Friday, August 31, 2007

What's better than free?

You know how they always say that prevention is better than cure? That's true, especially when there are so many viruses floating out there just waiting to get your computer. While there are many anti-virus programs available in the market for a fee, there are free Antivirus programs that you can download off the Net.

What's better than free? A free anti-virus program that is backed by not just one, but two reputable names in the computer industry. Yep. This here free download gives you free Norton antivirus software from Google. Both names solidly trusted by millions of Internet users worldwide. The free download gives you Norton's security scan, an anti-virus program and even allows you to download other free software in a Google pack. Now that's what I call value for money. Oh wait. It's free, so what money am I talking about? *smacks head*

But (yes, there's a but) it's only available for people in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom and United States. (For the rest of us in the world, there's always other resources available.)

This is a sponsored post brought to you by www.freeantivirusinfo.com

Happy Merdeka Day!


Happy Merdeka Day folks!

Malaysia celebrates 50 years of independence today. We've come a long way, haven't we? What are you doing?

Enjoy the long weekend, sleep in, watch the National Day parade, eat out, balik kampung, cause a traffic jam (or two. Or three. Or more!), go shopping (try not to curse if you can't get a parking space or get put off with the seas of people there), see fireworks or whatever celebration it seems that shopping malls have lined up in conjunction with this day. It ain't just another public holiday.

Oh yeah, and are you yellow today?

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Ah Roma!

Rome. The mere mention of the word conjures up images of the Emperor. The Coliseum. Lions and gladiators. Wise old men in togas debating politics and philosophy. And for some strange reason, Asterix and Obelix comics. Which lead to dreams of bards serenading bashful maidens on stone balconies and balustrades.

I'm sure that the real Rome isn't anything like what my imagination conjures up, so what better way to learn about Rome than to go to Rome and do as the Romans do? Traipse around town and take in the sights, sounds and smells of the city and then head on back to my
Rome accommodation before beginning my adventure all over again the next day. Should I stay in a hotel? An inn? A bed and breakfast? Or a traditional apartment like a real Roman would? Choices, choices.

The myriad number of choices available at RomaClick.com is dazzling. I am drawn to staying in
Rome apartments for the sheer adventure of it all. I get to pretend that I'm an actual resident of Rome rather than a trespassing tourist. Plus an apartment has all the advantages of home away from home. I think a cozy small apartment, with a little balcony and kitchen located somewhere central in the heart of the city and near to all the touristy sites would be just right. The Torre Argentina apartment near to the Piazza Navona and Campo sounds lovely and rather affordable at 60.00 EUR per person per night. I've never seen a real 15th century building before, much less stayed in one.

Oh, for a Roman holiday!

Yet another quickie update

Not a proper blogpost or even the semblance of one, but just a quick one to plug the fact that I've updated my other sites... heh. If you have NBTD, you can check out the slideshows of pictures which I have finally learned to insert into Rinnah's Makan Hut and see Part One of my Nokia N80 review at Rinnah's Marketplace. That's it from me for now, be back next month with more reviews and what happened at my convocation!

p.s. Will be jaunting off to Putrajaya tomorrow morning for the floral exhibition thingy. But not staying for fireworks as the parentals don't fancy the idea of being caught in the jam. :o(

p.p.s. Happy Merdeka, everyone! Don't forget to go yellow, okay? *wink*

Be inspired!



I am a voracious blog reader and my feedreader proves it! Despite the already crammed lists of items begging to be read (today's count is 524 entries and rising!), I still add new read-worthy sites to my feedreader whenever I feel like it. Maybe it's because I'm such a sucker for good reads. And some of these sites that I pick up on are really gems. They go into my motivational folder.

This blog by Karl Moore looks to be yet another addition to my feeds. Now Karl's bio says he is a best selling author and entrepreneur and officially one of the world's top 100 developers. I'm not a code geek (far from it!) so I just stick to reading Karl's blog. What I like about it is that most of the entries are short, but rather uplifting or interestingly informative. Like how he starts Mondays with a RAK or Random Act of Kindness and livens up Fridays with a Friday Factoid. So I get to learn something even while bloghopping. LOL.

If you like interesting, inspiring stuff, why not check out this blog today?

This is a sponsored post

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Quickie update

It's been a crazy week since I last updated my blog. Busy busy busy then sick sick sick. *bleargh*

Convo was... not what I expected. It was so hot it gave me a freaking headache and the stuffy black robe didn't help either. Will blog about that later... once I get around to editing my pics.

Healing crusade was great! *grin* But I was so tired from the hectic weekend that I fell ill immediately on Sunday night. Aiyo... I'm the one who needs healing now.

On the stroke of midnight on Sunday I was stricken with Angel's hurricane... which led to some pretension to the throne, followed by gastric pains that had me curled up in a little ball come Monday morning. Off to the doctor, got my MC, lunch, then back to college to return the graduation robes (silly college! Grrrrrr....), banking errands, dinner, grocery shopping. Later that evening, the slight beginnings of fever... which turned into...

Full fledged fever and chills on Tuesday! But still I dragged myself to work until I felt I could hardly stand due to the cold aircon in office before I gave up and dragged myself home and to the doctor again for the second time in two days. Where the idiotic doctor said there was nothing wrong with me - despite my exhibiting symptoms of fever, pain, the beginnings of a runny nose and a sore throat. Bah! Still managed to get my MC anyway and crawled back home to drop dead on the couch. Slept a bit, woke up and had like two bites of bread and medicine, went back to sleep, woke up, threw up everything, took medicine again, threw up again, went back to sleep. Woke up and surfed the net for a bit, read about going yellow, watched a bit of telly, had a small half bowl of porridge (yech!) for dinner, took medicine and went back to slumberland.

This morning, woke up feeling rather bouncy since the fever and chills were gone, but forgot about the lingering side effects of gastric and stomach bug. Pounding headache that feels like a mini migraine didn't help matters and I felt queasy all the way in to office. Even after I took my anti-vomiting pills, antibiotics and what not, it didn't do the trick and I threw up all my meds just before lunch. *bleargh* Luckily I felt better after that and could even eat a little bit of the rice, chicken and veggies to fill my very empty tummy. A quick 15 min nap at lunch hour revived me somewhat and I tentatively took another round of meds. As of writing this blog entry, it hasn't come back up yet, even though the tummy's still queasy and the head still pounds like there someone's twisting the nerves behind and just above my left eye.

Over 600 new items in my Bloglines feedreader! *pengsan* That's like 100 new entries a day. Boy, you guys sure are productive, eh? Beg your pardon as I try to catch up on all that's been happening over the past week... I may or may not leave comments as regularly as I used to but I still do read each and every one of your posts.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

From pillar to post

Busy busy busy. That describes my upcoming weekend that begins tonight. Three nights of healing crusade at my church (which I'm involved in) and convocation all happening at once. And both events happening on one side of town while I stay on the other side of town. *pengsan* And running around to get last minute stuff for both the crusade and the convo.

I have to:

~ Confirm booking of hotel for Friday night Done! Didn't manage to get Royale Bintang so I'll stick to Crystal Crown.

~ Rush off from work to attend briefing for crusade tonight

~ Pack stuff / clothes for convocation tomorrow

~ Prettify myself. LOL!

~ Remember to pack my camera and digicam - it'll be in great use this weekend!

~ Check in to hotel. Remember to ask for extended check-out time!

~ Attend rehearsal for convocation on Friday afternoon

~ Flowers? Presents? Teddybears?

~ Friday night crusade

~ Up bright and early for convocation!

~ Convocation... zzz during the speeches... wake up in time to receive scroll and take photos

~ Rush back to hotel to check out? (if got extended check-out time)

~ Home? Or straight to church?

~ Saturday night crusade

~ Sunday morning service?

~ Sunday night crusade

Ooo-er. *looks at weekend schedule* I need more time! But if you don't see me update between now and Monday, you'll know what's happened to me. *grin*

p.s. I do hope I get to squeeze in some time to see Giddy Tiger! *crosses fingers*

p.p.s. I hope it doesn't rain... and that all my pictures turn out bee-you-ti-fully.

p.p.p.s. I hope I can bloghop in between tasks...

Monday, August 20, 2007

Captcha!

I was so determined not to have a repeat episode of the other week that I sent reminder SMSes to my ex-collegemates on Friday night asking if the lunch today was on. Minutes ticked by as I waited for their reply. Ooo. 10 minutes, no reply. 15 minutes, no reply. 30 minutes, no reply. Finally... 40 minutes later - Yes, see you tomorrow. Another one responded an hour plus later. The third one, till Saturday afternoon at 12.30, still no reply. Hmm.

Anyway, I prepped myself like any serious blogger armed with not 1, not 2, but 3 cameras. Haiyoh, 2 of those cameras are in my phone leh. Made sure the batteries were fully charged and safely stowed in my bag. Somehow, I still like taking pictures with my digital camera better than my mobile phone. The feel of holding a camera is waaaaay better and the picture quality is better, no matter what. Which leads me to my new wishlist item! The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3! 7.2 megapixels and 10x optical zoom. Hehehe. I love the optical zoom feature in my camera. No digital zoom please!

It was a good lunch after all. We ended up in Marche and enjoyed a good round of natter and gossip as only girls (and old friends!) can. Hard to believe that I've known them for 4 years now. Was it really 4 years ago that I was studying for my diploma? Ooo... time flies.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

0 to 180 in ten

No, I'm not talking about a car that can rev from 0 to 180kph in ten seconds. (Sorry to disappoint the guys! LOL!)

It's the amount I spent in ten minutes in a mad rush at the Hush Puppies Happy Hour sale. I thought happy hours were only for drinks in bars, but evidently the folks at Hush Puppies decided it should apply to clothes on sale too. What they do is give you an additional 20% off your discounted items bought during the hour. I only found out about it in the last fifteen minutes, so I have never shopped faster in my life before. Grab, consider and keep or either throw back into the pile of less 50% items. Luckily, dad was around to obligingly help queue up while I rooted around. Six items of clothing amounting to about RM180.00 in ten seconds. Ooo-er. But they're all pretty good buys so I'm happy.

psst... Gals - I hear they're going to be repeating the happy hour every day until 02 September. I'm not sure if it applies to all HP stores, but definitely to the one in Subang Parade. I plan to go back for a more leisurely hunt on one of the remaining weekends. *grin*

I need a place to stow my stuff


I've been thinking a fair bit about redecorating my bedroom lately. You see, there's just so much stuff in my room that I need more space to keep it. And I thought to myself, what about a storage bed? Such a bed normally has two (or more) drawers underneath the bed so that you can stow your stuff and make use of the extra space there.

I randomly browsed FurnitureFromHome.com's
sectional furniture to the bedroom segment and saw a number of bedroom sets that had under bed storage but none that appealed to me. Sure, there were a lot of designs to choose from in a myriad of different styles and colors, and even a number or two that I liked, but didn't fulfil my requirement of under bed storage

That is until I came across this set. This is a bedroom set with a difference. A
queen storage bed, selling at 50% off for a limited time only. With sturdy birchwood construction with an oakey finish would blend in well with my current bedroom furniture, it has eight (yep, count 'em) drawers for storage underneath the bed. That's a lot of stuff I can chuck and hide underneath, don't you think? *wink*

Now if only they were available in Malaysia. I guess I'll have to shop for a local rubberwood alternative then.

This post is brought to you by FurnitureFromHome.com.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Guess what I did this morning?

I was up today at 6.00am after a fitful night of sleep. 6.00am is way earlier than when I wake on weekdays for work. Oh well. Weird dreams again too. This time, I was starting a new job again and one of my friends who's in HK was working at the company too and she was pregnant! Does this bode well for her? *grin*

Since I had NBTD, I hopped online and checked my email. Bloghopped. Responded to comments. Did a paid post. (Might as well be productive, eh?) Found out about the Blog Action Day
from Pelf's site. It's a good cause, so I signed up for it and put the button in my sidebar. Be ready with a post on 15 October, yah. Save the world! (Dunwanna end up like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. "Goodbye world and thanks for all the fish!" Them dolphins are really smart. Wakakakakakaka! *grin*) Nosed around on FaceBook. Added a friend. Invited some people from my address book to be friends.

The parentals were up and about by this time too, and left to do the weekly marketing. I'm waiting for my brekkie to come back to me. Heh.

Still online. Trying to use MobiK to send out free SMSes, but it doesn't seem to be working. What's wrong? :o(

Spent some time working on my phone review. It'll be super long, so I think I'll break it up into 2, 3 or even 4 parts. Stopped in between for brekkie - tau foo fa (aka tau huey in Singapore).


A N D T H E N . . . . . . . .

My itchy hands went to search, oh so casually, to see if the domain with my name was available. So my fingers typed in
www.rinnah.com. And... OMG! It was available! *pengsan*

Then har... this Yahoo was so bad. They had a link that practically screamed (even in size 7 font) get your domain name now... only USD1.99. How to resist like that? Hurhurhur. *looks sheepish*

Oh boy, my impulsive nature. *shakes head* You can guess the rest of the story, right? Right?

Dial me up to Australia please!

I have so many more reasons to want to go to Australia now. Not just for holidays in Australia, but to visit these people whom I consider my friends... First, I wanna visit May in Sydney. Then I wanna go to Adelaide to visit Ehon. Then I'll head over to Perth to see my cousin sister who's studying there. Finally I'd come back to Sydney to see my cousin brother who just moved there for work. That should take me, oh, I think around one month? One week in each place. *grin*

But flights to Australia aren't exactly the cheapest thing, so I need to be shopping around for the best deal. Did you know the DialAFlight offers you the opportunity to tailor make your holidays? This leading independent UK travel company is chock-a-block full of useful information that I can use to shape my travel plans. From cheap flights to holiday offers, I'm sure they'll be able to arrange for me an itinerary that will cover all I want to see and do. (Hey, you guys in Australia can cover the eating bit, right? *wink*) Hotel accomodation and even car rental can be done by DialAFlight so you don't have to worry about a single thing and just enjoy your holiday.

But actually, I don't just want to visit Perth, Sydney and Adelaide. I want to go to all the places that I've read about too. Melbourne, Queensland and... Gold Coast, here I come! Woohoo! (p.s. Anyone wants to sponsor me? Heheh.)


This post is brought to you by DialAFlight.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Three for the road

Was it Elvis who sang, "One for the money, two for the show, three for the... now go go go!" Yeah, I think it was him all right. Blue suede shoes, right? Anyway, Giddy Tiger passed me the baton for this tag of threes. Everything comes in threes for this tag. And I thought I'd do it a little differently this time. Anything different?

Three things that scare me are
1. Horror/slasher/supernatural movie flicks - Nuh-uh. I ain't going to no cinema and paying good money to freak myself out!
2. Reptiles and creepy crawlies - This is why I would never make a good contestant on Fear Factor.
3. My overactive imagination - How else can you describe being frightened by Jaws and Ghostbusters? Okay, okay... so I was three at the time. I was convinced that ghosties lurked in my room and had nightmares about being eaten by sharks.

Three people who make me laugh
1. Me - Haha. I'm so funny I crack myself up!
2. My dad - He and I share the same sense of humor so we frequently share jokes that only he and I can understand.
3. That someone - *smile*

Three things I love
1. My parents - But they don't exactly qualify as things, right? *grin*
2. My car - It takes me places that I could never have gone to without it. How could I have gone so many years without my car?
3. My Internet connection - Never, ever leave my side, okay? Okay.

Three things I hate
1. My job - Not the work, just the servitude part of it. It sucks.
2. The evil stepmother She who cannot be named - Need I say more?
3. Rude, pushy, impatient people - Ugh! All classified as idiots under Zewt's post here.

Three things I don't understand
1. Why me? - Why? Can this question ever be answered...
2. The people running the government - I don't have the mind of a politician so I cannot understand them.
3. Why money is so important - To the point that it becomes the overwhelming and driving force of so many people's lives.

Three things on my desk
1. My computer - How else can I blog in office? *wink*
2. My diary - To keep track of boss.
3. My telephone - So that boss can yell at me over the phone.

Three things I am doing right now
1. Doing this meme - If not how to answer, right?
2. Thinking of what to eat tomorrow - Meeting with ex-college mates. Hopefully no FFK tomorrow!
3. Wanting to sleep - Even though I napped just now. It's my body's Friday night conspiracy...

Three things I want to do before I die
1. Complete that list of 1,001 things to do before I die - Hahaha... get to fit in a lot of stuff this way.
2. Tell my loved ones I love them - Because I believe you can never say it too few (or too many!) times.
3. Make sure I leave no loose ends behind - No one wants to tidy up your mess.

Three things I can do
1. Type really, really fast - So that I can churn out blog entries and paid posts quickly.
2. Sing a song I've heard for a few times only - If got lyrics, I just need to hear it once or twice. If I have to memorize the lyrics, more times.
3. Mind-blog? - LOL!

Three things I can't do
1. Cycle - So please don't put me on a bike! I'll fall right off.
2. Sales - Never was the type to sell ice to the Eskimos. And I find it hard to say no to those salespeople too.
3. Draw or paint - Stick men are the best I can do. I think that passed for modern art in the cavemen era, no?

Three things I think you should listen to
1. God - Because He's God, that's why.
2. Yourself - Because other than God, you know what's best for yourself.
3. Me - Because I can give you really good advice. Heh.

Three things you should never listen to
1. Toxic people - You know, the kind who never have anything good to say about anything and everything but just delight in tearing you down.
2. Politicians - Because you never know how much of what they say are empty promises or hot air.
3. Me - How much do I know about you anyway? LOLOL!

Three shows I watched as a kid
1. Thundercats - Thundercats.... Hoooooooo! I wanted to be Wiley Kat/Kit. And I thought my mum was Cheetara, my dad was Lionel. Haha.
2. Smurfs - Does any one remember those little blue people anymore?
3. Sesame Street - The Barney of that time. Every parent who wanted their kid to be smart made them watch that show. All together now... "How to get to Sesame Street...."

Three people I am tagging
1. You - If you have NBTD
2. You - If you have acute blogivitis
3. You - If you like tags

Goin' green

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I certainly don't do enough on my part to help combat global warming. In fact, a lot of what I consume, buy and use all indirectly contribute to this problem and a simple online test taken a few weeks back said that we would need 2.4 planets if everyone lived the way I did. *blush*

A lot of hype has been made about new technology that is supposed to provide us with clean, renewable energy sources, but to date, these things remain a dream expressed only by the scientists and Hollywood in movies. (Anyone remember The Saint or Chain Reaction?) Closer to home, there were some efforts to get people interested in solar energy thru sales of solar panels that would generate enough electricity to power your home with the excess being sold back to TNB. But very few people would have taken up that offer, because of the high cost of installing the solar panel. Besides, publicity was not widespread enough. Compare then, the following press release by British Gas for households in England:


BRITISH GAS LAUNCHES GREENEST ENERGY TARIFF
9 August 2007: British Gas has announced it is launching two new
green energy tariffs, Zero Carbon, which will be the greenest tariff available on the domestic market and Future Energy. British Gas has launched the tariffs, in response to the increasing demand for green energy products.

Householders signing up to the Zero Carbon tariff will:
• reduce their household energy carbon emissions to zero through Kyoto compliant offset schemes which will meet the new Defra requirements
• help fund a direct increase in investment in renewable energy generated in the UK
• contribute to the new British Gas green fund which will:
o invest in developing new renewable technologies such as wave power
o oversee a programme to help schools in the UK reduce their CO2 emissions

Gearóid Lane, Managing Director British Gas New Energy said,”Our new tariff responds to consumer demand for truly green energy solutions. It is essential that customers have confidence in green energy tariffs and that their credibility is not damaged by tariffs that claim to be green but in reality do not deliver any incremental environmental benefits. Green tariffs are moving from niche to mainstream products and we’re leading the industry by offering a tariff that will do more for the environment than any other product currently available.”

Under the government’s Renewables Obligation (RO),
electricity suppliers in the UK are already required to produce an increasing percentage of their electricity through methods such as wind farms which, unlike traditional power plants, produce zero carbon emissions. For 2007/2008 this figure is set at 7.9%.

In a recent report, the National Consumer Council (NCC) raised concerns that some energy suppliers are packaging electricity which is produced under the RO scheme as “green”, yet it delivers no additional environmental benefits. The NCC called on energy suppliers to take steps beyond their legal requirements and offer green energy tariffs that provide genuine additional environmental benefits, in particular CO2 emissions reduction.

British Gas worked with Global Action Plan and The Climate Group’s “We’re in this Together” campaign to develop Zero Carbon which goes further than any other green tariff in meeting these requirements offering consumers the only zero carbon option on the market.

The tariff carries a premium of £84 per year, reflecting the higher cost of producing energy through lower carbon emission schemes.

Virginia Graham, Chair of Global Action Plan, said, “The British Gas Zero Carbon tariff delivers on all three of the essential requirements of a green tariff which are: additionality, transparency and verifiability. As such it is a very welcome new offering in the market. Consumers signing up to the tariff can be confident that they are getting 12 per cent more renewable energy than they would otherwise have got. The carbon emissions from their electricity and gas will also be offset with emissions reductions from projects accredited by the United Nations.”

Zero Carbon is one of the first initiatives launched through the ‘We’re in this Together’ campaign, which was launched in April 07 as an alliance of some of the UK’s biggest brands who are all working to help their customers reduce their impact on the climate.

Dr Steve Howard, CEO of The Climate Group and founder of ‘We’re in this Together’ said, “We’re committed to offering people ways to make a real impact on climate change through Together.com. We’ve worked with British Gas to ensure that Zero Carbon is a genuine step forward in delivering more environmental benefits than any other tariff currently available.”

British Gas’s second green energy tariff, Future Energy, offers an alternative green electricity tariff at a premium of just £20 per year. Customers signing up to this tariff will contribute to a green fund which will provide solar panels and other renewable energy technologies to UK schools. Money from the fund will also be invested in development of future renewable technologies and sources.

To sign up customers can call British Gas on 0845 604 0055 or visit www.britishgas.co.uk



So, can we do our part on our own here in Malaysia?

This is a sponsored post brought to you by British Gas.

Decisions, decisions

I need to make a split-second decision now but I'm waffling over it.

Do I say "Jump!" and just do it like Nike or do I stay back and regret what might've been?

Can someone help me please? *makes Puss-in-Boots eyes*


**********
UPDATE:

So I decided to jump. And lo and behold... the sight of concrete rushing up to greet me instead of the deep end of the pool. Hey, who drained the water?!?! Can you say S P L A T? Ouch.

Better to have hit the floor jumping than staying safe but sorry. Although I do hope there's no repercussions for my decision on Monday.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Am I in harmony?

Nicked this test from Tine's blog while I was bloghopping. Since I had NBTD, I decided to check out what kind of blogger I am. What say you, my fair readers? *wink*

Your Blogging Type is Kind and Harmonious

You're an approachable blogger who tends to have many online friends.
People new to your blogging circle know they can count on you for support.
You tend to mediate fighting and drama. You set a cooperative tone.
You have a great eye for design - and your blog tends to be the best looking on the block!

More bits, bobs and floating boats

Life has been rather boring of late. Nothing much to see, do, say or even write - beyond paid posts, that is. Thank goodness for tags to do! But even that has run out now. What to yak about?

Oh yeah, I'm supposed to come up with a full on review of my new phone. But I feel like procrastinating for a bit on that one. Leave that for next week, ok? I wanna make it a detailed and perfect review. In the meantime, I'll just play around with it some more. Still haven't fully explored what it can do.

Supposed to post my foodie experience at Eden over at the Makan Hut, but the draft's at home in my laptop. So that'll have to wait for now. Let's just say I wouldn't recommend their Merdeka dim sum promotion. *bleargh* On the other hand, I need to lose some weight! *pokes tummy* Yep, all that fat has gotta go.

Did a number of posts over at Just Being Malaysian, but nothing else funny to write about the (comics) news anymore. H O W C O M E no fresh news to write about? W H Y? *shakes head sorrowfully* Then again, no news is good news, hor?

Hmm, a funny tidbit for the day. I heard the Emperor suffered a near heart attack this morning, no thanks to his kai mui, wennnn. Hehehehe. He must've "pengsan-ed" after, eh? Just kidding. Ehon, where is your "de-pengsan-ing potion"? And I thought you were supposed to come up with some hyppy pills for me? Mana?

I am so addicted to FaceBook... what with food fights, super poke, 101 quizzes to take, drinks to buy, flowers to give, etc etc etc. The King of Siam would never be bored with FaceBook, methinks. But I find that eventually the profile page gets so cluttered. Cannot see what I want to see unless I close all the applications.

Talking of messy, I've been thinking of doing a redesign of my blog 'cause I want a three-column design like Giddy Tiger, but not sure how to do it in Blogger, and worried I'll destroy the links, ads, and whatnot widgets I've set in the sidebar. My itchy hands also tell me I want my own domain... but... I can wait... for now. I think. Argh!

S'kay... I have five different blogs to keep me occupied for now. Five too many blogs, I think. *sheepish grin*

Am I boring you yet? LOL!

If you need some help...

... with your addiction. There are so many things I'm addicted to. Like the Internet, blogging, following tv serials and reality shows, and lately, FaceBook. It's like this thing that just creeps up on you can before you know it, you're addicted!

But thankfully I have never been addicted to nicotine, alcohol and drugs. Those are bad addictions for your health. And I'm also thankful that none of my immediate family members have such hardcore addiction and are in that kind of situation, although I do wish that my cousins would cut down on their smoking and alcohol consumption. I want them to live longer, you see. They've tried to go cold turkey before (like when another uncle of mine passed away of a sudden heart attack), but eventually they strayed back to the track. Perhaps they are chronic relapse victims?

Unfortunately, I can't tell them to go to rehab, and like most people, we all have this mental picture of drug rehab stigma as those government run centres that remind one of jail and you frequently read about escapees or riots. *grin*

But the truth is, rehab doesn't have to be like that. If only we had a service like 1-800-NODRUGS.com, a non-profit referral service that helps you or your loved ones find drug or alcohol rehab organization near to you. (Come to think of it, I can't name even one such organization in Malaysia.) What I like about them is that they provide you with so many tools to help combat such destructive addiction - from online assessment about addiction to information about the drugs and what it does to you, even intervention and how to do it successfully.

Addiction isn't just about one person (the addictee), it's about him/her and all those close to them. If you know of someone who needs help, why not get them on the right path today? It just takes one call (or one click). You could be saving their lives.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Gimme a five!

Kena tag again by Ehon. Good lar like this... no need to think so hard about what to post. Kekekekekeke!

INSTRUCTIONS:
Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so:
1. Midnite Lily.com
2. Mistyeiz
3. Wuching
4. Ehon's Rojak'd Life
5. Rinnah

Choose 5 people to tag:
Chen
Healy
Giddy Tiger
Angel
Leonard

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Hmm... I remember I was very emo, stubborn and flighty (because it was teenage years lar). Suka one thing today and dislike it the next day. Oh yeah, and chicken pox! I thought I'd escaped it since I didn't get it in primary school... but still got it anyway. Dunno how I got it also, because no one I knew of was having chicken pox at that time.

What were you doing 1 year ago?
Stressing out about juggling studies and job. Was entering my final semester and had my dissertation to write. Really didn't like my dissertation supervisor (who happened to be my lecturer for a few subjects) because he didn't help much, if at all. -_-"

Five snacks you enjoy
Pringles! Cheezels. Dark chocolate. Wafer biscuits. And... ice cream? All very bad for the waistline. Tsk tsk tsk. What can I say? I like my snacks too much.

Five songs that you know all the lyrics to
Too many to count! OK, urm.... Hit Me Baby One More Time, Misty, One Sweet Day, Sway and Emotions. All songs on my playlist.

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire
Already answered loh! In this tag here.

Five bad habits
Grumbles a lot, sleeps too much, procrastinates, spends too much, eats too much? Hahaha... Help, I need to go on that diet!

Five favourite toys
My new Nokia N80, my laptop, my digital camera, uh... my Dad's PDA. That's about it, I think.

Five things you like doing
Eating! Sleeping! Shopping! Driving! Hanging out with friends. 'Nuff said. *wink*

Five things you would never wear again
Baby clothes - cannot fit mah! Frilly frou-frou dresses - so itchy, you know. Silly late 80s - early 90s style ankle boots - I can't believe I wore them! Leotards with leg-warmers - my dance crazy phase. Nerd glasses with plastic frames - style disaster!

Okie. That's all folks!

I'm making a list...

... and checking it twice!

Now my dad's not that much of a handyman tinkerer type, but he still has a lot of tools laying around the storeroom in the house. I for one, do not comprehend why he needs three different types of hammers and at least a dozen screwdrivers with assorted hooks, nails, screws, blah blah blah in four different toolboxes. As I'm starting on my search for Christmas gifts for him, I wonder if he'd appreciate a heavy duty workbench toolbox from Car Guy Garage? He can store all his tools in one place - no more searching in four different toolboxes - and best of all, mum will be happy that all the "junk" is out of the way!

Yep, sounds good to me. *makes note on shopping list*

This is a sponsored post.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

New phones, old phones...

My family's been on a phone buying spree of late. Why? Cos' we all upgraded our phones. LOL! First up was me. Remember I blogged about my dad getting me a new Nokia N80 Internet edition? Hehehe.

Then, dad decided that he wasn't very happy with his O2 PDA phone (the phone reception's lousy), so he went and got a Dopod 818 Pro on Saturday. Yet another PDA phone, so he's lugging both around at the moment! *rolls eyes*

So because we both had new phones, my mum mentioned that her phone (Nokia 3100?) was old and the battery needed replacing etc. So guess what? Yup. We got her a new phone on Sunday. The Nokia Classic 3110. (We're a primarily Nokia phone family, if you haven't guessed by now.)

We're all still learning how to work our phones, because mine and mum's is under the new Nokia interface, which is slightly different from the one we're used to. My mum actually called me up in the middle of yesterday because she couldn't figure how to SMS me! But, she did learn how to use the camera, and I expect it won't be long before she starts clicking away. Hmmm... a potential blogivitis convert? LOLOL!

So right now we have two old Nokia phones to be sold off - mine and Mum's. Both are Nokia 3100 (I think that's the phone model, but I'm not sure, have to check), and still in pretty good shape (may need to get new batteries though). Comes complete with individual original charger, user manual and box. Anyone wanna buy? Price negotiable (depends on market rate). *grin*

In pursuit of good grades

I just had a conversation with my colleague today wherein she lamented the fact that her school-going son was most lazy to complete his school assigned homework, much less his tuition work. Tutoring seems to be the trend nowadays as parents send their kids for tuition in order to ensure that they get good grades and exam results. Even kindergarden age kids are going for tuition! With the mushrooming tuition centers easily available at every garden, how do you know that your kids are being taught by proper professionals? (And I don't mean moonlighting teachers at their second jobs.)

If it were my kid in question, I'd choose a tutoring option like TutorVista.com, where the tutoring is done online, one-on-one by certified professionals who have graduate degrees and undergone hours of training before they are allowed to tutor. English, math, science, homework help and even examination prep for exams like SATS are all covered and the beauty of online tutoring is that you don't even have to leave the comfort of your home. One on one attention assures greater effectiveness than 30 kids under 1 stressed out teacher and best of all, the tutoring program can be personalized based on initial assessments or school/college curriculum.

Come to think of it, I would have liked this service myself during my undergraduate studies! *grin*

Monday, August 13, 2007

Of threes and eights

Again, it was a Friday night with nothing better to watch on the boob tube so I finally watched Spiderman 3, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Uncle Ho. *grin* I actually liked it better than Spiderman 2, and thought the visual effects for Venom and Sandman were pretty good. Pity about the messy storyline and erratic acting though. Tobey Maguire's attempt to make Peter Parker this cool hip-hop cat just made me snigger and think he was rather wimpy and gay! LOL. Uhm, Tobey, you can't dance, so please lay off the fancy footwork, k? And the "brokeback" style references to love... hmm. Not exactly my cup of tea.

**********
Very lazy to blog today. Dunno lah, just don't have the inspiration to come up with a wonderfully creative parody post like Zewt
. So how? Do tag lah! Kekekekekeke!

First up, the lovely Wennnn bestowed upon me the honor of being named a sampat blogger!
Then this Ehon hor, he also said I am a sampat blogger just because I always comment on his every post. Where got... others also got comment on every post what... Does this mean he thinks I'm stalking him? LOL!

For the uninitiated, the definition of sampat is to be busybody or kaypoh... I will also add that to sampat is to talk nonsense (but in a good way, lah!)... so in a way it is an extension of the schmoozing award loh.

So who else do I think is a sampat blogger? Neh, these people lor... LB, Chen, Ehon, Mistipurple, Angel, Winn, Sengkor, Liucas... all very sampat. Kekekekeke! Others also got lah, but these people more keng at sampat-ing.

**********
Then Giddy Tiger said I should have a very fatt graduation gift.
So ong, hor? I must be prospering this year.

"Each person links to the person who tagged them. Then each person posts the rules before their list. Then they list 8 things about themselves. At the end of the post, that person tags and links to 8 other people and then visits those people's sites and comments and lets them know that they've been tagged, and to come read the post so they know what they have to do …"

Eight things about me? Easy peasy.

1. I am of average height (5'5"), but for some strange reason, everyone insists that I am tall. I wonder if I have some kind of optical illusion spell on their eyes? Now if only that worked for melting away the excess baby fat in their eyes too...

2. I like male dominated sports. Most guys roll their eyes when they find out I am into football (English soccer), rugby, F1 and wrestling. And they often don't believe me that I actually like these sports and follow the season avidly. But of course, I don't play any of these sports! Bwahahahaha.

3. I have the memory of an elephant for dates (or so my friends think!). Birthday dates, wedding dates, anniversary dates any date that is a special occasion. If you're someone close to me, a real good friend, I'll remember every special occasion date of yours - date you joined a company, date you left, day you got engaged, etc. Actually, my trusty Gcal helps me a lot too. *wink* So who wants me to remember their birthdays? I'm taking numbers now...

4. I don't have 20/20 vision. Not exactly blind as a bat, but still blur enough that I can't go a single waking moment without some form of visual aid, i.e. my glasses/contacts. My mum blames it on reading while lying in bed. Or maybe the tv.

5. I'm a bit OCD about the placement of my stuff. Like which book goes where and the order of my clothes hanging in the closet. Strangely, the OCD does not extend to obsessive cleaning. Just tidying and straightening stuff. And I know when people have been sitting at my desk or using my stuff. I just know. Because you messed up my pencil arrangement! Hahahaha.

6. I haven't had much luck with pets. My supposedly hardy tortoise choked to death on fish food, my puppies were poisoned by the wicked neighbor, my kittens ran away and my hamsters kicked the bucket after one year (except for my favorite, who was with me for two years). But I do adore playing with them, just not the cleaning up bit!

7. Fruit is not high on the list of foods I eat. Not to say I don't eat fruit, just that I prefer not to eat it until they've been peeled, cored, cut, whatever. I would rather not eat fruit unless it's been "processed". And I don't look for fruit - in fact, I can go for weeks without eating fruit if I want to. Weird mou?

8. I officially graduate in 2 weeks time! Whoopee! And I want one of those cute teddybears with a mortarboard and robe. LOL. The florists are going to be making a killing, just like Valentine's Day.

I don't know who to tag with this tag, so I'm going to borrow LB's three blind mice tactic. The first three chuppers for this post have to do this tag! But... I'll be nice and add 3 extra hug hug points each for them. Hehehe.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Nirvana cares for you?

So I attended my uncle's memorial service last night and will be going again tonight. But I gotta admit to this. In the midst of it all, the blogger in me (blogivitis acting up!) just couldn't help but want to whip out my camera and take pictures of the place so that I could blog about it. :o( Of course I restrained myself from doing so out of respect for his family. But I can still talk about the place, right? *grin*

I'd never been to the Nirvana Hall just off Jalan Kuchai Lama and it's grand (for a funeral parlor, that is). The lobby has a flat screen tv that shows endless advertisements for the company, parlor and services - it's like the adverts that show in the karaoke joint, if you know what I mean. Just like hotels, they have that signage thingy near the lift that directs you to which parlor you're supposed to go to. The lift is morbidly long (to accomodate coffins, I suppose). And the hall which we got was excellently decorated. Plush carpeting, wallpaper and wood detail on the floor and walls. Cinema style PVC leather seats in rows (my, the chairs were comfy!) complete with drink holder in the armrest. In front they have a wall that's fully decorated with fake flowers and the picture of the deceased is in the centre and you have to walk around to the back to view. It doesn't sound so nice in words, but it was really, really posh set-up. Even the staff of the parlor walked around in suits - they were better dressed than the guests. And I'll never see the Ikea laundry bag in the same light ever again. You know the laundry stand that retails for about RM11.90 and comes in white, black and turqoise blue? They were using those very same laundry bags as trash bins. LOL!

And the advertising! Oh, that was funny. On posters with poems and phrases supposed to comfort those left behind, suddenly at the bottom you'd find a picture of Super Coffee Mix 3-in-1 and a little caption that said - to warm you up. RM1.00. Another poster touted orange peel candies at RM0.80. I think there were other posters for Shangdong peanuts and something else. Everything's all about the $$, right? Funeral parlors are no exception.

Is it morbid to say that if ever the time comes for mine I'd like to have it there?

p.s. This is NOT a sponsored post.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

There's a hole here where you left...


My uncle passed away last night. He was 63, and had recently been diagnosed with cancer in May. He leaves behind his wife, four sons, one daughter, one daughter-in-law, two daughters-in-law to be, four grandchildren and other close relatives. The wake will be held over the next two days, and the burial on Friday.

I'll always remember my uncle to be a man of few words (all my uncles are like that, except for one. Heh). He was a very principled man, some times to the point of obstinate stubbornness and proud. Oh yes he was. Yet he could be the most humble of men at other times, and a good father to his children. He was not afraid of hard work, and worked to give his family a better life - they are not rich, but they are comfortable.

My favorite memories of him are during Chinese New Year gatherings, when he would belt out his favorite oldies songs, the ones which required a great deal of expression, in his deep voice with lots of vibrato. Impossible Dream, Love Story, Don't Cry For Me Argentina, House of the Rising Sun... all his favorites. His signature song? My Way. No one in the family sang it better than him. But I think this song is best to remember him by today - he sang it a few times and I can hear it in my mind right now...

Born Free

Born free, as free as the wind blows
As free as the grass grows
Born free to follow your heart

Live free and beauty surrounds you
The world still astounds you
Each time you look at a star

Stay free, where no walls divide you
You're free as the roaring tide
So there's no need to hide

Born free, and life is worth living
But only worth living
'cause you're born free

Stay free, where no walls divide you
You're free as the roaring tide
So there's no need to hide

Born free, and life is worth living
But only worth living
'cause you're born free

Rest in peace, uncle. I'll see you up there in heaven.

Monday, August 06, 2007

I'm in a Christmassy mood already!

I've always been very advanced. By advanced, I mean that I prepare for things ahead of time. I'm the weird one who starts thinking about Christmas when we haven't even passed Hari Raya, and plays Christmas carols from the middle of October onwards! LOL! And since Christmas is pretty much a big thing for me, you can be sure I have a whole list of presents to get for people big and small. Because there are so many people I think of, I frequently need to stretch my ringgits yet make sure the recipient gets a lovely gift.

This is where Coupon Chief comes in handy. They have a wide range of retailers with coupons so that I can save money, yet not stinge on the gifts like Amazon.com coupons. I can get practically many things from Amazon like books, DVDs and even beauty products. I also checked out their Dell coupons, because I'm into electronic stuff, and found that I can save up to $350 on a new desktop. The desktop's for me lah, for who else?

X'mas came early this year! *tra la la la la*


Sunday, August 05, 2007

A wish comes true


I am so super happy.

Finally, I can cross off one of the items on my wishlist - a Nokia N80 internet edition phone. Wheeeee! Yes, I can now surf on the move for free anywhere there is wifi. And I can blog on the go. And I get to take really cool pictures with the 3-megapixel camera. And... this is gonna sound so suaku but I have mp3 ringtone now! Bliss! (Full on review will be done in Rinnah's Marketplace later.)

Thanks to my wonderful papa for making this a reality for my graduation. *muacks*

Friday, August 03, 2007

PPP blogposts do attract attention

I used to be one of those bloggers who didn't like sponsored posts and blogs that had such posts. That was until I discovered how relevant these written ads can actually be. I began clicking on those that interested me, and got to know of so many products and services that I wouldn't know existed if not for those blog entries. And I'm not the only one.

As it turns out, PayPerPost has conducted a study that shows on average, click through posts deliver a 10.545% click through rate. Compare that to an average return of .5 - 1.5% for Google AdSense. That's a pretty good response rate for online advertising, I think. And if I had a product or service to promote, I'd definitely utilise PayPerPost as one of my advertising tools. For a reasonably low fee, you can spread the word to a varied and large segment of online users who may be in need of what you have to offer. Modern marketers have to go to where the people are and adverts on blogs are the latest trend.

For those who still don't like sponsored posts, you're always welcome to skip it. But who knows, you might just happen across one post that has the exact info that you're looking for. So don't be so quick to skim past, okay? *wink*


Thursday, August 02, 2007

Bag it up, mate!


Paris Beaverbanks wrote that she would buy an LV bag if she had a million, just because she could. And her comment set me off dreaming about a Designer Purse of my own. I already know which one I want - a beautiful creamy Bottega bag. There's nothing a girl loves more than shoes and bags which are fashionable, and designer fashion if she can afford it is even better. TheDivasDreams.com is one of the places I'll go to just to oogle, dream and window shop because of their excellent style tips and good rundown on what's hot and what's not. One of the blogs by Belisi, he has a whole host of beauty and style related blogs that I can spend ages on. So tata, I'm off to look at some style!

This is a sponsored post.


Addicted

81%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Portland Singles from Mingle2

I knew it. I've so got blogivitis.

Autumn leaves are falling, falling


Even though Malaysia has no four seasons, somehow I always equate the month of August with autumn! It must be because both words start with A and U... and that reminds me of Little Miss May in Australia. *grin*

It's time to shed some leaves reveal the blog-hoppers who have been raking in points for July at this branch of The Hug Hug Club! *drumroll*

In first place, a very young and pretty maple tree, it's Misha with 32 hug hug points!!!

In second place duet, a silver and a poplar tree, Angel and Leonard with 28 hug hug points each!!

And in another tie, a walnut and a flame tree, Paris Beaverbanks and Chen with 23 hug hug points each!

Other trees of the forest were...

4th - L B with 20 hug hug points
5th - May with 19 hug hug points
6th - Zewt with 14 hug hug points
7th - Giddy Tiger with 11 hug hug points
8th - Ehon with 8 hug hug points
9th - Pink Elle, sengkor, Narrowband with 6 hug hug points
10th - mistipurple, mudpie, Wennnn with 5 hug hug points
11th - kyh, Winn, Ah Boy with 3 hug hug points
12th - a^ben with 2 hug hug points
13th - Simple American with 1 hug hug point

Congratulations to all the hardworking chuppers! To those who didn't get their name up there, try again this month, okay?