Joke of the day - Heavenly Clocks

An Indian man died and went to heaven. When he arrived at the heaven Gate Siva the God said, "Come on in. I'll show you around. You'll like it here."

Walking through the gates, the man noticed clocks everywhere. There were grandfather clocks, wall clocks, watches, and clocks in every corner. It appeared that heaven was nothing more than a giant clock warehouse.
Surprised at how heaven looked, the man asked, "God Siva, what's the deal? Why are all these clocks here in heaven?"

God Siva replied, "The clocks keep track of things on earth. There is one clock for each person. Every time the person on earth tells a lie, his clock moves one minute."

"For instance, this clock is for Aru, the used car salesman. If you watch it closely, it will move. "Click." The minute hand on Aru's clock moved one minute. "Click." It moved another minute. "Aru must be into closing a customer right now," said God Siva. "The minute hand on his clock moves all day."

The man and God Siva continued walking. Soon, they came to a clock with cobwebs on the minute hand. "Whose clock is this?" asked the man.

"That clock belongs to the Widow Achi. She is one of the finest, God-fearing, people on earth. I bet her clock hasn't moved in a year or two."

They continued walking and touring heaven. The man enjoyed watching the clocks of all his friends. When the tour was finished, the man said, "I've seen everyone's clock but Mr.Samy Vellu's. Where is his clock?

God Siva smiled, "Just look up. We use his clock to work as ceiling fan."

Healing and cleansing with barley

A great article about Barley by EU HOOI KHAW.

High in fibre, barley is a kidney cleanser.. Better yet, regular intake of it helps prevent heart disease. BARLEY water was always a regular drink when we were still living at home. Whenever we had to go for a medical exam that included a urine test, my mum would make us drink barley water a day before it to make sure we got a positive result!

My mother was a wise woman. I later found out from an Australian naturopath that barley is known to be a kidney cleanser, and he happily downed glasses of it at a meal we had in a coffeeshop here.

Barley is good for your intestinal health too. Try to eat the barley grains you find in your drink or sweet broth with 'fu chook' (beancurd skin) and ginkgo nuts.

It's high in fibre which feeds the friendly bacteria in the colon and helps speed up the transit of fecal matter in it. In this way it helps prevent haemorrhoids and colon cancer.

The propionic acid and beta glucan from barley's insoluble fibre also help lower cholesterol and prevent the formation of gallstones.

Eating barley regularly is a preventive step against heart disease as, besides the fibre content, it is also high in niacin, a B vitamin good for lowering cholesterol.

Diabetics should eat more barley as the fibre will prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high. It also provides relief from constipation or diarrhoea for those suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Barley is rich in selenium which prevents cancer and relieves symptoms of asthma and arthritis. It is a good source of manganese, copper and phosphorous.

Malt sugar comes from sprouted barley which, when fermented, is an ingredient in beer and other alcoholic beverages.

Barley, whose Latin name is Hordeum vulgare, has been cultivated for more than 10,000 years.

Since ancient times, barley has been used for healing purposes and has been known to the Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Athletes in Greece and Rome in those days were known to eat barley bread to give them strength.

Luckily for us, we have started picking up the routine to cook barley drink at least once a week. Each boil usually can last us 3 days.

Breast tenderness started early too

Cycle 15 : Day 14

Mucous just turn transparent today. Breast Tenderness just started this morning about a little over 7 pm. I am happy for the breast tenderness. But the mucous volume does not seem encouraging.  Sinseh has mentioned that the new chocolate herbs will expand my ovaries and increases the right hormone to 'pop' eggs. As the same time, the hormone will cause breast enlargement due to the expansion of milk ducts inside breasts. It all sounded to me like a herbal version of clomiphene, only all natural. Well, whatever it is, no fertilization is going to happen if we are not hardworking enough.

Oooo...booster herbs

The sinseh declared that my ovaries are much 'warmer' now and she 'allowed' me to try conceive this month. She has stopped all my leukorrhea and thyroid herbs and changed my prescription.

It's called 'chocolate'. That's right, she did not want to share her knowledge even one bit. She even made all her new patients signed on a indemnity form before starting treatment course. If i am a 'normal' child-bearing woman (like all the 95% of world's 'ok' child-bearing women), i would have probably told her to *...* off. Unfortunate me, i have to keep exercise my silence diligently and hopeful that these chocolate and black pills will be effectively enough to bring us a child. Ok for now, like 2 twelve years old, we faithfully down our shares everyday: 15 pills for dino dad's and 30 pills for me.

1st scrap-metal done deal

Mr Vellu saw the scraps and he liked the quality and confirmed purchase. He sent a lorry to picked up the scraps at late evening. Just like that!

For the first time we really feel the effects coming from working on the field which the element suits us. The scrap-metal business was conceived after meeting with Ah Fook and Ah Wah after returning from Macao on 4th week of July 2008, started advertising the ad banner in alibaba.com and started negotiations with some interested parties and whoala, the first deal sealed and transacted in approximately 1.5 month. Deal gross valued at RM48,000.00. Geng metal it is from now!

An astrologer prediction for Dino dad

An internet based French astrology had predicted that August 16 would see a major turning point in Dino dad's life destiny. She was convinced that 3 major aspects of his life would meet a see the life-steering wheel turning to 'great'. Mind you, it is 'great', not just good.

Aspect 1 : She was convinced that she saw great career opportunities are going to come by his path and that will bring him on to the next level of his career life.

Could she mean the bird nests trading business that Dino dad just started in the first week of August? If she meant that, yeah, we have to agree that the bird nests sales did so far been very encouraging. Dino dad captured a sales volume amounting to nearly 8,000 in 1.5 months into this business through friends and 2 retail establishments. Currently he is aggressively negotiating some export routes to China and Hong Kong. However, he has his fair share of headache with supply consistency and competitive supply-pricing. So, it's not 'that great' yet as predicted.

Could the French woman meant the scrap metal trading too? No doubt, this is yet another new business venture that Dino dad was given the introduction to this field somewhere in the 4th week of July 2008 during a complimentary trip to Macau. Coincidentally, since the business idea was incepted, Dino dad has secured a buyer who is interested in acquiring a 20-tonne shipment, and another potential buyer from India confirming appointment by next Wednesday. Also, he is facing his share of setback in which a partner is not able to pace up with Dino dad, and that, is a killer. So, again, it's not 'that great' yet as predicted.

Aspect 2 : She was convinced that she saw Dino dad will be gaining a financial breakthrough, by way of a potential windfall luck to the scale of possibly solving all his financial problems all along. Wow, isn't it comforting just merely listening to it? Our hearts did a few summersaults. So far, Dino dad just won a grand RM50.00 at two different occasions. Whoahahaha, wueii....didn't she said 'breakthrough'??

Please don't be that RM160,000.00 to be gained from the sale-off of our regretful investment in a once positioned as the upper-class condominium in Pandan Indah now turned into a mediocre apartment with Bangladeshis for neighbors. From the RM160,000, 2 percent will be going to the realtor's service, 1 percent for the lawyer's service, RM20,000 for the bank loan balance and perhaps another 1 percent for settling any unforeseen expenses which i know, will definitely creep up from nowhere. Already sold at a loss from the original RM198,000 + loan repayment interests for 10 years, we should be thankful if we can receive no less than RM120K. We certainly hope she didn't mean this financial breakthrough.

Aspect 3 : She was convinced that she saw Dino dad's love life would turn to great too. This part, honestly, only attracted the female pillar of this house - me. As it is already an opened-book that the storks keep missed dropping a baby at our door step, this is one prediction i fervently wish the French lady could have had gotten it correct.

To add sour cream topping to our already-sorely-challenged life, Dino dad accidently deleted a file that wiped out the whole work-data in Mac 3. Wah lao yeh..... sour-saga to be continued.

Cycle 15, Day 4 : Mild twitching

Very mild twitching felt on lower abdomen. Getting aware of the twitches since late last evening. If my finger felt correctly, the twitches are at exactly the place where i think my left ovary is or the area surrounding. Each twitch lasted no more than 15 seconds. The last twitch was at around 9:30pm just now while standing cutting up watermelon in the kitchen. It was this twitch brought me sitting in front of the Mac and started browsing the safari for readings on ectopic pregnancy. I found this highly informative content from www.ectopicpregnancyfoundation.org.

Ectopic Pregnancies Percentage of Occurrence by Location
Fimbrial/Infundibulum Ectopic Pregnancy 5%
Cornual/Interstitial Ectopic Pregnancy 1% - 2%
Ovarian Ectopic Pregnancy .05% - 1%
Broad Ligament/Intraligamentous Ectopic Pregnancy .03% - 1%
Ampulla Ectopic Pregnancy 75% - 90%
Isthmic Ectopic Pregnancy 5% - 15%
Abdominal Ectopic Pregnancy .03% - 1%
Cervical Ectopic Pregnancy 1%
Heterotopic about 1/7000 (one embryo in the uterus and one embryo ectopic)
*About 95% of Ectopic Pregnancies occur in some portion of the tube. 5% of Ectopic Pregnancies occur in other locations.

How does an Ectopic Pregnancy Happen?

The sperm after ejaculation from the male travel from the vagina, through the cervix, uterus and fallopian tubes to reach the ovary where fertilization takes place. From the ovary the egg once fertilized, will travel back through the fallopian tube into the uterus to implant. The major cause of an ectopic is when the egg for some reason is unable to reach the uterus. Most commonly the fertilized egg (zygote) stops in the fallopian tube and implants there resulting in an ectopic pregnancy.

The narrow fallopian tubes are not designed to hold a growing embryo and the fertilized egg cannot develop normally, in most cases. Eventually, the thin walls of the tube stretch to the point of rupturing. If this happens, a woman is in danger of life threatening blood loss (hemorrhage).

Read that? Danger of hemorrhaging to death... (shudder).

Failed the 14th attempt

Day 32: Its official. Mensus started 6.30am. Sigh..... to start all over again.

No flushing yet but the wet feeling is unmistakable

14the attempt: Day 31

Mild spotting all day long. No flushing yet. But the wet feeling is obvious. Mild congestion feeling at below abdomen. Quite similar to mensus contraction only much milder. Perhaps dino dad's sperms are still not complete in good shape, perhaps tails still short, as felt by the Sinseh? Warrrgghhhhh..... don't care anymore. Maybe its even better with no children. We can resume to be back on track with our original plan of retiring early and do the things we are passionate about. What the heck!

Another failing pregnancy is imminent

14th attempt. Day 30 : The signs of another month of fail pregnancy is imminent; stomach bloating, lack of appetite, feeling wet below abdomen, nipples reduced its size to normal and breast tenderness is almost gone. There was spotting 2 days ago but completely stopped yesterday. But today, the spotting resume. Assuming my TSH level has been a good girl by remaining within the 'normal' bracket, i should be starting my period anytime now. My last period was on August 5. Sigh.............

Thursday, Aug 28, 2008: A one-day old unnamed dolphin calf plays with its mother Dolly in the dolphinarium of Black Sea's town of Vama, some 450km east of Bulgarian capital Sofia. This new baby dolphin is the 8th dolphin born at the Vama dolphinarium for the last 13 years. (AP Photo)