Digital Bytes

Over the past few months now, i have met the committees running NET and ACMA to talk about how they can build community online and improve their websites in phases. As a culmination of this episode, i got invited to a retreat that NET was organising. I’ve already felt my spider-sense tingling since i wasn’t a committee member and i know only the committee members were invited and not my classmates. So imagine my surprise when i found out at the beginning that this was “business” alignment exercise. As in setting up mission statement and values and brainstorming what the organisation does well and should do more of etc And an even bigger surprise when towards the end of the day an org chart was flashed on screen with a newly created “creative” dept. with web and design as components. I guess i’m in the committee…

And to seal the deal, mass in Church after that had the Gospel of the owner who left his stewards with 5 talents 2 talents and 1 talent and the one with 5 made use of it and got another 5 while the owner was unhappy with the guy that just hid the 1 talent he had in the ground. i.e. moral of story is to use your talents!

The bizarre thing was that the priest then went on to try to explain the parable by telling a story he heard about the Holy family hiding in the cave while on the run from King Herod. In that cave was a little cave spider who felt honored to have distinguished guests and was just trying to do the only thing it could - spin web as an honour for them. This actually saved them from the search party because the soldeirs reckoned that if the entrance was filled with spider web, then logically nobody has entered the cave recently. Thus saving them from being discovered. He ended the explanation of the story along the lines of “…since all the cave spider could do was web-making, then just doing that is honoring God …”

I turned around to V and exclaimed “web making!”

I guess there’s no turning back from this one… I’m reporting for work boss…

I’ll be turning 35 in a couple of minutes and today at Church, i was just thinking, it took me 35 years of learning about and running away from God before finally coming back to believing in Him.  So i guess i owe the next 35 to Him to be building His kingdom…

It’s not going to be easy and its definitely going to be a long journey, but i guess we’ll see how that turns out. Nothing is impossible.

Have had quite good meals over the birthday weekend. Started out with a Japanese ala carte buffet for a NET gathering yesterday, a seafood lunch this afternoon and finally a Japanese BBQ for dinner and TCC for desert. Yum!

So after hearing about this Wagyu beef thing for so long and wondering what a $100 burger can taste like, i finally got round to sampling some of this delicious beef at Gyu Kaku in UE Square. Truly amazing! Softest and smoothest beef i’ve ever eaten.  I do recommend this to all meat-anarians out there. You must try this at least once in your life. I guess the next step is to check out Kobe beef.  Although i don’t think i’ll be able to taste the difference.

I gave myself a  birthday gift of a Canon Powershot G10. Have been getting restless without a hobby lately and since V has given me the duties to be cameraman for our kids’ precious moments, i’ve decided to invest a little in a better camera and start to learn all those mumbo jumbo aperture, ISO thingies to take better shots. As you can see from this pic, i really do need a lot more practise :p

Managed to grab some me-time to go cycling about the east coast. This picture was taken before the sky came down on me! Had to take shelter for half an hour before heading back all drenched. Was wondering what the reason was for all the ships to be painted red and black. I’m sure there is a technical reason for this.

Always had this idea that the Esplanade and Swissotel made a great phallic shot. My opportunity came along when we were hearded up a duck-tour recently. Not sure how, but the iPhone even gave a little hazy fish-eye lens effect at the edges

Some cynics may think this is the ultimate symbol of this country where the citizens get done over in many ways.

Enjoy!

As with any of our new life projects, we start it all by doing some basic research. Surfing the net, reading forums and such. And finally this weekend we popped by a baby hypermart in Kaki Bukit and Mothercare in Harbourfront to look-see and check out what sort of budgets we’re looking at.

I guess most couples would experience the same thing where the guy gets to choose the stroller and car seat cos its a more gadgety thing to do. So i’ve been swarming myself with specs like umbrella-folding, rear-facing, height-adjustable, 5-position, ISO fix etc The options are bewildering and you get caught up with thinking about how heavy, how easy to open, does it work with newborns, got brakes, bigger wheels etc  Which just shows how great the marketing of these products are and the way they differentiate themselves when all you need is a blinking seat with 4 wheels which can hold a baby and fold up to be kept.

So although its pretty tempting to treat this as another gadget acquisition exercise, i’m going to keep my head and just go with something that works! And we figured that since the kid won’t be leaving the house much, at least for the first few months, we’d probably get the wheels after we get the kid home first…

V’s RCIA class finally got baptised today! And she did her confirmation as a Catholic because her baptism has already been recognised. Mum and dad were there for the mass and aunt C was her godparent. It brings us to the end of an 11 month journey through the iniation process of the Church and it has opened my eyes onto the inner workings of Church groups etc

Its interesting to note how long and difficult it is to get baptised here as opposed to just saying you believe, and jumping into a pool of water. I guess its kind of a test of committment for the newbies to show sincerity and the ability to go the long haul. We’ve even seen people “drop out” after coming for lessons for 7 months or so. Its nice to know its really not a numbers driven game here to convert as many people as possible and if people are not really ready, they should really think about it more and possibly do it sometime down the road when they are ready.

On a personal note, I’ve got to make it a point never to use the “us and them” syntax with V because we have had intense discussions over the differences between Catholicism and Protestant beliefs. And technically now we’re on the same side of the fence.

I just had this thought cross my mind that its kinda like KFC chicken, original vs crispy… In the end, its all chicken.

Call to reception into the full communion of the Catholic Church

Originally uploaded by gr3gtan

That’s a Ferrari going past at about 300km/h! Its an interesting shot for me because the TV screen also shows the driver’s view. (Captured on an iPhone nonetheless)

Thanks to M for snagging me a seat. I’ve got a chance to experience the big event of the year for our tiny red dot of an island - The Singapore GP - F1’s first ever night race. I must say its pretty impressive to see the multi-million dollar lighting system lighting up our night sky. Especially if you see photos of the track from afar, its like some game interface where the track is highlighted for you. Really nice!

I’m not a die-hard fan of F1 but i do enjoy the races occasionally, and the engineering and rules around the races. Its really a whole industy on its own and it does push the manufacturers to improve the whole auto industry with all the new technology they come up with, so that’s always good.

Ferrari came in first and third for the qualifiers so the fans will be happy as everyone has said that the track is difficult for overtaking, hence the starting line-up will more or less determine the race winners.

Kudos to the organisers for pulling off this logistical miracle, all i can say is they should add another bridge to the coleman road gate as that seems to be the main exit everyone from various grandstands are leaving from.

And of course, THE TICKETS ARE TOO EXPENSIVE! Its not priced like a sporting event or a rock concert, its priced like the royal ball or some millionaire’s club night. Just that you get to sweat it out on some grass patch watching cars zoom by.

As with everything else in this country, the target audience are the tourists or the rich. Anecdotal evidence tells me that people earning five-digit salaries and who are F1 fans are not buying the tickets. If they can’t afford it, who can?

Ok i’ve made my point. Maybe in 5 years when the novelty has faded and the tickets are at a sane level, I can go watch it again. In the meantime, can’t wait for today’s race on TV …

More photos here

I’d just like to mark this day as the day we hear the news from events unfolding from this message. We both can’t believe it’s happening so fast but here’s to a new journey in life!

On one hand, many things to plan for.. But on the other hand, gotta learn to trust in Him.

Lessons in NET also coincidentally focused on the Theology of the Body in the last 4 sessions and now it all makes sense at a big picture level. So now i’ll just go live it out…

Rage against the machine!

Originally uploaded by gr3gtan