SICC Kick-board competition

Stephan (and his cousin, Mark) both won a gold medal at the SICC kick-board competition. Unfortunately, the Steph only did one event before it got rained-out, but he was feeling quite chuffed! The last time Steph won a swim medal, there were only 2 boys swimming in his age group so he came in last and won a silver. This time, there were 6 boys swimming, so he really did do very well!

Kids Milo Tryathlon Nightmare

This inaugrual event was really not very well thought out.

1. traffic jams getting into Sentosa

2. Bikes laid out all over the place with no security.

No racks; I was petrified that the bikes were gonna get trampled on....... or worse yet, someone was gonna just walk off with em!

3. No signage along the course & in the transition areas

The kids were running around the transition area asking where the run out was.......

Mat was 1st coming back into the transition area but took absolutely ages coming back from the run leg. We found out later that because there were no signs, he actually did 2km instead of the 1km for his age group!
4. No race briefing .................

After waiting for what seemed like ages, someone announced that the race was gonna be delayed for 1/2 hr but 2 seconds later, the kids were running into the water and someone decided that since the kids started, the 1st wave would just go ahead.......... how strange!

But, the kids had fun with their friends and I guess that's what counts!

Tim carrying Nic..........

This photo is for Peng since she didn't think Tim could carry Nic.......... haha!!!

ACS (Primary) Class 4F 1st in class

Yes, that's my baby Mathieu, Top student in class........ I am so proud!!!

I do believe that the Singapore school system may be slowly changing for the better; there is a move away from the "stick" to the "carrot". The boys now receive awards and commendations not only for academic achievements but for sports and other extra-curricular activities too. It's great for their morale and motivates them to do better. When Mat & Nic 1st returned to Singapore, they wanted to go back to international school. I debated it for a while as they both really enjoyed going to GIS in KL (they showed an enjoyment and eagerness to learn that was very much lacking in Spore). Unfortunately, I could not afford to put all 3 kids in international school so they returned to ACS. After the initial hurdles though, they both fit in fine and are coping in school. (With the exception of chinese from which they are now exempted!)

ACS is actually a great school; it offers our children a holistic education. The boys are given a good christian education based on "Wisdom and goodness" so that they can become real gentlemen and future leaders. What more can we ask for?

Tim in Singapore

Tim spent 3 weeks in Spore (1st time back since leaving for America 1yr ago.)



When Tim's in town, no one needs to walk............. :)

Crazy acrobatics in the pool!

Hanging out at all the cool parks in Spore ..................
(Yes, that's Tim teaching the boys how to climb trees and look at Nicolas' muscles!!!)

Tim with his favourite lil Emma!

Tim doing a science experiment for Mat's school project; Mentos and Coke bottle explosion............. In the YouTube videos, the coke fountain went 2m high, ours bearly bubbled! Kids were so disappointed. sigh.

OCBC Cycle

Tri-buddie Yen got me to sign-up for the OCBC cycle. It was only 40km so I thought, why not........... I have only been on the bike twice since the Osim Corporate Tri but I honestly thought it was going to be chicken-feet; Closed roads, no buses or lorries, early morning, riding with friends, no slopes...... Well, it was all of those things, but my wimp of a body decided to show me a thing or two. 1/3rd the way through the nice friendly ride, I developed the worst possible back pain; everytime I went over a hump, speed strip or pot-hole, I got a shooting pain up by back and down my leg. SCIATICA!!!! The rest of the ride was agonising; I tried to ride standing but since I am not very good on a bike, this wasn't really possible. Daniel & Yen Yen tried waiting for me but I was so slow that they gave up and went off. Yes, I spent the 1hr 35mins pretty much riding on my own. People on mountain bikes passed me, people on bikes with bloody baskets and bells passed me........... very sad. But, guess what, I finished it.

And all in all, it wasn't so bad. I came in 26th for my age group (yes, I belong in the over 35s group!) out of over 90 people so as Nic would put it "At least you made it into the 50th percentile!"!

I got a couple of things out of this ride :

1. I need to get on my bike more so this saturday, I am joining the Longhouse group!

2. I need to work on a better cycling posture; will speak to some specialists.

Tris and runs are much more fun though!!!

Daniel, Yen & I at the starting point

Race results can be found here :

http://ocbc.cyclesingapore.com.sg/media/40km_women_placing.pdf

ID Band Launch

www.idband.net

As you may remember, I launched ID Band from an internet cafe in Laos sometime end of Nov08. It is a neat little product; worn on the wrist with the name of the wearer on the front of the band and ICE (In case of Emergency) details on the back :ICE contact, telephone number, ID#, blood type, allergies, long-term illnesses, medication etc...... There are other ID bracelets on the market ; Runners ID, Road ID, Kids ID, Medi Band, amongst others, but there really is no other product as good as the ID Band. I am not just saying it cos I came up with it, it's true!

When Tim used to go for his long runs in KL at midnight, I used to get really worried and upset cos he went out with absolutely no ID on him. I had images of him lying on a hospital somewhere all alone................ I searched everywhere for an ID bracelet that he would use, but there was nothing on the market. The only possible thing I found was the Road ID which is quite a cool looking bracelet from the US (@ about 29USD I think), but it is made of velcro & metal, is heavy and gets smelly & disgusting with sweat after just a couple of weeks!

Well, after I left Michelin, the kids and I started travelling alot and I saw another need for an ID product. Instead of stuffing pieces of paper into the kids pockets with my tel number (in case they got lost) I could just put it all on a band! So, killing 2 birds with one stone, I came up with the ID Band! I started doing research, sourcing for materials and machines from all over the world...... And after 6months of hardwork (with alot of travelling and interruptions in between), I decided to launch ID Band.

Things were kindda slow when I started end of last yr. Well, I was away in the US and Canada most of December & January, so that was understandable. We get back what we put in afterall! When I did finally decide to start working on ID Band in full force, (I had to, since I had no more money and couldn't afford to do anything else!!!) it was amazing what great results I got with just a little focus and attention! A couple of press releases, some phone calls and help from some wonderful friends and we had coverage in

- Straits Times Mind Your Body 29 Jan

- Singapore American Paper Feb issue

- Silver Kris Magazine Feb issue

-interviews on News 93.8FM Radio 2 Feb

http://938live.sg/portal/site/938Live/menuitem.09ade681f1a1a0358ace28101e1000a0/?vgnextoid=9d73638896593110VgnVCM100000e101000aRCRD&vgnextfmt=archive&mcParam=1233504000000&archiveDate=1233504000000

- Palico (Site for Japanese residing in Singapore)

http://sgreview.pablico.com/

etc.... and it is still coming (I hope)....................

I even have a Friends of ID Band facebook group

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?sid=863d31eb3f013cdff606ae5fa54e6f58&gid=50809620324

The orders are flooding in and I am really not set-up to handle hundreds of orders at a time! I am going to have to re-think the ordering process or I will spend all my days and nights doing this and nothing else!