Apparently Google Groups has its limit. I don't know how many messages were posted when the 'warning' from Google came, but I remember few months back, we posted around 2,200 emails per day , and haven't got this message from Google yet. Oh yes, the group is very very very super highly active with emails  And no, I don't read all of the emails. 2,200 emails (assuming I can read each email within 5 seconds) will last me more than 6 hours to finish them all. Here is the email from Google that we received  I wonder if any of you have ever joined such active group before, hehehe....   (Read More)

Update: Congrats to Eliz as my 20,000th visitor
My first website was created wayyyy back in 1999 with hit counter started from 1. Second, third, and fourth designs soon followed during my NTU days. Version 5 was born when I started to join the blogging world back in April 2004. Version 5 started with hit counter around 9000. So, if you calculate it, it took me five years from 1999 to 2004 for that 9000 hits.

Starting with version 5, as blog's nature, contents is more important than website designs. And your responses were very good. 900 hits over the first month of my blog, back at Blogdrive. Now at Tabulas, still thinking whether this should be called version 6, we are closing in to my 20,000th hit. Now, if you read this post, take a quick look at lower right corner, check if you are the 20,000 visitors here. If you are, post in the comment, and I'll think what I can reward you with

Comparatively, four versions of websites took five years for 9000 hits, and one version of blog only needed two years for 11,000 hits. Thanks everyone for the support over the years. You are the reason I kept going.

Lastly, at this milestone, I would like to take this opportunity to ask you, my readers, for feedbacks, comments, encouragements, critics, and anything that you may want to say about my blog.

Anyone up for Kingdom of Heaven this Saturday? We are planning to go for the movie this Saturday, around 7 or 8 pm after GRII's fellowship ... The cinema should be Cathay Cineleisure.

Plot Outline: During the Crusades of the 12th Century, Balian of Ibelin (Bloom), a young blacksmith in Jerusalem, rises to protect his people from foreign invaders.

View Trailers here from Apple.

This is a song from GMB's latest album, GMB 7, and I find the lyric very ...... (errr...., care to help me fill in the blank?)

Title: Hidup Tanpa-Mu
Artist: Giving My Best
Album: Nothing is ever impossible (GMB 7)

Dunia ini mengatakan
Hidup tuk senang saja
Hiduplah, puaskan jiwa
Namun ku mau hidup bagi Allah Bapa

(chorus)
(Read More)

70-75 of us from GRII and friends, seated from row F to row M in Cathay Cineleisure last night to watch Kingdom of Heaven. For me, it was just OK, the fighting scene was not as mesmerizing as Lord of the Ring's, the act was just okay. The storyline however, instilled a number of good and wise points to the viewers.

We all finished our fellowship at around 7 pm, and it took close to one hour to move 70 people from Bugis to Somerset alone. Imagine how Moses managed to move millions of people in the desert from Egypt to Canaan, somemore at the time where handphone has not been invented yet.

Most of us reached Cathay around 7.40, rushed for a piece of Burger King, and arrived at the cinema close to 8 pm when the show has already started.

All in all, it was a memorizing one, especially when there are so many people you know around you. More of this in two weeks time for Star Wars III.

Quick info: MSN Messenger has been updated from 7.0.0777 to 7.0.0813. Download MSN Messenger from here.

Mid 2004, Sony Ericsson launched Sony Ericsson K700i phone. The following month, July 2004, the Japanese-Swede manufacturer stylish K700i camera-phone, an update to then highly-successful T610/T630, soared into 3rd place in CNET's July 2004 hottest phones list. It received CNET's Editor's Choice too.

The following month, Nokia took a back seat as Sony Ericsson K700i took the coveted first spot. It never looked back for so many months. September, October, November, December, January 2005, February, and March has passed, but K700i still maintained its position in the first place. CNET's April hottest phones list was out, as every good things must come to an end, and so K700i is finally dethroned to fourth spot, overtaken by Nokia 3230, O2 Xphone II, and Panasonic X800. Seven months, that was certainly the longest time I could recall a phone maintained a first spot in CNET's hottest phone list, showing how successful K700i phone is in Singapore.

I bought this phone on December 2004 to replace my T610, and I am truly happy with using this phone. Dropped it NINE times (yes, I counted!!!!), and it is still a charm, despite scratches at its back, occassional reboot, and missing "QuickShare" label. I can say there is no phone in the market now significantly better that can really justify an upgrade yet. Oh, I do hope this phone can lasts me until December 2006, when my current's Starhub contract expires. We'll see.

Now, who here is using, have used, or planning to use Sony Ericsson K700i too?

You are walking on a street while suddenly someone came up to you to ask for let's say, donation for some less fortunate people. You are not in the mood of doing any charity for that day, what would you do?

Say straight No and walk away.
Listen to him, until midway and say No, then walk away.
Letting him finish his introduction, and say No, then walk away.
Keep giving him the money so you can walk away as soon as possible.
Would you say No, I don't think so, Not today, I have just given to your friend down there, or what.

Imagine you are in that kind of situation, what would you do?

If you like Starbucks. Buy one-get-two voucher. Click the image for larger view. Print it, and bring it to your nearest Starbucks to enjoy the offer.

Grace is my NTU's friend from my batch. She moved to US with her husband soon after they got married. And so, last week, on 9th of May, 23.25 PST, they welcome their daughter, Gabrielle Haryanto, also known as Gabby, to the world. And here, I would like to welcome her to this world, and wish three of them all the best for their life in the coming future.

So, CONGRATULATIONS to Gustaman and Grace !!! We are happy for you here in Singapore. Head over to their blog to congratulate them.

Dropped (again) my Sony Ericsson K700i last night, for the TENTH TIME !!!! Now what's wrong with me and this phone?

by: Sharon Schurman, sent by Titin.

1. Someone who sees the best in you.

If you were lucky enough to grow up with healthy parents, you have
experienced the feeling of having someone who has always looked at your
good qualities. Many of us missed that experience. You will be a lucky
person if you have found a mate who is always looking at your 'silver lining'.
Too often today people are more than willing to judge you by your errors,
not by your potential.


2. Someone who gives you the benefit of the doubt.

There are so many times in your life when you need that little edge, that
little opportunity to take just that extra step. It can seem as if your
efforts are going nowhere and although you want to keep moving forward,
there are so many negatives staring you in the face. That person who knows
things could go either way for you but takes that leap to believe you
will make it is the person who is more valuable to you than gold.

3. Someone who watches over you.

You need a guardian angel who is there, waiting to catch you if you fall,
ready to help you when you stumble, ready to pave the way for you when you
cannot get moving. There are people who love you who do just that.
There are people who do not make a big deal out of saving your bacon. Do you know
who they are?
(Read More)

Riding on the hype of the upcoming Star Wars, here's a funny video on Store Wars.
http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html

After Sunday's BBQ and the rapid change of weather in Singapore, I declare that I am officially sick. Feel heaty inside thanks to BBQ, and running nose and flu thanks to the weather. Has been running back and forth from my desk to pantry and back to fill up my water bottle that runs out in less than 1 hour. And due to that, I have no choice but to go back and forth to the gents as well. Not sure how many litres of waters went through my body yesterday and today, but it's much more than what I usually have.

I still come to work today, later still going to Suntec City for dinner.
Hope I can get well by end of tomorrow.

Thanks everyone who have wished me a get well soon. I have recovered from my flu and sore throat, although not fully.  So, it'll be a three-day weekend as Monday is a public holiday here in Singapore. I have a couple of things to do during this weekend. First thing first, later I am going to collect ticket for next Thursday Star Wars at Cathay Orchard Cineplex. I will be collecting ticket for 130 seats at $9.50 each !!!!  You can calculate yourself how much that will be. Anyone have watched Star Wars already? Then I'll settle my dinner somewhere in Orchard, thinking of maybe going Marche later.

Saturday will be another day. If everything goes as planned, my younger brother will get baptized in a galaxy not so far away in Melbourne. Congrats bro!!!!  At night, I will have dinner, probably somewhere around Orchard again.

On Sunday morning, that's Big Walk day.  Tentatively, I have myself, Eric, Asen, Bayu, MB, Ahonk and flatmates, Melinda, Yoli, and Patricia from SP. From Avanade, I only know Kim Yiau and Andrea who will be going as well. We shall start that 10-km walk early 7.30 am in the morning. Full map here. Somebody willing to wake me up at 6.30 am?? hehehe... As usual, I trust Asen to be keeping all the memories with his trusty Powershot G5.

In the end, I dropped by Lucky Plaza for a while, then walked to Cathay Orchard Cineplex to collect Star Wars ticket. I paid $1,235 for all the 130 tickets!!!! My gosh!!! My record ticket purchase thus far.  After that, I walked over to Marche at Heeren, but the queue was long, so in the end, I went to nydc at Heeren for dinner. I had Roast Chicken Spaghetti with French Vanilla Earl Cool for drink. If you ask me to rate, I'll rate 7/10. Anyone know what's best in nydc? Or any personal preference? A little too bad that our dinner were tainted by two girls smoking next to our table.

After dinner, I went to Borders to browse around. I went out with two books, a $23.10 book titled Blink, and another one $19.95 titled Ten Thoughts about Time.

On my way back in the bus, I met Flo, NTU friend whom I have not met for sooo long, now taking her PhD. Back at home, Eko, Eric, and I watched the season 4 finale of Smallville. As usual with all finale, very vague ending.

Saying it's a Big Walk is an under-statement. This should be called Gigantic Massive Mammoth Immense Walk!!!! Okay, I exxagerate here, but walking 10 km was not as easy as I thought. We woke up at 6.15 AM, and reached there almost 8.30 AM. We literally walked from National Stadium, turned in Nicoll Highway, went towards Esplanade, and made a U-turn at Fullerton, and back to National Stadium. I initially thought we could have finished the 10-km walk in 2 hours, but in the end, we took close to 3 hours to reach the finish point.

So, who went? Myself, Bayu, Momon, Eric, Asen, Anton, Melinda, and Patricia. We even saw Batman, Spiderman, and few people who wore fruits like tomato, grapes, etc. After the event, we went Serangoon for lunch, and back at home now. Bathed already, now typing blog, I should rest for a while, before going church later.

Below are the photos taken during our Big Walk by our trusty Asen's Powershot G5.  Click the respective photos for bigger-sized pictures. Complete original-size pictures are shared in my Imagestation gallery.

    
    

Update: Asen and Eric has put up their post on Big Walk in their blog as well. Check them out.

I have just received email claimed to come from support@dbs.com, sounds convincing huh? Below is the screenshot. If you receive a similar email, please do not be tricked into it, k? In fact, any, and I mean, any email from anyone, be it DBS, OCBC, Citibank, eBay, paypal, from anyone who request your user ID and PIN through email, there are most likely to be scam, so beware.(Read More)

Find it interesting to solve. Can you solve them?

Early this morning, 2.45-5.30 AM, I was watching the most-amazing comeback in European Champions League final history. Liverpool was 1-0 down against AC Milan as early as the first minute, 3-0 down at half-time, everyone thought it was game over, but to their credit, equalized by scoring 3 goals for 3-3 scoreline in a bizarre six second-half minutes. They brought the game to penalty shoot-out to eventually won it 3-2. Amazing, unbelievable, historic night for UnbeLiverpool. Congrats !!!!

Up next was Anakin Skywalker turned Darth Vader. I went for Star Wars III with my friend and colleagues at Cathay Orchard Cineplex. My friend and I were 10 minutes late for the show, and overall I thought it was a very good movie, though I still prefer the second one. A lot of action, in fact, a lot of gory scenes, and with that, concluded the six series of Star Wars. Congrats to George Lucas !!!!

Back at home, I arrived at 10.45, just in time for the announcement of American Idol 4. We all know who won. Congrats Carrie Underwood !!!!

Now it's time for me to turn to the dark side. I mean sleep.

Wonderful song, wonderful lyric from Michael W. Smith to describe how wonderful is the Love of our God.

I have been unfaithful
I have been unworthy
I have been unrighteous
And I have been unmerciful

I have been unreachable
I have been unteachable
I have been unwilling
And I have been undesirable

Chorus:

Sometimes, I have been unwise
I’ve been undone by what I’m unsure of
But because of you, and all that you went through
I know that I have never been unloved

(Read More)

Currently listening to: Never Been Unloved

You know, I am a slow typist when it comes to typing SMS on my phone. When I have my Pocket PC around, I usually pulled the SMS from my phone via Bluetooth, and reply from there. It's much faster to type using keyboard in Pocket PC than using only ten buttons on my phone. Moreover, my K700i could only store 70 messages, while the space in my Pocket PC is virtually limitless. I could easily have tenth of thousands of SMS in my Pocket PC and it won't even take 5 MB of space.

Another advantage, as I have realized recently that by doing so, I could have the archive of all my SMS without bothering to delete any of them. So, after I started having this habit of storing all my SMS, it came to me that I have, as of today from 10 January 2005, 1476 messages in my Inbox, and 1526 messages in my Sent Items. That's a whooping 3000 messages in less than six months. Oh, by the way, the software I am using in my Pocket PC, indovisiSMS, is developed by Indonesian too, and free for fellow Indonesian.

Update: This post has generated high number of unexpected response, so to prevent further damage, a damage control must be done

by: Guy Sebastian

[Verse 1]
It's been a long and winding journey, but i'm finally here tonight
Picking up the pieces, walking back into the light
Into the sunset of your glory, where my heart and future lies
There's nothing like that feeling, when i look into your eyes...

[Bridge]
My dreams came true, when i found you
I found you, my miracle...

[Chorus]
If you could see, what i see, that you're the answer to my prayers
And if you could feel, the tenderness i feel
You would know, it would be clear, that angels brought me here...
(Read More)

Currently listening to: Angels Brought Me Here

After 18 months of working in Avanade, today marks the first day I took MC because I am sick.  That of course doesn't count the five days MC when I went for wisdom tooth surgery early January 2005. It all started yesterday, around 4.30-5 pm, I started to feel dizzy and a bit of headache. Planned to go back earlier, but an issue in FF project affecting production environment forced me to stay back. As a consultant, my job is to, well, consult. But before I can consult, I need to first know what was the problem. So I stayed back to troubleshoot, until I resolved the issue. After that, I continued a bit of IE project before I decided to leave.

Went to Lao Pa Sat for dinner, then slept in the cab all the way until I reached home. This morning, I woke up still feeling the headache, so I continued my rest hoping that I can go to office around 10.30 AM, but in the end, after it didn't get better even after lunch, I succumbed to my first MC, and slept the whole day.  Now, 5 pm, I felt much much better, and back to office tomorrow, I will. Thanks everyone who have wished me well today. Appreciate that.

Oh btw, just in case you are wondering, my FF and IE project doesn't stand for Firefox and Internet Explorer.