Have recently started taking driving lessons again, after a long break of 11 years. The old leg injury seemed to have disappeared and I'm now able to drive without any pain.
Unfortunately, some old habits kicked in: in singapore, we drive on the right side of the car whereas in europe, you do it on the other side. This brings lots of confusion and made life interesting.
one such incident happened today: i was trying to turn on my left signal lights when i reached out with my right hand instead of my left.. I think the instructor had a hard time trying not to laugh as the windshield wiper started cleaning the windshield...
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Monday, April 09, 2007
finally!!!!!
I've finally managed to catelog my entire library of 281 books (of which 197 are christian books, excluding study bibles..)
Here's a rough breakdown of the tags/cateloging system i used.
tags by frequency
christian (197), christian living (154), non-christian (83), leisure (42), fiction (39), academic (30), computer science (28), relationships (27), men-resources (17), Perspective (16), Reference (16), counselling (16), humour (13), personal growth (12), apologetics (12), Bio/real-life account (11), linguistics (11), comics (11), Leadership (9), evangelism (8), History (7), writting-aids (7), devotion (7), Contextual Background (6), faith (6), theology (6), philosophical (5), Holy Spirit (5), suffering (5), non-fiction (4), Foundational (4), christian fiction (3), Practical (2), prayer (2), doubts (2), Psalms (2), Teaching (2), temperaments (2), Parables (2), military-interests (1), church (1), study aid (1), software engineering (1), spiritual warfare (1)
phew!!! :P
Here's a rough breakdown of the tags/cateloging system i used.
tags by frequency
christian (197), christian living (154), non-christian (83), leisure (42), fiction (39), academic (30), computer science (28), relationships (27), men-resources (17), Perspective (16), Reference (16), counselling (16), humour (13), personal growth (12), apologetics (12), Bio/real-life account (11), linguistics (11), comics (11), Leadership (9), evangelism (8), History (7), writting-aids (7), devotion (7), Contextual Background (6), faith (6), theology (6), philosophical (5), Holy Spirit (5), suffering (5), non-fiction (4), Foundational (4), christian fiction (3), Practical (2), prayer (2), doubts (2), Psalms (2), Teaching (2), temperaments (2), Parables (2), military-interests (1), church (1), study aid (1), software engineering (1), spiritual warfare (1)
phew!!! :P
Thursday, April 05, 2007
gosh! that tickles!
finally got myself to buy a electronic toothbrush. never believed in those things, but apparently, according to my dentist, they are better than the conventional versions.
so this old fashioned computer scientist finally got one.
the verdict? I drool. and it tickles. :(
so this old fashioned computer scientist finally got one.
the verdict? I drool. and it tickles. :(
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
my love and hate relationship with coffee (part 3) - the present
I used to hate coffee in the past. Some lurking memory hidden deep within the deeps of consciousness affirmed something of that nature - the initial sip, staying neutral, the subsequent yucks, etc. But something happened along the way.. Journey with me along these series of blogs to explore my descend into caffine hell..
Living in germany has its perks: coffee is relatively well received here. The downside is that the coffee tends to taste (and look) like dark-coloured water.
after joining my company, I was delighted to find that coffee was freely available in the pantry. Since the whole wing seems to be hooked on coffee, the pot was in constant need for refilling.
In order to increase my personal satisfaction, I have taken to reducing the amount of water used for making coffee. This worked - it helped to reduce the diluation factor, but it brought some interesting side effects.
apart from comments like - "you are the only person who can make expresso-strengthed coffee from filter coffee" and "if i leave my spoon in side the coffee and it stands, i know you made it", I started to get a steady stream of visitors to my office with enquires about the originator of the coffee.. (apparently these guys cannot stomach strong stuff)
even the die-hard engineers (aka coffee junkies) started to reduce their portions to half cups..
me? There are times when "just coffee is still not enough". I'm glad for the instant mix coffee brands who are often giving out free samples. How else can I enhance the flavour and intensity of my brew?
Somedays I dream of coffee. not just the normal coffee, but having the ultimate brew that is both tasty and reinvigorating. That has yet to be discovered yet, but one can dream caffine-induced dreams, right? ;)
Living in germany has its perks: coffee is relatively well received here. The downside is that the coffee tends to taste (and look) like dark-coloured water.
after joining my company, I was delighted to find that coffee was freely available in the pantry. Since the whole wing seems to be hooked on coffee, the pot was in constant need for refilling.
In order to increase my personal satisfaction, I have taken to reducing the amount of water used for making coffee. This worked - it helped to reduce the diluation factor, but it brought some interesting side effects.
apart from comments like - "you are the only person who can make expresso-strengthed coffee from filter coffee" and "if i leave my spoon in side the coffee and it stands, i know you made it", I started to get a steady stream of visitors to my office with enquires about the originator of the coffee.. (apparently these guys cannot stomach strong stuff)
even the die-hard engineers (aka coffee junkies) started to reduce their portions to half cups..
me? There are times when "just coffee is still not enough". I'm glad for the instant mix coffee brands who are often giving out free samples. How else can I enhance the flavour and intensity of my brew?
Somedays I dream of coffee. not just the normal coffee, but having the ultimate brew that is both tasty and reinvigorating. That has yet to be discovered yet, but one can dream caffine-induced dreams, right? ;)
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
the "blah" to go the distance (part 2)
This extention was rather unexpected. :)
yesterday, we had day 1. we just had a briefing on the state of the matter at hand, and we are facing an interesting future.
that is, it is interesting if you are somewhere above and not at the end of the food chain. from here, it sounds potentially like blah.
I've never liked big companies in my professional life. Contributions in such places tend to go swallowed into the masses of people here, and your chances of growth tends to be limited. me, I've always headed for research labs or start-up companies where the work is hard, but at least results are visible.
My decision to join my current company has been one of pragmatism: I heard good things about the company and i feel good about the environment here. Despite the fact that my work would probably end up as fodder for "the big picture", it was a price i was willing to pay.
looking at things now, I am in doubt of whether the same attractive factors remain. I am hoping that things would improve: that advancements would be possible, and that it is possible to take positive steps ahead. I'm going to try to stay positive on this..
hopefully...
yesterday, we had day 1. we just had a briefing on the state of the matter at hand, and we are facing an interesting future.
that is, it is interesting if you are somewhere above and not at the end of the food chain. from here, it sounds potentially like blah.
I've never liked big companies in my professional life. Contributions in such places tend to go swallowed into the masses of people here, and your chances of growth tends to be limited. me, I've always headed for research labs or start-up companies where the work is hard, but at least results are visible.
My decision to join my current company has been one of pragmatism: I heard good things about the company and i feel good about the environment here. Despite the fact that my work would probably end up as fodder for "the big picture", it was a price i was willing to pay.
looking at things now, I am in doubt of whether the same attractive factors remain. I am hoping that things would improve: that advancements would be possible, and that it is possible to take positive steps ahead. I'm going to try to stay positive on this..
hopefully...
my love and hate relationship with coffee (part 2) - the decline
I used to hate coffee in the past. Some lurking memory hidden deep within the deeps of consciousness affirmed something of that nature - the initial sip, staying neutral, the subsequent yucks, etc. But something happened along the way.. Journey with me along these series of blogs to explore my descend into caffine hell..
Sometime in my life it must have happened: the taste of coffee sickened me. I know it sounds unbelievable now, but there was a time when coffee turned my stomach and i firmly rejected it. It might have been the taste or perhaps it could have been the principle behind it: who wants to live off this dark stuff anyway?
for years, whenever I was invited to coffee, I would turn the invitations down. Starbucks had nay a chance to make a dime from me. (ahh.. sweet memories)
All these started to change when I started on the path down computer science. Instead of conforming to my parent's wishes for me to follow my brother into the legal profession, I decided to do mental contortions with my grey matter..
The problem didn't really start with computer science. It started with the Final Year Project. Imagine managing a small group of graduate-wannabes, working from dawn to dusk, balancing your schoolwork, your exams and trying to get on top of everything. It was enough to make anyone sick - and I managed to get hospitalized from overwork. (who said hard work doesn't kill?)
Sometime after i returned from the hospital, I realized that i needed a crutch to help me get over my stress. The obvious choice was coffee. I was probably the only person who had entire cartons of coffee (tin-can versions) in the research lab. That crutch lasted me well into the present day..
Sometime in my life it must have happened: the taste of coffee sickened me. I know it sounds unbelievable now, but there was a time when coffee turned my stomach and i firmly rejected it. It might have been the taste or perhaps it could have been the principle behind it: who wants to live off this dark stuff anyway?
for years, whenever I was invited to coffee, I would turn the invitations down. Starbucks had nay a chance to make a dime from me. (ahh.. sweet memories)
All these started to change when I started on the path down computer science. Instead of conforming to my parent's wishes for me to follow my brother into the legal profession, I decided to do mental contortions with my grey matter..
The problem didn't really start with computer science. It started with the Final Year Project. Imagine managing a small group of graduate-wannabes, working from dawn to dusk, balancing your schoolwork, your exams and trying to get on top of everything. It was enough to make anyone sick - and I managed to get hospitalized from overwork. (who said hard work doesn't kill?)
Sometime after i returned from the hospital, I realized that i needed a crutch to help me get over my stress. The obvious choice was coffee. I was probably the only person who had entire cartons of coffee (tin-can versions) in the research lab. That crutch lasted me well into the present day..
Monday, April 02, 2007
tha "Blah" to go the distance
Sometime just after i came to germany, my family sent me a care-package containing stuff which I'd "probably need".
Someone thoughtfully slipped in a T-shirt with the slogan "the power to go the distance", in an attempt, i imagine, to encourage me to "go the distance". It was promptly placed at the very back of my closet, designated for wear on laundry days. (no one ever questions what you wear at the laundromat. Since everyone is washing their "nicer clothes", it is perfectly understandable and acceptable to wear strange garments to that place, provided that you don't offend someone's sense of modesty. )
I've never found out who the T-Shirt came from, and I'd certainly not want to hurt anyone by rejecting their kind and loving intentions. The unintended banishment was not carried out without reason:
1- The shade of colour for the t-shirt was a yucky blue. I like blue, but there are limits to what i can accept.
2- I'm not the type who like flashy slogan on my t-shirts. I'm not a walking billboard, for goodness sake, and I'm not about to do free advertisement for any brand (or slogan, for that matter)
3- I fail to see how wearing that t-shirt would help me succeed. Call me a pessimist if you will, but i think the chances of failure does not decrease, even with the help of power-shirt there.
I'm now on Day 1 of a new company re-org. The usual hot-air, or "blah" as we fondly call it, has been sent around to all employees, with rose-tinted futures and great promises.
reading through the mails circulated around, i can't help but to think that "blah" is not exclusively reserved for politicians. Company CEOs, senior management and PR departments are quite adept at releasing it too. and from all indications, you need "blah" (lots of it) to convince people that the future is "it".
so ladies, gentlemen and the spooks out there reading this post, please allow me to suggest a new version of the slogan (as indicated in my blog post) -
Someone thoughtfully slipped in a T-shirt with the slogan "the power to go the distance", in an attempt, i imagine, to encourage me to "go the distance". It was promptly placed at the very back of my closet, designated for wear on laundry days. (no one ever questions what you wear at the laundromat. Since everyone is washing their "nicer clothes", it is perfectly understandable and acceptable to wear strange garments to that place, provided that you don't offend someone's sense of modesty. )
I've never found out who the T-Shirt came from, and I'd certainly not want to hurt anyone by rejecting their kind and loving intentions. The unintended banishment was not carried out without reason:
1- The shade of colour for the t-shirt was a yucky blue. I like blue, but there are limits to what i can accept.
2- I'm not the type who like flashy slogan on my t-shirts. I'm not a walking billboard, for goodness sake, and I'm not about to do free advertisement for any brand (or slogan, for that matter)
3- I fail to see how wearing that t-shirt would help me succeed. Call me a pessimist if you will, but i think the chances of failure does not decrease, even with the help of power-shirt there.
I'm now on Day 1 of a new company re-org. The usual hot-air, or "blah" as we fondly call it, has been sent around to all employees, with rose-tinted futures and great promises.
reading through the mails circulated around, i can't help but to think that "blah" is not exclusively reserved for politicians. Company CEOs, senior management and PR departments are quite adept at releasing it too. and from all indications, you need "blah" (lots of it) to convince people that the future is "it".
so ladies, gentlemen and the spooks out there reading this post, please allow me to suggest a new version of the slogan (as indicated in my blog post) -
Have the BLAH to go the distance!
my love and hate relationship with coffee (part 1) - the hallo
I used to hate coffee in the past. Some lurking memory hidden deep within the deeps of consciousness affirmed something of that nature - the initial sip, staying neutral, the subsequent yucks, etc. But something happened along the way.. Journey with me along these series of blogs to explore my descend into caffine hell..
I had quite some memories of being the office boy when i was literally, the "boy" in my dad's company. Despite being oh, about knee-high to a grasshopper then, dad depended on me for his daily infuse of brown swill. And being the nice son that i was, I ran frequent errands to the coffee-shop (the singaporean variant, not to be mistaken for the Dutch versions) to grab some coffee for him. (the fact that I got to keep the change probably helped. I was young then, but already deeply entrenched in avarice.. )
The coffee-carriers of those days were rather interesting - shop-owners would often use tins from condensed-milk, punch a hole through the lid (to put the carrying string) and utilize the metal container to hold the coffee. Another alternative would be to dump the coffee into a little plastic drink-bag. Both are no longer common in singapore.
My first memories of drinking coffee would be from one of these expeditions - if memory serves me correctly, Dad offered me a sip to try, after which my reaction was one of amazement - why does anyone like this strange liquid??
It's a good thing that there is no legal age limit for coffee: dad would have been convicted without trial if there were laws forbidding "coffee to minors".
I had quite some memories of being the office boy when i was literally, the "boy" in my dad's company. Despite being oh, about knee-high to a grasshopper then, dad depended on me for his daily infuse of brown swill. And being the nice son that i was, I ran frequent errands to the coffee-shop (the singaporean variant, not to be mistaken for the Dutch versions) to grab some coffee for him. (the fact that I got to keep the change probably helped. I was young then, but already deeply entrenched in avarice.. )
The coffee-carriers of those days were rather interesting - shop-owners would often use tins from condensed-milk, punch a hole through the lid (to put the carrying string) and utilize the metal container to hold the coffee. Another alternative would be to dump the coffee into a little plastic drink-bag. Both are no longer common in singapore.
My first memories of drinking coffee would be from one of these expeditions - if memory serves me correctly, Dad offered me a sip to try, after which my reaction was one of amazement - why does anyone like this strange liquid??
It's a good thing that there is no legal age limit for coffee: dad would have been convicted without trial if there were laws forbidding "coffee to minors".
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