Blackle – Energy Saving Search

From now on, let us all use Blackle, the black Google. Change your homepage to blackle.com instead of google.com. You still get very similar search results; at least Wikipedia is always there.

Blackle saves energy and it is cool! I mean, a black background is definitely more cool than a white background right? I think I should start using a dark desktop background too, to save energy. It all adds up, little bits here and there. Hmm, should I give magicporridgepot a blackground change too? =)

So, now, instead of saying “I’m googling”, we should say “I’m blackling”! Sounds like “I’m blanking” though. But there’s good in it; the next time you feel like you’re blanking, just go blackling! Now it sticks! Haha.

Wikipedia should come up with a black version and maybe call it Darkipedia. Haha, lame.

Whales should be shot with Canon, not harpoons

This is interesting. I was reading through Edwin’s blog and I saw this effort by Greenpeace to stop whaling in Japan. I decided to join in the mission simply because I harbour hopes of seeing a live whale one day when I have the chance (and the money).

You would want to see whales for yourself too, wouldn’t you?

Here’s the plan: tell Mr. Mitarai, head of Canon Japan to express disapproval of whaling in the Southern Ocean and call for non-lethal research methods in Japan.

Please click on tell Mr. Mitarai if you still do not get what I mean. =)

You will be sending a letter to Mr. Matarai in a while! Here’s mine.

I just used the template, it’s very easy! Then, you will have to confirm your e-mail address and here’s my confirmation. My letter should now be on its way to save the whales!

Send your letter now!

 

Love A Tree

Today is Earth Day. So, love the trees, the rivers, the ocean, the air and everything else under the sun.

This bag caught my attention the other day.

I bought this bag for RM2 and I’m going to use it the next time I go to JUSCO for groceries (I hope I remember). =)

What you can do with this bag:

1) Save some plastic bags.

2) Advocate recycling.

3) Get a RM2 discount every time you buy something in FILA, just remember to bring this bag along.

Play a part in conserving the environment. At least, advocate it and naturally, you will practise it.

Love a tree today!

Magical World of Disney

It’s such a great experience being able to watch Disney On Ice in Penang and it’s even more special that I get to enjoy the show and volunteer at the same time. Intel Malaysia took this Disney On Ice show as an opportunity to do some community service. We, volunteers, were supposed to chaperone groups of students, ranging from kindergarten kids to secondary school teenagers, to the show.

The day started with us gathering in Shinca Car Park to take the shuttle to PISA, Penang. Breakfast was provided.

Chun Yan showing off the ticket to the show, me showing off my breakfast.

This is the look when we realised we may not be chaperoning kindergarten kids. 

We really wanted kids, at least below 10 years old. We were free to choose which group of children to chaperone so we searched far and wide for kindergarten kids and we saw this!

Kindergarten kids at last!

From then on, we didn’t want to move our asses anywhere far from these kids, we just basically followed them everywhere a.k.a. stalked the kids.

Me and Debbie made friends with Shaki and Desmond! Shaki was a naughty little boy, very cheeky but Desmond was just soooo sweeeeet. Both of us were so in love with Desmond. =p

Shaki in orange, Desmond in white

Will Desmond grow up to be a handsome young man? His smile is just sooo sweet and captivating. Haha.

We were privileged to watch a specially arranged Behind-The-Scene show where Disney showed us some lighting and sound effects and had skaters to show us a few simple routines.

 

 Behind the scenes

The show was great! It certainly brought back childhood memories where I used to sing and dance to Hakuna Matata, give Simba and Nala colours on blank pages of papers, pretend I could fly like Tinkerbell or Wendy and imagine my voice to be as sweet as Ariel. Those were the times..

We were treated to the likes of The Lion King, 101 Dalmations, The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan and Lilo and Stitch.

Glimpses of the show for you..

Mickey and Minnie

Pumbaa, Simba and Timon from The Lion King

101 Dalmations

 

Sea creatures from The Little Mermaid

Ariel and the Prince

The Prince killing Ursula

Peter Pan

Flying to Neverland

Captain Hook and his pirates

Lilo wishing for a friend

The aliens

Stitch creating chaos

The finale with Stitch up in the air

The characters wave goodbye

After the show, we all headed to Relau Metropolitan Park for games, clowns and food. The day ended with much fun even though we had to walk from PG7 to Shinca car park when the bus driver conveniently dropped us off at the gate.

Now, just a thought, can you imagine the world without Disney, without Mickey and Minnie and without all the cartoons you watched when you were young? I can’t.

Pantai Kerachut, most scenic beach in Penang

Most scenic beach in Penang, proven, so far.

Sorry if this post is about a trip that took place so long ago. The Internet connection in N-Park s***ks; I couldn’t upload the beautiful pictures that I took. Hehe. Now that I’m back home, I am able to blog about this. 

So, this post is about World Beach Clean Up Day that turned out to be a leisure jungle trekking trip to Pantai Kerachut. Okay, let me explain. Intel PDC were invited by USM’s Kelab Alam Sekitar to join in their mission to clean up the beach at Pantai Kerachut. But, what is there to clean up in Pantai Kerachut?, my Dad asked. Anyway, Wai Lun and I were put in charge to liaise with the USM students.

It was a day after the 12th General Elections. I was up till 3am in the morning the night before, watching the results of GE2008. The next day, we left at 7am to be at the National Park at 8am. We arrived early and decided to have our breakfast at a coffee shop nearby. I was very excited that I was actually going to do my part in conserving the beauty of Mother Earth, only to find out that the Kelab Alam Sekitar USM cancelled the trip because they were afraid of riots following BN’s loss in the GE. And so that was how Pantai Kerachut was not to be cleaned up.

Five of us decided to go ahead with the plan to jungle trek to Pantai Kerachut. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, the sun was high up in the sky and puffy white clouds filled the clear blue sky. I brought my camera along and that means non-stop-photo-taking. Haha. I was like on a photography assignment and that particular day, I was experimenting with the macro function.

Here are some pictures taken at the start of the hike. The blue-ness of these few pictures are really beautiful; it makes me feel calm and at peace. Simply beautiful.

Jetty at the entrance of the National Park

 

 

In the forest, along the trail to Pantai Kerachut..

We thought we discovered a new species

I love this picture

At last, we arrived at Pantai Kerachut after about 1hour of jungle trekking. The beach was really beautiful and it was all worth it (waking up at 7am after only 4 hours of sleep and jungle trekking groggily). Pantai Kerachut was really peaceful. I felt like the whole place is mine to explore.

White sand, blue sky

Little crabby wants to play

I don’t have the slightest idea what this is. Please tell me, anyone?

Barnacles (correct me if I’m wrong)

 Shadow proves the sunshine

 I thought this rock looked like a mammoth

 I like the different layers in this picture

Turtle conservation center in Pantai Kerachut

 Straight on

It was time to go home. I admit I did not have enough of Pantai Kerachut. The next time I go, I want to just lie on the sand and enjoy the wonders of my surroundings and of course, take more pictures. I would LOVE to go again, any takers? Haha.

The five of us back to civilisation

Oh, did I tell you about the butterflies in Pantai Kerachut? There were just so many of them, fluttering from tree to tree. It was so magical. It was all too perfect.

Healthy lifestyle

I think I’m living quite a healthy lifestyle recently. *Pat* *pat* myself. ^_^

This schedule should be able to prove my healthy lifestyle.

Monday:          Badminton.

Tuesday:         Swimming.

Wednesday:    Aerobics in Intel, followed by yoga at aunt’s place.

Thursday:        Yoga in Intel.

Friday:             Friday night exercise in Queensbay Mall.

Saturday:        Hiking or jogging or swimming.

Sunday:           Swimming.

See? There’s not a single day in the week when I’m not doing any exercise. Yeah! Kudos to myself!

Time to say a few thanks. Thanks to Debbie for being my swimming partner, aerobics partner, yoga partner, Jojo for being my swimming and yoga partner, Chun Yan, Danial, Shih Jun, Suet Yeng for being my badminton friends, Hubert for always organising trips and activities, the “Aussies” and UTPians who are temporarily Penangites for going on hiking, jungle trekking and swimming trips to PISA with me, Wai Lun for being so courageous to go to a yoga class full of girls and aunties, Zhi Yi for being my yoga teacher and Intel for sponsoring free aerobics and yoga classes and lastly, Queensbay Mall for being so near to where I stay so I can always do some “exercise” whenever the mood comes!

And for the record, I just finished helping Debbie choreograph aerobic moves to be used in her teambuilding! Maybe not choreograph la, just some step-planning. Hehe.

Will this cause a headache?

I went swimming with Debbie and See Phew the other day. It was particularly funny because See Phew had to stop a few times to tie and re-tie and re-tie his goggles. The straps of his goggles had gone down the drain and could not be saved anymore. See Phew ended up tying 5 knots to keep his goggles secure!

So, this was how his goggles looked like after we finished swimming.

See Phew’s goggles

This is how my pair of goggles looks like in comparison with See Phew’s.

How on earth did he swim in a pair of goggles half the size of mine?

Luckily he has got a new pair and we can go swimming happily now..

Rain

How strange it is to wake up at 7.37am.

Did my logbook till 9-something.

He was there, then it rained. It rained, it just rained. It rained and rained.

Through the rain, I could hear voices; voices that I don’t hear everyday yet sound so familiar, so encouraging.

And then I thought I saw a glimpse of sunshine, or is it? And I heard, at the back of my mind, everything will be alright.

Thank you for everything.