I had great fun playing around with the Simpsonize Me! website, which creates Simpson-like versions of photos you upload. Here, for example, are the Simpsonized versions of me and Allan (that's supposed to be a five o'clock shadow, too bad it turned out a little too Homer-like. D'oh!):



I tried to do one of Todd, but babies and little kids just don't come out well, as there are fewer options when it comes to refining things like facial features and hair.

But in the midst of all of it, I had an idea for some fun: Simpsonize some of the Grabbers and see if my blog readers can guess who they are! So, here goes:

EDIT: Okay, all the guesses have been made in the comments section, so I guess I can put the correct answers in, now:

1. Lisa (whose plaits, scrubs and "Don't mess with me" look should give it away)

2. Fuzzy (with his new glasses!)

3. Willow (this was the hardest to do and to guess)

4. Kendra (with her brand new kitten in tow)

5. Jenna (with that mop of beautiful auburn hair, and green shirt that I think she wears so well)

6. Scot (with his infamous Spiderman glasses, and Myspace red shirt)

BONUS: You should be able to figure out who this next one is, if you've read my travel blog entries from my recent vacation, and paid attention to the pictures I posted. Who is this famous Grabber:


That's right, it's Michael (dieSprout), whom I had the honor of meeting when I visited the Case's Ladder HQ in Washington on June 25 :-)

Good luck, and have fun Simpsonizing your own pictures! I'd love to see the results, so post your pics in the comments! :-)

To comment:
http://blogs.grab.com/AddComment.aspx?entry_id=422265&blog_id=18

A year ago this past weekend, Allan and Todd and I were braving record-breaking heat and humidity while enjoying Summerfest '06. This year, with temperatures over 20 degrees cooler, we enjoyed Summerfest '07.

What is Summerfest? It's basically a work-sponsored festival/carnival, right on company grounds. Free food, beer, games, music, shows, and rides. Because of last year's heat wave and the coincidence of Summerfest with the hottest day of the year, it was held in the evening rather than in the early afternoon this year.

We started off the late afternoon with an early dinner-- apparently we arrived just in time to avoid the lines at the cafeteria. There was a bit of a line indoors, but it wasn't too bad, and we got our food within 10 minutes, making our way back outdoors to grab a seat. While sitting there eating, we observed the line get longer and longer. First it started spilling outdoors. Then it started snaking clear around the other side of the building! Considering all we had to contend with was an indoor line and THAT took 10 minutes, I hate to think how long the folks lined up outdoors had to wait until they got their food. 30 minutes? Maybe more? Yikes!

After dinner we enjoyed a magician's show, where the jokes were corny and the tricks old hat, but still entertaining nevertheless. We then made our way to the midway, where we took in the sights of all the rides, almost all of which had lines a mile long, even the little kiddie rides. We ended up going on the Merry-Go-Round, and even managed to secure the same dragon that Todd and I rode on last year!

Here we are LAST year, can you see us sweltering in the heat?



And here we are THIS year, same dragon, Todd a bit bigger (and yes, I'm wearing the same shirt. Don't worry, I've washed it a few times since last year :-P)



Afterward, we made our way back to the stage area, where none other than Little Texas (one of my favorite country bands!) was playing. They played one of my favorites "My Love" (that sparked a discussion amongst my friends about how much they loathe country music), but unfortunately we didn't stick around long enough for me to get to hear them break out their famous tune "God Blessed Texas" :-) I tried to get up close and capture a shot, but it was too dark by then. This is my attempt at getting a pic of Little Texas on stage:



I was hoping to get Todd's face painted but alas, the lines for that were just as long as the lines for anything else, and I didn't have the patience to wait. So we settled for temporary tattoos. Todd got a happy face sporting a football helmet, and I got a rose. He picked mine out for me :-) Here we are showing off our leg artwork (don't ask me what Todd's expression is supposed to mean, my son's just a ham):



We grabbed another quick bite to eat (some fruit, shrimp salad and nachos) before making our way back home. All in all, a very fun day. It helped loads that not only was this event in the evening, but it was nowhere near as hot as it was last year (as you can see by the pic of me and Todd, both clad in our sweaters, brrr!). No potential sunburn or heat exhaustion to contend with. Another memorable summer day! :-)

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I was idly clicking around Grab, marveling in the little changes and fixes that seemed to appear before my eyes like magic. Then I went to the main Blogs page. And this is what I saw:



I had to blink and make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. I'd long since lost any hope of ever making the "Most Popular Blog" spot, as it was consistently overrun with the cutesy-email-forward-pics blogs that had become, quite, frankly, predictable.

In fact, I captured a screenshot of what I thought would be the last time I ever made the top 10 list, and that was in April 2006, well over a year ago! (the screenshot is in my photo album)

I guess there's something to be said for the bug that's preventing people from leaving comments very easily, LOL!

EDIT: Haha, I just looked again and it seems that not only have they updated the featured blogs, but the Most Popular list is back to being filled with the usual suspects. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted :-D

EDIT again: Or not, LMFAO... well, I for one am not gonna complain about the wishy-washiness of blogs, whether it be the ever-changing Top 10 or the countless server errors, BECAUSE I take it as a good sign that they're working on fixing the blog-related bugs. And you all know where those lie on Helly's bug priority list :-D

Leave a comment: http://blogs.grab.com/AddComment.aspx?entry_id=420890&blog_id=18

It's been a while since I've blogged on here. I even got the "You haven't blogged in a while" email that we all get after not blogging for 10 days. And I think I've only gotten that maybe once or twice in the past, and I've been blogging faithfully on here for nearly 2 years!

The past few weeks provided no shortage of material to blog about, as I was on vacation and had lots to tell. So today I perused the BIDs and discovered a treasure trove of things to blog about. That should keep me busy for a while ;-)

Here is yesterday's Blog Idea of the Day:
What kind of business would you love to start?

I seem to distinctly recall having some wacky, crazy ideas for a business, one that would be highly successful if it were possible to sell the product/service I was joking about. Unfortunately, I can't remember what it was. So I'll discuss the next best options I can currently think of.

One would be to start up a computer repair business. Now, you may think: why is that so unusual, there's tons of those all over the place. Well, for those of you who don't know: I possess the unique ability to bring down and crash every computer I come into contact with. Doesn't matter what kind, or what OS. Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, you name it, I've crashed it. I've managed to bring about the "blue screen of death" on my own laptop, which runs WindowsXP. Anyway-- I could go around applying my magic touch to computers, which could then be brought into our shop for hubby to repair ;-)

But an even better, and possibly more lucrative business idea is one that has been bandied about amongst me and some close friends for nearly 2 years now. And that's to compile all the dramas we've ever encountered here on Grab, and sell them to television networks. Not only could you not make some of this [censored] up, but it'd make for some entertaining soap operas! And they'd be never-ending, because there never seems to be a shortage of new dramas cropping up on here. A mere website-- who'da thunk it!?

So, those are my business ideas. Hey-- the BID never said they had to be *serious* ideas! :-D

p.s. Until they fix it so you can actually leave a comment by clicking on the "add comment" link, you can leave one by using this URL: http://blogs.grab.com/AddComment.aspx?entry_id=420691&blog_id=18 . Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you all know that I'll be leaving for my 2-week-long vacation soon. In less than 12 hours we'll be on a bus bound for LAX, where we'll fly to Vancouver to spend a week there, and then the following week will be our road trip down the West Coast as we drive back home.

I will have sporadic net access throughout, so most likely won't be able to answer Grabmails/Myspace mails while we're gone. However, if you have my email address, feel free to get in touch with me there, as that's easier to access on a regular basis.

I'll also be attempting to blog about our trip (with pictures!) every night, or every other night, as time permits. So be sure to check back here often! :-)

See you all again soon!
Helly

What makes you laugh the hardest?

I love to laugh. It keeps the doctor away and the wrinkles at bay. It's very easy to tickle Helly's funny bone, and some even shake their heads in sadness by how simple it is to amuse me.

What makes me laugh the hardest? People, of course. A variety of people with whom I interact in a variety of ways.

There's my son, Todd, who just turned 3. The jollies started when he began talking and forming whole sentences. The lawyer-like loopholes and logic that spew from his mouth are enough to send the whole family rolling. Not to mention the crazy antics like head-bashing his stuffed frog (see my YouTube page for the video if you're interested), and just generally running about, shrieking with delight as most toddlers do.

Then there are my friends, most of whom I've met here on Grab. There's nothing quite like suppressing my laughter at a hilarious board post or blog comment because I'm reading it at work and would sound like a complete nutcase, bursting out with laughter, all alone in my cubicle. Ah, the fond memories of blog/board parties and just general mischief and silliness ;-)

My sense of humor in general tends to run along the wry, sarcastic lines. While I find most jokes, stand-up comedians, and comedy movies funny, I often don't find true hilarity in anything but a good zinger of a comeback or a dry and witty observation. Which is why I remarked that people are the ones make me laugh hardest and best :-)

Cross-posted from Myspace.

What I wanna know is:
1. Why did it label me a workaholic and extroverted when I'm clearly neither?
2. Where the HELL did "Old Geezer" come from!?!?

... really ARE evil!

Nearly a year ago I blogged with glee a video that had me in stitches everytime I saw it. As I have a natural aversion to cats, I thought I'd spread the hilarity on my blog:

http://blogs.grab.com/hellykwee/214566

And while most people also found it funny, I was chastised a few times for my active dislike of cats. So, I present to you today: proof that cats really ARE the spawn of Satan himself. Cover your ears:

So, I got the "You haven't blogged in a while" email, marking 10 days since I last blogged on here. Which is surprising, because (except for a brief hiatus this past December/January, when my Grab attendance was spotty at best) I've been pretty faithful at keeping my blog up to date. I even noticed that last week was abuzz with new BIDs, some of which I might even get to, this week.

But first, a funny little anecdote that I actually blogged about on Myspace, regarding lunch thieves running rampant here at work. Here's the brief synopsis:

I keep a Banquet frozen dinner or two in the freezer of my office's kitchen, just for emergencies. It had been sitting there for a few months when, one day, I found myself pressed for time and with no quick options for lunch. Perfect day to break out the TV dinner. Except, when I opened up the freezer, it wasn't there. I thought maybe it was just a false memory, but several weeks later, it happened AGAIN.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who had their food stolen, because several weeks later I spotted a sign on the freezer door that read "Please replace the Smart Ones lunch you borrowed". (Smart Ones is just another brand of frozen dinner, in case you were wondering). Hehehe-- "borrowed", now there's the euphemism of the year! The same woman who put up that sign now encloses her TV dinners inside a plastic bag marked VERY clearly with her name.

Anyway, I blogged about these experiences on Myspace and received a handful of, let us say-- creative revenge ideas.

But luckily I haven't had to implement any of them (and some were downright evil!), as I haven't had trouble with food being stolen, ever since then.

Last week, Scot sent me a link to this article:

rel="nofollow"http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucda/20070508/lf_ucda/snackthievesarebustedbycreativecoworkers

Hehe, glad to know our office isn't the only one plagued with people who have the nerve to take advantage like that. At least with the writers to that "Dear Abby" column, the victims KNEW the identity of the food pilferer. Me? The only way for me to catch our thieves in action is to implement some of the creative ideas my friends have suggested.

And if you're wondering what those creative ideas were... well, you'll just have to search through my Myspace blog archives from December and January ;-)

Yesterday I took the day off work so we could visit California Adventure Park. 2 weeks ago we visited Disneyland, and got one of those tickets where you can visit one park on one day, and the other park on another day within 30 days of the first visit. Well, yesterday fell well within the 30-day limit and we all visited Disneyland's sister theme park for the very first time.

We had a blast going through all the different rides, shows and activities, most of them meant for little kids. I daresay it was even more fun and kid-friendly than Disneyland! Everything was California-themed, including the music that blared through the speakers throughout the park. We visited Bug Land (a la "Bug's Life"), and Monstropolis (a la Monsters Inc):

We saw 3-D shows courtesy of the Muppets and of the bugs from Bug's Life, and enjoyed interacting with Crush the sea turtle from Finding Nemo. Oh, and we browsed a few shops, here's me with several bags of Taffy:

One of the more adventurous rides was the Ferris Wheel, because the individual cages themselves were on a sort of loop that would cause you to swing back and forth rather violently when tipped at the right angle. It was so bad that at almost every turn, someone begged to get off halfway through the ride. Here's a pic I snapped inside our cage. Notice how I circled a little object in the corner-- any guesses as to what it could be?

After our visit was over (we enjoyed talking to the turtle so much that we went twice!), we hit Acapulco's for dinner. We were all pretty tired, especially Todd:

We enjoyed some delicious Mexican food for dinner. For dessert? I had a Blue Cactus Margarita (which was made with their best tequila, Blue Curacao, and Grand Marnier):

And we enjoyed an apple chimi-- sliced apples fried in a cinnamon tortilla, topped with a pecan-coated scoop of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and a Kahlua-caramel sauce. It was sizzling when the waiter brought it to us-- hence the bubbles in the photo:

When we got home my parents had a birthday cake waiting for me, Todd enjoyed singing Happy Birthday and helping Mommy blow out the candles-- a big fat 3 and 0! Then it was off to bed for the lot of us-- what a long, tiring and highly enjoyable day! :-D

More photos will be in my Grab album... as soon as I get them approved, that is! :-)

EDIT: They're approved!
http://www.grab.com/profiles/albums/grid.php?uid=105060&a=265081

Fuzzy commented that I should do a song for a blog entry. Julie commented that she'd like to hear some online karaoke as well.

At long last I'm finally getting around to fulfilling their requests :-)

This past weekend I spent some time playing around on an online karaoke website called singshot.com. I had LOADS of fun searching for songs and trying a few of them out. I thought I'd post one of the half-decent ones on here, the rest of my recordings from this weekend, including my standard staple, Tammy Wynnette's "Stand By Your Man", can be found on my SingShot profile:

This cartoon from Working Daze cracked me up because it reminded me of the Grab staff. They use MySQL, so it makes me wonder what the debate is like down at Grab HQ.

In case you're wondering about the significance of what the cartoon guy is saying:

It's very much like the debate on how to pronounce "data". Some people say "day-ta" others say "da-ta". To-may-to vs. To-mah-to. Me? I say "day-ta" and "to-may-to".

And with MySQL? It's either "My Sequel" or "My S-Q-L". Me? I waffle between the two.

I wonder if any Grab staffers will even read this, and comment with how THEY pronounce it, considering they deal with it everyday at work ;-)

Funny isn't it, the petty little things people can get so caught up in and attach such significance to...

A continuation of this post:

My name: Helly
Last name: Kwee
Middle name: don't have one, but "Excel" fits quite nicely :-D
Where do I work: Amgen, a biopharma company
What do I do (for work): Computer programmer
Do I smoke : Hell no
Do I drink: sometimes
Do I have any siblings: No
How many: 0
What's one of my favorite things to do: sleep, play on the computer, read. And oh yes, make age digs :-D
How many piercings do I have: None, not even my ears
How many tattoos do I have: None
What's my favorite type of music: Country! And oldies and some pop (see my Myspace profile for a list of all my favorite bands/artists)
Am I shy or outgoing: Very shy IRL (as Charlie puts it), more outgoing online
Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules: Follow the rules for the most part, but the introductory sentence to that entry should bely a bit of a rebellious streak at times ;-)
Do I wear horns or a halo: Hehe, everyone who commented basically got it right ;-)
What's my favorite color: Orange
Name something I hate: Secondhand smoke definitely tops the list. Honey ham-- eww, salty + sweet is just not my cup of tea. Fingernails on a chalkboard. Raw meat to any degree (I prefer my steaks well done). Too much spontaneity and leaving things to chance (see below). Blatant misspellings and grammar errors (and I don't mean the occasional typo all of us are prone to now and then)
Name a talent I have: breaking computers with a single touch (I call it my reverse-Midas touch). Being super anal-retentive when it comes to planning things and being prepared. Being a "Grammar Nazi" ;-) Singing-- I can carry a tune, but I wouldn't class myself as talented. Someday I'll record some online karaoke and let you judge for yourself ;-)
Name something I am afraid of: Tightly confined spaces. The usual assortment of creepy crawlies, although that's more dislike than fear. Being suffocated and smothered, both literally and figuratively.
Where do I live: Los Angeles, CA
Where was I born: Germany
What is one of my favorite animals: Whales. Frogs. Dogs. Stingrays.
Do I have any pets: Only stuffed ones-- but I love Charlie's answer the best! :-D
How tall am I: 5'7"
How old am I: 29, almost 30
When is my birthday: May 2
What is a bad habit of mine: procrastinating. Making age digs :-D
What is a pet peeve of mine: See my Pet Peeves blog entry
If I were stranded on a desert island, what would I bring: Hee hee. Old blog memes, anyone?

So there you have it. Everyone who commented got most of the answers spot-on :-)

Stolen from Coffee and Fuzzy, although, you know me-- gotta buck the trend and be different, so I altered some of the questions:

My name:
Last name:
Middle name:
Where do I work:
What do I do (for work):
Do I smoke :
Do I drink:
Do I have any siblings:
How many:
What's one of my favorite things to do:
How many piercings do I have:
How many tattoos do I have:
What's my favorite type of music:
Am I shy or outgoing:
Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules:
Do I wear horns or a halo:
What's my favorite color:
Name something I hate:
Name a talent I have:
Name something I am afraid of:
Where do I live:
Where was I born:
What is one of my favorite animals:
Do I have any pets:
How tall am I:
How old am I:
When is my birthday:
What is a bad habit of mine:
What is a pet peeve of mine:
If I were stranded on a desert island, what would I bring:

p.s. this is kinda long, so take care that you don't exceed the comment character limit when you post your answer, or at least double-check to see if you need to post a second comment to accommodate the overflow :-D

I love Google Maps. I trust them more than I do Yahoo Maps or MapQuest, when it comes to getting directions to places I'm not familiar with. They've incorporated good, detailed maps of the US, the UK, Germany, and a few other countries... very handy!

So then I thought I'd try to see what would happen when I tried to get directions from my home in Los Angeles, CA to Lisa's home in Wales. I plugged our respective addresses in, hit the "Get Directions" button, and nearly fell out of my chair laughing at the results.

Here's a screenshot of the overview of the map. As the crow flies...

And here's a screenshot of the detailed directions. According to them, it's approximately 6300 miles and will take me 31 days and 5 hours to reach Lisa. But note the step that would probably take me the longest, Step 31 (highlighted below):

Hmmm... I wonder if they take into account average swimming speed? Not only that, but I imagine that my swimming would be hampered significantly with my car strapped to my back...

... what do you mean "no car"? How am I supposed to drive around the country once I reach Europe? :-P

Try it! Plug in your city and your favorite foreign friend's city and see what kind of directions Google advises you to take :-D Wonder if it's cheaper than flying...

Oh, and you know what I loved best about this? Aside from the obvious hilarity of a nearly 3500-mile swim :-P The fact that it has me swimming into France, and then crossing the Channel from Calais to Dover, rather than just swimming directly into the UK!

As I said... I love Google Maps.