Intercontinental Staycation

Last weekend I & my wife had a staycation in Intercontinental Hotel Bugis.  It was some sort of a replacement for a holiday for me.  Had it not been for the rain I would have explored further to Kampong Glam area.  But seeing how much time we spent in Bugis alone I guess it makes sense to explore Kampong Glam another time.

Check-in was speedy and convenient, everything was as expected.  The room was marvelous, to say the least.

Deluxe Room in Intercontinental Singapore - Bugis

Gardens by The Bay Christmas Wonderland

My wife and the kids are away for holiday at my wife's hometown since last week.  I'm stuck for some work related issues, although not a lot and mostly are already settled by now.  That also means that I have lots and lots of free time on weekends...  And for me that means going to Gardens by The Bay to see the Christmas Wonderland exhibits and take some great photos.  For this trip, I brought along both my X-T2 + XF 16mm F1.4R WR and D750 + AT-X 16-28 F2.8 PRO FX.  But for this entry, I'm using the shots from my X-T2 only.

I arrived quite early at before 4:15 pm.  My first destination was the Flower Dome where the Christmas Wonderland exhibit is on.  I wanted to scout around for good spots, taking sample shots, adjusting the lighting and shadow/highlight setting in my camera.  These are two of my daylight sample shots which turned out well.      

A foliage tunnel going to the South American Garden

Pompompurin Cafe

[UPDATE: Pompompurin cafe has since been closed]

Last Sunday we dropped by Pompompurin Cafe in Orchard Central after Lindsay's ballet class.  Just for the heck of it.  I mean, when it was first launched in April this year people were queuing for about two hours or so to dine there.  Now that the hype has cooled down, it's a good time to drop by for a visit.

For this visit I brought along my X-T2 + XF 16mm F1.4R WR combo.  Unfortunately the indoor shots weren't so good.  I had been taking photos outdoor earlier and reduced the highlight setting to get better dynamic range under the harsh sunlight and forgot to reset that setting after I moved indoors.  As a result the photos mostly lack contrast and sharpness.  Gotta remember to change the setting next time when I move indoors!!

We arrived 10 minutes early and before us there were already two ladies in the queue.  Not so bad.

The entrance to the Cafe

Lincoln's Graduation Party

Last Friday was Lincoln's graduation party at his school - he's already on full holiday now, getting ready for his trip to Purwokerto next Monday.  The party was a private event for the graduating class of 2016.  It was an intimate gathering for the kids as they were about to say their goodbyes to each other soon.  For Lincoln it was just 3 days away from his last day there.

Lining up to get their graduation presents

Double Promotion - Orange Belt 7th Kyu!

I went for my grading 5 weeks ago and got a double promotion.  From 10th kyu to 7th kyu.  In belt language that means I'm an orange belt now.  So I skipped yellow belt and went straight from white to orange.  Lincoln didn't join me in grading that time because he still couldn't remember his Heian Shodan (平安初段) and Gohon Kumite (五本組手) steps.  

My "new" orange belt

Lincoln's K2 Graduation Concert

Last Friday was Lincoln's graduation concert.  It was a combined graduation event involving more than 300 children from 29 centres which took place at The Theatre @ Mediacorp.  It was just 1 week after his primary 1 orientation.

The event started with a presentation of certificates to the graduating classes.

Class photo at certificate presentation

Linc's P1 Orientation

Last Friday Lincoln and I attended his school orientation at Zhangde primary school.  It was an important session as it was the 1st time I had to send my child to Primary 1.  It was the time to get some knowledge and information on what he has to do/bring to school, what should I do as a parent, etc, etc.

Lincoln was the first in his class to assemble.  I was rushing to make sure I get the good seat!

First Student to Arrive!

Lousy Weeks

It's been quite a while since my last entry.  Things had been crazy too.  A slew of major enhancements were released for one of my projects.  Testing was complex, even up till now there's still one function which I'm not confident to wrap up.  At least most are already cleared...

And some news concerning work came early this week too which no doubt caused some jitters (http://www.seatrade-maritime.com/news/asia/japan-s-k-line-mol-nyk-to-integrate-container-shipping-business.html) in the office.  With the current market situation however, this is a logical move, better to merge, be lean and efficient than to sink (like Hanjin...) although it will come at some major expense on the staffs of the 3 companies who, if fortunate enough will be re-deployed to the new company or other existing businesses else it's the door for some of them.  

I'm actually more angry than disappointed at this news.  I mean, I've been working on the project for 3 years by now and there's a chance that it might not go off.  Even if it does go live, usage will be limited to less than 2 years if the merger plans go according to schedule.  

Performance wise, I know that I've been doing quite well too and I had been looking forward to next year's appraisal.  But with things the way they are now I'm back to square one.   

Going forward, I have to maintain a positive outlook and see this as an opportunity, although exactly for what, I don't know just yet.  I'll be waiting and looking out for some signs (which will somehow appear, I hope..).  

Here's a closing for this "lousy" entry: 

Coconut Ice Cream + Jellied Water Chestnut From Co+Nut+Ink at Esplanade

~ Photo taken with LG G5 ~

Tex-Mex Fridate

[UPDATE: Coyote Tex-Mex has since been closed]

Last Friday I & my wife had a Tex-Mex themed Fridate.  We visited this place called Coyote Tex-Mex (http://www.coyote.com.sg/).  It's a nice, quiet and romantic place in Phoenix Park, Tanglin.  The place was just recently re-opened under the same management; the establishment was formerly called Spruce (http://www.spruce.com.sg/) and they used to serve American & Italian food.  That's the most likely reason why you can still find a small selection of Italian dishes in Coyote's menu.  The original Spruce still operates in Bukit Timah now.

For us, it was certainly a nice welcome change from our usual Italian, Japanese or Western fridates which has become somewhat predictable, if not, routine.

Coyote does not disappoint.  The ambiance is very nice, food is good, friendly staffs, child friendly environment too - although you might want to bring a mosquito repellent for them in case you want to let them play in the bouncy play ground downstairs - not that I'm saying they have mosquitoes there but it's always better to be safe than sorry.

Wifey wanted terrace seat as it was very cold inside, it was raining whole day so outdoor seating was pleasantly breezy

My Brain Close Shop on Weekends

Lately I mean.... Seriously, for the past 3 months or so, weekends have been spent ferrying kids to the tuitions and activity classes that I seldom get quality rest and self-time on weekends....  It does not help that I feel work has been unrewarding too as of late; I have reached this state of "hidup segan mati pun tak mau" - it keeps things running but no more than that.

Saturday morning starts with taking Lincoln to his reading class, after that we go for lunch and he continues with his Mandarin class while I do the weekly grocery shopping.  Previously I would shop with my wife but she has since been taking Muay Thai classes on every Saturday afternoon so I shop alone now.  After that I'll pick up Lincoln and we head back home and it's time for me to exercise and finally help Lincoln with his homework or just play around with the kids.

Sunday starts even earlier than Saturday with Lindsay's ballet class, followed by brunch, an hour or two of family time and then karate class for Lincoln and myself.  Karate class is the only thing I look forward to on weekends (other than spending time with the kids), it's the time when I can have some sort of meditation (funny yeah... karate for meditation..).  After class I still have to do more homework catch-up with Lincoln in case we didn't finish it on the night before.

I really enjoy the karate class, especially when practicing and doing Kata (型).  The swishing and flapping sounds my Gi makes is familiarly soothing.  In a way, I'm putting back the puzzle pieces together after 22 years of not practicing karate.  I can see that "黒帯" (black belt) within reach even as I'm starting at white again now.

Sometimes I feel like my weekend is just as jam-packed as my weekdays and I'm on auto-pilot almost everyday, which I don't really enjoy....  That's why on weekends it feels like my brain "close-shop" too.

Here's a closing shot for this "brainless" rambling:

"Closed" sign at Lincoln's Reading Class - that bokeh is real not fake like the one in iPhone 7 ;p

  ~ Photo taken with LG G5 ~

Fujifilm X-T2: MINE!!!

I believe I should be one of the first in Singapore to get X-T2.  I pre-ordered the camera and got it on the first day it became available in Singapore - 8 September.

X-T2 feels very much like X-T1, but the price difference is very steep.  I purchased my X-T1 and approximately $2.2K for a kit set that comes with the XF 18-55mm F2.8-4.0R, while the X-T2 body only costs $2599.  But the difference in price could somewhat be justified; the new auto-focus system is plain amazing, resolution also increased by 50% (from 16MP to 24MP), 4K video, 1/8000 mechanical shutter speed, double SD card slots and an addition of a joystick to select focus points have been added (similiar to Nikon DSLRs) which is an extremely welcome improvement to ergonomics.  The screen has an additional angle for tilting this time around although I haven't found much use to it just yet.  

AF Joystick under the "Q" button - taken by Sony RX100Mk3

New Template Again - Should be Final

Well.... I'm fed up with looking for new responsive custom templates that just don't work when uploaded... So I decided to go back to basics and just use Blogger's default templates.  I customized the layout to achieve a clean minimalist look as best as I can.  No more being lazy getting a template, upload and use, but really squeeze my creative juices to achieve a unique look.  I think I could be a designer too.  ;p  

This should be final with occasional modifications of the widgets.

New Look!

  Love that new look.  :)

Hello End September

Been so long since I last made an entry in my blog - I got flu again, 2nd time in less than a month. Just plain amazing isn't it.... And by the way yes, I made another template change.  I'm still figuring out how to make the post date appear, the time stamp code is there but I don't understand why it won't appear.. /(>_<)\

Anyway, we celebrated mid-autumn festival this month on 15th Sept.  Chinatown is properly decorated as well with lots and lots of dazzling lanterns.  It was the right opportunity to test my recently acquired X-T2.  Oh yes I got my X-T2 already.  This camera is plain amazing.  I'll be writing about that separately.

Here are some snapshots of Chinatown in its full mid-autumn celebratory mood.

The main show piece in Chinatown - X-T2 + XF14mmF2.8R

So.... What's Up Doc?

Got myself an ASUS RT-AC88U router as my main router to replace my (close to) 2 years old D-Link DIR-868L.  It's not a bad router but when having more devices connected in the house, having faster speed is not such a bad thing: AC3100 vs. AC1750.

So far I've been getting by with that DIR-868L and a DAP 1665, which at AC1200 is really slow when I have many devices turned on at the same time.

My plan is to use the RT-AC88U as my main router and turn the DIR-868L into an Access Point.  It will be a very powerful access point at AC1750 with 6 internal antenna and smartbeam technology.

First phase is of course to install the main router which is really a piece of cake:

RT-AC88U after installation

Another Quiet Week

This week has been rather uneventful as Lindsay and I are both sick.  I still haven't recovered from my 1 week old flu while Lindsay must have gotten the flu from me; she'd been having fever for the last 2 days and still going on now.

On Saturday I decided to take the kids to Marina Bay Sands for a stroll.  My wife suggested that we should have lunch at the DC Superheroes Cafe - a DC Universe thematic restaurant in Marina Bay Sands Shoppe.  It was an interesting restaurant serving western food with DC super heroes' attributes.  The restaurant has a strong American feel (which I mean by decorations and food served).  It was an opportunity to try out new things in a new ambiance.

I had a Superman themed "Smallville Burger Set" which is not bad actually.  The nachos' dip was tasty and the burger itself was not bad.  The patty was juicy albeit tasting a bit strange since it was chicken - I reckon they should have just served a crispy fried chicken rather than mince it - but overall quite delicious.

That's my lunch!  Couldn't finish the nachos so asked for the kids' help to finish them

Finally Registered Lincoln For Primary 1

Last month was the time we had to register Lincoln for a place in Primary 1.  I had wanted to try my luck registering him in a good (or rather, "famous") school, the choices being Radin Mas primary school or Alexandra primary school.  I thought that being born in a tiger year which is not a very popular year, he might have a good chance to get into either of these famous schools.  (I don't know why I kept on typing "famouse", I guess reading Geronimo Stilton books with Lincoln really got into me!!)

When the phase for his registration was about to start, I was very hopeful because there were quite a number of vacancies left in each school, between 16% to 20% of the total available vacancy.  However, by day 2 any hopes to get into either of those school were completely dashed.  They were oversubscribed.

The Wifey Got Fish!

In my previous post I mentioned that my wife decided to get an aquarium at home.  The first tank we got was immediately filled up as she got a pregnant molly that soon gave birth to lots of baby fish.  So I decided to get a second tank to separate the males from the females else the tanks will get overcrowded.  Her hobby, but I'm the one footing the bill.....  Both tanks and the accessories really cost quite a fair bit....

Here's a photo of the main tank which is a 30 litre tank clear glass tank.

Mount Faber Fridate

It's been a while since my last post.  Been very busy....  Registered Lincoln for his primary 1 next year, getting 2 new fish tanks for the wife (it's her hobby but I'm the one footing the bill..) and quite a few others...  Been feeling under the weather too with a flu.

Last Friday was me & my wife's fridate as usual.  This time I decided to go to a slightly more romantic place at Mount Faber.  We live quite near to Mount Faber but never really visited the place in the last 10 years I've lived in Tiong Bahru.  Better late than never!

The venue for our Fridate is a restaurant called Spuds and Aprons at Faber Peak.  The restaurant's ambiance and view is spectacular.  Food is certainly above average, though still need quite a bit of effort to get to fantastic.

Inside Spuds and Aprons

New Template Yet Again

So..... I changed my blog's template again.  I don't really like this template because the look is quite harsh as compared to my old template.  But the old template was really troublesome....  There was a compatibility issue with Windows 10 that I couldn't resolve (as my HTML skill is extremely rudimentary) so I decided to just change the template all over.

New Template!

Another Special Fridate

There was a period when I wanted some interesting Fridates with my wife so we went around trying new spots.  Another hip place we tried was the famous 2AM Dessert Bar in Holland Village.

We arrived quite early in 2AM as we didn't make any reservations and it was a Friday after all.  But we can't have dinner made up of desserts only so we ordered some savories to go along.  

Chicken Taco; there was another Mac and Cheese but it looked like any other so I didn't take the photo

The Wifey's Birthday Dinner at Pollen

Last month was my lovely wife's birthday, I arranged a surprise dinner for her at Pollen in Gardens by The Bay.  The restaurant specializes in modern European cuisine.

Inside Pollen - we were quite early

Bye Bye X-T1

After 18 months with the X-T1 I finally bid farewell to that awesome camera.  It's kind of bittersweet.  While I love the camera, I'm quite frustrated with the AF capability in terms of DOF accuracy - my old D5300 was considerably better despite the cost at less than half of X-T1's price.  But it's the final photo quality from the X-T1 that made it my favourite.

I sold the body and kit lens together, preparing for X-T2 to arrive in September.

I'm really amazed at how popular Fujifilm is right now, it only took me 2 days to clear the kit after I posted my advertisement.  The price at which I cleared them is quite reasonable as well.

As for X-T2, the paper specs have been promising on the AF department - from 77 points in X-T1 to 325 in X-T2.  Just as how increase of AF points made magic in 5D Mk 3 as compared to 5D Mk 2, I hope for the same on X-T2.

Adieu X-T1.......  

Farewell to X-T1

~ Photo taken with Sony RX100 Mk 3 ~

Kidzania Trip - July 2016

Last Friday we went to Kidzania in Sentosa.  On my wife's suggestion, I had promised Lincoln to bring him to Kidzania as his birthday present.  And I think it was a very good suggestion indeed as the kids certainly had a good time.

From the start both Lincoln and Lindsay were already very excited and couldn't wait to start.

Outside Kidzania

Linc's 6th Birthday 2016

Today is Lincoln's birthday.  I took half day off in the afternoon to pick up his birthday cake and prepare for a celebration at his school with his classmates.  The boy turned 6 today.  It's quite hard to see how he grows up so fast, I feel like I hadn't spent enough time with him.

Anyway.....  My wife ordered a separate cake for his birthday celebration at school.  It's a Doraemon themed cake which looks really cute.

Lincoln's Cake for Celebration at School

A Different Kind of DIY - Orient Stingray EM7J001B

Still on DIY, I have a handsome watch by Orient - Stingray EM7J001B.  Doesn't cost a bomb but way cool and stylish.  The problem is, the calf leather strap cannot stand the humidity and have really degraded over time.

I decided to use the Hirsch strap I got for my Seiko Baby Tuna SRP655K1.  The original Seiko rubber strap has a lug size of 22 mm but the actual width after the spring bar slot is actually 24 mm.  While the strap looks good, it does come across a bit small for a 50 mm watch.  I thought it will make a good replacement to my EM7J001B.  The very funny fact is that..... the strap's price is $40 more expensive than the watch itself - it's a leather & rubber hybrid from Hirsch's performance straps series.

The Watch with the New Strap

Acer Aspire One D255 Major Upgrade

So after I upgraded my VAIO's HDD to an SSD,  I've been very impressed with the performance - zippy performance all over and extremely fast start-ups.

I have a 6 year old Acer Aspire One Netbook lying around which I've lent my sister but then she abandoned it.  Can't blame her because it is so slow and quite painful to use.  So I decided to have a go at upgrading this netbook too in the hopes of making it still usable.

The first task is to upgrade the OS from Windows 7 Starter to Windows 10.  The start up was slightly faster.  The good thing about Windows 10 is that it somehow improves performance of devices with inferior hardware but only up to a certain degree.

After OS upgrade, I got the SSD first - a Samsung Evo 850 which comes with a migration software, unfortunately I had to get the SATA adapter myself.  Since I couldn't get that frigging adapter in my local IT shop I had to wait 4 days to buy it online from Qoo 10.

Brand New 250GB SSD to Replace The Old HDD

You Become Tiger I Become Rooster

So I just had this interesting exchange with Lincoln.  I was trying to make him eat some peaches.  This is frustrating because he just doesn't like eating fruits and leafy vegetables.  So I jokingly said to him "If you didn't eat any fruits and vegetables, there will be black tiger marks appearing all over your body starting with you forehead and cheek, then your ears will turn pointy and you'll grow whiskers like a tiger" - he's born in the year of the tiger.  True enough, he started eating the peach although only 1 and a half piece....

After a while he came back to me and said, so if you don't eat your vegetables and fruits your mouth will turn yellow to a beak and you'll grow that red thing like a rooster!" - he knows I'm born in the year of the rooster.

I was pleasantly surprised with what he said and laughed at it as he actually cracked a joke.

He's a big boy alright!

Here's a closing shot for this very, very short entry.

Doraemon 12 Signs - taken all the way back in 2010

~ Photo taken with Canon 5D Mark 2 + EF 24-105mm F4L ~ 

Linc's MMA Trial

Last Saturday we took Lincoln to Evolve MMA for a trial class.  I & my wife thought that it would build his self confidence and release some of those excess energy so that he can focus better when he studies too.

He attended a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) and a Muay Thai class back-to-back.

Linc in his BJJ getup

LG G5 - Finally

Okay, so my handphone change could not wait any longer.  My old G3 just stopped detecting my memory card altogether and some of my apps that are in the memory card became inaccessible.  While I could transfer the app to internal storage, it also means that I would run out of space in the phone.  Taking photos also mean that they will be stored in the internal storage.

So I checked my telco provider's website for the contract rate.  I was really lucky that the G5 had a $200 off promotion.  I had also passed the minimum re-contract period which means that they will waive the $200 (yes $200, not $100 which I previously thought!!) admin fee if I re-contract now.  My G3 itself is still worth $150 if I trade it in.  So not wanting to delay any longer (while the promotion is still on) I decided to just go for a G5.  All-in-all I got it at a price of $229, which is not bad for a flagship.  I had considered the Samsung S7 but the price difference was a good $320.  So I thought the G5 is a better buy, where dollars and cents are concerned.

The G5 is really a sleek phone.  While it has a metal feel, it's not so heavy as compared to let's say the Sony Z5 Premium.  The G5 feels more comfortable in hand.  It's thinner than my G3 because the back is flat and not curved.  But what I really like is the fact that it is light despite some of the metal parts in the body.  The loudspeaker placement is also better this time, which is at the bottom of the phone instead of the back which makes the ringtone and any other notifications more audible when placed inside the pocket.

Front Profile

More Breakdowns....

Bad luck does not seem to stop coming.  After the VAIO breakdown, I had an episode with my handphone where it would suddenly stop detecting the SD card every now and then....  I'm now torn between waiting for the contract to expire - which happens in September or get a new phone now at additional $100 of the contract price.

But that phone will have to wait now because suddenly my refrigerator broke down.  The repair cost is really..... costly.....  One of the motherboard had broken down most likely due to overheating.

My daughter had been opening the fridge door every now and then searching for sweets and chocolates.  The temperature in Singapore had been see-sawing between 34-36 degrees for the past 2 weeks during daytime while the real feel on the ground would go as high as 44 degrees - it feels like a sauna outdoors and an oven (convection oven, if you turn on your fan.. :p) indoors; that might have caused some overheating within the PCB circuitry as the evaporator fan had to work overtime to cool the fridge whenever the doors are opened for long periods.  I still find it ironic that it's the PCB that got burnt instead of the fan motor (the brain burned out instead of the muscle breaking down).

Toothless Linc

Linc finally lost his front baby teeth last week. It was such an arduous task getting those loose teeth to come off. My wife was persistent in wiggling those 2 teeth while I was growing rather impatient and really wanted to just pull them off.

Eventually my wife gave up after wiggling for 2 hours (from 8 plus to about 10 pm). But at that time the teeth were already very loose, I thought they had to come off that night. Lincoln was too terrified at first, but I made him look at the mirror and asked him to pull the teeth off himself. Until he decided that he needed help, he was no longer afraid to let me touch his teeth. So I twisted the loose teeth for him to see.

Bye bye baby teeth!

My boy is growing up so fast....

 ~ Photos taken with Nikon D750 + AF-S 20mm F/1.8G ~

One of Those Fridates

My wife and I have a ritual of always going on Fridates - we would date again on every Fridays.  After work Friday is the time when we spend time together dating like we were in our twenties again.  Its' the time to just get together and feel that the world belong to just the two of us.

This week we decided to have a special Fridate as a break from our usual visit to Vivocity.  My wife suddenly craved for burgers so we went to the best burger joint in Singapore - Three Buns by Potato Head Folk in Keong Saik road.  This would be our 4th visit here in a year.  We absolutely love the burgers here.

As fate would have it, this time we sat at the rooftop bar of Three Buns for a change of scenery.  It was a very nice experience indeed.  We came too early for sunset, so we didn't have the chance to view the blue hour.  Gotta remember to do it next visit!

Wall Illustration That Adorns Three Buns Everywhere

A Quiet Week

This week has been rather quiet, I was rather busy in office with lots of things to do for Thailand office.  They have new requirements, old requirements that need fine tuning and some clarifications on existing features and requirement.

I've been not feeling well too from earlier this week due to the gastric pain which eventually settled down on Wednesday.  But guess what...  I got a viral infection in the eye and a sore throat.  Seems like I'm going to end up with flu sometime soon.  Singapore has been hot this week and I think I didn't stay hydrated much which contributed to these ailments...

Tomorrow's a new start to the week again. Hopefully things go well.

Here's a closing shot for this short entry.

Orchard Road From ION

~ Photo taken with LG G3 ~ 

Thai Biz Trip 2016

It's time for a business trip again to Thailand.  The first for the year in fact.. I should expect at least 1 more trip in June when the system they will use go live.  And it will be for a much longer duration...  This time I had to visit both Bangkok and Hatyai.  The trip took 5 days and 5 nights altogether.

So the trip starts from Changi as usual, flying with Thai Airways, smooth as silk.  Thai Airways is always one of my favourite airlines to fly with whenever I go to any destination in Thailand.  I'd go on Singapore Airlines too if their fares were cheaper due to some promotions.  

I didn't bring any cameras, just using handphone camera which this time is a Sony Z5 Premium.

The plane ready to go on the tarmac

Lindsay's 3rd Birthday

Lindsay turned 3 last month.  It was quite a simple celebration.  My wife had arranged for a small party at her playgroup class and ordered a special Hello Kitty themed cake.

Cute cake for Lindsay's candle blowing ceremony in class

Equipment Break Down

I did mention in my earlier post that my old VAIO's hard disk finally broke down.  There was a bad sector where I transferred the photos of my Surabaya trip.  I was able to recover up to 1st day only, the rest were from the backup in my phone.

To make things worse, I found out later that my D750 is being recalled because of a faulty shutter unit that causes reflection when taking photos against strong backlight.  It's now sitting in Nikon Service Centre and I have to wait for 2 weeks to get it back...... FYI, NIkon has had a string of recalls as of late anyway (I remember back from their D610, then D800, then their Nikon 1, etc, etc), seems like their engineering department need better engineers.  Well done Nikon...  well done.... (hope you catch the sarcasm there)

Back to my VAIO.. Since only the hard disk broke, the rest of the hardware are still pretty much usable.  The VAIO has a reasonably good graphics card, decent i5 processor and 8 GB of RAM.  Being the hands-on person that I am I decided to salvage the laptop by installing a Solid State Drive and a new Windows 10.

So I disassembled the laptop like follows.

Inside the VAIO

Surabaya Trip - Part 8

This will be the last entry for my Surabaya trip series.  Quite short too....  Day 9 was spent with the kids.  Again, I didn't bring my Sony as I wanted an easy day so I just used my G3.

We started the day by going to Livana to buy some spikoe cakes.  The cake shop is very near, just outside the roundabout in Jln. Mayjend Soengkono.  My wife, myself and the kids absolutely love Spikoe, so we never fail to get some whenever we're in Surabaya.  After that we went to Ciputra World to let the kids play around and just jalan-jalan.

On the way back Lindsay mentioned that she wanted ice cream.  That gave me an idea to try a new cafe in Kupang Indah.  It's a cafe specializing in matcha desserts and some Japanese food.  The place is called The Matcha Cafe (unsurprusingly....) - UPDATE: Matcha Cafe has since been closed.

Nutella parfait, green tea cake parfait, matcha latte - taken with LG G3

Surabaya Trip - Part 7

I spent day 7 for a day trip to Bali to take care of some things with my brother.  It was a rather unpleasant trip but it had to be done.  We left the house at 9 in the morning, arrived, did what we have to do and left promptly, arriving back in rainy Surabaya at close to 9 at night.  So that's how day 7 was spent....

Day 8 was relaxing as it was time for me to finally have dating time with my wife.  I didn't bring my RX100 Mk3 so I just made do with my G3 to record the happenings of the day.  

We satisfied a craving for Medanese kway teow at a famous restaurant called Apeng in Kedungdoro.  The exact address will be in Jalan Kedungdoro No. 267.  Between the two of us we ordered quite a fair bit: Hor fun, Chap Chay rice & dumpling noodle (which was immediately scarved the moment it arrived, I forgot to take the photos).  The conclusion, Mie Kriting 33 near our home is currently better than Apeng.  But if you're living near the city centre, Apeng is not a bad choice. 

Horfun & Chap Chay Rice, complete with menu - taken with LG G3

Surabaya Trip - Part 6

Day 3 is the day we return back to Surabaya.  There's still time to squeeze in a quick trip to nearby Taman Wisata Selecta.  So after breakfast we quickly checked out and leave for Selecta.

A trip to Selecta is like a trip down memory lane.  I remember going there as a 10 - 11 year old when I was still staying in Surabaya.  We went to the swimming pool - which is still there. flower and fruit market, rabbit market and the flower garden.  Well, most are still there, but they look better than what I can remember.

A variety of lowers for sale on display - taken with Fujifilm X-T1 + XF16mm F1.4R WR

Surabaya Trip - Part 5

Day 2 in Batu was packed with activities.  We visited 3 attractions all in 1 day: Batu Secret Zoo, Museum Satwa & Museum Angkut.  Of the 3 attractions I personally like Museum Angkut best.

During the visit to Batu Secret Zoo I forgot to bring the spare battery for my X-T1 so the camera was flat after less than an hour.  Fortunately my RX100 Mk 3 was still full so I had a back-up camera.

Batu Secret Zoo is a zoo and theme park mixed together. The kids really had a lot of fun there.  Along the way to the top I stumbled upon this great view.

A display showcase inside the zoo - taken with Sony RX100 Mk3 

Surabaya Trip - Part 4

It's the new year!  And it's also the day we set out for Batu.  Batu here we come!

Yeah look at that traffic.  What's supposed to be a leisurely 2 and a half hour drive turned into a 4 hour drive.

Traffic Jam at Lawang - taken with LG G3

Surabaya Trip - Part 3

Day 3 of the trip is Chinese New Year's eve.  This is the most important part of the trip as we'll be having reunion dinner later that night.

We started the day easy with a quick breakfast at Pasar Modern in nearby Puncak Permai.  Nothing to hoot about as the food are really quite simple and well..  ordinary....

A signboard in the market - taken with LG G3

Surabaya Trip - Part 2

On the 2nd day of the trip, our main objective was to visit the legendary Pasar Atum.  It's been around for the longest time...   Since 1972 to be exact.  I had been going there ever since I was just a 9 year old, which is 26 years ago.  My wife wanted to make customized plastic covers for our luggage and as far as we know Pasar Atum has several tailors who make the custom covers.

First stop of the day is breakfast at Nasi Bali Cik Ing.  This is a home based eatery selling Balinese mixed rice with pork.  Personally I prefer the tuna version, but I've never come across that version in Surabaya.  So far all use pork.  But irregardless, it's still damn good food.

Yep that's the address alright!  Darmo Permai Selatan XVIII No. 2

Surabaya Trip - Part 1

So from 5 - 14 Feb we went back to Surabaya for Chinese New Year.  We don't usually go back this long for CNY but since Lincoln is already attending regular tuition classes for English & Chinese, I'd really hate to arrange for make-up classes at other times.  So I thought let's just spend more time in Surabaya and save on the air fares as well.  My wife suggested that we go to Batu as well which I thought is quite a great idea.  So we planned a 3 days and 2 nights visit to Batu this time.

We departed Singapore on a 7:50 a.m. flight early in the morning and arrived in Surabaya at 9:30 a.m. Unfortunately immigration and baggage clearance took about an hour so we only got out at about 10:30.  We were then greeted with the traffic which seems to get worse every year I come back, I'm still trying to digest that it took us nearly an hour to get home from the airport, twice the usual time it should be.  

I swear the traffic seems to be getting worse every year... - Taken with RX100M3

Almost 1 month!!

It's been almost 1 month since my last entry, and it's for a good reason.  I went back to Surabaya for 10 days to celebrate Chinese New Year, of which 3 days were spent in Batu.

When I came back just about more than a week ago, my 4 year old VAIO laptop suddenly had a hard disk break down. I tried salvaging as much data as I could, but unfortunately some of the photos from my Surabaya trip could not be recovered as they happen to be in the bad sector of the hard disk.  That is so frustrating...  I don't usually cut and paste my photos, just this time and this has to happen....

Anyway I managed to recover the photos taken from my RX100 Mk3 and some early shots from my X-T1.  I had also luckily transferred some photos to my G3 so there are some memories remaining.

My VAIO's other hardware are actually still in good condition.  I have some plans for it which include changing the hard disk to an SSD and start a new system.  I should be looking into it sometime this weekend.    

But that's not the end of the story.  For some reason I ended up with a slipped disc and a stiff neck.  Still recovering now from the stiff neck although the slipped disc is much better.  Maybe I'll have time to start going through my photos from my Surabaya trip.  It was a very nice holiday, not long enough as usual....  Holidays are never enough, especially when you're going back to your old home.

Anyway, here's a closing shot for this short entry.

A very friendly camel in Batu Secret Zoo Safari Trail

~ Photo taken with Sony RX100 Mark III ~ 

A Present For Myself

Last month, my company was very generous to still hand out bonus even when the industry is not doing so well.  I got gifts for my children and wife, treated my family to a new year dinner.  I thought I'd get something nice for myself too and ended up getting this Seiko Baby Tuna SRP655K1.  It's a handsome diver watch.  You can check the specs from here: http://www.seiko-prospex.com/sea/srp655k1. 

Front shot of the dial

The First 25 Days of 2016

It's been almost a month into 2016 and this is the first entry in my blog this year.  I've been rather busy with lots of activities and rarely have time for photography now.  Both Chinatown and Gardens by The Bay have been beautifully decorated but I still can't find a good time to get some photos of the lanterns in either places.  

To start off, I finally moved Lincoln to a new childcare starting 1st Feb, so I and my wife spent quite a fair bit of time on his registration, withdrawal from current childcare, orientation, etc.  The childcare he's in right now costs arms and legs for the monthly fee, so the new child care gives quite a breather to my finances.  Aside from that, we registered him for English reading and Mandarin classes.  Weekends are pretty much dedicated to sending him to and fro his classes.  And on weeknights we will do revisions with him on his reading, Mandarin and maths.  This is a crucial year after all as he will be in Primary 1 next year.