Baby T

Visited the doctor again as little boy has a cough and runny nose. It was crowded and we had to wait a while to get to see the doctor. Finally it was our turn and the doctor got to see both of the kids. Little girls got sensitive sick which react quite badly when she gets an insect bite, it inflames quite a bit and the doctor decided to give her some cream to help out. She has gained weight and is now almost 9kg (she was weighed in at 8.9kg) She was at the 70th percentile for her age group but as she was born premature the doctor took the corrected age and she would have been in the 80th percentile.

Little boy on the other hand is a whopping 11kg. Hitting the 95th percentile and I think if they did the corrected age check he probably would have gone off the charts !! I could just imagine the doctor saying “ my charts not big enough to plot this “. Anyway the doctor checked his lungs and throat, lungs were ok the wheezing seems to be coming from his throat and not the lungs. A further check on his throat revealed that he has Baby Tonsils !! Well just like the daddy he seems to have tonsil as well. Doctor gave him some medication for his cough and the runny nose and we left the clinic. He seems to get sick quite often poor little kiddy.

RIP – Captain Phil

I finally got to watch the episode from Deadliest Catch where they had the death of Captain Phil. I knew that he had passed on early in the year as it was at CatchCon where they paid a tribute to him, but I had yet to see the episode about his passing which was shown on Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch (which is one of my favourites shows, the others being Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs and Man vs Wild) It finally came round and it was such a sad episode from his collapse on his fishing vessel, to him being rushed to Anchorage and the surgery, his recovery and finally his relapse and death. They even showed his funeral and I think he was cremated and his ashes put into a Harley Davidson gas tank. It was painted red and has his face on it. Very touching when his sons laid him to rest.

 

There was even a part where the other boats got a pod and put a bouy with his name and some dedication and put the whole thing into the pod and let it drop into the sea in his remembrance and at the same time the ships bell was sound, very touching.

Water Babies

Went swimming with the little ones recently. It was their 2nd time at the pool They did not like it previously but we figured it’s been a while now and maybe they will like it. AND THEY DID !!

Here’s little Natalie, splashing away with her Rubber Ducky. she knows how to say DUCK now.

Nigel on the other hand likes to sit in his float. It’s just a little big for Natalie but just nice for him and he likes to get to the edges as he can stand then. His feet just touches the floor of the baby pool currently. He is quite lazy just wants to sit in the float and get people to push him around refuses to do anything. Unlike his sister who kept splash away when she got into the water until we had to keep taking her out to dry her face.

REAL Run Roundup

Went for my yearly REAL Run, it’s so far the only run which I have participated in for the last 4 years straight. Twine running the 10K and twice including this year running the 15K. This will be my 6th event for the year. was suppose to stop at 6 but then I added in the Tour de Trail run recently which will take my tally for runs this year to 7. The final one will be in the year end Standard Chartered event. As usual the REAL run was held at the Changi Exhibition Centre. I bought my $3 bus ticket to get that. (Its one of the things I like about this run they have island wide pickup service) It’s also the run where you get your goodie bag on the day itself and not before. As with my other runs this year, I have my number tag capture.

I took the 5.15am shuttle to get there. Arrived around 6pm which gave me enough time to change, deposit my bag and warm up. The race started at 7am, It was not a very hot day, a little cloudy but still humid. The flag off was done at 7am sharp which was great as did not have to wait around too long. I did the 15K last year in a net time of 1hr 53 mins. I knew I could better this time this year. It started off a little more crowded than usual but I think there were same number of runners but it felt more crowded. Ran through the bush before going onto the road stage. The 9K mark came up for me on the hour. Which was a 6 to 7 min per kilo pace. A little fast actually but it felt good once I hit the 5K mark and was running quite well. Then it really started to get crowded as the 10 and 15K runners converged onto the path and beach. Most people start walking once they hit the beach as the sand is not something that is easy to run on. I plodded on in the sand. Alas my race basically ended at the 12.5K mark just as I was hitting the road after the beach. I think the run on the beach put too much strain on the legs. I felt my right calf muscle pull once, 2 steps later it pull again and that was when I decided to stop and walk. The last 2.5K was the longest ever. With walks and slow jogs as I did not want the leg to lock up on me, definitely did not want to arrive at the end in an ambulance. I did managed to get to the end and as I was approaching the last 100m I could see the clock at 1hr 59mins and 30secs, put on a little faster jog and I think I managed to just get under 2hrs. Not one of my best runs but it was enjoyable nonetheless. I really like this year’s medal as it’s gold in colour. They gave out the same T-Shirt and Bag which is normal every year. Just colour changes only. Now its to prep for the year end Marathon.

 

Mighty Miners’s

This week saw the rescue of the 33 Chilean miner’s from their underground home which they shared for the last 2+months. I was really fascinated with the rescue bits and what they did. I think the 3 things that really caught my eye were (a) That Capsule which they so appropriately named the Phoenix would make a great capsule in those fun fair merry-go-round thingy. (b) I would love to get my hands on that liquid food that they gave the miners to make them not get dizzy or vomit on the ride up. I;m sure it would help with my sea and air sickness. (c) The other thing from NASA that really caught my eye were those special underwear that they gave the men which was used on space flights. Keeps fresh for days, I would really love to get my hands on it then no need to change for months woo hoo. Been hinting to the missus to get me one for Christmas.

Well I’m just glad the miner’s are safe. Well Done to the men and women who got them out.

Retrolicious turns out to be Retroridiculous

We got some discounted tickets to watch the Retrolicious concert at Fort Canning Park. The missus was pretty excited as she had wanted to go watch it. They were bringing in 3 acts – Johnny Hate Jazz, Debbie Gidson and Rick Ashley.

We arrived around 7.30 as the concert was suppose to start at 8pm. Actually we were there around 7pm but there was a massive jam and parking around the area was all taken up. In the end we parked at the Concorde Hotel and walked over to Fort Canning. by the time it was already 7.30pm and there was this MASSIVE and I mean MASSIVE queue to get in. It snake for like forever, from the gates it went up the slope, round a carpark, up more slope, curve round a u-tun point, goes back down the slope, makes another turn round another carpark and down some more to where the main road was to be. Since it was a queue we joined in and actually there were like more and more people joining the queue. Had no idea what was holding this up seems they were tagging people as they entered and that caused this massive queue. As expected the missus got a little frustrated and started complaining. Well actually everyone in the queue was complaining. By 8pm we were still in the queue and heading up the slope (still have to loop the loop and head down) There was pratically no security people cut queue and they were still selling tickets to gain entry to the event. Finally I think someone decided enough was enough and started allowing people in with out restriction as long as you had a ticket. But by that time it was 8.45 before we got in. Queuing for over an hour !!

They also got the show going then so we did not miss much. Johnny Hate Jazz came on for an hour or so. They changed the instruments after their performance, which took another 20 minutes or so. Debbie Gibson came on and did her stuff for an hour before the really star of the show Rick Ashley came on. Overall I think the show was great, the queue was terrible but the show was good. When we entered we moved over to the other side where there was enough room to move around and all that and not too crampy. The show stretched over to way pass midnight. By the time we got back it was almost 2am before we hit the sack.

So how were these 80s singer’s now. Well Johnny Hate Jazz you can tell they have aged and the voice has changed somewhat. Debbie Gidson, just imagine a 40 year old Gidson with a 20 year old voice, that’s her high pitch voice never seems to change. As for Rick Ashley, don’t think he has changed a bit in all the 20 years since he appeared. The look and voice still the same, he can’t move on stage still :)

First Panorama

Over the weekend, my little boy was running a fever and he vomitted his food, so we had to sent him to see the doctor. There were a lot of kids getting sick that day. We arrived around 11am and registered him but was told to come back later at 2.30pm as the doctor would be free only then to see us. So we went for lunch and got back at around 2.15pm we waited for my little boy's turn and while I was in the waiting room I started to fiddle with my handphone's camera. There was a setting for panorama view and I tried that. It actually took 8 shots at around a 180 degree angle and below was what I got. The doctor saw our boy at around 2.45pm and got some medicine for his fever and vomitting. Took a urine sample which came ou fine and we later found out that his upper 2 front teeth were growing and that could have caused the fever. He is well now.

Heart Rate Monitor

I tried out my new Heart Rate Monitor which I got recently as a goodie bag item. It came with a watch and a strap. It’s one of those cheap China brand models - JS-711 can’t really ask too much since it was free. Got it at the Tour de Trail run which was a 10.5km run (which I completed in 1hr 12 min) through the forest of MacRitchie.

 

I had to strap on the strap above, did some adjustment to it but it still felt pretty tight. I’m not sure but it feels like I’m wearing a bra or something, not saying that I have used one before. It needed to get used to having that thing strap across your chest. It actually worked and I could see my heart rate and percentage on the watch. It beeps when I am over or under the target I think, not really sure what values to set so I just followed what the manual put, probably wrong figures ha ha … anyway at least the good thing was that it showed my heart rate and at the end once I got it down to my normal rate I knew I had warm down enough and could go home. Another good thing was my other watch strap just broke on the day that I tried the Heart Rate Monitor so the watch that came with it double up as my running watch and time keeper as well.

National Stadium – finally ……

The time has finally come. The National Stadium will be torn down after a 3 year delay it’s finally happening … its the start of the end.

The National Stadium holds fond memories for me. My earliest recollection of it was during the Malaysia Cup days when Singapore played any visiting Malaysian team. Some of the more popular matches, my dad would get us tickets and the whole family including my mum would go. We had to reach there early to get a good spot and usually we left just before the end to ‘escape’ the mad rush after the final whistle. It was more of a family picnic my mum would make sandwiches or hot dogs and my dad would get the balloons, sometime my uncle would join us. I really love those balloons, it was the long kind usually had stripes on it and you inserted the ‘whistle’ part at the end and when you let it go it would launch with that  wheeeeeeeee sound. It was my first encounter with the National Stadium and football in general the great nicknames of the footballers like Camel, Gelek King, Banana Kick, Spiderman, Crazy Horse etc. were all familar to me. When it rain you used newspaper to cover your head or if you are lucky you would have your umbrella with you. No one can forget the Kallang Roar (and later the Kallang wave) and the most famous 3 words …. “Drinks, Kachang, Keropok”. In my later years during my secondary school days, it was where the Sports Day would be held and I guess I had the opportunity to at least run on the track. My National Service days saw me training there for formation runs and relays. When I started working, it was a place I hardly went. I can only remember 3 times I went there. Once with a group of friend to watch Man U play in Singapore, another time was the most recent visit by Liverpool and one of the last was a sort of Family reunion where my whole family including my mom and sister went was to watch Singapore played Thailand in one of the last matches at the Stadium.

In a couple of years the spanking new Sports Hub will be ready and I will definately look forward to that. Would catch a game or two :)

“ROYAL RUMBLE”

No the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is not in town but what I am referring to is the very innovative name of different sets of Nasi Lemak at the famous stall at the Adam Road food centre.

At the stall you could order the various standard Nasi Lemak like the egg set, fish set, chicken set or otah set. If that is not what you wanted you could then try the Full House or Royal Flush combination and if that is not to your liking then there is always the ROYAL RUMBLE (pictured above) which basically has everything from Ikan Bilis, chicken, fish, egg, otah, begadil and of course the chilli which is out of this world one of the best I have tried.