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| First,
Let me start with the great mishap. It was last Friday night (20th October 2006), I was playing WOW with my house mate YL. My computer was performing all fine and game play was satisfyingly smooth. Which was nothing to cheer about, I've always considered that I am a person who keeps my computer neat and tidy at all times. Doing the recommended house keeping at regular intervals. So, we were up till the wee hours of the morning before heading off to bed just before day break. I even checked my mail before sleeping and it was fine. When i opened my eyes again, it was almost noon. I tried to check my mail again and THERE IT WAS. The blue screen of death! Followed by all that dumping of physical memory crap. Then, it went dead! Switched itself off completely. I frantically tried to flip it back on, but all i saw was the BIOS screen and a low whirling hum of the hard disk drive. In my heart, i knew it was over, but my brain had trouble letting go. It was the perfect situation to use the phase "Liao Lian".
What was worse about the whole situation was, my latest backup of my thesis document was almost 6 days ago and my program was almost 3 weeks ago. To my horror, after checking, my hard disk drive was completely dead, i had lost more that 6000 words in my thesis document and the latest feature that i added to the program. I simply fell flat on the ground after understanding that.
I probably lay stunned for less than 5 minutes. I remembered that i had my recovery plan tucked away for times like this. Although the recovery files are a little aged, it will have to do till my thesis is submitted. My backup hard disk drive would have to do and windows was recovered in a matter of 2 hours. The essentials came back on within the next hour and work resumed promptly. It was then a mad rush to get back up to speed again. Fortunately, the words flowed smoothly and i was able to recover almost half of what i lost by the end of the day. Work went on for the next 5 days, right up till 5 minutes before submission. Now, here i am in the school lab, clad in a long sleeve shirt and pants, waiting for my project to be evaluated. It'll all be over in a matter of hours. Can't believe its really been that long. As i always tell Dear, thesis really sucks the life out of you. Right up till the moment you click the submit button, when the fate of the document is no longer in your hands.
Thank heavens it is over!
Dennis.
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| Back to Back entries.. thats a good sign right...
Been trying my best to blaze through the first draft of my thesis as fast as possible... it was my intention to actually clear it by today and submit it to my supervisor for some feedback... but,
Supervisor was not in office
Spent the whole day formating the damn document..!!!
So, submission has gotta wait till tomorrow...
As i was saying the last time around.. think were are down to 60 days till i get to see my dearest again.... Sounds like a long time, but compared to what we've endured, its nothing... I've been looking forward to that day since i got back here... I've more or less got the whole trip planned out, activites for everyday, right up till graduation day... Can't wait... Dear dear, till then, bear with it k.. Love ya.. Details on the planned trip in the upcomming posts..
We had a big dinner yesterday... Had 10 people in the house... Namely: Ben, Peiqi, Wilson, Anthony, Edward, Galen, Yiqian, Bryan, Yinglang and myself... We had to have 2 rice cookers going... Anthony was responsible for the main dish yesterday which was "Lu Ya", or Braised Duck... I must say that it was pretty good, duck tasted pretty authentic... and we even add "Tau Kua", "Tau Pok", eggs and even "Pork Belly"/"San Chen Rou" to the gravy...
And of course, i'll touch on the title of the entry.. "Losing the battle to WOW"... For the past year or so, i've been fighting an inner battle to not start any MMORPG game, especially World of Warcraft (WOW)... Mainly due to that fact that thesis was on hand and also due to the initial startup cost of warcraft. But, after the recent price cut for WOW, from AUD$70+ to only AUD$24... I simply couldn't help myself anymore... Haha.. I stood in the store, gawking at the price tag... And the next thing i know, i was standing at the counter paying for WOW.... He He... Playing is gonna be in moderation from now till after exams... ;o) Details of my character to come...
;o)
Love You Dear...
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| Thursday, March 09, 2006
to
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Shucks.. I CAN'T even be bother to make a genuine attempt to count the number of days its been... I owe an apology to this space and to the very few readers that i probably have left....  And from today, October 07 2006, there are exactly 69 days till Graduation on the 15th of December 2006... And that is a date that i CAN be bother to count.. So, back to this space... Maybe I'll just do a quick round-up to the happenings in the last 6 months....
Back Bloggin'
Its been pretty much hell since early this year.. It started with a mad rush to get a thesis topic. I only got back to brissy in late Feb after the first day of school... The remainder of that week was spent pretty much running around school, trying to catch lectuers between their classes. Choice of thesis was also a big headache and the fact that i would be stuck with this topic for the remainder of the year didn't help the situation much at all.. So, it came down to:
- Embedded Systems Simulator
- Intelligent Email Filtering
I went with the simulator as i was kind of familiar with the supervisor of that topic. So there begins the hell of thesis...
Embedded System Simulator = Thesis Hell
The ESS is essential a software simulator that is meant to simulate the functions of a hardware microcontroller. Microcontrollers are found is many everyday devices like mobile phones, kitchen appliances, automobiles, etc.... The simulation is meant to aid a product developer in prototyping and testing the product on the software, without even touching any hardware circuits. This improves the reliability of the code before any sort of hardware testing. This aims to shorten the product development time on any embedded system.
The simulator has come quite a long way in my hands, going from this:
to
Further Development of the simulator has come to a close, and now i'm in the midst of preparing the actual thesis document. I've got till the 25th of October, where the document is due. After that hopefully, life will return to normal... Having a thesis on your hands really weighs down on you a lot.. I couldn't live a day without thinking of what i need to do... The early days when development was still uncertain was the worst of the lot, loss of sleep, hours and hours staring at the computer screen.. Its quite a killer... Now, it all seems kinda worth.. haha.. Kinda because i won't be certain until i get my results won't i... ;o)
Thats exactly what has been robbing me of my time in the past 6 months... I bearly had any time or mood for anything else... Its always work work work work....
Another Chapter in Life
Well, Graduation brings a close to another chapter in life. Cause and effect, a close bring a new beginning... And i'm heading back to the place where i miss so much.. Singapore... Spending time away really made me realise what a country I live in... Yeah, its not perfect, We have our small problems here and there... But its a place we get to call "Home", and that alone makes it worth treasuring.
Will be looking for opportunities once I'm back in SG... Be it a Job or a Business opportunities, I'm game for it... This is the time to work towards my goals and dreams...! Of course, no man is an island and I'll be seeking the help of my closest brothers back in SG... MOVING AHEAD!!!
In Closing
This is not the first time i've negelected this space.. haha.. but, hopefully, i'll find more time to pin down some thoughts... ;o) but for now, its back to WORK again...
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| Alright...!!! Sorry guys.. been really busy while i was in SG... And since i got here, my internet connection has been down till yesterday... so here comes a long and backdated entry...
Here's a more recent picture... this is taken at the Red Dot building near the tanjong pagah MRT station... Plans are to turn this picture into a calender..
This next one was taken in my room.. This was one of the first couple of shots while testing my new external flash unit.. The picture was taken with bounce flash directed straight up in order to soften the effect of the flash and to give a more natural feeling overall... ;o) I just love dear dear's expression in this one..
Next up are the pictures from our little getaway trip to Bangkok... We made a 4 days and 3 nights trip up there between the 18th and the 21st of Febuary.. just one week before my return to brisbane... We both had a ball of a time... I was kinda farmiliar with the place so we had it free and easy.... Flight was via Jetstar, airport transfers, accomodation and daily breakfast. We paid S$340 each for those. Here's the first pic on the plane... ;o)
 
First time for me shooting out of the plane.. ;o)
After touching down at the airport and settling into our larger than expected hotel room, it was to the shops! or should i say, to the market! We caught a meal and headed straight for "cha tu chat wholesale market". It was a rainy afternoon, but we didn't let the rain dampen our spirits. I would really like to thank dear for this.. ;o) maybe she was just so excited about shopping... haha...
Here's a few pictures of dear busy shopping away...
 
 
The pic above is of a matchbox shop.. They sell really retro looking matchboxes, badges and such of people like elvis, bob marley, and other people form the 60s - 80s... The other pic is of a decorative lights shop.. they use chirstmas lightings and wrap them up like roses and flowers which creates a nice and warmth effect...
 
This a picture of dear dear in a "tut tut" that totally ripped us off!!! haha... cost us 200 baht for that ride!!! so angry... haha.. we later found out from the hotel that it should have only cost us 100 baht if we took a meter taxi!!! damn it!!! Here's a pic which dear dear snapped of me after breakfast on the 2nd day... Of course we visited all the other hot shopping places like "MBK", "suan lum night market" and "pat pong district". We had a hell of a time walking, seeing, bargaining, and buying... not to mention eating...! Truely a fun trip... ;o) We are sure to visit Thailand again soon..
Next are a couple of pics we took at the Marina Sq and Suntec area... ;o)
 
Here are some pics of the little bunny we have at home... first one is one of the rare ocassions we managed to get him to lie down flat all by himself.. haha.. looks kinda weird... haha.... and i just love the next pic of dear dear and Xiaole... ;o)
 
here's another of le le pigging out..!!! The next pic is one taken behind the indoor stadium... it was on the night where we celebrated dear's Bday as well as valentines day in advance... ;o) i also got my early early Bday present on that day.. cos i'm back here so i dun get to spend my Bday with dear....
 
 
The pic above is of a picture frame that i made for dear... it is picture with 1 less signature... of course.. the other signature has already been put on there by my dearest... ;o) i also got dear a jacket and some flowers..!!
 
My dear dear got me the tie i was eyeing for quite a while, a beautiful self-made card with tons of love in it.. and a laptop bag / briefcase from FX creations which i totally love!!!
Woooh.... that should sum it up for this entry... a really long one i must say...!!! ;o) alright people.. have fun... | | |
| Yawns....
I'm in office now.. today's a slow slow day... i guess everyone is in a holiday mood. Monday blues, with a public holiday on tuesday. Its the perfect combination to skip work today and enjoy an extra long weekend. Well, this syndrome has affected a couple people in my workgroup. Namely my direct supervisor, and one of my collegues. And also half affected my last collegue. I can't say that i'm immune to it, but i'm here alone at work.. ;o) Then again, i'm blogging blogging in office. haha.. that just goes to show how slow and unproductive this kind of day can be.
Well, anyways. Just like to share something i experienced last week, something i saw which i felt was just weird. It was a weekday last week, i was making my usual way to work via the trains and got to Raffles place MRT station at about 9AM. Just as a got out of the grantries at the control station, i looked up and saw a couple of cisco guards, keeping their vigilant watch on the busy train station.
Then, just as i was about to pass them off and head for office, a woman seemingly in her late 30s or early 40s in a business suit came running towards the two guards, trying to catch their attention. My initial impression was "Shit, is there a bomb threat or something? Do i need to get the HELL out of here???". Of course i stayed cool as an ice cold coca cola.
It just gets better, the woman then exclaims, "Come quick, catch that man". My second impression was, "Shit, now there's a man involved!! is he a terrorist? suicide bomber or soemthing??". Now, being a "kaypoh" singaporean, i slowed my steps and watched the episode unfold itself.
The woman then went on to say "He called me a bitch and clenched his fist at me!!" as she waved her very own clenched right fist at the armed guards. Then, I saw confused looks on the faces of the guards. It was a delimea of whether to intervene or not. Personally, It is simply out of their scope of work. They are there to safe guard the station against a possible terrorist attack, to look out and deal with unattended bagguage or even threatening individuals. However, i can understand that it is a weird situation.
The next thing i knew, the both guards started running in the direction that the lady was pointing to. They ran past me, up the stairs as i was on the escalator, with the woman trailing far behind them. They then turned a different direction and out of my view, not before i saw them grab a regular commuter from behind, only to be waved off by the trailing woman, saying that its the wrong guy. Seem like a wild goose chase to me.
Point is, the guards left their post to persue a matter that doesn't concern them. I personally felt that it is a matter they should not bother with as they have a more important job to do... | | |
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