Somewhere over the rainbow…

Tonnes of Photos

I’ve just bought a portable hard disk weeks ago to store all my photos. I can’t believe that I have a few thousands of photos stored in my laptop, just imagine how many photos I can take in a day, especially after buying my new toy? LOL!

I seldom print the photos, except for photobooks. But then, I think I will print some for my parents back home. Not everyone I know is internet geek and knows how to read my blog online. My parents know that they can read about my kids here, but they don’t go online often. In fact, my dad said he wanted to cancel the boardband at home. *slap head*

So, being the filial daugther *ahem*, I better send them some of our photos taken after we moved to Bangkok. There are thousands of them, but I will a few nice ones printed by eoe online and get them sent to my parents in Penang. There is a promotion of RM0.30 for each 4R print and free delivery for orders above RM35, so let’s see how many photos will I print after I go through my hundreds of folders, sorted by date. Oh boy, this is going to take a lot of my time!

BTW, there are photo competitions too. Check it out and see if your photos are up to it!

Insurance Coverage

 I like Bangkok, and we have been here about 10 months now. My kids like their school and they can certainly adapt themselves pretty well in this foreign land which is our home now. Everything seems fine, except our business is still progressing slowly due to the global economy meltdown, which we can’t do much about it. Nonetheless, being an expat is not easy sometimes, especially when it comes to paying more for education or can’t use our insurance policies which we bought back home.

I will be going for an incision, but it’s not too costly since it’s just a simple procedure. Nonetheless, we will have to bear the cost because my insurance won’t cover any medical expenses abroad. I really feel like canceling off our policies and get new ones here, but my insurance agent didn’t let me. Maybe she still wants to earn some bucks from me?

Personally, I feel that we need to get another coverage here, but I will let hubby work this out because he’s the one who pays the bills. In my opinion, I think we need to be well insured as a parent because our kids are totally depending on us. I won’t go for a lot of policies, but only those basic ones with sufficient coverage. If you search around, you might find more specific insurance coverage like a Diabetic Life Insurance, which is a life insurance coverage available after you have been diagnosed with diabetes. Some companies won’t provide special insurance once you are diagnosed with any of those 36 critical illnesses. Correct me if I’m wrong, as that’s what I’ve been told. But then, maybe diabetes is not one of those 36 illnesses, so those diabetic patients can still get life insurance coverage? If you are interested to know more this, check out the link.

Anyway, hubby is waiting for the quotes by SIL’s insurance agent. Let’s see how much will the insurance cost!

Photobooks

I seldom print our photos as there are thousands of photos stored in my hard disk, it would be very costly to print all of them out. Thus, I like to select a few and get them printed in photo books. Previously, I printed some from Pixart, when we stayed in Malaysia. But now, there is another photo printing company called PRINTcafe, which is based in Thailand. You can find one outlet at Level 5 of Siam Paragon. It’s located near the stationery section, and you can go there to check out the samples. I’ve done a few copies there, and some were sent online via their website. So far, I’m pleased with the quality and results.

Nonetheless, I printed a few nice photos and framed them up. I can’t drill holes into the wall, so all the photo frames are placed around the house, wherever is possible. I prefer to have lots of family photos than nice paintings in the house, the photos make the house looked more homely to me. But if this is my own house, maybe I will get some nice paintings that hang them up. There is no point getting any now as they will either be ended up in some art storage company or in the store room!

So, if you are interested to print some photo books, check it out.

A Kid and His Football

 My kids hardly have time to go to the nearby playground since they have started school. However, we have more time for them this week, so we try our best to bring them to the playground these days. There is a boy who is always there practicing football with his father. He always dresses well in nfl jerseys, long socks and football sneakers. His dad must be his coach as he always giving him instructions during the practice.

The other kids will just look at him practicing as he has used up half of the field! However, most of us don’t mind him occupying the grass as he seems to be very serious in his game. Besides that, judging on how devoted his father is being there with him most of the days, they might want to achieve something great in football. The boy is still very young, so I guess with proper training and a pinch of luck, he might be able to make it big in the future.

Anyway, hubby used to play football too, but I don’t think he will teach our kids seriously in this game. The most he can go for is getting them cute jerseys, kick some balls and that’s all. LOL!

He is more addicted to golf, so I guess he wants his kids to play golf like him.

Joe Galaxy

I’ve always had a simple life and in fact, I don’t go through a lot of ups and downs. Or maybe I’ve been too optimistic and that’s why I feel like my life is pretty monotonous? Anyway, I don’t have any much to wish for as long as my parents, hubby and kids are doing well.

However, I do believe in fate and how things can work better if you know about the direction in life. I’m not superstitious, but I don’t mind finding out more about Joe Galaxy® which includes the UFOs, One World Order, esoteric, and how the concepts can be used on personal development. I’m pretty curious about how can it helps someone to understand better about who he really is, and why is it suitable for anyone who desires prosperity and success.

Maybe I’m yet to be a believer, but if I’m willing to pay $499, I can get Joe Galaxy® which comes with 80 Gigs of videos and lectures of hidden truth. That sounds like a lot of money to me, but if you are willing to pay for the truth, check out the link. You can easily watch the videos on your iPod, so it’s very convenient.

So, are you interested? Honestly, I’m very curious.

Halloween is Coming

I’m not sure if Justin’s school will celebrate Halloween, but I really hope that they will. LOL! It’s nice to dress kids up in costumes and furthermore, it’s very easy to buy those costumes online or get them from some toy stores. I saw some pretty fairy dresses and I think Isabelle will love to get one. As for Justin, he will look nice in Batman or Superman’s suit.

If you are celebrating Halloween, don’t forget to send a nice halloween gift basket to that special someone. If you hate shopping and wrapping gifts, just order them online and most of the merchants offer wrapping and delivery services too. That’s how I send the presents to some of my friends as it is very convenient to a lousy gift wrapper like me. Besides that, I hate sending the parcels by myself! LOL!

Anyway, it’s our first year in Bangkok, and we haven’t kmade friends with other expatriates. Maybe some of them will celebrate Halloween. There are some expats staying in my neighborhood and they have little children like us too. I wonder if anyone of them will organize trick or treat? I sure wish my kids can join in and have some fun.

Fragile Objects Not For Me

Frankly, I don’t really like to have all those fragile feng shui figurine or China in my house because my kids might accidentally break them if I’m not watching them. I don’t have time to be as watchful as I was in Ipoh, so it’s best to keep the house as simple as possible to minimize the risk of them getting hurt.

However, hubby likes those stuffs. If he knows any Art Moving company, maybe he will try to move some of the figurines over here to our new home. Most of these objects are very fragile, so it’s not easy to move them. You will need to find those art moving companies with experience  in packing and handling the masterpieces. They can’t just be shipped by sea like the way we did for our stuffs! Some of our boxes were opened and torn, and some of my kids’ wooden toys are ruined too. So, those fragile China and figurines will definitely break before they even reach here.

Thus, if hubby wants to place anything fragile of his liking, he can do so at the office. My kids only come here in the evening, and they have a kids room now. I guess the possibility of them breaking the objects is much lower here!

Homely Touch

I found that my house doesn’t look homely yet. You can’t find any photos of us in any part of the house, and we hardly spend time in it. Maybe we should just go home earlier instead of spending so much time at the office or going out on Sundays.

I’ve bought some photo frames, so if I’m not too busy later, I will choose some photos and print them out. Maybe we should have some photo pillows too so that it looks like OUR home. LOL!

I’m not sure if personalized pillows are common in Bangkok, but you can order the custom pillows online from vision bedding. They might be more costly, but these pillows have more personal touch. Nonetheless, my kids might prefer to have Spiderman or Cinderella pillows instead of their own photos. LOL!

But if you are interested, just hop over to the links and check them out. I think they are cute, but that depends on personal choice and of course, your budget!

Free Medical Applications for Blackberry

Personally, I think Blackberry is a nice phone, and I thought about getting one before I bought Nokia N95. If you are looking for a smart phone, Blackberry is one of the options. Epocrates has just launched some free medical applications for blackberry too, so if you ever need to use the drug reference guide, you can get one of those models by Blackberry.

Just find out more about this from Epocrates website if you are interested. I’m not a clinician, so the features might not be useful for me. But if you are a clinician, do check out the online drug reference from Epocrates.

This announcement was paid for by Epocrates.

Paintball and Airsoft Games

I’m not good at playing games but hubby is more adventurous in trying out new games. I’m not sure if he has tried paintball guns and airsoft, but if he ever wants to get airsoft supplies, he can order them from ZephyrPaintball.com. Some companies organize these games for their employees as a way of building their team work, so maybe we can do so in the future huh?

However, I don’t think I will take part in the games. I hate to be “killed” and ended up in red paint. Furthermore, the idea of running in the bush is not my type of activity. If it’s a shopping game, I will definitely sign up for the game! LOL!