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.