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I did some Home Improvement lately. One of the additions to my Alexa-enabled household is the Alexa Wall Clock, made by Amazon. There is also a Citizen branded Alexa powered wall clock at double the price if that’s your fancy.  It's a simple wall clock that is powered by 4-AA batteries. I am not sure how long these battery will last. Hopefully it will last more than one year. The wall clock connects to Alexa via Bluetooth. When you asked Alexa to set a timer for 10 minutes, the minute notches of the Wall Clock will light up for 10 minutes. These are LED lights and should be using very little power.  Setting a second timer (or a third one) will light up another notch in the watch face. As illustrated below, the second timer was set at15 minutes. First timer set at 10 minutes Second timer set at 15 minutes This is really useful when you are in the kitchen and have multiple timers going on and have no way to know until the timer is up and Alexa starts to chime. With the Wa...

I read somewhere recently that one blessing in disguise is that our internet infrastructure have become so essential and matured to enable us to have a life during the Covid-19 lockdown. Imagine that we can still get in touch with friends and families (Facetime, WhatsApp video call, Skype), we can do online shopping for our groceries, we have Netflix and Spotify for TV and entertainment. And for the offices, we have VPN, Webex and ability to work from home. Can you imagine life without a strong internet infrastructure? What a depressing thought this is! Even the kids are learning online - schools give homework to the girls via Google Classroom. And, really I am impressed with SKTM and MOE in general. The teachers are sending homework every day and some teachers are doing video of themselves teaching! Such dedication in the name of education. Their Taekwondo Master is doing Taekwondo lessons online via Zoom where it is a two way video of watching their Master executing the moves an...

Twenty Twenty didn't start well. Covid-19 cases are all over the world and in Malaysia, the government imposed a Movement Control Order. Schools are closed and we are all asked to #StayAtHome and work from home. As an introvert, I should feel joy and happiness. In a way, I am enjoying my time at home in front of a PC and spending more times with the family. But after 4 weeks of being cooked inside a house and two more weeks to go, I think even an introvert needed a break from this solitary! Let's see how this goes. My only consolation is that I have recently changed role and do not have sales pressure on my shoulder. So, that lifted some stress off my back, amidst the stress caused by Covid-19 uncertainties.

Happy New Year! It's 2020, the start of a new decade. It is a clean slate for everyone of us to chart what is our next decade going to be! I think I would like to go independent in this coming decade. I am not sure what I will be doing, but I probably do not forsee myself being in a 9-5 job anymore. Maybe it will take me additional 5 more years as a salaried worker while I prepare myself.. but, I think after working for almost 24 years non-stop, it's about time I think of something I would like to do, simply because I LIKE doing it. So, I am also re-looking at my family's expenses and hopefully, able to adjust the spending while still considering the kids college funds, the mortgage, the car loan and looking to extending the life of my current computer gears. More importantly for me is to reflect on my strength and also sharpening the saw on areas I am lacking - reeducating myself so that I can be independent. However, let's talk about what gear I am going into th...