It’s interesting how sometimes to find happiness, we need to create that happiness. Just like today, the happy moments of the day was when my a few of my colleagues were thrilled with the cake I brought to work for them. It’s happy to see them happy.
Looks like I’m still a failure when it comes to living what life is really meant to be. But we need to take courage, and persevere because despite our short comings, God still loves us and have so much installed for us.
I have been fascinated with LED technology for car lighting. Besides the obvious benefits from lower power consumption, lasts longer and less generated heat (did you know that we can’t fit HID into any lamp without considering if it can withstand the heat?), LED lights also adds the *modern* look to a car.
Well, LED lights can come in either individual bulbs or a whole set of light fittings (complete light set replacements). That means it could cost as little as AUD4.00 to a few hundreds of dollars.
For starters, I have bought myself a pair of 7 *traditional* led bulb W5W – white with blueish tint. I am planning to use this for the car’s parking light (so brightness is not that important!). On the other hand, W5W bulbs are used in a variety of other lamps such as interior lighting, rear 3rd brake lights etc.
Here’s a picture of the W5W on the right parking light:
Compared with the old original W5W, which is obviously brighter and more yellow:
Comparing the 2, the 7 led white bulb is NOT bright enough for functional use. I will definitely recommend using SMD led instead (brighter type of LED). However, I have a feeling it will be very hard to get pure white LED lights. It’s mostly tinted with blue.
So looks I might just use these 2 LED to replace my rear license plate lighting.
I will also compare this with the Philips Bluevision lamp. Unfortunately I can’t get LED H7 to test on the dipped light as the bulb is encased in a diffuser. The LED H7 bulb is too thick to fit. So stay tune for more LED experiment. Next would be the 3rd brake to trial LED upgrade.
I was doing a little read up and searching online the other day to see what’s in the market for 7 seater vehicles. These are generally a mix of wagons, suvs, vans and 4WDs.
My budget is generally quite low with up to 40 thousand dollars. I think at 40 thousand dollars, A LOT of 7 seaters are out of the radar.. Vehicles like Toyota Kluger, Honda Oddyssey, Audis, VWs etc… I’ll also leave out the van type or vehicles so people movers are out as well.
So what’s left are the Peugeot 308 Touring, Hyundai Santa Fe (low end model), Holden Captiva (also low end models), Ford (i think), possibly the Dodge 7 seater etc….
My favourite so far is still the Peugeot 308 Touring.. it has really flexible 2nd and 3rd row seat setup (you can almost literally set the config your self.. check out the video) and folds flat!. Also 3rd row airbags that *most* 7 seater do not offer. Fuel efficiency is amazing and handling is good if not better than average. However, the biggest down side to me is the odd and rigid Peugeot driver posture (ie distance of hand to steering versus leg to pedal). Time and time again peugeot drivers tend to complain about the lack of steering wheel telescopic adjustment. It always seems as though peugeot drivers need to either sit really upright or have unusually long arms. Oh well, I’ll confirm that next time if I take one for drive test. I do own a Peugeot 206 and it has that unusual downside tooo…
Next on my list now seems to be the Hyundai Santa Fe. It is an old model about to be replace by some IX model which is more expansive. So far the reviews are good.
Omitted Gold wagon as I forgot it doesn’t offer 7 seats!
Lately I have been thinking a lot about names. This is because we as parents have the responsibility of selecting our children’s names. Traditionally, all we need is one single name since most chinese family typically have a format to follow such as Tan XXX YYY where either XXX or YYY would have been a generational name to identify/link our siblings and cousins together. In my Tan family case, the XXX for my generation is Kuang while Elijah (my son) ‘s generation is Yuan.
Unfortunately for me and my wife, Yuan is the chinese character for dollar 元 . Unless you’re a fan of money, being a dollar man doesn’t really go well with me. Anyway, this whole issue of finding a chinese name (YYY) for elijah and also in some way, whether Yuan will sound good with it sparked a lot of discussions and mind you, praying and asking God to help us get a name fit for our wonderfully made and magnificently destined by God, son.
Chinese to English
One topic of discussion was how we have been translating chinese names to english. I wish I could just write the chinese character on sheet but that won’t help achieve much in and english literate society. So traditional, we do a direct translation like in my case, Tan Kuang Khye. Word for word. Simple?
Think again how many chinese literature have been translated word for word to english? I doubt a chinese literature would make much sense directly translated into english. It would break all kinds of grammar and sentence formation rules etc. Similarly, there are *evidence* that directly translating chinese names to english do have it’s mishaps. How often are we called, in my case, Kuang tan? This is essentially my middle name. I’m glad I have an english first name, Joel.
Essentially, this let me think about how if we could reorder things around. In any format, english or chinese, we have the “family name”, “middle name” and “Personal/identifying name”. In mandarin, this would be “family name” + “middle name” + “Personal name”. Similarly, in english format (following most western english countries), it would be “Personal name” + “middle name” + “family name”. So maybe I should have been called Khye Kuang Tan over in the Western country WHILE at the same time, if I pen down my name in mandarin, I should write Tan Kuang Khye.
Unfortunately, things have been so long done in a direct translation that reversing the Khye and Kuang will be a “taboo” to our chinese families. How sad a simple misinterpretation can lead to such rules.. Similarly, we must always try to understand the Bible the way it was written back in it’s time and language before putting it into context to our lives.
Family Generational Names
I must admit I am proud that my Tan family has it’s own book dating back to some ranked Imperial/government officer. Basically, ever since my *forefather* went and settled down in Hainan, we have been maintaining a written record of each offspring + some spouses from generation after generation. My name and my brother’s name are also in the book. There is probably some *care taker* at the *ancestral temple* that looks after this. Sending some money is the usual way of getting things done.
So what’s the problem there? Sounds like a good system in place – convenient too…
Well, firstly as mentioned above the current generation will use the word Yuan 元. Both Elijah’s parents are not jumping for joy for the word but on the contrary, it seems to have no added value at all other than to maintain tradition.
Following from that, maintaining tradition is not that simple. We haven’t yet asked the question what are all those 26 words (the family words) referring to. Unfortunately, none in my famiy in Malaysia knows what the complete 26 words are. So we have no idea what we are chanting generation after generation through our name. That’s right.. chanting.. It’s easy to forget that repeating something usually results in something… e.g. remembering it. Are those 26 words some that will resonate with our believes? What if it’s something that emphasize materialism etc. I don’t know if I want that to be in my family values knowingly or unknowingly.
Ancestral temple, are we being worshipped as our names are there? Do remember our forefathers were most likely ancestral worshippers in China. There is a big difference in worship/praying to our ancestors and honouring them. Easy to link together but it’s not the same thing. Spirituality is the key difference.
The only access to the words is to write in mail requesting for the one generation or pay a lot of ang pows when visiting that ancestral temple. For those who don’t know, visiting a family place in China will lead to giving out ang pows (money) to every single family member, from close ones to even those that may have some link to the family. This could mean the whole village!
Furthermore, will this be able to survive the generations to come who are most likely to be away from Malaysia and Hainan. Generations that are unlikely to master the chinese language.
Gender biased
Another obvious trait passed on from the old days are the favouritism shown towards boys.
Wall, imagine family names could be from the father or mother. tracing back would be too difficult since it would be confusing to firstly identify is the family name is paternal or maternal or both.. To me, it’s just like the toss of coins to decide and it seems the boys to inherit family name. Putting aside all arguments, it’s a simple and effective solution!
Fine, how about that famous 2nd name we siblings and cousins inherit. It’s quite obvious that girls often get left out (on the contrary freedom of name). Family poems used for 2nd name are more often than not biased towards boys. If it doesn’t fit for girls, than girls were not considered when choosing that poem.
Anyway, before I get distracted, are we supporting a system that is biased to boys? How can be better it. Remember, it doesn’t have be a poem but a collection of words. Sometimes I think we have the power in hand to make things better. Rather than to discard something potentially good but incomplete, we should try to make it better.
System or purpose
After all said and done, it’s great to have a family book and ancestral system but in truth, it serves a purpose – to record the family tree. So the book and system is great until unless there is a better way to do it. For example, inclusion of spouses and family lines from daughters. Isn’t it sad if tradition dictates that daughters can’t trace their maternal side?
For my family, the book will always be there. No one will rewrite (obviously) and it’s value is still immeasurable. However, continuing it whether through it or another more effective method should not dictate our lives. After all, it’s a tool. The book method and poem method is great especially in times where literacy and access to data is limited.
I thank God we are all children of God, we are all brothers, sisters, mums and dads to each other in Christ.
Better write something before this gets dusty!
Well, today is pretty much the same as previous days. Just gonna highlight a few new things:
1) Elijah’s eyes seem to be the same – some discharge still building up lightly around the eye after each feed. So our paed doctor gave us the green light to use a prescription eye drop. It’s getting slightly better now but will have to wait a few days and see if it’s really better. Although Elijah doesn’t seem to be bothered by it, the routine of cleaning and putting eye drops after every feed can be a little taxing on us and him. It’s also taking 2 adults to do the eye cleaning procedure.
2) Slings – We got round to the nearby Nature’s Cradle to try out a few baby carrier/slings. The best so far from there seem to be the hugabub. Choice recommended hugabub as the best *sling* type carrier during their test. The best carrier ranked by Choice was Bjorn Active. I personally like the hugabub because it’s so flexible (all kinds of carry position). It’s also probably one of the only double shoulder carriers that is 100% attached/assembled on you before lifting the baby up to insert. Also quick to put in and take out the baby. Check out the videos on youtube.
The downside was people commented it wasn’t great for heavy babies but that is generally the case across most front carriers. Furthermore, I have read quite a few ebayers selling their carriers because their baby prefers the pram.
3) Food for mum & dad? – Well I have developed a slightly sore throat and tongue after eating so much ginger based food. Even my mum agrees she can’t take too much ginger anymore.. haha.. So I’ll probably see more normal dishes otherwise I’m not coming home for lunch!
I cannot keep count the number of times people commented on Toby (our dog) in regards to Elijah’s *safety*. So I have decided to share a little about what we have been doing and also learnt over these period. Keep in mind that every owner and dog are unique. The less we are able to prepare and train dog and owner, the more likely dangers will arise when baby is around.
OK. To begin here are a few things we must keep in mind before the arrival of the baby:
- Responsibility of pet care must rest on both, if not the less busy of the parents: Looking at post baby arival, there is no way the nursing mum will have time to look after anything other than her baby. Remember, routines such as feeding, walking MUST continue. Otherwise our pet’s and baby’s safety is at serious risk.
- Adjust pet to less attention: Don’t we love to lavish our pets with attention. Unfortunately, with a baby at home, time is a precious comidity to spare. As a result, pets will need to adjust gradually to *less attention*. The earlier we do this before baby comes, the better. For example, we seldom entertain or play with Toby. We keep walking to once a day (sometimes once in 2 days when busy!) and play is only when we fail to walk him or see he is restless due to inactivity. Family and friends around the house during baby’s arrivial should also keep attention to minimal. Remind them that if they want to play/walk with the dog, the MUST do the same frequency again even when baby is around. So use that as a guide.
- Restricted zones and objects: All dogs must adhere to space restrictions. Either we can enforce it verbally or if that doesn’t work, physical restrains such as gates and fences. However, I am finding just restrictions from the baby room is NOT sufficient. We will more often than not use halls and dining area for play and siesta too. So either we have those common areas as restricted zones or the dog must be able to leave on command and stay away or kept out on command. DO NOT TRUST any dog with our babies without supervision *ie.. in our sight* at all times.. Don’t leave the dog alone with baby even to go to the toilet or grab a cup of water.
- Cleanliness: No need to elaborate much. Any where baby will be touching should be dog hair and fleas free. All dogs should have flea protection prior to and when baby is around. Most monthly worm tablets would have included flea treatment. Dogs should also get all vaccines up to date before baby arrives.
- Baby smell: I thought this was useful. It was recommended to get some of the baby’s worn clothes home while mum and bub are still in the hospital. Probably leave it on the couch or somewhere to introduce the smell to him. Treat it like a restricted object. An item doggie can smell but not touch. The idea is to get dog used to the smell.
- Baby sounds: If you’re hard working enough, record the babies noises and play it at home. Again this is for the dog to get used to it. Toby is still not used to the cries as he will always get up and come near at every cry or noise.
At the end of the day, it will depend on dog and owner. Not all dogs live well with kids as a result of dog upbringing and character.
I think I should start putting down in e-pen on my daily life with Elijah. Might find something useful or memorable in days to come 
For starters, here’s today’s events so far:
1) Wake up and wait for Elijah’s feed before cleaning his eye lids with Chui. Elijah has some significant discharge building up around his eye lids. Doctor’s advise was to keep it clean a few times a day and if it’s still there after a few days or getting worse, it’s time to visit him. So I guess it’s time to visit him on Friday since 2 days have passed and still no improvement.
To clean his eye lids (not eyes!) use boiled water (and cooled down to warm) and soft cotton/wool buds. Use a fresh bud on each eye.
2) Next was a quick breaky before we had a visit from Auntie Merilyn. We had a nice time of fellowship with Aunty Merilyn, Chui, our mums!, Elijah and myself. A prayer and word from the Lord for Elijah and also some catch up time, especially great news and testimony from Pastor Manja.
3) Well, the day passed by quickly, next was sending the mums’ off to some shopping before rushing back to help clean his eyes again. Today was the first time Elijah held a long smile… almost 30s! So it must be a smile! Not one of those muscle twiches.
Some other highlights the new gifts from Auntie Merilyn and also one of Chui’s best friend all the way from US! Wow… thanks.
Experiment: Well, today we tried using the waterproof nappy cover. We found that the traditional cloth nappies tend to get soaked through! This often spread to our clothes in the process of feeding and cuddling. So the cover actually did work! We can also reuse the same cover over the next few fresh nappy. Now to get a few more to cope with the miss fires and also daily washing.
This “water proofing” won’t work with the modern nappies if we combined with traditional nappies. The modern nappies will soak up a bit and reusing it will spread the wet stuff back to the new fresh cloth nappy. Best to use the modern nappies with the modern inserts.
The covers are usually just covers with no soaking capability and are also water proof. So those are the best solution to cover over wet nappies.
Oooo.. forgot to mention laundry!! Morning is usually the time I put all the baby stuff to run a load in the machine and hang dry. Evening I’ll collect the dried ones and hang up the urine only rinsed nappy for drying. We don’t really use any special disinfectant for laundry. Just normal clothes detergent to soak the soiled nappies. Less detergent overall for baby stuff.
What is Econetic all about? We see it on the television and hear it in the news. Ford Fiesta econetic claims to have better fuel efficiency than a Toyota Prius.. Wow?
For starters, getting a fuel efficient of 3.7l/100km is definitely a great achievement for any vehicle manufacturer. A few years ago while we were hunting for a new car, getting 5.0l/100km and below was already a rare achievement. Bravo to Ford.
Now for the real discussion. How did Ford achieve this? I will not scrutinise detailed technical aspects or compare numbers. It’s really quite *simple* about how they achieved it.
1) Lighter car: With less weigh to the car, it’s obvious that the car will need less fuel to carry it’s own weight around. Ford went to the extend of removing the spare tyre from the car.
2) Smaller car: Another obvious point! Small cars carry less and weighs less leading to better fuel efficiency in the *right* driving conditions.
3) Smart gear shifting: Ford introduced the *green* light to indicate optimum gear shifting. However, this is highly dependent on driver cooperation. Anyone in a hurry will probably only see red…..
4) Other car factors such as car lubricants, low resistant tyres etc. Hint- good tyres and regular quality service for any car helps optimise fuel efficiency
By now you would have noticed my cynicism. It’s a great achievement but I feel it’s a marketing gimic to compare a small car with a medium sized prius. It’s also a matter of time before other manufacturers will introduce their own version of sub 4l/100km small cars. Afterall, the fuel efficiency features are just based on a lot of common sense which by the way, we can already start introducing to our own vehicle and driving habits.
I saw an interesting program on foxtel the other day. It was showing a few religious/cult prophecy regarding end of the world in Dec 2012. From a Christian perspective, the bible clearly states no one will know when.
However it did highlight a very interesting issue. Will our world crash if all electronics failed?
How can this happen? As science is already observing, the sun emits solar flares that can disrupt any form of electrical/magnetic instruments. Currently, the solar flares are small enough for the earth’s natural magnetic field to deflect most of it. But imagine one that is big enough to penetrate and cover the whole earth.
So are we prepared for the impact? For example, think about our economic system. It is 100% reliant on digital technology. Paperless money systems, shares etc. What will happen when all our cash in the bank gets wiped out? I doubt physical cash will be of much value either in the long run. Are we prepared to survive without anything electrical (hey, even cars today have digital systems that starts the car!)?
I guess the biggest impact is that we often rely on digital systems to fix digital equipments… so there’s the problem..
Oh well.. just thought it was an interesting scenario that “could” happen.
Thought I should pen a few words to keep my blog going going going..
This morning I got a surprise! It was quite unexpected and definitely new! I was lying in bed and suddenly felt some rapid movement/fiddling on my back (lying side ways). My mind was quickly awakened as I knew what it was… Baby Elijah! Well, Chui had her belly against my back and our baby started moving. So it was, my first wake up call from Elijah.. I’m sure there will be many to come.. “having the scene of a young boy jumping in my bed early in the morning…”
