Goodbye 2007

The last day of the year is here. Guess it is time once again to reflect on the year that was. Work wise there was the major change where I quit my 12 year job with NCS and got a job with the CPF Board in Oct. But the beginning of the year saw me maintaining one of the most complex systems that I have ever had to maintain and with only 2 people to back me up. It was a real challenge and one I felt I did a good job of. The system that I had maintained since I join the company was finally decommissioned as well, well it took this long and after 12 years on it, I have to say I was sad to see it go. It should have been done sooner. The hardest part was to say goodbye to my friends. Made many friends there and some enemies as well. The new job is great, I would have to say my new colleagues and bosses are very understanding and friendly. A really great bunch of people. Personal wise, had one of the best holidays ever on the Cruise to Alaska that was absolutely fantastic. Starting getting into shape again and all the running and gym work felt good, at least I am trying to get fit finally. The house is finally fixed up and we have lived in it for a year now, this will be the 2nd New Year's. The year ended not too happily when my cousin passed away. Looking forward to 2008 now and hopefully to start a family as well. I should hopefully be able to continue with this blog and maybe keep in touch with friends on the social networking sites like facebook, linkln, WAYN and myspace. I think only facebook I use frequently the others I visit once in a while, not much activity in them as I hardly ever go searching for friends too lazy and sometimes no idea if I got the right person or not. All in the year had it's fair share of ups and downs, I would say about equal. I would not call it a great year for me but I think it was a good one. Tomorrow it will be the new year and time for New Year Resolutions ha ha .... Finally I'm off to catch the fireworks and if it was anything like last year I should be able to catch from home from my ...... toilet.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Kitty Car and J-Walking

Was at the car wash today, and spotted this 'Hello Kitty Car' (see below) comes with that funky pink rear window wiper as well. Did not see the driver but it's probably a lady driver. As it's a Sunday we were at Church today Risen Christ in Toa Payoh usually as the Church grounds can get crowded I would park away at Toa Payoh central and also we do grocery shopping after mass so it's easier to get the groceries into the car, it's also free parking on Sunday. As we were making our way back to the car today at the junction there were a few police constables, and they were stationed at the side of the road about 2 each corner. They started stopping people who were J-Walking -- not crossing the roads at the traffice junctions -- a few people were stopped and particulars were taken down. So do becareful out there I think it's the festive season and the police are out in force to keep the roads safe. Either that or they need to beef up their J-Walking quota ha ha .. :)

A Death in the Family

"A Death in the Family" that's a Batman and Robin story line in the comics. It was about the death of Robin. This year Christmas wasn't a really happy occasion, besides all the festivities going on word came through that my cousin passed away on Christmas Day. We used to play together me, my sis, her and her brother. Age gap among the 4 of us was only 7 years so it was easy to get along, during school holiday's they would come over or we would go stay with them for a couple of days. Those were the fun days, no worries in the world, kids will be kids. Although she was not the youngest (my sis was youngest) she was still known as Mei Mei to all of us. She's survived by her husband and 2 kids. A short memorial service was held yesterday and the funeral was held today. I happen to be reading a copy of Reader's Digest today and there was a quote in there which said - 'you can't spell funeral without fun' - something to ponder over. Elaine Long Yoke Peng has been called home to the Lord, she was 34, may she rest in everlasting peace.

" For the Lord so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."

John 3:16

Christmas Celebrations

Christmas has come and gone another year goes by and soon we'll have to say good bye to 2007 and hello 2008. The party started last Thursday where the Dept had a Tea Time Gathering.

Over the weekend on Sunday had a gathering at my house, the kids loved it with the cake and presents that were given out to them. Lots of games to play which the various uncles cooked up on the spot. Weather played havok again it started out fine and everyone was in the pool but then it started to rain and mad rush out of the pool once everyone had showered and dried themselves, the rain stop !! Ah well back to the food which we had Turkey Breast, Oat Prawns, Fishball, Curry Devil, Otah, Noodles, Chicken, Veggies, Fruits, Cake etc. etc.

Here's one for the album, the missus and me

Monday Christmas Eve was a half day at work and out team decided to have a Christmas Lunch which was made up of KFC and Pizza Hut delivery orders. Here's greedy old me chowing down on some grub. The one of only 3 days that you could actually dress down in the office the others being New Year's Eve and Chinese New Years's Eve.

Our Stats team well most of them anyways, I just managed to run in after setting the auto on the camera, took 3 tries to get it right :)

As usual I went to the Christmas Eve Mass but this year decided to skip the midnight timing and went to the earlier one at Risen Christ, they had a play by the kids a musical actually which was very well done, called Candy Cane Lane. It ended with the message that the Candy Cane (red/white sweet in the shape of a cane) if you invert it it's a 'J' which stands for Jesus.

As with tradition, Christmas I always get to be a kid again and on Christmas Eve once midnight comes, it's time to open the presents, yep I still get them and I'll wait till midnight to open them hee hee .... here's what both me and the wife received from friends and family this year.

Christmas Day was spent at my parents place where the whole family or what you see here is about a third of the family as the rest are either on holiday or have migrated overseas and can only join us with long distance phone calls.

Well with all the festivities and wine and what not have you, had an early night as needed to get back to work on Boxing Day.

Merry Christmas

Ho Ho Ho MERRY CHRISTMAS

Sound in the Car

Recently there has been a little pinging sound in the car and I have traced it to the air-con, turn it on to 1 and the sound comes on, turn to 2 it goes away, turn off no sound as well. I don't think it was the gas or a leak in the air-con pipes not likely as that would have other effects like the coolness of the air. So on saturday decided to visit the car air-con shop near my place (place where I got my tires as well). The mechanics did a check on the system and found that the fan unit has worn out and needs a replacement. Total cost $150 to replace the unit and a 2 hr stay at the shop. Well looks like the car is telling me it's time for it to retire and for me to get a new one :)

New TV

Ah finally decided to go get me a new TV for my spare room so I can play my XBox 360 games and not share with the main TV which the missus uses to watch those TVB Drama Serials. So will be quiet for a while I guess while I set it up and try it out.

Hari Raya Haji

Ah it's the Hari Raya Haji holiday and the start of the 3 short weeks .... I Like .... :)

The weather however was not very cooperative, wanted to have a game of tennis or swim but it kept raining. In the end the family and some relatives decided to head on down to Marina / Suntec. There were not many cars on the roads but wow !! all the malls had their car park FULL signs up !! what gives I thought, the traffice was light, not sure why. In the end after going round once I decided to head to the Esplanade Car Park, at least there was still lots there. When I got to the mall, man was it crowded !! So jam packed with people, wanted to get some bowling done but we had to wait like an hour for a lane so decided to skip that and just browse around the mall.

After shopping at Marina and Suntec, we went back to Esplande and there was this area where you could sign on some balloons and give your wishes for the new year, here's what I wrote, guess you can make out what was under 'Happy New Year 2008' ha ha ...

Here's some more wishes from the wife and the neices and nephews.

Anyways in the end we decided to go to that Makansutra "hawker centre" near the Esplande for dinner before we head back for some Christmas Carolling at the Esplanade. Order awhoel bunch of stuff as you can see below the photo on the left and on the right is the 'aftermath' of the meal.

BEFORE . ..........a........n........d.... . . AFTER

The Christmas Carols were great, it was from a group called Agreppalla pretty decent songs and they cut a CD this year, the music was so good that we decided to support them and bought their CD, played in on the way back, pretty good stuff although a little short on the playing time. There was a song in there, can't remember which as the CD is in the car currently, but it started with little kids giving their wishes to Jesus and there was this little remark from a little kid :-

" I want to give Jesus all my medicine so that he can help to cure all the people in the world .... and I don't like my medicine. "

Christmas Tea Party

Office had a small Christmas Tea Party today at around 3pm. Had a 5.5kg Roasted Turkey, Roast Beef, Chips, Log Cake, Little Cupcakes, Pie and other savouries. Here I am with all the food spread out on the table. In the end it was alot of food to feed around 20 to 25 people. Picture taken by one of my colleagues Yvonne's handphone camera one of those Nokia N95 models woooo.........

I added in a comic effect to the photo.

These are the little cupcakes which came free and yes the words spell XMAS and not like one of my colleagues who shall remain anonymous mentioned "what's S A M X stand for ?"

The christmas Pie we had which I added a Sepia Tone to it to give it that old faded look.

The Log cake with the words taken out before I had a chance to catch it on film. Did a spotlight effect for the cake.

And here I am the official Turkey Carver for the department. Well looking forward to another lunch gathering next Monday again. Wow all this eating really making me put on weight.

(: - Mass Effect - :)

I got this XBox 360 game Mass Effect about 2 weekends ago, it was if you know recently banned in Singapore. The authorities decided after some publicity and outcry from the gaming community to release the game but with an M18 tag all because they had a scene in there where 2 females were kissing. I got it on the weekend of the release but did not have the time to look at it till recently since I was sick and all that. (on a side note, almost recovered thanks to all the well wishes out there) Anyways, as you can see below the left pic is the original game with the shrink wrap the problem is once you take off the shrink wrap, there is no M18 tag any more !! (right pic) So no one is going to be the wiser in the secondary market for this game.

now you see it ? now you don't ?

Over the weekend I was at Safra Tampines where they had this sale for Timberland stuff. Now I'm a sucker for Timberland shoes ever since I got my first pair about 15 years ago, since then I have not worn any casual shoes except for a Timberland. So it was timely to stock up on my shoes as I recently threw away 2 pairs as they were worn out. They are really good shoes and I think lets see over the pass 15 years I have 6 pairs and have only need to throw out 3 pairs. All in now with the 2 new additions, I have 5 pairs of Timberlands. When the price is right I'll probably get a pair of slippers as well. They are expensive but they are comfortable. So I do look out for the odd Timberland sale to 'replenish' stock you can say.

Santa's Little Helper

With all the Christmas shopping for gifts that I have bought, someone had to wrap them, the queues at those shopping centres are really long, when you want to get stuff gift wrapped, looks like everyone was doing early Christmas Shopping. So as in every year, come this time, I wear my underwear on the outside, throw on a towel and wear my Jedi beanie hat to turn into that Superhero - “ General Wrapper “ armed with Scotch Tape, Scissors, Double-Sided Tape, Pen Knife, Gift Tags, Ribbons and Wrapping Paper. The call goes out - Look Look over at the Dinner Table, faster than those part time gift wrappers, able to curl ribbons in a blink of an eye. (a very very slow blink) It’s It’s It’s a Hamper .. No! It’s a Present .. No! It’s GENERAL WRAPPER !! When you need your gifts wrapped who do you call {add in Ghostbusters’ theme music} …. GW !!

Me in my 'GW' outfit :)

Well, guess what, Santa does not take a Sled Ride these days. In good old sunny Singapore he goes around in a Citroen and a very fitting Red Citroen at that. I spotted this Santa along the roads today. A very friendly Santa, waving to everyone he met at the traffic lights. He was in full costume, beard, hat, coat and all. I really pity the guy in the suit as it's got to be sizzling in that suit with the tropical Singapore weather, but kudos to the guy who really played the part well and waving to everyone he met when he had the chance. Last I say him he was heading North, probably finally going home to the North Pole for a break :)

Ok I'm off to prepare for the big EPL matches tonight, it's the big 4 going head to head in one evening. Liverpool take on Man U and Arsenal host Chelsea. The ideal outcome would be a Liverpool win and a Draw in the other match.

Genting in Singapore

It's been wet and cold these last few days I think today was one of the driest in many days finally no rain during lunch time and I can go over to the singapore pools outlet to get my winnings from Liverpool's massive european championship win woo hoo go reds !! I took the pic on the left on my way to work recently, clouds were really low over the central business district. It was raining on that morning as well. Feels like you are in Genting Highlands. I think the weather is causing some bug to go round everyone's a little sick. As usual our weatherman predicted rain this afternoon and we had clear skies. I've always notice the weather seems to always be the opposite of what the weatherman says. When they mention sunny days, you better be prepared for rain, if they predict rain you can leave your 'A' 'A' 'A' umbrella's at home. Talking about that Rihana's 'A' 'A' 'A' song I think it's going to cause all those young ones spelling problems in school one of these days. Can you imagine the teacher giving a spelling test and ask for the word umbrella and the class spells out A A A :) I'm feeling much much better now the throat's not as sore as before. I still have a little cough but hopefully it'll go away with some medication. Thank goodness I have finished my anti-biotics and the taste buds have kicked back in.

MIA & BBQ

Well folks it’s been a while since I have been on, have been on MC for the last week, some viral infection which has caused by tonsils in my throat to expand to tennis ball size, got a stuffy little nose as well and all that sneezing has caused my nose to look like Rudolph’s, the coughing just made it worst. Had a slight fever on Friday and the doctor gave me another day’s MC for that. Anyway’s I had a little get together over the weekend, with some friends who came over for a BBQ at my place. The weather was threatening to spoil the whole thing, the sky was overcast most of the day and it looked like it was going to rain and then the sun came out, but after a while, the sun went behind the clouds again and dark clouds formed, then it was sunny again. Aiya, don’t know what the weather trying to pull, playing hide and seek, it did drizzle a bit but by evening when the food and guest arrived there was not a hint of rain and the skies were clearing. As usual I got my BBQ stuff online from this company called ‘EZB’ they provide everything from the food and drinks, cups and plates, charcoal and firestarter, skewers and thongs, wire mesh etc. everything, all you really need was a pit. (and even if you don’t you can rent these too) After the initial comments from practically everyone that the food was too much I managed to scale down the amount and it was just nice everything was finished all that was left behind was a pack of chicken wings and 2 cans of coke plus some fried rice. I posted the pictures up on flickr and now hopefully I can get it to link to this blog. (if it is not up yet by the time you are reading this then akan datang ..... check back soon) In the end the kids got their little party packs, and the adults retired to my unit and we had our gift exchange. Which in the end was a kids exchange ha ha …. The missus and I had a good laugh with all the kids running around and the parents trying to control the children. No wonder a few of them had told me that they did not want to bring their kids along ha ha ..... Hopefully will be able to get back online soon. Still a little unwell but I think I am about 75% there. I think the link below will work ? http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajlong

Sick :(

No updates for the pass few days as I seem to be coming down with something it started with the cough and then slight fever, but it seems to be getting better. Visited the doctor twice to get medicine and MC. All day rest at home and felt better.

Christmas Tree

Well it's that time of year again where it's time to go into the store room and pull out the ole Christmas Tree and Decorations. I finally found mine hidden way way way at the back of the store room. Got out the decorations as well and together with the missus we started putting up the Christmas Tree and decorating it. Quite a messy affair as the decorations had little sparkles and the tree branches were dropping off and had falling figs all over the place. We got this tree last year it's a relatively new one. The missus wasn't too pleased with the mess I made so out came the vaccum cleaner and vvrrrooooooomm ..... all the little bits were sucked up. Had to vaccum our feet as well as the little sparkles were sticking to our feet. Once the decorations were up, I got out the lights knowing that they probably might not work as christmas lights are notorious for failling, I plugged them in and lo and behold they worked with nice flicker and music as well. woo hooo ... so up goes the lights, plug in the plug, switch in on and .... NO LIGHTS !!! after many fruitless attempts to get it started, they just would not work, so down come the lights once again. Probably will have to get a new set.

My wife bought a new set of lights today and up it goes, switched it on and BAM, it works we have lights !! finally !! Yeah !! So here's a look at our Christmas Tree not much to it but it's a nice small little tree.

Well if you look really closely you would be able to see the following little figures, which I secretly added to the tree. They'll probably have to be taken down once the missus finds them all. Hopefully it'll be after Christmas by then :)

We had a Fire Drill today, a total surprise one. So down we went, all 32 floors, yes that's right walk down 32 flights of stairs. It wasn't that tough but I was getting giddy from going round and round 32 times !! or was that 64 times ? Here we are the photo on the right is where our department had to gather.

And over on the left is our Fire Warden - Glen holding his red Fire Warden armband. I guess they do take their fire evacuation seriously considering the CBD area seems to be prone to experience tremors and what have you. I've never been invovled in a Fire Drill excercise for a very very very long time. Most often you try to have an external meeting during that period hee hee ...

Weekend Shopping

Over the weekend, me and the missus decided to do some Christmas Shopping. Actually we started about 2 weeks ago. Finally this year I was able to start earlier. You know Christmas is coming once the radio stations start playing Christmas songs and that happen on Thursday when I heard the first Christmas song played on radio for the year. I think it was 'live aid' or 'band aid' one of those. I think my Christmas shopping this year really started early so early that in fact one department store did not have their Christmas wrappers out yet !! Anyways got most of the presents done, pratically completed all the gifts for relatives and friends. I think just a little bit more and I'm done for the year. The only hard one to get is for the missus, still debating on what to get her. The problem with presents is that normally before Christmas, we'll know what we got each other. Some how you'll figure it out. Too difficult to keep the presents a secret :) ha ha .... This weekend we went to Orchard Road and boy was it crowded. I finally got to catch some carolling, I think it was been like 9 or 10 years ago that I actually had time to watch carollers in action. Year end has always been a busy time for me but this year it's different. I guess it's a lot more relax this time round. I really enjoyed hearing the carols at Wisma. I was able to stroll down Orchard Road and catch a glimpse of the buskers in action some of them were pretty good. It's crowded as you would expect for Orchard Road. The Christmas street lights were very nice. Did not take any photos as it was hard to take a nice shot with people walking by and all that. Over at Taka they had the Seasame Street roadshow, some of the little ones were really enthusiastice about the whole thing, a little bit over the top and had to be restraint by parents and security personnel. Isetan had some M&M's workshop or something going on there. I think Tangs and Borders have nice wrapping papers if you want to get your gifts wrapped at the same time, I like their paper best. So that's the weekend, spent Shopping for gifts. Up next is the Christmas Tree and the final wrapping of presents.