It's Getting Hot in Here

Wow, the weather is really hot these past couple of days. It think it is the hottest time of the year, i am getting headaches almost on a daily basis.

I try to keep indoors as much as my jon lets me, but i still need to get out into the field at least twice a day. And i try to drink as much as possible. If you don't get enough fluids, you can easily fall sick in this terrifying weather.

Also i stay away from spicy and unhealthy food, without much success really. Heatiness on the outside and inside is a recipe for falling sick, too.

I can't wait for the rainy season to come. The dust is another problem. There is just no avoiding it, it's everywhere and it is getting into our lungs.

Edinburgh and Manchester

Edinburgh is the beautiful capital of Scotland. Scotland, as many would tell you, is a country rich in history going back to the pre-historic times and to the Scottish Kings from the Highlands and Lowlands. The people are cheerful (despite the chilly atmosphere!) and always eager to welcome you to their country.

While in the capital city, it is very easy to find Edinburgh Hotels anywhere in the city, depending on where you can to visit.

Edinburgh Accommodation is cheap, and you can book anytime of the year.

On the other hand, Manchester is slightly warmer in England, and it is home to many famous museums and art galleries. The people are friendly and passionate about football, and you can arrange for stadium tours if you want to visit the home of that famous team in red (or blue).

Manchester Accommodation is convenient, and affordable, just browse through the list to see one that is suitable for your needs.

Invest in North Cyprus

If you feel you have missed the boat to invest in all the big tourist hotspots like Tahiti and Jamaica, then fret not.

The latest upcoming property market is none other than North Cyprus Property. Besides being a popular tourist destination, the government has introduced many incentives to encourage investors to come to the island and invest in the booming real estate market there.

The prices are still relatively cheap, and now you can have the golden opportunity to see great returns for your money.

Hey Dad, Isn’t This Where You Grew Up…?

My dad was English educated. He went to this colonial school in the Straits Settlements. He rarely speaks of his halcyon school days in the late 40’s, but I remember once he told me that he had a teacher called Schumacher, whom the kids called "Shoe-maker" and he had a classmate called Happy Chong.

He also told of the Japanese raids and his elder sister, my auntie, carried him piggy back into the jungle. He was the youngest of four, and he was the fortunate one to finish school and had the ultimate luxury to go to college. After that, he went to work with the government, until the very last day when he retired some years back.

Apparently, my dad was the favourite of my grandma, in as much as emotion Chinese folks from that generation ever showed (read: not much).

His best friend growing up was a distant cousin of his who lived nearby from him. But you know, it strange that even though the two of them speak occasionally, I hardly know his 2 sons, who are roughly the same age as me. Heck, I’ve probably seen them only once in my whole life.

My dad also told me that one of the highlights of his primary school years was a field trip to the F&N’s factory in town. Every kid got a free bottle of soft drink that. He said to get it was like getting a lot of money, soft drinks were a luxury reserved for the rich.

These days my dad spends a lot of time sleeping. Probably to make up for those years he lacked it by working. He can’t make it through a TV program that starts after 9pm.

Visit Germany

October is a great time for visiting Germany, if only for the Oktoberfest. It's a time for merriment, dancing, making friends, and of course the free flowing beer.

But Germany is more than that. There are lots of magnificent castles in Bavaria. You can choose from the many, many hotels in germany that offer great facilities, depending on which part of the country that you want to visit.

If you want to stay in any of the hotels in berlin to visit the city, you may want to stay near the Brandenburg Gate, the most famous landmark in the city.



(image from wikipedia)

You can spend a few days visiting all the excellent museums and parks, or take a day trip to one of the many castles right at the outskirts.

Munich is another must-see city. Hotels in munich are aplenty, and among the tourist highlights are the Marienplatz and St Peter's church.

Sleeping Late

My kids sleep late, they're usually up past twelve if we don't haul them off to bed. I don't know, they're probably a lot like me when i was small. i use to sleep like 1 in the morning when i small like 5 or 6 years old, so i can't really blame the kids.

Except when i was in morning school though, i was in bed by 11am. Not because of anything, mainly due to that i didn't sleep in the afternoons, and i was usually pooped by nighttime.

My kids play until late at night, sometimes it's because of TV. We limit their TV hours, but sometimes on weekend they get to watch the disney movie.

Let kids be kids, i sometimes think.

The World Series is Here

I love baseball, and the World Series is here.

For a baseball fan, there is no better show on earth that the annual show down between the two biggest teams in the season, and this time it’s the surprise package of the Colorado Rockies against the old-timers, the Boston Red Sox.

I’ll definitely be watching the matches live on my TV, but the ultimate experience would be to catch the action right there in person at the stadium. TicketsNow is offering great deals for those interested in obtaining world series tickets, and they’re pretty established in ticketing for many major sports and entertainment events.

I’m rooting for the Red Sox, no question about that.

This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

Employee of the Month

Just watched the above titled movie starring Dane Cook and Jessica Simpson. Pretty funny stuff. I like these kind of light-hearted movies. Nothing too serious, lots of good laughs, no excessive violence or swearing, and two good looking leads.

Dane Cook has got the slacker role down pat. I've never seen him before but he should be in more movies.

Jessica Simpson looks divine in the movie, although she doesn't do much except roll her eyes when one of the guys trying to impress her does something silly.

What's next on my list?

Bad Accident

There was a bad accident on the other side of the highway at peak hour this morning. A Mitsubishi was overturned, causing a long crawl from within the city all the way down to accident spot. I think the jam went on for at least 2 miles.

I have no doubt the accident was caused by speeding, judging from how the car crashed, and the look of the damage. That stretch of the road is wide and traffic is quite smooth exiting the city in the morning, this guy was probably speeding getting onto the 4 lane highway.

I didn't see a second car in the accident. Maybe he hit the divider or railing.

Reminded me not to speed, accident kills. I sound like a public service advertisement.

Too Many Casinos?

Do you feel like there are just too many online casinos vying for your time and attention? It seems like every other day we hear of a new site, either advertised in the media or announced to you in your e-mail inbox.

Sometimes these sites promises a lot to your before you register but when you sign up, things don’t seem as they described initially, so I don’t blame users for feeling a little shortchanged over the whole process.

I do not have time to test out every of those websites to find out how good (or bad they are) and I reckon a lot of other guys out there will not the time either. But guys still want to play online, so what to do?

Here is something you can do, in order to find the right online casino. Pro360.com lists down all the popular online gambling sites and rates them, and also allows users to add their rating. You can read the reviews to get a better picture of what the site has to offer, thereby allowing you to make a better decision. Recommended.

Ferris Wheel

How many more days to the weekend?

It's only Tuesday and i am tired. Tired of working and driving in the jam, and all that is in between. I've applied for a day's leave on Monday, not sure if i am getting it approved, hopefully i can get it so i can spend an extra day of weekend with the kids and wife.

I am planning to take them to the big new ferris wheel in town, the one that is making lots of news and clickworthy shots.

Tomorrow i better check if they are open on Mondays. Will be a shame if i go all the way there and they aren't open!

Molly, Molly, Where Art Thou?

Just finished watching Pretty In Pink last night, completing my John Hughes - Molly Ringwald trilogy.

It wasn't as good as the other two, The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles, but i suppose for the sake of completion, it was worth it. Watching the movie made me wonder the same thought that probably millions of other baby boomers had - what happened to Molly Ringwald? She was the ultimate teenage movie star of the 80's, but after that, even with all the hype, she never made it big like some of her other peers (well, granted, not that many are that famous now).

The last time i saw her was on the MTV movie awards last year, i think, when they reunited part of the cast of the Breakfast Club on stage to honor the movie for it's place in pop culture. As i recall, only Michael Anthony Hall, Ally Sheedy (another 80's teen idol) and Ringwald made an appearance, Paul Gleason had sadly passed on.

Before that, i saw her on 'Not Another Teen Movie' doing a cameo as the airport flight announcer parodying the roles that made her famous.

God, I miss the 80's!

St. Elmo's Fire

Just watched St. Elmo's Fire, that famous coming of age movie from the awesome eighties. What a great movie. I really wonder why I never got to watch this classic while growing up, I would have been greatly inspired by it. Even now, watching it and reminiscing about that great era, I feel nostalgic.

Great movie, great cast, not to mention the awesome soundtrack! The stars are all great in their roles, i wonder if they'll ever do a sequel. Probably not...

Six Random Facts About Myself

Long time blog-pal Inevitable tagged me this one, I'm supposed to write 6 random facts about myself. Six? Only six? Let me see...

Fact Number One:
This afternoon I tried this roasted pork sold as a specialty from a [tag]wine[/tag] shop called the The Vintry in Damansara Heights. Yes, Chinese-style “siew yoke” from an Italian vino shop. Quite nice, though.

Fact Number Two:
Speaking of wines, I love this non-alcoholic Lorina Frenchberry Juice that Parkson Subang Parade used to sell. Since Cold Storage took over, they’ve stopped selling it. The only other place I know that sells it is Xtra Supermarket in Mines. Yeah, I know, its weird.

Fact Number Three:
I always look at the big picture, evaluate everything from the perspective of the grand cosmic scheme of things. Ergo, I don’t sweat the details.

Fact Number Four:
I own a special edition silver Gameboy Light (with green backlight). Apparently, its quite quite rare, I read that only 1000 were manufactured and sold. I seriously doubt it, I bought it from the pasar malam stall in Cheow Yeang SS2.

Fact Number Five:
I spend 45 hours to complete [tag]Final Fantasy VII[/tag] on [tag]PSOne[/tag] the first time. Still a classic. And by the way, [tag]Advent’s Children[/tag] is awesome.

Fact Number Six:
I stopped eating regular lunches more than 7 years ago. Unless its with someone, nowadays. Most people I know cannot understand why...

Anyone else is welcome to do it.

Carmen Sandiego

Anyone remember the old PC game Carmen Sandiego? I love that one. I played the original 'Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego' and then there were sequels set in Europe and America, i think.

It was quite a good educational game, although i doubt we realized that we were learning stuff as we tracked the infamous criminal all across the globe. So that's the hallmark of a good educational game - make kids learn new stuff without them realizing it while they are having loads of fun.

3 Days Without Internet

3 days without internet was difficult to go through, let me tell you that.

Saturday afternoon my PC was zapped by lightning, i only got it back today, had change my motherboard and modem. you wouldn't believe the amount of unread mails, blog posts and news items screaming for my attention.

Well, i should seriously get a real lightning surge protector. Do NOT want to go through it again.

Slave to the Grind

People always tell you to work hard and you will achieve your dreams or goals.

Unfortunately, things aren't so simple. Sometimes you work your a$$ off for years, and you don't get anywhere near your dreams. It's simple, you slog to survive, because you have to. If success comes, it comes. If not, life goes on, we need to put food on the table.

Only a few out of the thousands get it made, in this cut-throat and discriminatory society we live in. It's not an excuse, it's just the reality of life. People always say that we are good in business, but there are millions of businesses out there - everyone vying for the precious customer dollar. That's if you are fortunate enough to have the capital and the leeway to start your own business. If not, it's slave to the grind.

For Your Business to Succeed

If you run a business where list of contacts and potential clients are important to you, you should appreciate the problem of maintain these mailing list as they are the key to your business. Some people I know manage these list manually the hard way, using note cards and archaic filing systems, while most people opt for online storage.

But if you want innovative mailing lists products that can allow you to identify prospects by tracking, compiling and optimizing data based on active, responsive and impulsive buying history, then list brokers like ResponseCom ™ from Martin Worldwide is the answer. They are one of the largest and most successful in the US and offer effective business tools for your business to succeed.


This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

Cute Kid Moment #642

My kid has got this new thing she's going through. Sleeping on the floor. When she's a perfectly nice bed to sleep on.

Well, okay, it's not a real bed, it's just a three mattresses stacked on the floor, but she prefers to sleep on the floor these days, just for fun. Not sure why, but she enjoys talking to herself and playing before sleeping, so i just let her be. Just hopefully we won't step on her on the way to the toilet when we get up in the middle of the night.

She really cute, she's singing some Barney song right now.

Phonies

Phoney phoney phoney!

There are just to many pretenders and posers around these days. I just bumped into one the other day. What kick do people get from pretending to be something or someone that they are not?

Geez, they seriously need to get a life. No, seriously.

Anyway, that aside, i was in borders the other day, to cash in my $10 voucher i got last month during their annual sale. Got the next in the Sandman series. Boy, do they know how to get people to return to their stores! Can't wait for the next warehouse sale, they usually have awesome deals there.

I'll be running out of books to read soon.

Scary Movies

I have been a fan of movies for as long as I can remember. Ever since my dad used to bring me to those huge old cinema halls in my old home town, I have fallen in love with watching movies. But as the years went by and as I watched more movies, I began to appreciate indie movies more.

Indie moves are produced by independent companies, not by one of the big conglomerates. If you are a fan of indie horror (those are the best type of horror movies!) and neo-grindhouse, Red Scream Films LLC are lining up a few new movies that’ll will bound to scare the bejasus out of you.

I’m definitely excited.

(*Sponsored)

Two And A Half Men

just finished the 3rd season of 'Two and A Half Men'. This season was funnier on the whole, just the last few episodes wasn't that great. The whole storyline about Candy and Alan was believeable, even more so when they ended up married in Vegas. Gee, how many sitcoms did that Vegas wedding cliffhanger?

The Alan-Candy thing was funny for a few episodes, but it's a little inconceivable that ALan can be so taken in for so long.

But all in all, there's going to be some anticipation for Season 4.

Mothers And the Art of Manipulation

And the Word of the Day for today is:

Manipulative (adj)

Comes from the word manipulate, or the noun manipulation, which, wikipedia explains:

In a psychological context, manipulation means to influence a person or a group of people in such a way that the manipulator tries to get what he or she wants or makes a person believe something in a calculating, indirect and somewhat dishonest way. Like indoctrination, it is a form of psychological abuse.

For example, a manipulator will use arguments that the manipulator does not believe in himself use of false reasoning as with fallacies and paralogisms withhold or distort relevant information, provide false information (disinformation) "play" on the emotions (fear, hope, love...) of the person.

Mothers are masters of manipulation, although in these cases, it isn’t viewed as dishonest, only coercion. Especially Asian mothers. Especially Chinese mothers. Especially Malaysian Chinese mothers. Other mothers (Malays, Indians, Caucasians) are probably expert at it too, but I seldom observe them in action.

Example of a manipulation in action:

• “Go ahead with your trip, no need to worry about your old and frail mother, I’ll just stay at home by myself.”


• “It’s okay, at my old age, I don’t really expect much, after all it won’t be long until I pass on…”


• “What can I do, nobody wants to listen to me, people think an old lady like me is useless…”

A related idiom:
lay a guilt trip on

To make or try to make (someone) feel guilty.

Example:

"I carried you for 9 months and spend 35 hoursin labour for you and this is how you repay me...?!"


(Sidenote: Not talking about anyone in particular, just some observations.)

Blackout Part 3

So what to do? In the darkness we unloaded the groceries, and kept the ice-cream in the freezer, careful not to let too much of the cold air out...

We were only using one candle all the time, it's precious and we didn't want to waste the last one we had... I made the 2 kids sit still and not run about, god knows what they'll bump into in the dark.

I was lying down, dreading a night of heat, when suddenly, after like an hour, the lights came on!!! Woo-hoo! Makes me appreciate electricity more these days.

It's Getting Hot in Here

Every home in this country has a refrigerator. Even if they don’t have one (which I have yet to see), they definitely need one, even if it is a very small one. Without a refrigerator and freezer, food does not last long in this hot and humid weather.

As the world gets hotter and the summers get more brutal, the refrigerator serves many purposes, providing ice cubes and cool drinks are one of the most popular in my home. My friend Joseph’s family has two, one new large double door model plus the old one he keeps upstairs, so that he ‘doesn’t have to walk far for a beer’.

With many families getting bigger and so are the needs for food, lots of families are looking for bigger refrigerator, but usually don’t know where to get good deals. Krillion offers a fantastic way to shop online – their Krillion Localization Engine searches the Net to find you the best deal. Not only do they cover refrigerators, but also major appliances in neat categories.

So if you are in the market for a Maytag Refrigerators, you know where to start looking.

This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

Holiday Again!

Just came back from an eventful weekend retreat from the historical city of Melaka. The weather was good, the food was excellent, wished we could have stayed longer.

There was a huge group of us, about 16 including kids and babies, so logistic was a little bit of a problem but we managed to do it. Going there we had 5 cars with one family in each, but moving around the city, we decided to carpool to make things easier, and that was an excellent decision.

We stayed at Everly Beach Resort, that place seriously needs a big refurbishment! The paint and maintenance was shoddy to say the least. But the rest of the holiday remained enjoyable for us.

Scammer Just Don't Give Up

Them scammers just don't give up, do they? I'm talking about the ones that fill your e-mail inbox with dozens of fake pleas for help, lottery winning announcement, performance enhancing drugs and what-nots.

They never seem to give up - every now and then they come up with a new angle to try to dupe the good people to part with their money. Everyday i get at least 20 of them. I think they still abide by the rule of 'there is a sucker born everyday'. I thinking they send out 1000 of these mails daily, and even if they get one or two replies per day, that'll make it all worthwhile for these guys.

On the same note, every other week there is a report of an innocent person who has lost their life savings to these scammers. In this day and age, do educated people still fall for this crap?

Blackout Part 2

So what to do?! No power, and it's approaching midnight! We can't sleep in this heat, especially the kids. Not to mention the mosquitoes...

So we turned the car around again and went for a drink at the coffeeshop down the road. We also had something to eat there while passing time. There was a large screen TV there to help entertain us. Finally after finishing the food and drinks we took a slow drive home, hoping that the power was back on at home.

Alas it still wasn't!!!! Still no power!!!

Make It to Payday

If you are struggling with a debt problem, and do see any paycheck coming in time, then I can really empathize you. Like the cliché says, I feel for you. There were many times in the past when I was caught in this unfortunate situation, of overspending a little too much, and payday isn’t coming soon enough.

Well, you can borrow from your friends, but I think a lot of people (me included) would not want to burden your friends with that. Besides, borrowing money from friends changes a lot of things, so I don’t go there.

Here’s a handy solution, get payday loans. It is quick and easy get short term financing, minus all the hassle that banks and other financial institutions put you through. Her e you can get loans up to $1500 easily and anonymously. Upon approval of the loan, the cash is then sent to you overnight using wire into your designated bank account.

You can then make it safely to payday.