Home Sweet Dreams

A New Year Begins

2012-01-09T21:38:00.000-08:00

Good bye 2011 and Welcome 2012 - the year of the dragon. A new year begins now but it is a bit morbid for the world economic outlook. With the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, there is a possible recession this year. Singapore is already in a technical recession as printed in the newspapers and admitted by the authorities. But the Malaysian government seems to always perpetually paint a rosy picture of the Malaysian economy, never giving a true picture of the state of affairs. Perhaps the general election is coming and Najib wants to fish for more votes to continue staying in power.

Blessed are the Diligent

2011-12-09T19:56:00.000-08:00

It is so easy to nap and to rest and relax doing nothing. But this will not bring you profit or income. To earn online, you have to be very determined working consistently all the time. Yes, sometimes we have our moods - not to work too hard and take the easy way out by napping at home. But to consider our retirement, we have to make as much as we can while we are healthy and capable before disability strikes in old age and before sickness sets in. Like the saying goes, 'Make Hay while the Sun Shines' and we should grab every opportunity that comes along our way.

Virtual Assistant

2011-10-21T17:47:00.000-07:00

Besides being an Information Technology executive, I also freelance as a virtual assistant in my home office. Just last week, I was paid USD 250 at USD 10 per hour for work from an Australian engineer who is also a businessman. I was the only person he contacted by internet and he offered me work for 25 hours block. The job was not too difficult and within my capabilities. He paid a 50% deposit payment upon confirmation and the balance upon completion of work. It was all done in a professional manner and I updated him weekly on the job nature and hours worked for the 7 days. He paid me via paypal and it was instant because he happen to be online when I completed the work and promptly paid me the balance. I love working in my humble home office!

Back from Langkawi

2011-10-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

I came back from Langkawi 2 days ago and stayed at Bayview Hotel in Kuah for $255 per nite. For seaview, the price is $285 but there is not much difference between seaview and hill view. In fact, I prefer hill view and you get to see unblocked view of atap roofs, much greenery of the hills nearby and plenty of trees because Langkawi is still very much undeverloped and deliberately planned to be so to retain its natural beauty. I was there for business and after meeting up with the client, I bought cashew nuts, almonds coated with white chocolate, Australian nougats and orange flavoured Lindt chocolate flakes. I also bought a pair of Puma pump shoes for $159 from Al Ikhsan which specialises in selling sports products. My colleague bought 8 futsal balls for over $300 to be given as free gifts to our other client in Kedah.

Offered Virtual Assistance Work

2011-09-30T21:31:00.000-07:00

Just 2 days ago, I was paid 50% for the virtual assistance work to be rendered at only USD10 per hour for 25 hours lump sum. That totals up to be USD125 which is pretty good if you consider I love to nap around in my free time. So, now I will be occupied doing productive work for money. I was contacted directly by an engineer from Australia to check out and compare the flight brokers for their flight prices given a certain date to travel and return from Perth to Kuala Lumpur and back, Perth to Singapore and back, Melbourne to Auckland and back. Apparently this guy loves to travel and is considering the best and economical place to stay for a while.

Life is Good

2011-09-18T02:21:00.000-07:00

Life is precious and I cannot fathom why some confused people would take their own lives and commit suicide. Death is not the end of everything. If you have money problems, then consult your close family members to see if they can bail you out and loan you the cash to tide over. Otherwise, you should stop gambling immediately and learn to kick the habit. Other woes may be relationship problems. Come on, there are 6 billion people on this earth and if your spouse decides to leave you, there will always be another one. It is not the end of the world. Think rationally and life will be good for you.

Earning Money and Keeping It

2011-08-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

It is not how much you earn but rather how much you keep that matters. A person may be earning $5,000 per month but saving only $100 each time compared to another person who earns $3,000 and saving $1,000 every month! So, don't splurge all that you earn on unnecessary stuffs but do try to save up as much as you can for your retirement down the road. This is to ensure that you retirement years are golden and not woeful with hardly enough to feed yourself or pay for medical bills.

So, it takes a lot of delayed gratification will power to save up and enjoy later and not think of instant gratification like purchasing things on impulse. I used to buy and go shopping every week and purchase things that I don't really need and have to live from pay check to pay check every month. There is not a single savings each month and my bank account may go to single digit at the end of the month. This was when I was working in Singapore, splurging on things that I could barely afford to keep up with the Joneses. Since coming back to Penang, I have saved up quite substantially and no longer squander my money on unnecessary stuffs anymore.

Join SAYS.my to earn more money

2011-08-04T23:56:00.000-07:00

Says.my is a Malaysian company that pays you money to share their campaigns. You can earn gifts and points besides cash. Just click on this link at Says.my and let me invite you to click on the link given and sign up to earn more money. It is like Churp Churp that you guys are familiar with but with more features.

Alternatively, you can copy the link below to your web browser and start signing up to earn more $$$ from your internet efforts.

http://says.my/philin/invite

or Click HERE >> http://says.my/philin/invite

Good luck to your venture in earning online income, another campaign from Malaysia. Get rewarded for sharing!

I love to work from my home office

2011-07-03T21:34:00.000-07:00

I just finished my lunch of kerabu bee hoon and a large curry puff, brought back by my youngest sister from Church. This is free lunch for the family. Now is back to blogging time. You might like to know that I work from my home office here in my pajamas. It is quite easy for me since I deal with the computer but it is not easy for my boss who has to deal with so many people - from disgruntled clients to those who default on payment. I sincerely hope that my boss will eventually get all his payment for the work rendered so that the company can continue its business and not wind up. We have more than 20 workers to consider and make payment often as they are paid on daily wages scheme. My boss has been very understanding with me and I hope that the small company will continue to get continuous projects for the rest of the year. Now is the second half of 2011 and the projects are much less compared to 2010. I know this because I keep a record in MS Excel file.

Multiple Sources of Income

2011-06-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

With the rising inflation and cost of living, you need to have multiple sources of income. At the moment, I am gainfully employed to work in a home office for a friend in his sports building business. I also earn by selling Herbalife online via my blogs which does the marketing. I also invest in government bonds to earn some interests at 5% per annum and also from my Fixed Deposits at 3% per annum. On top of that, I also earn some revenue from my several blogs through Adsense, Nuffnang and reviews. As a freelancer on a part time basis, I write articles for cash whenever I am in the mood for it. Therefore, you can say that I have multiple sources of income from my main job and also moonlighting work.

There are Endless Opportunities on the Internet

2011-05-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

Now with the wired world, the opportunities are endless! You can learn graphic design from the internet and create magic to your blogs, web sites, or banners. You can have them animated too using Macromedia Flash which will save your file as .swf as the final product. You can also learn interior design and learn how to decorate your home to make it as cozy as possible with a feel good factor, matching your furniture with the lighting and room decorations. You can also meet potential clients for your business like freelance web designing, article writing, etc. The opportunities are just endless as long as you spend some time to do self study via the internet during your free hours. As a student, you should learn as much as possible in the shortest time.

Going to Johor Bahru in a short while

2011-04-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

Now I am waiting for the air con servicemen to come and repair the air con in the apartment in USJ 14 of Goodyear Court 9 in Subang Jaya. After that we plan to visit Mont Kiara for one of the condominiums and then head to Johor Bahru after that to stay over night for business. I hope the car won't break down along the way and that the trip will be successful and fruitful. Nowadays I hardly write anymore articles that pay too little for so much work in my moonlighting venture at my home office. With the extra time that I have, I use it to read magazines and also surf other web sites if there is no more company work. Life is so good to me and I thank my Heavenly Father for such blessings.

It is all about the earnings

2011-04-08T20:36:00.000-07:00

Earnings in this blog is not much. After checking on Monitize, I realized that I have been blogging blindly without checking on the traffic. I guess I did not get high paying ads on my Adsense here and there are very few visitors! This is one of my several blogs and I have to allocate time to blog more regularly. Regularly also means more personal information is displayed for the www audience and that can also include your ex-boss stalking on your blogs! Which is why I am not too motivated to blog recently after discovering that my blogs are stalked by an ex-boss that's always late for work and at the same time tries to make me look bad to cover up her many faults!

Working from Home is Sweet

2011-03-28T23:22:00.000-07:00

Working from home is certainly sweet for me. It is a very good deal with my boss. And I have been doing this since February 2004. I save a lot on petrol, cosmetics and working clothes. And more importantly, time. No more waiting in snarling traffic jams just to commute to work and back. Although the traffic jams are not as bad as those in Kuala Lumpur, nevertheless, Penang is catching up. There are more cars on the roads each day causing massive waiting time to travel from one place to another. But KL also has its advantages, such as shopping - there are more choices and a wide selection of products with affordable prices compared to those in Penang. I don't mind going to KL once in a while during business trips.

Just Came Back from Kuala Lumpur

2011-03-21T22:13:00.000-07:00

I just came back from Kuala Lumpur for a business trip. Also went to Pan Pacific Hotel KLIA to meet up with a supplier from New Zealand and to collect souvenirs and samples from him. I also took the opportunity to stay at Mandarin Oriental Hotel beside KLCC and attended a Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) at Petronas Twin Towers. I would have enjoyed the trip more if not for my nagging cough that has been dragging on for 4 months now! Now I am on medication and anti-biotics after visiting the doctor at a medical centre in KL. I have to rest at home and let my cough heal first before going to KL again. Just hope and pray that I will heal soon and be healthy again.

Mobile Casino

2011-03-05T02:30:00.000-08:00

I just came back from Kuantan and took a domestic flight known as Firefly to Penang immediately checked into a hotel and login to the internet. I need to email my supplier for sports courts enquiries for a potential project. Hopefully it will come to pass. My iPhone 4 was very useful during the trip. I could check emails and send them on the go. The Grand Continental hotel in Kuantan also has wifi where I obtained a free password and id to surf the internet without any charge.

For those of you who have smart phones like HTC, Blackberry or iPhone like my case, you might like to know that you can check out mobile casino. This will safe you time from travelling back and forth to a real casino to gamble in the hope of making more money. There are also some mobile casino games that you can peruse before deciding on your favorite game.

Come to think of it, I might just check out iphone casino for the fun of it and there are so many free and paid apps to download for my Apple iPhone 4. We need to keep in touch with technology so as not to lose out with invention and to keep ourselves technology-wise.

Going to Kuantan by Firefly

2011-02-28T23:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I have paid using my credit card to book a flight for Firefly from Penang to Kuantan for 2 persons from 3rd to 5th March 2011. I will be going with my colleague for business there. Instead of driving such long distances and stressing on the car engine, we decided to take a flight which is about 1 hour and 30 minutes duration. Time for departure is at 1:10pm and arriving at 2:40pm. I have also booked Grand Continental Hotel in the heart of the city of Kuantan. I hope the deal will be successful at the start of the year of the rabbit. Since I am unmarried, I don't have any family commitment and this makes it easy to travel at last minute's notice.

Chap Goh Meh is over

2011-02-17T15:27:00.001-08:00

This marks the end of Chinese New Year (CNY) with the celebration of Chap Goh Meh last night. It is also the Chinese valentine's day where young maidens will throw mandarin oranges into the sea in the hope to get married soon. It is the 15th night since the first day of CNY. Well, my second sister also went back to Suchou last night by plane with a transit in KL. I pity her because she fell ill soon after dining at E & O hotel for taking a whopping 15 oysters in a row. Not that the food is bad but she consumed too much just like I did and promptly feel ill after that. Our bodies can only take so much and beyong that, we will surely fall sick. Moral of the story is don't overindulge. We need to take care of our stomachs.

Successful Business Deal

2011-01-19T16:35:00.000-08:00

I am now back to Penang from KL for a short business trip. The deal was successful and this is just the beginning of 2011. I cannot disclose too much what deal it was but suffice to say that the year of the bunny brings in prosperity. New projects are coming in as the days pass by. My company is also negotiating for a place to rent and to install sports courts in Penang. It will be a busy time for me and if the deal goes through, it will be a busy time for me as well sourcing for material and freelancers on the internet. All this will incur heavy capital and not everyone has that kind of amount to invest in. You also need to have the interests and patience before you can reap the profits.

One Step Closer to the Maxis Om Nom Nom Race

2011-01-09T16:18:00.000-08:00

Om Nom Nom your way through, and WIN HTC Smartphones! (Preview)

Just click on the link above to find out more. Nuffnang together with Maxis have come up with a unique race for bloggers to take part in called the Maxis Om Nom Nom Race. It is similar to the Amazing Race except that all their challenges involve food and eating!

Only 60 bloggers will be given the chance to join this competition and I want to be one of those 60 contestants.

I would definitely appreciate it if I am given the opportunity to participate in this competition because I really do love food - who doesn't? The thought of being in a race gets me excited! Therefore, I really want to be a part of the Maxis Om Nom Nom Race as it is a combination of the two things that I absolutely love. :)

Another reason would be to meet more people. It’s been awhile since I have made friends with other bloggers so this will be the perfect opportunity for me to meet up and mingle with all the other Nuffnangers. :)

The prizes are fantastic! Who wouldn’t want a trip to Hong Kong? I know I do! I was in Hong Kong once on a transit to USA in 1998. Well, for a transit, you don't get to see the places other than wait in the airport lounge for the next flight. Oh, did I forget to mention that there are also HTC Desire Zs to be won? I want one so badly! Not that I don’t have a phone of my own but I recently played around with one of these HTC babies and I fell in love. It has everything that I need in a phone and more!

Check out the links below:

http://www.maxis.com.my/personal/broadband/wireless_allplans.asp

http://itunes.apple.com/my/app/maxis-finder301/id375530216?mt=8#

Here are the details .
Date: 15 January 2011 (Saturday)
Venue: Modesto’s, Ground Floor, Capital Square, 7 Persiaran CapSquare 50100, Kuala Lumpur
Time: 8am-7pm
Dress code: customized “The Maxis Om Nom Nom Race” T-shirts will be provided (XL, please!)
Hurry hurry! Do not miss this chance. Contest ends on 12th January 2011.

Last Day of 2010

2010-12-30T17:54:00.000-08:00

Today is the last day of 2010. I am not sure if I am going to attend my local church's watch night service. Both my parents will go for their own churches watch night services and reflect upon the happenings in 2010 - both good and bad. Another chapter is close and marks the dawn of a new year. I am still coughing badly and hopefully it will be healed soon so that I can enjoy the food. It is good to have some fellowship with friends for a small chit-chat. Different things happen each different year as we grow older and wiser. But I hope I won't put too much emphasis on work but instead stop and smell the flowers and enjoy the moment.

Pay Per Click

2010-12-12T16:04:00.000-08:00

Above is my referal image link for a local pay per click program that I joined last week. The amount is US 1 cent per click and you are allowed up to 10 clicks per day. That is US 10 cents every day! In no time, I will be able to cash out US 1 dollar as I continue to click faithfully every day.

This is my referral link below where you can copy and paste to your browser:

http://www.1malaysia-click.com/?ref=philin

The task is easy and a no brainer! You do not have to crack your head to think and write coherently when writing articles for cash. Simply click away to earn slowly but surely. The web sites that you view are also interesting and you get paid for it. If you love to surf web sites and read online, then this is the program for you to join and remember to use my referral link so that I can earn and leverage on it. You will also get your own referral link to promote when you sign up and join.

Finally Bought Myself an iPhone 4 32GB

2010-11-22T19:19:00.000-08:00

Finally I bought myself a Christmas gift of an iPhone 4 32GB from Gurney Plaza for RM2,609.00 total including screen protector and a stylish pink casing! I had originally planned to get iPhone 4, 16GB but it was out of stock! Considering that I may download several apps from iTunes store, hence, I don't mind forking out more for a bigger memory capacity. I love playing with Talking Tom Cat which I downloaded for free from Apple store. You can even email it as an .avi file video format to your friends and family with your recorded voice. It was just so cool. And the email is very neat - no need to login in everytime you want to check new emails unlike using the laptop. This is the most expensive gift of a gadget I got myself this year for Christmas! And I have been eyeing the iPhone since the 3G version.

Check your Credit Constantly

2010-11-16T16:15:00.000-08:00

Maintaining a good Credit Report is important to get bank loans and to apply for personal loans and credit cards. It is your financial reputation at stake where you can check your Free Credit Score from the link given. Since the credit crunch in 2008, many banks are turning to American Credit Report to assess the financial status of an individual before offering out loans for housing, business or other matters.

Hence, it is important not to max out your credit card and pay on time every month so that there is no bad history of missed payments in order to apply for future cards or housing loans. Banks are quite stringent in this area and they always do a credit report check on an individual to make sure that he is able to pay back the loan given out before even offering him the approved loan. So make sure you pay your credit card bills on time every month to have a clean standing with the financial institutions. Even if you pay your credit card bills late, it will be recorded in your credit report as a means to assess the type of paymaster you are – good or bad.

That's how most of the bankruptcy cases started - from overspending beyond one's income and maxing out credit cards. Many of the bankrupts are youngsters in their twenties who constantly splurge and spend more than what they earn. They chalk up more and more credit card debts until they are unable to pay back! This is a very bad spending habit that should not be inculcated from young. When you are a bankrupt, you will not be able to apply for bank loans, travel overseas or own properties like house or car. And whatever you earn, you have to pay back the banks of your outstanding loans until they are cleared and fully paid up.

I have an acquaintance who is a bankrupt due to fraudulent business dealings and got cheated by his business partners. The problem started when he signed as a guarantor for a huge bank loan amounting to millions of ringgit for the business dealing. Because of being too trusting and naïve with others, he has to now pay back for his mistakes – cannot travel overseas, cannot own a car or a house and whatever he earns, he has to pay back the bank bit by bit. He also cannot take legal action in court as a bankrupt!

Finally Got a Cheque from USA

2010-11-10T02:00:00.000-08:00

Finally my cheque from 2CheckOut merchant account arrived in my post box today. Above is the scanned copy of the cheque for USD99.95 which is about RM303.00 after conversion. Just click on the image to see the enlarged version. This is the third time I am getting a cheque from 2CheckOut for selling ebooks and writing articles. 750 Reports for a Bargain is my bestseller. I am quite pleased as I can earn money online with a few hundred ringgits here and there every month. More money for shopping in Tesco, Giant and Gurney Plaza. Sometimes, I use the extra cash for dining and treating my parents, sister and friend to a sumptuous dinner in a Chinese restaurant.

I have a few sources of online income with Nuffnang being one of them. But the most I earn is from writing articles on a consistent basis for a client who pays me USD50 every month. This is about $150 in ringgit. Working at home certainly has its many benefits and I can moonlight offering virtual assistance on a part time basis when I am free. The money is usually paid to my Paypal account and I will withdraw from it after reaching about RM400 so that I don't have to pay the service charge. Ain't I blessed?

Cashed out my second nuffnang income for RM50.16 in 4 months

2010-10-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

Some of you may take a shorter time to cash out and some do cash out monthly in the region of thousands like red mummy. But I am happy to say that I managed to cash out the minimum amount of RM50.16 in 4 months since the last cash out was in June. I have several buffered earnings, some metered earnings just like the rest of the bloggers. Above is a screen shot of my second cash out and in a months' time or so, I will get my second Nuffnang cheque. Yay, more cash to my savings account. I treat this as an allowance from the internet and Nuffnang. Thank you Nuffnang!

Sammy's Adventure : The Secret Passage (3D Movie)

2010-10-19T02:45:00.000-07:00

Sammy, a sea turtle, hatches on a deserted beach and tries to climb out of the hole where he hatched. Being caught by a seagull, he struggles for his life and manages to escape, as the seagull clashes in the air with a another seagull, also carrying its prey, who turns out to be a female hatchling sea turtle, Shelly.

Sammy falls onto an old raft and gets carried into the open ocean, losing Shelly. In the ocean he meets another hatchling, Roy, who tells him the story of a "turtle paradise" on an island called "Lapagos", and they together start their voyage there. Later, the two get caught by trawls. Sammy is released back into the sea by the fishermen, but loses Roy.

Washed onto the shore in California, he is picked up by a hippie woman and lives as a pet in the hippie commune with Vera, another female sea turtle, who is older than Sammy, and Catoff, a cat, who claims to be French. On a Christmas evening the hippies draw a peace sign on his shell to sign him as the peace ambassador. When the hippies see that Sammy and Vera won't mate, they release Vera. The police evicts the hippie commune from the beach, and Sammy decides to return back to the sea.

There he meets Vera and a young female sea turtle who is attacked by a shark. Vera and Sammy save the turtle who turns out to be Shelly, his childhood friend. They decide to travel together to the paradise islands, but Shelly gets lost in the sea.

Vera tells Sammy to swim to the "cold waters". Sammy finds an old refrigerator drawn by the humans and uses it to travel to Antarctic. An albatross he meets on his journey tells him that the paradise island can be only be reached through a "secret passage where the fresh waters run". In the Antarctic waters Sammy meets a fin whale who barely escapes a harpoon from a whaling ship.

The harpoon destroys the refrigerator, but Sammy is saved by the anti-whaling protesters and placed into the sea animal shelter where he finds Shelly, Catoff and people from the hippie commune (who now work in the shelter). The ex-hippie recognized the peace sign on Sammy's shell.

Shelly and Sammy are released into the ocean. They decide to find the secret passage and use it to travel to the paradise island. They manage to find the passage (which turns out to be Panama Canal) but get separated as they try to pass a lock. As he searches Shelly, Sammy encounters two sea turtles that urge him to help their friend who got trapped in an intermodal container. Sammy rescues the turtle, who turns out to be his old friend Roy. They swim together to a wrecked Spanish galleon where Roy lives with Rita, his girlfriend.

Being told about Shelly, Rita remembers her and advices Sammy to search for her in the galleon. Sammy finds Shelly being courted by another sea turtle. Disappointed and upset, Sammy returns to his friends only to find out that the turtle who courted Shelly is a playboy but has a strong relationship with another female. Together with Roy and Albert, a shark who lost his teeth, they set up a fake shark attack on Shelly to let Sammy save her again and win her heart. Shelly and Sammy then reunite and, along with Roy and Rita, return to the beach they hatched.

The closing scene of the movie shows Sammy helping one of his new-hatched grandsons to climb out of the hole.

Eat, Pray, Love

2010-10-12T02:14:00.000-07:00

One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia is a 2006 memoir by American author Elizabeth Gilbert. The memoir chronicles the author's trip around the world after her divorce and what she discovered during her travels. The book remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for 187 weeks. According to Metacritic, it has received mostly favored critical reviews.

The movie rights for the memoir were purchased by Columbia Pictures. The film version, which stars American actress Julia Roberts, was released in theaters on Friday, August 13, 2010. Gilbert followed-up this book with the sequel Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, released through Viking in January 2010. It covered her life after Eat, Pray, Love ends.

Story

At 32 years old, Elizabeth Gilbert was educated and had a home, a husband, and a successful career as a writer. However, she was unhappy in her marriage and often spent the night crying on her bathroom floor. In the midst of an affair, she separated from her husband and initiated a divorce, which he contested. The affair continued for some time but did not work out, leaving her devastated and alone. While writing an article on vacations in Bali, she met a ninth-generation medicine man who told her she would come back and study with him. After finalizing her difficult divorce, she spent the next year traveling. She spent four months in Italy, eating and enjoying life (Eat). She spent four months in India, finding her spirituality (Pray). She ended the year in Bali, Indonesia, looking for "balance" of the two and found love (Love) in the form of a dashing Brazilian factory owner.The trip was paid for in advance from the book deal for Eat Pray Love.

Windows 7 can Welcome with Voice Message during Logon

2010-10-04T16:58:00.000-07:00

Your Windows 7 PC can welcome you with an audio voice message when you logon with your username. Yes, you can setup the voice welcome facility by simple addition in your Windows PC without any additional software. Once I completed the addition suggested in below steps, my PC performs a voice message like “Hey Sanjeev, Welcome to your Windows PC” at the time of logon. You can set a message of your choice as well.

Trick to get Welcome Voice Message during Logon on Windows 7 PC

1. Copy below mentioned code and paste in a notepad

Dim speaks, speech
speaks=”Hi Diana, Welcome to your Computer”
Set speech=CreateObject(“sapi.spvoice”)
speech.Speak speaks

2. Save the file as .vbs file with any name of your choice, for example test.vbs file.

3. In place of “Hi Diana, Welcome to your computer”, you can write any message of your choice.

4. Now move the .vbs file into “startup” folder. You can get the startup folder by right clicking on the “Windows button” i.e. Start button on PC and select explore. Once you moved the test.vbs file over there, you can restart your computer and hear the message at the time of logon.

Location of Startup folder in Windows 7,
C:\Users\%username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\

That’s it. This trick works on every edition of Windows 7. I am not sure whether this works in Vista or not, you can try and share your feedback. this trick doesn’t work on Windows XP SP1 machine, not sure for Windows XP SP3 as well.

Anyway, by using this trick, you can impress your friends and family members by showing them your talking PC.

Google celebrating 12th Birthday with new Doodle

2010-09-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

Google US and other domains are featuring a new doodle on occasion of 12’th birthday of this company. Larry Page and Sergey Brin met with each other in 1995 and started a project at Stanford University in 1996. In next 2 years, their project became a company named “Google”. In September 1998, Google sets up workspace in Susan Wojcicki’s garage where both Larry and Sergey started indexing web pages and including them for search. In 1998, they got first check of amount $100,000 as the first investment in company by Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim. Today, we all know what Google is and most of the time we use Google as a verb as well to search particular thing on web.

4 important facts about Google Inc.

1. The name “Google” came from Googol which is a mathematical term with 100’s of zeroes after 1.
2. “I feel lucky” button is rarely used by users but still Google team keeps that as they don’t want to change the look and feel of search home page.
3. Gmail (email service by Google) was used internally for more than 2 years before the public launch.
4. Craig Silverstein was the first employee hired by Larry and Sergey.

There are lot many interesting things about this awesome company and its founders. I you want to know more about Google, then google that.

Happy Birthday Google!

How to share Google Docs documents with others

2010-09-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

Google Docs is one of the most famous web clouding documentation platform. You can create documents, spreadsheets, presentation online on Google Docs and share that with others as well. If you want to have a collaborative document so that other people in your office of friends may edit the same, then here is the procedure to invite and share created documents on Google Docs.

How to Invite and Share Google Docs documents

First of all you need to create a new document which will be auto-saved in few seconds only. Now follow below steps to invite and share with others.

1. As you have already created a document on Google Docs, Now to share with others, click on “Share” button available on top-right corner (beside the Save button).

2. Add email IDs separated by ‘comma’ with whom you want to share this document

3. You can add a message with the document notification email as well. That is optional, so you can share without message if you want.

4. There are few options like “send a copy to yourself” and “paste the item itself into the email”. But you may choose only the last option which says “send email notification” to person with whom you are sharing this document.
Under the Share button, there is a dropdown to do few more things related to sharing stuff. Like “Email editors/viewers” and “Email as attachment” to let you communicate with people who are eligible to view and edit the document.

I think, Google Docs is very useful for startup companies and small businesses. I use Google Docs in my office and share docs with others very frequently. I hope, this small tutorial will help you share your documents on Google Docs and use this awesome documentation platform at best.

Had to Cancel Genting Highlands Trip

2010-09-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

We are now in KL and need to meet up with a potential client on Sunday evening. So what do we do in between as today is Saturday? Go to Genting Highlands, of course! But my friend has slight fever and needs to rest. So we decided to cancel the Genting trip. Besides, we are going to Genting over Christmas which is the super peak season and far more expensive. For your information, Genting Hotel is now undergoing renovation and will take some time before completion. So, for today, we need to rest in our rented apartment in Subang Jaya before going back to Penang on Monday and work again.

My Holidays in Bandung

2010-08-29T17:20:00.001-07:00

I was in Bandung, Indonesia last month together with my second sister for holidays in West Java. Bandung is also known as 'Paris Van Java' in Dutch, or simply 'Paris of Java' for its fashion and factory outlets. We took Malaysian Airlines which was more comfortable compared to Air Asia, but also a bit pricier.

See the very colourful seats of MAS as seen from behind as I went to the loo. There was also on free board meals with Ferrero chocolates for each passenger.

While waiting and transiting in Kuala Lumpur International Airport, I came across this banner for Citibank Platinum credit card holders. Free entrance to Plaza Premium Lounge that is open 24 hours with free internet access, free flow of food and beverages including beer, free massage on the massage chair with HDTV to watch the latest news and magazines to browse. There is also a mini golf putting area for the avid golfers.

We also visited Mt. Tangkuban Perahu - Bandung's most famous tourist volcano just 28 km north of the city. This volcano offers many places to see and explore. Whether you look into the huge crater or hike down into it, stroll through the forest on its slopes, or simply enjoy the splendid panoramic view, Mt. Tangkuban Perahu is an interesting destination that everyone in the Bandung area is fond of visiting. When seen from Bandung, Mt. Tangkuban Perahu has a distinctive shape, like an upside down boat. Tangkuban Perahu means, in fact, "up-turned boat" This peculiar shape has stimulated the fantasy of the Sundanese people from early times as expressed in the Legend of Sangkuriang.

Though the mountain appears peaceful, mild eruptions occurred in 1969, when Kawah Ratu spewed ash and barrages 500 m high. As recently as September 1992 it was closed to the public for a few days because unusually high seismic activity lead volcanologists to fear a new eruption. On the mountain's northern flank is an area called Death Valley, so named for its frequent accumulation of poisonous gases. On a reasonably clear day, from Kawah Ratu, the main crater, you can see not only the mountain range to the east, with Mt. Bukittunggul as its highest peak (2,209 m), but also two other in a northeasterly direction.

We did lots of shopping as the clothes there are direct from factory outlets carrying many branded names like MNG, Liz Clairborne, etc at only a fraction of the price. Here in Malaysia, brands like that cost easily RM70 but we could get them for only RM24 each and they are genuine but rejects due to overshipment or overdue date of arrival. Above are my second sister's working and casual clothes. The black dress with lots of colourful embroidery was a bargain! You could never get it at such bargain prices in Penang; in fact I could not find any similar one in Penang with such intricate embroidery on a large scale.

Me posing with our clothes combined together as spread out on our beds in the hotel at Aston Braga, a four-star hotel in Bandung. I am very pleased with the shopping and the trip which lasted 4 days and 3 nights from 27th July to 30th July 2010. We went shopping at Rumah Mode, an upscale shopping centre for tourists, Grande, Glamour, The Heritage, etc.

Very soon, after much shopping and walkig, it was time to go home and we boarded this plane. My sister took the opportunity to snap this photo as we were boarding the plane. Time to say goodbye to Bandung!

Going to Bandung, Indonesia next Tuesday

2010-07-23T20:07:00.000-07:00

Next week, I will be going to Bandung for 4 days 3 nights with my second sister working in Suchou, China as the Head of the Business English Department. I have partially sponsored her trip there and the total amount is RM4,079 including 2% credit card charges of additional RM80! Most likely we will go to factory outlet for shopping cheaper things like clothes, bags, etc. My initial plan was to go to Bali but my second sister wanted to do her factory outlet shopping in Bandung, so there was the change in plan. Anyway, Bali is not too attractive to me at there are several visits to Indian temples and to see monkey dance! This is not what I had in mind, so Bandung is a better choice. We will stay in a 4 star Aston Braga Hotel & Residence which includes tours like 6 hours half day shopping tour in Cihampelas and 12 hours tour the next day to Mount Tangkuban Perahu, Sariater Hot Spring, Shopping Rumah Mode, Heritage, Summit, Danar Hadi Batik and ITC Pasarbaru.

Enable Placement Targeting on Adsense Channels To Increase Revenue

2010-07-20T22:17:00.000-07:00

Google Adsense is no doubt the best CPC advertisement platform for Advertisers as well as Publishers. If you are using Adsense for monetization on your website or blog and having nice amount of visitors then you should try enabling Placement Targeting of important spots on your blog. Actually spots or location of placed ads on your website are defined as “Channels” on adsense thru which you can track the CTR for particular ad slot. As you know, Adsense is a bidding based advertisement network where Advertisers bid for keywords on AdWords and then their ads become visible on sites. So here I will let you know the important of enabling “Placement Targeting” which will help Advertisers while making their decision about your site.

Placement Targeting is actually a way to tell Advertisers about a particular ad slot on your site. It allows AdWords advertisers to choose a specific spot on your site to place their ad. If your site is having good PageRank and Quality Traffic, Advertisers will even pay more for their ads to appear on your site or blog. In that way, you will generate more revenue from the same spot or ad slot. If they don’t do anything like that, your revenue will remain as it is. So by enabling “Placement Targeting”, you are actually adding a way for advertisers by providing them more information about the spot and your site.

How To Enable “Placement” Targeting on Google Adsense

Placement Targeting is done for channels on Adsense. For example, if you are having a channel named “Below Title – 336×280”for ads running below the title of each post. Now you want to enable this slot’s targeting so that Advertisers on AdWords can choose that location to place their ads. To enable Placement Targeting on that channel, go to “Adsense Setup” tab on top navigation of Adsense Dashboard and select “Channels” from the sub-navigation bar. There you can see all channels created by you. Find that particular channel for which you want to enable placement targeting, and click on “edit” link on right side of that channel. Now edit window for that channel will open, there you can see a check box for “Targeting – Show this channel to advertisers as an ad placement”. Check the box to enable the same.

Get USD$3 to Set Bing as Default Search Engine

2010-07-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

If you decide to set Microsoft Bing as the default search provider in your web browser, Bing will send you $3 donation code which you can use towards a public school classroom project of your choice on DonorsChoose.org.

There is a limit of 1 donation code per user. Bing promises to donate up to $100,000 in $3 donation codes during the promotion. Remember donation codes may only be used at DonorsChoose.org and will expire on August 31, 2010.

DonorsChoose is an online charity that makes it easy for anyone to help students in need. Public school teachers from America post classroom project requests on DonorsChoose.org for small things like pencils etc, then people donate small amounts to the project they like. Once a project reaches the funding goal, DonorsChoose deliver the materials to the school and you get photos of your project taking place, a thank-you letter from the teacher, and a cost report showing how each dollar was spent. If you give over $100, you’ll also receive hand-written thank-you letters from the students.

Will this $3 help Bing displace Google as default search engine in your browser?

Malaysia national debt increased to 50.6% of GDP

2010-06-30T16:12:00.000-07:00

According to the reply from Prime Minister Nazib Razak to Taiping MP Nga Kor Ming in the parliament, the latest national debt of Malaysia now stood at RM378.3 billion, or 50.6% of the GDP.

This means that for every citizen in Malaysia, we are bearing a national debt of RM14,000 per person on average.

The national debt has surged by 19.1 billion during the 1st quarter of 2010! Compared with the national debt at RM230 billion when RMK-9 was just began, it has increased by RM148.3 billion within just 5 year! During 1997, our national debt was just 96 billion.

If the national debt continues to grow at a CAGR of 12%, by 2019, it will eventually reach RM1 trillion!

The alarm has already triggered, and the government as well as the citizen must wake up now, if we don't want to repeat the history of what is happening in Greece now!

Sell your used items for instant money in CA$H CONVERTERS

2010-06-27T03:03:00.000-07:00

Wonder what to do with your old PC, old laptop, old printer, old fax machine, old handphone, old television, old CD player, old PlayStation, old camera, old massager, ... after you upgraded them with better, more powerful, latest technology one?

Well, you can probably:

Keep the old one in your storeroom
Give the old one to your friend, relative, neighbour, charity house, etc.
Dispose the old one into recycle bin
Sell the old one for some cash
There are a few ways to sell out used items for cash, including:

Sell to your friend, relative, neighbour, etc. on COD basis
Sell in the Internet auction websites or forums
Sell to a shop

CA$H CONVERTERS is an international franchise dealing with used items. Their retail shops buy used items as well as sell used items.

You can find CA$H CONVERTERS in these 3 Southeast Asia countries:

Singapore - Admiralty, Ang Mo kio, Bedok North, Jurong East and Toa Payoh.
Malaysia - Ampang Point, Klang, Sunway, Taman SEA, Plentong and Sri Selayang.
Thailand - Pattaya
The advantages to sell your used items in CA$H CONVERTERS including:

You are very unlikely to be cheated (compared with selling in Internet and other methods)
You can get rid of your goods and collect the cash right away in the shop
If you are moving house and got a lot of used items to dispose off, you can even call CA$H CONVERTERS to collect them onsite and pay you instantly.

On the other hand, if you don't mind buying 2nd hand or used items, you can probably get some from their shop at a lower price than brand new one.

Click here to visit the website of CA$H CONVERTERS for more information.

Saving up for retirement

2010-06-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

It is important to save up for retirement while you are able to earn an income. When you are gainfully employed, it is advisable to put aside at least 10% of your earnings every month for the golden years ahead. This is to ensure that you will have golden years and not woeful years begging in the streets. I am blessed at this point in time to have a dream job to work at home equipped with a laptop, printer, fax machine, digital camera, scanner and desktop computer. I also have broadband internet connection for unlimited connectivity for a fixed rate. Working at home certainly has its benefits - you can nap anytime when you want to and work anytime when you are ready or in the mood.

Malaysia's richest get richer

2010-05-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

Malaysia’s top 40 richest are worth US$51 billion, up from US$36 billion a year ago, and higher than the previous record of US$46 billion registered in 2008. According to Forbes Asia in its Malaysia Rich List 2010 released today, their combined wealth has risen by 42 per cent, spurred by the country’s economic expansion.

The overall increase in wealth was also in line with the 32 per cent rise in the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index, and the Malaysian ringgit’s 11 per cent gain against the US dollar over the past 12 months, Forbes said. Topping the rich list again is Tan Sri Robert Kuok who has held the pole position since 2006 when Forbes Asia began ranking the 40 richest Malaysians.

Forbes said the biggest gainer in dollar terms this year, the 86-year-old tycoon’s net worth increased to US$12 billion, a gain of US$3 billion over last year. Top telecommunications tycoon Ananda Krishnan remains in second place with US$8.1 billion, an increase of US$1.1 billion from a year ago. His Maxis Communications, Malaysia’s largest mobile phone service provider, went public last year and raised US$3.4 billion in the country’s largest-ever IPO. Unchanged at third position is Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng with US$4.6 billion, up from US$3.2 billion last year.

The 71-year-old heads IOI Group, one of the world’s leading operators of palm oil refineries. The company is reportedly investing US$300 million to expand. Forbes said the top three tycoons were not the only ones who saw gains in their wealth, 27 others on the list also registered growth in their net worths, particularly notable is technology tycoon Goh Peng Ooi, ranked No. 16, who enjoyed the biggest percentage jump. His fortune increased to US$425 million from US$112 million previously, a massive jump of 280 per cent.

Forbes said this year a minimum net worth of US$110 million was needed to qualify for the list, up from US$90 million last year. It said the number of billionaires had also increased, with now 10 tycoons with a ten-figure net worth, compared with nine a year ago. Newcomers making the rich list this year included brothers Datuk Shahril and Shahriman Shamsuddin who shared the No. 23rd spot with a net worth of US$270 million. They have equal stakes in Sapura Group, founded by their father. Shahril is chief executive of its affiliate SapuraCrest Petroleum, the listed oil and gas contractor that makes up the bulk of their fortune.

Another new face is self-made building contractor Datuk A. K. Nathan, 54, who is ranked No. 24 and worth US$250 million. His company, Eversendai, has been involved in some of the most high-profile buildings in the Middle East including Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

Forbes said three people were back on the list after having fallen off previously, and the most notable is Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s brother and head of financial services firm CIMB. He is ranked No. 32nd with a net worth of US$145 million.

The top 10 richest and billionaires in Malaysia are:
1) Tan Sri Robert Kuok; US$12 billion
2) Tan Sri T. Ananda Krishnan; US$$8.1 billion
3) Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng; US$4.6 billion
4) Puan Sri Lee Kim Hua; US$3.9 billion
5) Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan; US$3.85 billion
6) Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow; US$3.8 billion
7) Tan Sri Yeoh Tiong Lay; US$2.5 billion
8) Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar AlBukhary; US$1.7 billion
9) Tan Sri Vincent Tan; US$1.6 billion
10) Tan Sri Tiong Hiew King; US$1.2 billion

EPF Contributions : 157 Defaulting Employers Fined RM172,410 In Q1 2010

2010-05-27T00:54:00.000-07:00

As part of its role as the custodian of members’ retirement savings, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has taken court action against 157 employers between January to March 2010 (Q1) for defaulting on their employees’ EPF contributions.

All 157 defaulting employers were fined by the courts totaling RM172,410. The fines, which ranged from RM1,000 to RM5,400, were for offences under Section 43(2) of the EPF Act 1991, which requires all employers to remit their monthly contributions before or on the 15th day of every month or risk facing legal actions.

“While most employers are responsible and mindful of their obligations to pay their contributions in a timely manner, it is unfortunate that some employers fail to do so and default on their EPF contributions,” said Nik Affendi Jaafar, EPF General Manager for Public Relations.

“It is important for employers to understand that the EPF does not take such matters lightly and will not hesitate to take legal actions in safeguarding our members’ retirement savings.”

The highest fine of RM5,400 was slapped on Ogosin Sdn Bhd of Wilayah Persekutuan, while Pelana Tenggara Sdn Bhd and Tri Axis Automation (M) Sdn Bhd both from Pulau Pinang, Micromagna Engineering Sdn Bhd of Perak, Sediabena Sdn Bhd of Selangor as well as Chemumur Legacy Sdn Bhd of Wilayah Persekutuan were all fined RM3,000 each.

In Q1 2010, a total of 285 civil suits and 1,868 criminal cases were filed with the courts against company directors and employers that have defaulted on their EPF contributions.

The EPF has also submitted 320 names of company directors, compared to 221 in the previous quarter, to the Immigration Department to prevent them from leaving the country without first settling their contribution arrears as provided under Section 39 of the EPF Act 1991.

The courts will usually give errant employers a maximum of six instalments to settle any contribution arrears. During this period, these employers will be closely monitored by the EPF to ensure that the amounts outstanding are paid in full. Once the full amount has been received, the EPF will credit all outstanding contributions to the respective members’ accounts.

“Looking after the interest of our members is topmost on our agenda and we will use every means available to us to ensure that members’ retirement savings remain protected.

“Nonetheless we strongly urge our members to perform their part in ensuring that their contributions are in order by regularly checking their EPF statements. Should they discover anything amiss with their account, they should not hesitate to seek clarification from their respective employer or report to the EPF immediately,” said Nik Affendi.

About the Employees Provident Fund (EPF)
The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is Malaysia’s premier pension fund, providing basic financial security for retirement. The Fund is committed to preserving and growing the savings of its members in accordance with best practices in investment and corporate governance. It will always be guided by prudence in its investment decisions.

As a customer-focused organization, the EPF delivers efficient and reliable services for the convenience of its members and registered employers. The EPF continues to play a catalytic role in the nation’s economic growth, consistent with its position as a leading savings institution in Malaysia.

Blessed to Work from Home

2010-05-20T04:25:00.000-07:00

I have been blessed to work from home for the last 6 years being in the same sports surfacing company. My job requirements include checking emails daily, replying them, search for suppliers, printing company profile, updating the web site, financial calculation, preparing quotations, etc. As long as my boss is healthy and capable, I will remain employed - hopefully for more years to come. That is why I cannot afford to be spendthrift and need to buy only what is necessary to stretch my savings for retirement. Now and then, I take up paid posts by blogging about the sponsor's link. It is not easy to work for other people and that is why employment is tough out there. But if you make it successfully via online earnings, then you are very blessed indeed. Dealing with people is not easy and it is better to work for yourself provided you have sufficient knowledge or skills that clients require.

Goldman Sachs let Warren Buffett learnt a bitter lesson

2010-04-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

Warren Buffett, well-known as the "Oracle of Omaha", has been famous for value investing, and also declaring derivatives as the "weapons of economic mass destruction" and stated that he would never be involved in them.

He derailed from this belief, when Berkshire Hathaway in 2008, at the peak of the financial crisis, purchased $5 billion worth of Goldman Sachs' perpetual preferred stock with a 10% dividend and warrants on $5 billion worth of common stock at the price of $115.

Since then, Buffett has been talking good about Goldman Sachs and declaring his strong endorsement to its CEO Lloyd Blankfien. Last week, Ron Olson, one of Berkshire’s directors, once again defended Goldman by saying that "Buffett invested out of belief in not just the strength of Goldman but its integrity."

To the great surprise of the whole world, it was just 3 days right after that "integrity" assurance from Berkshire, Goldman was accused by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of defrauding its investors. A civil charge was filed on 16 April 2010.

Goldman is accused to have promoted and sold mortgage investments to its investors, without telling the buyers that the securities were crafted with input from its client, Paulson (a hedge fund capitalize on the housing bust), who was betting on them to fail.

The SEC said Paulson paid Goldman roughly $15 million in 2007 to devise an investment which tied to mortgage-related securities that the hedge fund viewed as likely to decline in value. Separately, Paulson took out a form of insurance that allowed it to make a huge profit when those securities' value plunged.

SEC stated that, "Goldman wrongly permitted a client (Paulson) that was betting against the mortgage market to heavily influence which mortgage securities to include in an investment portfolio, while telling other investors that the securities were selected by an independent, objective 3rd party."

Goldman's investors of that securities have lost about a billion dollar in less than a year thereafter, while Paulson reaped in its fabulous profit.

In fact, Goldman had been warned on this fraud case, in black-and-white by SEC, as early as in July 2009. The question is: did Buffett knew about that? If he didn't, then why? If he did, well, well, well....

The stock price of Goldman dropped heavily after this allegation, causing Buffett to gave out most of the profit he made earlier in his Goldman deal. However, the blow to Buffett is minimal in monetary wise. The bitter lesson to Buffett is the deteriotation to the reputation and respect which he built for decades, which had won him the title as the "Oracle of Omaha".

Now, all the eyes is staring on him, especially when the AGM of Berkshire Hathaway is just a moment away from now.

All investors make mistakes, including Buffett. But this mistake he made is really very costly. Let's wait what he'll say...

Happy Easter Sunday

2010-04-04T03:57:00.000-07:00

Today is Easter Sunday and it marks the days Jesus resurrected to heaven, 3 days after his crucifixion on Good Friday. This is a new beginning for mankind to be free from curse, poverty, sickness and eternal damnation in hell as Jesus took that all away on our behalf. I attended church today and there was a skit put up by my local church especially for non believers. Jesus was scourged even though he knew no sin. You might think this is unfair but that is how it goes. Jesus took the penalty so that we can take his blessings. It was a divine exchange for man. As Christmas marks the birth of Jesus, Easter Sunday marks his ascension into heaven as he rose from the dead to be reunited with our Heavenly Father. Jesus' victory is our victory over the evil one and over death. Hallelujah!

Brilliant Google Buzz

2010-03-09T00:02:00.000-08:00

Given how huge Google is and the giant’s reputation in the online business world, it is no wonder that everything that Google chooses to launch as a new product never stays unnoticed and gets tons of coverage in the blogosphere and in traditional media.

The latest addition of Google Buzz is no exception, of course, as the blogosphere could not ignore Google trying to popularize the idea of lifestreaming to millions upon millions of users of Gmail, its wildly popular web-based email service. In fact, I think it will be no exaggeration to guess that for quite a number of web users around the world Gmail is the home page in their browsers, the first thing they see when they head online every day. And who will resist clicking that multi-color icon to check what the Buzz is?

Of course the launch of Google Buzz was accompanied by quite a number of criticizing voices about Google jeopardizing users’ privacy (as if it does not all the time by monitoring what we search for and what our email content is) and copying some of the worst FriendFeed features and for numerous other things that left geeks in the tech blogosphere unhappy.

Blogging a few Posts Today

2010-02-17T05:28:00.000-08:00

Today, I am in the mood to blog and have updated my several blogs all over the internet - namely 2 personal domain blogs and several blogspot blogs. There is cash to be earned as well, which explains the enthusiasm. US dollars are too tempting for me not to refuse. And it is like 'ang pow' for me in this time of Chinese New Year of the Tiger in 2010. I also just came back from a 3 days 2 nights trip to Hatyai, Thailand by chartered van. It was enjoyable and I bought a lot of things there as they are cheaper compared to Penang - things like underclothings, 3 bottles of skin care serum, body wash, body scrub, 1.5kg of cashew nuts and treated my family to a high end Japanese buffet dinner at a hotel that was split equally by my 2 other sisters. I also like to wish you Happy, Prosperous Chinese New Year and Belated Valentine's Day.

Disk Defragmenter in Windows Vista

2010-01-08T06:21:00.000-08:00

It is a good practice to constantly defragment your hard disk now and then for better and optimum execution and faster loading of files. When all the necessary clusters are compacted without any fragments in between, it takes a faster time to run your computer programs. Windows Vista comes with Disk Defragmenter that you can select. You can work on your computer while defragmentation is going on, but you’ll find the computer responding more slowly than usual, and any files that you create, move, or copy may slow down the defragmentation process. Because of this, the best time to defragment a volume is when you’re not using your computer.

And while defragmenting, I can also read more articles here of various topics related to finances and how to increase my income for retirement. Thank goodness I have bought a laptop with Windows Vista installed to work on the go whenever there is a business trip to Kuala Lumpur and anywhere within Malaysia. And I just came back from KL two days ago with my colleague after staying there for 4 days 3 nights for some business purposes. So far, I am quite satisfied with my laptop of 1+ years and it has not given me any problems other than some installation compatibility problems with Windows XP software.

Christmas is Just Around the Corner

2009-11-30T17:27:00.000-08:00

Yes, it is that time of year again. And, I have inserted a videoclip of Christmas quotes on my niche site to honor the festival appropriately. There are probably hundreds or thousands of videoclips to suit each and everyone out there, but the one I've selected for your viewing pleasure is both "short and sweet". The quotes are simple, but meaningful and they have endured the test of time.

So, click on the following and be Merry this Christmas... and all the Christmas's after that...

Virtual Assistance Work and Blogging Income

2009-11-22T23:06:00.000-08:00

I have been a virtual assistant since a few years back and took up paid blogging since October 2006 when my first blog was set up using Wordpress PHP scripts. At that time there were many programs and web sites offering paid posts on a daily basis and it was lucrative then. Now they are all gone and there are hardly any more paid posts to take up. How I wish they would last forever. Currently I hold a full time job at home working as an Information Technology executive for a friend in his sports building business. It is a small company but a dynamic one - operating like Air Asia brand.

I am also wearing my titanium spectacles every day for the rest of my life as I have short-sightedness. And the power has remained the same for the last 20 years. Thank goodness it does not keep on increasing - otherwise I may have to change spectacles every year. Since I work at home, I also moonlight at times to save more for my retirement as I don't have any children to depend on financially later on. So, I have to be careful of my spending and not to squander away whatever I have earned today.

Not in a Mood to Work

2009-11-16T21:22:00.000-08:00

I am having a back ache for 4 days now and am not in a mood to work anymore. I can afford to relax as I work from home. In a short while, I will travel with my colleague to KL for business - he's going to collect a cheque for work done in an international school and also another cheque for final payment for badminton rubberized courts completed in Klang. And just now, I wasted 1 trip to the bank - all for nothing - because my potential client gave me a wrong MTCN for Western Union withdrawal. Well, I am not going to start work until I see the money in my hands as time is precious. At this moment, I am feeling a bit sleepy and will take a nap in a short while before my 4-5 hour trip to KL by car.

Printed out brochures on Greenweave Lawn Bowl Turf by Greengauge

2009-11-06T17:35:00.000-08:00

Last night, after coming back from dinner at Gurney Plaza, I printed out brochures, data specs and photos of completed projects of lawn bowls using Greenweave synthetic turf by the company named Greengauge. There was a partnership since 2006 with Tiger Turf, our supplier for many years and this is a win-win basis for both synthetic turf companies. There is a company affiliated to Greengauge in Malaysia and it is the sole provider and installer for lawn bowls. Hopefully with the partnership with Tiger Turf, we at Olympic Venture can get some lawn bowls to install locally here and not be monopolized by a single company. From futsal courts, tennis courts and multi-purpose courts, we are now extending our sports surface company to lawn bowls since we have an enquiry on this recently.

Extremely Slow Internet Connection

2009-10-22T02:33:00.000-07:00

These past few days the internet connectionn has been freakingly slow like a tortoise. I am using the wireless broadband connectivity and it has always been a bit slower than Streamyx - but that is ok as I could work with moderate speed. But these few days, it has been crawling ever so slowly that it is better I take a nap than to wait and wait for eons of hours. My job as home is like this - whenever there is a call from the boss, I have to work at any time of the day to send out quotations. So I am not at liberty to rest for a long time without a call from him to work with the computer and internet. And with the slow connection, it is like waiting for the next page to show up for at least 5 minutes!

Learning to be a Super Affiliate

2009-09-27T00:32:00.001-07:00

I just signed up for Clickbank last week and decided to choose one of the software to promote via Google Adwords. I have prepaid RM80 for the advertisement using my Citibank credit card. RM80 is to test out and experiment with Adwords to see how effective it is. Normally the conversion rate is about 2% - 4%. That means, for every 100 clicks, 2 - 4 will buy from you. My dream is to make lots of money per month from the internet. So to grow money, you need to invest some money. Make the money work for you. Since 2008, Clickbank has allowed Malaysians to participate and to earn some cash. I hope this will be another of my other money making ventures amongst my other list. You need to have multiple streams of internet income.

Smart Money Management

2009-09-22T22:46:00.000-07:00

To manage your money wisely, it is good to invest in some money instruments and let it grow quicker compared to just leaving it in the bank. There are government bonds to buy with higher returns yet with low risks or guaranteed capital. To be rich quicker, you need to make your money work for you by making it grow faster. Some people are made millionaires investing in the stock market while many others are burnt. To make money in the stock market like Warren Buffett, you need to buy low and sell high. For this to happen, buy when there is a recession, bad news, panic selling, etc and sell when there is bull run. You can also calculate the intrinsic value of the company to know when to hold on and when to let go in the stock market.

1 Week's Break

2009-09-18T22:37:00.000-07:00

This coming week, I will be getting 1 week's break from work. That's because my boss will be driving down to his family home in Johor to attend a wedding with his relatives and with the Hari Raya Puasa holidays on Monday and Tuesday, I will be slumbering most of the time relaxing at home. My youngest sister's colleagues have taken the opportunity to travel to USA or other countries for a well deserved break. However, being a computer and internet addict, I will continue to log on to check emails now and then since I work from home. And working from home has plenty of benefits - slumbering away at any time of the day and being your own boss literally while getting paid.

Spring Cleaning my Blog

2009-08-23T20:08:00.000-07:00

I removed some sensitive posts in my blogspot blogs especially on personal matters and those on money earned online. I don't want some unwanted blogger robber to come and rob me. Just kidding. Actually, too much personal information was put on the www and it is time to be wiser in blogging. Don't want any readers becoming jealous and sabotaging me. You also notice that I have not put any photos on delicious food taken or hotel stays anymore in my other blogs and it is simply foolish to reveal too much on the internet. Let it be boring, so what. As long as my Google Adsense generate some income every several months, that is fine for me. And I don't blog too often now compared to last time. But I will continue to blog for as long as possible.

Have Neglected this Blog

2009-07-13T16:13:00.000-07:00

This is my post after about 2 months since my last post in May. I have neglected this blog for some time. That's because blogging is now no longer my priority where I used to do paid blogging and it was quite lucrative at one time. Now that the opportunities are dried up, I no longer blog as often as I should. Other priorities take first place. Also, I have been travelling extensively around Malaysia, to KL, Langkawi, Kota Bahru and then back to Penang takes up much of my time. The only blog that is making me money from Herbalife is www.DianaTan.net where new customers email me for the price list and then order by email and pay via internet banking. All I need to do is just shoot an email to my supplier in KL, bank in money to his account and the order is confirmed. Easy Peasy.

What the Heck! No One picks up calls at Penang SOCSO

2009-05-11T23:54:00.001-07:00

I have paid the worker’s SOCSO company contribution for April 2009 and until today, 12th of May, I have yet to receive a receipt and form for May payment from them. SOCSO stands for Social Security Organisation that was established in Malaysia to make monthly payments to workers becoming disabled in the course of their employment. It is like a form of insurance. Today, I tried to contact the numbers that I have in the SOCSO letterhead and they have changed to a new number that is non-contactable at all and simply send a thank you message and hang up when you select all the options! Even the operator number leads to automatic message with no one to pick up the phone! I don’t know who is the director or head of department for SOCSO but they sure try to find ways to automate their telephone calls with no single person to pick up calls and attend to enquiries. This is surely the ‘makan ular’ (lackadaisical) attitude of the staff who is missing in action! Typical of the Malays who are so lazy, and depend on the UMNO government to take care of their needs to the exclusion of other races. I am still wondering how sincere is the government in advocating 1Malaysia concept.

Working at Home has its Priviledges

2009-04-29T00:05:00.000-07:00

With the current economic downturn, you might like to consider working at home doing various tasks like writing articles or blogging with Adsense. To offer such services, you need to have a certain level of education, that is being able to write coherently that people can understand. As many people either receive pay cuts or get the boot, it is time to consider working with an internet ready computer in the comforts of home. You will be your own boss, calling the shots and work when you are up to it or take a break when there is a need. Working at home frees us from office politics, travelling and queuing up in traffic jams or getting dressed up to work. The best part is that you can work in your pajamas in a comfortable environment.

It is a Drudgery

2009-03-16T01:51:00.000-07:00

Working from home has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are more freedom to work at flexible hours and away from the constant checking of your superiors. Many people have made it big through their home office and become millionaires. While there are the success stories, there are also those who failed miserably in working at home. First you need to have the discipline to work at your own pace. People may become too comfortable and become lazy. Instead of working, they may spend the time chatting away with online contacts and incur more expenses than necessary. For others, it may be boring or a drudgery to work at home compared to the dynamics of working in a proper office. After working for at least 7 years in the office environment, I have acquired the discipline to work from home and no longer take my blessings for granted. After all, it is not an opportunity for everyone to work from home.

Going to Langkawi in a Short While

2009-02-27T18:34:00.000-08:00

I am going to Langkawi by Firefly which was booked and confirmed last night. It takes about 30 minutes to arrive from Penang Airport to Langkawi's Airport. We need to take measurement for a sports court for a customer before flying back the next day on Sunday. Most likely, we will stay overnight in Langkawi after doing the necessary. This is a short business trip. And I just found out from my sister that a return trip by boat is about RM100 plus. Had I known that earlier, we would have taken the boat and save us about RM620 for 2 persons return by flight plus airport tax.

Have not been updating posts lately

2009-02-15T01:10:00.000-08:00

I was in Hadyai, Thailand over Chinese New Year from 24th to 27th January with my parents and younger sisters. Admittedly, I also ignored this blog for a while since it is not generating much income. There were other more pressing issues related to copyright infringement of my company web site that kept me very very occupied recently. And also the last few batches of calendars to send out by the hundreds to potential clients. Hence, I was not in the mood to blog or update this blog. With Valentine's Day yesterday and over now, I have more free time on my mind for personal stuffs.

My company also sent out a legal notice to our competitors who violated our web site copyright infringement. They copied many images, photos and write-ups from our web site and competed with us for the exact material. Since serving them legal notice after repeatedly emailing them to no avail, they have finally removed and shut down their web site. I hope it is permanent. This is the site that I am talking about >> w h i z z s p o r t .com

Wrote 2 short articles today

2008-12-27T20:38:00.000-08:00

I have just submitted my 2 shorts articles for a blog of 300 words each. It only pays USD 1 cent per word, so you can calculate how much 300 words will bring in. Christmas is just over but the Yuletide spirit still lingers on. And I was in bed almost the whole day to recuperate from my stubborn flu after taking 2 rounds of anti-biotics for the last 1 month. As I felt better today, I decided to work a little by writing articles for income. My mind is clearer now and no longer drowsy from the medication and cough mixture. And Belated Christmas to my readers!

Earning Money Writing Articles

2008-12-07T01:47:00.000-08:00

I have been paid about USD250 for November's work in writing articles for a US company. It pays about 1.4 cents per word for a 4 star rating and 1 cent per word for a 3 star rating. However, my rating has dropped from 4 star to 3 star this month. But the money comes in handy for Christmas and I intend to save it up for rainy days. No more lavish spending or impromptu buyings on impulse while window shopping. Need to save up for hard times as the economy is not so good with global recession looming in 2009. I just have to tell myself to work hard for such times. But it is nice to take a break now and then from work and remember the carefree days as a student without worries about savings and expenditure.

Hairy Crabs for a Meal

2008-11-24T21:02:00.000-08:00

This Thursday, my mum has booked a table of 5 for the family, each paying for his or her own meal at RM100 to enjoy the seasonal hairy crabs with 6 other dishes in Dragon-i Restaurant in Queensbay Mall. Hairy crabs are very expensive because they are rare and only comes around during this time of the year, around October to November. My second sister in Suchou received 12 hairy crabs from her student whose father obviously sells seafood. She brought them to the restaurant, had them cooked and share with her friends. Such lucky gal! The only difference between hairy crabs and the normal ones are that hairy crabs have much hair on the bottom of their pincers and are smaller too. Now I am looking forward to this Thursday, dinner time.

James Bond : Quantum of Solace

2008-11-19T19:52:00.000-08:00

Unlike Casino Royale, which was as direct as a bullet from a gun, QoS spends a sizeable chunk of it's running time meandering aimlessly. Firstly though, the intro car chase is in the style of an agitated, edit-obsessed director which means the entire scene is viewed in short random bursts from a multitude of angles - Fine, if that's your bag.

What follows is a series of action set pieces which are at turns exciting, manic and messy, but after which the film becomes flat and a little direction-less. That's not to say that there is little in the way of bullets and babes but the simple facts are that the set pieces are really not very exciting, and worse still the characters are pretty bland, in comparison to those in Casino Royale.

You'll struggle to think of a main bond villain that is less interesting than Dominic Greene, and agent Fields is utterly pointless in every aspect other than brief eye-candy. As is mentioned in other reviews it is Judy Dench and Daniel Craig that keep this movie from leaving the tracks entirely but it doesn't bode well for future outings if this is to be the new template. In short Casino Royale rejuvenated the franchise but Quantum Of Solace has gone some way to spoiling it's success.

Obama - the first black US President

2008-11-05T22:18:00.000-08:00

After months of non-stop campaigning in various states in USA and much money being spend on advertisements online and for air time on telly, Obama has finally made history by being the first black US president. This is unprecedented. But it is a pity that his closest relative and care-giver, his maternal grandmother did not live long enough to witness this eventful occasion. She passed away a few days ago battling cancer for some time in Hawaii. Let's hope Obama will succeed in bringing about change that is much needed after the Bush administration and revive the beleaguered economy and create new jobs for thousands of laid off workers in USA. Obama is a skillful orator after beating Hillary Clinton to be the Democrate nominee for the US presidential election. Congratulations, Obama!

Tropic Thunder Trailer

2008-10-28T00:53:00.000-07:00

"Tropic Thunder is a film that understands biting satire. It sets out to villainize the very people that made the film possible. It understands parody and it understands good comedy and delivers consistent laughs throughout. It starts out with a promising bang and from there, continues to revel in its absurdity and wit. The script is sharp and provides a great basis for the humor that spurs the film on, however, it's truly the actors that take it to the next level. Robert Downey Jr's performance as the lost Australian actor is perhaps one of the most standout performances in a comedy. Not only that, but Tom Cruise's Les may just be the engine that brings this film home. Its both ridiculous and a furnace of hilarity. But in all truth, the chemistry within the rest of the cast is undeniable. I would have to caution viewers, this film may not be what you're expecting. Ben Stiller's previous films and even his own written "Zoolander" are quite different from the tone and the visuals of Tropic Thunder. And its not just in the profanity or utter gore, its within the concepts behind the film. It dares to go into areas that are politically incorrect and what say may even find on the offensive side. Its not afraid to traverse the areas outside of hands-off comedy. If you're a fan of balls- to-wall, brazen comedy that isn't afraid of the lines, this will be your cup of tea. You'll be laughing from start to finish and reveling in the ride. It's fresh and that originality carries it somewhere great.

Prepare for a Recession

2008-10-15T22:46:00.000-07:00

Every day, we have been bombarded with news of gloomy economic outlook in the US with looming global recession on the cards. It is about time that we change our spending habits and not to buy on impulse. We have to watch our savings as thousands of jobs are lost in the US. Wall Street employees are performing new tricks on the roads to earn money in their business suits. Dow Jones, Hang Send Index, KLCI and all major share markets are reporting bear run these past few days. Goverments are injecting billions of US dollars into the failing banks in the hope of containing the economic rot. With thousands of jobless people and financial crisis that is spreading globally, we should now be prepared for the worst before any economic recovery is seen, not anytime soon.

Using Google Alerts to find work online

2008-10-03T20:26:00.000-07:00

I am using Google Alerts to keep me informed of new job offers by searching for some specific keywords that I have typed in. And I am in the midst of discussion with a potential client from Canada for an ebook rewrite, format and convertion to pdf from Microsoft Word. If everything works out well, this could mean constant work for me from this client. Each day, I will check out my Google Alerts for the searched keyterms and checking them out. It has kept me busy for a while as I continue to surf the internet for information and to pass time. It is a gold mine out there.

Looking for Work online is not easy

2008-09-22T17:10:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for high paying work online, I must admit it is not easy. But there are plenty of writing work that pays a meagre amount like from 0.55 cent to 0.7 cent per word. It does not even constitute 1 cent per word making USD1 per 100 words. That's because there are too many freelancers especially from India and Philippines or parts of Russia willing to work at this rate bringing the price down for article writing. Then, there are those that pays 1.5 cents per word but then they require at least 3 articles per day or something like that. It is not easy to get freelance work that pays well but if I have the luck, it may come one day.

Raining Heavily

2008-09-18T19:31:00.000-07:00

I just came back from breakfast in one of the local eatery for 'dim sum' when it started pouring heavily. It was raining cats and dogs and of all days, I forgot to put the umbrella back into the car. So I had to dash for the car in the rain in this monsoon season. With a wet weather like this, it is better to stay indoors and do some light reading or update my blog as what I am doing right now. Luckily, there is no thunder and lightning, otherwise my external modem will be 'fried' and rendered useless. One tip that I have learnt is that never turn on the modem when there is lightning which may cause short circuit delivering powerful electricity to the modem.

You Don't Mess with The Zohan

2008-09-16T01:08:00.000-07:00

Well given that I am a huge fan of Sandler but an even bigger fan of Star Wars, imagine my surprise when I chose this over the Clone Wars! Well I wasn't let down! Once again we are given a (kind of slapstick) comedy from Adam Sandler that has enough heart to make you care about the characters, and enough story that you feel that the movie is going somewhere.

While there was plenty of material to entertain adults and the like i.e. sex jokes, references to other movies and politics, there was also enough visual comedy to keep younger viewers entertained e.g. silly fight scenes and animal jokes.

While the cinema was mixed with very different ages, I disapproved with parents taking very young children to see this movie, as the sex humour was very raunchy, funny, but not for young kids.

Would be a good date movie! Otherwise, it's just a great night out at the flicks.

Paralympic Sports Beijing

2008-09-10T06:18:00.000-07:00

In this YouTube, you can watch paralympic sports in China just after Beijing Olympics. It is held at the same place in the bird's nest stadium. My heart goes out to the handicapped sportsmen who display true sportsmanship by trying their best to win despite their condition. They don't look themselves as disabled but with fervent desire and motivation, they hope for the best to win in the paralympic sports just like any other ordirnary men and women. It is heartwarming to see the video and it will lift you up from your blues or petulant nature. The part where they played basketball in their wheel chairs was soemthing new and interesting to me.

The Cost of Living Keeps Increasing

2008-09-07T22:30:00.000-07:00

The cost of living keeps increasing. And Japan may be in recession. USA was in recession a few months ago. We have to brace ourselves for bad times and tighten our belt. The inflation rate is more than our earnings in Fixed Deposits interest rates. For some, they have to take 2-3 jobs just to get by. With the skyrocketing prices of gas and fuel plus food prices, we have to be more conscious of our spending and bargain at all times. Don't let your hard earn savings be splurge on luxury items. Are they a necessity in the first place? Well, for me, I guess I will have to save more money for rainy days. You never know what's next.

Selling on eBay

2008-09-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

I plan to sell my almost new jade pendant which I hardly wear and used stamps through eBay. I have been reading up on eBay and how to sell successfully. There are even some templates for eBay that you can use such as Z-templates. Some are free but you have to search around. I discovered that there are powersellers at bronze level selling at least $1,000 per month for 3 months while the highest level is titanium powersellers selling stuffs amounting to a whopping $150,000 per month. This will take plenty of time taking photos of the stamps, processing the photo and listing them on eBay. After you get a sale or enquiry, you need to post them through the post office. There are options of whether you intend to sell locally or worldwide and need to estimate the shipping price.

Christian the Lion

2008-09-01T02:57:00.000-07:00

This is a must watch video showing a tamed lion being rehabilitated in the wild in Africa reuniting with its former care givers. He even introduced them his wife! Friendship knows no bounds and transcends human beings to animals. Imagine the long distance travel to Africa and the difficulty the couple encountered in finding their lion again. It is a touching story with a happy ending.

How to Whiten Teeth in Photoshop

2008-08-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

Above is a Photoshop technique to whiten teeth on digital photos. This is a useful skill to learn and how to touch up your photos. As an aside, I have yellowish teeth due to tetracycline stains. When I was young, I fell sick and the doctor gave me a banned drug tetracycline, an antibiotic that should not be prescribed to kids under the age of ten. It not only caused stains to the teeth but to all the bones as well. I have tried other methods of whitening my teeth such as buying expensive teeth whitener with retainer to apply for at least 1 hour without much improvement. So, now if I were to have my photos taken, I don't show my teeth.

Synchronized Swimming at Beijing Olympics 2008

2008-08-23T01:21:00.000-07:00

I was watching the group synchronized swimming in Beijing Olympics life on television just now. They are beautifully choreographed and almost every team did a splendid routine. When I was watching a bit later, team Canada was performing and ranked first. This was followed by Japan which unfortunately has a synchronized swimmer suffering leg cramps at the end of the routine and was ranked second. The came team China with marvellous styles and unique sequence. It overtook Canada and took first spot.

After that was the team from Spain. Though their costumes were not a groovy as other teams, they managed to clinged first place displacing China to second and Japan to third. The final team from Russia came and did great heights, the highest so far comparatively. Russia has been getting medals in the last olympics in Athens and prior to that as well. When the team finished their routines, they were ranked first with a perfect score of 50 for style. So it finally came to Russia to win the gold medal for synchronized swimming. The life telecast was entertaining and I stayed glued to the telly for a while.

China Olympics 2008

2008-08-20T01:49:00.000-07:00

I was watching the television today and China has accummulated 44 goal medals while USA has 26 goal medals. China is indeed a sports superpower with many capable world-class athletics. I loved watching synchronised swimming seeing the very colorful and beautifully designed costumes. Micheal Phelps is a swimming phenomenon and he does not have to work one day in his life anymore. Just earn from the money sponsorships of advertisements and he can retire young and rich. While we don't have the swimming ability of Phelps, most of us need to work the usual route to earn our living. Some resort to blogging part time while others prefer to stay in the office. Well, different strokes for different folks. So, which do you choose? I know what I want.

Hello World!

2008-08-19T02:46:00.000-07:00

This is my first post from blogger.com. I am happy that Blogger is a free platform to create blogs of various designs. The templates are ready made and it can be selected in a jiffy. At the moment, it is in the late afternoon and I am working from my new laptop. I hope to justify the money spent on the laptop by blogging and hopefully earn some allowance using Google Adsense but this will take some time. I am happy with the status quo and hope to post some interesting material for my repeat visitors. In the meantime, do come back often and check out for updates.