Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Application TwLauncher has stopped unexpectedly
picture taken from droidforums.net member jpeanes My 3 day old Samsung Galaxy S says: ' The application TwLauncher (process com.sec.android.app.twlauncher) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again.' It happened when I was downloading my first few apps. AURHGHGHGH!!!! Edit: I had the phone sent to customer servicing centre and they had it fixed within a matter of minutes. Guess this problem was prominent among galaxy s phones. However since my phone is very new and should had the newest software installed they could not figure out why out happened. Only two possibility was that one of the many apps I was trying to download had a bug or 2, I was trying to download about 5 or 6 apps at one go and that proved too much for this great tiny phone. anyway its fine now and I cannot be more glad. All they did was to reset the phone. To reset phone, you must still be able to access your key pad. Step 1: go to your key pad Step 2: punch in this string of code - *2767 *3855# then hit enter/call Step 3: pray hard that this string of codes work for your phone and wait for magic to happen step 4: if it works, rejoice. If it doesn't, move on to step 5 Step 5: go visit your friendly samsung customer care centre at either jurong point or douhby ghaut plaza singapura. Yes only these two places as the rest are all shops in charge of making money only and customer service do not bring in cash. They'll direct you to these two centre. Consider yourself warned :-) For those who prefers to hands on, check out www.samsunggalaxysforum.com - it makes me feel important to have a forum built just to address my phone problems =) TwLauncher application stoppage be gone! Edit is all typed using samsung galaxy s while bumming around in starbucks. Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Jackie Chan's dead at 52!
And that's a hoax!
Apparantly online reports quoted from a Los Angelos hospital that said he died while promoting the new Kung Fu Panda 2 (Which I am sooo gonna watch!). For fans out there, don't worry. He is very much alive and kicking and I think he would be very amused to find out that he is 'killed off online!'
And here's to one of my favourite Kung Fu star of all times, movies that I have watched and loved!
Here he plays a straight face square soldier in the old Dynasty Period whom the princess had fallen in love with and waited for hundreds of years after consuming a pill that makes her immortal. Touched by Jackie's care, protection and respect, she kept faith in all his promises, only to suicide heartbroken by re-carnated Jackie who could not remember her at all. Action, romance & comedy, he played it all!
And now from soldier to a man in a neat pressed tuxedo making use of high technological enhanced body mechanics to fight off evil do-ers. However this time it's less of a romantic and the 'one & only one' kind of love but a play boy who made use of the special skills and cool grooves gained by wearing the tux. From olden romantica fighting soldier to modern cool play boy superhero - truely versitile.
Away from the usual good guy great moves, this is Jackie as the bad guy kidnapping a baby for money. Not much of the fighting, but whats a Jackie Chan show without his cool moves? Halfway through the movie, his fatherly instincts took over and he of course, went back to being a good guy and returned the baby. He has the face of a good guy anyway, but could do well playing the bad guy pretty well once in a while =)
How could he die? Everyone's waiting for his Die Hard 4!
Monday, March 28, 2011
When everything taste the same
It all started off with a loss of voice. Somehow my voice was drained away from my throat by some jounin invinsible to the eye and my voicebox could only produce empty clutters since last tuesday. Tomorrow is already gonna be a new Tuesday. Then a wednesday night my blanket mysteriously, ok, not so mysteriously, got stuck at some part of the bed and no matter how hard I pull, I could never get enough cloth to shield me from the fan. I find it kind of ironic when the one feeling hot wanted the fan and the blanket at the same time.... anyway, I caught a cold that night. So that's how I got my nose blocked since then. The deadly illness also conveniently blocked my ears, tastebuds and I think it blocked a big part of my brain signals such that I was not quite sure what I had been doing for the past few days. Glad I am clearer now. I felt like a lost duck in a desert back then, keep wondering what am I doing or how did I end up here? It also felt like I have been eating duck porridge every single meal for the past whole week. For the days beginning with the loss of voice, I had been eating porridge every single meal and had duck porridge for dinner as it is the most assessible and good tasting porridge available after work at Sembawang MRT and Yew Tee MRT. So I had it on wednesday night and it was the last thing I tasted. After that everything else was duck porridge. As I could only remember the last taste I had - the duck porridge , bread the nex morning tasted like porridge, dumpling soup tasted like duck, water tasted like dumpling soup which tasted like duck porridge, siew mai tasted like water, almond milk tea tasted like siew mai, sushi tasted like siew mai, which all tastes the same like duck porridge. Life could only be described in 1 word - Agonizing. I spent much more these days, putting all kinds of different food into my mouth with great faith that maybe, just maybe, i'll be able to taste this one! I got more and more dissappointed each time. Finally I turned to WASABI which myth says would shoot through the nose and clear it! Like real. It did shoot through, but somehow the great ocean is still stuck in my nose and I am still sniffing till now. I'm just glad that I din have a running nose. I know that it could have been worst.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
The Ultimate Spa
I just went for the deal from BigDeal.sg - 87% OFF on Glycolic Face Spa or Dead Sea Mud Body Remedy @ the Award-Winning The Ultimate Spa. Add $5 for a Relaxer Back Massage @ $38.
I badly needed a facial from a outbreak over the last weekend. Must be too much chocolate cakes from Siong's mommy's b'day! So I simply got the two most value for money deal available at deal sites. It really pleased me to know that both are below $50, the price I pay at my usual facial venue.
So one of which is the Glycolic Face Spa @ The Ultimate Spa. For it's service, location and the cut off the usual price, it's a great deal, but they will not see me again.
It's just 30mins from home, located at the Bukit Batok Civil Service Centre. It's the second time I've been to the place so I'm more or less familiar with its location, just that Bukit Batok CSC is really big and has two different sections! One section has only 4 floors, while the other section has the 5th Floor where The Ultimate Spa is. If you take the lift which only brings you to the 4th floor, alight at the 3rd floor and walk to the other end - towards the nature themed swimming pool (only opened to members and their guest). Walk striaght pass the pool and turn left, take the lift to the 5th floor and there you are, at The Ultimate Spa at Bukit Batok Civil Service Centre.
Within the Spa itself, they have another level up. It's a beatiful and relaxing place, not to mention really big for a spa location. It's like walking into a Banyan Tree resort located on a Hilltop with lots of potted plants and phuket flooring.
The Gylcolic mask basically helps to remove dead skin without the need of harsh exfoliation. It's amazing property is that it will nutrilize itself after 8 mins or so, so it will not eat into your skin like acid if you just fall asleep while doing home treatment. Meanwhile, they'll do a good & nice shoulder message that hits all the feel-good points, leaving you even more relax and sleepy! It's one of the best shoulder message I had with the right amont of strength. I guess message is their stronger and better service compared to facial.
The extraction process was very thorough and only abit painful. I mean, facials have only three kinds, abit painful, painful and very painful. Some people with very low tolerance level have another meter called excrutiating pain, but I don't think this will ever happen at the Ultimate Spa. They are really gentle. However, they do steam the face first which I am really against. My usual facial do not use the steamer at all. The products they use come from Gemany, Barcelona, and they feel good on the skin, not strong or too prickling. I think they could be stronger though. as I feel it is too mild to be of any good use and does not justify it's hefty price tag.
At the end of the session, I came out with a very swollen red face that looked like someone just ran needles across it. They did not have a machine that helps to lessen the swell and depend solely on their products,which is very obvious it did not work well on me. They said that my face condition is really bad and they should have given me a stronger cooling product to use.
This makes them look very amature with their understanding of a customer's face condition and their own products. In fact, if that is the case, they should have completed the whole treatment by ensuring that my face swell subsides before letting me go. This was the case for most facials I went, except for this one which still tried to sell me a year package and some other products, saying that they will use 'this and that' the next time. It kind of made me feel that they are trialing and erroring their products on my face and they will use the first few sessions to do that. Very unprofessional.
When I said that I think the products are not working well on my face (as can be seen from my evidently swollon red face),all they could say is ' This is good for you' and 'This is very good for you'. They do not touch on the 'Why is it good' and the 'How it works' or even explain what it is for. I think they should just stick to doing message. Very unconvincing.
Rating: 2 stars out of 5.
I badly needed a facial from a outbreak over the last weekend. Must be too much chocolate cakes from Siong's mommy's b'day! So I simply got the two most value for money deal available at deal sites. It really pleased me to know that both are below $50, the price I pay at my usual facial venue.
So one of which is the Glycolic Face Spa @ The Ultimate Spa. For it's service, location and the cut off the usual price, it's a great deal, but they will not see me again.
It's just 30mins from home, located at the Bukit Batok Civil Service Centre. It's the second time I've been to the place so I'm more or less familiar with its location, just that Bukit Batok CSC is really big and has two different sections! One section has only 4 floors, while the other section has the 5th Floor where The Ultimate Spa is. If you take the lift which only brings you to the 4th floor, alight at the 3rd floor and walk to the other end - towards the nature themed swimming pool (only opened to members and their guest). Walk striaght pass the pool and turn left, take the lift to the 5th floor and there you are, at The Ultimate Spa at Bukit Batok Civil Service Centre.
Within the Spa itself, they have another level up. It's a beatiful and relaxing place, not to mention really big for a spa location. It's like walking into a Banyan Tree resort located on a Hilltop with lots of potted plants and phuket flooring.
The Gylcolic mask basically helps to remove dead skin without the need of harsh exfoliation. It's amazing property is that it will nutrilize itself after 8 mins or so, so it will not eat into your skin like acid if you just fall asleep while doing home treatment. Meanwhile, they'll do a good & nice shoulder message that hits all the feel-good points, leaving you even more relax and sleepy! It's one of the best shoulder message I had with the right amont of strength. I guess message is their stronger and better service compared to facial.
The extraction process was very thorough and only abit painful. I mean, facials have only three kinds, abit painful, painful and very painful. Some people with very low tolerance level have another meter called excrutiating pain, but I don't think this will ever happen at the Ultimate Spa. They are really gentle. However, they do steam the face first which I am really against. My usual facial do not use the steamer at all. The products they use come from Gemany, Barcelona, and they feel good on the skin, not strong or too prickling. I think they could be stronger though. as I feel it is too mild to be of any good use and does not justify it's hefty price tag.
At the end of the session, I came out with a very swollen red face that looked like someone just ran needles across it. They did not have a machine that helps to lessen the swell and depend solely on their products,which is very obvious it did not work well on me. They said that my face condition is really bad and they should have given me a stronger cooling product to use.
This makes them look very amature with their understanding of a customer's face condition and their own products. In fact, if that is the case, they should have completed the whole treatment by ensuring that my face swell subsides before letting me go. This was the case for most facials I went, except for this one which still tried to sell me a year package and some other products, saying that they will use 'this and that' the next time. It kind of made me feel that they are trialing and erroring their products on my face and they will use the first few sessions to do that. Very unprofessional.
When I said that I think the products are not working well on my face (as can be seen from my evidently swollon red face),all they could say is ' This is good for you' and 'This is very good for you'. They do not touch on the 'Why is it good' and the 'How it works' or even explain what it is for. I think they should just stick to doing message. Very unconvincing.
Rating: 2 stars out of 5.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
End of the world
Today's lunch topic was " do you believe in the end of the world?"
** Story Begins**
Colleague A: You know what? My friend is in bangkok now and is cursing all the way coz it is 16 degree celcius!
Me: HUH? 16 degree celcius??? Bangkok? how can it be! it's so inland!
Colleague A: Ya la! its like crazy la!!! Bangkok leh! 16 degree celcius she was like so caught unprepared! She does not have any warm clothes at all!
Colleague B: Oh!!! IT's gonna be the end of the world...
Colleague A: hmmm.. maybe lo.. *types sms on her iphone*
Colleague B: do you all believe its going to be the end of the world?
Colleague A: * very fast response as usual* YES
Colleague B: So why are we working so hard now. we should all go and enjoy! ... Do you all think its gonna be in 2012?
Colleague A: Yea lo... I think so...
Me: According to the Bible, the signs are showing.
Colleague B: Really huh? What signs?
Me: Earthquake, tsunami, rise of 10 nations and wars.... we are hearing that suddenly and much more often now.
Colleague A: My friend says it will happen within our generation.
Colleague B: oooo.. ya lo... how i wish we all know when exactly the when the end of the world is, then we can plan our activities ahead of time.
Me: -.- huh..... if everyone knows when the end of the world will be, no one will be working and there will not even be food to go around! When that comes, it will really be the end of the world! Who will even be out there working for you to provide entertainment?
Colleague B: Ya lo. you are right
**Topic ends here**
I think God has a good reason for not letting us know when exactly will the world end. We all just have to be prepared and ensure our salvation. When the day comes, it will be like a "thief at night" and what we can only do is to be mentally prepared.
** Story Begins**
Colleague A: You know what? My friend is in bangkok now and is cursing all the way coz it is 16 degree celcius!
Me: HUH? 16 degree celcius??? Bangkok? how can it be! it's so inland!
Colleague A: Ya la! its like crazy la!!! Bangkok leh! 16 degree celcius she was like so caught unprepared! She does not have any warm clothes at all!
Colleague B: Oh!!! IT's gonna be the end of the world...
Colleague A: hmmm.. maybe lo.. *types sms on her iphone*
Colleague B: do you all believe its going to be the end of the world?
Colleague A: * very fast response as usual* YES
Colleague B: So why are we working so hard now. we should all go and enjoy! ... Do you all think its gonna be in 2012?
Colleague A: Yea lo... I think so...
Me: According to the Bible, the signs are showing.
Colleague B: Really huh? What signs?
Me: Earthquake, tsunami, rise of 10 nations and wars.... we are hearing that suddenly and much more often now.
Colleague A: My friend says it will happen within our generation.
Colleague B: oooo.. ya lo... how i wish we all know when exactly the when the end of the world is, then we can plan our activities ahead of time.
Me: -.- huh..... if everyone knows when the end of the world will be, no one will be working and there will not even be food to go around! When that comes, it will really be the end of the world! Who will even be out there working for you to provide entertainment?
Colleague B: Ya lo. you are right
**Topic ends here**
I think God has a good reason for not letting us know when exactly will the world end. We all just have to be prepared and ensure our salvation. When the day comes, it will be like a "thief at night" and what we can only do is to be mentally prepared.
Monday, March 7, 2011
FAST FOOD WAR COME ON NOW!!!!
UPDATE!!!!
When Mac comes out with a 1-for-1 deal to the alldealsready Singaporeans,
Trust the king to come up with something EVEN better, burgers at a dollar, its a buy 1 get maybe 3 more free!
And this is what the king in the midst of its 'never-chicken-out' campaign said on FB:
And this is what the king in the midst of its 'never-chicken-out' campaign said on FB:
Why settle for better when you can make it EVEN better? The King takes pride in 100% flame grilled burgers and believes that everyone should have it the REAL way. To prove his point.......because the King never chickens out of challenges. And real flames.
This is outright war against McGrill!!! I hope macdolnalds respond, and we can have the greatest fast food war of all times! I hope KFC and Texas Chicken joins in too! Not to forget LJS!
My admiration for BK marketing department had just hightened once again.
Power of Songs
Shuo Hao De Xing Fu by Jay Chou
There are just some songs that would somehow, someway, unexpectedly, bring out some feelings within where are hidden, but not lost. No matter how happy you are now, no matter how contented and blissful you feel now, no matter how forward looking you are towards the new future, things and feelings in the past, though faded, will never do away as though it never happened.
When these songs are heard once again, it pulls out the feelings to the surface, feeling as though that fateful day was only yesterday.
Maybe it is because the fear that the past may repeat itself is always true.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Customer Service in Singapore
For the past few days I've been meeting terrible customer service that really spoils one's day. Often than not, it is caused by an individual who could possibly tarnish the name of the company. Things only gets worse when you see the exactly same behavior in the manager.
Before I begin elaborating, I must first clarify that I am not the unreasonable kind of customer who demands for full money back gaurentee services not first class services the kind you get on airplanes VIP seats. I am the kind who will help the waiter should he spill the drinks on the table (not on me!). What I am talking about is basic manner, innitiative and attention.
Part 1
A fine last saturday, Siong and I choose to have dinner at Xin Wang Cafe. A waiteress came along to serve us after we got our seats and we were flipped through the book looking for the dish we wanted to order. So when we found the location of the dish so that we can point it out to her, we raised our heads from the menu to see her staring blankly to her right. So we called for her attention and she noted down our main course. After which, we flipped to the front of the menu and pointed out the next order, then as a natural course, we looked up to ensure that she has taken down our order. To our astonishment, the waitress is once again staring blankly to her right! We looked at her and kept quiet, testing if she would notice the silence. She did, and she noticed us staring at her, and she went:"anymore? in chinese".
After finishing out ordering, the tried to promote the Xin Wang Peng You card in the most monotonous and uninterested fashion, we caught some of her words while the rest drowned in her own throat. However, we decided it is time we get the card since there is a outlet near my where I live and we have been eating there every now and then. No harm anyway, since we caught the part whereby we have to pay $30 for the card, but more than $30 worth of vouchers will be given to us.
So happily, we dined, while talking about the unattentive waitress and how they should improve their customer service. When we had our fill and left the table to foot the bill, turned out the card entitles us to a free drink on the day of purchase. We were immediately displeased as the waitress serving did not informed us of the drink. Well we figured out that she probably did, in the part where she drowned her own voice. Eve
The waitress should have noticed and pointed it out to us that we have to choose a drink, or that perhaps we can change the dessert into the free drink for the day! She did not and now, being Singaporeans who will not let go of free deals, we carried our full stomachs and returned to the table we sat previously, just to order the free drink and force it down our bellies.
So I casually commented to the manager who took over to serve us that we were not informed of the free drink and now that we have eaten our fill, we do not know what to order for the free drink. She simply looked at us, puzzled, and kept mum. So we ordered and decided that the waitress probably got the attitude from the manager.
Being the ever customer service stressing person I am, I decided that I should fill in a feedback form and hope to bring this incident to light to the management. So I asked a passing by waiter for one and unfortunately, feedbacks can only be done online.
Apparently, this got to the same manager who served us and she came along, asking about the issue. From our point of view, the only reason why she decided to attend to the issue was for the fear of having it raised to the higher management.
So she kept apologizing on her waiter's behalf, till the extent we felt awkward and naggy. We were just eager to leave!
When the matter was brought up at the cashier area, the cahsier should have already informed the manager to ractify the problem, which we see it as easily a voucher stating we can redeem the free drink some other time, even if it is at the same outlet.
Instead of apologizing profusely, the manager could also have simply given another free drink voucher to pacify displease consumers. It may not be deserving since we have already had our free drink, but this goes a long way in building goodwill with consumers. In addition, people do not go to Hong Kong Cafe to drink - it is more of a eating place. Having a free drink draws people back again and food will be accompanied for order. Can't businesses just think for the long run?
The managers just made us feel that they want us to leave asap and hope that we will not louge the complaint. We did not in the end, but the next time round such incident occurs, I will be sure to record the feedback address.
Part 2
For some reasons my handphone is unable to detect any reception at all. So I rushed down to Sembawang Starhub shop (as I discovered from the starhub website), aiming to reach half an hour before it's closing time at 9pm. When it was my turn to be served, I addressed my issue as: ' My phone is not able to detect any reception and I think something is wrong with it or my simcard'
So the customer service went: 'For Sim cards you have to go to Doughby Ghaut. We do not do Sim Cards here.' She simply tried to redirect me without even taking a look at the actual problem of the phone! What if it is a phone problem and nothing's wrong with the sim card?
Totally put off at the unwillingness to serve.
Before I begin elaborating, I must first clarify that I am not the unreasonable kind of customer who demands for full money back gaurentee services not first class services the kind you get on airplanes VIP seats. I am the kind who will help the waiter should he spill the drinks on the table (not on me!). What I am talking about is basic manner, innitiative and attention.
Part 1
A fine last saturday, Siong and I choose to have dinner at Xin Wang Cafe. A waiteress came along to serve us after we got our seats and we were flipped through the book looking for the dish we wanted to order. So when we found the location of the dish so that we can point it out to her, we raised our heads from the menu to see her staring blankly to her right. So we called for her attention and she noted down our main course. After which, we flipped to the front of the menu and pointed out the next order, then as a natural course, we looked up to ensure that she has taken down our order. To our astonishment, the waitress is once again staring blankly to her right! We looked at her and kept quiet, testing if she would notice the silence. She did, and she noticed us staring at her, and she went:"anymore? in chinese".
After finishing out ordering, the tried to promote the Xin Wang Peng You card in the most monotonous and uninterested fashion, we caught some of her words while the rest drowned in her own throat. However, we decided it is time we get the card since there is a outlet near my where I live and we have been eating there every now and then. No harm anyway, since we caught the part whereby we have to pay $30 for the card, but more than $30 worth of vouchers will be given to us.
So happily, we dined, while talking about the unattentive waitress and how they should improve their customer service. When we had our fill and left the table to foot the bill, turned out the card entitles us to a free drink on the day of purchase. We were immediately displeased as the waitress serving did not informed us of the drink. Well we figured out that she probably did, in the part where she drowned her own voice. Eve
The waitress should have noticed and pointed it out to us that we have to choose a drink, or that perhaps we can change the dessert into the free drink for the day! She did not and now, being Singaporeans who will not let go of free deals, we carried our full stomachs and returned to the table we sat previously, just to order the free drink and force it down our bellies.
So I casually commented to the manager who took over to serve us that we were not informed of the free drink and now that we have eaten our fill, we do not know what to order for the free drink. She simply looked at us, puzzled, and kept mum. So we ordered and decided that the waitress probably got the attitude from the manager.
Being the ever customer service stressing person I am, I decided that I should fill in a feedback form and hope to bring this incident to light to the management. So I asked a passing by waiter for one and unfortunately, feedbacks can only be done online.
Apparently, this got to the same manager who served us and she came along, asking about the issue. From our point of view, the only reason why she decided to attend to the issue was for the fear of having it raised to the higher management.
So she kept apologizing on her waiter's behalf, till the extent we felt awkward and naggy. We were just eager to leave!
When the matter was brought up at the cashier area, the cahsier should have already informed the manager to ractify the problem, which we see it as easily a voucher stating we can redeem the free drink some other time, even if it is at the same outlet.
Instead of apologizing profusely, the manager could also have simply given another free drink voucher to pacify displease consumers. It may not be deserving since we have already had our free drink, but this goes a long way in building goodwill with consumers. In addition, people do not go to Hong Kong Cafe to drink - it is more of a eating place. Having a free drink draws people back again and food will be accompanied for order. Can't businesses just think for the long run?
The managers just made us feel that they want us to leave asap and hope that we will not louge the complaint. We did not in the end, but the next time round such incident occurs, I will be sure to record the feedback address.
Part 2
For some reasons my handphone is unable to detect any reception at all. So I rushed down to Sembawang Starhub shop (as I discovered from the starhub website), aiming to reach half an hour before it's closing time at 9pm. When it was my turn to be served, I addressed my issue as: ' My phone is not able to detect any reception and I think something is wrong with it or my simcard'
So the customer service went: 'For Sim cards you have to go to Doughby Ghaut. We do not do Sim Cards here.' She simply tried to redirect me without even taking a look at the actual problem of the phone! What if it is a phone problem and nothing's wrong with the sim card?
Totally put off at the unwillingness to serve.
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