Some great quotes from one of the richest man in the world: Warren Buffett

Just read through some articles on the internet (which I've been doing very frequently recently) and notice this post which I find very inspiring. I've read book about Mr. Warren on his experience in stock market & most of the key points can be found within these quotes:

"Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1."

"Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful."

"It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company with a wonderful price."

"You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out."

"Whether we're talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down."

"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get."

"I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over."

"Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can't buy what is popular and so well."

"Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results."

"In the business world, the rear view mirror is always clearer than the windshield."

"The investor of today does not profit from yesterday's growth."

I guess the main teaching here is face your worse enemy: you yourself. Only by learning to know the limits & understand when is the right time to make proper action. For sure these will help in my future :)

Should I repair it? Or should I buy a new one? Hmm......

While I was scouting on the internet this morning, I ran across this post topic on one of the famous Technical Info site called TechRepublic where they discuss about what is the right decision on whether you should send the device (be it PC, notebook, mobile phone, plasma TV, digital camera etc.) for fixing or you should go get a new one instead.

They actually come out a list of reference for general users as a guide to make up their mind for the next step, unfortunately you need to pay to view the document......(which I didn't). From the brief discussion revealed, the editor of the magazine which release the document advised users to consider on repairing the tool if it still within 2-3 years of time especially for PC where the lifespan is in the top notch for the 1st 2 years (it is sad where you noticed your income can never satisfied the spec for the best PC to keep current). If the cost of repair is more than half the price you paid for it, then might as well you look at the current price list from the supplier and get a new one instead. Also it is not advisable to try to save an ancient device back to life when it can't suite your needs later.

As an IT background user, I would like to give my own fair comments (this is totally free of course): If the device is too old (eg. more than 4-5 years), you can consider to get a new one. If we study this in an economic point of view, the device might have reach the end of its lifespan and you've utilized it to the fullest, right? You wouldn't want to face the situation where you find it hard to accept the high cost of repair but feel heavy to keep it aside till the end of the world arrive...... You can consider to "give" it to the respective dealer who is willing to accept it & probably get some rebate on purchasing the new model. I guess that's sort of a fair trade :)

If the device is still working but you find it operating like snail which causes you feel like you wanna just throw it away like hulk, then you may consider to send it to a trusty dealer for inspection to see if some minor upgrade might help the donkey to speed up a bit? If the answer is no, you still have other options where you can get a new one and donate the old stuff to young kids who is in learning age or put it to the charity association where they can help to find a new home to serve.

Just remember never dispose such electronic devices recklessly like normal junk. If you really don't know what to do to the old machine, last option is to sell it as used metal (although it doesn't pay much but is better than remain stagnant at home). This is the simple act you can contribute to keep the nature breath longer :)

Sharing Time!

Well, I'm now working on selecting web templates to see which best fit my choice for my new company's website design. FYI, there are plenty free website templates on internet where all you need to do is put some time & effort to pick some desired design for detail selection later.

Since there are offered as FOC, sure there are some rules if you plan to use it. The most important thing is you need to reserve the link to the designer's website in your design (usually it is allocated initially at the bottom part of each page). The rest you might need to do some reading on a clarification text attached together during download (mostly usual stuff like don't do minor changes on the design & claim is yours, bla bla bla......)

Since I'm facing some hard times to filter the ideal design now, let's talk something esle :P. This time I'll share some of the tools I've been using which helps a lot during my days & the best part is, 90% among them are FREE! Here goes:

1. Avira Antivir - The best home version antivirus I've ever used so far. After some comparison with other antivirus products (even the ones you need to purchase), I still find this pretty thing does the best where it manage to detect several types of malware, spyware, trojan & fishing activities when others can't.
http://www.free-av.com/

2. CCleaner - One of my favorite PC maintenance tool where I can do stagnant files clearance, registry checking & basic repair, uninstall unwanted applications & control program that you don't wish to start during system boot up (which will strongly increase the PC ready state time).
http://www.ccleaner.com/

3. Revo Uninstaller - The right kit to manage applications. When time comes where you need to remove unwanted application in the system, use this tool as it helps to scout down to the root & remove all traces even normal uninstall can't do.
http://www.revouninstaller.com/

4. Recuva - 1 word I can say to this tool...... It saved my day. It helped me when I try to dig in the PC to find long lost data I deleted but needed now (I know, I know, that's stupid, but I'm human, & human do make mistakes......). You have a great chance where you might reclaim what you've lost if you can remember the file type & you didn't do massive changes in storage allocation (eg. re-use of the same directory for other purpose after deleted the data, worse is the drive is formatted......). One more thing, it only works on local hard disc drives.
http://www.piriform.com/recuva

5.  Orbit Downloader - The multipurpose download tool which is a must have. What it can do is not only perform normal download but to actually speed up the process. It supports various format of download (even ftp) and best part is you can use it to download desired flash clips on certain websites.
http://www.orbitdownloader.com/

6. Inkscape - A simple tool suitable for basic graphic design & touch up with vector graphics when you don't have CS. I find it very easy to use thus you get the effect in short period of time & I guess that helps since time is money, right?
http://www.inkscape.org/

7. Foxit Reader - An alternative PDF file viewer instead of relying on the so famous Adobe Reader. Foxit offers almost identical performance but using far lesser resource of your system (small installation file, no obvious system slowdown after install & during PDF viewing).
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/

8. Limewire - One of the P2P file sharing tool which I think is reliable. It manage to start up within a short period of time & the speed seems quite well (of course it still rely on the quantity of users who sharing the file). Beware though as it is a sharing platform, make sure you have a good security feature for your system to avoid unwanted sharing like virus & trojan.
http://www.limewire.com/

9. FastStone Maxview - A useful picture editor which is direct & simple to use. You can do picture resize, color toning & some effects such as watermark. Also you can convert the source to other picture format. Bare in mind this is a shareware which means you have a period to try it out but eventually you need to pay for future usage.
http://www.faststone.org/FSMaxViewDetail.htm

10. Thunderbird - I guess most of you have heard the Firefox browser, right? Well this is the sister product also from Mozilla offered to public for free :) It is an alternate solution for those who prefer to manage their e-mails in Outlook manner where you can download all e-mails to your PC / notebook & issue new e-mails without hassle. It is not only free but also easy to install as there are detailed instructions on how to setup the account(s) (usually for POP mail server). The new version consists some common e-mail services selection (eg. hotmail, Streamyx, Yahoo) so all you have to do is insert your e-mail account detail & hola, you can sit back, relax & enjoy coffee while waiting all the e-mails coming to your Thunderbird. Just to remind that you might consider to do some configuration if you prefer to leave e-mail copies in your original e-mail server so you still can access your e-mail elsewhere but remember to do housekeeping :)
http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/

Ok, that's all for now. Hope these info helps in your daily IT life :D (Better get back on template selection......)

Good Info to Share with All :)

Just read through one of my favorite blogger, Robert Pagliarini from BNet who shared an interesting info which I think is quite helpful to those who planning to share their knowledge & expertises with others (maybe I'm one of them soon). Do check this out:

http://moneywatch.bnet.com/career-advice/blog/other-8-hours/make-money-from-your-hobbies/683/

Recall of the Trip to Crabi (Part 2)

On day 2, we wake up with a breezy feel. The air and the scene outside the balcony is so nice. Wish I can lay on the bed longer......

Beautiful sunrise. The air outside the room is as cool as we are in the room with air-con (with birds singing)

  Jeat is having some local fruits for supplement during breakfast. FYI, the restaurant is on the 2nd floor where we can enjoy the view next to the swimming pool while having our food.

After having breakfast at the hotel (buffet style with lots of selection including Asian & Western dishes), we wait at the hall for pickup to our 1st day trip, visit to the islands! It is important to keep the receipt for the trip purchase to avoid mixup with other tour agents. Our pickup truck arrived about 8.00am lead us to our destination, Ao Nang Beach.

Pic taken during the journey to the seaside with a foreign tourist who's doing backpack around Asia countries. FYI, his age is far more younger than me...... Wish I did such act before T.T

Sighting during the journey

 The journey toke about 20 minutes but it seems like a glance to reach Ao Nang Beach. The seaside view is so nice where the long beach is covered by soft sand & the sea is like so wide for the 1st time I feel like wanna hug the sky.

 Beautiful beach view at Ao Nang. Speed boats stopped by waiting for tourist groups

There are shops all the way along the roadside where you can find all sorts of goodies like swimming & diving gear, sun block (I personally recommend NIVEA), restaurants, cybercafe & even massage centre. There are hotels & resorts which offers various price range, so best is stay at Ao Nang beach where you can enjoy unbeatable seaside view while enjoying your massage & lunch/dinner! 

Shops all along the roadside next to the beach. You can find McDonalds here too!

FYI, we've joined the Phi Phi Islands tour offered by Barracudas Tour, one of the tourist agency located at Ao Nang beach. You can actually come over to Ao Nang beach & look for your desired tour, like sea tour, river tour or exploration tour, but to play safe it is always prefer to book earlier at least 1 day in advance to secure your seat. 

Our tour is not that pack as it is not peak season during October. Once the tour guide confirmed the amount of people, we head to the speed boat. The tour guide reminded us to remember the speed boat number & color as there are so many speed boats conducted by other tour agency.

Jeat & I headed to the front of the boat. As expected, the front of the boat is the most rocking seats as when the speed boat accelerating, the front part will get tose up & smack down back to the sea surface when encountering countless of small & big waves :P We shout like 2 mad man while snapping photos.

View at the front of the speed boat. For sure you can't hear us screaming!

Some miniature islands along side looks special & some even got funny names like Chicken Island because the shape of the rock looks alike the chicken head......

 

The Chicken Island. Seems more like Turkey  or Peacock to me from this angle :P

 Heading to the 1st pit stop

Our 1st stop is at the beautiful island surrounded by natural bay called Maya Bay. Lots of people gathered at the beach side and the place seems a bit packed. There are even film shooting scene for Bolywood (I guess I'm correct as there are Indian songs playing at the background with Indian actors dancing at the front & many more foreign girls wearing bikinis at the back as supporting dancers......).

Look at the crystal clear water......

The view of the bay from the beach......You don't see the truth yet

I can only show 1/5 of the people on the island......

There are rules where the total number of people on the island needs to be control thus we are only allowed to stay on the island for 30 minutes max to give rooms for next comers. Since no bargain can be made, we managed our time the most efficient manner......10 mins at the beach side, 10 mins explore the island, and remaining time just lay at the white sand and do nothing.

Sign board showing toilet resides within the bushes......Something like crouching human hidden toilet?

The view from a high point

 

Kampung boy attempting to climb the rocks (kids, don't try this elsewhere)

 

Natural stones formation creates a cozy place for us to hang around from direct sunlight exposure (ignore the guy in the pic......)

Soon the tour guide is urging his 'sheeps' to go back on the boat once the time is up. We head to next exciting spot where we can do snorkeling.

Photoshot with one of the local girl named Phat (If I'm not mistaken?) Jeat is so happy :P

We reached the place called Pi Leh Bay which is a beautiful spot in the middle of the sea next to some islands. The water is so clear where we managed to see various type of fishes with different shape, size & colors surrounding us when we snorkeling. Too bad I felt dizzy after 15 minutes & I tried my best to get back on the boat. I guessed I can't get used to sea swimming where you need more energy to counter the waves & direct exposure to sunlight causes me de-hydrated. Luckily there are plenty of supplies of mineral water on the boat thus I'm rebirth :P

Pi Leh Bay

My face became so pale. Actually I still feel bit dizzy after consumed some water, but still need to show a happy face in front of the camera (must be professional, right?)

We stayed at Pi Peh Bay for about 30 minutes, then we head to a famous spot which was filmed in "The Beach" starred by Leaonardo. We can't land our foot there as there was no suitable spot to do so thus we snap photos from the boat. 

"The Beach" where shooted here

On the way to our next location we passed by some forbidden village build within the rocks. 

Small village believed were once stayed by fishermens

Next we head to Phi Phi Don, an island with most of the population where the major source of income is tourism. We had our delicious Thai cuisine meal and we are spared for about half an hour to wonder around before we leave. We managed to bought some small items for souveniour. By the time we leaved, I was told that at least half of the sutface of the island were destroyed during last Tsunami. Due to the hardwork of the villages, the tourist centre were reformed within short period of time.

Without delay, we were brought to another snorkeling spot. This time is the open sea! Jeat hoped in the water without hesitation, not for me :) I stayed on the boat enjoying the watermelon slices and coke offered by the tour guide (can't wait till they come up). 

 Many small green stripe fishes wondering around

The best part was when I was wondering where should I dispose the watermelon skins after finished, the tour guide instructed me to throw them into the sea to feed the fishes! Wow, that was the first time I heard such act. With some doubt, I throwed the first piece into the sea and guess what, all the fishes rushed to the piece and finished it off within seconds!

All the fishes were fighting for the watermelon skin......You have to see the video clip to believe it!

View video here

After about 20 minutes later, the tour guide called all of them back to the boat where we're going to another place called Monkey Bay.......Yeah you're right, this place is really fulled of monkeys and we were not allowed to land on the island for safety precaution (which is different from another group of tourist where they attempted to go near the monkeys). Still I preferred such viewing from the distance.

Monkeys scattering around the shore. Beware as the monkeys are untamed and might harm visitors when they attempt to steal food from human

Finally, our last stop of the day is Bamboo Island......Nope, it is not full of bamboos. It is an island with long white beach and for those who prefer snorkeling so much like Jeat, it is a perfect place where you can see beautiful coral reef . Since we finished previous places beyond schedule, we were allowed to wonder freely on Bamboo Island for one hour plus.

Jeat who can't wait to head to the sea again......

Boats stopping by the beach creates a harmonic scenery

 

The sky, the sea and the land before heavy rain

 

 FYI, this was the mark where the sea water rises during Tsunami......

The weather changed within short time as the sky turns dark as grey clouds gathered. Luckily we get to finished our time allocated fully before the heavy rain actually hit us. During the journey heading back to the shore, rain started to form and those who sitted outside the boat had no place to go but to get wet. It's ok as I take it as another special experience :)

  

Another speed boat rushing back to the shore

The time when we reached the shore was about 6.00pm. We managed to meet up with some folks who we met during morning ride and joined different trip. We shared the great experiences during the journey back to the hotel. For dinner, we had instance noodles which we bought from 7 Eleven earlier (Yum yum). It was a stormy night but nothing change our mood as we sat at the balcony and drinking beers. The life is so enjoyable and we can't wait for tomorrow's next trip :)

Mutual support for my friend

OK......As what I can do the least, please visit my friend's blog as she has just started running an online boutique biz. The place? shopaholichiconline.blogspot.com

Btw, all the best Ivy :)

Recall of the Trip to Crabi (Part 1)

I know this was happened 1 year ago......But it is a very memorable trip I ever had as this was my 1st ever trip to foreign country :P Furthermore Thailand is really a pretty place and worth a visit. I hope these posts helps mark as record & wish it offer some sights for those who plan to visit Crabi in future?

Ok, lets start......This Crabi trip was planned about 2 months ahead where my friend, Jeat & I were shouting life was bored & we need a vacation thus we quick-quick booked the travel package from AirAsia which includes 2 way tickets plus 5 days stay & breakfast at a 3 star rated hotel. I remember I haven't got my passport during the time we make the booking......sort of a bit too hunger for short runaway.

The date was 18 Oct 2008......we take the KTM Komuter to the KL Sentral & had our breakfast at McD about 7am plus, then we head to LCCT via the shuttle bus (there are two types, the Skybus in Red with AirAsia logo and the Aerobus in Yellow which is slightly cheaper).

FYI, this was the 1st time I aboard AirAsia flight thus must snap a handsome photo for memory

 

The flight takes 1 hour plus as Crabi is just at the Southest region of Thailand. When we departure, we're surrounded by Thai signboards which is something new for me looking at something I have no clue at all......

I'll be lost if no English words :P

  We walked out the Crabi airport & take the bus to our hotel. All you have to do is inform the driver your hotel's name & sit back & relax as they'll inform you once arrive.

There is a short walikng distance from the main road to reach the Maritime Park & Spa Resorts which is the place where we'll spent 5 days as our base at Crabi. All I can say is the place is quiet & cozy as Oct was the low season, that means we're like owning the entire place :P We have explored the place like kiddo!

The main hall of Maritime

 

The swimming pool which is next to the open air spa centre

 

The river next to the hotel with a stranded boat......Different from what we saw at the website

Ok, it's time to check out the room......It really surprised me as it was way far better than we expected for a 3 star rated hotel.

  

Neat & clean room

Speechless unbeatable view sight from our room which makes us amazed

After we rest for about 2 hours (watching foreign TV channels), we decided to shift to light gear & walk ahead to the Crabi town with approx. 25 mins walking distance. Of course you can stop the track car which offer transportation service for about 20 bath per person. We explored the town while payed for the coming 2 day trips at one of the tourist service center. 

 

The restaurant at the riverside of Crabi town

 Visit the market. Jeat is enjoying the juicy coconut

 

Special traffic light at the town centre

 

 The time when we feel it's time to go back hotel was 7pm......We walked along the riverside & enjoyed different sightings. It's also the 1st time I visit foreign country's 7 Eleven which consists of delicious red bean buns & instant noodles with meat (hell yeah, with meat!). We had our dinner in the hotel room' balcony & chit chat while drinking beer (Singha, ohh......so chilling) & that ends our 1st day at Crabi.

Stay tuned for our 2nd day at my next post.