Chet’s Chatter

My next “toy”

Posted on 29 April 2008 @ 18:22 in Gadgets

The ASUS eeePC 900

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I swear by them

Posted on 21 April 2008 @ 15:21 in Being Silly, Family, Travels

When Leo Babauta of the wildly-successful zenhabits blog wrote a post to ask for tips to keep travel simple, I posted my favourite.

Wet wipes.

The suggestion was eventually included in the final 36 tips but I can’t claim to be the only reader who suggested it. Way before mine, someone else suggested baby wipes. I’m just happy it’s included in the final list of 36 tips.

I swear by them. Wet wipes. Especially for travelling, when I usually have a small packet somewhere in the carry-on bag. They’re great for when you’re far away from clean water to moisten a tissue to wipe something.

But not just for travelling. Anywhere, anytime. I even have a pack in my car. Which was a good thing last Saturday when my brother, on a weekend visit from Singapore, found a dried glob of spit on his shoe. We were leaving after his afternoon visiting with mother (I’d arrived to fetch him after attending the Readings at Seksan’s). Apparently, Grace had been spitting on the floor all afternoon. Not just on the floor, as we found out.

“Never mind, I have wet wipes in the car,” I told him.

“What wet wipes? Where got wet?” he asked when I gave him one in the car a short while later.

Okay, lah – so it’s not dripping wet. To be more accurate, it’s moist. But enough to do the job it’s supposed to do.

Speaking of wet wipes, I get mine from Tesco. Hypo-allergenic. Alcohol free. Fragrance free. They used to be available in a pack of three – two big packs and a smaller, travel-size pack. “Used to” cuz I couldn’t find them the last two times I was there. I only saw the small travel-size ones. Hopefully, just temporarily out-of-stock, but soon to be available again.

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Farewell to Morty

Posted on 13 April 2008 @ 21:02 in Friends

I saw Mel online this afternoon and heard from her that Morty, her Cairn Terrier, passed away 2 weeks ago.

Morty and Mel

I met him when I visited Mel two years ago. He left such an impression on me that I wrote a post about him here.

He will be missed.

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The “Smurf” Report

Posted on 8 April 2008 @ 06:30 in Fun Stuff

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Towards more organised blogging

Posted on 6 April 2008 @ 15:38 in Writing

I’ve always viewed blogging as spontaneous. This comes from the early days of my blogging experiences when I kept an online journal (as opposed to a blog).

I only update my blog when something takes my fancy and I write about it. Hence, the name and tagline of my blog – I chatter about things that interest and intrigue me. It used to be I would post everyday, and sometimes more than one entry per day. However, these days, my entries are few and far between. This may be about to change. But let me digress a little.

There are blogs that perhaps began like mine – spontaneous and about things that are of interest to those blog owners – but went on to find a niche and a voice about specific subjects. Such blogs went on to grow in those directions, with their owners blogging only about those subjects (e.g., on books, on food, etc.). Some of these blogs continue to maintain an air of spontaneity about them.

And then there are blogs that are very organised, nothing spontaneous about them at all. Their owners are very focused on what they blog about, often draft entries way in advance, and some even have specific days to post entries about specific subjects. For example, they will announce “Monday is xyz day”, so the entry for that day is about xyz.

So I’ve been thinking I would like to be more organised with my … blogging (sorry, I still cringe at using the word “blog” as a verb).

Yes, there are many things that interest and intrigue me. But there are certain things that interest and intrigue me more than others. Things like “gadgets”, “endangered animals”, “music”, “books”, “family”, and “health”.

So I’m thinking I would like to be more organised by focusing on a smaller list of subjects, but on a more regular basis. I’m thinking this will help my writing, too.

So, yes … less of the thinking and more of the writing.

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