The girlfriends in the States are all talking about the Kindle Fire – which is going on sale at $199 but darn! it’s not for those living in Canada! what a bummer! but as expected – since we had to get our Kindle last year during Christmas thru’ a friend in the US and then got her to mail it to us. Suxs! for us Canadians right? but those in the USA – you can pre-order yours now and get yours mailed to you for free in November 2011.
So what is this Kindle Fire you asked – well – it’s supposed to work just like the iPad but it’s more like the Blackberry tablet but this Kindle Fire does not have a camera in it – so if you need a camera on your tablets than this is not for you. But you never know when the camera would be included right? like most new gadgets – we try not to buy the very first ones – because of all the bugs – that comes with it. So i’m glad actually that it is not currently in Canada or will be anytime soon. But yes – you can check your emails thru’ this Kindle Fire, read books, watch a movie or popular tv shows etc, etc. So if you are on a budget – this is for you.
Gone are the days where watching a movie or a tv show is confined to the living room or tv room – these days – watching tv shows or a movie is in front of the computer. Even my 7 yrs old watches Sabrina the Teenage witch on her very own computer - she has had it since she was 4 yrs old. Her friends think that she is darn lucky to have her own computer – but truth be told it’s because we don’t want to share our computer with her. The spouse and I each have our own – so you can imagine the wires hanging around the entire study room and vacuuming has become harder – since the spouse loved his speakers and of course there are the wires for the routers and modem, printer, microphone – and all sorts of gadget that needs charging with a usb port. So i finally decided to get some cable covers to help organize the mess – now I can vacuum and when I invite friends over to watch a movie with me – I don’t have to be ashamed of those ugly wires.
Some of my friends from home don’t see eye to eye with me – when i allow the kid to watch her movies on the computer – while i finish up my work on my own computer – but I can’t really help it – else the kid would be so bored watching me type away or doing my little research work. What about you? do you let your kids watch a tv show on the computer? or is watching a show confined to the tv room? I think most ppl do that – the only ppl who can afford the luxury of not doing that are those who have lots of help with the kids at home. So leave a comment and let me know.
Many of you may not know this – but some of us – needs to travel on a train for an hour to work and another hour back home. Reading on the Kindle is what some of you may do – but I catch up on my chinese shows and drama on Youtube – therefore, my acer laptop computers are the best investment I’ve made – for it’s small and easy to carry and I plugged in my earphones on the train – not disturbing anyone – and catch up on my favorite chinese tvb drama and the train ride doesn’t seems so long.
I can’t type when I’m on the train – so the only thing I do – is watch my dramas and tv shows – I think by doing that makes my train ride a bit more bearable. Some people who rides on the train with me – tells me – I get lost in my show – therefore, when I am done work – and going home – I rather not take the same train – as my co-workers – I rather go alone – and be left alone – instead of making some polite chat. I see many people doing the same thing as myself these days on the train – and am very happy that even on the train – I’m able to get wi-fi on them. So if you take long rides like I do – invest in an acer laptop – you won’t regret it – it fits perfectly into my Louis Vuitton Neverfull bag.
The kids loved these game lapel pin and I’m out to get some for her summer day camp kids – as a reward when they are good in camp. I remembered the first one that my kid bought and she loved it so much and wanted to get some for her friends too and we did buy a few for her friends. These days – she collects them wherever we travel and she have them all in her book bag – her friends are so fascinated with the game pins that I decided that this is what I want to get for her summer camp friends too – they too can start a collection like I did when I was a kid. I remembered I used to collect all sorts when I was a kid – and I treasured each one of them and had a story to tell to my friends. I’m sure my kid is doing the same thing too – with hers.
We attended the niece’s graduation party a few weeks ago and was happy that she loved her graduation gift – lucky for us – we had some graduation presents ideas from a good friend. Like all teenagers – they loved the electronics – the latest gadget would be good. So we took the advice of her parents and bought her an e-book. It was cheap too – at $199 and it was made bi-lingual – so pretty neat. We could have bought her an iPod Nano or a digital camera – but we chose the e-book because she is going to college in the fall – and I guess it would be a lot more useful for her lectures and school work. So if you are thinking of buying a gift for the nieces or nephews or even your own kids – or step – children – trust me – get some electronics – they will find it useful and they will loved you for it.
So someone asked me the other day – if I know where to find TVB dramas to watch on you tube – so that they can watch it on their laptops notebooks when they are on the train to work. You see – for some people – they take minutes to get to work – for others a hour or more on the bus or train – glad I don’t need to travel so far for work anymore – I used to when I was back home. I can understand that it gets so bored just sitting there and doing nothing and watch people or pretend that they are sleeping – so one way to kill time is to watch our favorite shows on you tube. Alas, I used to be able to find shows on you tube but these days its pretty hard - but not impossible I guess. But as for myself – I haven’t found any of late that I can share – but if anyone out there knows somewhere – that one can watch tvb movies on youtube – please share eh and yes – although I don’t watch my movies on a netbook – i watch them on my laptop all the time. Thank God for one of these inventions eh! what would life be without them?
Many people had asked me about video conferencing with me – and other fans of this page – just for a chit chat and also for talks about making money online. I would love to do it – if I had a megameeting web conferencing software that I read online – after all, no downloading and not expensive – definitely worth looking into I think. So for those who are interested in making money online – watch out for this page – because I will be up and live for a web conferencing with those who are interested in participating in a conversation with me. There are some telephone capability – that I want to look into as well – especially for those who wants to chat with me personally on the phone – The web conferencing software is not only for the big companies as you can see – even bloggers like myself – who has a fan base – can use this software to connect to all his/her fans – pretty neat. I think it’s an investment that anyone can use – especially for those who have sales people or customers from another part of the world. Wouldn’t it be nice – if you can talk to your idol or a star with this web conferencing?
While folks need to go out into the woods to hunt for deers – we only need to go as far as the outlaw’s backyard – they always have deers all around their home. While we sit in the kitchen eating – we can see deers all around the pond all the time. My father-in-law bought some rifle scopes for hunting and it’s fun to watch him look at the deers and see which ones are young and fleshy. My daughter who loves watching Bambi – would scream and cry each time Grampie goes hunting for some Bambis – hahhaha!! so funny ! so they used the rifle scopes to watch the deers now from the kitchen. Deers are very tricky animals and they can hear you coming from a long ways.
Anyhow, a friend who was mowing our lawn told me last week he saw some deers on our backyard – so I’m thinking I should get some rifle scopes – so the kid can watch the deers when they come around – it would be a real treat for her and her dad. I should buy the ones with the night vision feature – that way – during the summer – when they are out camping – they can watch the deers too in the camping grounds – now that would be fun!
New releases for English movies comes out on every Tuesdays – and since we are a movie rental store – we have to print out copies of the cover for the new releases for the rental boxes that we send out with the customers – that way – they don’t return the wrong movies in the wrong case. We have a laserjet that uses laserjet ink cartridges that we use for printing the covers and been using it for years now – and we get our ink cartridges and toner for our fax machine from a place in the mall or we can order them online. We try to print covers for all our movies including the blu-ray ones and sometimes when someone sells us a game without the original box – we can use the laserjet to print out the cover as well. It does a pretty good job – and we are quite happy with it. At our store, we rent our movies for $3 for normal dvd and $4 for blu – ray disc - you can beat us for princes that’s for sure.
So a smoke shop opened in our town recently and even though I’m no smoker the outlaws are – so we went in to take a look and see if there was anything we can buy for the outlaws for their next birthday or Christmas. Both the outlaws smokes like a chimney – so I think this would be ideal – and definitely would save them lots of money. The smoke shop was pretty impressive and they also carry electronic cigarette smoke - the cigarette of the 21st century – so I was told. Pretty unique I’ll have to say – and if only the outlaw will smoke that – the kid wouldn’t complained about the smell left on her clothes and hair every time she visits them. I just have to tell them about this electronic cigarette and sell them the idea. With a lifetime warranty on the smoking device – isn’t that awesome ?
We have had some thunderstorm last week and it’s the middle of winter and you wouldn’t think that you will have a thunderstorm – but lucky for us – all our power supplies around the house – has got power surge protection. Unlike home in Asia – where we have lightning rods on top of our roof top – to attract the lightning to the rod – so it doesn’t burn your house down – here in our poor town – once you have lightning and thunder – your tv, computers even your phone lines can get fried. We’ve seen so many people coming into our store to get their computers and game consoles fixed after a thunderstorm – so if you have gotten your power supplies with a surge protector – it’s time to invest in one, these surge protectors saved us so much money.
We have been selling netbooks like hotcakes since they are like $150 a pop at our store – pretty good price eh. We can never keep them longer than a week – when they do get traded into our store. In the near future – we hope we can offer discount laptop computers as well – because they are at 50% off ! yes! it’s pretty awesome right? not many people can afford a very expensive laptop – but a netbook although great – is still not as good as a normal 15 inch screen laptop. Lets hope we can get some more discount laptops to pass the savings to our customers. We have a netbook for traveling purpose – and we loved it – so small, so convenient and so light weight.
I haven’t had a cell phone for many years now because I was trying to be an el cheapo – since the spouse and I are always together – we felt that there is no need for 2 cell phones. But truth be told – i would definitely be better especially when we go shopping and I need to go to Zellers and he need to look for his games – and in between – we can’t find each other – thus making it hard for me to really shop – for fear of missing him – when he is ready to leave.
Anyhow, the reason why i need a smart cell phone is because i refused to pay $20 for a organizer refill – for an old organizer – long story. So I am looking for one that I can keep my schedule into – and take little notes with. The spouse recommended the blackberry phones but I already know that blackberry phones are good for stuff like that. But since I’m so el cheapo – I don’t want to pay a lot for the phone – and yet want the functions that I just mentioned above.
I like the color of this Blackberry Curve – you can go on facebook with this model and send messages and do lots of other stuff – like taking a picture and also watch a video on u-tube. But like I said I needed one that act as an organizer as well – so I’m still searching, so if anyone knows of one that I can get – that don’t cost anything – like this one – then I will definitely want one.
It’s an iPod world around here – eveyone was trying to get an iPod at our store – from just an ordinary iPod touch to an ipod touch 3rd gen . A friend of ours – bought his 7 yrs old an iPod touch! yup ! for more than $150!!! kids are darn lucky these days – that’s for sure! My own kid has an iPod shuffle for months now – but at least we bought hers 2nd hand – it didn’t cost us a lot – but we never had such luxury then. When I was 18 yrs old – I couldn’t even afford a Sony disc man – they were so expensive. But now kids are getting things i’ve never imagined I could afford for myself. Yes! it’s an iPod generation here – things are so different from the old days. Really lucky!
I told my kid that this year Santa was going to be broke! Why? because she had written to Santa with her list – and handed it over to me – to mail it urgently to North Pole. In the letter – she told Santa – she was somewhat good to mummy and daddy and doing well in school – so she hope Santa will bring her her list of toys – and it’s a long list i tell yer! So I told her – Santa is going to be real broke this year – in which she replied a matter-of-factly – “No he won’t ! Santa has all these Elves that does all his work for him – he doesn’t need any money – MOM!!!” *slap forehead* – pray tell where does kids get all their smartness from these days! We never ever give smart answers like that when we were kids – hahahha!!!
Teenagers are so hard to buy for these days – and even those who just turn 13 – they are hard to please too. This year we are buying all of them ipods. Yes! you heard me right ! at just $59 new for each of them – I think it’s the best geeky gift we can get for them – without wasting our money. The ipod shuffle has so many colors to choose from – so the pink for the girls and the grey or blue for the boys. For the really cool kid – we are getting them the orange and the green to be different. The ipod shuffle is affordable – and it wouldn’t break our bank. What are you getting for your nieces and nephews this Christmas? we are pretty much all set now.
My niece who recently joined the school debate theme had approached me to help with the club – because she knows I’m good with binding and photocopying stuff and doing presentation work. Since I worked with the business center in a hotel for a long time before coming to Canada, she definitely found the right person. They use VeloBind here and we used a different binding machine back home – but binding is made easier with these binding machine. And it is a great way to bond with the niece and teach them a thing or two about office work and what to expect when they go out to work. I think the school make them responsible for stuff because they want them to have hands on with all sorts of work machine – it is really a great way to nurture these kids and I can see how earnest they are – with their presentation.
Many people would come into our store and tell us that they are going to start their own business – and we would congratulate them of course – afterall, you cannot but admire anyone who is gung-ho enough to be an entrepreneur. But one cannot help but wonder if they really know what they are getting themselves into? From renting a shop place – a store front to every furniture in the store – the windows – the decor – stationary – barcode scanner , debit card machine, credit card machine – printer, fax machine – you get the drift right?
We have been in business for 11 yrs and every year – there is something to upgrade to keep up with technology and to keep the customer/s happy. One can have a store without the product that the customer/s want – nor can you keep too much in stock – for fear that it would depreciate in value. We all learned it the hard way – and I’m not about to go into detail with those who have all these high hopes – but yes – owning your own business is definitely no easy feat. And for those who are going into it – my advice ? be strong – read a lot – and make sure you don’t use your credit cards for inventory or buying equipments.
For those who are not aware of this – i used to work as a Business Center Manager for one of the biggest hotel chain in Asia. My 15 yrs in the hotel industry – taking care of the convention center requires that I test out equipments before they are bought. So when the spouse wanted to get a printer for the store – I asked him to make sure that the ink for them are cheap to change too. The Phaser using 108r00727 are said to be less messy – and if you know me – I like everything easy and simplified – plus the cost as gotta be one of the key point too. I try not to interfere when it comes to the spouse’s business – afterall, I’m just the business owner by association but when it comes to saving money and photocopier and laser printer – no one knows them better than I.
You hear John Chow going on and on and on about the iPad during his video session for his Pho on a weekly basis. My kid who had seen how games are played on iPad wanted one too – and so did a friend’s. Ahhh!! kids these days are so lucky!! we never had any toys or gadgets when we were kids. But if I ever get one for my kid – i’m getting an insurance for ipads that’s for sure. Not taking the risk of them spilling milk or pop on them or leaving it in the gym and losing it. With insurance – I have no worries about cracked screens or theft and even fire. Definitely would give me a peace of mind – especially if I have spend $800 -$900 for such a gadget.
