Opening New Doors

Got the keys to the new apartments today and after 2 hours of signing papers, we got a bag with all the important documents and a smaller pouch with all the keys. That's the keys for a 3-room apartment. Imagine the amount of keys for a 5-room. Off to go test them all and check for defects. 

Changing Things Up

After cleaning out some blogs, I decided to play around with some of the templates, wondering what new ones blogger might have come up with. To my delight, I found one that allows me to add pages to a central blog, creating a look like they all fit into one website. So now I'm mucking around with a tester and I'm hoping it can turn out as nicely as it 's forming in my mind.

Arrogance Versus Intellect

Someone's post on Facebook the other day didn't seem right to me and so I asked for some clarification. Instead of getting clarification, it seemed like the person was just twisting things to make their statement a fact.

After writing a few papers for the short course in Applied Psychology, Amy and I learnt a lot about digging for evidence and support for the points we were attempting to put across. Each bold statement or conclusion usually meant we had to quote someone or cite examples. 

So when a statement is made, especially one accusing another of being wrong, I tend to itch for proof. But it ends rather disappointingly when one decides that the world is wrong, and yet can't produce any points to back themselves. Then it just leaves me to conclude that the statement they made was wrong, and that the person is just really arrogant and possibly, an attention whore. 

Therefore, I find in favour of the defendant and ignorance for the plaintiff  is ordered.  

Awesome Deals!

Had some strange inkling to check out the events at Expo on Sunday and found out that Mayer was having a sale there. As I was told by Yana that prices of the KitchenAid mixers can drop quite low during their sales, I told dad to get ready to hunt as soon as he woke up. (I was on  some US time zone). At the same time, I wanted to check out the Bugatti Diva.

 

Even though the price was really too much, I wanted to see how good it was. 

So got there and once we got in, we were greeted by convection ovens. Oh boy, another item on my wish list for the new house. That started our journey through the sale hall and it somehow ended abruptly around the corner as the next 2 showcases were for KitchenAid and Bugatti products. 

There were so many colours to choose from, we had to stand back and take a deep breath before approaching our target, but dad noticed a difference in prices for similar-looking models. The professional range was easy to spot, but this looked exactly like the candy colored ones, but had a nicer shine to it. So curious about the price difference, dad had to ask and we found out that the pricier product would have alloy coatings to the attachments, while enamel-coated ones came with the cheaper range. So since I can be quite a klutz, I was leaning toward the alloy-coated ones. We would also get an extra mixing bowl with that choice. 

Down side, according to the sales people, was that we had to pre-order the mixer. That made it all better for us as we were thinking of buying it at a later date when we've moved to the new house. The deal was already sealed for the KitchenAid mixer, but the lady had to add one more bonus which was a $50 discount with any pre-ordered mixer. It was like an offer we couldn't resist just shoved into our faces. 

Then as dad was deciding between all the mixers, I stepped over the invisible boundary to the Bugatti showcase. I decided to check out the price, wondering if they would have a substantial discount on it so I could save up for the next sale. Lo and behold, the price was slashed from $1899 to $899. I thought it was a joke and asked the sales staff. She replied that it was a thousand dollar discount for all the display sets. Then I looked at all the display sets and one just called out to me, that chrome one just like in that picture above. It was a hundred dollars more, but at a thousand dollar discount, I took the extra fingerprints that came with it. The plus point was also the fact that only the body was displayed while the cheaper one had  all the parts out. At least I know my set wouldn't have had the portafilter  accidentally dropped while on display. 

I told dad I'm going to get it as it was another deal too good to pass up, and we end up telling the staff to ring us up for the two items. We were then told we would be getting a salad chopper as a gift and ended up with 2. Well, it could end up as a good present. 

After paying, we lugged the coffee machine and choppers to the car and returned for another round. Good thing we did as dad got some education on cooker hoods and realised that all this while he was thinking of it all wrong. Also found a good deal on air conditioner installation for the new houses, as well as a new fridge. The best part about the whole sale was getting stuff we needed but having them all delived at a later date. 

I told dad that mom might kill me for the coffee machine, but I think she was secretly happy that she would be able to make her own cup of extra shot long black once we get it up and running. 

Positive Versus Negative Shows

After my recent trip to Australia, I came back to a load of television shows mom had recorded over the six weeks.

There was a repeat season of CSI, the last few episodes of Survivor, 6 episodes of Mentalist, CSI: Miami, America's Next Top Model (ANTM), and also the start of some singing competition called The Final One. 

While in Australia, I had my fair share of shows that I caught other than having a Game of Thrones marathon. Started watching Arrow and Elementary, which I hope would be played on local free-to-air channels. Not forgetting the indulgence of Bondi Vet and Bondi Rescue. There was also a few times when I had a giggle with Judge Judy. 

As shown above, the list of shows I've been watching, with the shows I've yet to complete when I came back was quite extensive. So when my mom asked what I'd like to watch, I said reality shows were definitely not on the list. Especially since I already caught the results of Survivor. 

I realised that it's not the whole show I didn't like, but the stupid and irritating bickering that the contestants usually have on the show. So the arguments and nonsense the contestants come up with are usually the ones that get the ratings, but I don't want to torture my mind with that kind of negative crap. 

The one good function about having a recorded show is the fast forward button. I'd use it just to get to the good parts like the challenges and tribal council on Survivor, judging panel on ANTM, who did the worst job and gets kicked off The Block. But mom likes to watch the whole show and wonders how I can be blogging or playing games while the show is on. Rather easy when only 10 - 20 minutes of an hour-long show is actually fun to watch. 

Then I wonder, why is it I can watch shows like Judge Judy? Firstly, I don't actually watch it, but I listen in while doing something else. However, it's her sharp tongue and her no-nonsense approach that makes the show. Most people (most, but not all) who go on the show can be real idiots, but Judge Judy would never hesitate to put them in place or slap some sense (if she's lucky) into them. I guess I like it because it seems as though she's ridding the US of all these fools. 

Then came the point Adi said about watching Bondi Vet, and that I don't mind the yapping because Dr Chris Brown is handsome. I won't deny he is, and I bet he doesn't either.

However, compared to shows like Survivor, Judge Judy and ANTM, there are no mindless arguments in Bondi Vet. It's a show about vets helping animals, and the only stupid thing is when an animal dies due to a lack of a cure. 

The same goes for Bondi Rescue, Animal Rescue, Surf Patrol, and Piha Rescue. The shows are centred around getting a positive outcome at the end of the day.

Positivity that I gladly welcome every week 

Questionable

Are men more willing to photograph outdoors in the nude than women?
I think it's partially due to the fact that men only have one bit to hide should there be any emergency to cover up.
But I wonder, if there was no fee for the model, how many of each gender would a photographer really get.

Clearing Stuff Out

I don't know what got into me the other day and I decided to clear some blogs I had created. Looking at the blogs, I realised I like having things in their own separate corners, and that gives a problem when it comes to space. Good thing then for blogs being online, as well as sites like Pinterest where I can keep boards of ideas I have. To think of the million magazine cut outs we would be keeping if sites like that never exist.

Anyway, after deciding which blogs to delete, I noticed the first 2 were blogs that were shared with friends. It was also the reason they were deleted as most of them no longer blogged. So why bother holding on to something no one was interested in? It also taught me that if I ever wanted to start a business, I'd be better off just going at it alone. 

I think, however, I might like the idea of having guest posts once in a while.

Then came the question about deleting the blogs where I've been adding tons of photos. I haven't gone into my Flickr account for quite a while, then came the mess with adding the photos through blogger. So now I'm swinging back and forth about those blogs. 

As I'm now using the mobile version to publish this post, I realised that I had some really strange blog ideas 10 years back. More of which definitely needs to be deleted, and probably an update for 2 of them.