Gone With The Wind

There were a few PPP opps that pays $10 these couple of days but everytime I click on the opportunity, it says it has been taken. I can't believe how fast some postie work. Each time I see the opps appear on my PC screen, I'm like so excited but then get disappointed again.

I really believe some postie just sit in front of their computer and refresh the screen every now and then, so that they get the opps immediately when PPP puts them up. How can I compete with them? I'm FTWM some more, cannot jut plop myself in front of the PC and do nothing but stare at it the whole day. Seems that the competition is getting fiercer by the day. *Sigh* Hope I can get lucky one of these days...

My Faithful Kancil

I have repeatedly mentioned in many of my posts that I drive a Kancil. Sasha was doubtful that I was telling the truth. Lol. I told her that I would blog about my faithful little tin can one of these days, so here it is.

The reasons why I adore my little Kancil:

• It was the 1st car I bought and I settled the loan within 2 years. Means commitment free from car loan.
• Low maintenance required
• Contrary to what Sasha thought about my car having leather seats and all, it is empty of accessories. Thus, I can safely parked my car anywhere without worrying about theft.
• Lastly, the sentimental value that it represents. There was a time when hubby and I were financially not so stable, so we sold off the other car and left with this one to survive. Therefore, cannot throw away a good pal who served me loyally. Heh heh...got people like that one ah?

Checking Page Rank for PPP Posts

Okay guys, I had posted on my mommy's blog pertaining to Immomsdaughter's Page Rank and for those who are doing paid post, I'm sharing the link to the tool that PPP used : http://ppp.customtools.urltrends.com/index.php.

I'm so happy my mommy blog got a Page Rank of 4 whereas this blog has a page rank of 3. Woot! Btw, here's a tip, check your url with www and without. My url without the www got a higher Page Rank.

Something New

I was upset about not having a handphone to cater to my dial up after my one kaput on Sunday and equally irritated that the hubby lost my Samsung one. So, my man who felt guilty and charitable went and bought me a new handphone. Nothing expensive but at least it catered to my dial up needs.

It's Nokia 6233

I'm happylah but I'm sure he is grumbling behind my back. He SMSed me yesterday afternoon asking whether I like the phone and I answered "Of courselah, free one ma..."

Later in the evening, I asked hubby whether he heart pain spent the money and he told me nvm, it was advance birthday present for me. Hai ya, see....so kiam siap one my man, kill two birds with one stone :P

All Time Low PPP Opps

I did not do any paid post on Saturday and Sunday. That was a record breaking attempt to me. Lol. Truth be told, there was hardly any opps that I could pick up on those two days.

On Sunday, the opportunities hit an all time low at 18 and 3/4 of them, I've already done. As for the rest, I was not eligible to post. Needless to say, I was again a bit worried but hoping that things would pick up once PPP open their doors on Monday morning, their time.

True enough, when I logged in this morning, the opps hit 66. Not bad but it is still difficult to get the $10 ones as they are gone before I can grab it. I guess I just have to make do with the $5 ones *sigh*

3X Bad Luck

This happened yesterday:

1. My handphone suddenly kaput (probably due to the Nescafe the other day). Cannot power on and so, cannot retrieve the data in my phone book. So, my dear Sasha and Angeleyes, that's why I asked for your numbers again :) Thought it was ok as I had a spare Samsung phone which I had won in a contest. Check check check, hubby borrowed it many moons ago when he needed to upgrade his Treo software and we couldn't find it anywhere. Conculsion : Someone probably stole it when he sent his car for washing *rolls eyes*

2. Was making Nescafe for my breakfast drink and accidentally knocked the mug and all its contents off the kitchen counter. Broke the mug and had to mop the floor. Sheeeeesh....

3. Fried egg for dinner and there were two eggs left in the container. Stupid me did not close the container properly and everything fell down on the floor AGAIN! Broke two eggs this time and had to mop the floor againnnnnnn.....

So, you say soi or not? 3x bad luck wor.....must be my karma :P

Bad Vs Good

I received my bonus today but not too happy as it was a huge drop as compared to last year. Not that I was a slacker but I got a new boss since last April. Long story and no mood to elaborate on it. Increment also like chicken feet only......triple sien.....(BAD)

So, what did I do? Go shoppinglah of course! What else other than retail therapy that can perk me up? Yoohoo Vien, see what I bought? Nice or not? This is called GOOD ah? Spending my hard earned money again wor :( Kick my boss' ass for making me do this!

The good news

A couple of posts back, I mentioned that the Big Kid had some good news for me when he was in KL. Actually, only got ONE good newslah. See, what he brought back from KL:

I'm sooooo happy, now got another new toy and I can tell Angeleyes, I got new oven video cam wor.... ha ha ha

Where got so goodlah? Hubby won this in a Visa autobilling contest which his clients sign up for. He did not buy it especially for melah *pout* But nevermind, I can take better videos now. Yahoooo.....

Bonus...bonus...where are you?

While most people are already spending the fruits of their labour, i.e. BONUS.....I am still sitting here pondering when I am getting mine, that is if I am getting any at all *sigh*

It has always been like this for the past 10 years. Nobody in the management group have ever been so silent until the time when bonus and increments are about to be declared. DEAD SILENCE, I tell you. This is the time when I wish there were some rumours hinting at the percentage. Haiya.........for the sake of annoying me to bits and pieces, tell me, what have you spent your bonus on?

Busybody (Pat Poh)

Last week when hubby was away traveling, I had to fetch my son back from school each day for 3 consecutive days. Thus, I took 3 half day leaves as I cannot make it in time to pick him after work even if I drove like a F1 driver.

Anyway, one of those days, it was raining heavily, so the school gate was opened earlier than usual before the school ended. I took the opportunity to spy on my son and saw that he was quietly doing his schoolwork and asking the teacher for clarification while half of the class was in chaos as all the kids were eager to go home.

Other parents were also waiting outside the classrooms with umbrellas. There were two mothers, the typical house wife type, who kept on peeping into the class and complaining how naughty some of the kids were. One of them mentioned that the naughty ones were like monkeys, the teacher should be using the cane against kids like that, yadda yadda yadda......I was like so irked by these women! Come onlah, so the kids were naughty, which kids aren't? Who gave them the right to criticize other people's kids? Don't they have anything better to talk about? Oops! Wrong question. Obviously, they don't. It's just that women like those two gives housewives a bad name. No wonder housewives are sometimes labelled as gossiper and busybodies.

I need to write this down in case one fine day I become a SAHM, I do not want to belong to a housewife club like that. Don't get me wrong, being a housewife is wonderful but minus the patpoh attitudelah.

Re-edited so as not to cause any misunderstanding to housewives : The point I am trying to emphasize here is people's attitude and character which result in housewives being labelled as such. My intention is not to condemn ALL housewives.

What Are Your Skills?

What are your skills or talent? I must say I have none :( Pathetic, isn't it? While some people have excellent cooking skills, baking skills, are good at sports or wonderful at karaoke, I can truly say God forgot to bestow upon me any talent or special skills.

Since my school days, I have often envied people who were creative in arts or good at sprinting. I was confident that I have some hidden talent somewhere waiting to be discovered. Heh heh...that was pretty naive but hey, those were the days when I was a teenager.

So, in my ripe old age, I've come to terms with the fact that I am good at nothing but just an average at everything. Lol. I believe that's nothing to complain about. It's much better than being good FOR nothing.

Note : Goodness, I'm sounding kinda depressed nowadays. I'm fine actually...it's just that time of the month when hormones go a bit haywire and I tend to talk nonsense.

Difficulty to Work At Home

Today is not a good day. Hubby and I fought over the laptop.....not really....he sort of let me use it reluctantly as I told him I had not done any paid post yesterday afternoon. I knew he needed the laptop but the addiction of doing paid post just got to me. This is not healthy! I think I have to somehow take control of this addiction. See how money & greed can turn a person into. Yeah yeah, I admit it's the $$$ that's pulling me into doing it.

Then, there's my little girl who simply refuses to play alone. She needs attention from me and I am here rushing through one paid post as fast as I can. She either wants me to play with her or wants to sit on my lap while I type. That's fine but she wants to tinker with my keyboard. I know, it's my fault again, she's simply bored. See how difficult it is to work at home.....I wonder how other mom does it! Ok, I'm off to play with my girl now.

GMail Problem

What's wrong with Gmail? I've not been able to get the standard view for 2 days already. I can only view via the HTML view and it's so irritating!!!

I cannot scroll anywhere but only view the few latest emails coming in. I cannot chat with anyone and cannot view long emails. I am super pissed!!! Anybody having that problem or know how to solve it, I'd appreciate the help.

Stewpid! Stewpid!

The stupidest or unluckiest thing happened to me this morning! I was sitting at my workplace and my handphone was placed on the CPU of my desktop. There was a piece of paper underneath my phone. So, in the process of retrieving the paper.......errr.....I dragged the paper from underneath the phone instead of taking my phone away and then take the paper. In that nanosecond, I was like watching a slow motion movie.....my phone happily slid off the CPU right into the mug of Nescafe that I had made. I watched in horror as my phone floated for 2 seconds in the mug before I quickly rescued it.

Too late! I opened the front and back covers, took out the batt and wiped off all the coffee, put back everything and all I see was bright light on the phone's LCD display. Arrrrgggghhhhhhh....stewpid! stewpid me! I repeated the dismantling and putting back once more but the same thing happened. I could have kicked myself.

I remembered one of my office buddy and quickly called him for a rescue mission. Upon arrival at the office, he told me DO NOT try to power on your phone when it just got soaked. So, everyone remember...something new to learn here. He did some operation on my handphone and cleaned up all the water inside the motherboard. Test, test, finally it functioned!!!! Yay I was soooooo relief........a pat on the back to my hero!

American Idol Is Back!

I tell you, I'm such a sucker for American Idol and that's the only reason I subscribed to the Star channel even though 8TV airs it. Astro Channel 70 which is The Star broadcast it LIVE and at a better viewing time as compared to 8TV.

I hardly missed any episodes of the last season of American Idol (I think it's Season 5) when it went on air. My no.1 favourite was actually Chris Daughtry, such a wonderful singer and devoted husband to his older wife. Plus he was absolutely a hunk, quiet but cool. For those who have forgotten what he looked like, here's a pic:

American Idol is back with the latest Season 6 which premiered tonight! Yeah, no need to ask, I already watched the auditions at 8pm. More to come as I journey together with Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson (I wish!).

Chinese New Year Is Coming!

Since I was young, I had always looked forward to Chinese New Year and I am not ashame to say that I still feel the same way about it as I did 20 years ago. Lol.

Having children add to the excitement as children ARE always excited when there are celebrations. So nowadays, I do not get excited alone, I get excited about CNY with my children. Some adults find it unbelievable that I feel this way. Ha ha....I love the mood, the atmosphere, the to-do-list like getting new cloths, making or buying cakes and cookies, decorating the house, listening to CNY songs, preparing the ang pows (though I hate parting with the money), the hoo ha over food during dinner gathering on eve of CNY and the list goes on. In fact, I'd have you know that I have started blaring loud CNY songs in the car :P

I've often wondered whether I'm the only ADULT who feels like this as my mom and hubby do not feel the same about it. Come on, tell me I am not alone here...

Psst psst.....Yay! Yay! Chinese New Year is only a month away!

Eye Twitching

My right eye has been twitching on and off since this morning. I am a somewhat superstitious person and am a little worried. Hubby is away for 3 days in Genting for a convention and that add on to my worry. SMSed him and he replied saying he is ok but have a little good news to share. (I'll blog about it when he comes back).

The last couple of days, I've been sleeping like a log and hardly wake up to feed my girl :P However, I did not have a good sleep last night. Perhaps the tiredness contributed to the twitching. Lol. It sure irritates the hell out of me but I hope that's the worst part of it *touch wood*

PPP Opps Dropped Again

I signed in this morning and my jaw dropped when I saw the opps dropped to 54 only. Imagine just a day ago, the opps were still running at 120++. It just shows that there are so many posties out there.

I supposed the trend will be up and down but I have confident in PPP to get in more advertisers. A lot of the remaining opps are the ones priced at $5 or below. The higher paid ones usually have special request like high page rank or specialized blogs. At the very least, I'm able to get two $5 opps per day, which is good enough pocket money for me :)

Men Are Indeed From Mars

I am not a person who likes to air my dirty linen in public but if I were to bottle up my frustration tonight, I would probably cause an earthquake followed by a 10 feet tall tsunami. Rather than causing a natural disaster, here I am typing my heart away.....Anger. Hurt. Resentment. Sadness. Feeling Hopeless. These are some of the emotions I am having now.....

MAN = The victim + Always Right + Clueless that the mistake is so serious + snoring away as I fume in silence

If you are craning your neck to read something juicy here, this is as far as the story goes. If you are a follower of my blog, you'd have realized that I am in fact an introvert. So, you see, I do not talk to any of my friends about such issues.

I just needed an avenue to vent my frustration. Blogging about it helps (throwing things does too but I do not want any regrets later on ;P)

Blogroll For Paid Post Blogs

Lately, there seems to be a lot of dissatisfaction among some bloggers regarding blogs which have paid posting. I've written about it in my mommy blog and today, Samm has posted about about this issue raised by one of her reader.

I do not want to go into this issue again as it is useless getting upset over comments like that. We paid posties get a lot of that. Instead, as a support to all paid posties, I have created a separate blogroll for link exchange purposes. Afterall, all of us are looking forward to and working hard to improve our page rank. So, if you are not already on my blogroll and are interested to exchange link, just drop me a line in the chatbox on my sidebar. Alternatively, you can e-mail me.

How To Check Tyre's Expiry Date

At one point in my career, I oversee my company's fleet management for Sarawak region and I am ashame to say I was not even aware of how to check a tyre's expiry date. Lol. So, I thought this is a piece of good article to learn from.

There is a 4-year expiry (from the year of manufacture). Thereafter, the tyre may burst whilst in use.

How to find out whether your tyre has expired?Check for this sign: ( *2603* )

There is an asterisk at the beginning and at the end of this serial number. The first two numbers 2 6 will tell which week of the year has it been manufactured.NB: One year has 52 weeks. The last two numbers represent the year of make. Therefore, *2603* shows that the said tyre is manufactured in the 26th week of the year 2003.

Check all your tyres for safety purposes. Do not use expired tyres. They are likely to burst (especially when running in hot weather)because the rubber component may have hardened and cracked.

Working Overtime

This is the 1st time I'm working overtime for the year 2007. While it is refreshing to work alone in the office without any disturbance, I dread going to the office on non working days. NO amount money can make drag myself here if not for the fact that I have to meet some deadlines.

Have a good weekend everyone!

High Flying Job

This post is an ego booster for me, a middle aged woman with flyaway hair which is usually bundled up with hair band, dressed frumpily due to the start of portruding belly and weight gain. I cannot even remember the last time I had a facial so, please spare me the talk about grooming. It's probably because of this I had remained anonymous to everybody as any photo of me will probably disappoint you. I write better than I look :P

That was not how I was 10 years ago though.....10 years ago, I remembered I had the "IT" qualities to garner an offer as an air stewardess for Brunei Airlines. Never heard of that airline? Ha ha ha...nolah, I did not make it up, it existlah....under the small dot in the land of Brunei, one of the riches Kingdom in Asia.

Back then, I had been offered a job with my current company and left my banking job. There was about a week of freedom in between, so ETFNTD me went for the walk in interview for Brunei Airlines. Partly, what prompted me to go was also the fact that I always wanted to be an air stewardess from young. It did not help my ego that my best friend worked with SIA after she left Form 5 and my cousin worked with Brunei Airlines. I surprised myself by successfully passing the interview. The next day, I collected the Letter Of Offer and was in a dilemma. I was unsure whether to reject the offer from my current company and fulfill my dream. Then again, if I take up this high flying job, ideally I would have to go for the 5 years contract and by the time the contract ended, I would be in my late 20's. Where would that leave me? At that age, it is not easy to get a good job offer in Kuching.

Needless to say, you all know I did not take up that offer. So, here I am sitting typing this in the company which I have worked for 10 years already. No regrets as I hate flying nowadays. I cannot imagine having to fly almost everyday when I even hate flying on a monthly basis. What I am trying to put across is if you happen to see this aunty one fine day, just remember that 10 years ago, I had the "Oomph" to land that high flying job. And yes, I still have the Letter of Offer to cherish and show my kids one day that their mommy was once an attractive woman. *sniff sniff*

Wow! Wow! Wow!

Today when I logged on to PPP, there were 150++ opps available. I was surprisingly shocked by so many opportunities as a couple of days ago, the opps had dwindled to below 30 only.

The opps available range from $7 to $25 (max), so it is above my humble target of getting $5 per post. I am sooooooo delighted with PPP. Long live PPP and long live paid posting!

New Toy

I got this for FREE. Nah, not from the hubby. Neither is it from winning any contest.......

Guess from where?

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

From the company I work with lah.....go on, be jealous ;) Aiya, no need to be, this sort of thingy also potong from the bonus givenlah, meaning lesser bonus lor....

Actually, I'm not a fan of i-pod. I'd rather they give the new i-phone by Apple too *grins* Let me toy around with it first and see whether it really is that fun!

Credit Card Fraud (Part II)

When I arrived in KL yesterday morning, I received another call from my credit card company. Unfortunately for me, another internet transaction was done via my credit card again. I was furious as they had told me the card was already blocked from further online purchases. Their excuse was, I quote "They did it another way". Yeah, right! As if I am so dumb about banking issues. Hellooooo....I was a former bankerlah. I know how things work behind the scene and the fact is they did not do a good job blocking my card from internet access.

This time, they will replace my card with a new one. This means I totally cannot use the card until I received the new one. Thank Goodness, I had another card with me. Else, traveling without a credit card is such inconvenience. Morale of the story : Do not rely on one credit card only. Ideally, have one Visa and one Master.

1 Up and 2 Downs

1 Up

My blogroll on my mommy blog is finally functioning. Yay!



2 Downs

1. My internet access is still intermittent. Thus, paid posting comes first and blog hopping second.
2. I'm down with the flu bug. So sien....

PPP Technical Glitch

I believed there was a technical glitch at PPP yesterday. I tried to submit for three opps and all three encountered errors. Problem was the opps did not mention the exclusion of blogger posties but when I had spent my time writing for the post and submitted, out comes the error!

I totally gave up on writing for opps yesterday due to this. I can understand the need for segmentation but posties should be informed in the opps when we open it up for posting. However, the good news is today the problem has been resolved.

Ka Chang Ma

I had written about Ka Chang Ma sometime back and everybody asked for photo of the food. MIL finally cooked this last week but in my haste to eat it, I almost forgot to take the pix.

This is the best I could do and don't have time to beautify it due to the fact that I was drooling away already ;P

Errr....my apologies ah, not very clear :)

Wohoo to PPP

Following my earlier worries about opps getting lesser at PPP, things are in fact getting better. Since the last 2 days, many opps have been filling in at $5-$10 but it is not that easy to get them. Due to my slow LAN, it takes ages to load the page and once I clicked on the opportunity, it is already gone *sigh*.

But I've no complain, at least things are looking up and I can always choose the lower paid opps to write. It is after all better than not earning anything at all. Moreover, I feel less stress as compared to writing for higher paid opps due to the need to beat that clock ticking away at the 30 minutes deadline. As long as there's opps available to write, that's fine with me.

Here's to PPP and many more opportunities to come *clink*.

Reply To Blog Comments?

I've noticed that some bloggers never reply to comments on their post. Perhaps it is because they are too busy or perhaps they just simply feel that it is unnecessary to reply.

So far, I've tried my best to reply to all the comments on my post as I feel that it is kinda rude not to answer people when they talk to you. It's sorta like that to me anyway, commenting is like talking to someone. However, it does take up a lot of time when you have many comments. I'm not sure what the norm is in the blogsphere but I've noted a majority of bloggers have replied to comments. On the other hand, there are those that only reply to certain remarks.

I guess to each his own, as it is your own blog after all. As long as there are readers coming back, they are interested in what you are writing, comments or not.

Credit Card Fraud

This morning I got a call from my credit card company asking me whether I had paid for a transaction via the internet amounting to RM800++. I told them I had not and they enquired again whether I had tried to make another purchase a couple of nights ago. This transaction however did not go through. I confirmed that I did not.

MCB, it seems that my credit card has been fraudulently used and my card will immediately be blocked from any online/internet use. I was told to fill up a form and fax the form together with my statement to the bank. Sheesh! What an unlucky way to start the new year. I had actually been using this card for as long as I can remember and never had any such problem. It just confirmed my fear of using credit card to purchase online. *sigh* Blardy sien.....

Indonesian Jetliner Crashed

Today's news of a disaster extracted via Channel News Asia:

MEDAN, Indonesia : A Boeing 737-200 jetliner crashed Monday into a densely populated suburb of the Indonesian city of Medan moments after take-off and burst into flames, killing at least 143 people. The Mandala Airlines jet bound for Jakarta slammed into buildings just outside the perimeter of Medan's Polonia airport early in the morning, killing 104 of its 117 passengers and crew and 39 people on the ground.

The above is one of the reason I hate reading news. It is just the start of 2007 and we already have a disaster to mark the beginning of the year.

Let us just be thankful for having our love ones with us and say a little prayer for the victims of the crashed plane and their families.

Rejected by ReviewMe

Yep, the title speaks for itself. My mommy blog got rejected by ReviewMe. This was the reply I got:

Sorry the blog you just submitted does not meet minimum acceptance criteria (traffic, other links to your site, etc) at this time. Please submit again in couple of months.

That's a dent on my blog's ego but what can I expect, I'm a small time player with a PR of 2 only *sigh* Life is never fair.

THE handbag

I love checking out handbags, especially branded ones but can never bring myself to part with the money. I used to love LV's monogram bucket but now I've fallen in love with a COACH bag. I do not have the pix to show but will upload it when I am back to work. This crazy woman quickly checked out the Coach website and found out that the bag cost USD298 or something like that, can't remember the exact amount. Some more the bag is reversible, like two in one, all the more reason to buy :P *Tit tit tit calculator* Convert to Ringgit Malaysia, not too badlah.

Now, need to work on the hubby and get him to sponsor on his next overseas trip *rubs hands in glee*. I hope this is just another crazy phase that I am going through :P

Lack of Opportunities

It seems that lately, there are getting less opportunities at PPP. I hope it's due to the Christmas and New Year holidays. Once an opportunity pops up which offers more than USD5, it is almost always gone before I could take it up. The ones left are those that has requirement for a higher page ranking blog or some specialized category of blogs to post.

I guess more and more people have started to get into paid posting and PPP seems to be the best option. That means posties like us are not able to pick up an income as good as before. Everybody is fighting for opportunities and the higher paid ones are limited. The pressure is also on for us postie as we have a limited time of 30 mins to come up with a good post. As much as I tried my best, sometimes it's hard to write a good one within that time frame. Being a mom, there are often interruptions from the kids unless I post during some ungodly hour, which sometimes I admit I do.

I really am keeping my fingers crossed that PPP's opportunities will come in and this will work out for me in the long run. I am enjoying every bit of it, I meant writing and earning an income through it and I hope this paid posting is here to live!

Writing For Creamaid

This is another way to earn income from posting. Creamaid does not discriminate your blog but it does have certain conditions to fulfill when you post. However, almost any blog can take up creamaid opportunities.

What you do is simply to click on the conversation box that you want to post, a "click here to participate" sign can be seen if there are still slots available. Then, continue clicking for instruction. You need to enter your e-mail add somewhere along the line and finally copy some codes to your post.

However, you only get paid when your post is selected to be included in the conversation. A referral fee will also be paid to you if someone clicks on your conversation, signs up for it and gets selected. Of course, some conversation can pay as little as USD1 or as much as USD10. Opportunities are limited but it is a good way to start earning money, especially if your blog is not approved by bigger advertisting players.

Once your post is selected, Creamaid will send you a link via e-mail to let you claim for the money and you just need to key in your paypal account and verification code. You never know whether your post gets selected or not and it is a pleasant surprise once it does get in. The fact that a couple of bucks is thrown in for the deal just adds to the fun!

In case you are wondering, this is NOT a sponsored post.

Blogs Do Make Money Community Blogroll

Click here to join