Peter Crouch - An Unlikely Football Player

Liverpool Football Club's recent decent run in the EPL is due to great team work and Peter Crouch's fine link work has contributed to some scoring. But he is 6' 7" of a bean pole, an unlikely footballer as one can imagine! He has been given plenty of sticks in his short career. Click the link and see, its hilarious! :p

Look at him, scrawnily thin and awkward in appearance! A kick might just break him into two!

But he has been good so LFC need to urgently put him on a beefing up regime, diet and gym work should do the trick no? Just imagine him like this....














Frightening prospect to the opponents isn't it? :D

How can?

This must be on of the the biggest con in Corporate Malaysia! Check this out!

Proton sold investment Euro 70 mil for only Euro 1 (yes 1, satu, yit) after only one year! Who was the consultant who advised the investment? Where was the due diligence? I know the CEO was sacked, but is he liable.

I am not an investor in this company but through the Government's share, I am indirectly interested. Will shareholders sue?

Christmas/Boxing Day

All the gifts have been unwrapped and all the food (whatever we managed to eat) has been eaten. It has been ages since I update as busy has been my middle name, what with a few travels overseas in the last 2 months!

Anyway, have a Blessed Christmas (hey there are suppose to be 12 days of it) and a New Year full of hope!

Baby Escapes Train Death

Saw this news in the BBC. I thought sub-way trains have sensors when doors are not closed and the train cannot move! It was scary!

Sorry cannot link direct to the video,
look for the video story at the page,
hopefully it will not be displaced. It is sobering....

---

latest edit... the link no longer show the video...
too bad, it was frighthening to watch a woman
trying to push a baby pram into the subway train
as it was closing and the pram was stuck with baby
and woman outside. The train began to move!
Baby still in chair, woman frantically tried to get baby out,
another woman came and help and managed to release baby
who was thrown onto floor
but mother was stuck with pram and train continue to move....
with woman trapped and being pushed on the platform
apparently to her death but the train stopped just in time!
Phew...

Half Century at the Great Wall

Just celebrated my 50th birthday
at the Great Wall of China
and survived!
My lover
(Beijingers call their wives Ai-Ren)
and I chose an adventurous 10 km hike
at the not so touristy part
of the Great wall.
It is not the easy sight-seeing option,
but it was simply fantastic.




The reward
for the
challenging
5-hour hike
was a Beijing Duck dinner in Beijing
at the end
of the day!










50 years comes only once in a lifetime, afterall ... :D

Overall Beijing is a nice place for a visit. Food is good,
price is reasonable and affordable for Malaysians,
and shopping can be a bargain if you know how.

For more detail click wife's blog

Laughter means less medical insurance premium cost

It's official! A private health insurance firm has named the top ten comedy programmes that will prevent viewers from having to use its policies.

But this list of comedies are for old folks! Young people have no idea what those programmes are! Check it out!

Another Disaster

Suddenly the number of disasters seem to have increased. Tsunami, typhoon and now an 7.8 scale tremor earthquake.

4 millions made homeless and death estimated from 20,000 to 40,000 ! Can we get immuned to sufferings and get sympathy fatigue from too much TV and news report?

Pray not! Help in whatever way we can be it a prayer or make a donation to red cross or worldvision. or christian-aid.

Death of a Comedian

Ronnie Barker died yesterday in the UK . More reports here, here and here : He gave us such Laugh lines....


* 'The toilets at a local police station have been stolen. Police say they have nothing to go on'

* PISMRONUNCIATION: 'So you see how dickyfelt it is. But help is at hand. A new society has been formed by our mumblers to help each other in times of excream ices. It is balled Pismronouncers Unanimous, and anyone can ball them up on the smellyphone any time of the day or note, twenty four flowers a spray, seven stays a creek, and they will come round and get drunk with you'

RIP Ronnie

Sub-$US 100 laptop?

Is a US$100 laptop too good to be true? What's more, it does not need batteries!

Nicholas Negroponte, chairman and founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Labs, has been outlining designs for a sub-$100 PC. Here is the news.

This is indeed good news for many 3rd world countries (Malaysia included) as most people are still outside the information revolution due to lack of access to computers and the internet.

Prohibitive cost is the main reason for many Malaysians not to be able to tap in. At aroun RM380, it may still be outside the affordability of many still, especially those in the lower income group and in the rural districts.

Lets hope this breakthrough will be soon.

120 Mile Traffic Jam!

Only panic could cause that ! And fear....

With the hind sight of Katrina, Rita is causing immense anxiety.

Imagine the cost in terms of time lost and real cost of petrol, which is also going up and down because of Rita .

New Orleans was low lying and below sea level but is Houston geographically similar so much so that it warrant the call for evacuation?

Pain

We all experience physical pain.

My foot and my wife's chest.

We cannot ignore pain. It screams at us.

We need to learn how to handle pain wisely.

What is the pain telling us?

Jesus also suffered the agony of pain.

"No pain, no palm;

no thorns, no throne;

no gall, no glory;

no cross, no crown."

~ William Penn (1644-1718) English Quaker & political activist

Eat and Grow Slim!

This is the latest findings!

Don't now go and rush out to indulge, it is not this type of break fast!

But this kind!

Before you get your hopes too high, a word of caution!

The research is funded by The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) funded the study, with support from General Mills, the cereal manufacturer.

A bout of gout?

For the whole of last week, my right heel/ankle gave me a sharp pain each time I walk. It was a sudden onset. I did not see a doctor and there were quite a few possible reasons. Gout was the top reason offered.

But my pain does not fit the symptoms completely as it was only painful at certain angle. Nor was there any swelling! So I doubt it was gout!

So I became like Quasimodo, hobbling about! No not quite as ugly but hobbled I did! Nor did I develop a hump back!

A reminder from God that we cannot simply rush about doing things 100% all out without adequate rest? So it was enforced slowing down for the week and now I have more or less recovered 80%. Less pain lah as I walk, and able to walk a bit faster, albeit hobbling a bit still.

Vulnerable

Sometimes we delude ourselves. People who lives in a first world infrastructure like USA often forget they are just as vulnerable as the rest of us. What is worse is that there is a false sense of security in technology. The false expectations that with everything that money can buy, any disaster can be averted or even when hit will be overcame quickly.

The rest of the world thought so too. That's why so little help is offered and whatever help initially offered was 'politely' turned down by President Bush. I think he would have laughed at the pittance of international offer to almighty USA. Little did he know the extent of devastation.

The lesson of Katrina is that we cannot take anything for granted. We are all equally vulnerable.

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
Matthew 5:44-46 (English Standard Version)

Equality

Rich first world country or Poor third world country
when natural disaster strikes, there is no difference.

Disaster does not differentiate between the rich, the poor,
the white, yellow, brown or black.

Here is equality.

Hurricane, Tsunami, Eartquake, Firestorm
Modernity cannot prevent it from happening

"And what about the eighteen men who died when the Tower of Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will also perish."(New Living Translation, Luke 13: 4,5)

Independence Day

If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (Amplified Bible)

Prayers for our nation.
Let Your healing begin

Fun

Fun means different thing to different people

For some its eating
ice cream, hawkers snacks, gourmet delight
or just simply eating

another is reading
books, magazines, blogs or newspapers

not forgetting chatting, online, on phone or face to face
and computer games....

yet another listening to music
whilst another playing an instrument or singing

painting or writing or photography

some have a game of football or team sports
or simply watching it
some wanna sweat for fun

getting wet on water, in water or underwater

or traveling within or out of the country

or watching a show, be it opera, movie, or TV
it can be a humorous sit com, tear jerkers soap, slap stick, drama, documentary, educational or cartoon or even news

getting together with family and friends can be great fun too

some fun can be destructive
like narcotics or excessive alcohol or irresponsible sex

so what is fun?
you choose
make it a healthy choice

Rest

One can rest by doing something different from the routine or rest by just doing nothing, like sleep!

So for the workaholics in order to rest they must do something else different, enjoyable and relaxing.

For those energetic types who simply cannot sit still

they can sit down and watch TV or sit down on a bicycle in the gym!

For those whose mind simply must work all the time, they can rest it by reading a good book!

So what is your rest?

For me its coming to Jesus!

28Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will [a]ease and relieve and [b]refresh [c]your souls.] Matthew 11:28 (Amplified Bible)

28"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. (The Message)

Time

Time flies when one is having fun or under a deadline to complete a project. I wonder whether Einstein ever had pressure or such fun that time for him flew relatively! And then he discovered the relativity of time...
For me time just flew this last week. It was not fun but pressure of a deadline! So what's new?

With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

2 Peter 3:8

Youth

30 youths into 100sf?
Thats what they did in our living room hanging out and having fun ! Ice cream galore, char kuey tiau, watan hor-fun, fried chicken, chempedak, fried rice, fried dumplings, cheese omelet, stuff they all eat, and in that order as well!
Guitars and piano were jamming it up, drumsticks was banging away on tables and chairs (cannot fit a drum set in that place lah) and some managed to play some chess and checker games with the cacophony of noise! It was fun, and for me tiring. Must be getting old!
But I would rather they hang out and have fun at home than at some places and with people we do not know! It was good to see them enjoying themselves. Ah youth, the world is your oyster!

Laughter

Proverbs 17:22

A cheerful disposition is good for your health;

gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.

(The Message)

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine:

but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

(King James)

Nothing beats a jolly good laughter.

The good Word says so! Try it.

Exercise

Strange it may sound, exercise helps me to get rid of lethargy and stress induced tiredness. Sweating it out gives me an outlet for all my pent up emotions. It allows me to breathe out, exhale the staleness and then take back in a renewed energy level. God made us in a wonderful way, and our physical well being is related to our emotional health. If we exercise regularly, there are plenty of physical and mental benefits.

Scriptures also say it is good too, as a complement to spiritual discipline. "Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and
forever."
(emphasis mine, taken from 1 Tim 4: 8 The Message)



Go on get up from your computers and have a walk and some exercise! It is good.

Not a walk to the fridge ok?

Anger

Anger is an expression or an outlet for stress. We get angry when things get wrong or we feel it is unfair. Anger is a built in justice system which God put into each of us for good. If we think there is no need for justice, we will just let things go as it is. We would not get angry. It is good to express anger at injustice. Otherwise our silence condones it. There are benefits for anger.

But anger is destructive if vented on the wrong people. It is often that we express anger on those whom we love because we cannot get angry at our superiors or at thngs beyond our control. So aim you anger on the devil or wrong doings not on flesh and blood. For we are not at war with flesh and blood.

Causeless, excessive, or protracted anger is sinful (Mt 5:22, Col. 3:8). The Bible warns "do not let the sun go down on your anger" (Eph. 4:26), that is, do not let feelings of anger last so long as to become sinful.

In other words don't get guilty or depressive for being angry. Have a good reason for being angry. But we are also warned not to let our anger be uncontrolled.

Think about God's mercy when angry. I find it worth remembering.

Lethargy

One side effect of coming out of a high stress situation is lethargy. Imagine an object under high pressure for a long time, like a fish that lives at the bottom of the ocean is suddenly taken up to the surface. It will simply explode! So learning to de-stress slowly is important, otherwise the emotions can be explosive.

Victory or success after stressful situation has to be handled carefully. Elijah, victorious over baal became depressive. So handle stress with care and know yourself and your limitations. But most of all get to rest in God. Even the medic say so.

Stress

Stress makes people do many out of character things. Stress is not harmful unless you allow stress to dilapidate you! Stress is meant to build up response and reflex for overcoming a situation. If we can handle stress well, we can be extremely productive.

So how to handle stress well?

For me, being conscious of the ever presence of Jesus, help me to remain cool calm and collected.

Apart from that, laugh at yourself and the circumstances. Look at the difficult situation and laugh about it. Have a good guffaw even though you may seem mad! Laugh out loud, don't just snicker!

Are you stressed? Take the very scientific stress test here

Dog Tired?

Tiredness from hard work is different from tiredness from working hard!
Hard physical work takes out the physical energy and burns up the calories and builds up muscles. This is good for those who work in the office who needed exercise. It makes one ache with tiredness. It will soon go away. Working hard is different! It takes the physical, mental and emotional energy out of you. It is tiring in a different way. It makes one feel dog-tired! It will not go away unless one learn to rest.

Tiredness is good for us. It will test a person's resolve and ability. It enables a person to learn about oneself and enables a person to improve.

Hard work and working hard does not kill us. It is the inability to handle stress and a weak heart due to lack of exercise or bad diet that kills. Knowing how to de-stress and finding energy is the way to overcome demanding situations. Things we can change and manage we do. Things beyond our ability or control we just let go. Admit our limitations and find alternate solutions. Circumstances beyond our control such as natural phenomenon, we simply accept and move on.

Such was my month! Challenging and satisfying after everything is done and completed. It helps to be able to rely on a very close personal friend. Thank you Jesus! Thank you for being there for me.

What is Sin?

I read another blog which listed the seven deadly sins and freddie (whom i have never chat with before) started an interesting conversation.... i don't think the conversation has ended but this shows that we all can discuss issues in a civil manner

Living With High Oil Price