firefox 2 + add-ons

I’ve been using Firefox since IE started sucking. Which means I got it the very day it launched. I’ve been holding off installing FF2 until about a week odd ago. I wouldn’t say it is without its faults. It’s hung on me twice so far, but that’s probably because I’m stuffing things up by testing all those too-darn-cool Add-ons. : ) Well if you somehow stumbled upon here, you’ll benefit from my foray into installing every gosh darn extension that caught my eye and last long enough for me to use it for the entire week so far. I’m a nut for tab browsing, so most of the stuff on the list are enhancing just that.

Here’s the list:

Colorful Tabs gives you nicely coloured tabs that are distinct without being intrusive.
Tab Mix Plus offers you better control over your browsing experience.
Tab Catalog allows you to view your tabs in thumbnail mode by pressing F8 – great if you open up 10+ tabs all the time like I do.
VideoDownloader enables you to download that YouTube clip you’ve always wanted to share.
ForecastFox tells you the weather. Sure you can look out the window, but somehow you will feel more/less cold when you know the exact centigrade. : ) There are enhanced versions as well which I didn’t check out yet. Let me know if they are really better yeah?

That’s all for now. I might do more of these when there are more goodies that I think are worth sharing. Do visit the add-on section for more!

back to write

Hey I’m back, having recovered sufficiently to type a decent paragraph without wondering if I’ll do an inelegant face plant at the next punctuation.

Recently I heard something about the ABCs of parenting. While I don’t have kids, I thought that these pointers were pretty interesting and memorable. It’s been nearly a week since I heard the excerpt, and I still remember some parts today. Pretty impressive for a goldfish, eh?

Anyway, I won’t regurgitate the lock, stock and non-smoking barrel, but will just share a little of what I think it could be applied to you and me. (We have all been kids. Most of us still are.)

Stay tuned for the next post.

i am unwell

I had wanted to start on a series of things concerning boundaries and freedom, but illness has kept me at bay.

It was so bad it had basically annihilated any chance of having a decent celebration. Not hard to imagine when you try to pull a smile and your body sends you a 10,001-volt* pain in the same spot of your brain for the x = x + 1 time. *The extra volt is an insult to injury so you know who’s boss.

Not that migraine is new to me. It’s just that the uninvited guests: David Diarrhea, Mandy Muscle-Ache, Gordon Giddiness, Caleb Cough and Peter Pounding Pain seem to stay a tad bit too long for my liking.  There are many things not going for me, but this one takes the cake.

Oh well. Wish me well.

life’s a gamble

_______

 

A roll of the bones
The Lady Luck
A spin of the wheel
The Jackpot struck

 

Ring the bell
For whom it tolls
Mind the stars
As fate unfolds

 

Take the risk
Cross the line
Make that jump
You’ll be fine

 

Double triple
Bet after bet
Deal by deal
No looking back.

 

_______

designed to thrill

excellent ad. i expect to see a less-than-family-orientated version pretty soon though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdy7ttzysKc&eurl=

where are your morales?

within this week alone, someone who worked here for a week quit. (can’t really blame her since on her third day she had to stay till 7am into the next day). two new folks came in, one of who is holding a manager role (which was supposed to be filled by another colleague).

and then there is that ridiculous ‘anonymous survey’ which is supposed to gauge our work-life/personal-life satisfaction. other than the glaring grammatical errors and pathetic attempts at using lofty words, the survey also asked critical questions like “How likely are you going to be in this company for the next 12 months?” and “Are the management doing equitably” etc etc.

you’ll notice that ‘anonymous survey’ is in (sarcastic) quotes because the final section, we are supposed to enter our demographic data in the combination that is extremely easy to derive who wrote negative comments.

naturally, there was a lot of unhappiness and unkind words flying around. for me, it was kind of fun just pointing out the fallacy of it all. in all these madness, humour makes it a little better for us all.
well. the week’s almost gone. i was down and almost out for the count yesterday when a migraine half-killed me, and here i am for work today. waiting for a long postponed meeting with uninterested colleague and ever shrinking deadlines, ennui seems like the best route to it all.

enjoy your weekend.

what box?

many a times we hear the term ‘out of the box’.

ironically, the more one uses it, the less effective the meaning.

i remember doing many a presentation on this topic, with classic quotables like ‘we often think out of our box, into the bosses box’ and ‘think within the box, that’s what it’s there for’ (a part of the Systematic Inventive Thinking methodology).

for me, i love and loathe boxes (or order) at the same time. ‘boxes’ can make things more efficient, and working within them means that you are doing something that is feasible. then again, i often ignore it to begin with, and tweak according to necessity AFTER the idea has been conceived. or perhaps like many people i never knew i was in one to begin with.

we make and break boxes all the time. each time we do something everyone else has done before, we reinforce the box. each time we do something unusual, we make a new box. in fact, there’s even a great big box these days for making boxes.

Ed de Bono and his Six Thinking Boxes. Stephen Covey and his The 7 Boxes of Highly Effective People. Richard Templar and his Boxes of Life. Perhaps you’ve watched the Oprah Winfrey Box, or had a OOBE (Out Of Box Experience), we’re all cornered in some way whereever we turn.

so tell me now, when was the last time you got ‘out of the box’?

p/s: Italics mine

lily & the rose

_______

 

Petals blossom
Evening breeze
Set upon the sparrows free

 

Dewdrop crystals
Patient trees
Wait upon the tranquil sea

 

Lithe are the steps
Of lovely souls

 

All they sing of
Lily and rose

 

_______

sesame street bird flu

too funny!
(bear with the half-hearted intro song, it’s pure gold thereafter)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K8KvHxh1VI

dance of passing shower

_______


The dance of the passing shower
Lives for a moment, a fragile flower
Happy birthdays come and gone
Remember not, save for the song

The flit and flutter of fickle fire
Twirl and twist till life expire
Then all is silent, all is dead
Words like days, slowly fade.

_______