little miss may

I have a confession to make.

I’m not quite replying to a tag which was passed on to me by Doreen, but I’m actually taking the opportunity to ask all of you on which phone I should move on to! Ahhh, kill a few birds with one ciku. Might as well, eh?

First, a little history and crawl down memory lane.

It had always been, and still is (so far), Nokia for me.

Despite failing very badly in the eye-candy department these days, it still has the best and most user-friendly menu I’ve ever come across. Every other brand of phone I’ve had my fingers on to fiddle about, I didn’t like the navigation. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up for Nokia on that.

It was the 8148 “Banana” phone that first captured my heart. And Keanu in the Matrix.
And then it was the beautiful blue “Butterfly” 8250. The best phone I’ve had back then.
Now it’s the 6230i, but the screen goes fuzzy on me these days. Grrr… time to replace!

So… What shall I get?

A few criteria to meet:

• Subtle elegance. No loud colours or weird designs.
• A navigator / GPS will be a big plus. Helps me get around town.
• The usual bluetooth, camera, calculator, etc.
• Anything else is extra.

And here’s the bit I need your help with — which to go for? My choices (and reasons) are:

A. Apple iPhone
Need I say more? It’s such a stylish baby that everybody wants a piece of it. A phone, camera, music and video player, web browser, almost everything rolled into one. It even has a map function, which is almost like a GPS — it’ll do. Too bad it’s not readily available in Australia, nor is it “free” to be used with any SIM (unless you go for the unlock, but I heard that might pose as a problem for future applications). Cost is anywhere between $550 to over $1000 on eBay at the moment.

B. Nokia N73 + a separate Garmin nuvi 250W GPS
Ok, the only reason I selected this “package” is because a colleague of mine is selling the phone, brand new still in it’s original shrink wrap, for $400 instead of the retail $799. It’s an older model but still has its charms, bells and whistles. Only function missing is a navigator, which was why I had a GPS unit thrown into the equation. I’d still want one, but it’ll set me back an extra $499 at least. Good thing about it (the independent GPS) is it’s got proper navigation functions rather than just as a fancy add-on. All-in-one? Or keep them separate?

C. Nokia 6110 Navigator
A new model to hit the streets, it’s quite a nifty little gadget. Much cheaper than the N95, and slightly less bulky… I think! I had a go with one the other day, and though the GPS took almost forever to pinpoint my location, it might still be handy enough. I mean, I won’t go duck-hunting with this toy. Better leave that to the “real” GPS units. Damage would be about $749. Pretty nice deal, eh?

 

Ok people, time to vote! What say you?
And how come?
Because why?

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Spring is in the air!

After seeing a beautiful shot of peach blossoms on one of my colleague’s computer, I just had to squeeze in a bit of time this morning before a big lunch (that’s the next post). Despite a marathon event held in one part of the Botanical Gardens which overcrowded the area, flooding the greens with runners, families and port-a-loos, I was determined ignore the noise and excess bodies to look for those blossoms before they wilted away.

The Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney covers quite a large area. Much as I’d loved to have browse the entire place, I was pressed for time. After half an hour of hunting, and just when I was about to give up, I came to where it all bloomed — the Middle Gardens section.

My, oh my… What beautiful flowers there were, all lined up along this little lane! Peach blossom trees a plenty, lovely tulips, bright red poppies, white daisies, loads of purple and blue and yellow flowers I didn’t know the names to… I was in flower heaven.

Oh, before I continue — did I tell you I had the best hand-me-down ever from my elder brother? He recently bought a new DSLR and offered to pass his Nikon D50 on to me instead of selling it. Woo-hoo-hoo!! And that’s one of the main reasons I wanted to snap a few macro shots with this “new” baby of mine, just to see the difference between a “big ass” camera vs my little compact digital.

I absolutely LOVE the zoom. Zoom-zoom-zoom! I could see the smallest flower up-close and personal. Caught a few bees in action, even. I’m so loving my baby! I still haven’t quite figured out all the funky settings, so everything I shot today was on Auto. Yeah, these could’ve been better, but hey, I’m not complaining; even on Auto, I’m so impressed with what this camera can do.

I just absolutely love Spring. Might take a trip down to the Commonwealth Park in Canberra and see the Floriade, if I have the time. Or just poke around the gardens a little more.

Peach blossom for you, darlin’?

*twirls under the trees… a-la geisha-style…*

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It’s been a pretty busy week, with some of my family members a-visiting. Didn’t leave much time to wallow in homesick depression, which was a good thing. Too many interruptions.

On Saturday, it was Major Tourist Day™ for us! Mom, brother, sister-in-law and I trooped up to the Blue Mountains for a bit of sight-seeing, but not before we stopped by the Featherdale Wildlife Park to visit some some Oz “natives”. There were the usual suspects — kangaroo, koala, kookaburra, wombat and many more — which was quite a delightful change from the concrete jungle of 2-legged beings. I didn’t hug a koala (since they don’t encourage it much these days), but I did at least give one a pat on the back. Oh, and fed some really lazy kangaroos that were basking in the sun.

We stopped at a town called Leura, which is very popular for its Legacy Garden Festivals. We were a month too early for the blooms, but we did catch a glimpse of the first cherry blossoms along some roads. Early lunch at the Stock Market was a spread of utterly delicious gourmet pies (I had a Moroccan lamb), sandwiches, and latte… heaven, oh heaven!

The Blue Mountains was pleasant — cool air, bright sunshine, and a scene that took our breaths away. Truly spectacular. You have to see it for yourself; can’t really describe it. You absolutely have to go on the steepest train ride too, you’ll feel like you’re almost vertical as the car goes zooming down to the bottom!

That was two days ago…
They left Monday morning; I’m home alone once more.
Time to get used to the peace and quiet again.
Just me, myself, the TV, my tunes, and Facebook.
I vacuumed the unit in my undies and camisole.
How liberating!

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I am so lagging behind in my tags! And in my signature all-in-one fashion, I’m gonna cover a few in one post. The short and sweet ones. No need for lengthy stories, leave those mind-boggling words to the literary experts…

TAG #1: Simple American’s Blog Love

Don’tcha just love some of those blogs out there? I know I do! I’m so honoured and pleased that Simple American shares the love for mine. Thank you for the love! To spread the joy, here are my 5 mega-loves, which in turn shall spread to other ultra-cool, well-deserved blogs out there:

01: i s a n y o n e O u t t h e r e ?
02: A Journey Called Life
03: angel’s paradise playground
04: my.rojak’d.life
05: Misha’s Treasure Trove

TAG #2: ehon’s B(log) Factor

~ Start Copy ~

It’s very simple. When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.)

Write your own blogging tip for other bloggers.Try to make your tip general.

01. Look, read, and learn. http://www.neonscent.com/

02. Be EXCELLENT to each other. http://www.bushmackel.com/

03. Don’t let money change ya! http://therandomforest.info/ *****

04. Always reply to your comments. http://chattiekat.com/ *****

05. Blog about what you know & love. http://sugar-queens-dream.blogspot.com/

06. Don’t use filthy language-buy a dictionary. http://shinade.blogspot.com/

07. Blog about something educational http://climateofourfuture.org/

08. Be yourself; others will follow http://sfgirl-thealiennextdoor.blogspot.com/ *

09. Don’t have too many blogs that will become a chore to maintain http://cubicledenizen.blogspot.com/

10. Keep it simple, user-friendly, interesting and organised! http://erishaling.blogspot.com/

11. Keep the blog simple and sweet!! http://www.leslieho.com/

12. Share with others your thoughts and don’t be shy! http://groovy-olives.com/blog

13. Never ask for link exchange. Blog hop to increase traffic. http://www.jessieling.com/

14. Blog about something uniquely you. Or post some unique pictures. http://bernardchan.net/

15. Avoid too lengthy posts e.g. less than 200 words if you can help it. http://www.mylongkang.com/

16. Avoid Doing Tags. http://clementwongpy.blogspot.com/

17. Remember to go to the toilet when nature calls, don’t just sit glued to the computer or you’ll shit in your pant! http://wuching.blogspot.com/

18. Blog hopping is fun. You’ll never know what gem you’ll find in the blogsphere. http://che-cheh.com/

19. Do. Not. Plagiarize. http://narrowband.org/

20. Don’t put pressure on yourself to blog. Blogging should be FUN! http://rinnah.blogspot.com/ *

21. Love yourself, love your blog, love your readers, and keep sharing your love through your blog. http://yeehon.blogspot.com/

22. If you hug them, they will come. http://littlemissmay.com/

~ End Copy ~

The 5 Blog Master wannabes to continue with this tag are:
01: Ah Wen is Cooking
02: Neither Here Nor There
03: what craps?
04: Paris Beaverbanks
05: Giddy Tiger

TAG #3: Wennnn’s Nice Matters Award

This is a sweet one. Another award! Woo-hoo! I feel like I’ve received 2 Oscars in a week. How cool is that? Thank you very much for passing this on to me, Wennnn. You certainly are in my “Nice Matters Blog Award” list too!

What is this award all about, you may ask? A sweet young thing decided to naming a few bloggers who are “just nice people, good blog friends and those that inspire good feelings and inspiration”.

Spread more joy, spread more joy! My “Nice Matters Blog Award” goes out to (and who will be such lovely darlings to share the love):

01: mistipurple
02: Pink Elle
03: m y n e w p l a y l a n d
04: Doreen’s Endless Page
05: Simple America

Phew!! More tags coming up… in good time…

37 comments