Getting Used To MacMac

Maybe it's just me but I'm having a hard time getting used to the Lion's keyboard shortcut. It's as though it's non-existant. Going through various web forums you'll see many gripes on Mac's over reliance on the mouse. Yes Lion OS is build intuitively where almost every action is just a mouse click away. But can using a mouse be faster than a simple keyboard shortcut key? Never in a million years. Naturally Apple fanatics will retort that this is the Mac OS we are using, and not the Windows PC. And Windows copied much of Mac's interface. But that's another topic all together. Back to the shortcuts, it seems Mac OS never had a cut and paste shortcut function key until Lion. Goodness .... you are literally forced to use the mouse to drag a file from one folder location to another if you are using an earlier OS version.

The other inconvenience I'm facing is the different shortcut keys for MSOffice applications. Mac MSOffice have different shortcut keys so a simple edit F2 function in PC's MSExcel is now replaced by Ctrl-U in Mac. So I had to fumble each time I try to edit a cell in Excel. Let's face it, if you are working you are more likely to be using a Windows version MSOffice application than you would a Mac.

So now every time I have to consciously remind myself which OS I'm working on so that I get the right shortcuts. Hopefully I'll get to the immediate level of using Lion. For now, I have resorted to adding a Safari link on Office keyboard shortcuts for reference http://mac2.microsoft.com/help/office/12/en-us/excel/item/64766a97-9258-4f78-9feb-2742ce769041. I'm still looking out for a good list for OS shortcuts ...

Oldie Rock?

I was going through Meimei's iTunes songs today and found a number of rock songs from All Stars United, Ataris, Green Day etc. She's always been the oldies and cutie songs fan and I never pegged her for rock. I found out later that it is one of her phases, ala dreamed of being an assassin phase. Hehe silly girl. I placed 1 star rating for all of rock ones ... I just don't get it haha.

New Flipflops

Was at Tan Tock Seng Hospital today and dropped by Novena mall as it was along the way. I've been wanting to get this flipflop from a store there for sometime now. It didn't have a mango color in my size anymore and so I went with another design. Turns out, it looks pretty good and it kinda matches the bermudas I like to wear.

Starving At Work

Well it has to come to this again. I've just tendered my resignation. And this is the first time I've had to serve a 2 months notice *yawn. The best part is that my boss refuses to allow me to clear my leave. Seriously ... if you need me to handover things nicely to the replacement, you could at least make me happy by letting me take leave yah? If I have to attend interviews, how am I going to go without being able to take leave? So yeah, stupid decision ... well you see why I had to leave. 

The other thing was that I was only having one meal a day. There isn't any eateries nearby and driving out takes roughly 15 minutes to get to a hawker center. So I've been on a one meal diet for the past few months and basically surviving on cigarettes when I get hungry. The lack of food is making me very depressed. Cramped in a bomb shelter room without windows, no breakfast or lunch, crappy colleagues, idiotic boss. Nah, enough is enough. 

I've delivered what I was hired for, which is to managed the outsourcing of 3 Accountant roles. They hate my guts for it, but hey, I wasn't the one who made the decision to have you made redundant. Why don't you grow up and take it out on the people responsible, I'm only a facilitator. Being nasty to me isn't going to save your job. You don't deserve the pay you are getting with the elementary skill sets and technical knowledge. Live with it, that's how the world is, our neighbours are becoming more educated and they are cheaper. Think the 80s when we took over jobs from the West, it's our turn now.

So yeah, I've done everything above board. Did my part and lived up to my personal integrity. So off I go now for the next challenge ... Though these 2 months are going to be boring haha. This is the first time I've signed a contract that had a 2 month notice and I'll never do it again. :-)

Yum Cha Dim Sum Delivery

First there was the pizza delivery, then came the fast food burger deliveries and fried chickens. Now there is Dim Sum delivery. It may have been around for some time but I've only found out about it in recent months. Smart move by the Yum Cha chain seeing that there may not be any other rivals in the Dim Sum category, though it would have to compete with others in the overall home delivery arena.

And judging by the standard of the home delivery Dim Sum, I must say the delivery is notching up pluses for its brand. The quality and taste of the Dim Sum are good, and I especially like the Fried Mee Sua. Oh and the Crispy Red Bean Paste with Banana is to die for.

This has just gone into my list of favorite restaurants, even if it was just the home delivery option.

Another iToy!!

Meimei just bought me a new iToy!! A Macbook Pro 13" hehehe I love it I love it I love it!! Thank you dear *kiss

Finally I can replace my old desktop PC. Though i'm not going to be able to play PC games but I haven't been really gaming anyways since I left FFXI. So yeah, this works perfectly. A portable machine I can bring to bed to blog ... oops errrr to use for studying *looks around. Yup, Meimei bought it for me to work on my MBA. And yes I'll do that, but I can also use it for other stuff yah?

Her First Branded Bag

She came back last night with big frowns and was close to tears as she described how the strap on her Calvin Klein bag had torn. She bought the bag just a few months ago on her December Las Vegas trip. I can tell from her eyes she loved the bag very much and sense the immense sadness in her heart. Oh I can feel it too.

That night I 'whatsapp' Joey and Agnes and begged them to find if DFS carried something similar to the CK. Eventually after much discussion we set out to meet the next night to shop for a new bag for Meimei. It just so happens Meimei had to attend an office dinner the same night too. So the three of us plotted on the shopping trip secretly. Meimei tried to find out what I was up to in bed but I couldn't let the cat out of the bag could I. She was all "why is Boyboy chatting with someone? He doesn't usually go messaging anyone at night ..." Heheh.

So I picked the girls up from office the next day and off we go. We covered practically almost all the boutique in the DFS Scotts store. There were several close shaves as Joey and Agnes each were tempted by bags from Prada. After an hour and a half I finally had a short list of a classic Louis Vuitton Tote, a Burberry Bag and a Gucci treated leather bag.

I knew Meimei's dream is to get her hands on a LV bag. But I think it's a little too common plus the classic would make Meimei look 'mature'. It was still the number one choice as we browse through several other brands like Prada, Bottega, Marc Jacobs, Coach etc.

Finally as we rounded up the boutiques and were making our way back to LV, I noticed a Fendi store. Hey we've not been there let's take a look. Nah nothing much in there I thought as I began to walk out. Then suddenly Joey called out to me, 'Hey this looks like something that W would like', 'Bling bling yah just like her CK bag'. Ka-ching! Well the rest were all the modeling, comparison and 'hum and hor' as we deliberated this against the LV. But really, this looks so much better than the classic LV.

And so was to be Meimei's first Branded bag. It's very subjective as to what is branded. Any bag with a brand name is branded yah? But well, this is to be her first 'LV category' branded bag. I can still remember her grin when I presented it to her and her words 'I thought you said you will never ever buy a branded bag because you know the cost?' Yes yes, I said that, but I didn't bank on my heart being melted by puppy eyes. *kiss I did it for love.

Pong! Pong! Hu!

Over the past few months I've been addicted to a game. It's not a passing infatuation like the Tower Defense or Pet growing games. I did play FF3 for a while on the Ipad but stop when I completed the game.

The one game that has me hooked all this while is a iPhone Mahjong Game - 麻将天下. You won't find this in most Apple Stores, I think it's only available in the Hong Kong one. It's quite basic without all the fanfare graphics and distractions and solely focuses your attention to the game. As with the mahjong game itself, you can play it over and over again without ever being bored of it.

So, I've been playing Mahjong whenever I'm bored or waiting, say for food at a restaurant. I even play it when I'm in the potty since the iPhone has now replaced newspapers and magazines as the 'to-bring' item. Hey, I choose between reading the news over the phone or play games on it can't I.

So well, being the cheapskate that I am, I don't really like to gamble on the real game, I'm glad Meimei downloaded this on my phone. Now the challenge is to win on those big big combinations, which would never happen in my lifetime if it were the real thing.

The Mentalist

We love this TV series. Meimei is in love with Patrick Jane, the lead character in the The Mentalist series. The quirky and suave way he goes about solving crimes is so interesting and different from the other crimes series. We are into the 4th season now and hoping for many more to come.

If you haven't seen this series before, you are truly missing out on one of the best. Be sure to start from the first as the storyline plays from season to season.

NS Charge

I didn't take my IPPT last year, so I'm charged again for failing to perform my civic duty as a member of the Singapore Armed Forces. This is the 2nd time I'm being called to attend a 'hearing'. Hey, hello ... do you think we have time to be doing all this. 

We have to compete in the workforce with so many other 'Foreign Talent' (or Foreign Trash) who do not have to spend time off work to waste their time in Reservist. The rich folks can spend a couple thousands and obtain medical certificates excusing them for anything from grass, physical perspiration to the freaking sun. The rest of us have to spend 3 weeks a year rotting in a desolated camp while feeding the entire mosquito population in the forest.

So yah, sometimes we just don't have the time to go physical training and pass the IPPT. I've never passed it outside of the 2 and half years in full time National Service. And now that my unit is standing down and I'm been send to a Brigade Unit, it looks like I'm gonna have to come time and again to answer charges, up till 40. Whatever, here's $50. And get off my back, I have work and contribute to the Singapore economy.

Jakarta 2012 - 20th to 24th Jan

Almost every company were giving their staff half day on Friday as the first day of CNY was on a Monday. We flew into Jakarta on a 8pm flight. We had a quick A&W dinner and Papa came to pick us up at the airport. CNY is not an official holiday in Indonesia so Papa had to work. He left us the car and driver so we could go around the malls. So we spend the next few days going around Jakarta in its eternal jams and horrid highways to have our meals. There were of course several highlights.

21st Jan - Lunch was at the big prawn place again. The prawns have strung, most probably due to over harvesting. Dinner's at 4th Uncle's Japanese restaurant, it's a yearly tradition. It's my first though and the dinner is really good.

22nd Jan - We are at 1st Uncle's home for dinner tonight. Mama had a hand in the cooking, so that guaranteed top quality dishes. I've always joked that Mama could open her own restaurant with her skills and recipes.

23rd Jan - We are at 4th Uncle's home today. It's a huge bungalow, complete with it's own garage, mailrooms, swimming pool etc. It really is a beautiful house. Meimei had a great time with playing with their 2 dogs.

Going back on 24th. I really liked coming to Jakarta for CNY. I can't say I would like to do this every year. I would like to go visit relatives with Dad and Mum too. I suppose we have to make the alternative year arrangement work. :-)

Early CNY Dinner 2012

I had this agreement with Meimei that we will try to alternate our CNY celebration between Singapore and Jakarta. So last year we spent the first day of CNY visiting relatives and then flew to Jakarta after. This year we are skipping CNY in Singapore and going to Jakarta instead. So we decided to have an early CNY dinner with Dad, Mum, Bro and Sis-In-Law at our place. 

Thankfully Dad and Mum were ok with the idea. We were afraid one of them would be unhappy about it. If they did, they didn't show it. So we had them over for a steamboat lunch. I specially peeled the shell off the prawns as Dad isn't the type to do it himself. I wonder what the arrangement would be like next year.

2012 Meimei's Birthday Gift

Ok first, I admit, I'm cheap. Well to a certain extent, and in my defense I'm still a whole lot better than other guys. I bought a garnet pendant for Meimei as a Christmas cum Bday gift. It never is good to combine gifts together but well at least I got her something.

Now garnet isn't a bright rock, it's the dullest of stones I've seen. Even coupled with other metals like silver or gold, it is still lackluster. I couldn't find many jewelry with garnets. Some shops don't even carry them. I managed to find one which looked reasonably good.

Meimei was happy she got a gift this year haha she's always one for gifts and surprises, and rightly so *kiss. But even the element of thoughtfulness on my part couldn't drain away the muted attraction of a garnet. So we went to exchange it for something else. That's perfectly ok, anything for Meimei. She found this nice band with 3 little diamonds. This is better for everyday wear compared to Blinky. I'm very glad she is willing to sound it out rather than keep quiet and stash the pendant away, never to see the light of day again. I can see my 'gift' on her fingers and feel good that I 'bought' it for her ... hehehheeh I'm still gonna claim credit!

Christmas 2011

Nua group is here at our place for Christmas celebration! We like entertaining at home. It's so much more comfortable and enjoyable to have parties at home. As usual we are doing our steamboat. I never used to have steamboat just cause Dad and Mum were not steamboat people. So it was only after I have my own place with Meimei that we started to have frequent steamboats at home.

I like how we can indulge on ingredients which were a little more expensive but a whole lot tastier than the things they serve out in the restaurants or steamboat-ish outlets. Our favourites have to the pork belly slices and japanese crabstick from Cold Storage. Those with Meimei's 'secret' sauce and wala! the perfect meal. Oh don't forget the fragrant rice from our Zojirushi rice cooker. The highlight of the meal was the Dark Chocolate Macaroon Christmas Tree from Bakerzin. It looks so good we didn't bear to tear the pieces off!


All in all nothing beats having friends over for a good meal, chatting, games, fun and laughter. That's what the festive season is about. 

*Hic, Drunk at Work

I've been only at this place for about close to 3 months. They are a marketing unit for a 'multinational' liquor company. The word multinational has been overused as usual ... just because you have a corporate office in US doesn't make you a MNC. This place is simply a SME local singapore company. The way it does things, the culture, the people, the processes, all of it points to a small local outfit. 

It doesn't work for me. Alarm bells should have sounded when my Director is also in the role for 2 months before I joined. It wouldn't have been bad if he wasn't so impatient and had been accommodating with the information he wanted. He expects that I would have every info at the tip of my fingers. Hey ... you know fully what the problem is with this place. There is high attrition, record keeping is wanting, the business is highly leveraged on external bank loans, going-concern is questionable, etc. A whole suite of issues and you expect me to have empirical data references for your forecasting and reporting needs immediately the day I join. He is the first male boss I've worked with and I suppose it is a simple case of a clash of egos.

The first task when I joined what to deal with a FCPA audit from Corporate. The marketing and sales folks have been spending indiscriminately, bringing dealers and clients to KTV lounges. And every entertainment session runs into the tens of thousands. Why? Because they bring hostess out for supper and extra activities as well. And these lounges know to build the prices into the official receipts so their customers can claim for these. Seriously ... can't you tell why you are not making a profit? Hello? Are you blind? No amount of cost savings, identification of sales drivers, etc is going to save the company if you do not control your spending. But who is going to tell the Managing Director that he can no longer spend extravagantly? Time for you to face the music from Corporate.

Many of the staff have been here for ages and they don't seem to be the least bit concerned with the profitability of the company. They seem to be more concerned with lining their pockets. That's what you get when half your staff are the Ah Beng Ah Lian sorts and the other half are the 打死不走 type who have been in the company for 20-30 years.

The only interesting part of the job was the induction course where you are required to drink. Yes, you have to drink on the job ... It's a compulsory session. They try to introduce all staff to the products they sell. I must say it's a good way for the non-sales staff to get a feel of the products they see as numbers and codes. Imagine downing several pints of whisky, vodka, tequilas ... everyone was tipsy after it. :-) license to drink at work ... This is a first for me.