30 June 2008

29 June 2008

Just another sunday... Its actually another of my work day as well...
(yep, I work 7 days a week... be very honoured if you can actually catch me for a meal or coffee, becuz I only have "that~~" little time and I am giving it to you ya?

Tip 1: the more "last min" u look me up, the easier u will get me.)

Below's a video clip of a traffic accident scene along AYE, after Lower Delta's exit... this #$%&* accident jammed up the expressway for a freaking 30mins, while I was rushing to Boon Lay for a site visit, and I was stuck here from 3:20 - 3:50pm and having to rush back Little India area first, then to Changi Airport to see a buddy off to Australia by 5:00pm. (Guess how fast I drove?)

The accident took place right after the tree-pruning on lane 1. So the accident blocked up lane 2 as well... and the entire expressway was left with just the 3rd lane. And I was stuck in the jam for a distance of THREE expressway entries (not exit!); that is ALOT of cars flowing into the already jammed expressway! Hence the 30 mins drag...

Tip 2: Do NOT attempt to take pictures / videos while driving; I'm trained, your're not.

Tip 3: Whenever you see the expressways LED signboards notifying about Tree-Pruning or Roadworks along the expressway, always filter to the extreme opposite lanes away from the designated lanes the roadworks are gonna be carried out ahead.

I have personally seen 3 accident scenes whenever there are roadworks. And amongst these 3, I have witnessed 1 of the accidents taking place right ahead of me as I drove past the involved cars (chain-collison... scary). This is because there are lotsa idiotic drivers who only filter away from the supposedly closed lanes at the very last min... and there will be that very 1 last car that doesn't have enough time to brake...

Tip 4: Buying handphones? Go to No. 158, Race Course Road. You will find this "NARANJANMOBILEPTELTD" (Yea its ONE word; see picture below... kekeke)... sells handsets without lines, without contracts... all sorts of models available (most). You will also find DVD players, Camcorders, PSPs, Apple Ipod... all sorts of latest gadgets inside. I bought a $38 Nokia phone from there... simple handphone, no camera, good to bring in-camp.

If you have noticed, the shop is so~~~ crowded, the BOSS have to stand above the counter to do business. No cash registers; the fellas over the counter have THICK WADS of CASH in their pockets. Everything is cash and carry.

Below: still lotsa ppl trying to squeeze into the shop...
Tip 5: Just avoid going there on sunday evenings...

Nice Car

Was in a cab travelling along ECP... past Rochor and aiming for the Prince Edward exit... Spotted this beautifully spray-painted sports car...


Not the usual "Ah-Beng" sports car with lotsa vinyl stickers... This fella got taste~ so inspire to send mine for such make-ups...

My new Honda Fit's due for delivery mid July... anyone can recommend me a nice picture like the above?

HTC Touch Diamond: Got It...

Granted a day's off today, after my past weeks of 24/7 hectic work-life..., so spent today settling lotsa errands and stuffs that really needs to be done...

One of it, is getting this beautiful baby... the HTC Touch Diamond~


Not the conventional rectangular box, the HTC Touch Diamond comes in a quartz shaped box (think diamond). Inside, its another beautiful black acrylic box... so shiny I can see my own reflections and leave my finger prints on it.
My brand new toy~ xD
Measuring a just 11.35 mm thick, its thinner than all my current phones...
love the TouchFLO 3D feature... Oh, the package comes with this MapKing: Singapore too! Gotta have this installed into my HTC Touch Diamond, and mount it on my new car... No more hollanding!

Distinction... AGAIN! 3

Woo hoo! I love Marketing.
Been a week past my exam papers, and I was at City Hall for a meeting. So might as well hop over to TMC office to pick up my International Marketing assignment 2...


The result: DISTINCTION! xD

Related post:

Distinction... AGAIN! 2

Shopping Time

Next on my buying list...

WAR

In the war for customers... the one offering the best deals wins...

Currently, my contract with M1 has matured... I possess the POWER to move to whichever service provider I want, now that True Number Portability is in place. My number follows me.

In the past 6 months, M1 has sent me such $100 handset upgrade voucher THREE times, and followed up with a phonecall from their customer service officer, checking if I have recieved the voucher.

In the last phonecall, here's a rough recall of our conversation...
M1: Hi Mr. Yong, just a follow-up call to check if you have recieved the $100 handset voucher from us?

Me: Yes, I've received it. And this is the 3rd piece already, and I have absolutely no intention to use it.

M1: Oh? Mr. Yong, may I ask why you have no intention to use our voucher?

Me: I am disappointed with M1's promotions. Simply not agressive enough.

M1: Thank you for your feedback Mr. Yong. We'd also like to invite you to our M1 "You Deserve Better Fest" at Suntec City Convention Centre Level 3. The event is from 21st to 22nd June and you will find very good promotional deals from us.

Me: No, not interested. Too late already; SingTel and StarHub has already held such promotional activities at Suntec City last weekend. Where was M1?! Its too late.
(You're crazy man! I've barely survived that 1 whole week over that SingTel Megafair event at Suntec City last week. No chance am I going back there again!)

M1 = FAILED!!!

(Looks damn cheapo)

STARHUB = WIN!!!

Which service provider do you think I will switch to?

UGLIEST CARD 2

NOW: THE UGLISEST CARD I'VE EVER SEEN
Here's a zoomed up picture of the new UOB NOW Debit card... that white stripe there was supposedly my 16 digit card number (got to block it off ya noe...)...
Been pretty much bottled up with lotsa frustrations over the past weeks... lack of sleep from long working hours, exam stress, and stupid clients (think Red...) basically made me wanna find a venue to vent out... and along comes UOB... Red some more...

Was studying for my exam and stopped a while to whack some complaints up to UOB. Basically to vent some anger... below's what I wrote to them thru the UOB website:

Subject: Cards - Debit Cards
Enquiry: [COMPLAINT: NOW debit card ]

I can't find any proper words to described how disgusted I was towards your new UOB NOW debit card.

This card is extremely UGLY. Eyesore. It looks like a cheap metro 10% discount card; even a MayBank ATM card looks nicer.

NO CHANCE is this card even going to find a slot in my wallet.

A wallet, to some people, is a medium to display all the prestigious cards they can have - driving license, amex card, gold cards, all the flashy cards. NOT cheapo looking cards (e.g. sakae sushi 10% discount cards, popular bookstore discount cards, etc.)

I don't feel proud owning this card! My Visa mini debit card is going to be discontinued. So be it. But I am definately not going to activate this NOW debit card. Its already in my waste paper bin.

If UOB can remember how the Visa Mini was positioned... the commercial showed how people feel proud about flashing this card for their purchases; and having it hung around their necks with a lanyard and such.

What happened to this NOW card?!! What is the positioning?!

Why is it also an EZLink card?! What for; when almost everyone in Singapore owns an EZlink card already. Isn't it too late? CitiBank already came out with it; UOB became the copycat. Isn't it even more inconvenient for customers to be carrying 2 EZlink cards in their wallets and worrying about which card will the station debit the fare from?! Isn't it inconvenient for customers to be taking out the Ezlink card they intent to have the fare deduct from to scan?! If UOB's intention in this aspect is to replace that EzLink card, I tell you, even the SMRT EzLink card design looks nicer than this NOW debit card.

Worse, its a VISA card. I can't associate that VISA logo with the design of the NOW card. To make matters worse, that "PLATINUM" word at the top right hand corner of the card --- for goodness sake! Please explain how "Platinum" is that RED card? It didn't even feel like an ATM card to begin with. That "Platinum" wording is a laughing stock. Seems like this "Platinum" word has been over used and over-abused. The prestigious effect is lost.

Lastly, please assess the demographics of your customer first before promoting any of your products (like this NOW debit card). I am 27 years old. My visa mini debit card was applied YEARS ago when I was still a student. I hold a decent job now and drives a car. DO YOU THINK I STILL NEED SUCH A CARD??!!! (Ezlink card is useless to me, i'd rather it a cash card).

To sum up, I think you can fire your marketing team.

Lotsa steam released eh?? Below's what they sent me via email...

From:
"UOB Card Centre Customer Service"
Subject: RE: Feedback
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:12:43 +0800

Dear Mr Yong

Thank you for your email.

We understand the frustration and anxiety that we may have caused you recently. We would like to assure you that we are currently investigating your feedback and that we would be replying you soon.Thank you.

Yours sincerely
Lok Ka Hui (Mr)
Senior Officer
Call Centre
United Overseas Bank Limited
Singapore Company Reg No. 193500026Z

Well... they called me couple of days later. Told me that they have escalated my feedback up to the relevant management, and asked if they can offer me any credit card or such. Nice lady over the phone; very professional. I was like: "Nah~ its ok, as long as my feedback's taken seriously, I'm pretty much satisfied... but I am still gonna let my Visa mini lapse and I am not going to accept that NOW card. No way. I'll stick to my ATM card."

UOB's good. They take customers seriously.

Day at Work 4

Beach Festival @ Velocity
Been super busy with work that I've no time to post my blog entries...
here's what I was tied up with last month...

22 May 2008: To turn this multi-purpose court into a beach court.

12:30pm: My productions crew laying the groundworks here...

10:30pm: Uncle Ah-Gu - my carpeter, looking through my layout with my colleague...
First time driving my Rav4 up onto the shopping mall grounds and parking there...
Ah-Gu gets to work...

my productions crews helping out...
11:00pm: the court slowly takes shape...
23 May 2008

4:30pm: Uncle Ah-Miaw spent the afternoon basking in the sun and painted the entire court...
10:30pm: my productions crew working on the court drainage...
11:00pm: Ordered 200 tonnes of sand... my heavy-plant marshalling experience in-camp came in handy here

11:30pm: Ah-Neh starts working on the mini-excavator...
thats Adam Ng, Associate Producer from Mega Media, here to film the process...
24 May 2008

12:00am: Ah-Neh continues his work...
1:30am... still there... this is my designated parking lot on Velocity's grounds; only point of entry is from cross-junction and up the kerb from the left...
4:30am: Sealed up the court; Ah-Neh's excavator also ran outta diesel... time to head home to zzz...

25 May 2008

10:30am: scheduled for Mrs Lim's crew to move in for the tentage structure...

her crew is professional...
see that steel ladder that fella is on? He makes the ladder walk sideways, without coming down from above, by shifting his body-weight... how entertaining~!
11:30am: Setting up the safety nettings...
12:00pm: its done!
a view from level 2... the sand surface's still messy; gotta send some guys to comb it...
27 May 2008

10:00pm: Inside Velocity preparing to hang up a gigantic banner... I was upstairs with the technician and their remote control... notice there is this winch hanging from above? its operated by a remote control and coil in and out from way~~~ above...
and up it goes~

10:30pm: my productions crew giving the glass doors a nice vinyl sticker makeover...
11:00pm: How the beach court looks at night...
meanwhile... my productions crew was preparing this huge wooden frame banner...
11:30pm: to hang over the parapet... steady ... steady... up abit there... down a bit here... hold!

Ok! Tie!and a 2nd one goes up...
30 May 2008

5:30pm: Borrowed a set of Volleyball nettings from Volleyball Association of Singapore (VAS) to fix up here...
the rest of the productions crew hanging the banner above... all round...

THIS IS WHAT I CALL SATISFACTION...
gotten pretty used to driving my Rav4 up the kerb and onto Velocity's grounds... free parking...
always got lotsa stare from the customers at Harry's when I drove in and stepped out of my car...
01 June 2008
2nd day of the Event... Women's open... (thats why I am there... kekeke)
Adam's crew is there filming as well~
lotsa babes~

Fashion Show at Velocity

03 June 2008
8:30pm Got a very long lorry to load up lotsa lotsa materials... moving a team into Velocity again for setup..
10:30pm: My carpeters working on the foundational structures...
My stage and runway slowly taking shape...
11:30pm: Up with the rustic backdrop first...

04 June 2008

1:00am: then the runway...

2:00am: and its 95% completed! Rest is just a little touch up...

and here's a preview of the supposedly Fashion Show... I couldn't be at the Fashion Show over the weekend because I have to be at another event site... thats Romeo, our deputy productions manager, one of the craziest people I've ever known...

Soccer Competition

10 June 2008

... and the court gets transformed into a soccer court...