In Continuance of featuring the singles that hit the Top 100 Billboard singles for 2009 (I have started it in 1027 Music Central) Here is Katy Perry with her single Waking up in Vegas that has hit a peak of #9 in the Billboard charts.

With the Year Coming to an End Here are the Billboard's TOP 100 Singles for 2009:

I know this article may be a bit delayed but I was so caught up watching this Korean show called Shining Inheritance. In the show they featured a lot of Korean Kimchi. It was included in most the meals that they ate on the show so I guess you can say I was compelled to figure out how to make the stuff. Apparently a lot of variations can be made for this particular delicacy so to help you get started I found an actual site that has the basic ingredients plus the video in making the Korean Dish.

Here is the Traditional Kim Chi Recipe

I also found a cool tutorial on how to make your own kimchi at home if you are the type who likes to watch how things are done:

I was asked by a friend to look around the internet for a nice and comfortable place to stay in while they will be Cebu City, Philippines. So I let my fingers do the walking and I found this rather cool place called Elicon House.

I would love to talk more about it but I would rather that you read it from the source of someone that has stayed in the house and tried their services.

But for quick reference here are their contact details:
Elicon House
P. Del Rosario Street, Cebu City, 6000 Cebu, Philippines
Phone: (032) 255-0300
(032) 255-0400
(032) 253-9189
Sun: 0922-8228644
Globe: 0916-4263443
Fax: (032) 253-0367
E-mail: elicon@mayflowerhotelsandproperties.com

To view the review of this rest house in Cebu simply click this link: Elicon House

As a special treat for those that are planning to visit this Island in the South of Luzon here are some quick facts:

Often called the Queen City of the South and the Seat of Christianity in the Philippines , Cebu is the country's oldest city. Exploring Cebu City , one encounters a rich historic past. Cebuanos are extremely proud of their cultural and historical heritage, a legacy which has endured through the centuries from the time the great explorer Ferdinand Magellan first planted the cross on Cebu 's shore. Time has been kind to Cebu . From Zubu, the busy trading port in 1521, it has evolved into a highly urbanized metropolitan center which now serves as focal point of growth and development in Southern Philippines.

Cebu has at least nine economic zones that offer to cut bureaucratic red tape by providing a much easier system for investors, plus incentives.

Cebu is number one because of good fiscal management: it ranks highest among the countrys provinces in terms of assets and cash in bank.

Most importantly, Cebu ranks number one because of the current unity that has never before been seen in any province: unity among elected officials, unity among business groups, unity among its people, and unity between the private and public sectors.

There are many universities and other educational institutions that serve as magnet to students from other provinces, a major factor of a highly skilled and efficient workforce in Cebu.

Overall, Cebu continues to excel and investors are drawn to Cebu because of the culture of professionalism and craftsmanship among its people, the vast highly skilled manpower resources resilient amid trying times, its fair weather, relative peace and business-friendly atmosphere.

Here is a video that I found on Youtube that talks more about the Exotic Island of the Philippines:

Kim has definitely put the sizzle into eating healthy salads. It is true that eating salads is the best way to loose weight and stay fit. It helps us stay young with all the anti-oxidants it contains and much more. So here is Kim to show you just how it should be done :)

While going through the mall the other week I got wind of and was able to try out Sony Vaio's hot new gadget. A bit pricey though but a definite eye candy. Though I have to say without a Disc Drive and it being wafer thin at 11 inches this is probably the netbook(mini-notebook) for those with the guts or the money to extravagantly splurge on it.

To show you what a pricey netbook from Sony can give you, here are the specs:
- 2GHz Intel Atom Processor
- 533Mhz Front Side Bus Speed
- Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 500 dengan Intel® System Controller Hub US15W Chipset
- Up to 128GB Solid State Drive
- 2GB DDR2 SDRAM
- QWERTY keyboard, 82 kyes with 1.2mm stroke and 17mm pitch
- Display 11.1 inci x-black widescreen LCD dengan teknologi backlight LED 1366 x 768 Resolution
- Intel High Definition Audio
- WiFi Atheros 802.11b/g/n
- Bluetooth
- VGA Port
- Verizon Wireless Mobile Broadband Built-In (3G Modem)
- 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T
- 2 x USB port
- microphone
- headphone jack
- Memory stick dan sdcard slot
- Webcam Motion EYE
- Windows 7 professional
- Electro-Static touch pad
- Durable Battery: Up to 3.5 hours
- Power Requirements: 38 watts or less

here is a commercial from youtube that I found about the x series:

I was browsing through youtube today in search of new songs to download and I chanced upon this former grammy award winner Sade(pronounce as Shah Day) and was completely entranced by her. It was no doubt that she deserved the award. Her real name is Helen Folasade Adu,OBE, born 16 January 1959, better known as Sade, is a British Nigerian singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. She first achieved success in the 1980s as the frontwoman and lead vocalist of the popular Brit and Grammy Award winning English group Sade.

Here is her single for you to enjoy:

A friend of mine has shared with me an apple tart recipe that she has been following for over three years now. She mentioned that she found it somewhere in the internet three years ago and completely forgot where. However, the reason why she wanted to share this recipe to us is because she found it rather easy to follow and the tarts come out pretty well. I myself have yet to try it out and bake it but I trust her word for it. Besides, I think this would be a fun pre-christmas bonding session with the family. Hopefully there would be some left for the actual xmas date. :)

Apple Tart
For the pastry

* plain flour 6oz
* unsalted butter 75g
* caster sugar 25g
* 1 medium egg yolk
* ice cold water 2tbsp

For the filling

* 8 large eating apples
* lemon juice 3tbsp
* caster sugar 75g
* A small knob of butter

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, 400°F, Gas 6. To make the pastry, sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter, chilled and diced, to make fine breadcrumbs. Stir in 25g (1oz) caster sugar, then add the egg yolk blended with the ice-cold water and mix to a soft dough. Knead lightly on a floured surface, then wrap in foil and leave in the fridge for 30 mins. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and use to line a 23cm (9in) loose-based fluted flan tin. Chill for a further 20 mins.

2. Prick the base all over with a fork. Line the pastry case with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans. Bake blind in the oven for 10 mins. Remove the paper and beans and cook for a further 5 mins until the pastry is just crisp and golden. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C, 350°F, Gas 4.

3. For the filling, peel, core and chop five of the apples and place in a pan with 22ml (11/2tbsp) of the lemon juice, 50g (2oz) of the caster sugar and 30ml (2tbsp) water. Cover and cook over a low heat for 15-20 mins, stirring occasionally until apples are soft. Add a small knob of butter and mash the apples with a fork until they make a thick pulp. Leave to cool.

4. Peel, core and thinly slice the three remaining apples and toss in the rest of the lemon juice. Spread the apple pulp around the pastry case and arrange the apple slices on top. Sprinkle over the rest of the caster sugar and return to the oven for 25-30 mins until the apple slices are tender. For a really golden topping, sprinkle with a little more sugar and place under a hot grill for 2-3 mins. Can be served warm or cold.

I just bought a new Compaq Presario CQ35 -109Tu(that was a mouthful) which came with the standard 6 cell battery. So far it has been able to give me an average of 1.5 to 2 hour usage time. That is pretty decent enough but it would still be great if it could last a little bit longer than that. I tried looking around ofr 9 cell and 12 cell replacements for it and found that they could cost between $56 to $149 shipping cost not included. That is quite a hefty sum to pay for extra juice. So for the meantime while I am saving up for the battery upgrade I looked around for the best way to maximize Mr. Q's Battery life. :) Cool thing is I really didn't have to go far to do this. HP had a lot of the answers that I needed.

Here is what they had:

Steps to maximize the life of your battery

There are actions you can take to make your battery last longer during each charge cycle and live longer over many cycles. HP always recommends following the instructions for charging and storage that came with the battery or notebook.

Manage battery power more effectively in Windows Make sure your battery gives the power you need, when you need it. Power Options in Windows XP/Vista/7 allow you to control the power management features of your notebook PC.

Tips for conserving battery power on notebook PCs

You can manually change the power consumption of your notebook PC and conserve battery power.

Reduce the brightness of the screen to the minimum readable level. Use the Fn and F7 or F8 keys to adjust the brightness.

Remove peripherals when not in use. External hard drives, CD-ROMs, Zip drives, PC cards, and other peripheral devices can draw power from your battery even when they are not in active use. Disconnect them when you have finished using them.

Reduce the speed of your processor. The faster your computer works, the more quickly it uses up the supply of power. By cutting down on processor speed, you can extend the charge of your battery. Methods to reduce processor speed vary from model to model, and your manual should provide instructions for doing so.

Turn off the Wireless On-Off button when it is not in use. If your notebook has one, press the Wireless On-Off button so that the light turns off.

Battery care practices
Battery cells suffer gradual, irreversible capacity loss over time. Such aging occurs more rapidly as temperature and discharge loads increase. Here are some suggested ways to minimize the capacity loss for your battery.

Store Li-Ion batteries between 20°C and 25°C (68°F and 77°F) with 30% to 50% charge. Do not leave batteries exposed to high temperatures for extended periods. Prolonged exposure to heat (for example, inside a hot car) will accelerate the deterioration of Li-Ion cells.

Remove the battery if the notebook will be stored (turned off and not plugged into AC power) for more than 2 weeks.

Remove the battery if the notebook will be plugged into AC power continuously (via a wall adapter or docking station) for more than 2 weeks.


Note: Recommendations for battery use and storage are covered in the HP User Guides for each model.

Calibrate the notebook PC battery
Short discharges and recharges do not fully synchronize the battery's fuel gauge with the battery's state-of-charge. This can result in the amount of power available in one cycle being less than expected or the battery meter being inaccurate.

Under normal usage, batteries should be calibrated a minimum of once every 3 months. Your battery can be calibrated by following these steps:

Step 1 - Disable the Windows Power Management
In Windows, right-click the Desktop and select Properties in the menu list.
Click the Screen Saver tab and then click the Power button.
Under Power schemes, select Always On in the drop down menu.
Under Settings for Always On power scheme, select Never in each of the drop down menus.
Click OK on the Power Options Properties window and then click OK on the Display Properties window.

Step 2 - Fully charge the battery
Connect the AC adapter to the notebook.
Charge the battery until the Windows battery meter is at 100%.

Step 3 - Fully discharge the battery
Remove the AC adapter.Keep the
notebook on until the battery has completely drained and the notebook
automatically turns off.
Connect the AC adapter to the notebook.
Keep the AC adapter connected to the notebook until the battery has completely
charged.

Step 4 - Enable the Windows Power Management
In Windows, right-click the Desktop and select Properties in the menu list.
Click the Screen Saver tab and then click the Power button.
Under Power schemes, select Portable/Laptop in the drop down menu.
Click OK on the Power Options Properties window and then click OK on the Display Properties window.

Note: After completing the steps above, your notebook PC battery will be calibrated.

It has been a couple of days into the holidays and yet a lot of people around me have been complaining that they aren't really feeling the holiday spirit as of yet. They talk about all the things that they still have to do. From work to shopping and even the parties that they all have to attend to. I have to admit that these are things that we cannot avoid during this particularly festive season but it is still important for people to take a bit of time to breathe and let loose from all that. One has to remember that Christmas is a time of happiness, sharing, and love. Otherwise if you had been looking at the stress wheel above and you see it moving quickly indicates that you need to turn around from the computer and close your eyes for just a bit and take deep breaths as you count from backwards from ten :).

I even recommend that you take time out from the real world and enjoy a little bit of fun outside with family and loved ones. You can even watch anime online like what me and my sister on animeultima.com while enjoying your favorite snacks and drinks. Enjoy some wine and some pastries. Most importantly - SMILE - this will turn a hectic and stressful day around better than any medication that you can probably think of. :) It has been known that facial expressions show the world how we feel no matter how hard we try to hide it, but amazingly enough it also works the other way around. The expressions on our face can also change and affect how we feel inside. That is why when we see someone that smiles at us and we smile back we get that warm fuzzy feeling ;)

So I guess the moral of this story is - Learn to chill :) and learn to have fun. Christmas wasn't meant to make people feel stressed :) xoxo

I have to admit that I haven't been posting anything for quite awhile. To be honest a lot of things are going through my mind. I guess one of the primary reason as to why I haven't posted was because I had to think hard about what I was doing here in empty streets and what I was writing for. I asked myself a lot of these questions and was feeling a bit lost.

Today though is a bit different. I finally got time to think to myself and not focus on daily routines since I am on leave from work due to the holidays. It was a blessing to be honest to get the chance to be free from work. I finally sat down in front of my new Computer whom I called Mr. Q :) and started contemplating on how all this began. Empty Streets when it first started was a blog that was meant to reach out to people and to help them see the world through my eyes. To feel a piece of me - my laughters, my tears, my stress and my glee. Overall it was a window to my inner soul. Everything that I have written thus far is in more ways than one connected to what I feel and think about the mundane. I got to gain friends, lots of them. Mariuca, LJ, Marzie, Emila Yusof, Mize, Snow, Mr B, Liza, Lisa, Mrs Recipe and much much more to mention. I started blogging on a daily basis. Even expanding to other blogs of different genres. I was very successful at it that people started paying me for writing about stuff and advertising on my sites. Sadly, somewhere along the lines I lost track of what empty streets was to me. I started writing simply for the heck of writing. Before long, the articles that I have been writing felt empty for me and unfulfillable. I felt it a chore to type away and share. It was then that I realized I had to stop. I put the notebook aside and focused on work and family and restoring the home that I had which was hit by Typhoon Ondoy. Before long I started to try to write again but my mind was incapable of maintaining the pace that I once had. So eventually I put everything on an indefinite standby.

Now that things have started to settle down, I started contemplating on the things that made me happy. Much to my surprise I found that I was in front of my blog typing away this message. I finally am here releasing my thoughts and emotions again as it was in the beginning. And to tell you honestly, I feel a bit relieved. This is the reason that made me type so much at this blog. I wanted to share and to teach. I wanted my friends to see that I am still alive, that I exist and am here to help them through the stories and topics that I share. Empty Streets is a place where I can be me. In here I can open my world up to all of you that are reading this. Writing is what made me happy. Writing about things I like makes me happy. Sharing about life is what makes me happy. Helping people is what brings that warm feeling inside and that alone is priceless. Empty Streets is my sanctuary from the real world. A street empty of prejudice and stress. A happy place where one can stay and enjoy the stillness for a moment. To speak the things that are on my mind. It is a place where friends can come to listen and share as well. That is what empty streets is for me and I guess it shall be for the longest time.

I once thought that we have to keep on going forward no matter what. What I have learned these past months is that it is necessary for us to take a step back in order for us to move forward. To be grateful for the things that we have and be ever hopeful of the things to come. I may have gone through a lot, however, there is still a lot of things about life I still have to learn. That is what I want to keep on doing.