An experience one must go through every 6 months…

// July 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Health, Thoughts

-image from here

The clock on the wall was showing 12 noon when my name was called. I was escorted to a room, brightly lit and cheerfully decorated, where I was told to lie down and relax. “He will be with you shortly”, I was told. When he entered the room, I was instructed to spread it wide open as he put on protection. I held my position and had it wide open for an hour, while he insert his instruments inside. After the ordeal, I was all clean and white, albeit bloody and sore. It was definitely worth the trip to see my dentist for a routine checkup and cleaning session. No cavities, nothing majorly wrong, just some tartar. =)

Here’s a dentist joke I found online. Enjoy

“Open wider.” requested the dentist, as he began his examination of the patient.
“Good God !” he said startled.
“You’ve got the biggest cavity I’ve ever seen – the biggest cavity I’ve ever seen.”
“OK Doc !” replied the patient.
“I’m scared enough without you saying something like that twice.”
“I didn’t !” said the dentist. “That was the echo.”

Have you visited your dentist lately?

-Boon

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The Credit CARD Act 2009

// July 17th, 2009 // No Comments » // News, Politics

-Pic by Nora Dunn at www.wisebread.com

I was reading an article about the Credit Card Act 2009 online and I thought about rehashing what the government has already published on the white house website here. Introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney [D-NY14] and signed by President Obama on May 22, 2009, the CARD Act of 2009 brings about the issue of long term credit card reform. Among the issues pressed by the act are:

• strong and reliable protections for consumers.
• forms and statements from Credit card companies must be in plain language and in plain sight (full disclosure prior to signing up)
• Consumers can shop and choose their credit cars without being taken advantage of by the credit card companies
• Credit card companies who are found to deceive and cheat consumers in any forms of abuse shall be held accountable

And the main elements of the act, as reported by the White House, are:

• Bans Unfair Rate Increases
• Prevents Unfair Fee Traps
• Plain Sight /Plain Language Disclosures
• Accountability
• Protections for Students and Young People

There is a good article at www.personaldividends.com that talks about how the Card Act 2009 will affect you. Read it here.

-Boon

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Cheap enough to say….

// July 16th, 2009 // No Comments » // Thoughts

The billboard speaks for itself!

A little background on AirAsia, Malaysia’s own budget airline company –

“AirAsia Berhad (MYX: 5099) is a low-cost airline based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It operates scheduled domestic and international flights and is Asia’s largest low fare, no frills airline. AirAsia pioneered low cost traveling in Asia. It is also the first airline in the region to implement fully ticket-less travel and unassigned seats”

Further details on Wikipedia  – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirAsia

-Boon

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Proton Satria Neo and Perodua Myvi, bashed on Top Gear

// July 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // Entertainment, Thoughts

If the headline didn’t grab your attention yet, wait til you watch the video. Top Gear season 13 episode 4 featured 3 cheap cars that you can get in Great Britain on its show. The folks at Top Gear got a Proton Satria Neo, a Perodua Myvi and a Chevy Aveo. Proton and Perodua are both Malaysian car manufacturers and being a Malaysian, I was pretty sad and disappointed when most of the adjectives used to describe the Satria Neo and Myvi were either negative or unpleasant. Same goes for the Aveo although I could care less for a shitty car from a shitty company that have just “recovered from bankruptcy” after receiving billions of Government aid.

Watch the video:

Malaysian car makers have light years ahead of them before they start producing cars of the same quality as those of the Japanese or Koreans. Until that day comes, we will have to bear watching Malaysian cars being labeled as cheap, plasticky, distasteful and awful because that’s the truth and the truth hurts!

p.s.-Dear Tun Mahathir, I am pretty sure when you had your cronies starting up Proton, you probably envisioned a car company producing cars that will make Malaysians proud, didn’t you? After 24 years in business and many billions of Ringgits later, Proton is still manufacturing lousy cars!

If anyone from Proton or Perodua happens to be reading this, please improve the quality of the your future cars. Please do this for the sake of your companies, Malaysia and its people!

“I’d rather be in Paul Scholes” – Jeremy Clarkson describing the Myvi.

-Boon

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The ugly truth about US Media

// July 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // News, Politics

I got the image above from the web and it does reflect the ugly truth that most American media tries to cover from the American people. Many of the truth are hidden from us because most American media are very selective in what they report or print and if they print such an unpleasant headline, it will affect the ratings, which eventually will affect sales.

Most Americans want to hear or read only pleasant things and by reading a headline such as “Losing In Afghanistan”, Americans will feel as if they have been slapped with the biggest FUCK YOU in their faces. For the past 8 years many have suffered enough because Americans were duped into electing a past president that have sold us the idea that the War on Terror that can be won in a “short and swift manner”.

We will always have fools living in their own world thinking that the everything in this world is based on a book that is 2000 years old. Nothing wrong with being religious, but there’s definitely something wrong when someone is on the extreme end.

-Boon

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Getting ready for work under 5 minutes? Let the Japanese show you!

// July 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // Entertainment, Thoughts

Were there times when you overslept and were late for work? In those situation you would need to have a master plan or rather have a speed like that of Superman to get ready for work. In Japan, there is a game show  that shows you and I how to get ready for work in under 5 minutes. As an added bonus, you will be shown how to prepare a complete breakfast consisting a toast, an egg, a slice of ham and a cup of drip style coffee!

Oh yare, yare.

Enjoy!

-Boon

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When Did You Fall In Love With Me – Chris Rice

// July 10th, 2009 // No Comments » // Music

You’re all smiles and silly conversation
As if this sunny day came just for you
You twist your hair, you smile and you turn your eyes away
C’mon, tell me whats right with you
Now it dawns on me probably everybody’s talkin’
And there’s something here I’m supposed to realize
Cause your secrets out, and the universe laughs at its joke on me
I just caught it in your eyes, its a beautiful surprise

Chorus:
When did you fall in love with me?
Was it out of the blue
Cause I swear I never knew it
When did you let your heart run free?
Have you been waiting long?
When did you fall in love with me?
When did you fall in love?

Make your way over here, sit down by this fool, and lets rewind
C’mon, lets go back and replay all our scenes
You can point out the hints, the clues, the twists and the smiles this time
All the ones that slipped by me
I bet my face is red, and you can hear my heart poundin’
Well I guess it don’t matter now that I realize
Cause baby I missed it then, but I can surely see you now
Right there before my eyes
You’re my beautiful surprise

Chorus:

Was it at the coffee shop
Or that morning at the bus stop
When you almost slipped, and I caught your hand
Or the time we built the snowman
The day at the beach, sandy and warm
Or the night with the scary thunderstorm
I never saw the signs
Now we’ve got to make up for lost time
And I can tell now by the way that you’re looking at me
Id better finish this song so my lips will be free

Have you been waiting long, when did you fall in love
I kept you waiting so long, when did you fall
Have you been waiting long
When did you fall in love with me
When did you fall in love?

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Visiting NYU Stern

// July 10th, 2009 // No Comments » // Thoughts

On a beautiful sunny Thursday evening, I headed out to NYU Stern School of business, conviniently located in the Greenwich Village. A few blocks away from the West 4th St subway station, which the E & F lines pass through, NYU Stern School of Business is one of the many different schools under the New York University Family.

My tour guide was Mike Berger , an assistant director of the MBA Admissions Office. He started off the tour by having all the participants introducing themselves. Mike was accompanied by one of the Associate Director of the Admission Office, Lauren Levine and her presence just gave me a sense that NYU Stern cares about the prospective students who are visiting and NYU wants to know about them them.

Mike brought us around the building and we visited areas such as the Club center, Career development office, Library and the quiet study area. We ended our tour in a classroom where Mike explained more in details about the application process. The application process at NYU Stern will be assessed holistically and there are 3 main aspects of the application that students applying need to consider. The first aspect is academic records which consist of your GMAT or TOEFL score, Undergrad of Grad records. The second aspect is professional aspiration which consists of Essay #1, letters of recommendations, resume and work history. The third aspect is personal characteristic which will be assesed through essay#2, #3, #4 (Optional) and an interview (if you’re lucky enough to be granted one).

The tour started at 4.15pm and ended at 5.30pm. A very informative tour and it has given me an insight to my application process. Thank you Mike, Lauren and NYU!

-Boon

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Recession and Housing Market Downturn? Not in Forest Hills

// July 7th, 2009 // No Comments » // Thoughts

With the national unemployment rate at an all time high of 9.5% and the collapse of the housing market, our country seems to have entered an economic black hole. Everyone is tightening their budget by spending less on entertainment or dinning out because disposable income is hard to come by these days. When the economy and housing market seem to be taking a bad hit, some residents at my neighborhood, Forest Hills – NY, seem to have a lot of extra money to spend. Old houses are being torn down and new mansions are being built from the ground up. I am really curious as to where and how do these people get the money for such expensive constructions. While Detroit is experiencing the worst housing market collapse, Forest Hills doesn’t seem to be facing similar fate.

Here are some of the houses that are being constructed in Forest Hills.

-Boon

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Think you know the differences among Jesus, Muhammad and Ron Hubbard?

// July 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Thoughts

Found this interesting chart from madatoms.com comparing Christianity, Islam and Scientology. No offense anybody buy I personally think it is quite humorous, especially the section on “Best Bullshit Story that ever happened”.

Enjoy!

-Boon

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