My DIY Terrarium collections

Recently, my colleague introduced me to terrarium. I saw a terrarium on her work desk and asked her about it. She gave me some information and I did a research on the internet. Basically, a terrarium is an enclosed system, in a glass jar or container where the plants can survive months with any care or water needed. However, if the plants need sunlight, you will probably need to place them close to a window but not too close to get direct, strong sunlight. This is because in the enclosed glass environment, it is basically a greenhouse and it may be too warm for the plants to survive. So, got to be careful. This is my first DIY terrarium... However, this candylicious is not sealed properly and will leak. So, I think it is better to use a glass jar...

My first DIY candylicious Terrarium

Belvoir Hotel @ Zurich, Switzerland

Last June, I was in Zurich for a business trip. Due to no available room at Hotel Sedartis on one night, I was booked in Belvoir Hotel for that night. I was lucky that the staff at Hotel Sedartis was able to transfer my luggage to Belvoir Hotel when I checked out. I hoped I was not charged on this...

I had stayed at Belvoir Hotel last year and this would be my second time staying here. It is a nice, pleasant hotel overlooking the Zurich Lake. Though cost slightly more than Hotel Sedartis, it is within walking distance to my workplace.

I wouldn't complain much on the hotel, except that the sound proofing was pretty bad. I could hear the alarm coming out from the phone in the next room. If you were standing very close to the partition at the balcony, you could look into the interior of the next room. Overall, it is still a pretty decent room.

Progress of the Nautical - May 2013

The showroom had been flattened on 16 May. I went by Nautical to take some photos. I can see that Block 97, 95 & 93 have been some progresses. I saw that my block has reached the first floor and should start the second floor soon. From the progress, I think in 3 months' time, about August, I should be asked to pay the next progressive payment.

Our neighbour, Canberra Residences, has been completed and looking forward to its TOP. I hope the developer (same as Nautical) can channel its resources to build the Nautical and hope that it can be completed by June next year.

I heard that there is a new primary school, Northoaks Primary School, which will be located at the Sembawang Primary school. I hope that if we are staying at Nautical, we can apply a place for my daughter in this school.

Progress of The Nautical 16 May 2013

Check-in at Seoul Ambassador Gangnam

Free upgrade to Premier Executive room... This is my second time staying at this hotel and guess what, the hotel gives me the same room that I stayed previously. I'm on the 16th floor, good view and a lot of privacy.

Went down to the Bistro in the hotel and realized that the menu has changed. I couldn't find the ginseng chicken dish that I ate last time... Went out to explore and my wife told me to look for Two Two Chicken fast food outlet... I didn't manage to find one and ended up eating at Chicken Baengi. There are quite a number of restaurants and eateries near the hotel but the menus are in Korean. Since I'm alone, I didn't venture far and just settle for fried chicken...

The Nautical - fully SOLD!

I saw in the condo forum that the Nautical has been fully sold (except the reserved 5 units). I have been hoping for this since I bought it last year.

I quickly text my agent and he replies that it is true. Although it takes about 1.5 years to sell all units (435 units), I must say that the remaining ones are the patio units (ground floor). Most Singaporeans do not want to stay on the ground floor. I guess the developer must have given good discounts to sell the remaining 8 units.

Progress of The Nautical

I received the notice that the banker had paid the developer the 10% (foundation completed) and my loan repayment will start in May. So, I drove by The Nautical and took some photos of the development. I hope I'm not infringing any rights by posting the photos. The photos were taken from the staircase at the side of the Sembawang Shopping Centre (SSC).

Progress of The Nautical

NS45 Benefits for NSmen

Update - 27 May 2013:

Yesterday, I spent all my $100 voucher on milk powder, baby diapers, toilet rolls, etc at the NTUC fairprice. The cashier was telling me that some got $80 and I was lucky to get $100. Well, I told her that it depends on the NS status.

I have yet to receive my HometeamNS-passion card. I called NS45 and they told me that my particulars are missing. I asked them what I have missed and they told me to give them my email address and phone number. This is strange as they had my mailing address and I had received the vouchers. I asked the counter lady at the HomeTeamNS club, and it seemed that there are delays in sending the cards. I hope that they should give later expiry date since I have not gotten my card. Anyway, I asked the NS45 counter lady to print out the letter and I can still continue to use my expired card.

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Last week, I received my $100 worth of HomeTeamNS and a year's free HomeTeamNS membership. This is to commemorate the 45th Anniversary celebrations of National Service (NS) in Singapore and to thank the National Servicemen for their dedicated service to the nation. As I have completed the ORNS training cycle, I have entitled to $100 worth of vouchers and one year free membership.

This may not be a big amount but at least we are recognised for our service to the nation. The vouchers are valid for one year and you will need your ID card to use the vouchers.

Most of my colleagues have not received them and well, there are over 900k NSmen which will take more time for the personalised vouchers to be printed and delivered via mail.

So, for those who have not received the vouchers, please have some patience and the vouchers will be in your mailbox soon.

NS45 Benefits

Phewtick app - no more ticket system

I was about to delete my Phewtick app when I saw the email from Phewtick that the meet-up ticket system has been removed. Oh yes, I got the cash in my paypal account. However, it was much less than I thought when I compared with my colleague who cash-out few weeks before me. I got about ¥1680 as compared to my colleague who got ¥2040.

The new rule is that you get unlimited meet-up tickets but you can only scan the same person after 1 hour. However, I think the number of points you will get will be very little and I just got 9 points for meeting someone.

Anyway, probably I will just keep it so that if someone wants to scan me, I will get to have points and maybe another cash-out in the near future.

9999 Meet-up tickets

Check-in at Zurich Airport

Going home today... Now waiting at Gate E67 for SQ flight back to Singapore.

My colleague buys two cups of coffee because we are trying to get rid of our coins... Wow, two cups for CHF10.20... That is pretty expensive.

Hotel Sedartis & Zurich Lake

We arrived in Zurich on 11 Mar morning and managed to check-in the rooms at 9am. After freshening ourselves up, we made our way to our company.

In the evening, we went to the Zurich Lake and took some photographs of the lake and swan. There are ferries/boats running along the lake to ferry people and cars.

Zurich Lake

It is snowing in Zurich now...

My colleague told me that it will snow this Thursday, 14 Mar... Well, it is snowing now...

Sitting in the conference room and looking outside of the windows, I can see the snow coming down from the sky. It is picturesque.

On Wednesday, we went to have dinner at Adlisberg. It is located on the hilltop and my colleague told me that it is very near to FIFA headquarters. My colleague was using his GPS to navigate up the hill.

My colleague and I standing outside the Adlisberg in the snow

We passed by the Dolder Grand hotel and were impressed with the design and the castle towers. I was wondering how the hotel guests go down the hill to the city area.

Over the last 2 days, we went to two different restaurants to have lunch. One is Ban Thai http://www.restaurantbanthai.ch/ at Adliswil. I ordered a shrimp set meal and it was quite hot and spicy. However, being an asian, it was not that spicy as we are used to eating chilli. I would say that the European will probably need a lot of water to go with this.

The other restaurant that we went is Gasthof Rose http://www.roserueschlikon.ch/. There were seven of us and we all ordered the garlic chicken set menu. We managed to empty the plates and I would say that the taste and texture were quite nice.

Gasthof Rose in Ruschlikon

The decor in Gasthof Rose is quite nice. It has a few unique "time-piece" and pendulum liked devices.

Business trip to Zurich - Confirmed

The business trip to Zurich is confirmed. I will be leaving tonight for Zurich and arriving tomorrow morning. The weather in Zurich now is zero to minus degrees. I hope it is not too cold for me. I can endure cold but not hot weather. So, I hope the clothings that I bring will be enough.

The flight is full and I cannot change the aisle window seat to the centre column aisle. I heard from my colleague who is travelling with me that there will be snow on Thursday.

If I have the time, I will do a bit of blogging and update the interesting things that I see in this trip. I hope that I can sleep in the plane as I will be going to the Zurich office in the morning when I landed. The hotel check-in time is probably afternoon and we will not be able to check-in in the morning.

See you and good night... get to go to the airport soon...

Phewtick App - Can cash out finally

Finally, I have accumulated 24000 points which I can cash out to my Pay-Pal account. As you can see from the photos that 24K points have been deducted and left with 72 points. It will take about 15 days to receive the money into my Pay-Pal account. My colleagues have already cashed out and they have verified that they did indeed receive the money. I think Phewtick has run out of its charm and most people have deleted the app from their smartphones.

Phewtick probably will need to come up with a better way to attract existing and new users to download and use the app. Now, I think the craze is candy crush which my colleagues are playing. However, I don't think I will download the app as I'm not a fan of playing game on my iPhone. The screen is a bit small for me to play comfortably on it.

I will update again once I receive the money into my Pay-Pal. In the meantime, if you are near 24K points to cash out, just keep scanning and you will have your chance to cash out. After that, you can decide whether to continue using the app or delete it forever.

Phewtick app - Cash out

Phewtick apps - update

It has been almost a month since I last blogged on Phewtick apps. There are a few changes to the rules and now you can scan each other 2D barcode every minute. However, you need to have meet-up tickets to gain meet-up points. You can get more Phewtick meet-up tickets by downloading apps via Tapjoy. If you don't want to download the apps, you can wait for random meet-up tickets everyday. Just open the Phewtick apps after midnight and you will receive 2 to 9 random meet-up tickets. You will only be given once every day. A few colleagues have already successfully cashed out the money. I'm now at 17881 points. I will need 24000 points in order to cash out. I will cash out at 24000 and delete this apps. A bit pointless apps and I hope people will not be too engrossed in this. Get a life....

My current points

Random meet-up points
(fr 2 to 9) each day

"Spring" water from the hilltop Bukit Gombak

When I'm driving along Bukit Batok West Avenue 5, I always notice water flowing down the particular drain even when there is no rain. I happened to walk by the drain today and noticed that the water flow was quite strong. I guessed that there must be a catchment basin somewhere up the hill. I went to search the map and noticed that there is a blue catchment area and the drain is in between Block 383 and Bukit Gombak MRT station. 

When I was young, I heard of people using the "spring" water in Bukit Batok/Gombak area to wash their cars. Some people said that after using the water to wash their cars, they would strike lotteries. I wondered whether the 4D numbers were the car registration numbers or just some random numbers. I think it is that the water is quite clean and the fact that it is free, people will just scoop from the drain and use it to wash their cars. However, I have not seen anyone used the water to wash their car since I moved in to this estate. Well, if you are the one who used the water to wash your car and you have struck lotteries regularly, you can leave your comments and experiences here.

Chilling out with friends @ Ice Cold Beer

It is meanted to be a reunion dinner, however, we only manage to have this gathering after CNY due to the busy schedule.

We arrive at ICB at Somerset around 6.40pm but some friends need to go back to park their cars and take MRT to Somerset.

We have not made any reservation and just try our luck to find tables/seats since we are early. However, even at 6.40pm, this place is quite full. We manage to find some tall tables and seats at the second level near to the back where there is a pool table.

We order Hoegaarden beers for all and the famous chicken wings. We also order prawn and cheese pizzas.

The music is a bit loud and we have to speak louder to hear each other. The service is acceptable but can have rooms for improvement.

Rinnai RD-600CG gas dryer repair

I have this Rinnai gas dryer since 2007. It has served us well until last year August when it stopped working. When there is any loading in the dryer, it will not operate and the drum will not turn. When there is no load, the drum may turn. So, in the end, we have to let the drum turn and then load in the clothes, few pieces at a time.

After the CNY, I think it is better to get the specialist to look into this. Talking to the technical guy at Rinnai, it seems that the capacitor is faulty and needs to be replaced. The cost is about $90 (labour & Transport charges) + $25 (capacitor). He recommends to replace the motor fan belt ($58).

The appointment is scheduled for today at 10am and the technician arrives on time.

The repair work takes about 1 hour. Total bill cost is $185.11. The service is acceptable and I recommend people with problems on the gas dryer to call them (+65 6748 9011).

I have been using this gas dryer and so far, besides the capacitor issue, I think it is a good investment if you don't want to hang your clothes on poles to dry. As it uses gas to create the heat to dry the clothes, there is no weird smell and the drying process takes less then 40 minutes with full load. It saves on electricity as a typical electric dryer will take about 2 hours.

See my blog on Rinnai RD-600CG gas dryer cleaning.

The Mycestro: A 3D mouse

I was watching the news and saw a new gadget. This is a thumb powered mouse. Why I have not thought of this? You can wear this on your index finger. It has three buttons which you can press using your thumb. You can control the computer using hand gestures and the mouse buttons. I think I will be getting this once it is available, but will probably wait for the price to come down....

Mycestro, The Next Generation 3D Mouse

Happy Yuan Xiao Jie ( 元宵节）24 Feb 2013

Yuanxiao Jie or the Lantern Festival is the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese Lunar New Year. This marks the end of the celebrations of the Chinese New Year.

Traditional food for today is Tangyuan （汤圆） which is a glutinous rice ball. Tangyuan is sticky, sweet and round in shape, symbolising family unity, completeness and happiness.

Business Trip to Zurich - Postpone

Just saw an email from my big boss that the trip to Zurich has been postponed by a week. I will update my trip in March...

Rikecool Automotive film repair

Just repaired the automotive film on my front and back windscreens. The film was done by Rikecool seven years ago and since it is still under the 10-year warranty, Rikecool replaced the film free of charge. However, the service took about 2.5 hrs and I had to go to a nearby mall to have lunch and kill my time...

The replacement films look great and I hope it can last for another 3 years.

Threading ice cubes onto a straw - How did I do it?

Well, it is easy. I used the straw and inserted one end into a cube. I could block the ice cube from sliding down by using the rim of the glass as a stopper. Using this method, I could continue to string another 8 cubes.

SG My Investment is Good

I have created another blog to share my investment journey and experience. Welcome to SG My Investment is Good. In this blog, I will update my investment strategy and opportunity when they are available. This blog is for information only. I will not be responsible for any loss or gain arising from the content of the blog. It is not an indication to sell or buy any stock. Trade with care, invest and not speculative. Only invest in stocks if you have spare cash that you don't need in the next 3 years.

Threading ice cubes onto a straw - Challenge

My wife was drinking a glass of soya bean milk with many ice cubes in it. The ice cubes were in cylindrical shape with a centre hole. She was trying to thread the ice cubes onto the straw. She managed to have 3 ice cubes. Suddenly, she challenged me to string as many as possible. I told her that it was easy but she did not believe.

I managed to thread 9 ice cubes onto the straw without my fingers touching the ice cubes. How did I do it?

Seventh Day of the Lunar New Year - Happy Birthday Everyone

Today is the seventh day of the Chinese Lunar New Year. Renri (人日), according to Chinese customs, it was the day human beings were created.

So, happy birthday everyone.

My wife and I went to the supermarket to buy the ingredients for the yusheng (鱼生) and we are going to have a prosperity toss or lo hei (Cantonese for 捞起) later. Hope that we can have wealth and health throughout the years.

We had the lo hei once at my mother's place (on first day of CNY) and you could see the before and after of lo hei... 

Before lo hei

After lo hei

Caterpillar of Painted Jezebel flying in Singapore

My daughter and I were walking back to my house when I noticed a yellow flying creature. Upon closer look, it was a yellow and hairy caterpillar. I managed to take a video and uploaded to youtube.

http://youtu.be/mAfRTGTrlOA

One of the caterpillars had landed on the ground and the other as you could see in the video, managed to land very close to the first caterpillar (on the ground). Seemed that it had homing device that could sense the whereabout of the first caterpillar. These caterpillars of Painted Jezebel are very common in Singapore. They are yellow and hairy. My 4-yr old daughter wanted to watch them transforming into butterflies. I told her that it will take weeks before it can transform into one. She was disappointed and wanted to see them moving across the walkway. Finally, she gave up and said goodbye to the caterpillars...

Painted Jezebel

Happy Chinese Lunar New Year - Snake Year

Today, we welcome the lunar new year. This year is the year of the Snake. It has been raining the past few days and will continue to the 3rd day of the new year. People say that this year is the water snake year and that is why it is raining. But, most new years, we have rains and this is not a surprise to me.

It is raining now as predicted.... uploaded a video looking out from the window...

I wish everyone reading this post a happy and prosperous Snake year. Huat ah....

I post a picture of the God of Wealth (taken at the Waterloo street, Singapore) so that everyone can have a fat bank and good health throughout the year. Gong Xi Fa Cai... 恭喜发财，万事如意!

Car Tyre Puncture by a long nail - Jan 2013

I was working late one day and didn't realise that my car tyre was punctured. My colleague saw the punctured tyre when he went to retrieve his car. He took a photo and whatsapp me. I saw the photo and didn't realise it was my car until I saw my colleague's message.

It was about 6.30pm and luckily another colleague had the AA membership. He called the AA and they came to inspect the tyre. The tyre had a leak (most likely due to a nail) and he inflated the tyre with enough pressure for me to drive to the tyre repair shop.

The tyre repair shop is near Jalan Besar (Singapore) and opens till 3am. If you have a punctured tyre in the late evening, you can go to this shop to repair. The cost is about S$15.

It has been a month since I have the tyre patched. The patched tyre is still doing well. Probably, I will change my car tyres at the end of 2013....

Phewtick apps - earn money when meeting people

Recently, I was introduced to this apps Phewtick by my colleagues. Apparently, they are scanning each other 2D barcode every hour to earn meet-up points. The points are randomly selected but most of the time it may be +8 points to +55 points... Only once that I got + 2643 points.

The points will be converted to cash and when you reach a minimum of 24,000 points (SGD28.76), you can cash it out to your paypal account. Or you may want to be a good samaritan to donate the amount to charity.

My opinion:
It may be a good way to earn some small money. But I think it is a bit disrupting to the working environment when it is a working place and not a place to scan each other phones...

But sooner or later, this craze may disappear and new apps will surface to replace it... in the meantime, just enjoy...

http://www.phewtick.com

Shifen Railway Station Sky Lantern - Jan 2013

It was drizzling in Jan 2013. We went to Shifen to light a sky lantern (十分放天灯).

Shifen Railway Station Sky Lantern

I managed to take a photo of the meaning of the colour of the sky lantern and the price for the number of colours.

Colour description & price of lantern

We went to a shop at the end of the street and many Taiwan celebrities had visited this shop.

Ah Ma Sky Lantern Shop

I have uploaded a video showing the release of the sky lantern.

http://youtu.be/XMPjpilIPv0

Shifen waterfall in Pingxi district, Taiwan - Jan 2013 & Sep 2013

Shifen Pubu (waterfall) is a scenic place in Pingxi district in Taiwan. My wife loves this place that we came here 2 times in a year. The first time in Jan 2013, it was drizzling and you could see the people holding out their umbrellas. The second time in Sep 2013, it was a sunny day and you could see double rainbows formed when the sunlight shone through the mist formed by the falling water.

Double rainbows at Shifen Waterfall

Check out the youtube videos that I took on two different times of the year 2013.

http://youtu.be/GOBHFRtkKFw

http://youtu.be/GEtUXBARvpM

My first blog - 5 Feb 2013

I have created this blog to capture part of my life and share my experiences... feel free to read and comment....