Buying over another business

I'm excited with the buying over of another internet cafe shop. Another friend agreed to come out half of the amount and also to manage the shop. There are many things that needs to be done to make the shop more attractive to the customers. I guess the next few months, I would be busier trying to manage one shop and helping my partner manage another shop. But it would be exciting to see the progress of the business.

We have many plans to attract more customers to the shop. The previous owner does not offer many services to the public which we intend to make available. We trust God that with more services made available, the business would grow and we would be blessed with additional income. I know we can get financial advice from Missoula, MT wealth management group as to manage our money wisely. We hope to be God's channel of blessings to the needy especially those who are serving God in the rural areas. As for now, we can only do our best knowing that only God can bring success in the business.

Mom is in the hospital

After making kuih chang everyday for more than a week, her body finally succumbed to tiredness and fatigue. Nobody forced her to do the kuih chang but it is out of her love for her children that she persistently and laboriously prepare the kuih daily. She had to sit or squat for a long time while making the kuih chang and thus it affects her abdomen muscles.

When the children went back to their respective homes, it was a little too late for her to catch her rest. She caught fever and lost her appetite. The next day, she complained of stomach ache. The clinic doctor told her that it may be because of bacteria in her stomach and prescribed some medicine for her. That night her condition got worse and she had to endure stomach pain until morning. She was brought to the hospital and after a MRT scan, the specialist said that her appendix burst and they need to operate on her. Now she is recuperating and God willing, she can be home in a few days time.

Sometimes I am amazed at her persistence in doing something for her family that she is willing to risk her health. People who are injured by others can get the service of Austin Personal Injury Lawyer at O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath – Personal Injury Lawyers – 808 West Avenue, Austin, TX. 78701 – 512-494-9949 but what would you do in my mother's case. Self "inflicted injuries" because of love for family is a no cause for any legal action. At least not in most countries of this world. Would I do the same for my children when I am in my golden age? Hmmm... .

Protecting our children

I read with a shock about the latest tragedy on a seven year old boy in Arau, Perlis. He was tied up with a rope and repeatedly assaulted by the school teacher. He died two days later in the hospital. What on earth is happening to the school system in this country? Disciplining a child is a must but it must never cross the boundary of abuse. We hear of cases of kidnapping, molestation, rape and various kinds of abuses on our children reported in the paper almost daily. The world is getting worst everyday.

We need to protect our children from evil people. Yet, we also need to protect our children from our own ignorance. Many times, our children would suffer from our lack of knowledge about the danger or side effects of the medicine we give them. One good example is Topamax. While it is generally prescribed by the doctors to prevent migraine headaches to both children and adult, it can also cause cleft lip or cleft palate – birth defects that occur when the lip or palate fail to completely fuse together. It is our responsibility as parents to ensure that we are being informed thoroughly of any kind of medicine the doctor wants to prescribed to us and to our children. Most of the medicines would have side effects.

If any of your children are suffering because of such negligence by the doctors, one option is to go for Topamax lawsuit. Check out O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath – Personal Injury Lawyers – 808 West Avenue, Austin, TX. 78701 – 512-494-9949 or any other lawyers that you know can help.

The world is no longer safe for our children. We as parents must take up our responsibilities to ensure their safety, directly or indirectly.

The Ugly Truth - acne

Watched this movie twice in the past one week. I normally don't watch movies more than once unless it is good. Okay, this movie is not superbly great but it is worth watching. It is hilarious with lots of sexual puns intended which makes it not suitable for children to watch/hear. There's not many nudity scenes but the message portrayed is definitely of low moral standards.

Anyway, it reminded me the facts/truth that many of us focus on the looks than on the inner beauty. Girls would do their best to look beautiful. Teenagers especially girls are prone to be be low on self esteem when they experience the acne breakouts. Many will be desperate to use Accutane to treat their acne problem. Accutane is a form of vitamin A and when used it reduces the amount of oil released by oil glands in the skin, and helps the skin renew itself more quickly.

But the problem is that Accutane can cause severe, life-threatening birth defects. Therefore,never use Accutane if you are pregnant. If however, you feel that you've been wrongly treated with accutane, go find a lawyer and file an Accutane Lawsuit. You can check out O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath – Personal Injury Lawyers – 808 West Avenue, Austin, TX. 78701 – 512-494-9949.

I remembered that I used to press my acne when I was a teenager. Yes, that was a stupid thing to do. It leaves acne marks on my face but it gradually disappears when I got older. Instead of getting better look, it makes my face looks ugly. That's an ugly truth. I would suggest that you find a better remedy for your acne problems. A good balance healthy diet is the most important during this "acne" period.

World's biggest

Do you know that China is the world's biggest bullion miner. Yes, China. And who is the biggest gold consumer. Well, it's India for now. But China would most probably take over that title from India very soon. I know the Chinese are fond of gold and most of them would buy gold coins as gifts to their loved ones. Looking at the trend of economic uncertainties, it looks like this precious metal would be a safe bet for investors.

Oh ya, even though China is the world's biggest bullion miner, she still has to import gold from other countries. Yes, China's gold mines are not enough to meet its own internal domestic demands. And the good news is that the increase in gold import by China will help to lift prices in the coming months. The Dragon country has voracious appetite for gold.

Expected to go on increasing

Read the paper TheStar today and found an article by By YVONNE TAN on the price of gold. The article mentioned that the price of gold is expected to scale higher at least over the next one year. Well, if that is true, it is indeed good news to me. Yes, I do invest in gold although I did not buy gold coins. I invest in gold saving accounts because I have problem keeping actual gold coins in a safe place.

The downside is that I don't have extra money to invest further. With the roof renovation and buying of another photocopier for my business, all my extra money has disappeared. Would I encourage you to buy gold? Yes, I definitely would do so. I'm not a high risk taker like those who play the stock market daily. I like to play safe and at the moment, investing in gold is a safe bet.

Maids in Saudi

I have a maid from Indonesia. Most of the Indonesian maids prefer to work in nearby countries like Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei because of the similar language. It is much easier for them to understand the instructions from their employer and as such can avoid making unnecessary mistake because of language misunderstanding.

The maids have a choice to work in other countries like the Middle East countries. The pay is much higher but the maids must understand English or Arabic. The good thing about working in Middle East is the maid's salary can be in kind. The maid can ask the employer to buy gold bullion for her instead of paying cash to her. I think this is a better deal for the maid if the maid does not need to use her salary as gold price keeps on increasing. If the maid has to send back money to her family, then this salary deal is not appropriate as it is risky to send back the gold bullion to their own country.

I was further told that sometimes the maids in Saudi would never seen her employers face throughout her employment period as the women would wear burqa and the maid would not be allowed to see the male employer.

Gold wins again

My banker friend drop by at the house the other day. As usual, she would promote the various plans the bank has. And in this instance, she was promoting a fixed deposit plan for our children. The time duration for the FD to mature is 4 years and we are not supposed to take out the money within that period. The interest rate is only 3.5% per year.

Well, the plan is attractive because our children do have some money inside their saving accounts. Then, we calculated it against the gold savings plan. We estimated that the gold price will continue it upward trend for the next four years and the increase is definitely more than 3.5%. Well, it might go up as high as 60% for the next 4 years. Without much of a fight, the gold wins. So the next day we went to UOB to buy gold. Looks like the children will have higher returns for their money.

UOB joins the market

In the past, we only have Maybank offering gold saving accounts. At the time when Maybank first launches that service, not many of the people are interested in investing in gold or precious metal. It could be that the people needed a ready cash just to get through month by month. Later, Public Bank also offered such service to the public. Well, it is not just gold saving accounts but also gold bullion and minted gold coins. If you check and compare Maybank and Public Bank gold price rates, you would note that there are differences. Generally, as for now, Public Bank offers a better rate for the public.

Now, we see another bank offering the same service. UOB has entered the market and the good news is that it is giving a better rate to the public compared with Maybank and Public Bank. So if you have extra money that you would not spend for maybe a year, I would advise you to invest it in gold savings account. Or if you are in USA, check out United States Gold Bureau. You may find a better deal there.

Sonic Gear speakers

Another thing left by my tenants is a set of Sonic Gear speaker Blue Thunder 1 model. And here is a picture of the same model.

I guess the tenants use this speaker for their room theater set. Being students in the local university, having a room theater set is much cheaper than going to the cinema every time they want to watch a movie. Those who love to hear music will surely get a good set of speaker and Sonic Gear speakers are considered good speakers.

No, I'm not a music lover. If I have lots of money which I don't have especially when the tenants left a hefty outstanding bills for me to pay, I would prefer to buy buy gold instead of buying pc speakers. At least I know my money will increase over time.

Anyway, before the Sonic Gear is sold (yes, I intend to sell it if there are interested buyer) I might as well make full use of it and plug it to my desktop.

Dumbbells

The tenants also left some other things besides the big Dunson bags. No, it is not gold bullion. I wish they had left some gold bullion but that is not so. Now that the gold price is increasing, I'm sure I can get back some money to pay the outstanding bills that my tenants failed to pay. Better leave wishful thinking and get back to reality.

Another thing that the tenants left is a pair of dumbbells each weighing 3.5kg. It has been a long time since I exercise using dumbbells. Now that the dumbbells are with me, I started using them. And it feels great to be able to exercise again. My biceps and triceps are beginning to find their shapes again. hahahaha...at least there are some known and seen benefits of the tenants leaving without telling us.

Outstanding bills

When we went to check out our apartment to see whether our tenants are still there or not, we found out that they have left the apartment without informing us at all. What a irresponsible tenant. The apartment is in a mess. Sometimes I wonder how on earth they can live in such a messy place. Rubbish are not thrown away in the rubbish bin but just left on the floor. I think even if they drop any gold coins there, they would have difficulties finding it in such a mess.

What is worse is that they left without paying the outstanding bills. Water bill amounting to RM53.00 and electric bill amounting to a whopping RM2.5K. Yes, that's RM2,500.00 which is about 5 months rental amount. Grrrr... why is that stupid TNB does not disconnect the electricity when the bills are not paid on time.

Looking for old course-mates

While in Sabah, I remembered one of my course-mate named Daisun in university. We studied law and he was one of the Sabahan students who made it to the top law school in Malaysia. When we graduated, we lost contact with each other. I was told once by him that he would go back to Sabah to practice law.

I wondered whether Daisun is practicing in Sabah. If he is, then he would have his own legal firm or a partner to one the legal firm there. I assume that he would be a litigation lawyer as that would fit his personality, handling various lawsuits like Accutane lawsuit or even be a criminal defense lawyer. Would I be able to recognize him? Hopefully, if he has not become too fat or change his familiar gestures. Maybe, one day I will see you again Daisun.

I'm so bored, boring.

Annabelle has been saying that phrase often nowadays. She gets bored easily. I think it is more that she wants to play computer games. And since we do not allow her to play computer games everyday, she would use that phrase to "persuade" us indirectly to allow her to use the computer. When she said that phrase, we often suggested to her to do other things like drawing, cycling, reading or even doing her homework. Most of the times, she would do what we suggested but only for a while. Then she would come back to us and complain again about being bored.

This simply shows that when she wants to play her computer games, all other things are boring to do. Even if I give her a gold bullion or a gold earing, she would not be interested as her mind is on her computer games. I bought her 1000 pieces of jigsaw puzzle for her to do but she has yet to start it. It would be no surprise if she says that she is bored with it also.

Searching to be sure

My brother sent me a link about the hidden story of Jesus. I guess he is still seeking to find out more about the kind of faith that he wants to have. The problem of watching youtube video clips is that he has to be very careful on determining whether to believe what is being shown there. Most of the information given in that particular video clip are more of suggestive thoughts and not proven. They only show the parts that reinforce their theory and totally left out other contradictory facts. Thus it seems to portray the truth when it is only an unproven theory.

Advised him to do more research on the topic especially on biblical apologetic. Well, it would be good if he has completed his research degrees as he would be able to discern the proven facts from mere theories. As for now, he has to learn such skills on his own. And may he find the truths that he is seeking.

Investing in Kindergarten

My brother came back with mother and the maid last weekend. He asked me whether I have money to invest. Of course the answer is No. But God willing, He will provide all my needs as He has always been faithfully been providing. Anyway, my brother told me that one of his friend in interested in opening a kindergarten near his place. And she is asking my brother whether he wants to joint venture. A capital of RM10K to be injected into the venture. He is quite keen to join though he too has limited savings.

When asked about how the returns would be like, he is not sure at all. He has got a clue. So I taught him a bit on how to calculate the returns for his possibly RM10K investment. Also told him to ask his friends how much profits/returns would he get and for how long the partnership would last. Told him that it is better to invest in gold bullion if the returns offered by his friend is less than 10% of his investment. This is because the appreciation value of gold normally increases more than 10% a year.

Anyway, still waiting for the project proposal from his friend. If the projected returns is good and all other factors are positive, then I might contribute to the venture too.

Having me for 24 hrs

After the trip to Genting, my wife said something during our conversation.

"You know, its been a long time since we (the children and my wife) have you for 24 hours for 3 days."

That really makes me think and reflect back. Ya, its been a long time since I've spent 24 hrs together with my family. Monday to Saturday, my children would only see me for a few hours, sometimes they won't see me at all throughout the day. Sigh... . Today's children generally suffers from lack of time with their parents. In our pursuit of monetary gains be it from lack of it or from the greed of wanting more, we have sacrifice essential valuable time with children. I don't want to wake up one day with lots of gold coins in my safe box but have lost all love, care and affection from my children.

When was the last time you spend the whole day with your family?

Mom have nothing to watch

Ever since the antenna for the tv broke down, we have not been able to get all the tv channels back on the screen. Yes, even after replacing the old with a new antenna, we are not able to get a clear reception for the main channel. It's a bit unfortunate for mother since she likes to watch that channel. It has lots of tv series that has become her favorites. A few of them are Indonesian tv series, which she will watch with the Indonesian maid.

Now we are thinking of subscribing to Astro again. In the past when we subscribed to it, the reception for all the channels are clear. However, when mom is not here for a long period of time, we decided to cancel the subscription and nobody has the time to watch tv. For now, the main factor is what mother wants to watch as she be the only person who have time to watch.

How to show to her that we love her and are concerned with her needs? Of course, most of us would prefer to buy gold for our loved ones. My mother too loves to buy gold as presents for her children. But to fulfill her needs of being entertained at night we might get a new LCD plasma tv for her. Let her enjoy the best when she watches her favorite tv series. A new home theater set for mother. Hahaha... maybe with a new home theater set, more will stay at home and watch movies. Spend time at home instead of going to the cinema.

Economic uncertainties

I read in the paper today that many are protesting against their governments decision on austerity spending. France, Greece, Italy and a few other countries are facing economic uncertainties. Greece is already a "bankrupt" country. It makes one wonder on how solid one own country economy is. One thing for sure, investing in currency is very risky. The value of my country currency is definitely very "yo yo". I guess that's why those who play Forex trading make gains and losses everyday.

I would prefer to have a more certain increase of value in my investments. Instead of keeping your money in fixed deposits or buying shares, I would prefer to buy gold coins as an investment. Gold prices increased an average of 20% per year. That is basically 20% of interest for your investment which is more that your FD or shares dividend. Well, if you do not want to hold the actual gold coins, then go for gold saving accounts. That would serve the same purpose.

The Italian Job

No, it is not about an Italian guy doing a job or doing a job that is Italian. It is a movie title. The story is about a group of con men stealing a safe full of gold bars worth 37 million dollars. And these guys are Americans. Hahaha...American con men stealing gold bars in Italy. I like the creative plan they have to do the job.

So what would you do if you have 37 millions dollars of gold divided among six of you? One of them said, "buy gold coins" or something like that. Or maybe he advised his other team member to invest in gold. Kinda funny because they already have gold bars in hand and yet they still want to invest in gold. Anyway, if I do have that kind of money (cash and not gold bars), I too would invest in gold coins.