Eshin Direct

Life is slowly catching up with me and being all of about 31 now comes the dawning of the realization that I might actually be in my 30’s and no longer 18 something. Or so my girlfriend likes to remind me. Still, I think all guys are essentially kids at heart.

Having said that, Cowboy Caleb has an interesting list of things that you know at 30 but didn’t know at 20. My favourites:

1. It’s not how much you look like you’re worth, it’s how much you are actually worth

Too true. London was full of them. 16 year old Pulp Fiction gangsters that were out spending on Daddy’s credit card.

2. You don’t have to know everything to get a job done, you just have to know who can do the job for you.

The ever onward progression towards being managers in our later life rather than technicians.

9. Your parents age, just like you

Yes, apparently they do. That’s probably the hardest pill to swallow post-30.

10. Becoming a millionaire by age 30 was not a realistic goal

Yeah, now I’m waiting until 40. See you in ten years.

11. Your sex drive will slow down

I thought it peaked at 18?

13. The search for God continues…

Not in my case. He’s there but he’s left us to sort out our own shit. He’s got better things to do like managing anti-space and the eventual shrinking of the universe.

Since yesterday evening I’ve been woefully blind as my netvibes account seems to have a problem. Every time I attempt to login, it seems to go through the motions but then thinks better of it and just returns a blank page. It does change the URL to something like a generic netvibes URL like http://www.netvibes.com/# or http://www.netvibes.com/#General (neither of which I have tabs named as such).

I am not the only person having a problem with the blank screen issue with netvibes, but apparently we are in a minority of two judging by the page and a Google search for the problem. Apparently his problem has been fixed, although mine remains a mystery blank page.

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

• Reset Cache, Cookies, everything
• Created a new profile on Firefox
• Tried on both a Mac and Windows
• Tried Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer in all their latest incarnationsR
• Resetting cache, etc and gone to this URL - http://www.netvibes.com/?reset=1
• Gone to this URL - http://www.netvibes.com/?reset=1 and reset cache, etc
• Reset cache et al and gone to http://www.netvibes.com/?clear_cache=1
• Gone to http://www.netvibes.com/?clear_cache=1 and reset cache

Still no luck. My whole overview of the Internet and the way in which I use it is currently crippled. I do like Netvibes (okay, I need Netvibes to get my fix and feel happy with the world). To be fair, I have informed them of the error. I hope they can give me a reply and fix it. Going back to Google Homepage isn’t really an option.

Anyone else have this problem with Netvibes?

**UPDATE**

Apparently I can sign in with another account which I no longer use which leads me to suspect it is not a browser issue. It can’t be for any violation of their terms and conditions but I pray that it is not because they’ve just lost the account.

**UPDATE 2**

The whole day I haven’t been able to log in on that one specific account at work. I tried just before I left. Now, trying it at my Apple at home, it magically works. Would love to have answer as to what the problem was. I tend not to like to rely on things that break without a reason. Dare I log out and back in again?

For those of you interested hearing homegrown favourites and recent MTV Asia Awards nominees, Electrico, they’ll be playing down at the Butter Factory (48 Robertson Quay) tonight from 9pm onwards. No doubt, that this is part of their promotion for their new album, we satellites.

Electrico at Butter Factory

If that’s not enough for you, then feast up on 1-for-1 Asahi beers, house shooters and free entry for the first 100 guests to arrive before 9pm.

The colour and nature of your vehicle might make all the difference between whether you get into an accident or not. This article on how colour affects reaction times by drivers might explain the old “I just didn’t see him” excuse that car drivers have when hitting things and people.

In most countries that I’ve lived, the majority of car drivers are not primed to spot motorbikes. Motorcyclists, likewise, are not prone to wearing bright, visible colours either. It is almost a perfect recipe for disaster. I know that since I got my bike license, I am more aware of riders when I drive a car because I’ve been primed to know how they behave and where to expect them. I do think that car drivers should learn on two wheels first before being able to handle a four-wheeled contraption that allows them to be mobile and have conversations on the phone, fiddle with GPS, or do their make-up at the same time.

I know from my own experience that riding a bike means that you need to establish road presence a lot more than if you are driving a car. I think this manifests itself in a number of ways - revving your engine to ensure that you are heard, filtering to the front of traffic and refusing to let certain type of drivers you know are being oblivious to the world around them from cutting into your lane. Controlled speed is also your friend as I firmly believe that driving fast isn’t necessarily dangerous and driving slow isn’t necessarily safe.

In the Netherlands, drivers are much more aware of their two-wheeled counterparts than in most countries since most people have ridden a bicycle at some point in their lives over there. In Singapore, while there are a high number of motorbikes on the road (so you would assume the drivers are familiar with what to look out for), all bets are off as most Singaporean drivers are generally the worst I’ve seen in my life. Use of the indicator is often an after thought and incidentally, serves as a cue for cars to not let you change lanes.

Via Trader Eyal.

I’ve been lucky for the last couple of weeks to enjoy condo life in Singapore. I’ve been using the pool regularly and perhaps this will help me finally get back into shape. I doubt that wakeboarding each week for two hours qualifies for regular healthy exercise. I’ve taken it easy on myself and organized a leisurely workout that takes me about 30 mins to complete.

In principle, it’s simply circuits of the pool with each set progressively increasing by one with a maximum of 2 minutes rest time in between each set. I’ve started off with 4 circuit sets and moved up to 7 circuit sets by the end. Once I’ve cleared out the arteries a little, I’ll move to starting with higher sets and cutting down rest times.