Blog

Posted on

Home

This is your sticky post home page content. You may edit it at Posts > Home Page.

You can easily enable and disable options and layout settings via the ClickBump button within the WordPress admin panel

For example, to turn on/off the slider, just uncheck the option at “Layout > Slider > Enable Slider Widget”

Want to change the header image? Just upload a custom header file at “Images > Header Image”

This is a simple blockquote. ClickBump automatically applies styling to it. You can apply this style to any text within your content by selecting it and clicking the “quotes” toolbar icon.

Need to edit the top menu bar? Just go to “Appearance > Menus“. You can drag and drop menu items to create flyouts, or add/remove menu items. You can combine posts, pages, even categories into a single menu.

Sidebar Widgets

The content you see over to the right and the boxes you see below, are called “Widgets“. They can instantly be customized (or removed) via the WordPress widget manager at “Appearance > Widgets“.

The “more” button below can easily be edited to take the user to a specific page or post. You can edit this link via the content editor.

Social Media and “Share” Options

As you can see in the footer area below, ClickBump is automatically enabled with social media icons. To edit these, just go to “Appearance > Widgets > Footer” and open the “Social Media Links” widget at the bottom. You can edit this widget and remove any icons you don’t use, as well as entering your custom URLs to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc).

You can also enable “social sharing” icons below each of your posts and pages at “ClickBump > Social“. This allows you to enable Facebook “Like”, Twitter Tweet and Google +1.

Posted on

Executive Condominium

Executive Condominium

EXECUTIVE condominiums (ECs) were originally introduced to cater to the aspirations and needs of the so called “sandwiched” class – those whose household incomes exceed the ceiling for public housing, but are not yet able to comfortably afford a private condominium.

Currently, the monthly household income ceiling to qualify for an EC purchase is set at S$14,000, while it is S$12,000 for those purchasing the Housing and Development Board’s (HDB) Build-to-Order (BTO) flats. Over the years, 66 ECs have been successfully launched. To date, 63 of them have been completed.

However, ECs have become somewhat of a rare commodity, driving up their prices in recent years. As of the end of the fourth quarter,there were just five unsold units in launched EC developments.

The Piermont Grand EC launch @ Sumang Walk is expected to be in July this year. Due to the low supply, EC prices have steadily increased. A unit at Northwave was sold in January for S$864 per square foot (psf), a 15 per cent increase from the project’s median price of S$751 psf when it was launched back in July 2016.

For developers, the shortage in EC supply has accordingly pushed up land prices of EC plots to new highs. The past four EC sites have breached S$500 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), with the Sumang Walk site sold at a record S$583 psf ppr to City Developments Limited (CDL) and TID Residential. Reports have estimated the breakeven price for the development to be almost S$1,000 psf.

Posted on

Pre-Iceland Preparation

Iceland northern lights

Pre-Iceland Preparation (Part 1)

I have always been a DIY, Own Time Own Target (OTOT) type of traveller. I just don’t like to be chased around like brood of chickens by the tour leader. This time round, I have to suck it up…because it is my first time in EUROPE and everything looks so alien to me. You throw me in Japan, Korea, USA or China, I think I can manage my way around…but with Europe + Winter, I think it is better to follow a tour group. Furthermore, my main motive is to chase Auroras and therefore I think leaving it to the experts to bring us around, would be a better choice. So I started searching for information from travel fairs, travel agencies….I went to a few fairs and packages for two start from SGD $9000+. Not exactly cheap. So I collated all the information and went home to do some research.

So I started searching for information from travel fairs, travel agencies….I went to a few and packages for two start from SGD $9000+. Not exactly cheap. So I collated all the information and went home to do some research. With the information at hand, I did some keywork search, Iceland Tours, Iceland Northern Lights, Iceland Aurora etc. After a few websites, I found a website which had the same description as the tour pamphlets collected earlier and it is exactly word for word! So I emailed the tour company to get some information. The date that I wanted was not in the website yet (Yes! We have to plan way ahead, if you want to manage your costs etc) and there was a glitch in their website dropdown option. Therefore I dropped them an email  enquiring on the package and dates available. They replied 2 days later and funny thing is, the sales rep told me that they are riding on another company for Iceland Tour Packages. Why would you reveal your vendor to your customers? Funny right? and so I was directed to this company, Guðmundur Jónasson Travel and apparently they are a very established player in Iceland. I checked a few reviews from travel forums to determine that they are legit and hopefully no bad reviews…So far so good! The BEST THING is the tour package NORTHERN LIGHTS EXPLORATION @ EUR 1430 per pax! (If you check the link, it is now @ EUR 1700! (Reiterate again that we have to plan ahead!)

With air tickets all in, its SGD $7491 and flying by SQ via Heathrow. For the package the flight is by British Airways. So I consider it an upgrade as I am flying by SQ. The flight from Heathrow to Iceland is by Icelandair.

Looking forward to Iceland!!!

 

Posted on

Coupon No Enough!

These two letters in the forum section of today’s Straits Times (12th Dec 2016) caught my eye.

I have to say these 2 suggestions are brilliant and we don’t need scholars to come up with such solutions.

Okay, so I have 2 stacks of 50 cents and 1 stack of $1 parking coupon sitting in my car. So I have to bring these old coupons to my Branch Office to exchange them.

Why not just continue using them at pro-rated value? It’s such a simple and brilliant solution!!!

No need for civil servants to account for the old coupons, no need for headaches and queues, no need for trip to the branch office. It’s so productive and efficient!

Joe Chua is right, this should have been implemented in the first place and I am sure by Jan or Feb 2017, the 50 cents and $1 coupons would have been expended. Its not too late for URA, HDB, LTA or whichever department to start implementing it. We don’t need a limp excuse such as a reminder letter or leeway if motorists are caught still using the old coupons.

What are the authorities going to do with the collected old coupons anyway? Keep them in the museum? Its a lot of wasted resources.

Now on the supply side of the new coupons, it’s also a screw up or an oversight. It is a case of COUPON NO ENOUGH!!! I have gone to three to four seven eleven stores. All no stock! Now I pray to go into a gantried carpark and try not to park in lots which still require car park coupons! Or maybe its a conspiracy for us to use the gantry parking so that we are charged by the minute and the vendors can get higher revenue.

The second letter suggested use of technology such as payment of shortfall through internet banking or ATM machines and capturing the coupons serial no…sounds complicated and it is creating another new set of problems to solve the the current set of problems. Its a good suggestion though.

Innovation and productivity – we are doing the Cha Cha, 2 steps forward, 1 step back…

Parking coupon exchange is a costly affair for the public.

Just pro-rate the old coupons and everyone move on in life!

Is this being picked up by HDB, URA or LTA?

Like and share and hopefully…this gets picked up by the correct person / person(s) making the decision.

PEACE!