douhua craving

 

and desserts too

looking forward to a sumptutous feast tml but missing my douhua too

and the weather is so horribly hot and humid tdy

confused

 

i had an unexpected dream some time back tat left mi wif a warm fuzzy feeling.   the feeling was very very strong though the dream was really brief.  i wished the feeling would go on forever.  i say it was a totally unexpected dream coz the feelings surprised mi

i got a warm fuzzy feeling recently tat is leaving mi a little confused abt some stuff and helped mi clear up my doubts abt other matters

F1 SG qualifying times

SINGAPORE, Sept 27, 2008 – Formula One Grand Prix qualifying (Q3) times

Qualifying Q3:

1. Felipe Massa (BRA/Ferrari) 1:44.801

2. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes) 1:45.465

3. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/Ferrari) 1:45.617

4. Robert Kubica (POL/BMW Sauber) 1:45.779

5. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN/McLaren-Mercedes) 1:45.873

6. Nick Heidfeld (GER/BMW Sauber) 1:45.964

7. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:46.244

8. Timo Glock (GER/Toyota) 1:46.328

9. Nico Rosberg (GER/Williams-Toyota) 1:46.611

10. Kazuki Nakajima (JPN/Williams-Toyota) 1:47.547

Eliminated in Q2:

11. Jarno Trulli (ITA/Toyota)

12. Jenson Button (GBR/Honda)

13. Mark Webber (AUS/Red Bull-Renault)

14. David Coulthard (GBR/Red Bull-Renault)

15. Fernando Alonso (ESP/Renault)

Eliminated in Q1:

16. Nelson Piquet Jr (BRA/Renault)

17. Sébastien Bourdais (FRA/Toro Rosso-Ferrari)

18. Rubens Barrichello (BRA/Honda)

19. Adrian Sutil (GER/Force India-Ferrari)

20. Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA/Force India-Ferrari)

lunch statistics

 

i thot of tis interesting idea tis afternoon

i shall start tabulating the places i lunch at and get YY to use tat as data to play wif pivot table & graphs in excel

mayb i will even outsource the data entry piece to YY

mamma mia

 

mi been waiting for tis show for a while

and the posters were splashed in all the MTR stations in HK

reli looking forward to catching tis show.  yes, i haf read the synopsis too!  and luv the storyline of course!

and i wana get the soundtrack after i watched !

be grateful

 

for all hoo try to break u coz they make u stronger

for all hoo r lousy coz they contrast against the good and make u appreciate the finer things

if i hadn’t kena shit, i wouldn’t haf been spurred on.  new perceptive tat ann taught mi, yes, i muz reli thank those hoo contributed to the ‘push’ factor!

Britain and tea: Health benefits renew century-old relationship

Just when the humble cup of tea seemed to be slipping out of fashion in Britain, its health benefits have seen it undergo a renaissance.

In a world filled with distractions and temptations, British life has for the past century had at least one constant — the country’s oft-caricatured fondness for a ‘cuppa’.

“Drinking tea is something very chic to do on the continent (in Europe),” William Gorman, the executive chairman of the UK Tea Council, told AFP.

“Here it’s like breathing, we just do it automatically.”

A hundred years after the invention of the tea bag, the average Briton consumes 2.5 kilogrammes of tea a year, second only to the Irish globally; in China and India, per capita consumption of the beverage is less than half a kilogramme annually.

That represents an average of more than three cups of tea a day for every Briton, including children — a staggering 165 million cups of tea daily for the country’s population of 60.2 million.

Those figures actually represent a decline in recent decades — in 1970, the average Briton drank four cups a day, but with the introduction of new drinks, that figure has dropped.

In recent years, though, a more image-conscious society has turned back to tea as evidence has emerged of its health benefits.

“We have a seen a steady decline for the last 30 years but in the last few years, the decline has stopped because the health messaging of tea and the scientific evidence on its health benefits has grown dramatically,” Gorman notes.

“Many women, in particular between the age of 25 and 40, are driving a resurgence of tea drinking because they are tired of water — water is very boring.”

In the British cup of tea’s favour is the fact that it is mostly made up of water, is rich in anti-oxidants, is hydrating, low in calories and has a low level of caffeine.

But that on its own is not enough to explain the resurgence in consumption of the drink made fashionable here in the 17th-century by Catherine of Braganza, the wife of Charles II, and which exploded in popularity with the Industrial Revolution.

“In the same way that our wine selection improved over the last 30 years, tea companies are now offering wonderful ranges of speciality teas,” Gorman notes. “The range that is available has grown dramatically.”

From flavoured teas to green teas, adaptations to the staple have brought new consumers to the fray, but the British palate still prefers black tea with milk, which is what can be found in 90 percent of mugs.

And what of the challenge from the cup of coffee, with the proliferation of coffee shop chains across the country?

“Coffee has never been a threat to tea and never will be a threat to tea,” Gorman insists, noting that Britain consumes around 70 million cups of coffee a day. “Coffee is an honourable competitor, but as a nation we’re still dominated by tea.”

Curiously, though, tea may not have survived had it not been for a misinterpreted promotional campaign that led to the invention of the tea bag.

“The tea bag saved the industry,” Gorman says.

In 1908, a tea merchant in New York, Thomas Sullivan, sent samples of his tea to prospective customers in small silken bags.

The customers, many of them unfamiliar with the beverage, put the bags into hot water instead of emptying their contents, thereby leading to the development of the tea bag.

It was not until 1953, however, that the sachet traversed the Atlantic and began selling in Britain.

In the early 1960s, tea made from sachets represented less than three percent of sales, but 96 percent of tea sold in Britain today is in tea bags.

do wat u luv

 

and u nbr haf to work a day…how true!

Lion cub, baby orangutans sick from Chinese milk

China’s milk crisis apparently has spread to animals, with a lion cub and two baby orangutans developing kidney stones at a zoo near Shanghai.

The three baby animals had been nursed with milk powder for more than a year, said Zhang Xu, a veterinarian with the Hangzhou Zhangxu Animal Hospital.

The powder was made by the Sanlu Group Co., which is at the center of the tainted milk crisis. The industrial chemical melamine has been found in a growing range of Chinese-made dairy products, and it has been blamed for sickening 53,000 infants in China and killing four.

The orangutans and lion cub at the Hangzhou Safari Park near Shanghai were found with kidney stones Wednesday after concerned officials sent them to Zhang for a checkup.

“The milk powder crisis made us very worried about the health situation of baby animals,” Ju Lijia, the animal park’s public affairs manager, said by phone Wednesday. “We stopped feeding with Sanlu after it was found to be tainted.”

The three baby animals were the only ones found with kidney stones, Ju said.

Officials at the Beijing Zoo and zoos in the other major cities of Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xian said they had no cases of animals sickened from milk powder.

An official at the world’s most famous panda reserve, the Wolong Nature Reserve, said the baby pandas there are not fed on milk made from formula.

great massage

 

from true spa @ cuppage

the facilities and skills level is reli of much higher standards den rustic

so far, the therapists haf been wow-ing mi each time i visited, all beli beli well trained in massage and has lotsa stretching during the massage.  not the thai kinda of back breaking stretching but back stretching as pressure is applied

i like the massage style.  they keep working at the muscles, kneading and stretching gently instead of inflicting lotsa pressure at acupoints

the result is wonderful

b4 my last day, i haf dvlped tis huge tension knot on one side of my neck tat i can feel the lump

thank goodness the therapist could knead it away so effortlessly, or so it seems to mi.  very skilful, mi is happy : )

strong aircon

 

in office…shiok!   i can wear jackets finally wifout being overly warm

more forgiving for my sweaty palms nw.  can even use my hand cream and sanitizer but i dun dare to use normal hand cream YET

ironing…on demand

 

for the moment coz i can’t bring myself to get thru the mt of clothes

mi got plenty of clothes but m way too lazi to iron/stitch them so they’re pret-a-porter

i actualli ironed in the morn…can’t believe it

$700 billion bailout plan

Lawmakers raised doubts Monday about what would be the largest government bailout in American history, but a bigger, more terrifying question lurked right under the surface: What if it doesn’t work?

Failure, says one insider, is not an option.

“The alternative is complete financial Armageddon and a great depression,” said a former Federal Reserve official. “Where do they go after this? Well, the U.S. government could nationalize the banking system outright.”

A few months ago, that idea would have been laughed out of the room.

But no one’s laughing anymore.

While almost no one wants to dwell publicly on the possibility that a $700 billion package could simply be too small to forestall a financial meltdown, privately some aides were already thinking of what the government might do if the Treasury plan passes but fails.

In a statement Monday, President Bush said that “the whole world is watching to see if we can act quickly to shore up our markets and prevent damage to our capital markets, businesses, our housing sector and retirement accounts.”

What the president didn’t say is that the whole world will be watching to see not just if Washington can act but whether Washington’s actions can still make a difference.

Under the current plan, the U.S. government will buy up to $700 billion in assets from private holders on Wall Street. That would help banks stabilize their balance sheets, and in theory provide an incentive for banks to begin extending credit among themselves again — a critical component of a functional financial system.

So what’s Plan B?

There really isn’t one.
If this week’s bailout doesn’t work, the government will probably have no choice but to continue to buy assets. There’s no one left to pick up the tab. “The private sector got us into this mess,” said House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.). “The government has to get us out of it.”

Getting us out of it would likely mean buying up even more debt in the markets if the $700 billion fails to turn things around. That could include credit card debt, which is securitized and sold on Wall Street the same way as home mortgages, car loan debt and even commercial real estate debt, until the problem begins to recede or the taxpayers gain effective control over the nation’s banking system. 

So how will leaders know whether it’s working or not?

Traders and Washington insiders will look at credit market indicators to gauge their progress. One number in particular will be the focus of enormous attention on the day the bill passes: the difference between the interest rate offered by the federal government and the rates private banks charge when they loan money to one another.

If confidence is returning to the credit markets, the spread between the two numbers should begin to narrow as the banks’ rate — known by the acronym LIBOR — falls. But if the credit market is still in distress, the spread will widen.

In theory, traders should be able to see the results of any congressional legislation within minutes of news of the bill’s passage hitting Wall Street.

Here’s the good news: Already, just based on the news that Treasury is working on the proposal, the spread has been narrowing this week, down from the dramatic highs of last week. That means the market is pricing in an expectation that Congress will act and that the action will work.

If everything goes smoothly, it is even possible that taxpayers will profit from the deal in the long run, as the underlying assets accumulate value over the coming years and the government is able to ultimately sell them back into the market at higher prices than it’s paying now. Of course, it’s also possible that the values will never come back, in which case taxpayers would be on the hook.

The specific details of the package were a moving target on Monday, and congressional Democrats tangled with administration Republicans over the exact makeup of the bill.

Said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.): “The last thing any of us want is to be back here in a month coming up with some new plan because this didn’t work. It’s important that we act quickly, but it’s more important that we act responsibly.”

That’s congressional code for: “Hey, wait a minute.”

The Banking Committee’s ranking Republican was of a similar mindset. “I am concerned that Treasury’s proposal is neither workable nor comprehensive, despite its enormous price tag,” said Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama. “In my judgment, it would be foolish to waste massive sums of taxpayer funds testing an idea that has been hastily crafted and may actually cause the government to revert to an inadequate strategy of ad hoc bailouts.”

Ultimately, the negotiations will come down to doling out huge new powers, including:

• Buying Power: This is the cornerstone of the proposal — allowing Treasury to buy up to $700 billion of privately held assets in the market. The original proposal called for buying power to be limited to “mortgage-related” assets, but a later draft expanded that to allow the government to purchase any “troubled assets.” There’s a staggering difference in authority between the two phrases, and it is a moving target as of press time. The banking industry generally favors the second version, but that potentially exposes taxpayers to much higher costs.

• Managing Power: Under the Bush administration’s plan, Treasury would hire private managers to handle the hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of assets it will soon own. But Treasury was silent on whether those managers would be able to actually negotiate directly with homeowners who hold the troubled mortgages. Democrats would go further and demand that bankruptcy judges be given the ability to renegotiate those failing mortgages on behalf of homeowners. This will be one of the more contentious sideshow fights of the negotiations.

• Global Power: Under one version of Treasury’s proposal, the government would have the power to buy assets from any institution in the world that it deemed worthy of a bailout.

• Pay Power: Democrats on Capitol Hill say they want the final plan to include restrictions on payouts to the executives of the financial institutions that take the taxpayer lifeline. Paulson says he doesn’t like this idea, but it may be tough for elected officials to oppose this populist carve-out in an election year.

• Equity Power: Democrats would like the government to get shares in the financial institutions that take federal help — effectively giving taxpayers ownership stakes in the nation’s largest banks and providing them with a huge windfall if those institutions prosper in future years.

• Oversight Power: Treasury’s initial proposal included very little room for congressional oversight of the new effort, calling for reports to be sent to the Hill just twice per year. That isn’t flying with Democrats or many Republicans on the Hill; if a bill makes it through Congress, it will almost certainly have much stronger oversight provisions.

Big Cup Teh-C

 

from Banquet

wah!  i felt like i was drinking soup

but the teh-C is reli not bad, if not too big a cup

and my food adventures ard raffles place continues.   i luv lunch coz it’s so exciting to b spoiled for choices and being surprised everyday

the office location is good.  i m not juz restricted to mrt area tat’s super crowded when we were at hitachi.  nw can walk to hong lim, maxwell, people’s park, south bridge rd even, very very shiok lor!

Search all mails in Outlook

 

ok, most ppl may oredi know tis but i’m a total outlook noob.  outlook is a lot more intuitative den lotus lor!

 

I have just figured out how to search all mails in Outlook!

Create Search Folder under personal folder and you can specify the search criteria eg. From sender “XXX” and I can see all the mails from u across all my personal folders!  Can also search for a word in subject etc

Personal mails not good example coz I will dump all the mails into one single folder but for work, I have created multiple folders for different systems/communication/training etc and sometimes I get abit confused as to where I dumped the mails.  I know the problem will b aggravated as I accum more mails.

hunger pangs

 

mi is so hungry in the evenings though my lunch is usuallly quite heavy

muz b i use up too much brain juice tat i get hunger pangs

mi is hungry at nite too after eating a big dinner

i wish i can haf maggi curry mee

too much tea and chocolate

 

made mi feel sick tis afternoon

painful

 

yes i value beauty over comfort which is y i suffered in my ‘killer’ heels last fri.  ‘killer’ as in killing my feet

tdy, i got 2 blisters from my black pumps

wat a relief it’s coming to fri and i can switch to slippers for the wkend !

on babies

 

the whole family tunes in to the 9pm super nanny daddy show every nite.

the kiddos luv baby nicole while mum likes adrian pang and how shy he is towards luv

i asked kerri if baby nicole or her 比较听话 and she went “我们三只小猪比较听话!” after a long ponder

 

 

QQ’s age

 

i quizzed QQ how old she is tis yr and she replied “5″

den i asked her how old will she b by her bday and she said “6″

ok, she’s 5 tis yr which means AFTER her bday

nails

 

mi got sick of the turquoise color after 2 days

so i was actualli quite happy tat the colour has chipped despite the top coat i applied last nite

yea~!  i get to change nail color.  tis time i m trying a shade tat i haf nbr used before

it’s is super glittery light purple polish tat i got some time back

it’s very lumpy but super bling lor!  i like!

learning for 9th day

 

an xtra report was needed for monitoring the current mkt situation

mi is in my element coz i luv tinking up formulas and shortcuts.  once again, i haf re-affirmed tat i m rite to follow my heart and passion and not let fear get in my way

other learning for the day : cannot take chances wif Teh-C.  if u haf probs ordering, den dun even bother to try coz i m most prob the genuine for the 1st Teh-C in the foodcourt.   eeks, tasted like drain water

British bank Lloyds TSB rescues embattled HBOS

18 Sep 08

British bank Lloyds TSB on Thursday agreed to buy rival HBOS for 12.2 billion pounds (15.4 billion euros, 21.8 billion dollars) as the raging global financial storm claimed another victim.

The share price of HBOS rocketed 50.9 percent to 222 pence in reaction to the takeover bid pitched at 232 pence per share and aimed at creating Britain’s third-largest bank behind Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC in first place.

“Lloyds TSB and HBOS announce that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended acquisition by Lloyds TSB of HBOS,” the pair said in a statement.

Analysts estimate that up to 40,000 jobs could be lost from the banks’ combined 145,000 staff following the deal and that hundreds of branches could close. HBOS has 1,100 on Britain’s high streets and Lloyds TSB 1,900.

The landmark all-share merger, effectively a rescue plan for Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, comes after HBOS shares plummeted in recent trading following days of global stock market chaos and economic gloom.

Lloyds TSB shareholders would own 56 percent of the issued share capital under the acquisition and existing HBOS shareholders 44 percent.

HBOS, or Halifax Bank of Scotland, is the latest global bank to fall foul of the ongoing credit crunch following the collapse of US group Lehman Brothers, the sale of Merill Lynch and the rescue of insurer AIG earlier this week.

“This is the right transaction for HBOS and its shareholders,” said HBOS chairman Dennis Stevenson in the release.

“Against the backdrop of the very high levels of volatility our industry is experiencing, the combined group will be one of the strongest players in the UK financial services sector.”

Analysts and regulators expressed hope that the rescue takeover deal would draw a line under persistent questions about the funding of HBOS that have dogged the group’s share price in recent days and weeks.

The value of shares in HBOS — created by the merger of Bank of Scotland and Halifax in 2001 — had slumped by a total of 55 percent during the first three days of the week.

Many market watchers had feared that the retail bank could have faced the same fate as Northern Rock — which was nationalised earlier this year after experiencing severe funding problems and a run on its branches in late 2007.

HBOS and Lloyds TSB together hold nearly a third of Britain’s savings and mortgage market, but competition watchdogs will not block the deal as it was backed by the government.

Central banks launch $300 billion assault on credit crisis

Friday, September 19

 

Central banks around the world on Thursday threw more than 300 billion dollars into the fight against the credit crisis as speculation grew over Wall Street legend Morgan Stanley and a top British bank was forced into a merger.

The US Federal Reserve led a desperate operation to douse the financial firestorm, putting up an extra 180 billion dollars to relieve “elevated pressures” in global markets amid mounting political calls for decisive action to end the chaos.

But the panic drove heavy stocks falls in Asia, a slump in US Treasury bond yields and a leap in the gold price as investors sought a safe haven. The euro rose to a two week high of 1.45 against the dollar.

Central banks have now spent more than 600 billion dollars this week to ward off failure in the global financial system. In addition, the Fed rescued US insurance titan AIG with 85 billion dollars, having allowed Lehman Brothers bank to fail.

“The most important thing about this coordinated action is that there is access to US dollars even when the US markets are closed”, Credit Suisse analyst Marcel Thieliant. This meant US financial groups could access dollars at any time through their foreign subsidiaries, he said.

The Fed was joined by the European Central Bank with the British, Japanese, Swiss and Canadian banks. They offered extra dollars to the banking system through arrangements to swap other currencies for dollars.

The Fed gave overall figures pointing to a total of 290 billion dollars. The ECB also made a direct emergency cash injection of 25 billion euros (36 million dollars).

European stocks staged a feeble rally on the central bank support and the takeover of Britain’s biggest mortgage lender HBOS by British bank Lloyds TSB.

British authorities oversaw the takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) by Lloyds TSB in an all-share deal worth 12.2-billion-pounds (15.4 billion euros, 21 billion dollars).

Britain’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) said the takeover would “enhance stability within financial markets and improve confidence among customers and investors”.

There was a 1.62 percent rise in London after a 10-percent fall over three days.

Stocks in Asia ended with heavy falls on reports that Morgan Stanley, one of the last two independent US merchant banks, was in merger talks. Morgan Stanley’s shares slumped 24 percent on Wednesday.

The state-controlled Chinese group CITIC declined to comment on a report by CNBC television, quoting US and Chinese sources, that it was in talks with Morgan Stanley. The sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation, already owns 9.9 percent of Morgan Stanley.

The New York Times said Morgan S

tanley was in “preliminary” talks with Wachovia Corporation of the United States.

US thrift Washington Mutual is also at the centre of market worries which have dragged down stocks.

British finance minister Alistair Darling said after central banks acted that governments must now act “decisively and quickly” to end the crisis.

“The key thing…is to maintain stability of the banking system,” he told BBC radio.

“We are going through a truly exceptional difficult time in relation to banks and other financial institutions,” he added.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered his government to support the Russian financial system, saying it was the “most important priority”, after the stock market in Moscow was closed for a third day in a row.

“We have enough reserves, we have a strong economy,” Medvedev said. “The market will get all necessary support.”

But at Heartland Advisors, portfolio manager Michael Petroff, said: “The market is trading under the assumption that every financial institution is going under…it’s now emotional.”

Aaron Smith at Economy.com said: “Investor concern is also growing about the Fed’s ability to support markets in the future as the central bank’s own balance sheet is reduced.”

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 4.06 percent in the second massive loss in three sessions.

Markets fear that the US central bank’s rescue of American International Group (AIG), soon after taking over US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, might not be enough to end the credit crunch.

“The move represents the largest lurch toward socialism that this country has ever seen,” said Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital.

The White House said Wednesday that the United States had “the strength” to overcome the crisis.

The US Treasury has also announced it would sell 40 billion dollars in 35-day bonds to help the Federal Reserve as it battles to shore up the economy.

AIG->AIA

 

 

oh no!  is tat the end of the biggest insurer in the world…2008 is a yr to rem for heaven and earth shaking and us mortals shaking in our pants and wondering if we should stash all our assets under the pillow or start buying gold

Three major credit agencies lowered their ratings for American International Group, dashing hopes to save one of the one world’s biggest insurance companies amid a burgeoning financial crisis.

The downgrades Monday looked likely to sound the death knell for AIG, making it harder for the US insurance giant to raise the cash needed to deal with its own liquidity crisis.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services lowered its long-term counterparty rating to ‘A-’ from ‘AA-’ and its short-term counterparty credit rating on AIG to ‘A-2′ from ‘A-1+’ according to a statement.

“The main reason for the rating actions is the combination of reduced flexibility in meeting additional collateral needs and concerns over increasing residential mortgage-related losses,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Rodney Clark.

Moody’s downgraded AIG to ‘A2′ from ‘AA3,’ and Fitch lowered its rating to ‘A’ from ‘AA.’

The struggling insurance giant had been thrown a lifeline earlier Monday by New York authorities, who said the company could borrow some 20 billion dollars from its subsidiaries.

However, the move failed to impress investors as AIG shares plunged some 61 percent on the stock market, losing some 20 billion dollars in market value. In just a year, the group has lost 93 percent of its value and is only worth some 12.8 billion dollars.

AIG has primarily been shaken by fears that it could be the next domino to fall in the worst banking crisis to shake Wall Street since the Great Depression.

Saddled with toxic mortgage-backed derivatives, AIG was attempting to stave off the same type of liquidity crisis that has felled Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, sending world markets into free fall.

the world’s financial mkts

Stocks rebounded Thursday from the previous session’s massive rout, but safe assets such as gold and Treasury bills still saw heavy demand as investors braced for more instability in the financial system.

Following the bailout of insurer American International Group Inc., the Federal Reserve and other major central banks around the world on Thursday joined forces to inject as much as $180 billion into global money markets in an attempt to keep the credit crisis from worsening. The Fed added another $55 billion in overnight loans Thursday.

But fears have not fully receded. Market participants are still trying to determine how to proceed in what is looking to be the most troubling period for the world’s financial system in most investors’ memory.

The big fear on Wall Street is that there are more significant financial companies to fall. Speculation is swirling about the futures of such major players as thrift bank Washington Mutual Inc. and investment bank Morgan Stanley. Media reports have been saying that Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. are interested in a possible takeover of Washington Mutual, and that Morgan Stanley and Wachovia Corp. are in talks about a possible combination.

learning for 8th day

 

tat there is reli a queue into the lobby at 9 !

oh, and i forgot abt tis yest,  outlook is cool.  can copy and paste a file directly as attachment…wow!   so convenient lor!  first time in my life i use outlook so abit suaku

little QQ eating douhua

 

came across tis pict and luv it!   i can’t resist the look on QQ’s little chubby face as her cheeks are stuffed wif dou hua.  as usual, she is very focused on finishing her dou hua

foneless

 

left my fone in office, so sad : (

sure hope it’s still there tml

the worst part is my 4 alarms tat start going off from 6.30am

mi hidden the fone so well under my keyboard tat i forgot abt it…sigh!

US credit crisis continues

Mon was one of the worst days on Wall Street, as the stock market, reeling from the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the takeover of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, fell 500 points.

The turmoil continued Tuesday when the Federal Reserve forged an extraordinary $85 billion rescue of insurance giant American International Group Inc.

i keep my fingers and toes crossed for AIG coz i haf policies wif AIA.  it’s very very scary when the biggest insurer in the world shakes

missing the boat

 

it doesn’t matter how many times u miss the boat when the jetty has a waiting dock for u ever ready

suddenly i hope to b the port of calling

learnings on 5th & 6th day

 

1. tat the keys for the meeting room r in a pigeon hole (did tis happen on fri?)
2. tat the NEL is within working distance and the fastest way to get to vivo is NOT taking 100 from ORQ but walking to NEL
3. tat i got bad dress sense but the saving grace is i can rectify any styling mistakes during lunchtime @ raffles place and i did
4. all abt archives and production records in DM
5. tat the tom yum maggi mee from opp is yummy!
6. super fast way tat SP thot of to filter out duplicate records in excel.  tis will reli come in useful

social calendar

 

is in a mess lor

i kept forgetting appointments and double booking myself : (

mayb i should use a small diary after all or go back to my palm

if i haf a date wif u, pls remind mi

disappearing act cum missing the boat

 

problematic duo

i duno which is worse, disappearing act or missing the boat?

perhaps the option is C, none of the above

too much effort, mi is lazy

word challenge

 

eeks, y my score so low?

dun believe it, keep playing

It’s A Small World

 

nope, nuthing happened to provoke tis posting

juz tat tis song is on replay mode in my head and being vocalised by mi…hehe

It’s a small world after all, it’s a small world after all, it’s a small world after all, it’s a smal small world
there is juz one moon and one golden sun and a smile means friendship to e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e
though the mountains divide and the oceans r wide, it’s a small world after all

i prefer the cantonese lyrics : 世界真是小小小, 小的真是妙妙妙 den the putonghua one

new & recon items for sale

 

do pass the word if anyone is looking for furniture

http://j-keart.spaces.live.com/

homeless

 

hard to imagine being homeless after i read tis article abt the huge homeless population in Los Angeles County. Some 74,000 people live on the streets or in shelters, making the county the nation’s capital of homelessness.

mayb it’s a chinese thing but having a roof over one’s head is so basic and something i would work hard to do.  it comes very naturally, tis drive to put food on the table and haf a roof over my family’s head

not tat i m saying the homeless do not want to work but it’s juz beli tough to imagine being homeless.  and we r toking abt ppl who live yrs on the streets, in parks and thru seasonal changes!

serious tok abt love

 

at such a late hr

always interesting to debate abt 终身幸福 wif guys and gain their insights.  guys and gals function beli differently and process the same piece of info for different downstream actions and conclusions

the difference is wat frustrates both sexes and makes life interesting

perhaps luv is a constant pursuit of understanding between 2 sexes

from 2 input sources, each action goes thru 2 hosts to produce the output, or not if processing fails and abends happen

zero regrets

 

abt my move.  in fact, i m so glad i made the move, tough as it was to make tis decision

everything’s for the better, job itself, office environment, culture, workplace location, colleagues (as good as the old times in aeb but missing my 2 beloved teamies of course!)

i luv tis place!

if i had known earlier wat i m getting myself into, the pull factor would haf been much much stronger but it’s nbr too late to move to greener pastures…moo!

learning for 4th day

 

1. tour of rec club during lunch, wah!  got table tennis room, 2 pool tables, 2 karaoke rooms, tv, wii and massage chairs…wow!  tis is the life !
2. the meeting rooms r freezing !  but the ultimate cold room is the server room, my teeth was chattering under the blast of the cold air *shiver*
3. i reli enjoy all the reporting work…i luv massages and massaging data…tis is my dream job

pretty canvas

 

mi got canvas envy every time i see someone wearing canvas shoes while my feet scream wif pain in heels

den on fri, i haf mitings and i miss the chance to wear canvas shoes wk after wk

no more such prob!   i no longer haf to self declare fri on a non fri.  i can dress dwn on fri !

and i juz got a beli pretty pair of canvas wedges!  simply gorgegous !  can’t wait to wear them tml

more on 惜肉如金

 

shorts and singlets r reserved for wkends when i roam ard the neighbourhood

and i got 2 pairs of 3 quarters culottes from b+ab at the IT sale shop at silvercord

culottes r in nw !

the joy of sex

 

is actualli a book, mayb too ang moh centric liao.  i onli heard of kamasutra not wat joy book

 

“The Joy of Sex“, the iconic 1970s book which became the bedroom (and elsewhere) bible for a generation, has been re-released in an updated version for the noughties.

The original book, featuring a bearded man and his partner demonstrating the art of love in intimate if sketchy detail, sold millions of copies after its first publication in 1972.

But the new edition has been brought fully up to date — for the first time by a female author, who, while praising the original author Dr. Alex Comfort, says there was much that needed changing.

The updated volume, described as a “gourmet’s guide to sex,” is illustrated with photos as well as new drawings depicting a smorgasbord of sexual positions and techniques.

In place of the bearded 1970s male, the new edition features a short-haired, clean-shaven lover smiling repeatedly in a variety of clinches with an equally joyous brunette partner, in one shot tickling his buttocks with her tongue.

“The bearded man was an icon — but he was a 70s icon. This is a book for the 21st century, so we needed a man (and a woman) for the noughties, not for the seventies,”

ironing

 

is hard and hot work

but i m making an exception for tml which has got mi beaming all day : )

mi is grinning from ear to ear

at times like tis, i miss having a female teamie to share my job wif coz i m bursting to tell

anyway, i rang up marie & told her coz dot was too bz to chat

i luv fri

fotos

mi went to dvlp 100 fotos tdy….a number for which r meant for my desk.  still got my hk fotos to sort thru for dvlp and upload to fb

so glad i finish sorting thru the viet fotos at last…and LJ, u r appearing the most # of x on my desk

thank u emails & AES

 

mi is too tired to send 10Q emails and do the AES, haf to pend till tml

old fotos, new fotos

 

 

my fotos r no longer in mint condition after being torn dwn each time i moved office

so i haf decided to dvlp some new ones for office

as charis puts it, new start, new stuff hence even my mug is new

all things bright and beautiful, all creatures big and small

 

i luv tis song from mcdull

fannie and freddie

 

2008 is the yr tat fannie and freddie beome household names o/s US

 

multimillion-dollar exit packages for the ousted chief executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac drew sharp criticism on Monday from shareholder- and consumer rights groups that deemed the compensation excessive, particularly given the almost-complete collapse of the mortgage giants’ shares.

Daniel Mudd, the outgoing CEO of Fannie Mae, could receive more than $9 million in combined severance pay, retirement benefits and deferred compensation based on his employment agreement, according to executive compensation consulting firm James F. Reda & Associates.

Departing Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron may collect as much as $14.1 million, the consulting firm said. The total includes an estimated $8.8 million tied to an unique provision in his contract that became effective last November, when Freddie’s troubles had already come under scrutiny.

laptop

 

mi is totally thrilled to b using desktop at work

most imptly, i no longer haf to lug the stoopid laptop ard

AND it means tat i nbr haf to WFH again !

yea!  tis is real work life balance!

even if i haf to work slightly later till 7, at least when i knock off, i reli stop working!

Lehman Brothers

 

scary!   it is an xtremely tough environment we r living in

 

Lehman Brothers, in a desperate bid to survive, announced plans Wednesday to sell a majority stake in its prized investment management business and said a sale of the entire company was possible.

Lehman, battling the nation’s worst financial crisis since the Depression, also said it would spin off a troubled real estate unit and slash its dividend. Those moves come as the nation’s fourth largest investment bank reported an almost $4 billion third-quarter loss, boosting its losses so far this year to about $6.5 billion.

The nation’s fourth-largest investment bank said it will spin off $25 billion to $30 billion of its commercial real estate operations and slashed its dividend to 5 cents from 68 cents in a move to save $450 million a year.

The moves are intended to prove to Wall Street that the embattled bank has enough liquidity to survive.

But Lehman also said it is open to “examining all strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value” which on Wall Street suggests it would consider a bid for the entire company.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., whose shares have plunged more than 80 percent this year as investors lost confidence in the company, said it lost $3.9 billion during the third quarter. The company, like others on Wall Street, suffered from wrong-way bets on mortgage securities and other risky assets.

What musical are u?

 

Your Result: Rent - Bad result? Click here to take the quiz again!

You live on the wild side and aren’t afraid to take a chance. You appreciate true friendship when it comes along and would do anything for your friends. You get into deep trouble sometimes on the quest for greatness but your loyal friends are always there for you in the end. You live for the day.

学无止境

 

besides formal learning for knowledge and systems, i m learning more and more interesting facts abt my new colleagues everyday.   i luv my new job.  life is great!  i m so glad i moved on

day 1 – can speak mandarin wif bosses too!  so happy!  no airs and all so frenly

day 2 – my ’teacher’ is an architect…initially i thot he meant systems architect but no lor…

day 3 – one of my bosses told mi he’s from AHS too!  wat a pleasant surprise to run into a senior

i m looking forward to going to office everyday.  haben had tis feeling in a while

Price of beauty

 

wow~!  love the lip gloss from H&M lor

went to RMK counter but the salesgirls didn’t serve me AT ALL.  not a single word spoken to mi as i tested their lipsticks. 
wat’s wrong wif them?  i reli wana buy but i won’t buy if the salesgirls got altitude.  y should i let them get the sales commission?

 

Suki Loose Powder HKD38 – love tis, i used to use tis all the time
H&M Lip Gloss HKD29.90
H&M Soda Pop Lip Gloss HKD24.90 – love the colors and shine!  reminds mi of the giorgio armani one tat marie got mi
H&M Glitter Silver Eye Shadow HKD39.90 – super bling bling, i like!

惜肉如金

 

going thru another phase in my dressing

nw tat i m older, start to 惜肉如金 and cover up more

i still wear singlets but onli for casual dressing

crabs party

 

way to go, ah bao!  mi is SO SO happy for u! yea! finally 苦尽甘来了!

tis calls for a crab party!

we need to 祭 some crabs for our new jobs!  looks like the chinese zodiac readings quite true.  horses will haf oppt to change jobs tis yr

when u start work?  tell mi everything! mi will bombard ur fone tml morn for more details

how true

saw tis on postsecret

totally agree wif marie, no nid to make too many excuses for man.  juz take them at face value.  all the explanation/sob stories r juz 自圆其说  and 多此一举. 

go away, stoopid man !  leave her alone, u jerk !

 

sibeh excited

 

abt tml…finally feeling the anticipation more keenly

been waiting for tis day but no sense of nervousness

on hols

 

at long last.  kiddos and mum seem to haf been packing for days though i onli did mine tis afternoon

and i lost my luggage locks AGAIN.  i hate having to look for them every time i go on a trip.   m i so disorganised?  the irony is, i even told mum to keep the spare keys for my locks so the keys r nw lockless.

i managed to find bro’s 2 locks but not my 3 little locks.  upset!

and i can’t find my on hols pict &$%$$^%*&