hoo optical

mama was in need of two pairs of new glasses, including an extra one for spare. so i was really looking forward for this trip to a local optometrist, Hoo Optical; especially since my last blog post about 'people of kuale' was sometime in august. thank god the Hoo' were very co-operative, thus with the result of the good pics that i managed to snap *big grin* Mrs Hoo did ask me whether i am a journalist wohooo!!!... i shook my head hmm... at the same time i was wondering whether i should just told her that i am a blogger. but the thing is mother dunno about it (of me being a blogger) at all wheeeee...

as you could see it's a family business since 1970 with some help of a few staff. the business was first operated at jalan (road) dato' sagor or better known as low road by local people. they moved to bandar baru fasa 3 in kuale town many years back. Mr & Mrs Hoo Foo Won (70 and 62 years old respectively) are very lucky to have a 30 years old son who had the same interest with them. Dr Hoo Chee Hoe is their resident optometrist. he graduated from university of bradford with diploma of higher education (opthalmic dispensing with management) and bachelor of science, second class honours second division in optometry.


most of the Hoo' generations customers are very regular with them from the first they opened its door, including mama; not forgetting the perak royal family from the past. in other words, most of the local people knows them very well too.

i could see why. there was a-datin-kind-of-lady customer when we arrived this morning. she wanted to have another pair of glasses. Mrs Hoo and one of their staff really looked happy helping her to choose the correct and suitable glasses. there were no sign of complaints at all. i could also see of how sincere they were towards their customers. besides that, their product prices are also very reasonable. they treat everyone the same, with no discrimination of type of customers they served i.e. whether you are poor or rich. isn't that how business people supposed to treat their customers right.


hoo optical
13 bandar baru fasa 3
33000 kuala kangsar
tel. : +605—776 1406
fax : +605—776 3134
email : cheehoe@rocketmail.com

friso brings my family out

what is the meaning of the word family?

many of us are neglecting of the word FAMILY especially those who are working and not giving too much attention to people beside them. i personally experienced the same thing but when i've read the story below, it all change my perspective about the people around me. it is a story of a son who wants to buy the time of his father. a very touching story, a simple but very effective in changing the person's life. i got it from an email to me, i don't know where this story originated so i consider this as a God's Letter to all the people who do not know the real meaning of the FAMILY. here it goes—

a man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5 year-old son waiting for him at the door. “daddy, may i ask you a question?”

“yeah sure, what is it?” replied the man.

“daddy, how much do you make an hour?”

“that's none of your business. why do you ask such a thing?” the man said angrily.

“i just want to know. please tell me, how much do you make an hour?” pleaded the little boy.

“if you must know, i make $20 an hour.”

“oh,” the little boy replied, with his head down.

looking up, he said, “daddy, may i please borrow $10 from you?”

the father was furious, “if the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. think about why you are being so selfish. i work hard everyday for such this childish behaviour.”

the little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. the man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. how dare he ask such questions only to get some money? after about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think: maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 and he really didn't ask for money very often. the man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

“are you asleep, son?” he asked.

“no daddy, i'm awake”, replied the boy.

“i've been thinking, maybe i was too hard on you earlier,” said the man, “it's been a long day and i took out my aggravation on you. here's the $10 you asked for.”

the little boy sat straight up, smiling. “oh, thank you daddy!” he yelled. then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. the man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. the little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at his father.

“why do you want more money if you already have some?” the father grumbled.

“because i didn't have enough, but now i do,” the little boy replied.

“daddy, i have $20 now. can i buy an hour of your time? please come home early tomorrow. i would like to have dinner with you.”

share this story with someone you like... but even better, share $20 worth of time with someone you love. it's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. we should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.

if we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. but the family and friends we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. and come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family an unwise investment indeed.

so what is the moral of the story? don't work too hard... and know who you are working for... and... you know what's a family?

F = father
A = and
M = mother
I = i
L = love
Y = you


family day is the name of a statutory holiday in israel and the canadian provinces of alberta, ontario and saskatchewan, and a public holiday in south africa.

while in the united states of america, the country celebrates family day on 4th monday of september. i was unaware of the holiday until recently when i saw it online while i was browsing. in order to state my curiosity, i decided to do a couple of quick google & wikipedia searches to see what this holiday was all about. i’m really not any closer to finding the exact meaning of the holiday, but i suppose, on a very base level, it is about family and spending time with them and appreciating them. but do we really need a specific holiday to do that? shouldn’t that be something we do on a daily basis?

what does family day mean to you? is it another day off of work? is it another long weekend you can use to get drunk? do any holidays nowadays have the meaning they once did “back in the day” (as it were)?

so what say you parent bloggers out there, if we spare some time during this school holiday seasons to join ‘nuffnang friso family day out’, the first nuffnang parenting bloggers gathering courtesy of friso!

they are throwing in a big incentive for parenting bloggers to write as creative as they can to attend this event. the best creative blog post written will be rewarded with a dream vacation of a 3D/2N trip to disneyland hong kong for 2 adults and 2 children fully sponsored by friso!

but it's not just that... there are lots of other prizes for your family that you can win. among them are;

• 10 X RM100 MPH voucher
  
• and they are also rewarding parenting bloggers who write the best post event blog post with a 32” LCD TV from Sony!

so what are you waiting for mommy, daddy and/(or) parent bloggers out there? go here to find out more about this. now put on your thinking cap and let your fingers do the blog posting! who knows, your blog post might just win your family a trip to disneyland!

hmm... shall i say that i will meet you all there with my megat? i know i will, insya allah... :~)

the coffee shop

i came across this new hang-out place called the coffee shop in sunway city, ipoh when he dropped-by my baking blog a few weeks ago i think.

my uncle ayah chulan had a wedding reception for his only son last saturday. mama suggested us to visit his family home in ipoh the day before. so i thought maybe we could have the chance to try out the coffee shop. mama also was surprised that i knew about this place beforehand. ma... this is all because of the technology lor... the pics posted on the blog really attracted me, beside the cute logo... i likeeeee!!! *big grin*

we went straight there after finishing some errands at ipoh old town, before going to ayah chulan's place. it was drizzling, so there was no front view pic from me. i parked exactly besides the shop located at a corner lot. but anyhow you could find some pics in the blog though.

there were only three stalls operated at that time by malay, chinese and indian operators who sell halal foods like malay, indian, and western food. i bet there would be more in the near future. check-out the food we ordered, along with the prices—


the food were all good, so tempting... except my mama's fried mee which was so-so as per her. while for our drinks— iced milo (RM1.70 each), fresh orange (RM2.00) and teh tarik (RM1.60). so altogether i paid for RM33.00 . not bad huh?!!... especially for the nice and great environment too.

another thing that i like is the washing area. its so unique consists of frying pan as the washing bin, placed on a charcoal stove. so many compliments, yet only one thing i would like to stressed out here, which my mother didn't like as well because her fried mee was from the malay' stall— lotsa flies liao!... flying around the food stuff there, it was so disgusting. i wonder whether the malay operators were aware of how the other stalls operators managed to take care of theirs promptly. mother was so afraid if she would ever get diarrhea later on. but thank god nothing happened *phew*

the coffee shop
23-25, persiaran SCI 2/2
sunway city
31150 ipoh

business hours: monday to sunday from 8am to 10pm, including public holidays.




disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are entirely based on my personal taste buds and may vary for others. the reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

of 3 more days & spm—

children can't really wait for this moment where school holidays' just around the corner. it will be reopened on 5 january 2009.

this is the time when we can spend and have more time with our kids especially. so i doubt some of you people have already make plans for the school holidays ya... no matter locals or overseas, depends on each other's interest and/(or) ability. well what matters most is the quality time that we should have with the kids. they already cracked their heads in school for months, and now they shall relax their mind... same goes to us adults right.

i am not sure of how we gonna spend ours. but we'll see...

to those of you who haven't had plans yet, malaysia airlines is having a global online sales on their site. scroll and click on the mas promo above. hurry! the promotions will be ended in +/- 1.5 days. don't wait or you just might miss it.

* * * * *

so while we gonna enjoy the school holidays very soon, form 5 students have started facing the most important moment of their life, that's the spm exams!!! including my cousin liyana—

the HOPE, the STRUGGLE and the HARD WORK towards a goal
success is part of the rewards
achieving goal itself is not the whole reward...
BEST WISHES from chor!

scrabulous is now lexulous

the scrabulous makers got sued by hasbro, the makers of scrabble; then scrabulous was taken down for a while. now the scrabulous game is back online exactly the same but at a new site, www.lexulous.com for any who care.

i am supposed to be sleeping now...

but hey... i can't even imagine of what i am going to type. i have no idea of what i am typing, i can't even think of anything coherant to say.

my mind isn't working. i can't seem to think of anything to say, anything to think. i am not sure why.

everyone i know is safe. everyone i know is out of harm's reach for now.

i am so tired. i am so very very tired. i can't sleep. i don't know why, i just can't. all i want is to not be here right now and i have no idea when i will be able to leave. all i want is to not be dealing with this. all i want is to be able to help somehow and right now i can't imagine or think of anyway to do it.

i think that's all i can think of to say. i think that's all i can think of to think. i think i want to go to sleep now and not wake up till my mind works again. i hope everyone is ok. please be ok.

how to share / (social) bookmark websites

i just wondered if anyone has used: AddThis — #1 Social Bookmarking Sharing Button — Del.icio.us Digg Facebook Widget :~)

the AddThis button spreads your content across the web by making it easier for your visitors to bookmark and share it with other people, again… and again… and again. this simple yet powerful button is very easy to install and provides valuable analytics about the bookmarking and sharing activity of your users. AddThis helps your visitors create a buzz for your site and increase its popularity and ranking.

this very cool button is very powerful for boomarking and sharing your valuable posts with other people in the internet.


adding Addthis button on the bottom of your posts is so simple—

1. go to Edit HTML under layout and tick the "Expand Widgets box"
   
   
   
2. search for the follwing line:
   
   &ltdiv class='post-footer'> tag.
   
   NOTE:
   if you have chosen the first code,
   the AddThis button will be above the post body items.
   
   if you have chosen the 2nd code,
   the AddThis button will be at the bottom left part and directly beneath the post (scroll down and see where my AddThis button is placed).
   
   
   
3. simply add this Addthis code after this line. done!
   
   

of why i was not in red—

i remembered mya asked me that day of why i didn't come in red— both mother and son were in earth tone. well fyi gal, my winning entry was based on this blog post by robb of nuffnang! ;)


kuE's related links:

• nuffnang premiere screening—madagascar 2
  
• i like to move it, move it...
  

nuffnang premiere screening—madagascar 2

i just got back today from dreamwork's newest movie, madagascar: escape 2 africa. i went to the premiere screening by nuffnang at gsc, mid valley.

as you could see from megat's pic, he looked damn happy and excited. why not huh?!! last's mother-and-son's outing was my latest surprise tricked on him after all hehee... i love to surprise my loved ones i.e. this one. i know, i know that i have mentioned this many times before. but tell me which parents won't feel glad to see their kids' happy right. like what mya told megat, i am sure he would be very glad to tell his friends about last night, that he got the chance to watch the movie way earlier than anyone else. take note that the country's screening date for this move is on the 13th. megat told me that “no wonder ler mama asked me to bring my madagascar bag and wear the south africa's animal cap that bah (megat's grand auntie) bought for me”.

besides mya, i also met aku betul!. well i remembered his blog url in a glance because its unique. don't you think so people? —aku betul! is “i am right” in malay language. mya and aku betul! were also part of the bloggers i met at the nuffnang sharing session @ the apartment, other than marcus whom i bumped in to recently too :~) roarrr!!!... look at that people— ain't bloggers life wonderful enough(?). we are surrounded by very nice people. thank you so much nuffnang for all the great events so far...

now let me tell you people about madagascar: escape 2 africa— it was a decent movie overall, even with the unfinished scenes and rough rendering. some of the movie was in storyboard still, but it was still a pretty good watch.

i guess one of my favorite aspects of the movie was that it was fairly short. short, simple, and it gets the job done. it shows how alex the lion meets back with his pride and rejoins by overcoming some personal obstacles, and growing as a character. neat, clean, simple movie.

some of the problems i had with the movie was how it failed to focus on the four characters. sure, it's obvious that the focus of the film is on leo the lion and his father, so let's keep it like that. all that extra stuff with the other characters seemed unnecessary and foolish.

with all things considered, 7/10. nice try, but this ain't no wall-E or toystory. dreamworks just doesn't have the flare that a pixar animation product has.

what's next? maybe i'll take a look at that bolt movie from disney...

Samsung Innov8 Run!

my oh my... i feel like i will always be the last to update about any events that i have joined hah!... actually i have already draft something for this post, but i need some time to glance through it first before i publish this. i know my team mates have already updated theirs *big grin*

1. bryan's
   
2. cherrie's

so as usual, here i present you people with pic slides of the event (for the time being), for your viewing pleasure—

as for now, stands aside people! because— i like to move it, move it! :P

kuE's related links:
what's up with samsung all these days?
join the Samsung Innov8 Run!

more on NowPublic.com!

wow weeeee... what a great morning today when surprisingly i got another flickrmail, this time from JeffHuang29 asking for my permission to have some of my high school musical on ice' pics to be featured on the site! please go here to view the article on “ice school musical: skating with some disney stars”. i wonder whether this will leads me to something and owhhh... only He knows of how blessed i am right now, smiling from ear-to-ear :~)

for those of you people whose still new with NowPublic.com, its actually a news sharing community that uses stories, photos, and videos from sources like us.

kuE's related links:
my humble pic make it to NowPublic.com

what's up with samsung all these days?

i know i know... i have been updating you people about samsung all these days via my fb and twitter. in fact i have just arrived from kl about an hour ago. now even though i had all freshen up but i don't think i will write about the updates yet. saves the best for last ya... at the meantime, check-out the hint here!

and guess what people? i met...

marcus!!! whom we first knew each other at nuffnang sharing session @ the apartment downtown, last ramadhan. he was the one who sat happily next to redmummy during the sharing session. well both of us were kinda surprised though that we met again last saturday. marcus is really a nice and funnieeeee!!!... guy. i just found out from his blog that he is gonna assist dato' mahadzir lokman in setiu, terengganu for FEI world championship challenge 2008. wow... all the best to you ya dude!...

here's a pic of me, with marcus (right) and one of my team members bryan—


alrighto people... i wanna go to the slumber land now. do expect for quite a number of updates in one of these days occay?!!... ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

malaysia may ban yoga for muslims (?)

i am quoting a radically surprised news from msn news— “Malaysia may ban yoga for Muslims: cleric”

hey... whats up with that? i have just thought of starting! i even already have a pilates mat that i can use for yoga also.i know its kinda good exercise... :(

who doesn't know that yoga is from india. but in other way its a form of good exercise and alternative medicine.

from what i understand, the most important benefit of yoga is physical and mental therapy. the aging process, which is largely an artificial condition, caused mainly by autointoxication or self-poisoning, can be slowed down by practicing yoga. by keeping the body clean, flexible and well lubricated, we can significantly reduce the catabolic process of cell deterioration. to get the maximum benefits of yoga one has to combine the practices of yogasanas, pranayama and meditation.

regular practice of asanas, pranayama and meditation can help such diverse ailments such as diabetes, blood pressure, digestive disorders, arthritis, arteriosclerosis, chronic fatigue, asthma, varicose veins and heart conditions. laboratory tests have proved the yogi's increased abilities of consciously controlling autonomic or involuntary functions, such as temperature, heartbeat and blood pressure. research into the effects of yogic practices on HIV is currently underway with promising results.

according to medical scientists, yoga therapy is successful because of the balance created in the nervous and endocrine systems which directly influences all the other systems and organs of the body. yoga acts both as a curative and preventive therapy. the very essence of yoga lies in attaining mental peace, improved concentration powers, a relaxed state of living and harmony in relationships.

through the practice of yoga, we become aware of the interconnectedness between our emotional, mental and physical levels. gradually this awareness leads to an understanding of the more subtle areas of existence. the ultimate goal of yoga is to make it possible for you to be able to fuse together the gross material (annamaya), physical (pranamaya), mental (manomaya), intellectual (vijnanamaya) and spiritual (anandamaya) levels within your being. you can read more of the benefits of yoga here and here. alternatively, more about it can be found massively online.

looks like i just have to get going myself from a number of books or cds on yoga that i have bought. thus i have also found many good and informative yoga sites. now no one can interrupt me! we'll see... :~)

BookSwim—Book Rental Service

BookSwim Gift Card - Rent books Netflix-style is the first online book rental library club lending you paperbacks and hardcovers netflix-style directly to your house without the need to purchase! Whether it's New Releases, Bestsellers, or Classics, we've got over 200,000 titles to choose from, with free shipping both ways! Read your books as long as you want—no late fees! Even choose to purchase and keep the titles you love! BookSwim is considered a "green gift". Trees are saved when books are shared; the very nature of book rental. BookSwim also plants a new tree for every gift card sold to help offset the production of paper.

Since Christmas season is coming, you can get a virtual gift card. Its a perfect gift for those who love to read. In fact they are giving incentives to customers who purchase gift cards from now until December 31, which are as follows:

—You will get $5 gift card for every $50 gift card you purchased. Similarly, you will get $20 gift card for every $100 gift card you buy.

—They are also giving away a $299 Sony Blu-Ray Disc Player for 2 lucky winners. One gift card purchased are entitled for one entry.

—You're helping the environment by having a tree planted in honor of your gift. Your tree helps balance out new book paper production through a partnership with Eco-Libris.

high school musical 3: senior year

i don't have much choice earlier today, but given the fact that there are two die-hard HSM fans in my house, it seemed like the right thing to do. puteri is on deepavali holiday until tomorrow. while megat got a day holiday only. so off we went to kinta city in ipoh (where else) after lunch.

keep in mind that this review is coming from someone who has seen the first high school musical countless times or so, and the second high school musical at least 15. i have seen the pop-up video editions, the sing and dance along editions and listened to the soundtracks in the car for months on end.

did i mention that i have also seen high school musical on ice?



now for the review: disney did not disappoint with this one. the songs were great and the choreography was awesome. it was nice to see the two best friends (troy and chad) perform a number together, and for the young girls it oozed testosterone. set in a junkyard it provided lots of props for them to jump on and slide under exhibiting the athleticism one would expect from star basketball players, who just happen to be great singers and dancers.

it was obvious to me that disney is clearly setting up the young zac efron to be the next hearthrob for an older audience due to at least two scenes where he was needlessly shirtless.

couldn't get that one by me, disney!!

the opening preview was of his next movie called 17 again where he is an adult who turns 17 again and gets to go back to... guess where... HIGH SCHOOL!!! go figure, right?

the nasty sharpay was as devious as ever and gabriella was the ultimate good girl who left school early to enter stanford's freshman honors program. all in all it was a good movie, but i am happy that this trilogy has come to an end. let's just hope they don't get too greedy and come back with "high school musical 4: it ain't over, till it's over."

if you have a youngster in your life who wants to go, go ahead and take them. just think of it as grease, with much cooler clothes and much richer kids.

how to create a signature under your blog post

its been a month or so since i have been putting a kind of signature in almost all of my blog post' like this—




now before i start my so gonna called tough saturday*, let me share with you people of how to do it.

1. create a signature—i am so sorry that i have forgotten of where i got the link that i created mine, cuz i did it as soon as i found it while browsing online. then i just saved it under .jpeg in my thumb drive, with thinking that i will find a way of doing this signature thingy one day. alas...
   
   
2. .gif file only and make it transparent—open a photo editing program i.e. photoshop. open your signature file. amend the size as you required, then save it under .gif file.
   
   *take note that the way you SAVE this image is very important! if you have a transparent background to work with, then in order to maintain that look, you have to save it as a .gif image. if you have not chosen to use a transparent background, then it’s okay to save it as a .jpeg .
   
   
3. uploading image—you’ll need to upload your image to an image hosting website such as photobucket.com .
   
   
4. sign it!—
   
   
   • in your template page, find this line of code:
     
     
     
     please be aware that the above code is specifically for blogger.com . unfortunately for other blog service provider, you are advised to check with them of where you shall placed the following code.
     
     then paste this line of code into your html:
     
     
     change the capitalized IMAGE to the actual URL or DIRECT LINK for the image you want to use.
     
     voila! you have got your signature done.
     
     the above instructions allow you to include your signature graphic on every post you write and publish. you do not have to manually add it once you have followed that instructions.
     
     
   • but for me i prefer to sign mine in each post manually cuz that way, i'll know/remember of basically when i first started practice this. it won't be that troublesome though. i just have to copy and paste the code whenever i wanna create one.
   
   
   
5. complete—preview your template. if you're happy with the result, save your work.

congratulations! now you have a custom signature to give character to each one of your blog posts!

do not feel hesitate to email me for further queries or clarifications. i would be much glad to help you in any way i could... god willing.