Sunday, May 20, 2007

5 Favorite Local Festivals

1. Chinese New Year. It is such a joyous occasion, full of loud Chinese music, good food and tidbits, and gatherings with friends and family... It's a time to return to traditions, wearing the auspicious red, getting "ang pows" (red packets with money), saying nice things, and avoiding quarrels...

2. Dumpling Festival. My mom makes the biggest, and most delicious "zong zi" (rice dumplings). She puts a lot of work into it, and the result is fantastic! I can eat my mom's "zong zi" for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

3. Moon Cake Festival. I don't really like to eat the traditional moon-cakes, but don't mind the ice-cream moon-cakes! However, I like the sight of little kids carrying lanterns of different animal designs, and parading under the full moon. I like other foods we eat during this festival, like the pomegranate, and baby yams.

4. Hari Raya Puasa. This is the Malay New Year. I used to live near some Malay neighbors, and when Hari Raya came around, they would invite us to their home to eat delicious Malay delicacies. The curry, and stuff were good. The cakes were even more delicious!

5. Deepavali - The Festival of Lights. This is a Hindu Festival. Used to live near some Indian neighbors too. Used to get invited to their houses when Deepavali came around too. There was usually a lot of curry, but again, I liked the tidbits the best - those round spiky muruku!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

5 Things Not to Like about Summer in Houston

1. The heat. Compared to some other places, Houston probably isn't that hot, but it's still uncomfortable.

2. The mosquitoes. One is supposed to enjoy outdoors during the summers, but the mosquitoes make it unpleasant to spend long periods outdoors! Not to mention, the threat of West Nile Virus disease!

3. It's a pretty long summer. It takes forever for the weather to turn cool. I remember going out in short sleeves trick-or-treating last year!

4. Summer is also hurricane season! I remember fleeing Rita in 2005, in the summer heat!

5. Fall just seems so much more appealing, after "suffering" the Summer heat for an extended period of time!

Saturday, May 5, 2007

5 Reasons Not to Get Pregnant (for some women)

1. The morning sickness. Wonder why it's named morning sickness? Yours truly have it the whole day!

2. The dizziness. Have you ever felt the world spinning around, and you feel as if you're drowning? That's the kind of dizziness that accompanies some pregnancies!

3. The gas. Do you like feeling bloated everytime you finish a meal?

4. The bulkiness during the late stage of pregnancy. Sometimes, you can get stuck going through a door!

5. The inabilty to sleep well. For one who loves sleeping, I dislike having to get up several times in the night to empty my bladder.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

5 Reasons to Get An Ultra Hal Assistant

1. You get to try it for free for 30 days! It's like getting to hire a secretary on trial, and test his/ her skills for 30 days, and see if you like working with him/ her or not. Imagine that? You don't have to fire him/ her if you don't like him/ her. You won't even hurt your trial assistant's feelings if you don't like working with him/ her at the end of the 30-day period!

2. The Ultra Hal Assistant acts like a robot. How cool is that? Your own personal robot!!! It's a digital secretary that is capable of holding intelligent conversations with you.

3. Just like some of your marriage companions, your digital companion grows to operate like you over time! That means, you'll have to do less prompting, which means, less work for you, as time goes by!

4. It goes with you anywhere on your laptop. A personal secretary who goes with you to the other side of the world? Wow! You don't even have to pay for its airfare! It also doesn't take much to carry it around! You'll have your secretary reminding you of your appointments overseas, as soon as you get off the plane! Hassle-free business trips are awaiting!

5. You get to choose how your digital secretary look like! Your personal assistant can take the form of any 3D artificial human forms you choose that are offered on the site.