Inspirational

I've been visiting some inspirational sites and blogs lately. Don't know. Maybe early middle age crisis? Maybe I'm just hooked on the smart quotes to fill my MSN personal message. :P

Let me share one of my most favourite blog. Karl's Blog. This guy really makes me think alot. Not only about my own personal life, its also about work, surroundings, strangers, photo frame, candles, speakers, books... ok ok, I'm just randomly naming stuff in front of me now. In short, everything.

And whats good is, the blogger is not your postman or fishmonger. He is actually a best selling author. He is non other than Karl Moore himself; the author of Karl Moore’s Visual Basic .NET and The Ultimate Code Book.



Check out Karl's blog and join the forum. I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

This post is sponsored by www.karlblog.com.

Sigh

dS : good morning IT dept, dS speaking, how could I assist you?

caller : hey dS, i got a prob.

dS : shoot.

caller : i was moving my icons around then how i cant find the lotus icon.

dS : easy la... right click anywhere on your desktop.

caller : ok, now?

dS : select "arrange icon by".

caller : then?

dS : click on "auto arrange".

caller : ooh... thx thx. got it. but hey, tell me something. how the heck can u see my screen from way over there? no camera behind me what?

dS : 0_o" put it this way... i used the force.

Gabriel García Márquez

Memories of My Melancholy Whores, by Gabriel García Márquez; translated by Edith Grossman; 106 pages. Any typical reader would have finished it in a day but somehow, it took me a week.

The way Mr.Gabriel describes a scene, it made me feel like I was there. I can smell the antic wooden flea invested bed. My eyes were teased by the blinking ceiling light. My head bobbed to the tunes on the radio. Amazing.. one of the best read ever. Magical and mesmerizing words. I am forever a fan.

Basically the story is about a 90 year old man who wanted to reward himself a virgin as a birthday present. Instead of pure carnal lust, the man fell in love. 90 year old in love with a 14 year old. Only in Mr.Gabriel's mind. So it goes on and on, cycle after cycle of meeting the girl at night just to watch her sleep. Lovefool.

I will not spoil the ending. Try and guess it. :) While you guess, I'm going to get the other books by Mr.Gabriel.

Best Line : "Girl, you and I are alone in this world"

Hungry Ghost

HAPPY HUNGRY GHOST DAY

Bike Rack

Back when I was living in a palm oil estate, the fun machine for us was bikes. Not motorbikes, but bicycles. Namely, BMX. There wasn't any mountain bikes or street racers at the time. Those who does not own a BMX had to cycle those old apek big ass wheeled bicycle that the local bread man use. I think the brand was Seven.

Naturally, most of us just dump our bikes right on the yard when we were forced to go in for dinner but my dad had this cool rack done that looks a bit like this.

Cool is one thing, hoisting it up is another. I think whatver arm muscle I have is the result of hoisting my BMX up every evening. Still, to me, it looked damn cool. Especially when my friend come to my room. They'll go, "dudeeeeeeeeeeeee.... can your dad get make one of that for me?" Makes me damn proud.

I'm thinking of getting a street racer here just for fucks. Maybe use it to get my morning paper during the weekends or just have a plain good work out in the evenings. My problem was storing it. Just at the right time, PPP opportunity offered this and damn... its cool. They have these bike rack that looks quite handy for someone who lives in an apartment. I'll probably get the one as shown in the pic just for the cool factor and the easy on the eyes mechanism.

Have to get Minister of Finance's (dW) approval first. :P

Disclaimer : as always, this is a paid post, but its also what i wanted to blog about even if its not paid. my post comes from my heart and is not influenced by the opportunity at hand to be paid for it.

Mitch Albom

Back in 2003, there was a big hoo haa in the christian world. "Read this book, its good for christian teens." Its title? The Five People You Meet In Heaven. "B-b-b-but pastor, its nothing concerning christianity." "Rubbish.. read it. Its good for your soul."

I've read "Tuesdays With Morrie". It did not contain anything that qualifies it as a christian book. In fact, after reading "Tuesdays With Morrie", I thought, "boy.. what a waste of time." The writing is bad. The story line is... erm.. what story line?

Then I read...


When dCuz brought the book to dHouse, I sneered. It was left under the bed while I read "Bandit" by Elmore Leonard. 4a.m one night, while feeding Lil Saint, I grabbed the book and started reading.

It explores questions of regret, divorce, and how we would spend one special day with the ghost of someone we loved. A day to ask question, seek forgiveness, and reexamine the life you thought you had.

Its a pretty touching book. Good story line, nice way of writing it. I love the chapters "Times I didn't stand up for my mom" and "Times my mom stood up for me". Something in those context.

Congratulations Mr.Albom, you just won yourself a reader. Great read. Hopefully the next book will be better.

Cuppy Cake Vs Eminem

Lil Saint : uuuuuuuwaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!UUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! UUUUAAAAAAAAA!!!

dW : quick! play him his fav song.

K750i : You're my Honeybunch, Sugarplum
Pumpy-umpy-umpkin, You're my Sweetie Pie
You're my Cuppycake, Gumdrop
Snoogums-Boogums, You're the Apple of my Eye
And I love you so and I want you to know
That I'll always be right here
And I love to sing sweet songs to you
Because you are so dear~~~

Lil Saint : uuuuuuuwaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!UUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! UUUUAAAAAAAAA!!!

dS : this one wont work laaa... come come, use daddy's phone.

K750i : And if you ask me too
Daddy's gonna buy you a mockingbird
I'm gonna give you the world
I'm gonna buy a diamond ring for you
I'm gonna sing for you
I'll do anything for you to see you smile
And if that mockingbird don't sing and that ring don't shine
I'm gonna break that birdies neck
I'll go back to the jeweler who sold it to ya
And make him eat every carat don't fuck with dad~~~

Lil Saint : ........................ *yawn, cheeky smile*

Count

When I was a 10, my cousin came to live with us. At the time, my dad was moonlighting as an English tuition teacher. Inevitably both of us were part of the class too.

I remember in one of the sessions, we had to count out loud from 1 to 100. Naturally, I did it in record time. I can still remember the looks from some of the girls. Its as if I was super genius counting machine.

Then it was my cousins turn. Wanting the same respect, he shot off in warp speed counting...

one

two

three

four

five

six

seven

eight

nine

ten

oneteen

twoteen

threeteen

fourteen

fiveteen

He stopped at this point cause everyone in the class was rotflolwluita... His bambi eyes were a sight...

Hotel Reservation Webby

I'm googling for websites for info to plan for a holiday for my family and I found quite a lot of sites that offers packages with very attractive room rates. From Air Asia's site to a some international sites, this one website facinates me.

Hotel Reservations could not be made easier here. I was looking for local sites that offers local packages, but this site did not disappoint me. A click on Asia Hotels followed by Kuala Lumpur, I came to a page that asks for my check in and check out date. A few seconds later, I get quite a comprehensive list of hotels.

Almost all the major hotels in the city as well as those in Penang and Melaka was listed. Price is listed in USD, but the most impressive to me was the fact that it also listed the room availability. Prince Hotel, 4 rooms left. Impressive! Ok ok, you can call me noob but I'm seriously impressed with that function.

It does not only have hotel reservations, if we need transport, it can be arranged too. Talk about comprehensive traveling. From flights to cars. I will not be surprised if they have a section on supplying bicycles for your holiday. Maybe in the visit China package it’s included. Heh!

Price wise, its safe to say hotelreservations.com offers quite a competitive edge over the rest of the sites I've surfed to. Of course, to be fair, there are cheaper packages listed elsewhere. But what the hey... let me just take a clip from the webby to put out my point.

Special Internet Rate Price Guarantee
Special Internet Rate reservations booked through Interactive Affiliate Network are guaranteed to be the lowest rate you can find. If there is a lower rate available for the same dates and the same hotel, you must contact us within 24 hours of booking your "Special Internet Rate" reservation. After verifying the lower rate, we will, at our choice, either match the lower rate or cancel the reservation without a cancellation fee. This guarantee only applies to rates indicated as "Special Internet Rates." It does not apply to special events such as New Year's, the Super Bowl, Mardi Gras, JazzFest, etc.

How cool is that? If you can find anything cheaper, they might match it too. Nothing to say to this. Awesome deal.

So what did I get in the end? I didn't book anything via the website. :P Why? Coz I decided to bring the family back to visit my mom's side of the family. My maternal uncles and aunties as well as cousins and their families. I've bookmarked though for my future vacations. Very handy.

Disclosure : This is a paid post by the webby. However, what I write is based on my own research. All information is correct during posting time. Whatever info will/can change without prior notice.

Pay Per Post

If you noticed, I've recently added some new ad stuff into this blog. I guess despite whan I've preached, my recent talk with Dale has got me thinking about the evolution of blogs.

I mean, why not jump on the ad bandwagon? As long as my content is still the same and I still get to vent, whats wrong with making an extra buck here and there? After all, you never know, you might evolve into a problogger yourself and just make money while staying at home to spend as much as with you kid as possible. How wonderful is that?

So taking Dale as an example, I joined... nah, I'm not telling it here, look through my navigation panel and find whats new.

This PPP is way cooler than Google's Adsense IMHO. I mean, if you have a blog of your own, you can review my posts, and we both get some $$$. We don't even have to wait for people to click on our ads to get $. All we need to do is post!

The Beatles : all you need is post~~~
The Beatles : all you need is post~~~
The Beatles : all you need is post~~~ post~~~~
The Beatles : post is all you need~~~~

Now... do you have a blog? If you don't have one, get one here.

Ok, this is sounding more and more like a sales pitch.

My soul has been sold.

Potter Spoiler

"Look, there's Hermione!"

Hermione Granger was standing at the bottom of the steps to the girls' dormitories. Harry and Ron dashed towards her and then stopped dead. Hermione had changed over the summer. The difference was so great that Harry was forced to realize that he hadn't really been paying attention the last few years. The mass of curly brown hair was still there, but it was arranged in an artful way to frame her face and curl over her shoulders. Her face was more angular, with high cheekbones and clear milky skin. The prominent front teeth were still there, but they only served to push her lips forward in a very interesting manner, making her look as if she was always just about to eat a strawberry. Her robes had changed as well; they fit quite a bit better, for one, and the neckline seemed much more fascinating than before. She had a thin leather belt around her waist, from which hung several small silk pouches and which incidentally accentuated her lush curves. Heavily orchestrated music began playing. "Hi Harry, hi Ron!" she called, and went to hug them both.

"Um, cough, wow, Hermione, you're looking really, um, good," Ron blurted out. Harry just nodded and concentrated on trying to breathe normally.

She preened. "Thanks! I've been studying up on Sex Magic, it's dead easy. Did you get all the stuff on your list for this year?"

Both teens looked down and nodded. "Yes, " said Harry glumly. "We had to go to a different section of Dragon's Alley for it, some shop called Lord Chumley's Marital Accoutrements and Novelties for the Gentleman. I don't even know what half of this stuff does! And a couple of the items sort of look like wands, but I tried swishing them about and almost got arrested!"

"You'll see. The girls get a different list, I got everything at Victoria's Sorceries. I'll show you later, if you're good" she said, not noticing the way both Harry and Ron's eyes widened, "but you've both got to get to "Beginning Erotimancy". I'll see you after." She turned and walked up the stairs with a wiggle.

Ron looked at Harry. "We're in for it, aren't we?"

The two boys ran into Professor Winkledoof's class just on time. This class was all boys, for some reason, and Harry's heart fell as he spotted Draco Malfoy and his goons on the other side of the room. The professor, a short, stocky man with questionable hygiene, was busily making extremely detailed chalk drawings on the blackboard. The drawings appeared to be of some sort of intricate plumbing system, and resmebled slightly the more primitive sketchings Harry had seen in the boy's lavatory. There were several posters hanging about the walls, with mottoes like "Safe Spelling", and "Wrap It Before You Wave It". There was what appeared to be an inflatable witch, a small trampoline and a spool of thick rope over by the closet, and there was a large wooden trunk labeled "Toys" next to Professor Winkledoof's desk, which was almost invisible under the stacks of paintings and etchings. Harry and Ron looked down; at each student's place was a brass spigot maked "Lube", a soft towel, and a small parcel of square foil packages labeled "Lord Chumley's Preventatives - Ribbed". Some of the boys had apparantly already opened theirs and there was a spirited balloon fight going on in the back of the room.

Professor Winkledoof finished his drawing, turned to face the class, scratched himself, and began. "Right! Welcome to 'Beginning Erotimancy'! We'll jump right in to give you a taste, right? Wave yer wand over your goodies and say 'Phallus erectus'!"

Harry looked around to get an idea of what "goodies" was supposed to mean, and then, blushing, he followed instructions. "Phallus erectus!" he commanded. Instantly he felt a strange warmth, which turned into an abrupt and slightly painful swelling and tightening beneath his robes. At first he thought he had inadvertantly transformed part of himself into a snake, but talking to it had no effect. Next to him he could hear Ron waving his wand frantically and mumbling, "Please, dammit, c'mon, don't do this to me..." The boys around him were having varying degrees of success; Harry wasn't surprised to see Malfoy sitting tall in his chair with a smug expression.

Class ended early after an explosion came from the back of the room and Neville's high-pitched shrieks filled the air. "That explosion was a bit... premature, wasn't it Potter?" laughed Malfoy.

The next class was with Professor Snapes ("Aphrodisiacs and their Abuses") but they had more than a half-hour to spend so they went back to the Gryffindor rooms. Harry was still puzzling over what he had seen. "What were those diagrams on the board? You think he's trying to sneak into the pipes of Hogwarts to do some dastardly deed? Maybe there's underground caverns besides the Chamber of SecretsTM, that diagram looked kind of like the opening of a hidden cavern," Harry said. Ron looked at him with an odd expression.

"You didn't get out much at the Dursley's, did you Harry?"

"No, you know that. What's that got to do with anything?"

"Nothing, nothing," Ron said hurridly, "only you might want to, you know, check out the library for some extra biology studying this term."

"Now you sound like Hermione."

"Yeah, and about Hermione. You know how she loves showing off how much she knows about magic, right? I'm thinking that..."

They said the password ("doggin bat!") and entered the common room. Hermione was sitting in one of the high-backed armchairs in front of the fire, studying an odd-looking device. "What sort of magic wand's that, then?" asked Ron.

Hermione smiled a cat smile. "A Hitachi," she said. "Why are you chaps back so early? Finish too soon?"

"No, but Neville did," Harry said. "Madam Pomfrey looked at him and shook her head, said something about cold compresses."

Ron cleared his throat. "Um, Hermione, I was wondering... I mean, it seems that Harry here is a bit, um, lacking, in certain basic instruction, and I was wondering if you could help him out. And me too, if you're not too tired." Hermione seemed delighted, and stood up with a flourish.

"I'd be happy to," she said. She looked closer at Harry, paying particular attention to the chest and arm muscles developed through years of Quidditch. "I'd be very happy to. The only person I had to study with over the summer was Colin, and he wears out too quickly." She reached into one of her pouches, grumbled, and then reached into a diferent one. "Shouldn't have been there... okay, this is the easiest one to master, it's called Attraction. With a small effort you can cast a spell on a person and make them think you're the sexiest thing they've ever seen." She threw a small handful of glittering dust in the air, waved her Hitachi through it and chanted, "Glamourus Meus!"

Suddenly, in Harry's eyes Hermione was stunning. She had already been attractive; now she was maddening. He could feel the snake tranformation in his robes again as he lurched towards her, determined to get her and... and... well, he didn't know exactly what yet, but whatever it was he was going to do it really hard. Hermione smiled at him. "See? Easy. And you turn it off with just a snap of the wand." She jerked her wand between them and down, but it had no effect. She looked at it and ducked around the back of the chair as Harry stepped forward. "Sorry, I'll try that again." She did; it didn't.

Hermione looked up with resigned good humor and held her arms out. Oh, well, something went wrong, and now she had to deal with a lust-crazed Harry Potter. No worries, she had hoped for that anyway, just on somewhat more equal terms. Maybe this way they could get the awkwardness out of the way and then they could... Behind Harry's quivering body she could hear that all the conversation in the room had stopped, and low moans could be heard. She stood up and peeked over the back of the chair.

Everyone in the room was looking at her like a starving dog looking at a steak, and they were all walking stiffly towards the chair. Even some of the figures in the paintings seemed to be trying to climb out of the frames. The fat woman painting slid aside and more boys (and a few girls) from the other Houses came in, followed by several professors. Through the window she could hear Hagrid's great booming voice, "Aragh! I've gone and raised the biggest beast of them all! C'mon, me lad, let's put you to good use!" Even the male owls in the room seemed alert and ready to swoop, and Ron's owl Pidwigeon was scrabbling at the bottom of her robes, trying to find a way in.

Frantically she tore through her pouches, only to find that all of her other powders had been replaced with sugar packets. Someone had sabotaged her spell! And now it looked as though she was going to suffer for it, unless her summer lessons could help her triumph over 65 males (and a few females). She took a deep breath, snapped her head to the side to crack her neck, and stepped forward...

---not written by dSaint---