Archive for November, 2009

Come February next year, it would be exactly 3 years I’ve been living in Hungary. Three years filled with pain, sadness, laughter and joy. We’ve always planned to leave this country for good some day and that some day may be sometime towards the end of next year. My husband and I are both not getting any younger you know…

Yes, we plan to move to another country which we haven’t really decided which one yet. Although there are a few choices in our list, we still need to do a little bit more research - living cost, schoolings, jobs, environment, whether my current medical travel insurance would still be valid after I leave the country for more than 6 months, and so on - before we can really decide the one place we would go to.

The question now is, what would I want to do when we go to a new place? I want to work definitely. But after nearly 5 years of not being in the job market, I know it wouldn’t be easy for me to go back in again (not impossible). And what sort of job I would want to do. I’ve been thinking about what I want to do with my life for years now and still I haven’t figured out yet actually. All these while just going with the flow and doing my job as a wife and mother every day for the past 5 years.

I still have another year to figure out. But as we now know 1 year would pass by so quick you wouldn’t even notice it. Just hope by then I’d have decided on what I want to do with my life.

When my credit card expired this month, I panicked a little. Not because I wasn’t prepared for it, but things didn’t go as planned. Things like the replacement card was not received, and also the account expires earlier than I was told ( the customer service officer informed that I can use my credit card till the end of this month, i.e, November 30th).

I panicked a little because of the standing instruction I had on the card. I pay my insurance through direct debit every month. The main reason for getting that card was to pay for my life insurance. After some calls and also transferring money from one bank to another, I managed to settle this months payment at least. Hope to get the replacement card by early next month and start paying again through my card. Just glad that it was the only thing I pay monthly through my card, and not including home insurance and car insurance.

Well, I am rather dependant on my credit card for that reason, but it is not such a bad sort of dependency. Although, it is not such a good feeling to go about without my credit card, since it is used in cases of emergency for me. Gosh, I feel like the replacement couldn’t come any sooner!

I need to restart my computer so many times before I can get my keyboard to work. I am not really sure what is the real problem - whether the computer itself or just the keyboard. The keyboard seems not to function at all. Though all I need to do is just press the restart button and hopefully at the next start up my keyboard would work. Even now, I had to restart at least twice before I can get my keyboard to work.

My computer is about 6 years old. For that long I can say it has done its job wonderfully. My husband’s laptop is only about 3 years old and already is having some problems. That’s one thing about desktop computers, they seem to be a lot more durable than laptop. But laptop has its own appeal too - light weight and portable.

I love my computer, but after 6 years, perhaps it is time for me to think about upgrading?

Some one I know just completed programming a cost calculator that is specially made to calculate Market research costs. So I’d dedicate a single post to describe what the product is all about.

Who is it for? It helps researchers calculate project cost and price easy and fast. It is particularly useful for small and medium size market research agencies with no settled pricing systems. Currently, it is able to help the costing process for telephone, F2F, depth interview, focust group and online panel projects.

There are many advantages of using the product such as detailed price breakdown, multiple currencies to calculate in, the flexibility it provides for options in quotations and overall a huge savings of time when using it. It is also a protected Excel file that can be used to calculate every single cost items like labor, incentives, transcripts, translations, interpretations, etc.

The product is based on Excel controls and heavy use of formulas. It makes calculations easy to store and modify. No VBA code inside, no harm to the user.

The product is unique in the mr industry as currently there is no such other product on the market for sale. Although it primary targets market research agencies, individual researchers and research buyers having regular research projects to manage can leverage on its usage.

There is more information on www.mrcosting.com where a detailed description can be found and a demo of the product can as well be requested.

It is a genuine market research product based on real life experience!

It’s about 11.30 pm right now and I am suppose to be in bed by now. But after tossing and turning for about half an hour I got up and here I am.

I was watching some funny Japanese clips on youtube and found this video of how Osaka people would react to gun shot sound or the slashing sound of a katana. Good gosh, they are really “kakkoii” or cool people. Regardless of age they would react as if it were real. LOL. Hope you enjoy the video as much as I did.

Anyhow, I am suppose to get myself sleepy but I’m making myself even wide awake after a good laugh. Should be off to bed soon or I’d definitely look like I’m going to turn into a panda with 2 dark circles under my eyes tomorrow.

I love gadgets. Well, most people I know likes gadgets. Some cool, cute, interesting and even wacky. Just like these usb speaker that looks like your American Standard toilets.

Interesting… very interesting…. that someone would want speakers that look like toilets.

But then I suppose, novelty items are kind of an in thing these days.

When I started learning Hungarian and Japanese, I did consider to become a professional translator one day. With the world becoming one global village, the need for translating services has become so much in demand.

There is one website that I just registered for free as a translator. (I translate Malay to English or vice versa) Translia.com. I can set the minimum rate I charge per word. Would be really interesting to see what happens next.

The site is also a place where those who need translation jobs done. There is no minimum words, even one word translation job will be accepted. So if you need one word translation, one sentence translation, brand name translation, business card translation, even a million words translation project to be done, that is the place for you to choose many translators (like myself),with the right affordable rate that you are looking for, to work for you.

Now I am even more motivated to become fluent in Hungarian and Japanese.