Archive for May, 2011

It is the school holidays. I am usually much more busy during the school holidays as the kids are at home and we have so much we want to do.The kids are my priority, not my blog. So, you’ll just be seeing glimpse of me here and there and I may not be able to reply to comments. Sorry about that.

Anyway, I hope those other parents with school going kids have a good time with their children too and I will be right back after the school holidays. In the meantime, I will probably just post up my poems from my obsolete geocities page.

BRB!

During the courting stage, couples seldom discuss about their parenting styles. Even if they do, it may not necessarily turn out that way because parenting styles is learned along the way. You may say that you want to be this and that kind of parent but after the kids come along, you will grow and change as a parent. So, what do you do when parenting styles differ? Err…. actually I don’t know and I would be most grateful if anyone could give me a good piece of advice.

I am fortunate in that most of the time my spouse and my parenting styles do not differ very much. We have the same values though we are very different. However, at times we have our differences too. For example, exams. Yes, exams. Whooooaa! That word can create a lot of tension in homes. I really don’t know what to do about parents who scold their child who scores over 90 for their papers. I want to whack them on their heads. But what to do when that parent is your spouse? I really have no idea.

My spouse scolded my girl for scoring 90 for her Math paper. Ok. To be very fair, he does not expect for her to get 100 in every paper. However, he had spent a lot of time teaching her Math (he teaches her Math while I handle other subjects including the Chinese part in Math) so he was disappointed when she made many careless mistakes because he knew that she was capable of doing better. I suppose that is fair enough.  He is also a good father to spend many hours teaching them.

What I did not agree with is the way he scolded her. “How come you only got 90 for your Math! That is shocking!” and then he went on to scold her about her carelessness reducing her to tears. Naturally,  mummy got a scolding as well. “You are too stubborn. You never make her practise past year papers in an exam environment. You never made sure she has enough practise for those kinds of questions that came out.” I tried to tell him that his demeanor was all wrong (to me at least) but he got even madder saying that as usual I did not support him in anything he did. Now that got me mad so I told him that he should go and play badminton with his friends tomorrow evening (Its our 10th wedding anniversary) as he had earlier asked if he should go. Of course asking him to go then and play badminton with his friends has got nothing to do with kids exams! Women are sometimes crazy like that or is it just me?

I digress. Back to exams. I still think that the kids should be praised and that he had spoiled everyone’s evening with his scolding. Everyone was looking forward to a relaxing evening for the first time after exams. The kids had worked so hard and they both did really well, scoring above 90 for every paper. It is the boy’s first time doing tests and he didn’t acknowledge or praise him for getting 100, 99.5, 98 for some of his papers. He was too busy scolding the girl. Apart from her Math, she scored mostly above 95 for her other papers but that was dimmed because of Math. Again I must emphasize that it was not because of the marks itself or because she failed to get 100 but because of the carelessness. Of course she also got scolded because she got penalised for forgetting to write her name on her Science paper. (but that one I agree). I had seen the girl looking forlorn and sad when she had over 90 during an earlier test before. I thought that was all wrong. She should be happy but she was sad and unhappy because she was afraid daddy would scold her. I tried to tell him that but he wouldn’t listen. I worry that he will place undue pressure on the kids to perform as there is no room for carelessness. I agree that kids should be taught not to be careless but zero tolerance for carelessness is scary to me.

He says that the kids should learn from  young that results counts whereas to me results aren’t the only thing that count in life. I guess we are all a product of our upbringing. Husband had strict parents. I had a mum who died early and a dad who was too busy trying to work and take care of 5 kids at the same time that I was left pretty much on my own. I studied on my own accord. I didn’t do all that well but I wasn’t all that bad either.

I think the kids had worked really hard and a positive word of praise and a hug should be given instead of scolding. Something like a hug and “Wow. You both did really well in your tests. I know you both worked really hard. That is good but look here, you made quite a lot of careless mistakes in this paper. Lets see what went wrong and learn from that mistake shall we.”

So what do  you do when you have differences of opinion like that?

Today I am disclosing that I sometimes do not disclose my sponsored posts. You see, some advertisers do not like this. If I had my way, I would write in bold at the top of the post. This is a sponsored post. Unfortunately, most advertisers request that you do not disclose that the post you have written for them is a sponsored post. No hard advertising. No no. That defeats the purpose of blog advertising.

A good blog ad must blend seemlessly into your blog. That is why some advertisers choose their blog hosts carefully to make sure that your subject matter fits with theirs. (other than your blog’s Google Page Rank of course. The higher your rank, the more worthwhile your links will be to the advertiser because when a site with a good Google Page Rank links to you, it will increase your site rank as well. Dotcoms as opposed to free blogging domains is more valuable as well.) I said some because some advertisers, like the gambling and adult sites do not care. Speaking of which, I do not accept adult sites ads and gambling ads on my site even though they pay better. I do however accept loan sites and alcholic drinks sites. (only once so far but it was not a sponsored post but rather a sidebar ad). I have a site wide disclosure policy somewhere on my homepage but who reads those things?

When I first started writing sponsored posts, blog advertising was at the time catching on like fire. Some who did not write ads, wrote about how some bloggers had sold out on their blogs for $$$$. People will lose trust in you, they say. They did not mince their words. They said rather unkind things. Eventually many of those who said that all started writing one by one.

I don’t think there is anything wrong about writing sponsored posts. Put arrogantly, one may say, It is my blog, I can do whatever I like with it. (That has some truth actually.)However, in taking care of your own integrity and the requirements of the advertiser when you write posts that you are not allowed to put a disclaimer on, it is better to write something that is close to your heart, something that you would write anyway, and then put in the required links at appropriate places. The advertisers like this too. In fact some of them prefer this to hard advertising.

On your part, in this manner, you also don’t endorse any product or service that you have never used. However, you can still write positively about it. Honesty is very important. That means, when writing a sponsored post, I very seldom write reviews unless it is for something that I have used before and which I know very well. To me product reviews are very much harder to write and require much more thought and work. You have to be very detailed about it, posts pictures, give pros and cons while keeping it impartial. So I generally don’t write reviews. I just write as I normally would write.

Right, enough said. Just wanted to get this out of the way so that my newer readers know that when you see a post that looks a bit out of place, something that perhaps I would seldom write about for example about overseas holidays or gold coins or taking payday loans with several links in it, then it is probably an ad. Whether you want to read on or otherwise is up to you.

I have two computers, two tvs, three dvd players, an old vhs player and lots and lots of cables at home. I really don’t know how to organise them or differentiate between them. Is one cable better than the other. Is a HDMI Cable better than a VGA TV cable? What is the difference between a HDMI Cable and a DVI Cable? Does it really make a whole lot of difference in the picture quality? It is really confusing to me.

I really should learn more about the differences because at the moment, I just use whatever is supplied to me without giving it any further thought. I think I have a free HDMI Cable lying somewhere in the house unused because I am not sure how to plug it on. I had better learn more from an Optimized Cable Company. Since we are living in the digital world I should try to at least make sure that I am using the best digital cable since more and more digital content is available on the everywhere these days. Then of course there is Blu-Ray which I can’t afford. I have to wait for the price to come down first.

Next, I have to learn how to organize my cables. They are a mess and if left unorganized, are a fire hazard. Just thinking about all this is rather tiring. I may have to visit DBTSelfHelp.com to watch some of the flash movies and learn how to calm my soul and be more mindful of my breath and thoughts.

This is a guest post by George Baker about energy saving. I hope you enjoy reading these simple but effective tips. You will find that going green isn’t all that difficult and all it takes are small simple steps outlined below.

Going green doesn’t have to hurt! You can save the planet and simultaneously pad your pocketbook by making a few simple changes in your everyday life that will reduce your energy consumption and, by proxy, your energy bills. Follow these 5 energy pinching tips to simultaneously shrink your household bills and your carbon contributions.

Dial back a few degrees

Studies show that you can save up to 10% on your heating bill by lowering your heating regulator by only 1 degree. You won’t feel the temperature difference, but your wallet will. Should you choose to be reckless and drop a few more degrees, you might have to wear a light sweater or cuddle up under a cozy blanket, but you’ll save lots of cash in the process.

Pull the plug

Merely leaving chargers and cords plugged in with no device attached burns electricity. It’s easy enough to unplug these glorified wall ornaments when they aren’t in use, and shore up the change they’ll save you. It adds up over time and extends the lifetime of your chargers.

Waste not

Simple waste adds up significantly in water and heating bills. Showering uses an average of 30% less resources than baths, so forgoing a dip in the tub will forgo a dip in your wallet. When cooking or making tea, most folks boil more water than what’s needed. This literally boils away money, wasting gas, electricity, and water. Eye your water and plan in advance.

Using electricity after you’ve left a room by leaving lights or fans is as wasteful as leaving your milk out to spoil. You’ll also reduce electric waste by investing in energy-saving light bulbs. They’ll relieve you of the hassle of changing light bulbs, since they last decades, and save you large chunks of cash throughout their lifetime.

Wasting energy is easy: running a half-empty dishwasher, washing bundle after tiny bundle of undersized laundry loads, or using heat to dry your dishes when they have time to air dry will cost you cash.

If you’re ga-ga over the idea of going green, consider incorporating some good old-fashioned manual labor into your daily routines. Stash away those electric kitchen appliances and wash, beat, grind, mix and fold with pure muscle power. You’ll save money and get in shape.

Pad your pad

Poor insulation turns your windows, walls and doors into anti-green, energy vampires. It’s worth it to invest in some decent insulation; it pays for itself and provides incredible comfort. In addition to insulation, check your windows and doors for drafts. Sometimes a bit of caulking does the trick, and heavy curtains or window seals can effectively rescue you from a heat-sucking vortex that drains your wallet and cramps your style.

Upgrade

When the inevitable time comes, and you can’t live through one more of your spastic washing machine’s seizures, consider the lower tariffs and overall savings of energy friendly appliances. They may seem to cost more up front, but these investments save significant money over time.

Start saving your hard-earned cash today by adding these 5 easy energy saving ideas into your routine. You’ll be doing the planet, and your bankroll, a huge favor.

Helping out with vacuum cleaner bags all day at work has allowed George Baker to become a whiz with Numatic hoover bags.