January 2005 Archives

I learnt the outcome of my appraisal, this evening. It wasn't too bad, rather encouraging in fact. From the sound of it, they're going to keep me! I take appraisals and confirmations very seriously. I think it helps that I do like my job and try to pick things up as quickly as possible.

And of course, when things do go well we want to share it with those closest to us. So as I walked towards my car, I said a quick 'Thank You' to the big guy in the sky, and took my family out for dinner tonight.

For they're the ones who lift me up when I'm down, too.

1. Enjoyed one of the best worship sessions at church. I wish every week could be like that.
2. Got to feed the new koi (fish) in our pond. I hear they can eat out of your hand, too. Maybe I should wait for our murky algae-infested waters to clear up a little first.
3. Got distracted during my investigation of FTP programs which some of you recommended in an earlier post, and ended up downloading BackLight 2, a gimmicky tool which displays your screensaver in the background. Wallpaper that moves.
4. Took part in my first band rehearsal. It also happens to be my first long-term band, if all goes well. Currently we're playing a mix of jazz, pop and worship music. One drummer, one bassist, two keyboards (me playing the main keyboards and someone else playing strings, synths and other effects), two vocalists (male and female). We're looking for a lead guitarist. We play at a studio in Woodlands the last Sunday of each month. Any takers or recommendations?

Upgrading to MT3.15 now, for security improvements. Hope there won't be any hiccups.

[Phew, it's upgraded. Had trouble with Fetch FTP for OS X. It hung/timed out in mid-transfer quite a few times, causing me to abort transmission and then go through each MT sub-folder to see where I last left off. Then I tried posting a new entry, only to find there was a missing file - one of those I missed out during the aborted transfers.

Can anyone recommend a better FTP program for Mac? Should I switch back to Transmit? ]

A picture postcard from Metroplex and Perceptor (both Autobots), taking a dip in the bathroom sink.

2 more kd lang albums: Drag and Live By Request. I listened to Drag years ago, after a friend (JM?) recommended it, but for some reason didn't like it. Tonight I was with D who said it was a good album if you didn't mind listening to some covers. So I gave it a try and haven't regretted it. Apparently the album was inspired by her attempts to quit smoking - which is commendable in itself.

I went totally 'Pop charts' today: Usher's Confessions, Maroon 5's Songs about Jane, and Hoobastank's The Reason. 3 CDs for S$49.90. One of my regular salesgirls at That CD Shop's eyes also popped out when she saw my selection. That and also because she hadn't been able to sell me any Imported CDs this time.

Oh yes. I bought the Taufik album, Blessings. It seems Sony-BMG Singapore hadn't yet submitted the song titles to CDDB.com so I did the honours instead. If you're ripping the Taufik album, you should be able to load everything now. [To overseas readers: Taufik's the dude who won Singapore Idol.]

It's actually K and I who are going to the kd lang concert. D will be a row in front of me, somewhere. Can't wait!

After months of procrastinating (and I have never delayed this long before) I finally sent the car for servicing.

I was so caught up with work that by the time I realised I had better make a booking with the service centre, it was 5-6pm. As the website said the service centre was open until 8.30pm, I called all three lines a few times each for the next few hours but nobody picked up the phone.

I thought it was still OK to send the car in. The first time round, I didn't know any better and they still managed to service my car within the day. So I thought I'd risk it and send it in without a booking, first thing in the morning.

So I did. The guards let me through. One of them put a number '5' on my car, which came with a statement saying this was a 'non-booking'. I pulled over beside the other cars in line, and proceeded to pack up the essentials I had taken with me - like the car insurance and the cashcard.

While I was coiling up my hands-free kit, a technician walked over and opened my car door without even so much a polite rap on my window first. Without a single hint of a smile on his face, he proceeded to give me a talking-down about how I should make a booking next time because they are very busy people and they service 160 cars a day and it is unlikely I will get my car back today, perhaps tomorrow.

Surprised at his surly attitude, I responded that I tried calling the service centre but nobody picked up the phone. His reply? "Then you should try calling again!" (Did he assume I was so dumb as to call only once??)

I told him I had called all 3 lines a few times but nobody picked up the phone. He said I might have called past their working hours (now I know - all the website said was the centre was open till 8.30pm!). And they managed to cope the last time I didn't make a booking ... besides I don't think I was even the first 'non-booking' customer in line that day! Why was I singled out? Was it because I drove a Sunny and not a Cefiro? Because I was young and female and almost every other customer was older, male and looked like a boss?

So he ended by telling me something along the lines of, don't even try coming until you've made a booking! I said if it was really my fault then I accept that the car may not be ready for collection today. I know we have to be fair to those who did make a booking and give them priority.

Fortunately that was the last I saw of Groucho, because the usual Indian executive came along, said a friendly "Hi!" which I reciprocated, inspected my car, tried to pitch a car polish job to me (I always say no), listened to all my concerns about my car's performance, and politely told me to call him in the afternoon to see if my car was ready.

I was then pleasantly surprised when I received a call at lunchtime, from a lady telling me the car had been serviced. My engine oil had been topped up as well. Total cost? Just over S$80!

So really, Groucho was making a mountain out of a molehill. Thank goodness his other colleagues were more efficient and polite. "Tomorrow", my foot...

[Just checked the website and turns out he wasn't a technician but a 'Service Advisor'. Please. He needs some advising himself. And they never said it was mandatory to make a booking. I was told verbally once, over the phone, that it was advisable. That's all.]

Has anyone ever realised that the UK's Tory leader Michael Howard looks pretty much like Australia's PM, John Howard?

Surely they have some genealogy in common...

Last call for any other companions to the kd lang concert! So far it's just the Q and I. Another expressed interest but hasn't confirmed it since.

Since I'm a fan (if owning three albums is good enough to qualify for that) I'm probably going for the $120 or $90 ones. kd's music is solid, very low 'skip factor' (cf previous post) and speaks from the heart.

We are mildly curious as to how much female testosterone will be present among the audience as well as on stage. Ahem.

Our web server is being upgraded. Please refrain from posting any comments between Jan 22-23, Eastern Standard Time, as they may not get logged. Thank you.

Yesterday the song that was playing in my head was kd lang's 'Outside Myself'. A lovely, brooding song.

A thin ice
Covers my soul
My body’s frozen and my heart is cold
And still
So much about me is raw
I search for a place to unthaw

Something in me
Broods love into fear
It veils my vision leaves my thoughts
Unclear
My eyes

From blue turn to grey
Hoping to mask what they say

I’ve been outside myself for so long
Every feeling I had is close to gone
I’ve been outside myself for so long

I have been
In a storm of the sun
Basking, senseless to what I’ve become
A fool to worship just light
When after all, it follows night

I’ve been outside myself for so long
Every feeling I had is close to gone
I’ve been outside myself for so long

BTW, does anyone want to go with me to her concert this February? I'm a big fan of hers.

Let's say you have a job. Let's say it's your first ever job. You're a little hesitant about it. Excited, but a little afraid that you might do something wrong because you know so many friends have had terrible jobs before.

But your boss - your first boss - is really nice to you. He listens to you, he watches out for you, and you're starting to really like your job. Everything seems to be going fine. You try your best to meet his needs, despite your inexperience. You even thank God you've found a job with such a wonderful boss. You picture yourself in this job for a very long time, if not forever.

Then suddenly, right after the company dinner and dance, he fires you. No appraisal, no second chance. You never knew his expectations were not met.

You are stunned. You take your pink slip and leave. You feel worthless. You break down and cry uncontrollably for two days in a row in embarrasing public scenes. Your friends try to get you out of the house and tell you there'll always be other jobs out there. But for now, you're reeling and trying to forget about what happened.

Soon after that, you get a phone call from your ex-boss, asking what you've been up to the past few days.

You want to scream, "Getting over the job you just sacked me from!!!". You don't want to talk but he doesn't seem to realise it.

Your boss wants to be friends, days after sacking you. You try to listen a little longer but can't take it. You tell yourself not to break down again in a public place. You have to put down the phone quickly.

You're a Christian and you know you have to forgive your boss, just as Christ has forgiven us our sins. But for now, you just want some space and time to yourself to regain some semblance of dignity.

I seem to be having Internal Server Error problems every time I post something on any of my blogs. Please bear this in mind the next time you see something funny happening. I'm down but I'm not suicidal, and neither is my blog.

What's strange is I haven't even done anything to my server in months. My web host says it might have something to do with upgrading Movable Type. But I haven't had time to do any upgrades. This error occurs on other people's websites hosted on my server as well.

[Update: It has something to do with some PHP executable script. This has not happened before. It is driving me crazy.]

Well done, Lions! I'm glad I was there at the stadium with you, taking part in the Kallang Roar in the sea of red. Some points worthy of mention...

Gracious Indonesian behaviour: A placard, discarded post-match, thanking Singaporeans in general for sending aid to Aceh. That was sweet.

Not so gracious Indonesian behaviour: Boycotting the Kallang wave by standing up and showing their backsides when it was their turn to stand up.

Not so gracious Singaporean behaviour: Booing the Indonesian players and fans. When the Indonesian trumpets blared (boort boort, boort-boort-boort, boort boort boort boort ...) the Singaporeans shouted 'Butok!' (please correct my spelling). I understand that means 'scrotum' in Malay.

Most exciting thing that nearly happened: Riot. Yeah, only a few fans were led away by police, and some parts of the audience cheered them as they walked past.

Not very clever Indonesian player: One who tripped a Singaporean player, then writhed to the ground in pain himself. Bodoh!

Not very good idea: Getting Jai to sing at the opening ceremony. He was boring and slightly out of tune. Inappropriate choice of songs (slow, draggy and not particularly rousing) such as GNR's "Knocking on Heaven's Door".

Not very good acoustics: All I could hear on the PA system was 'mua mua mua mua, mua mua muah LIONEL LEWIS! muah muah muah... MYANMAR!" etc.

Most popular phrase (from where I was sitting): Referee Kayu!!! (implying the referee was biased - against Singapore of course)

Overall, it was a momentus occasion. What's next, World Cup? Maybe in a decade or three.

This song has been playing in my head the entire day. If you have the version sung by Lisa Ono, you'd be spot on:

I wish you bluebirds in the spring
To give your heart a song to sing
And then a kiss
But more than this
I wish you love

And in July a lemonade
To cool you in some leafy glade
I wish you health
And more than wealth
I wish you love

My breaking heart and I agree
That you and I could never be
So with my best, my very best
I set you free

I wish you shelter from the storm
A cozy fire to keep you warm
But most of all
When snowflakes fall
I wish you love

It was sweet, while it lasted, but I respect your decision. Sorry that it wasn't what you had hoped for.

The iMac's starting to grow on me. It's fast (granted, not as fast as my PowerMac), the 20" screen is clear, and it has not crashed. However this Mac uses wires for everything - keyboard, mouse and ethernet. Our financial sponsors, i.e. our parents, felt that wireless devices wasted batteries (which is true). Of course I'd still have liked to get AirPort and Bluetooth.

Anyway, after attaching iSight to it as well, the iMac's back became a tangle of wires. For some semblance of tidiness, I've hooked all these wires through the hole at the back of the monitor stand.

The wireless no-reception saga continues: We bought a D-Link DWL2000AP access point and put it upstairs, within range (1/5 or 2/5 bars according to a Centrino-powered laptop) of the wireless D-Link router downstairs. However, while my PowerMac (upstairs) was able to connect with the access point and access its control panel, it was unable to connect to the internet.

Then we learnt that both devices' IDs, passwords and channels ought to be the same. We configured that, but still didn't get any internet connection upstairs. Argh. We even reset the access point manually, to make sure we started anew.

Next piece of news is that I was told that it was recently discovered that Firefox had three security flaws. Is that true? Because if it is, my case for introducing Firefox back to the office will probably be weakened. My argument in response was that IE had numerous security flaws, certainly more than three. However the answer to that was that at least there was an assurance that Microsoft fixed bugs rapidly.

On the contrary, this latest article by ECommerceTimes says:

...while newer browsers such as Firefox were built for blocking pop-ups and phishing attempts at ID and information theft, Explorer was not.

Despite months of griping, I realise I'm in no position to challenge authority and I understand the need for standardisation to better manage the security policy. But I just want to know the truth, and be able to speak up for the best possible browser we could have.

[Update: Found one security flaw report on Firefox - ironically it's on phishing!]

Albert's comment on my previous post got me wondering: So what might crop up at MacWorld Expo? MacRumors has a round-up of good things that may come.

What I myself am hoping for / expecting: PowerBook G5 (yeah, they like to say it's a long time coming), Flash iPod (doubt it's 10GB though), and an iPod mini with more memory (5GB or more?). If iLife '05 does come out I certainly hope iPhoto will enable me to create deep hierarchies of folders, and GarageBand will finally be able to export to MIDI format (not that I should care anymore since I'm happy with Logic Pro).

Yours truly has been disengaged from reality the past few weeks - no TV (never had one in my room since the old black and white set 2 decades ago), no newspapers (until we started re-ordering them for the new house last week), no Internet (unless I swipe the cable modem + wireless router), and very little time at work to read the news.

But enough about me. Mac lovers, what new products do you expect, or hope, to see?

[Update: Ha, I was right about the Flash iPod having less memory...]

I only have a few minutes of modem time to post this. But let me just introduce the latest work of art in our house:

Our D-Link DI-624 has been most reliable, and for under S$100 it was a steal. It had 4 ethernet ports (wired) so we could hook up all our computers as well. However its range isn't long enough to reach computers upstairs, on the other side of the house.

We also only have one cable modem (rented from Starhub) and we don't intend to rent another one for the upstairs part of the house.

So all this while I've been unscrewing the cable modem and wireless router from downstairs, and fixing them up in my music studio upstairs so the Mac can download my email. It's terribly ma fan (troublesome).

To solve this problem, I thought of two alternatives (as far as my limited knowledge of wireless routing goes):

1. A wireless access point upstairs. AirPort Express didn't work there - signal from downstairs was too weak so I assume it couldn't bridge the gap).
2. Stronger wireless router. This is where I need your help. I am thinking of this Netgear model, WGU624, which claims to have a range 3X further than other 802.11g networks.

Does anyone have any other products to recommend?

Happy New Year everybody!!!

I spent my new year's eve at a family dinner, where we sang Karaoke Christmas Carols (unfortunately for the guests at a wedding dinner next door). My sister and I got away by singing George Michael's Last Christmas, which had some semblance of 'dignity' compared with Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman (kiddy-style).

Then I fetched designer-chicks K and W. I think this year's celebrations were generally subdued, and rightfully so. Unfortunately, we saw 2-3 road accidents and were thinking, what a way to begin the new year!

The most dramatic accident was along Napier Road, at about 11.30pm. A motorcycle had caught fire in the rightmost lane. The flames were big and orange and came out from the mid-section of the motorcycle (where the engine was). On the other side of the road were two men, looking shaken. I assumed one of them at least was on that motorcycle and had climbed out in the nick of time.

Further down the left side of the road was a white car filled with young men and women, looking worriedly at the burning motorcycle.

We went to Union to see party-animal G in action, counted down the final seconds of 2004, then headed off to M's place, only to find out that M had ended the party. Having a problem staying up, M? ;-)

Disappointed, we tried going to Zouk. The crowd was enormous. The car park was full. I think even the valets were overwhelmed. We decided not to bother getting in, and I turned the car around.

K and W, filled with Dutch courage, wanted to wind down my car windows and shout 'SUCKERS!!!" to all the people queueing up on the pavement. I used my driver's controls to override them for a while, but ultimately failed to stop them. Fortunately, my car was not pelted with stones or bottles. If you were at Zouk and heard something rude as you were standing in line, I apologise on behalf of my impudent friends, who deserve a spanking!

We drove to East Coast Park instead, and had non-alcoholic drinks, chatted, then went home.

I spent a good part of New Year's Day unpacking boxes, spending time with extended family, playing the piano and meeting H for supper.

Today, I'm on duty at the office for a short while. Hope your weekend thus far has been meaningful.

Today I unpacked my first load of Transformer toys. Everybody, say hi to Hot Rod, the first* Transformer I ever owned!

Character-wise, Hot Rod lives up to his name - he is a young Autobot with a fiery temper. He is generally well-meaning. He transforms into a sports car, although he is not very powerful or high-ranking.

In Transformers: The Movie, after my childhood hero/favourite Optimus Prime dies, I recall that Hot Rod turns into Rodimus Prime, a larger robot who takes over the leadership of the Autobots and their battle against the Decepticons. I think it was Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime who was the key figure in destroying Unicron, the huge planetary robot (with the vile Quintessons in him) from the inside out.

In subsequent cartoon episodes, Optimus returns to life and resumes the leadership.

A quick interview with Hot Rod, the toy:

Interviewer: Welcome back, Hot Rod.

Hot Rod: Thank you, it's good to be back. It was getting a little dark in that cardboard box. Stuffy, too.

Interviewer: I can imagine.

Hot Rod: Well, our mistress kept us all together so it wasn't too boring. The other Transformers in my box were all right, though I wish she hadn't lumped me together with that nasty Horrorcon leader.

Interviewer: So what did your mistress do when she took you out of the box?

Hot Rod: She held me up and showed me to the rest of her family! That was something. I think she was really happy to see me again. Then she transformed me into robot mode. I was glad she still remembered how to do it.

Interviewer: What happened next?

Hot Rod: She noticed I was pretty dirty - hey, as a kid she was running my tyres over the streets of Hong Kong! She gave me a sponge bath in the kitchen. That felt really good. I think I haven't been cleaned in over 10 years!

Interviewer: Have the years of wear and tear taken their toll on your body?

Hot Rod: (getting emotional) Just look at me. My back's completely missing. We have no idea where it is. My mistress tried to use U-Tac to stick it back on many years ago, but obviously that didn't work. Now I look like a convertible. Also, because she played with me so often, my joints are loose. My feet flap back and forth, my knees don't click into place, and my crotch is a little loose (see photo above). In other words, I'm screwed. But I'm sure she still loves me.

Interviewer: I'm sure she does. Well it's been a pleasure meeting you, Hot Rod.

Hot Rod: 'Pleasure.

* - I cannot recall if it was Hot Rod or old man KrupKup who was my first Transformer. Both were purchased in Hong Kong, days apart from each other, to keep me occupied in the hotel room.