I managed to download YouTube videos on my PC for watching offline. However I hated the fact that I could only watch them one at a time on a special .flv or flash video compatible player. Sometimes the videos are as short as 5 minutes. It seems really silly to download and watch a 5 minute video offline.

I searched around for ways to merge the videos together and finally I found an application that not only allows me to merge but it also allows me to convert the video format at the same time. The best part is its free! Now I can piece together the YouTube videos that I like into one long video and watch them offline using my Windows Media Player (and not any specialised flash video player) whenever I am free without interruption ie without the video stalling and buffering every few seconds which is terribly annoying. It is all very well if you have a good and fast internet connection but a terrible waste of time when you have broadband but half the time it is slow as a snail.

This is what I use.  It is the Free AVI/MPEG/WMA/MP4/FLV Video Joiner from FreeAudioVideoSoft, a video joiner application which allows users to join more than one video file of different formats to one file of a specified format, including AVI, MPEG, MP4, FLV, WMV, FLV etc.  I tried to join a mp4 file and a flv file from YouTube but it didn’t work very well but joining flv videos together is a breeze. All I had to do is download the video joiner then add videos from the video files on my pc and merge them.

Then I can watch the flash video files one after another back to back. I can even join up to an hour full of 5 minute videos if I like.

Hope this was helpful. Happy Watching.

I love YouTube but I do not love my browser experience. My internet connection is too slow. Sometimes when I try to watch YouTube videos I give up because it takes too long to buffer and play the videos.

Finally, I found the answer. I download the videos to my PC to watch offline. Downloading takes much less time then buffering. I do not know about the legal issues about downloading YouTube videos but common sense tells me that if it is for personal use and not copyright materials it should be fine.

Let me share my “secret”. I am using Cucusoft YouTube Mate free version. It is a downloader, player and converter. The free version only allows you to download and playback but not convert video files. Most YouTube video files are flash videos with the extension .flv so if you want to watch these videos offline, you will need a special .flv player. The thing I like best about this downloader and player is the fact that it allows you to download several files at one go saving a lot of time.

Right. So now I have downloaded the downloader and player, I have another problem. Most .flv videos are short around 5 to 10 minutes. I also cannot watch it on any other player on my pc, like the windows media player for example. My free version does not allow me to convert the video formats. So what next?

Stay tuned. In my next post, I will share with you how I merge and convert the videos so I can watch the flash videos one after another back to back.

May is a month of many celebrations. There is mother’s day and teacher’s day but did you know that the International Firefighters’ Day (Hari Bomba Sedunia as it is locally known) also falls in the Month of May? It falls on 4th May each year.

In conjuction with the Hari Bomba Sedunia 2010, our firefighters are having a month long Bomba Awareness Month. My boy’s kindy was recently treated to a free visit to the Bomba. I tagged along.

I must say that I was really impressed with our Bomba. The firefighters we met were very hospitable and gracious hosts. They were very good with the children. They gave a talk to the children about fire safety dos and don’ts. I learned some fire safety tips too. I’ll get to these later.

They posed gamely with the children for photos, they let the children play with the equipment, sit in the fire engine and other vehicles. They carried the children in and out of the vehicles patiently one or a few at a time. They invited everyone to the food they had prepared. They gave away souveneirs.

There was even a book for very young children on colouring, ABCs, matching and other activities all on fire safety related topics and subjects. A very good way to start, by educating the young about fire safety. They told the children their job is to help people and the ones we met (there were quite a few) all had that quality in them. They looked dedicated to their job of helping others.

International Firefighters’ Day is to mark a time when Firefighters of the present and past are remembered, recognised and thanked for their dedication in saving lives and protecting the environment.

Fire Safety Tip #1: Did you know that you have to call only one number that is 999 to reach the ambulance, police and firestation (Previously there were separate numbers for each department). And did you know that the equivalent for 999 on a cell phone or handphone is 112? Yes, please go and save 112 on your handphone today. You can call that number even if your phone has run out of credits.

Fire Safety Tip #2: Remember to make a duplicate set of your home grill keys, then decide and place it in a place you can easily reach in the event of a fire.

Fire Safety Tip #3: If the clothing that you are wearing is on fire, try to put it out with water. If water is unavailable, try to stop, drop and roll. If you try to remove your clothing while it is on fire, you may inadvertently remove parts of your skin as well.

Fire Safety Tip #4: Install a smoke detector. It may help you get out of your house before it is too late.

Fire Safety Tip #5: It is useful to have at least 2 torchlights in your house. Keep them at the same place so that you can get to them easily in case of a power failure. Then get out of the house for a meal or whatever and by the time you return, power may be restored, instead of staying in and using candles to light up your home.

I did not open a Facebook account for a long time because I thought to myself. Where can I find the time? I have 4 blogs to maintain for fun and peanuts so where can I find the time. The same goes for Twitter. Besides, Facebook as its name suggest requires a face doesn’t it? Apparently not. I choose to maintain my avatar and so do many others.

However, more and more bloggers were migrating to Facebook, some even abandoning their blogs to devote their time to Facebook. Lets face it, there is only that many hours in a day. So how do you maintain your blog in the face of such a situation? I guess there is no other way. If you don’t want to give up your blog, you have to find a way to let all those people on Facebook and Twitter find you easily.

So that is what I did. First, I opened a Twitter and Facebook account. Now, the problem is how do I share my blog posts on Facebook and Twitter easily, preferably with one click? Like I said, there is only that many hours in a day. If I spend my day sharing on Facebook, I will have no time to blog and bloghop.  At first I tried the NetworkedBlog application. It is a good method for showing your blog on Facebook but I don’t like the fact that the links open up in a frame on networkedblog. It does not go directly to your page. Readers have to click again to go to your page so it does not increase your pageviews.

Well, now I have found a way and I would like to share it with all my blogger friends.

Here is how to do it. First, you go to AddThis.com to make a button and install it on your blog. It is very easy. No registration is required. Just go and generate a button and install it on each blog post, NOT on your sidebar. Installing it on your individual blog post makes sharing much easier. After you have installed it, it will look something like what you find on this post, right below the title and date.

Now, whenever I blog, all I have to do is click on the Twitter button. It will open up the Twitter page with my blog post title and a shortened mini url for Twitter purposes. I can add any text I like then I click submit and voila! My Twitter is updated with my latest blog post and at the same time my Facebook (which is linked to my Twitter via the Twitter application on Facebook) is updated with that very same one click. I am not sure whether you have to link your Facebook and Twitter but somehow when I click on the Twitter button above, it updates BOTH my Twitter and Facebook at the same time. If I am more hardworking, I will click on the share on Facebook button and provide an excerpt and a catchy title plus some remarks that will appear on my Facebook status update.

I highly recommend doing this to all bloggers who are blogging for peanuts and especially those who have a few blogs. Your goal is to get higher page impressions and more visitors for your advertisers. This is one way to do it. If you have several blogs, this is even better. It helps your friends and followers keep up with your latest updates on ALL of your blogs on one page whichever social networking site they may prefer whether it is Twitter or Facebook. Sorry, I only limit to two social networking sites because those are the sites I am on. I also use Blogger Buzz but I will not go into that here.

Your readers can easily click on any of your blog post if they have the time and inclination and it makes it so much easier for them to follow than having each and every one of your blogs on their blog reader and trying to know when you update which blog. Nowadays many people have several blogs and it is hard to keep up with each and every one of them for each and every blogger on your blogroll. This makes it easier for everyone. They can then choose what they want or don’t want to read.

You can make it even easier for them, by adding a Facebook Like Button on  your blog post like I have done. (Just below my sharing button) Then if your reader does not have time to comment but likes your post they can just click on that like button. All you need to do is google “How to Install Facebook Like Button” and  you will get lots and lots of instructions telling you how to do it.

So what are you waiting for? Go do it now! Then tell the world.. go tell your readers, I mean. Announce it on your Twitter, Facebook and Blog. Make it easier for everyone to follow you whatever method they may choose to do so.

I installed the sharing button from AddThis as well as the Facebook Like button on all of my blogs so now I can share all my blog posts from all my blogs with one click. However, my Parenting Times blog is using the Classic Blogger template. That was harder to install. I had to figure out how to do it manually on my own. Took me a whole day to figure it out! So if you notice, the buttons on that blog look a bit different than those from this blog or my Mothering Times blog. You can also checkout my Facebook page and my Twitter page to see how my blog updates look like on Facebook and Twitter. And hey, if you like this blog post, why not click on my Facebook Like button above (below the title and date and sharing buttons) and see what happens?

Oh, I forgot to mention. I installed these buttons for my own use but if lets say you have those buttons and someone likes your post, they can easily share it on their Facebook and Twitter pages in the same manner. They or you can even email the link to your blog post. All you have to do is place your mouse over the “share” word and a list will appear making it easy for you to email (an email form will appear and all you have to do is fill in the to and from columns then add any comment of your own), bookmark or share it on any of the listed networking sites you prefer. Do test it out. Its really cool.

If you have any specific questions, you can put it in the comment section to share with all or email me directly. Have a happy weekend everyone!

Photo Source: Andresr / Dreamtime.com

My gynae’s clinic opens at 9am. Patients go at 8.30am to queue outside the clinic. Why? Because the clinic operates on a first come first serve basis. So if you go at 9am, you may find yourself No. 10 on the list which may mean a 2 hour wait. Each patient may take about 15-20 minutes.

On the day of my visit, I wait outside the door along with some others. There is a young well-dressed girl in front of me. The queue gets longer and longer. There were a few pregnant couples behind me. Well, what do you know… suddenly another young well-dressed girl comes shasaying along, walks past the queue and stands with her friend.

The door opens, everyone goes in and writes their name on the list one at a time. The young girl writes two names, that of hers AND her friend. Hey! That adds another 20 minutes to everyone’s waiting time you know. Now, everyone including all those heavily pregnant women have to wait longer because of her.

It is all very well to have your friend queue up for you to buy lets say tickets or food because these don’t take very long. It is bad but at least it does not take very long. However in this case, it is a doctor’s visit which takes up some time.

Hmm…. young, well-dressed, pretty but with no proper etiquette at all. Didn’t your mother teach you to give up your seat for a pregnant woman? Now you make all the pregnant women who came earlier to queue up before you wait longer because of your selfish attitude.

My girl tells me that many of her friends who cater food at school also buy extra food or bring food from home and they will eat only what they want to eat and waste the rest.

My girl also has a set of almost new books given to her by an acquiantance who wanted to throw them away because her son no longer needs them. She had bought a set of extra books for the boy so that they boy could have one set of schoolbooks in school and one set at home.

Perhaps the mother in question had wanted to do so because she thought that it would be easier on the shoulders and backs for her child so that he would not have to cart the books to and from school. However, looking at the state of the books, almost new and untouched, it was probably not necessary.

Every parent wants the best for their child. However sometimes we go overboard as in the case of the parents who give the child extra money to buy food or give them food from home even though there is catered food at school just because they are afraid the child would not eat up.

Our excess is buying too many books and toys. Actually I think books are fine but toys are not. So what is your excess?

I have lagged in my exercise routine because I have not been feeling well as well as some other issues I have been facing. Lagging in exercise and diet means no weight loss.

On, the other hand, the man has had some health issues, so he started dieting and exercising more. Well, his willpower has always been better than mine. When he wants to do something, he does it. Simple as that. As a result, he lost 15 pounds in 2 months. Waaaahhh! Now I will look like his older sister!

Now, what I am curious about is… why is it that when a man loses weight, there is no excess loose skin hanging about, no cellulite dangling around, nothing. His weight simply vanishes. He is simply leaner. Whereas, if a woman were to lose weight, she’d look haggard (usually in the face), and there is bound to be loose skin dangling around especially in the stomach area.

It is not fair. IT IS NOT FAIR!

Ok. Done venting. I am going to do some exercise now and go eat some maggi mee afterwards so there!

Now that I have renewed my maid’s passport, the next step would be to renew her work permit for a period of one year. Maids who are seeking renewed employment from year 2 going on to year 3 still requires mandatory health screening by Fomema. Subsequently, if your maid continues to work for you from years 3 going to year 4 onwards, it is not mandatory.

My agent has asked me to pass my maid’s old and new passport to them to renew the work permit. They will charge me RM895 for this service. However, I have decided to do it on my own to save more $$$$…. about RM260 actually. I had saved about RM332 by doing the passport renewal myself. I also did not take up the insurance RM97 for one year that is offered by the agent though I do not consider that as savings since it is an insurance after all.

If I ask my agent to renew my maid’s work permit, this will be the process.

1. Hand old and new passport to agent
2. Agent calls me to bring maid to clinic for medical check-up and to x-ray facility to do x-ray (Note: this part still has to be handled by me)
3. Agent calls me to collect the passport and work permit
4. Cost = RM895

By doing it myself, this is what I have to do…

1. Register my maid with Fomema to do health screening
2. Bring maid to clinic for medical check-up and x-ray facility to do x-ray
3. Go to immigration department to do work permit
4. Cost = RM190 (to Fomema to register for health screening) + RM445 (to Immigration dept for work permit for one year) = RM635 in total

First Step: Register maid at Fomema to do mandatory health screening.

1. I go online to the Fomema website to download the foreign worker registration form
2. I go to the post office to buy a postal order. Please take note that Fomema does not accept cheques, not even cash. You are required to pay by postal order, money order or bank draft ONLY.
3. I photostat the first page of my maid’s new passport
4. I fill up all the information on the form accept the doctor of my choice. However, I take down the doctor codes for the clinic I have selected. I select 2 or 3 and take down their codes just in case. I try to make sure that the clinic doing the tests also has an x-ray facility so I don’t have to run around twice to two separate places.
5. My husband goes to the Fomema office during his lunch hour with the completed form, the postal order for RM190 and the original passport (for verification) and photocopy of first page of the passport. He asks if the clinic we selected is available (some have met the quota so they are no longer available at the time). He fills in the doctor codes and details for the clinic we selected that is confirmed available.
6. Waiting time during lunch hour on a weekday was 15 minutes. Voila! We’re done.
7. Fomema gives us a set of forms to be given to the clinic and x-ray facility (which in our case are the same place). The validity of the form is 90 days. There are 4 copies of the same form. 1 for the employer (white), 1 for the doctor (green), 1 for the x-ray facility (yellow) and 1 for the lab (pink). If you are not sure what to do with the forms, just present it to the clinic when you bring your maid for the check-up, they’ll know what to do with them.

Our next step is to bring the maid to the clinic for a medical check-up and x-ray. We’ll probably do that later this month.

Next: Renewing Maid’s Work permit - Step 2 Health Screening

I had read about people going as early as 4am to 5am to queue up! I certainly wasn’t going to do that. Besides, we had to send our kids to school.

So, one morning after sending the kids to school, my husband, my maid and I went to the Indonesian Embassy at 9am in the morning. We brought the maid’s old passport and nothing else. We parked at the carpark right beside it. As we were walking towards the Embassy gates, some touts called out to us shouting out something about photostating documents. We ignored them and walked straight on.

When we arrived at the gates, there was a man at the gate telling us to go towards a queue station to collect forms and do photostating. You can do photostating for free in the Indonesian Embassy. We headed towards the queue station. There was a man seated at a desk at the start of the queue station. There was no queue. We showed him the passport and he handed us a form and 3 duplicate copies of a pre-printed contract of employment between maid and employer.

The form was very simple to complete. Just one page. The only thing you probably have to remember is your maid’s address and contact person back home. Make sure your maid knows this beforehand. I remember my sister’s young Cambodian maid who did not even know her home address. She was homesick and the agent offered to contact her family but she was not able to give them a contact number.

The contract of employment is to be filled out in triplicate. One copy for the Embassy, one for the maid and one for the employer. You have to fill out the number of years you wish the contract to be, the salary (minimum salary for renewal is RM600), the Embassy announced this in the loudspeaker, as well as the place of exit, ie your responsiblity in terms of paying for the maids fare to and fro. You should have a rough idea about all this before you go so that it is easier for you to write this information down in the preprinted contract.

After we completed the form and contract we went to the end of the queue station (though there was no queue) and showed the form, contract and passport to the man seated there. He gave us a number and allowed us to enter. It is a good idea to photostat your documents after you take the number. The photostat station is located on the right or you can ask the man who gives out the numbers.

Before entering the waiting area, we had to walk through a room to have the maid’s photograph taken. Then we are allowed to enter the waiting area. We were there at 9.45am. Our number (2078) was called at 11.15am to surrender the documents at the counter. We did not realise that we had to photostat the documents before that but we were allowed to leave the room to the photostat station which is outside and not very far from the waiting room to get the documents photostated for free.

After that we had to wait to make payment. We were called to make payment at 12.30pm. When making payment, usually the maid has to go to the counter as the counter person will interview the maid. They will ask for her address and contact person back home to verify her indentity. Then they will enquire whether she is happy working and how much is her renewal salary. Remember, the minimum is RM600.

After making the payment, I asked the man manning the counter how long it will take for the passport to be ready. It was 12.20pm at the time. His reply was “After lunch. You can go and have your lunch and go shopping if you like and come back at 3pm to collect the passport”

I would say that everything is quite smooth flowing so far. Accept that you have to be prepared to wait it out. If you trust your maid to be around lots of long haired hippy looking males, you may even leave her there to wait.

We went to pick up the kids from school, have lunch and then hubby sent us there at about 2.30pm. Hubby was supposed to leave us there and go run another errant. However, I saw that the numbers 2071 to 2074 was called in rapid succession. My number was 2078. So I called hubby to turn back.

Unfortunately, the number did not move from there and an hour later, they were still calling 2075. Then the numbers became erractic. 2095, 2103, 2080 etc. till almost every number near and above mine were called except my 2078.

I went to the counter twice to ask why my number was not called even though those ahead of mine had been called just to make sure that I had not missed my number but they said it was like that and told me to wait.

Finally, my number was called at 4.00pm. The counter man interviewed the maid again shortly, almost the same questions ie how long she has been working etc. Then he looked at me and asked “Is this your signature?” pointing to the employer’s signature on the employment contract. I explained that it was my husband’s who was there in the morning and he said “you should start paying her the new salary from next month.” I told him that we will start paying her the new salary immediately after her current 2 year contract with us expires in 3 months time. He looked at the maid and asked her whether that was ok with her and when she said yes, he released the passport to us together with a copy of the employment contract for her and for me. The new passport starts from the date of application even though the old passport expires much later.

9am to 4pm. That is all the time it took us. The only documents you require is your maid’s current passport. Not too difficult but very time consumming. Oh I forgot to mention. I paid RM10 for parking and RM18 for the passport. The agent was going to charge us RM350 for this service.

The other day my cooker hood gave way. The man came and replaced the circuit board. It took him less than 5 minutes to remove the wires from the old circuit board and put in the wires of the new circuit board. It was very expensive. I had to bargain with him to remove transportation and labor charges for that service.

I had a good look at my kitchen then. I wish I could remodel my kitchen. I would love to have a built in oven for example and lots and lots more work space, an island, a bar like this Kitchen Makeover idea from Kitchen Renovation Calgary.

The problem is the previous owners of my house probably did very little cooking. They renovated my kitchen space to make it smaller to make space for a bigger dining hall which I don’t need. I prefer it the other way around.

If you are keen or enjoy doing renovations, you should read up all about home renovations. I always do, before getting ready for any renovation jobs. It gives me ideas for my home improvements and it helps me select and bargain with Calgary Contractors.