Mad March

Oh yeah, the pressure's going up this month for sure.  I've been so busy at work that I have been working on Sundays for about 4 hours just to catch up.  I really hate this month... So the SAP, Salesforce & in-house ONE Finance integration project has started in full swing and it's really making life a living hell for me.  The SAP part which is the backbone of the project is not even fully implemented yet, the end users don't have a picture of how they'll do things and we have to design our new module without a clear picture of the use cases and processes.  The ONE Finance API is also still in development, which means we can't do any testing or have a clear picture of how the products interact with each other until the API development is completed in mid-April.  

Crimson March Moon - Galaxy S23+

Just January

It felt like January just zoomed past me, it was just work and work and work and work for me...  I hadn't paid much attention to the children's studies this month and there were days when I finished work with a tension headache.  I even spent a weekend studying how to use JIRA as I felt that I haven't been maximizing my JIRA usage at work.  Well..  something needs to change and I'll have to figure that out somehow.

Studying JIRA on Youtube - Galaxy Note 9

Scrappy September

On a personal basis, September has been very kind to me.  However, I'm extremely disappointed at the Multi Ministry Task Force's unforgivable blunder which has lead to a sudden increase of COVID-19 case numbers in Singapore.  Hence... "scrappy".  I'm extremely flustered that despite their simulation showing that cases could hit 2000 a day, the task force did not put any restrictions to slow the spread when the number of daily cases was still quite low.  Instead, they tried to ramp up handling capabilities.  Did they not learn from Israel's experience?  We will go endemic, yes, that's an eventuality.  But going endemic right now, is still too early.  What about the over 60s with co-morbidities who have yet to get their booster shots?  What about children under 12 who cannot be vaccinated yet?  Not only the over 60s, even normal adults need booster shots too, to avoid vaccine breakthrough infections!  The task force has made a wrong judgement on the timing to open up and we are now paying a heavy price with restricted movements, daily reported deaths, messed up school exam schedules and businesses that suffer from spontaneous restrictions or even closures when infections hit one of their own.  At the same time, I can't help but worry for the kids who have yet to get their vaccines.  While so far there has been no reported deaths of children under 12 from COVID-19 in Singapore, I prefer to minimise the kids' risks of contracting COVID-19 as much as possible.  As I'm writing this entry now, the number of COVID-19 cases for children under 12 has hit 1266 just in September alone while in the past 7 days the number of cases in this age group is 677.  

Oh Yes, I'm Keeping Track of This Age Group - Just Excel

Happy Mid-Autumn 2021

Well, today's 中秋节.  Its mid-autumn already.  Hopefully everyone is enjoying their mini reunion with their beloved family members.   

Enjoy Your Mooncake Too - A7RM3 + FE1635mm F2.8G

Mid-Autumn 2020 in Chinatown

Last Saturday I had a jalan jalan chance at Chinatown and enjoyed the sights of mid-autumn lanterns from the blue hour till about 8 plus.  The lantern installations this year....  are not as good as last year's.  I'm hoping I can still make a visit to Gardens by The Bay to catch their lantern installations, but Lincoln's oral exams are coming next week, so those will have to take first priority for now.  

My itinerary started from block 5 Banda Street from where I planned to capture the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple from the 10th floor.  Prior to going up the block, I stumbled upon this mural of Samsui Ladies by the side of a pedestrian's bridge.  

Samsui Ladies of Banda Street - Galaxy Note 9

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

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