Keeping Romance Affordable

In the present global financial crisis, cutting cost has become a way of life, not only for corporations and the rich, but more so for working class people like us. But cutting cost doesn't mean cutting corner in romancing your other half on this Valentines day. All the more, you need to woo in style during a downturn to keep the spirit up and the flame of love burning bright.

What you need is to put in some thoughts and a little more DIY effort in creating a fun and memorable Valentines day for the two of you. Enjoy the simpler things in life, and count your blessing you have each other for companionship.

Here are some suggestions how you can celebrate Valentines day on the cheap:

Drop by the library
In the air-conditioning comfort of either the central or the neighborhood library, you can browse the shelves for your favourite reads, or book the audio visual facility to watch a documentary or listen to some good music together. At some libraries, there might be some free events like talks and concerts going on.

Cook at home
With a cookbook borrowed from the library, pick a recipe, shop for the ingredients and prepare a meal together. Not all of us are born great cooks, but cooking is great bonding for couples and if the food turns out great, that will be a bonus!

Go for a walk
A walk in the park, the botanical garden or by the beach will be great, window-shopping in shopping mall will be no-no. Enjoying the greenery or the sea breeze is free, and you get some exercise done.Have a picnic
This is an extension of the walk in the park or botanical garden. Before you head to the park, detour to the supermarket and pick up your picnic basket. Better still, choose a venue with free outdoor concerts or dance performances.

Shop at garage sales
Go bargain hunting at garage sales. To up the fun quotient, choose a theme, e.g. pirates, and fashion each other in that style.

Tough times call for tough measures and there is no rules cast in stone that says only the biggest diamond gift or the glitziest dinner date will be able to proclaim your undying love for each other. The important thing is to show our love and appreciation for each other in good and bad times, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.

Another Year Older

and WISER, I hope...

Happy Birthday to myself.

Happy Lunar 牛 Year!

The Lunar New Year, which begins today, ushers in the Year of the Ox (牛). In a year of global financial hardship, the ox (or buffalo, cow or bull) takes on added significance. We want a charging bull market on Wall Street and all major markets to drive us out of this financial doldrums.



Those born under the Ox sign are dependable, calm, modest and stable. Yours truly was born in an Ox year and so is President Obama.

Happy Lunar 牛 Year 2009!

Happy New Year 2009

We have arrived at the last single digit year of the 21st century - isn't this a very interesting perspective to look at a new year?

The past year has been rather forgettable and one which was plagued by health problems personally.


I wish all friends and readers a very Happy, Healthy, Successful and fulfiling New Year. Hope all of your wishes come true this year and beyond.

Review of Gadget Advisor

Due to technological advances in the electronics and semiconductor industries, there has been large increase in the production of gizmos and electronic gadgets over the last ten years. With more of such affordable electronic gadgets flooding the consumer markets across the world, this phenomenon in turn presents a proliferation of gadget review sites in the World Wide Web.

Gadget Advisor is a new website that offers resource for the best in gadget and tech news. Rather than presenting every bit of news from each day, Gadget Advisor focuses on the products and news that are the most significant, useful, and/or cool so that visitors can quickly view the top gadgets and tech news.

The reviewed items are hand-picked as a "best of the best" resource for computer hardware, software, gadgets, and tech news. Therefore, instead of visitors having to wade through pages of minor updates and other news that is not of interest, the top products and news items are solely presented.

There are five main categories listed as Gadgets, Tech News, Computer Hardware, Computer Software and Featured Articles.

For example, in the Gadgets category, visitors can read cutting edge reviews of network media player and universal remote control - a perfect solution to keep things under central control as we utilize more and more electronic devices in the digital home.

Another example can be seen in Tech News category, where visitors can get expert evaluation of online backup services.

Speed Linking Edition Contest

Ed Lau of ededition dot com is holding a contest giving away some fabulous prizes.

The Prizes

* Prize #1: A JohnChow.com stripe ad for 1 month, which usually costs $250. This is the ad that appears at the top of the site. Sponsored by John Chow.
* Prize #2:A 125×125 ad (this is the box ad you see to the top right) on my site for 3 months, a 2GB USB Flash Drive from Gigabyte.
* Prize #3: Apple iPod Nano 2G Black 8GB. I was going to give this away a long time ago but forgot about it. Still brand new. Not as pretty as the new 4G Nano but still an 8GB iPod Nano. Also, a 2GB USB Flash Drive from Buffalo.
* Prize #4: A box DVD of the 1st season of one of my favorite TV shows How I Met Your Mother and a 4GB USB Flash Drive from Sony.

How to Enter

* Follow Ed on Twitter Everyone already following is already entered: 3 entries
* Blog about Ed's blog. Review my site. Blog about this contest…anything. Include a linkback: 5 entries
* Any comment in any post starting with this one. To avoid spam, only one comment per person, per post will be counted. Comments will only be counted for 24 hours after posting: 1 entry per comment.

Ed has not decided on the contest closing date but it won't be long before he made the drawing and pick the winners. So hurry along and get entered!

Rock Band Debut

The highly anticipated music game Rock Band has just been officially released here last week – 10 months after the US launch.

While Rock Band 2 on Xbox360 was launched in the US on September 14, music gamers here can only console themselves with the first version. Many expressed their surprise that Rock Band is launching here when the sequel is already out. So much for touting the small local market as the Digital Media Gateway of Asia.

Besides the parallel importers who have been bringing in the game since end of last year, Rock Band will have to compete with rival music game, Guitar Hero World Tour, which will be launched in the next few months.

Rock Band 2 vs Guitar Hero World Tour, so which game is better?

Here’s a video of Rock Band live demo at the recent Games Convention Asia 2008.

F1 Fever Hits Singapore

The F1 circus rolled into town this weekend for the world's first F1 night race and F1 fever had grip many Singaporeans who have never experienced a live F1 race before.

Places along the race circuit were filled with people packed shoulder to shoulder, all eager to get a glimpse of those super fast cars before they disappear in a blink of the eyes and leave the spectators eating dust.

Racing Themed Food & Beverages

As the hype to the inaugural FORMULA 1™ SingTel Singapore Grand Prix gets build to feverish pitch, the food and beverage scene is cashing in on the Formula One fever. Eateries along the circuit and trackside hotels are offering exclusive F1 menus and champagne-paired meals. Cocktails with race-themed names such as Pit Stop, Crash and Burn, and Chequered Flag have been concocted.

Bakeries, coffee joints and ice cream parlors are doing their part with special offerings in this Grand Prix season, Home-grown bakery chain has come up with Ferrari-inspired bun like Ferraberri, Haagen-Dazs is offering aptly named desserts such as Berries Drift and Brownie Lap, and coffee addicts can enjoy the Speed Race, a drink offered by The Coffee Connoisseur chain.

Royal Plaza hotel has pole position when it comes to making the most of F1 excitement. It has a life-sized chocolate race car parked in its lobby!

Lantern Festival 2008

See hand-crafted traditional lanterns with a modern twist on display at the Chinese Garden.