Young Upstart vs the Old Wizard ; Lin and Kobe

Buying a washing machine in 15 minutes

    This article will rile some readers but this is the difference between men and women. As a man, I make quick decisions on the functionality of a household product, so when our home washing machine broke down, my wife asked me to buy one from the local white goods store, Best Denki, and I did.

    The store is located at downtown Vivocity, near town, and when it opened at 10am, I went down there with the specs of my old washing machine which was a Bosch 1601 L, side loaded, able to handle 7kgs and programmable for various temperatures and soak times. The only thing not adjustable was the rpm or revolutions per minute. So I got the attention of the salesperson, discussed price, specs, delivery, time (2 days) and WHAM paid in full. 15 minutes, using my debit card and it delivered in 2 days with installation and replacement of the old machine all in.

       Singapore and some Singaporeans (like lucky me) have things so easy, materialwise. We can purchase many items, maybe even a car without having to take a loan. We should be very thankful that we live in a clean, modern, fully developed, low tax country , run by a competent non-corrupt Government with top medical care,dining and medical care facilities at our doorstep. 

       Why oh why do some Singaporeans still whinge and bicker about every small inefficiency ? Life is too good that we need to nitpick ? Lets be more gracious and caring to the less fortunate in our midst.           

Jeremy Lin 3 pointer winner for NY Knicks vs Toronto Raptors

       The latest NBA sensation is Jeremy Lin, a Taiwanese American Harvard graduate, who is creating the phrase "Linsanity". His on court play is nothing short of wizardry, but the most amazing thing is his coolness under intense pressure, look at this play, with 5 seconds left, he goes for the kill and seals the game. What a player, an icon for all Asian players to emulate in the decades to come.
      He is making me a fan of NBA, when I never really liked the game.

     Linsanity !!  

Under Pressure - Queen circa 1989, starrig the late great Freddy Mercury

      One of my all time favourite songs as a teenager, Under Pressure originally sung by David Bowie and made into a all time hit by Queen. The charisa of the late Freddy Mercury is unmistakable, he has the entire 100,000 crowd at Wembly Stadium eating out of his hand. He could even utter profanities at them and they lapped it all up. One extremely talented man with a mike wields extraordinary soft power. We will never see the likes of him and his kind again.
      Enjoy the song folks.

Kenny Loggins - A Rare Talent with Great Vision

The Mr. Brown Show ; Minister of Ponding

This is the local comedy satirist blogger, Mr. Brown, whose impersonation of a local minister (fictitious of course) strikes a hilarious chord for the hot topics of the day in Singapore. If you are interested in Singapore and Malaysian politics, this videos for you.

Happy Chinese New Year all

Here's wishing all family and friends a happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year of the Dragon !

          At my brother in law's place for lunch today

       Every Chinese New Year for the last 25 years as I recall (1987 or thereabouts), my mother would make  preparations for her entire clan of sisters and only brother to invite them to my house for Chinese New Year. This tradition was stopped last year when my dear mother passed away at the good age of 80 (81 in Chinese terms). So there was no celebration, as with the Chinese custom, there was observance for at least 49 days.  

        This year, our family was invited to my brother in law's house for CNY lunch and later in the evening, my son Noel invited his group of class friends from Sec 4, all young men, to our place for a barbecue and of course, some gambling. So, it was back to meeting of family and friend again.
 
        Lets remember that the bonds of family and friendship are all important in our daily lives, so Chinese NewYear or not, lets set aside time to build the bonds which will be life long lasting.