2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,400 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 7 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Notes from HighwayBlogger: there must be something wrong here coz I have not been working on this blog for more than a year now. But anyways, it’s supposed to be a good sign I suppose.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 12,000 times in 2010. That’s about 29 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 4 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 112 posts. There were 2 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 311kb.

The busiest day of the year was July 28th with 128 views. The most popular post that day was “how to run away from life”.

Notes from HighwayBlogger: I guess 12,000 is not bad for a blog I’ve not touched in such a long while!

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were digg.com and who-will-win-fifa-worldcup-2010.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for bill gates, running away from life, ads on cars, run away from life, and journey vs destination.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

“how to run away from life” July 2007
24 comments

2

Money is so hard to give away – Lessons from Bill Gates and Warren Buffet June 2007
11 comments

3

Blog advertising is like outdoor advertising on vehicles? March 2008
5 comments

4

Nicest Wedding Invitation Card ever November 2007
10 comments

5

Highway Quotes : The road to success February 2008
6 comments

Suspending Blogging on this site

Hey folks, it’s been terribly busy for me and I’m suspending my blogging here for a while due to my ultra busy schedule. Well, I oughta tell you what’s been keep me so super busy :

Licence 2 Play 22-24th May SUNTEC Convention Hall 603.

Quick spill: First ever physical Facebook gaming competition in the world, first ever World of Warcraft Arena 3v3 Tournament in Asia, Launch of Maplestory 2, breaking a record on the Singapore Book of Records for number of turnups for Maplestory, etc. Do I need to say more, especially to the gamers?

e27 unConference 16th May Matrix @ Biopolis

Quick spill: 31 startups from 10 countries (numbers updated) come together for the premier unConference of the region! Tickets selling out fast!

and I’m also helping to promote Video Games Live! on 19th June. THE gaming symphony event! Have you got your tickets yet?

All this in between my crazy travelling schedule over the next 2-3 months. Which is why I really have no time to blog here for a while.

I’m still blogging at CNET Asia though, do drop by often and I hope to resume my blogging on this site soon!

I’ve also taken on some new work and there should be an announcement soon regarding a new site I’m working on. Stay tuned for the announcement!

This blog might be suspended for as I exit the highway for a while to run my errands, but it’ll always be around because we’re all on a journey on the highway of life and you are my precious co-sojourners.

See you when I rejoin at the next exit!

Burmese boat people left to die by Thai authorities

A co-sojourner emailed this news story to me, feeling really angry about it. It’s a really sad story.

It’s so obvious that the Thai government have floated these people out to the big sea to whither and die. And newly elected fresh-faced Thai Prime Minister Abhisit refered the investigation of this case back to the very people who conducted these inhumane acts. Tells you pretty much what he stands for.

Interestingly, Abhisit was

Experiencing the arctic right here in Singapore

Last Friday night, I was given a chance to experience what it’s like to be in the arctic right here in Singapore :

Guess where’s this? (And it’s free for public)

In memory of a brave woman

‘If I don’t make it out…’

Lo Hwei Yen’s husband talks about her last moments

By Teh Joo Lin & Kimberly Spykerman
		‘Only in her very last sentence did she say, ‘Please tell them (the authorities) to hurry up’,’ said Mr Puhaindran, who wants people to know his wife was a brave Singaporean. — ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN
View more photos

EVEN as she was being held by terrorists in her Mumbai hotel a week ago, Ms Lo Hwei Yen’s voice remained steady as she spoke with her husband on her mobile phone.

‘I was reacting to her trying to remain calm as well,’ her husband, Mr Michael Puhaindran, recalled yesterday.

VIDEO Husband and wife spoke for last time (1:50) Husband’s grief The husband of slain hostage Lo Hwei Yen opened up to the media for the first time. (Part 1) Michael Puhaindran spoke vividly about his wife’s ordeal during the Mumbai terror attacks (Part 2) … more Right click and save as for the full interview (42 min, 10mb)

‘Only in her very last sentence did she say: ‘Please tell them (the authorities) to hurry up’.

‘That’s when I really couldn’t take it and I told her I loved her so very much, and she said the same thing.

‘And those were her last words.’

Some time later, the 28-year- old Ms Lo was killed by her captors. She was one of several people who lost their lives in The Oberoi Trident Hotel, one of several Mumbai landmarks attacked by terrorists whose rampage left over 180 dead.

Yesterday, during his wife’s wake, Mr Puhaindran spoke to reporters for the first time about her last hours.

While the 37-year-old was composed at the start of the 40-minute interview attended by some 20 journalists and cameramen, by the time it ended, he had broken down several times.

He said he last saw his wife on Wednesday last week when

Clinton and Obama : Talk about co-sojourners

This is a classic case to me, of how the most bitter of enemies can come together again to continue the next part of their life’s journey together as co-sojourners.

It’s interesting that Obama is taking the way of Lincoln to build a ‘team of rivals’. Can he hold this ship together? For the good of America and the world, let’s hope he does.

This also drives home the point that there are no enemies forever. You may decide not to continue your journey with so-and-so co-sojourner now, but you never know when your paths will cross again and you’ll be traveling down the same road or highway together again.

Now I wonder if Obama will do anything interesting with McCain?

(Signing off from Seoul)

I haven’t been blogging here for a while

So sorry guys, everything just moved up 1 gear since mid Sept I’ve been on the road and been home only less than 20% of the time and did at least 100 hours in the air. Add to that I have to maintain my tech blogs here and here – you can find some updates there.

In fact I’ve had TONNES of things I wanted to blog here. But priority always goes to the tech blogs and I guess I want to take more time when I do write a post here. I’ve been wanting to write about my recent journeys and insights I’ve received while on the road. While I hope to talk about them more in details, here’s like a quick summary :

Indianapolis – Managed to catch up with some old friends and co-sojourners here. Never knew when I was gonna see them again and was soooo glad when I did. Also went to an NBA game and caught Larry Bird and Shaq (visiting with the Phoenix Suns). I sat next to the Mayor of the 12th largest city in America and briefly there, for a few hours in time, we were co-sojourners Managed to talk to his wife from Thailand as well.

North Carolina – Did a 10-hours drive from Indianapolis with some treasured co-sojourners and it felt like the end of the world with the big open highways and ….. no petrol. Yes, towards the end of the journey near Charlotte North Carolina, almost every petrol kiosk we went to was outta petrol. How harrowing. The thing I took away from that that experience was – we can drive the nicest cars (we were in a Lexus) but without petrol, it’s just a useless piece of metal on wheels. I blogged about this before actually. I made some wonderful friends in North Carolina which I suspect will be lifelong co-sojourners.

Seoul - Spent a short time in Seoul, and now I’m back in Seoul again to present at a conference. Will talk more about this later, hopefully!

Osaka – Always loved Japan, bought my Nintendo Wii, and had a great time with some clients there. Learnt lots and made some new friends. Definitely going back!

Moscow - Was definitely an eye-opener for me, especially to see one of the seven wonders of the world :

St. Basil’s Cathedral, Red Square, Moscow

Also made an important friend whom I suspect will be a co-sojourner for a long time to come too.

Samara – Although this city is only like 1,000 miles from Beijing. I was surprised to know that I was probably the only Chinese in this city. This is so unlike Moscow where mainland Chinese were all over the streets. Interestingly, Samara has one of the largest car factories in Russia for a brand called ‘Lada’. Talk about highways..

Dubai – I’ve never seen so much sand in my life! My time in Dubai was short but I touched based with a co-sojourner there who will only become closer to me in the journey ahead, especially after that meeting.

Hanoi – I was thrown into a meeting with some really important people there. I’m not sure why yet but for a brief moment in time at least, I was co-sojourners with some of the most powerful people in Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh – Similiar experience as Hanoi. I’ve been to Ho Chi Minh City before and blogged about it too.

Kuala Lumpur – I attended a regional business conference and they had this flag ceremony where I was invited to hold the Singaporean flag. Was an awesome feeling, a little hard to describe especially when surrounded by 30 other flags. National pride is definitely one of those feelings there!

At the same time the experience was very sobering as the conference was held in the midst of the economic downturn. Many great learnings and insights and of course rubbing shoulders with some of the very best businessmen (co-sojourners) around asia.

Chicago – I rushed back from KL and only spent like 4 hours in Singapore before rushing off to Chicago then to Indianapolis again (yes twice in a month). It’s especially meaningful to be in the jazzy city of Chicago DURING the US Elections itself since Chicago is Obama’s hometown. Some co-sojourners I met on the flight from Singapore to Chicago – we had a great time on the 20 hour flight.

Tokyo – was really interesting because I wasn’t supposed to be there. Only for transit from Chicago back to Singapore. Through some strange twist of events, I ended up staying in Tokyo for 1 night and made some precious friends. One of them whom I met was on the same flight with me not only from Tokyo to Singapore, but from Chicago to Tokyo, and also Dubai to Singapore like 2 weeks back! How freaky! Talk about co-sojourners on the highway of life!

Brunei – Although I knew I had a big invitation to speak at their inaugural National Technology Forum, I didn’t realise how big it was until I was swamped with media interviews from the time I landed. The conference was great and I blogged a little about the experience here.

So there, a quick summary and snapshot of my travelling so far. I actually reviewed quite a couple of gadgets for these travellings – Lenovo Thinkpad X200, Kohjinsha SX and SC Series, Canon Powershot A1000 IS, Canon S5 IS,  Canon EOS 1000D, and Gigabyte Netbook (currently reviewing). I also bought the iPod Touch from the states. I have TONNES of photos more which hopefully I can share with you.

After Seoul, I’ll be back in Singapore for a while to help organise the Singapore Arcade Showdown at Anime Festival Asia 08 before travelling again for India, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

Thanks again for being my co-sojourner. Each and every valuable reader here.

Signing off from Seoul.

Two teenagers stabbed in clash outside Plaza Singapura

Came across this sad story… 10 boys clashed against 6, resulted in 2 horrible injuries :

A friend of the two victims said that the group of about six teenagers had been in Plaza Singapura when they noticed another group of about ten teenagers looking at them with contempt.

He said that a face-to-face confrontation between the two groups ensued outside the shopping centre before a fight broke out.

He added that members of the other group then took out sharp weapons and slashed the victims in their stomachs.

On the scene, one victim appeared unconscious, while the other in severe pain.

As fellow co-sojourners, we can all learn to give each other more space and grace in the highway of life.

(Signing off from Samara, Russia)

Meeting up with co-sojourners again.. bloggers at Samsung event!

Do more than 50 hours flights in the past 1-2 weeks. Going to be doing even more in the next few weeks.

I have so much I wanna write, but so little time.

But boy am I glad I managed to make it back 2 days again for the Slingers’ record-breaking game and catch up with old friends, especially Gurmit – both of us haven’t caught up for a while.

Also managed to catch up with many blogging co-sojourners. Last night, I met even more at the launch of the Samsung Innov8!

I have loads to write here, and I hope I can find time to do so soon!

In the meantime check out my tech blogs here and here which are updated more frequently, especially with some info on my trips!

There’s some photos too :

Northview church which I visited in Indianapolis – the pastor wears shorts to preach

My time in Osaka and Sakai City I and II

Singapore Slingers record-breaking game, almost 6,000 in the audience!

The Lenovo Thinkpad X200 which I used for my travelling.

My flight over the arctic circle into Chicago