An update on my ongoing vpost saga .

Today, I received an email from (presumably) one of the customer service officers informing me that they have double checked the size of my package and realized an error had occur ed in the process of measuring my package and it is actually smaller and lighter than what they had told me the first time round.

!!!

Well.. that automatically took SGD8 off my bill. So I've paid up and will be expecting my stuff next week.

As I've not seen the parcel, I don't know if vpost has graciously decided to pretend my parcel is smaller than it really is or they have incompetent staff over there who can't take simple measurements. I'll know when it arrives, and if its the latter, I guess vpost can't be trusted to get things right all the time! That's really crap because I've heard of some people whom vpost 'overcharged' but paid up anyway. I'm glad I made some noise, even if it was for the wrong reason in the first place.

Subliminal messages

Received feedback from last semester's teaching. I dragged my feet getting around this as I wasn't looking forward to it. Not that I'm expecting bad news or low scores (FYI BioD TAs get some of the best teaching scores amongst faculty staff!), it's not something I want to think about at this point in time. Same for letters from the Registrar's Office. There's a pile sitting on my dresser, unopened. I know what's in it anyway... blah blah.. your candidature expires on this day of this month...I know its contents.. I just don't want to see it all the time.

I finally got around to seeing my feedback because Reena had printed them all out and it seemed like a shame if I didn't go up to get it from her. A new level of slackness. Its all there! All you have to do is go up one floor into her office. So I did.

What a bunch of nice Year 1s I have! Apart from a couple of negative comments (Too serious [Whaaa?], be more approachable and friendly [I suppose that's a comment about my dao face] the rest were all good.

Knowledgeable, well read, nice to be around with, able to make connections to real life examples, interactive, frank and the last one, gives cross disciplinary examples to illustrate her points. I was baffled by that last one "What have I been babbling to my students??!?!"

I thought about it for a while and I think it could be on our field trip to the zoo. You see, I had prepared myself prior by watching the Life of Mammals. It wasn't homework per se. I was rather enjoying it (David Attenborough Documentary Extravaganza! - my idea of a good time when you're broke and need to be in the lab anyway) and when we were at the zoo, my head was chockful of little nuggets of trivia.

I got them thinking about why ungulate young are ready to prance about within hours of birth whilst those from other mammal orders are born blind, hairless and helpless.

I made them stand in front of the zebra and impala exhibit to tell them how the entire form of these mammals are made for life on the run. I described to them big cat hunting strategies (taking prey by surprise because they are sprinters while their prey are better at sustaining a run), power vs agility, how even eye position matters, and pros and cons of having spindly legs (less weight to lift with each stride, but more prone to buckling under and losing balance).

I talked about correlation of testicle size with body mass in primates and its correlation with different mating systems. And why would it matter, I asked my class. Of course they didn't know, but they were enthralled. After all.. it is a *cough* sexy topic. Sperm competition hypothesis, folks.

Placentals and marsupials, which is the 'better' mammal? Why? It was great introducing them to the basics of biogeography and convergent evolution.

I didn't think I was doing anything. I learnt from the Life of Mammals little bits of interesting facts that I simply wanted to share with them, because I don't think the majority of my students know who David Attenborough is, much less watch his documentaries. It was lots of extra bits of information which didn't seem necessary and I was afraid my class would think I was being a first rate bore because at times it did appear as if I was talking to myself, but judging from these comments, perhaps it did pay off.. some of them were listening to my incessant chattering about this and that (not in the notes) and actually enjoyed it.

Perhaps I will suggest to the Biodiversity coordinators to open up the lab once a week during lunch time for an episode from the Life series (I have the DVDs after all) for 1103 students. Even if a handful showed up and benefited, I'm sure it will be well worth the effort. Got to get 'em before they succumb to the dark force of proteomics or Arabidopsis/Yeast/Zebrafish research!

Goodbye, Mr Yeo

I never knew you had an English name, Edwin. You were always Mr. Yeo. Good old Mr. Yeo working quietly in your little corner of the museum, helpful and obliging, extending your help to me whenever I asked.

Some found you difficult; I had heard about certain incidences but as far as I was concerned, I never got into trouble with you despite what I do sometimes; like I'd come to you with stinky crabs asking if you could help me put them away. Or I'd come into the museum with specimens that I've labelled and identified, but have not catalogued. You'd help me sort that out, so all I had to do was to put them on your desk at work with a note written in my horrific writing. You didn't have to do all that for me, but you did it anyway. I'd apologize to you about the mess, about how those specimens stank to the high heavens and you laughed along and agreed, yes.. they didn't smell too good.

I was planning to go to you again this week. Do you remember I came in to the museum pushing a trolley full of crabs the other day? I told you I'd like to have them kept in a separate section from the main collection so I can look them up should the need arise. I was going to see you later today; to ask you where my crabs are, I need to choose a neotype from one of those jars of specimens.

I won't get the chance to ask you though.

Thank you for your help all these years. Goodbye, Mr. Yeo. Goodbye.

Fresh! More self loathe

Well.. I'm beginning to catch on that this week just isn't mine.

I spilled my lunch on the bus on the way to work this morning. Fish head soup from Hong Kong St Cze Char (opposite AH). Just moments before the incident, I had thought to myself, "Better mind your soup" , but drifted away into a reverie while looking out the window before acting on that thought. Damn you, short attention span!

The next thing I knew, 197 jerked forward ever so slightly while turning into the AYE but that was enough to throw my lunch off the seat and onto the floor. It was a right mess (it is, after all, more liquid than anything else) but I managed to clean it up with tissue (from my bag and supplemented by two fellow commuters, a middle aged man who gave me a pack of wet tissues and a plastic bag, and a girl around my age who gave me a sheet of tissue - the rest looked on gormlessly [you guys know that look right? Those empty staring eyes, mouth half opened look Singaporeans do so well whilst on public transport]). Went up to the bus driver and apologised sheepishly as he gave me more paper towels. I didn't get yelled at; I think he was rather amused with my cleaning up antics (I have no idea why) so everything turned out ok in the end. The bus will probably need to a mop-over once at the interchange and I told him that too. Sorry for the inconvenience, uncle.

More self loathe to add on. Boy.. I sure am Miss Negativity this week. Will I finish my MS and hand it to the boss today? That's like a gazilion bonus self loathe points if i don't. Hurrah.

Read the fine print, you doofus!

Let this be a negative example to all of you out there toying with the idea of using Vpost for your online transactions.

Don't know what vpost is? Well read about it here. Essentially, it is a mail forwarding service operated by Singapore Post which provides you with a US based address so you can shop with US retailers that do not ship overseas. You supposedly save on shipping as you pay domestic US postage prices and upon receipt of item at their US sorting facilty, you pay another sum in Singapore dollars (base charge plus item charge) for the item to be delivered to your doorstep. Shipping charges are 'transparent' and can be viewed here. So far so good right?

That's what I thought too. Perfectly reasonable. So the other day, I was noseying around ebay when I spotted a bag. I'm always a sucker for bargains and decided that I'll try to make a bid for it. Its a brand name toiletries bag and I put in a bid of USD 5, because I was quite sure that someone else would outbid me and I'll lose the bid. To my pleasant surprise, the auction ended with me being the sole bidder. The seller does not ship international and instead of asking for the parcel to be sent to my friend, I decided that I'd use Vpost instead, having signed up recently.

Ok.. everything is fine and dandy up to now and I was really looking forward to it. Until I received the bill from Vpost. It costs SGD28.30 to ship my item to Singapore. Yes. SGD 28.30 to ship a USD5 bag to singapore. That's what.. almost USD20? I rubbed my eyes and examined the bill. Ahh.. the seller being the professional that she is, had shipped it in a BOX. And according to Vpost shipping charges site, I have to pay a base charge of SGD12.99 + item charge which is "$8.99 per kg* thereafter. *based on volumetric weight@ or actual weight whichever is higher".

Fine.I was expecting to pay at the most SGD22. But nooo.. because my item came in a box, its volumetric weight was 1.7kg! And this for an item which weighed only 100g ( I know.. 8.99/kg, but I just want to illustrate how ridiculous it is).

So.. anyway.. I sent an email to vpost asking them if they are willing to stuff the item in an envelope and resend me the bill, or they can keep the item if that's not possible. I'm prepared to write off the money I have already spent. Seriously, even if I coughed up the money to have it forwarded, I will be super pissed off everytime I see it anyway. Upset with myself for being so silly, and who wants to be reminded about their follies? Best to forget about it.

Lessons?
1) If you are shopping on ebay and the merchant does not ship overseas, ask/beg them to. However much they will ask for is peanuts compared to paying for shipping twice over.

2) If you really insist on vpost (yes.. base charge consolidation can be really attractive if you make multiple purchases), make sure to ask your seller to ship in in a flat pack envelope. Be nice. If you piss your seller off, all they have to do is mail your item in the biggest box they can find and you will be well and truly fucked. Does not matter if you bought a box of matches. They can ship it in a DHL jumbo box for all they care.

3) ALWAYS READ THE FINE PRINT

Or

4) Friends and family in the States? Use FPOST instead.

P.S. I am not complaining about having to pay. I admit it was an oversight on my part (I thought most ebay sellers will ship in envelopes to maximise their profits; nice to know that this particular one is professional) and vpost is not in the wrong. After all, it is stated very clearly on their site. I am just upset with myself for not reading the fine print.

money in the bank part IV

Paper in press! Well.. I'm only the second author and I didn't contribute much by way of discussion so I'm just really happy to be the second author. Very grateful in fact, because I dont' know enough on my own to pull off something like this.

What did I do? Well.. I was the sequencing elf and we did talk a little about this and that. I still have some collaborations with SA and he is coming a couple of months later! I have to finish the T***** so I can get to work on the new stuff we talked about! Maybe I should try multi tasking. Seq at night and thesis during the day?

AAArgh!

Brilliant adverts we will never get to see

but thanks to youtube, its all possible!

Sick and tired of the usual lame TV adverts on Singapore telly featuring hmm..I don't watch much telly these days, but I'm sure it's not deviated much from that annoying Mopiko ad, or what about the lame pinkerton syndrome Carlsberg or was it Heineken ad featuring 4 ang moh guys being served by obsequious asian women?

I think Sony Bravia has got excellent ads. In Europe. That is. Here they are



This is from a couple of years ago where they flooded an entire street in San Francisco with a plethora of coloured rubber balls. Backed with a lovely soundtrack, this advert is simply breathtaking. The youtube advert really does not do it justice - for a better rendition, click here for the 180 sec version. Be warned tho, it takes ages to load but trust me... you will be mesmerized.

More recently, Sony held up to it promise of colour. like no other slogan with another terrific advertising campaign. Of course, we'll never get to see it on our local screens but its right here on youtube too!



I love this one too. Especially the scene of that clown running across the lawn like a maniac. Its pure genius how they managed to get hold of a building slated for demolition and turn it into a backdrop for this amazingly fun (and messy) advertisment. And drives home the point they are trying to make with their product too.

And so, we are stuck with fainting hong yu bottles, a very auntie looking Jessica Alba flogging Tiger beer and anyone seen that horrid cheesy advert with the guy shooting down the sun so he can dry his clothes indoors?!?! Kill me please and no.. don't resuscitate me with hong yu.

Update: M just told me that balls was shown on cable TV. Really? I don't have cable though.