Studies have shown that for certain task, such as moving data between files and working on a spreadsheet, productivity is higher when one is using a larger monitor.
Researchers at the University of Utah tested how quickly people performed tasks like editing a document and copying numbers between spreadsheets while using different computer configurations: one with an 18-inch monitor, one with a 24-inch monitor and with two 20-inch monitors. Their finding: People using the 24-inch screen completed the tasks 52% faster than people who used the 18-inch monitor; people who used the two 20-inch monitors were 44% faster than those with the 18-inch ones. There is an upper limit, however: Productivity dropped off again when people used a 26-inch screen. (The order of the tasks and the order of computer configurations were assigned randomly.)
Personally, I do notice that I can work faster at home where I have a tiny 19" widescreen, compared to the even smaller 15" monitor I have at work. A 24" monitor would be sweeeet!
Ever taken what you thought would be a nice picture and then discover that there’s an idiot in the background who looks like he’s being sucked dry in the neck by a female vampire?
In an interview with Playboy magazine, Chad Kroeger of Nickelback claimed that he was dared into sucking his own dick for a case of beer when he was 14.
I put my own dick in my mouth. I was 14 and much more flexible at the time. It was soft and required a lot of pulling. I really wanted that case of beer.
While some cats have been blamed for the SARS outbreak in China, the way the Chinese authorities are culling cats in time for the Beijing Olympics is just horrible.
The government gives warnings about the deadly diseases that these cats carry, to the point of inducing paranoia in some Beijing residents, who were so scared of the threat, they beat to death several stray cats, including two which were bearing little kitties.
Forget about your boring dozen red roses. Keep this in mind for you next Valentine’s Day - white monogrammed roses from Louis Vuitton. Handbag not included. Damage to credit card ….. massive.
The Japanese don’t need a reason to invent some cute device for the fun of it. This piggy bank is supposed to ‘add some thrill’ to the mundane act of putting coins into a piggy bank.
It makes a noise on an hourly basis, reminding you to save. If not, a door will open on the ‘bomb’ and all your coins will fall out.
Costs 3000 yen (US$27), which is probably more than the amount of coins this little piggy bank can hold.
This video is just scary! I mean, this little person (that’s the PC term for a vertically-challenged person right?) is so funny but so freakin’ weird at the same time.
He turned 18 months old yesterday but he still hasn’t given up his habit of biting on things. His biting act you see in the picture isn’t as bad as other stunts he’s pulled with his mouth, the most shocking was when he walked along one living room wall at home, stuck his tongue out and started to lick the wall as he walked. One long streak of saliva stained the wall.
Our windows? Full of his lip and tongue marks. *sigh!*
Time really flies when you’re busy juggling work and the kids. The weekend is always a nice break, though, and Trin and I took the opportunity to sleep in a little later than usual (woke up 9am on Saturday, I think), much to the displeasure of the boys in the other room who were ranting in their own special toddler language that Mummy and Daddy hadn’t come and given them their morning milk, which is usually delivered promptly at 6.45am. One of the good things about Ajab is that he will not climb down from his bed and open the boys’ bedroom door, even though he is able to. He’ll wait (impatiently) for one of us to open the door and that will be a signal to him that he can come off his bed and watch TV and play.
Initially I had intended to go to Ikea at Tampines, just Ajab and I, to get the kids’ work table and chairs and a couple of other stuff, but Trin, not wanting to be bored at home, wanted to come along, so off we went, all five of us, to Ikea.
The kids sure had fun with Ajab insisting on carrying the big yellow shopping bag. Ayeed kept insisting on being let down from being carried. But as soon as his feet touched the floor, off he ran in the opposite direction. So poor me had to go running around Ikea chasing him (we HAVE to get another stroller soon!).
A little drama ensued when we reached the check-out counters to pay for our stuff when I patted my pockets and to my horror, my wallet wasn’t there, so Trin had to pay for all the stuff while I prayed hard that my wallet was in the car. Trin kept asking me whether I had inadvertently thrown my wallet into the big yellow shopping bag that Ajab was carrying and that we dumped in the bin when we transferred our purchases to a shopping cart. Wild thoughts started running in my head, but much to my relief I found the missing wallet in the car. I had forgotten to take it with me after I parked the car. First wallet. Next? Forgetting to take the kids out of the car? It has happened to other people, you know?
After a short nap at home (the drama of missing a wallet can take its toll on a person), Trin and I assembled the stuff we bought. It was hard work! The diagrams in the manual made it look so easy. Trin suggested that maybe Swedish people had magical furniture assembling powers. A simple chair and table certainly made me perspire when I assembled it. But in the end we managed it. Let’s not forget the igloo tent that I had difficulty putting up. Lucky for me there was a former girl guide in the house. Haha!
Maya got a baby gym and play mat to lounge around on and she was very happy with it. I like this play mat because the padding is thick and firm, unlike the other two play mats that we have that are too thin to be safe for a baby like Maya.
Oh and Maya can now turn from her back to her tummy unaided. She’s holding her head up really well.
That was Saturday. Today we were supposed to go to the beach because Ajab had so much fun the last time he was there for his school field trip that we wanted Ayeed to enjoy the beach too. We even bought two sets of buckets and spades for the boys to dig around in the sand with. Unfortunately, the weather turned grey when we were leaving our house. And it started drizzling soon after, therefore the beach plan got cancelled. So too did our plan to have breakfast of roti prata at Jalan Kayu because it would have been too troublesome getting three kids out of the car and having to juggle an umbrella too. So we decided to head to the one place with food that the kids can run around in at the same time - the airport. Again! This was the third time this year we’ve been to the airport. But the kids weren’t complaining. They had fun.
Ajab got himself wet at this fountain. Good thing he didn’t put his face in the stream of water, the pressure from the outlet was quite strong.
Both the boys were more interested in the air-con vents at their feet than the airplanes on the tarmac.
Maya getting grumpy and wondering why we’re not home yet.
So that was the weekend. Now Monday’s here again. We’ll try and make it to the beach again next weekend, hopefully. But not before I get another stroller. Ayeed needs to be strapped in. My back can’t take the constant carrying, or when he’s running, bending down and running trying to grab a 1 metre tall toddler (no mean feat, mind you!). He’s at that stage where he’s a little too heavy to be carried, but still too young to understand the meaning of “stop running!” or “come here right this minute, and I’m not kidding with you, young man, because if you don’t you’re gonna get it!”. So off he goes running, mostly without looking at where he’s going, bumping into people and walls and furniture. It’s no wonder he has so many bruises on his legs.
Ah, the convenience of a car. What better way to abuse it than to go off in search of good food in far flung places around the island. Like Changi Village, for example. This is the place where time stood still. When one enters the realm of the Village one is suddenly transported back to the 70s.
The tiny estate reminds me of my old estate in Jurong where I grew up in - old housing, electric buggy cars for the kids, retro music. Changi Village just exudes that old world charm. Well maybe not old world, but it does have that 70s kind of feel to it. Compared to my current estate which is so quiet, this place is so lively with Air Supply blaring from a boom box operated by a guy manning a CD stall - the kind where the CDs are on display on a folding table out in the open instead of on racks like in a regular music store.
There are many cheap eateries in the midst of a few more upmarket ones like Subway added with a dash of a couple of sleazy-looking karaoke joints complete with the all-important ‘guest relations officers’ in skimpy clothing. We avoided all that and headed for the hawker centre in search of something good and cheap to eat. The missus spotted the famous Sri Bistari Nasi Ayam Penyet stall (branch no.6, mind you!) and wanted to find out what was so special about their signature dish of ayam penyet that everyone’s been raving about.
The conclusion? It was ok, nothing spectacular and nothing really to fall madly in culinary love with. It was just rice with a piece of flattened chicken with some hot and spicy sauce. Knowing better than to go with the flow and ordering something everyone else wants when they head to Changi Village, I decided to order the other thing that everyone wants in Changi Village - nasi lemak!
Instead of joining the long queue for the nasi lemak at the famous International something-something stall (I didn’t bother noting down the name) that so many people say is the best nasi lemak in the whole universe (*rolls eyes*), I got mine from the Sri Sujana stall next to Sri Bistari (I wonder if they’re subsidiaries?). No queue! Not a bad dish, but not the best I’ve ever tasted. The sambal was too hot for me, though. The chicken wing was actually better tasting than the ayam penyet I think.
And nothing beats washing down all that spicy stuff with a nice, hot, bubbly and frothy glass of teh tarik, probably the highlight of our dinner. It was good!
We also had a very disappointing plate of satay from Hajjah Sapiah’s Muslim stall. The portion of cucumber slices that came with our 10 sticks of chicken and beef satay was horrendously small! I can’t believe I paid five freakin’ dollars for this! The meat was bland, the sauce was tasteless and the presentation was totally non-existent. No doubt it’s just hawker fare, but still, presentation is very important, which the stall owners failed to realize.
On the whole our experience dinning at Changi Village was good but the food wasn’t anything to crow about. Parking at the open-air car park was a nightmare with cars going in multiple directions and everyone fighting for the few lots available. After dinner, we came to the conclusion that Changi Village, even with its rustic charm, isn’t a place we’d frequent. The food wasn’t all that good, including the otah that we brought home. I really don’t see why so many people are big fans of this place.
