Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Creating PDF files


Portable Document Format, or PDF is a file format created by Adobe Systems early in the last decade to help save documents.

As for casual users like us, PDF is a good way to archive our documents, whether it is a web page, reports, spreadsheets, and presentations. I usually use the format to archive web pages because it will only create one complete file instead of creating a html page with an accompanying folder as with the "save" option. A PDF file will also retain it's looks wherever it is viewed on, which is important for obvious reasons. We won't want our documents to change it's looks and formating when we take them out for printing (disasterous when your hard created 100 page thesis gets skewed at the printing shop :P, happens with Word files all the time).

To create PDF files, we will first need to install a PDF creation software, a popular one is the PDF Creator. There is of course the allmighty Adobe Acrobat Professional, but the software is usually out of our (wallet's) reach. Mac OSX users are lucky because they will have PDF creation capabilites built into the operating system. Install the related software and you will notice a new "printer" installed into your system. This is the main way to create PDF files, you "print" them.

To create a PDF file, open the "print" dialog from the related document that you are working on and select the PDF printer. Note that the name of the printer will differ by software. It will be known as PDF Creator if that is the software installed. For Mac OSX users, click on the PDF button (shown to the left) from the print dialog to do the same thing. Click on ok and you will get a "save" dialog.

From the save dialog you can save your to-be-created PDF file to anywhere in your system. Save it and (usually) the PDF file will open by itself in your PDF reader program (My favourite PDF reader software remains Foxit Reader).

That's all for today's guide. Till next time ;)

seehua

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Thunderbird 3 (beta 1)

The email/messaging/contacts management counterpart to Firefox, Thunderbird had just reached the beta 1 milestone, almost 2 years behind firefox. I guess the spinoff to Mozilla Messaging had really gotten things moving again, after the neglect shown to it.

New features include:
  • Tab interface for Mail
  • Improvements to IMAP for faster message viewing
  • Improved message reader view
  • New Add-ons Manager
  • Improved Address Book interface
  • Improved import of mail from other Mail clients
  • Integration with Windows Vista search
  • Integration with Mac OS X Address Book
The tab interface will be my favourite feature out of the list. Finally I can open a few mails open in tabs for later viewing while skimming through the various newsletters that I get daily. This is much more convenient for me since i don't have to locate the mails again after I've finished processing the whole inbox...

The integration with Mac OS X  Address Book is also nice since I don't have to keep separate address books for 2 different programs. And hey, since my phone also syncs with the Address Book as well, I can always be sure that the contacts stays identical across my devices.

The Growl integration is a very very nice feature as well... Now I get all notifications coming from just one system wide notification software.

The next thing on my wish list will be integration with Quicksilver... It will be awesome when I can manipulate my mails anytime and anywhere in the system by using a simple keyboard command ;)

I'll be testing this program over the few days, though a bit unwillingly. This is because I've lost my appetite for beta programs while still learning about a completely new platform :P

Before I log off, I would like to complement Mozilla Messaging for that very nice looking page as displayed at the beginning of this post.

cheers people

seehua

Upgrading your RAM to 4GB?


While reading the "Road to Snow Leopard" series on Apple Insider, I've came across a very interesting bit:
Prior to using the Santa Rosa platform, Apple sold its laptops as only supporting a maximum of 3GB RAM because of this. However, many Original Equipment Manufacturer PC assemblers represent their machines as supporting 4GB of RAM even though the operating system can't actually make any use of a big chunk of it. With hardware that only supports 32-bit addressing, no operating system can make use of the full 4GB. However, even with Santa Rosa-style hardware that can make use of the full 4GB, the mainstream 32-bit Windows Vista still won't use more than 3.2GB or less because it can't remap MMIO.

This means that 32 bit windows systems (Vista 32 bit and Xp x86) won't be able to maximize the usage of at least 25% of the RAM should the user choose to ugrade based on recommendations by "experts" wanting to upsell more stuffs. The issue is made worse by computer systems intergrators trying to make more profit from unknowing users as stated in the following paragraphs:

One developer we consulted about the issue noted, "consumers are being scammed by [PC] OEMs on a large scale. OEMs will encourage customers to upgrade a 2GB machine to 4GB, even though the usable RAM might be limited to 2.3GB. This is especially a problem on high-end gaming machines that have huge graphics cards as well as lots of RAM."

"Microsoft even changed the way the OS reports the amount of RAM available; rumor is, due to pressure from OEMs," the developer told us. "In Vista and prior, it reported usable RAM, while in SP1 they changed it to report installed RAM ignoring the fact that much of the RAM was unusable due to overlap with video memory." And so many PC users are installing 4GB of RAM in their PCs and thinking that it is being used by the system, when in fact it is no more beneficial than if the RAM were simply poked halfway into the CD slot.

For example, Dell's top of the line $5799 Alienware gamer PC comes standard with a 1GB video card, 2GB of RAM, and 32-bit Windows Home Premium. That means the system can only possibly use 2.3GB of RAM, but Dell "recommends" users spend $250 (or $8 per month with financing) to buy a 4GB upgrade (below) that will offer them little more than bragging rights, as the 1GB video card and the roughly 750MB of other MMIO will make the extra 2GB unusable. Dell says "Upgrading your memory allows you to take full advantage of system capabilities as well as increasing system efficiency," but that's simply not true on this page.

Simple solution here. If you want to install more than 3GB of RAM, get a 64 bit Windows, else your money invested is wasted.

Do note that many older devices won't work with Windows Vista x64 because of non-existing drivers. Notable are the webcams from Logitech (they are trying to sell me newer webcams instead of writing drivers that supports vista :S).

Cheers people,

seehua
ps: On the brighter note, I am pretty happy with my new Macbook. It certainly is a lot user-friendlier than a comparable windows system, to the point that I kinda miss the gesture based UI when i get back to my old system for maintenance

Monday, December 01, 2008

White Christmas (?)

I's snowing heavily here... after 2 years or almost no snow, we finally get to experience >1 inch thick snow again...

Let's see if the snow can hold itself until christmas time :P

and yes, I am back to full online capacity, due to my new Macbook. The old laptop had been relegated to a new role as a file/private test web server. Should I be writing an introductory crash course on the various features of a new Macbook as well?

seehua

Gmail

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Windows Live Mail

For many years i have been replying on online web interfaces to manage my various mail accounts. The two email management programs that I have tried ended up collecting dust in my computer because 1) The looks of Thunderbird sucks and 2) Outlook is THE slowest program that I've ever ran (apart from Photoshop and MS Word itself).

Managing a mailbox with a browser isn't optimal because it slows the whole browser down and I won't be able to access my mails when the browser is turned off (like when I want to prevent myself from chain-read sites that i forget to study but still want to read incoming mails).

Recently, however, I have put the Windows Live Mail 2009 beta that came with the Windows Live suite (Messenger, Mail, photo manager and bla bla bla programs inside) to a test for the sake of testing, and I found that I've came to like it. It's light, simple, intuitive and fast. I guess finally microsoft can produce something decent and light enough for my old computer to use on after all ;)

I haven't thoroughly tested all the features yet though. Will get back to you guys afterwards on this...

seehua
p/s: It's a long time since the last post in this blog, i know. :P 
My computer isn't feeling that healthy at this moment. The graphics card will crash at least once everyday and I get blue screen errors frequently as well. Reinstalling windows didn't remove the problem though, so I suppose it's almost time's up for my com then. You guys have any suggestions on what laptop that I should be getting next? The new Macbooks looked interestingly inviting now :P

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

The Secret of Sharing Information

These days we could find information pouring from almost everywhere, be it your neighbour, your friends, your colleagues, the internet, the newspaper... you name it.

Most of the time, people are talking about something, intending to share the information that they know about. And many a times, I myself was caught not finishing my sentences/topic and cause a whole lot of 'boos' from my friends who are listening. They will go like ' why are you saying halfway and not finishing the other half?" Most of the time, I don't tell much of things unless I am pretty sure of what I am going to say.

Oh well. There is something interesting here.

The truth is: I don't know exactly the reason why I am doing that but what I know is after talking halfway, something unconcious will snap in me and say "Hey, are you sure you want to share that piece of information?" And I will argue a while within myself before I decide whether to continue or not.

I am sure there are more people who are in the same dillemma as me, or at least I have caught two person who is having the same habit as me. Haha.

I came across this short article that was passed to me in the buddhist yahoo groups and how true it was.

Have a read:

The Secret of Sharing Information

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, " Do you know what I just heard about your friend ?" " Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. " Before telling me anything, I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

" Triple filter ?"

" That's right," Socrates continued. " Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the Triple filter test.

The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true ?"

" No," the man said, " Actually I just heard about it and…" "All right," said Socrates. " So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good ?" " No, on the contrary…" " So," Socrates continued, " You want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left : the filter of usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me? " " No, not really." " Well," concluded Socrates, " If what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all ?"


Now, don't you think it's a good practice to filter our speech?

Jen

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Should we buy things just because they are on sale?

 Image taken from http://www.dylanamsterdam.com/

An article on the site The Simple Doller intrigued me yesterday. It talked about buying things for the sake of buying them when the prices are lows because of sales/deals. I would agree fully to the article that buying things just because they are "deals" is a waste because, most of the time, we will end up just hoarding more and more items that we will only rarely use. 


Consider if I just go out and buy more and more clothes (what I need) during the sales season. In the end it will just pile up more and more that I couldn't wear them all. This had already happened to me even with my extremely limited selection of clothes (not enough to last 2 weeks even, since I only buy clothes twice a year). I think it's a waste to leave them there though.


Anyway, the point to be made in this post is, consider if you really need the item before buying it.  It's sometimes better to not buy an item and save yourself 20 bucks rather than buying one rarely used item and save yourself 5 bucks.

Well, if i cannot resist the temptation to buy an item at the time, what I usually do is to grad the thing, syok sendiri on the thing for a while and then leave it at its rack before I go out :P At least I did get a feel as if I owned the item for a moment.


Anyway, here is the link to the full article


seehua
p/s: I liked the design of the new draft version of Blogger. Lots of new nifty features to use during the editing of blog posts ;) Just point your browser to http://draft.blogger.com to try it out :)

A beautiful day

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held
up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help!" There were only a few
coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them
into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words.
He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the
blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how
things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, 'Were you the one
who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?'

The man said, 'I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a
different way.'
What he had written was: '*Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.*'

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign
simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so
lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign
was more effective?

*Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have. Be creative. Be
innovative. Think differently and positively.*
Invite others towards good with wisdom. Live life with no excuse and love
with no regrets. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that
you have 1000 reasons to smile. Face your past without regret. Handle your
present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith
and drop the fear. *

Great men say, 'Life has to be an incessant process of repair and
reconstruction, of discarding evil and developing goodness.... In the
journey of life, if you want to travel without fear, you must have the
ticket of a good conscience.'

The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling...
And even more beautiful is, knowing that you are the reason behind it!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Life is fragile

Second piece of death news of someone that is related to me in a way or another...

Everyday we hear news of death... but we are not affected unless the person is someone that we know.

I wasn't affected until I found out which daniel it was. It is Daniel Teoh. Gasped. I know him. Though not very close, but he is someone we will always greet each other and chat when we bump into each other in IMU. One of the few BPharmers that I know. He is a bubbly, happy, friendly, helpful guy.

The piece of news made me look into life even more deeply. And it confirm once again what i have learnt that life is unpredictable, nothing is permanent but death is certain. These are some of the truth that we have to accept once born into life. When there we come, there'll be day we'll be gone. It's just the time factor.

Everything changes every seconds. We don't know what will happen next. All we could do is to cherish all we have now esp the people we are close to and never take things for granted. Hence my previous post.

It's indeed sad and grieving to know someone we know passed away. But life has to go on. There's no point fighting against the fact of life and blaming god for the cruelty of death. Life is just a physical phase of a person. When the physical part of it is lost, the memory of him is still alive. The memory is something we could keep in our hearts. Life goes on but we remember him. We learn from him that we need to appreciate life and the time we have now.

May he rest in peace and be born into a better plane of life.


Jen

Birthday thanks :)

To my mum and dad,
You are the first to wish me! Love you mum and dad! Cant wait for our next skype session. hehe.

To my dear sis, bro, sis-in-law, thanks for the whishes. I wish u all were here la. Miss u all!

To See Hua, hehe, needless to say la. No PDA here. haha.

To Joo Shin, I miss u so much! Thanks for the birthday wish and for telling me i'll have no presents this year =.=". (My past presents did not reach me EVERY YEAR. So no more presents for me this year). when will we have our next pillow talk?

To Jarryd, the only one who called me all the way from Malaysia, I'm so touched! Thanks for the call. I was very very happy. :) It's so expensive to call straight from mobile to mobile la! It's s very expensive birthday gift, i appreciate it alot.

To Yen Nee, Laura, Mei Wen (my dear housemates),Yieng, Flora, Yi Hui, Hui Yin, Min Tien (my darling neighbours next door), Hui Yen, Shian Yi, Renu, Huey Wuen ( my two doors away neighbours), Soo Fen, Karen, Yeu Lou, Million,

Thanks for the surprise birthday celebration you guys throw for me despite the exam stress. I was genuinely happy that you guys remember and took the extra effort to give me surprise. I practically jumped out of my seat when the birthday song was 'screamed' from outside my door. Haha. I tak sangka u all will sing it so loudly! Thou it happens every year and the tactics are almost similar..hehe.. im still very happy. I'm happy because I have a bunch of friends like you. Each and every one of you.

Thanks for the post birthday dinner ytdy. I'm touched and internally happy for the clebration. Love you guys alot. Thanks so so so much. I'm so sorry if i had appeared tired which was because i had only slept for 2 hours the night before, unhappy over my unanswered questions in my Fmt 1 exam paper and emotional over not bringing my snapfax(so silly to be emotional over such small things, sigh), but I am very touched and appreciative over the plan you guys made. Really touched.

Million, thanks for the special birthday present. Hehe. Very special and unique indeed. haha. Curious? Yeah, curiosity kills. Look here.

To Kean Aun, Nicholas, and Trisha thanks for the mysterious call on my extension. Made me waited so long. Hehe.

To Carolyn, Adeline, Huey Yee, Chun Siang, Yew Jinn, Ka Keat, Wei Thian, Kar Maine, Ee Wan, Jason Lse, Vivian, Alvin Teoh, Keng Yan, Chao Ching, Lee Yen, Micheal Lim, Kai Loong, Kevin Tan, Desmond, Xin Yin, Ah Mai, Amanda Lim, Cheh Shing, Wee Pin, Ah Phiaw, Ek Guan, Png, Jackie Liew, You Zhuan, Shireen Heng...

Thanks for all your wishes that you've dropped me. Whether by SMS ke, MSN ke, facebook ke, friendster ke etc... I'm touched and appreciate your wihses. Happy to have you as my friend and to have known you in the first place. For those not in glasgow, I miss you all la:)

To all names above, I Love all of you!

*hugz*


Jen

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Jokes you make in an exam

We were chatting over our exam questions about how we did and how we answered our questions during lunch yesterday and this was what happened.

One question asked us to briefly describe the properties and uses of each of the following polymers

Sodium polystyrene sulphonate
Gum tragacanth
Locust bean Gum

After thinking very hard about what is locust bean gum... This is what my friend wrote in her exam paper:

"Locust bean gum is a gum that is extracted from a locust bean."


Another question asked us to write in context of oral dosage forms write short notes on:

Tablet packaging
Sustained released formulations
Soft gelatin capsules


One friend of mine could not recall what soft gelatin capsule is and wrote this as her answer paper:

"Soft gelatin capsule is softer than hard gelatin capsules"


"...."



These are real answers made in exams by some of my batchmates under extreme conditions. I think the examiner will have a 'fun' time marking our papers.


Jen


*edited*

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Time to pick up again...

Just finished our FMT 2 exam this morning. There's only one type of face among ALL the students when they were leaving the exam hall: a disappointed face. Some were near to crying. Some cried. Many were speechless. Not few were complaining. The scene was depressing.

I was depressed myself and I wanted to condemn and complain as much as everyone else is doing. (we only came here for two months, 8 weeks to be exact, and we are already sitting for final degree exam, with no study breaks, full crash course from 9-5 everyday without fail, study the same amount of things those homestudents studied for in 6 months to a year with placements experience, and us here, lacking of rest, sleep, and the questions were so indirect and we are expected to perform bla bla bla?! That is abit too much right? Am i not?)

But I think it is not very so helpful to complain so much as this IS the fact and nothing will change.

I shall PICK myself up again and start another round of madness in getting closer to my goals.

To friends that had a bad time in exam hall today, leave the disappoinments and dwellings to the 3rd of sept and we shall continue our battle to strive our best in our next papers : FMT 1 + PP3 Exemption Exam.

Ganbatte guys.


p.s: newest news of the pp3 class test 2 results: in the name of consistency, those who were deducted 20 maks for not informing the prescriber for minor interaction of drugs ( which by right is not necessary), are now deducted an extra of 10 mraks to make it 30 so that it is the same as others. Therefore, those who were pleading not only did not gain any extra marks, but was being deducted further.

This is what we call 'fun'. You get surprises, lots of them everyday.


Jen

Monday, August 11, 2008

Happy Birthday dear dear~

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to Hung Jen
Happy birthday to you!
Hehe, the present will come later to you la, bluek

Friday, August 08, 2008

08 08 08 08 08 08 !!!!!!



Two more minutes to the historical, once in a lifetime moment, 08 08 08 08 08 08 in my place, Glasgow!!!

What was I doing at:

08 08 08 08 08 08 (AM) Glasgow time : Sleeping soundly.

08 08 08 08 08 08 (AM) Malaysia time : Studying FMT 1 NMR spectrometry.

08 08 08 08 08 08 (PM) Glasgow time : Typing this post!!!
Taking picture of my alarm clock!!

08 08 08 08 08 08 (PM) Malaysia time : Getting back my PP3 Class Test 2 Results!GOSH!

08 08 08 08 08 08 (PM) China time : OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY!!!

I am extremely extremely extremely PROUD of China. The opening ceremony was extremely extremely extremely impressive and awesome!!! Well done China! :D

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Simple things

Six continuous hours of lecture in a day isn't really that exciting when you are having dysmenorrhoea, sleep deprived and all you wish to do is to be at cineworld watching The Dark Knights. I am glad at least charming Ian Miller* is there to keep us awake with his usual formal and decent jokes otherwise to feast our eyes on. 

What makes my day was a slip saying I have a parcel to be collected at the village office (VO). After my torturous lectures, I trotted happily to collect my first parcel while counting the date today, thinking hard what could it be. It's only the 6th, not 10th of August!

So here's my first parcel:





Tadaa!





Two copies of the newest version of OTC Directory 2008/2009! Happy! They are so freaking efficient! I have only sent in my order last week and the books are here today. Wow.

To those who wish to order a copy of the OTC (within UK only), send a self-addressed stamped envelope (A5 envelope with postage paid to the value of 0.69 pounds for ONE copy or A4 envelope with postage paid to the value of 0.99 pounds for TWO copies) to OTC Directory, PAGB, Vernon House, Sicilian Avenue, London, WC1A 2QS.

I'm glad I did not put any expectations when I am collecting this parcel (I did thought it was something else). Haha, anyways, here's the address if you want to surprise me! ;)





The Dark Knight trailer here! :D 


Jen

*Ian Miller is our charming PP3 lecturer. All of us love him. ;) 

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Staying Strong




Life is beautiful yet life can be very challenging.

One after another obstacle, one after another disappointment.

It seems endless but not hopeless. In times like this, it is best to keep our mind clear with our goals, stay positive and work stepwise towards them, persevering along the way.

The path may seem long and you may seem want to give up half way, but believe me, keep stretching yourself a little more each time and keep on believing in your dreams and goals. With blessings, you will finally reach where you want to be.

Have my best wishes and blessings, and we will work towards there together.

Remember, there are always sunshine and rainbows after the rain. :)



Jen


P.s: Words for myself as well as friends who needs them. May all be well and happy.

Wink wink

Happy Two Years and One Month dear~ ;)
Muaks~

Jen

Monday, August 04, 2008

Time Management by Randy Pausch

it is truly an inspiring talk and I highly recommend anybody who wish to have more time, to watch this..





To know more about Randy Pausch, click here.


Jen

Aftermath of PP3 Class Tests

Two hours of Brain Damage.

Mental Exhaustion.

Emotional Turbulences.

Nerve Wrecking.

Extreme Tremor.

Extreme Ataxia.

Totally Stunt.

All Numb.


Jen

Happy Birthday Joo Shin

Just a simple post to wish my dear friend a very Happy Birthday. I miss you.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Gifts From the Heart


According to legend, a young man while roaming the desert came across a
spring of delicious crystal-clear water. The water was so sweet he filled
his leather canteen so he could bring some back to a tribal elder who had
been his teacher. After a four-day journey he presented the water to the old
man who took a deep drink, smiled warmly and thanked his student lavishly
for the sweet water. The young man returned to his village with a happy
heart.

Later, the teacher let another student taste the water. He spat it out,
saying it was awful. It apparently had become stale because of the old
leather container. The student challenged his teacher: "Master, the water
was foul. Why did you pretend to like it?"

The teacher replied, "You only tasted the water. I tasted the gift. The
water was simply the container for an act of loving-kindness and nothing
could be sweeter. Heartfelt gifts deserve the return gift of gratitude."

I think we understand this lesson best when we receive innocent gifts of
love from young children. Whether it's a ceramic tray or a macaroni
bracelet, the natural and proper response is appreciation and expressed
thankfulness because we love the idea within the gift.

Gratitude doesn't always come naturally. Unfortunately, most children and
many adults value only the thing given rather than the feeling embodied in
it. We should remind ourselves and teach our children about the beauty and
purity of feelings and expressions of gratitude. After all, gifts from the
heart are really gifts of the heart.

Michael Josephson
www.charactercounts.org

Taken from http://www.insightoftheday.com

Friday, August 01, 2008

Colours

Colours Colours Colours. I just love colours. Look at the number of colour pens and highlighters that i have?




And what I did to my module notes.. Just love tabbing my module notes.





And love my little cute panda and my comfy little bed :)





I just love doing nonsense just before exams. I should be studying.

Exam dates: 11, 29 july, 4, 5, 13, 15, 18, 19, 25 aug, 2, 3 sept.

2 down.



Jen

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Impressions

I used to like the idea of being a tiger under a pig's skin. Now although i still buy that idea, but at a different price. I would prefer a tiger under a dog's skin.

I realised these kind of thing slowly becomes a part of a person when it's done too many times, which i don't think anyone would fancy the idea of being a pig at all. Skin changing process takes time, effort and patience.

What i meant by skin here is impressions.

The impression we give others is analogical to the skin on our body. It is the first important organ that could be seen well by others. Impressions work the same: it is the first important mind set that is set in others.

And why is impressions so important?

First, it is the main source of attraction. If let say a restaurant appear dirty, messy and unkept, would you still go in and try their food eventhough they claim that their food is clean and delicious? If a person appears confident, assertive, and smart and you are a boss building up a management team for a high fly company, would you not hire him? If a girl is refined, well-kept, pleasant, polite and beautiful (to most guys), would you not be attracted to ask her to be your friend or even your girlfriend?

Welcome to the real world.

Impressions are like a travel passport. Without it, you can't go anywhere. The food in the restaurant might be very very delicious, but people are turn off right away by the sight of it. Although you might say they are being denied their own opportunity to try the best sanwich in town, but people wont bother as there are millions of good food out there. And I would say, the impression the restaurant gave others is denying themselves a chance to prove that their food is delicious.

Going for an interview and winning a job is very much depend on the impressions you gave the interviewer the first 15 minutes you are with them. The tiny little actions you do tells a lot about you as a person. The way you knock the door, the expressions on your face, the way dress up, the way you walk, sit and talk all plays an important part in sketching the impressions they put on you.

A scenario: If you walk into the room and before you say anything, you tripped over the chair and the files in your hand are now scattered on the floor and you clumsily pick them up and realise you missed out your most important certificate... this does not give a very good impression, does it?

Creating a good impression is a passport for people to know you more. This is called the attraction. If you appear so unrefined OR your name has been tarnished so badly by others, do you think others would still have interest to know you more eventhough you might be perfect inside?

Not giving a good impression to others is our own loss because we are denying ourselves the opportunity for others to know more about our good. It's our responsibility to build this good impressions and keep improving them. You will never know how long this first impression will last!

Friday, July 04, 2008

Union Jack

Shutter 1/176 sec, Aperture F3.4, ISO 100

seehua

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Father Forgets


Listen son: I am saying this as you lie asleep, one little paw crumpled under your cheek and the blond curls stickily across your damp forehead. I have stolen into your room alone. Just a few minutes ago, as I sat reading my paper in the library, a stifling wave of remorse swept over me. Guiltily I came to your bedside.

There are things I was thinking: I had been cross to you. I scolded you as you were dressing for school because you gave your face merely a dab with a towel. I took you to task for not cleaning your shoes. I called out angrily when you threw some of your things on the floor.

At breakfast I found fault, too. You spilled things.You gulped down your food. You put your elbows on the table. You spread butter too thick on your bread. And as your started off to play and I made for my train, you turned and waved your hand and called, "Goodbye Daddy!" and I frowned, and said in reply, "Hold your shoulders back!"

Then it began all over again in the late afternoon. As i came up the road I spied on you, down on your knees, playing marbles. There are holes in your stockings. I humiliated you in front of your boyfriends by marching you ahead of me to the house. Stockings were expensive--and if you had to buy them you would be more careful! Imagine that, son, from a father!

Do you remember, later, when I was reading in the library, how you came in timidly, with a sort of hurt look in your eyes? When I glanced up over my paper, impatient at the interruption, you hesitated at the door. "What is it that you want?" I snapped.

You said nothing, but ran across in one tempestuous plunge, and threw your arms around my neck, and kissed me, and your arms tightened with an affection that God had set blooming in your heart and which even neglect cannot wither. And then you were gone, pattering up the stairs.

Well, son, shortly afterwards my paper slipped from my hands and a terrible sickening fear came over me. What has habit doing to me? The habit of finding fault, of reprimanding--this was my reward to you for being a boy. I was not that I did not love you, it was that I expected tii nuch of youth. I was measuring you by the yardstick of my own years.

And there was so much that was good and fine and true in your character. The little heard of you was as big as dawn itself over the wide hills. This was shown by your spontaneous impulse to rush in and kiss me good night. Nothing else matter tonight, son. I have come to your bedside in the darkness, and I have knelt here, ashamed!

It was a feeble atonement, I know you would not understand these things if I told them to you during your waking hours. But tomorrow I will be a real daddy! I will chum with you, and suffer when you suffer, and laugh when you laugh. I will bite my tongue when impatient words come. I will keep saying as if it were a ritual: "He is nothing but a boy--a little boy!"

I am afraid I have visualized you as a man. Yet as I see you now, son, crumpled and weary in your cot, I see that you are still a baby. Yesterday you were in your mother's arms, your head on her shoulder. I have asked too much, too much.

W. Livingston Larned

Monday, June 30, 2008

Writing a thank you note

Image taken from art and science blog

So someone just helped you with your assignment? or drove you all the way back home from 50km away because it's late in the night already? or even made a coffee for you to drink when you are sleepy?

When it comes to the time to say thank you, most of the time, I will tend to think that just saying it isn't enough. But giving them something in return doesn't cut it as well, because it will make them think that you are just paying them for their work, which they mostly rendered sincerely to you. hmm... dilemma, just how do i show them that I appreciate their work?

Here is an article that provides simple steps to write a thank you note to the people who had helped you in anyway, i think you guys will find it useful as well ;)

Enjoy

The simple dollar: how to write an effective thank you note for any occasion

seehua
*Imitating the masses will take you to their level. So do imitation of the powerful as well...

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Drinking at Sunset

Fujifilm S6500fd, Aperture: F3.9, Shutter: 1/240sec
Taken in Stockholm

Monday, June 23, 2008

Lights: The Future of Lighting System for Automobiles

Our common automobiles had came a long way since a demonstration of a steam powered mechanical vehicle by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot in the year 1770. Cars had improved by a great deal in terms of production, reliability, comfort as well as safety. But as time grows, the demands placed on the manufacturers for safer and more comfortable cars enabled them to push even the latest technologies to the limit.

In this article I will be writing about concepts and developments that will be available in the near future.

Source of Light
Currently most of the cars on the streets are using either the very dimm and yellow halogen lamp or the brighter and bluer xenon lamps.

Most of you guys might have gripes about the so-called blinding xenon lamps in Malaysia. Yes, Xenon lamps can be blinding, but only if they are utilized illegally on cars that are not built for this sort of lighting in the first place. Here in my company they've managed to bring down the lamp's brightness until it's virtually indistinguishable from a normal yellow coloured halogen lamp normally used in a car in Malaysia today.

The real future, however, lies in the advent of super bright Light Emitting Diodes (shortened to LEDs). These tiny devices aren not like those that you are used to seeing in consumer electronics. These tiny beasts, can be so bright that they can blind if you choose to look at it directly without filters. I myself got myself blinded for a few minutes because i activated one that was connected to a circuit that I've built here to test if it's working properly. Short to say, a few of these things will be bright enough to power a automobile's street lighting system.

Adaptive lighting system
Safety is still a prime consideration when designing a roadworthy aotumobile, and lighting system is and will always be a major part in make the passengers as well as the pedestrians safer from accidents.

In the near future, cars with adaptive street lighting will help to reduce costly accidents expecially in dark conditions and at night as well. Here are some of the innovation that you will see in the near future:
1. The front lighting system will turn the lights so that it lights up a curve when you negotiate one.
2. Automatic switching of lighting conditions so that it suits driving along a street in a city(wide lighting to help highlight the pedestrians) as well as highway driving (high beams)
3. Automatic dimming of high beams should incoming traffic is detected.
4. Adjusting of the lighting so that high beams can still be left enabled while not blinding incoming traffic. This can be done by making the use of lenses so that more of it goes to your side of the road instead of the opposing one.
5. Detection and highlighting of potential obstacles using auxiliary lamps that is to be intergrated into the front lights.

All thses can be accomplished using a small camera and a high speed processing systems to deal with the potential speed that the driver is going to drive in.

Comfort
Everybody likes comfortable rides, as a driver as well as passengers. Here, researches are still being conducted on bringing the lighting systems so that the lights can produce colours that are as close to day light as possible.

Currently the yellowish halogen lamps produces light of temperatures of up to 1-2k Kelvin, and the blueish Xenon lamps upping the scale to 4-5k Kelvin. With more research, we will start seeing lighting sources that can produce lights with colour temperatures of closer to 6600K Kelvin (ideal daylight). With this temperature, your eyes will see things just how it would look like during the day.

These are just a preview of what is in store for us in the future. Start looking around for newer Audi, Cadilac and BMW models shoould you guys want to have a more detailed look as these fantastic technologies ;)

seehua

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar

No one can make you serve customers well.

That’s because great service is a choice.

Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey.

He handed my friend a laminated card and said, “I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.”

Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said, ”Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment. This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, “Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.”

My friend said jokingly, “No, I’d prefer a soft drink.”

Wally smiled and said, “No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.”

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, “I’ll take a Diet Coke.”

Handing him his drink, Wally said, “If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.”

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card. “These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.”

And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

“Tell me, Wally,” my amazed friend asked the driver, “have you always served customers like this?”

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. “No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.

He had just written a book called You’ll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.’”

“That hit me right between the eyes,” said Wally. “Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.”

“I take it that has paid off for you,” Harvey said.

“It sure has,” Wally replied. “My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.”

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

How about us?

copied from redsmoke's post here

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Damn Interesting

Amongst the sites that I frequently visit for reading materials, this site had turned out to be one of my favourite for the last few days to douse the flames of boredom that had engulfed me at work (since there is almost nothing to do other than to wait for my components to finally arrive from the armory).

Introducing Damn Interesting, the site that offers great writeups on lots of interesting stuffs ranging from strange happenings to scientific breakthroughs of all time. The authors usually write their articles in a very suspenceful manner, inducing the readers to continue reading until the very end. To whet your appetite, here is one of my favourite article over there:

The Gimli Glider

So if you guys need something to kill off boredom, do visit and have fun reading the long time killers there, all the while gaining needed general knowledge to show off to your friends :)

seehua

Welcome to Europe

After spending a few years toiling in IMU, the time had finally come. Here I wish to bid Jen a warm welcome to Scotland (Europe in general), and to wish her a good time studying while having fun in over here as well.

Now the writer waits anxiously for the time when the couple finally got the chance to travel together around Europe after a long wait *grins*

seehua
p/s: 1/3 of the photos taken in Scotland are available to view in my flickr account. Sorry for the delay in processing and upload :P

Farewell friends

Dear friends and kalyana mitras,

This isnt a proper farewell i know, but my wish remains true. I'll be leaving to the scotland tonight at 11.40pm from msia. Im sorry i could not meet up with and everyone of you before i leave but u will always be remembered and missed deeply. :)

Take care guys, we can still meet online virtually, hehe, i have a webcam with me ;)

yen chiew, im sorry i cuden meet up and have a proper farewell with u. I will certainly remember u always. all the best and i shall come back and have a good chat with u a year later ;)

Bye msia! You'll be missed deeply.

Jen

Monday, June 02, 2008

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of Oolong tea

OOLONG TEA……

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of Oolong tea…You will never look at a cup of Oolong the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed Oolong tea. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.

Then she ladled the Oolong out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see."

"Carrots, eggs, and Oolong tea," she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the Oolong. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The Oolong tea was unique, however. After they were in the boiling water , they had changed the water color and taste.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a Oolong tea?

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the Oolong tea? The tea actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the tea, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a Oolong tea?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.

Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

credits to Kean Aun for forwarding this to me

Public Relations 2.0

Good day to you guys out there.

First, my apologies for not posting anything lately, since I am more involved in my work in my company (Just finished the design phase of the circuit), and I am more involved in the moderation of ReCom.

Nevertheless, I'll blog about my trip to Stockholm in Sweden a few weeks ago when I am done with minor cleaning up of the pictures taken there. The heat is causing major noise issues with the pictures taken, and sometimes i forgot to tune down the ISO when shooting in bright daylight. Ugh, talking about nice ISO spoilt pictures :(

As a filler, I would recommend you guys to have a read at the following article, which I think is useful for those who might want to start a business later on, or just about anyone else who isn't disconnected with the world. Have fun reading them ;)

Techcrunch: PR secrets for startups


Enjoy and till the next post, take care yea you guys ;)

seehua

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Monday, April 21, 2008

Lippstadt

Well, I've moved away from Aalen for 5 months to do my practical semester here in Lippstadt. It's a really nice city with lots of nice views. It's just too bad that the internet connection isn't as reliable as the one I have back in Aalen, so you guys will have to slowly wait for my photos to show up in flickr.

As an appetizer:

2008_0420_153825
Edited with photoshop.

seehua

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Drug dealer

In my previous life as a fed agent I was often asked to assist with some "undercover" sting operations all over the Northeast US. One of the most memorable was a op in northern Maine. I was to play the brother-in-law of our source who's co-worker had recently asked him if he knew of any good dealers of crack.
Long story short they brought me in to sell him crack. We met the "Client" as planned and you should have seen this kids eyes when I pulled out this giant bag of crack we had obtained from a previous bust. He looked like he was going to start crying, like he had just come to know Jesus or something... anyway he wanted to buy it all, every last gram of it, but he had only brought $150.00 bucks with him. I thought for a second and asked him if had his checkbook on him and he did. I asked him how much money he had in the bank, he told me and I told him he could just write me a check for the total. This kid didn't think twice about it and started writing the thing out. As he was writing he asked me all the usual questions, correct spelling of my name, confirmed the date, then stopped writting for a second, put his pen down, and I started to panic. He looked me straight in the eye and he stated that he always wrote down "the reason"in the little space provided in the lower left hand of checks for that purpose. Before I could even speak he picked his pen back up again and started writing, then folded the check in half and handed it to me. Before I handed him the crack I wanted to see what he wrote, so I unfolded the check and read aloud; "For Illegal Drugs", the second I read that out loud we could all hear very loud laughter coming from the room next door. You see I was wired and 6 agents were in the next room, hanging on every word. They knew they had alerted this guy and without delay came charging into the room to arrest him, but what a strange sight it was to see 6 armed feds tearing into a room, guns drawn and laughing so hard they really could not even speak in complete sentences...


Credit: Clientcopia

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Angry?

Angry? Take a step back will ya. And have a look at yourself.

What is Anger doing to you?

Don't like it?

Don't be angry then...

seehua

Friday, April 11, 2008

Of sufferings and Karma

I was practicing on injecting a mice on its lateral tail veins and it felt so painful to see their tails being pricked, especially when the needles did not successfully deliver the solution into the veins. At the end of the practice, all I see is a tail that has gone blue black. Felt awful for them. But i have done it for a good purpose of research to improve the efficacy of drugs, for the benefit of humankind.

I asked a friend of mine who is very knowledgeable in Buddhism to explain to me regarding karma that i would generate from my actions.

He told me a story instead.

" Once a nun living alone in the cave was raped by a robber. So when she came for the teachings, some monks prevented her from sitting with the Sangha, saying that she broke the precepts. At this point do you think she did?"

When this matter was brought to the Buddha, he asked the nun. "Did you will for this to happen?" No. "Did you enjoy it when they did it?" No. "Did you feel happy after that?" No. "Then please sit with the Sangha. You have not broken your precepts."

Enlightening.



Jen

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Living in uncertainties

21st March marked the last day of my 5th semester exam, which also marked the last day of my 5th semester which officially ends Part A of my Integrated Masters of Pharmacy Degree Programme.

Life since then becoming less and less structured and more and more liquid. Before and during the exam, all i need to focus is to study well and do well in exam. Everyday was a routine: wake up, have brunch, read newspapers, study, study, study, study, study, cook, have dinner, study study study study, study study study study, watch sunrise, take breakfsat then sleep ( or i should just call it a nap). As soon as the exam ends, all i wanted to do was to sleep, but, my body has its own plans. It kept waking up at 6 to watch sunrise. It took me few days before i stop waking up automatically to watch sunrise. Will post up those videos when i have the cables with me.

Holiday dreams were scattered when the hard fact of flying over to climb mount kinabalu for 6 days 5 nights and for the beautiful manukan island after considering all possibilities will burn a big hole in the pocket. Although RM 1700 is wee less than what i'll be getting when im in scotland next time, 250 pounds is way out of my budget. Second holiday dreams were scattered when i was informed there ws no more bus tickets to the beautiful Perhentian Island. Feeling rather desperate for a holiday, i was planning for more holiday options with my other 3 friends, but all don't seem fit due to tight and unparallel schedules. There goes, my after exam hype was spent on perfumes and shopping and packing and moving house.

31st March marked another eventful day of my life. It's the last day we are going to step in our rented unit in vista. It's the day we had or hosp attachment briefings, visa application briefing, measuring of our suits, had our life go through the two and a half years ago at our pharmacy night, the first and last time of me posing a sexy pose on stage and taking a midnight bus home. First but hopefully not the last of all pharmacy batches gather together to give a farewell party to all graduating batches, B104 and P106. Thanks to our juniors P107 for putting such effort in organising the event, preparing the performances and all. It was indeed memorable and the video never failed to make us emo.

* will continue the emo part in another post*

Now that i have no more place to stay, i have to rely on the kind heart of my brother and friends to accommodate me during the days i will be in kl. Uncertainties in commuting, in accommodation, in schedules are making life a bit difficult. Unanswered questions kept popping up in my mind. What will my results be. When will they release. Where to stay. How to go. When to go home. When will I be needed here. When will the candida come. When will the mice arrive. What to bring. What to buy. How much time do i have. Millions of questions to be answered. Millions of possibilities.

I shall wait for some good news soon I hope. Cross my fingers and lets pray for the best.


Jen
May the forces be with you.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

A Tribute

A tribute to my grandmother, who passed away peacefully last week. May she rest in peace

seehua
nope, no april fools joke here

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Definitions

Few good Definitions


1. School: A place where Papa pays and Son plays.
2. Life Insurance: A contract that keeps you poor all your life so that you can die Rich.
3. Nurse: A person who wakes u up to give you sleeping pills.
4. Marriage: It's an agreement in which a man loses his bachelor degree and a woman gains her masters.
5. Divorce: Future tense of Marriage.
6. Tears : The hydraulic force by which masculine willpower is defeated by feminine waterpower.
7. Lecture: An art of transferring information from the notes of the Lecturer to the notes of the students without passing through "the minds of either"
8. Conference: The confusion of one man multiplied by the number present.
9. Compromise : The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody believes he got the biggest piece.
10. Dictionary: A place where success comes before work.
11. Conference Room : A place where everybody talks, nobody listens and everybody disagrees later on.
12. Father: A banker provided by nature.
13. Criminal: A guy no different from the rest....except that he got caught.
14. Boss: Someone who is early when you are late and late when you are early.
15. Politician : One who shakes your hand before elections and your Confidence after.
16. Doctor : A person who kills your ills by pills, and kills you by bills.
17. Classic : Books, which people praise, but do not read.
18. Office : A place where you can relax after your strenuous home life.
19. Yawn: The only time some married men ever get to open their mouth.
20. Etc .: A sign to make others believe that you know more than you actually do.
21. Committee: Individuals who can do nothing individually and sit to decide that nothing can be done together.
22. Experience : The name men give to their mistakes.
23. Atom Bomb : An invention to end all inventions.
24. Philosopher: A fool who torments himself during life, to be spoken of when dead. 
25. Smile : A curve that can set a lot of things straight.

Taken from a forwarded mail.

 

seehua

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Election is Here!

Election is just few hours away and I am sure those who are already eligible to vote and able to go all the way back to their hometown are either already back in hometown 
or are on their way home.

Whatever it is, it is election on many of our minds now and for those who are voting probably already made up their mind who to cast their votes and exercise their rights on a long-anticipated-time-of-every-five-years polling day. 

And this year's polling day is not just any ordinary polling day. It coincides with the International Women's Day and..... our 'beloved' Works Minister's Birthday! It's such a pretty nice date where it is all 3 in 1 celebration.

For single guys out there, you get to practise your rights while giving a glimpse at the  pretty girl in front of you during the polling, and best of all, u have a pick up line ready for you! It's International Women's Day! Isn't that great?

For those who haven't decided, now is your time! Cast your votes with wisdom! This video might help release some of your tension while deciding... For those who are not voting, haha, it's time to have some laughs.

So, what are you waiting for? Watch this video and you'll know what i mean. Have fun! :)








* Thanks to my bro who showed me this page. Thanks to his boss for sharing as well. Those two are his friends. It is super funny.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Germany

Germany is a country roughly the size of the Malaysia that is situated right at the middle of Europe. If you guys that had been through the secondary school education in Malaysia and still didn't know where the heck is it, go back and relearn your history and geography as well.

Here in this article I will discuss about the clichés that are often said about this country and whether they are true or not, based on my personal experiences.

1. Are the German Sausages nice?German sausages or commonly known here as Würst here consists commonly of pork, beef and turkish meats. And there are lots of variants of them as well. Some of them looked like those in the picture, very thick and short for the standards here. If you really need numbers, the diameter of these kind of sausages can go up to 3cm or so. And then there will be some that are really thin but ultra long, often reaching more than 30cm.

Unlike the dish seen here, most of the time the sausaged will be taken with breads (Brötchen), either in between 2 halves or eaten separately.

2. Breads
During my orientation class when I first came to germany, the teacher said that Germany itself can offer more types of breads than any other place in the world. When you go into any breadshop over here, you might go dizzy with the array of breads on display ready to be sold and eaten by it's hungry customers. Locally at my state, they offer pretzel as a local specialty (I don't find them particularly nice, a tad too salty due to how they are produced).

Most of the bread shops here offer some kind of oven to heat up your selected bread should you have any kind of interest in warmed food.

3. Do the Germans like to drink beers?
The answer here is obviously a big yes. They germans here LOVE it in fact, even more so in the southern region of Germany. One of the most famous festivals related to Germany, the Oktoberfest celebrated all over the world, originated from the city of Munich (München).

Apart from the festive times, they also drink beers during party times as well as during gatherings. At these times it can be irritating because when they are drunk, they can do all sorts of wild things. Most of the times they are just irritating, like making loud noises or throwing bottles out of the windows. Sometimes they can get quite scary as well, like randomly opening other peoples' doors, fights and vandalisms. I have had at one time a guy opening my door after a party at my uni at 3am. Lucky he just closed the door afterwards. At one time the police actually e-mailed to all students asking for information on a serious injury occured to a poor guy after a party gone wrong.

But all in all, if you don't overdo it, drinking beers with the Germans can be pretty relaxing, sitting around in the common room chit-chatting (I miss those times).

As for me, yes, I do drink here, but only once in a few weeks and no more than one bottle at a time. So, most of the time I can still keep to my senses, no worries here ;)

The Germans use an array of different glasses to drink their beers from. The ones that you usually see in the pictures are the mugs, really big ones. Most of the time though, when you order beers at a german restaurant, they will serve you beer with a glass that is about 30cm in heigt that is a bit thinner at the bottom than the top.

Well, I think that is all that I can write at time time. Will be posting more on such things in the future.

It's already 6am here, and I still haven't taken my good night sleep... Scold me la for not sleeping earlier (screw the bowl of tom-yam bee hoon I cooked for supper just 3 hours ago).

Anyway, to the all of you out there, take care always and don't inhabit the bad habit of being a late night cat from me...

seehua
*Music can help on soothing anxious minds. If you find yourself very nervous or anxious, get some music at the right pace to set yourself to the correct mood ;) ~

all pictures are taken from their respective Wikipedia pages.
Current interest: Options trading
Current activities: renewing visas, reading, tweaking my new handset, sleeping and generally lazing around

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Masturbate-a-Thon???

I was reading The Sun newspaper some time ago and came across this strange news, some very uh, weird news... haha... wonder why would some people actually think of such idea. Enjoy reading and hope it wont disgust u. Haha.


Festival of self-love coming to Copenhagen

Copenhagen: Hot on the heels of San Francisco and London, Copenhagen is to host a Masturbate-a-Thon in May which organisers hope will break lingering taboos about self-love, an organiser said on Wednesday.

Pia Struck Madsen, a sexologist in the Danish capital, said her goal was to see men and women from all backgrounds come together - pardon the pun - and join an event that promises "pleasure, relaxation and sexual self-discovery".

"Masturbation is positive, safe and erotic alternative," she said, ahead of the event on May 31, to take place at a yet-to-be-decided venue with separate rooms for men, women and those who don't mind mingling.

The original Masturbate-a-Thon took place in San Francisco in 1998, with participants raising money for good causes. Now an annual event, it was followed by a similar event in London in July 2006. -AFP-


Who knows next time they'll come up with something called Sex-a-Thon? or Orgathon?

I cant imagine...

Monday, March 03, 2008

Lame Post

Since im feeling a little bored... i mean really bored... My dear fren, carolyn started telling me a story about an old uncle...

"... One fine day, there was one old uncle aged 70 years old, he has alzheimer. The wife couldn't tahan him and send him to a nursing home. He is sitting on the wheelchair when she was doing some registration at the counter. The uncle tilt his head to left side and the nurse saw and quickly put a pillow on his left side to prevent him from falling. After a few minutes, the uncle started tilting his body to the right. The nurse saw it and quickly put the pillow to prevent him from falling again. After few minutes later, the uncle started to tilt to the front and the nurse quickly ran to him and put a pillow in front of him. The nurse later tied the uncle to the wheelchair to avoid him from falling. When the wife was done with the registration, she turned back and was shocked to see him being tied to the wheelchair. She asked " why are you being tied??" " The... the nurse don't allow me to fart."......"

Okie...that's all the lame joke...

LoL..

P/s: I just found out LoL not only stands for Lots of Laugh, but can also stand for Loss of Libido... haha... (* okay, that's lame*)

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Happy Chap Goh Mei

As my first post after my very very short Happy CNY post, I apologize for my lack of activities here in the blog. These 2 weeks have been a very busy time for me myself. I have to finish up the last 3 papers in my final exam, the attend extra classes that is part of the curriculum. On top of that, I have to deal with the extension of my visa to allow me to stay here till the end of my studies and I have to write out lots of letters to apply for a place for my practicals.

Anyway, the atmosphere here almost doesn't reflect the true atmosphere of the Chinese New Year celebration in Malaysia itself. Life just goes on like normal as if nothing significant had happened. The Germans didn't even know that it's our "Chun Jie" until after I mentioned it to them. To them, spring only officially starts somewhere at the end of the next month.

Just how did I am the other Malaysians celebrate the coming of the Rat year? Well, as "Tuan Yuan Fan" the Malaysian Chinese here gathered to cook a meal together. We drank Ba Kut Teh on that night but were quickly dispersed due the fact that it's still exam time and we have last minute stuffs to study and understand before the exam.

First day of the new year, we did have meal together yet again at about almost the same time span. By Friday, our exams are now ever and Joshua had flown to London to meet his friends over there. He did promise to bring back roasted duck from "Four Seasons", a famous roasted duck speciallist in London.

Well, a few days later, after Joshua comes back from London, we have had a gathering of the Malaysians living over here in Aalen to organize a steamboat evening. I finished my extra class early and got there to help with the stripping of chicken meat from it's skin and various other stuffs in the kitchen to prepare for the dinner. My senior, Meo Lian did a very good job with the soup for the steamboat and we have had a very nice gathering that night chit chatting and playing games on the PS2 and Poker (with chips).

The next day, the chinese gathered together again to have a meal again, this time with the roasted duck that Joshua brought back from London. The duck was sure very nice to eat, which is why that particular shop is very famous in London and to the Malaysians living in Europe as well.

Time sure passes quickly, now we are at the end of the celebrations time, with Chap Goh Mei coming tomorrow. How was your celebrations so far? Wishing you all a very successful new year ahead of you guys!

seehua
*Down or up, life goes on~

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Ass U + Me

So what's with that ass u+ me?

It'll be an ass between u + me if you start to assume things.

Very often we just assume things based on past experiences and assumptions that others had made.

How tasty, how disasterous, how gorgeous, how bad, how good, how evil, how angelic, how useless, how helpful....etc etc...

All these are nothing but labels we put on a person. How well can these labels represent a person? Are they really what we labelled them as?

Nevertheless, labelling is yet another way of human use to judge people.

These labels may represent a person well at the particular point of time when the comment was made. But, how well can it represent the same person in the past, or in the future?

Is it fair to judge a person based on their past, what more based on other's point of view, when the person is a 'new' person now?

Are you sure that a person that is nice to you now, will not do something hurtful to you in the future?

Are you sure the person you see now, is the person they really are? Never judge a book by its cover. Life is full of uncertainties and surprises.

If you realise, almost every cells in our body is constantly changing, developing and differenciating. Old cells are replaced with new cells.

Red blood cells last only for 115-120 days. 75% of our body is water and every month or so, almost all the water in the body is replaced. 7% of our body weight is blood fluid and blood cells, most of which are replaced in 3 months.

After a period of time, our body is replaced with an almost complete new body. Can we still say that it is the same body 3 months ago?

The truth of life is change. Nothing remains the same. Keep and open mind and open heart and stop assumming things.

Past is past. Future has yet to come. We have a new life everyday, don't we? Live in the present!


Jen
Everything around us is, but an illusion. It's all created in the mind.


My phone currently is out of order. Sometimes it is okay, sometimes it 'falls sick'. Most of the time, it cannot receive signals and has no signals completely. It's severity increases with the time of the day. Beg my pardon if I don't get to reply your smses or even get contacted.

Got my class test results today. Another class test this friday. *cry*

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine Dear~

For the one I love, Happy Valentine's Day :)

A hug for our endless love,
A hug for our endless care,
A hug for our sweet moments,
A hug for our conversations,
A hug for our sharings,
A hug for our constant heartbeats,
A hug for our smiles,
A hug for our eye contacts,
A hug for our thoughtful thoughts,
A hug for our sweet memories,
A hug for our beautiful times,
A hug for our ups and downs,
A hug for our red and green,
A hug for our sweet and sour, salty and bitter,
A hug for our longings and missings,
A hug for our cards and smses,
A hug for our skyping and msn-ing,
A hug for our imagations and visualisations,
A hug for our telephatic moments,
A hug for our dreams,
A hug for you being you and me being me,
A hug for being so blessed to have us, I Love You Dear!^.^



Here's a very nice song with nice lyrics..enjoy~



PERHAPS LOVE (John Denver)
Perhaps love is like a resting place, a shelter from the storm

It exists to give you comfort, it is there to keep you warm
And in those times of trouble when you are most alone
The memory of love will bring you home

Perhaps love is like a window, perhaps an open door
It invites you to come closer, it wants to show you more
And even if you lose yourself and don't know what to do
The memory of love will see you through

Love to some is like a cloud, to some as strong as steel
For some a way of living, for some a way to feel
And some say love is holding on and some say letting go
And some say love is everything, and some say they don't know

Perhaps love is like the ocean, full of conflict, full of pain
Like a fire when it's cold outside, thunder when it rains
If I should live forever, and all my dreams come true
My memories of love will be of you

Some say love is holding on and some say letting go
Some say love is everything and some say they don't know
Perhaps love is like the mountains, full of conflict, full of change
Like a fire when it's cold outside, thunder when it rains
If I should live forever, and all my dreams come true
My memories of love will be of you
:)


Here is another song, our song...:)




AT THE BEGINNING (Anastacia)
We were strangers starting out on our journey
Never dreaming what we'd have to go through
Now here we are and I'm suddenly standing
At the beginning with you

No one told me I was going to find you
Unexpected what you did to my heart
When I lost hope you were there to remind me
This is the start

(chorus)
And Life is a road and I want to keep going
Love is a river I want to keep flowing
Life is a road now and forever
A Wonderful journey

I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there whenthe storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you

We were strangers on a crazy adventure
Never dreaming how our dreams would come true
Now here we stand unafraid of the future
At the beginning with you

(chorus)

I knew there was somebody somewhere
Like me alone in the dark
I know that my dream will live on
I've been waiting so long
Nothing's gonna tear us apart

(chorus)

In the end I wanna be standing at the beginning with you


I would like to dedicate this two songs to my dear dear~ hehe.. sorry ya ppl, this post very cheesy..hehehe..pardon me yeah...