Reference Notes

Share your Internet Connection using Virtual Router

2011-12-28T11:41:00.003+08:00

I just found a very good software that can be used for sharing any internet connection. The software is Virtual Router and is a free, open source, software based router to be used for PC's running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. By using this Virtual Router, you can wirelessly share any internet connection such as Wifi, LAN, Cable Modem, Cellular, etc with any wifi enabled device such as your laptop, smartphones, iphone, wireless printer, etc These wifi enabled devices connect to Virtual Router just like any other access point and the connection uses Wifi Protected Access II (WPA2) encryption and should be quite secured.

For more information about this software, you may visit this link http://virtualrouter.codeplex.com/

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I Wish You Enough !

2011-12-02T09:44:00.001+08:00

I received these email from my brother, and I would like share it here.

To all my love ones, friends and visitor's of this blog, I wish you Enough !

I wish you Enough !

Recently I overheard a Father and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure.

Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the Father said, 'I love you, and I wish you enough.'

The daughter replied, 'Dad, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Dad.'

They kissed and the daughter left. The Father walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'

'Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'.

'I am old, and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' he said..

'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?'

He began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.' He paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and he smiled even more. 'When we said, 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.' Then turning toward me, he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how grey the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

He then began to cry and walked away.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them; but then an entire life to forget them.

Take Time To Live..

To all my friends and loved ones, I wish you Enough !

How to switch back to Yahoo Mail Classic

2011-08-23T15:15:00.007+08:00

Have you switch to the new version of Yahoo Mail? I did. The new interface looks great, though you need to get familiarize with it. If you want to switch back to Yahoo Mail Classic, just follow the steps below.

How to switch back to Yahoo Mail Classic:

1. Disable your browser's Javascript

Windows Internet Explorer
To disable JavaScript:
i. From the Tools menu, or the Tools drop-down in the upper right, choose Internet Options... .
ii. Click the Security tab.
iii. Click Custom Level... .
iv. Scroll to the "Scripting" section of the list. Uncheck to Disable scripting.
v. Close and restart your browser.

Mozilla Firefox
i. On the Tools menu, click Options.
ii. On the Content tab, uncheck check box to disable JavaScript.
iii. Click the Go back one page button to return to the previous page, and then click the Reload current page button to run scripts.

2. Open Yahoo mail URL and login using your id and password.

3. A warning message will be prompted that JavaScript is needed to be enabled for using the new Yahoo! Mail. You will also see two options to return to a previous version of Yahoo!Mail. Choose the first option to switch just for one time or second option to return to a previous version. Choose the second option here.

4. Now you are back to the classic version.

5. In order to access all web sites properly, don’t forget to Enable JavaScript from your browser (Internet Explorer or Firefox).

*acknowledgement: above images courtesy of Yahoo Mail
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Ten things to learn from Japan Earthquake/Tsunami/Nuclear reactors

2011-04-04T11:10:00.004+08:00

This post was posted in Yahoo Group India: trainers_forum and was originally posted by PK. Seshadri at 3:34 pm on Mar 23, 2011.

According to Mr. PK Seshadri, he has been working for Japan Airlines in the Gulf region for seven years that allows him to have an inside ring view into the Japanese lifestyles, management, culture and above all the courage in face of calamity.

1. THE CALM
Not a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated.

2. THE DIGNITY
Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture.

3. THE ABILITY
The incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but didn’t fall.

4. THE GRACE
People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something.

5. THE ORDER
No looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Just understanding.

6. THE SACRIFICE
Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water in the N-reactors. How will they ever be repaid?

7. THE TENDERNESS
Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak.

8. THE TRAINING
The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do. And they did just that.

9. THE MEDIA
They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No silly reporters. Only calm reportage.

10. THE CONSCIENCE
When the power went off in a store, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly!
PK.Seshadri

http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/trainers_forum/message/35562

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7 reasons not to mess with children

2011-03-30T10:54:00.002+08:00

I received this from my email, it's so hilarious and would love to share it.

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales...

The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a
human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very
small.

The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human;
it was physically impossible.

The little girl said, 'When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah'.

The teacher asked, 'What if Jonah went to hell?'

The little girl replied, 'Then you ask him'.

A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they
were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work.

As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what
the drawing was.

The girl replied, 'I'm drawing God.'

The teacher paused and said, 'But no one knows what God looks like.'

Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied,
'They will in a minute.'

One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at
the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands
of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head.

She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, 'Why are some of your
hairs white, Mom?'

Her mother replied, 'Well, every time that you do something wrong and make
me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white.'

The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said,
'Momma, how come ALL of grandma's hairs are white?'

The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade
them each to buy a copy of the group picture.

'Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up
and say, 'There's Jennifer, she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael, He's a
doctor.'

A small voice at the back of the room rang out, 'And there's the teacher,
she's dead.'

A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to
make the matter clearer, she said, 'Now, class, if I stood on my head,
the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in the
face.'

'Yes,' the class said.

'Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position
the blood doesn't run into my feet?'

A little fellow shouted,

'Cause your feet ain't empty.'

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school
for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun
made a note, and posted on the apple tray:

'Take only ONE . God is watching.'

Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was
a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.

A child had written a note, 'Take all you want. God is watching the apples.'

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45 Lessons in Life

2011-02-07T10:19:00.000+08:00

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio .

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written.

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come...

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

The URL is not valid and can not be loaded

2011-01-25T14:52:00.001+08:00

Last night, my computer acted strangely. I couldn't get to any internet sites using my firefox browser. All I got was a blank screen with a pop up screen that said " The URL is not valid and can not be loaded". I tried to use Internet explorer but same thing happen.

I tried to disable the firefox toolbar extensions to see if the extension was causing the issue, but the problem still persist ie. I still got the invalid URL issue. So what I did was to use the System Restore utility of Windows and voila the problem was fixed. I guess, it must have been a spyware or something that had caused this problem, but no matter what it is, Windows System Restore utility is a great utility to put back your computer back to it's previous working condition.

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Travel Cancellation

2011-01-14T11:14:00.006+08:00

I met a friend last week who told me that their supposed vacation trip to Scotland was cancelled due to the huge amounts of snow. He had book a trip to Scotland for his family (wife, 2 kids and himself) for 2 nights, but then the bad weather did not allow them to get to the train station for the 7:00 a.m. departure as the roads were impassable and it was just too dangerous to travel that they did not dare to risk it. So he lost about ￡400 for his prepaid trip expenses to Scotland.

You see, our vacation travel plans can be derailed for a variety of reasons. Once we have paid our deposit or full payment, what will happen if?
• We cancel our trip because one of our travel companion can not make it as he or she got sick?
• Our tour operator, airline or cruise line suddenly declares bankruptcy?
• suddenly our visa application was delayed
• Our return flight home was delayed for a few days due to bad weather

Above are just a few and there are a lot of possible reasons that may affect our travel plans. For these reasons, it would be a good idea to get a trip cancellation travel insurance that can protect us from the costs and inconveniences associated with bankruptcies, flight delays, tour cancellations, lost luggage and lost hotel reservations. A lengthy trip delay can cause us unexpected food and lodging expenses.

As for my friend, as he did not avail of any travel insurance package, he said, that he just thinks of it as losing a train journey and 2 night’s hotel accommodation rather than losing ￡400?

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Five (5) lessons about the way we treat people

2011-01-07T10:10:00.002+08:00

1 - First Important Lesson - Cleaning Lady.

During my second month of college, our professor

Gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student

And had breezed through the questions until I read

The last one:

"What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?"

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the

Cleaning woman several times. She was tall,

Dark-haired and in her 50's, but how would I know her name?

I handed in my paper, leaving the last question

Blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if

The last question would count toward our quiz grade.

"Absolutely, " said the professor.. "In your careers,

You will meet many people. All are significant.. They

Deserve your attention and care, even if all you do

Is smile and say "hello.."

I've never forgotten that lesson.. I also learned her

Name was Dorothy.

2. - Second Important Lesson - Pickup in the Rain

One night, at 11:30 p.m., an older African American

Woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway

Trying to endure a lashing rain storm. Her car had

Broken down and she desperately needed a ride.

Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car.

A young white man stopped to help her, generally

Unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960's. The man

Took her to safety, helped her get assistance and

Put her into a taxicab.

She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his

Address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a

Knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a

Giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A

Special note was attached..

It read:

"Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway

The other night. The rain drenched not only my

Clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along..

Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying

Husband's' bedside just before he passed away... God

Bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving

Others."

Sincerely,

Mrs. Nat King Cole.

3 - Third Important Lesson - Always remember those

Who serve.

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less,

A 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and

Sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in

Front of him.

"How much is an ice cream sundae?" he asked.

"Fifty cents," replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and

Studied the coins in it.

"Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?" he inquired.

By now more people were waiting for a table and the

Waitress was growing impatient..

"Thirty-five cents," she brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his coins.

"I'll have the plain ice cream," he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on

The table and walked away The boy finished the ice

Cream, paid the cashier and left.. When the waitress

Came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the

Table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish,

Were two nickels and five pennies..

You see, he couldn't have the sundae, because he had

To have enough left to leave her a tip.

4 - Fourth Important Lesson. - The obstacle in Our Path.

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a

Roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if

Anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the

King's' wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by

And simply walked around it.. Many loudly blamed the

King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did

Anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of

Vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the

peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the

stone to the side of the road. After much pushing

and straining, he finally succeeded. After the

peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed

a purse lying in the road where the boulder had

been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note

from the King indicating that the gold was for the

person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The

peasant learned what many of us never understand!

Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve

our condition.

5 - Fifth Important Lesson - Giving When it Counts...

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a

hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who

was suffering from a rare & serious disease. Her only

chance of recovery appeared to be a blood

transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had

miraculously survived the same disease and had

developed the antibodies needed to combat the

illness. The doctor explained the situation to her

little brother, and asked the little boy if he would

be willing to give his blood to his sister.

I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a

deep breath and saying, "Yes I'll do it if it will save

her." As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed

next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing

the color returning to her cheek. Then his face

grew pale and his smile faded.

He looked up at the doctor and asked with a

trembling voice, "Will I start to die right away".

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the

doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his

sister all of his blood in order to save her.

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Trip to Dubai

2010-12-14T11:51:00.004+08:00

I have a business trip to Dubai next month and my friend who frequently travels to Dubai suggested that I should book my hotel room at Le Royal Meridien Dubai beach resort in Dubai. He said that he always enjoy his stay in this hotel. He said that the hotel staff service is outstanding and always ready to help and assist you.

So I tried to do a research on the internet about Le Royal Meridien Beach Resort. Travel advisory sites had constantly given high ratings for this hotel. It really seems a good idea to book my room at Le Royal Meridian. So I do further research and learned that the hotel is set in landscaped gardens overlooking the clear blue water of the Arabian Gulf. Located 20 minutes from the city centre, 10 minutes from the Jebel Ali Free Zone and 5 minutes from the famous Emirates Golf Course, it is within easy reach of all tourist and business facilities.

The hotel comprises of 500 luxurious rooms and suites. All of the rooms feature balconies offering stunning views overlooking the Marina or the Sea. It also offers an excellent range of recreation and leisure activities, with luxury spa treatments including a state of the art gym and aerobic center. Other facilities at the resort include floodlit tennis courts, squash courts, swimming pools and a water sports centre offering windsurfing, kayaks and deep sea fishing. The resort also has 14 restaurants and bars to choose from.
Hhhhmmm, with all the information I gathered, I really had high expectations of this hotel and would definitely stay here on my trip.

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Interesting Facts About Our Liver

2010-12-01T10:08:00.006+08:00

I have received this great info from my email and thought that it would be nice to share these interesting facts to others.

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Leaving Hong Kong behind in Tai O

2010-10-07T17:02:00.002+08:00

Photo credit: Flickr/Dennis Wong

The stilt-house community of Tai O on Lantau Island is known as the Venice of the Orient, but let’s be honest. It’s nothing like the opulent Italian city.

Tai O, once Hong Kong’s biggest fishing community, was ravaged by fires, floods and typhoons in recent years, and it shows.

The community’s derelict pang uk (Cantonese for stilt-houses) look like they were built with whatever villagers could scavenge -- broomsticks, Styrofoam boxes, bits of nylon netting. Houses some distance away from the main street have broken windows. Barefooted grannies play majong on balconies overlooking the canal, their front doors flung wide open.

For some, this is Tai O’s charm. It is the antithesis of the city landscape and is a throwback to Hong Kong’s past as a simple fishing village.

Read more: http://www.cnngo.com/hong-kong/life/tai-o-800151

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Drinking Water at the Correct Time

2010-10-05T10:48:00.004+08:00

I got this from my email and it's really true that we need to maintain our daily water intake and the correct timing of drinking water would definitely increase the effectiveness of water to help in the proper functioning of our internal organs.

Drinking water at the correct time maximizes its effectiveness on the Human body:

2 glasses of water after waking up - helps activate internal organs

1 glass of water 30 minutes before a meal - helps digestion

1 glass of water before taking a bath - helps lower blood pressure

1 glass of water before going to bed - avoids stroke or heart attack

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The Mayonnaise Jar And Coffee

2010-08-13T17:03:00.002+08:00

Just want to share this interesting article I got from my email.

THE MAYONNAISE JAR AND COFFEE
Author : Unknown

“ When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 Hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar . . . and the coffee.”

A professor stood before his Philosophy class and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.

The students responded with an unanimous "yes.―

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.

The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

"The golf ballsare the important things -your God, family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions –things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

"The pebblesare the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car.

"The sandis everything else-the small stuff.

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.

"The same goes for life. "If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. ―Play with your children. "Take time to get medical checkups. "Take your partner out to dinner.‖

"There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. "Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.―

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffeerepresented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked.

"It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."
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Nan Liang Garden and Chi Lin Nunnery

2010-06-01T16:34:00.003+08:00

Nan Liang is a public park designed in the Tang Dynasty-style and adorned with special wooden structures, old and valuable trees and rocks. The garden is beautifully landscaped with old and valuable trees, rocks and water features. The garden also provides a multi-function room and catering facilities such as a food kiosk, a souvenir shop, a vegetarian restaurant and a tea house.

Nan Lian Garden is located at 60 Fung Tak Road, Diamond Hill and occupies an area of 3.5 hectares. It is open to the public daily from 7am to 9pm. Admission is free. Highly recomended to visit.

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Vacation

2010-04-14T10:59:00.004+08:00

One more week and I will be having my vacation. I will back to my home country, the beautiful Philippines and I am looking forward to it. Actually, there will be several family occasions that I will be attending. There's the birthday of my 2 nephews, sister-in-law and the graduation rites of my niece in UP, Baguio. I may stay in Baguio for 2 days and go down to La Union.

Hhhmmm, the last time I have been to Baguio was way back in 1997. That was 13 years ago. I wonder whether the temperature up there was still cool. During summer in Philippines, people usually go up to Baguio city for it's cool climate. It is because of its cool climate that Baguio city was called the "Summer Capital of the Philippines. Some of the tourist attractions in Baguio that I have previously been to were :
a. Mansion House which serves as the official residence of the President of the Phillipines during his/her visit to the city.
b. Camp John Hay - former american base and was now converted into a world class resort.
c. Teacher's Camp - feature several function halls, museum and cottages
d. Wright Park - the place where your could ride horses along the towering pine trees for a minimal fee.
e. Mines View Park - one could see the mountain ranges where gold, silver and ores were once quarried. I remember when I was a kid, some local kids would ask tourists to throw coins and the kids would try to catch it along the slope of the mountain. Hopefully, these things have been stop
f. Botanical Garden - features native huts typical of the Cordillera architecture. The garden is also a site of cultural presentations and other tribal meetings.
g. Burnham Park - the oldest park in Baguio where you could rent bikes and skates. It also has man-made lake in the middle of the park and you could rent boats to row in the lake.
h. Lourdes Grotto - about 252 steps leads to this religious shrine housing the image of Lady of Lourdes. One could have a beautiful panoramic view of the city upon reaching the shrine.

Hopefully, I would be able to visit some of these places.

How to Lower Cholesterol Without Using Drugs

2010-03-17T11:06:00.004+08:00

I would like to share this info which I have received through email.

How I Lower Cholesterol Without Using Drugs
Written by theconsciouslife

All these years, despite regular exercise and avoiding saturated and trans fat laden foods, my level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or commonly known as the bad cholesterol, has remained relatively high.

I supposed I am one of those who is genetically engineered to produce high cholesterol regardless of weight, lifestyle and diet. But this doesn’t mean that I can do nothing about the plaques that are building inside my arteries.

Rather than taking medication like statins, I chose to use whole foods as the solutions to my predicament. And there is certainly no lack of choices from nature for me to choose from.
After six months of trial, I have reduced my bad cholesterol level from as high as 200 mg/dL to the current 120 mg/dL, which is considered desirable. Over time, I am confident that the number will go down even further. In this article, I’ll share a list of inexpensive foods which I have consciously included into my diet that worked for me.

Cholesterol-Lowering Foods That Work

1. Oatmeal. Oatmeal is very effective in lowering cholesterol because it contains beta-glucan, a type of soluble fiber which binds with cholesterol and bile acid, preventing them from being reabsorbed by the body. I take two tablespoon of instant oatmeal mixed with hot water every morning with breakfast. I don’t recommend adding sugar, but if you find it too bland, try adding some honey to it. If time permits, I suggest you cook a bowl of regular oatmeal and add fruits and nuts for a heart-nourishing breakfast.

Side benefits: Oat is also found to reduce one’s risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some cancers; improves immune response; stabilizes blood sugar and even has anti-aging properties!

Caution: Oat is relatively high in purine, a natural substance found in all living things. Excessive intake of high-purine foods can lead to gout in some people. However, some studies have also shown that plant-based purines doesn’t appear to increase the risk of gout. To be safe, if you have been advised to keep to a low-purine diet, follow your doctor’s recommendations.

2. Dried black fungus. Also known as wood ear or cloud ear, black fungus helps to lower blood cholesterol and triglycerides, and is found to have anti-coagulant properties that help to prevent plaque from building up in arteries. I usually add reconstituted dried black fungi in soups and eat them about two times a week. You can also add cooked dried black fungi in salads and give your meal an extra crunchy and slippery texture. Dried black fungus expand many times its size when rehydrated, so be careful not to use too much at a time.

Side benefits: Black fungus is a rich source of plant-based iron and is beneficial for people who suffer from iron-deficiency. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) uses black fungus as a blood tonic to improve blood circulation, and as a scavenger of the digestive system to remove indigestible impurities, like heavy metals, hairs and dust.

Caution: Choose only the dried form as fresh black fungus is known to cause phototoxic reaction in some people.

3. Eggplant. Known as aubergine or brinjal in some countries, eggplant is found to be effective in reducing cholesterol level, and improves blood flow. I usually stir-fry eggplant with garlic and eggs once a week.

Side benefits: The deep purple hue in the skin of eggplant is found to have anti-cancer and anti-aging properties. So do not remove the skin! Eggplant is also packed full of phytonutrients including nasunin which protects brain cell membranes from damage, and binds with excess iron.

Caution: Eggplant contains some amounts of oxalates. Studies on dietary oxalates leading to the formation of kidney stones are inconclusive. But, if you are suffering from existing kidney or gallbladder problems, you may want to seek your physician’s advice before taking eggplant regularly. Eggplant belongs to the nightshade family of vegetables which are not recommended for people with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, or other joint problems like gout.

4. Black beans. Like other legumes, black beans are a good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber and high quality plant-based protein. I cook black beans together with rice, barley and green beans as a porridge once a week. To shorten their cooking time and make them easier to digest, soak black beans for at least 3 hours before cooking. Personally, I soak them overnight. Soaked beans will expand roughly twice their size, so adjust your amount accordingly.

Side benefits: These black pearls are loaded with antioxidant compounds that destroy free radicals. They also have a stabilizing effect on blood sugar and are revered in TCM for their detoxifying and kidney-supporting capabilities.

Caution: Be sure to check for and remove debris, small stones, damaged and moldy beans. Moldy beans produces aflatoxins that can cause liver cancer. Black beans also contain purines, so the same cautionary note for purines applies.

5. Corn. Corn fiber and corn oil are effective in reducing LDL and increasing the percentage of HDL. I add chopped corns into soup and eat them four times weekly.

Side benefits: Corn is also a good supplier of folate that helps to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and colon cancer. It is equally rich in thiamin (vitamin B1) which is essential for healthy cognitive functions.

Caution: Take whole corn, not processed corn products. Most processed corn products are either stripped clean of beneficial corn oil and fiber, or coated in thick layers of fat or cream. Some people are also allergic to corn; make sure you are not one of them before feasting on a freshly steamed corn on the cob.

6. Enoki mushroom. Known also as golden needle mushroom, this delicate mushroom with small white cap is rich in dietary fiber like chitin that helps to lower cholesterol. Blood pressure lowering compounds have also been found in enoki. For once a week, I will lay some enoki mushrooms in a bowl and pour hot soup over them before serving. This will prevent the mushrooms from overcooking and turning hard and fibrous.

Side benefits: Enoki mushroom contains a polysaccharide called flammulin, which has demonstrated anti-cancer and anti-tumor activities in some studies.

Caution: I do not recommend eating enoki mushrooms raw, as there has been a reported case of enoki being contaminated by listeria, which can cause listeriosis.

7. Kelp. Kelp is a type of seaweed that has been found to lower blood cholesterol in studies done in Japan. This effect may be due to its abundant plant sterols, which are essentially phytosterols, that inhibit the absorption of cholesterol in the small intestine. Kelps are excellent in soups as they impart a unique taste of the sea. I use them about once a week.

Side benefits: Kelp is an excellent source of iodine, which is essential for thyroid function, and lignans, which has anti-cancer and anti-tumor properties. Kelp also produces alkali that helps to maintain an alkaline pH balance in our body.

Caution: TCM believes that kelp promotes delivery, so do avoid kelp during pregnancy.
Conclusion

In my experience, adopting an abstinence strategy isn't enough to lower my bad cholesterol level. While avoiding certain types of foods, such as deep fried fish and chips and pastries, is important, a large percentage of serum cholesterol appears to come from the body itself, and not derived from the food I eat. Therefore, it is important to actively incorporate cholesterol-lowering foods into my diet. This approach has proven to be effective in reducing my LDL while keeping the HDL relatively unchanged.

However, while the foods mentioned here are beneficial, it doesn’t mean that you should binge on them and exclud other foods from your diet. It is important to eat a wide range of different whole foods, and even different colors of foods to ensure that you are getting a good supply of different nutrients. Besides, too much of any good thing can actually work against you. So use your common sense and eat consciously. Your body will tell you what it really needs if you pay attention.

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Tram Ride From Kennedy Town to Happy Valley

2010-02-19T12:37:00.003+08:00

For those too far away to experience the tram ride, or too busy not able to find the time to take the slow tram ride, check out below HK resident Masato Kajimoto's POV trip from Kennedy Town to Happy Valley.

Tramcars in Hong Kong have been carrying passengers since 1904. Hundreds of thousands of people travel by tram every day. The ride is bumpy, slow and noisy, but some people still love it!

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Gong Hei Fat Choi

2010-02-17T17:22:00.002+08:00

May the year of the tiger brings us good health, good fortune and happiness!

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HK Trams

2010-02-12T12:11:00.004+08:00

If you visit Hong Kong, you may see this double-deck tramcars swaying from east to west of HK island. It is the cheapest transportation mode that you could take as it only cost HKD 2 for adults and HKD 1 for child and elderly.

Tram service in HK has been in existence since 1904. When Hong Kong Tramways started its operation, there were 26 tramcars only and these first fleet of tramcars were all single-deck. Now after more than 100 years, HK Tramways operate a fleet of 163 tramcars which includes 2 antique tramcars. It is now the world's largest fleet of double-deck tramcars still in operation, carrying an average of 230,000 passengers every day.

Likewise, do you know that you could also hire an open-top vintage tram as a unique venue for your next get-together party? Yes, on the upper deck of the open-top antique tram, one could have a spectacular 360 degree view of Hong Kong's nightlife as the tram strolls slowly from the nostalgic western district to the contemporary business centers and shopping hubs in Central and Causeway bay.

Today, I have read in the newspaper that HK Tramways is needing resources to focus on improving their services. This would mean that the HKD 2 tram ride looks set to become a history. Well, for me, paying more for better service is not a bad idea. Anyway, HK Tramways emphasizes that it would still remain as the cheapest form of transport in HK.

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Cebu Dancing Inmates

2010-01-27T10:35:00.006+08:00

"Dancing Inmates" from Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC), a maximum security prison, were treated to a visit by Michael Jacksons long-time choreographer Travis Payne and dancers Daniel Celebre and Dres Reid to learn performances from THIS IS IT.

It is quite amazing how quickly the CPDRC inmates were able to get the choreography down in 2 days!!! The dancing inmates will be part of THIS IS IT dvd launching, so its another great dancing feat by the inmates for the world to see!

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Hong Kong Experiences

2009-12-03T15:32:00.003+08:00

I've found these video by HK Tourism Board in Youtube and I would say that it really sums up all the things a visitor of HK would love to experience. Hong Kong really is such an exciting and vibrant city. I have known people of different nationalities where they have considered Hong Kong to be their home after staying here for more than 15 years.

Watch the video below and explore Hong Kong in all its diversity -- from the living culture of its fantastic festivals and East-West heritage, to its stunning vistas and great attractions and to its unbeatable shopping and superb dining. These are moments you'll want to experience for yourself.

Video credit : HK Tourism Board

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Old Manila

2009-11-25T10:07:00.015+08:00

I would like to share the pictures of Old Manila. Actually, the pictures were sent to me via email by a friend and I was really surprised how beautiful Manila was. No wonder, it was a city that was once the envy of the Orient. Thanks to University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee libraries for preserving these pictures.

Picture(s) Credit: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries

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Forgot to live...

2009-10-13T10:25:00.004+08:00

so very true..

give yourself some time to really think on how would you like to live in this world....

is it to live your life now at present and enjoy it while youre still young and able
or
be like a workhorse when youre young, forgetting all the pleasure of life and working day and night to earn a lot of money so when youre old, you can harvest all the fruits of your labor in your retirement age

its your choice on what suits you best..

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I Love You Inspite Of...

2009-10-02T10:22:00.007+08:00

Somebody had emailed me this story. This story may have happen a few years ago but I believe it is worth sharing it to others.

Three Fridays ago, our guru on relationships, Joe d mango, read a letter to his wife on his popular radio program Love Notes. For the past 11 years, he had been giving advice to people who would write him letters about their personal problems. To the surprise of his listeners that Friday, instead of reading one of his usual letters, he read one that he had written himself to his wife Bing. Joe felt that he had to tell his listeners that even someone like him could go through a marital crisis, but that he survived it.

In our 11 years of marriage it was just the two of us. I never had a close circle of friends and she never had one either. Life for us was just "you and me," day in and day out. We were literally sleeping beside each other for 11 years. It came to a point that there was nothing more interesting to talk about. I was aware I was doing that but I never did anything about it. We were so close yet it seemed like we were so distant.

Then came her new circle of friends. They recently had an elementary and high school reunion. Remember her persistent suitor since elementary days? He was there. We already had four daughters and the guy had four kids of his own. They exchanged phone numbers. They started to text each other and this bothered me. A big part of it was insecurity and other part was that she once denied that she was texting the guy, I felt bad because she started hiding things from me. Then the guy asked her if they could meet for lunch.

It became a source of tension between us. I finally agreed, but before that, I told her that I felt that I was going through the same pain again. I have seen so many stories like this. If you told me the first part of the story I would already know where it would lead to.

Bing accused me of being a "know-it-all" person. But deep in my heart I knew where she was heading. Why would a married guy see a married girl unless it was for business or professional reasons?

Finally, even if it was against my will, I drove her to the meeting place.

While I was waiting at the radio station, I wanted to call her but I knew it wasn't proper. So I just waited for her to tell me how their meeting went.

When she related to me what happened I felt that she was keeping the other details. I was afraid to ask because I wasn't prepared to accept her answers. I told her that it would be best if that were their last meeting. She got mad and told me that I was starting to control her life.

The following day, I saw a small, torn piece of paper that had the words, "lose you" in the trashcan at home. I started picking up the pieces of paper and putting them together. She had written:

"Felt sad because I felt that this will be our last meeting."

"Wanted to hug you..."

Before I could figure out what the third one was, Bing was already at my back. She wanted to get the torn pieces of paper back. She said it was private property. We decided to talk.

By then, I was able to figure out the third line: "Not sure if afraid to lose you." She had crossed it out and beside it, she had written, "Wanted to cry." That was what hit me. How could you lose something that's not even with you yet? That was a confirmation that she was getting emotionally attached to the guy. We fought because she didn't want to admit it. She said that what she had written was all about friendship and not about love. For the first time in our marriage she asked for freedom from me.

For 11 years we were always together, and now this. She had discovered her own little world and wanted to explore it. I didn't want to give it to her but finally I gave in. I told her that she could do anything she wanted and not worry about how I would feel.

In fact, I told her that I was planning to leave her and kids for a while so we could give each other the chance to be alone.

We decided to give the new arrangement a try. The following day, Thursday, I went to work early and she texted me. I never answered back. When I didn't respond, she called me. She said, "I'm sorry. I love you and I miss you." For the first time in our marriage I said, "I love you and I miss you too" with tears in my eyes. I realized how much I loved her but I also knew how much she wanted her freedom.

When I arrived at the station I asked for a leave. My boss advised me to think it over, but he said that he would allow me to go on leave. After letting it all out I felt relieved. It was the first time in my life that I asked for advice about our relationship.

While I was talking with my boss, a messenger arrived with 12 white roses arranged in a basket. It came from Bing. Then a text message on my cellphone came, "I know that no material things can ease the pain that you're feeling right now, but these flowers signify my pure and sincere intentions. I'm really sorry. Please forgive me."

Still, a question continued to bug me: "I'm giving you the freedom. Will you choose to stay or go on?" I read the card, and it had the answer to my question: "Dear Dad, I finally realized that I made a very big mistake in choosing a newfound friendship at the expense of our long-time friendship. Please forgive me. I will always love you."

Bing called the guy and told him that she wanted to end the friendship. He said that they could just text or call each other. Bing said that there was no need. We had dinner and talked up to 1am. It was like getting married all over again. We lost each other and found our way back. I do not want to go through the same pain again.

Friday came and it was the first time in the history of Love Notes that I couldn't do Love Notes. I scheduled a replay. When I was at the station at 9am, I composed a letter to Bing. I was asking myself, should I read this or do a replay? I chose to read the letter

It is not unusual to hear people say "I love you because..." but this story has shown us that the deeper and greater love is having to say "I LOVE YOU IN SPITE OF..."

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Change Windows Vista User Interface Language

2009-09-22T17:54:00.002+08:00

My friend bought a second hand laptop at a very good price, but the problem was, the operating system is Windows Vista Home (Chinese). Now he got a problem on how to navigate through the menu's of windows Vista. He had sought assistance from me on how to re-install Vista with English as the user interface. As the laptop comes only with chinese recovery discs, our only chance of having it turn to English user interface would be as follows :
a. Get a Vista installation disk in English language and do a clean install of Vista
b. Upgrade to Vista Ultimate and get the corresponding MUI from Microsoft.

Luckily with the help of internet, I had found a very good software that could change windows user interface language to another language. Yes, this could be done even though your version of Windows was not Vista Ultimate or Enterprise. The software that could translate your windows Vista user interface language to another language is Vistalizator. This is not an official product of Microsoft but it works fine and I have proven it to work.

Here's the steps that I have taken to change the user interface to English :

1. Download Vistalizator program.

2. Download your corresponding language pack(s) for your Vista:
32-bit Vista RTM - http://www.froggie.sk/lp_rtm_32.html
32-bit Vista with SP1 - http://www.froggie.sk/lp_sp1_32.html
64-bit Vista RTM - http://www.froggie.sk/lp_rtm_64.html
64-bit Vista with SP1 - http://www.froggie.sk/lp_sp1_64.html

3. Unpack Vistalizator (ZIP) to some destination - no need to install

4. Run Vistalizator open downloaded language pack, press Install

5. Restart Windows.

6. After restart, you may wish to change the language settings under control panel => Regioanal and Language Settings to English.

For a more detailed step by step procedure, click here.

ABS CBN Live Feed

2009-09-09T11:41:00.009+08:00

For Overseas Filipino Workers like me who doesn’t have TFC but do have internet access. You could watch ABS CBN Kapamilya shows (Live Feed) by clicking the play button below :

You could also watch ABS-CBN or GMA 7 channels in the following links :
GMA 7 Option 1
ABS CBN Live feed Option 1
ABS CBN Live feed Option 2

Disclaimer : Thank you for visiting. Please note that I do not host nor upload any movies, films, videos, news, or music files. The above live feed contents were just gathered and/or linked from other internet websites. I am not responsible for the accuracy, copyright compliance, legality, and completeness of the contents and/or linked from other internet sites. If you have any legal issues, please contact appropriate media file owners / hosters. This site is not responsible for the availability or contents of these external sites, nor does endorse, warrant, or guarantee the products, services, or information described or offered by these other internet sites/companies.

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Hackers rumored to have cracked Windows 7 activation (CNet)

2009-07-31T14:18:00.001+08:00

Microsoft only just released final code for Windows 7 to manufacturers and the company is already facing a security risk. The Windows Genuine Advantage antipiracy system in the Windows 7 Ultimate release to manufacturers (RTM) has reportedly been compromised by some Chinese hackers, according to a variety of Chinese forums, and first reported by Neowin.com. This means the user can fully activate the software offline without connecting to Microsoft's activation server.

Read more.

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Seven Remix XP

2009-07-13T14:32:00.004+08:00

Do you want to experience Windows 7 but you don't have knowledge on how to install Windows 7 to your computer ? Well, I just found a new software that can transform your existing Windows XP to Windows 7 look and feel. The free software is Seven Remix XP.

Seven Remix XP is free transformation pack designed by Niwradsoft. By installing Seven Remix XP you can get complete windows 7 look and feel on your windows XP. Seven Remix XP replaces several system files and resources like icons, dll, images etc. You may need to backup your system before proceeding for Windows XP to windows 7 transformation.

Seven Remix XP can be completely removable if you are not satisfied with the result.

Seven Remix XP will work on following operating system
1. Windows XP (Home, Pro, RTM, SP1, SP2, SP3, Corporate)
2. Windows 2003 (Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web, RTM, SP1)
3. Windows Media Center Edition (2003, 2004, 2005)
4. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
5. All Language Versions
Note : Does NOT work with 64 bit versions of Windows!

You could download Seven Remix XP from Softpedia Site

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Honest OFW from HK returns home

2009-07-08T14:21:00.003+08:00

Mildred Perez, the Filipino domestic helper who returned HK $350,545 (P2.1 million) she found while rummaging through a trash bin in Hong Kong, returned home on Tuesday afternoon.

Perez was to return to her home town in Bambang in Nueva Vizcaya but said she would have to go back to the former British colony to pursue charges against her former employer.

The 38-year-old domestic helper alleged that her employer made sexual advances on her. With the case filed in Hong Kong, Perez was barred from seeking employment pending the resolution of her case.

Left with no source of income and money to go back to the Philippines, Perez was forced to live with her sister who was also a domestic helper but with little means to support her.

She eventually turned to scrounging on garbage bins, collecting trashes that can be recycled.

Last April 29, Perez chanced upon a thick packet just slightly bigger than an airmail envelope, in a trash bin at the corner of Pottinger Street and Des Voeux Road.

The envelope contained cash and checks amounting to HK$350,545.

Instead of keeping the money, she returned it to the owner - and got a can of biscuits in return.

A month before the incident, her husband, Eddie Perez, who works as a tricycle driver, was said to have returned a bag containing P20,000 to a passenger in Nueva Ecija. He was given P10 for his fare home by the owner in return.

Because of her exemplary display of honesty, Mildred Perez has been reaping honors and rewards from home.

Rep. Carlos Padilla of the lone district of Nueva Vizcaya, passed House Resolution 1212 commending her honesty and trustworthiness.

Padilla, who helped raised some money, confirmed that a P100,000 financial support for Perez’s family is now ready on top of the P50, 000, which will be coming from the provincial government and additional financial support from Mayor Benjamin Cuaresma of Bambang town.

Eddie Perez was also offered a job at the provincial office of the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Moreover, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) approved a request by Padilla for educational assistance for two of the Perezes children.

The Perez couple belong to the Isinay tribe of Bambang and Aritao, a tribe known for the virtue of honesty.

By : Joseph Holandes Ubalde, GMANews.TV

Be a Certified Ethical Hacker

2009-05-19T15:37:00.003+08:00

Do you want to have the coolest job in the IT industry? Then be a Certified Ethical Hacker. You may ask me what an ethical hacker is. Well, an ethical hacker is a computer specialist who is usually employed by a company to try and hack on it's computer networks and systems. This is usually done for the purpose of identifying the system's security vulnerabilities that a malicious hacker might exploit. In identifying the vulnerabilities, a fix could then be applied to tighten the company’s network security. Many large companies now are employing teams of ethical hackers and the pay trend for being an ethical hacker is rising.

How do you get to be a certified ethical hacker then? Well, EC-Council offers official training in Ethical Hacking. It's courses are delivered online using an advanced web conferencing / communication platform and are taught by Certified EC-Council Instructors.

If you are interested, you may like to go to EC-Council website and see the various certification courses that the council offers. Some of official training that EC-Council offers covers the following categories:

- Security Fundamentals

- Ethical Hacking

- Penetration Testing

- Computer Forensics 

- Disaster Recovery

- Secure Programming

I am glad to see the EC-Council is providing these official training courses for Certified Ethical Hacking where much education is needed. So if you have some IT Security
experience or have an interest in penetration testing, and then enrolling in EC-Council’s courses would be a good next step.

Recover Files From A Windows Computer That Won't Boot

2009-05-19T10:57:00.009+08:00

It’s been almost 3 weeks ago when my friend’s desktop computer had crash and won't boot anymore. He was so afraid that he won't be able to retrieve all the digital photos of his sons that he has saved on his computer for the past 4 years. So he had sought my help

The first option I have tried was to try to make use of the REPAIR windows option when installing windows, but unluckily the system prompted us to input the administrator's password which we don't have any idea about. So the next option was to use the BART PE cd that I have created previously in order to boot up his system and hopefully I should be able to copy his digital photos or files. But unluckily my Bart PE CD was not able to detect his computer's hard drive. As its getting late already, I told my friend that I would return next weekend to fix his PC.

One of my office colleagues had suggested making use of Ubuntu to recover his files and that Ubuntu could boot up his computer on a CD. So I have downloaded the ISO copy of Ubuntu 8.10 and burn it to a CD. The next weekend I returned to my friend's home with the following items :
a. laptop
b. USB to IDE cable - this cable will be used to connect his desktop computer hard disk to my laptop and will make use of file explorer to copy the files to be recovered.
c. Ubuntu 8.10 CD

First, I booted up his computer using the Ubuntu CD and click "Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer" (see image below).

After booting up his computer, the first thing I click was to choose Places from the menu.

And voila, all the drives available in the system were shown, including the Windows drive which was shown in terms of the hard disk partition size, say in this case, it is the 52.4 GB volume. Double click on the drive volume to open it and all the folders/ files on that partition were displayed. We then attached an external USB Hard drive and just using copy and paste, we were able to recover all the photos and important files that we require.

Now that I know how useful this Ubuntu 8.10 CD is, I would make a duplicate copy of this CD will keep one CD in a safe place as it's really very useful. Click this link to download Ubuntu

Hopefully this info would be useful to other people too.

Useful Backup Software

2009-04-01T15:11:00.000+08:00

We all work with computers and sometimes we accidentally had deleted a file we shouldn't have deleted. How we wish that we should have made a backup of our files or perhaps we need to rollback the changes that we have done to a specific time and date. Likewise, if we have a laptop and a desktop that we need to synchronize via FTP.

Don't worry as I have found a really good software called Synchback Freeware to help you with all the the above mentioned tasks and more. And best of all, it is free for personal use.

SyncBack Freeware is a powerful freeware program that helps you backup and synchronize your files to the same drive; a different drive or medium (CDRW, CompactFlash, etc); an FTP server; a Network; a Zip archive or on removable media. It has the ability to create background backups and email the resulting log after a backup. Compression of the backup files also comes as standard. Other great features include detailed and easy to read log files in HTML format (that can be automatically emailed), simulated backups, file filters, sub-directory selection, copy verification, auto-close of programs, and more.

Clich the link here to download Synchback Freeware.

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Suggestions in Searching for a Job (in HK)

2009-01-08T15:41:00.004+08:00

When I was having my vacation in my hometown in La Union, some of my college friends had asked me how to look for a job in Hong Kong. So their most common question is, where do you start looking when you are not living in Hong Kong ? Well, here are a few suggestions to help you along the way if you are thinking of working in Hong Kong or to another country.

1. In order for you to legally work in Hong kong, you will need sponsorship of work from the company in which you plan to work for and this would mean stating upfront to them that part of your hiring process requires the work visa.

2. Make use of the power of the internet by searching for job opportunities online. Hong Kong offers a lot of job boards for all types of industries and careers. Below are some of the websites (English) that you could use :

http://www.classifiedpost.com
http://www.jobsdb.com
http://efinancialcareers.hk
http://www.monster.com.hk

3. If you still can not find jobs with the job boards, then you can go directly to the recruiters websites. Many of them offer searches for jobs that they are posting. These HK recruiters usually work for you and do not charged applicants as they are either commission or incentive based. Sometimes its best to give them a CALL to get a feedback as to whether you have the right skills and career direction. Here's some links to HK recruiter's websites :

http://www.robertwalters.com/en-hk/default.do
http://www.michaelpage.com.hk
http://www.kellyservices.com.hk
http://www.ambition.com.hk
http://www.searchasia.com.hk
http://www.roberthalf.com
http://www.globalassociates.com
http://www.careerjet.hk

Should you be able to get a face to face interview, the best and easiest thing to do is to lump all interview activities in a week or two (if possible) thereby making your trip to HK worth it. With the recession in picture, don't expect that your prospective employer would pay for your trip. It's also good if you could arranged a phone interview first, before coming to HK for a face to face interview.

Well I wish you all the best and good luck in your job hunting.

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Top 10 EC Droppers - December 2008

2009-01-05T14:18:00.001+08:00

It's time again to have the top ten list of EC droppers for the month of December 2008. Thank you to all who have been actively coming over to visit my blog and thank you to those who do come and visit though did not make it to this month's top 10 list. Hope that you would be in my January 2009 top 10 list.

Top 10 EC Droppers for the Month of December 2008

Off to La Union, Philippines

2008-12-26T10:36:00.002+08:00

This will be my last post for 2008 as I will be off to La Union to visit my hometown. This will be my first visit again to La Union after settling in Manila and more than 10 years of living overseas. I'm quite excited as I expect to experience living in the barrio again just like when I was growing up. Likewise, be able to see my friends back in high school and college.

La Union is located in the southwestern part of Luzon It is bounded on the north by Ilocos Sur, on the south by Pangasinan, on the east by Benguet, and on the west by the China Sea. La Union is fast becoming a favorite among local and foreign tourist especially for surfing enthusiast as it is dub as the "Surfing Capital of the North" as well as " The Pilgrimage Capital of the North". The stretch of white and gray sand beaches along the towns of La Union is the main attraction to tourists. Beaches to check out are Bauang Beach, San Juan Beach, Agoo-Damortis National Seashore Park, Agoo,Caba and White Sand. while in La union you can also enjoy its historic landmarks, cultural and man made attractions.

Well, I better get ready for our trip to La Union.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year !!!

A great education site for teens

2008-12-22T21:31:00.002+08:00

My nephew who is currently a 2nd year high school student would always ask me about his Algebra subject. Though I can still recall my Algebra, I must admit that I have forgotten a lot of things with regards to Algebra. Luckily, I was given an opportunity to review Brightstorm, an online education site that has great courses for high school students. I thought that online education such as Brightstorm is a good alternative for my nephew to increase his learning options.

Brightstorm offer online courses in Geometry, Algebra II, SAT Reading, Writing and Math, and AP History or Government . And since my nephew had asked me questions about Algebra, I choose Algebra II from the list of courses being offered. Hopefully this course would help him a lot in learning Algebra.

The first step was to Sign up for a free brightstorm acocuntwhich will give you access to a free episode in every course Second step was to purchase the $49 Algebra II course as taught by Joshuah Thurbee. After confirmation of our order, we were then given a link to launch the course.

Algebra II consists of several video modules such as :
i. Introduction
ii. Algebra Boot Camp – Solving linear equations and inequalities, arithmetic sequences
iii. Boot Camp Graphing - Graphing linear equations and inequalities
iv. Absolute Boot Camp - Solving and graphing absolute value equations and inequalities
v. Systems Boot Camp - Solving and graphing systems of equations
vi. What Is the Matrix - Matrix operations, solving systems with matrices
vii. What’s Your Function - Function notation, domain, and range
viii. Top Secret! - Composition and inverses of functions
ix. The X Factor - Solving quadratic functions by factoring and completing the square
x. Rooting for Quadratics - Solving quadratics using square roots and the quadratic formula
xi. Out On Limb - Simplifying and Solving Rational Equations
xii. Equations Are Radical - Solving radical equations
xiii. The Josh Curve - Exponential growth and decay
xiv. Let’s Get Explicit - Geometric sequences
xv. Getting to Second Base – Logarithms
xvi. All In The Family - Circles, parabolas
xvii. Let’s Get Hyper! - Hyperbolas, ellipses

I honestly don’t know how valuable this course will be for my nephew, but judging from the course content, the course we have chosen had covered a lot of the advanced topics in Algebra.

All Brightstorm courses are accessible 7/24 for a year starting from the subscription date and with a 30-day guarantee period for customers who are not completely satisfied.

My conclusion is that Brightstorm offers an excellent option for you to consider helping your teenage son or daughter get to deepen their understanding of their high school subjects and a good way for them to prepare for college.

Ladder Safety

2008-12-22T21:20:00.002+08:00

Here are a few ladder do's and don'ts:

· DO position extension ladders correctly. For stability, a ladder has to be planted with its feet one-quarter of its extended length away from the house. This is not as tricky to calculate as it sounds: If it's a 12-foot ladder, that means it has to be positioned 3 feet from the house. For a 16-foot ladder, make it 4 feet. There is also a sticker on the side of ladders that illustrates the angle that the ladder should be placed. It looks like a capital "L," with the bottom of the "L" parallel to the ground.

· DON'T carry an extension ladder upright as you move it. This is a maneuver best saved for the clowns at the circus. You could easily lose control of it in this position, smashing windows and gutters along the way, and knocking into power lines. Instead, lower it and carry it parallel to the ground.

· DO make sure the ladder is positioned on a level surface. DON'T try to use rocks or bricks to prop up one side of it, figure these will fail just as soon as you reach the top.

· DON'T ever work on ladders alone. A helper can keep you from making stupid mistakes, such as having the ladder fall down while you're stuck up alone on the roof .

If there's one guiding principle with respect to ladders, it's this: If you feel squeamish, don't go up. Period.

Got A Wish ?

2008-12-22T09:08:00.001+08:00

This Christmas, what gift do you plan to give to your parents who are living overseas? Well, why not try to give them something different and cool this Christmas by giving them a CEIVA Digital Photo Frame together with a Picture plan? Yes, it’s a super cool digital photo frame with an 8" hi-definition display like no other. Just plug the CEIVA Photo frame to an existing phone line and your family members or friends anywhere in the world could send photos directly to the frame. And if you order right now, you could have $100 off the regular price.

By the way, if you check out the page for the CEIVA Digital Photo Frame, you might notice that they have a CEIVA "got a wish" SWEEPSTAKES. With no purchase necessary to enter the contest, this Sweepstakes is open to any individual who is 18 years of age or older and is a legal US resident. Just go to the sweepstakes site www.SitonSantasLap.com, upload your digital photograph, provide all requested information, and then click the "Submit" button to transmit your entry to the sweepstake. There is a $500 cash prize for each randomly picked winner!

So why not check out this contest and the cool CEIVA Digital Photo Frame today!

Checklist in Childproofing Your Home

2008-12-22T08:08:00.001+08:00

Every parent begin to worry about his/her child health and safety the moment their first child is born. The normal, active, physically healthy child will occasionally have some cuts and bruises.
What can you do then to control the impact of many injuries ? Childproofing your home should begin prior to your child learning to crawl because once he/she becomes mobile, you are faced with an ever-increasing, intensely curious whirlwind of activity. Inspect your home while you have the time to do it thoroughly.
Childproofing does not mean moving breakables to higher shelves. It means locking, securing, relocating or removing anything that may pose a potential danger to a child.

Here’s some checklist as a starting point for childproofing your home.
· Install covers over all electrical outlets.
· Install smoke alarms on all levels of your home.
· Place gates at stairways-top and bottom.
· Lift blind and drapery cords out of the reach of children.
· Use specially designed door stops and knobs that prevent children from opening forbidden doors.
· Turn down your water heater thermostat to between 120 degrees and 125 degrees to prevent scalding young skin.
· Install "child-resistant" locks on all cabinets within the child's reach. Remember, what is child resistant to most children may not be to yours, so don't assume that with the locks in place your child is safe.
· Remove all cleaning fluids and agents from lower storage areas.
· Keep all medications, including topical ointments such as insect repellents, inside a cabinet that is locked with a key. And place the key where the child cannot reach it.
· Keep all electrical and phone cords bundled and out of reach.
· Never leave a small child alone in the bathtub for even "just a second."
· Many houseplants are toxic. Find out which ones are and, if you have any of them, remove them from your home.
· Make sure that any potentially dangerous items are stored out of reach and/or locked up.

In addition-
· Place the number of the nearest clinic, hospital near your phone. Include with it your child's weight, allergies and any special medical conditions so you won't have to remember these when in a panic. It will also be available there for a babysitter or visiting relative.
· Have a first aid kit and know what to do with its contents.

Remember, childproofing is not a 100 percent guarantee that your child will be safe from injury. It is not a babysitter. Parents must still be vigilant. At best, childproofing slows down the curious young child.

You Need A Budget Software

2008-12-21T20:48:00.005+08:00

A lot of people today are worried especially of the recent recession. In this economic hardship times, we really need guidance on how to budget and manage our money properly.

While surfing through the net, I came across You Need A Budget (YNAB) Pro software that is a personal budgeting program. Using the budget software provides a system for planning and executing short term and long term budgeting goals much more effectively. It will help you budget your money wisely in order to save a certain amount of money monthly until you would be able to save a full month worth of your expenses. Your savings could now serve as your buffer.

The YNAB Methodology uses four rules of cash flow management:
1. Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck - This refers to having to save enough money to live on last month’s salary.

2. Give Every Dollar a Job - You allocate all your funds that you have Available to your spending/saving categories until there are no more available dollars.

3. Prepare for Rain - This YNAB rule will help you allocate funds for emergencies or unexpected repairs. By allocating funds to these types of budget categories, you will avoid panic when these events occur.

4. Roll with the Punches - Using even with the best budget software available in the market, you can sometimes overspend in a Budget Category, YNAB will make small adjustments with that overspending, ensuring that you fix those mistakes before you go on to the next month.

Robot made of scrap materials

2008-12-21T20:33:00.003+08:00

Mr Wu Yulu, A 46 year old Chinese farmer with very little education has built 26 robots made from scrap materials over the past 30 years.

His first robot could only shuffle along as it could not raise its legs. Over time, his designs became more complex and his creations are now capable of scaling walls, serving water, lighting cigarettes, playing musical instruments and writing calligraphy!

source : Weird Asia News

I just signed up with PayingPost

2008-12-18T18:05:00.005+08:00

Yesterday, I have signed up with PayingPost and just now I received an email from PayingPost that my blog Reference Notes had been reviewed and was approved. This means that I could now browse the open opportunities and if my blog had passed the advertisers requirements, I can reserve those opportunities.

For bloggers like me, this is another way of earning some money through blogging or sponsored postings. The opportunities are vast at PayingPost too. If you have the ability to write, or you love writing articles, then why not consider joining PayingPost too. This way, you are doing what you love by writing articles and likewise you get paid to post. My colleagues who had been blogging have found out that they can turn their blogging into a profitable enterprise. They have been very thankful that I have introduced paid reviews to them. Even stays at home moms have now use blogging as their secondary or extra source of income.

Reviewing products is another great way that you as a blogger can make money. Many companies are willing to sponsor a blog or to hire a blogger to review their current or upcoming products and services. Some companies advertise this need on their website, but most choose to go through various blogging services like PayingPost.com which allow bloggers to pick and choose which products they care to review and then receive payment after developing a good blog post. PayingPost offers this opportunity to you when you sign up with them.

You see, getting opportunities at PayingPost is quite simple too. Just grab some opportunities that are open, write your honest opinion, post it in your blog and wait for your post to get approved.

By joining PayingPost.com also helps in building traffic to your site as you would be able to write a variety of articles. So why not visit PayingPost now and sign up.

For more information, you could also visit PayingPost blog.

Apples - Geek Fruit ?

2008-12-18T11:15:00.003+08:00

An owner of a Fuji apple orchard printed up custom stickers of iPods and the Apple logo. He then put the stickers on his Fuji apples while they were still young and on the trees.

A month later after the apples had matured, he removed the stickers.

As you can see the lack of sun reaching the apple cause them to keep the stickers original design.

No word as to what was done with the box of Geek Apples, but they did say they were quite delicious.

Source : Weird Asia News

Personalized Holiday Gift

2008-12-18T10:39:00.003+08:00

With the holiday season fast approaching; a lot of people are busy shopping for their gifts to their love ones. Shopping for the coolest gifts is not that easy and deciding on the kind of gift to give would really give someone a hard time to decide. Luckily, with the availability of internet, you could do your shopping online without the hassle of crowded shopping malls.

Talking of online shopping, I have stumbled upon Pexagontech.com website which offers great personalized holiday gift ideas. What's great about Pexagon is that from now until the end of the year, Pexagon is offering 20% off 4 awesome personalized holiday gift ideas!

Pexagon have personalized thumb drives that you can buy for as low as $7.99 after discount. These thumb drives are available in 14 colors and up to 16GB in capacity. Since it’s a personalized gift, it comes with FREE custom laser engraving. You could choose from 32 exciting themes such as "#1 Teacher" or "Happy Holidays" and also choose to engrave two lines of personalized text on the reverse side. They also have personalized pens for as low as $1.59 after discount. These pens come in 3 unique styles, multiple colors and a free line of personalized laser engraved text! For the environmentally friendly gifts, they have the wooden flash drives. And if you are looking for a simple but elegant gift for your business associates, you can choose the Business Card Flash Drives that looks like a business card. The back side of this card hides a small USB cable (with huge 2GB capacity) and the front side can be engraved for free with 3 lines of personalization text, for as low as $15.99 after discount.

So hurry, visit Pexagontech.com now to choose your personalized holiday gifts. Remember the 20% off is valid from now until the end of the year only.

Gremlin creature ?

2008-12-11T10:15:00.004+08:00

Have you seen Gremlims movie ? Well, the Gremlins are those little furry creatures that if you get them wet, they multiply and if you feed them after midnight, they turn pretty evil.

Getting them wet (to multiply) and feeding them (to get pretty nasty) maybe fictitious, but apparently,a Gremlin, mouse-sized primate called a Pygmy Tarsier, has been found alive for the first time in 85 years. These creatures were last seen in 1921 and were thought to be extinct until this recent discovery.

These little Gremlins weigh about 2 ounces, have large eyes, claws instead of fingernails, and are covered in fur to keep warm in the damp and cool environment and were found hiding in the mountaintops of a cloud forest in Indonesia, .

We only hope that nobody will feed these little creatures after midnight.

Source : Weird Asia News

Need Quality Prescription Eyeglasses ?

2008-12-10T15:19:00.003+08:00

As I was surfing the net last night, I stumble upon a website where you could order your stylish and quality eyeglasses. The site I am refering to is optical4less.com.

Browsing through Optical4less site, you will be surprise at the amazing deals on high quality prescription eyeglasses for as low as 15 dollars. Not only that, you could choose from the huge selection of their popular optical products. Whether your eyeglasses requirement is for distance, bifocal reading glasses, with single vision lenses, tinted sunglasses, or progressive reading eyeglasses ,Optical4less got all these at a very low price.

Likewise, shopping at Optical4less website was quite exciting as you could use the site's virtual try-on system. The system would allow you to try your chosen eyeglasses virtually. You just have to upload your photo and use the site software to fit on your chosen eyeglasses. With the virtual try-on system, you could also try to add special effects like tinting of glasses, adding/removing of cliparts such as mousetache, etc.

Ordering more than 1 pair of their trendy eyeglasses would entitle you to free worldwide shipping and with their fast delivery service, your glasses would arrive within a week. If you order 4 pairs of glasses or purchase $150 in a single order, you are entitled to a $50 value free gift. So what are you waiting for, visit Optical4less.com now to order your stylish eyeglasses.

Top 10 EC Droppers - November 2008

2008-12-05T14:26:00.000+08:00

Thank you to all who have been actively coming over to my blog and thank you to those who do not make it to this month top 10 list. Hope that you would be in my December 2008 list.

Top 10 EC Droppers for the Month of November 2008

Did marrow transplant cure AIDS?

2008-12-05T10:23:00.000+08:00

An American man who suffered from AIDS appears to have been cured of the disease 20 months after receiving a targeted bone marrow transplant normally used to fight leukemia, his doctors said.

Tough Choices for Treating Breast Cancer

2008-12-05T10:20:00.000+08:00

A new and experimental treatment for breast cancer means that patients and doctors must choose treatments based on incomplete research.

Children Toys

2008-12-04T10:48:00.003+08:00

With the holiday season fast approaching, have you prepared your shopping list ? Well, number one on your shopping list maybe toys for your children. But do you know that scientific evidence showed that some toys maybe a health threat to children ? Yes, its a health risk as children can be exposed to chemicals from many sources, and because the effects of these chemicals maybe cummulative, we should be very careful in choosing the toys that we are buying. One should avoid buying toys that contain dangerous chemicals such as cadmium, lead, arsenic, bromine and mercury. These chemicals such as lead can harm brain development, with effects including reduced IQ, shorter attention span, and delayed learning. Cadmium is a known human carcinogen, and can harm the kidneys and lungs. It can have adverse effects on motor skills and behavior.

So this coming holiday season, choose safer toy products as your gift.

For more information about children's product safety and hazards, please visit Kids in Danger Website.

511 Tactical Pants

2008-12-03T16:25:00.003+08:00

Are you looking for pants that are durable and are made of quality materials ? Well, the good news is, you could find this at Work Boots USA. Work Boots USA does not just offer ordinary pants, but 5.11 Tactical series pants which has a 30 year history of serving law enforcement, military or firefighting personnels and has consistently stood the test of time. These tactical pants are durable, long lasting and are made of high quality materials that provide comfort to the wearer.

Listed below are just some of the tactical pant products at Work Boots USA that you may be interested :
a. 5.11 Tactical TDU Poly/Cotton Rip-Stop Pant - these teflon treated water resistant pants consist of 65% polyester and 35% cotton ripstop. It has a double knee / removable neoprene knee pads, expandable comfort waist with reinforced waist band, BBS™ cargo pockets with magazine keepers, hook-and-loop closures and triple stitching and rear utility pockets.

b. 5.11 denim pants - These 100% cotton denim pants has hidden pockets inside front and back waistband. It also has hidden magazine pockets and hidden handcuff pockets.

c. Tactical Covert Khaki Pants - These khakis feature an 8.8-oz., wrinkle and fade-resistant cotton twill that’s been treated with Teflon® for stain and soil resistance. These khaki pants feature a flat front and a total of 8 pockets: two traditional style front pockets, each with interior zipper-closed pockets for magazines or accessories, plus two standard rear pockets and two concealed vertical thigh pockets with zippers hidden along the side seams.

d. 5.11 Tactical HRT Flash Fire Resistant Jumpsuit - features 5.11’s proprietary fire resistant FR-X3 fabric which is lightweight, breathable and functional fabric.

Currently, the above 511 Pants are on a promotional discounted offer and even if you are not working as a military or firefighting personnel, you could order one for your own personal use.

Other best selling products of Work Boots USA are tactical clothing, uniforms, outerwear, footwear, eyewear, duty knives, tactical gear, holsters, etc.

With the holiday season just around the corner, I think I know what gift I should buy for my uncle who works as a fire marshal in our town.

Julian Beever Amazing Arts

2008-12-01T10:52:00.007+08:00

His art is extremley unique and very amazing. This guy makes
his paintings on the footpaths and pavements but when you
look at them from a certain angle, they appear to be 3D !!!
And in some cases they are just lifelike !

I strongly feel that everybody should know about such an
amazing artist named Julian Beever and get a chance to praise his unique art!

Here are some of his truly amazing works.

Taking The Plunge

Red Car

Butterfly

White Water Rafting

Batman And Robin To The Rescue

To see more of his amazing arts, visit Julian Beever site

Photo Credit : Julian Beever

XML Developers Contest

2008-11-28T17:42:00.007+08:00

Are you a student studying computer related course, a computer professional or one who loves computer programming ? Then I have a good news for you. IDUG is currently sponsoring a contest especially for you. Yes, its a developers (students, professionals and hobbyists) contest to increase awareness and familiarity with XQuery, XML and DB2.

The contest consists of five different categories of varying skill levels and you could enter in either of the 5 categories or join in all of the categories. The 5 categories are as follows :

i. Video Contest - Upload your video regarding the creative use of XML, XQuery or DB2.

ii. Gadget Contest - Develop a downloadable gadget or widget leveraging DB2.

iii. Query Contest: - Using XQuery, you need to answer a series of questions. All correct answers (answer and query structure) entered to win larger prizes.

iv. Ported App Contest - Port an an existing application to use XML, XQuery or DB2. You could enter as an individual or you could form your team.

v. Develop an application - Develop a useful and user-friendly application using XML, XQuery or DB2. You could enter as an individual or assemble a team.

For each contest category that you join, you will be able to earn participation points. Also, a XML Grand Master status will be awarded to the one who amasses the most participation points.

By joining the contest, you can gain some well-deserved recognition for your skills. Oh yeah, have I mentioned that there's thousands of dollars in prizes to be won, ranging from Wiis to complimentary technical conferences.

So hurry, join IDUG contest now. Good Luck !

Things you should know about the Internet

2008-11-28T17:39:00.002+08:00

It has been more than a decade when Internet became popular, but would you like to know more about it. The internet has greatly influenced our lives today and it became a new medium for us to express our thoughts. Even businesses had made use of it for advertising purposes, shopping portals and for many other innovations that had greatly benefitted us. It has also provided jobs to a lot of people especially to those working at home. Read more about the internet by clicking tbe link below.

10 Things You Should Know About the Internet

Gifts for Holiday Season

2008-11-25T10:36:00.004+08:00

With the holiday season just around the corner, people are busy preparing their shopping list now for their Christmas gifts. I, too, am preparing my own gifts for my nieces, nephews and for my long list of godchildren. I am thinking of toys for them. You see, toys are a great gift idea as children around the world love playing toys. Luckily we have the internet now as its worth shopping oline to find the best and most popular cheap toys.

Two of my newphews are now teenagers so I am thinking of electronic games as my gift to them. Nintendo Wii console would be great for them I think. With "Wii fit" games, it will be a great fun for the whole family. Not only that, Wii fit would improved health for the whole family as playing the game would increase ones physical activity. My office colleague is suggesting to buy another popular toys for teenagers and that is Mario Kart and Wii Wheel as he just bought one for his teenage son. He said that his son really love and enjoys playing it on weekends. Hhhmmm, now my choices for my gifts are getting better.

I tried to used Google to search more info about Wii and other popular toys and have come to a blog called The Pasty Muncher and I could not stop laughing after reading some of the blog entries. Click this "Wii at work" link to read about one of his funny post about playing at work.

Have you start your online shopping spree ?

Wireless Router Disconection issue

2008-11-25T10:33:00.003+08:00

My friend had ask me what brand of wireless router is good to buy. I was surprise why he wanted to buy another one when he had mentioned to me a few weeks ago that he just bought a wifi router. He had bought a DLink DI-624 model router. So I ask him, what was wrong with his new wireless router. He told me that there were connection issues with his router, ie. his wireless connection often drops and disconnects from the internet.

So I went with him to his place and try to check his router. I tried to check on the internet about Dlink router and I had read a lot of disconnection problems about this model. I've read that you could fix the disconnection problem by upgrading the router's firmware and so we did download and upgrade the router's firmware to DI-624 Revision D firmware version 4.0.4 (beta). After flashing the old firmware and rebooting process, his internet connection had become stable. Problem solved. So if you are having disconnection iissues with your DLink wireless router, you could also try to fix the problem by upgrading the firmware to the latest version.

You'll find the latest DI-624 firmware here:
http://ftp.dlink.ru/pub/Router/DI-624/Firmware/Rev%20D/
(save the file that ends with ".bin".)

HK Clean PC Day

2008-11-21T09:52:00.002+08:00

Today is HK's Clean PC day and members of the public are encouraged by the government to to support it by performing five simple tasks to protect their personal computers (PCs) against cyber attacks.

The five steps are:

1. Change your passwords
2. Check that the personal firewall is operating
3. Apply the latest software patches
4. Update your anti-virus signature files
5. Run an anti-virus scan on your computer

Hong Kong Clean PC Day has been held annually since 2005 and this campaign was jointly organized by Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, the Hong Kong Police Force and the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT. Its aim is to raise public awareness of the importance of information security and to help computer users cultivate the good habit of cleaning up their PCs and minimising the risk of cyber attacks.

Well, I think the campaign by HK Government is a good way for us to keep our PC protected and likewise keep it up to its peak performance by doing routinary maintenance routines such as defragging, housekeeping of files, etc.

Have you perform the 5 steps mentioned above to protect your PC/laptop ?

Duk Ling Junk

2008-11-10T17:30:00.004+08:00

The junk ship that was pictured on the banner of this blog is one of the famous icons of Hong Kong. Chinese junk or sailing boats had once crowded the waters around Hong Kong but those days are gone now and only one junk remains which is the "Duk Ling Junk".

Duk Ling these days is used mainly for private charters, commercials and film making. She was featured in Jules Verne's classic "Around the world in 80 Days". DUK LING was build in Macau 50 years ago and had served as a fishing boat until she was bought by Frenchman Pierric Couderc in 1985. He spent almost three years restoring her to her original glory.

If you happen to visit Hong Kong, you can sail aboard her by joining the Hong Kong Tourism Board's Kaleidoscope programme. Yes, HKTB is offering a daytime harbour cruise for HK visitors. The boat ride last for an hour. There is room for about thirty people per voyage. The Duk Ling leaves from the Kowloon Pier in Tsim Sha Tsui and the Queen’s Pier in Central on Hong Kong Island. So don't miss the unique chance to experience sailing as in the old days and sail Victoria Harbour for a 360 degree view of Hong Kong's impressive skyline. You may contact the HKTB Visitor Hotline at +852 2508 1234 for more information on sailing times.

Funny Pictures

2008-11-04T11:21:00.003+08:00

I received an email from a friend with some funny pictures attached. I have selected 2 pictures which I would like to share it here.

Hopefully these pictures would help you understand computer terminology better and likewise help you in choosing your furniture(s) at home (just kidding hehehe).

Computer Terms

Small Chair

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Virtual Gift Cards from Bookswim

2008-10-29T12:27:00.004+08:00

Thinking of birthday or holiday gifts ? Why not give Virtual Gift Cards from Bookswim. Aside from giving someone a great gift that they will never forget, you have the opportunity to win one of two Sony Blu Ray players that will be given out.

BookSwim offers virtual gift cards which are the perfect gift for those who love to read. Whats more, Bookswim is giving incentives to customers who purchase gift cards between now and December 31, 2008. Read the incentive details below :

INCENTIVES TO BOOKSWIM GIFT CARD PURCHASERS
a. You will receive a $5 gift card to be used by you for every $50 gift card purchased. Similarly, for every $100 gift card you buy, you will receive your own $20 gift card.

b. Additionally, 2 lucky winners will receive a $299 Sony Blu-Ray Disc Player. One entry for every gift card purchase.

c. You are helping the environment by having a tree planted in honor of your gift. Your tree helps balance out new book paper production through a partnership with Eco-Libris.

Click this LINK for more details about this offer.

HK's Peak Tram

2008-10-28T09:53:00.003+08:00

If you want to have a fun and cool short ride up an extremely steep mountain slope, then be thrilled by a ride, take the Peak tram. Pulled by steel cables, the tram climbs 373 meters (about 1,200 feet) up the slope of a mountain to the Peak Tower terminus. Its so steep that the buildings you would pass by look like its leaning at 45 degree angle. Choose to be seated on the right side of the Peak Tram as you have better view. There are some intermediate stations in going up to the Peak Tower terminus. To get off in one of these stations, you would need to press a button found in the middle of the Peak tram.

The Peak Tram Station could be found in Garden Road, Central near St. Joseph building and you can reach it in either of the following ways :

1. Take bus 15C from Central's Pier 6

2. Walk from Central's MTR Station Exit J2, walk along Garden Road which is in between The Bank of China building and The Cheung Kong Centre. The walk to the tram station would takes about 15 to 20 minutes.

Note that during public holidays or weekends, queuing for the Peak Tram may take about 30 minutes.

Peak Tram Operating Hours: 07:00 to 00:00 daily
Frequency: Every 10 to 15 minutes
Website: http://www.thepeak.com.hk

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Firststreet USB Turntables

2008-10-23T11:15:00.001+08:00

For Boomers and Beyond

This unique USB turntable allows you to convert your old vinyl collection directly to CD or MP3 quickly and easily. It plugs directly into your computer using the included USB cable. In addition, it comes complete with dustcover, and all cables are included.

Tips in securing your passwords or PIN

2008-10-17T10:53:00.003+08:00

Nowadays, its quite common to have so many passwords to keep as every time you register to have a new email account perhaps would require you to register and have a unique password for that particular email account. What if you have 5 or 15 accounts for your email, blogger accounts to gaming site accounts, most probably you would be using a pattern in order to remember all these passwords. Aaaahhhh PASSWORD, the most vital info in todays computer age. From using our ATM card PINs to logging to your favorite friendster account, passwords keep your personal information from people who are privy to steal your personal information. Yet the vast majority of people who accesses the internet uses the same passwords for different sites that they have registered.

Here's some suggestion that you may apply to secure your password or PIN use.
a. Give careful thought when creating your password whether it is for online gaming site or your email account. Passwords keep your data private.

b. Never choose anything obvious information such as your name, address or date of birth, spouse name or your child's name.

c. Never use the same password for multiple web sites or accounts

d. Passwords that include the combination of letters and numbers such as 'rx8c64m39' are more secure. Having an alpha-numeric passwords ensures that no one could easily guess your password and hackers will likely move on to try to find other less secure accounts, but again, avoid those easily-guessed alpha-numeric passwords such as '5678lisa'.

e. If you write your password on a piece of paper, ensure that you keep this piece of info in a safe place. Your best bet is to have a password management software that will help you secure ALL your passwords from. Password management softwares operates on a simple concept, all your passwords are contained within it, protected by a master password. Most of these password management programs utilizes 128-bit encryption to keep data secure. Now you only have to memorize ONE complex master password.

f. Do not let other people know of your password or PIN. Not even to your boyfriend or girlriend, if he or she does not have business in accessing accounts, its safer to keep your password to yourself.

g. Change your passwords once in a while.

In summary, make your passwords unique and as complex as you can manage to remember. The better they are, the less you will have to worry about the security of your private personal data - the perfect password is only good as long as just YOU know what it is.

Photo credit : John Shakespeare / www.theage.com.au

6 years old Little Dreamers - Amy and Angelo

2008-10-15T10:31:00.004+08:00

I was able to watch the finals of Pinoy Dream Academy Season 2 last week and was awed by the two 6 years old contestants Amy and Angelo who were both musically talented. These 2 contestants are really great. In fact, Amy Nobleza from Las Pinas City was invited to guest on the award winning talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show. So after Charice Pempengco and Arnel Pineda, this time a 6 years old girl name Amy will show the world that Pinoys really got talent.

Here's some video clips I've got from YouTube.

PDA Little Dreamer AMY singing "what's love got to do"

PDA Little Dreamer ANGELO singing "I want to break free"

Ngong Ping 360

2008-10-13T10:31:00.002+08:00

Ngong Ping 360 is a scenic cable car ride which transports people from Tung Chung MTR station to the Big Buddha and vice versa. If you have ever been in a ski gondola before, the experience is quite similar. Each Ngong Ping cable car can fit up to 17 passengers.

From Tung Chung MTR, the cable car would rise dramatically on top of body of water and one could view the skycrapers of Tung Chung likewise riders of the Ngong Ping would enjoy the great view of HK Chep Lap Kok Airport with full view of airplanes which are taking off and landing. The almost 6 kilometer journey ends in Lantau Island where one could enjoy the panoramic views of Lantau’s mountainous terrain and the ocean beyond. Ensure to get ready of your digital camera to capture the great views on your journey. Near the Lantau Island station is a rustic Chinese village wherein tourist could fancy shopping for souvenirs. The place have it's own charm in spite of a lot of tourist visiting the village.

In going back to Tung Chung MTR, there's a long queue on the cable car as hundreds of people are waiting to get on, especially on weekends or public holidays, but luckily, the line moves quickly. Waiting time may last for about an hour.

Daddy, may I please borrow $25?

2008-10-08T10:07:00.003+08:00

Here's an email I received today which I would like to share. Its definitely worth to read it.

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

SON: 'Daddy, may I ask you a question?'

DAD: 'Yeah sure, what it is?' replied the man.

SON: 'Daddy, how much do you make an hour?'

DAD: 'That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?' the man said angrily.

SON: 'I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?'

DAD: 'If you must know, I make $50 an hour.'

SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.

SON: 'Daddy, may I please borrow $25?'

The father was furious, 'If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don't work hard everyday for such childish frivolities.'

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down , and started to think:

Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00 and he really didn't ask for money very often The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

'Are you asleep, son?' He asked.

'No daddy, I'm awake,' replied the boy.

'I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier' said the man. 'It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $25 you asked for.'

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you daddy!' he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.

The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.

The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

'Why do you want more money if you already have some?' the father grumbled.

'Because I didn't have enough, but now I do,' the little boy replied.

'Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to

have dinner with you.'

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $50 worth of your time with someone you love.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours. But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

Tips for those wearing Orthodontic braces

2008-10-03T14:27:00.003+08:00

For those wearing braces or other orthodontic appliances, keeping your teeth and gums clean may be a bit more difficult and tedious, but the resulting smile will be worth the effort. If you wear braces, here's some Do's and Don'ts for you to follow :

Braces Do's
a. After meal, brush your teeth. If you can't brush right away, rinse your mouth (and removable appliance) with water.
b. Floss every day. Your orthodontist can give you a floss threader if you're having difficulties.
c. Chew only sugarless gum.
d. Call your orthodontist if anything is loose or broken.

Braces Don'ts
a. Don't miss your orthodontic appointments. Missed or delayed appointments mean you'll have to wear your braces longer.
b. Don't eat hard, sticky or chewy foods, crunchy foods.
c. Don't chew on pens, pencils, ice, fingernails or anything that might break your braces.

Shiny clean teeth and fresh breath are good reasons for practicing good oral hygiene, but the most important reason is that keeping your gums and teeth clean and healthy will help you keep your teeth throughout your life. Although some diseases and conditions can make dental disease and tooth loss more likely, most of us have a great deal of control over whether we keep our teeth into old age. Wouldn't you rather be chewing with your own natural teeth?

Creating a New Hard Drive Partition

2008-09-29T12:21:00.000+08:00

I found one useful FREE software that could be a good alternative to Partition Magic. This software is called EASEUS Partition Manager.

Creating a New Hard Drive Partition

As Partition Magic alternative, EASEUS Partition Manager is an excellent partition management freeware for home users only. It not only provides with convenient user-interface simplifying your tasks but also enables you to configure and manage partitions of hard drive.

With the help of EASEUS Partition Manager, you can create, delete, format partitions on your hard disk quickly and easily. The most attractive feature is that it can resize/move your partitions by using the free spaces without destroying data.

Here are some of the main functions of EASEUS Partition Manager:
a. Resize/ Move partitions
b. Support hardware RAID
c. Create partitions
d. Delete/ (delete all) partitions
e. Label partitions
f. Format partitions
g. View Disk/Partition property
h. Set Active
i. Hide/Unhide partitions

Why not have a try and see how powerful these functions of this free partition software are? You could download EASEUS Partition Manager here.

Note : It is always a good practice to backup your data before using the tool.

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SportsVids

2008-09-29T11:58:00.010+08:00

I have always been a sports enthusiast, that is why I have a huge collection of sport videos and magazines at home. Likewise, when I am surfing or browsing through the different websites, I am fascinated at the online sport videos or clips that were uploaded by fellow bloggers or webmasters.

For every world sport event that is shown on TV, I ensure that I watch the 5 sport events that I enjoy so much. These are basketball, swimming, soccer, gymnastics and tennis. I got so excited and happy when I found out about a website that was put up for sports enthusiast like myself. The site was SportsVids. SportVids site is a social network for every sport fan who want to share their favorite sport videos with friends and family around the globe. Here on SportsVids, you could watch videos or video clips not only of the 5 sport events that I have mentioned earlier but of several other sports like boxing, track and field, football, golf, hockey, and more. SportsVids is a one stop site for all sport videos that you and I could possibly want to see.

So to my friends and fellow bloggers who are sports enthusiasts, go to SportsVids website to upload and share your top sport video highlights.

Lastly, allow me to share the 5 sport video highlights that I have chosen from SportsVids website.

Michael Phelps World Record 200m Fly - Click here for more sports videos

Malerie Dozier - Beam Routine 09-07-08 - Click here for more sports videos

The best of Kobe Bryant - Click here for more sports videos

David Beckham Highlights - Click here for more sports videos

Federer vs. Nadal: Wimbledon 2008 - Click here for more sports videos

T-Mobile Launches G1 Google Phone - HTC Android Phone

2008-09-24T16:30:00.003+08:00

T-Mobile, Google, and HTC had just launched the G1 - the world's first Android-powered phone. Check it out.

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Just Sign Up with PerformancingAds

2008-09-22T17:05:00.004+08:00

Today, I have just registered to PerformancingAds. To my fellow bloggers who have not heard of PerformancingAds, this is another way of monetizing your blog. It is an ad network and claim to be the largest ad marketplace for the 125×125 ad button, which has slowly become the ad format of choice for bloggers who wants to make money online.

Some reasons why you should make use of PerformancingAds are as follows :
1. Have years of experience buying and selling ads
2. Fully-automated, self-serve ad system
3. The largest 125×125 ad marketplace on the planet
4. Automatically get paid at the end of the same month you earn your money
5. Book your own ads… for free
6. Built by publishers, for publishers

They also offer an effective way to generate traffic for your blog: traffic exchange
- Earn credits when advertisements are booked in your regions
- Use those earned credits to have your own exchange ad displayed on other publisher sites

For Advertisers, PerformancingADs are offering a $25 off from your order of $100 or more. Here are some good reasons why you should also choose to advertise with PerformancingAds:
a. Have years of experience buying and selling ads
b. Easily buy targeted advertising on influential blogs, with many more coming online every day
c. Quickly advertise across entire blog networks, reach your widest audience with one ad buy
d. Advertise to your niche audience, effortlessly
e. Simple to use and with quick results

So what are you waiting for ? Go ahead and sign up for an account today at PerformancingAds.

For bloggers or Publishers, start Making Money With PerformancingAds or if you are a business owner, place your Targeted Blog Advertising With PerformancingAds and increase your sales revenue now !

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Celine/ Charice Duet "Because You Loved Me" Part 2

2008-09-17T10:41:00.000+08:00

Celine Dions Concert Tour at Madison Square Garden Manhattan, New York with Charice Pempengco as her guest.

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Celine/ Charice Duet "Because You Loved Me" Part 1

2008-09-17T10:36:00.001+08:00

Celine Dions Concert Tour at Madison Square Garden Manhattan, New York with Charice Pempengco as her guest.

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The 7 children in "The Sound of Music" after 40 years!

2008-09-12T17:27:00.002+08:00

The Sound of Music is a 1965 film. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1965 and is one of the most popular musicals ever produced.
Still remember the 7 children of The Trapp Family?

They were having a reunion after 40 years and all were looking healthy and amazingly well.....

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iLASIK and LASIK usage in the military and NASA

2008-09-10T14:34:00.005+08:00

For almost 5 years now, civilians sufferring from astigmatism or have vision problems have benefited and had regain their 20/20 vision through the use of the latest laser vision correction technology called LASIK. The US military and NASA had validated the facts about LASIK technology established standards of safety and effectiveness in correcting ones vision. Knowing very well that a 20/20 vision is one of their personnel's most important asset in undertaking their critical mission, NASA and the US Department of Defense had tapped the use of modern LASIK to increase the performance of their specialized personel. “The DOD and NASA have validated the fact that today’s LASIK exceeds all established standards of safety and effectiveness,” said Steven Schallhorn, M.D., a retired U.S. Navy captain and leader of clinical research and studies done for the DOD regarding the use of LASIK. The use of modern LASIK has greatly benefitted NASA and US military as out of 100 military personnel who had undergone the procedure, 95 had achieved 20/20 uncorrected vision or even better. Most of those satisfied personnels are aviators that could attest and recommend the use of LASIK surgery to other naval aviators to regain their almost perfect vision.

So what is Modern LASIK ? Modern LASIK, known as the iLASIK™ Procedure, uses two lasers instead of one, as in earlier versions of the procedure. In the first stage of iLASIK, wave-front technology maps the unique characteristics of the individual’s eyes. Then, an ultrafast, computer-guided laser creates a corneal flap. This laser replaces the handheld microkeratome blade used in older forms of LASIK and makes the procedure exceptionally safe. After the flap is created, the wave-front mapping data guides a second laser for vision correction. The combination of these advanced laser technologies creates a custom-fit procedure clinically proven to provide excellent safety and visual results.

According to Dr. Schallhorn, “technologically speaking, there is no better time than now to join the over 12 million Americans who have benefited from LASIK." So what are you waiting for, visit www.ilasik.com for more LASIK information and to determine whether LASIK is right for you.

Thinkpad R61

2008-09-10T14:19:00.005+08:00

One of my colleague is selling his Thinkpad laptop after using it for about a year. The particular model is Thinkpad R61 and he is selling it at a very good price HKD 4800 (about USD 600). I am now thinking whether to replace my 3-1/2 yrs old Dell laptop with this. Here's the spec of it :

Lenovo Thinkpad R61
- Intel Core 2 Duo T7300(2GHz)
- 2 GB RAM
- 120 GB 5400rpm HD
- 14.1" WXGA 1280x800 Intel X3100 (Max. Shared 128mb VRAM)
- DVD +/-RW
- Intel 802.11abg (Wi-fi)
- Bluetooth
- Modem
- 1Gb Ethernet
- UltraNav, WebCam
- Card Reader
- 4c Li-Ion
- WinVista Home Premium 32
- Weight: 2.4 kg
- Accessories: case and power adaptor
- Warranty until 25-Sep-2010, Parts & Labour; Carry-in

Click on the link here for Thinkpad R61 review

Sometimes, I am thinking what is it with HK people that material things does not last long with them ? Is it the craze to have the latest gadget and be ahead of everyone ?

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Improve Your Flirting Ability

2008-09-05T16:02:00.002+08:00

Have you heard or learned that Extreme Style by VO5 has a put up an online game site called Ultimate Flirting Championship ? Well if not, I encourage you to go to check it out by clicking the widget below this post. Why am I encouraging you to visit the site ? Its because the new game is quite different from all other online games. Its a dating game wherein you have to create your online profile and then show your flirting abilities. You choose some questions to be answered by players and at the end of the game, you get to choose the winner that you like to date with. In real life situation, if you were able to achieved or arranged for your first date with your love one, then you may have worn that Victory Hair using the Extreme Style by VO5.

If you were not successful yet to arrange your first date with your crush, then you may have to try this online dating game and who knows, this game might help you achieve your goal. Just go to Ultimate Flirting Championship website, play the game and improve your flirting ability. If you are a blogger, encourage your readers to play the game too by placing the widget below on your post.

Pork Adobo

2008-09-05T15:41:00.000+08:00

Adobo is one of my favorite dish and is quite popular in Philippines. Typically made up of pork or chicken or a combination of both, it is usually cooked slowly with soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaf and peppercorns. Adobo has relative long shelf life due to its vinegar ingredients and so its commonly packed by mountaineers.

Ingredients
1 kg. Pork Belly cut into serving pieces
1/2 head garlic, crushed
1 tsp. peppercorns
1/2 c. vinegar
1/4 c. soy sauce
3 pcs. bay leaf
salt
pepper
cooking oil

Procedure:
a. Saute the garlic, and when golden brown add the pork and continue to saute until pork becomes golden brown and starts to sizzle.
b. Pour in 6 to 8 cups of water, vinegar and soy sauce and bring to boil.
c. Continue boiling until meat is tender (add water as necessary).
d. Add peppercorns, bay leaf and continue to simmer until liquid is reduced to almost dry.
e. Serve hot with rice.

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V05's Ultimate Flirting Championship

2008-09-05T15:37:00.002+08:00

Do you love to watch movies ? For those who love watching hollywood movies, surely, they must have heard some famous pick up lines. But have you ever wondered or tried to use these pick up lines in real life ? I have not tried yet as I am not really good in delivering lines so I do not really know whether it would work or not. Maybe, for other persons who are quite good and more confident in delivering pick up lines, some of the famous hollywood pickup qoutes are really effective and may have a positive result. Some example of popular Hollywood pick up lines are :

You think I’m gorgeous… you want to kiss me… you want to hug me… you want to love me… you want to smooch me…

We live in a cynical world. A cynical world. And we work in a business of tough competitors. I love you. You … complete me.

I appreciate this whole seduction thing you’ve got going on here, but let me give you a tip: I’m a sure thing.

Still wondering whether the above lines would really work or not ? Then I urged you to go clicking this link www.VO5VictoryHair.com or clicking the widget below to play the Extreme Style by VO5 Ultimate Flirting Championship game and test your abilities. You could play the game and test out some of these classic lines and see if they really work. And if you are a fellow blogger and love the game, I encouraged you to grab the widget and put it on your blog(s) as well.

Google Chrome

2008-09-05T15:37:00.001+08:00

I have just downloaded a new beta browser from Google. Its called Google Chrome. Its a clean and fast browser that is streamlined and simple. Tabs are separated and according to Google, when one tab crashed, the other tabs would not be affected. It seems that Google is taking the right step by having the browser code to be open source code thereby inviting developers to contribute to its enhancements.

Here's the summarize feature of Google Chrome :
a. One box for everything Web search. Web history. Address bar. Suggestions as you type. One unified box serves all your browsing needs

b. New Tab page Every time you open a new tab, you'll see a visual sampling of your most visited sites, most used search engines, and recently bookmarked pages and closed tabs

c. Application shortcuts Use web apps without opening your browser. Application shortcuts can directly load your favorite online apps

d. Dynamic tabs You can drag tabs out of the browser to create new windows, gather multiple tabs into one window or arrange your tabs however you wish -- quickly and easily

e. Crash control Every tab you're using is run independently in the browser, so if one app crashes it won't take anything else down

f. Incognito mode Don't want pages you visit to show up in your web history? Choose incognito mode for private browsing

g. Safe browsing Google Chrome warns you if you're about to visit a suspected phishing, malware or otherwise unsafe website

h. Instant bookmarks Want to bookmark a web page? Just click the star icon at the left edge of the address bar and you're done

j. Importing settings When you switch to Google Chrome, you can pick up where you left off with all the bookmarks and passwords from your existing browser

k. Simpler downloads No intrusive download manager; you see your download's status at the bottom of your current window

You could go to click this link to download Google Chrome.

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Great American Seafood Cook-off 2008

2008-09-04T17:04:00.005+08:00

Have you heard about the Great American Seafood Cook-Off 2008 ? Well if not, then try to go this website www.GreatAmericanSeafoodCookOff.com and see the delicious recipes prepared by great chefs from different states. There were five contenders that were named in the final round of competition and they were :

1. Chef Paul Anders(Colorado) - Colorado Striped Bass Panzanella

2. Chef Tafari Campbell (Maryland) - Pan Roasted Glazed Rockfish with Peas and Carrots

3. Chef John Currence (Mississippi) - Mississippi Redfish Courtboullion with Seafood Dirty Rice

4. Chef Mark Holley (Texas) - Texas Gulf Shrimp

5. Chef Brian Landry (Louisiana) - Louisiana Shrimp and Andouille Cassoulet

All the above delicious recipes were unique and prepared in detail by the 5 great chefs. Just looking at the pictures of the dishes that were prepared would be a mouth watering experience. Of all the 5 recipes, my favorite recipe was the one prepared by Chef Chef Brian Landry of Louisiana which is Louisiana Shrimp and Andouille Cassoulet. The reason why I like it is because its seems so easy to follow the cooking instructions he had prepared and all the ingredients could easily be source from any local supermarket. Using domestic seafood that could easily be source locally is great because you could ensure fresh products for your ingredients and its always best in preparing healthy and delicious food.

I think having cook off events like this would help recognize great chefs in our area and will also provide enthusiasm to local chefs to be more creative in preparing special, healthy and great dishes for our consumption.

By the way, when you visit the 2008 Great American Seafood Cook-off website, you will get a chance to vote for your favorite seafood recipe and win a "Trip to New Orleans" prize package including two Southwest Airline roundtrip tickets, hotel accommodations, dining experiences and more. So what are you waiting for, I encourage you to visit the website, casts your vote for your favorite seafood recipe and win great prizes.

Final piece of a puzzle

2008-08-27T17:58:00.004+08:00

I find these article from Philippine Daily Inquirer and yes, the article reflects the reality for some Filipinos who were born abroad (ie. not in the Philippines) to have their identity crisis and Filipinos working abroad, feeling the longing to return to their home country. I am one of those who long to return to my home country but opportunities to earn a decent living and safety for my family in Philippines remains the main concern that I still feel that staying put to where we (I and my family) are living now is still the best place. Hopefully, the time to return home would be in the near future.

Final piece of a puzzle
by Krisanne Alcantara
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:57:00 02/09/2008

The great Filipino Diaspora has resulted in countless Filipinos settling down all over the world, in countries such as the United States , Canada and Australia . These Filipinos are admired for uprooting completely and attaining the coveted Western dream, all-inclusive of the dollar-earning corporate job, Mercedes-Benz, shiny Gap-clothed offspring and glittering palatial homes in the suburbs.
But let me tell you, all that glitters is not gold.

I know, because I am one of those Filipino-Australian /American offspring, part of an entire generation of young Filipino adults who have lived and been raised "abroad," a generation who, despite being born into the Great American Dream of their progenitors, cannot help but suffer from some form of identity crisis.
I am the perfect case study. Born in Manila , shipped to Australia for 10 years, only to be relocated in America , then back in Australia during my adolescence, I had completely given up finding a place to call home. Consequently, for years I insisted on calling myself a "citizen of the world." By the ripe old age of 21, I was jaded and slightly defiant, if not a little confused.

That was until a week ago, when I found myself standing in the middle of a traffic-congested road with no distinct lanes, poorly attempting to "para" [halt] a jeepney in the thick of the Manila heat, knowing a total of 12 words in Tagalog and not knowing the difference between a P5 and a P10 coin -- and feeling right at home.
Coming back to the Philippines in my adulthood is akin to the satisfaction of finding that final piece of the puzzle and placing it snugly where it belongs. It is like filling an empty space that you never knew existed. "Where have you been all these years?" I wondered, as sweat poured down my brow and I was almost killed by a reckless taxi driver.

Ironically, I have lived the "dream life" abroad like so many Filipinos constantly tell me they are desperate for. Whenever I mention that I currently reside in Australia , this revelation is always immediately followed by something along the lines of "Ay, Australia , gusto ko 'dyan!" [" Australia , I want to be there!"]
And with good reason. Me too, I like it in Australia . It's practically impossible not to like the country. It is so clean and so green, there is hardly any traffic and the weather obeys the seasons: winter means "cold" and summer means "hot."
Yet, now, after years of desperately trying to find this elusive place called home and instead being offered breathtakingly beautiful substitutes, I find myself loving a country where winter means "hot," and summer means "heat so excruciating you may as well be living inside a furnace." It's a country where people stare at me like an alien when I attempt to speak Tagalog (and oh, I try so hard), and a country where the skyline is defiled by billboards of heavily airbrushed superstars advertising anything, from hair products to coffee creamer.

What many people don't know about we "lucky" Filipinos who have lived abroad our entire lives is that there is a tug-of-war that happens beneath the surface for many of us. There is an entire generation of Filipino young adults who have been brought up in another country, who experience a constant, underlying struggle between the culture that runs in their blood, and the culture that they live and breathe on a daily basis.
We are the young people who have been forced by our parents to adopt English as our first language and eat Weetbix and Cornflakes for breakfast. We nonchalantly take our SATs or HSCs, knowing that getting into universities is no drama, and neither is finding some form of employment if we fail.
Yet there is some kind of inexplicable emptiness that is hard to fill, or even admit, that is common among many of us Fil-Oz and Fil-Am youngsters.
I know this, having Filipino cousins and friends in both America and Australia . Within many of us lies the similar, disjointed feeling of being neither here nor there, being neither wholly American/Australian nor wholly Filipino.

Please don't misunderstand me. I love Australia . It has been very kind to me, and I would not be sitting here had it not generously awarded me a free education at one of its most prestigious universities and then sent me to work here, expenses paid. And I know it sounds shallow, but boy, is Australia beautiful.
But the Philippines possesses a different kind of beauty that does not have to do with immaculate greenery, flawless stretches of golden desert and glittering turquoise ocean. In my opinion, the Philippines is beautiful because of its irony and its endearing imperfection.
A Third World country with gargantuan shopping malls to rival the world's best. A country with the most shopping malls, and also the most slum areas and poverty. A country so devoutly Roman Catholic yet also one of the most destitute and plagued with the most problematic of governments. And a country whose citizens are labelled "the happiest people in the world," according to the Chinese Asiaweek.
I have witnessed firsthand the breathtaking opulence of Malacañan Palace during vin d'honneur, and I have visited slums where shanties are packed so tightly together that the tiny doors can only open inwards and children run around barefoot and naked. I have witnessed both Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo' s presidential address beneath a glittering crystal chandelier and the heartbreaking sight of a sweating man standing in between two lanes of traffic, balancing a stand of peanuts on one arm and his toddler in the other..

The Philippines is such a charming, enchanting, endearing mess of a country. Nothing really seems to fit, yet it all does.
And it reminds me a bit of myself. Perhaps that's why I feel like I fit right in. Perhaps that's why after all these years I can say I have finally, thankfully, found my home.
So, for all you fellow Filipinos here in the Philippines who dream of a life abroad, I am not telling you to stop dreaming. Explore your horizons.. Go to college, apply for scholarships, and work abroad. Just know where you came from, and feel blessed to have what you have. And never forget to come back to help your fellowmen, your people.
And to the lost souls, the confused "citizens of the world" like me who may be reading this: Don't lose hope. As the famous saying goes, "Life is a voyage that's homeward bound." In other words, no matter where or how far you wander, don't fret -- you will one day end up where you belong. Take it from me.

Krisanne Al cantara, 21, is a journalism student at the University of Sydney . She won the Myer and AKF journalism scholarship and is currently an intern at the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

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Dolphy At 80

2008-08-26T12:27:00.002+08:00

Got this from my email. I am a fan of Dolphy when I was a kid and I love watching his movies. So to all Dolph's fan, read more about him below.

Rodolfo Vera Quizon, lovingly known as Dolphy, turned 80 on July 25. To celebrate his being "weighty at 80," his son Eric published Dolphy's biography entitled "Hindi Ko Ito Narating Mag-Isa", as told to Bibeth Orteza.

Comedy King...

Woman-lover and Ladies' Man...

Bombilya King...

Dolphy is all that - and more...

As a nod to his birthday, Conversations is giving you "80 snippets" as a preview to the predicted best-seller. Here it goes:

1. I was born on Calle Padre Herrera on July 25, 1928. Orig na Tondo Boy. I was about 13 when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

2. M y father was Melencio, son of Modesto Quizon and Adorable Espinosa. He was earning well as tagagawa ng makina sa bapor at the Atlantic Gulf .

3. M y mother was Salud, daughter of Maximo Vera and Ninay de la Rosa . She owned a tailoring shop at home. She was the
first cousin of Rita Vera Avellana, mother of Lamberto Avellana. M y siblings and I called our parents Papang and Mamang.

4. At that time, I could wat ch movies for free because I sold peanuts and butong-pakwan inside, and also
singkamas malamig.

5. Radio was a hit at that time. The couple Dely Atay-Atayan and Andoy Balunbalunan were the pioneers of radio shows..

6. I am the second of 10 children - Corazon, Rodolfo, Josefina, Mel encio Jr., Laura, Aurora, Jorge, Jaime, Teresita and Jaime.

7. I was circumcised by a barber at the bathroom under our house. When I saw blood, I swallowed the guava leaves I was
chewing, which was to be used to cover the wound.

8. Pre-war. I started studying in a public school when I was six. My right hand could reached my left ear so I was accepted in Grade 1.

9. My allowance was two centavos when I was in elementary and 10 centavos in high school. At the Chinese store, you could buy a cup of coffee for one centavo and tinapay na may laman for another centavo.

10. My favorite subjects were History and Arithmetic. Augusto Chico, 'yung nakalaban ni Asiong Salonga, was my classmate.

11. Japanese Time. I did odd jobs, including shining shoes, pagkakabit ng mga butones ng pantalon sa pagawaan (fixing pants buttons),
taga-salansan ng mga bote na ika-classify mo according to size (put the bottles in an orderly stack & classify according to size), taga-karga ng bigas na mas mabibigat pa sa akin sa pier, nag-buy-and- sell at naging kutsero.

12. I watched stage shows at the Life Theater and Avenue Theater starred by Pugo at Tugo, at Bayani Casimiro (Life) at pambato sa drama si Rogelio de la Rosa ; at sina Patsy, Lupito, Lupita and Gregorio Ticman (Avenue), at pambato sa drama si Leopoldo Salcedo. May shows din sa Lyric at Majestic.

13. My idols in comedy were Pugo and Tugo; sa sayaw (dance) were Bayani Casimiro at Benny Mack.

14. I was turning 17 when Benny Mack got me as a chorus dancer, one month at Avenue and then I moved to Lyric. When
there was an air raid, we would interrupt the show and run for cover at the air-raid shelter in orchestra, kasama ang
audience. Kapag walang bombang bumagsak, tuloy uli ang show.

15. I was also in the shows at Orient Theater. Golay was my first stage name. My dream was to have a solo dance na gaya ni (like) Fred Astaire.

16. My first love was Aida Javier who came from a family of musicians. Mahusay siya mag-piano.

17. During my first roadshow, nakasama ko si Carlos Padilla Sr., lolo ni Zsa Zsa.

18. I met Engracia Dominguez - si Gracia - sa stage show. In our skit, she stood motionless, kunwari portrait, habang kinakantahan ko ng Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa. Nagkaroon kami ng anim na anak - Manny, Salud, Rodolfo Jr., Freddie, Edgar and Raul. Gracia and I separated in 1963.

19. I was among the original OFWs. M ga 1950 'yon. Nag-show kami sa Hawaii , sa Hong Kong . And then, Japan where I saw snow for the first time. It was also in Japan where I met Bimbo Danao, tatay ni Laura Danao at dating artist sa LVN na naging singer. Sikat na sikat siya sa Japan.

20. It was Conde Ubaldo who got me into radio in the late '40s. He was a popular radio writer, director and producer. Isinama ako sa Wag Naman, starring Pancho Magalona, Tessie Quintana and Baby Jane.

21. It was Pancho Magalona who recommended me to Dr. Jose "Doc" Perez, the starmaker of Sampaguita Pictures. That was in 1952.

22. My first movie was Sa Isang Sulyap Mo, Tita, with Pancho Magalona and Tita Duran. And then came Jack and Jill. Mga bida sina Rogelio de la Rosa at Lolita Rodriguez. I wasn't the first choice. Sina Batotoy at Bayani ang unang kinonsider.

23. Jack and Jill was a komiks serial by Mars Ravelo. After that, I did other komiks characters - Silveria, Captain Barbell, Facifica Falayfay, all by Mars Ravelo.

24. The first time I did drama was in a 4-in-1 movie, with Barbara Perez who played a blind girl. 'Yung episode namin was inspired by the Charlie Chaplin's movie City Lights.

25. When I joined Sampaguita, my fee was P1,000 per movie. When my contract expired, P7,000 per picture na ako.

26. I fell in love with a fellow Sampaguitan but I'd rather not reveal who she was. Sa amin na lang 'yon. She's now in America .

27. It was also in Sampaguita where my team-up with Panchito became popular. Actually, our tandem started on radio, sa mga shows ni Conde Ubaldo.

28. 'Yung song-translation gimmick namin ni Panchito started in Tawag ng Tanghalan, the amateur talent search that produced Pepe Pimentel, Ric Manrique Jr., Diomedes Maturan, Nora Aunor and Edgar Mortiz. Panchito and I stayed in Tawag for six months, then sinimulan namin ang Buhay
Artista where we continued the song-translation portion. Click na click sa audience 'yon.

29. It's not true na naging girlfriend ko si Miss Aruba ( Maureen Ava Viera). Sumali siya sa M iss Universe pageant dito noong 1974. Muntik lang naging kami.

30. I met Gloria Smith in 1956. Nagkaroon kami ng apat na anak - Mariquita, Carlos, Geraldino and Edwin.

31. As a father, I couldn't give my children all my attention when they were growing up. I was really working full time.

32. I was practically jobless when I left Sampaguita. It was Eugenio "Geny" Lopez Jr., na kung tawagin ay si Kapitan, who got me into television. Channel 3 pa noon. Sa kanila nagsimula ang Student Canteen. Hosts sina Eddie Ilarde, Leila Benitez, Pepe Pimentel at Bobby Ledesma.

33. M y first TV show was Buhay Artista, sa ABS-CBN, idea nina Geny at Ading Fernando. Sa radyo, my talent fee was P250-P300 per program. Sa TV, mas mataas ng kaunti, P500 per show.

34. I met Baby Smith. Artista rin siya, Pamela Ponti ang screen name. She was 17, I was 36. Nagkaroon kami ng apat na anak - Ronaldo, Enrico, M adonna and Jeffrey.

35. I began doing movies for independent studios - LEA Productions, Balatbat Productions, Filipinas Productions, Zultana Productions and D'Lanor ni FPJ.

36. FPJ got me to star in two movies in 1964, Captain Barbell and Daigdig ng Fantasia (with Nova Villa), both directed by Herminio "Butch" Bautista, tatay ni Herbert.

37. I put up RVQ Productions in 1965. M y first venture was Buhay Artista, released in 1966. Kami ni Panchito pa rin, kasama sina Susan Roces at Ronaldo Valdez.

38. Ronaldo Valdez's real name is Ronald James Gibbs. He's my discovery, for Pepe en Pilar, pelikula namin ni Susan. We wanted a new face as Susan's partner. I saw Ronaldo in a basketball court and brought him to the presscon so Susan could see him. "Wala bang iba?" Susan said. I brought Ronaldo to the barber shop, bought him a pair of boots at Glenmore and lent him my terno. When I presented him to Susan again, she said, "Iyan pa." She didn't know that he was the same guy I introduced to her earlier. Then I changed his name to Ronaldo Valdez.

39. Because of Jack and Jill, I was typecast in gay roles. My biggest hit is Facifica Falayfay, directed by Luciano "Chaning" Carlos. I did 23 other movies with Chaning.

40. When agent movies were the fad, I also played a secret agent, Dolpinger 1-2-3. Si Chiquito naman, Agent 0-2-10.

41. It's not true that Chiquito and I had a rivalry. May gumawa lang ng ganoon because at that time mayroong Nora-Vilma rivalry.

42. In the '60s, naging fad ang bomba films nina Merle Fernandez, Rossana Marquez, Rosa nna Ortiz at Yvonne. Nag-lie low ako for a while.

43. In 1978, balik ako sa gay role, sa Ang Tatay Kong Nanay where I played a parloristang bakla, directed by Lino Brocka. Kasama ko sina Niño Muhlach as the son of my boyfriend, si Phillip Salvador. Si Jessie Yu ang producer, brother ni Mother Lily.

44. RVQ produced more than 100 films. It had sister companies, Rodzon Film Organization and Rodessa Films.

45. The tsismis was that I had a relationship with all my leading ladies. Hindi naman po lahat. Mayroon ding hindi natuloy.

46. Did I court Nida Blanca, my leading lady in John en Marsha? Hindi po. Ni minsan hindi ko naisipang ligawan siya.

47. John en Marsha started in 1971, a year before Martial Law, on Channel 9. It was the idea of Kitchie Benedicto, head of the station. Before Nida, who was doing Wala Kang Paki with Nestor de Villa, Boots Anson-Roa and Helen Gamboa were considered as my wife Marsha. Before Dely Atay-Atayan, kinonsider din si Chichay as my mother-in-law na mayaman at matapobre. Mga anak namin sina Rolly (Quizon) at Maricel Soriano.

48. John en M arsha was such a big hit that it was made into a movie eight times.

49. I don't need Viagra. Zsa Zsa is my Viagra.

50. Ang type ko sa babae 'yung mestisahin at siempre, maganda.

51. I am known as a Bombilya King, pero imposibleng dahil "doon" sa, alam mo na. Kumalat 'yon after I did El Pinoy Matador. As a torero, my costume was tight, no underwear. Kapag nakaharap ako, naka-marka talaga 'yung akin, parang bombilya.

52. I am shy with women. I start with touching her hand. Pag hindi inalis, may gusto. Pag inalis na may kasamang gulat, medyo ayaw. Pero pag dahan-dahang inalis, ok-ok pa, nagpapakipot lang.

53. In the late '60s while we were shooting in a hospital, I met a nurse, Evangeline Tagulao. Nagkaroon kami ng isang anak. Nasa States na sila ngayon.

54. I met Pilar Pilapil i n 1969 when we shot Tayo'y Mag-Up, Up and Away in Rome, Paris, London, New York, Hawaii and Las Vegas . That was two years after she won the Bb.Pilipinas-Universe title. We almost got married. Ayaw ng parents niya.

55. Then, I fell in love with Lotis Key. I also almost married her. Ang mga babae ko, kadalasan nagkakasabay-sabay, nag-o-overlap sila.

56. In 1981, I met Alma Moreno. We have a son, Vandolph. Why did we break up? Ayoko na lang mag-elaborate. Basta, nahirapan ako sa lifestyle niya.

57. Nang naging kami ni Zsa Zsa, nabulabog ang buhay namin. Nawalan ako ng show; tinanggal ang mga commercials ko. At that time, we seriously thought of living in the States. Nakabili na nga kami ng bahay doon, eh.

58. Zsa Zsa and I have a daughter, si Zia. We also have an adopted daughter, si Nicole who was just a few months old nang ibigay sa akin ng nanay niyang Amerikana. Nasa Hizon's ako noon.

59. Hizon's is my favorite restaurant, sa Ermita'yon. Masarap ang ensaymada nila. 'Yon ang pang-regalo ko sa mga friends ko.

60. When Nicole was baptized, the priest asked me, "Ang dami mo nang anak; bakit gusto mo pang mag-adopt?" Sabi ko, "Tingnan n'yo, padre,
parang anghel. Kung sa'yo ibinigay, hindi n'yo ba tatanggapin? "

61. One of my embarrassing moments...Sa Orient, sumasayaw kami. May lifting-lifting. E, may colds ako. Lumobo ang sipon ko habang binubuhat ko ang partner ko. Palakpakan ang audience.

62. I love shirts by Italian designers. Armani. Gusto ko rin ang Gap at Banana Republic.

63. Sa perfume, Angel.

64. Sa kotse, Mercedes Benz.

65. Sa books, biography. Nabasa ko na 'yung books tungkol kay Frank Sinatra at Charlie Chaplin.

66. Sa color, partial ako sa white. At red na nakuha ko sa Chinese Feng Shui. Red daw is good luck to wear on a Monday.

67. Sa music, ballads. Fan ako nina Frank Sinatra, Doris Day at Ella Fitzgerald.

68. Gone With The Wind was the first color movie that I saw. Other movies that I love are Singing in the Rain and all the Chaplin movies.

69. I also like musicals, 'yung starring Fred Astraire and Gene Kelly. Oo, Sound of Music.

70. My other favorites: Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Jack Lemmon, Hedy Lamarr, Ingrid Bergman, Jack Nicholson, Tom Hanks, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Hilary Swank at marami pang iba.

71. Sa local, 'yung mga paborito ko namayapa na -Leopoldo Salcedo, Rogelio de la Rosa , Jose Padilla Jr.

72. Ay si FPJ siempre. Alaga ako noon ng tatay niya, si Fernando Poe Sr. Ayoko sa pulitika pero nag-kampanya ako para kay FPJ.

73. Oo nga pala, I started in the movies in 1946, kay Fernando Poe Sr. Nanding ang tawag namin sa kanya. I was only 19 then.

74. My zodiac sign is Leo.

75. Mahilig si FPJ sa jacket, so everytime I traveled, ang pasalubong ko sa kanya ay jacket na ginagamit naman niya sa kanyang mga pelikula.

76. Yes, it's true. Mayroon na akong kabaong, bronze. Matagal na. I was among the first to buy a family estate sa Loyola Memorial Park sa Marikina ..

77. Totoo. Madasalin akong tao. Habang nagtre-treadmill, nagro-rosary ako.

78. Do I have any regrets? None. I may not be a multi-millionaire but I feel like one dahil marami akong kaibigan.

79. How do I want to be remembered? As a good person.

80. At 80, of course hindi na ako bagets. Na-kidney operation na ako. Na-bypass. Nagka-tubig.

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LASIK

2008-08-21T16:01:00.004+08:00

With the advancement of technology today, eye surgeons are now better equipped to provide medical eye treatment to their patients through the use of LASIK. So you might ask, what is LASIK ? Lasik is the most commonly performed refractive surgery procedure today which helps improve eye focusing power and enhances patients visual acuity. LASIK is actually short for "laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis." .

Why is it so popular? Its because LASIK has the advantages over other procedures, including a relative lack of pain after the surgery and the fact that good vision is usually achieved. This would mean that those who are nearsighted, farsighted or with astigmatism can now eliminate or reduce their dependency on wearing their contact lenses or thick eyeglasses. They could immediately enjoy the freedom of clear vision at all times and could even engage in sports activities.

Is LASIK for you then ? To determine whether LASIK is right for you, you should have a thorough eye examination from a qualified eye care professional, including several eye assessments such as measurements of corneal thickness, corneal topography and pupil size etc. These assessments will help determine whether or not you are a right candidate for LASIK. During your examination and consultation, you may discover factors of which you were unaware at the time you took this test, which make you a poorer, or a better, LASIK candidate.

If you are considering LASIK and worried that something could go wrong, you might take comfort in knowing that it's extremely rare for complications from this procedure to cause permanent, significant vision loss. Also, many complications can be resolved through re-treatment or enhancements of the eye.

Selecting the right eye surgeon probably is the single most important step you can take to decrease any risks associated with LASIK. An experienced, reputable surgeon will make sure you are properly screened to let you know up front if you aren't a good candidate for LASIK eye surgery.

For a range of LASIK information please visit Eye Surgery Education Council.

Why Men Are Never Depressed

2008-08-21T14:22:00.002+08:00

Received this email and want to share it to others. You could add your comments and provide your reasons too on why men are never depressed.

Men Are Just Happier People--

Their last name stays put.

The garage is all his.

Wedding plans take care of themselves.

Chocolate is just another snack.

Men can never be pregnant.

Car mechanics tell him the truth.

Men never have to drive to another petrol station restroom because this one is just too icky.

Men don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt.

Same work, more pay.

Wrinkles add character.

People never stare at a man's chest when Men're talking to them.

New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle their feet.

One mood all the time.

Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.

Men know stuff about tanks and engines. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase.

Men get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.

Three pairs of shoes are more than enough. Men never have strap problems in public.

Men are unable to see wrinkles in their clothes.

Everything on Men's face stays its original colour.

The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades.

Men only have to shave their face and neck.

Men can play with toys all their life.

One wallet and one pair of shoes -- one colour for all seasons.

Men can wear shorts no matter how their legs look.

Men can "do" their nails with a pocket knife.

Men have freedom of choice concerning growing a moustache.

Men can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.

No wonder men are happier.

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Banzai Fix. Get Your Chopsticks Ready !

2008-08-19T15:26:00.007+08:00

Have you heard about the new game by SreenLife Games ? The new game is called "Banzai". Well, the game's name would have been quite familiar to you as this new game is based on the hit TV show "Banzai". Good news is that the game is now on DVD and could be purchase online. Interested in buying ? Then head over to http://www.banzai.com. Also, you may want to note that that Tako even has his own Myspace page. Here's the URL www.myspace.com/takotheocto.

I am thinking of buying this game so that when some of my friends would come to our house, we can enjoy and have great fun playing this new game together. I even discovered that there are cute wallpapers that could be downloaded. Here's the screenshot of the Tako-gotchi or screensaver that I have downloaded :

Here's a brief summary of how the game is played :
The SHOGUN selects Play Banzai on the DVD menu. A premise for a stunt will appear on screen. After the premise, players have 15 seconds to make their Sushi wagers. Using only Chopsticks, players transfer Sushi from their individual Sushi Bowls to their section of the Community Betting Bowl without touching the Sushi or Sushi Bowl with any part of their bodies! Getting the most Sushi into the Betting Bowl gives you control of the bet and the best odds of winning the round. You could watch the video below to learn more about the game rules of this very exciting game.

ScreenLife Games is at it again. They launched a new Banzai game. Check it out:

Cursor Moves by Itself

2008-08-14T10:45:00.002+08:00

Last night while surfing the net using my ever reliable Dell Latiude D410 laptop, something strange happens. I have seen my mouse moves by itself as if someone had hack to my computer and is trying to manipulate my laptop. So I did try to shutdown my computer and reboot but still the problem persisted. Since I am using a wireless router, I suspected that it maybe caused by some interference or something, so I tried to just ignore it, but then, the problem still persisted that its quite annoying seeing your cursor moving by itself. The cursor moves up by itself to the left of the screen, heading for the topleft corner and then slowly along the top edge to the left corner or sometimes it moves diagonally up or down the corner of the screen.

Does anyone know what could be causing this, I have run a virus scan and adaware and spybot and these programs did not found any virus or malwares. Any ideas ?

Would be grateful if anyone could suggest a fix to this problem.

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Top 10 Email Mistakes

2008-08-13T11:00:00.002+08:00

I received this info from my friend and would like to share this very good tips regarding emails.

Top 10 E-mail Mistakes
Robert Half International

If you're like most professionals, you use e-mail in the office on a regular basis. Because of its immediacy and relative lack of intrusiveness, it's the communication method of choice for many workers, including, chances are, your boss. According to a Robert Half International survey, nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of executives polled prefer e-mail over other forms of communication.

While hitting "send" may be an effective way to get your ideas across, doing so too quickly or without a lot of thought can send the wrong message. Here are 10 common e-mail mistakes and tips for avoiding them:

1. A vague subject line.
The subject line not only lets the person receiving the message know what it's about but also provides him or her with a reason to read it. Some people -- and your boss is probably one of them -- get hundreds of e-mails each day and may not have the time to open each of them. The subject line acts as the window into the message and can also indicate its urgency, so be specific with what you write there.

2. No sign-off.
A weak signature is almost as bad as a weak handshake: Both convey a lack of professionalism. A signature at the end of your e-mail should include your e-mail address, physical work address and phone number. Including these details gives recipients multiple means of contacting you. This information is especially important for people to whom your e-mail might be forwarded or individuals either outside the company or in another office.

3. "Im writing re: the meeting @ 3."
Many people take a casual approach when using e-mail. But what you write is a reflection of your professional self, so take the time to craft complete sentences, use proper grammar and check your spelling. And don't depend solely on your computer's spell-check function, which won't find misused words; review your e-mail carefully before sending it.

4. Going on and on and on.
This strategy might work for the Energizer Bunny, but your goal when crafting a message should be to keep it short. You don't want to write the e-mail equivalent of a novel, so get to the point as quickly as possible, using both short sentences and paragraphs. At the same time, you don't want to write too brief of a message, which could make you appear curt.

5. SHOUTING IT OUT.
Some people like the ease of typing in all capital letters. What they may not realize is this is the online equivalent of shouting, so avoid the temptation of using the caps lock button.

6. Striking the wrong note.
Unfortunately, it's easy for tone to be lost with the written word, especially in shorter messages. An attempt at humor, for instance, may be read as something offensive or inappropriate. If you're not sure how something you wrote will be interpreted, err on the side of caution and leave it out.

7. Weighing others down.
If your e-mail inbox is continually clogged, you know how frustrating it can be to receive large attachments, especially when you don't want them. And, according to a survey we developed, executives agreed, ranking the receipt of large, unsolicited files as the most annoying aspect of communicating via e-mail. Limit the distribution of massive files to people who absolutely need them.

8. Sending to the wrong box.
Before you send a message, always double-check the list of recipients. Many e-mail programs automatically fill in information you've previously typed, such as the e-mail addresses of frequent contacts. If you have multiple people in your address book with similar names, you could mistakenly choose the wrong person and send him or her a message intended for someone else.

9. Mixing business and pleasure.
When the information is confidential or sensitive, this move could limit your career. Any time you use your work e-mail account, the message should be business-related. After all, you are using your firm's resources, and the company has the right to monitor your communication. Get to know your organization's e-mail policy, and have your friends send non-work-related e-mail to your personal account, which you can check at home.

10. Over e-mailing.
Do you find yourself typing a long message in order to avoid confusion on the recipient's part? Do you hesitate to click Send because you think your contact might forward your message to someone who shouldn't see it? E-mail is best suited for quick communication, and, in situations like these, it's wise to call your colleague or speak to him or her in person instead.

With e-mail correspondence becoming increasingly important in the workplace, you can only benefit from learning how to craft an effective message. So keep the above tips in mind the next time you sit down at the keyboard.

Robert Half International Inc. is the world's first and largest specialized staffing firm with a global network of more than 350 offices throughout North America, South America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

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Gas Saving Tips

2008-08-08T10:17:00.003+08:00

Gasoline is very expensive these days. Here are some some tips to save money on gas.

Don't top off:
Don't bother topping off when filling your car's gas tank. Any additional gas is just going to slop around or seep out. Why waste your money paying for gas your car won't use? Stop pumping at the first indication that your tank is full when the automatic nozzle clicks off.

Pump up your tires:
Don't get caught driving on underinflated tires. Underinflated tires wear down more quickly and they also lower your car's gas mileage.
Your car's gas mileage may plummet by as much as 15 percent. Driving on underinflated tires may also reduce the life of your tires by 15 percent or more.

Keep your engine in tune:
Fixing a car that is out of tune or has failed an emissions test can boost gas mileage by about 4 percent. So be sure to give your car regular tune-ups. You'll also want to watch out for worn spark plugs. A misfiring spark plug can reduce a car's fuel efficiency by as much as 30 percent.

Remove weight:
Remove excess weigh from trunk or inside of car - extra tires, back seats, unnecessary heavy parts. Extra weight reduces mileage, especially when driving up inclines.

Avoid rough roads:
Avoid rough roads whenever possible, because dirt or gravel rob you of up to 30% of your gas mileage.

Windows:
Keep windows closed when traveling at highway speeds. Open windows cause air drag, reducing your mileage by 10%.

Drive steadily:
Slowing down or speeding up wastes fuel. Also avoid tailgating the driver in front of you is unpredictable. Not only is it unsafe, but if affects your economy, if he slows down unexpectedly.

Hang with the trucks:
Ever notice how, in bad traffic jams, cars seem to constantly speed up and slow down, while trucks tend to roll along at the same leisurely pace? A constant speed keeps shifting to a minimum -- important to those who have to wrangle with those ten-speed truck transmissions -- but it also aids economy, as it takes much more fuel to get a vehicle moving than it does to keep it moving. Rolling with the big rigs saves fuel (and aggravation).

Air filters:
Replace your air filter when you need to, or your mix won't be right. However don't replace it every time the mechanics tell you to (they make money with it). Try to find out how often you need a new filter.

Combine Trips:
Try to combine trips. If you live outside of town, try to go into town only once and get everything you need done.

Fill your tank at the coolest time of day:
Fuel is denser when it's cool in the early morning or late night.. Your engine consumes fuel by weight but gas pumps dispense fuel by volume. The colder the fuel is when you pump it, the more of it you get for the same money.

Plan your route to avoid traffic jams:
Because you can't avoid excessive idling, braking and acceleration while in a traffic, traffic is usually responsible for a big chunk of your gas consumed. You might avoid jams sometimes however, if you learn traffic patterns in your area and use them to your advantage.

Carpooling:
Sure, it's inconvenient sometimes, but it's the single most efficient way to save money on your daily commute.

Use discount cards:
use it for all your fuel purchases and guarantee yourself an automatic 5% savings.

Lowest gas prices online:
A great site for tracking the lowest gas prices in your area is GasBuddy.com

Walk or bike:
Walk or ride a bike instead of driving your car to school, work, or nearby destinations, if you're able to.

Stop Aggressive Driving:
In their road tests this was the most important factor in saving gas. They found up to a 37% savings with an average of 31% savings. That is like getting $4.00 gas for $2.69. If you slowed your 0-to-60-mph acceleration time down from your current 10 seconds to a more normal city pace of 15 seconds, you’ll feel the savings immediately.

This article is a reprint from widgia site
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Dila Dila

2008-08-07T15:06:00.006+08:00

Dila Dila (or Palitaw in Tagalog) is a Filipino delicacy I used to enjoy eating as snacks when I was growing up. It is made up of sticky rice, coated with grated coconut and sprinkled with sugar and sesame seeds. Its quite simple to prepare. Here's how :

Ingredients
2 cups glutinous rice flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
Dash of salt
3/4 to 1 cup water
2 cups freshly grated coconut
Sugar
Sesame seed (optional)

Instructions
a. In a bowl, combine glutinous rice, sugar and salt.
b. Slowly add enough water to make a dough.
c. Shape the dough into balls about (1" to 1.5 inches) then flatten it to the shape of a tongue (where this ilocano delicacy got its name as "Dila" means tongue).
d. Bring a pot of water to boil
e. Drop several pieces of flatten dough into the boiling water
f. When the flatten dough floats, remove and place in strainer.
g. Drain the water and let it cool a little bit.
h. Coat it with coconut by rolling it in a plate with grated coconut
i. Sprinkle with sugar and sesame seed.

Enjoy your snack with your favorite drink.

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Beijing Olympic Games 2008 Fever

2008-08-04T11:34:00.004+08:00

4 days to go before Beijing Olympics 2008 starts and a picture of a twins in Wu Han Hubei province, just showed how the Olympic games fever had gotten on their heads.

New hair cut craze ?

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God's Pharmacy

2008-07-31T06:18:00.006+08:00

A friend sent this to me. It's been said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish... all before making a human. He made and provided what we'd need before we were born. These are best & more powerful when eaten raw. We're such slow learners...God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body!

God's Pharmacy is Amazing!

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere,upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more thanthree (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak.

Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (mo dern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries

Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just l ike the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

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Bart PE and DriveImage XML

2008-07-28T11:38:00.002+08:00

Just this weekend while surfing the net, I have found 2 free very good softwares that could be useful if ever you need to recover data from an operating system that has failed due to software or physical hardware corruption. These free softwares are as follows :

1. Bart PE or Bart's Preinstalled Environment - this software is very suitable for PC maintenance tasks. It will give you a complete Win32 environment with network support, a graphical user interface (800x600) and FAT/NTFS/CDFS filesystem support. Very handy for burn-in testing systems with no OS, rescuing files to a network share, virus scan and so on. It is a real replacement for those dos based boot disk that we use.

2. DriveImage XML - is a hard disk backup and restoration software similar to Norton Ghost but this software is FREE, the software enables you create a complete backup image of any drive or partition, You can restore later restore the image to same or another partition, you can also clone a drive to another. The program also includes an image explorer similar to Norton Ghost Image Explorer that lets you explore previously created backup images and extract individual files. This software could be plugin to BartPE and could be very useful in backup and recovery procedures.

If you want to learn more about this 2 useful free softwares, just click the link I provided below :
a. Bart PE
b. DriveImage XML

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21 words of wisdom

2008-07-28T09:35:00.003+08:00

This words of wisdom was emailed to me by my friend and I thought its good to share it to others.

ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

TWO. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

THREE. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

FOUR. When you say, "I love you," mean it.

FIVE. When you say, "I'm sorry," look the person in the eye.

SIX. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

SEVEN. Believe in love at first sight.

EIGHT. Never laugh at anyone's dream. People who don't have dreams don't have much.

NINE. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.

TEN. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

ELEVEN. Don't judge people by their relatives.

TWELVE. Talk slowly but think quickly.

THIRTEEN. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, "Why do you want to know?"

FOURTEEN. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

FIFTEEN. Say "God bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.

SIXTEEN. When you lose, don't lose the lesson .

SEVENTEEN. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.

EIGHTEEN. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

NINETEEN. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

TWENTY. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.

TWENTY-ONE. Spend some time alone.

Cisco Certification Programs

2008-07-23T11:06:00.007+08:00

Do you work in IT related field ? Do you find that colleagues getting IT certification often leads to getting job promotions or better job prospects ? Well, do not be left out. Certification is more important than ever. As an IT professional, your abilitiies will often be judged by your employers by the number of certifications that you possess. In IT field, the one which is constant is "change" and an IT professional must continue to keep up with the latest technology or must suffer the consequence of being left out.

One popular certification program among IT professionals is Cisco certification. Known for its comprehensive coverage and grueling difficulty, Cisco’s program is quickly gaining popularity as many professionals are now inclined to pursue Cisco certification to enhance and advance their IT careers.

Cisco provides several paths for certifcation such as :
a. Routing and Switching
b. Design
c. Network Security
d. Service Provider
e. Storage Networking
f. Voice

This certification programs are made available so that you can match your certification path to your job role or industry. Within these paths, Cisco allows you to be certified at up to three levels of technical proficiency :
1. Associate
2. Professional
3. Expert

So open your doors to your IT career advancement -- get empowered now with Cisco Certification. For more information, visit Cisco certification website.

Blogger Backup Utility

2008-07-17T11:23:00.003+08:00

I have always been wondering how could I backup my blog entries as Blogger does not offer export features where one could download or backup the entries in their blog. After searching through the internet I have found one good third party utility that could backup all my blog entries to my hard disk and could also easily restore them in case I had accidentally delete my blog or some of my posts.

This utility is called Blogger Backup. You just login with your Blogger account and select the particular blog that you want to archive to your hard drive. You can either save all your blog posts to one file or save individual files per blog entry. Comments by readers could also be included in the backup process.

If you ever want to recover blog post that are in the local backup folder just hit the "Restore Post" button, select the entries and voila, your post entries are back online in no time.

Get the Blogger Backup utility at Codeplex.com.

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Charter is Offering High Speed for $14.99/month

2008-07-14T16:31:00.004+08:00

Tired of your current ISP unreliable service ? Do you want to get fast internet access connection and a reliable internet service ?

Now is your chance to get them both, fast connection and a reliable service with no long term contracts required. Charter is offering a 30 day Risk free trial of their high speed internet access with speeds as fast as 5 Mbps for an incredibly low price of only $14.99 per month and they are also giving away a $25 Shell Gift card. You also get to enjoy a lot of benefits upon joining Charter such as :
a. automatic protection from viruses, hackers and spam
b. 10 email accounts - now you can have enough email accounts for the your whole family
c. 20 Mb of web space
d. reliable, fast and always on connection
e. Enjoy exclusive contents on charter.net such as news, weather, local movie listings, etc.

So hurry, join Charter internet now as this fantastic limited offer expires on July 31, 2008.

Tutorial : Setting Up your Ipod Touch for Wireless Connection

2008-07-14T15:13:00.007+08:00

1 Enter the "Home Screen" - Enter the “Home Screen” of the iPod Touch.
(You can enter the “Home Screen” by pressing the Home Button of your iPod Touch)

2. Press the “Settings” icon
Press the “Settings” icon from the Home Screen.

3. Choose “Wi-Fi”
Press the “Wi-Fi” icon on the “Settings” menu.

4. Select the Wi-Fi Network
”iPod Touch” will search for the wireless network within its reception range. Please select the network you would like to connect from the wireless network list.

* If the wireless network list doesn’t show up:
Press the icon on the right side of the Wi-Fi icon.
If the wireless net work list still doesn’t show up, there might be a
problem with your “iPod Touch” wireless network.

5. Input the password.
When connecting to network that has encryption, you will be prompted to provide the Password of that network. Please key in the Password and click “Join”.

* If you cannot connect to the network
Please confirm the Password is correct and connect again.

* If the Password is correct and you still cannot connect to the network

Please follow the steps below:：
Enter the “Settings” option from the “Home Screen”, then enter
General” → “Keyboard” → “International Keyboards”, and click the
icon button next to the “English” option. Press the “Home Button” on
your iPod Touch, go back to the “Home Screen”, follow the connecting steps
from step 1 mentioned above. When you’re back to Step 5, please press the
Globe icon on the lower left of the screen and switch the keyboard to
English mode.

6. Wireless Connection Established
After finishing all the setting steps.

There will be a Wi-Fi icon appearing on the upper-left part of the screen. The icon might be different base on the signal strength.

Press the “Home Button” of the iPod Touch, go back to the “Home Screen”, press “Safari” icon, and you can start using the Internet

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Salmonella infects 1000, peppers now eyed

2008-07-11T10:18:00.002+08:00

More than 1000 people have become ill from salmonella first linked to tomatoes. Adding to the confusion is the warning to certain people to avoid types of hot peppers too.

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