Day 29 of the 60DWCC - Productive Tools That Help Me Stay Productive

After sending RK off to school, I did my usual morning run at 6.30am. After a shower at 7.30am, I was able to finish up most of my to do list (work + household chores) by noon and I was done by the time RK got home.

Below is a list of tools that have been instrumental in helping me improve my productivity as well as keeping track of important things and events in life:

- Trello (a To Do List and Collaboration Tool)

- Google Calendar (help provide a visual view of my entire week or month's schedule)

- Tree Notes (an organizer tool that I use for jotting down quick notes and personal passwords etc)

- Evernote (a tool to help me bookmark useful websites)

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing my own stuff while RK take his afternoon nap. I was able to take a short 1 hour nap too. What a treat! :)

As it was raining till late evening, THL bought dinner home. After our dinner, we watch some TV shows and called it a day at around 10.30pm.

Transport Expenses: $1.66

Bus to Work (THL) -> $0.83
Boon Lay Interchange to Home (THL) -> $0.83

Daily Afterthoughts:

I cannot imagine how I would survive a single day without the above tools. All the tools mentioned above have its respective mobile apps with the exception of Treenotes. Hence even as I travel oversea, these tools are always by my side whenever and wherever I need them.

Do you also have a list of tools that help you stay productive? If so, please share it with me too. :)

Day 28 of the 60DWCC - What a Flu Day!

Ahh...choooo!!! That's it. A sneeze at 5am in the morning almost ruined my day. The running nose started dripping away as I woke up to help with RK's daily prep-for-school ritual.

The flu was so bad that it blocked both my nose and ear - causing the entire airway to jam up with those you-know-what "sticky fluid" whenever I lie down. Hence I had to force my weak and tired body up and sat myself in front of the computer to check some emails and stuff. The blocked airway clears a bit when I sit up straight.

Damn.

Yawn...

Oh well...just my luck. :S

After breakfast, I took a couple of cold relief tablets and went to bed again. 3 full hours have gone by when I wake up. Half the day is gone and I have not accomplished anything today.

As I slowly recover from the flu attack, I quickly finish up my daily work and prepared lunch for RK. The rest of the afternoon went by swiftly with RK taking his afternoon nap and me working on my project.

I meet up with THL in the evening time and we bought dinner home. After dinner, I sent RK for tuition and returned home to watch a DVD with THL.

The Curse of Chucky - A Bloody Show

We manage to finish up the show (we watch halfway last night, remember?) before RK came back home. The ending was kind of weird and I suspect there could be a sequel to it.

Transport Expenses: $1.66

Bus to Work (THL) -> $0.83
Boon Lay Interchange to Home (THL) -> $0.83

Daily Afterthoughts:

I have always wish that some smart alex would someday (within my lifetime) invent a quick cure for minor illnesses like flu. Despite all the medical advances, many decades have past and our scientists have not manage to come out with a permanent cure to simple ailment like flu yet. Weird...

Day 27 of the 60DWCC - Stay Home Sunday

The 3 of us woke up pretty late today due to the fact that it is a Sunday plus we have had a long day yesterday. Yeah, looking at our public transport expenses of almost $15, anyone would have guessed that our poor legs have had a torturous time yesterday. :)

Hence THL and I decided that it would be the rest day for our legs today. We had late breakfast followed by a late lunch - we had the ever popular porridge prepared by THL.

Most part of the day was spent doing our own stuff - RK working hard in finishing up his Youtube's 4 hour cartoon marathon, THL did laundry and watching her Sunday shows and me doing and testing out new tools for my SEO business.

As usual, we had dinner at coffee-shop nearby and bought some titbit from the 24 hour NTUC nearby our house.

- The Internship Movie -

The 3 of us watch The Internship to sum up the Sunday evening. The thriller somehow managed to melt away some of the "Monday Blues" of THL to a certain extent. It was a good show with a super nice ending. Thumbs up!

Transport Expenses: $0

Daily Afterthoughts:

THL and I could not believe that 27 days have passed and we have kind of "normalized" to the public transport taking lifestyle. While we do not know if we can make it through the toughest challenge (it has been known that even Taxi is scarce during the CNY period, let alone public transport) that is coming our way (Chinese New Year), it is certain not the end of the world for us.

Day 26 of the 60DWCC - Happy 11th Year Anniversary My Dear!

11th Year of Our Wedding Anniversary - Traditional Version

Yahooo...it is our 11 years wedding anniversary so to speak - from a traditional standpoint of course. :)

We left the house early so that we could catch a breakfast and a first show over at JEM. We had our breakfast at KFC which is located at the basement of JEM and immediately after that, we walked across to NTUC and got ourselves a boatload of titbit. Ha...just joking, we only got 2 packets of chips and 2 bottles of Pink Dolphin drinks.

The Movie - Frozen

Frozen is one of the very rare animation movie that has a somewhat unpredictable plot to it and while the outcome of the ending is predictable, the unexpected twist to it towards the end was epic in my opinion. It is definitely a worth-your-time kind of movie in my book.

Nice Lunch at JEM Foodcourt

As THL have craving for one of the food being sold there, we made a little changes to our plan and had lunch at the foodcourt which is located at the 5th floor of JEM.

Bus Ride to Marina Bay Sands

We again changed our plan when we notice the bus stand that we were at has a direct bus to Marina Bay Sands. Since we have not been there for a while, we decided to cancel our plan to go Bedok and took Bus 97. The bus ride was a short one (probably due to the fact that I fall asleep during the journey there) and as it was almost going to rain soon, we alighted one bus stop earlier and quickly seek shelter inside Marina Bay Sands.

We walked and shopped for a bit before taking a train ride to the Promenade station. From there we walked to Millennium Walk and continued our way to Marina Square. We had a short break (tea-break) at HANS Cafe to rest our tired legs as well as to quench our thirsty throats.

Last Minute Shopping for Anniversary Gift

Yup, although it was not really intentional that we did not get a gift for each other in advance, we both know that we can always get it anywhere. :) Well, to our dismay, it took us almost 2 hours of "browsing around" before we decided on what to get for each other - we got each other a pair of Croc shoes.

It was almost 830pm by the time we made payment for the gifts hence we quickly walk down to level 1 and had our dinner at Cafe Cartel. The food there has already been good and the price is reasonable too.

After our dinner, we walked to the bus stop opposite Millennium Walk and took a direct bus home.

What a day well spent. :)

Transport Expenses: $14.96

Feedwe Bus to Lakeside MRT => $0.63 x 2 + $0.38 = $1.64
Lakeside to JE => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82
Bus to Marina Bay Sands => $1.66 x 2 + $0.58 = $3.90
MRT ride to Promenade Stn => $0.83 x 2 + $0.36 = $2.02
Direct Bus to Home => $2.35 x 2 + $0.88 = $5.58

Daily Afterthoughts:

Looking back at the times when I was driving, it has began to dawn on me that the time spent looking for parking lots in shopping malls and outdoor carparks could in one way or another offset the time spent taking public transport. Moreover the amount of money (monthly) I have spent on car park fees alone (especially on places like Marina Bay Sands) had easily surpassed the entire transport expenses we have had over the first 2 weeks of the 60DWCC. The life journey over the past few weeks have certainly rained onto me some form of enlightenment, ya? :)

Day 25 of the 60DWCC - Wedding Anniversary Planning

4th of Jan marks the day THL and I hosted our wedding dinner 11 years ago. The passing of 132 months or 4015 days would feel like forever had you ask me eleven years ago. And now, I could only wish that time had not whizzed by so fast.

When I was much younger, I have always hope that time would speed up a few years with a click of a button. It has never dawned on me that as we grow older, we tend to feel the passing of time and will start to hopelessly wish that time would slow down. Many of us usually regret the fact that we have somehow squandered away our youth - only to realize it when we start seeing our kids grow up while we continue to feel our energy depleting away slowly...

Times up. Too Late. Human...

Anyhow - I began to plan out the list of things to do and places to go tomorrow after I was done with my daily work and household routines.

I came out with a list within 10 minutes and after going through the list a second time, I quickly realize that most of the places are not realistic since we no longer own a car. We used to be able to travel to JB for a good meal and movie whenever we feel like it or drive to faraway places in Singapore just to check out the place or to explore new terrains. Now that we have gone "car-less", it would seem like most of places are out of reach. Yes, we can always take public transport but there are places whereby you will still have to walk for a long distance even if we take public transport.

After much considerations (Sat crowds and unpredictable weather), I have ruled out most outdoor activities and out of reach places and that left us with only a few common options like movies, good meals at restaurants and shopping. Sigh...

Transport Expenses: $1.56

Bus to Work (THL) -> $0.83
Feeder Bus from JE to Home (THL) -> $0.73

Daily Afterthoughts:

Even though we are now sort of "geographically limited", it does not mean that we should limited ourselves to leading a boring and stale lifestyle. With a little touch of creativity, I am sure we would still lead a fun-filled lifestyle leveraging on the soon-to-be omnipresence of our SG public transportation.

Day 24 of the 60DWCC - First Day of School and Work

Peace and Quiet - At Last!

Most of you are probably still sleeping when our poor RK woke up at 5am. By 5.50am, he was already seated excitedly beside his classmate inside the school bus. As usual, THL left the house by 7am and that was it...

Finally.

Peace and quiet welcomed me with open arms, something that I have longed for since RK's school holidays started in mid November. Heeding our bed's tempting beckoning, I went back to sleep and I manage to wake up at 9am to start the day.

12pm - I went down to fetch RK but his school bus did not arrive until 1233pm. THL and I was worried that he missed the school bus. LOL.

RK took a 2 hours nap shortly after lunch and I resumed my productive work till 5pm.

Delivery from Redmart

At 4.30pm, I signed off a delivery from RedMart. THL and I recently agreed that we should try out online purchase of necessities (drinks and dry stuff only) and hence this delivery from RedMart is our virgin attempt to get necessities online. The delivered items were all in great conditions and service was ok. I am sure we will continue to use this online service provide and this will eliminate the need for us to carry heavy stuff back from NTUC and super markets. Hurray!

RK and I meet THL for dinner at a nearby coffee-shop and we walked home after that. After RK finished his homework, we played some online games with him before sending him to bed.

Transport Expenses: $1.66

Bus to Work (THL) -> $0.83
Boon Lay Interchange to Home (THL) -> $0.83

Daily Afterthoughts:

Before we sold our car, THL and I would never have thought that we would one day order our necessities online. One of the main concerns we had is the condition of the items delivered. We were worried that we have to go through the hassle of getting a refund if the items delivered are damaged or dented. I foresee that we will be ordering most part of our necessities online in the future and we will continue doing so even if we do get another car in the near/distant future. Nothing beats getting the necessities delivered to your doorstep, don't you agree? :)

Day 23 of the 60DWCC - Farewell 2013 and Moshi Moshi 2014

Hurray, the year 2014 has arrived.

Will this year be of a smoother ride for us or is it going to be worse? Although we started the year without a car chauffeuring us around, THL and I are starting to get used to taking public transport and the yearning of getting another car seems to drift further and further away with each passing day.

Or is it? Time will tell. :D

We spent the most part of the day at home with THL cooking lunch for us. We watch some of the nice TV shows while having lunch.

At evening time, we took a bus to a nearby town central for dinner at the hawker center. The surrounding shops around the hawker centre are already fully stocked up for the Chinese New Year which is less than a month away. Many of them are selling the CNY banners and paper lanterns and I always find it funny that Singapore stall owners are so "Kiasu" (scare of losing).

After dinner, we took a feeder bus home and we sent RK to bed early as the next school term starts tomorrow and he has to wake up very early to catch the school bus at 5.50 am.

Transport Expenses: $3.64

Bus Ride:

Bus to Nearby Town Central => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82

Nearby Town Central to Home => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82

Daily Afterthoughts:

So long as the weather is fine, I believe taking public buses in Singapore is a very convenient and economical mean of transportation. Unless there is a connecting shelter to every single bus stop island-wide, taking a bus to certain places (without shelters) still somewhat pose a big challenge for the 3 of us (we are not a big fan of carrying umbrella around).