The Craftsman’s Forge

I saw something today that made me wonder about the safety of our roads.

Having just finished a lunch time movie date with Chris (I am on leave before I start my new job next week), we drove to Tan Tock Seng Hospital to visit my dad, who just received news that he’d have to continue staying in hospital until the bypass operation next Monday.

Anyway…. as I entered the CTE from the Chin Swee Tunnel inroad, I began noticing a chap on a motorcycle doing something I’ve never EVER seen before.

YUP… You got it right…. ! He was YAKKING merrily on his handphone tucked inside his helmet next to his left ear! Gosh!!! Using his left hand to hold the phone somemore! Wahhhhhh STEADY POM PI PI!

I got Chris to take a couple of shots of our friend, and here he is, full evidence! Not a care in the world, talking to his girlfriend, and got smile on his face also. ha ha ha.

He was doing this right from the minute I entered the CTE, through Chin Swee Tunnel, out to teh CTE outside Orchard, then through the Orchard Tunnel, and then still talking while exiting to Moulmein Road.

I saw him weaving in and out of traffic, overtake a couple of trucks and cars, all using only ONE hand. This guys really takes the cake.

Hmm…. I wonder why the Traffic Police keeps worrying about car drivers using their handphones when a bigger problem like motorcylcists using handphones are posing more danger than ever.

Technorati Tags: Singapore, Technology, Motorcyclist, CTE, Unbelievable, Smartphone, Think Outside, Traffic, Craftsman

Kyla’s favourite Super Hero happens to be Wonder Woman. Not sure why, but ever since she started watching Justice League at school in the evenings while waiting for the school bus, she’s been absolutely crazy about Wonder Woman.

We happened to see a large sticker of Wonder Woman at Kovan mall one evening. We took the chance to snap a shot.

Goodness knows, I used to be crazy as hell over Linda Carter back in the eighties when she was playing Wonder Woman. :). I didn’t tell Kyla I liked Wonder Woman too.

Technorati Tags: Singapore, Wonder Woman, Kids, Craftsman

Today was my last day at work in U21Global, and I had the privilege of being asked for a breakfast and lunch appointment by my friends and colleagues.

When I first got into the office, I recieved a call at about 8:50am from Meatball, or Rou Yuan, or more commonly known as Joanne Tan, Human Resource Executive, asking me out for breakfast with Danny and the guys/gals. Where to? Saravana Restaurant. The most authentic South Indian Restaurant this side of Shenton Way.

I already had a coffee on the drive to work, and was a little full, but wanted to spend some time with Danny, Jiing Tai, Ivy, Emmeline, and of course ahem… Meatball. So, I tagged along.

Danny, being Danny… ordered up quite a spread, with a full force Masala Thosai with a wonderful Coriander Chutney to boot! Bah… too bad I wasn’t hungry, or else… huh…

Again… breakfast with a group of wonderful friends makes a great stat to the day!.

Then, we had a department lunch where Manish and the gang brought me out for a final farewell lunch. This was at a Thai restaurant in Greatworld City. The food was nice, the ambience bad, the service was even badder, but the company was excellent!

Oh.. and THANKS guys…. for the shirts….

Technorati Tags: Singapore, Breakfast, Lunch, Office, Craftsman

I’m here now at Specialist Center, waiting for Christine to be done. The last moments of being in U21, was a little surreal. Got my clearance done, then spoke to a couple of colleagues, and then headed out the door.

This effectively ends one chapter of my life, and its time to move on.

oops…. Chris is here. will continue tonight.

Continued at 10:04pm: The realization that I am no longer a staff of U21Global is finally starting to sink in. With that, I also finally realize that I am at this moment officially “Out of a Job” and unemployed! The feeling of no longer being responsible for server uptime and the reliability of the university’s web services is really a strange feeling that I am trying to get used to. Not to forget, the banishing of the cursed Blackberry is something that I have been looking forward to for a long long time!

Poor Alvin! The guy has to take over all of my responsibilities. I just spoke to him, and he has been having sleepless nights trying to get used to the Blackberry. I told him it takes a year to get used to that piece of contraption. He almost fainted… ha ha ha…

Well…. I have about a week to relax and recuperate before I hit my new company with all I got. And… going by what I know so far, its going to be quite an exciting ride. For one, 12 countries come under my fold, so there would be some amount of flying involved. Getting the entire IT operations sorted out will be a challenging and exciting journey, and I’m relishing it.

Here’s to a very successful 3.5 years at Universitas 21 Global! And as the powers that be say…..”More Good Years!”

Technorati Tags: Singapore, Farewell, Office, Craftsman

The Sales team (Vijay, Paul G and Emmeline) brought both Iin and myself out for lunch yesterday. Ths is a group of pals I am extremely comfortable with. That, plus lunch at the famous Italian restaurant - Pasta Brava!

Pasta Brava is located near the Duxton area, and is housed in a pre-war shophouse. All very quaint indeed.

The interior is even nicer! Look at this! What a picture perfect scene.

I had a succulent John Dory in cream sauce, and mango sorbet for dessert. Not to mention 2 glasses of smooth Wolf Blass sauvignon blanc. Excellent! If you have the chance, visit Pasta Brava for a good selection of fine Italian cuisine.

Lastly… what made the lunch perfect were the wonderful colleagues and friends!

Technorati Tags: Singapore, Lunch, Office, Pasta Brava, Italian, Craftsman

It first started with Jordan who began strutting his Atom around in the office back in December 2005. By himself, he was quite harmless. I often ignored his technical boasts by just laughing it off. But, when Alvin also took to talking about the possibility of owning an Atom, to eventually getting the small phone a month back, I knew I was in serious trouble.

Having had the honour of being the first person in my company to ever own an O2 (2 years back) I was pretty much nonchalant about the new O2 craze. In fact, I still am, to be honest.

There was nothing really that cool about owning a PDA phone if you really think about it. My 1st generation O2 XDA hung quite a fair bit, and I was convinced that this created more non-productivity than it did productivity. When push came to shove back in mid 2003, I gave up my O2, and went with a company provided Blackberry. It was simply too cumbersome to carry around two PDAs in my pockets.

But because of my new job, and the fact that my new boss does not expect me to carry a Blackberry (YEAHHHHH and Triple YEAH!!!!!), I had to go buy myself a new phone, as I did not have one.

Well… I did have a Blackberry, which I bought myself about a year back, but It didn’t make sense carrying a blackberry phone while not utilising push mail. Also, the phone gave me the creeps, and often reminds me of the late nights and emergency mails coming from the data centre. I decided to get rid of it for good.

I considered seriously the merits of carrying a normal Nokia phone (Nothing else will do) or a PDA, and being the quick decision maker that I am, made up my mind to get the O2 Atom, since I figured that I would be needing to get myself alot more organised as I will be travelling quite a fair bit. I also thought it would be cool to be able to blog while I am on the road, and where a laptop might seem too cumbersome.

So, I headed down to M1 Paragon two Sundays ago to get my Mighty Atom.

The Atom came in a very nice blue box with magnets for latching the cover.

When opened, the Atom sits proudly in the indented cardboard, waiting to be picked up.

Apart from the Atom, I also bought myself a Thinkoutside Stowaway Bluetooth keyboard! This little wonder will allow me to Blog wherever I go!!! Whoot!! Steady Pom Pi Pi!

See how it unfolds….. Cool yah?

The final transformation

Eat your hearts out Alvin and Jordan! Hah!

Technorati Tags: Singapore, Technology, O2, Atom, O2 Atom, Smartphone, XDA, Think Outside, Stowaway, Craftsman

Dad has been through some more tests, and its now confirmed that he will be going through the surgery next Monday.

The operation will take a peripheral vein from his leg, and transplanted to the area on his neck where the occlusions are happening.

This is to create the new ”Bypass” route to bring blood to his left brain.

The team of doctors are confident, and the success rate is very high. Of course, there are still risks, but the risks of not doing anything is even higher, so, it makes sense to proceed.

At least now, I’m feeling a little more at ease, as there is an option that we are taking for preventive measures instead of just waiting around not knowing what to expect.

I still do solicit your prayers. In the mean time, I’ll try and blog about something a little more cheeful. Take my mind off the operation.

By the way, I’m blogging this entry completely from my new O2 Atom.

Tags: Singapore, Dad, Family, Stroke, , Craftsman

Yesterday’s 45 minute attack was due largely to the probes that were being done on Dad, so its confirmed that it wasn’t quite natural, but was a side effect.

The results of teh angiogram have confirmed that blood vessels on the left side of the neck have constricted to more than 90%, and blood is not getting through on the left side of the brain. Because of this, on exertion, enough blodd residue do get through the 10% of the vessels, and this results in a mini stroke attack.

Dad will be put through some more tests to confirm the feasibility of a ‘Bypass” surgery on Monday. The surgery will redirect blood to the left side of the brain, so as to stop the mini attacks.

The procedure is not without risks, although the full risk profiling will only be known once all tests are completed. I think this should be by Friday.

In any case, Christine and I both felt that it would be best to cancel our planned Hong Kong trip next week. Sure, the kids might get a little dissapointed, but Hong Kong and Disneyland will always be there. I’ve got only one Dad…….

I’m not quite sure how to describe how I feel at the moment, except that I’m kinda numbed by the whole situation. This kinda forces you to treasure your family more, and acts as a catalyst to draw one closer to God, the supreme being overseeing our lives.

Theres nothing more comforting than knowing that God is in complete control, and that He has only the BEST for us.

If you are also a believer, could I kindly solicit your prayer for my family? Being in your prayer list during the next couple of weeks would mean very much to me and my family. Do pray the Dad’s tests will confirm a very high success rate, and that the surgery will be successful, with no side effects or permanent disabilities.

I am extremely convinced that God will use this situation for His glory.

Technorati Tags: Singapore, Dad, Family, Stroke, , Craftsman

I’m not sure why when it rains, it pours.

The last couple of days have been tiring and exhausting to say the least. Apart from Elkan’s HFMD scare, Dad was also due for an angiogram at the hospital.

From the last visit to the doctor at the National Neurological Institute (NNI), even after restarting Dad on a routine of Aspirin to thin the blood, Dad still keeps getting bouts of mini stroke attacks at a frequency of once to twice a day, lasting between 15 to 20 minutes each time.

The angiogram procedure was decided to be a necessary procedure for the doctors to confirm the reason behind Dad’s mini stroke attacks.

Dad was admitted on Monday afternoon and the procedure was planned for Tuesday morning.

Imagine the stress on Monday when we “discovered” Elkan’s supposed HFMD problem. We had to quickly get Elkan to the doctors (at about 11am), then I had to bring my Dad to the hospital for admission at about 2pm. At about 2:30pm, I recieved an SMS from Christine telling me that the school called to inform us that according to MCYS regulations, I had to bring the girls back home. Wahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday was terrible.

Tuesday brought alot more promise when we discovered that Elkan’s HFMD was actually just a viral fever. Dad’s procedure also went without any hitches. I visited him at about 5pm earlier, and he was very cheerful, and lighthearted. More concerned with Elkan than himself. He was visibly happy when I told him about the mistaken HFMD diagnosis. Dad had to stay an additional night because of the aspirin thinning his blood, and the risk of the blood not clotting.

Everything seemed to be on its way back to normal.

Unfortunately…. not so.

I recieved a call from sis, informing me that a doctor called from the hospital about dad. He had tried to get hold of me, but couldn’t. I called back, and discovered that Dad had a slightly more major attack lasting 45 minutes at about 9pm. The doctor wanted me to head down to the hospital as soon as I could.

As I was home alone with the two girls (Christine was at her mum’s place with Elkan), I had to call Christine to come back home, so that I could head out to the hospital.

When I finally reached the hospital at about 10pm, the doctor informed me that they had already performed an emergency MRI on Dad, and the MRI showed that the last attack did no damage to his brain. This was an obvious relief, but the doctors were still worried as to why the attack occured. It could have been the Angiogram, as it is sometimes known to cause certain side effects.

In anycase, Dad didn’t seem any different from the last time we met at 5pm. He was still cheerful, and he could move his hands and legs.

The doctors are going to meet tomorrow morning to discuss the next step and the options available. I’m expecting a call tomorrow morning when the options will be made known to me and Dad, and then we’ll take the next steps.

Before I left, I prayed with Dad over his condition. I hope he will be able to get a good night’s sleep tonight.

I’m praying hard.

Technorati Tags: Singapore, Dad, Family, Stroke, , Craftsman

Update: The doctor confirmed that Elkan’s just down with viral fever, which is sometimes accompanied by rashes. Wheeeewww!!!! Thank God!

Just one day after reading about the Hand Foot and Mouth Disease on Sunday morning in the Sunday Times, we discovered that Elkan might have contracted it.

It was last night at approximately 3am when he woke up with a 37.9 degrees fever. We were wondering what caused the fever then, although I feared the worst and hoped it was not HFMD.

This morning, the childcare centre called, and said his temperature was rising, and they are suspecting HFMD, since his feet and hands were covered with rashes, although the rashes were more like small red dots, and are not blister-like in normal HFMD cases.

I also said “Might have contracted” because after seeing the doctor this morning, he has since developed some more rashes on his neck and back. This is not consistant with HFMD. So, we’ll be sending him back to the doctors tomorrow morning to have another check.

We’re hoping that it isn’t HFMD, so that we don’t have to cancel our planned Hong Kong trip.

In the mean time, I’ve also had to bring the girls home from school as I later found out that under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) regulations, any children (and/or siblings of the child) with suspected HFMD are to be quarantined from the childcare centre.

So, Christine is now taking care of Elkan in her sister’s place, while I’m taking care of the girls at home. This will continue until the end of the week, or if the doctor finds that what Elkan has contracted isn’t HFMD after all. We’ll know tomorrow.

I’m praying hard.

Technorati Tags: Singapore, HFMD, Family, Hand Foot and Mouth Disease, Doctor, Kids, Craftsman