Crazy Chinese Woman

Most of us in the West has an outdoor pool for the summer – I think it’s because we have so much land here in the West and not so much because the family is well to do – so if you visit a friend in the West don’t be surprised to see a pool in their backyard.   This winter it had been especially windy for us – but not so much snow this year, so it’s great that we have  pool covers because the leaves that gets into the pool when it is not covered – can leave a lot of mess.   For those who don’t use pool covers, I don’t know how they managed after winter – because sometimes the leaves and garbage leaves a stain inside the pool and the scrubbing takes hours.  I heard from a pool boy that mold/algae can set in too – so yes, I’m glad that we had bought the pool covers – and they are not expensive either – so when I see a pool not covered during the winter – I just don’t understand it.  So those of you out there who have a pool, please cover them up during the winter – it would save you a lot of headache when the summer comes.

Last year Christmas, the cousins received some new games for their xbox 360 and they were very happy with it – so they invited my kid to go over and have some fun with their jeux xbox but my kid was a bit hesitant because the other side of the family were Acadian french  – so they all spoke in french.  My daughter worried that she might be left out in conversations didn’t want to go but when she saw that it was the xbox 360 games that she loved to play – she was gung-ho once again to go.  So we went back to the store – to get some extra xbox 360 controllers for her – and another game so that she can introduce her xbox 360 games to her cousins.  Just Dance 3 was the xbox 360 game that she brought along with her – and guess what ?  the kids had such a great time last week – they are doing it all over again.  Woohoo!! free time for this mummy alirght!

Winter suxs!  and if you needed to do anything outdoors with your hands during winter – you need your gloves but what if you needed to open the door with your key or answer a phone or text message someone because you can’t find them in the car park?  Yes! you have to take off your gloves else you will be standing outdoors in the cold and even with your winter jacket and ear muffs – it can be a bitch!

These gloves are called Swypegear gloves and uses conductive fibers that lets you do all the above with all your ten fingers covered. Woohoo!  I say if you have cold weather where you lived like I do – inveset in one !  this is a life saver! especially for savvy and techy folks like you all out there.   $18 at FAB or check out http://www.swypegear.com/ and get a 20% off regular price by typing 20OFF.  I liked the green color ones and getting a black one for the spouse.

So I asked my 8 yrs old this morning if she would like me to take out her winnie the pooh decal out since she is no longer a baby.  And she said sure and I asked her if she wanted something else put up on her wall, so she said – sure – how about Hannah Montana – she asked me in reply?  I said – why Hannah Montana? and she said ok How about Jonah’s brothers?  hahahha!!!

But I was thinking of more of something else than Hannah Montana and Jonah’s brother – so she said how about inking my walls?  now that’s a big phrase for an 8 yrs old I thought – and googled inking my walls and came up with these expensive decals from FAB by Surface collective.

I do like some of the things they have but not all – and after checking out their website – I found some that were really expensive.   So I wanna buy from Etsy but am afraid of the quality – because some just don’t stick as well.  But I’m hopeful – for those who wants to check out Surface Collective – you can.

For those you loved and those who needs some encouragement – or those who are lost – a great buy if you asked me.  The wall poster without the framing is about $25 from holstee – if you are in USA – shipping is free.  I bought one myself and waiting for its arrival.  This will go into the study room – to remind me to live for myself and not for others.

The spouse wants to turn the basement into a home theatre after Christmas when the store isn’t so busy – and although I don’t know much about it – I won’t stop him from doing what he wants – for he sure earned it.  He had been working hard this year – and been saving some money for some Energy speakers and a bigger plasma tv.   As for me and the children – we are not too fussy about the sound systems – as long as we can hear sounds – it’s fine with us – but the spouse – now he has other ideas of course.  He cannot use the speakers from the tv itself – it has to be external speakers – and as long as I have known him – he has always had external speakers for his home.  I let him do what he wants – because he does it himself and never asked for help.

Why do I say that?  because this is not your ordinary alarm clock !  this one jumps out of your night stand and rolls around your bedroom – so that you have to get up and hit the snooze button  – and not let you fall asleep again.   Pretty neat right?  you can play your favorite MP3 music or use the built in microphone to record some crazy get up shouting to wake you up or the kids -  I bet that would be crazy funny!   And who say you can show tough love with a little bit of charm!

This Tocky alarm clock is at $44.99 – from Nanda homes

So my kid is expecting a new bird to join her favorite game on her dad’s iPhone – Angry Bird.  Although it was announced  – we don’t know what it will looked like – but she is excited and can’t wait to see the new bird.  So if you are like the millions who also plays the angry birds look out for the new bird soon.

The spouse normally have his iPhone in his back pocket and when he gets into his car and drive – it’s so inconvenient to get to it when he is driving or even when we are shopping.  Getting this Sunbrella iPhone case for him for Christmas  – may be the best thing I’ve gotten for him in a long time – because as you can see – it can be fitted onto the jeans or a bag – with the carabiner that is provided.  Plus the Sunbrella is known durable material and the colors stays brighter and fresher for longer.  The fabric is thick but soft  – the blue and grey colors are a great fit for guys.  So I’m getting it – at $24.30 USD – I found this on Strapya World and they do worldwide shipping.

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.

So this morning – I see everyone posting on their facebook about Facebook charging and you have to do this – blah, blah, blah !  and repost it – and I can only shake my head that people believed it and all go upset and crazy for nothing.

FACEBOOK JUST RELEASED THEIR PRICE GRID FOR MEMBERSHIP. $9.99 PER MONTH FOR GOLD MEMBER SERVICES, $6.99 PER MONTH FOR SILVER MEMBER SERVICES, $3.99 PER MONTH FOR BROZEN SERVICES, FREE IF YOU COPY AND PASTE THIS MESSAGE BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. WHEN YOU SIGN ON TOMORROW MORNING YOU WILL BE PROMPTED FOR PAYMENT INFO…IT IS OFFICIAL IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS. FACEBOOK WILL START CHARGING DUE TO THE NEW PROFILE CHANGES. IF YOU COPY THIS ON YOUR WALL YOUR ICON WILL TURN BLUE AND FACEBOOK WILL BE FREE FOR YOU. PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON IF NOT YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED IF YOU DON’T PAY.

T’is’ just too funny !!  Facebook earns more than you know it – with so many subscribers – and they don’t need to charge you and I for using facebook – we are doing them a favor by using it.  You see all the paid ads – on the side of your facebook – at the right hand corner – well folks – those make more money for facebook than you can imagine – so yes!  stop being STUPID!

For those using Netflix – I’m sure you are aware of the changes on Netflix subscription and a lot of people out there are outrage – yada, yada, yada.  But we do use Netflix for my kid – for her cartoon shows – and paying $8 a month wasn’t a big deal but if anything more – we would rather she watches just regular tv shows.  But having said that Netflix does provide cartoons that my kid haven’t watch – so we didn’t mind paying that $8 a month – compared to buying her a movie each time she doesn’t have anything to watch.  But of course, there are some restraint where she is – and she can’t bring netflix wherever she is – like when she is at the store with us – she can’t watch it – because it’s only set up at home.  Well, in case you still don’t know where I’m going – Netflix will now have two different services – one remains as netflix and the other is called qwickster?   And even though it’s a few bucks – ppl are still upset with Reed Hastings for raising its price again – since December.  I’m just glad we own a movie store and don’t have to worry about more increase charges from Netflix – I bet Netflix will keep raising its prices as the years goes by – no business can keep their prices that low and still make the money they want.

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.

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?

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.

A business associate of ours – who owns a restaurant downtown have their daily special on a white board like the above – and next week – they are changing their prices due to the increase of product and wages.  They had asked us if we could help them print out the daily specials menu on paper to be laminated to be placed on each table because they don’t have a printer.  We have no problems doing it for them of course, but wouldn’t it be easier for them to use an  online printing service to help them with all their printing needs?  especially if your daily special changes on a weekly basis?  and you can do all sorts of promotions using this online printing service?  I would – they are so much more cheaper – and you can do all your work on your own and then use their services without leaving your office.   They have to pay me for doing the work too – and it’s not cheap for me to type out their daily specials for them every week – so I recommended them to the online printing service instead – since they refused to buy a printer.

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.

Yesterday, I woke up trying to update my blog – but I couldn’t get into it – so i thought – maybe – it’s my ip changed that blocked myself out.  I have a few spammers last year – and I had blocked them outta my blog – and sometimes with the change of IP – i can get block myself.  I didn’t think much about it – till the spouse had an email from our host telling us that he needed to shut my blog down because there was an unusual surge of traffic.   My poor little personal blog had gotten so much traffic that is slowing down the server?   Truth be told I don’t understand it myself – because at any one time – only about 15 people is online – unlike many years ago – whereby about 100 people can be online at the same time.

If I owned a blog or website that is more popular or belongs to a company – then I need to look for a more professional web hosting or what they called a dedicated hosting to managed web hosting for me.  But at the moment – I won’t need it but still it is frustrating to get your blog shut down every now and then and having these down times are just not good for the blog.  But yes!  if this continues i will have to look for some dedicated hosting.