Monday, August 23, 2010

Haven't posted in a long while, but what I want to say couldnt fit into the FB status bar so decided to write it down here.

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/video/video.php?v=455621345922

I'm sure many people have watched this video by now, that has gone viral on Facebook and Youtube. Its a ten minute video showing all the returning US veterans surprising their loved ones at home, in school and even at the airport. I initially thought that it was just a ten minute video of people hugging each other, but was eventually reduced to tears.

However, even more important was how the video drove home the message that war is cruel; it separates the brave men and women from their loved ones all across America. How that should be allowed to happen is beyond understanding.

Im happy that they get to go home. Thank God they pulled the plug on the Iraq War.

Mrs Brightside at 8:39 pm (1) comments

{xoxo}

Friday, June 04, 2010

i am back! yes.. after recently receiving complaints about being MIA for too long. was thinking that perhaps its time to restart this. a good way to organize non-work related thoughts.


Mrs Brightside at 12:38 am (0) comments

{xoxo}

Monday, November 09, 2009

ohaio!

yes im back. Nepal was wonderful, and a great experience, but work has sapped all the freshness and energy out of me......so im back to my usual self. Today i shall post about something useful, although I doubt google search will boost my page up front. Hehe.

How to remove unwanted or broken excel links

You know how irritating it is when you have an excel workbook that is littered with formulas all over, linked within and to external workbooks.

But you know the external workbooks either dont exist or the link is not important anymore.

Yet every time you open your excel file it will prompt you to update your links. So irritating right!

Well, this kink only applies in Microsoft Excel 2000 when there is no "Break Link" function. So I've found a manual way to do this. Quite tedious though, but might be worth a try.

1. Press ctrl + ` (the little button to the left of 1). This displays all the formulas in your worksheet.
2. Go to Edit --> Links and see the external workbooks that your file is linked to. For example, if it is c:\my documents\external file.xls.
3. Go back to your worksheet, press ctrl-f to reach the search function, and type in "my documents" for example. And voila! it should direct you to the exact cell with the link! :) Then it is just the simple task of pressing "delete".

Drop me a shout if you like or have used this method :)

Mrs Brightside at 9:47 pm (2) comments

{xoxo}

Sunday, October 18, 2009

hullo!

am off to nepal on 19 Oct, Monday. Be back on 28th :)

Mrs Brightside at 10:32 am (0) comments

{xoxo}

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

On the Maclehose Trail

Yes hello. Welcome back. Its been a long while.. But before my memory fails me, I wanted to write about this - Hiking Section 2 of the Maclehose Trail. This panoramic section provides you with views of the East Sai Kung peninsula, and starts from Long Ke to Pak Tam Au. According to the official website (http://www.hkwalkers.net/longtrail/eng/mtrail/mtrail_02.html), it takes 5 hours and is fairly difficult. Well, I did it in about 6 hours and was DEAD TIRED and slept almost all the way on the 1 hour long bus ride to the Diamond MTR station. Or maybe it was just me and the scorching hot sun, plus being a little dehydrated.


But the views along the way were absolutely awesome. Perhaps I will post them up.


More importantly, I want to write this down as there is a dearth of information on how to get to the head of Section 2, online. Section 1 is nice for sure, but it involves hiking on tarmac and getting u to be content with just views of the reservoir. Doing Sections 1 and 2 together (8 hours of walking in total) is out of the question, unless you have your camping stuff ready and plan to spend the night on one of the beaches.


The fastest way to get to the start of section 2 (i.e. Long Ke) - grab a cab from Pak Tam Chung. Doesnt cost much (about HKD 60?) and the ride is about 15min long and will take u through the whole of section 1 along the perimeter of the High Island Reservoir, right onto the East Dam. Get the driver to stop you right here, take some pictures and head on to Section 2 of the trail.


Getting to Pak Tam Chung.

This needs a bit of manoeveuring (sp):

1. Take the MTR to Diamond Hill MTR. There is a bus interchange at the exit.
2. Take bus 92 from Diamond Hill to Sai Kung Town's bus interchange - it is the last stop. 45min ride
3. From Sai Kung Town, take bus 94 (15min) and alight at the Pak Tam Chung terminus. Looks kind of like a small bus interchange with 2 lanes for buses and a taxi stand. Its also where the Visitor Centre is located.
4. From here catch a cab to go all the way to the end of the East Dam.


PS. the bus is an interesting way to see people from all walks of life in Hong Kong. You see the aunties and uncles, yabbering loudly and carrying their goodies from the markets. Fishers lugging all their equipment and tackle boxes onto the bus. Quite an interesting ride for me ;)

Now for some pictures as promised:

Ham Tin Wan!











After which, for the next 2 hours you work in on a foresty trail on concrete path towards Pak Tam Au, with plenty of hills, ups and downs thrown in between. Halfway there is also the option of ascending Sharp Peak, which the sign placed in front warns one cryptically to only attempt in groups. At Chek Keng it will be a nice river-side walk with plenty of cows for a bit, and then back to that foresty, hilly concrete path again all the way till Pak Tam Au.

Then hop on to bus 94! On weekends the service runs all the way through to Diamond Hill MTR, although its more expensive (pay HKD 16) compared to if you take buses 92 and 94 (about HKD 5-6 each).

So that concludes section 2 of the Maclehose Trail. Not sure if I'll be back for more, but you never know :)

Links:
http://www.hkwalkers.net/longtrail/eng/mtrail/Section02/m02map.pdf

Mrs Brightside at 11:49 pm (0) comments

{xoxo}

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

I havent had music in a longg time.

After going on a self-imposed ipod quarantine, due to the fear of going deaf from prolonged exposure to loud music in the ear canal, I finally opened my itunes on the laptop today to listen to a little dave brubeck and glenn miller :) very refreshing indeed!! Wish there was some place in SG I can go to enjoy these songs. possibly dance to them! that would be nice :)

speaking of music, zouk's mambo 3-in-1 CD is out! I want!!! hahahahaha

Mrs Brightside at 10:12 pm (0) comments

{xoxo}

haha, my turn to apologize now :( sorry for a) the lack of updates and b) the no-show on sunday!! :( i really wanted to come, but that infected nerve/sinus thing resulting in root canal treatment is no joke. ask hongyi! i think as a result of the root canal treatment i've developed side effects, namely sorethroat and a cold-ish kind of behavior... when im perfectly healthy otherwise. i dont know how to explain it properly but the result of all this is that i have a weakened body.

and what a time to have it!! this week is like my busiest avalanche week ever so far and i have to push my physical self to hang in there and not give up from the sorethroat or sinus or root canal infections. sigh..

Mrs Brightside at 9:21 pm (0) comments

{xoxo}

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

as instructed by yq, i should document this event that happened at 11.59pm, 30 May 2009:

0-10km:
spent squeezing and jostling with many other runners; this was actually the most difficult part of the marathon for me. to tell myself to keep running and to not stop walking because its just the first 10km!! Just keep going. just keep hitting the road. what made it worse was that it was along changi coastal road - that never ending road that i take to go to work every day.. my gosh. to run it really took a very very very big mental effort.. like when is this road ever gonna end?!?!

10-20km: this stretch took place mostly along east coast and was not too bad - breezy, some space to run as runners took a choice between the pedestrian and the cycling paths. plus, ha thi was there near BK at the 17km mark to greet us with some water! :) thanks babe, and lili too! hehe :) by then it was half run half walk, and it was quite encouraging because we saw some of the 5:00, 5:30 and 6:00 hour pacers there, it means we're half way thru the marathon and we've kept pace with the people finishing in those times! So about 2.5h for halfway.. not bad lah, haha :P

20-30km: running thru siglap park connector, via kembangan mrt, bedok park and bedok reservoir. this was also a tough bit as muscle fatigues and cramps started kicking in. Plus i got really hungry at the HDB blocks after the 2nd over head bridge at kembangan, and there was no banana stop in sight so i had to eat powergel to quell my hunger! turned out to be a very good decision though, cos the gel helped to relieve the cramps and muscle fatigue. then at the end of bedok reservoir, a godsend - bananas! my favourite food haha helped to give energy + quell the hunger :P

30-40km: the last stretch! this was really painful though; yq sustained some kind of back injury and we walked almost all the way. not a slow walk though but at quite a fast pace.. i think running would have been better for me because walking strained different muscles. but anyway we got through the tampines/pasir ris and downtown east stretch, leading up to loyang ave.. to discover the joy that YAY finally the first digit has turned into a "4" and we're just 2.195km away from the finishing line :)

Last 300m: we broke into a slight jog when one of the helpers said "c'mon last 300m!" and i was like yes ok chiong ah!! only to discover that 300m is SO BLOODY FAR AWAY had to loop arnd the PA sea sports centre before hitting the finish.. and that was when like we CHIONG ALL THE WAY!! FINISHHHHHH! :P

Time: 7 hours :)

Mrs Brightside at 1:03 am (0) comments

{xoxo}