Giant spaceships to attack Earth in 2012?

It is a little too early for April fool day joke but read the opening lines:

Believe it or not, researchers at SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) — an independent non-commercial organisation in the United States — released a shocking statement last week that three giant spaceships are heading towards Earth.

The largest one of them is reported to be 240 kilometres wide, and the two others are smaller.

What do you think? Crazy size right? To read the full article, click here.

Some good articles on Retirement Planning

I found the following articles good reading:

Focus on Lifelong Investing

6 Easy Ways to Increase Retirement Savings

Retirement planning

If you are still below 30 today and think that retirement is still a long way to go, think again! Retirement may arrive earlier than you thought!

I strongly recommend you read Million dollar retirement plan

Christmas celebration in UK

When I was studying in UK some 35 years ago, Christmas means working to earn extra income. To the local people, it means a time for holidays and break from work. So, during Christmas, everywhere is closed.

... it is also a time for celebration and feasting! No wonder, my children in UK also celebrate.

The so called fine dining was unheard of during my time. But now, they are doing it every now and then. To see more photos, click here.

Snowie gave birth to 8 puppies

Last night, our Snowie gave birth to ...

... these eight puppies.

There are 4 males and 4 females. Anyone who is interested to adopt please do let me know. I will keep the black one on the far right.

Miri Christian Community Thanksgiving Dinner

Monday 27-Dec-2010: This evening, there was a thanksgiving dinner organised by the Miri Christian Community to give thanks to all the participating churches for the successful Christmas Parade attended by some 10,000 people. The highlights of the evening...

... a speech by organising vice-chairman, Ven Father Solomon Cheong.

... followed by speech from YB Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan

It was held at the Civic Centre.

We saw the presentation of certificate to each participating church organisation. Followed by presentation of cheque worth RM6814 to each of the three charity organisations, Methodist Home of Hope, Miri Dialysis Centre and children centre.

A souvenir presentation.

Orang Ulu Dance by SIB Bahasa Kayan Pujut 3

VIPs

Presentation of Ngajat Iban by the Dayak Association.

Our CM Taib has a young new wife

Our Chief Minister, Tiab, 74, had married a Lebanese wife who is around 30 years old! His first wife was a Polish who died last April.

Read more details here. Or more from here.

GMC Christmas Celebration

(For more photos, click here)
This morning the church celebrated Christmas at Imperial Palace Hotel. It was a Christmas celebration, farewell to both Pastor Law and Pastor Connie.

The worship was done by the youth.

I think there were some 400 who turned up.

Baptism of the children...

... and adult.

Presentation of "Creation" by Primary six group.

Sunday School presentation.

Maggie obviously enjoyed the presentation.

Solo dance (by Cheah Hooi Leow) dedicated to the two leaving pastors.

Choir presentation for the leaving pastors.

Flowers for them....

Finished off with a buffet lunch.

Compare these...

Ah Jon is now enjoying his six weeks holiday in England and Paris sponsored 100% by his sister. I was just thinking that this will never happen if the sister were working part time in Malaysia. But the fact is that Janice worked part time for 2.5 years only during the initial 5-year course. She managed to save enough money to come back twice herself, then sponsoring Ah Jon to go over because she has some spare money. She also pay for all her own expenses during her 5 years there. Of course we cover her fees.
This is possible because she is in a developed country. The pay is much higher, eg, RM40-50 per hour compared to RM2.50 per hour here!
Now compare the hot dog they have...

This is German hot dog... bigger and longer than the bread!

This is our hot dog.... you make your own conclusion.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Time flies. When we first came to Miri, it was almost 30 years ago. Before we realise it, we are coming to a close of 2010!

So, we wish all my readers and friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
From: William, Teresa, Esther, Stephanie, Janice, Jonathan, Timothy and Joshua

Old thing new use

At one time, many people had aquarium  at home. If they are like myself, this hobby didn't last for too long as it was very frustrating and not as easy as it seem. However, if one is successful in keeping those fish, it can be very rewarding. I think the major failure is the "know how". The people selling pet fish concentrate on selling but not on education. So soon, the hobby dies and so is their business.

Anyway, I found a good use to the old aquarium. I fill it up with some soil, add water, got some lily and "planted" them in there. After a few days, I bought some of the cheapest fish I could find and put them in. Then my son went to the monsoon drain and brought back more tiny fries. Add the two together and today, this little aquarium is full of fishes.
Little maintenance is required, no pump, no filtration, hardly any food is given as I think I have created a natural eco system for them to survive. I found that my dogs also drink from the tank and I topped it up all the time with rain water.

Methodist Youth Convention

Photos for the Methodist Youth Convention have now been uploaded. You may click on the link below to see all the photos:

Albums from Brother William Law, click here

Albums from Brother Peter Yong, click here

Albums from myself, click here
Day 1 
Day 2 Part 1
Day 2 part 2
Day 3 Part 1
Day 3 Part 2
Day 3 supplementary photos
Day 4

Enjoy!

2010 Methodist Youth Convention

Today, 18-Dec-2010, is the first day of the annual Methodist Youth Convention 2010 held at Curtin University of Technology in Miri. This year, Grace Methodist Church is hosting the event, which will end on Monday.

The attendees will be staying at the university hostel and everyone is guaranteed a bed, warm water to shower and I think air-con room for everyone.

The university is at Senadin. The setting is nice... lots of green, ...

... man-made lakes and beautiful sunrise and sunset!

Over the next few days, they will be well fed...

... with enough food...

... which I think they all enjoyed very much.

In the afternoon, they had ice-breakers. No problem, they all get to know each other through this type of games.

... worship.

Before the food was fully digested, they were fed again at tea break.

... and more ice-breaking. This time, another group from Kuching finally arrived.

At dinner, they were well fed again.

We had Pastor Herbert Tan delivering a message for the evening session.

The crowd was much bigger. Altogether, there were just over 200 participants from all over Sarawak.

Eric and Olivia

On 10-12-2010, Eric and Olivia, son of Yew Tiong Hoo and Hui Choo, got married in our church. I took a few photos of the grand occasion... enjoy! More photos were on my facebook.

Christmas Parade 2010

(Pictures had been uploaded to my facebook. Click here to see)
Tonight, Miri City Fan was crowed with people. I have never seen such a big crowd at this place before.

Some scenery of City Fan

Another angle at City Fan

The huge crowd after the parade round the town. Click on this image for a bigger picture. Make sure that the display  is maximized.

Speech... not sure who he is. YB Datuk Lee seems very bored!

Some youngsters amused themselves

CM Taib gave his speech. I think he gave a good speech tonight.

Brass Band leading the parade.

After CM declared the parade "open", this fountain lighted up!

The view of the fountain from the stage.

Huge crowd from Methodist.

Very nice decoration at the City Fan. If you have not gone there, make sure you make the trip there quickly. Someone paid a substantial sum of money for this decoration.

Another view of the fountain and the huge Christmas tree.