Litterbug van

Why is Singapore such a clean place? Definitely not due to this van.

At an earlier traffic light, I saw a packet being thrown out of the window. Wonderful, a litterbug and there's nothing I can do about it.

Being in such a clean environment, you would think that people would naturally make it remain that way by not littering.

But no. People have come to realize that the environment is "self-cleaning", by an army of cleaners, so they have no second thoughts about littering.

In the past, I couldn't understand. But now, I could see their reasoning.

Back to the van. Later, I remembered I had a camera with me. When one of the passengers in the van threw out another packet again, I also whipped out my camera.

Not that I can still do anything about it. But at least I can share my experience and thoughts on it.

Bigger, but not cheaper

My handsoap was running out, so I ran out to buy the refill pack, because "it would be cheaper".

A buy-2-get-1-free pack was available! A glance at the size and price told me it was a good deal! I grabbed it and went home happily.

Later, Missus asked me why I bought shower gel and where was the handsoap?

I took a closer look. It was shower gel, not handsoap!

Argh!

On my next trip to NTUC, I took a closer look at the handsoap options:

• A refill pack
• A big bottle
• 3 small bottles, on special offer

Logically, a refill pack should be the cheapest. Else why get it?

A big bottle may not be as cheap as the refill pack, but it should be cheaper — by 20% to 50% — than the small bottle on a per-unit weight basis. This is very common, so a good rule-of-thumb is to get the biggest bottle, provided you can finish it.

But after calculating the per-unit weight price, the 3 small bottles is the cheapest, followed by the refill pack, then the big bottle.

I got the 3 bottles.

The next item to run low was the dishwashing liquid. Again, I looked for the refill pack first. I was unable to find it in my neighbourhood NTUC. That's the problem with a medium-small outlet; they don't stock every option.

In the end, I opted for the same configuration: a large bottle with a "free" refill pack bundle. It is still very expensive compared to a true refill pack. 500ml costs $1.54. A Fairprice-brand 600ml refill pack costs just $1.20. But it can last long enough that it doesn't really matter.

Misleading packaging

I was shopping for a new toothpaste, since my old one was about to run out.

Previously, I always bought the 2-pack, as it seemed like a good deal. But it always struck me that the toothpaste seems rather small for the box.

This time, I resolved to take a closer look.

I saw that for regular toothpaste, there are three sizes: 160g, 175g and 250g. All three have the same-sized packaging!

No wonder I was tricked!

This must belong to the same category as the ever-shrinking burger.

End of $2 meals

McDonald's have the $2 promotion for the Double Cheese burger and the McChicken burger for a long time. It started during the SARS period, because people were avoiding chicken. That should be around 2005.

The promotion just ended. The two burgers are now $3.40 each. They are no longer good deals. Instead, it's better to get the value meals at $4.50.

On the other hand, McDonald's lower the cheese burger from $1.80 to $1.50. That means it's better to get two cheese burgers than one single double cheese burger.

Walking, walking, walking

Every morning, I see a stream of people walking towards the MRT station. The nearest HDB flat can be as close as 25 metres away. The threshold where people stops walking and starts taking a bus varies. For some people, it is a mere 100 metres, but it is usually further, say, 800 metres.

The valuation of a HDB flat beside a MRT station can be $30k higher. Is it worth it?

Not, in my opinion. You suffer the noise (if above ground) and the traffic. Plus, a 5- or 10-minute walk is good for you.

I think it is a ploy by the Ministry of Health. They direct LTA to have inefficient (or expensive) feeder bus services so that people would rather walk instead.

There is a bus stop just across my flat. But there's no way I'm going to wait 5 minutes (on average) and pay a flat-fare of 73 cents to go to the MRT station. I'll walk the 600 metres. It takes around 10 minutes.

What a price difference!

I needed to buy 4 AAA batteries. There is a 7-11 store just across the street, but I try to avoid it if I have a choice as it is expensive. Operating 24/7 has a cost.

But it was 8:45 pm, and I didn't really want to go out for too long, so I paid it a visit. 6 AAA batteries cost $7.95. That sounded really expensive!

Suddenly, it was not that late after all. I decided to walk to the town center.

10 minutes and some sweat later, I bought 4 AAA batteries (a different brand) for around $2 from Value$ store.

This is obviously not a apples-to-apples comparison. The reason why Value$ is cheap is because it imports stuff from neighbouring third-world countries.

A few days later, I needed to buy some AA batteries. I saw 6 AA batteries going for $3.95 at a neighbourhood shop. Will Value$ be cheaper? Yes, it is — 6 batteries (a lesser known brand) for $2.05.

I may be willing to pay $0.50 more for brand name, but over $1.50? No way.

Long story short: I'm making a short-term decision with long term implication. Why do neighbourhood retail shops disappear? Because they can't compete on the costs. And who drives them out of business? Consumers like us, who only optimize for the present.

That's globalization for the poor folks.

The parking fine dream

I was walking past a row of cars to my father's car. He had brought my brother and I to a park during a public holiday. We had separated, which was typical, as I like to walk at my own pace.

I recalled to an earlier scene. My father was wondering where to put the parking coupon or not. The chance of being caught was low, but the penalty was high.

The fine was $20 for parking without a parking coupon and $40 for illegal parking. And, it was double for public holidays. My father parked his car illegally, of course. Many people drove out because it was a public holiday.

I saw a white slip of paper on some cars. I knew the parking attendent had been there. Would my father's car be fined too?

It came into view. Yes, it had a white slip of paper on the wiper too.

Just then, my father and brother reached the car too. My father was upset, because he was now $80 poorer. I told him he could appeal.

Analysis

I find this dream interesting because of the parking fine structure. In real life, the fine is $30 for parking without a coupon and $70 for illegal roadside parking — at all times.

Also, in the dream, it seems you can park "illegally" as long as you put a parking coupon!

It looks like my dream is more lenient than reality!

The absolute minimum to prepare

It is a general advice to pack the "hospital bag" by week 36. There is a number of things to prepare, but if the hospital provides some of stuff, it is possible to shorten the list.

For the mother:

• An old towel in case of water-bag leak on the way to hospital
• A set of clothes; may be possible to wear back the same clothes on arrival
• Some chocolate bars (to consume before entering the delivery ward)
• Contact casing, solution and glasses, if wearing contact lenses
• Slippers
• Small basin
• Tooth brush and tooth paste
• Spoon or stirrer
• Breast pump, milk and feeding bottles
• Instant red-date packets (for Chinese confinement)

I remembered the KK Hotel even provided disposable underwear.

The breast pump is good to bring even though you intend to breast feed directly. Sometimes, it is just not convenient.

For the baby:

• 1-2 handkerchiefs to clean up during feeding
• 1-2 diapers
• Set of clothes, including mittens and cap, for discharge
• Swaddle

I believe diapers are provided by the nursery.

For the father:

• Camera
• 3G handphone
• All sorts of chargers
• Marriage cert (plus parents' IC) to register the baby

When in doubt, bring more. :lol:

It may be good practice to bring the hospital bag during routine checkups. There might be an emergency operation.

What's in a name?

Missus and I puzzled over the name.

A name is like an identifier; all it needs to do is to identify the individual. However, it can also be significant: it can indicate the parents' hopes and aspirations for the child.

Not being very good at this at all, I asked my father for help.

He came up with a word that means vast and another word that means excel. Somehow, I knew it. Just look at my name. :lol:

(Unfortunately for me, I didn't know what my name meant until I grew up.)

I didn't like it. It would be a heavy burden on the child. Missus was impartial to it. However, she wanted to make sure the number of strokes was auspicious. I don't believe in this stuff, but she does. It was not.

We asked my father to give some variation, cos, you know, for the second child. We want to make sure there is some continuity. (For the same gender, it is common for the second word to be the same.)

As he liked the name very much, he said he had no more ideas. The weasel. :-D

Much later, I thought of asking my mother for help. She said she would come up with a list of names for us to choose! Ok, that's great.

Finally, she handed us the list of names. She came up with over ten names, with two main series (same 2nd char) and a few standalone ones.

They seemed to be fairly common names. One of the series was "handsome". That seemed a little conceited. I chuckled at my mother's choices. So that's what she's expecting of the baby. :lol:

Missus threw the list away.

Finally, Missus managed to come up with a name. It was a slight variation of my father's choice.

As for me, when I had time, I flipped through my beginner's level Chinese dictionary and randomly picked characters. The key thing is to make sure it sounds right and that the combined words also sound right.

In the end, I managed to pick the same character (actually, the same prounciation) as Missus, although my criteria was different from her. Ok, that's decided. :lol:

For the 3rd char, Missus wanted to use a "double luck" character. I thought it was quite appropriate given the baby's poor start. Plus, we like to split the char into two and use it as his nickname. :-D

And you wonder why some people have psychological problems...

Daily routine

Wash, sterilize, wipe, change diaper, wear clothes, wrap, feed, pat. Repeat every 2-3 hours.

I can see why some people choose not to have it. :lol:

Space is illusionary

My living room used to look big, because it only had a coffee table in it. Then the over-sized L-shape sofa came in. Then there was almost no room to walk!

Yes, the sofa is too big for the living room. But we really like it very much. If only there is a slightly scaled-down version.

Then, if we push the baby cot into the living room, wow, there is almost no more room. The baby cot is huge!

Initially, we were happy that we could push the baby cot from the baby room to the living room. That'll save us from buying a baby monitor or another baby cot.

Then, when we tried to push the baby cot into the master bedroom, we found that we could not do so. There was not enough room to turn the baby cot 90 degrees from the small corridor into the master bedroom!

Originally, we wanted the baby cot in the baby room in the day and in the master bedroom at night. Somehow, we overlooked that the baby cot cannot be pushed into the master bedroom!

But, to say that it cannot be done without dismantling it is to exhibit 2-dimension thinking.

Visitor ground rules

Missus and I will be staying home this year. She is "confined" to the home. As such, we didn't really prepare any ang pows. We still have a lot left over from last year, though.

Missus laid out some rules in case we get visitors:

• only married people
• with at most one kid
• if more than one, then they shall only bring one

:lol:

(The idea is not to give out ang pows.)

Good to be home!

After a 4 days 3 nights stay in a 5-star class "hotel", it's good to be home!

The Star Wars TIE fighter

On the Empire side, they have the TIE fighter, the TIE interceptor, the TIE bomber and the TIE Advanced, of which the most famous is the basic TIE fighter.

The TIE fighter is a cannon fodder, meaning you are almost guaranteed to be shot down in one. Imagine, it has weak armour, no shields, is slower and less firepower than its rival, the X-wing. How to survive?

I would make it an unmanned AI craft. That'll account for its expandability and tactics (quantity over quality).

2001, 171 pieces, RRP US$20

This looks fine, but why blue pieces? So that it won't look so dull?

2005, 159 pieces, RRP US$20

You don't need many pieces to make a TIE fighter.

2012, 413 pieces, RRP US$?

Finally, one that looks really realistic (instead of cartoonish)! Highly detailed, but not going to be cheap.

The Star Wars X-wing fighter

The original Star Wars trilogy has very iconic ships, from the star fighters to capital ships.

The Rebel Alliance has the A-wing, B-wing, X-wing and Y-wing star fighers, of which the most famous is the X-wing.

The X-wing is fast, has good firepower, is lightly armoured, shielded and even has hyperdrive. It's the perfect star fighter!

Here, we see how the Lego X-wing models change over the years.

1999, 266 pieces, RRP US$30

The first release. I think the wings are a bit too short.

2000, 1300 pieces, RRP US$150

The UES version. Very detailed, but doesn't look that nice. It is not to minifig scale, so there is no pilot.

2004, 563 pieces, RRP US$50

This looks pretty nice.

2006, 437 pieces, RRP US$49.99

This is just a slight improvement over the previous version.

2012, 560 pieces, RRP US$?

A new version after 6 years. The best looking X-wing yet! Very tempting, except that the price has gone up too.

Will give this Modular Building a miss

Leaked photo

The Modular Building this year is supposed to be the Town Hall. The RRP is unknown, but judging by its size and piece count, I think it is unlikely to be the usual US$149.99.

I was very excited when I first read the news. I missed the 2008 Town Plan set, which included a Town Hall. This being a Modular Building, I knew it would be much more spectacular.

Then I saw the leaked pictures.

The ground floor looks decent, but the 2nd floor onwards looks just like the Fire Brigade (the 2009 Modular Building)!

I was disappointed that it looked so boxy. I had expected a Town Hall to look more grand.

The Creator Building for this year is supposed to be the Seaside House. There has been a leaked confidential image. It doesn't look that good either. However, I'll have to wait until official pictures are out before I can really tell.

HDB BTO kicks off

According to HDB's press release today, they will release 25,000 units this year. They have released 3,923 units today and will release about 4,110 units in March.

In a move obviously to appease young buyers, HDB reserved 95% of the flats for first-timers.

The next question would be, can they afford it?

Let's compare three places:

You can tell two things. Location makes a difference. And that every floor costs an additional $3.5k.

Even the cheapest 4-rm flat costs $229k (before grant). And the cheapest 5-rm flat $283k.

I still find it somewhat expensive, but that's me.

What will be interesting is the Clementi BTO slated in March. It is said to be just beside the October 2011 DBSS that set record price. What will the buyers think now?

According to forum postings now, there were rumors then. But they sure kept it to themselves, because I never heard about it until now! But one hint: always look up URA's master plan.

Let me quote one forum posting:

I have a very simple formula:

• Income more than $12k: buy private
• Income more than $10k: buy EC
• Income near $10k: buy DBSS
• Else: buy BTO

:lol:

Home appliance: washing machine

Three general considerations for a washer:

• Top-loader or front-loader
• Capacity
• Water usage

I don't mind a front-loader. My mother has always used one. It is more water efficient and washes clothes more cleanly. However, it is also more expensive and it washes much slower. Thus, we decided to skip it this time.

We quickly narrowed down our choices to a 7.5+ kg top loader. 7.5 kg is just right for one week's worth of laundry for 2-3 people.

At that time, NEA just mandated washers to be rated for their water efficiency. However, many existing washers had zero tick because they weren't sent for certification. I found it funny because they claimed they were so and so water efficient in their glossy brochures.

After cursory browsing through all the available top-loaders at Courts, I decided on the Sharp ESN75GSG for its unique circular design. It was one of the cheapest at $379. I just need a washer that washes clothes; no fancy features needed.

But, one salesman pointed out two problems with this washer: it requires extra space and its drum is of an old design. Thus, we starting looking for a washer again.

It was another day at Courts that the Fisher & Paykel WA75T56MW1 caught our eyes. Its usual price was $748, but it was on promotion for $609. And we liked it very much!

After checking it out, we saw its sibling, the WA75T56GW1, which normally retailed for $848, but was on promotion for $659. We liked it even more! We decided this was it.

But then, we called a friend when taking a break from shopping. His advice: don't buy Fisher & Paykel and don't buy from Courts.

Anyway, he got for us a quote of $569 for the WA75T56GW1, which was $100 cheaper than Court's promotional price. We were shocked!

So, we went down to the shop he recommended. The salesman there did not recommend Fisher & Paykel either. He said all decent washers have auto water level, not just the WA75T56GW1 as we were led to believe. He also said the anti-tangle center beam doesn't really work well.

Then, he recommended the Hitachi SF-80KJ with a 8.0 kg capacity and an uncertified 2-tick water efficiency for $400, including GST and delivery.

It was good enough, so we went ahead with it.

Home appliance: fridge

A fridge and washing machine are at the top of Missus and my shopping list. They are the only items missing in our "home starter-kit" (a bed, two chairs and a work table). The rest can wait.

(We really only need the washing machine first — I can survive without a fridge — but we shop for both together. After all, they are both in the electrical section.)

What kind of fridge to look for?

Unlike a car, where one is almost always constrained by price, the biggest and bestest fridge costs around $3,500. Thus, it is not a matter of price, but suitability.

Of course, we don't have to spend so much; we can get a very decent fridge for just $650.

Our considerations:

• It must fit into the allocated space (W750 x D700 x H1770)
• It must have good energy efficiency
• I very much prefer a bottom freezer. I don't like to bend down to get my stuff
• I'm predisposed towards Panasonic fridges

Most salesmen advise us not to buy Panasonic fridges. They are made in Thailand and have lower build quality. But I think it is fine, given the price.

After looking through the limited range of bottom-freezer fridges, we decided on the Panasonic NR-BU343S fridge. It is almost identical to my parents' fridge, so I'm very comfortable with it. It also costs a very reasonable $589 at Courts.

Our second choice was a simliar-sized Fisher & Paykel E402B fridge costing $1,099 ($100 off usual price). We were very impressed with the inside. The shelves and door pockets have many levels of adjustment. The vegetable and freezer cases are on rollers. It is very well designed. But you pay for it, of course.

In the end, we decided we did not want to spend so much on a fridge, so the Panasonic fridge it was.

Then, we saw the stainless steel version of the NR-BU343 and we thought it looked very good! But it costs a cool $713 (if we manage to get 5% off). $124 more for aesthetics? We were tempted, yet hesitant.

Then, we did a more accurate measurement and found that the fridge was too tall! The fridge could fit in, but with very little clearance. Fridges need some 10 cm top clearance.

No choice, we got to consider another fridge. We had previously seen the Panasonic NR-BW414 fridge, but dismissed it because it was more expensive ($799; possibly $759 after discount).

But it was in "rose" stainless steel, and more importantly, it was just the right size.

We decided to buy it.

(Thanks to a friend's recommendation, we got it at another place for $709, including GST and delivery.)

Discarded my fish tank, finally

The ex-owner asked us if we wanted the fish tank. Being greedy for free stuff, we answered yes. We had no intention of keeping fish, but we thought of using it as a display cabinet.

We realized our mistake when we tried to shift the fish tank. The water was still there! Water is pretty heavy, so it was impossible to move the fish tank even 1mm. We aborted the shift.

Almost two months later, I was finally free to drain the water. It took almost an hour to remove all the water, filling over ten large pails. At first, we drained the water outside the flat, but it drained very slowly. We had to drain it in the toilet bowl.

The fish tank was dirtier than expected. I tried to clean it a little, but Missus felt it was still filthy and did not want to keep it.

So, I contacted the Town Council to remove it. They scheduled it for Wednesday. Not good, I could only carry it out on Thursday.

I called them. Could the workers come into the flat to carry it out? The answer was no. Even if the fish tank was just next to the main door? No, they were not allowed to step into the flat at all. So, I asked them to defer it to Friday.

Even without the water, the fish tank was still pretty heavy. To lighten it, I had to remove the stones that acted as filters. It was filled with fish droppings. Surprisingly, it wasn't smelly. Of course, I didn't purposely go and smell it.

It was finally possible to carry the fish tank out of the flat.

The fish tank was still there on Friday night. And over the weekend.

The following week, I called the Town Council. The disposal supervisor called back and told me they came down on two days, but didn't see the fish tank. Obviously they didn't get the updated memo from the Town Council. He promised to collect it the next day.

The next day, when I came home, the fish tank was gone. But so was the fengshui waterfall feature!

The following day, before I could call the Town Council to inquire about the fengshui water feature, the supervisor called to tell me they had collected the fish tank.

Good timing. I asked him about the fengshui feature. He said they just took everything because they had made a mistake before and didn't want to miss anything out this time. :duh:

I asked if I could have it back. He said he'll check.

He called back one day later. It's gone for good.

Even though I didn't really want the fengshui water feature — that's why I left it outside — I didn't expect it to be gone so fast.

The entrance now looks very bare...

Visiting my old flat

One night, I dreamt that I visited my old home. I was in the vicinity and was curious how the old place would look, so I went over to take a look.

I peeked inside. There was no one. I looked around. There was absolutely nothing in the living room. The walls were smooth and refreshly painted. The wall facing me was in light green, while the two side walls were in bright white. The floor was polished.

I then looked into the kitchen. The original cabinets were replaced with new bright white ones. The sink and stove were shifted to the other side. It looked much more modern.

I then realized I had been looking through a glass door. Wow, the flat was a total makeover. It was like the owner was ready to move in himself.

A few days later, I made my way down to my old place to collect the remaining letters. Unknown to me, my ex-landlord had collected my letters, so I saw only one of my letters in the letterbox.

I asked Missus if she wanted to visit our old flat. She said yes, so we went up.

We walked past the long corridor. We slowed down as we approached the flat. The door was opened, but it was dark inside . I peeked in as I walked past. Someone was watching the tv in the living room. The sofa has been rearranged. The one-seater has been taken out of the room and put here. One of the rooms was opened and there was someone inside. The kitchen was lighted and there were two more people inside. There was now a dining table.

Missus remarked that both rooms were now in use. I had not noticed that. The ex-landlord did remark that he could rent out the whole place for much higher rental.

I wonder if our ex-owner come and visit his old place? :lol:

Home improvement: the rest

Living room

Remove randomly placed hooks, drilled hooks and fill in them in.

Rewire some of the electrical outlets.

Repaint some of the walls.

Balcony

Remove drilled hook and patch it.

Possibly conceal the piping. There is a foul smell from time to time.

Add a proper air-con water outlet pipe.

Corridor

Possibly add a 2-way switch. Right now, we need to walk halfway into the corridor to turn on the light. And then, how are we going to turn it off at the other end of the corridor? Walk back?

Dining room

Remove drilled hooks and patch them.

Guest room

Add a ceiling fan.

Baby room

Nothing to do.

Master bedroom

Remove randomly placed hooks, drilled hooks and fill in them in.

Rewire the electrical outlet.

Possibly add a ceiling fan.

Some things I want to do, but will cost too much

Replace all light switches and power points. The current ones are really old-fashioned.

Reposition all electrical trunkings so that they are not so obvious. Unlike newer flats, my electrical cables run outside the wall.

Run the OpenNet cable in the false ceiling. Whose bright idea is it to run it to the TV console? I'll just put it close to the main door.

To sum up

As you can see, there isn't much to do at all for the rest of the house at all — if we just focus on fixing the existing flaws.

Electricity tariff up again

Starting today, the electricity tariff will be 27.59 cents per kWh, from 26.98 cents/kWh. This is the second highest tariff in the past five years. The record is 30.45 cents/kWh in October 2008, but that was just a spike.

The cheapest tariff last year was 24.10 cents/kWh. Previously, it was rare to exceed 24 cents/kWh — just 3 times in the past 16 quarters (2007 to 2010).

It is said oil is expensive because people are using it to hedge against fiat currencies; people have no confidence in fiat money. At the rate countries are printing and borrowing and with all the fraud, who has confidence?

Home improvement: the master bedroom toilet

The master bedroom toilet is actually in a pretty good shape.

We will repaint the ceiling.

We will replace two rows of broken wall tiles. If we redo the bottom half of the common toilet, we will redo the bottom half here to have a consistent look.

We will remove the only randomly placed hook and patch the unused drilled holes.

We will replace the sliding shower screen. It is working fine, but it is ugly. :lol: We'll also make a raised base for it.

We will replace the PVC bi-fold door with a plastic translucent bi-fold door. This will allow some light to come in even when it is closed. Right now, we need to switch on the light even during day time.

If we change the common toilet floor tiles, we will change the floor tiles to match.

We can do more, such as changing the sink, the toilet bowl and concealing the pipes, but they are just nice-to-have.

Our budget is $2k. This should be sufficient if we don't redo the wall and floor tiles.

Home improvement: the common toilet

The common toilet is fully functional today. The only reason to renovate is to make it look better. :lol:

Unlike many other people, I'll rather spend more on the common toilet than the master bedroom toilet. The reason is simple: it is used by guests, and you want guests to have a good impression of your home.

We will replace two rows of broken wall tiles. Or if we are feeling rich, redo the entire wall. The top half is white, which looks okay. The bottom half is dark blue, which makes the toilet look dark.

We will remove most of the randomly placed hooks and patch the unused drilled holes.

We will replace the mirror. There is nothing wrong with the mirror, but the mirror base is ugly and falling apart.

We will fix the non-functioning water heater switch. The water heater is now always on. It doesn't seem to consume any electricity, though.

We may paint some of the pipes, or we may do it ourselves to save money.

We will replace the spoilt sliding shower screen with a fixed half-length plastic partition. We'll make a raised base for it.

The toilet has two doors. One opens to a corridor, the other opens to the service balcony; it can serve as a shortcut. I observed that some units seal up one side, but I prefer two doors.

We will replace the two PVC bi-fold doors with plastic translucent bi-fold doors. This will allow some light to come in even when they are closed. We prefer glass doors, but they are double the price.

We may change the floor tiles. It is still pretty clean, but it looks really low-end with its pale blue color. The only concern is the price.

Whether we change the floor tiles or not, we will elevate the "walkway" slightly and make it more distinct.

We may change the basin and the toilet bowl. Most people want a new toilet bowl for their new flat, but we don't really mind as it is clean enough. The reason to change is for a better look. They are currently dark blue. White should look better.

If possible, I'll like to conceal the pipes, especially the one below the sink. However, I don't think it'll work well.

Our budget is just a mere $3k. I think we can only do essential repairs with it. :lol: