dimanche, janvier 30, 2011 Why chat will never supercede f2f meetups  Superhuman typing will never overcome squeeing over coffee.Libellés : technology [Why chat will never supercede f2f meetups] |
vendredi, janvier 28, 2011  Why is it so hard to walk in God's path, keep His precepts and basically remember how to be what we are - Christ-followers? Seems as if the path's getting a little narrower to follow as life plods on, and the pathlight that Jesus offers isn't offering much in the way of illumination...Libellés : christian [rocky road] |
samedi, janvier 22, 2011 Earning my keep (or, why I don't have boyfriend) Look at what I did today ma! Today was an everything-about-the-kitchen-sink day. There were a number of problems which I wanted to fix: 1. The left kitchen sink had not been draining - this was a near six-month old problem, which I told my mom to call Uncle Ricky to fix, but he's not been returning her phone calls. 2. The next problem was that the base of that same pipe was leaking, and making our sink cupboard rather musty-smelling. 3. Final problem was that the tap itself was leaky-drippy. So here's my plumber's schedule from 6-10pm:  1. Unscrew the top of the sinkhole and try to fit the plumber's snake (see right pic) into it. Fail. The snake went in and couldn't make the turn. New plan needed. 2. Unscrew the bottom pipes, wash them, replace them, check if the blockage was there. Nope. Still not clear. 3. Unscrew all the white parts, and try to shove in the plumber's snake. Success! After two tries and much jiggling about (and wondering what my liberal arts degree was for), the snake went through to the end of the drain, where we could see the end peeking out happily. PASS! 4. Fixing everything back was impossible - in fact, this took about 5 tries, till I decided that there was an O ring missing or corroded, and that I needed it to be totally replaced. 5. It is 9pm. I decided to head out to AMK to get a replacement. My mother protests, insisting that the shops are closed. I tell her (not for the first time) that people in Singapore don't sleep so early like her. 6. True enough, AMK is bustling with pre-CNY activity. I have four shops to choose my new sink-hole from. $12.90 is a fair price to pay for something which previously lasted us 20+ years! I also buy 8 rolls of plumber's tape - feeling slightly guilty since I think it's a bit of a cheat to get that perfect fit by resorting to plumber's tape. But life is short, and having clean dishes is urgent, so I grab 8 rolls and leave for home. (It's also known as thread seal.) 7. 9.45pm and I'm back at home, fixing the sinkhole drainage - the O ring and the cover fit like a glove. But oops, the new joint is drippy, and the bottom's still leaking. Plumber's tape FTW all the way! And this is the end of our little project for the day.  But there's always a new problem for a new day: the tap's still drippy. I leave you with a photo of the underside I may need to face tomorrow. Oh, I forgot to add: I did all this immediately after getting home from a manicure/pedicure. I'm proud to say that both escaped unscathed from this little DIY escapade. Update on Sunday: My mother bought the new tap, but after about 10 mins of fiddling about under the kitchen tap, I have decided that replacing the tap is beyond my limited capabilities as a DIYer, and this will need more professional help. Uncle Ricky is coming around noon on Wed :D Technical explanation - there's not enough room to maneuver the spanner around under the sink, so while I am fairly certain I can undo the faucet, I am also fairly certain that I will fail to replace the tap tightly (look at all the thread seal used!) So rather than risk decommissioning the entire sink for 2 days, I'll have the pro come look at it. I went to have a nap, dinner and ice-cream after this non-repair job. Ice-cream = perfect end to a Sunday <3 Libellés : diy [Earning my keep (or, why I don't have boyfriend)] |
jeudi, janvier 20, 2011 Keri Hilson: Pretty Girl Rock (history lesson) It's like watching most of my music history blow past: Diana Ross, Donna Summers, JANET JACKSON (this Rhythm Nation mimic was simply awesome), TLC, and Whitney Houston.Libellés : music [Keri Hilson: Pretty Girl Rock (history lesson)] |
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Katy Perry: Firework (aka Care Bear Stare) Katy Perry does a pretty good impression of the care bear stare, in a surprisingly not-tacky/cheesy anthem. Libellés : music [Katy Perry: Firework (aka Care Bear Stare)] |
mercredi, janvier 19, 2011 How to add hanyu pinyin to Word documents on Microsoft Office 2010/Win7 Hello everyone! After bleeding through many, many webpages trying to find how to add hanyu pinyin to Chinese characters on Windows 7/Office 2010, here is the solution, which I am happily forcing everyone to receive via email because it was VERY difficult to figure out what was wrong with Office 2010/2007 (Office 2003 had this feature automatically enabled) Step 1: You need to add "Phonetic guide" to your Word 2010 http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/13504-ms-word-2007-cannot-get-pinyin-with-phonetic-guide/ --> see post from Sebastien somewhere down the middle
Step 2: Try adding Pinyin. You should see this sort of screenshot with the hanyu pinyin missing. If it's not missing, then hooray, you can stop here! But chances are is that it is missing. http://www.pinyinjoe.com/faq/word-phonetic-guide-missing-pinyin.htm Step 3: Close MS Word, download and install Microsoft's free upgrade
Leave me a message to let me know if this helped you :) I spent 3 days trying to figure out what was wrong! Libellés : technology [How to add hanyu pinyin to Word documents on Microsoft Office 2010/Win7] |
lundi, janvier 17, 2011 Refurbishing the Clothes Cupboard Step one was of course, to survey the damage that 40 years have done to this cupboard (inherited from my parents, hence this cupboard is older than me. Looks bad. The damage is twofold:1) two coats of lacquer paint from my father many moons ago, and 2) double-sided tape galore from yours truly, as I stuck white paper on it, hoping to give it a new lease of life (it did, for 10 years.) Best thing to do is try to remove all the gunk on it to try and prepare the surface for any insanity I wish to revisit on it. Here we go!  Halfway through, an hour later: not bad, this is progress. Most of the double-sided tape residue has been removed from the left door and the left side (not shown), and its surface looks less harassed.The next stage was to remove the tougher, larger double-sided tape residue from the right side. This was much, much harder to do because the quality of the double-sided tape used on the right door was much higher than the left. After much persuasion from my paint scrapers, nail-polish remover from the Philippines (I kid you not on both counts), and pure utter brute force, three hours from the start of the enterprise, and here's what we have:  The lacquer can be removed, by either sandpapering (dirty) or chipping away at it (tends to take of some wood along with the paint), so neither are really good ideas. I am tempted to douse it in nail-polish remover and scraping my life away, but we'll see what happens next. For the time being, I'm fairly satisfied that the surface has been cleaned.I wonder if I can get it to look like the cupboard below, but I think this is one ugly-duckling story that's not going to be told...  Libellés : diy [Refurbishing the Clothes Cupboard] |
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The best and busiest way to start a year: having two friends get married! Here's the view from the resting room (Meritus Mandarin Hotel, 11th Floor)  Libellés : church [Busy Weekend: 8 Jan 2011] |
lundi, janvier 10, 2011  How do you balance "You don’t need to know where you’re going if you know God is leading" (ODB 10 Jan 2011) with the responsibility of planning your life somewhat, so you don't come off as totally irresponsible and hedonistic? Libellés : christian [Knife's Edge: Life's Balance] |
samedi, janvier 08, 2011 
Wedding booklet given to Isaac and Michelle as a wedding gift. Congrats guys!
[For Isaac and Michelle] |
jeudi, janvier 06, 2011 To Read: Booklist 2011 (Business)
Should be approx. a book a month. :D Libellés : books [To Read: Booklist 2011 (Business)] |
dimanche, janvier 02, 2011 2010: Another Year of God's Grace  1. School: 2010's writing exercise was a time of great calmness and having the feeling of being totally covered by God's protection and guidance as friends rallied to pray and encourage.2. Church: CEC's learning curve was steep, and while my body broke down in the end, God again reminded me that it's HIS camp, not mine. An excellent reminder. 3. Community: Some incidents this year showed God working hard behind the scenes: Aunty Jenny reaching out to me mysteriously just as I was at the end of my tether, me reaching out to Regina just as she was about to go under over her head while doing her own school writing exercise, friends reaching out to each other in the nick of time sometimes, and propping each other up in times of need as we lead our quiet, desperate lives. 4. Work: it was a good year of good, solid work. Incomplete, and ever upward, but I felt that I did hold up my end of the ship (as did my boss, phew.) 5. Learning: (a) one more module till I get my BTS LLD cert! (b) sewing is fun, but hard! (c) diving 40m can make you a little loopy (d) cooking Christmas dinner for 30 pax will take 3 days of preparations and approx 5 hours of cooking. ... and here comes 2011.
[2010: Another Year of God's Grace] |
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