World Wetlands Day

Did you know that 2nd Feb every year is World Wetlands Day (WWD)? It marks the date of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea.

Details of the Ramsar Convention can be found here.

WWD activities of all sizes and shapes, from lectures and seminars, nature walks, children’s art contests, sampan races, and community clean-up days, to radio and television interviews and letters to newspapers, to the launch of new wetland policies, new Ramsar sites, and new programmes at the national level.

I wonder what Malaysia has planned? Or perhaps everyone is busy planning a grand celebration for 'Hari Wilayah Persekutuan' (Federal Territories Day) on 1st Feb?

500 BLOG

I’m sure many would have heard of Ben Ashaari. He’s doing a search for 500 blogs in 24 hours. Click on the banner for further info.

Me, myself and I

Ok overdo lah this one. Working mum of two, avid outdoor person involved in triathlon and any one of the three disciplines and still trying to find ways to be a better mum. Engineer by day, mum, housewife and wife by night and hopefully in the new year, sportsperson on weekends ;p

Started blogging about my first pregnancy. Easiest way to vent all the frustrations, stress and all those negative feelings when it happens on the blog. Making new cyber pals was one thing I didn’t expect, but it came as a good surprise, when I found few people who share a whole lot of similarities with me. Exchanging ideas and points of views was another plus point. And so I’ve stuck to blogging. How I wish my blogs have more than info bout myself, but more insight and indepth information. I will work on that.

Annoying news!

Hello!! You sit and rot and never attend meetings and then complain we don't do the work?

You expect us to volunteer ourselves all the time and help out, but you never participated until last month. Everytime everyone is busy doing something, you'll be on the phone like a big shot and then the people who work their a## off are the ones being called 'not participating'?

Come on lah!

We give all the ideas and you can only comment its not good enough? Then give us your brilliant ideas lah!

Thank goodness I don't have to see you face in any meetings anymore!

Does this look familiar to you?

It's from the new Luxe range

Why would anyone want to ‘display’ the patterns on a sanitary pad? Who would see it except yourself?

I asked myself that and I was wondering why Kotex came out with this idea.

And one day when I was in Lahad Datu, I had an unexpected visitor, so I succumbed to it and decided to try it out. Besides, it came in a nice metal box (just like in the photo) so I didn’t mind paying a bit more, just to try this one time.

Indeed it’s just a marketing gimmick and well, it’s not any better than the ones without the designs on it, it’s just the same, except that you’ll have to fork out slightly more $ for it. My overall opinion? The printing is not as brightly colored as the one you see on the 1st photo, its kinda slightly darker toned. And it served its purpose! :D

Customer satisfaction? Satisfied, but being the stingy person I am, I’ll not purchase it again.

21 weeks and balding

AIR2 is now 5months and 1 week old. Time flies.

About 2 weeks or so ago, I started experiencing significant hair fall. Then I recalled that during this similar period, with AIR1, I also had this same experience and I got really worried then. I thought it was due to b/feeding (I was then but not now) but I guess its mainly due to hormonal changes.

It's really scarry. Comb my hair and I'll see large quantities stuck to the hairbrush. It's even worse after washing my hair. When I dry my hair, I seem to be 'sweeping' off hair from my head. And it's kinda significant cos 'hair thinning spots' can now be noticed.

Somehow I'm not as panicky as I was the last time, knowing the fact that it would one day just return to normal. HOwever I am not taking it fogranted. Vitamins should not be neglected.

Any of you have the same experience after child birth?

When women rise to the top

I thought this was a really interesting piece.

Check out this article from The Star, here.

Lahad Datu again!

Oh well, another quick trip to Lahad Datu.

ETA LDU on 22nd Nov, and ETA KUL on 23rd Nov night.

I guess my itinery would've been different if it was bike-friendly and if hub wasn't having a busy week.

Anyway there's really nothing in LDU. hehe so I can catch up on blogging tonight. :)

Sabah Chicken Rice

Sounds very erm 'grand' but the menu and the shops seems otherwise. It actually sells more than just chicken rice. hah!

But, the rice isn't very tasty. The chicken's quite nice and this place is actually erm like a typical Chinese 'tai chow' place. There's the one-dish-meals and ala-carte dishes you can order and have with rice. Nothing to shout about lah, but kinda pricey for a small town.

RM7 for a small portion of mix vege, RM4.50 for one portion of roast chicken, RM6.50 for a portion of clay pot noodles. Price is more like what I get in KL. Maybe we'll just go for the road side stalls tomorrow. Wanna see what the locals have here.

It's amazing that these people just like to do business in the dark. No street lights, but they will set up stalls by the road side. Nothing much to explore but luckily not all shops close at 9pm anymore. 1 more night to go.

Lahad Datu

rest house?
Noooo....airport terminal

My first time in Lahad Datu, and all this while I imagined it to be a really small town.

OK, the town wasn't THAT small, but the airport is miniscule ;p

Now, what shall I do for the next few days after work?

RM23mil were approved

Wait a sec!! How did RM23 mil get approved to 16 thousand students who didn't apply for these PTPTN loans??? Goodness!!

I'm totally lost for words! These are not mere 20, 30 cent loans but thousands of ringgit per student!!

It makes me wonder how come there is no system in existance here and it is even reported that the load agreement folders are just stacked up till the ceiling. This is utter rubbish!! No wonder they are 3-32 months late in even giving out notices for repayment!!

It's a shame! How do you expect people to pay you back when you don't even keep proper records in the first place? No wonder they just can't be bothered!

Clinic encounter...

In my many years of visiting GPs and specialists in hospitals, I've never seen an overly concerned Dr about such a small thing. Even when my usual Dr (specialist) first met me, he wasn't sooooo overly cautious (though I was probably the 'greenest' and most yellow-looking person (imagine kunyit on my face) in the hospital). Now that I mentioned that, I think its because that lady GP is too scared to treat me because she does not have enough knowledge. Betul tak? Or else she won't be that way.

Not for me to judge.

But this is what happened. Wait, let me warn you...long long post!

Bad sore throat this morning. Slight fever which got worse when I reached office (air cond contributed). Went to a panel clinic nearby and while waiting outside, can hear this lady Dr babbling non-stop to all 3 patients before me. I thought to myself, they must have some complicated ailment.

My turn, got in, told her my pre-exsiting medical condition (cause I look really jaundiced), and then what I was there for. She looked at me and went yadda yadda yadda bout maybe it was more than just sore throat. Maybe my liver function not good (indication is the jaundice) etc etc. I told her, when I'm unwell, not enough rest, over-strained, I will look jaundiced. After that I'll be fine. Once in a while I'll look pale, yahla, women, kan? That's part of my Thallasaemia hbH disease. I've grown with it. Other GPs don't seem to think three times after I've given them a tour of my medical history.

But this lady just won't let go. She's young. Maybe not enough experience? She suggested going for a blood test to check my liver function before treating me, citing all antibiotics (most medicine for that matter) will have an effect on the liver and she doesn't want suddenly i get acute liver-failure or something. ;p She was talking non-stop. (now I know why the other patients too so long)

She insisted on not even giving me anything. She then said she'll refer me to UH ER for a blood test and ask me to take it from there. Oh well, she wasn't about to give up and I had enough of her 'lecture', so I said OK. (she was going on and on about not wanting to give wrong medication, the risks for me and her etc etc) MC also given.

I took the letter and MC and drove to another clinic.

I'm was not about to sit for hours waiting for a blood test and the results (ER will treat based on priority, not first come first served!) and my last full blood count didn't indicate anything abnormal (in August). I wasn't going to ask her for some strange drugs, cos another branch of the same panel has given me antibiotic before and I'm still alive and kicking.

Oh well...lesson learnt, I'll now have to avoid that clinic if I see her name as 'dr on duty'. Convenient but not really at the same time.

Crafting - my new pastime?

I’m not a very creative person especially when it comes to the artsy stuff, but somehow I wanted to do some craft-y stuff.

To be exact, perhaps sew myself a small pouch/bag for my phone (although there are tons readymade out there, but they don’t really fit very well) and at the same time, make my baby some nice hairbands. Oh well, for someone who has delayed sewing buttons on hubby’s shirt for ages, if I actually tell him my idea (it only popped last night), he’ll probably get a shock of his life.

But then again, I don't really know how to use a sewing machine. hehehe I didn't take 'home economics', I did 'kemahiran hidup' in lower sec. hahaha must get mum to give me a quick tutorial....

It's not going to be my daytime pastime, more likely my night time pastime, when the TV offers lousy programs or when I just feel like it (this can consider hobby?) hehehe oh well, we'll just have to wait and see.

Suziey's Giveaway

the broken

the new

This is a waaaaay delayed post....



Thanks Suziey for the GA, and though the first one reached me broken (I have the pic, but it's in another place. upload later k, this is the replacement I got few weeks back :)

It caught me by surprise, the replacement, I mean....when hubby brought something from postlaju for me.

Tried to take a snapshot of it on my fridge, but I guess it was night time so the photo didn't turn out so nicely.

Neway, thanks once again!

Long Silence

Why? because I had no internet access, wasn't in the office and though had updates, now already old news ;p

Hang on! Some pics will be up in my next post....

Water? Huh?

(picture from google)

Water? What's that? After the fasting month, I literally forgot how to drink water ;p

This seems to happen everytime after the fasting month, especially when I'm back in the office. And after almost 10days back in KL, I'm developing ulcers, as the Chinese like to say, I'm 'heaty'lah. Then only I'll remember to start drinking water.

On the 1st and 2nd day back in the office, the only liquid I consumed was during breakfast, coffee and during lunch, iced lemon tea. Both contains caffeine, which has diuretic properties, to the layman it just means that it promotes frequent urination, hence it's not hydrating either. However, regular users may develop tolerance to this, hence it does not significntly contribute to dehydration.

Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline, xanthine alkaloid, that is a psychoactive stimulant drug.

Thank God it wasn't as bad as last year. Bearable discomfort in the mouth. Thank God the weekend's here and my ulcers are getting better!

Funny Feeling

I do get a funny tingling sensation at my neck and back of my waist area when I’m nervous. However, from sahur this morning, I have been getting that. I assumed it will only last a while. Almost 6 hours on, I still am having this sensation and I’m not liking it. It can be very annoying, cos sometimes it pulsates. And when I’m trying to lean back and at least rest, it does not help.

Darn!

What is wrong?!

Happy 53rd Merdeka!

There's lots of fireworks tonight and its only 9pm+. It made me wonder why - Raya's not till 2 more weeks, so what could it be? Yes, I was that blur. Haha and suddenly it struck me, tomorrow is our 53rd independence day!

It's just another public holiday for me! :) Yes, this time around, I need and want more holidays! Tired la, the 430 am till 11+pm daily routine. Thank God another 2 weeks left, and I hope by then, AIR2 would've adjusted to 530am instead (my regular time).

Catch me on TV3, NTV7, 8TV and maybe TV9 throughout Sept, in 3 different installments of commercial and public sevice announcement (PSA). RIght now, I don't know the dates yet, but it's scheduled to be sometime this week.

Oh yes, Moi will be on TV again, but this time in a different context. phaiseh-phaiseh (Shy in Hokkien) cos I've not seen the end product myself. 2 of it (1 raya and 1 merdeka PSA) has no dialogue and another themed 'Faces of Malaysia' has a dialogue to it. mmmm I'll try to post some pics of it soon, in another post!

TV & toddlers

AIR's recent keen interest with animated movies and cartoons made me curious on what they actually see and absorb.

Extracted from this site, it tells of what our kids, from toddlers to adolescent, see and absorb from the 'idiot box'.

Infants (children up to 18 months old) can pay attention to an operating television set for short periods of time, but the attention demands a great effort and infants are usually more interested in their own activities. Even when they do pay attention to the television, infants likely miss most of what adults consider to be program content. They experience it primarily as fragmented displays of light and sound, which they are only intermittently able to group into meaningful combinations such as recognizable human or animal characters.

No research has focused specifically on how violent content affects infants, but there is some evidence that infants can imitate behaviour from television when that behaviour is presented in a simple, uncluttered and instructional manner.

Children do not become full-fledged "viewers" until around the age of two-and-a-half. As toddlers, they begin to pay more attention to the television set when it is on, and they develop a limited ability to extract meaning from television content. They are likely to imitate what they see and hear on television.

I noticed AIR , at 19 months, already immitating or try to say what he hears. From numerous repeats of 18 episodes of Upin & Ipin, he's learnt quite a few words. From watching Barnyard over the 3-day-weekend, he's learnt words from the mouse, Otis the cow, Manny this chick and a couple more characters. He dances with the Barnyard animals and well, for now its heartwarming to see that he's enjoying it.

But it may be becomming too much, because now when he wakes up, on weekends, he will ask us to put on the show for him. He already knows how to switch everything on by himself. He can spend 3+ hours (2 repeats back to back) of Barnyard and only gets bored (he walks out and looks for toys of books to read). In the evening, he will ask for Barnyard again.

The viewing patterns children establish as toddlers will influence their viewing habits throughout their lives. Since toddlers have a strong preference for cartoons and other programs that have characters who move fast, there is considerable likelihood that they will be exposed to large amounts of violence.

Under normal conditions, parents probably do not need to worry too much about their infants being negatively influenced by television, although they might want to limit their exposure to violence or other portrayals it might be dangerous for an infant to imitate.

Limiting exposure to this kind of TV content is especially wise with toddlers, who are even more prone to imitating what they see on television. Another highly influential action parents can take for toddlers is to examine and regulate their own viewing behaviour, since toddlers are highly influenced by their parents' viewing habits.

OKlah, at this moment I'm sure no violence yet, except for the scene where the coyote attacks the chicken coup and the cow (Ben and later Otis) fights them off.

Although toddlers do not understand a great deal of program content, creating educational programming using such features as animation, children's or women's voices on the sound track, and simplified movements and camera work will likely win them as loyal viewers. A habit of watching educational programs (as opposed to cartoons) will reduce their exposure to violent content and make it more likely that they will watch and benefit from educational television later on, as preschoolers.

For preschoolers, effective programming would include the use of vivid production features and "child-directed speech" (simple sentences spoken slowly, referring to objects that are actually being shown on the screen, and with repetition). These features will improve their attention and understanding and can be used to highlight important features of program content, such as critical plot events.

So, alternating with the more educational progs would be good. And I'm glad that AIR can sit still (more than 10mins good enough for now) and watch these too...

What about your toddlers or pre-schoolers? How do you handle their TV habbits?

Lazinessssss

I've planned to take part in some of those contests organized by fellow bloggers and considering that I have some free time, I thought I'd have time to do so. But.....

Lazinesss has set in and somehow I've not been updating my blog as regular as I want to...arrrgh! Perhaps the daunting reality that my 8 weeks of paid leave is coming to and end, with only 2 weeks to go, and fasting month is fast approaching, I am gettin lazy, wanting to R&R more than anything.

My swollen knee is not doing justice to me, though it's slightly better, but not back to normal. And knowing that there is athritic changes in my knee is also not a good sign! Arrrgh am aging too early in my knee!! CRAP!

Oh well....

And my plan to go for a swim today seems bleak! It seems like it's gonna rain cats n dogs....aiseh!

OK lah, I'll go rest!

Oprah

The Oprah Show has become a daily feature during my confinement now. Why? Cos mum watches it everyday at 1pm. :) And so while I surf or blog or whatever, I pun tumpang and watch.

Sometimes she's got really good topics and sometimes not so. But today, it's about couples suffering from lack of or no intimacy in the marriage.

Couple 1 - Wife dislikes kissing husband. She used to like it and she loves kissing, but somehow along the way, the act of kissing just lost. And she can't bring herself to kiss anymore. Part of the therapy - start with 15min of kissing on Day 1. Day 2 - talk to each other, exclude work, kids or household stuff.

Couple 2 - Suddenly 2 1/2 yrs ago, after a 9 yr marriage, this couple stopped having sex. Hubby says they just don't connect, at times he doesn't find her attractive (after a long day at work etc and she seems tired etc). This couple looks like they are in the 40s. They now have 3 kids. And it was after kid#3 which they stopped. They don't have physical connection at all and they're worried bout their marriage in the future.

Interesting, I must say and brave of them to open up publicly.

Apparently 15% of the US population have sex-less marriages.

I'm blogging as I watch, and I'm not going to wait for it to be over. I guess for them to appear, the therapies must've went well, and so they're now happy again :)