Attend courses

I decided, yesterday, to register for the management program which my boss suggested for me to take it up. This course leads to a certification, so should be pretty interesting.

I am also interested in that system admin course that I originally signed up, which also leads to a certification, also interesting. Maybe I should talk to my boss next week, because it going to start in one week's time, and the next course schedule will be next year.

Alright, the VPN thing works!

After working with the customer, finally, managed to get VPN thing to work. In order to get it to work, we will need a CIP program, one that reads the certificate or key "saved" in the Smart card's chip, and the Cisco VPN client (v4.8.0.1.0300) program to make the VPN connection possible.

The problem that we encountered was that the subnet we were assigned to, based on our connecting ID, was not correct, so we could not access some of the Lotus Notes databases located within the customer's network. The network guys resolved that and now it's working fine.

Cleared everything

Finally, managed to clear all the equipment from the customer site with the movers. Can close the case which has been dragging on for more than one year.

There were some stuffs which I think can still be use, such as the DLT tape drives, desktop servers or PCs, monitor screens. There were also plenty of cables, RJ-45, FC and 3-pin plugs, all very useful, don't throw, can still be re-used.

Oh right, tomorrow is Friday, cheers......

"Bull strength"

Together with one of my colleagues, we were at the customer site to do some cleaning up their Data Centre. Some old racks, servers, network equipment and documents were to be packed up in boxes and ready to be shipped out tomorrow by the movers.

It was really hard work using our "bull strength" removing the cablings, arranging the stuffs and pack them together. Sweat, man, real sweat, somemore it was so dusty. I got a headache when I got home, and I'm still having it now! So, I better go and get some rest, I mean sleep.

Fly away

I just want to show you this photo of the plane that I flew from Melbourne to Sydney, I think.

Yes, no frills, JetStar flight. This was the first time I was on a budget flight. It was a cool and windy day, you could actually see a few planes taking off in the distance. There ain't many people, mostly travellers from all over the world, there were some locals.

For yesterday again...

Sorry, huh, yesterday I was busy, so I didn't write.

Yesterday was the time my boss called me up to talk, usually, he is too busy to meet his people, or my other fellow colleagues who work for him. No surprise, however, because I knew why he wanted to talk to me.

Just last week, I registered an external system security course, he wanted to know whether do I really need to attend the course, as he felt that with my capability, I should be able to learn it on my own. He also felt that I should pick up things that I don't have much experience in, for example, the AIX system admin and the ITSM (IT Service Management) or the ITIL programs. Actually, what I wanted was to go for a certification after the security course, more market value. He wanted me to consider, I will think about it...

Yesterday...

This is for yesterday...

Yesterday, I had been working to get the VPN thing to work. The funny thing was, I managed to install the software onto my colleague's Notebook running the same Operating System as mine, Windows XP Professional, it just wouldn't work on my Notebook, strange!

Although the software installation was successfully, I couldn't test the connection via our corporate network. The alternative was to test it via dial-up, yes, 56Kbps speed! The VPN connection was fine, but it was so slow, opening up an email (<1kbytes) via Lotus Notes took more that 5 minutes! This ain't going to work, got to source for another broadband connection and test....

Back at work today

I came back to work today, not because I have nothing to do at home, but to try and setup the VPN access thing on the company's PCs, this is a task that I have to complete by the end of this month. Also, I wanted to do a backup of my own Notebook's data to a portable drive, the last time I did that was, well, in July'06? It's always a good idea to do that periodically for 'safety' reason.

Here's a good quote on IT Investments:
"IT implementations involve both upfront and on-going investments for outcomes that no one ca precisely predict." - Book on IT Governance.

True enough, the returns in IT investments are usually difficult to predict because of the ever changing requirements and demands in IT needs.

VPN access

I have been trying to get this smart card thing to work with the remote VPN remote access. The card has a token which contains a security certificate, the idea is to allow a more secure user authentication for VPN through the Internet to the corporate network.

There are a couple of software to be installed, other the smart card driver, hmmm...should be plug and play, the CIP software, which reads the cert in the token card and also the Cisco VPN software. Actually, I was just following the guides, and I'm not supposed to fail the login more than 10x, else the card has to be reset, and this cost money, only the vendor who sold us the card can do it.

I brought all the software CDs, smart card reader and smart card home to install and test, it finally works! Funny, it didn't work on my office's notebook.

Working with others

It can be pretty tough working with people who has an attitude. Sometimes, they can simply refuse to cooperate or compromise.

I was in a meeting yesterday, with my Project Manager and the customer. We were arguing over who should be paying for renewing the remote access token cards for our Operations staff. The customer kept telling us that we should pay first, they reimburse later, the reason why we are not comfortable with this is that, because, from past experience, they can drag on for months for this type of payment matters. In the end, we compromised, we will go ahead with the renewal and pay first.

Finally, I got to taste the new Indian Muslim food today, not bad actually, but a little bit dry because of the fried dishes, got to drink more water.

Weather ok?

Well, today is a cool, not that I'm cool, but the weather, it rained for at least half of the day. Although it was raining, not drizzle, our guys still insisted to go out of the company building for lunch, and not in our in-house cafeteria. Yup, definitely must carry umbrellas. Yes, we are mad about food, but not to the extend of getting wet all over under this weather condition without cover.

One of the play stocks I bought last week did rose in price, I tried to sell it, but not successful. It seems like not that easy to play, huh? If I had sold it, I should be able to make two to three hundred play dollars. Too bad, try again tomorrow, hope it go up high high....

IT People

People who wants to get into IT must be passionate in the things or work they intend to embark on, willingness to learn and pick up new skills is also important. They should also have good technical skills, communication skills, analytical skills and 'never say die' spirit.

IT is all about the survival of the fittest, never stop learning attitude and making sacrifices, e.g. leisure time. There are two paths you may take, either towards the Management or Consultancy. A strong foundation in hands-on implementations is essential and necessary if you want to take the Consultancy path. As for the Management path, you must be able to speak well and understand the implications of each project or implementation from the business perspective.

My good Friend called...during lunch

My good Friend called me today when I was having lunch with my colleagues.

Usually, I will call her or she will call me during the weekend's late at night. This time she said she may not be able to call me this Saturday as she has been invited to a friend's gathering. I guessed she is really enjoying life there.

Recently, I took part in a stocks challenge game, it's pretty fun. How it works is that, once you sign up, you will be given $80,000 virtual dollars to buy and sell shares. You don't really buy or sell shares in the real stock market, you are just simulated it, that means what you do will not influence the actual market condition. I manage to buy and then sell one stock, made a 'profit' of few hundred bucks, but overall, I'm still in the red, as I still have other stocks going south currently. Let's see whether I have better luck next week.

Share a statement

My friends, if you are seeing this....

Just want to share a statement by Andrew Matthews, as quoted from his book "Follow your heart: Finding purpose in your life and work."

"Love is allowing people to be in your life out of choice."

How true....what do you think???

This is my 50th posts so far. I think I got to slow down a bit, else, people will think that I don't have a life other than blogging. hmmm....

Diarrhea!

I don't know what I ate this morning, perhaps, it was the small chocolate bar I had for breakfast. It was terrible. Diarrhea! Diarrhea! I hated having this, it was like somebody squeezing and twisting your stomach, the pain was there.

I had to visit the toilet for a couple of times. Luckly enough, the diarrhea symptom didn't last very long, by noon time, I managed to keep it under 'control'.

I didn't want to take a risk, usually, I would have spicy food for lunch, but, this time round, I had noodle with soup, something light and non-spicy, mild for the stomach. I also drank plenty of fluid, especially water, good for the stomach, as it may still be weak during the recovery stage.

Give your best!

"You give your best not because your need to impress people. You give your best because that's the only way to enjoy your work." - Andrew Matthews in his book, Follow your Heart: Finding purpose in your life and work.

I think what Andrew said is true, whatever work you do, don't just do it for the sake of doing it, but being passionate in it and always strive to put in your best effort and enjoy it!

There's also a saying: If your don't like your current job, either change your attitude or change your job!

Meeting in session

I don't really like meetings. A meeting could take up two to three hours, time simply pass without you knowing and you are anxiously waiting for it to end so that you can do other more important tasks.

The team always have a meeting at least once a month, provided everyone got the time. We met up today in the afternoon. The last time we had was four months back, so there were a lot of stuffs to update everyone. I was the chairman for the meeting, meaning other than the Project Manager, I do the most talking. Usually, in a meeting like this, you try not to talk too much, the more you say, the more things you have to do and your name will appear everywhere in the minutes of meeting. Follow-ups, follow-ups...

The meeting lasted two hours, just the right time to go home.

See you, my Friend!

Today is Monday, first day of the work week.

My good Friend flew off earlier tonight, I could not send her off because I had to attend a seminar. She called me at the airport just before entering the departure gate.

It is going to be another three months plus before I will get to see her again.

Movie: The Host, Part 2

One night, while at the hospital, Pak, the guy's surname, received a call from his daughter, and she told him she was in a dark and dirty sewer. Pak and his family (father, sister and brother) decided to run away from the hospital and were successful. His sister was a national archer, by the way. While fighting with the Host, their father was killed by it. Pak was again caught by the military, while his siblings escaped.

Then, while escaping, he met a friend, who helped him to access a computer to retrieve the location where his daughter had called him with her handphone, but he found that his friend was actually trying to betray him for the money rewards. While escaping from the police, he SMS his brother, in turn, messaged the sister.

Pak managed to reach the sewer but his was too late, the Host had already swallowed his daughter and a little boy. At this time, the government had already decided to use the "Yellow Agent", a chemical warfare smoke to destroy the Host. Pak was devastated when he pulled his daughter and the boy out from the monster's mouth. With the help of his siblings, they burned the monster and he stabbed the monster in the mouth, it died.

The little boy was found to be still alive, Pak took him in and treated him like his own son....The End.

This story is good, better than Predator and Alien, I would give it a five out of five for good storyline and unconventional ending.

Movie: The Host, Part 1

I watched this Korean movie in the cinema with DR this afternoon.

This story happened in South Korea, it started with a laboratory researcher (of a US Army camp) who was told to pour bottles of toxic and bio-hazardous chemical solution into the drainage system via the washing basin. The toxic solution eventually went to the Han River, the main river dividing Seoul.

Then, one day, people who were holidaying along the Han River noticed something hanging on one of the bridges. This 'thing' dropped into the river and started swimming towards the crowd. Stamping and swallowing human along its way.

There was this guy who was helping his dad run a stall there, tried running away from the 'thing' with his teenage daughter, but unfortunately, she was 'caught' by it and dragged away to the other side of the river. He thought that he had lost her daughter. As usual, the police and military were called in to cordon off the place. The guy, his father and the people at the scene were taken to the hospital for check-up....

Just back...

Just came back from outing with my good Friend.

Yeah, didn't go for my weekend's afternoon swim today. Today was a warm and humid day. Easily tired out in just a few hours of walking and shopping.

First, we went to a local temple and prayed, and then went to a food centre for lunch. She had a Malay dish called 'Mee Goreng', meaning 'Fried noodles', I had Indian Rojak, basically, fried flour stuffs with mixed prawns, potatoes and green chilli. It was good, I like the taste, have never been out for so long, so all I ate were good enough. DR had her usual milk tea, while I had a Lychee cold drink. MMmmm....yummy.....taste so good!

When I came back home, I had the Chinese Vegetarian 'Bee Hoon', a kind of noodles cooked with heavy gravy, chinese style.

What to do today?

I reckon today should be a fine day, although I can still see that the haze is back, the news say it's from Kalimantan, that is more than 1000km away, the wind does play a part.

What I want to do today? hmm...most like still go for my weekend run in the afternoon, yup that's right, provided it doesn't rain later. After that, if there's still time, I will go for a swim. Then most likely, in the late afternoon, I will be out with my good Friend, she said she wants to buy some IT gadgets.

My good Friend is back! Just for a short time..

My good Friend is BACK! She surprised me.

She called me this afternoon, I saw the Caller-ID system was showing a number from her home's phone. I picked up the call, and was so surprised to hear her voice, nay, couldn't be her, but it is her alright. I was really stunned! Almost lost dropped my cup of tea.

She told me she was back because she missed home, and she will also be attending a concert here.

Difficult to be a supervisor

It's really tought to be a supervisor, the expectations are different as compared to a junior staff or subordinate. Not only that, you are also the good and the bad guy, the middle man between the Management and your team.

As I have written earlier, if I got a choice now, I would rather get out of the team and be my own boss. Do things that I really like, and being independent, nobody to take care, just the systems. Hardware systems don't talk back to you or show you faces.

Why then did I want to be a supervisor in the first place? Initially, I thought I could do well in a supervisory position, I mingled well with the team members, I was focused, so, I volunteered to be one. I have no regrets however on the decision that I made, but now, I feel it may be the time for me to move on....

Seeking Knowledge

You know, life itself is a test. We are always being tested on every decisions that we make everyday till the end of our time. One wrong move, and you fall into a ditch, how fast you recover depends on you next decision. Do you just want to rest awhile, then climb out or recover your steps immediately? It's your choice.

When we fail, we learn, we seek understanding and find out what went wrong. The knowledge that we acquired over time helps us to make better decisions.

We all will grow older and because of that, we should let things take its course, even when it really hurts. Yes, it may be painful, but we do learn and understand from every experiences. Be happy, just let it go....

Movie: Big Wave, No Escape

This story is about a man who was jealous of his disciple getting the Nobel Prize, and he didn't. He claimed that he had taught his junior what he knew. In order to destroy his disciple's reputation, he decided to set plots against him.

His junior was a missile weapon system researcher and developer. What the jealous man did was to make use of his junior's knowledge to create guided missile system to 'slam' into deep sea mountains, collapsing them and create Tsunami which could destroy coastal cities. He also puposely framed his junior, making the authories go after him.

In ending, his junior finally found out where the missiles were fired from, but he had to stop the missiles that had already launched. The worst of all, the jealous man was accidently killed by the Police, the passwords to access the missile system were lost. Luckly, he managed to logon to the system by guessing the passwords and make the missiles divert their courses and save the cities.

I think this is a nice movie, innovative story, although no big name casts, I will give it a three out of five Stars for good movie entertainment.

The choice

If I am given a choice to choose between being a Supervisor leading a team of IT people and as a Engineer doing Systems stuff. I would choose the latter.

Leading a team of IT people is no fun, they can be systems administrators, network administrators, DBA, application or middleware administrators. As a Supervisior, you must be able to absorb and digest information fast, because you are dealing with people of different technical competencies, communication skills, attitudes and habits. You should also be alert and frequently read up so that you will be always stay at least two steps ahead of the rest. You can be flexible but commanding at certain critical times when you need to get things done your way which is more effective.

Being a Engineer, I want to be one who does implementations. You are free from most of the administrative work of a Supervisor, you are independent, very technically competent and knowledgeable. It will be definitely be more satisfying getting jobs done. This is the type of people whom others will seek advice when they are stuck with something.

If only I have a choice.....pretty soon I hope....

Stingray Kills 'Crocodile Hunter' Irwin

Just read the news......

Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality and conservationist known as the "Crocodile Hunter," was killed Monday by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44.

Irwin was at Batt Reef, off the remote coast of northeastern Queensland state, shooting a segment for a series called "Ocean's Deadliest" when he swam too close to one of the animals, which have a poisonous bard on their tails, his friend and colleague John Stainton said.

"He came on top of the stingray and the stingray's barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart," said Stainton, who was on board Irwin's boat at the time.

Crew members aboard the boat, Croc One, called emergency services in the nearest city, Cairns, and administered CPR as they rushed the boat to nearby Low Isle to meet a rescue helicopter. Medical staff pronounced Irwin dead when they arrived a short time later, Stainton said.

Smoking is bad!

One thing I really don't like is people smoking next to me, especially in lifts. Nowadays, you will see people young and old, men and women, smoking as if noboby's business.

What the Government did here was to raise the cigarette tax, but that didn't keep smokers from smoking. In fact, there had been an increase in the number of cases of cigarettes smuggling.

A number of occasions where I saw girls who are not bad looking but, the moment you see cigarette sticks in between their fingers, yucks! Smoking is bad for the body, particular, the lungs, the teeth, and every parts. Why people still want to smoke even though they know it's no good? Well, maybe they are stressed? Got too much money, and no where to burn? Don't know.......

Movie: Buried Alive 2

The second movie I watched on TVUPlayer had a very simple plot. It was about a man who betrayed his wife and tried to poisoned her to 'death'. The poison was not exactly effective, it was something that could temporary 'kill' his victim but not permanent death. His wife was buried, but later she woke up in the coffin and opened her way out of the burial site. She wanted revenge.

While on a leisure boat, the man and his mistress were locked in the cabin by his 'dead' wife. With the cabin sealed, water vaults were opened to let water into the boat. The boat slowly sunk to the bottom of the sea, with the two bad guys still trapped in.....

Jack and the Bean Stalk Part 2

..and reach a Land. He saw people without food to eat and went hungry, they were suffering.

He was brought in front of a council and judged upon. He was told of the real story of 'Jack and the bean stalk'. It was Jack's ancestor, Jack, who betrayed the people by stealing the Goose, which can lay golden eggs and the Harp, which play musical scores so that the goose can lay the eggs. This two things are important to the survival of the land, without them, the people will suffer, land will become infertile, no greens will grow on the land. Yes, he also caused the death of the big Giant. No, the Giant was actually not the bad guy, Jack was!

Jack (of Today), was to be executed because of the crime his ancestor committed. But, he was lucky, he managed to escape with the girl to today's earth. By then, although they had only stay in the Land for seven days, but in reality, it was already seven years his time.

Together with the girl he loved, they managed to salvage the golden Goose and Harp from the bad guys and brought it back to the Land. The Land became propers again.

In ending, he united with the girl and live happy ever after....

Jack and the Bean Stalk Part 1

I recently found out a software that I can install to watch free TV or cable channels from the Internet, it's call 'TVUPlayer'. The catch is, you must have a broadband connection for the video streaming to work well. Depending on when you use it, at times (e.g. dinner hrs), you will still see sound or video lagging, but, nevermind, it will recover.

Just last night, I watch two movies, the first called 'Jack and the bean stalk'. Hey, I know what you are thinking, but this show is not exactly like the original one. Yes, the story is about the same, but of Today context and also it retold what actually happened in the story 'Jack and the Bean Stalk'. Here's the story:

Jack (of modem day), met a girl. One day, the girl left. Only later on that he found the girl was actually the same girl whom his ancestor, Jack (of the original story), met 390 years ago! He found out about it when, well, he planted a bean and it grew stalk that reached the sky, he climbed the stalk.....

More than 30 posts!

Wow, time flies, I have reached my 31st posting!

I remember that it was in July, in fact, at the end of the month when I decided to start my own blog. I didn't have much knowledge about blogging, having seen and heard about it on newspapers, other people's blogs and TV. I also didn't have the experience or technical knowledge to start one.

I happened to came across www.blogger.com by chance, so, I thought of starting a simple one. With the guides provided by the website, finally, managed to get the ball rolling. My objective is to shared with everyone, not just about myself, but also things I do and most important of all, the photos and pictures I took with my camera. That's all....

Natural disasters

Heard about the Hurricanes in Mexico and US? The heat waves in Europe and China? Or the haze condition in South East Asia? When is it going to end? It doesn't look good these days, something is just not right about the global climate. It seems to be changing by the day, and for the worst.

Expansive growth of heavy industries in many countries and massive clearance of forests for farming might have contributed to the atmospheric temperature changes around the world. This is no good, but, what are we doing about it?....

It's Saturday!

No work today.

So, as usual, I went for a jog. My pace was faster than normal, don't know why, but, just feel like running faster.

I went for a swim in the afternoon, not many people at the pool, mostly guys and kids. Swam for half lap and walked up to a place next to the pool to tan.

The Sun was not beaming too bright, thought it was going to rain soon, but it didn't, it was just the movement of the clouds, occasionally hiding the "big brother" behind them.

After about 15mins, I continued the usual swimming routine of going for another four and a half laps before resting for awhile and then leave the pool to wash up. By this time, the pool was already crowded with kids learning swimming from their instructors, me pondered the time I started learning how to swim when I was young.

Fire drill!

Our company had a fire drill today. Everyone of us had to stop what we were doing and clear away from the office buildings. We had to walk about 100 metres to a holding area, where the Fire Wardens will check off our names on their namelists, making sure that everyone had 'cleared' the disaster area.

Well, it was a good exercise, it made us walk and stay under the sun for awhile, usually we stayed indoors with aircons, so, don't got a lot of opportunity to be 'tanned'.

After about 30 mins later, we were allowed to go back to our office buildings. End of exercise.