1st Jan 2018 --- an we are off !!

It has been a very very very wet start to the year. It was raining at the Countdown party on New Year's Eve but it still went on. It was still raining today. Was contemplating running in the gym today. But in the end saw a break in the weather and decided to go for a run.

Just as I started, the clouds formed up and I hesitated to go on my usual route and decided to make a change and keep closer to home just in case I needed to turn back if it rains. In the end it did not rain and did do a nice easy 10k run round the block ! :)

Happy New Year

Happy New Year !!!

I really should spend some time updating this blog ... think that will be my resolution for 2018 !!

Flying on SIA Business Class

In Jan 2017 I took a flight from Singapore to the US (Los Angeles). It being a very long flight the missus and I decided to book Business Class seats for the journey. We were all set and packed to go.

We arrived about 2 hrs before our flight and check in at Changi was a breeze !! Got our bags all in and we headed to the Kris Flyer Lounge to enjoy some pre-flight snacks. The lounge was quite crowded for this early morning flight. We had some noodles and snacks and I had an early morning beer ... lol

Got to our gate early and soon we were on board for our 18 hr Journey !

It was the first time travelling Business and WOW the seats were spacious. We were given our ear phones which were noise cancelling and other amenities.

Soon we were in the air. We had a stop over at Narita Airport before we reached LA. Lunch was served on board during the first part and Dinner was served after Narita. I asked for snacks and a glass of wine. I got these 2 packs of Almonds and Cashews. I asked for potatoe chips but they did not have any as those were in the rear of the airplane with the economy crew and they offered to get it for me but I told them its ok the nuts would do. I love the way you get treated as they address you by name. They confirmed our meal selections and I got another glass of wine. 

With Business Class you could 'Book a Cook' where you could order in advance meals that were specially prepared. The selection was better during the Singapore to Narita Leg of the journey than from the Narita to US. As such and with a recommendation from a friend of ours We just ordered for Lunch and for Dinner we took what was onboard. For Lunch I had the Lobster Thermidor and the Missus had Ayam Buah Keluar.

Lunch started with a canape - Satay. Followed by the Appetiser of Tuna on Nicoise Salad. They were both EXCELLENT !!

The main was next the Lobster Thermidor for me and the Ayam Buah Keluar for the missus. We shared and both meals were excellent.

Lobster Thermidor

Ayam Buah Keluar

Ended the meal with Chocolate Ice Cream, a selection of Cheeses and Fruits, followed by a cup of coffee.

Watched 4 movies in all on the flight. Slept a bit you could pull down the chair to be a bed and you could practically lie flat. The flight was smooth not much turbulence. We landed in Narita and headed to the Lounge to freshen up. Had a nice cool beer too .. lol ... Noodles and sushi was the order of the day. A quick 1.5 hr stop over and we were back in the air on our way to LA.

Dinner was then served on board, more movies and snacks too. Dinner was a Hanakoireki Set which was a Cold and Hot Bento Set.

Followed by Dessert

Nap time after that with an early monring breakfast call about 2 hours before we land. I had the Braised Beef Cheek in Burgundy Wine which was fabulous.

Soon we were in LA and out of the airplane. Customs was ok but Immigraiton was a nightmare. Took us almost 2 hrs to clear immigraiton. Our bags were waiting for us at teh carousell and luckily our ride to the Hotel was still around. Poor guy had to wait 2 hrs for us !! 

Compressport Rail Corridor Run 2016 - 1st Running Event of the Year

I took part in my first running event of the year the Rail Corridor Run whcih was different from the Green Corridor Run in the sense that it was run from back to front or basically the other way round. It was held on a Sunday 31 Jan 2016. The run starts at 9am so there was plenty of time for me to get to the start line. Took an MRT down, checked in my baggage and waited for the start. The ground looked wet adn since it is a trail run I was expecting it to be really muddy. As such I had my throw away socks with me ... just an old pair that needed to be retired. I figures once over it will go into the rubbish bin. We would be running along the old rail way line.

The run promptly started at 90am and there were about 6500 runners running the 10K route. anotehr 100 or so would start at the 5K point. We were let off in waves since it was a trail run the route was narrow. I happen to be in the second wave amd started about 5 mins after the first wave had gone.

Once the horn sounded everyone starts running but before we hit 100 m everyone slowed down the trail WAS MUDDY !!! Runners were trying to get out of mud's way. The mud was slippery I tried my best to weave in and out of it but was more worried about slipping nad falling than of the mud. There were water points along the way but only water was served no isotonic drinks until the end which was ok with me since it was only a 10k run. So it went the runners and the mud each trying to avoid each other. After the half way mark it got WORST !! ... There was a portion where the centre of the trail was flooded. About shin eor knee deep at places so most runners were scrambling up the sides to get round this 100m or so stretch of flood waters. I ran on the inside path and got my whole shoe wet. Lucky for me the mud did not grab hold of my shoe and suck it in !

In the end it was a really fun race the mud made it really exciting. I did the route in about 1hr 11min. I was happy with that time. Here's a pic of the muddiness and what it did to my feet and shoes !!

Running Streak !!!

Read about this running streak and decide ... why not at least I have to get off my butt each day. Minimally to run 1mile (1.6km) each day for as long as possible. Well started on 1set Dec and made it to my 10th Day !!!

REBOOT

REBOOT !!!


First Post after a long long hiatus

Enjoying a little Wine

Decided to open a bottle of wine .. well actually it was the 2nd after the Red from last week.

I just love the cork with the year on it.

Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters

Just caught the movie. Enjoyed it, not too bad. Interesting twist to the whole fairy tale thingy. Well it stars Jeremy "Hawkeye" Renner and Gemma Arterton. Love the story plot of the 2 kids left in the forest, finds a House made of candy and inhabited by a witch, kills the witch and become Legendary Witch Hunters. There is even an Orge in the movie named Edward !! Lots of smashed up heads when he is around. Interestingly Hansel is diabetic and has to take "insulin" shots ... how cool is that in that era and not forgetting the home made defribillator (I think ??) hand crank eletric shot to the heart woo hooo ... Overall an enjoyable movie not too much scariness and just enough action and comedy.

MR Run

Did my first MacRitchie Reserviour Run on Saturday. My first long run of over 10k for the year. Still slacking behind ha ha .. need to pick it up. Followed up with another run on Sunday shorter run.

Lego Mini Figs - Series 9

I have been collecting these Lego Mini Figs for a while now. Its currently at Series 9 and the 16 figures in this set is one of the best. So many new figures.
Front Row LtoR : Emperor, Plumber, Starlet, Policeman
2nd Row LtoR : Archer, Roller Skater, Cyclops, Mr Evil and Mr Good
3rd Row LtoR : Chicken Suit Guy, Fortune Teller, Knight (My Favourite), Judge
4th Row LtoR : Mech, Mermaid, Spaceman, Waiter

Recently released here in Mid-Jan 2013. Got the packs and some extras from this series. They will add nicely to my other collections.

Late Late Resolutions 2013

Well I'll just not review last year's resolution and just stick to trying to get one going this year. I've given it some thought and decided to make it a little easier and take little baby sets to get Resolutions completed. So here are my 5 resolutions for the year 2013

1) Blog Update
I'm going to resolve to write something on this blog at least ONCE a week. Well so far its 2 for 2 ... just need to keep this going.

2) Reading
I resolve to do a Comic Book review once a month on some comic titles that I am reading. This should help me clear up some of the backlog of comics I have that need to be read instead of just piling up in a corner.

3) Gaming Collection
Got to put some effort into trying to complete my Futera Virtual Set of Cards for Series 3. Still missing some players to complete the set. Hopefully this should be completed by the end of the year.

4) Health Issue
Instead of aiming for a target this year I will try to end the year not as heavy as I was in the beginning of the year. Well that should hopefully motivate me to keep fit. Now all I need is to get a Bathroom scale.

5) Running
This will be a little slower as I look for ward to running 5 races this year at least. Well my yearly favourite REAL Run and Standard Charteredd Marathon are 2 which I want to join. Looking for 3 more runs at leastt.

Well that's the resolutions for the year. I hope to be able to report back at least some if not all were accomplished.

WOW !!!

Well I'm back ..... actually not gone just was too lazy to update the blog ha ha...

Run 350

Took part in the Run 350 race which is a run for the environment. I signed up for the half marathon but did not really have time to train for it. It was actually a run which I went in with very very little training and mileage.

The run took place at the Floating Platform it started at 6am. I was there early but I forgot my wallet and in the process could not top up my cash card and so I had to find a free parking place which was a little bit further than what I would have got if I had parked in the car park near the venue. Anyway the walk to the start line was refreshing. I went with the second wave of runners.

The first 8km was really uncomfortable I think I needed that long to warm up and the next 8km was actually easier I felt. The last 5km was ok I think I did pretty well under 3hrs not the best time ever but I was happy. The one thing I took back from the race was that the sequence to the 3R’s is Reduce, Reuse and Recycle in that order. So that was it the first half marathon for the year.

Battleship

Caught the movie BATTLESHIP recently !!! Great movie I love it, it reminded me of the old days where we played Battleship on those grid paper’s in school. Easy, simple, inexpensive and fun game … for the boys anyway. I really love the part where they called out the location to be hit … awesome just like in the games e used to play.

Cruise

The family decided to go for a cruise it was a 4 day / 3 night cruise to Penang and Phuket on board Superstar Virgo. The kids were excited as it was their first time on board a ship. We took a cab to Harbour Front and boarded the vessel at around noon just in time for lunch on board. We had previously on the day before did a town check-in, so all we had to do now was get our luggage on-board. Check in was a breeze, cleared immigration and soon we were on-board the ship. Our luggage had not arrived yet so we went exploring. The Kids went wild when they saw the kiddy pool. We had lunch and then it was time to set sail. The kids actually were having a wee nap at that point and missed some of the bonvoyage festivities.

Next morning the kids went to the pool and did more exploring. They love the stairs !! We arrived in Penang around noon but we did not get down from the vessel as there was not much we wanted to see at Penang. The kids went for a swim as there was practically no one around and I tried their new slide which was AWESOME. If you ever go try it you rode down this slide and they did it such that part of the slide actually was over the side of the ship and you were actually over the water and it was transparent at that spot so you could actually see down. The only draw back was the climb to the top of the slide. We set sail in the evening for Phuket.

The third day was spent in Phuket but we were not anchored in town but on the outskirts and we could actually go down. We all went down this time but the weather was so hot that we decided to get back on-board as soon as possible. The Captain’s Gala Dinner was held this evening and we got the Japanese Restaurant which the missus always wanted to try but in previous holidays it was always full. The kids enjoyed the Kids menu served to them and was really amazed by the introduction of the Captain and crew.

Soon it was the end of our holidays and we were back to Singapore on our fourth day. Overall an enjoyable short get away.

Futera World Football Online

Futera World Football Online is an online Football management game using game codes found on Futera Football Cards.

You can collect and enter these codes into the game and they will become 'virtual' players, you set up the formation and teams and how you want them to perform as well as the latest addition is to have managers managing your team.

Firstly you have to get the codes, the Futera Base Cards and Ruby Cards from Series 1 and 2 are common codes which you can use and even share with other players. The Autographs and Memo codes are special and unique and they give better power and ratings to your team. When you register online they give you some free codes just to get you started. You add in various other players from your collection and then you are ready to play.

To start you need to select 16 players (11 players with 5 subs but you can only bring in 2 subs per match) and 5 Managers the managers need to be placed as General Manager, Assistant Manager, Attacking Manager, Midfield Manager and Defensive Manager. You will need to know a little about each manager to see how they would perform and where they should stand.

Next you setup your team and the formation you want to play, you have to have your 11 players and 2 subs in the game. Each Game has 3 rounds and there are 8 teams in each game. After first round from 8 down to 4 who play semi's and then down to 2 for the final. You have to strategically position and move your team players around to best make use of their abilities. It's an interesting game and lots of combinations, putting in all Autographs is not something you may want as they are good but there must be a right mix of cards and players. There are cards you can win too from the tournament and these are virtual cards. Some are pretty good. Now you also collect stadium cards (virtual) which allows you to built your stadium and earn Futera Tokens which will allow you to purchase stuff from futera.

I started last year playing the game since I had the Memo cards. stopped half way as was busy and just started again since the new cards were released from Futera Unique 2012. There are 5 leagues you start at League 5 and make your way up to League 1. Top 10 in each league gets promoted and bottom 10 gets relegated.

 

Not a bad run for me as I actually won League 4 once. But can't compete with the big boys in League 1.

Instrument of DOOM

Got this for my little boy as he is totally terrified of the Hair Dresser and refused to get his hair cut. Hopefully I can do this at home with him.