L2 Viewfinder

…is to resign from ATC…

The changes that are happening in ATC is messy and frustrating. I am no longer happy with what I am and with what I do. On the personal side of things, everything is OK, but on the flip side, the environment only makes me worse than before. What’s the point on lingering around when nobody appreciates what you are capable of?

I will move on… bringing the experiences and ideas I have accumulated during my four years of service, to a company that can support my career motivations.

There’s a saying that the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t. I would like to challenge that view. Even if it means venturing to another field, I would gladly do it, as long as my new work environment motivates me to become a better person.

Bought a new Lenovo Thinkpad SL300! Yehey!!!

It’s unfortunate that Lenovo does not release a high-end SL300 without an OS. Windows Vista comes pre-bundled with the machine. How unfortunate…

First thing I did after I got the laptop was to get rid of Vista, and install Ubuntu 8.10. Everything works well out of the box except wireless connection and the Thinkpad specific buttons. Had to disable the suggested wireless driver (madwifi) and go back to using the  linux-backports-modules-intrepid-generic package in the Ubuntu repository (ath5k). As for the Thinkpad specific buttons – well, I could be lucky to have it working in the next kernel update.

What can I say? Lenovo got this machine right… except for the touchpad. Like all other SL300 owners, I also feel that the touchpad lacks the “touch” and “feel” that Thinkpad owners are already used to (well, this is my first personal Thinkpad, but I do fiddle other people’s Thinkpads quite often).

For Ubuntu – the latest version, 8.10, rocks! I have to say – Ubuntu developers made it a lot easier this time for people on the go like me, thanks to the updated Network Manager (version 0.7). Also, the OS makes the rather so-so speed of the SL300 very snappy! Indeed, I can testify that 8.10 is faster than all other Ubuntu versions I have tested.

If there is one area that Ubuntu developers should work on… I think that would be power management. I mean, the SL300 should be able live on batteries for at least 3 hours (right now I am only getting 1.5 hours of juice, throttle down the processor manually plus the reduced brightness of the LCD monitor gets me to at least 2 hours).

Work… work… work!!!Technorati Tags: Ubuntu 8.10, Lenovo, Thinkpad SL300

…Or else you’ll end up with 7 stitches in the face…

Ouch…

It’s a long story, but to sum it up, it was my fault. I was cruising in my mountain bike in excess of 30 km/h going uphill when I encountered an incoming bike that swerved right in front of me, going to my right. My bad for hitting the front brake after I hit wheels – that ensured that I got catapulted out of my seat and over the handle bars. I landed squarely chin first on the ground.

Why the mess up with the front brake? Because my bike in the Philippines has the brake levers reversed with functions (that is, my front brake is actuated in the left hand, while my rear is actuated in the right hand). I carried the bad habit with my new bike here in Beijing which was fully stock.

Moreover – what I didn’t like was the fact that nobody cared while I was sprawled on the ground. There was this lady just beside me, up on the sidewalk, sending SMS on her phone, and not giving a damn about what just happened in front of her. Also, the guy that got me into the accident fled the scene (he was on a motorized tricycle).

I am recovering now. The intern who attended to me in the ER did a good job on the suture – just hoping now that infection won’t make the best out of the scarring that will occur.

Peace with all Chinese bikers!

My Yingqi’s Evolution Sent Items Folder hit 1.5 GB… after sending a message last Saturday, Evolution can no longer display the Sent Items Folder. I am not sure what are the causes, but whatever it is it’s a major no-no…

Scouring the internet for answers, there seems to be no cure for this bug. My not-so perfect solution – switch back to Mozilla Thunderbird. Copied the files located in the “mail” folder under .evolution to Mozilla Thunderbird’s user local folder, and manually deleted the unnecessary files (you’ll get to see them once you start-up Mozilla Thunderbird).

One caveat – how do you manage transferring your addressbook and settings?!? Argggh!!!

I’ve been playing golf recently with my brother-in-law here in China. Guess what – I think I’m going back to the sport. After the recent improvements in my short-game (that’s rock solid – however, my full swing has to be reviewed – it ruins the game), I think I should give Golf one last chance.

Now the next question – equipment?!? Golf privileges? OK, it’s at least RMB 100++ per session. Maybe I’ll stick with my brother-in-law until I get my pennies paying for myself

These days, the thought of me losing my significance in the office is becoming stronger. Just today, I got a directive to transfer part of what I am doing to my assistant. It may be a form of “off-loading” some of my routines to give me more time to make decision making rather than menial tasks, but I do feel uncomfortable about this latest news. I’ve been 4 years on the job for this one, and it just does not feel right…

I wanted to change the News section of my company’s website. Weblog, anyone?

Yes… it was a pain-in-the-ass to edit the html pages just to put a few lines about the current events within the company. So I decided to use Wordpress as my publishing engine.

However, here in China it’s not easy getting access to popular blog sites. I had to go around the GFW of China by using some fancy proxy settings. Credit goes to Lost Laowai getting this tip out into the open!

For the remake of the news blog – well, it will take time for it to have content. Now I have to get myself busy every morning publishing content for the company (and I was already comfortable with my routines!!! arrrggghhh!!!)

Yeah, that pretty much describes every foreigner that comes here in China – be it short-term, or long-term. Foreigners will forever be “Lao Wai” in China.

So what’s up with this post? I just joined a community of expats in the WWW – http://www.lostlaowai.com “Lost Laowai – the no-nonsense China expat community”.

Very interesting community. I might be seeing some action here in the future

Things have really been for the better in the Linux world… and because of this I think my lappie will serve me good for another 2 or 3 years. Ubuntu 8.04 is that good that going back to Windows is unthinkable (yeah, the manifestation of which is that I tried fixing a colleague’s Windows Box… damn I cannot remember what I’m supposed to do).

Yeah, and my wife’s computer has the latest version installed on her lappie as well. Quite hesitant at first, but after having it for almost 2 months now everything is OK with her – she’s confident that somebody is behind her to fix anything that’s broken!

Rock on GNU/Linux!

I’m writing a hate letter against my first web host. I do not know what happened to the automatic payment updates, but you sure screwed up big time. I lost a big chunk of files I have been saving since 2004.

I do hope that my new host, InMotion, will do a better job of reminding its members about the payment deadlines.

As for my blog and my gallery from my former web host, IPOWER – well, they were erased out of the system before I could even react. Sure, you can back up everything and put them all in with your new host, but that will take a lot of time to finish.

Grrrr!!!!