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September, 2008

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September 29, 2008 10:45 AM

Election time again

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by    in Current Affairs

I haven’t been following the 2008 Federal Election as much as I’d like to this year. Usually, come Election Day, I’ll probably vote for the same candidate that I voted for last year. I’d like to know what each candidate has to offer but I don’t have time to follow all of that. I know that the candidate that I voted for did a good job so he’s got my vote again.

I think the hot topic for this year’s election is the economy. With the incident going on in the U.S, Canadians want to know that they won’t be facing the same issue that goes on down there. Usually, we’re a year behind so whatever happens in the U.S will likely make it way up here. If the U.S dollar struggles, Canadian industry struggles. Canada is a big country but yet we’re so small so we need to learn to be more self sufficient. I don’t have to keep exporting and importing things from the U.S. We have everything we need right in our own backyard.

I think the government needs to start realizing that we have good valuable resources right here in Canada. If they don’t take advantage of it, they’ll lose it. There are good workers here who need a job but don’t have one because there aren’t any jobs available. The government needs to do something good with the economy so we don’t have to depend too much on external sources. Our economy needs to stay strong while the U.S’s economy is weak.

Steven Harper is hoping to stay in office by recommending that nothing changes. “It’s not the time to do anything new, wild or stupid,” he said. Personally, I don’t think it was wise of him to use the word “stupid” because that’s like saying “You’re stupid if you don’t vote for me.” Some might take that as in insult but I know what he means. I think that the Conservative Party is doing a good job with things right now. To be honest, I don’t know exactly what has changed from the last government but all I know is that sales tax is down by two percent. But then again, there was that carbon tax but that hasn’t affected me much.

During the whole campaign, each candidate will throw punches at the other. Right now, it seems like the NDP and the Liberals are saying that Harper is bad and that they should be the one in power. They’re focusing on the topic of economy and the environment in hopes of getting people to get the Conservatives out of power. As far as I’m concerned, I’m liking the way things are now so I’d like to keep things this way.

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September 26, 2008 2:41 PM

Give credit where credit is due

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by    in General

Being a software engineering student, I’ve learned to give credit where it is due. It’s a code of honour that all software developers live by and uphold. If there’s something that I’ve heard or read from somewhere and I happen to reference it, then I tell people where I get the material from. You cannot go and steal something and take credit for it because that’s just wrong. It’s not just wrong. It makes you feel a little shitty as well.

I’ve had a couple of times where things were taken from me and no acknowledge was given. I guess as somewhat of an artist, I mind the fact that people are taking my work and posting it as their own. They’re basically stealing my work when they’re displaying it on their page, no? The least they could do is put my name on that page to give me credit for doing the work. Some people just don’t realize things like that. In this day and age, where people are downloading music instead of buying them, not too many people realize that what they’re doing is wrong. I’m sure that they can justify what they’re doing and somehow say that it’s not stealing but stealing is stealing.

For example, when I was in Hong Kong, I took over 1,000 pictures of my trip. When I got back to Canada, I selected a few and posted about fifteen albums on Facebook. I’ve had friends tell me they spend two hours looking at all of them. It’s quite flattering to even hear that my pictures were worth looking at let alone spend hours viewing it. So when I found out that someone took one of my pictures and used it as their profile picture without my consent, I was a little bit upset.

I don’t mind if they took the picture that I took of them and used it as their profile picture because well, it’s a picture of them. But when the picture isn’t a picture of them and they took it, that’s stealing. I probably wouldn’t have felt so bad if they had credit me for the picture but without any credit, it’s like their saying that they took the picture.

I don’t want to have to resort to watermarking my pictures because that might ruin the picture. But if people keep taking my picture and making it their own, I might have to do just that.

There was a picture that I took when I was in Hong Kong, of a statue of Bruce Lee along the Avenue of the Stars. People commented on the picture and said stuff about it but I didn’t think anyone would take that picture and make it their profile pictures. I probably wouldn’t have mind it if I was notified earlier that they were going to do that. What’s worse is that he didn’t say anything about the picture belonging to me. Maybe he’s thinking that just because we’re friends, it is okay. I don’t think it’s okay.

This isn’t the first time that someone has tried to take credit for something that I did. At work, we have a call ticket system that we use to log our daily activities. Everything that I do has to be put into the system for recording keeping and so they know that I’m doing work. I created a call ticket and did the work and then closed it. A few days later, someone from Orlando sent me an email asking about the ticket and why it was created. I told him that we don’t operate the same way as Orlando does so we have to create call tickets for everything. I decided to look into the ticket and found that he copied and pasted his email to me and closed the ticket under his name. So at the end of the fiscal year, he will get credited for a ticket that I worked on and completed. When you work at a job where you’re gauged by the amount of tickets you generate, having someone else close a ticket that you worked on isn’t good.

There are people out there who take the time to do the research and the work to get things working properly. For that reason, they deserve the credit because without their hard work, you would get to see the final product. No matter how little of their work you are using, you should always credit the person because it’s the right thing to do.

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September 25, 2008 1:32 PM

Mojave Experiment

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by    in Technology

Word of mouth goes a long way. When a friend of mine tells me good or bad things about a certain place, I sometimes take their word for it. But there are times when I prefer to do things myself before judging. Not everyone thinks like me and I know of a few people that don’t like something based on other people’s opinion of the matter.

My coworker and I have been testing Windows Vista and so far, I don’t seem to mind it. I still have an XP machine that I do most of my work on because the software that I use on a daily basis doesn’t work with Vista. So far, all that I’m doing on my Vista machine is surfing the web and reading emails.

The Start menu got a bit of a face lift and is a bit more functional. You can start searching for program in the Start menu. The feature is similar to Spotlight on the Mac. The search doesn’t search everything though. I think it only searches the programs that are listed in the Start menu so rather than navigating through layers of menus, you just type in the name of the software and it’ll show up.

The sidebar is a nice added feature but it’s not all that good. I have Yahoo! Widget on my home computer and I find that it’s a bit better than the Vista sidebar. The nice thing about the sidebar is that it sits there as a dock and you can add gadgets to it and it’ll store them. It has a semi transparent background so you can see what’s behind it but that’s nothing. The thing that I don’t like about it is that it sort of shrinks the size of your desktop. Sometimes when the sidebar isn’t running, it still takes up desktop space. And if you look in the task manager, apparently there are two instances of it. I’m not sure why that is but I don’t think it’s needed.

A cool feature that I do like about it is the ability to see the content of each window when you’re switching between them. It’s a more advanced version of the Alt-Tab. Again, I believe the Mac had this feature first and Windows just borrowed. There aren’t too many features in Vista that isn’t available already in another operating system.

Windows Vista is a pretty good operating system. There are some things that I don’t like about it because of personal preference. Microsoft is one of the biggest software companies out there so I’d expect it to be somewhat of an innovator in the industry. They shouldn’t be implementing features that are already available in another OS. They should be coming out with something new and innovative. Being an industry leader, they should be the ones who are setting the bar on things.

Here’s a little thing my coworker sent me. It’s about a bunch of people who has never used Vista before and they bash it for no reason. It’s called the Mojave Experiment. There people who like to say thing without actually doing research and they get burned for it. For example, I asked around to see how many people are willing to do things without know what they’re doing. I asked if they were willing to ban the use of dihydrogen monoxide. Some of them said yes without asking what it was. Would you ban dihydrogen monoxide?

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September 24, 2008 8:45 PM

Six miles closer to you

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by    in Relationship

I like to apply for credit cards that will give me something in return for using their card. I have credit cards that will give me money back and another credit card that will save me two cents per litre at the pump. As long as the card will help me in some way, I’ll apply for it and continue to use it in the long run. You collect a little bit here and a little bit there and next thing you know, you can redeem the points for free stuff.

Ever since my flight to Hong Kong, I’ve collected 19540 Aeroplan miles that I can put towards another flight. The flight to Hong Kong gave me 8,448 Aeroplan miles and the flight back gave an addition 8,448 Aeroplan miles. Due to a malfunction of the media center, I was compensated 2,500 Aeroplan miles and the rest I’ve been collection at the gas station. In order to qualify for a free flight to Hong Kong, I have to accumulate 77,000 Aeroplan miles. That’s going to work out to be a lot of pump at the gas station but if I continue to flight back and forth to Hong Kong, I’ll be collection 16,896 Aeroplan miles per visit. After four visits to Hong Kong, I’ll have enough for a free flight.

Lately, I’ve been noticing that I’ve been rewards double the Aeroplan miles when I pump gas at Esso. I thought it was a typo or something and the machine was printing out the number twice but when I took a look at my account, I saw that the numbers of points appeared on there twice as well. I didn’t notice it but Esso has a promotion on right now that will give me double the points.

Esso isn’t the cheapest gas station to pump at but it’s rewarding for me to pump there. The difference between one gas station to the next is a matter of cents so rather than driving around looking for the cheapest station, I just stop by an Esso, pump gas, grab a cup of coffee and be on my merry way. If I pump $30 worth of gas, I’m given ten Aeroplan points plus an addition ten points. Whereas if I was to pump at a Canadian Tire gas station, I wouldn’t get anything but two cents off per litre.

So when I’m face with a decision whether to go to Esso or Canadian Tire, I would choose Esso. I know that I would be saving two cents more at Canadian Tire but when I pump $30 worth of gas, I’ll be saving only $0.60 which isn’t that much. I would prefer to gain the twenty Aeroplan miles as opposed to saving myself $0.60. Lately, I’ve been looking around for ways to gain more Aeroplan miles. If it means signing up for something or buying a certain product, I’ll do so to get me those points that will bring me closer to Hong Kong.

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September 23, 2008 1:41 PM

Book collection

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by    in Literature

Since my very first purchase of a book, I didn’t expect to have enough to build a library. One after one, the books started to pile up and eventually my collection started. Finding a place to store that collection was another thing. I didn’t have a bookshelf to put any of my books. For the longest time they were just sitting on or under the coffee table. I had room for them in my headboard but that would only fit the small books.

As of today, I have fifty four books in my library. Out of that fifty four, I have read and finished fourteen of them. I’ve started to read the other forty books but I never got a chance to finish them. Sometimes I would start reading a book but then the next day, I would pick up another one and start reading that one.

As much as I’d like to encourage people to read, I don’t quite trust lending out my book because people don’t like to take care of things that don’t belong to them. If I lend out a book, there’s a chance that it’ll be returned to me in pieces. Some of the books that I have, you couldn’t tell if I’ve read them because I try not to put a crease in the binding.

I’ve lend out a few books and I haven’t received them back yet because they’ve gotten lost somehow. I remember buying “The Religion War” by Scott Adams and “The Historian” by Elizabeth Kostova but I can’t seem to find those two books anywhere. I remember who I lent them out to but those people are saying that they’re returned it. If they have returned it then I must have lent it out again.

I’ve finished reading “The Religion War” and it was a really good book. It is also a rare book and I can’t seem to find it anywhere. When I bought it, it was on sale for $5.99 but it’s so rare now that the price has double.

I’ve started “The Historian” but I lost interest. The book was pretty thick and I only managed to read about half a chapter every night so it probably would have taken me a year to finish that book.

It would be nice to add those two books back to my collection but until I figure out who borrowed them, I won’t be seeing them again unless I buy another copy to add to my collection. For now, I am content with finally having a place to store my book collection. Sooner or later, I’ll find the time to finish every book on the shelf. I just have to make sure that I don’t buy new books before finish the old ones.

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September 22, 2008 10:02 AM

Reflection

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by    in Nature

1/160 sec | f6.3 | 55mm

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September 21, 2008 11:10 AM

They call me Bruce

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by    in Life

I don’t know why some people forget my name. It’s not as if it’s hard to remember. It’s only three letters so it’s very simple. I can sort of understand if they forget my name and don’t say anything but it’s another thing to call me by another name. I don’t know where they get that other name from.

There’s a new guy that works up in Human Resources. I was responsible for configuring a laptop for him to use. The first day, he ran into some issues and I was the one who responded to his call ticket. I was probably the first I.T guy that he met. When I arrived at his office, I introduced myself and he offered me some Bazooka Joe bubble gum and we talked for a bit. After I was done fixing his computer, I left.

The next day, he had another problem so again, I responded. This time, when I arrived at his office, he greeted me with, “Hi Joe!” At first, I assumed that he forgot my name and called me Joe because of the Bazooka Joe bubble gum so I just brushed it off. But I ran into him in the hall way the following day and he called me Joe again. At this point, I’m thinking that maybe he’s confusing me with my coworker but I don’t know. His name is Dan and my name is Don so I would assume that he wouldn’t forget something so similar but obviously he has.

This morning, I was awakened by a loud knock on the door. As soon as I heard it, I thought that maybe it was Jenn’s mom knocking on the door to tell me to get up and clean up the house. I grabbed my pants and put them on quickly before going to the door. I wasn’t sure where it was coming from so I check the front first since it was the closest. After seeing that no one was there, I continued to the backdoor. I opened the door and saw one of my crazy neighbours.

There’s a house behind me that is resident to a few mentally challenged people. I’m not sure why they were put there but they live there and most of them fend for themselves. The one that came to my backdoor is Paul. He knows me because I programmed his universal remote control for him. After that day, he has been calling me Bruce. I’m not sure where he got that name from but he’s been calling me that ever since. Eventually I will tell him that I’m not Bruce.

He was knocking on my door because he wanted to borrow ten dollars from me. First of all, I was a little pissed that he woke me up. And secondly, he got my name wrong. I didn’t have anything on me so I told him that I couldn’t lend him anything. I don’t think I would lend him money even if I had any.

I have a few friends who have made light on this situation. Some people can’t seem to pronounce their name so they’ve come up with an English version of their name which sounds nothing like their Cambodian names. To me, I think that if someone forgets your name but doesn’t admit it, it’s almost as if they’re not willing to care what the correct name is. If I forgot someone’s name, I’d make sure I find out the correct name otherwise I’d feel like an ass for calling them by the wrong name.

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September 20, 2008 6:05 PM

Impressive

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by    in Life

Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of overtime at work because I have a project to complete. In this project I’m responsible for the encryption of three hundred or so laptops. It’s a repetitive process and I can probably do most of it in my sleep. In order for me to encrypt the drives, I’ve sent out countless emails to laptop users requesting that they bring their laptop to me. Not all of them has responded yet but to the ones that has, I’ve seem to have impress some of them. I’ve noticed how little it takes to impress people.

Every week, I send out a batch of emails to those who didn’t respond to my first email. On a given day, I’d say I get about five to ten responses which is good because I have to encrypt all three laptops by the end of September. It would be a lot easy if people just read the email and respond but they don’t do that. I’ve set the email to a high importance and requested a read receipt. I’ve received notification that people have read the email so I expected them to reply but they don’t. All that I asked for was for a date when they can drop off their laptop.

Some of the employees are reluctant to have their hard drive encrypted because they said that it slows down the computer. They heard from another employee who has already had their hard drive encrypted and they’re saying that it’s slow as molasses. The encryption process can slow down the laptop but after it’s complete, the laptop should be running the same as before. I think most of it is in their head.

But anyway, for those who have stopped by my desk to drop off the laptop, some of them were impressed by the mear fact that I know their names. I’m going to assume that they didn’t remember my name because they thought I’ve forgotten theirs. They only know where my desk is because my name tag is hanging on the wall. Some of them question how I’ll be able to identify their laptop from another employee’s laptop. I tell them that I’ll use tape and write their name on it. And as soon as I finish writing their name, they’re become surprised.

Some of the employees here have very long name or at least names that not too many people remember. There’s an engineering whose last name is Van Nieuwenhuizen. I set up a desktop for him as he watched over my shoulders. When it came time to enter his name into the registration form, I filled it out and he was impressed that I got the correct spelling of Nieuwenhuizen. I know that it might sound like a hard name to remember but it sort of spelled the way that it sounds. I guess it’s easier to spell if you have a basic understanding of the origin of the name.

Remembering something as small as a peron’s name can be quite pleasing to the person. I would rather be the guy that goes around and talking to people than the guy that sits at the desk and having no idea who my fellow coworkers are. It doesn’t take a lot to impress people. You start with the little things and eventually they’ll build themselves up.

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September 19, 2008 11:35 AM

Presentation

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by    in General

During class last night, a few of the students had to present part of the lecture. The topic for yesterday’s lecture was motivation. As my fellow classmates presented their part, I couldn’t help but analyze the way they made their presentation. During my last year in college, the class had to present a report on a technology subject and we were graded by our peers on how well we presented. I used the same scoring system that I use then to score my classmates yesterday.

I wanted to skip yesterday’s lecture because I knew that we were going to do a mini presentation. I’m not really good at public speaking or speaking in front of people that I don’t know. The view from the front of the class is different than it is from the back. The presenters have to talk and present their finds to the class and for some people it’s not that easy.

I’ve learned to overcome my shyness but a part of me still trembles when it’s my turn to talk. I’m not sure what it is but I get nervous when all eyes are on me. Everyone is waiting for you to say something and whatever it is that you say better be good. I think I only get nervous when I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s very awkward to be in front of the class and have nothing good to say. That’s what happened last night when a group presented a piece about emotional intelligence.

Tran had a hard time speaking. I could tell from the very beginning that he was having trouble. He was stuttering and he was repeating the same thing. He apologized for not being able to say anything but the professor told him not to worry. Our professor, Mike Michalski is really good at teaching this course. I guess any professor is good if they’ve been teaching it for a while. Anyway, Mike was there to help out Tran because he couldn’t make it pass his part. In situations like that, I’m sure that it’s very awkward for the person who’s in trouble. Every time Tran stuttered, I wanted to say the word for him but I wasn’t sure what word he was trying to say.

During break, I spoke with Tran and asked him about his presentation. He told me that he’s had this problem since he was in Grade 7. I told him that I was no different them he was. I have trouble talking in front of a group as well. He also mentioned that he spoke with a psychologist and he was told that if he doesn’t overcome this, it will continue to affect him.

I understood what he was going through so I can relate. I gave him a few advices on how to overcome the situation. I asked him if he had any problems talking to the professor to which he said, “No.” So I told him to present to the professor. If he maintains eye contact with the professor, it will help take his mind off everyone else. It wasn’t a sure fire way to overcome the obstacles but you have to take small steps. During the presentation, I saw that he was able to speak to the professor when he was trying to explain him so if he was comfortable talking to one person, he should focus on that person.

Up until Grade 5, I had no problems with being in front of the class. I guess that once I’ve reached Grade 6, I started to think for myself and I started wondering what other think of me so when I get up in front of the class, I’m more worried about how people will judge me. I tried to overcome my shyness by telling myself, “You have to present because you have to pass the class. You’re going to be doing this through school so you better get used to it now.” Every year, I got more and more used to presentation but I still got the jitters when I got up in front of class. But I find that the longer I’m up there, the more relaxed I am because I’ve realized that as soon as you get up there, you’re passed the point of no return. You might as well make the best of it.

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September 18, 2008 3:59 PM

Johari window

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by    in General

Going back to school is probably one of the best things that I can do to further my career. I don’t mind my job but I would like to see how far up the ladder I can climb. But being in the work environment, you start to notice things that you don’t normally notice. You notice how some people are jerks, how some are helpful and how some can be very lazy. I never knew this before but it appears that there’s a reason for all of that. Because of what I’ve learned in night class, I’ve decided to take a closer look at myself to see where I stand thought my eyes and through the eyes of others.

The one thing that caught my attention last night was something called the “Johari window.” It’s a tool that you can use to help better understand your interpersonal communication and relationship. The section of the window that made me thing was the blind area.

Supposedly, there are about fifty five adjectives that you have to categorize into each section. Each adjective represents traits that you possess so you have to put them in the right quadrant. Your friends have to do the same with those adjectives. The results will show you what traits you have in which quadrant.

The “open area” contains traits that both you and others are aware of. The “hidden area” contains traits that you know of but others are not aware of. The “blind area” contains traits others are aware of but you are not. And the “unknown area” contains traits that nobody is aware of.

It’s a little hard to work on one of these windows when you’re by yourself but you might want to try it out when you’re around a few friends. It’ll help you better understand yourself.

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