weekend break and sombre CS3214 thoughts

recess week is coming! However, it's the first recess week where i'm going to spend most, if not all my time in school.

team synergy is quite alright. As usual i'm very fussy on the infrastructure, such as common helper functions and client-side validations if possible. The primary reason for choosing client-side is simply to relieve request-response stress on the server, which is very slow in the first place. Sun AppServer 9.0's speed is really a PITA. The secondary reason is its simplicity; given the goal of common helpers i mentioned earlier, there are less server-side codes to integrate.

although CH has mentioned he doesn't want superficial stuff, i would take it that he meant only in non-programming areas such as flowery reports or formal presentations. I believe he has heavy demands in the programming area. In my humble opinion, coding wise it is better to unify common helpers, both client/server side. 1st reason - this obviously shows teamwork - to reduce repetitive and duplication in trying to code (and test, debug these seemingly superficial stuff) small things that are going to be reused all over the place. 2nd reason - experience from the NYP-Agilent workflow project has done all these, and that being an industrial project; once again it is my opinion that we should attain a similar class.

despite these, there seems to be some opposition to this approach - some team members would want to code their own helpers, constants, etc. I shall keep my fingers crossed and won't wish to press for my way, although i trust my own foresight. Trust has to be earned =)

my firm belief is to balance all modules, meaning keeping in view of the CS2250 and CS3265 module. Thinking further, even if i manage an A/B for CS3214 and then flunk the rest by getting C/Ds, the 8 MC reward is useless, since it is used to balance the scale. And i'm not dropping any modules this semester, because it's counterproductive to be only taking 12/16 MCs workload just because of CS3214. Suffer even more later.

deep in my mind CS3265 project is a time bomb waiting to explode. Yet nobody has raised a word.

more often than not, the way of structuring my thoughts and plans are slightly different from the rest, and only a few will understand my style in project work after some time. Anyway, given the limited time i'll try my best. However not neglecting the rest of the modules.


on sat i met my secondary mates to celebrate Trina's birthday at Country Manna, Sun Plaza.

A favourite for many - chicken soup

Ordered salsa salmon and fish meuniere for my main course

1 year older~

Really missed ice cream cakes... too bad this was sponge

My new 500GB upgrade - Western Digital Caviar SE16 AA series

later on, i went to Simlim to get 3 things. My 500GB new drive, mich's 80GB lap drive and wenqun's 2GB thumb. Together with the Goodwood mooncake for jun's family, $400 disappeared from my wallet in just 3 hours.... Xmas is not even here yet.

then the night was spent on cloning my old 320GB-->500GB, then my bro's old 160GB-->320GB. Both of us are happy men, since i gained 180GB more space and he 160GB more. lol...

finally i wish Trina a happy 24th birthday. And good luck to my bro who's going to be a rifleman in 3 SIR from this week. Life will be tough for you....

simlim action

many people know simlim is the place to get electronic stuff. But most of them won't know there are so many carrot head choppers lurking around. And some dare you, the customer, to call in police because they know nothing can be done to them for selling water goods/lemons/incomplete packaged goods.

be alert and check! Some don't include GST into the quoted price until you pay the bill, or take some stuff out and attempt to sell to you as "accessories". Like batteries, pouches and what not.

today i went over to shop for the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter 8000. I was in Skylet when i heard a woman saying something over the PA - "all security guards to level 2 NOW"!

then of course, many Singaporeans are busybodies (including me). Word passed around that there was a fight in a Level 2 shop. When i went out, the party has already dispersed to the security counter, where an indian lady was gesturing wildly. I guessed the shopkeeper tried to slap her from her actions. Cool.

in the end, i didn't buy the mouse. Fuwell was selling it at $165, but i remembered somewhere was selling for $147.90. I thought that 'somewhere' was in Funan, but what i found there was $179. Oh no, where did i see that $147.90 sticker???


on the way home i decided to carry out the duties of ticket inspector for SMRT Buses. Was complaining about 960's frequency last weekend, and after visual checking of 4-5 buses coming out from Marina Bay, i'm confident i can get PTC to investigate:

- 15-20 mins frequency, above guaranteed of 12-15 mins
- woodlands bound buses were typically overloaded after Bugis Village bus stop (crazy)
- further violation of overloading and standing on steps rule

SMRT Buses, good luck. I'm really pissed at the service quality yet you proposed a fare hike. Gonna make your corp comms dept suffer.

simlim shopping, airport roaming

woke up late thanks to the long insurance writeup yesterday.

i wanted to Simlim to get a 2GB microSD card for Vincent and mine's U600 toy, which i happily settled for Sandisk after some price checks ($36 per 2GB). Didn't feel safe getting from the ABNN shops. I'm not racist, but sources of some of their goods are dubious; eg. parallel import thus real cheap. I believe in spending a bit more and enjoy better after sales support ... choy!

z-nix's auntie offered me $28 for a cakebox of 50 pcs Verbatim DVD+R media (Made in Japan). It's cheap, thus i got 1.

met my cousin and Johnny, they were shopping around for a laptop. Of course i happily obliged to accompany them for some sales talk. After my dinner at basement, i took a short walk from Bencoolen Street to North Bridge Road, passing by SMU and Malaysian Embassy.

I wanted to take 147 or 166 to Funan. However the NDP rehearsal at Marina has caused some jams

The pains of driving

SMU's SIS. For DBI peeps, you can consider this degree. Fyi, it's more management based (duh)

Modern uni!

Fort Canning Tunnel

reached Funan to search for the SE Bluetooth stereo headset i was interested. But no thanks, Challenger is selling it at too steep a price. Mobilesquare is only offering at $145, versus Challenger's $188. Or i shall pass this and wait for HBH-DS980 to come instead.

I don't really like the orange casing and plastic-metallic buttons

left on SBS 36 to Changi Airport, since i had nothing to do. So today was a photo shooting trip.

SBS 2730P - transmission needs some servicing, too loud

Terminal 1 - crowded with people waiting for their loved ones

The new Skytrain waiting area!

Terminal 2

It's close to 15-20 years old, but it still looks modern

i chanced upon a large group of teens wearing green, and i realised all of them are NYPians, from Chinese Orchestra! I believe they're leaving for an event in Australia (AIMF). Lucky ones who can run away when term is restarting next week!

supper was with GY and Eze. Saw 0502 Jocelyn's boy at 211! Look forward to gathering next week!

dailies

yesterday was soooo lazy. slept from 11pm to 11am, and since i had some time i quickly formatted Moses' older PC. i'm trying to clear as much as these stuff so i can concentrate on others.

next was to meet hadassah at Parkview Square, the sinister (or majestic?) building behind Raffles Hospital. There was a small miscomm as i was happily waiting at the lift lobby, but she was at the bus stop =x

I'm here for many times, yet still amazed by the intricate decor

There's a wine bar at the ground level.
At the left is a storage column (i think) that extends all the way to the ceiling, for wine.

P&C, of course. lol

thereafter, went to simlim (AGAIN) to look around. Also met up with YX since he was nearby. He has the intention to install watercooling for his rig, plus a couple of casing selections. I was okay to the idea, however will not spend on these personally. So many years in simlim, must be immune to the 'poison' costing hundreds of $$$!!!

dinner was with HK and Patrick, whom just went for their IPT at Khatib Camp. Did some minor shopping at AMK Hub, and hey i saw Grace Koh! Pretty short in person, but has the gal next door look =x

Camera shy ar

seriously need to sit down and think of year end travel. There's no time this week though, as my bro is enlisting into NS this coming friday.

travel planning and goong

i like this song - HowL's Parrot. To the point i can hum some phrases even though i don't understand.



thursday was an extremely slack day, slacking to the point where i had to catch a taxi to NYP, because i would be nicknamed Mr Late if i'm late again. But i couldn't help it, the taxi arrived 10 minutes after my shift. Argh.

started friday with some amount of anger. First my STMobile bill listed some content i didn't subscribe to (and i have my sms logs in Outlook). Second someone owed me a sum of money, but went into MIA mode for a good 2 weeks. Please my friend if you're reading my blog now, only God knows what is happening to you. I'm not God and definitely not a worm in your stomach. Even if you can't pay up, TELL me and we will explore a solution. why is it so difficult to do that? i'm feeling so embarrassed to find your brother when shit happens, and strain friendships. can you put yourself in our shoes?!

luckily kay was here to cool me down, although i kept ranting expletives non stop at him (typical reaction when things screw up in army). We went Simlim today, tried the seafood soup at my fav korean stall. he bought 2x1GB RAM for his brother's MacBook plus 1GB for Dave. nice feeling seeing someone spend yet again... haha.

finally we decided where to go for our year end escape from Sinkapore. After me getting a rude shock that a HK+Beijing trip is at least $2,500, we explored other places such as Tokyo, Seoul. however F&E ticketing mandates a minimum of 4 pax to enjoy lowest pricing (~$650 before taxes and surcharges). Hit a snag here. We also considered Taiwan, however since SAF should be giving us free lodging and R&R during our overseas reservist training, it was striked off.

the final decision is HK+Macau, tentatively 10 days. Will be celebrating Xmas and XH's birthday over there. Kay is working to get the cheapest airline (SQ, CX, MU or 3K) and i'm working on the itinerary, which is more on food this round. My #1 wish is to visit the area where [Goong] Shin Chae-Kyung and Lee Shin met in Macau, Coloane Island!!! Hope to get the latter out before i start my new semester in August.

my brother recommended me this site, ieat.ishoot.ipost. The pasta looks yummy... where are u Jac!?

anyway, found some goong mvs of my interest:

In chinese 陶喆 - 爱我还是他


In english Natalie - Love you so

whole day running chores

So tired... and hot.

reached the school compound at 7.30am, quickly opened up the lab and did the necessary stuff. Luckily the instructor workstation didn't bark or snap after i swapped the hard disk. happily went for breakfast at NYP's south canteen, then slowly 'yao' back to my room.

the next stop was this place called Tan Boon Liat Building, near Tiong Bahru Market. Took Sv 851 from Yishun, napped comfortably throughout. Finally sent in Jac's iriver for repair, however the man said the mainboard has some problems and may need to be repaired at Hong Kong for 4 weeks! omg... really sorry girl.


after this, i went to Chinatown's hawker centre (the one beside OG) to shop for toiletries. Snapped up my usual shampoo, soap, facial washes, hair gel at quite a good price. Much better than Watsons/Guardian or even Sheng Siong (savings of at least $6-10 in total - worth the trip down). Since my gay buddy is working nearby, called him out for lunch and he gladly obliged.. but sorry to have made him sweat. We then went to SA Tours and ASA to check the pricing for our year-end trip. The moment SA Tours heard of open-jaw ticketing... no go. ASA was better, offering SQ open-jaw (entry via Beijing, exit via HK) at $690 excluding fuel and airport surcharges of $162. Still rather expensive imo.

next stop - Simlim Tower to get some capacitors for my motherboard soldering project on coming wed. i also wanted to go Simlim Sq to check out DDR2 RAM pricing, and after a short walk around 4-6th levels, bought 2GB for my laptop, at $55/GB. Also snapped up 4GB desktop RAM for $50/GB, since the price has never been so low historically. That's the fatal damage incurred today.

Getting ready for Vista's requirement when i don't plan to install on my workhorse. oops

Moses' casing order got screwed up again. Ordered twice, but the Fuwell salesman didn't log down the order. WTF? This time i got a namecard for contact tracing... gonna kick some asses if the casing do not come tomorrow.

For some reason it's really warm today. Sweat was dripping down my forehead when i ate supper downstairs just now.

And... exam results coming out this weekend. I have a bad omen.... feeling uneasy for MA1505. sigh.

david's treat to waraku

it was a super duper late afternoon yet again, and i couldn't wake up in time to go down to Chinatown to repair Jac's iriver. No choice lor, i promise i'll do it on Monday!!!

had my lunch at cwp, then went to NYP to be briefed on the handover of the internal inventory management system. My colleague and school mate of about a year plus is graduating from NUS and thus is looking for a better job soon.

bought a second hand Asus P4GD1, which i have been looking for over a year. Why so precious, because it uses the Intel 915P chipset that supports my Pentium M mobile chip + PCI express graphics. don't understand? it's ok :D

tonight at waraku was free thanks to David. He is going to be posted to Australia for a short stint there, along with a promotion and some incentives, good for him! i fully exploited his $40 limit by calling the BBQ set ($19.80), hotate miso soup ($9.80) and salmon teriyaki ($6.80)... hehee.

Some yummy pictures to follow:

The smaller hotplate is yakitori, bigger brother is the 5 type sashimi, below is my hotate miso soup

The BBQ set kay and me called. Consists of 3 prawns, 2-3 crab legs and 1 body, 3 meat balls or something like that

Simon and the man of the night

meanwhile kay brought up about IPPT... sigh. Window is closing on 21 nov 2007, how?! go for 8 sessions of IPT and can fail IPPT or fail IPPT then go for 24 sessions of RT!? headache.

after the big bang, we went over to millenia walk hoping to sit down and chill (simon wanted to treat dave to some alcohol). No space, then over to Harry's Bar at esplanade. I last drank in nov 06, but after i told myself to try to stop myself from sinking into depression then, i never touched beer again.. till now.

Anyway.. sat down and ordered 1/2 pints of Heineken and Erdinger and admired around, since it was my *first* time in a bar. Initially i found the place dark and noisy, but perhaps due to the booze i felt better. Even saw a guy fingering his girl's lingerie... omg.

got to work tomorrow!

shopping for flowers and comp parts

Quite a good day out with Jac and Moses. Woke up kinda early, then met Jac to go to Thomson to shop for "Blue Roses" for her mummy. So it took us a train and Sv 851 to reach that area... and couldn't find any except for dummy ones! We searched Far East, Spa, Hawaii, Goodwood, Candy but all didn't have. In the end she decided on an orange Hibiscus plant that i carried back.

- The chilled room that we went in to escape the heat and rain. I think it's around 10-15 degrees.


- Extra cookies i requested from her... haha


Next, waited for Moses to pick me up for some shopping at Simlim. Finally sat in his Mazda 3, which didn't look like a year old. Off we went, and bought the following stuff within an hour. It was very fast although i didn't prep a budget for him, and we had to order from Fuwell the Centurion 541 i recommended for the config.

- Asus P5B-VM mATX board, with Core 2 Duo E6420 (2.13GHz) and 2GB DDR2-667 RAMs (around $615)


- Leadtek WF 8600GT and CM RealPower 550W (around $370)


- Asus DVD-ROM (SATA) plus my favourite Western Digital HDD


If any peeps wants to buy HDDs, it must be Western Digital because i recommend it. Have deployed 20+ of them since 2001 and there's no failure rate (yet).

Ended the night with dinner at Sakae and having a cake bought by my sis.

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Just read about the TNP article on the teenager beating up a SBST driver. My comments -

- He is a HCI student, but this is not the bone i'm picking. He had the guts to attack the driver who was doing his work, and his father had to mop up the mess for him... incredible.

I remember a time when i was in Sec 3, and chalked up Internet bills that i couldn't pay. My father looked at me and called me a 败家子. His words shook me... and i aimed for financial independence as soon as i started working during poly years. And needlessly said, i thanked him for making me realise many many important virtues of living.

If i'm his father, i'll probably send him a tight slap for wasting 17 good years of money and sweat to see a son beating up another person.

- He is supposed to carry the name of his school appropriately, and be a gentleman. Did he remember 君子动口不动手? There is a fatal flaw in his personal upbringing here.

- No matter how the driver had put his point across and whether he hated it, it's out of proportion to use force.

- Violence is increasing on public (and private, look at road rage) transport. It is hardly impermissible in such a trend, and the law must be weighed fully on this teenager if he has indeed twisted facts after the incident. Whether the school wants to expel this student is their own ball game.