Welcome to my Blog!

I have just these 5 simple tips for better sleeping at night. But that doesn’t mean you can substitute 8 hours of slep with just 5, along with these tips. They merely help you enter your sleep better and faster (for people with insomia problem like me).

Tip#1 - Get a spray or air fragrant solution (the one with a candle burning) that helps you to relax your mind and muscle. I do not have any recommendations, but I got mind from “The Body Shop”. This helps you enter your sleep faster.

Tip#2 - Play some relaxation music. I prefer classical music, with the piano and violin. You may prefer your own kind of relaxation music, such as new age or yoga ones, but not those with heavy bass and fast tempo. Play only for the first 30 minutes !

Tip#3 - Use an eye mask. The eye mask is used to prevent light, blinking lights from triggering your sleep and affect you. In fact once I started covering up my eye, my mind would be tricked to sleep. Worth a try, helps your to sleep throughout.

Tip#4 - Do not consume food before sleeping! Experts say not to eat 2 hours before sleeping, but how do you know the exact time to sleep ? Instead I tell myself to stop taking any food past the 9:30pm (doesn’t mean i eat till 9:30 everyday). I aim to sleep at 11:00pm-12:00am

Tip#5 - Stop using the computer, or any “stressnous” stuff for the brains. The brains, after I tried experimenting during my UnderGraduate studies, would barely rest even after I close my eyes. Due to the nature, stuff like IT development and Financial markets, the brain still continue to think and reason, making my sleep shorter by 1 or 2 hours everyday.
Solution: Relax into your sleep 30 mins at least. Brush your teeth, face your face, or just do something to “cool down”.

That’s all people, have a great sleep. Oh and yes, spend 1 day of the week to sleep like 10 hours. This would be your “Sunday restoration day”.

This is a page full of tips for guys to better get to know a girl. I listed this in a way so that it is easier and clearer to ask. This is a very “systemetic” approach to getting to know someone, though it sounds very mechanical.

This is a list of questions which I have came out with, after messing around…

I hope you may used it for dating someone,socializing, or for whatever work or friendship purpose. The most important thing is to get both parties to talk and communicate. It is not even referring to the level of understanding each other yet.

Prepare to answer question about yourself as a reply!

Career:
1. Where do you work
2. How is your boss
3. What time do you go to work
4. What time do you knock off
5. How do you get to work ?
6. Are your colleagues fun loving, older gen, or a mixture, messy, politics place ?
7. Is your company good at all ?

Education:
1. Where did you complete your degree / etc..
2. What CCA u took >?
3. Was your course difficult?
4. R u the hardworking type or lazy type?
5. Were there alot of guys or gals in your course?

Family:
1. Do you have siblings ?
2. Are you close with your parents ?
3. Are your parents working ?
4. What does your parents work as ?
5. Are they overly-protective or do they give you freedom?

Personal and hobbies:
1. Which area do you live
2. How tall are you
3. What do you do on weekends
4. Do you like sports ? What do you do to maintain healthy
5. What are your hobbies ?
6. Do you like (insert your own hobby)?
7. Did you recently went for holidays ?

Food:
1. Do you prefer japanese food or western ? (2 most common)
2. Do you like spicy food
3. Where do you have lunch
4. Who do you have lunch with
5. What about dinner ?
6. Do your parents cook ?
7. So do you prefer healthy eating do are you a huge fan of food?

Fight or Flight (continue or quit!).
Warning: This is as good as showing hand all your cards. Used with care, its double or nothing! Use if known for >3 months (general guide). A good chance to learn if he or she is already attached…

1. Are you attached ?

If attached:
2. How long have you been together ?
3. How do you get to know your bf ?
4. Do you all plan to get married (if many years)
5. Whats the most romantic thing your did with your bf ?

If not attached:
1. What kind of guys do you like ?
2. Why aren’t you attached yet ?
3. Are you LES LOL ?
4. Can I date you for a meal ?

This idea is taken from OWASP, a pentest methodoloy checklist framework for pentesting webapp vulnerabilities.

Yes it’s Christmas and New year, and I’ve spent quite abit, apart from the rest of the usual boring months. This year was alittle bit different. I spent quite abit of time with old friends, had some great time with them with the joyous occasion.

Also just recently, I realize some good ways to have good ROI with investments vehicles of up to 10%-15%. SO with this newly gain information, I hope my portfolio of money management will have some slight adjustments.

Oh yes, it’s nearing the end of 2009 (in fact its 2010 now), just taken quite abit of year end bonus here, but not alot. This had went into that investments, and subsequently I would channel some percentage of my money to that vehicle hmm… just thinking about getting $3000 a year for my $30,000 worth of investments…

And it is coming close to a round of increments to salaries roughly 3 months time.

$500/month Citibank Step up Account

Expenses
$20 Dinner for Xmas Eve
$15 Drinking for Xmas Eve
$25 KTV Singing
$20 Dinner for Post New Year ?
$40 Presents for my dear cousins

I wrote one of my expenses to be the X mini speakers. Guess what. I applied for this HSBC credit card, and it actually offered me a free gift. And its another X mini speakers! The same model.

Without hesitation, I immediately took it to my office and sold it off at half the price, by just being friendly. If only I had waited, I could have save that $36. Anyway, it had passed already. This HSBC card indeed gave me what it mentioned; with 3 transactions a month, you get a $5 cash rebates.

My aunt too gave me a $100 voucher for a bookstore, Kinokuniya. I ended up buying $200 worth of books. Well, books are knowledge, and I can read them at a later date, since these information don’t go outdated. (I bought all books related to stocks investment etc)

Here’s this month’s breakdown:
Savings and Earnings

$500/month Citibank Step up Account
$150 - Profit from US stocks trades

Expenses
$100 Kinokuniya books!
$20 Some Audio CDs. Korean ver - Boys over flowers
$12 A couple of bubble teas. They cost $3 per cup.

This month, Great Singapore Sale happens, (I guess it happens every country too), and I had gotten a good deal. Since I am very tall at 186 cm or 6 foot 2, I need proper office shirt that has long sleeves, not too big at the sides and waist, and something not expensive. So I have only 2 choices here locally, Marks & Spencers and G2000 apparels.

So this month, I’ve gotten 2 very good deals, buying 5 shirts priced at $69.90 for only about $31.xx (can’t remember how much), and a wallet priced at $90 for $65.

This was G2000 going at a 40% discount, and on top of that a Citibank Credit card 25% discount, so in total, I had a 65% discount ! We, luckily I waited and waited and finally I gotten in and got all. Since their shirts are all cut the same for all shirts, it’s easy for me to go back, buy and not worry about any misfits.

The wallet, was from a 2 day special by Tangs, a 20% + 10 % discount, so not a bad deal, and too was provided by Citibank’s Credit Card. I guess I found good value in keeping this card!

As for trading, I stopped, because freaked out like what other books had written. A single large failure will cause small investors like us to quit the market, lose moral and confident, and this is so true. I am still human afterall.

Here’s this month’s breakdown:
Savings and Earnings

$500/month Citibank Step up Account

Expenses
5 x $31.xx = $150 - G2000 shirts x 5
$65 - Pierre Cardin wallet

I know cats don’t catch rats and mice, they just love to “play” with them. but this is interesting. By the way I am a rat (the first animal) on the 12 Chinese animals horoscope.

Due to my mistake, or my busy schedule, I missed the due date for my credit card charges payment. I didn’t really paid late, but I paid the bill via one of the bill payment machines after about 6+ pm. To the bank, this is consider “late” because its after their office hour.

So I called UOB Bank, and incredibly, they had an automated call system such that if you are doing a waiver on credit charges, just enter your Identification card no. and your credit card number. After two weeks, an sms was sent to inform me that my charges were waived. Phew…

Here’s this month’s breakdown:

Savings and Earnings

$500/month Citibank Step up Account (I really wondered should I continue with this?)
$300/month POSB MySavings
$8.XX (interest) Passive earnings
+200 from our government

Expenses

$1550 UOB bill (Last December)
$800 Red Sofa (Last December)

As a active online blogger (as well as going on with my life), I wish every reader of DennisQuek.Com and SingWithPiano.com , a Merry Christmas 2008 and a Happy New Year 2009!

I found this image and christmas song cute, so I am posting it here to share with everyone!

Let’s Sing together everybody~~~~
Latest Christmas carol for 2008..

You’d better watch out
You’d better not cry
You’d better keep cash
I’m telling you why:
Recession is coming to town.

It’s hitting you once,
It’s hitting you twice
It doesn’t care if you’ve been careful and wise Recession is coming to town

It’s worthless if you’ve got shares
It’s worthless if you’ve got bonds
It’s safe when you’ve got cash in hand
So keep cash for goodness sake, HEY

You’d better watch out
You’d better not cry
You’d better keep cash
I’m telling you why:
Recession is coming to town!

Finance products are confusing
Finance products are so vague
The banks make you bear the cost of risk So keep out for goodness sake, OH

You’d better watch out
You’d better not cry
You’d better keep cash
I’m telling you why:
Recession is coming to town !

Hope you like it !!!!!!!

Even though with the current recession, the drop in share price of AIG, followed by Lehman Brothers Bank, and now the US recession, the Asia’s economy is still going strong. Currently in the Asia region, we see a slight increase of the impact felt from the US economy downturn.

Bigger companies are starting to cut jobs, restructure, etc. to save cost. Though we are still seeing a huge number of companies hiring, but it is not immediate. When the demand of services and goods drop, which also means a drop in sales and profits, will impact the companies here, say 6 to 12 months.

I have a few friends in the Banking sector, and all they say is that business are “not as usual”. Cost cutting measures take place, and they wonder if they are even needed. It is good if management regroup, reassign resources to other departments, get employees into training so they can be tasked on other work.

Recently, Citigroup announced jobs cut of 50,000, FIFTY thousand jobs, All aroud the world ! ANd I believe a majority are the senior or higher management staff (because you can save more by axing higher paid ones). Now this makes me wonder if my money should remain with them, but I guess it should be. After all they are strong in the Asia market region.

Let’s hope we could survive this period so that things won’t turn out as bad.