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Dreaming about Prague June 30, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Rainmakers , 3comments

Being a born daydreamer, I am of course allowed to daydream.  And in one of my travel daydreams, I would be dramatically whisked away to the beautiful city of Prague in the Czech Republic.  Here is a city that is rich in culture and heritage, boasting gorgeous architectural buildings, cathedrals and museums, amongst the countless attractions.  In my dream, I was not worried at all about running out of places to visit, because I knew that there would be endless entertainment spots and shopping malls to satisfy my curiosity.  Instead my primary concern would probably be getting affordable accommodation and more importantly, how to get there in one piece.  Landing Cheap Flights would be my main worry, I suppose.

But once I get to the city of Prague, I am really going to let my hair down and enjoy my vacation to the max!  With Side Step, not only would I be able to access information on tours within the city, I could also check out suggested itineraries for the discerning traveler which offer a complete program covering exciting sites in the city.  At least, I could have all this information down pat before I travel, and I really like this feature, because I like to be organized when I travel.  And that’s what makes this the ultimate traveler’s search engine.

In all Randomness June 29, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Ethan, Memes & Tags , 12comments

When I am bored, my mind will wander. A happy wandering mind, is all I can say. Sometimes I think about life, sometimes I think about food, sometimes I think about what to write and sometimes I think about why I am thinking what I am thinking. Thus begins the process of random thoughts, and what a coincidence, because recently, Malaika’s Mummy wanted me to list down 7 random things about Ethan.

  1. Ethan’s favorite color is red. He is attracted to anything that is in that hue. In fact, he also looks good in red. Hmmm..apparently he looks great in blue too (see picture above)
  2. Ethan loves to eat rice. Any type of rice, you name it, he loves it. Nasi lemak, chicken rice, banana leaf rice and belacan fried rice makes up just the tip of the iceberg.
  3. Ethan was born on the last day of January, and according to the Chinese calendar, on the 3rd day of the Chinese Lunar New Year.
  4. Ethan likes to throw things out of his cot.
  5. Ethan likes to bite the ears of his soft toys, especially the dogs. Could it be because he was born in the year of the dog?
  6. Ethan will only wave buhbye to his baby sitter.
  7. Ethan is a light sleeper, waking up at the faintest of sounds.

All done with total randomness and in true random spirit, I am randomly passing the baton along to the following, please do a *random* tag on 7 random things about your doggie :)

Giddy over Dresses June 29, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Rainmakers , 1 comment so far

It goes without saying that I love to dress up. I find every chance I can to just go get myself a new dress, new shoes and of course, who could forget a new handbag too! Who doesn’t want to be the belle of the ball?! I love watching programs on the telly which showcases fashion, especially celebrity garbed in their fabulous gowns on the red carpet, before a big event. And now with the E! News channel available to us viewers, I can gawk and imagine myself wearing one of those gorgeous dresses…someday. In my quest to attain these beautiful evening dresses, I stumbled on this awesome site. Based in Australia, this site sells evening gowns and wedding gowns that are to die for! I love the uniqueness this site offers, because each gown is made specially for the client, customized in every detail possible. This means that every dress will fit you like a glove! There are also a variety of fabric to choose from, ranging from satin to velvet, and in lots of attractive colors too! I love satin gowns and I think they look absolutely classy! To enhance your look, this site also carries very interesting pieces of accessories. I, for one, got giddy just by checking out the site!

The Face Behind The Blog June 29, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Blogging, Memes & Tags , 28comments

Being the ever so blur person I am, I was not even aware that I had been tagged. In fact, it was my hubby who informed me that I had been tagged by Miriguy. But anyway, this is a simple meme (which originated from UK, according to my research) that allows the blogger to put a face to the name. I know there are some bloggers who are too camera-shy to reveal their faces, though. But anyway, since I have already posted a few pictures of myself on the blog, let’s do this one with a twist, shall we?

There… here’s the face behind this blog… taken way back when… *sneaks off to reminisce*

I’m not tagging anyone else on this, but if y’all would like to share your pictures, do let me know so that I can go sneak a peek!

I Wanna be a… June 27, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Close to Heart & Home, Ethan, Memes & Tags , 19comments

not a Care Bear but a….

Yes….that’s right. That’s what I choose to be, if given the choice. And indeed I have been given a choice. It’s a no-brainer, really. Angeleyes and Everydayhealy have both asked me to choose if I want to be a Sexy And Hot Momma (SAHM) or a Fat Thighs Wobbling Momma (FTWM). No prizes for guessing which one I pick… hahaha…..

Okay….jokes aside, an SAHM actually stands for Stay At Home Mom and FTWM is the acronym for Full Time Working Mom. I would, without a second thought, prefer to be an SAHM because:

  1. Being an SAHM means spending quality AND quantity time with my son. This is especially crucial in the formative years, i.e. before the age of 5. This is when the child’s brain is like a sponge and is able to absorb information and knowledge in the most effective manner. I believe that the time I spend with my son is worth so much more than the dollars I will be getting in a paying job. True, I won’t be able to spend as lavishly as before, but I can tell you for sure that just one adorable smile from Ethan will be worth more than a million bucks! Top that off with a hug and a kiss and him saying, “Thank you Mommy, I love you!” and I am positive my heart will melt like butter on a barbecue grill.
  2. I want to participate in kitchen experiments because I love cooking! As an SAHM, I would be able to take this love of mine to higher levels and (hopefully) cook up yummy and nutritious meals for my family. Staying in Penang for so many years, I have been exposed to all varieties of hawker food, which Penang is famous for. But there’s a limit to that, and in the end, home-cooked food is always the best. With more time on my hands, I hope to be able to cook more, not only during weekends. Maybe when I am a SAHM, I will cook during weekdays and take weekends off to eat out :) Oh and maybe…just maybe, when I become a SAHM, I will finally be able to fulfill my goal to start my food blog!
  3. By being an SAHM, I (think I) would have more time to do things which I love. Things that I have shelved away for now because I simply have no time, for instance (in no particular order):

~~~Instructions~~~

Here’s how it works:
1. So easy peasy, if you were given a choice, would you be a SAHM or FTWM? Just provide 3 darn good reasons.
2. Include your post link to the list below and Finally,
3. Tag another three mommies
List:
1. Immomsdaughter prefers to be a SAHM
2. Miche prefers to be a SAHM too.
3. SYH prefers to be a PTWM
4. Everydayhealy prefers to be a SAHM
5. Angeleyes prefers to be WAHM
6. Giddy Tiger prefers to be an SAHM

~~~End of Instructions~~~

And what do these 3 mommies choose then?

1. Mommy Khong
2. Shooi
3. Jin Miin

A PLUS for Education June 27, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Rainmakers , add a comment

When I was doing my tertiary education, I remember being inundated with advertisements after advertisements of student loans, bursaries and scholarships. Interviews were even held in the university campus itself to enable students to secure financial aid to help the pursue the course of their dreams. I, too, was one of those who was fortunate enough to land myself a student loan and it has helped me tremendously financial-wise. However, I recently found out that students now can apply for financial aid online. With just a click of a mouse, students can be well on their way to securing one of these outstanding PLUS loans.

A PLUS loan, short for Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students, have all the properties of an attractive student loan. Besides offering loans with interest rates as low as 6.5% , with a PLUS loan parents are able to borrow up to 100% of college tuition fees. That’s a huge burden lifted temporarily off the parents’ shoulders for sure. What’s more, the PLUS loan is not income sensitive; this means that household income is not a factor that determines eligibility for the loan. In layman’s terms, any Tom, Dick, Harry and Mary are welcome to apply. :)

Potential PLUS loan applicants can also have all their qualms and worries resolved by checking out the common questions about PLUS loans. This will definitely help alleviate their concerns before actually submitting a PLUS loan application. With recommendations from financial experts coupled with favorable repayment terms, it is no wonder that the tag-line for PLUS loans is “PLUS Loans are Smart Money”.

I’m Finally on 2.2! June 25, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Thoughts & Scribblings , 20comments

Over the weekend, I received a couple of emails from my hosting provider that my blogs were outdated because I was still on Wordpress 2.1.3. So today, I decided to stop these periodic emails coming in to my mailbox and upgraded my blogs to Wordpress 2.2. I had previously installed my Wordpress using the easy-to-use cPanel Fantastico Deluxe installation, which required just a mere click of a button. And upgrading to Wordpress 2.2 was equally simple. First I exported my entire blog into XML format for backup purposes (Manage > Export > Save XML file to local hard disk) and then I just clicked on the Upgrade link in my cPanel. Easy-peasy!

Or so I thought… this afternoon I received feedback from 2 of my colleagues (who also read my blogs) that my blogs had a weird A character appearing after every sentence in every post! I did a quick check and sure enough, it was like a slew of ASCII codes had attacked me blogs! Aaarrrrghhhhh!!!! I sent a quick email to my hosting provider and within an hour, I received a reply from them. Apparently, I had to comment out 2 lines of code in the wp-config.php file. According to the helpdesk, this is because WordPress 2.2 by default does not establish proper UTF-8 connection to the database, especially when the upgrade is done using Fantastico. So there was the problem. :)

So for those of you who also face this similar problem, here’s the fix. Just comment out the following 2 lines of code in your wp-config.php file, which is located at /home/<login name>/public_html/wp-config.php :

define(’DB_CHARSET’, ‘utf8′);
define(’DB_COLLATE’, ”);

After commenting, it should look like this (with the pound/hash (#) symbol in front of each of the lines:

#define(’DB_CHARSET’, ‘utf8′);
#define(’DB_COLLATE’, ”);

So much for all that technical hooha. I’m back…and 2.2 is up and running!

g Hotel, Food and…? June 25, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Drooling & Cooking , 13comments

Off we went to the g Hotel for the food tasting extravaganza. We parked at the adjacent Gurney Plaza carpark because we had heard that the parking fee in the g Hotel was exorbitantly high! The hotel was created in the same vein as Royale Bintang in The Curve. One of the hotel exits leads to an alfresco dining area and outdoor walkway which leads directly to the Gurney Plaza shopping mall. I could not take any pictures because we were really hungry then and was only thinking of food…. and after the meal, well….I was just too plain lazy…. anyway, I’ll try to take some at another time… maybe next weekend…..you know why? Right outside the g Hotel, we have the newly opened Chili’s, the first ever in Penang. I heard that apart from the bottomless drinks, they also have bottomless nachos with unlimited salsa too. Don’t know if that’s true…

Anyway, the ambience exuded by the lobby and registration area of the g Hotel was one of class, sophistication and abstractness. It had modern art decor and equally modern furniture. The lobby area was vast too and there was a lot of breathing space. Good for people who suffer from claustrophobia. Unfortunately, the posh interior was marred by the fact that there was someone smoking away in the lobby, oblivious to his surroundings. I’m sorry, but are people allowed to smoke in hotel lobbies? I wanted to look for the No Smoking sign and tell him off, but we were in a rush to get to the food, so I let it go. Lucky him!

Back to the food-tasting.� The cutlery was really nice. I especially like the plates they used: in clean classic white, and it was shaped in a square curvy shape, very different from the usual round plates.� The food connoisseur in me gave a nod of approval at first glance.� Here’s the list of food that we have the opportunity to savor:

And my favorite from the list above are:

Can you guess what each of those are? Of course, this is just my opinion, and the rest would probably have their own say too. Oh yeah, by the way, I have posted a picture of me in the *sneak preview* attire from my previous post… it’s somewhere out there, but you’ll need to look for it…. :P please excuse my shameless way of generating web traffic. MUAHAHAHAHAhahahahahah!!!!!

Things that make me go “Mmmmmm…” June 23, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Close to Heart & Home, Thoughts & Scribblings , 13comments

I was out shopping in Queensbay Mall again today, and surprisingly enough, my hubby let out of the bag to me that MNG was having a big sale. Now that’s like a ticket for me to go shop there, right? And Esprit was on sale too….I went into Esprit first because there were fewer people there. And when I finally went into the immensely packed MNG….it all made sense why Esprit was rather empty. When MNG is on sale, it is *REALLY* on sale….. I managed to grab 3 tops in a record time of 20 minutes. And without trying them on too. How’s that for efficiency? The queue to go into the fitting room was snake-long and I could not afford the wait (each person in the queue had like 5-6 articles of clothing to try on each)…. but something tells me that I will be back for more looting while the sale is still on. *grins*

I also went for a FREE eye-checkup at Focus Point. My PILs were there to make new pairs of glasses, so I was just passing the time and being curious at the same time too. Besides, it had been a long time since I had my eyes checked. Now, I don’t wear any glasses or contacts, by the way. Am I considered vain to want to get a pair of unpowered glasses to make me look *smarter*? Not that I look dumb or anything now, but ….. just itching… hehehe. Hmmmm…I might try colored contacts too, out of curiosity. Oh yeah, so back to the results of my eye test. From what I understood from the salesguy, my vision is no 100% perfect, but I could still do without glasses. So based on the following technical data for my eye checkup, can someone please enlighten me on what it means, really?

Right Eye
+0.25 (Long-sighted)
-0.75 (Astigmatism)
110 (I think the last value here is the power. I tried asking the guy but he didn’t seem to understand what I meant…)

Left Eye
+0.00 (Perfect vision :) )
-0.50 (Astigmatism)
85

~♥~

On a separate note, I will be paying a maiden visit to the g Hotel tomorrow to attend a food-tasting lunch for my brother-in-law’s wedding, in conjunction with his registration of marriage. Although he told us the dress code is chinchai I take this as an occasion to dress up! Woo-hoo! … and here’s a sneak preview of what I plan to wear:

Our First Aid Kit June 23, 2007

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Close to Heart & Home , 10comments

After so many moons of procrastination, I am finally proud to unveil our First Aid Kit! I know I know…we should have gotten it the moment we moved into our home, but we endured the *hardship* of stashed plasters in the cupboard and bottles of antiseptic lotion lying around the cabinet for so long…. so anyway, at last we bought a proper kit at Watson’s last weekend but I only found time to open it last night. It consisted of all the basic amenities a First Aid Kit oughta have, including paracetamol tablets and Minyak Cap Kapak! I still want to get a tube of Antiseptic Cream though, because it is a useful item to have. The cool thing about this new kit is that it also comes with a instruction booklet. Now, at least I feel *safer* in the house…