I finally relented, and joined the F1 excitement

Walking in my Aldo heels from City Hall MRT to Purvis Street for a party hosted by Proof on Ben G's invitation at Poltrona Frau. Two Ferrari drivers would be there to wow the crowd and...

presumably sign on Ferrari helmets (We had no clue what was going to happen). There were plenty...

to see...
to gawk. Then the Ferrari drivers arrived in two Maserati cars.

That's Massa (left) and Raikkonen (right). The crowd was silent, strangely subdued. No screaming fans; cool and uncaring like the drivers.

What's your F1 story?

My little violinist

Thanks to Little Einstein, Kai has suddenly taken an interest to classical music. And it just so happens that MIL has a violin at home. He now loves strumming on the violin, and asking us to dance to his tunes!

I was an arm's length away from Felipe Massa!

It's my best photo. It's not a great photo, but it's not like I've got a super-duper camera. Full story later.

Walking Mandy

The weekend started with much cheer, with Frank and Cin announcing the arrival of Ben, the third addition to the Tay family!

Then it was off to the zoo with the Chows, but plans for a bike ride with them on Sunday was derailed due to a minor accident in Vivocity on Saturday evening.

Amidst the brouhaha of the evening, I found that Kai took a liking to my necklace aka Mandy. Despite being made of wood, Mandy is a rocker chick dressed in a retro T and sports an afro-hair. He insisted on bringing Mandy for a 'walk' through Vivocity.

Then on Sunday, he dragged Mandy facedown over our pillows, made her slide down the pillow head down, and took her for a walk in the bedroom. He sure knows how to treat girls right.

A new discovery: Nicholas le Restaurant

Foie gras with eggplant puree

The day I found out that the ex-chef of Liaigle d'Or is back in Singapore with his own restaurant--Nicholas le Restaurant--I made a reservation for dinner immediately.

J'aime beaucorp, beaucorp!

If the dinner degustation menu (or tasting menu) of S$98++ is too daunting in terms of price, then check out the set lunch that is going at S$38++. From what I can tell, he selects dishes from his degustation menu to feature in his lunch set. The menu changes every two weeks.

I like his rack of lamb which comes with creamy mash potatoes that tastes generously of truffles. I asked for medium rare, and it was done just right. Today I chose the beef cheek, but I didn't like it as much though I was very taken by the tiny, juicy tomatoes.

The only minus is that because it is located in Keong Saik, parking is a problem. To counter that, they have a valet service but the valet was out of sight (probably busy finding parking for another car) when we went there on a Friday night for dinner.

Where:

35 Keong Saik Road

+65 6224 2404

Reservation preferred, but it seems it may not be a must

Green, green grass of the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden

Weekends are very precious to me and I always try to find something creative to do with Kai.

I read about the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden quite a while back, and have been meaning to check it out. I think it is more suitable for older, school going kids but there is still the small water play area (babies and toddlers), the tree house and the swing bridge (for toddlers) to entertain the younger ones.

Kai was really intrigued by this display (?) that explains how photosynthesis happens. Turning a handle emits water mist from the 'leaves' of the tree display, which made him giggle. We stayed quite a while here as he refused to leave.

All in all, I don't think I'll go back again. Travelling from the east to Bukit Timah isn't convenient since there's only one part of the park that he really enjoys.

My take on blogging... back in 2002 (!)

The truth is... I started my first blog back in 2002. Joy would remember it; she gave me my first comment. I only wrote one entry. But I'd like to think of myself as a blog-pioneer still.

ROTFL

I googled myself+blog, and finally found the story I wrote on blogging when the movement first start. (I think) LexisNexis picked up my story, a blogger published it in 2003, and CMP 'died' after that (RIP. I love you.).

Here it is for your reading pleasure and for my vanity's sake. I don't think the full story is here; I remembered writing more than 429 words!

# # #

(http://blog.schee.info/2003/01/29/the-future-revealed-blogging/)
LexisNexis™ Academic
Copyright 2002 Financial Times InformationAll rights reservedGlobal News Wire - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire
Intelligent Enterprise Asia
December 1, 2002
LENGTH: 429 words

HEADLINE: THE FUTURE REVEALED: BLOGGING
BYLINE: Leong Khay Mun

Imagine if everyone in your office kept a diary about the lessons they learned everyday while managing an e-business project, or the things to avoid when building a customer contact centre.
Now, imagine that their diaries are placed online and made available to everyone in the office, and this knowledge pool grows.

Web logs, or blogs, is such a Web-based platform that will allow your office to do just that. Blogs are different from online bulletin boards and chat rooms, which are group-oriented; they are personal in nature, featuring a single person’s point of view. Blogs have been hailed in the US as the next big knowledge management (KM) tool that will enhance knowledge dissemination in the corporate world, because they are easy to set up, use, and maintain. And many sites allow people to blog for free.

But KM solutions providers are less than enthusiastic about encouraging corporations to use blogging for their KM initiative. They say that not only is the concept over hyped, there are also downsides to the platform itself.

“I marvel the IT industry for justifying things that we (KM vendors) have been doing for a long time with discussion databases. For us, blogs are just another way to deliver knowledge sharing capabilities to the workplace,” said Al Zollar, general manager of IBM Lotus Software , which recently enhanced its workplace collaboration products in October.

Microsoft’s David Foo, product marketing manager (Enterprise Servers), agreed. He emphasised that the first thing to be clear about is that blogs do not equal KM. “Like instant messengers or e-mail, blogs are a basic communications tool that can be part of a KM strategy.”

But public blogs are, by nature, not secure, either in terms of access or data storage, he cautioned. They are also a one-way tool, even though they can hyperlink to other information, whereas KM depends on a two-way or group oriented communication. Effective KM goes beyond basic communication, into collaboration and organisation of different kinds and sources of information.

The fact that management will not be able to control the content that goes onto these personal online diaries makes it a dicey communication tool: The rantings of a frustrated employee can reach a wide audience as quickly as useful knowledge will.

Said Simon Phipps, chief technology evangelist with Sun Microsystems , who is an avid blogger: “The mindset behind the blogging movement is really autarchical… that is why blogging is more of a grassroots movement, not a corporate phenomenal.”

Food for thought

It's interesting to hear the war stories of other SME business owners. Here's what friend of mine told me over a sinful plate of char kway teow today:

(Background: He runs one of Singapore's biggest nurseries. Fellow ex-journo friends from CMP and who are reading this would know who it is. :) )

When the nursery first started its online business, he said orders were pathetic. It could be just one order a day. The online arm was in the red for about seven years, and he remembered staring at what's in the bank account--a mere S$1,000.

S$1,000. That would make me want to jump off a building.

But he went ahead and invested some more money in technology that would relieve the manual work that existed in the backend of his e-commerce store front. He felt he had to do it; if not, execution would be a problem if a big order comes in.

# # #

That got me thinking. So how do you know when to call it quits. Throw in the towel. Say, "I give up."

Granted, he/the business has reserves in which they can fall back on to fund a venture in which they believe strongly in. But being in the red for seven long years without pulling the plug? Many would say, "I made a mistake. My vision was wrong," after a year, two years?

Instead, he pumped in more money after SEVEN years. And it is not to say his brick-and-mortar business is infallible. They were affected during the big flood that hit all the nurseries in Thomson Road back in 2006. My friend doesn't say it, but I'm sure the rise in fuel prices has an impact on his operations too.

I never did ask him, and I think I will the next time I meet him: What made him press on?

Just for a laugh

We were at the Chows late Saturday night for some sparkling wine, cheese, chips and pate, and I spotted this bicycle with this notice.

I was wondering if the owner was watching me as I took this picture.

Mama? Beach.

"Mama? Beach." That's what Kai would say everyday when we were in Phuket, and we were there for four days.

We would go to the beach in the morning, hide under the shade for 45 min or so.

Then proceed to the pool for an early lunch. By then, he'd be very tired but he'd stay awake long enough to pester us for ice cream and finish it.

After his afternoon nap, he'd say: "Mama? Beach." or "Mama? Ice cream." So it's off to the beach again in the evening. He liked it better then as the tide would be receding and the waves less strong.

The Hilton touch

"Welcome Home" written with ferns and orchid petals

We stayed at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa during the recent holiday. We liked it even before Kai came along and when it was newly launched. Although the rooms are visibly 'aging', we like it just as much now as it's family-friendly.

The (Karon) beach which is just across the road is nice and quiet; not touristy like what you'd get at Patong. The hotel has got a playground for kids, shallow pools that are great for toddlers, a water slide, toys they'd place at the poolside for families with kids, and staff bring out crayons and paper immediately when you sit down.

They even have a club house for kids. There are plenty of toys, but rather dead when we went. There was suppose to be some daily activities (free) for kids, which I was hoping Kai could participate in. Perhaps because we were the only ones there, the staff didn't bother to start a class. Kai didn't care; just as long as we brought him to the beach and let him eat ice cream everyday!

Hand towels folded to look like an elephant!

Hug

We were shopping in Meidi-ya in Liang Court, when he ran out and hugged the plastic elephant statue placed outside the pharmacy.

So cute...