Electrostatic Shock

Electrostatic shock  is not a word you'd hear often, but it occurs on a regular basis for everyone, some more often than others. Static electricity is all around us all the time but goes unnoticed on most times. Ask yourself this; have you ever received a shock from a car door or other door handles, the shopping trolley or even when you touch a friend's arm? Well, that's electrostatic shock!

In recent months, my colleagues and I have had more than our fair share of electrostatic shock at the office. Everything we touch seems to give us an electrostatic shock - even when passing a simple piece of paper without the touching of our hands! This in turn has led us to making numerous complaints to the company to look into this issue because lately, the shocks are more frequent and the impact much greater. One colleague even commented that her fingers are numb after each shock.

Our health and safety officer finally made his rounds today to look into this problem and find a cost-effective solution that would be most practical for all. First thing he did was distribute, to all of us, a write-up which articulates the reasons for electrostatic shock and the ways we can protect ourselves.

We all had a good laugh when we read that one of the ways to protect ourselves was to remove clothing! No way that's going to happen in our office! But one method that we really think would help in our office environment in the short-term is to place water containers/plants around the room (but this only offers a protection level of 3/10). So, that will be one method we will try while we wait for the management to put in place a better protection plan for us. Anyone know of any other methods, feel free to share!

Ten Things I Love About You

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach 
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning 

Julia Quinn's latest historical regency, Ten Things I Love About You, will hit the bookstores (in America) on May 25. When it will hit Malaysian stores is another matter, but that's another story for another day. Ten Things I Love About You is the story about Sebastian, who was introduced to us in the book What Happens In London.

If you're one of those who have been waiting anxiously for this book, you can check out the excerpt! Her website www.juliaquinn.com offers a lot more on her other books, so check it out too!

Via Dolorosa

Tomorrow will be Good Friday. And at this time every year, I'm blatantly reminded of how Jesus was crucified... and rose victoriously from the grave just a few days later.

So, in order to fully appreciate the significance of Good Friday, we must never forget the greater day, Easter Sunday! Good Friday would be meaningless if Jesus had died and it'd stopped there. His death would have been any ordinary death and it would have meant that he is powerless against death if he had not risen again.

Yet, Good Friday, for me, would always be special simply because Jesus died FOR ME and uttered these words "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). 

But it's sad how Easter has been overrun by bunnies and commercialism. In these days, if we do not tell our children about the real meaning of Easter, all they would think about would be Easter Eggs and having a good time. Just like Christmas has become a tradition of giving gifts, Easter has become a day of decorating and hiding eggs. I'm just glad that my child understands this bit - now I just have to pray that one day my child will also accept the salvation that Jesus offers.

Well, words will never be enough to describe the pain our Saviour had to endure for our sake but this song does help, in a small and simple way, to remind me of how Jesus not only died but suffered at the hands of those who'd just praised and hailed Him as the King just a few days past. 

Down the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem that day

The soldiers tried to clear the narrow street

But the crowd pressed in to see

The Man condemned to die on Calvary

He was bleeding from a beating, there were stripes upon His back

And He wore a crown of thorns upon His head

And He bore with every step

The scorn of those who cried out for His death

Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering

Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King,

But He chose to walk that road out of

His love for you and me.

Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary.

The blood that would cleanse the souls of all men

Made its way through the heart of Jerusalem.

Praise be to my God and Saviour who loved me and gave His life for me. Hosanna to the son of David, Hosanna to the King of Kings! Amen

The Biggest Loser

Lately, I've been hooked on the programme The Biggest Loser - the determination of the participants to lose weight and how they look after the weight loss is really interesting to see. It's also given me tips on how to trim some kilos from my own body weight.

I'm not overweight though I've put on at least 13kg since high school! That's close to 30 pounds, not much if you consider that I'm in my late 30s - to console myself, I've done some calculations and have determined that I've only gained an average of 1.7 pounds per year... not too much when broken down like this. :P

However, I have a tendency to gain around the waistline and in the cheekbones. So, I look fat every time I look in the mirror or take a picture. And my metabolic rate is close to zero, which is no help at all.

So to lose weight, I've resorted to eating more vegetables and fruit and less carbohydrates and getting some exercises done. So far, I've seen a drop of some 3kg but I don't feel any different.

But slow and steady wins the race - that's my strategy in my weight loss programme. I've realised that if I were to do it too quickly, it won't be healthy and probably won't stay off for too long. I just hope that I can stick out the programme and hit my target of 13kg by end of June.

The higher you climb, the harder you fall

This old adage is certainly true for Liverpool FC. We started the season on a high after losing out on the EPL trophy last season by a miserable 4 points. The vibes were good pre-season but the loss to Tottenham at the season opener brought us back down to earth with a loud thump! From then on, it's been downhill all the way with little climbs along the way, in a one-step-forward-three-steps-back kind of way.

Consider this - we achieved 86 points and only had 2 losses last year but with only 7 games to go this year, we've amassed only 51 points but have already had 10 losses this year! The worst kind of statistics anyone could ever hope to see.

It's taken me this long to get over the loss to Man Utd on Sunday last. Not that long because my mood hasn't been very cheerful this season. And the latest news that Riera will be leaving for CSKA Moscow has brought me even lower.

Can someone please explain to me why we're releasing good players when we're already down to the very bare minimum? Just what is Benitez trying to do? Force the owners to fire him because he can't afford to pay off his remaining term by just walking? Well, if that's his plan, then I think he'll fail because the owners don't have the money to pay his sacking fees.

So, at the end of the day, the only ones to lose big-time will be the club and its fans. With promises of silverware and the possibility of finally landing the EPL trophy at the beginning of the season, now the only highlight is to win the Europa League...

Latest I've heard is that Benitez has lashed out at Torres, asking him to "focus a little bit more".... Excuse me, did I read this right? Torres has been the ONLY player, it seems, to be focused on playing well. The other players were mostly napping on Sunday and he was the only one who seemed determined to win. And if I were to start a rant on Benitez, this post will be at least 10 pages long.

At the rate we're going, I certainly won't be surprised if Torres leaves at the end of this season. It would absolutely break my heart if that happens, but nothing surprises me any more...

F1 is back! Yay! Not...

The highly anticipated return of Michael Schumacher (for this blogger it was) to the F1 circuit has finally arrived!! It was with much excitement and glee that I sat down in front of my tv last night just to catch a glimpse of my all-time favourite F1 driver make his long-awaited comeback.

Alas, his return was the ONLY highlight of the entire race. With the banning of refuelling during a race, pit-stops were BORING!!! In fact, the entire race was boring as there were little, if any, overtaking except when someone's engine stalled or some other thingamabob burst. Yes, I know, the refuelling was done to cut costs but hey, then what's with the additional racing teams??? Why cut here when you're gonna add it somewhere else? If it was done to make the race more exciting, then all I can say is that it failed, to me it did anyway.

So, all I do know is this, I'll not waste another minute watching another race. I'll just read the news for more glimpses of Schumacher.

Pray without ceasing

Sounds dramatic, doesn't it? Who can possibly pray without ceasing in a literal sense?

Well, a sister once shared that praying without ceasing actually means that we have to consciously maintain a bond with our God at all times whether it be listening to Him, talking to Him, shedding tears with Him, having communion with Him, reading and meditating on His word or just sitting in His presence. This in essence means that we should have a relationship with God. And I have to agree with her on this.

She also further stated that God will answer our prayers if we are earnest in presenting our requests to Him and in accordance to His will. I have to add that I believe that God ALWAYS answers our prayers. Often times, I've heard people grouching that God has not answered their prayers but I believe that this is because God's answer may not have been the one they expected/sought, so they did not realise that He has answered.

I have only one child and many a person has asked me when I will have another child. It's a funny question - why? Well, having a child isn't something that I can control. I can put in a lot of effort by eating the right stuff, or tracking my ovulation calendar and ensuring that I'm living a healthy life. But, at the end of the day, only God can give me another child, and even then, it will only be done if it is His will for me.

Yes, it grieves me that I've not been successful. At last count, I personally know seven other women who are pregnant at this time and I have to acknowledge that the longer it takes for me to get pregnant, the harder it becomes. But what grieves me more are:

1) my child grieves too because she's so lonely and longs for someone to play with and to share her experiences; and

2) the fact that most people have commented that I've not prayed hard enough or put in enough effort, hence God has not answered.

Well, let me just say this - I have prayed daily and I've prayed hard but I do believe that God has heard my cries and HAS answered me. For now, I've accepted that His answer may be No or Wait (not too sure which one it is exactly but I do know He has answered)...and the only things that I can continue doing are to pray for His will to be done, that I will be able to overcome my disappointment and grief (and that my child can do the same too) should He continue to reply in the negative and that I can take comfort in the reminder that God ALWAYS works for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). Praise be to His great and awesome name!