tzlee.com/blog

Category: Property

  • The Life of a Working House Husband

    Somehow I think I’m living life on the soft side, or as the Chinese says, 吃软饭. I’m officially in a holiday mood as I write this blog entry while my wife (who’s just right beside me) bashes away at a PCI DSS audit report… I think she doesn’t even notice me blogging.

    I’m finally taking a real break from work with a weeks’ leave between Christmas and New Year. Not that I’m the first around here, but hopefully not the last. I spent the last working hours of 2009 actually back in office unpacking, installing and repacking servers each fully jam-packed with twelve 3.5″ SAS disks. They’re really quite heavy – weighing up to 30 kilos each. SAS disks are considerably heavier than SATA ones. Somehow, weight does matter? Shrugs. So if you think I’m really having a good time at work everyday, now you know it’s not always the case.

    But before I let myself run wild for the last few days of 2009, I’ll write a little about work… I’ve been at this job for a little over a year. It’s been pretty nice working around here and I’ve surely learnt a great deal. My colleagues are fantastic – I’ve got a great PM and one thing that touched me was that the sales folks gave us Christmas presents every year! Or at least for the two Christmas I’ve been through. I got cookies from Vivien last year and Winnie gave us Royce chocs this time round… I ate about half the box before I brought the remainder home. Oops, sorry dear.

    I’ve also gotten really lucky to have won lucky draw prizes at all the company dinners – I got a Dell Inspiron the last year and a Sony PSP Go this year. The Dell has been put to good use, but the PSP is not really my kind of toy, so it’s going to my sister if she behaves, or maybe eBay.

    I’m packing my schedules up for the next week to catch up with some looooooooong lost friends, some of whom I’ve completely lost contact with since we left primary school. Thanks to the power of the Internet and social networking, I’m finally meeting them again after fifteen years! Unbelievable.

    And of course in my free time I shall religiously clean the house which has been neglected for the past two months. I also need to learn how to cook more variety of dishes. I’ve been preparing fish dishes so far.

    Well, that’s the life of a working house husband. At least for now.

  • Happy Holidays, Welcome 2010

    Welcome back…

    I know you have been faithful readers.

    See? You’re smiling. Stop denying it. You love my blog, don’t you?

    It has been a crazy month. I’m part of a small team of three and two of my colleagues went away – one to Turkey and another to reservist so he could help weed out terrorist. I was, of course, left all alone to take on some good amount of work that, well,  came all at the same time. Screw Murphy. Hate that guy.

    So it’s December and everybody’s in a holiday mood. I wish I was too, but it’s not quite easy with a fucking noisy neighbour living right upstairs. They make so much noise and vibration by dragging furniture, slamming their doors and let their kids run about into the wee hours that even my window grilles rattle at times. After approaching them three times and calling the cops once, I decided to approach them one last time which ended in a yelling session, with the typical remark from these inconsiderate bastards like “this is my house, I’ll do whatever I want” or “go buy a condo“. Things improved a bit after the yelling, but it still happens. When the night’s all quiet, these sudden bumps and squeaks really make you to jump.

    So it seems nothing really changed in 2009 other than my marital status and an empty bank from a property purchase and renovation. It’s time to work out something new in 2010. My public list of items goes like this:

    • Get back on track with some research/dev type projects. I’ll be meeting an NUS professor before 2009 ends, so I’ll post an update here.
    • Learn to cook now that I’ve got a kitchen to myself. I’ve also promised to post some of my successful attempts out of many other unsuccessful ones.
    • Get the wedding banquet done.
    • Build new sources of revenue. I’ll start small, but aim big.
    • Get back to flying R/C occasionally as a hobby. I’ve stopped flying for the entire of 2009 without even realizing it.

    And of course, before 2009 ends, here’s a short to do list.

    • Pack up the study room. It’s in an absolute mess now.
    • Get another two sets of Wii Remote + Nunchuck since the two I ordered from HK over a month ago didn’t arrive at all.
    • Get my old Cello bows rehaired. Already sent and will only be done in January 2010.

  • Three Week Summary

    Renovation has officially completed; we made our final payment last Thursday and the final touches were done yesterday. All the furniture are in as well. Mode Studio didn’t screw up and delivered the remaining furniture as scheduled.

    I pay a lot of attention to detail and there were some minor issues with the renovation (as usual). Carpentry, plumbing and electrical works needed personal supervision but overall we rate our interior designer highly for their design creativity and project management. We are especially pleased with their flooring, painting and solid surface works.

    I’ve been very busy but I will post some photos of the completed work soon.

    Work as usual, hamsters are still alive and kicking. I’m trying to find some time to pick up my R/C hobby again as the sloping season’s back but my time has been all tied up by the house renovation. Cleaning a new house has proved to be quite a chore as the dust settles each day.

    I have also attempted cooking. BTW, it’s not exactly cheap for two persons to cook at home. Breakfast is easy but I haven’t been very successful with my first dinner dish. However, the wife makes nice Chinese soup dishes!

    It’s just one more month before the year comes to an end. Time to close yet another chapter and kick start 2010. It will be a very exciting new year!

  • Mode Studio and Red Apple Furniture Woes

    We bought furnitures from Mode Studio, a subsidary of Red Apple Furniture on Aug 24, 2009. It has been exactly two months and we have yet to recieve full shipment of our order.

    The initial delivery was expected before the end of  September (one month from the date of order). When we called to confirm our delivery, the sales person denied having agreed to such a date and told us we would only receive our order by mid October. Our sales person then went MIA after the first week of October and we had to follow up with another guy.

    Our sofa and dining table arrived two weeks ago. We’re still waiting for our dining chair and coffee table. Oh, it’s the China holidays, it’s the bad weather, order’s not submitted, order went missing, communication problem, shipping delay, wrong container. It’s just excuses and delays after delays.

    Their logistics company called to schedule the remainder of our order to be delivered yesterday but I won’t be home, so I asked to have them shipped tomorrow morning.

    Anyway, there’s a thread in HardwareZone Forums discussing some other customers’ experience with Red Apple Furniture and I would recommend that you read it.

    This is what I wrote about my sales experience:

    I didn’t ask for a ridiculous discount. In fact, I was “offerred” a package when I stepped in. A dining table, 4 chairs, L sofa and coffee table. All for approx $3.2k. Then the sales person added a GST after we agreed to the price. BTW, this is a sales gimmick. If you have ever visited my retail store www.whymobile.com, you will know that I am very familiar with these sales tricks especially in my trade. If you want more info, read the Mission Statement under “About Us”.

    Anyway, after giving them a weird face (I almost wanted to walk out), they said they will waive the delivery charge. IMHO, $3.2k is not a ridiculous price. You get about that kind of prices for china made furniture everywhere. ($1.4k sofa, $800 dining table, $400 for 4 chairs, $400 for coffee table, with some spare change for delivery.) I credit them for better design but certainly if you were to compare Ikea’s prices, product quality and after-sales service, they’re no where near.

    Here’s another thread at RenoTalk.

    I never had a hiccup with Ikea’s logistics. Their products are of great quality considering the prices. I never really had an Ikea thing fail on me like many others said they would. I have a 10+ year old Ikea study table still straight and solid. Like Ikea furnitures today, it’s made of the same MBF 10 years ago. There’s also an Ikea bookshelve at the back of WhyMobile. It’s battered day in and out in a busy retail store and it’s still stands straight.

    I’m happy to have spent over $2k on Ikea furnitures for my new home with no hiccups at all. After all these fiasco, I declare myself a supporter of Ikea furnitures and food.

    If you’re buying Ikea, don’t expect your $39 table to last a lifetime, duh. Buy something of higher quality at Ikea.

  • 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!

  • House Cleaning, Part Two

    A quick check on the to-do list:

    • Pass ah fen a hamster – done.
    • Grab the side table we ordered from Defu – done.
    • Pay the balance for the sofa and dining table and arrange for them to be delivered next week – half done. More screwups with the delivery.
    • Grab the trolley, TV and sub woofers from parent’s office. I left my new TV there for storage – done.
    • Bak Kut Teh at Jurong East for lunch at 1300 hrs – failed.
    • Clean the living room, and maybe three bedrooms if they get dusty again – done.
    • Figure out where to mount the bathroom accessories, and what else we need to buy – half done. We know what we want to mount, but haven’t figured what we need to buy.
    • Assemble the Ikea lamps – done.
    • Set up the home router. It’s going to a Linux box with Vyatta, then I can establish an IPsec Site-to-site VPN! Whoopee! – Not done!
    • Hopefully a karanguni drops by so I can get rid of the old ceiling fans – didn’t happen.
    Leaving Sakae Sushi at TradeHub.
    Leaving Sakae Sushi at TradeHub.

    When Ferren arrived at Jurong East, she found that the entire hawker center was under renovation, so we ate Sakae instead of Bak Kut Teh.

    Duckie smiling on the way to the new house.
    Duckie smiling on the way to the new house.

    Even Duckie’s excited about the new house.

    Study room cleaned and ready.
    Study room cleaned and ready.

    This is the study room with Ikea chairs and tables, all set up and ready for use.

    Watching TV in the living room after a tiring day.
    Watching TV in the living room after a tiring day.

    We watched G-Force and some crappy YouTube videos in the evening after two days of cleaning.