Sunday, October 05, 2008

.: First few pics with my Canon DSLR ;.

I just got meself a second hand Canon 400D DSLR to toy around. It came with a 18-55mm kit lens, and upon recommendations from the guy at the shop, I got 2 new lenses to come with it - the 50mm 1.4f, and the 55-250mm tele lense.

And I must say, I'm loving every second of it. I even carried my new baby around everywhere I go. So here's some first time pics which I've taken with the Canon.







Wednesday, July 30, 2008

.: Wireless Leon :.

I just bought myself an AVF Bluetooth USB adapter to talk to my N82 today, instead of the usual USB cable which I have been using. That cable was the last and final piece of item that made me still a 'wired' person.
http://www.laskys.com/pic/205x205/33/13/331376.jpg
I access the internet at home via the Linksys WRT54G wireless router. My router connects to the Jaring SOMA Port modem, which in turns connects to the internet, guess what, wirelessly!
http://z.about.com/d/voip/1/0/Q/-/-/-/linksys_wrt54g.jpg http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/9746/dsc00044py9.jpg

Since I usually work from Starbucks, I am normally connected to the Nomaxis USG Smart Gateway or the Proxim AP 4000 (the only two kinds of APs found in Starbucks Malaysia).
http://www.nowire.se/bilder/prod/Nomadix/ag2100.gif http://www.superwarehouse.com/images/products/Proxim_AP4000.jpg
I prefer wireless mice for the freedom that they give, and currently, I'm using the Microsoft Notebook Wireless Optical Mouse 4000.
http://www.systemaxdev.com/productmedia/htmlimages/cten/accessories/90418-front.jpg http://tukangsinyal.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/nokia-n82.jpg

On my mobile, I check my email, send MMSes, surf the net, chat, and send multimedia content to friends, take hot babes' photos, in addition to checking out locations on GPS.


So here we go. Leon is officially certified IEEE 802.1Z fully wireless! (Now I'm wondering when I'm gonna get brain cancer, or if my kids are gonna be born with 3 eyes and a tail)




Thursday, July 17, 2008

.: Zimbabwe :.

There is this little country in Africa called Zimbabwe. Once the economic crown jewel of the continent about 30 years or so back, today it has an inflation rate of 9 MILLION percent (July 08. In August 08, the figure is estimated to be a mind boggling TWENTY MILLION percent).

Typically, Malaysia's official inflation rate is around 5-8 %. But if we have that kind of rate, your cup of RM 1.20 teh ais this morning at may cost RM 2,000.00 during lunch time, RM 12,000.00 during dinner. And tomorrow it just may cost RM 2 Million per cup.

That's all due to that crap piece of shit Robert Mugabe, the self declared President of the republic.

Well, I'm not gonna write about economics, interesting as it may be in Zimbabwe. I'm going to write about how this country runs itself and brought about the extreme suffering of the people (like for example, about HALF of the population is HIV+).

Shit hole Mugabe runs the country with an iron fist. He tolerates absolutely no opposition to his rule. He constantly takes drastically inhumane to ensure his absolute rule, for example:

- The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is constantly harassed, beaten up, arrested, house-arrested and have his family threatened with torture and death.

- The rest of the lucky opposition party members are being charged in court, while the not-so-lucky ones are held without trial, tortured, beaten up and some 'silenced'.

- Voting process is heavily and openly rigged with all kinds of tricks imaginable, and in summary, the polls is just a bloody joke.

- Anyone who is found to have voted for the opposition are being threatened, beaten up or worse.

Shit hole Mugabe has alienated himself from the rest of the world by pissing off leaders from US, UK, EU, his African neighbours and also most of the Asian countries (his latest statement about the rest of the world is "Tell them to go hang themselves"). The only world public figure who openly declares his allegiance and offers asylum for Mugabe is Tun Dr Mahathir, our really smart ex Premier. That really says a lot about the Tun, doesn't it?

Mugabe also fully uses his police and army force to harrass his citizens and instill fear in them.

His propaganda machine controls the media, therefore broadcasting only selected items for the public.

His ministers are all puppets and yes-sir men, and they are all corrupted to the core.

His country is ruled by one party since independence in the 80s, and the
ZANU-PF party is full of corrupted idiots, zealots and parrots.

So Zimbabwe's a really screwed up country eh? Well, try Malaysia. Are we so different? We are already heading in that direction, and heck, we are just lucky to have OIL and other natural resources to sustain the corruption and feed the people.

As my best friend Andrew remarked, we are graduating from Zimbabwe University to do our Masters at North Korea U.

I don't write political stuffs on this blog. But this have to be an exception since we are heading into a really bad time. People, do your part. Spread the news. Silence is no longer an option.

anwar ibrahim freed from police ipk detention pc 170708 waving

anwar arrest sequence 170708

raja petra kamaruddin arrest at police ipk 170708 03

raja petra kamaruddin arrest at police ipk 170708 05

anwar ibrahim freed from police ipk detention pc 170708 12

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

.: I'm Sorry :.


I'm sorry, first and foremost, to all my friends. I know I announced my wedding plans to you guys, and gave you all a tentative date. I know that some of you from as far as New Zealand, Australia and Singapore have made your travel bookings. I am honored, as always, for friends like you guys, and I promise to make it up to you soon.

Still, I urge you to come back too... let's have a party nevertheless. Without the bachelor's night, of course. Wait, what am I saying? Let's HAVE the bachelor nightS everyday that you guys are going to be here :)


I'm sorry, to my parents and my supposedly future in-laws. I know you are disappointed, but some things are just not meant to be. To my in laws, thank you for all your love during all these times. You guys are truly awesome. And yes, I will love your family and hold you in my heart forever.

To my blog visitors, I know that I did always try to keep my promises written here. But this is one promise that I couldn't keep, so truly, my sincerest apologies. I ask for your understanding, and thank you for all your support.


To my one and only baby, I guess it was never meant to be. I think we both know that there are things that are sometimes very much beyond our very control, but I am truly sorry if there have been times when I have not treated you right. I enjoy every moment we spent together, and you are the best thing that has everhappen to me. And I will love you for the rest of my life. (That's a promise you can take to the bank, babe)


Everybody, I will not try to give a lengthy explanation on how things turn up the way it did, but I think you guys deserve at least the simple gist of it for now. So here it goes:

Marriage Not Happening. Involves Third Party. And Not On My Side, don't go jump into conclusions. It's a guy. And the fella's bloody married. And I know him well. I am not angry at him. I am not angry at anybody, in fact.
There.

Since this post is about apologies, there should not be any details. But I'll have a more juicy, tell-all, revealing everything in my next post. Until then, cheers everybody.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Monday, May 12, 2008

.: All Hail The Champions !!! :.

Champions of England yet again. Manchester United, you are truly, surely, the most glorious team ever in the history of football. Thank you for another wonderful year.



Wednesday, April 16, 2008

.: Where? :.

Where have you been? Have you abandoned your blog? Hey, I'm glad to see that you're still alive!

Just some of the comments I get from you guys out there, and I know you're all anxious to hear the reasons for my disappearance for the past few months or so.

I owe you guys as much, so here goes:

Starting from Chinese New Year February (which is typically a very busy month for me both socially and professionally), I was caught up with the festivities. My business is usually busy during holiday seasons, as you guys know, so I barely have time to log on the Internet, never mind trying to blog.

Also, I promised my parents that I would take care of all the Chinese New Year preparations this year, from A to Z. I had to plan and arrange for renovations (including almost fist fighting with the drunk Iban electrical contractor that came and did some crappy wiring jobs) and re-furnishing to parts of my home in Kuching, list and buy all the necessary food and drinks, clean and paint the house, among others.

During the New Year itself, I had a blast this time around. As not to bore you guys, suffice to say there were plenty of booze, casinos (read: annual hardcore money making scheme) and hot chicks around.

One of my ex was wearing this uber short, tight cheongsam which showed 3/4 of her nice, firm boobs... DURING THE FIRST DAY OF CNY! And the slits? Well, it went as high as her red G-Strings (for luck, I think). No wonder her dad got himself drunk as early as 10 am.


Now, what else could a man ask for? Of course, you now understand why I did not blog during CNY.

Next, right after the festivities, Pak La La La announced that he was dissolving the Parliament (despite saying he won't barely the day before). Since I am pretty much aligned to certain political ideologies and people and parties, I had to drop everything else that I was doing and concentrate on the political scene. I helped out with the rallies and all whenever I could. Come election week, I was one of the polling agents, and therefore had to attend briefings and work like mad during polling day.

The next couple of weeks after election was spent catching up on my work and reading and writing about the aftermath of the 2008 elections.

Now that things have slowed down some, well, the 'ol Leon is BACK!

Expect more juicy stuffs this whole year.

Cheers all!

.: I Like :.

Finally today, I managed to find time to shop around for a new phone (after my Dopod 838Pro have been giving me the PMS treatment for the past couple of weeks or so)

Goodbye:



Hello:

My all new Nokia N-Series N82! And I'm LOVING IT!

And my apologies for the lack of updates, for those of you who were kind enough to stop by every now and then.

I promise I will let you guys know why I have disappeared from the blogsphere recently in my next post (tomorrow, prolly).

Cheers fellas.

Monday, January 21, 2008

.: My 2008 :.

2008. A new year, and I think it's going to be a blast. '08 is going to be the year that defines pretty much the rest of my life. You see, this year, I'm going to:

- FINALLY get married and spend the rest of my life with my other half
- Carve a definitive career path that is going to determine the next 5 years of my professional life, and probably beyond that.
- Move into my new home
- Exercise more
- Eat healthy foods
- Have more sex

Other mini resolutions:

- Take up a language class (possibly Mandarin or Japanese)
- Get started with that Masters
- Expand my stuff to East Malaysia
- Visit China, France and Italy
- Win big at the tables this Chinese New Year :)
- All out war against feminists
- Learn how to sleep and wake up early
- Make my first baby

Oh..and what about 2007? I can safely say 'o7 was awesome, wholesome and absolutely satisfying. Sad to see it go, actually.

So 2008 is going to be mine. I am going to be the King of the World (even if it's just my own world). Ready to RUMBLEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers everybody. May you be blessed with all the good tidings on this one.

Monday, October 01, 2007

.: Cheating :.


Pam wrote a very biased (which is normal for any feminist) article recently about cheating men. I questioned strongly on that issue, not defending the morality behind it, but on how she forgot to mention that women cheats too.

Men, women, gays, bisexuals, trisexuals, dogs, cats and even plants cheat with multiple partners. So why are men being singled out? Why, whenever there's a divorce, it's usually always assumed that the infidelity is on the guy's side?

I have met so many cheating women, sometimes I'm wondering if women cheat more than men. The worst thing is that when a woman cheats, she actually tells all the details, down to the physical construction of the penis, the length of the intercourse and whether the men can actually "perform" to their best friends. Now ladies, do not deny these accusations. They are true, and you know it.

When men tell their mates, it's usually "Oh, I shagged her. And yes, she's pretty good". And that's about the end of it.

Which one is worse?

This is a post (and probably Pam's post) is essentially about the moral fibers of the human being. So let's get a bit into morality. Let's say a man is unfaithful. He goes out, meets a woman, brings her back to his place. They have a nice shag. Later the woman finds out he's got a gf / wife. And he invites her out to dinner again the next night. And she says yes.

Shame on the man, you say? Right. Shame on him.


What about the woman?

Did you ever asked if she's actually attached?

If she's dumb enough to sleep with him on a one night stand basis, shouldn't she shoulder the blame for at least the same amount?

Shouldn't she have checked out the history of the man first? No? Why? Coz she was drunk? Feeling horny? Coz he SEEMED single? Because he was so charming? So it was lust then? DOH!

And she agreed to go out with him again the next day. What the heck, she said. Nothing else more to lose.

Shame on the man? Shoot the man? Aye.

But I say, SHAME ON THE FUCKING BITCH TOO.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

.: Yak Yak Yak :.


Why the hell issit that women just can't stop talking? They wanna talk about everything under the bloody sun (that is, as long as it interests them). Why can't they just learn to shut the hell up and just enjoy, well, the silence?

I was sipping a nice quiet cup of coffee at Starbucks recently, trying to get some work done in the process, and this old friend of mine happen to pass by and sat down and talked for an entire 2 hours. Non-stop. About her friggin dog. About her mom who's bitchin her about smoking. About not being able to hold on to a job for more than 3 months. Complaining like hell about this loser she's dating who's double timing her (she conveniently left out the part that she's double timing him too anyway). About how Starbucks' cake sucks. And about just whatever shit that comes to her mind. WTF!

Next, my friends are complaining to me that all their wives / gfs wanna do is talk. Apparently, they said that women felt that talking is the most effective way of communication. And apparently, they can't seem to stop either.

Look, I am not against good communication. But remember that communication is something that goes both ways. If women expects their boys to care about the sales in Jaya Jusco now, and how cheap the Akemi comforter sets are (50-70% discounts you know), then you must also be able to INTELLIGENTLY discuss why Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez shouldn't playing together if given a choice.

No? I guessed so. Now, we boys never tried to even bring up football subjects with you ladies, so why is it that you feel you MUST, at all costs, tell us (with full animated details) about your stupid best friend who got dumped for the 300th time? She's stupid. That's it. Plain and simple.

Next time you ladies feel like you need to have a verbal diarrhoea again, please remember that:

1. We don't give a shit.
2. We don't wanna give a shit. Ever.
3. We need silence. Lots of it. And we are happy with that.
4. We can communicate in lots of other creative ways. Put on your lingerie, and see us purr.
5. We, for once in our life at least, would like to talk to you about OUR interests.

Now, if you wanna qualify as an effective communicator to the opposite sex, see if you can answer these questions:

1. What's the difference between having a NOS (Nitrious Oxide) system as compared to a Turbo Charger in a performace engine?
2. In snooker, what color balls do we pot in sequence and what's their points worth? Pink, Blue, Green, Brown, Yellow, Black
3. How many configuration and versions are there in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the F35?
4. The Iskandar Economic Region project in Johor have been critisised heavily. Why?
5. What happens after an offside have been declared in football?

No? Then let's enjoy the silence.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

.: Return of The King :.

I was so caught up with work recently, I barely have time to eat decent meals and sleep properly, never mind writing on my blogs. School holidays have typically been a hectic season for my line, and adding to aggressive expansion, I was pushing 14-16 hour days regularly.

Anyway, I am building something which I am passionate about, and which am very proud of, so I am not complaining. And for now, at least, I am finally getting a short breather.

So many things that I want to write about, and so little time. But first things first... I will begin by asking my regular visitors how they are all doing... Jo-No, Pam, Claire, Angel and Adrian, how is it going? Drop me a line, let me know if everything's cool :)

I am not going to give a history lesson, so let me see if I can update everybody on my life for the past month or so:

1. Change of regular hang out spot from Flam to Mystique and Sanctuary

2. Have my seventh operations branch up and running, and will target a total of 10 by end of the year.

3. Ready to get a new car, but don't know which one I want. Maybe you guys can help me decide.

4. Disappointed at the lack of feminist posts (such as OTJ series) on Pam's blog. She must have sobered up... or actually fell in love with a real man. Regardless, I am rooting for a return of Feminist Pam. Much as I hate to admit, feministic posts from her (which I still think is crap) do indeed brighten up my day as I read thru them.
So there u go ...

Updates in the form of Soundbites :)

Oh .. and here it is:


or





Sunday, August 19, 2007

.: Standing In The Eyes Of The World :.

I just uploaded my latest video to YouTube.com yesterday with a music video of Manchester United ... my heart, my soul, my love. Hope you guys like it as much as I had fun making the video.



Ella - Standing In The Eyes Of The World (and the approximate English translation)


Pahit getir hidup... dan pengorbanan

(Life is full of bitter memories and sacrifices)
Terpaksa dihadapi, demi kejayaan
(But we have to face them if we were to succeed)
Terdidik sejak mula, tabah berusaha
(Learning from young, to be strong and work hard)
Tanpa cuba melangkah, tak kemana
(Without trying the first step, we will end up nowhere)
Di mana kau berada
(Wherever you are)
Pencapaian tak tiba dengan mudah
(Success does not come easy)

( Chorus )


Kini "Standing In The Eyes Of The World"
(Now you are standing in the eyes of the world)
Hanyalah selangkah dari nyata
(Only one step away from realization)
Keazaman membara dijiwa
(Determination burned into your heart)
Menanti saat bebas merdeka
(Waiting for the moment to exhale)
Tiba masa kau melangkah gagah
(It's time you step forward boldly)
Bersemangat ke arah matlamat sedaya upaya
(Spirited towards your goal)
Engkau terunggul
(You are the best)
Wajar "Standing In The Eyes Of The World"
(And deserve to be standing in the eyes of the world)

Harapan yang pernah terkulai layu
(Old hopes which have died out)
Kembali segar mekar bawah bayanganmu
(Is resurrected again with you)
Setiap manusia ingin berjaya
(Everyone wants to excel)
Namun tak semua miliki tuah
(But not everybody have the opportunity)
Engkau menghampirinya
(You are near it)
Kesempatan telah pun tiba...
(The chance has come...)

( repeat chorus )

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

.: OMFG!!! My Little Black Book still EXISTS!!! :.

I was rummaging through some old storage spaces in my room recently, and OH MY GOD!!!

I actually found my old little black book (and YES, it was even elegantly BLACK in color) with a collection of gal's names and phone numbers.








I know every guy have a book similar to this, but I can't believe that mine still exists. And mine is really a little book, not much larger than the size of a credit card.

Regressing, I started the collection with just a handful of names back in 1994 (a little over a decade away), and filled it up when I got to Form
4 (1996). Today, it has exactly 196 names and numbers.









Now what I did with that book is of course highly classified. Needless to say, that book brought me lots of fond memories, a few sad ones, but all of them fully cherished!



Full pull out - front view



Full pull out - back view

Saturday, July 07, 2007

.: Candle In The Wind :.

My dearest second cousin left us 3 days ago, at the age of 5. The most graceful, friendly and brave girl I have ever met and loved, I can't even begin to describe the sorrow that we all felt when she left us.

I just want you to know that you will forever be in our hearts, and that we love you.


Wednesday, June 13, 2007

.: Waiting for a Star to Fall :.

I was in Velvet recently, on the week right before the hectic school holidays start. I don't usually party in KL, but Lynn was having her birthday party there, and I promised her I would at show up.

It was Mambo night, which meant Eighties music all night long. I was there with James, and we went early. Around 11 PM, the DJ played the original version of "Waiting for a Star to Fall" by Boy Meets Girl, albeit with a slightly faster tempo.

And just barely a few days before, I was debating with my group of buddies to determine our favourite songs of the Eighties and Nineties. And that night in Velvet, I knew that my claim of "Waiting for a Star to Fall" to be the best song of our growing up years is fully justified.

The groups 'Cabin Crew' and 'Sunset Strippers' both released a remixed version of this song about a year back, but the best number is still, without a doubt, the original.

Here you go guys. Eat your hearts out.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

.: Hannah T :.

Hannah is the sweetest, coolest and smartest celeb in the Malaysian scene ... and she's really, really small sized and petite, which I love in a lady.

Oh and her new album Crossing Bridges? Absolutely AWESOME! Check out the samples here, and also for Hannah's official site

In the first song, "Truly Yours", Hannah's passion and voice can match that of any American Idol finalists.. honest.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

.: Inspiron Death Part 2 :.

24 April 2006 8.47 PM

My laptop booted up with an agonising, painful whirling sound.. slowly into the BIOS screen. Checking Memory ... done. Detecting primary hard disk... FOUND!.

Okay so far so good. As long as the hard disk could be detected, there was hope, however faint.

Next, the Windows XP boot screen. Boy, that was the first time in my entire life that I was ever so glad to see the XP screen. That also meant the drive was at least partially readable. More hope. And even more nervous anticipation. Was my Inspiron going to come all this way, and then let me down?




And there and then, I started praying to God, Jesus and Adun. (Adun is the Protoss God in Starcraft). I told God that if He lets my drive boot up alright, I would quit smoking. I told Jesus that... well, come to think of it, I never spoken to him. But I promised Adun I would start playing Starcraft again if I can grab my data out alright.

And guess what? They seemed to like me much on this fateful day. Finally the Windows logon screen. My confidence grew. I punched in my password, and about a minute later, my DESKTOP!

Okay. I realised I forgot to do a list of priority things to backup. Took out a scratch pad, and the list looked pretty much as follows, with most important at top:

1. Work Data on D:\ (price lists, quotations, proposals etc)

2. Personal Data on D:\ (photos, videos, MP3s and projects)

3. Emails and Addresses

4. Full C:\ Backup (if possible)

"Tik ... tik ... tik...".

The damn sound was back. Damn damn damn damn, I cursed Adun. I had not barely even started copying my files. Have to work fast, I urged myself.

I checked the crossover cable from my Dell notebook to my Acer notebook, and making sure one notebook could ping the other. I brought down all antivirus and firewall programs in both notebooks.

On the Inspiron, I mapped my Acer's D:\, which contains almost identical data updated to about 3 weeks old compared to the Inspiron, and booted up a program called SynBack.

SynBack (from a company called 2BrightSparks.com) is a wonderful program which scans both drives for latest updated files, and only copies files which have changed. I got SynBack to scan for changes, and start backing up immediately after.

I was sweating. I estimated that on my D:\, I would have roughly about 100 MBs or so worth of new files (MP3s, proposals, videos etc). Now, it was not the copying of the files that I'm worried about, as 100 MBs should not take a long time, but the scanning portion required the program to run through each and every single folder, sub-folder and file in the disk. That would take an extremely heavy toll on the ailing drive, but I had no choice.

A 3 week old sync would take about 1 hour to complete. I refused to wait at the sidelines, knowing well that it was completely out of my hands, and only Fate determined whether the data gets out alive or otherwise.

"Tik ... tik ... tik...".

I left the room for what might be the last ciggarette of my life, should the whole backup process go well. Came back 5 minutes later, and SynBack has done about 5% of my Inspiron D:\.

When (if) the whole process was done, I would have a perfectly syncronized and backed up D:\ drive in my Acer notebook at the end of the process. If it failed halfway during the scan, then all efforts and prayers would have been in vain.

I lowered the brightness of both LCD screens, and head to bed, to the sound of pure, clean death about to come to my beloved Inspiron as my only companion. Tomorrow is judgement day...

"Tik ... tik ... tik...".

To be continued.........

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

.: Inspiron Death Part 1:.

24 April 2007 - 10.24 AM

I woke up, feeling slightly groggy, but otherwise refreshed after a night of restful sleep. By virtue of habit, the first thing I did was reach my hand out of my comforter, to the floor where my trusted old friend laid, my Dell Inspiron 510m notebook to check for work emails, and any updates on ESPN.Soccernet.

That's how I start my day. Everyday for the past 2 years. Hell, I even prowl the web before I give my other half the customary morning kiss.

This morning, however, there was an eery feeling swirling around my room. It sounded more quiet than usual. Deathly silent. There was also a slight feeling of static in the air, coupled with bone chilling cold and heavy humidity. Something evil looms.

I flipped open the LCD cover slowly, as I was not fully awake. Then I hear a strange sound. Soft, barely audible, but it was there nevertheless.

"Tik ... tik ... tik...".

That jerked me up instantly. I have not done any IT support (save for my own personal hardwares) for the past 6 years, but the training I had as a Systems Engineer back in 2001 rushed into my head instantly. You see, just like a medical doctor trained in the art of emergency medicine and procedures, we were trained to identify emergency symptoms in a computer. And this is the biggest one of them all. The cardiac arrest of the notebook.

"Tik ... tik ... tik...".

That distinct sound can only mean one thing: The hard drive is either dead, or dying real, real soon.

Took my hand off the laptop, shell shocked. Panic.

When was the last backup? 3 weeks ago. Any new, important data ever since? Yes. Lots. Holy mother of God. That massive proposal I created for my client last week wasn't backed up. The long hours I put into creating Max's videos. That wasn't in either. Not to mention 3 weeks of emails. Damn, damn, damn.

"Tik ... tik ... tik...".

Windows was still on, but hanged. That is a good sign. No Bluescreen of Death. That means the drive is still partially alive, at least for now.

"Tik ... tik ... tik...".

Okay, I told myself to calm down. I almost rushed to map my laptop to my server shared drive and try to copy all the data to the server and hope for the best. But what did basic training say?

We know that to try and push the limit of the drive further will kill it even faster. We also know that heat is also a problem in situations like these, as the disk's spindle will expand due to heat, and that worsen things. It is also known that the drive have less than 48 hours of operation time left to live, regardless of what one does to it.

So I got the facts. What do I do with it?

"Tik ... tik ... tik...".

I made a decision. And in doing so, I am taking a huge risk, but with potentially high returns..

Slowly, and gently, I carressed the power button. Applied some pressure on it, and turned the whole notebook off.

I lowered the temperature of my room air conditioning to the lowest possible, 16 degrees centigrade. And then I went on to do my daily chores, although for the whole day, my heart was heavy, and I keep hearing the "tik... tik... tik..." repeating in my head.


24 April 2007 - 8.36 pm

Came back, and my room was freezing cold. Almost like the morgue. I gently touched my Dell, running my fingers through the sleek LCD screen. I felt the keyboard keys, and finally I rested my hands on the small touchpad. Looking for signs of life, looking for hope.

Next, I had a decision to make again. Do I move my Dell to my workstation, where I could have nearer physical access to the network switch, router, server and my other notebook, or do I leave it as it is? I decided to move it, after weighing the pros and cons. You see, moving a sick drive is very very dangerous. One very gentle jerk, and you can be rest assure your data's fried.

So I picked up the notebook slowly and laid it on top of my table. I plugged in all the necessary pheriperals. Cross cable into my Acer Aspire. USB connection for the DVD Burner. USB mouse. Power cord.

And I stared at the "Power" button, touched it but not pressing it. I hesitated. I dreaded this moment for the whole day. According to experience, there's a 70% chance the drive won't boot again. Ever.

Slowly, I applied some pressure to the button. Here we go. Moment of truth...


To be continued.........

Monday, April 23, 2007

.: Max on YouTube :.

Just made this short video of Max for YouTube. Hope you guys enjoy :)