Something really interesting that has happened in my new neighbourhood. I'm not sure I have blogged about before, but definitely will have more details than the last one, if I have blogged before.
Most of you would have known by now that I'm in the process of renovating my new house. But how many of you would have guess that I've already known 70 households in my neighbourhood even before I moved in, and even before I got my keys from HDB (Housing Development Board, a statuary board that takes care of public housing in Singapore).
Many of us got to know each other through an online forum called Singapore Brides. A lady, who has become our unofficial mayor, organised monthly events where we gathered, mostly at macdonald, and talk about everything, especially related to renovation... I remember fondly that there was one particular outing, where three household, including me, stayed at macdonald to exchange ideas until 3am, all of us rubbing our eyes, yet still continue to discuss... Many of us band together and bargain with suppliers, so much so that when we mentioned our neighbourhood, we get special prices. One of the suppliers even asked me if I want to start an IT business with him!
Then security related problems start to develop in our neighbourhood. Rumours were flying around, that there are 7 break-in already, even when most of us haven't moved in yet. One of them was even broken in twice, with the metal gate taken down completely.
Obviously all of us got nervous. Some of us called the police, but was brushed off with "Nothing we can do" kind of response. I wrote to HDB and Town Council. HDB just brush it aside, and refer me to the police. Town Council even better... silent. One of the resident even emailed PMO, and no reply.
We took our own actions. We set up a private forum, which requires a verification process to make sure everyone is a resident, so that we can discuss openly. We kept watch of the surroundings, and alerted everyone through the forum of the happenings. We even had block ICs! I emailed PMO again, with a very upfront (some say very harsh, I guess its me... hee hee) email, representing the community, approaching PMO as the last resort other than going to the press. And guess what, things started to move.
Police took our case more seriously, with actions that we can see. Our MP asked Col Lim, head of some CCC thing (some grassroot organisation) to find out more, and he gave me a call. On the same day, we organised a outing to see our MP regarding this, which 7 and 8 households turn up, which Town Council says its the first time seeing a group of people coming to see MP, plus the fact that all of us either haven't moved in, or moved in for a few weeks surprised them trememdously.
Why did I share this on my blog? Well, this blog is hosted on SgDotNet, which is meant for developer community to know each other, share knowledge and network with each other. This is the power of a tightly nitted community. The developer community is not owned by the council members. It is owned by you, developers in Singapore.
You know something? Someone told me this story, that in Changi Village area, there is also a very tightly knitted community, which the Government don't dare to touch. I don't know how true the story is, but I sure would love to see a strongly knitted developer-oriented community that Microsoft do not dare to ignore... :)
Community is yours guys. Its up to you to shape it...
Photoshoot, renovation, projects and usergroup really have taken a toll on me. Especially when I didn't sleep much in order to meet project deadlines, and preparing the presentation on Thursday and Saturday. My colleague remarked that I look very pale on last Monday. But it is all worth when I see the wedding photos and the progress of the renovation. Love especially her big shiny eyes, and her smile, which attracted me when I first noticed her. I knew her for more than about 10 years, and couldn't wait to spend the rest of my life with her...
Enjoy some of the photos.
Outdoor, Studio
First of all, like to apologise to those monitoring my renovation progress. Have been very busy lately, so busy that I was working from my new home for awhile to reduce the time wasted in travelling. Tiling phase took two weeks to complete. I just realise that I didn't take the pictures after my tiling phase is done. :(
Anyway, plumbing phase is over in a blink of an eye. Within a day, the plumber drilled all the holes, and installed the stainless steel pipes.
My common toilet is full of pipes. At each cold water point, there is a stop clock to allow me to isolate problem areas like leakages in the future.
My master bedroom toilet is kept as neat as possible. All the water point was drilled through the wall separating the toilets into the master bedroom toilet, hence I achieved the concealed piping look in my master bedroom toilet. Don’t have picture to show you as I insisted that my actual tap is to be installed after acid wash to prevent the acid from eating into the taps.
At first, I wanted to get a 35L storage heater by Joven. But when I went over to Asia Excel Marketing in IMM, they recommended me Amasco instead, as their warrantee is more comprehensive for just $20 to $30 more. I trust them, as they gave me very good service few months back when I was doing research, even when I told them that I'm not buying yet. Plus I've recommend a lot of other neighbours to buy from them. I never regretted it because…
After the plumber installed the water heater, I switched it on to test it. Water was very hot, and I turned off the heater. The next day, I went to my new house again. When I wash my hands before leaving the house, the water is warm. After more than a week later, I visited my house, and used the water again. To my surprise, the water is still warm!
The pipe have to travel a bit longer to reach my kitchen water point though. Now I'm very glad I have a stop clock installed at my hot water point in the kitchen area. Imagine the amount of energy wasted while the hot water travel to my kitchen point, esp when I don't need the hot water!
My washing machine tap is very near my kitchen tap. I didn't think much of it, but my ID did. He foresee that I might have a problem with the default location of the tap, and hence shifted it not once, but twice automatically.
Two more things to show you. My toilet bowl and my bathtub. My toilet bowl is a single piece unit. Anyone wants to guess how much it cost me? At first, my ID told me that my tub is porcelain, But instead, he delivered an acrylic one. After speaking to him, he refunded me a little money… :)
