Yeah! I passed!

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

I would have jump the "longkang" if I failed. This is form 2 Maths equivalent.

Life, Work, Dreams and Me

As I thought I can finally leave the nightmares behind, it kept coming back to visit me. Sometimes is just a "Hi!", sometimes a shout and sometimes even a shock. I guess nightmares are just like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get......

These nightmares are my life, work, dreams, and myself. Sometimes these 4 things seems so conflicting each other. To put it simply :

"I am living a life of A, but working like a B, while dreaming of a C. But in reality, I am only a D"

You get what I mean? Sometimes it gets so frustrated, that you do not know how to continue living with them. C'est la vie? I guess so. But it just get harder with every turn.

What can I do? Tell me.....

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living,
So different now from what it seemed...
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed...

-- Fantine, Les Miserables

A Special Gift From Someone Special

Flip Flap
~ Please grow your Flip Flap in your mind and bloom your own special flower ~

There is a funny story behind this gift. It is a story about toy and a Kaya Ball. But I am not gonna tell it yet... perhaps next time.

As for now, do admire the Flip Flap.

Thanks to my special someone, Kai Lee... muak!

Benefits of Being A Lirarian

Some months ago, I proposed to my company management that the company needed a more systematic way of managing all the reference books that were purchased. Then some months later, I was ask to setup a system and catalogue all the books. Unofficially, I guess, I have become the company librarian.

But being a librarian is not bad at all. Though, extra work... but I get to learn a how to set up an open source Library System, OPAC.... Well, I must say it was bit frustration, but overall it was chanllenging and fun.

Cataloging the books are the worst part of all... stacks of books and only 1 pair of hands.. Even with that, 1 hand can only control a few keys. Not to mention, 1 of the hand have got to manage the mouse as well... What to do, limited resources. If there is really Intelligent design, the architect should have design man with 4 arms.. Just joking !! :P

Anyway, the hard works are rewarded in a mysterious way. As most of the books are flowing back to the company, I discovered alot of very good books that the company posess. Be it in management, software development or down to those technical one. If all these books are shared among the colleagues, I am sure every one will be benefited. But I guess this is not an ideal world.

Hopefully with the new library system installed, everyone would realised the importance of sharing.


And now I think I know what you tried to say to me
how you suffered for your sanity
how you tried to set them free.
They would not listen
they're not
list'ning still
perhaps they never will.


--Vincent (Stary stary night), Don McLean

Upgrades Completed!

After 2 years, I finally have my computer upgraded.

1. Western Digital 120 GB SATA II HDD
2. Kingston 512MB RAM
3. 802.11G Aztech Wireless Modem Router
4. Aztech USB Wireless adapter

But it took me aproximately 3 days' time just to install the bloody Win XP into the SATA HDD. The rest, piece of cake. Ok, why it took me 3 days just to perform a simple installation of windows, first, my motherboard cannot support SATA II. It was just my bad luck that, coincidently my motherboard Chipset by VIA, cannot support SATA II. But this is not a big problem, after researching through the internet, a solution was found. The solution was just to set the operation speed to 150MB, the speed of SATA I. The bios can now detect the SATA HDD

Fine, problem 1 solved, now comes problem 2. When I goes into the Windows setup blue screen, now, Windows cannot detect the SATA HDD. After a few calls to friend, and more research, I now know that, to install windows on a SATA HDD, I have to install the SATA driver first, and this driver can be obtain from the motherboard manufacturer. Great, I have to dig up the old CDs collection, and copy out the driver. Atlast, it was successfully installed. phew!

So now I have 2 HDD, 2 Windows, and dual boot. Confusing it is, no doubt.

Then stupid me, I boot up the new Windows XP, partion it, and then backup the remain of the old archive from the old HDD. Now, problem, problem, problem..... How the F*** do I format the old HDD?? It can't be done from the "Disk Management" tool... So how?

And I did the unthinkable, I boot up using my Windows XP boot up CD, goes into setup new Windows and format my old HDD. I was so happy then that all problems solved. But I didn't know I have created chaos to my system.

When I reboot the system, it prompt me "No system disk available... bla bla bla". And I was thinking to myself "OMG"! Now I have 2 HDD, 1 windows, but cannot boot up. *pengsan"

At that moment, I have 2 choices, reinstall the Windows XP to the SATA HDD loosing all my backup files in "My Documents" folder. Or 2 clean install Windows to the old HDD, boot up using this temporary windows, backup the files in "My Documents" folder to the other partition, then reinstall Windows back into the SATA HDD, and before that, format the old HDD.

So I decided to go for the 2nd option. Spend the entire night installing Windows XP, 3 times. I was lucky that when the dual boot corrupted, I gain access to my "My Documents" folder, or else, I would have cried all night.... :P

At 5 am on the 13th Febuary, I finally completed all the upgrades.

But this was not the end yet. There are tons of software still have to be install. But that is another story.

--Ekoay, a happy man ever after.

Lack of experience v.s lack of skills

I have been working in the same company for almost 3 years now, and still doing the same project. From a 2 man team to 4 man, 5 man and in the end back to 2 man; people come and people gone, but I am still here. Thou the project is not a actually a failure (I hope), it is not a success either.

Although the management has decided to terminate the project, yet, the project still haunts me every now and then. Old bugs come back alive from the grave, new bugs creeping in, and logic that were never captured, crippled the system. I have worked on the project and watched the project grows from scratch, while I am happy to see people using the system, but it is also very painful to see how handicaped the system is.

I was only a junior engineer when I join the company, although I am no longer a junior engineer, I often felt that there are something missing from myself. I must admit that I have gained alot of skills and experience from the project, yet since the absent of my project lead, I have been stagnant. With the project still on going, I have lost a guide, a guru, a friend.

How ignorant I was, to think that with my tidy little bit of skills and experience, I could lead the project without any problems. Now, thinking about it, I often regret about my stupidity and ignorance.

Reflecting back on the development states, I have to admit that, experience plays a very big and important part. A part that I am lacking. Or was it skills that plays a more important part? I guess both are equally important and unseperatable. To lead a project, you need experience to approach and manage the project. You also need skills to analysis and develop the project. In both cases, I lack both experience and skills.

Right before the Chinese New Year, my boss offer me an alternative, moving into the management path, project management path. Thinking negatively, I would feel that, I was ask to do so because of my lacking in skills set. In other words, which mean he can't find any project that I am capable to work in. Thinking positively, I felt that, the boss see the potential in me, and would like to train me more in management path.

Sometimes it is hard to choose whether to think positively or negatively. Both seems to be probable.

-- ekoay, confused.

"You cannot acquire experience by making experiments. You cannot create experience. You must undergo it."
-- Albert Camus, 1913-1960

"Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him."
-- Aldous Huxley, 1894-1963

"Nothing fails like success."
-- Gerald Nachman

It's alive! it's alive!!

Finally I have finished uploaded all my photo collection to my photo blog. Well, only selected few, but the total upload already reaches 140 plus photos.. Huge update in one day for me! It makes me wonder, is photo blog just an online photo album or what?

Anyway, I feel very satisfied and accomplished. All the uploaded photos will be truly a phantasm of passed memories indeed.