A very bird death

A (dead) bird somehow got it's head stuck under a ledge at harbourfront tower 1 in-between the 16th and 17th floor. Don't ask me how it did it. It's a really lame impressive way to die. Now it's still stuck there hanging...what a sight !

updated 12/1/08 : According to Seraya Energy folks (16th floor), the bird was poking it's head into the gaps, seeming in search for something. It got stuck and couldn't get it's head out. Other birds in the area saw this and tried to get the bird out in vain. Finally, it was left for dead, hanging there it lost enough mass to slip through the gaps and fall to the ground below. Eeewwk !

I have $2.65 Million !!!

I have finally archive what many can only dream of : I am now a multi-millionaire ! Screw you all who have looked down at me, those who have scorned me woahhhhaahaaa !Just look at the money below, so many zeros !!!

Before I get carried away further, let's do a reality check first. It's Indonesian rupiah, not Singapore dollars. If only the notes came with Yusof or Washington's head instead. Sigh. This is meant for my upcoming trip to Indonesia.

I went to Musafa Shopping Centre to convert some cash for the trip today. Their rates is quite good. The inexperienced young chap serving me couldn't quite figure out how to best do the conversion. He took 5 minutes keying away on his computer, and ended up voiding his first calculations. His colleagues did help him much, and he was taking far too long, so he decided to end this quickly. He passed me my receipt with the cash, and I went to a corner to count the cash.

My guess is that converting Asian's highest value currency to the lowest isn't easy. There is too many zeros in the conversion. Instead of 2.6 million, I ended up with a extra blue note for a grand total of 2.65 million ! Being a realist dishonest cheapskate, I ran off with the extra cash instead of owning up.

While I was queuing up for my turn at the money changer, the queue to my right had a mini drama going on. As a young chinese couple stepped up for their turn, a Indian man cut before them and started talking to the money changer. The stunned couple stood in disbelief for a few seconds, before the young lady show the Indian man what the Singapore woman Auntie power is like. The young man was useless, he didn't attempt to help his woman. Utterly useless man. What a shame. It went something like this.

Young lady : Hey, you are cutting queue ! There is a queue behind you know !
Indian Man : Wait I am talking to the money changer.
Young lady : You queue up behind first (Getting very impatient)
Indian Man : I got queue number, i go first. (hand holding a piece of paper)

I looked around the money changer, there is no queue number display. My deduction is that the piece of paper is probably a quotation from the money changer previously. That does not constitute a queue number. So does the young lady, she didn't buy it.

Young lady : No, you queue behind me ! (pushes her man to block the Indian man)
Young lady : You cut my queue ! Do you think the money changer will serve YOU ?!? (money changer eyes grew wide, while Indian man got pushed away from the counter)

And so the money changer went on to serve the young couple instead. I would have done the same if I was in their situation. I really hate people who try to smoke me.

Anyway, my sisters and mother weren't too thrill to be multi-millionaires. The stack of notes wasn't very appealing . Hahaha so, that's the end for now.

More on the trip (20-24 April) when I get back.

When guys go bald

When guys go bald

It happens to some people as we grow older, we start going bald. It happens to me. Suddenly my raging hormones stopped working the way that I am used to. The results became more and more pronounced as the years tolled by. The density of my hair started falling after my 23rd year on Terra. After dragging my feet for a couple of years, avoiding the issue isn't an option anymore. My sister, SY brought me back to my senses one more time. And thus, I decided to join my friend YE, to try a hair loss drug Propecia.

The active ingredient is finasteride, an antiandrogen which acts by inhibiting 5-alpha reductase. So what it does is to reduce production of DHT which is a key factor in male hair loss. That's right, this drug works only for guys. Ladies, you are out of luck.

Finasteride is primarily used to treat prostate enlargement and cancer. The interesting side effect of regrowing hair was discovered sometime later. The drug takes 6 to 12 months to see improvement, works until you stop taking it, and the regained hair will be lost within 6 to 12 months of stopping. The younger that you start on the drug, the better the chances. 48% of those treated with Propecia experienced some regrowth of hair, and 42% had no further loss. That's 90% already. I don't know what happens to the other 10% but I am not even 30, so my chances is good.

I went on Propecia (1mg Finasteride) for 2 months, paying $80 for 28 pills before a colleague, JF, told me a more economical solution to my hair problem. The original drug, marketed as Proscar (5mg Finasteride) is sold for $120 for 30 pills. Since the dosage required for hair treatment is 20% of Proscar, we can go overdose a bit by buying Proscar and cutting each pill into 4 with a pill splitter. This effectively turns the 30 pill Proscar into 120 doses of Propecia ! This translates into a effective dosage cost at $1 per day compared with $2.86 per day for Propecia ! My colleague now sports a full crown of hair !!!

The same nasty company that tried to rip us all off with a lifestyle drug gave us the original drug at 1/3 the cost !!! At least they are kind enough to do that.

It's sold at prescription at your favorite doctor, so my dear friends who are still wondering what to do, get your ass moving and try this drug ! Enjoy this great deal and the rare public service by the otherwise nasty grumpy man.