Popeye

When we say Popeye the first thing that generally pops into mind is Spinach and Popeye the Sailor Man (toot toot) The last thing you would associate it with is Fried Chicken !!

I have tried Popeye’s Friend Chicken and I love it !! The Chicken has that crispy and crunchy skin when you bite into it you can still heard the crunch. The meat is moist and not dry. It’s very tasty too. The biscuits that comes with the set give it a nice touch, it’s not that bad, the fries are just ok. But the chicken is really something you have to try it. I would give it a score of 5 out of 5. If you have not tried it. I highly recommend you to go down to your nearest Popeye outlet and give it a try. It’s out of this world.

And just to inform you I was not invited, I did try the meal a couple of times (different days), I went alone and I paid for the meal in cash :)

Changi Point Broadwalk

Family took a stroll to the Changi Point Broadwalk recently. Actually with the kids it was just a short walk down to the Jetty after which I took them in the car to the end point at Changi Village where we met up with the rest for dinner.

A Family Shot before the walk

 

 

Nigel in his little buggy and new Socks

 

Mum and Natalie

Tour De Trail

As the name suggest it’s a run around MacRitchie Reservoir. I actually did not want to sign up for this run but found out that they actually had a Heart Rate Monitor in their goodie bag and I believe the run was for charity. It was coupled with another run somewhere in the West at the Chinese Garden but I was more interested in this. The entry fee was pretty high at $75 but I guess $75 for a HRM was relatively cheap. I only signed up like the week before and when I went to collect my goodie bag they had not received my entry yet so I had to rekey in everything again. I went early on a Saturday to pick up the stuff and the shipment of HRMs had not arrived so I had to pick that up on the race day instead. The running vest and number that I had got.

It was a 10.5km run which would take us 2 rounds of the normal boys cross country track plus a bit more up the Reservoir’s walk way round the food area, (not exactly sure what that area was) The flag off was at 7.30am a rather late flag off but I guess they wanted to be sure there was light along the jungle track, I have run there in the wee hours of the morning at 6.30am or so and it’s pitch black at some areas with just some light to guide you if you were running on the tracks.

It was not a big race event, about maybe a couple of hundred people turned up. I walked from my house to MacRitchie in the wee hours of the morning. That was like a 3 or 4 km walk, that got me warm up was sweating already before the run. We were flagged off at 7.30am and I felt the first round of the jungle track was really punishing. Almost wanted to just walk the rest of the way but continued and I think after that first 5km I was really warmed up and the second round was much better. The event was organized fairly well had 5 water points along the route which was good. The funny think was they gave the isotonic drink in cups with ice !! That was a first for me but I kept the ice and held it in my hands till it melted and used it to cool me down. They did not have a clock and I think my time based on my watch was 1 hr 14 minutes or so for 10.5km which was ok for me.

Collected my Hearth Rate Monitor, must give it a try at my next run and had the rather long walk home. That’s another 3 or 4 km of walking.

2 grains of rice :)

Our little boy with his 2 grains of rice :) ha ha ……

De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis

No it’s not another Da Vinci or name for Quentin Tarantino or any of his movies for that matter, it’s what I have for my wrist. I’ve been having this pain in my wrist for the last 2 weeks and it seems to have gotten worst. So I went to see my doctor about it and immediately he said my wrist is swollen (slightly but I could hardly tell) and that I had De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis. Seems it’s pretty common if you do a lot of wrist flicking / bending such as fishing, carrying heavy stuff with wrist turns or carrying your little ones. I probably got mine from the last reason. So what he said then was I needed an injection (what they term a Cortisone Injection as that is the most effective way to treat it. Medication generally would not work. I had heard from my wife about a friend who also had to have a wrist injection and it was suppose to hurt like hell. I WAS WORRIED !!! So I prep myself for the injection, the doctor called in his nurse to assist which kind of made me even more worried, since it seems they probably are going to restraint me if I start screaming like a lunatic. There are basically a few things in the world that can make a grown man cry one of it would be injections the other being a visit to the Dentist. The injection was to the vein where the swelling was, whatever the doctor was saying at this point I kind of shut off as I was more worried about the pain of the injection. So he took my wrist and found the spot and then he did warn me that the initial breakage of the skin would be painful after that as he administered the fluid it will hurt again as the veins expand. But surprisingly I felt no pain at all even from the poking of the needle to the administering of the medication. Soon it was all over and I was relieved. I guess maybe it was due to the skill of the physician more so than any other thing that made the injection bearable and not only that but one of the least painful injections that I have ever encountered.

Novena Procession 2010

I’ve been to the Novena procession for the last couple of years and this year was no different. I went for the 9 weeks Novena which culminated in the Annual Novena Procession. This year we were instructed to wear blue or any item of blue clothing. It starts at 6pm and normally ends about 9pm or so. It’s very crowded and crowds would spill onto the sides of the road and even across to the other side of the road. Traffic police usually are called in to help with the crowd control, ambulances have to be on stand by as well.

I got there around 5.30pm and was able to get “up” as in to the car park area, usually I’m kind of relegated to the street level. Not this year I managed to get up there. Was able to see the whole procession and all that. it started to drizzle a bit during the procession but it did not get heavy. There was the procession followed by mass and the crowning.

Definitely will be back next year.

SSBR & AHM

So the SAFRA Singapore Bridge Run and Army Half Marathon was held today. I have not been running for about 2 months now. Only went for 2 jogs recently. Was recovering from the previous run. Also recovering from a cough and cold. Had sprain my left thumb (carrying the little ones) “Crushed” my right knuckles when I slam it in a door. Knees still hurt slightly and I had put on tons of weight. Well that’s my excuse.

More on the run. As usual I prepared the night before, but was in a rush and I forgot to pack my energy packs for the half way point. Since I had not really trained for it I figured to aim for a 3hr finish for the Half Marathon (21km) The only thing good about the day was when I woke up at 3am it felt good. I guess that was about it. I even forgot to take a picture of my number tag until after the race here it is after the race.

The race would start at 5.15am. I got out of bed had my breakfast and arrived at the Padang around 4.15am Just enough time for me to warm up a bit before the run. We were punctually set off at 5.15am by the Chief of Army. Besides the half Marathon there was the 10km run and 5km fun run. All in 70,000 people took part from what the organisers were saying. It is definitely a Bridge Run as this year we covered 3 bridges – Helix Bridge at Marina Bay Sands (that was short and steep), Benjamin Sheares Bridge (that was long and steep) and Nicoll Highway Bridge (that was heck of a long and gradual) I started slow. Well actually not that slow since I did 10km in 1hr 15 mins which I felt was a little fast. Slowed down after that I figured once I reach the half way point at 12 km I would stop and walk the rest of the way in but 12km came and I still felt good, in 2 hrs I was at the 15km mark and still shuffling along. So I told myself ok lets see how far I can go. 2hr 30 mins into the race and I was at the 18km mark. It was only after the 19km mark that my knee started to hurt a little and I slow down to a walk and enjoyed my banana as well. Thank goodness there were plenty of banana stations else without my energy boost I may not have made it back since I was getting hungry as well. Finally took off again and managed to shuffle my way back to the finishing line just under 3hrs. Mission Accomplished.

What I really like about the run was the signage they were big and clear and easy to spot so you knew how far you had run. The water points were ok they tried to spread it out which was good. Banana stations were wonderful I think there were about 3 or 4 of those and I took one whenever I could. Salonplas was one of the sponsors and they had people stationed along the route about 5 or 6 stations where you could get some spray on and I think they really helped. I like the finisher’s medal as it had the Marina Bay Sands hotel on it. The first race to run across the Bay !! Now on to the next race really need to train up for the REAL Run.

Expendables

I recently went for a movie, the second this year. The first was Clash of the Titans and it was a free ticket. So was this movie had free tickets, watched The Expendables. Great show, love it. So many cameo’s of all the action stars from Bruce Willis to Arnold Schwenegger (probably spelt his name wrong) It was however quite gory in certain parts, lots of blood letting !!! It’s a good movie for action/comedy buffs I guess. GO watch it !! 

BPL

Finally found where this picture which I knew was in my handphone somewhere. took in at the start of the English BPL Football season. Me and little Nigel all ready for the BPL in our Liverpool T’s. Now where else can you get a Red’s Baby Jumper !! Looking for a nice lady design one for little Nat but have yet to spot one locally or overseas. The search continues.

Nose Bleed

We had a little emergency over the weekend. We had just finished church on Sunday and were off to City Square Mall (my fav place currently as it has excellent parking lots) for our weekly grocery shopping. The kids and our helpers were with us. We got all the stuff we needed for the week. We were almost done, our cart was almost full the boy was in the pram while the girl was in a carry sling. Suddenly the boy was making some noise one of our helpers took him out of the pram and was carrying him when I came along to see what the fuss was all about and that was when I got the shock of my life ! There was blood streaming out of Nigel’s nose. Obviously went into a little panic. Wiped the blood from his nose and we just left everything in the cart and quickly left the mall to rush him to the A&E at Raffles medical. The nurse on duty asked if the bleeding had stop which it had by then and referred us to the non-emergency area, I guess that was a good thing since it would seem the worst was over. The doctor did a quick check on him found him ok, stated it was a blood vessel burst likely due to the little boy scratching his nose. Now I know the boy does not do that but he likes to shake his head and I think that he probably hit something or someone when he did that during his little tantrum. Anyway through it all he did put up a brave front well more like he was oblivious to all the fuss going on around him and I think daddy panic more than mummy in this case.

Aunty Killer

The little ones although they are twins have 2 very different characteristics. Little girl is the more inquisitive one and will tend to stare and check you out when you look at or play with her. While the little boy tends to smile a lot, he gets easily excited. That has lead to him being the ‘aunty killer’ everywhere he tends to go after finding out they are twins all the aunties will start gathering round the boy and the girl will just stare and give that – so what’s the fuss – look. Recently in church he was making a little noise and we brought him to the back where a passing priest actually gave him an impromptu blessing. Walk around the ladies section is a problem and recently he got his first free gift from one of those cosmetic promoters, A cupcake. Little Nigel got it but not little Natalie!

Incident

There was an incident last night at our estate, the missus woke me up at around 3am as there was shouting from downstairs. She said someone not allowing a taxi to leave the estate. We peeked out the window just in time to catch the last bits of shouting and then a punch up took place, a brief one, a flurry of blows and the taxi driver went down. Small commotion after that security was already there trying to restraint the man. He seemed to have calm down after seeing the taxi driver on the floor. An ambulance arrived within 10 minutes, and a patrol car came, the guy gets agitated again and starts hurling vulgarities and finger pointing and shouting and all that. Police brought everything under control. Taxi driver was ok, he managed to get back into his taxi. Seems the guy was a resident I think as someone came down and pulled him away and got him back to the estate he looked a little tipsy from where I was watching. Great real life drama at your door steps ha ha … Not sure what happen after that as the ambulance left and soon after when everything was calmed down the patrol car left too.