Ice Age!

Its freezing here!... This place was hit by -3 degrees a couple of nights ago... and it seems to be repeating for a few days. According to weather reports, the phenomenon is here to stay for many more days to come. Goodness, I thought California's lowest temperature is only 2 degrees!

Oddly, Japan is reporting its warmer-than-usual winter, and New York too. These places are usually much colder than the bay area..... hmmm.....Seems like the warm parts of the world are getting colder, and vice versa.

Everyone is talking about how the world is coming to an end, and even Al Gore, in "The Inconvenient Truth" talks about how the Greenhouse gases are causing environmental issues.

Something im sure though, if we get to see snow in Singapore one day, the signs are obvious.... the world is coming to an end....haha...

Singapore Style Carrot Cake...

Its getting cold here in Sunnyvale... and it juz hit zero degrees yesterday and probably the day before as well. Anyway, this low temperature is making me hungry all the time.

All my 25 yrs in Singapore, i never had any craving for Singapore Style Carrot cake. Maybe due to the cold weather, im finally having this craving!!....And its not so easily available anymore!!!..ARGGHHHH....

Thankfully, i found out that they sell slabs of "radish cakes" here. I found out that our Singapore carrot cakes are actually made from radish cakes(or white carrot), and has nothing to do with the usual orangy carrots at all.(Thank you google!!)

And so, the craving finally got into my head, and i decided on another experiment. Here is the outcome....


haha... looks-wise... its ok lah...but i think the health conscious me used too little oil...made it a little clumpy. Taste wise, i think it can be further improved with a little bit of fish sauce and some chye poh(which i did not have at hand).... but it really kinda settled my craving for the day....:)...

With this kind of weather, i think my next craving will be Tom Yam soup or something really really spicy....haha...

Opportunities in ST SATCOM

Current Mood: Relief....

Again, i find myself looking for opportunities in Singapore as a Microwave Engineer. Being in such a niche market, it sometimes is challenging when it comes to job hunting.

Unlike my IT and financial banking/planning/management peers, flip the classifieds and scores of positions await them. Whereas a microwave engineer...... a little corner here...and a little corner there.

Finally, ST SATCOM is willing to hire a Beng instead of a MsC or Phd. Not much experience needed too. Unlike the previous requirements...they had required MsC with 5 yrs experience, or Phd with 2 yrs experience. How to find?

I can finally set my mind at ease....at least if my current company decides not to expand into asia, i can still go back, and work close to home.....whew...

Bauer Biax Hockey Skates

Some NUS interns were moving house due to the lack of occupants to share, and they were also sick of a cockroach infested apartment....haha....

Coincidently, no other interns skate, so Jessie passed this pair to me...else she will have to pay someone to clear the apartment!....So for the past week, she was desperately giving out free stuff to everyone she met.

Tested the pair today, and skated around Sunnyvale. Fitted me perfectly....and it boasts of the Bauer 'Tuik' metal frames. I'm still a skeptic of Bauer hockey inlines...afterall, their core business is in ice hockey skates. Here is how i will rate this pair.

Robustness : 9/10
Fit : 7/10
Control : 8.5/10
Speed : 5/10
Comfort : 2/10

I dun really like it. Frankly, i won't even think of paying 50 bucks for it. But its free...so i will use it for this year or so. Its definitely robust and HARD just like any hockey skates.... but comfort is terribly compromised. Fit is average...can't expect too much as it is a fully laced pair without any plastic straps for additional security and fit. Control is good....probably due to the short frame.....but speed....oh gawd!....I feel like im jogging. Probably im juz sooooo pampered with my Salomon FSKs in Singapore!!!

Finally, the skating experience here is really different. After 45mins of skating....no sweat at all. My guards smell no worse than the air around me. Thinking of which, my skating pals back in NUS will love to do urban skating here, where the limit is not the amount of land, but the amount of stamina and strength you have!

LA-Vegas Trip

I have procrastinated long enough regarding this post! Actually, my dad juz reminded me a couple of minutes ago over MSN. Its been delayed because some photos are still in my friend's laptop! hahah.... Excuses!!

1st day was our drive to LA. We met in Stanford before setting off in 2 cars. And halfway through, we were supposed to stop at a museum called Hearst Castle.

The drive to Hearst Castle...well.... was really quite an experience. A few entries away, i was commenting about how scary it was to drive on the highspeed, but straight highways in the US. Now, we are supposed to go on Highway 1. Its highspeed... not exactly straight...and its only 2 lane!! Now, thats intimidating!! And it goes through hills!!.... On top of that, we encountered fog halfway through.... my god! One wrong turn, and we go down the cliff! Just an idea about what i was going through from 7am till 1.30pm.... here is what i was looking at most of the time...

Hey, it doesn look so bad here... coz we happen to be at the bottom of the hill. Its the only time i can have a hand free to take a pic while in the driver's seat!

But highway 1 has really proved itself to be one of the most scenic drives in the bay area. Never regretted volunteering to be the driver for this group of people. They entertained me along the way, i was glad they did not puke from all that winding driving.

Presenting my crew....and the view....:)

After all that torture of winding roads.... we could finally see Hearst Castle...

2007 Starts with a Bang...

Spent an eventful and fruitful new year here in Sunnyvale... started the day with a 630 morning call...so that i can get online quick, in time for countdown in SIngapore.

No lah, not the Marina countdown....the countdown was in Jurong East....@ Cindy's Place....haha. Yep, the usual bunch of them are having a countdown....like we always did. And the host was kind enough to link me up via MSN to join in the fun!!....Though the screen was barely large enough to fit everyone.... but well... better than nothing! We had good fun catching up....and teasing one another, despite the fact that we r 8440miles away from each other.

I was meeting the LA-Vegas group of friends for dinner at Xiao Fei Yang("Little Fat Lamb"). But we had to gather at Alfred's place in Stanford 1st... and i had a big surprise there.

I met GuoSong there!! Meeting a friend in Singapore is no big deal.... Singapore is so small, you see people everywhere. But meeting a Singaporean friend here in the States is really a huge coincidence!! Especially when he is stationed in Cleaveland. He just happened to be on a 2 week vacation here in the bay area, and his girlfriend happened to be a friend of Alfred. Until now, i still marvel at the coincidence....goodness! Finally, both of us could let out our string of 'wah lau', 'AWOL', 'gan chong' and 'lors', without being misunderstood.

Dinner at Xiao Fei Yang("Little Fat Lamb") was sumptuous!! It was basically a kind of Mongolian 'Yuan Yang Huo Guo'...and they specialize in mutton.......thinly sliced mutton. Similar to the sukiyakis you meet in japanese restaurants, juz that in sukiyakis, it is beef.

And this is the LA-Vegas gang....cool bunch of guyz...


We were fortunate to have a Google intern with us and we proceeded to pay Google a visit....anyway, its juz in Mountainview.

Google... is really....quite indescribable. Its so random, and no particular style, and no fixed order, such that all their meeting rooms are furnished differently. Somewhat, i feel that it is done such to allow creative juices to flow within the company. Fruit juices, fruit, cereal, milk, yogurt, snacks, chocholates, coffee etcetc are free for all to take. They are well-stocked up, fresh, and of good quality. Its so unlike the usual 'free' stuff whereby they are usually sub-standard, or always out of stock. A good example is the yogurt. They have normal yogurt, nonfat yogurt, and even organic yogurt!! Talk about employee benefits! They also have a "Swimming Treadmill"(i dunno what u call that pool!) for staff to swim in. Basically, u can swim on the spot, and the water currents will keep u there. And FYI, lunch in the cafeteria is free for all to take here too. We were really wondering how people work here....haha...

2007 has started with a bang. Im sure its the same with Singapore. With the job market and economy boom back home, i wish everyone the best for the upcoming year. Life just gets better!