Regardless, 2009/2010 has been a rather interesting year.

Work: The second half of 2009 was pretty peaceful, and then 2010 basically started off with a bang, hitting me with shit at work non-stop, even now. Really hope the shitstorm dies down soon, gets on my nerves at times. Nonetheless, endless learning and growing has always been one of the cornerstones of this job, and I’m pretty certain that the Kein who began working here in 2008 is nowhere the same as the one who’s sitting here in 2010. I like to think I have grown nerves of steel and can think even in a crisis, and ideas sprout up all the time about marketing and improving work stuff, but staff management skills need work; I seem to be too lax on my server administrators, which cause huge delays and roastings for me. Gotta buck up and start flaming people harder from now on! Thanks to my guys Benny and Bill for being my left and right hands all this time, I would’ve never gotten to this point without them.

Holidays:
I had several great trips squashed within two very busy weeks.

Singapore.

Bali, and?

Bangkok!

And of course, not forgetting the weekend Daylesford getaway.

A much-needed break from the mountain that I call work.

Basketball: Great improvements. Learning how to pass better, run better, drive better, shoot better even. Life is good.

Photography: The purchase of the 50D and the 28mm = great decision. I love the way my pictures turn out. And of course, the shitty pics make me realise I shouldn’t be doing it that way.

Personal: I have tried very hard to hold on to my habit of writing everything down, and it’s mostly worked out. My brain is like a fcuking sieve, but things still get done because I jot them down before it slips away (most of the time). I do my best to think before I speak, and to rein my temper in. To be more social when it’s required, and to forgive and forget whenever I can. I can say that I’m living my life being more honest with myself with every year that passes, and that’s always a good thing isn’t it?

Everything else in life: Of course, I’m very thankful to be (mostly) healthy, and to have parents who allowed me the freedom to roam and live over here in Australia. And to have a brother I can rant and talk about most things. He’s got room for improvement, but at least he listens and tries – which is about as much as you can hope for. And to my partner V of course, who has been with me ever since our first step here, and pretty much gone through everything with me. I know females always say they never get tired of hearing those three magic words, so here’s it once again – I love you! And ooh yeah the queen of the household – Cookie! Despite all her bad habits, I still would never ever trade her for another dog. And who else have I missed out? The friends who have bothered to keep in touch, and those who are busy but remember me in their hearts nonetheless – you guys are great.

So, the birthday celebration. It was supposed to be a KTV session to celebrate the birthdays for us all July kids but two skipped out..

.. and only Stan and me were left.

We really had a fun time, thanks guys!

This goes out to Bill, Jasmine, Doris, David, Cherie, Ambrose and Sam for attending and prepping the cake and organising the session.

The actual big day was just a day spent sleeping late (took leave because I was simply too tired from working overtime the night before), having lunch with Stan at Pancake Parlour (lunch set for $10? didn’t know they had stuff like this), and dinner at Ramen Ya with Bill, Jasmine and Doris – everyone (’cept Bill and me) was deeply engrossed in the origami instructions provided. Nothing too spectacular, but enjoyable all the same.

This is a list of all the wishes and gifts I received this year – spam warning! And thanks again to all those who remembered, know that I appreciate it more with every year that passes.

Presents:

• From Zhiming: Lowepro’s Passport Sling™ camera bag
• From Lishi: CK undies (can never have too many of ‘em!) and the Adidas Boston Celtics tee that I wanted
• From Bill/Andy/Jasmine/Cherie/David/Benny: a pair of basketball shorts and top.
• From Stan: my first birthday card (the one from Crown didn’t count), and a mystery present on the way.
• From V: my first birthday Post-It (lifetime first even!), and a mystery present on the way Received package on 27 Jul: She wanted to get me The Rotting Land, but it was sold before she could click on the Buy button on eBay. I received The Order of the Stick: Dungeon Crawlin’ Fools and The Order of the Stick: On the Origin of PCs instead – still goots!
• From SJ jie: mystery present on the way Received package on 27 Jul: DVDs of The Manchurian Candidate and Paycheck, along with a self-designed card with my name on the front! The inside reads: “Hello di, Happy 29th Birthday! This year is the last of your birthday that begin with a 2, so jie took some time to prepare some small pressies for you. Hope you like it. Er… byt he time you receive this package it’ll be belated! 请不要见怪! 不知不觉 next year you’ll be going to the next stage in your life – the big 30 and before you know it, you’ll be a husband and daddy. (I can’t wait to see Kein jr! =)) All the best in your life journey. Jie would like to take this opportunity to thank you! There have been times when I feel really down and you were there to lend a listening ear and 开导我. I really appreciate it and words can’t really justify how I feel. Thank you! =) Hugs, ShiJie 2010″

SMS:
Nick
Hehe Merry Birthday my great friend ^.^ Merry Birthday!

Davina
Hi Kein..it’s me Davina :) HapPY bIRthdAY!! :D Wishing u a good health, success&happiness throughout da year! Keep in touch&take care.Miss u guys all at Netbay!

Lishi (+ msn status!)
Happy birthday! Not working today? Enjoy!

Nanzhen
Happy Birthday Bro! Chilling at home? Have a good one!

Andy
Happy birthday man!!!!!!!!!

Keith
Happy birthday kein, wish u have a great day

Peiru
Happy birthday to you…happy birthday to you…happy birthday to dear Kein.HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!

Adri (on both my mobiles o.O)
Dearest Kein, enjoy your last 20s :) Happy birthday my friend, wishing you a fulfilling year before big 30!!! Adri

Andrew
Bro! Your birthdat bloody silent sia! Happy belated birthday man!!

On MSN:
Sharon says (7:56 AM):
Happy burfday my fren:) n now I gg bak to zz le :) haha enjoy ur wonderful day

Kimberly says (9:55 AM):
Happy birthday! :)

Alvin says (10:16 AM):
Happy Birthday To U

Zhiming says (10:43 AM):
Happy Birthday to u happy birthday to u happy birthday to tupig kein ….. Happy birthdayyyyy tooooo chiusssss

SJ jie says (12:15 PM):
Hey hey! Happy birthday di~! Enjoy ur day! :D

Zaoliang says (12:42 AM):
yo boss happy birthday!

E-mail:
Wang Li:
Hi Kein
Hope you have a very happy birthday!!!
I really wish I could join you for b-ball more often, but doing internship in financial firm is not an easy job.
Cheers,

Lee

Facebook:
There were too many posts, so I replied each one as best as I could, then did them into a single image. Very, very long image coming up. Thanks guys, I hope my copy/paste job didn’t leave anyone out :X

So, what have I done in 2009?

• Supported the Crazy John South Dragons, and watched them rise to their first ever NBL championship! And promptly vanish thereafter. There goes my hopes of watching live basketball matches at a nearby arena.
• Passed my IELTS with flying colours on the first try.
• Got threatened with a lawsuit; it was a very exciting weekend.
• Caught Mayday in Melbourne for the first time, yeah!
• Setup a basic home network with centralised storage and scheduled backup; one step ahead for easy access and redundancy!
• Bought my first DSLR: the Canon 50D with a fantastic lens, the EF 28mm F/1.8. Photography returns!
• Skipped out on a trip to Falls Creek, and enjoyed some exclusive me time. Realised me time is very important.
• Watched Jersey Boys. Twice. (Third time coming this year!)
• Bought my first automatic watch, the Lum-Tec M18. Yes, buying this is a major milestone.
• Random tech improvements at work involving Cisco, Linux and MRTG.
• Went for a two week getaway to Singapore. Christmas@Bali, New Year@Bangkok. My first real overseas vacation since 2007, wow.

Goals for 2010:

• To gain more insight into what I want in life.
• To understand myself better. Life is a journey of self-discovery, yes?
• To explore more places within Australia.
• To improve sales via online marketing (SEO, PPC) at work
• To roll out several more migrations successfully with no hiccups.

Fingers crossed!

Amigurumi (lit. Knitted stuffed toy) is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. Amigurumi are typically cute animals (such as bears, rabbits, cats, dogs, etc.), but can include inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features. Amigurumi can be either knitted or crocheted. In recent years crocheted amigurumi are more popular and more commonly seen.

.. The pervading aesthetic of amigurumi is cuteness. To this end, typical amigurumi animals have an over-sized spherical head on a cylindrical body with undersized extremities.

In summary: they are similar to the buggers you can see in this shop from JJ Market in Bangkok:

And of course, these two little fellows that I bought belong to the same category.

I came across this on a Geekologie post titled I Must Have It! Little Knitted Link Doll. Look at the Link doll, you can see the level of effort that went into making it.

Cool eh?

So I got hooked, line and sinker. Here’s what I ordered from their Etsy shop:

Captain Jack Sparrow! You could almost expect the doll to start waltzing prancing around frivolously like the real Captain.

Gandalf! Awesomeness. Now if they had the cart for him to ride, and the Shire to complete the picture.. *slurps*

Sammi from Geek Central Station responded real quickly after I placed my custom order, which is something I like. Customer satisfaction! Shipping is gonna cost $10 via USPS, and I’m looking forward to the dolls when they’re completed heh heh. More photographs in a later post when I get them.

Note: payment is via PayPal if you prefer it. If not? Well I’m gonna use that so I don’t know about other options at all.

Have a look at these other characters: Ecto from the Ghostbusters, Link from Zelda, Cobra Commander from GI Joe, Aragorn from LOTR, Indiana Jones, and a fantastic looking Witchking (the chief Ringwraith) from LOTR. Check out the rest of the pictures on Flickr .

[Birthday Candles] – babybluebbw on Flickr, 3 Feb ‘07.

The mother didn’t exactly plan our birthdays to be three days apart, since I came out late and the brother came out early, but things happen as they are. So in our younger days, my brother and I would often celebrate our birthdays together. Of course, that particular custom fell into disuse as time passed by.

Happy birthday to Stan; one more year to the 21st! Keep on growing, never stop improving yourself : )
I certainly hope every year brings about new rewards and experiences for him.

-~-

The birthday this year’s a rather peaceful one, and my first overseas birthday at that. (Sentosa doesn’t count!) With V, NZ and MS, we walked around the city and ate. And ate. And ate. And ate.

And I had a slice of tiramisu as the birthday cake. Sitting at the Crown complex, together with the three of them singing happy birthday.

Thanks to the people who sent birthday wishes : )

on MSN:
Alvin, the ex-colleague and fellow suffering student. Hold on!
Clyde, the current neighbor
Stan, the brother
Jordi, the friend in Bangkok
Qingwen, the friend. Work hard!
Yongli, the bball kaki. Ever so accurate and cool ;p
Zaoliang, one of the few poly dudes I still keep in touch with. Good to hear that persistence pays off : )
Zhongming, long lost poly mate
Zhongyang, the bball and supper kaki. Supper @ 85?

via Friendster:

Danny, the ex-colleague. Work hard brudder!
Fabian, the NS buddy who was always willing to share.
Lawrence, SISPEC section mate and fellow birthday boy. Same birthday and age, heh heh.
Liwen, the long lost secondary schoolmate
Siangping, Red Cross FDIC buddy who shared an unforgettable part of my life in secondary school.
Tong Han, the bball kaki as well
Wee Keong, the easygoing and laidback ex-colleague. Chiong ah!
Xiaohui, the poly mate whom I managed to bump into over here. Sure is a small world!

using SMS:
Cindy, the primary schoolmate
Xianqin, one of my best buddies

Belated wishes:
Adri, lotsa stuff to talk about as always
Jack, onwards to finding a better career!
Peiru, marriage in 1 year plus? Hrmmmmm.
Wenxin, enjoy your November holiday!
Xiuhua, work hard, don’t tire yourself out!

And on to the special ones:

Calling from back home:
Lishi, best female friend I could have : )

The friends who came over:
Nanzhen, brother always.
Meishan, who’s like a sister to me.

The pre-birthday treat:
Jason, my buddy in school

The blog plugs:
ahlong, the best buddy as always.
Zhiming, my ever trustworthy pal

Birthday card from the Netherlands:
SJ jie, the godsis :D

And of course, the person who has been by my side for the past year, and is now soundly sleeping on the bed as I type.
Thanks baby.

*Extremely detailed listing, because I am thankful to each and every single person who remembers.

[raw beef] – V’s Flickr, 1st Apr ‘07.

Update time!

The drive to blog takes a tremendous dive whenever I do not bring my camera out. As they like to put it in HWZ (HardwareZone) terms, NPNT (No Photo No Talk). I’ve been taking random pictures, but nothing really great so far. There’s times when I see something absolutely splendid and damn, my camera’s not out.

Camel rides at Victoria Market.

Like when V and I were walking home after grocery shopping (we bought a ton of canned food, blah. And there’s no Qoo White Grape in a 1.5 litre bottle, noooooo), I saw the twilight skies creating a way kewl backdrop for the Flinders Street train station. Well, no tripod, no camera, hands full of stuff so heck.

Or the other time when I was staring out the train windows on my way to school, and I saw this absolutely great scene I have to take someday, but I’ll have to alight at South Yarra and backtrack. I wonder if it’s even accessible by foot, hmmm.

Sausage land :D

So it’s Easter now, happy Good Friday to all the people back in Singapore. I’m having my mid-semester break for a week, and unfortunately I have a report on Unix to finish up. No word limit, but the scope’s more or less fixed, damn. I’ve spent the better part of a day writing the introduction, and it’s like 80% finished. How does this sound to you?

“Unix is an operating system that was initially developed more than thirty years ago at Bell Labs, but became a widespread movement around the world as more people participated in adding functionality to Unix. Many versions of Unix have appeared since then, including a “Unix-like” adaptation known as Linux, a popular open source operating system that emulates much of Unix’s functionality. This serves to illustrate the popularity of Unix, as programmers designed operating systems that were modelled after Unix, but did not require licensing fees Unix had.

Even so, Unix itself is still widely in use today due to its platform portability, multi-tasking capabilities and the ability to handle concurrent users on a single machine.”

(And blah blah blah, this is only like the first two paragraphs.)

On another note, this is what I’ve been working on recently. Meaningless doodles to you prob, but it’s a rough sketch of the physical network for my building heh heh. Got to draw it out on Dia (opensource Visio, anyone?) when I’m in the mood.

-~-

This place called Superdog looks good, has anyone tried it out yet?

And this one looks particularly slurpalicious, yum.

Guinea pigs Fellow fast food junkies are welcome to leave feedback here!

-~-

This is some test called VisualDNA, sent by J (the foodie friend in Bangkok), try it out if you’re bored eh?

-~-

Addendum:

- Coding Horror article, titled Dude, Where’s My 4 Gigabytes of RAM? The beauty of Windoze Vista.

Yet another one of those sob-inducing Korean videos, link courtesy of the brother.

Nice blading at work, link courtesy of SJ jie.