Category: My Good Life

At the zebra crossing right in front of me, I saw a brand new red Ferrari. At that moment, I wish I was holding an envelope of S$2,000,000 instead of IDR 2,000,000. 6,240 times off the mark.

Fortunately, there are moments in life that can’t be bought: like standing in front of a piece of fine art admiring the beauty within. I chanced upon a pamphlet of Singapore’s arts events guide and inside this guide, I highlighted all the free events and determined to check out at least an event or two. Yesterday I visited the Arts House and I was mesmerised by the works of the photographer J. Henry Fair – the Industrial Scars series (first two pictures on the left as sample). The photographs are beautiful but the underlying content is not. Toxic waste and foul environmental abominations, it was certainly an eye opener for me.

Today, I visited the NAFA Galleries for the Art Space Germany series (last two pictures from the right as sample). The oil paintings are intense! And there is one weird tilted white-ish multi-disc sculpture in the middle of the room that caught my attention. If only I can comprehend what the artist is trying to say.

The highlight of the festival for me is the Conservatory Lunchtime Concert at the Asian Civilisations Museum. 23 talented NUS first year music students performed the first movement of 6 of Haydn’s quartets (I did observe that one of the students has played two sets). What is most amazing was the presence of the director to explain the music through introductory speech and narration while the quartets were played. I certainly did not know that Haydn was once a teacher of Beethoven and has played (and learned) with Mozart. I miss those days when I played the school band and the Hong Kong Youth Orchestra. It is a surreal feeling to perform in public with your band-mates.

Speaking of the IDR 2,000,000 in my envelope, just less than 24 hours ago, I have decided to visit Cynthia at Jakarta – especially after hearing all the wonderful praises of the hotel she is staying. Besides, since she has enough mileage to get me a free return Singapore Airline ticket, why not?! I do miss visiting Jakarta as a tourist. 1997 was the year I had a 9 months project in Jakarta. I was dating Cynthia’s roommate back then. And I remember tossing hamsters in the air and to one another- Cynthia and I. Does that make her my … ex-mistress?

Anyway, stay tuned for more blog entries from the land of … almost everyone is a millionaire (okay, that is an exaggeration as there are many who live below the poverty level in Indonesia).

Or rather, how SingTel solved their own problem was beyond my comprehension. But before I reveal the heavily-hypothesized-probably-a-waste-of-your time theory of how the situation was resolved, here is something new I learned about the SingTel helpdesk.

Recap and some new information …

Tuesday 8am – Internet connection was down. Perhaps they were doing some voodoo magic in upgrading my connection speed?
Tuesday 11pm – Phone line was dead too! Called the broadband technical support – the only number I have.
Tuesday 11.30pm – An incident was logged at Internet Services department and routed to Telephone Services department.

Wednesday 11.15am – No one from SingTel called. This time I have decided to call the Telephone Services (TS) directly to report my faulty phone line.

I listened to the voice from the machine, “Press 1 for telephone related problem. Press 2 for broadband related problem …” I stared at the keypad for a moment pondering which number I shall press when my phone and my broadband were both not working. I randomly chose one. Knowing how SingTel works from yesterday’s experience …

Me: Good morning. My name is Wilfrid. My home number is 6xxx-xxxx, my Internet ID is xxxxxxxx, and my mobile number is 9xxx-xxxx. I would like to follow up an incident I have reported yesterday.
TS: Sorry sir, there is no record of such incident here.
Me: Oh, I contacted the Internet Services department yesterday and they said they would get someone from your side to call me this morning. Can you send someone over to help?
TS: I am afraid I can’t do this within a week.
Me: ONE WEEK?! What do you mean? (Okay, I think I must have terrified the poor lady – unintentionally I swear.)
TS: I can escalate for you back to the broadband side but I cannot log a report for you unless it is open for a week.
Me: Oh, that’s what you meant. So, currently the broadband side owns my issue and your side has to wait for the instruction from them.
TS: That’s correct.
Me: If my problem is not fixed within a week, you can then log the report for me and take action from there.
TS: That’s right.
Me: And meanwhile, you route my request back to the broadband side and I will have to wait for one of you to call?
TS: Correct!

I surely hoped that my phone line would not be dead for a week.

Wednesday 11.30am – I was not going to play the waiting game. I was going to call the Internet Service (IS) department directly.

Me: Good morning. My name is … (same old introduction yada yada yada)
IS: Sorry sir, there is no such report being raised.
Me: But I called this exact number yesterday!
IS: I can log down your problem now and get someone to call you for your faulty phone line.
Me: (Oh my God!) …
IS: I can log this as an urgent matter for you.

I swear I heard the exact same response the day before.

Me: How long will I need to wait for someone to call me?
IS: We will get back to you as soon as possible.
Me: Like how long? One hour? One day? I really need to know.
IS: As soon as possible sir. And I will call you for an update.
Me: OK. When shall I expect your call for an update?
IS: As soon as I have an update for you sir.
Me: When will that be? Shall I call you instead?
IS: I will call you sir … as soon as possible.

It turns out that he didn’t call me at all. Anyway …

Wednesday 12:15pm – A rather fearsome lady called my mobile number.

SingTel: Hello, is this Wilfrid on the line?
Me: (I could not hide my excitement) Yes! Are you from SingTel?
SingTel: Yes. Has anyone called you yet?

Huh? Don’t you have something like a call report?

Me: No. You are the first.
SingTel: Okay, what’s your problem? It says urgent.

I gave her a high level recount of the recent flow of events.

Me: When can you send someone to help me? This afternoon?
SingTel: It’s already noon and it is not possible.
Me: But I reported this problem yesterday (sulking).
SingTel: My log says 12:05pm and I call you as soon as I can. I can give you a morning slot on Thursday, tomorrow.
Me: Can it be sooner? It is really urgent!
SingTel: It is already very tight tomorrow. The next available slot is on Friday.

Seriously, shall I be grateful that I am not given a Friday slot instead? Perhaps I shall be grateful that they call.

Thursday 11am – A technician arrived at my doorstep. I felt like giving him a hug. Half of what he said I don’t understand. Somehow SingTel has outsourced the technical support (perhaps that explains the less than friendly call yesterday?) and the technician told me that what I have is a common problem. Someone from SingTel has done some configuration at their end (in my case, upgrade of broadband speed) and forgot to do something at my end. He went outside my apartment, opened one of the doors (I now know that I have 3 little locked doors outside for water, electricity, and telephone line respectively), and showed me the circuit. I did not know that my apartment can accommodate up to 6 telephone lines (labeled as A to F)! What he did was to move my phone line from A slot to B slot and then he headed to the main circuit that is in another tower to verify. Somehow, the entire condo’s phone lines converge to one single tower. Interesting.

Well, I am glad that my problem is fixed. When I left home this afternoon, I listened to the dial tone over the speaker phone as though it was the best music I have heard this week. Now, I must think of how to write a complain letter and seek for compensation … if I bother to that is.

It all started with an upgrade of an Internet broadband plan (from a long overdue re-contract) that renders my residential phone dead and my Internet connection down for more than a day and counting. But that is not all. I am surprised that such a mammoth national organization with a turnover of S$13.15 billion (US$8.41 billion) and net profit after tax of S$3.78 billion (US$2.42 billion) does not even have a decent customer relationship management tool in place. 10 years ago, in order to inform them that they have misspelled my name as “Wilfrio”, I have to call the telephone services department for my residential line, the mobile services department for my two wireless phone numbers, and International calling services department for my two International Calling Cards. And today, there is little difference. You will see why.

Last evening, I tried plugging into the Internet and … panic! I still could not do so. Granted, the sales person told me that during the upgrade of Internet speed (I was inspired to do so after testing my Internet connection at Tigerfish’s webbie), my connection may be down for a couple of hours. But that was close to 24 hours! Times like this when you really need some emergency numbers to call but without being able to visit the SingTel website, how am I to call them for help? I did a search in my neighborhood to see if there are some kind souls out there leaving their Internet connections unencrypted and there were none! Couple of years ago, most people didn’t care about encrypting their wireless connections. What happens to the good old days when people leave their main doors unlocked?! What happens when someone like me who just want to … borrow some sugar while you are not at home?!

Fortunately, I still have the text message from the sales person and inside, there is a number to call for broadband technical assistance. Did you know that there are more than 20 numbers customers can call for various SingTel services? Some observe normal office hours, some are free, and some are with per minute charge. The technical assistance number, as I recall, is open till midnight. So I placed a call to SingTel at 11.30pm.

As usual, even with a diversity of 20 different numbers to call, the machine asked me to make several menu selections as well as to punch in my residential home number.

Finally, a friendly operator …

SingTel: Good evening, this is ABC speaking. How may I help you?
Me: Good evening, I have a problem.
SingTel: (eagerly waiting)
Me: My Internet connection is dead.
SingTel: May I have your residential number, please?

Didn’t I just punch in?! Not time for a quarrel so I told her my number.

Me: And my residential line is dead too. I have upgraded my plan recently and was told that the connection will be down for a couple of hours. Nothing seems to work for many hours. Can you help me with this?
SingTel: I can certainly help! Did you upgrade your plan today?
Me: No, I did it last week.
SingTel: Can I have your Internet ID please?

Duh … it’s not in their systems somewhere?

SingTel: Please hold for a moment.

I was falling asleep.

SingTel: Have you relocated to a new address?
Me: Like moving house?
SingTel: Yes.
Me: It’s a re-contract of broadband plan. My address is the same; my numbers are the same …
SingTel: Hold on please.

Duh! Relocation? Where did she get that from?

SingTel: Sorry to keep you waiting. I will need to ask one of the residential line managers to call you tomorrow.
Me: Oh no! That means I will have no phone line or Internet connection for until don’t know when? (In retrospect, men say the dumbest things in situations like this by merely stating the obvious not unlike You are leaving me? You don’t love me anymore?)
SingTel: I am afraid not.
Me: (sulking)
SingTel: Can I have your mobile number please?

Huh, didn’t my number show on the call ID panel? And it was not as though she did not have my complete profile in front of her computer screens.

Or did she?

Back to my comment on SingTel that may not even have a decent customer relationship management tool. I bet the technical assistant did not know that I have been a loyal SingTel customer for 12 years since the days of the pagers.

Duh!

As of now, nothing is working, still.

I swear couple of years ago I did dream about living where Miss Singapore World 2006 lives right now – a glass hut in the middle of Raffle Place. It may sound too far fetched but there are enough real life friends visiting my site who can vouch for my … sanity – I mean integrity. I have had dreams that became a reality, somewhat. I am still having dreams about what the future looks like (the buildings and the trains) repeatedly. In that particular dream, I was living in this glass hut and as far as I can remember, there was some sort of riots in the end. I really should continue my Fragments of My Dreams blog category. Who knows one day I may make reference to it and say … see, I did dream about the exact same thing, somewhat.

When I first saw the hut being setup, I was wondering what it was. Then the words spread. It is actually a marketing effort by the new classified site ST701.com. And the campaign is called “Colleen Exposed”. I personally admire this wonderful idea given the fact that its direct competitor MediaCorp’s online classified site Mocca.com has gained much ground. The idea is for Colleen, winner of Miss Singapore World 2006, to live inside a glass hut that “exposes” her living room and bedroom (not bathroom of course!). And she stays inside the hut for 7 days relying on ST701.com for her day-to-day needs. When I took the photo at 6-ish in the evening, she was having a pole dancing lesson from one of the instructors advertised in ST701.com. The instructor was great. Colleen was … so so.

Colleen does have a rather plain blog in that online site. However I must say, the marketing campaign has much impact. I wonder what the marketing budget is like.

When I was young, I often spent hours looking out of the windows of my apartment in Hong Kong observing how old structures were being torn down and new structures were being built. Back then, buildings were not that high. From where we lived – at the seventh floor – I remember as a small kid, I could see how people lived their lives in the building opposite. There were lots of illegal structures constructed on the roof top and I was used to see – through the eyes of a small boy (with lots of imagination) – how people prepared and cooked their food in the kitchens, people going in and out of the toilets, and family members arguing with each other. An unsightly scene I know but not without the charm of curiosity.

Years later, from the same set of windows through the eyes of a young boy, I have seen how pedestrian bridge was built. And I have seen how an office was built, then a hotel. It has always been a fascination to observe the different kind of machinery works together in such a slow manner. But yet, as we all know how time flies, a beautiful structure is built from ground up and suddenly we ask ourselves: wait a minute, it wasn’t there a while back.

And a while back, in the year of 2006 dated September 1st, I walked pass a construction site diagonally opposite Sim Lim Square. I was in awe when I had a peep at the site inside (picture on the left) and it was drawing me into it. The feeling is as such: life outside the fence operates as per normal while what lies inside is a big pot of mystery. Something is growing rapidly. I had no idea what it was but I took a picture anyway.

September 26, 2007, I visited Sim Lim Square and this time, I saw a beautiful building that is close to completion (picture on the right). I admired the building in great length so much so that I missed the taxi that I was supposed to flag down. I did a research at home and this building is the LASALLE College of the Arts.

You must be thinking, since from young I have this fascination of construction, why didn’t I become a civil engineer instead? Even my mother thought that I would be an engineer of some sort. This got me thinking that in life, there are three types of career – career that you fascinate (no proven track record if you can or cannot do that job), career that you have passion with (something to do with any of your hobbies that you have shown talent), and career that earns a living. In my case and in the above said order, that would be an engineer, playing in a rock band, and being stuck inside an office cubicle. If you have found a career that you fascinate since young, have passion with, and earn you a good living, I sincerely congratulate you. Please share your story with me.

In the same month when I discovered LASALLE College of the Arts, at my Godmother’s birthday party, I met someone who works in the construction business. His company does project management work – conceptually not too different from the kind of things I have done – primarily working on the “design and implementation” of condominiums in Singapore. He explained to me that this team takes in the architect’s design and contracts teams of specialists in making the blueprint a reality.

One question came into my mind. How much does it cost to build a condominium?

A 30-ish tall condominium in 3 to 4 blocks with a total unit size of 400-ish at a non-prime location costs S$70 to S$80 million to build. That works out to be an average of S$200,000 per unit. I enquired further on the cost allocation and learned that in general, 30% goes to the raw building in concrete form, 30% goes to the internal piping and wiring and utilities, and finally 30% goes to the “surfacing” (i.e. tiles and standard furniture). For prime location, expect up to 40% of allocation to the “surfacing” work. I didn’t ask him where does the rest of 10% goes to. It must be the cost of project management and the paper work I suppose. The timeline of each project? 18 to 24 months.

Back to LASALLE, I wonder if there are relevant courses that will enhance some of my art hobbies. If there is, I will let you know for sure.

From the story of Living With Cynthia Chapter Mission Impossible comes the next installment as a follow-up to What The PUK?!. One morning, Cynthia had an outbreak of desperation: Do you know how frustrated it is?! And she repeated that three times.

PART ONE – FINDING ERBASOL

I certainly know how frustrated she is. Cynthia has sensitive skin and it is her lifelong mission to find the right set of products for her head, her face, and her body. I am used to taking over products that do not suit her. Like the Dove Firming Body Wash a while back. Do I need firming body wash? Seriously?

Taking over the shampoo or body wash that Cynthia cannot use is one thing. Taking over the cosmetic of hers is another. I cannot see myself applying that S$100+ moisturizer on my face on a daily basis. No way.

Having anticipated what is to come my way, I tried to understand why it is so frustrating for Cynthia to get the right moisturizer. Recently she has switched to Kiehl’s. The sample worked well but prolonged usage showed otherwise. It is frustrating of course because prior to Kiehl’s, she used Erbasol range of product and that worked well for her. Sadly, the beauty center she frequented has closed down. Hence, she has not been able to purchase Erbasol products since then.

Understanding the problem is the first step in solving any problem. That morning as though I saw the bat sign on the evening sky or Lois Lane’s scream at the ears of Superman, I was determined to step up, give it a try, to save another innocent’s life.

Figuratively.

Finding out where to buy the Erbasol product here in Singapore turns out to be quite a difficult task. At least to me. I did an extensive search in the Internet, got a lousy phone number that did not work. I tried eBay and sites alike and could not find that particular product. Really, what do I know about lady’s skin care products?

But I ain’t got to give in. No way. I sent an email to Erbasol headquarter asking for the contact information for the distributor in Singapore. Meanwhile, I was ready to call up each and every beauty center and even Erbasol headquarter in Italy if it is what it takes to find the product.

Gosh, I was determined.

We have a happy ending. The headquarter replied and they gave me an address (no phone number though). The rest is easy. Now … part two of the story.

PART TWO – TIME TRAVEL

The distributor Hairizon is located somewhere at Commonwealth drive. As I got out of the car park, I felt as though I was teleported back in time to Singapore in the 70’s. Slabs of stones underneath where my car rested were coming off. The buildings looked old and I even saw an old “bridge” unlike anything I have seen in Singapore (see picture above). Usually I see this sort of scenery in the neighborhood(s) of the oppositions. But no, I did see the sign of PAP (ruling party of Singapore) here and there.

Took me a while to find block 77 and when I found it, gosh, I looked at the shop and that looked old. Turns out that I was looking at the storeroom. The shop was at another outlet down the road.

I stepped in and this old lady looked at me, asked me in Chinese what I was looking for. We’ve talked on the phone, I replied. In this shop that was full of goods (mainly for hair salons), I saw wigs, different kinds of scissors that barbers use, and different kind of shampoo and gels and all sort of funky brands that I have not seen before. Besides the old lady, there was another middle age man shopping for some hair products for his hair salon.

I told the old lady what I needed (3 different kinds of Erbasol products in total) and she stepped out of her shop, left the office and shop opened, and headed to the store room for what seemed like ages. Meanwhile, this middle age man and I chatted on and on and I got to know the background of the shop, of the shop owners, of the shop owners’ children, and the various equipments that a hair salon uses. Not long afterwards, a middle age lady stepped in looking for a pair of scissors in order to give her son a haircut. She in turn chatted with the middle age man asking if he knew what sort of scissors are value for money.

After eternity, the old lady returned. I did some negotiations, have the GST waived, and the old lady chatted with me for God knows how long. You know, I really respect the patience of the rest of the customers. It is as though waiting is a norm in this small town. It must have taken me more than half an hour to get what I needed.

I felt as though I was in another world. But at least, mission accomplished … once again.

This blog entry is kind of overdue, I know. Quite a few friends of mine asked what is it like to leave the life of a consultant and work in the industry. Instead of spending time to type lots of words, I depict my view in the graphs above.

I guess the graphs exaggerate the situation a bit. Ha ha ha … love to poke fun at my friends who are still in this trade but I am sure they can somewhat relate to what I am trying to say. To those who are new to the consulting business, it is not usual to see a consultant who is expected to deliver a lot more in a much shorter time compares to his counterpart at the client side. After all, that is how consultants create value and charge an obscene amount of fees … of which only a tiny fraction actually goes into their pockets (hence the yellow bar). To be fair, consultants don’t just create value by putting in extra hours that they do, no doubt. Depending on the sophistication of the consulting company, some are able to draw best practices, global talents, and connection with external partners to get the job done with a snap of the fingers. For those who are inspired and have the potential of being one of the bosses who take home bulk of that absence fees, by all means, please do stay and excel and while you are at it, please don’t forget you have dear friends like me who love to be pampered with sumptuous meals and expensive gifts.

10 years kind of seems like a long time. And I wanted some new perspective in my working life. So I have decided to join the industry that I spent most time with in the past. A decision well advised by some old friends of mine long time ago (an equal number of friends if not more advised me against it). At a first glance, working in the industry may seems a bit slow and relax compares to the consulting lifestyle. That is true to a certain extend. What it means is that you can just do what you are expected of and have time to take care of other priorities of your life. Or you now have the space to do a lot more and hopefully be recognized.

I am still new to the job. Who knows what comes next. We shall see.

Size is relative, I know. But in my eyes, mine is a big one, a huge one. And I am happy with what I have got … until I had lunch with RC today and learned that his beats mine by 2 inches! Arrgghh! As I dug deeper, I also learned that mine has a much better response time than his. Now, take that! Ha ha ha … I know … men, the competitive type.

KF the muscleman (not to confuse with KF the consultant) is someone you should avoid when you want to buy something. Because he will certainly tempt you to buy that something and a lot more. However, KF is also that someone you should see when you want to buy that something. Because he does know everything under the sun. And so I did seek for his opinions. I have been toying with the idea of buying a new color display unit for my computer (a.k.a. LCD monitor), for years. It has become the mother of all delayed gratification (I will tell you what is the “grandmother” in a bit).

Three years ago, I spent S$1,000 for a Samsung 17″ LCD monitor with a response time of 8ms. Since then technology has advanced in three different dimensions. The response time has lowered, the monitor size has grown bigger, and some take onto the form of a wide-screen format. Price, on the other hand, has come down progressively. I visited COMEX (very nice IT show this year in terms of space and babes) and came back with a Samsung 22″ wide-screen glossy LCD monitor (2ms response time) at a price of S$550. That is like half the price of my old monitor. The analogy is … today you spend S$50,000 to buy a Honda Jazz and three years later, a brand new Honda Accord equivalent that did not exist today would only cost you S$25,000. Madness right? That is technology for you.

I love my brand new Samsung so much that I am going to give it a name … Alice it is then. She is beautiful, expensively beautiful … and is larger than my 12 years old 21″ TV. Now, that is the grandmother of all delayed gratification. Plasma or LCD TV? KF the muscleman will tell you how frustrated he is with my indecisiveness. Move on with technology, he often says to me.

On a similar yet different topic, tell me, since when we are what we study? Not trying to console myself but look around you. A literature degree graduate doesn’t write books for a living. A mathematician doesn’t solve the mathematical puzzles of the century after he steps out of the university. A sociologist ends up doing anything but working in the field of the development of society and social behavior. And a computer engineer and scientist like me … not necessarily that technology savvy like many of you may expect of me.

Sick of having to share 4 network cables with more than 4 people in the meeting room day after day (yes, short of office space), I asked for a budget to acquire a network hub. One that is capable to support our ever expanding team size. Ask and you shall receive. Ask and you will be “arrowed” to do it. Duh! And so I made a trip to an IT mall. I marched into one of my favorite stores and had a brief conversation with this less-than-helpful shop assistance.

He: What are you looking for?
Me: I want to buy a wired router for my office (knowing that wireless router will probably breach the security code of the organisation I work for).
He: We don’t carry wired router anymore.
Me: You don’t?!
He: We don’t. That was long time ago.
Me: (facing turning red) … so what do you suggest?
He: You may want to get a switch.
Me: A switch?
He: (leading me to a sea of switches) … yes, a switch.
Me: What is a switch?
He: (looked at me and lost in words) … a switch is an intelligent hub …
Me: An intelligent hub?! (what is a dumb hub then?!) I just need a … a … a thing (hands waving in the air) so that all of us can connect to the network!

Gasp! What does a man have to do in order to get his hub?!

Anyway, I asked the people around me and everyone has his own definition on what a router and a switch is. Not to bore you all with details. After some serious investigation, I bought a switch that fortunately works for our situation. Phew … like my friend GS often said: learn something new everyday!