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TechBot
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Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Grandma Steals CNY Goodies
My 97 year-old Grandma has been sneaking into the CNY goodie area and gobbling up a ton of goodies in plain sight. She's completely mobile, very fiesty, has all her own teeth, and very protective of Jack.
She really shouldn't be eating this stuff as she's diabetic although the strict diet she is on can't be very tasty. Lately she smiles quietly and helps herself with the grub. I swear there is no doubt Tuxie is her grandson!
Meanwhile, she just offered me a love letter after stuffing herself with several and some CNY cookies. :p
Before I became a Mom, I'd happily wear my acuvue contact lenses everyday. It feels nice to have clear vision all day instead of my rather studious-looking pair of spectacles on my nose. These days I barely have the time or energy to comb my hair. Nonetheless, on weekends when we go out I try to use my dailies.
I do have rather dry eyes, especially after working on the computer all day and surfing on my mobile phone in the evenings while nursing baby to sleep. In fact I think my eyesight has deteriorated since I gave birth! The funny thing is, when I wet my lenses, pop them it, the lens seems to lubricate the eye and retain that lubrication so through the day, my eyes feel more moist. A real curious phenomenon. I wonder why.
AC Lens has a pretty good resource on eye care and a neat forum. They stock my daily lenses as well and the prices are pretty good. Check out their Ask a Doctor section and stop by their Contact Lens Forums. I should try to ask them about my weird moist-with-lenses-eyes and a few questions I have on Lasik.
This post was kindly sponsored by the good people of AC Lens, who have generously provided an excellent information resource on eye care and concerns for everyone.
Aye, I can relate to that. Back in the day when customer service officers actually picked up the phone not a machine, customer care actually meant that, manuals were actually useful, and companies actually bothered about you after you paid them.
Service standards range from excellent to downright awful these days. The experience of shopping should be just that: an experience. For someone who associates a purchase with the whole experience, sometimes it can put me off buying something if the service staff is rude, never mind aftersales care. Plus, the word service means to help. Very often it is overlooked.
It's been said that the secret to a good marriage is... don't change. In other words, be the person you were when you were merely dating. Don't stop paying attention. Don't stop being kind. Don't gain 50 pounds. Don't stop flirting. Stay passionate, stay sexy, stay caring. Answer their calls. Unfortunately, too many companies are all candle-lit dinners, fine wine, and "let's talk about you" until the deal is sealed. Once they have you (i.e. you became a paying customer), you realize you got a bait-and-switch relationship.
I think the problem is that companies have forgotten the golden rules of social responsibility and maintaining good relationships. It's all about the bottom line now. Service staff are underpaid and overworked. No wonder they have no incentive to be nice, particularly if there have been difficult customers in the house.
It's easy to cite it as a work ethic issue. Japanese and Taiwanese service staff are some of the best I have ever encountered. I cannot say for sure how much they are paid but it certainly is in their work ethic to be polite.
Can we say conclusively that it is an issue about poor working conditions? There is only one way that change can happen, as with all other changes. From top down. Management has to treat their service staff well, train them to treat us well, so that we have a good buying experience.
But until companies are willing to expend the resources to lead the way, we'll be better off buying selectively.
I've been going crazy with my Canon Selphy CP400 so to be able to print from my phone has gotten me thrilled since as you all know, I already live vicariously through my phone.
Zink (sounds like it stands for zero ink), by the way, is a spin-off from Polaroid, so their imaging quality is pretty decent. Their integration with phones will kick off end of this year. I am looking forward to it!
For a long while now, I've been admiring the Sony Ericsson W880i (see pic on left). Yes, that beautiful thing.
I remember its picture screaming out at me in magazine ads and swooned over its gorgeous sleek black design and sweet orange buttons. Hubby had to wipe my drool off our copy of Stuff. As much as I love functionality, I adore heart-stopping gadget designs. But before I spend pages waxing lyrical about its beauty, I must mention its amazing specs.
It is tri-band (yay when I travel), has 3G and Bluetooth, a must-have for all mobile surfing gadget freaks like me, a digital cam for taking quick snaps, a cool music player integrated with WalkmanTM technology, a free 1GB memory card, long battery life, and it is astonishingly light to boot (9.5mm thick and 72 grams in weight).
Basically it can do everything my phone can (and more - mine doesn't have tri-band). Plus it is sleeker, way better looking, and fits perfectly in my jeans pocket and does not make that unsightly bulge.
My mobile contract is due for a renewal soon. Perhaps it is time to get a brand new phone. :)
The sponsor of this post has just enticed the author to upgrade her old phone.
I've always been a huge proponent of being responsible for securing your own computer. Granted, not everyone is savvy about Internet and computer security but it should be drilled into everyone buying a computer that installing an antivirus, firewall, and spyware protection is like putting a lock on your home. It is that basic.
While this post is sponsored, the author had already previously downloaded and highly lauded the freebies Google made available. She strongly urges all computer users to put a lock on that gate already.
I've lived in two of the coldest cities in the world: Toronto and Melbourne. Okay okay, so I don't take to the cold very well. I like a comfortable temperature of 24-28 degrees Celsius all year round. Can't help it. I was born and bred in the tropics.
In Toronto, where the outside temperature had been cold for me 9 months of a year while I lived there, I kept my portable heater on to full (30 degrees C) so I could sit around in t-shirt and shorts while it was -40 degrees C out. Very unenvironmental, I know. These days I'm more enlightened.
While in Melbourne, my hubby's home had a Vent-Free Natural Gas Ultra Slim Wall Heater. It was way more efficient than the portable one which tended to burn my feet. Having researched a bit, wall heaters seem to be a better choice than the portables. They look prettier too. :)
Now that the family and I are thinking holiday, I've been pondering about the places I'd like to visit sometime in my life.
Japan is one of them, for sure. I cut out a picture from the newspaper last week of one of Japan's aquariums where a pair of whales swam before an awestruck crowd. I have my reservations about animals in captivity but once in my life, I'd like to see a whale up close.
Of course, the US of A. With so many friends there, many of which I'd love to see again one day, some time in my life I would like to visit New York, LA, North Carolina, Washington, and Las Vegas, for starters.
Europe is always a draw for me. Sure, I have visited Paris, Florence, and Rome before but it is so huge, one could never hope to explore the whole of it in several lifetimes. I love the small towns and hope to visit at least Tuscany before I grow too old to wander up the cobblestone path.
Most recently I have been rather fascinated by the artificial islands under the name of Dubai Marina, where construction is ongoing to cater to the rich and famous. Of course, I could never afford to buy a dubai property on that island, but I hear that there is no income tax and the weather is beautiful. Plus the shopping is great. :)
This post was sponsored by Dubai Venture and it has gotten this author wanderlusting again.
Hark! If you're a parent, you're definitely more depressed than a non-parent, says a study by Florida State University professor Robin Simon and published in the American Sociological Association's Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
Part of the problem, Simon figures, is that Americans don't get as much help at parenting as they once did, or as is the case in other countries.
"We do it in relative isolation. The onus is on us," she said. "It's emotionally draining."
The depressing results seem to be across the board in a study of 13,000 people. No type of parent reported less depression than non-parents.
"Parents have more to worry about than other people do—that's the bottom line... And that worry does not diminish over time. Parents worry about their kids' emotional, social, physical and economic well-being. We worry about how they're getting along in the world."
It seems more and more people are opting to remain single. Either they feel their time has past or they've just given up meeting someone they connect with. I've met several such people over Chinese New Year, all of whom are nice, sociable, pleasant-looking, financially-stable folk.
I feel the advent of Internet technology has actually isolated more people than others. Peeps are happy to exist online more than offline. Instead of meeting your buddies for dinner, you're chatting on IM to your online friends; instead of joining friends for a movie, you stay home and play World of Warcraft (yes, I have been guilty!). It's easier and more comfortable to stay home than get dressed to go out. We've all been there.
While being friends online helps you connect with people, it doesn't give the warmth that meeting real people does. Numerous independent studies have shown that being with friends is one of the best indicators of happiness.
Now, as with any technology, it can be utilised for your benefit. You can meet people online and see if you like and trust the person enough to meet offline. Certainly, care must be exercised in such endeavours as well as a dose of skepticism, and always bring a friend along to meet up with your offline friend in a public place.
There are plenty of online dating sites, most of which you need to pay to join. But there are a few free dating services you can sign up with to see what it is all about. You'll never know when the ONE is just a click away. If not, you'll have made yet another friend.
This is a sponsored post by JustSayHi. The author notes that social networking online can be a delightful experience but laments that her single cats have had more success in this endeavour than she obviously has.
"To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness." -- Bertrand Russell
"Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages."
-- Thomas Edison (Harper's Magazine, 1890)
A woman's romance with motherhood, green living, finance, and this heady thing called life.
Now I've mentioned 
There are plenty of online dating sites, most of which you need to pay to join. But there are a few 
