Cycling into the new decade!

As 2009 approaches its end and edged on by friends, I furiously (or foolishly) agreed to sign up for various races - NTU Bike Rally (21 Feb), TriBob Duathlon (14 Mar), Adidas Sundown half-Marathon (29 May).

To get me started, I have been cycling (leisurely) every weekend since the new year. The Park Connector Network (PCN) is a safe haven for leisure cyclists to get some decent exercise and explore interesting suburban neighborhoods, parks, canals and routes not otherwise accessible by car or coverable by foot. And of course, one cannot ignore the makan places dotting these PCNs!

I think the government has done a wonderful job with the East and West PCNs - the two I have ridden on thus far. I can't wait to enjoy the other PCNs out there.

The plan is for 160km of PCN across all of Singapore by 2015 [link].

Experience a ride on the PCN for a truly intimate adventure with the Singaporean landscape and its people. Just remember to ride slow. Soak in the sights and share smiles and greetings with other fellow PCN users (pedestrians, joggers, rollerbladers, etc).

My friends and I are already planning for our next ride to the North PCN!

Map My Run

Started running again.

Did 3 short runs this week.

6.63km; according to Map My Run.

Starting slow - about 50mins each run.

Hoping to keep it up.

NTU Bike Rally 2008

Tomorrow is THE day; when I shall test my neck/shoulder and butt strength and resilience!

Expecting to cover at least 150km - 128km for the bike rally  + 20+km going to and from the venue.

I'm hoping the NEA weather forecast remains true. I will need to the cool weather to help me survive for sure.

But whatever it is, I shall PRESS ON! 

Congrats to Me!

Colleagues 'embarrased' me with a helium-filled balloon.

And I got an elegant orchid too!

So nice!

Writing under stress

Well, not exactly.

Just that I have been thinking of entering some new entries in my cobweb-covered blog.
And what better time to do that than now, when I should be seriously reading my work and preparing for that looming big paper on Friday, which I am so not prepared to sit for!

Anyways, I 'happened' to be browsing the papers.
On Forbes-"Apple buys chip designer" reportedly to strengthen its iPhone and possible also iPod product lines.

Going Boing Boing!

I first got to know about Boing Boing through Otterman perhaps 2 years back? (can't quite remember)
I have not been a frequent visitor to the website, preferring to read selected articles through others' highlights.

With my current job, I need to be aware of current technological inventions/trends/news. So I installed Feedreader, a for-Windows -98-and-later aggregator which supports both RSS and ATOM feeds. And guess which feeds I first subscribe to?

Since then, I have been very amused, entertained, educated by the stuff that are posted on Boing Boing.

Here are some interesting ones from this week:

Iguana's penis removed: Mozart, an iguana at the Aquatopia in Antwerp, Beligum, had his penis amputated. Apparently, he was suffering from a week-long erection that interfered with his mobility.

Glasses that vibrate you into alertness

More bad science in kids' food packages

The tagline for Boing Boing is "A Directory of Wonderful Things". Indeed!

Virtually Swedish!

I used to think Swedish = Volvo, Saab and Ikea.

But with the recent visit of the Gotheborg, a recreated Swedish 18-century East Indiaman to Singapore, I am becoming much more aware of all things Swedish.

I recently attended the exhibitions "Improving Life - the design of Swedish inventions" at the Singapore National Museum. Never knew till then, that safety matches was a Swedish invention! Or zippers, 3-point seat belts, Tetra Paks or the adjustable wrench! There were 60 other useful inventions on display. It was definitely an eye-opener.

The Swedish creativity doesn't stop there. They have now ventured beyond the real world. Link

She is now the first country to have set up an embassy in Second Life, a virtual reality world where residents get to create the life as they want it.

"We are planning to establish a Swedish embassy in Second Life primarily as an information portal for Sweden," Swedish Institute (SI) director Olle Wästberg told AFP.

"Second Life allows us to inform people about Sweden and broaden the opportunity for contact with Sweden easily and cheaply," Wästberg said.

Nifty shoe storage!

Alerted through Boing Boing.

The Shoe Rolodex comes in 3 different colours (white, silver and black) Yummy!

You can order this online, but my colleague and I thought of introducing this to the Singapore market. Do you figure it would take off?