Matthew 7:7-11 NIV

‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. ‘Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ‘

my experience with Avalueweb hosting

was not so good … (which is actually really an understatement!) … in fact, it was one of the worst experience I have ever had with any company that I know of. Thankfully, I have not bought a host personally for myself and that its merely a 6 months contract for the organization … in fact, they have a 30 day money back garauntee which I would really like to put in now …

To prevent myself from going into any kind of legal hustle with them or be sued for defamation, I will not include here anything controversial here.

One question still lingers about my transaction with them.

Paid $84.07 for a $72.95 web hosting via internet banking.
Paid $15.18 for a domain name via credit card.

So, if I had not asked the company to review the bill, I would have S$11.12 just floating around their company for no purpose whatsoever. It appears the company has nothing to say for themselves as they did not in anyway gave me an answer when I asked them about the extra charge.

hmm … u do the thinking and the maths … then u decide if you want to go ahead with them…

for me … its a BIG NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

speaking of time

if you could turn back the wheels of time, would you have done anything different?

if i could turn back the wheels of time, would i have done anything different?

if you had sight that looked into the future, you would never ever have to worry about turning back the wheels of time.

if ihad sight that looked into the future, iwould never ever have to worry about turning back the wheels of time.

why do you want to change the past?

why do i want to change the past?

what will be different for you now?

what will be different for me now?

what will you do about it?

what will i do about it?

what’s the point? (really?!)

after N3F Networking Session

It was an interesting time at last night’s networking session.

The turn out was good and we had a good crowd. Everyone or almost everyone was enthusiastic and spontaneous. Got to a good number of NTU friends, a good number of them are also going with us to Inner Mongolia.

The session was also greatly liven up with the Ngee Ann students. They are so young! MAde the rest of us felt so old. How to compare ages when got such a big difference. Their ages ranges from 17 – 21 while most of the guys there were already 22 – 24.

The Ngee Ann students are quite admirable. They are here on a field study to understand and experience the Shanghai business culture. More importantly, they funded up to 80% of their trip here by selling Dell Laptops for 4 days. (All based on commission they earned for each laptop.)

Shall load pics for the event soon, when I have to time to edit them.

Tonight is yet another Dinner Gathering. This time its by NTU – GEN. GEN stand for Global Entrepreneurs of Nanyang. Let’s hope it will be exciting!

Hmm… my company’s namecard still not ready … today the guy sending it got into accident so canot send again … really quite useless! Takes about 2 weeks just to do a name card… inefficiency on whose side? JTB that I can’t more actively promote our company at the networking sessions.

南京 trip tomorrow … !!!

N3F Networking Session

its Tonight!
The rest of the gang are at Fudan attending their Entrepreneurial Marketing Course. I’m in the office, rotting!
My Boss is still sick and my colleagues are intending to go visit him later in the afternoon. The got some flowers and some fruits. (I must admit that the flower combination they chose was really hideous!) I shan’t say more.
Very sleepy!

Question of the day:
Where does so much spit come from?

How on earth do the chinese people come up with so much spit that they can just spit at will anytime, anywhere? It really astounds me!

I have a headache! Maybe its the weather, maybe its the noise on the streets, maybe its the polluted air. Just too many factors in China that can contribute to bad health. What to do? Brave on! No choice, right?

mid week drowsiness

its an hour before knock off time …
my boss is ill … he has not come in for the past 2 days … hope he gets well soon … its really not strange that i wish him well, after all he isn’t exactly the one that gives me work to do also. currently doing or trying to do sales by assisting the VP of sales who is now in Singapore. Not easy … no one wants to listen to you and they always give u a fax number so they can get rid of you … sounds so like TLC marketing … heh!

anyway, really sleepy … fought off the sleep monster with a pack of Lays chips just now, but that made me succumb to the Fat monster… aiya! Problematic …

wanted to migrate the host yesterday, but after migration, it appeared that the host has some major server error … might seem like its fated… i might just get a web host and register a domain for myself … what u think?!

so little time … so little money … so many places to go … so many things to buy …

haha … haha

Busy busy busy busy week …

Don’t I say that everyweek …?

The last weekend was at least a good time for me to rest …

Saturday was the rally which everyone was so fascinated by … was about to sleep through tht entire thing, but my boss ask me to go down on saturday to Raffles City to check out the situation. The LED on Raffles City when turned on has the huge words PANASONIC on it … that’s because its a Panasonic product. My Boss has turned off the LED the night before following some friendly suggestion from the Raffles City management to turn it off during the rally, as Raffles City faces People’s Square – one of the gathering points of the demonstration.

Hanging around outside Raffles City for a while, I saw quite a number of interesting things … the rally was rather peaceful there … people just walking and waving some anti japanese words … I decided to follow CK to meet his Boss at Yuan Yuan Yuan (圆原圆)6 levels high at the KFC building to watch the demonstration from a far … sat around till about 12 noon, before I went down to check out Raffles City again and CK, Fiona and their bosses left for lunch at Parkson. All seem as per normal liao … so, went to turn on the LED … and waited around just to make sure nothing major happened …

During that waiting time, I went shopping at Watsons, bought gel … shopping at Bee Cheng Hiang, bought my favourite Gourmet Ba Kwa … yum yum … only 200g of it … I took it out and sat right in front of the LED under the hot sun and ate it … then sat there longer to think about the upcoming dNd that we will be having for the seniors’ farewell … The sun was so hot and blazing … I finally relented and went indoors after about an hour of “sun-tanning” … haha

Waited for Shuhui to come meet me then go to Xiang Yang (襄阳)春…and I went looking around the shops at Raffles City … there was this spectacle shop that was selling branded goods at 70% discount … and I saw this Nautica sunglass that was going for around 450rmb +++ not sure exactly how much … and was so tempted … sigh!

Lunch was at the chicken rice place near xiang yang … 新加坡正宗海南鸡饭 … the nicest chicken rice in Shanghai … service sux though, and they do not have Chendol!

What did I get that day? I got a North Face jacket … 2 in 1 jacket … cool!

After that, went to some warehouse (which was actually a house of the owner) to see some better goods … wallets were better quality, but I felt it was a little EX to buy from there …

Went to Zihui’s house at Pudong after that as she needed help to move her house … she was shifting to Fiona, Shallene and Elaine’s Place after some trouble with her colleagues and she changed her job … Think she will be much happier at her new job anyway! The Century Park girls’ got very weird landlord though… absolutely felt that they were abusing their power as a landlord, too bad this isn’t Singapore, if not they are gone-d!

Sunday … I slept till late … 1215 … yea! but was woken up by my mum when she called at 10am just to check if I was ok … she was totally worried since I told her that I was going down to the rally place to check out my company’s LED then she worried that I never call her that night to say I am ok .. wht to do? Mothers …

After that, watched my favourite TV serial at the moment (although I watch it on my laptop … DLed by MC) 天下第一 (Tian1 Xia4 Di4 Yi1). Ate my Egg Fried Rice while watching it… watched like 4 episodes at once till dinner time …

went for dinner with a group of people mainly because Alex (1st batch) was in town… he is still kind of interning for his old company … Y-Netsphere … and his office is just 2 levels above mine … haha … interesting … small world … he is a comp science student … but never saw him before …

anyway … the weekend ends like that …

now, this week … is yet another busy week …

Thursday::
N3F Networking Session (NUS NCS, NTU-GIP, Ngee Ann, FUSSA)
天下一家 tea house
21 April 2005
1900 – 2130 hours
RMB50

Time to interact and get to know students from each institution.

Friday::
NTU-GIP dinner gathering
White House
22 April 2005
1800 – 2200
RMB100

Interaction between NTU, their employers and the NUS students

so many things, in such a short time… Both also have to go, since its like a good will exchange …

Saturday::
Trip to Nanjing 南京
Hope it will be interesting!
and then the weekend is gone … and the final week before the May Day Holidays come!

Exciting, yar?!?! hahaha!

Weekend . Friday . Rest . Sleep .

its friday again … time sure flies here … i mean it really flies … not only when we are having fun … it simply just flies here … every weekend simply just charges towards me … and every weekend also flies past me in a blink of an eye …

Boss not coming in today … hmm … shld i work (hard), work, or … slack! Or maybe I should take the opportunity to catch up on my other work … proposals, readings, etc … or self enrichment …

was talking to CK yesterday … still feel rather inapt … as an IT undergrad, I fail to live up to my status … I might be able to bullshit about alot IT terms, etc, but when it comes to doing or implementing it … I am stumped! Time to brush up! When it comes to smooth talking … No matter how good you are, there will always be someone better and what’s more such skills are easily learned by anyone … so, what can i do? BIG Question mark!

What can you do?

Maybe i need to find an area of interest something i really feel for and really try to excel in it … but then i have heard of advice going this way “jack of all trade good, then you can do more things, specialie for what?”

Every advice has a certain element of truth … who to believe or what to believe really depends on situation, timing, and the people around you …

enough philosophical talk for today …

a major Japanese Protest is going on in China … and Shanghai will be having her own rally this coming Saturday which is tmr … it beings at 9 am and they people will be marching through the city from the Bund to somewhere near Zhong Shan area … hmm … want to watch, but also scared something happen … i think i will just stay at home and watch it if it happens to pass by my area … dangerous to go out especially if you have japanese goods like handphones, cameras, etc … which really is a ironic situation cos’ alot of Shanghai people have japanese goods … sony ericsson is very popular here … sony cameras are also very sought after here … talk about anti japanese sentiments … the people seem to be a confused bunch …

May day holidays are fast approaching …

Day off from 30th April to 8 May 2005 … Inner Mongolia trip beginning on the 1st of May … itinery is below …. woo hoo!!! oh we including a visit to Genghis Khan’s tomb as well.

内蒙古大草原、山西古迹风光六日游

D1：早呼和浩特接团，早餐后乘车赴草原，沿途观赏阴山山脉风光，午餐吕尝蒙古族风味食品—手扒羊肉，午餐后观蒙古族赛马、摔跤表演，下午骑马（自费）访问牧民家庭，登敖包山，晚餐举行蒙古族最崇高的欢迎仪式，“哈达银碗敬酒”，之后观民族歌舞“草原大夜”篝火晚会。住：蒙古包

　　D2：早观草原日出，早餐后返回呼和浩特，参观内蒙古最大的民族工艺品厂，后赴包头，中餐后赴中国三大响沙之一的库布齐沙漠，沿途观中国母亲河—黄河，响沙湾活动，骑骆驼（自费）漫游沙海、滑沙，爬沙丘，倾听响沙之声之自然奇观，后返回呼和浩特。住：呼和浩特

　　D3：早餐后游览蒙汉和亲的见证—昭君墓、呼和浩特地区最大的喇嘛召庙—大召寺、清代将军衙署，后乘车赴大同。住：大同

D4：早餐后游四大石窟之一的云岗石窟、中国最大的琉璃照壁—九龙壁，后乘车赴五台山。住：五台山

　　D5：早餐后游览黛螺顶、显通寺、塔院寺、万佛阁、菩萨顶，后乘车返回太原。住：太原

　　D6：早餐后乘车赴平遥古城，游览古城墙、中国最早的银行—日升昌票号、电视剧《大红灯笼高高挂》拍摄地—乔家大院，后返回太原，晚餐后送团，行程结束，祝旅途愉快！

（团队报价 标准等： 1280元/人　 豪华等： 1490元

1、住宿：标准等蒙古包（4-6人/包、公卫）；豪华等蒙古包（2人/包、独卫）

　　　　　　 标准等二星或同级双人标间；豪华等三星或同级双人标间

　　2、用餐：八菜一汤、十人一桌（6早12正）

　　3、交通：全程新款空调旅游车

　　4、门票：以上所列景点第一门票

　　5、导服：优秀普通话导游服务

　　6、牧区服务（赛马、摔跤、访问牧民、篝火晚会等项目）

All in all the entire trip including the air ticket will be less than RMB3000 not inclusive of own expenditure … which is like a damn good price for the trip … so excited … 迫不及待 …

so, what is everyone else doing during the long weekend in Singapore during the May period?!

home alone

its very seldom that i get to be home alone at Da Jia Yuan …

KC and LT is in Hong Kong on Business Trip …

The rest, I believe are still out galavanting after their afternoon lesson at Fudan. So, I am home alone …

its a nice and peaceful feeling … away from the crowds … (they are simply everywhere in Shanghai.)

not really in the mood to do very much today also … work is slow and easy … I could of course make it faster and more exciting, but like I said, I dun have the mood yet … will do so either tomorrow or next monday …

Decided to start drinking milk … even though its only chocolate milk on a daily or at least a bi-daily basis so that I won’t lose out on my calcium intact … meals in Shanghai are not very healthy or nutritious … they are more for filling your tummy and that’s about it … I miss the science canteen Rice and Food Stall … where I usually get my usual 3 vegetables and 1 egg meal … along with their quite nice curry sauce … all for only S$1.90 … wahaha … then it goes down with my Heaven and Earth Aloe Vera Drink … okok … here u get noodles in all forms … but they all eventually taste the same … rice with various toppings as well, but they all taste the same too … Oily, salty and with no fragrance …

I’m actually complaining about food in Shanghai … hmm … and we all thought that Chinese food is best at its real origin – China! Oh well!

Ate a whole pack of raisins this afternoon and skipped dinner since I was still full … now waiting for my pau (chinese buns) to be steamed in the rice cooker as my tummy growls a little. Bought some pau yesterday to let the gang try … new flavour Black Sesame, but since they came back too late, I guess they did not eat it … now, I eat … dun let it go to waste … (anyway, bought 2 more for SH and Yv to try liao this afternoon.)

Still thinking of how to write up my business case proposal … will have to start formulating questions to ask and get a general direction I want the case to go in liao … my deadline is the first week of may … where I will be away in Inner Mongolia and thus in effect its actually the end of April that I have to submit the proposal …

ok … to NUS students … study hard … Exams are here!

ouch! ouch! ouch!

pain! pain! pain!

waking up this morning was a major pain … in the lower left back … i tot the minor sprained i had on sunday was gone, but apparently it came back in full force this morning. walking from the house to the mrt was challenging … each step sent small tremors up my spine and it hurt … first time the sprain so pain … usually just twist and turn alittle but then the thing will go away within the day …

in office now, its definitely slightly better … but can still feel a faint hint of pain in the back whenever i try to bend in a certain direction … so sians! Getting too old?