Studies in the Capital of Golf: I never did play
Sep 1 at 3:03pm by ObverseView
I went to school in St. Andrews in Scotland. I majored in Greek of the Classical kind, and while it is true that I wasn’t the most hardworking of the students in class, I learned a profound amount from my experience there.
St. Andrews was famous as the former capital of Scotland for a number of things: oldest university in Scotland, RAF Leuchars nearby, but wherever you went in St. Andrews, you were never far away from its number one export: golf.
There is the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, the British Open, and at least four more 18 hole golf courses in the town of little more than 14,000 inhabitants and 8,000 students (estimates).
Unfortunately, while I did indulge in a number of the wonderful student activities, including Raisin Monday, pier walks (now not possible), *ahem*, I never did manage to pick up any Nike golf clubs or any other kind of golf club! I will never know why.
It’s not that I didn’t try other sports: aerobics, hill walking, cycling, and so on. It just never appealed to me. Kind of like putting me in front of a pile of delicious food then telling me I have to eat it. I lose my appetite quickly.
Comments OffContinue Reading
Self-Cleaning With Ho’oponopono 2
Jul 7 at 11:11am by ObverseView
A friend send me this lovely video. So I’m sharing it with you. Enjoy.
In our hectic days, a few moments peace, calm and self-reflection can help restore our sense of humanity.
Comments OffContinue Reading
Highland Cattle Truck: Moving House!
Sep 30 at 1:01pm by ObverseView
About 30 years ago, my parents moved house to the Highlands of Scotland, where we spent a couple of years growing up. My parents ran a little grocery store in Lairg, Sutherland selling daily necessities to the locals in winter, and to visitors in summer.
One story that I’m frequently regaled with is how on moving to the highlands, we didn’t rent any moving trucks but we were offered a large highland cattle truck that hadn’t been very well cleaned out and was driven by a local called Don.
He came to our house and picked up our stuff in this huge Highland Cattle Haulage truck. Cool story! Wish I could say the same for our possessions. Mom nearly had a fit when she saw the truck!
Comments OffContinue Reading
Buzz: LateRooms.com
Sep 25 at 8:08pm by ObverseView
What a wonderful site this is! LateRooms.com on two separate occasions helped me find some wonderful accommodation in the UK on two separate occasions: once in Edinburgh I ended up staying in very affordable rooms right on Rose Street in the middle of the city, then in London, I had a room for two nights right across from the Royal Albert Hall.
The rooms were particularly pleasant, affordable and excellently located. Who would have believed that I could stay in such great locations for such little money? Wow!
Stay home and enjoy British life
Sep 16 at 7:07pm by ObverseView
When I was back in the UK, just a few days ago, and passing through Heathrow, the first impression I had was that UK people were always going away. It’s funny – I had just come back and the advertisements were all encouraging me to get out of the country to Spain for a weekend trip, or take some Vegas vacations, or retire in Thailand…
I like going home, I can’t imagine why Brits want to leave, really I can’t. I love the greenness of England, the fact I can buy a pint (or liter) of milk without chopping off my hand, that cappuccino is easily available and very affordable, and that I can have 500 tv channels at home.
But that’s me superficial to the last.
Comments OffContinue Reading
Would you build a bar or a study?
Sep 3 at 10:10am by ObverseView
What are bar sinks? Apartments in cities do tend to be pretty small, so I’m busy wondering how many people have the space to install bars, never mind bar sinks in their kitchen/livingroom/studio spaces?
It’s not to say that I wouldn’t like both in my apartment, but we’d rather use the space for a small study, library or other work room where we could have the space to create new futures rather than drown our presents in scotch on the rocks.
Perhaps I’m just too practical sometimes. But a workroom or a study would be a far better solution for us.
Comments OffContinue Reading
Treadmills vs. Club Membership: A cost effective solution?
Mar 14 at 11:11am by ObverseView
In Taiwan, just a few months ago, one of the major sports center chains, called Alexander’s Gym closed suddenly. Their membership was over 200,000 and they had over 25 gyms including some very prestigious locations in several large cities.
Of course, when you join a club like that you typically have to pay a deposit and a monthly fee to use the equipment. The bills add up quite quickly. I estimated that my wife and I in our two year membership of another club easily spent over NT$100,000. Initially we did use the club quite a lot, but at the end we didn’t have the time to go. Really.
Perhaps a more cost effective solution would be buying your favorite piece of equipment and installing it at home. I always liked the treadmills, and would spend a good 40% to 50% of my workout on those. At over US$1,000 per unit and up, it wouldn’t be cheap, but then you’d have a machine you could use whenever you need it.
Going out for a walk would be even more cost effective, though.
Comments OffContinue Reading
Google Calendar: Helping you to remember your premiums are due!
Mar 13 at 1:01am by ObverseView
Have you paid the premiums for your mortgage life insurance yet? I nearly forgot to pay my wife’s premiums recently. It’s a lot of hassle if you forget to make any payment.
In fact, managing your financial payment schedule is pretty confusing. So using a tool like Google Calendar with its email or SMS notifications can be pretty useful to remind you that something needs paid.
I’m planning to create a list of events for all my ongoing expenses in Google Calendar:
- car payments
- credit cards
- mortgage payments
- life insurance
- tax deadlines
- building management fees
I wonder how many others I need to add before I’m comfortable with not forgetting things. The regular payments aren’t so bad, but anything less than one month in frequency needs a little ‘help’.
Comments OffContinue Reading
Recent Visitors