As you’ve noticed by now, I’ve moved my blog from Blogger to WordPress and then finally to where it is right now. I bought this domain and setup a hosting account so that now I can have my WordPress blog complete with customizable themes and plugins, etc. It took a while for me to get things setup at first, but I’ve managed to get things ironed out at last.

In fact, this is the first time I’m posting from this new site. I really hope all of you will come over and take a look at the new blog and give me some feedback.

I’ve setup a Links page to link up some of the blogs which I’m subscribed to on my Google Reader. More to be added soon, so do keep a look out!

I’m also in the process of setting up a Podcasts page where I’ll share links to podcasts which I’m currently subscribed to on iTunes. I hope to get it up by the end of this week.

Well, just a brief update of what I’ve been doing in the past week. Once I get the setup of the blog more or less stabilized, I’ll probably start getting ready another round of podcast reviews. Until then, take care y’all!

Tags: Announcements, life, musings, technology

NEWS FLASH:

Remember when I said in one of my previous posts that one of my girl-friends was expecting her 2nd child? I’ve just been informed by her hubby via MSN that “IT’S A GIRL!” Congratulations Irene and Jason!

Tags: Announcements, life, musings

If you’re a regular visitor to this blog, you’ll probably have noticed the significant changes to the layout of the sidebar. I’ve removed all almost all of the flashy widgets on the sidebar, especially all the widgets linked to affiliate programs. All those flashy stuff was making the loading of the site very slow, and the sidebar was starting to look cluttered. Besides, the affiliate links was not doing bringing in any sort of extra income anyway. I’ve since replaced those with a series of blog lists to reflect what I have on my Google Reader. I’ve also added a JavaScript widget which features what I’ve been sharing on my Google Reader, which I’ve aptly named “Neko Recommends“. If you have a blog/podcast which you’ll like to share with me and the readers of this blog, please let me know. You may end up on my recommendations feed!

I hope you all will like the new arrangements on the sidebar. Feedback and suggestions are most welcome!

Tonight is a special night because I’ve just received news that my secondary school friend has just given birth to a handsome baby boy a couple of days ago! She just posted the baby’s photos on Facebook, and oh my.. he’s GORGEOUS!!! I’m not sure if you’re reading this, but still, congratulations Deborah & her hubby Mark on the arrival of their first born son, Ethan!

You’ll probably notice by the number of exclamation marks in this paragraph, that I’m very excited. And I’ll proudly admit, “Yes! This is SOOOOO EXCITING!!!!!!!” (I’m always like that when I learn about good news like that regarding my closest pals). Debs is in Saudi Arabia with her hubby who was posted there. She told me about her pregnancy just before she left Singapore, so I’ve been concerned about both she and baby. I’m so glad to see that they’re doing well over there. Hope they come home soon so I can get to cuddle the little handsome guy.

Still on the topic of babies, my best friend, Marilyn’s baby girl will be due early next month. Thankfully, she’s in Singapore. So I probably will be able to catch up with both mother and daughter when she’s enjoying her maternity leave.

Thanks to the wonders of MSN Messenger, I also recently discovered that another ex-classmate of mine is also expecting his first baby. He’s been keeping us “up-to-date” with the baby’s progress via status messages on MSN. Judging from his latest contribution, “there’s something between the legs“, I’m gonna make a wild guess that it’s a boy. Congratulations Kit!

Going by how elated I get when I receive news of “up and coming” babies of my friends, there’s no denying each baby is a bundle of joy to their parents and to all around them.

Tags: Announcements, blogs, life, musings

Yes, your eyes are NOT deceiving you. I AM BACK with another series of podcast reviews (finally)! All thanks to the fact that I’m sick and don’t feel like lunching out. So while my colleagues pack lunch back for me, I make use of some idle time during lunch to do a quick post.

Before I begin with the reviews proper, I’ll like to thank Mary Soukup (a.k.a bear1) for awarding me the “Brilliante WebLog Award“!

Apparently, I’m supposed to tag 7 other blogs that are deserving of the award. But I’m ashamed to say, I’m not much of a blog reader. (I’m more of a podcast person) However, I do know of a couple of really good Catholic blogs to look out for:

• JimmyAkin.org
  If you don’t know of this amazing apologist from Catholic Answers, you must’ve been living under a rock. His blog offers insights (from Jimmy and other contributors) to all the latest happenings to the Catholic church and around the world.
• The Curt Jester
  Catholic insight, with a touch of humor, and a pinch of oh-so-good sarcasm
• What Does The Prayer Really Say
  The famous blog by the famous Father Z! Gotta love him!
• FatherRoderick.com
  From SQPN’s very own Pied Piper himself! What more could you want?

Ok, now on to the reviews.

If you had a blast at the CNMC, or if you simply can’t get enough of Catholic blogs/podcasts and other good stuff. You’ll have to check out the Catholic New Media Roundup (rss) by Sean McGaughey (a.k.a ductapeguy). Sean does something similar to what I’m doing, but in the form of a podcast. He interviews the people behind various up-and-coming Catholic podcasts/blogs (some of which will be reviewed in this blog). If you liked this blog, I’m sure you’ll love Sean’s podcast.

One of the podcasts I discovered via CNMR was Celebrating Saints (rss) hosted by Katie Orsborn (together with her parents Dave & Karol). Each week, a saint is featured on the podcast. Sorta like a junior version of the SaintCast by Dr Paul Camarata.

Another podcast which I discovered is Our Catholic Life Podcast (rss) by my Facebook friend, James Mazzuchi and family. The Mazzuchi family talk about their life as a Catholic family. There’s also a kids segment, much like the Monster Cookies podcast, and earlier episodes of the Catholic Family Podcast. If you’ve like those, you’ll also enjoy both the Celebrating Saints and Our Catholic Life podcasts.

I discovered the Saint Faustina Diary (rss) podcast by John C Curtis, while “surfing” on the iTunes podcast directory. This is a series of readings from Saint Faustina’s diary. I find it to be a great companion to the Divine Mercy Podcast.

This next podcast isn’t exactly Catholic in content. But it is produced by one of our favorite SQPN groupies, Louisa Pittman. In her Accidental Archaeologist Podcast (rss), Louisa talks about her days as a sailor, and how she ended up as an archaeologist. She also talks about some of the interesting stuff she comes across in her line of work. If you’ve always been curious about the life of an archaeologist, this is one podcast you’ll have to check out!

OK, I’ve got to get back to work now. Hope you’ve enjoyed what I’ve shared with you today. Take care!

Tags: blogs, Catholic, Podcasts, Reviews

Ah, so this lazy little procrastinator is back at last. I’m not going to repeat the same excuses again, as I’m sure you all know what they are. No podcast reviews today, just brief updates on what’s going on my life. I might throw in a couple of reviews of other kinds though.

I received a couple of good news this week. A distant cousin is getting married next month. We’ve lost touch over the years, but I’m happy to hear the good news. One of my best girl-friends is expecting her 2nd baby. Her hubby (also my good friend) proudly announced it on his MSN status.

The highlight of my week, had to be receiving news that my dear god-brother is getting married in November. After years of searching, he has finally found his Miss Right. I caught a glimpse of her photo on Facebook. Pretty, pretty, pretty!

I watched Wall-E with the bf this Tuesday. It was his birthday, so we both took a day off from work to spend some quality time together. The movie was FANTASTIC! Pixar has not failed to live up to expectations. I was a little worried at first, as I heard some negative reviews of Wall-E from a colleague who watched it with her kids over the weekend. She told me it was boring, and that the only conversations in the film was “Waaalll-Eee” and “Eeeeevah“. She said her husband and her almost dozed off in the cinema, but her kids enjoyed the film thoroughly though. Although it is true that the wasn’t much human conversation in the movie, there was still plenty of interaction between the robot characters in the form of clicks, engine purrs, and other sounds that robots make. I also liked the little cockroach friend which Wall-E made in the midst of cleaning up Earth. It’s probably the only time I actually found a cockroach to be cute.

This week also marks the beta launch of Google’s web browser, Chrome. I’ve downloaded it on both the office and home machines. As promised, Chrome is fast and light. But it lacks some of the plugins and extensions that I’m so used to with Firefox. However, I can see much potential with Chrome, so I’ll continue to try it out. In fact, it’s my default browser on my home laptop, since it’s lighter and significantly faster than Firefox when loading my social media sites. The major gripe I have with Chrome is that there seems to be some problems with downloading files, and that I can’t scroll up the page using my touch-pad. Hopefully, all these issues will be ironed out when Chrome is finally out of beta.

Well, that’s all for now. Until next time, take care and God bless!

Tags: life, movies, musings, Reviews, technology