Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Of summer and blogging

This is the kind of title that you'll see when I attempt to combine two topics that are supposed to be discrete... I'm just too lazy to create two separate posts instead of one. Nevertheless, they're somehow related for me to weave them into one post. Read on.


My blog is half dead

I realised that there are many many broken promises on my blog - from my assurance to update more frequently and to my pledge to provide more follow-up posts. Ironically, the music I'm currently playing on my blog is 约定 ("Promise") by Michael Wong. I should've posted more updates especially during the summer holidays, which is about to end by the way. Close to four months... yet only four updates during this period (not including this post). What am I doing?

My (and maybe some others') interest in blogging has probably declined since using Facebook. Being on Facebook has sapped much of the time available for me to be active in blogging. With Facebook, I can keep up with updates from bloggers and non-bloggers alike, on one single website - convenient eh? No need to go blog-hopping and waiting for (some painfully slow) blogs to load. Naturally, updating my status on Facebook is much easier than writing a full-length blog post.

So why am I still writing this? I should've ditched this blog long ago! Actually, not a chance. Here are my five reasons:

  1. This blog can be designed the way I like it.
  2. Freedom to write as long as I want. Status updates are for short updates.
  3. Facebook Notes? Limited capabilities. Here I can include pictures, Flash animations, CSS, Javascript, Java applets, even ActiveX in my posts if I know how to use it.
  4. Facebook Photos? Again limited. I can write a photo story here instead of displaying my photos album-style.
  5. Unlimited stuff that I can include here, unlike my plain old Facebook profile.

So Facebook or blogging? Hopefully both, if I have the time. In fact, I've just added a Facebook badge at my blog's sidebar to keep this blog updated with my Facebook status. This way, my blog will never be dead!


Summer summary

OK, so you know I didn't spend my summer writing lengthy articles on who-knows-what (I didn't even bother to think about what articles to write). I'll classify the happenings in summer in two categories - good and bad.

The good:
  • Visited Indonesia for the first time.
  • Earned some money.
  • Got an external hard drive.
  • My house is now a Wi-Fi zone.
  • Bought myself a new handphone (more about this later).
  • Played DotA with my cousin. He's getting better than me!
  • Met some old friends, both during work and late-night mamak sessions.
The bad:
  • Didn't do as much as I planned to do.
  • My external hard drive suffered a fall. It's still working, but not without minor glitches (more about this later).
  • My grandfather in Penang had a stroke, still recovering. Will see him next week.
  • Broke my laptop, due to me leaving it on for insanely long hours. (Or rather, it broke on me.) Come on, it's only slightly more than a years' old and a day is only 24 hours at maximum. So this is the lifespan of my laptop made by DELL (more about this later).

Notice the fancy bullets I used when writing out my list. This will never be possible on Facebook. So fellow bloggers, keep on blogging. Rest assured, I'll be monitoring your blogs through my blogroll on the right. Keep your blog updated to stay on top!


P.S.: If I missed out any of your blogs, feel free to shout at me in my Shoutbox.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Last day at TMpoint Melaka

One and a half months... and my part-time job as a HP Broadband PC (BBPC) promoter had ultimately came to an end yesterday. There are lots of things that happened during that time that will serve as perfect blogging material, but due to tiredness (just had a game of DotA and it's late), I'll let the pictures do the talking first.

IMG_5301
TMpoint Melaka at Gajah Berang.

IMG_5297
My HP BBPC booth.

IMG_5305
Me with TMpoint counter staff. From left: Kak Siti, Kak Akmar, Kak Nane and Kak Ramlah. Thanks for helping me with new BBPC applications!

IMG_5306
Posing with Encik Yussaini, Customer Service Consultant.

IMG_5308
Me with (from left) SME Consultant Kak Su and TM trainees Kila and Nani.


Last but not least...

IMG_5307
TMpoint Team Leader Encik Firdaus and myself.


Nice working with you guys and happy fasting!


P.S.: Hope to get another update on my job posted soon...

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Streamyx free PC promotion


Packages

All packages include Streamyx 1.0 Mbps unlimited access and a modem.

Desktop Package

Compaq Presario CQ2035d Desktop PCUPGRADE: Compaq Presario CQ3060d Desktop PC
  • Intel® ATOM™ 330 Processor
    (1.60 GHz, 512 KB L2 Cache, 533 MHz FSB)
  • Genuine Window Vista® Home Basic
  • 1GB DDR2 SDRAM; 160GB Hard Disk
  • DVD+/- RW Drive with LightScibe Technology
  • Compaq 15” Wide LCD Monitor
    (Upgrade to HP w18.5" Wide LCD Monitor for only RM6/month)
  • Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor E7400
    (2.80 GHz, 3 MB L2 Cache, 1066 MHz)
  • Genuine Window Vista® Home Basic
  • 3GB DDR2 SDRAM; 320GB Hard Disk
  • DVD+/- RW Drive with LightScibe Technology
  • Integrated Wireless & LAN
  • Compaq 18.5” Wide LCD Monitor
RM99.00 per monthRM128.90 per month


Notebook Package

Compaq Presario CQ40-518TU Notebook PCUPGRADE: Compaq Presario CQ40-510TU Notebook PC
  • Intel® Pentium ® Processor T4300
    (2.10GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
  • Genuine Window Vista® Home Premium
  • 1GB DDR2 SDRAM Memory; 250GB Hard Disk
  • DVD +/- RW Drive
  • Integrated Wireless LAN 802.11b/g
  • Integrated Webcam
  • 14.1” WXGA TFT High Definition Wide Screen
  • Free Carrying Case
  • Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T6500
    (2.10GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
  • Genuine Window Vista® Home Premium
  • 2GB DDR2 SDRAM Memory; 320GB Hard Disk
  • DVD +/- RW Drive
  • Integrated Bluetooth & Wireless LAN 802.11b/g
  • Integrated Webcam
  • 14.1” WXGA TFT High Definition Wide Screen
  • Free Carrying Case
RM139.00 per monthRM158.90 per month



Comparison with Streamyx Combo 1 Mbps

 

Combo

Desktop Package

Desktop Upgrade

Notebook Package

Notebook Upgrade

Speed

1 Mbps

1 Mbps

1 Mbps

1 Mbps

1 Mbps

Monthly price

RM110

RM99

RM128.90

RM139

RM158.90

Phone Rental

FREE

RM25

RM25

RM25

RM25

Total price per month

RM110

RM124

RM153.90

RM164

RM183.90

Contract period

12 months

24 months

24 months

24 months

24 months

Total price over 2 years

RM2640

RM2976

RM3693.60

RM3936

RM4413.60

Extra (when compared to Combo)

-

RM336

RM1053.60

RM1296

RM1773.60



FAQ

Is the PC really free?
Yes, because when comparing the standard Streamyx 1 Mbps package with the desktop package above, the price of both is RM99/month and comes with a modem. The difference is the desktop package also comes with a PC.

What's the catch?
The monthly payment must be made through credit card from any of the following banks:
AmBankCitibankEON Bank GroupHSBC BankBank IslamMaybankOCBC BankRHB Bank
The contract period for these packages is 2 years.



Interested?

For more details, contact me at .


Note: All details are correct at the time of publishing.
Last update: 2 August 2009

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Summer

SummerIt's summer time in the Northern Hemisphere, did anyone notice? I think not. Nobody cares by the way, since it's summer whole year round in Malaysia, nothing special. I personally wouldn't care less, except that this is the time where my university has its longest holiday in a year - the summer holiday - which lasts for about 4 months.

"Four months???"

That was the reaction of my friends who have never heard of summer holidays before. I can see why. No college or university in Malaysia (except maybe the foreign ones) have such a long holiday at one go. Their holidays are no different in quantity, but rather scattered throughout the academic calendar.

I'm now already more than one month into the holidays, and yet I've not accomplished much that I originally planned to do. Here are my plans:

1. Relax

When is a good time to relax except for the holidays? At the beginning of June I went to Jakarta and Yogyakarta with my family. Jakarta has nothing much, but Yogyakarta is a nice place to visit with many awesome attractions - I visited Borobudur Temple, Prambanan Temple and Mount Merapi - all of them can never be seen in Malaysia. I will post some photos as soon as I got them uploaded. Also, saying at home is considered a form of relaxation, except that it's sometimes boring...


2. Earn some money

I was recently hired by HP to promote their Broadband PC package. Basically, you can own a PC plus a 1.0 Mbps Streamyx connection at just RM99/month for 24 months. I'll be going to KL for training next week, after which I'll work near my home in Malacca. After my training I'm going to post more details on the benefits of this package, so make sure you give your support! In addition, I'm answering questions on Mahalo Answers, which offers at least a 25 Mahalo cents (≈ 19 US cents) tip if my answer is considered the best. Not much, but still something...


3. Get a new handphone

Partially the reason to get a job. I'm currently eying touchscreen-based Google Android-powered phones, like the HTC Magic.

HTC Magic

Although I'll get enough money after working for 2 months, but still I'm wondering whether it's a tad too much to spend on a phone.


4. Learn something new

A way to ensure that the mind doesn't get rusty. There are many things I would like to learn, but sometimes I'm just too lazy to get things started...


5. Hang out with family and friends

After spending a year at Semenyih, now it's the time to be with my family and hang out with old Malaccan friends. Fancy a cup of coffee anyone?


Have a nice summer everybody!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Goodbye, Foundation

Yet another post after a long silence. This time, the silence is 2 months long. Those days where I can keep my blog updated at least once a week seem unaccomplishable looking back from now. Simply put, I've been busy with so many things that I've neglected my blog.

With a bit of luck, this blog could be up and running at full steam once again since I'm now on a 4-month long summer break. Yes, 4-months long! Despite celebrating the fact that I'll be free for 4 long months, an unexplainable feeling of sadness has crept over me, knowing that I'll be progressing to another stage of my life, that is from Foundation to Undergraduate.


Time Flies

Time flies like and arrow, always in the forward direction, never backwards. I could still remember as vivid as yesterday the time when I was exploring and getting to know people around the campus of the University of Nottingham. Sometimes I feel one year is too short to fully familiarise ourselves with the environment here. There are still many people here who had been in the same class as me whom I do not know. Even in my last semester, I finally got to know the names of some of the people I've met once too many. At times, this short time period may fail to create strong friendship bonds, especially with the summer break where fellow course-mates are separated by distance for 4 long months.


Foundation Life

Life in Foundation is a major change from secondary school life. Learning to live without parents, spending more time with friends instead of family, greater freedom... I would say I'm pretty much used to this life already, although I find myself lazy and preferring to rely on parents when I'm back home. Meeting friends after class has never been easier with friends living within metres of each other. Weekends are usually spent going out or having the occasional DotA party.


Thoughts on Studies

Much of the time spent in Foundation is about studies, assignments and studies. The lecturers were OK, each with their own distinctive style of teaching. When it comes to marking tests and exams, their grading criteria can range from extremely lenient to awfully picky. On one occasion, a lecturer gave me extra marks for my Maths quiz when I went to see him, even though I was careless when answering the question. Yet another lecturer deducted points for another quiz simply because my answers were not presented in one line. "Your answers are scattered everywhere," she said (or something to that effect; I forgot the exact words). "I did underline the answers though...," was my reply. No point arguing.

Speaking about Maths, the Maths modules are the ones I love to hate. Firstly, I've always enjoyed a love-hate relationship with Maths - love because it is an essential part of Physics and Engineering and hate when things get too complicated. Come on, do we really have to differentiate an expression with powers here and there and then simplify them? I bet a real-life engineer wouldn't encounter such an expression to differentiate while doing his job; even if he does, there's such a thing called a computer that will gladly churn out the answer in a mere milliseconds with near 100% accuracy (taking into account the fact that computers can have bugs too). Can't risk a human error here.

Overall, I had learnt quite a lot (and forgotten most of them too) during my Foundation course. But sometimes I think a blending of social science subjects like economics into the course would be useful...


To all my Nottingham Foundation friends, we shall meet again as fellow undergraduates in September.


UPDATE: A section of this post has been deleted due to reasons I would not discuss here.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Assignment: Virtual reality poster


Di rin ove sc g Creating A Virtual Reality Environment 1. System and Software Computers are used to develop and run the software necessary to create virtual environments. Console Workstation Game Software 2. Immersion Sensory stimulation must be consistent if a user is to feel immersed within a virtual environment. Head-mounted Displays VR Dome Simulator 3. Interactivity Immersion within a virtual environment is one thing, but for a user to feel truly involved there must also be an element of interaction. Motion Trackers Wired Gloves 3D Controllers Applications of Virtual Reality Military Training Virtual Therapy Immersive Gaming © 2009 http://polywj.blogspot.com/


This is the poster I created for Digital Media's Assignment 1, with lots of input from my groupmates of course.