Google Olympics Doodles

With the ending of the Olympics today, it has been a good 16 day's worth of sweat and tears. I wished that I had more time to watch more events though. Channel 7 wasn't the greatest either. They didn't show all events.

Anyhow, there is always the trusty internet for more vids and news. Has anyone else been intrigued by the daily Olympic doodles from Google?

I find them fascinating. With the complete collection now, let's reminiscence all the events.

Day 1 - Opening Ceremony

Day 2 - Cycling

Day 3 - Weightlifting

Day 4 - Diving

Day 5 - Rhythmic Gymnastics

Day 6 - Artistic Gymnastics

Day 7 - Basketball

Day 8 - Badminton

Day 9 - Soccer

Day 10 - Rowing

Day 11 - Table Tennis

Day 12 - Swimming

Day 13 - Track Field

Day 14 - High Jump

Day 15 - Martial Arts

Day 16 - Baseball

Ending - Closing Ceremony

Bedz of the Future!

Once in a while, I like to dream and check out furniture and home decor. It's nice to sometimes dream of what you want in a home of your own. Came across some extremely amazing beds at fresh home. Check out their description on the beds. Simply amazing!

A bed combined with a book house that looks like a house of its own.

A bed that you store on the ceiling and pull down when you want to sleep. It looks really elegant!

A rocking bed?

A bed in the office? I like!

A nice centrepiece in the living?

Love this...

Swinging bed?

Is that a pie?

Worried about falling off the bed?

Floating on air!

Have you used a Pyrex?

If you like baking or cooking, chances are you've probably used a Pyrex before. I have and I love them. It can last a lifetime and are easy to clean.

I started buying Pyrex storage containers like the one shown below about a year ago. Why? I was getting increasingly frustrated with the normal plastic containers that I've been using.

Reasons:

1. They break or chip easily and you will then need to replace them.

2. Tomato sauce stains them and you can't ever wash them out. Makes me wonder if micro bits of my food is constantly wedging itself into the teeny pores of the plastic which can't be seen by the naked eye. Imagine if tomato sauce can never leave the plastic container, what else can still be there no matter how well you clean it with detergent.

3. Smells linger in the containers.

4. Takes considerable effort to wash the plastic containers when you've packed oily food such as fried rice. I need to wash it at least twice to get rid of the oil or to soak it overnight with detergent.

5. Just cooked food that is still piping hot can't be stored into the containers in case the plastic melts.


With my list ever growing, I decided to switch to Pyrex containers after noticing a colleague of mine using them.

Now, this Pyrex containers are heavier than your average plastic containers which can be a pain sometimes! However, I can place them in the freezer, refrigerator, oven, microwave and it's not a problem. Best thing of all, it's super easy to clean and food odours do not linger after you've washed them.

I discovered something new about these Pyrex containers today. I was cleaning my trusty Pyrex container at work today when it slipped from my hands and fell into the sink. My Pyrex was good as new but the unlucky cup that was in the sink broke into 2 pieces when my Pyrex fell on it. This happened with a partner right in front of me; and the mug was an office mug with the office's signals printed on it that was a gift to us employees.

GULP! Thankfully, the partner just laugh and joked about the quality of our office mugs. So, thumbs up to the Pyrex container for not breaking and another thumbs up for the discovery of a new use: breaking porcelain mugs!

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows

I've been so busy the past week that I haven't had a chance to blog about the latest Harry Potter book. I was so tired for working long hours the week before that I couldn't wake up to be at the bookstore by 9.01am to grab a copy of the book. I got it as a birthday present from the Behs! Thank you chiccies...

Started reading in the late afternoon and did not stop. Finished after 11 hours! I definitely loved this book. I feel sort of sad that it is all over but can't wait for the movie to come out. Hope that it is more than 2 hours. Can't wait to see the battle scene.

Did a search on Wikipedia to see what was written there and for those who have yet to read the books (although I highly encouraged reading the whole thing), it gives a nice brief and detailed enough analogy on each chapter of each book so that you know what is happenning.

I found a few interesting news, enjoy!

In an interview, author J. K. Rowling gave additional information about the characters that is not explicit in the book.

• The epilogue does not directly state that Harry and Ginny or Ron and Hermionie are married, but Rowling confirmed that indeed they are.
• Harry and Ron are both Aurors; Harry is the department head, and Hermione is "very high up" in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
• Luna Lovegood has become a naturalist of sorts, searching the world for odd and unique creatures.
• At Hogwarts there is a new permanent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, since the jinx that Voldemort placed on this job is broken. There is also a new headmaster, as Professor McGonagall was getting too old, but Rowling did not say who either of them are.

Now I didn't know that there was a jinx placed on DADA teachers. I need to read my books again.

Spoiler embargo

• Rowling made a public request that anyone with advance information about the content of the last book should keep it to themselves, in order to avoid spoiling the experience for other readers. To this end, Bloomsbury invested £10M in an attempt to keep the book's contents secure until the July 21 release date.
• Arthur Levine, U.S. editor of the Harry Potter series, denied distributing any copies of Deathly Hallows in advance for press review, but two U.S. papers published early reviews anyway.
• There was speculation that some shops would break the embargo and distribute copies of the book early, as the penalty imposed for previous installments — that the distributor would not be supplied with any further copies of the series — would no longer be a deterrent.

Now if that was the embargo, I wouldn't not be selling early either as it makes sense since there are no more Harry Potter books to follow!

Price wars

In the UK, supermarket chain Asda claimed that the retail price of the book (UK£17.99: equivalent to US$37 at the time of release) was "holding children to ransom". The publisher responded by threatening to withdraw Asda's supply of the book, claiming a previously unpaid debt. Asda issued an apology and settled the debt, and its supply of the book was restored.

Asda, plus several other UK supermarkets, had already taken pre-orders for the book at a heavily discounted price. Asda then sparked a further price war two days before the book's launch by announcing they would sell it for just UK£5.00 a copy (equivalent to US$10.28 at the time of release). Tesco also lowered its price to UK£5.00, but only if customers spent another UK£50.00 in store (Asda did not impose this restriction). Morrisons lowered its price to UK£4.99; the cheapest retail price in the UK, although cash & carry chain Costco offered the book for UK£4.98.

At these prices the book is a loss

leader, with the supermarkets taking a loss of just over UK£3.00 on every copy sold, but attracting large numbers of customers to their stores. This caused uproar from traditional UK booksellers who argued they had no hope of competing in those conditions [25]. Independent shops protested loudest, but even Waterstone’s, the UK's largest dedicated chain bookstore, could not compete with the supermarket price. Some small bookstores hit back by buying their stock from the supermarkets rather than their wholesalers. Asda tried to counter this by imposing a limit of two copies per customer to prevent bulk-buying. Philip Wicks, a spokesman for the UK Booksellers Association, said: 'It is a war we can't even participate in. We think it's a crying shame that the supermarkets have decided to treat it as a loss-leader, like a can of baked beans." Michael Norris, an analyst at Simba Information, said: "You are not only lowering the price of the book. At this point, you are lowering the value of reading."

I agree, they clearly don't understand the value of reading! However, they are just looking at it from a business point of view I guess. I still believe that some things such as iconic events like this should not be messed with!

In Malaysia, a similar price war brought about controversy regarding sales of the book. Four of the biggest bookstore chains in Malaysia, MPH Bookstores, Popular Bookstores, Times and Harris, decided to pull Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows off their shelves as a protest against Tesco and Carrefour hypermarkets. The retail price of the book in Malaysia is MYR 109.90 (about GBP 16.05), while the hypermarkets Tesco and Carrefour sell the book at MYR 69.90 (about GBP 10). The move by the bookstores was seen as an attempt to pressure the distributor Penguin Books to remove the books from the hypermarkets. However,as of 24 July 2007, the price war has ended, with the 4 bookstores involved resume selling the books in their stores.

Delectable Cakes of Art

I got this in my inbox and they are just delectable, not to mention real works of art! Sigh~ I want to be a patisserie too.

Let's all drool over them.... :P~

Bags ~ If you can't own 'em, eat 'em!

I need a holiday...

Shopping Time

Let's go Party

Back to hitting the books!

I Love Pressies~

Snacks on the way...

Finally, taking a break!