A passing of a different kind ...

Today, my faithful Sony Ericsson K810 finally died on me ...

It has served steadfastly through the growing years of Snowylad, surviving being sucked in his greedy little mouth, but sustaining long-term impairment in the process, having its charge points corroded beyond repair.  Further internal damage could not be accessed, though the doctors ... I mean technicians ... gravely informed me that its performance would be erratic and it would suffer from sudden blackouts.

Well, that was more than 2 years ago and it has surpassed all expectations of early demise. What cause the breakdown was the battery ... I suspect now that the internal charging mechanism finally broke down to the point where it could not stop the flow even when the battery was fully charged, damaging the battery in the process.

Indeed, when I opened the casing, the battery was "hulked out" ...

Well, first thing first was to get a replacement.  I'd visit the SE service centre another time to see if I can borrow another battery to power up the old phone to salvage the data.

I've been eyeing Satio for a while, but just refuse to pay the exorbitant price. Well, the cost finally dropped to almost 50% of the original launch price, but the problem now is my attention got distracted by the newer model Vivaz.

While Vivas only got 8M camera compared to Satio's 12M, the former boast of HD video recording, and is S$170 cheaper.  Still, its flash is nothing special, and through the few minutes of indecision, Snowylady who accompanied me to the shop (to ensure I do get a new phone TODAY, no OR ELSE ...) managed to tell the salesgirl the whole sob story of how she, as the bride-to-be, saw my tailor more than her gown designer for the wedding ... all because of my fussiness and not able to make quick decision ...

But hey, unlike others ... I do use my phone to the "death" (as does Snowylady, but somehow, she managed to wear out hers faster than me ... but then again, she does talk more on the phone)

Anyway, what's cool is that I can also use the K810 charger, though the salesgirl reported that I couldn't.  Looks like I'll have to spend a bit more time at the SE service centre ...

Finally though, I got a Wifi phone.  Problem is my Wifi key is in the K810 ...  With the lack of manuals, I am still trying to figure out how to suspend its 3G internet access in favour of Wifi only ...

When a tree blocks the only road out my place

Notice how narrow the base area is ... barely enough for the trunks, let alone the roots.

9 days after last Wednesday's deluge that was supposed to happen "once in 50 years" (according to the Minister in charge), this morning saw the heavy rain and strong winds knocking down a tree and blocked the only road in and out of my residential estate.

Had to give up using the car and brave the rain together as a family to walk out the other way on foot. While Snowylady and Snowylass took the bus, I had to catch a taxi to send Snowylad to his kindergarten which was not near any bus-stop ... not an easy task on any wet morning.

And it is for that reason that I found myself on a Chrysler luxury cab with starting fare of S$5.00.

Returning home (I called the office earlier), I took some photos of the "evidence" to explain my lateness today.

I love trees. Given a choice, I will still live in an area with trees and the risk of falling trees rather than a treeless environment. Just hope the trees will be cared for properly.

Bécassine, le trésor viking - 貝卡莘之維京海盜的寶藏

An unexpected DVD find at the National Library - a French cartoon with French and Taiwanese Mandarin audios and subtitles ...

Seems interesting - they mixed very different artistic styles of early 20th century comics (Bécassine) with the drawing styles of later period (most of other characters).

Snowylad got scared at some of the scenes involving "bad guys" chasing after Bécassine.

Am wondering if I will have time to listen to the Taiwanese audio dubbing while reading French subtitles (or vice versa) ... just to expose to a bit more French ...

Severing decades-long relationship

Finally terminated my Readers' Digest subscription today.

Their quality had been in decline, but they did time and again managed to introduce something interesting.  But not even Nury Vuttachi's column can make me stay this time.

Procrastination was the main reason I hadn't cancelled it until now.