Goo Problems

Sometime last week, we started smelling fuel somewhere in our engine compartment whenever we switched off the engine. We didn't know what the smell was and there was also a strange rattling which we couldn't quite identify.

Earlier in July we had changed the fuel tank float. The fuel tank float had been giving us problems intermittently for nearly a year. Occasionally, the dashboard display would show that we were driving on reserve when we knew that we had something like a 3/4 tank of diesel. We monitored our fuel tank by checking our trip meter which we reset at every diesel top-up. It served us well enough until we got too busy and sometimes just put in $20 to keep going till we had more time at the station. Then I would worry that I would forget and drive the tank to empty - which is disastrous for a diesel engine.

Then we had problems with the alternator dying on us in August. We managed to get it to the workshop for it to be repaired before I went away for the National Day holidays in Singapore.

So imagine us being puzzled by the noise and smell in the front section last week.

I decided to drive the Goo to the workshop on Thursday for it to be checked out. The Goo had other ideas - it spluttered to a halt along Upper Serangoon Road on Wednesday night around 10:30 whilst we were on the way home with V and Junior and Torrent packed in!! HORRORS!!

HH called K for help - to transport V and Junior and Torrent home. We then called the tow company run by Jeannie (I think AutoJag) for help to tow the Goo to Renault at Leng Kee Road.

Jeannie's tow truck came and the very efficient tow Uncle loaded the Goo on his hoist and took all the details. K came just after to the rescue on his way home from work and sent V and Junior and Torrent home. Junior and Torrent were not happy to go into the doggie cage at the back of K's SUV - strange smells and strange car. Anyway, they made it home.

HH and I jumped into the tow truck and went for a ride to Leng Kee Road to settle the engine problems. The ride to Leng Kee was uneventful - the tow truck uncle told us about haunted houses and spots in Singapore and it made the drive interesting. We did agree that driving slowly and steadily was the way to go these days - no need to rush and get all worked up.

The next morning, the workshop called us and asked "what happened??" - so we said something about the fuel pump and the fuel line and the alternator (we had figured it by then) and asked them to check it and solve the problem. They could not promise us that they could resolve the problem so quickly after they checked.

Anyway, Woei Lee our very sweet service advisor said that the Goo would have to stay in the workshop for the weekend as the problem could not be solved by Friday evening. However she made it easier for us to live without our Goo by letting us have the use of the Renault F1 Kangoo till the workshop returned our Goo today.

So on Friday evening, I made it down to the Renault service centre and collected the zippy F1 decorated Kangoo. What a breeze to drive. It is new (below 6 months and ran about 12,000km only) - our Goo is approaching its' 8th vehicle inspection next month and has done over 230,000km. The engine is some turbo charged 1.5 diesel thing - our is just 1.9 diesel, no frills basic engine.

We managed some F1 driving stunts because of the lighter clutch and steering. We stepped on the gas and the F1 Kangoo surged forward. We nipped in between vehicles and switched lanes with ease. We overtook slow laggard weekend drivers and incompetents with ease. The reverse sensors made parking easy. BTW, I don't have problems driving a van with blind spots - I can park the vehicle with just the mirrors for assistance.

There were leather seats. There was also padding along the side panels and the top so the whole cabin was quieter. Such refinements compared to our Goo the work horse water buffalo. It was tempting to consider getting the new Kangoo, but we do love our Goo - warts, spots and scars!!

I think we must be the oldest agent maintained Kangoo still going to the workshop for services and parts and repairs. The Renault people are always trying to get us to buy a new vehicle, either car or van but we see no reason to change our Goo at the moment as it has served us well over the past years.

We have had a lot of fun with our Goo and has served us well - it has made numerous trips to Malaysia and even got booked for driving 133km/h on the North-South Highway. We still haven't paid that outstanding speeding ticket - naughty!! We have hauled plants from PJ to some land along the Karak Highway. We have carted home many bargains from Ikea and save the $40 delivery charge. We have played driver to many friends who needed a ride or a tumpang if they didn't mind the van. The Goo has also helped friends move home or office and been packed to the gills with stuff.

We once stuffed the Goo with 3 humans and 8 doggies for a dog show. Us and Junior and Buzzi, then we swung around to pick K with Quanto and Xena and forward to LHT's home to collect his 4 GSD puppies for the show. Imagine the crowd in there that tumbled out when we arrived. There was also all the bits and pieces for the show so it was really stuffed.

It was a real relief when I heard from Woei Lee last night to say that our Goo would be ready this morning for collection.

Many thanks to the wonderful people at Renault at Leng Kee Road who keep us on the road!!

Malaysian roads

I recently went home to Malaysia (Petaling Jaya to be more precise) to escape from Singapore for the National Day holidays. So this posting is about the state of the roads in Petaling Jaya.

I managed to drive AKK's car around PJ for the 4 days that I was home. Good car I had in my hands, but the roads were horrendous.

I encountered pot holes - the pot hole that I knew about 20 years ago was still there. I don't know if the hole had been repaired or filled, but it was there when I drove past it this time.

Bad road repairs were also everywhere. These would be uneven repairs where the holes were patched over but the whole length of the road was not re-done. So I would be driving along the road and see some black patch and then drive along and see another black patch some 50 metres down the road. Sigh! Could the authorities just re-pave the whole road nicely so that it would be smooth to drive on?

Road humps were everywhere - on all the little roads. Some humps had markings of yellow stripes. Others had road signs that showed HUMP. Other humps were just lumps on the road. Near where we live, there was a hump across only half the road!! So all the motorists will drive on the other side of the road where there's no hump - duh!! how very intelligent right?

I told V to do a good deed - splash paint on all the unmarked humps. She asked me what defence she should give in the event that she was arrested for vandalising road humps. I told her: good citizen doing good deed to mark out bad parts of the road!!

It is very sad that there is Sepang for the Grand Prix races and the North-South Highway is of some standard but the other roads are just BAD, BAD, BAD!!

There are no pavements for people to walk along. Most people will have to walk on the grass verge and dodge the cars that come at them. There are no trees to provide shade either. Sigh! No wonder people are just driving to add to the traffic congestion around Malaysia.

I think that the municipal council or whichever department is responsible for the roads should be held accountable for the monies that they put aside presumable for road maintenance. There should be a public investigation into the funds gone missing.

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Olympic Fever

I guess I should say something about the Olympics in China since it started on 8 August 2008.

What can I say - I am not interested. When the opening ceremony started on 8 August 2008 at 8:08 pm, I wasn't paying attention. I was too busy at a birthday party for my mum. Some guests were glued to the television set. Other guests were too busy socialising and touching base with each other.

Since the Olympics started 8 days ago, I don't think I caught any action on the telly. The last time I really spent any time watching the Olympics on TV and saw something worth noting was when some Russian girl got a perfect score for gymastics. But I don't think that event was even broadcast live or anything like that - it was just the usual daily report.

No time and no interest these days - I would rather spend time with my dogs and cats.

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Office Mess

OK now that we have finished the renovations and the electricity is in, the air-conditioners are working, the lights have stopped flickering and the telephone system installed, we can all heave a sigh of relief and settle to work somewhat.

Anyway I am the only girl in the office and I get a room!! All this for my squatter's rights in this office too - I am amazed. In truth, the creative person J said: Carol makes so much noise that we need to confine her in a room to get some silence! ;-p

In reality, I am doing a lot of work in this place and the stuff that I handle is marked "private and confidential". Let's see - clients' contracts, accounting records, HR records, sacking letters, bank statements and all the stuff that they consider P&C they have decided to throw into my squatter's room.

Last week, we were still struggling away with incomplete renovations (of sorts!) when I went away on Thursday. When I came back on Tuesday, there was stuff in my room.

Yesterday, I sorted the position of that wonderful HP Laserjet 3390 (a gift from Hewlett Packard to me) so that it would work as the network machine that it is supposed to.

Today I decided to sort out some of the other mess in my room.

I want the telephones on the right of the table, but there is no telephone point there - so I had to get a 15m extension and run it from the other corner . Then there is VOIP telephone and it has to be in the same position. So to get all these in place, I now have some spaghetti junction behind my laptop.

First we have the power extension cable coming from the hole in the table. From there we run the power for my laptop, my VOIP phone power and cable, the HP power cable and my mobile phone charger. From the router to VOIP phone box, there is a LAN cable and from there an extension out to provide internet access to my laptop. What a mess, but it gets my office working somehow.

I want a light from in front of me to light my work area and will bring a light from home. The light stand will come out from the hole in the table for all the cables. It will look strange - I don't care because it will solve my light problems.

HH and I have agreed that a trip to Ikea is necessary to buy the cable organizer snake so that we don't have such a spaghetti junction mess to create stress and make the place took tidier.

I guess this will keep me going for a while more before I start clearing up again.

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Office Moving II

We finally finished the whole office move which started on 28 July. The saga ended today when the electricity was connected.

First, I must say that the different contractors drove me nuts with their lack of safety conciousnes - these are the guys who did the renovations. Let's start with the electricians - no safety boots. Then the partition guys - no safety boots. The air-con guys - no safety boots and no safety belts. You think about the safety issues - they never bothered.

So whenever I came to do site inspection in my Ferragamo shod feet, I would be asking them: WHERE ARE YOUR SAFETY BOOTS??? Then I would get the excuse about it being uncomfortable or not necessary or whatever bloody stupid excuse they would conjure up.

Then I will tell them in my horrible atrocious Chinese, Hokkien or whatever they understood that I don't care how "the bloody excuse you give", you will have to wear your safety boots.

Our main contractor told me that had terrorised the men for not wearing their safety boots. I told him that we don't have insurance to cover all their bloody accidents, and I would prefer to have a ZERO accident worksite.

Last week, when we moved - all the stuff was everywhere. On Saturday, we went back to the office and cleared the office area of all the boxes into the green screen room as a holding area so that we could set up the office with the desks and whatever furniture.

Yesterday we cleaned and mopped the floor, wiped the dust off all the furniture. Then we set up the desks and arrange whatever else that needed to be done.

The best part was that there was no electricity, no internet, no telephone, no air-conditioning, no lights - NOTHING!!! We were working with one long extension cord taken from the common power supply outside used for the renovation works. We managed to put in a large blower fan and work without lights. BUT - I HAD IT GOOD!! I had my reliable M1 broadband internet connection to keep me going. I wasn't going to share that connection with anybody - yeah selfish I know, but I don't care - it's for keeping me happy!!!

Today, to my great relief the electricity meter got connected, the aircons tested, the lights installed, the internet connected - and we are in business from tomorrow!!!

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Singapore Garden Festival 2008

Yesterday, I got really tired from the office move. At the new place, nothing was set up - the contractors were still around fixing whatever they needed to do. I was stuck in the office and felt the need to get out and have some fun. So I headed for Suntec City for the Singapore Garden Festival 2008.

My nose was assailed by the smell of greenery when I walked into Suntect City. I paid S$5 for my ticket (S$1 discount for being an Ikea Friends member). I also "lent" my membership card to a lady to get her that S$1 discount. I guess the discount made it easier to stomach the entrance fee since the festival wasn't so great.

I got to the top at Level 6 where they told us to start our tour of the festival. I entered and went straight that award winning garden display called Shangri-La. It was interesting. It was an underwater scene, so it was a little surreal like I was underwater and looking up towards the sky. The various cacti were artfully arranged to look like coral under the sea. There were bubbles (like what we blow for fun) floating upwards languidly from some hidden source somewhere under the cacti.

On the top was glass (representing the surface of the sea) and there was water flowing over the glass. It was truly an underwater scene. The only thing missing was Nemo swimming around!!

After that display, I walked around the whole exibition and got some creative ideas for my future floral displays.

I then went down two levels to another part of the exibition where they were showing community gardens, ikebana displays (so artificial), orchids galore and where they had gardening talks. When I got there, the talk was in Chinese, so I gave it a miss.

I truly like the NParks display of edible plants. That was the glutton or cook in me coming out - drool, drool - and it quite inspired me to consider growing my own veggies and herbs in our tiny patch of a balcony where we hang laundry.

I walked around to the booths selling stuff and investigate what's available - also the shopaholic in me coming out. Nothing interesting in truth. There was a booth selling the Singapore Shawl which I thought looked interesting, but I figured that I could make it myself so I didn't buy one. Saved some money there!

My downfall was the butterfly display - I saw these really pretty artificial butterflies stuck to the wall and my creative side popped out for the decorations for my squatter's rights office. Maybe a couple of butterflies could cheer up the place.

V came to join me and used my ticket to get in. Yeah we saved some money there on the ticket - 2 for the price of 1!!

Office Moving

My other office moved yesterday - this is the office where I have squatter's rights for the work I do. It was a madness move because we have to vacate the office in McNair Road by 31 July and nothing (no power, no airconditioning, no lights) in the new office had been done. Work only started last week on Wednesday 23 July with the partitions going up and the contractors working overtime. I must give credit to my client the contractor Ah Ng for working so hard to get the place done up as much as possible.

We started packing over the week all the stuff that was hardly used - then there was another round of packing on Saturday.

Yesterday, the movers came around 11 and started the BIG MOVE. The guys came in like locusts and moved everything out. Then they started stacking the stuff into their huge lorry. The bulk of the stuff was moved to the new office by 4 o'clock.

All we have left in the old place at McNair are the telephone and internet in working order, a large table that I am sharing with HH, electricity with airconditioning (so important!!) and a whole lot of bits and pieces that we have to clear or dump.

The folks from M1 came today to remove the repeater box for making our mobile lines work in the office. Ah Ng also came to give us a quotation for the reinstatement of the beautiful wooden floors upstairs. Tomorrow our cleaning lady will come to clear out the place with a mop and on Thursday, we will hand over to the landlord.

Why are we moving? The rental went up double, so we decided that it wasn't economical to stay. So money talks!

I will miss this place for its' charm. We have an old colonial townhouse with 3 bedrooms and 2 balconies upstairs and lovely wooden flooring. We converted the back bedroom into a guest room and we had our overseas visitors stay overnight on a few occasions. On those occasions, I became the executive housekeeper - I would wash the bedsheets and make up the bed. All our visitors were charmed by the quaint surroundings.
Yes, it was fun for the two years that we were here - I am sure the corner coffee shop will miss us very much!

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Singaporean drivers

Has anyone ever noticed that Singaporeans are very inconsiderate drivers? They road hog, the cut into your lane, they sound the horn if you are a little slow off the mark, they show you the hand or the finger, or they use their headlights inconsiderately?

OK, I have to admit that I passed my driving test in Singapore - so who am I to complain about these drivers? I can tell you that I am no idiotic woman driver. I like driving and have impressed a lot of men with my driving skills especially parking. I can reverse park a vehicle without turning my head, using just the wing mirrors for guidance (brag, brag a little ;-p )

Dad was in town for a couple days and was driving his foreign registered princess mobile. Dad knows his way around Singapore streets very well, except for when the road works come along to confuse him.

These are my observations sitting as his passenger and navigator - Singaporean drivers just "dun give chance" to other road users. Dad was a little slow when the lights changed, and the drivers behind him started sounding the horn. Then when he gave signal that he was going to switch lanes to the right, they just came along faster without giving us a chance to filter right. The same for when we were doing the filter left thing!!

Then they would also cut into our lane as we filter left on the expressways. Otherwise, they will drive like slow Sunday drivers who have no idea that they are road hogging.

I think that Singaporean drivers have a problem - the kiasu syndrome - that clouds their judgement and they no longer have any patience for anything. It is totally the ME, ME, ME, thing.

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Easter

This is our third cat in the family - Easter. She came to live with us on Easter Sunday, so that's how she got her name. Easter came one week after Junior came to live with us. Easter was rescued by our friend Kelly on a wet rainy night. Kelly kept Easter for a couple of days then she was inspired to ask us if we wanted to adopt her.

OK - my original answer to Kelly was NO, we cannot cope with another pet. We already have FatBoy and Bandit and we just got Junior, so I don't think we can cope with another cat. HH had other ideas - he said YES to Kelly. I was totally amazed. Then he gave the rationale for taking Easter in - Junior was absolutely petrified of FatBoy and Bandit. He needed a friend to grow up with him, so since we cannot get another dog, we will have a kitten!! So that's how Easter came to live with us.

Junior really needed a friend - he wouldn't poo or pee on the newspaper if FatBoy or Bandit were sleeping around it. He was also scared of those two cats who could be quite intimidating in their own way. He took to Easter with great happiness. They quickly became good friends - eating and sleeping together. Junior would share his dinner with Easter. They could drink from the same bowl too. Something Junior WOULD NOT do with FatBoy or Bandit.

Junior would also keep Easter in line - she loves going out along the corridor for a walk. Whenever I called her, she would ignore me. So, I would get the great retriever to retrieve his mei-mei Easter. I would tell Junior - go fetch Easter and tell her to come home. Junior would then run down the corridor and grab Easter by the scruff of her neck and drag her home. She would be protesting the whole way home along the corridor. Mum always thought that Junior would injure Easter in this fetch exercise, but he never harmed her. He just brought her home.

Easter is our great wanderer cat with incredible wanderlust. She is always out - treating our home as her hotel. She comes home for meals and to use the toilet. Otherwise, she will be out in the neighbourhood claiming her territory.

In the evenings when we come home, she will be in the carpark to greet us - quite unusual for a cat, if I may say so myself.

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Interesting lessons

Yesterday we went back to the office to settle a couple of matters. It being Saturday, we were back late in the afternoon. Lo and behold, we had two colleagues there also working on some stuff. One was a new guy named SY who had just taken over a position that was handled by RA who had resigned and gone onto another company. I guess this was part of the handover process that I walked in on.

So during this handover, SY got to ask RA many questions - how does this link to that? where was the information stored etc. etc

RA gave all the information, but I think SY was hoping to take the easy route and not figure a lot for himself - maybe a case of SY wanted to be spoon-fed and get everything easy.

RA told him part of it and said that he would have to figure the rest of it. Then came the best part that got me laughing:

SY, girls I can introduce to you. Making the babies, you will have to figure!

So this is a lesson for the youngsters out there - you will have learnt something from school, you will also be taught some stuff, but in the end you will have to figure it for yourself too!!

Excellent advice from the old bird programmer to the young upstart programmer.

GO FIGURE!!

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