Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Nokia 3120 Classic
Bought a new phone over the weekend. I traded in my HTC Touch for RM500 and bought this 'crap' for another RM100. It a nice phone which fits in my pocket and has the functions that are useful to me basically sms and making calls but gosh ..the speakers sucks big time! It sounds hollow and echoic! I have been using it for a few days now and it is disappointing to answer calls! I won't be surprised if I change my phone again soon!
Dow's 2nd biggest one day gain in history!
A meeting with an Ebay Powerseller
I learnt that you cannot do this overnight and there are a lot of things to go through before getting it right. Much of it cannot be described unless you've been through it and although it is still fresh in my mind, I will never understand unless I experience it myself. For example.. if a buyer wants to know how much is it to ship or if there are any complaints or if the product works in their country..gee! how I know? Buy first la..I'll be tempted to say...
I am relatively excited about this prospect and will definitely post some things to sell..Let's see if I can sell my FIRST product before I go for my holiday in November! Keep you posted! (keep myself posted rather!)
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Experts predict interest rates will fall sharply
AUSTRALIAN interest rates are tipped to fall to the lowest level since the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks as the central bank worries about a recession.
One Sydney academic is even forecasting an unprecedented zero per cent interest rate by 2010 on the premise that debt-laden consumers will close their wallets and threaten to push the economy into a deep economic contraction.
Macquarie Group interest rate strategist Rory Robertson said the Reserve Bank of Australia would cut the cash rate, now at 6 per cent, to 4.25 per cent over the next year.
This would be equal to where the cash rate was in December 2001, in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.
Wonder why did Oz just raised the IR not too long ago sometime in March! Anyhow, it seems they realise how bad the situation is now..duhh! With so many countries in recession now latest being Singapore, Japan and NZ, it would be hard to stop an oncoming train! By cutting the IR, we could probably see currency weakness. Who knows we might even see 1.80! Its not too far fetched! It's already 2.30 now! Unless you have kids studying in Oz and you have to pay school fees, the rates have been the lowest so far which is good. Wait for lower rates!
Property Market
With the IR going down and the new Gomen grant of AUD21k, some are able to buy their first home. PM Kevin Rudd announced the new AUD 10.4B rescue package to revive the economy and certainly the property sector. At a time like this when the world seems to be crashing down on you, history has shown where the money goes.
Following the World Stock market crash of October 1987, when the Dow Jones fell some 23%, and the Australian all ordinaries fell some 42%, WHY did the average Melbourne apartment rise by 37%, and the average Sydney apartment by 54% in the 24 months immediately following the crash? |
(Source: Residex October 1987-October 1989) |
|
Similarly in 2008, CDO's were packaged together from good rated bonds with low risk, low return to crap rated high risk high return subprime loans which banks give to people who have bad credit rating. Heck, they even give you debit cards to spend together with the loans! When housing starts to plunder and people can't pay loans, the shit hits the fan and everybody loses in the stock market because of America's greed, It'll take more than 3 years to open up every CDO file and see what kinda rubbish was packaged in. Even banks do not know how much money they have to lend and that's the reason everything has frozen! No lending, no growth, businesses suffer, people stop spending and a great cycle of depression. I will have to start a business of selling safes to keep my money in because banks don't even guarantee what I have in there!!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Daddy goofing with Mummy while Jamie is sleeping!
Kelly is slow out of the blocks!
Monday, October 13, 2008
I can see!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Cut in Migrant Numbers by Rudd
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has flagged a cut in immigration because of the global financial crisis, faltering economic growth and a rise in unemployment.
Mr Rudd said the current immigration rate was an increase on the previous year.
He said that increase was to meet employer demands for more skilled workers, particularly in mining and resource intensive Western Australia and Queensland.
"As with all previous governments, and mine's the same, whenever we set immigration targets we will adjust them according to the economic circumstances of the day," he told the Fairfax Radio Network in Melbourne.
The 2008-09 Migration Program is set at 190,300 places, representing a 19.8 per cent increase on the 2007-08 program. The figure includes 56,500 places for family migrants sponsored by people already in Australia and 133,500 places for those with special skills.
But that's now been criticised as excessively large in a period of economic turmoil.
Mr Rudd said immigration was not one-size-fits-all across the country and the government would take advice on where skilled workers were needed.
Monash University researcher Andrew Markus has estimated that of the 21 million Australians, a quarter were born abroad - twice the proportion of the population in the United States and three times that of Britain.
Britain and New Zealand are still the largest source countries, but almost every country is represented.
Although we are fortunate enough to receive our PR this year, it is still daunting to realize we may not get any jobs if we decide to go so soon.I will wait out the 2 years and see what happens..
Friday, October 10, 2008
Lasik Procedure
Finally, I did my Lasik procedure yesterday afternoon! Everything went well mainly because I was briefed about what would happen. What I did not expect was the pain I experienced after the anesthetic wore out! My goodness! I was going to pull my hair out! I had tears running down my eyes and it felt like someone had punched me in the face, nuerously! My nose was runny so I had to breath through my mouth. Sleeping was difficult because I was more in pain than anything else. It was hard to keep the eyelids open too as it was puffed up. That lasted for 3 hours! By nightfall, the congestion disappeared and my vision was restored after 5 hours. I slept better at night.
Severe Market Conditions!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Skilled workers leaving Australia in droves
MELBOURNE, Oct 7 - Australia has experienced its biggest annual exodus on record with 76,923 people leaving the country permanently in 2007-08, a new report shows.
And it appears the skills crisis is only set to worsen with the report showing almost half of those who left Australia permanently were in skilled jobs.
Almost two-thirds of those who left the country permanently were aged between 25 and 54.
A further 102,066 Australian residents left the country for a year or more with more than 55 per cent in professional occupations or trades, the Emigration 2007-2008 report shows.
Australia’s Immigration Minister Chris Evans said the figures showed that emigration played a significant role in Australia’s current skills shortage.
“Historically high numbers of our young, highly skilled people are moving overseas to live and work,” Senator Evans is quoted by the Australia Associated Press as saying.
The exodus in 2007-08 represents a 6.7 per cent increase on the previous year and a 325 per cent increase on the low of 18,100 people who left permanently in 1985-86.
“These latest figures also reflect the current global demand for skills and the internationalisation of the labour market as part of the broader process of globalisation,” Senator Evans said.
The main countries of intended residence for all permanent departures were New Zealand (18.4 per cent), the United Kingdom (17.8 per cent), the United States (9.3 per cent), Hong Kong (7.2 per cent) and Singapore (6.4 per cent).
Of the permanent departures, 39,467 or 51 per cent were men compared with 37,456 women (49 per cent).
There were 149,635 permanent arrivals in 2007-08. — Bernama
That's always the case isn't it? Locals wanting to leave for better jobs and foreigners coming in to look for jobs that their country of origin cannot offer. Only thing is we are attracting all the maids, construction workers and other so called cheap labor whereas, graduates disappear to other countries. I am no different! And what this does is increasing the crime rates because they think they can get away with it as foreign nationals..just send them back la! We are not solving the problem this way..
What a Dow day!
Dow
DJIA pared its losses by half in what seems to be volatile session yesterday falling to 9525.32, the lowest level since Oct 24th 2003 when it hit 9497.72. It shed almost 800pts to the point of capitulation when it started hitting back at sellers to end at 9955.50 cracking the 10,000 mark at the close. What a rebound in the final hour! The news again was the concern that US will still head for a recession despite the governments rescue plan. Got out of my 'shorts' today a the US charts show a 'doji' which could be a point of reversal. As I am writing this the Australian markets have turned positive from a 2% drop this morning and KLSE is rebounding with the region. Dow futures are pointing to a positive open (+147) and I might just initiate long positions overnight to ride in it! Oil is rebounding as we speak! up 3.00 to 90.89. Europe just opened and things look positive, for now!
Aussie Rates
Reserve Banks of Australia cuts IR by 1% this morning and the MYR/AUD is 2.509. This is good news for all. Good for borrowers. Good for housing market because buyers borrow at lower rates. Probably will see a revival in the housing market though not immediate. Kudos to the Aussie Gomen to revive economy. Will the rest of the world follow the same strategy to combat the ongoing crisis? Will watch and wait..hey its good for me too! Need to change some $$ for our trip to Melbourne in November.
Lasik
I will be going for Lasik corrective surgery for my eyes on Thursday at 2.30pm. Am nervous but believe that it will be good for my eyes because I am so vain! ( did I just say that?) No la..try wearing glasses to play badminton. Got a headache thinking about it! Will post the results later. Wish me luck..err a good surgery!
Monday, October 6, 2008
World Stocks take a dive!
ATLANTA (CNN) -- The major markets of Europe and Asia were sharply lower on Monday as traders looked past America's bank bailout bill and focused on Europe's growing financial crisis.
The most influential European markets -- London's FTSE 100, the CAC 40 in Paris and the XETRA DAX in Frankfurt -- were off about 3% to 6% in the first half of the trading day.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is pushing is bailout similar to the one passed by the U.S. Congress last week and signed by President on Friday.
Asian and Pacific markets were roundly lower on Monday. Japan's Nikkei Exchange closed down 465.05 points, or 4.25%, at 10,473.09 on Monday, extending Friday's three-year low. The Korea Exchange in Seoul, South Korea finished the day off 4.3%.
The Australian Securities Exchange plunged about 3.4% to 4,544.70, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was off nearly 5% of its value, falling to 16,803.76. The selloffs are traders' first reactions to America's $700B bank bailout and weakening financial markets across Europe.
It has begun!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Stock markets in chaos: BOOM, OR Gloom for Australian property 2008-2010?
* A I G -Then: $178.8 billion... Now: $5.46 billion. Down 96.95%
* Bank of America -Then: $236.5 billion... Now: $123.4 billion. Down: 47.82%
* Citigroup -Then: $236.7 billion... Now: $76.34 billion. Down 67.75%
* Merrill Lynch - Then: $63.9 billion... Now: $30.2 billion. Down 52.74%
* Fannie Mae - Then: $64.8 billion... Now: $0.45 billion. Down 99.3%
* Morgan Stanley - Then: $73.1 billion... Now: $41.1 billion. Down 43.78%
* Wachovia - Then: $98.3 billion... Now: $19.44 billion. Down 80.22%
* JP Morgan Chase - Then: $161 billion... Now: $130.2 billion. Down 19.13%
* Capital One Financial - Then: $29.9 billion... Now: $16.9 billion. Down 43.48%
* Washington Mutual - Then: $31.1 billion... Now: $3.64 billion. Down 88.3%
* Lehman Bros. - Then: $34.4 billion... Now: $0.80 billion. Down 97.6%
* Goldman Sachs - Then: 97.7 billion... Now: $40.6 billion. Down 58.7%
* Wells Fargo - Then: $124.1 billion... Now: $111.25 billion. Down 10.35%
* National City - Then: $16.4 billion... Now: $2.8 billion. Down 83%
* Fifth Third Bancorp - Then: $18.8 billion... Now: $7.9 billion. Down 57.6%
* American Express - Then: $74.8 billion... Now: $37.5 billion. Down 49.87%
* Freddie Mac - Then: $41.5 billion... Now: $0.16 billion. Down 58.7%
* Suntrust Banks - Then: $27 billion... Now: $16.07 billion. Down 58.7%
* BB&T - Then: $23.2 billion... Now: $18.4 billion. Down 20.69%
* Marshall & Ilsley - Then: $11.6 billion... Now: $4.48 billion. Down 61.3%
* Keycorp - Then: $13.2 billion... Now: $5.68 billion. Down 56.97%
* Legg Mason- Then: $11.4 billion...Now: $4.96 billion. Down 56.49%
* Comerica- Then: $8.3 billion...Now: $4.74 billion. Down 42.89%
* Countrywide Financial: Then: $11.1 billion...Now: $0.00 billion. Down 100%
* Bear Stearns- Then: $14.8 billion...Now: $ 0.00 billion. Down 100%
taken from malaysia-finance.blogspot.com.
These are only banks in the US but what about UK and Europe and even financial institutions in Australia? There will be more to come!
People are putting money in Properties
Secondly, there is a chronic shortage of construction and new houses being built around Australia. There is an oversupply of houses in the US and Australia is the opposite.
Thirdly, there is a huge amount of new migrants entering Australia every year. People like me and over 400,000 more in 2008.
Where will they live?
Economic forecaster BIS Shrapnel is predicting good economic conditions for Australia for most of the next 15 years. Infrastructure and housing development in Australia, together with the growth of China and India will keep investment and growth at healthy levels they said in their latest report.
Weakening AUD
Managed to buy some AUD at 2.83 yesterday. Looks like it weakened against MYR after bouncing to 2.87 a couple of days ago. RBA will decide if there is going to be a 50 basis point rate cut the next few days or so, and what we're seeing is investors selling ahead of that. Will be on the lookout to accumulate more. Far cry from the 2.9s and 3s that we've been seeing not too long ago..
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Australian Lingo!
Some things you need to know before going to Australia. Learn this before going over and you'll be right! No worries mate! ...
Aussie (pron. Ozzie) : Australian
Avos : avocados
Barbie : barbecue (noun)
Bastard : term of endearment
Beaut, beauty : great, fantastic
Bloke : man, guy
Bloody : very (bloody hard yakka)
Bloody oath! : that's certainly true
Bludger : lazy person, layabout, somebody who always relies on other people to do things or lend him things
Brekkie : breakfast
Chuck a sickie : take the day off sick from work when you're perfectly healthy
Dag : a funny person, nerd, goof
Dickhead : see "whacker"
Dipstick : a loser, idiot
Dob (somebody) in : inform on somebody. Hence dobber, a tell-tale
Dunny : outside lavatory
Earbashing : nagging, non-stop chatter
Fair dinkum : true, genuine
G'Day : hello!
Gobsmacked : surprised, astounded
Jackaroo : a male trainee station manager or station hand (a station is a big farm/grazing property)
Jillaroo : a female trainee station manager or station hand
Kindie : kindergarten
Knock : to criticise
Mate : buddy, friend
No worries! : Expression of forgiveness or reassurance (No problem; forget about it; I can do it; Yes, I'll do it)
Pig's arse! : I don't agree with you
Piss : beer. Hence "hit the piss", "sink some piss"
Rack off : push off! get lost! get out of here! also "rack off hairy legs!".
Reckon! : you bet! Absolutely!
Ripper : great, fantastic - "it was a ripper party"
Roo bar : stout bar fixed to the front of a vehicle to protect it against hitting kangaroos (also bull bar)
She'll be right : it'll turn out okay
Spewin' : very angry
Wuss : coward; nervous person or animal
Yewy : u-turn in traffic ("chuck a yewy at the next traffic lights")
Australia! Australia!
There was a huge section on Education Australia in today's Star Sunday. I guess its time again to feature Australia as a study destination and of which I'm sure its a very popular one. IDP Education is a global organisation owned by the Australian education sector to specially aid students in their preparation to study in Australia. They represent over 300 government universities, schools, colleges, TAFE colleges and a number of private education institutions. They give unbiased professional advice on a students needs. But I didn't go through all that. Students today got a lot more headaches to go through before deciding because the choices they have is like infinite! Reminds me of my school days...
My School Days
I studied in Australia! I left in 1986 for year 9 (Form 3 la) to a private school in Sydney called Northholm Grammar. Those days it was hard to get accepted in schools but I am truly grateful to my neighbor, the Wan's, who migrated to Sydney to start afresh in the 80's. I still remember my dad asking me if I wanted to study overseas with Stanley and Serena! After all, most of my childhood was spent with Stanley and it was only natural I had wanted to be with my 'buddy'! It took almost 2 years before they found a school for me. Unc Johnny had gone through more than 30 schools before Northholm accepted me and it was like miles away. I could not go to a public school because I was not a PR so the only option was a private school. And boy it was not cheap, even for today's standards! It took 3 hrs of travelling back and forth each day. I wonder how many of you would endure that just to go to school ah? A bus to Epping Station, a train to Pennant Hills and a school bus to Arcadia. Everyday la dey! Good thing about schooling is when you travel in uniforms, you just need to flash your pass and that's it! Even if you need to pay, it wouldn't be the full fare cos that's the way the system works. It was a good system and I'm sure its still the same today.
My First Day
At 14, Australia was an eye opener for me! I remember the first, first day of school in year 9. Even after going through the plans over and over again, something had to go wrong and it had to be the first day! I woke up all excited! I'm goin da school .. I'm goin da school .. (doing that shit stirring thingy!) Got ready and doing last minute preparations. Then time to go! I walked out of my foster house to the bus stop just outside and waited. And waited.. and waited .. It was a long wait before the bus finally arrived! As the bus appoached, it was travelling quite fast but could see that it was slowing down! I took a step back! That was a big mistake! It was a sign that you are not interested in taking that bus. It accelerated and zoomed by me like the bullet train in Tokyo blowing my hair all over the place. I was in disgust! In KL, we start cursing already! But in Australia, I thought maybe racist bus driver or something! I managed to catch a bus after that, but never learnt the one step back till a while later on. Hence, I missed a few busses still. Late oredy la! I would take the later train and as a result, I missed the school bus. Darn! My first day of school somemore! Taxis were very expensive in Sydney those days and the meter would jump by 5 cents every like 5 seconds! I was told to avoid taxis at all costs! I asked around for other busses if they headed out to Northholm Grammar, Arcadia, they said "WHERE"? Thats when I thought, this school so far away, the locals don't even know where it is! Shucks! Bad dream! Bad dream!
I grabbed a taxi! Don't care la! Had some money with me but had no idea how much it would come up to after all the horror stories! I said to the taxi driver "I need to go to Northholm Grammar in Arcadia" and he looked at me and replied something to the effect of "I dunno where it is but if you have the address we can get there with the directory?". That was comforting! Still we took a long time and when we finally got there, I couldn't pay with what I had in my pocket. I got down and went into the office to borrow money! All this on the first day ya! They found out I was a student there and they just billed it to my uncle. The lady said "they are having a school assembly now. Why don't you go around the block and sit in with them?" I said "ok" and left. I looked around the building blocks following the voice of the headmaster. The voice grew louder and louder and I could hear it was just round this corner...I turned.. and was facing the whole school!! I had stood on the very podium the headmaster was standing on addressing the whole school on MY FIRST DAY! What a wonderful experience, NOT!! Can there be anything more embarassing??? I could never forget that! Stories that you will pass on to your grandkids for sure!
My First Teacher
I met my role teacher for the year. I couldn't believe it! She was the mystical blonde hair , blue eyed, single, beach going, tanned and slim model like women that we only see on tele. (not kidding here!) Now, I get to see her everyday! Woohooo! Later on I found out 'the hard way' she bathes topless and often doesn't wear bra to school! hmm that'll be another story another time! After the 1st year, I saw her around for another 3 years before she got hitched , married and disappeared into the sunset forever. My first blonde hair and blue eyed experience! Ah Ms Rowland...