Just The Wei I Am

The highlight of the day so far today is .... finding out that I still intiutively know how to derive the length of the hypotenuse using Pythagoras Thereom.

Why did I need to do that? Because I know that ISO A4 sheets are 210x297mm in dimensions, and I wanted to find the length of its diagonal.

So why did I need to do that? Because I do not have a long ruler, and I wanted to see how long 15.4 inches is. The diagonal turned out to be 14.3 inches and it wasn't hard to imagine an extra 1.1 inches.

Uh huh, so why did I need to do that? Because the Acer Aspire 2012 (and many other notebooks, in fact) has a 15.4" TFT with a native resolution of 1280x800. I created an image with those dimensions in Photoshop, copy-and-paste a screenshot of my current display, and then zoomed the image so that it was 15.4 inches along its diagonal. Voila! Mockup of 15.4" 1280x800 display!

Sadly, though, I found myself rather put off by the prospects of eventually having to do my daily computing oo-eh-bo-eh on such a *small* display. I won't be able to surf with two IE windows side-by-side, both in portrait orientation! Bleak... Then again, James assured me that I'll get used to it. Oh, he should know, what with his new baby ... All my geek friends are switching, when will it be my turn?

In the meantime, I think I will put up with Wintel. I have few complaints lah - it's just that Apple really is better. Hey, I've just gone to an Apple Technology Update and I've watched Steve Jobs's keynote unveiling Panther. It's cool. Tiger's coming soon. Watch this space. So really, if I want to switch, it's more of a pull than a push.

So now I'm dreaming about getting a notebook. About time, I guess. Third year's coming. Having my PC on 24/7 in a hostel room is cool but it's kinda irritating that I always have to borrow laptops from people to run RDC when I'm in school. So, it's time to get one myself. Was thinking of getting a 2nd-hand one. It's not too bad, and I can't find a current model with better all-round specs for the price asked. Yet, getting a second opinion from James - who is the proud owner of his third notebook - set me straight. It's not bad, but it's old technology. Besides, and also more importantly, after looking around more, I found that for just a few hundred dollars more, I can get stuff way better.

Moral of the story, do your homework before buying geek stuff. And don't forget your geometry.

The Browsers War happened a few years back, when Netscape and Microsoft were fighting for market share during the height of the Internet boom. After various court battles and what-nots, that war is pretty much over. Today, the insurgent browsers seem to be fighting more of an underground war. Lots of alternative browsers popping up here and there.

I just tried Mozilla. It's a tight package that includes a browser, email client, newsreader, IRC client and a composer tool - all in a 12MB installer. From my brief encounter with it, it feels a little rough at the edges. I can see some nice features like Tabs, but hey, Opera has those too and better implemented. I don't really have that good a first impression of Mozilla, so will its users pray tell me what are its good points?

IE works really fine for me, although I've heard so many people complain about it. It hardly - really hardly - ever crashes on me, and this is the main grouse that people have. And if there's one thing that will make me reluctant to shift from IE, it gotta be the Google Toolbar. It's not part of IE, you have to get it from Google and I think all IE users should get it!

Opera's another browser that I'm impressed by (although I will still use IE). It just gets things right. Mouse Gestures is a really good idea. Once mastered, prepare to get RSI in your right wrist. ;) One word to describe the Opera experience might be 'intuitive' - if you can think of it, they've probably implemented it. If you can't think of it, they've also implemented it.

Anyway, I'll think to IE just because it is simple. No frills. It works. Period.

Okay, maybe not that much.

After all that talk, here's a screenshot of my IE experience for fellow geeks to scrutinise.

Portrait orientation. Google toolbar. No MyWebSearch! No spy/adware!

Google

If you are not l33t, in fact if you don't even know what l33t is, don't click on the link!!

Haha, click it anyway lah ...

Did the most incredibly amazing thing today.

I went for the wrong tutorial. I was wondering why the class was so small, where did everyone go man? Maybe it's the rain. Hey, where's Benny? He pontang also? And then the class ended, and Benny was outside waiting to come in.

It dawned on me that I had just attended the tutorial one hour early! Champion sia ...

Well, it's been two years that I've stayed in PGP.

And only recently did I realise how good the food from the Thai stall is!! Argh, just when I've decided not to stay here next semester ... Anyway, it is a stall rather lacking in marketing, and I've almost never ordered anything from it because it's hard to tell what's available with just a glance.

Anyway, the other day I decided to try their fried rice, remembering that someone - Garry I think - once told me that it's good. And anyway, I'm a little tired of the Chinese cooked food stall, and I've started to have a dislike for the lady at that stall too - she can be all smiles one moment and then suddenly quite rude the next. SO, I tried the fried rice. Man, it was good! Completely worth the $3.50. Haha, I've been having fried rice for almost a week now ... I had it for both lunch and dinner today ... Yikes!

Oh, and I found a bargain at Georgie's - Heaven and Earth Honey Green Tea 1.5L - $1.60 ... That's not even the price of 2x 330mL cans!!

Album: Innovations in Technology

Just got Garry to pass me the photos he took during the Home Experiments presentation for UPC2202: Innovations in Technology.

Now that was one siong module, but one I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm not sure if I've enjoyed any of the other modules I've taken in the one year since as much. Hmmm .... Is it me, or is it the modules? That was also a particularly good semester as far as I can remember. Is it the virginal innocence of freshman year? I'm looking forward to spending another semester like that - thoroughly enjoying and actively learning, siong or not.

I finally finished it. Something that has dragged for months.

My predilection to procrastinate sometimes amazes myself, yet the resolve (or lack of) that keeps my to-do lists perennially familiar is all the more incredible.

The sensation of completing a task you deeply yearned to complete is dulled when you feel like you've already completed it many times, often in the wee hours just before succumbing to rest in the arms of Morpheus.

How many more? How long more?

I've been waking up at 7:30 for two days now. It's great. I've almost forgotten what it feels like to be outside in the morning - the gentle sunshine, the cool air, the birds chirping. Yeah, morning is a beautiful time.

Hostel life has robbed me of this for two years! I mean, I do wake early sometimes but it's only occasional. Waking early is not a new thing, of course, considering that I've had to do that for 16 years of my life, all the way from kindergarten to NS. The "freedom" that hostel life gave me has allowed me to sleep and wake at arbitary timings and even oversleeping has become not unusual. I'm starting to appreciate waking up early, and I never thought I would!

There's something about mornings. There are so little people around! (Well, other than on the MRT and buses of course.)

It's all very quiet, very serene, and very peaceful. It feels like I've woken up but the Busy-ness of the day hasn't. You know how it is like when you wake up later, it always feels like you're still at the starting block after the shot has gone off.

Well, now it's 8:00. I'm a little groggy, but I'm getting refreshed. Read the Bible - it seems so natural to do that in the morning. Any later, and I might not feel like doing it. One more reason to wake early: to spend quality time with God.

This is the day that He has made!

6:40!! I'm up! Wow!

Okay, I have a test later at 8:30 ... =P

By the way, just want to comment on something. I was at some Xanga sites recently and wanted to comment but discovered that I must register in order to do so. And they don't have tagboards!

So since my blog has both a comment system and a tagboard, can all you guys use them appropriately? Haha, the tagboard seems to be serving as a comment box too... Please post entry-specific comments in the comments section under each post!! Tagboards are for fooling around and saying hi!

Okay, gonna go study now ...