New Love

I just got my sweeeeet Cannondale F7! Got it from Tampines with the help of my buddy Ivan, got quite a good discount... Can't wait to hit the trails with my bike, but gotta wait till I have more money to buy myself a helmet haha...



















Just an update... I have broken up with Jamie, but we are still on good terms with one another. I still miss her, its hard to forget such a sweet, nice and beautiful girl...

So girls out there, I'm now single and available =) feel free to hit on me yeah haha...

BirthdayBoy Update

Version 1.0.2 is released.
Check out the BirthdayBoy page for downloads and release notes.

Formula Drift Singapore

Hello people... long time no blog haha...
This post is about Jamie and me going to watch Formula Drift at the Changi Exhibition Centre, today. This is the first ever professional drifting competition to be held in Singapore.

It was a beautiful sunny sunday, but very hot too! Bought Jamie a bottle of sun block the previous day, only to find out that the exact same type of sun block were passed around for free application to the public...

Although we reached the event only at around 1 plus, we didn't miss the heat of the action (missing only the heats), sitting in at the grandstand when the national anthem played only a short while later. After that all the drifting began. At first we could not get good seats because the grandstand was very packed with people. But after the first round, we managed to get good seats so we were able to take some photos of the action.


The picture to the left shows that the mee siam is actually quite good, compared to the fried rice which sucks. (Pre-race in-depth analysis brought to you by Jamie)

Featured Videos

BirthdayBoy FAQ

This FAQ will help you with the most common operations to use BirthdayBoy. If you find that you need any further help, please drop me an email.

1. Which platforms can BirthdayBoy run on?
   
   BirthdayBoy can run most certainly on Windows XP. It should be able to run on any version of Windows with at least .NET framework 2.0 installed.
   
   
2. Do I need to install BirthdayBoy to run it?
   
   No. Just download the zip file, unzip it, and double click "BirthdayBoy.exe" which is located in the "BirthdayBoy-x.x.x" folder.
   
   
3. How do I make BirthdayBoy run everytime I start Windows?
   
   Check the checkbox that says "Run at Windows startup". It is located at the bottom right of the program window. Note that this will only apply to the current Windows user.
   
   
4. When I minimize BirthdayBoy, the window disappears!
   
   BirthdayBoy runs out of the system tray. Look for this icon:
   in the system tray and double click it to make the BirthdayBoy window re-appear.
   
   
5. When BirthdayBoy starts, a window tells me that "x not found, program cannot continue!"
   
   i) Make sure you are running the latest version of BirthdayBoy.
   
   ii) Check in the directory where BirthdayBoy.exe exists, make sure that birthdays.dat and reminder.cfg are there. These two files should NOT be edited manually or removed from their default location. Doing so may cause BirthdayBoy to run improperly.
   
   iii) If the files are not there, download the zip distribution again and use the new set of files.
   

MemoryGame

My Java programming assignment in year 2 of my B.CompSc. course.
Click here to access the game.

BirthdayBoy

BirthdayBoy is a simple and easy to use program that reminds you of people's birthdays.

Current version: 1.0.3

Click here for FAQs.
Click here to download BirthdayBoy.
Contact me at this email regarding any bug reports or suggestions.

Release Notes
====================
v1.0.3 (17 Sep 2008)

1. Bug fix: Integer parsing in reminder.cfg now has proper error checking, and loads default value for number of days to get reminders in the event the value in reminder.cfg is malformed.
2. Note: The drop down menu for setting the number of days for getting reminders has been increased to having 1 - 31, from 1 - 14. You can overcome the limit of 31 by editing the integer value in reminder.cfg. Valid values range from 1 - 999.
   

v1.0.2 (28 May 2008)

1. Feature enhancement: Users can get reminders everyday, everytime they start BirthdayBoy within the number of days set. It used to be BirthdayBoy issuing reminders only on the exact number of days set before a birthday. e.g. A's birthday is on the 7th Oct. If you set BirthdayBoy to give reminders 7 days before a birthday, it will now tell you about A's birthday everyday starting from the 1st to the 7th of Oct.
   

v1.0.1 (12 March 2008)

1. Bug fix: Program unable to find files at startup (when program is set to run at windows startup)
   

v1.0.0 (10 March 2008)

1. No installation required. Simply unzip and run BirthdayBoy.exe
2. You should have the latest .NET framework installed on your PC for this program to work.
   
3. You can choose whether you want to run the program on Windows startup. It only applies for the current Windows user. Simply check the option "Run at Windows startup", at the bottom of the program window.
4. The program can run from the system tray. Minimize the program window and it will hide in the tray. To open the program window, simply double click the system tray icon.
   
5. Please report any bugs to this email.

FreeBSD Fun

Hello! Just finished my exams last friday.

I have been having lots of fun with an old machine that I had salvaged from Jamie's home quite some time ago.

Its a Pentium MMX 200Mhz machine, with 80MB RAM, a CDRW drive I salvaged from a dead PC from my dad's office, an old 20GB HDD from my granddad's PC. I bought a cheap realtek PCI ethernet card and plugged it in so I have access to the internet.

After I have all the required hardware in place, I installed DSL (Damn Small Linux) and a bigger version of the DSL, the DSL-n (Damn Small Linux - not). I had some fun with them, they were minimal OSs with a simple desktop environment, but their shell apps were not enough for me to perform tasks properly, as they ran out of an application emulator of some sort.

So i decided to move on and get myself FreeBSD. I seriously had lots of fun tweaking and installing packages to get everything working properly for me. At first I ran RELEASE-6.2, then I found out that many packages were out of date, so I switched to RELEASE-7.0. The system is great (extremely easy to install too), and relatively fast judging that it ran on quite a slow machine (I'm pretty sure there are other hackers out there running even slower machines and using them as web servers or other purposes...). I have the latest firefox browser, running on xfce4.4. xfce4 is really simple (which I really like alot), it has a simple panel at the bottom of the screen which allows me to open a simple text editor (mousepad), my browser, terminal and the xfce menu if I want to do other stuff.

I enabled the sshd (secure shell daemon) so that I can login to my system from anywhere (I also forwarded the port in my gateway), so that next time I can also serve files on my FreeBSD system! :)

return 0;

YOG 2010

Yay!!! Youth Olympic Games 2010 here we come!!!

Congratulations to Singapore to be host to the world's first ever YOG!
I'm really happy for Singapore, this achievement will really bring more attention and focus to our little island. I am very sure and confident that we will be able to do an extremely good job as host, and we will show the world what Singapore is capable of.

Majulah Singapura!

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Celebrating 2 years of love

On the weekend of the 19th, 20th Jan 2008, Jamie and I celebrated our 2 years anniversary in Sentosa. We really had a great time there, stayed overnight at the Siloso Beach Resort. I was really lucky to have access to my mom's car because she went overseas. My words here will not do justice to the quality time spent there, so I shall let pictures do the talking!



































Personal notes: I was worried that the roses could not last that long as I bought them 3 days in advance. I changed the water everyday, added some sugar to the water, and cut the stems under water when I changed the water. Under the influence of the sugar solution intake by the roses, they blossomed nicely, although a few red roses started wilting. Jamie taught me to use panadols in the water instead of sugar... gotta study what effects this will have on the roses next time. If only I have a huge refrigerator to house the roses haha...

return 0;

Black and White

Hello people, its early into the new year, and chinese new year is approaching... I think I will be doing assignments even when people around me are celebrating...

I want to share with you about the definition of the term or label "Hacker". For this topic, there are general two schools of thought regarding the understanding of what or who a "Hacker" is. I am a computer science student, i love programming alot, i love learning new types of programming languages, i love to play around with linux/unixes. For one school of thought, I most likely will be labeled a hacker.

The other school of thought will think that hackers are bad people who break into bank accounts, wreak havoc on systems with viruses etc. This is the media's interpretation of what hackers do. But for the first school of thought, these bad people are termed "Crackers".

For the first school of thought, the meaning of a Hacker basically means a person who does an "appropriate application of ingeniuty". Please take a look at the following link, credits to Eric. S Raymond. http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/meaning-of-hack.html
I draw alot of inspiration from his literature at his website.

I hope that the next time you hear the word "Hack" or "Hacker", perhaps you will give a little thought into the understanding of how we feel when we are given a bad name by the media. Comments welcome!

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New Year, New Chapter

Hello people, Happy New Year!

I am going to say again that I was too lazy to blog yet again, because of all the partying and driving around, but here goes...

I think I did much better this time for my exams, I scored an overall of 80 & 87 for the 2 modules, which constitutes a Distinction and a High Distinction. I'm all smiles as I saw my results online. Finally I'm assured that I can actually do it, with hard work. I'm going to continue doing this as much as I can.

During the christmas holiday, I received many gifts, and many of them were edible stuff mainly chocolate. I loved them haha... thanks guys! And of course my dear Jamie, who had busted her wallet by buying me SOOO many gifts, nice T-shirts! Muacks :)

I recently bought a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick and I'm having a blast flying jets on my PC! Its so much fun haha...

I'm thinking whether I should change this blog page into a personal homepage, just posting some random stuff with videos... So I don't have to keep posting updates... but heck it, update or not its my own personal diary i guess...

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Hunter Unleashed

Just came back from one hell of a thrilling ride! Damn techno music really DRIVES me to drive fast haha...

Met a new Mercedes Benz C200 (I think its 200, there are other C models) Kompressor on the PIE, going home from Jamie's place. The driver really felt like going fast... was keep presurring slower cars on the first lane.
I just suddenly felt the urge to hunt it down with my dad's GS300.

I remember chasing it down going pass the long left bend towards the clementi ave 6 exit, the C200 was really pushing it going around 150km/h... I was not that brave (I do not want to deface my dad's car), so I shifted into manual and cleared the corner with a little engine brake. After that I was in a lower gear and that gave me a clear advantage with acceleration on the short straight before the right bend.

I overtook him and passed a few cars on the 3rd lane, he switched into the 1st. I put the pedal to the metal and left him in the dust. Just as he was catching up, I had to exit so I can go home... I stuck my hand out the window, to say "good race" but not sure whether he saw my gesture...
During this short but exciting street encounter, I think I did some excess of 150 - 160km/h...
Damn it feels good to hunt down another...

return 0;

Lightspeed

Hello... damn it i gotta keep blogging or i will become to lazy to blog again. And the video player is not helping too haha i will just think that aiya nobody reads anyway so just let them watch vids haha...

Exams round the corner again! Time really flies. This time round I would like to get a High Distinction for my C++... hope i dun make stupid careless mistakes in my paper. Focus!!!
The other subject, databases well Im not sure about that one... some parts can be tricky.

Holiday season draws near, which means time to be broke again haha (when was i not???)...
So many things to buy for my dear dear but not enough money...
Gotta find a cool place to dine with Jamie for her birthday. Any suggestions?

return 0;

Transport Problems

Hello all...

Just a week ago after class, I walked out of school as usual but only to find that my front tire is flat... Well... no choice, I had to leave it locked and later drive from home to pick up my bike. Luckily after I had removed the front wheel I was able to fit it into the back seat cabin with relative ease... I changed the flat tube with a new one the following day.

Then a few days later, my left gear shifter lever broke!!! You can imagine the utter shock and disbelieve I experienced when I was on my way home and trying to change gears! Hmm... I know I have to change it, I will not leave it broken and the chain rattling all the way on my trips to and from school. I thought that bringing my bike for a gear lever transplant will cost me alot, but when I brought it to a nearby bike shop, the old malay uncle only charged me 18 bucks!!! He was a really nice and friendly old chap, did the transplant (not just the left, but the pair as they come in a set) in just half an hour. Lots of cool high performance parts for high-end bikes in that shop... gonna go see what I can get my hands on when I'm ready to own a real good bike for leisure.

I was really worried that my cheapo bike is going to fall into pieces just like that after a few months of riding, but now it seems everything is back to normal... for now haha... I spray the metallic rust-prone parts with lubricant frequently, make sure all the moving parts are moving ok... so I guess if you take care of it, it should be fine.

Jamie hurt her back at work while carrying some stuff a couple of days ago... hai so careless... I hope she gets well soon. My poor gal. Been having a painful sore in my throat for a couple of days... hope I get well soon haha... really painful when trying to swallow food :x

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Up to class

A couple of weeks back I was on Bradell Road and driving my dad's GS300.
I caught sight of a Saab 9-5 Aero coming up fast trying to pass me on the 2nd lane on my left side mirror...
The 9-5 is turbocharged, but the GS300 has a 3000cc engine so I put the pedal to the metal and I managed to keep ahead of it until I switched lanes and suddenly a very slow car cut in front and I had to brake hard.
Im really thankful for the powerful & responsive brakes :)
After the 9-5 passed me, he(?) had to maintain the 9-5's pride and as soon as we reached the slow weaving section nearing the split junction going to AMK & Thomson, the 9-5 having superior handling and much less weight than the GS300, quickly manuevered clear of the section and I lost sight of it...
I miss the older 9-5 that my father used to own before the GS300... it really handles superbly and its 2.0l engine is really torquey with the turbo...
Just another memory entry of my street encounters :)

return 0;

forward( );

Hello... finally found some time to post.
Got a D and a C for my previous modules... D for distinction & C for credit... :)
I could have gotten a better grade for the C... but well, just have to look forward and give it my 150% for this session.

Assignments are coming in, but I feel that it is not as bad as last session where some assignments are really killer ones... Hope that my feeling is true...

Just signed up on facebook... heard from anru that there are many great apps there... well for me its just another place for me to spend my bo liao times haha... but I found many friends there not on friendster so its a real good thing.

I hurt myself very carelessly yesterday... scratched myself on my shin when walking past an old PC lying around... and I nearly fell off my bike while going to school... was trying negotiate down 2 steps when my right feet slipped off the lousy plastic pedal... as a result my big toe kissed the floor and cut itself :x...

Went jogging with Jamie yesterday, I really hope we can jog together every week. Its great to know that she is willing to do some exercise, its good for her. If only she is willing to go cycling with me...

Ok going to get some rest now, gonna code some more tonight...

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Round the corner

Hello people haha i have been lazy and didnt really wanted to post anything new... but now i feel like i should or else i might just forget it.

Recently met up with frankie to fix up his boss pc, and the power supply has really been giving me lots of problems. I vow to never buy another cheap PSU. Through my experiences, I feel that the PSU is a very important part of the PC and we should never just get a lousy one and wait for it to die out in a few months time.

Frankie's grandfather just passed away 2 days ago, my deepest condolences to frank.

I remember seeing my grandfather pass away numerous years ago on his deathbed, cant remember how many years... He died as a result of lung cancer, and I think it must be because of his heavy smoking habits. My grandmother died a few years later, due to brain cancer. It might be due to the 2nd hand smoke from my grandfather, but I won't really know. I feel a heavy heart everytime I think of them, because they really dote on me alot, taking care of me in my childhood years. My grandfather would buy toys and stuff for me, bring me to see the doctor (I was frequently sick during my childhood years), bring me to get a botak haircut at the indian barber. My grandmother was always there to make sure I had my meals on time, the yummy teochew style porridge I will forever remember. Their cooking is really the best... I will say that their cooking is even better than teochew restaurants'. Hehe I remember my grandfather always chasing me out of the kitchen, which I really liked to play in when I was a little kid. I would lie that I needed to use the toilet in the kitchen but actually I just wanted to stay there to watch them cook.

I really regretted not going to spend time with my grandmother during her final years in the new flat in teban gardens. Back then, our flat was very old and the government was renewing the estate, demolishing the old flats and then building new flats for us. We had already moved out with my dad, and after my grandfather passed, only my grandmother was left with the new flat. I remember promising my grandmother that I will go stay with her once in awhile... a promise I never fulfilled. Its funny how people will only regret something after a person whom he loves is gone. Luckily my aunt was able to take care of my grandmother when she started to become ill. My aunt's place is a huge apartment in bukit timah and it was in her place that my grandmother finally passed on.

Rest in peace yeye and popo.

School is starting next wed, and Im not happy that I have saturday classes again... it means that I will not be able to spend more time with Jamie during the weekends... and my schedule looks to be more tight than last session. Hope I have time to blog sometime soon...

if(me.birthday.month==date.month&&me.birthday.day==date.day)
me.age++;

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Freelancer

Hello, I earned 170 bucks this week by servicing a laptop and a PC! Yay! Finally my skills with PC has paid off by adding some weight to my wallet haha... Anybody need help with their PC can intro them to me okay? I charge much cheaper than market price for servicing.

I feel like reviving an old PC at home, but I don't have a working monitor to go with it... I was looking through ebay and I found CRT monitors at 15 bucks! Seems like I can get a good buy, but I don't really have space for it on my table... and Jamie will definitely give me hell for cluttering up my table :x

Actually I just want to have a so-so PC running unix so maybe I can use it as a server or something. Its real fun to play with unix systems, you will definitely learn more skills by playing with non-windows systems. Hmm... I think I will run some kind of Sun OS, its really good for running servers.

Just got back from a late dinner with Jamie, I picked her up from work and we went to chomp chomp for a feast! We had stingray with kangkong (yes, from Lucy's), goreng champedak!!!, chicken wings, and satay! On top of that, Jamie ordered 2 huge cups of sugar cane drink, a "small" one and a BIG one. The 2 cups costs 5 bucks!!! Well the super hot kangkong made us finish the 2 cups of sugar cane with much ease hehe... I love to go food hunting with Jamie. Its so fun to eat with her :)

I have made up my mind, and I'm going to stop my aikido training until I finish my degree. Logically its not feasible to continue training when my schoolwork is so much, and I want to spend time with Jamie. And the fees are paid per 3 months. Every session of my course is 2 months, and about 3 weeks of rest. I can't possibly pay 3 months just to train for about 3 weeks right? And its disruptive for my progress too. I believe that training in any martial art needs to be as often as possible, and one must be fully commited in order to progress. And i personally think that turning up for training only when I am free is quite rude to my Sensei. Many people do that but I look at it with a more martial attitude. So aikido will have to go... I made a promise with Ramlan that I will go back to train when I finish my degree... hopefully I don't lose my interest till then...

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Assault Completed

Hello, just finished my exams last friday :) so happy...

The last paper on algorithms & data structures was quite hell... it was like doing A maths back in O levels... so little time, yet so many things to write :x lost 10 marks due to lack of time... should have written like a man possesed right from the start haha... well what the hell.

Results are due to be out about end of the month... Im quite anxious about the results actually... I wonder how much marks Im going to get for all my effort plus the assignments which nearly killed me sometimes. Im praying for the best.

Right now Im back at work for my dad, Aiesha, in charge of admin has gone to have her baby, so I can't really rot at home and game away haha... Today is the first day back at work and Im doing a very huge lot of tedious work engraving nameplates... luckily I have my laptop here to keep me company haha. Ok back to work!

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