Sunday, November 27, 2005

David Tao's the best

Just got back from David Tao's concert. Nearly didn't make it to the concert 'cos i plain forgot about it! Thankfully i managed to speed from Chinatown to the Indoor Stadium in time to catch the concert. (For once i'm grateful of the fact that Chinese concerts always start 30min late!)

The concert was simply awesome. The set was beautiful - this rainforest theme stage with a helicopter in the background. David Tao had 3 costume changes (i.e. he wore 4 different costumes right?).

What i really liked about the concert was that he had his band & backup singers on stage so we could really see what was happening. There was also a mini orchestra, a pipa player, a di zi (chinese flute) player, and 1 of the backup singers also played the er-hu! It was really fantastic. All the musicians were engaged in the performance and the entire place rocked.

I think the backup singers were really happy 'cos they got to do lots of solo choruses & ad-libbing. It gave me the feeling that David Tao wanted to share his success with his entire crew, which was really cool. I was also touched when David Tao gave thanks to God on stage (I didn't know he was a Christian), and when he shared that the song Hu Die ("Butterfly" from his Black Tangerine album) was written when he was feeling depressed and that song mirrored his relationship with God at that point in time.

Anyway, i'm a David Tao convert. After seeing his live showcase at the Expo earlier this year, i was already bowled over by his vocal prowess. Now, i'm a total fan man.

Going to get his latest bestseller compilation!!

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Coke Light no more

Coke Light passed away last night. It was very sudden. My parents just came home from dinner and my dad went to check on the rabbits. He saw Coke just keeping still in his cage in an odd manner when he suddenly fell to his size and shook violently.

My dad quickly took him out of the cage & pet him but Coke kept having the seizure. My dad then placed him on some hay in a basket on the dining table and quickly called me. My mom said that although he was lying on his side in the basket, he jerked so violently that he jumped out of the basket and onto the dining table, all the while on his side. My mom quickly caught hold of him and placed him back into the basket.

I was at Clown's place when it happened. We quickly rushed to my house but it was too late. Coke Light passed away before we got home.

I did a search on the Internet on rabbits and epilepsy... only found 1 forum site where it seems all the people who posted messages all had rabbits that died or are suffering from epilepsy... and it appears that epilepsy is deadly for rabbits. Not sure what are the common causes of epilepsy. :(

Clown & i are very sad 'cos this is the 2nd Coke we lost. On Sunday, when we were playing with Coke, he was still so energetic and hopping all over the place.... and he loved following his favourite Muah Chee when we enclosed them at the side of my house. We took lots of really cute pictures of Cokie. Will post the photos online once i compile them... as a memorial for him.

I miss Cokie.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Sparkletown!

Hi everyone!

My friend and i are selling some of our own jewellery creations. Click on SparkleTown for details!

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Is www.styleupcover.com a scam?

I am writing this to share my horrible experience with anyone else who is considering purchasing a cover from www.styleupcover.com.

Recently, i bought the Sonyericsson Z520i handphone in white. Although it looks fantastic, the white cover (both back and front) stains easily and dirt marks are impossible to remove. While surfing the sonyericsson website, i came across this other website - www.styleupcover.com.

This website allows purchasers to either select a pre-designed stylised cover for the SE Z520i, or use our own pictures to design a personalised cover for the phone. The price is rather steep at USD35.10 but i really wanted to put a picture of my rabbits on my hp and so i went ahead with the purchase.

styleupcover.com sent me a confirmation email after i submitted my online purchase and in that email, it was stated that it takes approximate 1-2 weeks for the product to arrive. It also said that i could track the product by using the "TRACE" feature on their website. However, i was unable to find this "TRACE" feature on that website despite searching many times.

I immediately sent an email to support@styleupcover.com asking where exactly do i go to find this "TRACE" feature but the email bounced back to me! Worried, i sent the same mail to sales@limecore.com and info@limecore.com (limecore seems to be the parent company of styleupcover.com). Just like my previous email, no reply was received from limecore.com nor styleupcover.com.

After patiently waiting for 17 days, i sent an email to Sonyericsson via their online enquiry service. Once again, i did not get a reply... so i sent yet another email to support@styleupcover.com to ask if they were a scam.

Finally, today, 19 days after i first made this purchase, i called the Sonyericsson helpline. Mind you, it took me a good 10minutes before i managed to get hold of a live helpdesk agent but guess what was her reply to me? She asked me to give her the case ID i was assigned so that Sonyericsson could "retrieve my email to check".

I was livid!! Does this mean that Sonyericsson doesn't respond to emails sent to them unless the aggrieved party calls up to complain? I also asked the gal on the line whether she knew how styleupcover.com was related to Sonyericsson and she didn't! She sounded as though she never even heard of the website before. I asked her if Sonyericsson takes responsibility for links that are published on their sites and she couldn't give me an answer. When pressed further, she has the gall to tell me that no one had ever purchased anything from styleupcover.com and so she doesn't know what is going on.

What sort of customer service is this? This stupid gal was saying all the wrong things! Not only did she NOT give me confidence in Sonyericsson, she smashed to smitherins the already shredded confidence i had in Sonyericsson. After much pushing, she promised to get the relevant department to investigate and give me an answer by "tomorrow or the day after".

When i got home tonight, i saw a reply from styleupcover.com. I'm not sure if this reply was a result of any action on Sonyericsson's part, or that support@styleupcover.com just happened to send me a reply the same day i kicked up a fuss with Sonyericsson. Unfortunately, i could not make any sense into the reply. This is what it said,


Hello,
I send you the cover 1411.2005, some problem with the produ.
Br
Ivar

Goodness me! What the heck was it trying to say? (To think that the Singapore government is worried about our standard of English!) Has the merchandise been sent? Or is it still in the process of manufacturing 'cos there was some problems with it?

I find this level of service appallingly unacceptable. I'm posting this online in hope that google and other search engines will pick this up should anyone do a search for the credibility of www.styleupcover.com. The credibility level is ZILCH! Even Sonyericsson has proven to be a huge disappointment!

I have written AGAIN to Sonyericsson to assure them that if i do not receive my merchandise by the end of this week, i will be disputing the USD35.10 that was charged to my credit card, as well as lodge a report with the police & CASE.

So stay tuned for the outcome....

Grrr...)@Q#*%)(@!


Friday, November 11, 2005

Selling Chicken Egg

Got a couple of chicken egg stories to tell.

The first is really about a colleague who totally pissed me off yesterday. I think my disdain for him started brewing when we were both involved in the M'sian condo exhibition. That guy, i'm going to call him Chicken Egg Seller aka CES for short (if you understand Cantonese, u should be able to guess his English name + surname) was soooo darn good at arrowing people to do work! His pet phrase throughout the time we were setting up our exhibition panels and so on was,

"Hi , could you help me to organize this ?"

After hearing that phrase like 10 times in an hour, it really really grated on my nerves. After a while, whenever he called my name, i would just feign ignorance and turn to talk to someone else. I mean, can't he lift a finger to do anything himself? What an ass!!

Fast forward to yesterday. Clown had a client who was interested in seeing this condo that we're selling. Unfortunately, CES is in charge of the project so i was forced to call him for more information. The first time i called him, he said he was at an appointment. Fair enough... i asked him when would be a convenient time to call him back. He said 4pm in the afternoon. So i called CES again at 4:45pm. That idiot was totally unforthcoming with information. Our conversation went something like that -

Me: "Hi, can you tell me more about XXX project?"
CES: "Sure."
Me: "So what sort of units do we have? How many bedrooms? Are all the units tenanted?"
CES: "Yes, we have quite a few units."
Me: "So can you tell me more details?"
CES: "Yes i can."

By then, my blood was boiling. I mean, can't you freaking tell me all you know? Like DUH!!!!
I was so pissed off that i asked, "Do you know anything about the project? If you have any information, could you just email it to me?"

And CES replies, "Sorry, i can't email it to you."

By then, i was hopping mad. "Why can't you email to me? Is it 'cos you only have hard copy?"

And the f*cking CES goes, "Yes. I can pass it to you when u're back in office."

By then, i lost all patience with this stupid taiji master and i asked him to just fax me the information at my house no. (It was my off day yesterday so i wasn't about to go back to office just to collect a few sheets of paper from the stupid CES). When i asked him what time would i expect to receive his fax? His reply was at 6pm, 'cos he was "rushing something".

Now where did i hear that phrase before? Ahh... i recall! That stupid moron of a taiji master is not only good at pushing work to other people, he's also one dastardly imbecilic cretin. He has apparently been talking to some prospect who called the hotline to enquire about the M'sian project for some time. After speaking with CES thrice, this prospect decided that he wanted to visit our office so that we could do a presentation on the project for him. Since CES was the one liaising with this prospect all along, should he be the one to do the presentation?

Oh no... CES doesn't have the guts to talk to a prospective buyer. He tried to arrow my colleague to do it instead. (She got out of doing it but that's another story all together). Good grief! This isn't the first time CES has shied away from doing anything that requirements him to take responsibility for his words or action. It's just like whenever i pose him a question about the M'sian project, he, as the I/C, would always give me a half-baked answer & run to my boss for help.

Serious! For crying out loud, this stupid CES is supposed to be a "veteran" in the industry. Yeah, veteran all right.... he's probably a specialist in unarm taiji combat and trained is archery.

Argh! My BP shoots up everytime i think about him. And it really doesn't help that he has a wuss face that you want to slap everytime u see him. *Grrr*... if i could set Horlicks on him, i would. Or get MC to pee on him or something. (U should see the amount of pee she's capable of).

Anyway, i'll be stationed out of the office most of the time for the next 6 weeks or so. Good riddance to CES, and good luck to everyone else at office who will have to put up with his nonsense!

Now for my 2nd chicken egg story... hehe. Last Tuesday, our department secretary dragged 5 of us to have "lor mee". When we reached the coffeeshop, we found a seat under this pong pong tree. My colleague Polka & i expressed our concern about bird droppings hitting us since we were just under the tree. My boss pooh-poohed us by saying that birds can't nest in pong pong trees 'cos it's branches were too small or something like that. I expressed my doubt in his belief 'cos i could hear the mynahs chirping away but my boss insisted that we were safe.

Well, about 5minutes after we started tucking into our lor mee, i saw this humongous piece of food splash onto the centre of our table. The first thought that came into my mind was, did my boss drop that huge piece of food onto the table? 'Cos it looked as though it flew from the direction of his bowl.

I then took a 2nd look at the "piece of food". My gosh! It was a piece of overcooked sunnyside-up egg! I quickly turned to look at my boss and saw him brushing his hair furiously. I was wondering since when did lor mee come with sunnyside-up eggs & why was my boss brushing his hair?

That was when my boss said, "the bird dropped it...".

Wahahahahah... i nearly burst out loud laughing! His expression was sooooo comical... hehe. But i didn't... i controlled my laughter... after all, it's going to be time for year end bonus soon so i better not offend him. Hehehehe... but that was really darn funny. U really have to be there to appreciate the full comedy of the situation.

Anyway, all of us suppressed our laughter and quickly finished our lunch in case the bird dropped anymore surprises on us. Heh.

When we were recounting the incident over teabreak yesterday, Polka remarked that the bird must've been cursing & swearing - think about it. This mynah must've dragged that whole piece of egg in his mouth for quite a distance, only to drop it on a guy who didn't believe in the mynah's existence in the tree. Haha.

Sigh... words can't capture the magic of the moment. Only laughter can.... wahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Obedient Cokie!

Coke Light was so obedient just now. I got home close to midnight and wanted to pay the rabbits a visit before i went up to my room. When i opened Coke's cage, he wanted to come out. But once i pet him on his forehead, he just placed his front paws on the doorway of his cage and closed his eyes for me to pet! So adorable!! I think Coke's absolutely the cutest little guy.

Coke's so obedient - how can one not love him? I read on the Internet yesterday that once rabbits that have been introduced don't get along with each other, they never will.... that makes me extremely worried that Horlicks & Peanut will never accept Coke. I'm prepared to sterilise both of them if that'll help in taming them.

Horlicks has turned into an evil concubine. She chases Peanut inside their cage at least 2-3x a day, and sometimes she chases Coffee too. The only rabbit she doesn't chase is Muah Chee... but then again, MC is like Miss Congeniality - loved by all.

Sigh... i hope my rabbits will all get along. My dad says that Horlicks is obedient... i'm not sure. It seems like my dad can calm her down when she's in her bully mode. Maybe different rabbits are obedient to different owners. Coke & MC probably listen to me the most. As far as i know, MC doesn't allow anyone else to pick her up except me... and even then not all the time.

I really hope that i won't have to neuter Horlicks & Peanut in order to tame them!


Monday, November 07, 2005

2Wire Wireless Modem / Evil Horlicks

I am very proud of myself! Though i suck at computer hardware, i managed to get my wireless networking to work, after Clown helped me hook up the h/ware stuff. Muahahahaha.

Totally sidetracking, Horlicks turned evil yesterday. She started chasing Coke Light around and just now, she even pulled 2 tufts of fur from Coke Light! What an evil concubine she is!

Peanut has given up chasing Coke Light after she got chased by Horlicks yesterday and was also subdued by Clown.

Sigh... now i've a big headache over how to tame horrid Horlicks. Patience has threatened to use her fists...

Ok... it's 3:09am now... i'm so not going to wake up tomorrow morning...



Saturday, November 05, 2005

Coke Light!


Went to the pet shop (now doesn't this intro sound familiar) just now and guess what? I got myself a 5th rabbit - Coke Light! This little rabbit looks almost exactly like Coke! I bet they're from the same parents. Clown and i bought him immediately 'cos he soooooo reminded us of Coke. This new little fella is called Coke Light, but Coke for short. :)

Weighed him when i got home and he's a tiny little 250g! (Though that's still heavier than what Coke weighed).
Coke Light is a fearless rabbit. He's really curious and he was obviously having a helluva time in the backyard doing crazy turns & spins. But poor Coke Light was attacked 3x by the horrible horrible Peanut. I say he's fearless 'cos he doesn't stay traumatised but bounces back immediately. Resilient bunny! Muah Chee & Coffee are the friendliest towards him and Princess Horlicks didn't really bother much about him.

Wanted to post this last week but didn't have the time. That horrible Peanut BIT ME! I was putting the food tray back into the cage after filling it with pellets for the rabbits' breakfast & Peanut BIT me! It was such a deep cut... i could feel her incisor slice right into my thumb. Blood squirted from my thumb straightaway. I'm positive Peanut tasted some of my blood. That bloody vampire!


I showed my mom the cut that night and my mom asked - will you get the disease that spreads when dogs bite? I was like... no mom... u don't get rabies from rabbits...
Anyhow, i am in half the mind to give Peanut away 'cos she doesn't take kindly to humans. She's ok with the other members of the Forbidden City... but runs away when we try to carry her. I think my dad is the only one who really sayang(s) her. So i'm giving her 2 weeks to adapt to my darling Coke Light. Otherwise... anyone wants a rabid rabbit?

Friday, November 04, 2005

Shortcoming

My department recently handled the Singapore launch of this M'sian condominium project. I sent a mass sms to contacts whom i felt might be interested in investing in this condo. I can't remember the exact text i sent but i know it went something like, "Hi. I'm currently doing the launch of this KL project called XXXX. Prices start from S$93.5k. Let me know if you're interested". Well, something along those lines (can't find the msg in my Sent folder anymore).

To my shock and subsequent ire, i received a reply from Airbus that said, "Please don't look for me for this sort of things anymore. In fact, take care 'cos i don't think i'll be keeping in touch." I was like... what the fcuk? Did he think that i only sent that sms to him 'cos he's rich? (*Rolls eyes* He's not even half as rich as some people i know). But that was the limit of the nonsense i could take from him. Instead of being peaceable, i promptly sent a reply that said, "That was a mass sms i sent. I don't know what you're so angry about. But if it makes u happy, fine. Take care."

Goodness gracious! That fella has some serious issues man. I was quite rankled by the whole incident and i told Iceman & Zounds about it. Zounds said that perhaps Airbus thinks that i always make use of him. I mean, although our friendship has been off and on for the past 3 years, i thought Airbus should be wise enough by now to realise why! The reason why i always cool off is 'cos everytime i think he's ok to us being platonic friends and i make contact with him, he gets all excited and over-enthusiastic. Frankly, that freaks me out time and again... so of 'cos i'll cool off a bit to let him back off. But it doesn't mean that i don't treasure the friendship we've had since 1998.

But that sms? That did it. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. If a person doesn't know how to handle friendships/relationships in a mature way by the time they're 30, they never will. I admit i was attracted to him the first time i saw him. But that attraction ended when he stood up. Yep. I have a hang-up about height. So shoot me. I mean, we still went on to be great friends & i really enjoyed the long chats we have. But that's it man... FRIENDS!!

Over the years, there were times when i did consider him.... but somehow something just didn't click. My conclusion is that you can't be with a person just 'cos he's nice to you. 'Cos human beings are suckers. If u like a person, even if he isn't nice to you, u'll still like him. (Of 'cos it's best if you can find someone who likes you and u like him too lah!)

Anyway, i was pissed off by a couple of people over the past week but that took the cake. Sigh... i've been blogging about my pets for a long time. This "peeve-post" has been way overdue!