Burung Pipit

My pocket is hurt cos…. 

Oil reached US$90 a  barrel last week! Petrol went up 5 cents a liter two weeks ago! Paying more for my right to ride.

Rig maker, Sembawang Marine share price went up from 99 cents to $5.60 because of increase oil exploration activities. But niamah! one stupid Sembmarine manager lost S$272 million playing the forex and the share dropped 86 cents today after halting trade yesterday. Another China Aviation Oil in the making? How do u feel if your stock dropped 15% in a single day? Buy more or dump?

The courier service that we used in the office just increased their fees from $4 per trip to $10 per trip. Reason – higher oil price! I am sure electricity, bus, taxi & other utilities will follow…

Biofuel as oil substitute? Palm oil? Plantation share… maybe it is time to load up on some palm oil share like IndoAgri, Golden Agri or the very expensive popular Wilmar.

 Beside rising sea level which will have a direct impact, i think the escalating oil price and scarcity of sand will make little dot a very expensive place to live in the future.

Just got myself a Acer Extensa 4620 notebook with the XP Pro OS Window. Price S$1498 but i got $58 discount after paying with cash. So far, none of my two notebooks last longer than 18 months without major breakdown like motherboard problem, hence i paid for a 2-year service warranty just in case, for another $199. The rest of the money go to Mafia Bill for the homeoffice software. Short of making coffee in the morning, this gizmo comes with all the latest bell & whistles like wifi, bluetooth, webcam, dvd player/burner etc.

I am extremely happy with the price and the performance of this machine. But i wonder how long and low computer price will go? I bought my last machine, a Toshiba satellite at S$2580 with home office & 1 year warranty two years ago. In two years, the price has gone down by 20%. Unless technology has improved so much over the last 24 months, i cant help but feel that somehow, somewhere some poor workers or suppliers in Taiwan or China got suckered. The margin must be so low that giants like IBM sold away their PC dept lock stock and barrel to what is known as Lenovo today.

My notebook is “cheap” relatively and i am sure its birth place is in China. Amidst the latest global outcry on inferior china-made product, i am not concern. Lead poisoning? Give me a break. I consume supposedly produced-in-China lead-laden century egg every morning. But hei, i still dont turn green when i am angry! 

This wifi function that come with the notebook really open up my “social” circle in my block. I see a lot of my neighbours in the wifi network. Unfortunately, these are just faceless names. How nice if there are identifiable? I would sure like to get to know the “Amanda” and “Belinda” that i “see” in my network. Maybe Mark of Facebook can work something up like linking up all friendly neighbours in the same block or precinct using the existing wifi network. Until then, i will just try to pin the “Amanda and Belinda” to the faces i that i meet in the lift on a daily basis.

I dread to work in an industry where the price of the products i made drop 20% every two years but as a consumer, i am delighted. Cheap & cheaper seems to be the mantra of business everywhere. The general consumers may benefit but the suppliers and business owners may suffer to bring us these cheap prices. I am sure there is a balance somewhere as dictated by market forces. Maybe sometime something is best not left to market forces…. and no more cheap computers?

I am confused…..