Few More Hours to Greet Year 2008!

It's about few more hours before we welcome Year 2008. I'm at home with my 2 lovely daughters. I have been on annual leave since last friday, thinking of sparing some quality times with them before the new academic year starts on Jan 3, 2008.

I will resume work probably on Jan 7, 2008. This is the longest leave I ever have in year 2007, and the truth is I start to get bored staying at home, doing nothing but watching movie, TV with my kids.

Since year 2007 is coming to an end soon, I think I shall reflect what I have done in year 2007. I am glad to have explored the world of internet marketing. I have attended numerous internet marketing seminars, World Internet Summit, UYMG (Unleash Your Marketing Genius), Fione Tan's Internet Marketing 3-Month Coaching program, just to name a few.

My another achievement in year 2007 is my driving skill. I got my driving license years back in 1997, but I have never drove a car ever since then. It's my hubby who push me to start driving. I got very irritated at first to have to drive on the road which I am very afraid of. But he was patiently demonstrate and guide me till I'm good and independent on the road. I am now able to fetch my daughters to and fro from their school and have the freedom to wherever I wish without dependent on him.

Here comes year 2008, my New Year Resolution is to be able to make substantial money from internet marketing which allows me to quit my full-time job and be a work-at-home mom. By then, I would have enough quality times with my family and take care my lovely daughters.

I Received Another Scam Email...

Today I received another scam email requesting help to claim and receive the fund left by his / her deceased parents. Below is the email content extracted from my email:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Steve and Jane (stevebailey@globo.com)
Abidjan-Cote d'Ivoire

My Dear,

I am delighted to write to you.My name is Steve Bailey 22 while my younger
sister Jane is 20 yrs. We are orphans being that we lost our father a couple
of months ago. My father was a serving director of the Cocoa exporting board
until his death.

He was assassinated last january by the rebels following the political uprising.
Before his death he had a foreign account here in Côte d?Ivoire up to the
tune of $9m (Nine Million United States Dollars) which he told the bank was
for the importation of cocoa processing machine.

Now we have decided to invest these money in your country or anywhere safe
enough outside Cote d'Ivoire for security and political reasons.I want you
to help me and my younger sister claim and receive the funds which will be
transferred to your account to enable you plan for the investment in your
Country I will like to invest part of the money into these three investment
in your Country but, if there is any other business that is better than my
suggestion, I will be very glad to follow your advice.

1) Real estate
2) The transport industry
3) Five star hotel

If you can be of an assistance to us, we are pleased to offer to you 20%
Of the total fund while the balance will be invested by you. Meanwhile my
late father handed over to me the copies of the Bank Deposit Slip and Agreement
issued to him by the Bank.

Please if you are willing to assist us, indicate your interest in replying
soonest.

Thanks and best regards.
Steve and Jane Bailey

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Watch out for these scam email, lots and lots of people out there have claimed to be cheated by these conman, and lost some big chunk of the money.

Read my previous post for what you should do upon receiving these scam emails.

Watch out for Scam Emails !!

This morning I received 3 emails from the same email address (joyce.blaise@yahoo.ca) with the Subject of 'Ad Interest'.

Below is the content of the email:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From Joyce Blaise has sent the following message to you:
From Joyce Blaise
Abidjan Cote D` Ivoire
West Africa.
Email:joyce.blaise@yahoo.ca

Dearest,

Permit me to inform you of my desire of going into business relationship with you. I got your contact from Internet where searching for a responsible and humble person who will assist me on this, I prayed over it and selected your name among other names due I was directed by God to do so, I must not hesitate to confide in you for this simple and sincere business.

I am Joyce Blaise the only daughter of late Mr. and Mrs. James Blaise My Father was a very wealthy cocoa merchant in Abidjan , the economic capital of Ivory Coast, My Father was poisoned to dearth by his business associates on one of their outings on a business trip . My Mother died when I was a baby and since then my Father took me so special. Before the death of my father on January 2004 in a private hospital here in Abidjan he secretly called me on his bed side and told me that he has the sum of of ten million,five hundred thousand United State Dollars. USD (US$10.5 million) left in fixed / suspense account in one of the prime bank here in Abidjan, that he used my name as his only daughter for the next of Kin in depositing of the fund. He also explained to me that it was because of this wealth that he was poisoned by his business associates.

That I should seek for a foreign partner in a country of my choice where I will transfer this money and use it for investment purpose such as real estate management or hotel management , I am honourably seeking your assistance in the following ways:

(1) To provide a bank account into which this money would be transferred to .(2) To serve as a guardian of this fund since I am only 22years. (3) To make arrangement for me to come over to your country to further my education and to secure a resident permit in your country.

Moreover, I am willing to offer you 15% of the total sum as compensation for your effort/ input after the successful transfer of this fund into your nominated account overseas. Furthermore, you indicate your options towards assisting me as I believe that this transaction would be concluded within fourteen (14) days you signify interest to assist me.

Anticipating to hear from you soon.

Thanks and God bless.

Best regards,
Joyce Blaise.
Emailaddress: joyce.blaise@yahoo.ca

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It sounds fishy to me. To proof I'm right, I decided to surf the Internet over this lady's name and the location she came from. In Google, I type-in ["Joyce Blaise" "West Africa"].

Here is a snapshot of the search results:




I have verified this in a couple of websites, including:-

1. http://thescambaiter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23571
2. http://www.scamwarning.org/2007/11/20/assistance-needed-urgently/
3. http://www.scamomatic.com/


These scammers have come out with numerous variant of the email versions. Watch out for these versions:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: "linda aji" 
To: 
Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 12:43 PM
Subject: From Miss Linda.


From Miss Linda Aji
Ivory Coast West Africa

Sir/Madam,

I am miss linda Aji from Ivory Coast and I am contacting you because I need
your help in the management of a sum of money that my dead father left for
me before he died.This money is USD  7.5 million American Dollars and the
money is in a bank here in Abidjan the capital city.

My father was a very rich cocoa farmer and he was poisoned by his business
colleagues and now I want you to stand as my guidian and appointed
beneficiary and receive the money in your country since I am only 21 years
and without mother or father.

Please I will like you to reply to this email so that I will tell you all
the  information so that this money will be transferred to you so that you
will get me papers to travel to your country to continue my education there.

I am waiting for your urgent email.

Thanks.

Miss Linda Aji

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: "susan malley" 
To: <emailaddress>
Sent: Saturday, 04 June, 2005 21:27
Subject: proposal

Dearest Good

a thing to write you. I have a proposal for you, this however is not
mandatory nor will I in any manner compel you to honour against your
will. Your profile pushed me to send you this form of proposal. I am Miss
susan malley, 19 years old and the only daughter of my late parents Mr.
And Mrs. susan malley. My father was a highly reputable business magnet
(Cocoa Merchant) who operated in the capital of Ivory Coast Western
region of Africa.

It is sad to say that he passed away mysteriously in France during one
of his business trips abroad, on 12th February 2002. Though his sudden
death was rather suspected to have been master minded by an uncle of
his, who traveled with him to France, the Almighty God Knows Better. My
mother at the other hand, died when I was just 4 years old and ever since
then, my father has been the only person to have participated in my life.
He was a good father and our bound became very strong and special.
However, before his death, he called his secretary who accompanied him
to the hospital and told him that he has a sum of Eighteen Million United
State Dollars (US$18.000.000.00) left in one of the leading security
company abroad (Europe). He went ahead and issued a written instruction
to his lawyer whom he said is in possession of all of the necessary documents
related to this fund that was sealed and deposited with a trunk box.
I am just 19 years old years old and a university undergraduate and really
do not know what to do. This is because I have suffered a lot of set backs
as a result of incessant political crisis here in Ivory Coast. The death of my
father actually brought sorrow in my life, I have been constantly being
harassed by both his uncles and brothers who are in bid for his fortunes.
I am sending this proposal through my father's secretary who is presently
in Europe to seek for a reputable individual to help and invest this fund.
Again, I am in a sincere desire of your humble assistance in these regards.
Your suggestions and ideas will be highly appreciated as I surely will like
to invest abroad and into a profitable business venture. Furthermore, permit
me to ask these questions. 1. Can I completely trust that you will take me
as your daughter? 2. What percentage of the total amount will be good for
you if you do not wish to participate in my life but do wish to invest the
fund in a good business. 3. What kind of a business venture do you intend
to invest it in? and how profitable is it annually?.

Please consider and get back to me through my email below for further
details. Best regards,

MISS  susan malley.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things you should do upon receiving scam emails:

- Ignore the emails, don't responde to the emails from scammers.

- Or you can send an email to the scammer saying "A friend told me this is a scam. Do no contact me anymore". It should be sufficient to stop them from contacting you again, however they may attempt to explain why it is not a scam.

- Tell your friends and family about these scams so they are aware of them.

- Report your scammer emails online via The Scammomatic. All scammer email address and emails put into the scammomatic are added to a blacklist which can save others from being scammed.

When Computer Geeks Get Bored...

Eat Mushroom to Prevent Cancer

A report from Taiwan shows that Enoki Mushroom (Golden Mushroom) has successfully destroyed 95% of the cancer cells in human body.

A research done by Singapore University showns that eating Enoki Mushroom (Golden Mushroom) can destroy 95% of cancer cells in human body by boosting body immune system.

Professor Phan Hwai Chong if Yang Ming Research Centre in Taiwan told reporter that one of the ingredients in Enoki Mushroom is able to trigger the multiplication of our healthy "defensive" cells. By out-numbering the cancer cells, healthy cells help to eradicate cancer cells.

American scientists have since run tests on this mushroom extract with human blood, tests were done outside human body. Results show that mushroom extract is able to destroy cancer cells.

Enoki mushroom (Golden mushroom) is often taken with steam boat. Cooking time should be less than 3 minutes, or the healing property would greatly diminish.

Travel and Black Magic

I just received an email with the Subject: Thailand... Must Read!!

This email was telling about a true story of an traveler who has bought a souvenir that hold black magic that eventually sucked her life out.

This is the story (copied as it is from my email):


Subject: FW: Thailand..Must Read!!


TO ALL FREQUENT TRAVELLERS.....

Hi friends,

It is the year-end, which is one of the peak traveling periods for many
Singaporeans. This is a true account that I would like to share as a
cautionary tale. I have changed the names of people involved to protect
their identities. Although it takes place on an overseas vacation, the
warning applies equally whether abroad or at home.

Jessie was in her early thirties and like many of us loved to travel and
her last trip was to Taiwan . While visiting one of the tourist attractions
in Thailand located near a temple, she decided to get a souvenir for
herself. She walked along the shops with curious eyes. A well-dressed sales
man managed to catch her attention. He asked her what year she was born.

She answered politely. He further pursued to ask her the month she was
born. "June,"she replied. As she answered, there was a sparkle in the man's
eye. He quickly pulled out an item and put it in Jessie's hand and she
looked at it closely. It was a small-sculpted stone, but Jessie could not
make out what the Item was. The man, with a serious tone told her that this
small ornament was a very powerful item that could grant all her wishes, but
she was not to tell anybody, not even her closest friends, boyfriend or
parents that she had this ornament in her possession. He informed her to
bring this item wherever she went and not to allow anybody to touch it.
Jessie was thrilled and thought she had stumbled upon a great deal as the
item seemed very precious. She asked for the price and paid for the item.

Vacations like always were too short and she returned to Singapore . On
The day that she returned, she felt very exhausted as if the life was
Draining out of her. She thought that it was due to the traveling and
excitement and did not bother too much about it. She went to take a nap and
as she rested, she started to feel an ache in her stomach that grew into a
continuous sharp pain. By nightfall, the suffering was so intense that she
went hysterical.

She crawled to the altar in her home and started to hit her head against
the altar. Her parents were shocked with her actions. Her father held her
tightly, to prevent her injuring herself while her mother called for an
ambulance. Strangely enough, in the midst of all the pain and before she
left with the ambulance, Jessie insisted that she had to bring along her
handbag before leaving for the hospital. When she was sent to the hospital,
it was already dawn and she was sent for different tests and scans to
determine the cause of her pain. The sharp pain persisted and even got more
intense. Her Aunt Maggie heard the news that she was hospitalized and Came
to visit her. While Aunt Maggie was with her, Jessie thought about Letting
her employers know of her condition and hoped Aunt Maggie could contact them
on her behalf. She took out her handbag and pulled out a pen to write the
number on a piece of paper. As she pulled out the pen, the small ornament,
which Jessie had bought from Thailand , dropped on the floor. Aunt Maggie
wanted to pick it up but Jessie stopped her. She said if Aunt Maggie were to
touch it, she would have to have it cleansed. While Jessie was not looking,
Aunt Maggie quickly picked the ornament up and kept it. When Aunt Maggie was
out in the hallway, she scrutinized it. The ornament sent shivers down Her
spine and she was very uncomfortable with the item so she decided to talk to
Jessie's mother.

On the third day, the doctors informed Jessie's parents that they had
confirmed that Jessie suffered from stomach cancer that had reached the
terminal stage and they had to prepare for the worst. Jessie's parents were
not able to understand this sudden diagnosis, as Jessie had not had any
symptoms of stomach cancer. When Aunt Maggie went to the hospital and met
with Jessie's mother, Jessie's mother broke the news to Aunt Maggie. Aunt
Maggie was shocked and also shared her discovery of the ornament with
Jessie's mother. Jessie's mother also had an uneasy feeling when she saw the
ornament. She felt very lost and desperate about her daughter's situation.
Jessie's mother and Aunt Maggie both knew of a medium; Master Lim and it
struck both of them that he might shed some light as to the events.

Aunt Maggie quickly called to arrange to meet Master Lim. When they
visited Master Lim, they showed the ornament to Master Lim. At one glance,
he told them that Jessie's life had been swapped with that of another girl
who was probably suffering from stomach cancer and was dying. The ornament
was an object to hold black magic, which would suck the life out of Jessie.
Both Jessie's mother and Aunt Maggie queried whether there was anything that
could be done. He replied that it was too late as the black magic cast was
very powerful and the ornament had been discovered too late. The black Magic
was targeted with certain criteria: The victim had to be a girl who was born
in a specific year and month. The black magic would lose its power if Other
people apart from Jessie touched it. However, in Jessie's case the black
magic had already taken full effect and had become uncontrollable. Thus,
only direct family members were to be allowed to visit her and
even to send her off at her wake. The strange ornament was left at the
temple to be handled and disposed of appropriately.

Silently, and with great pain, Jessie left by the seventh day on her
Return from her vacation.

Here are the precautions to look out for:

1. Usually you would not be instructed to keep it a secret about
buying anything, unless magic is involved.

2. It is untrue that other people apart from the owner cannot
touch blessed items. People that you are comfortable with can
handle the blessed items. Of course, it is not a good idea to let
strangers or anybody who you are not comfortable with to touch
any of your closely held items.

3. It is quite common for people to ask what year you are born in
when you are selecting items to suit your animal sign. If it is only to
deal with Chinese animal signs, they do not need to ask for your birth
month. If your birth month is requested for, you can always ask which
theories they are following. For example, when selecting crystals and
minerals according to astrology, we will need to know what is the birth
month and day.


4. Do not buy closely held items or jewelry from non-creditable people,
shops or organizations.

5. Many people may have the misconception that black magic can only
be cast on them if their eight characters (birth year, month, day and time)
are known. Eight characters are not necessary to cast black magic on a
Specific person.

I shared this true account as a caution to all that it is important
to exercise care when buying items, especially closely held items. It is
important to know whom you are buying from, where you are buying from and
what you are buying. Do not take things too lightly; else there may be much
to lose.

FOREX - is it right for us ?

FOREX, the acronym for Foreign Exchange. My hubby has ventured into this since few months back. He has not withdrawn any earning yet from Forex, but so far he has managed to keep the very least of his capital sum.

I had a very bad news from my hubby yesterday that he has lost US$4500 in just 3 days.. What the hell is going on? Imagine how much would it be in Malaysia Ringgit... MYR15,000 in 3 days ?? I can't believe my ears when he told me this...

He has been overconfident with his instinct and waited for the market to favor his direction. This caused his positions being fallen too far from the market price. Yes, I mean positions here -- it's not typo error. He has been using 2 contracts for the trade. Oh My Goodness.

I wonder how could he be overconfident since he has yet making any good money out of Forex. What makes him think that his instinct is accurate -- I think even an Forex expert would ever trust his instinct in Forex Trading.

I kept asking myself last night, am I making a wrong decision to give the green light for him to venture into this 'business'. I started to feel that it's just another casino game in a way. When you lose, you wanted so bad to recoup. When you win, you wanted more and the greed comes in - and you start to become hopium -- always hope for more.

Now, the only thing that we can do is to keep calm and think straight. We don't want to create another problem here -- family quarrel, problem. He will still continue the Forex trading but using mini contract. I have suggested to him to take a break from Forex for just few days, take his mind off for a while to avoid emotion to set in, which will affect his judgement.

But he thinks he can manage and control himself and agrees to trade using demo account for temporary. I know how bad he feels, he can't say enough sorry to himself and to me, to the family. I feel the same too, but I do not know what to tell him to comfort him. Time... I believe both of us need more time to recover from this...

Pin Number Reversal

If you should ever be forced by a robber to withdraw money from an ATM machine, you can notify the police by entering your Pin number in reverse order. For example if your Pin number is 1234 then you would key-in 4321.

The ATM recognizes that your pin number is backwards from the ATM card you placed in the machine slot. The machine will still dispense the money you requested, but unknowingly to the robber is that, police will be immediately dispatched to help you.

This information was recently broadcasted on TV and it states that it is seldom used because people don't know it exists.

Farewell Lunch @ Paris

Just came back from a farewell lunch for one of my colleague at new Paris restaurant, located in Sec 17, Petaling Jaya.

It costs us about RM133 for 5 dishes, these includes a steamed Batin fish (quite a big size), stir fried baby kailan (a type of veggie), Thai-style fried chicken, YinYang taufu (steamed taufu with fish paste and salty fish), fried sotong (kinda like KFC-style).

There were 7 of us, which costs about RM20 per person. Quite worthy I would say, the taste is good and it is very appetizing especially the Thai-style fried chicken that served in some Thai-style sour-spicy sauce, even my Boss had a second helping of rice, which is very rare I would say. The steamed Batin fish is very fresh and meaty, hardly see any bones.. ha.. ha..but it's abit too expensive, RM60.

The least worthy dish I would say is the YinYang Taufu, which costs RM20 for 2 pieces of taufu bricks. It is a steamed taufu with fish paste above it and served with sauce that mixed with salty fish. This indeed is quite salty by itself, not really good taste I would say. It is even more expensive than the KFC-style Fried Sotong (baby sotong) that costs RM10 for quite a huge serving.

Thai-style Fried Chicken costs RM15, quite reasonable, while the Stir-Fried Baby Kailan costs RM9, it's reasonable too.

I would highly recommend this restaurant as the dishes are not bad overall, plus you can have unlimited helpings of rice...It opens daily but closed at 2.30pm for evening's preparation.

Sudden Crave for Fried Rice

Today I had a very satisfying fried rice for lunch.
It is a Thai-style TomYam fried rice, in a restaurant located at Sentosa, Sec 17, Petaling Jaya.

I have a sudden crave for fried rice this morning in the office, thinking of asking colleague to pack for me, they then invited me to join them for lunch.

This restaurant (forgot the name) located in Sentosa is very famous for their Thai-style fried rice. My colleagues have this Thai-style fried rice while I have the TomYam fried rice.

I have not tried their famous Thai-style fried rice before, but because I just love sour, hot and spicy food, so I ordered the TomYam fried rice.

It was good indeed with TomYam paste and fresh prawns, and some of the spice leaves. Taste yummy when served with the sambal chili.

The famous Thai-style fried rice is not spicy by itself, it is served with onions and porks stewed in sweet sauce. It looked tasty, and is suitable for those that can't take spicy food.

Rocky Balboa

“My father is a popular, highly successful boxer. I am constantly walking in his big shadow. So, people can’t see me and they don’t take me seriously. I can’t be successful because of this”

This is the belief of the son of Rocky Balboa. A young man in his twenties, he is not doing well in his career and blames his father for his failure.

But Rocky has this to say to his son :

You ain’t going to believe this. But you used to sit right here. I hold you up and say to your mother, this kid’s going to be the best kid in the world. This kid’s going to be somebody better than anybody I ever knew.

Then you grew up good and wonderful, it was great just watching you everyday. It was like a privilege. Then the time comes for you to be your own man and take on the world, and you did.

But somewhere along the line, you changed, you stopped being you. You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you’re no good. And when things got hard you start looking for something to blame – like the big shadow.

Let me tell you something you already knew.

The world, there ain’t no sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place. And I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is going to hit as hard as life.

But it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.

Now if you know what you are worth, then go out and get what you are worth. But you must be willing to take the hits and not pointing fingers and say you ain’t where you want to be because of him or her or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You are better than that.

I am always going to love you no matter what. No matter what happens. You are my son, you are my blood, you are the best thing in my life.

But until you start believing in yourself, you ain’t gonna have a life.

Most of us deserve this same lecture from Rocky Balboa. Many of us are like his son.
We tend to lay blame or justify our failures so that we don’t feel responsible for our own shortcomings.

Rocky is right in saying, “It ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.”

There is much we can learn from him.

This blog is dedicated to inspire and to motivate. I sincerely invite all visitors to post their comments and share their views. It can be a proverb, an inspirational script from a movie, a motivational quote from a book, or simply sharing an enlightening moment in their lives.

Let’s keep each other inspired and motivated.

Keeping up with this challenging and demanding world will then become less of a burden.

High Fever

I was down for illness since last Friday, a day after Deepavali. Both my daughters were sick too, having high fever.

It all started with my eldest daughter, Amanda. After she came back from her trip to zoo, organized by her kindergarten, she started to feel ill. My mother in law brought her to a nearby clinic, but the medicine given seems not right for her. Her fever didn't seem to subside. We brought her to see another doctor the following day, but her fever didn't seem to fully subside. It came back the moment it got better and this continued for the whole day on Deepavali. Amanda didn't manage to swallow any single foond for the day, she vomitted few times whenenever I gave her medicine. So, I didn't force her to take any food nor milk since she said she has no appetite.

I separated Amanda from my husband and younger daughter to avoid them from getting infected, I sleep with Amanda in another room -- this exposed me to the infection. I got high fever and next morning when I tried to wake up for work. I felt myself energy-less, i can't even get up by myself, my head was extremely heavy, and i was not able to stand for long, i felt dizzy. Husband brought me and Amanda to visit doctor again, yes a different doctor again. This time, the doctor prescribed some medicine to stop the vomitting and some antibiotic for Amanda, and for myself, he gave some mixed medicine for the fever / flu, cough syrup and antibiotic. Everyone of us got tired after seeing the doctor and no one of us has appetite for anything except hubby.

After reached home, hubby helped to clean up the kids, then 3 of us dozed off quickly after taken the medicine. i feel myself slept like coma till late evening, and i noticed Amanda was the same like me too. Olivia was a bit energetic, she woke up and watched movie 'The Spiderman 3'. Due to her over energetic, hubby decided to bring her out for a walk to prevent her from awaking both Amanda and myself. Who knows, after the walk, Olivia was infected by fever virus too. What a terrible and worst weekend for us!

Trip to Malacca

Oct 26, 2007 (Friday)

Today, is the last day of Amanda's year-end examination in her kindergarten. She has 2 subjects to cope with - Bahasa Melayu (Malay) and General Knowledge. After we have sent her to school, we headed to workshop for car servicing in an area nearby my daughter's school. The servicing took about 2 hours and cost us RM205.

We waited for Amanda to come back from school, fetch both Amanda and Olivia home to have a short nap before we heading to Malacca. We planned to leave home at 4pm, but who knows the packing dragged us more than an hour and finally we managed to leave at 4.45pm.

We drove on the PLUS highway, the journey was fun until we missed the exit point in Simpang Empat / Tampin. The map given by my sister was not clear, it didn't state which is the exit point to go to Alor Gajah. Simpang Empat / Tampin exit point would be the nearest exit point to go to Alor Gajah. It really made us mad to have to drive another 32km for the second exit in Ayer Keroh in order to reach Malacca town and find way back to Alor Gajah. My girls have been making noise for the long drive and they kept asking 'Are we there yet?'. This made us even more irritated.

Finally we reached the exit point in Ayer Keroh, which costs us about RM16.50 from Sg Besi Toll to Ayer Keroh Toll. From there, we spent another 30 minutes to locate the Groom's house. The journey in total took us about 3 hours to reach Groom's house in Bertam Perdana.

Updates

I have not updated this blog for very long time since my last post in June. Wanna share some of my family happenings here. I just attended my sister's wedding last weekend in Malacca, a historical place in Malaysia. Both my daughters were the flower girls for the wedding. They are very excited of the important responsibility given to them.

ICE on Your Mobile Phone Address Book

Isn't it true that we all carry our mobile phones with hundreds of names/numbers stored in its memory but yet nobody, other than ourselves, know which of these numbers belong to our near and dear ones?

Let us for a moment create a scenario wherein we are involved in an accident or had a heart attack and the people attending us get hold of our mobile phone but don't know which number to call to inform our family members. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency?

For this reason, we must have one or more telephone numbers stored under the name ICE (In case of Emergency) in our mobile phones.

Recently, the concept of "ICE" is catching up quickly. It is simple, an important method of contact during emergency situations.

As cell phones are carried by majority of the population, all you need to do is store the number of a contact person or person who should be contacted at during emergency as ICE" (meaning In Case of Emergency).

The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when they went to the scenes of accidents, there were always mobile phones with patients, but they didn't know which number to call.

He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognized name for this purpose.

Following a disaster in London , the East Anglican Ambulance Service has launched a national "In case of Emergency (ICE)" campaign.

In an emergency situation, Emergency Service personnel and hospital staff would then be able to quickly contact your next of kin, by simply dialing the number stored as "ICE".

It really could save your life, or put a loved one's mind at rest.

For more than one contact name simply enter ICE1, ICE2 and ICE3 etc.

A great idea that will make a difference!

Let's spread the concept of ICE by storing an ICE number in our mobile phones today!

Love & Marriage

A student asks a teacher, "What is love?" The teacher said, "in order to answer your question, go to the padi field and choose the biggest padi and come back. But the rule is: you can go through them only once and cannot turn back to pick."

The student went to the field, go thru first row, he saw one big padi, but he wonders....may be there is a bigger one later. Then he saw another bigger one... but may be there is a even bigger one waiting for him.

Later, when he finished more than half of the padi field, he start to realize that the padi is not as big as the previous one he saw, he know he has missed the biggest one, and he regretted !!!! So, he ended up went back to the teacher with empty hand.

The teacher told him, "...this is love... you keep looking for a better one, but when later you realize, you have already miss the person...."

"What is marriage then?" the student asked.

The teacher said, "in order to answer your question, go to the corn field and choose the biggest corn and come back. But the rule is: you can go through them only once and cannot turn back to pick."

The student went to the corn field, this time he is careful not to repeat the previous mistake, when he reach the middle of the field, he has picked one medium corn that he feel satisfy, and come back to the teacher.

The teacher told him, "this time you bring back a corn.... you look for one that is just nice, and you have faith and believe this is the best one you get.... this is marriage."

Women Rights

Something for us to know.....

I was talking with a lawyer friend of mine. We were discussing the law and women rights. She told me about this incident - a young girl was raped by a man posing as a plain clothes officer; he asked her to come to the police station when she and her male friend didn't have a driver`s license to show. He sent the boy off to get his license and asked the girl to accompany him to the police station. Took her instead to an isolated area where the horrendous crime was committed.

Infact, the law clearly states that between 6 pm and 6am , a woman has the right to REFUSE to go to the Police Station, even if an arrest warrant has been issued against her. It is a procedural issue that a woman can be arrested between 6pm and 6 am , ONLY if she is arrested by a woman officer and taken to an ALL WOMEN police station. And if she is arrested by a male officer, it has to be proven that a woman officer was on duty at the time of arrest.

It is good for us to know our rights. To what extent it comes of use remains to be seen in any situation. But as they say, knowledge is power.

Just thought I`d share this with you.

Is Population Control Really Necessary?

A growing population means increasing pressures on essential resources, tightening environmental constraints and widespread poverty. The widening gap between the rich and the poor is creating extreme inequalities in access to, and control of, resources, including knowledge and opportunity.

Population is the only non-depleting resource and a parameter of a country's development. In counties where the factors contributing to population growth far outweigh the factors for development, population is no longer a resource but a burden to society. A growing population is a serious impediment to development efforts.

A couple of centuries ago, large families were the fashion. Mothers wanted to bear as many children -- preferably sons – as possible. The reason was an economic one. Many hands were needed to work on the farms. The more hands one has, the more profitable the farm. There was also another reason for the desirability of large families. The infant mortality rate was rather high and also, not many people lived to ripe old ages as they do today. In many countries the maximum life expectancy was less than thirty years.

In present times, both the above reasons for large families have been removed. Modern medicine ensures, at least in the more developed countries, that the infant mortality rate is low. Fewer children die and most of them live to become adults. For the adults too the life expectancy is high. With better living conditions and health care, many men and women today live well past sixty years. All this simply implies that the population of the world keeps increasing rapidly whereas the resources keep decreasing all the time.

The incentives that are directly and indirectly relevant to parents wanting to have or not to have children are examined along with effective techniques for persuading parents to limit family size. It is essential to determine parent attitudes toward having too many children and to find practical ways of changing these attitudes in the direction of population control.

Scientists warn us repeatedly that there is a time of severe food shortage on the horizon. Food production is increasing very slowly compared to the rapid increase in population. It is feared that there will come a time when there may not be enough food for the survival of the masses.

The question may be asked if it would be possible to have more food production. Unfortunately, this releases another serious problem. To increase food production, farming land has to be increased. This means the destruction of precious forests. This is an extreme sacrifice as it causes terrible harm like the greenhouse effect and the El Nino affect, which is already creating a huge havoc with the world’s weather.

To prevent grave environmental problems, we have to stop destroying nature. If we do not create more food, then the market forces will cause food prices to rise – perhaps to really unrealistic heights. This would result in less food being available to more and more people. This will unleash another series of health problems. Countries which have food shortage problems will have to adopt all sorts of means to feed the people. This may include war and a return to the cave-dweller days of the survival of the fittest.

Surely all the problems must be prevented from ever rising. In any country, rapid population growth places a strain on the available resources. Clearly it would be almost impossible to solve them once they begin to make their effect felt. The most practical way of preventing the problems from ever rising seems to be population control. Hence population control is essential for the continued survival of the human race.

Is War Ever Justified?

To those of us who are horrified by war, it is easy to say at once that war is never justified and disagree totally with the question. However, a little thought will lead us to conclude that there are at least a few instances that a country is justified in going to war. In other words, war can be just under certain circumstances.

First of all, we see that countries are often forced to go to war to defend them. A defensive war certainly seems justified. Quite often in history we see examples of countries which are threatened or even attacked by more aggressive neighbours. In these instances it is certainly justified to go to war. In 1991, Kuwait was attacked by Iraq. This was clearly an act of aggression and it is impossible to believe that the Iraqis had any justifiable reason. The Kuwaitis were forced to defend themselves because of the total unprepared-ness of their armed forces they had to depend on the help of other countries. However, a more recent example is one where the US attacked Iraq, on the sole bases that the US ‘presumed’ that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. After completely ruining the country and its regime, moreover throwing the Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussain behind bars was an unjustifiable war. Till this day, the weapons of mass destruction, the reason for war, have yet to be found.

Though it is easy to agree that self defence is a justification for war, it is difficult to define at which stage a country should begin to defend itself. An example is again the Iraq-Kuwait war. Kuwait did little to defend itself even when war seemed imminent. Would it have been justified in attacking first if it was sure that it was going to be attacked? In such a case since Iraq had not attacked first, if Kuwait attacked would it not have been the aggressor? Even though Kuwait would have fought for survival, would its attack have been justified? Here it is difficult to decide. We are forced to the conclusion that a country is justified in defending itself when an attack is imminent even if the attack has not taken place.

History records other justifications for countries to go to war. In the Indo-Pak subcontinent history, India went to war to save the Bangladeshi’s from genocide when Pakistan attacked and about systematically annihilating the population. In this instance, the world supported India’s actions. Clearly this is just a war. From this we can conclude that a country is justified in attacking another in order to the people from a third country from being massacred. But when talking about defending your country against an imminent attack by another, then a fairly recent example, where the US bombed Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, was that a justifiable war? Bombarding a barren land in search of one terrorist (Osama Bin Laden) and eradicating their regime no matter who tyrannical it was to its people? Was that justified?

Yet another reason to consider would be in the event of a famine or other natural disasters. Assume a situation when a country faces severe famine or drought whereas a neighbouring country has abundance. In such an instance the country faced with the disaster would be justified in attacking and seizing for itself some of the abundance of its neighbour. It would make no sense for a population to die out when it can save itself. In such an instance what would not be justified is if the country attacks a country which has barely enough for its own population.

Hence we see that even though most of us abhor war, there are situations when war is justified as well as unjustified, purely depending on the circumstances.

Happiness

Do you want to experience again a natural spring of happiness that many of us fail to notice in this modern hectic world? It’s available to all of us, twenty-four hours a day. It’s free. It’s as close as your own backyard. And best of all, it works.

Unfortunately this source of happiness is so obvious that many of us take it for granted. Many of you interpret this article will discharge the idea as too simple, and will just continue on with your search for happiness elsewhere. Wrong! Happiness is simple.

Take action. You’ve got nothing to lose Okay, so what is this source of happiness? Nature! That’s right, the natural environment. It’s here right now for your own enjoyment. And personally, I find it to be one of the most effective ways to change your focus away from yourself and your problems, and direct it out to the world around you.

Depressed people tend to hang around about the house arguments, distressing or worrying about their problems. Happy people will get out and enjoy life. So let’s imagine for a moment that we’re happy, and make a strong-minded effort to get back to nature. Happiness is waiting for us out there.

Rediscover your own backyard, or your front porch. Sit and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of nature. Watch the birds and insects busily go about their lives. Watch the trees lean in the breeze. Pack a picnic lunch and head off by yourself or with some friends to a park with a nice sight. Take a trip to the mountains where you could sit for a lifetime and never get sick of the view. Drive in your car with the windows down, and enjoy the landscape.

It doesn’t matter where you live. Nature is there right alongside you. And beauty can be found everywhere. Even in the inner city. Find the local park areas and make use of them. Or sit in some garden and see the birds chirping and singing or flying care-freely and enjoying. Or watch the clouds pass over. Anywhere you can find nature, in any form; you’ve found a potential source of happiness.

The key is where you focus your thoughts. Don’t sit on the beach worrying about your financial problems or the latest drama with your friends. Whatever problem your mind is focused on, just turn it off for a short while. Take your mental focus off yourself and direct it to your natural surroundings. Watch the waves roll in. Listen to the sounds of the waves crashing on the sand. Watch and listen to the children playing in the water. Feel the cool sea breeze on your skin. Take your attention away from yourself, and focus it on your natural surroundings. Look at the world with love and gratitude. Say “thank you” to the life that exists all around you. It’s impossible to be depressed while you’re expressing true love. It’s impossible to be sad while you’re expressing true gratitude. So get out and enjoy the nature. And be happy. You will love to live like this to enjoy and inhale the beauty of nature again and again.

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CHILD DOESN’T WANT TO SLEEP AFTERNOONS

This might happen to you, no only on occasions, but almost daily. In the morning, you and your little one are best friends, you are playing together and you have a wonderful collaboration. After lunch, something is starting to happen – the child becomes anxious, maybe he’s crying, he says he still has something to eat when the plate is empty and so on… All these are only the clues for your nightmare: he won’t sleep this afternoon either!

The sleep after lunch represents for most adults an inaccessible luxury, even if it is highly indicated for a better digestion and to avoid over-soliciting the organism. This is exactly why you must accustom your child to this healthy habit, no matter how much he fights it. A first advice would be to insist: don’t give up on his pleadings at least until the afternoon sleep is part of his daily routine.

One way to do it is to sit down on the bed next to your child and to read him a story. His organism will surely react and he will soon fall asleep. Don’t forget to place next to him his teddy bear or doll, telling him that the toy has to sleep too.

The method can be reversed: tell him, with a serious tone, that it is essential for the toy to sleep and who can take better care of it that the child himself. Put him to bed with the toy and leave the room. It is highly probable that within the next ten minutes you will find him sleeping.

It is recommended that you will come back from time to time and see if he is indeed sleeping. If he’s playing and totally forgot he has to sleep then stay with him, cheer him up and talk to him on a low tone and it will work just like a lullaby.

Another strategy is to promise the child you will take him out in the park to play with other children and for that he needs to be rested. This will make him happy and he will go to sleep easier. The only trick is to actually go with him to the park after he wakes up. If you don’t then he will lose his trust in you and you will have more problems with him, many more than just the afternoon sleep.

Don’t use it as a blackmail though – the child needs to understand and to learn that afternoon naps are not a way to get what he wants and not a punishment either, he needs to understand them as a healthy habit necessary for his health.

If possible try to get him to sleep every day at the same hour because this way his organism will react and after a few weeks the little one will get sleepy right after lunch. That is going to be a relief from all the previous problems!

MP3

Invented in 1991, MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) Layer 3 – file type better known under the name of mp3 – remarked itself in less than 10 months from the launch as the most performing audio format on the web. And it is no wonder: the sound is excellent, Downloads are fats, and the variety of the products available in this format is overwhelming. The huge competition in the online audio war between Real Audio and Shock Wave produced by Macromedia has been step over at once by the new comer.

Mp3 is digital form of compression audio streams that came to life after 15 years of acoustic research. Mp3 can make an audio file up to 12 times smaller than the original file.
Being so small the mp3file still has all the perceptible audio details, giving up only those that the human ear cannot hear.

According to the declaration of engineers from the Fraunhoffer Institute, a pioneer company in the mp3 technology, this system explores the properties of the human ear, trying to maintain the original sound quality, in the boundaries of what is possible. Although it is not as clear as an audio CD, an mp3 still is an enormous realization when it comes to sound quality for such a big compression rate.

Another huge advantage the mp3 format represents is the stocking capacity. Five minutes of music on a CD take up about 40 MB, but if they were in mp3 format they could take only 3, 5 MB.

For some, the Mp3s are a dream come true, for others the worst nightmare. In the confusion caused by technological revolution, we still cannot afford not to know what is legal and what is not. Recording companies have suffered great losses because of this format.

It is very simple to create and distribute mp3s. But this does not mean you have to give them to others unless you have the right to do that. It is legal to make mp3s out of an audio CD you bought, but it is illegal to give someone copies of those mp3s.

Virtually In Love

In the past, lovers used to send each other love letters that, despite obstacles and distance, kept their relationship vivant. This way, the long waiting period till they could see each other again seemed bearable.

Today, the internet became a new messenger for the lonely ones, the ones searching for a relationship or persons that want to communicate with off-shares friends or lovers and family.
Aside words, in a face to face encounter partners exchange gestures, looks, caresses, inviting each other to go on. The look in her eyes can encourage you; his smile can show you how happy he is to be in your company.

Distance relationships don’t give you the advantage of seeing the gestures and reactions of the other person. You are never quite certain that your message will be appreciated. There are many factors that influent the chances to receive an answer that can live up to expectations. Despite this reality, you must use wisely the minimum of control you hold.

When sending that email, you must create an adequate atmosphere by choosing an appealing subject for your email. Write something like “For your eyes only” or “To read when you need me”.

You must always state clearly your desires and be much more forward online than in real life. If you are not, the other person might think you have forgotten everything you had.

Creating a romantic atmosphere over the internet can be tricky, but if you both want it, it can be done. All you have to do is help each other. If you are trying to understand the other person’s reaction, just test them. Send emails that use a personal tone, full of big words and somehow try to set them in an imaginary romantic and ideal world. Some world you can now refer to as your world, a world that might appeal to your interlocutor.

If you have an email describing events from your friends life, pay attention to them. Try to show you really read the email by referring to each and every moment described in a different sentence. Have opinions and give advice.

When romantically corresponding, you must rise above your real experiences. If In real life you are shy, here you are not allowed to. Just relax and create a romantic atmosphere in your room and the right words will appear themselves.

The Key of Talking to Your Children

Sometimes they are incredibly stubborn. But other times they pay attention and are remarkably receptive. No matter how they are, their parents love them and all they want is to provide their children with everything they might need and to make them feel protected at all times. Sometimes, as a parent you seem to be in need of a “dictionary” that can give you the best solution in the relation between you and your son or daughter. Because fighting and yelling won’t solve a thing you must find out…

… Which are the five things you have to say to you child?

1. “Please make up your mind!”
If you use this way of approach when you ask your child to do something – or not to do something anymore – you say loud and clear what you mean and you are showing the child that he or she is responsible for his or hers actions. This way of getting into a conversation has the gift of teaching the little one what cause and effect mean and, not lastly it doesn’t make you “the bad person”.

2. “I love you but I don’t like the way you are acting.”
If you need to teach him a think or two about discipline, you have to make him understand the difference between the deeds done and the person that does them.Saying that you love him is very important, because this way he realizes the main purpose of the conversation is not to punish him, but to show him what is right to do and how he should behave.

3. ”I need you to help me solve this situation.”
If the little one has found an activity that bothers you, like mumbling during dinner or playing with the food, express yourself clearly as if you are the one that has a problem.

4.”What did you really mean by that?”
When kids fight and get nervous, it is possible for them to say things like “I hate you”. but that doesn’t have to scare you because these are the first words that come to mind when they are engaged in a conflict with their friends. But you can help them get over it and make them think of what was it that made them so nervous and angry.

5.”People are different and they have different needs.”
When you hear you child say for the thousandth time “But this is not fair”, you have to make them understand that the reason that makes people be treated differently is the fact they have different needs.

The First Moments of Your Baby's Life

During pregnancy you sit for hours and imagine how your baby is going to look like and how will he or she feel the first time you are going to hold him. You wonder how birth for him is. How a normal baby looks, how will he react in is first hours of life. Let’s answer some of these questions.

1. What does birth mean for the baby?
Imagine you are in a place in total security, warmth and without pain or any discomfort at all and suddenly from there you seem to get pushed and thrown into a world of intense sensations: light, cold, smells, noises. Your back is for the first time straight and your lungs fell funny and burn a little. And now imagine that you are going back to that universe of warmth; you feel the mother’s skin and that feeling of safety when in her arms. in an ideal world the baby has just a few moments of the hush reality before he is returned to his mother’s arms.

2. How is the baby going to look like?
His head might seem a little too big. He might have a pink or darken color or his hands and feet might be a little blue. All this is normal and the stains and strange colors will disappear in 24-48 hours.

3. What does the baby feel in his first hours?
The first hour from the life of your baby is critical. The transaction to the real life is hard and he has to adjust. If you need to know more, ask the doctor and the nurse about what they are doing to him and their results. You are allowed to ask and receive answers, after all it is your baby.

4. When is the right time to get close to the baby?
The baby can make contact with the mother just after the few moments in which he is going to cry. If the room is not too bright, he will open his eyes and concentrate on his mother’s face.

5. Is it normal for a baby to want to go the sleep right after birth?
Birth is an exhausting experience and after an hour passes the mother and the baby must be left to sleep for a couple of hours. Also it is not unusual for the baby to sleep 4-8 hours more; maybe he will awake from time to time to get some food.

Success Seeker

It is a sad aspect of live but not everyone can be successful. In the world we live in there are winners and losers. Most people want to be in the group of winners but unfortunately many remain where they stand. As you well know, being successful means to stand above the others around you or to know more that the one sitting next to you does.
You should understand how to have more success than your colleague and to work for success. Success doesn’t come free or cheap, you have to pay for it. The price is not monetary but it is expressed in manners of time and effort, these being precious details that you can’t receive back once you gave them away. Success is hard. Generally speaking to be successful you have to work hard, be educated and have a little bit of luck. Often you have to try many times until you truly reach success.
Not being successful is simple: you make all the wrong choices, you work without ethics, the lack of responsibility and of education is almost everything. Although it is not obvious the lack of success is also a choice, but a choice that can be gained on the first try.

Here is some practical advice on how to be successful:
- Build up a purpose in life, create a plan and go on living by it.
- Alter your behavior and learn good manners.
- Always read, always learn and always communicate.
- Think and act fast when faced with an opportunity. If you see what you really want don’t
let any chances pass you by. This one might just be the last you will get.
- Give up bad habits and keep the good ones: eat well and regularly, get enough sleep, go to
a gym or just go jogging.
- Give up watching so much television, or playing games.
- Try to work more in the shortest possible period of time.
- Keep your sense of humor but don’t become rude.
- Cherish everything you have and get.Find out more, be responsible, learn about control
and always stay informed.

Finding The Right Partner

Unsure of what the future brings us, young and full of hopes and dreams, we step into the difficult life of dating and relationships without any experience. And then, based only on what we feel, we think the right partner is the person that gives us the biggest thrill, the one that first makes us feel an impossible to fight attraction.

So our first experiences of love are physical, and they can’t always be the right choices. Among lots of sad love stories and many more disappointments one can find the right one that makes them complete and safe.

Maybe the word safe turns many hearts away, it may seem wrong to romantic persons, but that is the key that unlock the door to a perfect partner and a perfect relationship.

So, to find the right one we have to look deep inside ourselves and see what our most intimate desires are. We have to know ourselves at the highest level to discover what exactly we expect from others. Once we did that, then we are ready to explore, search the world for the one and if we’re lucky we’ll find our happiness. The first criterion one must rely on is the heart, of course, because where everything is perfect but there’s no love, which is not a relationship, that’s a friendship. So find someone you love and start a relationship. Then, after the first weeks when everything is perfect no matter what, the blindness of love will begin to disappear and you be able to see everything that makes your partner what he/she is: all the qualities and all the defects. Putting everything in balance is the key. Here’s where the second criteria comes forward, a criteria that must be based on reason: here you must think hard and see if you can live forever maybe with the one you love. Most of the times, when nothing is wrong apparently, people go on and on with meaningless relationships that become a habit more that a love. You must, above everything, never do that mistake cause if you do you’ll see the truth too late, when many disappointments changed you and made you more bitter in love.

In conclusion, finding the right partner is easy for everyone that knows hoe to use his/hers hearts and mind as one. If we suffer a little when we give up on a love that makes us sad and angry, we’ll be plentifully rewarded when we’ll find out we did a right choice and that choice was the one that allowed us to meet and keep the right one next to us.

PLANTS MAKE US HAPPIER

If we fill our time taking care of plants we can get rid of stress, it is a scientifically proved thing. Taking care of our green friends (the ones with leaves not Martians!) we will discover new hidden sides of our personality and will get to know better how to love and care for others, firstly because a plant that we won’t care for will die for sure.

Accepting a plant we are assuming a new responsibility, we are adopting a breathing being. This way, we learn just what it means to pay attention to those around you.

We have to concentrate over needs that are exterior to our ego. We become aware of the needs of another being: we know how much water the plant needs, how much light it gets, the intervals it needs to receive water again, and slowly we will transfer these cares and abilities in our social relations. We become more and more aware of others. Visual contact with a beautiful plant makes us realize our own beauty.

Studies show more and more that taking care of plants can be the most efficient method to improve the physical and emotional general condition. They have a serene effect, they can reduce stress and relax muscles and therefore improve the mood people taking care of them are in.

Different studies have demonstrated that the existence of plants reduce mental exhaustion. When we are overwhelmed with work, we just have to look up for a couple of minutes to a plant and we’ll instantly feel more relaxed. In conclusion, plants fascinate and attract people, they break boredom and monotony generated by forced attention. The oxygen generated by plants creates a feeling of mental agility.

Some big plants placed on the right spot will help us insolate ourselves from annoying surrounding noises. The technique is the same as the one of hanging paintings in an empty room to minimize the echo effects. The thick leaves will absorb a part of the noises, including the sound of the phone, Xerox, printer or coffee maker, making these sounds a little bit friendlier.

PATIENCE IS LEARNT OVER TIME

Being a parent is most definitely one of the most important patience tests. They say patience is a virtue, it is true – but this comment makes you think patience is a quality that only a few chosen ones have. In fact, patience is learnt over time even if some parents don’t do well on this chapter at first. But, with a little effort, any parent can learn to be patient and to amuse himself over some situations that not so long ago annoyed him.

Firstly, you have to learn to have patience with yourself. Do not blame yourself for everything and show tolerance – without falling into the trap of self-content. Happily for children, adults are mature persons and know, most of the times, to keep their nerves under control. Don’t raise your voice and impose your wills with a calm but firm tone, no matter the problem.

Generally, try not to think about tomorrow and don’t let yourself become overwhelmed with perspective problems. Focus only on immediate problems, because if you do otherwise you will only worry a lot more and you will get upset easier.

A lower stress level will definitely inflict more patience on your side. Also, try to explain the child, calmly, what is it you are expecting of him and the ways he can rise up to your expectations. Restrain from blaming him. And if we already are on the subject of expectations, it is essential not to ask of him more than he can give you, based on his age.

Children sometimes seem to try on purpose to test the limits of their parents’ patience. If you fell this is what your little one does, ask yourself what might push him to this. Maybe he is trying to cover some frustration, maybe he wants revenge for a moment when you were unfair or maybe he feels neglected and he’s only trying to get your attention.

Maybe it would be best if you look at the problem from his point of view for a change: if he won’t learn to be himself a patient person, then he probably won’t try to help you anyhow on this.
To make your child become a patient person you can:

- Play with him interactive games – this will teach him to wait until his turn comes.

- Read to him thick books and long stories, leaving to follow-up for the next evening. Do not give in to his pleads to find out the ending in the same evening.

- Teach him to plant a tree or to take care of a flower – then he will learn to be patient until he sees the results of his work.

If he wants a bike, give money, a little a time, and tell him to save them for that bike. Of course you will be the one that will give him the present, but your child will learn to have patience and, at the same time, the value of money.

HOW TO STAY CLOSE TO FAMILY AND HAVE YOUR CAREER TOO

Well, often when running after two rabbits we’ll end up loosing both of them. But no, that saying is not always true and it does not apply here. Usually people find it confusing when they realize that in order to have a family they have to give up their career dreams, or in some cases even their jobs. Actually it’s all about priorities and self control.

If ever confronted with this problem, and no other advice works, try following these stages and maybe you will find the answers you need.

1. Decide if you are ready to have a family.
This is very important. You must take in consideration all aspects, family life means: children, spending time together, support.
If you don’t feel ready and still take this step, your family will end up neglected for sure and you shouldn’t try to follow the next steps unless you are ready.

2. Assuming you have a job, make a work plan and try to share work problems at home.
You might find it unbelievable, but your family can help with your work. They love you and even though they are not specialists in your work area, they will do their best to give the best possible advice.

3. To have a career you have to work harder. Try getting some work home.
When waiting that promotion, you will have lots of unplanned work to do. If you stay and finish it all at the office, your family will barely see you. Try and take home with you what can be taken and at least they will be happy knowing you are next to them, even if you are busy.

4. Keeping a warm atmosphere at home will ease your job.
Do not fight with your family when you come home stressed from work and also do not keep work problems secret from your family. If when you get up in the morning you will be encouraged and leave home contentedly, your job will be a lot easier.

5. When getting a promotion, discuss it at home.Even if it means more work, your family will understand if they are asked first. They don’t want to get in the way of your career and desires, they just want to see you and talk to you every day if possible. But they will let you go work as much as you need and where you need to if you make taking the better job their decision.

HOW TO SAY NO

Sometimes in life we stumbled across situations in which we should’ve said no, but because of various reasons such as being shy, ashamed or afraid we cannot firmly refuse and later we regret our weakness.

No matter what the circumstances, how can we say no without having to hurt the other person’s feelings? Although it is possible not to succeed, we can at least try to ease the pain for the person involved. Any answer that sounds like: “No, I won’t give you what you want” means a great disappointment and a feeling of failure for the one that came to you with the proposal. Remember that the idea of not getting what they want is hard for everyone.

If in your mind and heart you can foresee the possibility to accept a proposition, choose carefully the answer. Under no circumstances use lines like:” What do you mean? Me and You? Are you out of your mind?” Think a little bit and you will realize that the person you are about to hurt so rudely made you a compliment by waiting your company or your help. Even if not interested, you should answer in such a manner that won’t make him or her regret taking the risk to ask.

Some help might be the following list of advice combined with your personal experience.
Think hard before giving an answer. Ask yourself if there might be any circumstances that could make you take that proposition. Express yourself as clearly and friendly as possible. Use sentences as: “If only you didn’t live that far…” or “The thing is I’m not feeling well now”.

Use “I feel” instead of “You make me feel”. There is no need for the other party to feel guilty. Try and entertain a positive conversation. Show and tell what you like about him or her.
If you just know the other isn’t for you, don’t give desert hope. You have to refuse firmly, but elegantly.

If you are tempted to accept but still have doubts then you can give some hope and the next step will have to be yours.

Any situations that become a threat and the person is too pushy and makes you feel uncomfortable is a situation that requires a drastic approach. Then forget about manners and stop being polite, act firmly and set boundaries.

Many of us encounter difficulty whenever we have to say no. If you are in this situation, practice and learn about this because it is better to refuse than to regret later.

FOOD FOR SUCCESS

From now on you would be glad to know there is a way to improve your job performances and help you along your journey to achieve professional success. A day of your life should be divided in stages that can assure you the needed aliments for great professional performances. It doesn’t matter if you work form 9 AM to 5 PM or if you work all night.

Long run persons
If you are a “long run person”, you are on your feet the entire day so the amount of physic effort you are making is great. Your body needs energy from morning till evening. You must keep the sugar level stable with the help of complex hydro-carbonates. You will be like a little ant if you start your day with cereals and milk, you eat for lunch soup and vegetables with cheese and in the evening you can save yourself some lasagna and salad.

Night stars
If you are a “night star” your work hours keep until the first morning hours. You need food for feeling ok and happy, combating depression that can often occur during nights. Vitamin B1 is the one that will keep you smiling all night. Your day should start out with a breakfast of bread and honey and the lunch should consist of pasta and vegetables. Yu can end your day with a dinner with chicken barbecue and salad.

Office angel
If you are an “office angel” then you are performing intense mental activities and a low physical effort. Your body needs “intelligent” food, that would give energy to the brain and nerves, that means aliments rich in vitamins B and C. for breakfasts you can eat bananas and yogurt, at lunch scrambled eggs and toasted bread and for dinner potatoes, fish and vegetables. No matter what your job is, you should have always enough needed energy to perform it. it well, you won’t get fat, but you have to eat as much as you need in order not to feel hungry while at work. That will clearly affect your performances.

EVERYONE GIVES ADVICE TO THE NEW MOM

This probably happens to the majority of the women that recently became mothers for the first time: they feel as if they really know nothing about taking care of the baby, feeding him, what to do when he doesn’t seem to stop crying, how to dress the little one. Of course, immediately older relatives or friends that have children appear and everyone is competing to give you the best advice. And the amount of advice is huge but many of the indications contradict themselves.

Actually, as time passes, you start feeling like you are in some kind of rollercoaster and don’t know who you should listen to first…it seems that all of your friends have nothing better to do than give you advice. Even the mommies from the park, that you really don’t know, are now giving you advice and sharing their opinions regarding your baby: he looks too thin or too fat for his age, he is too quiet or too noisy, and how you should feed him, as if you didn’t already know that.

The truth is, that no matter how many books have been written to better explain this, being a parent is a science forever growing and changing, sometimes in a trembling way. What was good two or three years ago, today is outdated and not recommended, like placing your baby on his belly when you get him ready for sleep or giving him solid food before he turns four month old. And if in your family there hasn’t been a baby for a long time, you should expect such out-dated advice. You must try not to loose your patience because they mean well and they can’t know what the latest discoveries in this area are.

It is true that sometimes this can get very annoying. They will all say “I’ve raised a child already, you haven’t!”, but again, try not to lose your patience. In the mean time, you must claim your point of view and always stay in touch with your pediatrician – that is the best you can do for the little one. Because your family members care about the baby’s health they will be flexible and won’t try to impose at any costs.

The only problem that should really matter to you should be the following: because you are anyway lost and confused and why not, overwhelmed by the new responsibilities, there is the risk that this advice you are getting to make you wonder whether you are a good mother or not.

But, once you gave birth, the maternal instinct appears, it is actually there even when you are pregnant. No matter what everyone else says, even if you are not an expert when it comes to babies, you are however an expert in everything relater to your baby! You know and feel best what he wants and needs. Trust your instincts – you are probably doing much better that you know.

CELL PHONES

The amazing technology cell phones have these days is surprisingly growing and developing.

Cell phones started out as an idea for a mobile phone that can be used from a car, within a given range. This was happening back in 1947. Since then, their purpose was achieved and greatly exceeded.

The mane comes from the word cellular combined with the normally used word, phone. Cellular because their whole technology is based on cells of signal. Each cell has as a centre a transmitter that assures the mobility and the great range, almost worldwide, of mobile phones. These transmitters are placed in such a way so that they can form a network with absolutely no uncovered spaces. Not all portions have been covered, but the civilized and populated locations all have mobile phone operators and coverage.

Nowadays, mobile phones try to include as many technological areas as possible. There is no cell phone out there that is only a cell phone. From watching TV to playing games, taking pictures and making movies, from real music to color display, they have it all. Some phones even have Windows from mobile on them, just like PCs. Others can actually compete with game consoles like Nintendo because they are kind of a miniature game console themselves.

The extreme competition out there makes developers want to achieve more and more with their phones. Japan has always been a pioneer in the cell phone industry, they had TV and camera phones long before they appeared in America and Europe. Japanese manufactures and worldwide producers try every day to come up with new things for a cell phone, following a fixed goal: the perfect phone that can stand for all multimedia and communication devices out here, a phone that combines everything from communication to utility and work.

So, in the near future the cell phone might offer us a great surprise. How knows, they may try and develop some kind of holographic graphics. No matter what the next step is, the industry is certainly improving every minute, even as we speak and cell phones have a bright future ahead of them.

Avoid Tossing and Turning

Tossing and turning is an often experienced phenomenon for most of us. There are nights when we are just not comfortable on the bed and keep tossing and turning all over, all through the night. What bothers us?

Tossing and turning is not a feeling of discomfort, it is actually an offshoot of our mental equilibrium that is not relaxed. Irrespective of our mind wanting us to relax, our bodies want to find a more comfortable spot on the bed, a result of misinterpretation. Relaxation has to come from within you and should be a result of your thought process.

Lying in a hammock on a hot summer day, on a Hawaiian beach would sound very relaxing. If you keep thinking about millions invested on the stock market that could take a beating, if and when it crashes, the hammock will not work wonders in relaxing you.

When you feel the urge to toss and turn on the bed, give it time, wait. It will go away faster than it came. Lie there and think about focusing your mind elsewhere more relaxing than where it was and the urge to toss and turn will be out of your system in about 15 seconds. The best part of this exercise is that you will realize that you need to relax and not try finding a comfortable place on bed.

If you start tossing and turning it becomes a never ending process for the night and will not stop till the morning.

At times when you feel that the urge to toss or turn is very high and you have to move, try it the following way:

1. Move very slowly, as though you are just getting up from sleep in the morning.
2. While moving try to smile at yourself and take a deep breath.

Tossing and turning keeps us awake because we tend to do it quickly and impulsively, the more quickly we do it, the more agitated we get. Try it in the way said above, you will feel the difference and probably get out of the habit in no time.

Successful Leader

There are certain questions like:
Who are leaders? What are the requirements to become a leader? Are the leadership qualities inherent? How a leader does differ from a normal man? What are the actual leadership qualities?

The answers to these questions in a layman language can be given as a leader is one who can lead others, who can control the behavior of others and who can manage others to perform in the desired way. Leadership is not limited to position, experience, training, title or authority. After studying the biography of hundreds of historical and contemporary leaders it can be concluded that up to some extent leadership qualities are inherent but good leaders are created or made and they are not born because these inherent qualities need to be polished and mold through experiences and are made feel within an individual by giving him some authority. But this also does not mean that if a person does not possess those inherent qualities he can not become a leader. The fact is that a person can become leader if he has strong will to become a successful leader and on his way he constantly develops himself through a process of self analysis, training and then experience.

Now how does a person can become a successful and an effective leader?
It is a simple five step process. This simple five step process can make you a successful leader. These are as:

1. A magnificent vision: A leader can not exist without a vision. The vision is always in the mind of a leader. The vision only can take a leader to perform great action. He should have a clear view of his aim of life that he wanted to achieve in his life.
2. 
   Leader should know his strengths and weaknesses: A wise and right leader is one who has a clear knowledge of his strengths and weaknesses. Without self analysis he will not be able to take right actions in the situations. Like for a leader it is required that he take advantage of his strengths and give a proper defeat to his opponents and he should also avoid the areas of his weaknesses and prefers to hire others for those kinds of jobs.
3. High targets: A good leader is one who has high targets and makes consistent efforts to achieve those targets. With body he gets tired but by mind he is never tired and his mind is always striving to achieve better. Growth is his very first objective.
4. Right choice for selection of right man for right work: A good man is one who has capabilities enough to select the right person for the right job. He should be able to differentiate between the groups of candidates for allotment of work. A leader can only get required support from his group of members only when he has made right decision to select his group members.
5. Commitment Bounded: A good leader is one who is commitment bounded. He always fulfills his promises. He never let his goodwill go down and always work to strive for perfection and to achieve goals for the satisfaction of others and also takes care for the rights and interests of his group members.

Love

Love is a type of eternal bond in which one tries to bring joy for other at the sacrifice of his own happiness. Love lights the heart of people and stops violence. Love can kill all the miseries of life like pain and sorrow. Love brings peace and happiness in life. Love brings desire to live life. Love is not only between husband and wife but it is the relationship between two individuals who have consideration for each other it can be between father and child, mother and her son, brother and sister, between friends or may be between a man and his pet dog.

Example: Husband loves his wife, mother loves her child, businessman loves their business and saint loves god. Love is the gift that you can give your dear ones. Love is like a precious pearl and the people who understand the meaning of love will never let it fell down. Love is sign for happiness and it can bring pleasure in life. Love is sweeter than sugar, higher than sky and brighter than sun. A person who has not loved anyone is incomplete in himself. If you have never loved anyone, if your life is full of sorrow only love is a weapon by which you can kill all your miseries and bring happiness for yourself and to others also. You can kill the enmity of your enemies just by saying few words of love. You can kill the quarrel just by love.

The life of love never comes to end. Love never dies. The beginning of love can not be traced in history. It is believed that the existence of love is longer than existence of human being. When a young man expresses his love towards his beloved he may do it by words like I love the way you think, the way you perceive things, the way you caress your dear ones, the way you present yourselves, the way you behave with strangers. This means that if you love a person there may be various reasons for your love.

These could be:

• You may love a person because of his or her qualities like everyone loves great personalities Example: Everyone loved Mahatma Abraham Lincoln because he was a great personality.
• You may love a person because of the relationship that he or she may have with you like father loves his child because of the relationship.
• You love others and caress for them because of your inherent qualities. Example: Abraham Lincoln loved everyone because of his qualities.

ADWARE AND SPYWARE

Adware is any software application software which makes banners appear the whole time it is in function. Also, the adware program can install components that will transmit information about the user and its behavior and this work on his PC. Unlike spyware programs, the user is asked when the program is being installed. Actually, an adware application is the application that, along with its basic functionality, has a different one, the one that makes it show commercials once in a while, downloaded periodically from certain internet servers.

Spyware is a program, usually downloaded from the internet, which sends information about the user without him knowing it, every time he connects to the internet. Usually, the packages sent contain marketing information and not confidential information, although some programs can do that too.

Even if some applications are both adware and spyware, this is not a generally true situation. Most of the times spyware applications have installed themselves and they are working without the user knowing it, opposing the adware applications that cannot be installed without the consent of the user.

For a long time quality and free software was installed and used for free but once the complexity of the programs became greater their costs have risen till the point the developers just had to find out methods to diminuate them. One of the easiest ways was delivering along with their programs application like adware and spyware. On the other hand, many commercial programs became usable freely and legally by passing the line to the adware category.

From the harmless intention of showing some commercials and till elements of analyzing and stocking information about the user and his software or hardware configuration the developers had to install on the target computer supplementary modules. If at the beginning it was only an engine that downloaded commercials and showed them in pre-calculated windows, the adware industry has evolved and grew a great bit since then. Now they use different instruments, from altering your browser and its settings and till launching background applications that monitor your PC activity.

Among the effects that follow installing spyware and adware are the next ones:
- Adding links to various magazines
- Adding new commercials on the web pages, sometimes replacing the existent ones
- Monitoring browser behavior in commercial purposes.
- Gaining access to passwords and credit cards.
- Slowing down the computer.
- In some cases they can call telephone numbers with high costs.
- Changing the browser’s homepage in commercial purposes.
- Strange icons and new software might appear on the desktop.You can enter their online
sites and try the services for free, then decide what to use.