Jane Austen's Book Club

I was feeling extremely bored and felt like watching tv but unfortunately, there was nothing good on tv. I was kinda regretting my decision to delay cable tv. Then I recalled I have this DVD that I was not particularly keen to watch because a few years back I had read the book and had to really force myself to finish it because I had this policy of not leaving a book left unfinished.

Anyway, ofcourse the way it went was, I put the DVD on and was totally pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the movie. Totally! The casts were stellar. The script was good. The presentation was even better. The result: Totally! I couldn't say I remember all the Jane Austen's books (which I read like a decade ago), but truly, what ppl want then (even when Jane Austen wrote those books) and what ppl want now, stays pretty much the same.

There's the couple who has been together for 20 odd years on the verge of divorce due to the man cheating. His story was that 20 odd years is a long time of marriage and the relationship between the two of them is stale and unexciting. He's been seeing a woman at work for the past 6 months and he's not giving her up, that's non-negotiable.

Then, there's the gay daughter who was into extreme sports. And fell in love easily. Too easily according to the mom. She was in a relationship with a gal who always wanted her to tell her life's secrets and stories. One day, she discovered that the gal has been using her stories as material for her writings (the gal was trying to get published).

The next character is the good friend, who was single and was the one that introduced the couple way back in high school.

Then there's the cute guy (didn't harm that he's rich and smart too), who just bumped into the good friend and was so captivated he joined the book club reading Jane Austen's books so that he would have occassion to meet her.

Next, is the french teacher who had never been to France. Who happened to be married but found herself attracted to one of her students.

We also have the quirky, eccentric friend who had gone through a few marriages and looking for another one.

That was a good approx. 1.5 hrs.

Domestic Dangers

I've been doing a lot of cleaning and cleaning and more to come. In my efforts to get everything spic and span, I've been using different kinds of chemical. Being a person who is into chemistry, I've been worried of adverse effects, short and long term. I typically do this in the beginning of all my projects, work or non-work. Gathering info and trying to absorb all that in.

Anyway, check out this link which I find useful, both for work and non-work:

Guide for Handling Household Chemicals (EnvironmentalChemistry.com) - Things you can do to make your home safer.

More Kitchen stuff

Short work on my cooker hood. Found out that I have a Zanussi ZH6020. And that I needed new grease filter and charcoal filter. Managed to find grease filter in Sunshine. Still have to look for the charcoal filter. The previous owner, G, told me that she bought it from the electrical store next to Sunshine.

Newest addition to the kitchen

Found these wooden contraptions, one for the kitchen towel and one for the mugs, both for 14.90!

Yay! I'm happy for my kitchen...

Fourth Weekend...

Since I officially moved in on the 31st of August, this is my fourth weekend at my new place. I still feel the novelty. Still trying to settle to some kind of habit and getting used to having so much space. And ofcourse, still unpacking!

On saturday, I was 'forced' to pick up the speed because I needed a dress for a wedding dinner that I was attending that night. I had unpacked a few bags and strewn the clothing articles from the bags all around the room and living room space - so that I could see all that I have and decide where each article would go and which one would need to be re-wash. Anyway, between resting and putting away the clothes, I only managed to finish those few bags Sunday afternoon!

As I was hanging up the clothes in the wardrobe, I was struck by the number of clothes I have that were from my previous job - my first real job out of grad school. Clothes that I most certainly would not be wearing for my current job. Anyway, it felt like when I changed job, I had changed my life and entered into a new phase of life. I'm not sure if I would ever wear those clothes again. I'm not sure if this is what I would do for the rest of my working life.

But hanging up those clothes in my own built-in wardrobe, I feel like this is another phase of life. I'm excited about this, still is after four weeks. Just like my job still excites me, going on to two years now. (ofcourse it would excite me more if there is a good increment this year!)

All that and I still two luggages left to unpack. Not sure what kind of thoughts will come to me when I get to them.

My Broadband

It has been 2 weeks since I installed my streamyx package. Although I was doubtful and hesitant in the beginning (and there were some problems in the first 5 days), I am happy to say that I love both the broadband and the phone line that I now have.

Goody!

The Miracle of Pull Tab

This morning, as I was preparing my morning cuppa tea and mixing in the creamer, I noticed that I was almost out of creamer. I knew that I had earlier on stocked two additional cans since my mom said that the price on that shopping day was really good. The next thing that occurred to me was, d0 I have a can opener? If I don't, I will have to go get one or today will be my last day with my fav milk tea in the morning. And if I do, is it the type that has the twisting mechanism or the one that required brute strength to push and pull?

You might wonder, why I asked these questions - because didn't I know what utilities and utensils I bought for my own kitchen? The truth of the matter is, my parents stocked up my utilities and utensils. About the only things I bought recently for the kitchen are kitchen towels and a drawer organiser to put those utensils. Apparently, over the years, I have had the habit of bringing things which I felt was nice or which I received through points or coupon exchanges or even through lucky draws, back to my parents' place with the intention of giving them those items since I didn't have much space previously to house all of them. My mom has been keeping all those stuff and now filling up space in my house with those things. Along with new items she bought which she felt I would need.

Back to my creamer issue, so, I opened up the drawers looking for a can opener and I was surprised to find out that I did not have one. I wondered how the creamer that I have now was opened. Then it struck me, on that particular shopping day, my mom specifically told me that she chose this particular brand and type because of the pull-tab!

I don't need a can opener for my creamer. I can still have my morning cuppa tomorrow...

Share market fell world wide

I heard the news last night abt the giant insurance company requiring bail-out, but I didn't expect the hit to be larger than just that company. It seems like the world economy is on the verge of collapse. Hopefully, I'm just mouthing nonsense & exxaggerratting, since I don't exactly understand what is happening anyway. I was browsing thestar.com.my earlier, more news on that the global financial woes and a caption caught my eye.

Something on Toshiba, but I just can't remember what it's all about. Which brought me to think about my newly purchased Toshiba washing machine. and which led to the thoughts, " should I have waited to buy? could the price go down?". Then, that led to the thoughts, "oh no! will the interest rates rise????". And that, goes straight to panic! No! No! No! No! No!

I console myself... Well, now that the US government has bailed out that company, and having that incident as an example, the relevant ppl in the financial world would be more cautious and have contingencies set up to prevent that from happening to their companies, so, the situation on the whole will be improving from now... No more inflation. No interest hike. Hopefully. For all new home owners, who have a loan to service...

One day you're gonna wake up and you're not gonna recognize yourself...

That's just a phrase I heard while watching an episode of Sex and the City with my new DVD player.

My first reaction to the phrase was, Scary! But then...

Not recognizing yourself, could be twofold. It may be good if you're so much better than you ever thought you could be, hence, you couldn't recognize yourself. Or vice versa. So, if it's the case of the former, it's a big YAY! So, here's hoping that all of us will be just that.

My First DVD session

True to being me, I could not even switch on the DVD player. After that first battle and the player was finally on, I could not get the player to play. That's because I forgot that the remote control needed batteries! Which I have, they were just in the drawer and not in the remote control. My only excuse is, I've never had to do that (put batteries into RCs). Previously, at my parents' or brother's home, I just take the RCs, press buttons and voila, they do their work.

Luckily, I was not alone for my maiden experience of operating a DVD player. Got plenty of help, obviously! Thanks Jon! For that and the DVDs!

After that, the first show being played was the Nanny's Diary which turned out to be hilarious and fun and a good pick!

Another two items settled

Water Heater : The Joven service guy came to look over the old storage heater system and concluded that there must be some kind of leakage for the previous owner to dismantle the system. He recommended a new instant water heater system instead of repairs since the repair would be very costly. Based on my parents' and cousin's inputs and a few other ppl I talked to, I bought a Panasonic one.

Washing Machine: I finally told the repair guy to forget about the dryer. That saved RM470 of my money that I wasn't planning on spending and a few hundreds more of money I was planning on spending on a washing machine if I had to buy a front-load machine. Instead, I decided on a Toshiba top-load machine for less than 1K. Yeah, after looking at all the washing machines in the shop, I still have more confidence in a Toshiba.

And since I was at the electrical shop, I also bought a rice cooker. For all that, I was given a big pot (atleast the biggest I've got so far) for free.

Both to be installed on Wednesday. Hopefully, that would be smooth.

Another domestic weekend...

Saturday and Sunday are again fully utilized for house related business. I've finally moved all my stuff from my old place to my new place. I just realized that my mom is super efficient when it comes to dismantling and packing up jumbled stuff! Thankfully for her efficiency coz when I looked at pieces of things I own, I really didn't know how to start packing things up.

At my current place, I have bags and bags of stuff in my living and bed rooms, waiting for me to unpack. Which I am doing, slowly... in between playing Word Challenge on Facebook (since I finally have my broadband connection) - all important. I've been losing out since not having regular connection...

Another much appreciated gift...

Came in the form of a DVD player. Given by the representative or maybe the leader of the DVD 'cops', and an all-around close friend of mine. It also came with installation services! That is also much appreciated since I feel I'm all hands and legs when it comes to installations.

Cheers to good friends! who give thoughful gifts!

Next, to try out the player...

What my birthday means...

Birthday Calculator
12 February 1973
Your date of conception was on or about 22 May 1972 which was a Monday.
You were born on a Monday under the astrological sign Aquarius.
Your Life path number is 7.
Your fortune cookie reads: A friend is a present you give yourself.

Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 5 & 7.
You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 4 & 22.
You may or may not get along well with those with the Life Path number 9.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 3, 6, 8 & 11.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2441725.5.
The golden number for 1973 is 17.
The epact number for 1973 is 25.
The year 1973 was not a leap year.
Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/3/1973 and ending 1/22/1974.
You were born in the Chinese year of the Ox.
Your Native American Zodiac sign is Otter; your plant is Fern.
You were born in the Egyptian month of Parmuthy, the fourth month of the season of Poret (Emergence - Fertile soil).
Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 11 AdarI 5733.
Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 12 AdarI 5733.
The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.17.19.10.1 which is12 baktun 17 katun 19 tun 10 uinal 1 kin
The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Monday, 9 Muharram 1393 (1393-1-9).
The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 22 April 1973.
The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 29 April 1973.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 7 March 1973.The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 10 June 1973.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 17 June 1973.
The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Thursday, 27 September 1973.
The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Tuesday, 17 April 1973.
The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 6 March 1973.

As of 9/10/2008 10:30:48 PM EDT
You are 35 years old. You are 427 months old. You are 1,856 weeks old. You are 12,994 days old. You are 311,878 hours old. You are 18,712,710 minutes old. You are 1,122,762,648 seconds old.

Celebrities who share your birthday:
Christina Ricci (1980)
Naseem Hamed (1974)
Arsenio Hall (1955)
Joanna Kerns (1953)
Steve Hackett (1950)
Ray Manzarek (1939)
Judy Blume (1938)
Bill Russell (1934)
Joe Garagiola (1926)
Franco Zeffirelli (1923)
Dom DiMaggio (1917)
Lorne Greene (1915)
Ted Mack (1904)
Charles Darwin (1809)
Abraham Lincoln (1809)

Top songs of 1973
Killing Me Softly with His Song by Roberta Flack
Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree by Dawn
My Love by Paul McCartney & Wings
You're So Vain by Carly Simon
Crocodile Rock by Elton John
Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye
Keep On Truckin' by Eddie Kendricks
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown by Jim Croce
Top of the World by Carpenters
Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight & the Pips

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 5.08571428571429 years old. (You're still chasing cats!)
Your lucky day is Saturday.
Your lucky number is 4 & 8.
Your ruling planet(s) is Saturn & Uranus.
Your lucky dates are 1st, 10th, 19th, 28th.
Your opposition sign is Leo.
Your opposition number(s) is 1.

Today is not one of your lucky days!

There are 155 days till your next birthday on which your cake will have 36 candles.
Those 36 candles produce 36 BTUs,or 9,072 calories of heat (that's only 9.0720 food Calories!) .
You can boil 4.11 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1973 there were approximately 3.7 million births in the US.
In 1973 the US population was approximately 203,302,031 people, 57.4 persons per square mile.
In 1973 in the US there were approximately 2,158,802 marriages (10.6%) and 708,000 divorces (3.5%)
In 1973 in the US there were approximately 1,921,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000)In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.
In 1973 the population of Australia was approximately 13,614,344.
In 1973 there were approximately 247,670 births in Australia.
In 1973 in Australia there were approximately 112,700 marriages and 16,195 divorces.
In 1973 in Australia there were approximately 110,822 deaths.

Your birthstone is Amethyst -->The Mystical properties of Amethyst
Amethyst is used to increase spiritually

Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)
Bloodstone, Onyx, Moonstone

Your birth tree is
Cedar, the Confidence
Of rare beauty, knows how to adapt, likes luxury, of good health not in the least shy, tends to look down on others, self-confident, determined, impatient, wants to impress others, many talents, industrious, healthy, optimism, waiting for the one true love, able to make quick decisions.

There are 106 days till Christmas 2008!
There are 119 days till Orthodox Christmas!
The moon's phase on the day you wereborn was waxing gibbous.

Thanks to BC Loke for providing this link.. http://www.paulsadowski.com/BirthData.asp

Connected

Yay! I'm connected. The telekom guy came today to fix my phone for me.

Lightings for mood

I currently have plenty of lights in my new place. There are down lights and fluorescent lights in the living, dining and bed rooms. Only down lights for two of the smaller rooms. Anyway, after my experiments last night, the lights are not exactly suitable for reading... especially when I was sitting at the places that I planned to sit.

Objectives for lighting are twofold, to improve lighting for reading and to replace lamps that were removed since there are wires jutting out where they were.

My lighting plans are a floor lamp (suitable for reading) for my room, three wall lamps for the living room, one wall lamp in the dining area and a balcony light for my 'drying' area. Also, if I feel like it for the balcony.

A few down lights are not working at all, namely one at the entrance of my room and two near the big windows (not too important). A few not working properly and dimmer in the small room needs to be checked.

Work to do still...

Over the weekend...

My new fridge and new air cond are in, despite the heavy rain on Saturday! Love the fridge, love the air cond. And I registered for my phone line, coupled with internet broadband. Yay! Not sure when the installation will be though. Hope it's soon. I miss facebook!

Still waiting for my sofa set... I received a call to collect my other two free gifts from C*u*ts on Thursday and I went to collect them on Friday evening after work. I was quite disappointed with the gifts. I was given something that is totally not in the list (that's not too bad, because it could be useful), but I was given two of the same thing! When I asked about the multiplicity, the guy there asked me to take it up with the salesperson who sold me the items I purchased (who has left for the day and will be on leave the next day). The truth is, the customer service there sucks (that's probably enough material for a posting by itself when I have time to write up on that)! On the other hand, I love the other free gift that I got - a Philip blender. I guess you gotta win some and lose some...

Finally called the guy who was supposed to check over the dryer. He told me that the repairs will be RM470 because the motor and belt, both need to be replaced. That is a lot of money, considering that in order to use that, I would need to buy a side-load washing machine and the support to mount the dryer on top - which could easily be another 1.8K atleast. Totalled up to abt 2.2K. So, I am 90% for forgetting about the dryer. I'm going to mull over this for a few days...

We had our first meals cooked in the house this weekend. That was for lunch on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday.

Then, it was to more shopping to filled the many empty spaces and cabinets...

A place to hang out

I needed to go to the management office to fill up some paperwork and a whole group of friends from work went with me during lunch time. The gang went to the cafe at my new place for lunch. It was an ideal arrangement. I get to kill 2 birds: paperwork and lunch, and not having to eat alone. And they get a change of scenery... and some sights since it was dining by the pool, and me with them! Ha Ha!

The cafe lady is now in quite good terms with me since my family and I were frequently there while the renovation was going on. My dad especially enjoys his morning white coffee. I discovered that their 'teh peng' is pretty decent. and the bihun tomyam (which I think may not be spicy enough for ONE person). One thing missing, no laksa in their menu. That would make everything perfect.

Cable TV: Yes or No?

The next dilemma is cable TV. To have or not to have?

This would be under the category of 'nice-to-have'. Still, to have or not to have? It is additional expenditure, monthly. But I would get to watch all the shows that I could only watch on weekends. And free-TV sometimes just have nothing on, that I'm interested to watch. But then, how much time do I actually have to spend infront of the TV on weekdays? or even on weekends for that matter? Does that warrant additional monthly payment? Hmmm.... questions, questions, questions.

It would be nice for when the parents or the kids come over...

On the fence on this.

Fridge and Air-Conditioner

My final decision on the fridge-issue is a 2-door Toshiba (the smallest of the range) with a 25% energy saving rate. Atleast that's what the salesperson told me. I also decided to just get one air-cond first because the second room which has no air-cond at the moment, turned out to be pretty cool and with a fan, it is quite pleasant. And after all the surveys, I picked a Hitachi which apparently has a better BTU (compared to Pana, my other choice), which means, faster cooling. It also has longer warranty period and is quieter (than Y**k, old n trusted brand - according to the salesguy).

Both to be installed on Saturday.

Yup, my home is shaping up.

Water filter

These days no household could possibly be without a water filter. So, onwards my hunt for a water filtration system for my house... To date, I've heard of four brands, Elken, Diamond, Coway and Oasis. O ya, and Amway (although I heard less of this lately). I'm most familiar with Elken, since that's what my parents have at our house, but that system is rather bulky. The rest I'm too familiar with. I've heard of a few unsettling things about Diamond but I've not talked with any degree of seriousness with any agents. Coway, I first heard of it during the furniture fair in PISA a few weeks ago. Oasis, there is that big billboard on the mainland side of the Penang Bridge. No additional info yet. Still no decision...

BC moved (atleast some of my stuff)

I have my mattresses and my TV table! My house is shaping up fast into a home! On Monday evening, I finally had a moment alone with my place. Looking around the place, I almost couldn't believe that the place belongs to me (and the bank, for the time being). It's amazing.

Thanks to my close friends from work, I have a stand fan! It's one of the things on my list of crucial things to have first. It was delivered to my door step (practically) on Sunday afternoon and my parents and I had a fun time assembling it.

To make a home, the kitchen is of utmost importance. I love my dainty cute whistling kettle (not a pink one). Courtesy of my mom, I have spoons and forks (which we bought in Langkawi, couldn't believe she kept those for me!), mugs, plates, bowls and a small pot, and rice! I even have a blender (courtesy of Courts)! Still need to complete the kitchen. Could you believe that I don't have my knife set yet? How could a house not have that basic cooking tool? OK, neither do I have proper cooking pans and pots and utensils. Nor scrubbing sponge for dishes. And a container for sugar! Sugar's still in its plastic package.

It was an amazing weekend, despite the one slight 'experience' when the security guard refused to let the deliveryman drive the lorry to the area near the lift because he (the guard) did not have the form which I had specifically went to the management office (what happened to the management ppl? what did they do to my form?) to fill the week before. But thankfully, the deliverymen were nice enough to carry in the stuff for me from the visitor carpark. To prevent any hassles, I've re-scheduled the fridge delivery to next Saturday. Sad. But still, I feel good in spite of that.