April 2008 Archives

Been working till 10pm for the past 2 days and the long hours may continue. I’m trying to complete as much work as I can. A couple of very good things have happened and I hope to impress upon the powers that be of the important work our team is doing and hopefully that will give us more leeway to venture into more interesting projects. That alone has motivated me to keep going.

On top of that, I’ve resumed French class - exams are in less than a month’s time. I wanted to take only one exam, but it appears that my teacher thinks I can take an even more difficult exam, plus an easier one, so it looks like I will be taking 3 papers in total! They will all be on different days; possible 3 days in a row. And right after my birthday :(

So, something has to give. That has been my own personal time and sleep. Which I am about to do, now. Zz

Seems that there is Facebook hacking and spamming going on. The situation is still unfolding, but one of my Facebook contacts started posting penis enlargment messages on my wall.

As she is usually quite professional, I figured her account got hacked. So did some of her friends. Then I did a search and turns out there is an ongoing discussion on Facebook regarding exactly this penis enlargement message.

Whoever is doing it are dickheads, and the community should go to great lengths to catch the perpetrators.

I’m making guesses now, but if you get the same message, do NOT visit the URL mentioned because it probably somehow breaks into your Facebook account, which you’d presumably be logged into at that point in time.

Any more updates on this, post them as a comment here. Thanks!

I have come to a realisation.

Through God’s grace over the years, my work has been featured in the press. That has in turn made it easier to gain support for subsequent new media projects. In a very small way, I hope that will lead to a ripple effect as we all endeavour to open up and allow for real conversations to take place with our audience.

For that alone, I am thankful.

However I’ve realised over the years that this attention has created a more important impact, beyond work. Long-lost friends got back in touch with me. Some who didn’t know me, but were seeking, found this blog and my testimony, and were encouraged enough to write to me.

Today I received an email from a former colleague. We were occasionally in touch after I moved to another job, but we caught up again more regularly over the last 2 years. I asked her to join Alpha and this started her on her journey back with God. I was very heartened to hear this. I was grateful to be a vessel to help others. Again, only by God’s grace could this all happen.

Then I realised that there were Angels all around me, too. In human form, not just the dazzling lightning-type beings you read about in the Bible.

There were the Angels who got me to take the step from simply attending church, to helping out with the website, then joining Alpha and getting baptised. Thank you Ricky and Janice, Sharon and Brian.

Thank you Michael and Esther for guiding me as I found myself at a difficult period in my life. Even though I didn’t enjoy it at the time, it had to happen to make me stronger. Roy and Pei Chin, for making me realise that God can be a great matchmaker. Queenie for being there for me when nobody else was.

Beyond that, I thank Gareth and Teresa for helping me understand myself and my loved ones better. And I thank anyone in future who’ll take me in to their house group (I’m still looking!).

Then I realised that Angels weren’t just in a church setting, but everywhere else, too. Like colleagues PW and CC who guided me on handling media interviews, and the management who trusted me to say the right thing and never restricted me. And to those whom I’ve shared special moments - LSD for alerting me to this job and settling me in, RL and VT for hiring me, CG for comforting me when I was sad, VU for those wise words. And now AA is keeping my spirits up. HIS hand has been in everything.

This is not to glorify myself or anyone else, but we are all placed on this earth to do something. I am glad I’ve realised that now. It helps to put my life back in perspective.

Thank you.

(If you feel encouraged, why not also write a note to the people who’ve been Angels to you?)

I was fortunate to gain a sneak preview of the new exhibition at the Peranakan Museum along Armenian Street, courtesy of the curator. My family donated some items so we were given a private tour.

We often hear about Peranakan cuisine but seldom delve deep into Peranakan culture and history. At the museum, we saw artefacts that we never even knew existed. I will not post any photos here, because I’d rather encourage people to visit the museum instead.

Check out the pottery, jewellery, baju (clothing) and beaded articles. The Peranakans bead everything! Some items I felt could be converted to modern-day TV remote control holders and iPod cases (particularly the latter - maybe it will be a new fashion statement). There are also a few brilliant pieces of embroidery which other museums in the world are interested in, so that’s something to be proud of.

I have decided to turn down all requests to commit myself to “extra-curricular” projects. On the spot, when asked, I tend to be flattered and genuinely excited that people want to involve me in something new. However, when I go back and think about it, I realise I’m spread out too thin already. Then I tell them I can’t do it. It’s happened twice in the past month already. Sorry, guys.

Don’t get me wrong - I love my iPhone. However, I think Xiaxue’s iPhone review is totally hilarious and should be taken in the right spirit.

She has a point about the fingernails part, but overall her critique is nothing to get so worked up about. As much as I am a fan of Apple and other things, it’s unhealthy to associate yourself so closely with a brand that you take criticism of it as a personal insult.

Subscribers to my feed will now have a little extra somethin’ - my most recent Ma.gnolia bookmarks. Ma.gnolia is a product of Zeldman’s Happy Cog Studios, and is similar in nature to Del.icio.us, except that it looks prettier.

Of course, more people probably use Del.icio.us, but I wanted to be different :P And Zeldman himself just decided to remove his Ma.gnolia bookmarks from his feed, but I’m thinking that my blog is less well-known than his, so people are less likely to post comments in irrelevant places.

We’ll see how it goes, and if you have any issues with this new addition… post a comment here.

Want to find out which are the hottest buzzwords on Facebook? Check out Lexicon, which was launched on 15 April 2008.

Lexicon counts occurrences of words and phrases on Facebook Walls, over time. I made a few searches.

Not surprisingly, “Obama” appears more frequently than “Clinton.

The sharp spikes make sense as they corresponded with interest in the Democratic primaries and caucuses, particularly Super Tuesday (5 Feb 2008) which accounts for the highest peak so far.

For targetted marketing, it would be better if we could narrow our searches further, within specific networks - such as Facebook users in the Singapore network. It’s good to think global, but sometimes words and phrases have different meanings in different cultures.

Also, while Lexicon indicates what Facebook users are interested in, it doesn’t indicate if people are for or against it. A keyword could appear many times but what if Facebook users were talking about a campaign AGAINST it? I have yet to prove my case, though, as there were no results for the phrase ‘child porn’ and limited results for ‘pornography’.

In the meantime, we can at least assure ourselves that even on Facebook, Love is all around.

After upgrading to Movable Type 4 templates, I’m still sorting out some kinks that pop up every now and then.

The most recent kink was spotted by Jimmy Liew who noticed that my Feedburner feed hadn’t been updated in a while. Thanks, Jimmy!

Turns out that the ampersands in some of my category names were to blame. As there was a parsing error, Feedburner refused to process my feed. At least, I think that’s what happened.

This problem didn’t occur with my previous Movable Type templates, as far as I know.

Thanks to Nick Pan for finding this photo of me on the new Singapore search engine, rednano.sg.

The photo was taken for my 2006 Straits Times political desk interview as part of the Gahmen Bloggers feature.

The photographer was at my place, and I recall telling him as I sat at my piano, “I work for HPB. Don’t make me look fat!” :P

He took many, many photos before he was satisfied. (Hmm)

He let me see the photos, which I thought were decent, but wouldn’t let me download them.

Now I know why. A full-sized pic of me costs S$100! But that’s very clever. Imagine this business model - taking lovely shots of people featured in the papers and allowing them to buy them back for a premium.

We’re egotistical, and how often do we get our photos in the papers (unless we’re famous politicians, businesspeople, artistes etc)?

Now if SPH completes the loop, this is what could happen…

Interviewee: Can you send me the photos you took of me?

Photographer: Sorry we can’t, company policy. But… (whips out card) after the article’s out, you can purchase your own photo at rednano.sg or newslink.com.sg!

When you receive 60-100 emails a day, but are in meetings for most of the day and busy covering duties, there isn’t time to finish checking and replying to all messages.

Now I resort to skimming. I wish I could put up an autoresponder like Tim Ferriss’s, saying I will only check email twice a day. But I wouldn’t dare.

Email is now my Red Sea. Red is the colour of emails I haven’t ‘read’ yet. See, is what I need to do with the red. Get it?

Finally succumbed and got my own Simpsons avatar.

I was at the Glass House today to support Cheyenne, aka Siren. She was holding up pretty well, not having smoked for the past 3 days.

After working here for over 3.5 years, I think I have brainwashed myself.

Whenever I want to type “HP” as in Hewlett-Packard, I inadvertently type “HPB”.

When typing the name of a person, “Heath”, I always type “Health” instead.

There! I did it again!!!

Saturday morning - meet Greek blogger Zanatos. Lunch with family. Visit Cheyenne at Glass House. Hope to bump into more Gunners. Take photos and blog about it. Somewhere in between, finish urgent paperwork. Try to study French.

Sunday - go to church (as usual) Play bad tennis with Lisa (though we seldom meet, it is usually bad) Somewhere in between, finish urgent paperwork. Try to study French. Go to the Times Business Books sale. Head off to the Liz perhaps, with all the Gunners, post-Glass House!

If you’re going to Orchard Road over the weekend, do check out the Glass House outside Ngee Ann City. Blogger Cheyenne will attempt to quit smoking over 3 days, from this Friday to Sunday.

Cheyenne’s a fellow Arsenal fan. So that means I doubly support her!

Check out her blog for updates on her progress.

Update: It appears that familiar Gunner pals are going to visit Cheyenne!

Asus has its Eee PC. Apple has its MacBook Air. And now, HP has its very own subnotebook, the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC. (hmm, comparatively speaking, it’s a mouthful!)

I’m resuming French tuition at my new language school from today. I hope all goes well. I will be dashing in and out from class to office, from cubicle to meeting rooms. I can barely reply to all the emails being sent. I would love to apply the principles taught in the 4 hour work week, but it is not going to be easy.

While I was MIA on Gmail and Facebook, I nearly missed a dinner appointment and learnt, 12 hours late, that Flickr now supports videos (Pro users only). For some reason lots of friends want to meet up with me now. With late hours and social gatherings, I haven’t even seen my parents for the past day, even though we live in the same house.

Something has to give.

Cafepress.com emailed me today to inform me that I had sold another Thinking Cap!

Cafepress.com allows me to see my customers’ profiles. So here’s the breakdown on all the people who bought my cap: All my customers live in the US. Two are from Florida, one’s from New York, one’s from Iowa, one’s from North Carolina, and one’s from Michigan. My latest buyer hails from Wisconsin. I get US$1 commission per cap sold. Thanks, guys!

One of my buyers did return a cap, so I have US$6 in commission altogether. Looking at the rate I’m making money (relatively slow), it will take me several more years before I actually get my first cheque! But still, I am happy!

For new readers who are wondering what I’m talking about, see the previous history on the Thinking Cap. I designed this in honour of my friend Ivan aka Ramblinglibrarian, who was dubbed by the media to be a ‘Thinking Man’.

Update 11 Apr 2008: I just sold 1 more cap! This latest buyer is from New Jersey. Woohoo!

I hear Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg (limited profile) get loads of Facebook friend requests.

On the other end of the spectrum, the average Joe probably has a smaller list of people whom he actually knows. He doesn’t add anyone he doesn’t know. That’s straightforward.

For the rest of us, somewhere in between, we may have requested friendships of people whom we don’t know personally (famous or not). Techcrunch’s Michael Arrington is my Facebook friend though we’ve never met before, because he invited all his readers to add him as one. So I did.

I just realised today’s 6 April. I was baptised 5 years ago, to this day. And it’s also a Sunday today!

Baptism is the outward sign by which I show my commitment to Christ. However it is what’s inside that is more important - not how many ceremonies you’ve gone through.

My journey so far has had its ups and downs. Not surprisingly, it’s when I myself am feeling down, that I am closest to God. The past two years have been emptier for me but I hope to be able to commit more time to learning His Word and helping people again.

I recall inviting many friends to witness my baptism, like Van Heng, Queenie, Kristen and Mark (wow, this was just before they got married!), Shins, Denyse, Gwen, Alison… thank you all.

God last spoke to me at SXSW07 regarding His plans for my life partner, but I am waiting to see if it is coming true! You can help me by asking Him for a confirmation - I can furnish trusted friends with more details. I don’t subscribe to false hopes, but let’s say the only other time He announced His matchmaking plans to me was when two new bible study mates, Pei Chin and Roy, met for the first time and shook hands… and now they’ve been married for a few years. So I am taking this seriously :)

After feeling pretty pleased that I had so easily switched from the old site’s templates to MT4’s, I spent this weekend fine-tuning my sidebar and transferring static pages into the MT4 content management system.

Then I decided to check out how valid my pages were. Horrors! I had 128 errors.

The majority of errors were caused by Movable Type code, with problems popping up in all sorts of templates, modules and widgets.

The French Delf exam is coming up in May, and yours truly is intending to go for crash courses until she is suitably prepared to pass it.

Alliance Francaise’s Delf preparation classes were already in progress when I decided to take the exam, so I couldn’t join in; and besides they don’t offer classes for the basic level I want to take. They also told me they didn’t think I could get ready in time for the exams in May. Gee, thanks.

So I decided to surf around to find other schools that could help me, pronto. I found a school called French Faster and they have had recent experience helping students pass their exams.

Yesterday evening, Walter, Ivan, Lucian and I met for dinner and drinks at Brussels Sprouts, a place I’ve been wanting to try for a while.

In the midst of our conversations, I whipped out my iPhone and demonstrated all the things I could do with it, like taking photos, checking emails, strumming a guitar and recording music on a keyboard (which Ivan liked).

Lucian then unsheathed his MacBook Air. We ooh-ed and ahh-ed…

… and within two seconds (or thereabouts), a pretty waitress appeared beside him and asked him about it. “Is that the…?” “How much does it cost?” and so forth.

After the damsel was furnished with his expert answers, she gave an excited squirm which I interpreted as “Ooh!!! I wish I had one too!!”, and went back to waitressing other tables.

Lucian’s blog has been a magnet for some of my friends in the past, who swooned over the love messages he wrote for his then-fiancee, now his wife. Now it appears that the knight may have a new piece of shining armour in his arsenal.

Luminescent, indeed ;-)

I was at the Hitwise Singapore Online Performance Awards 2008 this evening. When I arrived at the venue, Indochine, surprisingly it wasn’t as packed as it was last year. It seems that one of the main taxi operator’s websites went down and people couldn’t book cabs. I joked to Hitwise’s boss that maybe next year that taxi site would win a Hitwise award!

Anyway. I’m sure the results will be announced on the Hitwise website eventually, but here’s what I can remember:

This has to be one of the most high-profile April Fool’s messages ever! Richard Branson and the Google founders team up to pull a fast one on us - complete with 2 YouTube videos and a microsite!

Anybody wants to live on Mars? Perhaps all we’ll get is a chocolate bar.

It’s nearly 3am and I’m still thinking about my French class. As blogged previously, I meant to start at an easier level but due to a scheduling mistake by Alliance Francaise, I was put in a more difficult class than I wanted to be in.

I have redesigned this blog!

OK, I didn’t do most of the designing. All I did was tweak the CSS and move some template code about. The amazing thing about Movable Type 4 (MT) is that it allows me to backup my old templates, purge them from the live system and replace them with the latest MT templates and stylesheets.

The even more amazing thing was that I didn’t notice such a button until I surfed around by accident. Doh!

There were some minor hiccups and a few big belches as the system transited from old to new. The biggest problem was getting the server to overwrite the old template code. After several re-publishing attempts in vain, I FTP’d into the server and realised that the supposedly new Home page template was actually the old one, which explained the broken link to the stylesheet.

After some forcible file replacements and flushing of the bowel system, all the gas seems to have left. My blog is now sitting up without much indigestion, though there are still some pellets I need to wash out.

Eventually all my static pages will be moved to MT4 which also publishes web pages (not just blog posts), like Wordpress does. So this will become a general Content Management System, controlling a few thousand blog posts and several pages.

If only major corporate website revamps could be done this quickly!

ps. The Cityscape you are currently viewing on my new masthead is that of Austin, Texas… the city I just returned from! (SXSW)

Just testing. I discovered a magic button in Movable Type 4 that can wipe out all my old templates (which have accumulated over the years like tartar on teeth).

Please bear with any strange, inconsistent visuals because I have a few thousand web pages to re-publish.