:: back again...::

here i am...at MAS lounge in KLIA...waiting for my connection flight to Amsterdam.

the deal is, if i go direct using SIA from Singapore, it will be on economy.

and since the project that i am working on is a malaysian deal, so everything has to be from KL if i want to fly business class.

so discriminatory....sigh! 2 more hours in this boring lounge.

see you, in the netherlands...again!

:Coolest Real Job Description::

I came across this...which I think is the kind of firm that I want to be a part of...
This is a real post, you can apply if you so wish to...good luck ;)

Company name: StrawberryFrog B.V.

Company Description:
StrawberryFrog is a dynamic full-service advertising agency, catering to global brands. We're small, we're fun, and we do great work for awesome clients. Come join the frogs and the revolution.

Job Category:IT

Job Title:Cool IT Geek

Job Description:

• support 50 frogs and their beloved Macs in our Amsterdam office, but it
  wouldn't be PC to neglect our finance frogs with their PC's
• rescue frogs who, although renowned for their great intelligence, sometimes
  can't make the printer work or turn off auto spell, please help
• set up a projector at 8:00 in the morning for an important client
  presentation, but don't worry there's coffee and we'll be extra nice to you
  all
  day
• set up a wiki site in the afternoon and a font server in the evening
• research the goods and the bads of Ethernet over leased lines
• be a Mac zealot, but not an MS basher
• help the Amsterdam Art Director find his lost power cord for the umpteenth
  time (we know Jon took it…)
• help the New York Account Executive use VPN for the first time (yes, she's a
  VPN-virgin)
• be small, be big
• know the pro's and con's of a Proxy Server
• believe that 5 years from now e-mail is dead, and collaboration is the next
  big thing
• dot all the i's, cross all the t's
• be the webmaster
• manage the wires so we can be wireless
• be able to argue why Oracle is a way better RDBMS than MySQL
• know how to find answers to any problem on internet fora
• be a 2-frog team together with our IT Director, be a 1-frog team when he's
  away
• help with lots of miscellaneous things that have nothing to do with your
  job

Requirements:

Sound like fun and a challenge? If you have strong IT skills with 3-5 years of IT and support experience (preferably in an international environment), a good sense of humor, and non-IT people can understand you when you talk about computers, please get in touch with us.

Applicants must already be in possession of valid work permit for the EU/Netherlands.

Please send intro letter and CV in English by the 24th of August to: sonja@strawberryfrog.com

Salary Indication:t.b.d.
Location:Amsterdam
Country:Netherlands - Amsterdam
Agency name:StrawberryFrog B.V.
Description of the agencyCheck us out at: http://www.strawberryfrog.com/

Submission
Deadline:Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Contact name:Sonja Beentjes
Contact phone:+31 (0)20 5300421
Contact Email:sonja@strawberryfrog.com

:: weekends overload::

i had the craziest weekends schedule in my life, evar!

3 weekends ago, i was in amsterdam - looking at 'diana ross' at a queer pride parade...



2 weekends ago, in paris...again! but this time with better view from the hotel room....



1 weekend...well, i was home...


but now, i am in KL...


this weekend, back home to my beloved singapore....

and then, in the hague again...


so how? you tell me....can i ignore my blogging again, for a while...especially to miss mumbles :P

pleaze....

:: getting lazier to blog ::

sorry lah, miss mumbles for not updating too frequently.

it's ironical that i am not blogging as much as i thought i would be, as being away in a foreign land often means less hanging out with friends and being in the hotel room most of the time.

it's not.

in fact, i have spent so much time out of the hotel room and reaching home late every night from work, drinks and dinner.

it's maybe that it's better to do something than nothing at all that i am occupied MOST of the time..especialy when its the weekend.

but i'm afraid to be another 'tell-all' blogger..with lots of pics and stuff....but then again, what the heck! it's national day today in singapore and i just wanna share with you some pictures from last weekend...

it was amsterdam's gaypride 2005...and how could i not go when there were posters everywhere in the office asking for support in attendance since there was a 'contingent' from my client's office....



and ps: did i forget to tell you that i will be away in paris again, this weekend?

and forgive me from being away from blogging in the next few days...you would understand it if you are in my shoes...i'm sure ;)

see y'all...

and OH YEAH.. Happy National Day Singapore...Majullah Singapura!

:: just when enough is enough? ::

:: food glorious food, where's the sambal, man!::
a friend of mine (who is staying in KL) once said that she will never show me around should I decide to pay her a visit.

her reason was simple : she said that i am a 'high maintenance' guy...

and she got that idea just because i took her and her sister to good makan places around when they visited me few months back.

that was the first time that i ever heard anyone said about me.

am i really a high maintenance guy?

right now, luckily for me...all my meals are 'on the house' - which means that i can really indulge in any kind of food - french, dutch, american, indonesian, thai, chinese, etc at a city where only 60% are from the dutch origin. lucky me....bread and more bread make my farts stink big time!

however, after eating all these 'high maintenance stuff', i am getting sick and tired of going out to the restaurants anymore.... not because of the obligatory tips (sometimes, no need to tip as the waiter will act blur with the change)

the food is good, i have to admit it, although some of the asian restaurants are totally crap! but i am having strange craving for simple meals back home.... like maggie curry instant noodle for example, or mui fun from prinsep street and chicken rice from rex....

and the worst of all, is that i miss my mother's cooking...how i take the daily home-cooked meals for granted..and now, even these luxurious food could not make up for that short-coming.

i know its only going to be a month now, but i am really running out of ideas of what kind of food that i am going to expense -- on the house.. :).

like all they say, you can't have the best everytime...just once a while only lah! it's no wonder that power people like the president, SM Goh, sultan of johor occassionally "tah pow" food from local ordinary hawker....

see - i am not high maintenance after all....

:: sms that make me warm today...::

i still have text messages or phone calls at weird hour here (like 4 in the morning) from back home. they are either from banks promotion about a new 'free' credit card, insurance..etc etc

but i received this today and it made me laugh....darn, i do miss local jokes back home...

"Nathan asks dad the difference between confident and confidential...
Dad says, "You are my son, I am confident. Your friend, Ramu, is also my son, it's confidential...."

thanks sharon...for your waking up sms... ;)

:: NKF/SG.blogger versus Amsterdam/Nude Beach::

I think if you are given a choice between the two....the answer would be obvious.... that was whyI have not blogged at all about the news back home lately.

It did not mean that I did not follow the NKF saga and Bloggers.SG that just ended over the weekend. Yes, I still read about news back home daily and missing ChannelNewsasia already...here its all about the London bombing....every single day!

The weekend was good, it was the first real summer for me since I am able to take off my shirt and walk around the beach, and so are about few hundreds of Dutch danes...needless to say, it was a 'boob-a-looza'.

On Saturday was a quick get-away to Amsterdam...quick because a co-worker felt...err....sick from all the smokey joints. It was only for 4 hours that I did not even get a chance to see women in window displays - selling themselves in the red light district...Amsterdam is a dirty city, it was nothing but sleaze and marijuana, and they are exploiting and loving every single part of it. All the souvenir stuff revolve around it. I don't like this city much, I still prefer Paris anytime.

And on Sunday was a nice short walk across the hotel to a nude beach...hehehe. I did not know there existed a beach like that nearby, it was by sheer coincidence that my beach-walk brought me to a place where you can 'naturists' can sun-tan naked. But it was mostly by the not-so-young kind of crowd... :)

Here are some more pics of Amsterdam and Scheveningen, The Hague - Holland.



So sorry if I cannot seemed to be bothered so much about the news back home....and no, I am not stoned nor buffed if that was what you are wondering....

:: mini Holland ::

after collecting my fresh laundry and undies - straight from work, i decided to take a walk to a nearby park called Madurodam.

this park offers the whole of holland - landmarks, famous places, buildings, etc on a scale of 1:25. in short (no pun intended), it's really a good starting point to 'see' the netherlands, in a nutshell...really.

at 12 EU, i think it's worth all the effort instead of travelling all over holland...as i am a lazy traveller of the netherlands. and my souvenir from this visit? a marijuana t-shirt labelled 'amsterdam' ...hahah, since i am not a druggie, reckon this is the best other option that i can consider..

and being ever so unprepared, i did not bring any camera, but instead, i took this pics using my mobile phone....so, bear with the lousy quality, ok?









and hey, there's the SIA plane too... :P