of refurbishment works...

i asked my staff to stick these notice since few days ago--


the thing was, we only got the fax letter from our area manager on last thursday grr... previously it was scheduled on last august. and with those, our premise were officially temporarily closed from today at +/- 2.15pm until 10 december 2007, for some renovation works. wohoo... thats about 6 weeks mann... maybe its a great time for holidaying? hehe...

or maybe anyone of you people wanna meet-up? just holla!

of my life...

hey, you!

yes... whoever you are, i hate your style. i hate you... terribly!!! don't dream of being that close to me... blerk! :P

this guy (yes, i supposed it was a guy) text me last nite-- "Samekom org disana".

since the number not in my list, i asked of who was that on the other end (via sms, of course). wahh... it seems he got my number from a friend. i really hate it that way and when asked, he said that he can't tell me cuz he already promised the friend grr... he told me also that he always saw me in our work meet mostly in the northern region i.e. seberang perai, prai, cameron highlands and ipoh.

then my mind thought about johan. well i guess thats cannot be, as i heard he already married to his clerk (surprisingly) few months ago. i even saw them together the last time we met at northern 2 region' family day in damai laut.

after exchanged a few sms, i 'make dunno' after the last sms he sent me. btw it was late too! he was asking me (in malay words), to open my heart widely to accept a guy in my life. its my routine to check my mobile whenever i awoke. i got a missed call from him! he sms me asking of why i don't wanna answer his call. it was good that i was already sleeping that time. well, even if i was awake, i won't answer the call from such people too!

halo! its none of your business occay?!! its up to me whether i wanna tell people that i am alone or not. who are you to talk with me about this?

at first i thought of publishing his number together in this post. what do you think?

alright people, the thing is like this-- "in reality, people thought that i am alone; but in my real life, people dunno of whats really happening in my life". read more here. its not that i wanna hide about my life, but soon or later... we will see ;)

forever

i love you today and
i will love you tomorrow

just some words
to clear the sorrow

that will never
leave my heart or yours

from this day forward
you are so special to me

i love you
with all my heart

always have
and always will

from family and friends
that never end

you will always be with me
as i will always be with you

until we cross the gates of heaven
there we will always be

together until the end

of kechik's engagement day

her blog is called little miss kechik! hmm... nama je kechik, but so efficient one you know. i reached kuale from my damai laut trip (i will blog about it later) before 3pm. i checked my email around 6 something or so. and to my surprised... she already loaded the pics! i also received a thank you ecard *grin*



i like the kind of event... simple but nice... very good planning. everything was done perfecto! ;) good job dek! i especially sooo lurve the small vase made with 'tin susu'. cute. here's some pics from my oly. view more pics here.

kuE's related links:
kechik's engagement cupcakes
damai laut here i come...

damai laut here i come...

i am gonna deliver this later with megat. puteri is in kl since wednesday, enjoying her raya holidays. megat has to stay cuz his school started on wednesday. take note that megat is studying in a chinese school. whatever it is, no harm what, cuz school is more important.

about raya this time, i guess its a bit different from the past as i was busy baking cupcakes that people been ordering. its all started from wednesday, few days before raya till last night! anyhow i enjoyed doing it. thats why you didn't see any raya updates here hehe... check-out my baking blog for more on my raya cupcakes ;)

guess what people. since i have been invited to kechik's engagement too (well, i thought that my job is to just deliver the cupcakes hehe...), i will take the chance to take a quick break here -- didn't had the chance to enjoy it the last time though. hope that you people will have a great weekend with your loved ones too.

the KL flickr

if you people happened to flip through this month's KLue, take note that my sis has been featured in the magazine. no pic of her but its just a short article about flickr (mainly 24 hours of flickr meet in kl), where she's the founder of kl flickr. they meet on the third saturday every month if i am not mistaken. i have been asked to bake some cupcakes for their first year anniversary meet-up. read more here and here.

of eja's birthday & break fast outing

i almost forgot that i haven't bring my staff for the buka puasa outing yet. my schedule is damn packed this time, thats why. we went to gurney hotel last year. click here to read about it. eventually they would never know of where we gonna buka puasa as i always kept it to myself until we reached the destination.

so this year i have to make do with a nearer place (here), being that i am terribly busy this time of the year. plans were immediately made yesterday, where i booked the place with abang ali via sms. some of my staff went today, while the rest will be going on this coming monday. take note that our business aren't easy for us to close shop anytime we wanna, just like that. if not... hmm... you will be seeing these people coming uninvited grr... btw it was such a co-incidence that one of my cashier' birthday falls today too. i only realized it yesterday! some of you people may know already by now that i love to surprise people and make them happy, especially my closed ones. i went back home early from work yesterday for us to bake some multi-colour swirl cupcakes, to surprise eja today. i made an arrangement with abang ali, to keep the birthday cupcakes in their kitchen as soon as i arrived. then they are to bring it out after we finished our main break fast meal.

eja was damn surprised when one of the waitress brought out a big plate of the birthday cupcakes. "this must be kakak. thank you so much", she said while looking at me. i am so glad that she likes the idea. she smiled all the way... anyhow, enjoy the pics people--

but back to dinner. the buffet ramadhan, available for RM28 nett for adult and RM19 nett for children, is served at the other section. the usual coffee house area is under renovation.

the ambiance was great. soft lighting, distributed buffet areas and raya music (recorded) makes it a great business dinner venue. you can actually hear yourself talk, and not hear the conversation of others nearby. you don't get elbowed at the buffet, and the staff look you in the eye when they smile at you.

the spread itself was nothing to shout about at first, until you taste the food. dessert, my main interest whenever i go for a buffet, was simple yet distinctive. of course, they had the local fruits, local kuih selection including my favourite, none other than kuih limas, and a mean bubur pulut hitam. i was pleasantly surprised that the teh tarik was not THAT sweet! finally... lol...

to abang ali,
tqsm for the great hospitality. not forgetting the discounts! there were 9 of us i.e. 8 adult and 1 children, but the cashier charged me for 7 adults only plus 1 children. besides that, she even minus 10% from it, that makes the grand total of less than RM200. i knew that it must be you. also a very big thank you to all the f&b staff who were very helpful when we needed your assistance. see you all again on monday!

alright, i guess i would better call it a night then. its gonna be a whole day community event for tomorrow with my N7 team. i really need a good rest. nite-nite people!

kuE's note:
read about our quick get away at bukit merah laketown resort last year here.

why ler the 3 digits huh?!!

now we have to get use to all these new numbers grr...

AZ' lelaki ini

i have been wanted to write this for so long, and here goes--

all i could say about anuar zain or AZ in a word is that he's superb! correct me if i am wrong ladies hehe... click here for you people to know more about him -- wikipedia.

lelaki ini (this guy) is tremendously more famous with his latest song lelaki ini. click the 'play' button below to listen. even i am sooo into this right now also.

i still remember when i first knew AZ way back in my younger years. i was in the primary school if i am not mistaken. he started his career as a duet singer with ellina. one of the famous song was that of lala lala... ;)

the best thing was i studied music (keyboard) with ellina's father, cikgu razak who was also a music teacher at mckk. take note that i started to learn music even before ellina became a singer. so basically cikgu razak taught music from home as his part-time job. the fees were not that expensive. anyhow he loves music so much. not surprisingly thats how ellina and her sister elliza started though. i used to go to cikgu razak's place at least once or twice a week depends on his availability. i was still the plain me when ellina started to sing. AZ always spend his school holidays at their place. he used to see me and cousin played keyboard.

"main lagu apa tu bang (what song are you playing)?", he asked my cousin.

"entah ler... cikgu suruh main, main je ler (i dunno. i just played whatever song the teacher asked me to play)", my cousin brother told him.

hehe... that was just part of the 'ol memories i guess lol... guess what people. all four of us (AZ, ellina, my cousin bro and me) even played 'police sentry (is this spelling correct? lol...)' in the house compound, while waiting for my father to fetch us. o yea... 'konda-kondi' too! ;)

every time anuar and ellina's album released, cikgu razak always kept a signed copy by anuar and ellina for me. i didn't even unsealed the plastic wrapper of the cassette (no cd here yet that time). unfortunately i dunno where its gone wahhh!!!...

i did tell puteri and megat about this memories. puteri once (about 5 that time) asked me, "so dia (AZ) ingat ke lagi kat mama (does he (AZ) still remember you mama)?". i dunno ler dear, he's such a big celebrity now :)


let me tell you people this -- i was walking around subang parade many years back with my former colleague during lunch time. we were window-shopped when suddenly i saw a guy who was standing right behind me and said, "excuse me". i was already faced him at this time.

omg!!! "it was AZ", i told myself.

"i think you look familiar girl", he said while looking straight into my eyes.

"err... no, yea...", i told him. gosh! i was thinking of what i supposed to do, especially in front of my friends. i was nervous giler you know. tell me who doesn't right, especially when a very well-known celebrity talked to you. the last time we met that time when he and ellina went their own way.

"girl".

"WHAT?!!! he called me 'girl'?", i asked myself.

"well, if we really supposed to know each other girl, please let me know. at least our friendship won't last there", he said. i just smiled. while he continued, "ok lah... maybe you are not up to it now. but if you changed your mind, you know of where to contact me". we shook hand then he walked away from me.

i dunno why i was silence -- terkedu lidah i you (can't say anything)!

my colleagues were clueless. they blamed me for being stupid grr...

the thing was probably my appearance that time was way much better than when i was young. ya lor... i was wearing my office attire, so how do you expect him to recall me in an instant right :P

so tell me people, if ever i told him about me and how we developed our childhood life together, what do you think would be happened huh?!!

kuE's note:
all pics not mine but from here and around the net.

the day when kechik met kuE

both of us were busy for our raya shopping -- she was at kinta city, while i was at ipoh parade with puteri and megat. we met during break fast at secret recipe, syuen hotel. besides meeting for the first time, i brought some cupcakes for kechik to taste (yes! like the food-tasting, ours were cupcakes tasting lol...), too. so don't be jealous u'all. yes... to recap -- she stumbled into my baking blog and the rest, as always, was history ;)

it was really a nice meet after quite a number of communications via blogs, emails and sms-es. this is all thanks to the technology, that we could get to know each other until this far. i hope that this friendship will ends forever.

lastly we managed to take a pic with the help of megat, before we depart. well like what i have mentioned before, bloggers NEVER leave home without a camera! ;) as you could see from the pic, i am actually not that high though. i was wearing my sassari! hehe...

kuE's update on 1-oct: click here to read kechik's post.

in the name of love...

love:
constellation of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection or profound oneness. the meaning of love varies relative to context. romantic love is seen as an ineffable feeling of intense attraction shared in passionate or intimate attraction and intimate interpersonal and sexual relationships. though often linked to personal relations, love is often given a broader signification, a love of humanity, of nature, with life itself, or a oneness with the universe, a universal love or karma. love can also be construed as platonic love, religious love, familial love, and, more casually, great affection for anything considered strongly pleasurable, desirable, or preferred, to include activities and foods. this diverse range of meanings in the singular word love is often contrasted with the plurality of greek words for love, reflecting the concept's depth, versatility, and complexity. read more here.

what can you say about a feeling when the world seems to you as a distant reality and you start living in a world of dreams? an emotion that transforms even the staunch pessimist into a optimistic soul who sees a ray of hope in every action done upon him. you become nobler by virtues, kinder at heart and caring in nature. i haven't figured it out as to what it as, yet, but my friends say that these are signs of love, so let us assume that this is love. love is indeed a very pristine, sweet and binding experience that is at times tender and at times tough. love gives you a being of togetherness that helps you reinvent yourself. love is a source of strength and support. certainly love is not the aim of life but a very integral part of it that, however we might ignore, will anyhow find a way into our lives. i have been in love and although it was a sad ending, i don't regret being in love again. being in love has helped me find myself, given me a sense of maturity and responsibility, helped me sort out my priorities and most importantly restored my faith in myself. i had always assumed that i would easily avoid being in love, which i earlier considered a distraction, but cupid is definitely a sharpshooter and he didn't miss me either. although the way my love story is shaping up unless a miracle happens, i would never be able to express my love to my abang (for his goodwill though) but then i had never made a deal that i should get love in return of mine. in spite of my current stand in love, which you might consider as a result of my craziness or foolery, i don't have any complaints because my love for my abang has given me enough strength to get me through a very bad phase although he might never know this. i think these words and feelings are better understood by those who have been through this. my advice to all will be that you should be in love at least once in your life so that you understand its essence and magnanimity. and no matter how much you try to ignore it or get desperate with it, love will catch you unaware and surprise you. love is dictated by mother nature and is something you cannot escape nor can be thrusted upon. love will happen when it has to and when you least expect it to.

love has been a very favourite topical for many a scripts but i find the true essence of love in very few of those. i, certainly, can't comprehend why it is said that all is fair in love because i think there are some rules to this. you can't betray your abang for others nor can you give up everything else for your abang. i have seen people giving up their families for love and being hailed as soldiers of love. i have read about people killing for love. is it love? love never teaches these. love can never get you far from anyone because it's job is to bind. love binds all of us together then how can it be love if you betray one for the other. love preaches of a perfect balance in life. love gives you the strength to defend not attack others. love is not just about living and dying together but being together forever at heart even though not physically and uniting others with the power of our love. unlike all good things though, i feel, true love doesn't always have a happy ending and the essence of true love is loving one irrespective of what the climax of the story will be.

a lot been said about love (maybe this is my last treatise on love), my views might differ from that of others but still all of us have done what we have done in love, all in the name of love...

Nurin Jazlin Jazimin

Friday September 21, 2007
MYT 6:45:51 PM

Nurin laid to rest (updated)

Photo Gallery


KUALA LUMPUR: The body of the missing girl Nurin Jazlin Jazimin, 8, was finally laid to rest at the Ibu Kota Muslim Cemetery in Taman Danau Kota on Friday.

She was buried at around 2.25pm after which the talqin (burial rituals) was recited at 2.32pm. read more here.


kuE's note:
this is eventually the talk of the country at the moment. everyone was saddened with this news. rude or not, but whoever did this is definitely not human. the culprit has to be treated the same way as what he/she did to that little girl. thats what i could say because i am sooo pissed off!

mom vs daughter ~ 2

we went to ipoh earlier, as soon as i fetch puteri from school around 2.40pm. we delivered some raya cupcakes as a sample for kay. she wanna sell them for us. tq sis!

we dropped by jusco supermarket to buy some stuff. as usual we stopped at other shops too. at giodarno, we were interested at linen pants that were on offer -- buy 2 pairs at a lower price. so both of us puteri and i tried one each. the sales girl helped us to look for our size -- puteri's 28" and mine was 25" in waist. the best thing was she's kinda excited when she found out that we are actually mother and daughter and NOT sisters! lol... ya lor... as you could see, puteri's size was bigger than me, that's why ;)

kuE's related link:
mom vs daughter

kuE's another new toy

i was at home with kids, when papa came home from work and brought a parcel received by courier.

"mama, this must be the one", puteri told me.

yes she knew about it. i fax an order form on 3 sept, few days after that a guy called saying that they will send the product order as soon as they got the approval from mbb. ok then. so i thought that i 'tak kisah', cuz i have been eye-ing for 'that thing' ever since before it was launched. but since i received an offer from mbb to have this at a special price, so i thought why not i gave it a try right? my previous one has started to give me problems already. i have been using it for a close to 21 months. i first blog about it here. on the other hand, its hard to get an offer like this. all i could say was that i was real lucky. so i had to be patience, waiting... well its alright for me if its not approved, i could just get it myself and i will find my way to get better price if can ;)

i guess this is gonna be my own raya presents. i said it as my own as i am paying for it what lol...

now... since i have already got myself two of my dream toys -- my oly and my n76 (i really love these as part of my fav things), i am already started to think of a way to get the next one in line. i would be more happy if i could get it as a present anyway hehe... who ler... wanna buy for me :P can you all guess of what is it?

kuE's related link: kuE's new toy!

a friendly reminder to save the environment

alhamdulillah... we passed thru the third day of ramadhan. a few hours before break fast, we went to local pasar ramadhan (food market), that sprout like wild mushroom after the rain. first stop was the one near the railway station. puteri likes the cucur udang there. then we thought of driving around town. unfortunately thats not a good idea. you know... it was saturday. people who tense to go over there were more than normal days. if we really wanna go there during weekends, we have to go much early next time. so we headed to the one in talang instead. we managed to get some kuih i.e. kuih limas (my most favourite especially during ramadhan) and curry puff; though before the rain started to fall heavily.

as usual, i brought along our own plastic containers with the green bag by cold storage. and as usual too, some people showed us the obvious kinda look... wtf!

do you care about how many plastic bags are given to you whenever you shop? if you don’t then i suggest you stop reading and be on your way. this could sound self-righteous!

i have always been worried by the amount of plastic bags being given out to me whenever i do grocery shopping, also other shopping at malls. almost annoyed in some cases, unless i know they are the biodegradable type like in ikea. i mean, there are some cashiers/till attendants who simply give away way too many bags than necessary. to the point where i have to tell him/her to stop doing it. why can’t they consolidate the items so they fill the bags more? okay, so you don’t want to mix the cleaning solution with the veggies, that i understand. but to use just one bag for a mere 2 or 3 small items is pure complacency.

plastic polyethylene bags are essentially non-biodegradable, petrochemical products. that means they are not eco-friendly. basically they contribute to killing our environment. POLLUTION. in the UK some hypermarkets like waitrose charge a fee should you want your purchases bagged in plastic. this encourages customers to bring their own carriers, much like the green bag pictured here. you can get these bags from quite a number of our local stores now i.e. cold storage, village grocer, carrefour, even giant.

“according to the united states EPA, only 1% of plastic bags were recycled in 2000. when one ton of plastic bags is reused or recycled, the energy equivalent of 11 barrels of oil is saved.” wikipedia.

i for one have started using reusable carriers. i believe everyone of us can effect change, no matter how small. REDUCE, REUSE & RECYCLE. care to join the revolution?

go here to learn more about a '100 ways to save the environment'.

kuE's related link: "we care"

i follow

dear all,

i have placed an 'i follow' button on my side bar. this button has been created by randa clay.

please leave a comment to my blog with your name/title and blog/site URL and i will follow you.

and it doesn't stop there. if i see your comment in my blog, i will stumble your site. so you will get double back link from me.

success to all you people,
kuE


p/s don't forget to leave your comment

another 'pelem' in kuale?

kuE's note:
why ler they all suka sangat buat 'pelem' in kuale these days huh?!! the last one i know was this one. unfortunately i dunno whats this for. hopefully we will find out soon. this shot was taken on my way out from the bank just now ;)

the kuE

HAHAHA thought this was fun! created with www.dumpr.net -- fun with your photos


-----


bismillah hir rahman nir raheem

assalaamu alaikum warahmatullah hiwabarakathu,

i would like take this opportunity to wish all you muslims a blessed ramadan, may allah accept from us and from you (our deeds). ameen. please keep all the muslims in your doa and don't forget to eat :)

6th anniversary of september 11 terrorist attack

i don't know what i can say about this. it still angers me and saddens me. i'll just post the timelines of that day, courtesy of cnn.com . please take this moment to remember and say a pray for those who lost their lives on this day six years ago as well as for those fighting the war on terror.



September 11: Chronology of terror

September 12, 2001 Posted: 12:27 PM EDT (1627 GMT)

8:45 a.m. (all times are EDT): A hijacked passenger jet, American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston, Massachusetts, crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center, tearing a gaping hole in the building and setting it afire.

9:03 a.m.: A second hijacked airliner, United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston, crashes into the south tower of the World Trade Center and explodes. Both buildings are burning.

9:17 a.m.: The Federal Aviation Administration shuts down all New York City area airports.

9:21 a.m.: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey orders all bridges and tunnels in the New York area closed.

9:30 a.m.: President Bush, speaking in Sarasota, Florida, says the country has suffered an "apparent terrorist attack."

9:40 a.m.: The FAA halts all flight operations at U.S. airports, the first time in U.S. history that air traffic nationwide has been halted.

9:43 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon, sending up a huge plume of smoke. Evacuation begins immediately.

9:45 a.m.: The White House evacuates.

9:57 a.m.: Bush departs from Florida.

10:05 a.m.: The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses, plummeting into the streets below. A massive cloud of dust and debris forms and slowly drifts away from the building.

10:08 a.m.: Secret Service agents armed with automatic rifles are deployed into Lafayette Park across from the White House.

10:10 a.m.: A portion of the Pentagon collapses.

10:10 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 93, also hijacked, crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh.

10:13 a.m.: The United Nations building evacuates, including 4,700 people from the headquarters building and 7,000 total from UNICEF and U.N. development programs.

10:22 a.m.: In Washington, the State and Justice departments are evacuated, along with the World Bank.

10:24 a.m.: The FAA reports that all inbound transatlantic aircraft flying into the United States are being diverted to Canada.

10:28 a.m.: The World Trade Center's north tower collapses from the top down as if it were being peeled apart, releasing a tremendous cloud of debris and smoke.

10:45 a.m.: All federal office buildings in Washington are evacuated.

10.46 a.m.: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell cuts short his trip to Latin America to return to the United States.

10.48 a.m.: Police confirm the plane crash in Pennsylvania.

10:53 a.m.: New York's primary elections, scheduled for Tuesday, are postponed.

10:54 a.m.: Israel evacuates all diplomatic missions.

10:57 a.m.: New York Gov. George Pataki says all state government offices are closed.

11:02 a.m.: New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani urges New Yorkers to stay at home and orders an evacuation of the area south of Canal Street.

11:16 a.m.: CNN reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is preparing emergency-response teams in a precautionary move.

11:18 a.m.: American Airlines reports it has lost two aircraft. American Flight 11, a Boeing 767 flying from Boston to Los Angeles, had 81 passengers and 11 crew aboard. Flight 77, a Boeing 757 en route from Washington's Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles, had 58 passengers and six crew members aboard. Flight 11 slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. Flight 77 hit the Pentagon.

11:26 a.m.: United Airlines reports that United Flight 93, en route from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California, has crashed in Pennsylvania. The airline also says that it is "deeply concerned" about United Flight 175.

11:59 a.m.: United Airlines confirms that Flight 175, from Boston to Los Angeles, has crashed with 56 passengers and nine crew members aboard. It hit the World Trade Center's south tower.

12:04 p.m.: Los Angeles International Airport, the destination of three of the crashed airplanes, is evacuated.


12:15 p.m: San Francisco International Airport is evacuated and shut down. The airport was the destination of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania.

12:30 p.m.: The FAA says 50 flights are in U.S. airspace, but none are reporting any problems.

1:04 p.m.: Bush, speaking from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, says that all appropriate security measures are being taken, including putting the U.S. military on high alert worldwide. He asks for prayers for those killed or wounded in the attacks and says, "Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts."

1:27 p.m.: A state of emergency is declared by the city of Washington.

1:44 p.m.: The Pentagon says five warships and two aircraft carriers will leave the U.S. Naval Station in Norfolk, Virginia, to protect the East Coast from further attack and to reduce the number of ships in port. The two carriers, the USS George Washington and the USS John F. Kennedy, are headed for the New York coast. The other ships headed to sea are frigates and guided missile destroyers capable of shooting down aircraft.

1:48 p.m.: Bush leaves Barksdale Air Force Base aboard Air Force One and flies to an Air Force base in Nebraska.

2 p.m.: Senior FBI sources tell CNN they are working on the assumption that the four airplanes that crashed were hijacked as part of a terrorist attack.

2:30 p.m.: The FAA announces there will be no U.S. commercial air traffic until noon EDT Wednesday at the earliest.

2:49 p.m.: At a news conference, Giuliani says that subway and bus service are partially restored in New York City. Asked about the number of people killed, Giuliani says, "I don't think we want to speculate about that -- more than any of us can bear."

3:55 p.m.: Karen Hughes, a White House counselor, says the president is at an undisclosed location, later revealed to be Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, and is conducting a National Security Council meeting by phone. Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice are in a secure facility at the White House. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is at the Pentagon.

3:55 p.m.: Giuliani now says the number of critically injured in New York City is up to 200 with 2,100 total injuries reported.

4 p.m: CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor reports that U.S. officials say there are "good indications" that Saudi militant Osama bin Laden, suspected of coordinating the bombings of two U.S. embassies in 1998, is involved in the attacks, based on "new and specific" information developed since the attacks.

4:06 p.m.: California Gov. Gray Davis dispatches urban search-and-rescue teams to New York.

4:10 p.m.: Building 7 of the World Trade Center complex is reported on fire.

4:20 p.m.: U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Florida, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, says he was "not surprised there was an attack (but) was surprised at the specificity." He says he was "shocked at what actually happened -- the extent of it."

4:25 p.m.: The American Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange say they will remain closed Wednesday.

4:30 p.m.: The president leaves Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska aboard Air Force One to return to Washington.

5:15 p.m.: CNN Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre reports fires are still burning in part of the Pentagon. No death figures have been released yet.

5:20 p.m.: The 47-story Building 7 of the World Trade Center complex collapses. The evacuated building is damaged when the twin towers across the street collapse earlier in the day. Other nearby buildings in the area remain ablaze.

5:30 p.m.: CNN Senior White House Correspondent John King reports that U.S. officials say the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania could have been headed for one of three possible targets: Camp David, the White House or the U.S. Capitol building.

6 p.m.: Explosions are heard in Kabul, Afghanistan, hours after terrorist attacks targeted financial and military centers in the United States. The attacks occurred at 2:30 a.m. local time. Afghanistan is believed to be where bin Laden, who U.S. officials say is possibly behind Tuesday's deadly attacks, is located. U.S. officials say later that the United States had no involvement in the incident whatsoever. The attack is credited to the Northern Alliance, a group fighting the Taliban in the country's ongoing civil war.

6:10 p.m.:Giuliani urges New Yorkers to stay home Wednesday if they can.

6:40 p.m.: Rumsfeld, the U.S. defense secretary, holds a news conference in the Pentagon, noting the building is operational. "It will be in business tomorrow," he says.

6:54 p.m.: Bush arrives back at the White House aboard Marine One and is scheduled to address the nation at 8:30 p.m. The president earlier landed at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland with a three-fighter jet escort. CNN's John King reports Laura Bush arrived earlier by motorcade from a "secure location."

7:17 p.m.: U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft says the FBI is setting up a Web site for tips on the attacks: www.ifccfbi.gov. He also says family and friends of possible victims can leave contact information at 800-331-0075.

7:02 p.m.: CNN's Paula Zahn reports the Marriott Hotel near the World Trade Center is on the verge of collapse and says some New York bridges are now open to outbound traffic.

7:45 p.m.: The New York Police Department says that at least 78 officers are missing. The city also says that as many as half of the first 400 firefighters on the scene were killed.

8:30 p.m.: President Bush addresses the nation, saying "thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil" and asks for prayers for the families and friends of Tuesday's victims. "These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve," he says. The president says the U.S. government will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed the acts and those who harbor them. He adds that government offices in Washington are reopening for essential personnel Tuesday night and for all workers Wednesday.

9:22 p.m.: CNN's McIntyre reports the fire at the Pentagon is still burning and is considered contained but not under control.

9:57 p.m.: Giuliani says New York City schools will be closed Wednesday and no more volunteers are needed for Tuesday evening's rescue efforts. He says there is hope that there are still people alive in rubble. He also says that power is out on the westside of Manhattan and that health department tests show there are no airborne chemical agents about which to worry.

10:49 p.m.: CNN Congressional Correspondent Jonathan Karl reports that Attorney General Ashcroft told members of Congress that there were three to five hijackers on each plane armed only with knives.

10:56 p.m: CNN's Zahn reports that New York City police believe there are people alive in buildings near the World Trade Center.

11:54 p.m.: CNN Washington Bureau Chief Frank Sesno reports that a government official told him there was an open microphone on one of the hijacked planes and that sounds of discussion and "duress" were heard. Sesno also reports a source says law enforcement has "credible" information and leads and is confident about the investigation.


view more pics of the september 11 attacks and their aftermath here.

birthday shout-out for a young auntie

always
understanding
naturally
terrific

i know... i know... why another post when i said that i wanna sleep hehe... yes i was about to shut down the puter when i suddenly remember that my 14 years old auntie nabilah, shared the same birthday with our grandmother too!

aunties are for being family
aunties are for fun
cook-outs, memories and pot-lucks
warm and cozy hugs
and sharing lots of love

aunties are for celebrations
so please receive this sweet cupcake
you are such a special auntie
god bless you on your birthday
as you celebrate today