Identity theft

Every now and then, there will be reports in the newpapers of people coming forward to report that someone has forged their identity to apply for loans, credit cards and the likes. Or worse, someone had used their identity to purchase a vehicle which was subsequently identified as being involved in some criminal activities. At times, it’s reported that these incidents occur when the victims lost their identity card or driver's licence but that is not always the case, so it makes you wonder how these crooks lay their hands on other people's identity.

Identity theft can actually happen anywhere to anyone. It can occur while queuing in line at the store cashier, going online at home or even when buying your morning coffee. If your identity is stolen, you can get into a real mess trying to clean up your credit and struggling to redeem your good name. One may already be a victim, many times over, and not even know it as most victims will only discover the theft after they've been turned down for a loan or run into trouble with the law.

There are steps you can take to prevent this from happening to you. Simple things you can do like shredding any unused documents which contain your personal information, ensuring someone collects your mails when you are out of town, never leave personal information unprotected in your home where it can be viewed by outsiders coming into your home such as home repairmen or deliveries and protecting your personal computer or laptop from unauthorized access. Or you can sign up with LifeLock, America's number one identity theft prevention program. If you think you may be at risk of identity theft, you can consider enrolling in their Identity Theft Protection system. LifeLock will guarantee your identity up to $1,000,000. By quoting the LifeLock promotion code, you will receive additional protection or discount on your annual subscription price of LifeLock. Hop over to LifeLock.com for more information and tips on protecting your identity.

Welcoming a new member of the family

No, no, no…it's not what you think. I'm not pregnant, not yet. It's my younger sister. Her due date for her second child is December 23, so she's several days past her due date. She went for a check-up early this week and her O&G scheduled her for induction today. She's due to check into the hospital at 8am this morning. So we are now eagerly anticipating the arrival of the new baby to usher into 2008.

Hotel reservations for Taiwan

Barring any unforeseen circumstances (touch wood!), our family of three will be going to Taiwan in mid-January. As I like to travel independently instead of following packaged tours with a packed itinerary, we will need to make our own arrangements for hotel, transport, etc. We plan to stay in Taipei most nights, making day trips to places of interests around Taipei. The only night out of Taipei will be at Hualien or Taroko Gorge. We are still contemplating whether to spend a night in the hot springs city of Wulai.

With Hotel Reservations, booking accommodations for this trip is just a simple few clicks on my laptop. With different offerings of hotels, motels and resorts, we have a wide range of choices, all with competitive rates and great discounts. So that's one major headache taken care of.

Christmas at the malls

Over the last week or two, we made trips to the malls to look at the Christmas decorations. We've been to Sunway Pyramid, the Curve, Midvalley Megamall and 1-Utama. The theme in Midvalley this year is "Fairytale Christmas" while that at 1-Utama new wing is "Toy Soldier". Pyramid has a mini railway track as part of the Christmas deco, while it was a white, wintry Christmas at the Curve.

Here are some snapshots at the different malls. Which one do you like best?

Christmas with Barney and Friends

We happened to be at 1-Utama today and stumbled upon Christmas with Barney and Friends at the old wing. We were there at about 2.30pm and the next show was scheduled at 3pm. Unfortunately all tickets for the 3pm show had been given out so we made our way up to the first floor to try to get a vantage point to view the show. We managed to squeeze into a tight corner with a slightly angled view of the stage, not perfect but at least my little Barney fansee had a good view of her favourite characters. Just before the show started, the whole concourse and the first floor area were packed. The show lasted slightly more than 15 minutes before those lucky ones with tickets got a chance to go onstage to have their photo taken with the purple dinosaur.

Notice the crowd at all levels of the concourse?

Update on Yiu Yiu

I'm happy to report that Yiu Yiu has more or less fully recovered from her bout of illness, though she's coughing still. She was extremely clingy last week at the height of her illness and stuck to me like a koala bear. The slightest move on my part to lay her down on the bed would trigger the floodgates. We even took her to see a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner last Saturday, since she still has persistent cough despite taking her medicine for almost a week. The Chinese physician from Beijing was apparently trained as a neurologist before taking up Chinese medicine. She advised us that Yiu Yiu has a "cool" body, so we have to avoid giving her cold drinks and even herbal tea.

Anyway, she woke up on Sunday a cheerful girl and has since reverted to her usual active self. Now all that's left is to complete her course of antibiotics and cough syrup. Hopefully, her cough will disappear soon too.

Taiwan will have to wait

No, I'm not writing this from Taipei…I'm still on Malaysian soil. We were supposed to fly off yesterday afternoon but at 5.30am in the morning, Yiu Yiu woke up with a burning temperature. I was horrified when I got 39.9oC on the digital thermometer. I quickly took off her clothes and sponged her down and by 8.30am, her temperature went down to about 38.7oC.

Hubby and I knew that she couldn’t travel in this condition. We were in two minds whether we should still go ahead and leave her at the babysitter but I knew that I wouldn't be able to enjoy the trip with a sick toddler at home. Postponing the trip was the only option we had but deciding on another date proved difficult as there are only limited seats in each flight for redemption tickets. On the dates when flights are available, either hubby or I have something on at work. We finally managed to re-book our trip in mid-January. We incurred a penalty of USD60 for changing the flight tickets and USD65 for cancellation of our hotel room. But I guess this is a small price to pay for peace of mind.

Anyway, Yiu Yiu seems to be slightly better today. The fever has not fully subsided but at least her temperature is <38oC. But she vomited again this morning. She coughed after taking her milk so that triggered the vomiting. She hardly had any food yesterday so her cheeks seem to have sunk. I'll be picking her up from babysitter in a short while and I hope I'll be greeted with a healthier Yiu Yiu.

Places of interests in Brussels – Part 3

Continue from here and here.

The King's Palace, Palais Royal (Royal Palace), which overlooks the Parc de Bruxelles, was begun in 1820 and had a grandiose face-lift in 1904. The older side wings date from the 18th century and are flanked by two pavilions, one of which sheltered numerous notables during the 1800s. Today the palace is used for state receptions. It also contains the offices of the current King Albert II, though he and Queen Paola do not live there. When the national flag flies, it means the King and Queen are in Belgium.

Place Royale, Brussels' royal square was laid out in 18th-century neoclassical style and graced by an equestrian statue of the leader of the First Crusade, Duke Godefroid de Bouillon. The Bellevue Museum is located here. A former 18th century luxury hotel, it also used to be a royal residence. A fascinating, underground extension of the Bellevue Museum is the Palais du Coudenberg (Coudenberg Palace), more accurately the excavated ground floor and foundations of this sometime palace of the dukes of Burgundy and the Habsburg emperors that burned to the ground in 1731.


The Musée Instrumental (Museum of Musical Instrument) is just steps away from Place Royale. Only 5% of the museum's immense collection is shown at one time so the collection rotates periodically. Palais de Justice (Palace of Justice) is the court complex housed in an extravagant neoclassical building. Dedicated to the might and majesty of the law, it was completed in 1883 after 20 years of construction.

Palais de Justice

Between Place Royale and Palais de Justice are the city's premier collections of both historical and modern art in a single institution, the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts (Royal Museums of Fine Arts). These two museums, the Musée d'Art Ancien (Museum of Historical Art) and the Musée d'Art Moderne (Museum of Modern Art) shows off works, most of them Belgian, from the 14th to the 20th centuries. Further down the road is Eglise Notre-Dame du Sablon (Church of Our Lady of the Sablon), a flamboyant late-Gothic church, dating from the 15th to the 16th centuries. The construction was paid for by the city's Guild of Crossbowmen, and was their guild church. Inside is a celebrated statue of St. Hubert, stolen from Brussels and taken to Antwerp but was seized and returned to the church in 1348, where it has remained ever since.

Musée Instrumental & Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts

Eglise Notre-Dame du Sablon

Bad timing

Just as we prepare to fly to Taiwan, Yiu Yiu got sick. She developed a slight fever last night, accompanied by quite bad cough. We immediately took her to the paediatrician this morning as we wanted her to be well enough to travel tomorrow. She was prescribed amoxicillin, paracetamol, cough syrup and Ventolin, and the paediatrician gave the go-ahead for her travel.

When hubby fetched her from the babysitter's this evening, she was her usual chirpy and alert self. We assumed she was feeling much better but half-way home, she vomited her dinner and made a mess of papa's car. She must have felt much better after vomiting as when hubby asked if she was hungry, she nodded and asked for food.

When I got home, she was already asleep. She's still running a temperature but at least her cough has subsided. The babysitter asked us to reconsider bringing her along, as she would be tired out by the trip and may exarcebate her condition. I really hope she'll be better tomorrow coz I wouldn't want to leave her behind.

By the way, she's now 9.2kg. I'm pleasantly surprised by her weight, coz she has been stagnant at 8kg for the longest time ever!

Places of interests in Brussels – Part 2

Continue from here.

Designed to celebrate the half centenary of Belgium's 1830 independence, the Parc du Cinquantenaire (Golden Jubilee Park) was a work in progress from the 1870s until well into the 20th century. The most impressive structure in the extensive gardens is the triumphal arch topped by a bronze four-horse chariot sculpture, representing Brabant Raising the National Flag. The gardens are flanked by several museums. Among them are the Musée du Cinquantenaire, a vast museum of an eclectic collection of antiques, decorative arts and archaeology and the Musée Royal de l'Armée et d'Histoire Militaire (Royal Museum of the Army and Military History), one of Brussels' often forgotten museum since Belgium is not and never has been a great military power. Opposite the Musée Royal de l'Armée et d'Histoire Militaire is the Autoworld, with a display of 500 historic cars set in the hangar-like Palais Mondial. The collection starts with 1899 early motorized tricycles and moves on to a 1911 Model T Ford, a 1924 Renault, a 1938 Cadillac that was the official White House car for Roosevelt and Truman, a 1956 Cadillac used by Eisenhower and then by Kennedy during his June 1963 visit to Berlin, and more.

Parc du Cinquantenaire and the various museums in the vicinity

The European District, home to the European Commission, European Parliament, Council of Ministers, and related institutions, is a short walk away from Parc du Cinquantenaire. It encompasses 12.7 million sq. ft. of office space packed with 20,000-plus Eurocrats to back up its "capital of Europe" tag. European Union national flags billow proudly out front the X-shaped Palais de Berlaymont (Berlaymont Palace), the Commission's headquarters. On its far side, a soothing stroll through little Parc Léopold brings you to the new, European Parliament and International Conference Center complex, an ultramodern gleaming complex in white marble and tinted glass.

European District and Parc Leopold

European Parliament

(to be continued...)