Over one gigabyte of reading material

Back home today with the cute piece of hardware, otherwise known as portable harddisk, loaded with over 1 gig of reading material for rotating equipment(RE). Although i am not rubbing my hands, drooling with anticipation over reading such large amount of data at the moment, there is a part of me that wants to read them for i need to fill in critical gaps in my knowledge of RE.

Luckily, it does seem rather interesting in finding out the root cause for pump/compressor failures. Had my first chance of encountering a pump which was brought to the workshop and observed effects of corrosion and erosion on the impeller, diffuser and the casing itself. Thus my first 'On the Job Training' or OJT in Shell, my last being 9 years back as an AO onboard RSS Victory. heh.. brings back memories.

After which was sitting in a discussion in regards to a blower (a type of compressor) and a meeting regarding the Co-generators, of which we were given a physics/electrical lecture by the Lead electrical engineer (who is a PE). Luckily i can still recall my Electric circuits and physics module.. i think.. so understand the front part until it came to E=44.4 x f x N x flux and V=E-IZ (where I is inductance and Z is impedance).. then the subsequent complex formulae. Woot! So cheem for the electrical part. Finally understand it when he ran through that again (some other mechanical engineers also got lost) and then the impact of it on our gas turbines.

So anyway, looks like i would have some stuff to do at home for this 2 weeks as i will be on course at Redhill area, which is good as i feel rather '做 bo' for quite a while liao. So other than reading up, is to level up in my knowledge of MS Excel as i will have to tidy up the data and maybe learn some usage of macros along the way, so looks like the 'help' function is going to be my best friend again. =P

Busy weekend =)

Played approx. one and a half hours of badminton on friday night..before getting a ride to the airport by clement as he picked up his wife from the airport. It was so physically demanding, with the guys so pro in badminton. Heh. Leaving me with amazed look on my face and breathless after trying to dash, stretch and jump after their powerful shots.

Headed home and went for mahjong session at Wheng's place and slept at 3 am. =P Woke at 11 am and packet lunch home for my winning 11 appointment with yongxi. After a few games, it was the house warming event at my aunt's place, where we played mahjong again till 9pm. heh.

After late dinner, not done yet, as we (wheng, yongxi and me) headed to wheng's place for soccer watching with leslie n jean. Popcorn, beer, choya n cheeseballs were the tidbits for the night. And after watching thrashing of Middlesbrough by Man U and goal galore for Chelsea, Yongxi dropped me off at home before he went to his bro's place for the night. With all the back to back activity, yongxi and i called dawn to wish her a very happy birthday + a share in the gifts too!! =P Hope her luck will turn and all will be smooth sailing from now on!

Hiaz, adjusting back to working life again as it is a long time since i know that i have to rest on Sunday night .... since 5 years ago. heh. Gotten to know quite a few colleagues through badminton on Friday and they were a wonderful bunch, hopefully i can recover by next thursday for the next badminton session. Right now, not only my thigh muscles hurt, but it is the muscle group that goes all the way to my buttocks. My right shoulders and arm, especially my forearm... are sore too! hiaz... Too long without exercise liao.

Will have to invest in a portable harddisk by tomorrow, so that i can download some very important reading material that will aid me in my understanding of engineering applications for rotating equipment. Need to compile a list of essential formulae, unit conversion etc for quick reference, and the most important will be... where all the information are located. heh. Too lazy to head down to Sim Lim for the harddisk... hopefully Challenger will NOT be that expensive as compared to stuff in Sim Lim. else.... may be forced to head down anywayz.

Short day today.

Read, read and read..learning basic knowledge of the pumps and mechanical seals would not be enough by just reading alone. Just as i was wondering how long before i will be exposed to an actual problem, i was tasked to follow up on a compressor which had generated too high a vibration today. Or rather, tasked to investigate concurrently with more experienced engineers so that i can have on the job training.

Well, looks like its going to be more challenging very soon. =P

Anyway, heres a picture of the stuff i bought from Hong Kong for myself, not to mention a surprise find in the hotel washroom.... it is none other than.. Darlie's sister. =P




Well, need to go pack for badminton with colleagues after work tomorrow. heh.. going to get some exercise liao. =P

Where my time went ...

Well, after a few days of monitoring, just confirmed today that i spend approximately 4 hours a day travelling. At least i can catch some sleep in the morning as i can sleep on the train and on shuttle bus, which means i could recoup about an hour of sleep during the morning trip, as for the return trip, only 20 minutes of sleep during the shuttle out, as the train will be packed and finding a seat is a 1 in 4 chance so far. =P

More self study today, plus another meeting. Looks like i will be sitting in on morning meetings liao. And try to pick up stuff from there. Looked at a few pumps that are taken out for maintenance, and by doing so, i realised there are lots to read up. So.. read about 140 pages worth on pumps, the different types and stuff today. The formulae definitely looked familiar, thank goodness they are applied liao, no need for me to calculate. heh.

Well... wanted to jog a bit today, looks like too late. Maybe tomorrow... hmmmm... need to exercise a bit before the badminton game on Fri, else sat will be sore muscles throughout my body liao.

Period of self-learning

Was slightly late this morning after i missed the feeder bus to the MRT and was delayed by 10 mins which snowballed all the way as i missed the shuttle bus too! Thank goodness i caught the 715 just as it was about to leave the bus interchange.

Completed the Safety Induction Course and went for a meeting in the morning, sat in the meeting actually and listened to the updates etc. So learnt much and at the same time, realised i didnt know much too! =P

After the morning meeting, it was back to the terminal to settle administrative stuff and it was mainly online learning. Good news is, i received guidelines on my job scope, not that good news is the requirement for knowledge of Computational Fluid Dynamic analysis, and luckily, at my stage, will only require awareness of it. Lots of other stuff required too! So i guess it will take some time for self learning before i can brush up my competency in various fields from awareness to knowledge of and in the longer term - Mastery !!! =P

Well. Looking forward to exploring the plant this week and gain a better perspective of how the pumps work and relevant considerations.

As for the people in there, mainly a fun bunch with good attitudes. There will be a badminton session this Friday and will probably join in for some sweating out and much needed exercise.

Packed with activities for the past few days

Well, its a good thing, not bad. =) So packed with activities that i cant be at the com long enough to blog. heh.

Anyway, spent Thursday getting the workstation up and running as the software has to be updated (took almost an hour!) and then logging on to settle my email, personal particulars etc. Getting more settled in and toured a small part of the area, to the other buildings, but not to the plant itself as i have to undergo a safety course on Monday 1st to ensure that i know the dangers and of course, the safety precautions/practices before i am certified to go to the plant. May be getting a pager as handphones are not allowed in the plant, only intrinsically safe pagers are allowed for safety reasons.

Then it was mahjong on Thursday evening, and went to Shell house at UE square on Friday, which lasted till afternoon and i met up with Fen and Boon Tat for lunch as i was in the area. Long time since i last met up with cbt. More mahjong on friday night, and unfortunately, lost my 老大 position to cbt in snooker. Well, he deserved to win as he has be training regularly.

Yesterday was spent driving around to help my aunt 請神 to their new place and perform some rites. So toured Hougang for quite a bit, now a bit more familiar with that place liao. heh. It was then makan with my family before heading to pick Winnie up to go to Reiko's 21st birthday party at Home Team chalet at pasir ris park. Nice party, too bad winnie and i couldnt stay long as she has to rush back NTU for her FYP experiment results and for me, more packing up and only managed to catch 1st half of Aston Villa vs Man U before conking off after a long day.

Well, Queen Zee, will have more updates on the job by tomorrow ba. =P Think will take a while to settle in and probably will tag along with the technicians to take readings on the pumps and compressors on tues or wed, after i pass my safety course on Monday.

My 1st day ... and 200th post!

First day to Shell Chemicals. Rather long journey to the west, taking 78 minutes to reach Jurong East interchange. Took the 715 to Jurong Island, which took another 18 minutes, and arrived 14 minutes early at the pass office. As the pass office for employment passes only opens at 0830, i queued up as there are 6 in the queue (being the kiasu Singapore). Luckily i was kiasu.. cos just before 0830, another 10 queued up behind me. =P

Made my pass, went thru rather tight security and onto the bus to my workplace. Due to good satellite images from google maps, i knew where to go, or rather, my guess was correct. heh =)

Well, they were surprised to see me as they got the news that some new guy is coming only yesterday as the HR was on leave for the past week plus. So.. nothing was prepared for me, they were apologetic but i am totally fine. Cos i get to meet people as i hunt about for my stuff. Met almost all the department people, grabbed the last PC available, had my pass made and drew my overalls, helmet (apparently NEW design with shell logo in front as everyone also happily went to draw it), raincoat (in a cool bright yellow colour), torchlight, safety glass and safety boots. Will be tailor-making my clothes next wed and also my own prescription safety glasses. so cool!

Also learnt about organisation structure, roles and responsibilities, pumps - centrifugal, rotary, positive displacement and mechanical seals. Of which, there are so much more info to absorb so that i can troubleshoot and implement predictive maintenance? i still not sure yet, but heh.. its only the 1st day. =P

The only downside so far... is that i have to wake up at abt 0545 in the morning, so that i can make it to the 0730 shuttle bus at Jurong East Interchange...hmmm..maybe if the COE drops further, then can consider getting a car more seriously. =P For that hour plus more of sleep everyday.

The start of another adventure, hopefully, a long one. =P

Nervous? Slightly. As i sit here, yawning away at the thought of waking up at 615am in the morning to proceed to work. Seems like i had travelled back in time to my Navy days, except this time, i stop off at Jurong East instead of Lakeside MRT.

Wondering what to wear and what to bring. Probably shirt and pants, with my sling bag and some stuff inside. =P Writing pens and paper? My earphones to utilise my FM radio function on my mobile phone is a must. =) Exciting to see my work place. Looks huge when i spy on the place using google maps. Although still cannot confirm if that place is my workplace. Well. Lets hope i dont get too lost on that island. heh.

Realised that i may have to wake earlier for breakfast. hmmmm.... excited at the thought of a new adventure, new friends, new challenges. heh.

On food and dream...

Well, takes a long time to prep photos, nonetheless, had completed the food tour of Hong Kong over my 4 days there. Enjoyed all meals except for one, which i had ordered wrongly and had the healthy breakfast set of milk with oatmeal. =P

Dreamt of going to workplace last night, probably as i was thinking of how to get there and wondering what to expect. Images of the workplace i will be at in Shell in my dream is still vivid in my mind. Wonder if it will be the same as in reality. It would be a case of dejavu if it was totally the same as reality, not to mention a bit frightening. Cos i would use that power to dream of toto winning numbers. Well, what would you expect me to use that power for? =P Hmmm... on lame thoughts, if the workplace is as had dreamt of, won't it mean that it is a dream job? heh heh

Anyway, back to makan in Hong Kong...


The vegetarian food is rather delicious and of a generous helping at the temple beside the big Buddha. We had the meal after climbing up the stairs to have a closer look at the Buddha and the surrounding landscape, which is rather nice. Had roasted goose and pigeon for dinner, my 1st time eating both. Goose was very good, and the pigeon is rather unique with a 'wilder' taste than duck meat.


Ordered wrongly and was served the milk with oatmeal. Yucks... but .. oh well, it is supposed to be healthy. Lunch as good with the pork balls and especially the pork balls with fish maw fillings, though it is a bit too salty. Dinner on Saturday was with Ray and his friends, with the good recommendation of 糖朝, where we had good food and the trademark BUCKET of 豆花. Very smooch and soft, and the bucket was big enough for 13 bowls of it. Woot! After dinner with Ray and gang, went to temple street for trying out the gui lin jelly. Also a big bowl S$5 only, enough for 3. Also a must try. =P


Woke up later on the last day, so had tim sum for brunch at 小肥羊. Not bad, but nothing fantastic. The highlight of the entire trip was the tea time at 池記, where the wanton and crab porridge is a MUST try! Crab porridge came in a bucket, a smaller one, enough for 5+ bowls and costs only S$10+. The wanton was superb with fresh prawns, and it was the ordinary ones as the special wantons were sold out as they make only 20 bowls per day. Normal ones are so good, wonder how power the special made ones are. Also chanced upon an old man selling roasted chestnuts at S$2 per pound. It is not only cheap, but very well done. =D

Anticipation ....

Returned from Hong Kong last night, with another 9 bottles of Hoegarden beer added to the supply at Wheng's place for the weekly (whenever possible) soccer screening. Last heard is that Leslie would be joining us, as it is better than watching it alone at home. I guess it is a male thing. =P

Spent most of today sleeping, resting for the next adventure ahead. And as i am arranging the photos, i was searching for bus time tables for that isolated island. Luckily, with Dawn's photo-memory, she informed me that the bus on the island is 715, and with that and google, i found the bus company that gives that service.

Thus, i found out the going to work will be a long ride using public transport, just like back in Navy days where i have to wake early in the mornings to go Tuas Naval Base. I guess some things never change. =P

For Wed, it will take abt 20 mins from my place to Pasir Ris MRT, and 52 mins to Jurong East MRT and another 22 mins to Jurong Island Check point by bus 98. I cant find much information on bus 715 on the internet, guess it is a lousy bus company to NOT have a website at all. tsk tsk. So which means that i will spend approx. 94 mins to get ot the checkpoint and to the pass office to make my jurong island pass in Wed. After which is another short bus ride to Shell Chemicals in Seraya. So to make it to the pass office at 0815, it will mean that i have to leave home by 0645, to give 10 mins buffer = leave at 0635, thus wake at 0620. *sob* Lets hope the shuttle bus by Shell is available somewhere in the east, at least i can nap more on the bus. =P

Oh well, feeling rather anxious of the approaching 1st day of work, of which the HR there did say that i WILL be late on the first day (she expects it as the pass office only opens at 0830), and i hope my future colleagues will be fun people to work with. heh. =P

Hong Kong day 1 plus...

Why plus? Cos no time to upload and settle the photos for day 2. Instead, managed to get the part 2 of day one up. =P

Anyway, for day 2, it was an interesting breakfast before heading up Lautan Island to visit the Big Buddha and subsequently, vegetarian lunch at the buddist temple. It was an interesting bus ride up the hills as the cable car was under maintenance. It was breath-taking up at the buddha statue and we also came across Anita Mui's tablet, with plenty of flowers and gifts from fans.

After that, went down to the MTR station and shopped at the factory outlets, bought some good stuff at rather cheap prices. Then it is to warehouse outlets for wheng and mom to get clothes for as little as SGD 1... yes.. 1 dollar for a blouse or t-shirt. In all, the clothes/dresses/shorts total about 20 plus in quantity and average about 4 sing dollars. Woot! That is cheap, unfortunately, only ladies wear are so cheap... will add in the location next time ba. when i update with pictures. =P.

Well, back to the photos on day 1, cute translation of 'waterloo'; the ladies market; with plenty of cute stuff and 'cheap' buys but bargaining is a required skill. Lastly, me and mahjong Den. =D




So tired... and so many photos .. heh.. well, looks like i have something to do on mon and tues lor. And will need to find out more about bus service in Jurong Island so that i can take the bus to Shell Chemicals after i get my pass made at the pass office at jurong island on wed morning. In the middle of an adventure in Hong Kong, and a new adventure coming up on Wed. =P

Day 1 in Hong Kong

Flew off from Changi airport at 11 am in the morning with Cathay Pacific airlines. A rather pleasant flight with Pirates of the Carribean: World's End to entertain me. =) And soon, we landed in Hong Kong, and it was a shock for me as i fell asleep just before touch down and was rudely awoken by the jolt of the aircraft wheels touching down on the runway.

We took slightly more than half an hour to pass the immigration as the queue was VERY long, and i took a photo with my mom with the count down clock to 2008 Olympics. We took the airport transfer (which was included in the package, else rather ex.) to the hotel and along the way, get to visit HK Disneyland's .... hotels. haha.



Was at Niu Ren street and Mong Kok area for the rest of the night as it was already 6pm when we left the hotel to explore Kowloon. The dinner was ... very good actually, with pork chop bun and maggie mee. Yes. More photos when i get back. Too tired to add the night scenes and more about the food. Actually wanted to take photo of the food BEFORE we eat, but forgotten all about photo taking when it arrived. =P

Well.... all in all, Hong Kong was amazingly big! Yes... i know it is a lot bigger than Singapore, just that in HK drama serials, there are so much city scape that... hmmmm... never expect that much green hills and undeveloped hiterland around. Good good. a few photos to show the difference, maybe update when i get back. heh. And oh... visited a mahjong club along the street... didnt get in though, cos the cigarette smoke was so thick, one could probably get cancer faster than he can lose some money. =P

Weather is ok. Warm in the afternoon, a bit of smog as the sky was hazy, though dont have the burning smell, but think is smog... like what i breathed in in bangkok years back.

Other than that, wheng, my mom and i enjoyed it so far, tomorrow is off to the visit the Buddha.. er... somewhere near the airport. =D So will update again tomorrow!

Happily busy today

Well, finishing up on what i need to hand over to the next solar car team and probably claim some money back before heading back home to pack for tomorrow's trip to Hong Kong. Pretty packed schedule, and hope can get clear skies at Hong Kong so i can take some good slides. Will be bringing the FM2 over, it is nice playing with slides, now have to find time to revise a bit on it. heh.

I may get to update me blog while there as there is free internet access, just see if i have the energy to do so at the end of the day, better than waiting till i come back and would have lost some of the memories liao. =P This shows that i am getting old. heh.

Back from phuket ...

Touched down at Changi airport last night as kai xin, yong xi and i returned from the relaxing holiday at Phuket. It was a fun and exciting trip with plenty of action and not to mention, travel insurance claims. Fortunately, the claims were for minor illnesses, so not that bad.

The pictures are not with me at the moment, so cant post any of it yet. Would be interesting to do a day by day account, but rather sum it up in a post or two.

Thanks to melvin's Thai friend, Dao, who lives in Phuket, we were able to get discounts off for makan, diving and most importantly, where to get good local food. We even went to Krabi on a road trip on Sunday, where yongxi and i slept most of the time in the back of a truck, which is enclosed and air-conditioned. Thank goodness for that!

Spent most of the time on the beach, getting some sun and a bit of a tan, just a tiny bit of tan as i was using 70 spf sunblock, which is very water proof as the seawater just rolls off and the remaining water are like crystal beads on my body. Yongxi and Kaixin got noticeably tanned... although kaixin looks more like malay now. =P

Went for a dive too! A day at the dive spot and 2 dives were made. I saw, for the 1st time: giant trigger fish, moray eel, mantis shrimp, pacific lionfish, barracuda, garden eel, nudibranch, transparent cleaner shrimps and puffer, box and porcupine fish! Not to mention a very close encounter with a turtle, think leatherback, which just swam past in front of my face, so close that i could have touched it if i reached out. =D

Well, will update again with pictures once i get them! =D

Back from 93 officer makan.. =D

The last 93 officer makan was more than a year back at Greenwood Fish Market, which has fantastic food, and cosy atmosphere. Too bad it was too cosy that a group of 12 would be a bit cramped. Thus i reserved a pizza place down the street instead.

From a group of 11, 3 were unable to make it due to work, sailing and personal reasons, thus final attendees were Giam (crabbiest, as he is full col, the rest less crabby =P), Chee Lay, Francis, Henry (who actually looked like an investment banker =P), Desmond, Chee Hun, Huey Wen and obviously, me. =P Left home at 1745, thinking that it should be enough to get there on time by bus, which was good timing as there was traffic jam and i got there just on time, while chee lay was the earliest, reaching there 5 minutes before time.

Soon, the rest arrived and started chatting. Although it was met to be a simple get together, somehow it ended up with 2 news from me, which is after retiring 4 years ago, i finally graduated and also obtained offer from Shell. heh. Also did some catching up on what everyone is doing, and stuff. Everyone looked like 5~6 years back, not much changes. And it was back to old times as we revisited the fun times, high stress periods etc. Much laughter as we looked back into past events and stuff. =)

Rounded off with ice cream treat from giam, and more chatting among the 5 of us as Francis, Henry and Chee Hun had to make their way back 1st. And thus ends the 93 officers makan, as the saying goes... 天下無不散之宴席. So we went our own ways and will meet up again in a year's time, maybe earlier, during Steadfast's commissioning and when i strike toto. =D

Shedding off the secret of being offered .....

a career in Shell!

Well, it is the first of October today, and it is time when i can happily announce that i will be re-entering the work force after retiring to increase my education level 4 years ago. Why a secret, cos apparently, there is a vacancy available and i am the only one among the gouramnians team singapore who is a graduate and could start early. So as to not increase the anxiety of others, the Shell HR, Grace, informed me not to tell until Oct. Nonetheless, one smart detective among team singapore had actually sniffed out the secret before i wrote this post.. hmmmm. Smart! =P

Thinking back, it was fun while in the Navy and rather sad that i have decided to leave, and left. Miss the days back in Tuas Naval Base and shipboard life, with fun and laughter and a whole lot of stress too. Well, good news is, will be meeting up 10 fellow officers from RSS Vengeance tomorrow night for dinner. Good to have a chance of catching up. Looking forward to it.

Was supposed to sign the contract last week, but was postponed till tomorrow, but was yet again postponed to this wed cos the HR gal, Jennette had to go out field. But i'm ok. As long as they dont retract the offer. =P

Well, felt very lucky to have been offered the opportunity to work in shell after a 3 month process. Applied for it in the first week of Jun, and it was the first resume i had sent out. Received an online questionaire a fortnight later and subsequently an interview in Jul. As my time was taken up with the solar car project, it was at the back of my mind, which was nerve racking at times as it was a long 3 weeks wait before i received a response. =P And off i went to the magical land of Gourami for an intensive experience, met plenty of fun and able people and of course, enjoyed myself. =D

So, here i am, sitting i front of my computer, smiling away as i feel very thankful for being lucky enough to be offered a job at Shell. Hopefully, the people there will be fun and have a good work environment like in the navy. i guess work stress will be present, and i hope that it would be of a level which i can manage. heh. And yes, this is the reason why i am going for 2 short trips, one to phuket with the solar car team members who are still unemployed xP; the other to bring my mom for a holiday before i get all busy again. Very happy to be bringing my mom overseas again (the 1st being a backpack trip to Europe, and yes, my mom is tough though i carry the backpack while she carries the day pack =D) as she had been delivering newspapers to support the family for more than 20 years already, so want to fulfill her wishes to visit every corner of planet Earth, well, maybe i bring her to a new place every year. heh. =P Wanted to bring my dad over, but unfortunately, someone has to stay back to deliver the papers. hmmm...