Wait a minute

"Hey, wait a minute. You better watch out." I reminded myself as I observed my stomach after I woke up in the morning. There is no sign of a thinner stomach. In fact, from my observation, it has grown and expanded a bit. When the stomach expands and at the same time I do not have enough exercises throughout the week, it is time for me to take precautions. I do not want to go for lap band Houston if possible. So the best thing for me to do is to cut down on my food intake and at the same time try to do some light exercises wherever and whenever I can.

Love Relationships

Reading a book by Henry T. Blackaby & Claude V. King entitled "Experiencing God". The book was given by a blogger friend Leah. This book is indeed a blessing to me. It reminded me that in our Christian life, the most important thing for God is to have a close and intimate relationship with each one of use. A close, intimate, real and practical relationship with God is really what matters to God. Not the ministry, not the "doing" of things for God.

It may be very difficult for most of us as we have the "doing" mentality for God. We measure our worthiness by our "doing" for Him but that is our measuring standard, not His. Time for me to change my thinking...paradigm shift again.

The sound of money

Can you believe it that every time someone visits your blog or website, there is money set aside for you. Yes, that can be a possibility only and only if you want it. You have the option to monetize your blog or site so that the audio advertisement that your blog visitors hear is the sound of money to you. Well, if you want to monetize your site, do it fast. Don't wait.

You better watch out

No, it's not Christmas carols that I am thinking about. I am thinking about my eyesight that has taken a dive. My current spectacle is no longer comfortable to my eye. My wife told me about the Great Discovery: Zenni Optical that she heard from her blogger friends. Her blogger friend said that it is indeed the Best Thing Found: Zenni Optical that has brighten her world. Indeed it has brighten her world for she got the offer for Zenni Optical $8 Rx Glasses. Well, I think I better watch out for my eyes. I definitely do not want to go blind at this young age.

Children Can Soon Go Cashless

Yes, that is what one credit card company is planning to offer. They will be offering The Tune Card which is a debit card for children to use. It is only offered for children aged 12 to 18 years old. The company announced that the Tune Card is a debit card that gives instant online approval with no credit check and allows for cash withdrawals at ATMs worldwide. Now that is something that most adults would hope to have too if the money is not theirs.

I believe with the introduction of this card, many merchants would have to Setup Credit Card Processing system in their business. Of course many would opt for Visa & Mastercard Payment Solutions as these two are the major card companies. The time will come when even small and medium size businesses would have the facility to Process Visa Cards as society moves towards a cashless society.

Now you want to listen to mommy?

Aucchhhhh....that must be very painful. Didn't Mommy tell you not to run with a fork.

Aiyaya....you are too young lah to carry a kavadi.

Homework and stomach

Helped Annabelle to do her homework two days ago. She had to write the word "ulat" and "ular". She complained that she do not know how to write the letter "a". I had to think of something that she can relate to and that she can remember to make it fun and easier for her to write. The first thing that came to my mind is the big belly and mentioned it to her. Hahaha...she can relate to it and even mentioned someone who has a big belly. Then she tried to write it. After a few attempts she got used to it and can write it nicely.

When I think of the big belly person that Annabelle mentioned, my mind wonder about the Los Angeles Plastic Surgeon. Maybe that person should consider going for the surgery if exercises do not produce any results. Then we would not think of him when Annabelle has to write her letter "a".

Nipping it at the bud

Annabelle lied about her homework yesterday. She asked the maid to do a little bit of her homework. Then she accidentally mentioned it to her mummy. When confronted, she denied it. Even though she was threatened to be thrown away from the car, she still denied it. She cried and cried of course, out of fear from being thrown away but yet she still does not want to admit.

After much persuasion and threats and love, she finally admitted that she asked the maid to help her. Haizzzz... Lying....at that tender young age. Must nip it at the bud. Discipline with love.

Indulging myself

There are a at least two things that I am thinking of getting for myself. One is the
go for my first spa experience. I was thinking of going for SpaLook for that. I am sure my wife would love to tag along. Secondly I would want to buy a big plasma television from AbTeletronics and put it in my room. It would definitely be awesome to watch movies from the comfort of your own bedroom. The good thing is that I can get it cheaper with promo codes from CouponChief. Check them out.

They are printing

Thanks to wifey's blogging fren who introduced to us a heavy duty printer, the students are coming to the shop to print their assignments. I truly believes that it is in God's timing that the Mummy bloggers met for the second time before the end of last year. God knows that the business needs a good and reliable printer and as such arranged wifey and me to meet Mr. Terrance. Bought the printer and it has indeed frees me from some headache. The old printer has been giving me problems with frequent paper jam.

Now, more and more students are coming to the shop and they are printing.

Chicken Golek

My wife loves to eat Ayam Golek or literally translated as "Chicken Rolled". It is cooked differently from roast chicken, though it looks almost the same. The taste is nice and the price is nice too, almost equivalent to the price of KFC value meal. I think my wife should learn more about chicken recipes especially on how to prepare and cook Ayam Golek. Then we need not go out frequently and can still enjoy nice and tasty Ayam Golek.

Tiring, very tiring

It has been a tiring day today. From morning till the end of my work shift, I had to attend to one customer. He, a foreigner who is also a doctor wanted me to help him prepare his documentations. He wants to apply for work in Malaysia. However, due to many other customers also requiring my attention, the work prolong for more than 6 hours. It is so tiring to work like that. And what is worse is that after everything is done, he asked to be given a discount. What lah.... the charges are already so cheap and yet still want to ask for discounts. Next time, I won't agree to help him unless he agrees to pay for the full amount.

Breast and God

I was quite impressed with the way my pastor shared about breastfeeding during one of her message. She was explaining about the name of God and in her explanation she mentioned about the “breast of God”. Well, the first thought that comes to most people when the word breast is mentioned is more on the sexual thoughts. However, the word breast when used for God has nothing to do with sexual thoughts. She explained it further.

Everyone has breast. Even the guys have breast. The only difference is that the women have bigger breast for the purpose of breastfeeding the baby. It is the mother’s milk that the baby received when suckling on her breast that nourishes the baby. It is different from Bottle feeding where the milk is not as nourishing as mother’s milk. It is this idea of the nourishing breast that we should relate to when we talk about the “breast of God”.

Nowadays, most mothers would prefer to give baby feeding bottle instead of breastfeeding their babies. As much as this is convenient for the mother, it would not the best for the baby. As the baby finds nourishment from the mother’s breast, we adults too can find nourishment from God.

Get a paying job

A few of my customers are working in the construction industry. Unfortunately, some of them were not paid regularly by their employer. Some was not paid for up to three months. Sometimes when I see them, I wonder how they had to "tighten their stomach" while waiting for their salary to be paid.

You can actually get a very good pay if you have ConstructionSkills as the demands for skill laborers are high. However, if you works for a non-paying employer like some of my customers, life could be difficult.

Maybe they should check out CSkills and look for other employers. Better still if they can further their skills by enrolling into any of the skill training institute or colleges. Then they would be able to ask for higher pay. Then they can come to my shop and use the computers there more often. Hmmm…I must recommend this to my customers.

Expired driving licence

I just found out that I have been driving my car and riding my motorbike for about 20 days without a valid driving licence. My driving licence expired on 17 December last year. Phew, I thank God that I was not stopped by any policeman or the JPJ after my licence expired.

Will renew my driving licence today.

Is there a problem?

My second girl Clarissa loves to stand near the TV whenever she watches any TV shows. We often tell her to stand far from the TV but after a while she would walk near the TV to watch. We have to remind her again and again not to stand so near the TV. Is there a problem with her eyes? My wife and I have thought of sending her for eye check-up.


Maybe we will check out this Great Discovery: www.ZenniOptical.com and find a suitable spectacle for Clarissa if she is required to use one. There are a variety of nice looking spectacles for sale. Hmmm...maybe I too can get myself a new spectacle. Want to get the classy spectacle and change my outlook appearance a bit.

Handy Manny Daddy

Bought a DIY bookshelf to put all the children's books. Annabelle saw it and was very excited to open and assemble it. She asked her Mummy to open it for her but her Mommy and Daddy was at the table having lunch.

Belle, "Mummy, fasterlah open the box".
Mummy, "Waitlah, mummy's eating"
Mummy, "You open the box lah"
Belle, "But Mummy, I'm not the handy manny like on TV"
Mummy, "Then you ask handy manny Daddy to do lah"
Belle, "Yah...can ask handy manny daddy to open the box"

Mummy, "Who's the handy manny daddy?"
Belle, "Handy manny daddy is my Daddy lah".

Hahaha...at least she can think of me as her handy manny.

Cheap Car Leasing

My wife has been asking me to bring the family for a holiday either to Cameron Highland or Genting Highland. 7 years ago, my car can afford to climb the slopes of Cameron Highland but now driving on the North South Highway it takes so much effort for the car and the air-cond will no longer be cold. Living in a warm climate, it is a dread driving without air-cond especially if you have 3 small children in the car.

Well if my wife keeps bugging me for the holiday then I will need to lease a car to bring her to higher ground. But then ah, leasing a new car here is so costly. I envy those living in UK. They can afford to cheap contract hire and car leasing of new cars. That is why you can see lots of them driving new car and even some changes their car very often because they have BuyYourCar. What this company does is, through its extensive database with hundreds of dealership and broker listings and will quickly obtain for you the best leasing deals to be found online. You will then be given several car leasing options to choose from and start driving them.

6th Real Skill

Finally after 2 weeks of pressing the keys on keyboards, I got my 6 Real Skill. Now I do not have target anymore. Felt so aimless when playing the game. I think I need to find new target but what ah?

Well, maybe I should leave the game for a while and concentrate on building my business and relationship with my customers. Blogging does not make much money anymore now. I need to get more income from my business.

Vacuum for the customers

“Maybe I can sell this old vacuum cleaner”, I told myself. The vacuum cleaner together with a few old computer monitors was dumped at the garage. The monitors are not working now and only good to be thrown away or sold to the recycle centre. “Wonder how much can I get from these scraps”, as I looked at all the items in the garage.

I had to bring back the good vacuum cleaner from the shop to the house. It is a good vacuum cleaner like the branded eureka vacuum cleaner. The house needs it more than the shop. However, I still need to get a good vacuum cleaner for the shop. I prefer to make sure that the shop is clean as it would ensure the comfort of my customers. Clean shop is another plus factor for returning customers and I hope my customers would keep on returning to the shop.

Managing the business again

My permanent staff resigned without any formal notice. On 31st December, he was playing online game (while on duty) and sent me a chat. He said that he has found another job at a restaurant where he would be trained to prepare western food. He said that is his interest and that his father encouraged him to work there. I told him that if he can improve himself with the new job, I would have no problems with it.

I guess I am not angry at all as I have been preparing myself to start working at the shop again. I have been "away" for about 2 months from the shop and after much thinking, I know that I need to be there working at the shop again. I truly believes that it is God's divine plan that my staff resigned voluntarily.

Now that I am back working at the shop, I have to rectify the various problems that occurred in my absence. One of the tedious challenges is to ensure all the computers are usable and does not give problems to the customers. Viruses, trojans, spywares and malwares have made their home in almost all of the computers as I did not subscribe and install a complete security solutions like NOD32 on the computer systems. These viruses and trojans are really a nuisance. The customers are partly to be blamed for this problem as they loves to download various files that are infected by viruses and trojans.

Exercises for the back - part 10

Stand with legs apart.

Put your hand at your waist.

Then lower your body by bending your knee as though you want to sit on a chair.

Then stand up straight and repeat.

Exercises for the back - part 9

This is quite simple.

Stand straight, legs together and hands at the side of the body.

Moves your body to the left as far as you can without moving the feet. Change side and repeat.

Pay back my money

A few of my customers still owe me some money. They bought the MS gold from me so that they can purchase whatever online game item. However, I allowed them to buy the gold on credit as I do not meet them everyday. I think that is definitely not a smart move.

Now a few of them have yet to pay me for more than a month. They say that they have yet to receive their salary from their boss. I can understand them as they are contract workers and most of the workers are not paid on time. There are some who are not being paid for months. But the problem is that they still owe me money and they keep on making promises that they will pay as soon as possible. Maybe they should consider applying for Credit Cards For People With Bad Credit. Then they can use the card to get some money and pay me.

Exercises for the back - part 7

The Horse Kick.

Go down on your elbows and knees.

Raise up your left leg as high possible.

Lower it down and raise up your right leg.

You only need to raise it up and not really kick to the back.

Also make sure that you wear something to protect your knee.

Exercises for the back - part 6

Okay...this is quite a tough exercise. I personally don't like this exercise but hey...if it is good for the back...just do it.

Lie down on your stomach.
Put both hands at your back, holding it together if possible.
Then raise both legs and hands together.
It should be that only your abdomen that still touches the floor while the other parts of the body are raised up.
Put your leg and hands down (and head) and repeat.

Beauty and the Datuk

The case of Datuk Chua Soi Lek has really caught the media’s attention. It seems that the lady is a hair and beauty saloon operator. I guess one needs to have some beautiful features before one can be successful in the beauty industries. Indeed there are many young girls who wants and are looking at beauty jobs as their lifelong career. The job benefits are very lucrative and as such the young girls are easily persuaded to go into it.

However, they need to be careful as they would be exposed to more challenges and snares of evil and wicked man. I am not sure whether the Datuk did offer money or political support for the lady, but if he does, it would not be a surprised if the lady succumbed to that temptation and give in to his sexual demands. Having said the above, I do hope that both of them would find forgiveness and peace from God.

Worldly pleasures = worldly pressures

Today’s Sunday message by Pastor Lee Neo touches on many important aspects of my life. I won’t go into detail about the various points shared in the message but I wanted to share something that was said in the message.

“Parents, we should not compare our past experiences with the present generation. We should not say, “I did it differently when I was your age”. You know why, because I believe today’s generation are facing greater pressure and temptations than the previous generations. And if we are not diligent in guiding this new generation, they would be lost when they reach the age of 20 when they go to further their studies.” Paraphrased by me.

As I ponder back on this statement, I find that it is very true. Being a father I at times do compare my children’s lifestyle and mine when I was young like them. I never have to study in kindergarten when I was still a child but my two girls who are only 4 and 5 years old are already in kindergarten, being “forced” to study. However, I would like to differ or add my thoughts to her statement.

My comment to my pastor’s statement is that it is not only the new generation that faces tremendous pressure. It is the lifestyle of today that creates such pressures. Even the old generation like me…hahaha…not so old lah… faces tremendous pressures now. We are being exposed to the same worldly temptations as the new generations. One good example is the Datuk Chua Soi Lek’s sexual intercourse scandal with a beauty saloon worker. He is already over 60 years old and yet the lure of sexual pleasure does not exclude him.

All generations, be it new or old generations have to face today’s worldly pressures. Of course, being the older generation we should have learned something from our mistakes and other people’s mistake and should be better equipped although that is not necessarily the case.

Exercises for the back - part 8

With leg aparts, hold your hands together and raise it up over your head.

Bend over to your left, up and right.

Repeat.

You should feel your side belly being stretched with this exercise.

Exercises for the back - part 5

Lie down on your right side.
Use your right hand to support your body.
Then raise up your left leg as high possible, making sure it is straight and parallel to the your right leg.

Change position by lying down on your left side.

Sweet things and grow smaller

It is very interesting that children can remember lots of things that we adults said to them even though we said it in passing. Sometimes they tried to use what they know in various circumstances, most of it not appropriate and suitable at all. It does not matter as they are still learning.

As I drove to church, my two girls said something about sugar.

Belle, “Daddy, you cannot drink sweet things….not good”
Daddy, “Why not good?”
Belle, “If we drink sweet things we will grow small and smaller.”
Clarissa, “Ya, if Belle drinks sweet drinks, Belle will grow smaller”
???..Somebody must have told them not to drink sweet drinks or else they will grow smaller.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity to teach them more about sugar, I continued the conversation with them
Daddy, “Ya, that’s why you must not drink a lot of sweet drinks like Pepsi or squash drinks. If you drink lots of sweet drinks it is not good for you. You can have diabetes and then the doctor will cut your leg.”
Belle, “Why cut the leg?”
Daddy, “Because if you drink lots of sweet drinks you can fall sick and get diabetes. Then the doctor will cut the leg. No more leg.” Well, didn’t really answer her question but I guess it is sufficient for her as she no longer ask the same question. Haha.
Clarissa, “No more leg, …pain pain”

Daddy, “Ya…then you cannot walk if no leg.” My mind remembered the few people who had to have their feet cut because of diabetes and had to depend on medical equipment the rest of their lives.

Clarissa saw a girl walking beside the road and we then changed the subject of conversation.

ATM Robbery - Truth or Fiction

In my earlier post, I posted about ATM Robbery and how to alert the police by using reverse PIN number. I received the email and without seeking to confirm it, I posted it assuming that it is correct. However, upon further investigation on the matter, I found this website on that issue.

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/a/atm-911.htm

Here is what is said by the above link.

Enter your ATM Pin Number Backwards to Summon Police-Fiction!
Summary of the eRumor:
An alert that if you ever find yourself in a scary situation at a banking ATM machine, such as a thief forcing you to withdraw cash, just enter your personal identification number (PIN) backwards. That will automatically send a message to the police that you are in trouble and they will respond to the machine. The eRumor says that most people don't know about this.

The Truth:
The eRumor is false because there isn't anywhere that we could find where this emergency procedure at ATM machines is actually being used.

There is a seed of truth to it, however, in that the idea has been floating around for a while. One of the biggest proponents has been in Illinois attorney named Joseph Zingher. He says the notion came to him when he was a law student at the University of Illinois and one evening was withdrawing money from an ATM in a scary part of town. He patented his concept in 1998 and has been trying to talk banks into using it ever since.

Under Zingher's system, every ATM account would have two PIN numbers---the normal PIN used to withdraw money and what he calls the "ATM SafetyPIN" to alert police that something bad was happening at the ATM. It has also come to be popularly called the "Panic PIN." The SafetyPIN would typically be the reverse of the normal PIN number or some other variation that would be easy to remember. Legislation was passed in Illinois that would allow banks to adopt the system, but did not mandate it. So far, no banks or financial institutions have done so. Zingher has offered to let Illinois-based banks to use it for free but some of them have said they think it would be too expensive and that ATM crime is not frequent enough. Zingher says that ATM crime is much higher than believed because not all crime reporting reflects whether it has taken place in connection with an ATM or forced withdrawal of cash.

My apology if the previous post has caused any inconvenience to you.

ATM Robbery - please take notice

JUST SOME GOOD INFORMATION......

If you should ever be forced by a robber to withdraw money from an ATM machine, you can notify the police by entering your Pin # in reverse.

For example if your pin number is 1234 then you would put in 4321. The ATM recognizes that your pin number is backwards from the ATM card you placed in the machine.

The machine will still give you the money you requested, but unknown to the robber, the police will be immediately dispatched to help you.
This information was recently broadcasted on TV and it states that it is seldom used because people don't know it exists .. Please pass this along to everyone possible.

Interesting facts - numbers

Have you ever thought why........ 1 means "one", and 2 means "two"?

The roman numerals are easy to understand but what was the logic behind the phonecian numbers?

It's all about angles !

It's the number of angles.

If one writes the numbers down (see below) on a piece of paper in their older forms, one quickly sees why.

I have marked the angles with "o"s.

No 1 has one angle.
No 2 has two angles.
No 3 has three angles.
etc.

and "O" has no angles

Exercises for your back - 4

This is quite simple to do.

Lie down on your back.
Raise both legs together at the same time until it reaches at least 90 degrees.
Lower both legs together and repeat.

Check your temperature please

Every time we use the red car, the old junk that has been giving us regular problems, my wife would ask me to check on the temperature meter. It looks like the water tank is leaking even though I have checked it many times and could not find any leakage. So because of this problem, my wife will ensure that she checks and fills up the water tank every two days. She does not want the car radiator to blow up while on the road. She jokingly said that if ever that happens, she will get a Mustang Radiator for her car. Hehehe….maybe she thinks her old junk is a Mustang. Anyway, as long as the car can still travel from the house to her working place, we will still use it.

Exercises for your back - 3

This exercise is commonly known as the bicycle exercise.

Lie down on your back.
Raise your legs and do as though you are cycling.

Exercises for your back - 2

Put your hands at the back of your head.
Both knees together, knees raised up slightly.
Raise up your left hand and your right knee, try to touch your knee with your elbow. Repeat with your right hand and your left knee.

Watch super bowl game

I have not been playing football for more than three Sundays now. And I really feel that I am out of shape due to lack of exercises. Since I can only go for one game a week, it is quite frustrating when I have to miss the game. I have to think of some other activities around the house to compensate for the lack of exercises. However, this is not easy as most of the time, the weather does not permits me to be outside the house. It has been raining almost everyday for the past two weeks.

And when it is raining, there is nothing much that can be done except to stay in the house and watch sports games on the television. I was thinking of buying the super bowl tickets and invite my friends to have a gala time at the stadium. Well, I might have to ask my wife first since she has indicated that she too wants to go to the stadium and feel for herself the vibrant energy that flows out from the crowds. Will consider her request but at the meantime I must make sure I go for the football game this Sunday.

Exercises for your back - 1

Lie down on your back.
Raise both feet as near possible to your chest.
Lower down both feet back to original position.

My New Year Resolution

Hi!

I've set up a new resolution for the year 2008.....

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My Resolution for Next Year : 1024 by 768 pixels!!!!!!

What's yours??? :-)


Happy X'MAS And HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Retirees and their options

It is interesting to talk to people who have retired from the government service. They have lots of experiences from the long period working with the government. They can tell you many stories, good ones and bad ones about the government system. And for those that retire from big companies, they would have at least acquired some insider knowledge of company. One would expect that these retirees would use their acquired knowledge and be involved in activities that are related to it.

However, most of the retirees that I came across seems to let the acquired knowledge be of no use and prefers to trade in stocks and shares. It seems that playing shares is more interesting to them than to continue doing some kind of “work”. If I were to ask them about iron condor, they might not know what it is. Well, if you use PowerOptions to trade shares, you will know about it. PowerOptions gives you the necessary data for you to invest in stock options. With it you can find, compare, analyze, and make money when you trade on stock options. I am not talking about just a few or a hundred optional stocks that you can find and compare but PowerOptions can sort, filter and analyze almost 3000 optionable stocks and almost 200,000 options online. I am sure if all the retirees uses PowerOptions, they would be going for holidays often with the profits they earn. Or they can learn to dance and even dance in the water like those couples shown in the previous post.

Dancing....in water

I would love to dance. Well, I have yet to learn any dance steps yet but I love to see couples that can dance together gracefully. Now, there is another trend for the dancers. Another thrilling and exciting opportunity....to dance in water. Yes, dancing in the water.

Mother of the Year

In a zoo in California , a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs. Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny size, they died shortly after birth.

The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health, although physically she was fine. The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression. The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's cubs, perhaps she would improve.

After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother. The veter inarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment. Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of a different species. The only orphans" that could be found quickly, were a litter of weaner pigs. The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the babies around the mother tiger

Would they become cubs or pork chops??????? ??????

Take a look........ you won't believe your eyes!!!!

Minimize your surplus of assets

If you are operating a business where there are surplus of assets, you are risking your profit or even further accumulating loss. The way you handle these surplus of assets can decide your business performance. Let me slows down here. Those business who normally have surplus of assets are manufacturers of good, warehouses, suppliers or even industrial organizations that have unused project materials. Even my own internet shop have surplus of assets.

In order to fully minimize the unused surplus of assets, you might want to consider a good Logistics management system. One such system is SAMS™. This program is a web-based application where you can track all of your surplus assets even globally. One of the key features of SAMS™ is that you not only will know how much you have and where it is located but you can also sell, reinvest, donate or salvage your surplus assets with a click of your mouse within that program. With such features you can ensure that there are minimal surplus of assets and thus maximize your cash flows and profits.

Cellphones

Poor and Rich countries

The difference between the poor countries and the rich ones is not the age of the country.
This can be shown by countries like India & Egypt that are more than 2000 years old and are poor.
On the other hand, Canada, Australia & New Zealand, that 150 years ago were inexpressive, today are developed countries and are rich.

The difference between poor & rich countries does not reside in the available natural resources.
Japan has a limited territory, 80% mountainous, inadequate for agriculture & cattle raising, but it is the second world economy. The country is like an immense floating factory, importing raw material from the whole world and exporting manufactured products.
Another example is Switzerland, which does not plant cocoa but has the best chocolate of the world. In its little territory they raise animals and plant the soil during 4 months per year. Not enough, they produce dairy products of the best quality. It is a small country that transmits an image of security, order & labor, which made it the world’s strong safe.

Executives from rich countries who communicate with their counterparts in poor countries show that there is no significant intellectual difference.

Race or skin colors are also not important: immigrants labeled lazy in their countries
of origin are the productive power in rich European countries.

What is the difference then?

The difference is the attitude of the people, framed along the years by the education &
the culture.

On analyzing the behavior of the people in rich & developed countries, we find that the
great majority follow the following principles in their lives:

1. Ethics, as a basic principle.
2. Integrity.
3. Responsibility.
4. Respect to the laws & rules.
5. Respect to the rights of other citizens.
6. Work loving.
7. Strive for saving & investment.
8. Will of super action.
9. Punctuality.

In poor countries, only a minority follow these basic principles in their daily life.

We are not poor because we lack natural resources or because nature was cruel to us.

We are poor because we lack attitude.

We lack the will to comply with and teach these functional principles of rich & developed societies.

He got a new car

My brother came back for a visit last weekend. Wah... to my surprise he bought one second hand car. It is a Honda Civic manufactured in 1995. Yes it is already 12 years old. Though it is "old" but it was well maintained and looks new. If he did not tell me the age of the car, I would have thought it is only about 3 years old car. Seeing the car makes me to consider buying one second-hand car too.

He told me that there are many other similar cars sold by the used cars dealer near his place. I was thinking of searching for one at used cars Austin as I heard the price of the cars are cheap and attractive. My old junks are not up to the tasks of going outstation and this is one big factor in helping us to buy a good used car for our usage. I must wait for a few more months to see how our financial standing is before confirming on buying one.

The Christmas Invitation

It was the biggest night of the year in a little town called Cornwall. It was the night of the annual Christmas pageant. It's an especially big deal for the children in town -- they get to try out for the roles in the Christmas story. Everybody wants a part.

Which leads us to the problem of Harold. Harold really wanted to be in the play, too, but he was - well, he was kind of a slow and simple kid. The directors were ambivalent - I mean, they knew Harold would be crushed if he didn't have a part, but they were afraid he might mess up the town's magic moment. Finally, they decided to cast Harold as the innkeeper - the one who turns Mary and Joseph away the night Jesus is to be born. He had only one line - "I'm sorry, we have no room." Well, no one could imagine what that one line was going to do to everyone's Christmas…

The night of the pageant the church was packed, as usual. The Christmas story unfolded according to plan - angels singing, Joseph's dream, and the trip to Bethlehem. Finally, Joseph and Mary arrived at the door of the Bethlehem inn, looking appropriately tired. Joseph knocked on the inn door, and Harold was there to open the door.

Joseph asked his question on cue - "Do you have a room for the night?" Harold froze. After a long pause, Harold mumbled his line, "I'm sorry - we have no room." And, with a little coaching, he shut the door. The directors heaved a sigh of relief - prematurely. As Mary and Joseph disappeared into the night, the set suddenly started shaking again - and the door opened. Harold was back! And then, in an unrehearsed moment that folks would not soon forget, Harold went running after the young couple, shouting as loud as he could -- "Wait! Don't go Joseph. Bring Mary back! You can have MY room!"

I think little Harold may have understood the real issue of Christmas better than anyone else there that night. How can you leave Jesus outside? You have to make room for Jesus. And that may be the issue for you this Christmas. What will you do with this Son of God who came to earth to find you?

Jesus is the One who trades a throne room for a stable, and the praise of angels for human mockery. This is the Creator who gives Himself on a cross! The Bible gives us the only appropriate response: "The life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Gal. 2:20) You look at what Jesus did to pay for your sin on that cross, and you say those life-changing words - "For me."

Jesus is at YOUR door this Christmas. Maybe He's been knocking for a long time. Maybe He won't keep knocking much longer. All your life - even the events of the last few months - have been to prepare you for this crossroads moment with Jesus your Savior. Don't leave Him outside any longer. Open the door this Christmas Day. "Jesus, I cannot keep You out any longer. Come on in. You can have my room . . . my life."

Christmas is Weird

Christmas is weird- what other time of the year do you sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy out of your socks?