Living It Up

This was something that I learnt in school but still struggle with because the wrong usage is so pervasive in what I read on a day to day basis.  I often read articles saying, "this is a healthy diet" when it should be "this is a healthful diet".

The words healthy and healthful are closely related but they really mean different things.  Healthy refers to something having good health.  Hence, you can have a healthy body or a healthy business. 

Healthful, however, refers to something that is conducive to health - in other words, salubrious (or health giving).

Thus, a diet cannot be healthy because a diet cannot have bad health.  A person, on the other hand, can have good or bad health and hence a good diet is healthful, and it makes the person healthy.

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My friend’s sis-in-law is expecting a baby and my friend’s parents were hoping to get a granddaughter as the first grandchild is a boy.  During the sis-in-law’s recent check up (she’s in her first trimester now), the gynae said, "There is nothing to suggest that it is a boy".  When this was conveyed to my friend’s dad, he immediately rang my friend and said, "It’s a girl!".

My friend told her brother what the dad said and he promptly asked her to help clarify things with their parents.  My friend was surprised that her dad would jump to such a conclusion since being a lawyer, he really should know better than to assume that "nothing to suggest it’s a boy" means that the baby is a girl.

I suppose the difficulty/confusion is when the opposite of a negative, i.e. "nothing to suggest…", does not equate to a positive.  Bottomline?  Don’t assume there’re just 2 sides to a coin. 

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Just got a great tip off my friend’s blog.  (Forgive my lack of geekiness).  For anyone who has been having problems with wireless Internet connections at home, you should try using a “Homeplug”.  It essentially uses the power lines to run the Internet connection around the home, as though it were a lan cable.  Fantastic.  For more info on how it works, click here.

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The fireworks on New Year’s day was a bit disappointing.  The fireworks were shot from further away from Marina Bay (probably ‘cos seats were sold at Marina Barrage on top of the usual Marina Bay grandstand) so I didn’t get the usual feeling of the fireworks blooming up close - as though they were going to explode in my face.  That was a little disappointing. 

Looking at the videos & photos, the effect wasn’t as spectacular as the previous shots (National Day 2007 & 2008) I took.  Think I’ll post the videos/photos when I get home so u can see what I mean.  Didn’t manage to post the previous videos ‘cos I had some problems uploading to youtube… but the size ceiling has since been increased so I think I should be able to do it now. 

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Okie… here’re some of the photos of the fireworks… don’t have photoshop (gosh, I really shouldn’t be doing this in office but first day of work… damn sian lah!) now so you gotta bear with the smoky images… only managed to use Photoscape to crop out some of the “Exit” signs on the photos…

Okie… guess the photos could have turned out better but Iceman unfortunately didn’t get a chance to take test shots as there were people in office before the fireworks started and we couldn’t switch off the lights.  Anyway, these raw photos were taken with the Nikon D90.

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Haven’t had time to edit the photos yet… crap… just realised my Toshiba thumbdrive’s gone missing too so now I can’t transfer the fireworks pics from my office pc to my home pc.  Grr…

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Attended Old Goat’s wedding at the Armenian Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator 2 Sundays ago.  It was my first time visiting this National Monument and it’s really a lovely place.  It’s apparently the oldest Christian Church in Singapore.  I was quite fascinated with the tombstones there so I took a couple of photos of them.

Did a search online and read on Wikipedia that the tombstones were originally from the Christian cemetery in Bukit Timah.  But when that was exhumed in 1998, these tombstones were transported to the Memorial Garden of the Armenian Church.

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Saw this on Kid’s Meal’s table… not sure who but someone from her clique in office gave her this for Christmas.

If someone gave me this, I would wonder if that person had really poor taste, or if that person really hated me…

(The handphone pouch is just to give you an idea of how tiny the stupid masak masak tea set is).

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Please forgive the “Exit” sign…

If you know what freeware I can use to remove the “Exit” sign, please let me know…

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As this is potentially the last year I’m going to be working at Singapore Land Tower, Iceman and I decided to go to my office to take photos/videos of the fireworks at the stroke of midnight of 1 Jan 2009.  Our initial plan was to take the photos from Kopi’s room… but then I thought of trying a new angle (the previous fireworks videos I took were from his room) and so we camped at the window where the finance dept is seated instead.  Ok, that’s a bit out of point.  What I meant to convey was, I’m quite upset ‘cos I didn’t realise the reflection of the stupid “Exit” sign got captured in all my videos and pics.  I can edit out the sign in the photos I suppose… but I don’t think I can do that for the videos. 

Anyway, there’s 1 big drawback for the Panasonic FX33 - photos of objects in pitch blackness turn out really bad.  So I shall wait for Iceman to edit the photos he took with his Canon D90 before posting them online. 

Am waiting for youtube to finish uploading the video(s) now… not sure how long it’s going to take and I’m starting to feel sleepy.  It’s 2:35am after all.  Going to brush my teeth while the darn video(s) upload… hopefully you’ll see them here soon.

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It’s the last day of the year again.  Am typing this ‘cos I’ve been instructed to “nuah” for another couple of minutes while I wait for Azure to go for our last lunch of 2008.  Heehee.

It has been a great year at work.  Business (at least before 4Q) was good for the political risk insurance industry and save for some arseholes, it has been pleasant working with the underwriters globally.

Anyway, it’s time to shut down my office pc now.  Will be booting up again in 2009.  Bye for now…

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Good grief.  Iceman sent me this article of this Japanese tourist who stayed at a Mexico airport for 117 days and then mysteriously disappeared with a woman in a cab.  Check it out here.

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When one cannot decide to poop or sleep.

MC eyes my Awfully Chocolate cake!

Strange find in a multi-storey carpark… (forgot which though).

Upsize’s meal from Sun with Moon Restaurant at Wheelock Place.  I just thought the hourglass was cool!

Having a good time with great company at Balaclava on Boxing Day.

Here’s a clearer, thus small pic. 

Loads of random pics. 

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Pinky demonstrates that he’s as nimble as Horlicks.

Agile up the stairs too.

The DMZ border…

Pinky raises the alert!

The handsome one drinking water.

Voluptuous Horlicks

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Got this from the website: Donors to the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

“In keeping with President-elect Obama’s commitment to changing the way business is done in Washington, the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) is taking unprecedented steps to insure transparency in the public reporting of donors to a Presidential Inaugural Committee. This chart will allow you to view, sort, and search virtually real-time information on all donors contributing over $200 to the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee…”

I think it’s great that Obama is committed to making changes… but I wonder how does one insure transparency… hmm…

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