Pedro shopping

Back from my shopping trip at Vivocity.


Started off with Armani Exchange but I wasn't impressed by the new collection.


Then I moved on to Pedro and I looked around for a long time. Finally I saw a pair of white shoes that I liked but the sales girl told me that there is only one pair left and it's size 11.

I can only wear size 10 sadly. However, she showed me another pair that was present in another side of the shop. I immediately took a liking for it and it fits perfectly.

I like the way she sold the shoe to me. It wasn't pushy or intimidating, in fact she gave me ample time to look at it, wear it and walk around the shop in it as if I already bought it. Very considerate and passionate.


Cheers to that!


The only bad thing is that it was the last pair as well. So I could not exchange for a new one but it looks brand new to me so I took it :)


Then I went on to TopMan, River Island, Levis and nothing caught my eyes so I went home straight after that.


Till the next shopping trip then !

The Great Singapore Sale 2010 is Back in action !

Let's take a quick look at the deals that you will enjoy in this upcoming Great Singapore Sale which is from 28 May all the way to the 25 July !!!

Custo Barcelona


www.custo-barcelona.com

ION Orchard

Up to 50% off apparel


Topman


www.fashionfastforward.com.sg/F3/home.html

BHG Bugis, Marina Square, VivoCity, Suntec City, Raffles City, Wisma Atria, Tampines 1, ION Orchard

Up to 50% off apparel and accessories


Get a chance to win a trip for 2 to London Fashion Week or

a Topman music gig in the UK with every $60 charged to MasterCard

Citigems


www.citigems.com.sg

313@somerset, ION Orchard, Plaza Singapura, CityLink Mall, VivoCity, Wisma Atria, Bugis Junction, Jurong Point, Tampines Mall, Parkway Parade, and other Citigems stores islandwide

Up to 50% off jewellery (Terms and conditions apply)


EpiCentre


www.epicentreorchard.com

Wheelock Place, Suntec City, Bugis Junction, ION Orchard, 313@somerset

5% accessories rebate voucher with any Mac CPU or iPod purchase



10% off all iPod and iPhone casings



10% off all computer bags



5% off all speakers, earphones and headphones except Bang & Olufsen


Kazbar


www.kazbar.com

Cuppage Terrace

4-course set dinner at only $25 nett per person









Credits -greatsingaporesale

Google buys AdMob

Finally, Google has been given the imprimatur to acquire AdMob, the mobile-advertising firm. This was actually a move in reflection to Apple's acquisition of Quattro Wireless.


Google simply will not allow Apple to dominate the mobile advertising market for they knew flagrantly that it is a lucrative market that is not to be missed. Nowadays, you see people on their cell phones more than they are on the computers. It's so convenient and with the touch screens, everything is so smooth and easy.

You can just drag things around with your fingers and play games continuously without getting bored. You are also busy searching for new deals on the move, literally. As you walk, you search the net on how you can get to your next destination.


When you are feeling hungry, you check the web for the awesome food outlets recommended by all near your current location.


When you are bored, you go online to download new games from the iPhone application stores.


When you need to check out the new clothes, you go online to search for the new collections.


When you want to catch a movie, you simply log-on to Golden Village's website and check the seatings available.

It's so convenient now that people refused to stay at home. They can now check for anything they want on the go.


Therefore, it is imperative that Google acquire a great company to fight this imminent mobile war with Apple and other potential competitors.


Initially, the FTC was desperately scrutinizing Google's acquisition of AdMob in an attempt to foil their plan for they feel that it will harm the other potential competitors.


However, Google and others have argued that FTC scrutiny of the AdMob purchase was unwarranted, given the relatively young mobile advertising market, and the number of potential competitors.


At the end of the day, Google has 65% market share in the Internet search engine but in terms of the mobile advertising market, Google is still nascent like any other competitors.


It is no doubt that Google will have an edge because of its leverage in the advertising market but anything is possible in this ever-changing market.


We will see.


Credits -martketwatch, -willscullypower, -blogcdn

21st Birthday Celebration Part 3

This was a finale celebration of my birthday at L'olivier located at Telok Ayer Street.

They were having this 1 for 1 Dinner promotion for UOB cardholders so we thought this will the apt place for us to dine at, for its fine dining and we get to dine cheap as well. Overall, we paid $30 bucks each for a 3-course dinner. Considering the quality of the food, I think its a steal to dine there with a mere $30 bucks!


Definitely recommended for UOB cardholders. It's a little deserted over there so you might have some difficulty finding the place but rest assured it's definitely worth it!

So as usual, it was a great catch-up session with me, David, Zhi Qi and Wei Kuan. Soon, we were joined by Jaryl and Dominic and finally Samuel.

I learn a lot of things. Firstly, that David had a lot of drama in China where he went to extend of flying back alone for he did not feel obligated to stay there anymore for the employers of his have breached the contract bounding him.


Jaryl is finally ending his teacher endeavour.


Dominic is still working at Surfgold, shining as usual.


Zhi Qi and Wei Kuan working at Singapore Sports Council whereby they are still the indispensable for their competency is out of this world.


As for Samuel, he was apparently offered an opportunity to star in a commercial on the newspaper for New York Skin solutions whereby he will be offered $3000+ worth of vouchers if he gave his imprimature.


As you can see from the above, it was a major catch-up session.



As usual, there was a surprise birthday song coming from the background as I was happily sipping on my water. I seriously had no idea once again that there was actually a cake for me and Dominic as both our birthdays fall in May.


I was the first one to meet them and I don't see anyone holding on to any cake. How did they manage to act all surreptitiously without the detection by my acute senses.


Very impressive I must say, great concealment right till the end.

I'm really thankful for all the effort.



Samuel had a hard time preparing everything whereby he had to pay for the presents, the cakes and the dinner. I really appreciate it Samuel !


Wei Kuan was consistently following up on the ongoing planning of the celebration right from the start in April. He was busying making sure that everything will be in place. Thank you as well!


David was the one who decided on the awesome dining place, we can always count on him to do all these bookings.


Zhi Qi was the one who make us vote firmly on the things we want for the celebration. Without his firmness, our indecisiveness will get us nowhere.


Jaryl was the one who made the cards for me and Dominic, definitely very nice of him the cards were awesome by the way and seen below.

Dominic celebrated his birthday with me, which was a great pleasure. He constantly entertained us with his quirky actions at the dinner.


After the celebration at L'olivier, we moved on to the Double Helix Bridge. To be honest, it's nothing fantastic I must say. The architecture was typical of a DNA but it didn't really impress me. Nonetheless, it was a great hangout there for we were entertaining ourselves as usual along the way there.

Next we headed towards the Integrated Resorts, to enjoy the tinge of the highlife. Haha, no we did not enter the casinos. We merely linger along the area. It's really impressive, all the architecture and shops. The renowned brands are all these and the best part is that they are still under renovations. Wait till they are all set up, it will be a blast for sure. A total showstopper, the new attractions of Singapore.

To be honest, Singapore is really becoming a super competitive place. Once known as a harmless red dot, now we are intrepid, we are fighting on the same level as the superpowers in the world and we actually stand a chance of overthrowing them.

Outstanding!

Before I forget, I was given the present as shown below.

Armani Exchange is one of my favourite brand. Thank you guys for giving me the apposite gift for my birthday. Perfect !

Haha, that's all for my 21st. I must say that I'm truly grateful. It made me realise that I have awesome friends surrouding me all these time.


My 21 years of living is splendid because of each and everyone of you out there. I will not give you guys up for anything in the world, really.


It is something that is so close to my heart, just next to my family.


Even though the Army bond was a short 2 years, it is very fortunate of me to have met you guys in there. Our friendships will stick around for the next few centuries.


It will be ever-lasting !!!!!!!!!


Thank you all for the presents and surprises and the arduous preparations. You guys are the best in the world!

21st Birthday Celebration Part 2

Just in case you guys are wondering, part 1 was with my family at Vivocity!


We dine at Sushi Tei and it was fabulous. Angbaos angbaos and more angbaos


I was literally rich on that day. The actual day of my birthday that is.

But this was a part 2 celebration at Crystal Jade at Holland Village. It was basically an insane buffet session whereby we stuffed ourselves like some rancorous monsters. We literally ordered 40 baskets of Xiao Long Baos. Each basket has 5 Xiao Long Baos each so that comes to a gargantuan sum of 200 Xiao Long Baos.

On top of that, we had a scrumptious buffet as well. We kept on pouring plethora plates of mushrooms, beefs, meatballs, fishballs, vegetables, prawns into the boiling steamboat.

The whole process was basically incessant. We just kept on gorging and gorging like there's no tomorrow, mainly because we all skipped lunch.

After a while, only a paucity of food was left. However, afraid that we might have to pay the fine, we split the remainings of the food onto the plates of everyone so that it will look less palpable that we couldn't finish. They were literally trying extremely hard to finish the remaining Xiao Long Baos. Everyone was so full.

But at the end of the day, we forced those Xiao Long Baos down our throat, no gimmick!

Just as I was lying on my chair, one of the manager walked in with a cake. I was flabbergasted to be honest.

I mean, I totally didn't expect a cake, but in the end I came to realise that it was 6 cute cupcakes with candles stuck on them. It was really a major surprise for I was so full already. I thought that there will be no birthday cakes for sure but I must say that it was really thoughtful of them to buy cupcakes instead.

Overall, it was a fabulous birthday.

I must dedicate this message to all that who have celebration for me, they are namely Chin Keong, Fu Qi, Sien Mei, Guo Neng, Chee Siong, Brandon, Siang Meng, Olivia, Andy~~

An awesome bunch of friends whom I stuck with since Secondary 1. They are the best!

When I'm feeling down, they are always there for me, they are always ever-ready to lend me a helping hand. No doubt we had many quarrels in the past, it was all for the better. In fact, without those arguements, we wouldn't have found out our own strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. It is because of all these arguements that eventually made our bond much stronger.

Last but not least, I want to say that I really treasure this friendship very much, it is indispensable and priceless, something that I will never give up no matter what happens. It is my life!

Thank you all!

Drug recalls not hurting J&J - yet

Institutional investors who own the stock said that J&J still appears to be getting the benefit of the doubt because the company earned plaudits for how it handled the Tylenol cyanide scare in Chicago in 1982.


Why does J&J stocks rise even though there's a flagrant recall of the drug Tylenol lately?

Well, very simple, the reason is as stated above, that is the company is well known for how it handled a similar incident in 1982. People have died from that incident and yet J&J has successfully claimed back the confidence of the citizens.


In business, it is crucial & imperative to build a rapport with your consumers and gain their trust. It is therefore a risky move to betray their trust to gain the trust of someone else.


What do I mean here? Well, many companies fall into the pithole of short term benefits. They try to cover up the incident until it actually exposes itself but that's actually too late. You don't need someone else to tell you about your own problems.

The worst part is that you yourself already know the problem beforehand and yet you decided to conceal it. You hide it from the rest in an effort to earn more profits in the mean time but little do you know, the public actually hates the way you handled the incident and thus they will stop buying from you altogether. The loss is then devastating and perpetual.


The mark will not leave the consumers for they feel betrayed.


Conversely, if you are constantly on the look out for their well-being, they will slowly trust you more and more, little by little. It does not matter how long it will take for trust is arcane. They might take years but more important, they will come to trust you eventually. That's the whole point.


Once you earned their trust, you will have to sustain it. An anomaly will be more than enough to obliterate the rapport between you and your consumer. Similarly, if you can sustain the relationship throughout by being honest, then you are definitely safe for the consumers will still stand by you regardless of what happens.



The moral of the story is, if you cover their back, they will cover yours when you need them.


It's a symbiosis.



Credits -cnn, -biochem, -businessweek

True Friends

Credits -missgibson