Uncle Law's Cubicle

Controlling Car Population

2013-09-02T11:20:00.002+08:00

Here's Uncle Law's $0.02's worth.

PS : nothing is perfect, but I prefer to think my below suggestions might be a good reference point to start from.

====================================

General Rules :

Mileage is a system whereby the vehicle-owner pays for the mileage upfront before he is allowed to travel.
If the Mileage System is adopted, we should then do away with the Road Tax.

For Non-Businesses :

Strictly one Class 3/3A vehicle OR two for Class 2/2A/2B vehicles per household.
All other classes may only be registered to a Singapore-registered business.
Bank Loans may only be used to purchase the first TWO vehicles.

For Businesses :

Each business is allowed ONE Class 3/3A/4/4A/5 vehicles OR TWO Class 2/2A/2B vehicles per Singaporean/PR hired by the company.
Any additional vehicles registered by the business will be subjected to the same additional levies imposed on Non-Business vehicles.
Public Transport Operators for Buses & Taxis will be exempted from the new rules and continue to be subjected to the existing COE/ERP/Road-Tax of 100% per vehicle.

====================================

Comments?

Trips in 2013

2013-05-08T10:46:00.002+08:00

Jan - Present : Plenty of day-trips to JB
June : Taiwan
August : Bangkok
October : Cruise
December : Penang/KL/Malacca (TBC)

:)

Final Trip for 2012

2012-11-20T23:03:00.005+08:00

Updates :

~~May 2012 - KL~~

~~June 2012 - Bangkok~~

~~July 2012 - Batam~~

December 2012 - USA West Coast

F1 Singapore 2012

2012-09-26T22:06:00.003+08:00

Wanna know how I spent last weekend when it was the Singapore edition of the F1 Race?

The folks in orange won the Best Team Award for the F1 Singapore 2012. The winning teams (1st, 2nd and 3rd) was selected by a panel of folks from the Race Control.

The team used to be 20 odd fellows in previous years, but expanded this year to about 60 due to the increase in number of Feature Races (Porsches, Ferraris and GP2 Races). With the majority being newbies and yet they were able to work like clockwork together as a team in 4days, isn't it amazing?

Lastly, I wanna add that I was part of the gang in orange... The Paddock Marshals.

Back from KL

2012-05-21T20:33:00.000+08:00

Updates :

~~May 2012 - KL~~

June 2012 - Bangkok

July 2012 - Batam

December 2012 - USA West Coast

Just got home this afternoon from the weekend getaway + Les Mills Workshop in KL.

We stayed at the Somerset Ampang, a service apartment located about 15mins walk from KLCC? Here's some pics of the apartment in case you are interested....

Chronology of phones

2012-05-13T00:33:00.000+08:00

was reading an article about the evolution of the cell phone and it got me recalling all the phones that I've used in the past, right up to today, in chronological order....

Ericsson 318 :

=================Ericsson 688 :
=================Ericsson 768 :

=================Nokia 3210 :

Nokia 3310 :
=================Nokia 6510 :

=================Nokia 6610 :

=================iPhone 3GS :

=================iPhone 4S (current) :

The "SEASON" is starting....

2012-05-12T00:13:00.000+08:00

Nope, not the durian season. Not the football season either..... its my TRAVEL SEASON!! :)

Let's see :
May 2012 - KL
June 2012 - Bangkok
July 2012 - Batam
December 2012 - USA West Coast

woohooooo!!!

The Rainforest, 2012-04-09

2012-04-09T17:37:00.001+08:00

Will be periodically providing updated pics of the site, stayed tuned!!

The Rainforest aka 雨林阁

2012-01-24T19:23:00.003+08:00

Made a super duper huge purchase recently with SO...

Really can't wait to move in there... but we'd need to wait till its TOP in March 2015....

江惠家後 MTV

2011-10-19T01:25:00.001+08:00

D-Day Coming.....

2011-10-18T01:28:00.000+08:00

Gigantic Headache....

2011-10-17T22:05:00.001+08:00

Take a look here....

Blossom Residences....Nice right? The price is 723psf, located deep in Bukit Panjang and 3 LRTs away from the future MRT.

The Warren, located few hundred meters from CCK MRT, is asking for about 780psf.

If you were me, which one will you buy (assuming budget is not the main factor here).

========================

SO and I went to the showflat for Blossom Residences a few weeks ago with the agreed mindset to just simply take a look around. We ended up spending 5hrs there and nearly bought a unit!! The only thing that stopped us was our lack of essential documentations and the chequebook!!

After walking out of there, doing some homework and a few days later, we decided that Blossom is not that good a deal afterall....

And so we set our sights on the upcoming Executive Condo in CCK by City Development, expecting to launch in Nov or Dec. A week later, we gotten news that a new DBSS project, The Trivelis, in Clementi and minutes' walk from the MRT, will be launching in End Oct.

Here comes the headache :

SO is VERY keen in the Trivelis for its location. I'm for it too, based on location. However, I'm also looking at the potential upside of the property 5-10yrs down the road when this property becomes eligible for sale.

I'm resigned to buying a property at today's high price, but I'm also looking at how much can I potentially gain or even breakeven when I decided to sell this unit in the future. There is a limited upside to a HDB flat no matter what and thats because you can only sell it on to another fellow Singaporeans or PRs and also that's if the Ethnic Quota for the block had not been reached.

An EC, is completely different. An EC can be sold after 5yrs, but only to Singaporeans or PRs and to anyone (even foreigners) after 10yrs. With the continued influx of foreigners into the country, I've no doubt that the prices of condos will only head north no matter what price you bought it at. The only problem is how far north and whether you have the money to buy it now.

My preference would have been an EC in the west anytime. The CCK EC will be the only EC launched in the west for the next few years for I do not see any allocated sites in the west for ECs for the next few months. And if the price difference between the DBSS and the EC is 100k, we might as well bite the bullet and go for the EC, correct?

Ok, having said so much, the main part is finally coming....

The Trivelis will be launching end of this month, the CCK EC tentatively end of next month or even December. If we ignore The Trivelis now and the CCK EC turns out to be out of our budget, we may be stuck with nothing and have to settle for a resale HDB flat.

If we go ahead and apply for The Trivelis, and happened to be successful, doesn't that mean the end of my EC dream? And we'd have wasted a perfect chance to own a "half"-condo at a slight discount!!

I know that we can't have our cake and eat it too, but I'd really love to at least give the 2nd cake a try before the 1st cake....

How how how???? What should we do????

Super Hot Date!!

2011-10-03T23:07:00.003+08:00

Statistics for 3 consecutive Fridays in November 2011

Number of Solemnisations on 04 Nov 2011....

Number of Solemnisations on 11 Nov 2011....

Number of Solemnisations on 18 Nov 2011....

Life Changing Event...

2011-09-11T20:11:00.001+08:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

You know you're a BODYCOMBAT instructor if....?

2011-09-04T22:09:00.007+08:00

1. You know every word to the scooter tracks...even though you haven't got a clue what it means!

2. You can hear a BC track on the radio and within 2 seconds know the next chore cue

3. The speed of your car depends on which BC track you are listening to...you always end up breaking the speed limit by the Muay Thai track!

4. You have random girls come up to you in a bar/supermarket and start talking to you like you are long lost friends and you haven't got a clue who they are.. (until they tell you which class they attend and where they usually stand)

5. You hear a random track on the radio and immediately think...hmmm what combat move would fit this music?

6. You thinks it's fun to make up new combinations to songs on the radio while sitting in traffic

7. Your IPOD is only for Combat music

8. No other CD is important in the car except LesMills……… turn it up!!

9. You're washing your hands in the bathroom of a nightclub and hear strains of Fat Man Scoop "Dance!" and bolt to the dance floor to bust into the ginga!

10. At a friend’s party when “Tribal Dance” starts to play, you get everyone to do BC (BC27,T4)

11. You suddenly shout "COMBO!!!" when you hear that part of the track... in the clubs... and you realise some of the guys on the dance floor are doing the combo as well...

12. Members track down your email address to ask you if you've started the new release yet and what's it like coz they missed a week!

13. You're out with your mates and someone breaks into a combo looking enthusiastically at you!

14. Your kids correct your chore when practicing

15. Your friends understand the importance of proper technique and make sure to remind you if they notice "on that last kick" you forgot to "position your heel"

16. You're in the grocery store and out of the blue your mate tells you "check out my uppercut" or even better "side kick" because they’ve been "practicing"

17. Your way of greeting people is a light front kick.

18. You practice your side kick while waiting for your cup of tea to dispense from the machine at work.

19. Your biggest fashion decision of the day is which colour wraps to wear...

20. You no longer know what is really Right or Left.

21. You iron your wraps.

22. You're at work and listening to the music and going over the Chore in your head staring blank at the computer screen and oblivious of anything else until the song is done.

23. When trying on a new pair of sneakers you realise that not everyone tries the fit and stability by doing jump knees, evasive sidekicks, scissors and mad shuffling from side to side and now the whole shop is staring at you.

24. You find yourself in a small changing room trying to find a way to set up kicks and do the splits from corner to corner to see if the new training trousers you're thinking of buying have enough give in the crotch.

25. You are getting into your car late at night in the dark car park after work, as yours is the only car left as you closed up, and you hear this sudden alarming rustle in the bushes right next to you and you unconsciously 'set' your heel ready to defend yourself....

Extracted from http://www.totallylesmills.com/site/Humour

Old-School National Day Song

2011-08-06T10:57:00.000+08:00

Sung by one of our potential candidate for the Elected President's post....

Nice song? Do you actually get the message behind this song?

Anyway, I think the song is quite nice, brings back memories when I used to sing it in primary school during the run-up to the National Day celebration in school.

National Day songs nowadays, in my opinion, are usually crap!! They are too pop-inclined and does not ignite much patriotism from singing it. Most folks forget about it the moment NDP's over.

Try asking someone in the streets to sing one of these "new" songs and see if they can do it. At the same time, try asking those in their late 20s to 30s to sing one from their era and see what you get....

不用如果，现在就已经有了。。。

2011-07-31T19:59:00.000+08:00

What Makes Me Feel Like A Singaporean?

2011-07-31T00:13:00.001+08:00

1. Going back for ICT, wearing that No. 4 and singing the National Anthem in the Auditorium.

2. At the airport customs whenever I come home from my trips.

Today, I'm adding a No. 3 to the above list;

3. Attending the National Day Parade, esp. during the singing of the National Anthem and watching the "customary" fly-past of the giant state flag.

There I was this evening, with SO, somewhere in the Green Zone. It's my first parade, albeit its only the preview. I've been balloting to get tickets since the day they started this practice but I've never gotten picked. It's the same old disappointment this year. All thanks to SO's mum, for her NRIC was balloted for 2 preview tickets, which she gladly gave it to us when she knew how keen I was.

The Reviewing Officer of tonight's preview arrived, the State Flag was attached to the flag-post and we all stood up to sing the National Anthem. We (So & me) held hands as the anthem is being played. She's been singing it day in day out and thus had no problems with the Malay lyrics. Me, despite singing it once per year during ICT, was surprisingly able to sing along effortlessly. At the moment when the helicopter flew past with the giant flag, my heart suddenly become heavy and my hairs stood at attention too, as if to salute the flag as it goes by.

At that moment, I truly felt like a Singaporean and promised HER that I will do my best to ensure her survival and prosperity. Never will I abandon her for perceived greener pastures. Esp. not when I've given 2.5yrs of my life to HER.

Call me cliche if you like, but those are my heartfelt thoughts.

Flag from the goodie bag.

Another additional to my flag collection on my desk.

What's that in the sky???

It's the Red Lions Parachuters!! :)

They've never failed to wow the crowds.

Zoomed out view of the stage-area.

Parade's all formed up and awaiting the Reviewing Officer for the Preview.

Managed to zoom-in but ended up capturing only 3 of the 4 GOH Contingents.

Loots from BKK

2011-07-09T22:16:00.002+08:00

1 pair of berms
1 pair of tailored dress pants
1 electrical essential oil "burner"
2 bottles of Martell
3 (mini) bottles of essential oil
3 packs of munchies
4 pair of briefs
6 tailored dress shirts

All that for S$670, exclude airfare & hotel....

:)

Travel Plans 2011 - Updated July 2011

2011-07-08T22:10:00.000+08:00

Feb 2011 - Batam (completed)

Mar 2011 - Kanchanaburi (completed)

Apr/May 2011 - Chiang Mai (completed)

May 2011 - Kuala Lumpur, LM Workshop (completed)

Jun 2011 - Taiwan (completed)

Jul 2011 - Bangkok (completed)

Nov/Dec - Melbourne

??? 2011 - Dublin (doubtful *sad*)

Travel Plans 2011 - Updated May 2011

2011-05-29T23:49:00.001+08:00

Feb 2011 - Batam (completed)

Mar 2011 - Kanchanaburi (completed)

Apr/May 2011 - Chiang Mai (completed)
May 2011 - Kuala Lumpur, LM Workshop (completed)

Jun 2011 - Taiwan (upcoming VERY soon....)

Jul 2011 - Bangkok

Nov/Dec - Bali? Melbourne? ???? (TBC)

??? 2011 - Dublin (Work-related)

"Affordable HDB Housing", Myth or Fact? - Part 2

2011-04-27T21:28:00.002+08:00

A continuation of yesterday's post on the affordability of HDB flats...

Found the following table in today's TODAY and I took a picture of it immediately. The previous post looks at how "affordable" a resale flat is. Today, we will look at a BRAND NEW flat instead.

Let's do the maths again....

HDB launched 4 BTOs on Monday ion areas Seng Kang, Ponggol, Hougang and Sembawang. To have a fair comparison to yesterday, we shall consider only Seng Kang. The prices of the BTO units from SK are :

Let's take the average price of a 4rm flat to be 328K (median price) and the household income/CPF contribution to be as follows :

Assuming the couple gets 40K Additional CPF Housing Grant and that they also had 60K in their CPF before buying the flat, the finalised loan amount will come up to 228K. Below shows their monthly instalment....

913 of their 920 (OA Contribution) monthly goes to HDB, leaving 7 miserable dollars in their OA. Multiply this by 30yrs and we get 2,520 (7x12x30). Even if we throw in compound interest and CPF Top-ups by the gahmen, how much would the couple have at age 55? 20K? 50K?

Do note that this 20K or 50K is among the 2 of them, which means each one probably has 25K at max. Please tell me several things...

1. With the Minimum Sum hitting 120K by 2013, how will this couple ever be able to draw out money earned over the last 30yrs to enjoy their twilight years?

2. Of what use is it to us to have slogged 30yrs for a house, only to have "saved" 50K in our retirement fund?

3. The motto of HDB is "Providing Affordable, Quality Homes". I've no doubt about the Quality part. But I seriously doubt the Affordable part!! Is taking the life-long hard-earned money of the citizens away your definition of "Affordable"?

I'm not against home ownership, in fact, SO and I promised each other that we will definitely become home-owners together, somehow.... But I shudders each time I look at the market. Why? This is why...

1. With such prices, I no longer dreamed of being able to sell my house 10yrs later for a profit. In fact, I would be thankful if I can even break-even.

2. My kids, nieces and nephews, by the time they are settling down and looking to buy a house, how much would that be? 1million for a 4rm flat? With Mr Horse in place, I wouldn't bet against it.

I used to not really understand the housing issues come election time. But now that I'm looking to get a place of my own, I became fully aware of the existing issues and why so many peoples are making so much noise!

With my earnest hope and prayers, residents of Tampines GRC, please DO THE RIGHT THING and spare our future generations the shit that we are currently facing.

Thank you.

PS : according to the table from TODAY, the couple will need to fork out cash! That's an even worse scenario than the one I've based my maths on....

"Affordable HDB Housing", Myth or Fact? - Part 1

2011-04-27T00:13:00.003+08:00

Fact? Yes, 10yrs ago, maybe.... Today, it's definitely a myth... A BIG FAT MYTH!!

Let's do the maths....

Using the above picture as a reference, the median Household Income of a 4-Room Flat applicant (25yrs old) is (SGD)4K.

Using yet another picture above, this is the prices of resale flats sold in Seng Kang, the existing new town that the gahmen is developing. Let's take the average price of a resale 4-Room Flat to be 400K.

Based on a salary of 4K, this household would have a total CPF contribution as shown below....

Assuming the household being eligible for the 40K Additional CPF Housing Grant and that they also had 60K in their CPF before buying the flat, the finalised loan amount will come up to 300K.

Refer to the following picture for the monthly repayment amount if the loan is stretched to the maximum tenure on HDB's fix-rate 2.6% interest :

The monthly repayment is 1,201 while the monthly contribution is only 920. Looking at the state of things, the couple will have their monthly CPF + 300 cash going to HDB. Leaving ZERO DOLLARS from their CPF Contributions to accumulate inside their OA. Extrapolate this 30yrs ahead, how much would they have inside their OA when they reach 55?

Answer : BIG FAT ZERO!!!

With retirement staring in their faces 10yrs down the road, they not only have nothing to withdraw, they also had to meet the CPF Minimum Sum shit!!

The questions now for the gahmen :

1. Where on earth is the couple going to find money to meet the Minimum Sum so that they can enjoy their "Savings"?

2. Is making someone pay 30yrs for their home and ending up having nothing for their retirement your definition of affordable public housing?

3. With new BTO flats costing up to 390K (in SK), the applicant might as well buy from the resale market since it's only about 20K-40K more?

4. Going along this line, how can new flats STILL be considered affordable?

5. You always tell us a house is an asset. At such sky-high prices, my main worry would be : "Will I break even on the house?" I've already given up trying to make money.... Is this what you call affordable?

Mr Horse, where did you pluck your facts and figures from?

Feel free to rebutt me if my above is incorrect....

Pics from my Childhood Days

2011-04-25T13:19:00.002+08:00

One of those game consoles which I used to have....

Used to visit the nearby provision store and buy takeaway soft drinks. They'd fill a small plastic bag with ice and then pour the drink from the glass bottle into it.

Bus tickets from yester-era. In those days, buses were operated by 2 persons; the driver and the fellow selling the tickets. Once aboard the bus, the seller will come around and ask you where you are going before whipping out the correctly priced ticket and punched a small hole indicating the fare-stage where you've started the journey. Classic!!

One of those olden days non-air bus with the gigantic gear box right at the entrance, beside the stairs where you climbed aboard.

My school bookshop used to sell these by the loads!! And I'm often there to support them. hahahaha

Anyone remember the cheat code to get 99 "Lives"? Anyone can confirm if its "up up down down left left right right A B START"?

Whoever haven't seen this before, hands up?
"Sunny Day.... Sweepin' the... clouds away...."

One of my favourite cartoon when young, but the movies recently doesn't interest me one bit, weird...

Another one of those hits during my time...

The school textbooks back then were uniform across all schools, even amongst the different levels, the exterior of the books were uniform, albeit with differing contents and colours.

The first TV I ever remember seeing when I was a kid looks something like that. It was a Hitachi and served us well until I was 10 or so.

Another one of those yester-era buses, this time a double-decker.

One of the many snacks to bluff kids' money in those days...

Another one of those snacks, this one is fish crackers I think, but not crispy one, it had those soggy feeling and smells damn fishy!!

One of my favourite games on the Sega console. I can spend endless hours trying to complete it using diferent characters. I particularly loved using Blade, that lady in red, for she is fast and nimble, but abit light on her kicks and punches.

Yet another of those cartoons during my time...

The Courtesy campaign poster.

I've never enjoyed my mandarin lessons, yet I was forced to buy this stupid papers for 20cents weeks after weeks!!

Uncle Scrooge!!

Western Bar!! My favourite handheld back then! Saw this game on the Apple App Store going for US$4.99. I bought it without hesitation!! :)

Travel Plans 2011 - Updated Apr 2011

2011-04-17T21:20:00.000+08:00

Feb 2011 - Batam (completed)

Mar 2011 - Kanchanaburi (completed)

Apr/May 2011 - Chiang Mai
May 2011 - Kuala Lumpur, LM Workshop

Jun 2011 - Taiwan

Jul 2011 - Bangkok

Nov/Dec - Hokkaido/Europe/USA (TBC)

??? 2011 - Dublin (Work-related)

From the way things are going, this list can only get shorter. Any longer and my neck will be given a good squeeze by SO!!

Uncle Law's Cubicle

Controlling Car Population

Trips in 2013

Final Trip for 2012

F1 Singapore 2012

Back from KL

Chronology of phones

The "SEASON" is starting....

The Rainforest, 2012-04-09

The Rainforest aka 雨林阁

江惠 家後 MTV

D-Day Coming.....

Gigantic Headache....

Super Hot Date!!

Life Changing Event...

You know you're a BODYCOMBAT instructor if....?

Old-School National Day Song

不用如果，现在就已经有了。。。

What Makes Me Feel Like A Singaporean?

Loots from BKK

Travel Plans 2011 - Updated July 2011

Travel Plans 2011 - Updated May 2011

"Affordable HDB Housing", Myth or Fact? - Part 2

"Affordable HDB Housing", Myth or Fact? - Part 1

Pics from my Childhood Days

Travel Plans 2011 - Updated Apr 2011

江惠家後 MTV