House cleaning day

The part time cleaner was here to clean the house this afternoon. She was here whole day from 9.00 a.m to 4.00 p.m, she really did a very thorough job. She cleaned up all three bathrooms. She washed the floor, wall and cleaned up the bathroom vanities.

Though we usually asked her to clean up only the one that we use daily, today I have her cleaned up all three bathrooms! Beside that, she also swept and mopped the floor of both upstairs and dowstairs. She worked slowly but she did a good job!

Travel plan Changed

Earlier we were planning for hubby to come back here so that we can celebrate Christmas together. But, he just into a job commitment and would not be able to take time off for several months.

Our current plan is for me to visit him in the spring, when the weather gets warmer. We shall start looking to book air ticket next month. We are going to charge the airfare to the credit card, because the credit card company offers free travel insurance for purchase of air ticket with the card.

Holidays start tomorrow

Hurray, today I have the last class of the year! I am taking a one month break after 3 years of no break. The classes are going to resume in January. No class during the whole month of December and no holiday program too.

Don't plan to do any marketing activities during December, everything has to wait till January. In fact, even if I don't get any new students, the existing students are enough to keep me busy for 3 days a week. That's what I plan to work at the center, 3 days a week.

The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

If you haven’t done so yet, you really need to visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site, and read more about this thrilling new revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s famous musical of the same name - “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”. The film is scheduled for release in the United States on December 21, 2007.

Maybe you have seen the musical or have been seeing the previews of this movie on television for some time now. What do you think about it ? Did it catch your attention? The film is directed by Tim Burton, stars Johnny Depp in the title role, Sweeney Todd, the villain who is probably the earliest fictional barber serial killer.

The theme of the movie is revenge, a powerful force in movies. Most cowboy flicks deal with revenge and there are so many classic tales of vengeance that have been on the silver screen. Some of my favorites movies with the revenge theme are The Godfather, The Iliad by Homer and V For Vendetta. Sweeny Todd is about the revenge of a man formerly known as Benjamin Barker, who is unjustly imprisoned by the lecherous Judge Turpin. After spending 15 years in prison, he returns, to exact revenge as barber Sweeney Todd. The revenge begins with his insane quest for genocide. He wreaks vengence on "those who deserve to die, slitting throats of unsuspecting customers while shaving them. He gives the body of his victims to the owner of the meat pie shop located beneath his barber shop. Guess to do what? Creepy!!

I love Tim Burton movies, but I am not sure how musical of a serial killer is going to turn out. Can you imagine half way slitting the throats of his victims, the killer burst into singing.LOL Anyway, are you going to add this one to your holiday “must see” list ? Maybe in between all of the festivities we’ll get a chance to catch a viewing before it comes out on DVD.

Oh, and if the movie’s site isn’t enough for you, you can also visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace

Break for a month

I have a class tomorrow, it's going to be the last class in the year, before I close the center for a month in December. Have not have any break longer than a week for the past three years, so this is going to be a time to rest and time to catch up with other things in life.

Have decided not to run a holiday program like we did past few years. In the last few years, the holiday program didn't really bring in much revenue, but take a lot resources and time effort. We are kind of glad we got rid of it. :-)

Suboxone detox for opiate based addictions

Doctors often prescribe opiates to relieve pain for patients who are going through a lot of painful treatments. However after prolonged use, the nerve cells in the brain, which would otherwise produce endogenous opiates, cease to function normally. Unfortunately some patients may get addicted to the opiates after prolong use. The withdrawal symptoms can be really uncomfortable and ugly. In that case, they would need addiction treatment to get the opiates out of the body system and ween it off.

Have you heard of suboxone detox? Frankly this is the first time I get to know about the treatment by reading through this site. Apparently, suboxone detox has been used successfully in treating addictions to opiate-based pain medications.

Suboxone is actually a medication made of buprenorphine and naloxone. Buprenorphine is chemically similar to the opiates, but it is just different enough to have different effects on the body.It is a medicine that is used to reduce unpleasant withdrawal effects when people stop using opioid drug. Suboxone Detox is a process of allowing the body to rid itself of a drug while managing the symptoms of withdrawal. The best thing about this program is: it can be done at home!

To find out more of this program, call Meditox at 866-633-4869 or visit the links above, their certified physicians would do a careful and thorough evaluation before anyone is allowed to go through this treatment.

Poor little rich boy

I used to tutor the son of a very rich man in town who owns several listed companies including owning the franchise of a Japanese automobile and cosmetic products in the nation. The boy was a bright and good looking 15 years old boy. On the surface it seems he is so blessed with everything - good look, rich parents and intelligence. But, I would say, he is an unhappy lot. His parents never have time for him, he grew up very lonely and mostly spent time with the maid. He once casually mentioned to me that he hasn't seen his mom for more than 2 weeks, though technically they live in the same house!

We lost touch for many years when he left town to go to college in Chicago. But I did hear news about him off and on through other students. I heard that his parents had called him home and arranged for him to go for addiction treatment when they found out he has been experimenting with drugs. Well, he is finally getting some attentions from his parents !

Head hunted by an excutive search firm

My sister is at her second job since she graduated with a degree in Mathematics 4 years ago. She was very unhappy at her previous job because they had given her so much responsibilities but didn't want to raise her salary nor promote her to more senior position.

When the head hunters approached her, she went for the interviews just to test the market. She didn't think they would hire her nor buy off her employment contract with her previous company. But, they offered a job and was willing to buy her off, so she quickly run.

Her current company is a multi-national company, they usually outsource their recruitment to an executive search firm that has good reputation. The recruiting company also maintained a high standard of service and commitment to their clients and recruiters.

Helpings the Car Angels to help others

We can get really cozy in our middle class comfort zone and forgetting that they are a lot of people who are less fortunate and need God in our midst. Unless we get involve, we would never realize the enormous needs of the destitute. Until I started volunteer at a center for unwed and single mothers, I would not know that this peaceful small town that I live is a place famous for people to come here to abort their unborn babies!!

They are many ways we can help the people who have not much voice in our society. The simplest generous gesture can make a huge difference to people who are in need. I started helping out at the after school care for children of single parents not long ago. I can never forget the sparks in the children's eyes whenever I teach them a game and play with them. They are so neglected while their single mothers struggled to meet ends, they are so desperate for attentions and tender loving cares.

There are so much needs in our society crying out for attentions, they are so many people we can give, be it giving our time or contribute financially, we can even give out or donate things we do not need to help those who are in need. One way you can help is to get involve with the Car Donation ministries, they help the single mothers, homeless, troubled teens, adult rehab and prison reform. When you are disposing the old cars, you can Donate a Car and they will use it fund projects for the groups of people they are involved with. The current project is using the car donations to raise fund for creating Free Children’s DVDs, anti-drug documentaries and distributing uplifting books into prisons.

Nowadays, we may not get much from selling our old cars and car Donations have become the choice of a lot of people considering the amount of work one has to deal with if they dispose off their cars to used car dealers. Why not get involve with a worthy cause and get help to dispose your car at the same time? Plus, Car Angel Ministries will take care of the paperworks and you will get IRS tax reduction for it.

I hope you will go over and learn more. If it compels you, please do share the link with your friends.

Beach weddings

For a person who didn't have a wedding to avoid all the mess of organizing and coordinating, if you ask me what do I think of beach weddings, there is only one word jumped out and it spell M-E-S-S-Y. :-)
I don't know why and how so many people associate the beach as the ultimate romantic destination for wedding. It's quite messy to wear your gown and walk on the sand with your heels, isn't it?

No perfect credit?

I personally don't use credit card to pay for everyday purchases i.e grocery. I have one that I used for emergency and the convenience of purchasing air tickets online. If you do not have prefect credit scores, you really don't have to worry, they are so many Fair Credit Credit Cards available this days, I am sure you can find one that offers good deals.

You can even get on the CreditCardSearchEngine.com to search and compare. This is one of the Internet’s longest running sites for online credit card comparisons. The site is quite user friendly, you can browse according to category of consumers, business and students. You practically can get all types of cards from all major leading credit card issuers in America.

RSS feed mixed up

I messed up the RSS subscription of this blog and the other Montessori Blog big time, if you have tried to subscribe to the RSS feed of the other blog and get this one in your feed, you need to go to the Montessori blog to re-subscribe again. Sorry for the mixed up and the inconveniences caused.
I spent almost 2 hours fixing the problem, I hope it's working now!!

Save on your car care

Few weeks ago, while driving the old junk, the temperature went up so high, I have to pull over and went to a workshop to check immediately. I thought the radiator must have gone out, but it turned out that the exhaust fan is not working due to some wiring problem and it doesn't cost much to repair.

Though geting a used Nissan radiator may not cost as much as a new Taurus Radiator, it's still going to be a pain to replace it. Hubby usually do the regular servicing that required so special tools and entrusted the mechanics to do the changing parts and fixing major problems that he wouldn't know how to do if himself. We are very lucky to have reliable and honest mechanics to work on our cars, especially after we heard some horror stories from our friends who got rip off by some dishonest black sheep.

Check out the new stuffs on the other blog

Haven’t updated the other Montessori Blog for a while, finally find time to put up the pictures and write up a few posts on how to teach penmanship using the large motor skills. All the mommies who are interested to train your children, you may want to check that out!

Please understand that I don’t really have time to write a book explain to everyone who emailed me asking about Montessori, I would suggest you pick up an introductory book on the philosophy of Montessori education. The other thing is: we can discuss, but ultimately you are mother who know your child best. I don’treally know your child, so I can’t really diagnose what his/her problem and tell you what you are supposed to do. You have to get educated and observed her/him if you want to help your child.

Speedy internet

We moved house and have to shift the Internet line too. The technician who came to install the Internet told me that this new housing area has fiber optic cables and the internet speed should be faster. I was skeptical when he told me that, you know, the record of the lousy service provider is nothing to shout about. After two weeks of being on the internet at this new place, though I didn't test the speed yet, it does feel faster. That's good news for people who work on the internet a lot .

Wedding flavours

We didn't have a wedding when we got married 3 years ago, we just went to the registrar and then celebrated with family members. So we didn't experience the headache of wedding preparations and didn't have to go through all the fights that typically happened during the process.:-)

If you are going to tie the knots soon and are unable to decide about the unique wedding favors, you may like helps from the professionals? The Knot Wedding Shop is the definitive destination for many couples to get the wedding supplies. They can personalized everything with the couple's names and wedding date. They have wide range of stock and best prices around, they offer speedy delivery too, in case you need a last minute orders before the big day.

Quality Doesn't Have a Price Tag

I know everyone of us has a lot of bills already in our life, and having car insurance that cost a bit more isn't high on our priorities list. That's why you got to heck out the Insurance Doctor. They're doing a great job of finding affordable, cheap car insurance that's still of the same quality as that policy you're paying more for.

Whether you need North Carolina car insurance or Virginia car insurance they can help you out. They even have great deals on motorcycle insurance. Check out Insurance Doctor today and start saving yourself some money on your auto insurance, because I think you'll agree that you deserve to save some money somewhere.

Mommies, check this out

I tend to get a lot of mommy readers on this blog and get to know mostly mommy bloggers. I learned from all the mommy bloggers about all the baby products for their precious ones. They would most likely interested to know about this hub for real parents reviews of baby shops and their services.

Lilaguide.com has launched with 32,000 listings and over 120,000 reviews from real parents who want to share their advice on baby products, services, and activities in 5,000 neighborhoods across the U.S. from New York to L.A., Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Miami. That's whole shit load of information! You no longer have to make 20 calls to find out which baby cot you should get, you now get it from the horses' mouths, your trusted local source of other moms in your neighborhood. That will mean 4+ million first time parents in America will have access to all this information in a click of mouse 24/7!!

Taking Care of Your Personal Injury Case

Allen and Allen are the Virginia personal injury attorneys and accident lawyers that have been serving Virginia victims since 1910. With four attorneys listed in "Best Lawyers in America" and some of the largest medical malpractice and injury settlements in Virginia, the lawyers of Allen and Allen know how to stand up for the injured.

If you've been the victim of an accident or injury through no fault of your own, let these Richmond lawyers get you the justice you deserve.

Online and On Time

Hey, I know that you want to send flowers to that special somebody just to make them smile. I also know that finding the time to get to the store can be difficult at best…I mean, who has time to fight traffic anymore right?
Don't you just love online flower store like Vogue Flowers? They make it so easy to get send flowers online so that you don’t have to fight your way to the store to make sure that you can have fresh flowers delivered when you want them to the person you care about for any occasion. Check them out today and I promise you’ll never order flowers from anybody else again.

Not all security softwares are created the same

Do you have your computer hook on to the Internet 24/7? Are you concern about the security of your computer? I am. I got freaked out every time the Antivirus software notified me that there are Trojan or some whatever horse attacks. I am so paranoid, I have two Antivirus installed, one freeware and one paid for, you know what? They don't work the same way! Sometime one of them was able to detect virus or spyware that the other didn't and vice versa. Which caused me to wonder, how effective they are in warding off viruses and spywares?

Have you heard of ESET? Apparently it is a complete Security Solution that advocates a Layered Security Solution using different Internet and Computer Security Software products. It is based on the theory that different types of Security Software excel at different types of protection and there is no “one-product-protects-all”. They have put together the best Security Software in each category of Anti Virus, Anti Spyware, Exploits, and Firewalls and put them all in one place. That sounds interested. if you are concern about the security of your computer like I do, you may want to check out the link.

Sensorial materials for sale

When I first setup the preschool three years ago, I worked with limited budget and have tried to save money by improvising and handmade some of the Montessori materials. So most of the materials I have for sale would be the homemade versions. I have probably half of them homemade, either made by hubby, my cousin or myself.

For sensorial materials, I have the
1) knobbed cylinders (SB)
2) color box 1 (SB) - primary colors
3) color box 2 (SB) - secondary colors
4) color box 3 (SB) - hues
5) knobless cylinders (C)
6) Pink towel (C) - I have 2 sets, 1 set pink, 1 set natural color
7) Red rods (C)
8) Broad stairs (C)
9) Concentric circles (H) - from card boards, laminated
10) Blue triangles (H) - from card boards, laminated.
11) Triangles, rectangles and circles (H) - from card boards, laminated.


SB - store bought, C - made by carpenter cousin, H - homemade by me or hubby

I shall upload the pictures to flickr later.

She can holiday in NZ

My landlady for the school premises Mrs K came to collect rental and we chatted for a while like we usually did. She told me about her daughter who is going to fly to New Zealand to further study. She was telling me that they are looking at available flights to Christchurch, and most probably her daughter will be flying off next Wednesday.

Mrs K is sad that her only daughter is leaving home. I told her she can always go for New Zealand Holidays to see her daughter. Since Mrs K is retired and is well off financially with a few shops collecting rentals, she can leave to have holidays there while visiting her daughter!

Montessori materials for sale

I still have all the Montessori materials in boxes even though I have folded up the preschool, hoping that one day I get to run a playgroup or homeschool my own child. But, with the current development - hubby found a good job and wants me to move, it's very unlikely that all this will happen. So, I have decided to let go of my Montessori materials.

I would try to take pictures of them and upload to my flickr account. If you are interested, leave me a note and I would let you know when I eventually get down to do that (take photos and upload)

Moving and selling off stuffs

Since hubby has found a good job, it's hopeful that we are ending the current arrangement of living apart next year. I am glad we would be united in the near future, at the same time I dragged the packing and moving. I guess we eventually would need to hire one of those International Movers to help us with moving our belongings.
It's very unlikely that we are able to move the whole household of stuffs by ourselves. In fact, we most probably would not move all the furniture and we are thinking of selling of some of the stuffs we have here. I have boxes of Montessori materials that I may have to let go. Anybody interested?

Teacher has no TV

I have a few children (they are siblings) came to my house for tutoring today. They are staying nearer to my house than to the tutoring center, so I thought it would save their mother's time to travel to my house.
Two out of these three children are dyslexic, the oldest is 8 years old and can barely go beyond C-V-C words. But, they are very observance and smart children, quite well behaved too. The first thing that these children commented when they enter the house was:"Teacher, do you not have a television?" Yes, dear children, I do not own a television, no home theater system and of course no home theater lighting. LOL

Seeing the doctor tomorrow

I am seeing the doctor and getting the test results for the health screening tomorrow. A bit nervous about the outcomes. The doctor did mention it could be thyroid. We need to see the blood test to confirm or to dispute that. I am praying there would be nothing wrong, just me getting older and fatigue is part of the getting older symptoms. :-)

Banker going to beauty school

My friend PL has a degree in Mass Communication, but she has worked in the bank ever since she graduated 8 years ago! She likes to play with colors and has volunteered to do hair and paint nails for us ever since we were in college. What she really wants to do for a living is to be a hair stylist cum makeup artist! She hesitated about her career choice last time because of parental expectations, but now her parents are more open with whatever she wants to do.

She is saving up to go to a cosmetology school, she plan to pay for the training by herself though her dad offered to pay. She has checked out a couple of schools and she likes what she sees in one of the local beauty schools. I wished the best for a dear friend who is not afraid to chase her dreams. But I still cannot imagine her trying to sell hair loss products to her customers.

Emotional inavailability

In order to become emotionally available, we need to open up and be vulnerable, allowing oneself to potentially get hurt. This is necessary for us to emotionally connect with others to find a content, joyful and peaceful life.

People are not perfect and they never will be. Every one of us carries some sort of baggages in handling human relationships. Sometimes people exhibit these traits only on certain occasions while others exhibit these behaviors in consistent basis, just the ways people are. We need to have appropriate expectations on others.

However, for the sake of our emotional health, do we set limits on how much manipulation games, lies, blaming words we are going to tolerate in every relationship? If we have determined people are toxic to us, is it a time limit for us to get up and walk away?

If they are our loved ones, of course setting limits and boundaries will be challenging. Since we ultimately want a content, joyful and peaceful life with meaningful relationships, we do have to take the tough actions. Can everyone of us identify and learn from our past and move on to create a more healthy, loving and caring relationships with others?

Why do you blog ?

It may sound offensive to many, but I do not blog for others. I blog because it's something I find it interesting to do right now. I blog because I have many things to say and share. I blog because I am making some nice pocket money out of it while having fun.

I blog not because I have nothing better to do, in fact I am very busy in my real life. Running a business, just moved house, still with boxes and sacks of things waiting to be unpacked. I do not blog to gain popularity nor to verify my own existence, as fame is just a passing smoke. I am old enough thus wise enough not to blog to please others because you can never.

So, why do YOU blog?

Biotene Sensitive toothpaste for sensitive gum

We received a tube of the Biotene Sensitive toothpaste two weeks ago and are supposed to test it out and write a review of it. I like the smell and flavor of the toothpaste, but hubby thinks the flavor is too mild as he likes the very minty type of toothpaste. Since both hubby and I do not have sensitive gum, so we thought we would give it to our cousin's wife Carol to try.

We know Carol has suffered from sensitive gum for quite a while, drinking cold or hot stuff has been quite an ordeal for her as well as brushing her teeth. She is currently using the other brand of toothpaste that recommended by her dentist. But, the problem persists, that's why she is so eager to try on this sensitive toothpaste when we asked her. She gladly agreed to try it and let us know how it goes.

As my procrastinator hubby took a few days to finally dropped the tube at Carol's house and take a few more days to collect the tube back to take picture. I thought I would never be able to write this review anymore.:-)

Carol reported that the toothpaste has a mild flavor and it's not too foamy. She likes the fact that it's not too strong nor too minty. After trying out for a week, she feels it relieve the pain and discomfort and has built a little more protection against painful sensitivity and not merely mask them as other toothpastes for sensitive teeth do. So, we are going to give her this tube after we take a picture as she wants to continue trying it .:-)

As we get older the gum tends to recede which in turn can cause sensitive teeth, and it is better to start protecting my teeth now with a toothpaste that builds sensitive tooth protection.

This blog is not over yet

I just realized that I have written more than 1000 posts on this blog over the last six months. When I first started blogging, I used to only post once in a few days. I was still new to blogging and was warming up to the idea of blogging. I seriously couldn't think or find anything worth posting back then.

But then I slowly started to get hooked and my posting frequency shoot up from a few posts a week to a few posts a day. I know this partly is due to jumping on the paid posting backwagon. What really strikes me as amazing is that I can still find things to write about, be it paid or personal postings. I was never very good at this writing stuff (not that I am now, mind you) but somehow whenever I switch on my PC, it's like there's this aura of magic that overcomes me and somehow I'll have loads of things to crap ... LOL!

Even though this blog has gone through the whole spectrum of PRs during the short time and currently have PRO, the blog may be dead, but the blogger is not, so this blog isn't over yet...man, I never knew I had so many things I can blog about ... LOL!

Start some regular exercises

We live in a gated community with security and club house facilities. We paid for security but are not members of the club house. However, we can still use the swimming pool and gym, we just have to pay per entrance. Pay per use seems like a better deal right now since we seldom use the facilities.

I went for a swim and checked out the gym yesterday. I noticed they have got some new machines, spotted a new treadmill and two ellipticals. A woman was on one of the elliptical trainer while I was there, it looked like a great machine to get a low-impact workout. I got to be a little more discipline when it comes to exercise and starting a work out routine.

Gifts for 25th wedding anniversary

My friends MK and Jo are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary this month. Wow, cannot imagine married for 25 years and they still talked to each other.:-) All of us who belong to the same bible study are invited to celebrate their silver jubilees with them.

It's not easy to buy gifts for them, since they are so rich and have everything. MK is an avid golfer, we are thinking about buying something golf related. We found out from their son that he is planning to get a new pair of golf shoes, so we decided to pull together with a few friends and bought the shoes for him. Now, what to get for Jo?

Not all checking accounts are created the same

Hubby is setting up a new checking account because the current one is charging so much miscellaneous fees for everything under the sun. He didn't do his homework of surveying around nor ask a lot of questions before he signed up the current one.

He learned his lesson this time, first he asked people around him which bank do they have their checking accounts, then he has a list of short listed banks that people have good things to say about them. He picked two of them and asked a lot questions about possible fees they may charge and picked one of them who offers free checking without many of those fees.

Get a blood pressure meter

Lately I have been feeling extremely lethargic and fatigue. I was concerned and went to do a health screening at the hospital. I am still waiitng for all the blood and urine test results to come back. Will be seeing the physician next week to discuss any potential ailments.

In fact, I felt dizzy and often seeing stars after getting up from squating or lying positions. The doctor said I might be just anaemic. Another reason could be low blood pressure. However, when he took my blood pressure, it was normal. May be I should be getting a blood pressure meter so that I can monitor my blood pressure daily.

I saw they have that meter at the local pharmacy but I didn't buy because the price was slightly on the higher side. So I decided to check on a few online medical equipment retailers, one of them is Allegro Medical. I found the prices are generally cheaper online. May be that is because the operating cost of an online business is more cost efficient .

Company incentive trip

I have known my ex-classmate S for 30 years, since we were in elementary school. She works for a cosmetic company as sales manager. Her company often offers incentive trip for sales people who achieved sales target. Being the high flyer that she is, S is doing quite well in her career and obviously very gainfully employed. But, almost all my the other friends did not like her and tried to avoid her during our reunion or get together party. They often complained that she was boastful and she liked to brag about her traveling experiences.

Yeah, yeah, my ears are really full with her bragging about her jet setter life styles and endless shopping trips to Paris too. That's just her! I actually knew her family and I am not a bit surprised with her behaviour, because her late father was exactly the same.

The other day when we met, she boasted about the agency that organized the incentive trips for her company. According to her, Holiday Travel of America is the best provider of travel and related services. They offer unique and appealing travel packages and is reputable as one of the leading travel incentive providers in this industry. I guess when her company purchased these travel packages they offer a cost-effective way to impress and motivate its employees.

New found friend

EL and I have become better friends and we get to know each other better over the last few months. She is slightly younger than me, much much taller than me. She is in an entranged marriage and is currently living with her parents. She used to work in a stressful and high flying marketing job. She met a car accident some time ago and her car was totally wrecked. She speaks so fast and changed her mind often, she reminds me of my younegr days, indeed. :-)

The child's first teacher

It's a myth that many parents think their children are better off with teachers than taught by themselves. I think even the most Innovative Tutor doesn't know your child as good, only you as his mother knows him most intimately. It may not always be apparent is the fact that the mother becomes literally the child's first teacher, whether you like it or not!

3-day workshop cost 6000 bucks

My friend went for some franchisee seminars and came back excited about what she learned there. She is asking whether I am interested to take up a 3-day course that trains children with their attention span and eye-hand coordination.

I am not sure all this franchised program is the answer. They are not cheap, is it worth to pay for some "training" that we could easily read up from books and internets. I am very wary of some of the money-making commercially packaged that can cost an arm and a leg.

Christmas Gifts

Are you looking for personalized gifts for Children this coming holidays?

Books are my all time favorite gifts for children of any age. How about getting the famous “My Special Christmas Adventure” personalized story book that have sold over 450,000 copies for the special child in your life? We got this for my niece and nephew last year and they loved it.

A Christmas stocking with the child's name stitched is also a good idea, a gift for the child to cherish for many years to come.

How about this Christmas ornament with your baby's photo? It looks like a perfect gift for the grandparents! What do you think?

Glasses on, lenses off

When I was at the optical shop to get the replacement for my old pair of eyeglasses (the frame was broken), I popped in for a free eye examination. The optician warned me not to wear the contact lenses for too long because my eyes are showing bad signs of lack of oxygen (I can't remember the term he used).

I was scared when he told me the bad habit of wearing contact lenses for too long hours and didn't take them out before going to sleep are the culprits that cause the lack of oxygen and eventually blindness if prolonged. So, I am wearing my glasses tonight and going to sleep without my contact lenses.:-)

The magic spell of grandfather clocks

Times may be changing, but the magical charm about grandfather clocks lives on. Though it tells time just like a modern high tech clocks or elegant Orient watches,the chimes and the striking of the grandfather clocks are there to remind us that things may change but everything will be alright. Though grandfather clock is kind of an old world charm, surprisingly it complements the interior design of most modern day homes and adds an immediate homey feel to the home decor. Either it's placed in the foyer or dining room, when you hear the clock ticking, you know you are at your safe haven - home.

The familar ticking of grandfather clocks always brings back fond memories of my childhood. You see, I stayed with my grandmother between after school and the time my mother got off work. After school, the ticking sounds of grandfather clock was a faithful companion that stayed with me when I was doing my homework, eating lunch, eating cookies and all the goodies my grandma prepared. My parents never own a grandfather clock, but my grandma who took care of me after school did. That's why it brings me fond memories of my late grandmother, her warmth, her hugs and her love.

I always imagine, one day when I do start a family, I would like my children to experience the magic of my childhood home and let them experience the magic spell of a grandfather clock. In fact, when I look at the site that sells clocks, they have amazing collections of grandfather clocks in different designs and made of different woods. Some may be quite expensive, but we can always choose the more affordable ones. I really like the Howard Miller Grandfather Clock they carry, especially the Howard Miller Nottingham Grandfather Clock. I hope hubby will agree with me that it's a worthwhile investment for a beautiful unforgetable experience.

Baby carrots and potatoes

We went out dinner and after that bowling tonight. They are about 20 adults with 15 children from 3 to 20 years old went out together. We had great fun and Winnie and Jeff who coordinated the event are so organized. They even prepared prizes for all the winners of the bowling games. Though I did not play tonight because I hurt my back recently. They gave us this as gift.

Guess what is inside?

Takda!

Baby carrots and potatoes! :-)

Faster Internet?

After two weeks of waiting for the Internet service, it's finally being activated. The phone installer told us that the Internet speed in this area should be faster, because it's a new area and fiber cable are used instead of copper cable.

It's too early to judge or feel the difference in speed because I just hooked the computer up this morning. However, I am glad we are finally connected to the rest of the world from home. So, I am officially moved out of the second floor of the tutoring center and moved back to our house, I won't stay overnight there anymore. I will only go in there on days that I have classes.

Health screening

Have not been feeling so well lately and the tiredness and continuous feeling of lethargy are worrying. So, I decided to go for a health screening at the hospital on Monday. They took some blood and urine samples for various tests, I would see the physician again next Wednesday for further examination and the laboratory report should be out by then too.

It's very unlikely that I have a heart problem, but the health screening package that I took include seeing a cardiologist. He put me through a stress test. I have to run on a treadmill for 12 minutes and have my heart beats monitored. The nurse put the patches and wiring on my body that connected to the computer to plot the graphs. The running is tiring for a person who seldom exercise like yours truly.:-)

My work station

This is the work space that I just setup at a corner of the living space. I just moved the desktop and all the peripherals from the center to our house and set this up this morning. I am going to be working at home and only go to the center when I have classes to teach on three days a week i.e. Monday, Friday and Saturday.

Radiator for your car

Few weeks ago, while driving the old junk, the temperature went up so high, I have to pull over and went to a workshop to check immediately. I thought the radiator must be going out, but it turned out that the fan is not working due to some wiring problem and it doesn't cost much to repair.
I know if the radiator was the one that went out, it will cost more to replace. Have you heard of Radiator.com? The next time when you need replacement for radiator, you can check out the site for competitively priced radiators. Whether you are looking Toyota Radiator or any other brands, they have radiators for most car models. I think it's a good idea to eliminating the middleman by buying directly from Radiator.com to keep the prices low. That way you just have to pay the workmanship to the guy at the workshop to replace and fix the new radiator.

Still waiting for the signal

I am still have no internet access at home and am stuck at the center if I want to get online. I went to apply for the internet service after the the land line was fixed. It has been 4 working days, still get no blinking signal so can't activate the service yet. I hope by the end of the week, I can move the desktop home and do not have to stay overnight at the center anymore.

When budget allows

We are currently doing some renovation and kitchen remodeling in our house. The contractor did ask us whether we would like to do up the garage flooring as well. We would love to but we would wait till we have the budget to do so. Our garage floor currently is just cemented floor, we would love to tile the floor. May be add a layer of professional grade epoxy so that cleaning can be an easy job.

Finishing up some work before medical check up

Have not been staying up late nor blogging much in the last two weeks, just too tired to stay up and the lower back is acting up again. I have let go of many paid posts in the past two weeks, needless to say, this month's blogging earning will suffer. But, health is more important, what is there to gain if one loses his life.:-)
I am rushing out of the door in half an hour time, going to the hospital for a check up. Need to find out why I am feeling so tired, almost like chronic fatigue for the last few weeks. Going to take some blood and marker tests on top of physical examination.

Honeymoon in Mexico

We got married three years ago at the same time we were starting out a business together. We got sucked into the business that took us so much time and energy, we never make time for honeymoon. Come to think about it, we certainly have placed the business before the marriage. If we would do it all over again, I think the choices would be different!

We hope to finally go for our "official" honeymoon when we are together again next spring. Maybe on our 3rd wedding anniversary, we can really go for a real honeymoon. Just take a look at this hotels and resorts which offers All Inclusive Cancun vacation. Wow, we need to get there before we start a family and having children. Indeed, it's an alluring idea.

Holiday seasons coming soon

Time just flew by, we are well into November now. Which mean right after Thanksgiving comes the craze of getting ready for Christmas! Have you started preparation for the holiday season? I have a lot to do. First and foremost I need to get the holiday cards and send them out.:-)

Though a bit disappointed hubby won't be able to celebrate the holidays with me again, the positive side of it is that he is not able to take a longer break because he just started a new job that pays better. At least he has a good job now, and we thank god for his provision. Looks like we won't be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with all his mom's wonderful Thanksgiving recipes nor host a Christmas party like we planned to do.

My cousin's choice to be SAHM

My cousin used to run a profitable business that dealing with corporate gifts and promotional products before she got married. She had a team of marketing and sales people to service all the corporate clients. She had a lot of connections with different suppliers, printers and manufacturers, to ensure what promotional items her clients needed, they could deliver in the shortest time and most competitive price possible.

She sold the business when she had her second child in order to become a stay at home mom. I don't know whether she ever regretted her decision. She seems happy to be to able to spend more time with her three children at home. She is also very active running a mother-child group in her church, so I guess she is happy with her choice.

Invest in precious metals

Hubby's late grandfather is an avid collector of silver and gold coins. He has left some coins that have became rather valuable in the last few years as prices of gold and silver continue to rise. But, our experience is that they are not so easier to cash out, it will take some time to get buyers who are willing to pay good price for them.

Personally, we do not invest in silver or gold coin because we do not like investment that takes time to liquidate. But, if you have a lot of spare cash that you may not use in a long time, you can invest in precious metals with the assistance of Monaco Rare Coin. It's part of the Monex family of companies, a trusted leader in precious metals investments for nearly 40 years. They provide full service to help you to invest wisely in the precious metals market.

Fatigue

Have been feeling this unusual tiredness for a couple of weeks now. It's almost like chronic fatigue, I just felt tired and exhausted all the time. I have no energy to stay pass midnight and often feel sleepy during the daytime. It's unusual because I have never felt this way even when I was having flu or sick.
I talked to the doctors in my bible study group and they suggest I go for a medical check-up. I want to do that this coming week, I have fixed an appointment with the doctor on Tuesday, so will go in to find out what is making me so tired. Hopefully, we will figure out what's wrong, may be the doctors can reset the biological turbocharger in my body to give me more energy. :-)

The charm of grandfather clocks

Times may be changing, but the magical charm about grandfather clocks will never ceased. The chimes and the striking of the hour will be there to remind us that things never change and everything will be alright. Though grandfather clock is an old world charm, surprisingly it complements the interior design of most modern day homes and adds an immediate homey feel to the home decor. Either it's placed in the foyer or dining room, when you hear the clock ticking, you know you are at your safe haven - home.

The dear familar ticking of grandfather clocks always brings back fond memories of my childhood. After school, the ticking sounds of grandfather clock was a faithful companion that stayed with me when I was doing my homework, eating lunch, eating cookies and all the goodies my grandma prepared. My parents never own a grandfather clock, but my grandma who took care of me after school did. It brings me fond memories of my late grandmother, her warmth, her hugs and her love.

I always imagine, one day when we start a family, I would like my children to experience the magic of my childhood home and let them experience the magic spell of a grandfather clock. In fact, when I look at the site that sells clocks, they have amazing collections of grandfather clocks in different designs and made of different woods. Some may be quite expensive, but I can always choose the more affordable ones. I really like the Howard Miller Nottingham Grandfather Clock they carry, I hope hubby will agree with me it's a worthwhile investment for a beautiful experience.

Good price for HDTVs

If you are shopping for a HDTV or any audio visual product, you can check out Second Act. It is an online retailer of HDTVs and related audio visual products. The company is an authorized dealer of household brand names like Sharp, Samsung, Toshiba, Denon, Marantz, JVC and Hitachi.

I took a lot on the site. The prices on the site are great. I think that's because you can find product that is factory refurbished, factory closeouts and overstocks, end-of-life and open box here. I really don't mind paying a fraction for the cost of HDTV, when no body can see that it's store new. They even guaranteed the lowest price you can find on the internet!

They also offer a Great Deal of the Day feature that even further discounts a single item for a 24 hour period. The deal changes daily at 7am central time. The deal can be found here at Second Act and you can sign up to receive the latest offer via email or RSS.

Nursing homes

My in laws are both cancer survivors. Their health conditions are not that great thought they can still pretty much take care of themselves. Two years ago, they sold their house in CA and moved back to their hometown in IL. They are currently living in a retirement community.

In future, if circumstances changed and they need nursing care, they would move into the nursing homes. They have scouted around and found services that they like. The nursing home that they are interested is pretty much like bettercaring. A place dedicated to provide care and nursing service.

Product infomation and reviews

Surveys and research have shown that more and more people would search the Internet for information and reviews before they head to the store to get the products they wanted. We are seeing more and more sites like Krillion, focus on delivering local search results that combine very specific product information with very specific locality information.

Consumers who have completed their research can just hop into the car, drive to the store and grab the product. The search results are categorized. For example, if you want to look up information and reviews on Maytag Refrigerators, you can just search within "major appliances". Krillion helps you to find relevant search results for national brands that are sold by national and regional retailers.

All mothers nag?

What do you do when your mother nagged you? I am nearly 40, she still nagged me to death every time we met. Over the years, I learned to pretend I didn't hear all the complaints and criticisms she has about the choices I made .
I was the rebellious child who talked back that she hated when I was younger. Our relationship had improved a lot since I learn to keep my mouth shut.
Though she hated her children talked back with excuses, she hated no response as well. Even though pretending I didn't hear it so that I don't get caught up or affected by all the negative "chi", acknowledging that she is right is equally important.:-)

Posts being rejected

A few people blogged about their posts being rejected last two weeks, and this week is my turn, I have a couple of them rejected for the reason of "You have taken more than 3 posts a day"! Of course that's a mistake, the system won't allow us to do that even if we try to!

I resubmitted them even though the message said I might not resubmit. I sent in a ticket at the same time. Got a quick response from the customer love though it's number 200+ in line. The posts have not been approved yet, at least they have sent a quick note saying they would be re-looking at it.

Include in the note, also this sentence:

We have been training several new reviewers in the office the past few weeks and while they are eager to do a thorough job, errors are inevitable.

I like the transparency, the company is not afraid to let us know they are going through some growing pain and short of staffs. Be patience with them even though it inconvenient you to keep sending in tickets. Don't forget to use your "Please" and "Thank you". I have good experience dealing with the customer love people, they use courteous and polite language when they wrote to you, even though it's your mistake to not include the image tracker or forgot to put in the the in post disclosure. Another company actually sent stern warning and rejected the post straight away without giving a chance to rectify for mistakes like this. It's only human to make mistake, but it's divine to give people another chance. :-)

The Mist is coming November 21st

I loved horror and suspend thriller as a genre and watching movies that scare the crap out of me is my choice of entertainment. Not so much for the slather, I got tired of it quickly. Are you a fan of Stephen King? Have you read his books or seen any of the movies adapted from his books? Well, how can one claimed the love of the horror or suspend thriller without being exposed to the famous King’s works.:-)

The newest trailer is out for Frank Darabont’s adaptation of The Mist by Stephen King. if you are familiar with the original work, it is actually a short story. It is a story about a scary storm and unnatural fog in a small town in Maine. There are a group of inhabitants of this small town got hole-up in a supermarket and had to fight for their life with all sort of weird creatures living in the mist. To view the trailer, you can check out http://www.themist-movie.com/. I am kind of looking forward to see the movie when it hit the screen this coming November 21st.

King was the author of over 60 works of fiction and nonfiction, span from short stories to psychological dramas, to multi-volume fantasies, and of course his famous bestseller classic works of modern horror tales. What's your favorite King? Do you prefer the author in fantasy or realist mode? My personal favorite of Stephen Kings would be "The Shining". I was still in school when this was first released. I still enjoy re-reading it once in a blue moon and it still creeped me out!

Home with sisters

Went back to parents' house for dinner yesterday. Both sisters were back too. I haven't seen them for more than two months. They were busy with the new condo they bought, shopping for furniture and electrical items and busy with the moving.

In fact, they just came back from oversea business trips. They are going to stay until Sunday. But, I couldn't stay because I have a class today. But, I am staying quite near my parents' place, I can always go back again this weekend. I have wanted to go up to visit their new home but haven't make time for it. Now, I am thinking of visiting them next month when we have a break of 3 weeks from the SWR classes.

NYC CityPass as holiday gifts

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and Christmas is not too far away too. Have you started with your gifts shopping? We are almost done with shopping for Thanksgiving. Christmas shopping is still on the paper. We have started a gift list, but haven't started the actual shopping yet.

We found a cool gift idea for our friend who is planning for a trip to the Big Apple next month. Do you know that you can buy the New York CityPass, a booklet with tickets for visiting the major attractions in NYC? You can get this for friends who are planning a trip there, for friends who have not planned, they might just started planning one if they have this tickets.

Each booklet has a map, information on public transportation and useful tips on the best time to visit each attraction. It has a ticket to The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the new Greek and Roman galleries, Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum and the American Museum of Natural History. It also has a ticket for a trip to the top of the Empire State Building Observatory and ticket to board a Sightseeing Cruise for a tour of the Manhattan skyline.

The best thing about this tickets is the privilege to skip most main entrance ticket lines. This will definitely save time. Not only that, this tickets are sold at 50% off the published combined admission price. In fact, it is an affordable gift to get for your loved ones and friends.

There is currently a CityPass Winter Special runs from December 15 to March 15, each booklet purchased can be used during this period, so it gives up to three months to utilize the six tickets in the booklet. If you need the ticket in a hurry, CityPass also offers an overnight delivery options.

Marketing lessson 101

As a teacher and now turn business owner of a tutoring center, I have to learn a hard lesson regarding marketing and projecting the image of the business.

We have setup the center at an area with majority lower to medium income group people. We thought keeping the price low mean making it affordable for people in this area. How wrong we were! People actually associate lower price with low quality, and they rather send their children further away to places that charge higher.

From the beginning of this year, we have increased the fees twice, which made it almost double of what we used to charge when we first started. The amazing thing is: the enrollment did not drop but actually increase. People who come in also seem to have more confident in the program and do not question the quality or the effectiveness of the program so much. Weird?

We learned that we should never priced our products too low that people associate it with low quality. People do not appreciate it and we were short charged ourselves. This is our marketing lesson 101.

November is Memory Screening Month

When I bumped into a friend whom I haven't met for about 10 years, he told me a not so good news about our old professor in the college. He was diagnosed to have Alzheimer disease. I have always thought only very old people in their 70s, 80s, may be 90s can get Alzheimer's. How wrong I was! Well, our professor is in his mid 50s, that's a prime age for a professor! In fact, he just started a company aims to commercialize the findings of the research group that he's leading.

I called up his wife and had a little chat with her. I am ashamed to say that I have not tried to keep in touch with them all this years. His wife is very petite but a strong woman. She said she was thankful that some warning signs of dementia were detected at the early stage and diagnosis was made right after that. That has enabled him to go through appropriate intervention and medical treatments that help to slow down the deterioration of brain capacity and memory loss, and to maintain certain quality of life.

anyone who is concerned about memory loss and detected some warning signs of dementia should go for memory screenings. Though a memory screening does not replace consultation with a qualified physician, it’s good to rule out the possibility for the peace of mind. It’s also appropriate for people who do not have a concern right now, but wants to establish a base line score for comparison in the future.

In fact, the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) has initiated a National Memory Screening Day to bring awareness and recognition of Alzheimer’s disease. November is the Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month and AFA has partnered with organizations and health care professionals across America, to offer free confidential memory screenings, as well as follow-up resources and educational materials to those concerned about memory loss. If you are concerned about your or your loved one’s memory loss, you can always locate a screening location in your area by visiting the links mentioned above. Early detection does make a difference! You can also support the fund raising effort of AFA by buying your holiday gifts to contribute towards promoting awareness of the Alzheimer's disease.

Met an old friend

I recently bumped into an acquaintance W whom I haven't met for about 10 years. Actually, we used to work for the same company in the same department but in different locations. I was required to do quite a bit of coordinations and communications with some of his officemates. But, somehow our paths never cross in those four years I was there.

W is a very quiet and low profile person, but if you ever need assistance, he is very helpful. I knew it because we used to share an office during our graduate study. He was the one that showed me how to play around with windows 3.11 at that time. He was the technical guy who didn't care much about his look and dress sense. In fact, most of us who work in that laboratory were like that. I don't know whether it's because birds of the same feather flock together or people are influenced by the people around them. he still looked quite the same, with a little mustache like the Japanese man dressed in t-shirt and faded jeans.

In fact, meeting W again brought back some memories that I have almost forgotten. It brought back memory of some fun and carefree time during our graduate years. Most of us were poor students who were paid a pathetic stipend by the university to slave away our youth in the laboratory. Life could be very boring doing all the analysis and troubleshooting, and even nerds like us look for ways to entertain ourselves.

I remembered all the late night rushing to help our professors to get ready for conferences or seminars. Our professor was one big procrastinator and shouldn't be a surprise that his students were are small procrastinators. :-)

Temporary relief for tooth ache

The last time I had tooth ache was when I was 8 or 9 years old. I woke up one morning with the worst ever ache from a back tooth cavity!! It hurt so much, I couldn't sit still, couldn't eat and couldn't sleep, and I remembered how torturous that was.

My grandmother gave me a pill to stop the pain. The pain was relieved. But, little did we know that that I was allergy to the painkiller, it caused rashes all over my body. The worst was: once the tooth ache came back and the rashes haven’t subsided, I was having both rashes and tooth ache! My mother then had me gurgle with iced water. Obviously I was desperate and in much pain, would try anything that promised to relieve the pain. Somehow it worked because the intense pain was gone in about half an hour of gurgling, rinsing and spitting out the iced water.

That experience alone was enough to instill the importance of oral hygiene in me. I always make sure I brush my teeth after meals, see the dentist twice a year. I must say I haven’t have to go through the same pain again all this years!

If you who have recently suffered from tooth ache, you probably have heard of this Over-the-Counter Dental Cement called Dentemp OS. Frankly, this is the first time I saw this product. This product promised to provide fast, temporary relief of pain and discomfort. You can use it as temporary dental repair to replace lose fillings and may even use to temporarily seal loose crowns. No, you cannot play dentist at home, you still have to get an appointment with the dentist, after the pain is gone! :-)

Phonemic and phonological awareness?

What are they?

Phonemic awareness deals with the structure of sounds and words. The understanding that words are made up of sounds which can be assembled in different ways to make different words. Once a child has phonemic awareness, they are aware that sounds are like building blocks that can be used to build all the different words.

In a nutshell it means ability to associate sounds and symbols. Written languages are made up of symbols i.e. Roman letters, Chinese Characters, Hiragana, Arabic letters, Thai letters. The written symbols were invented to record speech and sound. Since children learn to speak first, it's only natural that we teach them to read by associating the sounds and their symbols.

Phonological awareness is ability to distinguish distinct sounds. Children without phonological understanding might not have learned to hear the difference between tan or ten, lice or rice, heat or hit.

Both phonemic and phonological awareness are important prereading skill which also must be learned and practiced.

Though English is a complicated Language with vast vocabulary, surprisingly they are only 45 sounds represented by 70 basic phonograms. It makes more sense to introduce the sounds instead of introducing the all the vocabulary without realizing that there is a systematic way to pronounce this words. Once you have introduce the sounds, then figuring out what happen when you combine the sounds (you get words) is a natural progression. Then, combining the words you get sentences.

I have used this approach with children for 3 years now, I would say this is the only way that make sense to children with learning/reading difficulty or children who have shown a lot of dyslexic tendencies. It's also the best way to accelerate the reading ability of normal children.

Rustic furniture

Our friend who lived in an 150 years old house in VA did some extensive renovation and kitchen remodeling recently. She had a blast looking for Southwestern Furniture to compliment the overall theme of the house. It was very hard for her to find all the necessary hardware to replace the rustic kitchen furniture that she had, so she decided to have a modern kitchen instead. Only if she knew this company that do Wholesale Furniture.

Don't you think this Rustic Furniture look more than an art piece? In fact, they are handmade by skillful craftsmen, designed and constructed exclusively for Tres Amigos. You will be amazed with the huge selection of rustic and Spanish colonial style furniture on the Tres Amigos's site. You can also find huge selection of hardware with reasonable price.

Almost every piece of furniture selling on this store is 100% solid word. I like that because I really dislike those flimsy chip board or laminated wood. The best thing is, you get furniture that is one of its kind. Due to the nature of handcrafting, no two pieces are exactly the same. If you are looking for some unique furniture at reasonable price, take a few minutes to peruse the site. You will feel like you are going back in time when furniture was constructed from wood, not paper.:-)

I am sorry I can't help

A mother with 3 children, she is a hairdresser and her husband is a mechanics. Both do not have much education. (I suspected both or one of them might be dyslexic, since all their children have shown certain degree of dyslexic tendencies) Two of the boys have shown the classic dyslexics symptoms i.e. letter reversals, poor phonemic and phonological awareness, left-handed, poor attention span, fidgeting a lot, above average IQ but having difficulty to learn to read. The 8 years old boy has gone from one tutoring place to another for the past six years. He started preschool since he was 2 1/2 years old! The sad thing is: he can't read the simplest 2-3 letter words.

The spell to write and read is helping him, but he has to cope with school work and going a few places for extra classes that do not help him. His mother asked whether I can take him and his siblings for after school care and couching them.

I feel sorry for them, but I do not want to commit myself, to be tied down with them whole afternoon while getting little financial returns. I know trying to cope with their school work is a losing battle when they should be focusing on picking up the basic skills. I don't think the parents can understand the magnitude of the learning problems that their children are facing, they will inevitably putting pressure on the teacher to produce "results" as in test scores.

He could have pay less

When hubby told me how much he is paying for his car insurance, Term Life and home owner insurance, and I nearly fainted. I am pretty sure there are ways you can Lower Your Insurance Premium if you shop around.

He just didn't bother to ask for Insurance Quotes from a few places and compare to get the best deal. He probably just took the first thing that he stumbled upon and never even read the small prints. That's my man, who find number crunching too challenging a task.

House phone is finally here

Two weeks after I first handed in the application, the phone is finally installed. I quickly applied the Internet service once the phone is installed. After everything has been done, I went to the telephone company to pay bills, there and then this man told me that there is a cheaper package for local calls and Internet only, without out of states/national calls. (That's basically what I need the land line for) I wanted to strangle this people, how come never ask me or inform me of the better deal when I applied for the line two weeks ago?

For the Internet service, I decided not to do it at the ISP sales office but to one of the authorized resellers. I think they would have more incentive to rush and push for the activation within one week than those snakes in the ISP sales office. The clerk at the reseller office told me I should me able to get the Internet service activated the latest by next Wednesday. I am keeping my fingers cross about that.

Greetings for the holidays

Do you still send or receive holiday greeting cards? No doubt they are the fastest, easiest and the most inexpensive way to send warm wishes to families and friends. But, with more people switched to E-cards, it's hard to receive paper cards this days. In fact, I have not received any paper cards in the last three years. What about you? Do you still receive paper greeting cards for the holidays?

Looks like all my friends have gone electronic when it comes to holiday greetings! I really hope to receive more paper greeting cards, so I can add to the stash of greeting cards I have collected over the years. Should I start sending them paper cards, so they may get the clues and start sending me paper cards? :-)

The lazy computer addicts

My landlady Mrs K came to collect rental and we chatted a bit. She was telling me about her daughter who is 20 years old, studying in college and comes back during the weekend. She is going to fly to NZ to further her study in two months time.

Mrs K complained to me about her daughter, that she doesn’t do her laundry everyday and is spending too much time online. It almost sounds like she was talking about me, and she sounds so much like my mother. LOL

I don't try to convince my mother that it saves water and thus more environmentally friendly to have one whole load instead of washing a few pieces of garments everyday, because she calls that laziness like Mrs K. :-)

It’s hard for Mrs K to understand why her daughter is spending so much time in front of the computer. My dad used to grumble about that too, until he himself got hook on the internet and now he is an expert when it comes to torrent. My mother has learned to accept the fact that computer is just like television, people get addicted to it. She is alright with me getting online now as she knows I am working, not just socializing or solely for entertainment.

Moving and consolidating

When I went to visit my former colleagues last week, they were revealing to me about the plans of the management of the university. They are planning to consolidate some departments which the numbers of student intake has reduced drastically. Previously, they have two IT and two engineering faculties, each in the main and branch campus. They now want to combine the branch campus and the main campus students into one faculty. That will mean moving the engineering and computer laboratories to the other campus, that will be a lot of work!

They definitely would need to hire a moving company to do the job. To haul all the laboratory equipment, computer carts and LAN Racks interstate is not a small mission. They are easily hundreds of computer carts and LAN Racks in all the computer laboratories, plus all the bulky machineries in the engineering laboratories, definitely not easy. Surprisingly, my ex-colleagues told me, unlike this mover NYC, the moving company the university hired will only do the moving, they have to do the packing. I bet my ex-colleagues who work in the laboratories will have a "fun" time packing and unpacking all this stuffs.

Caution, terrible driver is here!

I am one of those drivers that people shake their heads when they see me driving. I took countless hours of driving lessons to get my driver license. I knocked down the gate and scratched the pillar when I first started to drive. My parking skill is so horrendous, even a small car that I am driving have scratches front, back and all over. I could not imagine if I would to drive one of those gigantic crew cab or extended cab.

We are thinking of buying a car, as the 16 years old junk has given us problems recently and overhauling it is not worth the cost. We have to consider and weigh our options properly as we’re now buying for possibly expanding family. We have no kid right now, but we are going to start a family soon, we would hate to have to change or buy another car when the needs change. Hubby used to own an extended cab and a sedan when he was free and single. Giving a choice, I think he would still want a truck that can go on fishing or camping trips. But, I would definitely have a hard time trying to park that giant along the narrow streets. :-)

The teak benches are gone

Teak is very hardy wood and it makes durable furniture that can withstand extreme weather. Few weeks ago, when I was at the recycled furniture store, I saw a nice set of teak garden furniture and some old teak benches. The teak garden furniture will be out of reach for me as I don't even have a big garden that can fit them in. But, I like the benches very much, thought they will be great for putting the flower pots in the front yard. However, I was in a hurry, so I didn't have time to bargain with the man there. I thought I will come back another day.

But, the moving had kept me busy for a few weeks and I totally forgot about this. When I finally make it to the store last week, the teak benches were all gone. The store manager told me that someone bought four of them to use in her garden. And, the other four were snacked up by a doctor, he was going to use those benches in the waiting area of his clinics. How odd is it to have this old benches if his other furniture are all brand new modern furniture? I was thinking, his clinics must be really old and run down if he uses this old benches in the waiting area. :-)

Can you come out with 100% down?

If we are not born with the silver spoons in our mouths, most of us cannot buy a house with 100% down. Which means most of us have to get a home loan for house purchase. The close cost and all the legal charges for preparing all the security documents all over again can cost quite a bit. We prefer to lock into a home loan with lower fixed rate. That way we would not have to take up home refinance when the rates go up.

My goal for our current house is to pay down the loan in 10 years. Though we have accumulated quite a bit of equity, we would not consider taking a home equity loan for expansion or renovation projects.

what kind of traveler are you?

What kind of traveler are you and what kind of accommodation do you prefer when you travel? Do you prefer to stay in a big hotel, a small but cozy hotel or bed and breakfast place for that personal touch? Nowadays, we can have so many options with whatever budget we have. We are practically spoiled with choices.

For instance, if you are going to visit Las Vegas, you will have many choices for Las Vegas Hotels. Whatever your budget is, whether you are looking for luxury hotels or Cheap Hotels in Las Vegas, you will have so many options when it comes to booking Hotels in Las Vegas. The same goes for other cities in the world, the Internet has make it easier for us to search for bargains at the tips of our fingers.

Buing tickets for any events online

For all the fans of Dallas Cowboys out there, are you looking to get Dallas Cowboys tickets for their games? We all know how difficult it's to obtain tickets for our favorite sport teams or that amazing concert that we just have to attend. Sometimes, we just don't bother to buy the tickets, we know either the tickets are sold out almost immediately or we just end up getting all the lousy seats.

Luckily they are more and more online stores like Premium Seats USA that help to solve this nuisance by providing a huge selection of first-class tickets to all concerts, sports and theater events nationwide. You can get tickets to any events you can think of through this online ticket brokers now. For more easily available tickets to comedy shows in Vegas, you can almost consider the tickets in your hands.

Want to stay longer in Italy?

There are so many things to see and so many places to visit in Europe. Everyone who visits Europe wishes that they can stay longer, so that they get to visit all the historical sites, art galleries, museums and be able to soak in the European culture for a long time. But, the cost of accommodation was always the main cost of any traveling to an European country.

But, thank goodness for Internet, there are more affordable options available this days. For instance if you are looking to book hotels in italy, you can always find fairly reasonably priced hotels in rome on sites of offer cheap hotel accommodation or you can even get free hotel stay when you book up to certain days or when they run a promotion. The same for venice hotels, you basically can choose from many options at a good price.

NFL Jerseys

I have been invited to the birthday party of a friend's son next weekend. I am trying to figure out what birthday present to get for the little boy. Normally, I would just buy story books as present for little boys and girls. Since this boy is very much into sports, particularly football and baseball, I thought he might appreciate one of those NFL Jerseys. But I didn't have time to go to the mall to buy a present for him, maybe I should shop online and have the jerseys delivered to me?

I know Franklin Sport has a whole collections of jerseys and NFL uniforms for all the famous NFL teams. The boy is a big fan of Washington Redskin. Since these youth NFL uniforms come with a complete set of 0-9 iron on numbers so he can imagine himself being a quarterback, running back or kicker. I wonder which player he likes the most. If I know his favorite player, I can get him the jerseys with the same numbers. I must remember to find out from his mother about his size and his favorite player.

One thing I like about this jerseys is, they are made of very soft 100% double knit polyster materials, they can even used as kids pajamas ! They are apparently very popular merchandise. Well, which boy doesn't dream to dress in their favorite team's uniforms?

New luxury Condos in Hallandale Beach

Have you been to Hallandale Beach or do you live around the area? Have you noticed a gigantic building sprouted out in less than one mile from the prestigious Diplomat Resort? That's the new luxury condominiums-The Beach Club in Hallandale Beach.

The Beach Club has three condos sitting on nine acres of ocean front property, they are close to 1500 units to choose from. You can have the choices of one bedroom unit, two bedroom unit with 3 bathroom unit. You can also choose between intra-coastal and ocean views.

Each unit comes with fabulous features and full amenities, equipped with top of the line appliances, European styled kitchen, granite counter tops, marble flooring in wet areas, floor to ceiling laminated windows and state of the art telecommunication wiring system.

For keepsake

Hubby's parents have sold their house in CA and moved into a retirement community in IL last year. At that time, there was only one two-room apartment available at the retirement community, so they moved in temporarily. They were on a waiting list for a bigger unit complete with garage and a basement.

They have just been notified that they can move into the newly available apartment next month. They are busy packing now. Hubby went over to help them with the packing now and then when they called. But, packing and moving is always a headache because they have so many stuffs.

His father is one person who never threw away anything, he kept everything in the box, regardless whether he actually need or will use them in future or not. For him, many things have sentimental values and are for keepsake. I bet he might have the Baseball Gloves that hubby and his brother used when they were young, in one of those boxes! Maybe it has to do with the fact that he is a historian!

Anyway, moving is a good time to get rid of stuffs and re-prioritize our life. I got rid of a few truck loads of stuff during the recent move. The physical de-cluttering somehow makes me felt that I have de-clutter my mind as well.:-)

Neighbor's kids play baseball

All my neighbor's children are into baseball, they play at the yard every evening. Each one of them owns the baseball gloves and their parents got them the whole set of Baseball Equipment. They also play for their school. Their father and hubby sometime will join them after work. I don't really know how to play baseball and I would just sit there watching them sometime when I am not busy. Their mother also never join them, I guess she probably is not interested in playing baseball like me.

It's quite fun to watch them running around and cheering for each other. I think the children are quite well behaved bunch. They don't swear or scream at each other. I remember when I was young, my brother and I always ended up arguing or fighting when we played together. My mother said we fought like cat and dog. Until today, I felt that my brother and I are not as close. I am closer with my sisters and the youngest brother, though they are much younger than me in age. (They are 8, 10, 14 years old younger than me) Sometime I thought maybe that's because we never have to play together and fight due to our age gaps, so the relationship is not tarnished.:-)

How many loyalty cards do you have?

Do you have multiple loyalty shopping cards or membership cards inside your wallets? Do you consciously choose to shop at the stores that you can collect points or get rewards for your shopping? I do. Nowadays, many mortal and brick stores have some kind of loyalty programs to keep their customers happy. The retailers are savvy because they know not many of us do not like to shop and be rewarded at the end of day!

Buy and sell used stuffs

Do you like to hunt for bargains at the recycling store or do you have many"stuffs" that you try to get rid of? If you enjoy the thrills of finding gems with a fraction of the price as much as I do, you will be delighted to find out there is a new auction site coming out, where you can buy and sell used stuff online. Buying and selling used stuffs are good practices, it helps to save the stuffs that otherwise end up in the landfill. Like they said, one person's trash may be another person's gem. :-)

www.UsedBirmingham.com is a site setup for people who live in Birmingham Area in Alabama to buy and sell used stuffs. If you do not live in this area, hang tight, there will have other launches for other cities. It will come to your area soon.

Cheap hotels on the internet

With the low cost budget airlines, it has became so inexpensive to fly to Australia. Are you planning a trip to Australia? If you are planning to visit Australia and need to book Hotels in Brisbane and other cities, you may try the Internet for great bargain.

Whether you are looking for Brisbane Accomodation or Gold Coast Accomodation, you can usually find cheaper rates online, sometime you can even save up to 40%. Why pay more when you can get it at lower price, right?

Going back to school without quiting your job

As working adults, it may not be possible for many people to just quit their job to go back to school. But, with the availability of distance learning and online university, it's possible for everyone to go to school without leaving her job.

In the past 10-15 years, they are so many online universities have emerged to provide online courses. capella university is one of the earliest pioneer that founded in 1993. It's a fully online university which offers over 100 graduate and bachelor online degree programs in various fields. If you are interested to take up a course to improve yourself, do check out http://www.capella.edu or call 1.888.CAPELLA (227.3552) to find out more information about the courses and other details of the university.

My mother's pearl necklace

My mother has a pearl necklace that my sisters and I love very much. I think it was her wedding gift. She didn't wear it everyday, only on special occasions i.e. wedding dinner or new year. Growing up being fascinated with my mother's pearl necklace, we do love the classic elegant love of pearl jewelry. We hope one day we could afford some really nice pieces of pearls.

car transport or air tickets more expensive?

When my parents in law moved from the west coast to the Midwest, they actually asked hubby to go home to help them to drive one of the cars from CA to IL, instead getting the Car transports company to do the shipping. I think it was total madness to do that. It would have cost less to hire a Car transports company to ship the car instead of asking their son to fly home from 6000 miles away to do the job. The air ticket had cost much more than the shipping!

But, what can I say when they have make their decision and decided without asking me. I was not only mad that it cost money, but hubby has to left the job for a month and I have to cover for his classes. I was so stressed at that time, I think that's how my health got bad, started from there. All the negative "chi" from the stress of running a business alone and teaching two person's load for two months.

Life insurance for seniors

A mother of my student is an insurance agent, she has been trying to sell me the Senior Life insurance . It's a no medical exam life insurance for people who are 60 and above. According to her, the policy is only available for limited time only. (I know, one of those sales tactics, to make it sound urgent)

At first, I was rather interested to get for my parents, but they didn't want it. So, I told the woman that I am no longer interested because my parents are not interested.

But, she obviously won't take "no" as no, she still drops by unexpectedly to bug me off and on. I get really mad with her the other day. I was so busy writing paid posts and meeting deadlines, but she won't budge even I told her that I am busy. She hangs around for more than 2 hours, I couldn't do anything to make her go. How I wish I have one of those wands that can make people disappeared!

Selling sunglasses online

I always wonder what's the profit margin of sunglasses and glasses. My friend who owns an optical shop seems to do so well financially, so I guess it must be really profitable business. The other day, because I asked him, he told me that Sunglasses have very good profit margin. He bought this Wholesale Discount Sunglasses for a dime a dozen and sell them with a premium price. No wonder he is driving a BMW!

I wonder would it be possible for stay at home mothers to sell this Discount Sunglasses online? If they can get the glasses with a wholesale price and sell them retail on Ebay or they can setup their own online stores. Wouldn't it be an ideal solution for them to work from home? What do you think? Is this a workable idea?

The secret that hypnotised :-)

My best friend went for a self improvement seminar and workshop called NLP last year. It was recommended by her boss and she came back claimed that it was a life changing experience for her. She got really motivated and could not stop talking about "The Secret", which is a movie they watched and discussed during the NLP workshop. She recommended me to watch the movie.

After much procrastination, I finally got hold of a copy of the movie and started watching it. Well, I must confessed, I fell asleep every time after 10-25 minutes the movie started. So, after three months of trying to watch the movie, I gave up!

It sounds so cryptic and new age to me. Recently, I also discovered that there are people who are willing to pay good money for the Law Of Attraction Accelerator, one of the many affiliate programs that spin off from the movie and promises to bring in a huge income. First off, with each sale of the Attraction Accelerator, you get a whopping 40% commission. On top of that, if you bring in a friend to join as an affiliate, you will get an additional 10% for sales that they make. So, if you want to take that first step to super charge your dreams, sign up for the 2 Tier affiliate plan now. :-)