Saturday, July 29, 2006

FSCK you!!!!



Being in the IT industry for 6 years since transiting from Semi-conc industry in cica 2000, it always fun to be associated to some IT's movements likes Open Source, Firefox blah blah.

Probably trying to be different, does bear a lil blahing rights.

Again, blessed with an unique ability to work with multiple favors of Operating Systems or at least able to survive the 1st 30hrs on any platforms does actually help me in my job some how, especially doing open system computing environment, knowing who and each OS flavour could make a huge difference somehow.

I have been using Red Hat 7 since the good old days from my spare PCs and gradually ran the early Fedora built from my Acer lappy. Couple of months back, i install Fedora 5 on my HP NX7010 and another one on my 2nd workstation as well. Both units allocated as production computers, i do able to get all hardware components working real fine and trying to locate utilties to do some stuffs like sync-ing the Sony Ericsson W810i to Evolution [Outlook clone] via Bluetooth.

Then this shirt strikes me...from Joyet Store, they offer a few range of computer related Ts. Check this one out. fsck me!!

Lacks of blog's posting

Indeed, there's seemed to be lack of blog post from me lately, as i gearing toward a new role sometimes in Aug as Regional SE. And at the same time busy taking in all presentations and sales appointments. Probably trying to leave some good foot prints before i depart.

However yesterday, email notice from Overland CEO's Christopher that my boss is promoted to world wide Sales Director...kinda likes number 2 fellow besides the CEO. And marching order to re-locate back to San Diego, so boss is planning to fly in between the continents while keeping his family behind for the time being. Since his spouse is a lawyer..so she has to clear all her cases.

Well...looks like it's all fated as my versatility does not seemed to fit into any positions in San Diego for my ultimate objectives that i am trying to achieve. But as long we all depart in good wills, there's always a another chance.

On the side note, after discarding the idiotic Nokia N70 one corner, the Sony Ericsson W810i is quite a breeze to use. Taking away all the the headaches and provide duality ability. The sound quality of the walkman feature is quite amazing, pretty clean and it play the way you want it to play. I'm still using the default 512mb Duo Pro memory, so rather comtemplating to up the antes to 1Gb or 2Gb, the only holding back is the MP3's ID3 tag that it cannot be a long character, rendering all my existing Mp3 music whom already probably tagged for iPod has to be modified in order to fit in multiple CDs with long naming ID3 tag from the same album
to be shortened to prevent the Disc2HP to write them in two holders than overwritting the latter one over the former. That's where the pain point is.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Battle Field 2 : Armour Fury expansion pack

Time to rumble, rumble...

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Draw your style ~Cool

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Moving on

After barrages of interviewing from a US's MNC that does Information Management, i finally got the job offer yesterday. The job offer was very lucrative....in facts, i was'nt expected that much actually. Since the job market in SG is gaining domination from FTs [see latest MOM's news] however, the job requires me to travel to Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Vietnam, Cambodia and Philippines. Travel frequency is about 2x a month. Looks pretty okay to me as i am glittering to get into the thickness of actions.

Honestly speaking, i am still at the stage of street fighting years [Simple Minds's track runs on the background] so i would like to get myself bloodied in those territories as they are emerging nations in the next 10 years. That's at least provide depth and breadth in my career.

Seriously i hope i can inject more dynamicsm into their team, and may all grow together for a new sunrise.

Next off my todo list is to tell my existing boss that i sucumbered to a good offer, i'm not sure he will be entirely happy but having been messing around the IT street thugs, i hope he understands my desire and hunger to groom myself.

Nokia N70 still sick

Well, Nokia looks likes trying it's very best to impress me by constantly keeping my N70 at sick bay. After weeks of rectification, they have decided to insteads of replacing the RF chips, they going to replace the motherboard of the N70. If that so, that's might sounds interesting as i am hoping a swift resolution to this fiasco.

So....right now i am undecided what addition to buy...W810i?

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Thank you, Nokia, It's will be my last time using a Nokia phone

After losing my Nokia 7610, i'd got myself an Nokia N70 last month thru M1 Mobile's promo. Darn, i signed myself a 2 yr contract since i had not been a contract subscriber for ages. What's turned out is a series of Nokia's woes for the pasts few days.

This monday, my N70 broke down by unabled to connect to any Access points of any GSM or 3G Networks. Switching between 3G and GSM network does not seemed to help as much. So i guessed the RF component may has been faulty. So i send in to Nokia service center at Suntec City.

Got there at 11am, Tuesday and waited for the gate to open. Well...i was 2nd in queue and soon i was serviced by a malay girl. Then i told her my problem and explained to her that the RF has some issues. She acknowledged and took my phone in, and said it will required 3-4 working days. Okay, i said. Then do you have spare phone for me to tide over? She said NO! Not Nokia's policy to offer mobile phone. What!!??!!!

I explained nicely to her that i do not have any spare phone for the whole day, then came the straight response, NO again. I felt ridcule what kind of customer's services Nokia is trying to portray? I brought the N70 for production usage. Not to Buy an N70 and buy another spare phone to compliment the Nokia phone in anticipation that the Nokia phone will break down, this is absolutely absurd! You ought to have concise policies to address case to case failures and replacement policies that those repairs that not helping must be replaced to address customer's woes.

It's no wonder Nokia's market share is eroding, because it failed ultimately to address customer's needs for attention. I am not very mean nor demanding, all i need is reasonable service, is'nt it so hard?

Okay great, i got a call today that my Nokia N70 is ready for collection, so i dashed down to Suntec at 3pm and collected it, tested it onsite and get set home. Nokia said they replaced the RF components......never replaced motherboard? Well, 2nd horror came in when i reached home to realise the same problem with the network coverage!!!!

Immediately i called the service center and expressed my unhappiness and she responsed that something i did must had caused the problem, so i dashed down again to Suntec before 8pm closing.

Again no one attended me....leaving me wandering around and asked for some immediate attention before the shop closed completely, then i saw the store manager and explained my woes...he was kind enough to assist, other wise i would have blow my top...So the rest is pretty explanary the N70 went back to the service table again. Sighz...

Geez...i have to fork out $138 to get a Motorola C168 for temporary use...but i am thinking of getting another phone because i had totally losing confidence in Nokia and would like to do nothing with Nokia in future any more, sorry Nokia. You had lose another customer and i will demonstrate the power of "Connecting People" on why buying Nokia is not a delightful experience.

I am pretty sure that those folks in the same service center are very much as woeful as me...so i will not pity you if you lose your mobile market share, because you failed time over time again to answer the needs of your customers.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Italian ripped the German's heart





Did not watch the game, not feeling well and pissed with the Nokia's woes....but the Italian cranked their vespa's engine and out ran BMW's engine. The German must be heart broken now..

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Not enough penalty practises, sire?

The english were absolutely crap for unable to convert the spot kicks, so please do not blame anyone. Blame it on yourselves that you were overhyped to win the World Cup 2006.

Observes Lampard, Gerard and Jamie expression before they shoot, it's does not appear postives..



Random thoughts for WC 2006

I admitted i have not been catching all the matches of WC 2006. However there's are few points worth noticing in this world cup. In my opinions, the revival of holding mid-fieldier is on the rise now.

France disposal of Brazil team were partly because Zidane had re-discovered his form to win balls and changes the ball in his flavor, not forgetting the amount of space, the Brazil had offered him. In addition, his partnership with Thierry Henry were put to much devastating effect and were constant thorn throughout their offensives. But one person remains unspoken, Claude Markele, the unsung hero of both Chelsea and France. Markele's reading of positions were excellent, couples with his pace and positional awareness and vision, he has an uncanny talent of predicting opponent's attacking moves and intercept it. Some of the African nations now deploy holding mid-field and forge a archor point in the field's half.

England used Owen Hargeaves as holding mid-fieldier in their yesterday defeat's formation 4-1-4-1. Owen played to his strength and won my hearts. It's a testimonial why Sven had previously used him in a different position and he did not played to his strength and shut critics why he is still a Bayen Munich's man.

Despite playing with 10 men, Owen acting as archor soaked up almost all Portugal's offensives and disrupted their flow to a greater extends, additionally having a holding mid-fieldier allows the left, right mid-fieldiers or wingers to maraude the opponent's defenses. Markele precisely dampened Brazil's attack and allows Zidane to create more space and chances for Franck Ridery to pressure up and pushes the Brazil's defense down within their own halves.

The galls of the coach to drop non-performing players is also a key point in this tournament.
Marco Van Basten, Scolari & Jurgen are few coaches that do not put players based on their reputation or rather based on the selection of players to suit the formation. Sven is notoriously refused to drop Beckham or Lampard even when they are'nt performing to expectation. Frank Lampard scored many goals for Chelsea and it's clearly shown that Lampard had fired many salvoes and yet to find the net.

Despite most were within the goal post, if you can't score, you lose confidence. Simple as that. Coming back to Beckham, it's obvious he lacked the fitness and pace in taking right mid. Since he can't out paced defenses, Beckham is as good as a team player selected to take free kicks and corners. Lacking the paces and unwillingness to defend, he constantly exposed Jamie to opposition's attack. Sven also would likes to have Beckham, Gerard and Lampard on the field, it's pretty known that Gerard and Lampard cannot be on the field together, because Owen's position will be compromised to suit his ideals.

Apart from that, the forward's formation also changed relatively, which was why he brought only 4 strikers in the world cup, as Gerard and Lampard both could attack as well, so why need more strikers? But he was wrong big time as Lampard himself was losing confidence, so Gerard has to double back to cover those hole Lampard created.

Resultantly, this also upset Rooney as he has to play lone striker and media hyping that he can bring the world cup home, thus shouldering him with big responsibilities. So Sven is playing all 4 of them because the British public's wishes. Sven is no idiot, so he obliged to their wish.

So in reality, England had paid the price for Sven's folly and refusal to combat opponents with right formations and tactics. Scolari knew he could out-wit Sven once again and played to his strength, despite the Portugese players were unable to break-thru the English's defense.

He knew the penalty shoot-out is going his advantage if it goes beyond extra time. Not forgetting Portugal did deposed England in Euro 04 on penalty shoot-out as well. Ricardo was again the show stopper then.

Constrastly, Brazil also paid it's price when Ronaldinho was strapped to his allocated role, devoids of freedom to express himself likes he did for Barcelona. So the coach's idea is to form a diamond's formation to suit to suit Ronaldo, despite fatty did scored three goals, but seriously he was'nt tested at the highest level until the French's encounter.

The next key thing to winning is the deployment of speedy forwards in an all attack formation. The German, Dutch, France, Ghana, Argentina showed that marauding forwards is the key ingredient to create chances and score goals. England clearly had the ingredients but were never used extensively. Aaron Lennon, Rooney, Dafoe and Walcott were not effectively brought in or utilised. One wonder what in Sven's head.

As the world cup edging to an end, we could only wish the final contestants battle it out in with an attacking mind than playing defensively till the last second.

WC 2006, All European affairs

Today is a good day for me, why? Full of dramas and unthinkable event, let's me slowly dissect the following events...

I'd admitted that i never liked the English team, particularly the way the players and coaches were playing themselves in the WC 2006. Rooney, Lampard, Beckham and John Terry are way overated in my opinion, i never rate Beckham highly, apart for his still back skill. Beckham has nothing to offer for English's initatives. Neither he dribbles or run well, in facts comparing to Lennon. Beckham can run as fast as my granny.

Rooney playing as lone striker again fell in the traps of big Phil. The moment i saw one striker from England's formation, i knew the Englishs were done. Rooney playing up alone and not getting ball feed from the mid-fielder is bounded to be his frustration day as his temper flares very easily. Worst things that happened after he gutted the Portugal player, Ronaldo, his MU team mate created the sparks that got him redcarded. England having reduced to 10 men fought valiantly, despite constant Portugal's attack outside the box, they refused to buckle.

The killer punch struck when the game reaching to the end of the extra time, Jamie Caragher was bought in to replace Aaron Lennon who obviously a constant thorn at the Portugal's half. Reason was the former will be taking penalty if it's goes beyond extra time. True enough, the penalty materialized.

Frank Lampard took the 1st kick, trying very hard to find his net, still did not produce the killer instinct that he served him well in Chelsea. How can u let a guy who is low in confidence to take the 1st kick? Appalling, he missed, Jamie missed, Stevie G missed and Owen Hargeaves was the only guy who slotted in the ball.

Scolari obviously knew that Ricardo is good at saving penalties....and played out to 120mins extra time when the Portugese were unable to penetrate the English's wall.

Once again, Big Phil scored a hat trick against Sven and proved that Sven's failure to bring Germaine Dafoe as striker is costing him dearly as the tournament progess further. Of course bringing two injured strikers and a new kid on the block is likes waiting for the worst to happen, indeed Rooney proven to be critical to England's success and as well as villain too.

Similar to Beckham's send off in Euro 04, Beckham was'nt dropped when he was'nt playing well. So it's good news when they were disposed by the Portugese and the world is glad not to watch any more negative soccer any more.

France's surprise victory against Brazil is not a surprise actually. The regained inspiration of Zidane, Vieira, Henry and Ribery created constant problems for the Brazilian's defences. But most importantly, the key guy in the French's outfit goes to Markele. This classic holding mid fielder is almost everywhere at the right place and time to foil their samba attacks. Without Markele, French's victory will not be a possible.

So i guessed it's going to be an all European's affair world cup. The German now, will be taken as favorite to lift the cup as host nation.

The drama ran high when i was watching the England game at Holland V's coffee shop. Toward the 2nd halves of extra time, a chap was unhappy and threw his beer bottles just couples of meters away from me, i did not ran away and calmly watch the telly. Then the coffee shop boss challenged him to "settle" outside, off they went and soon the chap drove his Chevy car and rammed into a taxi parked just beside the shop, now the whole coffee shop went amok when he rammed the taxi up the road kerl. People began kicking his car door to get him off the car, the taxi driver was inside and probably hurt slightly and the England game was in a penalty shoot out, so everything were very tense then.....

That clown soon drove his car away and escaped while the police as usual slow to react came to the scene...by then, the English had already lost the plot, everyone was cheering and i left the shop feeling very gladified that i no longer need to endure long ball soccer, of course my friend Tiko Seng will be devastated that his favorite Liverpool players, Stevie G and Jamie both missed the penalty shoot out. Well, i guessed after all the hyping of their best chances to lift the cup, a media roasting await them.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Chinese launched their 3G phone, babe is cool

Yikes....soon the Chinese will be likes Korean not only able to contract manufacturer product but design and build product for global consumption. Dopod CHT 9000 offers great stuffs,

  • 3G network
  • MicroSD micro
  • QWERTY input interface
  • RSS feed
  • Push mail support [Exchange]
  • Plus nice babe [not bundled]

Nice car stereo system

Being talented of many things is a major issue. Not enough mojo gadgets to get me excited. Well, if i buy a new car then i would like to have a decent stereo system. Driving and music to me is always a related thing. Music kept me awake or even inject adrenaline which crusing along the express way. Not the initial-D's stuff... but fun speeding than crawling slowly...

So to match the fun of speeding, a device of many facets must be considered. iPod car kit sound likes a viable option since i had most of my electronic music tracks store inside, naturally it's providing a good pool of quality music. Until then...i saw this device from Hong Kong, order here.

So what it does?

  • A GPS via GPRS network
  • GSM mobile device
  • DVD player
  • CD audio player
  • Radio
  • Mp3 jukebox via it's onboard 20Gb hard disk
  • Touch screen interface via Stylus
Just dun watch Initial-D or Mad Max while driving your car with this device install...haha ;D

Let's pray for England to lose tonight

Darn, the Argentine lost to the German in the penalty shoot-out, in my opinion, two crucial mistakes allowed the the German to equalize and win the game.

Coach Pekerman committed a serious mistake by taking Riquelme out. Riquelme is their crucial play maker and were involved in many attacks. Tevez can't do it alone. Secondly. the injury of the goalie also cost the Argentine a subsititude option. Lionel Messi was'nt given a chance to come in and ruffle the German's defence, else the story would be very much different. Quite a few occasion, the German's defence were caught napping.

In conclusion, taking off Riquelme remains the killing point, while the Argentine contented in defending their 1 goal advantage while soaking themselves from the German's attack. Their negative mentality is costing them dearly. Well...dun cry for me Argentina...spring to my mind.

Lastly, i felt that German keeper Jen Lehman is going to be a hero of the night as the German edging closer to penalty spots. The revitalized and on form Arsenal keeper Jen Lehman appeared to be shinning stars while the Argentine's 2nd keeper was looking like a darker self.

On the Italian's front, Italy shakes their defensive mind a little and did some attacking, the Ukraine looks pretty disorganised despite Andriy Shevchenko a constant threats. Ukraine got their acts together in the 2nd halves and launched many counter attacked and three times at least were denied by Buffon and wood work. I just felt that Ukraine did not have the luck to work the Italian harder...

Today is England game...and this is the team i deprised most. Display so much negativity and extreme bias to some star players. Particularly, David Beckham ought to be dropped. He dun run for the ball, he dun defend, he dun run fast enough [Lennon's speed show the sharp contrast] so all he does is static ball passing and free kick. Hello!! Free kick alone is not going to win you world cup. And worst, the clown vomitted after scoring. What a joke!!!


Scolari, teach the English a lesson in footie!!! England give 2 Balls leh!!

Star Wars: The New Hope all done in action figure