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Update Passport Details to ICA after Renewal

January 14, 2014

Earlier on, Singapore Thai embassy informed my wife that her passport is ready for collection , so yesterday she went to collect but I forgot to tell her that she also need to update her passport details to ICA as it is a terms and condition of long term pass, Terms & Conditions of Long-Term Visit Pass (LTVP) "You are required to notify ICA if there is any change in your passport particulars or place of residence within 14 days of the change . You can report a change of address online through your local sponsor via e-Update of Address." And seems like I can only update address online, can't find any function to perform passport update, so I accompanied my wife to ICA today. The process is very simple. 1. Photocopy both the old and new passports' page with photograph, and also photocopy front and back of the LTVP/LTVP+. 2. Proceed to the counter at Level 4 Visitor Services Centre, go to the left side where there is a blue uniformed officer, only that offic

Duck, Chicken and Pork for Chinese New Year

January 12, 2014

This year for the first time ever, I ordered a roasted duck, a roasted chicken and half kilo roasted pork, in the past my parents used to buy it, now I have sort of taken over that. So today I went to get the bill and made payment, total was $77; 35 for duck, 24 for chicken and 18 for pork. I thought of ordering 1 kilo for the pork but it was too big, don't think we can finish it, we still have steam boat and some other food.

My Wife's Thai Passport is Ready for Collection

January 10, 2014

She went to renew her passport at the Singapore Thai Embassy on 23 Dec 2013, so after about 18 days, which is today, she received a phone call from the embassy saying her passport is ready for collection. I think it was quite fast because with the protests going on in Bangkok and news of shutdown, I thought everything would be slower, I was even a bit worried her passport would not be processed if the Thai government got shut down, but luckily it wasn't that bad. My wife also said the staff at the Thai embassy are very rude, I went there once and the lady who attended to us was really rude, it's like she hated her job and she's still got to do it anyway kind of attitude, I thought government staff should be more well trained in terms of attitude since they are representing their country, strange, even weirder is Thai people you meet on the streets in Thailand are much more friendlier.

Sheng Siong Boss Mother Kidnapped

January 09, 2014

Source Wow big news, people actually have the guts to kidnap people in Singapore, furthermore the two kidnappers are Singaporeans. I wonder what made them resort to something so drastic, kidnapping carries the death penalty. Kidnapping Act "Abduction, wrongful restraint or wrongful confinement for ransom 3. Whoever, with intent to hold any person for ransom, abducts or wrongfully restrains or wrongfully confines that person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be punished on conviction with death or imprisonment for life and shall, if he is not sentenced to death, also be liable to caning." In other countries maybe they can get away with it but Singapore is such a small place, where can they hide? And the ransom amount was $2 million, how are they going to get away with such a big sum of cash? I think those 2 guys did it without thinking, very foolish.

Did Away with Google Docs for Stocks

January 07, 2014

Found that using spreadsheet is really troublesome, have to do a lot of calculations myself and I'm not really the kind who likes to waste time re-inventing the wheel so I found a good portfolio management tool, it's free and it's got a lot of those cool graphs and charts and statistics all generated for you as long as you key in your transactions, so if you are interested, you can create an account at i3investor . It's something like Google Finance, but I think it's more sleek and the price quotes are more accurate because seems like Google Finance will only show up to 2 decimal places, for example a share price is $1.115, but Google rounds it up and shows it as $1.12. You can check out My Stocks , it's now friendlier to the eyes and easier for me to manage!

Dream Wedding and a $90,000 Debt

January 06, 2014

Source Learned about this story from SG Talk, the couple spent $110,000 on their wedding, wow, $110k, it's a lot of money to me, and to spend it for one day is just out of my league, even if it's within my capability I don't think I will spend like that. Let's look at their debts. They borrowed: $45,000 from a financial institution with a repayment period of two years. $4,000 from a licensed moneylender. $11,000 from a relative. $30,000 via credit cards. Their total debt is $90,000. Also note that the couple had savings of $20,000. So what did they pay for? $12,000 for bridal arch. $75,960 for 45 tables at 6 star hotel (1 table $1688++ but I use 45*1688=75,960). $22,040 for bridal photography, make-up, hair-styling and videography (not sure how much they spent on this so I use $110k-$12k-$75,960). $110,000 and it doesn't include the honeymoon, "They spent so much that Mrs Lee's other dream - a honeymoon in Europe - had to be put off.

Singapore Bank Interest Rate is Pathetic

January 04, 2014

On 31 Dec 2013, I have a balance of $4753.91 in my POSB bank account; it's the old type of savings account opened when I was in primary school and that was about 18 or 19 years ago, good thing about this account is there is no fall-below fee. So I checked and found that they paid me $1.21 for interest, that's like 0.025% , hahahaha, that's why never ever keep your money in the bank, what a waste of potential. You may argue that the way I calculate is wrong, I should calculate by month and such, but no matter how you do it, it's still ridiculously low. So the moral of the story is, invest, in equities, in gold, in whatever else, but always determine your risk appetite first, know exactly what kind of investor you are, how much risk you can or is willing to take, it's not just oh have money just whack, if in doubt, ask, there are plenty of places to ask like sgtalk, hardwarezone stocks, i3investor and etc, there are always people willing to share their knowledge.

9th Straight Gain for STI

January 02, 2014

Today is the 9th straight gain for STI since 18 Dec 2013, now I'm wondering how long will the winning streak last, but of course volatility in the market is common, even if it does go down, I'm wondering how the whole rally thing will go about, will it break 3200, or even 3300 or more? One thing I'm quite sure of is it won't go below 3100 without any good reason, unless there is another penny stock crash, or Kim Jong Un starts his war talk again, or the Thai political crisis turns into a civil war, or due to some other unforeseeable causes, but I expect no problem coming from the US side, I'm sure they have grown out of their childish squabbles and come to realize that their economy and world economies are far more important. Actually unforeseeable causes will hit the markets the hardest, reason is very simple, people are not prepared for it, throw in some fear mongering and the worlds markets will tremble. I'm sure there will be some event that will pop up in

New Year Day and My Back Hurts!

January 01, 2014

Yesterday night after watching movie suddenly my lower back hurts, put some Yoko Yoko and seems to reduce the pain a bit but it's still painful if I stand up or sit down. This morning the pain is still there, put some more Yoko, now I think feels a little better, don't feel like going anywhere though, maybe I'll watch movie again ;) New year, just another day passed, another year passed, like no feeling, oh wait, the only feeling is inflation, price hike everywhere.

Collected My Passport Today at ICA via iCollect

December 31, 2013

Recently I submitted a passport renewal because it is going to expire soon, they deducted $70 from my bank account after I dropped it into the collection box at ICA building. A few days later, I checked online and found that it is ready for collection, I choose the iCollect mode, I think it is a new self-collect service and I set the collection date as today. So I went to ICA level 1 eLobby, the iCollect section is very obvious, it's like a spaceship with two counters, quite futuristic looking. I went to the counter, there's nobody there, well, it's self-collect, so anyway I touched the screen to start the procedure, there were videos for each step telling me what to do, scan my NRIC, scan my thumbprint, scan my old passport, scan my face (facial verification), all done by myself, then it dispensed my new passport, it's like a vending machine! The whole process probably took less than 3 minutes, I think it's very efficient, impressive.

Had a Bad Dream Last Weekend

December 30, 2013

Can't remember whether it was Friday or Saturday night, the dream was quite vivid and I still remember it now, it's strange because I never remember a dream for long after I wake up, I will probably forget everything within one or two hours. In the dream, somehow my father passed away, I can't recall the cause of death but I saw my mother's face clearly, she looked a bit sad, she didn't talk, she was staring at something on my left side, and I was looking at her the whole time. Then I saw my father's face, he was lying down, his eyes were closed, lying on something peacefully. That's about it. I think I remember it because it has something to do with my family, my dreams were usually stupid things like jumping up a building, and then down a building, or I'm running with someone or something chasing me, can't remember clearly but it was always the stupid crap, I rarely have good dreams, oh there's one where I dreamt that I strike it rich, and

More Than 500 Staff Retrenched at Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

December 28, 2013

Source Mainly they are shifting their hard disk manufacturing operations to Thailand, obviously because labour costs there are so much cheaper. I think they can easily hire a staff from 6000 to 7000 Bahts a month, which is around $230+ Singapore dollars. Actually most companies have shifted some or most of their operations to emerging markets like China, Philippines and Thailand, of these 3, Philippines staff costs are the highest since they are a English speaking country, Thailand and China are the cheapest. This has nothing to do with our economy, it's just because operating costs in Thailand are lower, and the company is taking that opportunity to maximize their profit, that's all. For those who were retrenched, I wish them the best, I hope the relevant ministry and union will do their best to assist these people. Also to highlight that people working in the production line usually have a low monthly basic salary of between $1100 to $1600, and in order for them to e

3 Young Girls Crush Puppy to Death!

December 26, 2013

Source Video (contains graphic content, DO NOT let children watch it!) Today I chanced upon this article about 3 girls stomping a puppy to death, I saw the video and was totally disgusted by their actions, it's shocking, why would they do that, it's so inhumane, I felt so angry at them, I watched the video without any sound because I was in office, but I think with the sound the effect would be far worse. I cannot imagine the kind of pain the puppy was in, I also cannot imagine what went on in the minds of those 3 girls, are they crazy or what. The video just keeps replaying in my head after I watched it, it's so traumatic. As I read on, it's some sort of a crush fetish video, the girls are paid for performing the act, I cannot believe they were still smiling while committing the slaying of an innocent animal, I hope the authorities arrest these people and serve them a stiff sentence, this must be the tip of an iceberg since it's a paid act, some evil syndicat

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