Bradley's Old Fashioned Weblog

Recent updates

  • Finally Replaced My Dying Beast of A Laptop

    It’s been a busy couple of days, filled with long talks with my wife about plans for the beginning of next month, when I’ll be moving to the Philippines, along with our cats.  It’s also been busy because I finally picked up a new laptop.

    For those of you that have been keeping up with my blog for a while you’ll remember that about a year ago I started complaining about issues with my MacBook Pro.  I’d originally bought the thing in March of 2007.  I guess you could say it was a birthday present to myself, so I went all out and got the best specs and I wound up dropping about 3500 USD on it.  3 years on, I think it was a waste of money.

    I first started noticing a problem with it about 5 months after I bought it, in August of 2007.  At the time I was still in the US military, on a deployment in Kuwait.  I was staying in a very quiet, nicely air conditioned barracks. It was an open bay barracks, meaning the whole thing was one big room, so noise was kept at a minimum out of respect for people who were working different shifts and may be asleep during the day.  I was able to hear a faint clicking noise coming from the left internal fan.  Being in Kuwait and locked down on an Army camp I had no way to do anything about it until I went on leave (vacation) in October.

    As soon as I got to NYC I went to the 5th Avenue Apple store and dropped it off to be serviced.  Roughly 6 days later, I had to go up there and demand that it be returned because they’d kept it longer than they said they would and I had to leave to go back to Kuwait.  When the guy came back with it, he said that they’d found some dust inside the laptop, but there was nothing wrong with the fan.

    The clicking noise continued and later research on the internet showed that it wasn’t an isolated problem.  Of course, by the time I got back from Kuwait, finished the mad rush of paperwork, picking up my car and household goods, and going through all the medical processing, my warranty was expired.  Not to mention that there was no Apple store around to take it to again anyway.

    Additionally, during the last few months I was in Kuwait the DVD “Super” drive failed.  It no longer recognized discs and would make some ‘clack, clack’ noises and then spit the DVD (or CD) back out.  The only disc it seemed to accept properly was my Leopard installation disc.

    A few months later, shortly after arriving in Singapore in February of 2008, the Express Card 34 slot broke.  I was trying to insert an eSATA adapter and instead of hearing the familiar sound of the card seating, I heard something snap and break and the adapter just sat there, loose in the socket.  The locking mechanism must have gotten stuck in the wrong position and been broken off when I inserted the card.

    Thankfully, the thing held up well until May of last year.  The noise from the fan started to increase but that was all.

    May was when it really started to go bad on me though.  The OS started to slow down considerably.  Fresh installs did nothing to help it.  Shortly after that the left fan finally gave out.  Whenever I started doing anything that would generate a high amount of heat, like using 3D programs or watching Flash videos, the left fan would spin up and make a sound like a lawn mower dying.

    Since then I’ve been putting back money when I was able and I was finally able to afford and justify the purchase of a new laptop.

    Given my past experience with my MacBook Pro, I decided to go with something far cheaper and hopefully far more reliable.  During that long ordeal with that beast of a machine I found out that Macs are plagued with hardware issues.  I guess I really should have coughed up the extra money for the Apple Care Extended Warranty, but I figured that having spent so much on a premium product it would be reliable.  That obviously wasn’t the case.

    So, now I have a Lenovo Y450.  It’s got an HD screen, an nVidia GeForce 210M video card, a 2.13 ghz dual core processor, 2 GB of RAM and it even sounds good.  It has Dolby Home Theater software that’s supposed to make it kick ass.  It’s also running Windows 7, which is taking some getting used to.  I’ve primarily used OS X and Ubuntu for the last few years.  The whole thing has a nice, solid feel to it though and the only trouble I’m having so far is finding programs to replace the ones I’m accustomed to.  Oh, it came with freebies too: a shoulder bag and a wired mouse.  The mouse works well, even without a mouse pad, but I don’t know what I’m going to do with the bag.  It’s not a bright idea to walk around in Manila advertising that you’re carrying a laptop with you.

    I also think that I’m done buying Apple products.  For a long while anyway.  I’ll use the iPods we have until they die and then maybe replace them.  There’s probably a cheaper alternative that’s just as nice and supports more formats.  I don’t think I’ll get another iPhone after this one either.  It’s nice and all, but I hardly use the majority of the apps on the thing, the camera is crap and it seems to stay behind in functionality compared to competitors.  That’s a story for another post though.

    One last photo:

    Dapper, The Great Investigator, examining the laptop box, perhaps to see if it’s suitable for use as a cat bed.

  • Hygiene Standards at White Sands McDonald’s Are Lacking

    I went to the McDonald’s at White Sands Mall in Pasir Ris last night and I was disgusted by the lack of proper hygiene and knowledge of simple concepts of cleanliness I encountered.  This was the second time I’d seen the same behavior, so I took the time to send a feedback message to McDonald’s Singapore.

    This is that message:

    To Whom It May Concern,

    I’m concerned about the standards of hygiene that are being implemented in your White Sands, Pasir Ris branch, and possibly all of your branches if this one location is any indication.

    Last night I approached the service counter for ice cream and asked the young man behind the counter for a hot fudge sundae.  He was polite enough, but when he presented the sundae he set the plastic spoon down on the counter.

    This is completely unsanitary as nearly every customer that makes a purchase at this counter puts his or her hands on it, and puts money on it.  People’s hands have been in places that I don’t want to think about, and the money they’re handling has also been in many unsanitary locations, including the ground in some cases.  For example, I paid 1.50 for that sundae.  The 50 cent piece I used to make that purchase came from the floor of Tampines Mall where I found it just prior to leaving and getting on the train to head to Pasir Ris.

    To make matters worse, when I told him I didn’t want a spoon that had been placed on the counter, because the counter is dirty, he gave me a new spoon, but immediately afterwards picked up the first spoon from the counter and put it back in the container with the clean spoons.  Seriously?  I just said I didn’t want it because it was dirty from being on the counter, so why contaminate all of the other spoons?  It makes me wonder if the replacement spoon was even clean.

    The employees at this branch need some lessons in proper hygiene and proper handling of eating utensils.  If this is how they handle utensils then I’d hate to see how they handle the food.

    Please.  Train your employees.  This is McDonald’s in Singapore, not a hut in the middle of a jungle somewhere, where cleanliness and hygiene is an alien concept.

    I look forward to your response.

    Regards,

    Bradley Farless

    Update: The manager for the outlet called me on my mobile phone and apologized for the poor service. He said that this is definitely not the standard that McDonald’s Singapore wants to set and told me that corrective action would be taken to ensure that it didn’t happen again. He asked for a description of the employee, and then asked me if there was anything he could do to compensate me for the bad experience. I told him to just make sure it doesn’t happen again. I wasn’t trying to get free stuff out of this. I just want to know that when I go to McDonald’s, the food I’m eating is clean and the utensils are clean. I’m glad to see that McDonald’s takes this issue seriously.

  • Checking Out Clarke Quay

    Over the weekend my wife and I finally went down to Clarke Quay (pronounced “key”).  Neither my wife or I are very big drinkers and we’re not into the whole club scene, so we’d never had any desire to check out Clarke Quay, which is Singapore’s unofficial (or maybe official) party locale.  Since I’m heading off soon, we decided to scope the area out just to say we’d been there together at least once.

    A view of Clarke Quay from across the Singapore River, where the Clarke Quay MRT station lets out at.

    Coming out of the MRT station, you wind up across the Singapore River from where the clubs, bars, and “hip” restaurants are.  It’s actually very nice, walking along the river there.  The breeze was cool and there were a lot of people sitting along the edge chatting or eating ice cream.  The water itself was very brown, muddy and full of natural debris (leaves, as opposed to garbage), so it wasn’t much to look at, but it was still a very relaxing atmosphere.

    Two boats tied up along the bar & club side of the river. I wonder if someone lives on them? I see air conditioners. A little further down (right in this photo) there was a docking area for a river tour ferry. I didn’t check the prices.

    When we crossed the bridge there was more of a buzz in the air.  It was definitely a party area.  The club areas I’m used to in the US are usually dingy, dark, smelly looking places so I was a bit unprepared for the classy feel that Clarke Quay manages to convey.  There’s lots of glass, fancy restaurant facades, and good music playing.  The place also wasn’t packed with drunken idiots, at least when we went.  There were plenty of tourists walking around with cameras and even some families with kids in tow.

    A stretch of Clarke Quay that runs along the river, shown in the first photos from the other side of the Singapore River.

    One thing that impressed me about the place was the variety.  Clarke Quay isn’t all just about clubbing and getting wasted.  The area is packed with restaurants, from Hooters to Forbidden City (a cool looking Chinese food place) to a Mexican food place.  There are also areas that look like they’re set up for casual drinking, with comfortable lounge areas.  There was even a Coffee Connoisseur for people that want to get out at night but don’t necessarily want to drink.

    This fountain marks the middle of Clarke Quay. When we first showed up, a few people were soaking their feet in the water to cool off.
    This canopy covers the walkways to protect early arrivers from Singapore’s relentless sun. The sound system that’s hanging up there is probably for live performances.

    Clarke Quay is the very essence of hip and trendy night life and as we headed home at around 10 PM we saw the crowds of fashionably dressed people showing up to show off.  We’re definitely going to have to head back out there to experience the evening and have some good drinks and good food.  Next time I’ll bring my camera too.  The pictures in this post are just from my phone.

  • ‘Shutting Down’ An Annoying Salesman

    Last night we were wandering around Liang Court Mall in Clarke Quay and I happened to see the sign for Audio House on the side of one of the escalators.  I’m a sucker for ogling new electronics so I convinced my wife we should go up there.  I was particularly interested in looking at laptops.  My MacBook Pro has been slowly falling apart.  I’ve been complaining about it for almost a year now, and it’s almost time to go ahead and take the plunge and get a new one.  I’ll be needing it for when I start going to school again later this year.

    So, we went ahead and walked into the store.  It was nice and cold up there, and while we were walking past the long wall with the flat panel TVs stuck to it, I stopped to comment on how you could feel the heat coming off of all of them.  Then I got distracted by a movie preview that was showing on the TVs.  I knew I’d seen the movie before and was trying to remember where.

    Since I’d stopped for more than 5 seconds, a salesman rushed up right away.

    “Can I help you?” he asked.

    “No thanks.  I’m just looking.“

    I continued watching the preview, trying to remember the name of the movie.  I almost had it when the salesman interrupted my thoughts.

    “This TV is … blah blah blah … special … blah blah blah…“

    I interrupted him, “I don’t care what the TV is.  I told you I’m not interested in it.  I’m just watching the preview.”  I said it without bothering to even look at him.

    Out of the corner of my eye I could see him throw his arms down in disgust and then stomp away.

    I almost felt bad for the guy, but not really.  If he had listened to me the first time, he could’ve saved himself the frustration and annoyance of being shut down and rejected.

    I really despise aggressive salesmen.  I’m sure that’s a common feeling.  In the US, a lot of people refuse to visit car lots during business hours so they can look at the cars in peace, without being harassed by some jackass that’s trying to pressure them into a sale.

    Oh, and I did finally remember what the movie was.  It was a somewhat cheesy flick called Dragon Wars that I saw about a year and a half or two years ago.  It was fun for the special effects but the storyline was horrible.

  • Cat Export Preparations Update #1

    So, last month I mentioned the astronomical costs associated with taking our cats with us to the Philippines and detailed exactly what some of those costs are.  Today, we had the opportunity to take that list down a notch by getting our cats their first round of vaccinations.

    We had to do some searching around for good pricing.  I was really surprised by how much prices on the same set of shots varies from vet to vet here in Singapore.  The low end was 21 SGD and the high end was 54 SGD.  We did the sensible thing and went to Clinic For Pets in Geylang, which was charging the lower amount.  It’s farther away, but since we were doing multiple cats at once it balanced out the extra taxi fare in the end.

    The cats received a 3-in-1 shot that included Feline Rhinotracheitis, Calici-Panleukopenia, and Chlamydia Psitacci Vaccine.  Did you know cats can get Chlamydia?  I didn’t.  I recently found out that cats can carry a feline version of HIV too.  We were also given deworming tabs and a medical strength shampoo to apply to their coats to make sure any fleas, lice, etc are completely eradicated.  Those are supposed to be applied within 7 days of their departure, to be noted on the Health Certificate we have to get from the vet, which in turn has to be certified by the AVA.

    There’s still a lot more to go in this process, but the fact that we’ve taken the first step is a relief.  Honestly, if not for these cats I could just buy a ticket and board a plane, but I’m not the kind of cruel bastard that just dumps my cats when it becomes inconvenient.

    Total ‘damages’ so far: 108 SGD (shots, tablets, shampoo, taxi fare)
    Total to go: Roughly 780 SGD

    As for the cats themselves, they seem to be taking it pretty well.  They didn’t much like the ride to the vet, but they were quiet while there and on the way back home, even when we got caught in a deluge of rain while trying to hail a cab.  Dapper still seems a little shook up and is seeking refuge in the dirty laundry basket along with my smelly socks and used underwear.  I don’t know why but she really likes it in there.  I think the noise and all the stuff going on around her while she was in the carrier rattled her nerves.  She’s sensitive.  She grew up in an apartment on the 13th floor, so she’s used to things being quiet, peaceful and relatively unchanging.  Even now we’re on the 3rd floor so she looks out the window and watches things below her from a ‘safe’ perch.  She must have been really unhappy to actually be in the middle of everything with buses, trucks, and cars zooming by on the road and the train shooting past us overhead.  Poor thing.  I’m sure she’ll be fine in the morning!

    I’ll keep a running log of updates on their status here on my blog, of course, and when it’s all done with I plan on writing up a detailed post about taking cats from Singapore to the Philippines, that way someone else can easily follow the steps without having to comb through so many different government web sites for information.  I’ll probably set that up as the first post on my Philippines blog, after I stop publishing to my Singapore blog.

    Update: I rolled all of my blogs into just this one, so the last sentence above can be disregarded. For a detailed look at the export process from Singapore and the import process to the Philippines for dogs and cats, please see the following link:

    http://www.bradleyfarless.com/importing-your-cats-to-the-philippines-from-singapore/

    The above-linked page includes detailed information and examples of the web pages and forms used in the process.

  • Singapore Should Endorse, Not Ban, Smokeless Nicotine Products

    Singapore’s Health Minister, Khaw Boon Wan, recently made the following statement in a blog post:

    These are chilling words for the anti-tobacco population. Some describe the dissolvable products as nicotine candies designed to appeal to children, making them life-long addicts. Reynolds have already found these products to be more appealing to women, besides allowing smokers to continue their habit in smoke-free locations, like offices.

    That is why I am amending our current Tobacco Control Act to arm ourselves for the era of these new tobacco products, including e-cigarettes (yes, there is such a thing!).

    Even the title of the current Act, Smoking (Control of Tobacco) Act has to be amended to reflect the new reality. The Bill will be introduced soon. I look forward to Singaporeans’ support for the Bill.

    Whether it creates smoke or is smokeless, tobacco is highly addictive and it kills.

    This statement was made in response to a new series of products being produced by Reynold’s American Inc., the makers of Camel and Pall Mall cigarettes, including strips, lozenges and dissolving wafers.

    The blog post this quote is from redirects people to the Health Minister’s Facebook fan page for commenting, and the few comments left there seemed to be in favor of his initiative to ban these items from Singapore.

    I’d like to highlight a perspective of this that everyone seems to be missing. Smokeless tobacco items like the ones mentioned in his post could be used as, and should be marketed as, ways to assist smokers in breaking the habit.  He didn’t go into detail, but the products he’s describing seem to be nicotine releasing items that don’t contain tobacco at all.  Often these products don’t contain the carcinogens that produce cancer as well.

    The hardest part of getting over smoking is finding a new thing to do, other than putting a cigarette in your mouth. If you replace the habit of puffing a cigarette with an item that’s like a candy, you stop mentally associating the pleasurable feeling from nicotine with a smoke-producing cigarette. Eventually you can wean yourself off of the nicotine lozenges and switch to real lozenges. It helps ease the psychological burden of quitting.

    As a smoker of 15 years, I can tell you that from various attempts, it’s always the psychological part of quitting that’s the hardest to resist; the association of pleasure with a smoke producing cigarette. There has to be a substitute item to break that association.  A bag of nuts isn’t going to do it, and chewing gum isn’t even legal to be purchased in Singapore.  I think by banning these items, Singapore wouldn’t be making the streets safer for anyone. It would, in fact, remove viable options for people attempting to quit.

    The biggest threat from and to smokers is the smoke, whether it be first-hand or second-hand.  If that’s the case, then the government should promote the use of smokeless alternatives for the benefit of everyone.  If smokeless options, especially these items which simply release nicotine, become more popular than cigarettes, it would greatly reduce the number of cancer cases caused by cigarette smoke.

    From a monetary perspective, smokeless tobacco products offer the government another avenue for collecting taxes.  The same taxes that apply to cigarettes could be applied to these new products, preventing the government from losing their revenue stream.

    I’d love to have access to these types of items for my own benefit in trying to quit smoking.  I’d feel a lot better about myself if I popped a lozenge after a meal instead of lighting up and inconveniencing everyone around me, as well as ruining my lungs.  It could also help me to finally be successful in quitting entirely.  I think it’s a shame I don’t have access to them while in Singapore.

  • Al Jazeera English Is Still Available in Singapore

    I was reading a blog post on Al Jazeera’s ‘The Asia Blog‘ about a correspondent’s experience in Singapore in 1994.  He was saying that though Singapore has grown in leaps and bounds, some things don’t change in terms of media censorship.  He questions whether or not the removal of Al Jazeera English was truly a commercial decision and whether or not StarHub would be allowed to make its own decision about whether or not to carry the station.

    I’m not an expert on this, but just from my general impressions there is still an atmosphere of self-censorship for fear of lawsuits and other legal actions here. I think it’s mostly due to the government’s zealous use of libel laws to maintain a pristine image. So, people still tend to be very very careful about what they say in regards to the government or any government entity.  I’m not writing this post to debate whether or not the practice of libel lawsuits is a valid method of ensuring government stability.  I’m merely responding to what the correspondent said in his blog post and affirming that, from a foreign perspective, the atmosphere is still a bit like what he said it was in 1994.

    That being said, it’s very easy to get outside news in Singapore through world-wide traditional news networks online. News via internet is not censored here, and Singapore is one of the most ‘connected’ countries I’ve ever seen. Internet service is very affordable here.  Not having access at home is also not a deterrent to connecting to the rest of the world.  Anyone who has a device capable of browsing the internet can gain access for free through the wireless@sg initiative, which places free public wi-fi in almost all public facilities, including malls and libraries. So, if people want an outside view it’s very easy for them to access it, including Al Jazeera content online.

    I was first exposed to Al Jazeera English in Qatar, when I was stationed there as a US Soldier. I was a little skeptical of the station at first, due to its name, but after getting over my bias, I’ve recognized it as one of the best news stations available. It offers a unique perspective on the world and while I don’t subscribe to the idea of believing everything from just one station, I use it as a balance against the other news stations I consume.

    In short, I love Al Jazeera English. I love the stories it covers. I love the diversity.

     

    I also love how I can still watch AJE streaming live via its iPhone app, even though it has been taken off the air in Singapore.  It looks a little fuzzy blown up in this image, but on my iPhone screen it’s clear.  The sound is clear.  It streams easily over home wi-fi.

    So, if you love AJE programming and have an iPhone, you can still watch it.  The app is free.  Just make sure you’re using wi-fi or you might go over your monthly data allowance.

  • “Chan” Graffiti

    I found this random bit of graffiti art on what I think is a power box for the pedestrian crossing light where the Park Connector path crosses Pasir Ris Drive 1 at Pasir Ris Town Park.

    I don’t know what the significance is, but the word “chan” makes me think of the popular internet image boards 4chan and 2chan, where it’s short for ‘channel’.  Or… it could be someone’s name.  Who knows?  It also looks like there used to be a robot graffiti and some sort of square shaped graffiti on there too.

  • Why Such A Light Sentence For Vicky Herman Quek Bee Lan?

    Vicky Herman Quek Bee Lan, a 44 year old woman, was recently arrested for spiking the drinks of male targets and then robbing them, racking up a total of over 21k in stolen goods and cash between August and December of last year. This woman has a long criminal record, having been arrested for theft in 1994 and 1996 as well as serving a 6.5 year long sentence in 1999 for similar crimes to what she’s being charged with now.

    The prosecution said this woman has no remorse for her actions and an evaluation said that she is likely to engage in similar criminal activities in the future, since her previous 6.5 year sentence didn’t act as a deterrent.

    This is a woman who has stolen tens of thousands of dollars from victims, most of which has remained unrecovered, since it was used for services like botox treatment and laser surgeries.  This is a woman who is sure to strike again.

    So, what I want to know is, why was she sentenced to a lesser sentence this time around than she was in 1999?  If the 6.5 years didn’t deter her, why would 6?  Shouldn’t the time she spends in jail, thinking about where her crime landed her, increase, rather than decrease after repeat offenses?  The article I read on the Straits Times said that she could be imprisoned for up to 14 years, so I wonder why it is she received such a light sentence?

  • Tampines 1’s Food Court

    Every mall in Singapore that I’ve been to has a food court that is, in reality, just an indoor hawker.  The same basic varieties of food are served in the same basic way.  It’s a very convenient way to eat, especially if you’re not willing to spring for an expensive meal in a sit down restaurant.  These food courts (and hawkers) in Singapore often have much better prices than what you’d find in a mall food court in the US, making them a very affordable place to eat.

    I’d somehow assumed that Tampines 1 was an exception to the rule that every mall has a food court.  I’d just never seen it.  It’s tucked away in a corner on the top floor, by the pet shop.  We happened to see it when we went to the pet shop to browse for travel carriers for our cats.

    The food court isn’t bad at all.  The air conditioning there is ice cold and it offers glassed walls all the way around, which offer an excellent view of the area around Tampines 1.  The iced kacang seemed to be pretty popular, and there was a stall called Kuala Lumpur Roasted I want to try out.  I’m sure it’s just the standard chicken rice / roast pork rice / etc. stall, but maybe they have their own twist to the recipe that’s worth experiencing.

     

    The most disappointing thing about the food court is that it’s not designed well.  With Tampines 1 being such a new mall, you’d think they’d have put more effort into making the food court look appealing.  The food court at Suntec resembles a library.  The food court at Vivocity looks like a quaint, village shopping district.  The food court at Ion is decked out in gold chrome and white statues of animals.  This food court is rather bland.  I suppose their reasoning might have been that there are already food courts in the two other malls in the area which also have a bland design, so they didn’t need to put much thought into the one they built for Tampines 1.

    Restaurants in the US often have a theme to enhance their appeal, but before coming to Singapore I couldn’t have cared less what a food court in a mall looked like, as long as the food was decent.  I’ve become accustomed to, and spoiled by, the level of detail Singaporeans put into designing their malls.