enjoy.the.journey

huff, been through a tired week.. >_< the workload is still manageable, not that overload like i dun have time at all..
but what i want to write about is more of the pressure..
this week is a bit tough for me, i feel a bit worried about my job here.

when i first join this company, they offer me a probation time for 3 months, and i should get a review about my performance, and update the status of my employment here based on the review, if my performance is gud enough, they promise a salary upgrade :p haha.. what makes me worried is that now it’s been 6 months already, and they dun even care about the review..

there is another thing that makes me tired this week, i dun like to push people, and force them to do something for me,but last month i decided to ask and become a bit ‘pushy’ about this ‘review’ thing.. i ask my boss about my review, and he promise to follow up to HR, and after quite some time, i ask him about this, and another promise comes out.. this week is end of the month, so i decide to ask once more to my HR, (they’ve already delayed for 3 months, so ‘if’ there’s a salary upgrade, i’d like to start from this month, also there’s also another finance problem i face with my company which i’d rather not to discuss here, i kinda decide to accept that other problem with a big heart) and guess what the result after i talk to my HR?? is another promise to follow up.. to the bosses this time, haha..

as long as i work for a company, i never ask for a salary upgrade before, my previous company take a gud care of me and i’m really thankful for that, huff, i hate to do this kinda thing.. i know it’s a recession time, most company face a lot of financial problem and i should be thankful even to still have a job at this kinda time.. but still..

another thing that makes me tired is my own thoughts.. i feel guilty after i push them, even when i know they also face a difficult situation, but i still push them, dunno whether this is only my feeling, or not, but i feel that as a result for me being pushy, the bosses seems to see me as ‘trouble’, hoho i hope this is only my feeling, maybe they just being stressed out by the workload and the crisis that is looming ahead.. this things really make this week a bit harder to go through..

but this saturday, in service, God speaks to me.. ^^
i’ve been doing wrong this past few weeks.. i forgot that HE is the one that give me salary, and HE is my Boss! i’ve been worrying over nothing:
- i worry about my future, my salary
- i worry that my company tricks me, that they’ve cheated on me.
- i started to do less for my company, i thought, if they don’t give a d*mn gud care about me, why should i give my 110% for them, why even bother to care for them

yesterday, He reminds me about my walks with Him in my previous years working under Him, He really takes a gud care of me, of my salary, He provides me, (i’m a bit underpaid in my first company, and eventhough i’m a bit behind with my skill, but He really takes a gud care of me in my second company). He speaks to me in worship session, reminds me of Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd, He leads me to the right path, even when i walk through the valley of death, i will not fear, cos He is with me, He provides me in front of my enemies, He blesses me until my cup is full:
- i should not worry about my salary, cos He is my Boss and He will provide me
- i should not give less than 100%, cos He is my Boss and i should give my 110% for Him
- i should not worry about tricks or evil plan from others, cos He is with me
- i need to be supportive, be a gud team player, and be a bless in my company, gradually learn His plans for placing me in this company
and wham, this change my way of thinking.. i should change my attitude by tomorrow! it’s a bit hard but i need to try.

haha, really, He is a strong refuge, He cast away fears, and give REST, it’s like He lifts my heavy burden with a snap, and remind me of His promises! hahaha..

a colleague of mine share this video on youtube, and it’s quite interesting ^^
See video above or by clicking here (MIT Sketching)

please bear with the plain front, it’ll be more interesting after he draws a car and the car can jump. Most interesting is when he draw small balls and see the balls plunge into a glass ^^

so, how was it after u watch the video? cool huh? ^^
what’s more awesome is that u can actually download the beta version of the software called “Phun”. (click here to download) install it, then run Phun to have fun! ^^ haha, you can actually draw with ur mouse, and it’s pretty much the same with the video, u can create wheel, peer, plain, box, circle, ball.. use ur own creativity.. haha, this is fun.. i attach two picture that i capture when i was having “Phun” (read: fun) on my computer try to create a buzz about this tool with office people.. i mean, we can have more ‘Phun’ with touch screen! hahaha..

haha, try and see where ur imagination/creativity can take u ^^

Expression Engine

wew!! What the ****!!
haha, today i was told to debug an old project, which is a CMS Website for one of the radio station in Singapore. the website is using this expression engine (see picture above) for web content administration. the bug is actually quite simple, it’s just that the polls is not showing..

(so i get a hunch that the template maybe wrong, and i think that i can finish this quickly and continue with my other project that requires more effort)

but soon i realize that i was wrong, it’s not going to be a simple task.. !! everytime i login to the control panel, and try to locate the template, the system keep returning to login page!! for the 1st hour i can manage my patience, i can type in the user id and password, then go from the beginning to search the template.. but then time goes by, and it gets more irritating.. even after login, just 1 click, then i’m being redirected to login page!! !@#$%^&*)

i spent 3 hrs in vain.. just keep login and login.. i am devastated.. i am confident about this task, that i can try to learn this expression engine and find the bugs and fix it.. BUT HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO LEARN AND FIND THE BUGS WHEN I CAN’T EVEN LOGIN AND BROWSE TO THE SYSTEM ITSELF!!! wew..

luckily my bro manage to convince me to stay calm.. i remember i ask God for help.. and i ask my colleague to help me (at least to keep my head cool, so i don’t hurt my laptop) and somehow after lunch i manage to see a shed of light.. i find a trick, the system won’t take me to login page, if i open the link in new window, so i keep on opening new window everytime i click on the control panel.. (alas i open lots of IE window, and when i say lots, it really is a LOT).. wahaha.. to keep short, after finding the trick and give thanks to God, i manage to find the template and fix the poll.. hahaha, i really hate this expression engine.. who has the idea of keep throwing user to the login page anyway?? i wouldn’t recommend y’all to use this software after this experience..

nb: but maybe i’m not being fair, the version that we are using is the old one, 1.5.2, i think they have upgrade the version several times, and most probably the current version has improved alot.. and maybe it’s not the system fault, maybe it’s just that the user (that’s ME) is not gud/educated enough to use the system.. i manage to find some gud point about this system though, it has a built in polls widget, the template is quite straightforward, and the design is quite simple, easy to understand yet is robust enough to do editing or manage the content.. (i can learn and navigate through the system easily after i manage to escape login ‘trick’) haha, last but not least, i say gud work for the expression engine team (i know that is not an easy task to create a system that can be used by public, appreciate ur effort, *if u told me to build a better system, i can only raise a white flag* haha, keep on rocking and improving dude!!) and sorry for my negative comment, haha..

for u gud guys/girls please stop reading here.. (yeah.. stop now!)

this is a trick for irritated techie who almost give up when debugging a system…
u know what, when i got very irritated today (like very very irritated), i actually go to google and try to find “expression engine f***” and to my surprise, i actually manage to find a good hint from some person who also got irritated about this software.. so if u somehow almost giving up in debugging a software, u can try those keyword, maybe u can find a clue/hint from there.. haha..
but what help the most is when my brother told me to stay calm, a colleague to help me cool, and a help from the ‘Genius’ UP there. (yes, i mean U,God)

Twilight - Sthepenie Meyer

definition of twilight:
“Twilight is the time before sunrise, or after sunset, when sunlight scattered in the upper atmosphere illuminates the lower atmosphere, and the surface of the Earth is between light and dark.”

just finished reading this novel by Sthepenie Meyer, haha, i just realize that lately i’m getting more into reading. I can read for a long time, I guess I like to imagine things, to drift my mind to some stories, kinda relaxing not to think about vision, life, problems, haha.. I noticed that I lose some of my sense when I am reading, I lose my sense of time, I can go on reading for a long time, without feeling hungry haha, last night I read and read, then shocked knowing that it’s already 4am, a bit hard for me to force myself to close my laptop and go to sleep wekeke..

ok, back to twilight.. I started reading this novel cos a friend told me about wanting to buy the collections despite she has finish reading it. Then after i promised that i’ll check the price for her, i saw the posters in MRT stations, *wow*, there’s already a movie for this novel, and i remember i’ve heard that this novel series in the news somewhere.. that’s what started me to read this novel.

the review:
i’ll give this novel 7.5 out of 10, i love it when the stories begun, when the image is still being drawn, when the author still explaining the detail about the vampires.. but somehow in the middle, the story kinda flat, and i wasn’t expecting for a happy ending.. what i dun like is that it skip the detail about the fight between vampires, only tells the end result, hmm, maybe i’ll find more about the fight in the next book.. (there were 4 series: twilight, new moon, eclipse, breaking dawn).

i’ll definitely read the next book in this series.. but I need to force myself not to read it tonight though, cos if I start reading it now, most probably I will end up reading until 4am again today.. haha ^^