Waste not A Beautiful Day

The cold winter see me hiding at home away from the cold. While glued to the idiot box, I will be munching chocolate and eating ice cream. We all know, no excercise is bad for you and with the junk food I am putting away, I will a fatty boom boom in no time.
Sunday was a glorious, bright sunny day. After Church service, we went for a quick light lunch and decided to take a walk in Jell Park. I was surprised to see many people in the park. Some were cycling, walking, BBQing and kite flying. Each time we walk in the park, we see something different. After the walk, we stop at the cafe in the park and indulged ourselves with a cup of nice warm coffee.

Fiery Dell Laptop

If you own a Dell Laptop, take precaution, have it check and service for safety.

Another example of spontaneous combustion by a Dell laptop has emerged accompanied by graphic images of the molten aftermath.

This latest report comes in the wake of a flaming Dell laptop that was captured on film in the act of exploding during a conference in Osaka in Japan last month and another Dell that reportedly burst into flames at an office in the US state of Illinois just last week.

Link below to read more.

Sydney Morning Herald

The Sound of Music

Last night Channel 7 telecasted “The Sound of Music” starring Julie Andrew as the happy and joyous Maria. I saw the movie when it was first released in1965. Though the show is 41 years old, it is still so refreshing. It remained one of my favourite show.

Who can forget the joyful and playful Maria. She is a tomboy yet she is pretty, sweet, and innocence. She has a lovely singing voice. She is kind, gentle and understanding. I like her hair, short, clean and manageable. Her dressing was simple and uncomplicated. The simple unsophisticated dress makes her so feminine. It is sad most girls today prefer T-shirt and Jeans.

I always love the opening scene. The film began with camera panning left to right through the clouds and across rocky, snow-covered mountains. Then the camera dipped into a green, wooded valley with steep cliffs that descend into a snow-fed lake. The mirror like water surface reflected the hills and slowly panning over the European landscape and village, then into the open green field.

With an open arm appreciation of the beauty and surrounding hills, she sang the title song.

The hills are alive with the sound of music
With songs they have sung for a thousand years.
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears.
My heart wants to beat like the wings
Of the birds that rise from the lake to the trees,
My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies from a church on a breeze,
To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls
Over stones on its way
To sing through the night like a lark who is learning to pray.
I go to the hills when my heart is lonely,
I know I will hear what I've heard before.
My heart will be blessed with the sound of music
And I'll sing once more.

The sceneries were also breathtaking and beautiful. It brought back memories of our Europe Tour in 1995. We visited Salzburg and managed to see The Benedictine Convent on Nonnberg from afar.

The movie, the hills and the Sound of Music beckons once again for another visit to Europe.

Hakka Girls

While growing up I come across many people in my life, people from different background, dialect and nationalities. One that makes a deep impression, if I may use the word loosely, is the Hakka Girls.

My paternal grandmother is a Hakka. This gives me the privilege of a close observation and understanding Hakka girls. Well, to begin with they are tough nuts and hard to crack. They can toil under tough condition and under the hot sweltering sun. Given a task, they seldom say “cannot do” and they will go all the way out to complete it. One prime example, you find, there are mostly Hakka girls working on construction sites, tin mining and toiling underneath the bright burning sun which others nationalities or dialects tend to avoid. My grandmother can stay out in the hot sun and do gardening the whole day, everyday.

Hakka girls are good looking but do not let the exterior look deceive you. Underneath the layer of good look, they are cold, cold as steel. They can be very mean, aggressive and emotionless.

While working with a few Hakka girls in my younger days, I learned more of them. They break a man’s heart without a beep. While the men cry, the girls are emotionless and would continue on with their daily routine as though nothing has happened. Yes, they are thrifty and calculative, too.

Sad to say, my grandmother makes a bad mother-in-law. It is because she is thrifty, calculative and demanding. But that does not mean she makes a bad mother or grandmother. She is protective of her children and grandchildren.

Oh, they are so manipulative. Once I was caught in one their deadly game and was nearly reprimanded for it. Part of grandmother’s genes in me saw to their trick, it managed to pull me out of the looming pitfall.

Strangely enough the male species show or display little of such characteristic. These characteristics are more prominent in the female species. This observation is prevalent among my aunties (father's sisters). In conversation with friends, Hakka friends and my Hakka sister in law they all seem to confirm my observation.

Last but not least Dad agrees me. He used to tell me there is a saying which loosely translated “When a Hakka Girl is skinned alive, they will still be up, hopping and running around.” That is how tough Hakka Girls are.

Now, excuse me while I clamber into my bunker..............as the flaks start falling around me.
Have a good weekend.

Note:
This Post is the writer personal view and observation only. It is not to be taken seriously. To my Hakka girlfriends... I love you!

Friday's Humour

Monopoly Anyone?

Monopoly game had been around for ages. I used to play monopoly with my nephews and nieces and still do whenever they come around. The nephews and nieces would get together and quietly they would scheme up plans, ways and means to send their uncle broke and bankrupt. Thus one had to be diligent and observant. The kids will used every dirty trick they know to make sure I am out of the game first. They will distract you at every opportunity from remembering to collect your $200 as you pass “Go” or collect rental from your properties when they landed on it. Cash is used for every transaction; paying rents, buying properties, pay fine and taxes and is handled manually.

Moving with the times, the maker of Monopoly has released the latest release of the popular board game, which replaces cash with Visa-branded debit cards. This revamped version comes with electronic card reader that records the earnings and payments for players and transfers money between them.

The new game includes the trapping of today’s modern life. It also includes today’s property to make the game as realistic as possible. This means a revamp of properties to include new and trendy places and replacing train stations for airports.

There is no more passing “Go” and collecting $200.

Community Chest and Chance are upgrade; players can win a reality TV show and pocket a cool winning of $2 million.

The game tokens are replaced with mobile phones, cheeseburgers and roller blade giving the top hats and racing cars the flick.

It is time for me to upgrade my existing cash transaction Monopoly to cashless version one. It pay back time. Watch out kids!

Neighbour's House - Update 2

Upper floor outer walls and internal walls are up

Oh, Dear

Oh, dear, I am in deep trouble. I need to lay low for a while. They may come for me. Why? It is because of this.

Terror fears spark photo ban

TERRORISM fears have seen happy snaps banned at a site popular with tourists. Southgate management has posted "no camera" signs.

The signs are around the Yarra River retail and dining centre.

The edict follows an incident in which tourists were seen photographing "obscure" parts of buildings and were asked to delete the photos from their cameras.

They refused, and security called police to insist.

I took some pictures of Southgate and I better post it up before it is completely banned. I will lay low for a while. Nothing is too hard for my readers.





But wait, there is still hope.

Tourist photo ban over the top: PM

PRIME Minister John Howard has described a move to ban cameras from a popular Melbourne tourist precinct amid terrorism fears as "over the top".

Mr Howard said he did not think the terrorist threat in Australia warranted such a move.

"I think that is over the top," Mr Howard told ABC Radio.

"Everybody's got a camera now. Does that mean a mobile phone camera?

"I don't think the terrorist threat in this country warrants that. I really don't.

"I don't know who did this and I don't wish to offend them, and I'm sure they mean well, but I do think that is going too far."

Thanks, Mr. Prime Minister for your timely comments.
Once again this blogger can travel with his camera and grab happy, touristy snaps boldly and blog freely without fear.

A Good Deal

It is not everyday, one gets a good deal.
I have been looking for a lawn mower for the last 4-5 weeks. This is to replace the one I had for the past 15 years. It had been coughing, spluttering and hard to start. Morever, the casing is rusted out and I had it fixed at work once before. I guess it no use trying to fix it or service it. It is time to retire it off.
I had been to Bunnings and Kmart to look at the new lawn mower and it varies from $280 to $600 depending on the brands, models, features and country of manufacture. Well known brand like Victa, Rover,Maspot and Honda are on the expensive range. The cheaper range were unknown brand and I am skeptical about them. Some, if not most of them, were made in China with unknown brands of motors, with plastic casing and el cheapo grass clipping catcher.
I also looked at Ebay and was disappointed at some offerings. Majority of the sellers were selling new lawn mowers.
2 Saturday ago, I went with Maureen to the Glen Centro's Coles shopping for groceries. She went into Coles and I stood outside at the notice board glancing at the advertisment on the board. There was this small advertisement on the board looking directly at me. Look at me! It screamed.

"Lawn Mower for Sale $150. Electric Whipper $35. Used on small patch of lawn and hardly used. Ring xxxxxxxx or drop in to shop lot 158."

As soon as Maureen came out of Coles, we rushed to shop lot 158 and it was closed. I rang the number given and no one answered. I suspected it was the shop phone number.
Come Monday morning, I rang the lady at 9am. I told her I was interested in the Lawn Mower, she advertised. She asked if I could come the same evening after 6pm to have a look at it. Now, normally at this time of the day I would be cooking dinner and would not go out on a cold dark winter night. But something tells me to go and look at it. It is a small voice telling me, "Go and look at it, you won't regret it."
So I told her, "yep, I will be there at 6.15pm".
Just as I was to leave the house at 5.45pm it started to rain and when I hit the main road the traffic was building up. It was dark and the road signs were poorly lighted up and I got lost. Yep, I got lost. I was telling myself, "Blah, it was a mistake to come out tonight." After a few more wrong turns and frustrations, I found the place.
Rang the doorbell and a lady of about 50ish opened the door. She opened the garage door and I had a quick look at the Lawn Mower.

It was clean looking and well maintained. She told me the lawn mower has not been used for the last 9 months. She used to mow her small patch of lawn in front of her unit until she was told to stop doing it. Her unit was managed by a corporate affair and she has to pay to have the lawn mowed just like everyone else. That was why she decided to get rid of the mower.
I quickly paid her the $150. It was a bargain.
As I was about to leave and load it in my car, she asked if I would like the whipper snipper.

I was about to say, "no".

She said," you can have it for free."
I could not believe my ears.
She then bought out the fuel can, the funnel and the manuals for the lawn mower and whipper snipper and gave it to me. I was so happy.

Yeah, so happy I took a wrong turn on the way home and got caught in a massive traffic jam. It was a long way to home. But who cares, I got a good deal.
Last Saturday, I managed to have a good and closer look over the mower. It was clean and newish looking. I guess it was well maintained and seldom used. I drained and replaced the sump oil. Gave it a safety check, checked the plug, blades, catcher and wheels. Fill it with a bit of petrol and gave it a start. After the second yank, it roared into life.
I am back in business. Look out long grass, your days are numbered.

Neighbour House - Update 1

The outer wooden wall frames and the internal dividing wall are sat and mounted on the concrete slab. Underneath the concrete slabs are the plumbing. The upper floor floors' beams sit on top of the wooden wall frame . Then they put up another outer wooden wall frames and dividing wall sitting on the upper floor beams followed by the roof.

Do you think the lower wooden framed wall and inner wall are strong enough to hold the upper floor,roof, furnitures and people? Maureen thinks the houses built over here are very flimsy. I personally do not think so, as most if not all, the houses are built in this way. But I think Malaysian houses are over structured and over built making it more expensive. The irony is, even it is over structured and over built, houses still cracked and some even collasped. Why?

A Nice Warm Winter Day

Even though we in the middle of winter, today is one of the nice warm day in winter. The sun is out and bright and there is hardly any wind at all. This give me the opportunity to go out to the garden and smell the fresh air and look at some of the blooming flowers. Surprisingly the chilli plants are still surviving with chillies on it. Normally the leaves would have withered due to the frost. The rose plants are shooting. Armed with my camera I captured what I saw and let the pictures do the talking.

Friday's Humour

Ouchhhhhh.

Moobella Ice Cream Machine

I want this for Christmas, an Ice Cream vending Machine. It makes Ice Cream in just 45 seconds. Yes! In 45 seconds. Not just any Ice Cream, it makes traditional Ice Cream and gets this……..ready………..in 96 whooping combinations. 96 combinations, it is so unreal, no more boring Ice Creams.

Yes, suddenly life is so meaningful.

Moobella claims no other vending machine serves fresh dairy-milk ice cream that is snap frozen from liquid form inside them machine.

Every home must have one. Just imagine, every home is a happy home with a Moobella.

“Every Home is A Happy Home with a Moobella”.

Oh, I love that catchy slogan already.

To the top people in Moobella, can I have one please? Please?

When I was a Kid (Part 2)

We all have to help out at home. There was a duty roster; prepare the table for dinner, do the dishes, wipe the table, sweep the floor, help do the laundry, hang up clothes for drying and folding. Boys and girls shares the same responsibilities.

There was no TV. We kept ourselves entertained by playing board games, listened to radio, reading books and comic, doing homework and entertaining each other.

We did things together as a family. We ate together at the table. We shared whatever we had.

Our early music exposure came from radio and gramophone. There was no CD or tape recorder. Music was recorded on Vinyl disc. We played the vinyl disc on the gramophone by Matt Munro, Frank Sinatra, Connie Francis, Johnny Tillitson, Jim Reeves, Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard, Neil Sedaka, Engelbert Humperdink, Tom Jones and Louis Armstrong. Get this, Mum listens to Pavarotti on the Redifusion. How cool is that. We swapped or loan Vinyl disc from our friends to hear our favourite songs.

I remember we can buy song book printed in HongKong with musical score on all the latest songs for a cool 50 cents. Copyrights? Hahahaha.

The weekend we hang outside in the corner of our street with our neighbour kids with guitars and sing our heart out. Parents will then yell at us to shut up and come home after 10pm.

Cars? It was a luxury. We went around on foot, bicycle or by bus. I do remember I used to walk from Merdeka Stadium to home in Sentul approx 8.5 miles. I thought it was cool because I get to see everything. It was much cooler, then. Streets were lined with trees.

We lived under the threat of communism. America was fighting in South Vietnam to stop them advancing. There was this fear of The Domino Theory; if South Vietnam falls; Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore will fall too.

Phone was scare. Still we manage to keep in touch and get the latest gossips.

We don’t have to make appointment to visit our relatives, friends or neighbours. We just dropped in and are always welcome.

We don’t knock on door at our friends place. We just yell their name and if they are at home they will come out. If not we went on our way.

Our neighbours know us by name and we know our neighbours by name. Neighbours help keep an eye on each other kid.

I remember Mum used to buy fresh vegetable, fish and meat from a roving vendor. He was to become our family friends. It was a hand on lessons how to identify and recognize fresh vegetables, fish and meats.

Fast food? Unheard of. To survive we have to learn how to cook.

There was no computer to assist us in our homework or play computer games. Our games were mostly outdoor games; hop cross, five stones, roundness, badminton, Quanda Quandi, card swapping, collecting cigarette boxes; Camel, Craven A, Rough Rider, Benson & Hedges, Lucky strike, 555 to name a few, flying kites, cycling and catching little fishes in the stream.

We catch spiders as pets and use them as fighting machine against each other. Using the stem of long grass we dipped into ant holes in the ground and fished them out. We removed their feeler and have them fight each other to keep ourselves entertained.

Our doses of Vitamin C came from ours and the neighbours’ fruit trees.

Cooking a Dinner

For every dinner I cooked I always planned ahead. Time is an essence when you are cold and hungry. Yesterday dinner was steamed fish and Pak Choy in creamy eggs sauce.

To save some time, I steamed the fish in the rice cooker when cooking rice at the same time. And while the rice and fish are cooking, I prepared the vegetable. I guess I do not need to tell you how to cook the rice in the rice cooker.

Steam Fish

Ingredient:

A piece of fish fillet (make sure fish is at room temperature. If the fillet is thick, crisscross cut the fish otherwise fish will not be fully cooked)

1½ thumb length ginger (finely chopped)

2 stalk spring onions (finely chopped)

2 teaspoon sesame oil

A pinch or two of salt (subject to yr taste)

Method:

Season the fish with a pinch of salt.

Place fish in a small container (make sure the container is not to wide or too deep and unable to fit into the rice cooker and steamer with the lid close).

Place steamer over rice cooker and place the container with the fish on it.

Garnish fish with the finely chopped ginger, spring onion and oil.

Close the lid and cook rice as you normally do.

When rice is cooked, leave fish in the rice cooker to keep warm until you are ready to eat.

Pak Choy in Creamy Egg Sauce

Ingredient:

10 – 12 leaves of small Pak Choy cut into chunky pieces

2 Pips finely chopped Garlic

1½ table spoon oil (You may use more if you desire)

2 Eggs

½ teaspoon Soya Sauce

½ Salt (subject to your taste)

½ teaspoon Pepper

1 teaspoon corn flour mixed and dilute with ¼ cup of water

Method:

Combine and beat eggs with Soya Sauce, Salt and pepper. Leave aside.

Heat oil in a pan and fry garlic.

Throw in Pak Choy when garlic is golden brown and give it a quick stir fry. Cook longer if you desire.

Remove Pak Choy into a plate. Leave the sauce in the pan. If there is not enough sauce add about ½ cup of water and bring to boil.

Add corn flour mix into the sauce.

Pour in egg mixture and stir.

Remove from stove as soon as it thickened and pour over the Pak Choy. Do not over cook the egg sauce.

Serve while it is hot.

When I was a kid (Part 1)

A Saturday morning matinee was on every weekend. The price for kids under 12 was 25 cents; and for everyone else, it was 45 cents.

A bottle of coke was 20 cents: there were no can coke, then.

The city imposed no curfews; but my parents did. On weeknights I had to be home by dinner time. I have to get permission to be out after dinner and a good reason, too. If I am out I had to be home by 9 or 10 at night or you will be locked out. And on weekends, even when I was 17, I had to be back by midnight... or have a good reason why not. Nobody under 18 was on the streets after midnight on school nights. Nobody.

We went to school five days a week. There were no things like "teachers' meeting day," “curriculum day” or "special events day." We just went to school. School began at 7:30 for the morning session. We got out at 12:30pm. Every teacher took attendance; if you weren't in class, they knew about it. My parents never had to wonder if I was in school. Unexcused absences were just that: not excused. You went to school. Period.

We weren't allowed to wear jeans or any other clothing to school. White pant, white shirt, white shoes and white socks; that standard for boys. The girls could not wear coulots (half-shorts, half skirts). Skirts had to be knee-level or below. Shirts had to be tucked in. If your hair was too long, the school sent you home. Those were the rules. The rules were the rules. No exceptions.

After school we didn't go to the malls; there were no malls. Most of us went home, or hung around the school. Sports, library, choir practice, pupil own language class or just goofing around. Juvenile crime? Nearly non-existent.

We played our music too loudly; sometimes the lyrics were downright goofy. But our parents never had to look for a warning label on a single or an album.

By the time I was 8 or 9, I knew how to fix my own breakfast; that was my responsibility. We planned our own timetable; wake up, make breakfast, dressed and walk to school on our own and unescorted.

It was not my parent job to watch over me to make sure I did not get into trouble. By then I knew better.

There was no such thing as "social promotion." If you didn't pass, you didn't pass. But mostly, the schools caught problems when we were young. I recall several of my friends that were "held back" in elementary school. Self-esteem? Wasn't even mentioned. Either you could do the work or you couldn't.

Weekends

I love weekends. Why?

1. No need to go to work.
2. Get to sleep late on Friday Nights and watch late movies on TV or
3. Surf the net and do what I want to do.
4. Sleep in on Saturday, no torturous waking up early.
5. Potter around the garden if the weather permits.
6. Help in the housework, vacuuming, dusting and tidying up.
7. Indulge in yr favourite lunch – fish or chicken porridge or takeaway nasi lemak and nasi champor.
8. Or go out for lunch with my friends.
9. Go to my favourite café and sip cappuccino, latte or hot chocolate.
10. Browse around book shop or library.
11. Read books and magazines.
12. Listen to the radio or my CD collections.
13. Surf the net, read news or blog.
14. Learn to play the guitar or piano.
15. Enjoy the Saturday evening dinner and deserts with friends and relatives.
16. Go to church on Sunday to praise and give thanks to God for his Blessings.
17. Enjoy lunch after church and
18. Go window shopping if it is a cold day otherwise go for a walk in the park.
19. In the warmer weather I will sit & listen to music at the park café perform by individuals or group in the outdoor with a cup of cappuccino.
20. Or catch up with my sleep if it is cold wet day or I am tired.

Friday's Laugh

Shame, Shame, Shame

Asian businesses are known for their competitiveness. They are aggressive and have been for ages cutting prices to bring in sales based on large volume turnovers. Now they are in the headlines for wrong reasons.

Madam furious over cut-price sex workers

CUT-price Asian sex workers were flooding Australia's sex market, stealing the "bread and butter" of more expensive local prostitutes, a Perth madam said today.

Visit here to read more.

Realistic Expectations

I’ve learned as I have grown older, one of the things, is not to expect too much from people.

If we are expecting everyone to recognize and appreciate what we have done for them, we will certainly be deeply hurt. We’ll start asking ourselves: “Is this all the thanks I get?”

It is possible to pour a good deal of energy and love into a friend or family member and see no growth or receive no gratitude for our efforts. It is even likely and possible that others may receive credit for the work we have done.

It is good in those times of disappointment to reflect at our motives. Do we have to be seen, applauded and recognised for our efforts?

Can we give freely and allow others to take responsibility for their own responses?

Quote for today:

“Every house guest brings you happiness: some when they arrive and some when they are leaving”. Confucius

Who Is Reading My Blog?

This is my 62nd post and it is time to pause for a moment and reflects on what I have written and the responses I received. I noticed I have about 350+ hits and other than the Titoki, Little Miss May and one anonymous reader, I wonder who else are reading my blog?

Comments and feedbacks from my readers are extremely important to me. It is the food of the champions. It gives a warm feeling knowing someone reads your post and care enough to post a comment. It is the thought that’s counts. Comments are like caffeine in your blood stream that keeps you encouraged and going and going.

Through the comments, I can gauge how my post fares.

1. Are my posts interesting?
2. Do you my friends and relatives learned more of me and understand me better?
3. Have I done a good job to keep to keep them informed and updated?
4. Or do they just don’t have the time to read and cannot be bothered?
5. Do my writing and subjects suck?
6. How can I improve and post better articles?
7. Or do my friend & relatives prefer me to send them forwarded jokes so they know I am still alive and kicking and still thinking of them?
8. Or am I just wasting my time?

For the moment I will continue to post because I found 3 good friends through my blog. For this I must thank them for taking the time to read my post and pen a few words or two even though they are busy. To my 3 faithful readers, “Thank You, Terima Kasih, Kan Siah, Tor Chay and may a thousand good blessings be upon you.”

P/S: I am not complaining. O_*. Feel free to comment if you want to.

In my Life

Yesterday I was trying to learn a new song from one of the Beatle music sheet and I came across this song “In My Life”. As I pondered over the lyric, I can relate to it.

The last few years, I went home and visited relatives, friends and places. Some of my childhood places were gone, demolished for new projects. My old school remains with few changes. Some friends have change, some for better, some for worst and there are some who still remains the same. Some older relatives and friends have passed away and some are not well.

These are the people who influence my life, mould my character, taught me and share their life with me. You will always remember them and love them.

My Grandparents Resting Place In Cheras

In My Life (John Lennon & Paul McCartney)

There are places I'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more

Just Give It to Him

Yesterday after work, on the way home I dropped into Safeway to buy a voltage step down adaptor. This is for work to replace the one that was damaged.

I parked the car at the closest parking lot to Safeway and zoom straight into Safeway and down the aisle where the general merchandises were kept. A quick browse, grabbed the adaptor and walked quickly towards the fast lane check lane counter. If you must ask why I was in the hurry, I needed to get home to cook dinner.

There were 2 persons ahead of me and I waited for a while before my turn. When my turn came, I passed the adapter to this young boy at the counter. He took the adaptor and swapped it over the bar code reader. The bar code reader beeped and there was no price displayed. He swapped it a second time, another beep and no price displayed. Thinking he did not swapped it properly, he did it the 3^rd time slowly and again no price displayed. I could see he was getting a bit annoyed.

He then proceeded to key in the product number and again no price displayed. Frustrated, he picked up the phone and over the PA system he asked for a price check. By this time normally I would have given up and walked away. This time I decided to be patience since I needed it urgently for work tomorrow.

After a minute and a half wait, there was no response to his call, he apologised for the wait. He picked up the phone again and asked a price checked. A minute and a half, no response. His colleague next him told him he was not loud and forceful enough. She pick up the phone and over the PA system, she screamed for price check. Another minute passed, still no help. By then I wanted to grab the phone and screamed “idiot, get off your big fat arse over here”.

A young Chinese girl, an off duty cashier, who knows I am one of the regular customers, volunteered to do the price check. She rushed off and was back in the jiffy. She went straight to the Store Supervisor and told her there were no price tags on the goods. She tried the computer with the product code but the computer showed no record of this product. By then, the queue was getting longer and some customers were amused at what was going on.

Not knowing what to do, the Store Supervisor told the cashier serving me,"Just give it to him".

I stood there like a stunned mullet for a second before I asked, “Are you sure?” He replied, “Compliment of the store and for the inconvenience”.

I related this to Maureen; she said “I am lucky”. Am I and is it because the store is inefficient?

I baked a cake

The weekend was too cold for me to go out the garden. Hmm, that is my excuse. So your truly was in the house hatching eggs and sudddenly decided to bake a cake. Yes, bake a cake for tonight desert.
I did a quick stock take and we have sugar, flour, eggs but not enough butter. So we took a drive out to the shop and instead of buying just butter, I got to "belanja" me wife coffee at her favourite coffee shop.
We went to Coles to get butter and I decided the cake was too plain and bought blue berries to spices the cake up.

Mix 250 gm butter (make sure butter is softened) with
230 gm castor sugar till fluffy (I used 200gm only)

Dump in four eggs (i used 5 eggs), adding one by one, preferably















Dump in 250 gm of self raising flour.
Add in blue berries (optional, this is my addition tp spice up the cake)
Flavour with half a teaspoon of vanilla (add some milk if the mixture is sticky and sticks to the spoon. The mixture must be smooth. If you can draw an eight clearly as the mixture drip from the spoon, the the mixture is right)
Heat oven to 180deg celcius and line the cake tin.
Remember to make sure that the cake batter is only half the level of the height of the tin.
Bake for about 45 minutes. Viola.

As soon the cake was out of the oven, 10 hungry people finished it before I remembered to grab a picture of the finish cake.

Is this considered cooking? *wink,* wink*

Chocolates Rule!

Someone sent me this and anything that had to do with chocolates sure gets my attention.

YOUR AGE WITH CHOCOLATES

DO NOT GO STRAIGHT TO THE END ...

It will only take a minute
Do the maths as you read the instructions
Don’t read the end until you have done all the calculations
I promise it is not a waste of time, you will find this amusing.

1. How many times a week do you fancy eating chocolate?
(Choose between 1 and 9)

2. Multiply that number by 2



3. Add 5



4. Multiply by 50 – go on, get that calculator out!

5. If you have had your birthday in 2006, add 1756. If your birthday is still to come, add 1755.

6 Now take away the year you were born.

You should have a three digit number. The first is the number of time you fancy eating chocolate in a week.





The other two digits are ...












YOUR AGE!!!

Now guess what I got for the weekend. Sorry, lah no prize for guessing correctly.








Yeah, chocloates from my SIL!

New Zealand ire at 'handbag haka'

This is on the news.

An Australian TV advert portraying New Zealand rugby players carrying women's handbags has upset the All Blacks.

An advertisement shows the All Blacks players performing the haka challenge carrying computer-generated handbags.

It refers to an incident when former captain Tana Umaga broke up a fight by hitting fellow All Black Chris Masoe over the head with a woman's handbag.

"It's insensitive, I think, to Maori and disrespectful of the All Blacks," said assistant coach Wayne Smith.

Mr Masoe, who was allegedly reduced to tears by the blow, was later fined NZ$3,000 (£1,000) by the New Zealand Rugby Union.

The handbag later sold at auction

The incident generated considerable media coverage and sparked jokes at the All Blacks' expense.

The handbag went on to fetch NZ$22,750 ($13,650, £7,500) in an online auction.

The television advert is promoting Saturday's Tri-Nations Test between New Zealand and Australia in Christchurch.

Australian coach John Connolly told local radio he had not seen the advertisement yet.

What caught my attention is the handbag fetch a cool A$13,650 in an online auction.
Now, please excuse me while I get my wife handbag and wallop somebody and see what I get for the handbag. Any volunteers?

No mood to blog - have a joke instead

This millionaire wanted to take some of his money to heaven with him when he died, so he talked to God about it beforehand. He told God that he had lived a good life and all he wanted was to bring a little of his fortune with him. God finally agreed, but told the millionaire he must limit the amount to whatever he could fit into one suitcase.

The millionaire decided to make the most of it by comparing American dollars, French Francs, Japanese Yen, and every kind of currency available in the world to see to it that he fit the most possible into the suitcase. Finally, he decided the best he could do was to exchange his money for gold and place that in the suitcase.

When he died and arrived at Heaven's gate, St. Peter asked him what was in the suitcase. He told St. Peter that down on earth he had been a millionaire and that God had given him permission to bring some of his fortune with him, as long as he could fit it into one suitcase.

St. Peter told the millionaire this was most unusual and he would have to take a look inside the suitcase before he could determine whether the millionaire could enter the gate with it. The millionaire opened the suitcase and St. Peter said, "Oh, yes. That's just pavement, please come in!"

Go Grow a Moustache

Why?

1. Makes you rich & famous,
2. make more enemies,
3. get endorsement deals,
4. personal appearances,
5. lucrative modelling contracts,
6. world travel,
7. adulation and, of course, professional envy,
8. can lift a poor and his family from the gutter,
9. No self-respecting man should be without one
10. projects the desired masculine virtues of chivalry, loyalty and independence

Don’t believe me? Visit here.

Selling Yourself Short?

K name was called. He walked slowly up to the Podium. The crowd cheered and clapped. The Chancellor shook his hand and said “Congratulation” as he handed him his degree. Smiles were on his parent faces. They were beaming with pride. All the hard work and sacrifices had finally paid off.

That evening, a dinner in honour of K, was given by the happy parents. Friends and relatives were there to help celebrate the occasion. Everyone was happy. In the middle of the dinner, his uncle turned to him and asked “What are your plans for the future?” The young man replied “I will get myself a well paid job, work hard and save as much money as I can. In five years time, I hope to be a partner of the firm. If not, I will leave the firm, armed with the knowledge and contacts; I will open my own firm. In the next five years, I will work hard, buy myself a home of my dream and get married. By the age of 40, I hope to make enough to semi-retire and leave the running of the company to my junior partners. I will play golf, travel and pursue my hobbies”. Everyone at the table was impressed with him. It was every mother’s dream to have their daughter marrying this young man.

Then, the wise uncle said “It is a great well thought out plan. You have almost covered everything but you missed out one very important thing. You have worked and studied hard. You have invested your time wisely to be where you want to be today. You have planned and mapped for the future but have you have not planned for one thing. You forgot to plan for your eternal life.

His parents went “Choi, Choi Choi”.

Meanwhile, up in Heaven, Angel Gabriel turned around to Angel Peter, next to him. “Oh, Peter, on your way down to earth, do not forget to pick K up when you return. He has an appointment with God this evening at midnight” said Angel Gabriel, as he continued scanning the Book Of Life.

If God were to call you home tomorrow, are you prepared?

Are you like this young man with great dreams and plans for the future? But are you prepared for eternal life if God were to call you home tomorrow? If not, will you think about it? Will you accept Jesus Christ invitation for eternal life?

John 3:16 (New International Version)

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”

Do not sell yourself short or short changed yourself.

Matthew 16:26 (New International Version)

“What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Neighbours Up In Arm

In the recent years, our neighbourhood landscape is slowly changing. Property prices have shot up and older neighbours are selling up. New neighbours are tearing down old houses and putting up new double storey houses. This changes the quiet serene neighbourhood with character into a loud neighbourhood splattered with concrete.

Neighbour pulled down his old house.
On extreme right is a new neighbour with double storey house

Preparing the land for a new house

One developer is seeking to build three two storey apartment block about four storey high. Each apartment block have 9 block of flats with underground carpark.

Proposed Apartment Building

This hits my neighbours raw nerve and they are up in arm protesting against such development.


This quiet dead end street will be shattered with increasing traffic. If the prices continue to spiral upwards, I am sure my pensioner neighbours will be tempted to sell and move a quieter and cheaper suburb.
Will I sell? Not yet, but I will consider if the price is right. I will keep you posted.

My First Camera – Kodak Brownie Fiesta

This is my first camera bought in 1967 for a princely sum of $80 ringgit. It took me a year and a half to save in additional to the angpow monies for this camera. I have travelled and abused it for about 2 years before I was introduced to reflex and non reflex cameras. After the introduction to better cameras, this poor Brownie camera went into involuntary retirement.

Shots from the Camera

Gary & Teresa

Stella & Teresa

Chew Kong Peng

Daniel Fong

Specification

Type: Solid body eyelevel roll film

Introduced: Mar 1962

Discontinued: Mar 1970

Film size: 127

Picture size: 1 5/8 X 1 5/8"

Manufactured: USA

Lens: Meniscus f/11

Shutter: Built in

Numbers made: Unknown

Original price: Both two-tone models US$6.00 R4 $9.00

Description:

Moulded plastic body with clear plastic front over lens plate; optical direct vision finder

In case you are wondering where the pictures were taken, it was taken on a trip to Port Dickson.

Keeping Warm In Winter From Food Heaven

Winter is cold. Some complained over it but we decide to make good use of it. At this time of the year we cook foods to keep us warm. Example are Parn Meen, Curry Laksa, Har Meen, Nasi Lemak, Hot curry and Rendang. But for last Saturday evening, we had a smaller number than usual - 8 only. On other time it range from 12 to 16 and it is alway crowded. So we decided to have Steam Boat with fresh prawns, scallop, squids, chicken, beef, some frozen misc. stuff made out of fish, fish fillets and plenty of vegetables like Tong Hoa, Bean Sprout, Spinach. To cap it off, we had a choice of Bee Hoon or Tang Hoon and eggs. Midway the dinner, some begin to do some strip tease show, removing their wollen jumpers. Plenty to eat and there were leftover. Burrp! Oh, we did not forget the vino. That will keep you warm for while.

Now, please excuse me while I cook tonight dinner.

Happy 21st Birthday

Me, Elaine, Dad and Maureen

Happy 21st Birthday to my niece, Elaine Wong on this day.

In Memory

This post is in memory of my Father who passed away on this day in Year 2000. A loving Dad, a friend and a mentor to me, who have also unselfishly sacrifice for us all to have a bright future. Thanks Dad for all you have done for you. We miss you and will continue missing you. God Bless you.