Friday Funnies

I got this through my morning email, and I couldn't stop laughing ... The English in these pics are so "powderful" :P

Suspiscious ... what do they have in there?

Fall Carefully ...

Sandy's Back

That was quick .... A lot of people are really going miss Sandy, including yours truly, and a message by Freelance Samurai give some hope to seeing Sandy again. A Sandy fan, set up a blog to put together a team to revive Sandy, this time around in Open Source format. Hopefully they'll get an improved Sandy up and about soon.

Idioms ... by Karam Singh Walia

This list came through my email and made me smile.
I thought I'd share this :-D

I dioms by Karam S ingh Walia

• Kemana tumpahnya kuah kalau tidak ke bawah
• Tak lapuk dek hujan, tak lekang macam rambutan
• Tiada rotan, pelempang berguna juga
• Biar lambat asalkan tak cepat
• Biar putih tulang, jangan kuning gigi
• Di mana ada gula di situ adalah gula-gula
• Kalah jadi abu, menang jadi arang, seri jadi abu bakar
• Carik-carik bulu ayam, lama-lama jadi shuttlecock
• Secupak takkan jadi 18 cupak
• Gajah mati meninggalkan gading, udang harimau mati meninggalkan kulit, manusia mati meninggal dunia
• Sedangkan lidah lagi tergigit, inikan pula makanan di dalam mulut.
• Harapkan pagar, pagar tidak boleh diharap
• Alang-alang mandi biar guna sabun
• Berapa berat mata memandang, berat lagi seguni beras
• Cubit paha kanan, paha kiri tak rasa apa-apa pun
• Diam-diam ubi berisi, diam-diam orang... . bisu
  

Sandy Quits

Sandy's quitting come 8th December 2008.

I've been very dependent on Sandy to remember stuff which works very well with twitter and email. All I need to do was to send Sandy a tweet/email and she'll take note of the tweet or message, be it a to do, a note or an appointment. Sandy will remind me via twitter and/or email of the tasks or appointments. A virtual secretary. Now that Sandy will be no more in a few days time, I feel like losing an employee.

I can still use Remember the Milk with twitter for the same functionality, though it wouldn't feel the same.

That's the price I have to pay for falling in love with free online services. What to do, I'm a cheapskate and will continue using free online applications and services. I doubt Gmail would shut down ... but you can never tell. I have to think of other email alternatives it it happens.

The creator of Sandy explained why he's pulling the plug on iwantsandy.com here, but I guess by the 8th December, the link will be switched off as well. More about the end of Sandy's career at WebWorkerDaily.com.

Stress Buster

Sometimes pen, paper and some office stationery are all that's needed for stress therapy.

Why flowers? ... something I saw on the browser window of my PC. Not very original, I must admit, but it worked. I'm back in the mood to work again.

This guy reminds me of ..... ME!!

I bumped into this short clip while browsing and I like this a lot ...



Sometimes when you don't really want to do something, you'll find something else to do to satisfy yourself thay something is actually being done.

The actual task at hand remains undone ....

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

What the ......

I went out this evening for my household monthly supplies and groceries at a neighbourhood hypermayket .... and this is what I saw. My goodness, the price of rice has gome up so high. If I am not mistaken, the price of rice has gone up two fold since early this year.

 

Rice is what I. my family and most Malaysian eat everyday, so no matter how much the price go up, I still need to eat and nuy rice. Today, I decided to try replacing rice as the main source of carbs in my meals. I bought various types of potatoes, local sweet potatoes, yams, also some pumpkin and squashes. I'll try to cook these to substitute as the main source of carbohydrates in my diet. Since I do most of the cooking at home, the whole family will have to eat what I cook.

 

I'll try creating something interesting and delicious with what I bought today. What comes to mind for tomorrow's menu is Baby Potato Salad with mashed hard boiled eggs, chopped celery and olive oil for dressing. Grilled Fish (Dory) fillets, and

steam some broccolli and carrots.

 

Oooo .... excited to get cooking tomorrow.

Working on a Sunday ...

I have to work today ... It's the weekend, I know. But I would not call this all "work" ....

 

Look at the big boys' toys I get to play today. :-P

Mr. Bean's Souped Up Mini ...

This beautiful mini just arrived a couple of days ago into my showroom. A beautiful car. The bright yellow reminded me of the silly Mr. Bean immediately.

Koryo Won Restaurant @ Suria KLCC

Stumbled upon this Korean Restaurant at Suria KLCC. I wonder what Koryo means, because my son belongs to a Taekwondo club which is called Koryo as well ....

 

I don't think the word koryo has anything to do with food.

David Allen ... another interview

I thought I'd share this interesting interview with David Allen by fastcompany.tv

Silvery Glitter .....

My Kids and I spend the weekend at a local community hall. The kids participated in a Taekwondo championship organized by our Local Council, Majlis Perbandaran Ampang Jaya, MPAJ.

Syafiq, my second boy, was eliminated in the quarterfinals and came back home empty handed. His elder brother, Syafie, on the other hand, sailed through to the finals but lost in the final match. It was a close fight, but I think Syafie could have clinched the Gold medal if had tried just a little bit harder.

One thing I learned, and hopefully my kids too, that in a competition like this there're going to be losers. What's important is that he tried his best. With that in mind, I am content with the silver medal Syafie brought home. I bet he wanted to win as bad as I did ... perhaps more ... It is important to win but it's important to be a good loser as well, isn't it?

Here are some shots of the kids in action.

Syafie(blue vest): taking off

Syafie: reverse thrust to the opponents' face

Syafie: another try

Syafiq(red vest): trying his best to win

I've been a supporter of this sport since both my children became active in Taekwondo. I covered the events officially when requested. This week, I took photos a parent giving support to his boys.

Cucumber-Carrot-Mint Riata

Raita is a raw vegetable, yogurt based salad, not unlike coleslaw other than the yogurt for the dressing. There are lots varieties of recipe for this salad, but I like mine with mint. I mentioned about this dish briefly in my previous posting, so, I thought I'd share the recipe, my version, of this very cooling salad.

Cucumber Carrot Mint Raita

• 1 cup shreaded cucumber (squeeze the moisture out as much as possible)
• 1 cup shreaded carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
• 1/2 cup low fat yogurt
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar

Mix everything up and chill in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes before serving. Easy peasy ...

This salad goes with just about anything, even just on it's own. My kids love it and it a good way to introduce fresh raw vegetables to their diet. It's good for me too .....

Food Diary

This morning a friend sent me a link to an article about food diary and how it helps to reduce weight. It's a good read but, eventhough I keep a personal journal (and a few other notebooks), keeping a dedicated food diary is not for me. I do write about what ate occasionally in my journal if it's interesting enough or if it's something different.

I tried this food diary "thing" before and I can only stick to the food diary for a few months before giving up, because I felt it became repetitious after some time.

Why?

I cook my own food, so I know what I put in my cooking. I generally plan my meal in advance. A typical meal has 3 dishes, One legume/bean based veggies like, French beans, Okra 9ladies fingers), Snake beans, bean sprouts ... etc. One leafy veggies (white or green) like cabbage, Bok Choy, Kailan ... etc. And 1 protein, tofu, chicken, fish or beef. I rarely go out for lunch so when I jot down what I ate everyday, the menu seems the same through out the week. I lose motivation to keep on jotting down my daily consumption because of this.

Also, I don't snack between meals. Instead, I replace my lunch with a light snack like homemade sandwiches I packed from home or fruits. So, I did not have anythig to write down in between meals.

I followed this type of diet, for more than 2 years now, eating more vegetable based food, but my weight loss has been very minimal. I am still as big as a cow!! ... I used to weigh 122kg a couple of years ago and the weight did drop to 108kg and has plateaued since early this year. In order to lose weight, I need more physical exercise which I know I really lack doing. I know I need to sweat the weight out, but still bogged with self made excuses .... sigh!!!

Not knowing the exact calorie content of the food I cook makes calorie counting useless, at least for me. How much calorie did I consume this morning? ...
- I mug coffee with artificial sweetener,
- 2 slices wholemeal toasts with last night's leftover chicken curry.
- 1 bowl of cucumber and mint raita, also leftover from last night. (love this simple salad, suitable anytime of the day. I'll post up the recipe someday)
Without knowing how much I consumed for breakfast, I am quite at loss as how much should I take for the rest of the day.

I am not saying the article is off the track or totally wrong, it's a good read and may be beneficial to lots of people. I am just sharing a personal point of view and experience, that I tried it and did not work very well for me.

Wet Tuesday Morning

Yesterday's rain carried on till this morning. As usual, my complaint is traffic congestion. A round trip to send my kids to school normally takes half an hour. This morning, it's been 70 minutes and I'm still in the car.

At this rate, I'll get home only at 8.30am and have to get ready for work and drive to my office. I'm going to be late today.

You can only plan for the day, but there are lots of external factors that could affect your initial planning.

I'm late. I'm late ... I'm late,I'm late, I'm late .....

Raven - Blogging from the thumbdrive

While looking for ways I can update this blog easier, I stumbled across this blog editng software that installs in my portable thumbdrive.

Raven, is a WYSIWYG blog editor that looks like an ordinary word processor, so using one should not be a major obstacle. It's just like writing in a Word documents and then publish the blog when you are done writing and when you are satisfied with the image layout.

One feature that I like is that I can write a few blogs and store them on the thumbdrive to be published later. I can write a few blurbs at a time, and publish the ones that I have completed. The unfinished blogs are saved in the thumbdrive, so, I can open the files, edit and publish whatever I've written, wherever I have access to a computer.

All published blogs are kept by the software, in the thumbdrive, acting like a backup to whatever I've posted to my blog. Plus, I can edit the older writings to make corrections or additions, then immediately republish them.

Being able to manage blogs offline is a great plus. On top of that Raven allows management of multiple blogs to multiple service provider. Raven supports services by Typepad, Blogger, Wordpress and a few others. I manage a few blogs using Blogger and Wordpress, so Raven is a lot of help.

Currently, Raven is still in beta and FREE. Hopefully will continue to be free ....

Moleskine Replacement

The price of moleskine journals here in Kuala Lumpur is pretty high, so I've been for the look out for a suitable and cheaper replacement for quite some time already .... but still going back to the pocket moleskine.

I found out about a moleskine lookalike by Rhodia at www.blackcover.net called Rhodia Webnotebook. I would like to own one, to test one out for myself. After reading the full review, and some googling, this notebook will not be any cheaper than a moleskine. How soon this will arrive Malaysian shores is also a big WHEN?

So, I'm entering the giveaway contest organized by www.blackcover.net, to try out my luck in winning one. Who knows, I might get hooked to the Rhodia Webnotebook .....

Wish me luck.

Keynesian Paradox of Thrift at Work .....

Hungry ... I went out for lunch to a nearby restaurant where I usually get my regular fix of fried rice. The first thing that I noticed was the absence of the usual chatty voice of one of the waitresses. When asked, the owner said that she could not afford to pay the monthly salary of the waitress, so she had to let her go ... What happened?, I asked. The reply I got was just as I suspected. The owner of the restaurant said ever since the increase in fuel prices, she has been getting less and less customers. In order to cover the increase in fuel expenditure, her clients had to cut down on eating out. The regulars who often come for casual chit-chat over a few cups of teh tarik now do that at their own homes. I noticed a few of my colleagues bring in their own lunch to work, instead of going out to the restaurant for lunch. All these had reduced her overall operating income. Things were made worse when her cook demanded a higher salary to cover for his commuting cost due to the increased fuel cost. The restaurant owner had to increase the cook's salary, because without the cook, she would have no restaurant to manage. She had to pay more for a cook and covers the waitress part herself. One customer, sitting at a table adjacent to mine, overheard the conversation joined in the chat and said, "Sejak harga beras naik, nasik goreng Akak dah naik harga dari RM3.00 ke RM3.50 ... mana tahan!" (Since the price of rice went up, your fried rice is now up to RM3.50 from only RM3.00) , he said he had cut his lunch spending by half, only going out for lunch every other day. I understand how the restaurant owner is feeling right now ... confused, but she had to set her priorities, otherwise, she would be running her business at a loss. If this trend is true throughout the Malaysia economy, I fear a recession is not far ahead. As it is now, the government had cut down spending to ease their burden on fuel subsidy. Cancelled or deferred projects means a lot of businesses would be losing a lot of potential income, not to mention the negated employment opportunities. The company I worked in (automotive business) depends on the success of these business entrepreneurs and professionals. The more they earn, the more they'd spend on automobiles. If these people reduce their spending, my company would suffer a reduced income, and I could go the way of the waitress at the restaurant. This seems so familiar .... Keynesian Paradox of Thift at work???

Notebook Fetish

The Plan was to go out with my friend Berisman, and enjoy some good photos at a Photo Exhibition, organized by the Kuala Lumpur Flickr Group ... KLickr. The Exhibition was fun and I picked up a few ideas throughout the slide show presentation ... BUT the highlight of the day was finding this little journal (or notebook) at a book fair at a nearby shopping mall. The stop to the mall was just for lunch initially, but the crowd at the bookfair was so ... soooo ... irresistable. This is the journal I got myself today. A Peter Pauper Press Pocket Journal.

The cover is thick, really thick, without any plastic, leather or faux leather wrapping. Just thick cardboard, with a glossy finish. This A6 sized (3-1/4 in. x 5-3/4 in.) journal is decorated with plaid pattern on the cover. Slightly taller and a wee bit wider than the pocket sized moleskine. The journal comes with an elastic band to keep the 192 lined page journal closed as well as an accordion style pocket attached at the inner section of the back cover.

Comparing the paper quality with other notebooks I've used, This one here is no Rhodia. The paper is a little rough but thicker than the plain pocket moleskine I normally use. I tested the paper for fountain pen friendliness, and my combination of Pelikan M215 Fine Nib, paired with Sailor Blue ink can be friends with the paper quite well. I observed very minor feathering, and bleed through is minimal. The ink bleeds through to the other page only if I write too slowly, or when I place the nib too long at a single point, while thinking of what word to write next. This journal by Peter Pauper Press is available online. The best part is the price. At RM14.00 (US$4.95), I can get three of these journals for the price of one pocket moleskine, with some change to spare for cab fare. Here, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a pocket moleskine cost somewhere between RM50.00 and RM56.00. I really think this is a good buy, a good low cost alternative to save some dough to cover for the higher fuel prices we are paying today. I already have a bunch of unused journals that I've collected but seeing this one here, makes me want to get a few to add to the collection. These are some of the unused journals in my collection.

And I have a few more A5 and B6 sized journals/notebook which are not included in the "group photo" :-D I may not use all of them before the end of the year but these little gems make great gifts.

GDS - Google Documents and Spreadsheets

If been using this service for about a year now ... and .... I like it!!!