The wonders of a three-week-lack of updates.

The next few weeks will be crucial to both SPMers, STPMers and university students as we charge head-on into the exam season.

Best of luck to all.

Dad gave up navigating the 3rd-mile maze of four-storey shophouses. All dressed in formal and in our very best, we were due to be at the My Wedding Collection studio for a photoshoot appointment at 4.30pm. Nobody knew exactly where was it, only a vague idea that it could be in 3rd-mile.

The clock ticked 5.30pm. Regretting he hadn’t made sure of its location beforehand, Dad rang up the studio.

“Hello? Is this My Wedding?”

Sis and I let out a chuckle.

“May I know where is your studio located? Near Hung Hung Inn? Okay.”

Which is, of course, nowhere near 3rd-mile.

So we made it to Hung Hung Inn but the studio was nowhere to be found. As if things couldn’t get any worse, it started raining really heavily. The 5pm rush hour traffic wasn’t of much help either. So we circled the area scanning every nook and canny for the studio while Mum tried frantically to call the studio to reaffirm their exact location.

Desperate, I used Dad’s phone to do a Google search on the studio’s address but found nothing but negative reviews of My Wedding Collection on a few discussion boards. Little did I know I’m gonna write one myself.

Because, guess what, we must have called them a good 20 times or more but nobody bothered to answer. Even the answering machine got sick of trying to get the point across that nobody’s picking up.

Frustrated, with a good two hours after the appointment time, tired, hungry and worried with the negative reviews of the studio’s service on the Net, we aborted the photoshoot and headed back home. We never heard from My Wedding Collection studio ever since that day.

The set at the Hollywood Bridal studio.

The next day, Mum managed to arrange another appointment. This time with the Hollywood Bridal studio, who were good enough to update my mom on a free slot available when they earlier said they were occupied for the rest of the week. My Wedding Collection studio didn’t even bother to contact us considering we didn’t show up the day before. Go figure.

So for the second time in a week, we dressed up in formal and all. This time taking no chances, knowing fully well the location of the studio and departing well before the appointment time.

Look at what my mum’s standing on!

So screw My Wedding Collection.

The photos turned out so good, we have only this to say to our experience the day before: Good riddance.

The Family.

A week later, the photos were ready for collection - two 8R prints, a 4R print and two 4R-sized soft copies.

The sister and yours truly.

Damn, my sister’s catching up with my height. Can’t..Lose. Gotta. Eat. More. Grow. Taller! =(

The prints were a nightmare to scan though, as they came with a bloody matte textured surface. Photoshop couldn’t be of much help.

That’s what you have to resort to when they charge a whopping 20 bucks each for a soft copy. =\

I’m so gonna run a photo studio with that kind of moolah!

One of which, is mine:

Introducing, the TI-84 series of graphical calculators - the world’s most overrated.

It’s fat, ugly, slow, ancient, and expensive.

You see, we were told to get ourselves a graphical calculator since the day we stepped into Swinburne. But getting one could set us back about 600 bucks. And so we persevered throughout two semesters of Math in Foundation using our faithful Casio fx-570MS from the days of SPM.

Everytime we’d find a way to solve different Math problems using the fx-570 (when it is thought that only the TI’s can solve them), we’d pride ourselves at how we manage to save 600 bucks - yet again and again. I must say I’ve discovered a lot about the abilities of the fx-570 more than I’ve ever knew in Form 5. Like I never knew it does matrices!

Of course, we all know it draws boobies rather well:

=D

Unfortunately, even the faithful fx-570 couldn’t hold up anymore in degree-level Math.

We had to get a calculator that draws what the fx-570 couldn’t draw, other than boobies - graphs.

Thanks to Kiam, we managed to get used TI-84 Silver Editions for merely 450 bucks each rather than its original sub-RM700 price. And so we reluctantly joined the rest of the class tapping away on the TI-84.

There’s a reason why I never really liked the idea of getting a graphical calculator such as the TI-83/84 series - the price just doesn’t justify what we’re paying for.

Other than its outrageous pricing, the TI-83/84 series calculators are down right dinosaurs in today’s age. They’re absolutely bulky and inferior to the say, iPhone - the real gadget of today’s age.

Get what I mean? It’s so huge it feels awkward to hold it with a single palm.

I need not remind you of what the iPhone is capable of, albeit being at a (much) smaller size. It’s a cell phone, mp3 player, internet browser, camera, video player, touch-screened, and another 1001 features with its support for Apps - including, yes, graphing.

Heck, imagine graphing apps on the iPhone!

And the TI-83/84? It’s..a.. calculator, and a uh, *fumbles through the TI-84 guidebook*.. one that draws graphs. =\

Heck, it doesn’t even draw graphs well. Thanks to its 15Mhz processor (psst, the one in the iPhone runs at 620Mhz), it draws graphs a painstaking pixel-by-pixel!

In all it’s fat glory.

I haven’t even gone into comparing the technical specs of the two gadgets which would leave you wondering just what the engineers over at Texas Instruments are doing.

Okay I’m aware of the huge price difference between the two (~RM700 for a TI-84 Silver vs. ~RM2500 for the iPhone 3G). I’m aware that it’s cruel to pitch the 2004 TI-84 against the 2007-released iPhone. I’m aware that few gadgets out there do if ever, come close to rivaling the iPhone in its features-to-size ratio.

I just wanted to point out that the TI-83/84 series calculators could either be slimmer given the limited functions it performs. Or, it could have more features given it’s humongousity.

Oh well, I guess that’s enough bashing.

If there’s one thing I like about the TI-84, it’ll be this:

Woots! Block Dude rocks! =D

Apparently, in Malaysia, you’re screwed big time if you report a thief. You get accused, slammed, and grinded for publishing a story telling of what a thief does as thief.. stealing things. For what’s worth, in the end, you get detained without trial as a mere reporter.

And the thief.

Oh boy did he got away.

He got a little slamming and grinding. He also got an easy three-year house arrest. He gets to keep the things he stole. He was caught stealing again.

But wait, where’s the arrest?

Just who, is wrong here?

Wow.

It’s been more than 72 hours of exhaustion.

Short story: My blog was down for more than 72 hours due to a massive DDoS attack on my host. It has since been resolved and hopefully won’t reoccur again. *crosses fingers*

Long story: It was Wednesday night, 3rd September when tehCpeng.net wasn’t loading anymore. I reached my host via WLM and was informed of a DDoS attack on the server at 140mbps.

So began the long and exhausting ride over the past few days of pestering my host on the status and hoping the attacks would somehow alleviate. After 48 hours, all helpless and frustrated, I posted a lengthy support ticket ranting about how slow their IM support seems to be replying and hesitating to fill me in on the details.

The support team made a rather quick and prompt reply, reassuring me of the situation and detailed the measures they’ve taken to block the attack. That calmed my frustration a little, but the attacks went on and on yesterday afternoon, 6th September, my host cited the attacks were still incoming at 500mbps. Bloody hell. By the time, tehCpeng.net has gone down for about three days.

Which totally sucked. I understand the amount of pressure my host is going through to get their network back up. But you just can’t help feeling frustrated over a helpless situation.

All sorts of measures were tried, including moving my blog to a US-based server and yet, to no avail. The DDoS attacks were too persistent.

Fast forward this morning, more than 72 hours after I last saw my blog, I found the attacks still ongoing. I checked back on a lowyat.net thread on the attacks and found that my host were updating the domain IP’s one by one to pinpoint which domain is the problem. They updated mine and ended, rather instantly, the longest ever downtime I’ve experienced.

I can only hope that this frustrating experience would be my last. It’s been a long week. =\

*exasperated sigh*

It’s time we cherish the moment, put aside all our differences, our insufficiencies, our beliefs, and celebrate what we all have in common - being proud citizens of Malaysia.

This year, tehCpeng.net would be paying tribute to Mohamad Hamzah, an architect, who 61 years ago, designed Malaysia’s national flag. I guess nobody would be more proud to have his own design paraded all over the country 24/7 for 51 whole years.

It’s every designer’s wet dream I tell you.

Like this humongous one erected only once a year every Merdeka month atop the Sultan Iskandar Building.

To commemorate his achievement, I tried to replicate how would his sketch look like as he made a proposal for a flag design competition held in 1947. Okay - he might not have used English in his sketches, and the Jalur Gemilang isn’t known as the Jalur Gemilang until 1997.

Also, Mohamad Hamzah first designed his flag to have a five-pointed star instead of the 14-pointed one on the flags we see flying today.

So for today’s sake, let’s just assume he did all that on his sketches.

Happy 51st Birthday Malaysia!

Raindrops smear the windows of the shuttle bus as I looked out into the chilly morning weather. As the bus battles the traffic trying to get on the Simpang Tiga intersection, I felt somewhat alienated from the city around me. A city I’ve spent 9 years living in.

Yet something felt different. Perhaps it was sitting in the bus, the feeling of insecurity of being deprived of driving a car. Perhaps it was the chilly weather. Perhaps it was the fact that it was the campus’s big day.

As the bus whizzed past flyovers and high-rises, the towering blocks of Swinburne University of Technology’s extended campus came into view. It was almost majestic. It certainly didn’t feel like it was the campus I see and study in everyday.

It was then when I wondered if, just if, this is how international students in Swinburne first experience Kuching.

It was after all, the Grand Opening Ceremony for Swinburne’s new extended campus. Due to the event, the multi-storey carpark was restricted to invited guests while we students had to park at the off-campus carpark in Kenyalang with shuttle services to and fro campus thoughout the day.

You see, I had volunteered to be part of the Student Press team for SwinTalk, Swinburne’s spanking-new community blog to cover the event. I would like to thank Saad for the oppurtunity!

The campus had been literally draped with gorgeous yellow and black cloth ahead of the event.

By 1pm, the VIPs, invited guests and dignitaries such as this one from China started pouring in. So did the sky, which haven’t yet decided to hold back on the down-pour (pun not intended). =P

Inside the Multi Purpose Hall, the guests were seated while the hall waits for the VVIP. I’d like to thank Woonyien for bringing me in! If not for her, I’d be standing out there without the slightest clue. =\

The hall was easily filled with professionals from all over. Not to mention being littered with scores of photographers and TV cameramen from the media.

At around 2pm, following an announcement by the MC, the VVIP arrives - none other than the Chief Minister of Sarawak. So here’s a measly shot of him looking away. Lol.

A cultural dance courtesy of the Sarawak Cultrual Village performed at the VVIP’s arrival.

After the speeches by both Bill Scales, Chancellor of SUTS and the Chief Minister, they both proceeded up the stage for the symbolic lighting up of the torch to signify the official opening of the extended campus.

The torch was well..fake. Something happened during the torch lighting though. Halfway through the torch-lighting, everyone suddenly heard a muffled tumbling. Turns out one of the photographers who bravely invaded the stage tripped over that yellow fence you see at the backdrop and fell smack on the floor, DSLR and all. LOL.

That was when all the other photographers below the stage where I was broke into laughter. Luckily the CM didn’t seem to notice anything.

A campus tour was due for the CM right after that. So here’s another measly shot of him exiting the hall.

My camera doesn’t like our Lord White Hair at all. =\

After the campus tour, the VVIP and the VIPs were treated to refreshments with a view of student performances at the open air area between block B and E.

The African performers were noteworthy though, with their freestyle raps and hiphop songs. Here’s a photo of my fellow coursemate from Nigeria, Abdullahi doing his thing yo. I didn’t catch the title of their song but the lyrics were really catchy. It didn’t take long before everyone was singing and cheering along.

Damn I never knew he could pull off a performance like that!

After a few performances, I got tired of standing and went around the campus for more photographic opportunities. When I spotted this:

Forget Terengganu’s recent Mercedes buying spree. Check out Sarawak’s line up! Here we have the Chief Minister’s Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, a Jaguar XJ believed to be the House Minister’s and an unknown E-Class Benz in the distance. Wowzers.

There were even more BMWs (Alfred Jabu’s sleek 7-Series), Mercs, Accords and so on paraded right behind these three vehicles belonging to the state’s big shots.

Anyway, the CM left at around 5pm shortly after the student performances ended.

Check out SwinTalk for a review of the campus! As of writing, its not up yet though.

All I can say is that the new campus is awesome. Swinburne feels much more like a University now, as opposed to that single block we had before this. There are of course, insufficiencies for being new.. but I’ll keep the pros and cons for another day.

As for now, congratulations Swinburnites!

Well as of writing, it’s been 3 hours and there’s still no sign of the lights. I have approximately 1.5 hours remaining off my laptop’s battery and what’s left of my Dad’s iPaq, which is what I’m using to hook up DiGi’s EDGE network.

The candlelight flame in front of me burns as still as a needle, a stark reminder (if I even need one) of just how still and stuffy the air around me is now. Mosquitoes are circling around me for that opportunity to dive and attack. The nerve!

More to come.

–

It all began at around 6.30pm when my laptop went kaput in front of my eyes. Along with the power supply of the whole neighbourhood and reportedly, major cities in Sarawak. Thinking it was just going to be a minor annoyance I decided to sleep it out, as blackouts in Kuching has happened a few times, albeit in short intervals throughout the year. I soon found out how wrong I was.

A nap proved impossible with all those mosquito bites. Distraught at the idea of spending the night at home in the dark with those bloody insects, we decided to head out for dinner. It was then when messages started streaming in from friends asking about the blackout. It didn’t took long for it to become apparent that it affected the whole of Kuching.

We headed out anyway and sought to have dinner “where the lights are” unquote Dad. Thing is, everybody had the same idea when roads everywhere became rivers of lights in the midst of the pitch-black surroundings. The usual glittery LEDs and signboards of 3rd mile were plunged into darkness, even the flashy Boulevard Mall stood gloomily in the dark.

Big bad jam off the 3rd mile flyover. Photo taken off a video frame, hence the quality.

That bright spotlight to the left you see in the photo above was the golf course at Jalan Keretapi, that area, however weird, was the only area as far as our eyes could see to have power supply. Needless to say, we ended up having our dinner at Aunty Lily’s in the vincinity of the golf course.

Thoroughout our dinner, the huge traffic jam in our view on the main road didn’t ease at all. It was clearly pitch-back just across the road and beyond.

It was approximately 8.00pm, almost 2 hours into the blackout when the lights suddenly went off at Aunty Lily’s, joining the rest of Kuching in darkness.

The traffic outside became increasingly chaotic as sirens blare through. As we counted, we heard two ambulances, two patrol cars, and a bloody firetruck rushing past that road that night alone.

It was chaotic in Aunty Lily’s too when.. well, we couldn’t bloody eat without lights right?

Hi Mum! =)

We resorted to using my camera-phone’s LED flashlight to make sure we wouldn’t gobble down a spoonful with lizard crap on it.

At around 9pm, power miraculously returned to Jalan Keretapi, allowing us to finish our dinner and head back home.

To our dismay, by the time we arrived at 4 1/2 Mile, it was apparent that my neighbourhood was still deprived of power. Boulevard was still in its pitiful pitch-black state. So was our house, when we arrived home.

10:20PM: Power in parts of Kuching are already restored as of now, but still not here where I live! =(

10:40PM: Everything in 4 1/2 Mile is still nice and dark. It should be 4 hours since we last saw the lights. I guess I’m gonna get off my laptop now and try to sleep. If the electricity comes back, I’ll update. 57 mins of juice remaining. Sigh.

By the way, it seems the whole of Sarawak is experiencing this. No idea how far has it restored though. Check out this news report from The Star: Blackout in Sarawak

10:51PM: Wooooooots! Lights are back! =D ..after 4 and a half hours.

It’s not really hard guessing why I’m even updating today. Just look at the URL of this post, it’s so pretty! =)

Coincidentally, it has been a week since my new semester in degree started. Yes! I’m now officially a student of a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Robotics and Mechatronics. A mouthful, ain’t it?

I chose a path in Mechatronics because well, I came into Swinburne aiming for that course. Blogging about it previously helped me realise that. So many things happened in the past year somehow derailed me off that original course I set out to take. That’s why they say it always help once a while to stop, look around and re-evaluate your path.

There is another reason why I opted for Mechatronics. A cliched as it my sound, it is vaguely because it is the road less taken, at least in this part of the world. Any engineering student can tell you, the bulk of students are in Civil and nothing else. Granted, there are definitely more Civil jobs out there than Mechatronics, but the thought that I have to compete with that whole lot in Civil doesn’t sound all that welcoming to me.

It doesn’t help that yes, I suck in competition.

Well I wish I could say that I’m just testing the waters but, its a decision that’s hard to turn back to. I don’t regret my choice, in fact, I’m beginning my slow, gradual mental conditioning to have myself embrace this whole 4-year path I’ve laid in front of me - with passion.

The only, big, glaring downside to being in Mechatronics is.. none of my immediate friends are with me. =( Having spent my foundation with the company of a few great buddies, it strucked me pretty hard during the degree enrollments, being alone, suddenly deprived of my circle of friends.

Fortunately, when lectures started, I realised that I wasn’t going to spend the next 4 years a lone ranger. =P Turns out most of the lectures are held in combination with engineering students from other specialisations. So in a way, the engineering subjects we’re taking for the first year are common to all engineering courses.

Another glaring difference we’re having this semester is that out of the four subjects we have, three of our lecturers are Indians. One of them, in particular, stood out in stark contrast to the other lecturers. Our Engineering Mathematics 1 lecturer, Ms. Seibu, gave a very motivational introduction to the subject that other day.

She started her lecture with the quote so commonly known yet so little embraced: “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today.? Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”

Unlike, face it, most of the lecturers we have today who’d guide you throughout the semester as far as scoring in the finals is concerned, Ms Seibu stressed a lot on the importance of Math in the Engineering course as a whole. She even advised us to treat this particular Math subject as a litmus test to gauge how well are we gonna cope the degree.

Her charismatic and witty lectures, unique and in-depth way of teaching had me worry less about scoring in this subject I had so much trouble during Foundation. Even more, we’ll be having our great Ms. Chong as the tutor for this subject! Woots! =D

Well I hope I can go on.. but time is a little tight right now. It’s moving week next week where the shift to the new extended campus is expected to take place. As a result, there won’t be any lectures next week before we resume lectures in the new campus. =) It’s still going to be a busy week for me though, as I juggle with a few projects I have on hand.

By the way, happy 08 08 08! You might already have noticed that I have whipped up a Beijing olympics themed header. Weee!

Welp, here’s to the next four years of my degree!

*crosses fingers*

Results were finally out last Friday after a whole week of postponement. I was out with my family during the results release and had to check the results online via my dads phone. The slow EDGE connection and tiny mobile screen were no help to the suspense.

I swear my heart was inches away from pumping itself out of my chest as I scrolled through the cluttered Excel file on my dad’s mobile.

That said, I’m on my way to degree in August!

Which, though, puts me in another dilemma. For as of now, I have not a vague idea of which specific discipline of Engineering I should take up as my degree.

I initially entered the Swinburne engineering foundation course with a degree in Robotics and Mechatronics in sights. But over the course of the year (yes! it’s been a year) of studying in Swinburne, I had come to conclude that Robotics isn’t going to be easy and had subsequently opened myself up to other choices.

Now I’m torn between Civil, Mechanical and Robotics. I’m not so keen on Electrical and Electronics, so I’m more than happy to drop it off my list of choices. Mechanical sounds boring, Civil isn’t good in job prospects due to an apparent over-supply of Civil Engineers, and Robotics is well, tough and isn’t in substantial demand locally.

The fact that I have a grand total of three days left to decide isn’t helping at all. Degree enrollments are next Monday!

Argh.

Best. Superhero. Movie. Ever.

Big decisions aside, I managed to convince my dad to bring us to watch The Dark Knight last Saturday. And god was it AWESOME. I know everyone’s been saying it! Yet after I watched it, I don’t see a reason not to!

The Dark Knight succeeds as a dark, gripping thriller that didn’t fail to entice even though it was a wee bit draggy being 2 and a half hours long. Seeing as I was literally on the edge of my seat all throughout the movie!

And I must applaud the stunning performance of the late Heath Ledger as The Joker, whose dark and maniacal antics bound to send chills down your spine, if not leaving a lasting, dark impression of the movie. He’d mercilessly throw you on a wild ride as his evil schemes gets played along time after time, leaving you helplessly wondering just how the movie is going to lead.

If you haven’t watched it, you have my every endorsement to do so!

In the words of The Joker, and my favourite dark quote from the movie, “Why ..so.. serious?”

Wiiicked! =P

All About SUVs

I had actually promised to show you guys my IT2 project entitled All About SUVs a while ago. I had to optimise the images, iron out bugs and have the whole code go through more QC before I could release it here. Thing is, I’ve completed everything almost a month ago but totally forgot to post it up.

So without further ado, here it is!

WARNING: #1: Doesn’t work in Safari and Opera. Only enter if you’re using Internet Explorer 7+ or Mozilla Firefox 2+. Preferably of course, viewed in Mozilla Firefox 3.

#2: Site may take awhile to load due to large images. (Speed optimisation can only go so far..) For those of you on modems, enter at your own risk!

The Guide gets better!

On a related note, I’ve spent some time revamping the most important page of tehCpeng.net - the About the drink page. I’ve noticed there’s an increasing number of you who arrived on that page while searching for Kuching’s famous drink. So to live up to your expectations, I’ve styled and souped up everything on that page. And of course.. to better live up to the tehCpeng.net domain. =)

Oh, and if you have friends who are clueless as to what teh C peng exactly is,? or if you just want to share and promote the Kuching teh-C peng love, I wouldn’t mind if you link them to this guide of mine!

tehCpeng.net/thedrink

A community service proudly brought to you by tehCpeng.net.

Well, that’s pretty much what I’ve been busy with these holidays. I also have two Wordpress themes up my sleeve - one in the process of coding and another still on the drawing board. The former, a theme for my client’s blog and the latter, a theme for Swinburne’s upcoming unofficial community blog.

Look out for it!