Ikea stuff

I've got a lot of Ikea stuff in my room. We just moved in to our new place for like two weeks already and I have been buying some stuff.

Since I had some extra savings, I decided to buy a new single mattress, bed frame made of metal and wood materials, and a two door wardrobe / cabinet. But these things were not from Ikea. Hence, these are from the furniture stores in Sungei Kadut. They have these gazillions of warehouse and even factory outlets of all home furnishings.

Immediately after an eight-hour battle in the office, I went to Ikea to buy bed stuff. Since I was hungry and it's time for dinner, I just went to the Ikea food corner and had my dinner. I ordered poached salmon, two sumptuous chicken wings and California orange juice. I think I ate too much because after that I had to go to the toilet - believe me it's crazy. After that moment, I went to the ground floor of the building to check the bed stuff. I decided I needed a door mat so I got one, I thought I need a new pillow so I got one. I actually planned to get a new bed cover or sheet so I took one. I thought I needed a quilt, so I went to the opposite side of the bed sheets section to get a quilt. When I passed by the curtain section, I thought I needed some blinds or a curtain would actually suffice so I was like busy checking things in that area and I then realized that there was no way for me to dig some holes or hang the clips for the blinds as the owner of the flat do not want us to borrow some nails or anything on walls. So I decided not to get one and planned to just check the window in my room of what to do with it. I then passed by the bathing towel's on sale and so I thought the towels I had were faded and felt old which deserves replacement, so I got one for myself. It felt so heavy as I was carrying the whole bed stuff purchases in a sack sling bag. Well, the counter was a bit far from the section where I was so I decided to drag the whole thing on the floor unmindful of the people around me. I arrived at the counter safe and sound ;) After I paid everything, I just went home. I thought of getting a cab but the queue is really long, which is actually just normal, I decided to go walk again to the nearest bus stop. I know that, I will have to walk after alighting at Buona Vista as there was no direct bus going to our new place. I saw a taxi stand and there were like few people queuing but then there was no taxi around not even a shadow. So I proceeded to the bus stop. I had this receipt from Ikea food corner and the receipt from the Ikea bed stuff so I rolled that in the plastic handle because my hands were complaining already. Good thing the bus arrived after 5-7 minutes of waiting. It took me around 15 - 20 minutes to get to our flat. Good thing I did not have blisters in my sole and in my palm. Jason was just there in the sala eating some turnips. I felt thirsty so I grabbed three slices and was not satisfied so I took another two. After I changed clothes, I tuned into American Idol. American Idol is a bit disappointing. Anyway, I had to fix my bed stuff and clean my room and do all the things. Aim and shoot, see my new Ikea stuff :D

Pablo D. Ayo Sr., Amazing Man of Science

I was so amazed upon reading the story of Mr. Pablo D. Ayo Sr. He is a Filipino scientist and devoted his life towards the betterment of humanity, I must say. He was born to a poor family in Sorsogon. Worse, Pablo's parents died when he was young. That made him decide to work harder and send himself to school. At an early age he has this keen interest in Science and Technology which can be called an obsession, I supposed. He infact went to manila and worked part time while studying at Arellano University taking up Bachelor of Science majoring Physics. He joined this engineering competition, where his entry was flying miniature planes, and won. With this, he landed to Princeton University for further study. He had consultancy job at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He had some patents under his name. Very interesting inventions are the mini hydro plant, the phonograph, photon-run car and tidal generator amongst others.

Currently, the Philippines had the highest power cost in Asia second to Japan. The great deal about it is that, it's making my country less competitive when it comes to foreign direct investors (FDI). Another thing is that, the southern part of the Philippines which is the Mindao group is currently having some power shortages which is due to El Nino - drying up some hydro-electric power plants. People, government, academe, private sectors are coming up solutions like putting up coal-powered power plants, geothermal plants, solar and wind power plants and others wanting to have nuclear power plants. To my thought, why not the tidal generator developed by Mr. Pablo Ayo Sr.? The tidal generator is fitting to the country for it is surrounded by huge bodies of water, no fallout from a nuke plant, reliable as the sea will always be there. This can be very useful in other countries nearing the sea like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan and many others. So maybe these countries will have joint projects to harnessing the technology. The reliance to oil will be lesser and the air pollution or smog caused by oil and petroleum usage will be lessened in the cities, thus lowering green house. Waaaaahhh! Leaders with strong political power, where are you?

Thanks to Mr. Pablo D. Ayo Sr., and we were given some great alternatives. I think, he deserves some accolades for his contributions to society in general. I wish I could be like him in someway, able to give back to society fro the betterment of all.

To read a more complete write-up about this amazing man of science, you may visit this link : http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20100224-255167/At-85-inventor-keeps-creative-mind-active

My Vaio and American Idol

Arrived at the office around 9:40am and a bit sleepy, actually tired. It's because I slept around 3AM. What happened was like I had to wait my laptop to finish the updates which when counted was close to a hundred. I couldn't sleep because of that. The update was due to the fact that I reinstalled my vaio's vista because I am having problems with it. The lcd screen at the bottom part, where you have the task bar keeps on flickering. I tried adjusting the power consumption setting but it did not help. I tried uninstalling some programs but didn't solve it. The last thing I did was reinstall everything but still the issue persisted. In fact, during hibernation mode, the flickering became worse like there is this speedy interleaving or swapping of the display in the screen. My vaio's model number is a VGN-CS33G which is not an old model. In fact, I cannot believe it myself why or what happened because it's totally new and like I bought it last November of 2009. I did some updates to it but I did not have some issues as the updates I had were recommended updates from the vaio update manager/tool. My suspicion was like it came from the updates actually, and if this was the case, they should have tested their updates very well, because it's a hassle. Anyway, after I arrived in the office, while waiting my machine to be alive, I called vaio through Olga's help and asked stuff about support and warranty. Too bad it rained around 11 AM, it stopped but it rained again - the one thing I hate about Singapore is that the rain comes during lunch time like it's scheduled okay.... Anyway, I borrowed an umbrella from Olga. When the clock struck lunch time, I went out of the office and waited for bus 91. It arrived sooner. I had to go to our flat at Holland Village to get my laptop. I still did not take my lunch, instead, I went to Wisma Sony support center. The bus ride was quick, just 15 minutes. I was deciding to have McDonald's burger but changed my mind and I went ahead to Sony's. I was kind of lost a bit and asked the mobile area and was informed that the vaio support was on the next shop which was kind of hidden. I got my queue number and it was 160 and they were serving145. There were 7 counters if I was not mistaken but only 2 were functional which then became 4 after 20 minutes of waiting. I had with me my IPod Touch, playing word scramble, so I was not bored from waiting. Then my turn came and when I gave my vaio to the clerk, I just informed him that I had a problem with it which was the screen flickers at the bottom part. It was quick like a fox - he scanned my vaio code, confirmed my mobile and it was correct, then he informed that, I have to check-in my laptop and that they will just send me an sms if it's done. I'd like to ask if it was like a known issue to this model and that but I just was so hungry already. I was even interested at the part where he would have asked me if what are the things that I have done or should have done and all the what not. Anyway, I was a bit weak already and thus I needed energy so I chose not to bother. After the short conversation, he gave me a receipt of some sort and then I left. I just went to food republic and had grilled salmon with rice and some fresh veggies. After that, I went out and got a cab going to Gemalto.

At the office, it's so quiet because everyone was on vacation for the Chinese New Year. I was also busy doing the test to pass the DLL I was supporting at the same time improving the code. I was able to solve the issue of the DLL restart. Good thing I have grown familiar with the VB test and also with the whole DLL stuff in my project to the API down to the specific code behavior. I am just happy, grateful and thankful that I was able to finish this task.

After the office, I went with Agnes and Christian to the gym. I gained like a kilo with all the slack I did during the four days vacation. So, I had to do lots of cardio exercises again and to be followed by some weights.

After the gym, my friends and I went to the hawker in Buona Vista, the one beside POSB in Commonwealth Ave. Same old thing, I ordered double fish soup. I also had a homemade ice lemon tea. To so many ice lemon teas I had had in different hawkers, I would say the one in Buona Vista was and still is the best. Anyway, we were just having a fun chit-chat after that simple and satisfying dinner.

I arrived home around 10:40PM and American Idol had just began. Guess what? Andrew Garcia was able to make to the top 24, also my other favorite, Lily Scott was able to make it as well. I was so happy for both, as they were talented and really has that Idol thing in them. I think, they will really be a force to reckon with in the competitions next week.

That's it for today. I hope my vaio will return to me in a great condition and hoping my AI bets will make it through and possibly win it.

Special thanks, to Jason as he offered me to use his netbook :D

Ciao, my laundry is crying out loud! Hikhikhikhik ....

American Idol Time

It's been like two weeks maybe since the start of American Idol - one of the greatest talent search in the world ever. Anyway, I have been following the show which is aired at MediaCorp, a local channel here in Singapore, every Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Hollywood week has started already and this guy from L.A. is so amazing. He is Andrew Garcia. I'd like to check out the profile of this guy but I can't seem to find any. But anyway, youtube has lots of videos about him and all his stage renditions of some famous songs.

Anyway, just want to share this brilliant performance of Mr. Andrew Garcia in the first round of Hollywood week :


I hope he wins!!!

Gaynor's I will survive ?

This will make your stomach bark and your mouths chirp. Seriously, it's way creative and entertaining. I just personally don't know if they butchered, "I will survive".