I hardly ever use Internet Explorer since Mozilla Firefox was launched years ago. In fact the most compelling reason for my switch back then was the tabbed browsing offered by Firefox but now IE. Now it is an ubiquitous feature we find it hard to live without. But I kinda got stuck with Firefox as I find IE a little clumsy in web browsing.

The main reason I use IE these days is for web development purposes. CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) - the codes designers use to style the fonts and design of a webpage is a pain in the butt. Different browsers render CSS codes differently especially so with IE. Bloody IE, if not for your status, I would not even tailor my codes to suit you needs.

Anyway since I was on IE, I decided to log on to another Gmail account to check some emails. Yes, it’s the best way to log on to several Gmail accounts at the same time - use different browsers. Well I got a surprise when I saw this message on IE.

Nice trick Google. I like this sneaky way of sneering IE.

This is irritating. My TagBoard is being targeted by spammers. Damn leceh-lah must log-on to ShoutMix to delete these pesky comments. My comment function in individual posts are also targeted by spammers too. But at least WordPress has the Akismet plugin that more or less eliminated most spams though there are the occasional spam that slipped through the plugin. Gah. Bloody spammers. Go away. you are not invited.

Neither do I want any blogwalking jokers coming and leaving stupid messages on my comment or tag board. Dimwit spammers.

It’s a hassle to transfer PayPal money for Malaysians. I do not know why it’s taking PayPal and the Malaysian banking authorities so long to provide this much needed service. It’s been quite some time since PayPal opened their regional headquarters in Singapore.

Anyway, I think the most hassle free way to transfer your virtual PayPal money into rock-solid bank notes is to simply head down to Singapore for a holiday, open up a POSB Bank account and then simply do a bank transfer to the Singapore bank account. I have done it and it’s completed really fast.

Here’s how. Head down to any POSB branch and open up a bank account. You can simply open a bank account with just a Malaysian IC. No need passport or any other crap. Cool right? Some features for you to consider with this POSB account - Internet banking and MasterCard Debit Card. I’m still waiting for my Internet banking package to arrive. But the MasterCard Debit Card is the single most useful piece of feature from my POSB account. It works exactly like a Credit Card and can be used online anywhere. It’s how I validate my PayPal.

I wanted this same Debit Card with my Maybank, but sadly they don’t provide it. Their Visa Debit Card can’t be used online. What crap.

Anyway, once you opened up your POSB Bank account, use the following details to key into your PayPal account. This is provided to me by a POSB Bank officer and it works perfectly fine for me.

Bank Name: DBS Bank Ltd.
Bank Code: 7171
Branch Code: 081
Account Type: Saving

The bank name is DBS because POSB is owned by DBS. Oh do note, if you are above 21 years old, you need to maintain a S$500 deposit balance else they will deduct S$2 per month (if I’m not wrong).

The entire process took about 3 working days before the money appear in my POSB account. Cool stuff I would say. Oh PayPal will deduct S$1 for bank transfer of less than S$200.

If you need to check your bank balance or report stolen DBS debit card, call this number: +65-6327 2265
And if you need to call PayPal for any reason, call this number: +65-6510 4650
Oh this PayPal number will be rerouted to a Shanghal call centre, so have fun talking there!

Don’t be discouraged to call the Singapore numbers listed above. It’s actually quite cheap to call Singapore. If you are on Digi, you can call Singapore for 18sen/minute. I’m not joking. This is serious shit. It’s cheaper than calling my neighbour on his mobile phone! I saw some adverts for Maxis and Celcom too, but I’m not too sure the exact price to call Singapore, but you can try for about 1 minute to get a rough gauge of the price. It won’t slaughter you, that’s for sure.

Hope this helps.

I was Facebooking as usual and while Facebooking I took a glance at the ad on the right bar of Facebook and I was taken aback by the ad that I saw. It was an ad by MCA to join MCA Gombak Facebook Group.

Cool stuff. Did not know that MCA are taking a serious step in battling the online world. But they still have a long way to go. There are not many ‘Friends‘ in their contact list. And shouldn’t a centralised MCA group be used instead of individual MCA branch groups?

MCA needs to ramp up their online presence. Well I have to admit though, the picture of this MCA group is indeed a good one. Creates a happy, youthful impression for me.

I’ve gotten my Facebook vanity URL @ http://www.facebook.com/bobbyong. Have you gotten yours? Better be quick before your choice facebook vanity name is taken out. Choose properly yea cause you can’t change it later.

Btw this is cool. The person chose default.aspx as the vanity URL to make it seem like the default landing page of Facebook. Check out the TechCrunch article here.

Note: it seems like Facebook has removed the default.aspx page.

Someday in the future, if I have enough money to provide scholarships to others, this is what I will do. I will put up a full page colour advert on all the major newspapers  and run a month-long online ad campaign on all the major online media, portals, blogs to advertise my scholarship.

My scholarship will have NO application form. Yes you read me right. NO APPLICATION FORM.

The idea is, We have $$$ to be given out for scholarships.  But we are different from the rest. We don’t do things the normal way. Here’s the information that we will provide. An office address. An email address. Your task is to proof to us in the most outrageous, outstanding, radical way why you deserve to win this scholarship.

I love this idea. Students will scramble to crack their brains to be the most creative application since there are no application forms. They are encouraged to use whatever methods to impress. It can be low-tech stuff like sending a big colour package descriving your life in a postcard or sending in dozens of photos with short descriptions or high-tech stuff like creating a 5 minute video presentation of you skydiving explaining your reason or creating a website with support from members from you college and school or using faceboook and creating a group with 10000 followers why you deserve this scholarship. The idea is proof to us in a different manner why you are different. The key is the sky’s the limit. But one thing is certain - just sending in your resume and 10 page essays will get your application tossed into the bin unless it is accompanied by something unique and exceptional.

Send in you application in whichever way to the office address and/or email address to be evaluated. Only the most creative application will be shortlisted.

Your exam results, co-curricular achievements, personality, character and all will/should be reflected in the application. This is cool. This really shortlist the most motivated and determined people.

My 2nd round will be total hard-core business development, marketing idea/brainstorming, creative session individual presentation.

This is all about ideas and selling yourself. I like creativity. I think it’s understated in our current model. It is not being emphasized enough. Let’s go build creativity.

Oh I would love to give out 2 years bond or bond-free scholarships too. Hmmm….I would love to be surprised everyday during this scholarship application. Will I ever get to see this happen?

UPDATE: I was at Sime Darby interview on Monday and I sold this idea to them..Will they take it up? It will be interesting if they do.

As promised, here’s part 2 of the Singapore pixs.

Indonesians and Malaysians group outing

Shi Min, Jolene, Stephanie, Yuan Yin - all my classmates

Class 23/07 Reunion. Thanks Cicillia for organising!

Chunhui - the Non Mihi Solum award winner (LOL!), Belinda (fellow Council President), Ms Grace Fu (Senior Minister of State - National Development and Education)

My fellow AJC 24th Students' Councillors

I blog but one thing that I’m really lazy is to upload photos onto blog. That’s why I always procrastinate updating my blogs with photos. Or you can also see very clearly this blog is really short of photos. Anyway, I was in Singapore last last weekend to receive an award from college. I thought I’m going all the way down just to collect a certificate. Surprisingly they gave a pretty nice plague too.

Well it was an enjoyable trip. Met up with friends again especially the Econs Symp team. Shona, it is indeed a good trip down, well worth the effort. haha. And of course I collected my A-level and SGC from college and sorted out quite some paperwork in Sg. Good trip. Perhaps I might plan another trip down before I go to uni abroad, this time to meet the Indian kids (all my ex-roommates/batchmates) in NUS.

Here’s some photos to share.

Ms Chin Yee, me and Ms Siew Geok - the cheerful people of Oldham Hall

My juniors in Oldham Hall

My Indonesian friends - Meilani and Cindy

Vanessa and Cindy!

One big family in OH

Anyway, I did not do any shopping in Singapore while I was there although I could get GST rebate of 7%. Pretty good deal I would say if you were to shop. Oh btw, I was also made aware of this site called ShopWiki.co.uk. Using Wiki to build a shopping page. Sweet. This site claims to revolutionizes online shopping as it finds every store on the internet. Well they have a wide variety of things on offer such as women’s jewellery and watches. Hmmm if you love online shopping, perhaps you can give this site a try. Till then stay tuned for tomorrow’s Part 2 of my Singapore Trip.