Updates

Check out la vie en rose

I swam in Sheares Hall's Inter-block-games yesterday. It was a 4x50m breast-stroke relay and we came in first. Haha, I was just there to fill up the numbers though. 2 of the 4 are swimming captains; the other swimmer had rippling muscles and swam damn quickly.

Smallville

It's september in a week, and september means Smallville season 6! I won't be able to download it though, with me staying in hall and NUS being so anal about the ports they leave open. So, Jianming, thanks! Haha.

Oh and prison break 2 is out too!

Enjoy!

Saved?

I just realised, to my greatest exhilaration, that if I swap my major from Information Systems to E-Commerce, I will not only avoid maths completely, but get to do 4 business modules. I can even drop the cursed math module that I'm currently dying in.

Dropping that math module would leave me with only 3 modules. 1 other programming module was dropped for me by the school as I'm already exempted from it. They sent me an email a few days ago telling me I'm exempted from that module. What the hell.

So, 3 modules for one sem. And a switch to E-commerce. Sounds good?

Mickey ceases to own a planet

Astronomers have decided that Mickey Mouse's dog, Pluto, is too small and has too weird a trajectory to be called a planet. With effect from today, Pluto will now be known as a drawf-planet.

Sources here

Weird shit huh. I'm tired.

Traffic Light

I wanted to spend the night reading my political science notes. Instead, I chatted on msn for a while before Japheth asked if i wanted to go chill in the hall lounge. Ok, I thought, I will invest half and hour or so getting to know the block people.

Behold .... it is now 12:35am and I haven't read a single paragraph of political science. I did meet a lot of new people though, so that's something. Remembering their names would be the next challenge.

Took a couple of pics too. Haha. Meet the best darn looking traffic light this side of the milky way.

Yup, that's Abhi in the middle and yes he looks a hell lot like the images of Jesus you see everywhere. People ask me how I know him and I say he's the best friend of my ex girlfriend. People ask Eley how she knows me and she says I'm the ex-boyfriend of her primary one classmate. Great.

Inspiration

Tequila

Ten shots of Tequila, all mine!

Limits

tell me the limits of the human mind
to be pushed to the brink of insanity
only to be reeled grudgingly back
by a single thread

First Rock Climbing Training

Japheth and I got into the trial week of NUS Rock Climbing Team. They're going to observe us for one week, and decide who stays and who gets demoted into the climbing sub-club; that means recreational climbing.

So, tonight was our first climbing training session, only that we did not even touch a single tile. Instead, we went for an approximately 8km run. I've never ran more than 4km in my entire existence, so that was definately a challenge.

The route was from the climbing gym at the Sports and Recreation Centre in NUS down to School of Computing, then up across the overhead bridge out of NUS towards Dover. We then run one big round, pass the ITE, UWC, Singapore Poly, down to the Singtel building, towards the AYE entrance towards Keppel, cross the road, and continue running towards NUS, pass the Conservatory of Music, pass School of Design only to turn in at the next NUS entrance. This was where I died and started walking.

After a while, I started a slow jog again, and managed to make it back to SRC alive, although only barely. After that we did 3 sets of static exercise.

Each set consists of:

1) 20 sets of 4 count flutter-kicks
2) 30 push ups
3) 20 crunches
4) 5 "typewriters" which basically mean pull ups but you pull first to your left, then to your right, and that's one count.
5) 1 min of ... hm .. you support yourself on your forearms and toes. Works your back and abs.
6) 3 sets of 5-second varying-degree static hangs on the pull up bar

I'm exhausted. Mondays will be like that in the future. Only Wednesdays and Saturdays are for real climbing trainings.

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I corrected some tenses and grammertical(right spelling?) errors I noticed after posting. There are still others .. but I'm really tired. Live with it..

Word Sick

I had a nice little chat with two nice guys from Central Christian Church who were trying to re-convince me of the bible's authencity, among other things.

They are morally upright young men who shun mp3 and movie downloads because it is wrong to possess what you do not own. Certain media are also to be avoided, like films or books containing suggestive scenes or themes. An example quoted to me was "The Break Up" starring Jennifer Aniston. Apparently, there's a scene where Jennifer steps out of the bathroom supposedly in the nude although all the audience can see are her bare shoulders. I see the bare shoulders of girls almost everyday in NUS, and I don't have a problem with that. But of course, I am throughly amoral.

Unnessessary exposure to temptation; that's what they say to avoid. I believe it is this same mentality that led horny muslim leaders to decree that their women have to walk around in the sweltering heat covered in black cloth with only their eyes visible. Jasmin even saw women swimming in that outfit. I suppose it hones their water survival skills, but is it not a trifle ridiculous that because of men's inability to control their lustful thoughts, women have to dress like that? But on the flip side, it is also because of the lust of men that women fashion in the less morally-uptight world is so terribly exciting. The recent hot-shorts trend is particulary to be praised.

Unnessessary exposure to temptation; that's precisely what placing the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden is. Unnessessary exposure to temptation; that's precisely what making Satan transit on Earth instead of going directly to hell is. Without temptation, there can be no freedom of choice. One of the two guys is interested in Salsa. There is a problem, however, because as we all know, Salsa's an incredibly hot and passionate dance. What's wrong with that? Well, you see, that constitutes unnessessary exposure to temptation, and that is frowned upon by their church.

Many things have to be approved by the church. From the activities you take up, to the person you wish to date. The church knows best, and your soul is its only concern. It is the church that will keep you spiritually and morally right. It is your peers in church who will give you the support you need to live a brilliant christian life. It is to members of the church whom you have to confess your sins and be accountable to.

There is a routine that they follow, a series of verses of which they point to, make me read aloud, and ask what I understand of the verse. They then proceed to give me their interpretation and ask for my concurrence. Of course, the first fact to be established is that all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking and whatever else that I left out. I can't even remember the verse. I had no problems with that, until a few verses later when I unexplainably got severely irritated by something of which I have now no recollection of.

ALL scripture is useful for teaching? Great. Now turn to somewhere in 1 Corinthians where they said that women should be quiet in church, that they should be submissive, and that it is a disgrace for them to speak in church. Is it applicable today? No. Why not? Because our society has progressed, has changed. They told me about a course they attended where they learnt that the Old Testament is in tandem with the New Testament. At this point, I sniggered and they asked me what I thought of the Old Testament. I flipped through the pages and said, "death, death, death, death." Disobey, die. Stand in the way, die.

They gave me the tired old speech about how the bible contains 66 books, and was written over the span of many, many years, but it still contains the same message, and is in perfect harmony. The authors did not write their own thoughts, but only what was dictated to them by God. I pointed out the fact that Paul and James disagreed with one another, and if you look at the letters that they write, they were basically preaching slightly conflicting doctrines. One exhorting faith and grace, and the other emphasising obedience to the law and good works. Also, referring to the above example on women speaking in church, it definately is something that Paul felt personally and not from God. Paul also wrote somewhere, "I say, and not the Lord", regarding the issue of divorce.

Talking to them is turning me atheist. I appreciate their good intentions, and I know they have nothing to gain by doing these bible studies with me. The problem is that I get more and more depressed each time we discuss such issues, and the doubts that were supressed in me are forced to the surface.

I'm sick. Down with the flu.

I have tried downing 10 tequlia shots in a row and survived. I can go for a lot more. Need to push the limits again, perhaps somewhere cheaper than Zouk this time. 10 shots for $50 is damn expensive.

Sheares and Fencing

Great news, I got into Sheares! Thanks a whole bloody big bunch, Eley! I'm having second thoughts about moving in too early though; I don't have my laptop yet, and me living without a computer to use is torture. At least at home I can use Jasmin's.

Anyway, went for fencing today with Edwin, Terri and Ariana. It's quite fun, and the fencing area is just beside floorball's :)

Pics!

me!

Show Off

Janet bought me a shirt from US to add to my arsenal of geeky-cool tops. Actually I don't think she meant for it to look geeky, but I think it does, and I love it! Haha. Thanks Janet.

Along with my union camp friends, trying our best to look like decent guys. Haha.

Me and Guanghong

I know I have not been typing posts of much substance lately, but I'm really tired and sleepy, and that makes me not feel like typing long essays of crap.

It's the first day of school today, and things went pretty well, except that I discovered the terms "A-level Maths assumed" and "Mathematical Maturity" in my Programming lecture today. I'm going to die.

Looking geeky isn't enough, I have to actually _be_ geeky to survive NUS.

Mi Lu Bing's interview on Channel U

Pig Brains

I overslept on the day of rag. I honestly wanted to go down to support my faculty's rag team but by the time I woke up, it was 2:20pm and I don't even remember hearing my phone's alarm go off. Same thing happened today; wanted to go church, but woke up realising it was 1:15pm. Crap. Jasmin says she woke me up asking if I wanted to go to church and I supposedly replied with an indignant "nooooooooooooo!" What the hell.

Anyway, I tried pig brains for the first time last night. I can't say that I'm a big fan, but the taste and texture of the brain are pretty unique. Here're some pics:

Daryl and Shaowei with the pig brains

Yum.

Old friends and Great food

I wanted to name this post "Old friends, Great Food" but then i thought it would make it seem like old friends make great food.

Dinner was with Glenn at the Phin's Steakhouse at Tampines Mall. Phin's call themselves a Beerhaus as well, and I saw that they have Hoegaarden on tap, along with some other insignificant beer; San Miguel, I think.

There's Glenn tackling his hugmonous(someone tag the correct spelling on the tagboard please. i absolutely can't think of the right spelling!) cut of Sirloin steak, medium rare. I had the same.

Haven't had a good chat with Glenn for ages, so it was good catching up with him. The great food helped make it a perfect evening. And nope, neither of us caught the parade. Couldn't be bothered.

Janet's back after a 3-month work and travel in the US and the first thing I did was to drag her blading. I've lost all my blading khakis except her, and I was itching to blade. Of course, blading got us hungry, so we..


..had Bak Kut Teh at Joo Chiat =) along with thai-style beancurd(my idea) and extremely salty salted vegetables(janet's brilliant idea)

That's Janet, wearing a "I LOVE MOM" shirt. MOM stands for "Ministry of Muggers"

Yong Qi

It's 3:13am and I'm still awake. Spent the past hour reading about Mi Lu Bing, and found out that Nic's past is out, but thankfully, the fans don't mind. In fact, they're impressed with how he turned over a new leaf. Guess the public can be forgiving. Maybe cause he's good looking. Haha.

Here's Yong Qi, the last song that they sang for superband. There're some technical problems in the beginning, but it's a beautiful song.

Pics from my N73

Ivan(new friend from SoC) and Japheth showing off the fruits of their labour

My turn! That's SoC's Devil behind me.

School of Computing's Rag and Float IC, Hendra. Works his ass off for our faculty!

Macro photo of my Chrome's buckle

Happy Endings

I finally found an end to the Nokia Saga. I called the Nokia Care Centre at Suntec to enquire whether they have stock of N73 LCD screens and they actually offered to exchange the set for me. Needless to say, I jumped at the opportunity, and sent my defective N73 in the same evening.

Went back there after my church service this morning, and I was presented with a brand new N73. And it works well, like how it should have been in the first place.

Another glorious news is that Mi Lu Bing came out tops in Superband! They ARE Singapore's first Superband. No prize money, only a recording contract and a loss of a great part of their personal lives, but hey, the price of fame. My friends, superstars. Wow. As Jianming put it, now we just have to persuade Daryl to join Singapore Idol next year.

Check out their performances in Youtube. They sounded a lot better Live though.

Nokia Saga

The problem with my N73 is still unresolved.

For those interested, you can follow the proceedings here

Nokia's Response

Dear Mr. Lim,

Thank you for emailing Nokia Careline.

Please allow us to assure you that your experience in this instance is not typical of Nokia’s level of product reliability and customer service. We continue to be committed to providing you and all of our customers with the highest standards of service in the industry.

We regret to hear that your concerns were not addressed sooner and apologise for the inconvenience you have experienced in order to have your Nokia mobile phone repaired.

Therefore, we would appreciate it if you could either revert or contact us on the number below to provide us with the following information, which would be required in order for us to investigate the issues that you have raised:

1) The name & location of the Authorised Service Centre (ASC):
2) The job reference number stated on the repair sheet given to you by the ASC:
3) The IMEI number of your phone. (This is a 15 digit serial number located on the repair sheet given to you by the ASC):
4) The date your phone was booked in:
5) Your contact number:

Please note that we will revert back to you with an amicable solution.

We apologise for the inconveniences caused and we greatly appreciate your patience.

For further assistance, please contact the Nokia Singapore Helpdesk between the hours of 08:30 - 00:00.
The helpdesk is operational seven days a week, 365 days a year.

You can contact our Technical Support Executives on:

Singapore Careline number : 6822 8888

Thank you for your continuing support.

To assist us in improving our services please use the following link:
https://digiumenterprise.com/answer/?sid=42955&chk=EPHPXYH6

Kind regards,

Anne Manuel
Nokia Careline


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I replied. Let's see whether they call me tomorrow, and whether I get an acceptable solution. Still furious.

Complaint Email to Nokia Asia

Since Nokia Singapore has no interest in responding to my emails, I sent one to Nokia Asia.

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I bought a N73 on the 31/07/06, and found out later on in the day that the screen is defective with a dead pixel.

On 02/08/06, I took time off my busy schedule to head down to Nokia Care Centre at Wheelock Place in the hopes of getting the defective phone replaced.

Unfortunately, the customer service officer told me that it is against your company's policy to do a one-on-one exchange. Also, she gave me a ridiculous explanation for the reason of the defect. She said that because the camera is 3.2megapixels, it is impossible to get a perfect LCD screen. I might not be a mobile phone expert, but this definately does not make sense.

I insisted on a replacement, and she reluctantly agreed, saying that it will be done in 4 hours.

After 4 hours, I returned to the Nokia Care Centre at Wheelock Place to collect my phone. The customer service officer who returned me the phone did not give me any details on the servicing and did not show me that the problem was rectified.

Luckily, I switched on my phone and checked the screen. To my dismay, I found the same bad pixel at the exact location.

What followed next was the worst customer service experience I have had in my life. I was made to wait over 20 mins, with a customer service officer asking me where the dead pixel was, evidence that even the technicians were not fully aware of the problem.

Twenty minutes later, they told me that they were out of LCD screens and could not do a replacement. No solution was offered, only a nonchalant apology.

Speaking to the manager did not help matters. All I got was the assurance that they would procure the lcd screen replacement by the next day, and repair my handphone in one hour.

Today, 03/08/06, the manager called me, and told me that the entire Nokia Singapore is out of LCD screens for the N73 and that stocks will only come in one or two weeks.

This is unacceptable, and I would appreciate a swift response to this email. I have always been a supporter of Nokia, and it saddens me that I have to go through such a unpleasant experience.

I have emailed Nokia Singapore regarding my nightmare of a customer service experience last night, on 02/08/06, but have yet to receive a response. I emailed them again a short while ago about the shortage of LCD screens, but am not optimistic about receiving a reply.

My faith in your company is shattered due to the terrible customer service and quality control and I will definately not purchase another of your product if this issue is not settled to my satisfaction.

I thank you for reading this email, and would appreciate a swift solution to my problem.

Nightmare Customer Centre Part II

This is in the second email I sent to Nokia.

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This is regarding the N73 that I bought on 31/07/06. I sent a support email last night detailing the horrible experience I had at Wheelock Place's Nokia Care Centre and have yet to receive a reply.

To make matters worse, the manager, Lim Wei Liang, called me this afternoon saying that there is not even a single LCD screen available in the entire Nokia Singapore to replace the defective one in my handphone.

This is unacceptable. I have always been a supportor of Nokia, but this series of bad experience have caused me to feel otherwise.

I await your reply. I am contactable by handphone as well.

Nokia Care Centre .. or Nonchalant Customer service Centre

Customer Service personnel are supposed to be friendly and courteous, greeting you with a "good afternoon sir, what can i do for you?" Apparently the staff at Nokia Care Centre are of a different breed.

I went down to the Nokia Care Centre at Wheelock Place with the hopes of replacing my newly-bought N73 that has a faulty LCD screen. There's a "bright pixel" on it that just doesn't change colour, remaining a constant bright green. It isn't obvious, only noticable on black backgrounds, that was why I didn't notice it when I bought the phone. Also, I didn't know phones have dead pixel problems. My bad.

Back to my story. I got my queue number, and walked to counter number 14 where the lady seated behind the counter just looked up at me without the slightest hint of a smile and without a single word. All I got was a what-do-you-want look. I said "Hi", sat down and told her my problem. She took my phone in to consult with the technicians and came out with an explanation so silly I don't know why I let her get away with it - "Oh, the technicians said that beacause yours is a 3.2 megapixel phone, it is impossible for the LCD screen to be perfect." What nonsense. In what way does the resolution of the camera affect the quality of the LCD Screen? I let it pass, and calmly stated that I want to get it replaced. Fine, she said, come back in four hours.

After four hours, I returned, passed my claim slip to another member of their wonderful staff, and got my handphone back. The problem stated on the slip was "lcd screen faulty pixel". I switched on the handphone happily, and checked for dead pixels. Guess what? There was one. At the exact same location. You can imagine how the rage started building up in me. That's not all. I returned the phone to them, and waited.

Almost ten minutes later, another staff came out with my phone, and actually had the nerve to ask me where was the dead pixel. I showed it to her, and she turned and walked away without a word. Clearly, they lack even basic courtesy.

Another ten minutes later, someone came out from the back room and passed my phone to the collection counter staff, saying, "tell customer no stock." And that was exactly what she said to me. "If you still want to change the LCD screen, we have no stock now." No apologies, no explanation, and no s0lutions. Just a dismissing sentence. Of course I got angry. I told her how ridiculous it was for them to hold on to my phone for four hours, make me come all the way down, then tell me there was no stock. Her collegue beside her, seeing the poor creature being abused, cut in and said "There is nothing we can do. All I can say is that I'm sorry." in a tone so nonchalant he might as well have saved the apology. I repeated myself, then asked for the manager. "Ok", he said, and stood there. Irritated beyond belief, I simply said "Now." and guess what? He responsed with "Sir, can you please don't treat me like a dog?". I could only stare incredulously at him as he walked away. By the way, that dog's name is James Chiew.

It took about 5 mins for the manager to come out. He was soft-spoken and apologetic so I sat down and spoke to him nicely. I explained the situation and stated once again how ridiculous the whole affair was. I asked for an one-to-one exchange and he said that that was against company policy. I replied asking him if it was company policy to sit on customers' problems. Why return me the phone if the problem wasn't fixed? His reply was simply that "the phone is still usable." That is inexcusable, and a pathetic response for a customer service professional.

The manager claimed that there were "a few pieces" of LCD screens but they were all used up. Ridiculous. If that was so, the customer service personnel who collected my phone should have told me that. And if there was stock at that time, one should have been set aside for me. And, if in the worst possible scenario that they accidentally used up all the LCD screens, the natural thing to do would be to call me with apologies and an explanation of the situation, instead of returning to me an unrepaired handphone. Oh sure, they flashed the firmware. For what? To fix a faulty LCD screen? ARE THEY STUPID?!

I am expecting a call from the manager tomorrow afternoon to advice me on the availbility of the LCD screen, and if there is, I will have to bring my phone down again. This time, the service period will be an hour. Or so the manager, Lim Wei Liang promises. If it's not, this matter is going to be escalated as high as I can possibly go.