All the time I get queries from a lot of people asking me how it feels to be a student again. It exciting but to tell the truth, it's much harder now. I guess my brains are not that sharp any more and it's hard to sit down and listen to lectures for hours. I need to take a break every half an hour or so with loads of coffee.
Money is another important issue that always comes up for people like us who left their full-time jobs to study again. More so if you have a family. Even with a scholarship, we try to stretch every penny we have.
After getting free office supplies for years, it's a shock when you realise that stuff like notebooks, pens, printer ink are not exactly cheap. Looking for discount office supplies, I came across the OfficeDeals.info website. This site lists hundreds of discount coupons, coupon codes and promotions from leading stores that sell office supplies, computers, office furniture and a range of products and services. The merchants listed including among others, Office Depot, Vistaprint, etc.
I recently bought a Dell PC after my old computer crashed. I wish I had come to the site earlier because they have all the latest coupon codes from Dell here. I guess this site will appeal not only to students but business owners as well. Do check out the site if you are looking to save some money.
05 January 2008
04 January 2008
Pregnant schoolgirls
I was quite shocked to read a report in the newspapers today which stated that one in 50 schoolgirls (aged between 13 and 15) in some parts of England and Wales, fall pregnant.
According to critics, this indicates that instead of helping, "more sex education and freely available contraception was backfiring".
I don't think that it's that simple. There are a number of possible other reasons I can think of including the breakdown of the family system, binge drinking, peer pressure, etc.
Guess this is something that the authorities in Malaysia and other countries should think about before they implement "enhanced" sex education and distribution of contraceptives to school children.
Read the Metro report: Schools where 1 in 50 girls fall pregnant
According to critics, this indicates that instead of helping, "more sex education and freely available contraception was backfiring".
I don't think that it's that simple. There are a number of possible other reasons I can think of including the breakdown of the family system, binge drinking, peer pressure, etc.
Guess this is something that the authorities in Malaysia and other countries should think about before they implement "enhanced" sex education and distribution of contraceptives to school children.
Read the Metro report: Schools where 1 in 50 girls fall pregnant
02 January 2008
Place to shop for cheap printer inks
If you are like me and print out a lot of stuff, the printer seems to run out of ink so fast. A replacement cartridge doesn't come cheap especially if it's for your colour inkjet. In my case, it's worse because I am using a laser printer.
Well if you are looking for the Lowest prices for inkjet cartridges go on over to Ink and Stuff. The online stores has a great range of inkjet and laser printer cartridges as well other stuff.
All customers get 10% off on their first order. Remember to use the voucher code BZZ11Z at checkout.
Well if you are looking for the Lowest prices for inkjet cartridges go on over to Ink and Stuff. The online stores has a great range of inkjet and laser printer cartridges as well other stuff.
All customers get 10% off on their first order. Remember to use the voucher code BZZ11Z at checkout.
Happy New Year wishes
Looking back at last year, I have to say it was quite uneventful - nothing much happened for much of the year. In fact, it was rather boring - Staying at home in front of the computer, most of the time.
That is apart from one thing, which occurred near the end of the year - I started my PhD course with the Warwick Business School, University of Warwick. Best of all, they offered me a scholarship. That pretty much made up for everything.
Wishing all visitors to my blog
an Extremely Eventful and Exciting
and of course,
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Here's looking forward to an eventful
That is apart from one thing, which occurred near the end of the year - I started my PhD course with the Warwick Business School, University of Warwick. Best of all, they offered me a scholarship. That pretty much made up for everything.
Wishing all visitors to my blog
an Extremely Eventful and Exciting
and of course,
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Here's looking forward to an eventful
28 December 2007
My Boxing day in Coventry
If you are in the UK, I am sure you are aware of the crazy scenes in stores all over the country. Yes! I am talking about the Boxing day sales. I am not really into branded stuff and I didn't join the people flocking to the West Orchard shopping centre nor did we drive up to the Bull Ring in Birmingham.
I did do some shopping though. Drove down to the nearby Go Outdoors store with our friend, Kyrzul who's visiting us. A bit disappointed because I had been expecting lower price cuts but bought some stuff anyway.
We later went to see 'I am Legend' at Odeon - my first time there. The movie was simply amazing. One of the best I have seen in a while, maybe except for Transformers.
Anyway, after the movie as we had about an hour to kill before the next bus (buses ran every hour for Boxing day), so we dropped by Ikea. The store opened on 16th of this month. No! I wasn't there at the opening. It is huge - slightly less in area than the store in Damansara, Malaysia. For your information, the store in Coventry covers 24000 square meters while the Ikea store in Mutiara Damansara is the largest in Asia with a shop floor area of approximately 270000 square feet (25000 square meters). There were some fantastic deals and of course more shopping.
How was your Boxing day?
I did do some shopping though. Drove down to the nearby Go Outdoors store with our friend, Kyrzul who's visiting us. A bit disappointed because I had been expecting lower price cuts but bought some stuff anyway.
We later went to see 'I am Legend' at Odeon - my first time there. The movie was simply amazing. One of the best I have seen in a while, maybe except for Transformers.
Anyway, after the movie as we had about an hour to kill before the next bus (buses ran every hour for Boxing day), so we dropped by Ikea. The store opened on 16th of this month. No! I wasn't there at the opening. It is huge - slightly less in area than the store in Damansara, Malaysia. For your information, the store in Coventry covers 24000 square meters while the Ikea store in Mutiara Damansara is the largest in Asia with a shop floor area of approximately 270000 square feet (25000 square meters). There were some fantastic deals and of course more shopping.
How was your Boxing day?
25 December 2007
Self help hypnosis sessions
As a kid, one of my comic heroes was Mandrake the magician, who like other super heroes, went around doing doing good deeds and fighting villains of all shape and sizes including aliens. He's actually been accepted as the first comic superhero.
When anyone mentions hypnosis, the first thing that comes to mind is Mandrake the Magician. I guess the mere mention of the word can conjure up various images in different people including the funny character in British TV's Little Britain.
The reason I brought up my childhood comic character is because I just came across the Instant-Hypnosis.com (http://www.instant-hypnosis.com). The site is possibly the "World's largest hypnosis site". They offer around 300 hypnosis sessions that can be downloaded instantly. These hypnosis downloads range from self improvement sessions to ones that are designed to help people with addictions and bad habits. I read in the newspapers recently that hypnosis has been successfully used by a lot of people to cure them of their smoking addiction.
Best of all is their " 100% Satisfaction Guarantee". If you are not satisfied with any of their products, you can ask for a complete refund up to 90 days after purchasing your product. They also have multi-purchase discounts and a affiliate program in place as well. Check out the site for more information.
22 December 2007
Are foreigners taking away British jobs?
The Labour government is beginning to sound more and more like the Conservatives.
Previously they claimed that 54% of the total 2.1 million jobs created in the last 10 years since 1997, had gone to foreigners. However, there was a lot of commotion when the Statistics Commission revealed that results of a study that showed that in fact, the proportion of new jobs going to foreigners was as high as 81% out of a lower estimated total jobs created (1.7 million).
Now they are thinking of putting up a number of restrictions on immigrants entering the UK including limiting the number of months you can stay on in the UK on a tourist visa from 6 to 3 months. They are also planning to charge a flat levy on "non-domiciled'' residents.
The trouble is that when you say "foreigners", most locals automatically assume this to mean Africans and Asians.
I am not implying that the results of the study is wrong but I won't be surprised if majority of the "foreigners" were actually from EU countries and the East European countries in particular. A solution would be withdrawing from the EU and that is one possibility that is definitely not going to happen.
Another thing that is not clarified are the nature of the jobs created. One of my friends mentioned that the jobs that were taken over by foreigners were probably the menial and hard labour jobs like cleaners and jobs at odd hours, that locals are hesitant to take up. For professional positions, I know that for a foreigner to get a job here in the UK you would either have to be extremely highly qualified or work in a foreign owned company including the MNCs, which usually have a fair employment policy based on merit.
Of course the locals are concerned with the news and this in turn may have led to a negative perception towards foreigners.
One of our friends who's doing a PhD in Birmingham was recalling an incident where a colleague joked about "foreigners like you are taking my jobs".
"It's the opposite. I am actually subsidising your studies here", my friend retorted, which is kind of true in a way as British and EU students pay only about one third of what we foreign students pay for our studies.
Talking about employment, it not all that bad here in the UK as compared to some other countries around the World. In fact the total unemployment has fallen to 1.64 million, the lowest since 1975 (32 years).
Previously they claimed that 54% of the total 2.1 million jobs created in the last 10 years since 1997, had gone to foreigners. However, there was a lot of commotion when the Statistics Commission revealed that results of a study that showed that in fact, the proportion of new jobs going to foreigners was as high as 81% out of a lower estimated total jobs created (1.7 million).
Now they are thinking of putting up a number of restrictions on immigrants entering the UK including limiting the number of months you can stay on in the UK on a tourist visa from 6 to 3 months. They are also planning to charge a flat levy on "non-domiciled'' residents.
The trouble is that when you say "foreigners", most locals automatically assume this to mean Africans and Asians.
I am not implying that the results of the study is wrong but I won't be surprised if majority of the "foreigners" were actually from EU countries and the East European countries in particular. A solution would be withdrawing from the EU and that is one possibility that is definitely not going to happen.
Another thing that is not clarified are the nature of the jobs created. One of my friends mentioned that the jobs that were taken over by foreigners were probably the menial and hard labour jobs like cleaners and jobs at odd hours, that locals are hesitant to take up. For professional positions, I know that for a foreigner to get a job here in the UK you would either have to be extremely highly qualified or work in a foreign owned company including the MNCs, which usually have a fair employment policy based on merit.
Of course the locals are concerned with the news and this in turn may have led to a negative perception towards foreigners.
One of our friends who's doing a PhD in Birmingham was recalling an incident where a colleague joked about "foreigners like you are taking my jobs".
"It's the opposite. I am actually subsidising your studies here", my friend retorted, which is kind of true in a way as British and EU students pay only about one third of what we foreign students pay for our studies.
Talking about employment, it not all that bad here in the UK as compared to some other countries around the World. In fact the total unemployment has fallen to 1.64 million, the lowest since 1975 (32 years).
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