Archive Page 91
My blog got hacked again. Sigh.. but I managed to fix it (took me 2 days.. finally got it straightened out today). Anyway, I suspect it’s ‘cos the secret key for WP 2.5 is different from the one for 2.6 and I’m running WP 2.6 now.
For more info, do read here. I’ve also reported to yahoo webhost that the auto WP upgrade function isn’t working and they’re looking into that. They also gave some instructions on how to do a proper upgrade… no time to look at it now… but will do it soon. Meanwhile, hope my blog stays attack free.
DAMN U HACKERS & SPAM BOTS!
Been meaning to create a new category for my blog but never quite got down to it. Anyway, I suspect this category will feature more posts on "the Bad" and "the Delusional" rather than "the Good". Good news is seldom interesting isn’t it? 😛
The Bad
Inconsiderate commuters on the MRT irritate me the most. I think my blood pressure when I take the MRT to work every morning and home at night. Just like this fellow. It was a packed train but yet he could so inconsiderately chuck his newly bought fan on the floor. Felt like stepping on the damn fan.
Or this woman… she was drinking blatantly enjoying her breakfast drink on the train in the morning. Did she not see the signs everywhere saying that you’re not supposed to eat and drink on the MRT?
I tried very hard to get a photo of this woman but it was difficult because she was standing behind me and I couldn’t get a right angle. This is a pic of her keeping her drink in her bag. Sigh… pity it’s blurred.
The Delusional
Then there’re those that are plain delusional. Not on the MRT this time… but in my office. There’s this woman (we call her "Bouncy" ‘cos she likes to bounce in a very exaggerated fashion when she walks) who’s in her mid 20s. Sadly for her, she looks older than her age. Once, when her sister visited the office, we all thought it was her younger sister… when it was her older sis.
Anyway, I overheard this conversation (oh, I forgot to mention, she’s the 2nd loudest person in the office… blasting loud) in the office on Thursday…
Bouncy: Wah lau. A few people told me I look older than I am. I really do meh? (She said it with the expectancy that those who heard would disagree and flatter her ego). I must do a survey. Deep Voice, do I really look older than my age?"
Deep Voice: No. You look your age.
Bouncy: Really? You know my age ah? (Stupid right? Ask DV whether she looks older than her age liao then ask if DV knows her age.)
Deep Voice: Yah. 30.
Everyone burst out laughing.
My dad bought a new TV. A big one… hehehehehe.
My dad lets Pinky come into our house every day for his daily run around the house. Pinky likes to explore the various corners of the living room, the dining room and the kitchen. His usual route is to come in through the front door and then exit through the kitchen door at the back.
My dad decided to give Horlicks a treat today by allowing her to come into the house too. Horlicks rarely gets to come indoors because she has a habit of peeing to mark her territory once she eyes a piece of real estate she likes. (For example, she has a daily routine of peeing at the same spot next to Coffee’s cage… it’s her gangster way of telling Coffee that she’s eyeing his house).
Anyway, Pinky played the role of a tour guide for Horlicks, showed her around the house, pausing and turning back to look at Horlicks whenever she failed to keep up with him. After they finished a tour of the house, my dad shoo-ed them back to the side yard via the sliding doors along the side of the house. Once they were outside, my dad closed the sliding doors.
Pinky, however, had a different idea. His intention was to escort Horlicks out before coming back to play some more. He stood up and pressed his paws against the sliding door but my dad said, "No boy boy. Play play over". Pinky didn’t think so. He immediately scooted round to the back of the house and before my dad could guess his intention, he came back into the house through the kitchen door that was left open and ran up to my dad, stood in front of him and gave my dad the "yar yar papaya" (smug) look.
My dad couldn’t help but agree that Pinky was out-witted him this time.
Here’s a video clip of the smart one exploring the house.
Brilliant little bunny.
In this day and age of high Internet usage, superb online connectivity, instant messenging, etc, I wonder what is considered an acceptable level of service by customer/tech support staff. If there’s one thing I don’t understand, it’s why I always have to be a bitchy customer in Singapore to get things done. Take the latest gripe I have with Singtel. I’m a subscriber of its Colour-Me-Tones which is a service that allows your callers to hear music instead of the usual ringing tone when they call you.
Subscribers can select the tunes they want to be played via Singtel’s IDEAS website and there’s also a function for users to request for tunes. I’ve been a subscriber of this service for over a year now and I realised that either the Tune Request function is buggy, or Singtel is just sloppy in their customer service. Because everytime I request for a tune that’s not in the database, it takes me 2 requests before the tune gets loaded – I request for the tune, the request stays there for 2-3 weeks, then it disappears, I request a 2nd time, wait another 2-3 weeks, then the tune appears.
I’ve gotten used to this sloppy service and I actually tolerated it over the entire time I’ve been a subscriber of this service. However, it just got worse because 2 tunes I’ve been requesting for – Jack Johnson’s Better Together and Jason Mraz’s Lucky – got ignored repeatedly. I must’ve waited for over 6 months now (re-requesting repeatedly) for Jack John’s Better Together but after 2-3 weeks, my request simply disappears.
There’s no explanation from Singtel on why my request is dropped. Is it because of copyright issues they could not sort out? Or perhaps they could not find this particular tune? I don’t know… but I did find out yesterday that this song is available for download via Singtel’s website. So is Singtel just getting even sloppier in its service?
On 27 July 2008, I sent a complaint via the online feedback form regarding this problem. On 30 July 2008, I got a reply from 1626@singtel.com that my complaint will be channeled to the relevant department for handling. Well, my tune requests got dropped AGAIN so that leads me to conclude that the "appropriate action" taken by Singtel is to sweep my complaint under the carpet.
On 27 August 2008, I sent another email complaint to Singtel (this time, a harshly worded one)… to date, there has been no response. Not even a cursory "we are looking into it now" reply. Just silence. I wonder if Singtel knows that silence is not golden for a telecommunications company. Annoyed, I just sent an email to their CEO enquiring on what does Singtel consider as "acceptable level of service".
Am I being bitchy? I think I am. Unfortunately, that’s the only way to communicate to Singtel it seems.
And you thought only the Chinese did it…
================================
SYDNEY – Eight years after it hosted an Olympics that were famously hailed as the "best games ever," Sydney has had to confess that it faked one of the key musical performances at the opening ceremony in 2000.
The revelation came after it emerged that nine-year-old Lin Miaoke was just lip-synching when she "sang" a patriotic song before 91,000 people and a global television audience during the August 8 opening ceremony at the Beijing Games.
Orchestra bosses have admitted that the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) mimed its entire performance at the ceremony, and that some of the real music was in fact recorded by rival musicians in Melbourne.
"It was all pre-recorded and the MSO (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra) did record a minority of the music that was performed," SSO managing director Libby Christie told Australia’s Fairfax newspapers earlier this week.
"It’s correct that we were basically miming to a pre-recording," she said.
The respected orchestra gave the fake performance because Olympics organisers "wanted to leave nothing to chance" and a second orchestra was found to record the backing tape because of a "mountainous workload" in Sydney, Christie said.
The admission has columnists in Melbourne — which has a longstanding rivalry with glitzier Sydney — crowing over the fact that its musicians ghosted a crucial performance by their arch-rivals.
The head of the MSO confirmed the performance had been pre-recorded but defended the move, saying it was "purely a workload issue" and in no way reflected on the relative quality of either orchestra.
"It’s nothing to do with priorities or which orchestra is better. It was decided to split (the work) between the two orchestras," he said.
"It’s quite a normal practice and if the Olympics had been in Melbourne, the Sydney Symphony would have been involved — I’m sure of that."
Christie said the Sydney orchestra had very rarely mimed performances but had done so at the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Sydney, while the MSO said it had used a backing tape at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Beijing Olympic officials went on the defensive two weeks ago when it was revealed that pigtailed Lin Miaoke, who became a celebrity in China after her performance, had not actually done the singing.
It later emerged the real voice belonged to chubby seven-year-old Yang Peiyi, who was deemed not attractive enough to go on stage, and that the switch was ordered by a politburo member of China’s ruling Communist party.
Had a lovely weekend at Bintan. We saw lots of wild life at the resort… shall let the photos do the talking…
We had a comfy room on the 3rd floor.
View from our hotel room.
There’re 101 things to do at Nirwana Gardens.
Like getting a massage…
Snakes & Ladders or…
Lizards?
Iceman prefers a more intellectual game.
We enjoyed white sands and blue skies.
Sighted some beached whales
I liked the fact the pool didn’t have an overpowering chlorine smell.
The bubbly pool was nice too!
Nature lovers may enjoy swimming with wild life (in the pool!).
Or have a drink at the pool bar.
Shot of the pool.
Yummy Korean dinner at Jeju restaurant.
Ultimate Nachos (better than the ones at Harry’s!)
Tiramisu
Fruit Cheese Cake
Chocolate Fudge Cake
Pink Passion (light rum, strawberries, vanilla and I can’t remember what else. Heh.)
Irish Cream something… *hic*
I think this resort has a lot of future…
Get it? Get it? Hehehehehehehe.
I’m really really impressed with the latest addition to our table-tennis team, Feng Tianwei! Though she’s a "lowly" world #9, the tenacity she has against players who are ranked higher than her is amazing. I’ve been dutifully watching the "Today in Beijing" every night at 11pm just to catch the table-tennis team’s performance and I am truly moved by their determination. How they fight so hard for every point, their focus and willpower driving them forward, I love these women!
Although Feng Tianwei lost in her match against Zhang Yining today, I think she did extremely well against the world #1. Seeing Zhang’s frustration at the extremely strong challenge Feng posed gave me great satisfaction! Looking at Zhang’s eyebrows furrow as EVERY set they played went into deuce… my admiration for Feng has increased tremendously. The score of their 5 sets are – 13-11, 12-14, 14-12, 12-10 13-11. Well done Feng Tianwei!!
Zhang Yining said this of Feng Tianwei, "She has good defence and is good at rallies. Compared to the last time, I feel that she has improved in her ability to sustain a rally. She is still young and has a great future." (Feng is 21 years old).
This is quite a contrast with what Zhang Yining said of her earlier opponent, Ai Fukuhara from Japan.
"Overall the match was within my control. I felt quite assured of a win. Compared to my opponent, I have greater capabilities. So I was certain of winning the match. I might have relaxed too much in the fourth game and lost my concentration. I just wanted to hurry up and go home to rest."
Go home to rest?!? Hahahahahaha. I thought that was hilarious. I would be so insulted if I were Ai Fukuhara. Heeheehee.
There was a bit of a screw up in one of our table-tennis matches today though. Gao Ning had to compete without any coach’s assistance. When the president of our table-tennis association Lee Bee Wah saw this, she immediately called the team manager but was told that all the coaches were busy preparing for the evening matches! I agree with Lee Bee Wah when she told the press that this was unacceptable! Singapore brought 5 coaches to Beijing. One coach was overseeing another match… which means we still had 4 coaches available! How could they ALL be preparing for the evening’s matches? I certainly hope she probes further into this! Tsk tsk!
Anyway, we still have one last player in the running for a medal in the table-tennis singles event. Team captain, Li Jiawei will be facing Zhang Yining tomorrow. Li has never won Zhang in the last 12 times they met… but there’s always a first. 明天会跟好.
Finally got down to sorting out the photos in my desktop computer – putting them into folders, etc, and backing up on my portable hdd. Decided to post these lovely photos of the bunnies from July to Aug 2008 online. I have many many photos of all the bunnies that have ever lived in my house before. The sad thing is most bunnies do not have very long lifespans… I think it’s got to do with our hot tropical weather… so these photos are highly cherished ‘cos when these bunnies move on to bunny heaven, these photos will be all I have to remember my darlings by.
Pinky is getting a little too chubby I think… thought he swears he wasn’t the one who broke the stool…
He got really unhappy when I told him he should lose some weight.
I felt bad when I saw him sulking but my apologetic pleas fell on deaf ears.
Only Horlicks managed to cheer him up by licking him.
Comforting Pinky made Horlicks hungry… so she climbed on top of him to reach her food tray. Heh.
Peanut can be a homewrecker at times… look what she did to Coffee’s play house…
Oops… couldn’t get any photos of Peanut ‘cos it was too dark inside the box. Haha.
Good grief! I have no idea why this is happening but I got my permalinks to HALF work.
My permalinks (before the 2.6 nightmare) used to be in the format:
https://uptowngal.org/blog/2008/08/19/sample-post/
Then WP 2.6 came and they got all broken and nothing could fix it.
After the upgrade to 2.6.1, they still didn’t work. HOWEVER, by selecting a "Custom Structure" in my permalinks setting page and using:
/index.php/%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/
I now get this:
https://uptowngal.org/blog/index.php/2008/08/19/if-i-could-take-a-pic/
So I get my post name as part of the URL, but there’s this "index.php" there. Anyone knows why?!?!??
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