Hellooooo blog. I have been so busy the past few weeks I have not been able to update you, so sorry about that. I even missed your 1 year anniversary last week he he. Ha ha, boliaosia.com is 1 years old! I have renewed the domain name for another year, so I guess I will still be blogging for a long long time heh. Updates will be less often or shorter than before I guess, since I will be busy at work and maybe play most of the time. You know I only blog when I am bo liao, have nothing better to do or want to share some good stuff he he. No work related stuff on this blog though. (In case employers are reading my blog …. Hi!)

Anyways … Speaking of sharing good stuff, there is something I have been using the past 1 month plus which I really like and want to share with anyone reading my blog. My new 24 inch LG W2486L monitor!!

I actually received this amazing monitor from LG as a trial last month and have since been using it every day without fail. I guess it’s hard for someone to avoid using a monitor if he surfs the net every day =P. I’m actually looking at it while I am typing this sentence i.e. I’m using it now la. It is certainly better than my previous monitor (also 24 inch) and I love it a lot!

My room before the monitor arrived looked like this …

Really messy and cramp with 2 monitors – one 24 inch, one 17 inch. Plus rubbish around and messy cables.

That was my pc setup before the arrival of the LG W2486L ….


I was really excited when the monitor arrived at my house and immediately went to take some pictures of the box and most importantly what’s inside the box =)


In case you are interested in the packaging of the monitor, I took pics of it from different angles. There is a post it note which has my name on it at the side of the box he he. In the box, you have the monitor (duh), the monitor stand, vga cable, dvi cable, power cable, installation cd, manuals and stuff. Too bad there is no HDMI cable included.


So … let’s get on to the star of this post …. THE 24 INCH LG W2486L! It really looks very nice … easily the best looking monitor I ever had.


After screwing the base in and placing it upright, you can see how beautiful this baby looks. The back of the monitor and its front border are glossy black, the stand is red and it has red lights on its buttons (okay not really buttons but sort of like touch screen buttons). The power button is shaped like an eagle eye with a matching red light. Very elegantly designed indeed. There are 2 HDMI connectors, 1 DVI connector, 1 VGA connector and an audio out jack. I use both of the HDMI slots. 1 for my PC, the other for my ps3 =) You can also plug in your HD Setup box from Starhub or Mio and make it a TV he he. It’s like a Full HD TV! There are no inbuilt speakers though, so you have to plug your own speakers into the monitor’s audio out jack. If you have digital speakers than no problem …. Just connect them straight to your HD setup boxes, Xbox 360s or PS3 =)

Some Specs of the monitor you might wanna know ….

Size / Resolution – 24 inch / Full HD 1920*1080
Colours – 16.7m
Contrast Ratio – 2000000:1 (Waaa!)
Response Time – 2ms
Panel Surface – Anti-glare

For more specs and features click here.

Because it’s a LED monitor it is able to have a super high contrast ratio of 2 mil to 1!! The LED technology also enables the monitor to consume less power and be slimmer and lighter than your usual LCD monitors …


The monitor can be tilted forwards and backwards and is only 20mm thick … thinner than my $1 coin! As seen in the pictures above, it is also thinner than my previous 24inc and 17 inch monitors. Because it is using LED technology, according to the information they provided, the monitor uses around 50% less power than its previous model and it’s Eco-Friendly. I can’t confirm those claims though, because I dunno how to test them lol. We just have to read and believe lor. It does feel good knowing that you might be saving electricity though heh.

So … how does my computer table look like right now?


At first, I tidied up the table and rearranged the monitors to this ….


I used the new LG monitor as my main PC monitor and the older Acer 24 inch monitor as my TV. The 17 inch is just lying around somewhere in my house at the moment. If I add another monitor, I can do this …


Coooooool

However, I found it a little too overcrowded for my small table though so I rearrange the monitors again to this …


Now the table has only 1 monitor and it looks much neater. This will be my computer and gaming area. So where is the other monitor?

I shifted it together with some small tables I found to the bottom of my bed to form my TV area he he …


So now I have 2 entertainment areas in my super small room =) Don’t worry, Kimi still have her own area to sleep.

Now that the room is arranged, I can finally use my new monitor!


As a PC, because of its really wide screen, I can actually easily multitask, arranging the programs neatly on the screen. Good for people who likes to watch DVDs and chat at the same time while surfing the net or for work and projects … just mix and match =P

I tried using the Starhub HD Setup box on the monitor and everything looked good, just like a Full HD Lcd TV. Gaming and videos on PS3 looks great too. I completed Uncharted 2 using this monitor and now I am playing Bayonetta and have no problems so far.

Here is a video I took while I was trying out the Dante’s Inferno demo I downloaded.



Seems like a really cool game … very God of War like. Sorry for the background coughing ... was quite sick when I took the video =P

I really like this monitor and I definitely want to keep it if possible. As I have mentioned before, I received this monitor as a part of a trial and when I received it, it was not out in Singapore yet. I’m not sure if it’s out now, but do check it out if you want to upgrade your current monitor. It’s worth it. =)

In case you were wondering where all the rubbish went … they were all shifted to the table beside =P



PS: If you have bought the monitor and find that the colours look little weird when viewing pictures in windows vista, check this site to solve the problem. It helped me solved mine =

Oh man, it’s been a long time since I last blogged (again). Miss me?? (dun vomit) Training/work, exploring both the Mio TV and Hubstation HD setup boxes, playing Uncharted 2 on PS3, and celebrations and outings here and there have kept me so busy that I neglected my dear little blog. I have completed Uncharted 2 and there are lesser celebrations at the moment (until Chinese New Year) so I guess I have a little spare time to blog heh. I think I shall blog about what I did during the Christmas and New Year period …

I have already talked about Mio TV in my previous post so let me now talk about the Hubstation HD setup box which I received recently. As mentioned in my previous post, I got the hubstation HD free for 1 year and 3 months free subscription of the HBO pak after being the first few fans who responded to Starhub’s fan offer on their facebook page. =) The Mio TV box is also free as I signed up for the early bird special (free Champions League, Europa League and Serie A for the rest of the season!) he he. I love free stuff! Anyways, it my first time using hubstation and like the Mio TV box, I love it! I like how I can easily record any show anytime I want, and watch another show while recording it. I also like how I can record by series and record HD content in addition to standard definition programmes. It’s so easy to use and definitely very useful for those working and constantly missing their favourite tv shows. I can even rewind live tv!! It is something like Tivo right? Pai seh I never use before. Don’t call me sua ku!

HBO HD is also really cool. It’s HBO in HD!!! Ha ha. All the shows you see on HBO are shown on HBO HD at the exact same time, only much clearer! All the movies look so gooood ….. except the super old ones heh. And yes, you can record the shows on the Hubstation HD =) No need to buy blue ray movies or ahem download stuff and waste disk space heh.

On to gaming .... I bought Uncharted 2 after selling 2 of my old games and I really like it! One of the best games on PS3 I feel. It’s been a long time since a game has kept me interested long enough to complete it lol. I played it on my new, super nice, LG W2486L monitor which I received recently (more about that next time) =) Since I have completed it, it’s time to sell it and get another game he he. What should I buy? Hmmm ….

Besides work, exploring Mio TV and Hubstation HD, playing Uncharted 2, I also had a Christmas BBQ with my UWA mates, watched a few movies, ate Sakae Sushi, played UFO catchers, and had some little drinking outing …

On most Christmas eves, I would usually stay at home and watch TV. I did something a little different this year … my UWA mates had a BBQ session at Pasir Ris Park on Chritmas eve. It was quite a last minute thing but luckily we managed to book a pit.

Everyone had to bring their own bbq item (potluck) and a gift to exchange. I made a poster for the event and posted it on Facebook events he he. We also had discussions there regarding food and stuff so as to avoid bringing the same food. Skali everyone bring hotdogs lol.


I ordered around 200 sticks of satay (my fav food of all time), lots of Otah, charcoal, fire starters, aluminium trays and some other bbq stuff from City Satay … great place to order from for lazy and car(less) guys like me. Fuss free, no need to think, just order and enjoy he he.

The satays and stuff arrived earlier than the planned bbq session starting time, so I went to the place early. My sis soon arrived and we sat at the BBQ pit and waited for the others to come. We didn’t want to start the bbq first out of courtesy …. erm no …. because we didn’t know how to start the fire lol. You know, I’m the kind of person who goes to a bbq just to eat and not cook. =P

Luckily for us and our noisy stomachs, Jun Wee arrived next and we found out that he is the bbq pro. We realised that we only had 1 thong for the food and no thongs for the charcoal, so poor Jun Wee had to use his hands to arrange the charcoal and use tissue papers to start light the fire starters. The BBQ would not be able to start without him man … thank you Master Chef. Luckily, back-up tongs arrived later, and we (okay Jun Wee) were able to add charcoals more easily.

So … besides the delicious satays, what other goodies were available at “The Christmas BBQ at the Pasir Ris from the PM to the AM”???


My sis brought stingrays and squids, Jun Wee and gf (now fiance :p) brought his mum’s specially marinated chicken wings and clams, Iska brought his home-cooked spicy fried rice. Wayne brought sweet potato, marshmallows and some beer, Weida and gf brought drinks, Shawn brought plates, cups and utensils, but was really late so we had to beg from other bbqers, Rayne and husband brought salad and some more beer and Ling Zhi brought Jelly dessert. There was one very important thing missing from the list of food …….. hotdogs!!! We had a discussion on Facebook to prevent everyone from bringing hotdogs and now we don’t even have a single hotdog lol. Is this the only bbq in the world without hotdogs?? The closest things we had to hotdogs were the Taiwan sausages brough by Darren. Only 2 packets though =P


We ate till 12 plus, wished each other Merry Christmas, and had the gift exchange session. I got a towel from Darren. I think I have the same set at home lol. We then tried to form words with the sparkers on the floor but failed miserably lol. Lucky we managed to take some cool looking shots with the help of Jun Wee (again). He adjusted some settings on my camera and we were able to take the pictures of the words “UWA XMAS 2009” formed by sparkers.

After that, we ate some more, drank some more and went home …. after packing the place up of course. Hope we can have some sort of gathering again next year. =)


The day after Christmas, I met up with shawn, Wayne and Iska after my training/work for a movie and chilling out session. Before the movie started, I continued my Sakae Sushi adventures by asking my friends to eat at the Sakae Sushi over at Citylink mall.


As usual we ordered chanwanmushi and drinks to start the eating session. Then we ate some red plates, fried tempura (Ebi), fried vegetables (Kakiage) and fried salmon. The main course was the Chicken Sukiyaki and some donburis (rice with food on top =P). It was my first time eating the Chicken version of the Sukiyaki (usually I eat the beef one), and I find that it tasted just as good as its beef version. The sweet soup is simply irresistible he he. It was a little weird eating at Citylink mall where lots of people are walking around though. I think if everyone were to order Sukiyaki and sit outside, it will attract lots of people to eat at Sakae. It smells so good.

According to the Sakae Sushi Facebook fanpage, they are going to come up with a new chawanmushi called the Ikura Chawanmushi!! I’m so going to try that when it comes out in the new menu.


After Sakae, we went to the UFO catcher paradise (dunno the name of the place - the place with lots of UFO catchers) at Marina Square and I saw a very interesting UFO catcher heh. It’s called Robo Catcher.


Instead of your usual UFO catcher way of “catching” the stuff toys, you are given some time to control a cute robot to lift the toys out of the barricade. You can try to lift the toys up as many times as you want within the time limit. In case you are interested, I took a video of the machine when Shawn was playing lol.


I think we spent more than 10 bucks on Robo Catcher and won nothing lol. In fact, I think I wasted around 20 dollars at that place without getting anything lol.

After wasting money at UFO catchers, we went to watch Sherlock Holmes. I was really tired by then and slept through half of the show =P The rest loved the show though, so I guess it’s my fault for being too sleepy. After the movie and my sleep, we went for some drinking talk cock session.

I had another drinking talk cock session with my sis and Wayne on Wednesday and spent New Year’s Eve at home with dad, mum and kimi counting down (as usual). Watched the countdown show on channel 5 and jumped around with coins in my pocket when it was 12am, 1st January 2010 for good money luck. I also ate some noodles as usual for long life. I know I’m very pan tang (superstitious). At least I managed to see some of the fireworks from my house even though it’s very far away from Marina. I also got to hear some nice songs from Da Mouth. One the songs Na Qu, has been stuck in my head for the past week man …

In case you missed it ...


I like the song and the dance sia =) Get it get it on get it get it on ..... na qu na qu na qu .....

On the very first day of the year 2010, I went to watch a Hokkien concert with my mum and Shawn.


The concert had actors from 2 of the Taiwan hokkien dramas on channel 8, Love 爱 and Unforgettable Memories 意难忘, which are very popular with aunties and uncles he he. I don’t watch the dramas but just accompany mother la lol. Some of them sang really well, some not so good, but I’m sure my mum and all the other uncles and aunties enjoyed the concert he he. For those who have watched the show or have someone in your house watching Taiwanese dramas, I’m sure you will find this song familiar ….


I ask sky I ask sky!!

It’s the main theme song of Love!! The guy who sang it was really good and it sounded exactly like the version I hear on TV every week! That was my highlight of the concert he he. At the end of the concert, everyone got on stage sang the song again lol.

Okay okay, I shall stop here for now (time to sleep!) … in my next post, I think I will tell you more about the really cool LG 24 inch monitor I received from recently. So big, so slim, so beautiful …..

P.S: I still love my HTC Hero!! Please download Handcent if you have an android phone .... its awesome!!

(Images Taken From: Katherine’s digital camera, my digital camera, my HTC Hero, Sakae Sushi Facebook)

Part A - Introduction + The Project House
Part B - My Random Group Project Visuals (part 1, part 2, part 3)
Part C - My Random Presentation Slides (part 1, part 2)
Part D - My Bo Liao Guide to Forming a Good Project Group in School

Oh man …. It’s been a long time ( > 10 days!) since I last updated my blog. I have been so “busy” exploring Mio TV and the free programmes which will be available for 1 month. Want to watch English Premier League on TV next season so had no choice but to sign up for the Football Frenzy package. My family have to see which other channels (besides the football channels) are nice to decide whether we want to subscribe to them before the free preview ends he he. My favourite channel so far? WE TV. Too bad WE TV stands for Women’s Entertainment TV and I’m not a woman lol. To make myself feel less gay, I shall psycho myself to think that the word Women is actually “wo men (我们)” which actually means “We” in Chinese he he. Call me a laggard, but it is the first time I get to use Video on Demand and find it really useful indeed. I love it when some channels allow us to view their programmes anytime we want. Movies and tv series are available on demand too which is really cool. Hundreds of episodes of my mom’s favourite Taiwanese drama 爱, is available on one of the Video on Demand channels lol.

This Saturday, I will also have the chance to explore the Hubstation HD from Starhub with 3 months free HBO Pak subscription =) I actually get to use the Hubstation HD free for a year without signing any contract! Can’t wait to finally explore the Hubstation which also has Video on Demand. The hours spent camping at Starhub’s facebook fanpage has paid off lol. They have fan offers (TV, mobile, broadband) every week for those who become their fan on Facebook, you might want to check it out if you haven already. Some of the phones on offer are really cheap if you manage to be the lucky first few to click on the offer. Too bad I have just recontracted my plan and can’t get a new phone anytime soon. At least I got free Hubstation HD for 1 year and the HBO Pak which includes HBO on demand, HBO HD (yeah!) and some more for 3 months =) See .. I got good lobang I share with you okay. =p

Okay enough about my TV exploration …..

I have found some time off my “busy” schedule annnnnndddddddd it’s now time to finally wrap up my “End of School Life Special” with the final post of the series: My Bo Liao Guide to Forming a Good Project Group in School!

In my 6 previous “End of School Life Specials”, I have …

Showed you The Project House which was the base for most of my group meetings

Showed you MY Random Group Project Visuals including some individual ones

Showed you My Random Presentation Slides we used for presentations

Sooooooooo, how do you form a good project group in school?

By good I mean a project group which gets along well and do well in terms of getting good scores for projects. For me, having fun, while doing our projects are just as important as getting good grades. We shouldn’t form a group with the prime objective of being the best in terms of grades. Having a group consisting of all the top students might guarantee that you will be the highest scoring group (or maybe not heh), but if you do not get along well with the people in the group, what’s the point. No fun getting good grades when there is no group celebration after that right? Happiness is more important, so form a group with happy members first then aim to be the best after that.

How to gather people to form a group on the first day in school when most people don’t know each other?

Just look at the person you hope to be in the same group as you, smile and give him or her the people’s eyebrow, point at the person and point back to yourself several times, nod your head and wait for their response. It may be a girl or guy you find attractive or someone you feel might have the same interest as you. Just try your luck and you might just end up in the same group and be lifelong friends or maybe even your future spouse ha ha. =)

After the first ever semester, forming a group with people you like will be much easier heh.

Note: I think it’s better to have a mixed group with guys and girls. If you have an all guy group, you might end up having too much fun and find it hard to complete the project in time and have to do lots of last minute work. Last minute project work might be fun, but too much will be torturous. =P Girls are usually more serious and hardworking, and will make sure work is done along the way. It’s impossible for me to be in an all girl group for obvious reasons (I’m a guy la!) but I feel that there might be a lot of tension and quarrels might occur on a regular basis. Of course, if you are comfortable with an all guy or girl group just go ahead and ignore what I have just written. Just my 2 cents, don’t flame me he he.

Different roles in a group you might want to have when forming future groups - once you get to know your course mates better.

8 roles not according to order of importance:

1. The brains

Have at least one above average student in your group heh. You don’t need to have a group filled with top students but if everyone in the group (including you) is clueless, good luck to you.

2. The one and only one group leaderEvery group needs a good leader who is respected. He must a good student who knows what the objectives for the projects are, how to solve problems and make decisions which all group members will accept. Try not to have a group where there is more than one person who wants to be the leader. There can only be one alpha male (or female) in a group as having 2 or more of them in a group might result in conflicts. Lucky for me, I have always been in groups with great leaders he he. I call them the boss.

3. The secretary of state

Assign someone to be the secretary who will take down all the important information during projects discussions and share the information with all group members. This person must be neat and organised, or else there might be a breakdown in communication.

4. The English teacher (or whatever language the project must be in)

This person must be good in English. The person will read through the whole compiled report to check if there are any typos, spelling or grammatical errors in the report and make it more cheem.

5. The joker

Even when everyone in the group gets along well, there might be conflicts during discussions due to difference in opinions. If you have a group member who is really funny, and will try to crack some jokes along the way or when he or she sense that something bad is going to happen, it will help in easing the tension. Jokers are usually very sporting and will be willing to sacrifice themselves to be the model in project visuals for the sake of the group.

6. The creative director

This person must have lots of lame ideas to contribute during project discussions. Out of hundreds of lame ideas, one might actually be really good and will make your project legendary. Beware of the mood swings the creative directors might have every now and then, especially when everyone doesn’t like his ideas.

7. The makeup artist

Although the content of the main report is very important, the way the report is presented, the extra accompanying visuals and the presentation slides will help your report stand out from the rest. This might earn you some brownie points and gives the marker the impression that you have put in a lot of effort into the project. The first impression is really important heh. The makeup artist must be proficient in MS Office applications and photoshop. If he or she has a mac and likes to design, it would be even better. I really like those presentation slides made using Keynote, its soooo cool. Wish I had one.

8. The others

The others.


Note: Some members can take on multiple roles. Everyone has to contribute in writing the report.

Once you have formed a group, find a great project meeting place where everyone can be comfortable in, like my project house. =P

You can’t always be in the same group due to change of classmates and schools, but you can try to observe your current members to see what roles they can be in, and try to suggest to them or to the leader during the first few project discussions. Once you get to know more people in school by making friends, getting to know more friends from the friends you made, listening to gossips at places like the canteen, tutorial rooms, lecture theaters and secret smoking corners etc, secretly liking a certain guy or girl, then you can try to be form your dream team or squeeze into one.

Once everything is in place ……………

Have fun and get to know your group mates better!! I love doing school projects!!

(The poster Sean (me) has done over 30 group projects, and has been in around 10 different groups in his poly and uni. Most of the time happy and scoring well. Please don’t flame him if you disagree with anything in his Bo Liao guide. Please ignore typos and grammatical errors as he is lazy to read through what he has just written)

I have finally completed my “End of School Life Special" series!! Just in time for the next chapter of my life … Chapter 3: W.B.M (Working fulltime before marriage). Yes, I have actually found a fulltime job last month and will be starting very soon! =) Won’t be blogging about my job though in case there is a conflict of interest. I don’t mix business with pleasure he he.

Time to continue my TV exploration!!

P.S 1: Watched Broadway Beng and loved it. I ask sky, I ask sky ……

P.S 2: Starhub finally brings in the iPhone and gives it 17 free TV on mobile channels after I sold my iphone …. Oh man. Lucky I can watch Tv on Mobile on My HTC Hero too sia. I guess TV on Mobile will look really nice on the big screen iPhone has. Lucky new Starhub iPhone users ….

(Images Taken From: My previous posts, Can't Stop The Bleeding, Deviant Art: tristin, Wikiality, Flickr: ♠NiJoKeR♣, Flickr: anatomist)