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....