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Singapore Flyer with kids

Clié on the Singapore Flyer

Its the start of my 1 week break from office life. I don’t remember a time where i really took time off between jobs. I remembered when i was in Uni, during the school holidays i would come back to Singapore and work. Then after Uni, i started work, we had a kid, i started working harder, we had another kid, i started working even harder.

Now its the June holidays, so its time to really spend time with my kids.

Monday Singapore Flyer, Tuesday Swimming, Wednesday Science Centre, Thursday Ice Skating, Friday Movie. woot!

Cleo on the Singapore Flyer

Mommy was on leave on monday as well, hence we headed to Vivo first on the morning. Mommy got both girls 3 dresses each from Gap and they are really nice. Clié even got a nice pair of shoes with strings that tie up all the way to the calf. Very nice.

After a quick lunch, we headed to the Singapore Flyer. As we already had the family member thing when we first went last year, there was no need for us to queue or wait, we just walked in like we owned the place. lol…

Looking down

The girls behaved themselves and looked out with interest. They were moving around the whole capsule, looking around and posing when i asked them to smile for the camera.

RAWR!

I simply love my girls and i know they know that.

We then headed to Marina for the rest of the afternoon. The kids had so much fun that Clié fell asleep while we were having a short break at a fast food outlet. It was quite a nice day and this is only day 1.

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Last Day at Convertium

PM to SPM to PD

Today marks my last day at Convertium, an independent Singapore based full fledged internet agency.

I joined back in Feb 2006 and my interview period took several months. The strange thing was that back then, i was not looking for a job, but for some reason, i sent out just 1 job application impulsively. Convertium got back and i went to have a chat. After 3 interview sessions across about 4 – 5 months, i joined Convertium as a Project Manager.

Looking back, it has been 3 years and 4 months already, but somehow it feels like i have been in Convertium my whole life. Chalked 877 weekdays, clocked 8263.5 hours (we had to fill in timesheets, so i know.), sent 20770 emails (yes i don’t think its neccessary to file sent mails), so on average i sent at least 23 emails per weekday and on an average clocked about 9.4 hours a day (i really wanted to know, so i calculated).

Last Day Lunch

12 Jun 2009, I now leave as a Projects Director with solid industry experience all thanks to my Boss who unreservedly mentored me and shared with me directly from his heart and from his personal industry experience. I’m especially appreciative of the enlightening insights, the management skills, the revelation of my blind spots and the need to always back things up with facts.

When lunch time approached, just like normal, the mass MSN group chat happened and everyone got ready to go for lunch. Little did I realise, there were more than 15 of us. We headed down to Far East Square area and had a nice Pasta-ish lunch.

MacBook Air from Convertium

I was asked to give a speech. lol… I feel super old, like someone getting a life time achievement award or something. lol… So i obliged. I shared that bosses / superiors are also humans. Bosses don’t have all the answers, bosses also want things to be better, bosses are looking for people who will be part of the solution and not part of the problem. People who are part of the solution will definitely be valued. So with that in mind, i hope everyone can cut their bosses some slack and face work life with more vigor and RAWR!!!

MacBook Air from Convertium

The big surprise of the day was when i got to my desk in the morning. There was a MacBook Air sitting there. There were signatures and scribbles all around. There were words of well wishes, there was lots of love. I’m speechless. Very speechless.

Thanks everyone its a HUGE parting gift and trust me, i’ll make good use of it.

MacBook Air from Convertium

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Nasi Lemak

Nasi Lemak

“What do you want to eat today?” is the question my wife asks me all the time. The fact that she can cook almost anything (from what i can see) the options are really wide open. Pasta, Nasi Brayani, Jap food or maybe something simple, she can cook it all. I can cook too, but my standard is on another scale altogether.

I can see that she takes pride in her cooking. Not only must the taste be good, but the ingredients must be fresh. Being a stylish individual, the presentation is also super nice too. Just look at how the eggs roll up nicely. And not to mention, she actually bought banana leaf.

Nasi Lemak

The kids don’t go for the spicy stuff, hence they did not get to enjoy the Sambal Long Bean or Kuning fish. I simply love it. My wife knows what i like. We were missing chicken wings, but thats fine as there was lots of food already.

Nasi Lemak

Nasi Lemak

Even the chilled cucumber sticks and cherry tomatos were fantastic. It made the whole table nice and beautiful. Everything was in harmony.

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Flowers

Lily

We went for brunch at PS.Cafe today and its one of the nicest way to start a no-plan type Saturday.

But why is PS.Cafe so nice? I seriously think its not just the decor, but the whole clanking of ceramics in the foreground with chattering of relaxed people in the background, the non standard chairs and cups, the beautifully served food. All these niceties out weighs the little paper that you stare at while walking back to your car while you leave.

Seriously i do like my under $2 breakfast at Maxwell market too. lol…

Ok, the flowers are simply cool. I know my wife likes big flowers, hence i suggested to drop by the Thomson area to go grab some flowers.

Flowers transforms the bathroom

We got white lilys and pom poms. My wife did a simple yet beautiful arrangement when we got home and it simply transformed our whole bathroom. Its beautiful. Yes, guys can think flowers are beautiful too. A happy wife is a happy life.

Kids bathroom with flowers too

The kids bathroom had pom poms too. So super cute. Oh we had diffusers for sometime already as well. They make the whole bathroom smell great.

I think flowers might slowly become a permanant feature in our home.

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Verner Panton

nickpan and dezzo

Dezzo brought us back to the 50s & 60s. He brought us to the Singapore National Museum to view works by the man who created an era of furniture design. Its none other than Verner Panton, the innovative designer that brought us the Panton Chair and many other funky stuff.

Vener Panton

Panton Chair

The design of his items might seem flashy, but the though and process that comes before the product is where the real magic is i feel.

Panton understood injection moulding and made a product that could be mass produced and this is none other then his Panton S chair. So the design process was not mearly an aesthetic one, but one of substantial technical knowledge and with an end product that also makes money sense.

Verner Panton Ring Lamp

Verner Panton Flowerpot Pendant

Vener Panton Visiona

As a web practitioner i feel its the same. There needs to be substantial knowledge in the technology, usability, best practices, etc. in order to come up with a good end product. Ok i shall leave this for another post.

It felt like we’ve time travelled. It felt like we’ve gone into another civilasation. The exhibits felt so strange yet brilliantly inspiring. A few things never change. Attention to detail and sheer smart and hard work.