Here's My Story

So one Friday morning, the day after I was notified by Dell technician , a Dell (no, not the singer) engineer called and asked to come over that morning itself. Wow! That was efficient. I explained to the engineer the problem and, as expected, he brought a replacement SATA disk. I then pointed to him that this disk has a cache portion that should be accelerated, hoping that he wouldn't repeat the same mistake as a previous engineer the last time this disk was replaced. He also told me that he was asked to replace the laptop's DVD player. Huh? I never report any problem with that and so I was puzzled. I declined the replacement as I didn't want any unintended problems. After he replaced the disk, he asked me to use a Windows installation disc. What? I had already told the technician, via e-mail, that I didn't have Windows 10 installation disc. Fortunately, I had Windows 8 version which I wouldn't had had if I didn't specifically ask Dell for it when I...

Goodness! Seems like a yearly affair . Argh! This time, the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) notified me that the laptop's accelerated SATA disk has failed @@. I didn't notice any significant difference in its performance but I understand from a few tech websites that this probably meant the hard disk is dying :( So these were what I did thus far: (1) Tried running diagnostic using Dell's Support Assist installed in the laptop. Twice laptop shut down on its own and upon restarting, there was error message saying that Windows didn't load correctly. (2) The ePSA Pre-Boot System Assessment's normal test showed nothing was wrong. Its thorough test stuck at 97% when it was testing hard drive, after more than the scheduled 30mins. (3) Tried using Dell's online diagnostic too. Twice there was BSOD with the error message "Kernel_Security_Check_Failure". (4) Did a system restore but to no avail. (5) Contacted Dell's technician via e-mail ...

I have tried most Freelancers. Among the 3 categories i.e. Firepower, Frontline and Support, I'm weakest at playing Firepower. If I want to deal lots of damage, I die. If I want to stop dying, I deal little damage @@. Currently the 2 Firepower characters I'm still playing with competitively are Nix and OZ. OZ is fun to play. His distinguishing feature is his "afterimage" i.e. a clone of himself created at the last position he was at. You can only have one at a time, except during the turn after the ultimate ability is used (explained later). His 1st ability, a Blast, (as usual, 1st one has no cooldown for all characters) is Phaser Laser. He and his afterimages shoot laser. Additional damage if shoot at same target. The default modifier increases this additional damage but I changed it because (maybe due to playstyle?) often than not I cannot shoot at the same target. So I choose the modifier Divide And Conquer: targets hit by only one laser take an additional 4 ...

I know many times when we are upset or frustrated at some colleagues and/or clients, we are tempted to use judgmental words like "careless", "incompetent", "stupid" and "weak". The list is definitely not exhaustive, both in length and in intensity of the words. I've regularly encountered people, in my job, that rightly deserved such labels (good example is in this post ) but it is generally not advisable to say that to their face. Yet, somehow I want to pass some sort of feedback to them in the hope they improve in future. So I lay down the facts such that any one who reads it will understand the problem...and they can think up the appropriate judgmental words themselves :) One good tip: to encourage them to improve, tell them how it will benefit them too. Likewise, if you are falsely accused of negligence, just put up a vigorous defense by laying down facts, without using judgmental words such as "unfair" and "check your...

I currently have CPF account in Singapore. There's money in the Special and Medisave account. Special account can only be utilised once I reach the prevailing retirement age (currently is 62) where it will be converted into something akin to a pension with some death benefit to beneficiary. I dislike this because I do not want to leave anything behind. Most of the money in the Medisave account (it's a little complicated) cannot withdrawn (paid to beneficiary upon death). It can be used to pay for some medical treatments and partial hospitalisation bill. More importantly, it can be used to buy medical insurance. However, such medical insurance is only meant for Singapore citizens and PRs, and foreigners who lose their PRs but still have employment passes (EPs). I have such medical insurance. Since it's Singapore based, it'll pay overseas hospitalisation bill only for emergency cases, which I did so when I was hospitalised for dengue fever. Currently thes...

Bastion is a newbie favourite and, yes, it was my favourite too when I was at lower levels. He has the highest DPS among all heroes and, on the surface, quite easy to use: find a nice spot and shoot all enemies that come into side. However, as pointed out by youtubers, players do learn how to deal with him later and his popularity drops as you level up. He is rarely picked for competitive plays. So until players learn that, he will remain a viable pick. As for me, I use him only as a surprise factor i.e. last minute pick for defense and so catch enemies off guard. Works quite well for the last defense point or the final destination of payload. The key to playing him, as with many other heroes, is to reposition regularly so to scuttle enemies' plan to counter him. Bastion has 3 modes. His default mode is a recon mode i.e. a robot. He then can reconfigure himself into sentry mode i.e. a turret-like structure that does rapid fire. Pretty much like a machine gun. Devastating and ...

One of the reasons I make a point to go to gym 2 or 3 times a week (I could swim or practise yoga at home) is to accompany Ban and his brother. Ok, actually it's to organise an exercise outing for them because otherwise they don't. So one day, as usual, before we head out to gym, I asked Ban to call his brother. Ban: Time to go to gym Bro: I don't feel like going but I guess no choice Ban: Me neither What?? Lol *smack* *smack*

Spoiler alert for those who have not watched beyond episode 431 of Naruto Shippuden. Madara cast the spell Infinite Teppanyaki Tsukoyomi and put most of the shinobis in a dream-like state. Most of the dreams were quite simple and each lasted at most 2 episodes but the one by Tsunade, oh boy, could fill an entire anime's season. After having watched the entire dream sequence, this was what happened (each open square bracket indicates an "inception"): In reality, Tsunade was dreaming about [Her having fallen asleep at a desk and dreaming about           [Her reading Jiraya's novel that wrote about                     [The Child of Prophecy. The last one occupied most of the episodes with the first one reflected in only about half an episode where she was woken up by Dan (her lover who in reality was dead long time ago). Although a little cheesy and an obvious money-grabber/delay tactic, thi...

Besides Reinhardt,  Mercy was the other character that I watched videos for guides, tips and gameplays before trying her out in the Open Beta. Mercy can either heal a friend or boost his damage. Only one at a time. She's usually better off doing this than change her healing staff to a blaster and shoot. However, do use the blaster if you suddenly find yourself all alone and trying to flee from an enemy. You'll never know whether you can outduel the enemy until you try. I did that a few times hehehe. She also has an ability, with cool down, that allows her to quickly fly towards any friend within a certain range (quite a long range though). I use this frequently so as to be unpredictable in my movement, and of course to quickly go towards a friend who's in need of healing. She can hold down the Space button to slow down her descend after that if she is in the air and chooses to stay there longer. She has a passive healing ability, which is great since she can't hea...

Name one thing you like to do. Then, if you are not already doing so, imagine you spending less time on other things so as to spend more time on this activity. Next, name one thing you do not like to do, even if it is for yourself. Surely you would try your best to spend least amount of time on this, wouldn't you? Now imagine that after having done the above, you are asked by someone to do the thing you do not like to do but this time for that person's benefit (yes, not even for your benefit). Even worse, that person assumes that all you need is time: something that you have "created" to do thing you like to do and certainly not what you dislike doing. How would you feel? When I'm in a generous mood, I sometimes help others despite not liking what's needed to be done. In fact, once a while I go out my way to do it. However, when it occurs on a regular basis, I just have to say no, even if I feel conflicted. It was only recently I took the time to refle...