ben

Grado Prestige Series Model SR60i and HD414 pads (reverse quarter mod)

2011-06-01T22:30:00.002+08:00

Back in 2009, I bought a Grado Prestige Series SR60i Padded Headphones. Since then, I have been enjoying the great Grado sound. The original Grado S-Cush pads eventually wore out and I bought a pair of Grado L-Cush pads ("holey pads" - donut shaped pads for Grados) as a replacement. After some time, these pads were also worn out (bits of black sponge started to crumble off).

So, I got a pair of Sennheiser HD414 yellow ear pads. These are known to fit the Grado SR60i. The stock pads do fit the Grado SR60i but because they are closed pads (like the original Grado SR60i comfy pads), the sound is not so "open". Hence, I decided to open them up with the so called "reverse quarter mod".

Sennheiser HD414 pads are packed with this label

The reverse quarter mod refers to taking an American quarter and using it as a guide to cut a hole in the HD414 pads. The "reverse" part refers to using this newly cut hole to stretch over the Grado cans. It is "reversed" in the sense that you are using the "ear side" of the pads on the cans and the original hole now sits on your ears. Do take note that you do not turn the pads inside out.

Since I am from Singapore and do not have an American quarter on me, I used a Singaporean 50 cents coin as it is almost the same diameter.

Place the Singaporean 50 cents (or American quarter) on the inside of the HD414 pads and use a sharp knife to cut around it

You will end up with something like this

Here's how it looks like with the center part removed

Take this pad with the new hole facing the Grado SR60i cans...

...and stretch them over the cans. Don't worry, the pads are quite stretchy. Remember, use the 50 cents (quarter) hole to stretch over the cans.

All done. Enjoy your funky yellow coloured Grado!

So far the Grado with HD414 pads are sounding great. The HD414 pads are softer and get less hot than the original Grado pads. They are also lighter and seem to have more air in them (more porous). I hope they last a little longer. They do cost less than the Grado pads. Hope you enjoyed this guide.

Grado Prestige Series Model SR60i and HD414 pads (reverse quarter mod)

Lego City Space Moon Buggy 3365

2011-04-20T20:08:00.001+08:00

Bought this recently at a local department store. Its a moon buggy and an astronaut. The six wheeled vehicle reminds me of an old sci-fi TV series which I watched as a small boy - Space 1999! Here are the pictures!

The minifig comes with a cap and a spacesuit. The spacesuit is mounted on the moon buggy when not in use. He is wearing the cap at the moment.

Probably back in Houston testing the moon buggy. The buggy has a radar dish mounted high.

The back of the moon buggy has a foldable armature with a saw like device attached. It is meant to be used for gathering moon rock samples.

Testing the sample rock extractor.

Spacesuit on! It looks quite baulky and the booklet seems to suggest this is similar to the actual moon landing spacesuits. Urm... nah!

With spacesuit on and driving the moon buggy!

Quite a neat little set. The spacesuit looks kinda big. I may modify this somewhat as it looks quite plain at the moment.

Lego Ninjago - Ninja Ambush 2258

2011-04-18T19:00:00.003+08:00

"As part of his training to become the Spinjitzu Master of Fire, Kai is sent into the bamboo forest by Sensei Wu to protect the Golden Scythe. Hit the button to launch a surprise attack on Bonezai before he steals it!"

Saw this are Carrefour and hey... ninjas! Cool ninja! In Red! The official marketing tag line is pretty cheezy. Bonezai indeed! On to the pictures!

Here is the bamboo forest ambush prop. You can see the Golden Scythe on the right. That red tab would have given away the trap easily before Ninja Kai can fly.

Red ninja Kai! He looks intense and ready to slice!

Minifigs are not very poseable. But Kai manages to get by....

Here's how the ambush works. In reality, flight distance is limited and Kai will tumble all over the place.

Bonezai looking quite happy with a battle axe.

Ambush sequence! You can see Kai emerging from the bamboo trees and hacking Bonezai to a million pieces. Zai removes his ninja mask and you can see a scar right across his left eye.

Red Ninja Kai - Front

Red Ninja Kai - back

Here's Kai posing in front of our world travelling photojournalist.

"Great job Kai. The world owes you for removing Bonezai!"

Lego Rebel Trooper Battle Pack 8083

2011-04-17T16:12:00.004+08:00

Picked this up some time back and fixed it up. Its quite a good set with 4 minifigs from the Star Wars Hoth setting. These minifigs are Hoth Officer (1), Hoth Rebel Troopers (2) and Zev Senesca (1) in an orange flight suit ready to pilot a Snowspeeder. A vehicle is included, although it does not seem to be from any actual Star Wars movie or its related fictional world except Lego. On to the pictures!

Here's the set assembled. The vehicle fits on figure while the rest go on foot. There are enough weapons for each of the figures. The visor of the Rebel Troopers can be fitted over their heads or over their eyes. The Hoth Officer spots a moustache. All of them seem to look rather grim.

Here is a side view of the vehicle. There is a pair of cannons mounted and its intended for the driver to be the gunner as well. There is a bin in front of the cannon which I suppose a droid count be fitted for navigation control.

Another view of the vehicle. You can see that the missiles can be launched by pushing the tail end until they snap loose and fly - for a short distance.

Hoth Officer, trooper and Zev looking grim. The rebel base was eventually attacked and overrun by Imperial AT-AT and the ruthless Stormtroopers.

Rebels ready for action! One of the rebel trooper has his visor down and sports a rifle with scope.

It is possible to reconfigure the vehicle to allow a driver.

In this configuration, one trooper drives while another can focus on targeting the imperial scum. Zev can be seen leaving the stronghold to grab a Snowspeeder.

Another look at this new configuration.

Update: Apparently, the vehicle is called a Rebel Laser Ice-cutter and was used in the rebel Echo Base on Hoth. It appeared in one scene along with the Snowspeeders in the hanger. The Ice-cutters were used to cut out Echo Base from the ice. There was supposed to be a scene where Wampas attacked the base and which Luke manned one of these Ice-cutters to shoot down the Wampas. You can read more about it over here: Rebel Laser Ice-cutter

Botanic Gardens & Ikea custom shelf

2011-02-18T00:45:00.007+08:00

Went down to the Botanic Gardens today after a medical check-up (I took the day off) and being near noon time, most of the birds were away from the hot sun. It seems that only the pigeons and spotted doves were active.

Spotted Dove

It has been a while since I have been out photographing birds. My lens of choice is the versatile Sigma 50-500mm EX APO RF lens (this has since been superseded with a optically stabilized version – the Sigma 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM SLD). I’ve had it for more than 5 years and it’s starting to show its age. It’s my favourite lens because it can go as wide as a 50mm and zoom all the way to 500mm. Very important when a subject decides to suddenly move towards you. I use this more often than the venerable Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM Telephoto Zoom Lens. Don’t get me wrong, I love the 70-200 too, but for birding under good light, I prefer the longer reach and wider range of focal length of the 50-500. I use the 70-200 more for portraits and fashion runways.

As I said, it’s been a while since I went birding. I packed light, just a Canon Speedlite 420EX, Canon EOS 500D / Rebel T1i, its EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens and the old Sigma 50-500, all packed in a Lowepro CompuTrekker.

After a few hours of birding, I lunched at Ikea, followed by some shopping. I am building a custom Ikea monitor stand similar in concept to this TV stand featured on Ikeahackers. I am using Capita legs and a Ekby Hemnes Shelf. Will probably start work on it on Saturday. My son was very excited when he helped me to open up the shelf and legs. He wanted to knock in the legs with a hammer! He started using a measuring tape to measure all the sides and told me it is dangerous to work on it and only he can do the job. Hahaha!

Arrakis - Dune - Desert Planet

2011-02-13T00:36:00.004+08:00

Apparently, if you did a google image search on "Dune desert planet", you will get to see the above space painting which I did in 2007 on the first page! Wow! I should do more space paintings!

Anyway, I did enjoy the sci-fi novel Dune and have since reread it several times. One of the best and most epic sci-fi.

More Apple iPhone 4 & my free apps

2010-08-29T19:40:00.004+08:00

After posting my previous iPhone 4 post on free apps, I have added a few more free ones!

Genius Scan : A camera for recording documents like a flatbed scanner.

Vint Shift : A camera with tilt-shift lens simulation.

Morelomo : A camera with lomo effects.

Runkeeper Free : Helps keep track of your running.

X Invasion 2 Lite : Nice little flight simulator.

Grammar Jammers Primary Edition : Teaches basic grammer.

Multitask Apps

I've also discovered that double clicking on the big iPhone 4 front bottom button will show all multitasking programs running in the background. You can quickly switch between them. To kill them you just have to hold it long enough until it shakes. To get back to your apps page, just click the button again.

Create folders

To create your own folders just hold the apps icon till it shakes and then pull it together with another icon to form a folder. The phone will suggest a folder name which you can change.

My Halo Collection

2010-08-29T09:44:00.004+08:00

My Halo collection!

With Halo: Reach coming out soon, I have gathered most of my Halo collection here! Am looking forward to launch date on 14 September 2010!

Halo: Reach

2010-08-27T08:39:00.004+08:00

Updated: Added a new clip introducing Noble Team!

Apple iPhone 4 & my free apps

2010-08-21T00:38:00.020+08:00

Currently using an Apple iPhone 4 and keeping the Omnia 2 for GPS and as a spare phone. The "grip of death" seem to be a little overly hyped and I have not had any dropped calls so far. Maybe because Singapore is saturated by 3 phone companies broadcasting their signals. Most of the time its full bars and the worst I got was 2 bars of signal strength.

My son loves playing games and reading children books on it. I must admit, one of the reasons for getting this phone was to keep him entertained while I am driving or on the Internet.

Here's what I have installed on mine - all free:

Gorillacam : Adds some cool features to the camera like self timer, timer lapse, digital anti-shake, bubble level, grid and 3 shot burst mode!
Facebook : Direct link to facebook for updates including photos
iBooks : Read and buy ebooks
The Straits Times : Keep up with the local news
Channel News Asia : Keep up with the local news
New York Times : Keep up with world news
Razor TV : Local Internet TV
Hungry Go Where : Food guide
Stanza : Read ebooks, epub, pdf, txt, cbr, etc. Even allows you to load your own ebooks from your hard drive - through iTunes!
Carparks SG : Real time car park lot information
Traffic Cam SG : Keeps track of local traffic
Comic Touch : Adds comic touches to your photos including speech bubbles!
Adobe Photoshop Express : Yup, a mini Photoshop app! Free!
Windows Live Messenger : Who would have thought.... Microsoft Messenger
Runkeeper : App for running. Keeps track of distance covered
Angry Birds Lite : Good game, up to 12 levels free!
Cooking Mama Lite : Simple game for the wife and kid
Puzzle Bobble Lite : Classic game
Read Me Stories : 7 free stories.
Update: It expires after 7 days too.
Ice Tycoon : Game in which you serve ice cream to different customers
Feed Me! : Educational game with 2 free stages. Free stages covers the alphabet, number series, simple math, simple logical problems, associations. The kid loves it.
Update: If you click on any of the Buy options, it gets stuck there if you don't buy it. You can delete and re-sync it back to "reset" it. Its cheap though, so I may buy it one day.
Can Shooter : Game in which you throw cans into a bin
Little Bella's - I Close My Eyes Lite : One animated story
Tap Tap Revenge 3 - Game which looks a little like guitar hero
Asphalt 5 Free - Car racing game

I switch to Airplane mode when I pass the phone to my kid to play. Here's how: Settings - Airplane Mode - On.

And to further prevent in-game purchases: Settings - General - Restrictions - In-App Purchases - Off. Your have to turn it back on for things like iBook because its considered and in-app purchase. I leave this off by default.

Its been a fun phone so far. I've also linked my office email to this. Its a pity I cannot open Word or Excel documents unless I purchase an app. Yes, 50 emails waiting...

Samsung Omnia 2

2010-01-11T00:04:00.011+08:00

Took over a Samsung Omnia 2 which has a 5 megapixel camera...

Christmas Eve lunch with colleagues at Chilli's - heart-stopping!

Breakfast at Starbucks with wife

Lunch at Asia Grand Restaurant (Odeon Towers)

Terrain - Botanic Gardens*

Cliff - Botanic Gardens*

*Click for full view

Hasbro Star Wars AT-ST Legacy Collection

2009-10-11T21:34:00.019+08:00

Hasbro released a new All Terrain - Scout Transport (AT-ST) as part of the Star Wars Legacy Collection. This new release is closer to the movie AT-ST. One omission is the hind leg support which in the actual studio model appears to be a metal spring. The wire support around the top of the AT-ST is also of a different shape. However, this AT-ST has a full range of articulation and for the first time, you can pose it in a squatting position, which is probably the position for boarding the AT-ST. There is also enough room inside the AT-ST for 2 figures to sit side by side. The view ports can also be opened. An AT-ST driver is included with this toy. You also get another set of chin turrets that fire projectiles (not shown in these pictures). The Hasbro AT-ST cost S$89.90 and is a little expensive.

AT-ST in squatting position. Figures from left - Sand trooper, Lt Janek Sunber (from the Janek Sunber & Amanin Comic Pack), & AT-ST Driver (included in this toy). The bottom of the AT-ST almost touches the ground with its the 2 bottom armour plates in this position. You can also pose it with its legs closer to the body and at a lower height which makes it very compact - a great way to store this toy.

Side view of the AT-ST in squatting position.

AT-ST driver aboard the AT-ST. The entire top (including the hatch) can be opened for 2 figures to be seated inside.

AT-ST squatting at a higher position.

At-ST at full height

This AT-ST is scaled quite nicely with the 3 3/4" figures.

The AT-ST is one of the taller Hasbro toys in the 3 3/4" range.

Close up of the AT-ST driver

Dinner at Chin Lee Restaurant - Mum's birthday

2009-09-07T22:44:00.009+08:00

Celebrated mum's birthday by going to Chin Lee Restaurant 深利美食馆, a Teochew restaurant recommend by my brother. The place is well known for its coffee ribs and "he zhor". My brother did the honour of choosing the dishes for all of us. The food was indeed very nice and tasted pretty fresh. After dinner we adjourned to my brother's place for a nice Emicakes' Premium D24 Durian Cake.

We can tell that Mum was indeed very happy with this simple celebration.

The He Zhor goes very nice with the plum sauce. Its a kind of prawn based dim sum, deep fried. A Teochew dish.

Coffee Ribs - nice smell of coffee and boneless ribs (some sliver of bone can still be found). Very tasty. Must try!

I think this is Chilled Teochew Pig Trotter Jelly. Not particularly fond of fats but the rest seemed to like it.

Siew Mai - there are some crunchy water chestnuts in there. Nice prawn taste and goes well with the vinegar. I would order this again.

Soon Hock (Marbled Goby) cooked in Hong Kong style

Cereal Prawns. The plate was quite deep and contained generous helpings of cereal fried in butter with curry leaves.

We also had some fish maw with scallop soup, fa chai with mushroom, herbal chicken and some or nee not shown in these pictures.

Emicakes Premium D24 Durian Cake. We choose the Premium because we thought the Ultimate would be too rich. Yup, premium turned out to be pretty rich in durian after all. We loved this.

Halo ODST ~ Launching soon...

2009-09-07T01:54:00.003+08:00

For all fans of Halo...

Gundam Fiesta Visit 1

2009-09-05T01:42:00.013+08:00

I visited Gundam Fiesta 2009 on Friday after work. The exhibition took up less space than I expected. There was a series of static display panels showcasing the history of Gundam from the beginning. The history of Gundam is also available online at:
OficialGundam.com
Gundam Wiki

I have been a fan of Gundam eversince my childhood days. Gundam was never shown on local television but I remember the cheap plastic models sold in my neighbourhood stores. These were relatively cheap for a schoolboy (relative to Star Wars Kenner figures of course). I remembered fixing them up unpainted and wondering what the anime was like. It was much later when I rented the Gundam OVA anime video tapes that I realised the actual story. Of course, when the internet came about, a whole lot of information on Gundam was made available. Of the entire Gundam universe, I am particularly fond of the Universal Century (U.C.) based stories. Gundam is credited to be the first anime to depart from the old "revenge" style giant robot stories with a monster a week. Instead, it presented a very long story about Amuro Ray (pilot of the prototype RX-78 Gundam) and the crew of White Base (a prototype mobile suit carrier).

The timeline of the first Gundam TV series was the year U.C.0079 and this was followed by Gundam Z and Gundam ZZ which showed events after that first series. Later releases were divided between those that deviate from this timeline or those that keep to the original timeline. However, central to all these releases was the idea of Newtypes.

All I had was my Nokia 6220 Classic; nevertheless, here are some shots of the event.

Main entrance of Gundam Fiesta 2009

RX-78 Gundam (Pilot: Amuro Ray)

MS-06 Zaku II (Pilot: Char Aznable)

History of Gundam Anime

Odaiba, Japan, 1/1 scale Gundam (life size in other words)

A life-sized foot print of the RX-78 Gundam was on display to provide a sense of scale

A model of the Odaiba Gundam

The first Gundam ainme - Mobile Suit Gundam

Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta

Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the pocket

Gundam RX-79 NT-1 from War in the pocket

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memories

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team

I believe these are the master wooden models for making the metal molds

The metal molds for injection molding

Prototype produced by Stereo Lithography; done with a kind of 3-d printer

Raw plastic

The first Gundam model

It's cool that they brought in these

A model of Bandai's injection molding factory

SD Gundam done in the Sanguo style. These are SD Gundams depicting characters from the Chinese novel The Three Kingdoms.

Bought some of these limited editions - will probably be back for more when they are released next week

Lego Airplane Mechanic 7901

2009-09-04T01:37:00.012+08:00

Here's a little Lego set that I like. Its the Airplane Mechanic from the City theme range. You get quite a lot of tiny pieces of tools including a drip and an oil can (not in these pics). The jet engine should be similar to one of the passenger airplane sets. The design of the jet engine looks like a typical commercial jet turbofan.

Overall view of the set. The jet engine can be hoisted up using the ball-jointed hook.

Close up of the jet engine on the hoist. The turbofan blades can rotate and come in a metallic black color.

Another angle of the jet engine and the smiley mechanic.

The tools are stored on a rack.

A dolly is supplied to wheel the jet engine around.

Removing the compressor fan, you can see right through the jet engine.

Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin, Ion Orchard

2009-09-04T00:57:00.011+08:00

Had dinner with my wife at Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin, Ion Orchard. Its the 2nd branch outside of Japan. However, looking at the pictures from their website, it seems that the Singapore branch is the smallest and least furnished. In fact, it looks more like a fast food type of restaurant - think Yoshinoya and you get the idea. We ordered the Katsu Curry, Chicken Katsu Curry and ice lemon tea and were issued a number and proceeded to a vacant seat. By the way, this Singapore branch apparently does not have green tea, strange as it may seem...

The food arrived quite fast. It looks pretty OK but the Katsu was smaller then expected. The only side dish being the soup. The drink came in a cheap paper cup.

Here's the soup - a little oily. It's not Miso Soup but rather seem to be a mix of Miso and Oden which was odd. Here's the konnyaku, some meat with fats, and various vegetables.

The curry taste quite good but both the chicken and pork Katsu were really fatty. For that price we were expecting a little more. Moreover, there weren't ANY side dishes to order as well.

Anyway, here's the Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin Jap menu: Jap Menu

A far cry from what we are getting in Singapore, wouldn't you say?
Pictures from my Nokia 6220 Classic.

Grado Prestige Series Model SR60i

2009-09-02T23:48:00.016+08:00

Bought a pair Grado Lab Prestige Series Model SR60i headphones for those times when I cannot blast my speakers. These are retro looking headphones but are often rated highly by various sources - just do a Google on Grado SR60i. Made in Brooklyn, New York.

They cost S$120 (excluding GST) in Singapore. I bought them from Jaben Network, Adelphi. The shop is run by a bunch of friendly folks who allow you to sample various headphones and headphone amps. After trying out both the SR80 and the SR60i, I found the SR80 sounded pretty powerful and has a wider feeling but not much different from the SR60i. I decided to get the SR60i as I found the sound to be "good enough" for my ears and save a few dollars - $50 to be exact.

Now, I am at home playing my collection of music and the clarity is amazing! The bass is punchy without sounding muddled. They fit well on my head and I found the full sponge to be comfortable. I can listen to this all day! I'm loving these headphones and would highly recommend them.

My wife loves them too. I wonder if I need to get another just so we won't fight for em.

The box is rather big but flat.

The box is sealed and opens like a flat cake box. You find the headphone with its thick soft cable, 3.5mm gold plated jack-plug and 6.3mm gold plated adaptor, foam padding and warranty sheet.

The retro looking can.

How it looks like out of the box. Looks old school but sounds amazing!

Canon EOS 7D officially announced!

2009-09-01T14:53:00.005+08:00

Its announced! Here's dpreview's hands on of the Canon EOS 7D.

DP review hands on of the Canon EOS 7D

I'll have to read this in detail. It sounds really promising!

Added a few more links:

Image Resource

Canon Special Site

It really looks promising. Some of the features that are great are:
1) New macro compensation of accidental movement toward / away from focused subject - i.e. 3 plane IS - up, down; sideways; in, out.
2) New 19 point cross sensor AF
3) New pentaprism viewfinder that is 100%
4) Wireless flash
5) Dedicated RAW / JPG button
6) Great HD video options - 1080p24 included as well as 720p60
7) 18 megapixels with no apparant increase in noise - which gives you more option of reducing apparent noise by reducing it to a lower resolution if you choose to
8) Cheaper than the EOS 5D Mk2

Cheap and Good

2009-08-31T22:25:00.007+08:00

Read an article on Wired titled The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple Is Just Fine. The points made are quite interesting. Its true that as technology grows exponentially, yesterday's new is today's standard. The article presented a counter point that cheap and portable are can beat the onslaught of newer technology. Examples like audiophile CDs versus MP3; desktop / notebooks versus netbooks; HD video cameras versus the flip; etc.

However, I do not think one will replace the other. To me, these new innovations present more choices and more possibilities and thus, more market opportunities. It is not necessarily simpler technology but that technology has become so cheap that it can be made smaller, cheaper and faster. MP3 allows you to store more songs in the same space, flip allows you to carry it with your all the time.

Which is great for all of us. We are given a choice to own the best of both worlds. Cheap, small and good enough for everyday use and big and powerful for those days when you feel a little more creative. I do own a small netbook but I would not give up my desktop when I need more processing power to edit my DSLR pictures and HD videos. Its just that the cheap netbook allows me to carry it with me when I need to.

Gundam Fiesta 2009 in Singapore

2009-08-31T21:22:00.005+08:00

For the first time in Singapore, Bandai will release some of the Gundam models in Singapore on the same date as in Japan. From 2 Sep 09 to 14 Sep 09, a series of exhibition and events will celebrate Gundam's 30th Anniversary. Yes, we do not have a live sized RX-78 Gundam like in Odaiba, Japan, but this comes a little closer I guess.

Link to official Gundam Fiesta website:
Gundam Fiesta 2009

Some highlights that are of interest to me are:
1) 1/60 Injection Machine Model - a model of the machine that makes all the Bandai plastic models

2) HGUC new releases such as the 1/144 HGUC RX-79(G) Gundam The Ground War Set - great for building dioramas as such

3) 2009 SG Gundam Image Girls wearing Gundam Costumes (5,6,12,13 Sep 09) - hmmm... I wonder what these are like

4) Meet Kawaguchi Sensei - a professional modeller

I'll probably pop by one of these days to check it out. Probably grab a few HGUC kits and the Injection Machine Model.

Canon EOS 7D rumours

2009-08-30T17:59:00.002+08:00

Some leaked pictures of the new Canon EOS 7D has appeared on the internet. Exciting times if these are true. What got me excited are the following new features:
1) 18 megapixels
2) Dual DIGIC IV
3) 8 fps
4) New eight-directional double cross central AF point, total 19 cross AF points
5) Full HD video

If these are true, then we would have a speedy and accurately focusing Canon DSLR. Very tempting to upgrade to this new DSLR.

Neutral day rumour

Canon Rumours

Javier at 2+ years old

2009-08-28T22:39:00.005+08:00

He just turned 2 recently and while they say its the time of the "terrible two", I actually found him to be easier to look after. Yes, he sticks to me like glue after work but he sleeps at around 10pm all the way till around 5 to 7am.

At 2 he decides to ditch his diaper declaring that its too heavy and opting to just wear his pajamas around the house. Yes, occasionally he forgets to tell us he is about to pee and just lets it go wherever he stands. Same thing for solid wastes as well. We still use a diaper whenever we are going out though.

He speaks more Mandarin as my mum spends the most time with him. He does understand English but speaks less and has some trouble pronouncing longer words. Alphabets and numbers up to 20 are no problem for him.

Being a boy, he does tend to have an ego and will wanna try and do things all by himself. Sometimes even when he is too small / short / weak to do it. I guess I can see a little of me in him.

Lego Coast Guard Kayak 5621

2009-08-28T22:15:00.010+08:00

Picked this up some time ago because I thought the Coast Guard minifig looked pretty good. Comes with a kayak with oar and a buoy. I really like the Coast Guard helmet (looks like those lightweight bicycle helmets with holes in them) and the life vest. The oar is pretty thin at the flattened end and will bend easily. Very few parts but looks nice when completed.

One of my boy's favourite Lego because he relates this with the song "Row Row Row Your Boat". Incidently, he just turned 2 recently.

Stubbly Coast Guard

The other side

The buoy

Keeping the kayak

Under the life vest, its a standard Coast Guard vest

Lego Mars Mission 5616-1: Mini Robot

2009-08-24T22:43:00.005+08:00

This set belongs to the Mars Mission series and consists of one mini robot and an astronaut minifig. The astronaut has a gold visor on an ordinary helmet and carries a device that looks like a torchlight. He does have an interesting expression and the stubble seems to indicate that he has been on Mars for too long. A single oxygen tank is printed on the back.

The mini robot has an opening hatch to store the mars crystals and carries a pick-axe and what looks like some sort of ground detector for detecting crystals. It does look quite nice and would probably fit in a sidekick or mascot.