Power of Facebook

A lot of my friends found their long lost classmates from primary school or high school and university days through facebook. A few months ago I found a lot of my uni buddies from facebook when one of my mates post a group photos. It was happy moment for all of us to found each other after 10 years and we have been keeping in touch since then.

Few days ago, I found my school mates. Friends i had since my kindergarten days and I was so thrill. It's more than 20 years since I last in touch of them and I had to look at the class photos to recognise their names. I remembered everyone's face but i just can't remember some of their names. Of course, I remember my best buddies and am very happy that everyone is doing well in their lives. Can't wait for the gathering. I haven't speak my dialet for a long time and it sound strange to hear it again. This is certainly a very happy ending to my week.

Busy shopping for Chinese New Year

With the year of Tiger fast approaching, I'm busy shopping for the preparation. Nothing fancy, just something simple fotr the occasion. I bought some new year delights and gosh it cost a fortune! for a small container of pineapple tart, it cost about $15. Same goes with the cookies. No wonder everyone is owing so much of credit cards debts. Due to the crazy prices, I had to improvised a bit of my chinese goodies. Better make something easy and nice myself. OK, it's flipping through the recipe books and surfing online for simple receipes.

Not easy to handle sales managers

So far, I found that handling and managing sales staff is the hardest. They 1001 questions and requests, 1 after another. I tried my best to be fair and diplomatic and it's getting much harder. I'm face with sales staff who can't work with each other but don't want to settle it face to face. I believe even if we hate each other we have to learn to work together professionally, putting aside personal issue against each other. I guess not many people can do that. I have my personal feeling towards people too but as professional, I put my personal feeling lock up in a bag and work professionally to get the job done.

Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

Valentine's Day is one of the most romantic days in a year. So it is natural that each one of us wish to celebrate this day uniquely. But the question arises as to how to celebrate this wonderful day in a special way. Your Valentine's Day must be remarkable and should leave an unforgettable impression in the mind of your beloved. Your valentine day gift to your beloved need not be expensive but it should be straight from the heart.

1. Simple 'I Love You' with a kiss can set an awesome mood for a Valentine's Day.
2. Decorate his/her house with hearts, bows and ribbons.
3. Make arrangements for surprise flower or teddy bear bouquets.
4. Cook a dinner for two and decorate the room with heart-shaped candles.
5. Gift him/her with velvet full of fresh Valentine day's chocolates.
6. A romantic note asking him/her to be your valentine.
7. Send sweet love quotes.
8. Make your own Valentine's Day card which expresses your feelings.
9. Create a scrapbook 'recollection collection' and fill it with love letters, photographs, cherished mementos, etc.
10. A CD of his/her favorite songs.
11. A jewelry gift is awesome. A heart shaped locket for the lady love and a silver bracelet for him. Spend wisely, you don't want to burn your pocket. 
12. Plan a special dinner for him/her either in a garden or a boat. A candle light dinner is just unforgettable.
13. Pamper your sweetheart by gifting her a spa session.
14. Pot a plant that will grow and loom for her.
15. Spend loads of quality time with him/her on a romantic bed and breakfast gateways.
16. Gift him/her a nice mobile phone for keeping endless communication.
17. Gift her/him a couple gift.
18. Dance with your valentine on Martina McBride's 'Valentine'.
19. Include a chocolate dessert in your romantic dinner.
20. Create a love song CD full of Valentine's Day songs.
21. Send flowers at workplace or home to him/her.
22. If he/she loves gadgets then a digital camera.
23. Buy her a sexy or luxury lingerie.

Lantern Festival - 15th Day of Chinese New Year

Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of Chinese New Year. The New Year celebrations ended on the 15th of the First Moon with the Lantern Festival. On the evening of that day, people carried lanterns into the streets to take part in a great parade. Young men would highlight the parade with a dragon dance. The dragon was made of bamboo, silk, and paper, and might stretch for more than hundred feet in length. The bobbing and weaving of the dragon was an impressive sight, and formed a fitting finish to the New Year festival.

In the olden days, it is also known as the Chinese Valentine. Young, unmarried girls would be allow to go out during this day and the young men will woo the girl of their choice, hopefully to become his wife. The young girls will throw Mandarin oranges into a lake or pond with their name on it while the men will go into the water trying to pick the oranges.

Valentine's Day History

Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this holiday? The history of Valentine's Day — and its patron saint — is shrouded in mystery. But we do know that February has long been a month of romance. St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. So, who was Saint Valentine and how did he become associated with this ancient rite? Today, the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred.

One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men — his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

According to one legend, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl — who may have been his jailor's daughter — who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed 'From your Valentine,' an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. It's no surprise that by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France.

Today, Valentine's Day is very much commercialised and it's the day where merchant increase gifts such as cards, flowers, chocolate, dinner, candy or any gifts suitable for couples are selling at sky-rocket price. Nevertheless, the expensive prices didn't hinder couples from buying gifts to their love ones. Valentine's Day has been symbolised as the day couple re-affirm his or her love for the better half.

My cooking

OK, like thousands of millions of users out there, I've started my recipe collection recently. I love food and have been cooking more frequently. I'm not a great cook but so far no one has ended up in the hospital so I guess I pass the test?

With the increase of stress at work, I find that cooking help me to calm down and relax. It's kind of a theraphy for me. Some people go shopping, some go fishing, some play online game but I cook. With my business schedule and some personal projects I am working on, I go for easy but delicious recipes. All my cooking should take only 30 minutes because anything longer than that, I get tired and so hungry. So, if you have something easy and nice that you can share with me so I can learn to cook, I'll be all happy.

Chinese New Year Terminology & Symbolism

Chinese New Year has quite a few terminology and symbolism that are practise till today but do you the meaning?

Flowers

Flowers are an important part of the New year decorations. In the old days, much use was made of natural products in celebrations as well as in daily life. The two flowers most associated with the New Year are the plum blossom and the water narcissus

Lai-See Envelopes (Also called Ang-Bao)

Money is placed in these envelopes and given to children and young adults at New Year’s time, much in the spirit as Christmas presents. Presents are also often exchanged between families. The presents will have a red paper stick onto the present to symbolise wealth and joy.

Lucky Character

The single word " FOOK ", or fortune, is often displayed in many homes, commercial centre and shops. They are usually written by ink-brush on a diamond-shaped piece of red paper. Nowadays, the ink-brush is replace to printed characters.

Plum Blossoms

This stand for courage and hope. The blossoms burst forth at the end of winter on a seemingly lifeless branch. In Chinese art, plum blossoms are associated with the entire season of winter and not just the New Year.

Spring Couplets

Spring couplets are traditionally written with black ink on red paper. They are hung in storefronts in the month before the New Year’s Day, and often stay up for two months. They express best wishes and fortune for the coming year. There is a great variety in the writing of these poetic couplets to fit the situation. A store would generally use couplets hat make references to their line of trade. Couplets that say "Happy New Year" and " Continuing Advancement in Education" are apprpriate for a school.

Sweeping Out the Old, Welcoming in the New

Old business from the past year is cleared up. Normally Chinese will clear all their debts before the New Year to start fresh.

Tangerines, Oranges, Pomelos

Tangerines and oranges are frequently displayed in homes and stores. Tangerines are symbolic of good luck, and oranges are symbolic of wealth. These symbols have developed through a language pun, the word for tangerine having the same sound as "luck" in Chinese, and the word for orange having the same sound as "wealth". Pomelos are large pear-shaped grapefruits.

Tray of Togetherness

Many families keep a tray full of dried fruits, sweets, and candies to welcome guests and relatives who drop by. This tray is called a chuen-hop, or "tray of togetherness". Traditionally, it was made up of eight compartments, each of which was filled with a special food item of significance to the New Year season.

Water Narcissus

Flower that blossoms at New Year’s time. If the white flowers blossom exactly on the day of the New Year, it is believed to indicate good fortune for the ensuing twelve months.

How to set up an online business

Today my trip to the bookstore has been fruitful. My initial aim is to buy Chinese New Year related magazine as a reference for my team. Sometimes printed materials are still the best source compare to search online. Well, that's because there are a lacking in certain infomation. Guess what, my team is filling up that gap and it will soon drive more traffic to our site.


While I was browsing through more magazines, I stumble upon this magazine from MagBook titled 'How to set up an online business by Kevin Partner'. What a find! I'm no expert on online business althrough I work in one so I've been learning since the past year. Everything I can find will be a great help. Being an entrepreneur, my source of learning is from my boss and references. Then I put to practise what I've learnt. I read from this magazine that there's no best time to start an online business and you don't have to wait until you have learnt or mastered everything before you start a business. That's how an entreprenuer think! OK, then I'm not so bad because I jump into this without proper knowledge and I learn from everyone including my staff and team members. There's nothing to be ashame of and I always believe to be successful is to be humble to learn from everyone, no matter ow small it is. Don't you think so?

If you find this magazine and new to online business, I recommend you get one. It has great overview about online business from planning, building to marketing your online business. Of course, the real test to trial and error to get the right results.

Traditional Celebration of Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is one of the most elaborate, colourful and important tradition in the Chinese festivals. This is the time for the Chinese to congratulate each other and themselves on having passed through another year, a time to finish out the old, and to welcome in the new year. Common expressions heard at this time are: GUONIAN to have made it through the old year, and BAINIAN to congratulate the new year. There are a new traditional cultures the Chinese practice during the festival.

Turning Over a New Leaf
The Chinese New year is celebrated on the first day of the First Moon of the lunar calendar. The corresponding date in the solar calendar varies from as early as January 21st to as late as February 19th. Chinese New Year, as the Western new Year, signified turning over a new leaf. Socially, it was a time for family reunions, and for visiting friends and relatives. This holiday, more than any other Chinese holiday, stressed the importance of family ties. The Chinese New year's Eve dinner gathering was among the most important family occasions of the year.

Sweeping of the Grounds
Preparations for the Chinese New Year in old China started well in advance of the New Year's Day. The 20th of the Twelfth Moon was set aside for the annual housecleaning, or the "sweeping of the grounds". Every corner of the house must be swept and cleaned in preparation for the new year. SpringCouplets, written in black ink on large vertical scrolls of red paper, were put on the walls or on the sides of the gate-ways. These couplets, short poems written in Classical Chinese, were expressions of good wishes for the family in the coming year. In addition, symbolic flowers and fruits were used to decorate the house, and colorful new year pictures (NIAN HUA) were placed on the walls (for more descriptions of the symbolism of the flowers and fruits.

Kitchen God
After the house was cleaned it was time to bid farewell to the Kitchen God, or Zaowang. In traditional China, the Kitchen God was regarded as the guardian of the family hearth. He was identified as the inventor of fire, which was necessary for cooking and was also the censor of household morals. By tradition, the Kitchen God left the house on the 23rd of the last month to report to heaven on the behavior of the family. At this time, the family did everything possible to obtain a favorable report from the Kitchen God. On the evening of the 23rd, the family would give the Kitchen God a ritualistic farewell dinner with sweet foods and honey. Some said this was a bribe, others said it sealed his mouth from saying bad thins.

Free from the every-watchful eyes of the Kitchen God, who was supposed to return on the first day of the New Year, the family now prepared for the upcoming celebrations. In old China, stores closed shop on the last two or three days of the year and remained closed for the first week of the New Year. Consequently, families were busy in the last week of the old year stocking up on foods and gifts. Chinese New Year presents are similar in spirit to Christmas presents, although the Chinese tended more often to give food items, such as fruits and tea. The last days of the old year was also the time to settle accumulated debts.

Family Celebration
On the last day of the old year, everyone was busy either in preparing food for the next two days, or in going to the barbers and getting tidied up for the New Year’s Day. Tradition stipulated that all food be pre-pared before the New Year’s Day, so that all sharp instruments, such as knives and scissors, could be put away to avoid cutting the "luck" of the New Year. The kitchen and well were not to be disturbed on the first day of the Year.

The New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day celebrations were strickly family affairs. All members of the family would gather for the important family meal on the evening of the New year’s Eve. Even if a family member could not attend, an empty seat would be kept to symbolize that person’s presence at the banquet. At midnight following the banquet, the younger members of the family would bow and pay their respects to their parents and elders.

Lai-See or Ang Pao
On New Year’s Day, the children were given Red Lai-See Envelopes (Ang Pao), good luck money wrapped in little red envelopes. On New Year’s day, everyone had on new clothes, and would put on his best behavior. It was considered improper to tell a lie, raise one’s voice, use indecent language, or break anything on the first day of the year.

Starting from the second day, people began going out to visit friends and relatives, taking with them gifts and Lai-See for the children. Visitors would be greeted with traditional New year delicacies, such as melon seeds, flowers, fruits, tray of togetherness, and NIANGAO, New Year cakes.

Everybody’s Birthday
The entire first week was a time for socializing and amusement. On the streets, the stores were closed and an air of gaiety prevailed. There were numberous lion dances, acrobats, theatrical shows, and other diversions. Firecrackers, which symbolized driving away evil spirits, were heard throughout the first two weeks of the New year. The Seventh Day of the New Year was called "everybody’s birthday" as everyone was considered one year older as of that date. (In traditional China, individual birthdays were not considered as important as the New Year’s date. Everyone added a year to his age at New Year’s time rather than at his birthday.)

Chinese New Year 2010

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is sometimes called the "Lunar New Year" by English speakers. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month or 正月 (pinyin: zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th day; this day is called Lantern Festival or Chap-Goh-Mei in Hokkien dialet. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúxī. It literally means "Year-pass Eve".

Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Lunar Calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Ancient Chinese New Year is a reflection on how the people behaved and what they believed in the most.

Celebrated by the ethnic Chinese all over the world, Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese. Although Chinese New Year is not an official holiday in many Western countries, many ethnic Chinese hold large celebrations among the community and celebrate among families members. Chinese New Year is the time where family members visit each others to reunited their ties and bonding.

The celebration of the Chinese new year vary widely. People will spend money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also the tradition that every family thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of “happiness”, “wealth”, and “longevity”. On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will range from pigs, to ducks, to chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes or commonly known as Ang-Pao. The Chinese New Year tradition is a great way to reconcile forgetting all grudges, and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.

This year, the Chinese New Year falls on 14 February 2010. 2010 is the year of the Tiger, which is also known as Geng Yin. how is Chinese New Year's day being determine? Well, it is the second New Moon after the winter solstice.

In the spirit of 1Malaysia, let us invite our colleagues, friends, families from all walks of lifes to visit our house. Invite our Malay and Indian friends and colleagues to our house and show them the meaning of Chinese New Year. It's about family, reunion, bonding and lots of love.

I dream of Swatch for Valentine

When I saw this swatch this morning, I love it! It's simple and cute..minus the love thingy. This is one of the prizes for a contest and it's unfortunate that staff can't join. If not, I could stand a chance to win this lovely Swatch watch. Wish I can buy this watch. My pocket is rather tied at the moment...sad..

Anyway, I am a loyal fan of Swatch. They have really unique and creative designs.

Lazy Sunday

Today I'm just going to sit back and enjoy my Sunday. D called this morning and everything is fine. Later I'm going to watch 'Old Dogs' but first I must cook my chicken curry. you see, I had a chicken curry for lunch early this week and it was the worst lunch I had. The curry was tasteless and oily. The chicken was so hard that I think if you threw it to the floor, the floor will crack but the chicken stay in one piece.

Besides that, I want to rest my brain because it has been overwork this week. I'm thinking of a work with as minimum fund as possible and I haven't find a solution yet. It would be so easy if I have a large fund at my dispossal. I can do wonders but for this work, I have to create the same effect but no fund. Well, actually I can ask for it but is better that I don't because I don't want to be in debt of favours...people said hutang duit boleh dibayar, hutang budi dibawa mati.

I AM SO SORRY

Today started off really great and fruitful. Everything goes well until an unexpected twist. From a calm water, the waves started suddenly and we became worry. The dolphin try to stay calm but I know he's worry if the wave might hit the shore. Dolphin is shy and never likes attention but somehow the rough sea noticed him and try to give him trouble.

He tried to be as calm as possible but I know he's very worried. I feel really guilty of what's happening and wish I could take away his worries. I'm very, very, sorry about everything and I wish I could turn back the clock and take it go away.

2010 Officially Started

After going back to work, it finally sank in my head that 2010 has started. In fact, it's running fast.

Monday and Tuesday parents were busy with their children's school and all the 6-year-old kids officially start schooling. They leaves their parents for the first time to the world of education. Parents on the other hand probably worried and standing outside the class peeping through the window to check on their kid. I'm sure some children will be crying too. Did you cry during the first day at school? I still remember mine. I went to school alone. My neighbour took me to kindergarten but when I was in standard 1, I went alone. Some call it brave but I don't have that kind of luxury. I guess it build my independent at a tender age.

At office, some many things happened. A few projects is due to launch this month. A few just launched end December. I guess when you work in an online company, it's 24/7 and 365 days non stop. So far, things have been progressing well and I hope it stays that way. Although I doubt it. There's always area for improvement if you want to stay on top of the game.

Colleagues in office are all busy with datelines and lack of resources. However, economy is not stable yet so it's better to be busy than free. Don't you think so?

At the same time, I'm working on a few new projects. So the no-personal-time-issue has officially started. I hope my friends and Alli won't think I ignore them. Well, I don't think Alli would mind...hehehe..

Scene of Pleasure

Yesterday I bought Bulgari Blv for SB. 1, it's his long overdue birthday present. 2, because he always there for me whenever I need help and comfort. Thank you very much, SB. Muaahhh... :-)



Shopping with him is the easiest because he knows what he wants and very focus when he goes shopping. We go around looking for his perfum and Alli's perfum around the counters and we managed to decided for both less than 30 minutes!

For Alli's birthday, I'm deciding between Drakkar Nior or Terre D'Hermes or Armani's Attitude Extreme. Need to think further.

Ear Infection

I woke up with a really, really bad ear infection. It started with a minor infection last weekend and I went to a clinic near my house. It's one of the well established clinics with many branches across metropolitan. Unfortunately, the doctor said it was nothing and gave me a very, very tiny dose of ear drops and some anti-biotic to consume.

The ear drop finished with just 3 applications. I'm not the anti-biotic taker so I didn't finish the course. However, each day my ear is more swollen and painful. Until last night I could hardly sleep because of the loud noise in my ear. I decided to see my panel clinic at my office area.

The doctor said my ear is clog and there was white discharge in my ear. I informed her that each time I clean my ear, there's bleeding and she said it's due to the discharge and infection. With the clog, she can't see my ear drum and gave me ear drops and anti-biotic to be taken for a week. She wants a follow up check after that.

I told SB about it and he said better to consult my regular doctor for safety reason. He said it sound serious and want me to make sure my ear is ok. I think I better listen to his advice because it's really not nice to have a loud sound 24/7 in my ear. So after work, we will be going to the clinic on the way home. I better make an appointment so I don't have to wait too long. Pity SB...he will have to wait for me before he can have dinner.

Happy New Year 2010

Today is 1st Jan 2010 and somehow I feel like a great start of a new year. After the wishes to all my friends and family last night before the midnight, followed by watching the fireworks through my window 2009 ended well.

This year, I plan to start my small side income with the hope to make extra pocket money and saving. To do that, I can't be too choosy and have to start something, somewhere. This is what I learnt from my boss. If you want to create something technically perfect, it may not be commercial and you'll fall behind your competitor. My timeline is March this year and I'm going to work towards it. I've 3 plans for this year so this means I will have less personal life and time.

Besides that, I plan to go travelling this year. I had to cancel my holiday last year due to H1N1. I can't waut for those travel fairs so I can survey and get the best bargain. I plan to visit a few countries this year, namely Taiwan, Australia and possibly UK.

2010 is also my resolution to master cooking skills. I love food but unfortunately I'm not a good cook. SB is always doubting my cooking. So far my sis love my food. MY goal is master cooking and some baking so I can cook for you with confident.

OK, cooking doesn't mean is all eating. I have to finish my goal from last year to loose weigh too. I have been a bit lazy for the last 2 months with all the events and gathering. Now is time to stay focus and achieve my goal so I can grab my rewards. How cool is that?

Well, that's my target for 2010 and I hope you will achieve yours too. Happy New Year Everybody and stay in good health and happy!