Froodee

Living. Blogging.

Golden 40s in the Olympics!

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She is Dara Grace Torres, an Olympic record holder winning 12 medals where 5 of which was won at the 2002 Sydney Olympiad alone.  The only Olympic swimmer who represented her country (the USA) 5 times: 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000 & 2008.   Oh yes, she is currently is 41.

She is just one of the many senior lady Olympians who are making great strides in the the 2008 Beijing games.  Now who says age is a major factor in winning?  I firmly believe that the will to win is the best motivation to keep on striving.  Sheer determination coupled with the right motivation equals a noble goal.

Aside from Dara Grace Torres, we have other Olympians who maybe classified as “senior” in the games.  We know there is Oksana Chusovitina,  a 33-year-old mother who won a silver in–of all things–GYMNASTICS!  How’s that, when we’ve heard that being 20-ish is already “over the hill” in gymnastics.  

I believe the proper term to use is “seasoned”.  These ladies have seen the Olympics from all angles and they know the craft really well.  I think this is one of their major advantages over their opponents.

Avoiding Debt Triggers

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While summer can be the fun-filled time of the year IT CAN also be a huge debt trap.  Every year, Americans splurge on summer expenses like trips, hotels, summer clothing, gears, and gadgets. Oh and all those have-nots that people just “need” to make summer extra perfect.

Every mall will hand out “special deals” to hook you in and splurge all the more.  The wise person will and must take one step back (even more) to weigh and assess their needs and wants for a fun-filled summer.

Let me list down usual debt triggers that should help you avoid not-so-obvious traps into the debt kingdom:

1.  Store credit cards – you have your own set and are happy with them, but this store cashier would just say you’d get 10% discount if you purchase thru their credit card.  (and she quickly hands you an application)

2.  The irresistable sales catalogue – sure, the salesperson on the phone is ultra-friendly, but be aware that she’s trying to make a sale.  She’d point out one incredibly priced item on page 11, then quickly would try to get you to turn to page 26 for a similar budget find.  By the time you hang the phone you’ve just spent $500 on items you thought were “steals” but eventually do not need any of them in the first place.

3.  The cool flyers – ah you’ve probably seen this in malls everywhere.  A very good looking gentleman or lady approaches you with a great brochure for a time-sharing deal that will bring you around the world.  By the time you finished with their goodwill, you may have committed thousands of dollars on a trip you don’t plan taking until retirement day!  Keep your summer vacation as simple as possible.  Winter hard days are ahead my friend.

Summer time potentially stages a great event with friends and family, but it doesn’t have to break the bank.  Creativity plays a major part in making sure your summer is within sensible boundaries.  Spend wisely, and think what you are trying to aim for… sometimes a good walk around a park is all it takes to soak up on family time you soooo need this summer.

 

 

The PC of the Swim-Rings

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Why you’d need to access a PC while floating at sea or in a pool is just FURTHER OUT THERE for me, but hey I’m not complaining.  A lot of gadgets floating around today aren’t really “that” useful either.  I remember the Robots movie tag “see a need, fill a need”… some gadgets today go by this tagline “build a need, fill a need”.  So I guess this will work too.  Build something and who knows, this might come out as standard in tomorrow’s airline or ship’s safety first-response devices.  Don’t worry about being rescued… they’re all just an email away! 🙂

The PC of the Swim-Rings, it’s called.  Water proof (of course), has GPRS, blue tooth and other wireless capabilities.  Now wouldn’t that mean all your wireless device needs to be water-proof too?  For sure!

I’m not throwing cold water at it… hey this could be something big soon.  All I’m saying is for me, it’s just FURTHER OUT THERE.  You can know more about it right here. Initially targetting swimmers so they can do less swimming and more “surfing”.  Designed by Barry Lai Yin Lock.

Celebrity Plastic Surgeries

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I’m not really sure why Michael has been under the knife so many times.  From his original frame (the Billy Jean Michael, that is) I feel there is nothing to work on.  He’s as celebrity as he gets.  But ok, let me venture a guess that he may be have been given bad advise over and over.  Yes, I’m a fan!  I wouldn’t just think he’s as crazy as some people think.  So yes, Jacko… you were given and you listened to bad advice.

While some would also say that doing it multiple times a year will make it an addiction, I still think there is a chance to just stop and let things be.  C’mon Jacko, you owe us to NOT change anything more. Please.

Anyway, iVillage has published an interesting article and slideshow of celebrities before and after shots.  Interesting because some “after” shots look more horrible than the “before” ones.  Ah, the lure of beauty.

Plastic surgeries are a norm if you want to stay long under the lights.  To keep the fans screaming to you… rather than AT you.  I wouldn’t be quick to blame people who do it.  They have their reasons… and in the end, it’s those reasons that will make or break them!

 

Trusting Technology

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We’ve temporarily moved to the mountains!  Now I don’t know what smiley to put behind that so let me list 4 in the order of how we felt about it….   😀   🙂   🙁    😐    🙂

We ended up smiling of cours, taking life’s “blows” one after the other.  I keep picturing the great bamboo, how it is blown and bent by the wind only to return to its original tall state.   Well, anyway, enough with the yada yada and let me move on.

I brought my trusty work Dell notebook with me and a Nokia E61i.  I’ve installed Nokia’s “One Touch Access” months ago and haven’t really tested it till now.  It took me about an hour to get all the settings right.  I’ve literally “eye scanned” the horizon for a cell tower, believing technology may have caught on in the mountains.  I was right!  I saw one popping up from a distance.  My mobile phone quickly caught the signal.  After snoozing for about 10 hours, jet lagged and all, I was able to connect to the internet. 

I was able to check my bank account online, balanced my checkbook, checked email, browsed the internet, listened to online radio and finally blog about it… what fun!  The only drawback was that speed wasn’t that zippy… tops was 115.2kbps.  Not bad, though I’m not jumping up and down too.