I was once a Computer and I T DINOSAUR !

I have been asked at so many radio and press interviews since last year to tell my story to a wider audience. The story of how I, an acknowledged and confirmed computer and I T illiterate transformed myself in the space of 1-2 years, to the IT and internet savvy person I have become.

Where should my story begin ?

Let's begin at the beginning.....when the Yip family bought our 1st computer in the mid 80's. The brand was called Muiti-tech. It was a desk-top model and came with a table supplied for that purpose. My wife and I bought it mainly for our 2 daughters who were still schooling. We wanted them to be conversant with computer usage which was steadily increasing in Singapore schools and in offices. D2 was also able to use it for administrative work. Me? I only

use that computer to try my hand at some computer games like Pacman, Frogger and Bunnyville. That was the extent of my computer knowledge !

When the computer system and network slowly expanded in schools in the early 90's, we had some in my PE office at HCJC. Whenever certain forms or data returns needed to be submitted in a certain format ( Excel, etc..) , I was always stuck. I had some colleagues who were in my department quite proficient in this area. And if I asked them to do the job, for me, they would. But I can't be asking them all the time to do all the things that needed to be done..in such "computer format". Why? One, as a Head of Department, I cannot allow myself to be indebted to any of them. Two, there were also confidential matters that were not for their eyes.

Beside myself, there were also other " IT dinosaurs" in my midst. That compounded the problem as they too needed help and assistance quite often from the few proficient ones (much younger). How did I survive in that scenario and setting?

I was most fortunate that heavenly help for me came from the General Office in the person of Mdm Thanam. She was fully aware of my plight and IT handicap...and quietly offered

to help me whenever I required assistance. Mdm Thanam was at that time a very good clerical officer. She has a golden and blessed heart! I have never forgotten her kindness all these years even after I left HCJC in 1998 December. We remained in touch.

From 1999 till my retirement from service in 2005 December, I was at my last school.

The internet age had by then fully descended upon us and we all had individual e-mail accounts. All were issued their own laptops. We also had computers on our desk. Everyone was linked to each other in this huge network from MOE Hq, to schools, to us.

Overnight, it was a nightmare scenario for "dinosaurs" like me and others. Previously, the IT portion were requested in bits here and there.

Then suddenly...practically everything must be in this or that format. It became almost standard for the Boss, VP and fellow staff to ask for something in " hard and soft copy". My earlier problems with IT resurfaced...even more acutely now. I was still a Head of Department running the PE, Sports and CCA programmes. I held essentially the same beliefs as stated earlier. How did I survive ? Don't get me wrong btw,other than my IT handicap...I was very, very strong in the other aspects and areas of my work and responsibilities! ( When I do start a separate Blogsite focussing only on Education...I will be able to reveal much more and in great depth ).

Another angel appeared, much like Mdm Thanam, from the General Office too. This angel is still there by the name of Evelyn. To her, I was truely and greatly indebted. Many kinds of returns needed to be submitted in ever-increasing, and confusing formats( to dinosaurs like me). It was child's play to efficient Evelyn but still required much work, at times. We remain in touch still todate.

ps: to be continued in part 2.

Honouring The STARS...part 10.

Group photo:
From Left to Right
Seated:
Mr Philip Seah [CEO Prudential ], Mr Gerard Ee [ Chairman C3A ], Dr Vivian Balakrishnan [ Minister of Community Development,Youth & Sports], Mr Heng Chee How [ Minister of State, Prime Minister's Office & Deputy General Secretary NTUC] and RADM Ronnie Tay [ CEO of IDA ].

Me and my beloved daughter with the Infocomm Winner's Trophy and the prize envelope.

What's inside the envelope?

Would you believe it when I say none of us, the awardees knew what the prize or prizes were until that moment? It was perhaps a surprise of sorts.

Thus I was a little tickled when I read a report in "my paper"the free news tabloid saying that there was no cash prize for the award. The report is correct as there was no "cash" prize.


But the report did not mention that there were valuable prizes sponsored by the various organisations with a value of over $ 5000...which included $1000 cash vouchers from the Challenger Store.

The itemised prizes have been delivered to us personally at our homes. [ I will have another post about this separately ].

For now, I would like to thank all the various sponsors for supporting the C3A in their efforts to re-galvanise the seniors and the agers in our greying society.

Honouring The STARS...part 9.

In the Awards Presentation Ceremony, we were honoured by the VIPs from the 3 main sponsors who were invited up on stage to personally hand over the beautiful classic crystal trophy to the G-O-H, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.
I was pre-briefed that I would be the 1st to receive my Award...the Active Agers Infocomm Champion Trophy 2008.
When my name was announced, I walked up to the stage steadily, up the 4 steps, extended my hand to grasp the Minister's outstretched hand. He congratulated me and smiled saying "Well Done!"...then turning to his left gently and got hold of the trophy. He handed the trophy to me. The coterie of media photographers signalled us to pose for a few seconds. These pictures here were the handiwork of D0ra, my daughter with her own digital camera.

The next to receive his Award was Daniel Koh, who is standing next to me in the group photo. He received the Active Agers Prudential Prime Award 2008.
The award recognises the person who is still active in pursuits that are normally associated with younger people.
Following that were the Awards for the 5 most active agers given out by the C3A.

The Story at Red Sports Website

Red Sports writer wins Active Ager Award for infocomm
October 5, 2008
Story by Dawn Yip
Mr Dick Yip (left) receives his award from sports minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan. (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Mr Dick Yip, one of Red Sports’ pioneer writers, was named the winner of the 2008 Active Agers - Infocomm Champion Award. Chosen from a pool of almost 450 nominees, the award honours seniors who have embraced infocomm technology as part of daily life, and is offered jointly by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) and the Council for Third Age, an independent body which promotes active ageing.Mr Yip, who turned 61 years old this week, is a retired Physical Education teacher and grandfather of four. His journey from technophobe to technophile began when the death of his mother in 2007 prompted him to start a blog as a way for his extended family to share memories with each other. He also maintains his own personal blog.
When Red Sports launched in early 2007, Mr Yip was one of its first writers. His understanding of sports and the school sports scene were a great asset to Red Sports, and his articles - which covered a wide range of sports including badminton, netball, volleyball, and football - demonstrated an eye for detail, and a coach’s heart for the athlete.
Describing his Red Sports experience, Mr Yip said that writing about sports was the easy part. “But the technical aspect of working on Wordpress was beyond me at the time,” he said. “I didn’t know how to do quotes and italics. Quite a few times I wrote, and then I clicked something and all the words disappeared! But I had no choice but to learn how to do it. And I got better at it as time went by.”
The hard work paid off when he saw the finished stories published on Red Sports - “Every time I see how many people have read the stories, I feel so happy.”
At the award ceremony last night, IDA CEO Radm (NS) Ronnie Tay described Mr Yip as “an inspiration and role model to both seniors and younger ones…, demonstrating that age is no barrier to the digital world.”
Red Sports is delighted that a member of its crew has received national recognition - congratulations, Coach!

188 views Written by Dawn Filed under: Red Sports In Motion


Comments
4 Responses to “Red Sports writer wins Active Ager Award for infocomm”
4 brian Says: October 8th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Congratulations Uncle Dick! Massively proud of you!
3 Suratman Says: October 6th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Heartiest Congratulations!
2 Daniel Koh at 71 years - still a mountaineer, diver and shuttler Says: October 6th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
[...] Related story: Red Sports writer wins Active Ager Award for infocomm [...]
1 jan Says: October 5th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Way to go unk.Dick! (He was the first to introduce to me the hip+cool way of addressing someone “uncle”.)

Honouring The STARS...part 8.

These snapshots were captured from off the screen by my daughter D4. There were several pics of me from my Hwa Chong JC days..including a Tug-of-war between staff and students, won of course by...the staff side! I was the front man directing the strategy. Then there were a couple of sporty pics. In one, I was holding a Loudhailer and speaking into it. But the picture does not say much more other than that. As a matter of fact, uncle Dicko here was the Starter-in-Chief for many of the National and Open Canoeing as well as the Dragon Boat Regattas and Championships for many years. I was specially invited by the S'pore Dragon Boat Association and the S'pore Canoe Federation for many years to perform that role. The reason behind this was that I have a long history in sea sports going back to the 60's. But the most important and critical reason is the fact that I was known to be scrupulously fair, cool under duress, and never afraid if I have to disqualify a competitor or an entire dragon boat team based on clear violation of rules. So, has it ever happened? You bet! Even to the hot, pre-race favourite in Dragon boat and in canoeing. ( will blog more about my long involvement in sports later ). The snapshots also showed me and my ukuleles in the background.

There were photo images of my last school entertaining at the school Campfire, playing the guitar.

One showed me and D2 doing Big Game fishing in the Seychelles, of the east African coast.

Another....deep sea diving in the Maldives.

I did not choose these images. They were among the photos that the organisers picked from my albums for the screen shots.

Honouring The STARS...part 7.

The Programme for the night's event ran like clockwork with all guests seated by 6.30 pm.
Host of the Gala event, Brian Richmond, kept everyone rocking with laughter. As usual, he kept us all truly entertained until it was time to bring on Rahimah Rahim. One of his classic spoof that night was when he highlighted the recent news about traditional Peking Opera being performed in ENGLISH....next year. He thrilled the assembled with a parody of how it would sound like with his own version...very good.
Another even better one by Brian was when he attempted to create the sitar and tabla sounds using "Twinkle,
Twinkle Little Star." It was excellent!
Brian is truly a huge talent.
Rahimah too was jovial. She was able to make jokes about herself asking us if we had noticed her neatly wrapped

"turbanned" headgear. When we nodded, she asked " do you want to know why? No,no ...not for fashion lah. My hair...all white, so must colour lah ! "
After the G-O-H arrived, the opening speeches were made by the 3 main sponsoring grganisations.
Mr Gerard Ee, as Chairman of C3A, spoke about the awards. Five most Active Agers Awards, and the 2 new Awards created only this year...the
Prudential Prime Award and the Infocomm Champion Award 2008. He gave out some details. There were more than 450 nominees and the Selection Panel had done a difficult but great job of picking the BEST 5 and one each for the other 2 Awards. Citations were made about the 5 Active Agers.
The next to speak was Mr Philip Seah, CEO of Prudential Assurance Singapore. He gave an inspiring account of the winner of the Prime Award...Mr Daniel Koh. Finally, it was the turn of RADM (NS) Ronnie Tay, CEO of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. He gave a most glowing citation of why I was chosen as the 1st Infocomm Champion Award Winner. As the citation was carried Live...I realised that the video cameras were focussed on me. I could see myself on the screen and vantage sets all around. I blushed, never expecting such effusive and open praises in public and in front of a LIVE TV network. Fortunately, having been identified as the Wise Old Owl...I remembered the tip in time, to Smile and Grin if possible!
As soon as the citations ended, Dinner was served. Joining me at my table was Mdm R Krishnavani and her family members...seen here with her daughter. DT and D4 plus my wife and 2 security officers were the others. Little Jordy was strapped to his loving daddy.

Honouring The STARS...part 5.

Thirty years from today, I together with others like star DJ Brian Richmond , would surely be in sheer delirium if we can make it to this same spot and have another snapshot taken...for old time's sake. Of that, I'm quite, quite optimistic as we stroll into our 4th age. Little wee Jordy, my 2 month old grandson seen here with his proud parents D and D and grandmama D2, would by then be on the brink of 30-31 years old. And come to think of it the year would be 2038 ! Hard to imagine huh? But no one nor anything can stop Father Time as he marches on....relentlessly! The Great Depression in the 30's, World War 2, Korean War, Vietnam War, Oil Crisis, Afghanistan, Asian Financial Crisis, 9/11, Iraq war, world terrorism, Pandemics, bird flu and now the deepening world financial crisis...all these may slow down the world

a little. But life must invariably go on after the dark clouds have moved and bright sunshine comes again.

Before Dinner began, the various nominators were invited to receive their prizes too. My daughter D4 received hers from R/Adm Ronnie Tay, the CEO of IDA...which was the Sponsor of my Award.

Pre -Dinner also saw some table to table close-up entertainment. This was some superb close-up card tricks from a seasoned magician of some years. His hand movements were slick and moves undetactable. Even amateur magicians like D2 and I found it difficult to "catch" anything!
Yes, we were both previously members of Ring 115 of the IBM ( International Brotherhood of Magicians ). To be an accepted member, one has to perform a series of magical effects including close-up to a panel of established magicians...and pass the test.

Honouring The STARS...part 4

To honour the C3A's 7 Active Ageing Ambassador Winners of 2008, the organisers have spared no effort and left no stone unturned so to speak.

Nostalgia and Golden memories were the order for the night. And to bring the best of nostalgia for this occasion ...you'll have to get the very Best in the business of music and entertainment.
For emcee, it was Mr Gold 90.5 himself....Brian Richmond ! I have listened to that rich, golden and mellowed voice of Brian for as long as I can remember since he appeared more than 3 decades ago..on the
airwaves. Believe me when I say this top talent is in a class of his own. He knows his stuff and is extremely easy-going and relaxed. And moreover he has a huge storehouse of songs, singers, tunes, hits and all the quirky tid-bits, all at the tip of his fingers. Amazing!

Here we were, the two of us, comparing our ages...year of birth right down to the month and day.
And we discovered we were both born about 3 weeks apart in the same year! Fancy that! So, if you have never seen two handsome 61 year old man in a picture together...here's one for you!
In case any of you start wondering, Brian is my senior by 3 weeks lah! I called him my " elder brother" and we had such a great laugh over it.

D2 was saying here...I have always enjoyed the sentimental songs of yesteryears that you host on 90.5 Gold, nightly.

Honouring The STARS...part 2

The Council for 3rd Age has a very dynamic team that is led by none other than Chairman, Mr Gerard Ee himself.

Here, we can see him carrying on an animated conversation with D2, Mona and her daughter.

D2, Mona and her daughter and Mr Community Service himself...Gerard Ee.

D2 and Mr Gerard Ee in the glow of the evening sunset. The setting sun, with the darkening shadows, soon created a beautiful ambience at the bridge....perfect for such an event.

The Magnificent 7....Active Agers Awards Winners 2008!

The Magnificent Seven is a Western movie I'm sure most old timers of my generation would remember watching. It was about a loose collection of 7 different characters who got together to fight injustice and the bad guys. They, the seven, were the good guys. That was the old version.
Now meet the 2008 version of the Magnificent 7, all separate personalities but bonded together in one mission....to show, encourage and motivate fellow seniors and retirees to live actively and usefully.
There are no bad guys in the new story...just the vast number of seniors, many with greying hair, silvery hair, white hair, thinning hair or no hair and all entering their Golden or twilight years of their life.
Yes, all have worked very hard throughout their productive life to slip into this most respected and revered position... senior agers. But many are not living an active, purposeful life. In the short run that can be detrimental only to the individual. In the long run, it can harm the family structure and by consequence, the nation.
Therein lies the Mission and the Challenge faced by these 7 brave Active Ageing Ambassadors....to show and lead the rest on the quest towards a life filled with hope not despair, optimism not pessimism, courage not fear,love not hate, reaching out not isolated, fun and laughter not sadness and tears.
What the young can do, we can too....and MORE!
As the Nike advert line says...."JUST DO IT !"

Picture Source: Straits Times Monday 6th October 2008, page A16.

ps: Wise Owl alias uncle Dicko would like to offer the Heartiest Congratulations to my fellow
Award winners and our sincere thanks to C3A, IDA, Prudential and all the other sponsors and relevant organisations involved. Our Thanks to the various VIPs at the Night of the Stars!
More pics and blogposts upcoming.