My tips and thoughts about renovation, Part 2

December 27th, 2011 Posted in Just stuff
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Finally i’ve been settled into my new home. It seems endless and still a lot of stuff needed to be done until i can say that it’s completed. Moving on from Part 1 next will be furniture.

Furniture

Choosing our furniture is the most exciting part, i’d say. It determines what kind of style and taste we have. Before shopping for furniture think about what theme you would feel most comfortable in. Look at magazines or books of inspirations. Shop around at furniture stores before deciding. A lot may look good but do you really want that in your house? You need to feel comfortable and a sense of you in it. After all it is your house and you will be seeing it for a long time.

Big pieces to consider 

In my opinion big pieces like the sofa and dining table is something you might want to spend some money on. Most of us spend a lot of time in the living area and a comfy reliable sofa does make a difference. Would you prefer fabric sofa or leather? Of course both will also give you a different feel and atmosphere. Not to say you should jump in and buy a expensive sofa but a price that’s reasonable enough to at least last a good 5 years. Cheaper sofas had cheaper material and life span. Of course material and other stuff that comes with it has it’s limitations.

If you are going for fabric sofas think about seat covers. To make a extra set can be costly Rm 1k and above. It’s high quality material and can last a long time (imported material especially made for sofas)

Leather would be easy maintenance, wipe and clean. For our weather it can be hot and sticky as well.

Size of your dining table, either 5 ft or 6 ft. Look at your dining space and measure it out what is the appropriate size so it’s not too small or too big. Consider pulling out the chairs for space, will there be any other console table or shelves around it. What type of material do you prefer, glass, wood or marble? Think not only fashion but function as well. How often would everyone use the dining table? Dining table can be a multi purpose table as well.

For example, i choose a marble table with rounded edges cause i have kids. I also choose a design that has no 4 table legs instead just one big stand in the middle so that the kids won’t easily bump into it. Marble is also easy to take care and clean. Not easily scratch with kids around also i don’t want a glass table theni don’t have to worry about tapping on the glass. Some things to ask yourself before choosing a dining table.

What type of bed to consider? Bare in mind if you have small kids you might want to consider a king size bed. Before you know it, your bed will become a family bed. Everyone just loves to cuddle together :) Before deciding on the king, do you have the space? You want to have proportions to be even out in the room. After the bed there’s no space to even walk then there’s no point.

Few things to consider, if you want to have a big wardrobe maybe your bed will have to sacrifice or vice versa. So think about items that you would need in the room. What should be a important big item and what can you sacrifice.

Kitchen cabinets

If you need to do a new kitchen or simply remodeling it think about what material would you like. There are lot’s of designs to choose from. From wood, acrylic, laminate, melamine, glossy finish etc all of these choices will give you the type of finish or look you want for your kitchen. If you have a open kitchen bare in mind that it has to go along with your living room (otherwise it will look weird, but not too matchy matchy)

Kitchen accessories do you need it? What is it and do you need it? It’s those that’s inside of your cabinets. Soft close, pull out baskets, dish rack etc. It many seem useless some times but it does come in handy if you are the type that’s always in the kitchen. Pick out cabinets that you frequently use or in a odd place to put the accessory in so it’s easy to maneuver.

Example: i had a pull out basket in one of my odd corner lower cabinets. It’s easier for me to take things instead of squatting and trying to dig things out that’s down in the corner. I had Blum system (soft close) in all my cabinets to prevent my kids from banging their little fingers. I also choose round handles so no one will get poke  (regardless kids or not) These are some of the details to think about before making all the decisions of your kitchen cabinet. Don’t forget to make space if you wish to have a build in oven and don’t forget to let them know the size of your fridge.

What kind of top?

Nice solid surface looks nice and so does the price. There are lot’s to choose from but do know that cheaper material will not work or last as good as the solid ones. Look into your budget and see what you can afford. Can always change the top later on, not much of a hassle.

Will stop here for now, too many details if i continue on. Till next time.

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How to remove sticky residue

November 3rd, 2010 Posted in Just stuff
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At last my Mac is fixed and i can finally blog ^_^

Was trying to find a way to remove the sticky residue on my Mac. You know one of those clear sticky protector. When you want to remove it, it always leave that sticky residue that we just hate. You would want to clean it off before sticking something new or leave it as it is without the residue. So…. i google and try to find ways to remove it. It came up with a few ways which is not very user friendly. One of it was using peanut butter, oh man think of the mess and another sticky oily thing. And there were others using oil, lip balm, WD40, nail enamel and so on. All of it which i don’t think i like the idea. Everything would sort of make my Mac oily, even though i can clean it after but still oil is pretty hard to clean.

Then i remember when i was depotting my eye shadows there was a trick that uses rubbing alcohol (it’s called Spirit here in Asia) to remove the glue from behind. So i peel the corner of the sticker and tried rubbing spirit to the area and the sticky residue came off easily. Leaving it nice and smooth and no oily surface for me to clean after that.

You can buy this at any local drug store. Look for spirit that’s for sanitizing they don’t know what is rubbing alcohol here. I prefer using a cotton so that the sprit will stay longer in the cotton than a tissue. Just peel the sticker off and use the cotton to rub the sticky surface. Done…. smooth like original.

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Laura Mercier Flawless Face Kit, Review

July 20th, 2009 Posted in Make up talk
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My latest splurge for make up as you can see is Laura Mercier flawless face. The kit includes: foundation primer, tinted moisturizer, undercover pot, secret camouflage brush, powder brush, velour puff & sponge. Laura Mercier is very well known for their foundation and that flawless effect without looking cakey or a ton of make up on yr face. Having good skin is important but what if you don’t have good skin? You will need to look like you do :P

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To start off, one of my favourite item from the kit is undercover pot (secret camouflage) On the left hand side is to cover blemishes, red spots or any trouble areas. On the right hand side is a concealer. Twist the pot, underneath is the powder to set the areas. Bear in mind the brushes that comes with the kit is for this item.

I was never a concealer user so this is my first time, same goes for the secret camouflage. After trying it out, i don’t think i can leave the house without using it now hahaha! Apply it after your foundation, just dab it on yr brush and pat it behind your hand so that it’s light and not heavy. Dab it on the area that you want to cover and slowly feather it to blend. Same goes with the concealer. You don’t need to use a lot, just a bit and softly feather it out.

It’s called the secret camouflage for a reason. After you finish your make up , you can see the troubled areas are flawless. If you are one of those like me, with red spots or freckles and some blemishes from time to time, this is the thing you been looking for. I have to say i was very happy with the foundation primer to begin with, but after using the camouflage the primer cannot cover the troubled areas. What’s more to love? Well…. after applying it, it does not look cakey or patchy it looks nicely blended in your foundation on top of that the finish is very natural or as Laura Merceir would say a flawless face.

Of course if you want a flawless face it would not be just the secret camouflage.

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Foundation primer is a base to set your foundation if you don’t know that yet. The importance of the foundation primer is for your make up to last longer (holds foundation and make up for hours & hours), and even out your skin tone. A prep for your foundation.

Tinted moisturizer, don’t get confuse with the name. It’s NOT a moisturizer, it’s a foundation. It’s a medium coverage foundation, and it also have SPF 20. It also hydrates your skin & dry lines. Color stays true and wears evenly leaving a natural glow.  I’ve been using it daily for a couple of weeks now, so far so good. I like the feel, the look and just enough coverage for my everyday look. Leaves me a fresh clean glowing face.

The kit is a good start to try their products. The retail price is at Rm 329. You get a decent size for each item. It will last your for awhile, cause all you need is to use is just a little bit. Remember one thing, when you do your make up make sure your hand movements is light and not heavy and blend everything well. You don’t want to end up a patch of color here and there.

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Before

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1. Primer

2. Tinted foundation

3. Secret camouflage

Have fun!

Until next time…

Rating

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Tips: How to find the nearest Starbucks using Google Maps

March 26th, 2009 Posted in Tips
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Yo!

I’m currently in Singapore and was looking for the nearest Starbucks. Most of you may not realize there’s an easy way to find the nearest Starbucks or any other kinds of locations near you, so I’m just going to share it here.

First, search for your origin destination. In my case, I searched for the hotel I stayed in:

Second, I click on the hotel location, and I click “Get Directions”.

Then I click “From Here”, and I typed Starbucks in the field and press Go.

Tadah! All the Starbucks nearby. As you noticed, (3) is the nearest one. At the left panel, I clicked on the 3rd Starbucks.

And I get the directions to the Starbucks. If I wanted to walk instead of drive, I can also click on “Walking” to find out the walking directions.

Hope this helps!

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“Tit for tat”: A strategy in dealing with difficult friends

October 9th, 2008 Posted in Tips
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During the course of our lives, it is inevitable that we will meet people. Most will end up as acquaintances, some will stay as friends. Out of these friends, some may be difficult to handle, others may be easy. The easy ones are not a problem, they are understanding and you can talk to them about any issues, i.e. if they do things that annoy you, you can bring it up and they would be understanding enough to stop annoying you.

However, almost always you will encounter difficult friends, friends that you want to keep but are difficult to handle. Difficult in the sense that you can’t talk sense into them, and although you try to be nice and understanding to them, the favour is not returned and they annoy you for no reason (or worse, for a reason!) and simply would not stop being annoying.

In this situation, most people do not know what to do. One, you could just stop befriending them. Or two, you could try and tolerate their behaviour. Whatever it is, the above choices may not be the optimal choice; you may not want to lose that friend, and at the same time you may not want to tolerate that sort of (mis)behaviour forever.

If you face such a problem, you may want to consider using “Tit for tat”.

What is “Tit for tat”, you may ask. “Tit for tat” is a highly effective strategy in iterated prisoner’s dilemma. Before you go “Wha-?”, let me explain without getting too much into the technical details.

Prisoner’s dilemma is a problem in game theory. Now, game theory is a branch of applied mathematics which mainly tries to mathematically capture behaviour in strategic situations.  According to Wikipedia:

While initially developed to analyze competitions in which one individual does better at another’s expense (zero sum games), it has been expanded to treat a wide class of interactions, which are classified according to several criteria. Today, “game theory is a sort of umbrella or ‘unified field’ theory for the rational side of social science, where ‘social’ is interpreted broadly, to include human as well as non-human players (computers, animals, plants)” (Aumann 1987).

To put it simply, game theory can be used to analyze complex human behaviour, especially interaction between individuals in different scenarios. Prisoner’s dilemma is one such scenario, which simulates interaction between two mutually exclusive individuals. Mutually exclusive here means that the two individuals make decisions independently of each other, which also mean that they don’t talk to each other. You can see how this relate to your relationship with your “difficult friend”, you both make decisions that affect each other without consulting each other. In other words, you can’t talk or communicate to the “difficult friend”.

Now, iterated prisoner’s dilemma simply means that the interaction between the two individuals are a prolonged process, and not a one-time event, which is similar to your interaction with your “difficult friend”, as your friendship is over a period of time, which may include many iteration of a prisoner’s dilemma event.

Back to “Tit for tat”, it is a highly effective strategy in iterated prisoner’s dilemma. When used over a large number of competitions, it has the highest odds of scoring the highest marks compared to other strategies. It is a simple strategy devised by Anatol Rapoport, containing only 4 lines of BASIC. The strategy is simply to cooperate with the opponent (in our case, the “difficult friend”) in the first round, and after that, do what the opponent does the previous round. If the opponent cooperates (be nice to you), you cooperate in the next round, if the opponent defects (treats u badly), you defect the next round.

Translated into our interaction with the “difficult friend”, according to the strategy, you should always be nice FIRST. After that, if your “difficult friend” are nice, you can be nice back. But if your “difficult friend” is mean, you be mean back. Simple as that.

The strategy may sound a little too simplistic at first, but you shouldn’t take it too literally. Being mean here does not necessarily mean you have to literally be mean to your “difficult friend” and box him in the face. What I interpret here is, we should always be nice to a friend in the beginning to show goodwill, and after that, if they are nice, we can be nice in return. However, if they start to be mean and do not return the goodwill, then you should cease to be nice. You should not be a doormat, and you need to send the message across that you can’t be bullied. As to how to do that, I’ll leave it to you to decide, but I’m sure you get the point.

Note: I do not recommend using this strategy in dealing with your spouse or loved ones. This is simply because it can easily turn into revenge attacks and snowballing resentment, which may cause irreversible damage and implode a relationship so much that it will finally break. This strategy should only be used in scenarios that the two individuals are mutually exclusive, i.e. between you and a difficult friend. For spouses or loved ones, they cannot be considered as mutually exclusive. If you consider your spouse or loved one as mutually exclusive from you, you two may have a bigger problem than our topic at hand, and you may want to consider counselling instead..

Good luck!

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How dancing helped me overcome my shyness

October 6th, 2008 Posted in Tips
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I used to be a shy, correction, I used to be, and still am, a shy person. But back in my teenage years, I was very very shy; to the extent that I couldn’t give a presentation without feeling those tiny muscles above my cheeks twitch, and I would shy away from approaching people and socialize.

It’s difficult, really, for us introverts in this world. Extroverts have it so easy for them, their ability to swash away in public without worry or internal resistance, being able to just speak in public at a moment’s notice, mingle with people whenever they like.

Being shy is like a barrier to advancement and success, the ability to speak and hold yourself well in public is extremely valuable if you want a smooth sailing career and journey to success. Knowing that, I realized that being shy is a barrier to myself, some sort of a glass ceiling that holds me down from achieving more, both in my career and in my life. And it dawned upon me early in my career life, about a few months after I started my first job, that my shyness is holding me back.

I knew something had to be done.

I was thinking of joining Toastmasters, in fact, joining anything at all that can help, when I flipped the newspaper one day and saw an article about salsa dancing. The class was held nearby, about 100m from where I worked, so I decided to just try it out and see how it’s like. You know, maaaaaybe, just maybe, it could help.

What I didn’t realize was my decision that day changed my life forever.

It has been a long journey, learning salsa dancing with no dancing background whatsoever. But looking back, those initial moments of courage when I forced myself (more like being forced by the instructor) to rid itself of fear and shyness and step onto the dance floor, ignoring all the peering eyes, has unknowingly cracked the glass ceiling, the barrier that held me back, bit by bit. Today, there is absolutely no problems for me to step onto the dance floor and ridicule myself, I mean, dance in public.

Whaddaya know, no more shyness!

And this has somehow helped me in countless other ways. It’s easier for me to speak out in meetings, hold a meeting, do a presentation, and numerous other things that once were such monumental tasks for me.

Yup, if you’re shy, and you want to do something about it, take up a dance class. It could be latin, hip hop, salsa, any dance class. You’ll not just learn something new, but you’ll also learn how to be more agile, get some much needed exercise weekly, learn to be less shy, and probably one day be able to break through the shyness barrier of yours that’s holding you back.

Good luck!

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Daily Tips: How to know which choice you really want

October 1st, 2008 Posted in Tips
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Have you ever been trapped in between choices, unable to decide which one you like best? And then after you have made the decision, you suddenly felt that you preferred the other choice better?

Whenever I’m faced with that kind of dilemma, I have a simple trick that I use to find out which one of the choices that I really really want. Simply take out a coin, assign the choices to head or tail, and flip it, covering the result with your palm.

Then listen closely to yourself, in your heart, which of the outcome that you are silently wishing for, head, or tails? Most of the time, you’ll find that you are secretly wishing for a certain outcome to happen, i.e. “please come out heads, please come out heads” – and voila! That’s the choice you really wanted.

Good luck!

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Revenge of the Parasailing guide

September 22nd, 2008 Posted in Travel
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In Phuket, I went for parasailing, and from a supposedly fun activity, it turned out sour, at least for me. Don’t worry, I’m all fine, all healthy and unhurt, but the experience leaves a sour taste in the mouth, and I’ll tell you why.

We walked down the beach to find the best rate for parasailing, which was going for about 1000 Baht per person. We managed to find out that is willing to give us a rate of 800 Baht per person (there were 3 of us), with a guide that will follow us up and take care of us, so we said okay.

Our friend were supposed to go first, but seeing her freaking out, I volunteered to go first. They strapped the gear on me, and I had to stand and wait while they get the boat ready. The guide, not the same one that agreed on the price with us, came over to me and said, I will take care of you, 100 Baht. Of course, on principle, this wasn’t what I agreed on in the first place, and I said, this is not what I agreed on.

This is another sly tactic of a con, getting you to agree to the base price, and after getting you ready and all, telling you there’s extra charges, normally a small percentage of the base price. It usually works, because people will not want to go through the hassle and reverse the decision that they made. Apparently, I read in some research before that overturning a decision is much more difficult than making the decision itself. So if it’s just a small thing, i.e. a small percentage on top of the base price, people would usually agree, grudgingly or not.

But of course, when such tactics are used on me, it doesn’t usually work, at least not so easily. I said, we agreed on 800 Baht, and that includes a guide who will take care of us, and he said, no, that’s not the same. I said, if that’s not the same I’m not gonna do it. He then said, okay, okay, it’s the same.

I had a bad feeling then. The feeling that I get is the same feeling that you will get when you suspect your waiter would spit in your food. I had a split second to decide whether I should go ahead, but since we’re already there, I’m all strapped and ready, I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and go ahead.

It was a bad decision.

It all went fine when we went out, and I had a great view of the beach, and I kinda enjoyed it, save for the paranoid me who noticed that the string that linked me to the boat are kinda worn out. However, when I was coming down, he shouted for me to run, and as I tried to run in the air, my feet hit the ground with such force that I felt extreme pain shooting from my feet up and fell backfirst. I couldn’t get up for about a minute, with my feet and ankles in extreme pain. When I tried to stand, it hurt, so I lied down for a while more until the pain goes away.

To me, it felt like the guide wanted to teach me a lesson for not wanting to give him the additional 100 Baht. I worry for both the girls that would go up, and I complained to the person who seemed to be the leader of the group, and asked him to tell the guide to take care of the girls. You don’t take care of me, that’s fine, but take care of the girls.

To my relief, the girls got a painless landing. The guide would swing himself down and run first, before letting the girls down.

Thinking back, I either should’ve just said “okay”, or “if you really take care of me, maybe”. At least I can argue about what we agreed on earlier after he has done what he should’ve done and took care of me. I probably shouldn’t piss these people off before they actually perform the service, similar to how I should treat waiters if I don’t want them to spit in my food. These people aren’t professionals, they’re just people waiting to extract as much cash from the tourists as possible. No point giving them the benefit of the doubt.

At the end of the whole thing, one of them has the cheek to even ask for tip. No sir, no can do. Not while I limp back to the hotel.

Lesson learned, and watch out! Be savvier than me, and don’t repeat the mistakes I did.

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Daily Tips: Do not try out the trial contact lenses when purchasing

September 7th, 2008 Posted in Tips
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I am a paranoid man, for good reasons. I don’t believe in unnecessarily risking your health, and possibly life. We are all exposed to enough risk already:

  • Possible accidents on the road when driving or even when travelling in public transports due to own fault or other people’s fault.
  • Natural disasters.
  • Health related risks.
  • Fire at home or other home related risks.

However, it’s not the end of the world.

Paranoid people like me learns to deal with such risks by accepting the fact that such risks exist, and manoeuvre through their lives minimizing existing risks as much as they can without too much impact on living normally. People that fail to deal with this ends up isolating themselves from society, and a good example is Howard Hughes, whose story inspires the movie “The Aviator“.

Having said all that, the point of this daily tip is to advise people not to try out the trial contact lenses when purchasing it. Most of the optical giants has stopped distributing trial packs for hygiene purposes, but some of the smaller ones still do.

Unlike the hospitals and clinics, the optical shops are not tightly controlled with strict procedures that ensures the well being of people and minimizing the spread of communicable diseases. They do not wear gloves, and they do not have strict procedures that ensures that the trial packs that they use are properly sterilized when it is tested from one customer to another.

Although the risks are small, it doesn’t mean it does not exist. Contact lenses, when not sterilized and disinfected properly, can be vectors for communicable diseases. It’s okay when it’s a treatable one, like eye infections, but what if it’s an untreatable one? Who’s at fault here?

So please beware, and don’t expose yourself to unnecessary risks.

References:

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Problem Solving Tips: Sometimes the brute way is the best way

September 2nd, 2008 Posted in Tips
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I’m sure all of us have to solve problems all the time in our respective jobs. In my line of work, I have to deal with old and new problems all day, since my job scope includes supporting not just IBM software, but our own software as well.

The problems would come streaming in non stop that I have stopped hoping it would stop one day, and just deal with it. And if there is one lesson I can share with all of you about problem solving, it’s this- sometimes the brute way, although not elegant, is the best way to solve it.

There has been countless times that I have spent not just hours, not just days, but weeks trying to solve a problem, and when I finally solved it, I would look back and realize that if I had just manually done it instead, it would’ve taken less time.

In one example, there was a problem loading a bunch of data and content into the repository database. It took me roughly 5 weeks to figure out what was wrong with the repository software, some bug that required a fixpack in order for the data loading to work programmatically. Looking back, if I had just gotten someone to manually load the data, it would probably finish in 3 days.

Gah.

And just a while ago I was helping a friend import her WordPress blog to a self hosted location, and there was one post that wouldn’t show up in the new blog. I tried exporting the XML from the old blog, and reimport it, but to no avail. I finally solved the problem by, get this..

copy and paste the whole article and its comments manually.

Yup, it may be more elegant to solve the XML problem, but I guess just by copying and pasting, it would take much less time than trying to figure out what was wrong with the XML. The copy and paste, and editing the comments’ timestamp took a total of less than 5 mins. Who knows how long it would take if I had tried to solve the problem elegantly instead?

Nowadays, when faced with something that may take more than a few hours to fix, instead of diving right down and clicking away, I would sit back and think, is there any better way to solve this? I would take into consideration both elegant and non elegant methods, and yes, I wouldn’t even discount manually performing the tasks if I had to. And I have to say, this has helped big time in my work. And I hope by sharing this, it would help you too.

Good luck!

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