Finally got to sit down and write about my NY Journey… What supposed to be a 6D5N journey became a 8D7N journey, bcoz it was impossible to finish my itinerary in 6 days! Preparation began early for me, 2 weeks before i depart, i ask the walking NY dictionary, Ps Yong….

It was supposed to be a 2 person trip, but unfortunately feng was still recovering from a recent operation, thus i decided to go ahead despite the daunting challenge of visiting a city I never been too, let alone navigating in it by myself, but it was too good an opportunity for me to chicken out!

The first challenge was to find a good hotel to stay, which will keep me safe alone… So i spend 3 night searching for the right hotel on combinedhotels.com, hotels.com… finally i landed a great rate for HOTEL MELA… right on Street 44, between sixth and seventh ave.. Note: the best place to stay is anywhere between 40-49 street and between sixth and seventh ave/broadway! The next was to book my flight from LA to NY, which was easily done on Zuji.com… And the do note rates can change like stock market.. 4 hours ago, it cost me me SGD 206.. 4 hours later, i had to booked it at SGD$236… but still cheap lar for a 6 hour flight.

Next was booking my tour and airport transfer. Taxi is way too expensive.. I wld recommend everyone to use supershuttle (Too make sure they load all ur luggage, and make sure when they unload for others, they do not give other yours). Each way just cost USD$16 before tip… (Search online for coupon-plenty around) Booking my tour was tough due to many choice.. in the end i settled for NY Explorer Pass for 7 attractions at US150, save me over 100 of dollars.. The 7 attraction were:

• CitySight NY Tour Bus (consists of Day Tour to Uptown, Downtown, Brooklyn, Night Tour all around manhattan and brooklyn bridge, and Cruise to see Statue of Liberty)
• Madame Tussaud
• Top of the Rock
• Woodbury Premium Outlet (THe most beautiful factory outlet i ever seen)
• Discovery Time Square Exposition (Titanic Exhibitions)
• Ripley Believe it Or Not!
• Metropolitan Museum

Finally, you can’t go NY and not watch a broadway musical, but the problem is getting it at a cool price.. I didn’t want to queue @ TKTS coz time is short, weather is cold, and options and seats are limited… Thus i googled over the internet for coupons again (in US, u get a bargain with coupons all over the internet).. So here’s i was 50% discount for Mary Poppins or 30% discount for Rock of Ages (which got a great review).. i decided to pay more for a great seat USD$80 for center row for Rock of Ages to make sure my first experience was good! All set with air ticket booked, hotel, tour, broadway all booked!

Next I spend two days planning what i eat, where i go, what i buy, how much i spend all in one spreadsheet… and let the master Ps Yong permute it for me.. and i was all set for the big apple trip!

Fast forwarding to after my mission trip in LA …….

After sending off the mission team on a Monday, i extended my stay in LA for half a day (Airport Hotel) to sleep thru and recuperate for the BIG APPLE TRIP… Taking the shuttle, Check-in was brief and here’s I was eating mcDonalds snack wrap (grilled chicken-why singapore can’t offer that) and walnut and fruit salad (taste terrific). I seriously luv the Mac in US. I ate in 5 in 17 days i was there, bearing in mind i have not ate it for 4 mths in singapore. Here’s i was traveling alone from West to East of US… Big Apple here i come!!!

A common question that arises when someone birthday comes… what should we buy, so i shall make what’s on my radar recently explicit…

• Nike Women Zoom Quick Sister+ (size 7.0) – RECEIVED!
• Nike Lunartrainer+ (Grey on Rose) – Size 7.0 – GIVEN UP iN US (NOT NICE)
• Geox ADA Leather-size 38  GOT IT!
• Manutd Latest Ladies Jersey! – hunting it down in HK
• Geox Sliver Euphoria or Sliver Chat-size 38 – RECEIVED!
• Pink Adidas Koolvana Sandal-seize 7.5 – RECEIVED, Similar!
• Yellow/Black Tumi Voyageur Capri Cross Body Bag GOT IT, IS COACH
• G-Shock Tough Culture Limited Edition Watch #DW5600CS-9 [YELLLOW] – RECEIVED, Similar!
• Refurbished IPod Nano 8GB ORANGE for jogging! (my nano is 3 years old) – RECEIVED!
• Guess Belts GOT IT!
• Guess Wallet (The small compact kind…dark colors and nice style) GOT IT, IS COACH
• Guess Swarovski Watches (Big Face…Steel Strap) GOT IT
• Charles & Keith Bag (Sling-type)

The vouchers

• Nike
• SportLink
• Mark & Spencer
• Dorothy Perkins
• BetterWorld.com
• Guess Vouchers
• Skinfood Vouchers

What is a no-no….

• Attributes Vouchers
• Computer Stuff
• Electronic Stuff..
• Shopping Mall Vouchers except Capitaland.. – RECEIVED!

I have them all!’

Lastly: Great bargains are found on the internet and woolooo places in Singapore..

Checking out…..
Juslin

Finally revived my blog… way too lazy to update it…. just renew my starzdev domain

Sometime ago, I took a look at my colleagues email client, most of them had many many folder, many many subfolder, and many numbering to sort folders… I used to admire them, how can they so diligently sort and configure many rules to sort them into folder. These form of setting often slow down my outbox. Recently i tried a new approach, it improves my ability and efficiency in replyingemails, and keeping things simple. Today, modern OS, has powerful search engines, so it is really needless to sort them into folder hoping you can pinpoint the email in future.

Right now, my email only have 5 simple folders. “Inbox”, “Sent Items”, “Follow-up”, “Hold” & “Archive”.

• My daily goals, is to keep my “Inbox” empty, yes i mean empty.
• “Hold” is for email that i need to wait,
• “Follow-up” are emails i set reminder to myself to do something.
• “Archive” means simply i am done with the mail

Then how about the mails you wish to sort from specific pple or topic, use “Search Folders”, they are superb effective without moving your mails all over the place.

Check out the book Upgrade your life… and the full explanations by Gina Trapani at her blog.

If you’re attending a concert at indoor stadium, the toughest thing to do is getting a cab, bus or your car out of the area. You can check out stadium direct bus services. It will bring you out of the concert area straight to the Boon Lay/Tampines/Bedok/Ang Mo Kio… And it brought me straight to opp my house in 30 minutes . No more leaving concert early to beat the jam.. Just for $2… 1/10 of the cost if I had called a cab.

Check it out here

Just came back from JJ Lin’s Concert. It was a great time, it has been a long time since i attended or even watch one even on DVD. I must say there is a great difference experience it live and on dvd… About 3 months ago, I was digging on JJ’s profile, as he sang at our asia conference. I always thought he was good, after reading the review about his previous concert, i thought i really wanted to attend this one. However due to the expensive, i decided to give it a pass… until 2 weeks ago, when I found a 1-1 deal tickets through “xfriend” & citynews.

I missed the first hour show which comprises of 3 songs, but there was not one dull moment in the concert, well chronograph and I must say JJ is not just a great musican/writer/singer…he’s a solid performer/entertainer too. Truly a multi-talented artist.

The special guest comprise of by2 and fan weiqi. And i was impressed by fan weiqi, she really captivated with her solo single “fan fan zhi bei”, and the ballads with JJ was good.

Other notable highlights includes Michael Jackson’s hits & the touching performance with his family members. Most importantly, JJ repeatedly confess his faith during the concert in a natural & unobtrusive manner, sharing his testimony of how he came through a rough patch in his career. lastly, the ending song “Yi Qian Nian Yi Hou” was really well done, a fitting way to end the concert.

WikiPock Will Put An Entire Copy Of Wikipedia In Your Pocket For $10

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Today, a commotion was going on in the office, where some my colleagues look to purchasese a domain for their blogs. Domain names these days are getting cheaper and cheaper, but the tough thing is getting a good and short domain name that make sense to your friends. It takes a little creativity to get a shorter and memorable domain. My company vi8e uses “8″ to replace “b” so that we can a real cool and short domain. Today, my colleagues sandra after trying many tough twisters experimenting with “.us” domain, gave up and use sanses.com.

While, i have settle on fastknacks.com, why because i little to blog short little knack of how things should or could be done.

So here’s the little knack of how to get a domain name. Of course you can simply just purchase them through blogger or wordpress. Some of us prefer godaddy. But after much experimentation with godaddy, with their complicated checkout process and agressive sales tactics, i have moved on to name.com. Simple, cheap and straight forward.

2nd trick, look for coupons, you seldom pay full price online! Get 10% discount when you purchase a domain from name.com by using this coupon “IPANEMA”. if it expires, just search on google “name.com discount coupon” or visit retailmenot.com

Short of the epic match at Wimbledon… It is another five-setter at Australia Open. And the same results. Roger Federer lost again to the maturing Nadal. It just seems that Nadal has found a way of playing that really demoralize his opponent. He’s probably the best defensive player to grace the tennis scene, like Verdasco will say, you need to win a point 3 times against him. It is so frustrating how he keep retrieving impossible shots, and turn them into winners…

It is not just an awesome rivalry, but it could boil down to the best tennis player ever. Federer is short of 2 slams to become the best…Nadal is stocking slams, and I am pretty sure he will complete a career slam and maybe a Grand Slam (winning all four slams in a calendar year)… Its all looking an unlikely goal for Federer. However, I think he can be proud of what’s he has achieve… but like all champions faces.. he will have to face the passing of the baton, where he won’t be winning all the time. And many will remember Agassi’s emotional farewell at his last US OPEN…