Wednesday, August 31, 2005

The Colourful Malaysia(n)

In celebration of the country's 48th Independence and in keeping with my earlier promise to blog in Malay, I will now humbly attempt to blog with the assistance of my 'other' blog personalities.
I am sure you will able to make up who they are not requiring me to review them explicitly.
Malaysian #1
For this merdeka ah, 48 years one, let me try to blog in Malay la since i promised you all, what to do promise lioa have to do lor.
But then hor, i say i will blog in malay only, din say i will blog evebryting me self in malay right, so this time i ma call me fwens to come.
They oso mouth itchy wan to blog. Me will not tell you who my fwens are, you guess guess urself, ok?
Their style very telling one, when they open mouth only ah you know who my good fwens ah la so no need me to tell you straight straight la you all smart right.
Malaysian #2
Sempena sambutan ulang tahun kemerdekaan yang ke-48 dan dengan tekhad menunaikan janji saya untuk ber'blog' dalam bahasa kebangsaan.
Izinkan juga saya untuk mengundang 'rakan-rakan' seperjuangan saya untuk menyampaikan sepatah dua kata.
Daripada cara pertuturan mereka, nescaya tuan puan dapat mengenalpasti siapa kah mereka, tidak perlu saya namakan mereka secara terbuka.
Malaysian #3
Semasa kita bersama-sama menyambut festiviti kemerdekaan negara kita yang ke-48 ini, sila memperizinkan saya untuk mengambil kesempatan ini, dengan hati yang amat tulus, untuk mengotakan janji saya untuk memperbahasamelayukan 'blog' saya.
Saya akan memperlaksanakan percubaan ini tanpa kompromi dengan menfituritasikan barisan panel jemputan saya.
Adalah dengan penuh keyakinan, saya berpendapat bahawa kekalian tidak akan bermasalah untuk mengidentifikasikan identiti-identiti para panel ini, daripadi penganalisisan sifat kepertuturanan mereka.
Malaysian #4
Jom, jom , jom! Jom kito semue sambut merdeka nie ramai-ramai.
Iskh, iskh, iskh, dah tua jugak malaysia nie, dah 48 tahun dah usianya.
Tapi pak cik tua lagi, tu sebab nye hangpa, cucu-cucu pak cik kalian kena dengar cakap pak cik ya.
Masa kite dok sambut merdeka nie, baik jugak pak cik ambik sempat peluang ini, kata omputeh, untuk blog dalam bahasa melayu.
Sebab pak cik dah janji pada cucu-cucu dulu, bak kata pepatah "... manusia dipengang dengan janjinya", baik jugak sebelum pak cik nyanyuk sat lagi.
Pak cik nie sebenarnye memang dah tua dah, dah tak larat lagi nak tulis banyak-banyak, nak cakap banyak-banyak tu lain cerita la.
Maklumlah mata dan jari-jemari pak cik nie dah tak seperti dulu, nasib baik ader kenalan pakcik yang sudi menulis blog nie sesama pak cik.
Tok sah la pak cik bagi tahu nama depa tu ya, pak cik percaya cucu-cucu bijak untuk mengenali siapakah depa tu semua.
Selamat membaca ya cucu-cucu pak cik.
Malaysian #5
Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Mai kiter rayakan merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Caya la dapat makan preeee lagi!!!
Ahem... Dah tua gila malaysia nie, fuhlamak, kelip-kelip je bijik mata dah 48 tahun dah.
Eh, teringat jugak i kena blog dalam BM nie. Nah, sebab i dah janji, i kena jugak kena tunaikannya, betoi tak?
Tapi kalau nak blog solo nie boring gak, baik jugak i cari member-member i skali. Lagi ramai lagi best kan? Baru ader oommpph!
Member-member i nie ader problem personaliti sket, tapi tak yah i introkan kat korang kot, korang teka-teka je la, mana la tau tikam-tikam kena gak.
Malaysian #6
Wah liao eh, wa tatau ini malaysia ah, sudah empat puloh lapan tahun sudah wor, wa sei.
Sebab wa punya janji sama lu olang, wa sikalang mau cuba cakap melayu.
Wa tau wa punya melayu lu olang semua mesti ketawa punya.
Tapi lu olang wa mintak tolong jangan ketawa la, wa punya muka nanti tatau mau letak mana.
Kita olang semua olang malaysia jugak betoi tak? Lu tolong wa, wa tolong lu.
Pengyu, pengyu wa ada banyak kamcheng sama wa, dia olang ada tau wa mau blog dia olang mau tolong.
Ini macam balu ngam. Lu olang teka sendili la sapa wa punya pengyu.
Malaysian #7
Emmmmpat pooloooh lapan tahun sudah kah malaysia ini?
Maaaanyak jugak tua, tambi pun tarak tua itu macam jugak.
Itu hari ada jugak tambi kasi tambi punya janji sama macha-macha semua.
Tambi manyak baik punya, tambi cakap mesti ada buat punya, tarak tipu sama macha.
Pasal tambi punya janji jugak, tambi jugak akan blog dalam melayu.
Tapi tambi mau blog sorang-sorang tarak larat jugak, itu pasal tambi jugak ada panggil tambi punya macha.
Macha semua kasi teka sapa mereka.
Malaysian #8


This all started when few weeks ago I bumped into some blogs that suggested Malaysian bloggers to come together and attempt to blog in Malay, at least for a day, to celebrate the country's 48 years of independence.
I took up the challenge personally and was determined to blog in Malay and ended up doing it with a twist.

It's really been a long while since I actually sat down and really wrote or composed anything in Malay.
I mean this have been the language I grew up with (apart from English and Mandarin), the language I studied and went to exam with and made some of my earliest friends with.
But since university, where English was the medium, it became had less and less opportunity to use the language in writing that often anymore. I still speak it though but not composing a formal writing.

So when I actually had to write in Malay, I found myself struggled through! I had difficulties describing the accident in my police report!
Just to think that I used to write in Malay like nobody's business in high school!

Anyway, wanted to take this opportunity to write something back in Malay and hopefully at the same time demonstrate how colourful our beloved country is.

Happy Birthday Malaysia!


kuancheen|munich|20050830.2222|@|20050831.0422|kl
... man that is taxing ... half way through it, i kinda got tired already
... was about to repeat all in different version
... obviously i gave up :P
... guess i'll stick to being me

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

That's the declaration of independence in Malay for you guys who are Malay illiterate :).

Let's celebrate it by declaring it across the blogsphere. And ... let's all try to blog in Malay on the 31st ya.

These nice logo are designed by galvin!


500×500 pixel

200×190 pixel

100×100 pixel


You can check out some other banners/logos at irene's.

See you all and take care.

kuancheen|munich|20050827.1800
... happy birthday malaysia!

standard: sempena sambutan hari kemerdekaan tanahair yang tercinta, marilah kita berusaha untuk ber'blog' dalam bahasa malaysia
non-standard: tuk hari merdeka nie, mai kita ramai2 blog dalam BM ya!

(”,)(’-')(,”)

Friday, August 19, 2005

Pictures Galore!!!

Fuh ... finally extracted all the links.
Been trying to find the most effective way to share my trips abroad.
Well, hope this humble attempt helps to give you all a feel :)

The pics are from my ImageStation account.

Mouseover for more comments!!

hmmm... some of the images below might not load completely, may be some bandwidth issue or something ... but go ahead and click ... the links are alive!

kuancheen|munich|20050818.2300
... waiting for the data to load and the server to restart ... i wanna go home

I MISS HOME!!!!

I MISS HOME!!!!

Man ... finally it's time to say ...
I MISS HOME!!!!
missing ...
My family
My house (which i am moving out this Sept!)
My Church 0.o
My Youth
My Cell Mates :P

Okay, I said it liao!


kuancheen|munich|20050818.2030
... hmmmm ... thought that supposed to make you feel better

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Blogged Too Much?!

I may have just said too much ...
Blogged more than I should have blogged about ...
Revealed too much ... feels kinda naked ...


kuancheen|munich|20050816.2030
... =_=" (cold sweat)

Monday, August 15, 2005

BlogMap 4 BlogDrivers!

Great news! I have just discovered a way to add blogdrive's blogs to BlogMap, with a little bit help from the blogdrive forum post on "How to add a rss feed".

Alright let's hit it.

You will need to modify your blogdrive's blog Main Template.

To do this, log on your blogdrive account at http://www.blogdrive.com.

Next, select the blog you want to edit.
Navigate to the "Layout & Designs" section by clicking on the link on navigation bar on the left of your screen.
Then scroll to the bottom of the "Layout & Designs" page to till you find this label.
Template Quick Links for [yourblogname]:

e.g.
Template Quick Links for mywalkwithchrist:

Then, click on "MAIN TEMPLATE EDIT" and you will be brought to the Main Template edit page.

Once you are at the edit page, look for the <HEAD>
Paste the following lines right after it.
<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="[Title]" href="http://[Your Blog Drive Blog].blogdrive.com/atom.xml" />
<meta name='ICBM' content="[latitude], [longitude]" />
<meta name="geo.position" content="[latitude];[longitude]" />

e.g.
<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="My Walk With Christ" href="http://mywalkwithchrist.blogdrive.com/atom.xml" />
<meta name='ICBM' content="3.07755, 101.59000" />
<meta name="geo.position" content="3.07755;101.59000" />

[Title] - is the title to appear on the map
[Your Blog Drive Blog] - is the first part of your blogdrive address
[latitude], [longitude] - these tags holds the value of your current location in decimal degree coordinate values

To get your coordinates you can either:
1. Use the BlogMap's BlogExplorer! tool at http://www.feedmap.net/blogexplorer/ (Recommended). Right-Click on your location and click on "Add a Blog" menu item.
- OR -
2. Drop by my previous post here.

Remember to save your changes to your template by clicking on the "Save Changes" button.

Once you had that out of the way, you can continue to Step 3 of this guide.


kuancheen|munich|20050815.1720
... 24 and counting?

Sunday, August 14, 2005

BlogMap Made Easy ... with BlogExplorer!

Chandu Thota, the BlogMap creator, had done another great job in coming up with FeedMap BlogExplorer!
Now, you can submit your blog's location accurately (decently accurate) using the FeedMap BlogExplorer!.
Go to FeedMap BlogExplorer!: http://www.feedmap.net/blogexplorer/
Right-Click on your location and click on "Add a Blog" menu item.

You still need to have a valid RSS and ATOM feed though.

kuancheen|munich|20050814.1130
... ain't it scary what technology can do for you?

Of a train ticket and a bar tab

Here we go ... again
It is the kick off of the English Premier League season.

Had to find an irish pub to catch the opening match, Everton vs. Manchester United

Spoke to katherine from the hotel this morning and she mention that there was a pub near this particular station right in the middle of munich
Thus began my journey to catch my fav team in action

I drove to puchiem to catch a train to munich ... and managed to snapped a few shots
I hopped on that train ... got off the station ... and walked around to find the pub
Asked a shop attendant at the station where is the nearest irish pub
And his reply was that he was not aware of any pub around this station, but mentioned that there is one near the station before

Walked a while and then stopped by starbuck and asked for further direction
She asked, "which one?"
I said (thinking to myself, there are more than one?), "which ever is the nearest"
"They both are about the same, one to the left and one to the right" (so katherine was not wrong after all)

She then gave me direction this particular pub called Shamrock
"Aha ... that rang a bell, as one of the German colleague mentioned it few days earlier"
So i got excited and hurried to the place ...
When i finally there ... it was closed, you call yourself and irish bar?!

Anyway, i hurried back to starbucks and asked for the direction for the other one
And finally made it to murphy's, over 20 mins into the game and still 0-0!

It was a nice game at the end

Great game for the younger neville
It was surreal seeing him in blue playing against us
And his signature a long throws ... and those hard tackle ... gotta miss him
It was a great gesture to the players greet one another after the match

Great outing by both EPL debuttants, park and van de sar!!!
Great runs and threat down from each flak and through the middle by park
And great goal keeping by VDS who kept us in the game, have we finally the one?

Hope this will be a great start to the new season.
And giggs and ronaldo still yet to come on and not forgetting solskjaer!!

The trip however did cost me 10 euros (inclusive 0.40 euro tips), so had to be worth it :)
By the way, in case that you are wondering, the germans loves their football, so there are bundesliga matches live on free tv, but EPL's only available on ppv


kuancheen|munich|20050813.1630
... one down, and hope plenty more to come. come on reds!

Saturday, August 13, 2005

BlogMap Me Please, A Guide

IMPORTANT UPDATE!:
Chandu Thota, the BlogMap creator, had done another great job in coming up with FeedMap BlogExplorer!
Now, you can submit your blog's location accurately (decently accurate) using the FeedMap BlogExplorer!.
Go to FeedMap BlogExplorer!: http://www.feedmap.net/blogexplorer/
Right-Click on your location and click on "Add a Blog" menu item.

You still need to have a valid RSS and ATOM feed though.

kuancheen|munich|20050814.1130

BLOGDRIVE UPDATE!:
For BlogDrive bloggers, please start here.

kuancheen|munich|20050815.1720


BEFORE attempting anything, please first read through the steps below..

** The following tips are for GENERALLY intended for blogs hosted on blogspot.com ( | blogger.com) and in the area of Subang Jaya, Selangor :) **

Step 1: Get a blog
(obvious, but not technically neccessary)
To get yourself blogmap'd first of all you need a blog!


Step 2: Get a geo-tag
The next step is to insert geo-tags of the following format with into your web page's header tag, i.e. between <HEAD></HEAD> in your blog HTML code block.
<meta name="ICBM" content="[latitude], [longitude]" />
<meta name="geo.position" content="[latitude];[longitude]" />

Like i mentioned on my previous post, the [latitude] and [longitude] tags holds the value of your current location in decimal degree coordinate values.
Typically, i will insert it after the <$BlogMetaData$> which you will find in your Blogger's Edit Template section.

For Subang Jaya bloggers you can use this
<meta name="ICBM" content="3.07755, 101.59000" />
<meta name="geo.position" content="3.07755;101.59000" />

Check out my previous post for some suggestion to find other coordinates. Or check out the links below: -
Worldwide:US only:

Before you proceed, make sure you save the changes and republish your blog. (you can choose republish index only)


Step 3: Get registered
The third step is to get your blog registered.
Go to the BlogMap blog submit page.
At the "Enter your blog (or feed) url" textbox, enter your blog address e.g. "http://kuancheen.blogspot.com".
Then click "Submit Blog!"


Step 4: Get a badge!
If you have been successful up till now ...

CONGRATULATIONS! You have been BlogMap'd

Now, that you have been blogmap'd i am sure you want to display it on your blog.
After a successful registration in the previous step, you will be directed to a page that gives you the code to be inserted into your blog to display your blogmap.
At the "Adding BlogMap to Your Blog" section, Copy paste the following html source to display your blogmap badge.

It should look like something like this
<div>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.feedmap.net/blogmap/blogapi.ashx
?method=blogmapbadge
&feed=http://kuancheen.blogspot.com/atom.xml">
</script>
</div>

Copy this an paste it where you want it to appear on your blog (which, in my case, i placed it on my sidebar)

Finally, republish your side voilà!


Hope that this have been helpful, all the best!

This post was inspired by the feedback requesting for less technical instruction, hope this helps :P

BlogMap FAQ #1 - ERROR: undeclared namespace prefix


kuancheen|munich|20050813.1200
... 3 new neighbloggers and counting up! welcome to the neighbloghood





Friday, August 12, 2005

I'm BlogMap'd ... and how you can too

hey ... i just got myself blogmap'd day before yesterday.
check out my blog map below (and my side bar)ain't it cool? now i can see who are blogging around my "neighbloggers"!
so, let's all get one ... so that we can start our own community :)

this nice little idea was the brain child of Chandu Thota, who created this site riding on the Microsoft® MapPoint® Technology coupled with geo-tags.

To get your own BlogMap click here

Here are some pre-requisites though that i gathered from the website
  • You can either submit your feed (RSS, ATOM) or blog url.

  • If you have ICBM or geo.position tags in your feed/site, you need not enter your location.

  • If no ICBM or geo.position tags are found, you need to manually enter your location.

  • To update your location, simply re-submit your blog with new location information.


You can either submit your feed (RSS, ATOM) or blog url.

Apparently, you blog MUST have RSS or ATOM feed on your blog. When i tried to entered my blogdrive site, i get this error
Sorry! Unable to detect RSS or ATOM feed from the url: 'http://mywalkwithchrist.blogdrive.com'.

So far, i am not aware whether the rest of the blog hosts have these feeds except i know Blogger have it.



If you have ICBM or geo.position tags in your feed/site, you need not enter your location.

First of all you need to insert the geo-tags into your web page's header tag, i.e. between <HEAD></HEAD> in your blog HTML code block.
There are the older ICBM tags and the newer, more generic geo-structure tags.
<meta name='ICBM' content="[latitude], [longitude]" />
<meta name="geo.position" content="[latitude];[longitude]" />

I inserted both.

The ICBM (original acronym is Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) tags derive from a more historical application, as described in the AntiOnline jargon dictionary:
ICBM address n.
(Also 'missile address') The form used to register a site with the Usenet mapping project, back before the day of pervasive Internet, included a blank for longitude and latitude, preferably to seconds-of-arc accuracy. This was actually used for generating geographically-correct maps of Usenet links on a plotter; however, it became traditional to refer to this as one's 'ICBM address' or 'missile address', and some people include it in their sig block with that name. (A real missile address would include target elevation.)

Now will be a good time to thank your geography teacher ...

The [latitude] and [longitude] tags holds the value of your current location to be mapped in decimal degree coordinate values.
And if you must ...
Latitude = Garis Lintang
Longitude = Garis Bujur

My coordinates for Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur are ...
Latitude: 3° 4' 12'' N
Longitude: 101° 43' 12'' E
(DMS: Degrees, minutes and seconds)

which converts to

Latitude: 3.07000
Longitude: 101.72000
(Decimal degrees)

Therefore my geotags are ...
<meta name='ICBM' content="3.07000, 101.72000" />
<meta name="geo.position" content="3.07000;101.72000" />

for south (S) and west (W), these values are in negative, and if you haven't already know ... the range is from -180 to 180 for both the latitudes and longtitudes.

so now you can go and calculate yourself your own geo-tags ... this is what geography class for ... hint .. the decimals are converted into minutes and seconds
well ... if you are that lazy you can always use this tool

but since i love the people in Subang Jaya so much, your geo-tags are ...
<meta name='ICBM' content="3.07755, 101.59000" />
<meta name="geo.position" content="3.07755;101.59000" />


If no ICBM or geo.position tags are found, you need to manually enter your location.

but .. the location are not accurate for places outside the States (so typical)
this returns you the Latitudes and Longtitudes value, or you can try for Malaysia, here.

quoting the BlogMap people, ...
Come on, don't you want to know who's blogging near you?


kuancheen|munich|20050812.1200
... now, if you will excuse me, i need to evacuate, now that my coordinates are public

My First Image Post

i have finally posted my first photos on my blog.
been delaying cause i was trying to script some nice mouseover tooltip
tried a few times and failed to come out with one that i am satisfied with and a one that works nicely

another reason was that i was looking for a place that i can host my photos. came across a few, some blog have their own services.
was looking at walagata for a while, then came across flickr (apparently bought over by Yahoo! in March 2005) which i was quite impressed till i saw the 25MB of upload per month ... that was like ... err ...
so needless to say i was put off by the restriction. that was when i landed myself at textamerica (if you are wondering ... i get these list of photo storage sites by looking at the image source of other blogs)
and this is when i am introduced to the term photoblog or moblog. the opportunity to not just store my pics to be linked to my blogs but also to create my first photoblog is just too good to be missed.

this is also where i bumped into this cool mouseover tooltip
this site uses a script from Dynamic Drive
one thing cool about using these readily available scripts as opposed to trying to write one myself is that these scripts (at least for this example) are written and tested across different platform and browser. unless i have installed multiple browsers or have easy access to them, it will be hard for me to really right a cross-browser script.
unless of course you have a brilliant suggestion in this field that i have shallow knowledge of.

for more on photoblogs @ wiki


okay, enough babbling ... here are my first two pics on this blog





kuancheen|munich|20050811.1830
... so how many thousand words are spoken already?

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Of Two Tones

i am always fascinated with black and white (b&w) photography
since young i loves things in black and white
love to do pencil sketches more than colour pastel
(this helps to hide my lack of creativity with colour ;))

on monday my fren abner was 'advertising' about his trip to taman negara and posted my his friend's link as well.
his fren sengkit had this photoblog, which i think he just started it, called "sengkit's Sayomellete".

i was particularly attracted to the pics here, which inspired me to go out and snap few b&w myself around munich. and it turn out quite well. i would like to share some here, but still have not sorted out where to upload them yet.

found this pages while surfing for more b&w info ... here are some topic and links i found from there
Converting colour images to black and white [go]
Resources and Info [go]

din get to read them though ... hehehe ...
... sometimes skill not really play important role here. It's depends on how u see something thru the viewfinder, and how u judge whether a shot is nice or not. you can take good pictures too...
*sengkit*

... agree[d] ... it's all about "framing" and ... "photo-directing" ...
kuancheen

kuancheen|munich|20050808.0530
... yes you read that right!!! 0530!!! not that i am early, but been up for the whole night (or watever left of it) ... trying to get something sorted out in the office ... called for a cab but they are all out to the airport!

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Why am I still alive? Do I need to live through this?

first posted at http://mywalkwithchrist.blogdrive.com/

These are some of the question that we ask ourselves, or some will even argue with God, when things don't seem to go our way. Or sometimes, things seems not to be moving to any direction, or sometimes we seems to be stuck at some low point of our lives which make us think when things going to get better.

This is not just a middle-age issue, it wide range of age group, from the golden age, the youth asks about it, even some children. The fact is, there will be time we struggle with it. Sometimes it comes and goes. Sometimes we just ignore it.

For the last few weeks, the Lord has lead me to these questions, and sharing these to a few. Then, today I came across this song by Superchic[k] on K-Live (32kbps|96kbps). I have heard this song across the wave over and over again, but today one part of the lyrics caught my ear.

There is a man who waits for the tests
To see if the cancer has spread yet
And now he asks, "So why did I wait to live till it was time to die?"
If I could have the time back how I'd live
an excerpt from We Live - Superchic[k] - Beauty From Pain

We are not alone.

No one want to stay in the period of a trial. I mean, when we are in a trial, will we ask God, "Hey God, can I have this longer ah? I am enjoying it. I am learning so much from all these hardship and adversities. You are building my character. Can I please stay in these suffering, please, please.". No, we don't. When faced with adversity we always ask "Lord, when is this gonna end?". We will pray that He take us out immediately. We may grow impatient, start to doubt, we may even start to hate and curse Him.

No one wants to stay in a fire to be burn ... but precious metal like gold are purified this way.
No one wants to stay being irritated ... but pearl only formed when there is constant irritation.
No one wants to stay under pressure ... but the most brilliant diamond is pressed out from tonnes and tonnes of pressure.

Maybe He wants us to pick up something while we are here in this very situation. Maybe He is using us to reach out to someone. Instead of asking Him to take us away, maybe we should ask him to reveal it to us, why is He putting us here in the first place.

This lead me back to the story of Joseph. Remember that Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and was sold as slave to Egypt, hundreds of kilometers away from his loving parents and family. To be away from them for years. Going through false accusations, jailed and even to the brink of being sentenced to death. Sometime we wonder, "How long more? Can this get any worst?"

In Joseph's case, he was sent to 'suffer' first so that he can in turn save not just the very people that sold him to slavery (his bothers) but also his whole family, his people and his nation! And when facing his brothers for the first time, which by this time, his brothers that was full of remorse and in fear of what their own very brother that they sold to slavery will do to them, this is what Joseph said ...

5And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. 7But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
   8"So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.
for a more detail account of Joseph's life you can read Genesis 37-50


Man, how many of us can actually say that? But, if we did not persevere, and quit before the Lord have finished with us according to His plan, we would not have witness the fruits.

We are His unfinished article. The perfect article that He wants to mold us for eternity.

Just picture ourselves as a beautiful and graceful butterfly to be. We are now trying to break out of our cocoon. Struggling step by step, gaining from strength to strength. Without this "training" we may not be strong enough. When we finally broke through we find ourselves strengthen and ready for that flight. Equipped. Equipped to bring glory to Him as others will get to witness the wonderful works He had worked on you.

It is always easier said than done, but when faced adversity, we need to learn to put our complete trust in Him. Knowing He loves us more than anyone could love us. He knows us better than anyone and even better than ourselves. He is our source of hope and strength.

They say, when there is hope and a will, there is a way. I am sure that He will review better things to us. We need to hang on in there, stay on course. Sometimes when things get too heavy, we may want to give up or compromise our values, but He will reward us for our perseverance.

Run! Forest, run!

When we stay on course, and finish our race, He will smile at you and say, "Well, done My child.".

As Paul said, ...

24... I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Hey, when we take a step back to look at the beauty of the Lord's Creation for a while, looking at the blessing God have blessed us, take the focus off ourselves once a while and look at the rest around you. Sometimes when we take the focus off ourselves and begin to look at the rest, hey, we will start to feel compelled to help the rest who are in worst situation than us.

And taking from part of the song again ...

We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
Today we remember to live and to love
an excerpt from We Live - Superchic[k] - Beauty From Pain


It is a gift from above that we are alive to live for another day. Why not make the best use of the day to love as He have commanded in His Words.

30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31...'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

44... Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ...

May we all draw near and find strength in Him.


in Christ,
kuancheen|munich|20050804.2030


Artist: Superchic[k]
Album: Beauty From Pain
Song: We Live

There's a cross on the side of the road
Where a mother lost a son
How could she know that the morning he left
Would be their last time she'd trade with him for a little more time
So she could say she loved him one more time
And hold him tight
But with life we never know

When we're coming up to the end of the road
So what do we do then
With tragedy around the bend?

Chorus:
We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
Today we remember to live and to love
We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
Today we remember to live and to love

There is a man who waits for the tests
To see if the cancer has spread yet
And now he asks, "So why did I wait to live till it was time to die?"
If I could have the time back how I'd live
Life is such a gift
So how does the story end?
Well this is your story and it all depends
So don't let it become true
Get out and do what we are meant to do

Chorus

Waking up to another dark morning
People are mourning
The weather in life outside is storming
But what would it take for the clouds to break
For us to realize each day is a gift somehow, someway
So get our heads up out of the darkness
And spark this new mindset and start to live life cuz it ain't gone yet
And tragedy is a reminder to take off the blinders
And wake up and live the life we're supposed to take up
Moving forward with all our heads up cuz life is worth living

Chorus (to fade)

Thursday, August 04, 2005

The One About Distilled Water and Drinking Too Much Water

Today I had an interesting conversation with a person who work for a company that analyzes water. Yes, you heard that right, water (H2O).

He went on to say that there are two different types of analysis his company does. The first one is from the "technical" point, which covers water (liquid) chemical composition. The next one which he is specialized in is the "Life Sciences" of water analysis. He deals with the biological compound of the water, from bacteria to viruses.

We then came to a discussion on drinking too much water, he mentioned that dirking too much water especially distilled water will kill you. Okay, don't get panic. We all know that water is good for our body.

But how much is too much you might ask.

In 1998, the Army released fluid replacement guidelines, which recommend a certain intake of water but limit it to 1 to 1-1/2 quarts per hour and 12 quarts per day.

Which make that roughly 12 liters of water, which is 8 bottles of the standard 1.5 liter water. Now that is alot of water!

It is important to understand why though drinking excessive water typically distilled water can kill you. The short answer is that distilled water, because it is pure water with no mineral, it will extract the essential mineral from your own. Therefore it is encouraged to drink sport drinks to cure thirst/dehydration (now I finally understand why there are market for those isotonic drinks and those salt packs given to you when you are purging). Suddenly, those crazy European drinking sparkling mineralized water does not seems that crazy after all.

Here are several other quotes I bumped into when I googled for "too much distilled water can kill you".

"Is it possible to drink too much water? Several comedians found it necessary to comment: Sure, you could drown! But the fact is, in extreme circumstances too much water can kill you, even if all you do is drink it. Kelly Barrett, a 43-year-old pediatric dentist from Littleton, Colorado, died of a condition known as hyponatremia after drinking too much water during the 1998 Chicago marathon. Hyponatremia, AKA water intoxication, occurs when the body's salt and water levels get dangerously out of balance, leading to swelling of the brain and leakage of fluid into the lungs. It can occur when athletes, hikers, etc., sweat heavily, losing both salt and water, but replace only water. Diagnostic signs: dizziness, disorientation, headaches, extreme fatigue, death. Prevention: salty snacks and sports drinks. So pass the taco chips and Gatorade, bubba, and let's get healthy."
--Cecil Adams
Drinking too much water is dangerous because the body cannot excrete that much fluid. Excess water then goes to the bowel, which pulls salt into it from the body, diluting the concentration of salt in the tissues.

Changing the concentration of salt, in turn, causes a shifting of fluids within the body, which can then induce a swelling in the brain. The swollen organ will then press against the bones of the skull, and become damaged.
"Distillation is the process in which water is boiled, evaporated and the vapour condensed. Distilled water is free of dissolved minerals and, because of this, has the special property of being able to actively absorb toxic substances from the body and eliminate them. Studies validate the benefits of drinking distilled water when one is seeking to cleanse or detoxify the system for short periods of time (a few weeks at a time). Fasting using distilled water can be dangerous because of the rapid loss of electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride) and trace minerals like magnesium, deficiencies of which can cause heart beat irregularities and high blood pressure. Cooking foods in distilled water pulls the minerals out of them and lowers their nutrient value."
--Dr. Zoltan Rona
"Another point involves alkalinity and acidity. Natural health writers generally agree that the body maintains best health when it maintains a ph leaning to the alkaline side rather than the acidic side, and yet distilled water quickly turns highly acidic, about 5.8 in an open air container.

Does it still make sense to you to drink eight glasses a day of distilled water that can potentially help to over-acidify the body?"
--Chet Day



kuancheen|munich|20050804.1700
... all this babbling makes me thirsty. Pass me that fresh glass of water please.

Of 6s & 3s Hexes

I just found out today the difference between the two ... was trying to figured out myself (using interdev)
pinged beatrice .. then she directed me to a link she googled ...
din helped ...
then i decided to google myself (should have done that than bothering her ... ain't i a bother :P)

googled for "color 6-digit 3-digit hex"
and was led here for these answers

3-digit hex format, … is widely used in CSS-based web design.
and
The difference between 3 digit hex and 6 digit hex is that in 3 digit every doubling code is removed.

Example: #669933 becomes #693


kuancheen|munich

Phil soon a Toffee

Just got this news off the wire.
Phil will be leaving for Everton.
man ... gonna miss such a player that gave a great service to the club.
versatile and commited, a servant to the club
but ... someone have to leave for before we can get someone else
he will be surely missed, eventhough i prefer quiton's hard tacking and runs
gonna miss the famous neville brother playing on the same team, but if all goes we might see them playing together for england

so if the move were to go through with him passing the medicals, we shall wish him all the best!

Everton have agreed to sign Manchester United's England defender Phil Neville, the Merseyside club said on Thursday.


kuancheen|munich

Templates, Templates, Templates!

Templates, Templates, Templates!

I gave it a go today at playing and modifying my template. Made a few personal discovery, notably, found out that you can basically play around with anything, just that the Blogger header bar for example, I did some one modification just to prove my point.

It's amazing how blogging have evolved and how dynamic Blogger's templates are, no wonder some will spend so much time at one.

I'm all with "sharing", but just remember to leave other's their rightful credit. ;)

Thanks again Blogger!


kuancheen|munich|20050803.2145

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Duh .. wat to write ah?

Hmmm... i still wonder what shall i blog about.

Just got back from Fiona's blog, was paying her a visit since she dropped by My Walk With Christ
Seen her writing crap makes me want to write crap too.

Sometimes i wonder, do i crap too much, do i want people to know me as a person that crap too much, how much crap is too much crap? crap.

I have been reluctant to blog my personal life, thinking sometimes people can 'reveal' too much. I started my first blog with the pure intention to secure my name (yea .. i know me vain .. this is wat i meant by 'revealing' too much ... which i might regret later), which as a matter a fact i secured another one on blogdrive, which again not with real intention to blog but just to "store" some memorabilia.

Then one day, i felt compelled to start a blog to share my personal walk with Christ with others, to encourage others, to share thoughts, struggles, up and downs. So far i only managed to do a few post, but i do hope to post more and share more (man ... really B.U.S.Y.)



kuancheen|munich|20050802.2115
... did i just said too much (or too little)?