Blog baharu

Aduhai, blog ini pun sudah lama terbiar bersawang tanpa post baru. Begitu juga dengan blog-blog Mesra Buku dan Mesra Idea. Tiba-tiba buka blog baharu pula?

Blog ini blog peribadi. Isinya agak 'rojak'. Tapi blog baharu itu niat saya khusus untuk berkongsi karya dan penulisan saya. Bukanlah banyak pun, jadi saya tidak menjangka akan ada banyak post di situ. Tempat utama saya mencoret masih di FB, tapi blog itu menjadi tempat 'parking' tulisan yang lebih panjang.

Jemput singgah ke http://sitimalinimat.blogspot.com

Comment form

Not much of a post, this. But can I just say I don't like the comment form for the new Blogger? I can't figure it out yet.

2 interesting websites

The first one is www.twiddla.com, introduced to me by my husband. To me, it's like an extension of a live chat. You can draw on it and anyone who's looking at the same url will immediately see it and everyone can also chip in. Great to sketch and discuss ideas (remotely)!

The second one is www.houzz.com. It's a collection of interior design photos (350,000 photos there) for inspiration. I'm not really at the stage of furnishing my home spaces, but these photos are great to look at! Of course, they are very America-centric. It'll be nice if there's a similar website locally. Then it's more relevant, more feasible.

Saya patut menang Quran Digital Giveaway oleh MIO kerana ...

... saya tak punya gajet canggih-manggih yang boleh dimuatturun perisian Quran Digital. Tiada iPhone, atau Galaxy, atau Blackberry, atau HTC, atau Xperia, apatah lagi iPad. Nak diharap handphone saya yang sudah berusia 5 tahun itu, boleh mungkin boleh, beli memory card yang power sikit, dan cari fail-fail bacaan ayat al-Qur'an. Tapi ia sudah pasti tidak secanggih dan semudah Quran Digital di bawah ini.


Bestnya kalau ada Quran Digital ni, bolehlah dengar dan baca Quran di mana saja, contohnya dalam kereta waktu jalan sesak!

Oh, pendeknya hujahku - 82 patah perkataan sahaja. Tak tolak markah kan, MIO? Jom sertai giveaway MIO. Klik sini untuk maklumat lanjut. Deadline dah tak lama - 22 September, lusa je.

To MIO, happy birthday! Semoga Allah beri kelapangan, kerahmatan dan keampunan ...

Giveaway blog Mesra Idea

Mesra Idea? Blog mana pula tu? Sebenarnya saya baru tukar nama blog terbaru saya daripada Mesra Niaga jadi Mesra Idea. Lepas tulis sepuluh post, terasa macam nak luaskan lagi skop.

Ini giveaway pertama untuk blog Mesra Idea.



Bila? Mulai hari ini hingga tarikh akhirnya 30 Ogos 2011.

Hadiahnya? RM50 'duit raya' menerusi cabutan bertuah.

Caranya?
1. Tulis satu post mengenai giveaway ini.
2. Dalam post itu, tulis wishlist anda, iaitu sekurang-kurangnya satu produk yang tiada di pasaran tapi anda mahu atau harap akan ada. Lebih pun boleh, tapi maksimum tiga. Contoh saya berikan di bawah.
3. Dalam post tu mesti ada banner dan link ke post ini. Boleh copy paste code ini:
<a href="http://mesra-idea.blogspot.com/2011/08/giveaway-mesra-idea.html"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-obCfjCrUKI8ypubz4nSqRyDQEIDBww5PGMkFy7UX-5RYhhEr3f8e4gFbXl8_ZMcq-jxFnxSReEVgR9nkpeZhc5rNshb4w7oqmvAgbpZa4TcZtpCrZjmgpIgOsGxa_T7si1ud/s400/Giveaway.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5639256958253433122" /></a> <br />
4. Letak banner giveaway ini (dengan link ke blog Mesra Idea) di sidebar blog anda.
5. Tinggalkan komen dan link bukan di post ini, tapi di blog Mesra Idea lah.
6. Selepas tarikh akhir, saya akan guna random.org untuk buat cabutan bertuah. Pemenang yang diumumkan diminta e-mel nombor akaun untuk saya transfer hadian duit raya.

OK, pertama sekali saya nak tudung turki macam yang ada di pasaran Malaysia tahun 90-an dulu supaya ada balik. Kain jenis yang agak tebal tapi taklah panas pun, senang dibentuk, dan mudah dijaga - tak perlu gosok sangat, kalau kesan lipatan jelas sangat baru kena gosok. Siapa masih simpan tudung jenis ini? Zaman sekarang bila disebut tudung turki, lain fabriknya. Lebih nipis dan lembut. Entahlah, saya masih lebih suka yang dulu tu. Tie Rack pernah keluarkan skaf empat segi yang kainnya lebih kurang tudung turki yang saya maksudkan, tapi lepas tu dah dihentikan. Saya cuma sempat beli dua.

Yang kedua pula, saya mahu ada sejenis alat elektronik kecil yang boleh ditempek pada mana-mana barang yang selalu hilang, dan bila dia hilang kta boleh tekan alat lain yang sekaan 'remote' dia atau transmitter, supaya alat tu berbunyi dan supaya kita senang nak cari. Seolah-olah macam kita nak cari handphone, kita ring je, kan senang. Atau pun macam alarm kereta kita yang kita tekan boleh bunyi dari jauh. Saya rasa alat ni boleh sangat dibuat, cuma dari segi harga tak taulah macam mana. Kalau mahal sangat, mungkin jadi tak praktikal pula. Saiz pun mesti betul-betul kecil. Sekarang ni saya dah misplace jam tangan, entah ke mana perginya...

Dua contoh ni memang betul-betul saya punya wishlist, bukan suka-suka nak buat contoh. Anda pula bagaimana? Satu cara untuk generate idea ni ialah dengan menghabiskan ayat ini: Kan best kalau ada .... Jangan pula letak benda yang tak logik, macam nak mesin rentas masa (time travel) ke, atau pintu suka hati Doraemon.

OK, tulis sekarang! Beritahu saya wishlist yang menarik!

Introducing my new blog – Mesra Niaga

I’ve been wanting to write this other blog since about the same time as I started my book blog Mesra Buku, which was more than a year ago (that's why I gave the title to the link section on the right ‘My Other BlogS’ rather than ‘My Other Blog’). I haven’t, because I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to commit writing something in it regularly. But lately, I thought that I should just go ahead, never mind if I won’t be able to update often. Afterall, just like my existing blogs, it’s going to be a ‘syok sendiri’ blogs hahaha ;p

My reason to just start/write: The things that pop up in my head disappear soon enough, and perhaps jotting them down is a way to retain some of them. Similar to my book blog, I write in this other blog as 'Siti' :) And similarly too, there's no link from there to Everyday Ice Cubes, my personal blog.

So, do visit Mesra Niaga! The sub-title ‘Business. Entrepreneurship. Products. Design. Ideas.’ will give you some ideas of the theme of the blog.

Antara Facebook dengan blog

Walaupun telah lama membuka akaun Facebook, saya cuma ‘aktif’ (yang tak berapa aktif mana pun) dalam setahun dua kebelakangan ini. Namun, blog tidak dipinggirkan, kerana bagi saya kedua-duanya ada fungsi berbeza. Facebook bagi saya, tempat berkomunikasi dengan rakan-rakan (dari sekolah rendah hinggalah ke kawan yang baru kenal) – untuk keep in touch. Blog pula tempat saya ‘menulis’ (menulislah sangat) – expressing myself, dan juga berkongsi apa-apa yang ‘segan’ saya nak kongsi dengan rakan-rakan di FB, seolah-olah saya berblog secara anonymous (walaupun sebenarnya taklah anonymous sangat). FB dan blog memberi gambaran dua fragmen diri saya yang berbeza.

Sebenarnya, saya rasa waktu yang dihabiskan membuka akaun Facebook agak membazir, tapi saya hargai sebahagian berita-berita rakan-rakan yang saya baca di situ. Berita/cerita seumpama ini, barangkali 20%, yang selebihnya tak baca pun tak mengapa ... Saya dah cuba berazam untuk tidak membuka akaun Facebook terlalu kerap, mungkin dikurangkan daripada sehari sekali (lebih kurang 15-30 minit) ke sekali setiap dua hingga tiga hari. Tapi ... setakat ini belum berjaya. Dah jadi habit agaknya. Tak mengapa, terus mencuba.

Twitter memang saya tidak terjebak lagi kerana setakat ini saya masih belum nampak manfaatnya.

Mesra Buku book swap

I've listed some of my books available for swap/loan at my book blog here. Feel free to browse and email me if you're interested to read any of the books listed there.

Happy reading!

I've started a book blog

Introducing:

Mesra Buku! :)

I've started this blog during the recent KL book fair, and so far has about 8 posts only. I'm aiming for one to two posts per week, but it seems like 'one' prevails more often ;) I'm blogging as Siti, which you would probably notice, is my chosen name for my 'extra-curricular' activities.

I hope to be able to do not just reviews or share info on book deals or sales, but also interviews with local authors (hopefully!) and contests. I hope this blog will also be a platform for readers to swap books or find new home for their books.

Do share the url http://mesra-buku.blogspot.com with your friends who shares this hobby of mine, and wish me luck :)

Tag Beautiful Blogger Award

Terima kasih kepada MIO sebab tag saya dengan anugerah BBA ni. Komentar yang diberi oleh beliau bagi setiap blog yang ditag memang cukup hebat, berapa lama lah agaknya masa yang diambil. Komentar yang diberi untuk blog saya ni pula menambahkan pressure kepada saya! Tapi saya ambil sebagai positive pressure lah ye.

Okay, step 2 (macam Special Agent OSO pula), 7 things about me. Sebelum ni rasanya dah selalu ‘about me’, this time saya nak guna tema anak-anak saya pula. Sebelum tu, gambar dulu! One of my favourite photos of them (I’m currently using this photo as my FB profile photo), because they are grinning so happily. I wonder what MHH did to get this (dia yang snap).


7 fakta Munief
-Anak saya yang sulung, bernama Munief Ridhwan
-Umurnya 4 tahun 2 bulan
-Beratnya 20 kg
-Badannya agak chubby (gambar kat atas tak nampak sangat), sungguh enak dipeluk, tapi kalau minta didukung…
-Suka makan (tak hairanlah jadi chubby atau orang kita kata ‘semangat’)
-Soalan favourite “Sebab apa sekian sekian sekian,Ummi?”, dan soalan ni soalan berantai yang tak habis-habis
-Sudah pandai buat lawak sendiri kemudian ketawa sendiri, kadang-kadang Ummi faham, kadang-kadang tak faham tapi gelak jugalah sebagai tanda sokongan

7 fakta Afiefah
-Anak saya yang kedua, bernama Afiefah Mardiyyah
-Umurnya 2 tahun 4 bulan
-Beratnya 10 kg
-Rambutnya kerinting
-Petah bercakap
-Masih menyusu badan di waktu malam
-Sustain more injuries than her Aba (what she calls her brother) - yang terbaru Ahad lepas luka di bibir dan lidah sebab terlanggar gigi sendiri masa berlaga dengan sepupu

Ok, saya nak tag siapa yang saya rasa belum kena tag ni lagi. Terimalah Beautiful Blogger Ward ni, di samping bercerita 7 things about yourselves.
-Ummu Auni Afif, yang baru pindah department baru
-Limau Nipis yang sudah sampai di Manchester
-Baiti yang sekarang dah jarang blog
-Kak Najah yang sedang fikir nak isi kedai baru bakeri dia dengan apa
-Mimi yang baru-baru ni hadiahkan saya kain batik oren yang cantik sempena lucky draw
-Ipohmom yang berazam nak kurangkan baca buku cerita sebab kena baca buku akademik
-Kak Huda, yang juga sedang sambung belajar
-Adia, yang sekarang sedang rajin update blog setelah beberapa lama tak update.

* Maaf sebab bahasa bercampur-campur.

Tagged by Adia

Tag dari Adia.

Nyatakan 5 fakta menarik tentang pemberi award ini.
1. She’s my kawan sekolah menengah.
2. Dia belum ada rezeki menimang cahaya mata. Aku doakan semoga Allah permudahkan.
3. Suami dia bekerja di Saudi.
4. Dia suka kasut dan beg. (eh, betul kan?)
5. Dia ada anak saudara yang bernama Abdul Rahman. I mention this because the name Abdul Rahman is quite rare nowadays!

Nyatakan 5 (completely random) fakta diri sendiri sebelum memilih penerima award seterusnya.
1. I don’t like jewellery and make-up. So un-feminine.
2. I started wearing glasses when I was 10. I have never worn contact lens.
3. I still maintain and use the first ever email I had (some 11 or 12 years back) until today.
4. I have 2 sisters, 5 brothers, 7 sister-in-laws, 2 brother-in-laws, and 2 birases (so far).
5. My BMI is 20.7 (Apakah motif? ;p)

Nyatakan 5 hobi diri sendiri.
1. I enjoy good stories, in the form of books usually, but also tv show or movies sometimes.
2. I love to read, especially fiction. Bertindih dengan no 1, tapi lain sikit.
3. I enjoy baking and trying out recipes, err sometimes (ikut mood).
4. I enjoy surfing the internet.
5. I enjoy games.

Moved to new blog url

I started blogging in 2006. I must have been so naive back then, to choose my real name as the blog url. I've been considering changing the name but procrastinated, until recently a colleague at my office emailed me with the title "Guess what I found?" and inserted the link to a particular post in my blog! She was googling for something when she came across my blog. Luckily, she's a good friend of mine and she agreed to keep my blog a 'secret'. I don't blog about office much, but I still don't want people from the office to know about my blog. I feel that I wouldn't be free to write if they do read my blog. It's a part of me that I wish to keep 'private', so to say. I once went to a colleague's political blog, and somehow I don't feel the same about him afterwards.

Anyway, moving is quite swift, thanks to CY3.5 who kindly pointed the hows. I lost my blog list though, so I have to retype them one by one. If I miss anyone, do let me know. Something's wrong with Simplisiti's banner, not because of the move, but rather because I wanted to change it to the new one and being so kayu-IT, failed miserably. Dahlah kayu-IT, I forgot to save the old codes somewhere, so there it is, looking ugly. Now, I'd have to consult MHH on this.

Anyway, welcome again to Everyday Ice Cubes!

Tag-athon Part Two

Here's another two tags. The first is from Mimi, about bags:

1. Find a safe quiet place free of significant other, noisy makers, priests, nuns, all things religious and men in general.
Hmm...

2. Take a photo of your handbag and the contents
No need lah..

3. Dump the contents of your handbag in a pile
Tak naklah, malu hehe..

4. Be brave and explain to your fellow bloggers what lurks inside the handbag
The usual stuffs, I guess. But my bad habits with my handbag is a) I don’t ‘edit’ the contents regularly hence no 6 and b) I sometimes use it as ‘temporary storage/transit’ for various things, supposed to be transferred elsewhere but got ‘stuck’ there hence no 7. Mynie, declutter!

5. What’s the most important thing in your handbag?
My wallet, my handphone, my pen drive and the bunch of keys.

6.What’s the most embarrassing thing in your handbag?
Rubbish! Used tissue, old receipts, even queue tickets etc.. haiya apasal tak buang?

7. What’s the smallest thing in your handbag?
A button. Or two.

8. Is there anything illegal in your handbag?
No.

And the second one is from Baiti:

1. Do you think you're hot?
Apa punya soalan da… Taklah hot sangat kot, biasa-biasa je. Alhamdulillah, bersyukur Allah jadikan sempurna sifat. Tapi saya memang jarang naik hot pun, biasanya cool je hehe..

2. Upload your favourite picture of you!

Actually, gambar ni bukanlah favourite picture saya, cuma gambar ni yang terpilih jadi gambar profil di FB. Saya pilih gambar ni sebab dia side-profile, in a such a way that, siapa yang kenal saya boleh cam saya dalam gambar ni, tapi siapa yang tak kenal saya memang tak boleh nak cam saya kalau terserempak tengah jalan. Konon-konon semi-anonymous lah, boleh?

3. Why do you like that picture?
Selain daripada sebab gambar tu semi-anonymous, saya juga suka gambar ni sebab nampak ‘motherly’, ada watak keibuan chewah… harap bukan ‘nampak’ je, tapi betul-betul hehe.

4. When is your last time you ate pizza?
Hmm setuju dengan Baiti, apalah tiba-tiba tanya pasal pizza ni. Last time I ate pizza was in December, with my two sisters – a girls ‘secret’ night out hehe.

5. What are you doing right now beside this?
Ermm.. digesting lunch. Thinking/planning on tasks to settle this afternoon.

6. What name do you prefer besides yours?
Nilam Sari. I have no idea where that comes from. Well actually it’s almost an acronym to my name (out by 3 letters). But that doesn’t sound like a person’s name, kan? More like a business name? Rasanya memang dah ada pun kedai baju nama ni kat PKNS Bangi. But I have liked that name since before that kedai exist, betul! Coincidentally the second name is my sister-in-law's real name (one out of four names).

Tag-athon Part One

Ipohmom tagged me over a month ago (sorry for the delay!). I found this tag quite difficult to do.

The 7 Things Tag

1.7 Facts You May Not Know About Me

a.I was involved in a pretty nasty accident back in 2003.
b.When asked for my parents phone number, I said “It’s too late at night, don’t want to disturb them, call tomorrow morning lah..” I didn’t know how bad my condition was.
c.I got multiple lacerations, fractured pelvic (can’t remember which side now) and had to use a wheelchair for over a month.
d.In 2004, I had an early miscarriage.
e.And after that, I was really anxious on conceiving again, and waited for relatively quite some time.
f.I was pregnant in 2005 and delivered our son in 2006.
g.On hindsight, I understand the hikmah of the miscarriage and ‘late’ conception - probably because my body hasn’t ‘fully recovered’ yet. Allah knows best. Alhamdulillah.
(eh are these 7 facts or just one story? Hehe..)

2.7 Things That Scare Me

a.Thinking about my own death and whether Allah ‘approve’ of me or not
b.Losing the people that I love
c.Makhlus halus (jin/syaitan) – please don’t show yourselves to me!
d.‘Downgrading’ instead of upgrading myself
e.Being alone at unsafe places
f.Being embarassed publicly
g.Making major mistakes that costs a lot

3.7 Songs That I Like The Most

a.I Finally Found Someone – Barbra Streisand & Bryan Adams
b.Unforgettable – Nat King Cole
c.Zawjati – Ahmad Bukhatir
d.Hijrah - Muadz
e.Allahu - Raihan
f.A selawat re-sung by Raihan (don't know what it’s called)
g.Err don’t know, I don’t ‘follow’ music much, but I do like percussions

4.7 Phrases That I Say The Most

a.I guess
b.Hmm
c.Sure
d.Up to you
e.Haha
f.Ok
h.Really?
(agak-agak je ni, I don’t usually notice)

5.7 Of My Precious Things

a.My Quran
b.My wedding ring
c.My friendship ring
d.My books
e.My photo albums
f.The gift from MHH
g.My watch, which is bought by my parents some eight or nine years ago

6.7 Memorable First Timers

a.Being away from my family in a boarding school – for two weeks, I begged my mother to let me quit and move back to a day school. I’m thankful that she didn’t relent.
b.Speaking in front of a huge audience, in a national level competition
c.Being alone in a foreign land, all excited to begin the adventure
d.Falling in love and getting married
e.Holding my first son for the first time right after I delivered him
f.Getting my first bonus
g.Starting up my small business

I don’t know why but I feel like sharing the lyrics of this song, which appears in my 7 favourite songs list. This song is dedicated to MHH, naturally.

I Finally Found Someone – Barbra Streisand & Bryan Adams

I finally found someone
That knocks me off my feet
I finally found the one
That makes me feel complete
It started over coffee
We started out as friends
It's funny how from simple things
The best things begin

This time is different
And it's all because of you
It's better than it's ever been
'Cause we can talk it though
My favourite line was
"Can I call you sometime"
It's all you had to say
To take my breath away

This is it, oh I finally found someone
Someone to share my life
I finally found the one
To be with every night
'Cause whatever I do
It's just got to be you
My life has just begun
I finally found someone

Did I keep you waiting? I didn't mind
I apologise, baby that's fine
I would wait forever just to know you were mine

You know I love your hair
Are you sure it looks right?
I love what you wear
Isn't it too tight?
You're exceptional
I can't wait for the rest of my life

This is it, oh I finally found someone
Someone to share my life
I finally found the one
To be with every night
'Cause whatever I do
It's just got to be you
My life has just begun
I finally found someone
And whatever I do
It's just got to be you
My life has just begun
I finally found someone

The images tag

Thanks Kak Ana for this interesting tag.

“The rules are simple. Use Google Image to search the answers to the questions below. Then you must choose a picture in the first page of the results, and post it as your answer. After that tag 6 people.”

(Hmm the photos are too big. What's the code to make them smaller?)
Size has been reduced, thanks MHH for the trick :)

Updated: Sorry, I have removed these images for a certain reason.

1. I am

2. I really want to go to

3. My favourite place

4. My favourite thing

5. My favourite drink

6. My favourite food

7. My favourite colour

8. I live in

9. I was born in

10. My college was

11. My favourite story

12. My hobby

13. I wish

And now, I’d like to tag: AinaAna, Ummu Auni, Aida, Ipohmom, and Mimi :)

Thanks for this blog award

Thanks to Zufa for this blog award. I'm so touched! You have said many kind words..

It's yellow

This workstation tag is from Anamiraa. Here’s my little yellow cubicle, it’s only about 2m by 2m. It’s usually this messy, sorry to say. My department adopts the open office concept, so there are some 50-70 cubicles like this for us the kulicutives (a term I found quite funny, coined by a colleague). I was reminded of the bees’ hexagonal cells, especially because they are yellow, since I watched the Bee Movie some two weeks ago. Worker bees we are, indeed. Hopefully we are rajin like the bees too.

Notice the calculator on the desk? Nowadays, I only need to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, but I still use the same good old scientific calculator that has been with me for the past ten over years. And the blue bag under the desk on the left is my cooler bag for my EBM. I don’t get as much as I would have liked to anymore, but I still try to persevere. Behind me (not in photo) is the file cabinet. Otherwise, everything is the pretty much similar to an average workstation: a pc, photos of loved ones, quick reference to certain contact numbers, post-it notes, the in/out tray. Ok, now I’d like to pass the baton to Aina Ana, Mektwain, Ummu Auni, Limau Nipis, and Raiyan. Share with me what your workstation looks like, boleh?

Two tags

The first is from AinaAna, which has been due for more than a month. Sorry kak - it’s quite a difficult one, this. Anyway, here it is:

1. What is the most important thing in your life? Deeni, family, and values
2. What is the last thing that you bought with your own money? Food.
3. Where do you wish to get married? Already married, at a place I had wished to get married, which is home.
4. How old do you think you will be permanently owned by your love? Until ‘old’ is no more, insyaAllah.
5. Are you in love? Absolutely! :)
6. Where was the last restaurant you had dinner? I can’t remember, it was before Ramadhan. Pizza Hut kot.
7. Name the latest book that you bought? Imam by SN Abdullah Hussain.
8. What is your full name? Sxxx Mxxxxx Mxx
9. Do you prefer your mother or father? No preference.
10. Name a person that you really wish to meet in real life for the first time. None that I can think of.
11. Christina or Britney? Who?
12. Do you do your own laundry? Yes
13. The most exciting place you want to go? Europe
14. Hugs or kisses? Both
15. 8 things I am passionate about. Deeni, family, books, food, writing, design, travelling & people
16. 8 things I say too often. Don’t think there’s any that qualifies as ‘too often’.
17. 8 books I’ve read recently. The Last Lecture, Salju Sakinah, Fast Forward, First Impression, Travelog Haji, Aku Terima Nikahnya, a James Patterson book which I can’t recall the title, Satu Rasa Dua Hati
18. 8 songs I could listen to over and over again. Don’t know
19. 8 things I learned last year. Hmm.. this is difficult. I would have to think longer on this
20. Tag 8 people: Silalah siapa-siapa yang berminat..

The other tag is from Ummu Auni. I had previously blogged about 6 weird things about me, and here’s my 7 facts which are not random, and in fact are essential. Here’s a bit more random facts about me:

1. I don’t like jewellery (I thought about this when commenting on previous post) and make-up. So un-feminine.
2. I love potato chips. And my favourite flavour is natural/original or lightly-salted. (How random is this? Hehe. Actually I’m eating some chips right now, so that’s where this came from)
3. I started wearing glasses when I was 10. I have never worn contact lens.
4. I was reasonably active in various sports and athletics in my school days. But now, I don’t even exercise! I’m feeling so un-fit huhu… I really should start making the effort to exercise. Just like the advice I heard from the radio this morning: start small – say, 10 minutes twice a week. Hmm that sounds do-able… J
5. I still maintain and use the first ever email I had (some 11 or 12 years back) until today.

A third attempt

So much for the "I really like this template" and "hopefully I'll stick to this for a long time". The 'long time' turned out to be about two weeks. MHH is right afterall, 3 column templates constrained the main posts column. So, I've reverted to 2 columns - I'm afraid it'll just be a very long side column. I got this Minimalist template from OurBlogTemplates.com. I like the templates there, most of them are of my taste. Let's see whether this one will survive.

New template

Yay! Finally I managed to upload a new template, after several days of trying and getting annoying bx-errors. I had wanted to use a 3 column xml template instead of the old classic 2 column for some time now, since I want to put more things at the side. For someone pretty much html-blind like me, the xml template is so convenient! It's so easy to add and drag gadgets or page elements. I loved my old 2 column template - it's so clean and simple. It wasn't easy to find a new template that I like as much. I didn't like the first new one I tried after a week of it being up. Luckily, I found this one, which I like very much (for now at least). It's still blue (yes, I'm afraid blue is a criteria hehe), clean and simple - hopefully I can stick to this for a long time.

I have started labelling recently, and I will try to label my old posts too. When I started blogging about two years ago, I consciously decided not to label because I worry I will end up with 50 labels, with most posts falling under Miscellaneous. But now, 120+ posts later, I think I have a pretty good idea of what I tend to write. I also put a blog roll so that it's easier to check who has updated. But I don't know why some of the urls wouldn't work - "Blogger could not detect a feed" or something like that. Let me know if I missed your url so that I can add them in too.

I would like to try blogging more often, too, having discovered the joy of post-publishing. My target used to be once a week, now I aim to post 2 or 3 times a week. I hope that some parts of this blog, however small they may be, are beneficial to you.