http://www.segway-singapore.com/product/i2commuter.htm

Yes, I am a lazy ass. And yes, I want one.

As I continued reading on the subject of the Segway, I discovered that someone did indeed build a cheaper alternative!

http://tlb.org/scooter.html

However, he did share a valid concern, that commercially produced equipment like the Segway has all the safety checks and redundancies that are not included in any home-made standing scooter. So, we’re back to the purchasing of the Segway.

========================================

Also, I’ve spent this week thinking about bicycle generators. Everyone that cares about me have told me to go jog or cycle. I personally find it a weird way to expend energy without having any direct benefits from it.

Let’s look at the pros and cons:

Pros:

• It encourages weightloss
• Improve cardio
• Strengthens the slow-twitch muscles which encourage endurance

Cons:

• I have to pull out 30 mins of my day to do it
• No mental stimuli is introduced
• It hurts like hell with no immediate benefits

Yes, yes, this is far from comprehensive. But that’s how my brain works. I will never always be this young, or at this stage of physical fitness, but I’m sure that my mental capacity can only get stronger. I don’t know how it will get stronger if I keep going out hoping that I won’t kill myself jogging.

So anyway, I got myself to thinking about electricity. How can we improve our current usage of electricity, and perhaps produce some of our own when we do physical activity?

Look at that! Isn’t it awesome?

Now, my plan is to get the Bicycle Generator and the Segway. I’ll cycle long enough on the Bicycle to power the Segway, and then take the Segway out to run my errands.

But Sebby, why don’t you just cycle out there to run your errands?

That’s because I would rather keep my perspiration and panting in the comfort of my own home. Not to mention the effect perspiration has on clothes.

Also, the generated power can be used to power up other items. I just need a DC/AC converter, and I’m all ready for the apocalypse.

1. Microsoft Office 2007
2. Adobe Creative Suite 4
3. Snagit
4. Beyond Compare
5. AI Roboform
6. Avast Antivirus
7. Acronis TrueHome Image
8. Camtasia Studio
9. iTunes
10. Ashampoo WinOptimizer
11. VLC Media Player
12. Mozilla Firefox & Google Chrome
13. VMware Workstation
14. Windows Live
15. Dropbox
16. SMSCaster
17. CCleaner
18. eSword Bible
19. MagicDisc (Virtual Disk Drive)
20. Filezilla

Certainly, plenty of people have made millions over the internet. I hope to count myself amongst them in the years to come. But in the meantime, the blog hasn’t been growing, my readers haven’t been growing, and neither have I.

So today, I’m changing the way this blog works. A business blog no longer, it shall be the blog of my mind. Lessons I’ve learned, and things that have touched my life. Hopefully, with the continued input into the blog, I’d be able to really grow and engage. After all, in a business blog, you would want eyeballs. Not me. No longer. Now, I want minds.

P.S. I think the reason I’m pushed to do this is because I keep getting emailed about people (or bots) have been signing up to join the blog. I’m pretty sure it’s cause they want to post comments that link back to their site. Gosh. Can’t people stop trying to push their own agendas everywhere?

Selamat Hari Raya to all my readers!

I’ll be reworking this blog, so that it really can be about what rocks “The Sebby”‘s mind! Keep a lookout for it!

I hope all my readers have had a great month of March! Happy April Fools!

i don’t know how, i don’t know where, but it shall be done.

wish me luck! woo~~

This is one of the few Youtube videos that I would recommend spending 76 mins to watch. Randy Pausch gave this lecture at Carnegie Melon University on 18th September 2007, and passed on 25th July 2008.

(Read more about Randy Pausch.)

Watching the lecture, I realised that facing death really brings a person back into focus on the things that really matter. Have you ever read “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom? It’s a fantastic example of the lessons learnt from dying people. Facing death gives people a fresh perspective, a clearer view of what  really matters in life.

And actually, it’s all about personal fulfillment! Making sure that you have fulfilled your life’s goals or at least made a valid attempt at them, having absolutely no regrets left before passing on.

Yes, I’m only 26. Dying of old age will probably take quite a while, but hey, there are so many other things that can kill you! So why wait for it?

Enjoy the video clip! Make your life count for something now!

Author: Dan Roam

Title: The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures

This book illustrates (pardon the pun) the effectiveness of presenting with images. Of course, we already do that all the time! When you want to present some numbers, a bar chart appears! If you want to present growth, a multiple variable point graph would suffice! You get the idea.

The real challenge though, is to make it second nature to yourself. Bar and pie charts can be done with computers and software, but what about everything else? Would you be able to solve your problems by laying out all the information without getting confused? Would you be able to present your business model with a pen and a napkin?

Simplify, and make it easy for people to understand!

I think the concept is pretty interesting, and it’s a fast read. First portion is a little draggy though, cos it speaks of how eyes work and how we perceive things without getting confused despite the huge amount of information being absorbed all the time.

But later on, some very real concept tools are given, and with a little bit of practice, I’m sure I’ll be a master of visual thinking in no time!

Recently, another company has approached my family’s website and sent the following email:

Dear Manager,

We received a formal application from a person who is called John Alldis is applying to register “mydomain” as their domain names and Internet brand in Hong Kong and also in Asia on 2008-11-21 During our auditing procedure we find out that the alleged John Alldis has no trade mark, brand nor patent even similar to that word. As authorized anti-cybersquatting organization we hereby suspect the alleged John Alldis to be a domain or trademark grabber. Hence we need you confirmation for two things, First of all, whether this alleged John Alldis is your business partner or distributor in Asia.

Secondly, whether you are interested in registering these domains and internet brand instead of that alleged person.(The alleged John Alldis will be entitled to obtain a domain not needed by original trademark owner.)

If you are not in charge of this please forward this email to appropriate dept.

In addition, I must state that we have time limited for one person or one company¡¯s registration. It is just 15 days. If your company files doesn’t resent within the time limited. We will unconditionally authorized the application of John Alldis. Thank you for your cooperate.

Best Regards,

shayne sue
Sponsoring Registrar:

Asia Network

Tel:  +852 3118 1808  +852 3065 8284

Fax: +852 3065 8189

Email: shayne@asianetwork.mobi

Website: www.asianetwork.mobi
And of course, we responded:

Hi Shayne,

I’m the Webmaster for MyDomain. We do not know any John Alldis and we are the only distributors in Asia.

Just so we’re clear, what domain is Mr Alldis attempting to purchase? I’m already currently in possession of mydomain.com. Please advise.

Best regards,

Sebastian Cheok

And then their response:

Shayne

And so it springs back and forth, with them sending me correspondences, etc, asking me to fill in forms and preparing payments to the company.

But soon after, I realised that this would most likely be a scam. After all, in this day and age, why can’t I just buy a domain online? And how will I maintain my own domain?

Once I asked these questions, silence came.

Beware these scams!

I realised that I’m an information junkie. I keep on consuming information, without actually utilizing them on a larger scale. I’ve got tons of management books, with no one to manage but myself. Also plenty of sales books that I’ve read but not used their advice.

Now that I am actually fully aware of where my problems lie, how should I improve?

This is starting to feel like a whiny site, I know. But rest assured, it’s just a phase I’m going through. Part of growing up I guess.

I sit here confused as to whether that’s actually the market rate to setup a standard website with a shopping cart. Even Yahoo and other web-hosting companies have this integrated with their sales packages, which costs a LOT less.

Would you pay someone that much to setup a website for you? And if so, what would you expect from them?

I guess that’s because I never really kept a diary, so I never knew how therapeutic it would be to keep track of my progress especially through an online medium. Oh well, better late than never right?

On a personal note, I’ve moved on from my previous company and started my own business, selling fuel-saving devices. Check it out at midasxtreme.com!

At last count, I realised that I watch a total of 9 different TV series in a week! Here’s the list:

1. Prison Break
2. Chuck
3. Heroes
4. Knight Rider
5. Bones
6. CSI
7. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
8.  Dexter
9. Gossip Girl*

*Yes, I know. I’m turning into a teenager.

The TV series are really taking my time from doing some actual work. I estimate spending about 60% of my time watching and rewatching the episodes to make sure I’ve really caught up to the storyline. Gosh, how my work suffers for art.

I was stunned when I came back to my Dashboard. 74 comments awaiting moderation! Not a single human-generated response!

Now that I’m back, I’ll be posting once a day. Hopefully some live, warm bodies are actually sitting in front of their computers responding to my posts, instead of spam-bots completing their life’s ambition.

Oh well, cheers to priorities!

Doesn’t that just make you smile? Put the quote on your MSN sub-nick and inspire others to see things as they are, nothing to worry about!

“But wait Seb, isn’t it supposed to be Ash Wednesday?”

True, but because of the clash between Chinese New Year’s Eve reunion dinner, our Archdiocese changed it to Ash Tuesday. After all, if you have to abstain while you’re supposed to celebrate, it won’t really fit the mood, would it?

So here we are, 41 days away from Good Friday. Lent, here we come!

If you’ve kept up with popular media, you would’ve seen movies like the Terminator series, I Robot, the Matrix Trilogy, etc. I Robot was the closest in attempting to make robots seems like a viable option, but in the end, it stopped there.

So does that mean that the script writers of these block-buster hits don’t think that robots will be a safe option for our future? Are they trying to strike fear into our hearts?

Fortunately, fear has no place in a scientist’s heart, so I’m pretty sure research will still carry on.

I read a short story online the other day by Marshall Brain, called Manna. It showed the inevitable decline of human society due to its reliance on robots: Even though labour and materials are cheaper due to the advancements of science, human greed ruined it and caused the most pain. The rich controlled the robots, who in turn controlled the poor.

Of course, the essay continued on to show how much good a system like that can actually benefit mankind. Without spoiling much of the storyline, another country took the initiative to make sure the robots were to serve, and mankind to enjoy the benefits. Imagine a world where you do not have to work to earn your keep, where everything is shared. And in that community of sharing, you are able to pursue your deepest desires.

If you dreamed of being a writer, you could take all the time in the world to work on your opus.

If you dreamed of being a singer, you could create your own albums and share it with the world.

If you dreamed of improving the world in any way at all, you can do it with the finest minds in the world at your side, sharing your dream.

No longer are you trapped by the necessity of a job. No longer would you have to get stressed over working for someone else. No longer would anyone be motivated by money, because it holds no meaning in that world of abundance.

Imagine that.

What would be your vision of the future? Do you see the light? Or just the gloom ahead?

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/entertainment/view/324303/1/.html

Rest in peace, Heath. I’ve never watched Brokeback Mountain, but I’ve always enjoyed A Knight’s Tale. Cheers!

1. Finish the 21km half marathon within 3 hours! (Deadline: September)
2. Make a side income that will generate at least $1,000 a month! (Deadline: June)
3. Learn French (Deadline: December)
4. Drive (Deadline: June)
5. Become an expert in Business Building! (Deadline December)

What do you think?

You scored 54% I to E, 36% N to S, 33% F to T, and 42% J to P!

Your type is known as the teacher, or the educating mentor. You also belong to the larger group, called idealists. You tend to bring out the best in other people. You lead without seeming to do so. People are naturally drawn to you. You expect the very best from people which takes the form of enthusiastic encouragement which is so charming that people try their best not to disappoint you. You share your personality type with 3% of the population.
You need to feel a deep and meaningful connection to your romantic partners, and go to great lengths to understand and please your mate. Harmony is vitally important to you, and you often put others’ needs before your own. You have a pretty thin skin and are easily hurt. Although you strive for harmony, when your values or ethics are violated, you can be very emotional, confrontational, and even punishing. However, you are very insightful about the underlying cause of conflicts, and an excellent communicator, so you have the tools to bring about a quick and peaceful resolution as long as you can keep control of your facilities. You want to be appreciated for your thoughtfulness and compassion. You need your partner to make a real effort to get to know you. Above all, you need to be able to express your feelings and have them taken seriously.
Your group summary: idealists (NF)
Your type summary: ENFJ

Looks good eh? Sounds like exactly what I need to do Information Publishing! Teach! MUAHAHAHA!!!

Things in the works:

1. Saving for Marriage
2. Building lucrative Internet business
3. Million Dollar Round Table target
4. Purchasing own home
5. Purchasing own car

Yup, I think that’s pretty much it! My top 5 largest goals to achieve before age 25!

Oh, and if any of you want to get me a laptop, I’d be more than happy to accept. How? Buy those ebooks on the right side of the screen under “Top 5 Affiliate Programs”.

Or you can send me money thru my Paypal Account: sebastiancheok [at] gmail [dot] com.

I’ll probably unload the 2 GB of information I’ve collected over the past year reading about Internet Marketing! Show me the money!