Dance like no one's watching

Hello from the Galaxy Note 3! Was hooked after watching videos of the S-Pen in action. Went to SingTel today & found out that one of my mobile lines was eligible for an upgrade so I decided to “take the plunge” after playing with the phone for about 15mins at the shop.

I really need to get a screen protector quickly. Am rather hooked to using the S-Pen to write long texts (like this one) so I’m wary of scratching the screen.

Anyway, its really late so I need to end this post & go shower. Will definitely be posting more! This is just so cool. Haha!

As for the s4, my mom will be using it going forward. Just need to find some time to cut her normal sized sim card into a micro-sim.

Have a good & fruitful rest of the week everyone!

Cheers!

Been a dramatic week. A single aunt who lives alone suffered a stroke while alone at home and how she was found was nothing short of a miracle. Story really starts last week when she told my cousin, B, that she wanted to buy a smartphone so that she can monitor her shares. She used to check teletext till it closed down.

After B came back from a cruise with his family on Sun night, he called this aunt on Mon afternoon to see if she wanted to go buy a hp. He didn’t manage to reach her on her house line nor her mobile but didn’t think much about it. He called a few more times during the day but didn’t get worried till she still was not contactable about 11pm that night. B then whatsapp-ed some of my cousins and me and none of us had spoken to that aunt that day. B thus decided to go to our aunt’s flat with his brother and dad to check on our aunt.

When they reached her flat, they heard the TV sound but the lights weren’t on. Realising something was amissed, they called emergency services and SCDF and an ambulance soon arrived. It took SCDF more than 30 minutes to saw the padlock, pry open the locks of the metal grille and wooden door and kick open the door (it was dead bolted and they couldn’t reach the bolt on the inside). My aunt was found lying on the floor, conscious but unable to speak nor move. Her lunch and coffee was still on the table so our guess is that she suffered the stroke during early afternoon.

My aunt is still warded at CGH but she can now take a few steps assisted. Still can’t talk and has to be tube fed but the progress has been good so far. When i think about the whole chain of events that happened, i see God’s hand in it. I’m thankful for the miracle.

I can’t get over this conversation that i had with my friend’s girlfriend last night. I said the only thing that i’m not happy about Celine Dion is how she married her manager, wherein he divorced his wife for her. My friend’s girlfriend said she thinks there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact she said, “Sometimes you meet someone worth divorcing for.”

When i heard that, first thought that came to my head was, good grief! Do you even know what you just said? Gosh. If she ever gets divorced cos her husband met someone younger, you bet I’ll tell her, “Well, sometimes you just meet someone worth divorcing for”.

And if that’s her value system, maybe my friend ought to reconsider too.

Came across this trial user programme Microsoft was running for their Surface RT devices so I registered for it and was fortunate enough to be selected. Before getting my hands on the device, I tried to do some online research about the Surface, what are the apps available, etc.  Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be much info available – especially when it came to apps.  The issue was that in order to properly explore the Windows Marketplace, I had to do it from a MS device.  I thought this was totally dumb because if I were going to spend money buying a device, surely I needed to know beforehand what it offered right?

That peeve aside, the Surface RT is a pretty decent device. I like how the keyboard that comes with it doubles up as a screen cover. Although I initially struggled with the keyboard, I soon got used to it and realised I can type quite quickly and accurately on it.  I also love the on-screen keyboard and the various display option it gives (split/ normal qwerty/ tablet friendly qwerty, etc).  The word prediction was also accurate and the keyboard is a joy to use.

Battery life is decent and I get 3-4 days of moderate use (mainly games/ browsing/ Facebook for about 1-2h per day) with each charge (not that the battery runs flat after that but I tend to charge once it drops to 20-30%).

The MS Office apps that came pre-installed are definitely a plus – full functions and I didn’t need to spend any money on them. What I love most got to be the IE browser.  Yeap! Never thought I’d say this because I have been using Chrome on my laptop for years but it is fantastic to have a proper browser on a mobile device.  I’ve been able to watch Flash videos (all my TVB dramas!) and play Facebook games like Pet Saga and Candy Crush that run on Flash.

The main drawback is the lack of apps. No instagram (not yet at least), no official Facebook app, no WordPress, the Citrix app can’t use web interface to connect, etc.  Which is a pity and the reason why I struggle to call the Surface a tablet.  In my mind, a tablet is a mobile device that’s all about apps!  I have been blogging and accessing Facebook on the Surface but that’s all done through the IE browser – which essentially means I’ve been using the Surface like a laptop.  The fact that it allows you to plug a USB device (e.g. a thumbdrive) into it really makes it akin to a laptop.

Thus after using the Surface for almost a month, I think my conclusion is that I may buy one in future to replace my laptop (the soon to be launched Nokia tablets running Win 8 look really swanky!)… but if I were looking for a tablet, this wouldn’t fit my needs.

The problem with taking over someone’s accounts or portfolio when they quit is that certain things may not have been done in the most efficient or correct way. And you can’t lay blame on the person who left without coming across as bitchy but you still have to clear the shit and hope your newly acquired clients will not think you’re ineffective. Argh. Pisses me off.

Private Class with Deborah (26 Oct 2013)

1. Sugar Push / Tuck Turn
Make sure full weight transfer on 3. Back leg bends as front leg straightens.

2. Turns
During triple step turn, do a small small big, i.e. turning right, last left step will be big step and remember to drag in right foot.

3. Differentiate Tone and Frame
Frame moves the whole body. Tone is firm arms that allows the lead to move you.

4. At All Times!
Do not split weight.
Always have weight in straight leg while dragging in bent leg.

Private with Chuck on 24 Oct 2013

1) Foot Position

• Don’t open feet outwards so much. Small V.

2) Sugar Push

• Count 3 – should feel like a “check”. Weight should push into the floor. Do not pitch forward. Breathe in to expand frame.
• Count 4 – push/ glide back, marginally diagonally right. Make sure to post on 4.
• So not rush the 5 & 6.
• Hold the 5-and. Make sure nose over toes. The “and” should be at the base of right heel.
• Step 6 slowly. Make sure not to land on heel till last moment.
• The 5 & 6 should feel like walking backwards. Don’t think too much.
• If there’s a need to adjust distance on the ”and”, make sure to collect right foot b4 moving forward for 1.

3) Underarm & Left-side Pass

• Do not bend knees / plie on count 3-and.
• Step right foot slightly out on 4 so left foot doesn’t detour around right foot.
• Make sure to post on 4.

A couple of things I’ve been thinking of the last couple of days. Firstly, what makes a good broker? Is it someone who’s fantastic at admin work? At billing? At documentation? Or someone who is able to structure solutions to difficult risks and get insurers to underwrite the risks? Someone who’s good at client management?

I suppose ideally, a good broker should be all of the above. Unfortunately, all of us have our limitations which means we each have to figure out our core competencies. More importantly, these core competencies must be in line with our choice of work. If you’re unable to bring something meaningful to the table, then your skill set is probably not relevant to the job at all.

Secondly, if you think you’re good at your job, on what basis did you arrive at that conclusion? You may have excellent academic qualifications but head knowledge is useless unless applied.

Thirdly, we cannot be scared of competition. Without competition, how would you know what’s good? If we fall short when benchmarked against our peers, then we should review and see how we can work on and strengthen our core competencies. Griping about others or trying to make them look bad isn’t of any use. The only way to come up tops is to improve yourself.

真金不怕火炼.

An underwriter from an insurer I work closely with resigned recently. He told his soon to be ex company that he was going to be a broker but refused to say which broking firm he was joining.

Too bad for him he told my client which competitor broker he was joining and it didn’t take much work for me to get my client to share the intel with me. Am a little cheesed off that this soon to be ex underwriter has approached my client while he’s still serving his notice. But I’m even more insulted that he thought my client would shield this “secret” for him. 也太低估我了吧!

Passed by an accident site on the way home last night. Was exiting PIE into Simei Rd when I saw the taxi in front of me stop and put on his hazard lights. As the taxi inched towards the right side of the road, I saw a motorcycle on its side and the biker on the road, seemingly motionless.

A young chap was standing slightly in front of the biker and waving a torch to warn cars coming down the slip road and another 2 men were checking on the biker.

There were another 2 cars stopped on the road shoulder and a few women on the pavement.

I didn’t see any blood on the road when I inched past the motionless biker…hopefully there were no major injuries either.

It was quite a scary sight but I’m glad the people who stopped to help got themselves well organised. Passed by the ambulance at the next junction. Thank goodness CGH isn’t too far away.

Kudos to all who stopped to help and hope the biker’s ok.