sixthseal.com – Page 315 – Leading the wild into the ways of the man…

It’s just like Magic!

February 23, 2003 by HB

There I was…taking a dump in the toilet this morning. I was still
in my PJs (I just woke up) and I brought my cell phone into the toilet
to play some Tetris. As I was about to wipe myself, I put the cell
phone down on top of the two rolls of spare toilet paper that has been
stashed in one corner of the toilet and pulled on the roll. I actually
can use one hand to wipe myself but that requires this trick where you
take a hold of the end of the roll and pull hard towards you to unravel
it. Once a desirable length has been acheived, you flick the length of
toilet paper downwards (while still holding to it) in a hard and fast
motion. I was in no mood for bathroom acrobatics this morning, so I
just put the cell phone down and used both hands.

Anyway, after doing my business, I washed my hands and went back to
my room. A bit of background information: my toilet is shared with 3
other people, each stairway floor has one toilet and each stairway
floor houses 4 single-occupancy rooms and thus 4 people. The cleaners
come every morning to clean the bathrooms, restock on toilet paper and
empty the floor waste bin. Well, I was in my room and working a bit on
my IE when I realized that I forgot to bring my cell phone back from
the toilet. I went back to get it and found out that:

My cell phone has been transformed into an unused roll of toilet paper.

Anyway, the cleaners had been there since there was a new roll of
toilet paper on top of the previous 2, so I called my own cell and one
of the cleaners picked it up. I arranged to have it returned to the
operations office so everything was fine. Just thought it was funny
that my first though was “Oh, my cell phone turned into toilet paper”.

Death in the family

February 22, 2003 by HB

My Athlon 750 killed itself yesterday afternoon, may it rest in
peace. The fan somehow fell off the CPU, which resulted in it
overheating. It happened in a couple of seconds, which raises questions
about how hot the CPU was running. My theory about what happened was
that the thermal glue was transfering heat to the surface of the chip,
but with no fan to dissipate the heat, and thus it burnt. I couldn’t
get the computer to restart after that, not that I expected it to,
considering that there was the smell of burnt electronics eminating
from the case.

Christopher’s Indomie Pien Nuk

Well, I woke early this morning to get the motherboard and CPU
replaced. Adrian came by and we went to Christopher’s place, where he
was eating breakfast – pien nuk (basically wonton) with Indomie flavor
packets. He swears it tastes good…I gotta try that someday. We went
to three places – IT Computer Supermarket, I.T. Warehouse and
e.Computers. Very convenient, since all of them are in Clayton. After
comparing the price lists, I found IT Computer Supermarket to have the
cheapest prices. I have to say that e.Computers has the nicest cat
though. Look at it! 🙂 It was lounging around the shop when we went
there. I think it belongs to the owner. Very cute cat and it touched my
hand with it’s nose when I went up close. Furry, furry cat.

🙂

Anyway, we went back to IT Computer Supermarket and I got:

AMD Athlon XP 2200+ A$210
Gigabyte GA-7VA VIA KT400 A$158
Kingston 256MB DDR PC2700 A$134
80GB Maxtor 7,200 ATA133 A$195
Sparkle 64MB GeForce4 MX440 SE DDR TV Out A$98
Omni Black USB+Audio P4 See Through Case A$105
GA 008 PS/2 Keyboard A$5

Total: A$905

IT Computer Supermarket

I can’t say that they have good service, but they have some of the
cheapest prices in Melbourne. I got a discount on top of the total
price, so I only paid A$850. I didn’t actually need the hard disk, but
Windows XP can be really anal at times and refuses to start if the
system configuration changes drastically so I got one to be safe. I’ll
enjoy the capacity anyway. I didn’t really need the case as well, but
it has a clear side panel. With lights. And a fan. And front USB ports
and headphone jacks.

I’ll have the 2 piece chicken meal please

Anyway, after getting all that (except the GeForce4, more on that
later) we went to Coles to get some grocery shopping done and then to
KFC. I have to say that KFC really sucks over here. The chicken is so
fatty and soggy that I can barely choke it down. Does Australia use a
different recipe for KFC? It’s a franchise so that’s unlikely, but it
sure tastes like it.

Push down and outwards

Well, after all that, I went back to assemble everything. Getting
the heatsink and fan mounted (haha) on the CPU really took a lot of
effort…until I read the manual. It turns out that I’m just supposed
to align one side and press down and out with a screwdriver tip to
connect the other side. I tried doing that as well but I still couldn’t
get it to connect. I poured over the diagrams. It said “push down and
outwards where it’s circled”. WHAT CIRCLE??? Damn manual should have
never passed Quality Assuarance. After a lot of attempts I finally
realized that I should push at the top groove, not the bottom one…

Don’t look at me! I’m naked! 🙁

Well, after that the RAM went into the motherboard, the case got
disassembled, the motherboard went into the case, the cables went into
slots and the screws got screwed. I looked at the power button. PUSH.
Nothing happened. Puzzled, I looked around the case. Ah, one of the
power supply cables were not connected. That’s it! I connected and
pushed the power button. Still nothing. My monitor says it’s not
receiving a signal.

Note to self: Edges are sharper than they look

I removed the graphics card (GeForce2 MX – my previous card) and put
it into my old motherboard with the dead CPU. It detected the graphics
card but of course couldn’t boot up due to the burnt out CPU. I put the
card back into the new system. Still nothing. I called the shop – they
were closing at 4:30 pm and it was nearly 4 pm so me and Adrian went
over again to get the motherboard replaced. I thought it was a
motherboard problem, until I read “This motherboard does not support 2X
AGP cards. Only 4X-8X AGP supported”.

Stuff that matters

My old GeForce2 MX is 2X AGP, so that was where things went wrong.
It’s a good thing I read that before I went back home because if I
didn’t, I would have been without a computer the whole weekend coz the
shops all close on Sunday. That would be BAD because I have IE stuff
due next week. Well, long story short, I got back and put everything
together and everything worked! 🙂 Thanks to Adrian for helping out
today. I’m pretty tired now coz I didn’t enough sleep and was running
around Clayton most of the day. So that’s it for today. Yay, everything
runs so much faster now. It’s like my PC had several points of meth and
it’s now raging, eager and helluva tweaked out. Naughty boy.

All riced up and ready to go!

Oh, and if my spelling degrades noticably today, it’s because I haven’t installed spell check yet. 🙂

Weed Society of Victoria

February 20, 2003 by HB

I remember this episode of The Simpsons that had Otto (the stoner
bus driver) coming out of a shop which had a large sign saying pot
something or other (I think) and he said “That’s just false
advertising”. Heh. The shop in that episode was really selling pottery
but the name of the shop was somewhat misleading and the color scheme
was very much like a head shop too.

Anyway, I’m still not done with my assignment that’s due at 12 noon
tomorrow! I’m feeling very unproductive now so I’ll get some sleep and
wake up at around 3 am to work on it again. I’ll have to go to the 24
hour computer labs in campus to do it though, the program we’re using
is not available for download. It’s a good thing I live on campus…

Well, I updated the Picture of the Day, which should be called
Picture of the Month. I also fixed the CSS to make it display properly
on 800×600 now. My apologies, I didn’t realize the sidebar wasn’t
showing up in that resolution. By the way, the Weed Society of Victoria
[vicnet.net.au] is not what first pops into the mind, but a legitimate
organization “to promote wider awareness and interest in weeds and
their management” and also “to encourage the study of weeds and the
dissemination of its findings”. I’ll like to say that sounds
interesting, but that would make me a liar.

THERE IS A BOMB ATTACHED TO THIS TOILET, GET OFF AND YOU DIE! Check out the Picture of the Day. Classic toilet graffiti.

The Third Peak

February 19, 2003 by HB

*puuuushuuuuuuuuu* (sound of a balloon deflating) I just got back
from the code review. I’ve got a list of 23 odd things to fix with my
code before Monday. It’s mostly minor stuff though, so it’s still okay.
Our supervisor has selflessly sacrificed a good chunk of his after work
time to go through our code and my group mates and I spent several
hours in his office while he went through the code with a fine tooth
comb.

Anyway, I’m pretty tired now so I’m going to sleep early tonight.
I’ve gotta wake up early tomorrow coz it’s the last day I’ll be able to
work on my Neural Networks assignment. It’s due by Friday 12 noon. The
above picture was taken tonight on the Pakenham train I take to get
home. It’s not very clear, take a train in Melbourne and you’ll know
why. It’s not exactly smooth sailing.

I took two photos actually, and the second one was when the train
was stationary so it should be clearer. Unfortunately, the second one
mysteriously disappeared from the memory card. I’m going to file that
under mysterious mysteries. I think I may very well be the only one
that finds myself funny. =D Anyway, I’ve noticed that there are three
peak hours for trains. The first two are logical – the hour before
office hours and the hour after office hours.

However the carriages are always full from 8:30 pm – 9:30 pm too.
I’ve thought about this and the best reason I could come out with is
that the passengers are people who went out for a drink and to catch up
with friends after office hours instead of going straight home. The
fact that night trains are truncated might have something to do with it
as well. The trains after 7:30 pm are not full length ie some carriages
are removed because it’s supposed to be off peak hours. Truncated
trains. 🙂 I alliterate.

Mysterious Mysteries

February 18, 2003 by HB

Look! A mysterious alley!

I spent most of the day in uni today. I went in the morning to meet
up with my group mates. We were supposed to get together and practice
for a presentation at 2:30 pm. At least, everyone in the group thought
it was 2:30 pm. After careful perusal of the IE website, it was
discovered that the time we were meant to do the presentation was 4 pm!
This of course led to much grumbling over lost sleep. 🙂 A good deal of
finger pointing was made, but we could not isolate the person who
started the “2:30 pm” meme.

Anyway, we ended up spending most of the time fixing some minor
issues with the code anyway. It was 3:30 pm before we all went to have
lunch at Pot Luck and I think I’m feeling slightly uncomfortable
because I can’t actually eat very fast without indigestion. The
presentation went okay, and I just got back from campus because we had
to install our code into the actual server after that.

Well, I didn’t feel like eating anything for dinner, so I picked up
a box of Coco Pops. Kellogg’s always has some kind of promotion going
on with their cereals. A couple of weeks ago they were attaching the
full version of Age of Empires (the first one) to one of their cereals.
I didn’t get it though because it was one of the unholy “healthy”
cereals. I think it was Chex or something. I only go for the good stuff
like Froot Loops and Coco Pops. 🙂

Anyway, the 3 inch CD inside the Coco Pops box had a game called
“Raging River Rapids” (gotta love alliteration) which features Coco the
monkey trying to navigate a river with three logs strung together. The
logs look strangely unappetizing and conjured up images of a non-food
nature. There was also a comic, wallpapers, cursors etc. The standard
Flash stuff.

Oh, and that alley is the one beside the Huntingdale train station.
I liked the play of light and shadows…nah, I’m being pretentious. I was
just attracted by the pretty colors of the masonry to the left of the
alley. Man, I’m talking so much shit today.

“Oi, Amoy!”

February 17, 2003 by HB

Amoy. It sounds like the generic term for young females that people
of my hometown use, particularly when summoning waitresses. 🙂 I don’t
know the origin of the term but I think it could be Hokkien. There’s
also a Foochow counterpart – ah mui yang. I’m Heng Hua, but I don’t
know what the Heng Hua equivalent is. I can understand the language but
the only phrase I know is “hiaw eh”. It’s a very versatile exclamation
that can be used for practically anything. Use it to substitute “si
lor” if you’re Hokkien and “eh siang noh” if you’re Foochow. I don’t
know many people who appreciate being called amoy though. Hiaw eh, I
have digressed far from what was meant to be a post about dinner.

Will write help files for marks

February 17, 2003 by HB

I’ve been writing the help files for the WIER project my group is doing for Industrial Experience. Here’s a snippet:

Adding Times

Adding times to the Task/Time Tracker is done by clicking on the subtask you want to add to.

The first button in the upper right hand corner is then clicked.
You’ll know you have the right button when you hover the mouse over the
button as “Log Time Under This Task” shows up.

When you click on the button, the Log A Work Session screen comes up.
Here is where you add the times and descriptions. The date can also be
changed by clicking on the Select Date link and selecting a date from
the pop up calendar.

After everything is filled in, clicking on Log Time will enter the times into the database.

Editing Tasks

The tasks should be updated periodically as the project goes on to
reflect the correct initial estimated hours and current estimated
hours. This is done by clicking on Edit This Task in the Task/Time
tracker upper right hand corner.

Clicking on the button will navigate you to the Edit a Task screen.

The Edit a Task screen is where you can update the Current and
Initial Estimated Hours. In this screen, the Current Estimated is being
updated to 50 hours instead of the original 150 hours after finding out
that the task is nearing completion and would not require as much hours
as previously estimated.

What do you think? I know I got confusing at times, but oh well…

I’ll be free-er (if there’s such a word) this Friday. The summer
subject I’m taking finishes for good on Friday 12 noon after I hand in
the last assignment. I don’t know why the assignment due date is after
the final exam but it just is. These couple of days are gonna be busy.
I’ve got to go to the Clayton labs tomorrow to work on the Neural
Networks assignment because the program we need to use is only
installed in the labs. Then we’re going to have our IE presentation on
Tuesday 2:30 pm and then we’re going to move all our code to the live
server on 5 pm on the same day and then we have a code review (also for
IE) on Wednesday 5 pm onwards till God knows when and then I’ll have
one last day to finish up my summer assignment and hand it in on Friday
12 noon. Phew, someone pass me the meth…no sleep for the wicked.

The Wild and Wacky Adventures of Chloe

February 16, 2003 by HB

I can’t open my pigeon hole without seeing some pussy. No,
seriously. Ever since I gave my name and mailing address for a free
video at SEXPO 2002
[sixthseal.com] I’ve been getting brochures, catalogues and vouchers
mailed to me. I get assaulted with words like College Cock 101, Horny
Fuck Mamas (stuffed to the brim with kinky dick, no less) and Shaved
She Males every time I open my mail. It’s a good thing they mail these
things in nondescript envelopes. They’re wasting their money though coz
I’m not interested. Now, if it was a pharmaceutical catalogue on the
other hand… 😉

“Hey mate do you have a spare dollar?”

February 15, 2003 by HB

I went to Coles to get some laundry detergent today and while I was
waiting for the bus, this girl came up to me and asked me if I had a
spare dollar. This is not uncommon over here, and I usually oblige if
they ask nicely and they look like they need it. The last time someone
asked me was this guy who surprised me late one night by saying “Sorry
to bother you, but could you please spare some change?” It was nice of
him to ask so politely, but I didn’t have any change, so I said so. He
went “Oh, that’s okay” and went to ask someone else. No one gave him
any change and I honestly felt sorry for the guy coz he looked like he
was in a bad shape, shivering and shaking. I was on my way to McDonalds
and he was still there when I came out so I approached him and gave him
the coins I got as change from my meal (about A$4). He needed it more
than me anyway, though I suspect it’s not for food. 🙂

However, I said no today even though I felt sorry for the girl. She
was drinking milk from a carton, and this always tugs at my
heartstrings ever since I saw this movie (forgot the title) about this
girl who had no money and had to survive by drinking milk from those
small packets they put beside the straws and napkins in McDonalds.
Er..yeah, it’s all jumbled up in my head. The point is, milk = cheap,
nutritious food. The reason I said no was because I haven’t eaten
anything since dinner last night (more than 24 hours ago) so I’m
feeling tired and irritable.

Now this got me thinking. Most people tend to be irritable and
become less than charitable when they’re hungry or tired. Okay, so this
isn’t the biggest revelation ever, but I’ve never noticed myself
predisposed that way before. Guess I was wrong.

A butterfly flaps its wings in China…

February 15, 2003 by HB

I didn’t think it would be possible, but it’s done. They improved on
the chunky Kit Kat bars. The bar has this 1 cm gap on the top where
there is this smooth flowing caramel. It has displaced Twix as my
favourite chocolate bar. It’s like stuffed crust pizzas for chocolate
bars! Perhaps the Pizza Hut management were having this focus group
with the Nestle management and they suddenly thought about this cool
idea – going where no man has gone before – putting good stuff into
normally banal stuff. Pizza Hut were putting sausages and cheese into
the crust of their pizzas and Nestle got around to putting caramel (!)
into the top layer of chocolate into their Kit Kat bars. Smooth flowing
caramel…Mmm…