some interesting bits i came across:
Energizer "D" Battery Exposed
Pomegranate and Blueberry Juice Consumer Shopping Guide
Mystery Meat Macrophotography

never on my life will i eat as well - foie gras and shark's fin. i already stopped shark's fin for about 3 years to date.

farm sanctuary also has their own video channel on youtube. was also watching a series of videos featuring jamie oliver - entitled aptly, jamies' fowl dinner. want to learn about kfc uk's practices?
and i'm considering seriously to become vegan in the future - check out milk - the deadly poison. didn't expect there to be a notmilk.com site to go against the campaign of got milk? another milk related video explains it well too. even the wife of the inventor of the heimlich maneuver, jane, has written somewhat about it too. search for "milk" on mercola.com and you will find some interesting articles.

another few interesting sites i came across too:
http://www.juiceguy.com/
http://www.naturalnews.com/
http://www.goveg.com/
http://www.kentuckyfriedcruelty.com/

food for thought, anyone?

on a separate note, i was able to extend the ringtone on my mobile by keying in **61*1389*11*30# on the phone. seems like there's nothing better than a 30 second period of time where i can pick up the phone, if not the line would be cut off. but hey, it was better than the 15 seconds which i had to live by for over a full year!

some "healthy" drinks are not so healthy after all.

how come some of these drinks we can pick up from the supermart, have 10 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters volume? so far, the pokka green tea, blueberry tea, and many other brands of beverage have similar levels. those that aren't that bad, have 5.5 g/100ml.

even the sunkist orange juice drink i'm having now is 11g/100ml. no wonder people these days are having so many forms of illnesses at an earlier age than in the past. a lot of drinks are using creative copywriting and packaging to sidestep the high sugar content.

that's one more reason to exercise!

wonder which pair of shoes she'd be getting... would it be a sh-wm60 or sh-wm80? i hope my memory wasn't that bad, they are estimated to be ~s$140 and ~s$190 locally... although online prices list them as us$99.95 and us$179.95! assuming that i remembered the correct prices, the sh-wm80 makes a big value!

on the same note, i hope my girl is fine now - her bak chor mee made her throw up in my room on sunday morning. can't be anything else since she said she felt a churning effect in her stomach right after finishing it for lunch on saturday. will process the claim for her tomorrow since food poisoning is covered by the contract definition of personal accident plans. yes, food poisoning is considered as an accident only by my company.

when you get an accident plan, do you ask, "what is the definition of an accident?"

most companies require these: "accidental, external, violent and visible" - in any order. however that means all four conditions must be satisfied! now, for my company, it's "unforeseen and involuntary." which one do you think covers effectively more than the other?

which of the above definitions would benefit you more?
i provide the second set of definitions through my work.

after reading about yimian's 700++km ride in japan... i had this funny idea creeping into me too... so guess what, judging from this thread i started in togoparts...

was concerned that i need to solve the disc brake compatible rear rack system - it seems that only a tubus disco would do the job... for 154usd! good grief! was looking through a topeak super tourist dx wouldn't really work with my mountain bike frame... urgh! and i have yet to talk about the cost of the pannier bags! psst! we're talking about two set of racks and bags!

so here's the few things i gotta cater for
- airfare - and work in the cost for shipping two bikes
- the tubular pannier racks and the pannier bags themselves
- tools and the most efficient way of packing/unpacking the bikes

i just love this advice/answer to why do bike touring: "Get out of the cities as fast as possible and spend most of your trips in the countryside...and warning from experience...once you start cycling you'll never be able to stop. These bike trips refill the virtual gas tank of your soul. Every time you travel, you'll think about doing it in this manner. Planning for the next journey, however far out the timetable, will occupy your thoughts constantly. At least it does for me."

sorry darling, if we gonna travel, might as well do something that you and i have never tried before... can't sit and rot our butts in tokyo for a full week, don't you think so? bike touring, anyone?

just watched a video from this site... absolutely makes me feel like going to ride!

yep, it's already day 2 of 2009 now.

now, for the real writing of the day - i will get really organized this year. the big 30 is looming over the horizon for me - and i'm behind time, considering that some of my pals of my same age already have TWO kids. that's right. i'm behind time - but i'm very sure i'll catch up.