Earth Hour

The picture says it all. Earth Hour.

This Saturday, let us come together to make a different by switching off all the electrical appliances at home. I will switch of everything except for my fridge. I can't help that.

Some of you may asked, what different does it makes? Well, let me tell you, it makes a lot of different for that particular moment. The world temperature will drop and also the CO2 level will drop too. However, I think, this is more than just the particular moment.

Earth Hour is to bring to our awareness that they Earth is sick! In fact very Sick. All of us have a role to play in helping to bring the Earth back to his best form again.

So let us come together and switch off our electricity on the 28 March at 8.30pm for an hour. If longer, better still.

You can be romantic on that day, have candle light dinner or have bbq. Try it, it will be fun! I am doing it...yes, by having lok lok...
Oh... I just remember, I will be away, so my home will definately be in dark!

Oasis at home

One of my hobby is to tend to my garden. Little space did I have, as I stay in a condominium, I try to have as much potted plants as possible. Here in my balcony, which is rather big, I have water lily, lotus flowers, orchids, fern, Japanese roses, lime tree, money plants, varieties of cacti and many more.

I always believe in doing something to help in keeping the environment cleaner. As such, I do plant some flowers here and there. Not much I can do, but it is also great in helping me to exercise during the weekend.

rain drops on fern leaf

I have to put fertilizer on the flowers and plants once a month. At the same time, I will loosen the soil to soften it and encourage water flows. Loosen the soils will also encourage more air in the soil which will makes the plant healthier!

Pegaga

I have some fishes in my balcony too. I have them in my lily and lotus pots. This will prevent the mosquitoes from breeding in the water. In the pots, I have Japanese Koi, guppy, beta fish, moon fish, sword fish, neon tetra, some small prawns and also the zebra fish. In addition, I have the fish that helps me to clean up the alga in the ponds too.

water plants with Japanese Koi fishes

I had tried planting orchids in my place before but it died after a while. I had never succeeded in planting orchid what more to see it blooms. however, this time round, I had successfully tendered to my orchid and seeing it blooms, not just one stalk of flower but two! A lot of effort is needed in making sure the orchid survive and it blooms too. The place must not be too hot nor too dry. I have to water it every morning and evening, fertilized it twice a month and also to cut away roots that had died. I tried putting some egg shells surrounding the base too.

Lotus flower...too heavy that it need support!

Japanese roses

The Japanese roses is one of the easiest to plant and take care. It need constant watering and once a month to fertilized it. Other than that, it will just grow under hot sun! Before this, I have them on the shaded place and it can't grow much. Until I move them to the top, they started to flowering non-stop!I bought this lime tree two years back. It has consistently flowering non-stop through the year but I did not realise it took a while to the the fruits ripe. This year, I have to make sure it flowers in July so that the fruits will be ripe by Chinese New Year and I can put it for display again!

Fern

At the end, I just love to see my garden blooming and at the same time, this little oasis I have at home, is helping to keep my balcony cool and also occasionally, I have birds and butterfly flying near too!

randomness

I have been busy last week, with conference, meetings and more meetings. Much have come and go, and one of the thing I am still can't believe myself is to reject an offer to work for NG in Australia...ahh... what I am doing here?


With the frustration of work, I grab my camera and heads towards my little 'oasis' in my condo, to take some shots. The lotus flower is finally blooming again. The lime tree, the orchids and the japanese rose have bloomed so many times but this red lotus seldom!

I love playing with the macro and the little petal is just so unique and amazzing to see up close.

Too bad this flower don't blooms for long. It will just last about 2 days.

While editing, I found some old pics I took. So here...

Dew on paddy field.
This is one flower that I don't have a lot of chance to see...It only blooms at night and will die off by morning. We have seen the fruit so common but the flower, have to wait for the right time!
Can you guess what this is? Oh...I don't take this in my little 'oasis' but elsewhere.

This flower is so amazing that we can see it open slowly in about an hour... well, I don't think that is slow but that actually is fast! Its about 1 feet long and very refreshing to see...

So, do you know what if that?

Its actually the dragon fruit's flower...

Ahh... back to work!

Myanmar Cyclone: How to Help

This will be a different post, as I think this is a concern for everybody and everyone can help too.

Cyclone Nargis has inundated Burma's densely populated rice-growing Irrawaddy Delta, destroying entire towns and villages. Tens of thousands of people have been killed by the storm and as many as a million survivors are homeless. The storm has also destroyed infrastructure in Burma's largest city, Rangoon, its "satellite towns" and other areas. This disaster has been compounded by the regime's deliberate delay of international emergency assistance.


Myanmar Cyclone Appeal AG from leonalim on Vimeo.
Souce: Leonalim

Last weekend, we in our church also raise fund for this country during our service. We get our people to donate so that relief works can be carried out in this country. Aids can be in form of cash or kinds such as medicines, food, blankets, beds, etc. The little that we give can make a whole different to the people there. we are chanelling the fund to the WAGRA (World AG Relief Agency).

You too may help by donate securely online at http://www.agrelief.org/donate.cfm to make a donation with your credit card.

Alternatively, you can also donate to World Vision Malaysia. They have people in Myanmar who are doing relief work and you can visit their website for more information.

I received an e-mail from one of my friend whom have travelled extensively across Asia in particular Indo-China. She has ask for help so that aids can pour in to this Junta rules country. Below is her email.

Dear friends,

As the world is now aware, Cyclone Nargis has inundated Burma's densely populated Irrawaddy Delta, destroying entire towns and villages. Tens of thousands of people have been killed by the storm and as many as a million survivors are homeless. The storm has also destroyed infrastructure in Burma's largest city, Rangoon, its "satellite towns"
and other areas. Emergency shortages of drinking water, food and shelter are being suffered and there is an imminent danger of diseases such as cholera. This disaster has been compounded by the regime's deliberate delay of international emergency assistance. Burma's deforestation also made the cyclone's damage worse. The cyclone will have long-ranging effects, as the Delta area was Burma's primary rice growing region.

Links for ongoing information and disaster relief donations are below.
The groups listed appreciate and will make good use of any contribution, even very small amounts. As one way to deal personally with this immense human tragedy, I recommend organizing a small benefit event such as a concert, reading, art sale, dinner or film show, inviting your own friends, family, co-workers, neighborhood or community and sending the proceeds to a relief aid group. Children often have excellent ideas for such events.

I personally was in the cyclone which took 139,000 lives in Bangladesh in 1991, and I know how extremely important a concerted, well-organized, and well-funded ongoing relief effort is for survival and recovery in such an enormous disaster situation. Even though these are hard economic times everywhere, I hope that you will consider making some contribution to the relief effort, either on your own or by making others aware of the effective donation options available.

best wishes,
Edith Mirante
Project Maje
www.projectmaje.org

DONATIONS for disaster relief can be made via these organizations:

Medecins Sans Frontiers (already distributing emergency aid in affected areas)
http://www.msf.org/

Medical Emergency Relief International (already bringing aid to the Delta)
http://www.merlin.org.uk/

Thirst-Aid (water purification is an urgent priority)

http://www.thirst-aid.org/Poster.html

Avaaz.org (special fund via Burma's Buddhist monks) https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/

MercyCorps (experienced disaster relief experts with local partners) http://www.mercycorps.org/

For constantly updated information, see these news sources:

BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/asia_pacific/2008/burma_cyclone

The Irrawaddy
http://www.irrawaddy.org/

Mizzima News
http://www.mizzima.com/

US Campaign for Burma (also accepting disaster relief donations) http://uscampaignforburma.org/

Act now to save life!

Climate Change Week 2008

YTL community is bringing the show the 11th Hour this coming 29th April to 4th of May 2008. They are giving free tickets to the screening of this show at the The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center (KLPac). This show is in conjuction with the Climate Change Week 2008, in which YTL is taking the initiatives.




The 11th Hour is naratted by Leonardo Dicaprio himselft. I wanted to sign up to collect the free ticket but after checking the date, I realise I will be away.


Climate Change Week is a public outreach initiative designed to educate and raise environmental awareness, with the mission of inspiring action among Malay-sians to solve global warming.

Anyway, if you want to collect your free ticket, click here to register. However, this is in basis of first come first serve and today is the last day to register.

Below is the synopsis of the show.

Adelaide, Sister City of Georgetown

Well, I have been there and I know some of you would want to know more about University of Adelaide. So, here I am trying to post some picture of this university and its surrounding. This post will be bias as I have not visited other universities in Australia, I can't give you any comparison, just only the good part about University of Adelaide.

flower found growing in the campus ground

at a park near the university

in the graduation ceremony

the library

somewhere la....

the river that runs by the university

Just in front of the university

As for other information on the Adelaide and what you can do there, click here.

Farewell Party

Thank God that they did not invite me for party earlier.. if not, my time with them you will see me growing horizontally!

I am impress by my student cooking, and even my wife is impress. She is asking me to learn from my student how to cook...not that I can't cook or I don't cook...it's just that I don't know how to cook chicken curry...

yo...Indian, but... he speaks hokkein and speak, read & write mandarin...hai seh...better then me

So, now what? I will be the student and they will be my teacher?

the chef

anyway, they did a farewell for me since I will not be teaching them anymore. 4 months is not long neither it is short. We have learn from each other, and grow to know each other more than, just a student or even as a lecturer.




anyway, thank you my dearest student for all the trouble you all took to cook the chicken curry, fried mee hoon, sushi, jelly, dessert, cakes and getting ready the fruits. Needless to say, you all plan all this during your exam period. Thanks again!