Tweet

I saw this video over my Facebook friend and this is so hilarious! So if you want to have a picture perfect summer, follow the tips from this video.



Free plugging for Samsung Smart Camera WB150F.

Tweet

The copy of Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa has been unveiled at the Louvre museum in Paris last March 27, 2012. The copy is called "Portrait of Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo aka Mona Lisa aka La Joconde." The exhibition will run from March 29 to June 25, 2012.

Photo credit: CHARLES PLATIAU/Reuters

Tweet

Photo credit: Olivia Lee

The only sustainable light art display show in Asia called "i Light Marina Bay 2012" will take place every night from 7:30 PM to 11 PM at the Marina Bay precinct.

During the festival, 42 participating buildings are required to switch off their non-essential indoor and outdoor lights and office equipments. They are also required to raise the air-conditioning temperature from 24 to 25.

Organizers have announced that some buildings outside the Marina Bay precinct have participated which includes Wisma Atria, New Tech Park and Tampines Concourse.

The light art display started last March 9 and will end on April 1st. So rush to the Marina Bay are and be fascinated. To win attractive prizes, you can log in to www.marina-bay.sg/ilightmarinabay and submit your innovative and practicable energy efficiency ideas.

Tweet

1. The Hunger Games
2. 21 Jump Street
3. Dr. Seuss' The Lorax
4. John Carter
5. Act of Valor
6. Project X
7. A Thousand Words
8. October Baby (2012)
9. Safe House
10. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
11. Casa De Mi Padre
12. This Means War
13. Friends with Kids
14. The Vow
15. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
16. Silent House
17. Jeff, Who Lives at Home
18. Tyler Perry's Good Deeds
19. The Artist
20. A Separation

Tweet

I saw this tribute video in YouTube for Whitney Houston. The animation is nicely made.

Tweet

Last Saturday, I was able to go to Tampines and visit the ClubFitt gym there. So far, I have visited ClubFitt branches in Yishun, Hougang, Bishan and Tampines. My standout favorite of course is tied to Yishun and Tampines. Yishun because it was my first gym in Singapore then I shifted to Tampines. Tampines is huge and you have a wide variety of equipments.

Now, my current gym is Bishan since that is the nearest gym to my place. It is quite small than Yishun and the equipments are old and sometimes it gets crowded. I just hope they will renovate or move to a bigger location. Bishan is a big market for gym goers, I hope they will do something about it.

Anyway, back to Tampines ClubFitt. I was so impressed that they have brand new equipments to add on to their well equipped gym. And what caught my attention was the massage chair which you can rent for $1 for 16 minutes. They only have 2 massage chairs inside the gym and I was tempted to use it. Since my friend and I were meeting our other friend for dinner, I bid goodbye to it.

Luckily, I saw the same massage chair for rents in Bishan ClubFitt. Since Bishan is too small, the chairs were placed near the restaurant above the gym. Maybe one of these days, I will get to try it. Hopefully, it is well sanitized!

Tweet

Singapore people, go rush to all Ben & Jerry's outlets on April 3 from 2PM to 8PM for your free cone. This is Ben & Jerry's way of saying thank you to Singapore's continued support. Free Cone Day is not applicable to Singapore Zoo and Jurong Point outlets.

Tweet

Photo credit: Marianne Bermudez

Planking is out in the Philippines and the new in thing now is "noynoying" which was arrived from our Philippine President's nickname "Noynoy."

I always see the word "noynoying" in Facebook and in the news so I was determined to know the meaning of it. After digging in the news, I learned that it is actually an act where a person will look like bored, idle or relaxed. Apparently, those are the negative characteristics of our Philippine President.

Noynoying is so popular that it has been used during protest. So the next time you see someone slacking in the office, try not to judge them. Lol!

Tweet

If you're cooking process should take only less than hour then this technique might help you to quicken it up. In the video, some tips were shared on how to defrost meat properly.

Tweet

Singapore people good news, the Personal Data Protection Bill will be presented to the Parliament by the third quarter of 2012. With this new law, consumers will be protected from unsolicited SMS and marketing calls.

Under the proposed bill, organizations will only be able use customers contact details upon their consent. The bill will also include the creation of the Do-Not-Call (DNC) Registry which allows consumers to sign up if they don't want to bugged with the unsolicited SMS and marketing calls.

Public feedback will be accepted by Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) from March 19 to April 30 via mica_dp_bill_consultation@mica.gov.sg until 5PM of April 30th.

This is great news for us consumers especially to those who call you for insurance and credit cards. I hope this law will be passed as well in the Philippines. Enough of selling our contact details!

Tweet

I hope the Philippines can do a commercial like this to entice young ones to be a teacher. And I hope teachers will be rewarded accordingly especially in the Philippines. The good ones are actually migrating overseas to work for other nationalities.

Tweet

1. 21 Jump Street
2. Dr. Seuss' The Lorax
3. John Carter
4. Project X
5. A Thousand Words
6. Act of Valor
7. Safe House
8. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
9. Casa De Mi Padre
10. This Means War
11. The Vow
12. Silent House
13. Friends with Kids
14. Tyler Perry's Good Deeds
15. The Artist
16. Jeff, Who Lives at Home
17. Wanderlust
18. A Separation
19. Chronicle (2012)
20. Hugo

Tweet

This was my dilemma last week. I was tasked to connect to SAP service to get some data that my new system will need. I was able to connect to the service and pass the parameters but I wasn't able to get the result. If I test the ESB side, the service that I was calling was giving result so the problem is my coding.

Thankfully, my colleague gave me the code to get the result of the service. The code that I'm lacking are the two lines of the code. You just need to declare the response of the service and pass the response of the method.

private SAPService.service _SAPService;
private SAPService.ZhrCostcentreInfo1 SAPTable;

_SAPService = new SAPService.service();
_SAPService.PreAuthenticate = true;
_SAPService.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("username", "password");

SAPService.ZhrCostcentreInfo[] result = new CHS.SAPService.ZhrCostcentreInfo[1];

SAPTable = new CHS.SAPService.ZhrCostcentreInfo1();
SAPTable.Costcentre = "";
SAPTable.EffDte = "";
SAPTable.Orgeh = "";
SAPTable.Pernr = "";
SAPTable.ZhrCostcentre = result;

CHS.SAPService.ZhrCostcentreInfoResponse respobj = new CHS.SAPService.ZhrCostcentreInfoResponse();

respobj = _SAPService.ZhrCostcentreInfo(SAPTable);

Tweet

After having a feast at Domino's Pizza last Friday, we went to watch "The Woman in Black" at NEX. I was able to see the trailer of this movie when we went to watch "This Means War." The trailer was indeed catchy and I told myself that I have to watch it.

Anyway, "The Woman in Black" is actually a film adaptation of Susan Hill's book of the same title. The story of the movie revolves around Arthur Kipps played by Daniel Radcliffe. He portrayed a young solicitor, who was assigned to handle the estate of Alice Drablow, who lived at the Eel Marsh House with her husband, son and sister. At that house while working on the papers, he heard noises and experienced bizarre things. On many instances he saw the woman in black at the cemetery and even the ghost children right in front of the porch. From there, he was able to connect the dots and solve the mystery of the death of the woman in black. But the grudge of the woman in black prevailed in the end.

Now for my review. The story is actually not that ordinary. It is quite common and it has been used in many plots of movies and TV series. And since it should follow the premise of the book, there's no happy ending. Or are we expecting a sequel?

In terms of suspense and thriller ingredients, the movie can do better. But it was still scary though especially the build up before the climax of the scary scene.  The guy on my right at the cinema was actually on fetal position hiding on his girlfriend.

Acting wise, Daniel Radcliffe acted better here than his role in Harry Potter. One character that is also impressive for me is Janet McTeer, who played Mrs. Daily, the woman who is possessed by her son and treats her dogs as her children.

Overall, the movie isn't that bad. More scary stuff and changing of the ending would have made it better for me.

Tweet

It was January 2010 when Domino's Pizza has finally returned to Singapore after its decade hiatus. I was only able to try it last year at its Tampines Branch. I was so ecstatic that I was able to feast again on Domino's Pizza last Friday near the Somerset MRT station.

Here are the photos of what we have ordered taken from my Nokia Lumia 800.

My favorites are the Extravaganza on thin crust and the yummiest Chocolate Lava cake!

Tweet

A US-based nonprofit watchdog group, The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has released a statement that popular soda Coca Cola and Pepsi contain high levels of 4-methylimidazole (4-MI). 4-MI is a carcinogen, which is found in the caramel coloring of the soda.

CSPI said that they have conducted animal studies and has concluded that 4-MI can cause lung cancer, liver cancer, throid cancer and even leukemia among lab rats.

CSPI also reports that in Washington area, Pepsi in two 12-ounces cans have 145 and 153 micrograms (mcg) of 4-MI while Regular Coke in 12-ounces can has 142 mcg of 4-MI and Diet Coke 12-ounces can has 103 mcg of 4-MI. The state of California requires warning labels for those products containing more than 29 mcg of 4-MI.

Following this report, Coca Cola has asked the caramel manufacturers to modify the production process to reduce the amount of 4-MI.

In Singapore, Coca Cola released a statement that Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has approved the use of the caramel found in all Coca-Cola products.

Tweet

Good news to non-smokers in Singapore, starting this month the smoking ban has been extended to more public places. Yipee!

Included in the banned areas are the common corridors, void decks, staircases within residential areas and bus shelters with a radius of 5 meters.

With these additional banned areas, strict enforcement should take place. It really bugs me to smell smoke at bus stops and even the lobby at the office. I just hope this will be a wake up call to those who smoke. Not only it costs a lot in Singapore but it kills you!

Tweet

1. Dr. Seuss' The Lorax
2. John Carter
3. Project X
4. Act of Valor
5. Silent House
6. A Thousand Words
7. Safe House
8. The Vow
9. This Means War
10. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
11. Tyler Perry's Good Deeds
12. The Artist
13. Friends with Kids
14. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
15. Wanderlust
16. Chronicle (2012)
17. Gone
18. A Separation
19. The Descendants
20. Hugo

Tweet

Photo by AsiaOne

Good news to Transformers fans in Singapore, you can see the life-sized Optimus Prime right here in Singapore from March 11 to 14 at Resorts World Sentosa.

The 22-feet tall Optimus Prime is part of the Cybertron Con 2012 event which features activities to the Transformers fans. Visitors can expect Generation 1 Transformers figurines, the "Beast Wars" and the current Transformers Prime franchise.

If you're not into figurines, you can watch screenings of Transformers Prime: Robots in Disguise, GI Joe Renegades, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the Transformers movie trilogy at the mini 3D theatre.

Transformers Cybertron Con is the first in Southeast Asia. Tickets are priced at $12 for a day pass and $68 for a four-day VIP pass.

Tweet

When I heard from an office mate that it's possible to replace your iPhone battery, I searched it in YouTube and saw this video. For less than an hour and for only $14.95 for the battery kit, your iPhone will work as new!

Tweet

Good news to the house helpers in Singapore. Starting January next year, maids will receive a mandatory one day rest day per week. This was announced by Minister of State for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin in Parliament last March 6.

In his speech, he said, "A weekly rest day is regarded internationally as a basic labour right. More than physical rest, it is an important mental and emotional break from work."

Employers though and some maids are unhappy of this law. Maids will have to spend more during their rest day and employers have to pay them during rest day if they have to work.

This law will be applicable though to those work permits issued on or after January 1, 2013. Singapore maids earns $400 monthly with one off day per month.

Tweet

Earth Hour is just a few days away and the best way to support this event is to be an Earth Hour Ambassador.

For those who are in Singapore, you can go to http://earthhour.wwf.sg/event.php and register. Registration for individuals is $35, or $30 per person for groups of 20 persons and above. The Ambassador kit will include the following: Sustainable living tips; Earth Hour 2012 T-shirt and cap* (made from post-consumer recycled PET bottles); and Eco-friendly and energy-efficient products. The kit is worth approximately $100.

Support the Earth Hour Ambassadors as they will make history with the first ever Earth Hour 60+SINGAPORE human formation at Orchard Road on 31 March 2012.

Tweet

If you have logged in to Facebook, you might have seen this video from your friends. Well, this is a film and a campaign by Invisible Children to raise support in arresting the number one criminal in the world, Joseph Kony of Uganda. Please watch and spread the video.

Tweet

1. Dr. Seuss' The Lorax
2. Project X
3. Act of Valor
4. Safe House
5. Tyler Perry's Good Deeds
6. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
7. The Vow
8. This Means War
9. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
10. Wanderlust
11. The Artist
12. Gone
13. Chronicle (2012)
14. The Secret World of Arrietty
15. The Descendants
16. Hugo
17. The Woman in Black
18. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (in 3D)
19. A Separation
20. The Iron Lady

Tweet

This is the most celebrated dog in China after Chinese netizens were fascinated by his loyalty. Wang Cai, a dog from Chongqing has the similar story with Japan's Hachiko. Wang Cai has been spotted for four years now waiting outside from the door of a local bank starting from 9 AM.

According to reports, locals have thought that the dog was homeless but the dog looked well-maintained and even wearing jackets during winter. Wang Cai was homeless before until the bank employee adopted him. Reports say that the dog joins his owner in the morning and waits patiently for his owner at night.

That's what you call loyalty!

Tweet

Suze Orman finally visited Manila and she gave some pointers to Filipinos especially to the families of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW).

In her talk, Orman discussed about credit card debt and paying everything from your bill. The importance of saving and compounding, even giving a sample of saving $100 monthly at age 20 and earning $1 million by the age of 60.

The best advice that she gave was to the Filipinos overseas. She pointed out whether sending money to adult family members or relatives encourages their dependence on them. She said, "Is it possible that it's hurting them rather than helping them? Adding that some people may not reach their potential or may not be driven into making contingency plans because they have remittances to fall back on." She reiterated that helping parents is a different matter as she herself would like to take care of her mother.

Suze Orman came to the Philippines to fulfill her five year promise to her friend Doris Magsaysay-Ho, chairwoman of Asia Society Philippines. Suze usually earns $190,000 from speaking engagements in the US but her talk in the Philippines was pro bono.

Thanks Suze for your time and dedication to share your knowledge. I hope to see you again in your next visit in the Philippines or here in Singapore.

Tweet

This is the second year of U Run and I must say that they need more improvement. There are a lot of mishap that happened this year and I would think twice if I'm running again next year.

The biggest problem this year was the baggage claiming. When I reached the runners assembly, the queue was so long that it took runners to get their bags for more than an hour. The second issue was the sizing of the singlets and finisher shirts. U Run has changed their clothing sponsor and some sizes has run out. Next, the medal was cheaply made. It's just sub standard from my medals from my other runs. And lastly, it's awful that they don't have any bananas or any food at the assembly. Are they expecting for the runners to survive with just water?

Anyway, the only thing that I liked was the schedule of different waves. It made the road less crowded and I was able to catch my run. And of course, the abundance of Pocari Sweat was well appreciated by the runners. I just hope they would give the Pocari Sweat in small plastic cups.

Tweet

Last Sunday, I finally experienced my first OMB challenge from U Run. The OMB Challenge is the first run in Singapore wherein after running, you need to do a vertical climb. The run was a total of 10 kilometers and after which you need to climb the 30-storey fire escape stairs of the NTUC Building.

Anyway, before I tell my experience of the run. I rather start with the race pack collection. The race pack collection was held at Velocity in Novena and it was a smooth collection. There was no queue at all and it's just disappointing that they don't have any bags to come with the running singlet and bib. And there are no vouchers as mentioned from their website.

When I finally reached home and tried my shirt, I was in shock to see that it was horribly tight! I looked like a popiah. This was my second year running for U Run and I just based my size from my size the year before. I didn't even bother to check the dimension if it's correct or not. I'm just pleased that when I sent an inquiry to them via their Facebook page, they allowed me to change it as well as my finisher shirt.

Now back to the run. My run was actually scheduled at 7:30 and I woke up late, around 6:30. Thankfully, the OMB challenge has 12 waves with 4 minutes intervals. I was able to catch the last wave while running from the street to the starting point of the Float @ Marina Bay.