Politics 101: Distortion

"To see the big picture, it is sometime necessary to distort the facts."

Secret to growing *hot* chillie

People at iCuriosity.com worship Chillies. The hotter the chilli the more respectful it gets. Growing up in Thailand, I am familiar (addicted!) to hot food. The hotter the better. My friends suspected me of being Masochist!

Masochist:
"2: pleasure in being abused or dominated : a taste for suffering"
from Mariam-Webster.com

In Australia, we spent decade searching for fruit/veggie shops that sell super hot chilli. We gave up and decided to grow our own. After another decade, we think we've found the *secret*! Here is what you need:

Bad Teeth? Bad breath? Chew some bone

I was reduced to two inches when I was stared down by this vet at the clinic - it felt like one of those times when I was sent to the principal's office.

"Your dog has a bit of brown teeth. You don't feed him enough bones to chew?!", he said.

 It turned out raw bones are good for your dog and his teeth. Contrary to my believe, my vet said that giving him raw bones of at least 3-4 time a week helps clean his teeth. Your dog will also has cleaner breath. If dog's teeth, especially molar teeth, look brown it is a sign that your dog's teeth is not clean - source of bad breath and other diseases. You can get him a denture treatment which is very expensive (approx. $600-$800 or more) and it might already be too late.

You can get lamb's bones (for soup) from butcher shop very cheap, about $4-5 for 1-2 kg which should last a week. My vet said to chop them up to size of about my hand, put in plastic bags and freeze them in the freezer. Before going to bed, take one out and let it thaw during the night. You can give it to him in the morning.  I have a two year-old border collie and he loves them.

It works! After just one week, my dog's teeth are now back to pearly white again and his breath is so much better. I could almost kiss him now.

Motivation: Your Day - It's How It's Started

Life on Left Column

Life on Right Column

0530 hrs, my alarm clock rung reminding me that I should go for run. Stuff it! It's Saturday I wanted more sleep. 0700 hrs, my kids climbed into our bed. Hmm that was wonderful. We hugged our kids for a while before the youngest one started moving around too much. Couldn't really blame him, his attention span was only about 3 minutes. So, I convinced them to go and play with their PS3. 1000 hrs, that was a nice sleep-in. My kids were still on PS3 and they were hungry. We all were. My wife cooked big sets of bacon, sausages, eggs, and toasts for all around. 1045 hrs, it's time to enjoy my cup of coffee. We just open a new bag of coffee beans. It's smell was so tempting. My boy asked if we could go to the oval, he really wanted to show me his new soccer moves. I told him that I wanted to catch up with the morning papers and beside my knee was hurt (wasn't that bad but it seemed to justify my excuse). I hated to see him sad, but it was too cold outside. 1230 hrs, the papers were interesting. Lunch time. I felt guilty so I told my kids that we could go to lunch at the shopping mall and perhaps some movie. I heard that the new Karate Kid was good. They cheered. I felt like I've done my job.

It's 0525 hrs, I turned off my alarm clock before it went off, I beat it again today. Rolled to the side of the bed and started my 100s push-up - a condition I set to not allow me to return back to bed. Crouch-up and some stretch and my wife and I were ready for our 8 km weekend run. (Note to self, two chicks ran passed me, couldn't keep up with them. Have to work on this) A good run today, 5 degree celsius, a bit of drizzle, we both loved it. We were back by 0700 hrs. Showered and I went to hug my kids for a while just to rough them up a bit to get them out of their beds. 0730 hrs, my wife cooked some bacon, eggs, and salad. Killing time, I grabbed the vacuum machine and vacuumed the house. I told my kids to go and tidy up their room instead of playing computer games early in the morning. 0800 hrs, breakfast was nice, I like the salad. New bag of freshly ground coffee was wonderful. I read some more papers to catch up with the news and told my kids that they were good kids and that their rooms were tidy, so they could play some games on PS3. 0930 hrs, we went down to the oval, my son couldn't wait to show me his new soccer move. Impressive. I, myself as a 2nd Dan Aikido, was trying to pass on some moves to him as well. But, he wasn't so interested. So I thought that may be Jackie Chan might do a better job. I told them that we might go to see the new Karate Kid. They cheered. My wife said that only if they finish their home work first. 1030 hrs, morning is still early. Kids in their rooms doing home work, I look at my wife and gave her a meaningful wink. She gave me a dirty look. I love my Saturday morning.

I've spent 36 years of my life living on the left column of the above table. Only the last few years, I have discovered life on the right column. It sounds hard to achieve at first, but it is really that first 5 seconds when you wake up that determines the rest of your day.

Which side of the column on the table you'd like to live?

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Tips: Problem Getting Out of The Bed? - Try Push-Up

It was so dark. It was icy cold. Your bed was warm and the most comfy spot in the universe. If not because of that darn alarm clock that was blaring its butt off, you'd want to curl your body in, under the blanket and hugging that someone who is warm and cuddly. You reached your hand out, slammed hard on the clock, hitting the snooze button, and quickly retracted you hand back into the warm heaven.

"5 minutes more and I'll get up", you told yourself.

Sun came up! You sprang out of the bed. "Hooo leeee s#$@!!" You looked for the clock and found that you've tugged it in so deep in the bed that you didn't hear it rung. It was 8am. You are late! Really late!

Does that sound familiar to you? I don't know about you, but this scene has been played repeatedly again and again throughout my life. I have tried unsuccessfully many methods that will kick me out of the bed and into my day productively. The most daredevil one was setting the clock at 5am and hid it under my dad's bed. That worked well for a while, until one late Friday night that I decided to stay over at a friend's place - forgetting all about that magic clock under dad's bed.

Recently I thought up of a new tactic. Beside morning run, I visit gym later during the day - push-up, crouch-up, chin-up, and other stuffs were parts of the routines. The last time I checked, you don't have to do these inside the gym. So I started doing some of these exercises other time during the day - like in the morning.

*WARNING: Please check this with your doctor first. See warning note below *

It turned out this worked so well. I kept my exercise-mat under my bed. 5 am, before the clock went off, I rolled out and start doing push-up. This went in automatic mode, Don't let yourself time to think or to feel (the cold) or to find any excuse, just simply roll to the side of the bed and start pushing. I started off with 20s, then 50s. Four or five weeks later, I can do 100s.

Believe me, at the end of 100th push-up, you won't want to go back to sleep. These days, I simply continue with crouch-up and a morning run. Never miss a day.

WARNING:

If you'd like to try this out, please be very careful. If you have heart condition or not in a good shape, please consult your doctor first. Go slow. Do not rush. Try push-up 10 times first few days, then gradually increase it. If you feel dizzy or feel bad, stop.

image: Marines do pushups

(available under Public Domain license, wikipedia.org)

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Tips: Improve Memory Retention by Chaining

for-knight-to-won, for-once-one-fights. night-owl-to-tree find-three-eggs-too

It has been 15 years, since I left Singapore and to these days I still can remember my credit card number that I used there! The credit card account, which since I have cancelled, would have been deleted, shredded, and buried for eternity. But these numbers stuck in my head.

This is not a new concept. I have read it years ago (well at least 15 years ago) the technique of improving your memory by chaining things together. The idea is to associate things you want to remember with something else. Something else that will make you remember. Something that will catch your mind. Something interesting. I can't remember my boss' surname (there is nothing impressive about him) but I can still remember our tech guy - David "McGyver" McGhee. Yes, because I associated him with McGyver - he seemed to be able to fix anything in the company.

For numbers, I use the phonetic technique - a technique that links each number to its similar phonetic sounds, for example:

0 - zero, sorrow, oh, owl, none, awe, awesome
1 - one, once, won, ace
2 - two, to, too
3 - three, tree
4 - four, for
5 - five, fight, find
6 - six, sick
7 - seven, steven
8 - eight, egg, ate
9 - nine, night, knight

Then, base on each number's phonetic sound, you try to come up with some story. The one that makes sense to you. For example,

one-night-sick-knight sorrow-steven to-awe(some)
One(1) night(9) a sick(6) knight(9), sorrow(0) Steven(7) soared to(2) awesome(0). That is 1969-07-20, the date that man landed on the moon.

Now try again, and see if you can decipher my credit card number?


References and Reading Materials

1. Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PET-image.jpg
2. memoryimprovementcentral.com | Boost Your Memory by Using the Link Method
3. ezinearticles.com | Memory Techniques for Better Information Retention

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Tips: The 45-Minute Rule

The first day of the month, a good day to start something new. So, I set out to commit myself with the 45-Minute rule. That's right. 45-Minute rule dictates that you (should) never do any task for longer than 45 minutes. You break a big task into sizable chunks, each of which can be completed within 45 minutes. If any task takes longer than this time frame, I will take a break. 45-minute rule also promotes the idea of varying your tasks around. That is at the end of each 45-minute round, I will choose something else different to do.

This practice is based on 2 widely known observations:

1. Human attention span is limited and varies from person to person. In addition, most effective (and less error prone) result is gained from this period. I picked 45 minutes because this duration suits me. For someone else, i.e. a child, this duration could be shorter, say 10 - 15 minutes.
2. By varying your tasks, this allows different parts of your body to be utilized and rest respectively.

These are all the good benefits I've found (these are not exhaustive list):

• By breaking big task down to sizable sub tasks, promote good discipline of think-before-you-do, a.k.a planning
• You will be more focus
• More effective
• Less error
• More interesting and less boring in what you do. I find I enjoyed my work more
• I get to use/exercise different parts of my brain/body
• Be more aware of your surrounding environment - that you don't bog down on the one task for too long

If you are interested in Varying Your Tasks, and Take Frequent Breaks concepts, here are more reference reading materials I've found useful:

[1] www.articlesbase.com | How To Increase You Energy Level at Work
[2] www.examiner.com | Work-life balance: taking frequent breaks throughout the day lets you stay alert, work less
[3] www.buzzle.com | How to Deal with Stress at Work
[4] helpguide.org | Stress at Work: How to Reduce and Manage Job and Workplace Stress
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Bathroom Renovation Tips - 2

If you encounter space constraints, consider the following tips:

1. Wall-mounted all tap-ware;

2. Choose basins that are petite in dimensions;

3. Deep drawers and wall-mounted soap dispensers as it will leave the bathroom uncluttered;

4. Decorate with beautiful accessories.

iPhone: Create Home Screen Bookmark with Picture You Like

Adding a bookmark to home screen on an iPhone provides quick access to a frequent visit website. iPhone creates an icon on home screen for this bookmark. Clicking on a bookmark activate Safari and jump directly to the website of your choice, i.e. weather forecast website, and etc.

However, did you know that you can create bookmarks on home screen with picture of you choice?

Well almost your choice. iPhone creates a scale down image of the webpage you are viewing when you adding a bookmark to home screen. Try enlarge the portion of the web page and position it to the picture that best describes the website. When adding a bookmark to home screen, iPhone will use the current image you are viewing to create an icon on the home screen.

Bathroom Renovation Tips - 1

How to make the most of your small space?

Simplicity is key to having a beautiful and modern bathroom without the clutter.

Tip: Use colours that are contrasting and complimentary to each other.

Tip: Use mirror (landscape not portrait) to create an illusion of space and light.

Tip: Use floating vanity as that will give the appearance of a larger floor space.

Remorseful after making big decision? Go wash your hand.

Wash Your Hands (Literally) After A Big Decision To Cut Down On Second-Guessing | Lifehacker Australia

Be an RACV member and save$$$

I've been an RACV member for year now but didn't know that I could save quite substantially by just showing my RACV card in stores that I often shop.

What impresses me is that this card not only help you saves in thousands of stores in Victoria, but throughout Australia and around the world!

For more info see racv.com.au

iPhone *CAN* do tethering!

"It can?!!"

"How come I didn't know about it?"

"Of course, it can. Where have you been liv..."

I didn't wait long enough to hear to rest of my friend's sarcasm. I was head down busy setting up my iPhone for tethering. I need these to do tethering:

• iPhone OS 3.0 or higher (checked)
• Confirm your network carrier support tethering. Telstra supports this. (checked)
• 3G network (checked)
• phone update with the latest setting from the carrier (checked)

Then turn on Tethering on your iPhone:

• On iPhone, select Settings -> General -> Internet Tethering -> Internet Tethering. Then select "On". See the screenshot. Oh, while at the setting screen, make sure Bluetooth is on.

Now from my Macbook (running OS X 10.6.3):

• Make sure the Macbook's bluetooth is on. Recommend to show Bluetooth icon on the menu bar
• Right click Bluetooth icon on the menu bar, then select Setup Bluetooth Device
• Wait until your iPhone appears on the Browse Device window, then click Continue
• Macbook will popup Bluetooth pairing window with the passcode
• Your iPhone should display Bluetooth pairing window with the same passcode
• Click accept on your iPhone. Now for some reason, this process would fail several times. I cannot explain why. However, I just kept repeating this process 5-6 times and eventually it succeed. I went to the extra length of undo everything, remove all devices and etc and start this whole process again. Same result.
• When you finally pass the above process, i.e. it said that the pairing was success, now comes the fun bit
• From Macbook, right click the bluetooth icon.
• Select your device
• Select Connect to Network
• Your iPhone should display a blue bar with the word "Internet Tethering" on
• Have fun

Now a bit of warning:

• Watch out your data plan. Make sure that you won't go over limit
• Watch out your iPhone's battery consumption. That precious juice can be gone very quickly
• I notice that, if you connect your iPhone to the USB, tethering comes on automatically! I had to disable Tethering when I am at home or already have wifi connection.

Evernote + Twitter Integration - Perfect Combination

I prefer Twitter to Facebook and am a huge fan of Evernote. I found that I like to jot little notes here and there as micro-blogs on Twitter. I also write big notes in Evernote. Often I felt something is missing, i.e., ability to search my tweets without having to log on to Twitter or ability to convert my micro journal into a big one.

Then 3 days ago, when visiting Evernote's website, I discovered that they have integrated with Twitter.

Perfect marriage!

Setting up is simple for non protected Twitter account:

• Log in to Twitter
• Follow myEN
• myEN will follow you back
• myEN will send you a DM which contain a link back to Evernote
• Once received the DM with a link, click on the link and log on to Evernote then complete the rest of the process

For Twitter's protected account, things can be a little tricky:

• Log in to Twitter
• Follow myEN
• myEN will follow you back, you will have to approve its request
• You DM myEN
• myEN will send you DM which contains a link back to Evernote
• Once received the DM with a link, click on the link and log on to Evernote and complete with the rest of the setup process

You are done!

Now using it.

Each time I want to keep a record or to remind myself of something, simply tweet as usual but insert @myEN anywhere in the text, i.e see screenshot above.

From my experience, depends on your setting, it takes between 3-5 minutes to sync tweets to your Evernote's inbox.

I also found it very convenient to quick search Evernote (using CMD+CTRL+F) with "@myen" keyword and have Evernote lists all my tweets. Then, you can move them or merge them at the end of the day into your archive folder.