Come aS yoU aRe

Spruce up your living room for the new year

2007-01-08T23:54:00.000+08:00

You can spruce up your living room for this new year without spending a bomb with these easy tips.

Rearrange the furniture (but if you can afford more, update it!)
- try new side tables, or armchairs
Add a cosy rug
A large mirror helps to open up space and brightens up the room
Put in new cushion covers.
Have an interesting flower arrangement on the coffee table or an interesting deco item you bought from your holiday trips
Move around display of ornaments and don't forget to dust them regularly
Replace your pictures or artwork, rearrange it or change the frames! Wall hanging calendar is a great way to brighten a blank wall.

Small changes for a big difference, all you need is a little creativity to spruce up your living room.

Sony VAIO C-series

2006-12-18T13:36:00.000+08:00

Sony's popular Vaio laptops are coming out in new funky colours. The new Vaio C-series come in 5 colours: Espresso Black, Seashell White, Blush Pink, Spring Green and Urban Grey. Prices starts from RM4,488.00 for Pink, Green and Grey models (VGN-C15G). While the Black and White models (VGN-C15GP). cost RM5,488.00. They even come with matching optional mice.

Platform: Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology, intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5500 (1.66GHz)
Main Memory: 512MB DDR2 SDRAM
Hard Disk: 80GB Serial ATA, 5400rpm
Graphics Accelerator: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400 with NVIDIA TurboCache

Check out Sony's website for the detailed specs and prices.

They are even having a contest at www.myfirstvaio.com, where the best 30-secs video participant will get to choose his fav colour of a brand new Vaio C-series laptop! You can even participate by voting for the best video.

What's the best exercise to lose weight?

2006-12-16T18:20:00.000+08:00

I can't run for more than a minute. Is that bad?
Nope. Just walk as fast as you can on an incline, or alternate short intervals of running and walking.

What's the best exercise to lose weight?
Running! It is the fastest kilojoule burner. Practise health eating habits in conjuntion with activity, and you should see results in about 4 weeks, depending on freqeuncy, workout duration and intensity.

I lose fat everywhere but my tummy. Why?
When losing fat, it comes from everywhere, but you notice the least change in the largest area. Presevere and you'll see the difference.

Source: Cleo Oct 2006 magazine

How to improve the quality of sleep?

2006-12-16T17:30:00.000+08:00

Sleep deprivation is a serious problem, it can lead to many health problems. Getting enough sleep is good, but are you getting quality sleep every night? Read on to know how you can put some quality into your slumber...

1. Regular exercise helps you to fall asleep faster. (*I can personally testify to this!)

2. Do not miss the best timing to sleep. When our body show signs of sleepiness at a specific time at night e.g. frequent yawning, tears running down from the eyes. This is the body telling us to go to bed.

3. Expose yourself to sufficient sunlight. Like most living things, human need sunlight exposure to regulate our biological clock. You can do outdoor activities e.g. walk in the park, gardening, washing your car. This will help you to sleep undisrupted.

4. A short nap! An afternoon nap is equivalent to few hours of sleeping time, and helps to clear a tired mind. A short 10-15 minutes nap is sufficient, but a prolonged nap may cause drowsiness and fatigue.

5. No caffeine after midday for you caffeine lovers! Caffeine will remain in the body, making it hard for you to sleep. Alcohol may cause sleepiness, but it will disrupt your normal sleep sequence, and cause shallow, unrestful sleep.

6. Have good sleeping habits. Go to bed and get up at the about the same time every day. Get up and stretch your muscles if you are unable to fall asleep. Only retire to bed when you are feeling sleepy.

Remember, sufficent quality sleep will do good to your health and mind.

When do you need protection in life?

2006-12-16T17:01:00.000+08:00

Most people shy away when they hear "buying insurance". Sure, insurance agents may be pesky folks sometimes, but getting adequate protection when you need it should not be avoided. There are periods in your life when you need to consider protection. Not just for yourself but also for your loved ones. The important times to think of getting protection are when getting married, expecting a child, buying a home and planning to retire.

Getting married
When you get married, your first priority is to ensure your spouse's well-being, especially if they are partially dependent on your income. Should anything happen to you, your spouse will have the necessary funds to go on in life.

Expecting a child
Your child is totally dependent on you for providing for all his needs (food, childcare, education). All these are costly but with proper planning, you can provide adequately for you child.

Buying a home
Buying property is among the biggest investments in a person's life. A home can provide shelter for you and your loved ones, so an insurance plan ensures your family has a roof over their heads if something unexpected happens to you.

Planning to retire
Nowadays with ever increasing cost of living, your retirement fund may not be enough to provide for you and your family. Planning ahead is a good way of ensuring you have enough funds to maintain the quality of life you desire when you retire.

Reference: GE Life Insurance brochure

Take responsibility for problems that you cause

2006-03-15T13:38:00.000+08:00

No one is perfect. But there are some things that you can do when you messed up. Here are some steps to deal with it.

1. Own the problem
2. Communicate openly
3. Resolve the problem coolly and calmly
4. Learn from the mistake

This way everyone can work towards the resolution of the problem instead of blaming someone!

To err is human. Just get on with it and learn from the mistake.

Stash it or trash it?

2006-02-22T09:53:00.000+08:00

What do you do with old magazines? Trash 'em.

You keep telling yourself you're going to look at them. You're lying. It's not realistic to think you can read every article. Holding onto them is causing more distress than not having read them. Any publication becomes obsolete when the new one arrives. Rule of thumb on reading: Give weeklies 1 month and monthlies 3 months. Here's another tip, keep a pair of scissors handy when you tidy up your old mag, cut out the articles to keep before trashing the mag.