AIG and Prudential are still in talks with Prudential seemingly trying to lower the offer price ahead of shareholders meeting next week. AIG did say that they are not in a hurry and that the new offer is too low, signifying that AIA is too valuable, which I also agree with. This is the next frontier for the economic world, Asia will is the third epicenter in the economic sphere of influence and the next big market. I am keenly watching progress for this as I am looking at investing in either or both of AIA and Prudentials offerings here in SG and in the PH.

Our friend Vanessa Urbano just posted that she achieved first place in yesterdays Adidas Sundown Marathon, I'm not yet sure what here category and time is but it trully is a feat worth congratulating. Jeff and I are very psyched for our 10k Singapore Marathon this December. I'm still building up mileage, I'm around 22k right now.

PAGASA has reported the rainy season has now arrived and people should prepare for La Nina! I hope everyone is ready, especially the Local Government Units(LGU). I just read that a creek in Mabolo has narrowed due to informal settlers increasing and expanding, one even made his house in the middle, and this is just one of the many creeks and rivers in Cebu. Political will is needed in this situation. Politicians might be afraid of the vote repercussions or bad publicity, but a civil servant should look at what is good for the entire population. If obstructions are not removed, flooding will occur. I think this is the root of the governance problem in the Philippines, because of near-sightedness and political cowardice, nothing gets done, maintain status is the norm and as quite as possible is the aim. I am very hopefull for future Philippine civil servants with courage, vigor and focus to do what is necessary to improve and maintain a level of civility and life satisfaction acceptable by current and future standards.

Our flatmate Mike and Mic just bought new beds from Ikea and they are great, I'd like to say what an enjoyable experience it is to be at Ikea, imaginations round wild with all the options and possibilites. The swedish meatballs and chicken wings are a must from the food side. What's great is that Ikea Alexandra is also across Anchorpoint, the outlet stores mall and add to that, there is free weekend bus service from our place to Ikea. Such a treat in deed. Although the Alexandra store is I think just half of the Tampines store, it still has the same items albeit at a smaller place but the location being nearer to the City and our place more than makes up for it.

A quick round-up of the things I am monitoring. Prudential and AIG seems to be in talks again with Prudential looking at lowering the buying price to appease shareholders. Hong Kong has temporarily halted trading of Prudential due to this.

China has declared it will not protect whomever sank the South Korean ship, which is a very careful and significant response, it's a bit hard for them with North Korea being an ally but they cannot let that get in their way towards their full steam ahead plan to dominate the world economically. Another war might have been expected had China not declared such. I'm hoping for a peacefull end to this crisis, although I respect other peoples choice of government, it does seem like the North needs to open a little and improve the circumstance of its people. But I believe it is in the peoples hands as no one is best suited to help oneself than oneself helping your own first, others can merely support lest they start first and be judged as meddling, worst, jumping into the pool uninvited.

Canvassing for Presidential and Vice-Presidential votes in the Philippines is moving slowly, I think the election automation law missed updating this part of the process. Although the election process has been improved the canvassing of the top two post by the congress can be called the bottle neck. This has to be updated. The canvassing is already slow enough, to add insult to injury, some technology challenged lawmakers are finding it hard to relate, understand and effectively question comprehend the new electoral process. A very in-depth technology briefing and information absorption session could have been conducted by Comelec and Smartmatic for the lawmakers and the everybody involved in the whole election process. But as with all endeavors, one step forward is still moving forward compared to not moving at all. We can table and all of these issues, resolve them and prepare and improve on the next.

Mayor Mike Rama has signified his intent to renovate parts of City Hall and some more historically significant places.  Kudos to these endeavors but I hope improvement of social services are not compromised and will not take the back seat. If the city could just create one big enclosed and air-conditioned structure, then put all the city agencies, national agencies which have frontline public services, that could very much help ease the congestion and the hassle for all citizens who needs to transact. Currently, if you are transacting from City Hall, you go to one department and get's passed to another, if you are lucky they are all in the same building, if you are marked to be jinxed, the other department will be way accross town.  The term lets bring our head together should be literally understood and they should all come together in one place. I believe this would reduce the number of people going to the offices while improving the transaction time and efficiency. These same institutions should improve their back-office procedures so as a citizen will only transact with one representative and the back-office procedure will already take care of it, while at it, the less point in the process that can be removed the better, the less people who come in contact with reduces chances for corruption. WE only need political will to do this!

The ipad is already available outside the US, lines have formed prior to Apple store openings. The sad part is, Singapore is not part of the frenzy, we don't even have an apple store?? Anybody from apple reading this? what gives?

I'm looking at the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, I don't have the complete details yet but it does seem to be a very positive engagement which will bring about progress to all involved. I personally am looking at how this will trickle down to my level and how I can somehow leverage on it. We'll see, but I have been eyeing the dairy industry for a while now, goat dairy products specifically as goats are endemic to the Philippines, do not require high cost to maintain and are plenty in the area. The technology, process and land required are missing in my equation, most importantly the financing, but I'm sure to come to that in due time.

It was Vesak Day yesterday and it's Memorial Day in the US and it's Spring bank holiday in the UK on Monday, everyone get's a long weekend. Have a great weekend everyone!

The news world is a buzz with Apple overtaking Microsoft as the biggest tech company base on Market Cap. Everyone is a little surprised but kinda have that it was bound to happen feeling, Apple has slowly encroached on everybody's lives, from the mac, ipod, iphone and now the trend setting ipad. Who knows what's next from Cupertino. I'd like to add that I do love their products, the mac, ipod and iphone. I'll see about the ipad when it's available locally.

It's Vesak day today, an official public holiday here in Singapore. A Buddhists observed holiday which is sometimes called "Buddhas Birthday". Acts of generousity known as dana are observed by Buddhists organizations and temples. It falls on a Friday this year so it's a long weekend for us. A chance to relax and recharge.

I was craving for my favorite ipoh hor fun yesterday lunch, so around a little past 2pm, I went to the Amoy street food Center, where on the first floor is a famous stall which serves what I think is the best beef ipoh hor fun around. While walking towards the center, I was already imagining how I was going to enjoy the savoury noodle and beef. But to my surprise, auntie said hor fun no more, fish and rice only, can? with a little kids disappointed look, I thanked auntie and walked back to the office. Oh well, next week then.

Apparently, Philippine first quarter GDP growth was 7.3%, compare that with 0.5% the same period last year. Everyone is a little surprised. Strong factory output, exports, remittances and election spending has been identified as the source. I think inflation is also poised to increase a little but still manageable. The peso is starting to recover from it's fall to almost 47, it's now slowly moving back to the 46-45 range. Full year growth estimates are now being revised, Barclays has already done so by setting it at 6%, and I think we will see more good things to come. Yes, I'm an optimist! I hope the country can already move on from the elections, proclaim the winners and start working on more pressing matters, the budget deficit, education and social services for instance.

War looms in the Korean peninsula, The US, Australia and other countries have backed the South in giving blame and condeming the attack on a ship from the south by a torpedo from the north. China is playing a little neutral and Russia will send it's own investigators. Threats have been hurled from both sides of the border and everyone hopes it will all remain that way, only threats! The world does not need another war right now, we already are struggling with Iraq and Afghanistan, no one has yet found a solution for Somalia and their are still a couple of countries currently in civil war or technically at war with another state.

The crisis in the Euro area which started in Greece is slowly rippling accross the globe, economist say it will not derail the rebound from worst recession since world war 2 but no one should be complacent. It has already been one but not the only factor in the downward trends of markets, the Dow was temporarily below 10k again but good thing it recovered and it's now hovering that demarcation line. This whole affair has brought attention to the defeciencies of the Euro and the risk it is exposed to. But I think, these risks are also it's strength, being a group with small and big players, the big players will be able to help the small and maintain balance. But I do agree that more transparency and control should be in-place to keep the alliance balanced and avert crisis.

Big news for the gaming professionals, Blizzard is setting up a Singapore office. Start updating your resumes and send them out their way fast. Gaming enthusiast are also in for treat, Battle.net servers will also be located here, latency is of course expected to improve.

casual shoppers, bargain hunters, shoppaholics and even the thrifty are gearing up for the start of the Great Singapore Sale today, even I am hoping to find a good bargain. The 2nd IT show of the year will be on the middle of June so proper budgeting must be enforced so as bargains from both could be maximized.

Work has kept me busy lately, and I think it will be so for the next couple of weeks with project schedule untill June and a little spill over of the rolled-out projects and preparations for new ones taking over July and August. A large portion of those months will be dedicated to improving workflow, procedures and processes. I am learning a lot everyday, I work with a world class global team and I am proud to be part of this.

I'd like to share a challenge one would face working with a global workforce. One must master coordinating and scheduling keeping in mind that everyone is on a different timezone, add DST to the mix and it will surely be chaotic. I personally use Qlock, it's a onubtrusive, free and has a nifty feature of "When the time is", I just set the date and time for that timezone and I temporarily see what it will be for the other clocks I have already set. It will also automatically adjust for DST. Worldmate on Blackberry also has a feature similar to this which is of help when you are mobile.