How Protected Are You? II

I thought I probably have covered all my bases in buying insurance:
Life insurance – checked
Critical illness – checked
Savings insurance – checked
Accident insurance – checked
But not being the professional, it turned out that I overlooked some minor aspects. Basically, think of all the different ways we can die and whether we are covered:
From accident – yes
From critical illness – yes
From non-critical illness – ? hmmm.. what if the death was not due to the normal cancers etc that were defined as ‘critical illness’ in the policy? For instance, dengue fever…
Went to check on my critical illness term policy. Thank goodness it covers death due to all causes as well.

Geek Speak

From the Straits Times (Urban Section), 17 May 2007:

GEEK SPEAK A TO Z
Love it or H8 it, techie lingo is popping up everywhere. Here's a guide to deciphering it
A
AAR8: At any rate
ALTG: Act locally, think globally
B
BAK: Back at keyboard
Boring.com: implies something is a flop
CCBB: Can't be bothered
CYM: Check your mail
D
DIKU: Do I know you?
DYHAB: Do you have a boyfriend?
DYHAG: Do you have a girlfriend?
E
EAK: Eating at keyboard
EOD: End of day
F
FOFL: Falling on floor laughing
G
GAP?: Got a picture?
H
HB: Hurry back
HIG: How's it going
I
ID1OT: Idiot
IRL: In real life
J
JAM: Just a minute
JUADLAM: Jumping up and down like a monkey
K
KIT: Keep in touch
KOTC: Kiss on the cheek
L
LKITR: Little kid in the room
LTNS: Long time no see
M
M4C : Meet for coffee
MOOS : Member of the opposite sex
N
NBD: No big deal
NOYB: None of your business
O
OT: Off topic
P
PB: Potty break
Q
QT: Cutie
R
RBTL: Read between the lines
RLF: Real life friend
S
SIT: Stay in touch
T
TDTM: Talk dirty to me
TMI: Too much information
U
URWS: You are wise
V
VM: Voice mail
W
Wru: Where are you
X
XMe: Excuse me
Y
YKW: You know what
Z
ZZzz: Sleepy
Sad to say, of the 26 letters, I am only familiar with WRU and ZZzz. 2 / 26 = 7.7% I failed miserably at geek speak.

Cash Rebates vs Rewards Redemption

Instead of rewards redemption based on points accumulated from credit card expenditure, there are cards that give direct cash rebates based on amount spent. The Citibank Dividend card was one of the first (that I know off) to come up with this cash redemption scheme. However, it was not attractive to me because the rebate seemed very low ~0.5% of what you spent + redemption had to be accumulated to a certain sum ($50). This means I must spent $10,000 on the credit card before I can get back the rebate of $50. There’s no way I can hit a credit card expenditure of $10,000 in a year. Subsequently, POSB came up with the POSB Everyday card which promises ‘instant cash rebate with no minimum redeemable amount’. So I applied for the card. The 5% rebate for purchases at Carrefour was also a good deal. However, one question bugs me. They highlighted the various merchants that gave good rebates, eg: Carrefour 5%, SPC Petrol 4%, Watson 2%. But are ALL purchases eligible for cash rebates? After scrutinizing their website writeup, I noted that ‘Purchases at non-participating merchants = 0.3%’. So the answer is Yes. If you purchase at participating merchants, you stand to get higher rebates, while at non-participating merchants, you are guaranteed a 0.3% rebate. The catches:
1) For my UOB card, I can get a $20 voucher for minimum 600points (expenditure of $3000). That is about 0.67% rebate regardless of what merchant. Which means if I am going to buy from a ‘non-participating merchant’ of POSB card, I am better off using UOB card to pay.

2) POSB list supposedly 500 participating merchants, but most dun seem (to me) to be the really popular retailers. For instance, Chin Wah Heng Seafood , Hawaiian Barbeque (Turf City), Camper's Corner , Cenedela , Kindergolf? In trying to be the card for everyone, POSB does not have a focus, and any kuching kurat merchant + goods and services (eg Maternity, Golf, Kids enrichment) that I dun really need are touted. Which means I am more likely to purchase from a ‘non-participating merchant’ which goes back to 1).

3) Participating merchants are the ones that we can redeem the cash rebates. This differs from Citibank’s Dividend card which literally gives you back the cash. The cash rebate by POSB has its restriction because it can only be used at selected merchants. This is about the same as reward point redemption where we choose from a pre-determined selection of vouchers. Due to POSB’s lack of relevant merchants for me, I will end up getting cash rebates mainly for purchases at Carrefour and Watson. The selection is very ‘wide’ indeed.


Conclusion: looks like it’s still back to UOB to earn my dining vouchers.

Races in Singapore

As a Singaporean, we have known since young about the various ethnic groups in Singapore. There are Chinese, Malay, Indian, Eurasian and Others. These groups are distinct and most of the time, it is easy for us to identify them based on their appearance. Nevertheless, I realized I have taken this race issue for granted, as my knowledge was tested on an overseas trip. Cant remember which trip it was, but I do recall it was on a tour with other tour members who came from different countries all over the world. I usually go on F&E tours and join the local tours. So in one particular tour, a friendly Caucasian wanted to know more about Singapore, and the conversation broached to races. I mentioned that Singapore has the 4 main races, and the listener asked me, about Malays and Indians. As a Caucasian, his idea of Indian was the Red Indians in US. We easily clarified that these were people who came from India. As for Malays, he had never heard of this group of people. Who are they? This time, I was stumped. Hmmm.. a Malay is a Malay lor….. but of cos, that’s not a good answer when we are being the informal ambassador of our country. The second thing that came to our mind – people from Malaysia. Well, he bought that, and there was no further questions. But in my mind, I also felt this answer to be too sweeping. There are Malaysia Chinese, Malaysia Indians too.. I started to be more aware of the origins of Malay in Singapore. From what I gathered, most of them came from Indonesia, eg Java and Sumatra regions. But lately, I read in the papers, under Malaysia’s Federal Constitution, 'Malay means a person who professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language, (and) conforms to Malay custom’. From my observations, the language spoken by Singapore Malays is the same as that of Malaysian Malays, while in Indonesia, the Bahasa Indonesian language is slightly different from those in Singapore / Malaysia. So if Singapore Malays originated from Indonesia, why are they more similar to Malaysian Malays than Indonesians? Hmm… I see the same situation in Chinese. Singaporean Chinese and Malaysian Chinese are more similar than to their China counterparts though we all have our roots in China. My theory is this: maybe in early years, many Indonesians migrated to Malaysia and Singapore and in time to come, established their own identity as Malays. Since Malaysia and Singapore have historically been closely linked, it is no surprise that Singapore and Malaysia Malays share many similarities. Still, how best to explain to someone who has no inkling what is a Malay? Going by their religion (Islam) may make the person relate more to those in the middle east……

I am the first

I like to read other people’s blogs. And like many others, I also flock to the sites of popular bloggers eg: Singapore’s most famous blogger, Malaysia’s most famous blogger etc. Being famous and popular blogsites, each blog entry is usually followed by numerous comments from readers / fans / friends. However, one silly thing I noticed is that, many times, the comments are just non-constructive. Most of the time I dun read the comments, but inevitably when we scroll to the end of the blog entry, we would chance upon the first few comments. The worst belongs to those who finding themselves being the first to leave a comment, happily notes “Hey, I am the first”. It’s so meaningless and pathetic to proclaim yourself as the first to leave a comment in a blog entry and the content of the comment is to announce yourself as ‘first’. Of course, it is even more blood puking if you also chanced upon the second comment that goes “and I am the second!” Maybe it would be interesting to note and tally how many pathetic sheep counting commentors (sorry, no such word, but u get what I mean) are there on average.

Mean Spidey

Is Spiderman III better than the earlier 2 shows? I’m not so sure cos I dun remember the first 2 anymore. I think I like Spiderman 1, but not Spiderman 2. Part 3 isnt too bad too, cos there are more good looking villains. I dun like Tobey Maguire (as Spiderman) or Kirsten Dunst (as Mary Jane). To me, both r not good looking enough to be the lead actor/actress in A-list shows. I even saw sagging double chins on them at certain angles. And when they wanted to portray Spiderman as charming, aggressive and woman magnet instead of nerdy goody boy, Tobey Maguire did all sorts of groovy moves to make him seem slick, hip and cool.. But to me, he just CMI. Trying hard, but still din make it. The transformation was not convincing and he just seemed like a nerd trying to be cool. I watched Spiderman, but I like the villains James Franco (as Harry Osburn) and Topher Grace (as Eddie Brock) better. And Mr Sandman reminds me of Arnold Schwarzenegger....

Oh ya, there’s a lot of blockbusters coming up. Saw the trailer for Pirates of the Carribean – World’s End (part 3). Inside, Chow Yun Fatt tells the world ‘I’m a pirate from Singapore’.. LOL! I wonder how much did our government contribute to the show for this advertisement. What a way to brand Singapore.

Review old practice, dun just stay put

As I had just shifted to my own place, I needed to apply for utilities and telephone line. Water and electricity supply being the more urgent matter, I applied for that immediately after getting the house key so that I can do my house renovation. SP services allows us to apply online so that we can quickly activate the essential utilities while the hardcopy of the application form is then mailed to us subsequently. We then have to complete the form, return to them (in the self-enclosed enveloped) with a photocopy of NRIC of the applicant. The initial deposit was billed later on.
In contrast, when I wanted to apply for a telephone line, there was no ‘online submission’ choice. At best, we could download a copy of the application form to fill in first. But we still had to apply for it in person through the postal offices. Why so? I thought it could be because they needed us to place a deposit before activating the line. However, after I made my telephone line application in person at a postal office, I discovered that they did not need me to pay any deposit (it will be billed subsequently). The only use of this ‘in-person application’ was so that the postal office employee can verify my NRIC details before they submit the application form. What a screwed up process. Why cant they follow SP services to let us submit a photocopy of NRIC? Even if they had wanted us to place deposit, they could have opted for credit card deposit. This arcane practice of submission in person has no value-add, and only waste my time and the postal office’s time. It is sad that Singtel did not bother to keep up with the times to review their system, and allow this old way to stay even though it is no longer needed. These days, even the application of TV licence can be done online with payment through credit card. Singapore must be the only place where the government is even more efficient and customer oriented than the private sector.

nb: I emailed them thru their website to feedback on this application process. Its been 2 weeks and I did not get any response. Not surprising. Navigating through their website, you dun get a sense of 'customer oriented' / userfriendliness kind of feeling..