23-25 September 2010

Genting Trip with Chew Yen

I received this letter from Resorts World Genting one month ago, inviting me to a 2 nights complimentary stay at either their Resort or First World Hotel; which expire end of this month. So after asking Chew Yen, we decided to go on 23-25 Sept'10 and chose our stay at Resort Hotel. As I had been to Genting for countless of times, therefore these 3D2N trip were really a relaxing trip for me. We didn't do alot of things there, just watched movies, visited the casinos for a while, had a few good meals and relaxing in our hotel.  Really enjoyed myself in these Genting trip :)

Shrimp Dumpling soup

My Claypot rice

Chewyen's bak kut teh

Theme Park

My Klunch- Chicken Bologise Spagetti

Free mooncakes given to us from the KTV

Chewyen's Klunch- Assam Laksa

Chinese Zodiac- Chicken (Me)

Chinese Zodiac- Pig (My Youngest sis)

Chinese Zodiac- Snake (My Mum & eldest sis)

Chinese Zodiac- Rabbit (My dad)

Chinese Zodiac- Mouse (My bil and niece)

Me under the "mushroom"

Herbal Duck Noodle

Fried Wontons

Neo Print took at Genting

Christmas tree made from recycle bottles

Waiting for coach to go back singapore

16th September 2010

Friday Happening

Met up Angline after work cos we decided to attend this Maybeline "The Power In You" final party, which were held at Supperclub in Odeon Tower at 8pm. Before that, we had our dim sum dinner from Victor’s Kitchen located at Sunshine Plaza (#01-21, 91 Bencoolen St, Open Tues to Sun, 10am-pm). After dinner, we walked to Odeon Tower however we can't find the exact location for the party. Luckily there was this nice waiter from Looftop bar guiding us the direction. Initially we thought we could just walked into the party, however there was a long queue there. Finally the party started and before we could enter, the bouncer checked our IC one by one. Kinda happy that at this age of mine, they still checked my IC before I could enter the pub, hehe. At the entrance there, we were given a goodies bag with Maybeline Pulse Perfection™ by Define-A-Lash® Vibrating Mascara, Eye and lip makeup remover, Fruitty Lip gloss and some salon vouchers. Nothing special from the event as it was crowded with people and media. We toured awhile inside the pub and decided to leave the place (anyway our main motive was to get the freebies, hehe). 


Steam carrot cake with XO sauce and "chicken claws" (Feng Zua)



 

Prawn dumplings (Ha Gao) and custard buns


 

Char Siew Chee Cheong Fun

Inside the party

Maybeline Eye and Lip makeup remover and the mascara

12th September 2010

Events organiser ("you" & "I" know who) under fire over late payments


I saw this news from one of my UNI ex colleague facebook note. I don't feel surprised at all cos I know this day will eventually come. Hope justice can bring this company down and teach the management a good lesson.



Events organiser under fire over late payments
Speakers complain online; firm says fees withheld due to poor showing but all will be paid
By The Strait Times, 11 September 2010, Page 5


A GROUP of foreign corporate speakers is crying foul over a Singapore company that they claim did not pay them for their services on time as promised.


A few have even gone as far as hiring debt collectors to obtain tardy payments, after coordinating strategies with others who posted their complaints on blogs, websites and online forums.


The company, UNI Strategic, an organiser of corporate events, told The Straits Times that it had no choice but to withhold payment from certain speakers because of what it considered poor performance, which it said was detrimental to its reputation. It later said, however, that its speakers would all be paid eventually.


At least 20 overseas professionals engaged by it to speak at a number of conferences posted complaints on various websites after allegedly not being paid according to their contracts' timelines, which range between 30 and 60 days after an event.


Speakers contacted said their appearance fees typically ranged from $4,000 to $8,000 each. One of them, Mr Paul Cherry, 48, president of a company providing sales training and leadership development, detailed on his website the difficulties he had in getting paid his fees of US$4,000 (S$5,370) after giving a talk on strategic sales leadership here in 2008.


He has since been contacted by other speakers with similar experiences. His online post received more than 50 comments, mostly from other speakers.


Mr Cherry, an American, said: 'UNI Strategic was great to work with up until the programme. As soon as I left Singapore, very few of my e-mail requests for payment were responded to.'


He was eventually paid, three months late, after threatening to go to the Singapore and the United States authorities for redress.


Another speaker, Mr Peter van Veen, 40, from boutique strategy consulting firm De Ruijter Strategy in London, said he had difficulty getting paid US$3,000 for a course he ran in Singapore last November.


He said the course had been well received by its 25 participants, who gave it an average rating of 7.84 out of 10 on feedback forms.


'UNI Strategic has never disputed the amount in question. They just don't respond to e-mail and if we do speak to someone, they apologise and tell us they will look into it, never to be heard from again,' he said.


UNI Strategic paid Mr van Veen on Monday - about 10 months after the event.


Another US-based speaker, who declined to be named, said he had to engage a debt collection agency to obtain his fees of US$6,500. He paid the agency about a quarter of what he was owed.


UNI Strategic was also sued twice over the past year - by Amara Hotel and Air Services International - for $4,066 and $12,332 respectively. It later paid up the amounts and the cases did not go to court.


Mr Roger Tie, chief executive of UNI Strategic, said that while the company paid most of its speakers on time, it had no choice but to withhold payment from those who he claimed had not delivered what they promised.


He said the company, formed nine years ago, encounters 'one or two' speakers a month - out of about 200 a year - who deliver sub-standard programmes that receive poor ratings from participants.


Its benchmark: fewer than half of participants giving speakers an 'acceptable' rating - or 5/10.


Asked if speakers' contracts contained clauses indicating payment would be withheld if they performed poorly, Mr Tie said there were no such clauses, but added that the speakers would be offered the chance to make good - for example, by providing proper course materials later.


'In some cases, our clients complain and demand refunds. Even though the fees are non-refundable, we sometimes have to bite the bullet and give refunds as a form of goodwill,' he said.


Every year, the company writes off an average of $100,000 in bad debt, due to non-paying clients or refunds issued to clients who were not happy with the programmes, said Mr Tie. The most common complaints were that speakers' course materials were different from what was agreed on, and that course content was irrelevant or inadequate.


Mr Tie later said the company eventually 'always paid' its speakers, whether or not they met expectations.


It costs each participant between $2,500 and $3,500 to attend a programme.


At least one speaker, however, has had a good experience with UNI Strategic.


Mr Monty Sacher, 52, from Melbourne, Australia, who has conducted workshops for the company, said: 'I've not had a payment problem with them.'


Other industry players said it was not standard practice to withhold payment from invited speakers.


Ms May Koh, a training and resource manager with Avantus Training, a company that organises training programmes, said her company usually paid its speakers whether or not they met expectations.


'It's not possible to withhold the entire amount owed - after all, the speaker has already rendered a service,' she said.


Ms Stacey Yeong, UNI Strategic's conference director, said the company sources its speakers online. Before hiring one, it would typically request a copy of the prospective speaker's resume.


'If they fit the events we are organising, we will engage them,' she said.

11 September 2010

A day with my little darling Raychelle

 Nothing to do at home, therefore I decided to visit my sis and my cute niece after lunch. When I reached my sis' house, Raychelle was taking a nap and I have to wait for her to wake up before we can start our play time together. Finally she woke up and my sis decided that we should go over to Rivermall for our "gai gai' session. Before we went over to Rivermall, I played with Raychelle for awhile while my sis prepared her stuffs.

Raychelle's "director" pooh chair

Raychelle looking at my camera

Raychelle drinking her milk milk

I joined in too, hehe

First station was at Global Art, where kids can do all types of art works over there. As Raychelle is too young to sign up for classes, my sis let her do the sand art handicraft. Initially the shop uncle was reluctant to let Raychelle tried out the sand art as he thought Raychelle is only 1 yr++ old. End up my sis had to show him the photo that she took a few months back when Raychelle did her two sand art with them, to prove that she is eligible for this handicraft. After that sand art, we went to Daiso and Ray's mummy bought a clip hanger to hang Ray's "Jin Jin" (its mean hankerchief, but short form to Ray). Then we proceed to NTUC to buy some ingredients for dinner. We will be having baked pasta and salad for dinner. We went back home again after a tiring "gai gai" session.

Ray's mummy chose the sand col for the butterfly's outline

Ray scooping the sand

Spread the sand evenly on the butterfly

The butterfly outline is done

Next,  Ray scooped the orange sand for the butterfly's body

Ray spread the sand evenly on the buttefly

The butterfly body is done

Ray got distracted by other kids who were doing their art work

Ray continue with her sand art

spreading the purple sand evenly on the butterfly

purple part is done

Ray continue her sand art with different colour sand

Ray was getting too distracted that she don't want to continue

After persuing, she finally back to her sand art again

Finally the butterfly sand art was completed!

The teacher wrapped the sand art nicely for Ray

Ray with the clip hanger

Ray insisted to come down "walk walk"

Little kpo wanted to push the trolley like an adult

Simply cannot sit still

Peep a Boo!

Trying to bite the coin holder

Salad

Baked Pasta