Phoar! I just stumbled upon a wholesale sunglasses site. Wholesale Fashion & Sports Sunglasses are now available on CTS Wholesale Sunglasses and there are a wide range of Wholesale Sport Sunglasses with comparable quality and style from well-known brands such as Adidas, Diesel, Versace and Fendi. As for Wholesale Fashion Sunglasses, some well-known brands compared to include Gucci, Calvin Klein, Christian Dior and Cartier.

Though as a consumer, I won't be buying any of the sunglasses wholesale, it is illuminating to see what are the latest designs in the market. By latest designs, I mean Hot New Styles for 2007. Then, at least I would know whether the so-called latest designs placed on the display shelves at the optician's are really latest or not. It is not surprising to find some questionable merchants rotating their "Latest" signboards from one set of sunglasses to another all year round! LOL!

One thing to note is that CTS Wholesale Sunglasses do not sell authentic or genuine name brand items. Neither are these sunglasses represented to be original or exact copies of the well-known brands compared with. There is a big disclaimer note at the foot of the website and buyers ought to get themselves acquainted with what they are buying. Buyers looking for authentic, original and genuine registered designer brand sunglasses are advised to purchase them from an authorized dealer. CTS Wholesale Sunglasses also sells replica sunglasses and offer same day shipping. Payment vide Visa, Mastercard, Discovery and American Express is accepted.

The thing I am concerned about is whether they could be parties to fraud??? I mean, these replica sunglasses are being sold at vastly lower prices than the brand named ones and there is a foreseeable situation where the buyer will then pass it off to the consumer as the real thing and make a tidy profit out of it. Of course, CTS Wholesale Sunglasses never claims their goods to be the real thing and if at all, the buyer who subsequently sells it and passes it off as the real thing should be the party liable. It is probably a moral question to answer.

Well, like oft said : Caveat Emptor (Buyers beware).

A good friend of mine of the Catholic faith has helped her church to set up a website. The name of the church is Cathedral of the Holy Spirit and the website is now up! You may wonder why am I sharing about the Catholic faith since I'm a Methodist. Well, actually, I believe we are one and the same. After all, we all declare the same Nicene and Apostles Creed. We all believe in the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It's just that we have some differences in ways of doing things as well as how we organise our worship rituals.

Of course, in case you want to find out more about my church, it's the Wesley Methodist Church Kuala Lumpur which comes under the Methodist Church in Malaysia and in turn, United Methodist Church.

Soap Opera News is an online news and update portal which should please fans of opera series. List of shows include Days of our Lives, The Young and the Restless, General Hospital and the Bold and the Beautiful. There are daily updates on these soap operas as well as spoilers in case fans "just could not wait" for the series to unfold over the telly. There are also interactivity built into this relatively new site such as message boards, weekly poll and ratings race. You can also get latest news vide rss feed so that you won't miss a thing.

What I don't really like about this site is the presence of advertisements especially at the upper half of the site. I mean, I wouldn't want to be greeted by gigantic insects in an I.Q poll question when the site loads. I also think they should remove the advertisement asking people to click so that they can get over 10,000 free smileys. It somehow clouds the general look of the site. Same goes for the "Free Cursors" block on the top right hand side of the site which could be better utilised. If at all advertisers are needed to sustain and support this site, I think the site owners should look into unobstrusive text ads rather than big graphic based ads.



This post is sponsored and my honest opinion was sought.

I've read about the Tell Someone About Cervical Cancer campaign in the newspapers a couple of times and wanted to do my part to "tell someone" through this blog...until today. So, this is my contribution to telling someone, and that's you. Tell others, so that more people would be aware of this 2nd most common cancer amongst women in Malaysia.

Human Papillomavirus is a common virus that affects both females and males. There are more than 100 different types of HPV. Certain types of HPV cause common warts on hands and feet. Most types of HPV do not cause any signs or symptoms, and go away without treatment.


Cervical cancer is a serious disease that can be life threatening. When a woman becomes infected with certain types of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and does not clear the infection, abnormal cells can develop in the lining of the cervix. To learn more about HPV and how it can affect you, visit http://www.tellsomeone.com.my.

This morning, I took judgment on another debtor. More precisely, someone with a Credit Card Debt. He used the card but failed to pay. He is not the only one. Everyday, at the Kuala Lumpur Magistrates Court, hundreds of credit card defaulters get a judgment pronounced on them. Some of the defaulters whom I've met informed me that they just do not have the means to pay the debts incurred. They just do not have any ways to eliminate their credit card debt.

What they don't realise is that when judgments or even suits are instituted against them, their names get blacklisted and it would be difficult for them to get financial assistance in future. At the end of the day, the banks are only after the moneys due to them. Defaulters should seriously consider talking to their banks to restructure the debt so that they be given a chance to pay the amount outstanding in instalments and perhaps, with a waiver or reduction in interests.


This is a sponsored post and the facts above are true.

The price war has just started. Just as Malaysia Airlines announced their low deals with tickets priced from RM9.00, AirAsia came up with their promotion with tickets priced from RM0.99! Of course, one still needs to factor in the insurance, tax and fuel surcharges. But really, if one were to travel to say Kuantan and the difference in fare between both airlines is RM10.00 (this is a hypothetical question because I've been unable to get into their servers due to the overwhelming response - which is another issue altogether because they should have anticipated the "crowd"), which airline would one prefer to fly with?

Somehow, I would still go for Malaysia Airlines. I mean, with a difference of RM9.00, I get to depart from an airport (KLIA) with more to see and do (and buy, if I wanted to), surf wifi whilst waiting for my flight (I donno if LCCT has that) - not that I have a laptop with me ler, check-in and choose my preferred seat - which is important if I bring kids around and fly with an airline (and not an airbus - pun intended). Oh yes, I would also have additional 5 kgs bag allowance.

Two days ago, I had the opportunity to fly to Kota Bahru for a trial and I took MAS both ways. At the boarding gate, it was nice to have the attendants coming to you to tear the boarding pass counterfoil (rather than you having to queue up). I suppose it is because they noticed that there were many Haj pilgrims on their way back and it would be inconvenient for the makciks and pakciks to have to queue up to have their boarding passes checked. Nice touch of service. As for the return trip, I noticed the attendants going around the boarding hall looking for passengers with kids and inviting them to board the plane first before an announcement was made for the other passengers to board. No mad scramble at all. It is definitely a pleasant experience and though it may seem trivial, I am sure the passengers appreciated it. I definitely did!

There is a new banking review site online which is in alpha stage. Savings-Accounts.com a guide to finding your new high yield savings account has a list of 11 banks which includes heavyweight banks like Bank of America, Chase, Citi and HSBC.

It publishes the banking product offered by these banks (savings accounts) and gives the yield rates currently offered for a quick comparative guide. Important notes on the opening of these savings accounts are also included and there is a link to the banks for more information. For those who are on the lookout for the best deal to opening a new savings account, a quick referral to Savings-Accounts.com may help you to narrow down your choices.


This is a sponsored post

I cringed when I read the newspaper report intituled "Minister: Significant number of foreign tourists buying pirated goods" wherein Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Mohd Shafie Apdal was quoted to have said

"Consumer education and awareness raising programmes should not only be directed at developing countries but be adopted by the developed nations for their residents as well. We have evidence to suggest that many of the purchasers of these illegal goods are unaware or pretended ignorance of the fact that they too are breaking the law when we found them to possess such stuff."

Is he living in isolation or does he ever take a stroll to Petaling Street or Chow Kit Road? Or how about some of the Pasar Malams in the Klang Valley? So-called designer watches such as Rolex, Cartier, Dunhill, Tag Heuer and the like as well as designer clothings by Levis, DKNY, Guess etc. are being sold. Woops! I should say, fake goods passing off as the real deal are being sold. In the open! Let's not even start about pirated cds, vcds, dvds and whatever ds you can name. What more, these places are being promoted as shopping havens to our tourists!

Sometimes I wish these politicians just shut their mouth and do the real work of ensuring enforcement is properly carried out. They don't realise how much of a fool they are making themselves to be.


This is not a sponsored post.

How times have changed. Jokes used to be available online in text form. Now they come in funny videos. Jokeroo.com is an entertainment site which has a wealth of videos, audios and pictures which would bound to interest you.


You can subscribe to the video and photo feeds by RSS and there is even a community forum for members to share with one another. Members can upload files to share with the public and who knows, if you are a good joker, your video might win you fame!


This is a sponsored post.

Have you heard of Dr. James Dobson? The airwaves sometimes air his advise on family issues and I found them really helpful. He works for the Focus on the Family organisation and has written many books on families and relationships. He is a trusted child psychologist and international family advocate.

Anyway, I just want to inform that Wesley Methodist Church Kuala Lumpur will be hosting Dr. James Dobson's Seminar on Bringing Up Boys in which Dr. James Dobson will present his talks through a video followed by a seminar and discussion session. This video curriculum is based on his best selling book Bringing Up Boys.

This seminar will help concerned adults to acquire the practical understanding and encouragement to steer the boys they care about toward confident, responsible manhood.

Topics covered are as follows:-

1. Boys will be Boys
2. The Trouble with Boys
3. Wounded Spirit
4. Origins of Homosexuality
5. Preventing Homosexuality
6. Routine Panic (Busy Parents)
7. Questions from Parents and Grandparents 1
8. Questions from Parents and Grandparents 2
9. Ultimate Priority
10. Taking Action

The seminar will be held on the 10th and 24th February, 2007 from 9.00am to 5.00pm at the Multi-Purpose Hall, Wesley Methodist Church Kuala Lumpur (where Methodist Boys School KL is). The cost is RM25 (RM30 after 4th Feb) and it covers 2 lunches, 2 teas and notes.

Please call the church at 03-20720338 to register.

By the way, this seminar is open to everyone but I think Muslims are not encouraged due to local laws.

There has been a lot of fundraising in Malaysia recently especially projects to help those affected by the recent flooding in the states of Johor and Pahang, which were the worst hit areas. Some of the fund raisers are NGOs and governmental organizations as well as the more established organizations.

For the average person, however, it would be daunting to start a fundraising exercise all by himself or with a group of people without any knowledge whatsoever. Hence, it is useful to read some fundraising tips and hints to get an idea of how to go about fundraising. At least, that will give you a head start on what to expect and what you can do to make your fundraising project a successful one. At Funraising.com, you can get fundraising advise on categories such as Charity Fundraising, Church Fundraising, Non-Profit Fundraising, School Fundraising and Sports Fundraising. There are even online coupons available. Neat!


This is a sponsored post

Wow! Never underestimate the power of meme or tagging. Before I participated in the meme exercise, I wondered if it would really bring in the traffic which some established bloggers have claimed. So, I thought I might as well give it a try and started off the 5 Favourite Malaysian Bloggers meme.

Immediately, there was a surge in traffic. Well...higher than the usual lah. I can't claim to suddenly have thousands of visitors but it was enough to make me happy for the day. More importantly, it brought satisfaction that my blogger mates actually responded to them sportingly and kept it going.

Now, this is the most interesting part which is rather embarassing...I've been reading and now, using the word "meme" like as if I know what it means literally. Actually hor, what does "meme" mean ar? And I also want to know how is it pronounced...

Can enlighten me ah?

Wah...the usual gifts during Valentine's Day are flowers, chocolates, perfumes and for some, ahem! lingerie. However, what do you think of giving your loved one peronalized lovey dovey custom laser-engraved thumb drives instead? Wahahaah! Since many people carry a thumb drive with them wherever they go nowadays, why not give your loved one that special thumb drive which they can proudly show to others or to ensure that other "competitors" know that your loved one is taken? Perhaps, you can personalise the thumb drive with the words "The owner of this thumb drive belongs to XXX".

Currently, these thumb drives are available with no minimum orders and comes in 512mb, 1GB, 2GB or 4GB capacity. There are 14 exciting colours available to choose from with a durable, aluminium casing for laser-engraving. It looks like thumb drive designs are gonna be more interesting in days to come with this technology and availability. No more having same-factory-all-look-alike thumb drives which could be easily misplaced or mixed up. And it will definitely be a topic of conversation or a fashion statement.

So, who are you gonna give this personalised laser-engraved thumb drive to?


This is a sponsored post.

I upgraded my blog to Wordpress 2.1 liao. Shaking your head in disbelief? No, it is not this blog but my food blog. That's my very first dot.com and wordpress monster which I was finally able to tame a little with my friendly host's (Sapiensbryan) assistance. He was kind enough to give me step-by-step guide to upgrade from Wordpress 2.0.6. It was daunting at first as I don't even have a FTP programme to work with in the first place!

After much heart stopping moments and beads of sweat rolling down the forehead (exaggerate a bit lah...but heart did beat faster though), I clicked and clicked and discovered that it's up and running. Yay!!!

Now, is the time to wait and see if people will complain that certain functions or pages are not working.

Meanwhile....shall I also dot.com this blog kah???

Medical advancement has increased the chances of survival of patients of differing illness and injuries. However, all these medical advancement in techniques and medication will come to naught if patients are unable to receive these medical attention early in an emergency such as accidents in hard to reach areas eg. mountainous or hilly terrains.

One case I encountered was when a Malaysian tourist was involved in a road accident in China and was duly flown back to Malaysia for further treatment at his hospital of choice. Likewise, another case where a Malaysian worker in Vietnam was flown back to Malaysia for further surgery after a road accident in Vietnam. It is comforting to the patient when he knows he can receive treatment from his preferred medical centre though it may be miles away.

Aerocare provides medivac service worldwide and their service is touted to be safe, secure and reliable. This is based on their commitment to provide highly trained medics and the latest equipment with well qualified flight crews.

It goes without saying that a well maintained fleet of aircrafts would be essential and this is what they ensure they will provide. Aerocare utilizes the Cessna 421C, Beechcraft King-Air 200 and Lear 35A aircrafts for their medivac service.

In recognition of their quality service, Aerocare received the re-accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS) retroactively back to March 29, 2006. Being one of only 53 CAMTS accredited fixed-wing programs worldwide and one of only 8 in the Midwestern United States, Aerocare is bound to be the medivac service of choice for many.



This post is sponsored

I saw the hot HP op on PPP just an hour ago but was not fast enough to get hold of it. That's USD10 for a buzz on the latest puzzle search on the internet which gives out a HP camera to the winner. Bummer!

How nice it would be if PPP has a feed like kind of ops buzz so that posties will be constantly updated with the latest ops available rather than logging in and waiting for the ops folder to open. PPP are you listening???


I wish this were a sponsored post but it is not...

Frankly, all the buzz about the Apple iPhone has got me curious. What is so good about this phone which looks like this:-

and this

and this

Hmm...at Wirefly.com, you can get the full specifications of this awesome full-of-functions phone which is making lotsa people drooling at the prospect of owning one. I was drooling when I saw the specifications which made my current Nokia look like a baby's toy. One can sign up for email alerts when this new Apple is available for sale and shipping. I am gonna sign up now. Are you?


Proudly brought to you by Wirefly.com

Anybody done this before? I mean, anybody started a meme / tag on Malaysian Bloggers? If nobody has done it before, let me start. Why? Because I'm nearing 1 year in blogging and these are some of my favourite bloggers and I thought it would be nice to pimp them ;) Muahahaha!

p/s : The list does not go in any particular order. Moreover, those I don't pimp does not mean I don't like them lar...I can't be putting the whole list here, right??

Okay, here goes...

5xmom (aka Lilian Chan)

She is so big! In the local (and some say international) blogosphere-lah. What else were you thinking? She was so kind to notice this little pablopabla feeling so intimidated in the new blogging world that she placed a link to pablopabla's food blog resulting in bigger fishes swimming to this new food pond to check it out. That was a real encouragement for me. Apart from that, her dot.com businesses infected me resulting in my having my own dot.com.


Ryeurn

Ah...I knew Ryeurn from a little community in cyberspace and we clicked real fast! We are both Man United fans and are young fathers. He's got a beautiful baby girl and he has even set up a blog for her. Not many daddies out there do this. Oh, he is also trained in drugs...ask him for a quick fix!


Paris Beaverbanks

This lady amazes me right from the start. I mean, I first knew her when she started the cosmetic blog under the name Shopaholickl and I thought she was some sort of promoter or serial sample-taker at the cosmetics section of departmental store. I wondered how does she get all the information about latest launches etc. Of course, I am now one of the exclusive few who know what she does for a living ;) Don't ask me. Ask her, will ya? Let's just say it's a glamourous profession ;)


Wingz Taikor

Who hasn't heard of Rojaks in the Malaysian blogosphere? Taikor Wingz has got a PR6 blog, so don't play play ar! His blog is where funny peepel meet and have a laugh. I must say, his originality in his jokes gives some of the established jokers a run for their money. Oh yes, Wingz Taikor also makes money from Adsense but some joker tried to sabo him not too long ago. That feller still doing that ah, Wingz?


Wuching

Yes, your name comes up again. This guy, I thought he migrate to Melbourne to rest and relax and take pictures of Melbourne for all to see. I've lost count of the carnivals, parades and shows that he has covered and for a while, I thought he is some sort of reporter for Visit Australia Year or something. But no lah, he has a proper sit in office job....but I wonder whether he sneak out of the office to do those coverage.... He was here in KL recently but due to his celebrity status, he was unable to meet everyone of his blogger kakis - me included. However, I am not sore because I was also tied up with work during his two days here. He met my auntie though... ;)


Right...those are my kawan-kawan (not to the exclusion of the others lah). If somehow this tag comes back to me again in future, I will talk about the others. Now is the fun time... who should I tag ar?

Simple, I shall tag all the above! Woohoo!

Football is not what it seems in America. When one speaks of football, it is specifically NFL Football and not the football played by messrs Ronaldinho, Cannavaro and Beckham. To know more about the latest news and facts about the NFL, one can visit and participate in the nfl message board.

This message board has forum topics ranging from AFC and NFC in all areas of America, college football forums and other football forums. It is quite an active forum considering that there are 1,725 threads containing 20,680 posts made by 1,330 members at this time of writing. Fans of the respective football teams give their armchair view on what their favourite teams ought to do in terms of tactics and player purchases. Sometimes it is worth taking note of some of these views as I believe there is always something new to learn.

Loading time for this message board is relatively fast and the panel is user friendly. Topics are easy to find and properly categorised. It is definitely a great place to bring people together.


This is a sponsored post and frankly, I'm totally ignorant about this game.

It is sad to read about people committing suicide due to depression. They must have come to a point where they feel that everything is hopeless and death is the only way to ease their misery. The latest news about South Korean actress and pop singer U-Nee found hanged in her home last Sunday is probably another example. Apparently, people close to her have testified to her suffering from depression.

Another situation which many people do not realise is post-natal depression, which is very common amongst mothers who had undergone child-birth. I think whilst there are commendable pre-natal courses for mothers to be, there is insufficient education and warning to mothers to be about post-natal depression syndromes. Even women who have no post-natal depression with their earlier births may have post-natal depression with the later births. One of our church members is currently on medication due to post-natal depression. I don't think there is any suicidal tendencies here but the adjustment to the new addition to the family will take a longer time.

Talk to someone who is having or could be heading towards depression. Give them a listening ear. It helps.

My boss's computer is infected with W32.Stration@mm and this pesky virus just refuses to get lost with our anti-virus programme. So much time has been spent trying to get rid of it and I am currently using some online virus detection software to try to eliminate it.

Apparently, this virus gets activated when you click to open a new year card greeting which came in an email. My boss had a friend whose name is "X" and this email uses the same name (well, the virus replicates and creates fictitious names) as "X". So, he clicked on the attachment a bit too early without realising that it was an unknown "X".

Now, the virus is trying to get the computer send out emails to everybody else. Bummer!

Hawaii evokes scenes of hula dancing, waves a couple of feet high with dare-devil surfers taming the waves, bronze-bodied men and women strolling on the endless beaches, hotel-lined beaches and fierce winds blowing against the coconut trees. It is one of the most famous vacation sites known, and definitely one of the most visited places in the United States.

This volcanic island continues to grow as Kilauea sends lava down the south shore of the island to the sea. That's very interesting indeed. Hawaii is also made famous by some well-known movies and television series, Hawaii-5-O being probably the most famous of all especially with its catchy tune.

The location of this island just on the west coast of United States makes it a favourite stop for cross-Pacific air travel and it is no wonder that the Honolulu International Airport is always bustling with international flights.

Kauai vacation rentals offers spectacular views of this volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean. Run by VLBO Vacation Rentals, there are some properties listed for you to choose from in case you are thinking of spending your holidays there.


This is a sponsored post.

I wonder if I am the only one feeling it. I have not received any new assignments from Blogsvertise for a long long time already. Perhaps advertisers are all attracted to PayPerPost which seems to be growing bigger and bigger each day in terms of number of posties as well as advertisers. Loudlaunch is also not as loud as it seems.

Which brings me to another thought...I wonder if it is worth advertising to get some links to my site? I recently went dot.com with my food blog and with that, I had to sacrifice a PR3 blog away. Someone within the blogger fraternity in Malaysia has taken the lead advertising ops in PayPerPost with his site and it was fully taken up in a day.

Ah...decisions, decisions, decisions.

The Entertainment world in Asia is big business indeed especially with the flourishing tv, movie and music industries from China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong. There are so many news, stories, gossips and latest releases from each of the said countries, which are more than enough for you to digest in one day.

Asia entertainment news brings you celebrity and entertainment news from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan and gives you great pictures of the celebrities in action. This will give fans an extra portal to satisfy their cravings for news about their favourite actors, actresses and singers.

As for me, I've grown out of this "curiosity" for the last couple of years. Perhaps due to the aging factor. I remembered those days when I could recite the Top 10 songs on the Hong Kong Jade Solid Gold charts as well as names of the singers as if they are my personal friends. I believe this site will appeal mainly to the younger generation as well as those who feel young at heart ;)

On another note, I am pleased to note through Asia entertainment news that one of my favourite actors, Jet Li, has just set up a charity project that collects funds to help the victims of natural disasters. That's certainly nice of him.


This is a sponsored post.

Glamourous Paris tagged me on 10.01.2007 resulting in me having to check my brain cells for my Top 5 Movies. Problem is...I do not watch movie that often. In fact, the last movie I watched was Da Vinci Code, I think. Yeah...it's that long. Anyway, after some rewinds and fast forwards, I finally settled down on my Top 5 Movies, though I would qualify it by saying that this is what I can recall so far. The movies are not mentioned in favourite ranking but rather, chronological order...

Star Wars Ep 4


I watched this, probably in the early 80s, and was fascinated with the X-wing fighters and weird creatures walking around some weird planet. Of course, I was more impressed with Han Solo than the cocky Luke Skywalker. I cannot remember how many times I watched this movie. Definitely more than 10 times...and I am still not sick of it yet.


The Transformers : The Movie (1986)


This must rate as one of the best animated movies ever! A neighbour duplicated a video cassette of the movie for me and I watched it countless times with my younger brother. What really drawn me to the movie was the "reality" of it where the characters really die. I mean, more often than not, we are given cartoon characters which get bashed up really bad but somehow or rather, survives to fight another day. Here, some of the favourite robots actually get shot and smashed up for good. Violent, ain't it? Awesome! I can sit and watch it another time.


Face / Off


I won't say that this is one of my favourites but I put it up here because of its interesting though quite impossible storyline where two fellas get face transplants. The acting by John Travolta and Nicholas Cage waz superb, to say the least. And coming from John Woo, the shooting scenes memang ada gaya.


Infernal Affairs


This is one of my favourite movies from Hong Kong. Excellent actors in Tony Leung, Andy Lau, Anthony Wong and Eric Tsang. The storyline is quite original (I think) and it is even copied by Hollywood in the recent movie - The Departed.


Passion of the Christ



This movie really touched my heart. I remembered watching it a couple of days before Easter together with my church mates and was drenched in tears (even from the start). Some critics deem it too violent but I know it is nothing compared to the real suffering which Christ endured during His last days. Kudos to Mel Gibson for producing this film in memory of Christ's passion.

That's all right? Phew! That was some work indeed. And now I can gleefully tag others for the first time in my blogging world. Siapa ah? Here goes:-

Wuching, Hijackqueen, Helen, Mumsgather and HuZmi. Get cracking!

There's a new online encyclopedia in town and it is called Encyclocentral.com. It's very text-based (which is not a surprise) but surprisingly, full of ads and looks optimised for ads. It would take a while before it reaches the popularity of the better known online encyclopedias.

Anyway, a brief search on Bowling Lane revealed some useful information about bowling lane and its history with a link to wikipedia. Somehow, I think this site ought to be seriously beefed up before it is published for all to see. This would ensure returning readers rather than one-off traffic. I know my review here is stinging to my sponsor but I hope they will take it in good stride and improve on it.


This is a sponsored post.

Last Friday, after coming back home from a Church Meeting, I was informed by my wife that my daughter's ear was bruised. According to my daughter, "kakak pulled my ear". Apparently, the ear pulling happened because she was slow in eating. Well, yes, my daughter eats very slowly and likes to keep the food in her mouth rather than chewing and swallowing it in good time.

My wife related to me that she asked our maid twice whether what our 3 1/2 year old daughter said was true. She denied twice. Fine. We accept her denial. None of us saw with our own eyes what happened, though we have no doubt that our daughter spoke the truth (as there was no one else at home when it happened).

Short of pointing fingers at her and scolding her for doing something which she has denied twice, my wife told her that her denial is accepted. However, she was reminded that as a Christian, if she had lied, she would have committed two sins in the process i.e. she lied to my wife and worse still, she lied in the presence of God, who is ever present. Hebrews 4:13 says "13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

I agreed with my wife on how she dealt with the issue at hand. After that episode, we noticed that she appeared to be struggling with herself on this issue. We did not interfere and allowed her to think and come out of it. Next day, my wife observed that she was very patient with my daughter during feeding. Hopefully, God would have spoken to her during her quiet time.

God did speak to us and we were glad that He guided us in this episode. As for my daughter, the bruise has healed. We just have to learn to trust God more in our lives as He continues to work His ways in us.

Recently, I refinanced my Home Mortgage, also known as Housing Loan here in Malaysia. When I bought the apartment I am currently staying in, I took up an account with Bank A. Due to current deals offered, I decided to refinance and am now having a Home Mortgage with Bank B. It would be a lie if I said I was not enticed by all the sweet talk in the brochures given by Bank B.

What financial institutions don't tell you up-front is this (though it may be contained in those font 8 terms and conditions which run into double-digit pages):-

1. Be prepared to wait for up to 6 months before Bank B will redeem your current loan with Bank A (mine took about 6 months);
2. Be prepared to pay extra in disbursements when Bank A issues a Redemption Statement (to tell Bank B how much you still owe Bank A). A computer print-out Redemption Statement can cost up to RM60.00 or more;
3. Be prepared to pay more up front since the Redemption Statement is forward calculated and instalments, interests and charges are added into your outstanding loan (though you have no history of defaulting);
4. Be prepared to pay a sum of money to open the account with Bank B;
5. Be prepared to pay another sum of money to your developer for their Consent to the transactions (if your property has no individual title or is under a Strata Title).
   

The above is just some of the items which financial institutions might not tell you if you do not ask. Do ask as many questions as you can think of when you are evaluating the different Home Loan Mortgages available.


This is a sponsored post and the facts really happened to me.

Ever encounter a public toilet - restaurant, DBKL managed, office, etc. which has footprints on the toilet seat? Arrrrgghhhh!!!! I just can't stand (pun intended) them!

I wonder why these inconsiderate people (I hope you are not one of them but if you are, continue reading on nevertheless :P) need to squat on the toilet seat? If squatting is essential towards their nature's business, then squatlah on the toilet bowl rather than on the plastic / ceramic seat. At least you are not stepping on other people's buttocks! At the very least, have the courtesy to wipe the toilet seat clean before the next person steps in. Unless, the very idea is to show off that you have recently bought a nice pair of boots with superb traction sole which comes with the latest rubber-like grip block design. That's why I commend airlines to have a notice in the loo which requests the toilet user to clean and wipe up as a courtesy for the next passenger.

The other thing which totally puts me off is when they fail to flush or decided to wash the toilet themselves by spraying water all over the toilet. Don't they check whether the toilet flush is working prior to expelling their wastes? If the flush is not working, try another. But if that is the only toilet available, perhaps...perhaps they could be forgiven for an emergency call. We all know how emergencies can make the most macho of man stand with legs squeezed together as if it prevents the waste from coming out. Yeeuuuwww!!!! As for washing the toilet, well....it appears that they do not realise that they were supposed to wash in a way that the water goes straight into the toilet bowl rather than on the floor. Imagine bits and pieces all over the floor when the water is not sufficient to flush them into the water trap. Bleeakkkk!

Urgh, I think I am getting sick by all this. Time to chao.

Have you heard of Monster Cable? It's not some gory creature which you see on some horror movies but it is a well-known brand of cables. I first knew about Monster Cable when I was studying in my university in England and I was exposed to the world of AV equipment and hi-fi and different make of cables. Monster Cable was one of them. Lately, I just found out that Monster Cable even manufactures cables and such for car audio entertainment.

Your Electronic Warehouse, a giant of an internet home electronics dealer, was recently awarded the Monster Cable's E-Commerce Retailer of the year. That must speak volumes (pun intended) of their sales volume. Popular brands retailed includes Monster Cable (of course!), Yamaha, Bose, Acoustic Energy (their speakers are awesome!), Klipsch, Pioneer and Shure. One disappointing factor is that they are unable to ship outside of the USA as they are unable to process overseas credit cards (duh!) and their dealer license agreements do not allow them to ship their products overseas (which I think is the real reason rather than the former).

Nevertheless, for folks outside of USA like me, Your Electronic Warehouse stands as a reference point for product launches and information at the click of a button. What I would like however, would be a "comparison" feature where I could choose a couple of products and compare their features and pricing.

All these use of "touch and go" passes are getting me confused.

I have one "touch n go" card, one car pass for the apartment where I am staying, one car pass for the apartment where my parents are staying and one car pass for the car park near my office. That's four different cards and I place them in a folder-thingy on the sun visor in my car. Sometimes I would take the wrong card and kept waving at the sensor machine wondering why the boom gate failed to raise. I was sure I paid whatever maintenance fees imposed, whatever season car parking charges and had enough credit in the pass but that boom gate failed to raise. Then I would realise my folly. Luckily enough, I did not have to let the car behind wait too long.

This morning, however, I took the car pass for my office car park, waved it at my apartment's sensor machine and proceeded to drive on whilst putting the car pass onto the sun visor. I crashed into the boom gate as a result. Well...perhaps I exaggerated a bit but there was definitely a collision which left the boom gate slightly bent. It was still in working order. I wonder if the management is going to send me a repair bill to knock that boom back to alignment...

I should be more careful next time.


Technorati Tags: car, pass, life, accident

It's that time of the year when shopping centres are decked in red. Chinese New Year is just a month away. As usual, preparations for what is considered the most important celebration in the Chinese community's life includes purchasing new clothings and getting red packets (ang pow) ready if you are married. Another part of the build-up to the festivities is the sending of greeting cards. I am quite a traditionalist in the sense that I like to send and receive greeting cards.

With internet, electronic cards are now more common and acceptable than not. There are many free ecards sites around for instance, Yahoo! Greetings. There is of course, no postage to purchase and no fear of your cards being lost in transit by the sometimes unreliable postal service. Moreover, some of these cards are animated and even comes with "tong tong chiang" music. Just don't switch the volume of the speakers too loud in office when you open it or your colleagues would be looking at you with wide eyes! Ha! Ha! Ecards now offer a free 30-day trial. Check it out! I know I will.


This is a sponsored post.

I've always associated Bulgaria with Hristo Stoichkov, their legendary football midfielder who mesmerized the world with his exquisite passing skills on the football pitch. The Bulgarian football team captained by Stoichkov in the 1994 World Cup did well to enter the semi-finals and helped to put the country on the football map. I was then drawn to the existence of this country in Europe which is located next to the Black Sea coast.

Being just accepted into EU, it is envisaged that economy will boom in this ex-communist country and I think bulgarian property prices will rise in tandem. This should augur well for this country and EU football as a whole with more choice of players under EU!


This post is sponsored and I still like Stoichkov!

I witnessed an accident this morning as I was leaving for work.

It's the usual accident in a cross junction. I was the 2nd car in line at the traffic lights and was stationary, just like the car in front. The traffic turned green in our favour. The car in front inched ahead.

In a flash, a motorcyclist beat the red lights from the right hand side and appeared in front of the motorist ahead of me.

The motorist braked. But in vain.

The motorcycle fell by the side. The motorcyclist flew in front and landed by the side. She got up, bleeding from her head, blood soaking her headscarf. I got down and asked if she is okay. She was in a daze. She could not remember a thing and asked what happened. She felt dizzy. Later, she managed to pull herself to the road shoulder with the motorist's and my help. The motorist agreed to take her to the hospital to check on the head wound. Hopefully it is nothing serious. The helmet was on the road.

It all happened in a flash. It could have been worst. It could have been prevented in the first place.

Moral of the story :

Always ensure that a traffic junction is completely clear of vehicles before entering it. Also, look out for oncoming vehicles from the direction which entered the junction last.

Have you heard of Xango Juice Xango Mangosteen Juice? I first heard about this about 2 months back when a friend introduced me to it. This is the first product in the market using Mangosteen in all its nutritional benefits. In Malaysia, the Mangosteen is known as the Queen of the Fruits. The King is of course, the Durian.

When this friend of mine passed me the brochure on the beneficial qualities of the Mangosteen fruit, I was astounded by how little I know. The list was almost endless. The product is by no means cheap but with the health benefits it is touted to give, you should give it a read and decide for yourself.



This post is sponsored and the fact that my friend told me about it is true!

There were many calls by the state governments of Sabah and Sarawak to Malaysia Airlines previously to have more international flights operating out from the airports in the two states. There were some sectors such as Kuching - Perth and Kota Kinabalu - Hong Kong but lately, after the restructuring, some of these international sectors were taken off or reduced in capacity. Apparently, business was not good enough.

Not for Fly Asian Express (FAX) though. This airline, which has just secured rights to fly to international destinations (prior to this, they are operating the internal flights in Sabah and Sarawak having taken over from Malaysia Airlines) is now considering Miri as a regional base for flights to East Asean zone if commercially viable. The state capital cities of Kuching and Kota Kinabalu is also being considered to be the East Malaysian international hub beginning with flights to China.

It would be good to have FAX give Malaysia Airlines a run for their money and to prove them wrong.

Home security is of concern lately and more and more people are choosing to stay in guarded communities such as apartments, condominiums and even landed housing schemes. For those whose house are not within such schemes, residents may have to resort to private means of security. Hiring of a security guard may not be a practical idea.

However, a more practical idea might be by way of ADT Monitoring. ADT is an internationally recognised brand name in security system for homes, offices and even factories. My boss is using one for his home - which is a link-house! My boss once acclaimed that the monitoring system was so sensitive that it was triggered by a cat one day. Well, that is the cons of having such a sensitive system. I remembered the time when my dad's former place of work has a store which was secured using the ADT alarm system. It's quite common to have the monitoring centre call my dad to inform him of a trigger. Luckily, they were all false alarms.

Still, it's better to be safe than sorry.


This is a sponsored post

If Rafa Benitez has his way, he'll have the team playing in La Liga instead. Having been appointed as the manager of Liverpool, he has signed on so many Spanish and South American footballers, the latest being Sebastian Leto (who?) from Argentine club Lanus (duh?). One of the most recent additions to the Liverfools is Argentine centre back Gabriel Paletta.

Whilst sharing the same first name with compatriot Gabriel Heinze of Manchester United, he was at lost in his first game for the Fools against the French League team, Arseneall. In the nightmare start, poor Gabriel Paletta was twisted and turned by the young French side.

Perhaps it is better for the Mercysiders to consider applying to play in La Liga since the players from the big two (Real Madrid and Barcelona) are still feeling the after effects of last year's World Cup. Then, Liberpoona might have a better chance of winning something.

There are so many types of perfume in the market that most people are spoilt for choice. Whilst it may be exciting to shop around from one booth to another in the departmental store for your preferred perfume, it may not be as easy to actually do a comparison of prices. After visiting a couple of booths, you would most probably have forgotten what you started with and the prices as well as quantity offered.

Even within one brand, there may be different types of perfume available. One case in point is Giorgio Armani Perfume and Cologne in which there are at least 3 types on sale. It is thus convenient when online store Sparklingscents.com provides a comprehensive list of well-known perfumes and colognes together with the best prices they could offer. There are also featured products and deals of the day to make life easier for you.

The site offers secured online transaction and receives payment through credit and charge cards as well as PayPal. As Valentine's Day is approaching, why not scout for some good deals there?


This is a sponsored post.

After so many blog posts (as evident from Petalingstreet.org pings) about the lack of ops in PPP, I was in for a surprise when I discovered that there are 149 ops available at this point of writing! The folks at PPP really know how to appease their posties with goodies every now and then.

What are you waiting for? Get into your dashboard and post away!

Have you heard? Anyone with a camera stands to win up to $14,000.00 worth of prizes just by entering the PhotographyCorner.com 2006 Photograph of the Year Contest. This contest is sponsored by PhotographyCorner.com, a leading photography resources website and is open to virtually anyone on the planet. If you can read this, you are eligible.

For starters, you should look at some of the photographs submitted. A photograph of a man fishing at sunset won the photograph of the month of January 2007 and it's absolutely gorgeous. I sure could learn a thing or two from this photographer because there are so many beaches in Malaysia and it is quite a familiar sight. The December entry has an interesting capture of zebra stripes. Only thing is that I have yet to gain that "eye" for details to be able to shoot such photographs. The winner won prizes from ProPics Express amongst other things. So, prizes offered are real and this is no hoax.

You better be quick if you intend to get your hands on the goodies. This contest ends before GMT midnight, 12th January, 2007. The submitted photographs must be between 1024×768 and 2048×1446 in size and all EXIF information must be intact.

I have my own photo blog but it is still in its infant stage. I don't think the photographs there are good enough but who knows, the guys at PhotographyCorner.com might think that I am a hidden gem (ahem!) of a photographer. With $14,000.00 at stake, I might as well give it a long shot.


This is a sponsored post

• Date : 09.01.2007
• Time : 8.30pm
  
• Duration : 30 minutes
• Calories : 205

This was what was shown on the cycling machine...is that what you call that exercise machine which you cycle over and over and yet remain at that one place in a place called the gym??? Apparently I burnt 205 calories over that 30 minutes of sweating it out on the machine. It was my first time exercising in that gym though I have been staying at the apartment for well over 2 years already.

How much is exactly 205 calories? I was sweating like crazy on that bike and all I burnt was just 205 calories? It looks like I have much to do. But it was a great feeling...knowing that your heart was having a good workout and your lungs were being used to greater capacity rather than shallow breathing most of the time. Of course, the anticipation that those flabby parts will reduce and muscles will tone up is a good motivation.

It's my resolve that whilst I am working out my spiritual life and God is working within me, I want to work out my body so that my body is working within. Wish me determination!

I was watching a Hong Kong police and bad guys movie last Monday night and was quite thrilled with how some of the actors look so cool with sunglasses. I noticed that nowadays, some people including celebrities and cyclists wear wrap-around sunglasses. I didn't really know what to call them but perhaps, ballistic goggles is quite close. Frankly, I don't think I have the courage to wear one. I just don't think I look cool enough. :P

All I have is a common looking sunglass which I purchased in 2001 a little after I was called to the Bar. It comes handy during my trips to courts outside of KL. You can just imagine the glare from the afternoon sun when you are making a trip down to Johor Bahru along the North-South Highway. That very day when I collected the said sunglass and had to travel down south, the sun was glaring so much that I was really glad that I chased the optometrist to rush the sunglass for me. I would have problems getting my eyes to be opened with that glare!

Is it a new phenomenon? Whilst in the news, it was reported that it is like something "Of late...", I really doubt so. I had lost faith in Pos Malaysia since 1991. Of course, there is nothing much I can do about it as they are the one and only postal service in the country. Courier companies are a different category altogether.

Back in 1991, I had to be "separated" from my girlfriend (now my wife) as I had to move to another town. There was no email then, have not heard of internet and definitely no chat programmes. What we had to do to keep in touch was using prepaid phone cards and regular writing of letters. Our letters were regular, I must say. But we then realised that some letters were missing when we did not "respond" to what was written by the other.

Finally, I had to resort to serialising our letters! Yep, I numbered my letters 1, 2, 3, and so on so that we would know if one letter was missing in post. The funny thing is, whilst I diligently numbered the letters, I did not photostat them. I mean, who would go to a photostat machine and make copies of the personal letter (read : love letter) so that the same letter can be reposted in case the original did not reach the recipient? On hindsight, serialising the letters does nothing to ease our anger and disappointment that some of our "expressions" fail to reach our intended recipient. Not that Pos Malaysia cares anyway.

This case of letters missing in transit are not new and has been happening for as long as I can remember. We are now 7 years into the new millennium and yet, cases of missing letters do not surprise anyone. Talk about progress!

I used to work in an insurance company prior to getting called to the Bar. It was a good learning ground for me as I am now doing a bit of insurance work as a lawyer. Anyway, we all know how important it is to have insurance. But I am not going to be selling insurance here. I just want to highlight the importance of being insured.

Recently, the spate of flooding in Johor and Melaka and currently, Kelantan and Terengganu has caused many to lose personal belongings including household effects and cars. Not many people consider taking up home insurance and even if they do, they do not take extra coverage on flooding. Those with perhaps expensive AV sets at home or expensive furniture and antiques should seriously consider getting insured. As for car insurance, do you know that flooding is not automatically covered? You actually have to pay extra premium for it. Therefore, consider getting additional protection for flood coverage if you are staying at a flood-prone area.

Of course, if your house or your property is located at high risk areas, chances are your proposal for that extra coverage on the peril envisaged may be declined or some form of loading may be applied which would result in your total premium being much higher than those in "safe" areas. It is therefore important that you scout around or seek your agent's advice.

In the United Kingdom, Insure 121 provides an online guide for car, home and travel insurance quotes. It's a very useful tool for those living in the UK. Shame we don't have such in Malaysia, unless I am not aware of it.


This is a sponsored post and the risks highlighted are real.

Ever pose this question to yourself or your meal buddies? It seems that this question is a daily affair for me. Sometimes, I would just walk down the office and with no real direction of where or what I want to eat. I guess having been working at this place for 6 years now with more or less the same food stalls can be a bit boring when it comes to "choices" of food to eat.

Not that there is nothing to eat at all. My office area is well-known for curries but there is a serious lack of chinese food. There is a good "chap fan" / mixed rice stall nearby but the food pricing is KLCC standard. A plate of rice with one choice of meat and two vegetables can set you back by RM6.00 or more. That's almost Kandar-like! Add a drink and you are looking at Value Meals' pricing. The other chinese stalls are at least 15 mins walk away and you wouldn't feel like walking in mid-day with a tie around your neck just to have a bowl of beef noodles. And walking back.

Drive out? Hah! That will mean an extended lunch and unpredictable traffic. I can go to Segambut for Tom Yam Noodles or Fried Chicken Rice ... but the hassle of negotiating traffic, finding a parking place and getting back to office in good time sometimes puts me off. Shall I take a train then? Perhaps...but where?

I guess we are blessed with so much variety of food in Malaysia that sometimes we get numb making a decision on what to eat. Do you feel the same?

It's so different in San Diego. I mean, the law practise. Over there, attorneys (lawyers or what they call here in Malaysia - Advocates & Solicitors) are allowed to advertise, in quite a blatant manner, I would say. I came across one San Diego DUI Attorney who has a website with a list of victories he had in the courtroom representing clients with DUI charges. Having a list of victories on your resume would have made you the subject of a disciplinary inquiry here. Oh, in case you don't know, DUI means Drinking Under Influence (alcohol, drugs and the like).

Anyway, one interesting defence towards a California DUI Breath Test which you can plead (if it happens) is that the officer gets fired, indicted, retires, moves away, or dies. I might learn a thing or two from this site ;) In case you are thinking of visiting San Diego and want to self-drive, get acquainted with the DUI defences. Better still, don't indulge before driving.


This is a sponsored post.

This post is going to stir up some hornets. I don't know if I am being judgmental or not. Perhaps I should just keep it to myself...but I can't and that's why I am posting it here. Lately, ever since the unfortunate earthquake incident near Taiwan which resulted in the disruption of internet service in Asia, local newspaper The Star has been writing a few articles about bloggers and how their blogging life has been affected by the disruption. That's fine.

I also noticed that there has been more than one interview by The Star with a particular female blogger (should I say she's young? Well, she's much younger than me) wherein the interviews were published on at least three different issues since the disruption started. That's fine.

However, curiosity got to me. This female blogger was named and her website published in the paper. So, I went to the website. She's attractive and the site is nicely laid out. But you see, what I find uncomfortable was the fact that her site has much about consumption of alcohol and there are occasional profanities. I don't have any issue with how she blogs about her life. She has lots of readers.

However, I feel that The Star could have highlighted some other blogger instead. Perhaps one without profanities? I mean, by their highlighting of the blog in their paper which is read by millions, they should and ought to know that there will be many people including kids who will actually go to that link.

Call me old-fashioned or out of touch. Call me a moral guardian if you must. Call me whatever names if you must. Unless you can tell me honestly that blogging is only for one's personal gratification / satisfaction and it is not meant to be read by anyone else. Let's face it. People blog and expect people to read it. Perhaps, it is only meant for 1 reader. Perhaps, the intention is that it be read by as many people as possible. If it is not meant to be read by anyone else, why publish on the net? One might as well just keep it as a Word file safely kept in the pc.

So, does it mean that one can blog just about anything with a "I could not care less what you think" attitude? Perhaps yes to some. But in reality, what we blog about can have an influence in the thoughts and lives of others. Unless you can tell me honestly that you do not believe that the contents of your blog will ever influence the thoughts or lives of others. Let's be real. I think even Kenny Sia realised that he should (and he has) tone down his blog to suit the younger audience. That's responsibility.

The biggest internet user in coming years (or perhaps currently) are probably those below 40 years old. This is the internet generation. Secondary school students, kids in primary school and perhaps even kindie kids use the internet regularly. Yes, I admit that they have full access to so many other unwholesome and nasty sites. Hence the need for cyberpatrol softwares and such.

But as bloggers, being amateur and some professional publishers in our own right, we ought to be responsible for our actions. And that goes to The Star as well.

Taking cue from the news that an "Apprentice" reject has sued Donald Trump for age discrimination, I wonder if any PPP postie is going to sue PPP for discrimination in light of their impending or actual policy of allowing advertisers to segmentalise or discriminate the posties based on the latter's preference. All these suits based on claims of discrimination are not a rarity in the United States and I would not be surprised if some disgruntled PPP postie decide to take PPP or the advertisers to task if they are not allowed to post because they do not fit into certain criteria.

According to the PPP blog here and here, PPP will allow advertisers to choose what kind or type of posties to post. Advertisers might choose not to allow bloggers from my.space or even blogger (gasp!) to post as they might deem these bloggers as not good enough for their target audience. Likewise, some Advertisers might choose only bloggers from Asia (hurray!) or the United States (boohoo!) to post.

I think with that form of choosing granted to the Advertisers, the number of ops has decreased lately. Perhaps, Advertisers have choosen to disallow those from blogger or Asia to take up the ops and so, when I logged in, these ops are not shown on the ops screen.

Till then, your guess is as good as mine whether there will be a day when a postie decide to file a lawsuit.

Goji Berries are commonly used in east Asian cooking particularly amongst the Chinese. It can be added in soups, steamed with fish or meat or even added in stir-fries. It is reputedly packed with vitamins, amino acids, trace minerals and high in anti-oxidants and is believed to have restorative effect on health. Mum used to say that eating goji berries regularly is good for eyesight.

There are many grades of goji berries which are usually sold in dried form just like dried raisins and I usually get those which are plump and semi-dark orange in colour. It's shape is not unlike the dried raisins. The good quality goji berries are sweetish in taste and it is no wonder that when mixed in herbal soups, it lends a sweet taste to the otherwise usual bitter taste. I always keep an amount of goji berries in the fridge and they come in handy when I want to just add a little natural sweetener to my food when I am cooking. It can be eaten just like dried raisins though I would say that it may not be as juicy as most of those sold are quite dehydrated due to the packing process.

Recently, manufacturers have produced Goji Berry Juice and Goji Berries.Us is one of them. They use Tibetan goji berries which apparently were grown organically without use of chemicals and contaminant-free. I suppose this would give consumers are more direct and easier way of consuming this Goji Berry. I have not tried it out though. Check out their site and their claims.

Apart from giving posties the opportunities to get paid for posting articles or views on their sponsor's stuffs, PayPerPost now gives out goods to posties they like! And the favourite sponsor of the moment is HP. HP has been so generous to donate 10 new 6-megapixel digital cameras and photo printers to PPP and PPP is on the lookout for lucky posties to win them!

I could definitely do with a brand new 6-megapixel digital camera from HP with a photo printer to boot! This is especially so because my current digital camera has only 4-megapixels and I haven't been frequenting the photo shops that often as I am a bit sceptical about the quality of prints they churn out.

With a new 6-megapixel HP digital camera, I can shoot better quality pictures which will be great for my food blog as well as my photo blog. I can also take some pictures of hotels which I fancy and paste 'em up my hotel promotions' blog in support of Visit Malaysia Year 2007. Then, I can donate this current digital camera of mine to my sister, who does not have a camera at the moment. So, if PPP decides that I am THE LUCKY postie, they would not just make one person happy but two!

Next, with the photo printer, I can start printing out my favourite shots after tweaking them to my heart's content. I have got so many of my daughters' photographs stored in my pc that I wonder why I am taking so many of them without actually printing them. I also heard that the HP photo printers are really good! After all, they have been known to be leaders in printers. Incidentally, I am using a HP laser printer.

So, Ted...please, please, do a good cause, will ya? Send the digital camera over!



This post was brought to you by HP and my needs are real!

One of the latest ping directory in the net is FrenzRss.com and it is the brainchild of the wacky duo- 5xmom and Wingz. If you don't know who they are, just check out their website and be entertained. Anyway, they have just set up this site (sponsored by 5xmom, rite?) which allows friendly bloggers to have their sites automatically pinged to the directory whenever their blog is updated. No more filling up of forms everytime you update your blog.

I signed up recently and was impressed by the ease of use and how my blog/s (ahem!) have been automatically pinged. It works and the best part is, people have been referred to my blog through this directory. Hmm...I think it's gonna give Petalingstreet.org a run for its money soon especially when it's auto ping (unless I am not aware that Petalingstreet.org also has auto-ping function).

Sign up quick!

Wow! I can't believe my eyes when I read that it may be possible to fly to London for RM9.99 (plus taxes and surcharges). How is it possible? I mean, I am sure fuel alone will be more than RM9.99 per person to get so many kilometres away to London. Could Dato' Tony Fernandes be performing some kinda magic carpet ride for passengers of the new AirAsia X???

With this kind of ridiculously low fare, most Malaysian students can bid adieu to flying with full-serviced airlines like Malaysia Airlines or Singapore Airlines to London or even other destinations to study overseas as I am sure their parents will gleefully send their kids off for cheap. This kind of fare is a fraction off what Aeroflot was charging during my university days (a friend of mine had to travel more than 22 hours to get from KL to London with Aeroflot and its stop-overs). It was no secret then that Aeroflot was probably the cheapest airline to fly KL / London at that time.

And hmmm.....people can start rubbing their hands in anticipation of travelling on holidays far cheap cheap! Now, perhaps my wife and I can really plan our Paris revisit in a shorter time rather than having to wait for retirement age. I am sure I am not the only excited person here.

Wow!!! I just can't wait for the timetables and routes to be publicised. But I just shudder to imagine what the management of the traditional airlines are thinking right now...I am sure they are going to lose LOTS of passengers. Though these routes granted to AirAsia X must not be the same as those given to say, Malaysia Airlines, I am sure most passengers would not mind flying to say...Stansted Airport rather than Heathrow Airport to get substantial savings on travelling costs. I know I won't.

I better buy AirAsia shares now. Now...where's my remisier's phone number...


Technorati Tags : AirAsia , FAX , Tony Fernandes , Airline, Virgin , Malaysia

Will I be selling my blog away? You may be wondering what I am talking about since this blog is being hosted by blogger, there is no way I can be selling something which came free to me in the first place. Rather, what I am referring to is my principle behind this blog.

Whilst I have signed up for PayPerPost and Blogsvertise which are a great way for one to earn a side income through blogging, I would not blog for things which I do not agree or do not feel comfortable about. For instance, to blog about betting sites (and consciously putting 3 links to it) or to talk good things about health products (unless I have tried them myself). I would also not be blogging about dating sites to earn side income as I am still old-fashioned and feel that dating ought to be done face to face ;)

I would also have to turn away opportunities which clash with my beliefs as a Christian as I do not want to sell out my beliefs for a couple of US Dollars. Afterall, this blog is not per se a money making exercise for me.

So the short answer to my question above would be a resounding "No!" But in case you have noticed anywhere that I may have "sold off", do let me know. I ain't perfect, ya know?

See the picture below? No idea what it is? Well, it is part of a 30 pcs jig-saw of a photo taken by Veronique of PPP using her new HP Camera. The interesting part of the jig-saw is this : If you are able to locate all 30 pcs of the jig-saw in the various blogs throughout the internet, you stand to win a USD1,000.00 opportunity!


Wah!! It's USD1,000.00! That's a cool RM3,500.00 ++ which is equivalent to many graduates' salaries here in Malaysia. That can buy you a couple of HP cameras, that's for sure. And a high end model at that.

And once you have taken all those lovely photos, send it for Digital Photo Printing or share it online. I bought a digital camera middle of 2006 and have been snapping pictures non-stop. That's where I get these pictures on my blog anyway.

Okay, meanwhile, please excuse me as I shall now go hunting for the rest of the 29 pieces. Wish me luck!


Brought to you by HP

During last Friday's recce to Swiss-Garden Resort & Spa, Damai Laut, we stopped by in Sitiawan to buy some famous Foochow confectionary - Gong Pia! (Jessie, are you reading??) We were brought to this corner shop "somewhere" in Sitiawan and told that this shop is famous. Apparently, the gong pias sell like hot pias (literally).

I also found out that these gong pias (no relation to Gong Li) are akin to naans as they are baked in a tandoori-like oven. It is by no means an easy process as the baker has to lay them in neat rows in the sweltering heat of the oven, then sprinkle some water over the pias (oh, pia means biscuit) and heat them up evenly before flipping them over to heat up the other side. The baked gong pias are then removed and placed on the table top to be rapidly cooled by a table fan. I tell you, people buy them in 10s! Each oven can only accomodate 50 pieces of gong pia and there are only 2 ovens in operation at any one time. When I was buying my 4 pieces of gong pia, 50 pieces being baked in one of the two ovens were reserved for a buyer who had made prior reservation.


The gong pias are family-made. I see two brothers (their face looks alike) baking the pias and other members of the family helping with the stuffing of ingredients into the pia. The stuffing which is made up of chopped onions and pork lard (I am unaware of other main ingredients) is placed into a rounded piece of dough before it is deftly wrapped into a small parcel, not unlike char siew pau. It is then flattened before being "pasted" onto the inner walls of the oven.


Interestingly, just like the naans, the gong pias seem to defy gravity as they do not fall off the oven. It is as if the oven walls has got some form of magnet which allows the gong pias to cling to it.


The end result is a fragrant smelling crispy on the outside crunchy on the inside biscuit which will make you crave for more and more! I did a Cookie Monster crunch (okay, okay, I exaggerated a bit) on one piece of the gong pia within 3 minutes of buying it and loved each bite. It is not that healthy though...considering the porky lard but hey, it's okay when you are savouring probably the best gong pia in Sitiawan town!