Huaqing’s camera fone…all quite clear except mi abit hazy and YY hoo’s utterly blur.
LJ’s camera fone….the lighting’s abit dark.
my camera fone….wif blur YY in background still.
conclusion, tink cameras are still the best…sigh
i came across tis gem of an article tat should bring u some laffs too.
AND OUR SURVEY SAID..
BOYS are stronger than girls, ice cream makes you fat, women like diamonds and men like football.
Surprised? Thought not. Every day we’re hit with a piece of silly science or a potty poll that “reveals” something we already knew.
And often a squint at the small print tells the real story – someone, somewhere wants you to buy something.
Here’s our round-up of the most pointless surveys ever carried out…
ROMANTIC lovers are more likely to say “I love you” than married couples – The boffins at Yale University worked that out all by themselves.
WOMEN like diamonds – Seventy per cent think the bigger the stone, the better. And who did that survey? None other than diamond sellers De Beers.
WORKING mums are too tired for sex – Mother And Baby magazine discovered that almost all working mothers say they are often too tired for bedroom gymnastics.
NAKED sleepwalkers usually wander into other rooms – Travelodge proved that naked sleepers stroll into other bedrooms, go downstairs or go to the bathroom. Where else could they go?
MEN are physically stronger than women, but emotionally weaker – The European Men’s Health Forum has clearly got its finger on the pulse.
CHILDREN who eat ice cream have a higher chance of being obese – They’re good at the Heart And Stroke Foundation, aren’t they?
MEN who plan their Valentine’s Day activities are considered more romantic – Groundbreaking survey from The Society Of American Florists. Wonder what they want fellas to buy?
HEAVY internet users watch less TV and see fewer friends – Let’s get this straight. Go to work, go home, log on for hours, so less time to see friends. Thanks Nuke Inter Network, without you we’d never have worked it out.
WOMEN like shopping, men don’t – Money Magazine surveyed 1,010 people to prove that.
MEN prefer watching football to home decorating – No, really! They do.
MOST of us would like to earn much more money for much less work – Every year at least one recruitment consultancy trots out this old chestnut.
WOMEN enjoy being pampered – That can’t be true. Manicures, facials, massages – not for me, thanks.
USED car dealers can rip you off – The Institute Of Trading Standards found that used car dealers can be dodgy.
PEOPLE who get a loan for cosmetic surgery won’t tell their bank manager – Yorkshire Bank discovered that 40 per cent of people want a loan for a nose job or hair replacement, but would say that it was for a conservatory.
FATHERS are useful in bringing up children – A study published in the lead-up to Father’s Day may be right.
LACK of exercise can make you fat – A survey by the International Journal Of Behavioural Nutrition in an exercise of stating the obvious.
WORKING long hours makes you tired – Researchers at the British Medical Journal had a Eureka moment.
STUDENTS like cheap drinks – I’m not making it up. Researchers proved it.
BRITONS have lots of sex on holiday – And Durex should know.
YOUNG people go to Ibiza to have sex – The STI Journal failed to mention the drinking and dancing.
PEOPLE love watching their favourite TV show and eating their favourite meal – American Express’s Life’s Little Indulgences survey is behind that little gem.
ESTATE agents lie – Direct Line exposed the fibbers.
BRAD Pitt is the World’s Sexiest Man – It was never in doubt, but George Clooney’s demanding a recount.
WOMEN spend more time than men doing household chores – The Bureau Of Labour Statistics says women do four hours a day while men do just half that.
WE spend our weekends eating, drinking, going out or watching television – What else is there to do, we ask the Consumer Analysis Group?
JOURNALISTS work harder and get paid less than anyone else – OK, I made that one up, but the boss might fall for it.
the milkbottle tat karen got for QQ.
the cap wif the crown is real cute.
wow! great business idea!
Gina Stern isn’t hoping the throngs of Thanksgiving travelers get stuck at the airport this week.
But if they do, she and her staff are prepared to offer a little pampering in a pinch.
“My customer is the time-poor and the world-weary,’ says Stern, owner of the d_parture spas at Newark Liberty International Airport’s Terminals C and B. “They don’t say, ‘How much?’ when they walk in; they say, ‘How long?’ It’s all about making their boarding time.’
Stern, a Bronx native who calls Upper Saddle River home these days, offers folks passing through the airport everything from a fast haircut and color job, to a manicure, pedicure or massage. Customers can spend as little as $10 for a quick lip waxing or as much as $170 for a two-hour “total energy boost,’ which includes hair, nails, a facial and massage.
It’s a business that she says thrived shortly after its takeoff six years ago.
“We were profitable at both Newark locations the first year,’ says Stern, who also owns a spa at Orlando International Airport that she says is profitable.
Stern hopes to expand her business to more than a million in sales now that she has joined a handful of other women in winning a contest sponsored by OPEN, the American Express unit geared toward small businesses, and the non-profit group, Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence.
After pitching her business plan for growth, Stern won a year’s worth of mentoring and consulting services, and access to loans aimed at helping her top $1 million in sales.
“It’s amazing,’ says Stern, whose Puerto Rican and Dominican roots helped her get the spas certified as minority-owned.
“As a small-business owner, you can never show weakness or you’re pronounced dead. But with Amex, now if I run into trouble, I can go to them. I feel like they reached in and grabbed me and said, ‘You’re worth something.’ ‘
Susan Sobbott, president of OPEN from American Express, says Stern’s thorough business planning helped her win the competition.
“Her business is something she could replicate on a bigger scale and she has solid financials,’ says Sobbott, of Glen Rock. “What’s compelling about Gina is that she took the time to step back and say, ‘Hey, I could do this and here is what I think I need.’ It’s an indicator of what we call a million-dollar mind-set.’
Stern says she’s never been shy about her ambitions. She is, after all, a former fashion designer who only slowed down long enough to write a business plan for the spas after a back injury left her sidelined.
“I wrote my business plan for the spas while I was rehabilitating,’ says Stern, noting that her husband came up with the idea for her spa-at-the-airport business. “My branding experience from my background in fashion helped a lot. The whole spa concept just became my baby.’
But Stern says getting airport space wasn’t so easy.
“I lobbied the airports for two years because they told me they didn’t see the spa concept as viable there,’ Stern recalls. “They said they didn’t see how travelers would pass up on a bar concept in favor of a spa.’
Luckily for her, a nationwide “air mall’ trend began to take hold.
“The idea is basically to offer shopping and other services that let you forget you’re at an airport,’ Stern says, noting that the concept arrived at Newark just in time for her to open her first spa there in 2000.
She borrowed $750,000 from family members as start-up capital.
“That store opened-up gang busters,’ she says. “But then we had 9/11 and it hit a dip.’
The business eventually recovered and Stern opened the Terminal B spa in 2003. “We did hit some problems with traffic there initially,’ recalls Stern, who has 20 employees in Newark.
“There’s an international demographic, and culturally, I’m not a big draw for customers of Air Israel or Air India.’
But Stern, who expects revenue from Newark to top $750,000 in 2007, says she overcame those “challenges’ by offering incentive coupons to customers of various nearby airlines.
“You jump in with no experience and then you learn along the way,’ she says. “You have to address issues head-on as they arise.’
Stern says she’s eager to see the business grow in coming years.
“I see a d_partures spa at every airport throughout the U.S. and in Europe,’ she says. “Why not think big?’
was happily doing my banking when i got tis msg from DBS
“Unable to add new payee to your personal list as you already have the maximum allowed number of payees currently.
Please delete one or more of your less frequently used payees before trying again “
why need to limit the number of payees leh? it’s so difficult to remember long account numbers tat’s y we add to payees. and it’s not like we r allowed to make transfers WITHOUT adding to payee. if we can do tat den the payee list will definitely b shorter.
after all the trouble taken to set up the payees with the OTP (the PIN sent to mobile), now expect mi to delete the payees…nah beh
mi is cheesed…
tim sum @ Bedok South
so-so only but check out the teh-C…so ‘gao’! shiok ah!
tis is good news for mi coz i luv cinnamon wif apples. yummy!
Greet holiday guests with a fragrant mug of hot cider spiced with cinnamon and cloves. It will do more than warm them up.
Cinnamon and cloves are irresistible flavorings, but they aren’t just treats for your tastebuds. They also provide powerful health benefits, like helping the body process blood glucose — essential to avoiding diabetes. Keep both spices handy for baking, hot drinks, and savory dishes. Cooking with them is as easy as apple pie.
Cinnamon is well known as a stellar antioxidant and a potent germ-killer, and there’s a growing body of evidence that shows that a substance in the spice turns on insulin receptors to help the body use glucose. Which is a good thing, because too much glucose in the bloodstream is tough on your organs and a marker of diabetes. Cloves appear to have a similar effect.
So don’t save these spices for holiday cooking. You can use cinnamon liberally, but cloves — ground or whole — really pack a flavor punch and take a lighter hand. For ways to get more of these good-for-you spices into your everyday life, try these tips:
got these cute car stickers from playground at sol 55, bkk.
i was too smart for my own good coz i assumed tat these muz b decals, not stickers.
well, they were really STICKERS, sigh….!
so, they’re now propped up by soft toys in the car. i can’t possibly stick them outside the car rite.
the boy & girl were meant for the third row but no way to put them up nw, unless i use decals.
the famous 64+4 foodcourt at loyang
happened to stop besides it when driving past.
Mi & Dot in office, test fitting our headgear.
y do i get the impression we look more like indiana jones…den sexy arabian princesses…keke
welcome to ‘A Mystifying EXperience’
mi & siew koon
wow! she looks more arabian and more princessy den mi for sure.
mi wif persian prince Clarence
the gers at our table
dot and su mei
connie and us
mi wif ivy, alicia and catherine
no posting would b complete wifout….food!
Went to arab st wif karen, alex & tony on wed nite.
i couldn’t find cafe le caire tat i usually go to…but we ended up in a beli authentic feeling turkish and mediterrean place.
tis tiny cup of turkish coffee is real power sia…i took one sip and nearly die-ed…haha…taste like triple expresso
and the beli nice pot of apple tea tat we shared.
too bad it was cold when i drank it, as verified by the ‘yandao’ in the restaurant…keke
and yesh, they gave us turkish delights when we called for the bill so the title is not totally unjustified
view my desk in totality wif the panorama shots…way cool !
kiddos enjoying a ride on the batmobile on sun
QQ looking pretty in her dress
juz discovered panorama shoot mode while waiting for HQ to haf dinner.
way cool ! tis is a shot of my ENTIRE dashboard….wow…and the nite mode is so clear
juz an interesting and random piece of news i came across
Chinese sub approached US aircraft carrier undetected
A Chinese submarine came within a few miles (kilometers) of a US aircraft carrier in international waters near Okinawa last month without being detected, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed.
Spokesman Bryan Whitman played down the security breach, saying he did not believe the Chinese Song-class submarine was considered a threat.
“I think you’re generating more concern than perhaps is warranted,” he told reporters.
But submarines of the type involved in the incident carry weapons capable of striking a carrier from a distance of more than 25 miles (40 km), an expert on the Chinese military said.
“Any time a potentially hostile submarine operates in such proximity to critical naval assets like an aircraft carrier should be of concern to American military leaders,” said Richard Fisher.
The Washington Times, which first reported the encounter, said the navy was reviewing its anti-submarine defenses and that China analysts at the Pentagon were surprised that a Chinese submarine was operating so far from the mainland.
Whitman said a US naval strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk was conducting routine training operations in the East China sea near Okinawa in October when the incident occurred.
“During these operations a Chinese Navy Song-class submarine was sighted near the strike group by US Navy aircraft,” he said.
“My understanding is that this was several miles away,” he said.
The Kitty Hawk was not actively engaged in anti-submarine warfare operations during the exercise, Whitman said, explaining why it did not detect the Chinese submarine sooner.
The Pentagon spokesman said he was not aware that any complaints had been lodged with the Chinese.
News of the incident came as commander of the US Pacific Fleed, Admiral Gary Roughead, was in Beijing for talks with Chinese military leaders ahead of a joint search and rescue exercise in the South China Sea.
“I really would like to know what the intent is in some of the developments that I see in the PLA navy,” Roughead told reporters Monday.
He said these included the expansion of China’s submarine fleet and procurement of ships.
“I look forward to having discussions about what the vision is and perhaps what some of the operating doctrine might be,” Roughead said.
Fisher said incidents at sea between the two navies are likely to increase as China’s ocean-going naval operations expand in the years ahead.
“It is my opinion the Chinese are going to be posturing against US military forces in Asia increasingly in the coming years,” he told AFP.
“They are building a blue water navy. They have made clear in the past, a bit more subtly but consistently, that they are not at all accepting of the American military presence in what they see as their sphere of influence,” he said.
He said China appears to be building a base on the tip of Hainan Island from which to deploy ballistic missile submarines and possibly future aircraft carriers across the South China Sea between China and Philippines.
“As a consequence I expect there may be many opportunities for naval incidents as the Chinese take exception to the presence of American navy ships transiting between northeast Asia and the Persian Gulf,” he said.
Hainan Island was where a US Navy EP-3 surveillance plane collided with a Chinese fighter on April 1, 2001 in the last major US-Chinese military confrontation.
The latest incident occurred near Okinawa where the bulk of US forces in Japan are based.
“In the event of a general, out-of-the-blue Chinese attack against Taiwan, in my opinion they will also attack all American forces in Japan,” Fisher said.
“Making sure their submarine commanders are familiar with operating around Okinawa or close to Japan is a competency the Chinese want to develop,” he said.
i was on childcare leave for QQ’s birthday and decided to bring them to farmart for some goat sightings.
but goodness, the goats were really stinko and we ended up prawning instead.
check out our haul ! 
actualli not all the 39 prawns in the pictures are caught by us. in fact we got 5 after an hour’s efforts but 2 got away coz there were huge holes in the netting for keeping the prawns.
a fellow ‘prawner’ hoo had a huge harvest gave all his 36 prawns to the kids…wow! how generous, rite! mayb it was partly due to YY hoo kept asking him questions and peeping at his prawns…keke
but he really made prawning seem so easy, at the rate tat the prawns were flocking to his baits. now tat’s wat i call a super ‘prawner’ !
YY & QQ holding the huge prawns.
QQ looks pretty distressed, not by the prawns but by her gor-gor…keke
wait till we haf our prawns feast..drool
karen got QQ her first barbie for her birthday.
and she luvs it! she was stroking the doll’s hair quite lovingly and commented tat the doll is beli pretty.
den she commented tat the doll looks fierce.
and she likes barbie’s pegasus a lot too.
tat’s QQ holding the pokemon toy tat YY gave her for her bird-day
and YY wif barbie.
Worried that holiday menus will break your promises to eat healthfully? Get apple happy.
Whether they’re in pies, stuffing, chutney, cobblers, or other festive favorites, apples are super healthy, not least because they’re a top source of quercetin.
What’s that? It’s a potent antioxidant that seems to protect against asthma, allergies, prostate cancer, heart disease, and — the latest — colon cancer.
So grab a bushel before the best of fall’s crop is gone. Then get cooking!
Here’s what’s so great about quercetin: It’s believed to work as an anti-inflammatory, antiallergen, and antihistamine, as well as an antioxidant, which means it gobbles up free radicals before they can cause cell damage.
Apples (especially the peels) are a primo source of quercetin, as are onions, green tea, kale, and broccoli — all foods that are good for you in many other ways, too.
Now a new study suggests that quercetin changes the way colon tissue lives and grows, right down to the cellular level.
Quercetin amps up the amount of a protein in colon cells that protects against cancer and decreases the amounts of three other proteins that promote tumor growth.
That’s a lot of colon protection wrapped up in a tiny molecular package.
So make holiday get-togethers as healthful as you can by adding apple-studded recipes to the menu. No one will ever guess you’re serving health food.
i was intro to tis by dot in bkk and we brought some back from Big C.
tis is supposed to b a korean snack and there’s a version wif ginseng filling tat’s supposedly beli nice.
anyway, i was surprised to come across choco-pie in shell station in sg so here it is.
was searching for good korean food for dot’s birthday dinner when i came across The Tapas Tree
sounds pretty good. i miss good spanish food. Via Mer at esplanade is onli avg. went once and haven’t missed it since.
sangria and paella are the way to go. tink i muz go check out tis place and i’m keeping my fingers crossed tat the food is as good as the review.
QQ laffed at mi when i wrapped my hair up so i decided to do the same for both of them.
QQ’s turban juz dropped but check out how ali baba looking YY is….keke
lucky her to b working for LEK now!
so happy for her!
i still tink i look awful in shirt, sibeh samsoony looking…look so ‘bloated’
i tink mi out on weight. time to start diet again
guess i should stick to tubes and spaghetti tops.
i always check the public hols from the MOM website.
New Year’s Day
Monday*1 January 2007
Chinese New Year
Sunday**18 February 2007
Monday19 February 2007
Good Friday
Friday6 April 2007
Labour Day
Tuesday1 May 2007
Vesak Day
Thursday31 May 2007
National Day
Thursday9 August 2007
Hari Raya Puasa
Saturday13 October 2007
Deepavali
Thursday8 November 2007
Hari Raya Haji
Thursday20 December 2007
Christmas Day
Tuesday25 December 2007
the ‘hum jin peng’ and ‘you tiao’ were really fresh and nice!
the slightly salty ‘hum jin peng’ goes well wif the sweet beancurd.
and i muz eat TWO bowls of the hot beancurd coz one serving is juz not enuff
the kids enjoyed tis ‘healthy’ afternoon tea too
i got them beancurd wif soya bean milk…LJ’s fav…except i didn’t request for less sugar syrup. i’ve a sweet tooth and i juz luv the brown sugar syrup of rochor beancurd.
QQ & YY posing wif the cap from HQ’s goodie bag
QQ suddenly got it into her head tat it’s her birthday one nite. of course, it’s NOT her birthday yet but she kept saying it is and asking where’s her cake…haha
post dinner at changi v, the kids had a treat of riding the self driven kiddy rides, courtesy of mum.
QQ & YY took a 2 seater and QQ seems perfectly happy to haf ‘gor gor’ chauffeur her around.
not bad an idea for YY to hone his driving skills.
totally impressed by tis plane kiddy ride at tampines mall. it actually turns and elevates! wow! super impressed!
brought the kiddos to changi village some time back. the playground was great!
even kerri got into the thick of action wif the see saw and swing
den it was off to changi village for some nasi lemak dinner
“i oso wana wear the hat!! Waah! “
Kerri making her way to YY & QQ
“wat’s taking u so long?
i can’t even open my eyes anymore.”
while i get thru all the fotos taken in BKK and the 308 ‘to blog’ items (gosh!), here’s my fav shot!
the beer was light and smooth and came in tis huge ‘fountain’. way cool!
but it’s not a good idea to drink DEN go shopping coz i was kinda sleepy…keke
went to sim lim and parked at the building next to it wif a korean supermkt.
check out the cute drink bottles.
was using the sample deep cleanser from HQ…but doesn’t it look like i’m doing a mask?
I video-ed tis on the sly while the kids trailed us all the way as we walked from one temple to another.
our original intent was to use tis as LJ’s morning call….hehe
karen brought us to a special Mc Cafe at west coast
the park is so nice and mc cafe is so exclusive!
check out the nice cappucino and my teh
mi is back, in action…keke
foto from karen’s birthday dinner….mi is having 百岁酒, a korean wine…nice!
got mild ginseng taste…feels like mi is having tonic wine….so healthy and nourishing!
wow! wif the ginseng chicken, no wonder can live to a hundred !
took bro to the BT for orientation on Mon evening and spotted the stage.
wow! so the official opening by Raymond Lim was on Tue.
anyway, mi is out of action till Mon, folks as I head off for my short break using the BT.
tata & haf a lovely wkend!
some test shots of the kiddos in the car
Sushi Go Round