Hello readers,

I haven't been updating much as I have tonnes of stuffs/ new interests coming in.

Good news is that my Nikon D70s has already came back from servicing. Costs me RM480 for both my camera and flash, but that's maintenance cost required for this hobby of mine. Once received, I've helped my company photograph the Annual Dinner F.O.C. I think that it's not beneficial to me, but yet, it's a good opportunity for me to test out my camera after not using a camera for > 1 month.

In my Toastmasters progress, I've already completed 8 assignments. The time taken to prepare each assignment is shorter, but quality of the delivery is not being neglected in any way. I am thinking of publishing all my assignments for the benefit of other Toastmasters who are looking for a topic. Will find one fine day to work on that.

What else? Ok, I also found out that I never have enough money. Flipped through some books on Personal Finance which changed my life. As I started to draw out my cashflow, I noticed that there ain't no savings for rainny days or marriage. You can say that I can be described as "Kais pagi makan pagi". Since then, I've added PFblogs into my GoogleReader. Some of those articles are really informative, especially by this guy Ramit Sethi. Depends on what you are looking for, generally these sites are has articles which suits everyone's needs.

Technical wise, I've suceed in getting my hp 6515b laptop installed with Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon (7.10). I've made it earlier, just need to press "Alt+F1" to prompt the username input. Now the system is updated. Pending installation of Broadcom drivers, SCIM input, and misc other applications to make my laptop an ultimate FOSS power house.

Dad has some trouble working around with Vista, but with Ubuntu...he shouldn't have any problem working around it. You muz see how tech wise my parents are. Mom is searching for travel plans for March 2008 already over the web. My sister also prefer Ubuntu if not for the slight compatibility issue on Feisty earlier. Will install 7.10 for her once I've got mine running smoothly.

This weekend I will most probably be busy with International Dance Competition @ PISA and right after that, will visit Gurney Drive to cover the Loy Khartong festival. Sunday will be Little Penang if nothing else come up.

You must be wondering what I'm doing in the office while I've been doing all these stuffs on my "free time". Well, not everyone talks about their work. Kennysia has been travelling the world, but he insists that he has a 9-5 job. How I wish I'll be able to get paid trips like his. Stay tuned for more updates.

Labels: Myself, Photography, Ubuntu

Linux users out there, here's an article for you. Linux in Hollywood. It's well known that Shrek, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars are all done on the Linux platform. Too bad all these softwares are hidden and propietary rights held by the individual studios.

Now, if only George Lucas is willing to open source their propietary CompTime, how will the linux world be? Why no one every tot of sending Lucas a mail about that? Hm...

So, what other softwares you want open sourced? Please don't start with OSX or uSoft will do, it'll take a lifetime for that to work.

Labels: Ubuntu

1) Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight
Launched world wide! Finally, the 3rd studio album from the incredibly talented band. Despite releasing limited number of tracks over the years, but they are particularly picky on what to put into their albums, hence the quality out of each of them. Rush down to Gurney Plaza right after work to collect the CD (preorder) just to be sure I have the first ear on it. So far...the CD is worth everything I pay for.

2) KDE 3.3 on my (k)Ubuntu 6.10. Downloaded and installed without any hickups. A lot of things to look thru and relearn. So different from GNOME, more advance features, yet simplicity is being compromised.

3) Waking up to know that I've over slept, yet managed to get through the door in time.

4) My Excel VBA (Visual Basics for Applications) study is progressing consistently since I don't have any projects in hand. Now know bit bit how it works liao. After this will continue reading up on Pivot Tables and start developing real life applications.

5) Wired and Rosegarden is still not working. Will get scold by mua cute for sure since she managed to get my wine working. :(

6) Lastly... dpreview.com acquired by Amazon.com

Labels: Entertainment, Ubuntu, Work

I have not been that nervous since the days I hiding under the blanket, escaping the fact that my FYP submission date is drawing near.

Will be attempting my 4th Toastmasters assignment tomorrow, which won't be a big deal. The larger pressure I have is on learning up how to write a business plan, one which is not being evaluated by CGPA or grades, but a plan which is able to generate profit.

Here are the observations I have so far:
1. It's hard for people to adopt new products
2. People prefer to stay in their comfort zone, despite complaining about it everyday
3. Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD)

Once these ideas are being cleared from their mind, you will gain the market. Selling and marketting is a totally different field from the engineering course that I've been through. Will need to take an intensive "MBA" with my personal trainer. Hopefully I can "graduate" with a yatch under my girlfriend's name.

Back to my assignment rehearsal, must make a good impact on tomorrow's presentation.

Labels: Education, Toastmasters, Ubuntu

I always keep my mind open when I do gaming on my Ubuntu Linux. Today, managed to know Urban Terror v4.0 just came out fresh (on my birthdate). Download and tried it out just for the sake of proving it's able to run on my distro.

Tried it out with the help of some forums

* Download both these files:
http://media.digitalamusement.com/urt4/ioUrbanTerror_1.0.zip
http://mirrormaid.yi.org/UrbanTerror40_full.zip
* Unzip the first one into ( /usr/local/games/UrbanTerror )
* Unzip the second and put it into the Linux directory from the first ( /usr/local/games/UrbanTerror/q3ut4/ )
* Critical update for BattlEye [LinuxClient] [LinuxServer]
* cd /usr/local/games/UrbanTerror
* chmod +x ioUrbanTerror.i386
* ./ioUrbanTerror.i386

That should do it. You can only join non-punkbuster games.

And...since I'm not managing a cyber cafe... I play with bots. Here's how you do it:

Start Urban Terror, bring down the console (~ key), type in

/bot_enable 1

Close console, click Start Server, setup whatever options you like but make sure the map you play is "Abbey", otherwise the bots will be totally useless due to lack of waypoints. When ready, start the server.

Select your team and join, bring down the console, type in

/addbot chicken

Repeat command for any many times as bots you want added. Their skill varies, sometimes they're great, sometimes they'll tk you without mercy. Official bot support was dropped, but the commands remain in case you really want them.

Hope you enjoyed the game as much as I do. Now, moving on to other projects. :)

Labels: Entertainment, Ubuntu

Eventhough I'm quite free these days, but I don't understand how time are being burnt. It's about time for me to plan how to use my time fully.

So...this post is to share a MTV with you. I'm amazed by what our singers are capable of. Just need a little more acknowledgement and publicity. Respect!



Things got done today:-
1) HOWTO: Send and Receive Hotmail through Evolution - Ubuntu Forums
2) Gmail: Help Center - Configuring other mail clients

Labels: Entertainment, Ubuntu