Slippery like Fish.
Woohoo! I can't believe it's the weekend again! The time is really so slippery like a fish, and managed to give me the slip so quietly and swiftly. I really have to grab hold of this elusive force.

Haven't done much in the week actually. Apart from trying hard to recover from the weekend craze, gym weariness has also taken its toll on my mental energy. Work schedule was hectic. Morning was typically reserved for side projects and patent reviews (as well as discrete chats on msn =) these days as I really have no time at night. Lunch till 5-6pm is typically on actual work. Gym and cooking kicks in after that on alternate days. By the time I'm ready for anything, it's already 8pm, which is then used to do the normal internet browsing, including blogging. On some days, I have to call home. Therefore, typically, I'm pretty much tied-up in the weekdays. Weekends are the days which I can probably do some stuff. But looking at the state of my apartment now, I guess, there is still some work to do.

Of course, being a social boy, the weekends are/will filled with bballing and boogee boarding these days! I shall join yuan yuan chun's dream of being a surfer boy. hahahha~

Housing.
Talking about apartments, there has been recent talks about that in the office. Some has just moved in, some is renovating it, and others are looking for one. Being affected by the recent craze, and out of curiosity and for my general knowledge, I've decided to talk to some of my colleagues about getting a place. Also, I've just done a little market research on the current listings in my area.

My colleague brought up a pretty good point. Apartment financing isn't as scary as it seems, in fact, it may actually be a better alternative to renting, given that the instalments may be pretty much in the same range as renting a place! Of course, this is valid only after the down payment has been thrown in.

A 2-bed 1-bath unit costs around $150k at this time, and is likely to drop a little further. Negotiations on the listing price and agent's commissions probably cancel out each other, so we can safely price it at $150k. After the downpayment of say $50k, and if I take 60 months to completely finance the apartment, that would cost around $1800 a mth, which is probably a little steep for my current situation, but still manageable if I'm alone or if I'm active on my IPs and things will definitely get better in a few years.

However, if I raise it up to 120 months, each instalment only costs around 1k, which really is what I'm paying for rent! After 10 years, I'd get an apartment of my own, with a probable value of $300k, if not more (a 3 bed is priced at 600k before the housing crash)! That boils down to an additional $15k a year! This is certainly something promising and manageable. Interesting!

F = ma.
To reinforce the argument on gas mileage earlier, this equation certainly shouldn't be left out -
F = ma.
The reason why a slightly heavier car and a slightly lighter car doesn't result in much differences in gas mileage on a long continuous drive is because acceleration is pretty much 0. Therefore, regardless of the mass, the force is still minimal. Of course, forces that are also proportional to mass like friction and air resistance, come into play as well, but these forces are certainly much less significant compared to the forward driving force. Therefore, for long distances where speeds are pretty much constant, the gas mileage is pretty much similar for full tanks and half tanks.

The acceleration, however, is significant on crowded roads. In this case, F is much higher if m is high. So on a daily basis, or in busy roads like those in sg, the half tank savings theory still holds.

Reserves.
This theory comes from Mother Nature, and to go against it would imply devastating consequences. Reserves, in all aspects, are vital for survival.

In nature, body fats are reservoirs of energy, which in times of extreme hunger, the body utilizes this energy to stay alive. This is true for other species as well, like the camel. The two fatty (not watery) humps on the camel are water sources for the animal to survive in the extreme dry conditions of the desert. Fruits, contain large amounts of reserves for the survival of its offspring. Cactuses have succulent stems to remain hydrated in low water conditions. Such are the lessons of Mother Nature.

If we throw in more man-made concepts, reserves are still vital for human survival in this economic world. The most straightforward item is assets. In order for an individual to survive, he/she has to have enough assets saved for the rainy days, such as an economic turmoil. To spend whatever one has, is equivalent to puncturing the stem of the cactus, ie courting doom. As a company, it is even more paramount to accumulate this reserve because of greater volatility. This is why a good system is pertinent to avoid cash flow problems or even, a dearth of cash.

In terms of love, perhaps the concept of "reserves" means not showing everything that you have to your partner, so that he/she will continue to find you interesting. :P Perhaps it's the same principle, we have to avoid cash flow problems or a complete dearth. To do that, both parties have to add on to this reserve. Such a solution is called commitment. To explore a place together, to try something new, or even to continue a regular activity; such activities are tentamount to adding to this reserve of love, so that both parties don't get sick of each other, say, after 10 years. While the tool to reserve accumulation is called commitment, this reserve can perhaps be more officially termed as memories.

Olympics.
Finally Singapore won a Gold in 48 years! This is really cool! Well done Feng Tianwei! Ping pong has always been singapore's strongest sport. And I guess Tian Wei has just become a millionaire. :P Have been watching much on the TV (at work), and it's always stuff US is good at (for obvious reasons). Anyway, I was surprised to see that while US has clinched the most medals, China has clinched the most gold medals. Interesting!

Email snooze.
This really is an interesting concept. I have yet to try it out. I wonder if it's really true. And if it is, I wonder why it is free. Is it possible that the fact that you're giving away your email address is by itself profitable? Anyway, no harm taking a look.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/14/hitmelater-sorta-fixes-my-email-problem-sorta-makes-it-worse/