100th Post

is my 100th post of this blog and since is the end of January, I shall dedicate this entry to what happened in the first month of 2010.

2010 has not been that bad but I hope the next few months will be better. The past 4 weekends hasnt been the smoothest, not without any drama and certainly not the ideal ones that I've like it to be. Conflicts come together with decision-making. and many a time, we are not on the same track. we need to be and we will be. blog only and no action = 0.

finding pretty hard to get motivated at the start of the year. shouldnt be the case where a lot of resolutions have been promised. But work nature has brought the process to a slower start. No one to blame but myself. and no one to pull me out of the hole apart from myself. Need to more active. I've been adapting to the environment which is not the best.

Try as I might to manage my funds, is always insufficient and I hate that feeling.

I certainly want to find a dwelling soon. Somewhere that suits all our criteria. At the moment, we are still searching and hopefully we can find something ideal.

Overall, still a lot to improve. In fact, part of my old self is back. Need to regather, regroup for a better outcome. Not getting any younger. Again. NABO is not healthy. I need to live outside the technology world.

Top 5 at the Moment

1) Do You Remember? Jay Sean feat Sean Paul & Lil Jon
2) Telephone - Lady Gaga feat Beyonce
3) Rude Boy - Rihanna
4) Hard - Rihanna feat Young Jeezy
5) Whatcha Say - Jason Derulo

Promotion

just when I was stuck in the jam on the harbour bridge, I was free to look out of the car in the bumper to bumper traffic and there it was, a banner reads (if is too small on the photo)

"BE A FEE FIGHTER"

orangeeveryday.com.au

nice cheap promotion once again from ING Direct. well placed banner right beside the traffic display which reads (as usual) "Delay Ahead, <--- ALT Route"

then again, I feel this is not that effective, given that is hand-drawn and drivers might just look at it and forget about it when they get home except for ppl like me who took a picture =).

oh oh.. i'm piling myself with a lot of food recently. Japanese, Korean, Indian.

How to resist when you have such happy company to enjoy the food. and to suffer the consequences together. hahahaha

summer is getting colder and winter is getting warmer.

doesn't anyone think that there is a serious problem in the world?

unpredictable and high impact earthquakes, tsunami and bush fire are happening round the world.

doesn't that trigger anyone to be more environmental friendly?

yes, there's only so much we can do.

A lot of the emissions are largely produced by commercial and industrial developments.

nevertheless we can do our part by taking note some of the stuff that's part of our everyday life.

things like:

1) switching off your work computer if you don't need it. does it take that long for you to switch it on again rather than just log back on? I'm not convinced that you are that eager to get back to work.

2) save paper. the usual practice of printing both sides. technology has risen in recent years that we don't really need paper anymore. try paperless services for bank statements and bills. Many a time, you wont even look at them.

3) switching off the main power of electrical appliances rather than leave it on standby.

4) switching off any power before you leave the house. Safe procedure and save costs.

5) and of course, reduce the number of plastic bags. Never really understood why people take plastic bags when they only bought a bottle of water or a packet of food. Is it that disgraceful that you are eating the packet of food and not some gourmet food? if so, why buy it?

The point is, every little thing is a step to reduce carbon emissions. I'm not being a Nazi here to suggest switching off the fridges, change your lifestyle to buy non-plastic bottles, eating less or reduce the number of times that you go to the toilet.

All I suggesting is, take note of our actions and save where we can. Is a small part that we can do to give back to the wonderful nature that the world has given us.

Setting Up the Orange Everyday Account

Setting up the Orange Everyday account with ING Direct is eas-sy.

All I have to do was to click on the right link, fill in my details and instantly, an account is being set up online. The next thing I've gotta do is to print out to the verification slip and bring it in to any post office with 100 points of ID, which in this case, my drivers license to confirm that my details are correct.

What I like about this process is the fast service. Within the first working day after I visited the post office, my account is set up and ready to be access with all the features. User friendly features include giving a personalised name to your account and the other accounts in the address book. For security, each time you set up an account in the address book, a sms is sent to you for confirmation.

Within 2 days of account activation, chop chop, I received a welcome pack with the debit card, pds,t&c and also paid postage envelopes and forms to take care of my direct debit arrangements. This is something new and this small act allows me to feel that they do look after their clients.

Once the account is opened, you can immediately open a savings maximiser account (an account with attractive interest) and link it to the orange everyday account. Since details are similar, the account is set up and can be access instantly, the only thing this time is to input ur TFN.

Overall, the account does not take much hassle to set up. Online features are easy to use and understand. The bank try its best to make their client feel welcome even though they are a virtual bank. Security features are not compromised. Good Stuff.

Choosing The Orange Everyday Account

i've been shopping around quite a while for an everyday account that has no fees because Westpac has not dropped their fees yet whereas every other banks have. Not good.

ING Direct has always caught my attention with its good marketing skills. Advertisments at the bus stops and TV and of course the attractive colour, orange. straight away, being a soccer fan, I knew that this is a dutch bank, spotting the same colour as their national team jersey colours.

The last factor to convince me was that "Money" magazine gave a good review and awarded the Orange Everyday Account as the Most Innovative Product for 2010.

Many features of this account attracted me:

1) No account keeping fees (of course)

2) No ATM fees if more than $200 is withdraw at any ATM

3) If you get a cashout of $200 with an Eftpos purchase, ING Direct even gives you 50cents.

The first feature is a must for me. Second feature is for me to control my budget better and not allowing me to withdraw whenever I like. Third feature is something innovative and not offered by any other banks. I was thinking - Why Not? I can even link this account to a Savings Maximiser Account which gives one of the highest interest rates around.

The down side for ING Direct is that they are only available through phone and email even though they do have an office in Sydney. However, I think this is not an important factor considering that it is a everyday account. On the other hand, if it was a home loan. I would have factor that in as you guys can read from my previous posts.

In the end, I've got sick of Westpac charging me $60 per year for fees and decided to go with ING Direct. They even gave me $600 to donate off to my charity for writing this blog. Now, that's something different.

CBA vs Bankwest

the decision will come down to this two banks on my home loan.

CBA - professional, good communication, feels the stability, quick response, up to date with clients' status, better people skills, higher rates for the two. Ideally for a long term loan.

Bankwest - casual, communication is fair compared to CBA, response not as quick, gets the feel that their operation is in between brokers and banks. competitive rates compared with CBA. Don't really rate their people skills and professional image. Ideal for a short term loan.

Bankwest has better packages. CBA has better services but slightly higher rates.

Btw, Bankwest is part of CBA.

who should we go for?

ING Direct Blogger Review Program

hello all, I've just participated in the ING Direct Blogger Review Program. The purpose of this program is to trial the services and facilities of the bank accounts with ING Direct's agreement, and for doing that, ING Direct have provided me with $600 which will be donated to a charity of my choice.

Over the next few weeks, I'll venture into the facilities, services and benefits that this new account can offer me and provide a review, good and bad, on my blog.

watch this space!

for more information, pls log in to http://www.ingdirect.com.au/ and that's where I found out a lot of the products that ING can offer.

3rd day of my super long weekend. woke up pretty late, just before noon. wanted to go shopping but decided not to. after a 15 minutes delay we decided to go again! hehe

turn out to be a happy trip. I've got a 2 shirts yesterday, so today was denise's turn. Never thought we could get something from Eastgardens since we've been there thousands of time. Came out of the shopping mall, satisfied. very satisfied for denise who got a few pieces from Bardot, Glassons and Portmans.

One thing I learn from shopping is participation. It kills the boredom. And delayed my back pain. haha. But is good that I told myself to participate and saw the results. Bingo! Positive thinking = Happy Fun. Now I think Denise know the period where I was a bit out of sorts @ Cotton-On. Thats where I wanted to give up and was in 2 minds. Luckily, you got it and click F5 on me. Refreshing me and off we go to end the trip on a good note.

Hungry people = angry people for us. Indian buffet for dinner at Crows Nest. The Imperial Restaurant. Nice small place where I almost miss the entrance. The food was fabulous, butter chicken and lamb roganjosh and 3 vegies curries, chick peas, potato aloo and mixed vegies. The rice was superb, springy and simply delicious. Naan bread were made fresh and served. Similar for the dessert as well. Overall. 8/10. Complete with the cricket shown on tv. hehe.

Recommended.

I've just signed up with ING Direct for the blogger review program on their account performance. I'll update that further on a separate blog entry. All I can say now, so far so good, very satisfying and suits the way I'm utilising the account.

Nice weekend. Summary, CBA would be our choice for home loans. Still gotta hear what Bankwest gotta say tomorrow. ANZ is definitely out, service wise and rate wise, totally not in our consideration at all, and our judgement is not based on one branch but a couple of branches on 3 - 4 separate occasions. Bad bad face-to-face service.

The Hills district, at this stage, can be ruled out in our search for our next home. Too far and not as tempting as first thoughts. The 39 degrees might have something to do with our decision but at the moment, not the first choice on our list.

2 more days of break. before going back to work refreshed. can't wait to start on projects soon and do what I do best.

Innovation?

in my opinion, soccer is and unpopular game in Australia, not because of the domination of aussie rules, rugby or cricket but the time difference. Many of us are inspired by superb standards of soccer games in Europe, especially England and Spain.

The time difference between Europe and Asia meant that back home, we are able to watch those matches live at 10pm on Saturday. Making it a good timing for friends to get together and watch it live in pubs. Over here in Australia, and Sydney as I found out, matches start very late and for example, the match between Manchester United and Hull starts at 2am on Sunday morning.

If over time, the people are able to witness great matches, great play and great comebacks, they will be glued to the world game. and try as I might over here, i can only watch the highlights online. still love the game.

not the smoothest at all starting this new year. because i'm not in control of my decisions.

sleeping too much. maybe.

lack of motivation. kinda of.

hoping others will understand. yes.

making the wrong decisions. yes.

making the decisions that I thought they were correct. yes.

causing distress to other parties because of my indecisiveness. yup.

talk to 2 lenders from ANZ and CBA today.

CBA - informative, enthusiastic, explain well and customer service orientated.

ANZ - customer service 0.5/10, didnt care about customer, "show me the money".

CBA hands down if I were to choose. not to mention they have the lower interest rate and annual fee for packages.

dentist appointments for both of us make up the hot and heavy-hearted day.

going to look at the Hills area tomorrow. hopefully will be fruitful. and it was advised that tomorrow will be 39 degrees. Woo. Ice Water and Air Con Pls... !~

i just hope we can get out of this situation soon. and find something we like and treat it as ours.

even how "pain in the arse" you are. thanks for sticking by me and my family till now. appreciate that.

should ladies be drivers. oh man, to generalise, they shouldnt really be on the road. I admit there are some really good lady drivers out there and bad make drivers out there who can smoke, write notes, sms and drive at the same time.

ladies ladies ladies. almost again got into a crash because lady A doesnt know what to do with a merge lane and lady B who is behind lady A fail to give way to her. I presume that is not on purpose but lady B simply didnt care about the vehicles surrounding her. In the end, Fedex van gotta do an e-brake in front of me and I did a e-brake as well, was like 5-10 cm away from his bumper. Worse, the 4-wheel behind me was just overtaking and nearly bump into me if I haven release the brakes at the right time. I was praying not to hear the "POM". I would have been devastated going into this wonderful weekend that I'm so looking forward to.

take extra note when driving around lady drivers and beware of their driving behaviour. Take not of heavy vehicle drivers as well. They are the ones that just don't understand, weight is not directly proportional to speed and shouldnt take the right lane at any point of time.

anyway, feels like a Friday. because today is my last working day of the third week of 2010. gotta keep myself motivated.

had a nice dinner today with Denise on the way back from work. Luckily was not pissed off by grid-locked traffic in the city. Always good to have a nice dinner. And well done for your early morning event in the city!

pretty hard to be motivated with the current conditions. but luckily, i've got to some homework on our house research and home loans. always good to keep on moving, getting new knowledge in fields you absolutely have not idea about.

search for a few chiro treatments, as my neck, back and shoulders are getting worse. in a way, feel old. their fees are not cheap varies from $80 to $110 for first consultation even though I got 40 - 50% back from my health care provider. Remedial massage first maybe.

dentist as well. not sure whether to take out my bottom tooth and straighten them out. well, i'll get some consultation from Denise's orthodontists. Mr Larry Larry. Woo! OH Mr Larry Larry (in the tune of Shaggy's Classic: Boombastic)



cant wait for my super long weekend. took friday and monday off + tuesday which is a public holiday being Australia Day. lotsa of things on the agenda, but gotta take it one @ a time.
hope tomorrow goes well for my work. and it will be! time to be in control.

All right. Well done Richard Gasquet.

There goes my $5 for backing you to win the Australian Open and you went out in the first round after leading 1st 2 sets.

Other updates so far,

1) Sharapova - first high profile to be ousted.

2) Fed Ex got a scare from a 1st set loss to take out the game against a Russian Youngster

3) Nadal, Hewitt did well do demolish their opponents

Hopes are still with Roddick, Safina and Dementieva.

good luckie!

takes 2

went to get a Thai massage, all thanks to Denise for the birthday voucher.

painful, too much force used. but not as bad as last time. pretty ok. but not recommended.

anyway, been searching for homes and home loans.

takes 2 to buy a house. not only because of financial capability, but because there are so many decisions to make.

from finding an area to live in, the right price and the availability of the inspection list to numerous amount of home loans packages available from heaps amount of lenders. not only that, we'll need pest and building inspection, solicitor, insurance.

how can 1 do so much. that's why we need 2.

2 heads think better than 1. but 2 mouths will cause discussion, which turns into an argument if not handled properly. Indecisiveness plays a part too.

good thing is, we are moving forward. slowly but surely.

office politics.... here we go again....

are there ways to solve this issue?
it just feels unnecessary to be involved in this
and a negative feeling when it comes up.

just want everybody to be happy.
and that's not going to happen. not everybody is going to be happy
and that everybody includes myself.

Is it the way I say it? Is it the way I handle it?
Should I say no? Should I not even say it?
My reasons are not convincing? No reasons are convincing.

i don't think twice to be annoyed. but i think twice about annoying someone.
wrong attitude? always wanting people to understand me? but i've never taken an effort to understand people. i take an effort to make ppl happy. maybe i should priortise my effort accordingly.

the more i go on, the more im not sure what im saying. maybe is the lack of food for me too. i'm like that, you are like this. does that mean we have continue to be like what we are?

indilemma, dont understand, hard to balance.
someone has to give in. someone will give in. and the person is likely to be you or me. someone is going to get hurt. and that's both of us.

4 You..

Shawty’s like a melody in my head
That I can’t keep out
Got me singin’ like
Na na na na everyday ,It’s like my iPod stuck on replay, replay-aay-aay-aay

See you been all around the globe
Not once did you leave my mind
We talk on the phone, from night til the morn
Girl you really change my life
Doin things I never do
I’m in the kitchin cookin things she likes
We’re real worldwide, breakin all the rules,
Someday I wanna make you my wife

That girl, like somethin off a poster
That girl, is a dime they say
That girl, is the gun to my holster
She’s runnin through my mind all day, aay ,

Shawty’s like a melody in my head
That I can’t keep out
Got me singin’ like ,Na na na na everyday
It’s like my iPod stuck on replay, replay-aay-aay-aay

how twisting can life be.. Blame it on the chicken rice.. Yeah.. Both the chicken and the rice..

8years

today marks the 8th year that Denise and I are together.

all the memories for the past 8 years. all the highs and lows. thanks for sticking by me all the time. we've been through quite a bit, happy times together and of course travelling around the different parts of the world as a couple.

Together we explore different cultures and and experiences and we will certainly have more adventures as a couple.

cheers to our relationship. and happy times always.

thanks for being with me

Sports Update

man utd and arsenal drew with birmingham and everton respectively in the only 2 matches played over the weekend due to bad winter conditions which i suppose contributed to the result.
1-1 for the devils and 2-2 for the gunners.
i guess chelsea will have a good chance now of extending their lead at the top.


source: www.manutd.com

Togo decided to pull of the African Nations Cup and encourage others to do so as well after the shooting incident at the team bus which left 3 dead and several injured. All eyes are on the authorities now to abandon the competition and also any implications on the 2010 World Cup in South Africa

In tennis, Kim Clijsters beat Justin Henin in the all Belgian Final - Brisbane International. That's Henin's first competition after "retirement" and is a good start for her and a great boost to her confidence ahead of the much anticipated Australian Open.

unnecessary

first weekend of 2010.

friday started off pretty all right, but ended badly unnecessarily due to smally smally issues.

and of course it spilled onto Saturday.

couldnt find any suitable properties on Saturday. high prices come with high strata. and we simply didnt get the "feel" for the rest of the options.

went to Manly for dinner and Max Brenner in the evening. dinner is at Honolulu Grill. Not the best choice. service was really bad and the we had wait pretty long for the food, bebefit of the doubt, theres was only one chef. Not recommended.

unexpectedly to me at least, Manly is crowded, not the usual suburb you see but something similar to Gold Coast. btw, it was hot and sticky throughout on saturday.

monday and the second week of 2010 is approaching. struggling to keep the flame burning but i will. 2010 is a make or break year and lazy=evil.

let's go!

Songs & Videos

Top Songs at the Moment

1. Will Smith - Switch
2. Space Jam Theme
3. Will Smith - Getting Jiggy With It
4. Shaggy - Mr Boombastic
5. Will Smith - Men in Black

enjoy the 2 videos that has followed me throughout my younger days

time flies

had a pretty satisfying day @ work. got to keep myself busy for the day and completed what I wanted to do.

something struck while driving back to work this evening. time really flies. im close to 30. i've got friends for 12 years from the poly days and 15 years for those who went to St. Andrews Secondary Sch with me. all thanks for friendster and then facebook, i manage to keep in contact to all of my friends and get updated on what's happening once in a while.

AND the newest member in my facebook account is none other than DENISE LEE!.. welcome to facebook and you'll enjoy facebook after succumbing to temptation for a long time.

back to memories of my younger days. enjoying 90s music and reminiscing about attending matches @ Kallang National Stadium, Kallang Wave, Bandung, Triangular Curry Puff and Popiah. Thinking back 10 - 15 years ago, Singapore National Team has a 2010 target to get into World Cup. Still remember my dad said "no way we are getting into the world cup!!.. dreaming!" turn out, 2010 is here!! how time flies. Singapore has definitely improved their standard and became the S.E.A champions but world cup.. not yet, maybe never as my dad suggests.

back @ work

feels like the first day back at school, the feeling of having a long break and going back to start the new semester to achieve good results.

stepping back to the classroom, going back to the familiar desk, having the urge to accomplish everything that have been set out during the break. you get distracted, yet want to do more.

at the end of the day, when the bell rings and when is time to knock off, there's a bit of everything but you dont feel satisfied. mentally tired and a sigh knowing tomorrow you are going to wake up early for the morning session and endure the workload once again. hopefully, you dont get tired out and give up because it is only the first day. exams seems far ahead but the year will zoom past in a flash. hang in there and continue what you are doing, focus and keep moving.

2010

tomorrow marks the first day of 2010 officially for me. as per last year, here are some of my resolutions for the big 2010!

1) not to forget the resolutions as the year slips away

2) save money $$

3) make my money work

4) get a home, our home

5) buff up

6) improve work quality

7) spend more time with family and friends in everyway I can

8) knowledge is power

9) prioritise accordingly

10) lazy=evil

11) get through not get over it

12) take care of Hondaz

13) complete the resolutions above

tomorrow will be the 1st day @ work for the new year. Everything goes back to the same, however, in the new year, there will be a new start and a new improvement.

Good Luck to All for the new year!