For a moment I thought it read Jean-Claude Van Damme but my eyes deceived me. It was something even cooler. But first, let me say that I play chess better than backgammon and that is an issue of temperament. I would still like Jack to learn all sorts of intellectual board games and enjoy them.

Hence using Jean-Claude, the animated tiger is a brilliant way to bring backgammon to the masses, particularly children, who will love this 4 part interactive animated series titled “Life According to Jean-Claude”.

In the series, Jean-Claude is a street smart tiger dressed 70s-style in bell-bottoms and cream-coloured shoes with a buttoned-up dice print shirt and dollar sign chain around his neck and who manages a used car junk lot. That is a place where dreams are made.

He learns to succeed in everything including backgammon, chopping onions, and in fulfilling one's dreams and making important choices in life.

As the #1 Player at BackgammonMasters, Jean-Claude is a brilliant and innovative way of promoting and establishing this game software by BackgammonMasters.com. Click here to view Jean-Claude's remarkable and clever video.

Kindly sponsored by BackgammonMasters.com.

Technorati: games, backgammon, Jean-Claude

It's the Wednesday Mind Hump at Blogdrive Insanity. And today's meme topic is on your cats!

1. Do you have a cat? How many?

Yes! I have 5 and they own me.

2. How do you show your cat or cats respect?

I cook fresh chicken fillet for them everyday with none left for me... I guess that answers the question.

3. If your cat or cats could speak right now, what would they say?

"More chicken, Mom!"

Technorati: meme, cats, Wednesday Mind Hump, Respect Your Cat Day

For an all inclusive mexico vacation, head over to Vacations.net where their beautifully redesigned site offers not just nectar for the eyes but also tremendous savings of up to 50% off their regular rates.

It will be the perfect vacation to travel to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Mexico. We can go snorkelling, diving, lounge in the sun (with layers of sun block slathered on my skin of course) sipping magaritas (one is fine), read the latest Repairman Jack novel, and watch Jack's eyes light up when he takes to the sea.

It's all at Vacations.net. Go check them out for your next beach vacation.

Technorati: holiday, vacation, beach, diving

I really shouldn't have eaten that last slice of chocolate banana cake but it was calling my name from the fridge.

*Really no need to ping Technorati about this.*

Since I was a child, I have always been intrigued by the natural world. Although we lived in the city, we had a garden from which I spent many hours, sitting on my swing, watching the butterflies flitter about, ladybugs nesting on leaves, and the leaves sway in tandem with the breeze.

Perhaps my calling as a scientist was lost somewhere in the school system. We were streamed in a rather cruel practice, placing the academically superior children in the science stream while others, the ones slower to bloom, were placed in the arts stream at the wee age of 14.

But I never let go of my passion. I picked up general science books written for the layperson like those by Paul Davies and John Gribbin. I thought long and hard about the nature of things.

When I returned to college at the age of 21, I struggled with Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics but managed a sufficient grade to enter the Astrophysics program in the University of Toronto.

But something in those first 2 weeks in Physics 100 and Calculus 100 struck fear in me and I changed my enrollment to an Arts degree in Philosophy majoring in Logic instead.

Sometimes I wonder where I would have been if I have remained in the program.

Still, I read extensively. I studied the Philosophy of Science. I turned to Carl Sagan to teach me about astronomy and Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker to teach me about life sciences. And I discovered the wonderful world of speculative poetry.

There I sung the joys of science in prose and rhyme and for a time, I revelled in it. But real life caught up and I put on hold my passion to earn my living.

As a mother now, I seek to bring the same love of science to my young son. I hope that even if he does not become a scientist than he will share the same passion for the natural world as I do.

(Cross-posted to My Sci-Edge Blog)

Technorati: science, a lifelong fascination with science, Paul Davies, John Gribbin, astrophysics, Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker, speculative poetry

Due to launch on 2nd April, Sci-Edge is a spanking new social networking site for science peeps, tech and gadget freaks, and SF fans. (Oh gosh, I fit in all three categories.)

The interface is very similar to Friendster and Myspace but for science and tech fans, and looking at it now, I have to say, it's really really cool. You can change skins, blog, play games, run polls, quizzes, and even events. Plus, you can get paid for blogging and posting links.

Anyhow, I'm off to go fiddle with my settings there now and invite some of my speculative poetry friends to join. Pop by my page for a visit, or head on over to Sci-Edge to sign up already.

This post was kindly sponsored by Sci-Edge.

Technorati: social networking, science, technology, blog

It's been a tough week and I've been crashing every night. Jack has a runny nose and his 7th and 8th teeth are emerging from his top row. Poor baby has been waking up crying a lot and he's been almost inconsolable.

By day he is really active, climbing stairs like a professional rock climber - he has the pose down pat. He played well with his cousin Kaitlyn today, high fiving everyone and having a ball playing with a packet of green tea.

He likes waiting for me at the foot of the stairs and when he sees that I am coming, he will pose to climb the first step. Particularly since he slipped once, now he waits till someone is there for him before climbing.

This weekend I hope to take him out a bit and I hope his cold clears. His nose has been so stuffed lately.

Technorati: Jack, sick baby, 10 month old baby

Running 4 computers is no easy task, especially since I sometimes leave files behind and forget to save them to my thumbdrive or my online backup service.

Remote access is one cool option I'm considering. Gone are the days of Back Orifice and hello to new and more advanced programs like RemotePC - Remote Access which offer secure remote access from any of your computers via the Internet.

You can even share your desktop with 10 users if you so wish (great for collaborative work on a shared computer) which makes a remote meeting easy and definitely paves the way for telecommuting, something I am pushing very hard for for working mothers.

One of the main problems with remote access is slow transfer. RemotePC has eliminated this by avoiding the use of applets and it works safely behind most firewalls and proxy servers. And this I like, the host computer can use a dynamic IP address - so essential for road warriors these days.

Their latency reduction technology also ensures low latency – timely responses from your keyboard and mouse - and you won't even realise you're working remotely (you WoW players will know what I mean).

It's more affordable than most other plans out there and they offer a free trial. Do sign up and try it out. It works on Vista too!

This post was kindly sponsored by RemotePC.

Technorati: technology, remote access, computer, laptop, slow transfer, low latency, RemotePC

My friend Sab sent me this Bunny beanie pattern and reckoned Jack would look so cute in it. :) If only I could knit.

I had spotted a bear outfit and a reindeer one at Mothercare but hesitated to buy them. I might head back to have a look.

Technorati: Jack, bunny suit, knitting

Copyright violations are rampant online. To check if your site or blog has been copied, use Copyscape.

(Source: Blog Plagiarism - Dosh Dosh gets ripped off.)

Technorati: Copyscape, copyright, technology, blog, website