tzlee.com/blog

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  • Picnic

    Had a picnic with wifey, Francis and girlfriend last Saturday morning. I volunteered to prepare egg mayo (just the filling) since Francis would be getting melons, parma ham and bread.

    We arrived together at the Botanical Gardens at 9.30AM, found a spot under a tree and started munching away at the delicious food.

    Stan who had initially turned down the picnic decided to tag along rather last minute. He called Francis and offered to bring hotdogs.

    And this was how he arrived:

    Those were the only hotdogs he brought along.

    Anyway while we were halfway through our food, some people with dogs jogged past us and Stan’s dogs started barking.

    We turned around and saw two beautifully groomed Pomeranians and their gay owners.

    Then when Stan’s dogs jumped up and started running towards the two Pomeranians, Stan held the leash back and made a classic statement…

    “Hey! 不可以! That one is different class one.”

    Different class? LOL! Poor dogs…

  • 没车没房？

    Very low class song, but also very true about girls nowadays.

    Here’s the best part… sing with alternate lyrics. I didn’t make this up BTW, my chinese not so powerful. Got this off one of the comments.

    If you can’t stand the singing from the YouTube video, I’ve created a minus-one midi here.

    走在馬路上 ,一個個孤單女郎,
    總以為比男人強, 卻要男人養!

    找男人還要求,要有車又有房,
    你憑什麼要這麼多樣!

    你又沒有乳房, 更別說有長相,
    我爸爸他也勸你, 快點回家鄉!

    假如你沒乳房, 假如你也沒長相,
    趕緊回鄉幫阿伯打槍!

    我有把槍, 一公尺長, 但不想破你的痔瘡!
    你就算在臉上化上了濃妝, 做雞也只能當媽媽桑!

    你沒乳房, 也沒有長相, 休想哥我跟你上床!
    我他媽寧願捐到精子銀行, 也不願意射在你們的臉上!

  • Inflation vs Interest Rates in Singapore

    So 2010 inflation was at 2.8%, and this year the government estimates it to be at 4%.

    I’m actually wondering how these figures came about. (JJ, I know you’re reading this. Please enlighten – you can leave a private comment if you want.)

    Are property prices part of the index used to calculate inflation in Singapore? How about vehicle prices? How about the fact that CPF has raised it’s maximum monthly cap to $5,000 and increased employer contribution by 0.5%?

    My estimate is that inflation has in fact risen a good 5%-8% in 2010 and will be much higher in 2011.

    If you compare Singapore and maybe New Zealand which has similar inflation rates, the interest rates in Singapore are at a pathetic 0.06%. The interest rates in countries like Australia and New Zealand are at 3-4% – at least close to that of inflation. Even USA with an inflation rate of 1.6% in 2010 has an interest rate of 0.25% – four times that of Singapore.

    What this means is that money my bank is shrinking 3.94% every year. Forget it, make that 4%.

    So on top of putting up in an overcrowded nation and dealing with my noisy neighbours, my savings are actually shrinking. For every $10,000, that’s $400. Wow.

    If I don’t want risks and want my money to grow or at least catch up with inflation, what do I do with it?

    References:
    http://www.rttnews.com/Content/AsianEconomicNews.aspx?Node=B2&Id=1571224
    http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/Stock-Market.aspx?Symbol=SGY
    http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/Stock-Market.aspx?Symbol=NZD

  • Ten Habits of Incompetent Managers

    Good read: http://www.thepracticeofleadership.net/2007/11/11/ten-habits-of-incompetent-managers/

  • Money in the bank

    I’m sure many of you have heard of (or a variant of) the following question:

    If I gave you a million dollars, what would you do with it?

    My usual answer is “I don’t know, give it to me first.” Hehe.

    Anyway, just for fun leave a comment and tell me what you would do, then answer the next question:

    If you saved the next 20 years for a million dollars instead, what would you do with it?

    And on a related topic, see https://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/yes-rich-kids-already-won-the-career-game-heres-why/

  • Blogging helps language

    Trying to restart blogging is like trying to get off cough syrup addiction. I’m having withdrawal symptoms – looking at the WordPress interface makes me nauseous. I actually need to force myself to write.

    My English is going down a death spiral with my daily dosage of Singaporean “business communication”, or whatever they call it.

    “Dear Justin, Noted with thanks. We will revert to you as soon as possible. Regards, HotChix”

    Noted with thanks? Revert to you?

    Oh my brain cells. Please stop writing like that people. It’s totally wrong.

    I hope blogging fixes my English. If it doesn’t then I’m in big trouble.