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:

Get the entire dermalogica range at reasonable prices

One of the most famous brands in the cosmetics industry is Dermalogica, which is known worldwide as the 'professionals' choice'. Founded in Los Angeles in 1986, their range of products were developed by The International Dermal Institute.

They do not use artificial colors, synthetic fragrances, S.D. alcohol, lanolin or mineral oil in any of their products. Further more, they do not test on animals. It was nice to learn that they ensure that all ingredients in their products come from eco-safe sources and are packaged in recyclable containers.

Fantabulous news

Yesterday night I was going through my Yahoo! email. I don't check it that often and there were like 300 emails. Most were from my Yahoo groups. As I was going through them, I noticed an email from the Doctoral Programme Office, Warwick Business School asking me to fill up a form and send it back to them - "pro-forma - maintenance bursary & scholarships".

At first I thought it was a mistake. Then I suddenly recalled that I had received another email earlier which I had put down as spam. I quickly found and opened it. Was in shock for a while as I read and re-read the email.

I am pleased to inform you that you have been awarded a WBS
scholarship.

One of the reason I had thought that the email was spam was because I couldn't recognise the sender's name. I quickly went up to the bedroom and gently woke up my wife who was already in dreamland. It took a while for her to fully wake up, and I could see the "it's too good to be true" + "this better be true" look. She came down and re-read the email with me again. She confirmed me that Kok Wai Harcourt was indeed the new Programme Manager for the doctoral programme.

It was like a black cloud had lifted. Our prayers have been answered.

I don't care what people say but for me, the University of Warwick is the best University in the World.

An amazing coincidence because earlier that evening I was talking with our friends Nana and Mozard at their place in Birmingham, about how I was struggling to pay for the first year itself and how various people including my parents had chipped in. As well as our struggles in the past.

If you truly believe in something good, go ahead and put your trust in God! He will surely come through for you.

Bees and flowers

Even though my daughter is not terribly fond of them, I really like to see honeybees in my garden. They are doing a good job pollinating my plants.

It's fun watching them buzzing from one flower to flower. They will suddenly stop flying for a while and the flower will suddenly bend under their weight and the bee would start flying again and move on to the next flower.


bee on our mint flowers


Bee on our marigold flower


bee on our lavender flower

This is my Green Thumb Sunday post for this week.
Join

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Charlotte Cosmetic Dentist

A dentist who is also into amateur photography- sounds strange. Well, Dr. Tom Farley, is a dentist who uses his hobby to document his dental work. The photographs have proven useful to visually communicate with patients, labs, insurance providers as well as his peers.

Dr. Farley is a qualified cosmetic dentist who resides in Charlotte, North Carolina. His clinic offers a full range of dental services from restorative to periodontics to whitening. In case you are wondering, his portrait studio is situated right in his office.

I later found out that he's a blogger as well. check out his blog here.

False alarm

I was engrossed in my web designing work today when a loud alarm went off at the office. I saw every one getting their jackets and leaving the office and guessed that it was the fire alarm. So I followed the rest down the stairs and went outside. It was quite cool and nobody was panicking. The building is only 3 stories high anyway.

We were given the green light to go in after a while. The funny thing is that as I was about to enter the office, the alarm suddenly went off again. The security people told us that it was something setting off the alarms. Must have been some stupid guy who tried smoking in the toilets.

Test your internet speed

It was reported that more than half of UK homes have broadband now. You may find it hard to believe but customers in the UK have a bigger range of ISPs to choose from than in the US.

However, it was reported that many of the ISPs are not delivering the promised broadband speeds, with customers in some places reporting less than one fourth of the promised download speeds. Of course, there's always a warning in fine print:

Download speeds may vary substantially depending on where you live and technical factors such as the quality of your telephone line

Take the Internet Speed Test to find out whether you are getting the speed your ISP said you would. It is easy to use. All you have to do is press the "Begin" button and you will get the download and upload speed results. It's totally free. The website also has links to a number of freeware links as well as tips and tweaks.