Blessed Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

Wishing every readers and friends a blessed Christmas and Happy Holidays.

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My Life So Far

It's been more than a month since I last update this blog as I do not feel the mood to blog here. I do post some updates on other blogs namely Advantages of Using Credit Cards and inspiring story on Financial Bailout in Money Master blog.

It has been a slow month in November, it is either work or just surf net at home. Somehow, over this whole month, I feel kind of lethargic all the time and sleepy - although I need to admit that sometimes I sleep quite late, maybe later than 1.00 in the midnight. Then I also fell sick the last week of November, and in fact now still having cough.


Well, last weekends, my siblings and I went out for two movies in a row, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1 and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 3D.

Holiday seasons are coming and we are all in Christmas mood. Finished decorating the house Christmas tree with some new deco and the light just hours ago and now watching Indy Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull as I'm blogging this post.

Think I gotta go already. Will post some pictures on the Christmas setup and some stuff that I got over the past few weeks.

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Protecting Family and Yourself With Life Insurance

It is important to cover ourselves and protect the our family member with a good Term Life Insurance that has sufficient coverage so that if anything gone bad to us, there is still some money left for them to use. This is especially true to the sole breadwinner of the family as the claim from insurance can be use to support the family while they are gone.

There are few things that we need to consider when we Buy Life Insurance. One of the most important things that we need to consider before taking up the insurance premium is the premium price and the coverage that we are going to get from the insurance company. A rule of thumb is that the premium price that we are going to pay annually should not end up becoming our burden in our financial goals making it looks as if we are over insured.

There are some problems with buying life term insurance that is time consuming. These are like filling out medical questionnaires and getting the life insurance medical exams from a list specified panel doctors.


However NoMedExamLifeInsurance.com offers one term life insurance - without the need of going to medical examination and without the endless paperwork! It is one of the first companies in America licensed to sell Life Insurance No Exam and it does not matter where in the country you live, it can quote your life insurance for FREE within a matter of minutes.

One will just answer a few short, simple questions, then click GET A FREE QUOTE and voila, you will get the free quote of the life insurance and if you are happy with your free quote then you can purchase your policy right here online and even print it out. Questions shall redirect to the licensed agent by calling 1-800-939-0710 toll free number.

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Do You Believe in Horoscope?

Do you believe in horoscope? I am not sure whether I will want to believe but surprisingly some of the statements are quite true. Below are the quote of statement from a website that I have been following just for fun:-

"You have made a new friend. You might have met this guy or woman in the subway or on a park bench or at a major diplomatic convention in Washington. He or she will become influential in your thinking life. Someone who can assist you in decision-making. An eminence grise - a smart chum who helps you with some of your heaviest thinking. In many ways, this Tiger year has put a huge burden on you. You have spent entire weeks worrying about others, helping them out of scrapes and bailing them out of their own messes. With this new friend, you will do a great deal of venting. Lucky for you, this new friend will clarify some of the more complex issues you have been grappling with. This person's clarity of thinking serves you well because he or she simply doesn't think the same way you do. Keep this person on board in your life. Telephone them often. If they live far away you can always email them once or twice a week. Don't worry, in your own way, you are helping this person too. From now until the clement Cat/Rabbit year which begins on February 2, 2011 you will be in planning mode. There are of course holidays coming up. As you love to receive guests and cook for the whole world, feasts will be at the center of your planning schemes. You will shop and make lists and prepare gifts and meals for family and friends galore. Peripherally, you will be making different plans. You have devoted much time to a family member or a close friend over the past year. Time you spent because you felt duty bound to do so. In so doing you neglected the most crucial person of all - yourself. Instead of thinking about how next year will pan out, you have dedicated yourself to the welfare of someone else. You have known for quite awhile that you wanted out of this situation. Take your need for independence to your new friend for some clear-headed advice on how to wriggle out of the current circumstance gracefully and with dignity."


First few statement regarding a person I met in Washington, how on Earth would the writer know I've been to Washington State?

Then the writer talk about the huge burden in the Tiger year and spend weeks helping someone to clear his or her mess. Well...another statement that really applies to me.

And next, planning mood. Again hitting the bulls eye. I have been planning for some of the stuff, like next year's budget, some of the upcoming events and holidays. It makes the holidays statement correct as well. But then again, we can always argue that December is always a holiday month and people plans a lot during this period of time.

Then, devoting time to family. Again this is quite true. Lazy to elaborate further, though.


So, after reading all the coincidence, if you ask me whether I believe in horoscope or not, I still have doubt with all these craps, but still a good read though.

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Some of the things that happened to me in October 2010

While I could not think of what to blog here, I would like to update a bit on what's happening around me over the last month, so I simply come out with a blog post title "Some of the Things That Happened to Me In October 2010" as my last post in this blog was on the September 21st.

Well, over the last whole month of October, I did blog, but only in the Money Master blog on What Does the Malaysia 2011 Budget Has In Store For Us? and on Malaysia Budget for the Year 2011: Transformation Towards a Developed and High-Income Nation. Kind of busy with stuff like that, I did not come into updating this blog and update much on other blogs as well.

Some of the happenings include received my free Ipod Shuffle from Standard Chartered bank, as well as getting the HSBC credit card after about two months of waiting and hassle with the HSBC customer service. Bad experience from them, I must say, which somehow now relegate the HSBC credit card to become the spare credit card. Anyway, will post about this free Ipod Shuffle next post in this blog as well as blog a bit about the benefit of using the credit card in my Money Master blog.

Signing off for now :D

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Life as a Parent

Life as a parent is full of challenges be it in the form of finance or parental responsibility because babies can be full of surprises when it comes to meeting their demand. Babies will suddenly cry if it is awake in the middle of the night thus one of the way to make them comfortable when they are taking a nap is by using baby bouncer, which is getting more affordable nowadays.

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Stats for Blogger by Google

It's been quite some time that I log on to my Blogger account to blog. To my surprise, I find there is new function of the Blogger. It is the Stats. At least, I do hope it is something new, as I seriously remembered that I never saw that function in the Dashboard before all the years I have been using Blogger as my blogging platform.

Well, what does this actually mean and why it seems so significant that I want to blog about it? Currently, I relies on third party websites or applications or widgets to get the stats on all my blogs. Then I also depends on Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools to further understand the traffic pattern of my blog.


Well, with this stats, I can actually login to my Blogger account almost every day to check on the traffic trends instead of having to login to multiple websites just to get this information.

It is not a problem actually to login to multiple websites, but currently I am using Maxis Broadband which have the data capped and the service by this Maxis broadband is only good at certain area, and most of the time bad. In fact, just within my house here in Kulim, the connection would be good inside my room, but in the living hall, it switches between GPRS and HSDPA almost all the time which makes my connection not very stable.

Blogging can be more fun with all the statistic as we can see that whether people are really accepting what we blog and like the post. With statistic, we can have continuous improvement on what we blog and how we have our blogs designed.

Guess, I've blogged enough of today. Thinking of blogging on the Internet services that I am using tomorrow on my Connect With Mobility blog.

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Paraprosdokian

Today I got an email and I feels that the content is very good for sharing over here. It is about Paraprosdokian.


A paraprosdokian (from Greek "παρα-", meaning "beyond" and "προσδοκία", meaning "expectation") is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax. For this reason, it is extremely popular among comedians and satirists. Some paraprosdokians not only change the meaning of an early phrase, but also play on the double meaning of a particular word, creating a syllepsis.




Ø I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

Ø Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Ø I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.

Ø Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

Ø The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.

Ø Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

Ø If I agreed with you we'd both be wrong.

Ø We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

Ø War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

Ø Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Ø The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

Ø Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening', and then proceed to tell you why it isn't.

Ø To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

Ø A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

Ø How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

Ø Some people are like Slinkies ... not really good for anything, but you can't help smiling when you see one tumble down the stairs.

Ø Dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish.

Ø I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted pay checks.

Ø A bank is a place that will lend you money, if you can prove that you don't need it.

Ø Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says "If an emergency, notify:" I put "DOCTOR".

Ø I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

Ø I saw a woman wearing a sweat shirt with "Guess" on it...so I said "Implants?"

Ø Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Ø Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

Ø Why do Americans choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America ?

Ø Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

Ø A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

Ø You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

Ø The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!

Ø Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back.

Ø A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will look forward to the trip.

Ø Hospitality: making your guests feel like they're at home, even if you wish they were.

Ø Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

Ø I discovered I scream the same way whether I'm about to be devoured by a great white shark or if a piece of seaweed touches my foot.

Ø Some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go.

Ø There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.

Ø I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure.

Ø I always take life with a grain of salt, plus a slice of lemon, and a shot of tequila.

Ø When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.

Ø You're never too old to learn something stupid.

Ø To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

Ø Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

Ø Some people hear voices. Some see invisible people. Others have no imagination whatsoever.

Ø A bus is a vehicle that runs twice as fast when you are after it as when you are in it.

Ø If you are supposed to learn from your mistakes, why do some people have more than one child?

Ø Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

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Blogging Again

After more than a month not posting anything new in this blog, guess it is the right time to post some updates rather than leaving the blog to idle.

Well, recent days, I was quite busy with my work that sometimes I don't feel like wanting to blog, although I do share some interesting articles like The "Middle Income" Trap and How Rich is Rich in my Money Master blog.




Other updates include learning how to use Wordpress. I got a blog account setup in Wordpress at http://jasontoh.wordpress.com/. However, I still haven't really get the gist on how to use Wordpress, as I just so used to the Blogger layout and everything that is in Blogger compare to Wordpress.

Anyway, I intended to maybe switch this blog to Wordpress after I know how to use it because Wordpress has a lot of customization, although Blogger is catching up soon. One thing that I don't really like Blogger is that it does not have category and only has label to do that where as Wordpress has tags and categories which means blogger can blog a lot more different topics in one blog vs multiple blog in Blogger.

Well, guess enough of updates. Wanna go watch TV now. Will update more next round.

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Cannot Upload Photos

Actually I want to upload some of the photos that I took when I was in Vegas, but the Internet connection here is so slow that it took forever to upload 4 pictures and sometimes it failed to do so. I'm not sure this is because of the Blogger or Streamyx.

It seems like sometimes Blogger by Google are having timeout, again not sure this is related to Streamyx because even when I am using the Internet from the United States, I'm having the same problem.


Nevertheless, I hope that I manage to upload the photos as soon as possible so that I can blog about it.

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Vegas Trip

This post continue from My Visit to Dupont - 4th of July Weekends


One of the place I travel outside the Washington State is Las Vegas Strip, the location of many of the largest hotel, casino and resort properties in the world. In fact, when one travel to the United States, one should not really missed out the opportunity to have a weekends trip to Las Vegas.


Well, I went to Las Vegas on the 17th of July evening. Bryan and I had our dinner at Anthony's in the SEA-TAC airport before boarding for our late evening flight to Vegas.







After we reached Vegas, we took shuttle to the car rental area and get our rental car and set the GPS to the Luxor and this is where we stay.







Luxor indeed a cool and unique hotel because of its pyramid shape and the room is with decent size. Another cool thing about Luxor is that it is connected to Excalibur and Mandalay Bay, so if you happen to reach Excalibur or Mandalay Bay accidentally, don't be surprise.





Vegas is famous for its casinos and besides casinos, there are actually many shows that are available and these shows are not cheap as well. Besides that, the buffet in Vegas is really worth it because people will be spoil with the limitless choices of food.

Anyway, here are some of the photos that I took in Vegas. Will upload everything to my Facebook profile when I have the free time to do so.

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My Visit to Dupont - 4th of July Weekends

This post actually continue from My Visit to Dupont - Gearing up for the 4th of July

It has been 10 days since the July 4th. Well, I did not get to blog on the 4th of July weekends in the US over the weekend as I was on my personal trip to Las Vegas.

Nevertheless, 4th of July week is great. First of all, since it is ID4, there are sales all over the place and shopping can be fun whenever there is sales because everything will seems so affordable and for those who cannot control the temptation of buying stuff, it is better to go out without the credit card.

Centralia Outlets

I went to the Centralia Outlet to get some stuff on the eve of the 4th. Centralia Outlets is kind of cool because the I5 freeway is in between the outlet and some shops are located at the East of the freeway while most of the shops are at the West of the freeway. If someone is planning to go buy Nike and Coach, going to this outlet is a bad idea because the two shops are located at opposite direction and you have to either drive or walk to the other side of the outlet. Nevertheless, there are more choices of food that you can actually get from here compare to the Factory Outlet at North Bend. The whole shopping thing also took the whole day.



Next day in the morning, I drive around my hotel area and went to the Sunnyside Beach at the town of Steilacoom, but the crowd there is crazy. There are just too many people and cars until I can't even find a place to park.

Setting up the GPS to navigate me around

Some random shot I took when I was driving. We see more trees in the States than in Malaysia

Some random shots around Sunnyside Beach area

Sunnyside Beach at Steilacoom

Housing area near DuPont

Some random shots

It seems like there is a parade in the morning, though I don't realized that

Limo

Then in the afternoon, Bryan and I went to the Port of Orchard which is about 30 to 40 minutes drive from DuPont. The place is kind of cool actually and we went there to see the fireworks on a boat owned by the family of his friend. It was a freezing night actually and to see the fireworks outdoor is really no brainer - in fact, I could not even capture a decent shot of the fireworks mainly because of the camera and my hands are shaking furiously due to the weather, but I enjoyed every moment there with his friends.

Port of Orchard Yacht Club entrance

Boathouses

Walking towards the boat

Cabin space of the boat has almost everything from TV to fridge

Some random shots I was taking when my hands are shaking like crazy

If my hands were not shaking that bad, I would have get a decent shot of the fireworks

Well, guess I have to stop here since it is about time for me to go bed. Will blog about Vegas next time.

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My Visit to Dupont - Gearing up for the 4th of July

This post actually continue from My Visit to Dupont - Visit to the Museum of Flight.

Well the day after my visit to the Museum of Flight, I went shopping at the Factory Outlet at North Bend. I woke up pretty late that morning, if I remember correctly it was already about 10 a.m., so I quickly grab my breakfast and search for the GPS inside the car to get the direction from the hotel to the Factory Outlet at North Bend. Man, I have to drive like more than an hour to reach there.

Factory Outlet at North Bend

But, one thing that really blows me off is to see how big the whole outlet area. The whole area was like the housing area back in Malaysia. Yes, you still can walk from one end to the other, but it will still be very tiring especially if you are the kind of people like me who don't have the sense of direction.


All outlets have own shop and there are just too many branded goods that one can really imagine. The price for most products are really cheap compare to that we can get in Malaysia or even the shopping malls in the United States.

The first outlet I went is the Nike Factory Store. In fact, my car was park right besides the Nike Factory Store. I bought few clothes, a pair of shoes and a watch.

Nike Factory Store - where my car was parked right beside it

I also been to the Coach outlet which happens to be not very far from Nike, but spend most of my time browsing through the handbags and wallets and wondering why girls love Coach.

Next outlet where I spend my money is the Gap outlet where I bought clothes, khakis as well as new blazer and a pair of sunglasses. I also went to other outlets to buy new pair of sandals (as I did not bring along).


Man, I spend close to USD400 just shopping around the outlets, this not including my lunch and dinner and some tea break. Nevertheless, the shopping experience was fun and the things that I bought seems to value for money :p

Sawdust - here is where I get my cup of espresso of the day

Mongolian Grill

During one of the weekdays, I went window shopping at the Tacoma Mall, where I find the things over there are crazily expensive compare to the Factory Outlet. I'm not joking here. There are few things that I got at the Factory Outlet that I saw in Tacoma Mall and it is still like two to three times more expensive after their "discount". Too bad I did not bring my camera along as I went there straight after working hour because most of the malls in the area close at 9 p.m. I even have my dinner there - Japanese cuisine and it cost me a bomb. So, the lesson here is never to eat Japanese food in the United States. Don't get too distracted by the pretty waitress until forgot that you still need to pay after you eat + the tips.




It seems to me that everyone is gearing up for the 4th of July, in fact there are people selling fireworks and starting to fire the fireworks. Even as I was blogging this post, I can hear people firing fireworks. Well, it is not surprising as the citizen of the United States will be celebrating ID4 tomorrow.

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My Visit to Dupont - Visit to The Museum of Flight

This post actually continue from My Visit to Dupont - Part 1

Yesterday, I stopped blogging right before the outings in The Museum of Flight as I was a bit tired, plus the Death Race was showing.

Anyway, back to the outings, we started out from my hotel at about 11ish in the morning. First thing that we do is to stop by at the Bikini Baristas to get our cup of coffee of the day, while having a nice view of barista in bikini making our cup of coffee. Too bad, I did not manage to snap the pictures of the barista making coffee, but my plan is to go there some other day after work to grab a cup of coffee instead of having it from Starbucks, since we have Starbucks in Intel everyday and Malaysia also have Starbucks.

Bikini Baristas

Then we head to The Museum of Flight where we get to see a lot of airplanes and the information of each plane and some other cool stuff like Space shuttles, rockets etc. Here, we also get to visit the Red Barn - the workshop where Bill Boeing built his first airplane. Both of us also try out the cockpit of the Mach 3 Blackbird spyplane.

The Museum of Flight

Bryan is trying out the cockpit of the Mach 3 Blackbird spyplane

Red Barn

The coolest thing about the visit to The Museum of Flight is we get to go aboard the original jet Air Force One which is on loan from the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The Flying Oval Office is actually the Boeing VC-137B (707-120/SAM 970). SAM 970 has carried presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon as well as VIPs such as Nikita Khrushchev and Henry Kissinger. It would be nice actually traveling inside such a luxurious jet. Not only that, we also get to go aboard on the one of the supersonic Concorde which is donated by the British Airways. There are only twenty Concordes ever built.

Inside the Air Force One

This is where Mr. President had his conference

The cockpit of the Concorde

We called it a day after having a nice dinner in Red Lobster.

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