MEASURING YOUR OWN PRODUCTIVITY

Have you been really productive in your work all these while? What have you been doing while trying to get a job done? Did it take you the required 2 hours to get a task done or it took you more than double or triple the period of time? Were you busy chatting through IMs or browsing through the internet rather than seriously focusing on your task?

Most of us are not aware of the time we spend doing other unnecessary things while working on an assignment. Our minds and focuses wander off easily. We often get distracted easily by the amount of real-time programs installed in our computer systems, namely chatting channels where we keep in close contact with family and friends. Most of the time, we are so engrossed in chatting that we forget about the urgencies of things to be done. I am sure you curious to find out what you have been doing subconsciously while trying to get a task done.

What do you understand by the word productivity? Productivity is an abstract term used to measure activities or results independently. Normally, it is the activities we perform that will determine the end results, whether the results would be positive or negative. To avoid having negative results which will ascertain the lack of productivity, certain productivity measures must be taken at the root of any actions. Let us examine the measures that will help us in being more productive.

One of the good ways that I have found out is through MeasureProductivity 1.0 by AKS-Labs. The specially designed program is a good “productivity software” that will help in measuring an individual’s productivity level and assist in rectifying any unproductive actions. This shareware program is a self-examination program which you can easily download the 30-days trial version to analyze your own productivity level. You can even purchase the full version when you feel at ease with what the program can do for you. I have personally tried it out and it works perfect for me. At least now I know how much time I have spent utilizing my computer and what are the sites that I have spent most of my time in.

I was surprised at how detailed the program is when it shows even the simplest information that we did not consider such as Application Activated, Mouse Clicked/Wheeled, Keyboard Presses and Clipboard Changed. It even shows you your keyboard actions on how many times you have used function keys as Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, BkSp and Del. What I like most about this program is that it allows me to test run it for a few days before I assign any specific applications for the programs and roles which I would want it to analyze for me.

There are many more tips to increase productivity from the site that are useful for people from different professions. Maybe you would like to find out more on how it can help not only you but your organization towards better productivity. Here is part of the list of interesting articles:

* Why Companies Need to Measure and Increase Sales Productivity
* How to Measure and Increase Helpdesk Productivity
* The Need to Measure and Increase Writing Productivity
* Tips to effectively measure and increase secretary productivity
* How to measure and increase research productivity
* How to Measure and Increase Assistant Productivity
* Ways to Measure and Increase Training Productivity
* How to Measure and Increase Attorney Productivity
* How to Measure and Increase Webmaster Productivity
* How to Measure and Increase Programmer Productivity

CATS ON TUESDAY – ALL IN THE FAMILY

The past few days have been quite handicap for me with my internet service getting frequent network problems resulting in lesser blog posts and the mood to blog even more. Luckily I have my “J” family members to make my days brighter. In fact, I have spent much quality time with them, busy shooting away all their cute moments. Here is Jayson whispering into his Dad, Jon’s ears to get a family photo taken.

“Mummy… Justin… Janice… come take family photo,” shouted Jayson.

“Shhhh… Mummy and Daddy are having their romantic moments holding hands together.”
“Let us don’t disturb and take Mummy’s delicious milk instead,” remarked Jayson.
Criz: “Oops…it means I can’t disturb them as well. Let’s accept this as a family photo..haha”

PHOTO HUNTERS: OLD-FASHIONED

This week’s theme is on OLD-FASHIONED.
This is an OLD-FASHIONED radio transistor
that was first introduced to Malaya in 1954 by the then National brand.
After independence from the British in 1957, our country has been named Malaysia and the National brand has changed its name to National Panasonic.
The OLD-FASHIONED radio belonged to my Dad
and I guessed it has become an antique as well.
As you can see, it is labeled as National All Wave Transistor 8.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR VISIT!

For those PhotoHunt members,
Please click Mister Linky above and enter your information for easy tracking.
Thank you and have a Nice Weekend!

TROUBLESHOOTING INTERNET LAGGINESS

Do you believe that troubles come in three? Firstly, my computer downloading was so slow until I almost fell asleep while opening my websites. Then, both my hotmail and yahoo mails were down and I could not even check my mails for days. Needless to say, I could not even receive or send any emails to my clients. There goes my income and it is not a small sum at the rate I have to reject many MNC projects. Even while you are reading this, I am still waiting for the Internet Service Provider (Maxis Broadband) to set their network problems right. Can you imagine majority of the subscribers could not even browse an international website or any websites with an international link?

What is the use of detecting fast access and yet I could not do anything online? I wondered why a big company like Maxis is reputable to provide good coverage but still have network problems most of the time. It is getting to be too ridiculous to pay for the monthly subscription for unlimited access and yet getting only a few hours of quality connection time daily. I guessed I might be thinking of other options soon but I have no ideas at all as all the local ISPs have many problems too. Even one of the best around does not provide facilities to residential or commercial areas. Anyone has any good suggestion?

The real reason of this post is to share some knowledge on my first connection problem. Even the best anti-virus and anti-spyware did not alert me on the silent intrusion. I had problems in getting advertisements by Nuffnang displayed properly in my websites or even log into their website. Even checking with the Nuffnang or Maxis technical teams did not solve the problem. They have 100% view of all advertisements in both my websites at their end. Installing and uninstalling the browsers and some programs did not help either. Without the help of my technical expert Azmeen, I did not know that there is such a thing as TROJAN DNS. This Trojan virus, spyware, malware or whatever you call it will not only slow down the system, it also redirects your IP requests all over to Timbuktu before coming back to your IP requests. In the end, I would rather sleep than to be online.

There are actually a few things I have found out that can help in speeding up the internet access as well as your computer. Firstly, get your anti-virus updated in real time. Secondly, you can read more in this forum on the Trojan DNS hijack. They will ask you to download a file named Fixwareout to run on your computer to solve the Trojan issue. It did help me and a few of my friends out in getting Nuffnang advertisements being displayed properly. Thirdly, over the months and years of computer usages, it will accumulate unnecessary junks and corrupted registry. This is another reason why your computer processing is performing like a snail. I have tried using CCleaner and it helps speed up things. You can try download the latest free cleaner at FileHippo website.

I do hope that my sharing here can help those people with slow access and processing problems. Do have a nice weekend ahead with your troubleshooting and faster browsing.

CATS ON TUESDAY – FAMILY PHOTO

Papa Jonathan: 21 March 2007
Mama Jessica: 21 March 2007
Baby Janice: 3 January 2008 (2.37am)
Baby Jayson: 3 January 2008 (3.24am)
Baby Justin: 3 January 2008 (4.11am)

I could hardly imagine since the first time I have posted up on the birth of the kittens,
the triplets have grown up real fast in less than 20 days.
In fact, they have been walking clumsily all over the place exploring every corner of the room.
Jess has been really over protective of her kittens, “biting” them back into the kitten’s tray each time they ran out.
I guessed she will have a hard time chasing after the kittens when they can run around the house in the next couple of days.
Jon on the other hand is still having the post-birth “being father” phobia.
On and off he will pop in the kittens’ house to have a peep at them,
but will run away for his life each time one of the kittens tried to climb over him or come near him.
I did not post this up before but maybe you would like to have a look at the birth of Jayson, after Janice has been born almost an hour apart earlier.

Now you will understand how hard it is to get them together for a family photo but I did it (with many spoilt shots of course ~~~sweat~~)!
I will be posting up the growing up process of the triplets from time to time.
Do keep a watch out for updates.

HOW OLD ARE YOU?

It was a typical day in the courthouse where there were many cases for Justice Toomuchtodo to handle. The whole place was in silence as the judge came into the courtroom. It was the case between Ms Iamsexy, a celebrity actress against paparazzi, Mr. Shootalot for intruding into her personal life. The hearing went on as below”

“How old are you, Ms Iamsexy?” asked the judge. She replied, “I am 30 years old your honor.” The judge double checked on her past record as she had another similar case few years back. With a puzzled look, the judge asked her, “How could you be of the same age as few years back?” Confidently the woman replied, “Your honor, I am a woman of principle and I would not change what I have said earlier in court!”

From the above short story, you would have known that it is hard to go against a woman especially when she has made a stand over what she had said earlier. It is even harder to get them to tell you their true age. It is one of the world’s greatest puzzles to understand them at times but without them, we would not be in this world. Woman has played an increasing amount of importance in our society. They will go all out to give their best in any tasks that were once given to men. That is the reason you see that in whatever job available in the market, they are the ones who will withstand any job pressures. Thus, you will see that in any organization, job turnover for women are far lesser than men.

As the saying, “man has his will but woman has her way.” What make a woman successful and confident in life? It is her wealth, kinship, procreation, virtue and of course beauty. In order to maintain their confidence in public, most women will not disclose their ages as it will tarnish their images and statuses to blend in with the men in the society. There is one thing that man has to learn about a woman: You must always remember her birthday but must never remember her age.

PHOTO HUNTERS: IMPORTANT

This week’s theme is on IMPORTANT.
Last week, I posted up a skinny stray mother cat which has given birth to 3 kittens.
This week, it will be on my cat Jessica which has also given birth to 3 kittens.
Who could be more IMPORTANT in our life other than our MOTHER?
The same case goes for Justin who is only 15 days old.
To him, his MOTHER is the most IMPORTANT entity in his life.
He understood the importance and the unconditional love of his mother
towards him and his other siblings, Janice and Jayson too.
No matter how hard and painfully it is for a mother to bring us into this world,
she will never forgo her duties to ensure that we are loved and cared for.
If you have not spend quality time with your mother for some time now,
go ahead and give her a call or be with her right now.
This is the best way to show her how IMPORTANT she is in our life.

FEEL FREE TO DROP BY INSIGHT CRIZ FOR MORE PHOTOGRAPHS.
YOU CAN EVEN READ MORE ON THE MANY PERSPECTIVE
ON LOVE AND LIFE.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR VISIT!

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Please click Mister Linky above and enter your information for easy tracking.
Thank you and have a Nice Weekend!

ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY STAINLESS STEEL FOR YOUR HOME

Throwing out and replacing old home products and decorations can be a costly enterprise. Moreover, it could have some environmental issues if they are not properly disposed of. Why not think about how effective and long lasting a product is when you have decided to buy them for your home? The good news is that you will not only save money in a long run but also help keep the environment save for the future generation. If you are thinking of what are the products that I am mentioning here, it is the proven corrosion resistance alloy called stainless steel.

There are many stainless steel items created nowadays for practically anything for your home. They are with the state-of-the-art designs and will surely give your home a new lease of life. Whatever products that you do not have in hand, you will find them at your local stainless steel store. They will have many different categories of products for indoor as well as outdoor usage which some might be of interest to you.

That is why many households prefer stainless steel utensils for their kitchen as the austenitic microstructure of stainless steel provides a very high degree of toughness. It resists scaling and retains strength at high temperatures making it the ideal material for cooking utensils. Stainless steel utensils are easy to clean and have the high hygienic qualities in them. Due to the processes in the production, the microstructure of stainless steel has no cracks or crevices for bacteria and other grime to hide in.

With the long life cycle and attractiveness of stainless steel, you are sure of ensuring that less old items are thrown out of the house and thus making the world a better place to live in without the unnecessary environmental pollution. For your information purposes, over 90% of new stainless steel comes from recycled stainless steel scraps, making it an environmental friendly product for every household.

I AM GETTING TOO FAT!

Yup… I must admit that I have lack the exercise to trim down that excess weight of mine. What can I do when I was born and bred in the land of endless yummy hawker food? Each time when I have the nagging urge to start exercising, I ended up stumbling onto my comfy chair in front of my computer busy working on my so-called projects. Those projects do not have much urgency to be completed immediately but somehow I could not get myself up from my chair. In the end, I ended up talking to myself, “What the heck? I’ll start tomorrow!” Isn’t this the same scenario most of us faced when we were to start on any fitness programs?

Thinking back on what I would be today if I were to be seriously motivated to get rid of those fat, I asked myself, “Why do I lack the enthusiasm then?” Is it really that difficult for me to kick my butt to start exercising? Maybe I am a workaholic but that is not a good excuse. No companion to go along so that it would not be boring? Well, if I could only have the initiative then to give someone a call which I never did. I would think it is the dreadful hours spent, soaked in sweat, tiring every muscle in the body and turning me into a whimpering and exhausted weakling towards the end of the day.

There were many types of exercises that I could have done earlier. When it came to going to gym, I would complain that the club membership would be too expensive and I hated lifting weights. When it was about jogging, I would say that it is too early to wake up, too hot to get my skin burned, ankle not working well and it will further worsen the condition. As for swimming, it was the usual hot or cold weather impact on the body. Even skipping a rope in the house has many illogical reasoning as not to break the household items and so on. Everything is just mere excuses for not wanting to do what most of us dislike – exercise.

Later, I had the typical idea of slimming down through diets. Initially, everything went on smoothly until the temptation of all the delicious food crept their way unconsciously into my dreams. Temptation overruled the determination to get a slim and fit body. Days after days of postponing the diet programs ended up to years of ignorance. In the end, all turned into laziness, laziness and more laziness. Workouts were replaced with endless eat-outs.

Well, there is still tomorrow as I would always tell myself. But it will never be a reality as tomorrow will never come as it will be replaced by today. Hmmm… I think I better start exercising more today with my unimpressive blood test results. I might drop dead if no strict diets and exercising are done as precautious measures now. You would not want to end up like me, would you? Put on your best sweat shirt and flush your RAM chip down the toilet bowl now. By the way, why are you still reading this? You should be exercising now! Haha… caught you there!

WHY RUIN THE BODY WITH ILLEGAL SUBSTANCE?

Do you think drug is essential to the human body other than for therapeutic and medical effect? Do you think taking a psychoactive drug or performance enhancing drug is justified in order to satisfy a person’s pleasure to be vulgar or to be more courageous? Even with the wide public awareness on the danger of abusing drugs, there are still about 5% of the world population consuming illicit drugs per annum. This is one of the worst items ever created by human which is highly being abused.

Why is it that a person consume drug? It is because that the chemical substance within a drug altered the brain function allowing the mood, behavior, and consciousness of a person to look at situations in a different perspective. In a long run a person will be addicted to the drug and thus refused to get out from that artificial pleasure they are experiencing. With the euphoric effects of drugs, most drug addicts will lose their senses along with the abuse usages of these stimulants, analgesics, hypnotics and hallucinogens contained drugs.

With the alarming figure of addicts coming from the teenage group, you can see many countries setting up at least a drug treatment center to educate youngsters and at the same time eradicate the root problem of the abuse. There are many steps performed by these drug rehab centers in their short and long term programs such as detoxification and withdrawal, self control and communication exercises, sauna cleansing process, study improvement and drug free remedies for discomforts.

Other than the drug abuse problem, there is another addiction which has caused much concern among the public. It is alcoholism. Even though the sales of alcohol are legal in many countries, many drinkers did not moderate their consumptions and inadvertently became drunkards. Thus, they could not stop themselves from drinking even more. There are also alcoholism rehab centers to help these alcoholics set their lives back to the right tracks.

Addiction expelled the mind to think rationally. It drowned memories, defaced the brain, diminished a person’s strength and caused many incurable wounds. It is a witch to the body, a devil to the mind, a thief to the pocket and a self murderer to a person’s health. There is nothing great about being addicted to anything except for the physical and moral degradation of a person.

BIRD OF PARADISE

Strelitzia reginae is a monocotyledonous flowering plant indigenous to South Africa. Common names include Strelitzia, Crane Flower or Bird of Paradise, though these names are also collectively applied to other species in the genus Strelitzia. Its scientific name commemorates Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of King George III.

The plant grows to 2 m (6½ ft) tall, with large, strong leaves 25-70 cm (10-28 in) long and 10-30 cm (4-12 in) broad, produced on petioles up to 1 m (about 40 in) long. The leaves are evergreen and arranged in two ranks, making a fan-shaped crown. The flowers stand above the foliage at the tips of long stalks.

The hard, beak-like sheath from which the flower emerges is termed the spathe. This is placed perpendicular to the stem, which gives it the appearance of a bird's head and beak; it makes a durable perch for holding the sunbirds which pollinate the flowers. The flowers, which emerge one at a time from the spathe, consist of three brilliant orange sepals and three purplish-blue petals. Two of the blue petals are joined together to form an arrow-like nectary. When the sunbirds sit to drink the nectar, the petals open to cover their feet in pollen.

FINDING A CAREER AT RETAIL OPTIONS LIMITED

There are millions of retail jobs opportunities throughout UK each year and there will surely be a lot of job vacancies available monthly. Have you ever thought of starting your career in a fun, fast paced and exciting industry? Why not get yourself employed in the retail world through RetailOptions?

RetailOptions is an internet job board that gives exceptional value for money. The business is run by experienced directors and employees from the retail and recruitment industries. To seek jobs in retail have never been that easy as RetailOptions is the main platform for advertisers and job seekers to find each other. All you need to do to be a part of the RetailOptions family is to register yourself, post up your CV and start searching for jobs amongst the potential employer list in the website.

What I like most about RetailOptions are their advices on the careers in retailing. They will advise and guide you in many aspects from searching for a job, assessment centres, writing your CV & introduction letter, job offer & salary negotiation, follow up your application, resignation & the notice period, the interview, up to what to do on the first day in your new job. They even have a test to check on your Personality and Skill. What a unique and remarkable way to provide free counselling through their website!

PHALAENOPSIS CANDY STRIPE

The Phalaenopsis is one of the good hybrid orchids. It is easy to grow and the flowers will last for months with mature plants often re-blooming on the same stem. Larger specimens can be in bloom all year round. The size of the flowers varies from tiny 1.2 cm. to 12 cm.

Some species are fragrant but most are not. There are many varieties around the orchid world, from white, white with red lip, candy stripe, speckled or spotted, pink, yellow, orange and even solid red. They are indeed charming in their own right.

SELF IMPROVEMENT WITH ONLINE EDUCATION

Do you will feel shy to attend class again at your age? Well, there is nothing to be ashamed of as gaining knowledge is endless and we do that often too in our daily life. So now would you still want to earn that degree you always wanted to have? Do you know that getting one would be easy if you have the effort and motivation to strive for a better life?

Check out the online education at Capella University. It is the accredited university with online bachelor’s, master's and doctoral degree programs with uncompromising academic standards. Not only will you discover the relevant courses to suit you in your work, you will also meet your personal goal in getting that qualification that you always wanted.

Here are some of their programs which might be of interest to you. They are Business Management, Health Care Admin, Higher Education, Information Technology, K-12 Education, Mental Health and Public Safety.

Note: This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

LIFE AS IT IS

Thinking thinking thinking,
That’s what we always do without a blink.
What is it that we will find?
It should be more towards the quality of the mind.

It is just an illusion,
That thinking is the only solution.
From what you are now comes true happiness within,
And not from what you have been.

Recalling what you were will not be the cure,
But instead it will make you feel more insecure.
Security comes from who you are,
And not from what you think you are.

A good way to keep life meaningful,
Is to study deep inside how to be mindful.
The mind has to be open to resist nothing,
Deny nothing, reject nothing and suppress nothing.
Through this will only make the mind flow,
Thus life will be enriched and eventually grow.

SAVE MORE WITH INTERNET PHONE SERVICE

Are you someone who will make long distance call very often? Are the charges for the calls so high that it is eating into your monthly budget? If so, you should be looking into Brama Telecom Inc’s Internet Phone Service. This service is based on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) latest technology where you can save hundreds on long distance and international calls annually.

Just check put their Long Distance Phone Rates. They are the lowest I have ever seen compared to other companies having the same services. Can you imagine that you can even order local number from 20 countries that allows your friends and relatives call you locally? Presently, they have some Unlimited Long Distance Calling Plan up for grab where you can even save more.

This system offers some interesting features such as 911 Dialing, Voicemail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, In-Network Calls, Call return, Call Transfer, Distinctive Ringing, Intercom Dialing, Hunt Group, Message Waiting, Music on Hold, Speed Dialing, 3-way Calling and Toll Restriction.

In case you might want to know more on VoIP, here are some visuals to enlighten you further. A special VoIP adapter that you connect to your home or office network converts voice traffic into digital data for transmission over the Internet. To that adapter you can connect any regular phone you like and make calls as usual. They have certain equipment that manages all calls you make so you always can reach the person you are calling and get excellent quality of voice and numerous of additional features that you cannot have in traditional phone service

NORMAL PHONE CONNECTION

IP PHONE CONNECTION

WHICH CATEGORY DO YOU FALL INTO?

There are many kinds of people in our society. They may be your relatives, friends, colleagues, neighbors or just anybody surrounding you now. Basically, they fall into 4 main categories.

CATEGORY 1: He who does not know but think he knows
These are fools that we should avoid in order not to get ourselves acquainted with their foolishness.

CATEGORY 2: He who does not know that he knows
These are the people who need our guidance and support to be awakened so that they can do more beyond their present efforts.

CATEGORY 3: He who knows what he does not know
These are the people who are self motivated to seek more knowledge for self improvement.

CATEGORY 4: He who know that he knows
These are who we should acquaint with in order for us to develop ourselves further. They will guide us and help us to grow better in our journey of life.

So now which category do you think you fall into? Which category do you associate with most of the time? Do you think that you are mingling with the correct crowd now? Share your thoughts here.

SHOWING YOUR APPRECIATION THROUGH GIFTS

Your company has made a remarkable profit in 2007. Have you thought of showing your appreciation towards your associates, staff and business contacts for making that possible? Maybe you would also want to plan for your 2008 sales incentive programs. There are many ways you can do it and one of the common ways is to get business gift online. Unfortunately, many of those companies out there are MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) based. What you really need is personalized business gift regardless of quantity ordered that will give lasting impacts.

Tradewinds Merchandising Company is one such reliable company who can meet your needs within the shortest possible time. They have been in this industry in UK and Europe for more than decades and have the business products, advertising and services expertise to handle even the most difficult scenario. They even have an in-house award winning screen printing and embroidery, a dedicated sourcing department and a design and artwork studio to customize your requirements.

Their products are categorized systematically in their business and promotional gifts section for easy browsing and selection. Among the categories are General Promotional Gifts, Corporate Watches, Personal Care Gifts, Gifts for the Home, Leisure Gifts, Caps, Kids & Games, Bags, Travel Gifts, Writing Gifts, Office Gifts, Electronic Gifts, Premium Quality Gift Items, and Tools & Torches.

Be out of the ordinary and decide on the most creative and personalized corporate gifts to reward your clients. A good suggestion would be a business gift pen with an individualized name of your client. Who would not be impressed by such a personalized business gift? Jump in and see what Tradewinds has in store for you. You would not regret having them as your main source for promotional items, gifts, and awards for all your corporate business needs.

MOTHER NATURE’S RARE CREATION

Enjoying Mother Nature’s creation is one of the most practical things to do during anytime of the day to relax the mind from all the daily stresses. Have you thought about watching the clouds and trying to identify what type they are?

Basically, there are 5 components of clouds. They are Altum (height), Stratus (layered), Cirrus (hair lock like), Cumulus (heaped), and Nimbus (precipitation bearing). There are also a few combination of clouds formation such as Altocumulus (altum & cumulus), Altostratus (altum & stratus), Cirrocumulus (cirrus & cumulus), Cirrostratus (cirrus & stratus) and Cumulonimbus (cumulus & nimbus).

One of the rare clouds that you can watch out for is the Mammatus cloud. Sometimes, it is called Mamma or Mammatoculmulus which means breast cloud. This is a meteorological term applied to a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud. Mammatus are most often associated with the anvil cloud that extends from a cumulonimbus, but may also be found under altocumulus, altostratus, stratocumulus, and cirrus clouds, as well as contrails and volcanic ash clouds.

There are only a few sighting of these clouds around the globe in the last few decades, namely in USA (San Francisco, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Nebraska), Iraq and Italy (Milan). These rare and beautiful clouds do not precede a tornado, or foretell a storm, but are formed when the air is already saturated with rain droplets and/or ice crystals and begins to sink. The worst of the storm is usually over when these kinds of clouds are seen. Here are some of the wonderful shots taken by Jorn Olsen in Hasting, Nebraska.

LOWEST PRESCRIPTION EYEGLASSES IN THE MARKET

When you mentioned the word “eyeglasses”, I will shiver as I change eyeglasses especially sunglasses rather frequently. Even a simple frame with UV protection glasses will burn a big hole in my pocket at almost $100 each time. You should know that keeping up with the fashion trend could be expensive at times.

Ever since my luck in stumbling upon Great Discovery: www.ZenniOptical.com, I saved more than 50% on my eyeglasses purchases. All eyeglasses are directly from Zenni factory with practically no retail overhead, advertising budget or even middlemen charges. You would be amazed to see their wide selection of eyeglasses models with some complete prescription eyeglasses with case for as low as $8.

I am sure most of you would want to save more on any fashionable and stylish products. Why not get yourself a high quality product of great durability, safety and comfort at truly reasonable and affordable prices today?

IXORA COCCINEA

Ixora is a genus from the family Rubiaceae. This is one of the best known garden shrubs in Malaysia. It loves the sun. The locals named it Jejarum (needle flower) because the buds look like needles. Originating in the Asia-Pacific, it blooms all year round and comes in a variety of colors the most common being bright red. It can also be found commonly in tropical climates in the USA.

There are many names for Ixora. Sometimes, it is known as West Indian Jasmine, rangan, kheme, ponna, chann tanea, techi, pan, jarum-jarum, Jungle flame, Jungle geranium, and many more.

The plant possesses leathery leaves, ranging from 3 to 6 inches in length, and produce large clusters of tiny flowers in the summer. It prefers acidic soil, and is a suitable choice for making good hedges and bonsai. The flower has sweet nectar which attracts lots of insects such as bees, butterflies and ants.

MARKETING THROUGH EMAIL BROADCASTING

With the advancement in Information Technology of today, many companies across the globe are smart enough to stretch their marketing budget by utilizing the most out of the internet. Thus, email marketing was born. Compared to other media investments such as direct mail or printed newsletters, this approach is much more effective and less expensive. Who would not want to distribute information to a wide range of specific, potential customers within a short delivery time frame and at a relatively low cost?

There are many e-solution companies that offer some facilities for this process. One UK permission based email marketing and email response management solutions company with more than 7 years of experiences caught my attention most. Maxemail is the name and they have the email marketing software that can help boost up sales for any brand in the market. What impressed me most is their user-friendly software that even a non-technical person could set up their email campaigns professionally. On top of that, they even have a detailed tracking reporting system ranging from funnel reports to domain centric reports.

Most of the time, when you tried to email your marketing campaigns, they get classified as spams. In Maxemail, they have a range of tools to help you in avoiding spam filters. They even have viral marketing campaigns which can automatically capture additional subscribers through your link of friends.

Maxemail is suitable for deployment in a number of different environments, whether they are a web based solution, an in-house installed system or a fully managed service. There are many more features available from Maxemail such as Email Broadcasting, Email Deliverability, List Management, HTML Template Management, Dynamic Content, Personalization & Segmentation, Campaign Optimization & Testing, Tracking & Reporting, Multi-user access rights and so on. You can always check out their email marketing services for more information and also their competitive and flexible packages for all sizes of business.

PHOTO HUNTERS: SKINNY

This week’s theme is on SKINNY.
This is a shot of a stray mother cat that has been roaming in front of my house.
Since given birth to 3 kittens, she has been SKINNY.
Life has been hard for her family as not many people have been feeding them.
Out of compassion, I have been feeding her and her kittens regularly.
I hoped that she would not be so SKINNY for long with my love and care.

FEEL FREE TO DROP BY INSIGHT CRIZ FOR MORE PHOTOGRAPHS.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR VISIT!

For those PhotoHunt members,
Please click Mister Linky above and enter your information for easy tracking.
Thank you and have a Nice Weekend!

STATE-OF-THE-ART FURNITURE FOR YOUR HOME

The dining room is perhaps one of the most imposing parts in most homes due to the ample space it is allocate for. With the normal preoccupations with the living rooms, bedrooms, or even bathrooms, the dining room can sometimes be overlooked and neglected. Have you ever thought of boosting the atmosphere of your dining room with modern furniture?

There are many attractive styles in creating good ambience in your dining room. You can start by selecting a wide range of dining settings of any number of seats. The setting could include an impressive and tasteful style of modern furniture such as glass, wrought iron or timber, all in attractive modern designs and colors. Adding some play of lightings can also bring out the best in your dining room decoration.

After selecting your choice of dining setting, you can complete your masterpiece with exquisite range of quality buffets, crockery and cutlery which you can proudly show off in selected curios to impress your guests further. Why do you want to dine in a dull and boring room when you can feel like a king in your dining room? Decorate your dining room with modern furniture and make it a place of distinction today!

PAPER TOLE AS HOBBY?

Some of us have spare time on our hands but most of the time we do not know how to occupy ourselves. How about creating masterpieces in your own pace and in the comfort of your home? Eventually, some will take up handcrafted arts such as knitting, cross stitching, scrap booking, drawing, or even sketching. What about trying out something new with your creativity?

Have you heard of the 3-dimensional paper craft known as Paper Tole? This fun and interesting 3D picture art originated from Europe. Pictures or photos are cut, shaped, molded, layered and varnished to produce an exquisite masterpiece. The finished product is amazingly textured and is in 3D form, certainly a conversation piece in any home. Paper Tole sets come in a variety of sizes and price range. You can even design your own if you have duplicate copies of high quality prints or photos.

If you are a beginner, choose something that is simple first and practice the basic techniques before building your picture. When you get the hang out of it, you can slowly move on to more complex projects. Try your skills and creativity with Paper Tole today. It is relaxing to the mind and will built up you patience eventually.

AUTHENTIC MEMORABILIA FOR ME

I wondered if anyone still remember who is Barbara Streisand? She was an American singer cum actress who acted wonderfully in the musical movie “The Funny Lady”. What about Mariah Carey? I am sure most people will know who she is with her ever sexy pose? If you are not from the music scene, maybe the Harry Potter casts might be of interest to you?

Somehow or other, someone from the entertainment sector will be of interest to you and you would want to get hold of their autographs as remembrance. Getting an autograph from your idol might not be easy when you are half a world away. Getting an authentic one would be even harder if you do not know how.

If you want to purchase any authentic autographed memorabilia, why don’t you visit Autographink to check out what they have in store for you? The best autograph for foreign artistes that I have in my possession is from a group of experienced impersonators known as Voulez Vouz. They have been impersonating ABBA for more than 15 years. What I would like to get my hands on would be the autographed items on The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, or even trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong. I do hope I can get one good offer on Louis Armstrong as I love his song “What A Wonderful World” a lot.

MY TRIPLETS AT 5 DAYS OLD

Some of you might be curious to find out how my 2 Js + 3 Js are getting on. The parents Jonathan and Jessica are doing fine now. Jonathan has been sleeping most of the time as most of the attentions were on the triplets now. I guessed he must have felt left out of all the actions. Jessica on the other hand is still restless at the slightest purr from the kitties. She is doing fine being a responsible mother, feeding the triplets on time. However, I have to keep some watchful eyes over the 2 big Js’ actions before I ran out of Js to name more of their siblings. Do you know that female cats can produce every 3 months? Sweat~~!!

Well, Janice was the first one to have her eyes open at 4 days old. It was not a surprise for me as she was the first one to be born into my family. She is one fine poser-to-be as she even poses while drinking milk. The next in line would be Jayson, the biggest of them all. Surprisingly, his eyes are still tightly shut. I hope that he will open them soon to compliment with the smoothest fur I have ever touched. Now come to the youngest and the cheekiest, Justin. His eyes were opened only early this morning. You know what? I love his pathetic looking eyes staring at me and fiddling with my fingers whenever he could.

ARE YOU HAVING A GOOD NIGHT SLEEP?

I did not know about the seriousness of sleep deprivation and insomnia until I read in an article that 25% of people suffer from it. Even though I do not suffer from this, I felt pity for those insomniacs. Can you imagine nights after nights of staring at the ceiling trying to get to sleep but the inability to do so? Even shuffling on the bed, reading a long boring book or endless watching of TV dramas would not get the person to sleep. How miserable it is to get into this stage?

What really causes sleep deprivation and insomnia? There are many factors which include anxiety, stress, depression, too much of caffeine, alcohol or even smoking (nicotine). No matter how an insomniac tried to get his mind preoccupied with getting more sleep, he will end up more frustrated, thus getting himself into more depression.

Some say that there is no cure to sleep deprivation and insomnia unless the person consumes sleeping pills. Too much of the pills will be bad for the body. I found out about a secret discovered by a German research scientist in 1839 which can help in curing insomnia. It is some "binaural beats" with special tones that can influence the mind. These tones or noise frequencies can make the mind feel more alert, refreshed and alive.

What a great insomnia help this is! I do hope that through this discovery, more people can have better quality sleep than ever. For more information on how to obtain the CD, please do visit http://www.sleep-deprivation-cd.com/

CHEAP BUT NOT NECCESSARY GOOD

“Wow…there is this offer here and there and the price is so cheap!” This is what most people will remark when there are offers going around during year end or stock clearance sales. Have you ever wonder whether these products are suitable for you? Do you really need to buy so many of those untested or low quality products which you might not even finish utilizing them for ages? Can the products last long enough before the expiry date?

I frequent hypermarket a lot to get the best deal on certain products which I really need. Sometimes, I will bump into some families with 2-3 cartloads of products that made my eyes wide. Toilet papers are on sales at $1.72 (RM5.69) for 10 compact rolls pack. I saw quite a few times some with more than 10 packs in their carts. I was wondering whether they eat and shit a lot or they have a football team in their family. Malaysian families are really thrifty when it comes to saving more especially on toilet papers. Each time when there is an offer on, you can practically see lots of shoppers with at least 2-3 packs in hand.

What many do not realized is that they are reasons why the products are going off so cheaply. The manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors are aware of it but do we really know why? Let us look at the case of the toilet papers. I was also curious about the reasons why people would want to get so many and decided to check on the product. Well, it is surely cheap but the roughness of the toilet paper is enough to make any users sore for ages. Who would want to use sandpaper on whatever sensitive part of the body? Moreover, a better quality and softer ones are less than $1 (RM3.30) more.

Another product that many would go for is the slippers or flip-flops. There are many around the market. Some even cost as low as $1.50 (RM5). Sometimes our body and sweat are sensitive towards certain plastic products. When we go to the beach with the salt from the sea water, it might even create some chemical reaction. Thus, our feet get affected by the reactions causing blisters and scales which could be rather painful. Moreover, these flip-flops are suitable only for short distance usage. The soles are rather slippery too when in contact with grease and water.

Buying is easy. Buying cheap stuff is even easier for most of us but we have to be smart in identifying how practical a product is and how safe it is for the usage on our body.

HEALTH ISSUES MANY AVOIDED

There are many health issues that both men and women would avoid discussing in public as they have the phobia of ending up as laughing stocks amongst their friends. Why would anyone want their lips sealed on such issues? Sex life issues are not big deals when there are relevant professions out there to help you pull through.

One of the most sensitive issues which fall upon men as they are afraid of losing their machismo in front of the women is impotency. Due to the modern lifestyles and job stresses, many men have somehow or other overly consume alcohol and drugs, smoke and eat extensively, resulting in overweight, lack of fitness and having bad diets. Thus, quite a handful will eventually have sexual function problems in the later part of their lives.

Most men are busy to get out from their heavy working schedule for a visit to the GP and thus taking no heed at all in their sex lives. That is why 21menhealth.com was set up for this purpose. They have the best possible information and advice as your GP would provide to assist you to pull through the trauma. They even recommended viagra but advised users to put in their best efforts to boost up their sexual lives by natural means such as getting the proper nutrition, having regular exercises and taking certain supplements.

VITAMINS FOR HEALTHIER HAIR

Staying with a bunch of housemates with hair problems can be such a headache. Can you imagine sweeping the floor daily and yet you still get hair flying out from nowhere? What about the bathroom? I can practically see hair scattered all over the floor when I wanted to take a bath. The sink area where everyone utilized to comb their hair was not spared either.

What really causes hair loss? Through survey by professionals, there are many reasons behind the problem. Some of the reasons are due to stress from illness, hormonal, pregnancy, wrong dosage of medication, cheap shampoo or even fungal infections. No matter what reason it may be, it is wise to find the right solution to hair losses without much delay.

Nowadays, with the modern lifestyle, some of us tend to blow dry our hair frequently to have that sophisticated and uptrend look. On top of that, some might even bleach and highlight their hair to blend in with the latest hair fashion world. Thus, the oils that protect the hair are constantly lost. This is when you will need to have hair vitamin to promote healthier hair growth and to keep your hair looking fuller, flourishing and vibrant.

I personally do not have the problem of hair loss. Thanks to the constant usage of the products from Help Hair. Their shampoo and conditioner really work well for me. Not only did it smooth my hair, it also gives my hair the needed weight by restoring the oils stripped by hair colorants, excessive shampooing and blow drying. Moreover, their hair scalp treatment which contains 5% Minoxidil has stimulated better and healthier hair growth for me. They even have a milder 2% Minoxidil scalp treatment products for women.

PHOTO HUNTERS: DELICIOUS

It’s a total new season for Photo Hunter 2008!
This week’s theme is on DELICIOUS.
Let me introduce you to my 3 days old triplets, Justin, Janice and Jayson.
This is how they term DELICIOUS,
“Mommy, your milk is the most DELICIOUS!”

Justin, “Yawn~~”
Janice, “Yummy… it’s so DELICIOUS! Burp~~ Burp~~”
Jayson, “Come on Janice… it’s siesta time. Save the best for last!”

FEEL FREE TO DROP BY MY INSIGHT CRIZ FOR MORE PHOTOGRAPHS.
THIS IS THE FIRST ENTRY FOR THE YEAR 2008
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008 EVERYONE!

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Thank you and have a Nice Weekend!