Happy Father’s Day!

To all the Fathers, Papas, Daddys, and Tatays…

Happy Father’s Day!

Refrigerators & Dads

Refrigerators. It so happened that my friends and I stumbled upon this topic. You see, my friend told us that she knows of someone selling a refrigerator for a cheap price. And so, I instinctively asked what type of refrigerator it was – the specs and features – how much cubic ft, the color, how much power, and if it was a two-door/single-door type of refrigerator.

I did not quite expect the reaction they gave me. They had this ‘stunned’ look like they did not understand a thing I was saying. Then one of them blurted out: “I really need a man in my house!”.

Turns out, they had no clue as to what I was saying. And that they need a MAN to take care of all those stuff.

Lucky for me – I knew all of those things. I guess it’s safe to say that I know more about replacing a lightbulb, changing a flat tire, doing simple electronic fixes, making use of a hammer and a nail (without getting myself injured) as compared to an average female of my age.

And all of that – I owe to my Father.

You see, as I was growing up, I had a lot of questions. And by that I mean – a LOT! I remember looking at what he does when he repairs stuff and ask him all the things that could possibly fit in my small head. Mind you, those questions were not simply answerable by a ‘yes’ or ‘no. Usually it entails a lot of explaining and sometimes even an actual demonstration. So I guess all my annoying questions when I was a kid – up until now – all paid off. I have learned a lot! All because he did not get tired of me asking questions.

Thanks a bunch! to my Best Dad!

Happy Father’s Day!

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good

Lumos! I wish I could summon up light that easily.

While the final and grandest installment of Harry Potter is expected to come out in just a month, everybody seems to be “reviewing” the book in preparation for the movie.

To me, the Harry Potter series has made a big impact in my life. NOT in a serious dramatic way – but more in a physical aspect. You see, ever since I laid hands on the book, I could not help but read it all day everyday. I read it at home, in school – inbetween classes (and when the teacher is pretty boring), to sum it up  - I read it e v e r y w h e r e.

Hence, the glasses. My eyes could not keep up with me. Or.. I just had a bad habit of reading everywhere and anywhere even when there is little light available.

Now that I have grown older and am donning this nerdy-look because of my extra pair of eyes – I know better. I don’t need to strain my eyes reading the book – I could just listen!

Ah yes.. with my handy dandy iPod, I can listen to “Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows”.

I have come up with some Pro’s and Con’s of using audio books:

Pro’s:

• You can go about your daily work since your hands and eyes are free. (Supposing your work is routinary and needs not much of your attention – e.g. household chores, editing pictures, etc.)
• Your imagination grows wider since the reader often emits different tones and styles in the narration.
• You can continue reading (or in this case listening) even when the lights are out – pretty handy when you can’t sleep at night.
• You’ll enhance your listening skills.
• You’ll even inherit a European accent (because this is the accent of the narrator of the HP audio books – Jim Dale)

Con’s:

• With your hearing sense busy from listening to the audio book, you might not hear out other important sounds (like the sound of your mother telling you to do an errand.. haha.. or perhaps someone – a guest knocking on your door).
• You won’t have the same sense of achievement upon finishing a whole book.

I therefore conclude… It is best to read the book, listen to the audio book, and watch the movie in full 3d or 4d to get the whole feel of the magic.

So, what’s your take on this? Which is better – book, audio, or movie?

Last Tuesday Night

It didn’t go as planned. We did not know where to go and it was getting late.

We ended up… eating. This seems to be the only logical activity to do. Haha..

So we talked and talked. Apparently, as you grow older, topics of your conversations also get more mature. I remember way back in high school and all we had to talk about were TV shows, famous people, annoying people, beautiful people – basically gossip.

Now, our conversations include topics on work, health, pressing issues and problems about life and many more things adult people usually talk about.

I forgot – I am old. We all are.

But even though our topics sound more mature – it didn’t stop us from having lots of fun.

They say – a sign that you are getting old is when you start to talk more about the past. Well that night we certainly did sound old. We talked about the simple little things that sound logical back then but had great laughs about it.

For example..

Remember the time when you were in Gradeschool and your teacher instructs: “Get a half sheet of paper, lengthwise” – and instinctively you get a whole piece of paper, fold it lengthwise and lick it across to help it tear down smoothly. – You might think – Yuck. But that’s exactly what we did way back then and we didn’t think about being sanitary or keeping your cool. I guess kids are simply practical and smart.

 

The night ended with me feeling like I had a workout session at the gym because my tummy muscles certainly got to exercise from excessive laughing.

 

 

The culprit to my constant hunger of great food

For this past few weeks, I have found myself to be in a state of “craving” with different kinds of food ranging from savoury prawns down to bitter-sweet chocolate cakes.

And here is the culprit…

Another Cake!

This cake is long gone by now. hahaha..

Everytime I see a red box, I get excited!

Thanks to my friends for this yummy piece of art..

Tsalamat pinx and dutz!

Her Gift: A Book

I was deeply dozing off to dreamland. It’s a warm Sunday afternoon and this has usually been my regimen.

My little sister woke me up and handed me a package. It’s from my bestfriend AND it’s quite heavy.

I opened it up and saw a bag and inside it was a book. Actually, it’s a collection of books.

She has given me a Quad.

My bestfriend gives the best gifts.

It’s like the culmination of my “one-week birthday celebration” indeed.

And like my blog post yesterday about Gratitude – here’s my Thank you.

THANK YOU val! Thank you Thank you Thank you gyud!

I’m forever thankful for having a great bespren.. YOU!

A Story of Gratitude

They were gathered in a circle, eager to listen to my story as part of our primary lesson. Their bright and wide eyes glisten in anticipation as I start off the story with “Once there was a man who came into a city who saw ten lepers from afar…”.

You see, I am a Sunday school teacher for kids ages 8 to 11 years old. And they love to hear stories from the scriptures. Sometimes, these kids tend to be noisy and unruly – but that’s because they are – well, kids.

But this time, they seem to be attentive and quite curious about the story. Perhaps it’s because not many have known the story about the Ten lepers from the book of Luke.

So the story goes this way..

Christ saw these ten lepers. And these lepers, upon seeing Him, asked to be healed of their sickness. Jesus told them to go to the priests and then they would be healed.

Indeed they were made clean. They rejoiced and soon after went their way. Of the ten, only one went back his way and gave thanks to Jesus.

Jesus said to the man: “Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole”.

After finishing the story, I asked my class what lesson we can get from the story. They all answered in chorus: “To say Thank You”.

Gratitude. How often do we say “Thank You”?

Do we express our joy and delight upon receiving something? Do we acknowledge even the small things that our fellow men have done for us?

This story, no matter how simple it is – has taught not only the little kids in my class – but has taught me as well.

I am thankful for the life God has given me. For the gifts He has bestowed upon me and for making me – ME.

I am thankful for friends and family, for people who care and for those that have made me stronger.

I am thankful for a million other things that surround me. (- This has just given me an idea. Starting today, I shall make a blog post about the things that I am thankful for – even the small ones – and I’ll organize them in a new category – “I’m thankful for”..)

How about you? What are you thankful for?

 

 

How To Fix Driver Issues with Unknown Devices

Recently, I have blogged about my visit to the DMV and renewing my driver’s license. But my blog post today talks about a different kind of “driver” – one that has got nothing to do with maneuvering a vehicle. The driver I’m referring to is the software driver – things that our computers need in-order for them to function well.

So, let’s say your computer or laptop got re-formatted and some of your computer components stop working the way they are supposed to work. Like for example, you can’t access the internet, or no audio comes out of your speakers, or you can’t print out a document using your printer.

Then probably one of the most common culprits is the loss of the much needed device drivers.

You start Googling and frantically downloading all tools available on the web. Well, you might end up lucky and have the correct driver – or end up having your computer totally messed up.

What I suggest is try to approach the problem in a systematic way.

1. Go to your DEVICE MANAGER. (You can do so by accessing “My Computer” and right-clicking on “Properties” for XP, for Vista: Go to “My Computer” then click on “Device Manager” on the right sidebar.)

2. Once your in the DEVICE MANAGER, try to look at devices or components of your computer that have a yellow exclamation point. This indicates the certain device in your computer that has some issues with the driver.

3. Expand that certain device section by clicking on the (+) plus sign.

4. Right-click on that device and go to “Properties”.

5. Click on the tab “Details”.

6. Choose a “Property” from the drop-down menu. Select “Device Instance”.

What you’ll see is a string of alpha-numeric characters. Somehow similar to this:

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4220&SUBSYS_27028086&REV_05\4&1679

The text highlighted in RED is the VENDOR ID. The one in BLUE is the Device ID.

Take note of your vendor ID and your device ID.

7. Using these information, you can find out the exact name of your unknown device by going to this site:

http://www.pcidatabase.com

You can input either your Vendor ID or Device ID and know the exact name of your device and also the manufacturer.

8. After getting the name/model of your device. You can then download the driver for that specific device. You can Google it or search for it on sites that offer a wide-database of drivers. (http://driverzone.com/)

9. After downloading the driver, run it on your computer.

The license

Soon after the medical tests I had to go and pass a drug test. So I went to the other door, passed my documents and had my photo taken for the drug exam sheet. Then I was given a bottle where I am to put my urine in. 

Feeling confident, I went to the comfort room to do about my business. What surprised me next is that I couldn’t pee no more than 1/8th of the bottle. I looked at the nearly empty bottle and gathered courage to face the lab technician. I said: “Is this enough? I can go get me a drink and try to pee some more.” Luckily he said it was good to go. Haha.

So in the window of the lab tech sits my bottle with 1/8th of urine. Beside it sat other 5 bottles full to the brim with lightly yellow pee. Poor little bottle of mine. Tsk.. tsk..

After I got my results (oh yes, I passed. I’m not a drug addict), I hurriedly went to the final step which means I had to take my license picture taken. Unfortunately, they had to go to lunch break at 11:30 am. 

Irritated with having to go back in the afternoon, I went away with a grudge.

That afternoon, I had my hands full of work to do so I decided to go on Saturday.

Saturday came, I went to the LTO office, and it was closed!

So I had to finish it up on Monday.

Finally! I had my driver’s license renewed.