Why you need breakdown cover 1

Have you ever been stranded on the highway? I have never been but yesterday, I learned why we NEED a breakdown cover.

I was just back home after a few hours at the Furnace End car boot, where I had gone with my daughter. My wife informed me that her friend Naz, was stranded on the M42 motorway. Naz was with her 3 kids and cousin and were on the way to Birmingham airport to pick up here husband who was arriving Malaysia. The car had broken down and unfortunately they were not a member of either the RAC or the AA. They called us because we were the nearest.

This is where I made the first mistake. I rushed off without asking anyone for any advise on what to do. Was under the impression that the car had overheated or was a simple battery problem.

It took nearly 35 minutes to get there via the M6. They had pulled up against the hard shoulder of the motorway. I checked the engine oil - Was ok but I topped it up. Checked the battery - water level was ok and the car even started. It was then that I noticed the big crack on the hose connecting the radiator to the engine. Didn't have any duct tape or anything that I could use to do a temporary fix - to at least get off the motorway. Called a few people but they were not much help and so we decided to go over to our house and contact a nearby workshop from there. This is when I miss Malaysia and all the tow trucks that roam the highways.

Got all of them into my car and Naz requested that I drop here at Birmingham airport as her husband had already landed. This was my second mistake. I didn't know that we couldn't leave our car on the side of the highway for more than an hour.

I dropped her off at the airport- she would be coming to Coventry by train along with Azmil.

It took another half an hour before we got home. Soon received a call - they had already reached Coventry station.

Brought them to my house after picking them up. We made the decision to call up the AA and see whether they could fix the car or tow it even though they were not members.

"Yes!" Our spirits went up when we learnt that they could, but of course Aznil would have to fork out a little more than £100. They said Ok and joined up,

The person from AA said that a tow truck was on the way and so we set off for the car. Halfway there, Aznil suddenly realised that the car keys were still with his wife. Oh No!

This is where I made another mistake. As we were nearly there and the AA petrol was on the way, I decided to leave him there by the car and go back for the keys.

Part 2 tomorrow.

Social networks and my psychographic profile

I recently joined Orkut, another online social networking site. BTW, Orkut is named after its creator Orkut Büyükkökten, and is owned by Google.

Suddenly realized that I am now a member of almost every social network out there on the net. This includes MySpace, Friendster, MyBlogLog, SpicyPage, among others. Not sure whether they can be called a social network, but I am also member of Flickr, YouTube, Textamerica and Yahoogroups.

My wife who's specialized in Marketing, tells me that I fall into the "Innovator" or "Thrill seeker" segment of the market. This refers to my Psychographic profile. The first ones to try out anything new.

So are you like me?

Learning PHP from the experts

I once took a short duration certificate course at a local IT college in Malaysia. It was during this course that I was introduced to HTML, CSS and ASP. At that time Open Source and Linux was quite new (at least in Malaysia). During this time, I was working as Communications officer at the Kula Lumpur office of an International NGO. We had an intern from Germany who was developing a website for the organisation. he was showing me the coding and I was lost. This was my first interoduction to Hypertext Preprocessor better known as PHP.

I was really keen to learn this programming language, which was used for designing dynamic web pages. Unfortunately the college didn't include PHP in the course.

I just learnt about OTG's PHP training services. They provide high quality and flexible training at quite affordable prices. The courses were built using a combination of industry recognized materials and their own course guides.

Classes are held at their state-of-the-art facility by Zend Certified PHP MySQL training instructors with over a decade of experience. They are also available for on-site training. Visit the site for more details.

Chicken pox information

After 2 sleepless nights, my son is finally getting better. Now he has scabs through out the body. Hopefully they won't leave scars.

He is really a tough boy and despite the rashes all over his body with painful blisters, including one on his eye lid and one at his nostril, he could still smile. His waking up at night was the only sign that he was in some short of discomfort.

We consulted a number of websites and my father who's a doctor. So wanted to share some useful tips for you parents out there.

You should be aware that Chickenpox is a highly contagious illness and also infectious even before the rashes come out. Fortunately our daughter was vaccinated in Malaysia when she was 13 months old. It seems that vaccination for chicken pox is not common in the UK.

In order to ease the itchiness, we gave him a bath twice in lukewarm water with a little sodium bicarbonate powder added. After that we applied Calamine lotion to the affected areas apart from the face. He developed a mild fever and we gave him Paracetamol.

Warning: If you haven't had Chicken pox, you can catch it from your kids. Hope this info helps.

Some related links:
- Wikipedia
- NHS Direct

Record bowls

No! I am not going to blog about record breaking bowls but about recycled record bowls instead.

These bowls are made from old vinyl records and are available with either smooth or stepped sides. Priced at $25.97, these bowls are shipped anywhere in the US or Canada for free. Unfortunately they do not ship to other countries.

These bowls would definitely make a unique and interesting gift.

Am I the hottest daddy blogger

I am in running for the Hottest Daddy Blogger on the Blogger's Choice Awards.

It is perfectly clear that I won't be able to break into the top 10 (unless there's some miracle). However, was quite pleased to find that till date I have received 16 votes (when I last checked) and in the top 20.

What most people don't know is that my blog is also self nominated for the "Best Marketing Blog" as well as for the "Best Blog About Blogging"

If you like my blog, please vote for me.







Tags: Blogger's choice awards hottest daddy blogger

Another great bookmarking service

I had blogged about BookmarkAll.com sometime back and the advantages bookmarking online as opposed to bookmarking on a browser.

Well, this online bookmarking service has added some great new features. I wanted to inform you guys about their "RSS Topic" feature. For those who are not aware "Really Simple Syndication" or RSS refers to the way blogs or web sites to share their current posts, news or headlines via a frequently updated xml file.

Now users who are registered with Bookmarkall.com can bookmark RSS feeds, according to groups you frequently visit (e.g., news, web design, etc.). just like other regular bookmarks. A user can have unlimited topics.

If I am not mistaken, this is the first online bookmark manager to provide an RSS bookmark service. This presents greater convenience - you can access your favourite RSS feeds from anywhere in the World with an internet access. Besides, there are several security advantages of using their service for online bookmarking. For example, your nosy boss won't be able to see your bookmarks.

By installing BookmarkAll’s toolbar in your browser(Internet Explorer or Firefox), you will be able to bookmark your favorite links and access them online quickly.

You can also discover new sites from other user’s social bookmark topics that they have made public. Saves definitely save time Googling for it. This is one major advantage that BookmarkAll has over Yahoo! or Google.

Last but not the least, this great convenient service is totally Free so sign up now.