3-in-1 Laminator Review

I haven't blogged in a while. I guess I have no flair for fancy words or just the commitment of blogging doesn't entice me as much as other people find them to be. But today, I felt very compelled to share this post with everyone, especially primary school teachers with this new teaching tool of mine.

I would like to insist here that I am not affiliated with the company, and I am not being paid to endorse this particular product but just the sheer joy and fulfillment of sharing teaching ideas and accessories. 

So I'd like to present... 

Biosystem's 3-in-1 A4 Laminator. 

I stumbled across this product in a facebook group DGUG: Dari Guru Untuk Guru. This is what the ad looks like. 

I have to say, it looks very tempting for only RM150 plus postage. According to the ad, it laminates A4 sized cards, comes with a sliding cutter, and a edge rounder to trim the edges of the cards. So I placed an order immediately. As soon as I banked in the money to the teacher's account on Monday, 18th August, I received a tracking number and received the product on Wednesday. Very quick business transaction and done through facebook. However, it's not only till Friday that I get to un-box the item and play around with it. 

So product looks exactly as advertised. Rather smaller than I expected and came in good condition. Product also comes with online warranty and manual.

So let the experimenting begin! For the first time I used normal printing paper and some laminating films. This I got for free from the school office. Next time I'll try with coloured paper and better quality papers and see how it'll turn out. 

AND THE RESULT!!!

One side of the paper looks ok while the other side is slightly creased. Guess I wasn't careful with the paper when I slid it in the machine. 

So tried using the slide cutter which has 3 cutting options. This was done using the straight cut function

Using the wave-cutter. Very pretty.

Cards with perforated holes for tearing. This is great for activity sheets with small sections. Kids can tear the cards themselves, you save time, and you minimize the risk of losing the small parts.

Advantages 

1. Very easy to use. Pretty straightforward. Just turn on the machine, choose either hot or cold function and wait for the machine to heat up sufficiently before using. 
2. Cutter is very convenient. Comes with ruling grid for measurement. 
3. Also love the three cutting options. 
4. Very time-saving. Whole process takes less than 15 minutes to make various cards out of four A4 sheets. 
5. Edge rounder is great for trimming away pointy edges. 
6. Small and portable. Easy to store away and doesn't take up much space. 

Disadvantages

1. Laminated cards came out slightly creased on one side. Maybe it's the way I handled the cards. 
2. Have to be very careful with the cutter else you'll end up with a sliced finger. Sadly this machine doesn't come with a safety bar to hold the card in place for cutting. 
3. Cutter sometimes does not cut well especially to get the crinkle cuts effect. 
4. Some parts of the machine are made of flimsy plastic. Comes off way too easily. 

Overall, this is a great buy. I really enjoyed making the flash cards and I think primary school teachers should get one. My school is involved with the Native Speaker programme and I was exposed to different methods of using flash cards to teach. I used to have flash cards during my practicum days. However, slowly the use for them died down because the ones I had were limited in number and they wear down so quickly. Now with this machine I can make different flash cards for different teaching purposes and I couldn't be more excited to try them. These blank cards especially are a must because I always do my lessons last minute and I can quickly write down a list of words to teach. Doesn't take more than five minutes and it can be wiped off easily for the next class. Maybe in my next post I'll share different ways of using flash cards especially for Year 2 phonics! 

My view on the Iphone 5

First of all, this is just purely my POV as your average (if not newb) phone consumer and pardon me if I get any facts wrong. Am not an Apple fanboy/girl, in fact I actually preferred Android for it's free market approach... who wouldn't like freebies???!!! But I digress.

Ground-breaking news! (literally?)

So Iphone 5 was launched yesterday night. No I didn't stay up at 1am to catch the live blog. Twas too much effort when I know I can always wake up earlier (7 am a new record yay!) and see the aftermath AND read  the responses *cough disappointments. Thank god I didn't. I bet those people in San Francisco prolly wasted a few hours of their lives thinking 'that's it? man, that was a lousy shag'.

Anyway, now the news is finally out, everybody already knows what the Iphone 5 is (um a few months ago) (bigger screen, LTE, camera bla bla bla yada yada yada) except for the battery capacity (Apple quote 8 hours but mAh nada!) and the topic of Io6 wasn't even touched upon. 

Apparently Io6 will be revealed later, which is odd when you can make your presentation better. Why waste people's time??? *grumble grumble grumble. So we won't know how powerful the Iphone actually is compared to the other smartphones until you actually get one in your hands. Which does't make sense because then new phones would be out (Nokia Lumia 950 and Galaxy Note 2) and you're just out-dated.  

I was really disappointed. I thought those rumour videos were hoaxes, just pulling on people's legs and teasing us while we wait anxiously for this 'mysterious' Iphone. Why 'pebble' sized changes? Why can't they dominate the market and give the consumers more? Oh wait, because they already are. Despite the lousy launch and not-so impressive specs, people are still going to buy the Iphone for its placebo-like effect. ~Own an Iphone and see your status transform! *light beam~

I have to give Apple some credit though for the awesome marketing strategy. Building up such a big hype for almost 1? 2 years? Only to be let down on September 12, 2012... lolololololo

Anyway, have a look at the comparison between the Iphone 5 and the current leading smartphones...

http://www.theverge.com/products/compare/6116/5807/6082/6024/5236/3604/

let's break it down a bit...

• At a glance, the Iphone 5 looks puny compared to the others due to its small screen size. Personally, I don't dig huge phones.  I think it's funny when people hold up their gigantic phablets to their ears. No they weren't supposed to do that... There's a bluetooth for a reason you dorks! The question here, is BIGGER really better? Not necessarily. For serious users, maybe. But I'm just your normal average joe/jane. I don't like the idea of carrying something that I can't put in my pocket. I've tried my cousin's Iphone 4, an HTC One X, Galaxy Note... Unless I'm old and I can't see very well like my mum (She has a Galaxy Tab 10.1 btw), no the Iphone 5 isn't going to put me off. 
• Another thing is the internet connection. LTE enabled phones = awesome. But looking at the current internet providers in Malaysia, I'd say it's a shame to buy something you can't use. Coverage areas sucks, and data plan is so expensive compared to other countries. We're talking Rm68 min for a 3Gb plan. I'm already paying Rm68 for 4Gb broadband every month. For someone who's not going to spend her entire life glued to phone, will I want to fork out another Rm68 on phone bills? So if LTE is coming to Malaysia (next year?), one, I'll be using an Iphone 5 but can't enjoy it's uber fast connectivity (lame lame lame!) and two I'll expect to fork out more. T_T
• Battery. Logically speaking, you can't expect a teeny phone to last long when there's so many apps, bright screen, quad-core OS running in the background. This is why I've been put off getting a smartphone. Scientists has yet to crack the code of making safe, longer lasting yet cheap! batteries. So till that happens, we're stuck with the average 8-hour-ion-lithium people. Right now, the Galaxy Note 2 looks very promising with its large 3100 mAh capacity, largest so far, but bearing in mind of its size and the nifty things it can do, I doubt it'll last as long as the Iphone 5. But I hate reminding myself that I have to be frugal with my usage when I've paid so much for a high performance phone. It doesn't make sense! Gah~

These three are my main concerns when choosing a smartphone. Sure there's the camera but it's not worth mentioning since it's the same as every other smartphone. 8 megapixels yawn yawn yawn. 

So what's my verdict?

The thing that got me is Iphone's stability. One thing people can't argue is that it never hangs unlike phones running on Android. My mum's tab loves freezing on its own. Which terrorises my mum into a frenzy and explaining why she calls me on random times not because she misses me but she wanted me to fix her tab... >.< But Iphone lacks all the pretty features that Galaxy Note 2 and Nokia 950 are offering. 

After weighing the pros and cons, there still ISN'T a smartphone out there that has the complete package that I want. I know I'm difficult to please, but if I'm going to spend Rm2 to 3k on a phone, it better be a good one. In the mean time, since Iphone 5 isn't going to arrive in Malaysia any time soon anyway, I might as well put the money safely away where it belongs, in the bank! Or until Oct 17 when Galaxy Note 2 is launched. *winks

Another Attempt At Blogging

       Creativity isn't my forte... At least when it comes to writing. 

Reading my previous blogs and diaries made me realise that my entries were dull and immature. Like seriously wtf was I thinking??? *bangs head on desk

However, there is this innate need deep down inside me. I NEED to share my thoughts and feelings. Facebook status doesn't have enough character space for my rants. Or my need to update every so often. I remembered someone chided me once for seeing my status updates too often. Honto ni gomenasai! Hence the birth of this blog. I am determined to start afresh for 2012!

But yeah, let's talk about 2011 first. Last year didn't end too well for me. The perfect analogy would be to compare it to this. 

          funeral+surgery+family disrupts+heartbreak=upset Zuzu 

Shit  happened one after another and looking back I could have handled things better. Unfortunately I was not gifted with clairvoyant powers or could I turn back time. Wishful thinking. But half the fun is not knowing as people would say.

The problem with me is that I lack patience. I can't go with the flow. It's such a foreign and abstract concept. I'm like a child in Piaget's concrete operational stage... (bear with me, I'm nerdy that way)

  "Children can now conserve and think logically but only with practical aid"

I digress. Point is, I suffered from panic attacks because I kept worrying about things that have yet to happen... thinking of WHAT IFs and SHOULD Is when I should just wait and see. Not to mention getting angry at people who gave me the right advice but I was too hard headed and egoistical. 

                                                                     

See, I knew what was wrong with me but why can't I do things right the first time around? Making mistakes sucks when I keep going back to the past and beats myself up for it... 

But I'm not the sort of person that mopes in my room and hate the world for all the injustice. Not for long. 

                                          This year's gonna be different, I can FEEEEEEEEL it. 

Career wise, I'm heading on the right track. I have a clear view of what I want to do and grabbed opportunities that came my way. I got an offer as a scriptwriter and am in the process of applying for my masters. I don't want to be just your regular English teacher working at public schools. Sure, I earn my dough entering classes and try to beat the sense into  pre-puberty, snot-nosed and incontinent whiny kids and I enjoy it! (Oh the masochist side of me giggles) But I want to do more! So here's to a busy year ahead!