My daughter at 4

My darling daughter turns 4 today.

It only seems like yesterday, this small beautiful baby ...


One year old...


Two years old...


And now ...


She's really strong and brave. Looking at her pictures you might not believe that she had just came back home after having two jabs - one on each arm (notice the plasters). One was the DTaP/IPV vaccine for protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough) and polio. The second shot was the MMR (against measles, mumps and rubella) and Hib booster dose.

She's wearing all the clips that was sent as a present by her grandparents from Malaysia.

She insists on sharing her cake with her friends at school and so we bought another cake for her to bring along tomorrow.

Kissing her brother Imaan


She's now already in dreamland. Gave her some Calpol before she slept, just in case.

Happy Birthday my Princess

Mama and Baba will always pray for your happiness. Be good.

Getting rid of termites

A few weeks back, my in-laws had called. They have had a termite problem for quite sometime now and they had thought that it was under control. Unfortunately, they were wrong. My wife's room in their house had been left unoccupied and they discovered that the termites has taken over. They had eaten through the Ikea bed, a wardrobe and most of our books and clothes inside it.



My in-laws have invested quite a bit in the last few years to get rid of the termite infestation, as well as to repair the damages. However, recently the termites return, most probably from the neighboring houses. It seems that the whole area is infested by this pest. If you have a similar problem,do visit the Termite Guide. There are loads of information on termites, including the signs of infestation as well as ways to getting rid of these pests on the Termite guide.

Some Great Links

Club UMNO West Midlands

Sunglasses: Online store for authentic sunglasses from the designer brands

NSN Group of Companies: Official website of the NSN group of companies, owned by my friend Nicos Nicolaou from Cyprus.

Of car boot sales and stupid traders

We haven't gone to a car boot sale for a few weeks and was really looking forward to going to the one at Lea Marston this weekend. Unfortunately the skies opened up and we were about to cancel our plans when I remembered that CJs at Stonleigh was held under cover (meaning under a roof).

So we set off for Stoneleigh. We haven't been there for a long time and was kind of looking forward to it. When we got there there was an enormous queue of cars. Apparently there was some exhibition or something going on over there as well.

The car boot sale was kind of disappointing. I guess we were too late and most of the good stuff had been sold. One thing I noticed was that overall, it seemed that stuff were costlier here and the sellers were not really into bargaining. One incident really spoiled my day. There was a trader selling a used Sony CD player that caught my eye. As I normally do, I tried to bargain and you won't believe it, this guy actually told me to "Fok Off!". For a minute I was shocked which was taken over by feelings of anger.

"If you don't like bargaining, you probably shouldn't be selling at a car boot sale Ar$£&*!e".

I guess there are stupid people everywhere. Someone told me that traders really spoil the atmosphere in a car boot sale. From my experience, the car boot sales I really liked were those with a lower percentage of traders. If you want to enjoy your car booting experience, stay away from them.

Add value to your house with a conservatory

We recently had a party at our house and most of our friends were visiting for the first time. A lot of them were admiring our large garden at the back of the house. One of them commented that the house was ideal to have a conservatory added at the back. Unfortunately, it's not own our own and we are just renting the place. However, for people with a house looking out into a beautiful landscape or a beautiful garden, a conservatory can really add extra value to the house. Even if you don't, a conservatory can be a simple way to add extra habitable space.

PhD Dinner Pics

Here are some pics of our PhD dinner at Kenilworth last Thursday:

1K + posts

This is my 1001st post on this blog.

My blog also turned 4 last month. My first blog post was on Monday, September 08, 2003 and it has come a long way since then.

I picked up a lot of skills as I went along and learnt from other bloggers. Through this blog, I made some really good online friends, most of whom I have never met in person but feel like I know them personally.

I would like to say a BIG "Thank You!" to all the visitors to my blog.

Search for the best cameraphone photographer

A friend of mine was showing me his latest Sony Ericsson phone that comes with an amazing 3.2-megapixel camera, complete with with auto focus and flash. It has promptly been added to my "object of desire" list.

Taking about Sony Ericsson phones, have you heard about "The Search" site. They are on the look for the cameraphone photographer of the year 2007. This site allows you to upload the cameraphone images to the voting gallery.

You can choose to put your images in any of the three categories, namely Fashion, Adventure and News & Sports. They have amazing prizes for each category. For example, in the 'Adventure' category, the winner stands to win an all expenses paid trip around the world. Isn't that amazing?

Dinner with Friends

Drove to Kenilworth town yesterday with a few friends for the PhD dinner. The venue was Sunam Balti House, an Indian restaurant at 57 Abbey End. My wife stayed back to look after the kids. Thanks Darling.

They had booked for 20 guys but only ten of us turned up, which was good in one way and bad on the other hand. Good because it gave us a chance to interact more but bad because we had to pay more in the end. I thought it was a a little bit on the pricey side but the food was quite good and we had a nice time.

Was about 12:30am when I finally reached home.

The Power of Gâc

Many herbs have been traditionally used throughout the World for medicinal or health purposes. Some herbs need to be cooked or specially prepared before they can be taken internally or applied externally. Some are taken raw without any preparation.

In Asia, traditional herbal medicines are widely used, as are other alternative medicinal practices. Slowly but steadily, these exotic and amazing herbs are gradually been introduced to the people in the West. Many of these herbs which have traditionally been used for ages in the Asian countries have been found to contain nutrients or other useful chemical compounds on testing in laboratories.

Momordica cochinchinensis (Lour.) Spreng., commonly known as 'Gac', is one such plant commonly found in South East Asia, especially in Vietnam. It has been traditionally used as both food and medicine there.


The plant grows as dioecious vines that bear abundant red fruits. The Gac fruit has been found to be rich in lycopene, beta-carotene and other potent antioxidants.

It is now available as a dietary supplement from various sites- mostly pure oil extracted from the 'Gâc' fruit.

Congratulations to Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor

I almost forgot to post this up even though I had written this down earlier.

My congratulations to Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor on becoming the first Malaysian to go into space. Right now he is on the International Space Station.

Read more about Sheikh Muszaphar on Wikipedia.

Hari Raya open house pics

We had an 'open house' - a Malaysian tradition, on the 13th Saturday. We planned to have it from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm but somehow it got extended by a around 2 hours as some of our friends were only able to visit later.

Here are some pics:


Our second Raya in the UK

FOOD



Serunding (squarish plate), Chicken Rendang (yellow bowl), Lamb Rogan, Dhal Curry, Saffron Rice, Pulut Kuning & Nasi Impit (on the silver oval plate), and some different varieties of raya cookies.

Most of the dishes were prepared by my wife. The cookies and serunding were gifts from my in-laws in Malaysia (came by Fedex). The nasi impit was prepared by Nana's family. I only made the Dhal.


Cadbury Cocoa pudding


GUESTS


Rahil and friend











Thanks to everyone who visited our house. Special mention to Nana, Mozard and Family and Min who helped out.

Selamat Hari Raya 07

This is our second Hari Raya here in the UK. We had assumed that it was on Saturday until our friend Amrul called us up and informed us that it was today.

Had to go to the University today as I had a seminar from 1 to 2 pm. This was the first seminar for this term and I was a bit nervous at first. Today was just an "ice breaking" session and it went off quite well. The students came up with some brilliant answers to the scenario we (the tutors) had prepared for them.

In the evening, visited a few of our friends' houses. Tomorrow is our turn - we are having the Hari Raya open house from 11 am to 3 pm. Expect a lot of delicious dishes prepared by a World famous chef - my wife.

BP sponsors the Solar Decathlon

I consider myself quite eco-friendly and am doing my little bit for the environment. We are actively trying to reduce our carbon footprint by taking public transport, recycling, putting up energy saving bulbs and so on. I have realised that it makes economic sense as well. We found that our monthly expenditure has been reduced quite a bit after we implemented the energy saving measures and I think I am fitter as well, with all the walking I do now.

Anyway, I just learnt about the . In partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, BP is the major sponsor of the 2007 Solar Decathlon. In this bi-annual event, 20 university teams from around the world design, build and operate livable, every-efficient, and completely solar-powered houses.

The teams form a solar village in the National Mall in Washington, D.C. from October 11–19. The contestants run a modern household by only using electricity generated by the sun.

Sponsoring this special event is part of BP’s Commitment to discovering cost effective yet cheap alternative energy sources. They first sponsored the event in 2002 (the first) and again in 2005.

Read the regular updates on the BP Solar Decathlon blog. It should be of interest to anybody who are interested in alternative energy, especially solar energy solutions.

Is the institution of marriage dead?

According to a recent statistics published by the Office of National Statistics, here in the UK, more and more couples are living together without getting married - the number increasing by almost two thirds between 1996 and 2006. At the same time, number of married couple families has dropped.

This may be bad news for the entire society as not being married means that the chances of breaking up are higher. The ones suffering most of the time would be the kids that are the result of such relationships.

Read the full report "Cohabiting is fastest growing family type."

Blackpool trip 2

Here are some pics from our recent trip to Blackpool.


We stayed at the Travelodge hotel at Preston Central about 20 minutes away.
Comfortable yet affordable.


The Blackpool Illuminations




The Fireworks


Blackpool tower illumination at night


Ferris wheel called the Blackpool eye




Blackpool Tower in the morning


The Ferris wheel "Blackpool eye"


View from the top of the Blackpool eye


My daughter sitting opposite me. She was very brave. Not scared at all.


View from top 1


View from top 2


Sea Gull


My wife and daughter

Ladies into golf

A lot of my friends are golf crazy and their wives have resigned to the fact that they can't compete with the game. However, of late I have noticed a new developments. A lot of ladies have also caught the golfing bug. Many started out accompanying their husbands on their weekend golfing sessions. Tired of waiting in the restaurants, they started hitting some balls on the deriving range and that was it.

Some of the ladies are there on the green, every chance they can get and some of them are really good. I am sure some of you reading this post are one of them. Several special golfing shops targeted at women and specializing on golf apparel ladies have come up. Loads of great comfortable and cool clothes and shoes to choose from.

Blackpool trip 1

One Friday, the 21st, we drove to Blackpool to view the famous "Illuminations" as well as the World Fireworks Championships. For your information, the Illuminations are turned on every autumn and have been a major part of Blackpool’s attraction since 1879.

The fireworks started around 8:30pm and on that day, it was the team from Austria's turn. We stood on the promenade and watched the wonderful fireworks display. Met up with Mozard and family later and a friend later.

The last and final display was on the 28th. Wonder who won the competition.

Here are some short clips of the fireworks: