Kill that office boredom!

Knock yourself out! [link]

Shoot and ask questions later

SIGH....

Which digicam?

If you're looking to buy a digital camera, this site [link] provides side-by-side comparisons. Served me well when I got my Pansonic FZ-20.

My Own Half Blood Prince!

Yay! I finally got my 6th Harry Potter instalment, a gift, like all the earlier Harry Potter books.
Can't wait to read it! I wish I was still down with the flu. Unfortunately, I've finally kicked off the bug and am now scrambling to catch up with work backlog!

Arrgghhh!! Can't wait! And I have to avoid surfing the net, especially blogs, in case there are some spoilers out there!

Hail the Russians!

Interested in War of the Worlds but can't stand Tom Cruise?

Read the book!

Free e-book at [link]. You can also download others.

Russians, we thank you!

I am DOCTOR, so all prostrate before me!

So, I was down with a very bad flu recently. No energy to go to the polyclinic (the only clinic I have ever been to). No idea which other clinic I should go to since I have never been sick enough to warrant a visit to the doctor's. No worries, I tell myself. Go to the one-stop information centre - the internet! Found a clinic in the vicinity with the earliest opening hour - Blk 6 Holland Close, and made my way there.

Big mistake! Big, big mistake!

Clinic opens at 8.30am. I was there at 8.45. No one else around. Clinic assistant warned me doctor will only be in at 9.15. I didn't have the energy to go back home, so I took out my book and started to read, thinking this would be a peaceful wait - no other patients to cough and spew phlegm like I do!

Then the clinic assistants (there were 2 of them) started talking fast and furious in some language that somehow sounded very high-pitched to me. I started to wonder if I was at a clinic or a wet market. Of course, it didn't help that the flu is making my ears sensitive to such noises.

Well, just bear with it. Doctor should be in anytime soon.

9.15am. Doctor still not in. Wet market still very active.
9.20am. Doctor no where in sight. High pitched noises got higher. I think they are laughing at something.

Finally, at 9.30, the doctor came in, nary a smile.
Hmm.. did I do something wrong?

I coughed, spewed some phlegm, coughed some more.

He asked the clinic assistant to call me in.
"So, what is wrong?" he asked.

With the little voice I could muster, I pointed to my throat and whispered in my now-sexy voice "fever last 2 days, sore throat, cough, phlegm, headache".

"What colour phlegm?"

"White". So he determined I didn't have a lower respiratory tract infection just yet.

Then he took my blood pressure and placed his stethoscope on my chest area. Then, he sat down and said "Go outside and wait for your medicine"

Err... wait a minute? No advice on what I should do? Like rest for example? Or any information on what I might be down with (although it's obvious I have a flu) Or perhaps offer to give me an MC (medical certificate for medical leave)?

I mustered enough energy to ask "Can I have an MC, please, so that I can rest?"
He mumbled something under his breath and begrudgingly said "ok! wait outside!"

Boy, I don't know where this doctor is trained, but his bedside manners is totally zero! And isn't he worried that I might infect my colleagues at the office?

Worse, I felt cheated! I paid $25 (at least $18 of which goes towards paying my consultation with the doctor) and all I get is a question, the doctor playing with his gadgets and a gruff dismissal, all in less than 5 minutes! I even had to beg for an MC. To make matter worse, the medication prescribed did not work for me!

Almost everyone knows that the flu is often a viral infection and that antibiotics don't help. Nonentheless, I was prescribed amoxycillin tablets to be taken 4 *freaking* times a day for 5 days (imagine having to wake up at midnight to pop a pill!).

I knew I did something wrong. Should I have prostrated when the doctor came through the door!

Well, it's been over a week since my visit to the doctor. I am still sick. Perhaps it's time I pay a visit to the trusty polyclinic doctors.

London bomb blasts and the Metro Police

Why the continued cowardice in picking soft targets - innocent, unarmed civilians going about their lives?
I would have thought terrorists, over the years, would have developed some sense of dignity. Obviously, I thought wrong!

Anyway, I won't dwell too much into the analyses of the bomb blasts - there are much better analyses elsewhere.
Just wanted to say that i was especially impressed by the Metropolitan Police officers fronting the news conference last night. They did a good job in honestly admitting the information they currently had, without injecting tempting speculations, relayed, clearly, plans on how to handle the situation, and, they even went so far as to speak strongly against possible connections between these attacks and Islam.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Brian Paddick, said something like, the Islam he knows does not condone terrorism and that he feels individuals who believed otherwise were sorely mistaken.

This could be a pre-emptive move to prevent discriminatory flare-ups. Nonetheless, it's a great move to show the world that Britain is calm and collected uner pressure (no finger-pointing).

Thumbs-up for the Metro Police!

Well, whatever the findings would later show, I hope these terrorists burn!! On earth, in hell and wherever else they might be (should they be reincarnated again and again)!

My heart goes out to the innocent families directly affected by the bomb blasts.
I hope they gain strength from this adversity.

It's been 9 months???!!!

9 months ago, I promised myself I would work on improving my writing.
9 months later, I'm back to ground zero. Literally, cos I have ZERO postings on this blog since my last post in October 2004.

*sigh*

Well, no more, I say! I've changed the title of this blog, its description and even amended the address a little.

It's the start of a new beginning, I say!

(err...but, please just don't hold your breath, please)