.. so good for another tradition

Another day, another tradition! Today we had our traditional tim sum brunch at East Ocean Teochew restaurant. Probably the last as many of the staff has moved to another outlet - the food is still as good but without the familiar staff; things weren't the same.

After lunch, we went shopping at the new Ion shopping center followed by coffee at Coffee Place outside Borders! Great to have an idyllic afternoon.

.. so good to continue the tradition

Once again the core group (less the Lees and Tays) gathered for Christmas Eve traditional dinner. As usual we have roast beef, ham, etc - no turkey this year as we could not find turkey breast for sale and a whole turkey would be too much.

The highlight was probably the pineapple tart and fruit tarts baked by Josh and David. How the kids have grown - they are now contributing to the dinner.

It was also good to have Jon and Ken at the dinner. Probably the last time for a while as Ken might not be back for future Christmases.

..so good of M1 to allow us to buy iphone

Went down to M1 to buy an iphone 3GS for Kenneth. Had to do an early re-contract as Connie's contract has 13 months to go. BUT they waive the $100/- and only charged $248/-. Bonus - the monthly subscription is lower than Connie's original plan + the data plan, Thanks M1!

.. so good to have the whole family together again

Kenneth arrived back from US yesterday at 10am. Went and played a round of golf to get over the jet lag. Then visited mum at Orange Valley.

This morning after sending Jon to work - we went to Telok Blangah Rise market for breakfast. He had 3 breakfast - vegetarian noodle, roti prata and finished with peanut kuek!

Then he went down to Kallang for training with Z. Connie has taken leave for the whole period he is back (going back on 1st Jan 2am!). It is good for the whole family to be in the same city again.

.. so good to finish PLC

Jon finally finished his final PLC exams on 3rd December. He was studying like day and night for the exams.

Went back to Drew and Napier on 6th December and have been working 16 hours days. Even when back over the last weekend to help with a case. Didn't come home till 10am on Monday. As Naresh would say 'Slaves have no life'.

Guess it is good training for the next few years when he is expected to sell his life and soul to whichever law firm he decides to work for.

.. so good to start collegiate squash

Nov 20, 2009

Yale Opens Season With 9-0 Victory Over Williams

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Yale men's squash team opened its regular seasonschedule with a convincing 9-0 victory over Williams College Friday night at the Brady Squash Center. Yale (1-0) only dropped two total games as a team, with 3-0 wins at the No. 1 through No. 8 positions.

Freshman Kenneth Chan began his collegiate career with a dominant performance at the No. 1 position, dropping only five combined points in the first two games. Fellow freshmen Richard Dodd and Hywel Robinson, playing in the No. 4 and 5 positions respectively, also earned their first wins at Yale.

Senior captain Todd Ruth earned a victory over Ethan Buchsbaum in a hard fought match at the No. 2 position. Sophomore Samuel Clayman overcame a 2-1 deficit to earn the victory over Jeremy Herrmann at the No. 9 position, winning the fourth game 11-7 before emerging victorious in a thrilling 15-13 fifth game.

The Bulldogs will next be in action on Dec. 5 when they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Penn Quakers at 11 a.m.

	Yale University	Williams	Score
1S	Chan,Kenneth	Morris,William	11-2,11-3,11-7
2S	Ruth,Todd	Buchsbaum,Ethan	12-10,11-7,11-7
3S	Roberts,John	Gruner,Will	11-4,11-7,15-13
4S	Dodd,Richard	Henze,Christian	11-5,11-3,11-5
5S	Robinson,Hywel	Yaros,Bernard	11-5,11-5,11-5
6S	Berner,Robert	Drobetsky,Julian	11-9,13-11,11-3
7S	Plimpton,Christopher	Marks,Nick	11-8,11-6,11-2
8S	Dowd,Ryan	Greaves-Tunnell,Alexander	11-4,11-2,11-9
9S	Clayman,Samuel	Herrmann,Jeremy	11-9,3-11,10-12,11-7,15-13

.. so good to catch up with friends

it is good to catch up with friends even though it was during a not so joyous occasion. During Jee Kong's wake, we caught up with friends that we did not have time to catch up over the years.

But we also met some friends that we have lost touch with over the years like Connie's primary school classmate who is now the pastor at Lai Ying's church. Or Wah On who is the father of a boy that Lai Ying is tutoring.

Strange - how some unusual events can bring along unexpected outcome.

..(not) so good for Jee Kong

13th November, Friday - My elder brother passed away at 61. He went quickly from hypertensive heart disease (?), probably heart attack. The suddenness shocked all of us, especially his wife who was devastated.

It was sad that his son whom he has not seen in 2 years took his time to return for the funeral. I hope my sons will behave better when my time comes.

On the other side, it was a relatively quick and painless moving on. Also I am glad mum is not aware of it all. He was her favorite. The siblings came together to give him an appropriate send off and it was a bonding experience though we were not close to him.

Finally and most important of all, we did honored mother with appropriate responses.

..so good to see Kenneth back in action again

Yale won the Ivy League scrimmages played over the weekend.

Report from College Squash Association:

"Like the Harvard women, the Yale men benefited from the contributions of first-year players, with Richard Dodd playing at number 5 and Kenneth Chan proving to be a solid number 1. The Bulldogs blanked Brown and Dartmouth on their way to the finals, where they defeated defending Ivy League champion and national runner-up Princeton 6-3. Although most of the squads had some players sit out this weekend, the Bulldogs should be encouraged by their strong start, especially after coming off a disappointing 2008-2009 season."

The season will be tough for Kenneth playing at #1 as the other #1 are very strong. But it will motivate him to train harder which will be good in the long run.

.. so good to bring Connie to Shanghai/Hangzhou

Liny had her wedding dinner on 30 Oct 2009. We took the opportunity to visit Shanghai and Hangzhou for a short break and catch up with friends. Had dinner with Joyce, Wendy and Philip Zhang in Shanghai. Then caught up with Ray and his wife in Hangzhou.

Finally did the tourist thing with Connie - Shanghai World Financial Center (highest observatory deck in the world), took the cruise along the Huang Pu river for view of Pudong and Bund in the night, visited Madam Trusseud (lots of chinese famous folks including Theresa Teng, Yao Ming), Yu Yuan, ZhouZhuan (including riding on the gondolas paddled by singing boat lady) XiTianDi ...

In Hangzhou we did the West Lake tour and then after dinner with Ray and wife - we took in the 'Impression of West Lake' directed by ZhangYiMou. A must see if you happen to be around Hangzhou/Shanghai. We missed the Sung City performance as we ran out of time.

Of course the food was marvellous - even Connie loved it. A great break! Now to get the boys to join us there!

.. so good to have a proper home office

Here is a shot of Kenneth's room converted into my home office. The notebook is all set up with LCD screen, keyboard and mouse (and even a scanner). I have my cordless phone. There is an ipod speaker system to have music whilst I read on the clam shell chair. All very relaxing - just need a mini fridge!

.. so good finally get that family photo shoot done

... so good to finally collect the family photo. The photos were taken like in August (1 month) ago but only collected them on Friday, 18th Sept. Here are a few of them below.

.. so good to be in multi-racial multi-religion Singapore

.. so good to celebrate as friends

Yesterday we went to Zainal's (Kenneth's coach) house to celebrate Hari Raya with his family and friends. We have been doing this for a few years and it has sort of become part of our tradition. It is good to be able to celebrate across racial and religious divide. We were just all friends celebrating together. As usual the food was wonderful but the company was even better.

.. so good to start digitising our film negatives

One of the biggest fear that Connie and I have is the possibility of losing all our old photos through fading or fire. So I have started a project to digitise all our old film negatives. Bought a Canon 8800F scanner and started the process. It is time consuming and frustrating as some of the film already have mouldy stains. But it is really good to review the photos as they are being scanned. I am so thankful for all the wonderful memories that I have with family and friends.

In the process I found this old photo of Connie and me when Connie was expecting with Jon. Not a bad looking couple, even though I say so myself.

..so good to catch up with old friends

Last night, Connie and I attended the wedding of Sue Ern, eldest daughter of Lawrence and Cindy. It was good to see the next generation starting their next phase of life. But even better was the opportunity to catch up with friends that we have not stayed in touched over the years including Mr Khor Tong Keng, Chin Seng and Chee Kee, Errol and Yoke Leng, Joseph and Mei Yuet and so many more. It is just so amazing to just recount the number of friends we have had over the years.

.. so good to tour Yale

..so good to tour the unviersity where Ken will spend his next 4 years. The facilities are amazing, the people are so encouraging and welcoming. Most important - the whole approach to education is so different - here they are encouraged to explore and try things; not stick to what they know and forget any pre-conceived ideas of careers. I think he will strive in this environment.

The buildings are truly classic English educational style - reminds me of Oxfrod and Cambridge.

On the first day, he went through Phelps gate and will leave through there when he graduates. The whole venue is organised into a few campuses. For the first year, he will live on the old campus and then move to Berkley College on 'cross campus'. Each college is self contained and includes library, kitchen, gym, recreation room (with pool and ping poong tables), laundry, etc. The entire system is organised the around the colleges which forms the entire social eco-network for students.

The main library is built like a cathedral - a cathedral to learning? The gym is a huge 7 story facility with the most amazing facilities. There are also special buildings like the museum for rare documents, Woosley Hall where all the official functions are held, the Commons dining room which serves food all day long, art gallery, theatres, a myraid of facilities for them to explore (especially the humanities).

It is so good that he managed to get in and it is now up to him to maximise his time there.

.. so good to settle Ken into Yale

.. so good to finally settle Ken into Yale. His room mate (Brendan) and apartment mates (Kempe and Chase) - all looks like nice boys. Took us numerous trips to Walmart, IKEA, Target and the university book shop but he seems to have finally set up his room and the common room. This would be the place he will live for the next 9 months - interacting with all the Berkley freshmen! Plus the squash courts at the gym. Great facilites - 15 courts, 2 3-sided glass court and 1 fully glass court.

Looks cool (Brendan's favourite expression)!

.. so good to be in New York

It is so good to finally made the first visit to New York City (the Big Apple). Connie and I stayed at the Grand Hyatt at Grand Central Station. Was disappointed by the hotel - it was far from grand. BUT the Grand Central Station was really grand. We had the traditional meal at the Oyster's Bar in Grand Central Station itself. Of course, we also saw Central Park and the Empire State building.

...so good to have an evening of fun and fellowship

It was another great night out with the boys and gals at Infor. Venue: Ah Yat Seafood Resturant (looks like this is becoming Infor's favourite haunt). It was as usual good food, good (interesting) KTV and most importantly good company!

... so good for his (Ken) friends to be at the airport

Mr Z and some of Ken's close buddies turned up at the airport to send him off. Nice of them to make the effort as the flight was close to midnight.

.. so good for kuku Lai Fong to say good bye

11th August, Lai Fong came by and had dinner with the family and also to bid Kenneth farewell. It was good for her to come and also had the opportunity to take photo with Jon in his graduation gown.

... so good for a final niight of squash and drinks

8th August, 7pm Singapore Cricket Club - some of the A graders, 'senior' junoirs got together for a final hit and drinks at place that Ken played and grew up as a squash player and guy. Present were Marmindar (squash men's captain but also a mentor to all the juniors. He was also the first SCC player that Ken played - making Ken run around like a yoyo), Udai (still the best squash player in Singapore and recently sparring partner for Ken), Allan Chang (coach to all the junior players) and many more.

... so good to be out of the mad house call Infor

Today is my last working day with Infor. Over the last 2.5 months, I have been waiting for them to execute(me?) their replacment plan. I knew back in mid May that the company wanted a new APAC VP Marketing but they were so secretively about. Anyway, today is good day - finally I am rid of CrackBerry (the 24 hour chain and ball to work), no more 3 hour conference calls every night - life can be normal. I can gym, golf and see my family again.

So good to have an opportunity for a new begining. Now if only, I can find some thing to occupy my time!

... so good to have some quality family time

the whole family took off to Club Bintan for a 4 day, 3 night stay (24th - 27th July). Actually Jon had to come one day later as he had a Law Society dinner on Friday. It was a good long weekend of buffet (definitely put on a few kg) and lots of exercise. We played badminton (won that with Ken), tennis (the boys played more and I discovered that I can't hit the forehand anymore), archery (lots of that) and mahjong (late into the nights). But overall, it was a great bonding time as it is probably the last break before Kenneth leaves for US.

.. so good to remember grandma

After lunch, the boys and I visited mother at Orange Valley. She would have been thrilled to see Jon wearing his 'square' cap. And I am sure she would have enjoyed wearing the cap too. Kenneth went along to say good bye in case he does not have a chance to do so before leaving for US. I am sure if mum is even barely aware of things, the visit would have warmed her heart.

...so good to witness Jonathan's commencement

Today Connie and I attended Jon's commencement at NUS. It was a rather formal affair with a Judge giving the key note. Seeing all of them so grown up in the gowns and mortar hats was quite a sight.

Jon, we are so proud of you!

... so good to shop for birthday presents

Connie's birthday is tomorrow but last weekend, the Ken, Connie and I went to Funan to do some 'birthday' shopping.The boys bought her the Sennheiser Skype headset and I bought her the Acer Aspire One (mini notebook). Now she can carry the notebook in her handbag everywhere and video chat with Kenneth when he does to Yale in US.

.. so good to be watching TV together

It is so strange but for the last few weeks (three?) Connie, Ken and I have been doing a Gilmore Girls marathon. Just complete seasons 1, 2 and 3. They are starting on season 4. So weird that we are all enjoying the same TV oldies.

..so good to turn 21

Kenneth celebrated his 21st birthday on Friday, 5th June though is birthday is on 10th June. The party was at Little Harry Pub, Keppel Club. Connie and he has been busy the whole week looking through all the photos over the last 21 years to pick a photo for each year - quite a pictorial story of his growing up.

How time flies! This is another milestone in the Chan family. The last member to turn adult and be fully responsible for his actions.

Congratulations, Kenneth on turning 21.

Congratulations to Connie - your boys turned out quite well. Job well done?

.. so good to pass the final (law) exams

.. so good to receive the wonderful news! Jonathan received his final exams results this evening. He passed! After four years of frentic studying (often round the clock), he has finally passed the last university exam. He can now look forward to working round the clock in a law firm. Life is full of irony!

Congratulations, Jon! We are proud of you (as usual).

... so good (and not so good)

Just got news from Dominique that her dad passed away suddenly on Sunday evening. It is really not so good news but at least he didn't suffer, no lingering in hospitals or a series of in and out of hospitals. It is also good to see family and friends rally around her.

It also reminded us of how good it is just to be able to enjoy each day - breathing and living. Timely reminder really - time to put things in perspective. Time with loved ones should be above all things especially the less important area of work.

..so good to be mentioned in local papers

but unfortunately it was in the wrong context. Kenneth was cited by the President of the SSRA as an example of getting into a prestigeous university because of his squash achievements. What Desmond Hill, Presdient of SSRA, did not mention was that all these have nothing to do with the association who did not raise a finger to help him.

Full text below:

Home > Breaking News > Singapore > Story

May 15, 2009
SPORT IN SCHOOLS

Vibrant attraction
10 min-->
More schools and youth play squash despite waning public interest

By May Chen

BACK in the heyday of squash in Singapore, the Republic was ranked as high as sixth in the world.
Today, the sport's decline is obvious - only 20 courts are left from some 300 public courts in the 1990s.
Despite this, interest in squash at the schools and youth levels is anything but waning. Some 360 students from 36 schools took part in this year's Schools National Squash Championships across three divisions.
Desmond Hill, president of the Singapore Squash Rackets Association (SSRA), said: 'The general perception is that squash is a bit quiet but where schools are concerned, the sport is actually vibrant.'
Schools such as Fairfield Methodist Secondary and Temasek Junior College may be new to squash but have no problems roping in players. Fairfield Methodist has even had to cap the number of students at seven for each division.
Said teacher-in-charge Lee Bi Wei: 'This year, we have more students who want to join than before, but we take in only the best.'
The school picked up the sport in 2004, and has since risen to the top of the schools national competition. Its B Division team came in fifth, while the C Division team were runners-up this year.
Hill, who is serving his second term as head of the SSRA since 2005, pointed out that squash opens doors to reputable educational institutions. He cited national player Kenneth Chan as one whose squash ability gained him entry to Yale University in the United States.
Still, the lack of courts and access to them is one obstacle that stands in the way of the sport's progress.
Former national player Allan Chang, coach at Raffles Institution (Junior College), said: 'A lot of schools don't mind including squash as a Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) whenever we encourage them to do so.

maychen@sph.com.sg
Additional reporting by Valerie Chia

..so good to be remembered (on behalf of wife)

..so good to be remembered. Yesterday was "Mother's Day" and today Kenneth prepared a belated happy mother's day lunch for wifey. Above are shots of his Aglio Olio with bacon and Brushetta. Connie said, "Yes it was good. He cooked Aglio Olio with bacon.. Then make the bread that he rave about from his pool party. Sliced toasted french loaf - topped with fresh salsa that he cut/cooked from scratch".

Guess it would taste good no matter what as it is the love in the cooking that made it so special.

..so good to have F and F

.. so good to have friends and family when you feel all alone. Just came from a meeting at headquarters and received some unpleasant news. Was feeling really unappreciated but fortunately so old friends were back from US to settle housing matters. Met them and a couple of solid friends on Sunday for lunch.

As usual the catching up and just talking really helped to restore confidence in oneself. Also great to just have coffee and chat with wifey. What a blessing for good F&F!

..so good to acheive another milestone

..it is so good to see Kenneth achieve another milestone in his life. He took his driving test yesterday and passed (by the skin of his teeth). Guess in other countries, it is not a major event but to pass in Singapore is not easy (especially on the first attempt). So after 25 hours of lessons and $2,000 of fees - he is now a provisional qualified driver. Still have to keep a clean sheet for 12 months to be officially recognised.

We will have our challenge now in scheduling the use of the cars - 4 drivers and 2 cars!

..so good to see his dream come true!

.. so good to see Ken's dream came true. When Ken started to train seriously under Zainal in 1998 - Zainal set him a goal to be the National Champion! Last weekend (22 March 2009), Ken beat Rizal in a convincing straight sets win to win his first (maybe more to come?) National Mens Open title. It is really satisfying to see him achieve this long time goal.

Over the last few years, he has been closed but lost out because of various reasons (illness, being on duty during the tournament, etc) but this year it all came together. Played a thrilling 3-1 semi finals with Samuel Kang (aka SKung); an up and coming junior. Samuel has been training very hard this year between his A levels and enlisting for National Service. Furthermore, Samuel had beaten Ken a few weeks ago during a league match. But Ken raised his game and beat SKung convincingly.

In the finals, he met Rizal (who has been past national champion for many years) and was in great form during this tournament - beating Vivian 3-0 in the semis. Thus, Ken expected a really tough match but he raised his game even further to neutralise Rizal's attacking game. He picked up every shot and returned the rally with more venom. So with great relief, he won in straight sets.

I had to rush immediately to the airport (reaching there at 6.30pm for a 7pm flight) but the adrenalin continued till way past midnight. It was a good day.

Photo above shows Ken (Mens Champion) and Zainal (Veteran Champion)

..so good to have the new with the old

..so to catch up with the marketing team in Shanghai. Was there for a managment review meeting and took the opportunity to catch with the new and old marketing team. In the photo, there's Philip (ex-manager) and Joyce (new manager), ... the great thing was all the folks who left found better jobs. Philip became the GM, Liny and Phiona are both marketing managers now. Congratulations to them all. Welcome to Celia and Karena who are replacements for Liny and Phiona respectively.

..so good to play with Picasa 3

The 'before' and 'after' images from last year's dinner and dance. It is amazing what free software do nowadays. Thank goodness for the folks at Google - adds a whole new dimension to photo taking!

...so good to have completed the site visit

Just came back from Phuket after completing the site inspection for the Partner Summit planned for June 2009. It was a lovely hotel - great rooms; amazing view from the balcony. It was hectic and tiring but also most refreshing as Eugene and Connie accompanied Dom and I. So we had some lovely Thai dinners as well.

..so good to start playing with my new toy

Bought a Canon 450D DSLR for Christmas and the whole family is now playing with it. Managed finally to get an adaptor ring for some of my old filters like the triple image one above. Kinda fun ... maybe will get back into photography. Right now - still too busy!

..so good to have the family together for Chinese New Year

2009 might be the last year that we have the whole family together for a while as Ken leaves for US in August. We started the new year with a visit to mum. She still looks restful! Lai Fong was there and we took the opportunity for the boys to have a photo with her. During the week, we also celebrated Lai Fong and Sau Chee (belated) birthdays. Of course, we had our usual family gatherings as well. It is good to re-affirm family ties during this festive season.