the fine things

Beautiful colors

I often get carried away watching sceneries like these – quite addictive!  The following pictures were taken by jean-françois, hop over to his blog,  Orleans Passion to see more of his “autumn reflections” - some breathtaking sceneries ! 

TGIF!   The end of  a rather stressful week!   No one likes inconsistencies. Period. 

Views like these could take loads off  of your mind!   

Picture: Kinabalu Heritage Resort & Spa, Kundasang

My mood today has somehow been affected by an  onset of flu/rhinitis. I havent had allergic rhinitis attack for months now.  This is really good as I used to have it like twice a week!  Im  somehow almost convinced that this decrease in attacks is related to herbalife shakes which I have been taking since March this year!     

Just before starting this post, I read this news on cnn.com about “2 dying after stay in Arizona ’sweatbox’ - I wondered if they had died  of heat or what? Or probably the ‘hot rocks and water’ were contaminated?  One of victims was not breathing while the other was burnt?  Were they trapped? Curious.

Well, you have a great weekend!  I need a quiet one.

Saturday   Today’s weather is hot and it’s hazy. Ian said it’s going to rain, maybe not.  One thing about the weekends is sometimes, I just completely ’shut down’ – yes, I agree it’s all in the mind!   What could be completed by 10am only gets settled by 3pm!   I guess this is one of the many ways to enjoy a weekend?  Spent some  extra time reading interesting (and not so interesting)  happenings around the globe.  I totally enjoy Alan Taylor’s  news stories in photographs, he has a great job:)  So, what’s the great news ? A vaccine that could be used against the dreaded H1N1 virus is now availble!  Eventhough it may not reach here that soon, at least,  we now know there’s a vaccine !  (Yes, I still read updates of late MJ’s case too:) 

Picture: Mt Fortress, Macau

China Trip Updates    We checked out of The Venetian on the 3rd day and headed to Hong Hong. But we didnt exactly leave without having some yummy Japanese food for brunch (actually Ian’s Kampoh’s idea – we just sort tagged along hehe how convenient ya?)  With a beautiful view, good food and company, what other way to enjoy brunch!

Known to be healthy and wholesome, Japanese food is one cuisine that is now loved by the world over (includes me:). Japanese cuisine usually combines staple foods typically rice or noodles, with a soup  and dishes made from fish, meat, vegetable, tofu and so on.  Read more about Japanese food at Kojiki Dreamwaves, interesting findings.

Woke up this morning feeling under the weather; my nose is playing ‘trick’ on me again!  I really don’t need this at this time or any other time for that matter! Went to see a dr after noon – just an onset of flu he said  – nothing serious   Still one must be extra cautious with flu-like sumptoms these days. 

The weather has been terrible – thickening haze everywhere.  Normally, around this time of the year, farmers clear land for cultivation by setting fire to trees and bushes.  Well,  the smoke has certainly clouded the whole region!  Hopefully, history won’t repeat itself – remember the worst occurred in 1997 and 1998?  The widespread of forest fire and thick haze caused so much inconvenience and certainly had travelers divert their destination elsewhere.

This kind of weather is unhealthy and makes people ill.  Spoke to Tony just about an hour ago, the main focus of our chat was of course none other than the weather!  He mentioned that a few schools in the town where he lives, have already been closed.  :(

Today was one of those days which I didn’t think I was going to come up with any entry worth posting!  Wasn’t feeling too well yesterday, so went to bed earlier too.  This morning, woke up heavy-headed!  

H1N1.  Reading this particular news early in the morning didn’t help make my day any better but I decided to blog a bit about it anyway.   The death toll in this country has now reached 8.  Eventho ’research’ as reported in the news, stated that it’s just a small number compared to death cases of malaria, for example, still it’s alarming.  What’s scary (or alarming) about H1N1 is that it spreads fast and there isn’t yet any vaccine for it. The number of schools closed to ‘minimize’ the spread of H1N1 is increasing by day too.

 No.  I dont like this news!

Related post(s): 

Enjoying your cup of tea?

Years back, upon reading its benefits, I did… attempt to make it a routine to drink green tea daily. This attempt resulted in an on and off affair with green tea!  I had high aspiration too - to be an everyday green tea drinker and it didn’t work!  About 3 months ago, I decided to revive this long lost aspiration; hopefully, eventually become a tea lover!  From my readings, insomnia seems to be the only negative side effect of green tea.

As someone who was not so fond of drinking tea but prefered plain water, carbonated drinks and what not, I was somehow initially sceptical about starting or re-starting the idea of drinking green tea or any tea for that matter,  for health.

More than three months have passed, I’m still enjoying Tea Mix- Lemon & Hibiscus (ShapeWorks).  “This tasty tea mix blends with green tea and orange “pekoe” with cardamon seed, lemon peel and hibiscus for  an uplifting and tasty treat”. And it’s true – it is tasty!

Useful links:  Salada .   Tea Flower

Note:  above picture was grabbed from Abby Lame’s flickr

 We or rather I wanted to know. 

Two days ago, I was greeted by a sad and somewhat disturbing news upon arriving the office: my colleague’s niece died of heart attack the day before; she was only 40.  Sad of her passing on; the somewhat disturbing news was her having “heart attack” despite being ‘viewed’ healthy. I did not know her personally but the news did left me thinking about what, how and why,  Today,we still talked about the cause of her death and how we seemed to be hearing many suffering from heart attack of late.  This led me to more readings about this subject.

To reiterate, Texas Heart Insitute stated that heart attacks are the end result of coronary heart disease, a condition that clogs arteries with fatty, calcified plaques. The institute also stated that heart attack symptoms in women may be different from those experienced by men. The awful part is many women who have a heart attack do not know it.  Symptoms that women may have are tendency  to feel a burning sensation in their upper abdomen,  may experience lightheadedness,  an upset stomach,  and sweating.

Read more about heart attack and its other symptoms