Looking Back 2010
Last year in Looking Back 2009 I said I wanted a job, and I got one as a Web Engineer at mig33, starting 1st February 2010, nearly a year now. I'll spend this New Year's Eve in the cinema again.
Blog
Personal posts and the diary I have kept since 2002: birthdays, year-in-reviews, milestones, and whatever is on my mind.
Merry Christmas 2010
Wishing all my readers and visitors a Merry Christmas, and may you receive lots of gadgets in the years to come! My top two Christmas songs remain My Only Wish (This Year) by Britney Spears and Wham's Last Christmas.
Happy 26th Birthday Li Xiang!
Celebrated Li Xiang's birthday with a Friday stay at Marina Bay Sands. We booked early, choosing the Rise & Shine package with one night and breakfast for two, paying S$389 before tax. Pricey, but totally worth it!
6th Anniversary
It's our sixth anniversary! We celebrated with a night at The Scarlet Hotel, grabbing Koi bubble tea on the way since the bus stops right outside. After checking in we watched Toy Story 3, even better than the first two.
The Social Network
The Social Network is a movie about how Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in his Harvard dorm. I doubt some parts, like Mark owning 51% when he holds 24%, but others ring true, such as Napster co-founder Sean Parker's involvement.
mig33 Is Still Hiring
mig33 is still hiring, and this time we need more engineers. Based in Singapore, we're looking for software, mobile, web, system and release engineers. Interested? Send your CV to jobs@mig33global.com, and fresh polytechnic or university graduates are most welcome too!
OCBC Account Number Format
Li Xiang's freelance finance admin flagged her OCBC account number as invalid, expecting nine digits but finding only seven, excluding the branch code and dashes. Mine has seven too. Puzzled, I asked around on Facebook and Twitter.
SingTel, M1 & StarHub Fibre (OpenNet) Price Plans
I've put together a comparison of the Next Gen NBN fibre price plans from Singapore's three telcos, SingTel, M1 and StarHub, plus SuperInternet. It covers download and upload speeds, international bandwidth and pricing, from M1's 25Mbps plan at S$39 upwards.
Disappointed With PayPal
Update: PayPal restored access to my account, requiring only that I remove the Donation button, which I've reworked into a Buy Now button instead. The access-restored email is below, but of course I will never trust PayPal again after this.
Ah Kong, A 6 Minutes Film About Dementia
Ah Kong, meaning grandfather, is a six-minute short film by Royston Tan about dementia. It tells the poignant story of a grandson trying to understand and reach his dementia-stricken grandfather, part of the Health Promotion Board's dementia awareness campaign.
SingTel, Starhub, M1 APN Settings
A quick reference for mobile data APN settings across Singapore's telcos: SingTel uses e-ideas or internet, StarHub uses shinternet, shwapint or shwap with a proxy, and M1 uses sunsurf. Most leave the username and password fields blank.
Nokia Box Message #3
Yesterday was NokiaBox Message #3, the task being to unbox a gigantic box holding two Nokia C6 phones. I'd learned the details earlier from Mark's behind-the-scenes post, then met Simon from WOM World at Marina Bay Sands.
Nokia Box
I'm taking part in a Nokia contest involving bloggers from London, New York, India and Singapore. I've no idea what it is yet, just two cryptic clue messages, with all revealed next week. Fingers crossed for a Nokia N8!
SingTel Now Supports MultiSIM For MicroSIM
Finally, SingTel supports MicroSIM cards in its MultiSIM plans, though at twice the price of normal SIMs. Only one MicroSIM is allowed in any combination, so with four SIMs just one can be MicroSIM and the rest normal.
NUS Commencement 2010 – Officially Graduated
Thanks to Li Xiang for the graduation gift she bought me in Hong Kong in April 2010, meet Dahhhh, the rabbit from Raving Rabbids! My NUS commencement falls on Wednesday, 7th July 2010 at 8pm, a slot I dislike.
MicroSIM Cards in Singapore
On Saturday, 29th May, StarHub and M1 began selling MicroSIM cards, with SingTel following tomorrow, 1st June. It's unclear whether the telcos allow MicroSIM in MultiSIM or restrict it to data plans. Either way, scissors will do.
mig33 Is Hiring!
mig33 is expanding and hiring more engineers and designers! We want PHP/MySQL web engineers, Java and J2ME engineers, ideally raw graduates up to five years' experience, plus designers. Interested? Send your resume to lester.chan at mig33global.
Confirmed At mig33
Time flies! I've worked at mig33 since 1st February 2010, and my three-month probation is up with good news: I'm confirmed! It's my first job and I love it, learning loads, especially ExtJS and proper MVC coding in PHP. Overjoyed!
SingTel Already Preparing MicroSIM
It seems SingTel has already begun preparing MicroSIM cards. According to forum user MorpheusV, when he signed up for SingTel's 7.2Mbps two-year contract bundled with a Huawei E5832, the salesperson told him the plan's SIM would be a MicroSIM.
Mini Interview By My Paper (我报)
Did a mini interview with Kenny Chee of My Paper about EpiCentre taking iPad pre-orders. I'm wary, since EpiCentre handled the iPhone 3GS pre-order poorly last year, leaving buyers receiving theirs later than SingTel customers.
Happy 26th Birthday To Me
Celebrated my 26th birthday at Chili's in Resorts World yesterday, my second visit after the Tanglin Mall branch. The food's fantastic but pricey; I love the free-flow Tostada chips at S$6.90, though the S$41.90 steak isn't worth it.
Blogger Name Card
I finally have a blogger name card to hand out at events, thanks to Li Xiang. Printed at Tommy Print, S$60 for 200 pieces, steep because of the translucent plastic material, and it took a month to collect.