Happy New Year

It's new year eve. What can I do more to celebrate it but sitting on the couch at home, watching the count down on television, and seeing people get stuck in the fireworks event in Malaysia famous attraction. :D

Anyway, Happy New Year and may all your new year resolution become true. :P

Undo delete

Update: There's a freeware called Recuva available which help you to undo delete for free. :)

I was being stupid the other day.

My wife just back from her business trip on morning Christmas and took a lot of pictures. She shown all of them to me and the photos taken are really nice and memorable. On the same day, we went out for shopping and took the butterfly picture using the same camera. To cut things short, we went home and I transfered the pictures while she was in the living room.

I saw some of the camera's picture in her laptop and I thought those pictures are already transfered. So, after I have finished transfer all the picture from the camera to my laptop, with the camera's picture source deleted, I permanent deleted my wife pictures in my laptop to save some space.

Something doesn't smell right.

After deletion process is completed, I rushed toward my wife and ask whether did she really transfer all her pictures. To my worst prediction has come true, she didn't transfer her last day photos to her laptop yet, which is a lot.

I guess what would everybody say at this moment. Sh*t!

I was being scolded awfully for being so stupid to delete her photo without her consent. That was really a dumb assumption that she transfered her photo immediately when she back to her hotel room, which she usually didn't - even at home.

With my head still attached to my neck, I was survived thanks to this software which called File Rescue. I knew that those permanent deleted files are actually still intact in the disk due to the file header are being marked as permanent hidden (According what I have learned from the Internet).

In short, I recommend people to have any file rescue software such as this if they frequently taking photos or transfer music. It may also help you to rescue file from being deleted by virus, accidentally deleted by yourself or like my case, rescued my life. :P

Butterfly

From Ivan's Photos

I took this picture at Mid Valley when my wife was shopping, waiting for her goods to be nicely packaged. I was waiting there and saw this light decoration just under my head.

Merry Christmas

Getting a Christmas tree but don't have any idea decorating it? I got 3 photos for your reference.



I hope those trees will spark your Christmas spirit and buy some gifts not just for your family and friends, but also for the needy.

Anyway, just want to wish all my family, friends and of course, you who reading this, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

A day at the government office - 12/12/2007

So I'm going to break the surprises on this article. If you have to go to the government office for any issue, make it early. Preferably arrive at 8 o'clock - sharp.

This is what going to happen if you arrive at noon for renewing your mom-in-law's passport at the Damansara branch immigration office.

I and my mom-in-law arrived at the branch office around 12:30 PM (I took leave on that day). We went to the first counter to take our number after the staff checked our application with the appropriate document. Looking at the piece of paper, we have to wait for 80 people before we were able to submit our form. Keep in mind that there are round 20 counters and we thought this is going to be fast. Nope, it wasn't. There are less than half of the counters were open and one staff processing one application took like 15 minutes. My guess was that some of the staff were on lunch and the application is kinda complicated to process.

Suddenly, one of the staff show the system down sign on his counter and there were a announcement about it. That's too bad as there were 17 more before us and I was thinking of going home. My mom-in-law insisted of waiting since we came a long way. At that time, it was around 2:30 PM and we went to the nearby McDonald for lunch, as we don't know how long the system would back up again. After the 30 minutes lunch, we quickly went back to the office and luckily the system was back up again.

Then suddenly the whole office changed. People are rushing around and the number display jumping so fast as it was like stock market in bullish shape. In 15 mins, our number is called. (If you do the math before the system down, our number should be called around one hour. So what happened previously?) We went to the counter to submit our form, it took less than 5 mins. Yes, you read it right, 5 minutes! (So, what happened couple of hours ago? Should I called the X files team to investigate whether there are any extraordinary unidentified brainwave that caused staffs suddenly get so ultra productive. I really have no idea.)

By the time our number is called again to pay for the fee and collect the new passport, we was told to come back tomorrow because we submitted our application late. (!@#$%)

Although the government web site stated they open from 8 am - 4:30 pm, since you're not going to get your things done on the afternoon shift, considered they open from 8am - 11:00am.

ps: I thought of Damansara branch because it has the auto machine to processing the application, which is faster. I was wrong. We should have went to the Subang branch office as the processing is still took 2 hours to complete. :P

Open House Gathering

My friend bought a new condo in Shah Alam and she invited us to her for a lunch. A free and easy style of lunch, which is the steamboat way. It was nice to see her house renovated and beautifully done. Although she stated that the furniture most of them are given by her relative, but for me, I think it still comfortable and seems new to me.

What I really like is the view from the balcony. Looking down from there is the condo's swimming where there are sound from small fountains splashing around the pool really gives one a relax feeling(except the occasional children playing the pool causing some noise). Plus the breeze coming from the balcony straight into the living room gives me a fresh feeling. Throughout the whole visit, I spend most of my time with others just at the balcony entrance where I believe it the best place to be or perhaps it was the Feng Shui there. I wanted to took some photo, but I was distracted by the view, the relax feeling and the chit-chat with friends.

I reached there about noon and some came late because the location was tricky for them. The food was nice because it was Tom Yam based, which is my favorite flavor for steamboat. Not to mention the hospitality of my friend who brought us room to room tour and explained her house buying and renovation experience.

Finally, I just want to say thank you for you, Zin Lu, for the lunch and great hospitality.

Fire Drill

At this moment, most of my colleague has been waiting at the building's lobby. Why? They suspected a fire drill will be coming soon. Instead of taking the stairs, where they should be in this practice, they took the easy route by using the lift and wait for the drill to happen. From here, I would say the building manager has failed miserably organizing this practice.

As expected, the alarm rang finally and we was told to gather at the receptionist area. Our group was small and my senior was not happy about it. The fire warden, who is the support staff, started the head count and wait for further instruction from the building's speaker. After we got the message that our floor is ready to clear, we started our walking from 27th floor and join into the crowd from upper floor. It was not a comfortable process but I heard that the crowd was much lesser than the previous drill.

Finally, we reached to the open ground and the fire warden directed us to the LRT station, with prepared bottled drinks and sign post with floor numbers. I found my floor number and met up with the rest there. We took an early lunch since it was almost noon. Around 12:30 PM, we came back from lunch and the whole drill has ended.

Hopefully there will not be a second one as this drill, in my opinion, considered unsuccessfully. :P

Where's my locks?

Wife: "Dear, do you know where is my lock for my lugguage?"
Me: "Where did you put them last time when you back from your trip?"
Wife: "I don't remember"
Me: "And you're asking me about it?"
Wife: "I was hoping you saw them"
Me: "!@#$%"

Charity event

My wife dragged me to a charity event at Bukit Jalil that was happened last Sunday. Honestly, I not a type of guy who really like to donate much unless I really know what is the Fund raising organization is doing. Anyway, my wife bought a 10 dollar coupon for that event so we headed there to see what was happening there.

It turned out a lot of stuff and people was there. First, stalls selling different kind of stuff from food, stationary till flower and bonsai. Then, there are handcrafted souvenirs, brochures, poster, games and stage for people to play the gong after a small amount of donation is paid.




We we spent the 10 dollar for our lunch there and stay for an hour. We left with nothing but our stomach fulled.

Spaceflight Participant

Someone send me a forwarded email stated that our Malaysia so called astronauts was actually a space traveler (someone who doesn't seems to provide any valuable experience for the space mission). I wouldn't believe it until I made a search to the NASA homepage and the email was right. There wasn't any biography, interview and even mission description for our space hero. What is he doing up there right now I wonder?

NASA homepage for Expedition 16 crew

North Cyprus trip (late post)

This article has to be delayed as I was not convenient to upload the photos when I was in Cyprus (plus I was busy when I'm back to Malaysia). There are taboo in the office (at South Cyprus) where people are forbidden to go the North Cyprus. This is due to the conflict in the past between North and South (to find out more, click here).

After the trip to the beach, we have one more day on the car and we undecided what to do with it. Some of us heard that the North Cyprus has more interesting and beautiful places. After a much discussion on where to go, eventually, we went across the border to the North and give it a one day trip.

Kerynia
The first destination is to the Kerynia, where I think it the capital for the North and it the nearest city near to Nicosia. The differences between traveling in south and north is that, it gives me a feeling of going back home town because the road heading there is a mountain pass. The ride was like roller coaster when approaching the town as we need to climb over a mountain.




After 2 hours of ride, we finally reach to the town. As according to our colleague said, there is a harbor in the city and it is really beautiful. There is this old castle facing toward the sea at harbor. A written at the sign board said it was used as a defense base against the enemy ships but somehow I saw no canon there (perhaps I should buy the entrance ticket to check it out). We went around the harbor as there are a lot of restaurants and cafes in the area. Of course, there is not to be missed light house which seems rather small for me (or is it really a light house?). When it's about lunch time, we went to one of the restaurant nearby to have some Turkish food.




Bellapais
We took off around 3 in the afternoon and went to one of the historical place called The Bellapais Monastery. After 15 minutes drive, we finally found our way and reached there. The monastery located at the middle part of the mountain and there local folks living nearby. We took couple of pictures outside the building as nobody willing to pay the entrance ticket into the monastery (maybe all 3 of us are not interested in knowing the past). There are some souvenir shops nearby selling scarf, t-shirts and we did some shopping before leaving the place.




Salamis
As the evening is approaching, we make our final tour to the Salamis. Yet, another historical place which required entrance fee. Again, nobody wants to get in (I can confirm now that 3 of us has not interest in knowing the past). Fortunately, there was a small beach nearby and we took couples of picture there. While on our way back to the car before leaving the place, came along a ice cream truck. All 3 of us bought ourselves a 3 scope different flavor ice cream and enjoyed it on a nearby bushes. :P Not a good place for having the ice cream but the taste of the ice cream was so good that none of care about the surrounding.




On our way back to the south, we stopped by a small restaurant to have our Turkish dinner. After couple of check on the map, walk across the road to ask for direction, checking the surrounding on how we came, we finally found the border and back to our home.

It was a good tour on North Cyprus but I bet there are more where we unable to make it within a day.

A walk to the down town (late post)

It was the last weekend at the Cyprus and I decided to go the local Down Town to take some photos. I thought I was going there alone until my colleage agreed that he wanted to have his lunch there. We started our journey around noon because I wanted to try out the local traditional food called Meze for lunch. The weather was hot and dry that day and taking a half hour walk to there was a burning experience.




Without further delay, the first place we went when we reached there was the local souvenir shop and restaurant. It is a beautiful scene as the sun is bright and hot but the shops and restaurant are located inside the alley. Thus, you can feel the cool breeze when walking on the street. There are souvenir shops from calender, t-shirt, postcard to jewelry.



Meze
It's something like the Chinese style restaurant where they served a lot of dishes. I have a high expectation on this meal as it cost me 8 pound for it (that's equal RM64 in Malaysia). Maybe the price is mean to be more expensive as that place is famous for tourism. Since I have came all the way just to try it, I'm not gonna spend another hour just to look for cheaper price on the same meal (not to mention the hot weather). Finally, we settled on a restaurant due to its environment, which its roof was covered by umbrellas.




So, the meal started with salad and bread, with 2 sauces and a plate of olive. Next, came a side dish with more bread, a piece of meat and a mushroom. The finale was a plate with 5 different meats, potato and rice. Somehow, this is meal for me is a bit of let down. For the same value of meal in Malaysia, I can get so much more than this or even better. So, the final verdict for Meze: it's a good meal but try it for only once in your life time (rules applies for that restaurant only, there might be exception for others).




Church
After the expensive lunch, we walked around the area with the map given by the restaurant owner. He was very kind to show us a map with interesting places marked on it. Initially, we wanted to go for the big and beautiful church, which I've forgotten the name. Carefully examine that church location on the map shows that church is far beyond human walking distant and thus, we settled for the smaller one. :P We didn't go inside the church as it was closed. We only took couple of pictures on the church and then went home around 4 PM. Yup, it's back to the burning experience again.

Going home

Today is a special day because today I'm going home. After spending 40 days in Cyprus, finally the time has come. Yesterday, my colleague asked me whether I'm happy that this day has finally come? I replied without any thinking. "Sure it does" and she replied that she almost unable to focus her work just because of thinking coming back home.

If you asked me whether I missed Cyprus? I wish the people here are friendlier. I wish that they have more food variety. I wish the goods and services here are cheaper. I wish the transportation here are easily accessible. I wish there are more places of interest here (exclude the churches, mosque). Nope, I don't miss it at all.

Maybe I was too pampered by the Malaysia's culture, food, places of interest and lifestyle. Maybe I don't own a car here at Cyprus which it could allow me to see and travel more. Maybe I was living at the city center where I should live in the out skirt where the services and goods are cheaper; people may be friendlier.

Blame it on me. The child who demand too much. The child who wanted too much respect. The child who wanted cheap but high quality goods and services. The child that is so active that he wanted to go everywhere and see everything.

In the end, all this doesn't matter anymore because the child is coming home today.

A trip to the beach - 1st Sep 2007

2 weeks before the trip, me and 3 other guys have a plan to go to the beach. I have checked with the local colleague regarding the attraction here and I got an answer was: the beach. All he said was, "If you want to go somewhere this weekend, you have to go to the beach". I have checked with my boss and he also said the same thing. So, a week before the actual day, my colleague managed to book a car at a price of 15 Cyprus pound per day. This is really a bargain as now in Cyprus because it's summer holiday and really hard to rent a car at this price (The other car rental company offers 20 pound per day and at least rent for 3 days). The owner required us to rent it at least for 2 days and we planned to use the extra day to go somewhere else.

My colleague got the car on Friday evening and they already drove the car around the city at night. I haven't saw the car yet as I went back to home after work because I was kinda tried and lazy to go out. The next morning, we began our journey on 9:15 am and we were going to pick up the rest of guys. On my first look on the car, I was astonished because for a 15 pound car rental, I would guess it's a very out of fashion or old car. But this car is really worth more than its rental value from its looks. It's a small car but comfortable enough for 4 people to travel. There are some flaws on the car on my ride as I noticed the there are wind noise if the air-cond is set to high and door is plastic trimmed. Aside from all this, it's a good car and it drives really smooth.

So, first destination was to the Ayia Napa where it is a town most people talked about its beautiful beaches. As recommended by one of the colleague in the office, we went to the Makronisos Beach at around 11:30 PM. I like it for the first view as there are a lot of beach chair along side the beach. But one of our colleague said that the crowd is rather over aged. :P After a 5 minutes stay on the beach for taking photo; not even touching the sea water, we went back to the road and headed to another beach called the Nissi Beach. Here, the crowd has more youngster and the beach stretch much wider. Of course, the "view" is definitely better than the first beach we just visited. The rest of the guy went for a swim except me, who is staying on the beach to watch over the stuffs. Not going into the water proves I have more time taking photos and enjoy the "view" on the beach. :P

After 4 hours of fun at the beach, it's time to moves (Personally, I think 2 hours is more than enough on the beach. After a swim, get some lunch then head to other places but we end up leaving the beach at 4 pm). We have a tour to the Cape Gkreko then headed to the nearby town Paralimni and Protaras. In the end, we took our dinner at Protaras, where all shops are closed in Paralimni, and enjoyed a live match between Liverpool and Derby.

On our way back home, we were wonder whether to stop by Aiya Napa check out the night life there. But the night was too young and all four in the car haven't took their shower yet. So, we decided to go back and go for a drink instead. As for me, I chose to get an early sleep.

One more week in Cyprus

I just got the news today from my boss where my leave application is rejected. All I get was a email stated that I need to extend another week in Cyprus. This is not good except there are more allowance to earn for another week stay. :P

So, I'm going to miss my family and the food in Malaysia for another week. Hopefully there is miracle happened or I'll just look to the bright side. Anyone wants to go to the beach again? :P

Cyprus trip (for work)

KLIA - 13th Aug 2007
I've never been to Cyprus before and I never heard of it. (Just like the people in Cyprus. You tell them you're from Malaysia, they are not sure. But if you tell them you're from Singapore, all say yes. Even the weather forecast in the news does not show Malaysia. :P No wonder.) So, this is a first trip for me to Cyprus. Anyway, my flight is on midnight and I reached the KLIA airport around 10:15 PM by taxi. After checking on the schedule board and found my way to the checking in counter, my colleague still haven't arrived yet. There was a long cue waiting at the check in counter and passengers with huge luggage bag. (There must be a lot of middle east travelers in Malaysia.) When my colleague has arrived, the cue behind me was longer than before and luckily for him, we was able to check in together.

Dubai - Transit
After finished watching couple of movies in a long hour flight, we finally reached Dubai. Flight transit is not a good experience if the transit is going to take more than 5 hours. There was a lot of people sleeping on the waiting for their flight and I was tempted to join them. Until I saw the condition of the carpet floor, I've changed my mind. The funny thing was, I have saw people sleeping on the floor with full body covered. Just like a mummy from Egypt. :D After a while sitting on the floor waiting due to all the seats are fully taken, we finally manage to squeeze in the crowd for 2 seats. There was wifi service available for internet connection but somehow my laptop does not work with it.



Taking a small nap on the "not so comfortable for sleeping" seat wasn't easy and we finally got up to get our free breakfast. Yes, it's free food provided by the airline company for passenger who transit for more than 4 hours. But you can rather skip it as the meal doesn't serve well. It was just only couple of small sandwiches, a banana cake and a coffee. Beside, breakfast will be served again while in the flight, which is better. One more thing regarding the toilet in transit there; it's always full and some are not working or maybe I was having bad luck. It was a long cue in there and by the time it was my turn, the toilet was clogged. Again, the toilet in the flight is far better. In conclusion, transit in Dubai was ok but I think they can improve more especially their services.

Cyprus - Nicosia
Another 2 more hours of flight from Dubai to Cyprus. It was noon by the time we reached there and there no sign of our pick up driver. After 30 minutes waiting, we finally found the driver and I forgive him after he was driving a Benz E class to pick us up. We got our apartment key from him and it took another hour drive from the airport to the apartment. Along the way to the our apartment in the city, we can notice there are lots of sand, rocks and no tall buildings, as no building taller than 10 stories high. Later, I found out that there are earthquake in Cyprus. My colleague even felt it in one of the night while I was sleeping.



The apartment door is a bit tricky here. After 5 minutes of twist, turn and push, we gave up. We asked for help from our neighbour and came out a housewife holding her kid in one arm. She managed to help us to open the door just in seconds. (Gee...). The first step on the apartment's floor with bare feet wasn't that comfortable. It was dusty and slightly sticky if your feet is sweaty. I was so annoyed by it and finally, I gave the whole floor a clean up and I got a bucket of mud water in the end. I came to a conclusion that previous tenant or the weekly cleaner does not like to mop the floor. After checking the apartment around, it was fully equipped. Stove (no gas but it was replaced later), washing machine, fridge, iron board, microwave and vacuum machine. Everything looked like it was well prepared for the tenant to live more than a month.



A quick tour to the office to get a our security key card, a visit to our senior and boss and finally, back to our apartment. In the evening, we went to the city Mcdonald (Most of the shop were closed as they are in summer holiday.) to get some burger because it was very cheap. 1.20 Cyprus pound for 2 chicken burgers. What a bargain if you do not convert it back to Malaysia ringgit. We went to the nearby supermarket to get some bottled water because the tap water here has slightly strange taste. We also took some water from our office for the first 2 weeks and later, I found that the tap water wasn't taste much different and we start drinking from tap water (of course, it was boiled.) from then on.




So, this is just the beginning of the trip. More to come. Stay tuned.

It's my birthday

First thing first, I'm not posting the article to tell my family and friends that you got to do something on this special day. It just that I always write an article on my blog on my birthday unless there is no internet connection.

I want to thank to my family and friends who sent me birthday wishes. I really appreciate it. As you not know, I'm currently in Cyprus for my work and I'm doing just fine.

Here are some photos I've taken and I'll write my experience here when I have the time. Enjoy. ;)

Business trip to Cyprus

Bad financial embarrassment

Ok, it's not me who was embarrassed, it was the family in front me at the check out counter in a supermarket.

I and my wife was having our weekend shopping to stock up our daily supply as usual. It began when I started to notice that the family in front of us bought large quantity of instant noodle. I told my wife this family is either going for a long vacation or opening a restaurant. In the pile of goods on the counter table, there were also a lot of snacks and junk food.

When came to the final total amount shown on the cash register machine, the wife pulled out a credit card to pay the bill. I can see the total amount and it showed RM240++. Meanwhile, the staff pulled out the credit card terminal and informed the wife that the card is not accepted. As usual, the first card is not accepted there's always a backup card. The wife looked at the husband while handing the second credit card to the staff. The husband said, "You lah" (translate: because of you) and obviously the husband was not being helpful at all.

Second card went in and still rejected. For me, I really felt the embarrassment for this family. The amount is small and the second card still even can't go through (I forgive people who had their card rejected in a jewelry shop but this is just ridiculous). The whole scene was screaming we have a crisis here. Their goods were all packed up and put in the trolley. Me and my wife, plus the rest of the people waiting in line wondering how they are going to fix this mess up. Fortunately, the wife has RM100 in cash and paid to the counter staff reluctantly. She asked the staff to charge the remaining amount to the card and finally, it went thru.

After we have paid our goods, my wife asked me why can't the wife just pay the staff in cash earlier. For me, who do not carry much cash in the wallet would understand that, if you low in cash you would in trouble. In daily life spending, a lot of places do not provide credit card facilities and you need to hold enough cash to survive (e.g. Buying your lunch in the cafeteria). So I can understand why the wife would reluctant to hand over the cash amount.

In summary, what did I learn from others? Always pay your credit card in full, or at least knows much credit left on the card because this will save you some embarrassment. ;)

Lock your car before open your gate

There was a crime happen in my neighborhood. It goes like this. There were a gang of 6 thugs waited outside the victim's house and they have plotted a plan to hijack the victim's car (of course, it's an expensive one). They were there early in the morning because they knew the victim will go to work at specific hour where nobody will be around.

Unfortunately, the victim changed his plan on that day and thugs were uneasy because it's going to be daylight. One of thug rode his motorcycle to the back of the house to check out if there are any ways to get into the house. He was lucky because the house owner's maid open the back door for some daily chores. He took this opportunity leap over the fence and charge into the house. Then, he threaten the family to be quiet or he will kill them.

Luckily, they all were at their room upstairs and one of them call the police. Nobody knows what happened to the thug downstairs as he left quickly after he can't find the car key (That's what we believe he's trying to find).

Here is the weirdest part. After he left the house, he and his gang went to a nearby house and tried to run down the gate (Perhaps they were angry when their plan has failed). One of them manage to get into the front yard of the house and the owner screamed after she saw what they're doing. Her scream shocked the thug and they left quickly afterward as they knew the police are coming.

After all these, I have came out some measures.

1. Don't buy expensive car and live in a neighborhood that the car doesn't seems to fit. (If you have a Benz, you should live in a neighborhood where there's a lot of Benz. Go figure.)
2. Keep a close eyes on the street before leaving the house. (Any suspicious person waiting outside? Ask your family to accompany you with an umbrella or better, a baseball bat)
3. Have your family member to open the gate for you. Wake them up and tell them about Point 2 if you sees one. Let them close the gate for you rather than leave the car engine running and close the gate by yourself.
4. Lock the car once you're in it. (The most basic of all)

I hope this will help. Please do leave any comments if there are some points I have missed.

Saved by ten cent

It's not that my life was so cheap that only worth 10 cent. It just happened today that I found a 10 cent laid on the floor as I was meeting up my friend at the LRT station.

The truth is, I have been picking up a lot of 10 cent at the train station, especially at Putra LRT station. (10 cent here and there, maybe someday I might get rich)

So, after our lunch and on our way back to the station, the ticket machine only accept small changes. Fortunately, the 10 cent came just nice with my other 90 cents to get myself a ticket. :P

Adik

Sunday evening. I was doing my groceries shopping as usual nearby my neighbourhood. I reached to the dairy department and wanted to get some juice. Then there was this old Chinese lady in front of my path with her trolly. She looked at me in the eyes and the first word came out from her mouth was: "Adik!"

??!?!?!?!

My first thought was: I was so oooobbbbvious a Chinese race guy and why she would speak to me in Malay? Second. "Adik" is way too young for me. Do I really really looked that young?

Back to the story, I was shocked for a second after hearing the "Adik" and tried to help her whatever need she might come across. It seems she was looking for butter and I told her that the butter shelves is under renovation. (evil laugh: Hahahaha. That's for calling me "Adik") She looked disbelief so I told her to go that section and ask again.

By the way, I found old people hard to believe my words especially granny because this had happened to me before. I bet it must be the false age group that I'm projecting to people, even with this granny falls into it. :P

Bug reporter

I filed my first bug report to Gnome after I experienced a critical crash. The bug reporting tool just pop up on the desktop and I just write on what I did before the crash. After sending the report, I got back a response in 5 mins (wow). I play around with Beryl and the bug was gone. I went to the Beryl bug report page and did a search on my issue. It was a known issue and I replied my Gnome bug report stated it wasn't a Gnome bug. :P

Suddenly, I felt like I was being part a community (I also awarded with 1 point for being a reporter :D). I dug further more on the Gnome bugzilla site and I found all the contributors are from different background (wow).

That is really cool.

Ubuntu experience for a beginner (Part 3)

After I have solved my problem in Part 2, I started to play around with Linux software management and also doing some research on the internet. I hooked up with Beryl, the desktop effect enhancer. My internet browsing, desktop application and instant messaging experience was never be same again. The amount of eye candy that Beryl can bring me was enormous. It's like my desktop has combined with Power Point effect plus more.

It even comes with a management tool allows me to customize it almost to every single detail (There are many setting so everybody can have their own customized desktop effect). I have no idea why those guys invented this awesome tool and made it to be free (It has a potential to make money with it). Perhaps it was open source that everybody can contribute their ideas; it showed so much of creativity.

When I switched back to windows just to migrate some files (transfer my vCard contact to Linux Evolution Mail), I felt boring; there isn't much fun as in Ubuntu + Beryl. It seems that my windows was left for supporting devices or softwares that are not supported in Ubuntu. Anyway, thanks to the Beryl and other open source software that brings so much fun to my life.

Finally, there are couple issues left but they are just small issue. I can live without them or I can switch back to windows and use it. Hopefully, that day won' t come. :D

Ubuntu experience for a beginner (Part 2)

I have written an article regarding my first experience on installing and running Ubuntu. This article picks up where the pieces left behind: screen resolution and wireless connection.

1. Wireless connection
First, I started looking for solutions to fix the wireless connection using the WPA encryption. I have tried to change the router encryption using WEP (since Ubuntu default wireless encryption is WEP), but it only made matter worst - my windows wireless connection was totally lost. It seems like my temporary solution was not able to fix the issue, therefore I did a search on the internet on how to configure it. Luckily, I found an article on the Ubuntu forum itself. By just following the command stated there, I was able to get my laptop connected. "Ya hu" (I don't want to upset Yahoo by using there trademark)

2. Screen resolution
I was happy when I got my laptop connected to the internet but there's problem, the screen resolution wasn't look so nice. As I mention in my first experience post, I was lack of 32 wide resolution. Again, I search through the internet, without switching back to my windows (how nice), and I found the article for this problem: Ubuntu Fix resolution. As usual, I followed the first instruction in the article by using the Xorg autodetection. It was a disaster. After the changing the configuration file and reboot the machine, my Graphic Display Manager has failed and it cannot boot into windows-like environment. It left me high and dry with only the command screen. I tried to fix the problem by re-running the autodetection program and yet, it failed me everytime. In the end, I left it and went to sleep.

With that hanging problem, I started to do more research and searching. Finally, I hit the jackpot article Ubuntu Laptop Testing Team. This article stated their finding by install Ubuntu into different laptops and write out an report upon their findings. It also provide the solutions on what has been missing and how to solve them. I quickly returned back to my laptop, restored back my config file and tested out all those solution stated in the article. It works like a charm. "Ya hu"

3. Enable Desktop Effect
Now I'm connected, the screen resolution is fine (except the font wasn't as sharp as it looks) and what's next? Enable the desktop effect, of course. Again, it blows me away. I believe there's a lot of video, screen shot and plug in to enhance the desktop experience; however, on what the desktop effect was able to provide me was more than enough.

Summary: Will all these makes me want to dump windows forever?
Hold your horses. There's too many commercial item/gadgets that are still rely on windows to work. Example: digital camera, webcam; plus the money I've paid to Microsoft for that windows xp home edition. Throwing windows away sounds like depreciate my gadgets and laptop's value faster. The best solution, let it dual boot. "Hahahaha" (Evil laugh)

Ubuntu experience for a beginner

There have been a lot of news regarding the new Ubuntu release 7.04. As I have tried the previous Ubuntu 6.10 liveCD before, I thought I'll give 7.04 a try by full install into my Dell 640m laptop.

1. Patient
First thing on trying to get my hands on Ubuntu is not the CD or the software itself but by acquiring the habit of being patient. Yes, it's required a lot patient by just downloading the software (I think I'll need it more when installing and configure the hardware). The file server available for download the CD does not seems to be stable. It keep breaking up my Ubuntu downloading process and I have to keep searching for file mirrors to resume my file. The whole downloading process took me 2 days but it seems it can be done in one day. Finally, I have manage to download a copy of it without any file corruption.

2. Read
I have my WinXp Home installed in my laptop without any more free space for Ubuntu because laptop came with preinstalled with WinXp Home. In order to solve this problem, I went to the Ubuntu support site and checked out the forum. It did provide me a solution on how to dual boot Ubuntu along with Windows.

It's called SystemRescueCd. I've download the Linux ISO and burn it into a CD. I've booted it up with the CD and trying to follow the instruction provide in the Ubuntu Forum. It was a mistake. It stated a command I need to key in once the rescueCD is booted and blind me, I tried for 4 or 5 times and it didn't work (Here is what I mean in point 1: Patient). So, I started to read what's provided on the screen in the boot menu. It shows that the command has changed. After carefully read the instruction on the boot menu, I finally got it boot to the option I want and successfully resize my NTFS partition.

3. Backup
Guess what, I partitioned the disk with only partial backup on my windows data. I was risked of having all my recent data lost but somehow after reading the forum from Ubuntu, I found it can be done without backup since someone has successfully dual boot their PC (Don't try this at home). After resize the partiton, next thing is try boot up windows and make sure it still working correctly (with my finger crossed). It worked and I could see the free space available using the windows disk manager.

4. Installation
The installation was easy by just following the Wizard. Boot into live, click on install, and follow the installation wizard instruction. Easy. After the laptop was rebooted and I was in Ubuntu environment, I was surprised that the laptop customized buttons and the FN key was working correctly. So, the next thing is how to get it log on to the internet.

5. Wired and resolution
My home has a wireless router that connects to the internet. The router was configured using the WPA encryption, which is more secure than using WEP encryption. Anyway, Ubuntu wireless setting comes with default WEP encryption and I have to find a way to configure it to use WPA setting. So, I need to switch back windows and get online to check on the instructions for it (Again, point 1: Patient). After one day doing that, I thought why not just use the wired connection. So, I got my laptop connected to the router using wire and started the firefox browser.

It blows me away. The webpage is loaded way much faster than windows version (Perhaps I have too many extension installed in my windows firefox or personal firewall was slowing down my window's connection). So fast that it feels like just a snap of a finger (Maybe I was exaggerate; perhaps it was 2 snaps of a finger :P)

Then it's the screen resolution. The default screen resolution supported was 1280 x 768, 800 x 600, 640 x 480. My laptop optimal resolution is 1280 x 800; another 32 more wider is required. Again, point 1 is required to search for solution on the internet.

Summary: Almost a near window experience
In conclusion, I would like to see there is a driver support page for linux. With this, it will solve most of my problem mentioned above: the display resolution and the wireless configuration. The problem is that it's free for everyone and what more can I complain about that. :P

P.S: More information I just found
Seven post-install tips for Ubuntu 7.04

RIP, my palm.

No, it's not my hand has any problem. It's my Palm pilot device is broken. I was sad for 1 minute when I took it out from my backpack and found it was broken (Never put your wide screen device in your back pack especially without any cover).

"Why sad for 1 minute? It's a expensive device!"

Well, I've stopped using it for quite a while mainly due to I bought my first Dell laptop. I've spent more time on my laptop than on my PDA. :P Anyway, I think I won't buy anymore personal devices, such wide screen mobile phone or PDA; except for laptop, because PDA and laptop almost cost the same. In the future, I believe desktop or PDA will be replaced by laptop with different sizes (11 - 17 inc. screen) because most my work can be done by using a laptop.

From Miscellaneous

Auto update for VB6 application

My daily work used VB6 or VB.net to create application, therefore I read books on those programming language to find out better ways to write. In one of the VB books, which I forgotten which one, I came across a point that mentioned "Desktop application lacks of scalability; Internet application lacks of security". Well, perhaps scalability wasn't an issue anymore since DotNet allow automatically update for VB6 application.

Automatically Updating Visual Basic 6 Applications: Part I
Automatic Updating of Visual Basic Applications: Part II

I prefer desktop application to handle data intensive program rather than internet application, which gaining popularity very fast these days especially with introduction of Ajax. No offense to web developer, but I think desktop application provide better response (in terms of UI) than using the browser. I also believe the desktop application will be remain on the PC for many years down the road before internet application would actually take over (Until then, I would probably too old to write programs :P).

Building a Personal Finance Library: 25 of the Best Books About Money

I had been doing some digging the other day and found this one really informative. It's about personal financial books and the site offer some reviews and recommendations. The funny thing was, the popular "Rich dad, Poor dad" didn't make into the list. I wonder. :D



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Design Patterns

I was browsing at Kinokuniya the other day on the programming section. Interestingly, I found some book regarding design pattern. Well, I have learned about design for IT in my college years, (Usually about creating forms or database design.) but this topic really catches my eyes. By the way, those books on the shelves at Kino are tightly wrapped and I was lazy to take the book to the counter for unwrap. Therefore, I just read the cover for some brief information and try to remember the book title.

Back at home, I did some research on the internet on what I have discovered. To my surprise, all this information was available back in 1995. Till today, none of these terminology was apply in my working years.

Perhaps I can say that, these design patterns was not that crucial or important enough to practice in real world. So, why do I need read all these stuff and talk about it here? The big advantage of design pattern is that it reduce software maintenance and adapt to change. (In IT world, a software application has to adapt to change else it will die or outdated. This also mean out of job for programmers. :D) Well, I have seen company putting in a lot of investment just to maintain an application and it doesn't adapt to change either. (Maybe that's how I and everybody else could get a job and put the food on the table. I would disagree with this because that means we lose a competitive edge to our competitor due a lot effort was spend in maintaining the software instead of moving forward for new functionality, scalability, usability and improve performance. Competition not in term just for local but applies to global competition as well)

So, what so special about it? Well, for people who interested in the Object-Oriented Programming, here a sample chapter of Decorator Pattern and it was described in Java programming. I believe this also can be done on dot Net technology since it is a OOP also.

If you have started talking in OOP language, that's great. Perhaps you can try out talking in Pattern language, trust me, that's even exciting.

Leaving the comfort zone

It’s been a week I have landed my job on my new company. I remember the first day I started my training, my mood wasn’t felt quite right. I believe that was due to the unfamiliar environment, work and colleagues. From an ERP software environment to the financial credit card system seems to be a lot of changes for me. In addition to that, my mind is still trying to fall back the daily behavior in my previous job and it took me couple of days to adjust my mind to feel a bit of comfort in my current office.

Nevertheless, the external environment still remains the same. My current job location wasn’t too far away from my previous job and I still able to enjoy my lunch hour as usual before. From time to time, I still able meet up with some ex-colleague (different department) on lunch hour or at the LRT station after working hours. Funny thing was, they didn’t know I have left (mind you that I’m just only a small potatoes) and asked me how come I’m wearing casual wear to work. Am I on MC they asked. After clearing up the confusion, a sense of embarrassment runs thru my mind. Well, they have to know it eventually and by the way, we have plenty of chances to meet up at the LRT station.

So, leaving comfort zone was just only the first step and there are many more steps waiting to be explored. Whether those steps are taking to me to higher or lower ground, in my opinion, I hope those steps would take me to more fulfillment and happier experience.