Asian Tiger

Take a look around us, everything is going high definition. The normal bulky television is being replaced with LCD and Plasma TV and these are now being replaced with high definition ones, hence the abbreviation HDTV (High Definition Television). Even hotels that I normally stay in are changing their sets to LCDs. This week, I had the chance to evaluate video conferencing equipment and to my amazement, there are even high definition options; at a price of course.

Everyone who has laid eyes on a flat and thin television will fall in love with it. Gone are the days of bulkiness; gone are the days of fuzziness; welcome to the world of colours and details. Yes, that’s what HDTV does; it brings about clarity in picture, brings up the colours and pictures are extremely detailed.

Yes, everyone is going to love HDTV but not everyone can afford it. New technology always come at a high price tag but there are ways to own one without the high price. You can buy them second hand, pre-owned or refurbished. But of course, no one like used stuff. If you prefer new and yet cheap, look for establishments that sell overstock HDTV. Overstocks are similar to overruns; i.e. the manufacturer produced more than they sold. Note that overstocks are usually earlier models than what is available in the market.

If you are thinking of getting one, don’t wait; everything and everyone is going HD!!!

Can you imagine the number of mailboxes that your postman goes through in a single day? Does your postman put on a happy face when he drops your mail? Can you imagine the unhappiness he goes through when the weather changes from a beautiful sunny day into a torrential rain; yet at the same time, he needs to make sure your mail does not get squishy and wet?
Here are some tips that you can adopt to motivate your postman:

1. Get proper residential mailboxes and/or commercial mailboxes of the right size for the majority of your mails. At least you make it easier for your postman to deliver your magazines when you have a bigger mailbox
2. Use a chalk and write a thank you note on your mailbox to the postman. That would certainly brighten up his day.
3. Put a bottled/canned/packeted drink in your mailbox. Delivering mails can be a tiring job. On festive seasons, put a small gift instead.

Some may argue that delivering mails is the job of the postman and all the above is just unnecessary. I tend to disagree because we are all humans and all humans need to be cared for. We are in fact living in a community on planet Earth, least we forget.

It’s the festive mood of Chinese New Year swirling in the air. Most Chinese families in Malaysia will be conducting their annual spring cleaning and home improvement activities right about now. It is only about 2-odd weeks before we celebrate Chinese New Year beginning the 7th of February for 15 days. This year, I intend to consider replacing some of my home lighting to something more modern and yet sophisticated.

I have always liked my home to be illuminated by bright florescent and I opted to use the long horizontal and round florescence lights. Although it is giving me the level of brightness that I like, after a while, it looks too plain. I feel that my home is not homely enough, not modern enough and not “flashy” enough.

Since Chinese New Year is a time for relatives and friend to visit each other at their respective home, I want to spruce up my house for receive them. Having window shopped around at departmental stores, lighting specialty stores and look a look online for ideas, I am considering George Kovacs lightings for contemporary lighting for the bedrooms and bedside desks.

For the living room and dining area, I am thinking of investing in a couple of Hickley lighting fixtures. Some of them may prove to be a little too grand for my home and those are the ones that I will avoid. I’m looking at those similar to the Eden collection where light is reflected directly down to maximise brightness and the designs are not too flair.

This home improvement activity is nothing more than putting make up to my home but first I’ve got to convince the wife to part way with the money…