5000 days!
Yh reminded me today that we’ve known each other for 5000 days! The number isn’t exact since neither of us can remember the actual first day we met but we’ve assumed it to be 1st Jan 1995 when we started the year at AJC. It’s interesting how we got assigned to the same class 29/95 and somehow along the way in our individual journeys, got together and here we are 5000 days later, happily married and very much in love.
Will Google Chrome replace Firefox?
Firefox 3 has all but replaced Firefox 2 and Internet Explorer 7 as my main web browser on 3 desktops, 2 laptops and a netbook. The main reason? The plugin support that allows me to customize the browsing experience to be as clean and sleek as possible. With the new Google Chrome, this new beta browser makes even more tempting to try it out. Initial impressions are good with it’s promise of multi-process tab browswing built from the ground up. Google Gears is integrated immediately, which was a nice surprise when using Google Reader for the first time. We’ll have to see how it’s plugin support compares to Firefox’s established base of developers.
Did a quick test to see how the memory footprint compared across all 3 browsers, Firefox 3.01, Chrome 0.2.149.27 and IE 7.00.6000.16386. Type “about:memory” in the address bar in Chrome. Surprisingly, IE showed the least memory amount used. Always felt that IE was a bit sugglish on page loads but who knows what other background processes it’s sharing with Vista 
The UI for Chrome is definitely very appealing, clean sleek look with just a tabbed interface and none of those useless icons and toolbars to clutter the browsing experience. This looks to be a real asset on the screen estate challenged netbook since it has a very small viewable area. Hopefully, it’ll stand up well during tests. Looks like a very promising start for a beta product from Google.
A nice little usability feature which I just noticed is that when pasting an item into the address bar (which also acts as a search input) is that it intelligently determines if it’s a URL and will show “paste and go” or a search item and shows “paste and search”. Nice little touch to make life a little easier for users.
So I got a mail “Critical Red Alert 3 Beta Test Update - read this Comrade”
Opened up my gaming gmail account yesterday and found this great e-mail informing me “Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 Public Beta Begins!” Contents of the e-mail outlined the beta key required to access FilePlanet’s microsite to download the installation .. spent 30 mins in the public queue and finally got the file. Kinda late so didn’t get to install till now. Shall blog on the gameplay soon!
Our blog is almost 2 years old!
Time for a quick change of theme and a nice upgrade to Wordpress 2.5.1. Decided to put off 2.6 since it might cause us to lose all the category links to the posts. That would be a major pain to fix. With this theme, I had to make some changes to the header images that previously took the width of the site. Now with a smaller more “postcard” oriented header, they do tend to show off a little more of the original photo.
Also finally managed to link up Flickr directly into the blog so everything looks fine (in Firefox).. IE still gives some weird alignment issues but I’m giving up trying to fix for IE.
Milestone age
This is the year that I reached my milestone age - an age not that old yet, but not young anymore either; an age that I have associated with a special significance (’cause it is a milestone?) somehow. But yet, due to lack of time, it has took me almost 2 months to pen it down.
I always thought I should celebrate it with a Bang! But due to a shallow pocket and general laziness and busy-ness, one can hardly find the time to plan a memorable or unique way of celebration. Initially I thought to organise the run-of-mill chalet and BBQ thingy. When Mic knew about it, he was less than lukewarm about the idea. He rather spend the money to celebrate my birthday at his favourite ‘holiday’ site of Sentosa.
We decided on Siloso Beach Resort’s Roof Garden Terrace suite (with spa pool) as it looks quite good. I did not expect it to be cheap but the hefty price tag is still more than what I expected. But then I convinced myself that I’m worth it, after all, it’s a really special occasion.
As we get closer to the Day, I started to tell Mic out right what I want to do at Sentosa and wondering if I’m killing my surprise again. I think I did not get a cake from Mic for the past 2 years so I specifically told him I want a cake but I think I forgot to stress that I want it at 12am. When I reached home on the night before my birthday, I was rather disappointed that he was busy playing his computer games to pay me much attention. I decided not to jump the gun and wait and see with a book in bed, however I can’t help being a bit angry as well. Self-inflicted agony as usual.
Finally 12am rolled around. He came into the room and kissed me Happy Birthday. I responded with a pout. He took one look at me and said, “Orh, angry…” then went out to watch his TV.
!!!!!! @#$%&*#@$
Never mind… 我忍
Meekly, I went to him and asked, “Dear…where’s my cake?”
“Don’t have,” he replied, eyes still glued to the TV.
“Hmph!” I stormed off into the room and went to bed, wiping away tears of frustration and disappointment. Actually knowing Mic, I knew he should have prepared something for me the next day when we go to Sentosa and I know my surprise would be sweeter without expectations but I just want my cake at midnight and eat it too (pun intended).
The next morning, I woke before Mic and it wasn’t till I brushed my teeth and returned to the bed again that I noticed a present on my bed stand! Inside was a 4-sided photoframe with a Happy Birthday message, our itinerary in Sentosa, and a picture of cute sugar cows sitting on pretty cupcakes.
Later I learned that he did not get me XX (corresponding to age) cow cupcakes as I initially thought (oooh, how sweet would that be!). The picture was just something he picked up from the internet. But I did get my cake - nice chocolate cake from Bakerzin at Vivocity, that we cut and ate beside the spa pool (”It’s boring to have the cake at home,” Mic said in his defence). But I’m happy as I got my cake after all, hee hee. After all, it’s the thought and effort that counts.
We went to Fish Reflexology, something that I specifically requested as the last time we were there was a very interesting experience. I’m someone who has a very low threshold of pain and ticklishness so I was like stifling my shrieks and withdrawing my legs when the fishes are eating away at my skin or when the reflexologist is working on my legs. Hiak Hiak.
Next, dinner is on the itinerary. Mic had made reservations at a new and nice Japanese (fine-dining) restaurant, Santaro Japanese Restaurant at Amara Sanctuary Resort Singapore. My generous hubby decided to spoil me with the most expensive set dinner on the menu. The 10 course set dinner menu was not fixed but decided by the chef, therefore we are not too sure either what we had.
1) The first course was a tuna, ham and crabsmeat salad that was refreshing to the tastebud.
2) Next was something which I don’t eat but is one of Mic’s favourite food - oyster. Luckily, the oyster, though, presented in its shell, had been cooked. I absolutely cannot take the taste of raw oyster. The oyster was lightly grilled and so well marinated such that there is no smell and it tasted really really good. I guess it is the first time that I could stomach oyster.
3) The third dish was one of our all-time favourites - sashimi! We are not too sure what fish it was but the rest of the sashimi set comprised of prawns, cuttlefish and some meat. The prawns were too slimmy for my taste but the rest of the ensemble was great. The fish was firm yet melts in the mouth like butter as described by Mic. The meat item was quite different to me as I have not really tried raw meat before but upon biting into it, there was no raw taste. We wish there were more though as we absolutely love sashimi. Funny how I love sashimi so much now, it was only an acquired taste since 2003. After having finer sashimi, we know that we would never be truely satisfied by normal sashimi again.
4) Next was clear tuna broth served in this cute little cup that looks like a tealight holder. Hahaha. Basically the serving is so small that you could finish it in one mouthful. As it was fine dining, so we sipped it slowly to appreciate its (quite nice) taste. The soup texture was really very clear, no oil whatsoever.
5) The next dish marks the beginning of the ‘main course’. It was quite big! Grilled rock fish lightly grilled and seasoned with salt, served with radish. I think Mic was happy to see the fish as he loves fish.
6) This was both our favourite dish of the evening - Grilled goose liver with steamed turnips. Ooooh lala! Goose liver! And it is not bite-sized but looks like a small pork fillet. The outer layer is grilled to perfection yet the flesh is so tender and so juicy. I still miss it even now.
7) Such a big serving of chawamushi! And there is a big piece of shark’s fin inside. What’s not to like?
I’m usually not a great lover of tempura, but even I can tell that this tempura is so cripsy on the outside yet still soft and moist on the inside. Delicious.
9) Sushi is one other favourite of mine in Japanese cuisine. The variety of sushi served were traditional, professional (ie big piece of sashimi and little rice) and looks good. The fresh scallop was especially yummy.
10) Dessert was quite a non-event as Japanese cuisine is not big on desserts. Expecting green tea ice cream with red beans, it was quite surprising that we were served black sesame ice cream instead. The texture and taste of the ice-cream was quite good.
Thank you, dear, for the wonderful and memorable dinner.
We did not expect to spend such a long time at dinner and thus missed the first Song of The Seas show. Luckily, we were able to trade in our tickets for the second show. I was pretty disappointed with it though. It was too similar to the old musical fountain (free entry) and we still have to pay $6 for each ticket for this show!
After the half an hour show, we went back to the hotel and enjoy the spa pool on our private deck. Time to cut cake (see above)!
After the eventful day, the next morning was spent lazing around in bed after breakfast. Then all too soon, it was time to go home.
The service at Siloso Beach Resort could be better and I thought the reception seems a little too small and short-staffed to have a queue forming at check-in time. The room was also a bit small and the spa pool was without lights, which would have made night time dips more romantic. But the most important thing is i get to spend my birthday in a memorable way with my dearest.
Once again, Thanks, Darling for the lovely weekend, which we would remember for a long time to come.
Rent a sitcom
Yesterday was Good Friday. We celebrated with a couple massage at Spa Elements (The Cathay). Nearly missed it as it was raining cats and dogs and it didn’t help that Mic was sleeping.
Luckily the skys cleared up soon enough and i roused Mic to wake, we could still make it to the massage if we cancelled the spa pool before it. We arrived 10 mins earlier so went to browse at Gramophone. We were probably quite 山龟 but it was the first time we saw whole seasons of sitcoms for rental and since Mic is an avid viewer of sitcoms and we see some interesting titles, we decided to come back to explore further after the massage session and after we hopped over to Sim Lim Square to get some stuff.
We found old sitcom Mad About You, an old favourite of Mic, which he watched before we became an item and he has brought it up on more than one occasion that we should watch that sitcom together one day. Therefore, we decided to rent it but was dismayed to learn that The Cathay branch does not have season 2. We were told the branch at Ngee Ann City was more extensive and so Mic made a quick decision to head down to Ngee Ann City.
We found all first 3 seasons (total 7 seasons) of Mad About You, the only seasons released in DVDs, but as the rules of rental states that one can only rent 3 movies or 1 serial box set at any one time, we resigned ourselves to having to make many trips to Ngee Ann in the next month as we bought one month’s membership. One point to note was that as the movies were filed by alphabetical order, we found it tough to find movies unless we have a few titles in mind. New movies were probably not out in DVDs yet and we found very little interest in the titles we browsed through or would have watched them already, so I guess we would probably rent more of sitcoms.
Day 2 - Uneventful Trip to Chatuchak Market
After breakfast, we took some time to do a little market research with the tour agents around our apartment. Various agents quoted us from 1k to 600 baht per person for a half-day trip to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market (situated 110 kms west of Bangkok). We decided in the end to charter a private bus from First Hotel at a more reasonable rate and included a trip to Ayutthya Province for Day 3 and 4.
Since we had some time for the morning, we took a walk out to BTS Ratchathewi and headed for BTS Mo Chit intending to have a go at Chatuchak before we were too tired on the weekend. Alas, our information proved inaccurate as the place as still closed at 11am!
In the end, we took a cab back to Platinum Plaza along Petchburi Road as the gals wanted to do some shopping since Pratunam Complex was a stone’s throw away. We had to content with Bangkok’s traffic as it soon was 12 noon and taking the highway (with additional 40 baht) didn’t seem to help make the journey any faster.
Interestingly, we encountered something unusual at Platinum Plaza’s food court when we tried to make orders and realized that a stored valued card system was in place at all the stalls. Seems like a pretty good idea since staff don’t have to handle currency and easier accounting? Had a bowl of noodle soup with stewed duck for 40 baht and in all, we spent only 200 baht for a pretty good lunch.
Night 1 - Suan Lum Night Market and a nice foot massage to end the day
With the night still young, we quickly unpacked and made way to explore the surroundings. We walked a little and unfortunately, we headed towards First Hotel instead of Pratunam side and missed out a nice night bazaar going on. We took a cab from First Hotel to Suan Lum night market after checking that was probably the closest we could reach since it was 10pm already. The cab took 100 baht since I thought not going by meter was ok.. I was wrong
Seeing as Jetstar doesn’t provide in-flight meals, we had a quick bite at Suan Lum since we were all feeling a little hungry. Unfortunately, we missed out the huge food area and settled for duck meat platter with fried noodles near the beer garden. Quite a horrible place with mosquitoes and cockroaches running rampant. After a quick tour at Suan Lum Night Market where we roamed the various small alleys but didn’t really purchase anything.
We decided to call it a night and took a cab by meter this time for 75 baht after fending off the usual guys who wanted to give us a better deal.
I had seen the Traditional Thai Massage shop just outside our apartment and decided to have a quick 1 hr foot massage for 2 (400 baht + 100 tips). Felt incredible after a long day and kinda felt sorry for the staff who had been working since 10am that morning.
We’re at Centre Point - Petchburi 15
Just touched down in Bangkok and after leaving a rather nice looking airport that reminds me of Changi Airport T1, we took a pubic taxi (450 baht) towards our service apartment. After a rather quick 20 minutes ride, we checked in to our rooms. Great apartment with kitchen!