Page 1 of 1  1 

Archive for October, 2008

My Comments on Aston Rasuna, and First Impression on Jakarta

Published October 27, 2008 in My Thoughts and Travelogue. 2 Comments

Before reading this post, you may want to check out some pictures I took at Aston Rasuna.

Overall, I have a very good impression on Aston Rasuna. Of course la… 2-bedroom penthouse for myself :p Ok, let’s get to some concrete negative comments:

  1. I am staying at 26th floor, but there’s only 1 lift serving even floors ><” Hate waiting for the lift, and I need to stumble upon many stops too, before coming down to G floor.
  2. Called house-keeping to get me a universal AC power plug, but waited for more than 20 minutes. Not just that, they brought me a malfunctioning plug! Really sweat. So called again and waited for awhile. That time, my laptop battery was already running very very very low.
  3. Balcony is locked! So-claimed, for resident’s safety. I want to take some night view pictures also cannot.
  4. Free broadband access is provided, with pass-code to be renewed daily. However, the Cat 5 network cable given is a bit short. Not long enough to reach the access point from the table at living room, without moving the table away from center of the TV.


OK, that’s all some negative comments I have for Aston Rasuna. On the positive side are:

  1. Security is good. Each bag and baggage is scanned at hotel entrance, and there’s also a security check-point before coming into Rasuna residential compound.
  2. Penthouse is very spacious :D (if I say this one more time, sure kena hantam when I back to office)
  3. Bed sheets, furnitures, toilet and cupboards are very clean.
  4. Breakfast is satisfyingly good. I love the fruit juices.
  5. There’s a Blue Bird taxi station outside of Aston Rasuna. So, convenient and reliable transportation mode is readily available.
  6. Swimming pool is designed for swimming, not water-splashing :p (I don’t like a nice-to-see pool with many curves here and there)

OK what’s next? My first impression on Jakarta. Continue reading ‘My Comments on Aston Rasuna, and First Impression on Jakarta’

I’m at Aston Rasuna

Published October 27, 2008 in Travelogue. 5 Comments

LCCT Malaysia

AK954 Boarding Pass

AirAsia aircraft

Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport

Boarded from LCCT, and arrived at Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Sunday at 2.45PM (GMT+07:00). Will be in Jakarta for work, till Thursday.

I couldn’t find any Blue Bird taxi counter at the airport. So, walked to Garuda Bird counter, and was quoted for 200k Rupiah for my destination - Aston Rasuna. As Edwin (he was here last week) paid the same amount too, so ok la… at least I’m not paying more :p

Even though I purchased Garuda Bird ticket, but I wasn’t greeted by a formal taxi labeled with company logo. In fact, it was a normal black Suzuki MPV just like any private car. To be on the safe side, I actually fired up my GPS to make sure that the taxi was taking the right route :p

There was a bit of jam, but considered quite a mild one.

When I did my check-in at Aston Rasuna receptionist, I was told that there’s no more non-smoking executive suite. For a second, I was like “ha??? booked adi one wo~~”

Then, the receptionist said “Sir, we offer you a free upgrade to 2-bedroom penthouse at no extra charge” Continue reading ‘I’m at Aston Rasuna’

All Geared for JasperReports Training

Published October 27, 2008 in At Work. 0 Comments

Finally, I can declare that I’m all geared for the 3-day knowledge sharing on JasperReports, starting tomorrow in Jakarta.

  1. Slides prepared
  2. Exercises prepared
  3. Gone through the whole complete cycle myself
  4. Prepared skeleton of the directory structure for development purpose
  5. Burn all necessary materials, project skeletons and tools into CD for distribution
  6. Drafted a mind map for my reference

JasperReports using iReport - Training Outline

If this outline is consumed way faster than my plan, then I have no choice but to revise the slides on Tuesday to add in more topics hehe. Hope not la :p

I’m now a millionaire

Published October 25, 2008 in Life Log. 5 Comments

I’m now a millionaire, for the second time, in Indonesian Rupiah :p

1 million Rupiah

I’m flying to Jakarta on tomorrow for work. Will be back on Thursday evening. My millionaire status will not last long, most probably will be invalidated by tomorrow’s evening hahaha.

Expectation

Published October 25, 2008 in Life Log. 0 Comments

Ability to manage the right expectation with project stakeholder throughout project life cycle, contributes to a huge portion of project success factors. Even though it’s always better to promise less, but in reality, sometime we just got to promise more to look good, especially for commercial reasons. At times, the bare truth just doesn’t sound convincing.

When I’m checking mails this morning, spotted the following phrase from an email from project partner.

“Anyway Tien-Soon is very efficient. He only takes about half-day to up the system and never fail to do so until now!”

Leaving with little choice, I just got to get the system remotely deployed in shorter-than-expected time frame. For a second, this compliment is undeniably a cheering one. However, I hope this will not turn into a new benchmark in expectation ;)

MySQL Table Names could be Case Sensitive in Unix

Published October 22, 2008 in Database and Tips & Tricks. 0 Comments

Something notable about MySQL case sensitivity that my project team has encountered last weekend. On Windows and Mac OS X, all object identifiers (such as names of database, table, column, index and etc) are case insensitive.

So, even if someone doesn’t practice consistency of identifier naming on Windows and Mac OS X, you will not encounter table 'tbl_name' doesn't exist error, as long as spelling is correct.

However, if you have a MySQL table named as PRODUCT_ITEMS, you will encounter table 'product_items' doesn't exist error on most varieties of Unix and Linux, when the following select statement is executed.

select * from product_items;

Such a simple select statement isn’t it? But will fail in Unix and Linux as database names, table names and table aliases are case sensitive by default.

Solution 1: Ensure Identifier Naming Consistency

The most elegant solution, is of course to ensure identifier naming consistency in database and codes. But if you’re working on a mammoth project, this is not the quickest solution though.

Solution 2: Alter lower_case_table_names System Variable

The quickest solution in this case, is to alter the database default behavior, such that table names are always treated as case insensitive.

By default, lower_case_table_names is set to ‘0′ in Unix. So, you can do the following to alter the lower_case_table_names variable.

  1. Ensure that the database name and all existing table names are lowercase.
  2. Open to edit /etc/my.cnf file
  3. Add “lower_case__table_names=1” (without quote) into /etc/my.cnf
  4. Restart MySQL

After restart, the lower_case_table_names variable of your MySQL database should appear as ‘1‘. So, regardless of the case of identifier naming in your codes, all should work like case sensitivity is never an issue at all.

Refer to http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/identifier-case-sensitivity.html for further information.

Rainbow at Kelana Jaya

Published October 14, 2008 in Shutterbug. 8 Comments

It was drizzling yesterday’s evening at Bandar Utama and Kelana Jaya area, and yet the sun was shinning with warm rays directing from Kelana Jaya towards Damansara area. This has formed the wonder of nature - rainbow.

Rainbow at Kelana Jaya on 14-Oct-2008

When I came back from my appointment in KL, I was totally trilled when I saw the rainbow. Wow! What a perfect timing. Got a few shots with my SE P1, sent MMS and uploaded to Twitpic, to share the moment.

That wasn’t enough. I rushed back home, grabbed my camera, hoping that the rainbow will wait for me (:p), went to the Kelana Jaya LRT pedestrian bridge again, and caught a few shots :D

Wai Pei is right, there was double rainbow too! But couldn’t be seen from the pedestrian bridge; only saw it when I reached home, from the angle at my house.

Double Rainbow at Kelana Jaya on 14-Oct-2008

Can you spot the second rainbow in this pic?

Update WordPress and Blogger Blog through Firefox - ScribeFire Blog Editor

Published October 12, 2008 in Internet and Tips & Tricks. 0 Comments

KC posted in his Twitter: bloggers should check out scribefire - http://www.scribefire.com/

Immediately, this tweet caught my attention. So, visited ScribeFire site, and again, I was attracted by this quote from Michael Arrington of TechCrunch.com:

…a lot of bloggers swear by it.

Wow! I think this couldn’t be wrong. So, installed the ScribeFire Blog Editor, and I was immediately amazed! It’s just too good!

In summary, ScribeFire Blog Editor is a Firefox extension which allows bloggers to publish and manage their blog posts. At present, the supported blog engines are: Blogger, Movable Type, Drupal, Textpattern, Roller, MetaWeblog API, Blogger and Tumblr. Wow~~ this coverage is easily satisfying 80% bloggers in the world.

Adding a New Blog Account in ScribeFire

1. Specify your blog URL
Create New Blog Account in ScribeFire - Step 1 - Blog URL

2. The supported blog engine will be automatically detected
Create New Blog Account in ScribeFire - Step 2 - Select Blog System

3. Specify login details
Create New Blog Account in ScribeFire - Step 3 - Login Details

4. Login successfully tested
Create New Blog Account in ScribeFire - Step 4 - Successful Login

5. Blog account successfully added into ScribeFire
Create New Blog Account in ScribeFire - Step 5 - Account Added

Isn’t it easy? Once you’re done with the above steps, just wait for a minute for all your blog entries, pages and categories to be imported from your blog system, so that you can manage them locally in your PC. Thus, it doesn’t require active Internet connection to compose your blog post. Once you’re connected, simply pressed the “Publish” button and you’re done. Continue reading ‘Update WordPress and Blogger Blog through Firefox - ScribeFire Blog Editor’

My House Renovation Quoted at RM87,555

Published October 12, 2008 in Life Log. 5 Comments

After a few weekends of choosing the tiles, doors and some other necessities, I have finally got the first quotation for my house renovation.

Item Description Amount (RM)
1. To extend kitchen and store 33,100
2. To remove existing tiling to bathroom and reinstall with new floor tiles and wall tiles 8,500
3. Laminated flooring to bedroom 4,000
4. Tiling to living and dining 5,500
5. Timber door and window (not including door leaf) 7,600
6. Porch and fencing 14,500
7. Wiring 2,355
8. Painting 12,000
87,555

Wah lao eh… @-) RM87,555!! So much cash needed, totally out of our budget. aaahi~~

FYI, this is the draft of floor plan of my house. Quite shiok to have 3265.98 square feet, but, at the same time proportionally adding as much pain as well for renovation.

Draft of floor plan for my house

Had this conversation with the contractor, Pang.

Pang: wah.. the tiles you have chosen, not cheap ha. It’s more expensive that laminated flooring.
Me: ha? is it a… then the one I chosen, above normal price a?
Pang: there’s nothing called normal price la.. but yours is more expensive than average tiles, more expensive than laminated flooring if calculated by square feet.
Me: :|

This is what Hokkien people say “eating rice but don’t know the price of rice” (吃米不知米賈).

This quote, even though already over-budget, but still lacking of about 10% of my initial requirements. Money not enough a~~

Actually, since this is a second-hand house, the efforts to remove existing components, such as all the tiles (before installing new tiles), is already costing quite a bit of manpower charge. From the quotation, obviously the extension of wet kitchen is costing the biggest sum. So, told the contractor to revise quote on that portion, with a much simpler wet kitchen :P

Money money money, I need more cash in fact.

my email address

About

You are currently browsing the MyTwentyFive.com weblog archives for the month October, 2008.

Longer entries are truncated. Click the headline of an entry to read it in its entirety.

Latest

RSS

Categories

Comments

RSS

My Flickr

RSS
What to do at the Avenue of Stars?Camwhoring with palm print at the Avenue of StarsBruce Lee's statue at Avenue of StarsBruce Lee's statue at Avenue of Stars

Browse my Flickr photostream

Subscribe

Subscribe to my RSS Feeds

Subscribe by Email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

My Tweets

Powered by Twitter Tools.

Archives