Quote of the day.

There was an RSAF advertisment I chance upon in the past...it shows the nose and the sharp Antenna of a F-16 Fighting Falcon. There is a quote...

"THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD"

May I make the correction after 5 years in service...

"THE TOUGUE IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD,

IT CAN GET YOU INTO TROUBLE,

GET YOU OUT OF TROUBLE,

GET OTHERS INTO TROUBLE,

AND GET YOU A PROMOTION!!!"

Atrocities in Myannmar

Extracted from http://ko-htike.blogspot.com/ , a blog about the Atrocities of the Military Government of Myannmar

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This is what i got from my mail and telling what was happening with him on 27/09/07

Below is an actual of what had happen yesterday on 27/9/07.

I am a Singaporean working in Myanmar for the past 11 years.I was on my way to office( near Thuwana area) at around 4 to 4.30pm when the riot police block the road near "Super one, ILBC area". I stop my car with my wife and walk out. suddenly riot police and soldiers drove the truck around the corner and start firing shots at the crowd. we quickly ran to the side and squat down near the wall.The soldiers came down and start to shoot at us. I was shot twice but i did not know what hit me. My both leg were bruised. the soldiers and police kicked us and the rest of the crowds into the drain and shouted that they would kill us if we look at them.

We were forced to stay in the drain for 15 mins and gather by the into a group.A commander came and gather his troops and drove off to Tamwe direction.After that ,i looked at my injures and and found injures on my left and right legs.My wife found the "40mm riot control munnition" empty cartridge that the soldiers shoot at me.I would like the embassy and media to know the actions of this army.We are just ordinary citizen going to work and they just shot at us for no reason.Imagine what they would do to the protesters!

I would like the Singapore government would make a strong stand against this violence crack down on the monks and people.attached is the photo of my injures .I have been attended by a private doctor on my injures.The doctor said i was very lucky that the shot missed the groin area.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is our government going to do about our people getting assualted by police and soldiers of another country? Sit back, wait and do nothing untill a Singaporean get killed?? I think South East Asia should form a Coalition Force and liberate Myanmmar. Assualting the citizen is one thing but even the peaceful monk?

[忍たま乱太郎] [OP-MOVIE] 勇気100%

Before there was Naruto...the was 忍者乱太郎，Nintama Rantaro. I heard this song while randomly playing through my mp3 collection today and it really hype my mood up!!! Cheerful and fun little song. I think the title to the song loosely translated in English is "Bravery 100%"

PC Project completed! Mission Accomplished

What started out as a casual purchase of a heavily discounted Seagate 500GB Barracuda SATA Harddisk, ended up with the decision to built a custom desktop here in the US of A. Approx S$1124.74 of purchase mostly from Newegg.com ( not excluding the Mail in Rebates I haven't got back), I completed my PC project 2 days ago and currently doing all sorts of LIVE run to test its stability. So far, I am happy :) nothing goes up in smoke when I press the power button the first time. Tested C&C: Zero hours at full graphic setting and Burning Angels...smooth as vanilla performance. Buying Bioshock to play real soon. Check out the photos in my Picasa Gallery...

Click Me!!!

1 Goal, 1 Red Card and all about Team Spirit.

Dear blog,

Today I redeemed my past poor performance with our SinUSA FC by breaking the draw and scoring the winning goal in the second half.....by the stroke of a luck. I was just standing unknowingly at the right spot and pick up a loss air ball from a mess of a struggle in front of me and lob it in. I say luck because, knowing my own soccer skills and poor foundation its somehow seems to me a lucky break through. I'm glad the goal helped my teammates pick up the game and went ahead to win 5-1 today against a tough team today. If that single goal was something to me, it brought me out of 2 weeks of miserable negativity with life, work and soccer.

Than I got a red card. Score a goal and a red card, I literally kamikaze all my effort today. I snapped when No.23 knock me in the chest and when ahead and gave him a violent shoulder knock. Ended up both of us got the red card because he retaliated and grappled me from the back much to Rodger fiery as James told me later on after the game Rodger was almost ready for a fight! My.... I mean, that was really stupid of me to do that...we are already winning the game and I don't know what got into me that I got a bit too aggressive, should have cool down that moment. Now I have to go to the soccer association, pay a US$20 fine to get back my player card and miss out the next game. At the end of the game, the opponent got 3 red cards...that make it US$60 for them and looking at the in the point of financial war of attrition, US$60 vs US$20, 3 Red vs 1 Redwe still win!!! Ha ha. And Red is an auspicious color in Chinese right? My first Red Card...can already feel good things coming.

Why do I have the feeling that today 1 Goal and 1 Red Card episode was like the time when I won US$400 at Casino and lost my wallet? Its like winning for the moment and losing the money.

I feel guilty and thanks to the guys for suggesting I sponsor the drinks for the next game, that make me feel better. Will be on the side bench cheering the team on coming Sunday. We have a good team and there is healthy pressure on players to play well. I felt it... 2 match ago I complain about not having enough game time, last match I missed all my touches, today I played pretty average. In some way, I hate to disappoint my team mates and in another way they wanna me to prove myself even with the limited show time on field. I hope I have time to get some training of the match to brush up those foundation to be more assistance to the team. No....I don't dread been a bench warmer this time, this is a team game, not about individual showmanship...if others could play better, they should be on the field. I thanks a person for telling me that been a bench warmer is about pressuring your peers on the field to play better else they gonna be replaced and thanks another guy for telling me whenever I got the chance to be on the pitch... thats the chance to prove my worth.

We got a good team, if we have time to train together regularly...we be even better. We got a good defense line; Rodger and Mun kit is aggressive in the defense and Mike got all the touches and moves right when our defense is in the tight spot. SMO never hesitate to slide tackle and almost always got the ball. Than there is Dave, he read the game well and an experience defender. Matthew a.k.a Fat Boy might look slightly bulky but he have so far been showing off lots of good saves, punch our and dives, the pillar and commander of our defense. In our midfield we got Charles with his speed and good dribbles. Annand who holds the key to the attacking synergy of our midfielders, team captain, excellent touches in dribbles, passes and shooting and endless amount of energy and aggressiveness. Than there is Tommy, one of the best Ang Mo player I seen around so far. Give good advise, got excellent ball control and can hold his own against the opposition defense. Eng Wee, although out on knee injury today, I really hope he come back to the game soon as he is an excellent attacking mid fielder. Lastly credit goes to Kumar for been the top scorer for our team, this guy is starting and get his back out of the offside traps and when he is not offside and when he got the ball in the opponent half, expect a goal to happen, he don't need to run too much cause he got all the right touches to the goal. Sen Loong is improving the more he played, make good passes today but a bit of aggressiveness in him will work wonders. We still got Dwight who played the attacking mid field or striker role, big fella and good ball control and passes. Samuel, another of our new comer is surprisingly well gel to the team since the first game. Who should forget Captain Commando Seah? Every much feels like a Commando mission to him, never stop running down the opponent, endless stamina and he never fall from collision....always manage to roll and stand up again (thats acrobatic). Should not leave our Melvin who always enjoy his games, win and lost and gel really well between to defense and strikers to deliver the package from his sidelines runs past the opponent defense. DID I LEFT ANYONE OUT????

Much goes to individual skills but most goes to team work. SinUSA FC players and bonding better with each game. All I say is keep the spirits up and the hard work in and we shall win all future games.

The Human Genome Project

Ever played Metal Gear Solid? Some character in the game, especially Snake are genetically enhanced soldiers of the Human Genome Project. Strength, Speed, Agility and heightened senses are just few of the things that could happen if we were able to control and modified our genetics.

Well as video games are far fetch and gene engineering is still limited to lambs and rats, the possibility are enormous. You heard many cases of new born with birth defects as a result of messed up genes inherited from the parents of due to external contamination like radiation from Nuclear blast. Now there is an incredible news I recently read... Human born, Genetically enhanced! Read about Liam Hoekstra , the Super Strong 19 months old toddler...

http://www.shoutwire.com/comments/103787/This_Week_in_Science_SuperHumans

http://www.thebizofknowledge.com/2007/06/19month_old_incredible_hulk.html

News like this make us wonder, Nature? Nuture? or maybe in the future Engineered human beings. I can already see the future of enhanced soldier in the battlefield and all it take is a couple of injection to make a Superhumans.

Yellowstone National Park Day 3

Yellowstone National Park is not all just about the famous Geysers and Hotspring. Its one of the places in the world where the Geothermal features, Trees, Forest, River, Waterfall and Canyon all contain within an area no larger than Dallas County. It just take a day (providing you did not stop at all) of driving around the 'Grand Loop' to experience the sight of all this natural feature and the different wild life in the National Park. Best moment of my time in Yellowstone National Park is taking a dip and swim in a river. Its the junction between the cold Garnier River and the hot spring Boiling River. Day 3 is the first time I come face to face with a water fall, dip my leg in a river to cool myself down and stand half way between the Equator and the North Pole.

Ok its been a while since I last upload the tons of pictures from Yellowstone National Park. Got a some spare time tonight to work on it. Click the picture below to access the photo album.

Still awaiting my GeForce Graphic Card and Lightscribe DVD Burner to arrive via UPS. Once I got this last 2 item in my list, I will start assembling my first "Build From Scratch" desktop. This PC Project will be feature in my weekend blog. Stay tune. for either a smoky fiery burn out when I press the power button or the fast and furious desktop I ever built when I press the power button this weekend.

Look at what my sis got for me!!!

I brought for my sis a US$200 Oakley Sunglass and in return, after hearing my sorrowful story of lost wallet and winnings, she got for me all this!!! Thanks to Garfield for taking the trouble to haul the stuff back to Dallas after his home trip. Always nice to accept gift from afar.

Beijing 2008 Official Olympic T-Shirt!!! Plus lots of other stuff!

A leather wallet from RENOMA! Finally I can stop using that BillaBong wallet that I have been using for a month. Just can't get use to anything but leather in the pocket.

B&H Capsule a.k.a 排毒美艳宝. Detoxification pills that I regularly took and so far I have not fallen sick at all. Detoxification is important to the human body and as we age, our body is less efficient at getting rid of bodily waste. Thats went external intervention, like the B&H Capsule come into handy.

A Italian PANERAI watch!!! Ok, I did not lost a watch but this is real good stuff. A fully mechanical watch, automatic (no battery needed) and quite funky looking. Wish the strap was leather but HEY! Its still a cool watch to wear! I got a old Seiko watch brought by mum and now a PANERAI watch from my sis.

I like how the spring winder on the right is lock in place by a lever, the Sun and the Moon dial and the rotating golden gizmo in the center telling you that the watch is alive.

Now for a bit of English lesson (extracted from Wikipedia),

CANNON FODDER - is an informal term for military personnel who are regarded or treated as expendable in the face of enemy fire. The term is generally used in situations where soldiers are forced to deliberately fight against hopeless odds (with the foreknowledge that they will suffer extremely high casualties) in an effort to achieve a strategic goal. An example is the trench warfare in World War I. The term may also be used (somewhat pejoratively) to differentiate infantry from other forces (such as artillery, air force or the navy), who generally have a much higher survival rate.

BITCH - is a term for the female of a canine species in general. It is also frequently used as an offensive term for a woman, taken to mean that she is malicious, spiteful, domineering, intrusive, or unpleasant.

Garmin C330 Portable GPS!! Cheap Cheap.

GARMIN C330 GPS AT ONLY US$188.49

Hey fellows, if you are thinking of getting a Portable GPS System, this is it. You save almost US$260 buying a refurbished GARMIN C330 compare to a brand new one. Whats the difference? Other than its been used or return to manufacturer for repackaging, repaired or replacement of missing parts in the original packaging or minor scratches here and there, a refurbished GPS will still function like a brand new one. Whats more, it comes with the exact same warranty as a brand new one. Why spend a bomb when you can get it at bullet price?

There is always a trick to get a brand new one at this price but for the sake of karma and retribution that might befall you, I reserve myself from showing you how.

3 AM on a Saturday Morning

Its 3am, its Saturday and its the weekend. Somehow I am still at Base, a place I use to dread coming to for the past few days for really mysterious reason. Somehow work seems to be much more enjoyable today. To be honest nothing is wrong with work at all and I wonder why I complain so much silently for the past few days. Today is a good day. I think positive for just today and lots of things good things happen. Work pace is comfortable, the weather is cooling, the job is smooth flowing with no screw-ups.

Come to think of it, its the lost in motivation that create all the negativity in me. I stopped motivating myself at work and stopped doing satisfying things to fuel the motivation level. Well, its the worst kind of feeling man. Recalling in the past when I am was in some kind of jam, I was performing much better at work, more zest and vigor. What an irony.... When the going get tough, the tough get going but now... life is good, I got good salary, extra S$2000++ allowance, staying in the United States, oppurtunity to go to places in US I could only dream of in the past and nice places to go shopping. That much of luxury...

Well well. Looking back, as a 3SG and 2SG, I was much much better and full of Energy. Attitude, perspective of my career, ambitious and stuff. Just looking at my Junior right now who is a 2SG, I felt like looking at a mirror of myself long time ago. I NEED TO GET THAT KINDA ENERGY BACK! Damn... Losing steam? I think so...

Yes...there are people who screw me up at work for no reason and I am of course really piss off about it. Almost to a point of that if I got a gun, he/she ought to get shot. This people make me sick of the workplace sometime. What kinda example are they setting especially when they are so senior already? I also don't remember Senior should be complaining to management about the performance of Junior. Its a good thing that my immediate colleagues are all good character characters else I think my working spirit will be completely torn apart.

Its the weekend again. Plan to watch Band Of Brothers at home and also assemble my desktop build from "raw material" purchase mainly from Newegg.com and Fry's Electronic.

Picture from Corpus Christi tour.

I did not upload this photo album yesterday because my eyes is so tired after sorting out hundreds of Houston pictures. So here we go, Corpus Christi tour photo-blog. Click on that crazy picture at the top to access the web album.

My road trip to Houston and Corpus Christi

Time to upload and update my Picasa online web album again. Yellowstone Road trip pictures got to hold on for a while (too much pictures). Today, presenting to you our road trip pictures from Houston and Corpus Christi. A long weekend road trip within the state of Texas by the team from this year Las Vegas road trip, Riccardo (me lah), Ah Chan, Ricky, Munkit and Shirlene. Garfield our photographer is back in Singapore for his home trip while Aaron and Princess is off to Yellowstone National Park for their holiday.

We headed out to Houston at 6.30am. Almost could not wake up because I forgot to turn on the Alarm. Our car almost could not start when we stop for fuel half way to Houston. For some miracle God intervention, our Mitsubishi Montero coughed to life else we will be stuck at a small town where Miss Texas live.

The journey up to Houston was pretty worry free but we met with some resistance when we stop at the local Autozone to change the car battery. First they refuse to help us test the battery although Dallas Autozone do so, than they refuse to help us install the battery and finally they loan us tools to DIY which are all the wrong size. Come to think of it, they don't even have the proper tools at all, no wonder the staff at Autozone don't bother to help us out. Its raining, we got a dead battery and worse customer service ever seen in my stay here in US. Eventually manage to get the new battery in not without spending an extra 6 bucks to buy tools from the store.

Headed down to ChinaTown and was pleasantly surprise by the huge number of makan place. Chinese always prefer Chinese food. Brought US$29 worth of novelty bread (breadtalk kinda bread lah), Dumpling and Mooncake from one "loti" shop. A bit siao huh? So for lunch it was just bread and "Ba Zhang". Head down to DownTown Aquarium before coming back to China Town for Taiwan style noodle dinner. Stayed over for a night at GreenWay Suite which USE TO BE Best Western.

Next day, we visit the NASA Space Center. A big place, lots to photo opportunity, show to watch, guided tram tours and big rockets and shuttle. Got to dedicate a whole day there. If you visit Houston, you got to visit the NASA Space Center. After the Space Center visit, we stop by the San Jacinto Battleground to take some picture of the Dreadnought USS Texas. We could have visited the interior of the battleship if we arrive early. At less we get to admire the big bad ass battleship from the harbour at took some nice pics. Dinner was settled at Galveston at this place call Benno's right beside the beach of Atlantic Ocean. Galveston Blue Ray Crab and Catfish are on the menu today. Not bad but of course, if got Singapore Chilli Crab will be way way better. Made our way South towards Corpus Christi. Its late and RSAF policy strictly prohibit driving after 8pm during road trips although Ang Mo as young as 18 and as old as 80 could drive as much as they want. So we checked into LaQuinta Inn halfway through the journey. The establishment is new, just two months old, you can almost smell the fresh paint.

Next morning, we drove another 3 hours to reach Corpus Christi a coastal city of Texas where you will notice a big surf, sail and beach culture. The whole day was spend visiting a the USS Lexington, a former US Navy aircraft carrier now converted into a floating Museum. Personally I think its a must visit when you are in Corpus Christi especially if you are a military buff. What other opportunity do you have to explore a aircraft carrier and walk around the flight deck? Other than a Navy open house, the USS Lexington is the best chance you got. Glad to see my favorite fighter jet, the F-14 Tomcat on board. Our Dinner hunger was satisfied at Joe's Crab Shack where there is always "Free Crab Tomorrow" advertised in huge painting outside the restaurant. Thats our last stop, headed back to Dallas after that.

Ok, so much words and no pictures....you reader must be bored liao. So as usual, click on the photo collage below to access the online photo album. I have the Houston Trip web album ready at the moment...will post Corpus Christi pictures tomorrow.

Houston Trip picture...Click Me!!!

New Advance War Dual Strike Wallpaper

Wow wow we wa!!! Its Friday! I manage to achieve some of the plans I planned 2 weeks ago (What kinda English is this??? kekeke). For a start, I did improve a bit on "Sweet Child Of Mine" on Guitar Heroes but still could not make perfect the song even though I practice. I only into Chapter 3 of the book "Rainmaker". I forgot to buy a melon. So for this 3 plans, I say its only 50% completed.

What I did achieve was making a Chocolate cake which taste pretty good for a first timer baker and YES! I did complete the Advance War Dual Strike Wallpaper!!!


Yet again, I am torn between 3 choice of desktop wallpaper. Which one you guys like? Next up will be Wallpaper of my recent trip to Houston and Corpus Christi with Ah Chan, Ricky, Munkit and Shirlene.

This week, I stick to Guitar Hero practicing, reading 'Rainmaker' and instead of Melon, I make a big pot of Chrysanthemum tea. Oh yeah, still sourcing for Motherboard, Processor, Graphic card and DVD drive for my PC project.

Not another 'Love Letter'

TGIF

TGIF = Thanks God Its Friday!!!

A typical worker energy level is at his lowest on Monday after a whole weekend of fun and activity, of booze and boobs. It become worst on Tuesday after dragging himself to work on Monday and suffering the blues. On Wednesday, there was sign of improvement as he took longer lunch, coffee break and tea break sometimes resorting to MC. On Thursday, he is at his tip top condition clearing his full week of assignment and back log of work. On Friday, he shout "Thank God Its Friday!!!"

Just another day at work.

On November 12th 1981, the Space Shuttle Columbia was launched into Orbit from Florida. On board was Astronauts Joseph H. Engle and Richard H. Truly , now respectable grandpa in their own rights.

On November 12th 1981 Riccardo was born, thats me. This year marks 26 years since the 1981 launch of STS-2 Columbia and thus I am 26 years old. I will still be in Air Force and in the Chinook community but its time to give myself a birthday present and control my own destiny. I am already thinking about leaving but I have no plans where to go and what to do...

I think I am sick, sick of work and its bad to feel so. I don't think I have seen everything in my career but I have seen enough for my appetite. Some work are fine, some work are not and those that are not are utter dread. Thats redundancy I'm talking about.

Than there is the think call secondary appointment which make me feel more like secondary career within a career. I am the Tools IC, TMDE IC, SA, SOAP IC, Information Technology and I am still a Senior Technician. Just too much secondary appointment for me to give a quality focus on any one of them. Here do a bit, there do a bit... I feel like patching holes here and there. Worst still, appointment like TMDE, the over all in charge is really bochup man and only activate his ass out of the chair when crisis strike. It make me really sian to sort things out for this appointment. It makes me wonder, will everything be in top notch condition if Mindef hire people just for the secondary appointment? Definite YES. For a start hire someone to be in-charge of Tools and TMDE which is critical to our operation. When thinks get busy with Aircraft work, there is simply no time to sort things out for secondary appointment and the only time to clean the shit is during Audit period. Mad rush here mad rush there and sweep everything under the carpet.

People I work with can be the best and the worst and the interesting. Those different characters can easily combine and form a story. I came out with nick name for a few of them.

--Dark Vader as you know is my boss, he likes to use a "light saber" during his briefing. You can almost hear the swinging "light saber" saying his surname ... He got the toughest job been sandwich between the down-stairs people and upstairs people.

--Justice Bao is also another boss of mine. Expect top notch discipline from everyone and recently his face got even darker when lecturing our guys on discipline and doing DI. I have a lot of respect for him but I also heard complains about him. Sigh, hard to be the bad guy sometimes?

-- Radio Women is loud, rough but harmless. LOBOing most of the time and like to play Suduko. I think she is the source of many noise pollution. But without her, I think our base might be a bit boring and too quiet. I hope she have a volume control for me to use.

-- Drift King a.k.a "Turn, Step Gas". I don't know if he really could drift or not in his car but he definitely drift when walking....drifting on air or water. Wonder if he is working smart or bochup, seldom see him in action.

-- Grumpy. My close colleague. Very competent, very hardworking but also very grumpy too. Sometime I like to ask him why he grumble so much? Anyway, he is the PP2 caliber kind of guy. Just need more grooming and packaging by the management.

-- Captain Commando. Recent addition of our "Middle Stairs" management. Highly decorated uniform he had during NDP observance parade. "Ice cream cone" (Parachute badge) here and there on the uniform.

-- Durian. Boss of the Engine section. Take care of his boys really well and alway outspoken.

-- Luke Skywalker. Another of our Middle management. A bit of a Harry Potter in him. Soft spoken but definitely hardworking.

--Kiasee. Very detail guy and particular about this and that. Like walking around the hanger before EODB.

-- Policeman. Don't play play with him. He patrol around everyday by himself. I don't like him...

Recently, I was approached and offer the opportunity to convert to Officer. I already have plans to switch over to Ops side as flight Engineer when I get back to Singapore but the Officer path does linger at the back of my mind. However, I am Riccardo and some of my thoughts and decision can be really radical so for the sake of the organization, I politely turn down the offer.

Just another day at work and another day of work tomorrow.

A poem

“Time to Go”

Bars,
even if forged of braided gold,
are still bars.
And being locked inside is death to the soul.
God came to set us free,
not build a prison
and expect those with faith
to file in.
Structure, form, and commitment
keep us knit together.
But only if they enhance the bonds of
love,
not serve as a substitute.
When rules and religious reasons
replace love, grace and passion
another prison cell is filled.

— A poem by Delilah

Going Houston and San Antonio

Hey! I am heading to Houston to visit the NASA Space Center and SeaWorld (again?) at San Antonio this long weekend. Will not be around to handle any work issue, in fact...after duty hours just pretend I have disappear! Ha ha ha. Yeah...Holiday. Be back on Monday morning! Take care everyone!

"Late Night, Come Home, Work Sux, I Know" ~ "All The Small Things" by Blink 182