Category: Lifestyle & Hobbies

  • Second Trip to Ikea

    Believe it or not, we spent $1,090.55 at Ikea last Saturday. This is our second trip to Ikea, so it’s almost $2,000 worth of Ikea stuff if we added up the first trip!

    I’ve decided to bring my Olympus DSLR along, so enjoy the photos that follow.

    Every Ikea trip starts with food…

    Meatball Spaghetti
    Meatball Spaghetti

    That’s Yanpo’s dish.

    Stuffed Salmon
    Stuffed Salmon

    Dear’s dish.

    Swedish Meatballs
    Swedish Meatballs

    I’m having the most popular dish at Ikea.

    Herring Plate
    Herring Plate

    Fish, to share. Unfortunately, I’m the only one who likes it.

    Fried Chicken Wings
    Fried Chicken Wings

    Who can resist these crispy, oily, golden brown wings.

    Feasting in Ikea
    Feasting in Ikea

    Look at these guys. They’re certainly enjoying the good food.

    Last Three Balls
    Last Three Balls

    The last of the balls before Yanpo had them all.

    HZ after a satisfying meal
    HZ after a satisfying meal
    Dear's new hair!
    Dear's new hair!

    Yes! Dear got a new haircut on Friday. Looks so cute!

    After a very satisfying meal, we went on to shop till we almost dropped. Here’s what we got this round…

    • Another small table as an extension to the current one for the study room.
    • Another table lamp to go with the new table above.
    • A 1 x 4 book shelve to go into the window recess in the study room.
    • Another 4 x 4 book shelve for the study room.
    • A floor protector for the study room. Expensive but hopefully useful.
    • A wine rack! YES! More reasons to stockpile Shiraz at home.
    • An armchair. It should stay in the master bedroom for now.
    • A small TV console for the master bedroom.
    • A sturdy step-stool to reach higher places. This is VERY useful for $29.
    • A mirror for the common bathroom. Expensive.
    • A water jug for cold water.
    • A temporary coffee table, which will become my tool table next time. Pretty cool table for $17.
    • Dustbins for the rooms, kitchen and toilets.
    • Some toilet accessories.
    Three Trolleys of Goodies
    Three Trolleys of Goodies

    That’s a lot of stuff! The shelves and armchair are the most expensive stuff of them all. The others are less than $50 items.

    Finally, I’m getting a Wii to keep us entertained on weekends!

  • Hamsters, Day 21!

    We wanted to wait a bit more before giving them names from the musical scale (as there were seven of them), but unfortunately on the morning of 11 Sep 2009, I found one of them dead. I just got out of bed and was counting noses… 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6… and… 1 head! Yes, I saw a head with no body. 🙁

    The poor hammy was probably bitten to death by the mother and then later cannibalized by the rest. We buried it under a tree at my block.

    After the incident, we separated the hammies from their mother. They are all getting cuter and furrier as the days pass. We’re also finally able to tell their genders this week.

    Look at how they sleep!
    Look at how they sleep!

    (more…)

  • Diarrhea or “Lao Sai”

    From the Greek, “diarrhoia” meaning “a flowing through” (taken from Wikipedia).

    Everything’s flowing through non-stop, allright! For the past two days I’ve been making countless toilet runs. I haven’t eaten anything much except for some bread and drinking lots of H2O and 100Plus.

    Coincidentally, Straits Times has reported a 50% increase in diarrhea cases this week.

    BTW, hamsters are growing really quick and they should be ready for adoption next week!

    Sorry folks. I know you all love my blog, but really that’s all a flowing man can blog for now.

    Ooh, the feeling’s back. Gotta go…

  • Hamster Pups, Day 10 and 11!

    Oh aren’t they so cute? Look at how they sleep! One little nose peeking out for some fresh air.

    Look at how they sleep!
    Look at how they sleep!

    (more…)

  • Opteka 500mm Mirror Lens Going Outdoors

    I decided to take the Opteka 500mm mirror lens along with me today and took some shots. Note all the photos have been digitally enhanced, cropped and resized for web viewing.

    As suggested in my previous post, this lens works best when taken with high shutter speeds. Try not to get +0.0 exposure on your camera or you’ll get overexposed photos. The photos will look pale, but some post-processing with Photoshop should fix them.

    Verdict? The Opteka 500mm mirror lens is a good toy for some fun. The photos are decent enough for some web photos, but one should not consider it for professional use.

    Enjoy the pics! Photos taken with an Olympus E-420 and Opteka 500mm mirror @ f/8.0. No tripods used.

  • Hamster Pups on Day 7

    Nothing much changed. They still sleep all day and look like tiny little sausages, though tiny little hairs and ears have grown.

    Hamsters sleeping, day 7.
    Hamsters sleeping, day 7.

    They’ve begun grooming themselves and eating some food. Hopefully in two days’ time they’ll wander around the cage so I can play with them!