Battery For Parking Mode

I couldn't help but feel uneasy that there is no recording when the engine is off. I've seen numerous video clips where errant drivers drive off when they hit another. I was also a victim many years ago when a lorry hit my Kia Rio at a carpark and ran off..

So I decided to invest in the Cellink B3 battery at $300 (battery + labour). Took roughly half an hour to install. I hope I'll never have to download a video to catch someone crashing into my vehicle. Now if there ever is an incident, at least I won't end up regreting not fixing the battery.

But ... the battery is giving a minor sort of irritation. Hahaha .... it beeps! Once when I start the engine to notify that it is charging and twice when charging stops. That shouldn't be much if not for the regular one beep two beep during start stop. I tried googling but there doesn't seem to be a way to switch off the beeping. Haiz. Self-inflicted 'torture' hahahaha.

Nyama's Little Helper

Nyama: "请了一个临时工人仔，越帮越忙😂😂”
Meimei: “哈哈哈哈还要包伙食”

OO @School - Colouring Dough

Playgroup activities usually center around touch and discovery. This week the kids are given colouring and dough to mix and feel.

Kids take turn to mix the colouring into the dough and watch it transform in colour.

And then the fun part digging their tiny hands in to mix the colour into the dough.

Begone, You Useless One

We are sending our useless maid back to the agency today. She is already the 4th one in 3 years and it seems with each it gets worser. Below are pictures of 'washed' items. I think a big part of why OO keeps falling sick over and over since she started working was because of her utter inaptness in cleaning anything.

This one is as blind as a bat and going one step further with hearing issues. Meimei and Mama speaks Indonesian so the language is not a barrier. But speaking the language is useless if the maid is plain lazy and doesn't follow the instructions. She is so much of a sloth that Mama and Meimei couldn't help themselves but scold her off and on.

We are not expecting miracles. We know that if a maid can competently do a perfect job of cleaning the house and look after OO ... it's likely she'll never be a maid in the first place. So we have lesser expectation that either the maid does housework well or looks after OO capably. We will put in the time and effort to make up for the other.

But this maid and the one before failed at both. And hence they have to go no matter what ... it's as good as not having a maid anyways. More frustration for everyone and we still have to feed them. Phhhfff. Begone, You Useless One! 

Tyre Pressure Warning Scare

We had taken our new ride a couple of hours ago and had just pumped a full tank. As I drove off from the petrol kiosk, I noticed a flashing warning sign on the drivers dashboard.

A quick message of the warning lights pic to our sales executive identified it as a tyre pressure warning light. Hmmm ok no weird sounds as yet so I drove to grab dinner from Jinlong since we already ordered takeaways. I ran my fingers through the tyres and did a visual check ... nope nothing out of the ordinary.

She asked a couple of times if I ran over nails but I assured her there was nothing on the wheels. What luck it would have been if an object had pierce the tyres on the first day ... Anyways it took her another hour or so to return with a solution which involves reseting the tyre pressure gauge to whatever the pressure is on the tyres at that moment.

I didn't want to reset immediately so I went to the kiosk for air. Front left 301kpa front right 300kpa back left 295kpa back right 293kpa. Hmmm must be the variance on the right back tyre that's causing the warning lights to come on.

So I inflated all four tyres to 300kpa and reseted the gauge. Although the pressure is not as recommended I suppose there is no real harm, especially in urban Singapore. Might just save a little fuel with a higher pressure on the tyres. That's a small matter compared to the warning lights. We'll know tomorrow morning if something is amiss.

The New Ride

Today's the grand day to collect our new ride. It's existing 2016 stock so we are getting it in just a month since placing our deposit. I was especially hyped up since yesterday's engine oil scare. The earlier we get our new car the lesser I have to worry about the old one. 

It was a pretty easy affair. The car was already parked at the collection bay when we arrived. We had chosen Indium Grey which is a similar shade of grey as the GLX. I actually wanted Fontana Red or Chestnut Brown but Meimei didn't fancy either.

Our sales executive had her colleague walk us through the functions of the car. It was a quick tour and the colleague didn't seem very focused in telling us all the features. Just a brief introduction and a comment that everything is in the driver's manual. Oh well, we couldn't be bothered with him. Meimei and I were just extremely excited to ride off with our new "bus" hehe.

Engine Oil Warning Scare

A warning signal started flashing on the lower left of the dashboard when I started the engine on the GLX today. It's something I've never seen before. Ah crap ... we are trading it in tomorrow and it must be pissed and decided to give me one last "in-your-face" blowout.

The engine sounded fine so I took a risk and drove to the office. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary on the drive. A quick check on the internet indicates that it is a engine oil warning sign. Ok so the engine oil must be low, but that's odd I just serviced the car a month and half ago and changed the engine oil.

I went to the petrol kisok during lunch to buy a 1 litre bottle of synthetic motor oil and topped a little into the engine. Its rather weird, testing the oil level indicates its at the maximum. And the warning light didn't go off. Hmmm so it may not be the oil ... which worries me more. Anyways, I drove home with lunch and then back to office.  

Having strike off lack of engine oil as a cause, I went searching on the internet again for plausible reasons. Some sites recommend not driving the car at all so as not to destroy the engine. The more I read the more worried I got ... and eventually decided to rush down to the service workshop. I don't want to risk not being able to drive the car down to Volkswagen tomorrow for the trade-in.

Thankfully it wasn't anything serious. The customer service on hearing my description of the engine oil warning light confidently assured that it is only a minor issue. He offered that it is a normal occurrence on the GLX and nothing to worry about. The engine oil gauge had worn off and a replacement will solve it. So I went ahead with the repairs which summed up to $72 for parts and labour.

It's not a big sum, but definitely something which bugs me since we were going to trade the car in tomorrow! Why can't the engine oil gauge wait a couple of days or a week before breaking ....

Gynae Visit - Aug 2017

Dr Loh seems more keen to discuss the black garlic that he has been eating rather than talk about Meimei's pregnancy. And this is actually a good sign. He had looked through the Panorama results and looked relaxed about our progress. All looks good :-)

We were excited to see outline of baby. He was sleeping and Dr Loh cheekily push his buttocks to try to wake him up. But that didn't work haha.

OO @School - Collaboration With K2 Class

OO has been out of school for a month plus so I was pleasantly surprised to find photos of her on the school's web portal. I'm glad she was there for a play session together with the bigger kids. The teachers have been telling us that OO tends to look for the older 姐姐 during morning classes.

Oceanhorn

I've been immersed in Oceanhorn for the past few weeks. Although the game was released years ago I never got to trying it till now. Glad I finally bought it and gave it a go.

The graphics was so vibrant, the music score so enchanting that I thought I was playing on a game console and not the Ipad.

The controls were ok, would have been better if played on a real game pad but it sufficed. The only grip I would have was it ended too soon. I am looking forward to the sequel!

Conquering The Playground Net Steps

We were at what OO likes to call, the "Big Slide Playground" today. And today she decides that she'll have a go at the Net Steps.

I can't say I'm totally surprised. OO's has always been a fearless child ... for better or worse. We can only hope she knows her own limits, remains sure-footed and never risk any more than what is sensible.

Waiting For Grandpa

Meimei and Mama went out for a Mother-Daughter me time outing so it was up to me to take care of OO. We had already planned to go Hillview to visit Ah Gong and Ah Ma. We had just arrived when it started to rain heavily. Papa was out on an errand and so we waited patiently for him to get back.

OO has always been highly fascinated with the rain and kept asking about the sound of the rain hitting against the metal roofing. She was contented to sit and watch as the rain continued to pour. Thankfully she didn't try to go play with the water gushing down from the roof. I suspect the thunder and lighting scares her.

LaoBa came back right after the rain subsided to a light shower. He knew OO loved the water apples and insisted on climbing up the tree to collect some for his precious grand daughter ... against my constant nagging not to ... haiz.

OO was a busybody and kept checking on what Ah Gong was doing. I try to keep my distance just so LaoBa and LaoMa can have more time with OO. It's good to come visit on Saturday afternoons as Gareth is out to playgroup. OO can have the full attention of LaoBa and LaoMa hehehe.

And It's A .....!

Meimei received news from the clinic today and couldn't wait to tell me about it. The important news was that the Panorama test results shows all low risk, which means baby is more likely to be born healthy.

The bigger news though ... which Meimei is extremely elated about, is that it's a boy! Woot! She has been longing for a boy so her wish has now come true. Of course I'm sure she would be just as excited had it been another girl. But she can't contain her glee after finding out.

Now all we hope for is a smooth delivery and for baby to be healthy and strong. Hurray!!!

The Assessment

The car selection is naturally the dinner table topic of the night. Meimei and I threw random comments between the two of us while Papa, Mama and YeeYee offer bits of advice. I think they try not to sway our decision in any direction since we are the ones who have to bear the big financial commitment. If anything, it's important we make the choice ourselves.

After going at it for awhile and looking to get no where, YeeYee took the initiative to help us note down our thoughts. And we all agreed to move away from the looks ... there is nothing to compare, the Touran trumps the Caddy by the longest stretch possible. So rather than listing what we liked about each car, we focused on what bugged us more in terms of practicality and assigned severity to each factor.

So it turns out if we put the looks aside, the Touran seems to draw more irk. For Meimei the key no-go was the flimsy mesh closing the sunroof ... its useless in preventing the rays from getting into the car. For me, its the space factor ... why pay for a seven seater when I have to sacrifice seats to carry strollers. We can switch to a Touran in a couple of years once the kids no longer need strollers.

So yeah ... the Caddy it is.

Family Viewing @Volkswagen

Meimei has been planning the logistics for Papa, Mama and Yeeyee to come check out the Caddy and Touran. I, on the other hand, have been watching video after video on the Touran through the week hehe.

When the family first arrive and we introduce them to the Caddy, there were a couple of raised eyebrows. Obviously the Caddy falls far short on the looks department. I suspect the neon green doesn't help either. There is however one who loved the Caddy. She ran into it and planted herself on the 3rd row seats and went "Papa, Emily like green bus! Wheel of the bus go round and round ~" Hahahah looks like the only one impressed is a 2 year old who thinks it's a bus from her videos. Not exactly reassuring *tears.

After trying out the passenger seats, the folding steps for the 2nd row seats, the walkway and headroom to the 3rd row, the general consensus is that the vehicle is huge. And add a big boot to that and you'll never lack space.

We moved to the Touran next and everyone seemed drawn to it immediately ... except of course OO. She literally refuse to go near the vehicle ... much less get into it. She wants her bus and would not entertain any other. So off to the play area she went with Mama and the maid. Which leaves the rest of us to pore through the Touran. My first task was to test whether we could fit our stroller ... and sadly it failed.

I couldn't close the tailgate ... oh crap. To fit the stroller we'll gonna have to fold down one of the 3rd row seats. As Yeeyee quickly pointed out, if we need to do that we are only getting another extra seat from our current ride. And to pay $126K for an extra seat doesn't make much sense. Of course it's not just another seat ... the equipment on the Touran is far more than anything we had in the GLX. But this realisation does put a damper on the Touran. We needed the space and the Touran seemed like a compromise rather than the solution.

Undeterred, I asked for a test drive for both cars to give everyone a feel of riding in the back rows. Papa and Meimei rode on the 2nd row for both rides. Yeeyee tried the Caddy and Mama the Touran. It turns out Yeeyee was fine as the Caddy's seats were like a movie theatre where the seats gradually rises to the back. Mama had a tougher time at the back of the Touran and was mildly car stick after the short test drive.

Another key discovery during the test drive was that the sunroof is only closed with a thin mesh rather than a hard panel. There was immediate concern from Papa of the heat and rays from the sun. Oops.

So what seemed like a easy decision initially became somewhat 'complicated'. Meimei and I was leaning heavily towards the Touran but now with the other key factors of space and sunroof coming into play, we are no longer sure the Touran is the best choice. Sensing the dilemma and stalemate, our SE offered that we go back to sleep on it before deciding in a day or two. A wise offer.