Friday, April 30, 2010

Response from NEA on AMK Hub Hygiene Issue

This is a follow-up post from this blog entry.  It has been more than a week since I lodged my complaint with NEA.  This afternoon, I received an SMS from Joel of NEA, saying s/he had talked to the management of Foodfair at AMK Hub, asking them to improve their standards.

The response is a bit slow, after more than a week, but it is still better than no response.  I don't know how effective it is by just asking the relevant management to improve their standard.  That is yet to be seen. 

AMK Hub's Foodfair currently is undergoing some changes.  Many stalls had closed down to give way to new stalls.  The hygiene at AMK Hub's Foodfair was not really that good previously, with the current changes, it seems the standard has gone from bad to worse. 

Ok, let's see how AMK Hub's foodfair will improve on their hygiene standard.  I will check them out in the near future and give you an update.  Hopefully it is something positive.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Past Glory

When we were still young, we never thought of one day we would actually get old.  The promise of all those costly cosmetics and all the advancements of medical science.  But then when you really crosses a threshold, then you surprisely discover that no matter how much money you spend on the upkeep of looks, wrinkles will simply creep out from nowhere onto your face, that extra piece of fat just hangs around the most prominent area on your face. 

My dear dear showed me her high school photo the other day, my gosh, all those teenagers are now uncles and aunties.  Not even yet reach 40 but the hair lines are receding a pace that you don't want to know.  My dear dear friend is the only one who still has that youthful look. 

Getting old is not really a problem.  Everybody gets old anyway, no matter how handsome or beautiful or ugly you were when you were young, but once we get old, we all look like tree barks anyway :)  What makes a difference is some grow their knowledge and experience as they grow their age, some only grow old.  When you look back, during that decade that you grew older, did you make any progress in life?  Any aspect of it?  We were all young once, but if that is your only past glory, it is time for you to ponder about life...

Saturday, April 24, 2010

The Philosophy of Kazuo Inamori

The founder of Kyocera & KDDI of Japan shares with the readers his personal philosophies of the purpose of one's existence in the world. 

Mr Kazuo Inamori is a Buddhist, so his philosophy is heavily influenced by the Buddhism philosophy.  Many of his believes can be traced back to the teachings of Buddhism.  However, it does not mean this book has nothing new. 

Co-existence is new.  Mr Inamori points out that in the nature, animals co-exist well.  Animals from different parts of the food chain can live together in balance.  For example, tigers feed on wild boars, but have you ever seen a tiger will kill 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 wild boars at one go?  Tigers feed on wild boars, but they don't kill more than what they need.  They don't kill to show off their prey skills, they don't kill to waste.  In contrast, it is so common in modern days to see people leaving 1/4 or half their rice on the plate when they finish their meal.  To some, wasting food is part of their display of wealth.  Animals can coexist with each other, even though one feeds on the other, but humans can't.  Humans are too greedy, too self-centred.  They go all out to achieve their own goals while sacrificing those coexist with us, those that support us.

Mr Inamori, just like other great minds such as Van Tharp, Alexander Elder, T. Harv Eker, shares the view of the law of attraction.  If you always think of all the good things, your life will get better and better day by day.  On the contrary, if you always think of all the bad things, the negative energy will get the better of you, bad things will happen just as you have wished. 

Friday, April 23, 2010

Jetstar now flies to Osaka, Japan

I received an email from Jetstar today.  They are beginning their flights from Singapore to Osaka, Japan from 5 July 2010 via Taipei!  Wow, it is such great news.  At least we have one more option to choose.

They are currently having a promotional fare of S$248 all inclusive.   For this price, it is indeed cheaper than the other normal airlines by around S$100-200.  S$100-200 may not sound much, but for someone traveling on a shoestring, it is enough to cover 1-2 nights' accommodation, or a couple of meals.  However, when you decide to make the purchase, make sure you read all the fine prints.  S$248 all inclusive only means this price includes the normal fare plus taxes, but there are other small charges that should not be overlooked.

For example, for internet booking and payment by credit card, another ~$6 will be charge per section.   If you have any check-in luggage, additional S$15 will be charge for every check-in luggage up to a certain weight limit (usually 15-20kg). 

Being a budget traveler, you must sum up all the financial charges to have a more realistic picture of how 'cheap' or 'expensive' the air ticket is. 

You can check out the Jetstar offer here.  

Happy traveling.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Investment Psychology - 1

To a novice investor, the one utmost important thing in investment is to 'buy low and sell high'.  To a more mature investor, he may consider a  good trading system to be the key to his success.  To an investment guru, success in investment depends on nothing, but sound psychology.  Psychology plays a vital role in one's investment life, it decides whether you will be a successful investor or a sore loser, even before you embark on your investment journey.  However, in most of the investment literatures, psychology is usually neglected, or even purposely ignored.   In recent years, the works of Van Tharp, Alexander Elder, etc have made more investors aware of the importance of investment psychology.  In this series of articles on investment psychology, I would like to share with you what I have understood investment psychology to be, how it plays such an important role in your investment success and some of my personal experiences.  I hope you will find such articles useful to you. 

Thank you :)

Investment Psychology - Summary

I will use this entry as the summary page for a series of my blog entries on investment psychology I plan to write in the coming days, months, or even years.

Investment Psychology 1

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Disgusting Encounter at AMK Hub Foodcourt

This evening, I had an unpleasant experience at AMK Hub food court.  I bought a bowl of noodle at the XO Noodle stall.  When I took the spoon and chopsticks from the tray, I found wet tissue fragments in the spoon!  This means the spoon was not properly cleaned.  I put that spoon away and took another one.  The second spoon was even more disgusting!  There were some food fragments in it! 

Singapore has always prided herself for being a clean country, but this incident definitely gives a big dent to that image.  Over the years, the standard seems to have gone down significantly.  It is high time both the authorities and the general public come together to improve the hygiene standard in our food courts, hawker centers and coffee shops.  There is no excuse to be dirty even for those low-cost eating places.

Let's all do it together and keep Singapore a clean city.  If you find any unhygiene practice, please don't hesitate to report them to the relevant authority, which is National Environment Agency in this case.  You can make a report online through their online report center at the link below:
http://app.orc.gov.sg/Home.aspx

You can find a follow-up post on this issue at this blog entry.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Icelandic Volcano Eruption that Disrupted Air Traffic to Europe

Well, for people who had watched the movie 2012, here is a real life version, although less dramatic version of the dooms day scenario.  The eruption of this volcano in Iceland has disrupted thousands of planes in and around Europe, stranded hundreds of thousands of air passengers.  The impact to air travel of this eruption is said to be even bigger than Sept 11 terrorist attack.  For such an important event, how can I miss it and not to blog about it? 



It seems like this year we have exceptionally many natural disasters.  Earth quakes one comes after another, drought, flood, volcanic eruptions.  All kinds of natural disasters happened this year.  If you are a doomsday believer, you shall be happy to see what you believe comes true, or close to it. 

Anyway, I think planet earth is just entering into another phase of her natural life.  The survival of humans has to obey the natural laws.  Don't forget that dinasaurs used to rule this planet but where are they now?  We could only greet them in selected museums.  Don't be too surprised future residents of planet earth will only see humans, or rather remains of humans, in selected museums (if there is any) too. 

Enjoy your life everyday :)

Internet Privacy and Identity Theft

With social networks such as facebook.com getting more and more popular, and people putting more and more of their personal information onto such social media platforms, internet privacy and identity theft becomes a big concern.

Many people tend to think that it is very safe to put up their personal information on the internet, they assume nobody will be so free or may be so coincidental to chance upon their information.  They will be surprised!  If you want to look for information about a particular person, the first thing, and also the easiest thing to do is key in your name into Google's search engine.  Don't believe me?  Just try it for yourself.  Do it NOW! 

How many search results do you find about you?  The authentic information about you?  If you have a facebook account, or twitter account, your name will come up top in the search.  Your blog may come up as well.  It is really just the work of a click of the button and voila, most of your online information will be readily available, to whoever that can do that 'click'. 

Next time when you put up your personal information onto the internet, think thrice before you do that.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

How to make Kimchi at home

I like the Korean kimchi very much, but the kimchi available in the market are of two extremes.  On the one side, it is the good quality kimchi directly imported from Korea.  These kimchi's are very good in taste but high in price.  For a small pack, it costs you about $3-4.  On the other side, it is the local made kimchi's.  You see those kimchi's often served in our local food courts.  The taste is really bad and lacks that mouth-watering sensation.

So?  What can I do?  I do it at home, myself.  I did some search in the internet, watched some YouTube videos, and voila, I embarked on my kimchi-making journey.

Ingredients:

1. Chinese cabbage
2. Garlic mince
3. Ginger mince
4. Sping onion
5. Reddish
6. Salt
7. Sugar
8. Fish sauce
9. Chilli power

Preparation 1:

1. Cut Chinese cabbage into half, wash clean.
2. Put one cup of salt into water and let the salt fully dissolve into it
3. Put your Chinese cabbage into the salt water, and put a ceramic plate on top to press the cabbage down.  Leave it in room temperature for 24 hours.

Preparation 2: The sauce

1. Cut spring onion into small pieces
2. Cut reddish into small slices
3. Mix the spring onion, reddish, ginger, garlic together with one tea spoon of fish sauce, one tea spoon of sugar, one tea spoon of salt, and 3 tea spoons of chilli power.  Add one cup of water.

Preparation 3:

1. Take out the Chinese cabbage that has been marinated for 24 hours.  Cut it into 1-inch slices.  Mix the Chinese cabbage together with the sauce.
2. Put the mixture into an air-tight container and leave it in room temperature for 24 hours, and voila, you can have you home-made kimchi!

Notes:
1. You can also add in apple and/or pear in the sauce.  I have not tried it before, so decide for yourself.
2. The exact portions of the ingredients is subject to personal taste.  You can plus minus according to your own taste.
3. You will find different from what you see on TV about the kimchi preparation.  In TV, they don't cut the Chinese cabbage into small slices, instead, they marinate the Chinese cabbage leaf by leaf with the sauce.  That's the so-call authentic way of preparing kimchi, but it becomes quite a chore when you want to eat your kimchi.

Enjoy your home-made kimchi :)

Foot Reflexology Cautions

Went for a foot massage yesterday.  It had been almost a year since I had my last one.  It felt good after the massage.  In recent days, I couldn't really have deep sleep, and couldn't sleep for long.  6 hours a day is about the best that I could do.

After the foot massage, I slept for 8-9 hours last night and in good sound deep deep sleep.  My body feels energized in the morning and my mind is fresh.  I like this feeling.

Foot reflexology is good but then still there are some points for you to take note.

1. Don't do it too often.  Foot reflexology is like a booster to your body.  Your body is like a camp fire, when the fire was just set, it can have big flames, burning fiercely, but when the wood is about fully burnt, you can still use a stick to probe the fire and the fire can become big again.  However, you know the fire will sooner or later die off unless you throw in some additional wood. It is the same for foot reflexology.  It can give your body a boost, but if you don't solve the problem from the root, the same problem will come back and it will get worse.  For old people, it is recommended not to have foot massage more than once or twice a month.

2. Do not have foot massage 30 mins before or after meal. 

3. After foot massage, keep your feet dry & warm for at least 2 hours. 

Enjoy your foot reflexology and wish everybody good health :)

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Next Travel Destination...

I just realised I still have about one week of annual leave from last year to clear by the end of June.   I took out the world map:  Those far far away countries are out of the question, those expensive countries such as Europe and North American are excluded, then only left with Asian countries.  Laos?  Not too interested.  Myrammar, not a bad idea, but how to get there needs some research.  Ahhh....It is such a drag.  Malaysia and Thailand are quite boring.   It will be quite a nightmare to travel to mainland China during the summer heat.

Mmmmh.....