The McKinsey Quarterly

Keeping Fit and Sleeping Good

A couple of HP alumni mentioned about folding bikes, exercise, and alumni meet up to me. It did not take me long to decide that the idea was good and aligned to my life goals. I did some research on folding bikes and to my surprise; this is an exploding industry, as more people become more environmentally friendly. It was reported that the OCBC Cycle 2101 (March) in Singapore this year drew 9500 versus 5000 cyclists last year. The Taipei Cycle exhibition is one where bike enthusiasts will be happy to attend. The magazine, Spin Asia is a must read to have a better appreciation of this industry (http://www.motorculture.com.sg/page27.html). I decided to purchase the Birdy Touring (http://www.birdy.com.au/) which has 24 gears (3 x 8) to allow me to have more flexibility to build up my stamina. I like the idea of the monocoque frame and the discounted pricing by DigiNexx helps to come to the decision. Since April 9, I have been using the Upper Thomson, Venus and Old Upper Thomson Road. I tr...

Having Time for Self, Family and Friends

Singapore is a small island with an incredibly efficient infrastructure. By choosing to leave home early for work, I took only 15~20 minutes to reach office which is about 20 km away. A two way trip is less than 60 minutes. During my stay in Kuala Lumpur, it took me three hours for these two trips. This happened only if I leave office late to avoid the horrendous traffic jam. This is a saving of two hours per day which is ten hours a week! This is an awfully lots of hours to spend for personal leisure, family and friends. Another good time saver is bill payment by a system called GIRO, where invoice is automatically deducted from my accounts and payment by internet. Both are easy and accurate. Imagine lining up in a queue to pay your bill either at the post office; government office or a bank. Each time I have to spend an hour just to do this chore. Good bye to these non value added chores; thanks to the electronic payment system! Each of us have only 24 hours a day, and time saved mea...

Passion in Doing

Hobbies are heart and mind engaging. They provide the fuel to keeping the body going. The fuel to do research, practise and improve to appreciate the end result. Photography has been in my blood for a very long time. The earliest recall is when my father lent me his camera, which then used the 120 roll (if I am not mistaken). The camera was like a big Lumix LX3, except that when you pressed a button, a flap came down 90 degrees with the lens. There was only twelve negatives. I must have been 12 years old or so. Then I went to France, and I had enough money to buy my own Yashica camera, which is like a point and shoot, except it used 35mm film. It was in France that I bought my Canon AE-1 (SLR) from a Japanese adult student who was going home. I had a 50mm lens and I then bought a Tamron zoom as well as a doubler. I bought many filters (50mm) and experimented with Kodak filters; which I could buy and cut the film. My Vivitar 285 is still with me; except it cannot flash; though the...

Sight to Insight

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