Recap on spectacular moment for CNY 2008

Well... a picture will tell a thousand words...



Hahahaha .. thinking of what spectacular stuff happened right? it is my FIRST flower win! 花胡!! total of 8 fan! =P After playing since sec 2 .. which is like.. many years ago, i finally did it. Having said that, would like to thank Yongxi... for he had unfortunately kana 'bao' cos he collected the very last flower. xP


Well, another picture will be my latest liability, which is also my time saving machine....



Blocked out my license plate cos... dont think it is good to post it online, nonetheless, left the centre alphanumeric there, which is a number 3. =) Will take more pictures when I remember to do so, currently already travelled 5800km in it liao. 2 months only. =P

Its been a long long time ....

...since i last blogged. A month had passed. A very eventful month actually.
Chinese New Year went by in a flash, then very soon, it will be March already. Full of good news, and a bit of bad.

Bad news first: I will not be able accomplish my goal of completing my book by end Feb, given the tight schedule and mainly because of my procrastination. =P Will take it in small steps then, starting 2nd week of March, I will devote some time to writing my book and to exercise too! That leads me to my 2nd bad news ... had not been exercising much this past month. =P ..... hmmm ... not much negative news anymore, but will be taking steps to improve on my time management and go forth and do it instead of lazing around.

Basically, downside of having a car is being able to go to places in a very short time, thus ... i literally drove about to places for meet ups, makan and mahjong. =P By being away from home, my time in front of computer dropped drastically, so.. less blogging.

Good news now... starting with Fantastic news: I received my CT scan and blood tests results today. All clear!!! =D Thus almost 3 years in remission liao, and the next appointment is in Aug, so looks like i have been upgraded to review every 6 months instead of 3. Reducing both costs, pain and fear. =)

This CNY was very fruitful, being able to meet up with quite a number of friends, and had also taken the effort to thank my relatives for their support during my period of illness. =) Still have tons of people to meet and chat up, but i guess this will go into my time management schedule. Need to catch up with friends more often.

Phyllis just gotten married last Fri, and so will Weicheng and Claren this Sunday. So happy for them, and it will be fun going to their wedding dinner (had fun and laughter at Phyllis') and looking forward to it. Wishing them happiness in their marriage. =D

Will be flying off to KL for a course this Sun. A week in KL and flying back next Friday night, just in time for Wheng's birthday. heh.

So ... time flies and there are so many things that i want to do, but difficult to arrange and have everyone to meet up for gathering. Guess that is the main difference between studying and working. While studying, meeting up is easy as the time table is fixed, now, takes a bit of effort. Guess i will be asking for Chee lay's help in getting a chalet this Nov liao.

a secret project is also on my mind, definitely bigger than the solar car project, more exciting and challenging. Hopefully i can get enough support and luck for this to go through. ;P

Back home in less than an hour

Got back home today in less than an hour, rather smooth traffic throughout the journey. Left office at 5:45, drove off at about 5:55 after the engine had warmed up and stuff, was pleasantly surprised to have parked my car at 6:45. =D

Read the papers and walked to the coffeeshop near my place for dinner with my parents and younger bro. So nice. Makes the cost of the car very worth it. If money can let me have time with my family, it is definitely worth spending. =D

As for work, it is getting packed as i assume the responsibility of the PODU side, things are piling up with more projects to do. At least i had completed one which i had started, and several small ones are closed too. =) My supervisor is also setting up a rather 'big' time presentation for me next month, hopefully my presentation will go well, and i have to start preparing tomorrow, cos Feb is coming and there are always things cropping up during the day. Hmmm... maybe will need to spend some time working at home or during weekends. Heh.

i guess the good news is, i am happy with the challenge. Hope i can go through this smoothly and succeed. =D Then is looking forward to the course at KL this coming March, then another course in Changi this April, which means i get to sleep in more.

Starting to get busy preparing for the Lunar New Year, had completed delivering the new year goodies (consisting of 1kg ba kua and 1 box of peanut based CNY goodies) to all my aunts and uncle. For their support during my fight with cancer and also for having completed University and started work. =D I think it is just what i can do, a small gesture of appreciation. The most common reaction to seeing me was .... 'wah! Getting married ar?' Or 'Sending out wedding invitations?' =P

All in all, a happy week so far, and time is really flying by when one enjoys it. =P Another thing is... market is crashing, and looks like there are opportunities to profit from the stock market again, except... probably wait for it to settle a bit first. ;P

Surprise surprise ...

My 1st goal for 2008 was achieved today!! Much to my surprise and of course delighted to have achieved it, my first recommendation for improvement to a pump in Seraya. It is the P6234 mentioned in my previous post. With guidance from my supervisor, Mr Li, and Thomas out on site, i tested out the 3 pumps but running one at a time. Obtaining the shut off head and actual flow rates. Then with knowledge of its suction pressure, the process fluid, process flow and material of construction, Mr Li is able to guide me to possible cause of poor performance. So now waiting for them to pull out the pump P6234A to have an inspection.

Much more to do next week, but i guess it is a good start to 2008. =P

Later will be going to airport for supper and picking up fen who is flying back from Philippines. Will be heading down to Shuang Lin Temple tomorrow with my mom for prayers before heading to Wheng's place for w11 and maybe mahjong. =P Looks like i will have to wash car tomorrow morning, covered with fine ash from the chimneys at jurong island.

Now for more goals to achieve in 2008 ... cheong ar!

Many firsts... again?

Taking charge of PODU (short for polyols, derivatives and utilities) side of the chemical plant since monday, more or less official. 3 days, with responsibilities made quite a bit of difference. =P

Held my first meeting on Monday, went somewhat ok. Still have things to do and catch up. Taking up a mini investigation on pump P6234A/B/C, and see how it goes. =) Definitely a good learning experience and am supported by fantastic colleagues. Moving out of my shell to explore and get in contact, something I should had done a while back, but better late than never. =P

Will have to come up with a list to prioritise as stuff to do are piling up. Feels good to be able to stay back in office. Today learnt a lot from beng lee, a technologist, in regards to process and also pertaining to P6234. =)

Arranging for a plant visit to Flowserve, a mechanical seal vendor, so that i can gain more knowledge on that. Getting new engineers to go so that we can all gain knowledge too. =)

Uploading of photos... hmm. Not on my priority list so far. =P I rather read papers and relax and practise my guitar. After my 2nd lesson yesterday, i can play 3 songs, with long breaks inbetween chords as i change my finger positions. Not to mention that my finger tips are still in pain after pressing on the strings. =P Didnt know it comes together with pain.

Find driving rather okay, but sad that my fuel consumption increased after my servicing and after i installed the window visors. From 13.6km/l to to 14.4km/l to a very good 16.8km/l and now is 13.5km/l. Will see how is the next top up as i suspect 16km/l was achieved cos i was on the highway 90% of the time, while the rest is mixed as it was over the weekend.

Aim to run into my job and be comfortable by CNY so that i can start to re-connect back to several friends which i had last contacted when i was in NTU, which was 3~4 months back, but it seemed like ages. heh.

CSI?

Driving given me more freedom and time, =D Period. So started to stay back later in office, so that i can learn more stuff, do more reading up etc. Started my gears going... finally, hopefully can reach full steam in 3 months time. Have to start slowly, and maybe my goal of improving ONE pump by end of 2008 could be achieved sooner than i thought.

So many things to write... but ... where to start. hmmm... anyway, still have yet to take photo with my car, and it will be going for servicing on Sat. heh. Already done 1390km on my car, after driving for only 12 days so far. Good news is.... the fuel consumption is unbelievably good. Cos for the top up today of 25.54 litres of Shell 95, i had travelled 429km with it, giving a cool 16.79km per litre. Hopefully it gets better after servicing. =D

Drove my family down to Suntec last Sunday, amazing cos of the time saved. No need to wait for bus and train and squeeze with all the people. Parking costs $5+, but for 6 people, worth it and apparently, so is the fuel. Hope the fuel consumption continue or gets better. Heh.

Why the CSI tag? Cos learnt a new skill at work, which is to listen to pipes. Yes, literally place my ear on the pipe (pumping service water at ambient temperature, of course) and listen. Then also use hand to turn shafts, feel for vibration, heat (for products that are not that hot). Woot! so much stuff to learn, and to get experienced enough to know what i am hearing. After 2 days and about 10 over times of listening to the piping, finally can distinguish between piping with fluid flow and no flow. But for that particular pipes only, will need to see if have chance to try on other pipes. =P

Still not put up any photos... will have to do so soon, else my blog only words.. =P So sianz.

Life with a car... is definately different!

My first post in 2008! And yes, the spending is worth it! Been waking up at 6.30am since 2nd Jan and pretty smooth traffic, with few spots where speeds went down to 30 plus, and i reached Seraya at 7.50am. This means about an hour of driving as i leave the car park at about 6.50 plus. =) To think i am driving at about 70~90 although there is no traffic as i am still breaking in my engine. =D

So far, 2008 is going smoothly, everything going well. New year resolutions? Quite a few, and moving on to plan for them so as to ensure their success. Work wise, starting to get heavy, which is good to a certain extent and still will have to balance that in time to come. Still have a lot of stuff i wanna do, but not much time for that. So .. the first thing i wanna achieve in 2008, is to have discipline. More discipline in myself so that i can achieve more while maintaining my health. Especially now that i can have 45 mins of more sleep and reaching home a lot earlier, or rather, able to stay back later in office and still reach home earlier. =D

Roped in for a project, will be on my own, sort of anyway, as my supervisor will be looking after me. Cos still lots of stuff i have little idea. Starting to spread my wings a bit today, and will continue to make an effort to do so and meet more people at work and build on relationships. =P

Drove down to Orchard Road today, for G schemers' high tea at Royal Plaza on Scotts Rd. My first time driving down, and had to write the route down on the post it note and stick it at the music console for me to follow. Luckily, afternoon drive down was rather smooth, and had very nice high tea with large serving of salmon sashimi and lots of other buffet stuff. =D The drive back was a bit of a jam all the way as i missed the turn to ECP and had to pass through ERP twice. Oh well..that's the price of being a noob driver in town.