Pay Toilets

When Mother Nature calls, I've come to take it for granted that there are readily-available restrooms everywhere, especially in places like shopping malls and gas stations. And while that is also true in Germany, there's one key difference: you pay to use the toilet.

The only exception I've seen is restaurants where you are already a patron. But general public toilets in shopping centers, gas stations, and other random spots? They all come with a price tag.

It isn't terribly much-- in the range of 50 to 70 Euro cents. And in some of the larger gas stations that partner with Sanifair, one of the more prevalent restroom-sanitation companies, you get a voucher for 50 cents off any purchase in the attached restaurant or convenience store, making the net cost of going to the bathroom only 20 cents.

Still, it certainly takes a bit to get used to. It's something you have to actively plan for when you travel-- make sure you have enough coins in your purse to cover the cost of toilet fare. And when you're traveling as a family, it really starts to add up after a while!

At first, I found it a bit annoying. I had to actively keep track of coins, and since I wasn't quite used to the various coin denominations, I ended up hoarding coins whenever I could (including 1 Euro and 2 Euro pieces!), which really weighed down my wallet. And just the idea of paying for something that's so freely available in the US took a bit of an attitude shift.

Then I realized what the money was (in theory) going toward-- keeping the restrooms clean and sanitary. "Gas station restroom" typically conjures up images of dank, grimy, smelly, disease-laden pits of hell, but in Germany they were quite nice. One of the neatest things I discovered? Self-sanitizing toilets. There's no need for paper toilet cover seats when this happens at every flush:

After a week in the country, we'd gotten accustomed to paying for toilets everywhere we went. We planned around it-- from paying for wares with certain bills to ensure we got coins back in change, to making sure to take advantage of "free" restrooms in the restaurants where we were dining. And in the end? I actually kind of liked knowing that the restroom I was about to enter was likely cleaner than the average public restroom in the US!

I'm posting every day in October as part of the 31-Day Writing Challenge. Click here to read more about it and to see the rest of my posts this month!

When don't kids wear you out?

It's the darndest thing. Yesterday morning Allan left to go see his Dad in the hospital in LA. Which meant that I was on my own that evening and this morning. Normally I'm already pretty worn out by 9pm, just getting everything done: shower the kid, feed him, get his homework done, do reading, practice karate, put him to bed, plus getting his lunch and uniform ready for the next morning, tidying up the kitchen, taking my own shower... and that's with Allan helping with some of the chores.

Not last night. Nor the last time, 2 months ago, when I had Todd to myself while Allan spent the night in San Bernardino. Oh, I was tired, but strangely enough, not only was I not MORE tired (because I didn't have hubby around to divide the work), but I actually felt LESS tired than I normally do on weeknights. Why is that?

Well, I've observed that when Allan is around, Todd goes nuts. He's a pretty active kid to begin with, but for some reason, he seems a lot calmer when he's just with me. There have been many a time when I've spent a nice (relatively) quiet day with him, only to have Daddy come home and the energy levels ramp up about 1000%. Whereas we often have to remind him about ten times to do something, when he's just with me it seems like I'm only repeating myself 5 times. And it's no wonder I'm so worn out at the end of the day-- it gets tiring, chasing after a human cyclone that could give the Tasmanian Devil a run for its money!

But then that begs the question of WHY Todd gets more hyper when Allan joins the fray.
Here's my theory: testosterone poisoning. Yes, yes, I know-- all men suffer from it, but I think those hormones waft through the air and get absorbed. You know how women who live in close proximity to one another tend to have their monthly cycles sync up? Well, I think it's a similar effect, only with testosterone. Why else would Todd go nuts everytime Daddy arrives on the scene? ;-)

The upside of all this is that I actually get to enjoy having my little boy to myself at times, rather than being too worn out to have fun with him. Hm, perhaps I should send Allan away more often ;-)

Does anyone else notice a similar effect with their kids/kids they've observed?

Funny Spam IM

We've all received our fair share of spam emails. They range from Nigerian scam letters to ads for Viagra to admirer emails from "hot" girls to phishing scams. Pretty standard fare, and always to be found in my Junk folder, though occasionally one or two will slip past the spam filter and make its way to my Inbox.

Today I received my first spam IM. Apparently my Yahoo screenname is linked to my Dad's name (not entirely sure why, I may have used my own Yahoo email address when signing my Dad up for something long long ago). So every once in a while I get friend requests on Yahoo from people I don't recognize. I usually ignore them.

This time, however, the spammer was persistent. Despite my hitting "ignore" to the friend add request, it proceeded to IM me. I stared in fascination as the text appeared, sentence by sentence, before me-- almost as if a real live person were actually typing it!

Here's a transcript of the conversation (with my Dad's name changed):

[09:46:36] donaldsonxahaf: hey
[09:46:55] hellykwee: hi
[09:47:05] donaldsonxahaf: Hey Roger*
[09:47:27] donaldsonxahaf: This is difficult for me to do because I'm shy..but I have a crush on you, i have been sending you emails but no response
[09:47:49] donaldsonxahaf: I've never been able to tell you for reasons which you would quickly identify as obvious if you knew who this was.
[09:48:08] donaldsonxahaf: With that said, I want you to guess who I am, and approach me yourself.
[09:48:28] donaldsonxahaf: To help you out with your guessing I made a few pictures and videos with "Roger" written on my body.
[09:48:55] donaldsonxahaf: They're kind of risque photos so I had to make a private profile. look at my screen name on your buddylist and you'll see the link in my status update or you can look at the top of this conversation window. it's for your eyes only
[09:49:19] donaldsonxahaf: My username in the members area is "RogerandME09" (It's a free website but you might need a CC or Debit to verify your age because I had to. Sigh.)
[09:49:44] donaldsonxahaf: once you are inside search for me. I want you to guess who I am and then approach me yourself. I'm shy and this is the bravest thing I've probably ever done, but you need to do the rest.
[09:50:08] hellykwee: sorry, i don't put my card number into websites to verify age
[09:50:09] donaldsonxahaf: i wont ever be able to get on yahoo messenger again this is my only day so come talk with me on the website
[09:50:23] donaldsonxahaf: Kisses, Secret Admirer
[09:50:32] hellykwee: haha, you're funny
[09:50:38] donaldsonxahaf: AWAY MESSAGE - Waiting 4 My crush.. Won't back on here. FOR EVERYONE - If you read this you HAVE TO pull out your cellphone and text the word BARNABAS to the short # 70542. Follow the instructions. If you do this, you are voting for me to win the "hottest person ever contest". HELP!!! i need 1 more vote. If you vote for me tell me and ill love you 4ever

I was laughing too hard at the time, but now I kinda wish I had interjected some commentary of my own earlier on, just to see how well-programmed the spambot was to to handle real-time conversational responses.

Ah well. It gave me a good laugh for the morning. And I have to admit, I was pretty impressed that the grammar and spelling were pretty good-- makes a nice change from the ordinary grammar-error-riddled spam mail we're used to receiving! Someday I will post about the snail mail (yes, you read that right-- SNAIL mail) phishing scam I received a couple years ago...

Big Brother is watching

In a recent email to Jenna, I realized I didn't have much in the way of updates because everything pertinent in my life has already been published on my Facebook status and/or on Twitter. Such Big Brother transparency the internet provides these days, I mused.

But it's a little more obvious on Twitter. I don't use it a whole lot, and only follow 2 people and a couple of websites, but it's kinda fun nonetheless. Here's where it got a bit spooky:

Before Christmas, as I was doing online shopping and using kaboodle.com to keep track of my shopping lists, I put up a status about how much I loved Kaboodle. That same day, kaboodledotcom started following my feed. A few weeks later I put up a comment about the joys of shopping from the comfort of your living room. That's when shopping_chic started following me. How bizarre, I thought.

Then there's today. And my current status proclaiming how much I enjoy receiving Borders coupons in my email. Within hours, I had a new follower: PromoCodedotorg.

Makes me wonder about those bots circling the web, looking for related keywords in order to advertise themselves. Considering that each time, I received a new follower within at most a day of posting my status, it's pretty efficient. Marketing at its finest, hey!

16 Weird and Random Things about me

I spied this going around on Facebook, and though I wasn't explicitly tagged, I thought it might be fun to do, anyway. I've done something similar in the past, and had a hard time coming up with 10 random facts (let alone 16!) but surprisingly, this wasn't too hard.

Here's the Facebook blurb: Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 16 others to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

(ever the rule breaker, I doubt I'll come up with 16 people to tag... we'll see when this posts on Facebook, though)

And of course, if you're reading this outside of Facebook, feel free to tag yourself and blog it on your own blog, or in the comments section here.

1. I have no middle name.

2. Unlike most other Chinese names, mine does not actually have a meaning attached to it.

3. I can't stand coconut, ginger or carbonated beverages (which is why I don't generally drink soda or beer)

4. I have an unhealthy and obsessive love affair with spreadsheets.

5. I've only ever had 2 stuffed alligators as a child. Their names were Allen and Harvey. My husband's name? Allan Harvey.

6. When I wear velour clothes, I can't stop rubbing the velvety softness between my fingers.

7. I have been known to eat plain sugar as a snack (I used to munch on sugar cubes at Amgen)

8. I am less Asian than my Caucasian husband.

9. I sleep with stuffed animals and still believe they come to life when I'm not around.

10. I'm mildly OCD about washing my hands and sanitizing surfaces.

11. I sing tenor.

12. My favorite animals include frogs, Rottweilers, killer whales, stingrays and sea turtles.

13. When I was in the military, I drove my Humvee around the woods of Germany before I got my license.

14. I attended the same high school and university as my grandmother-in-law.

15. I don't mind ruined endings, and get pissed off at people who deliberately withhold an ending even if I explicitly ask for it to be ruined.

16. Sometimes I think I love and care about animals more than I do people. People can be so cruel and inhumane :-(

When gingerbread men turn...

Every other Monday, the Tech Group (which is more or less the entire Engineering Department) has a meeting, mostly to catch up on HR stuff (like awards and introducing new hires), and listening to presentations on a variety of tech-related topics currently of interest.

This past Monday, however, we held gingerbread decorating instead of an actual meeting. Only a handful of us showed up. The majority, I think, were out on vacation :-) The rest were simply not inclined for such shenanigans ;-)

Anyway, we trooped downstairs and found a table laden with gingerbread men, cans of icing, toppings, and frosting. And while there was a huge plateful of whole gingerbread men, there were also 2 boxes to the side containing broken pieces.

It was this box that I began rummaging through. At first I thought I might try a Frankenstein-like creation-- gluing together obviously mismatched body parts with icing. But then I discovered a headless, legless gingerbread man (his body in one box, his head in another) and my imagination kicked into overdrive. Especially when I discovered that one of the cans of icing was red in color...

This is what I came up with:



But it needed more of a crime-scene feel to it, I mused. So I grabbed a marker and drew a chalk outline. Then, drawing inspiration from bloody scenes I'd seen in newspapers and television shows, I added a smear in what would've been the right place for a fatal bullet hole. Missing from this photo is the last finishing touch: I cut a yellow post-it note into strips, taped the strips together end-to-end to create a long, thin "caution tape" strip and then wrote "CAUTION DO NOT ENTER" repeatedly across it... just like real yellow police tape! :-) I then used it to cordon off the crime scene :-D It actually worked, for my plate trio sat in the corner of the table, well away from the other, normal creations!

Click on image for larger, gorier details ;-)



Yeah... Helly has a morbid imagination. That doesn't actually surprise any of you, does it? I guess I was making up for my lack of doing anything gory on Halloween ;-) Some people said the cookiecide scene reminded them of Shrek. My husband grew wary of going home with me that night, and insisted on sleeping with one eye open. Never mind that some of those ideas came from him! :-P

So... cookies, anyone? *maniacal grin* >:-D

I love my bank

Because of my military service, my spouse, my offspring and I are all eligible to be members of USAA (which originally started as an automobile insurance company for U.S. servicemembers, and has since branched out to offer other insurance, as well as banking and investment services). We get unbeatable rates on our car insurance, and great perks when it comes to banking. We also get discounts on various shopping needs, most notably, car rentals. Unlike a lot of places, their customer service is above par. Not for nothing do they frequently make the top of Consumer Reports' "best customer service" lists.

Anyway...

Today I received an automated phone call from their fraud prevention department, questioning a $600+ charge placed on our credit card, to some computer game store in Arizona. Of course we never made such a purchase. When I spoke to a live security rep, she informed me that it was an actual swiped transaction, meaning someone hadn't just entered our numbers into an online purchase-- they actually got the card info and MADE a fake credit card for an actual, physical transaction at an actual, physical store. They quickly deactivated the card, told us to cut ours up so we could expect new ones in the mail next week. I was a little disappointed to learn that they wouldn't notify us of progress in the fraud investigation, I was curious to know how it would turn out. But that's just me and my morbid curiosity :-)

What impressed me was the speed with which we were contacted when the transaction took place and alerted suspicion. I wonder what exactly about the transaction raised a red flag in the first place. Maybe the fact the last time I used this card was just 2 days ago, and now a new charge was taking place 500 miles away? Or the fact that we don't routinely place huge charges on the card, so $600+ was a big leap?

No matter-- I'm glad they did. The charge could've gone unnoticed for several days if they hadn't called. I'm usually pretty vigilant over verifying each of our banking transactions, but I don't check our accounts every single day. I'm also pretty diligent about obtaining and scrutinizing my free credit report, one from each agency spread out over 3 times a year. Note to my American friends: if you aren't already taking advantage of this free service, you should!

I hope they eventually nail whoever did this, and make them pay! I feel sorry for whoever has to eat the loss. Either the computer store or USAA. And ultimately, I find it ironic that as much as I use my credit card and bank online, the FIRST time my card is used fraudulently (and wasn't physically stolen) was with a "spoofed" card in a physical, offline transaction.

I also have an amusing (unrelated) story about a snail-mail phishing scam (yes, you read that right: SNAIL mail), but that's for another entry...

Urban Dictionary

Swiped from Scot's blog. A little risque, yes, but all in good fun :-)

Instructions: Go to urbandictionary. com and type in your answer to each question in the search box, then write the FIRST definition it gives you...

Of course, knowing me, I like to bend the rules a little, and so am going to ignore that last bit about giving the FIRST definition, and instead choose the one that happens to tickle my fancy the most :-)

1) Your name?
Helly: "Whiny, pre-pubescent little punk"

2) Your age?
31: "knicknamed 31 for the term reggie miller bud...known for giving headaches, body pains and sleeping disorders..." Question: what the heck is a "knickname"? ;-)

3) One of your friends?
Ingrid: "Verb: - To do something that make you a slacker. Noun: - A slacker in its purest form." I think she'd laugh extra hard at this ;-)

4) What should you be doing?
Napping: "see Heaven zzzzzzzzzzzzzz" Ah yes... heaven, indeed :-)

5) Favorite color?
Orange: "The colour which vain assholes turn after a session in the tanning salon; Often confused with Hepatitis." Ewwwwww!!!

6) Hometown?
Sylmar: "Most ghetto place on earth. Home to the most rapists and criminals in all of California. Second in white trash only to Riverside. Known for many homosexual residents." This made me laugh extra hard!

7) Month of your birthday?
May: "The last name of the guitarist for Queen." I thought Allan might appreciate that one ;-)

8) Last person you talked to? Allan
I honestly couldn't decide which definition was funnier, so I am posting both:
-- "A guy who is always charming people to get out of trouble. Usually very fliratious with the females but deep down just wants a stable relationship with a chill girl. Very goodlooking and quick witted. "
-- "An unusually large fellow who represents homosexuality and an odd affection for wild animals. One allan might often lie or gather belongings so called "cool" to gain popularity yet still loathed by the public."

9) Where are you right now?
Santa Barbara: "Sounds like paradise but only if your visiting... trust me it gets boring after a while." Hehehe-- not quite true, but it IS a small city compared to what I'm used to.

10) Your nickname?
Well, typing in "Helly Belly" didn't yield anything, so I'm just gonna go with:
Belly: "Nickname for a fat guy. What you fill up when eating or drinking. What you get if overeating. "

Dinner, a movie and an interesting visitor

As mentioned in my previous Friday Five post, last night we invited 2 couples from church over to our new apartment for dinner and a movie. The movie was "Life of Brian", which caused quite a stir when it was first released in 1979. You know how it goes-- the religious right decried it as an affront to their faith, and its loudest opponents were those who hadn't even SEEN it. Typical misinterpretation and narrow-mindedness. What the movie DID do, however, was raise critical thinking about blind faith and about how the central tenets of true faith (specifically, Judaism (e.g. the Pharisees and Sadducees) and Christianity (e.g. the many denominations)) were splintered because of human (mis)interpretation. We got into a discussion of the movie during one of our small group sessions, and some, who had seen documentaries about it, expressed interest in actually seeing the movie.

So, we set a date for Friday. Allan made corned beef in the slow cooker and whipped up some tasty risotto. One friend brought brownies. We were set with both wine and sparkling cider. But before we could even serve ourselves food, an unexpected visitor dropped by. A man I'd never seen in my life came up the stairs looking for "John Smith".

When I explained that not only was there no John Smith here, but we HAD indeed been receiving a lot of his mail, the guy got a worried look on his face and handed me his business card. By now Allan and our friends had gotten curious, and peeked over my shoulder to read the card. A chorus of "Oooh"s ensued. Why? Because this guy was a U.S. probation officer, apparently assigned to John. So while Allan got the food ready, I spoke with the probation officer about what kind of mail we'd been getting for John Smith, how long we'd been here, and if we'd received any strangers coming by (like him, LOL). I also explained that all the mail we'd been receiving for John was obviously forwarded by the post office, because every letter (mostly bank statements) was addressed to his former residence, and had a sticker with our address affixed over it. So it was clear that this guy gave the post office and his probation officer a bogus address. Was he in the wind? Must have been, because when the officer left, he sighed wearily and said "Looks like I have more work to do tonight".

We had a good laugh over it. It figures that the first time we invite our friends (whom we'd newly met in the past few months) over, someone from the U.S. District Court comes by for a visit! What kind of shady dealings must they think we're involved in! ;-)

Anyway, we proceeded to have a nice dinner and settled down to watch the movie.

Now, let me begin by saying that I absolutely abhor Monty Python. I do not find them remotely funny in the least. I guess they are like marmite/vegemite-- you either love it or you hate it, there IS no in-between. So it was with some trepidation that I sat and watched it. To my surprise, I found it rather decent. I'm sure a large part of it was, as Jenna pointed out, the fact that we were watching it with good company. It provided some good food for thought as well as raucous laughter. So while I personally still wouldn't go out and spend $20 on it, it's worth seeing if you ever want to get together with friends and rent it one night.

All in all, it made for an interesting and entertaining visit. Good food, good company, good movie... and a surprise visitor to spice things up! Good stuff :-)

Recurring Dreams

We all have recurring dreams/dream themes. I have my own little handful, some common, some unique.

For instance, the classic flying/falling dream-- in my dreams, it's manifested as leaping/bouncing high into the sky, soaring for a moment, and then feeling that sickly drop in the pit of my stomach as I plummet to the ground. You know-- the ticklish sensation brought on by freefall. I wonder if it's because I really loathe that free-falling sensation, probably more so than most people. It is why I won't ride the aptly-named "Freefall" ride at Magic Mountain, and why I won't bungee jump or parachute out of a plane.

Another common recurring dream is a bit more unusual-- I dream that my mouth is stuffed with food or gum. Then a situation arises where I have to spit it out-- either the food is dry and chewy and I don't want to eat anymore, or I need to do something like speak, but can't chew and swallow the food fast enough (or HAVE to spit it out, if it's gum) to empty it. Only problem is, the food refuses to come out of my mouth! I end up having to use my fingers or a spoon to manually scrape the stuff out of my mouth-- but despite my best efforts, it never completely empties! This one is interesting to me-- I can't even begin to fathom what it's supposed to mean.

And then there's the dream where I am driving a car, and the brakes don't work (or if they, do, they're extremely sluggish to respond). Usually I'm in the middle of a turn, or trying to back the car up, and wind up jamming my feet onto the brakes HARD, hoping desperately that I won't hit anything. Eventually I do slow down, probably due more to losing momentum due to friction rather than the brakes working at all. A corollary to this dream is the opposite scenario: my accelerator won't work and I find myself lugging the car up a steep hill, Flintstones-style.

It comes naturally that when your head is deeply mired in something (like school or work or a particularly pressing situation) you'll take it to dreamland with you. More than once have I found myself doing programming or working out formulas in my dreams, during the time when I'm supposed to be RESTING and taking a break from it all! :-P A few times, however, it's served me well in that I've discovered a solution to the problem/task at hand in my dreams :-) Now that's what I call productive sleeping!

Finally, an entertaining note: have you ever been sooo furious or yelled so loud that you could hardly make a sound? I have not, in my waking life. But quite a few times I've dreamed that I've gotten so incensed that I could hardly speak, or yelled so loud I could hardly form sensible noises. Who do you suppose was my chief source of aggravation in such dreams? Why, none other than Allan, of course! ;-)

How about you? What recurring dreams do you have? Are they fairly common or unique to you?

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/419651721)

Turtle Love

I logged onto Myspace earlier today and while I was waiting for my page to load from the generic start page, my eyes caught a thumbnail of today's featured video. I clicked on it and couldn't stop laughing, I HAD to share. Here it is:

Turtle Love



The "battering ram" effect was bad enough, but wait till the end-- you can HEAR the turtle! What do you suppose he's saying/yelling? Do you think those are the noises he makes when he cums?

Anyone care to take a stab at "turtle translation" here? ;-)

(originally posted at:  http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/279765157)

Lawsuit Happy

Every day while I eat lunch, I go to my "My Yahoo" page to read my web comics and catch up on a bit of news. Including news of the weird. Today's top story?

Woman loses in court after losing lottery

You can click on the link for the full story, but the summary tells it all:
A Dutch woman has lost her compensation claim for mental distress she suffered from missing out when her neighbors won a lottery windfall

Really makes you shake your head at people today, doesn't it? And how they'll sue over anything. Ah well, keeps the lawyers busy, I suppose ;-)

Anyway-- it got me thinking. If a woman can try to sue for "mental distress" just because she neglected to buy the winning lottery ticket, does this mean that I can do likewise?

Most of my readers know, but for those of you who don't: I'm a moderator at a games/community site called grab.com. If you're reading this, chances are you're no stranger to the wonderful world of community message boards, and the joy that trolls and flame wars bring about. Grab.com is stricter than most forum sites, in an effort to keep it a clean, family-friendly site. So as you can imagine, there's no shortage of fun for its moderators :-P

For some reason the really big headaches decided to explode all at the same time within this past couple of weeks. RPGers taking their little role-playing a little too seriously, folks taking flame wars WAY too personally, and of course, the usual rebels against authority. It's been one thing after another, seemingly nonstop. As Lisa and I once mused, we should collect stories of all the dramas we've ever encountered on the site, and sell them to television networks as soap operas. Because-- I kid you not-- you could not make some of this shit up! The things people get carried away over!!

So yeah... if we can't strike it rich selling our stories to TV producers, maybe we can strike it rich by filing a lawsuit for our "mental distress". What do you think? ;-)

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/279036252)

Missing the Unknown

Myspace is full of endless amusement. My email Inbox just vomited a bunch of "New Myspace Message" notifications all within the span of a single minute. No surprise, it was spam. But what amused me more was the lame attempts at making the messages look a little more personal than the flat-out spam they obviously were. I had 8 messages, all sent at the exact same time.

Two began with:
"why dont we talk much anymore? too good for me or something? hit me back sometime, geez."

Two had a similar vein:
"WHERE HAV U BEEN?! you keep ignoring mE dammit! LOL!"

As did this one:
"hey why dont you ever msg me anymore? well i found this site and i thought about u."

Three started off with the usual "nice profile" dealie.

And of course, all of them ended with the website they were trying to promote.

It made me giggle, and ordinarily I wouldn't bother blogging about it, but hey-- I wasn't aware that I was remiss in not talking more often to people I'd never heard of (and that frankly, don't even exist :-P).

Gotta hand it to the spammers-- at least the profiles weren't blank, they all had pictures and regular-sounding names to make them look like real people!

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/272370162)

Myspace: USA or UK?

Jenna's latest blog entry prompted me to post this, especially after realizing that not all of my friends had the capability of creating photo albums to organize their Myspace photos. Worse yet, unless their Myspace was set to USA, they couldn't see MY albums (or anyone else's), either!

I figured this out with a bit of experimentation. I discovered that I could change which Myspace country I wanted by going into "Account Settings" and selecting from the short drop-down list (I thought I would have to change my registered address-- nope, simple as this, it turns out).

So I selected "UK" and went back to my homepage. And I noticed a number of differences. First, the spelling ("favourites" vs. "favorites"), as discussed in Jenna's blog comments. Second, the date format (day-month vs. month-day). Both are circled in red in the below screenshots. Third, the ads for Myspace Mobile (which only applies to AT&T (formerly Cingular) customers-- hence will only show up on the US sites).

But most importantly, the ability to create photo albums, as evidenced by the differing name of the photo link (circled in pink) next to my avatar.

So-- if you're wondering why you can't create photo albums, and why you can't view other friends' photo albums when they've created them, this is why. I still don't get why it only seems to be available on Myspace USA. But hey-- at least you can get around it by pretending to be an American, LOL!

Helly on Myspace USA:



Helly on Myspace UK:




(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/247043411)

Forbidden?

Hmmmm, I wonder if my frequent polling of Grab blogs on my feed reader and the accompanying frequent web traffic attracted the attention of our IT guys. My feeder showed a bunch of red entries on all the Grab blogs, so I figured the blogs were just down, as they've been prone to do in the past. But when I actually checked on the web, I realized that all of the blogs.grab.com domain was filtered out, for I got the following HTTP 403 error:

403 Forbidden
You were denied access because:
Access denied by WebWasher DynaBLocator content category. The requested URL belongs to the following category: Malicious Web Sites.

Right... but I can still access the REST of Grab, just not Grab blogs? WTF?

And now they've caught up to filtering Myspace-- not all of Myspace, mind you, otherwise I wouldn't be able to post this blog entry. I can still access my homepage and I can access blogs-- but I can't view anyone's profiles. The category? "Pornography". And while I concede that there are numerous Myspace profiles out there that fit that category, I was a little displeased to not even be able to access my friends' profiles, or band pages, because of the full-out banning of all the Myspace profiles.

Now how am I supposed to change my Myspace profile music if I can't get to the band's page? Worse yet, how am I suppose to change my layout, etc... if I can't preview my own page to make sure I got it right?

At least I can still blog... for now!

Can you say "GRRRRRR"?

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/221611857)

They Come To Life...

Ever since I was a little kid and lovingly played with my huge menagerie of stuffed animals, I always maintained a sincere belief that my stuffed animals came to life when I was either sleeping or not around. Kind of like in the Disney movie "Toy Story".

As I got older, that theory obviously diminished in veracity, but to be honest, I never discounted it entirely. Sure, I know the odds of that really happening are very very slim, but unless I can prove with certainty that they DON'T come to life when nobody's looking, well-- that possibility is never zero, is it? Kind of like Schrödinger's cat in the box...

This morning I arrived at my desk with an interesting surprise. I keep Shaun the Sheep and Wallace (of "Wallace and Gromit" fame) on my computer at work. Today I found this:



Wallace apparently keeled over in the middle of the night and did a face-plant right onto my computer. Notice how his hand is still on Shaun's head, perhaps in an attempt to catch his balance and break his fall? Doesn't look like it helped. Makes me wonder how much he had imbibed last night ;-) And just makes me wonder even more if my stuffed animals really did have a raucous party last night when the last of the staff had gone home and all was quiet in the building....

(and in case you're wondering, yes, I propped the Rottweiler up next to them, with pen and pad. When I came upon this amusing "crime scene" this morning, my imagination went into overdrive and I decided that Rocky would serve quite nicely as the investigating police dog :-D)

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/194391348)

Messages From the Future

It always amuses me to get a text message from friends who live in a timezone that's ahead of mine-- especially my friends in the UK. Because on my phone, the timestamp shows up not as the time *I* received the message, but as their local time of sending it!

It gets even funnier when I get a message after 4:00pm my time, since it's after midnight in the UK-- and guess what-- a brand new day, namely, tomorrow!

Yes, I know, I am easily amused. If you're reading this, you should know me well enough to not be surprised :-P

(originally posted at:  http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/162804105)