Just now Streamyx was down again for about two hours and it is not surprising that my Celcom 3G was down as well. I do know that they share the same backbone but then I thought that since my mobile line is with Celcom, it would be more convenient for me to go with Celcom 3G.

However, like what I experienced just now where both lines went down, having two lines served no purpose at all.

So I am contemplating moving my 3G subscription to Maxis. But it is easier said that done. I am tied to a post paid Celcom voice line that I have paid for a year in advance until June, 2008. And I must have a 3G line where I could log on to the internet via my mobile phone.

Does this mean that I have to get a Maxis voice and data package? If I take this package after June, 2008 when I am released from my bond, that means I would have to cancel my 019 number. I hope that by then we would be able to take along our number to whichever service provider we go to. Is it possible or is June, 2008 too near in the future?

With so much free music on the internet, do people still tune in to the radio? I do and in fact, my love for the radio which began when I was in junior high school never waned. Radios came and went and became more and more high tech. My interests in radio may have gone from the regular FM stations to Shortwave but I still prefer my radio than streaming music over the internet.

My friend, Paul, who lives in New York in the United States asked me if I have heard of the HD radio receiver. Well, of course I have! I wish that I can enjoy similar free services over here with crystal clear reception!

Do you think that it is fun to listen to Paul talk about New York High Definition radio stations that he gets to enjoy while I am left out of all the wonderful free radio stations?

Also, these HD radio receivers now come with iPod dock with iTunes Tagging that makes it easy for us to later purchase and download that particular music through iTunes and sync to our iPod.

I may not own an iPod yet but as the owner of an Apple iPhone dying to fill my 8GB with music, I think iTunes tagging is an awesome feature for music lovers to enjoy!

I don’t know about you, but I need to carry music with me wherever I go. Do you remember the days when you hear a song on the radio that a DJ played without mentioning the title of the song or the name of the artiste? I used to go online searching with keywords in the lyrics but luckily that is history already.

I was told that in the United States, iPod owners can get more free music now with the popularity of high definition radio that comes built in with an HD tuner that allows the listener to tag songs for easy download later on.

The convenience and ease of use of iTunes tagging that integrates with the iPod has allowed music lovers who own iPods to gain access to more music which they could purchase on iTunes later.

What surprised me was that this is a totally free service and if you would like to tune to to more new radio stations for free, all you need is a new HD radio receiver and start enjoying. This got me thinking, WHY would anyone want to hang on to their traditional radios anymore when there are so many more music and radio programs to enjoy for free?

Over Chinese New Year holidays where everyone is back for a family reunion, it is not easy to get away from talk of investments, holidays and property ownerships. I don’t like any of these because each person would try to go one up against another and it gets kind of boring after a while, but to go through with this year after year ….

One Uncle would say that he has reservation for San Diego weekly rentals for his private holidays with his family and company trips for the staff. Another Uncle, upon hearing that, would go, “Hey, I OWN a San Diego beach house! I don’t need to rent for my holidays and in fact, I could RENT my beach house to you!” To get the last word in, yet another Uncle would say that he owns a quarter of San Diego real estate!

Of course, I am just giving an example of what could happen in a family reunion and that’s how it ends up most of the time. Who needs that anyway, right?

Do you know what the most needed home appliance is right now? A friend of mine is the manager of an electrical and electronic superstore in the city and he told me that there is a trend in sales. If the weather is exceptionally hot, people would be out buying air-conditioners. If there is the FIFA World Cup, people would be buying large screen TVs and when Chinese New Year is here, people buy DISHWASHERS.

Well, this just shows that there are still so many people who would be having their reunion dinner at home to require a dishwasher. I thought that with the convenience of eating out, most families would rather head for a restaurant.

But I have always wondered and even asked my friend, whether these customers are buying dishwasher, air-conditioner, TV or any other home electrical appliance due to season, what has happened to their previous unit? Why do they have to upgrade it only during the season?

My friend then replied that if everyone was like me, he would not be able to sell ONE dishwasher, air-conditioner or TV a year! Hah!

As a one-woman business concern operating from home, one of the things that I need badly is an assistant but hiring someone is not practical since like I said, I work from home.

Paul, who works in New York, told me that in New York, and many parts of the United States, there are companies that offer virtual office services whereby a company outsource the administrative side of a company to companies that offer these services.

This means that people like me do not even need to set up a real office but we can have a virtual office instead, where real people will be answering our calls, receiving faxes or mail. Our calls and faxes will then be transmitted to us and we can pick up our mail from a REAL office address.

Having a virtual office has many plus points. For one, if you are like me, operating your business from home, I am sure you do not feel comfortable disclosing your home address in your correspondence. Sure, you can rent a Post Office Box but that does nothing to enhance the image of your business! Don’t you agree?

When you have a virtual office with real staff to handle your incoming calls, no longer are you afraid to get away for a little while and leave the phone line unattended. If you are also a one-person business entity, I am sure you know what I am talking about! It does nothing good if you have clients calling and in no one picks up the phone call.

Ah… if I were living in New York, I would have set up a virtual office in a heartbeat!

Last weekend, I had the chance to chat with a friend regarding investments and what is the safest way to multiply our money. He told me that every form of investment comes with risks and it is just a matter of how high or low the risk is.

I saw on a website that it is becoming increasingly popular for people to invest in gold, silver and other precious metals. This is because with a company like Monex, investors can invest as much as or little as they can afford.

Previously, we had to invest a certain fixed amount of money and many people could not afford it, hence buying gold and silver was like a rich man’s game. Isn’t it great that we now have this opportunity to invest in precious metals without putting in our life savings?