Gluehwein/Mulled wine

There is another thing that I remembered that I had in Christmas market is the gluehwein. It's a kind of red wine mix brew with some spies, honey and lemon, usually served hot. It tastes sweet and sour. Normally we will drink gluehwein during Christmas and winter as it could warm our body. Seriously, it is very comfy to drink gluehwein when you are freeze cold outside.

Gluehwein also available only during Christmas so you can get it easily at Christmas market at € 3 per cup (include the cup). You can refund for the cup, if you want and you will get back your deposit for the cup. =) Another must try during Christmas when you are at Germany!

Stollen

Yum.. Yum…It’s so delicious. I remembered the last time I had stollen was like 2 year back when I was on a business trip to Munich (MUC), Germany. Thanks to some of German visitor cum colleague. They brought 2 loaves of stollen for us. Each bite really satisfies my taste bud… hehe

Well, I was told by my MUC colleague that we can only get to eat stollen during Christmas. So it’s kinda must try if you are in Germany during Christmas season. You can easily get to one during Christmas and it is available practically every where -Convenient shop, supermarket, bakery, and even in Christmas market.

Oh yes, let me describe what is a stollen. :-) Stollen is a bread-like cake traditionally made in Germany and it usually eaten during Christmas season as Weihnachtsstollen or Christstollen. Stollen is a fruitcake made with a lot of ingredient such as yeast , flour, water & spies is a must!, raisin, dried citrus peel, dried fruits, almond, sunflower seeds… etc etc… emm, normally they put a lot of dried fruits in it. On top of the cake was a thin layer of icing sugar. Well, as usual, german’s foods are usually has very strong taste, very salty or very sweet… hehe… Stollen was a bit sweet ( I feel) but still it is very nice! Emm… but I read in the internet that the tradition stollen is supposed to be not sweet… perhaps they have modify the recipe or there too many types of stollen available in the market. Btw, the stollen is very heavy. Mostly weight in 2kg or more… you can always ask for half. Regarding the price… Actually I cannot recall the price of the stollen :P. If not mistaken the price range is like € 6 - € 20

Facebook

Have you ever heard of ‘facebook’?
I guess some of us have heard of facebook but just couldn’t be bother to find out or to sign up as we already have so many similar account.… I was invited a couple of times to sign up for 1 but I was quite reluctant to sign up until there is once my cousin invited me to join. The reason I sign up is merely because some my cousins is using it as a media of communication. After all, we are the technology advance generation… :) So we must make good use of each the media of communication.

Well, back to the topic… Facebook is a little difficult to get used to at first and it has like a thousand applications but it is really fun once you have gotten used to it… It’s much better than all other friendster-alternatives like MySpace, Hi-Five and Tagged,com. I mean, buying your friend a virtual beer? How much more childishly cute can you get without being labeled immature?

Well, it is also a good media for education. Some of the application is good for grammer and vocabulary. Like the hangman application. We used to play when we were young. Fail to guess an alphabet in the word, then we will drew a line until complete the picture and we are consider lost. There is another application that test us on vocabulary. Some MCQ for the meaning of the words.. At least get to learn new words although some guessing are needed… :P

Oh yes, there is one games is very cute… Do you remember the game- “Tamagochi” that was famous few years back. Where you have to take care of your pet, play with him, give food etc… there is a similar one in Facebook too. It’s called fluff friend. You can feed him, pet him and give some gift. Kinda cute also… as you can race with your friend’s fluff friend.

Emm… I guess there are more application to explore in Facebook… Maybe you should explore yourself too…

Just that one thing, damn sad! My company now starts to block a lot of website. Not only for games but also friendster and facebook… don't know what they will block next...

Anyway happy exploring facebook and have fun! it's pretty cool....

Oh yes, btw, my cousin's father in law who is 69years old also join facebook... see, even grandpa is checking it out and catch up with the technology advance generation... :)

把M字倒過來寫

有人不解，認為致函報章理財專欄的人士，有不少其實家底不薄，有者還坐擁可觀資產，何以還要問理財專家如何錦上添花？“讓人看了有些心理不平衡。”提出意見的人表示。

實際上，並非主答者白鴿眼，挑選有錢人回答，而是通常主動尋求理財資訊者，本來就具有較強烈的意願，希望財務狀況更鞏固，對資訊的觸覺一般也較敏銳，因此，小有積富不出奇。有了資本再進行投資，自然形成富者愈富的局面。

這也符合了經濟學裡頭的資本累積律。

然而，我們也不排除資本以外，致富動力和野心也造就了貧富階級之分。

根據18世紀的著名經濟學家，《國富論》作者亞當．史密斯的市場律，“自利心”是驅策人類工作，換取酬勞的動力。這種個人財富的追求，同時推動了社會。

不過，一個人人孜孜求利的社會，是如何免於因離心力的阻擾，而陷於四分五裂或橫徵暴斂呢？

史密斯聲稱，“有一隻看不見的手”調節著，此一調節機能乃是競爭。藉由競爭，人類無法大幅牟利，結果將產生社會和諧。在史密斯那個年代，他認為“當一個社會大部分居民皆是貧困和悲慘時，那麼它將無法繁榮幸福。”這位經濟學家反對最烈的乃是政府對市場機能的干預。他認為這只會犧牲國家的真正財富。

但是，隨著時代變遷，市場本質改變了。我們所存活的世界，已非人人可逆流而上的小型競爭社會。無數財雄勢大的商業集團崛起，再加上政府的干預，改變了市場機能。

我們號稱這是“M型”(極端)社會，無中產階級容身之處。中下階層也因此極易產生不平衡的心理。

其實，撇開經濟的角度，單從人性觀點出發，他人有錢本是他家的事。只要相關人士不是靠偷搶拐騙及非法手段賺錢，即使再如何錦衣華食，穿金戴銀，也輪不到其他人眼紅或感到不平衡。畢竟成功的人士大都經過流汗水絞腦汁的階段。本身不願付出相等代價換取金錢的人，繼續粗茶淡飯，也有自家樂。

一小撮人患上“眼紅症”，頂多只能說他們身心失衡。可是，若一個社稷裡頭，有成千上萬的子民出現“心理不平衡”的情況，則國家危矣，因為這表示“有另一類看不見的手”擾亂了市場機能，成功已不是單靠個人努力和才智所能達致的了。

尤其是當每個族群都在“你看我好，我看你好”的時候，到底誰掌握了資本、土地、勞力、動力等經濟要素？誰是真正的富者，誰在貧窮線上，誰又被邊緣化了？永遠都爭不出個所以然。

不合理的競爭，不恰當的干預，令亞當史密斯所勾劃的美好世界，離我們越來越遠。

顛覆M型社會，把M字倒過來寫，是W，可以是wealth，代表國富民強，但這W的凹陷之處，是永遠無法填平的無底洞；也可以是weak，象徵永遠在谷底低吟迴饒的弱勢聲音。

Christmas Fever

Christmas is an annual holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus. The date of the celebration is traditional, and is not considered to be his actual date of birth. Christmas festivities often combine the commemoration of Jesus' birth with various secular customs, many of which have been influenced by earlier winter festivals. In most places around the world, Christmas Day is celebrated on December 25. Christmas Eve is the preceding day, December 24. In the United Kingdom and many countries of the Commonwealth, Boxing Day is the following day, December 26. The word "Christmas" originated as a contraction of "Christ's mass." It is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes masse, a phrase first recorded in 1038. Modern traditions have come to include the display of Nativity scenes, Holly and Christmas trees, the exchange of gifts and cards, and the arrival of Father Christmas or Santa Claus on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. Popular Christmas themes include the promotion of goodwill and peace.

New Year Resolution

It’s mid Dec now… time really flies… without realizing it’s already end of the year 2007. But it was just like yesterday. Emm, let’s think back of your 2007 resolution. Do you achieve what you have set earlier?

Seems like it’s appraisal time… gotta to measure what had achieve compare to last year target and set new target.

Yesterday, I had some mail exchange with my girlfriends and we spoke about year 2007 resolution. Seriously, I can’t remember what was my resolution for year 2007. I am thinking was my achievement for the past 1 year... nothing much leh… although many things happened. Anyway, no matter what whether it’s achievement, or anything… we should take it as a lesson and experience.

Well, if you asked me to set my resolution… kinda tough leh… as I am afraid I can't achieve them... and i have alot of resolution/target/aim. ( i guess everyone also greedy ma :P)

Anyway, i guess it’s time for all of us to get set our resolution for year 2008….

Enchanted

Finally I got chance to watch this movie…
If you asked me what is the rating for this movie, I’d give 5 stars and of course it’s a recommended movie to those who like fairy tale and comedy.

Yes, I am one of them!

The story was about the beautiful princess Giselle was banished by an evil queen to the gritty reality world and how she fall in love with a charming flawed divorce lawyer. In between they have chipped in some classic fairy tale story like snow white and Cinderella. So here comes the poison apple and a kiss from her true love ones that saves the beautiful princess and live happily ever after. Well, it’s a good combination of classical fairy tale to become a modern-day romantic story. Nevertheless, the songs and dance was so nice. Like the song sang by Giselle in the park and the scene was so beautiful with so many people was singing and dancing together.

Not forgetting one small little creature that play a very important was the chipmunk called Pip. He was so adorable and added in more laughter in the movie.

Although there are some parts that are not logic like those Giselle’s “friend” doing chores and how she sew her clothes. Well, forget about that. After all, it’s a fairy tale and everything is possible. :P So let’s enjoy the movie!