Monthly Archives: November 2010

Planning

★ Posted on at 09:27 pm ★

spices

Finally got round to putting some of the spices we have still in their original packaging into little bottles that used to contain sambal for nasi lemak. Have an idea to put them onto a rolling tray to be stowed in a cupboard and labelled for easy access.

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Heh, personally run out of excuses to not sort stuff out around the house. The weather is no longer too cold, neither am I sitting for any exams, so I’ve been tidying up in different areas. I’m also looking into organising my time to get more things done. I recall a time when I used to have too much time on my hands. These days I have more responsibilities, but ultimately you allocate the time to do the things which you feel are important.

The things in the house are haphazardly stored in a location, but it doesn’t always make the most sense in terms of accessibility. I’m doing all this reorganising in the hopes that it will save me time down the road.

Another issue I’ve been having is the spending of money. I’m fortunate enough that I don’t have to live from paycheck to paycheck, but looking at my spending habits over the past few months, I see room to reduce wastage and ways to make my money work harder. I’m just taking all these incremental steps to make it happen.

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It really just takes a little effort to plan out things, so you’re not just blindly going about your daily business. Everyday I have to review conventional wisdom. While at uni, Dell’s just in time process for making computers and lack of a physical store gave it a unique advantage in producing computers cheaper than the competition. They were a model company to me back then as they improved. Then you see Apple having physical stores but having game changers in terms of their product mix and everyone else caught up with Dell in terms of manufacturing prowess. Dell is just another drop in the sea like HP, Lenovo, building lots of generic computers that don’t differentiate themselves from the rest of the market.

Yesterday’s ideal could be tomorrow’s setback where the advantages become disadvantages later on. Also read about the growing German economy and the flailing American economy but that’s a long story you should read and contemplate about yourself.

The world is ever changing, and the rock solid ideals of yesteryear need to be questioned and reviewed to much better cope with the continuously changing landscape we live in today.

Getting It

★ Posted on at 08:25 am ★

clouds

Haven’t picked up the camera much of late, and this is one from the archives. I get pretty decent scenery on occasion when I bring Alfie out on his walks by the river. When I do have my camera with me and have a hand free, I’ll take the occasional snapshot.

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Alfie’s pretty much recovered now, and needs only another trip to the vet to remove his stitches. Heh, I don’t think the surgery has affected him very much as he’s still his same old self. Initially his appetite wasn’t too great but he’s got back into it.

He’s been chewing up stuff again of late, maybe because we haven’t brought him out as much so he has all that pent up energy. This morning as we left for work he followed us into the garage and hopped into the front seat of the car. Heh, we used to have to lift him into the car but he got used to the idea and now voluntarily hops in when you open the door for him. He enjoys the car rides and walks these days as he gets a chance to get out and explore the world. You can tell when you see his giant, bushy tail perking up when he’s out and about.

* * *

Been practicing the guitar, and you never lose the skills you acquired to begin with. I probably haven’t learned much new to play different songs, but the finger techniques I’ve been practising has helped me to beat some songs on Guitar Hero. Heh, a stronger pinky helps with anchoring your finger positions and you can move around the fretboard much more effortlessly.

* * *

Dug out my tripod and light stand last night, stuck the reflective umbrella on and took a couple of self portraits (due to the lack of a proper subject). I got the light stand and umbrella while I was in the US (yes, I lugged it all back), and I was never comfortable with flash photography until recently. Like the guitar, it has taken a while but I realise these days that nothing is hard enough that you can’t overcome it, you just need to keep practicing until you get it right. Our mind works in mysterious ways and eventhough I don’t get the concept immediately, I can come back to it a few days later and suddenly it all makes sense.

I will need to dabble with manual flash settings soon and I’ve always avoided having to figure out guide numbers for the flash units. My wireless remotes only work with triggering the flash and not sending the TTL data through to it, so learning manual settings is a must.

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You realise over the years that you have been crap at something for the longest time and suddenly you get it. So these days I’m of the opinion that even if I can’t do it now, but if I’m interested enough to learn how and keep at it, I will be able to do it sooner or later.

Growing Up

★ Posted on at 06:11 pm ★

20101117-0004

Took this a few days ago. Alfie’s grown quite a bit in the short 3 months we’ve had him. He looks more distinguished now, compared to the puppy cuteness when we first got him.

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Today we brought Alfie to the vet to get him desexed. It’s a whole day affair as they need to operate on him and keep him around for a bit so I picked him up after work. The vet said they would call me after the operation, but around 1245pm, I was already a little worried so I called them up instead. The operation was smooth and had ended only 15 minutes ago. The person over the phone said that Alfie was awake but groggy from the anesthetic.

Got him home after work and he was a little slow, but put a plate of food in front of him and he slowly made his way through the food. Heh, they advised me to give him half his normal portions, but having not had breakfast this morning, he finished the first lot of food quickly. I added a little bit more a couple of times and both times he finished what was in his bowl.

He’s not as mobile now but he’s clearly doing ok as after dinner, we gave him a pig’s ear and he was happily chewing through that. I think he’s sleeping now as he should still be tired from the whole affair.

Heh, I know that dogs recover quickly, so hopefully he will be back to his normal, cheerful self tomorrow.