Almost excited

The package for the skins arrived at the hotel today. A friend and I shared the order, I ordered a skin for my laptop and one for my iPod while she ordered six iPod skins. That nutzoid! It's a buy-3-free-1 so she got two skins for free.

Anyway, was happily tearing up the package ...

But why was there only 5 items in it? I see my laptop skin and I see four iPod skins.
Where was my iPod skin?

Bloody hell!

I looked into the package again wondering if I might have been temporarily blinded in the dim lighting of my hotel room.

Nothing. Craps!

Hurriedly, I went to my MSN ... damnit! She's not online. How can she not be online on such an important occasion? Plus, during business hours on a Friday? Hello?

As I waited and waited, hoping that I'll be able to catch her, I started measuring up the laptop skin against my laptop.

Urgh! Too narrow and a tad too long. At least I can do something about the length, but there's nothing I can do about the width. *sniff*

It's late and I still have to get up and go to work tomorrow. Hope my friend contacts gelaskins tomorrow about the missing orders.

Stressed

I have probably taken on more that I can chew this time. The hearts been palpitating overtime and I worry all the time. Stress! Stress! Stress! What is there to do but to soldier on as best as I can. To JUST DO IT instead of thinking about it. If kena marah, so be it.

This would also be the first time that I've rejected a gig from Gerald. I'd usually say yes unless I have a prior engagement. *sigh* I don't even know why I'm doing the gigs. Must be cause it's dance and this is my small bit of professional dancing. Cause the money sure isn't anything to shout about!

So, due to the massive workload, I have not gone for a single dance practise for the pasts 2 and a half weeks, ie. since the last competition. Finally had one practise yesterday and must say, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. However, that's not to say that it was good either. There are a few more weeks before the next competition on Oct 7. Must try to make more time for some classes and practises before then.

I did take some time out to watch Sumi Jo tonight at Dewan Philharmonic Petronas. She was excellent! So so so excellent! If I could sing a quarter as well as she does, I would be a happy puppy. But that day will probably come later. Will need to actually take some singing lessons ... one fine day! Maybe after I get dumped by my dance partner again. :P

SongFest Singing Competition 2007 - Registration now open!

Come show your vocal prowess at this year's SongFest Singing Competition organised by The Philharmonic Society of Selangor, and you might just win some cash prizes and trophies!

There are plenty of categories to choose from - from classical to contemporary to groups.

Do visit the website of the Selangor Phil at http://www.thephil.org.my or blog at http://selangorphil.blogspot.com for more info and to download the Entry Form.

Pictures from the Viennese Opera Ball 2007

www.flickr.com

My maroon costume

This post is especially for Lai Ling cause she asked for it.

Front view:

Side view:

Back view:

So whaddya think?

Farewell chabo

www.flickr.com

To be business minded

"Do what you can to help them."

Next thing I know ...

"Why are you doing that for them? It's not within your scope."

I guess I am too used to the do-everything approach more than the complete role segregation approach. Definitely will have to learn more on how to do that. The new HR does that; she won't do anything else other than HR even if it means a 5 minutes phone call.

So, something learned today. If it's not within your role, let the client if you have the resources available that can and quote them. It's up to them to decide whether to pay for the extra. Just because you might have some spare time and can do it, do not offer your services because it's not your job. Charge on any and all extras!

My mom would probably call that selfishness; but business is business. :)

Getting MyDVD to Work (Part 2) ... almost!

I was going to write the second part of my attempt to get MyDVD to work. When I posted Part 1, I had already got MyDVD to work ... finally! ... OR SO I THOUGHT!

What I didn't know was that images in the burnt DVDs came up upside down. Yup! Image and subtitles all upside down. I was thinking of just flipping the TV upside down but it's flipped image and the subs are going from right-to-left. Unfortunately, the subs in English and not Arabic/Jawi, so it makes no sense.

So that's eight pieces of DVDs headed for the bin.

Note to self: Check the first disk after burning!

Here are my earlier notes that I've made for this post. I don't think I'm going to rewrite this. I'm not sure if I will be tinkering with MyDVD anymore to try and get it working. It's too much hassle and I've got my Vista recently. So everything will be wiped. I heard that there is a DVD burning software that comes with Vista. I will have to find out more on that.

Notes:

- Needed the latest XviD 1.1.2 decoder
- Downloaded ... not working
- Uninstalled DJBCP installed in Part 1

XviD Mpge-4 video decoder

Able to view in WMP
- thumbnail reappears in MyDVD

Direct Sound Device
Support decoding of Generic MPEG-4 video

GSpot

divxdec.ax
xvid.ax

RegSvr32 /u DivXDec.ax

Installed Dump Direct Show Filter from latest DJBCP

No problem with MyDVD LE ... subtitles not showing.

Reinstalled VobSub ... still not working

Installed DirectVobSub (VSFilter) 2.37

Works!

GSpot check - using VSFilter.dll

Competition results

We did reasonably well in the competition. Finishing 3rd in Grade D and semi finals in Grade C. That's one placing better in Grade D compared to our first outing back in December so I guess, it is an improvement, albeit, we were competing with a different group of dancers.

Am I happy with the results? Well ... I'm quite ambivalent about the results. Finishing 3rd and semis in not a bad thing but I was, a little bit, hoping that we could at least get into the finals of Grade C. Guess we'll just have to practise harder.

A friend and adjudicator advised on a change of costume. The maroon dress I have is apparently too dull and not outstanding on the floor, causing me not to be seen. She suggested orange, yellow or green. More striking colours. On top of that, the design of my dress is not quite flattering for my body type. The loose cutting makes it more apparent that I'm not ... ahem ... slim. A few other friends have mentioned exactly the same thing.

So, it's time to suss out for a new costume.

Either



or this purple one on the Dancing With The Stars site.



Which is nicer?

Getting MyDVD LE to work (Part 1)

Finally managed to get MyDVD LE (I have version 6.1.6) which came with the DELL laptop to work.

My first attempt at burning DVD came quickly to a stop with the following error:

Could not make a thumbnail. Make sure you have the appropriate decoder installed. -47010

After much searching through various forums, including Roxio's own forums, the decoder(s) that got it to successfully add a file to the project was the DJBCP Codec Pack 2.1 Light.

During installation, I believe I have only installed the following:
* Decoder 5.1,
* XviD-1.0.1 Final,
* DivX 3.11 Alpha, and
* AC3 Filter 0.7b.

After many successful disks, I also installed the VobSub 2.3 to enable burning (hardsub) and viewing of subtitles.

A whole series later ... it stopped working.

What is my number?

Quick tip I learnt from the friendly Telekom guy who came by to check out the problem with one of my office's phone line. Dial 13183 to find out the number for that line hooked to your phone. Especially useful when you don't have your mobile phone or if caller ID is has been suppressed for that line.

Back to paper

I was chatting with a friend of mine on messenger regarding a meeting that we were to attend for a society which we were both part of the committee. It was going to be held in a couple of days at her place and I asked why the event was not in the calendar that I have setup for the committee?

Thinking that we need a collaboration tool to keep each other informed of events that are coming up for the society, I had a google calendar setup and shared amongst the members of the committee. Little do I know that I will end up being the only person using the calendar.

It got me thinking that I spend quite a lot of time updating all sort of tools online that was suppose to help me organize myself and become more productive. It seems to me that all this time that I've been using to update these tools is actually taking me away from the act of actually doing the things itself. Hence, actually becoming less productive.

Recently, I have decided to go back to good old pen and paper.

Bill Westerman commented on this post of David Seah's about his method of GTD called the GSD. It's a basic to-do list which I have found to be simple and sorta effective. I am currently trying this purely for work now and haven't mixed it with personal to-dos. Bill does a transfer of his unfinished items on a daily basis, which I find to be quite bothersome after three days. After transferring an item of low priority which I will only do after I have completed all the tasks that requires more immediate attention, I've decided that I will only bring over unfinished items on a weekly basis.

What I also do is, to pop items into the current day's list as soon as it pops into my head. Whether or not that task will be done the same day is another matter. The next day, on top of starting the list with things that I've thought of to do that day, I'll pick two or three items from the previous days list to be completed today.

Come Monday morning, I'll gather all the unfinished items from the previous week and start all over again.

I believe that with this to-do list and not trying to multitask is slowly helping me become more effective. At the very least, I get a sense of what I have completed at the end of the work day and how many more check boxes there are to be completed, which feels better compared to having to wreck my brains thinking what I have or have not completed.

My first ebay listing

My friend wanted to sell off her pair of latin shoes. What better way to test out ebay than to list that for her eh?

Anyone for a pair of latin shoes?

Outlook unable to connect to Ms Exchange Server

The connection to the Microsoft Exchange Server is unavailable. Outlook must be online or connected to complete this action.

There is a simple solution for XP Pro users who encounter this message when trying to add their Ms Exchange mailbox to their Outlook. When configuring the mailbox for Outlook, after entering the server name, User Name and clicking on Check Name, Outlook will automatically replace the server name with it's fully qualified name. This is what causes the problem. Just set it back to your server name and you should be able to access your Exchange mailbox.

According to blurred_vision, XP Home users can connect to the server using the fully qualified name. I have not tried this as I'm not on XP Home at the office.

But then, I'm not actually using XP Pro either; I'm on Windows SBS.

Monash Alumni Group Christmas dinner

The Monash Alumni Group will host this dinner event, Monash Malaysia's biggest alumni event of the year. Date: Friday 15 December, 7.00pm Venue: Modestos, Desa Sri Hartamas, Lot 48652, off Jalan Bukit Kiara, Sri Hartamas 50480 KL Price: RM20 (Monash alumni), RM50 (friends and family) RSVP: 11 December to Kelvin Lee via email or on 603-5636-0600

My one week vacation

It's been over a year since I've started working for this company and apart from a couple of single day leave on Fridays, I've not taken any leaves for over a year. Ok ... well, maybe a two day, Friday into Monday leave. I feel like I'm Bruce Willis in Unbreakable last year. No matter how long I've worked, people in the office were dropping like flies and taking MCs left, right and center. Being the honest (read: scaredy cat) that I am, I've not even dared fake a sickness just so I could get some rest. In fact, my leave application citing reason for leave as 'to rest' was denied.

Finally, I managed to get a whole week of leave two weeks ago.

So, what did I do?

Chores mostly. Carting aunt to buy stuff. 5 hours of grass cutting at both my aunts townhouses. Finding more bling for my competition costume. Basically, lots of running around and no rest.

The competition on Saturday went alright. Despite the superslow cha cha for the first round which we danced a little out of time, we still managed to proceed to the semi-finals. Semi-finals was much better but I think our finals dances were probably the strongest of the three. Our final standing was 4th. Not bad for our first outing. :)

Last week was a mad rush to get a new project up and running by Dec 1st. So there was basically nothing but work, work and work. Which in a way was good cause my feet has been hurting for the past couple months. Lets hope the one week of feet rest will do the trick.

Over the weekend, I went for a karaoke session, and a fashion thing that souldoctor was involved in for a brand discount store. I'm very into Diane Von Furstenberg's wrap dresses now. Although the store was probably selling their stuff at 1/4 the original prices, they were still pretty exorbitant for a pinch penny like me. The dress I like costed over $500! Yups! Not getting any. Just hoping the girlie boss will have a garage sale soon!

A little change of steps

In my previous post, I've mentioned what a hassle it was to rename a label with blogger beta. I've discovered a way to kinda change/rename all posts with a particular label to another label. Instead of following the steps given by blogger, skip Step #3 until after Step #5. So instead of the following ...

1. Click the "Books" label link on the left side of the page.
2. Click the "Select All" link at the top of the list of posts.
3. From the "Label Actions..." menu, choose "Remove label > Books."
4. From the "Label Actions..." menu, choose "Apply label > New Label..."
5. Enter "Reading" as your new label. (If you already have some posts with the label "Reading," you can simply apply that label, without making a new label.)

You do this instead ...

1. Click the "Books" label link on the left side of the page.
2. Click the "Select All" link at the top of the list of posts.
3. From the "Label Actions..." menu, choose "Apply label > New Label..."
4. Enter "Reading" as your new label. (If you already have some posts with the label "Reading," you can simply apply that label, without making a new label.)
5. From the "Label Actions..." menu, choose "Remove label > Books."

This was just something that popped into my head and tested with low amount of posts. Further testing might be required. Wonder if 'Select All' would select all if there were hundreds of posts.

Adding labels in blogger beta

I'll need to build a new customized template with beta's capability to add Labels now. Either that or I figure out how to add that to my old template. I think it's time for a change though.

Anyways, regarding the labels. I was trying to figure out how to rename the labels but apparently there is no way of doing that. The best I could find were the following steps provided by blogger help.

1. Click the "Books" label link on the left side of the page.
2. Click the "Select All" link at the top of the list of posts.
3. From the "Label Actions..." menu, choose "Remove label > Books."
4. From the "Label Actions..." menu, choose "Apply label > New Label..."
5. Enter "Reading" as your new label. (If you already have some posts with the label "Reading," you can simply apply that label, without making a new label.)

Alrighty, sounds simple enough.

I followed the steps up to #3. After I've removed the label, the list of posts dissappears. Which means I'll have to go back to ALL posts, reselect the posts which were previously labelled Books and the continue with Step #4. This is fine with the label I was playing with but what if I've been using the labels for the past 3 years and have hundreds of posts with that label? How would I possibly remember all the posts to reselect and re-label?

When reading the steps, I had the impression that the posts labelled Books will still be listed so that I would be able to easily follow up with step #4. Was that a crazy assumption?

I do think that they should create the function to rename the labels, this run around method of doing it is error-prone and tedious for mass postings of the same labels.

If nobody else has this problem, please tell me where I went wrong with the ste

Tickets are on sale

Tickets for the show are now ON SALE!

There's no turning back now. Well ... if nobody buys it then I guess we, technically, can still turn back. But lets not be pessimistic me.

The one day where we're given a day off from rehearsal and I was still rushing to go off for rehearsal. Even called up the ASM to inform her that I'll be late while tearing my way to the elevator to the car park. Doh! Occupational hazard. :)

Day off to rest for tomorrow's recording and what do I do? Stay back at work to finish off stuff! I've proven my own point that I NEED a production or dance practise specifically scheduled in order for me to actually leave the office. I wonder if that makes me a workaholic.

Anyway, quite excited about tomorrow. After three original musicals, this is the first that's going to be recorded. Cool! An original cast album with my name on it ... er ... we're going to have our names in there aren't we? Not just all lumped into ensemble? *pray*

When does he become your boyfriend?

While having dinner with JT after dance practise, he mentioned that he has been hanging out with this girl for the past three weeks. Not quite sure if three weeks equate to three dates but yeah; three weeks. He kept insisting that he they weren't dating/pak toh.

To me, if a guy asks me out, I mean, just me with the intention of maybe getting to know me for the possibility of a relationship, I would consitute that as dating. Wouldn't you? How would you differentiate dating from simply hanging out?

Isn't the whole point of dating to get to know each other with the possibility of further involvement? Futhermore, would you consider a person you've been seeing for a month, your boyfriend or girlfriend?

JT says even after three 'sessions' of hanging out he wouldn't consider that they are dating. It's still a getting to know each other period. Tres odd, no? Maybe he's right and I make too rush a judgement but to me, after two or three sessions, if you still have to figure out if you want to date that person, I think you can just forget about it.

But then ... what do I know, I barely have time to breathe much less to date. :)