proposition... S.A.

post-christmas and pre-new year at kl was rather relaxing. sadly was not able to find time to use the hotel facilities during my stay. then again guess it wasnt the priority. but i must say that the wedding was a complete bore. it was just shake bride and groom hands as you enter, sit down and make small talk with the people, eat and just eat, witness an average toasting session, shake the bride and grooms hand on the way out. yes... how very exciting indeed. it would had been slightly more entertaining if there was like some speech or special items just to engage with the bored crowd. well it would had been a consolation if there were hot babes around... sadly none at all!!

but apart from that... everything else was good. the food was yummy.

some poor quality photos taken with my HP camera at random...

my mind is gradually becoming more clear headed on things to come.

caffeine high...

the past few days i've been going to bed relatively early and waking up early to arrive at the office 15 minutes early. thats a very good thing. unfortunately i predict this beautiful streak will be broken. me the genius brewed myself a cuppa at 11pm. it comes natural to me to want to drink coffee when i'm working even when i'm at home. so by the forces of nature... i was driven to have that coffee and now i'm regretting it so badly.

so since i'm having trouble trying to sleep. i decided to uhmm... nag. but the plus point is that with my brain being so pumped up by the coffee adrenaline. i've managed to work out on all my letter/ email replies to the contractors. recently one of my contractors have been shooting emails trying to blame the architects for the cause of delay in their works and evade themselves from their responsibilities. writing to refute such erroneous claim is a very tricky thing. in some ways... it could be a trap. on the other hand, i have another contractor who is so onz on getting the job going yet... very poor in their correspondences and paperwork. and i have to write them a whole list of to do works and to help them record every single item discussed and remind them to submit ALL their paperworks. every time i mentioned the word write or report... the contractor would roll their eyes and give me the "do i really have to?" look. i guess it is a very tedious task. i know for sure... because i myself have to do all these administrative things as well. but then i would then give them a long explanation trying to rationalize with them the importance of all these paper work.

i've finally confirmed my reservation at the Westin in KL. perhaps this time i will try and spend more time in the hotel and indulge myself with the facilities. the last time i stayed at the Westin i was barely in it. now i'm thinking whether i should further extend my stay there...

it seems 2010 will be the year many friends are planning to visit KK. majority of them specifically have set their eyes on the mountain. and what better way to save their accommodation fee by staying with a local during their trip. so maybe 2010 would be the year i would pay many visits back home. in a way to compensate the failed trips back home in 2009.

on to other miscellaneous things... i was informed that check shirts are back. yeehaw! *spank that ass... biatch!*

you get what you ask for...

birthday gifts...

surprise mock up of my RC wall that was to be ready on Monday. I spoilt the surprise when i visited the site on Friday.
... and my new Universal Dock that came together with a 100SGD apple voucher because the Magic Mouse was out of stock!!
nice...

reasons why... im still here.

there are 2 projects under my wing that have been sustaining my sanity. but again... one of the project has the potential of driving me insanely nuts. nevertheless both projects are a good example of working with 2 different contractors and projects of vast difference in scale.

finally for the last 3 years we've finally reached the stage of constructing the e-deck. of course the residential units are still no where near its supposedly completed stage. sigh...

but on the other hand, after the long 3 year hiatus. my little house has finally started moving... and moving pretty fast it is. imagine it was suppose to start construction 1 year ago. i must say i am rather proud to see my little baby taking its shape...

below is a photo of the house... preparing the rebars for the swimming pool and the balancing tank. the foreground is the living room. if you notice which i am sure you cant... the contractor had to do a quick improvisation on the rebar and structural changes. had to arm twist the engineer to change the structural design error. i hate it went engineers wants me to compromise on my side as a result of their lack of due diligence and failure to read the architectural drawings in detail. and so i refused to allow the engineer to psyche me in tolerating the stupid cock-up of having a structural column sitting right into my koi pond. he spent 15 minutes on the phone then later in the meeting trying to pacify me and trying to convince me to look at a different angle by accepting a "box-up". i realise both M+E and structural engineers love to use the word "box-up" as a means to solve every error in detail.

the tricky part was that the error was only discovered after the pile cap was completed. so we had to transfer the structure by introducing a tie beam of 500x1000mm to support the column structure sitting on a 125mm cantilevered slab. haha amazing stuff. now i know how capable the structural engineers are... all they need is a little arm twisting stimulation to let them think outside the box. and we all can talk about cost later... i suppose. haha.

apart from the little house on a little island... there is the monstrous condo development. this... structural design is relatively more complicated. literally each floor is supported on a transfer slab due to the stepping terraces. imagine the 6 storey structure is also sitting on a 500mm thick transfer slab. the mother of all the transfered slab in this entire development. haha...
the e-deck finally taking shape... thats the upper e-deck where the BBQ area is located and right below is the function room.
this the handrail design for the typical penthouse. i find it rather too complicated after seeing the mock-up done by the contractor. the design was to resolve the level changes of the steps yet to keep the continuity of the railings. so it was design on the basis that a person can grab and slide their hands along the handrail without any obstruction to its continuity.
a photo of the swimming pool balancing tank...
its true that i do all the fun stuff in the office... haha.