Reflections on Year 2008

Hi,

Another eventful year is coming to an end and I have been reflecting on it for the past few days on what year 2008 has been for me.

Here are some of my reflections ...............

At the beginning of 2008, I was very concerned for my dear wife's eyes as she had a retina tear in her right eye just before Christmas in 2007. She had 2 laser treatment to 'sew' the tear back.

Luckily, by end April, it was considered fully treated but that eye will always see some wavy line and it is something that she got used to by now and not affecting her sight or movement today.

I have to do a crown on my tooth last Jan and another one is due in Jan 2009! Somewhere in the later part of 2008, I managed to fix one of the molars that have been sensitive for almost a year. What a relief now!

The family have a wonderful trip to visit my brother and sister families during the June school holiday; it was winter there. As Jason is much older now, we brought back to a few places like the Great Ocean Road to see the 7 Apostles and Philip Island, etc... He could not recalled these places that he visited when he was young so he really enjoyed it and appreciated what he saw.

It was quite an experience having the Kangaroos up clsoe to you especially the adult ones!

Scary..lah!

Australia's famous Koala and it is not a bear!

Also, catching up with his cousins now that he is much older and they can enjoy each other company; ie same wave length....

I also flew back to Penang to visit my parents 3 times this year and at the same time took my Dad for his medical follow-up on his colon cancer recovery. Glad to say that he is doing well and almost 2 years since he was operated to remove the cancerous cells. I told my elder sister that I would do it as she has been looking after my parents most of the time. I am glad that I kept my promise to her.

Jas and his grandfather in Penang home; on the way out for dinner at a nearby open air coffee shop; ie 'choo char'

I started to be more serious in my Internet Marketing business in March and April, and the traffic soared but still income was very small and trickling in. After my return from my Melbourne holidays, I picked up momentum again and the small income was a bit more regular. I am still continuing with it and I believe the opportunity and with a bit of luck, I will see better income in 2009.

I started to have lower back pain in Oct and sought medical advice. Did MRI on both my back and left knee ( you may have read my postings on this ) and taking the appropriate actions to alleviate the pain but no pain killers for me. I am using the Inversion Table for my back and a special OA Knee brace. So far, so good .....

This school holidays in Nov and Dec, Jason went to New Zealand ( Overseas Study trip ), Kuala Lumpur ( soccer friendly matches ) and Ipoh ( Leadership Seminar ) through his school programme. He has travelled enough so no family holiday trip but my wife & I went to Kuala Lumpur for a few days instead.

Lai Meng at the base of the Petronas Twin Towers in KL.

Well, time flies..............

So what are your New Year resolutions or wishes..?

I only have a few wishes in mind..... and there are .......

Good Health to all of us especially the older ones ( my wife and I included...ha..ha.... ).

Jason does well in his 'O' level exam. and get to the institution that he wants.

Taking my Internet Marketing business to the next level.

No resolutions that comes to my mind.

With that, I wish you all the best in 2009 and may your wishes come true....!

David

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year !

Hi,

Check out this amazing video on doggies putting up a Christmas Tree!

I should think of getting my Jack and Ruby to do it next year.....? Ha..ha...

Anyway, my family & I + our doggies wishing you all a
Merry Christmans and a Fabulous New Year in 2009.....!



If the video does not show,
please go to this address at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUtPKbMwnRo

Holiday in Kuala Lumpur - Berjaya Times Square & KLCC

Hi,

We stayed at Berjaya Times Square Hotel where there are 2 towers and the first 10 storey is the shopping mall with a theme park inside ( with a roller coaster running a few floors! ). There is also a conference centre between the 2 towers.

The suite given to us is more like a service apartment with a small kitchen area and a separate lounge area; separate shower and WC areas.

Berjaya Times Square shopping mall is quite self contained with food outlets, cinemas, theme park, retail shops etc.....

Importantly, the monorail is right in front and we took it to KLCC to visit the Petronas Twin Tower. KLCC itself is another big shopping complex.

We found this restaurant offering Penang food like Prawn and Curry Mee and have lunch there. I used to frequent their branch in Mid-Valley when I was working on the Southern Bank project a few years ago.

Berjaya Times Square is located in the Jalan Bintang shopping triangle, where we have other shopping malls within walking distance. We visited Sungei Wang Plaza , Low Yat Plaza, Imbi Plaza and dined along Jalan Bukit Bintang and Jalan Alor too.

My wife was quite successful in her shopping spree but not so much on clothes but shoes, hair accessories and even things like local coffee in their GIANT supermarket. We managed to find the underwear brand that Jason like ( the ones that we bought in Penang last Sep ),

I only shopped for IT stuff at Imbi and Low Yat Plazas where the accessories are much cheaper ( but do your homework first as they do sell fake stuff too ), much to my surprise. I bought things like ATA-USB cable to connect my external CD writer, USB extension cables to connect Jason's PC to the printer and scanner, and even Norton Internet Security 2009 ( I paid RM95 and it cost S$98 ). These plaza are equivalent to our Sim Lim Square.

Overall, we have quite an enjoyable time as I also got to meet my elder sister twice for dinner and also lunch with my cousin on our last day there.

Though it was the Malaysia Great Shopping sale period but we really did not feel the atmosphere of sale there.

My next trip to Malaysia is likely to be Penang for 'Cheng Beng' in Mar or Apr 2009.

Here is a slideshow of some photos taken of my stay in KL.

( Please click on the 'X' on the top right-hand corner of the screen if no photos are shown. )

Holiday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Coach Journey

Hi,

My wife and I decided to take a short break to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia while Jason was in Ipoh himself. Since Jason has travelled up to Malaysia by coaches twice this school holidays, we decided to experience it too as we always fly up to Penang.

Honestly, I was a bit excited as I have never taken such a coach and do not quite know what to expect especially the comfort area as I am a bit spoilt since I rather fly or cruise...ha..ha.....

So we went for a package that covers the coach trip and a hotel stay of 3 nights at Berjaya Time Square. Importantly, we wanted the coach to drop us off and pick us up at the hotel for convenience since we are not familiar with KL.

I like to share with you my coach journey and I will do more postings on the other aspect of my holiday in KL.

It was our second time going to Golden Mile Complex to catch the coach early in the morning. Though we were there 2 nights ago to see Jason off to Ipoh for his school leadership conference.

We were not very comfortable as it is a popular place frequent by the Thais and if you go inside the complex ( we went in for the toilets and to look for something last minute for Jas that evening ), you may think you are in Thailand as you see so many of the Thai people, their shops and music blaring at you due to the karoake or club there.

The travel offices are all on the front ground floor but there are no proper place for the passengers waiting for their coaches. So if you are too early or the coach is delayed, you will just have to stand outside along the passageway. Jas coach was delayed by an hour that evening.

Luckily, we were on time and there was already a queue at the check-in counter and no delay by the coach. We boarded our coach immediately and it left on time.

As it was called a SVIP 26 seater coach, we thought it should be reasonably comfortable. Well, this is entry level coach I think so do not be fool by the word, SVIP!

This was a double decker coach whereas the one taken by Jason was a single decker. The coach we took for our return trip was a single decker and slightly more comfortable.

One of my concern was that there was no safety belt on the seats! Also, no toilet in the coach too!

However, if you pay more ( not sure how much more ), there are 1st class coaches and you can get sofa-like single seat with a console and headset! There was a coach with a hostess too!

But your coach will still stop at the same places like Yong Peng where the food was not great so it is more of a toilet break and if you are hungry, then eat something like Malay chicken rice or fisball noodle but mainly Malay food.

The overall time from the boarding of the coach to disembarking at the destination was 5 hours but the return trip took 6 hours instead! This include rest stop and immigration checks along the way.

I bought a travel pillow to support my back as I have a bad lower back. Listening to MP3 music also helps. The scenery was not that appealing after some time but I rather travel in the day than at night as most of the accidents happened late at night!

So here is a slideshow of my coach journey and I will write a bit more on my stay in KL later.

(Pls click on the 'X' on the top right-hand corner of the slideshow if display is blank.)

Lower Back Pain - Inversion Table

Hi,

A few months ago, I started to experience some pain on the lower back and also numbness on either the calf or buttocks, or even both.

My wife and I attended a talk on Knee and Back Pain Management organised by STP and we are now more informed of the problems.

A few weeks after that, due to the ongoing numbness and pain on the lower back and knee, I decided to visit the specialist doctors ( or Consultants as they call themselves now ).

Did MRI on the lower back and knee. Nothing so severe that I need surgery but maybe in the future if they get worse.

My dear wife came across this advertisement on this Inversion Table and we went to attend a short talk and demo. Met a friend who bought it recently and found it effective. I also searched the Internet for more info before we decided to buy it .

Glad to say that I believe it has helped as the pain and numbness are much under control and they are not as bad as before.

In short, the principle is similar to have weights pulled on your spine when you have slipped disc.
I saw my father lying in bed and having weights on him when he was in his 40s. This Inversion Table uses gravity to pull the spine and let it breath or self-heal with time by hanging you upside down at various angles.

You can see me in the photo below hanging at 30 degrees only but I can feel my body weight pulling me down and as if I am upside down. I should progress to 60 degrees when I am used to it.

We decided to buy this latest model which is safer and easy to maintain as I do not want to fall upside down....ha...ha...ha....

This cost us more than S$1000 but there are cheaper models for around S$500 but do your research on the Internet before you go into it as it is quite an investment.

My family members also use it and I do it at least twice a day for 5 to 10 minutes or whatever you are comfortable with.

As we grow old, we will have all sort of problems and I believe in arresting them early and paying for it for long term gains if I can afford it.

Eat and sleep well, my friends!

David

My Bionic Leg ?

Hi,

Some of you are aware that I have oestoarthritis (OA) on my left knee and have started to limp a bit more lately, I have a MRI done last month and the doctor has recommended an OA knee brace to help alleviate the pain and also, hopefully, may realign the the part of the joint that are rubbing against each other.

I believe this is the latest model and I could be possibly one of the first few to be wearing it here. It has to be shipped in from US or Canada.

My son thinks that it is cool and my wife called it 'bionic'...?

I just started wearing it last Thu and was walking around the Sitex PC show for at least 2 hours... No knee pain but a bit uncomfortable as I was not used to it and also still adjusting the straps accordingly.

I believe it is doing what it is meant to do and alleviating the pain in the knee but I am still getting used to have it on. Wearing shorts is ok but need to wear a baggy pants to have it on though. Tried it once, so far.

But it costs a 'bomb'...!

So here is how it looks like .....