Went for Options class with Daniel. Not registered in the course, just sitting in. Found that the course looks manageable and the prof is agreeable with me joining the class. So perhaps I will join the class officially by next week. Met a Korean exchange student from before, who is taking the same class, and we agreed to get into the same group for project. Pulled in his roomie as well. He's a cool dude, and even say that since we are an All-asian group, and how Asians are good with math and stuff, we will rock the class!

Had homecooked dinner at 425 for the first time. Tasted quite super! hope there can be more of that in the days ahead. These 2 days we have been playing a bit of card games, bridge and big 2. Very fun time together.

Today is pub night. Basically every thursday night is pub night. What makes today special is that this is the first pub night of the semester. Of course we cannot miss it! However, because it's the first pub night, the turnout was huge! By the time we get that to meet Gun Woo anf the other exchange sudents from Netherlands and France, there is a long queue outisde Underground. Ended up walking to Winters to try to get into the other pub and that failed as well. Agreed to go back next week and to be there ealier the next time round. not a completely wasted trip, as we got invited to go to Circa on Saturday night. We'll see how that turns out. On top of that, we actually get to interact more with the other exchange students. the French are very funny! A very fun loving group, looking forward to know them better.

Noticed a trend here, and that is people generally carry smaller notes or pay by debit. As such, 50 and 100 notes are sometimes disallowed for payment. Unfortunately, I have a few of those left in my wallet. End up it's quite frustrating in the sense that you have the money but you cannot use it...

5th September 2008

Went to school to settle admin stuff with the SMU bunch. Got my YorkU card, bought tickets for v fest on Sunday... Made a fool of myself when paying for it... I thought I changed my password for my debit. In reality, I was given a 4 digit pin the day I got my card, and I don't even remember being shown the password. What happen after that is that I exceeded the number of times I can try. In the end, I need to get a new bank card with a new pin number in order to use my account... very ps.

Had lunch at Blueberry Hills, good food, ok price, predict that I will go back there for many meals in the future. Just that we suspect they might have drugged the food, cos the 3 of us who ate it felt really sleepy when we went to Yorksdale Mall later on. XD

Went to yorkdale mall to mainly try to look for winter clothing for me and Daniel. Ended up we are interested in the same jacket. The jacket is interesting in that you can actually detach the hood from the jacket. Might be getting the same one, although I will try to wear it only when neccessary.

Went for a movie after that with Daniel, the rest all went home. It was a fun experience anyhow. The cinema is free seating and has a cool automated system to buy tickets. The popcorn only comes in salted flavor, although I count that as a disappointment cos I like the sweet one much much more. Watched Tropic Thunder, a comedy about putting actors in a real warfare situation and how they escape in the end. Very funny, although gory and vulgar at parts. It's really quite a guy show, so I'm glad the girls didn't tag along. I thought Tom Cruise did a good job! Very good acting. Yearning to go for more movies now!

I'm going to sell some Oct 22 puts and pickup some Oct 17 puts to take advantage of that high premium. Oct 17 put is asking 0.11 so i can pocket 1.67 (1.78-0.11) per share. I think INTC is going back to 21.5/22 in the next few trading sections.

Since then, several people along the way have also suggested Life Coaching as a career path for me.  I have sort of blown off the idea because I just felt overwhelmed and unsettled in my own life and physically not up to taking on anything else as a challenge.

However, recently, I have been in fact been doing that very thing with several people in my life.  I have been doing that type of role of mentoring and doing some Life Coaching type of support for them.  It still didn't occur to me as a direction for a profession.  Even with my blog and all of the feedback that I receive from it, it wasn't clear to me that was a path that was something to consider.

While visiting my sister, we were talking, and she asked me out of the blue if I had considered going back to work ever.  I went through my reasoning for not going back to get my Master's in Psychology.  She both understood and agreed.  She then looked at me and suggested a Life Coach as an option for me to consider.  This type of coaching is done mostly by phone and email these days, so I would be able to do it from wherever I am and even if I wasn't feeling great.

The things I have in my favor is that I have a very strong and successful background in business.  I understand the business world and how it works.  I also have a very strong understanding of people and psychology.  I think most of all, I have good old fashioned common sense and a no nonsense approach to life for the most part.  I have also dealt with my share of crap, drama, and tragedy and have moved through it keeping my sanity in tact for the most part.

So, all this in mind, I thought I would ask you, my readers your thoughts on the subject.  What you think of Personal Life Coaches in general, and if you think that would suit my style or personality?  Do you see any drawbacks?  I would be interested to hear your thoughts....as always.

if i'll go with pink and blue i will have the dresses (bridesmaid) pink and just put a little dose of blue, maybe a ribbon?

if i'll go with pomelo pink.. hhmmm no idea yet..

xo,

busy bride

Recently, I took a trip down to Ottawa from my hometown of Oakville, Ontario to drop my older sister off at university. The time it takes to get there is roughly around five and a half hours. Naturally on a rip of this caliber I decided to take my trusty iPod touch along for the ride. On the way there I was using regular settings and was able to watch around 20-30 min of video and a couple hours of music - no other applications.

When we arrived at our destination, I got the warning that my iPod had only "10% battery life remaining" and I thought to myself, Oh crap!. And of course, being the great planner I am, I didn't bring an iPod charger with me so I would have to make do with what I had. And so I set out to achieve a record battery life on 10% juice remaining - 7 and a half hours!

Curious as to how I did this? I am kind of too...but what I can tell you are the settings I used for the trip back to limit my power usage. The first thing I did was to turn off the "Ask to Join Networks" option (Settings>Wi-Fi). That saves a chunk of power because it won't constantly be looking for new networks to join. The second setting I changed was the brightness (Settings>Brightness). I lowered the slider all the way to the bottom and turned auto-brightness off. Finally I made a personal decision to listen to only to music and to keep it off unless I needed to change a song. In which case I would use the handy double-tap on the home button to bring up the simplified music controls.

That final step may not be everyone's choice but I have a feeling that it was one of the major reasons that it lasted so long.  Feel free to experiment for yourself and if you have any other battery-life saving tips, feel free to post them below.

Cheers!

Homeowners in foreclosure face a great amount of stress and anxiety. Many people are unaware of how long they have before their home is auctioned off. They are not sure of what will happen if an auction should take aplce and how long they have to remedy their situation.

My goal is to explain your options and help you avoid foreclosure. Below, I listed some of the options that are avaliable and how it works.

Foreclosure options

Option to reinstate

Homeowners in arrears have until auction to reinstate their mortgage. This is done by making up any missed payments along with any incidental charges such as filing notices, trustee charges and attorney fees. The fact is however, most people do not have the necessary resources avaliable to reinstate.

The option to Redeem

If homeowner has enough equity in their property at least 30%, they may be able to refinance and pay their loan off in full. The bank may require a co singer and the homeowner cannot have had another foreclosure situation in the past 12-18 months. Redemption can also occur through a “Bailout” where a relative or a 3^rd party agrees to bail out the homeowner by paying their loan in exchange for a share of the equity.

The Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure

A deed in lieu of foreclosure transfers ownership of the property to the lender. Thus the lender doesn’t need to file foreclosure proceedings to get the legal right to sell the property. The disadvantage for the homeowner is that this program is still considered a foreclosure and will show up on their credit report.

Bankruptcy

You have the option to file bankruptcy. This does NOT serve as a permanent cure. Legal counsel should be sought when using this option. You can file bankruptcy untill the auction. Beware when using this option.

The Option to Negotiate

Loss mitigation was introduced as a collaborative effort between the federal government and the mortgage industry. The program was established to help home owners that were facing the loss of their homes due to delinquent payments.

There are several options when it comes to loss mitigation:

Loan Modification:

A loan modification involves changing one or more terms of a mortgage. Modifications can be considered to reduce the interest rate of the mortgage, change the mortgage product (from an adjustable rate to a fixed rate, for example), extend the term of the mortgage or capitalize delinquent payments (add delinquent payments to the mortgage based-only available in extreme hardship situations). Modifications are NOT easily granted and there must be strong, justifiable reasons for the request.

Short Sale

A short sale takes place anytime a property is sold for less than what is owed on the mortgage and the lenders who own the underlying mortgages accept less than full payoff  as a settlement. This allows the property to transfer to the buyers even though lenders did not receive the full amount they are owed. Short sales take place during the foreclosure process when a buyer is trying to buy a property and the purchase price will not cover the payoff of the mortgage in full.

The Option to do Nothing:

Homeowners have also the option to sit back and do nothing. Surprisingly, many people deny the problems that are facing them and as a result, do nothing and lose everything. This option will ensure loss of their hard-earned equity, property and credit. They can forget about getting a new home in the near future if they chose this option.

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Foreclosing on a property is a problem for everyone: the lender, the homeowner and the community. Lenders who own mortgages on houses in foreclosure do not want to foreclose and reposess the property. In most cases, lenders lose about $60,000 to $80,000 per foreclosure. Because lenders lose a great amount of money during the foreclosure period, they are willing to entertain other options, such as a SHORT SALE. They willingly accept a loss on the sale (short sale) because they perceive this to be a better financial decision than foreclosing.

Please contact us for a personal consultation, and together we'll create magic!

Here are samples of our previous work

This card was made especially for our friend Rose Emini's birthday bash held sometime in August.

The card is a 12 panel accordion (but only the front panels were used for this card), with custom illustrations by Niki.

Rose' favourite colour was Pink, so we incorporated a lot of that colour in the invite, and the main focal point for the whole invite was a little pink car :) going to various little 'shops', showing the actual venue for each event.

Rose's own invite (the whole event was a surprise for her) has slightly different embellishments on the card plus the card was bound by 3 thin grosgrain ribbons with a key attached to it (key to the pink car! :p) and the bottom right of the card bore the initial {r}

i will ask her permission to post that one up soon! :)

Splish Splash invite

This fun invite is 4x4 square and is perfect for your toddler's birthday party by the pool or by the beach.

Illustrations by Niki :)

This is a working sample and no one has used this particular one yet, please let me know if you're interested in this/similar designs

This movie date invite features the big popcorn tub! and has that Hollywood-ish air

its 4x4 square, and illustrations are from Niki

LadyBug invite; with pink stripes

This fun invite is 4x4 square and is perfect for your toddler's birthday party or for birth announcements or akikah, christening, full moon or baby shower, invites

Illustrations by Niki :)

This is a working sample and no one has used this particular one yet, please let me know if you're interested in this/similar designs

This postcard invite is made for a pleasant lady for her son's farewell party.

Party details are at the back.

A vellum pocket finishes the card

Hi Friends!

we're currently designing some kitsch and different raya & eid mubarak cards for you.

here are some of our very first designs, but remember, all glamourpuss cards are personalisable and if you like any of the designs/patterns/background/colours on our existing greeting cards to be your raya card, let us know! :)

Damask Raya in Baby Blue (colours can be changed to suit your needs) 6x4

RM3.80 each

or RM 14.00 for a pack of 4.

comes with cream paper envelope

Raya Argyle Pattern in Aqua (colours can be changed to suit your needs) with raised "eid mubarak" greeting

6x4

RM4.30 each

or RM 16.00 for a pack of 4.

comes with cream paper envelope

add RM0.50 to change to conqueror envelope

ketupats galore!

6x4

RM3.80 per card

RM14.00 for a set of 4 cards

comes with cream paper envelope

Clean and simple lines of Flutterby Dream 6x4

RM3.80 per card

RM14.00 for a set of 4 cards

comes with cream paper envelope

Flutterby Dream minicard 4x4

RM2.50 per card

RM9.00 for a set of 4 cards

comes with white conqueror envelopes

The default value is set to a 5min delay between the first upload and the actual post however it's user configuable by editing your blog options under My Pipes. We also include the ability to send your media to specific destinations or groups of destinations based on Short names or tags, a description of the feature can be found here http://is.gd/1UOs

The option that allows you to specify when your media will be sent can be found under 'Post items'. The choices range from send immediately which will post as soon as we receive it to everyday where we'll collect all of your uploads and post at the end of a 24 hour period, the choice is yours.

In the constant effort to innovate and improve the quality and efficiency of our game support services, the company is working through right-sizing and changing in the job descriptions of its existing staff. Furthermore, it is regrettable that the company had to undergo this process of right-sizing but rest assured that these employees were not just let go and were given benefits as well as other opportunities within the company should they choose to accept those.

The company understands that there are risks involved with the shift in perspective but these have been reviewed prior to execution. The company is also aware that any decision it makes will have an impact not only internally but to the community as well. Furthermore, the strategic changes were not made to prioritize specific projects but to improve the overall level of service that the company offers to its subscribers. We are looking to reinvent the company into a better and stronger organization that brings the gaming experience of its community to new levels.

We would like to thank you in advance for your continued support of our current and future mobiusgames content.

I see no need for me to comment any further. I've already posted the information I know and the opinions I have. Although some have advised it, I will NOT edit any of my previous posts either.

It's been about 10 days or so since everyone decided on which option to take. The people who decided to go with Option 1 are doing alright. I believe most of them are just taking a break right now. They get paid an additional month from the day they signed their resignation and they should be getting their final pay in the next couple of weeks. At least one has decided to go back to school. My husband, who was one of the people who took Option 1 is spending this month at home with me and our son. Our son and I go back to the States in a month while he stays here in the Philippines so we just try to look at what happened as a blessing in disguise for us. At least we get to spend more time with each other. He's gone on a couple of interviews already including one with one of DME's competitors hehe.

Not many chose Option 2. Anybody surprised? Nope. Not really. Until now, I don't think anybody knows what they're going to be doing and since I, myself am leaving soon, I will not be posting any information regarding this. Sorry.

People who went with Option 3 have already started on their new jobs and I'm very happy to say that they are doing fine and adjusting quite well. They're a bit culture shocked like I expected them to be, but fine nonetheless. I see them in the morning when I'm about to start my shift and they're just about to leave.

Although you will still probably be seeing them around, I'd like to say that the people who got to stay in Publishing are doing their best to keep everything under control. We have to understand though, that they can only do so much.. we all know now that there are things that are just beyond our control. I still have friends there and I get to see them still but it's hard not to notice the big difference there now. Everybody's missing everybody.

I wish all of them the best of luck. I am hoping that someday, they all get the recognition, respect, and compensation they deserve.. not necessarily with Digital Media Exchange, but wherever they may be.

"Goodbye is not forever.. farewell is not the end.. but in my heart's a memory.. and there you'll always be."

I was just thinking about the N96, now that its launched and it going almost the same way as the N95 in terms of a battery and lens cover... What would Nokia do to arrest the declining of its new flagship model?

I came up with a list of options that could come up in an alternate N96
1. Lens cover.
2. Bigger battery.
3. New colour. (possibly expanding on 'express on' covers concept complete with the theme aspect as well)
4. AM-OLED screen with VGA resolution and 3 inch screen.
5. Internal storage capacity bumped to 24GB. Micro sd card support separate.
6. Multiple colour backlight for keypad.
7. Wi-Max.
8. Xenon flash.
9. HDTV compatibility (HDMI plug???)
10. Micro-usb charging.
11. Recording in DivX format and also at 120 fps.
12. Dolby Stereo surround sound.

The list is probably endless.. but what else do you think would be added into the new N96 or maybe even a future Nokia N series model?
Please leave your comments below! Thanks.[gallery]

Using John Hawkins' top 24 list from February and dismissing those who have already been ruled out, here's who I could see being announced in just a couple hours:

Women:

Elizabeth Dole

Marsha Blackburn

Condi Rice

Men:

Colin Powell

Rob Portman

Rick Perry

Mark Sanford

Fred Thompson

The shakedown:

Dole would be a disaster. Rice is supremely unlikely. Blackburn would be ... off the wall.

Colin Powell would violate the "traditional" standard, considering he is a supporter of abortion rights and conservative leaders specifically warned McCain against such a pick just this week. Still, check out this poll. Unbeatable?

Portman would be the biggest letdown ever.

Sanford and Perry are both popular conservative governors ...

Fred Thompson is nowhere in sight.

So ... how about Eric Cantor?

Biddy Sailboat, lil red sailboat decoupaged on blue and yellow stripes (again, like all my cards, the sentiments are up to u! see the same card below says 'bon voyage')

5x5 square

RM 7.90

with yellow vellum envelope

Black and white birdie card with grosgrain ribbon

6x4

RM 8.90

with confetti envelope

Heart Lalang Card (no captions/sentiments, but if you'd like something written on the card please let us know!)

6x4

RM 4.90

with white conqueror envelope

(can be purchased in a set of 3, RM 12)

Dot Dot lalang card

5x5 square

RM 6.90

with green vellum envelope

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="452" caption="Birdie on a tree -Hello"][/caption]

Birdie on a tree says "Hello" (above) Birdie on a tree says "missing you badly" (below)

5x5 square

RM 6.00

with colour/clear vellum envelope

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="427" caption="Birdie on a tree misses you badly"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="449" caption="Pretty Blossom"][/caption]

Pretty Blossom in Pink (above) Pretty blossom in blue (below)

5x5 square

RM 6.00

with colour/clear vellum envelope

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="491" caption="Pretty Blossom in Blue"][/caption]

The major take-away for me is that when you have a problem, it belongs to you. Angela asked "How would you define the problem?" The client answered "Immaturity" (she was describing the behavior of others). "But that is not actually your problem - it's theirs. What is your problem?"

"Fear"

"What's the fear?"

"What's the worst outcome?"

"What are your options?"

"What can you do personally to change the situation?"

"What's your contribution to the problem?"

'What assumptions are you making that are contributing to the problem? What assumptions are you making about yourself?"

"What's disempowering you at the moment?"

"What would someone who loves themselves do?"

And then Angela dropped another gem:

We create a problem by tolerating it and projecting it onto others.

These are all questions I will start asking myself, and then I'll ask them of my clients.

The editor

The ingame map editor has "Show helpers" option, which displays somewhat obscuring grid at the current height level. But what many trackmakers would need is an independent display of map borders so that we would know how far from the edge we are. Especially in Sunrise environments which have ocean as the base it is difficult to guess how far from the edge you are without moving the mouse there.

There are other things that can be frustrating in the editor: The absence of "Undo" in the MediaTracker editor, the absence of Zoom-in/Zoom-out functionality for the time axis in the MT editor, or the fact that you cannot rearrange the content of one Clip (i.e., if you later add another element to the clip, it appears as the last item in the list and you cannot drag it or otherwise move it to a different place where you might need it (such as where it would be easier for you to make a headway).

A function many would appreciate is "Shift the whole map" -- simply, the ability to select all the things you placed to the map, and shift them elsewhere, such as when you find out you've built yourself into a corner and would need to shift the whole map by 1 tile towards West and 2 tiles towards South. Vertical change of position would be great, too...

Random booster WTF?

I don't really know whose idea it was to add a random booster to the game, but it ruins the fair-play concept. I ran some tests to check if these boosters behave deterministically (so that if you drive the track in the exact same way, you get the same boost), but no, they do not! I guess if the God Almighty loves you, you get +200%, but if you sin a lot, you only get +100% or less. Who is responsible for this? What will be the next step? Will the windmills in Rally suddenly start smashing cars (note: until now, those moving parts are collision-free, so you can go through them)? Will there be waves on water, so some cars will bounce off of the surface, while other cars will sink? Or perhaps we could ask for random artillery bombardments, and if you happen to be hit by it, you lose? Remove them random boostaz, for fairness sake!

Crusard is driving me nuts!

Just recently, I installed all the stuff for Crusard's awesome "The Trump Card II" track. It's really amazing, but the undesired effect is that Trackmania is now using Crusard's custom "car" models as opponents in Solo mode. And trust me - driving against an airplane, speedboat, or, in the worst cases, a dustbin, ammo crate or wooden "no entry" barrier, is just so upsetting :-) Perhaps the "allow custom models" option should be extended so that the player might, for each opponent, be it online player or recorded ghost, choose whether that particular custom model should or should not be used.

A dustbin. Got beaten by a dustbin. Oh God...