Courses like Virginia Cisco Course are not cheap but they are well recognised by companies and employers worldwide. They are highly technical courses where you have to study over a period of time before taking your exams online and then wait for the results – whether you will get your certificate or have to resit the exam.

There are other computer courses too like Virginia MCITP and you need to be technically inclined to do well. In some companies, when you have the certification, they will increase your salary even further since you are now more knowledgeable. This is because very few people can pass and get the certification and provided it is part of their bread and butter. Otherwise why bother with such highly technical certificates in the first place. Most of them will probably work in networking line or train people to use Microsoft Office Applications like myself more than 10 years ago.

When you are short of spending money this coming Christmas, payday loans will come in handy. There are so many web sites offering payday loans with no conditions attached other than you are required to pay back your loans eventually with interests. Christmas is a time of giving for the parents and time of receiving for the children. Christians around the world celebrate this season of joy and merriment with parties, Christmas carolling, and some will take the opportunity to do charity.

As for me, I might go to an orphanage and give out little presents to the orphans in Penang. But that is just a plan in the making. Recently, I was contacted by Citibank credit card representative who offered to give me an advanced loan to spend this December when they noticed a much much higher money was charged to my card for a brand new 32 GB iPhone 4, Orient Rewards discount vouchers, UniAsia Life Insurance Policies and some spending at St. Michael’s in Sunway Pyramid. In total, I chalked up more than $8,000 in credit card bills within a short period of time! In future, I have to be more cautious of my spending and not to spend too frivolously with my hard earned income. Money does not grow on trees and it requires your blood, sweat and tears to put bread on the table and to give allowance for the maintanence of the home to my retired parents. But thank goodness, I am blessed with more than enough to spend and do not require the advance pay day loan.

Total, I have spent more than $8,000 in 1 month and that is a whole lot of money! Also paid $498 for Orient Real Rewards where you get discount vouchers to stay in hotels and dining all over Malaysia. But I paid for it mainly for the free $200 medical checkup with blood test and cholesterol test in Adventist Hospital in Penang. If they have exagerated all the offers and the medical checkup, I am going to cancel this transaction next year as I agreed too fast on the phone since the telesales marketer put it so attractive on the phone. Canceling my transaction is easy! Just write a letter and fax over to Citibank for the transaction to be off for the following month and don’t pay for it.

There are a few links that offers No fax payday loans for you to check out if you are short of cash and need spending money this coming Christmas. I am lucky, I have access cash to spend and don’t need to get loan at the moment. But I have to certainly watch out my spending in future and not be so frivolous in using my credit card.

When my granny passed away in 2007, we have to pay for her funeral expenses since there is not such policy for funeral cover insurance in Malaysia yet. In other countries, the types of insurance are more comprehensive such as unemployment insurance! Imagine getting paid for unemployment due to many reasons. You can also find income insurance in Australia and other parts of the world like USA. Sometimes, I wish I am staying in such countries where the welfare and benefits of the citizens are very well taken care of.

Just a link – USD8 per month
125 x 125 button – USD10 per month
200 x 200 small square – USD12 per month
250 x 250 square – USD15 per month

Since I am also a web designer, I am able to design the static button/small square/square banner for you if you don’t have any for free if you intend to advertise here. To contact me, email Diana.Tan(AT)gmail.com for more information and I shall be happy to oblige you.

This blog is updated at least once a week on most Sundays. With submission to Innit, traffic will improve further. If you have any suggestions, feel free to email me and we can discuss further.

If you have aged relatives about to be called home by the Lord, you can also arrange for cheap funeral insurance to cover your expenses. So far, I have 3 affordable life insurance policies by different companies – Maybank, Prudential and Air Asia, costing me not more than RM300 a month. I support buying life insurance because whenever there is an accident, or the discovery of critical illness or dreaded disease, you can be covered by the life insurance company which will pay for your hospitalization and medical bills. This will prevent your savings from depleting too soon all of a sudden.

Be sure to check out which illness are covered by your insurance companies as not all sickness is redeemable. Hence, the insurance company may not agree to pay for things like gastritis, etc. But a good insurance coverage should be comprehensive and cover all hospitalization costs.

If you absolutely adore looking at pictures of cute pets, then you simply must see some of the websites that exist online. Some websites are created solely for the purpose of looking at pictures of cute pets! When my friend gave me a website name a couple years ago, I could hardly believe the thousands of cute kitty pictures that appeared on my computer. Using my satellite internet service to look up pictures of adorable kittens is a new hobby of mine whenever I’m bored!

I know it sounds crazy, but this hobby is truly one of my favorites. I love the website www.awwpix.com, because it contains thousands of cute and cuddly puppy pictures. As someone who travels frequently, I often have to leave my baby kitten and puppies at home with my husband. Whenever I feel a bit homesick for my pets, I simply log on to this website. After seeing a few pictures, I must admit that my homesickness for my pets is relieved!

There are plenty of other websites online the internet by satellite that are catered to simply generating pictures of adorable pets. If you are at work and want something fun to show your co-workers, then these kinds of websites can be a great idea! There are also many blogs that offer pictures of the cutest kittens you will ever see in your lifetime. I recommend checking these out too!

The overall increase in wealth was also in line with the 32 per cent rise in the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index, and the Malaysian ringgit’s 11 per cent gain against the US dollar over the past 12 months, Forbes said. Topping the rich list again is Tan Sri Robert Kuok who has held the pole position since 2006 when Forbes Asia began ranking the 40 richest Malaysians.

Forbes said the biggest gainer in dollar terms this year, the 86-year-old tycoon’s net worth increased to US$12 billion, a gain of US$3 billion over last year. Top telecommunications tycoon Ananda Krishnan remains in second place with US$8.1 billion, an increase of US$1.1 billion from a year ago. His Maxis Communications, Malaysia’s largest mobile phone service provider, went public last year and raised US$3.4 billion in the country’s largest-ever IPO. Unchanged at third position is Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng with US$4.6 billion, up from US$3.2 billion last year.

The 71-year-old heads IOI Group, one of the world’s leading operators of palm oil refineries. The company is reportedly investing US$300 million to expand. Forbes said the top three tycoons were not the only ones who saw gains in their wealth, 27 others on the list also registered growth in their net worths, particularly notable is technology tycoon Goh Peng Ooi, ranked No. 16, who enjoyed the biggest percentage jump. His fortune increased to US$425 million from US$112 million previously, a massive jump of 280 per cent.

Forbes said this year a minimum net worth of US$110 million was needed to qualify for the list, up from US$90 million last year. It said the number of billionaires had also increased, with now 10 tycoons with a ten-figure net worth, compared with nine a year ago. Newcomers making the rich list this year included brothers Datuk Shahril and Shahriman Shamsuddin who shared the No. 23rd spot with a net worth of US$270 million. They have equal stakes in Sapura Group, founded by their father. Shahril is chief executive of its affiliate SapuraCrest Petroleum, the listed oil and gas contractor that makes up the bulk of their fortune.

Another new face is self-made building contractor Datuk A. K. Nathan, 54, who is ranked No. 24 and worth US$250 million. His company, Eversendai, has been involved in some of the most high-profile buildings in the Middle East including Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

Forbes said three people were back on the list after having fallen off previously, and the most notable is Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s brother and head of financial services firm CIMB. He is ranked No. 32nd with a net worth of US$145 million.

The top 10 richest and billionaires in Malaysia are:
1) Tan Sri Robert Kuok; US$12 billion
2) Tan Sri T. Ananda Krishnan; US$$8.1 billion
3) Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng; US$4.6 billion
4) Puan Sri Lee Kim Hua; US$3.9 billion
5) Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan; US$3.85 billion
6) Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow; US$3.8 billion
7) Tan Sri Yeoh Tiong Lay; US$2.5 billion
Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar AlBukhary; US$1.7 billion
9) Tan Sri Vincent Tan; US$1.6 billion
10) Tan Sri Tiong Hiew King; US$1.2 billion

I thank for my blessings every day and never take my employment for granted even though I work from home. And I have been gainfully employed to work at a home office since February 2004 until now. As an aside, you might like to know about http://www.oxis.com which is engaged in the research, development and sale of products that counteract the harmful effects of “oxidative stress.” Their products include therapeutic nutraceutical products, cosmeceutical products and proprietary formulations and clinical products.

For more information, you can check out the links to Oxis on Twitter and also Oxis on facebook. I am also growing older but wiser each day when I start seeing more white hairs.

I guess my Heavenly Father has been merciful and gracious to me for this unmerited favor to get a dream job to work at home comfortable where the office is just to turn on the computer and log in to the internet downstairs and rest time is upstairs where I can turn on the air con and nap under my comforters.

Acobox.com helps bloggers make their blog posts sexy with nice images. The site is unique because it allows bloggers to insert image with just a click and Ctr-V, without downloading, resizing, and uploading images using Photoshop or other image editing software. You can even select the size of your images from 100px, 200px, 300px, 400px to 500px which is the biggest size for most blogs either using WordPress or Blogger. The image above here is from Acobox.com. You can sign up as a blogger or photographer in this nifty web site. This will certainly save me time from uploading images from my digital camera to computer and then processing them for upload to Flickr and then copying the links to my blog posts.

I will now use Acobox more often as they have many beautiful images that can be used for Free. All good things come in free packages. Some of the photos are touched up and look professionally done like the picture of a large red rose with shadows added according to the angle of the light – not your usual default shadow that is added for every image in Photoshop. You no longer have to buy expensive image editing software to touch up your digital photos anymore. I hope Acobox will be a successful company offering more free images with contributions from people the world over for a larger variety of selections.

They have many image categories like Abstract, Animals, Architecture, Arts Culture & Entertainment, Drawings & Maps, Earth & Space, Engineering & Technology, Landscapes, Monochrome, Panaroma, People, Plants, Urban and Other. This is a comprehensive repertoire of categories for any blogger to choose from. As they say, “A Picture is worth a thousand words.” Hence by adding such beautiful pictures to your blogs, it makes them stand out from ordinary, dull posts.