Deal or No Deal is quite interesting. 'The banker' has a fat silhouette lol.

Seems like blogger is working fine now. Can remove page elements & the posting page is back to normal. That is great !

Ryan has A's in 3 subjects. Only Chinese koyak but got improvement from before. Sarah has an A for math which she was failing before & that is great. She didn't get an A for English as we expected as she has been for the past 2 years' exams. Nevermind, there is the final term exams to do it.

I received an annoying call today from a vendor selling his services to our organisation. I kept telling him we have other priorities etc & we are not in need of such facilities. He doesn't get it that his services do not really enhance what we already have. Very annoyingly persistent. Cannot tahan. Plus the audacity to say that it is a "special price valid only for the next 14 days from quotation". That is such a turn off. Such questionable tactics.

Lament for the day : mio replied to our email but never answered our questions.

Ohhhh aircond is back to working order. No more leaking ! Thank goodness as it has been very humid.

Mio/singtel customer services called hubby again today, apologised etc etc. He asked for an explanation in writing. Then later in the evening, a manager of the technical side called me cos the supervisor I was talking to on Sunday said they would check back with us on Tuesday. I told him we solved THEIR problem. wah liao ! It was so simple...maybe too simple that they didn't see it. Just change analogue phone to digital.

And this time around I am impressed becos the tech manager did get a copy of our email & he had our history even able to tell us what phone model we have now lol. And I told him that I am glad finally someone has our history lol.

4 telephone calls to tech helpline & 3 technicians didn't figure it. Its not as if we hid our phones when they came. Perhaps they themselves just figured it out cos I dunno why it was only with the 4th phone call that they asked about what kind of phones we are using. The manager says that if I get anymore problems, can call & ask for him lolol, he will take care of matters personally. Which we appreciate but think it may no longer necessary.

I think testing should have been properly done before they launched mio. The sales/marketing & tech people should be properly armed with all the info. They should highlight certain issues to the customer when they sign up so that when there is a problem, the customer can tell the tech helpline & this will then help to solve the issues more efficiently. I wonder if the immediate reactions was because of the cc to st forum & whether the reaction would be so immediate if there was no cc. I do understand that some issues only surface out of the blue but this phone thingy seems very basic particularly for a company of such stature & experience.

Ohhh Kunte Kinta...reunited ! Ryan says my Roots book pages so yellow. Of course maaah, my book is almost 18 years older than him lol!

Lament for the day : I need to go through my mum's store...I may have more hidden treasures in there ! The Good Earth, Huckleberry Finn, 1984, Tess of D'Ubervilles, Wuthering Heights, Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm, Thorn Birds, Shogun, maybe a couple of poetry books & shakespeare from schooldays, Enid Blyton's books & Disneyland magazines which would be some 30 over years old.

On our way home, we stopped by the shops to get some things. On the way back to the car we spotted a tortoise about the size of my palm, happily strolling. There was a guy seated at the bench & I asked him if the tortoise was his. Who knows ? Maybe he was taking his tortoise for a walk ?? He said not. So it came from the landscaped garden & pond just a few feet away. Dunno why he was just sitting there & watching it.

So I picked it up & put it back in the pond. Didn't want it to come to harm. I had to toss it in cos there was a fencing around. For a while, it turned turtle heh but swam after a bit. Thought I killed the poor fella ! The tortoise must be cursing me...stupid idiot ! I wanted freedom & it took me 3 days to get where I was, now have to start all over again. lol Forgot to take pic to post.

Yesterday hubby had to do a blowjob. Our bedroom aircond is still screwy. Kids' units are working fine. It has been like that for the last 3 days. He took the vaccuum cleaner to suck out the algae from the outlet pipe. There was muck. Then we turned on our bedroom unit & it worked fine. Half an hour later, it started to leak again...sigh. Happiness shortlived. So told hubby to suck it again lor. But he decided to get the repairman instead. Guy coming tomorrow.

heh...I am so enjoying Roots.

Ohhhh singtel called hubby cos I signed off hubby's name & number on the email. They apologised & said they would write. Okay lor apology accepted but they better answer our questions when they write. Our phone has been working all day now. wah liao ...maybe all it needed was the digital phones. 3 (or was it 4) tech help officers & 3 visiting technicians couldn't figure it out. Conversation with tech help line "turn off your modem, turn on your modem, is the green dsl light on, is it flickering, is the filter there" etc etc...we know SOPs by heart already. Then the technicians changed new modem, fit in a new outlet for plugging in the phone line, still didn't work. Crap.

Lament for the day : why can't I change the 'browing now' book pic ...getting error message.

The technician came by today to see if the mio problem can be resolved. We are still plagued by the same problems with home phone; can receive calls, then cannot, can make outgoing, then cannot. The phone worked for a while today & this evening after dinner, we checked. Can receive but cannot make outgoing.

So I call the tech helpline & told them not to go through the same old routine again ; turn off modem, turn on modem, is the green light for dsl on , is it flickering, are there filters etc etc etc. We wanted to speak to someone senior. But before that the officer asks us what is our house phone brand. And we were so rudely surprised to hear that analog phones cannot be used for mio & that it has to be digital. To top it off, must be a brand & model compatible to mio !! What the fuck ????? How come we weren't told in the first place !!!

So we send an email off to singtel (with cc to stforum) explaining the whole situation from when we got our modem on 30 March till now. And we asked them to be transparent about the do's, do not's, can, cannots etc etc etc of mio. Why was this never ever told to us when we signed up, actually before we signed up, during the 3 or 4 calls to the helpline & when the technicians came. Or do they not know & only recently discovered this ??? Why should I have to change my home phone to accomodate mio when it should be designed to accomodate the consumer ??? I will wait to see what singtel has to say.

Another annoying thing is that they have no email address for feedback. Its those feedback forms & accepts only 850 characters. My email far exceeds that so I sent to their corp comms department instead. How to give feedback in so few words ????? Or maybe it is so designed such that they don't give us a chance to properly complain. Wah liao !!!!!!!

On a happier note, we had dinner to celebrate mother's day with my mum, godma & aunt with the spouses & kids. Was also to celebrate godma's birthday. Seafood lah & shiok as usual. Makan too much as usual too. The place was crowded, everyone doing the mother's day thing. Kids gave chocolates to all the mums & we bought a cake to celebrate the two occasions.

Ryan got a new ipod nano from my godpa. So bladdy lucky ! 8 gig some more ! Not even his birthday or christmas etc. And my shuffle is sooooo pathetic compared to his lol. But I still love it cos its cute & cos its from hubby & the kiddos for mother's day. Hubby said he will swop our 2-gig nano with ryan's lololol. Better that he falls & crushes the old one than the new lolol. Told him better to get a protection case cos he damaged his previous nano when it was in his pocket & he accidentally fell, landing on that particular pocket. Sigh...so sayang.

On an even happier note, my mum passed me my book, Roots. It was published in 1977. I think I have a lot of books in my mum's storeroom older than the kids lolol.

Lament for the day : mio still sux !!!!

And why can't I edit settings to change book I am browsing.

Arggggghh why can't I edit my settings?? I want to change book image. And this post page is all weird. Can't use the align para buttons, the bold & italic buttons, can't preview. But can add pic & use ctrl function for bold & italics. Wassup leh !?!!

My new toy ! From hubby & kids for Mother's Day. Its a really cute shuffle & comes with a personal message inscribed from them. I can easily clip it to my blouse. Very cool ! I like the size better than the nano & the clip on function. Coooool lime green. Have put in my songs heh. Hubby can have the nano to himself lol.

Kids mid year exams over. Sarah is out watching Spiderman 3. Ryan will take a short short break & then he needs to work on revisions & chinese.

Hubby away fishing in Batam. Since his phuket trip got screwed up he has been itching to go out to sea so he found some kakis to go with. Left this morning & will be back tomorrow night.

Mio still sux ! And I will continue saying this till they fix our phone line grrrrrrr.

Sorry that Lakisha left. I thought Blake would go & we would have a good fight amongst 3 gals. I guess Lakisha would already have a recording contract in her pocket already so it probably still ends well for her. I think it will be between Melinda & Jordin.

He can really jump !

Lament for the day : nothing really, cos I have a new toy heh. Already grumbled above anyway.

Mio still sux !! lol

It has been really busy at work. It is that time of the year where we have many activities & projects going on at work. Its good though. I'd rather this than boring long days.

Set up pics at gallery yaaaaaay ! Picked up the statues to accompany the pics as well. Will probably add on more pics along the way. Setting up the statues & doing the lighting tomorrow.

Our domestic help, cora, who is in her 50s is retiring. She has been with us for a good 8 years & we can see that she is tiring & slowing down. She has been really great with not only the kids but also with hubby's fam & mine. We will miss her when she goes. It will be next year that she leaves, when her passport expires & the thought of getting a replacement is scary. Btw, she has been working here for so many years she ought to have PR status. She was some 10 or 12 years with another family here before us.

I had an Indonesian maid for one month & that was enough. The lies, the stealing, the bangladeshi boyfriends, threatening our kids not to tell, feeding kids biscuits, cup noodles for lunch while we were not home...bitch ! We are fairly easy going employees I think. So calling that one a bitch really says something about her.

Our very first maid from Sri Lanka was with us for 2 years & she was alright till she became cocky. So we decided not to extend her contract lest she became bolder. But she did love sarah & came to see her when she returned to work here.

Our second maid, nora, who is Filipina, was with us for 4 years. Oh before that we had one from Myanmar for a month. A very nice girl but not cut out to look after kids & that wouldn't do cos the kids were really young then. Anyway, nora who was with us for 4 years returned home becos of poor health. We still keep in touch with her & she is always asking about the kids.

Then along came cora, our current help. About 4 years into her contract she had to go home for a major op. She wasn't sure if she wanted to come back.

That's when the bitch came.

Fortunately I decided to call cora & she was happy to come back to us. We have been really lucky with domestic help except for that one bitch. We aren't looking foreward to getting the new one when cora goes but what to do...sigh.

Lament for the day : hubby is annoyed cos windows vista sux !

Mio still sux !!! This will be the 3rd time a technician is coming to "check phone line". And dunno how many times hubby has called the help line. Wtf ? House phone work, dun work, work then dun work. Most of the time, dun work. And we have to use our mobile phones to make calls. Wtf !!!!!!!!!!

One of hubby's friend said that some technician told him can't have more than one phone if using Mio. If this is true, Wtf ???? Never said so anywhere when we signed up. And its our perogative if we want more than one phone. We only have 2 phones hooked up. One in the bedroom & one downstairs in the living room. And we want to put in phones in the kids' rooms using same line. So how ? Instead of improving services, its regressed. Ahhhh crap !

Lament for the day : mio sux !

Went to orchard to watch Wild Hogs. Only front row left arrrghhhh. When I checked online a couple of hours earlier, there were a good number of seats left. Sigh. Its Saturday, I forget. So we walked around for a bit instead & browsed in the apple shop. Headed to Plaza Sing but carpark full so we went to Beach Road as hubby wanted to get some fishing stuff & pick up reel he sent for servicing.

Walked around the Arab street area & there are some nice funky shops. Went into one store that sells collectibles & antiques. Saw these little square boxes of face powder. I have not seen these in soooo long ! My grandma used them. I am told that some people still use them. I was also told by the store assistant that I could use this to clean silver jewellery. Errr so why would I put it on my face hah ?? lol

Anyway I was so tickled to find these that I bought 2 to put in my display case & one to see if it really cleans my silver jewellery lol. I also saw two pairs of miniature char kiaks & asked how much. "Sorry, not for sale". bleaaaah ! I would so like the mini char kiaks.

One shop had chapteks which brought back memories. In another shop, we saw some nice floormats. I don't know what the material is called but its those brown bristly type & there are some cute phrases on it. BUT ! $69 each. How to use as floor mat outside the door ?? Some stores' items are quite pricey as there are alot of tourists in the area. I saw a number of nice things I wanted but so pricey....sigh. There was this old wall clock, but very ex leh ! Ah well, nevermind, got my powder lol.

Picked ryan from cath class & then popped over to Changi Village to the fishing tackle shop. Sarah was out for dinner with friends. Then headed to Kembangan to meet Carol, Dyran & kids for dinner. The kids are really soooo adorable & little Tasha, now 4 months old is such a pretty little thing. And so sweet & amiable too. I had nasi lemak but the rice got no kick. Not fragrant & not lemak enough. Went over to their house for a bit to chat, then picked sarah from J8 & home.

After his shower, ryan crashed. Asked him why he was going to bed so early. He says tired from running around & playing with Jarrod & Trisha lol. He was the perfect kor kor today, played with the kids & very patient. On some days, he is like "aaarrrghhh can you ask Jarrod to stop following me" lolol. Jarrod loves his kor kor ryan.

Lament for the day : they don't make chapteks like they used to.

lol my dog is greedy, so intent on the lollipop. Actually he gets fixated on certain things. For example, Sarah has soft toys on her bed which he can easily get hold of but he doesn't. Until one of us picks a toy up & he wants it. Put it out of reach & he can sit there for the longest time. Better attention span than the kids lolol.

I dun geddit. Why are the pics taken with my E65 so blur ? The N70 seems to take better pics & both same, 2 megapixels. Above pic was taken with E65 & pic on left with the N70. Th husky photo in one of the previous posts was with the N70.

Was browsing the stomp site. There was a pic of a lady eating a pack of durians on the bus. Can't imagine why no one told her to stop especially the driver. Smell is dead giveaway esp in aircond environment. Another pic of an uncle on the mrt, bags on seats & wet umbrella opened on the floor to dry. Worst is the playground pic where a family hangs their clothes out to dry on the monkey bars. I would throw the baju away. Its a public place not their personal backyard. Idiots !

Lament for the day : dieeee...next week will be horribly busy & only got 2 of us.