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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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| Christopher Gardner:
Hey. Don't ever let somebody tell you... You can't do something. Not even me. All right?
Christopher:
All right.
Christopher Gardner:
You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do somethin'
themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want somethin',
go get it. Period.
From "The Pursuit of Happyness"
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| I think both the hubby and I are overstretching ourselves. I am seriously thinking of going part-time. It started out as just wanting to change jobs, but I think that's just a sign of a larger malaise. I think I'm just too exhausted. We really should give ourselves a pat on the back for coming so far.
I have not had a good night's sleep for a long time. Let's say 8 out of 10 nights, we are woken up by my toddler son who has eczema. While we make all efforts to moisturise him, to keep the air-con on, he still wakes up complaining of itchiness and when he does that, that means a good half an hour of helping him scratch and a trip to the kitchen to wash his milk bottle and make a bottle of milk for him before he would gladly fall asleep again. When I realised that a colleague who has her mother to stay in to help her with her kid every night, and the kid sleeps with the mother, there was that sudden surge of an ephipany - gosh, she actually can sleep well daily!!
There were two reports in the papers today of two families who suffered the loss of their young infants. Such tragedies, but at the same time, so reflective of modern day living in Singapore. In one case, the grandmother was the care-giver, and she suffered a stroke in the midst of taking care of her 4-month old grandchild, fell on the grandchild while she was carrying her, and suffocated her in the process. In the other case, the 6-month old infant died suddenly in her sleep and when the maid realised it, it was too late to save her. And before this, there were lots of other cases; maid not getting along with the parents-in-law and taking it out by throwing the child out of an apartment, child falling to her death because the grandmother left her for a short while to sleep at home while she makes a quick trip to the grocery shop nearby. Presumably the parents have to work and hence need to leave the care of the child to another person. Of course taking care of the child personally doesn't guarantee that these incidences will not happen, but still...it's heart wrenching. I'm sure no matter what, there'll be loads of guilt and self-admonition on the part of the parents, especially the mothers.
A double income will make life much more comfortable - affording us ample savings for retirement, the occasional short holiday, not having to worry at all about the occasional trip to the restaurant, movies, and the seasonal shopping bings. We can buy the most expensive milk powder, invest in good car seat and put him in a relatively expensive childcare which purports to be a franchise of a 'famous' pre-school with a good curriculum that aims to give the child a headstart in life. It will also be a security blanket, giving that much needed insurance against job loss - at least there is a back-up.
But is it, at the end of the day, worth it? I have no answer. Standard of living is, of course, defined by the individual. Some people define minimum standard of living as being able to afford two holidays a year to some far-flung country with the family and having more than one landed property, and some define it as living in a HDB four-roomer and taking a holiday to a nearby country once in two years. To each his own. Who is to judge?
I work 10- to 11-hour days, during the peak seasons, 12- to 13-hour days are the norm. Are these too much? Are they too little? Bankers may work about that and draw twice my income. Does that mean that my ROI is too little and I should instead do something else?
What are my priorities?
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| I have a question. Wondering whether any of you can help? 
I'm planning a business trip to Mumbai, India, and it's my first time there. Am thinking of booking the hotel through the internet myself, instead of going through the travel agent, since the travel agent will still be getting my credit card details and probably booking through the net. My question would be, I can find numerous websites selling hotel reservations, but how do I know whether I can trust them with my credit card details? Is there some kind of label of assurance that I should look out for? Are these sites reliable? I will be travelling with my boss, and definitely would not want any screw ups when we reach there as well. 
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| For all your techies out there, perhaps you can help me with this question.
I am trying to decide which phone, or PDA phone to buy, since my mobile contract with Starhub was due in March and I can get a new phone! Ok, currently I have a Palm Zire 71, and a Nokia (non-camera version). For the phone, I use it mainly for calls and SMSes, although I hardly exceed 300 SMSes per month. I don't have MMS, and I don't really see the need for it, although if I have a camera phone, that may change. Oh, and I also use my phone a lot as an alarm clock and a torch (I love the fact that it's luminous as well). Also it's hardy. I drop it a fair bit especially when I'm trying to manage my son and lots of bags at the same time. I am good with not losing my phone - so far I've only lost one phone in my 10 over years of owning mobile phones. And I love the Nokia interface and SMS autospell function. Whether it's a slide phone, a candy bar phone or a flip one doesn't quite matter to me.
Ok, for my Zire, I use it mainly for it's calendar, reminder and contact functions. I update my calendar on my office outlook and sync with my Zire. I'm out of the office at least once a week and I want something that will allow me to check my emails, even at home. My office doesn't provide a Blackberry though, and I want to cut costs, so I was thinking a PDA with WiFi capability that can allow me to tap onto any WiFi network would be good. I also use the camera in the Zire a lot, and if the PDA has MP3 and FM radio capabilities, that will be excellent too. The camera need not be a top of the range one, just something that allows me to capture ok images. I would also like to carry just one piece of equipment, and be able to consolidate my contacts in one equipment. So in a nutshell,
1. Good phone with SMS capabilities
2. Good calendar and contact functions
3. Handwriting recognition (not Graffiti)
4. WiFi
5. Camera and MP3, FM radio would be great
It's down to these two models for me, but they are just too expensive (yes, I want my cake and eat it too :P)
This is the Nokia N80. With a phone contract it'll come down to about S$900.
And this is the HP IPAQ rw6828. With a contract it'll be about S$1080.
Prices for both are too dear. And I probably won't use half the functions in them. Something along the lines of S$700+ is still ok.
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| Caught Harry Potter this afternoon. Pretty entertaining, but can
someone tell me why Ralph Fiennes' Voldemort looks like the English
Patient?
"When children were introduced to Lord Voldemort, they looked suitably terrified. Which gave me great gratification." Ralph Fiennes
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