LifeScraps

Akira LCD w/ Built-in DVD Player

nobody@vox.com(LifeScraps) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:42:21 +0800

Okay, say that I'm into shopping spree - its just me once in a while.

It all started with window shopping in Giant Hypermarket at Tampines. We were there to buy sundries but turns out buying an LCD tv instead. We thought it was a good buy - considering the price tag of $570 for a 22" LCD TV with built in DVD player.

Best of all, it comes with a port to connect to your laptop (ah... its a monitor as well!), an SD card slot, a port for you to connect to your handycams if you want to do a slide show of your takes for the day. The dvd player plays all approved formats (the sales guy told us its all international formats from 1-9), and the resolution is pretty decent for that kind of price.

Oh, and did I mention its HD Ready - but of course, a HD Box is still required. The picture I had here was taken off Akira's website - its not exactly how my new TV looks but it does depict a build in DVD player so I used it. You must check this out yourself if you are also looking for a LCD tv of this size. The model at Giant Tampinese comes with 19" and 22" screen. Price difference is about $100. 1 year parts and service warranty, thereafter would be free for service only.

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UMPC - My Kohjinsha

nobody@vox.com(LifeScraps) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:31:06 +0800

I went to PC Show 2008 a weekend ago, and bought a Kohjinsha UMPC.

SH811WS

Its small - 7" screen and 120GB harddisk. Comes with a complete laptop keyboard and works great as a tablet, thrown in with a Windows Vista Home Premium. The price - $1398 - after I asked for the 4-cell battery to be swapped to 6-cell one. Its really cool! While many commented that the screen is too small and the fonts are too hard to read, I'm cool about it coz its so easy to carry. With its battery, its barely 1kg, and sits well into my big lime-green bag. They also gave me a keyboard cover as well as screen protector (which I didnt use coz its a teensy weensy bigger than my screen - its meant for EEEPC screen FYI). Anyhow, on comparison with EEEPC and HP's laptop, this is a coolio because EEEPC is too light (the pc topples backwards if you put it on a sofa, and it runs on opensource applications. No harddisk, just 8GB of flash memory. While HP seems like a strong competitor, HP didnt come with a 6 cell battery, it only runs on a 4cell battery (those who use laptops would know how important it is to have a lasting battery life). It came with 160GB harddisk, but was sold out, so only the one with 120GB harddisk was sold. The price was $1199 (same price as Kohjinsha before the battery swap option), slightly larger screen and keyboard. Not as slim though and the weight is not as impressive - though it came with Windows Vista Business.

Here's the link to the SH811WS

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Harassed by Private No. Calls

nobody@vox.com(LifeScraps) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:43:47 +0800

Recently, I was harassed by private number calls. It was not one of those cold calls from the banks, but from someone - who had to put down the phone when I answer the phone. I do not know why my number was picked from this. I called up my service provider - the customer service officer was very kind - and was told that there is no other way out other than to change my mobile phone number. Reluctant to change my good ol' mobile number, I had to live with the nuisance calls from a stranger.

I spoke with my hubby on it. He advised that I could have tracked those private number calls and make a police report. You see, these private number calls are not usual - simply because it always occur around noon time - between 11am and 3pm. It is terribly annoying because the call comes, picked up and the caller just hung up the phone before saying anything! I'm seriously deliberating if I should make a police report and have the mobile operator unmask the so called private numbers...

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The Coach Mania

nobody@vox.com(LifeScraps) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:11:34 +0800

You will not believe this - about half of the female population in my office carries either a coach wristlet, pouch, or bag. I didnt of course - but I think I'll soon be acquiring one - upon the successful shopping spree of my colleague 2 weeks later.

You will notice on the streets that there are many Coach owners these days. They are almost a stone's throw away on Orchard Road - almost comparable to the number of Gucci owners.

Now, I was told that Coach and many other labels such as GAP (moi fav!) and Banana Republic, are really cheap in USA. My female colleagues swore that its at least 30% cheaper for Coach bags over there! Anyhow, my colleague is going on a trip to New York tonight. To date she's received 6 orders for Coach - and more to come - thanks to emails etc. We don't know whether she'll be able to bring those stuff back at the end of her trip. But we do know that her plastics are going to melt this time. I just sms-ed her some information of the Premium Outlets in NY and Boston (where she would be staying). I'm sure she'll make her trip worth while (Oh Yeah!)

Some info on those Premium (Factory) Outlets in USA if you happen to travel there and want to go for a killing:

Premium Outlets (Website: www.premiumoutlets.com) - has outlets in many states in USA, Japan (i.e. Tokyo and Osaka), and South Korea (i.e. Seoul)

Tanger Outlets Centres (Website: www.tangeroutlet.com)

Another piece of info on Premium (Factory) Outlet in UK & Europe if you happen to travel there and want to go for a killing:

Bicester Village in UK (Website: http://www.bicestervillage.com/)
Other Chic Shopping venues in Europe can be found by clicking here.

Enjoy!!! :-)

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My Vaude Purchase - Again!

nobody@vox.com(LifeScraps) — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:34:52 +0800

I went to a warehouse sale at Kaki Bukit last Sunday. Here's what I bought from Vaude:-

I bought a 70L backpack for $159, a small gym bag, a washer bag and a wrapper (good for travelling!). Was really happy with my purchases coz they are really cheap! Too bad the backpack I bought was already the last piece else hubby would be able to get one too. ;-) Hubby did see the Tatonka backpacks but the lining didn't turn out to be as good as the Vaude one (the rubbery waterproof lining that usually would wear out over time - had a bad experience with Deuter backpacks where the rubbery lining broke down and became powdery and stuck on clothes!)

Oh, I saw the same Vaude jacket that I bought a month ago - it was selling at half price! Anyhow, I've already worn mine so its okay. :-) If not for the lack of size, I think I'd have bought one for brother-in-law who travels quite a bit lately.

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Have a casino at home

nobody@vox.com(LifeScraps) — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:24:35 +0800

Read: Your Casino for $350 on AsiaOne, 8 May 2008, The Straits Times

I am amazed that such activities may actually be allowed in Singapore!

Pay $350 for a gambling table and chips at your house.

Now look at the Singapore Common Gaming House Act - treading on the fine grey line, mate? Besides, who can guarantee that no money will exchange hands? What if the gamers were to claim to be friends (so that its no a public gambling but a game of cards) and then agree to place a price tag on each chip so that they can settle their 'debts' after the game?

Now - convince me that you can stop money from changing hands and you will stay on the right side of law at all times when this is permitted... :-p

The other concern is the social implications that such businesses brings - we all know deep down that gambling is addictive. With the setting up of 2 Integrated Resorts that come with casinos, a National Council of Problem Gambling was set up. Would such business proposition (i.e. pay $350 for a table and chips) be encouraging more people to gamble?

Some food for thought...

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Build Your Virtual Store - Zlio

nobody@vox.com(LifeScraps) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:18:14 +0800

After speaking to Bal last weekend, I checked out Zlio, an online webportal that allows internet surfers to set up their own virtual store and earn commission for every sale made through their store. I thought this is an ingenious option for those who wanted to set up store selling goods, yet lack the capital to do it. The rule of the game is simple: Set up ur own personal store, sell anything that is offered by the 600 vendors on Zlio, promote your virtual store on your blog or via Google AdSense - voila! Every purchase made through your store will earn u a predetermined commission rate (say 3%-10%). You do not have to worry about deliveries coz the vendor will do that for you. Your responsibility is to promote the products far and wide.

I tried setting up my own online store, ComFoot, a virtual store selling women shoes. The difficulty I had is that the store will be tagged to the specific product source you select. To date, there are only four countries where vendors are sourced - i.e. Germany, France, USA and UK. The problem was that once you chose the country of origin, you are not allowed to change it. That means the products in your store will only be sourced from vendors in those country. Not unless if you set up another store selling goods from another country - which I did to circumvent the limitation.

The other issue I had was the products of specific brands are not complete - e.g. I may look for Birkenstock - but not all the products in Birkenstock are available. This makes product variation limited. Putting myself in the shoes of an online shopper, I'd like to buy things that could not be found in my country. Similarly, from the point of a seller, I'll like to be competitive by carrying goods that cannot be found in Singapore.

My experience setting up women's shoes store (which is now closed) was met with frustration on the number of shoes I can chose to put on my personal store and the number of brands I can chose from (we all know some brands are more comfy than others). People seldom buy shoes online unless they can find it in their country to try first. It would be price and design that lures people to purchase such items that requires size and fit. To circumvent this, people would by default go for shoe brands that have, in the past, produced shoes that suits them (i.e. cutting and design of the shoes).

If Zlio can bring on more shoe vendors with more product ranges, it would be a significant boost to popularity of Zlio as an online seller.

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Our Two-Week New Zealand Trip

nobody@vox.com(LifeScraps) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:42:08 +0800

We just returned from a two-week vacation to New Zealand. Hang on, did I say vacation?

On a typical NZ Road

Well.. its not exactly ours.

More like.. hmmm... for our parents. We brought our parents, his and mine, plus my little niece - Megan, to New Zealand on 29 February 2008 (please don't ask why we chose 29 Feb. I shall not bore you with details on that - two words - nothing significant).

At Mountain Chalet Motel

We chose to go slow (which does not necessarily translate to stressfree vacation of course). Hubby was Driver by day, and Dishwasher by night; while I'm Vehicle Commander (VC) by day and Cook by night. Our fathers are into Chinese food. Of course my FIL did tried several times to get the whole group to go for NZ version of Chinese food. Really, if you ask us - we're not keen coz the price just isn't right, not to talk about how different it would taste from those we have at home. So here I am cooking rice and dishes for dinner. Hah! So you say, our fathers are singing similar tune - which is good! We certainly count our blessings that our parents are in good talking terms so far (even after the trip).

The Punakaiki water is really turquoise in colour!

Anyway, we only covered South Island. Surrounded by lush greenery with occassional downpour when we are on the road followed by blazing heat from the sun), rolling hills and majestic mountains covered in grass that glows as if its made of gold under the hot sun, and pine trees that stood astudely on the mountain slopes - you just can't help thinking - yeah, this is the place I want to retire (of course subsequently reality hits you with questions like - power supply, water supply, internet access and of course - mobile phone coverage). The air was cool and crisp - smells so clean that you'll hate the air in Singapore when you return. Long straight and curvy roads run through mountain valleys and plains, and herds of sheep and cows can be seen grazing on the mountains or lazing under the trees on a hot day. Horses are reared as pets or for farming purposes.

Milford Sound

As you approach places like Blenheim and Queenstown, vineyards line both sides of the road and yes, you are free to visit private / boutique wineries for a wine tasting session. Although speed limit was 100km outside towns, you can still see fast cars disappearing into the sunset in a matter of seconds - yes, even when its windy single lane roads that wrap around the mountains! Nonetheless, I must admit that the New Zealanders that we meet have so far been very friendly and helpful (when we asked for it of course). Road courtesy is often seen (you can almost tell the difference between a foreigner on self-drive vacation and a local on the roads based on the way they drive).

Now have I make you wanna go to NZ too? ;-)

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My New Vaude Jacket

nobody@vox.com(LifeScraps) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:10:24 +0800

Hubby and I went shopping last Saturday for a new travel jacket.

Vaude - Womens Eagle Bay Jacket

We went around Orchard to check out the cold wear shops, until we got to Planet Traveller where we found Vaude outdoor range. Almost immediately, we got our eyes on the Eagle Bay Jacket from the Vaude Women range for Outdoor Trek & Trail. It was made of wind and water proof yet breathable material.

This is a 3-in-1 jacket that has a detachable padded inner jacket - just what I was looking for!

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Bad things comes in multiples

nobody@vox.com(LifeScraps) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:50:14 +0800

It was a lousy period for her. She didnt like what she do for the last two months and she thought the baby would bring sunshine to her gloomy days. My friend and colleague found out that she lost her baby today. Its was an unexpected pregnancy and she thought it was a gift from god. She had problems conceiving before she find herself expecting the unexpected. I hope she will recover emotionally and physically soon. Not so that she can come back to work soon, but for the little girl she had gave birth to four years ago.

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