Eshaq's School of Thought

Get some cashback this christmas

2013-11-30T02:30:00.001-08:00

Back in the old days, when anyone heard the word cashback, they instantly thought of mobile phones and redeeming your bills for cashback by either sending it off to a retailer who you brought the phone from or visiting them in store. Alas that died a sudden death due to the greed of these mobile phone companies who left so many people with large bills to pay and the networks not doing anything about it since the agreement was with the retailer and usually they knew nothing about it. This left a bitter taste in peoples mouth when thinking of cashback.

Nowadays thankfully its a lot more civil. Cashback for mobile phones no longer exists. Cashback now refers to a whole industry who offer you money back on things you buy. Pretty straightforward. No redeeming or showing your receipt is required. Now there are credit cards which offer you cashback but that depends on banks accepting you in the first place and usually the rate is very low anyway at 1% or less cashback. Even the promotional 3% has strings attached. Its usually not worth it and you're better signing up to travel reward cards which work out better in my opinion.

The other route for cashback is via online shopping. Now this is a huge industry. Normally the likes of Google or Moneysupermarket earn money via referrals. So when you click on a link through their website and go on to purchase an item, they get paid a percentage of the transaction. Thats why so many comparison websites have popped up. There is a lot of money through referrals. This is where the likes of Quidco and Topcashback come in. These websites are designed using the same referral system. The only difference is that YOU get paid instead of the companies.

Now there is some serious money to be made. Since I opened my Quidco account almost 5 years ago, I've earnt about £1500. My more recent Topcashback account has earnt me over £300. The areas that you can make the most money are things like insurance, broadband, sky, virgin media, gas and electric. Some cashbacks hit over £200 at times. Thats for a single purchase. As you can see these large amounts of money will change who you choose to go with. For example with sky I usually calculate the yearly overall cost then minus the cashback figure and work out my monthly payment. I do the same with virgin media and compare both to see which one works out better for me. You can apply the same logic to all the other categories.

Now I mentioned that you can save some money for Christmas. Well you can as signing up to these websites are free. Unlike cashback credit cards which you have to make an application for, wait for the bank to credit check you and then finally accept you. And then wait for your card and PIN to arrive. By that time Christmas might have come already. Signing up to these websites is immediate and instant. You could also combine your cashback/travel reward credit cards with cashback websites to maximise returns. I would recomend you sign up to both cashback websites as not all retailers are on both websites. If a retailer is missing from one website, try the other as they can often have different agreements. Also if they are on both, check to make sure who pays the highest and go with that!

You can sign up for Topcashback here.

You can sign up for Quidco here.

The best of the best of the best in backup solutions

2013-11-07T06:41:00.001-08:00

I work for a school who had no ICT operations manager for almost a year. Now that I've joined, I've managed to get them up to a decent standard in terms of network performance and usability. Out of my long list of things to do when I joined, one was to find a good back up solution as up until now there was none! Scary, I know!

As the servers are running on Windows Server 2008, the most straightforward way or so I thought would be to use Windows Backup to make full and incremental backups to an external hard drive. Therefore I went ahead and ordered an external 3TB hard drive. This was a Samsung 3TB D3 Station. It was cheap and I thought it shouldn't cause any issues as it was just for backup purposes.

Once it arrived, I attempted to connect it. As we run virtual servers, the hard drive was connected to the host server. I then used direct pass through to allow the virtual server that was going to run the backups take complete control of it. The host detected it fine and showed the 3TB partition. When I went ahead and attached it to the virtual server, it failed to recognize the partition. It only reported about 300GB in drive management. Eventually I found out that it was due to the hard drive not having 512k emulation and also some other compatibility issues. I eventually gave up with this hard drive.

At this point we were no closer to a backup solution. I then started looking into cloud backup solutions. I came across Amazon S3 and their ridiculously cheap Amazon Glacier storage. The difference between those services is that Amazon Glacier doesn't have fast access to your backed up files. If you need access, you need to request it then wait a certain amount of time, usually 4 hours, before you can restore it. But since I was going to be using it for backup anyway, this didn't seem to be a problem. All looked good until I started to look into how to perform the actual backups. It turns out that Amazons interface is very messy and very difficult to use for backup purposes.

I was about to give up on that when I discovered Cloudberry. Their Cloud backup software appears to tick all the boxes for my needs. They can backup to several cloud services including Amazon, HP, Google, Microsoft and Rackspace. The interface is pretty straight forward and offered all the options that Windows Backup offered and then some. It was also very reasonably priced compared to other backup solutions like Norton Ghost.

Cloudberry allows you to backup network shares so you can backup multiple servers to one location. It also allows you to encrypt backups before being sent to the cloud. This will allow you to protect your data and ensure that even if someone manages to intercept your backup data on route or even hack into your Amazon account, they cannot get access to your data.

I must say this is the all in one solution I have been after and would wholeheartedly recommend it to other schools. Just for comparison, I asked my local authority's ICT department what sort of backup solution they could provide. They came back with a ridiculous price of £2500 per year for 1TB of cloud storage backup. Compare that to using Cloudberry and Amazon Glacier which costs only £80 a year, you can take a guess which solution I'd be choosing.

Three's so called returns policy

2013-10-07T15:05:00.001-07:00

I took out a sim only contract with three on the one plan last week in order to use the sim's unlimited data in a dongle. They allow you to tether so I thought they shouldn't have a problem with me putting it in a dongle as I'll be using the same amount of data anyway, just via a different method. How wrong I was! Read on.

I was happily surfing away for a few days until the internet stopped working. I got a message for any website other than three's own website(how typical) saying that "you cannot use this sim other than in a phone...." I was like wtf?! Why should they care how I use the data as it's the same data whether it's going through a dongle or through a phone tethered. Needless to say I wasn't happy. It's not something they tell you is a restriction when you take out the contract. What I don't get is I am saving them money by not even using the bundled minutes and text so they should be happy for me to use just data this way. But of course like any other greedy corporate business they're just after your money. And when they have that they want more.

Next day I called their customer services. Now I'm not a racist but these Indian call centres are a very big hit and miss. Some companies employe knowledgable Indian people who actually are an asset to the company employing them. Then you get those like three who employe any tom, dick and Harry. Some even call themselves that too.

Anyway I called them and they read their normal script and informed that I cannot cancel because ...........get this.....the SIM card is used. Used? Yes that's right. Well Mr Three how the flip am I supposed to try the sim out and even test your coverage if I can't "use" the SIM card. Do you just want me to buy a sim or phone from you, leave it in a draw and then return it within 14 days unused? How do you expect me to know if I'll be happy if it's in the draw the whole time. Back to the drawing board on that one for you.

So they told me I can't cancel and I was like yes I can since I'm within the 14 day cooling off period. Lady went away and came back and kept on saying hello pretending that she can't hear me. I knew she was lying which I told her so but she stayed ignorant then eventually hung up on me.

I called back. Did the same thing and was told the same script and hung up on again. Third time lucky? Not for me. I called up again and eventually got put through to a so called manager who promised to investigate and get back to me within 5 working days. This wasn't good enough as now I was willing to even pay for what I had used on their now "used" SIM card. It's not as if they resell the sims but I was willing to pay for the data usage as that's all I used and even then it wasn't much data as I said before they blocked access via the dongle I was using. He kept on repeating that he would have to get back to me. I should also point out that at this point he was the manager at the Indian call centre and even then it appears they have no real decision making powers. They most likely have to refer to an office in the uk for a decision. Also at this point I was pointing to several uk laws which they would be in breach of which he hadn't a clue about. I mentioned that as it was an order over the phone I am covered by the distance selling regulations and that gives a 7 day cooling off period which I was still within. Furthermore as this was a contract it is a form of credit and therefore the consumer credit act comes into play here with its 14 day cooling off period. I'm sure there are other laws but I couldn't remember any other at the time. None of this was having any effect on the so called manager. This is one of the reasons why it is a bad idea to have foreign call centres as they will not understand all our laws in the same that we won't understand theirs. Eventually I have up and said fine call me back in 5 days.

I had almost given up but I still had a little fight left in me. Plus it was a quiet day at work.

I tweeted three's customer service but did not get any replies. Useless and a waste of time that was. Then a breakthrough. I was google something and stumbled across the executive offices email address and postal address based in Glasgow. I thought I've got nothing to lose so why not give it a try.

After telling them the whole fiasco in an email I received a call later from a very helpful Jane. She was based in the uk and apologised. She understood exactly what I said in the email and promptly cancelled. I thanked her and did a victory dance. That was that. Its nice when people understand your request and have the power to action them.

Now just to make it clear I still have a three mobile iPhone contract and I do like their unlimited data which is unmatched by any other uk network. However I think their Indian call centres are rubbish and their returns policy utterly disgraceful. They really need to look at that and think about it from a customers perspective.

Don't you just love glitches?

2013-09-26T10:42:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I saw a post on Facebook by hotukdeals and 10 ways (search them up and like them) about a tesco price glitch. The glitch brought the price of chunky cookies which normally retail for £1.89 down to 7p each! You had to buy in multiples of 3 to get that price.

Initially I tried 3 out at the self service. It's best to use self service as staff won't raise eye brows or even worse stop the transaction when they see the price.

Once the test worked I went back and filled up a basket as much as possible. I rinsed and repeated until the shelves were empty. Eventually I came out with a total of 110 cookie packets! The staff were slowly catching on with me repeatedly going through the checkouts but by the time they realised I had cleared the shelves.

These should have cost me well over £200 but I paid only £7.70. This is why I love price glitches like this. I feel sorry for the staff responsible for the error. You can bet they got fired for this.

Cocoa's Cupcakes

2012-06-12T02:30:00.000-07:00

Ever seen fruit made to look like flowers? You probably have. They are known as edible arrangements. However Cocoa's Cupcakes add a twist to this by creating delicious cupcakes to look like a bouquet of flowers. Several people that have seen it including me have thought they were actual flowers. The skill that goes into each cupcake is first class. Hats off to the chef or baker or baker chef.

The story doesn't stop there as they taste as good as they look. The cupcakes contain a nice vanilla flavoured sponge.

Take a look at the gallery. My favourite one is the ice cream cupcake. It looks just like a classic ice cream with a flake. The amazing thing is it even tastes like one too.

If you live in Birmingham and haven't tried one yet then you've been missing out. So go on click through and place you order. Go on I'll even make it easy for you. Here's the link http://www.cocoascupcakes.co.uk/order.php.

Its been a while....

2012-03-24T02:28:00.001-07:00

Ever since Google and their bots banned my AdSense account, I've had less enthusiasm to write about anything since I wouldn't be making any money out of it. But I thought an update for people that actually read if there are any may help.

I've been working on starting up a business to provide IT Support and solutions. Its called IT Aftercare. Hit the link and see how the site is. Hope its easy on the eyes, if its not you need to pay a visit to specsavers. But seriously what does everyone think, good bad or ugly? Any feedback is good feedback as sometimes you need that fresh perspective.

Well here's hoping this proves to be a successful venture. Still a lot more work to do but as usual I will try to keep you updated....that is if Google the (insert expletive here) don't ban my blog account.

Valentines Day Thought

2012-02-13T12:27:00.000-08:00

So here we are again. Another manufactured day just like mothers day, fathers day, boxing day, May day to name a few. Now I'm all for these days if it means we get a day off work. Otherwise its not worth it as we will most likely end up spending one way or another. Now depending on which part of the world you're from, today is Valentines day. If its not yet then Happy Monday 13th February 2012. Now Valentines day is as manufactured as they come. The most common myth or truth depending on how you look at it is candy companies invented it so that they can sell loads of, well you guessed it, candy. However the truth is far more complex. Hit Wikipedia if you want the full story. Bet you thought I was going to give you an explanation.

My point in posting about Valentines day is that even though I am not single, I still somewhat despise the day. The main reason being that people spend aimlessly on ridiculous items which don't mean anything. For example, flowers and chocolate you can buy any day but people always get these which nearly always end up in the bin a few days later because lets face it, a lot of these chocolate boxes contain rubbish chocolates (I'm talking to you Mr Thornton and Mr Milk Tray).

Now if you do decide that you'll be partaking in this event because you are forced into it or you actually feel like doing something nice then here's my take on what you should do. Well I always say experiences are better than actual items. Days out come to mind. Now there are loads of days out from something adventurous as Bungee Jumping to something as calm as a Spa Relaxation day. Now these things although not tangible will be far better received than just another year of the same old same old. Just make sure you actually have it booked and ready for the day rather than just handing a gift certificate on the day because that sure won't be received as well although the other half will eventually enjoy the gift.

So now you know what you can do for next years Valentines day because I'm pretty sure if you haven't already thought of this then you'll have missed the window to get these kind of things booked so better luck next year assuming that is you don't become single. If you unfortunately do then may I be the first to say Happy Thursday 14th February 2013!

P.S If you're single right now then Happy 14th February 2012. Hope you have a good working day like the rest of society.

Don't Buy An iPad 2 Wait For The iPad 3

2012-02-08T07:17:00.000-08:00

When it comes to Apple you either love them or hate them. Some love them for their simplicity, elegance and ease of use while others hate them for their secrecy, software restrictions and pricing. However what I say is each to their own. The reason Apple is back on the rumour cards again (some say the rumours never end) is due to the iPad. It's done a full circle, that's 12 months to normal folks, and come round again for an update. An update shall I dare say isn't really needed but is expected. Most iPad 2 owners would say that they are perfectly happy with their current version of iPads and cannot see any ways to improve them apart from the obvious i.e. speed, storage, battery life, etc. Therefore if it were up to them there would be no new iPad but as with any technology, improve or get left behind and that's something Apple cannot afford to do.

Well according to numerous sites we are due for a new iteration of the iPad which will have an original name of iPad 3. Can you imagine the number of meetings it took to decide that? As with the previous generations, we are expecting an announcement around March 2012. This tallies with previous launches with the original iPad launching on 3rd April 2010 and iPad 2 reaching consumers on 11 March 2011. Even accessory manufacturers are predicting March 2012 as the launch month. However no one will truly know until Apple say so.

So what can we expect with this new iPad 3?

1. A6 Processor

This one is more predictable than most others as it would be a logical step in speed increases. It would also keep in line with Apple's competitors who rightly so will be launching quad core based products, possibly using chips such as Nvidia's Tegra 3. Having a quad core will allow the iPad 3 to run the expected higher resolution screen as well as other multiple apps all at the same time.

2. Retina Display Screen

What better use to put all that processing power than a display which runs at a phenomenal 2048x1536. This could be subject to change but double the current iPad 2 resolution would make it easier for developers to recode their apps in the same way developers recoded for the change in resolution from iPhone 3GS to iPhone 4. Some may say this resolution is an overkill but others might argue that this would be one of the unique selling points amongst the many others which Apple will use to their advantage in their marketing material.

3. Better Graphics

At CES 2012 Imagination Technologies unveiled its new PowerVR Series6 GPU which will power a number of mobile devices. Now we don't have anything concrete but as previous generations have used graphics chips from Imagination Technologies and Apple are shareholders, it would almost be predictable that Apple would upgrade the GPU and integrate it in the A6 processing chip. For all we know they could already have been testing this with Imagination Technologies deciding on CES 2012 to reveal this.

4. Better Camera

This one is almost guaranteed that it probably doesn't even require mentioning. My predictions are that they would launch it with a rear 8 mega-pixel camera capable of shooting HD video. The front camera is also likely to see improvements possibly being able to record HD so that they can use one of the most overused two letter acronyms today which is HD.

5. Siri
As Siri has already been launched and is being used on iPhone 4S, it would be a rather simple task to implement it on the new iPad. Even regular folks with a little know how have got it working on older iPhone models therefore this is likely to be a feature. However it can be argued that it may not be much use to a tablet user.

6. Other features?
Well I highly doubt we will see NFC on the iPad 3 as there would be no practical use other than payments and I don't see people whipping out their tablet to make a payment. Even banks are struggling to get this method of payment right.

4G? Not yet. This will need far more deployment worldwide before Apple decide to implement it. There is a world outside of the USA and countries such as the UK have not even auctioned that spectrum yet.

What about thunderbolt? If you haven't heard of these, they are a new type of connection being deployed by Apple across its product range. However as Apple is moving more to cloud based computing, it would have limited use and possibly not be worth the extra cost incurred. Even as an option I don't see much consumers taking this up.

If you heard other rumours about their being new models which have different size screens then think again. This is very unlikely as it would fragment the product range far too much. Apple usually do very similar things with their iPhone range and if they haven't launched an iPhone with a smaller or larger screen size yet, its unlikely to happen this time round for the iPad. Furthermore the 10" screen has hit the sweet spot for a tablet. Anything smaller and your approaching phone screen size and risk canabalising iPhone sales. Any larger and you risk MacBook sales. So you can put that to rest.

Finally what about what it will look like? Well here's a sneak preview.

What? Looks the same as an iPad 2? Well there are some rumours that this update will be an internal specs update but as I've said before, this is Apple and they may just surprise you. Then again they just may surprise you by keeping it the same or not announcing anything at all. Only Apple will tell.

Summary
Well I hope I've answer your questions on whether you should buy an iPad 2 or wait for an iPad 3. I would say wait no matter which you decide to buy. There isn't that long to go and once iPad 3 is launched, if you still feel that there isn't a huge improvement to justify buying an iPad 3 then you are sure to find some bargains for an iPad 2.

5 Star Hotels For Cheap - IHG Friends and Family Secret

2012-02-06T14:41:00.000-08:00

Don't you just dream of going on holiday staying at 5 star resorts and living like a king or queen? Well read on to find out how you can make that dream come true.

Now lets start off by explaining that this only applies to the Intercontinental Hotel Group also known as IHG. This includes InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, and Candlewood Suites. Now my title is slightly misleading as only the InterContinental is a 5 star but the rest are very good too and excellent value for money considering what you get. Now at this point I should also point out that always check trip advisor and compare to other hotels to ensure the hotel you select is a good one. Don't be fooled by the polished Photshopped pictures.

Now lets move onto the actually getting these bargain prices. Many people would assume that friends and family rates are just for employees and their close ones but the term here is used loosely. All you have to do to get this rate is ensure you hand in a voucher with the persons name on it when you check in. I'll explain more about the voucher later. Check in will not ask how you know this person or any other questions. If they ever do, just say you know them on Facebook.

Step 1

Go to the following link. This is the friends and family page for an employee of IHG called Steve Sickel.

Step 2

On the right hand side of the search box enter a destination, fill in the dates, number of people and hit search. You will then be presented with a list of hotels that have the friends and family rate available.

Step 3

Select the hotel from the list and it will list the rooms and rates that are available. If breakfast is usually included in a room e.g. Club Rooms, Suites, etc, then the friends and family rate for that room should also include it. Likewise if the hotel usually gives breakfast as standard such as Holiday Inn Express then it should also be included. If in doubt, you can contact any of the hotels directly and they will be happy to answer these questions.

Step 4

Once you've decided on the room you want, you can go ahead and complete the reservation. Please note you do NOT get any priority club points on these bookings even though it allows you to enter your membership number.

Step 6

Once the booking is made all you need to do is print the voucher and ensure you present it when checking in. Sometimes staff will not even ask but just in case they do ensure you have it on you. The link for the voucher is here. Just fill in the employees name, arrival date, number of nights and reservation confirmation number and you're all done.

That's all there is to it. If I use the example from the screen shots above which is for a search in Istanbul, Turkey, we find the Ceylan InterContinental Hotel standard room available on the friends and family rate for €249.05 instead of the standard rate of €293 when you do a regular search on the best available rate. That's a saving of €44 per night. If you stayed for 7 nights that's a total saving of €308. Now that's just one example. If you play around with the search tool, you might be able to find better deals from other hotels all around the world. I should also remind that you ensure you check against published rates as sometimes they have deals like 2 for 1 nights and so on which can work out cheaper.

One more thing, this definitely works as I've tried it myself. Maybe you were never thought that you'd ever stay in 5 star hotels or maybe you're the type that only stays in such luxury places. Either way I'm sure that this will save you money in the future.

Suited and booted for the snow

2012-02-05T07:10:00.000-08:00

Yes! It's that time of the year again. When even the worst ghetto areas look amazing because of the white stuff. Not milk but snow! It was the first snow of the winter yesterday and as usual no one was prepared even though snow had been forecast almost a week ago. Or was it just me that was unprepared? Well anyway realizing that I will most likely end up having a snow fight/battle/war (delete as appropriate), I decided to get suited and booted for the weather. This involved a trip down to my local shopping centre. Some gloves. Check. Some boots. Check....but which one? I was spoilt for choice. Not wanting to break the bank but at the same time get a waterproof boot was a dilemma.

Ever since I was a child I've never had waterproof shoes or boots. Whenever I had to walk in the rain to school or play in the snow, I knew I would always come back with wet socks and frozen toes. Today marked the end of wet socks with the purchase of these babies. A pair of Nike Mandara Boots. And only for £52. Nike sell them on their website for £70 but in this case Sports Direct is your friend.

So there I was walking out with my new pair of boots. I got to the car and immediately put them on as I knew that I would end up in a snow fight sooner rather than later when I got to my friends house. You can never be too prepared. Oh yeah I also bought a pair of socks as my other ones were wet.

Well I must say that it was very weird driving with big boots. I could barely feel the pedals but soon got used to it. When I got to my destination, I gathered the troops and we set out to "clear" all the snow of our cars. Well that's what we told the misses. It was the best snow fight I had in ages. We definitely cleared a lot of snow! By the end of it, my feet were dry and warm and I felt like I had run a marathon. The same can't be said for my neck, ears and nose which were frozen. I must remember for next time to get a scarf and hat. But I recommend these boots. Excellent, lightweight, waterproof and they look good. What's not to like?

Here's a shot of one of the streets with the snow while it was still fresh.

Tesco Clubcard and Avios

2012-02-03T06:05:00.000-08:00

Staying on the topic of holidays, I thought I'd let you all in on a good thing. A bit like spreading the festive cheer or something like that. Well have you heard of Avios? No? What about Airmiles? Am I getting warmer? You must've heard of Tesco atleast otherwise where on Mars have you been?!

I have regularly collected Airmiles for the last two years and wished I discovered it sooner. I have been moving my Tesco Clubcard points over to Airmiles since I discovered that they are worth more than just spending it on rubbish at Tesco. Previously a £2.50 voucher used to get you 50 airmiles and all you needed was 1500 airmiles to get a return trip to Istanbul. That works out at £75 compared to a regular ticket which prices on average at £200.

Alas Airmiles is no longer Airmiles and has been rebranded by those bandits British Airways. It is now known as Avios. Now this was a huge devaluation of all those Airmiles I had been collecting for ages. They also stopped including charges for taxes and fees meaning we now had to pay that as a seperate charge on top of using our points. I could write forever about how unfair the UK airport taxes are but I'm sure I'll reach some kind of limit, be it Googles limit or the limit of my RAM on my computer.

Now even though things have changed, it is still by far the best way to spend those hard earned Tesco Clubcard vouchers. Right now Avios have a bonus offer of 1000 points for every £2.50 Tesco Clubcard voucher. This offer is valid between 26/01/2012 and 31/03/2012. So lets work this out and compare to before. Now all I need to get to wonderful Istanbul is £37.50 in clubcard vouchers as well as the damn tax of £27 which is actually discounted for Zones 1 and 2 on the Avios map. That makes it a total of £64.50. Now you're probably thinking isn't that cheaper than before the rebranding. You are indeed correct Sir Madam. However remember that this is only a limited time offer.

After the bonus period the offer returns back to normal which is 600 avios points for every £2.50 Tesco clubcard vouchers. On the calculations above it works out as £89.50. Now this is still less than half the price of a ticket were you to buy it using cash so it still works out good.

So my final thought is if any of you reading this shop in Tesco's then join start collecting Clubcard points and if you already are collecting then stop spending them in store and convert them to Avios especially during this bonus offer! Adios for now folks.

Too Good To Be True

2012-02-01T10:05:00.000-08:00

Some would say that I go on too many holidays, I say you can never have too many holidays. So when I got back from my holiday to Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, I started looking for my next destination. Fast forward a few months and I was playing around with the Thomas Cook booking engine when to my amazement discovered a holiday too good to be true. It was a 4 star(don't get me started on the star rating abroad) all inclusive holiday to Greece for £109 per person. All excited thinking that I found the deal of the century, I decided to go ahead and book it for the family. I clicked next, declined all the other add on extras they try to flog you nowadays and when to the final total to pay stage. Lo and behold the price had gone up to nearer enough £600 per person. I thought I had made a mistake so went back and sure enough it was still showing as £109 per person.

Being a keen bargain hunter and not wanting to miss out on something that my children's' children will tell for generations, I gave Thomas Cook a call. Now the nice young lady on the phone instantly knew what deal I was talking about before I even finished my first sentence. It turned out that there was some error and they had received loads of calls about this. She told me to get lose and stop being cheap. OK that's not true but she said you can't get something for that cheap and this was one of those cases where it was too good to be true.

Her Majesty's Prison Day Out

2012-01-26T10:31:00.000-08:00

Today I visited a prison, Her Majesty's Prison to be exact. Well that's not accurate but I don't really want to give away the location in case they come after me. But what an experience it was. I think all unruly children and small wannabe gangsters should be made to spend a night in prison. Trust me that will stop them from going down the wrong path. It sure deterred me from committing any crime and I'm a fully grown adult though some of my friends dispute that but I digress. Life does not look good for people inside. And the only thing that made the experience pleasant was the fact that I knew I would be going home at the end of the day unlike the prisoners. Kids heed my message: you may think its cool to be a gangster but trust me there's nothing cool about being a prisoner which is were you are definitely likely to end up. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Amazing sunset after work.

2012-01-12T15:35:00.001-08:00

You know that feeling you get when you just finish work. That extra bit of energy just as soon as you walk out the door. The one that suddenly wakes you up after a long shift doing repetitive work. Well today that was made even better by this sunset. Need more of these in our lives if only to take away the misery of our boring jobs. Don't you just love sunsets?

Measure your height accurately or else!

2012-01-12T05:40:00.000-08:00

I always assumed I was a 5 foot 10 inches in height. That was until last year when I measured myself, can't remember where but I measured myself as 5 foot 9 inches. I thought ok fair enough. But today I measured myself and I am 5 foot 7 inches!

Now either I have shrunk or I've been sloppy in my measurements before, most likely the latter. But you might be asking, why the big deal. Well let me tell you. I have been trying to lose weight forever and recently I assumed my body mass index(BMI) was OK. However in light of my new measurements it turns out that I am in fact overweight, a fatty, one that eat all the pies, obese, OK not obese but you get the idea. Now it turns out that my target weight which previously was about 70kg is history as I have a new target weight of 65kg. By the way I am 75kg at the moment. 65kg would bring me to a BMI of 22.5 or thereabouts.

So that is why I say if measuring something, then do it accurately from the start or else!

Never Use Cotton Buds To Clean Your Ears

2012-01-09T14:57:00.000-08:00

For days I've had a blocked left ear. Feels very debilitating. It makes life that much more harder. And the cause of it - cotton buds! After swimming one evening I felt my ear needed a bit of a clean so decided to use a cotton bud like I always do. Unfortunately I ended up pushing whatever I had in my ears further inwards and in the hope of trying to retrieve what I had just pushed in, kept on trying with more cotton buds. This ended up piercing my ear drums according to my Doctor.

I've always used cotton buds to clean my ears since I was a child. Little did I know that after googling it, most experts recommend never to use these to clean ears. This is news to me! I'm sure they were at some point even called ear buds or did I just imagine that?

My advice to everyone out there is stay away from cotton buds! Use a wet towel and only clean as far as your fingers will go. I'm sure God designed our ears with a small hole so we can't do damage like this to ourselves.

Ever tried a near vertical water slide?

2012-01-07T06:39:00.000-08:00

This is one of the rides at Waterbom Bali where you stand on a platform which opens up and swallows you down a tube in which you fall without touching the sides. Eventually it smooths off but it is one of the most scariest ride I've ever been on. I did wonder at the start of the ride why there were no queues. After the ride I knew exactly why there were no queues - its too scary to try twice. Its a must see if you are visiting Bali.

Hello World

2012-01-06T12:28:00.001-08:00

More to come soon on here once I work out what to put on here. Thinking.....