Blue is the new Green.

Ok, so this is not an advertorial - this blog doesn't receive enough hits to warrant an advertorial! - but I was doing my daily industrial design website reading when I chanced upon the report on Samsung BlueEarth (released 2 days ago and will be launched in UK in second part of this year) and I reckoned it deserved a mention here.

I think this phone seems to be headed in the right direction - Solar Panels and all!

Apparently, whenever the sun is out, the solar panels charge the phone enough to sustain a phone call - can you imagine the convenience that this phone will bring? Plus all the savings on electricity!

Ok, so I don't think handphones use THAT much electricity, but still, add up the number of cell phones there are in the world and I'm sure it amounts to quite a bit. Whatever it is, this phone is definitely a step in the right direction.

hmmm.
I wonder how long it would be before cars get their own solar-upgrades!

While the Big 3 in the US are trying hard to play catch up with their Eastern counterparts, we'll just sit back, relax and await the Mini E ! Sadly, the car has no solar cells but it IS pure electric- I guess that'll do!

I think it would be a few years before they release it as it's currently still on field study. Sigh!

I miss the clubman. :(

Bling Madness

So today I went to Woodbury (click here to read about Woodbury) and I promptly went MAD in the stores after I got off the bus. There was too much to cover and time was precious! Not to mention bus schedule constraints meant we only had 4.5 hours!

Well, of course I practiced restraint and only got the real deals(I hope I know a real deal when I see one! Especially for guy's clothes!), but it still added up to quite abit!




BTW people:

ok, my Advertising Management class had something about how managing a brand is very much about managing what people say about your brand. Hence, hence:
I shall TALK about brands:

The service for Calvin Klein is not up to par! :(
(at least for Woodbury. I think Singapore's store is kinda ok? But still, they should belong to the same company no? Even then... its the same brand!)

It's a PITY that Calvin Klein has such fantastic clothes(really nice!) but such horrid service


1) Staff who look at you and pretend you're not there: The Armani Exchange store had a MUCH bigger crowd and the staff were still nice and helpful. It was so empty in ck and I was walking all around the place and like only one time did someone come up to me and ask if I needed help - I went into the store at 2 different times too!

2) Waiting at the register with NO CASHIER attending it: While i was standing at the register, I think the store manager saw me but didn't even say anything. He was WAITING for a subordinate to come to the cashier. He JUST LET ME WAIT THERE! WTH!

3) Cashier who is DISTRACTED from cashiering: While cashing in my purchase, the cashier was talking NON stop to some random person outside of the register area, pretending as though I wasn't there. Bloody irritating.

4) SHE SQUISHED MY CALVIN KLEIN BAG INTO A SMALL PLASTIC BAG! I wanted to ask for a bigger bag but as I was rushing to get the bus, I just took it and ran! :(

My Poor bag! How to Squish it in like that!
What does she think the plastic bag is!
Popiah is it?!!

the more you stuff in the better, is it?
WTH!

(oh gosh, Im hungry. I miss popiah. I miss so many things!)

I'm not gonna patronize Calvin Klein for a long while to come- even though I really like their tees and polo tees. :( Kor, try to resist as well! lol.

If you can't resist, I know where you can find similar nice fitted clothes - at Armani Exchange!

The clothes in Armani Exchange fit VERY WELL, as good as Calvin Klein, and the service was SO MUCH BETTER:

POLO RALPH LAUREN & ARMANI EXCHANGE :)

The service in Polo Ralph Lauren was excellent.
Store assistants were helpful and enthusiastic and the cashier was EXTREMELY friendly.
ahhhh. Now THATS what I call service.

Armani has fantastic clothes. And Friendly service.
And clubbing music in their stores.
ha!

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Nuff Said.

I'm off to dream about Popiahs.

Marry Poppins

So, Mary Poppins made an appearance somewhere around New York today - according to my Debt Instruments professor and believed by yours truly.

What with the gale-force winds and the ominous, overcast sky, it was the exact setting before Mary Poppins popped out of the sky and landed in the yard of that house in the movie.

Like this!:

Ok, so MAYBE that is NOT the Scene I was looking for, but yes!
Did you see the wind blow!?
wooo woooo wooo!

Now look at what I filmed and spot the similarities!

and

Doesn't it feel similar?

No?
hmmmmmmm. hehe.

See, the winds were so strong it tore the flag off the flag post!

:S

On another note, it is gonna be
Valentine's Day
soon.

Those with partners, have a great great lovey dovey mushy day :)
Those without, spend it with your friends OR you can just think of it as some commercialised and silly event.
Yea.
Just don't feel lonely!

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Now, another reason why I ADORE my Debt Instruments Prof:

She gave us Heart-shaped sweets!
Ha!

I'm SO easily bought over!

Look!

ok, everything just got a whole lot wider and spacier on my blog! ha! spent one whole evening doing it. phe-ew!

Late night conversations.

Yesterday was the second time I met Jared Feiger, a friend of wei kor's who is reading law in NYU.

So we had dinner and went to get 泡泡茶。Amazing that there's a 泡泡茶 store in NYC, and yes, it's truly authentic taiwanese 泡泡茶, not ripoffs like erm, Singapore noodle or Shunlee food or what crap.

(got this photo from off the net, but this is the place. )

But I'm guessing you're not interested in reading about what kind of 泡泡茶 I had, or what food I ate, so yes, I'm gonna spare you! :D

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What was great about last night was the kind of conversation I had with Jared.

WELL...

You couldn't exactly say it was a conversation because it more or less involved a one way flow of information. HA! I tried my darnedest hardest to sound intelligent, knowledgeable and well read, and yes, I managed to recognize what he was saying about American politics, middle east relations and gave some view points about it all - BUT! - there's only so much of 'I heard about that!' 'I get your point...' 'hmmm true true' that you can inject into a conversation without starting to realize that, shit!, you don't know enough to solidly totally awesomely back your views!

Ok, so maybe I'm being too harsh on myself.
Afterall, the topics were ALL American and I do know quite abit about what's happening in the States for someone not from or staying within the States, and when he asked about Singapore's history, I DID manage to give him a rather concise and accruate account! (accurate because thankfully I had chosen to take Singapore History and Politics for my breadth module back in Singapore, instead of some weird thinggy, and yes, I wrote essays on Singaporean history!) but yes, I have to read more BBCnews!
hmmmm.......maybe the editorials will do me more good, been missing out on those!
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On another note about American Politics (sorta) :


Michelle Obama is on the Vogue Cover!
Wearing a dress made by a very young (Freaking 26 years old) taiwanese designer- Jason Wu.
click here to read more about Jason Wu...


Ok, 26 years old only.
Ok, we've been there and done that with the 9 year old iphone whatever. so.

*cue sound of of a full-forced cry of jealousy trying to escape from a mouth determinedly shut tight*



ahhhhh.
On another note, today's weather was gorgeous, it reached 18 degrees!



Look at the sun shine man!

Professor.

I am taking this class - Debt Instruments - and from the title I think you can tell that it involves a rather big amount of number crunching. Surprisingly, I'm finding it rather interesting.

Well, it was by sheer luck that I got this class because I had actually wanted to take Real Estate but that class turned out to be superbly advanced with a Professor who apparently explicitly said he wouldn't help you in your Excel spreadsheets and model making because you should have learnt it before. hmmmmmm. So, I dropped it and switched to Debt Instruments.

So yea, going back to Debt instruments: It's not interesting because the material is awe inspiring or that it's something I'm extremely passionate about. It's interesting because the lecturer is an extremely intelligent, funny, majorly eccentric, very passioniate and genuinely inspiring person! She carries herself well ( she has aged really gracefully and I think she probably looks younger than she is!) , answers students questions properly and injects alot of life into what I think is a rather dull and boring subject. (Those of you from NUS, if you remember the very wonderful stats lecturer Chen pei yi, well, they're sorta similar, but yet different. you get the idea. =D )

Yea, so this lecturer does things like screen music videos that she likes before EVERY single lesson, makes jokes about how her class should have a cafe latte machine in it ("what a great way to learn don't you think? All caffeinated and ready to go!" ) and loves to talk about politics.

So yea, she passed around a seating chart for us to fill in today (its a small class because it's seminar styled) and to get us oriented, she had the usual 'white board' and 'seats'. This is what she drew for herself:

(I scrambled her name because I'm not sure if she would like me to post this here! But I don't think she would have minded)

I didn't believe that anyone would ever say "I love Bond Math!" but there you go, she does! Well, you might say 'so childish!' but I think it shows that she knows how to take herself lightly and well, to just enjoy life!

This lecturer clearly demonstrates that if you are passionate about something, it will show and somehow, it will make you good at what you do ( I THINK SO LA, i mean, you have so many people who have dropped out of the rat race with nothing to show for it, so yea, but dont think about that now! I'm trying to be reflective!) .

Now. Let me ask myself:
WHY AM I TAKING FINANCE AGAIN?

hmmm.


ho ho ho.


(tengkok don't snigger)
( I can be passionate about finance like my prof ok!, you wait and see! *crosses fingers*)

Over-aged under-achiever, meet under-aged over achiever.

So I was procrastinating and surfing BBC (again!) and this caught my eye

"9 year old creates iphone code"

I thought,"oh ok, some genius somewhere.." so I click on it, and hey presto, the small'un is from Singapore!
You go Singapore!(or Malaysia depending on how you look at it)

Well ok, so THAT's not my main point. My main point is:

That littl'un is friggin 9 years old!!!!!!!!

Tell me ALL about over-achievers man. WHY is it that the smart people are getting younger and younger? Or maybe it's just because I'm getting older and older. :(

I should just forget all about my crap Advertising Management work ( which is so so so crappy i feel like puking, I think Finance is so much more grounded, but aye, I'm saying this in a fit of jealousy - Advertising IS fun, but also crappy, but fun.) and sit here and sulk.

I copied and pasted the article here for your viewing pleasure, ( you can come sulk with me after this):
_____________________________
Nine-year-old writes iPhone code (BBCnews.com)

Lim Ding Wen started using a computer when he was aged two

A nine-year-old Malaysian boy in Singapore has written a painting application for the Apple iPhone.

Lim Ding Wen created the finger painting program, known as Doodle Kids, for his two younger sisters aged three and five.

The program allows iPhone owners to draw images on the handset's touch screen using just their fingers.

The program has been downloaded more than 4,000 times from Apple's iTunes store in less than two weeks.

While most children of his age are painting or drawing with crayons, Lim Ding Wen has been programming.

Lim, who is now fluent in six programming languages (what the ...... I tried mastering a third language and it's difficult, and he knows 6 ?????) , first started using a computer when he was two-years-old, discovered programming aged seven, and has since completed more than 20 programming projects.

His latest application, Doodle Kids, allows users to draw pictures using their fingers and then clear the screen by shaking the iPhone.

"I wrote the program for my younger sisters, who like to draw," said Lim. "But I am happy that people like it."

Lim wrote the original application on his computer but has now adapted it for use on an iPhone.

He told The Electric New Paper in Singapore that he wrote the application in just a few days in Pascal.

Go on my son

Writing on his website, Lim's father - Lim Thye Chean - a chief technology officer at a local hi-tech firm, who also writes iPhone applications, was modest about his son's achievements.

"Ding Wen is an above average boy ( You mean SUPER intelligent with like 20000 IQ? Stop being so humble la! =D ) with an interest in computers, especially Apple IIGS and Macs, likes to do programming, and that's it.

"Doodle Kids is an extremely simple program that can be done by anybody. Everybody can program - if Ding Wen can, so can you," (if birds can fly, so can you! hehe hoho!) he wrote.

Lim Ding Wen is now working on a sci-fi game for the iPhone called Invader Wars (!!!! Ok, now, seriously, STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME FEEL LIKE AN OVER-AGED UNDER ACHIEVER. The next thing the itsy'un is going to do is write a script that will make the world go the other way round) and plans to join his school's robotics club.
___________________________

Ok, I shall stop whining and get over my little itsy bits of insecurities and go back to work. The little'un might be on to great things, but, small steps are good enough for me! Sound so sour-grapes hor.

Australian Wildfires

So I am a fan of BBCnews.com and the coverage of the Australian wildfires have been rather shocking. It's devastating how a few misguided, socially irresponsible and horrible(disgusting even) arsonists could have caused the destruction of so many homes and the loss of countless lives.

If you go to the bbc site, there's a video of interviews with survivors and it is truthfully depressing. This man tried to save some people stuck in a burning car but he could not open the doors because it was too hot. Apparently, some of the hotels would not even open their doors to the 'old and people with babies' when they needed water and rest. Disturbing!

Hope the fires die down soon.

Fantastic Weather , but very much under it.

So the weather forecast for the next week is that the temperature is going to be constantly above 0 degrees - Great, GREAT,GREAAEAEAETT news for me since I'm terribly afraid and perturbed by the biting cold.

What's not too good news is that I woke up today with a throat that was painful and parched.

I wasn't exactly surprised that the sore throat appeared over night since there were lingering symptoms the night before - the usual achy bones, constant jittery feeling and eyes which felt like they really didn't belong in the sockets. Not to mention, Yi was complaining about a sore throat the day we met for dinner.

The poor girl had it rough - she went to give tuition to some kids and they were sick, so yea. she caught it and then I think promptly passed it to me. Hope she is well now! So, anyways, not to worry- this doesn't seem like too strong a bug and I should be well in about a day or so. *Crosses fingers*

The girls LOUNGING on my bed (because there's only one chair in my room and I was using it =D ) the day Si left.
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So to combat the buggy bug, I decided that I had to consume good, clean, simple food.
Hence, I learnt how to make porridge! I had porridge yesterday and today - kor, I know u'd be puking at the thought of it.

WELL. Let's say I love making porridge now. It's not exactly FAST food, but the results are good :)

Not to mention, I love the smell of boiling chicken stock!

See the chopped, fresh garlic and soya sauce + oyster sauce?
YUMMMM

The porrige mid way through

I was surprised at how much the porridge turned out to look like the one we have at home, and it tasted like it too. HA!
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OK FINE, so you CANT exactly have porridge that doesn't LOOK like porridge, BUT YEA, this was my first time!

Ok, this is a bit abrupt, but last night I binged abit more cos it was the Choeun's (the korean girl) 21st birthday and the Floor residents went to some steak place where I had erm. damn, forgot what it was called, I know they have it in Macs as well..hmm. some burger, ah, Angus Burger. Good hearty food. :)

I don't have any more photographs from that event because all the group photos were taken with other cameras - you know how in group settings there's always an abundance of cameras. yeaaaaaaa.

~

Before I go back to doing my work, here's a view which I got last night, thought it was beautiful :

The moon rising at dusk.
ahhhhhh.

Ciao!

Overdue Photographs

These photographs are overdue: the view from my room at night.

This is the gorgeous building opposite of the Palladium, it's the Con Edision building.
The clock tower is exceptionally pretty at night.

This is the view to the west, You can see a little bit of Union square there.

Sadly, this is a view only my camera can get - unless of course I had some daredevil guts.

This is the view to the east. With no buildings blocking my sight, I can see till the river.
Again, this is not a view I could get without risking my life or something.

Hope u guys liked it!

Au Revoir !

Si left for France today to begin the last part of her academic pursuits (for now, that is).

Au revoir et bonne chance dans vos études! (wow, that took me long to compose, phe-ew!)
Thanks for visiting, I will miss you! See you back in Singapore :)

~

So for the past 2 days, I've been hibernating in my room doing nothing but studying and more studying. Thankfully, the view from my desk is rather beautiful and I get to see it transit from morning to day, then to dusk and night. It is most pleasant at dusk, when the sun is setting and the blinds cast alternating patterns of dark and light on my books.

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(not my view, but, you get the idea).
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BUT, SO LAME RIGHT??? COME ALL THE WAY TO NY AND OBSERVE DUSK FROM THE DESK IN MY ROOM? WHAT . THE . CRAP. !

I CAN'T HELP IT!

The amount of work there is + my innate desire to mug and mug and mug and do well JUST FORCES ME TO STAY IN MY ROOM AND STUDY! WHEN THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS SOOOOOO NICE AND GREAT! IT IS ACTUALLY 8 degrees OUTSIDE NOW!

ahhhhhhhh.

Anyways, so to break the monotony, I went out for a while just now for dinner with yi , si and yihan at *popeyes!* (because i had a craving for their biscuits.) and after that, to the NYU Singapore Student's Association's elections.

The funny thing is, both Yi and Si voted. Haha. I don't think anyone, except for yihan and a few others, knew they were not in NYU. heh. But no harm done I guess - the person we were voting for(and who eventually won, not by 2 swing votes i hope! ;) ) was a capable, bright, inspiring etc etc etc etc person.

Well yes, so the funny thing is that when Yi came in the afternoon, she said she had a craving for Prawn mee from the Nonya restaurant. But since I wanted to eat popeyes and it was nearer, we went, and well, she ate to her heart's content there.

So can you imagine the irony when we went to the SSA elections and they had ordered Prawn mee from THAT SAME restaurant? ha.

Oh well!

Them casting their votes for the elections.
Heh!

Happy Birthday Jian!

Ok, so 2 posts in a day isn't a sign of me using my time wisely. It is 2 44 am here. oops.

But, you can't expect me to mish mash this announcement in with the other frivolous and trivial stuff about my memory or lack thereof can you!


For all my family who visit this blog:

IT IS
TAN LIANG JIAN'S BIRTHDAY TODAY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIAN!!!!!!!
生日快乐！！！！！

may you have a great great day and a beautiful year ahead!

Well, so I wanted to post the baby picture of you(jian) that's hanging on my family collage in my room, the one with Uncle edward feeding you. BUT. I didnt have a picture of the collage here!

So I resigned myself to posting a generic pic of you. So yea, I found the following:

This was taken in 2007 , during Chinese New Year. Wow, 2 years ago. How time flies. You and my sis. on my bed. AND somehow you're drinking beer. I just noticed it as I was typing this!!!

haha. But guess what! look at what's behind you ! The picture I was looking for !

And thankfully, the camera had good resolution so....

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TADA!

I personally LOVE this picture.
So candid, so timeless.

Happy 22nd and have a fantastic birthday!
Hope school is treating you well and that you're enjoying it - always remember to have a great time!

Goldfish memory.

Finally the weekend is here , but I have an assignment due on Sunday, one on Monday , two on Tuesday and five thousand on Wednesday.Doesn't really seem like good news does it.

We were actually planning to go to Woodberry tomorrow (one of the premium factory outlets), but a combination of work and well, indecisiveness, caused us to postpone it till next week.

Ho hum.

On another note, yours truly here probably has a short term memory span which can rival that of a goldfish.

I almost sent the camera for a life changing journey through the dryer!

I had left it in the laundry basket with all the clothes (why it was in there, is well a long story, but since I don't want to do work I might as well tell it to you. Basically, it's something like a friend wanted me to take pictures and I had my clothes which hadn't dried after one cycle of drying and so I had to go re-dry them and since I didnt want to put the camera back in my room I just conveniently left it with the semi dry clothes, you get the idea) and had totally forgotten about it.

After only what, 10 mins, I forgot I had left the camera in the laundry basket. =O

Just as I was emptying the clothes into the dryer, the words 'SONY' flashed amongst the jeans and tee shirts and while still recovering from a split second panic attack, I lurched into the dryer to save the dear camera.

Ok la, so I sort of exaggerate. Who doesn't? I'm sure you you you you, and you, all of you do! =D

~


On another note, we had a 16th Floor meeting today.

Geddit?
ho ho ho.

I didn't come up with that ok!


~

More Commercials!
Courtesy of Ian Ang. LOL

This made me loop it I think 10 times continuously.

So scary how the children can do an Eyebrow wave!
Can't believe Cadbury has a production house as well. LOL.
Soon, you might be watching Cadbury movies!
ahhhhhhhhhhh.
Charlie and the Cadbury factory.

Erratic Weather

Hola.

Alright, so the title should actually have been:

" blah blah blah, blah blah blah."

All the assignments + readings + catching up with work have left me with a rather uneventful and boring time, but oh well, I can't bear to let this blog die such a quick death: hence, hence...

.... I have decided to blog about the exciting weather!

EXciTing WEathEr!
EXciTing WEathEr!
EXciTing WEathEr!

This was just a few days ago when the weather was about 6 degrees (celcius! I'm irritated with the Fahrenheit) and it was warm enough for people to actually sit around in the park. A sign of what Spring will be like - cannot wait, cannot wait.
Above is Washington square park, which is where all the NYU buildings are around.

Well yea, so it was a good day.



A few days later, the temperature went down once again to -7 degrees and now we're having a snow storm.

Can you see the white fluffy things? That's snow !
SNOOOOWWWWWWW

This was on the way back from school today.
I would CRY if the mini was ever exposed to such conditions.

Can imagine myself washing the car everyday without fail.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




~



Ok, this is on a separate note.

BUT.

so sunday was
SUPERBOWL

Guess what.

I had NO idea there was such an event before coming to NY. OK maybe I might have heard about it, but I didn't exactly know about it.

Well yea, so this particular football (american) finals has great great viewership, (something like 95 freaking million (like 10000 times sinapore's population) ) and therefore, cost of commercial air time during this period is immensely high. All the firms fight to pay top dollar to have their highly anticipated commercials screened during this football event - people even talk about what commercials will be on during the event weeks prior to it!

Half of me wonders whether people are actually watching the commercials more than the football.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Anyways, I'm taking this class - advertising management and well, it consists of alot of advertisement (pronounced here as 'advert-ice-ment', urgh!) watching and so, we had to watch the superbowl commercials and pick some that we liked. (i cheated and watched them all on youtube)

Well, I personally LOVED the following one, but when in class, many people said it was annoying.


Nice right? So funny! I hope that doesn't happen to me , or anyone I know in the future!

Apparently, the following rated high amongst all the commercials, and also in class! - I personally find it crude and unappealing. I prefer wit and intelligent humour in my commercials.




Why am i doing free advertising for Superbowl and their commercials? I'm not even a fan! Why? Cos I don't wanna do my work.

Think I might have to go to careerbuilder.com soon.

heh.

Ciao! =)