Hello, I am back!

Did I tell you we had a new Unix administrator joining our team? She is fresh graduate from a local university, but from another country, Myanmar. So, after two months of work, I guess she is very much adapting to the life here, huh?

I can tell that she is pretty smart, learn things fast, and always want to venture into other domains. Like today, when we had a meeting with the network guys, she was so interested to find out about VLAN that she told one of the guys to teach her how to configure it on the switch, he said, very easy, only 2 commands. At times, I do see that she can be distracted, but, that is ok, it is good learning attitude.

Today, She was briefed on the Veritas Volume Manager, Veritas File system and Veritas Cluster server (VCS). She is already working on the Veritas Netbackup that she picked up last week. Now that I am glad I can concentrate on something else, things I always wanted to do.

Starting August, she will be on her own...

Hancock (movie)

A story about a man (Will Smith), a hard living public hero, who has strength far greater than an human being and can fly like superman. With a don't care kind of attitude, whose aim is to fight criminals, some member of public hate him, because he destroys public properties and disrupt lives, the police even issues warrants to have him arrested.

Having met a PR officer, and told about his problem, he makes a public apology, and promises he will change his attitude and temper. Subsequently, he is sent to jail, if good, may be released in 4 years time.

Later, he met the wife of the PR officer, and discovers that she, too, has special powers like him. So, he confronts her to find out the story. She tells him that they were meant to be husband and wife many decades ago, supposed to be immortal, this came as a surprise to the PR officer. All of those where were like them were dead, because when they get close to one another, they will lose their powers, and become mortal again and grow old, and if upon attacks, die. They are the only two left.

Due to a robbery, Hancock is shot and is sent to the hospital, and there with 'this' wife attacked by his enemy. Hancock fights on with the criminals, sustaining more bullet wounds, almost died, but, he revived just in time to save him and 'this' wife.

Story ends, I guess there may be more, part 2, part 3....For this superheroes movie, I say 3 out of 5 stars for special effects, 4 for storyline, 1 for romance and 4 for comedy (language, words).

The Happening (Show)

This show is about an event where people living the north-east of US were suddenly affected by some kind of mysterious nerve poisoning gas causing them to commit suicide. It spread quickly towards the west and south.

Many people tried desperately to run away from the affected regions, including a family. While escaping, they guessed that the poisoning gas originated from plants, trees and vegetations, when the wind blows, that is when it is lethal. Strangly, the family is not affected by this, not like the rest. It ended a week later.

This is more like a love story, being a teacher, the man of the family, trying to patching up to his wife, who before that didn't want to have a child and was involved in a mistaken relationship with another man.

The story didn't tell us much about what really happened, scientists only suspect the green plants and floras are giving a warning, maybe if humanity still continues to destroy them, this may be what is going to happen.

End of story, the camera moves to another country, it happens again....

Recovery from infection

It is my PC, I managed to re-install the Operating System (OS) last night, and now, it is up and running.

Having to re-install all the applications back is really a tedious task, but, this time round, I make sure all protection softwares are installed. This includes the SP2 for Windows XP, free Windows Defender and Symantec Anti-virus. As for my work essentials, the CheckPoint VPN secure-client, WinZip, Eraser, Windows Office suite, PDF and not to forgot, my favourite, Mozilla FireFox.

Hey, a new OS for a new start, got to make sure to be careful when surfing the Internet in future.

Oh no! My PC infected!

I was surfing the web and chanced upon a website, then out of the sudden, the Anti-virus software pop-up saying there was Trojan-horse virus or spyware. The Anti-virus software tried to clean it, but was only partially done. I tried to remove the infected files manually, but didn't work well, a reboot of the PC, the infection came back again when I re-connected to the Internet.

Then, I proceeded to repair the Windows XP OS, but to no avail, worst! It can't even boot up to the desktop, errors, no blue screen though. No choice but to re-install the OS from scratch, this is going to be a tedious exercise on a Saturday night, but, hey, play safe, do backup first.

New Team Member

This week, a new member joined our team, she is a fresh graduate from a local university, but, with at least one year working experience in deskstop and Windows systems support. After talking to her, I found that she pretty smart and learn things fast. She is joining our team as a system engineer, specifically, Unix admin.

For the next couple of weeks, we will be passing her lots of know-how and hands-on job training.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The Soviets want it (The Crystal Skull), because it has the capability to control the minds of humans (e.g. U.S politicians, leaders). Indiana Jones and team wants to return it to where it belongs (somewhere in Peru). With the help of a captured Jones' old friend, they try to find out where the skull came from.

The adventure begins with the Soviets hot on their tail, Jones and team have to fight them times again and again. Surviving through the firefights with the Soviets, man eating insects (ants?) and falls from three steep waterfalls, they finally got to a hidden ancient city in the Peruian jungle.

They went straight into a temple looking structure and see crystal skeletons surrounding them, one of them is without a (crystal) skull. Then the Soviet agent arrives, taking away the skull, and put it back to where it is supposed to be. The building structure shakes, starts collapsing and water floods in, then, everyone started running for their lives. Out on a high ground, Jones and team see what looks like a space ship raising up from the site, atlas, it is clear, the place was built by an Alien civilisation.

Story ends with Jones marry the woman whom he was supposed to marry many years back and found out a son he fathered with the woman, they were in the same adventure.

Back from Hong Kong and Macau

Just back a week ago from Hong Kong and Macau with a friend. It was kind of a breakaway trip from my hectic work.

On touching down to Hong Kong International Airport, we bought ferry tickets (at the arrival), straight to Macau. The thing that impressed us was that, as part of the airport's integrated sea, land, air service, our luggages were 'invisibly' moved from our in-coming flight to the ferry, without us physically carry them on the boat and no check-out of the airport! Take a fast boat from the Hong Kong Airport's ferry terminal to Macau ferry terminal in about 45mins. Actually, not many people know about this arrangement.

Macau is a small place with many good to visit casinos, not necessary to gamble though, you could just take the free shuttle buses from the ferry terminal to any casinos or hotels, even if you are not staying there. If you have a camera, do take pictures of their hotel structures and decorations, they are really nice. Oh, don't forget to pick up a map at the ferry terminal, don't worry, you wouldn't get lost, if you do, just go to any hotel, take their free buses and go back to the starting point, the ferry terminal.

If you want to, you could also take the local buses (not expensive!), and go on a short trip to Taipa and coloane islands to the south, and enjoy the more laid-back rural life. Most locals may not speak English, know where you are going, check the route map at each bus stop first. Remember this, the buses can be very crowded in the evening, as most are taken by the workers from the construction sites, they jam pack the buses, and don't have to habit the give way to alighting passengers, you may have to squeeze your way out.

Some places to visit, the Chapel of Saint Francis Xavier, Senado Square, Ruins of St. Paul’s, etc. Oh, remember to buy the egg tarts from Lord Stow's Bakery at 1 Rua da Tassara, Coloane Town Square on Coloane Island, really sweet and tasty, don't miss it!

Value Of Our Human Thumbs

You see, our human thumbs can do wonders. Some people tuck it into their mouth, and suck it or taste it (yucks! I know). Most will find it convenient to use the thumbs for pressing buttons. It can even help you to turn keys to open doors or pinch someone on the face. So, do you know the value of your thumbs?

What I'm trying to say is, if a company knows the values of its people, it would have made every effort to retain them when they intend to leave for good. Sadly, this is not so in most company...

Rich dad, poor dad

Recently, I read a pretty interesting book 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' by Robert Kiyosaki's and Sharon Lechter. It's not really just about investment, per se, but one that advocates financial independence through investing.

The book touches on the fact that most people lacks finance accounting knowledge and understanding. This has led to many people running into cash flow problems, because they don't understand the differences between Income, Expenses, Assets and liabilities. It's simple, buy more assets that bring up cash flows (e.g. real assets), cut down on liabilities (e.g. car loans), as long as your assets' cashflows can cover your expenses, your are considered wealthy!

Airshow 2008

On the 23 Feb, there was this Airshow coming right to city (Eastern part actually), once every 2 years.

I had to queue for 2hrs just to get to the free shuttle bus, took another hour for the bus to clear the traffic jam, and another 30 mins to clear the scanning and checking station at the Airshow site. By the time I reach the site, the aerobatics display was already over. That is not the end yet, the going back trip was worst, all messed up, people everywhere. In the end, I had to pay 5 dollars just to get on a paid bus.

The organiser said they didn't anticipate so many people coming, not true, people bought tickets from them in advance. They should know how many people have bought the tickets. Tickets costed $20 each, no freebies, no cap, no drinks, nothing.

what a waste of time going there.

SOE Awarded

Finally, after more than a year of anticipation and waiting, the SOE or the Government's Standard Operating Environment project has been award, it goes to the OneMeridian team. Check out the news release:

http://www.ida.gov.sg/News%20and%20Events/20080228151049.aspx?getPagetype=20

Smart kid

The other day, our familiy gathered to have a 'lao yu sheng' dinner. It's actually a CNY (chinese new year) celebration dish consist of raw fish (yu sheng), usually Salmon, shredded cucumber, carrots, and some other vegetables. Then, everyone, armed with chopsticks will lift the ingredients high up, that is 'lao', may means grab ($$) in chinese dialect (I think!), for good luck, eat it.

Surprisely, my little (pre-school) niece, was able to use the chopsticks, we have always thought she can't, so usually, we give her forks and spoons. She didn't want to tell us who taught her. Yes, what a naughty girl.

Leap year

So fast, it's 1st day of February, 2008 today.

This month we are going to see 29 days, it happens every 4 years, it is also the year of the Summer Olympics. This month there will be a 2-day holiday, which is the Chinese Lunar New Year, wow, can take a break from work.

Maybe, I will be spending some time visiting friends and relatives.....

Long, long queue

Seriously, I hate to queue! Irregardless of where I go, there are queues at food courts, bus stops, taxi stands, cashier lines, yes, everywhere.

This city is getting crowded here, small place, densely populated. With all the booming economy activities, people are buying, buying and buying, where did they get their money from, stock market? Price of housing is rocketing because of some invisible driving force pushing the prices up, at least 30% increase compared to one year ago. There are people, especially foreigners, complaining that they couldn't find a decent priced apartments. Cost of necessity products also went up by at least 10%.

Crazy!?! I just hope some day all this will cool down, I guess it should be happening pretty soon...

Happy New Year 2008!

Another fresh new year, wish everyone may all their wishes come true.

This year's New Year fireworks display duration was very short, only 8 minutes. The worst thing of all was, we, friends, were at a spot, can hear, but, can't see the fireworks, wrong place! Not just me, but a lot of people were also there, haha, big mistake. In the end, we had to chase and run around some blocks of buildings trying to get near. Yup, can hear, but, still partially blocked view.

I managed to take some pictures, the night scenes photos taken were not good, I think exposure too long. Sooo... disappointed.

The Heroes, Season 2

Hey, I think I have finished watching Heroes, Season 2, only 11 episodes this time, it was so short.

Now, I confused who is/are vallain(s) and who is/are the good ones, Peter has 'hooked up' with Tenshi, the immortal, aimed to save mankind by destroying the world with the deadly virus, Shanti, which could potentially kill 95% of the earth population. The virus was later destroyed by....Peter, when he realised what he had done.

Syler is slowly recovering his power, oops, the end.

Season 3 next....

Work and no play

There goes my leave plans for today, the tomorrow and probably the day after next. My work can't seem to finish, never ever!

Trying to find time to rest and have some fun outside work is tough, 2 more weeks and it's Christmas and new year. I just don't feel that holiday mood now, thinking about the work that I have to complete.

Let's see how, maybe I should try to squeeze some time and catch a movie on Wednesday, I got a free movie ticket.

Thought I could go on leave

Just when I thought I could clear my leaves from Thursday onwards, I was told we will be having a Disaster Recovery exercise to do.

The last 2 days at the DR site was terrible, had encountered a couple of issues, e.g. restoration failure due to incompatibility of tape drives/library. Problems that we did not see at our office surface. LTO2 tapes (HCART3) written using LTO3 tape drives (HCART3) cannot be restored from a LTO2 tape drive (HCART2), which is for Veritas Netbackup 6.0, tried to re-configure the LTO2 tape drive as HCART3, it didn't work!

Oh dear, guess don't think I can finish clearing my leaves by end of the year.

The Heroes

"Save the cheerleader, save the world!"

Hey, I have just finished watching the season 1 of The Hero's serial TV show. It took me almost five days and nights.

What's the fuss about this show? Well, it's about heroes who found out that they have special innate capabilities (in the show, they called it 'power') to fly, talk to machines, listen to other people's thoughts, mind control, self healing, turn invisible, etc.

Naturally, in such show, there will be the good and bad guys (or gals), but wait, the line between them is gray. There's this guy, Noah (played by Jack Coleman) who would pay any price (even killing) to protect his adopted cheerleader daughter, Claire (played by Hayden Panettiere) from harm. Good or bad? You guess.

Season 2 coming up....