INSIGHT CRIZ

I had spent many month browsing through the web in search for a good HDTV for my living room. All the reviews and recommendations were detailed but I had some problems with the price tags. Some of the best would cost between $3K and $4.5K which was way beyond my budget.

After considering the prices for brands such as Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Pioneer, Samsung, LG and many others, I finally settled for Samsung HL52A650 which would cost me around $2K or more. Although it is relatively expensive and with a red frame, it has a superb black-level performance; highly accurate color; improved 120Hz de-judder video processing; fine standard-definition processing; broad selection of picture setup options; ability to display weather, news, and stock info onscreen; energy-efficient compared with most like-size LCDs.

Since this model is one of the top selling models in 2008, I better get it fast before it goes out of stock. I should also be looking for new tv lifts as my existing TV cabinet would not be able to fit in this new 52” LCD TV. I guessed I should not have any problems at all as I have already found out where to get the best deal.

During my younger days, I used to be a swimmer under the guidance of a national swimming coach. Although I was tanned from head to toes, I was extremely fit with a “V” shape body and all the girls would drool over me. Ever since coming out into the working world, everything changed. No longer had I the time to go for any sort of exercise with the amount of working stacking on my table each day. As a result, I cannot even see my toes now!

From a fit 50kg person, I ended up as a fat 85kg person. I did not even realize that I had bloated up so much until signs of sickness began to show up one after another. My body got weaker and seemed to be attracted to those seasonal viruses within the air. Finally, I did a full blood test and the results were real shocking. I was like a walking time bomb and the percentage of having heart failure was high. I could even become a diabetic as my glucose level was also extremely high.

My doctor put me on a strict diet with a long list of dos and don’t. I was given pills to cut down on my cholesterol level and some natural diet pills to help burn off that excess fat in me. I was skeptical at first as I was a person who lives to eat and not eat to live. I doubted my lack of motivation to finish the diet course. Surprisingly, after weeks of staying at home to cook my own healthy meals instead of going out and get tempted by the amount of nice food, I lost 5kg. Seeing the possibility of reducing my weight within such a short period, I monitored my food intake and lost another few kilograms.

Presently, I am maintaining a 60kg body weight. I got healthier now with less sickness and I feel just great to be able to perform my tasks with better concentration and speed. Losing weight is not so hard after all. All you need is a bit of determination to strive for a healthier lifestyle. If I can do it, why can’t you?

It always gets into my nerves when some inconsiderate housemates force unwanted food down the kitchen sink and caused it to clog. Not only will the sink emit unpleasant odor, it will also stall my process of preparing a meal as more and more unwashed dishes get stacked up. I still wonder why some people have that bad habit when the rubbish bin is just a step away. What would you do when you have clogged kitchen sinks or drains in the house? Using harmful chemicals to unclog the kitchen sinks might not be a good idea as that is where we handle all the food we consume, not forgetting the utensils that we wash there daily.

Here are some of the measurements I applied to prevent such happenings. Firstly, I would use a food trapper to trap all the remains from the washing of the dishes and throw the remains into the rubbish bag. With this preventive measurement, I still get some inconsiderate housemates forcing food remains down the pipeline. When will they learn to be more responsible? That’s a big question mark!

Whenever situation like this occur, I would have to think of the next step which is to mix up some non-chemical based solution to flush the food remains down the drain. One of the more commonly used solutions I did was to mix half a cup of baking soda with half a cup of vinegar in a large container and pour fizzing solution quickly down the sink pipeline and left it covered for about 10 minutes. The combined solution will break the fatty acids into soap and glycerine. I would then pour a kettle of boiling water down the pipeline to further flush it down. This method has never failed so far as I have smooth flowing drainage after each application. If you have problems with clogged kitchen sinks or drains, you should try this method out.

I have the problem of getting rid of my acnes ever since I was young. I have tried many products on the market but nothing seemed to help. To visit a skin specialist for treatments would be quite costly. It could cost up to a few hundred dollars per visit and it was beyond my means.

You can say that it was sheer luck that I stumbled upon the authority on acne one day while surfing the internet. The website was so comprehensive that it provided all the available acne related products on one website. Not only did I get to find out more on the safety, efficiency, quality and company background of the products that are suitable for my skin, I get to buy best value products which I can save a lot of money.

One product that caught my attention most is Acnexus. The testimonials that I read was so convincing that I had decided to get one for myself. This All Natural Acne Treatment scrub does not contain any of those mineral oils, alcohols, parabens, harsh soaps or benzoyl peroxide which can be harmful if used long term. The 27 all natural anti-acne ingredients not only cleanse, exfoliate, repair, renew, revitalize, moisturize, supplement and nourish the skin, it comes as an all-in-one product. Can you imagine how much I have saved up by not having to purchase individual steps products as most other companies offered? If you need a solution for acnes but have a tight budget, I would recommend you to try out Acnexus.

I will spend my time hunting for great food within my small island of Penang during most of my weekends and blog about it to share with my readers. Many people inclusive our local Penangites were not aware that some little corners of the island can have some of the best food and atmosphere around that even a 5-star hotel would not be able to provide. In fact, the pricing for the food could well save most of us quite a bomb.

Having too much food and fun outside from home most of the time can be quite unhealthy for my ever increasing weight. Sometimes, I will just dig into some great recipes and get some healthy food prepared for my family during weekends. Firstly, I can save a lot of time and money in driving out with the price increase in fuel. Secondly, I can gather the whole family and friends under one roof to have a mini weekend gathering.

I sure did have lots of fun time to show my culinary skills. Maybe some of you can also plan some of these wonderful experiences by coming out with great food to impress your friends and family.

I have written earlier about “HOW WOULD YOU FACE DEATH?” regarding how I admired Professor Randy Pausch for his courage to face death with a positive attitude. His positive attitude had inspired me to look at life at a different prospect and spent more time with the people closest to me. Life is so unpredictable but death is certain.

Unfortunately, he passed away yesterday at his home in Chesapeake, Va at the age of 47. Although he knew that he was given 3-6 months’ to live after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August 15th, 2007, he managed to extend his life further to spent his remaining days with his family. What a brave and committed husband and father. I am touched by his will power to push his life so far.

He once said, “I don’t know how to not have fun,” “I’m dying and I’m having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day I have left. Because there’s no other way to play it.” He indeed had fun for almost a year since he received the shocking news about his cancer. On Feb. 15, exactly six months after he was told he had three to six months of healthy living left, Pausch posted a photo of himself to show he was “still alive & healthy.” In May, Pausch spoke at Carnegie Mellon’s commencement ceremonies, telling graduates that what mattered was he could look back and say, “pretty much any time I got a chance to do something cool, I tried to grab for it, and that’s where my solace comes from.” “We don’t beat the reaper by living longer, we beat the reaper by living well and living fully,” he said.

My deepest condolences to Randy’s wife, Jai, his three children, Dylan, Logan and Chloe; his mother, Virginia Pausch of Columbia, Md.; and his sister, Tamara Mason of Lynchburg, Va. Randy had touched not only my heart but the hearts of many from all over the world. May his soul rest in peace.

You can get more information on Randy Pausch in the news here.

Ouch! It is so painful! What have I done to deserve this? I have monitored my diet well by abstaining from fried or oily food but why is there still an acne popping up just right on my cheek. It is so obvious that I would hide my face under a grocery bag. I do not think it has anything to do with my work as I have ample time to complete them. Hmmm… could it be due to the stress I am getting from my ever mischievous kittens?

Although it has not been proven that stress can cause acne but it could be one of the factors in my health dictionary. I have been trying hard to get the kittens to behave well as not to tear my whole house apart and to litter wherever they like but without any success. The monitoring of their whereabouts and cleaning up their messes might have triggered the acne bomb within my body system.

Now what should I do? There are just so many acne products available on the market and it is not easy to choose one that is suitable for my dry skin. I have tried the acne spot treatment gel and exfoliating scrub but somehow these two products did not suit my skin as the acnes got even redder. Maybe I should consider getting some acne creams that are milder to my skin. At least the cream would be great for general usage without spoiling my facial beauty any further. Hmmm… Now I have to decide which brand would be great for my general usage. Is there any acne expert around to recommend me the best cream?

Who would believe that I had received so many invitations for Halloween although the date will only fall on 31 October this year? Well, I do not mind too. At least I have more time to create my own costume for the function. The last party I went to was rather disastrous as I had not prepared any proper costumes. I had to attend the function as a masked Superman. I thought it would be great to have some great fun there by wearing a red underwear instead but that made me the laughing stock amongst my friends.

Although I did win the Most Comical and Daring Award for the night, I would not want to face that sort of embarrassment all over again. This year, I am planning to hold a Halloween party right over my house. It may be three months before the date but this would give my guests ample time to come out with their costumes. I just can’t wait to send out the Halloween invitations as I would like to see who else would be as daring as me in coming out with a special and out of the world costumes this year. Hmmm… I wonder if someone would paint himself green with super tight shorts and come in as the Incredible Hulk. Well, I would just have to wait to check them out. Gosh! The suspense is killing me now.

One minute… 5 minutes… 10 minutes… 15 minutes… 20 minutes… Hey! What is going on here? Why is my computer taking such a long time to process my graphical file? Does Photoshop program always take so long to process a simple file? Something is definitely not right here. I think I should troubleshoot this problem once and for all to get my programs running smoothly.

Bingo! I think I have found the faults behind the laggings of my computer. I barely have 2GB of hard disc space left in my computer system and I am processing a file as heavy as 100MB. I was so foolish not to have realized the limited working space I have left. Moreover, I should have upgraded my computer memory long time ago. 512MB of RAM was just not good enough if I were to process graphical files or even playing with some online games.

I do not know why it took me so long to find out that adding more RAM will ease my lagging problems. Now I know why. My graphic software required a place to do a lot of calculations and my computer memory was not enough to support that. Eventually my computer decided to switch to using virtual memory from my hard disc and my hard disc space was barely enough for it to process any faster. Moreover, a RAM can transfer as fast as a few gigabytes per second of data whereas the virtual memory can handle only a few megabytes per second of data. Now you know the reasons why my computer lagged so badly. Don’t learn the hard way as I did. Get your computer memory upgraded soonest possible.

It has been said that a person will not stop learning even as he grows old. The statement is so true. No matter how old we are, there will never be any ending to how much knowledge we could gain. It felt as if we have gone back to school and learning to read is the first step in gaining more knowledge. The more you read, the more you know, the more you understand how to apply the skills automatically. By increasing the competency, it will increase the motivation to learn more. When a person sees his own progress, he would want to learn more by reading more books.

There are many types of books around the market ranging from arts, photography, novels, computing, hobbies, motoring, beauty, health, cooking, science fictions, romance, children, parenting, sports, teens to books as basic as textbooks and comics. Which would you choose? As for me, I would choose a bit of everything before deciding which category of books will suit me best.

Cooking books will surely enhance the act of self dependent if ever one were to live independently away from home. Parenting books will surely enlighten you on the basic needs of a child in his process of growing up. Fiction books will eventually develop your imaginative power to be creative in your work. Computing book will let you catch up with the state-of-the art products in the world of technology. Even a comic book will help you relieve your mind after a hard day’s work.

No matter what, reading any books has one thing in common. It improves your skill and strategy use, builds fluency, enlarges vocabulary, and builds your knowledge of the world. There will be no harm in reading more. Any day in your life will be another “back to school” day, regardless how old you are now. Just grab a book now and learn what you might not know. Who knows? It might just change your life forever.