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It was raining in the morning, so I thought I should walk Monica to the MRT station, and I could get myself a nice coffee on my way back.

Right after we crossed the road, I spotted a dead cat behind the bus stop. The dead cat was so dead with its guts exposed in the open. Forget the details, but I was too slow to stop Monica from looking hence she saw. She got rather disturbed, and we both started to think how it might affect others too, since that spot was rather trafficked, many people walk pass that spot, old and young.

After seeing Monica off at the MRT station, I got back home to check the web for information on how to deal with roadkill, surprisingly (or not-surprisingly, rather) there wasn’t any helpful information that I could find.

Exactly one year ago on this day, I made the promise before God, that I will be true to my wife, love her and honor her all the days of my life, in good times and bad times, in sickness and in health. I have kept my promise so far, and I intend to continue to keep it in the many years to come.

Happy anniversary to Monica – my wife, my best friend, the mother of my child.

Huawei E180

I have always dreaded calling SingTel’s technical support. They would always put me on hold for forever, then after that, came back with less than helpful suggestion.

Since about a month ago, I had not been able to connect to SingTel’s Broadband on Mobile using the Huawei E180 USB modem. Since I was going away for the month-long vacation, I didn’t spend much time persuing the matter. Now that I’m back, I’ve decided to call up SingTel to seek help.

After explaining my problem briefly, the customer support officer seemed to know what had gone wrong, he told me he was going to “reset” my connection, and I should be able to connect again after 5-10 minutes. Although I did not understand what he meant by resetting my connection, it did sound like a promising solution.

So I patiently waited 10 minutes before I plugged in the USB modem and tried to connect again. Same error message showed up, saying the device failed to establish connection.

With the addition of iPad, there is one more iDevice on my desk. I can’t increase my desk space, so I had to look for alternative use the space. I thought the best solution is to get a stand for the iPad, problem was, as an early adopter of iPad in Singapore, most accessories were not made available here yet. Ordering from overseas will not cut it as I would have to pay high shipping fee. With that, I started to explore the option of making my own.

This was how my desk look with iDevices lying around.

Quick research led me to couple of web pages showcasing DIY iPad stands. The more impressive ones were those made with Lego. That reminded me of my Lego Fork Lift that was sitting on the shelve collecting dust. I figure I could finally put that into better use!

My Lego Fork Lift, in it original form

Initially I wanted to make something really simple and minimalist, however, being inspired by the fork lift, I thought I could make something with adjustable tilt angle. Also, making room for the sync cable was also one of the criteria. Most importantly, it should hold my iPad even with the case on.

So, four hours later…

Air Display — On my next meeting with client, I’ll bring the iPad along, set it up to work as extended screen, turn it to face the client, and start my presentation.

Just not long ago I received a call from this company, introducing me the golden opportunity to invest in the plots of land they own in UK, that is situated near Heathrow Airport. The caucasian over the phone told me that I can expect profitable returns should the land be eventually used for development of housing and leisure.

While the proposition sounds promising, as an inexperienced investor, I thought I should get to know more about the trade before making the decision. It is after all quite a big ticket item. When I told Monica about it, she didn’t seem receptive to the idea at all.

Low and behold, as I read Today today, I saw this report on the very same company that it has been put on MAS’ Investor Alert List. Google for “profitable group mas” and you will find much not-so-positive information on the company.

They say “behind every successful man there is a woman”, I thought they should also add this in: “behind every man who manages his money wisely, there is a wife.”

Do you have a maid(s) at home? If you do, you owe it to your kids, to tell educate them that the purpose of the maid is there to help out with the housework, to do what you CANT AFFORD to do, not what you DON’T WANT, or TOO LAZY to do.

The maid cooks for you because you have to work, that’s fair. But asking the maid to feed your child because you are too busy gobbling down your food? Or asking the maid to walk your dog because you are too busy watching soccer match? That’s a bit not right!

Earlier on, I mentioned iMockups as my reason #2 for getting the iPad (while reason #1 is using it as e-book reader), then I saw OmniGraffle.

I have been using the Mac version of this application for as long as I have been using Mac, mainly for creating wireframes and visual notes. It costs five times more compared to iMockups, but consider the additional features and more importantly — the seamless integration with Mac version of the app, I will not hesitate to grab a copy of this too!

Additional note: Apples has announced on May 7, that iPad will be made available in nine more countries, namely Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK, starting from May 28. And what do you know, I’ll be visiting Vancouver for a month-long holiday with my wife, and my sister-in-law (who lives there) was sweet to have helped me placed a pre-order. It is scheduled to be shipped by June 7. Now I can only hope there will be no delay.

MindMeister — I think visually, and I have problem thinking straight. Then someone taught me how to use mind map, and I have loved the method ever since. I started by using MindManager by Mindjet, which has worked well for me in the start, but as I eventually ditched Windows, the Mac version of MindManager did not work as well as I liked it before, moreover, portability of information became an issue. Unless I lugged my laptop around, otherwise it was difficult for me to bring my maps around, or add in new ideas as they became available. Then I found MindMeister, that offers Mind Mapping software that runs on the web, as well as on my iPhone. Now I just hope its iPad version will be made available when iPad launches in Singapore.

Marvel Comics — I have loved reading comics since I was a kid. Unfortunately, during those days, Marvel Comics were considered a luxury only those “rich man sons” could have (at least true in where I came from — Malaysia.) The best alternative I could afford was the Hong Kong kung fu comics, which my mom never approved. By the time I was financially capable, I was too far behind catching up with the series, and I did not fancy spending thousands of dollars buying the back issues (if they were even available.)

By making it available for only $1.99 per issue, Marvel and iTunes have just given me yet another reason to get the iPad.