Life: What Year 2008 Meant To Me? (A Flashback & Introspect)

It just simply another year passed by with some memories go along with it...

It started as a nice year to step in... where I finally settled a HDB flat that I call home at the right time as property 'boom' has arrived and sense of rush occupied home-seekers... and economy was riding high with skyrocket hope and wide opportunity to do any kind of job or business... but in the end, still in the same year, it's all suddenly gone in the wind... bear has come to chase the bull away!

It's a year of seeing coworkers come and go (I always jokingly call them 'graduate'...), cause they were seeking or even offered better opportunity... and what I can do was just be a good observer! And, gain a 'privilege' of being a 'senior' by natural...

It's a year to witness once again the basic characteristic of human: GREEDY. Obviously shown in property bubbled & crash, stock market bubbled & burst, commodity prices speculated & crash, big & then-prominent names went bankrupt or gone-in-24-hours cause they were acquired or merged just because they were chasing after inflated paper money which suddenly become worthless and turn to junk.

It's a year where I watch CNBC much more than any other channel on my cable tv network.

It's a year where my dream to be able to surf internet unlimited everywhere came true with my free Starhub MaxMobile subscription (bundled with my Starhub MaxOnline Plus package) and it's a year where I start bring two PDAPhone with me, one for making calls and the other one dedicated for surfing internet & read online news. Looks greedy but that's the way it should be, because of separate SIM card... silly huh!

It's a year when I think I stepped into, what people said, 'mid-life crisis' (one of my friend had ever sent me an article about it, especially for IT guys, it will come earlier) - a period of life where we stand on the crossroad, accept what and who we are today, and starts thinking what step to be made understanding no-way-back and no-start-all-over opportunity anymore. Still thinking how to pass this period successfully...

It's a year where Facebook finally hooked me to the sticky web of social networking... Because of it, I start feel missing my high school friends, university friends, and previous companies' coworkers... one-by-one I met them online (it such an exciting & challenging activities to search and locate old friends), sharing old & new pictures, sharing old & nostalgic stories, getting & posting funny comments, call each other with our old nickname with no hard feeling... it's so much fun! Ah... think this is what will happen when one getting older... ha ha ha.

It's a year where I laughed by myself like a crazy guy in Terminal 3 Changi Airport, waiting for my wife's flight, while chatting online with old high school friends sharing nostalgic & funny stories... all because of Facebook... sharks!

It's a year where I am still serving my long term and short term loans... well, this is the way of living in expensive Singapore!

It's a year where I quite actively write my blog like never before.

It's a year where I watched so many Korean and Japanese drama and movie online, much much more than I watched in previous years... thanks to broadband internet and those people who diligently upload and maintain it online.

It's a year which I want to thank for all kind of memories that make my life even more colorful and memorable...

Goodbye 2008...

Life: X'mas 2008 & Me

For a 7 years in a row, I celebrated X'mas in Singapore... it's still a Dreamin' of A White X'mas to celebrate it outside this tiny island... hopefully in the years to come if the financial crisis isn't getting worse!

As usual, year by year, X'mas in Singapore is indeed X'mas along the Orchard Road: Giant X'mas trees in Paragon and Takashimaya (Ngee Ann City), still centre of attraction, and full of colorful lightings and X'mas ornaments on the buildings and road's trees. This year seems the celebration still as cheerful as last year eventhough the financial crisis starts showing its claws, probably because it is still early and the impact is not felt that much yet... so as usual, Orchard Road still full with the tourists from neighbor countries.



For 2 days of X'mas (25 & 26 Dec), I just roamed along the Orchard Road area with my wife to take some pictures of us to put them in our 2008 X'mas album and upload some to my Facebook. The rest of the days just stay @ home to rest and recharge to be ready for a more challenging year of 2009.

Life: Japanese Cuisine, Koh-San = Sumo

Refer to my previous posted blog where I mentioned that I went to Lot 1 Choa Chu Kang (CCK) and found out my fave food stall, a japanese cuisine, no more there... well I finally found it again last Sunday but under different name: Koh-San Japanese Cuisine (in CCK it called Sumo Japanese Cuisine).



It's a quite interesting how I found it... backed to couple weeks ago when I was windows shopping @ Compasspoint Mall, someone pat my shoulder and when I saw him I forgot who he was... but later he reminded me that he used to work @ CCK's Sumo Japanese Cuisine... what a coincidence because since I found out Sumo has closed down, I'm still wondering whether it has opened in another place or not. He then told me that one of the chef now working @ Koh-San at Koufu Toa Payoh HDB Hub... so there I went last Sunday to taste back the original sashimi which stimulate my taste bud on raw fish, specifically raw salmon!

Below is fave meal, Sashimi Set Meal (picture), which I order regularly everytime I eat there... the set comes with tuna but I always ask to change it with more salmon. But quite sad now, the slices getting smaller and thinner... sigh! Singapore increasing rental cost eating my salmon! Well, but at least, it still fresher and the taste just nice for me.


This is the complete set meal menu:


And, this is the familiar Sumo ornament...


Well... interested to try (especially if you are boring with long queue or taste of Sakae Sushi)? Just take MRT to Toa Payoh then go to HDB Hub 2nd floor, Koufu Food Court, stall 1.

FYI: EPL Managers Funny Picture

Source: Thesun.co.uk article
From left to right: ... Rafa Benitez (Liverpool's Manager) as Cinderella with Alex Ferguson (Manchester United's Manager) and Phil Scolari (Chelsea's Manager) as the Ugly Sisters.

Quoted from The Sun: "Liverpool are top of the tree going into the panto season. But the Ugly Sisters of Chelsea and Manchester United are right behind you, Rafa. "

Very funny and creative... Ha3x lol...

Life: Me & Facebook

Social Networking is the 'in' word nowadays... but it has been existed, up to certain level, since email gains its popularity. Mailing list or group connecting and allowing groups of email addresses interact each other... then comes the Messenger (Yahoo!, MSN, etc.) which allows peoples communicate online in real time using it's chat facility.

The more complete social networking tools gain popularity, in Asia particularly, through Friendster, and then Facebook.

Well, for myself, I started it with mailing groups... be a member of my ex-university and ex-workplace mailing lists... but then its cooling down because less and less member posted message there.

I never been that active using Messenger eventhough I have both Yahoo! and MSN Messenger account, just use it as and when, mostly to communicate with family members or talk free online instead of using expensive overseas phone call.

Then for social networking, despite its popularity, I never join Friendster just because I don't feel 'fit' into it.... well, this is what called 'positioning' and 'target market' term in Marketing. In my own perception, the name Friendster fit into young age target market (yeah... this is a confession that I am 'old' already... ha3x), that's why most of Friendster members are children, teenagers and young adults. Since I don't have Friendster account, I can't write that much about it... but, to share, I didn't like its look and interface that much... well, probably because I am quite particular on this issue.

Then here comes Facebook. It was started as social networking portal for Harvard University students before it is open up to the world. It is the gains popularity in faster pace than Friendster and more and more Friendster member migrating to Facebook.
As I feel 'fit' into its target market (well, again... this is just my own perception...), I then started my journey in social networking in Facebook... and found it's really fun, and its complete, neat, and well structured features hooked me... so I decided to start building my friends network there... my old high school friends, my previous workplaces friends, and my current workplace friends.

It's quite challenging finding old friends, especially my high school classmates, because it has been 23 years ago and lost contact with them for quite long. But, I managed to get them one by one... it just a matter of time to have most of them since not all of them use computer and know how to use computer. Sharing old memories, old & new photos, and life journey of the last 23 years really exciting and fun, some even make me laugh-out-loud!

Hopefully Facebook will last long enough so I can still link up and maintain this friends networking till I much older and getting lonelier... I am quite optimistic because internet is the future and the computer getting cheaper, smaller, lighter, and easy-to-use... Don't surprise if one day most of the people on the street actively carrying small gadget to do social networking everywhere... Well, this is my vision! ha3x...

Sports: 2008 is Great Year for Spanish Sportsmen

Surely 2008 is a great year for Spanish sportsmen. A stream of success in several sports events mark the overall success.

It started with Rafael Nadal who became the new world number one tennis player, ending Roger Federer run of 237 weeks top of ATP ranking, after he won 8 titles this season, includes Wimbledon trophy (after an epic battle with Federer) and the first Spanish to win Olympic tennis gold medal.

Then cyclist Carlos Sastre won the prestigious Tour de France.

Followed by the success of Spain Soccer Team who won Euro 2008 after beating Germany 1-0 with David Villa (didn't play in final) as top scorer of the tournament.

And this week, the Spain Tennis Team won the prestigious Davis Cup trophy after beating Argentina in final eventhough Rafael Nadal was not part of the team due to knee injury.

Bravo Matadors!

FYI: Alien-like Squid Seen at Deep Drilling Site

Source: National Geographic Photos

Life: News Channel & My Favorite Newscaster

News channel will always be my favorite because this is one way to keep myself up with the latest world news and gain the important knowledge.

During my time in Indonesia, TVRI's "Dunia Dalam Berita" (read: World in News) and SCTV's "Liputan 6" (read: News Coverage @ 6pm) were my favorite news program.
After moving to Singapore, Channel NewsAsia was the news channel that I almost everyday watched before I then stay tune to CNBC channel.

The on-time and quality of the news is the major factor when selecting which news channel to be watched, and the other factor is the newscaster.

Among the Asian news channels, the born of Channel NewsAsia (CNA) gave a fresh competition since it seems trying to compete with the established CNN.
One of CNA's landmark was the coverage of the "tumble" of the twin tower on 911 terrorist attack in USA soil. I watched it live on CNA during that night of tragedy.

CNA's newscaster, Glenda Chong (left), is my favorite. She spells each English word clearly so I can follow and understanding the news... considering my earlier years in Singapore with not-so-English-familiar-ears.
Read her profile in CNA, she graduated summa cum laude from Boston University with a Bachelor of Science in Broadcast Journalism... wow!
She is an award-winning presenter. In 2001, she received an award for Best News Anchor at the Asian Television Awards.
She is now CNA's Shanghai Correspondent.

My other favorite newscaster is CNBC's Erin Burnett (right). She is pretty and indeed a good newscaster. She is one of the alumni of Citigroup Vice President "academy" - in my view, some kind of guarantee quality source of employee, as it also happens to Indonesia's Citibank VPs.
Well, I believe it is one of CNBC's marketing strategy to recruit pretty-cum-capable female newscaster to boost its rating among the news channels.

In the end, it is the viewer who get the utmost benefit... listen to fresh news and watch it with fresh eyes...

FYI: 3G on the MRT - In Operation Now

For the past week, I had great experience surfing the net using my Samsung Omnia with my unlimited StarHub MaxMobile (which comes with my MaxOnline Plus subscription) along the NEL MRT track.

Yes! 3G on NEL MRT track (at least from Dhoby Ghaut to Sengkang - my daily journey) is on full operation already! So, riding on the packed MRT during peak hours won't feel that long anymore since I fully concentrated on my surfing... ha ha ha.

And, the other great thing is Skype can be used seamlessly in Omnia to make Skype-to-Skype free phone calls - have tested that last night. So, this means: unlimited-internet-mobile-subscription + Skype = (virtually) free internet phone calls anywhere!

Japanese Drama: Masami Nagasawa - A Bit More About Her

I've mentioned about this Japanese Actress in my previous posting after I saw her two award-winning drama: Proposal Daisakusen (Operation Love) and Last Friends. Afterward, I watched two more: Yasashii Jikan (Affectionate Time - as one of supporting actress) and Nada Sou Sou (Stream of Tears - as lead actress).

Masami Nagasawa enter the entertainment business in year 2000 after winning the 5th Toho "Cinderella" Contest at the age of 12, the youngest winner ever. Over the years she has gained popularity through involvement in some good and award winning movies and dramas.

She was ranked 9th in 2007 Most Influential People In Japan according to magazine Flash. She is the only female on the top 10 ranking. This shows how popular she is.

She is pretty, cute, and adorable. Herewith I posted some more of her pictures I found after 'google' it.

Her cute teenager look:


Her matured & elegant look:


Her sexy look:


Her melancholic look:


Look so different here:


Ahh.. that smile...:

Life: Tintin & Snowy - My All Time Favorite Comic

Herge's Adventures of Tintin will always be my all time favorite comic. I never get boring reading them over and over again... because the story so adventurous, interesting and funny. Its wide range of story in many countries - tap into each country's culture and described it in a creative and funny way - made me feels like traveling around the world and get to know more about them. As a young children when I first time read the comic, it was like learning to know how the world is... a valuable additional knowledge.

Among all the characters in the comic, I like the cute Snowy, Tintin's loyal and smart dog. Its comments, action, and expression are fresh and funny.

The following pictures were taken from Tintin's The Black Island comic:

Look at its funny face riding on the car's rear bumper when it follows Tintin who was being kidnapped.

The second picture was its contradict fear expression of just a tiny ants after being able to scared even a much bigger and fierce gorilla...

And, the third picture was its behavior when got drunk after accidentally tap on whiskey drops on the train - it later on became addicted to whiskey! - and then got scolded by Tintin due to its drinking habit...

FYI: Persian Leopard Cub

Source: National Geographic on Animal Photos Weekly.

Life: I Share One of My Important Day with Hungarians

If I were lived in Hungaria, I will always celebrate my birthday on holiday every year because this date is a national holiday there, a Hungarian Revolution day. Hungarian Revolution was happened 10 years before I were delivered to this world, and ever since I knew about it I never forget about it because it always pop up in my mind on my birthday.

Herewith description of Hungarian Revolution of 1956 as I copied from Wikipedia:

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (Hungarian: 1956-os forradalom) was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the Stalinist government of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956. It began as a student demonstration which attracted thousands as it marched through central Budapest to the Parliament building. A student delegation entering the radio building in an attempt to broadcast its demands was detained. When the delegation's release was demanded by the demonstrators outside, they were fired upon by the State Security Police (ÁVH) from within the building. The news spread quickly and disorder and violence erupted throughout the capital.

The revolt spread quickly across Hungary, and the government fell. Thousands organized into militias, battling the State Security Police (ÁVH) and Soviet troops. Pro-Soviet communists and ÁVH members were often executed or imprisoned, as former prisoners were released and armed. Impromptu councils wrested municipal control from the Communist Party, and demanded political changes. The new government formally disbanded the ÁVH, declared its intention to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and pledged to re-establish free elections. By the end of October, fighting had almost stopped and a sense of normality began to return.

After announcing a willingness to negotiate a withdrawal of Soviet forces, the Politburo changed its mind and moved to crush the revolution. On 4 November, a large Soviet force invaded Budapest and other regions of the country. Hungarian resistance continued until 10 November. An estimated 2,500 Hungarians died, and 200,000 more fled as refugees. Mass arrests and denunciations continued for months thereafter. By January 1957, the new Soviet-installed government had suppressed all public opposition. These Soviet actions alienated many Western Marxists, yet strengthened Soviet control over Central Europe, cultivating the perception that communism was both irreversible and monolithic.

Public discussion about this revolution was suppressed in Hungary for over 30 years, but since the thaw of the 1980s it has been a subject of intense study and debate. At the inauguration of the Third Hungarian Republic in 1989, 23 October was declared a national holiday.

FYI: 3G on the MRT

Just read an article in Computerworld Singapore October 2008 edition, that SBS Transit is upgrading its existing communications infrastructure to support a 3G wireless network along the North-East Line (NEL). The upgrading has been started and was expected to be up and running by end of this year.

Great! I took NEL everyday to go office and back home... no wonder when MRT pass the Little India Station - and only this station so far - my mobile internet connection change to '3G' indicator, instead of 'G' (for GPRS) or 'E' (for EDGE).

Japanese Drama: Proposal Daisakusen and Last Friends, with Same Actress - Masami Nagasawa

I watched two Japanese Drama which won the Television Drama Academy Award: Proposal Daisakusen (July 2007) and Last Friends (August 2008). Both have interesting storyline eventhough the second one's more interesting because the storyline quite unique and shows dark-sides of the characters and creates complicated relationship from one person to another.

Proposal Daisakusen storyline quite simple and fun. It is a story about two persons who knows each other since childhood and deep inside they love each other but too naive and don't have courage to express it to the other party. The girl ended up marrying another man and during the wedding ceremony, the fairy of the church offers the guy to travel back in time to try rectify his mistakes and try his best to win the girl's heart...
The story, episode by episode, link to certain stage of their relationship as displayed on the slides shown during the ceremony. In the end all those efforts did made some changes in their relationship but the wedding still on... And, only the guy's wedding speech in the end that moves the girl's heart... but thanks to the groom's 'big heart' to let the girl go by testing her true feeling by let her choose which of his hand holds the shirt's button... while, actually, both hands hold the button... so whichever the girl choose she was given freedom to leave...

Last Friends is a story about 3 main characters with dark childhood psychological experience:
First character: A girl who experiencing the rejection by her own mother who always express her regret giving birth to the girl - given scar in the girl's heart. She fell in love with a guy with more painful childhood because his mother left him that make bigger scar in his heart that make him so possessive, very unreasonable jealous, and turn uncontrollable violent. The girl, who decided to live together with him, experience DV (Domestic Violence).
Second character: A girl who hates being a girl! She is a tomboy and always feels like a man traps inside woman's body.... she hates her body and she hates guys! She kept the secret so tight and suffering... she indeed fall in love to the first girl and stands for her against the violent boyfriend.
Third character: A guy who experienced childhood trauma of being harassed by his half sister. So traumatic that he is falsely marked as a gay since he always been avoiding girls. But, he indeed fall in love with the second girl! He has charm and, actually, attracted girls with his matured thinking, understanding, and advices, even the first girl likes him in the end...
So, there it goes the love triangle....

The interesting part is that for both drama, same actress play the main character: Masami Nagasawa. Pretty and feminine. Well... acting wise, she is so-so, not that fantastic... But judging from in span of one year she is part of two award-winning drama, it might tell something about her... Anyway, herewith I posted two of her pretty pictures that I found by 'google' it... pretty and cute, right?

Freeware: Google Chrome

I'm quite excited when Google release their own internet browser, namely Chrome, on early September this year, so, I probably among the earliest downloader of this new browser. Quite keen to use it since it is from Google, a well-known internet search specialist.

Now, I've been using it for about 1.5 months so I would like to share my experiences of using it. Interface wise, it is quite neat, it maximizes the browsing area by just displaying only necessary items, like the tabs and web address, very minimal menu, and no status bar at all. Status will just appear when it is necessary at the left bottom of the browsing screen. 

Loading Chrome considered quite fast compare to Internet Explorer and Firefox, probably because it is still very new, small, and not 'heavy' yet with additional features which usually comes with every updates.

Each tab or browsing screen is an independent application, so if one tab crash, it will not bring down the whole browser, so no more hard feeling of losing your work on the other tabs. That's why you be able to drag the tab and make it run on its own.

Initially, no java runtime included that made me a bit upset because some website I usually visit needs java to run part of it. But later it can be downloaded, so no more upset on this issue.

Then, here comes its setback. Playing an online video is not a smooth sailing, it will make Chrome become less responsive and lagging, quite strange and shameful remembering that Google owns YouTube, the popular video sharing portal.

Overall, Google Chrome is a nice product. It's still beta anyway... so still can be apologized for not perfect as a product. What I understand from some articles that I read about it, it was developed with Web 2.0 technology in mind to support the fast growing Web 2.0 adaptation by web-based application developer. So, I believe Chrome will be one of the major player in internet browser application in the near future.

But, for the time being, I still loyal to Firefox since it is already quite matured internet browser now and will launch its version 3 soon. 

FYI: In Panic Market, Anything Can Happen

In first and final hour trading at New York Stock Exchange on Friday the last day of hectic and scary week for nervous investors, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index swing wildly down (reach intraday lowest of 7,882) and up (reach intraday highest of 8,901).

Well, in panic market, anything can happen. It is a combination of panic investor (who perceive market will fall further) and bargain-hunting investor (who perceive market too low and oversold already and see opportunity to buy)... a severe fight of bear and bull.

It is really exciting and interesting to see what will happen next week whether it will fall even further or rebound in big way.

Source: MarketWatch.com

FYI: What A Difference A Year Can Make

Source: MarketWatch.com

FYI: Faces of Market Crash

This week of October will probably be remembered as the worst week of stock market with global markets crashed and in the race of "who's the worst".

With US big and well-known financial institutions facing the credit crunch due to subprime and mortgage-related problem in US market, landmarked by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and disappearance of names like Bear Stearns, Merril Lynch, Washington Mutual, and soon Wachovia, it painted a grim and dark near future of global stock market.

Shock, anger, desperate, confuse, depress, amd sad faces of the stock market actors were posted in media. Herewith some of those faces which I took from several web publications.

Music: Popular Foreign Songs in Indonesia

As of the other countries, not many foreign songs can be popular in Indonesia mainly because of the language and the unfamiliar song's music and beat. Each country has its own traditional and favorite kind of music. True that some singer or band was popular at one time but usually only to a certain group of people. Indonesia is the same, consists of so many ethnics across the archipelago, they have their own traditional and popular kind of music. But there times, as far as I remember, some foreign songs became such a hit and very popular across the country and even translated into different local language.

First song is Suzanna by Art Company (hear it here). This is the most popular and biggest hit foreign song as far as I can remember. It a relatively simple song, nice beat (it is reggae, right?), and can be easily sing by every people. Afterward, many more songs with similar kind of beat were recorded by local singers... a me-too mentality.

Second song is Denpasar Moon by Maribeth (hear it here). It uses the most popular music beat in Indonesia, Dangdut, that's why it can be easily accepted in people's ear and became so popular then. For you who might not know yet, Denpasar is the capital city of Bali, one of the most favorite tourist destination in the world.

Third song is Kokoro No Tomo by Mayumi Itsuwa (hear it here). This the most popular Japanese song in Indonesia, I guess. Everytime I listen to this song, I remember of my childhood. It simply a nice song that give nice kind of feeling, but even if I till now do not understand what this song is all about, honestly. But I really remember how popular this song at that time. Well it was not as widely popular as the first two songs, but every adult in Indonesia big cities surely remember this song.

Music: Orion - The Hunter

It was when I watched a drama where the actor looking at the clear night sky and pointed to star constellation called Orion that trigger my memory about a rock band with the same name.

Back in 1984, when I was still in high school and as big fans of heavy slow rock (I collected about 20+ cassette tapes of heavy slow rock compilation), there was one song that I like from one of the heavy slow rock compilation called Dark and Stormy which was sang by Orion, a newly formed rock band. Later I went and bought their one and only album, The Hunter. It consists of 9 songs, two of them are heavy slow rock: Dark and Stormy and Joanne. But, their hit song is So You Ran, you can watch its video in YouTube here.

Read from Wikipedia (read it here) and some web articles about this rock band, it was formed out of boredom of ex-Boston band member, Barry Goudreau, together with one of ex-Heart band member. So, it might be the answer why it only produced one album.

Well, actually their album is not bad and the songs quite nice and honestly that time I was waiting for their next album which never happen. But, it's alright... I still can enjoy their songs - a complete album - in Imeem, here.

GMail - It's 7GB Now..... and still increasing.....

Just for record, as per today 24-Sep-2008, GMail capacity has reached 7GB and it still keep increasing.... but in slower speed.

Wish it can be unlimited storage as Yahoo!Mail....

Music: My Childhood Memory - Boney M, Shirley Bassey, and Led Zeppelin Album Cover

During my childhood - in my early primary school - there are two singers that I remember most, Shirley Bassey with her 'Never Never Never' song (listen here) and Boney M with their 'Brown Girl In The Ring' song (listen here), very popular during 70s era. Sure, it is not because I was fans of them but it was my big brother and sisters were their fans and bought their album so I am too listened to those songs.

I didn't remember their album cover though, well probably they were not impress enough to be remembered. But, there is one music album cover which still fresh in my memory till now. Initially I don't know which singer/band it was, but later I found out that it is Led Zeppelin album cover. Well, it only consists picture, not words at all... but don't know why it can be easily kept in my memory... probably pity on that old man carrying the woods.

Life: World Financial Crisis and Some Memories of Them

This week was a hectic and scary week for financial market. Started with the bankruptcy filing by Lehman Brothers, a prominent and global name investment bank, Merrill Lynch 'surrender' itself to Bank Of America, and AIG liquidity problem were surfaced and shocked the already fragile market and sent the world stock markets to free fall. Then came the rescue from US Fed and Treasury by bailing out AIG and flood the financial market with the necessity liquidity in tandem with the most major countries' central banks. Stock market rebound in a very dramatic way... like a roller coaster!!

Sure there some other big and well-known companies failure before, like Baring Plc, a 233 years institution, which was collapsed in hand of one person (Nick Leeson) in a very risky derivatives trading. Or, the well-known Andersen Consulting (now known as Accenture) lost its reputation and good name due to Enron scandal. And, also Bear Stearns 'swallowed' by JP Morgan Chase 6-months ago due to liquidity issue because of mortgage problem in US market. Big names and reputation can be wiped out in just a very short time when it was not managed properly.

Well, for me, in my over 40 years of life, I have seen quite numbers of similar things happened. Back to the first Asian-lead financial crisis which started with bubble burst in Thailand, it sent tsunami effect to the whole Southeast Asian countries, especially Indonesia which was hit very hard. I witnessed how Indonesian currency, Rupiah, free fall from around 3,000 per US Dollar to at one time hit 15,000 per US Dollar (now stabilizes at 9,200 per US Dollar) and prices of goods increased dramatically. People panic since their money worth much less - even though for some who diligently held US Dollar instead of Rupiah, it meant a huge windfall. Then, businesses struggling and collapsing, so as banks - mostly because they were not managed properly.

But, among all of those bad memories, there was one scene which I still remember very clearly and probably the most famous scene during the Asian Monetary Crisis. It was when Indonesia President that time, Soeharto, had to sign a no-choice-agreement with IMF as the last resort to survive the country from collapsing. The live coverage of him signing the agreement while the IMF head standing with hands folded on his chest (see picture below) - looks like a 'look down' for majority of people who watched it, the sentiment that I also felt that day. It looked like surrender kind of ceremony.... well, indeed, Indonesia lost control on its own monetary by signing that agreement for quite numbers of years until all IMF loans repaid. Such a bitter pill to swallow...

FYI: King Penguin Nils Olav

Source: National Geographic on Animal Photos Weekly.

FYI: Whacky Definitions

Well... got this in email from my friend, kind of twisted definition but quite true...

Here it is:

School: A place where Papa pays and Son plays.
Life Insurance: A contract that keeps you poor all your life so that you can die Rich.
Nurse: A person who wakes u up to give you sleeping pills.
Marriage: It's an agreement in which a man loses his bachelor degree and a woman gains her masters.
Tears: The hydraulic force by which masculine willpower is defeated by feminine waterpower.
Lecture: An art of transferring information from the notes of the Lecturer to the notes of the students without passing through 'the minds of either'
Conference: The confusion of one man multiplied by the number present.
Compromise: The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody believes he got the biggest piece.
Dictionary: A place where success comes before work.
Conference Room: A place where everybody talks, nobody listens and everybody disagrees later on.
Boss: Someone who is early when you are late and late when you are early.
Politician: One who shakes your hand before elections and your Confidence after.
Doctor: A person who kills your ills by pills, and kills you by bills.
Classic: Books, which people praise, but do not read.
Smile: A curve that can set a lot of things straight.
Office: A place where you can relax after your strenuous home life.
Yawn: The only time some married men ever get to open their mouth.
Etc.: A sign to make others believe that you know more than you actually do.
Committee: Individuals who can do nothing individually and sit to decide that nothing can be done together.
Experience: The name men give to their mistakes.
Atom Bomb: An invention to end all inventions.

FYI: Some Jokes - Teacher & Kids

Got these jokes from my friend today, just want to share... quite funny.

Here it is:

TEACHER : Maria, go to the map and find North America ..
MARIA : Here it is.
TEACHER : Correct. Now class, who discovered America?
CLASS : Maria.
-------------------------------
TEACHER : John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?
JOHN : You told me to do it without using tables.
-------------------------------
TEACHER : Glenn, how do you spell "crocodile?"
GLENN : K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L
TEACHER : No, that's wrong
GLENN : Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.
-------------------------------
TEACHER : Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?
DONALD : H I J K L M N O.
TEACHER : What are you talking about?
DONALD : Yesterday you said it's H to O.
-------------------------------
TEACHER : Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't have ten years ago.
WINNIE : Me!
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TEACHER : Glen, why do you always get so dirty?
GLEN : Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are.
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TEACHER : Millie, give me a sentence starting with "I."
MILLIE : I is...
TEACHER : No, Millie..... Always say, "I am."
MILLIE : All right... "I am the ninth letter of the alphabet."
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TEACHER : George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him?
LOUIS : Because George still had the axe in his hand.
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TEACHER : Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
SIMON : No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook.
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TEACHER : Clyde , your composition on "My Dog" is exactly the same as your brother's. Did you copy his?
CLYDE : No, teacher, it's the same dog.
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TEACHER : Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?
HAROLD : A teacher

Life: My Old Days Reading

Like many people, I love reading. It is source of unlimited information and a way to keep me up-to-date and learn many things in my life. Different from many years ago, where computer and internet words not even born yet, nowadays most of things can be read in website and online publication.

My reading habits started with children magazine of my time. Then, I started reading newspaper as my father did. I did follow day-to-day news and quite knowledgeable of what happenings in the world.

Like other kids, I also like comics. But, I just read selectively, my favorites are Adventure of Tintin & Snowy (of course with Captain Haddock with his curses, genius but weird Professor Calculus, and the dumb & funny Thomson & Thompson), Smurf (with its funny sentences containing 'smurf'), Lucky Luck (he shoots faster than his shadow! and of course his funny horse Jolly Jumper), and Asterix & Obelix (with that nonsense drink that make them so powerful for a limited time). I only bought couple of them, the rest just borrow from friends... well, I came from simple family so not enough budget to buy things considered 'luxury' for me at that time. Wish I have such collection of those comics... it is still fun reading them.
I read in the news that Steven Spielberg is preparing to make a series of movies on Adventure of Tintin. Great... I'll watch it then.

For novel, I read Famous Five - story about 5 kids' exciting adventures - which is very popular that time, Agatha Christie's murder mistery novels (with its famous detective, Hercule Poirot - with his brilliant little grey-cells brain - who died in the last novel after he made himself a murderer to stop a smartest murderer), Sydney Sheldon's The Other Side of Midnight, and Alistair McLean's James-Bond-like adventure novel (e.g. Guns of Navarone, Nuclear in Carribean, etc.) where the lead character in his novel always experiencing die hard kind of experience. Most of the books, I borrowed from my school library.

I stop reading those books since high school, probably due to more and more study materials, especially during university time, and worse now because of internet and online publications. The only books that I read only computer related books that I borrowed from library. I didn't read novel anymore... would prefer watch them on TV, DVD, cinema, or online.

With virtually unlimited source of free information available online in internet, why should I bother buying a book or magazine or newspaper?

Korean Drama: Wedding

Different from typical Korean Drama which exploits fate and destiny, too much and perfect co-incidence, ill one side love, ill characters, intrigues, dirty tricks, cinderella-kind-of-story, and so on, "Wedding" offers a down-to-earth, real and simple story about two persons who met, attracted to each other, then decided to get married, experiencing jealousy, hurts, arguing, just believe in own thinking, perception and point-of-view, selfishness, and secrets.

Nice thing about this drama, it has no ill character (if any, non-intentional), just act as per normal and really depends of the nice storyline, good and meaningful conversations, plus beautiful poem quotes. It really look like J-Drama that I used to watch, rely on strong, interesting, and meaningful conversations plus characters conflicts & interactions. I like this kind of drama because I can compare, reflect, and even learn something from it.

The lead actor/actress, Ryu Shi Won and Jang Nara, fits nicely into the leading role characters. Good choice though.

As usual it has nice theme song, and unusually, it quotes a beautiful poem (I still searching from which book it was quoted and who was the writer, please do let me know if you have information about it...).

Here it is: (as quoted from the drama subtitle)

When the sunlight touches the ground, I miss you
When the shadow of the moonlight slowly climbs up, I miss you
When the dust finally settles down, I'd see you
Meeting in the deep night, I still can see your shadow

When the waves crash, I hear your voice
As everyone falls asleep in the midst of quite forest, I hear your voice
No matter how far, I'd be by your side
You'd be by my side, When the sun sets and the stars shines

Ah... If only you're by my side

Music: Free Online Music (Grooveshark Lite)

While writing my previous blog today, I am quite curious to look for free online music website that has the song (Empty Pages by Air Supply). I've been searching it in Imeem.com previously but no success. And, accidentally found this website: Grooveshark Lite (http://listen.grooveshark.com) which also provide free music online and has quite huge songs collection, most of them English songs. But, it's still great since it is completely free and the interface is quite neat and nice. Just register, search the songs, put it in your playlist or queue, and there you are... relax and listen to your favorite songs.

Compare to Imeem.com, this Gooveshark.com has different business model. Reading from its main homepage (http://www.grooveshark.com), it works as peer-to-peer program and has interesting business model where for each song downloaded, Grooveshark shares a portion of the cost of the song with the user who uploaded the song, and off course the label (or artist). So, it is a legal business model.

Music: Empty Pages by Air Supply

On my way to work this morning, suddenly I remember this song and it kept in my mind till I wrote this blog. Well, for Air Supply fans they sure know this song but not all of them like it. For me, it is one of early Air Supply songs that I like and I kept listen to it over and over again at that time because it is quite poetic. And, listen to it when you are alone was quite nice. The song titled "Empty Pages".

Honestly I don't really understand what was in the songwriter's mind when he write this song, but this sentence: "Empty pages I’ve read you all through...." must have given a deep feeling and I can feel it too.

Here is the lyric:

Empty Pages
(Graham Russell)

When you’re out in front and your life is unsure
What have you got goin’ for you after every road you turn
It’s magic when you tell me and run your fingers through my hair
I don’t need your persuasion, cos I’m already there
I’ve just read it through and I said to myself
That’s not really you, I’ll keep myself to myself
It’s magic when you tell me, and write the words I want to see
When I reach the last line, it’s just empty for me
I’ve been learning so long, about the things you do
I’ve been learning so long about you, about you

(chorus)
Empty pages I’ve read you all through
Empty pages filled with spaces I fell in and I fell in
Empty pages I’ve read you all through
Empty pages filled with spaces I fell in and I fell in

Hmm.... curious and want to hear this song? Listen it here

FYI: Baby Humpback Whale - Euthanized

Picture taken from: dailymail.co.uk
It such a sad and heartbreaking picture to see that this orphanage three-week-old baby humpback whale (named 'Colin'), after a week found separated from its mother, had to be euthanized by Australian Officials and then loaded to a truck like a garbage.

It might be a very difficult decision to put down the baby whale, which normally can't survive without its mother. But the question is: Is it really no way to keep it alive with human's existing technology and knowledge? Or, Isn't is possible to let it die naturally without need to 'murder' it?

Sports: Rafael Nadal - Olympic Gold and World No.1

Probably no other man happier than Rafael Nadal today. He grabbed Olympic Gold yesterday, in a relatively 'easy' game against Fernando Gonzalez 6-3 7-6 6-3, and claim World No.1 today dethroned Roger Federer who is losing this magic touch this year.

But the real final was not yesterday, it is the day before when he beat World No.3 Novak Jokovic, the other potential candidate for No.1 if he can perform consistently. Now, Jokovic will have mountain to climb because at most of time, he has to face Federer before he can reach final in any tournament.

It's a perfect achievement as a tennis player and worth of his consistent performance and, the most important, his patience. He wait patiently for 4 years as World No.2 player and constantly improve his performance in other courts than clay. It's all about timing.

Bravo and congratulation Rafael Nadal!

FYI: Bulletproof Bras

Source: Today Online, 9-Aug-2006 page 26

FYI: Olympic 2008 Opening Ceremony Show Off

Picture was taken from Today Online, 9-Aug-2008
If this Beijing Olympic 2008 Opening Ceremony was meant for show off, then it really served the purpose. It is indeed a spectacular display of colosal dancing, music, and fireworks mastermind by Zhang Yimou, the famous director of movies like Hero and House Of Flying Dagger.

I really enjoy watching it and quite amaze especially with the 'Giant Steps' fireworks, a series of fireworks looks like a giant footstep in the Beijing city towards the Bird's Nest stadium... it was such a very well organized and the timing of the fireworks blast off was so perfect. The bird view of this giant step show made it even more spectacular. Bravo!

Not sure how much China Government spent for this Olympic Opening Ceremony - must be a huge amount - but it was worth of money. And, regardless whatever controversy prior to this big sport party event, having all people around the world whether they are athletes who participates directly in the games or supporters watch it in front of their television, it is a showcase of 'Unity in Sportivity & Peace'.

FYI: Siberian Tiger Cub - Antares

Source: National Geographic on Animal Photos Weekly.
You can see its cute video here

Life: Internet & I

Internet, like some other people, already part of my life and can't be separated from it anymore now. I still remember the early days of internet with dial-up modem speed of 14.4K, 28.8K and 56K (max)... with its typical sound while connecting, and the pain of being disconnected at anytime while surfing using the now-extinct-Netscape. Now, in broadband era, surfing speed is amazing and it keeps growing...

It always be my dream to be able to surf internet anywhere with acceptable speed and affordable price. It's only after 5 years living in Singapore, the launch of Wireless@SG fulfilled part of my dream... and it's free! But, it's only available at certain places only. WiMax gave some hopes but it still not commercially available till today. GPRS gave a slow and expensive mobile internet experience using PDA phone... then, came 3G with faster internet... and now 3.5G (HSDPA) with even faster speed.

It was M1 who is the first offering mobile internet... it immediately catched my attention. Quite keen to subscribe, but in the end, I decided not because I still think it is not the right time yet... the speed still not acceptable for me... need to wait until this new technology stable. Besides that, I am StarHub subscriber so it just a matter of time that StarHub will offer the similar service. So, when StarHub launch its MaxMobile subscription, my waiting is over... When my MaxOnline contract expired last month, I downgraded it to MaxOnline Express Plus (from MaxOnline Premium) which bundled with unlimited 1Mbps mobile broadband. It comes with Huawei E170 USB Stick and Data SIM Card (not free though, need to pay for it). The SIM Card (3G) can be used in any 3G Phone but can only be used for data, no voice call. Since I only have one 3G phone, no choice that I have to interchangeably the SIM Card... not conveniece but it's OK. Well, wish can upgrade to dual SIM Card Windows-based PDA phone (none in the market at the moment), or get another 3.5G phone free... ha ha ha ... dream on it!

Using my new LG KS20 - a slim, beautiful, and affordable Windows-based PDA Phone which support 3.5G - I start experiencing the convenience of internet browsing anywhere at last. But wait, not everywhere I can surf at 3.5G speed ("H" indicator)... most of the time still at 3G speed ("3G" indicator)... worst at GPRS speed ("G" indicator) in MRT!

Based on my early mobile internet experience, at 3.5G speed, video streaming runs quite smoothly with minimal disruption. Well... not sure whether it will be still same speed if later on more and more people starts using mobile broadband internet, since - in the end - all should share the limited bandwidth... sigh!

FYI: Cute Baby Polar Bear

Source: National Geographic on Bear Beginnings: New Life on the Ice

FYI: Nice Quilt, Mike

Source: bbc.co.uk website Daily in Pictures 24-Jul-2008

FYI: Don't Let Your Dog Drive!

Source: Today Online, 26-Jul-2008

FYI: Ngaben - One of Balinese Great Tradition

Source: bbc.co.uk website Week in Pictures 12-19 July 2008

Life: Me & Singapore

This month, I've been 7 years living in Singapore. That time, I decided to land my feet into Singapore soil after my previous company, a life insurance, was acquired by Prudential and I chose to leave the company under 'golden shakehand' scheme then took couple of months break... Well, Singapore was such a new experience and different both life and working environment than I used to.

But, it was not the first time I've been in Singapore.... it was back in 1993 when it was the first time I came to Singapore. At that time I came to install payroll program in one of Singapore company which had factory in Batam. The office was located at Bukit Timah Road near Kandang Kerbau Hospital and the building where at the ground floor there were car & motorbike showroom. I stayed in Hotel Asia @ Scott Road (now has been demolished)... and it was also the first time I step into Orchard Road which is just a walk distance away from the hotel.

Since then, I've been to Singapore several times... once together with my previous boss visiting one of telecom company to explore the possible of joint venture and then twice accompanied my mother seek treatment and had surgery in Mt Elizabeth and Gleneagles Hospital. Hmm... a bit coincidence that now I am working in healthcare company...
I still remember that during that time was the era of 'dot-net boom'... where I can see along the Orchard Road, some companies launched their new website and people so keen and curious to see. And also, that year was the launch of free 'TODAY' newspaper, if I was not wrong, because I still remember that I can get that free newspaper distributed in front of Orchard MRT station...

And, it was in the early years of me in Singapore, the 911 attack took place (Channel News Asia provided 24 hours live coverage), saw the twin tower collapsing, the rise of terrorism, and the worse... the second round of asia economic crisis... and at least I've been experiencing the property cycle... the property crash following the asia economic crisis and then its boom last year.

Well... now I am looking forward to live for many more years here in Singapore.

FYI: Beautiful Place - Gonna Go There Someday

Source: National Geographic on 8 Natural Wonders Added to UN Heritage List

FYI: Unicorn Fish

Source: National Geographic on Unicorn Fish