Got my hands on the standalone Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Premier Edition from The Software Boutique for SGD$79.90. There is also another version of the Premier Edition which is SGD$89.90 and it is bundled with a T-Shirt and a 2GB Thumbdrive.

The default bundles is really lousy!

SGD$119 for the Officer’s pack which includes the Premier Edition and the Dicota Bag.

SGD$219 for the Commander’s Pack which includes the Dicota Bag, Premier Edition, Microsoft SideWinder X6 Gaming Keyboard and Red Alert 3 Garskin custom keyboard decals.

EA, please listen to this! Nobody wants all those stupid bundles judging from the posts in Hardware Zone Forums. People just want the standalone Premier Edition, nothing else.

Pictures time!

Tint Box (Front)

Tint Box (Back)

Tint Box + Plastic Cover (Front)

Tint Box + Plastic Cover (Back)

Poster, Manual, Warhammer Online CD Key, C&C Future Beta CD Key

Music Disc

Bonus Disc + Game Disc

Today marks our 4th anniversary together which is about 1,460 days.

Went to Li Xiang school to pick her up and we proceed on to Bras Basah to help my mom buy the expiry date sticker from Modern Bookstore located at level 1. Li Xiang bought a book from Basheer Graphic Books located at Level 4 as a birthday present for her friend, Nicole.

We also went to Fancy Papers which is located opposite National Library Board to get some art papers for Li Xiang school work and had lunch at Park Lane Wan Ton Mee which is located opposite Bugis Junction.

After doing all doing these errands, we went to Singapore Biennale 2008 (South Beach Development) as Li Xiang needed to retake some of the shots that she took previously. There are still 2 more places of the Biennale that we are going to covered tomorrow as it is quite out of the way for today’s itinerary.

After Biennale, we went around Haji Lane looking for costume’s mask for Nicole’s 21st birthday party tomorrow. We did saw 2 shops selling but I did not buy any as it is too expensive (Li Xiang already got hers). I think I will just forgo the mask as with spectacles on it is quite difficult to wear any mask.

I also went to a shop selling fabrix cases which are laptop sleeves as recommended by leinad of Hardware Zone. Unfortunately, they do not have MacBook Pro 15″ sizes available and I have to order. I hope leinad does a Mass Order (MO) for this.

Finally it is time for dinner. We had dinner at relish by wildrocket which is located at #02-01 Cluny Court (next to Serene Centre) at 501 Bukit Timah Road. We ordered the Chicken Thai Salad ($15), Handmade Onion Rings ($8) and Chocolate Cointreau Milkshake ($9.50). For the main course, I ordered Bacon Cheese Burger ($19) while Li Xiang ordered Curry Chicken Burger ($17). Total bill is $80.62 including 10% service charge and 7% GST.

The burger was good and the prices are very reasonable. The most expensive burger is priced at $19. It is definitely much better than uberburger (it had closed down) that we ate 2 years ago.

The milkshake is fantastic, it is thick and creamy, I find it better than Project Blood Brothers Cafe’s milkshake. Li Xiang love the onion ring a lot. As for the burger’s patty, it is thick, juicy and tasty! Li Xiang’s curry chicken burger really taste like curry chicken! Not forgetting they serve each burger with lots of fries that both of us can’t finish our own portion.

Happy 4th Anniversary my penguin! I love you always <3

Looking back:

• 3rd Anniversary
• 2nd Anniversary
• 1st Anniversary
• 0th Anniversary

*UPDATE* The Chocolate Chiffon cake that I bake was a success but the chocolate taste is not strong enough, have to melt the chocolate and spread it over the slice of cake when eating. Thanks to my mum for helping me, even though she did almost 50% of the whole process. Thanks Mum!

Received my Apple MacBook Pro 2.53GHz yesterday from TNT after ordering it from Apple Store on the 16th October 2008. Apparently TNT only has 2 time slot for me to choose for the delivery which is during office hours (9am till 6pm) or night delivery (7pm to 10pm).

Timeline

• 16th October 2008: Ordered
• 20th October 2008: Prepared to Ship
• 21st October 2008: Received my MacBook Pro at 9.30pm

Specifications

• Apple MacBook Pro 2.53GHz (Late 2008)
  • Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 2.53GHz
  • 1066MHz FSB 6MB L2 cache
  • 4GB 1066MHz PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM
  • nVidia GeForce 9600M GT with 512MB of GDDR3 SDRAM
  • 320GB SATA (5400RPM) HDD
  • 15.4″ (1440 x900) LED-backlit Glossy Widescreen Display
  • Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) Ethernet
  • AirPort Extreme: Integrated 802.11a/b/g/draft-n (n enabled)
  • 8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
  • Built-in iSight camera, Mini DisplayPort output port with support for DVI, VGA, and dual-link DVI
  • Built-in stereo speakers, built-in omnidirectional microphone, combined optical digital input/analog line in, combined optical digital output/analog line out
  • Mac OS X 10.5.5 (Build 9F2088)

Price
I bought it using the educational store and hence I got it for SGD$3,648 (including 7% GST), the usual price is SGD$3,988. That is about SGD$340 discount.

Pictures

MacBook Pro (Late 2008)

25 photos, 1.0 MiB size, 1,273 visits

This album is added on Tuesday, 21st October 2008.

Credits
I would like to thank my parents for this! THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!!

Caught Max Payne over the weekend instead of the Japanese movie 20th Century Boys as the timeslot was earlier. I played Max Payne the computer game during my polytechnic days which is about 5 years ago and I still can remember some scenes from the game when watching the movie. However the storyline is a different. Overall the film was average, not too bad, but Li Xiang said it is a boring show. I wish they incorporated more “bullet time” in the show as that is what Max Payne is well known for in computer game.

I forgot to stay behind after the credits, damn it. I seriously hate movies that has a post credits scene!

Our 4th year anniversary is coming this Friday, going to bake a chocolate chiffon cake and have dinner at Relish, located at Bukit Timah Road.

Right after Adobe Flash Player 10 is released, Adobe announced that Creative Suite 4 has begun shipping. Woot!

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Oct. 15, 2008 - Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of the Adobe Creative Suite 4 product family, the highly-anticipated release of industry-leading design and development software for virtually every creative workflow. Delivering radical breakthroughs in workflow efficiency – and packed with hundreds of innovative, time saving features – the new Creative Suite 4 product line advances the creative process across print, Web, interactive, film, video and mobile.

Customers can choose from six new versions: Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, Web Standard, Production Premium and Master Collection. The combination of Creative Suite and the new capabilities of Adobe Flash Player 10, also available today (see separate press release) deliver new levels of creativity and expressiveness across media channels. Designers using the Adobe Creative Suite 4 product family will gain unprecedented creative control using the new expressive features and visual performance improvements in Adobe Flash Player 10 to deliver breakthrough Web experiences across multiple browsers and operating systems.

Press Release (PDF): Adobe Creative Suite 4 Now Shipping
Website: Adobe Creative Suite

MacBook Pro

• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz
  • 15-inch widescreen
  • 2GB DDR3 Memory
  • 250GB hard drive
  • NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 256MB
  • SGD$3,188.00
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53GHz
  • 15-inch widescreen
  • 4GB DDR3 Memory
  • 320GB hard drive
  • NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB
  • SGD$3,988.00

Website: Apple (Singapore) - MacBook Pro
Shop: Apple Store (Singapore) - MacBook Pro

MacBook Air

• Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz
  • 2GB DDR3 Memory
  • 128GB SATA hard drive
  • NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
  • SGD$2,888.00
• Intel Core 2 Duo 1.86GHz
  • 2GB DDR3 Memory
  • 128GB solid state drive
  • NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
  • SGD$3,988.00

Website: Apple (Singapore) - MacBook Air
Shop: Apple Store (Singapore) - MacBook Air

MacBook

• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz
  • 2GB DDR3 Memory
  • 160GB hard drive
  • NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
  • SGD$2,088.00
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz
  • 2GB DDR3 Memory
  • 250GB hard drive
  • NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
  • SGD$2,588.00
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1GHz
  • 1GB DDR2 Memory
  • 120GB hard drive
  • Intel GMA X3100 graphics
  • SGD$1,588.00

Website: Apple (Singapore) - MacBook
Shop: Apple Store (Singapore) - MacBook

Microsoft has release Silverlight 2 and it will be available for download tomorrow. I have been waiting for this as Silverlight 1 and 1.1 is really an infant.

Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of Silverlight 2, one of the industry’s most comprehensive and powerful solutions for the creation and delivery of applications and media experiences through a Web browser. Silverlight 2 delivers a wide range of new features and tools that enable designers and developers to better collaborate while creating more accessible, more discoverable and more secure user experiences.

Press Release: Microsoft Releases Silverlight 2, Already Reaching One in Four Consumers Worldwide
Website: Official Silverlight Page

It has been confirmed that Windows 7 will be just called Windows 7. Simple, short and sweet.

And, as you probably know, since we began development of the next version of the Windows client operating system we have been referring to it by a codename, “Windows 7.” But now is a good time to announce that we’ve decided to officially call the next version of Windows, “Windows 7.”

While I know there have been a few cases at Microsoft when the codename of a product was used for the final release, I am pretty sure that this is a first for Windows. You might wonder about the decision.

The decision to use the name Windows 7 is about simplicity. Over the years, we have taken different approaches to naming Windows. We’ve used version numbers like Windows 3.11, or dates like Windows 98, or “aspirational” monikers like Windows XP or Windows Vista. And since we do not ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date did not make sense. Likewise, coming up with an all-new “aspirational” name does not do justice to what we are trying to achieve, which is to stay firmly rooted in our aspirations for Windows Vista, while evolving and refining the substantial investments in platform technology in Windows Vista into the next generation of Windows.

Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore “Windows 7″ just makes sense.

We are very excited about the opportunity to tell you more about Windows 7 in the coming weeks, and show you how we have continued to build on investments begun in Windows Vista to deliver on the next release of the Windows operating system.

Source: Windows Vista Team Blog

As usual, I am so busy with school, as said previously, I got assignment due every single week since the 3rd week of school. It is now mid October. My last day of school is 14th November 2008. I got 3 exams on the 22nd, 25th and 27th of November 2008. The confirmation date for my Taiwan trip is getting closer each day, it is now mid December 2008. I think I should be able to get the exact date at the end of this month or latest by early November 2008.

Last Friday, Li Xiang has no school, so I skipped my lecture (the lecture is quite useless as that module is not examinable) and we spend some quality time together. I sent her to school to loan her Canon 20D DSLR camera for her photography assignment and then we went to Singapore Botanical Gardens to re-take some of her shots for her photography assignment.

After spending an hour there, we proceed on to Orchard Road to catch a movie, we caught Big Stan. It is the first movie directed by Rob Schneider and the movie was good. Personally, I love movies starring Rob Schneider and Adam Sandler as I have not been disappointed in any movies with them in it yet.

On Sunday, we went for Tim Sum at Crystal Jade Dining at VivoCity as our Thailand friends are leaving, they are here on a business trip to discuss something with my mom. 3 years ago when we visited Thailand, they really took good care of us! I will definitely be going to Thailand again when it is more stable over there. After the Tim Sum, Li Xiang and I headed home to catch some sleep while my mom and brother went to Takashimaya as they are having a storewide 15% discount because of their 15th anniversary in Singapore.

At night, they went to Serangoon Gardens because my mom’s cousin baby is one month old while Li Xiang and I headed to Central for the famous Ma-Rutama’s Ramen. They are opening a branch soon in Liang Court on the 1st November 2008. We walked around Clark Quay and Liang Court and took some pictures along the way. Last weekend was the best weekend I had since school starts.

Our 4th anniversary is coming on the 24th October 2008, going to bake her a chocolate Chiffon cake. It is my VERY FIRST attempt in baking a cake, hopefully it does not fail. I think it is easier for me to do programming than baking. LOL

I was busy with the Nokia Remix 2008 and hence I have no time to compile my site traffic statistics for September 2008. But better late than never, here it is:

September 2008 Total Traffic

• Total Hits: 10,026,167
• Total Files: 9,143,765
• Total Pages: 804,734
• Total Visits: 173,723
• Total KBytes: 37,275,290
• Total Unique Sites: 136,527
• Total Unique URLs: 16,197
• Total Unique Referrers: 19,417
• Total Unique User Agents: 5,630

September 2008 Daily Traffic

• Hits per Day: Average: 334,205 - Max: 383,820
• Files per Day: Average: 304,792 - Max: 344,866
• Pages per Day: Average: 26,824 - Max: 36,666
• Visits per Day: Average: 5,790 - Max: 7,999
• KBytes per Day: Average: 1,242,510 - Max: 1,627,248

Note: Green denotes increase and Red denotes decrease when compared with August 2008.

Previous month site traffic: August 2008