This fascinating test uses x-rays and computers to create detailed slices of your body part which allows doctors to see diseased arteries without having to do a more invasive angiogram.

What left me really pleased was the result of the scan. Like an army sergeant who had just looked through a recruit's rifle barrel, the cardiologist looked at the image of my heart and said - "Your arteries are perfectly clear."

I have been sleeping easy since. A strained chest muscle, a tight overworked tendon at the arm, a pulled upper back muscle, all these I no longer perversely interpreted as indications that a heart attack was imminent. It was for these two reasons - knowing the state of your heart and the peace of mind that came along with it - that I started recommending the CT scan to friends.

A number of my footballing buddies decided to act on my advice. One of them, a fit guy who does the occasional ultramarathon and who is always ready to race 10km with anyone, was told by the doctor after the scan - "Get up and run no more." His arteries were as clogged as a dirty fuel pump and doing more than slow walking or attempting to cover a distance of more than 3km would be suicidal, he was told.

He quit his hectic job a short while later. He now eats like a Shaolin monk, feeding on tofu and steamed vegetables, takes on part-time projects and just chills out whenever he gets the chance.

Another friend was told after his CT scan that it was a wonder he had not suffered a heart attack as yet. He too had major blockages, and at very delicate spots at that. He too gave up eating like Oprah Winfrey and decided on a complete lifestyle change especially when it came to eating.

My brother-in-law was a tough one to crack. He took some persuading before he agreed to a CT scan though the cardiologist who saw him did not take very long to convince him that he had to be back within a week to get fitted with three stents because of serious blockages.

Did my advice play a part in helping these buddies avert a heart attack? I think so. All of them learnt about their condition and altered their lifestyle drastically.

But the amount of radiation a CT scan subjects the body to is not to be ignored. When I first wrote on my experience, a reader, presumably a doctor disagreed with what I had done because of the high level of radiation the procedure entailed.

A Reuters report said recent studies have raised alarm about such scans, which it said exposed patients to double, triple or quadruple the radiation exposure of an angiogram, raising cancer risks. So it is good news that US researchers have found a way to cut the radiation dose from a heart CT scan by half without sacrificing the quality of the scan.

But even at the current high levels of radiation, my health tip to friends who have serious concerns about chest pains and such that have been plaguing them would still be - Go get a CT scan. I believe some of them are still around today because they did just that.

But I can understand why these two Everton fans were spending all that money, making that hectic trip down, catching the game and flying back shortly after.
  
A final at Wembley Stadium is always special for fans of English football and even players in the English league will tell you that.
   
Only recently Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney was going on about how it will be a thrill to play at Wembley. Of course he was talking about playing in the final but I am sure he was talking about the magical atmosphere of the stadium as well.
  
When the FA Cup final was finally brought back to be played at the new Wembley in 2007 after seven years being away because the stadium was being reconstructed, there was as much excitement about the FA Cup final being held in the new Wembley as about the two teams – Manchester United and Chelsea – that were going to clash that year for the Cup. English newspaper described the occasion with much melodrama - "Return of the prodigal son" FA Cup back to its "spiritual home" and so on.
  
The venue for a game, especially a Cup final, adds to the flavour and stature of the tournament and these were the reasons the choice of the Old Police Academy as the battleground for the Police Cup rugby final last Friday was puzzling to me. It was the only negative mutters I picked up throughout the game and even the days following.
  
The schools rugby tournament is arguably the most passionately contested of the school sport. Year in, year out, you get good clean, hard-fought rugby from the teams. A number of the teams are closely matched and because the finalists have often been schools with a rugby tradition, you get the alumni, and former school players and teachers coming down for the games. For some reason too, there appears to be a higher proportion of parents of players down at these games.
   
Last Friday when Anglo-Chinese Junior College played Raffles Institution (Junior College), the showdown had all these and more and it was why I was disappointed it was played at the Old Police Academy ground. Don't get me wrong, the pitch is a good one and the venue is one with history and tradition and after all, it is the Police Cup.
   
But it is a waste for the Police not to milk the benefits of a tournament that is viewed so positively and is so well supported. A simple way to do this is to pick a good venue. On certain years, the Police Cup was played on the Singapore Cricket Club (SCC) ground. SCC has a strong rugby tradition and for these schoolboys, knowing that they are playing on the same pitch that the SCC International Rugby 7s is held only raises the level of their performance.
  
On top of the better quality of rugby, such an association would also raise the stature and prestige of the Police Cup even more.

It is time the Police Cup final is held at a venue no less than the SCC pitch. Make it a permanent move and what better time to do it than next year when the Youth Olympic Games will be held here and the world celebrates youth sport.

For instance, after a few phone calls, I finally terminated my Singnet dial-up account which I have been keeping since I first signed up for it. I must have switched to cable about 10 years ago at the very least, But I was paying out a monthly fee for my dial-up account all this while even though I was not using it - all because I was too lazy to make the calls or send out the necessary email to terminate the account. Another couple of calls I made will save me a few dollars every month from next month. I switched my Singtel land line to a Starhub one.

Sometimes it means giving up things we like. A friend of mine has cut his wine consumption from 6 bottles a month to one bottle. I know it is going to be tough for him this Christmas season.

I used to leave my two computers running 24 hours a day but now I shut them down before I leave for work and also at night. I don't know how much it will save me but it would cut the number of hours the computers are kept running by at least 50 per cent.

I also religiously take down the addresses of places where I can get fish, chicken and beef cheap. It has required me to make drives to Woodlands and Jurong East which are not exactly close to my home but I realise the savings can be huge. There is nothing to be shy about trying to get a good deal.

Do you have some good suggestions on how costs can be cut? Post them here.

Part of the reason for this is the record numbers getting tested.

This follows last year's figures where 423 residents here were diagnosed with HIV, the highest number in a year since the disease first surfaced here in 1985.

The latest figures are for the first 10 months of this year, 7 per cent more than the 356 cases uncovered over the same period last year.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids has put the true prevalence of the disease here at two to four times higher from undiagnosed cases and cases diagnosed abroad but so far unrecorded here.

Time to start tougher, harder-hitting education campaigns?

At Barista, the mentally ill learn to serve food and drinks to customers with the main aim of getting these troubled people back into the mainstream workforce.

I have a group of friends who do volunteer work with inmates and one of the biggest problems of these inmates when they leave prison is the ability to secure a job.

In spite of the publicity that has been given to the Yellow Ribbon project and the government call on employers to back it, life is still difficult for those who leave the prison after their jail term. These former prisoners say that they often have to lie about their past to secure a job. I know many religious organisations take an active role to help these former prisoners settle back into the normal world. Help they provide include looking for jobs, providing counselling and companionship and sometimes even providing accommodation.

But it is time for others to take on a bigger role.

The fear of counsellors is that isolation and rejection could prove a quick way to drive these former prisoners back to crime and prison.

Other than the first time I bought a car when the thought of taking a $15,000 or so loan for my second-hand Mazda 323 made me tremble, there was only one other time when I actually thought deep and long about holding on to a car.

It was when a friend sat down and worked out with me how much it cost to actually own a car. We all have some vague ideas but what he took me through made sense but I must add that mathematics has never been my forte.

We worked on the assumption that I would hang on to the car for 10 years, which many of us don't do. My friend warned me that if I were to work on the assumption that I changed my vehicle every 5 years, the cost would be much higher at which point I decided to work on the 10 year ownership model..

First I had to work out the cost of the car (that would be price of the car plus what I would have paid in interest for the loan), add 10 years' worth of annual insurance and road tax to the amount, add 10 years' worth of petrol (I multiplied my monthly average consumption by 12 months and then by 10years). Add to it maintenance (I put aside $200 a month multiplied by 12 and then by 10). Add 10 years worth of car park and ERP charges.

Finally minus whatever you will get back for the car at the end of 10 years (sell off as second-hand vehicle or scrap or whatever deal there is available).

I was then told to take the final figure and divide it by 10 years and then by 365 days to find out what it costs to use the car daily. I was told to sit down what I would then spend on taxi fares every day if I were to take a taxi for every trip. I was shocked by the final figure. But I managed to overcome it and proceed with the purchase of my car. But it was an interesting exercise.

If anyone with a good head for figures can tell me how accurate this exercise is, I am sure many others out there would appreciate it.

Meanwhile, I shall pass it on to you. Have fun with it.

He had the presence of mind to walk into a fast-food restaurant and ask for water. The staff there saw the condition he was in and gave him a big cupful.

Drinking while running is something which runners who are new to the game ignore because they don't realise how important it is just to make sure they don't drop dead. Of course drinking and drinking right can also affect your performance and running times, if you are one of the competitive sort.

Take a quick read of today's Sunday Times story if you are planning to run the marathon and you have not done any research on how to drink right during a run. The piece gives you tips on what to drink, when to drink and even how to drink it while running. Like the piece says: Consume too little fluid and you risk dehydration; drink excessively and it could dilute sodium levels in your body, causing hyponatremia.

They pay thousands to come to Singapore, have huge debts to repay, take home little and send all their money back to their original country.

When I drive along Little India on a Sunday, it is easy to grumble at the crowds gathered along the shops making the place inaccessible. But sometimes we should stop and chat with some of them and our view of them changes almost immediately.

I once had a long chat with one of these foreign workers and he told me that getting together to eat, drink and chat was among the few things they could afford to do.

For many, it was their only form of entertainment. When they splurge, it is to buy a few beers. Many of them send almost all the money they earn back home to where their families are.

When I spoke to my helper recently about the falling rupiah and how she could now change the money she was earning to millions of rupiah, she replied that falling value of the Indonesian currency was making life for her family even more difficult. The price of everything had shot up and it was impossible for anyone to buy even the basic of food items, she said.

Sitting down and chatting with some of these low-income workers often gives me a totally different take on life and the world around us. I find that I not only appreciate more what I have but also appreciate these people more because in many ways they are like any of us. They have families to take care of, they worry about feeding their children, they slog to give their children a good education and hope that their children have a better life than them. They have more things in common with us than we realise.

It is not the first time they have come under the spotlight. There have been many discussions before in the papers and on websites, as in the latest instance.

But has the situation improved? I don't think so.

Look at those stores which have been named and shamed for hiring staff who speak no English. They persist to use such because even though shoppers complain and grumble they continue to frequent them. Based on anecdotal evidence, more outlets than even seem to be using these non-English speakers. And with the slowdown in the economy, a cheaper non-English speaking Chinese staff may seem even more tempting to hire as they could make the difference between whether a store closes shop or survives this downturn.

We could all continue to complain or just try and make the best of the situation. More often than not, I tend to laugh it off though I have often been frustrated by such staff not because they don't speak English but because they also don't speak Hokkien, which I can speak a bit of.

The most recent amusing incident took place at a kiosk at a petrol station. My wife was queuing up to pay and making payment in front of her was a Caucasian. He asked for two packets of ice. The counter staff, a China national, promptly said: $25. The ang moh said again: "I want two packets of ice."

Sales staff: "Yes, $25."

Ang Moh: "Ice, ice."

Sales staff said: "Yes" . He keyed it into his cash register, tore the printout and showed it to the ang moh. "$25", he said.

The ang moh blurted: "Bloody expensive ice". and took out his wallet to pay for it.

My wife knowing that prices have gone up recently but not by that much stepped in, took a look at the bill and noticed that the counter staff had keyed in rice instead of ice. She again said ice but finally switched to Mandarin before he understood.

There are a few thngs we could do about the present situation as it really does not look like it is going to change. We could:

- Get upset every day and let these guys spoil your day

- Boycott the stores which don't provide English speaking staff

- Try and help each other out by stepping in and helping others to translate and explain and just putting up with the language problem.

I used to get upset but now I tend to accommodate them. They may not speak English but, in general, I find that they tend to be more polite and friendly. I would rather have a polite smiling China staff who uses sign language to communicate serving me than a rude Singaporean staff who makes you feel she is doing you a favour by attending to you.

When I was in New York two years ago, I was told that the annual Black Friday sale at Macy's was something not to be missed even though I was not an avid shopper. I was quite happy getting what I wanted from warehouse sales there. But I went out of curiosity. I will never do it again. I went there early, before Macy's opened, and there was already a 30metre thick crowd waiting to charge in. And when the store opened the way the crowd charged in reminded me of the many times I had watched on TV the bull runs where people dashed through the cobbled streets of Pamplona, Spain, with panicked and raging bulls in hot pursuit.

On the ground floor, I stopped to look at nothing. The crowd just kept charging on. The security staff stood at the escalator to limit the number of people getting up on it at one go to prevent it from breaking down. But as soon as I cleared the escalator, I was swept up by another crowd that took me to the next floor. The crowds thinned out as I got higher. It is a bit like traffic on the CTE where, congestion eases the further away you move from town.

I found out that the secret to not being shoved around was to hang out near the restroom. There you would be free from the jostling and squeezing. You might be mistaken for a pervert, but heck, you get to stay alive.

Even back then, I feared that if my kids were to trip and fall, it would be the end of them.

I hope shopping centres are not tempted to try these stunts in these desperate times where sales are slow.