We had a nice gathering on Friday night to have an early celebration of Jas' birthday, and we went back to Traders Hotel for their buffet, since Jas liked it so much.

There were 9 of us, and everybody had a good time. We started at 7+, 8 and before you know it, it was last orders at 10. We stayed on a little longer to chat over coffee, and then it was home sweet home.

Thanks to everybody who had come, and thanks for the presents too!

Head over to the Photos section to take a look.

Finally, after 3 months of off season, EPL is back!!! Not to mention the Champions League, the Spanish La Liga, the Italian Serie A....

Let the games begin!!! Woot!!!

Yesterday was National Day, the first public holiday for a while. And it was over in a flash, before you know it.

I was involved in one of the NDP parades when I was serving NS, so I'm not very big on catching it on television. It's the few thousand strong choir, the marching contingents, and the mass displays, topped by some fancy fireworks every year.

I'm sure the people putting up the mass displays have been making a lot of effort, and sacrificed a lot of their free time to rehearse for the event. But there reaches a point when you get the feeling that you've seen it once, you've seen them all, if you get what I mean.

Good news elsewhere. Jas' mother has recovered sufficiently to be discharged from the hospital, so she'll most likely be returning home today. Actually, she has been in pretty good spirits for the past few days; she's only in the hospital to undergo the drip on antibiotics, so that the toxic in her blood can be removed. On the other hand, she really needs to watch her diet in the future, so this is something she has to take note of.

So, how was your weekend/holiday?

Thanks to the free satellite photos provided by Google, here is where we stayed in Beijing. Our apartment is the white apartment that is in the centre of the photo. The sandy rectangle to the left is a olympic sized running track with a football pitch in the centre. The slim and long red rectangles on the right is the Beijing West Railway Station.

Marvellous stuff. Too bad the satellite photos for Singapore aren't as detailed.

Been a feel day since I updated anything. Work has been pretty heavy this week, most of it trying to figure out what is happening in the code, before it gets changed everytime I do a CVS update.

Not all has been work though. Somebody found an old but working table tennis table in the storeroom, so we are adding table tennis to the staple entertainment diet of table soccer after office hours.

Jas' mom has been recovering, and should be discharged from the hospital soon. A big thanks to the well-wishers. She's staying for a few more days to cleanse the toxic in her blood. According to the doctors, her condition has been brought along by a history of irregular meal times, and unbalanced diet.

Joo Huat, an ex-colleague of mine, has started a freshwater aquarium for about 4 months, and has taken some pictures of it here. It's very nice, and his selection of fish is very colourful. Take a look.

How has your week been then?