28 Dec 2023 - Two free Apple IPads for Real

We collected two Apple IPads from Challenger (Bugis) today.  They were absolutely free.  All we did was to apply for a specific credit card via SingSaver website and once the application was approved, simply charged $500 in the first month.  Though it took a while from the time we applied for the credit card (Aug 2023) till we collected the IPad (Dec 2023), it's worth the wait, at least it's REAL!

However, the IPads were taken over by Jerlene and Javier the moment we brought them home.  :-)

26 Dec 2023 - Our Escape Room Kaki getting bigger

Playing escape room before school starts has been a norm over the years.  This school holiday is no different than any other and that's what we did today.  The key difference was that our "escape" party now has grown bigger.  Jerlene's best friend had joined us today.  :-) 

23 Dec 2023 - Christmas is just round the corner

While we were having our lunch at Casuarina Prata shop, members of a choir group from the next-door church entered the restaurant and sang Christmas Carols to the customers.  Christmas is just 2 days away so wishing all a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

13-17 Dec 2023 - CodeDay Singapore

Javier registered himself for a free beginner-friendly app development workshop from 13-17 Dec 2023.  CodeDay was a worldwide event, hosted by National Junior College, where student artists, programmers, musicians, actors and writers get together to learn and build something new. 

The first 3 days of the event were workshops where participants were introduced to beginner projects in the world of Computer Science such as web development, game development and bot development. Participants do not require any coding background to participate in the event.

After attending 3 days of workshops, Javier found it to be too basic and not very interesting.  As such, he decided not to attend the next two days of the workshop, which was mainly a Hackathon-like event.  Will keep a lookout for other more challenging events for him.

2 Dec 2023 - Admiring Nature's Beauty at Upper Peirce Reservoir

After our Prata lunch at Casuarina Curry (Thomson), we drove to Upper Peirce Reservoir via the Old Upper Thomson Road.  Along the way we saw many monkeys sitting along the roadside.

It always feels great and refreshing to visit such place which is away from all the busy districts.  A bit like visiting a park or a lake in overseas.

Though this island is mainly a huge concrete jungle, you can still find some nature's beauty if you are willing to spend sometimes to observe the surrounding.

When we were about to leave, we saw a family of otters swimming in the reservoir.

1 Dec 2023 - Technology Refresh for my personal laptop

It's time to refresh my personal laptop.  My previous Acer Nitro had served me well over the past 3-4 years.  However, it's getting slower and noisier lately so it's time for a replacement.  Today, I received my Acer Predator Helios 18 laptop.  Hopefully it will perform as I have expected and can last for at least the next 3-4 years.  With all the Lazada vouchers and bonuses that I had accumulated, I actually bought it pretty cheap.

Below is the product specification:

Predator Helios 18

13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900HX (36 MB Smart Cache, up to 5.4 GHz, overclock capable)

18" 16:10 WQXGA(2560x1600) IPS, 300 nits, DCI-P3 100%, G-Sync LED-backlit TFT LCD, supporting 165 Hz refresh rate

NVIDIA RTX 4070 8GB GDDR6 (140W)

32GB DDR5 5600MHz RAM

1TB PCIe SSD

Windows 11 Home (64-bit)

Bluetooth 5.2

Killer Wi-Fi 6E

Built-in Webcam (1080p Camera)

3.16Kg, 90Wh Battery Capacity

per-key RGB mini-LED keyboard

Dimension: 405 (W) x 311.61 (D) x 27.15/29.15 (H) mm

3 Years On-site Local Singapore Warranty

23 Nov 2023 - Thunder Storm is coming!

Dark clouds accumulated all over the sky.  Nature is beautiful and scary at the same time.

20 Nov 2023 - Osaka Day 11: Kansai Airport and Flight Home

We heard about the situation at Kansai Airport whereby there was always a long queue to enter into the transit area.  As such, we took no risk by arriving at the airport early.

After checking in, we followed a long snaking queue and eventually saw a man (below) holding up a sign saying, "End of Line".  When you need a person to do this, you can imagine how crowded the airport was.

Our flight took off on time.

As usual, when we reached a specific altitude, the cabin crew started serving our meals.

After my meal, I managed to capture the evening orange sky in the horizon.

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20 Nov 2023 - Osaka Day 11: Rinku Pleasure Town and Premium Outlet

Rinku Town is about an hour metro ride away from Osaka city.  It has the largest outlet shopping center (Rinku Premium Outlets) in western Japan, and is located across from Kansai International Airport.

We were here about 15 years ago with Jerlene when she was less than 2 years old.  The below indoor playground still around and I remembered Jerlene had such a good time here.  You may read more about it here.

As it's lunch time, we had our meal at the food court.

You will never miss the iconic Ferris Wheel when you are here.

Rinku Premium Outlet is a 2-story building in the style of the old American port town Charleston houses over 210 shops.  As we did not have much time here, we did not do any shopping.

Instead, we decided to try our luck at the claw machine.  The reason that I took a photo of the below machine was that I managed to "catch" one Kirby figurine in my first attempt.  Javier was so happy because Kirby was his favourite character.

Soon, it's time to take the train to the airport.

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20 Nov 2023 - Osaka Day 11: Last minute shopping at Namba City

Before we checked out of our hotel, Tracy and I went for some last-minute shopping around Namba City area.  With that, our 11 days Kyoto/Osaka trip finally came to an end.

If we went to the airport immediately after checking out, we would be too early as our flight's departure time was 5:25pm.  As such, we decided to go Rinku Town, which is one stop away from the airport.

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19 Nov 2023 - Osaka Day 10: Shinsekai (新世界)

At about 7pm, we decided to explore Shinsekai area when the entire place was lighted up.

Shinsekai (新世界 or "New World") is a district in Osaka that was developed before the war and then neglected in the decades afterwards.

At the district's center stands Tsutenkaku Tower, the nostalgia-evoking symbol of Shinsekai.

This place is distinguished by Janjan Yokocho Alley shopping street and large retro signboards.

We could see Billiken, which is known as "The God of Things as They Ought to Be", at every corner of Shinsekai.

Initially we intended to have our dinner in one of the many restaurants around.  However, most of them require us to pay a mandatory table fee or starter fee in addition to what we actually wanted to have.  As such, we decided to return to Namba area for our dinner.

We had our first and last meal in Osaka at Yohshinoya, where the food was cheap and good.

We did some shopping along Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi streets on this last night of our trip.

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