N. Tay's blog

A ball of a time

My two favorite boys in action:

Joey and K having a ball of a time

Ain't nothing better

There's nothing like the feeling you get when you walk into the house after a work trip, see your nephew's face light up from across the room when he realizes you're at the door, and then watch him rush over to give you a *huge* hug and then hear him say "miss you miss you!"

Absolutely nothing. =)

Quote of the Day

I was having breakfast with my dad, and we were talking about our line of work, and he equated it to this:

"We're just high-class call girls - but at least we make a decent living [money]."

Well, I suppose if you put it that way...

A couple more hours to free, unlimited NYT access

Good on the NY Times to do this. Now if the Straits Times would just wake up its bloody ideas and do the same. I already get your freaking print edition, why can't you give me free access to your online articles?! And come on, you're not even in the league of the big names in the print media...

Sports espionage

Nothing like some good ol' spying to make things more interesting in the sports world!

This stuff is just brilliant:

NFL fines Patriots coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and team $250,000 for spying on opponent

McLaren stripped of constructors' points and fined $100 million in Formula One spy case

McLaren's gotta be real pissed given they were prob good for the Constructors' Championship this year, what with rookie spectacular Hamilton and crybaby Alonso doing so well. It'd be hilarious to see McLaren's annual report though - wonder what they'll classify the $100m fine as. Heheh.

As for the Pats...WTH were they thinking?? With such a stacked team this year, they could have beaten the Jets without all that spying!

When I grow up...

...I want to be a stupid client. To be blissfully ignorant and throw around silly requests, and have some poor flunkie -for-hire do everything for you. Including really inane stuff like formatting of pictures.

At times like these I think our clients are seriously overpaying us - I mean, even a monkey could do this. Surely my parents did not fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars on my education just so I could channel all my intellectual abilities and graduate-level knowledge* into "Drawing for Dummies".

I was bitching to my sis about some clients the other day, and she said to me:

"Stupid that's why [they] need your help - otherwise they can do [it] themselves!"

Yah, I know, but still...surely there are limits to stupidity?

* Granted, I have probably forgotten 80% of everything I learnt in school, but still...

Bose in-ear headphones - worse than blah

So I just got a pair of the Bose in-ear headphones...and all I can say is - these phones are awful.

I think "awful" doesn't even cover it. I've read reviews of how muddy they sound, but man, this is way, way worse than I expected. I have a pair of Bose headphones that have served me well, and sound pretty decent, so I was definitely not expecting such sub-standard quality.

It sounds like I'm listening to stuff through water! Sheesh. I have to use the Treble Booster EQ function on the iPod to make anything sound even remotely decent. Nothing sounds even close to crisp - vocals sound like the artiste has a cold and to make it worse, the bass is way too muddled.

These definitely pale in comparison to any pair of Shure 'phones (come to think of it, it's an insult to even remotely compare the two), the Sony EX51s, and you know, probably even the stock iPod ones.

The only saving grace is probably that they're decently comfortable, and don't shut off all external noise, so you can use them when you need to hear what's going on around you.

Although, honestly, I don't think these are even decent enough for workout use.

And what's with the hideous black-and-white wire??

Maybe I'm missing something, but these are terrible. Stay far, far away...save your money and get something better (with less moolah, to boot). Or be nice to yourself and get a pair of E2cs for 40% less.

Good grief, these are so bad.

Pity party

So much for having any sort of birthday bash.

My birthday wish this year is that I have a nice, normal, happy and uneventful birthday with family and good friends next year. Is that too much to ask?

I mean, looking back at my last three birthdays - they've gone like this:
1. 2005 - waiting anxiously for news on how my sis was doing. She was hospitalized and she wasn't supposed to be due for another month (but of course Joey is still my best birthday present ever!)
2. 2006 - on board a red-eye flying to a project in Sydney...and then spending the rest of the day alone in crummy rainy winter weather. Bleah.
3. This year - still coughing my lungs out, nose dripping, *and* woke up with a fever to boot. Sheesh. On the bright side though, at least I'm at home.

Poor Joey's not well either - he threw up last night before bedtime, but seems better this morning, thankfully. Like aunt, like nephew, I suppose. ;)

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes!

Back to work in my PJs. =P

Quote of the Day

Over dinner at Zuma, with a good friend from boarding school:

"Clients are all assholes. Every single one of them."

Hahahah!

One less pet peeve

This is brilliant. I would have signed up for it if it was available back then!!