A good camera is worth it

Before Christmas, I finally made the decision to purchase that DSLR camera that we've been eyeing for a long time. And I made sure that we got it before we went on our Christmas break so that during Christmas, we can take good pictures of the little boy's experiences.

I'm so happy and glad that we eventually got it and there's truly no regrets spending that money on a DSLR. Although we aren't pros at using it and the pictures aren't all too great like a professional's work of art, we are really happy with them. A picture paints a thousand words and we are glad to have quicker shutter speed to be able to capture moments of the boy. Previously, we have lots of blur pictures of him because he moves too fast for us. Now they aren't always clear too, but at least it's not all blur most of the time! Haha.

I have set the quality of the camera to Fine instead of Raw because the latter will produce pictures in very large file sizes. As it is in Fine mode, it's already quite huge and I think my little old laptop might soon have to go for memory upgrades if I keep storing the pictures in it. Alternatively I just have to store them in an external drive but it's not that convenient to pull out pictures whenever I want.

Anyway, here are some shots of my little one at Christmas time. He's grown quite a bit from the last time I posted pictures of him before Christmas. It's amazing how fast kids grow and change!

I have to admit some of the pictures above are still blur, but that can be blamed on the mother who still doesn't know how to handle the new camera properly. But at least I like some of those blurry shots.

Happy New Year!

Here's wishing everyone a good 2009 ahead. Come what may in the new year, I hope we all sail through and make it a good year. With the current state of economy, I know we all worry what will happen as things change so fast and no one knows the future of a company, especially a US based company. I work in one and people tend to think that it is a little more risky than working in a homegrown company at this point in time. I can't agree less.

Anyway, since times are so jittery, it may be a good idea to start looking at some insurance policies for the little boy. We've gotten him an education plan and I'm starting to think that a savings plan with guaranteed yearly income distribution would be good. I haven't gotten any agent to give me an insurance quote yet, because I'm still thinking whether it's going to be more difficult for us to bear more commitments in times like this. What do you think?

Hmm...this started out as a new year greeting post so I shall not dwell into financial matters and touch on the gloom that is the global financial crisis. Sorry I even dragged you reading this far!

So here's to all of you, a Happy and Healthy 2009 ahead!

Just when I was thinking of quitting...

Lately I've had thoughts about quitting the workforce altogether, and spend my time to do two things. I wanted to start a home business just so that I can earn enough to pay off my monthly bills, as well as to stay at home and take care of my boy myself. This all came about because his babysitter dropped the bomb on me early this month to say that she is quitting on me and so I needed to find another babysitter soon. After some persuasion, we have until end of January to find him another babysitter.

I guess my thoughts on this was very much driven by the fact that I did not want my boy to go through a difficult transition when changing babysitters. He is rather attached to the current one and has been very happy going there. I know that if he cries when he goes to a new one, I would be crying right alongside with him too. Thus my thoughts on taking care of him myself just to save him that pain.

It's not easy to make a life changing decision like this, but I somehow felt quite optimistic of making it work and day by day, I seem to be more confident that I can pull it off. Then, out of nowhere, I suddenly got unexpected calls from companies asking if I would consider making a career move as they have opportunities that they feel I may be suited for. Thinking it's no harm finding out, I agreed to some of these meetings and now I find myself thinking things all over again.

The prospects of a much better paying job certainly changes a lot of things. Of course, my boy is still my top priority in life, and I think that with more income in the family, it means that we can do even better for him now and for his future. Of course nothing is even close to being finalised and there's still the possibility that none of these will eventually work out and I may still be with the same job, and still thinking of quitting. It's just that the "what if" has been thrown my way just when I thought I'm close to making a big call for change in life.

It also doesn't help my case that some of these opportunities actually match some of my interests. In reality, it's not that easy to find jobs that you really enjoy doing. So when they are presented to you, you would naturally want to grab them, right? If only they were to offer totally unrelated work like programmer jobs or even a position in finance, it would be very easy to say thanks but no thanks and walk away without having to ask "what if?"

So what if, what if? I don't know. I'm just going to explore these opportunities as I go along and will decide only when the time comes to make a decision.

Alibaba sure has everything and anything!

Have you heard of a site called Alibaba? It's been making its name of late and has become one of the favourite sites for people to source for all kinds of products. Alibaba.com is not just a place for sellers to put up their products for sale, even buyers can put up postings on what they want. You can safely say that you will find all kinds of things on that site. I was curious as to what extent they claim to have everything and anything under the sun, and I just ran a search for cheap diet pills and I actually had a list of products staring back at me! Now I believe they really have it all!

To Singapore we will go this Christmas

This year's Christmas will be celebrated in Singapore for a change. It's always been in Muar, Ray's hometown so I'm quite excited about a change this Christmas. And, it's also baby's first time to Singapore. Actually, it's his first time out of the country. We had just made his very own passport a week ago.

I shared this news with a friend of mine who lives in the US and I was telling her how excited I am to celebrate Christmas in a different country. I know Singapore isn't exactly very different from here, but it's still a different country!

This friend of mine, upon hearing this, invited us over to the US for a holiday and maybe spend Christmas there the next time around. She recommended that we tour a few cities if we get there, and she recommended that we try out Westgate Reservations for good hotels should we decide not to house with her. Seeing how expensive the US dollar has become, I think I would rather crash in with her if she doesn't mind!

But US is a bit far and expensive for us to think about right now. Singapore will do for now. Plus, we have many good friends and some relatives there too. It should be a warm and sociable Christmas. I'm truly looking forward to it!

What's your Christmas wish list?

It's already into the first week of Christmas and I've yet to finish my Christmas shopping list for my loved ones. Ray has set his eyes on something he likes and bought it for himself. He's giving me an easy way out by saying that would be my Christmas gift to him. That works well for him except that I truly love to shop for gifts for people!

But in the interest of time, I guess I'll just have to take him up on this. I asked him if this means I should also pick up something Ilike and make it his Christmas gift to me...which I think he will appreciate because it means not having to brainstorm and go shopping for his wife! Haha. Hmm...I actually don't have anything on my Christmas wish list nor any specific items that I've set my eyes on. Oh wait a minute...there actually is a small one...I love Thomas Sabo's jewelry. So if I can't think of anything else and neither can he, then I should just settle for one of those blings! :)

What's your Christmas wish list like?

Time flies, one year gone by and another to begin

When the year is almost up, I often look back and reminisce. Sometimes it sets me off to a pretty gloomy mood looking back at the year that was. Not because it wasn't a good year...but because I look back and think how fast time has zoomed past and we didn't really stop and smell enough roses along the way. And you can't go back in time and pick up those moments again. You need to move along ahead and you tell yourself to remember to slow down and smell them next year. And then the cycle goes on and on in pretty much the same way.

At every year end, I also think about making some worthy new year resolutions. As it turns out from my many years of experience, I never stick to them. So why bother, I ask myself. And so for the coming new year, I don't think I'm gonna make any!

This is also the time to crack my head thinking of Christmas presents. It gets harder and harder each year buying for the same people in your life, doesn't it? But still, I find it rather satisfying when I get something that the recipient totally enjoys. The sales are on and there are plenty of promotional products out there, so I'm going to get the shopping done hopefully in 2 weeks time. The only stuff I've bought for Christmas are some new clothing for my little boy.

And speaking of my little boy, it's been a really long time since he made an appearance here, huh? I'll end this post here with some latest pictures of him.