Healthy Instant Noodle

Today's lunch was Maggi Mee with sausage and mixed vegetables. Here's how you'd prepare a nutritious meal from instant food - instant noodle, sausages and mixed vegetables. Boil some water first, then put the noodle and sausage. After two-three minutes, pour the water out - there goes unhealthy chemical in instant noodle and some fat in sausage. Put some hot water back into the pot and mixed vegetables with half of that MSG pack used to come with the noodle. Put some salt for taste. After another two-three minutes ready to serve!

Trying the New Japanese Restaurant

I realized that the bus I used to take to school would take another 15 minutes to arrive, I decided to have lunch first by taking another bus to Clementi Central, where KFC is. However, the thought of the kid who suffered brain damage (see my post about it), I decided to try the Japanese restaurant nearby. I kind of see that restaurant whenever I visit KFC for my meals but this is the first time I tried it out.

The waitress placed me near the window - I can't even see my monitor due to the light entering that window. I ordered fried Japanese dumpling, Chicken teriyaki, egg and rice. I am amazed that many Singapore restaurants practice pay-before-dine scheme. It is so strange and awkward, for someone accustomed to British style restaurants in Yangon which practices dine-first-bill-and-payment-later schemes. The drinks also is self-service. So awkward!

The meal came with complementary Japanese soup - which I don't like - and desert. They said they even give free flow of green tea, which is completely ridiculous for me because many tea-houses in Myanmar gave free flow of green tea even if you don't order a single drink. Here in Singapore, these are top advertisements the restaurants use to attract the crowd.

The meal was not exceptional even though I was quite hungry (as my breakfast was the last slice of bread and some water). The most notable down-side of the meal was that the rice was not Japanese rice, not even Chinese sticky rice. It was just normal rice. (I was glad it is not the one that Indian restaurants used to use.) But the Sunkist they gave for dessert was great.

Overall, today's lunch was just 4 points out of 10. Time to go to school !

There Ain't No Option C

Having a lot of Onee Chans (elder sisters) means a lot of chit-chat with them and a lot of exposure to how they approach their daily life problems as well as how they set up their long-term decisions. Many of a time, their way of doing things is totally illogical to their opposite-sex. Hence, there is a book for this known as "Men Are from Mars and Women Are from Venus." (Buy this book from Shop @ Law Shay . COM now !!!)

My lunch was Beijien dumpling from Si Chuan outlet :P . Don't be amazed. In this kind of economy, you can eat all kinds of food in all kinds of food outlets. Most notably, MOS burger is offering Wasabi Burger (Wasabi is a japanese food). Sushi houses are offering Thai foods. McDornald is offering curry sauce and Wasabi spreads for their french fries !

My Onee Chan rang me just before my lunch. She asked me how to get "Fortune Center". She was confused as when she took the same bus to and from the city area, she saw the center not on her way to city but on her way back. I had to explained the concept of one-way roads (one directional only roads). All my Onee Chans are bright and smart educated ladies but they have difficulties whenever they are to go to a new place - and forced to rely on maps and directories. That's strange. My mom is also not an exception but she made up with her strong memorizing skills. :D

Another problem they have is not speaking the language that men used to speak. The used to speak out of context. For example, after that I-don't-know-how-to-get-Fortune-Center Onee Chan hang up, another one rang in asking why the table in the banner page never appears. But what is banner page ? She's been working on that web pages for hours - may be even days - but I am the one just introduced. How can I know what she's talking about when she's saying 'banner page'? Later that banner page sorted out to be an include page featuring a banner and log-in form that she called from another page. (For those who are not an IT geeks, I was talking about web site development things.) Even include page is an ambigious term - there are two kinds of include pages, client-side and server side includes with lots of variants.

The worse nightmare is the differences in how men and women solve particular problems - especially problems with no win-win situations. Men used to solve the problems in more mathematical/logical point-of-view while Women do in something-men-never-understand-way. For men, every problems is a set of constraints and a set of rules. For example, you see a high-tech gadget - say a computer - tagged as $1,000 and your budget is $300. You also know if you overrun your budget, your dinner would be instant noodle for 15 days. The constraint is your budget and the rule is if what will happen if you violate your constraint - in this case, unhealthy diet.

Thinking critically, men sort out possible solutions - with consequences. The whole problem is often reduced to choosing the way that leadsi to the least painful consequence. In other words, the problem become a mere comparison. In the above problem, men sorts out two ways: buy it and eat unhealthy food for 2 weeks or not buy it but have good dinner. There is no third way (unless something unusual like winning the lottery happens). They only need to answer the acid question: "What is worse: instant noodle for 15 days or not using a high-end computer ?".

However, women solve the problem differently - and they don't even solve similar problems in similar ways. Sometimes, they rely on the gut feeling - leading to be shocked with consequences. Sometimes, they tell the problem to others - denying all solutions and quarreling when asked the acid question. Most of the time, they hope "Neo saves Trinity".

In Matrix Reloaded (aka Matrix II in some countries), Neo is offered two choice: save Trinity but both being destroyed together with the Matrix - not a prophesied one - or let Trinity die but help in rebuild the Matrix - the prophesied one. Neo chose to save Trinity and escaped together from being destroyed. The movie was good to watch - but women should understand Neo is the chosen one in the movie and nobody in reality is the chosen one. 

The reality is "Beck's giving you two options: option a - a bad thing - and option b - a worse thing" from The Run Down. There ain't no option c. It's a wrong answer.

ICE - a Good Idea

Today, I went to clinic for the follow-up consultation (I was coughing earlier, for those who just started to read now). My cough is almost gone but the doctor gave me more syrup with Promethazine, Bingo ! Therefore, lunch was from the canteen near that clinic. But not that Muslin food again (there was a very very long queue and I was so hungry). I had Wonton Soup and Noodle with Char Siew.

Char Siew is basically bbq pork. However, it is not just smoked out. They apply some kind of sauce - including some soy sauce - before heating the meat up. That's one of my grandpa's favorites, my father's favorites and my own favorites. It is delicious - a little sweet but tender. That stall, like the Muslin stall, is also good. That guy sell all Hong Kong style noodles.

In today's Straight Times, I read about the movement of storing ICE-blarblarblar in the handphones. ICE stands for In Case of Emergency. In Singapore, public services can send emergency cases to hospital in time (in very short time). However, after getting to the hospital and after initial investigation, if operations is necessary to save the life of patient, getting permission takes a long time since it is difficult to sort out the Next of Kin's contact, thus, losing precious time. The idea is to store your next of kin's, for example your wife's, phone number in your phone with the name ICE-wife. The medical practitioners will search in the patient's phone if there is some entry with ICE tagged, a very nice idea !

Another news is that a family is about to sue KFC for their daughter fell sick after eating some unclean meals (wrap the paper said) at one outlet. They blamed the food franchise outlet and claimed there may be cases if the food is dropped, they may be put back by careless staffs. That news really shocked me as I am a huge fan of KFC. When I returned home from Philippines in 2000, I bought the whole bucket of Chicken Fries when I had to spent some time at the old Bangkok International Airport, which my family enjoyed. Now, I must think twice before I step into KFC.

Talking about KFC, it reminds me that each of the fast-food franchise, KFC, McDornald, Burger King, Pizza Hut etc have their own network of delivery teams. My idea is "Wouldn't it be cheaper if they just outsource that business to some third party?". I understand they have propietary technology in handling food from the kitchen to destined consumer - like Pizza Hut's way to make their Pizza hot on delivery. I also understand some outlet offer time-critical delivery - like if your meal arrives 30 minutes after your order, you don't have to pay. However, a third party delivery network - like those delivering utilities like electricity and water supply - involving automated conveyor belts would be profitable both for the service provider and the fast food chains. The networks would utilize some IT tools - like RFID, SCM etc.

If that is successful, the service can readily be extend to household consumers since the network is already there. Later, a small city like Singapore won't need services like post offices and DHL for intra-city-deliveries. 

Map + Bus Guide = Independent Roaming

Being the first Monday in August, today's the start of new semester. When I hopped onto the bus, I was amazed as the a large crowd was on the bus - which used to be like an Empty Set. I saw two caucasian ladies reading the map and bus-guide. I thought they were exchange students, however, when I inquired them, it turned out that it is mother sending her daughter to school :P .

Back in 2007, I was also like them, relying only on the Street Directory - the map - and the Bus Guide from Mighty Mind. Singapore's map and bus system is very easy to use. Every bus stop is uniquely identified by a composite primary key - Street Name and Bus Stop Number - in the Bus Guide. The Street Directory (Map Book) features the bus stops with their respective numbers along with street name (which is usual). Results ? I never lost my way in Singapore. There had been no one free enough - except for my senior who showed me around one day - to get me here and there, I totally relied on those two books of treasure.

Today's lunch was Chinese meal with pork in some kind of sour sause, tohu, vegetables and rice. Browsing the net, I noticed that a new C++ standard is on its way. Named C++09, it will be out before end of this year, 2009. I am looking forward to see which new features it will bring.

Reading the articles about C/C++ style, I found out that eof (end of file) character can be typed - via keyboard - in Unix by pressing Ctrl + D. I haven't tested yet.

Dinner will be from Fresher Orientation ! Free Food !!!

Hangover Science and Mont Hin Gar

Last night, I started to implement a small-scale Moving Object Database (MOD) for my research purposes. But procrastination was so strong that I ended up browsing some blogs. I found out that, given all things equal, the darker your beverage is, the more chance you have for hangover. The original article sorted, from most chance to least chance, as Brandy, red wine, rum, whisky, beer, white wine, gin and vodka. I promptly noted that the list is also from the darkest color to the lightest color. Compare Red Wine and Vodka yourselve. (see original article in www.realbeer.com)

I burnt my midnight oil - and my dawn oil also - that I got up really really late today at 11:30. I set out to my Onee Chan's place to give her a mini-USB cable as her new Nokia E63 didn't come with one. That's so far Nokia went, I think. After that, I went off to my Aunt's (actually friends of my father) place. A very good bowl of Mont Hin Gar, Burmese rice noodle with special fish soup, greeted me. So delicious. It has been months that I never had it, since commercial versions use a lot of MSG.

Mont Hin Gar is a very famous food in Myanmar. There are many variants of soup for this rice noodle. As far as I know, Myaung Mya Mont Hin Gar, Pathein Mont Hin Gar and Hin Ta Da Mont Hin Gar are variants that named after towns in Ayeyarwady Delta Region. Since that delta is blessed with abundant amount of fish. Their themes are similar, think and focus more on fish and fish sauce. Rakhine Mont Hin Gar is from a sea-side State and, too, focus on fish. However, their emphasis is on Chili in clearer soup. Another sea-side region, Maw La Myaing, has a variant which is more like a mixture (or salad) of rice noodle. Their soup is not from fish but from chicken !

Going to northern parts of Myanmar means further away from the sea and no fresh fish available. Therefore, the Mont Hin Gar variants there do not put their focus in fish. Anyar Mont Hin Gar (middle Burma Mont Hin Gar) is made with beans! It is so thick that, in the first time I had, my stomach couldn't digest it well. One of my favorite variant is Innlay Mont Hin Gar. Inn Lay is the second largest lake in Myanmar (see photos I took in Inn Lay in my photo blog) It uses a very bony fish. However, the main focus of it is spring onion shoot! So wonderful.

If you happen to be in Burma (aka Myanmar), you must try those many kind of Mont Hin Gar. It's a must food.

Coup in Heavenly Realm

I got up late this morning (almost noon :P). Since my little sister kept on insisting on her Pizza I promised her, I brought her to Mega Bites (a cafe within school compound) to feed her and have myself a brunch. I had BBQ Chicken Pizza and vegetable salad with black coffee (without sugar).

That's the problem with Singapore. Many coffee shop workers don't know black coffee. They think it is just the coffee (without milk nor sugar). They name coffee with sugar as Coffee O - which the chinese in Myanmar pronounce as Coffee Aww. Complication even persist as I did say coffee O after uttering out black coffee as I used to. Whee !

During the brunch, she asked me to help her get a part-time job. I explained her that foreign students (from private school) here are not permitted to work part-time. It's violation of law - which can lead to humiliating punishment followed by life-time visa-ban. She didn't head my words. I need to settle with her guardians here. I hate to do that again.

Getting back home, since I was way too sleepy after the food, I thought about how to code a Moving Object Database (for my research works). However, when I got home, Channel 8 shows a TV series. In this episode, I saw a coup in the Heavenly Realm (the Chinese one which is quite similar to that of Greek). The former heavenly emperor let the human - mortal - enjoy freedom, even when they choose not to respect the gods. However, the empress - the one who did the coup to rule the Heavenly and Mortal Realms for 30,000 years - thought, since Heaven created them, the mortal should pay respect - and worship - the god. It make me think many similar thing in the reality. I like this series now.