#sg04

На официальном сайте компании SilverStone Technology появилось описание нового малогабаритного компьютерного корпуса серии Sugo под индексом SG04-F, который можно использовать для постройки высокопроизводительного настольного ПК с парой 10,5-дюймовых дискретных видеоадаптеров. Данная модель предлагается в чёрном (код SST-SG04B-F) либо серебристом (код SST-SG04S-F) исполнении, изготовлена из листов стали марки SECC толщиной 0,8 мм и имеет алюминиевую лицевую панель с дверкой. Вместилище обладает габаритами 200 x360 x 347 мм, весит 4,79 кг, совместимо с платами формата Micro-ATX и располагает пятью слотами расширения. Изделие оборудовано одним 5,25-дюймовым отсеком, оснащено тремя посадочными местами для 3,5-дюймовых накопителей и укомплектовано двумя 120-мм вентиляторами, каждый из которых вращается со скоростью 1200 оборотов в минуту и создаёт шум не превосходит 19 дБ. Что же касается набора выведенных наружу интерфейсов, то тут присутствуют 2 порта USB 2.0 и пара стандартных аудиоразъёмов. О цене и сроках поступления новинки в продажу пока точных сведений нет.

I hadn’t managed to get much packing done at all yesterday so I absolutely had to set an alarm to get it all done this morning. Haven’t even managed to get all of my drying finished yet.

The only probelm with setting an alarm was the fact that my body clock hasn’t gotten back to an Asia-Pacific time, so about 4.45am I was wide awake and hungry. Because I haven’t been home there was nothing to eat and I ended up in the car and driving to McDonalds for drive thru at 5am. With food in my stomach I got back to sleep for a few hours anyway.

Woke up, did the constitutional and then set about doing my packing. In large part it was just moving stuff from the very large Antler case to the mid-size Samsonite. Ironed a little and I was soon almost done.

I had to find some CDs so that I can install everything on the Sony TR2 that I’m seriously contemplating buying while in Singapore. The major drawback is that this tiny subnotebook comes only with Windows XP Home and I need the Professional version to create database driven websites. From what I have read this upgrade is not exactly an easy process, but I have got some instructions and downloaded all the original drivers from Sony to try and make that a relatively smooth process. Fingers crossed eh?

I got a taxi from Legion Cabs to Sydney Airport and checked in for Qantas QF5 to Singapore (and Frankfurt). I went up to the Qantas Club and spent a little bit of time writing up captions for my photos from Thailand and the first day in the United Kingdom. Will try to get the rest done sometime over the next few days. Don’t want to end up like those photos from Hong Kong and Taiwan from last year that still have no captions. Will aim to get those done soon too.

We boarded on time but took off about 20 minutes late as the result of late connection from one passenger – I was sitting in the first row of economy so plenty of leg room, but it was an older (by Qantas standards) Boeing 747 with chunky seats so not a lot of room. Business class was near empty – not happy about no upgrade then.

Was allocated an aisle seat as usual, but the two Italian kids next to me didn’t want to sit at the window so I swapped. This had to be communicated by sign language because neither of them spoke a bit of English, which caused some grips when there was no Italian langauge movies in the first run. They complained and I must say the Qantas staff were great, organising to have a bunch of Italian movies run in the second rotation. The Cabin Manager even came back to check they had worked out the Italian movies were on at that time. All quite a good effort given none of the flight attendants spoke Italian.

Just relaxed and watched Out of Time, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star andUptown Girls. No reviews on these ones – a bit low brow.. but entertaining for the flight which was largely uneventful (other than a fantastic storm over Denpasar). Should sleep well tonight.

Arrived at Changi Airport around 20 minutes late, but I must say that Singapore is an easy airport to leave when you are an Australian. No questions and I was outside within about 15 minutes of leaving the plan. Jason had come to pick me up and drove me to the M Hotel which is actually kind of cool. Will take some photos later in the week to show you.

Woke up reasonably early. The M Hotel – despite its central location – was really really restful and I enjoyed my sleep. I decided to go and hit some of the museums that Jason wasn’t interested in visiting while he was doing a family thing this morning.

I got up.. unpacked a little and then took the MRT to the Raffles Place to visit the Asian Civilisations Museum at Empress Place and then later to its other building in Armenian St. Absolutely brilliant collections from different parts of Asia concentrating on ceramics, bronzes and other forms of art from across the region. Very cool.

While at Armenian St I also walked up to the Singapore History Museum. I should have taken note of my own itinerary and realised it had been relocated to Riverside Point. That took me just a little while to find (even though it really wasn’t that far away). Only a smaller collection on display I think – but still a good exploration of the history of the Singapore River. Very cool.

Got a taxi back to the hotel – was a little too lost to find my way back by public transport – and then set about doing some more captioning of photos from the UK and writing up journal. Hopefully going computer shopping with Jason later this afternoon. Will keep you in the loop.

Again caught the MRT to Bugis this time and met Jason who showed me the way to Sim Lim Square (well I wasn’t confident he knew the way – but I think he resorted to my map when I wasn’t looking). Walked around avoiding the people hanging out the flyers and tried to find the Sony shop that I had seen the last time I was there. It wasn’t there – or wasn’t open so I kept looking around until I found Dynasty Audio and Cameras which had the Sony TR2 in stock and at a reasonable price.

I got a free Vaio badged bag and wireless mouse from Targus and then the major bonus was that I am allowed to claim back the GST on the purchase at the airport under the Singapore Tax Free Shopping program. I was already happy with the price without getting another $180 back. Sweet.

The other cool thing was that within 15 minutes of having made the purchase, Citibank rang me to confirm that the transaction was legit. Very reassuring.

I went back to the hotel and tried installing Windows XP Professional. It kept crashing so I restored the original OS and then discovered that I could do everything I wanted to on Home – so could just install my applications anyway. So spent the rest of the night just setting up the new laptop. The webcam on it is very cool I am finding. Will show you some results later.

Woke up reasonably early this morning and caught the MRT out to Boon Lay at the end of the EW line and then caught the SBS Transit Bus to the Reptile Park at Jurong. Jason was right – it was not exactly an exhilorating but was OK.

A little run down might be the word for it (and definitely not fun for the crocs – Steve ‘Crikey’ Irwin would definitely not be happy). From there went on to the more famous Jurong Bird Park which I had skipped last time I was in Singapore. I wasn’t actually ready for how big this place (or how many people would be hanging around on this Hari Raya Haji public holiday). Apparently there is over 8000 birds in this place – from about 600 species and about 30 of them are endangered. Unfortunately it was a bit drizzly otherwise I would have spent more time there.

Caught the bus back to Boon Lay and then MRT back to Tanjong Pagar and then went back to the M Hotel for a quick shower and change of my damp shirt. After getting all cleaned up sent Jason an SMS cancelling our activities for the afternoon because I was getting a shitty headache and went for a walk to Amara to grab something to drink at Shop N Save and some Panadol Actifast at Watson’s(managed to pick up some Biore – since it is hard to get in Australia – might grab some more before I leave).

Went back to the hotel, had some lunch and then chilled out for the rest of the afternoon. Did some captions for some of my photos from Hong Kong and Taiwan (not that I could remember where everything was without a guidebook so it will need some more work later).

The rest was damn good. Very happy.

Jason came and picked me up and we went to Orchard by MRT and walked around Kinokuniya before grabbing some sushi and ramen at Sushi Tei.

Today was the day to head back to Singapore Zoo for a bit of a different look than the one I had last time I was here. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t sleep in this morning – took advantage of a late start to try and catch up on some more much needed sleep. Can always do with some more though.

When I did wake up.. I did some banking at Citibank and then walked down to the Tanjong Pagar station to catch the MRT just one station and transferred over to the new NEL that is run by SBS Transit. Arrived in Harbourfront and met Jason before catching the shuttle bus over to Sentosa. Paid our entry fee and then hit Underwater World. The aquarium is actually quite small – but an interesting enough collection – it only took us about 30 minutes to see the whole thing. I particularly liked the jellyfish.

From there went to the Dolphin Lagoon by shuttle bus and caught the end of their show. Not so sure I am keen on all of the patting of the dolphins.

Caught the bus back to Harbourfront and then trained our way back to Orchard Rd station and went to Paragon Shopping Centre to the Calvin Klein Underwear store looking for a present for Kenneth. They didn’t have what I wanted and she tried their other store with no luck. She suggested we try Metro which just happened to be in the same building. What a find. This place had the biggest Calvin Klein undie collection you have ever seen. Managed to get what I wanted for him (and got some for myself) as well as buying a cute little FX Creations hip pouch.

We grabbed a very early dinner at this German food court which was pretty interesting. I had some roti and salmon which was OK. Then got the MRT to Ang Mo Kio and caught the SBS Transit Bus to Singapore Zoo to join the Night Safari. The tram ride around the zoo was really cool and I even saw one animal I have never seen anywhere else. Pretty cool. Unfortunately the tram didn’t stand still long enough to take any decent shots around the zoo. Pity – but still a good experience.

Woke up about 10am this morning and set about packing. I actually hadn’t done any last night so it was a little bit of a rush job to get it all done. But managed to do it all.

Checked out of the M Hotel right on the last possible minute – because I didn’t want to be sweating my way around the city for too long. Jason picked me up so he could drive me to the airport, and after having to get out the street directory to direct him to Orchard Rd, we reached the Cathay Cineplex where we were going to watch School of Rock. Granted it is out on DVD in Australia very soon – but Singapore’s cinema seemed to lag Australia most of the time (although occasionally something opens in Singapore before us). It was actually quite funny – but I always did like Jack Black’s sense of humour (and I like his band Tenacious D so couldn’t go wrong with a comedy about his music).

Before heading to Changi Airport, we went to HMV and I bought 5 DVDs, which were about half the price I would expect to pay in Australia. So cheap I even bought a couple I haven’t even seen yet (lets hope they aren’t too bad). Checked in at the airport – and for the first time in ages got allocated a window seat. Someone is listening.

Went and picked up my tax refund and went to the Guardian pharmacy to see if I could get some more Biore but they didn’t have any. Found my way to the Qantas Club and for some reason the woman on the front desk introduced me to the other employee standing at the counter. She said something like, ‘Oh, this is Craig Smith’. Not sure what all that was about.

Took the opportunity to have a shower while I was in the Club. Not that I had actually sweated much today, but it was good to get myself a break and just relax for a while (not that showing in a semi public environment like that is particularly relaxing).