Shutdown Day - The (Horror) Movie

As we cruise into the month of March and the big day gets closer, I am beginning to feel a slight tinge of panic. How do I go a day without my computer and gadgets? They are so much a part of my daily life that the thought of going one whole day (that's 24 whole hours!) without them is daunting.

If you're like me and suffer from separation anxiety, here's some fun things you can do with your laptop without even powering it up.

This video is rated PG - Pitiful Gadgets.

Tears are rolling down my face as I watch this video. *sniff*

The Truth Is Out There

Some months ago, I wrote that I am jinxed. I mentioned that during a certain time of the year, things around me, even brand new ones, will konk-out for no apparent reason. Strange but true.

But there's more. There is another strange phenomenon that has been plaguing me for years which only my wife has witnessed - and constantly laughs about. But it is serious - to me anyway. The thing is, everytime I wash my car, it'll rain after. Again, strange but true!

For a few weeks, the weather has been warm with no rain in sight so I decided to take my car in to my regular place to get it washed and vacuumed last Friday. With the sun high in the sky and temperatures at about 34 degrees celsius, I was dead sure I had beaten the "Rain Gods". I cruised into the car wash with a little smirk on my face. As soon as the hoses were turned on, the skies turned a menacing shade of grey and by the time my car was spotless and making its way out of the car wash, it started to drizzle. So much for spending ten bucks to get the car looking good.

Today was no exception. I decided to wash my car myself and seeing that it was a hot day, it would be ideal. But at the back of my mind, I knew that the guy up there had his finger on the "rain" button just itching to push it. Nevertheless, I persevered and trooped down to my car with two pails full of water. I poured one pail over my car to get rid of the dust and as soon as I did, the sun decided it was his break time. I didn't let that stop me. I washed and wiped my car till it was spotless. Then.... oh well, you can see from the picture.

My wife thinks I should take my car and my rain inducing act to drought stricken countries to help.

*sigh*

Ditch Your Computer Day!

Just yesterday, I read and blogged about the passing of Mr Robert Adler, the man who invented the remote control - a device I absolutely cannot live without. We take so many of these devices, gadgets and inventions for granted without even an inkling of who invented them or considered if we'd be able to survive without them.

As a gadget addict / freak / aficionado / fanatic / buff / devotee / enthusiast, I am fully aware that I cannot function like a normal human being without my gadgets for a day. This is why when I leave my home, my laptop, 2 smartphones, my iPod Video, my internet-banking security token, a 2GB thumb-drive and two remote controls (one for my car's security system and the other for my home's security system!) goes with me. This does not include my gadget-laden car which I drive everywhere.

So as a personal challenge, I have decided to give this a go. On 24 March this year (a Saturday), I will not turn on any of my PCs or laptops. To make things more difficult, I'm going to ditch my smartphones and settle for one cellular phone without any of the fancy bells and whistles. Anyone also keen to take up this challenge?

Now, all I have to do is to key this date into my smartphone's organiser to remind me of the event. *wink*

Picture above : My outdoor geek-kit. My other smartphone (not in picture) was used to take this shot.

Farewell To The Father Of Remotes

When my son was born, I wished for him to have interest in medicine, law, business or anything other than the field of Information Technology and hankering after gadgets everyday like a love-sick puppy (read: like his Daddy). With my luck, I knew my wish would not be granted and this was confirmed when my little boy took his first glimpse at my array of remote controls. His eyes brightened, he started to drool and then desperately (and recklessly) reached out to grab one. Since then, he'd kick up a ruckus if he failed to get his saliva-coated hands on it.

A week later, I promptly got him a t-shirt which said "Hand over the remote and no one gets hurt". He wears it proudly. *sigh*

We use remote controls everyday. We reach for it subconsciously when we want to change the channel on reruns of Seinfeld, to pump up the volume when we hear our favourite song on MTV or to pause Flightplan when we need to go take a tinkle. Do we know who first invented the remote control - a device used by almost everyone in the world? His name was Mr Robert Adler. Sadly, he died last week at the age of 93 and it is a shame that the world was none the wiser.

With this entry, my little boy and I bid a fond farewell to an inventor that brought a great deal of convenience to the world.

Thank you, Mr Adler. I couldn't have become the remote toting couch potato I am today without you. I am eternally grateful.

Burden Of Reality

Last night, I watched a late night movie on the tele called "Barbershop". I think it was released in 2002 and it starred some pretty well-known rappers and actors like Ice Cube, Cedric The Entertainer and Eve.

It tells the story about a guy named Calvin (Cube) who runs a barbershop that was passed down to him after his father passed away. He works hard to keep it going but is not very successful. After two years, he decides that he has had enough and sells it to an unscrupulous man who initially promises him to keep the barbershop going but later does not keep his end of the bargain and plans to turn the barbershop into a gentlemen's club. Calvin does not realise how important the barbershop is to him until his wife reminds him of how much it meant to his father and how so many people in their community depend on the barbershop not just for their hair-cut but to keep the cohesiveness of the community intact.

On any other occassion, this would have been just another movie but recently, certain developments made the storyline tug at my heart heavily. Although I am not sure of what the outcome of my situation is going to be but I can say upfront that either decision will be painful - one physically, one mentally.

I promise to share more when I can.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Gong Xi Fa Cai - that is the traditional greeting exchanged between Chinese people during the Lunar New Year celebrations. That's today and the celebrations span across 15 days.

Although I don't celebrate Chinese New Year, I love this season because of the festive goodies and the holidays, of course. It is usually a 2-day holiday in Singapore but because today is a Sunday, we get an additional day. So, I'm only back to work on Wednesday!

Wishing all my Chinese friends and fellow bloggers a very Happy and Prosperous Lunar New Year.

The image is the Chinese character for prosperity. It is traditionally displayed upside down because "upside down" in Chinese sounds like "arrival". So, the upside down character for prosperity symbolises arrival of prosperity.

Happy V-Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!

V-Day doesn't just mean Valentine's Day this year. It also means V-ideo Day too - iPod Video, that is. That's what my lovely wife got me for Valentine's Day. That's a whole 80GB of love right there. By geek standards, that's more than a lifetime's worth. Mrs Prem loves Prem and she knows Prem loves gadget. How sweet is she??

In the less than 24 hours since I received this beauty, I've got it loaded with a whole bunch of videos, more than 2 days worth of music and even hooked it up to my widescreen TV.

My apologies for the blury picture. This was taken with my Treo. It usually takes great shots but today, it appears to be too jealous of the new "addition" to the family.

Note to Mrs Prem : Thank you for the absolutely amazing gift. Happy Valentine's Day, dear!

Perspective

This is a brilliant video. Enjoy.

An Apple A Day?

To start off, I apologise to all visitors (that's all 5 of you!) regarding the recent spate of Apple related posts (see this, this and this) turning this blog into what some might just call a fruit basket. I'll try to keep these to a minimum but before I sign off on this almost impossible task, here's a heads-up....

Apple will be having a one day only sale on its products on 9 February. That's tomorrow!! I am not sure how attractive the discounts will be but I am definitely looking forward to checking them out. And as much as I wish I could share "the love" with everyone, the sale appears to be for Singapore-based customers only.

You can count on me being online from midnight.

Update (9/2/07 1:55 am) : Sale has not started yet. Geez...

Vinyl Irony

I love vinyl records. Having been a freelance deejay from the mid-80s till the late 90s, I was frequently working with records. For those of you born after 1990, records are how we old fogeys listened to music before CDs were born. Vinyl records not only delivered great sound (yes, much better than CDs), they last a whole lot longer than CDs if well-maintained.

Many friends describe my music collection as "insane". I might have about 700 odd CDs (and growing - I've lost count) and a good 500 pieces of 12" vinyl records. I only switched to CDs because a lot of music is no longer pressed onto vinyl - which is a really sad thing. So, I constantly tell my wife that I need to shower lots of tender loving care upon my beloved record collection. And in case they get damaged, I am working out a schedule to "digitize" them. "Protecting the music by migrating them from the analogue to the digital world", I always say.

But THIS is not what I had in mind when I said "protecting the music"!!

A company in the US is taking old 45s (that's old-school slang for a 7" vinyl record) and turning them into iPod cases!! How cruel is that? Among the vinyls they are crucifying to protect iPods include gems like Band Aid's Do They Know Its Christmas?, Starship's Nothing Gonna Stop Us Know, Bananarama's Venus, Olivia Newton-John's Physical (this was once banned from airplay in Singapore for being "too suggestive"), Pet Shop Boys' Always On My Mind and the kicker - Revolution by The Beatles.

But what really upset me was the use of Sly Fox's Let's Go All The Way. I used to do a real killer live mix of this track together with Shout by Tears For Fears and Rock Me Amadeus by Falco. It was my signature mix so I take this very personally.

But personal issues aside, I applaud the guys for their ingenuity. I'd rather these gems of the past live on this way than to be cast aside or tossed into the incinerator like garbage. It is also a reminder to current and future iPod toting youngsters how music was enjoyed generations before.

Keen to get one? Pop on down to their website.

Wonder if they'll just send me the records intact if I request. *wink*

Anti-Climax

I visit Apple's website cum online store everyday - without fail. Healthy interest or serious obsession? You decide.

Over the last few months, I've had my eye on a MacBook. I've never been a huge fan of Macs but since they started rolling out Intel-based hardware, it became attractive because it would not only run Apple's own operating system (OS X) but Windows XP as well. However, it was a little pricey and out of my reach. So, I check the website everyday hoping for a special discount or promotion. If I were lucky, they might have a "Buy An iPod and get a Macbook free" promotion. I'd like that.

Today was no exception. I typed in the URL and found that their store was down! It only meant one thing... either a promotion or a new launch!! I almost pee'd my pants.

Could they be slashing their prices on Macbooks and finally, I'd be able to afford one? Perhaps, they may be adding cool new features to the Macbook but maintaining the same price? Wait a minute... could it be... a surprise launch of the iPhone... 6 months early?

I held my breath each time I hit the "refresh" button on my browser. And then, there it was...

Coloured iPod Shuffles?? That's what they took down the entire online store all around the world for?!?! What a let-down.

Anyway, if you're in the market for these microscopic music players, they now come in these attractive colours. No longer are you stuck with just bland matt silver.

Available at all Apple dealers and online stores. A great gift for your special someone on Valentine's Day.

Disclaimer : Links here are to Apple's online store in Singapore. Visit Apple's International site to take you to an online store near you.

Loss Of A Father

My father died a year ago today.

I still remember the day. It was two days to a major public holiday in Singapore and I was looking forward to it. I thought I could chill out from all the stress I was experiencing. I received a call from a relative overseas who was visiting my father in hospital there while I was at work. He said "I am sorry to tell you that your father is no more. He passed away about 15 minutes ago". At that instant, something inside of me died as well. Reality, as I knew it, was altered beyond recognition. I became an "orphan" without a father to turn to for advice or a mother for comfort. She died 10 years before. The feeling of lonliness was overwhelming. I rushed home to be with my wife because the emptiness was consuming me very quickly.

People tell me that time heals all wounds. People don't really know what they're talking about, do they? To me, it still feels like I lost him yesterday and although only one year has passed, it feels like 20 years has gone by. I sometimes wonder how I am to carry on life with this severe dent in my heart.

Fate can be so cruel. My father died in January and his Grandson was born in July. They missed each other by 6 months and 2 days. I never realised it till now but my Grandfather (my Mum's father) and I suffered a similar miss. He died in May and I was born in October the same year. My father would have loved to have met his Grandson and I'm willing to wager everything I have that nothing in his life would have topped his happiness. I still remember how he tried to contain his excitement when I first told him over the phone that we were expecting a baby. As always, he would not betray his cool and calm exterior but he failed miserably in trying to mask the excitement in his voice. And three days later, I received word that he suffered a severe stroke, never to regain consciousness again. As I said, fate can be cruel.

Everyone talks about lonliness. But you never truly experience lonliness until you realise that you no longer have anyone to speak for you or defend you in life. It is a frightening path when you know you have to go it alone without any parental advice - no matter how old you are. It becomes worse when this is thrust upon you unexpectedly. And as I embarked into fatherhood still aching from the loss of my own father, I constantly ask my dad in prayer to guide me along the right path in life, to give me the strength to be a good husband and father and to be able to teach my son right from wrong so that he will grow up to be a respectable and honourable man - a man exactly like my son's Grandfather.

One year on, I've learnt the pain of his passing will never cease or diminish. But I hope that my father has found peace after struggling a great deal in life. Although I have not been the best of sons, I loved my father more than he ever knew and him not knowing will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Mike And The Mechanics' "The Living Years" has new meaning for me. A part of this song that makes my heart ache goes :

I wasn't there that morning
When my father passed away
I didn't get to tell him
All the things I had to say.
I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I'm sure I heard his echo
In my baby's new born tears
I just wish I could have told him
In the living years

Till the time comes for me to see my father again, he will be sorrowfully missed.

Walk The Dog

Another day, another innovation.

Our friends who live in the land of the rising sun have come up with what I think Eddie and Casey would really love to have. Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing the doggie treadmill.

I have no idea how much it costs or where I can get it from because their website is in Japanese.

Its a pity. I could use some time on it as well.

Sayonara!!

The "Ladoo" Shop

For all ya home boys (and home gals?) out there who like kickin' it with 50 cent (that's read "fitty cent" - yeah, get it right if ya wanna hang with The Premsta!), here's a video made by a couple of bruthas out there.

Check it out, dudes and dudettes....



Word...

Yanking Your E-Mails Back!

Heard of Bigstring.com? No? Then count your lucky stars that you have been acquainted with The Premster's blog.

Ever write an email, be it a joke or a nasty note or and regretted it the minute you hit the 'send' button? What's worse is if you wrote a lovey-dovey email to a special friend and then gasp in horror when you discovered you sent it to your Dad instead?

Being an absent-minded fella, such things have happened to me a million times. In fact just about an hour ago, I got a reply from a major retail store in Singapore about my little boy's 3 month old stroller that had a hinge that gave way. The Customer Service Officer responded via email and directed me to the local agent. Thinking that I had hit the 'forward' button, I wrote a note to my wife beginning with "hi dear" and ended with "love you". After it went out, I was shocked to see "Prem to Customer Service" on the top of the email.

There was no way on God's green earth I could get that email back - unless I make like Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise) in Mission Impossible and enter through the ceiling of the retail outlet, access the system and delete my email. So, I sheepishly typed an apology and asked the Customer Service Officer (a lady!) to disregard it. I can just imagine a print out of it going around the store for everyone to read. *sigh*

Fortunately, no *ahem* personal stuff was included. *wink*

Wouldn't it be great if I could just get it back with a press of the button? So, I went searching and came across Bigstring! Apparently, they're fairly new and they have all the Mission Impossible type functions in their email. You can even set your email to self-destruct based on a time-frame you set. Amazing? You should check them out. Best of all, its free!

Grab the account name of your choice quickly before they run out. My dear wife's name has already been taken! I haven't shared this with her yet!

And in case you're wondering - no, I don't get paid a dime for sharing this. Too bad, isn't it?

A Strange Day

Today was a strange day - in a good way, that is.

I didn't get much sleep to begin with and by the time I was out of bed, I had only clocked about 4 hours of shut-eye. I had to go out early because I had some arrangements to make in preparation for my father's first death anniversary prayers. According to our custom, the first death anniversary is the most important and special rituals should be performed.

I went down to the temple and met with a staff who helped with the arrangements. He gave me a list of things to buy and since the prayers will be held day after tomorrow and some of the items are perishables, I decided I'd go get them tomorrow instead.

Since I had already lost sleep and was out and about, I decided to get my car stereo fixed. It was getting a little screwy and appeared to have a mind of its own. The 'on' button became the 'volume down' button, the 'input source' button became the 'off' button and so forth. Operating it was a game of chance and since its display wasn't working either, you wouldn't know what station you were on or what CD or track it was playing from the changer.

Getting back to the point. Since I had sent this unit in for repairs for the exact symptoms previously (paid a bomb for repairs and waited 3 months for the job to be done), I figured getting a new one would be worthwhile. So, I picked one out (with my wife's over-the-phone blessings) and they proceeded to install it. You would think that something like this would actually excite me. But it didn't. At that moment, an over-powering urge to be with my son came over me. I don't know why but that's exactly how I felt.

So, after hurrying the technicians repeatedly, I hopped in my car and rushed home. And when I came through the door, there he was - flashing his toothless grin at me as I entered. We spent a good 20 minutes together 'chatting' until our domestic helper came with his milk bottle again! Anyway, he did appear hungry so I handed him over.

I've always felt a bond with my son. But I never felt that bond as strong as it was today. Maybe, preparing for my father's death anniversary reiterated my need to always be there for my son - like my father was for me.

It was a strange day. But it was nice.

Cake Engineering

There is a very good reason why Engineers should remain Engineers and not venture into other trades.

A couple of weeks ago, I got it in my head that I should give baking a try. So, while out shopping for groceries, I picked up a couple of ingredients and a can of peach topping. It clearly said "topping" on the can but being the clever bloke (Engineer) I am, I decided that it should sit in between the cake - like a center filling. Simple enough - or so I thought.

So, here's how it went this evening.

Step One : Mixed the batter and then whisk for about 2 minutes.

Step Two : Pour into baking tins. I used two (splitting the batter equally) because of my ingenious plan to have the peach "topping" in between - much like a peach burger.

Step Three : In the oven they go. 165 degrees celsius for about 35 minutes.

Step Four : After 45 minutes (I was watching "The Day After Tomorrow" on TV and missed the beeping oven), the two sponge like vanilla cakes came out. Looks good?

Step Five : Here's where it all goes horribly wrong - just like the massive weather disaster unfolding on the tele. The cakes were "freed" from their tin prison and left to cool. I then flipped one around so that I'd have the flat side to spread the peach topping (or should I say peach "centering") on. Here's the "peached" side.

Step Six : When the peach center was done, the next logical step is to put on the top. UFO or flying saucer jokes at this point will not be appreciated! *wink*

Step Seven : Here's where the word "horrible" comes into play. I thought, like cement, I could get the two cakes to become one with frosting. So, I piled it on. The top turned out messy but the sides... the frosting just slid off! When I stood back to 'admire' my work, it looked like someone with a bad case of the flu sneezed his lungs out over it!

Step Eight : Behind every unsuccessful baker, there's a supportive wife. My wife tried her very best to even out the mess I created and then popped it in the fridge.

Step Nine : The final product. After about an hour in the fridge, my wife decided that she would risk it and try. I tried to dissuade her but she cut two pieces, one for me. She promptly took a bite. I didn't have her guts (and literally too) but tried it anyway. It turned out ok. My wife said so too!


Oh, credit also has to go out to two lovely ladies. My wife, of course, who helped line the baking tins with grease paper and with the 'rescue mission' and a new friend my wife introduced me to at the Supermarket. Her name is Betty - Betty Crocker, that is.


So there it is - my foray into baking. After we finished our slice of cake, I told my wife "if I ever suggest that I bake a cake again, please feel free to give me a slap".

Water Works

Sometime last week, I found a notice stuck on our home door. It was from a Government appointed contractor that said the water suply to our apartment block would be turned off on 12 January 2007 between 10 am and 5 pm for water pipes re-routing - or something like that.

Being the responsible dude that I am, I remembered (more like my trusty Treo reminded me)when I got home last night. I made a list of all the things that needs to be done for our domestic help, like filling up containers and pails with water, ensuring that Dev has his morning "swim in his plastic jacuzzi" and doggies' water bowl is filled, all before 10 am. I felt proud of myself as I climbed into bed at about 5 am.

I decided to sleep in since there was no water but by almost 1 pm, I needed to use the little boys room. So, I did. And I flushed. "One tank disabled", I thought and automatically moved to the wash basin to wash my hands. I washed, dried them on my towel and stepped out to get back into bed. Then my head screamed "Wait! The tap had water!"

This was about 4 hours before they were scheduled to turn the water back on. Did they reschedule and forget to tell us? I called the number on the notice left on my door last week. A lady answered and asked if she could help. I asked how come there was water flowing at my home when they were supposed to have turned off the water. She calmly replied "We have turned off the main supply of water to your block. But the common water tank serving the residents of the block has been filled before we disconnected the supply." All I could say was "Oooohh.... thanks!"

I stepped out of my room and in the kitchen, I found pails, containers, jugs and cups filled with water everywhere. Anything that could hold water was holding water. I felt a little stupid. Anyway, thinking that there might be others like me hogging water from the tank, I rushed back to the bathroom and enjoyed my bath - just in case the tank ran dry.

A whole new appreciation for the convenience of water on tap surfaced.

Have a good weekend, all!

Super Nanny

"Good help is hard to find these days" is a common phrase heard regularly. I hear horror stories about foreign domestic help through friends who have them and when it was time for my wife and I to seek one, we were worried sick.

"Will she look after the baby well?", "Will she be able to cook?", "Will she practice good hygiene?", "Will she cause us problems?", "Will she spit in our soup if she's pissed with us?" were a few of at least a thousand questions we tossed around before we visited a couple of agencies. We picked one based on her resume and she arrived at our doorstep exactly a week before our son made his dramatic entrance into the world.

And how did our domestic helper turn out? She was good! She cooked well, swept and mopped our home everyday and other than the occassional monetary problems back home which resulting in her asking for advance salary, we grew to trust her to be independent.

But when it came to my son, I think she is way too "good". You see, due to my work schedule, I have the unique opportunity to spend time with him during the day while my wife was working. When I wake up, I find our domestic helper playing with Dev or singing odd sounding kiddy songs. Maybe it's the accent. But when I asked to take over and spend time with him, she hands him over, rushes off to the kitchen and soon returns with a bottle and calls out "Dev!! Feeding time" or "Dev! Diaper changing time" armed with a diaper or "Dev! Bath time!". So, even though I spend a good part of the day home, I have a total of about 15 minutes with my little boy.

So much for good help.

iPhone - iMustHave

Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Its finally here!

After almost two years of speculation, rumours and hoax images, Apple's iPhone has been announced! Isn't she a beaut?

When I heard that it was launched about half an hour ago, I rushed to my desk and typed in Apple's URL and when it loaded completely, my colleagues found me transfixed with my mouth open. One had the nerve to ask "Porn site?"

This is a phone + iPod hybrid. There's hardly any buttons because it is touch-screen - just like the phones / communication devices found on the Starship Enterprise. It boasts of bluetooth, wi-fi (great for our recent islandwide free wireless internet access) and other goodies. This thing even plays videos. Short of waking up before you to cook breakfast and iron your clothes, it pretty much does everything!

So, I guess Zune's not being marketed in our parts was a blessing in disguise. And to think I was thinking of importing a Zune or even springing for an iPod a couple of days ago. Thank God!

So, here's my declaration :

"I, The Premster, owner of this blog hereby declare that I will hold off as many gadget purchases as possible till June 2007 when the iPhone becomes available. I will love, honour and cherish the iPhone for as long as it shall live - or till a better gadget is launched. I declare to have and to hold, till obseletion do us part."

I'll kiss the iPhone when it arrives.