Fixing the "leaking" fridge

Puddles of water have appeared under and near our fridge for sometime now. Nothing too alarming. But these last couple of days, these puddles are just too big to ignore.

It is NEVER a good sign when water puddles near or under a fridge.


The fridge section does not seem to be as cold as it should be. I mean, leftovers will turn bad if left for more than a day in the fridge; not much better than if I had left them out.

Plus the ice-maker is taking longer than usual to fill up the ice compartment.

Do we need to buy a new fridge? I hated the thought.

We bought the fridge about 5 years ago. Surely, fridges are meant to last longer than 5 years!

So, to trusty Professor Google I went to seek wise counsel.

It wasn't long before it pointed me to dust collection around the condenser coils as a possible cause.

I dusted the ventilation window located on the lower sides of the fridge.

cleaned ventilation window next to the condenser coils

Peering in, I noticed there were LOTS of dust that I just could not get to with my trusted Dyson vacuum cleaner.

I studied the fridge and decided to unscrew the back panel, after turning off the power, of course.

True enough, the ridiculous amount of dust clinging on to the condenser coils and ventilation fins make me cringe.  The cats fur, no doubt, must have contributed to this mess.

Spent a good 15 minutes sucking up as much dust as possible.

Closed up the back panel, turned on the power and hoped for the best.

It's been about 4 hours since I cleaned the fridge. No more puddles. The fridge feels cold (our thermometer died so no tool for an objective measure). The ice compartment is full again, yay! 

So, it would seem that the dusting had worked!

As a fridge owner, I had been negligent in overlooking the simple maintenance act of dusting/vacuuming the ventilation windows to prevent dust build up around the condenser coils to ensure optimal performance and energy efficiency. 

So, I've just added a monthly fridge-dusting reminder onto my iPhone calendar! 

I'm boycotting Muthu's Curry @Dempsey Hill

Last Saturday, my other half and I went for lunch at Muthu's Curry @Dempsey Hill. We were in a celebratory mood (Joseph Schooling won our first Olympic Gold in record time, and forcing 3 of the world's swimming greats to share the silver medal podium. Majulah Singapura!).

We ordered our usual. Drinks, an appetiser and main dishes.
The drinks and the mains came promptly as usual.
We were almost done with the food.
The appetiser was still no where in sight.
This was some 20 minutes into our meal.

I called the waiter.

"Hi, can you please check on our appetiser. If the chef had not prepared it, we would like to cancel."

I know, I should have just requested they simply cancel the order.
We were in a celebratory mood, remember? So I thought I should be fair to them.
In any case, they are usually very reasonable.

We continued with our meal.
Ten minutes in, no appetiser in sight.
I thought, ok good, the order was cancelled.


More than fifteen minutes later, the waiter came out with the appetiser.

I asked him point blank.

"You DID NOT cancel our order, did you?"

He had a sheepish grin on his face. I repeated my question.

He said "The kitchen had already prepared it. They just needed to fry".

I said, "It took the kitchen more than FIFTEEN minutes to fry?"
 
This is the same appetiser that would have been served within 5 minutes from order placement, typically.

Fine. The food had been served. No point arguing.
So, we requested for them to pack the appetiser instead. We really could eat no more. And we proceeded to the cashier to pay.

Now, this was where it got interesting.

The bill had 2 accompanying order chits.
The first order chit indicated no order of the appetiser.
The second order chit had only one order - the appetiser.

Time indicated on the second order chit was more than 20 minutes after the time indicated on the first order chit. Isn't this all too coincidental?

Any idiot one could clearly come to the conclusion that the waiter had NOT placed our order in the first place and subsequently placed one AFTER I had asked, possibly to make up for his earlier omission. Sneaky bugger!

So, of course, I alerted the cashier, who, I think, was also the manager (because he was wearing a different uniform and had an air of misplaced confidence about him).

He countered by saying it was a running order. No mistake had been made.


I explained to him what happened. Again. This time in chronological order.


He rang the till nonetheless.

I signed the bill and walked off. Furious.

I tried to walk it off, knowing that I might regret how I reacted when I was angry. We went to a nearby coffee joint.

But I continued to feel terrible. In fact, I felt sick to my stomach.
I felt terrible that I had allowed myself to be lied to. In my face. Blatant lies!


So, I walked back to the restaurant.
Placed the pack of appetiser on the cashier counter and told the cashier/manager that I could not eat this pack of blatant lies, I didn't need a refund and they had just lost us as customers.

The manager looked stunned. He didn't know what to say then. When he realised what happened, he asked one of his waiters (not the one who served us) to go after me.

But guess what the waiter said? "Ma'am, come back, we want to refund you."


No apologies. Just a crude offer of cash.  

Seriously, not everything is about the money.

So, no more Muthu's Curry @Dempsey Hill for me.

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.