There are 318,979,564,000 possible combinations of the first four moves in Chess.

after work today I went down to Causeway Point's Hello Shop. went there to apply for a fixed line for the home as well as a broadband connection. Got there shortly after 6 and it was already crowded. as usual people with nothing better to do. i had 14 people ahead of me in the queue! finally my turn came and I did the needful. the phone line part was rather straightforward. I even chose the number. The phone line will be activated on the 15th. The broadband connection though required some thinking through before I came to make my choice. initially we had wanted to go for the basic broadband plan. the choice was between the 1 mbps and 3 mbps plans. but after discussing with the 'sales' guy, Gary, it turns out it was more worth our while to invest in the mio TV plan. The cost difference between the 3mbps broadband and the Mio TV + broadband bundle is a mere $3 per month, not to mention the savings in hardware and installation costs. so that was settled as well.
I know Mio TV's offerings pale in comparision to what SCV/Starhub offers, but since we are basically paying $3 for it, I think it is a no brainer.

This morning mum MMS-ed me a picture of what happened to Bosco's lorry. apparently a cement mixer reversed smack dab into the front of his lorry. and then the driver attempted to make a getaway before he was spotted. fortunately the folks were around and heard the sound of steel on steel and came out before he got away scot free.



the windscreen was smashed and the front panel was badly dented. to think that the spot where the incident happened is where I usually park Sunny. I do not think Sunny could withstand the impact had the same thing happened to him. there is a difference between a car and a lorry.

which then brings me to what the fate of Sunny will be this year. I have more or less decided that I will not renew Sunny's road tax if he fails his annual inspection. I spend way too much time and money just to get him through his annual inspections. The main problem is engine tuning and exhaust fumes. so i go from workshop to workshop after each test failure until he passes. Sunny still has until 2011 before he has to be scrapped, but with each passing year the cost of maintaining an old car increases. road tax increases. insurance premium increases. the amount spent on repairs increases.even the amount of petrol consumed as Sunny ages increases compared to a newer car of the same engine capacity.

As for what happens after Sunny is gone, the options are to get a second hand car, a new car or to just simply to go on without a car. with the recent drops in COE's the last few months there may be no better time than now to consider a new car. a second hand car was my initial plan, but why go for one when you can afford a new one? the third option of not having a car is viable from a financial standpoint. I will save hundreds every month without installments, petrol and other vehicle related costs. but to get to work and home, or even to meet up Agnes after work will be hard without a vehicle considering the virtual isolation of my workplace to public transport. but there are buses at both ends of Lorong Chencharu, and Khatib MRT is a good 10 to 15 minutes walk away. a little exercise never did anyone any harm.

Pussy Cat, from the office, came home with me the other day. As expected there was the usual histronics and teething pains one would associate with domesticating what is essentially a wild animal. but despite his origins, Pussy is a sweetheart. It took him a while to adapt to his new surroundings but once he did there was no turning back. amazingly the 2 feline denizens of the Boyd household did not take much issue with Pussy. I was expecting a catfight for the ages when I brought Puss home, but it did not materialize how I envisioned. even UJ, the tyrant, who bullied all the others before, ran away from Puss. who woulda thunk that? It may have more than a little to do with Puss being larger and more mobile than UJ, but still any furball worth his salt would defend his turf from others,right? Nico has been with us the longest, even longer than Monk and Poison even, so I was expecting him to take issue with the newcomer but as with UJ, no fur flew when Pussy cat was introduced.
Puss still has some stuff at the office which I will take back home soon. They include a basket, some soft toys, his flea spray and his scratching boards. He was really pampered when he was with us. but now that he actually has a roof over his head, I would think he has never had it any better. it will be a challenge for him to adapt to dried food and a much more enclosed range than he was previously used to. He used to roam far and large throughout the area. most times it was hard to find him apart from at meal times. and he was fed canned cat food as well as fresh items such as rice and fish. so it will be an uphill task to get him unto a strictly dried pellets diet from here on end.

the house is finally starting to be liveable. once the phone line is activated, and the internet cum cable tv is installed I could probably stay there more often. I can barely go a day or two without internet access, so it is a godsend to have internet at the flat in a matter of days.but there is still one thing lacking...
..a bed. granted there is the big King sized bed in the master bedroom, but that one will not be used until Agnes moves in. we kinda agreed on that when we first got it delivered.
so in the meantime I have been sleeping on my
inflatable mattress

and on the living room sofa
whenever I stay over.
so maybe it is timely for me to invest in a proper bed to use for the next few months and maybe even for guest a bit later on. I am still deciding between a...

foldable mattress

daybed

foldable bed

metal bed

I will probably set aside something in the region of $100 to $200 for a bed.
provided Agnes thinks it is a good idea!