Archive for the 'Things that suck' Category

Slingers torched as Dragons hands them their first home loss

Published on November 24, 2009 in Things that suck and Usual Ramblings. 8 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I’m pretty sure the media had field day reporting about the Singapore’s Slingers’ first loss at home to the KL Dragons with a tonne of  ’sizzling’ title wordplay. There’s so much one can do with the word Dragons and anything related to burning, fire, etc. Here’s my continuation after my previous post on how Singapore Slingers and fans got owned on their own soil. But first, much thanks to Nic and Daphne for organising and scoring us fantastic passes.

If the Dragons’ performance on Sunday is any indication of how their style of play is going to be like for the rest of their ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) campaign, the other teams better watch out. With strong inside presence and a tonne of scoring options, I reckon their current 4th position in the ABL ladder would slowly climb to top seed. Yes the Dragons are hungry and they could be a force to be reckoned with.

With a full squad and the return of point guard Wei Long after his chicken pox saga (welcome back dude), the number one Singapore Slingers have absolutely no reason why they should lose sunday’s game – especially at home and to a team that seem to be heading towards the wooden spoon award. But I guess in the case of yesterday’s game, complacency could possibly be an issue as the home team were caught with their guard down totalling 16 turnovers and a shooting average of under 50%.

Len and I have always discussed about a key element missing in the Slingers squad – big inside presence. KL’s #30 Jamal Brown who was once a Slinger is the kind of guy we believed the team needed, and ironically made his ex-team pay dearly for defaulting him before the Dragons picked him up. Together with a supporting cast of big men including #3 Chris Danial Kuete Lonichi and #33 Chee Lee Wei (mad hops dude!!), the Slingers had to work doubly hard getting inside.

Slingers’ imports #31 Kyle Jeffers and #33 Michael LeBlanc were held to just 12 and 13 points respectively, together with low shooting percentages. Despite Jeffers’ double-double efforts with 16 rebounds, the home team still found difficulty getting points in the paint. However, local boy #10 Hong Wei Jian stepped up to the plate and finished with a season-high 18 points and 4 rebounds, perhaps the first in Slingers’ history did a local outscore their imports (I can’t verify that, hope someone can). #11 Michael Wong (sorry, unable to take any photos of you) also contributed with 10 points, making 50% of his shots and Philippine sensation #19 Al Vergara had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists.


Left: Wei Jian takes it to the rim | Right: Challenges his ex-teammate in the paint


Left: LeBlanc had to fire from the outside | Right: Al fights to the rim

At the other end the Dragons roughed it out with the Slingers as Kuete and #10 Rudy Lingganay put up 20 and 21 points. Rudy whom I believe hailed from the Philippines was totally sick with his inside scoring. How he managed to get inside in the presence of big defense, I’ll never know. Together with Kuete they both contributed from beyond the arc with six treys. Brown too had a double double with 14 points and 11 rebounds (oh, he got three blocks too). Most importantly, his intimidating presence and iron curtain defence played a huge role in preventing inside points, something that statistics will never show.


Left: Kuete takes it to the hole | Right: Brown with a block in his name while Kuete jumps in a bid to swat


Left: Brown can’t get it? No problem, Kuete is on his way up for a block | Right: Brown contributes from the baseline

On a lighter note, I can’t help but wonder why I didn’t take as many photos as I would have for other games. I think might have spent a majority of the time ball watching than shooting (hey, it was an intense game and we needed numbers), something I should shake off for future games. I’m pretty sure I missed plenty of good shots.

The Slingers will take a two-week break before hosting the Thailand Tigers on 7 Dec at the Indoor Stadium. Currently placed last, the Tigers have the same record as the KL Dragons before they met the home team on Sunday. Will the Slingers put their guard down again and repeat another defeat by a statistically weaker team, or will they find some time for self reflection and redeem themselves with a win? There is only one way to find out. Tickets are available at Sistic. Of course KL Dragons fans are more than welcome to visit. But this time, cheer for us yah? ;) Goooooo Slingers!!

More photos in my Flickr album here.

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Singapore Slingers and fans got owned at home

Published on November 23, 2009 in Things that suck and Usual Ramblings. 11 Comments Tags: , , , .

Of course this is based on my observation but still, I find it rather interesting and blog worthy. The Singapore Slingers experienced their first ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) loss at home to the KL Dragons today, 74-86. Apart from great plays by the visiting team and the Slingers being owned on the boards with strong rebounds from the Dragons’ Jamal Brown, who once donned a Slinger jersey (more of that in another article), the 1,000 if not more Singapore Slingers fans were completely owned by a small group of KL Dragons in team t-shirts cheering for their team and waving their flags. From what I gathered, they actually travelled all the way from KL to Singapore for the game (can anyone verify that?).

What seemed to be an home court advantage became an away game for the Singapore Slingers as cheers from the 50 or more strong KL Dragon fans drowned the somewhat quiet home fans. After the game, Singapore fans were taunted by Dragons’ fans rhythmically outside the Indoor Stadium entrance as they banged on drums and symbols (yes, they brought musical instruments down) in their bid to create more hype, which they did pretty well.

Nice sounding “Wicked Aura Batucada” like tunes aside (well I kinda liked it), I wished I could say that the Dragons’ fans are just celebrating the win, but with chants like “Who won today? KL Dragons!!”, followed by cheers by our visitors, I think that qualifies as taunting (hey…I could be wrong). As for the Singapore fans, they just stood there, watched and some even cheered after they stopped playing. Of course as friendly competition goes, in addition to Singapore being a safe country and the fact that there are really no super hardcore Slinger fans, there were no fights or incidents…thankfully ~wipes brow~.


Left: The small but strong KL Dragons fans cheering for their team | Right: I think the only time Singapore Slingers fans every stood up and cheered was for free t-shirts


Left: KL Dragons fans cheering after the game ended | Right: The celebration continues outside the Indoor Stadium

I know its not soccer and I have always wished for a strong Slinger fan base especially at home and a completely sell out crowd at the Indoor stadium chanting “Let’s go Slingers!! Let’s go!!”. But at the rate how things are going, I reckon that Singapore fans will continue to be owned by fans from visiting teams as the ASEAN Basketball League carries on until the end of season. Oddly, for a country that produces the loudest and proudest complainers, Singaporeans are rather quiet eh? ;)

My report on the game coming soon. Once I get the statistics… :)

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Shell’s $1 per litre adventure

Published on October 26, 2009 in Things that suck and This I like. 5 Comments Tags: , .

As the title suggests, I was one of the few thousand dumb ass motorists who queued up for Shell’s $1 per litre offer on Saturday to the displeasure of others, especially public transport drivers. Seriously, I am not one of the many who find joy queuing for a good half hour while leaving our engine idling and wasting more fuel (and killing the environment) just to take advantage of such gimmicks. But when you fuel tank is about to be empty after procrastinating for days (my bad my bad), and your tight night activity requires long drives, I guess I don’t have much of a choice.

Of course another option is to pump elsewhere but I’d rather pump at Shell. Yes, they got me and I’m stubborn like that. Thankfully, there was a Shell station about a good 2km away from my home that does not cause much trouble to the other motorists. Hence, I decided to take that route. 20 minutes later, I departed happily with a full tank and looking forward to my night outing.


Left: Told you I was running out | Right: View of the queue at the back (see, clear road lanes, we don’t bug other motorists)


Left: View of the queue at the front | Right: Poor girl advertising for Shell under the scorching sun


Left: Nearing the station, and yes, its $1 per litre | Right: Waiting for my turn


Left: Shell engaged a number of Cisco Security folks to manage the queue | Right: My profit, it would have caused me a good $69

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Vengeance is Ginebra’s

Published on October 2, 2009 in Things that suck, This I like and Usual Ramblings. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

As always, thanks to Nic and especially Daphne for organising this, Len and I plus a few fellow Spartans (my basketball team) popped over to the Indoor Stadium on Wednesday night to catch a rematch between the Singapore Slingers and Ginebra. The two teams first met in mid-January this year with the visiting team taking a 100-68 pounding. Playing like the loss is still fresh in their minds, Ginebra returned with a vengeance and a ‘take no prisoners’ mentality, dishing an extremely disappointing loss to the home team, 72-77.

It isn’t so much the loss that ground my gears but rather the fourth quarter choke from both our locals and imports. To be honest, I was really really ticked. Heck, I even had to rely on the tasty Brewerkz beer that the Slingers have so kindly provided to keep my composure (you guys should really pick those up during the game ;) ). The Slingers unfortunately caved in to Ginebra’s strong pressure defence at the start of the last 12 minutes producing bad plays and careless passes, which resulted in hefty unnecessary turnovers. What began as an encouraging five-point lead became a five-point loss in regulation time. Yes, the Slingers could have played better. But as newly reorganised teams go, there are loads of teething issues to address and I hope they do it soon.

Singapore Slingers + Brewerkz = iHappy (or iCalmer, whichever comes first)

The Ginebra team on the other hand were on form with regulars turning up in full force (or at least the prominent ones). #47 Caguioa and #71 Tubid were the stars of their team pouring in 24 and 17 points respectively. Slightly bigger, faster and stronger than the Slingers, Ginebra played superbly owning much of the boards both offensively and defensively with clever under the rim positioning and box outs. With two effective rebounders from the Slingers’ side (both imports), our local boys must make an effort to contribute more.


Left and right: Tubid’s breakaway layups on both sides


Left: Caguioa heads to the rim | Right: Speedy Caguioa


Left: Menk spins away from Pathman |Right: Another easy layup from Villanueva


Ginebra before tip off

However, it was not all Ginebra as the Singapore Slingers too had their moments. Despite my skepticism on whether their signing was a good choice (which oh by the way still stands today), #30 Jeffers and #9 LeBlanc still led the Slingers’ pride with 20 and 19 points, the only two double digit numbers for a Slingers player that night. Still one of my favourite imports, Philippine sensation Al Vegara was at his best with stable ball control and off balance shots (how the heck does he do that?) churning out nine points. As for Marcus Ng, the brother of Darren ‘The Doctor’ Ng, let’s just say don’t get me started. Maybe its me but I will reserve my comments until the Asean Basketball League (ABL) starts. Sorry dude, nothing personal.

The local boys although were lackluster in performance during the fourth quarter were great during the first three throwing tight defence at the Ginebra players. Their offence weren’t too shabby with #12 Wei Jian hitting five points and #14 Steven putting up four. I hope they will gain enough confidence to get double digits soon. What I really need from them is to make their decisions quicker whenever they receive the ball. That split second hesitation can be a bit detrimental to the team’s plays.


Left and right: Jeffers taking it to the rim


Left and right: LeBlanc lays them up


Left: One of Al’s ‘off balance – no worries’ shot | Right: Al cruises by Cruz


Left: Wei Jian taking it to the hole | Right: Stable yet somewhat wild shot from Steven (but he got it in anyway)


Left and right: Two of many million dollar moves by Marcus…but five cent finish

With just one last game against the San Miguel Beermen this Sunday, I hope the Slingers will up their game and complete the Singapore challenge Series with two wins and two losses before heading to the ABL. I don’t think the Slingers have ever met the Beermen in my recent memory but they did pop down to face off with Talk ‘N’ Text early December last year in a double header (here and here). Despite the disappointing loss on Wednesday, I’m still all Slingers and look forward to better games ~cross fingers~. Gooooo SLINGERS!!

Tickets are available at Sistic. I will be getting my hands on two pairs of tickets to one of the games so stay tuned for more on that.

Alot more photos in my Flickr album here and here.

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Langkawi Day 1 (Part 1) – Someone forgot to turn off the tap

Published on September 5, 2009 in Things that suck, This I like and Usual Ramblings. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

So now we got the teaser out of the way, here’s the truth. Yes it was raining most of the time during our Langkawi stay and never mind that we spent most of our time mucking around indoors, the bottom line is – we had a great deal of fun and will return again… :) . Given that I have taken quite a number of photos for day one which is enough to tell the story (or at least the first part) and that I’m just too lazy to craft a long entry, let’s just leave it to pics and captions for this entry shall we?


Left: Yes I must brag, the person who previously sat in my seat must be pudgy… :P | Right: Lunch on Air Asia for us was chicken focaccia. Not ideal while reading about porterhouse steaks…tsk


Left: It began raining when we arrived… | Right: …and everyone disembarked with umbrellas.


Left: The rain continued as we headed to our resort. | Right: Flooded roads, not exactly a good sign


Left and Right: Our experience didn’t get any better when we discovered that the entire resort was flooded…


Left:…only to find out that it can get worse with the waters threatening to invade our room. | Right: But we managed to find some humour amid the depressing start.

Stay tuned for Part 2 – Making the best out of an opened floodgate… ;)

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I Failed

Published on August 20, 2009 in Things that suck, This I like and Usual Ramblings. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Never thought I’d say this but I failed my first ever three-year car inspection today. And this was immediately after I did my 30,000km servicing at my usual workshop. Talk about a kick in the nuts followed by a middle finger. Its not due to illegal modification like my other friends would think but rather a small little blue bulb beside my headlamp…tsk.. :(

According to the folks at Vicom, that is a no-no and I have to change it and return for a second inspection. Being the good citizen I am (or rather was), I drove back to my workshop (you know, the one that I was at earlier on in the day?), changed the bulbs and headed back to Vicom for inspection again.

To be honest, I was so confident that I would pass the first time round. I mean I don’t really modify my car (much) and try my best to keep the ‘ol Chevy as less ‘Beng’ and as legal as possible. I guess I was wrong. Maybe I am a ‘Beng’ ~shrugs shoulders~ :P


My second attempt – oh just in case you are wondering, I finally passed… :)

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Apple customer service leaves something to be desired

Published on August 9, 2009 in Mac and Me and Things that suck. 8 Comments Tags: , , .

So we all have seen their marketing efforts – how they have proudly and profoundly proclaimed that their products are more superior than their competitors. Just throw in a dash of carefully and well crafted finishing touches giving it that cool factor, and what you have here is a ’successful’ line of ‘must have’ products with a huge cult following. Yes, the Apple has somehow brainwashed a significant number of the global community to switch from PC to the Mac, me included.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of Apple (wait..its was not am) and one just can’t get enough of their sleek, clean and less is more designs. Nevermind that the prices for both their accessories and products are through the roof or that you need to pay a significantly huge amount for extended warranty, unlike their competitors where they will give you up three years. We are all suckers and want a piece of Apple from their Macbooks to iPhones and don’t we know it. But when their customer service is not up to par, everything  Apple promises suddenly seemed like a huge cloud of fluff.

My MacSafe Power Adapter for my Macbook died on me yesterday afternoon to my dismay. Being a regular user of my Macbook, I was rather disturbed given that the long weekend will allow me more time for surfing and everyone knows we need sufficient power to ensure long usage. Running on my battery, I did a quick check at Apple’s website that noted:

‘Whether your product is in or out-of-warranty, you can take your adapter to an Apple-Authorized Service Provider or Apple Retail Store for evaluation and replacement if necessary. You may be eligible for a replacement adapter free of charge provided there are no signs of accidental damage.’

So with a huge sigh of relief, I popped over to the EpiCentre at Wheelock yesterday night hoping to get a quick exchange. After a few checks here and there, they told me that my Macbook is no longer under warranty and that I would need to get a replacement. To me it means exchange, but the to the folks at Apple, it means forking out a whopping $150. I must admit that having experienced a number of really bad customer service recently, especially from Nokia, I wasn’t exactly the nicest customer there. Although I was smiling and tried my best to reason, I was flustered and was not in the mood to take my non-working MacSafe Power Adapter back.

When I told them that the Apple website clearly indicated that a replacement can be done whether it is in or out-of-warranty, the lady at the counter gave me a small slip of paper asking me to contact Apple first. Once Apple gives the okay for replacement, all I need to do is to pop back to Wheelock again and get a replacement. This means that they will only evaluate upon Apple’s blessings, contrary to the website. What we have here is a new layer. Troublesome and somewhat shocking their policy may be, I unwillingly agreed and looked at the paper hoping to get my problem resolved the very next day. That was when the second wave of shock hit me, they are not opened on Sundays and public holidays. I’m pretty sure Apple thinks that is good customer service, but to me, it is two more days of Macbook inactivity…there goes my weekend.

While I can’t fault Apple for a spoilt MacSafe Power Adapter (I mean gadgets do fail from time to time), I question their quality service. I’m pretty sure I am not the first person with such an experience and God knows there will be a string of other similar Mac users with the same issue. I shudder to even begin thinking about Apple’s thought process for customer service. A keg of beer and a couple of shared hash in a meeting room does not make good management decision.

After a few taps (not bangs) on the table and reasoning with the service centre for the slightest solution possible to allow me to continue using my Macbook through the long weekend, I left extremely upset and even more flustered, wondering if switching to Apple from a PC was even a good choice in the first place. They were apathetic and unapologetic. Until Apple gives me another reason to think otherwise (and no, the new 3G iPhone does not cut it), I believe they have lost a fan.

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We’re so screwed, bye bye home ownership

Published on July 3, 2009 in Things that suck and Usual Ramblings. 6 Comments

Yesterday’s news in the Straits Times Online about how the prices for HDB resale flats have risen despite the downturn (wait, there is a downturn right?) is a real downer for us especially when Lyn (my boo) and I are contemplating getting one sometime late this year. Given that prices are going up while our pay, bonuses and pretty much anything related to money is heading the other direction, everything seems to be going downhill.

Don’t get me wrong, we can still afford a new HDB, but waiting for a good three years for one to be completed isn’t exactly what we have in mind. Yes we do want our privacy after the big project. And adding to that, a new one would be located so far that it would take eons for us to get to work or anywhere else. Sure we do have an Off Peak Car but we like it the way it is and have no plans for a conversion. At the rate things are going, keeping our heads up high and and looking positive amid the gloomy future don’t seem to cut it for us anymore. How we managed to keep ourselves optimistic all these years despite getting screwed from just about any direction is a wonder to me. So where do we go from here?

HDB resale prices up 1.2% – Taken from Straits Times Online

Surprise increase in index reverses first quarter’s dip to reach new high

PRICES of HDB flats have staged a surprising comeback, reversing a first-quarter dip of 0.8 per cent to rise 1.2 per cent in the second quarter and reach a historical high.

Flash estimates from the Housing and Development Board (HDB) released on Wednesday show the resale price index rising to 140 – a record level not seen since the current index started in 1990. It beats the previous record set in the fourth quarter of last year when it hit just over 139.

Market analysts said they were caught off-guard by the turnaround, as many had been predicting 2 to 10 per cent declines in HDB resale flat prices for this year after a descent began in the first quarter – the first one since 2006.

Wednesday’s numbers have changed expectations, with analysts reversing their forecasts for HDB flat prices to hold or increase by up to 5 per cent this year. Industry observers attribute the latest surprise figures to three factors.

First, talk of an economic recovery has gathered momentum, backed by the recent stock market rally and brisk private property sales. This has slowed the slide in private property prices islandwide. Flash figures capturing sales prices in the first 10 weeks of the quarter, released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority on Wednesday, show prices falling 5.9 per cent in the second quarter, compared to a 14.1 per cent decline in the previous quarter.

The marked slowdown in the price decline is in line with rising transaction prices evident since the strong rebound in home sales since February, said Colliers International’s director for research and advisory, Ms Tay Huey Ying.

More bullish sentiment, coupled with the strength in HDB resale prices, has supported the private market, say analysts.

High HDB valuations is another key factor. HDB upgraders – buyers with HDB addresses buying private property – have been able to sell their units at high valuations and for tidy profits to fund private property purchases.

Due to the high valuations, buyers do not need to dig deep for upfront cash – otherwise known as cash-over-valuation – to purchase resale flats.

The third factor, flagged by Chesterton Suntec International head of research Colin Tan, is that demand far outstrips supply. HDB launched 7,793 new flats last year and will launch another 3,700 in the first nine months of this year. A Credit Suisse report released recently notes that total public and private housing supply for 2008 to 2012 is 16,000 on average per year – 42 per cent lower than the 10-year historical average.

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Omu lost and found

Published on June 9, 2009 in Things that suck and This I like. 10 Comments

Last weekend was pretty dramatic for Lyn (my boo) and I as our puppy Omu (well not exactly puppy) went missing after a family member ‘accidentally’ left the door opened. Not knowing that she wandered out of the door, the door was closed and her disappearance was only discovered about six hours later. Bad parenting aside, Lyn and I kicked into full search mode spending most of our late Saturday night looking, calling and whistling for her but to no avail. Although in our devastated state, both of us pretty much knew what to do. Yes this is not the first time Omu pulled off one of her Harry Houdini stunts on us, but we were thankful that we managed to find her.

With Saturday night gone bearing no fruits, Lyn and I printed out posters and a cover letter and faxed them to over 30 vets in Singapore. The next morning, we headed to her estate of about 26 blocks with our loving and very helpful couple Justin and Junn and pasted a number of missing posters at vantage points including lift landings and stairwells ensuring all bases are covered. This is all thanks to the police post and town council who gave us their temporary (about one week) blessings. To be honest, I think Moove Media would be proud of our advertising placements. Finally, we made a call to SPCA reporting our loss and detailing every single physical characteristics (or rather problems) Omu has. The next step was to play the waiting game.

But before you go all how calm and collected we were, I assure you we weren’t. There was much frustration, angst and regret between the both of us but we managed to pull through. With no phone calls on Sunday, we were pretty much resigned to fate thinking that Omu has lucked out this time. That was until we got a call from SPCA the next morning. Apparently, the police from the Cantonment Complex picked her up and sent her to the SPCA on Sunday night. The folks from SPCA did a cross check with our report and made the call. Thankfully, we took a day off work on Monday to finalise some details in our big project and rushed there immediately. Nevermind that Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers went into overtime and I was on my feet cheering for whoever, Omu was more important. Thank you SPCA and erm, the police… ;) .

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Left: One of the many posters we put up | Right: Omu on her way back home

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DBS ATM + Microsoft Windows = boo boo

Published on May 4, 2009 in Things that suck, This I like and Usual Ramblings. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Popped over to Tanglin Mall last Monday morning to withdraw some cash and saw this:

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Not exactly sure which version they are using but I reckon they might need an upgrade if the system keeps telling you that it is okay to shut down. Thank God for a UOB ATM just a few metres away. I can’t imagine walking around with an empty wallet. Oh by the way, think DBS might need to get someone to clean their screens on a regular basis ;) .

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