Installing Fiber Network

My plan for Monday was to head back to IKEA.  Rich and I had made a list of several things that we needed.  However, I awoke to an email from Michelle, reminding me that the people were coming to install our fiber cable between 11 AM and 1 PM.  So, I headed to the pool for water aerobics, came back and worked on my blog, and waited.

The workers showed up at 12:15 PM.  They had a cart in tow, filled with wires, cables, and conduit.  This was more than I expected.  They spoke very quickly in Singaporean English, and I had a hard time understanding them.  I finally realized that they were looking in the hallway for an access area to connect to the existing wiring.  I called the complex manager for a consultation.  You can see where a panel had been cut into the ceiling previously, but it is on the other side of the elevators from our apartment.  The manager told them to just cut right near our door to make the connection.  The workers don't cut into the ceiling.  Someone from the building has to do that.  The building workers were not answering their phones.  It was lunchtime.  So we have to reschedule the fiber installation after the access into the ceiling has been cut.  Yeah!

I then headed to the bus to take me to IKEA.  Rich's secretary had gotten him a transit pass, which I had taken, and it makes my life much easier!  The most important thing on my list is an ironing board.  I asked Michelle if people here take their shirts to the cleaners, or if they do them themselves.  She said both.  Many people have full or part-time help.  The help would do the laundering and ironing.  Otherwise, people do take things to the cleaners.  Unfortunately, we had not found any cleaners yet.  Some of Rich's shirts are no-iron, and look okay after coming out of the dryer - especially in this heat and humidity.  Others need to be starched and ironed, or he will look more like a homeless man than a managing director.  So I got the ironing board, a drying rack, some other items, and taxied home.

The furniture mall near our apartment had an appliance store on the top level where I could buy an iron.  Rich had a dinner engagement that evening, so I wouldn't need to prepare dinner or expect him home anytime soon.  I headed back to the mall, to discover it at my leisure.  I bought the iron and wandered around.  There's a Starbucks in the mall, a Shakey's Pizza, and a McDonald's, among other types of local food.  This is my 3rd week in Singapore.  According to my friend, Susan, no matter how much you are looking forward to going somewhere, during the 3rd week you'll get a bout of homesickness.  I decided to stave that off by having a burger at McDonald's.  It tasted good, too, except that it had more catsup on it than I had ever seen!  When I worked at McDonald's, they had squirters that put the exact amount of catsup and mustard onto the burgers.  Maybe Singaporeans like more catsup, so they've had to adjust the squirters to accommodate their tastes.

I saw many people leaving the mall with grocery bags, so I decided to investigate.  There's a HUGE Japanese grocery store in the basement!  It has Kobe beef steaks, sushi, fish, tofu, etc.  I didn't need a lot right now, especially since this is a week full of dinner engagements for Rich.  I did find starch, though.  And then I found the cleaners!  I also found a new place to buy wine, so I'll always be able to find some wine at $20 per bottle, rather than having to pay $35 per bottle.  There's also a $2 store on that level, and a store like The Body Shop.  Unfortunately, my hands were full of irons, starch, and wine.  I'd have to do more investigating another day.