Sunday Morning

To snooze or not to snooze? That is the question!

I wake at 6:30 a.m.. Early, but earlier would work better. Make the bed, make my way downstairs, hug Don and head to the kitchen to put on a pot of decaf.

Sunday morning presents temptations that resemble those of the rest of the week, yet they make a different mark on the day, the person, the family, and on society as a whole. Quite an effect. No other day can claim the same.

My experience with Sunday morning varies by stages of life, and hindsight, as always, appears clear as a bell now that I can look in the rearview mirror and see the errors of my ways. I spent my childhood Sunday mornings waking, dressing, and jumping into the station wagon to head a few miles down the road to Sunday School and church. Every Sunday, no question, no days off for good behavior, no sleeping late, no alternatives. All weeks followed in succession without deviation, until I started college.

Strike up the band, baby ... FREEDOM! Suddenly on my own, in a way only college can offer, and feeling the pull of life without Mom and Dad and the world I had known for 17 years, made me lightheaded and lax. Class time and studies brought serious work, but in the off time, I sang a "me-me-me-meeeeee" tune really well. I did what I wanted, which did not amount to much, did not fall into anything unlawful or immoral, but also did not mirror the life I had lived up to the minute I hauled my luggage into a dorm room. Four years of college with church attendance here and there with friends, and of course, during holiday breaks. Summer brought employment which sometimes took up my Sunday. No snoozing, just dreams of days off from work.

From the free Sundays in college, I moved to marriage and work, and Sunday morning meant coupon clipping from the Hartford Courant newspaper and grocery shopping at Stop & Shop and IGA. A woman on a mission to save money, I made Sunday morning "full" with double or triple coupon savings and a car trunk full of food for Don and me. No prayer, no possibility of salvation, but save, save, save in the bank account. Time had no essence -- at twenty-three, I felt virtually invincible and free of the harness of time. Young forever, and Sunday mornings could reserve time for church when I grew older, which I did not plan to have happen. My grandmother acted as my conscience, asking, "Have you found a church, yet?" every time we visited. I felt guilty pangs, but none strong enough to move me past a list of handy excuses.

Finally, at age thirty, we stood on the threshhold of parenthood, months from bringing a child into the world. As a pregnant woman, I decided to head to church, conveniently located on the corner, about 75 yards from our home outside Philadelphia. I walked to 1st Baptist church each Sunday for the 8:30 a.m. service, and walked home again at 9:30. I have no idea what I heard on any of those mornings, but I had attended church. When newborn daughter and husband joined me at church, we added social time of about 20 minutes. Long enough to have a donut and coffee and then walk home. Churchgoers, now, but not hooked, and without substance. We took days off, we hit "snooze" and we made excuses, and brought another child into the world a few years later, but never knew anyone's name or had a visit from a pastor. We left that church without anyone really noticing, I suppose.  We moved across the state and didn't feel compelled to announce our choice to uproot and plant ourselves elsewhere.  Lonely, being in a church without ties.

We made our new church home in the church in which I grew up for 20 years.  It took the name "home" in name only, due to the simple fact that I had attended church there every Sunday of my childhood.  It did not feel comfortable, except for knowing the names of people and understanding the order of service.  We became members, took offices, and made sure our children attended Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and acclimated to the church nursery, as needed.  When the church began to fall apart due to hierarchy issues within the denomination, it was my husband who took the reigns and found us a place to worship.

His opinion mattered, having grown up feeling "unchurched" except for Sunday services and flag football games known as "youth group".  I feel sure he had more than that during his childhood, but he recalls no real ties, except for the binding effect of dressing up and having to go to church each week.  Unwillingly.  Without a heart for it.  And so, on a Christmas Eve, we dressed up, packed up and hurried up to the church he chose for the Christmas Eve Candlelight service.

We were awed, humbled, and planted in the right place.  Finally.  After 15 years of marriage and no faith ties to speak of, we had found a place to belong.  I was a "going through the motions" Christian, he was a fledgling, baby Christian.  We have grown past those phases, had our own set of ups and downs, find our children growing up and starting to grow away, but the one thing we share -- definitely and steadfastly -- is Sunday morning at church.  It is here we hear, study and take in the Word.  It is here that the Word drives us home and makes us think more, see more and learn more.  It is here we don't feel unsure or unmoved or unreal.  It is here that God delivered us, and now, makes us see where we need to try harder, to read, pray and lean.  We have a home.

Amen.

Procrastination - It's Making Me Wait

"Procrastination is the grave where opportunity is buried." SMACK. Right in the face. This came from an elderly listener on my favorite radio station, K-LOVE, a nationally-broadcast Christian radio station. God told her this. She stated it over the phone to the morning DJs, and because I tuned in just now, it came to my needy ears. I'm supposed to do something with it. I have trouble with that. It forces me to make a change in my ways. It breaks me out of my box unexpectedly. I have always known I fail in the area of "getting up and going," depending on the circumstance. However, I feel it necessary to pry myself out of the "Put It Off" cul de sac and chug a little harder down the road of "Actually Doing Something". I feel convicted lately, in reaching out to others, in trying with purpose, to make a difference in someone's life. Last night, while attending a project workshop at a nature center at which my 12-year old bunked for a week with a group of 6th graders from her class, I had opportunities to reach out. I wish I had longer arms. Every child in the place has problems. Regular kid problems, but problems nonetheless. There are kids of divorce, kids of neglect, kids of learning disabilities, kids of disinterest, kids of negativity and more and more descriptors, as well as combinations of many. The trouble is, not one of these is invisible or quiet, nor do they all just blend into the atmosphere in a tolerable way. In working with the nine children in our t-shirt-making group, I discovered something: we don't often think about what makes a child or person different and why he acts the way he does, even for one minute. We tend to listen to the tattlers, not the quiet sufferers. We tend to overlook the poor in spirit, considering them weak and silently hoping they'll pick themselves up and get on with it. We justify the meek as shy or disinterested, and don't encourage them enough to share what they have to give. We overlook the givers because we come to expect it of them, being that they don't let anyone get in their way of giving freely and wholeheartedly. We find those who seek justice to resemble crusaders with a cause we don't understand or respect, and have no idea of their motivation because we take more time to judge than we do to appreciate their tireless work toward Right. We scorn the mournful, thinking they have hung on to sadness far too long, not knowing their sorrow, nor their lack of hope. And God blesses each of these because he knows the depths. He knows our shallowness. He blesses us all, and we continually, day after day, take it for granted. We don't take the opportunities to reach out far and wide, in small and large ways. We don't TAKE the opportunities because, at least for those of us in my procrastination corral, feel too harried by the giving of thought to situations and the "what if" of each. When you have the needy ones right in front of you, I dare you to ignore them, to not interact in some way with them, to not notice them. Don't wait. Once the opportunity falls into the hole you've so neatly and painstakingly dug by way of considering the circumstances, weighing the options, and determining your preconceived outcomes, it may not appear again. When you know you've lost an opportunity, you have only regret as a memory. Regrets don't die, and when you try to throw them in a hole, they seem to slither and crawl out again, unannounced and at inopportune times ... reminding us of an opportunity lost to eternity.

Wanted: Humble Investment Experts

Goldman Sachs back 8-10 years ago charged ahead with superior profits and assembled a super duper hedge fund team led by Mark Carhart. They called themselves the Global Alpha team, sounds so Fantastic Four like. 

If you are Mark Cahart, you almost have it all your way for most of your life. Mark Carhart looks out over the packed New York conference back in 2005 and tells investors that Warren Buffett has it all wrong. Carhart, 40 then, co-head of the quantitative strategies group at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., uses his July speech to poke fun at Warren's penchant for investing in market-leading brands like Coca-Cola and Gillette. He cites study after study showing that big-name companies with high price-earning multiples or rapid growth rates make poor bets. Traditional stock pickers like Buffett, a fabled raconteur, do have one redeeming quality, Carhart jokes: ``They tell great stories.'' (Lesson - Don't fuck around with people who have done better and longer than you)


Carhart is one of the world's most successful money managers, a mastermind behind Global Alpha, a US$10 billion hedge fund for wealthy clients and employees of Goldman Sachs. In 2005, Carhart and co-manager Raymond Iwanowski, 40, notched a 51 percent gross return at Global Alpha. Posting that kind of gain requires taking risks -- and last year, Alpha lost 6 percent, its first deficit since 1999. Carhart, a former assistant professor of finance at the University of Southern California, helps oversee other hedge funds, four mutual funds and scores of separate accounts. In all, he and Iwanowski have US$101.5 billion at their command. Carhart and Iwanowski use math-heavy trading tactics that fund consultant Sol Waksman likens to counting cards in a casino. The two lead a corps of computer-loving traders, statisticians and finance and economics Ph.D.s. (Lesson - If you have the scores of Phds, math wizards and other brilliant minds at your disposal, you should generate superior returns... NOT! Be humble with financial markets, once you think you have mastered it, you are fucked. If you approach with the attitude that the more you know, the less you know of it, you stand a better chance of not have egg on your face, and live to fight again.)

Their team makes -- and sometimes loses -- millions of dollars a day. At the heart of their empire is Global Alpha, which generated about US$700 million in fees for Goldman Sachs in fiscal 2006. This money machine hums mostly behind the scenes. Carhart and Iwanowski, friends since their days at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, oversee about 10 other Goldman hedge funds, too. Together, they trade everything from Japanese stocks to U.S. soybeans, to Israeli shekels. Global Alpha is part of the richest hedge fund empire the world has ever seen. Last year, Goldman Sachs eclipsed D.E. Shaw & Co. and Bridgewater Associates Inc. to become the largest hedge fund manager, with US$29.5 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2006. That figure excludes Goldman's proprietary-trading funds and its funds of hedge funds.


Carhart and Iwanowski hunt for market variables called risk factors that often lead to excess investment returns, or premiums, according to people familiar with the fund. Some, such as a measure called the value premium -- the difference between the return of a group of stocks with high book values relative to their prices and that of a group with low book value-to-price ratios -- have been used by other money managers for years. Goldman Sachs has identified more than 20 new risk factors, which it doesn't disclose, even to its own investors. Carhart never reveals the secrets. Old friends and people who've invested in the fund say they're not really sure how it works. (Lesson - Once you think you have found the key, it will evaporate right in front of you.)


On any given day, Carhart's team of 50-60 investment professionals uses Global Alpha's factors to deploy 20 trading strategies in markets the world over, according to an investor in the fund and Global Alpha documents. During 2006, the fund's picks ranged from Japanese and Dutch stocks to bets on and against the Polish zloty. At the center of the Global Alpha story are Carhart and Iwanowski, devotees of quantitative analysis, or quants, who came to Goldman Sachs from opposite ends of the financial world.

Carhart first turned heads in money circles as a doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago and later as an assistant finance professor at the University of Southern California's Gordon S. Marshall School of Business. Iwanowski, by contrast, has spent his entire career on Wall Street. What unites them is that they're quants, who put their faith in data, rather than human judgment, when deciding what to buy or sell. To money managers like them, what you think about a company's management or products doesn't matter much. ( Lesson - Quants take the human element, the human judgment out of the equation.... well, you can't and shouldn't.)


Jokes aside, Carhart would do well to heed two Buffett rules. No. 1: Never lose money. No. 2: Don't forget rule No. 1. In 2006, Global Alpha went wrong when just about everything else at Goldman Sachs went right. After a roller-coaster ride that included a 10 percent August plunge, Global Alpha ended the year down 6 percent, according to an investor in the fund. The loss, the first since 1999, came in a year when Goldman earned US$9.54 billion, the most in Wall Street history. The investment bank made headlines by earmarking US$16.5 billion for salaries and bonuses, including a record US$53.4 million bonus for Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein. Carhart and Iwanowski declined to comment for this story, as did other Goldman Sachs executives. It was a rare misstep for Global Alpha. The fund skated through the 2000-02 U.S. bear stock market without a down year and posted an annualized return of 19.75 percent, after fees, from Dec. 4, 2001, to Dec. 31, 2005, according to Global Alpha's 2005 annual report. The average hedge fund returned an annualized 9.1 percent from Dec. 1, 2001, to Dec. 31, 2005, according to Hedge Fund Research. Shares of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway rose a mere 5.9 percent during the period.


Only now, Carhart and Iwanowski are in a hole. Like most hedge funds, Global Alpha charges an annual management fee of 1.5 percent or 2 percent and takes a 20 percent cut of any profit. Before the fund can take its 20 percent in 2007 -- assuming it makes money -- its quants must first make up the 2006 loss.
 
One of the most-surprising things about Carhart is that for a guy in an industry known for big money and bigger egos, it's hard to find anyone who'll say a bad word about him. Former colleagues, classmates and teachers remember him as one of the smartest people they've known. After graduation, Carhart headed for Yale University, where he majored in economics and served as managing editor of the Yale Economics & Business Review. He also began dabbling in the markets as a director of the Yale College Student Investment Group. After Yale, Carhart set to work on a doctorate in finance at Chicago. He studied under finance professor Eugene Fama, best known for his work on the efficient-market hypothesis, which holds that prices reflect all there is to know about stocks or other securities.

Global Alpha doesn't merely bet on the direction of stock or bond prices. It bets on differences between those prices. Global Alpha employs seven strategies in the bond markets alone, according to Goldman Sachs Global Alpha Fund Plc's June 30 semiannual report. The simplest of them is to buy government bonds of one country while shorting those of another. In the U.S. stock market, Global Alpha might buy oil and insurance stocks and simultaneously bet against semiconductor shares. The fund also allocates part of its US$10 billion to something called ``global event anomalies,'' according to a November 2001 prospectus. With this strategy, the fund attempts to make money from corporate stock buybacks and divestitures and from changes in how market indexes like the S&P 500 are calculated. Carhart and Iwanowski also employ a commodities strategy and an asset-allocation strategy that bets on various mixes of investments: stocks, bonds, currencies and beyond.

Global Alpha quants have designed their fund so that if things go wrong, the probability is low that the 20 strategies will lose a lot money at the same time. That, anyway, is the idea. In the 2005 report filed with the Irish exchange, Global Alpha reported a gross return of 51 percent for the year. The report says only two strategies -- global anomalies and the country bond selection -- suffered losses of more than 1 percent. During the first quarter of 2006, Global Alpha rose a net 9.5 percent. The next quarter, a bunch of the fund's strategies soured. Global Alpha lost 3.5 percent during the period. Its ``developed equity country selection'' fell 2.5 percent, hurt by bad bets on Japanese and Dutch stocks. Its developed country currencies strategy sank 1.9 percent, whacked by a wrong-way wager on the dollar and another against the pound. Emerging market currencies strategy sank 1.7 percent, nipped by short positions in the shekel and zloty.
 
Piecing together the second half of 2006 is harder. A Global Alpha investor who asked not to be identified says the fund's roughly 10 percent slide last August mostly reflected bad bond market investments. Global Alpha also bet that stocks in Japan would rise while those in the rest of Asia would fall -- wrong; that U.S. stocks would stumble -- wrong; and that the dollar would rise -- wrong again. Global Alpha finished November down 11.6 percent in 2006.

Trees don't grow to the sky. Neither do hedge fund returns. Superman exists only in comics.


Where Is Mark Carhart and Global Alpha now?

Goldman Sachs shut down the fund in September 2011. The closure of Global Alpha is a striking reversal for a fund that was once the toast of Wall Street and spawned the careers of some of the most well-known quants in the business, including Cliff Asness, founder of AQR Capital, and Mark Carhart, the founder of Kepos Capital. Global Alpha gained prominence as high-frequency trading, in which computer models execute lightning-fast trades, became a common strategy among hedge funds.

Global Alpha was started in 1995 with just $10 million. Over time its results soared. At its peak in 2007, Global Alpha ran about $12 billion, although that number has dwindled to about $1 billion now in the wake of a number of wrong bets. The fund is also having a rough year, according to a person close to the firm, and is down about 12 percent so far for 2011.

In 2010, Carhart launched his own quant shop (Kepos Capital), now managing just $500m. Let's just say his fund's performance to date have been lukewarm.

Why Parents Shouldn't SMS

The Equaliser - Important Insights For Coffee Shop Talk

Casual conversations can sometimes elicit the roll of our eyes, and sometimes I have to stop myself wanting to explain an investing issue further among friends as it could drag on and on. However, when you can add logic and persuasion into an investing issue, we musn't be stingy. 

There are again two types of people in the world when it comes to knowledge and information dissemination. Group one are those who will try and get by by hoarding as much knowledge and information for their advantage (what the rest don't know would benefit me, I have leverage and the edge). 


Group one are also those who are likely to "lord over people" with their "extra knowledge and information". For example, they are the ones who may have a passion for wines and would read up voraciously on it, and in social settings will snigger and gently shake their heads at any faux pas or shallow commentary on certain wines - that's lording over people. Get me away from these types. 


No one is better or should be compared based on what they know, who they know, what jobs they do, how much they earn, ... we just are. Nobody will know everything, can the same wine expert tell me the difference between aMontecristo Edmundo and a Trinidad Robusto Extra? Or what's a kimedashi, okuridashi and oshidashi in sumo? So why lord over people in the first place?


The more you know, the more you realise that you don't know... in anything and everything.
 

Group two are those who will share their expertise, and are willing to be corrected, and learn from each other. I am sure you have worked for bosses/superiors from the two groups - one will only share only a part of what he knows, while another who will committ to telling and sharing everything. Naturally the second one will do much better in his life and career: the person who is more willing to share all will learn a lot more. Group one types lack confidence and has a low self-esteem, too cynical and probably a boot licker at every right opportunity, kowtow to the seemingly high and mighty - please .... 

My favourite word in English/French is egalite or egalitarian. Meaning:asserting, resulting from, or characterized by belief in the equality of all people, esp. in political, economic, or social life. I don't lose out if others benefit, its all in your mindset, which is why I blog, I believe the internet is The Great Egalite (French), the great equaliser. 


Of course, equality is a desired quality to aspire to, and true equality must not be based on a desired quality as reality may dictate that the flip side is true. True equality can only be pursued when you are convinced that ITS TRUE, just existing gives you the "rights", that should be the entire argument and basis. Or if you are spiritually minded, the maker maketh, hence I am. No one can or should make another person anything "less". My blog welcomes group two types; if you are in group one, well ... , hope you grow up someday and you will lead a happier life.

Cephalonia, an Island to Savour – Part One

I just love this place, although I wondered if this affair of the heart would have staying power. The island bewitched me the first time I went and then played hard to get the second time when we stayed in the wrong resort during a two week freak monsoon and fog bank. After all it is hard to ‘have fun’ whilst suffering hypothermia and gazing at redundant swimming pool and sun loungers through condensationed windows.
The place can be as fickle as its signposts and even the locals seem uncertain as to whether it is spelt Cephalonia or Kefalonia. Our particular holiday started like so many others with a two hour drive from Wiltshire to Gatwick Airport. Again, like most holidays the flight departure time was so early that even our wake-up call sounded tired. It was made a little bearable in that we had booked the night before at the Hilton South Terminal Gatwick thus avoiding any risk of oversleeping (we thought).
The Hilton is like any other Airport hotel i.e. legions of travelling folk either in transit or plonked there by their airline for various reasons. On top of them you have over-nighters like us
The hotel reflects its clientele by trying to be the right thing for everyone and, in this case, failing for most. The airlines want to pay next to nothing so they try to serve cheap food at the highest price possible to other customers. The Carvery in the main restaurant displayed this by offering minimal starter (mainly salad) with cheap cuts of meat. I found at least one large rubbery artery hanging out of my cut of lamb .I picked it up by said blood vessel and dangled it before a shocked restaurant manager. It had to go back and, to be fair; they did not dare charge me.
The 'two hotel' bit comes with the rooms. You get the new bit and the old bit. New is mainly exec rooms and old is, well, old and quite horrid. They tend to put all the cheapy airline customers in the old part and the higher payers in the new unless (like most nights) they are full and you then take your chances. Also, if you are a smoker, you are doomed to the worst of the worst. Serves you right you may say but smoker’s money should be as good as anyone else. One day I will have to persuade my wife to stop otherwise we will continue to be shunned or carted off to the darkest recesses of hotel buildings!
The room we had was vile and overlooked the staff car park and an old prefabricated shed. We sought refuge in their ‘Executive Lounge’ but this was full of kids rolling on the floor. At one stage a ‘Buzz Lightyear’ model hurtled past my ear as one little boy was seeing if it could really fly. We could not handle this level of sophistication so off we went to the main bar. There things got a lot better. We started talking to three folk in wheelchairs. They were part of an organisation called BEWSA who are the British Ex-servicemen Wheelchair Sports Association. They were off to compete in an event in the USA and were wholly responsible for me getting drunk and nearly missing our flight. Fortunately I had checked our cases in with Thomson the night before and I would recommend this to anyone who is able to do it. That way it avoids the horrendous queue at check in and enables silly boys or girls like me to have one or two extra pints. It also means they do not weigh your hand baggage at check in.
Have you ever had one of those horrifying moments when you simultaneously wonder a) who you are b) where you are and c) why you feel like a beached whale with heartburn? That was me when the sleepy wake-up call invaded my consciousness and told me enough to realise I had set the time of it wrong. The rest was a blur with both of us running around our ‘palatial’ room like headless chickens. I flung the curtains opened only to terrorise a young lady staff member who was climbing out of her car just below me. Where are my pants I thought?
Have you ever tried to move quickly through an airport? Impossible. You see, normal folk turn into entranced zombies when they are on airport concourses. What is worse is that these stumbling zombies wield suitcases, water bottles, rucksacks and kids around them as the lurch and come to sudden stops for no reason whatsoever. We battered our way through the lot of them remembering the dire warnings given at check-in the night before about how they load and depart their planes sometimes ahead of schedule.
We finally got to the gate. What did we do there? We sat. And then we sat some more. Then we watched the rest of the plane’s passengers slowly amble to the departure area. 45 minutes later they boarded the flight. You see I should have known better. Airlines will always tell you to get to the gate long before you need to. They do it because they know you are going to be late and they don’t want to hang around. Trouble is it becomes rather like those motorway warning signs; one either take no notice or assume they are warning you too far in advance
Our Thomson flight to Argostoli in Cephalonia was pretty uneventful. It took little over three hours which was just about as long as I would be willing to put up with such little leg room. I had made a wrong assumption when booking our specific seats which was that as I had paid to book them I would receive them. This was wrong. If you pay to book specific seats then all you are getting guaranteed is seats next to each other. If you want the exit row then you have to pay more for these extra room seats! If you do as I did which was book the seats that I knew (in that particular aircraft type) were the emergency exit then they reserve the right to move you out of them nearer the flight time – unless you pay more.
Coming back I ended up paying twice to get the seats I had originally booked! We enjoyed our full size bottle of champagne and a fine selection of chocolates that I had pre-ordered on Thomson. The champagne brand would not make Moet et Chandon quake in their shoes but very adequate despite my hangover. We also bought snacks on the plane although the prices were through the roof. We initially laughed when an elderly couple next to us got out their picnic of potted meat sandwiches, pork pie and a thermos of tea but the last laugh was on me...and my wallet when I paid silly money for a bacon baguette.
So we arrived, on time, at Argostoli and not too much the worse for wear. It was hot and sunny and we entered the building in high spirits. It is not the largest of airports but the air conditioning worked well and there were a few places to sit whilst waiting for one’s bags. It was then that I started wondering about the night before bag check in service and whether they had remembered to load our cases the next day.
We waited and waited. Finally the first of our bags spewed onto the carousel. I immediately spotted it was mine not Judith’s which was not good news. Greek baggage handlers must be the slowest in the World and I warn you that you will need to be patient. Time ticked by and no bags were forthcoming. Finally, right at the very end, the last bag popped out and thankfully it was ours. Praise be! Nothing worse than being cloth less in a foreign country, especially as it would have been “all my fault”.
The rest of the formalities on arrival at this airport are minimal and we were soon out the other end without ever knowing if we had been through customs. We decided to pick up a car at the airport and we used a company called CBR which has their office less than 5 minutes stroll from the terminal entrance. I simply wheeled our bags up there and the car was waiting. You can get all types of hire car but I recommend you pick one with a slightly bigger engine due to the steep and winding terrain you may end up driving through.
The island is split up into two tourist parts. The southern coastal strip, which is more open, sandy and populated, and the north which is mountainous, very much quieter and more scenic. The main southern resorts are Scala, Lourdas and Lassi while in the north you have villages and ports like Fiscardo, Assos and Agia Efimia. In the not too distant past there was a significant earthquake on the island which affected the landscape in the south whilst leaving the north almost untouched.
The island is a very relaxing place and the overwhelming number of local people are kind and helpful. If you do pick up a car at the airport you must make sure you have good directions to your destination as the road signs are pretty useless. The airport itself is well signposted but if you are going to say Fiscardo like we were than forget it without a concise guide. You have to skirt around the main town of Argostoni and that is much easier said than done.
Also be aware that if you are on a roundabout you have to give way to any car joining it! The drive from the airport to the villa we were staying at not far from Fiscardo takes about an hour. Once beyond the main town you literally follow the coast northwards on a good quality very winding road built into the cliff face. Overtaking is neither recommended or that possible and coming face to face with a lorry full of locals speeding the other way is always good fun for thrill seekers!
If you have a manual geared car you will have well exercised wrists by the time you get where you are going. Finally watch out for goats as they think they own the road and can stroll in front of you at any time. I was moaning further back about the early flight but its advantage is that flying at 6.30 a.m. means you get out of your car at the villa around 2 p.m. local time which is perfect for gaining access after the maids have cleared up from previous guests. Also, when going home, you can leave the villa around 10 a.m. and have loads of time to get to the airport. Still a blooming awful peak time to fly out from Gatwick, especially if you are checking in bags on the day.
So we arrived at our villa and it was beautiful in every way. Breath-taking views over forests and cliffs, clean sparkling pool with plenty of sun loungers, everything you could want…if you could get in that is. The key was in the door but the door would not open. We were literally stuck outside peering through the windows at what seemed a perfectly renovated cottage. It was called ‘Vigli Retreat’ and unsurprisingly located in the village of Vigli which is perched above the Ionian Sea.
The villas are high enough to catch any breeze but close enough for the short trip to various beaches nearby. We rented it via a company called Unique Villas and were very pleased with our choice of company and location. It would have been even better if we could have got through the front door but eventually I was able to open the rear entrance.
Apart from being well equipped and in a very pretty scenic spot the villa and its location had other virtues. There is a good grocery shop in nearby Maganos and less than ten minutes from there is the beautiful fishing village of Fiscardo which has at least three bigger food stores. On the way to Fiscardo there are at least two excellent restaurants and our favourite was The Stone House who do great spit roasts twice a week on Fridays and Sundays. I will tell you more about Fiscardo later.
Probably like most people the first thing we did was thoroughly inspect the villa and what it contained. Unique Villas provide a small supply of essentials but frankly not enough to see you through a continental breakfast. A complementary bottle of wine was a nice touch but no substitute for bread and butter. I was disappointed that there were a shortage/lack of essentials like kitchen roll, toilet paper, oil and the sort of things that others, like us, leave behind them but Unique Holidays say they are restricted in what they leave by food and hygiene rules. I am not convinced!
The rest of the villa appeared in excellent working order. The air conditioning was extremely effective in both the open plan lounge/kitchen and bedrooms. There was plenty of hot water to go round and the windows opened up to a very pretty well tended exterior.
Like many Mediterranean bedrooms the beds consisted of normal mattresses laid directly on top of boards and took a bit of getting used to. Never mind we thought, we could recover during the day on those brand new sun loungers we saw on the way in. The next day proved a little more taxing. After a night on the hard beds we headed for the sun loungers only to find that they were made of hard plastic and had no mattresses. In fact the only covers of any sort were four small wafer thin seat covers for alfresco dining. It seems strange that someone who has clearly spent so much money on furnishing a villa should skimp on such comfort essentials. We can soon sort this out, I thought.
I decided to wait until the following day (Monday) to call the area rep as I did not want to disturb his weekend. It was then that we discovered Panos. Or ‘Panos the Terrible’ as I nicknamed him afterwards!
The villa has no phone, no Wi-Fi and practically no mobile phone signal so I took the opportunity of ringing on my mobile whilst shopping in Fiscardo where the signal is strong. Also you can pick up free Wi-Fi there. I got through to a very grumpy Panos on the third attempt. It sounded as though he was riding his motorbike at the time judging by the noise and the regular cutting off which he clearly seemed to blame me for.
I tried to tell him about the door and mattresses until he grunted and seemed to hang up. Welcome to Cephalonia I thought. When I got back to the villa I noticed a motorbike that looked half abandoned in the driveway and there was Panos stomping around the corner in all his glory and he did not look happy. He did not seem to grasp the fact that I was not there waiting for him and his mood seemed to deteriorate as I tried to explain about the door and sun beds and the lack of phone signal.. The door issue was quickly solved. You see what I had missed was that because such doors have airtight seals you have to yank them towards you before pushing them forward. This he demonstrated with such gusto that strips of the sealant fell off it. Silly me!
The mattress problem was a bit harder (excuse the pun). We were told in a voice usually reserved for children’s television announcers that the covers for the chairs were also for the sun beds. He then placed the tiny thin cover on one of the beds just to be sure our tiny brains had absorbed this obvious solution. It was like covering an elephant with a teacloth but by this time I just wanted him out of there.
Finally, and with a theatrical shrug of his shoulders he disappeared under the swimming pool and emerged with one of the old sun beds. This was canvas and a little better, but not much.
Anyway, he then headed for the gate and I asked if he had a second one. “You want another” he asked incredulously? “No” I said wearily, that will do. The rest of the holiday we part solved the problem by taking all the blankets out of the villa and putting them under our towels. Goodbye Panos! Would we go back to this villa? Yes, like a shot.
It was beautiful, well equipped, remote but easily accessible. We would insist on the addition of sun bed mattresses and definitely a ban on Panos calling but otherwise it is a brilliant. Late June is a good time to go as well. We had two weeks of warm sunshine and moonlight nights and the pool had time to get nice and warm. We only had one more panic which was when ‘Bongo Bob’ (another nickname) arrived at the villa next door. This villa is usually unobtrusive and silent as it is not rented to foreigners but, for a few days ‘Bob’ arrived with what was possibly the only drum kit in northern Cephalonia.
There we were, drink wine in the pool, basking in those ‘post Panos’ days when the drum roll started followed by cymbals and a backing track. What the hell was that we thought? Fortunately the others in his appreciated his drums as much as we did so we heard them only a few times after if they went out and left him behind. Anyway, back to the Island itself. It really is a special place with fantastic views and very nice people.
Some have worried about going because of possible economic unrest but the Greek Islands might as well be a million miles from Athens where there might be any trouble. They are totally dependent on tourism and do not want to spoil the businesses they have created.
There is a bit more poverty and food does cost a bit more than previous years but not much. You can still change money easily and there is more in the shops (apart from Sun bed mattresses) than in the past. As I said earlier the island really split into two markets.
The south is for bigger beach resorts with plenty going on and the north is all mountains, coves and fishing villages. If you like nightspots the north is probably not for you but if you want coves, sleepy villages, good food and pretty tavernas it is spot on. Some of the places like Myrtos Beach and Assos village are almost breath-taking in their beauty. Fiscardo is a wonderful place which still has its own small fishing fleet which you can lazily watch as you enjoy a drink and meal on the quayside.
It is a wonderful place for people watching too which seems to be the local pastime. I recommend that if you want to watch the world go by then sit at Theodora’s Café/Bar either by the water or on her balcony. You will get great people and a perfect view of all the yachts, boats and people as they pass by. The food here is good but there are loads of other places all around.
You owe it to yourself to go to Cephalonia at least once in your life. It is a wonderful place with kind and warm hearted people. We will certainly be going again.

How To Hire Well

Put about 100 bricks in some particular order in a closed room with an open window. Then send 2 or 3 candidates in the room and close the door. Leave them alone and come back after 6 hours and then analyze the situation. 

If they are counting the bricks.
Put them in the census taking department or the estimator for the number who turned out for Bersih.

If they are recounting them.
Put them as returning officers for election votes.

If they have messed up the whole place with the bricks.
Put them in MCA.

If they are arranging the bricks in some strange order.
Put them in Pemandu.

If they are throwing the bricks at each other, put them in MIC.

If they are sleeping. Put them in civil service.

If they have broken the bricks into pieces. 

Put them in ETP Tender Committee.

 

If they are sitting idle. 
Put them in VP positions of any top political parties.

If they say they have tried different combinations, yet not a brick has been moved. 
Put them in PDRM.

If they have already left for the day. 
Put them in VP positions of any top political parties.

If they are staring out of the window. 
Put them in MACC.

And then last but not least. If they are talking to each other and not a single brick has been moved. Congratulate them and put them in top management of any listed GLC.

Remi Gaillard's Funny Videos

He is creative and funny. He uses real life situations and basically inserts his own wackiness into that situation. Good stuff.


The first one sees him at a tennis exhibition match between Yannick Noah and Henri Leconte. He basically psyches himself up to go down to court and just wants to play a point or two with them. Great guts.





Its to create the Tour de France dream for normal people, and on a normal Sunday, he spots casual riders on their own and creates a scenario as if these people are about to cross the finishing line of a major cycling event. Tons of extras.



This is a brilliant spoof of Rocky, self explanatory.


Sometimes we just need to not take things so seriously, have a laugh or two, life is hard enough.

Its Friday

An Excellent Health & Beauty Blog

It is so hard to start a blog, do you have something to share, will you be able to post regularly, will you run out of things to say after a few weeks? I think 90% of all blogs close within 6 months, most will just give up. It takes passion but also a desire to share something. If it is just an ego trip, you will also tire of it easily as it takes a couple of years to build traffic.


I have know Fui Ping for a while. I know of her blog and have been reading it for some time. Its an excellent health and beauty blog. She takes care in research and uses the blog as a platform to sell some of the more effective products as well. This is obviously not her full time job and she handles the blog very well.


I have included just the front page of her blog's previous few postings, that in itself is so concise and thoughtful in its research. Check it out and do your own research as well, it is good to hear things from a very passionate person about health and beauty.


http://www.pingofhealth.com/

FRIDAY, 13 JULY 2012

Preventing Colon Cancer

Colorectal cancer (cancer of the colon (large intestine) and rectum) is currently the2nd most common cancer among men and women. It usually starts as a polyp, which is a small growth in the walls of the colon. Most polyps are benign, but as they grow, can become malignant and develop into colon cancer.

Lack of Symptoms

Colon cancer can be deadly because it exhibits no outward symptoms in the early stages. By the time there are symptoms, the cancer has probably spread to other parts of the body. Detecting colon cancer at the early stage increases the chances of treating it.

Some Telltale Signs

• Blood in the stools. Diarrhea or constipation for no obvious reason, lasting longer than 6 weeks
• A feeling of not having emptied the bowel properly after a bowel motion
• Unexplained weight loss
• Pain in the abdomen (frequent gas pains, bloating, fullness, cramps)
• Constant tiredness
• Vomiting

Risk Factors

• Age - 50 years and above.
• Family history - your risk is higher if your parents / siblings have colon cancer or polyps.
• Unhealthy diet - high in fat and calories and low in fibre.
• Unhealthy lifestyle - smoking, alcohol intake, sedentary lifestyle, overweight.
• Personal history of cancer - women who had cancer of the ovary, uterus or breast are more like to develop colon cancer.

How to Reduce the Risk

• Ensure regular check-ups if above 50 years old. Check-ups may include a physical examination, a faecal occult blood test, a colonoscopy, chest X-rays and lab tests.
• Maintain a healthy diet. A balanced, nutritious diet will keep you healthy and cope with the cancer and side effects of treatment.
• Exercise regularly.
• Limit alcohol consumption and quit smoking.

Colon cancer is a preventable disease. Act now to prevent colon cancer.

(Source: Prevent gut cancer, Datuk Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan, StarFit4Life 17 June 2012)

Any Preventive Solution? 

Check out this article, which gives you comprehensive evidence of the safest preventive solution I know, The Role of Lingzhi in Cancer Treatment.

Email me at laifuiping@gmail.com. to choose Lingzhi / Ganoderma as your answer to preventing colon cancer and all other types of cancer. Click here to refer to Shuang Hor company website for Product Description and Price.

THURSDAY, 5 JULY 2012

Tired, Tired, Tired: Poor Blood Circulation

Hey guys, do you constantly feel fatigued? Do you suffer from shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat, poor memory, lack of stamina or infections that are too slow to heal? You may be suffering from poor blood circulation.

What cause poor blood circulation?
Working long hours, constant pressure and stress, lack of exercise..

This condition was previously seen in mainly middle-aged men, and those with hypertension, diabetes orarteriosclerosis. It is now increasingly seen in otherwise healthy younger men.

Symptoms of poor blood circulation

• Erectile dysfunction
• Frequent urination
• Cold limbs
• Lower back pain, chest pain, numbness and weakness in arms and legs, pain or cramping in leg and hip
• Impaired or slurred speech

Ignoring these signs can lead to serious health conditions, including the loss of limbs,heart attack or stroke.

(Source: Tired of being tired?, StarFit4Life, 10 June 2012)

Solution to get your energy back

There are scientific evidence to show that Lingzhi / Ganoderma has the effect in reducing blood pressure (click herefor article) and the ability to prevent diabetes (click here for article). 

All the fats and cholesterol that's clogging up your blood vessels will narrow the walls of the vessels, slowdown blood flow and form thrombo-embolism (which can cause stroke or heart attack).

Lingzhi / Ganoderma is able to dislodge all these dangerous garbage and henceimprove blood circulation. The good news is, as the mobility of the blood flow is improved, you will also feel more stamina and less tired.

Please email me at laifuiping@gmail.com if you want to buy Lingzhi as your solution.

Click here to refer to Shuang Hor company website for Product Description and Price.

SUNDAY, 1 JULY 2012

What is Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and How to Prevent It

Fatty liver is expected to be a major health problem in Malaysia due to increasingly affluent lifestyles and poor dietary habits. These factors have led to the increasing prevalence of obesity amongst Malaysians. Fatty livers that are not well managed can progress to liver scarring, hardening and also liver cancer.

Fatty liver is a condition where excess fats are deposited in liver cells. Excessive accumulation of fats (where it exceeds 5% of the liver's weight) can lead to inflammation and liver tissue scarring (fibrosis).

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a condition when there are fatty deposits in the livers of people who never drink alcohol. Fatty liver a strong factor that puts such people at risk for cardiovascular or heart disease. The conditions of diabetes and obesity have strong links. Diabetics who have poor blood sugar control are at increased risk of having liver disease. People who are overweight and have high blood cholesterol also have a higher tendency to accumulate fat in the liver.

The widespread presence of NAFLD is disturbingly high worldwide, reported to be between 15% and 30% in Western countries (including Malaysia) and 18% to 30% in Japan. Unfortunately, most of the NAFLD are discovered incidentally e.g. when doctors find an enlarged liver or notice abnormal liver function test readings, in the course of looking for something unrelated. This is because the symptoms of liver disease are usually not obvious, e.g. tiredness, or a general feeling of being unwell.

There is no drug that can effectively cure NAFLD at the moment, even though some scientific studies are being done on tocotrienols from palm oil. While waiting for medical breakthroughs, a sensible solution is lifestyle modifications like exercising and watching one's diet.

However, there are over 30 scientific studies which have been published on the usage of ganoderma (lingzhi) in liver protection. Numerous statistical data have been collected from tens of thousands of people who showed improvements in their health after taking ganoderma. The advantages of ganoderma are well acknowledged in itsrole in protecting the liver.

Click here to read about the Research into the Effects of Ganoderma on Liver Protection.

(Source: 
E-liminating fatty livers, by Meng Yew Choong, StarFit4Life, 29 April 2012
Ganoderma the Ultimate Herbal Medicine, Chapter 4 by Dr Deng-Hai Chen)

Are you afraid of suffering from the complications of Fatty Liver Disease? Here is your solution - email me at laifuiping@gmail.com to buy. Click here to refer to Shuang Hor company website for Product Description and Price.

Inconsiderate Malaysians

Thanks for all the comments on rude Malaysians. I do agree, we can rid of most of the problems if we have strict enforcement and no bribing, much like Singapore. That will certainly cure the bad behaviour but it does not change the very make up of the person. 


Malaysians are generally the nicest people when you go to their homes, they make you feel welcomed. They offer you drinks and food even though you have obviously just eaten. They are the most gracious hosts. If you come into my circle of intimacy or closeness, be they family, friends of my kids, friends of my family ... and I have been introduced to you - we certainly treat you much better.


One of the issues lie with our neighbourliness. We sometimes rubbish some Western society for being overly friendly in striking up conversations with strangers, we seemed averse to bid a smile and wave to our neighbours even when we do not know them. Why is that? I believe Malaysians back in the 50s and 60s were much friendlier, yes, small towns even now are much much friendlier. There is more compassion, empathy ... in smaller towns you kinda know everybody or they would be somebody who knows somebody you know- hence the better behaviour? 


Cities are impersonal and cruel. Cynicism is rife, we tend to be too cautious. Naturally, our very bad crime rate causes us to be extremely wary of scams, strangers ... everyone thinking the worse of whomever they they come across. 


However, many of the rude behaviour cited in the previous posting was not due to the above reasoning. Its plain selfishness, its pure "what I can get away with mentality". First, lack of punishment and enforcement, we take our chances, chances of getting caught or fined is so remote. We cannot really take the law into our hands and smash the windows of the double parkers, can we, then its two wrongs. 


People in L.A. behave better, but not because they are nicer, its because if you anger some motorist, they could have a gun in their glove box and we know what could happen next. Fear is certainly not the way to go.


It all goes back to how we were brought up. If you have kids in the car and they see you double park, tailgate or road hog ... what do you think they will learn? The bad behaviour is all a reflection of bad parenting mainly, or rather ineffective parenting. Some parents will say ... well, friends' influence is also important when they get to their teens. Every layer shoulders some blame I guess. 


There is not enough peer pressure from the 'good guys'. I mean when someone does not give up their seat for the elderly or pregnant woman, there has to be sufficient "peer pressure" from the good guys around that fucker that would cause him/her to do so. But we fear we get ourselves into trouble.


Its the same mentality that has driven us to doom in politics, but when enough 'good people' do something, we get Bersih. If we see someone doing the "right stuff", stand up alongside that person, to let him/her know he/she is not alone. Power in  numbers. No point just whining and bitching, do you stand up with your fellow man? The "bad ones" may threaten one good guy, but not when a few more just step up and join forces. We must reward good behaviour to encourage good behaviour. We cannot stand by the side and then whine and complain.


Why is a person considerate? Being nice is a fucking burden in a soul-less city. But we try to be considerate because its the right thing to do, because you know if everyone does not do likewise, we will have anarchy. Good social behaviour has a lot to do with ethics, or rather self-imposed ethics. That kind of behaviour will translate to other aspects of society and economy.


I don't think I am exaggerating when I say, the proliferation of bad behaviour socially is but a reflection of similar bad behaviour in politics, in the boardroom, in the corporate world, even in personal relationships, in some lawyers or accounting offices, in HR, in the police force, in the legal system, etc... 


Fuckers using mobile phones in cinemas .... they are probably the same kids that parents allow them to do texting n play games on their phones 99% of the time when they are dining out with their parents. 


Are you a good person? What is a good person? Have a heart, have a decent heart, empathise ... You are not a good person just because you don't steal, kill or maim. You do not have a decent heart when you only are nice when it suits you.