Farewell Bugis Street

Finally! The last day of Chic Couture at Bugis Street is here.

The whole shop was dismantled within 2 days, started since Friday evening, when the last business day was over.

Packing of the merchandise took the longest time. Cleaning them up to their pristine condition again before putting them back into their original packages for storage until the next opening day, hopefully in early May 2007 at Central One!


The whole moving-out experience should be a cinch, but there always should be that little challenge factor... still painstakingly... recovering from flu while doing tough physical work. Was like hell for me.

My medication with its antibiotics had ran its course and finished, so I had to suppress the throbbing headaches and runny nose with Panadol Acti-fast... to be able to carry on and complete the packing and finally moving out from the shop.

Oops! Do not want to sound like I am endorsing something here. My blog might be mistaken for a pay-per-post site... heaven's forbid the falling readership rate!

Seriously, I do not like to pop-in these suppression pills as I feel that these are bad for the body in the long term. I did not have a choice for these 2 days, so...

Wifey has a difference experience, though. After about a year at the shop, she could not get a proper good night's sleep for the whole 2 days we were moving out.

Guess the excitement and most probably the attachment she had... leaving the daily routine tending to the shop, the friendly neighbours... and maybe her customers that she has yet to get a chance to be in touch with to tell them about the new location.

Well, the whole furniture and all the shop's stuff were safely back in out home tonight, before 9:00pm. A personal record for us. In time for a good celebration supper at Habibie Seafood Restaurant over at Street 81.


Now, we are looking forward to leaving for our short vacation in Bangkok, Thailand. Leaving for the airport this Wednesday night, stay there over the Good Friday holiday and weekend and back home again on Sunday afternoon.

After that, the deco designs, looking for the right display furnitures for the new shop with the contractor who will do up our shop for this month of April... ready in time for May opening. Exciting time ahead... yes!

Sniffles...

Will my flu, go away already. please. Dang!

TICKLE My Brain

Can't Touch These!

Angie - The Feisty Female

Yesterday was a tough day, but not necessarily a bad one for me after all.

Kim Huat from Jurong called to confirm he was coming over to our home to adopt our hammies. He was calling from Lakeside MRT station, so he would take quite a while to arrive.

Though he planned to come at 8:30pm it was worth the wait when he did arrive at 10:40pm with his lady partner, about the same time Wifey returned from the shop. They met at our front door before I heard the door bell rang.

The couple came to choose the hamsters they wanted... 3 pairs of males and females.

"Are you sure you want them to breed?" was the question I ask because it will be a great responsibility when you have more than a handful of hammies under your care.

Biggy - The Largest In HamsterVille

I reminded them that we started off with just a pair... we did not know the gender then as both were small and we really could not differentiate between a male and a female until it was too late.

Kim Huat was confident that he will be able to control and "keep the population explosion low". He intended to separate them once the couple gave birth.

He sounded to have a good plan, so I wished them both good luck... at least I warned them about the "Gremlin-touch-water" effect we had experienced.

While they were choosing, we exchanged experiences of caring for the hamsters... the type of bedding, sand baths, kinds of food and cleaning methods.

Starry - The Star Hammie

They both chose the ones they wanted and left happily with the 3 couples. As we bid them goodbye. I felt a little sad to see our hammies go... but as long as they have good and caring new owners who are crazy about them, I am most happy.

They both love hamsters so it will be great for the hammies!

So... to date, how many have been adopted so far? Let me "count the ways..."

1. Ms Summer adopted 10 hammies on 10-March at our home.
2. Madam Ros adopted 2 hammies on 25-March at Tampines MRT.
3. Mr KimHuat adopted 6 hammies on 27-March at our home.
   

I have yet to tell our son as he was already asleep when our guests arrived. I will tell him today when he is back from school. I know I was not allowed to give his 3 favourites in the green cage.

Neither was I to give-up the two of Wifey's favourites. Though we love each and everyone of our hammies, we have our own favourites too:

1. Angie and Wanda are Wifey's
2. Starry, Icy and Darcy are our Son's
3. Biggy is mine.
   

Wifey had asked me to take each of their pictures which I think is a good idea. So I did actually, but with lots of patience and snaps. I started with the favourites first.

They can never stay still a moment for the camera... the photos always turn out fuzzy. I think I need to pick up some animal-photography tips from George and Anne from Lopez Island Life.

One To Go

The last few days had our family experienced one of the worst, sleepless nights.

Thankfully Wifey and our Son have recovered from their asthma attacks. Salbutanol is their saviour and we know that this medication is to be with us when we go on a trip overseas to Bangkok, Thailand early next month.

Unfortunately for me, I was getting worse than the night before, even after taking the medications from our family doctor.

I developed fever right into the night. My chest felt squeezed to the max while my eardrums felt like they were going to explode amid my throbbing head. My throat felt as if I swallow needles whenever I coughed or swallowed my saliva.

As always, the "sick-devils" showed themselves and make their presence felt... and felt painfully hard after midnight. I had to endure the pain for the whole night until I could go back to the doctor first thing in the morning when it opened at 8:30am.

I was second in the queue at Healthcare Family Clinic. The doctor was quite surprised to see me again a day later. This time my fever was 39.8 Degrees Celsius or 103.64 Degrees Fahrenheit.

I got an anti-fever shot straight away on my butt. The doctor was right, it felt much less painful than on the arm. I hate needles, but that shot really helped brought the fever down quite immediately. Gone was my throbbing head and my eardrums did not get a chance to "explode."

I was given Amoxycillin antibiotics this time around to be taken these 4 days since my throat was already infected. I was also given another 2 days of medical leave.


A total of 3 days off work because of flu is major to me as I have never taken such a long stretch of medical leaves before. Well, I did once, early in my twenties when I just started work; that was for chicken pox.

Two people have recovered, now one to go...

As mentioned by a dear friend, Rhiannon from Inner Journey Writings, I tend to agree with her on allopathic medications. It somehow tends to lower the immune system down.

As I get older, I seem to be susceptible to the common cold and flu often than I can remember in my twenties and thirties. Then again with many new flu strains being identified, no one is really sure if it has already existed and unidentified until now, or there are new strains mutating right now as we speak.

I remember I seldom get sick when I was younger but when I did, I become a whimpering puppy... needing lots of attention. Now that I am 40, this old dog seems to get sick much more often, especially when stressed out from work.

The only sensible thing I could do is to get my immune system back up again to combat against being infected easily by these airborne diseases.

Since good food choices and healthy living that I have practiced are just not enough anymore for this old, rundown body of mine, I may consider preventive methods like supplements or herbal remedies as practiced by Rhiannon.

I have to do some research to understand them better and listen to my body's reaction carefully if I do go down that path. Incidentally a friend sent me an email about the natural preventive remedial affects simply with food.

Was that a sign. Well... this should start be a good starting point.

Three's A Crowd

It comes in threes... that was what I remembered Ellen from Coffee Granules commented in one of my posts about the superstitious bad luck.

Well, for us it did come in threes, but all three of us simultaneously had a horrible night last night.

Towards the evening, I was already feeling that I was going down with flu. My body was already aching and clear water was actually dripping out of my nose! My chest was feeling tight and sometimes burning. I knew I had to take medical leave on Monday. Oh man!

I retired to bed earlier than Wifey after waiting for her to come back from the shop at about 11:00pm. She had her late supper and retired later.

With a Vicks Inhaler stuck in one of my nostril and intermittent coughing that kept me waking-up from time to time for the whole night, Wifey woke me up at 2:44am this morning, apparently wheezing and her back arched forward as she tried to control the pain.

She could not breathe properly. She was having an asthma attack... a nasty one too, something she had not gotten for over 10 years! Oh dear!

I grabbed her Salbutanol medication from the kitchen. She took it immediately. While I sat on the bed and messaging her back to give her some ease, along came our son to me... wheezing too! Oh my God!

Here I am, dripping from the nose, 2 tissue papers rolled-up and stuffed into my nostrils, messaging Wifey, and our son had his asthma attack too. What more?

Though mild, his wheezing had him difficult to breathe too. It kept him awake. So, to the kitchen I went again and gave him his dose of liquid Salbutanol. Oh boy!

2 is company, 3 is a crowd!

All 3 of us were still awake at 5:15am in the wee hours of Monday morning!

Wifey gave the worst scare. After more than 20 minutes, her symptom did not seem to subside. I was already certain to send her to Changi Hospital A&E clinic that very moment, but she persuaded me to give the medication some time to take effect.

It did its job. She finally was relieved from the tightness feeling and was able to breathe normally again. Phew!

When the scare was over, we went back to bed... trying to get whatever sleep we could.

I woke-up at 6:00am automatically like clockwork everyday. I felt like crap! My head was throbbing, my joints were aching and yes, my nose was still dripping water.

Woke our son to bathe and get ready for school. He was his normal self, not looking tired. That was good. Made him his hot cup of Milo and some biscuits before he catching the bus at 7:00am.


I could not get to sleep anymore, so I read the morning papers until Wifey woke up at about 8:00am. Got myself ready and went to our family doctor when it opened at 8:30am. I was administered with Phenexpect CD cough syrup, Febricol For my flu and fever and lozenges

Wifey and I were trying to figure out what happened to each one of us...

I could not figure out how I caught the flu bug as I did not go out to any crowded places.

Wifey could not figure out her attack either, though she suspected she drank a cold Sour Sop drink before she came back.

Our son... well, we know he finished off the carrot juice that was in the fridge after dinner without us knowing. I only saw the empty plastic bottle near the rubbish can.

Lunch was at Giant after I came-to from the morning dosage. Wifey bought her Salbutanol pills at the pharmacy. I left for home to whimper and go back to sleep while she left for the shop. Tough lady.

I have to sleep early tonight, from how I am feeling, I do not think a day is sufficient enough rest for me because I still feel like crap.

Our Different Goodbyes

Continuing from yesterday's events in HamsterVille, today is probably the most beautiful day right from the morning when we woke up.

The sun was shinning bright, the day was clear with fresh breezy air after the late night's heavy rain. The perfect day had its bittersweet events too, though.

We had to say 3 goodbyes at 3 different events.



Goodbye Babies...

The 2 babies out of a liter of 7 were found dead. So our son was the official person to do the burial at HamsterVille CemeTree.

He was not alone. In fact Wednesday was there to accompany him for the burial this morning.

She followed him down to the burial site and helped our son somewhat... sniffing the ground and at one point actually used her paws to help our son dig the ground.

Well, she did not actually help dig, most probably because she was more curious than anything else. Amazing sight nonetheless!

Wifey and I was quite amazed at her antics. It lifted the solemn occasion to a rather interesting sight. It lifted our son's spirits up too in fact. Once the burial was over, Wednesday as always trailed behind our son back home. Amazing cat!



Goodbye Hammies...

Today, Ms Ros has confirmed that she will be adopting 2 of our hammies.

Since I had another event to attend to, our son had taken the 2 hammies to Tampines MRT station at about 6:30pm where she and 2 of her sons were waiting with a cage for the pick-up.

She sent me a thank-you message once she had taken the hammies. I am so happy that the 2 hammies have a good home now with their new owners.

Our son handled it well too. He understood that it was for the greater good as this old Mayor just do not have the youthful energy to tend to a large population too well.



Goodbye Catty...

As I mentioned earlier, while our son was saying goodbye to the 2 hammies at Tampines MRT, I was saying goodbye to Catty at Bedok Reservoir.

Our 2 by 1 feet aquarium was just too small, and claustrophobic for our Catty who, by today, had measured about the same 2 feet when it laid still... sprawled diagonally across the length of the tank.

Catty had outgrown the tank and for the past week, quite restless, by splashing water out now an then. Not sure if the residents of HamsterVille were unhappy with the unexpected drizzles from their upstairs neighbour...

Wifey and I had decided that Catty would have to be released to the wild... Bedok Reservoir quarry.

It was tough to actually get big old Catty into a 1.5 feet plastic terrarium for the transportation. It gave a good struggle when I tried to pick its slimy body up after draining the water tank to a few inches.

I had to use a plastic shopping back over it and slowly lifted it up... transferring it to the awaiting plastic tank, half-filled with water that I placed inside Wifey's shopping trolley.

Walked all the way to the quarry where I met 4 men who were sitting there tending to their makeshift herbal farm.

They came to see Catty and helped me release it into the reservoir. Catty did not struggle, maybe tired from the struggle earlier and the 10 minutes journey she had to endure.

Catty went into the water, stayed a while at the shallow end where I released it... and then went into the deeper end where it blended so well with the quarry floor, I could no longer spot it anymore.


I left the quarry rather sad because I will miss that big pig of a catfish's antics, but definitely more happy than not, that it now has a vast playground where the sun shines. I just hope I do not see a newspaper photo of a man holding a prized catch from the quarry years from now.

I really hope that I have not disrupted the ecosystem either... then again, it was a granite quarry before, whatever inhabitants there most probably were introduced the way I did it. That was what one of the men who helped told me.

Now, the aquarium is freed-up again for aquatic garden with colourful little fishes to soothe my tired mind when I return home. I am sure the residents of HamsterVille will appreciate it too.

Our son has successfully set-up a self-contained eco-terrarium at school and got first for his effort when the plants and fish thrived. He has the same plan at home too. I am considering his suggestion. I am hoping that there will not be any unexpected life-form that I have to care for when something goes wrong.

A very eventful... bittersweet Sunday, indeed.

Hello... Little Ones?

As Mayor of HamsterVille, I decided to spruce-up the place today instead of the routine Sunday chores tomorrow.

It all makes sense to do it today...

Wifey went off to the shop while our son had gone off in the morning for his English language tuition and was coming back before noon for his lunch and off again to his Malay language tuition in the afternoon.

That would leave me alone at home, no where to go or nothing much to do... HamsterVille, here I come. Sunday will be a good day to rest or go out and for me to spend some time with our son.

All was going well as planned, one home after the other was cleaned, and the residents were each screened to be in good health, sand-bathed in scented lavender, and returned back to their spanking clean homes... then came the shock.

One home reserved for Ms Shirley who intends to adopt the 4 ladies, totally surprised me with babies... all 7 of them!


Apparently, not all 4 were females. One turned out to be responsible for fathering the 7... red , fur-less and fragile-looking babies. I only noticed it when I picked the last inhabitant out of their home... 2 of the babies dangled under her, obviously were suckling at the time. What!

We had 44 hammies two weeks ago, and were thrilled that Ms Summer was here to adopt 10 of them and she left our home happy to receive as we were to give. We then had 34 left... a few more were potentially still be adopted by several interested callers.

Now that we have an addition of 7 more, the number has risen once again pass the 40 mark! Yikes!

It was a mixed feeling for me as I welcomed the newbies to HamsterVille. At the same time, thinking that this job was somewhat endless... I can never reduce the population from a "hamster breeding farm" level.

I was saddened when 2 of the babies were not stirring while grouped together. Most probably the 2 had suffocated by their first-time mother's weight as she tried to cope with her rather large liter.

I told my son about the babies when he came back for lunch. He was equally surprised, but it explained the babies calls he heard amongst the homes yesterday. The babies were born on Friday, 23 March 2007... for the birth certificates issuance purpose.

It is quite obvious that our son's job is to bury the 2 unfortunate souls under what he now calls it as HamsterVille CemeTree. Yes, that same tree right in front of our bedroom window where the last burial was for Luckie and before that, our favourite Buddy.

Oh my, that makes me miss Buddy all over again... sigh.

Well, one good thing is that we have more than enough hammies to love and care for. Now with the babies, we have to keep vigil, ensuring this particular home is especially clean so as not to attract ants that can hurt them.

A Mayor's job is never dull... never done... never end?!

TICKLE Me Five!

Hyper About Giant

After some shake-ups, life goes on here in Singapore... particularly in Tampines with the latest attraction for the people living in the eastern part of the island.

Giant Supermarket opened its huge flagship hypermart last Thursday, 15 March 2007.

Just like IKEA and Courts which had already opened their own flagship stores about 3 months ago. Giant is the third to open at the same location along Tampines Avenue 10.

I stopped by to check out the hypermart on my way back from work on Friday.

Unlike IKEA and Courts where everyone had to queue in a long, almost endless line outside the store before getting in, Giant has a large entrance that needed no queuing at all.

Instead the 30 odd checkout counters were clearly not enough to speed-up people from going out that day, as it took almost half an hour to get served and paid my purchases. Phew!

It reminded me of Carrefour at Suntec City. Large, warehouse like supermarket, with stacks and stacks of the merchandise in neat rows and isles within a very large area.


This puny island is transforming its little neighourhood provision shops to supermarkets... and now hypermarts are popping up everywhere across the island as the population swells.

Hyper is the new Super now! Awesome.

Just before Giant, NTUC Fairprice opened its flagship Megamarket in AMK Hub in December 2006. The Hub is serving the neighbourhood, factories and office workers in the central part of the island.

Though not fully opened yet, the 2 floors in the basements are operationing in full swing. NTUC Fairprice known previously only for groceries now sells everything from clothes to electronics goods.

Coming back to Giant in Tampines, I went again with my son on Saturday, 17 March 2007 around 7:00pm. It was a bad idea to have dinner at there. The cafeteria was too small to cater to the large opening crowd.

We had our dinner at Courts instead... that was still after a 40-minute queue to buy our food! Yikes!


Giant has lots of items that are truly cheap. I especially like the DVD section. Good and latest movie titles at a bargain price of S$8.00... a dollar higher than pirated copies, but worth to protect intellectual property rights and not breaking any law.

Just like IKEA and Courts, the crowd will die down given a couple of months. That is if there is no sale going though.

I just cannot believe that the once flat grassland along Tampines Avenue 10 is now bustling with traffic and throngs of shoppers especially on the weekends. The 3 giant retailers have made this once deserted piece of land into a bright and alive shopping haven

Glad I chose Tampines to set up home and family. Yes!

Once Shaken, Twice...

What the news stated today prompted me to complete this post I wrote that same day it happened recently.

I guess I never get to post it immediately because I was just too busy with my daily earthly chores. Today's news jolted me to a new reality that anything can happen anywhere.


Once Shaken...

Last Tuesday, 6 March 2007 was probably the most unfavorable yet intense new experience I had in my whole life of 40 years... mother earth wise.

There were 2 earthquakes - one at noon and the other, two hours later, both measuring at 6.6 on the Ritcher scale jolted Padang Sumatra in Indonesia. Its epicenter was 430km away from Singapore, the closest to us so far.

The news reported that 82 people in Sumatra died while some were still buried in the rubbles from last week's earthquakes alone.

And yes, last week's earthquakes in Indonesia shook buildings in 10 parts of Singapore. Most of the buildings were in Ang Mo Kio, Yishun, Toa Payoh, Woodlands, Serangoon, Sengkang and CBD areas like Robinson Road, Shenton Way and Suntec Singapore.

I work in Ang Mo Kio. Our office and manufaturing unit being on the ground floor, made us oblivious to the tremors or made us felt all giddy as associated with swaying buildings during earthquakes.

The rest of the people on the higher floors felt exactly that for about 13 seconds... only to realize that it was indeed an earthquake. The second on lasted a while longer of about 25 seconds.

I only realized what was happening and alerted the rest of my colleagues when I went out to go to the next building. Upon hearing a passing friend telling me of the tremors, I rushed back inside and told the whole office to evacuate.


Instinct Kicks In

My instincts took over me from there. I told a friend to wait and hold-open the front door while I combed the manufacturing floor to alert the people working there to evacuate as well, and combed the office one more time before I closed the door behind me.

I called to inform the Ops Manager about the evacuation, since nobody seemed to take charge of the situation.

We were at the car park in the center of the buildings and waited for further instructions. The people from other companies joined everyone else at the car park too.

A scene that usually seen only during fire evacuation practices... not for the uncommon earthquakes as we are not on the Ring of Fire or between tectonic plates.

I called Wifey and my parents at home to check that they were alright. Wifey did not feel anything, but Mom had the classic dizzy spells when it happened. Dad was not aware as he was napping then.

About half an hour later, we went back into our building after the Safety Office announced that it was safe to return.


Twice Shaken...

It was most definitely a hot conversational piece for everyone as it was lunch time then. Many joked about it, I know I was also one of them.

It was rather interesting than anything seriously life threatening... when nothing big happened. The first personal experience... somewhat, since I did not feel the tremors for myself.

Everyone worked like any normal day would be until we had another jolt at 2:00pm.

This time, half of the people in my office felt the tremors while the other half, where I am seated did not. They came over to me to tell me like it was a casual, fun experience and went back to their desks.

I was quite surprised with the reaction. I went out again and before I reached the door, the fire alarm rang continuously. Upon opening the door, the throngs of people from the upper floors were evacuating again.

Again, I ran back in and told the office and the manufacturing people to evacuate. I told my Ops Manager that I was evacuating the manufacturing unit on the second floor behind our building.

I felt that I was responsible for the people under my charge that were working in the next block. I just had to be sure that they were evacuated safely.

With the help of a colleagues that was working there, I did the same... someone waited at the opened front door, while I combed the manufacturing unit and then the toilet when I was told that there were 4 operators inside.

I told the Supervisors to account for their people and again I informed the Ops Manager that everyone was out safely. I felt relieved that I did my bit.


Reality Sinks In

We have been having periodic fire evacuation practices where everyone was pre-alerted and went through the evacuation routine. Everyone moved orderly and precisely like clockwork. Everything was dandy.

The strange thing that hit me was that no one expected something like this to happen, and none of our people seemed to know how to react or what to do.

I admit that I was over-reacting to the situation, but I felt that it was better to be safe than sorry... after the second tremors! Fortunately no buildings collapsed, no lives lost, not even a scratch on anyone... and everyone gets to talk and joke about it another day.

Today, the news reported another earthquake measuring 6.1 off the Indonesian Moluccas Islands at 1:42am Sunday morning. No immediate reports of lives lost or damaged properties.

Wonder what is the deal The Almighty has in store for Indonesia. It has been experiencing its never ending human and natural catastrophes happening back to back since last year...

Snapshots Of Me

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

After a short blogging hiatus, I finally started blog-surfing again.

This cool widget seems to be in everybody's blog. First at Barbara's then at Carol's... I had to have one too that cleverly describes me in a few words but with photos that tell a thousand words. Thanks VisualDNA!

iConvert To iMac

I have not posted for the longest time, though I have been busy in with my computer.

It has been three months since the last SITEX PC Show at the Singapore Expo in early December 2006.

I forked out about S$1,200 for my Dopod C800 Windows Mobile 5 PDA phone. I hefty sum by my standard, but it is worth every dime as it has made my life easier and a little more organized.

Last Sunday, 11 March 2007 was the last day of a 4-day IT Show 2007 held at Suntec City.


The Inevitable...

Yes, the inevitable happened! I have officially converted. The picture should have given enough clue... denouncing my allegiance to Windows operating system, I am now a Mac convert.

This has been a dream of mine when I was exposed to Mac in the early days of my working life. The difference and ease of use then was a stark difference. Astonishing! So was the price tag that came with it.

I had to "endure" Windows and accustomed myself to using Microsoft's OS, not half bad, but the securities, the firewalls, the whole "update or be dead" agony is really too much for everyone with the relentless virus-generating protegies.

Now that I have some spare money to invest in tranquility of the computing world, I bought myself an iMac 24 Inch with Intel Core 2 Duo processor at on Staturday at the exhibition.

It pushed be back about $3,538.00... S$3388.00 for the iMac and additional S$150.00 for two optional items of an Apple 3 Year Protection Plan priced at S$249.00 and a Microsoft's Office:Mac 2004 at S$269.00.

I had to forego the freebies of an Apple's wireless keyboard and mouse upgrade as well as the AirPort Adapter priced at S$158.00.

All-in all the most important stuff were there - the 3 year warranty and the Office:Mac program that I need when I bring work home to do.


The Unveiling...

Wow! and more Wow! were the only words I uttered when I started to setup my iMac.

Straight out of the box, I only needed to plug in a single power cord, the keyboard and mouse. Powered-on the iMac and it wowed me with its welcome video animation.

Keyed in some vital information about myself and my iMac was ready to use after conveniently connected to my wireless home network with WEP encription. I was set to go to explore Mac Tiger OS X in less than half an hour. Wow! Indeed.

As if the massive 24 Inch LCD screen with its clear and crips graphic had not more than impressed me already, the ease of navigating around with Tiger and the little attention to details with its animations just blew me away.

The installation of MS Office:Mac 2004 was so simple and hassle free. It took less than 10 minutes to get it installed by just dragging the icon into my folder. I was then able to run Excel and Words, PowerPoint and Entourage email with a click.

No complicated questions asked as oppose to my installing the MS Office on my home PC. It took me about an hour with questions after question, and prompts after prompts for missing font, blah, blah, blah and frustrations later!


The Remote...

Wow! I pressed Menu and then I just smiled, and smiled more! A simple 6 button remote can make so much of a difference! The ease of using is incredible. Movie Trailers and Podcasts were great additions to the DVD playing theater-like screen.

I have to mention that I only needed 1 power cord to plug-in. No need for a sound system as the built-in speakers were just amazing and not over the top... makes for easy listening without tiring your eardrums.


The H-iLife...

Like a new big-boys' toy, I just cannot wait to come home and explore more of the wonders of this Tiger in my GymRoom. The more I delve into it, the more impressed I am with Apple.

No wonder I have heard friends and yes, sales persons telling me that once you have converted, you will not turn back.

The hurrahs of Windows Vista OS launch at the IT Show did not make an impact on me after I dabbled with it as compared to what Tiger OS X has to offer. I am not being ungrateful, I still have to use Windows and Microsoft Office at work, but Mac users had it already several steps ahead of what Windows Vista is capable now.

Well, my Windows PC will be handed-down to my son, while Wifey takes over our son's Windows PC.

Hers will be sitting in our new shop at Central in May 2007... that is after I reformat the whole harddisk as it went bonkers on me after the second update of Windows Live OneCare! Sigh... that is another long story.

Oh yes... Mac is immune to viruses! Yes!

HamsterVille's A Hit!

This is my second update after posting a HamsterVille Thanks You! last week.

Today has been the most interesting of all days since the Hamsters For Adoption advertisement was out. Exciting and quite choatic at times!

I received 3 email postings and 3 text messages from different people who responded to my adverts wanting to know more and adopt.

My cell phone was ringing with loads of SMSs wanting to know more about the hamsters and some tips on caring for them. On several occasions, I was actually text messaging to 3 different people at the same time! What a rush!

Coming back home, I was further greeted with several emails from the 3 different people wanting to contact me for the adoption... one asked if he was too late to adopt, thinking I had given the hamsters in the picture away.

Not to worry everyone. I have 45 of them... enough to spread the Hamster-Love to all who came forward to adopt so far with many more hammies still available for good homes to go.

Wife was as happy I was excited, our son was a tat sad knowing some hammies will leave us soon... yet deep down he knows that the hammies are going to good homes with their new owners to love and care for them.

So, on behalf of my family and as Mayor of HamsterVille, I would like to thank all these pet-lovers with wonderful hearts for adopting these beautiful creatures.

Thank you Shirley, Yimei, Shireen, John, Jerri and Ja Weng. May God bless each one of you!

Gentle Reminder To Those Interested To Adopt:

Pets are wonderful companions

They require long-term commitment to your love and care

Pets are cute and adorable when they are young

They will grow older and the novelty may wear off

So if you feel that your love and care are unconditionally

You are ready to adopt!

I will be here waiting to give them to you.

They deserve our best.

Bless You Pet-Lovers Out There!

Shopping For Hope

Had a date with Wifey today.

Together, we went out just before noon to look at a shop, potentially will be our new one from Bugis Street.

It was at Central - Level One Shopping Mall in Carpenter Street.

A spanking new place with a beautiful interior. Classy and has lots of potential for a busy mall. Facing the Singapore River - Clark Quay and Robertson Quay, the scenery is stunning.


Our new shop is on the 3rd floor just around the corner facing the river. About twice as big as our present shop in Bugis, this place is an up-market shopping mall catering to tourists, clubbers and in June the upstairs office workers.

One of the few smaller retail spaces offered there. Our neighbors will be a hair salon and men's wear called C.A.P.

We are thinking to end the present contract end Mar which is our first and last anniversary there. Taking a break for a month, get new supplies and open the new shop in Central in May this year. We are going up town!

This is exciting! Full of hope, full of potential.

From now till mid April, I have to come up with our store layout and deco. This is probably the most exciting part of setting-up shop for me, more than making profit from the sales.

Wifey is excited too. The new shop, the whole shop is hers instead of having to share the space with another tenant.

We are also thinking of changing the shop's name from Chic Couture to something that accurately reflects her passion for women's costume jewelleries... no longer wanting to sell women's clothes.

I hope I can create the deco without looking D.I.Y and amateurish. I hope I can maximise the space fully and still appear wide and uncluttered... without spending too much money.

Wifey has a more realistic outlook. She hopes that her regulars will support her and come down to our new place. Hopefully the new items will be a hit with her regulars and attract new ones too. Wish us luck!

HamsterVille Thanks You!

Wow! Our hamsters will have new homes!

Our sincerest appreciation and adulation for the people who have responded so far and are at least thinking about adopting our hamsters.

From my previous post of Hamsters For Adoption adverts on local pet-lovers websites, I have begun to receive calls to take-in our beloved hamsters to new homes and owners.

Never thought it will be this soon, but we are happy to receive enquiries and for one, confirmation to pick them up for adoption.

One, nice and bubbly lady is wishing to adopt 4 hamsters - 2 males and 2 females and are meeting us up next week to pick whichever hamsters we choose as long as they are a few months and older.

Our heartfelt appreciation to Ms Shirley of Bukit Batok for her kind soul to care and love these beautiful creatures and companions.

Two more potential pet owners have expressed interest and since they are below 18, they will have to have their parents' consent before they can take them into their homes... to love and play with them.

So far, all these people are previous hamsters owners and still keep the cages for a future pet. Well, the time is now.

As long as they feel that they are ready or get blessings from their parents to adopt, these hamsters are here for their new owners to love.

This is really encouraging. I personally feel very happy for the warm responses and the number of pet lovers out there.

At the same time we "will miss them and feel a void for a while.." as a beautiful hearted friend has truly reminded me... and yes, like she said too, this is the right thing to do. The best option so far.

Hopefully there will be more animal lovers calling-in to adopt more of our hamsters... we have many, I can assure you.

I will then readily and happily step down as Mayor of HamsterVille and be a focused father to our son and our few hammies.

May The Almighty bless those beautiful, animal-loving hearts out there. Thank you.