Through Hobbes' Shutter

Monday, March 19, 2007

I'm Thuper
(Warning: Contains blatant self promotion and bragging. Author’s head may be too big to fit your computer screen. May cause readers to feel nauseous and lose their appetites.)

I'm feeling very pleased and proud of myself today. heeheehee....

You may know that work had been (actually it still is…) hellish for me during Nov/Dec 06. This was mainly because our office was being audited for accreditation.

Anyway, we’ve finally received word that we had been granted full accreditation. In simple terms, that like saying we’ve got A-star for our accreditation exams. And of course, everyone's pretty happy about the outcome.

I was particularly pleased because they specifically mentioned that our response package was the “best they have ever received, and they would like us to present a short article on how we did it so that they can show it to other people.”

Heehee…. I can’t help but grin at that proclamation. Of course, I gotta play it down in the office lah. You know, be humble and say,”orr.. aiyah its nothing lah” etc etc.

But inside.. heck lah, I learnt the software by myself; didn’t attend any course – all by trial and error one ok. I am the PDF guru! And no marks for guessing who sacrificed his Christmas to slog away in the office preparing the final document for FedEx to Washington. Of course, the content was prepared by several people. But I had to put it together into one coherent PDF document with all the bookmarks and links. Not exactly a simple task when you consider that there are a total of about 97 separate documents, each needing to be cross referenced and linked to the main document.

Anyway, nothing like a little recognition to cheer up an otherwise dull but stressful week ahead (b’cos the first two modules of my big online project is due to go live).

Sunday, March 11, 2007

PC Show 2007

I went to the PC show at Suntec today. I needed to get a new monitor b'cos my current one decided that it had worked long enough and needed a permanent break.

And as expected, the amount of people there was simply crazy. Good thing I've already done my research online and off, and I had in mind what I wanted. So it was simply a case of getting to the right booth, buying the monitor, and getting out. Ideally, I would have gotten my new monitor either on Thur or Fri, when it would be significantly less crowded than the weekend but I had other stuff to do, so I had to choice but to shop on Sunday - the last day of the show.

It wasn't really a big problem for me, given my 'big' size, unshaven face and wearing a frown, I simply barged my way in and around. Yeah, I know, it's not very nice of me but its a wild jungle in there. If you give way or wait for a path to show, you'll never make it in or out alive.

I can understand why lots of guys (and some ladies) want to go to the show, but I can never understand why some people would drag their elderly folks; babies-in-arms/prams; maids/kids etc to such a show-especially when they do not even know what the heck they are looking at.

The whole place is blardy chock-a-block full of people pushing and shoving; its hot (despite the air conditioning) and getting in or out of the suntec area is hard cos of the traffic jams, crowded buses and lack of taxis.

I even think its irresponsible of these morons who drag the entire family there. I mean - how much family interaction can you have in such a place? Kids can't do anything at all, and most are distressed by the crowds and the elderly have a hard time with all the pushing and shoving. Bloody, moronic, inconsiderate idiots.

Anyway, I got my monitor and it looks damn good - well it had better since it cost me 300 bucks.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

KL Snapshots
Here are some snapshots of my time in KL.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Why does this remind me of work?

(YouTube Link)

Post Mortem

I finally found time to do what I had wanted to do for the longest time – That is, to salvage data from my old laptop.

This was my very first laptop – an Acer Note Light. Powered by an Intel Pentium 133Hz Processor, it came equipped with a CD-ROM drive, an external floppy drive, 32MB RAM, on-board speakers and a 1.2GB harddisk. Accessories included a pseudo- black leather bag and a 28.8bps PCMCIA card modem.

It was considered to be quite an advanced laptop at that time, when most laptops ordinarily only had a Pentium 100Hz processor and 8MB RAM. Some low-end models were still using either 486 or 586 processor chips and running Windows 3.1.

The laptop’s in a pretty sad state now. Its battery is already leaking and bloated, a sure sign that it’s already dead. The screen is also busted – not sure why or how it did tho. There’s also visible rust on it connectors too.

It’s been with me ever since I went to Brisbane to study, so it contains all my files, emails, pictures, music, chat logs – pretty much all of my online/offline life during that time. In a way, I guess you could call it a sort of a time capsule of me.

I managed to have a quick look over the files. There’s about 2GB worth of it. There’s some that brought a smile to my face; some that I totally forgot that I had but glad I saved, and some that made me both happy and sad.