Kitchen Cabinets

The first room that we're going to furnish in the new house is the kitchen. Yes, the all important kitchen where we will definitely spend a lot of time baking and cooking next time.

To me, kitchen is the heart of a home, it is a place where conversation takes place... it's a place where you can be at your creative best .. or worst some times :P

We've been searching for a good kitchen cabinet shop for a long time (almost 1.5 months) and we've finally decided on the shop to buy from.

Kent Kitchen that is located in Dataran Sunway (slightly further in after The Curve Damansara) offers good price with excellent worksmanship on their products. The owner Ken is an experienced professional (> 15 years) in the field. He offers good advice and insight into the whole kitchen planning process and would recommend the best product that would suit your budget and needs for the kitchen.

IKEA offers good innovative products, however their pricing is a little bit on the high side. For something that is going to last for 10 - 20 years in our house, we're definitely going to invest for better material with quality finishing.

HSBC – Starbucks

So, what is the relationship between HSBC and Starbucks in my life? There’s only one connection, I always use my HSBC card to pay for my starbucks coffee. Why? Because I enjoy a 10% discount on the purchase.

Well, you can imagine how disappointed I am when I found out that HSBC has discontinued the privilege program with Starbucks coffee. Basically, there’s no more incentive for me to hold on to their credit card anymore.
Yes, after this I shall draft the cancellation letter and fax to them…

9878999 088 099 9878999 0098797

Yes, I am bored today... try entering the numbers listed in the title with your phone while listening to it...

Excel excel excel.. I wanna excel!

Yes, I wanna excel in using Microsoft Excel. :P hehe…

I love the versatility Excel offers and recently I have been trying my hands on writing VBA (visual basic for applications) codes to design my own functionality. Have managed to produce a module for comparing values in different columns and also another one in generating an HTML outlook message directly from Excel.

I have not been writing any programming codes for more than 4 years already and it is rather refreshing to use it again.

Pretty cool!!

Busy weeks ahead

We have just received the house keys last week and we have been busy meeting up with contractors and drawing plans on the renovation of the house.

I am definitely delighted with the news that a traffic light will be constructed on the cross road leading into the housing area. There has had been couple of accidents at that cross road already and I have been constantly thinking about it.

Been getting lots of referral of contractors from our friends and colleagues as many of them are doing renovation to their house as well. It is good to share and see a lot of examples before making our decision.

Well, I am going to KLIA after work to pick up our flight tickets to Perth. Yup, the trip is pretty much confirmed and I am also busy preparing the itinerary for the trip as well.

Qing Ming Jie

Everytime when I think about this “festival”(well, personally I don’t take it as a festive period meant to be celebrated happily), I can’t help myself but to recite the following poem made famous by 杜牧.

清明时节雨纷纷,
路上行人欲断魂,
借问酒家何处有,
牧童遥指杏花村

5th April 2007, tomorrow will be the day when we remember and honour our ancestors. It is not necessary to pray and give offering on the actual day itself. It is common for people to perform the rites 7 day before and after the actual date.

Last Saturday marked the first time I carried out the rites by myself and my wife. This year, I have opted for something different as well, instead of going to the crematory where my father’s bone ashes were kept, I have gone to the Kwan Yin temple where the ancestor’s plate has been placed.

It was a more personal and quiet experience, and undoubtful a more welcomed one. How often do you remember your deceased family members? I feel particularly ashamed of myself, as father has always been left at the back of my head, washed away by the daily hassle of living and present problems.

It is a struggle some times, trying to recall his image or his voice. The serenity of the temple, the continuos chanting of prayers, has given me the opportunity to actually sit back quietly and remember him.

Cherish those whom you loved, count the days when you appreciate them.