Diving again, after almost 2 years

Two years ago, me, my gf and my two other couple friends (one of them were not a couple back then) got ourselves certified in Open Water Dive from PADI to scuba dive. We took our certification and dive trips with BlueReef Scuba in Singapore, although out of the 2 dive trips we went (10 dives altogether), none of them were in Singapore (all in Malaysia).

Contrary to popular belief, scuba diving is not a dangerous sport. So yesterday, together with Microsoft Scuba Diving Club (a new club, so to speak) I finally get myself under the water again.

We went to Helsingør and visit the MasterDive dive shop and then proceed to the harbor for our dive. We wore the wet suit and rig our gears at the harbor. I completely forgot how to do all of these, and with some help from the instructor, I managed to fix them up. Once done with our preparation, we proceed to the dive site, which is Hotellet at Øresund by a small boat. The dive site is closer to Sweden coast than Denmark. It was a concrete construction that went under on a bad weather back in the fifties. It used to be a dancing platform of some sorts, so they say.

A short description of the dive site:
The Hotel is 20 meter long and 20 meter wide. It is located at the bottom and raises 5 meters. Hotellet was used as a dancing platform in the 50's and fell in the water when is was moved north from Helsingør in 1955.

It was a shallow, 5 m dive. Overall a good dive, although I have to admit, I was horrible. I had difficulty in almost all the basic diving techniques, as if I never dive before. I had problems descending, balancing, breathing and achieving buoyancy. 

We were under water for about 40 minutes, consuming around 150 bar of air. The first half of which, I struggled with most of the adjustment, although the second half of the dive I got myself composed and enjoyed the dive a little bit. The visibility was OK, and the temperature was not as cold as I've expected.

We had a weak current above and under water. I saw a thin triangular shape fish and an eel like fish besides many small fish and the concrete construction under water. We dived around  the construction, in and out of it.

Bottom line, practice make perfect. Can't wait for next week dive at Veen. Till then... 

Posted by jonsan21 at 10:34 AM on June 4, 2008 in Personal, Denmark, Diving. | 5 notes

My dive cancelled...

Dang! My dive has been cancelled! Due to bad wind at Helsingor.. Dang! Dang! Dang!

Posted by jonsan21 at 04:08 PM on June 10, 2008 in Denmark, Diving. | leave a note

Copenhagen, probably the best city in the world

In the beginning of this year, I posted something about Denmark being the happiest place on earth. Last monday, The Independent wrote an article about Copenhagen, the capital city of Denmark being the best city in the world, in terms of quality of life as well as the best design city.

If you haven't notice, the 'probably' tag is align with Carlsberg's advertisement, that says Carlsberg as 'probably' the best beer in the world. Carlsberg is one of the products that has origin from Denmark, along with Lego and Little Mermaid.

Strøget (The Walking Street) at the heart of Copenhagen.

Regarding the article itself, Copenhagen was awarded the top spot based on several survey critera, such as transportation system, public infrastructure, restaurants and cinemas availability, as well as its focus on environmental issues.

Read more here.

Posted by jonsan21 at 09:04 AM on June 11, 2008 in Denmark. | 4 notes

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

'Cause I'm leaaaaving, on a jet plane...

Posted by jonsan21 at 10:17 AM on June 12, 2008 in Personal. | leave a note

Busy 'holiday' and Facebook

This summer holiday has been a very busy one.. coupled with a week work out of Singapore office, I practically haven't had a real 'holiday' yet, and time's already running out as I'm now in the second week of my third week Asia trip..

I haven't had a chance to blog on my US trip, my Indo trip, and other stuff that I want to write like meeting ex colleagues and clients, and off course meeting my parents and Tris. One at a time, one at a time..

On separate note, I am now in Facebook! So add me if you know me..

Posted by jonsan21 at 05:10 AM on June 26, 2008 in Personal. | leave a note

Application for Re-Entry Permit

If you're the same batch as me (NTU 2003) and you're a foreigner (to Singapore), then I presume your Re-Entry Permit (REP) will expiry anytime soon. You can apply for REP as early as 6 months prior to its expiration. Although, if you are a bit kiasu, wait till last minute, because it will take into effect, the day it was approved.

Your REP will expire, unless:

1. You no longer maintain your Singapore Permanent Residence (SPR)
2. You fall into the same category as my dear friend here.. haha.

Anyway, your SPR never expires. The one that expires is the REP, which is the green form along with the disembarkation card. To apply for extension, it's a very simple process, provided you met all the criteria and apply with all the necessary documents. What's needed (assuming you're applying under technical scheme):

1. Duly filled Form 6, download here.
2. Singapore Blue IC
3. Passport
4. Latest REP
5. 3 years income tax assesment (copy)
6. 12 months CPF contributions (copy)
7. Letter from your company, dated less than a month old, stating your employment and current salary (original)

More info here.

My gf and I went to ICA this morning, arrived at 7.20 am, and there was already a long queue outside the ICA building. At 8.00 am sharp they open the door and we started to queue for the queue no. Permanent residence services is located at the 5th floor. Despite the long queue, we were second on queue for REP application, because most of the people went for SPR application. The whole process took less than an hour. By 8.45 am, my gf application was approved and she's now an SPR with REP for another 10 years, yay!

Some tips and thoughts:

1. The lady who attended us said that it will take 2 hours to process the REP, upon payment. You can try to ask whether they can do it on the spot. This is depends on the queue I suppose. We managed to ask her to get all the things done within 40 minutes or so. Talking about the power of asking, eh? (the website say 30 minutes btw)
2. Come early to queue for the queue no. There's no need to take a half day off your daily work just to renew your REP. But I guess that depends on your work and the queue in the ICA.
3. Make a copy of your CPF contribution and income tax assesment. The website didn't mention it, but they will take the copy and return you the original.

If you're wondering what happened with my application, well, I already tried to apply for REP back in March, through Singapore Consular General in Copenhagen, and the result is... rejected. Hahaha.. Despite my best effort to explain how am I obliged to return to Singapore in two to three years time, to boost Singapore GDP, to evangelise technical expertise with all the experiences that I've got from overseas, I fell short of 1 criteria: Employment in Singapore based company...

Posted by jonsan21 at 05:37 AM on June 26, 2008 in Singapore. | 7 notes

Beauty of Mathematics!?

1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 +10= 1111111111

9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888
987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888
98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888

And look at this symmetry:

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

Now, take a look at this...

101%

From a strictly mathematical viewpoint:

What Equals 100%?
What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?

Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%?

We have all been in situations where someone wants you to
GIVE OVER 100%.

How about ACHIEVING 101%?

What equals 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help
answer these questions:

If:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Is represented as:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

If:

H-A-R-D-W-O- R- K

8+1+18+4+23+ 15+18+11 = 98%

And:

K-N-O-W-L-E- D-G-E

11+14+15+23+ 12+5+4+7+ 5 = 96%

But:

A-T-T-I-T-U- D-E

1+20+20+9+20+ 21+4+5 = 100%

THEN, look how far the love of God will take you:

L-O-V-E-O-F- G-O-D

12+15+22+5+15+ 6+7+15+4 = 101%

Therefore, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that:

While Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will
get you there, It's the Love of God that will put you over the top!

Posted by jonsan21 at 07:25 AM on June 30, 2008 in Personal. | 3 notes