Archive for February, 2009

At the moment, it is -3 degrees celcius here in Budapest, Hungary. It is around this time when you dream about going on a long vacation to somewhere where there is sun, beautiful white sandy beach and clear blue waters. Somewhere like in the Caribbean perhaps.

Johnny Depp bought a private island in the Caribbean after discovering it when he was shooting the Disney film “Pirates of the Caribbean”. Seems like he totally fell in love with the place. No surprise. The place is “a slice of heaven on Earth”.

For non-Hollywood stars like us who can’t afford to splash out millions of dollars for a private island in the Bahamas, it would be a wonderful thing just to go on any caribbean vacations.

Take a look at the newly launched Breezes Resorts website at breezes.com where you can search for caribbean hotels deals quick and easy. I like the fact that not only can you get quotes and make reservations directly from the website but also they provide the readers the things they should know relating to the destination. Starting from the basic things like how to get there, what you should bring, to things that you may really want to know like where and how to get medical help and the things to do there.

Best of all they offer all inclusive vacation packages which means food, drink, entertainment, land and water sports will be included all at one price. Including resort taxes and fees! So what you see is all you pay for. I think it is a great bargain if the price is what you are looking for.

Perhaps one day I won’t be just dreaming of the Caribbean but living my dream…

Few days back, while browsing through BBC News online portal, I came across a couple of articles relating to global warming.  One was about how way off track we were when it comes to predicting the future outcome of global warming issue. It is going to be worse than we thought. As educated people who are living in the present we need to make sure that our children and our childrens’ children will inherit a better world instead of dealing with global warming problems that their ancestors had created. So what do you do? You try to do your part to prevent further worsening of the problem. Use less and save energy, recycle, and more.

The second article was regarding having children and its impact on global warming. How many children we choose to have determines the direction our ecosystem will take - better or worse. As of now, we have more than 6 billion people sharing the home we call Earth.

According to Jonathan Porrit, a leading green campaigner featured in the article, in the UK alone every extra person emits 11 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. He recommends couples to stop at two children.

Being a mother of a little girl and also someone who is quite concerned about the issue of global warming, I would agree with the relation of over population and global warming. Though I’d say perhaps maximum 3-4 children is okay but  not more. As for myself, I’d have another one maybe but that’s it. Or perhaps no more for financial reasons. Some people who love having children may say it is all ‘bull’ but imagine what our planet would be in 20 - 30 years. What’s the point of having so many children who in the end would inherit a grey, hot planet ?

Read about Nadya Suleman, the Californian single mother who gave birth to octuplets? She already had 6 for goodness sake! And she is just a single mother? Talk about irresponsible. Not only irresposible to the environment, but also for the children. She even set up a website asking for donation. So I suppose it’s a free ticket to fame and also money through donation and sponsorship.  She said to have a huge family is her dream. Yeah at other peoples’ expenses that is.

She has no income, is $50,000 in debt. She also receives $490 a month in food stamps and receives about $600 in disability payments a month for each of the three of her older six children with disabilities.

Why even think of having 14 children when with that sort of financial situation  no one can even afford even one child?!! Poor children.

People like Nadya Suleman not only is selfish as Porrit puts it, but also very irresponsible.

I, myself believe in the idea of  giving anyone a second chance in life to turn into a new leaf. This applies even to sexual offenders. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, out of 664,731 past sexual offenders,  only about 14% will commit again. Considering 86% may not do it again, 14% isn’t great a number.

Yet, when you do a little calculation, you will end up finding a chance of 2 of those 14% of offenders who will commit the crime again living in your very own backyard. Scary thought isn’t it? Hence, a forgiving society we should be, we should not be complacent and need to keep our eyes peeled. Especially if you are a woman or have young children both boys and girls.

Perhaps with this in mind, nowadays, there are websites where you can do a little search in your area - using your zip code- to track sex offenders who may be living near you. A tool ideal for potential employers and also those who care to know. This sex offenders lookup search engine can be found at tracksexoffenders.net.

Since the time I bought my first item online (was it from Amazon or ebay?? hmm) I have always wanted to have my very own online store. Opening an online store does sound complicated for someone like me who doesn’t have much knowledge on website designing and such.

There is ebay or Amazon where you can open a small store with. But it comes with a small price of course. I have checked on how to start selling on ebay and also opening a store - special procedure and fees to open one - both requires a small fee to insert your product or items for sales on the market. You even have to pay for hard-disk space to store your products’ images. It is all rather complicated.

So I did a little research and search on how to open an online store. Lo and behold, I have found somewhat a jewel of a wordpress plugin. Yes, you can open an online store with a wordpress blog. All you need is to upload a plugin for you wordpress blog - Wordpress E-commerce plugin at Instinct.co.nz. Apparently the plugin has been around for sometime now, just didn’t find it months ago when I was looking for something like it.

I did a little experiment and I like it a lot! You can choose various form of payment method. Paypal and google checkout included. You can track your sales, and orders on the ’sales’ tab on your wordpress dashboard.

So far, I’ve only found one free wordpress theme that is compatible with the wp e-commerce plugin. Crafty cart theme. Here is what wp e-commerce store would look like with a ‘crafty cart’ theme - demo site.

I’m still learning and researching. Perhaps I will sell stuff on my own online store soon, or perhaps I will check out ebay first to get the feel of selling online then move on to own online store. Will see. Nevertheless it is still a good thing to learn about the cool plugin.

“Prevention is the best medicine”. Simple saying, yet so true. It applies to our health which includes our vision too. It is better to take care of your vision while they are sharp because if you don’t, a poor vision will cost you time and a lot of money to correct it.

An average cost of a pair of eyeglass frames is around $100. My pair of eyeglasses that I paid for many years ago was about $200. I have read on many blogs and even websites about a particular eyeglass manufacturer/retailer called Zenni Optical. For only $8 you can get a a pair of glasses - frames with anti-scratch coated lenses.

Over the years prices of many items had gone up. It feels good to know that you can still find something of quality at a reasonable price. According to Zenni Optical, the reason they can offer a pair of glasses starting from as little as $8, is because they manufacture and sell the eyeglasses themselves through their online store. Thus, they practically have no overheads to pay nor do they have costs to have middle-men to sell for them.

Even though the eyeglasses come cheap, but the quality is commendable as per those who have tried Zenni Optical glasses. They were even recommended through articles from online newspapers and magazines. Recently I’ve read an article on “The New York Times” that mentioned Zenni Opticals - Seeing Straight Without Breaking The Bank.

No wonder why they are rather popular. They are cheap yet the designs and quality is rather excellent. I saw a blogger who posted her picture wearing this Lime coloured eyeglasses from Zenni Optical and she looked so cool.

I really like the design. It looks nearly the same as my $200 worth of eyeglasses. For $8 it is really not bad at all I say.

I’m not American. But I just have to say I’m kind of jealous of the Americans for having such a cool President. Strange to refer an American president as cool. But he is! He is charismatic, he is good looking, great body, internet & gadget savvy, he has the gravity which is needed in a president - something which I think lacking in Bush.

Watched his inauguration. The first American president inauguration that I have ever bothered to watch. Listened to his inauguration speech. I think it was beautiful.

I believe many people regardless of their nationalities or race would have felt a little proud of Obama. He is indeed an inspiration to many. He had proven that true democracy somewhat exists in America. It only happens in America. I’m afraid it’ll be a very long time till a Roma (gypsy) would hold the title of PM in Hungary. Or an Indian or chinese PM in Malaysia for that matter.

As I said I’m not American, but I subscribed to his youtube channel.

As a teenager I had this horrible habit of nail biting. Usually happens when I was rather anxious about something. It was a habit that was rather hard to rid off but I eventually did rid of it.

The thing that triggered me to really try to be free of this habit was when I saw a guy with very well kept buffed nails. He was a guy! Being a girl, I suddenly felt rather conscious of my ugly,short, bitten off nails. Boy! that was a real eye opener.

I realized that nails do say something about the owner. For example the guy was a banker. A job that requires meeting clients often, and also using the computer keyboard too. Nails that look neat, clean and healthy, just like clothes, give a good impression about the person.

Grimy nails would usually indicate that the person may work as a mechanic or a labourer. Or worse impression it’d give - the person is a slob.

Nowadays, I’d clip my nails (have to keep them short for typing), file them neatly, and buff them to give them the healthy shine.I even made my husband buff his nails.

Here’s a suggestion of where to get your Nail care items from - Hello-gorgeous.net.

They offer an a-z selection of skin care, hair care, nail care products and more. For their nail care collection you can find a variety of items -nail files, 4 way nail buffers ( my favourite nail care product), manicure bowl, tweezers, nail polish, etc. Currently, there are discount prices on selected items. They provide super fast shipment to addresses all over the US and now the UK.

So if you’re the kind that doesn’t really care much about how your nails look, then you should. They are just as important as how your skin and hair looks.

Did you read the most viewed news on CNN today? UK: Birth of 13-year-old dad’s child sparks outrage.

The boy became a father at the age of 13. The mom, a 15 year old. They are both under-aged. Physically maybe matured but mentally they are still children.

Here’s what the clueless 13 year old commented,

“it would be good to have a baby.”

“I didn’t think about how we would afford it. I don’t really get pocket money. My dad sometimes gives me £10. When my mum found out I thought I was going to get in trouble. We wanted to have the baby but were worried about how people would react. I didn’t know what it would be like to be a dad. I will be good, though, and care for it.”

No wonder people were outraged. Usually this kind of things come as an accident and the kids would be totally freaked out. Now they even thought it all out and WANTED to have the baby. Okay for one thing I got to hand it to him, at least he took responsibility. Unlike some grown up men. Responsible fool maybe. LOL

Oh boy, oh boy. These kids are clueless of what kind of thing they are facing here. He is still collecting pocket money from his parent! For goodness sake!

I can already see what’s going to happen to the boy in 5 or 10 years time. He’d say,”Gosh, I didn’t enjoy life enough!”. Doubt they’re the ones going to take care of the babe themselves. Most probably poor grandma (his mom, or her mom) had to do all the hard work.

I think schools have to implement a special child care project as something compulsory. Using the “real care” babies.

The baby though unreal can pass for a real baby. It needs to be fed, needs to be changed, entertained and burped. If not, it’ll give out an irritating cry. Though they don’t really soil the diapers or need to be bathed, but there are sensors. To change the diaper, a new diaper with sensors need to be swiped at the back of the baby and put on. It somehow gives the kid in charge of the baby the experience of being parents and how hard it is. Child rearing isn’t all about the cute things.

Here’s a video of a teenage girl who did this project for a week or so.
Guess that one week is enough to put anyone off the idea of having a baby for at least some years. LOL

The way the world goes, it is at times impossible to own anything - cars, homes, furniture, etc - without going into debts. For me, debt is one of the few things I am very afraid of in life. Avoid it like the plague if I can. But as I said again, unless you’re born to inherit millions of dollars, it is really hard not to get into debts. I have a few thousand dollars worth of student loan that I’ve been paying for years now and will be paying for many years to come.

Some people who go into debt to own things may have the belief that the things they buy on credit are called ‘assets’. In truth, they are actually ‘liabilities’. As long as you have to pay for them every month, they are liabilities to you but assets for the creditors.

Many may have been very careful and had thought long and hard before they go into debts and pay their debts religiously every month. Unfortunately there are many unexpected situations beyond their control that may prevent them from being able to reduce the debt fast enough.

I suppose with this sort of situation in mind there are non profit debt consolidation organization that offers services to help debtors to consolidate or reduce debts. They also provide credit counselling. You can easily get debt consolidation loan quote from websites like nowgetloan.com.

What they do is, as I understand it,  they will give you a loan to pay off the other loans from a few other creditors. From then onwards you will be dealing with only one creditor (they)  and will have to pay lower monthly repayments at lower interest rates.  This way you get back in control of your debts sooner than you thought possible.

Being free from debts is important to live our daily lives 100% peacefully. I for one would be one happy chick indeed once I pay the last monthly payment for my student loan.

Despite the fact that Simon Cowell can be so insensitive when passing judgement at the AI auditions and competition, people love him. I love him. His comments can be so outrageously funny.

He can’t sing, he can’t play any musical instruments yet he can tell whether a person can make it big or not. What’s the big deal?? Anyone can do that… so we thought.

Came across this video of him back in the 80’s on Youtube. 1987 to be exact. Thanks to the person who uploaded it. Now we know that he had this style of giving sharp comments even way back then, only with a higher pitched voice. *ha ha ha*

Gosh, Simon Cowell you’re so cool. Wish I can tell people what I honestly think of them straight in the face and get paid millions of dollars for that. LOL Well, don’t we all??