Magic casts by Baby Xuan

Early last Fri, I managed to take a video of niece doing her magic casts - shake-your-butt, ta-ta, clap clap, chiak etc..

Shake-your-butt : when she hears music, she will dance (shaking her butt) .. hahaha..
Chiak : hide-and-seek game. Niece's head turns left and right when play chiak.

Marina Barrage, finally!

Three years of construction with S$230 million investment - A reservoir in the city, turning sea water to become fresh water. That sounds sophiticated. I always wanted to go Marina Barrage since it launched on Nov 1st 2008. Either something was up on that day or we lost our way. Finally today I went there. Left my block around 8:35am with bro jogged all the way there. We went by Bukit Merah to Chinatown and turned towards CBD then Marina South. Along Marina South, we asked for direction. The journey there was dusty because of Marina Sands construction. Imagine, heavy vehicles in and out from the contruction sites. I guess that's why this year Standard Chartered marathon has chosen different route.

We reached there around 10am, it was sunny and hot. No doubt, the architecture and view are beautiful. Drawbacks are no water dispenser nor vending machine, toilet seat was broken, no proper signage outside the main entrance. One good point is the high frequency of chartered bus from Marina South mrt.

After almost a month, now I have been to Marina Barrage. I would not be going again in the near future until things are much settle there.

Some pics I downloaded from internet:

Ta-ta

Niece is about 9 months. We have been teaching her to bid farewell - bye bye & ta ta for few weeks. At first, she seemed to know but then don't know. She was with the what-are-you-doing look. Then one day, she said ta ta, ta ta by folding her fingers toward her palm. That it is! Ta ta, ta ta.. the magic word with magic cast! Then we taught her proper way to wave her right hand. Sometimes, she does it, sometimes she just has her own ways. Every morning, I will say bye-bye to her before I leave to work or before she goes to nanny's place. Now with everyday routine, she constantly does the magic cast or wave her hand :)

Guess ta-ta is her first word as compare to other infants, they normally say ma or pa.. Since niece is special, hope her next word is ku ku (gu gu as in chinese).. hahaha...

Latest pic taken with my camera phone

World of Warcraft

After spending 3 hours at Funan today, finally I decided to buy WoW whole new set. I already have classic and I bought classic again. Now I have brand new complete set of WoW - Classic, BC and Lich King. I also bought a game card to try out. I spent $169 for WoW.

Battle Chest - $59

Lich King + 60 Days Game card - $110

Afterall, this shop sells at the best price. Average price from other shops:

Game card - $46

Battle Chest - $64.90

Lich King - $69.90

Was it a good buy? Worth it? I am not sure..............

Update (Nov 26, 2008): Found my fren to buy the whole set from me...hahaha...

Madagascar 2 - Escape to Africa

I watched Madagascar 2 today. I like the prequel and as expected, the sequel was cute and funny. To go Africa, take PenguinAir as the fastest and easiest way ;) When you are in Africa, watch out for four penguins (yea..penguins in Africa!) that will hijack your jeep... If you fall sick, visit Melman, the girraffe witch doctor. But be warned, you may lost in a herd of zebras, trying to look for Marty. I am sure I will! Hahaha.. Gloria found her date - Moto Moto.. you can see the sexy, 10 pax, 1000 pounds Moto Moto emerging from the water.. As for Alex, he re-united with his parents and saved the herds.

Wallpaper

PenguinAir

M1

Looking forward for the third sequel in 2011. Hopefully, this time they manage to go back to NY..

http://www.apple.com/trailers/dreamworks/madagascar2/

http://www.madagascar-themovie.com/

Four Worms and a Biology Lesson

A minister decided that a visual demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon.

Four worms were placed into four separate jars.


The first worm was put into a container of alcohol.
The second worm was put into a container of cigarette smoke.
The third worm was put into a container of chocolate syrup.
The fourth worm was put into a container of good clean soil.

At the conclusion of the sermon, the Minister reported the following results:

The first worm in alcohol - Dead.

The second worm in cigarette smoke - Dead.

Third worm in chocolate syrup - Dead.


Fourth worm in good clean soil - ALIVE.

So the Minister asked the congregation - What can you learn from this demonstration? Maxine, who was sitting in the back, quickly raised her hand and said,


'As long as you drink, smoke and eat chocolate, you won't have worms!'
That pretty much ended the service --

Baby Xuan First Swimming Lesson

Sis was bathing niece this morning. She was very playful, kicking the water until the whole floor was wet. I guess she will be the next Michael Phelps in 16 years time ;)

Microwave Oven

I bought some JCo donuts from Batam the other day and shared it among colleagues. The donut box printed "Put warm in microwave oven for 8seconds". So, two of my colleagues were trying that. First, they "study" the oven, getting around how to use it. They managed to set the 8seconds. Then kaboom! The donuts were not warm at all. The verdict: They forget to press the Start button..hahaha.. After awhile, we heard the beep sound - they happily found the Start button but the donuts were not warm enough. Then tried for another few seconds.... The donuts finally out - hot from the oven!

It takes a planner and an engineer to operate an oven ... ;)

Batam

Departed from HarbourFront and arrived at Sekupang around 11:30am. Went straight for live seafood lunch at Golden Prawns 933 at Bengkong. Then shopping spree at Nagoya Hill followed by coffee break at Godiva Coffee. Next was foot and shoulder massage. Then time for dinner at Tang Pau 966 at Nagoya. Rushed to Batam Center to buy JCo donuts and back to home sweet home!

Seafood lunch for 5 persons: $460K

Hazelnut Mocca: $20K

90mins Food & Shoulder Massage: $50K

Dinner for 5 persons: $250K

Choosing Seafood

Cooked seafood

Dinner

Godiva Coffee

Marina Square

We supposed to go Marina Barrage but 'stranded' at Marina Square instead. Today is baby Xuan's 8th month birthday. So we went Marina Square for dinner and cakes. When we were about to leave, about 10m away, there was this Philippine couple with their 11-month old daugther smiling to us. I was holding Xuan and the mum came towards me and smiling excitedly. She politely asked our permission to take pic with Xuan. She took few pics with her camera and together with her daughter and husband. She was so excited and carried Xuan. First time we met such a passionate couple. Once I received pics from her, I will post it here..

Dinner @Spageddies

Cakes @Secret Recipe

Bottle Tree Park

While I was writing this blog, my 8-month old niece was beside me playing on my bed. She wanted to reach my notebook by trying very hard to crawl over me...hahaha..

Anyway, Bottle Tree Park. Bro and I went there today for voluntary event organized SIA collaboration with my company. At 2:45pm, elderly from SunLove arrived. Then Fei Yue followed by AWWA etc. A few of us were assigned to take care of SunLove. While waiting for guests of honour, we distributed goodie bags, fruits, ballons as well as escorted the elderly to toilet. After the event was officially launched, there were games for the elderly and disabled children and it came with gifts.

Although we all were tired, we enjoyed the whole event. The joy, laughters and fun that we shared with elderly were priceless. It was really a great event.

Performance rehearsal

Arrival of SunLove elderly

Distributing ballons

Two makcik that given me the joy & fun thoughout the whole event. If you look carefully, you will be able to spot the bottle tree ;)

Amazing striped icebergs

Icebergs in the Antarctic area sometimes have stripes, formed by layers of snow that react to different conditions.
Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with meltwater and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form.

When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a green stripe.
Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the sea.

Antarctica Frozen Wave Pixs - Nature is amazing! The water froze the instant the wave broke through the ice. That's what it is like in Anmtarctica where it is the coldest weather in decades. Water freezes the instant it comes in contact with the air. The temperature of the water is already some degrees below freezing. Just look at how the wave froze in mid-air!!!

The Law of Cause and Effect

Law cause and effect can be applied to everything. Simple examples, if I am hungry then I want to eat.
Cause --> Hungry.
Effect --> Eat

Another example is if I invest $10, I gain $20 (This is an example only...hahaha)
Cause --> Invest
Effect --> Gain

Recently, I read a forwarded email about Warren Buffet said about current situation and investment. Then I saw my friend summarized it in his blog <http://simpleman-blog.blogspot.com/>. It is informative especially for non-investor like me :) Inside the train, you may have spotted “Greedy when people are fearful, fearful when people are greedy” being said by Warren Buffet. So, which is cause and which is effect?