Straits Times and Facebook widgets. Both are intuitive, easy to use and not very data intensive. Browsing through a few articles on the ST widget only consumes around 500kb. Thus for this reason, me and the Missus both applied for a 1GB SunSurf Max plan from M1 for a promo price of $9.95 instead of $$16.05. Very the 午华 (worth it)！

Bite-sized news that also go Boomz!

And some Facebook Screenshots. The pictures tells all! It's easy to use but sometimes the response is quite slow.

Shortcut bars on the right.
Will be on the top while in Portrait mode.

Conversational styled Message Inbox

Easy to use, fullscreen Photo viewing with tags

For Videos, there is an application called Vid & TV. This application will automatically detect and lists down all your MP4s and downblouse videos, so please exercise caution not to let the Missus wander into this application.

Default 'Natural' aspect ratio

'Stretch'

'Zoom'. Notice the subtitles are hidden.
Damnit.

Controls that are available on-screen

Music Player. Pretty boring interface. I can never change the music note from pink to some other colors. And the FM tuner can only be accessed from the Music Player. Booboo to Nokia. Sound quality is good but some static noise will leak if hardcore bands like the Prodigy is rocking.

The Camera is a pretty standard Carl Zeiss Tessar 5MP that easily locks on target. Quality of photos are much better than E90s! Sharper and hue-free.

Here's a vid of me ice-skating (I'm the one that looks like an uncle who has lost his way)

Options available

Secondary Camera mode.

N97

Casio Exilim EX-Z60

Not a very bright flash N97 has, but the pictures are still quite clear.

The menu in Web Browser can easily be brought out by pressing the 2-headed arrow on the bottom right. Sadly, Nokia still hasn't add in an 'open a new window' option to its browser. But if you are badly in need of a workaround, you can drop me a message on the right and I'll show you how.

Best fit when zoomed to 80%

Another even sad thing is QuickOffice in N97 is only for viewing. To purchase the full version, you may do an update from QuickOffice and the cost is around S$27. I'm glad I purchased it because I cannot live without QuickOffice!

QuickOffice Premier 6 is compatible with MS Office 2007.

QuickOffice is good for those who wish to keep record of their daily expenses or in my case, driving records which I have to note down in a very tidy way. Of course it is not recommended to do your accountings on it. By the time you are done with your work, you'll see grids all around you.

Annoyances

Other than a fast depleting battery that lasts you at most 2 days with a normal usage, there are some parts of the phone that I totally cannot stand, like finding someone in your contact list.

Once the contact list comes up and you wish to type the person's name in the search box, a full screen, I mean really a full screen with no holes at the side like what is shown here.

You'll have to key in the letters one by one and since Symbian platform is more laggy than Apple of iPhone 3G, there is a split second between each letters. The frustrating part is that the phone tries to be smart and it will look for the next match.

For example, if I want to type Alan, after keying in 'A', a list of letters will be suggested, like 'L', 'N' or so on. After I choose L from this 2nd list, a 3rd list with jumbled letters will appear, consisting of vowels like 'A' or 'E'. Then you can choose 'A' followed by 'N'. This whole process is really confusing, but I have found a way to switch off the function.

To do so, go to Settings > Touch Input. Set Adaptive Search to 'Off'. And tada! You can key in the name from Contacts easily.

Some other bugs are that the screen will hang right after a call, and you'll have to remove the battery and put it back again. But don't worry, out of 10 calls, it only happened 8 times. Again, fear not. The Over-The-Air software update will give you the latest update which is 12.0.026 for Singapore N97s. This will reduce to 1 error in 1 day. And that day I happen to make only a single call. Sigh.

Well, so far so good. The features I'm proud of are the camera and massive 32GB storage, but on the contrary, it has only around 40MB of C drive space. Somehow after installing some applications, if the memory is being reduced to less than 20MB, you will see a drop in speed. Just be patient, ok?

Alas, I have come to an end of my review. In all, this phone has its pros and cons as summarized below:

Pros:
1. Great camera shots in the day
2. Easy to setup Wifi Access points and external email (Hotmail, Gmail or Yahoo)
3. Easy to use widgets

Cons:
1. Not very user friendly QWERTY.
2. Not very long battery life.
3. No kinetic scrolling, yet!

Chocoman slacking.

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:02:00 +0000

Chocoman relaxing on a sofa.

Or is that a sofa?

Erm. that's actually me sleeping. Haha.

A day at Marina Barrage

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:59:00 +0000

There are so many forms of entertainment springing up in Singapore, but life could be boring just watching movies, window shopping in luxurious malls or surfing the Internet.

Sometimes, it feels kind of good to indulge in nostalgia, especially kite-flying! That's why the 2 of us decided to check out the Marina Barrage last week. It's a really beautiful place stuck in the middle of nowhere.

You know, me and Dear made ourselves a kite sometime back, and the only place I knew that is popular for kite-flying is somewhere in Sengkang. I'm also paiseh to bring my kite along to the Barrage as my kite is really fugly! Who makes a kite using masking tape?? And the shape is the ~~aubiao~~ classic diamond one. I don't want to talk about the tail. See it for yourselves.

A Hello Kitty inspired kite.
Spot the masking tape.

If you don't wish to scour Daiso for materials to make your kite, you can in fact buy one from a shop located just below the sky terrace. It's actually tucked away in a discreet corner on the ground floor. There are various shapes and sizes to choose from. But I still love my diamond kite. Wahaha.

Taking a thirst-quenching break at the cafe

It's nice to see various types of kites in the sky, a few of which are really interesting, like squids, butterflies and eagles. On the contrary, the squid and butterfly kites soared higher than the eagle. Quite a funny sight to see a sea animal flying and an eagle that has difficulties flying.

An authentic Hello Kitty kite!

On the terrace, one can catch a glimpse of the city area, and rarely was my view of the skyline unobstructed. Lying down on the grass patch and drinking a can of Soda, one can only think of SodaGreen. Duh. You can even have a picnic there, just make sure you clean up after your party, else Mr Policeman who is standing near the staircase will throw you into the reservoir.

Ewww ~

There were also certain exhibits displaying nature friendly themes. But seriously we were not very interested in what's on display. Just trying to get away from the sweltering heat. =)

Dear likes to take photos of me. I asked her why.

She said:
"When you love someone, you'd always want to take the best picture of him"

I think,
The best picture of me is when I'm with you. =)

Next time we're gonna bring our kite along!

To go to Marina Barrage, you'll have to catch a free shuttle bus from Marina Bay MRT. Update: They added SBS bus no. 400 to the shuttle service! Check out the link here.

Hoping to go back there again with my pals!

Should Miss Singapore and her judges be disqualified?

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:41:00 +0000

I'm sure everyone has heard about the recent debate over Miss Ris Low's eligibility to hold the Miss Singapore title. In case you didn't knew, and from what i gathered reading the news,she committed a credit card fraud sometime back. What stunned me further was that, citing the Straits Times, there were 60 other offences that she might be charged with, and while being interviewed she mentioned that those offences were 'unintentional'!

Your offences committed were unintentional? You unintentionally used your customers' credit cards to buy things for yourself? I'm very curious to know what are the other 60 charges, you know?

Already suffering from a bout of critisms by local Singaporeans for her hilarious command of English, this latest piece of news, to me, is like swallowing a fishball without chewing it. Why are the authorities not reviewing the eligibility of her title yet?

To Miss Ris Low, nothing personal; Firstly, you don't even know how to pronounce 'bikini' properly. And as for your looks, I'm not saying that you are ugly. I'm rather amazed that it seems like you bagged the most number of awards.

Or secondly, there might be something questionable about the panel of judges, which I'll normally rule out given that they are the professionals, and their judgement shouldn't be biased. I myself didn't watch the whole Miss Singapore pageant so I guess I can't decide what was the factor that made you come in tops. Pity goes to the other contestants, I feel that some of them are rather pretty though. Can someone please launch an investigation into why the judges chose her? The numerous awards she won really looks too suspicious!

After watching the video clip of you in an interview, you can't imagine how many times I slapped my forehead man. I'd wish I was one of the judges, screaming out loud to remove you from the list of contestants!

What leopard preens, zip bra ('zebra' I presume). Maybe it's not about the pronounciation. I myself can't even pronounce 'restoration' properly, but 'prints' and 'zebra'? Or even the color 'Red'?? OMG. Making a fashion statement with such clothes and green pants? Can I request that you wear it and appear on TV for us all to see if it's nice before I make sacarstic remarks? I'm really Googling for such outfits now. Oh I got it.

Image from www.shoarns.com/ZebraGallery.html

Do I still need to upload the leopard one?

I'm sure many imbeciles out there will not be more forgiving in their critisms. The most I can say is, if I were you, I'd rather back out of this whole thing. At the same time, I'm not so sure if a probation is considered a criminal record or not, but committing so many counts of fraud at such a tender age might not be acceptable by many employers. Now that the matter has been blown to such a proportion, maybe it's better to stay low for awhile and do those things that are down-to-earth (but not anything to do with animals please).

Or unless like what the comment in the video said about the government sending you for English lessons, I wish you the best of luck before you go on stage to a global audience. And if you can land yourself in Africa, where the pageant is held at (OMG I keep thinking of the animals. No wonder you quote the Safari!), just don't throw our face, please!

LOL!

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:40:00 +0000

We can't deny that we are getting older, can we?

Some of the youngsters around me like to use the abbreviation 'LOL', which stands for Laugh(ing) out Loud.

My cousin Ah Ping booked a chalet the other day as my niece just turned 5, and I was asked to forward the location to my guy cousin Ah Xiang.

Hi, here's the details for Esther's party this sat - Costa Sands Resort
(Downtown East)
LIM HWEE PING, CHRISTINA
Room No : 1223
Bbq: 6-9pm. See ya! alan

His reply:
LOL! What block is it?

Duh! I mean, there's nothing wrong with that la, but I suppose my sms to him didn't had any hint of humour!

Kinda got irritating after awhile. Or those who like to put a '...' at the end of their sms. Ok sorry i'm just being cranky. Whatever.

Really bad day at work

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:50:00 +0000

Perhaps I shouldn't be complaining. It's just that some people are really getting on my nerves.

I had this office chair that was broken. The axis in the middle was jutting out from its frame and as a result, it scraped the carpet beneath whenever I moved around while sitting on it. This created a hairy (I beg your pardon ladies) vagina in the carpet and I was ~~sexually~~ astonished to notice the artificial human organ after some time. I've always thought that something got stuck in the wheels which made the chair hard to move about, but it wasn't so.

My colleagues must be well aware that the chair was faulty because I was complaining day in and out about it. Even the other chairs that were unoccupied had problems of their own: One of them macham like a rocking chair, the other extends vertically upwards when I have already adjusted it to its lowest, or worst, being creaky to the point of being intolerable. I totally can't stand working on such chairs.

Louis, being the helpful guy, witnessed my long-lived agony, and finally decided to trouble our maintenance guy by requesting for a new chair from him. This other colleague of mine overheard our loud conversation and she obviously knew I was getting a new chair. Let's call her Miss L.

Yes that's the state it's in now. So I took the unoccupied chair which likes to keep erecting, while waiting for my new one.

Today after emerging from a long meeting, I was walking back with Miss L to our seats when she suddenly exclaimed:

"Wa! New chair ah!"

So I told her the chair is mine, and I was about to swap it with Erectus when she grabbed hold of it and didn't wanted to let go.

I said: "What's wrong with you?"

"Who said the new chair is yours?" she retorted.

"Eh hello my chair is already broken, and I had to temporarily use Erectus leh."

This time, my boss came around and questioned what was the din about. Miss L kept saying that I have a new chair and she didn't wanted me to have it. I had to shout out loud that I requested for it and it's rightfully mine! And you know what she did? She stuck out her tongue at me!

For your info she just turned 33.

Blood boil at 200 degrees Celsius. Never mind, I chose to ignore her and started reading my new mails. I didn't even notice that she was going home for the day. Then I saw my web vendor's mail.

Alamak, it's going to be very hard to explain here but I can tell you, they are really brainless, and they are foreigners. I'm not saying that Singaporeans are smart but I knew many from their country who are really good programmers.

First of all, the project done by them did not meet my company's standards. Even when I tried to convince them to change some parts during the User Acceptance Test (UAT), they said it's not possible to make amendments as it's going to take up more time and manpower. Fine, I had to make do with what lousy suggestions they gave. In the end, I spot backend errors every single week, which all these shouldn't have happened!

All because their work quality is really slipshod. Very simple things which you would've expected them to anticipate beforehand, and do up the preventive measures, are not even implemented! That caused a whole load of trouble when I started to test the system further. You can say that I should have borrowed an eagle's eye while doing the testing but I can tell you, even my boss also feels that they are very unprofessional, as they do not bother about the small things, especially the English phrases found in the website!

And they charge exhorbitantly for any amendments that I request. Ok, it's partially our fault for omitting one small function (just to hide/unhide a button when we need it), but it costs $500, which is 1/4 of a whole project of $2000. Don't you think it's ridiculous?

I just feel that it's my bad luck after all. When I just came into this company, the website revamp had already been approved by an ex-staff who didn't had any prior IT knowledge. In the end, I had to fix all the loose ends that she committed. So much so that I did not have any authorizing power to ask the vendors to amend the many mistakes I found. In the end, the whole revamp to the original revamp dragged for almost a year, and new problems surface every week.

I'm almost giving up on the web vendor. Tomorrow I will try to contact their CEO for a good talk, regarding the working attitude of his staff. This has to come to an end, or else I'll be unable to concentrate on my upcoming data migration task.

I don't get it

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:59:00 +0000

Why can't you admit that you are incompetent? Do you know that it's really frustrating to find out programming bugs that were created by you, and asking you to resolve it? Can you please wake up your bloody ideas???

You tell me where to live lah?

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 16:42:00 +0000

Bring more foreigners in to replace our declining fertility rate? Do we still need to increase our population size?

I received news on Saturday from my kor that the Punggol Residences balloting result is out. Me and Dear frantically logged on to the Internet from our phones and was greeted by a 4 digit number: 2428!

OMG. There was a sudden urge to whack 10 bucks on 4D when I saw those numbers. Out of 615 4-room units, we were like pushed so far behind! Will they allocate us a unit at the void deck? Or even the carpark?

Sigh.

There has already been an online petition circulating to ask people to join forces and request the gahment to build more affordable housing for us commoners. I think I want to start a petition to request the gahment to chase all foreigners out of Singapore.

Or rather not chase those existing ones, just stop the new ones from coming in!!

Look at our country. With a size no bigger than a Mega Mcspicy, we are already being pushed to live in the outskirts of the island. Probably some of us have to shift to Pulau Ubin. I dread the day when a giant turtle has to ferry my family to and fro the mainland. Or better still, wade across the sea on an abandoned tyre like maybe what Mas Selamat is trying to do.

To add insult to injury, I had a gathering with my ex-Poly classmates, and one of them gleefully announced that he secured a 5-room ballot number, and his number is 66!

Sobs. I want to jump down my flat and then come back upstairs and jump down again, to make sure that I die.
Nah. 7th month liao. I shall not talk in this manner. I'll just down around 10 sleeping pills to ensure I have a good sleep and forget all my sorrows. Now where are them pills?

Up next- Punggol Spectra. Not sure whether are we able to apply for it while retaining our first timer's chances. It's a far flung development that's 2 LRT stops away from Punggol MRT.

Thinking out loud, Dear dreaded those super-crowded feeder buses. And I, dread these feeder LRTs! OMG!!

Future MRT/LRT Stations

You tell me, where to live lah??

Irritating 3D glasses

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 01:48:00 +0000

That's right, we caught The Final Destination at AMK Hub last weekend, and were awed by the 3D effects that smacked right into our face. I especially liked the part where an item floats right over your shoulder. It felt so real that I nearly turned around to scoff at that Ah Beng thinking that he threw his popcorn at me.

But the 3D goggles were a pain to wear, I had to fidget with it to make it sit nicely on my specs, if not, it had to rest on my nose which made breathing a chore.

Tsk!

I wished they could've given us those disposable goggles that were once popular when we were kids. Remember Panini and their 3D books? Wondering out loud where to get them.

Those were so much lighter!

I had to borrow Dear's hairband just to keep the goggles flushed with my glasses. In the end it snapped and my nose was hurt. To add insult to injury, it left a scratch on my specs! So heartbroken. I even attempted wearing them upside down, or like this.

Finally I had to decide to prop it up with my index finger throughout the whole goddamn 82 mins. I swear to make my own 3D goggles for the next 3D show. Camwhoring time!

The couple beside us must've hated my flash.

Alright my verdict for the show: A nice visual experience, but the ways which the victims were killed doesn't seem too interesting. I'd much prefer the earlier episodes as they died in a more detailed fashion. This episode doesn't seem to be as smart as those in the past.

When will there be a 3D porn show?? Sure looking forward to watch it alone!

Pressies from KL

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 06:19:00 +0000

First of all, I'm happy to see Dear back on Friday evening. Dear told me many times that her flight will land at the Budget Terminal, but I kept having this mindset that Budget Terminal = Terminal 3. And I've never been to BT before. So when I was at T3 exactly when she landed, I got a tongue-lashing from her!

Anyway, with my tongue in cheek, I received a tongueless souvenir which she bought from KL. Introducing ....

ChocoMan!

Well.. not sure if it's really a male or WAS a male, I'm sure with that look, he's been through hell. Dear claimed that she couldn't stop laughing when she saw it as it reminds her of me. Oh well, I'll strike a pose just for the camera!

Oops. Twisted my mouth the wrong way.

He's just like Mona Lisa; always staring at you wherever you are standing. Dear will break into peals of laughter whenever I made Chocoman stare at her in this way.

Ler Kua Simi ~

I just couldn't shake off the image of his private part. Somehow it reminds me of something I came across in the HongKong transport system.

"I have a part of me that is copyrighted."

Soon, it started to fool around.

Oh that's the mask she bought for Javier boy.

Don't be rude, Chocoman!

In addition to its goofy, apologetic look, it had a profile that was even more hilarious. It reads:

In times of grave danger when he is about to become someone's dessert, Chocoman can teleport himself to a safe place.

Erm. I don't quite buy that. Let's see for ourselves.

Chocoman! Teleport from the monitor to the PC!

....

Aww nevermind, it might take him some time to get used to my presence. He's just shy! I'll let him snuggle up with Star-Scream tonight on my bed.

Star-Scream, you have a new pal to share the bed with you! Do you wanna meet him?

"Oh yes yes, where's he?"

An awkward silence ensued ..

Shucks. Guess my insomnia can only get worse from now on. =(

Thanks Dear for the cute looking plush! Love it to bits!

Hello Dearie! (a not-so-naggy note to my Fiancee who is currently having fun in KL)

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:16:00 +0000

Ahh! I knew you would check my blog for updates no matter which part of the world you are in. Don't worry I haven't been fooling around, I've been good! Cutting down on my carbo intake, going to lunch and coming back punctually, but suay suay this morning I overslept lor! Cos of this GI Joe dream that I was having. I was about to locate that bomb so I shut off my alarm clock that was distracting me big time. And thus the $16 cab fare soon after. =(

I know you miss our baby duckling French Fries and vice versa. Let's have a look at what it's doing right now.

Zzzz

Glad that it's still sleeping soundly. Don't worry Dear, I will keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't wade to the pubs @ Tanjong Pagar. *Winks.

Yesterday he nearly got ran over by another giant duck thinking that it's his real mother. That Mother of all Ducks had the words 'Singapore Ducktours' printed at the sides. Good thing I stopped him in the nick of time if not the kids on board will faint at the sight of a duck with cotton stuffings overflowing from his bill.

How's the weather there? Hope you will stay clear of the roads and try to walk on the pavements. I've noticed you always like to walk on roadsides. I know you have your driving license for some time now, but please remember there's no need to practice when you are not in a car. Kidding lah. Oh ya by the way I made a fool of myself just now during driving. I wanted to do a right turn, my very first, at a T-Junction. Mr Foo asked me to check if there were any cars, and I looked behind only and said 'No', and then I accelerated. He reminded me that there were oncoming cars! Kuku Malu!

I hate touching the gear shift. Makes me feel so gay and car-stalling prone.

What about the food over there? Hope you don't get too carried away and forget what you are not supposed to eat hor, if not your gastric reflux will resurface again. I can only allow you to smell the food you like. Good enough bah I guess. I hope you guys can easily find a place to sit down and eat, unlike this poor bloke we saw at Ion foodcourt weeks ago.

Well, times are bad. A bowl of Laksa can retail at $6 but the mall don't even have enough money to buy some more chairs. I think we shall invest in the Laksa industry sometime ok? Since it was such a success that day cooking Laksa with the pre-packed Prima Taste Laksa Gravy!

And ask Ah Lian not to anyhow throw tissue paper packets on the seats to chope ah. If you really want to throw something, throw Evelyn there so she can scare strangers away with her incessant chatting. =D

Also, stay close to ChewChew's boyfriend hor. I permit you to hold his hand only for today. Later if I see you still holding on to his hand at the airport, you'll have to give me a valid reason ok. But most prob I won't accept it. Lala. Then you can wait for my 'Girlfriend Termination Letter'. So set ah, 11.30pm at Terminal 3. Let me know if you don't need the red carpet, I will keng.

Anyway, enjoy yourselves! Don't forget to bring me back a piece of Twin Towers for me and Kor!

Love ya!

An Evening at Suntec City

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:28:00 +0000

Last Friday, Dear wanted to check out the Bridal Fair at one of the Suntec Convention Halls. While we only intended to browse through the various bridal packages available, we were constantly stopped in our tracks by persistent uncles who tried to pull us to their stalls to view their sample albums

Being turned off by their pushy selling, we tried to run away from the scene, and even had to act uninterested while one aunty showed us some wedding shots. Indeed the photos are really boring with those normal 'running on beach', 'I look at you, you look back at me' and all the usual haunts like Fullerton serving as a backdrop.

What's worse was that the couple didn't looked like an item at all! My gawd! I don't want to be seen taking my wedding photos with my stranger wife! And we wanted our photos to be meaningful, short of all the commercial crap.

You bet we didn't last for 10 mins in the bridal exhibition! At the same time, there was the annual Singapore Games and Comics Convention going on 2 halls away. A drawing contest caught our attention, where participants had to pit their sketching skills against each other, drawing some characters while adhering to a theme chosen by either contestant.

With the tight timeline of 4 mins, they were already doing very well, at least on the entertainment part. Most probably they are from NAFA?

Doodling away to a 'Superheroes' Theme

Oh and there were many toys on sale, some almost to the point of extinction. I came across these He-Man figurines which cost a hefty $85 each! Surprisingly, I also saw a toy which I had when I was fairly young: An old school Transformers by the name of SoundWave.

Oh my Gawd! Fond memories @ $75 !!

Can anyone guess what's it capable of transforming into?

Tada! A Cassette Tape Player!
(minus the soundwaves)

Alex's sure relaxing his mind and erm..
body!

Spam

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:18:00 +0000

Didn't knew spam could come in so many flavours

How am I supposed to eat this? Will I be overly full?

Punggol Residences BTO

noreply@blogger.com (sameshitdifferentdae) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:07:00 +0000

Ah ha! Finally can post pictures. We took half day leave last Friday just to see the 3D models being displayed at TPY HDB hub (Habitat Forum, BizFour 3rd Storey. Opening 8-5 on weekday).

For those who can't make it for the Exhibit, check them out here!

Those 4 rooms with balconies are scattered all over the 6 blocks.

Some floor /wall tiles that are provided.

Somehow both of us didn't fancy the idea of having Timber flooring for the Master Bedroom. Dear suggested laminating the floor to prevent water from seeping in. If we do get the flat, most probably we'll lay homogeneous tiles over it.

How I wished I was living in the 70's
Where the cost of one flat is equivalent to a car now.

4 - room

5 - room

What's distinctive about these flats is that there are no multi-storey carparks provided. Instead, it's built under an elevated garden which purportedly emits an enchanting glow at night.

The beige-colored patches are the balconies.

Dear would like to have a balcony, but I have no special preference. My current balcony houses a rusty OTO massage chair and part of our sofa. Tsk.

Ah ha

Mm Hmm

Oh Yeah

Seriously there was nothing much in the exhibition , much information can already be found here. There wasn't even any showroom with actual proportions for our viewing pleasure. Our aim was just to have a look at the sculptured model which was on display so that we could finalize our choices. Blk 271B topped our selection!

Tomorrow's the closing date for applications and the count is staying at 3000+/600+ . Think we better go Sima Lu bai bai already!