Credit Card Security Measures

A colleague of mine relayed this funny story of how he was at the mall buying a gift for his wife. The gift turned out to be a brand new Samsung Galaxy S II, which is also the first smart phone his wife has ever owned/used.

Now the funny thing is he used a credit card to buy the unit and upon purchase, the phone number registered to that credit card got an SMS containing the amount that was just swiped from the card. Guess who's phone number was registered to his credit card?

Yup you guessed it. Minutes later, he received a text from his wife,

"Wow. 1700 bucks. Can't wait to see it. Thanks honey!"

She loved the phone by the way.

The Weekend's Here!

I'll be catching the much-awaited Avengers in 3D tomorrow night. As much as I'm convinced the movie's gonna be another not-so-great-but-it-was-okay flick, I'm still excited to get my share of eye candy. I'm sure this must be the highlight of everyone's weekend as tickets were mostly sold out for the non-3D Friday and Saturday shows.

Other than that, anyone going for Russell Peters in Malaysia? I didn't manage to get tickets for the 1st show and now that the 2nd show is for sale on Saturday morning, I'm too lazy to go through the whole online queue barging just to get tickets. Looks like it's just good ole YouTube for me :)

Oh and another piece of awesome news, my aunt has just given birth to a 3.04kg baby girl! Obviously, an exciting addition to our family, the youngest of the lot is gonna be massively pampered by everyone :)

I've taken leave this coming Monday, so it would be an extra long weekend *yay!* but I'll probably not do anything too adventurous, perhaps go visit the Bird Park or something. Hope you have a glorious weekend ahead!

Just When I Thought I Was Out

I realize that when I stop blogging for an extended period of time and not having to read other blogs, it becomes almost...comfortable. It's like leaving your mobile phone at home. Not having the obligation to constantly (or at least once a week) update your blog is somewhat liberating.

Sure, blogging is a way I express most of my thoughts and sometimes it's just plain fun to write and write and write but for me, when I have absolutely nothing, zero, zilch to talk about (sometimes I love silence!) I tell myself, "Okay, let's take a break this week." and the same thing happens for the next week, and the week after. Next thing you know, it's been more than a month!

It's like withdrawing from cigarettes (in this case, cigarettes being blogging). A good friend recently told caramel honey and me how he was trying to quit smoking and successfully did so for a good few months, then on a trip to Bangkok, he decided to just have one - and that was the end of his lungs being smoke-free. The moment he experienced one, he couldn't stop - coz it felt so damn good! In fact, he quoted Al Pacino from Godfather III, "Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in!"

All it takes is one action for you to get back into it again, which is the purpose of this post :) Here's to blogging/commenting more often! *clinks glasses*

Busy Social Media Bee

It's been a while of course. If you must know, I just launched another blog, dedicated to caramel honey's mum's Yoga practice. In addition to the blog, I've also launched a Facebook page and a Twitter channel. Feel free to check these out or sign up for a class or two :)

Most of my time these days are taken up by scheduling Facebook posts, tweets, blog posts for the Yoga center and also scouring for related Yoga posts to promote, so my blog has most definitely taken a backseat to all this! On the plus side, it is rather enjoyable monitoring my posts & tweets through HootSuite - a platform that collaborates all social media channels.

What have I been up to lately? 

Baked my 4th batch of cupcakes which turned to be quite good I think. There was just a slight eggy taste so maybe the reducing the amount of eggs is something to consider. Next up: cookies! (will take pics the next time around!)

Watched a whole bunch of movies including, Footloose (the remake), The Artist, John Carter, Bridesmaids and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I'll post up some reviews soon.

Weddings

Lately, everyone's getting married, which is undeniable seeing that they're at that age and the timing is just nice. It just got me thinking that most young people these days get married for the sake of convenience rather than to spend the rest of their lives together. What happen to good ole conventional thinking where you learn to accept each other's shortcomings and grow old together? Nowadays, it's, "let's get married" on a whim!

Cooking!

It's been a while since caramel honey and I cooked and this time it's even special because we're cooking for two of our friends who just got married. The newlywed couple are contemplating not having a wedding reception (due to financial constraints) so we thought it would be a nice gesture to throw them a lovely dinner, this weekend :) Chicken curry, here we come!

Lord of the Rings Fever

My sister recently shared this video with me and I'm in love with the way she plays the violin - not to mention the amazing cinematography. For LOTR enthusiasts and those anticipating The Hobbit and for those who still listen to the LOTR soundtrack, this one is for you. Enjoy!

And the winner is...

The Oscars have passed by but it's not too late to thank Terra Shield for bestowing this 4 year old blog with a Kreativ Blogger award. My first ever blog award - which makes it all the more exciting! (and a reminder that my blog has more than just crickets on it).

As required, I need to list down 10 random quirks about myself and pass on the award to six awesome bloggers. So after thinking and deliberating, I came up with 10 rather unique (and surprising) things about myself, that most people don't know about. Here goes...

#1 Chocolate Addict

Which girl isn't? I can consume up to 6 chocolate bars a day - in spite of eating other meals - every day. I'm trying to bring it down to 3 bars a day but it's hard coz my office pantry has a fridge that's filled to the brim with goodies. Sometimes I eat chocs for breakfast and lunch too. I've yet to check my sugar level (and I don't want to).

#2 Doodle Cravings

I used to be so passionate in art especially in drawing (pencil shading - whatever the term is), that I once drew Queen Elizabeth's portrait, all by looking at the cover of Ladybird's book on the Queen. I think they had the whole Royal Family series. Similarly, I did Elvis & Priscilla's wedding portrait, also by looking at a photo in a paperback book. Both came out quite well from the shocked looks on people's faces whenever they see those portraits.

#3 Piano

I started playing this elegant instrument at the age of 13 - a little late than most people but I fell in love with it the minute I could learn how to play a full piece on my own. My favourite were classical pieces as they were more challenging in terms of expression and rhythm. I stopped at Grade 6 and nowadays it's just a one-off practice for me. 

#4 Fruits (likewise Terra Shield)
I don't eat fruits except for ciku. I used to have a thing for green apples but that grew boring after a while.

#5 Big Foot
Yes, that was what my uncle used to tease me when I was a kid. My feet are a size 10 so you can imagine the joy that I go through when hunting for shoes. Sometimes when I walk my ankles hit one another because my feet are simply too long and broad. *I'll have to show you someday. It's hard to put in words*

#6 Pills & Tablets
I have a fear of chocking on pills & tablets so what I normally do is to cut them in half and take those halves one at a time, with a huge gulp of water. Speaking of which, I've got Calcium tablets on my table right now, which are so huge, it would take a horse to swallow them down.

#7 Baking
I've just discovered the joys of baking - by spending a bomb on equipment and tools. My last 3 batches of cupcakes went from very sticky to sticky to dry so this week, I'm gonna try again and hope I find the right balance somewhere.

#8 High-Metabolism
I can eat, and eat, and eat, but I barely put on weight. Ask anyone. It's nothing to brag about though especially when you go shopping for clothes and find out that size 's' is too small for you.

#9 Anxiety Attacks
The weirdest songs from the 90s pop into my head when I'm anxiously waiting or praying for something. For instance, I can be praying that my colleague didn't find out I accidentally broke a link on her AdWords and Spice Girls' "If You Can Dance" will be dancing in my head. Weird, right?

#10 Curls, Curls. Curls
I may have dead, dry, damaged, straight-as-a-broom hair right now but for the first 21 years of my life, I had curly, curly hair. Not so curly that my hair grew sideways and upwords but curly like Julia Roberts/Nicole Kidman *I'm not vain. That's how my natural hair is!*

So there you have it. 10 random things one probably knew or didn't about me. Now to pass this on to six fantastic bloggers whose posts have been nothing short of funny, thought-provoking and purely entertaining to read;

Diary of the Misguided Diva
Anything Goes
Life Ramblings
Life, In My Own Backyard
Sloppy Chic
t.h.e r.e.b.e.l w.i.t.h.i.n. u.s.

Avengers Assemble!

I know cramming 6 superheroes and 1 supervillain into a two-hour movie may not pan out so well, with what little dialogue each character would have to accommodate explosive action scenes and one-liner clichés but I can't help getting excited at the latest trailer for the movie. At least I'm sure I'll be one of the many women in the cinema for this piece of muscular eye candy!

Excellent Value Budget Hotel In Ipoh

If you've figured out from my previous posts, I was in Ipoh with caramel honey last weekend for a wedding dinner. Since we didn't want to drive back home last at night, we decided to stay the night. After some thorough searching, I found the French Hotel in downtown Ipoh.

Very near to most shops, restaurants and malls in Ipoh, the hotel was a pleasant surprise! Clean and comfortable rooms (we were lucky coz the hotel was just refurbished) and helpful staff were some of the best elements of the hotel. 

Guitarist not included!

By the way, it was raining when we arrived, and after a tiring 2-hour drive, we were relieved but a bit skeptical when we saw the old neon-looking sign of the French Hotel but after being ushered inside the indoor garage for the night (coz of the rain) which we were grateful for, expectations of the hotel were definitely off to a good start. 

On the whole, it was an enjoyable trip. Being in the centre of the laid-back town of Ipoh gave us a great advantage to explore the wide variety of hawker stalls and Chinese restaurants around the area. At a very reasonable rate of MYR138 per night, it's worth checking in here for a weekend stay.

(Foreigner) I've Been Waiting For A Girl Like You

This song has been in my head ever since I heard it on Glee, which was a very nice acoustic version in fact but as much as I like Puck's singing, nothing beats the original. With that said, hope the lot of you are enjoying the weekend :)

Double dose of motivation!

I've been reading this book lately - Follow Your Heart by Andrew Matthews. It's quite insightful and I'm only halfway through. Some of the things he writes about are basic lessons that we've learnt over the years but due to silly distractions life throw at us, we overlook those lessons. 

I am not saying it's the law of attraction hype all over again (which is somewhat touched on I think in later chapters) but the book consists of these short, straightforward passages that tell you what you may be doing wrong with your life in order to make it better. Normally, I'm not a big believer in self-help books but this one is surprisingly a good read. Plus, the author's illustrations are funny complements to his writing.

In fact, I've tried applying the same lessons in my day-to-day life, and realize that my work is now so much better and the way I view things (often with a negative approach) is slowly reducing. It's a slow improvement, which should be the case, but a good one :)

Also, another reason to be happy this week (or ever really) is that I've cleared off the balance of my evil credit card! *clap clap* 

How you ask? Well, the company I work for provides profit-sharing for all employees and this year, it was big amount (at least by my standards). Enough to maybe buy a tablet, splurge on skin care products or clothes, buy a return plane ticket to Europe.......but sanity took over and I decided zero-balance on my credit card was the best option in the long run. Next step: cancel credit card *rub hands in glee*

One step further to being debt-free...at least until I'm 30!

Scariest Ride of My Life!

Caramel honey and I spent the weekend in Ipoh as we had a wedding dinner to attend there. The strange part is, we don't remember seeing taxis or cabs anywhere in town. Except for the odd minibus, we never saw taxis waiting by the road, seeing that this is Ipoh town with its glorious food stalls and tourists milling about. Such a vast difference from KL where you get a gazillion taxis at every corner. 

Thinking about taxis just reminds me of my time in India, few years ago. 

My family and I were in Agra, India. Having just visited the Taj Mahal, the tour van dropped us off at our hotel but we wanted to do some shopping (which happened to be around the Taj area) so we decided to take an auto to get there. If you've visited India, Cambodia or Vietnam, you'll notice the traffic is next to insane - how they manage to drive/ride without colliding into one another is an acquired skill.

So we hailed an auto from the hotel, the bellboy explained to the driver that we wanted to go to the Taj Mahal area as we wanted to do some shopping. Once we got in (in being a 3-seater on a 3-wheel ride with a mini engine) and he started driving, I thought I was gonna fall out! It's like being on a not-so-fast roller coaster on 3 wheels. If you had just eaten, trust me, you DO NOT want to get into an auto.

To our surprise, the driver asked us, as best as he could, where/what we'd like to do. So we explained we wanted to do some shopping (mind you, we were already near the Taj Mahal at this point). Then, he went on saying, he knows of a shop not far away that sells nicer things for a cheaper price, etc. Next thing we knew, he had made a U-turn and started speeding away to this so-called souvenir shop. 

My dad started shouting at him to turn back to the Taj Mahal and he kept arguing with my dad - obviously India locals know best! In the end, we insisted he take us back to the hotel (which he did, thank God) and my dad gave an him an earful (and complained to the bellboy). Good to say, we never took any autos after that!

Career vs Curry

*sigh* Yes, I've been so busy that I kinda forgot I actually own a blog. I'm sure by now flies have been hovering over here (sorry, that was disgusting). It's just been work, new found passion for baking, more work, rekindled hobby of drawing/art, family, and much more work. Sometimes, I'll be lucky to even update my Facebook status!

Just the other day, I was engrossed in my work, with headphones on and munching on this (delectable) curry puff. Moments later, my colleague turned to me and asked, "How's your career path?". For a minute there, I was dumbfounded. What's more we were days away from launching our brand new careers website for the company and it seemed quite unusual, yet somehow relatively normal for her to be asking something to do with my career path.

Then, I took out my headphones and apparently she was asking, "How's your curry puff?" *shakes head*

Join The Bark Side

Check out this teaser video if you enjoyed last year's Superbowl commercial, 'The Force' by Volkswagen.

Now I can't wait to see the actual commercial for this year's Big Game..or just maybe I should get a Volks!

Once upon a Google...

Stumbled upon this video while checking out some of Google's Search Stories and I could not resist posting it up. In fact, if you're an Android fan and love the idea of working at the top web search engine for their seemingly cool working culture or if you're just plain into Google, you can create your own search story very easily. No professional video editing needed :)

Deep-Fried Garoupa with Thai Sauce @ Mr. Tom Yam

When you're hungover with a craving for anything that's remotely edible, you should go for the food at Mr. Tom Yam. The deep-fried garoupa with Thai sauce is delicious. Crispy and fresh, this would go well with the flavorful chili chicken with cashew nuts and a spicy bowl of Tom Yam soup. If I'm not mistaken, the garoupa is of standard size, going for RM36. 

Maxi & Sandy

Caramel honey's parents are the proud owners of a cocker spaniel named Sandy and a miniature poodle, aptly named Maxi. So we thought it would be a fantastic idea to take loads of pics of the dogs, print them out on something fun like mugs, photobooks and hand it to his parents for X'Mas. Coincidentally few weeks before X'Mas, his mum mentioned it would be great to have a calendar of the dogs!

So with only few days left for X'Mas, caramel honey went to his parents place to snap the dogs and I went online in scouting the best freeware tool to come up with a fancy calendar. Initially, we thought we'd give the photos to any photo shop but then realize they had lousy calendar templates.

After all that effort, we came up with a pretty decent calendar that had each month on a separate page - the best part is the template I had was a Dog template so it came with cool pawprint backgrounds, cute graphics to place everywhere like doggy bones and treats!

We were so excited that we wrapped and gave the calendar without taking shots of it but if you wanna know, we used HP Photo Creations to create the calendar. It's completely free and you can print it at home. Variety of templates to play around with and customize. 

On New Year's Night...

After all the excitement, drinks and food on New Year's Eve, caramel honey and I got back quite late obviously. We were so tired that the minute we got home, we fell right into bed. Now, halfway through the night (or early morning), I heard caramel honey shout and I woke up. He was in bed, moaning to me, 

"Don't eat me..why do you wan't to eat me?".

I was like, "Why on earth would I wanna eat you???" LOL!

I think it was the excessive mutton, pork and drinks that contributed to twisted food nightmares. Anyway, I spent few minutes just convincing him that I'm not gonna eat him. Don't think I'm that much of a man-eater!

Anne Frank Museum, Enormous Pancakes & X'Mas Markets @ The Dam!

More and more gorgeous canals - especially along Prinsengracht (where the Anne Frank Museum is located). I took a canal cruise here and was so taken by the lovely houses lining the canals and how gorgeous everything from the balconies covered with ivy to church bells ringing in the distance to every leaveless tree. People cycle EVERYWHERE in Amsterdam, by the way. In fact, there are lanes dedicated for cyclists so before you cross anywhere, look out!

The Anne Frank Museum was such a moving experience for me. If you've read her diary before, you'll feel the same way, I'm sure. As I went through room to room, I felt as if I was transported back to World War 2 and there I was living in this tiny room. It's an enlightening experience just moving through the place the Franks hid for months before being caught by Nazis. I highly recommend anyone who's read the book or just plain love going museum-hopping, to visit the this place. 

One of the best croissants I've ever had in my life - was at this place. It's just next to the Anne Frank Museum so you can't miss it. In my case, it was the best option in getting out of the cold!

Westerkerk Church is just around the corner from Anne Frank Museum. Since we were there just before Sinterklaas, church bells kept ringing every now and then which made the whole atmosphere even more enchanting. I had planned on climbing to the top of the church tower as you can apparently get an awesome view from there, but sadly the tower is closed to the public at least until next year. 

Yes, you're right. I did not finish this gigantic (apparently normal-sized) bacon-cheese pancake but that's only because it was deliciously filling! Less than 10 Euro :)

As we had our nights free, we ventured into the X'Mas market in Leidseplein, a noted nightspot area in Amsterdam. Plenty of street food to cater to the hungry in the ice-cold weather. Speaking of which, shortly after we got here, it started raining ice! Thanks to this, we had to eat in one of the bars nearby. There was also an ice skating rink nearby with skates available for rental. 

Glad to say, we didn't go skating but enjoyed soaking in the scene that made us feel all Christmas-y inside.

Charming Windmills, Sex Shops & Heineken Up-Close @ The Dam!

This is the windmill village of Zaanse Schans. There are about 4-5 windmills still operating here, each for a different purpose, spice, wood, etc. The village is surrounded by water and complemented by lots greenery, quaint houses, cheese and clog factories, windmills, sheep, ducks and fresh, crisp morning air. About 20 minutes by train from Amsterdam Centraal Station, the entire village can take about 2 hours or more to walk through.

Amsterdam Centraal Station - where most of the Intercity trains, buses and trams start from/end at. When I first saw the building, I thought it was a church of some sort coz the architecture was so intricate. We spent some time here just looking for the right tram stop to head back to the hotel. Mind you, there are trams going in every direction, especially in Dam Square. So it's not a surprise if you end up on the wrong tram heading in a different direction all together.

One of the many, many canals around Amsterdam. When I first got here, I was so excited that every single time I saw a canal, I just started snapping like a mad person. I'm sure the Dutch people in trams would have looked upon us with amusement and thought, "The things tourists do!"

One of the many sex shops in the city. For someone like me, this was something different so you can imagine the number of passersby staring at me as I tried to take pics of the shop!

Heineken Experience was highly enjoyable. Since it's a former brewery, we were taken on a tour of how Heineken started, with cool motion shows, games and a look at the ingredients/process in brewing beer. You'll need about 1.5 - 2 hours in here. Plus, at the end you get 3 free pints of Heineken beer and another cool thing is, you can get your name or something similar engraved on a bottle of Heineken beer, various mugs or glasses. 

I opted for the glass, as you can see from the pic above - got it engraved as a x'mas gift for caramel honey. Would have bought more if I didn't have a lot to carry already!

Cheers to 2012!

Time passes so quickly and before you know it, another year has gone by. Let's look forward to a better year with less bad experiences and more cheerful ones. At least, that's my hope for next year - be more proactive in keeping touch with family, friends and not just wish them Happy Birthday on Facebook :)

Happy New Year!