the lastsplash

What do you first look for in a fantastic bowl of ramen? I think it has to be the soup. *slurps and then my eyes wide open* hmmmmm... Next its the noodles. *slurps munch munch munch* What's that unqiue taste? Its the noodles mixed with melting cheese! Oyishii! Sorry no photographs, cuz we are not allowed to carry camera handphones during at work. =p I had saw them featured on TV a few years ago, and Thurday I finally tasted it. I think Naruto will probably recommend it too. heh heh. It was one of the best ramen I have tasted so far (maybe I have not tried enough?). But I'll definitely recommend you try the Ramen Ramen Singapore, at Upper Bukit Timah Road's Rail Mall, if you happen to be around that area. It is kinda outta the way lah , especially if you don't drive. A bowl of ramen is around 8 bucks, and 1 dollar for each additional topping. I think that is abit steep, but my colleague said thats the normal price of ramen. I tried the Chizu Ramen, ie. ramen with chees...

If it wasn't for the GSS, I wouldn't have known this... The male fitting rooms at the Robinson are so spacious. And I think I know the good reason for them being so. Heh. Its fabulous for those family outing! I saw men with their wives, kids, babies, and strollers. Everyone, everything, into the fitting room together! I wondered if they were having picnics inside. Some wives were so nice, they just went back and forth, in and out, with more slacks, more shirts, for their husbands to try. I bet these guys were sitting comfortably on the chair inside, waiting. Yes there's a chair, perfect for checking whether there's too much cloth at the erm... crotch area when you sit. Their wives out there ploughing through the clothes were probably thinking, "Last day, members additional 20% off mah , die die also must buy one loh-ly of cheap clothes home lah , no wear nevermind, cannot miss out on the great offer leh , very lugi one you know?" However, poor guys outside ...

Imagine having aweb browser with the features of Firefox and some of its best extensions, without the need to install the extensions manually? There you have it, Opera 9. If you are still using IE, here is another great alternative you have to try. In fact, Opera 9 is so smart that it actually imports bookmarks from Firefox automatically. And there's no need for a session manager which may not be able to recover from a crashed session, as Opera 9 opens up the same tabs from the window which you have closed previously. The "Home" and the "Top Ten Visited Sites" buttons are cleverly hidden within the address bar (they appear only when you click on the address). So the menu and toolbars are less cluttered and you can have a larger area for surfing. When I first started loading a folder of sites simultaneously, it took quite a while. After that, things went smooth and I started to discover the cool features which came out of the box. Unfortunately, things turned sou...

They were performing at Orchard Road, Singapore. But, there was no Krist Novo or Dave Grohl, and certainly no Kurt Cobain! I could not believe what I was hearing. Nirvana, live in Singapore. It was a local band busking for the Singapore Children Cancer Foundation. They were very good. Their repertoire consisted of their original compositions and songs by Nirvana. The lead vocalist and gutarist sounded alot like Cobain, with his strong husky voice. From far, you would probably had thought that someone was playing Nirvana cd really loud. They played songs from Bleach, In Utero and Nevermind. A free Nirvana gig, on the streets of Singapore. How cool is that? Unfortunately, I think the Nirvana is lost in the current generation, as few stopped by to listen and the audience were mostly subdued. Balik kampong lah Superband, Singapore's true super bands are out there on the streets, and for a good cause. =p

I account my lack of activity here in the previous weeks to the World Cup... But I just had to pen down this entry, perhaps to make myself feel better? Yes, you must have guessed it - to complain. *lol* I just fend myself from a woman "dying" to get off the bus. She repeatedly said "Excuse me, excuse me", although there was no where I could have moved to "excuse her"... It was a crowded bus. We were one traffic light away from the bus-stop she was going to alight. I had the feeling she was thinking, "I said the magic word, you are supposed to disappear, why are you still here?". The fact that three gentlemen who took three separate outer seats (one of them taking two seats for himself while he comfortably enjoy his morning papers) did not help much in managing the crowded situation. Especially when a woman was "guarding" the way to those seats. I think she can interview for the post of Guard-of-Honour at Istana or even at the Buckingh...

Now we all know why they wanted us all to plug into cable and do away with the traditional antenna... Why do we have to pay for something which is "Free-to-air"? Thank goodness I stay near our boleh -neighbours. =p

Not so long ago, we were doing camp productions, welcome-tea vidz, and some event vidz. At the end of the video editing phase, there was always the long wait for the video to be rendered. A 5-7min video took about 1hr to render. Assuming we used 25 frames per sec, thats about 2.9 frames per min. I thought that was real damm long, till I read this article . 10 hours/frame! Pixar's new animation, "Cars" used 300 times more computing power than "Toy Story". We were always wondering where was the bottleneck for the video rendering, was it the CPU too slow, or not 'nuff RAM? Now the mystery is revealed. The NFS file systems which Pixar used to feed data to the rendering system was hampering the process. And guess what, each of the file server head already had a GB of cache (not 'nuff?). They needed around 32GB! The solution, 8 Linux SAN based boxes to feed the data. That, cut the rendering to 1 hour/frame. A few rounds of tea break, go home to bathe, catch so...

That's me, in the field! I think I should be worthed more than just $500 bah... This week, I have been inserted into the site at dusk and extracted out after dawn everyday. For those who are abit stumbled by the terms "inserted" and "extracted" (no no, its nothing to do with pulling out my teeth or whatever kinky things you are thinking =p ), these are fancy military terms for being transported to and out of a place. Last week was "deployment-preparation-hell-week", and this week, the "actual-deployment-hell-week" continues. My job requires us to give 24-hr on-site support for this period. I am on the 12-hr night shift this time round. This is my first out-field deployment as an engineer. No fancy heli-insertion lah , just normal dull rover ride into the forest area. As I told my mum, what I do there is mainly catching spiders, collecting some leaves specimens, and observing some red and black ants fighting it out. I must admit, in contrast t...

It felt alot like those times during camp productions, just that this time round, we are ain't doing video editing or filming, but programming and debugging. After working for 20 straight hours, we finally went back home at 6am and it was back at site again after 2 hours of sleep. More to come next week, still not much time to take stock of things yet...

Tomorrow, one year into the society. No time to stop and reflect yet.

I hung on for my life and alighted the cab slightly shaken. It was the ride of my life . Learning from my previous experience, I told the cab driver to take Pioneer Road North, and then AYE, to my office from site at Jurong. Previously, another cab driver had taken me for a joy ride en route to office, via PIE (very longggggggggggg wayyyyyyyy right????). It was a pleasant ride until we reached the Alexandra Road exit. There was a massive jam due to an accident. Instead of joining the queue, the driver drove on. I thought to myself, "Its my lucky day! Quick thinking by the driver, no need to waste time in the jam." That was until he drove past the next exit at Lower Delta Road. I knew something was wrong. As we approached the next exit at Keppel Road, I told the driver we had past our exit. He was not sure of which way to go, and was driving into the road divider!!! I suggested to him that we should exit immediately and make a U-turn along Keppel Road. Along Keppel Road, he w...

Are good neighbours hard to come by? I am not too sure, cuz for the past few years, we hardly felt the existence of our neighbour, ie. the guys who moved into the unit opposite our flat two years ago. Why? Cuz they pretty much treat their flat as a chalet. And by that I mean the only time that I saw them was the one time I came back to see their house all brightened up. Why? Cuz they rented out their house as a set for some film production. And the other times I saw them were mostly weekends when they invited their friends over for mahjong. Probably overnight mahjong and made lotsa noise, cuz somebody complained to the police and they probably thought it was us. They decided to protest by putting a shoe rack over our potted plants *** (please note that these potted plants in front of our door were there since we moved in, yes, for more than sixteen years). Btw, it was a ugly looking shoe rack which they don't use at all. So I guess it was either to "mark their territory" ...

I look forward to the opening of the movie " Da Vinci Code " tomorrow. Perhaps I'll catch it this weekend or next week when it'll be less crowded. But as many, like me, who are looking forward to the movie, there are also many who criticise and shun away from the movie. In fact, in India, the release of the movie had been put on hold. Many feel that the movie offended their faith, we should respect that. But I think it is important to keep in mind that this is a movie adapted from a the book by Dan Brown, a work of fiction. We should probably watch the movie, or read the book, with the intention of getting entertained, rather than finding the truth. The controversies are its selling point. No doubt, the story itself is flawed. An article on HowStuffWorks analyses "How The Da Vinci Code Doesn't Work" . My favourite flaws are that "the restrooms of the Louvre have liquid soap, just like most other public restrooms" and "according to a "...

At twenty-six, I got to know more of what I want. When you are put in that position to think what you are willing to give away, you realise what you really want. I am sure most people know the hard facts of life (I'm talking about the $$$), but not many can really appreciate it. Until you are thrown in that situation, those are just words and numbers. I may not be experiencing the worse life, but I am experiencing enough for me to appreciate it. And when you do, you'd wanna do something about it right? The grand plan of things is simple, "Plan and work towards the goal". The planning we can leave it to the professionals, our financial consultants, to tell us how much we need to make to achieve what we want. The "working towards the goal" part, depends on ourselves. As we pursue this path to work towards the goal, opportunities come by. Opportunities such as doing a business, having a promotion, etc. But with these opportunities come some trade off. Such as t...

Tomorrow is my birthday, below are my seven ("lucky seven" mah... heh) wishes not in any particular order... I wish that... 1. My sister will be mature abit faster. Twenty-three years is already a long time, and yet there are quite a few things she need to pick up. Eg. Learn to not leave stacks of her belongings all over the house, and to return things to their respective places after use, especially if she had borrowed them. Keep up the good work, you are almost there! (Hope you'll read this and make the difference today!) 2. People will be more considerate in general, so that everyone will at least enjoy their journey to and back from work, no matter how sucky work may be. Your considerate act and friendly smile will dispel any Monday blues! =) 3. Parents will actively play their part to be good role models for their children, so that their kids will be better behaved, and teachers' lifespan will not be shortened with every breath they take down the children's n...

Oh my gosh. I finally finished the book I picked up more than four months ago. Reading a book is something which I usually do only on my trip to and back from work. And this book isn't exactly the size which I would wanna put in my bag, so I left it at home to collect dust after a couple of days. I picked it up yesterday only becuz I wanted to buy a new book, and had to finish this first. Once I did that, like the experience of reading other Gaiman's books, I was unable to put it down and promptly finished the two hundred odd pages left today. Anansi Boys was the fifth Neil Gaiman novel I read (excluding the Sandman Series and other related graphic novels). I like reading Gaiman's stories because of the world he created in his stories. The world where the Gods and the Deads walk among the Livings. Gods from long ago who would eventually be forgotten. If you have read American Gods, you'll probably be familiar with the world he created in Anansi Boys . I don't know ...

Not me. The highest-earner of my cohort is working there tho'. I don't dream of working there, but hope I'll at least get a chance to work on something big someday. Something with many users. Of cuz, there'll be some who will love it, and some who will hate it. So what is it really like to be working in such a big company which many hate and love? A Microsoft programmer analyses and gives his structured perspective on working in Microsoft, a very programmer-thingy to do. =) Who dares to speak so openly about their company? There are certainly somethings I hope to see in my working environment as well. Read it from the insider here .

I was very honoured to be invited to write a line or two last week, to be featured during the Tea Reception for SCE applicants and on the Alumni Website. The main aim was to inspire and guide the freshmen on education at NTU SCE, and to recount my memorable experience in SCE. A difficult task at first, it turned out that a couple of lines were not enough for me. Below is a preview to my lil' contribution. Hopefully it'll be useful to potential NTU SCE freshmen who will not be able to make it for the Tea Reception. =) During my Convocation last July, the guest speaker, Mr Chan Yeng Kit, CEO of IDA Singapore, reminded us of our decision to place the bets of our future in the IT industry shortly after the bust of the dot-com bubble. He portrayed us as brave souls, passionate about IT. And he painted the future of us as future professionals in the dynamic and exciting industry, where we can make a difference across the society. He also presented past statistics that half of the IT-...

It was the first week of April when the flowers bloomed. The petals pink and white covered the long stretch of the road back home. For the moment, I was brought a scene from the Japanese animation, where they enjoyed scent and sight of beautiful cherry blossoms in the Spring. That moment was perfect, if only I had a camera to capture it down and share with everyone. Two weeks later the beautiful sight of bougainvillea was replace by tropical torrential rain. Spring was over. Next year I'll be ready when April comes.

I finally got to watch the " Why My Vote Matters - A Dialogue with the Minister Mentor " on the re-telecast tonight and understand the reasons for some of the comments on Today . Some after thoughts from watching the show... At times, I wondered why some of the young journalists did not have the basic courtesy of letting MM Lee finish what he wanted to say. There were numerous times when I heard MM Lee said, "Let me finish it." If you ask a question, listen to the answer, then ask another question. I am not sure why some of these young journalists do not know that it is rude to interupt someone speaking. I think it is more important to learn to listen, and speak at the right thing at the right moment. As professionals in the media, I think they should be more responsible in what they say. One of the participant said, "There are friends in university who don't know who the PM is, who don't know who you are..." Shame on her friends. Please don'...

I seem to be in the mood to write. This is my third entry for the day. =) It is a common sight to see students selling flags on Saturdays. Almost every Saturday of is a Flag Day. Although it feels like every Saturday. If you understand the rationale of Flag Days, you'll agree that it is a very good idea. I think that other than raising funds for the VWOs (Voluntary Welfare Organisation), it is also to spread the awareness of these organisations and their causes, and to involve students in some community work. I am sure almost everyone of this young generation has participated in at least one Flag Day during their secondary school days. Regardless of much is raised, Flag Days help VWOs in some way. Other than funds from the government, most VWOs have to raise their own funds to run their facilities and programmes. It is no easy task to canvas for funds. Contrary to what many think, there are actually many VWOs out there which need our help, besides NKF, Cancer Foundation, etc, which...

The change to the NTU Points Award Scheme (PAS) did not come as a surprise to me. The enrollment has increased steadily with the opening of the new schools (Humanities, Physical Science, Design and Media). The demand for hostels will definitely go up as well. Therefore a revamp of the system is needed, especially to cater for students who live far from the campus. However, I feel the abolishment of points system completely in the new Hall Allocation Scheme (HAS) is not very good move. Of cuz, the new scheme has its advantages (you can read about it here ). The best thing about the new scheme is that students who are staying far from school will worry less about getting up early and travelling so far to campus (unlike SMU or NUS, NTU is situated at this far corner of Singapore!). Students who never have got a chance at hostel life will do so now too. Student leaders will also be rewarded. Locals will also get more chance to stay with international students in the new scheme. Although th...

Dear friends, Please forgive me if I start seeing less of you for the next few months or years. Perhaps I'll be too busy at work, but I suspect the real reason is because I can't afford to eat at a fancy restaurant with you anymore. Or let me put it this way, we can still meet for hawker food, or dinner at coffee shop, but much less often from now on. Let me share with you my story, and you'll know why. I am a typical Singaporean living in the rat race, and I choose not to stay like this forever. In the rat race means, despite working my ass off, money is still never enough. Some might say, "Hey, you have a good job leh, earning so much, where got not enough?" To begin, I don't really earn much, and a very large portion of it is for paying off my liabilities. Every month, it comes down to the minimum last $500 in the bank account. And sometimes, I have to squeeze over the last few dollars before that minimum. No house, no car, you may ask, "What kinda lia...

I was not aware the National Library Board had joined the bandwagon of organisations with blogs till I saw a post on tomorrow.sg today. The NLB book blog, "High Browse Online" , has been around since October 2005. I think they are doing a great job to adopt a book blog format. Book blogs make reading book reviews easier and more fun. The blog-style makes navigation systematic and easier, as well as maintainence really simple too. I applaud organisations which are able to embrace technology the right way. An economical way to encourage the sharing of information. Below are some tech blogs of different organisations which I read: 1. O'Reilly Developers Weblogs - discussions and articles on wide range of topics. 2. Inside FireFox - A firefox developer's blog on the incredible web browser. 3. IE Blog - The project blog of the rival! Updated glimpse into the IE development and new features. 4. Borland Developer Network - blogs of Borland projects and developers. 5. J...

...And a dot dot here, dot dot there, here dot, there dot, where is dot NET? Good news for Java programmers! Once again, Java is the most popular language according to the statistics from www.tiobe.com . Check out their websites for their definition of popular language and ranking of the rest of the languages.

Recently there were some discussion about desire on Sunshine's blog. And since my birthday is not too far from now *hinthint*, I started thinking about what are my desires... I stopped before the list got too long. I guess desires in the form of material ones are mostly things we don't really need. Such as this really super duper cool Ro Tuck laptop bag and classy Knomo Frinton 17" below!!! *more hints* hah hah. Ok la, just kidding. *take back all the hints* Take a look at the rest of the Top 10 Coolest Laptop Cases here .

Last night, some guys from the resident committee and the town council informed us that depending on the outcome of the voting, a new lift will be built at the corridor just outside our flat. It is part of the lift upgrading for our area. As our flat is along the lift landing level, it was just for info and we will not be voting. We were informed about the lift upgrading earlier by letter, and I did not expect that they were actually planning to build a new lift! Our block is relatively small compared to the other blocks in the area, with a total number of households of 50. The new lift will stop at every level, which means that other than the serving even levels as the existing lift, it will also serve the two corner units at the odd levels, and 8 units at level two. The existing lift is at the other end of the block now, where there are no units at odd levels, therefore to serve the odd levels units, the new lift has to be built at our end of the block. I am not very supportive of th...

The headline read ,"Thaksin sobs, will step aside". This news came as a surprise to me as despite winning the snap polls, he is resigning to fate. His words brought about a tinge of sympathy for him, "I beg all Thais to reunite. I beg all Thais to sacrifice for the king. I apologise to my 15 million supporters that I cannot take the post of Prime Minister...". Regardless of whether it is like what the opposition suspects (merely appointing a seat-warmer and waiting for political storm to blow over before returning to power), I believe Mr Thaksin will stand by his words, unless it is a request from the King. Is democracy about staging protests and boycotting the election? I am sure the whole world can tell that the opposition merely used the sale of Shin Corp to Temasek Holdings to stir up the nationalism feelings in the Thai citizens, as a platform to launch attack on Mr Thaksin. A case of commercial move used as an excuse for a political cause. I think it will not ...

Do not watch!!!

I wonder if anyone noticed, Mediacorp had been using lotsa Franz Ferdinand songs for their shows' intro clips these days. For example they used "The Fallen" for the DH2 clip. I bet either all these clips were done by someone who is a Franz Ferdinand fan or they were paid alot to do so. I think the former is more likely. And that person sure have good taste. Btw, you can find some nice photos of them here from their " No Encore " concert back in Feb. Courtesy of Aloysius Lim. Thanks dude, your photos are really incredible. Today was a usual day, with two passengers on the bus who preferred to let their NTUC plastic bags "sit", then giving up those seats to two poor ladies with high heels, whose hands were really full. It is interesting to note that one of the passenger was sitting behind the other. One was a 40+ auntie, the other was a 30+ man. Totally normal, balanced demographic, and occurrence, of inconsiderate people on the public transport. At wor...