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Showing posts from 2015

Another Year Ending Soon

Looking back at the start of this year , that time my wife was a few months pregnant and baby's due date was 15 Jun 2015, ended up deliver on 20 May and thankfully baby is healthy except for her small hole in heart which is nothing serious. So what major things happened this year for me, arrival of baby of course, also got a promotion with good increment and bonus, other than that nothing much, haha my life is so boring. I hope next year also can get a good increment and bonus, and hope wife and baby's health insurance will go through, even if don't go through at least still have Medishield Life which is still great just that there are some limitations, and it doesn't cover overseas hospitalization. Also hope that baby's hole in heart will close by itself so no need any surgery, but I think wife might need to go for operation to change her heart valve, doctor say there is improvement from her earlier echo scan but he still recommend changing it. Anyway I hope

Next Year No Property Tax

I received a letter from IRAS saying that due to the annual value of my home being $6000, I don't have to pay property tax for 01 Jan 2016 to 31 Dec 2016, that's one good thing about having small home lol.

Selling House before MOP

I still have 3 years and 5 months before my 2-room flat reach the MOP, anyway yesterday I checked with HDB whether they have any scheme for me to sell my flat early, at valuation or slightly below also ok, they say have to submit appeal to higher level but they don't think it is possible since my reason is not that strong. My reason given to them is now that I have a baby daughter, I would like to upgrade so as to let her have her own room, I also think reason not that strong but no harm asking. The officer also advised me to take the Top-Up Grant of $15,000, I say don't want la, later have to pay $15,000 for resale levy. So no choice just wait for MOP lor, but that time when I bought my 2-room I also never expected to have baby because wife have heart condition, but who knows our miracle baby was born, all the doctors we seen before would advise us to terminate the pregnancy, only this NUH cardio willing to see through the pregnancy with my wife on Warfarin, so I am very t

Baby Can Sit by Herself

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Today she is finally able to sit by herself on the bed without assistance, but occasionally she will fall back but still it's a milestone achieved. Today she is 7 months and 4 days old. Hopefully she can start to talk and walk, but now she still can't flip over, I think because she is plump, but at least she can stand with assistance. Baby sitting by herself

Double Long Weekends!

Woohoo, company announced this Thursday and next Thursday can work half-day, this year so special so many long weekends, next year not so good so enjoy while it's good. Anyway I have contacted my insurance agent, I told her to declare that I am a smoker, pay more premium is fine, most important is when need to claim can claim, if now never declare next time when they find out then jia lat. I also asked my agent to prepare hospital and term insurance for wife and baby, have exclusion is ok as long as can cover other illnesses. Nowadays so dangerous, anything can happen, better to be insured than be sorry.

Received Refund from Hotels.com

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That day  I was talking about me being overcharged by hotels.com, an overcharge of $1.99, today I noticed a refund from them, it shows up in my statement as S$2.01 cr , I believe cr means credit, so they credited that amount back to my card, I checked and it is indeed deducting from my overall spending. Refund by Hotels.com I thought they should be crediting 1.99, how come it is 2.01 instead, but anyway the point here is Hotels.com did a great job in resolving this issue, it's not even one week and the refund is completed, well done, will definitely book from them again and recommend my friends.

Received Letter for Enhanced Baby Bonus

Letter says all babies born on or after 01 Jan 2015 will be eligible for $2000 more baby bonus, this extra cash is call "Baby Bonus Plus". $1000 will be paid when baby is 15 months old, the last $1000 will be when baby is 18 months old.

Collected Daughter's Passport

I booked an appointment at 11 AM to collect at ICA, need to bring the pink card which they mailed to me, my NRIC and baby's original birth certificate. We reached early and registered around 10.35 AM, we were called at around 11 AM, the whole process took less than 5 minutes and at 11.05 AM we were done, but there is a massive crowd, I think holiday season so a lot of people renewing their passports, lucky we have appointment or else if we walk-in I think have to wait a few hours, so moral of the story is always book appointment before collecting passport.

Green Luggage Bag Arrived

Yesterday I bought two luggage bags from Zalora and the green one arrived first, the blue one they still preparing, don't know when they are going to send. It turn out to be very small, I thought it is the medium size type but actually it is the type that can easily fit into the cabin compartment, but never mind, lucky I bought two, anyway I also wanted to buy the smaller ones, can use even if not traveling overseas. So next time if you see size (in cm) 50+ means it is the small one, can fit into cabin compartment, 60+ is like a medium, probably have to check-in, 70+ is the really big one, confirm must check-in. I think it is good to get at least one of the small ones, plus a one medium, those big ones I think kind of pointless, why the hell would anyone want to bring so much stuff, traveling is supposed to be relaxing, don't see any joy in carrying huge luggage around, but when I travel I do see people carrying those massive luggage, phew, wonder what they put inside.

Booked Hotel and Bought New Luggage Bags

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For this coming trip , we will be visiting wife's hometown and will eventually be staying in Bangkok for the last 2 nights, so I thought we might as well book a hotel near MBK and then we can go shopping without having to take any transportation. I ended up booking  Mercure Bangkok Siam , it is very near to MBK and also very near to Siam Paragon. 400 Meters to MBK 600-700 Meters to Siam Paragon I happened to book it at an advertised low price of $85 per night, and when I thought I was going to pay 2 x $85 which is $170, the final amount came with an extra $29 for "Taxes and fees", so total became $199, ok fine, seems like a very decent hotel and the location is superb so I don't really mind. And today when I checked my credit card statement, they charged me $200.99 instead of $199, what the hell, an extra $1.99, not that I really care about this $1.99 it's just that I don't know what it is for so it is unacceptable if I'm going to pay for

Baby Richer than Wife lol

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I just checked baby's CDA inside have more than $9K, my wife only have $2K+ inside her bank lol. Baby CDA So far I topped up $4500 into the CDA, then government matched 1:1 put another $4500 inside. Then this year budget government put $500 inside, the rest all interest from bank. Not bad, at this rate can save a good sum for baby's education.

Confirmed Trip to Thailand

Previously planning to go this month but in the end decided to cancel because next month going for reservist so I don't want to take long leaves in successive months. So this time I bought tickets for me, wife and baby to go in Mar next year, during the school holidays, parents cannot go because busy. I bought tickets to and from Bangkok for Singapore Airlines only $633 because now got promotion, I never take SQ before so good chance for me to try, always wanted to experience for myself why our airline is one of the best in the world. Then for Udon Thani we try the Thai Airways, in Baht total is 6375, about $248, if book Nok Air more than 7000 Baht because of the extra baggage selection, funny Thai Airways end up cheaper lol. When I was in army we flew Thai Airways to Kanchanaburi camp for training, I remember the plane quite small, but that was 12 years ago, now they should have upgraded to bigger planes. And good thing about flying full-fledged airlines is the fare price i

Bought iPhone 6s Plus 16 GB Rose Gold (A1687) for Wife

She had an iPad 4 bought in late 2012 when it was just launched and now it is broken, that day she was angry so she smashed it lol, buy so expensive and yet so easily destroyed, what a waste of money, I think that time bought at $658, the 16 GB version with only wifi. And as her mobile phone is very old, we decided to get an iphone instead, one device multiple uses. So today we went to VivoCity Starhub shop, many people but many counters so didn't wait very long. We signed for the 4G 3GB plan at $42.90 a month (inclusive of gst), got the phone at $716 but have to pay another $26.75 for a new sim card because her old sim card cannot fit into the phone. The iPhone sim card is much smaller. Also bought casing and screen protector, $15 each. At first we checked out one stall, one casing $39, lucky never buy, went downstair the same looking casing $15 lol what the hell. After that we went home and tried the device, it is almost like her iPad because the OS is the same iOS9, I thi

ICA eAppointment System Hang LOL

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Two days ago I applied passport for daughter, today I checked my email and noticed that it was approved, I thought wah so fast, damn efficient can collect next week, and so need to book appointment to collect, so I happily go to their appointment system, enter daughter's NRIC and a File Reference No, this is actually the Application Reference No when I applied the passport, starts with P/2015XXXXXXXXXSIP, and I got an error message "Please check that you have entered the correct NRIC No. and File Ref No.", what the hell! What the hell! Then I called ICA, the lady told me because today is Saturday so maybe the system hang because too many people using, wah piang, like that also can. But then I noticed that the website have a scheduled maintenance tomorrow, so I guess they are probably doing something, maybe I try again on Monday.

Apply Passport for Baby

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Just now tried to apply online and the ICA image cropping tool doesn't work, then I found this site can crop the image to ICA requirement of 400 by 514, cannot more cannot less lol. See nice or not: Then pay online $70.

Bought Diapers and Wipes at Lazada

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Buying at Lazada can get quite addictive lol, today I ordered MamyPoko diapers, these are so-called "from Japan", and also some 99.9% pure water wipes, don't good or not, from Japan shouldn't be too bad I guess. Good deal? The items seems quite cheap because of discount, then still can apply a $10 voucher making it even cheaper. But I think the real good thing is I don't have to carry the diapers myself, I hate buying diapers at supermarket, such a big pack so difficult to carry on top of the groceries, with online shopping it really makes life so much easier.

SingPass Requires 2FA in Jul 2016

Just received an email from SingPass, they also told me I am existing OneKey user, this is the second level authentication for the 2FA. I got this from my CDP account, that means I can access both SingPass and CDP using the same token, thank goodness, I already have 4 tokens now, lucky no need to get another one lol.

Yu Kee Duck Rice Stall at Koufu Tanglin Halt

Today baby went for her 2nd dose of pneumococcal vaccination at Queenstown Polyclinic, after that we walked over to the Koufu at Block 88 Tanglin Halt Road. I noticed a new stall selling braised duck and when I took a closer look, it's Yu Kee Duck Rice, what a pleasant surprise, I was so happy lol, I have not eat their duck rice for a very long time since I moved to my new place, wife also like their duck rice very much, I think their braised duck is one of the best if not the best I have ever eaten. Too bad this stall don't sell Kway Chap, but never mind, I ordered their duck rice set for 2 for $12, eat until very happy, this stall the yam rice taste a bit special, there's an extra fragrance that I don't recognize, very nice and their duck, needless to say, still taste the best, and the herbal sauce, power as I remember, then eat halfway remember their soup, forgot to ask, they also never give, usually they will give the soup together with the rice. Maybe this Saturd

Bought a New Power Supply Unit

Finally I got rid of my super old power supply unit, forgot when I bought, must be at least 6 years but it served me well, actually it's still working just that the fan is making loud ticking noise, I tried to fix it but not able to. So I did some research and tried looking at Lazada and found this Thermaltake Litepower 550W , original price was $89 and now selling at $59, I applied a $10 voucher and it is $49, add another $0.50 for delivery I only pay $49.50, solves my problem without spending too much, damn worth it.

Received 2nd Baby Bonus Payment

I find that this baby bonus scheme payment is very on time, baby turned 6 months yesterday and today I checked my bank account, the $1500 was credited on 19 Nov, which means they credit 1 day before the child's birthday. Anyway I immediately transferred to baby's CDA account without thinking too much, this is because people tend to want to splurge when they have cash in their hands, same goes to me as I am only human, but I would rather put the money aside for better use because I know it will help baby a lot as she grows up. Speaking of baby, she is now starting to eat cereal, Nestle Cerelac Brown Rice flavour, she seems to accept it, and it seems to be good for her as her stools came out to be green, green means very good.

Baby Walker Arrived

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Today baby's walker arrived, got what I saw on Lazada so I am satisfied with it, but assembling was not as easy as I thought it should be, one of the wheels got stuck and I push until my palm hurts, ended using a hammer to knock it in, overall not bad la. Lucky Baby T-1085D Baby Basic Walker with Stopper Baby!

Facing Death - Cancer Patients in Singapore

Source This series shows the life of cancer patients in Singapore, feel so depressing after watching it. But what happen if I have cancer, should I go for chemotherapy or just stay at home and wait for my turn, I think that will depend on how serious the cancer is, if early stage then can consider chemo, if later stage then don't bother, just stay home and die. Talking about early stage of cancer, currently I don't go for regular health screening so by the time I know I have cancer it might be too late, so I better start looking at some health screening packages lol. Update: Just found out that my company provides free health screening once a year, I work so many years didn't know until I bother to check today lol, better go screen.

Bought My First Item at Lazada.sg

Baby is going to be 6 months old this coming 20 Nov so I wanted to buy a baby walker for her to learn walking, was looking around and decided to try lazada, their items are not as expensive as I thought, very competitive prices, I ended up ordering this . The walker itself is $59.90 + $2.50 delivery charge, will be sending on 17 to 19 Nov, but they didn't say what time, weird that they don't have a more specific delivery date and time, so I have to get my wife to standby for 2 days lol, but she's not working so not too bad.

Exercises for Lower Back Pain Relief

Last Saturday my lower back pain came back again when I was bending forward while carrying baby, damn it hurts but this time not as bad as the last one , maybe the Huiji Waist Tonic that I bought is somehow effective but I don't know for sure, this tonic have a really disgusting taste though, have to force myself to drink it. Anyway I tried some back exercises on YouTube and they seem effective. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f1Y4OV3QlA - if lower back hurts a lot, just try only the first two exercises, if you feel confident enough, can try the last one which I think is the most effective, the second one is also very effective. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEcVfBRGFxI - can try the first to third, the fourth and fifth really depends on how confident you are, if you are not then just stick to the first 3 which are good enough. After doing all the exercises in the first video and first to third in the second video, the tension on my lower back seems to have reduced a

Baby Doing Well!

Today went to follow-up with baby's paediatrician, doctor said baby doing well but need to learn how to flip over and sit unsupported, need to train her to do so twice daily, now baby can sit but need to support her, if she can sit unsupported then also easier for us. And no need to do any more blood tests, jaundice should be gone by now, baby's face and body looks pinkish, sign of good health I guess.

Zu Chuan Bah Kut Teh (祖传肉骨茶) Change Owner

Today I brought my wife, baby and sister's family to Chinatown Complex to try this Bak Kut Teh, I ordered Bak Kut Teh, Pig's Trotter and Sesame Oil Chicken. Actually yesterday I went to try their pig's trotter, have to "recce" first before I bring family over to avoid disappointment because today public holiday. Damn power, sauce a bit salty for me but the trotter is well cooked, just nice not too mushy and goes very well with rice, my mother cook better because not so salty. Anyway they use like a whole round piece of trotter, very meaty and lots of skin. But seems like they changed owner, same signboard but the front looks a bit less pictures and stuff, last time a lot of pictures and whatnot and the whole place feels a bit too warm, last time was an old auntie selling and I think her husband or brother cooking, now in their place is a middle-aged man, I think from China, yesterday he had one young pretty looking female assistant, today he had a middle-aged as

Curry Puff Syndicate

Source These Indonesians have been selling those unhygienic curry puffs illegally at our MRT stations, 3 for $1. The cost price is filthy cheap because they probably use the cheapest lousiest ingredients they can find, probably potatoes that have turned bad but they add a lot of spices to cover the smell. These cheap illegal vendors don't care about our health, you don't know what crap they put inside, never buy from them, also have those otah vendors, also don't buy, these Indonesians come here just want to make money, you die they also won't shed a tear for you. See them report to NEA at 1800-2255 632. And should not jail these people, waste of taxpayer money, just make their embassy send them home and ban them them forever.

KFC Original Chicken + Myojo Shrimp Tanmen

Last Friday was craving for some KFC original recipe chicken so I ordered a 12 pieces, a whipped potato, a coleslaw and some cheese sauce (yeah can buy their sauces online). By the way there is free delivery for POSB everyday card for orders $35 and above. Me and wife finished everything except one piece of chicken thigh, we put inside the fridge and yesterday wife went out with my sister so I cooked my own dinner. Guy's meal very simple, one packet of Myojo Shrimp Tanmen can settle, the chicken is extra topping, I ripped the meat off the thigh and put inside the soup, I also put in the skin, ended up kind of oily so if you don't like too oily can throw away the skin. The meat is very tasty by itself, together with the shrimp tanmen soup base it is amazing, taste can fight with the ramen I eat at Japanese restaurant.

This Mercedes Driver Scared Her Car get Wet

Just now me, wife and baby took taxi home, it was raining, when we reached home, there was this Mercedes parking at the drop-off shelter, I thought there was no driver so I asked the taxi uncle to drop us behind the Mercedes, after we got off the car then we realized the driver was inside, it was a young girl, she was talking on the phone and when my wife looked at her, she turned her head away, obviously she saw us, how can she not notice a taxi behind her. Instead of moving her car out to let our taxi come into the shelter, she just parked there and talked on the phone, like that also can, wife was carrying baby and walking in the rain, I was carrying the pram and a big bag of stuff walking in the rain just because she was afraid her Mercedes would get wet or catch a cold, what a selfish person, but I told myself no need to get angry over this, karma will get her one day.

Strawberry Yogurt + Strawberry Milk

Just now when I went to open my fridge I found one cup of strawberry yogurt, think it's going to expire and I happen to have some strawberry milk so I mixed them together into a drink and it tastes incredible! The sweet strawberry milk goes very well with the slightly sour yogurt, very refreshing taste.

Beggars in Singapore

Nowadays begging seems like a very popular profession, people are quickly joining this seemingly lucrative profession, but I doubt it is easy money, most locals are really not as dumb as most people presume, we are also aware that even foreigners come here to beg because they think it is easy money but in reality it's not, I can bet most probably return home not being able to cover their cost to fly and stay here. I think maybe only the younger population will be easier targets for the beggars as they are fresh in the workforce, some of them probably haven't seen how harsh reality can be, how people can lie or even act just to get some money, or maybe the rare plain kindhearted person who will give, usually people like me won't even give a single cent, not to mention paying for some overpriced tissue, these tissue vendors are just beggars in disguise, why in the world would anyone in their right mind pay $1 for 3 packets of tissue. Personally I feel that it's not ri

Tissue Auntie Spent Money on Cigarettes

Today while walking towards our lunch venue with my colleagues, I noticed this auntie sitting down at the stairway, she was smoking, it was those packed kind of cigarette, one packet probably cost around $9 to $11 depending on the brand. I recognize her, she always go around our lunch area selling tissue, kind of shocking to know that she spent money on cigarettes instead of spending on something useful, I'm glad I never buy from her, nor did I buy from anyone else, nowadays I don't believe in charity, who knows the person might actually be richer than me. My impression of people selling tissue is I don't know if they are really poor or just thinking it is easy money but it sure is, 3 packs for $1, some people probably give more than $1, what is $1 to working class, sometimes I see people give $4 or $5 and ask them to keep the change, but ultimately where does the money go to? Only they know.

Wife Covered Under Medishield Life

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I just checked my wife's CPF account and saw that her Medishield plan is now Medishield Life. If you want to check, you can log in to to CPF website using your SingPass, and then go to My Messages, under HEALTHCARE you will see the plan that you are under. My Wife's CPF Profile My CPF Profile Cannot check for baby because she don't have SingPass, have to call CPF but I think she is covered, since birth she is already covered under Medishield, so now should be upgraded to Medishield Life.

Medishield Life Starts Tomorrow on 01 Nov 2015

Source With this scheme, I no longer have to worry about healthcare costs for my family, my father, mother, wife and daughter all covered, personally I feel that the premiums are acceptable considering the amount of coverage that we get, it's like a big stone off my chest. I don't mind paying the premiums, don't even mind paying for my parents if they have trouble paying, most important thing is they are covered. Personally I'm covered by NTUC Income, both health and term insurance, I'll probably leave it be, good thing about my private plan is if I'm hospitalized, and if I choose lower wards, I can get cash money daily, or I can choose A class to make my stay more enjoyable. So far I have not claim from my insurance yet, I hope I never have to, my colleagues say if never claim then it's like paying for nothing, well yes they are right, but as a family man, I rather not take this kind of risk, what if something really happen to me and I'm not covered

Logitech Mouse Still the Best

Earlier on I bought a $10 mouse at Sheng Siong, some unknown brand from China, damn lousy, cable length so short, never specify cable length, buy home then realize too short cannot use, and the scroll is terrible, now I throw it one side to rot. After that I bought a $9.90 mouse from Challenger, model is Prolink PMC1002, also damn lousy, the click is so noisy and the scroll became faulty after a few usage, scroll up it will scroll down a bit, scroll down it will scroll up a bit, what the hell. So today I fed up I go buy another mouse, $11 Logitech model is M100r, this one feels so much better, the clicks not noisy, scroll is very smooth and working as I intended, should have just stick to Logitech all the way so I don't have to waste that $10 and $9.90 on those piece of shit mouse.

Finally Friday

These few weeks so busy, so many things to do, one thing never finish another thing pop out of nowhere, want to go for a break also scared cannot finish work. The only thing I can look forward to is Friday, I love Fridays, it means that I can rest for the next two days. So during weekends also don't do much, go shopping mall stroll around, eat, come home slack, surf net, play games, disturb baby, really feel like going for a long holiday, life is becoming repetitive.

Bought a Bottle of Huiji Waist Tonic

Today I finally relented and bought a bottle to try, not sure whether it's good for my lower back pain but if I don't try I will never know. One bottle cost $49.70 at Sheng Siong, have 700ml, one dosage is 20ml, drink twice a day, that means can drink for 17.5 days. I started my first dose today, so I'll see if my lower back gets stronger or not, this back pain has been bugging me since I ORD from national service, perhaps it's due to the heavy manual labour I did during my NS, I was a bridging combat engineer, damn siong job, have to carry a lot of heavy stuff, a lot of my platoon mates also suffer from back pain. Or maybe it's because of bad posture, back pain is really difficult to deal with and prevent, I just hope it takes longer to happen, eventually it will happen again but just hope not so soon because it's so painful and I cannot work, young still not so bad, if older then I think jia lat.

Lower Back Pain Strikes Again

Saturday when baby was crying, I went to pick her up, I bend over and heard a crack sound and a sharp pain at my lower back, I knew I kena again, sigh, I think something to do with stress, these few weeks damn stress because so many things at work. So from Saturday until now, my back still haven't heal, hopefully tomorrow can heal so I can go back to work, today didn't work because took leave to bring baby for her immunisation, I thought today have to do her pneumococcal so I took leave, this one can pay by my Medisave, end up didn't do, next month then do, what a waste, but just nice my back pain so nothing I can do but rest at home.

Opened POSB Savings Account for Wife

I received the maternity claim from my employer so today I went to POSB with wife to open a savings account, just need her blue ID card and that's it. So I choose a normal ATM card for her, she also received an iBanking account so no need the passbook, can check everything online, so convenient. The ATM card and iBanking account can be used same day, no need to wait. So after opening the account, I taught her to use the ATM card, make sure to take card and then take money, sometimes people can forget to take the money.

So Many Beggars and Indirect Beggars

I saw this old woman, she was waiting at the MRT station, morning I see her, evening when I go home also see her, every time I pass by she will call me Da Ge meaning Big Brother in Mandarin, and then she will ask me to help her, I don't even bother and just continue walking. Just a few days ago she was with an old man, the old man also addressed me as Da Ge, I'm 32, and they looked like they are in their 60s at least, and they call me Big Brother, how disgusting, people will really do anything for money, these people have no shame. Every day during lunchtime, so many of those tissue sellers, 3 packets for $1, super overpriced, this is almost like begging, those kind of tissue 10 packets selling at most $2, sometimes offer 10 packets less than $1 also can get, why in the world will I want to pay 3 for $1 when I can get 10 for less than $1? Then today got one middle-aged guy playing Er Hu, damn lousy, more noisy than entertaining and he walks around expecting people to pay for

Suddenly a Thick Haze this Evening!

Just now when I looked out of my window, there is a thick haze, I can even smell the burning in my kitchen, how come today suddenly so bad, even with our help, the haze seems to be burning ever stronger. Wonder how bad it will get, this is really no good for health, for adults I think still not so bad but for children I think it's very bad because they are still growing, might damage their growth or something. I hope the authorities can do more to solve this haze problem, this is getting very annoying.

Tried Häagen-Dazs for the Second Time in My Life

First time was very long ago, think it was in primary school, my cousin got a Häagen-Dazs ice-cream cake for her birthday, she cut me a huge slice, it was a chocolate ice-cream cake, but doesn't seem to have any cake, it's all chocolate ice-cream. I remember it was very good, probably the best chocolate ice-cream I ever ate, it was very thick, very rich, very tasty, but very hard. Yesterday after watching some ice-cream videos on YouTube, I decided to buy some Häagen-Dazs to try with wife. Sheng Siong has a long-time promotion going on, 2 pints for $23.85, original price per pint is $14.50, damn expensive. So today I bought 2 pints, one if blueberry cream, the other is chocolate. We tried the blueberry cream, very good, a lot of blueberries, very rich taste, then we also tried the chocolate flavour, tasted like the chocolate ice-cream cake from my cousin, also very good, very thick. Next time I want to try the mango flavour, they have so many flavours, but it's kind o

Cancelled Starhub Fibre and Cable TV at Parent House

Earlier on I signed up for the $34 per month M1 fibre broadband ($29+$5 for router) for my mom, so yesterday the M1 guy setup the ONT and evening I went over to setup the router, was very easy to setup, just plug into the ONT, power up, connect to the router from my mom's computer, setup the wifi and that's it. Today I went to Starhub at VivoCity to cancel and return all the stuff, following are the items to return. For Fibre broadband: Nucleus ONT. ONT power adapter. Fibre cable. LAN cable. No need to return the Starhub router since it belongs to me, I think it was part of the contract, free router if I remember correctly. For Starhub cable tv: HD set-top box. Remote control. Smart card (inserted inside the set-top box). Set-top box power adapter. Composite cable (red, white, yellow). Component cable (red, green, blue). I have everything except the component cable, I thought have to pay penalty or something but the customer service say it's ok,

Blatant Corruption at Bali Airport

Source They cut the woman's passport and brought her into a room and asked for money, and she was let go after paying $50, like that also can, what if she refused to pay, will they lock her up indefinitely? Such a lawless country, I will never step foot into that country, I will never spend a single cent on their economy, I have also started to boycott Indonesia products, now this incident strengthened my resolve, nowadays when I buy any products, I will see if it is from Indonesia. And the haze problem, it took them decades and they still can't solve the problem, more like they don't want to solve the problem, otherwise how to collect corruption money from the plantation owners, this country is hopeless, just let them rot.

Baby Seen Paediatric Cardiologist Today

Today the cardiologist did an echo for her, she found nothing serious, the hole is still there but seems to be a very small one, most important thing is baby is gaining weight well, baby is now 7.5KG, growing real fast, doctor even commented that she is fat but nothing to worry about. But doctor found some strange heartbeats, also nothing to worry about but she wants to find out more, so she put baby on a 24 hour ECG device which will capture baby's heart data, can only take out tomorrow morning, so today baby cannot shower, but can wipe body. It's just 5 pieces of sticker pasted around her chest area, connected via wires to a device which looks like a pager. Doctor also commented that probably no need to do heart surgery when she is one year old, maybe much later. Today's bill quite high, total $244.50, this consists of repeat consultation, echo and the 24 hour ECG monitoring. Without any subsidy the bill is $585.99, government paid $341.49, that's more than 50%

Baby Seems to Prefer Mommy More

Just recently I started to notice that she cries whenever I carry her, no matter what I try to do to pacify her, nothing works, but when I hand her over to mommy, she stops crying. At first I thought I might have hurt her somehow, as you know guys are less delicate creatures, most of the time I have to be very careful because I am afraid that I might cause her pain but I realized that is not the case. Yesterday was the worst, mommy was busy doing her stuff, baby cried until vomited her milk on my t-shirt and she seemed to be gasping for air, she looked like she was in pain, cramping or something, I think she cried too hard, exerted too much force just to cry out loud, and no matter what I do, I can't stop her from crying, in the end when mommy was free, I handed her over, wow, she stopped crying in a short while, amazing. So after such a discouraging episode, I quickly went online to do some research, I found that breastfed babies seems to prefer the mother more than anyone els

Government Credited $600 in Baby's Account

Just noticed that there is extra $600 in baby's CDA account, credited on 16 Sep 2015. So far we haven't touch her CDA money, I intend to save it for her until her post-secondary education, this is one way we are saving for her education, but who knows later when government opens more options for CDA monies we might start using but for now I don't see a need to touch.

Went to Crystal Jade @ The Clementi Mall Again Lol

The food there is really nice and not very expensive, today me and wife also enjoyed ourselves there. So today we ordered the crab siew mai, this one damn power, the salted egg bao, chicken feet again for my wife, stir-fried chee cheong fun with dried prawns and roasted duck. The duck is really nice, it's juicy unlike most you find outside which are dry, this one can fight with my favourite stall at Chinatown but the serving is a bit small, the Chinatown stall half-duck for $17, eat until shiok. The stir-fried chee cheong fun taste like the stir-fried kway teow at tze char stall, very special, very nice, and big portion. I wanted to try out all their dishes but we cannot eat finish so have to come back a few more times, I think no need to take picture, so far the food we ate are all nice, come and try is better than see picture ;) Today final bill is $45.10 after 10% discount for DBS/POSB credit card.

This Month Utilities Bill only Pay $4.82

The bill a bit siao siao, sometimes $80+, sometimes $90+, this month only $69.82, and this month there is the gst rebate of $65 so end up the final bill is $4.82. I think only when they come and check then lower, if not they just estimate higher, basically anyhow whack, can eat more cannot eat less kind of estimation, really chee behs, actually I should start to submit the meter readings myself, but too lazy and forgetful to do so, come back from work so tired already just want to relax, weekend also can't be bothered, rather rest lol.

Indonesia (Finally) Accepted Our Help

They finally accepted our offer after they realized they cannot contain the fire, they also asked Malaysia, Russia and Japan for help, but even if we put out the fires now, it does not solve the problem completely, the real cause of the problem is slash and burn. Indonesia must name out all culprits, especially when they say Singaporean companies are involved, give us the names first, I really want to know which of our companies are responsible and make sure to boycott their products completely, I hope our government will punish them until they bankrupt, also punish their owners, jail them, fine them, bankrupt them, shame them, they must have known but let the burning happen anyway. So far these 5 Indonesia companies have been identified: PT Rimba Hutani Mas PT Sebangun Bumi Andalas Wood Industries PT Bumi Sriwijaya Sentosa PT Wachyuni Mandira PT Bumi Mekar Hijau And one more, this one have a company in Singapore: Asia Pulp and Paper Company NTUC and Sheng Siong have

Great Lunch at Crystal Jade Kitchen @ The Clementi Mall

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Today I went to Clementi Mall to sign up M1 fibre broadband for my parents, service at their address but I pay (can pay by credit card monthly), because the Starhub fibre at their house contract ended, now every month charging me $83 including the cable tv, parents never watch the tv so might as well just get a cheap fibre connection. M1 today last day offer for the 200Mbps @ $29 per month, can choose to add $5 per month to get an Asus RT-N56U router, I think quite worth it, the router outside sellling $160+ if I'm not wrong, so I ended up getting that router too. But I think they will come up with new offer, they always have very competitive offers going on. So before I went to sign up for the fibre plan, we dropped by Crystal Jade for lunch, it was great, very satisfied with the meal, service was prompt, friendly and very professional, makes me feel like a VIP lol. And I'm not really into taking pictures of food but today I felt that I should since their food was great, the

Polar Puff Curry Puff Number 1 in Singapore?

Source Actually I read about the news quite a while back and I wanted to write about it but didn't remember to until now. The results were very shocking, polar puff came in at first place while old chang kee at second, wow. I tried polar puff a long time ago and I remember it as ok but number 1? How can it be? Old chang kee is nice, I like their curry puff but number 2 is kind of overstretching. Personally the best curry puff I ever had in my life was from the hawker centre outside Bedok Camp II i.e. Bedok Food Centre. I knew about this curry puff when my supervisor bought it for our teatime during my time working at the warehouse. It has been a very long time (almost 10 years I guess?) since I have been there so I don't know how much it has changed, but from my memory, there were more than one stall selling curry puff, I found the right stall as I recognized their unique shape, it was definitely handmade as the shape was very ugly, looks deformed, but the skin was thin and

Next Transport Minister

Source Today I read that Mr. Khaw Boon Wan took up the transport minister job, I thought he must be crazy, this must be the worst position ever, mainly due to the several train disruptions we had these recent years, our train simply cannot afford to break down because many people rely on it to get to work, to school, to shopping and whatever. Personally I haven't been very affected by the disruptions, I think I have been caught in one or two disruption, can't remember exactly, but the last one was at east side, the train stopped due to train fault, so I ended up taking a bus home, was not that bad because I was quite near home already. Anyway I think Mr. Khaw might have a chance, he seems to have done well on the housing side, housing price seems to have stabilized which is a good thing for buyers but not so good for sellers, but good for young people seeking to own their first home, I think the latter is more important because nowadays most people don't want to s

Planning Thailand Trip in December 2015

Wife say she wants to visit home for the new year, I don't think have enough leave left because all spent on baby and wife appointments, but just nice government announced an additional week of paternity leave, so can use to visit home with wife. She thinking of going on 30 Dec, I can clear the paternity leave in block leave but if block means can only clear 5 work days because I'm working on 5 days work week so that means can go on leave until 06 Jan because 01 Jan is New Year so that day is holiday, so one extra day. So now have to do baby's passport first before we book plane ticket, this time I thinking of bringing my parents along, been a while since they met wife's family, also good chance for them to travel, they getting old so I want to let them enjoy as much as I can provide for them, so of course I will be paying their tickets, and hopefully can have enough budget to also pay for their hotel stay. Initially wanted to go Udon Thani then go Phuket, but loo

Brought Baby to Polyclinic for Vaccination

Baby is now 4 months and 6 days old, so today we brought her to polyclinic to do her vaccination, we choose the 5-in-1 vaccine and opted for the pneumococcal vaccination. The 5-in-1 is free for citizens and the pneumococcal vaccine is $150 but can pay by Medisave, still have to do 2 more times which means have to pay $300 more. Personally I believe in prevention is better than cure so this kind of money I am willing to spend, the nurse told me can cover her up to 7 years old so it is very worth it. And today baby weighs more than 7KG, she grows so fast, I think soon she will be able to walk, I am looking forward to it!

Received My Third Adsense Payment

Last payment. This time they paid me S$178.89 on 23 Sep 2015, bringing the total for this year to S$334.48, not bad, good pocket money for casual blogging. And thanks to my visitors for the support, really appreciate it!

Public Holiday Stay Home Thanks to Indonesia

Today the PSI reading at 12PM is 173-216 overall in Singapore, and today is a public holiday, I guess everybody will be staying home, actually wanted to bring wife and baby out to enjoy the day but looking at the haze can forget it, so I went to Sheng Siong to buy groceries and cook instead. So on my way to SS, so little people outside, usually on a public holiday it will be very crowded almost anywhere, today so quiet but SS is packed, everybody go in to enjoy the aircon, I saw so many aunties never buy anything just go inside walk and stand around chatting, and some people never buy anything or buy much just push the shopping trolley around. Anyway this Indonesia really cannot make it, their leadership is completely hopeless, it's been decades since the haze started and they still can't solve the haze problem, how long more do they need? This is what happens when you put useless people in charge, no matter how much authority they have, or how much resources they have, the

Baby Given Open Date Appointment

Yesterday we went to see the paediatrician, he examined baby and commented that she looks very good, indeed she is very healthy and no major illness so far, can't tell that she has a hole in her heart, doctor also can't detect any murmur, I was surprised because I thought usually people with hole in heart have murmur, or maybe she is still small. Anyway, given that baby is healthy, the doctor gave us an open date appointment, which means within one year if we need to see him then we book an appointment, otherwise no need to see him, that's great, I doubt we will need to see him again, anyway baby jaundice by now should be normal already so all is good. And I want to tell you guys, while we were at NUH, we dropped by the new building i.e. the Medical Centre, there is a bakery named Dora Keiki, I bought the Png Kueh, one packet I forgot how much, damn sucks, do not buy the Png Kueh, it's so rubbery and taste like it's been on the shelf for a long time, really tast

Medishield Life: Serious Pre-existing Conditions Requiring Additional Premiums

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Source Broad categories of serious pre-existing conditions Looking at the list I am not immediately sure whether my wife and baby will be subjected to additional premium, but I am prepared to pay more if need be. My wife has a prosthetic aortic valve, it's not giving her any problem and is well-maintained by her daily intake of Warfarin and Aspirin. However her cardiologist is keen on replacing with a larger one for her, her current one is a bit narrow but she's doing fine with it, in the end it's up to her whether to replace or not but I am siding with her cardiologist on this, operation is best done when she is young. My daughter has atrial septal defect which according to her paediatric cardiologist is not very serious, it would probably mend by itself when she gets older but even if it doesn't mend, intervention is only required when she is one year old, have to see how and follow-up closely with the doctor, but so far baby is doing great, she seems very

Saved Money Today!

Yesterday I went to Sheng Siong and bought some groceries to cook for today, it all costed slightly over $20, can serve 4 person, which means me and wife can eat 2 times so today no need to buy any other food, just eat pasta. It's true that one can save money by cooking at home, you can eat more than once, furthermore the gas doesn't cost much. We change our gas every 3 months, let's say 1 month is $10, so one day about $0.33. $5.25 - pasta sauce $3.45 - white button mushroom $2.95 - cheese hot dog $2.51 - minced pork $4.15 - feta cheese $1.95 - pasta Total $20.26. The same meal would probably cost me $30 outside including the GST and service charge, eating out is very expensive, nowadays one packet of economical rice can also cost $4 to $5 even without any seafood.

Found Another Use for Pram

When baby keeps crying or always want us to carry her, I tried leaving her on the pram and move it back and forth, she calmed down soon after! It's also good to put her to sleep, she seems to like sleeping in it as long as I keep it moving, so after she falls asleep, I can go do something else haha. Never regret buying this pram, so damn useful, multi-purpose lol.

Baby Jaundice 25!

Finally her jaundice is now at low level, the target should be below 10, but 25 is good enough, her liver test also came back ok, we are to see doctor in 2 months time to run the liver test again, jaundice no need. This time during blood test she also seem to be less distressed, of course she still cried very loudly but today she didn't look that bad after the blood test, last time she cried until she looked so tired. I'm so glad and so thankful. Update 19 Sep 2015: Forgot to mention baby was 6.5KG on 16 Sep, great improvement!

My Thoughts after GE2015

The results are mostly in line with my personal forecast, except that the Worker's Party managed to retain Aljunied GRC, I was expecting them to lose it, but since they won, albeit narrowly, I hope they will look past the mud-slinging (regardless of who is throwing who) and focus on how to manage the town council better. To me wrong means wrong, no way around it no matter how you argue, and I would like to see greater accountability and see them really taking ownership of the problems and deal with it swiftly, if everything had been done swift and sharp, I doubt anyone can say anything. Even though the opposition suffered great defeat, that does not (and should not) invalidate whatever they have gathered from the ground, and whatever suggestions they have come up with should be consolidated and considered by the ruling party, as the saying goes, two heads better than one, I'm sure (and hope) they can find something useful, otherwise the existence of our opposition is very muc

All Down with Cough

Now me, wife and baby all coughing, wife's most serious, me second, baby third. I googled and found that cough for baby usually not serious, I think she have some sort of viral infection, her immune system will probably be able to handle it, furthermore she is breastfeeding which somehow makes her stronger. But with the haze our coughs can't get any better, so now safest is to stay home, I just looked at the sky, seems quite bad today, the 8am PSI shows 136 for west side, I hope the haze dissipates soon, wonder if Indonesia is still burning stuff, must be, this country is hopeless, every year you tell them, every year they commit the same mistake, for decades, how can you make the same mistake each year, over and over again? Ridiculous.

GE2015 Sample Count Results

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Didn't know there was something called "Sample Count", following is a description: Sample Count Basically it gives people a rough idea of the polling results for each area so people don't have to wait too long to know the results. The sample count results don't look good for opposition forces, Worker's Party seems to have lost their Punggol East SMC with PAP winning 51%. As for the rest of the known results, PAP won every constituency except Hougang. Now I'm waiting for Tanjong Pagar and Aljunied results, I think the rest no need to see, we all know which party will win. Update1: Just noticed SDP Chee Soon Juan's A team was defeated at Holland-Bukit Timah with PAP winning 66%. Also noticed Han Hui Hui was defeated at Radin Mas, she only have 9% of votes, I think she will lose deposit, why in the world did she contest, who in their right mind will vote for her, apparently 9% of the voters in Radin Mas weren't in their right minds today.

It's Voting Day!

The polling station is just 1 min walk away from my flat, so this morning around 10.30am I went to take a look, there was quite a long queue so I went home and relax, 30 minutes later I go down again and there was a shorter queue so I queued up. I didn't wait too long and it was my turn, I handed my polling card and identity card to a lady, she read out 4 numbers and gave me back my polling card and identity card, she also handed me the voting card, the whole process was very formal, she looked very serious. So I went and cross out the PAP logo without any thought, dropped my vote into the box and went home. Then we went to have some good food, shopping and buy new shirt for baby, the baby dress so expensive, one set cost $24.90! We also bought some teething toy for baby, think she is going to grow teeth soon, nowadays she keeps salivating. Then we took taxi home, there was barricade on the way to my home since my area is a polling station, the security told the taxi driver to

2 More Days to Polling Day

Somehow I am looking forward to voting lol, maybe because it's a rare event, and it's also the only chance in every few years to let the government know whether I'm happy or not. Now that I think of it, this will be the 3rd time I will be voting in a general election, if include the last presidential election, then this will be the 4th time that I will be voting in Singapore. Let me see: 2006 General Election I was staying in Tampines, the leader of the GRC was Mah Boh Tan, he was very popular that time, I was 23 years old, my first time voting in an election but I was not excited at all, that time I was busy working full-time and studying part-time so didn't care too much about such things, I simply voted for the most well-known party which was PAP, at that time it was the only party that I know of. 2011 General Election Still staying in Tampines, that time I was married not too long ago, wife moved in to stay with my parents but eventually there was conflict

PAP Rally @ Commonwealth Ave

Just now when I was on my way home I noticed a lot of security and people at the big grass patch, there is a big stage and I saw PAP logo, so obviously they are doing a rally there. It was almost 7pm and already people were seated and waiting, several people were taking pictures with their handphone camera. I was thinking why not watch at home, nowadays we have live streaming, can watch on YouTube. I also noticed the haze getting worse, this Indonesia say never listen.

Wife's Bill for Delivery

Can check out this link for details. So for 20 days of stay in C ward, the charges is $5411.04 after government subsidy plus $108 for A&E, total is $5,519.04. My wife was warded from 06 May to 26 May, actually we went to NUH on 05 May but no bed so we waited till very late and was warded at A&E, that's why there is the charge. The bill without subsidy is $14,265.40, government subsidized $8854.36, about 62%, glad I choose C ward, if any higher I don't know how much I will have to pay, but please don't start getting worried when you see my wife's bill, she has heart condition so have to go in early to change her medication to prepare for the c-section, for normal natural/c-section deliveries I think less than a week can discharge, some people today deliver tomorrow can discharge. If my wife is citizen, her final bill would probably be halved, so sometimes I don't understand why some people say government is not helping enough, what do these people expe

$3000-$4000 Cannot Afford Housing in Singapore?

Just now I was watching the channel 8 news at 7pm, there was this guy from worker's party speaking, he was speaking in Hokkien, he was saying people here are not able to afford housing with $3000-$4000 salary and yet government claim that with $1000, one can afford housing. And he added that how can he not know the sums as he is a banker with 10 over years of experience. I was wondering does this guy have any idea what he was saying, $3000-$4000 cannot afford housing? Then how did I buy my house? When I bought my house last year I was earning close to $4000, and I'm paying by myself, I didn't get a single cent from my parents, every single cent for the house I paid by myself, single income, as you all know my wife is not working. Maybe he was referring to condominium? But couldn't be right, if condominium is the benchmark for housing affordability then plenty of people cannot afford housing.

Received Poll Card for Voting

The voting station is just below my HDB flat, so convenient, I think can bring wife and baby to take a look, and after voting can go window shopping!

Finally Received My Wife's Hospital Bill

Yes! After almost 3 months, they finally sent me the bill lol wtf, now I'm going to submit to company for claims, it's quite a substantial amount that's why I kept chasing after them, if cannot claim then I won't even bother, they can take 1 year I also don't care. Anyway will probably save that money for my wife, open a bank account for her, she has been bugging me to open one for her for a very long time.

Sealed My Rubbish Chute

I have stayed in my flat for slightly more than a year, recently the cockroach attacks have become more frequent and more irritating. Earlier this week my right cheek and right butt got bitten by a cockroach, it crawled onto my bed when I was sleeping, probably bit my face and butt first before moving to my neck, so when I felt something ticklish, I woke up and slapped my neck hard, I then went to open the lights, the ugly creature dropped dead to the floor, it was probably hanging onto my shirt. Then the following days I noticed red itchy spots on my cheek, same goes for my butt, it was so damn itchy. Those spots on my cheeks are gone now, but those on my butt is still there and is still itchy. This is not the first time a cockroach invaded our sleeping area, my wife encountered once when she was sleeping, she felt something moving on her palm, she woke up and found a cockroach, I think that was before our baby arrived, so that should be quite a while back. And yesterday night was

They Finally Processed My Wife's Hospital Bill

Today I received an email from NUH staff, he told me my wife's bill has been processed so I login to CPF and indeed they deducted the amount, finally I can submit my claim soon. Anyway they deducted $5,519.04, the staff said I should receive the bill around 3 days time, so in total hospital bill for wife and baby is $6473.47, all deducted from Medisave, no need to pay cash.

More Help for Parents!

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Government giving out money to parents again, now they increased the baby bonus from $6000 to $8000, babies born from 01 Jan 2015 onwards are eligible. That means I will have $2000 spending money, because I will deposit the first $6000 into baby's CDA, that's great, this will really help a lot to defray our expenses, but actually for me I find that having baby don't really spend that much, my wife is fully breastfeeding so we don't even buy milk powder at all, only a lot of diapers, wet tissue, baby stuff, those don't really cost that much, but if have one more baby then I think will get difficult, for us we happy with one, especially since this one didn't come by easy haha. Anyway you can see following picture for the details, happy parenting! See www.heybaby.sg for details

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