I have a prestigious job

Hmm forgot I took a snapshot of this little article on USA Today highlighting the status of engineers.Apparently in the US, I'm now perceived to have a prestigious job. So YW, no wonder we need to work for US companies. YJ and Kel are not as welcome there as Architects and Bankers as in Singapore. :P

A little observation of profiteering

Have you noticed how our petrol, fuel, gases, transport provider hardly seem to drop prices even though we have eased off from the highs of USD$147/barrel to today's USD$100/barrel? That's about 30% drop in Brent Crude oil prices.

SIA just announced cutting fuel surcharge for short range flights, while coincidentally our Airports decides to raise departure taxes.

From Jan 1, departure taxes will go up $7 from $21 now - $15 airport tax and $6 security charge - travellers leaving from Changi Airport's main terminals will pay $28. And at Budget Terminal, the tax will go up from $13 to $15. Flying out of Seletar will cost $18, up from $16 now.

Somehow it all seems so familiar like government's usual pre-election freebies with post-election tax increases. "Give and take"


Stolen from PetrolWatch website

Anyhow, the main observation here is that our pump prices which peaked at S$2.36 in July for Grade 98 (excluding all credit card discounts, etc) and right now since early Aug, we have been stuck at S$2.07. That's only a 12% reduction?!! Is there a conspiracy or oligopolists are at play? These collusive actions are not checked by our government?

We are observing record revenues for oil companies, and people have to be suffering from such explicit collusion of price fixing. From higher fuel costs, fuel surcharges, food costs from transportation costs increases, I wonder if governments are in arms with these companies as they clearly have no qualms in bringing down the prices to reflect actual crude prices and bring down inflation.

Singapore Challenge Series

A quick update on the Singapore Slingers:

The Singapore Slingers will be hosting teams from around the Pan Asia Pacific region. Starting with a tough first game against recent PBA Grand Finalist AIR 21 on the 17th of September. The ‘Challenge Series’ will run through to the end of January. The ‘Series’ replaces the games set aside for the Australian NBL and keeps the momentum building towards the Slingers goal of playing in an ASEAN professional league. The following dates have been set for the 'Starting Five':

* Tickets for the first five games are on sale from Wednesday at Sistic. The first five games are:

Game #1 Wed 17 September Air 21 ( Philippines PBA)

Game #2 Sun 21 September Air 21 ( Philippines PBA)

Game #3 Tue 30 September Purefoods ( Philippines PBA)

Game #4 Sun 5 October Sydney Spirit (Australian NBL)

Game #5 Sun 12 October Beijing Aoshen ( China )


All 5 games will be played at the home of the Slingers – The Singapore Indoor Stadium. So go book your tickets from Sistic online from the 10th of Sep '08.

I've heard about Purefoods from the PBA league long ago, they were very good. If you are wondering why they have names like Air 21 and Purefoods, basically commercial sponsorship of the teams. Singapore used to have team names like as Asia Electric back in the 60s through 80s when basketball used to rule the courts and soccer wasn't the only thing on Singapore TV and the minds of every kopi tiam uncles. We even won a SEA games bronze medal in the 1979 games, 2 years after it was introduced into SEA games. But you know Philippines will rule the sport in the region, given 90% of the Filipinos I know, play the sport.

So Filipino supporters, do come support the sport and your Filipino teams! But you might be torn between supporting them or the Singapore Slingers as we have the top amateur basketball player in the Philippines - our PBL MVP Jason Castro in the starting lineup!

Overwhelmed by the Big Apple

It was a long awaited trip which I had planned to go since my lil' sis had a job assignment to New York. I needed to get away for a long period to clear my mind as it has been a mind-boggling year for me, which over the next few weeks I will blog about my one month stay here in US as I clear my head and clear through my over 2600 photos taken! If we still live in the film age, that would be at least 72 rolls of film!

I've also brought my mom and aunt over - to do my laundry! Hahah just kidding, my mom and aunt were here to visit some friends and get some shopping done, while I utilised my sister's nearby laundromat! This trip has been an adventure waiting to happen as I slowly fill you in with pictures and stories.



As we arrived in the afternoon, we managed to take a walk to Times Square which was overwhelming. If you're done with visiting the Seven Wonders of the World, Times Square is the next stop, seriously. It is filled with the sights and bustling city sounds. Be it the song sang by the Rolling Stones or the movie starring Michael J Fox - The phrase "Bright lights, Big city" was meant for New York. There are massive posters, billboards, lighted neon signs, projection walls all over buildings. Now I know why it is regarded the best place to be on New Year's Eve.



I was destined to come here. 5th Aug '08 - The day I arrived, my sis who never won the raffles draw in her company, won 2 tickets to the Mets game. Off to the Shea Stadium! The 44-year old Shea Stadium will be demolished later this year to make way for the new stadium just next door - which you can see in the picture above.



We were seated just above the batter's box/home plate which gave us the perfect view of the game. It was the San Diego Padres vs the New York Mets.



The stadium was electrifying and the game was exciting with many milestones. One of which was Fernando Tatis's 100th career home run! He had 2 left homers for the night.



I shall not attempt to recap the game, but the match was exciting as Mets beat Padres 6-5.


Special Met's commemorative Budweiser metal beer bottle

Slowly but surely with some beer and cheese nachos and jetlag, my sis soon caught me dozing off. So we started to make our way out of the stadium. But not before a Met's fan proposed to his girlfriend through the big jumbo board as you seen it in many American movies.


How romantic, every sports fan dream.

With Shea Stadium set to be demolished after this season, fans and collectors can buy seats from the ballpark for USD$869 per pair online at Mets.com. I bet this couple will be buying one for keeps.

I guess what they say about New York is true. Women come to New York for the two L's: Labels and Love. Yes, I caught the movie Sex and the City on my flight back to Singapore, though I refused to catch such chick flicks, and I never watched a single episode of the series, I find the movie actually quite good. And my sis has indeed found a boyfriend within months of her arrival - would I find my L? Stay tuned.

Whirlwind tour of USA

Have abit of time before flying back to New York, right now sitting at the airport of Austin in Texas. Having alot of thoughts along this trip but didn't bring a USB cable to upload my pics from my DSLR..so have been delaying my posts. I could do a novel without the pictures,but a picture could paint a thousand words. Anyway I have been to so many states,i hope my memory serves me well when i finally head home this weekend. NYC, Penn, NJ, Philly, Boston, DC, Austin, Phoenix, Tucson... What a rush!