Enough said. So, who are going?

Unity
By: Joseph S. Djafar

Bagai Kau dan Bapa satu
Yesus kami pun mau tuk bersatu
Satu di dalam kasihMu
Penuhi rinduMu atas negeriku

[chorus]
Kini kami bersatu berdoa padaMu
Menyentuh hatiMu
Datang kemuliaanMu, slamatkan bangsaku
Slamatkan Indonesia Tuhan

(repeat)
(chorus) 2x

Currently listening to: My Worship Album

Mid-year, it's when people graduated from NTU (again). So, this time round, congrats to those who have made it through NTU gate into the working world !!!!! Congrats, and welcome to the dark side, hahhaha....
All the best for your job seeking, or master or PhD seeking, or whatever your plan is after graduation.

PS. I wrote this as I promised Vero last year that I would write this post when she graduated, hahahah.... Congrats Vero ud lulus !!!!

It's all about tennis and PC Show. Started with playing tennis on Friday evening, when I snapped my racquet's (or shd it be racket?) string, and couldn't really continue. Saturday morning, Eko and I went to Queensway to leave my racket for re-string. I picked a $30 Wilson Enduro 18 string. It stated "Engineered for Competition" string, Playability rated at full 10, and Durability rated at 9, hahaha.... After lunch at Queensway, we went to Singapore Expo for PC Show, together with Eric and Jejep. Honestly, nothing much there. I only bought a Samsung DVD Writer which Asen's asked me to buy. He didn't go there, coz I think he's busy with his

After we have left Expo at 4.30 pm, we dropped by Queensway again to pick up my racket, and at night, we all played another session of tennis (again). It was also time to test out my new string. Turned out the string was too good that I was not used to it and thus was unable to muster enough accuracy on my shots. My shots were literally flew all over the court. That night, Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne won her second Roland Garros title by devastating France's Mary Pierce 6-1, 6-1 in the French Open final.

Sunday was as usual, went to church, dinner at Queenstown before going back home. At night, somehow I managed to reach home at 8.30+ pm, just nice to play another session of tennis. This time, I started to get the hang of my new racket's string, and as my flatmates suggested, now I hit the ball much better, be it forehand, backhand, serve, or slices, you name it, haaa.... Although, "better" is relative to myself, it could still mean "very poor" in good player's standard, hahaha... Sunday night was Men's French Open final when Spanish teen Rafael Nadal capped an amazing fortnight by overcoming a game Mariano Puerta 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1, 7-5 to win the his first Roland Garros men's title.

Lastly, something not so usual on Sunday, when my sister finally delivered her first baby, Kylie Feodorea Chan, on Sunday 5th June 2005 - 9.30 AM Jakarta time, into this world. Congrats sis ... now, let's see when I can find a flight back to Jakarta to visit my first niece, hahaha...

My friend have a job vacancy for those who have just graduated and interested in being a Java Developer. It will be a permanent job in Singapore. They are expecting applicants who are strong in Java and have 3.3/4 or 80% mark during university days, and they are considering fresh graduates. If you are interested, do email your resume and cover letter to hendrikch [at] gmail [dot] com and I will help you forward your email to them. Thanks.

This post only meant for Opera 8 users out there who are also using Gmail. To speed Gmail up, go to your C:\\Documents and Settings\\username\\Application Data\\Opera\\Opera 8\\profile folder and look for file called ua.ini.

Find and replace these lines:
gmail.google.com=1
gmail.com=1

to these:
gmail.google.com=4
gmail.com=4

After this change, you will notice that the amount of bytes downloaded from Gmail during the 'Loading' stage, will decrease from 250 KB to only 80 KB.

Gizmodo reported that Hitachi Maxell and Verbatim got together over weekend for the annual HD DVD Barbecue, and while they were there, they figured out mass HD DVD-R production. In fact, existing DVD-R lines can supposedly be converted to HD DVD-R lines in a matter of minutes.

Hopefully for them and the entire HD DVD camp, it won't turn into a HD DVD+RW DL (or whatever) acronym mess that recordable DVDs have. Mass production of HD DVD-R is scheduled to begin Spring 2006, right when other HD DVD products will be launched. Now I want this, 15 GB!!!!

Come to think of it, how many of you have converted from using CD-R/CD-RW to DVD-R/DVD+R/DVD-RW/DVD+RW/DVD-RAM (so many formats of DVDs ) ?

Microsoft has reached a deal with Indonesia over the tens of thousands of pirated versions of Windows programs used in government departments.

Ministers said Microsoft had agreed an amnesty under which a token sum of one dollar will be paid for every computer found to be using illegal software.

In exchange, the government has promised to buy Microsoft merchandise legally in future. Indonesia has one of the world's highest rates of pirated programs.

What do you think? Will this crush software piracy in Indonesia?
(read more at BBC)

From Dian's blog, I tried this test. Well, end result is below, although come to think of it, there's a very thin line between being confident and arrogant. Anyway, here's the result.

Televangelist You are 42% Rational, 71% Extroverted, 14% Brutal, and 71% Arrogant.

As the Lord as my witness, I swear upon the good book that you are indeed the TELEVANGELIST! Characterized by extreme arrogance, self-assurance, and extroversion, you would make a very charismatic leader (or a very despotic one). On top of that, you are also more intuitive than rational, predisposing you to a more spiritual or emotional outlook on life. Thus, you are thoroughly irrational. You also tend to be rather gentle and considerate of others' feelings. Clearly, you would make the perfect televangelist. Emotional, extroverted, arrogant, and gentle, you annoy the hell out of people who have to listen to the feel-good, intuitive shit spewing from your mouth. Not only that, but people may look down on you as a self-centered asshat. So while you are gentle and genuinely care about others, it is quite clear that you still care about yourself MORE. Why is your personality flawed? Because you are too damned extroverted, emotional, and arrogant. So preach your irrational message, brotha-man! I assure you, no one will be listening!(Read More) Posted by hendrikch at 09:00 PM | 2 random snippets 'Lois & Clark' actor Lane Smith dies at 69 Lois and Clark was one of my favorite TV show. LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Lane Smith, a longtime character actor who played a small-town district attorney who crossed words with Joe Pesci in "My Cousin Vinny," died Monday. He was 69. Smith, who also played Richard Nixon in the TV movie "The Final Days" and Daily Planet editor Perry White in "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," died at his home in Los Angeles, according to his wife, Debbie Benedict Smith. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Smith appeared in numerous films and television shows. Most recently, he appeared in the 2000 movie "The Legend of Bagger Vance," starring Will Smith and Matt Damon.(Read More) Posted by hendrikch at 09:48 PM | Comment Here June 16th, 2005 Buffet Lunch at LingZhi We are not exactly bored with all those hotel buffet, chinese food restaurant, or a simple hawker centre food, but today we went for something different. A totally vegetarian food!!! Recommended by one of our colleagues, we went to LingZhi Vegetarian Restaurant at Far East Square. You can choose between ala carte or buffet. We went for the buffet steamboat cum dim-sum. Surprisingly, it was quite crowded given the nature of the food there. We are all healty-eater today as we couldn't find any meat there. What they have are dim-sum of fake char-siew pau, fake siew-mai, fake everything, which tastes very close to its fat-loaded original ones. Of course, you will find a lot of vegetables, all kinds of mushrooms including abalone mushroom (it's just its shape resembles abalone), beancurd, carrot cake, etcetera etcetera. you get the idea. For desert, they have pineapple mango sago. Taste good, but rather sour. And for information sake, how much was it? Prepare around $25 for the lunch. They have 10% discount for American Express card holder, but it's only valid for ala-carte, not the buffet lunch. Next, I will surely have meat for my dinner tonight, and I will be looking forward to next lunch/dinner at Hua Ting Cantonese Restaurant, hahaha... Currently listening to: Tom Fettke - Once and For All Currently reading: Joshua Harris book Posted by hendrikch at 03:31 PM in | 2 random snippets My name in Flickr language Try yours here. [via INK] Posted by hendrikch at 09:21 PM in Personal Ramblings as a favorite post | 7 random snippets June 18th, 2005 Sony Ericsson K750i I went to Orchard area for dinner just now, and I saw Sony Ericsson booth near HMV. Interested to look at their latest K750i, I dropped by to take a look. Either it's "fat" (read: wide) or short, but I do have the feeling that its shape is rather fat and shorty. The keys are fantastic to say the least, very responsive, and provide great tactile feedback. The joystick, however, was a bit deep and small for my finger. At the back is a 2 Megapixel camera with Auto Focus. You check this, or this, or this, or this for sample pictures taken with K750i. Check the full review at Mobile-Review. Oh yeah, if you are thinking something, no, I'm not going to change my K700i to K750i, as I still have 1.5 years to go on my current Starhub plan. So, we'll see in 1.5 years time, maybe they'll come out with a 4 Megapixel handphone, hahaha... that'll be perfect. Posted by hendrikch at 12:54 AM in Personal Ramblings | 7 random snippets June 20th, 2005 Turkish Lira Exchange Rate I always thought Indonesia rupiah has the highest exchange rate in the world, standing at 1 USD = IDR ~9700. But I have just found that Turkish Lira has even higher exchange rate. As of end 2004, 1 USD was equal to ~1,400,000 TRL In a similar move to what Indonesia did in 1970s when Indonesia "devalued" their currency by 1000, Turkish government have cut their exchange rate by 1,000,000 for the new currency called New Turkish Lira with the new code TRY. So, as of 1st January 2005, 1 USD = ~1.4 TRY (note the code change). And Indonesia rupiah is back to the 'coveted' spot to have the highest exchange rate in the world. And if currency exchange rate tells a lot about a country wealth, it doesn't look very good for Indonesia, does it? Or, do you know any other currency that has higher exchange rate? On a same note, if you run Office Update or Microsoft Update, you will notice quite a number of updates for Office products such as Word, Excel, Access, Visio, or Infopath to recognize the new currency. Posted by hendrikch at 03:07 PM | Comment Here June 21st, 2005 Reflection Shuffling my song on the bus, I encountered this soundtrack from Mulan, which is still a nice song to listen to. Title: Reflection (from Mulan) Artist: Christina Aguilera Look at me You may think you see who I really am But you'll never know me Ev'ry day It's as if I play a part Now I see If I wear a mask I can fool the world But I cannot fool my heart (Read More) Posted by hendrikch at 12:18 AM in Technology | 5 random snippets Keep the Law I would like to quickly share what I read yesterday from Book of Joshua. This is the word from Joshua shortly before He died after he's well advanced in his years. But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul." (Joshua 22:5) It's clearly stated in a simple sentence what our LORD God wants us to do day by day. But knowing His word is one thing. Doing it is another thing. We all learn, and by His grace, one day we'll be able to fufill His commandments and all of our duties. Posted by hendrikch at 10:47 AM | 2 random snippets Gmail updated Just realized that Google has made small change to Gmail, moving its URL from http://gmail.google.com/gmail to http://mail.google.com/mail. The first thing to break noticed is Firefox's Gmail Notifier. It now gives "Failed to log in" error message. Update: Gmail Notifier has been updated to support the new Gmail URL change. Posted by hendrikch at 10:27 PM | 4 random snippets My mobile phones Taking a clue from Asen, I think it's interesting to see which mobile phones have served me over the years. Let's get the ball rolling. Nokia 6150 Bought when I came to NTU. First year (1999). (More phones in between) Sony Ericsson K700i Exactly one month after the warranty expires, my T610 suddenly failed on me. Reboots on numerous occassions without order from its master, I decided to trade it out before it gets worse. December 2004 - at least December 2006. After this, should I start a series of PC, notebooks, and Pocket PC I have used? hehehe... Posted by hendrikch at 11:00 PM in Personal Ramblings | 27 random snippets June 24th, 2005 Which of the 5 Chinese Elements Are You?  You are the chinese element of Fire. People who are under the element of fire are considerate, sensitive and communicative. Fire, you are a conjuror, and you hate boredom, butterfly emoitions and you also crave excitement. The color of fire is red and your symbol is the phoenix. Summer is the season in which fire shines and it's months are April/May. Your weather condition is heat. Fire is the direction south, and your day is Tuesday, while your planet is Mars. Animals under your element are usually winged. People under you are the Hans. Your sense is taste, whereas your taste is bitter, your sound is laughing and your virtue is propriety. Your organ is the heart. You were created by Wood and you control Metal. [via INK] Which of the 5 Chinese Elements Are You? brought to you by Quizilla Posted by hendrikch at 11:50 AM in Personal Ramblings | 3 random snippets June 25th, 2005 Valkyrie Winamp skin For Winamp 5.0x out there, I found a nice Winamp skin that I am using now. Nice. Download them here. Posted by hendrikch at 09:59 AM | Comment Here Change Opera Mail folder I use my Opera at home to pull emails from my Gmail, and over four months, it has grown close to 10,000 messages, close to 670 MB. Last night, I just realized that Opera stores this 670 MB-file in my C drive that is quite small. By default, Opera stores Mail files in C:\Documents and Settings\Hendrik Christian\Application Data\Opera\Opera 8\Mail folder. If you are like me, uses Opera for your email and have problem with Opera storing all your mails in drive C, here is how to move them into another drive. (Read More) Posted by hendrikch at 10:23 AM | 4 random snippets June 27th, 2005 ISCF Welcome Tea Calendar Got this from ISCF Welcome Tea. It's made of wood and seven pieces of plate of woods which you can arrange to form any date of the year. Each plate contains four numbers or months inscribed onto it. Too bad, every morning, I need to change the date manually, hehehe... Else, this is one piece of art and skill I should say. Posted by hendrikch at 08:22 PM in Personal Ramblings | 19 random snippets June 28th, 2005 Fox Trot 28 June 2005 I find it very funny, and thought of sharing it out. Posted by hendrikch at 02:07 PM | Comment Here June 29th, 2005 Nokia secret? Parlin has just posted two Interesting Facts about Nokia phones in his blog. I knew the second one, but was very caught by the first one. It said: "Imagine your mobile battery is very low, you are expecting an important call and you don't have a charger. Nokia instrument comes with reserveBattery. * To activate, key is *3370# your mobile will restart with this Reserve and your instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This Reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time." This sounds like a genius idea. Is it true? If it is, how long will this "50%" lasts? Anyone? Nokia user? Update: It looks like pressing *3370# will make matters worse. The correct code in order to increase your talk time is *#4720#, but you will sacrifice audio quality for it. More information can be found here. You can know all other codes that you can try with your Nokia phone Posted by hendrikch at 02:11 PM in Personal Ramblings | 17 random snippets July 1st, 2005 BarCelona Wine Bar Today was another event from the company as we went to BarCelona Wine Bar at Robertson Walk, just inside Clemenceau Avenue. I didn't have my dinner before going there, but had quite a lot of finger foods like pizzas and chicken wings. As for the drink, we were entitled to two free drinks, so I ordered Whisky Cola for my first and Vodka-7-Up for my second. I could taste the liquor for my first drink, but my second drink tasted more 7-Up than Vodka. We left BarCelona around 10 pm, but the adventure didn't end there. We walked out from Robertson Walk to Clemenceau Avenue to grab a cab. We waited in the crossroad for about 10 mins, then realized that there were very few cabs going through that way, so we walked further up to try our luck, while at the same time trying to call for taxis. Seconds after we left that crossroad, a couple walked there and immediately got a cab. What a "luck" for us.  So, we walked and walked until we found a taxi stand. We waited there, while at the same time, trying to call and flag cabs, to no avail. After a while with no sign of improvements, we walked to Liang Court, still trying to get call into taxi's phone system. I tried all kinds of cabs, from blue color, yellow, green, silver, red, white, you name it, but none of them have spare line to answer our call. Siannzzz... until my phone battery died on me. Finally, after 40 minutes or so of a quest to get taxi, we "hijacked" a taxi near the taxi stand. Someone was getting down from taxi, and without asking whether he'll pick us up, we just hopped into it, and ask him to drive four of us home, to four different places. He wouldn't have picked us if we told him earlier that we are going four different places. Posted by hendrikch at 12:02 AM in Personal Ramblings | 2 random snippets « 2005/05 | 2005/07 »