happy new yr!

at this same time last yr, i din know how it feel like to be a dad, and she was having her 5 min interval contractions....

happy new yr ppl!!

the sty

did i mention in any of the entries years ago that we're applying for a HDB apartment? we did! in yr 2005, 3 years ago... so fortunately we got it too... and guess wad... we finally collected our keys early this month (last mth le, since i kept delaying the post..)! woohoo!

anyway until now, we've gotten our renovator/interior designer(ID)/contractor, wadever u wanna call it.. applied and got approval for loan for renovation.. bought the lightings.. bought kitchen and toilet fittings... bought the essential electrical appliances.. bought the essential furnitures.. gotten contacts for window grilles and doors.. now we're just waiting for HDB to rectify the defects we spotted when we took over the unit.. once everything is cleared, we're gd to go!

it's been quite busy this couple of months anticipating the collection of the keys.. meeting up and discussing with the ID was actually very tiring, u know how it is.. price negotiation.. super difficult! ya sure u say it's the customer's rights to negotiate price/designs, they're under our payroll, we haf the final say in everything.. but u know wad they say abt nv offend the waiters/cooks of the restaurants who're going to bring u ur meals later on? i wont wan my renovation to screw up and results in delays, or they giving me substandard jobs or craftmanships.. on one hand if we be less "gey-gow" with them, later on when u need more things to be done in the process of the reno, they'll be less "gey-gow" with you... u scratch my back i scratch urs la...

anyway, here's the list poisons which we spent on.. sigh... and the list is not exhausive...

guilt

cant really remember when did i last had an entry without talking abt Janielle... hehe...
some random stuffs... dun mind me if my sentences or sequence dun make sense k?

last evening a colleague left work earlier than me, a while after she left she sent me n sms, saying that she saw an accident... she didn't really see the accident, but she did see a cyclist with a bloody arm.... apparently part of the flesh got "ripped" off by a passing taxi... she was totally traumatized by the sight.. she then mentioned that only after she'd long passed the scene then she remembered she's a trained 1st aider, she shld'd helped... wad she said struck a thought in me.. ppl in general (or at least in Singapore?) holds back on lending a helping hand... ok in this case it's not just a "helping hand", u need to "get dirty" and know how to do a proper dressing and muz know what to do etc etc... i've always been a trained 1st aider too, since the uni days.. but im guilty myself of offering help like this, especially in a public place, to strangers... yes i've administered 1st aid in sch event before.. simple dressings... eye injuries... the most serious case would be the time when we went for a cycling trip to mt ophir... a companion of ours had a very bad fall and sustained a very big and deep cut in the knee..a couple of us help with his injury till he got back to singapore for proper stitching... however i did have an occasion which i was guilty till today... no harm was done though.. we were at a macdonald's and a kid was playing under a table, he hit his head on the bottom of the table and there's quite a lot of blood... also dunno if it's because i was much younger then or wad... i was very held back, i din really know wad to do... luckily another friend of ours, who's been known to be very proactive went to get some serviette from the counter and tried to stop the bleeding on his head.. all was well...

all these are juz 1st aid related... im trying to step out of my own comfort zone to help, in general, whenever i can.. to anyone in need... give me some time ya?

still on 1st aid, i think it's always better to haf to knowledge of wad to do, then to come to a situation when u really need to do something, but u dunno wad to do...

took a day off today.. trying to clear my leave actally.. so used the day to clear off some errands which i've been putting off... settled cable tv stuff at home, cleaned my bike, got its spoke fixed and i went for a short ride!! been 5 mth since i last rode!! my thighs are achy now... i feel guility for neglecting my loyal iron-mount....

the many faces of the girl

i think janielle has quite a lot of facial expression for a 10 mth old...

and we went zoo on deepavali!

we're going to the zoo zoo zoo,

how about you you you,

you can come too too too,

we're going to the zoo zoo zoo!

hyperactivity

it was only 2 evenings ago that we realised, from my mum-in-law, that jan is already capable of sitting up by herself.. she can even manage to stand up by supporting herself on the back of the sofa, or the side of the cot! how ill-informed we are... =\

tuesday 2am, i heard jan making some noise, presumably hungry so i got up to prepare milk for her.. to my surprise i saw her sitting up in her cot can crying! haha... i got yb's attn and she helped jan down and fed her..

630am, jan made some noise again.. but not cries this time.. i opened my eyes and to my horror jan was standing on the side of her cot, holding the railing at her shoulder height and looking at mummy and daddy snoozing! how cute huh.. haha..

i think whenever jan learns a new skill, she's be doing it over and over so much that it almost became autonomous.. like last time when she juz learnt to flip from her back to front, whenever we put her on her back (i.e. during diaper change) she'll flip to her tummy immediately! super difficult to change diapers for her! in some nights, she'll be flipped facing down and crying cause she dun yet know how to flip to her back...

so u can imagine how she's like now in the nights when we can suddenly see her on her fours and balancing with her eyes almost closed.... *shake head*

some pictures taken last nite...

*eeek.. mummy haben bathe..*

yes she's super active now... on her tummy, the fours, then butt... then on her 2's (with support from stool and daddy's thigh).... and that keep repeating... so much that she over-played last night and couldn't slp in the middle of the night...

nurturing minds

was reading an ex-classmate's blog this morning while having breakfast.. she's a mother of one and was talking abt letting her boy explore his world without restrictions...

she speaks my sentiments.. i felt that my parents are typical of parents of their time.. upbringing, manners, being prim and proper is important.. and parents of then (or at least my parents) puts in more effort in bringing home the bread than to cultivate children well, usually they'll juz leave the job to schools.. but mayb that's coz my parents were not highly educated.. my dad graduated from sec sch and my mum pri.. so i guess it's different mentality altogether bah

last yr there was tis blog entry that Mr. Brown did talking abt him bringing his family out for a meal at a local coffeeshop and it was pouring.. if i rem correctly his kid is sligtly autistic and the boy was looking at the rain... and he made his way to the edge of the shelter and stuck his arms out to feel the droplets on his little hand... the 1st instinct of parents would be to to get the child back into shelter and tell him off.. but realistically speaking, there's no harm in the boy getting a feel of the rain ya? anyway that's wad the blogger did, he stopped his wife from grabbing the boy back to his seat.

new word

she kept saying "daah-dah-daahh"
dunno who teach her one... cld she be trying to say "daddy"?

but she was juz repeating it over and over without even looking at me leh...

mental note: if i ever take a cab or drive to work, nv take thomson road....

her capabilities

as of today, @ 8 mths and 17 days, she's capable of:

- crawling on her tummy across the room at ~0.33m/s
- running in her "vehicle" across the room at ~3.30m/s
- sitting up straight w/o tumbling over immediately
- climbing all over u when u carry her by stepping up on the layers of tummies u haf
- finishing her milk in 10min
- opening her mouth for bits of rice grains, bread, dough, kway-teow, chee cheong fun from chopsticks
- waving her arms frantically when she's excited
- entertaining herself by making red-indians' calls with the back of her hand
- making "ba-ba-ba..." sounds
- waving gdbyes
- making "mummm-mumm-mummm" cries at night
- grabbing random things off tables and running over to show us her discoveries, to our dismay usually, and usually refuses to hand them over
- sleeping thru 5-7 hr at night (if we're lucky, 8hrs, occasionally)
- making us laugh by holding her hanky in her mouth and roam abt at home in her "vehicle"

right now we're trying to increase her vocabulary... =)

monday

rough day today (the blogging lasted till tuesday)... started from ytd actually... jan is starting to get more than a handful, or mayb it's juz me, i wasn't in a particularlly gd mood either...

anyway, the title is monday.

planned to come out early cause' got a study supposedly planned early in the morning.. came out early to catch the early bus then realised my ezlink was low on credit, topped it up at the mrt station, damn my card got stucked! took me 10min to get the guy from station control to retrieve it for me.. changed train at Outram and took a light nap... and... i woke up at buona vista, when the dorr closed...ended up i was only 5-10 min earlier at work...

checked my schedule on an "invitation" in co. email... darn the experiment starts at 1130am! fine i'll do other things.. kaz reminded me to start preparing the compounds at 1015am so that i'll make it in time to dose at 1130am, checking the time noting that i shld be able to do some stuffs in the next 30min so i went ahead burying myself in stacks of papers and occasional glancing at the computer screen.. Jean said sth, which i cant rem wad now, then i looked up at the time at the corner of the computer screen... f**k! it's 1044 already! urgh.... hurried along to add solvent to the compounds and attempt tp disslove them as fast as i can... shit... some of them got solubility issues.. had tham in the sonicating bath for close to 30min (it usually take 10-15min ) and there's still particle floating ard.. finally got all to dissolve and quickly made my way down to the basement where we hold the test subjects.

we've got 3 lifts which we can take to get to B1, cargo lift 1 (CL1), cargo lift 2 (CL2) and a passenger lift which can only be accessed from level 1 main lobby. 1st to go is CL1, it's the nearest to our office and it's the shortest way to get down... "Level 10 - load/unload"... shit.... ok next, CL2... great it's on the way down... i hopped on and finally got to B1.. i tapped my access pass on the door to get out of the lift lobby, no response.. i tried again, no response still.. now through the small glass panel i saw kaz, he was shaking his head and i heard him saying "it doesn't work"...urgh... im losing time!! Noted that CL1 was being used in load/unload, i made my way to level 1, to the main lobby, to take the passenger lift... when i got out at B1, same thing!! it cant recognise my card... shit.. now back to level 1, i need to go try CL1 again... "level 1" and it's going down... nvm i missed it, but it shld come up very fast, from B1... " B1.....L1.... L2.... L3......... L4 load/unload.."

!!!!!!!!!!

"...L5....L6....L7....L8...L9...L10..."

.........

anyway i finally got to B1 tog with some supplier/vendors/contractors in CL1 and my card is still not recognisable! well i kinda expected that... luckily the contractors' temp card can be used on that door...

quickly made my way to the animal unit, and in my hurry, i hit my ankle on a knee-high barrier, i dropped the bottles holding compounds... twice... and there's leaking on the 2nd time i dropped it.. luckily it's from the vehicle bottle.... i was 37min late from the scheduled time...

when i finally came out from the animal unit the door to CL1 wasn't able to recognise my card still.. i wasn't really prepared to come out the long way... i.e. the same way which goods vehicle come in.. so i jerk hard at the door handle and forced my way thru... (pls do not do this at home!! it's hard for ur arms!)

i think kaz is juz unlucky to get stucked there juz now when he wanted to come up, i brought him the bad luck...haha.. the doors rejected me all those tries i made, and he was only rejected once, it's fine when he went down in the afternoon!!

missed the lunch hour so gotta eat alone at the foodcourt juz within a stone's throw.. got another study planned in the afternoon and ended the day at 640pm.. sian...

on another note, in the morning juz before we left for work, Jan waved to us and blabbered "bab baii.." =)

'unchained'

in a friend's words, im like a tiger who's been "chained" for a while.. when the chain is cut (for a weekend) i'm still hanging ard where the chain was...

haha... he wasn't talking abt me la... was talking abt us in our NSFs' days..

anyway i found myself in a(n almost) similar situation this weekend.. both the wife and kid were in KL with my in-laws for a bdae gathering for yb's granny... i wasn't able to go coz it's in the weekend of my ICT.. so.. here i m having a whole weekend all to myself!! i had no plans though.. everyone else had plans already so i juz stayed in the whole 2 days (almost) watching jap series and olympics and getting ready to book-in in the evening later on...

im married

in my own word that evening, finally "gao wan liao"! (finishing messing)

what ppl normally do in 1 full day, we dragged it across a yr... yes, from Jul 2007 till Jul 2008.. our ROM, chinese customary wedding and the wedding banquet... yes it was quite a hassle going thru all those plannings... but now that it has come to an end, i think it's worth the dragging... i think we did a great job...

ROM was held at NSRCC.. the place is nice, by the seaside, we're in white, and under the tree canopy and having sea breeze in our faces.. the solemnisation table was lavishly decorated by the buddies from NTU odac.. rose petals lining our paths and all... nice...

Customary was quite a rush.. frankly speaking there's nth much to plan except getting the studio package components in place... the car, the gown, tea dress, my coat, the flowers... and getting my brother gang ready to be sabo-ed tog with me... but it was great! everyone is very on abt the whole thing.. none of them tried to run away from the pranks and stuns.. the photo/video shoot was great too... had lots of fun... but no doubt at the end of the day everyone looked so damn tired... we really appreciated their efforts... kudos!

the wedding banquet requires early preparation, from booking ppl on the date, getting their addresses, sending invites, chasing for rsvp's, seating arrangements, last minutes drawing out ect etc... but the actual event to went on better than i'd expected, no major screw-ups (except that a vid that i prepare, audio and visual weren't sync, had to use the original copy, which wasn't ideal... yan's heel broke but we managed to get a replacement in time.. the final video presentation came out with no audio but that was fixed after a long long lag with "technical difficulties", oh and ppl not turning up the very last min...) well... i certainly did enjoy myself, im sure yan did too... so far the comments from the guests are gd too... there is this friend of yan who was so touched that she almost cried talking abt it!! another said it was good coz u see ppl started standing up and moving across tables mingling after the 1st dish is out... and the food review so far is gd too... they say it's better than hotel banquets... hehe...

if i were to choose again, i'm very tempted to do everything spreaded out again!

with everything over and done, i find myself more focused at work, my brain is working again! and i love this feeling...

Next!! Cruise!!(?) NZ!!(?)

it's strange.. sometimes..

sitting at work desk now... was glancing at little pictures of jan's when we went to east coast a couple of months back... hmm... im a father.... that feels strange....

ass cleaner me

cleared up galgal's poop today!! twice!! 2 times in less than 15 min!! stinko!! her poop is less fluid le... very diff to wash off from her butt cheeks!

but im not complaining la... while washing her ass under the running tap she was flashing her toothless smile at my mirror reflection..... how can i resist that charming grin.... =)

SAAB City Duathlon

totally wasn't prepared at all for this event... at least mentally... i've been running the distances to prepare for the long run (for my standard)... i've had truamatic experience from the last one.. din dare to take it too lightly this time round... so i faithfullly did my 5km..then 8km...then i lost count of the distance... i juz plan a route and run (mayb i shld change a nick call myself "JuzRun")... usually taking abt an hr... so i reckon the max i did was 10km? i really dunno...

event was on Sunday so Thursday/Friday shld be my final training before i rest my body... thursday felt too lazy, plus i left work late.. so i did ONE round Yishun as a final training on friday evening after work... it was going fine... i kept my pace well, and it felt like i covered more distance over a shorter time.. i enjoyed the run too... no panting, breathing well, muscles felt fine... and i was juz listening to evening radio and running... nice..

i was less than 1km from home.. had to check a blind spot before i cross a little small slip road.. it's become a habit, event if the slip road is actually an entrance to a sch with closed gate... at this moment, "POP!".. my knee gave way... dang.... i maintained my balance and had to slow down.. till i reach a traffic junction... i decided i cant run anymore... i walked home... not limping.. but i felt a sharp pain in my knee.. i wasn't worried abt the joint being swollen, it seldom did, im juz worried abt having small tears in the meniscus.. i really dunno if i can still go the the duathlon, i was hoping that it'll heal by then..

saturday evening was like any other evening.. bz with tending to the kid and other things.. mentally, it din feel like i was going for the race the next day.. it's feel like a chore to go find my hydration bag, pump my wheels, think abt wad to bring to keep myself away from hunger etc etc... but eventually i got everything i need prepared and laid out juz beside the door... regardin my knee... i was prepared to go for the run, at most i'll stop after the 1st loop of 5km lor..

woke up at darn 5am the next day.. dad called me to make sure i was up (wonder why he was so ganjiong abt the race...) he even offerd to drive the car back home so that i can mount the bike rack up juz downstairs.. i had to make 2 trips still thou... 1st was many barangs and the bike rack... second was the bike and running shoes (i had my biking shoes in the shoe bag so that the running shoes i carry on hand, i can change to running attire after i parked the car at the race venue) and the wife and kiddo...



Finally got to the race venue, parked the car and while dismounting the bikes from the rack, i was going throu in my head i haf to do... darn!! i forgot to bring socks!! was hoping to find an extra pair in the car, sometimes my dad leaves things in the car one... and dun haf.. at most run without socks lor...after i set up the bikes, i was still gg throu stuffs in my head, ok now to change into my shoes... hmm... how come i dun remember where i put my shoes.. search memory search memory.. eh? i was pushing my bike with both hands... shoes leh?? damn!! i din bring my running shoes!!


it's heaven's will... it tried so hard to stop me from running... 1st, the sprain... then the socks... then finally the last resort..the shoes... i HAD to listen to the signs i guess... i din bother rushing back to get them.. i wasn't even sure if i can run at all... i had to settle for the cycling leg, it's gonna be 40km of riding... i'll train hard and safe for next yr's!!!

comments on the event, after photos...

















cant comment on the run coz i din do.. but the cycling leg was a bit confusing... 1stly was the distance.. it was supposed to be a 40km ride.. but the lap felt so damn short! the cycle computer read 8.8km after i've done 2 laps... and the marshells were shouting "5 laps and u can exit! huh???

apparently in their website, the organiser self-admitted:

• Failure to anticipate the route challenges as a result of heavy construction work in the area.
• Failure to anticipate over a hundred construction workers breaching our bike route on their way to work.
• Ineffective marshalling
• Inadequate route signage

ok...fair enough.....

2ndly i think the cycling route is kinda dangerous.. the lanes weren't super narrow... but the organisers used cones to separate the lanes and some of the cones got knocked over... i think the marshalls shld pick them up... very dangerous leh! imagine ppl were riding at 40kmph! i had to avoid one at one time and i was very close to it when i realised it was in my way...

another milestone!

can't resist posting this...

Went mcdonald's for breakfast on sunday morning with yan and jan... ordered the usual... big breakfast and sausage muffin with egg... we realised that jan has been looking at us everytime we were eating, not juz that day... but knowing that she'd nv taken any food b4 (other than her milk), she doesn't really "want to eat"...but juz curious... and babies all like to put things into their mouth to lick/bite.. that inspired us to take this pic... cute eh... heheh... mayb i can sell this to macdonald's...

ytd morning jan did her 1st ever rollover from her back to her front! all by herself!!
she was practicing the day before that... quite e few times, but her head seemed too heavy for her on sunday...

monday morning she surprised us with a complete flip!!
and then she kept flipping and flipping.. and flipping... cant stay lying on her back for more than a few seconds......

she so proud leh!

kiddin'~

uploadable knowledge

if only we can juz plug and play.. like lotsa mp3 players or game consoles can... juz plug in the module u wan.. and play...

been trying to learn more abt my work in the last couple of weeks... found some books and articles on it... but it's damn difficult to juz learn by urself... juz by plain reading... no one to teach, no one to ask questions.. sigh.. if only i can juz upload these info up there....

Singapore Sprint Series 2008 - Duathlon

for friends who knows me... u'll know that im useless in water, the main reason why i've nv really participated in any Triathlon (relays not counted).. i think the possibilities will be endless if i can swim well... and in open waters... there's so many triathlons and ironman races in the regions, ard the world!

aiyah the next closest thing will be duathlon liaoz.. run, bike, run.. (as opp to swim, bike, run)... did my 3rd duathlon (a tiny one for the 1st, a full distance one as 2nd) last sunday at seletar / mandai area... Run 1 was 3km in the Seletar Reservior Park, it started with a downslope after flag off...n ppl were already sprinting!! and coz it's a down, i can't help but to pick up some speed as well... by the time i reach the bottom of the 500m slope, i was already breathless!! useless! anyway i din stop la...very su seh leh, to walk 500m after flag off... aiyo... the path in the park wasn't extremely easy to run, there's a few up slopes and i nv train on such high angled slopes at all... the last stretch of this leg is a 2 km flat in the open... but in the warm morning sun... personally i'll prefer a cooler weather la... anyway i took close to 17min for the 1st leg. not too bad..

biking was relatively smooth, no major screw ups or complains, im a better cyclist than a runner/jogger.. but cycling on a mtb with slicks, u cant really compete with serious roadies with aerodynamic bike frames, body frames, and even helmets (looks like a droplet of water from top view, reminded me of PUB mascots...hehe...) but i was quite surprised to find only a few rookie cyclists... most of them looked pretty serious.... i was saying to chelsea mayb this is the main difference between competitions like this and mass public events like marathons or bike rally or runway cycle... took slightly over 33min for 2nd leg..

leg 3, the last grueling run in the park... by then it was close to 10am.. the sun is high and air is humid.. the final stretch along the flat open was quite a torture... 2km under the scorching sun, many times i feel so much like stopping to walk.. but i din, i know tht if i did, i can nv start running again...took 19min for the last leg...

3km run, 15km bike, 3 km run... 1hr 13min 59s.. ok la.. acceptable... i was preparing to take 2hrs... hehe.. very forgiving hor?

i think im complaining too much... it's only a sprint distance! the real one is coming in june...

no photos as phone was deposited in the bag area and the wife was at home with the kid...

who does she look like...? Mum's ears...? Dad's nose...? who's eyes???

tried it a few times and it's ways the same results! even with different photos...
mayb it's really true huh...

scattered brain..

all these while, for the past few months, i think i've become very absent-minded... ask the wife... she even complained that the pregnant one has had better memory than me... it felt like things juz whizzed passed me all the time, only little gets captured in the HDD up there..

i wonder if it's the monotony of work.. true enough that im in science field, i shld be using my brain more... actually i feel that the current work requires lots of repetition, sequence following and following of procedures/protocols... having workload, "high throughput"... i dun think there's time for creativity/playing ard... so there's quite little room for creative brain functioning...

this lady from the UK came over to give a course on basic pharmacology over 2 weeks at workplace.. some of the contents were familiar, taught in sch b4, and i do remember them.. so apparently my long-term memory is still ok... then it came to some case studies, where we're shown some graphs and curve from apparently experimental data... man! my brain cant work anymore!! i can't compare graphs and speculate the differences! let alone trying to come up with reasons for the differences! imagine a few weeks ago i was still toying with the idea of studying part-time... i wonder if i can handle that at all.. mayb i shld have juz gone straight to further study after i graduated... less the brain degrading... but then again if that's the case then i dun think i'll be able to appreciate wad i study.... dunno... *shrugz*

mayb it's juz because it's juz too damn early in the morning, with the fact that i slpt at 1230am after i feed the kiddo and woke up at 550am to feed the kiddo again... (each feeding takes abt 30min.. u do the math)

yes i totally understand this...

hehe... this illustration is an exaggerated expression larr... but... i totally understand the
predicament...

Janielle is a happy girl...

look how bright is she smiling!! wanna know the reason...?

because she got this!!!!

from this!!

ha!! way to go girl!

the yr 2008

ok it's already coming to march... why am i so slow in making my comment abt the yr, or the past yr...

Simply, the 2 months that has passed juz went by in a breeze... shortly after the arrival of janielle, and 2 weeks of leave staying at home being the full-time caregiver.. helping out with the baby and stuffs...it's been rather bz when i go back to work... even yan teased that she realised i've been working OT every since jan is borned... (a co-worker jumped to rescue explaining that i was really very bz at work...hehe..)

so far, like i said, it's been bz, both at home and work... i asked a colleague one morning, wad did she do the previous evening after she got home from work... the usual.. bathe, dinner, watch tv, read papers etc... for me? dinner... take care of jan... then slp.... haha!! but im not complaining... it's nth really exciting for lotsa ppl i guess... ppl generally din wanna be tied down by such things... they wanna go out after work..hang out with friends, dinner, drinking sessions... no one really wanna go str8 home from work to take care of babies de mah... but apparently, as new parents.. lots of us actually quite look fwd to going home early... juz to catch a glimpse of the little one being awake and not too restless... juz the time to play with them... ya they dun really play... but u can carry them..talk to them... see them responding to u.. jan smiles when i tell her things.... haha... i haf a fellow reservist mate who was saying to me abt 2 yrs back... we've got night's off that evening... so we can go out for dinner or wad... but need to be back to slp la... he drives... but he say he din wanna go back home.... coz once he's home, he won't bear to come back to the barracks once he saw his toddler son... Awwwww..... haha... new-age dad huh!

ya by the time i get home from work... it's usually close to 8pm... and jan slps at abt 10pm... i still need to haf dinner and bathe leh... i dun wanna bring those animal fur and stuffs close to the kid leh...

work wise... at this moment...im quite please with how things are progressing for me in the new team.. however i still need to be better in the analytical side of things... the mass spec and stuffs.. (i'll spare u the details la...) to be more competent... to perform....

so that's abt it.... the 2 mths of 2008... other than the Taiwan trip... it was basically baby and work..

Resolution for the yr?

mayb not resolution... i'll try my best to do these things la...

at home:

• Be a gd daddy; make sure janielle grows up happy and healthy...
• Be a gd hubby; thou wedded, thou the kid is born.. muz remind myself nv to take things for granted.. muz cont to go out for dates and wifey's still my best companion for movies and travel!
• Be a gd son, be nice to my parents and try to provide them with wad i can... i do admit i havent been a very gd son before la... only woke up in recent yrs... (applies to treating my brother too)

at work:

• Be competent in daily work; in vivo and analytical...
• Be creative and more innovative; i need to do more out of my daily jobscope.. need to do things which spurs me more in reseacrh.... else i'll sink into juzdoing service in the company... like a robot.. being part of the process.... NOooooOO.....!!
  
• Be more involved in PDWG... this newly formed group which im part of but been missing out on... mainly also because im not yet experienced and competent enough to contribute much....
  
• Be gd to colleagues; some politics going ard... im not involved and dun wanna be involved... so i'll be gd and friendly and neutral... =) i need to be nicer to ppl la...

taiwan

my very 1st time in Taiwan.. was over there over the CNY.. hehe.. ppl say we damn smart... got away during new yr but left baby behind...hehe...aiyah not on purpose one... juz that we couldn't really bring jan ard... it's damn cold there and she juz too young!!

anyway it's still winter over there.. was ard 10 degree in the Taipei city but very much colder elsewhere... it was freezing in Jiufen! we went YangMingShan too...it was 6 degrees there! cool!!

very briefly.. taiwan is a friendly place for travellers/backpackers..that is if u're chinese-speaking.. generally the ppl there dun speak very good english... but they tried hard.. once ppl know that we're from Singapore...they spoke to us in English though we keep replying in mandarin...guess they din realised that we're not very confortable with speaking in english there... anyway... ppl are generally very friendly and they're almost always glad to help and point directions to u... or give u advice on how to get to places...

we were there for 8 days... seems quite a long period hor? but we only managed to get to 2 cities properly!! only Taipei and Hualien... initially TaiTung, AliShan and even KaoShiong were in our destination list.. u see why it's not really possible....

Day1 - Taipei: Shida Night Market (we arrived late in evening so only managed to go for night market...)

Day2 - Taipei: Ximending, Shilin

Day3 - Hualien: ZhongShan Rd, ZhongZhen Rd (we arrived early afternoon, so after settling down it was already afternoon)

Day4 - Hualien: Taroko Gorge National Park, night market (forgot name le)

Day5 - Taipei: HuaXi St (aka Snake Alley)

Day6 - Taipei: Jiufen, Ruifang

Day7 - YangMingShan, Beitou (Xing Yi Rd)

Shida/Shilin/HuaXi - Night Markets
Ximending - shopping street for the trendy/younger generation (us included)
Hualien St - street stalls of eateries and provisions and fashions.. lots of variety la.. got KFC,Mac etc too
Taroko - natural gorge winding about the Central Highlands of which is mainly made of marble... marble is a major produce of Hualien and in this national park u get to see many nice nice landscapes formation, streams, rivers, cliffs.. u got the idea la...
Jiufen - a (used to be) small town set on the slope of the mountain away from the main city.. lots of ppl come here for a short getaway from taipei.. the famous st here is called JiShan St.. the popular eats will be the jelly cakes and some kueys and taro-ball... it's nice to walk along the streets!
YangMingShan - gotta love their national parks.. in fact as long as it is a national park outside singapore, likely that u wont be disappointed visiting it... i wanna go Africa's national park someday!! anyway it was flower-blooming season then.. actually it's juz starting...they were hardly blooming yet.. juz very wet and droopy..
Beitou - 2 reasons why we're here.. 1stly.. we need to go YMS vis Beitou.. 2ndly, how came we miss hotspringing in winter!! lotsa hotspring facilities here! take ur pick!

some representative shots of the trip... for more, visit my multiply albums!

Team Dinner

finally we went for out belated team xmas dinner... actually it could haf been anything... dinner, lunch... range shooting, wake-boarding, shark-diving, parachuting... u name it... but the team was juz too inadventurous to try such things (6 girls!! only me and boss are the real MEN ard!!)... and we were too busy to think of exciting things to do... we almost settled for blading and happy meal!!

anyway we went Cicada... it's this restaurant at the very end of Portsdown road... yea very ULU... cant really get there unless u drive.. or take a cab... there's this one bus that goes there though... that comes in like once every 2 days or wad... i din notice....

food was good, place was great... i like the place more than the food... but it was too bad that we arrived slightly late... too late to properly enjoy the early evening sitting in the outdoor with cool breezes... one of the reasons i like early evenings... it's a great place to hang ard under the rain trees, alfrescos on couches, occasional car whizzing by (i shld haf taken a scenery shot!).. with friends of ur spouse/partner... the food's good too... i did say that right? i'll love to go there often for food if it is not that pricey... sure the price is actually alright if u think abt the places whr angmohs go to... we spent on an average of $50 per person? but it's the boss's treat.. *shrugz* Hehz!

my main course! sea bass! slow cooked... grilled to almost perfection... flaky and juicy...it's served with this creamy gravy.. like the bed of french beans too.. juz find the serving too small.. can hardly fill my stomach... good thing we did order starters and desserts.. and a couple of the girls cant finish wad they'd ordered and gave me sone... or mayb they took pity on me....

oh and Janielle slept through the night for a straight 6 hrs!! amazing!!

hmm.. hope that it's gonna be consistent like this from now...and not juz my alcoholic breath doing wonders....

diaper change

do u know wad is the most frustrating thing abt changing a baby's diaper?
that baby simply loves to poo/pee on fresh clean nappy/diaper!! even b4 u can pin/stick it, u suddenly hear a splatter... gone... one diaper wasted... pee still ok...since diapers are made to hold a few pees... yan juz change 4 nappies at one go... all juz b4 she managed to pin it... why can they juz poo at one go....? urgh..!

Baby to the Dino Family

yup a baby girl was born on the 1st of Jan 2008, abt 9 hrs too late to be the 1st baby of the yr, but she's already early! EDD was 9th Jan 2008.

it was amazing to see a baby popping out from a mother... i mean 2 lives from 1 leh.. the bump that was in mummy which was growing from juz a "peanut" on the ultrasound scan to something which kicks... from a bump that wriggles when mummy is eating to a crying baby in the delivery ward.. i mean yes ppl know wad happen in reproduction and birth... but being there for the whole pregnancy makes me appreciates it more... a baby can be concieved juz like that!! cool!

yes the labour pain was horrible... ya it's not me who experienced it la... but i know coz yan was taking in deep breath every few min when the contraction comes... she din slp a wink the night b4 she was admitted to the hospital.. she was screaming when the contractions were strong enough to push the baby out.. (i can do nth but offer my arm for her to hold..) shortly after, the screams of the mum was replaced by the cries of a baby in the delivery ward... it's a girl!! (actually we've long known the gender la)

Baby Janielle is well and healthy.. pink and chubby... and looks a whole lot like dad...

Happy New Year!

been away (from the evolving world) for a while.. been at home being the househusband while the wife is in her confinement month... it's not really much of a confinement really... she's been walking abt in the house.. bathing (in herbal water and she smelling like a bag of herbal tea... HEHE...)... been out 3 days in this week!! haha... but with reasons la... twice was for medical follow-up of baby and for herself... once was to meet a seller of a electric breast pump..

baby janielle is doing well too.. other than the usual things like slight rashes and colic... right now she's fine... there had been worse days... the worst had been when we were still trying to get her to be breastfed.. the little one simply refused to bite on and suck.. we even consulted the lactation consultant during our visit to the hospital.. janielle literally had to be forced on the nipple and her head held there despite her crying and screaming... the milk from mummy is still on it way too... so mummy got quite worried and depressed..the nurse did managed to get jan to suck on both sides after some time and of course jan got so tired of fighting back and crying that she juz fell aslp in mummy's arms... still sucking on...

back at home everything was repeated all over.. imagine over an hour of forced feeding.. and feeding interval of 3hrs... there simply wasn't any time for us of the baby to rest at all.... imagine this to go on in the night... *sigh*.. there we decided to give it 2 nights of trying.. after which if jan still isn't able to latch-on, we'll juz bottlefeed...

we were not able to hold on for 2 nights.. mummy was tearing seeing the baby scream at her chest.. mummy was crying slightly.. "at most i'll work harder and pump more milk lor.. hor?"... we finally decided to express mummy's milk and bottlefeed the baby... afterall, wad's the difference in breastfeed and bottlefeed? bonding? we'll hold her tighter to mummy's body lor! yan left her number at the lactation consultant to be informed of anyone selling their electric breast pump... the manual one we currently haf is draining off not yan's milk, but her energy and sleep... imagine having to stay up for abt an hr to manual pump for only 15-20ml of milk... not worth it...

we managed to get one at almost 30% the original price! though the warranty is expiring, it's working well and the previous owner said that we're fast in making our decision... jan was only 7 days' old when we bought it over from her.... it took her many months to forgo breastfeeding despite many of her relatives suggesting otherwise... she succeeded thou, her baby now 9 mth is latching on... but bottlefed occasionally... she's a strong woman yan says.. having to fight back so many and holding onto her own beliefs...

anyway all is fine now... everyone in the house seems to be getting on with having the baby ard... thing i shld be able to return to work soon... let's hope the staying home for 2 weeks din rot my brain...

cant wait to bring the baby out!!

oh yar.. btw... happy new yr!
may 2008 be a great great yr for all of us!