Ely1

Foto Faucet came through after all - received my steel traps and kitchen faucet today, though the design of the steel traps are completely different! It's a flower-patterned type ugh. I can't be bothered to write him because he had never replied, and I can't be bothered to wait and to pay for the additional shipping. So, will have to live with these and use them for the common bathroom and wet kitchen: when what I ordered were these: That said, the faucet seems sturdy and quite well constructed. Nothing flimsy or cheap feeling. Despite the measurements clearly given, I was still surprised how big it was! So, I think patronising Hot Wind 2008 is a safer bet - he's communicative, ships REALLY quickly and at least, reliable (no surprises when opening up the package). Isetan Sale My, were we productive today! Managed to get: 2x Cavelli 828TC Egyptian Cotton Bedsheet sets + pillow cases Cavelli Hungarian Goose Down King Quilt Digital weighing scale (complete with BMI and fat percentage for the already body conscious~) Panasonic Dect Phone Bath & hand towels Novita filtered water jug Bodum 12-cup Chambord Panasonic iron WMF 30-pc cutlery set We already have brand new sets of cookware, WMF knife set, glasses, chopsticks from Mom's massive storeroom (gogo hoarding!) so we're only missing crockery, a grill pan and wine glasses, which we would probably pick up from Ikea. To those who missed the sale: Definitely worth the trip down and it wasn't so much like market place like I feared. Sometimes I even deliberately avoid sales because of the maddening crowd but it wasn't so bad at Isetan Scotts. -Ely

LOVE the kitchen island/dining - chairs are perfect! How odd too, that I'm going for a baroque wallpaper print in the Master and this gives me a better idea how it'd look. Unfortunately, I'm too pedantic to have a open walk-in-wardrobe - a single mismatching hanger (or even hung the other way) would probably annoy me to no end, and the colour coordination + types of clothes system would drive me crazy. Really nice though - am surprised the both of you have so little clothes! Husband must be bemoaning why he married some girl with 8 wardrobes of stuff - the carpentry doesn't come cheap! Gorgeous place, ne0 - I love the small details. -Ely

Heya Ne0, Yeah, it weighs as much as me! It truly is quite a beast and I'm trying to be sporting about how it'd look in my living room... *think happy thoughts about Steven Tyler joining Chris Botti singing "Cryin"* I love "Heartbreak Warfare" but "All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye" is so heartwrenching. Unforuntately, in this concert (2008), there's so tracks from Battle Studies so it's the good ol' "Waiting on The World to Change", "Gravity", "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room", "I'm Gonna Find Another You" etc. -Ely

Have made my picks of blu-ray concerts: Chris Botti - In Boston:- Full 1080/24p High Definition Picture Dolby TrueHD 7.1/5.1 Surround (96 kHz/24 bit) Includes Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (640 kbps) PCM (uncompressed) Stereo (48 kHz/24 bit) John Mayer - Where The Light Is:- Filmed in Super 35mm Full 1080/24p High Definition Picture PCM (uncompressed) Stereo (96 kHz/24 bit) Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround (96 kHz/24 bit) (Includes Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (640 kbps)) Hit Man: David Foster & Friends DTS 5.1 - HD Master /does the cabbage patch dance -Ely

Sadness. And I was hoping to bag the Miss Congeniality title. Dang. Maybe I'll invite the neighbours for movie screenings to up my popularity rating! -Ely

$750, so a little less than the $799 CHT-8Q. Like many have suggested, xtremeplace is a good site to go. -Ely

Got my kitty litterbox washstand today, so that's pretty quick. Have always loved Amazon's service. Also got our sinks today. Two Elkays, both with chopping board and drainer, at $800 so I think that's a pretty good deal. The double-equal undermount measuring 819mm: And a 570mm single bowl undermount one: Um, also ended up with a monstrous subwoofer that took up the whole of the backseat - it measures 39" tall and weighs like me~ I can so see it being the cat's favourite scratchpost~ Quick a productive day methinks! /pats on back Now onto sanitary ware...and maybe an awesome scratching post... Hmm. -Ely

It has UPnP Media Streaming and BitTorrent and supports live radio streaming and internet feeds (RSS, Flickr, Picassa) - check it out at: http://www.playonhd.com/en/?upn=products&a...p;info=features I'm not sure if PPS refers "peer to peer streaming" or the Chinese tv thingy. If it's the latter, I've no experience with it. It really depends how you want your system to be set up (RimBlock is a great point of contact for advice), but my plan is to use the AC Ryan as a NAS (wireless) attached to the receiver to help with choppiness from streaming, and have a separate dedicated Blu-Ray player. The other TVs have their own HD media player (Western Digital) that supports external HDDs. File formats are also different depending if they belong to "Good to Have" or "Just Movies" category. "Need" movies are hard-copy Blu-Rays bought from Amazon and eBay. I'm still hunting for a "Need" blu-ray concert. Hmm.. Sorry I can't help more - PPS.tv is very foreign to me! -Ely

UH OH Check out what's in our backseat: (we had to put the top down for it to fit) The seller sure had a crazy collection - vintage huge-*** Altec Lansings, Thiel speakers, Dynaco pre-amps, MK speakers, AR valve amps, inFocus projectors, Sorcerer speakers - and a whole lot more shrink-wrapped and boxed. He's preparing to move in a couple of weeks and trying to sell off his stuff as he has nowhere to place it (and I believe him - judging from the collection). Watched "David Foster & Friends" concert in his bedroom, and the sound was very clean. The husband couldn't resist though I was a little hesitant. I think I would need to play around with tuning to get the sound I'll like - it was a little too crisp? It is, however, in mint condition - not even a speck of dust, and the manual in still in the packet. Also got new Better Cables Silver Serpent cable. Husband looked pleased as **** at the monster lying in the backseat but wasn't all smiles when he had to carry it from the 4th floor (no lift). It now stands in my study room and my parents are simply aghast: "what is that THING?!" I could only roll my eyes as form of apology. Strangely, this doesn't dent our budget at all - in fact, it pays for the center speaker upgrade so we're back down to 3k. Well, if the man is happy... -Ely

Glad you're here - another OSA member (Online Shoppers Annoymous)! Soon, we'd need some kind of official logo like: Btw, reglxt heads this support group - you should check out her buys! Always check for promos first. I use both Borderlinx and vPost - sometimes Borderlinx have 30% shipping discounts that run for months at a time. Currently, it's the "First to use" coupon code of US$20 shipping discount. I also use both their calculators to check shipping pricing but find that they're almost the same. with vPost, I get all my Japanese stuff with the Japan address, and it takes a little longer to ship, about a week, and a little bit of hassle since you have to update all the invoices manually. With Borderlinx, it's computerised, but that can be quite troublesome too - since I've caught them with weightage mistakes, so I always check shipping weight (Amazon is a good place to check) to make sure I'm not being overcharged. Borderlinx uses DHL so the shipping takes only 3 days and pretty flexible with delivery times, but like RB pointed out, you'd need a Citibank card to pay for the shipping (not the purchases). With bulkier items, get them shipped direct if possible. Otherwise, the rates of vPost and Borderlinx are very close, even with vPost having a base charge. Both of them are reliable - have never tried Comgateway so no opinion there. -Ely

*blush* Well, I'm quite a geek. Never crossed my mind to have another brand of player. I got a good deal on it Hmm, about the 608 - how would/much that Multi-EQ affect me? -Ely

So sorry to hear that. They're not RCs are they? A PE should endorse it if they're not RC. So odd. -Ely

It's a little over 3k now. Wharfedale Diamond 10.6 Floorstanding speakers Wharfedale Diamond 10.CS Center speaker Wharfedale Diamond 10.0 rear speakers Velodyne CHT-8Q Onkyo 608 Oppo 93 Should I get the secondhand SVS PC12, the price would be the same as the CHT-8Q, if not a little less. Upgrading to the CHT-10Q (brand new) would be about another $250. Upgrading to the SPL 800 would be a cool $400+, probably $100 extra for the Microvee. So somewhat still within budget (>$3500), esp. with the 2nd hand PC12 Ultra. Yeah, it's quite monstrous. Husband was surprised I didn't shriek how ugly it would look in the living room. I mean, it's black~ /shrug I always trust that I should surround myself with "beautiful" things and it would all come together by itself. If I love a sub, it would be gorgeous anywhere, timelessly. May even have to hide a smile every time I pass it because it makes my music such an immersive experience. -Ely

NOT pet madness, but ESSENTIAL. So yes, here's the potty from Amazon: Hopefully the dog takes to it since he's so used to the big gardens we have.

Heya Ne0, Great tips - will remind ID about the sink and the necessary allowances. Don't want freebies if I can't use them anyway! The Englefield Sapphire series is slightly cheaper without the freebies I believe - just deciding what we would really get use of. I'm only on the 2nd floor, though it is a walk-up apartment *huff & puff* - but greenery completely surrounds the estate and I get kingfishers and lots of parakeets in the day. They're a joy to watch. There's so much nature here and we recently had a gorgeous garden snake - green with a bright orange back - which was such a sweetie. I had a fun time playing with it for a good 15 minutes before it was taken away by pest control. There's also reported cobras so definitely caution should be taken with the pets. A cat recently got killed by one. We're at the East - near Changi. Happy art-hunting! -Ely

Hey January, Thanks for the tip. He quoted us "roughly" 3k but we're planning to head down to some landscaping companies to do some research, because your point is very valid. -Ely

Ooh, KEC has both, but the guy on the phone said the SPL is "better" than the Microvee, at $1299 and $1399 respectively. He also said it's pretty much overkill and that the CHT-10Q ($10xx) should be pretty awesome already. Will go down tomorrow keke. -Ely

All I can say, Drexter, is - BRING ANTIDOTE! -Ely

Yeah I read about the different software and definitely will be using your suggestion of Sonosub - thanks for the linky Freeware ftw. Is it necessary to build a "casement"? I'll take a look at it tonight, see what the owner has done and will dutifully report tonight. That thread you linked me to is hardcore - wow, amazing work. Very, very inspiring and I'm so glad I don't feel the need to "disguise" it like a roman pillar - it looks awesome as it is - standing at 39"! -Ely

Avatar's Battle for Pandora scene, over and over and over, and over. >< For music, used one of their Jazz's vocals CDs, and my iPod with Sting, U2, System of a Down, A Tribe Called Quest and Tricky. Will go down to KEC again and ask if they have the SPL or the Microvee. Not so approving of the SVS PC12 Ultra? -Ely

Yes, the Samsung 40" - UA40C5000QM.

Got the same model couple days back, with 3 years warranty, wall mount, installation, delivery, HDMI cable for $999 from Harvey Norman at MW. Chose it over the Sony because of the sleekness. -Ely

End of pet madness, I swear - a coffee table disguised as a pet bed, or the other way around. Regardless, it's stylish and oh so practical. The Chihuahua would fit right in. -Ely

Okay, took a listen to the SVS SB12-NSD vs the Velodyne CHQ-8T and couldn't tell a difference! I was so expecting a life-changing $500+ experience but nope. Nada. Would rather get the Velodyne 12 (did I mention this HTS has a life of its own?) - the difference was more discernible to me, and the price difference by half - win/win. BUT... Now, I'm just throwing it up for discussion as there's a second-hand for sale I'll be viewing tomorrow. What are your thoughts on the SVS PC12-Ultra? Such a beast! /swoon Can't find very much of it online but read about the tuning to 15-20 Hz for cleaner output. Would probably need more than an hour just calibrating it >< -Ely

Common Bathroom: closeup of matte in-laid floral print for the shower walls: dotted bronze splashback: So, it all comes together then! -Ely