While blogging is one of my favourite hobbies, this post and the one before this is one I dread to make. Alas, like taxes and death, both of them (the posts) are kinda inevitable.
Yesterday, Sautern once again had to send off one of its own. This time, it is our most prized assets turn to take a bow. In pouring rain, we sent off Chong Yang to meet his destiny. From now on, there will be no more shop closing, no more slippers flying towards his head, and no more high pressure datelines and last minute server maintaining. Or rather, he will still be expected to do some of those, except that he won't be within reach of any retribution if he doesn't.
As with Jupes jungle paradise, high tech and sterile Singapore will probably be heaven to CY. Hopefully he will not get too enamoured of all the gadgets and fine time to get to know the chicks there.
Regardless, whatever pleasure he may derive from slacking off official business will be (possibly) negated by the stresses of being in a foreign country, so we will let that slide. Anyway, like with Jupes, even though CY is not physically here, his spirit will be forever ingrained in Sautern. In the same vein as WWJPD, WWCYD will probably appear whenever a decision is to be made. Of course, his eccentricity rivals Jupes, so I hope we should be forgiven if WWJPD is only partially applied.
Anyway, I better end this before I get to emotional. Au revoir, my techy friend, till next time.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
A Tribute (part 1)
Sautern lost one of its own today.
Our resident atheist, celibate, treehugger and renaissance man has left us today, physically at least. Jupes in his desire to achieve a higher level of tree hugging and poacher poaching was lifted into the clouds today, hopefully towards the tree hugging paradise that he so yearns for. In spirit though, we all know that he will always be a Sauterneer and have Sautern in his heart. Likewise for us, he will forever live on in our memories.
My last image of him before his amazing journey will always be of him toting his weapon of musical distraction (WMD) aka his violin and bidding Tommy and me farewell. Hopefully, his musical goal of mastering his instrument will not lead to too many sleepless nights for his future companions and consequently lead to his own sleepless nights caused by his expulsion from his lodgings. As for his other inanimate companion, I hope his laptop, whateverlongassedcomplicatednameithas, will be friendly with the broadband connection there, so as not to screw up whatever reputation Sabah has with Linux users. Yes Jupes, I think you will not only take a step for Sautern but also for Linuxkind.
Anyway, what's done is done, and Jupes should safely be at his paradise now. To commemorate him though, I propose we implement WWJPD (what would Ju Ping do). Of course, owing to his extreme views in fields like environmentalism, music, social activism, Holy text discussion, relationships... well just about everything, WWJPD will effectively be inapplicable, by us at least. Darn, which leaves WWJPD only for Sautern affairs. Hmmm, well, I guess that's good enough.
Of course, it might just be about 5 months to the next university break, so our resident enthusiast of obscure interests will not really be gone. In the mean time Jupes, keep those ideas coming. Who knows, the rarefied air there will giving you some sparks of inspiration. Till next time, my friend.
Our resident atheist, celibate, treehugger and renaissance man has left us today, physically at least. Jupes in his desire to achieve a higher level of tree hugging and poacher poaching was lifted into the clouds today, hopefully towards the tree hugging paradise that he so yearns for. In spirit though, we all know that he will always be a Sauterneer and have Sautern in his heart. Likewise for us, he will forever live on in our memories.
My last image of him before his amazing journey will always be of him toting his weapon of musical distraction (WMD) aka his violin and bidding Tommy and me farewell. Hopefully, his musical goal of mastering his instrument will not lead to too many sleepless nights for his future companions and consequently lead to his own sleepless nights caused by his expulsion from his lodgings. As for his other inanimate companion, I hope his laptop, whateverlongassedcomplicatednameithas, will be friendly with the broadband connection there, so as not to screw up whatever reputation Sabah has with Linux users. Yes Jupes, I think you will not only take a step for Sautern but also for Linuxkind.
Anyway, what's done is done, and Jupes should safely be at his paradise now. To commemorate him though, I propose we implement WWJPD (what would Ju Ping do). Of course, owing to his extreme views in fields like environmentalism, music, social activism, Holy text discussion, relationships... well just about everything, WWJPD will effectively be inapplicable, by us at least. Darn, which leaves WWJPD only for Sautern affairs. Hmmm, well, I guess that's good enough.
Of course, it might just be about 5 months to the next university break, so our resident enthusiast of obscure interests will not really be gone. In the mean time Jupes, keep those ideas coming. Who knows, the rarefied air there will giving you some sparks of inspiration. Till next time, my friend.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
I <3 Green Tea
I did promise in my last article to begin my articles in the future with a brief description of my favourite music. Well, forget that promise.
I have a great story to tell now. It's about green tea.
Green tea has a long history behind it. And I'm humbly decline to explain any further because I am not a verifiable source of information for tea. All I know is the following:
Peter is a loyal Red Devil, while Tommy is a pre-Abramovich Chelsea supporter. Flyzzx doesn't watch football.
Me? Everton.
A quick recap:
Peter supports champions, Tommy is a fan of the rich, Flyzzx doesn't care, while I have a preference towards underdogs punching above their weight.
Before the match, me, Flyzzx, and Tommy went over to the Sunrise McDonald's outlet, where for the first time in probably a decade, I bought a meal from McDonald's with my own pocket money.
Me and the big yellow clown have a history. I ate stuff from McDonald's when I was 7 or 8 years old, and threw up.
Basically, the plot of Batman versus the Joker.
Anyway, our first industrial tie up with a college (KDU) would officially begin. And after some discussions during the past fortnight, we decided to arrange an informal meeting with the college candidates who would begin working for us.
It's strange how thing's turn out, don't they? We started our company when we were finished with the SPM in 2005, and now, we would be supervising people at least one year older than us.
Since we have yet to receive confirmation for new projects, Flyzzx proposed a mock project for the college students. Since we trust they will do everything they can to find out which project we have modelled this trial after, I'll keep silent on the name of the project here.
The proposal was well received, and being the social-experiment nut of the bunch, I immediately dropped brash hints to turn the mock project into a cut-throat reality-series style game where the loser would have to vote someone off the island.
Fortunately for the students, Tommy overruled me and arranged a potential split of 70/30 to the winners and losers respectively.
For this mock project, all of us will be judges, but really, only Flyzzx knows best. The winner will be the team that does a better job than the other. As simple as that.
We bade adieu and went over to Peter's place to pick him up.
Back at Champions Leagues central, we still had five to six hours to kill, which I immediately invested in my loyal companion, Enceladus.
Enceladus is the name I've given my Compaq Presario F762AU.
And I have installed Ubuntu Linux on it. Look out for an article on my blog.
As usual, Enceladus refused to connect to Tommy's WiFi's network. Something about WEP really bugs Enceladus.
Meanwhile, Flyzzx began implementing Project Torrential. A very secret project (now a viable business) that will receive no promotion at all except through word-of-mouth.
Here are a few clues, you can probably postulate the answer:
Using the broadband connection, I eventually obtained a podcast I had wanted to try for quite some time: Podtoid-san.
You can find the latest versions of this podcast on japanator.com.
And so I played it out loud on my laptop's Altec Lansing, much to Peter's annoyance.
“It's very distracting,” he says.
Meanwhile, I was editing Tommy's proposal to request for seed funding for another business project called Cember.com.
It was slow work, and something was anchoring my spirits to the ground.
Thankfully, Flyzzx decided to test my intelligence by giving me this IQ question, heavily embellished by me so you won't misunderstand the question:
Without missing a beat, I assaulted Peter and Flyzzx with orders to go, because they still wanted to breed.
I guess that speaks of my preferences.
Peter agreed, Flyzzx stayed back to configure Torrential. Which was just as well, because for the first time in a very long time, I watched an excellent Japanese animé series in Japanese.
Clannad is not being shown anywhere in Malaysia, so I'd encourage the fansub route. Very soon, you will be asking to import the DVD from Japan.
*** I will now give a brief education on fansubs.
Fansubbers are animé aficionados who write their own subtitles for animé fresh out of Japan, to spread the good word. They employ an honour system, whereby people who have downloaded fansubs (and loved the animé and want to keep it) agree to buy the animé as soon as it's licensed and available for sale in the respective country.
Of course, that's the best case scenario where people actually want to reward good work and not steal it.
Since this is Malaysia, nothing animé related here is confirmed legal, you have no choice but to import them; if you are truly an honourable and trustworthy person.
End of sermon***
In anticipation of a long night, I asked Tommy if he could provide some green tea to last the night, and with that simple request, began the most productive 40 hours of my teenage life.
Just like wine, tea has different grades and quality. The difference may be as apparent as the taste, or in this case, the measurable quality of the tea leaves.
As surprising as it may seem, none of us fell asleep during the match which dragged all the way from 0230 hours to 0600 hours.
I only watched the first half of the match, where two goals were scored by each team; while the rest of the gang watched the second half, the first half of extra time, and the second half of extra time, where no goals were scored.
Thus proving I have some form of circumstantial luck I like to call my bloody Irish luck.
In all sincerity, I wish to thank all 22 men on the field for not scoring any goals while I wasn't watching.
The penalty was a torrid affair – for Peter and Tommy.
All bets were off, and Tommy began shouting football curses aloud. Possibly ripping apart the fabrics of space-time wide enough for Cristiano Ronaldo to miss his penalty kick.
Peter trusted the power of Lucky, Tommy's dog. And as if Lucky were god, caused John Terry to slip and miss during his kick. (What's dog spelt backwards?)
To prove that man and dog are the best of inter-species friends, Anelka missed his kick to send Peter into frenzied one-armed taunting air boxing in front of Tommy's wide-screen television.
Throughout it all, Flyzzx was in a semi-sleep state, utterly unmoved by the proceedings.
All in all, I was just pleased Tommy didn't have to bust out the champagne, a distinct possibility if Chelsea had won.
And then, off to bed, at least, that was the plan.
The lights were off, and everyone went to rest. Only Enceladus was up.
The green tea kicked in.
I felt strangely energetic, and after failing to drown myself in dark dreams after two minutes, got up and checked up on Enceladus.
Not long after that, I moved Enceladus to the modem upstairs to attach an Ethernet wire from the router directly to herm (I can't decide yet whether my laptop is male or female).
For a brief moment, I saw Peter on-line and available for chat. And dismissed it as a technical mystery. After all, he was sound asleep in the house right?
With nothing better to do, I started editing Tommy's business proposal while Enceladus downloaded stuff.
Very soon, sunlight entered the room, and the household began to stir.
I completed the editing, only to find myself facing Mr Ooi who had some things he wanted to add and change to his website.
Hmm... At this point, I have had only half-an-hour's rest in 24 hours.
It wasn't the most stimulating of conversations, but though sleep was lacking, I never felt encumbered by it during the discussion and managed to pull it off with everything (especially my credibility) intact.
“Must be the green tea,” I thought.
And very soon, it was 1000 hours, and I went down to join Flyzzx for some breakfast. Fresh milk, cereal, and ham sandwiches. Arguably the best breakfast I have had in years.
I asked him where Peter was, since I didn't see him anywhere in the house. Flyzzx told me he left after the match, which must have been when I had retreated to the kitchen for some cleaning up.
“I saw Peter on-line,” I said.
“He probably didn't sleep either,” Flyzzx said.
“You didn't sleep too?”, I asked.
“No, I rested for a while, but couldn't sleep,” he answered, “it was your green tea. I have never experienced anything like it before. I even sleep through coffee!”
Thus began an avid discussion on the humble tea leaf that created this astounding scenario.
After breakfast, we went upstairs to do some productive work.
First to cross off the list was a viewing of Clannad Episode 1, which totally blew me away with the extreme and obsessive attention to detail in every scene. The storyline is rather complex... well, you can Google it.
After which we set out to create a complete mock project for the KDU students, which took up all of our time until 1600 hours.
In total, we generated probably three days work within those hours.
And were powered on by green tea.
Seriously, if you have problems concentrating on school-work – green tea.
If you have an examination tomorrow morning and have yet to finish revising – green tea.
If you have a few hours to kill while awaiting your non-green-tea-drinking-CEO to awake from a late late night of football and wish to spend those hours doing productive work instead of sleep – green tea.
By the end of the day, we had delivered the documents to the students, completed the successful Beta test of Torrential, and had even sold three slots for Torrential on that day alone.
I almost felt sorry I had to leave that day, since I was still being powered by a full pot of green tea and was experiencing the mind-altering effects of broadband.
Geek drugs.
Anyway, we ended the day at Pizza Hut where Tommy and his girlfriend treated us to dinner with coupons. Just before the day was done though, Flyzzx asked me another IQ question:
Using an unlimited supply of water and two pails which hold 4 litres and 9 litres respectively, produce 6 litres of water in the most exact fashion possible through the actions of pouring alone.
And after solving that, with some hints from Flyzzx, we reached Bayan Lepas, where he went home, while I awaited the bus.
By the time I got back to Balik Pulau, the effects of green tea had worn off. Significantly.
With a quick explanation of my lack of sleep, I excused myself from dinner, retreated to my room, and slept for 12 hours.
Upon awaking, I solved the 25 MacBook Airs question to officially end what must be the most productive 40 hours in my teenage life.
I have a great story to tell now. It's about green tea.
Green tea has a long history behind it. And I'm humbly decline to explain any further because I am not a verifiable source of information for tea. All I know is the following:
- Green tea is good for you;
- Zen Buddhist monks in Japan employ them to stay awake during meditations;
- It does not have the side effects of coffee, which incidentally are:
- fever, nausea, headaches, and flu-like symptoms if you skip even one cup for one day;
- extreme poverty, if one does not have the salary to support Starbucks.
Peter is a loyal Red Devil, while Tommy is a pre-Abramovich Chelsea supporter. Flyzzx doesn't watch football.
Me? Everton.
A quick recap:
Peter supports champions, Tommy is a fan of the rich, Flyzzx doesn't care, while I have a preference towards underdogs punching above their weight.
Before the match, me, Flyzzx, and Tommy went over to the Sunrise McDonald's outlet, where for the first time in probably a decade, I bought a meal from McDonald's with my own pocket money.
Me and the big yellow clown have a history. I ate stuff from McDonald's when I was 7 or 8 years old, and threw up.
Basically, the plot of Batman versus the Joker.
Anyway, our first industrial tie up with a college (KDU) would officially begin. And after some discussions during the past fortnight, we decided to arrange an informal meeting with the college candidates who would begin working for us.
It's strange how thing's turn out, don't they? We started our company when we were finished with the SPM in 2005, and now, we would be supervising people at least one year older than us.
Since we have yet to receive confirmation for new projects, Flyzzx proposed a mock project for the college students. Since we trust they will do everything they can to find out which project we have modelled this trial after, I'll keep silent on the name of the project here.
The proposal was well received, and being the social-experiment nut of the bunch, I immediately dropped brash hints to turn the mock project into a cut-throat reality-series style game where the loser would have to vote someone off the island.
Fortunately for the students, Tommy overruled me and arranged a potential split of 70/30 to the winners and losers respectively.
For this mock project, all of us will be judges, but really, only Flyzzx knows best. The winner will be the team that does a better job than the other. As simple as that.
We bade adieu and went over to Peter's place to pick him up.
Back at Champions Leagues central, we still had five to six hours to kill, which I immediately invested in my loyal companion, Enceladus.
Enceladus is the name I've given my Compaq Presario F762AU.
And I have installed Ubuntu Linux on it. Look out for an article on my blog.
As usual, Enceladus refused to connect to Tommy's WiFi's network. Something about WEP really bugs Enceladus.
Meanwhile, Flyzzx began implementing Project Torrential. A very secret project (now a viable business) that will receive no promotion at all except through word-of-mouth.
Here are a few clues, you can probably postulate the answer:
- We have a lot of extra server storage and bandwidth;
- The server fees are relatively high, making the investment fairly disproportionate;
- We found a way to sell the extra storage and bandwidth.
Using the broadband connection, I eventually obtained a podcast I had wanted to try for quite some time: Podtoid-san.
You can find the latest versions of this podcast on japanator.com.
And so I played it out loud on my laptop's Altec Lansing, much to Peter's annoyance.
“It's very distracting,” he says.
Meanwhile, I was editing Tommy's proposal to request for seed funding for another business project called Cember.com.
It was slow work, and something was anchoring my spirits to the ground.
Thankfully, Flyzzx decided to test my intelligence by giving me this IQ question, heavily embellished by me so you won't misunderstand the question:
In a room on an island on the planet Neptune, a mad scientist invents a machine that ranks computers by performance. Nobody knows why he doesn't just invent a machine that spits out raw numbers to compare the performance of the computers, maybe that's why he is a mad scientist on Neptune. The machine has five arms, with five corresponding one-LED displays that only show the rank of the computers in relation to one another.Suddenly, Tommy interrupted our very important work by suggesting we kill some time at a collegiate party.
In another part of the room, a group of students from MIT have concluded that Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle would result in differing performances in the 25 MacBook Airs waiting to be tested by the mad scientist's machine.
The question becomes: What method would you use to employ the least amount of tests to determine the top three performing MacBook Airs?
Without missing a beat, I assaulted Peter and Flyzzx with orders to go, because they still wanted to breed.
I guess that speaks of my preferences.
Peter agreed, Flyzzx stayed back to configure Torrential. Which was just as well, because for the first time in a very long time, I watched an excellent Japanese animé series in Japanese.
Clannad is not being shown anywhere in Malaysia, so I'd encourage the fansub route. Very soon, you will be asking to import the DVD from Japan.
*** I will now give a brief education on fansubs.
Fansubbers are animé aficionados who write their own subtitles for animé fresh out of Japan, to spread the good word. They employ an honour system, whereby people who have downloaded fansubs (and loved the animé and want to keep it) agree to buy the animé as soon as it's licensed and available for sale in the respective country.
Of course, that's the best case scenario where people actually want to reward good work and not steal it.
Since this is Malaysia, nothing animé related here is confirmed legal, you have no choice but to import them; if you are truly an honourable and trustworthy person.
End of sermon***
In anticipation of a long night, I asked Tommy if he could provide some green tea to last the night, and with that simple request, began the most productive 40 hours of my teenage life.
Just like wine, tea has different grades and quality. The difference may be as apparent as the taste, or in this case, the measurable quality of the tea leaves.
As surprising as it may seem, none of us fell asleep during the match which dragged all the way from 0230 hours to 0600 hours.
I only watched the first half of the match, where two goals were scored by each team; while the rest of the gang watched the second half, the first half of extra time, and the second half of extra time, where no goals were scored.
Thus proving I have some form of circumstantial luck I like to call my bloody Irish luck.
In all sincerity, I wish to thank all 22 men on the field for not scoring any goals while I wasn't watching.
The penalty was a torrid affair – for Peter and Tommy.
All bets were off, and Tommy began shouting football curses aloud. Possibly ripping apart the fabrics of space-time wide enough for Cristiano Ronaldo to miss his penalty kick.
Peter trusted the power of Lucky, Tommy's dog. And as if Lucky were god, caused John Terry to slip and miss during his kick. (What's dog spelt backwards?)
To prove that man and dog are the best of inter-species friends, Anelka missed his kick to send Peter into frenzied one-armed taunting air boxing in front of Tommy's wide-screen television.
Throughout it all, Flyzzx was in a semi-sleep state, utterly unmoved by the proceedings.
All in all, I was just pleased Tommy didn't have to bust out the champagne, a distinct possibility if Chelsea had won.
And then, off to bed, at least, that was the plan.
The lights were off, and everyone went to rest. Only Enceladus was up.
The green tea kicked in.
I felt strangely energetic, and after failing to drown myself in dark dreams after two minutes, got up and checked up on Enceladus.
Not long after that, I moved Enceladus to the modem upstairs to attach an Ethernet wire from the router directly to herm (I can't decide yet whether my laptop is male or female).
For a brief moment, I saw Peter on-line and available for chat. And dismissed it as a technical mystery. After all, he was sound asleep in the house right?
With nothing better to do, I started editing Tommy's business proposal while Enceladus downloaded stuff.
Very soon, sunlight entered the room, and the household began to stir.
I completed the editing, only to find myself facing Mr Ooi who had some things he wanted to add and change to his website.
Hmm... At this point, I have had only half-an-hour's rest in 24 hours.
It wasn't the most stimulating of conversations, but though sleep was lacking, I never felt encumbered by it during the discussion and managed to pull it off with everything (especially my credibility) intact.
“Must be the green tea,” I thought.
And very soon, it was 1000 hours, and I went down to join Flyzzx for some breakfast. Fresh milk, cereal, and ham sandwiches. Arguably the best breakfast I have had in years.
I asked him where Peter was, since I didn't see him anywhere in the house. Flyzzx told me he left after the match, which must have been when I had retreated to the kitchen for some cleaning up.
“I saw Peter on-line,” I said.
“He probably didn't sleep either,” Flyzzx said.
“You didn't sleep too?”, I asked.
“No, I rested for a while, but couldn't sleep,” he answered, “it was your green tea. I have never experienced anything like it before. I even sleep through coffee!”
Thus began an avid discussion on the humble tea leaf that created this astounding scenario.
After breakfast, we went upstairs to do some productive work.
First to cross off the list was a viewing of Clannad Episode 1, which totally blew me away with the extreme and obsessive attention to detail in every scene. The storyline is rather complex... well, you can Google it.
After which we set out to create a complete mock project for the KDU students, which took up all of our time until 1600 hours.
In total, we generated probably three days work within those hours.
And were powered on by green tea.
Seriously, if you have problems concentrating on school-work – green tea.
If you have an examination tomorrow morning and have yet to finish revising – green tea.
If you have a few hours to kill while awaiting your non-green-tea-drinking-CEO to awake from a late late night of football and wish to spend those hours doing productive work instead of sleep – green tea.
By the end of the day, we had delivered the documents to the students, completed the successful Beta test of Torrential, and had even sold three slots for Torrential on that day alone.
I almost felt sorry I had to leave that day, since I was still being powered by a full pot of green tea and was experiencing the mind-altering effects of broadband.
Geek drugs.
Anyway, we ended the day at Pizza Hut where Tommy and his girlfriend treated us to dinner with coupons. Just before the day was done though, Flyzzx asked me another IQ question:
Using an unlimited supply of water and two pails which hold 4 litres and 9 litres respectively, produce 6 litres of water in the most exact fashion possible through the actions of pouring alone.
And after solving that, with some hints from Flyzzx, we reached Bayan Lepas, where he went home, while I awaited the bus.
By the time I got back to Balik Pulau, the effects of green tea had worn off. Significantly.
With a quick explanation of my lack of sleep, I excused myself from dinner, retreated to my room, and slept for 12 hours.
Upon awaking, I solved the 25 MacBook Airs question to officially end what must be the most productive 40 hours in my teenage life.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Talk, talk and more talk
Much has happened since the last post, for Sautern as a whole and for certain individuals too. For starters, our favourite geek has succeeded in getting the much coveted ASEAN scholarship. His achievement is all the more impressive considering he was the only successful applicant among his party of 3 that was selected to attend the interviews. If you are still not satisfied that this is an impressive feat, do note that the 3 of them were the only ones considered 1337 enough among the top scorers of Chung Ling. So do please give Chong Yang a slap on the back or two, just don't overdo it and flatten him, or we will flatten you.
Moving on to the company. We have been involved in some top secret machinations involving repeated calls on the telephone and having Jupes masquerade as a pseudo-telemarketer. Thankfully though, the success rates we got for this does not happen to real life telemarketers, else more telemarketing companies sprout out. Most of you readers will probably be lost at this point, and I don't blame you. Maybe a slight recap is in order.
To counter the consequences of the impending loss of our Chief Programmer as noted above, we have had to make some unconventional choices. We decided to cast our sights to the vast untapped human resource of, drumroll please, college students. Getting the ball rolling has entailed the abovementioned phone calls. That task naturally fell to Jupes, who could probably talk about controversial issues in front of an unfriendly crowd and not get killed, oh wait, he did do that. If worse comes to worse he can still count on his superlative ability to steer the conversation off topic should things get dicey.
Turns out the few white hairs we sprouted were for naught though, as things went surprisingly well. At least we had no one slam the phone on us. Of course the bonus of getting a few appointments to discuss our proposal was appreciated too. The first meeting will be on a Friday afternoon and the next one will be right next morning. At least we still had 2 days to prepare.
2 days however passed really fast, and before we knew it Tommy, me and Jupes were putting on some last minute preparations at Tommy's place. The trip to the college, Disted by the way, took all of 5 minutes, and the interview took... barely longer, 7 minutes in fact. Yes, I timed it. Don't get the impression that we tanked though, as it was quite positive and a good start. We spent the time explaining and clarifying our idea and the lecturer said that she will discuss with her superiors.
The timing for the next meeting was a bit tight though, but what can you do, blame it on Saturday morning sleepiness. Thanks to some astute driving by Tommy we weren't that late, maybe 1 minute at most ( yea, I checked). Anyway, that's where the fun starts. The college (KDU this time) building was waaaay larger and we were required to go up a few floors and turn into a few corridors and... that's the part where we get lost.
At this point we had 2 options, either go wandering around like idiots or head into one of those creepy rooms they have as resource centre/lecture hall/whatever. Having not seen too many horror movies, we chose the creepy room option. We chose to enter a room marked resource centre to try to get some directions. Lucky for us, the person manning it wasn't a deranged axe murderer and so we were soon on our way.
Once we got our bearings straight and finally arrived at the correct room, we were greeted by 2 lecturers and ushered into a nearby classroom. The discussion took longer than the previous one, and we really went through our proposal thoroughly. Our day didn't end with the discussion though. As luck would have it, the classroom was also occupied by a class of IT students cramming for their upcoming exams. The lecturers allowed us to get straight down to business and pitch our idea to them.
Finally, we were actually seeing some concrete progress. After composing ourselves for a few minutes, we just went ahead and just talked, and talked, and talked. Trust me, we really did have to talk a lot, about our proposal, Sautern, heck Tommy even threw in some Dota for good measure. The class wasn't big, maybe about a dozen or so students, but encouragingly they were responsive and hopefully receptive. Throughout the hour or so spent talking with them (not timed this time, but it's a close estimate), we managed to get most of them to leave their contacts. All in all, quite a fruitful morning's work.
Moving on to the company. We have been involved in some top secret machinations involving repeated calls on the telephone and having Jupes masquerade as a pseudo-telemarketer. Thankfully though, the success rates we got for this does not happen to real life telemarketers, else more telemarketing companies sprout out. Most of you readers will probably be lost at this point, and I don't blame you. Maybe a slight recap is in order.
To counter the consequences of the impending loss of our Chief Programmer as noted above, we have had to make some unconventional choices. We decided to cast our sights to the vast untapped human resource of, drumroll please, college students. Getting the ball rolling has entailed the abovementioned phone calls. That task naturally fell to Jupes, who could probably talk about controversial issues in front of an unfriendly crowd and not get killed, oh wait, he did do that. If worse comes to worse he can still count on his superlative ability to steer the conversation off topic should things get dicey.
Turns out the few white hairs we sprouted were for naught though, as things went surprisingly well. At least we had no one slam the phone on us. Of course the bonus of getting a few appointments to discuss our proposal was appreciated too. The first meeting will be on a Friday afternoon and the next one will be right next morning. At least we still had 2 days to prepare.
2 days however passed really fast, and before we knew it Tommy, me and Jupes were putting on some last minute preparations at Tommy's place. The trip to the college, Disted by the way, took all of 5 minutes, and the interview took... barely longer, 7 minutes in fact. Yes, I timed it. Don't get the impression that we tanked though, as it was quite positive and a good start. We spent the time explaining and clarifying our idea and the lecturer said that she will discuss with her superiors.
The timing for the next meeting was a bit tight though, but what can you do, blame it on Saturday morning sleepiness. Thanks to some astute driving by Tommy we weren't that late, maybe 1 minute at most ( yea, I checked). Anyway, that's where the fun starts. The college (KDU this time) building was waaaay larger and we were required to go up a few floors and turn into a few corridors and... that's the part where we get lost.
At this point we had 2 options, either go wandering around like idiots or head into one of those creepy rooms they have as resource centre/lecture hall/whatever. Having not seen too many horror movies, we chose the creepy room option. We chose to enter a room marked resource centre to try to get some directions. Lucky for us, the person manning it wasn't a deranged axe murderer and so we were soon on our way.
Once we got our bearings straight and finally arrived at the correct room, we were greeted by 2 lecturers and ushered into a nearby classroom. The discussion took longer than the previous one, and we really went through our proposal thoroughly. Our day didn't end with the discussion though. As luck would have it, the classroom was also occupied by a class of IT students cramming for their upcoming exams. The lecturers allowed us to get straight down to business and pitch our idea to them.
Finally, we were actually seeing some concrete progress. After composing ourselves for a few minutes, we just went ahead and just talked, and talked, and talked. Trust me, we really did have to talk a lot, about our proposal, Sautern, heck Tommy even threw in some Dota for good measure. The class wasn't big, maybe about a dozen or so students, but encouragingly they were responsive and hopefully receptive. Throughout the hour or so spent talking with them (not timed this time, but it's a close estimate), we managed to get most of them to leave their contacts. All in all, quite a fruitful morning's work.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Der Tod und Das Mädchen
Before anyone gets the wrong impression, I am not learning German.
At least, no yet.
Just a normal update of the company's affairs and "UPDATE: 27th of April 2008" sounds too bland, so I 'll start naming these updates after my favourite classical pieces if there is nothing more to add.
"Der Tod und Das Mädchen" or "Death and the Maiden" in English is a string ensemble piece by the great musical genius, Franz Peter Schubert.
The piece is at once repetitive, sarcastic, cynical, and outright gloomy. Yet, in burst of high-pitched wails, contains screams of accomplishments and glories in life that still fail to soar above the ever present undertones of the shadow of death.
At least, that's how I see it.
Perhaps you have another view of the matter, and would like to give you own account here.
Back to our company though, and the latest prognosis on the curtains and accessories web merchant project seems to have stalled indefinitely, with the company director too busy to review our contract.
The silver lining: We, or rather Flyzzx, has more time to finish the Palma project.
Speaking of Flyzzx, do you know he is one of the few students in Penang who managed to get stright A1's in the STPM for all his papers?
No.
That's understandable, since he doesn't boast of his achievements unless you persist in questioning him like Vic Mackey on an informant.
Last week, Flyzzx went over to Singapore to attend a very special interview:
As a student for NTU.
We wish him all the best and hope he shows those Singaporeans how little appreciation the government and the education system gives him.
In other news, our company website has been delayed again because of design issues.
Design issues = Problematic design decisions that require further re-evaluation and recoding.
Hey! It's the showcase of our company's talents!
Only the best will do.
Until then,
May your snow honey be as golden as the sun.
Uh.. I didn't mean that to sound vulgar.
At least, no yet.
Just a normal update of the company's affairs and "UPDATE: 27th of April 2008" sounds too bland, so I 'll start naming these updates after my favourite classical pieces if there is nothing more to add.
"Der Tod und Das Mädchen" or "Death and the Maiden" in English is a string ensemble piece by the great musical genius, Franz Peter Schubert.
The piece is at once repetitive, sarcastic, cynical, and outright gloomy. Yet, in burst of high-pitched wails, contains screams of accomplishments and glories in life that still fail to soar above the ever present undertones of the shadow of death.
At least, that's how I see it.
Perhaps you have another view of the matter, and would like to give you own account here.
Back to our company though, and the latest prognosis on the curtains and accessories web merchant project seems to have stalled indefinitely, with the company director too busy to review our contract.
The silver lining: We, or rather Flyzzx, has more time to finish the Palma project.
Speaking of Flyzzx, do you know he is one of the few students in Penang who managed to get stright A1's in the STPM for all his papers?
No.
That's understandable, since he doesn't boast of his achievements unless you persist in questioning him like Vic Mackey on an informant.
Last week, Flyzzx went over to Singapore to attend a very special interview:
As a student for NTU.
We wish him all the best and hope he shows those Singaporeans how little appreciation the government and the education system gives him.
In other news, our company website has been delayed again because of design issues.
Design issues = Problematic design decisions that require further re-evaluation and recoding.
Hey! It's the showcase of our company's talents!
Only the best will do.
Until then,
May your snow honey be as golden as the sun.
Uh.. I didn't mean that to sound vulgar.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
April Shower Updates
April Fool has come and gone, and we forgot to continue the fine geek tradition of posting something inane but possibly true, like how we are entering the camel rearing business while producing organic fertiliser from their poop.
What we are now doing is nothing short of revolutionary, we are diverging.
Oh yeah, and a few other deals in consideration, like our first contractual agreement with a potential client. It has been quite a while since we have used contracts. The last time we used them was the spring of 1988, on the first day of April.
Ah... Those were the days. The Berlin Wall had just been demolished, along with the Malaysian judiciary way back then...
Seriously. As a business entity, we want nothing but the fairest of judges, so for anyone reading this, take note that our stand is definitely against judicial corruption by the Executive.
The decision on the contractual agreement will be made known to us on the 14th of April 2008.
Also, Sautern Enterprise has managed to increase the programmers in our ranks by one, replacing the shock departure of Hall, who left without a word.
At least we know now, how women feel when their husbands divorce them through SMS messages.
Actually, make that two women.
Chin Hong has agreed to takeover the stalled Sautern Enterprise website, in which he has been instructed to do his very best to produce something usable by the 16th of April.
Also in the works, differences in opinion within the ranks of the Triumvirate. Do we outsource our projects or do we not?
If we outsource our projects, the outcome would be inconsistent as we would be left out of the quality control process until the coding is delivered. However, we may be able to increase company revenue.
If we don't outsource, we need to find capable programmers who are willing to work on our projects on a contractual basis, which would take more time and effort than the company may have.
We hope you loyal viewers and supporters of the company give your RM0.0001 worth of views on this matter.
What we are now doing is nothing short of revolutionary, we are diverging.
Oh yeah, and a few other deals in consideration, like our first contractual agreement with a potential client. It has been quite a while since we have used contracts. The last time we used them was the spring of 1988, on the first day of April.
Ah... Those were the days. The Berlin Wall had just been demolished, along with the Malaysian judiciary way back then...
Seriously. As a business entity, we want nothing but the fairest of judges, so for anyone reading this, take note that our stand is definitely against judicial corruption by the Executive.
The decision on the contractual agreement will be made known to us on the 14th of April 2008.
Also, Sautern Enterprise has managed to increase the programmers in our ranks by one, replacing the shock departure of Hall, who left without a word.
At least we know now, how women feel when their husbands divorce them through SMS messages.
Actually, make that two women.
Chin Hong has agreed to takeover the stalled Sautern Enterprise website, in which he has been instructed to do his very best to produce something usable by the 16th of April.
Also in the works, differences in opinion within the ranks of the Triumvirate. Do we outsource our projects or do we not?
If we outsource our projects, the outcome would be inconsistent as we would be left out of the quality control process until the coding is delivered. However, we may be able to increase company revenue.
If we don't outsource, we need to find capable programmers who are willing to work on our projects on a contractual basis, which would take more time and effort than the company may have.
We hope you loyal viewers and supporters of the company give your RM0.0001 worth of views on this matter.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The Cake is Real
It's been a while since we posted anything, so here's a quick rundown of what work we are currently engaged in, and what projects we have finally completed.
Finally completed the bidder profile add-on for R&U Management. Now FusionCore isn't just prettier, it will tell the whole world (if the whole world is represented in a hotel conference room holding the said auction) who won the house.
It's a more refined way of saying: "Aha! Take that you !@#$%^&*! Kiss my @$$! You think you would get the sweetest digs in the world for a bargain today, didn't you! Well you got nothing! NOTHING!"
Ahem.
Sorry, my emotions got the better of me.
Also, we are engaged with Palma Housing once again in the development of an online website which will be unveiled soon. Until then...
Shhhh...
And a third project involves online retailing of a certain household merchandise that begins with a "C".
Any tips for jobs, requests? We will entertain them.
Finally completed the bidder profile add-on for R&U Management. Now FusionCore isn't just prettier, it will tell the whole world (if the whole world is represented in a hotel conference room holding the said auction) who won the house.
It's a more refined way of saying: "Aha! Take that you !@#$%^&*! Kiss my @$$! You think you would get the sweetest digs in the world for a bargain today, didn't you! Well you got nothing! NOTHING!"
Ahem.
Sorry, my emotions got the better of me.
Also, we are engaged with Palma Housing once again in the development of an online website which will be unveiled soon. Until then...
Shhhh...
And a third project involves online retailing of a certain household merchandise that begins with a "C".
Any tips for jobs, requests? We will entertain them.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
The dawn of a new year
Ok, the title was a bit misleading, it was actually dusk, but still the first day of the new year nonetheless. We were once again congregated at Tommy's home for another round of waistline expanding. The usual suspects were present, save for Song Han who had to attend to some personal business. We also had the added company of a new key personnel, Yan Sern.
The theme this time was more earthier and relaxed compared to the previous meals. Tommy eschewed long prep time and exotic ingredients by preparing a huge 6kg turkey and some fried finger food. Drinks were strictly non-alcoholic, with Light Coke, orange juice, Milo and Ribenna. All in all, more Robbie Williams than Pavoratti. Even the setting was different, at the lawn instead of the dining area.
The type of food available admittedly makes for boring reading. A turkey's just a giant chicken right? Fortunately for you readers, the giant chicken needs to be carved prior to consumption. Unfortunately for us diners, none of us really know how to carve it up. Cue the very first edition of Turkey Carving Idol, where everyone gets a shot at becoming the next big turkey carving star. (However try this at your own risk, sharp knife and fork needed)
After some anxious moments dodging errant knife strokes, we more or less got the hang of extracting meat from the turkey, because I don't think we can do justice to the word 'carve'. Just when I thought that we could relax after solving the turkey torture, another curve ball was thrown, and before I know it, Tommy came out of the kitchen bearing a birthday cake. Turns out that Chong Yang aka flyzz's birthday was the day before. To be honest, that escaped my mind too amid all the hoopla about New Year's Eve parties.
With our bellies full, it was time to adjourn to the living room for some discussions. Of course for myself, there was also the incentive on a live telecast of an EPL match on Astro. To suit the relaxed mood, the meeting was conducted in an informal way, not that we have formal meetings all the time, just that it was even more informal. The agenda concerned an potential project, the finer details of which I will not disclose, lest I need to track down and terminate persons with unauthorised access to this information. Anyway, the only thing I am cleared to reveal is that the meeting was quite successful, and we managed to outline our plan of action for the upcoming project.
P.S. Happy belated birthday once again to the Flyman, Chong Yang.
The theme this time was more earthier and relaxed compared to the previous meals. Tommy eschewed long prep time and exotic ingredients by preparing a huge 6kg turkey and some fried finger food. Drinks were strictly non-alcoholic, with Light Coke, orange juice, Milo and Ribenna. All in all, more Robbie Williams than Pavoratti. Even the setting was different, at the lawn instead of the dining area.
The type of food available admittedly makes for boring reading. A turkey's just a giant chicken right? Fortunately for you readers, the giant chicken needs to be carved prior to consumption. Unfortunately for us diners, none of us really know how to carve it up. Cue the very first edition of Turkey Carving Idol, where everyone gets a shot at becoming the next big turkey carving star. (However try this at your own risk, sharp knife and fork needed)
After some anxious moments dodging errant knife strokes, we more or less got the hang of extracting meat from the turkey, because I don't think we can do justice to the word 'carve'. Just when I thought that we could relax after solving the turkey torture, another curve ball was thrown, and before I know it, Tommy came out of the kitchen bearing a birthday cake. Turns out that Chong Yang aka flyzz's birthday was the day before. To be honest, that escaped my mind too amid all the hoopla about New Year's Eve parties.
With our bellies full, it was time to adjourn to the living room for some discussions. Of course for myself, there was also the incentive on a live telecast of an EPL match on Astro. To suit the relaxed mood, the meeting was conducted in an informal way, not that we have formal meetings all the time, just that it was even more informal. The agenda concerned an potential project, the finer details of which I will not disclose, lest I need to track down and terminate persons with unauthorised access to this information. Anyway, the only thing I am cleared to reveal is that the meeting was quite successful, and we managed to outline our plan of action for the upcoming project.
P.S. Happy belated birthday once again to the Flyman, Chong Yang.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
The Blog Keeps Ticking
Mein Kampf! Seize the day!
What? Why are you raising a hammer over your head?
Oh...
Ahem! I mean Carpe Diem! Seize the day! (Or pluck the day, which is a more literal translation of the Latin phrase)
Eat and be merry! For we may die tomorrow!
Dinner at Tommy's house cum workplace once more. This time, with the addition of two more recruits to the growing band of Sauternauts.
Chicken Breasts on Vegetable Strips
It feels like old times, except better. The last time we got together for a night of merry was far too long ago to remember.
There was also the tricky issue known as the STPM which most of the senior members of Sautern Enterprise had to endure.
Not any more! We are free! At least until the middle of next year when university comes along.
Spaghetti with Mushrooms
So who are the new two? Well, since I have yet to obtain consent to use their names in our company documents, this is all I can reveal for now... They are my sister's schoolmates.
The purpose of this recruitment is to increase the resident programmer population.
Unlike other tech companies, we have a dozens of requests, but a dearth of programmers to fulfil them all. With additional training, we hope the two new Sauternauts will be up and typing as soon as possible.
Broiled Beef
Through mutual agreement, we have divided our company into two teams.
Team 1 (me, Tommy, stupeed demon, and ___) will take orders from lead programmer Flyzzx. The most important project to complete being the new version of our property auction suite, FusionCore 2.
Team 2 (the two new recruits) will focus on rebuilding the company's website. This effort will be led by Song Han, who will no doubt be eager to flex his web-design muscles. His work is particularly important because he will be handling the unenviable but vital task of training the new Padawans.
Unfortunately, other projects we have lined up have to be placed in the back burner for now. However, negotiations are being planned so our future clients won't become missed revenue.
Shandy
With a few mighty burps masked by deft hands, we ended the night on a hopeful note.
An unseen bright future lies just beyond the door.
Let's open it!
What? Why are you raising a hammer over your head?
Oh...
Ahem! I mean Carpe Diem! Seize the day! (Or pluck the day, which is a more literal translation of the Latin phrase)
Eat and be merry! For we may die tomorrow!
Dinner at Tommy's house cum workplace once more. This time, with the addition of two more recruits to the growing band of Sauternauts.
Chicken Breasts on Vegetable Strips
It feels like old times, except better. The last time we got together for a night of merry was far too long ago to remember.
There was also the tricky issue known as the STPM which most of the senior members of Sautern Enterprise had to endure.
Not any more! We are free! At least until the middle of next year when university comes along.
Spaghetti with Mushrooms
So who are the new two? Well, since I have yet to obtain consent to use their names in our company documents, this is all I can reveal for now... They are my sister's schoolmates.
The purpose of this recruitment is to increase the resident programmer population.
Unlike other tech companies, we have a dozens of requests, but a dearth of programmers to fulfil them all. With additional training, we hope the two new Sauternauts will be up and typing as soon as possible.
Broiled Beef
Through mutual agreement, we have divided our company into two teams.
Team 1 (me, Tommy, stupeed demon, and ___) will take orders from lead programmer Flyzzx. The most important project to complete being the new version of our property auction suite, FusionCore 2.
Team 2 (the two new recruits) will focus on rebuilding the company's website. This effort will be led by Song Han, who will no doubt be eager to flex his web-design muscles. His work is particularly important because he will be handling the unenviable but vital task of training the new Padawans.
Unfortunately, other projects we have lined up have to be placed in the back burner for now. However, negotiations are being planned so our future clients won't become missed revenue.
Shandy
With a few mighty burps masked by deft hands, we ended the night on a hopeful note.
An unseen bright future lies just beyond the door.
Let's open it!
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Dine with Us
Yesterday, we had dinner. A simple affair of chicken and fish tenderly prepared to juicy perfection by our host, chairman and chief executive of the company, Tommy Ooi, once more at his homily.
It was a great time for some vital catching up since our last meeting earlier in the year, especially with the inherent auspiciousness of the week from the double entendre of Jesus and Guan Ying.
Tommy graciously chauffeured me and Chong Yang to his home shortly before 6pm, which was the designated time to begin the feast. To keep us entertained while the chef of the day finalised the meal, we were treated with Bleach, not to be confused with the common household item used to murder scum.
First, a small tribute to the most valued and cherished employee of the company, our Chief Technology Officer, Chong Yang.
Many fail to understand how much work the average programmer has to put into a project to see it through to the end. The life of a programmer is world's apart from what we know. An esoteric universe filled with jargon featuring four consecutive consonants in a word (HTTP), truncated words rendered unintelligible (a href), and further flows of XML, ASP, HTM, and the like in the great river of cyberspace.
In this realm, the programmer is God, defining the rules, making sure the citizens don't burn the forests that give them nourishment, or cloud the sun with conflicts of code. If you are of religion and happen to be a Luddite, imagine how God made the world, trying to satisfy the craving of man for more than he needs while keeping the flora and fauna in adequate supply while defining the laws of physics, chemistry and biology and you have a glimpse at the frustration and love that goes into the thousands of lines of coding that becomes software, music, language, film, and knowledge.
That is Chong Yang's contribution to us, dedicating heart and soul to the crafting of a new world out of the DNA of computers, for us. The dedication to his craft was best exemplified during the recent Physics Olympiad, where a sudden demand for templates prompted him to attempt the unthinkable - create a template without his trusted software programs!
Not to mention spilling out cash for RM5.00 an hour for an Internet connection that barely functioned, using a computer that wasn't his, and missing a lecture on relativity.
Yes, dinner was excellent. But this post was never meant to highlight our fulfilling dine on solid marble in opulent dressing, but about a single human whom we could never do without.
It was a great time for some vital catching up since our last meeting earlier in the year, especially with the inherent auspiciousness of the week from the double entendre of Jesus and Guan Ying.
Tommy graciously chauffeured me and Chong Yang to his home shortly before 6pm, which was the designated time to begin the feast. To keep us entertained while the chef of the day finalised the meal, we were treated with Bleach, not to be confused with the common household item used to murder scum.
First, a small tribute to the most valued and cherished employee of the company, our Chief Technology Officer, Chong Yang.
Many fail to understand how much work the average programmer has to put into a project to see it through to the end. The life of a programmer is world's apart from what we know. An esoteric universe filled with jargon featuring four consecutive consonants in a word (HTTP), truncated words rendered unintelligible (a href), and further flows of XML, ASP, HTM, and the like in the great river of cyberspace.
In this realm, the programmer is God, defining the rules, making sure the citizens don't burn the forests that give them nourishment, or cloud the sun with conflicts of code. If you are of religion and happen to be a Luddite, imagine how God made the world, trying to satisfy the craving of man for more than he needs while keeping the flora and fauna in adequate supply while defining the laws of physics, chemistry and biology and you have a glimpse at the frustration and love that goes into the thousands of lines of coding that becomes software, music, language, film, and knowledge.
That is Chong Yang's contribution to us, dedicating heart and soul to the crafting of a new world out of the DNA of computers, for us. The dedication to his craft was best exemplified during the recent Physics Olympiad, where a sudden demand for templates prompted him to attempt the unthinkable - create a template without his trusted software programs!
Not to mention spilling out cash for RM5.00 an hour for an Internet connection that barely functioned, using a computer that wasn't his, and missing a lecture on relativity.
Yes, dinner was excellent. But this post was never meant to highlight our fulfilling dine on solid marble in opulent dressing, but about a single human whom we could never do without.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Chinese New Year aka Time of Feasting
The past few months for Sautern had been spent quite uneventfully, and perhaps a little too dourly too. So what better cure is there than to have a get-together meal to outline future plans and to discuss current issues.
As always, the dinner will be somewhere off the beaten track, to dine and maybe wine where not many have done before. No prizes for guessing that McDonald's will be out of the question here. Instead, Tommy, being the experienced connoisseur that he is, recommended a German themed place somewhere in Tanjung Bungah. Well, as far as I am concerned, German eateries do not exactly come to mind when Tanjung Bungah is mentioned, so I guess I will have to wait and see.
Crunch time came in a flash and Tommy was already at my place, along with a carload of the rest of us, Jupes, Chong Yang and even Lee Xin. On a tangent, a very ironic and funny remark was made by Jupes the moment I got into the car. He was surprised by the sight of 'a rat the size of a cat' (his own words) scampering across my path as I was approaching. My level of shock was decidedly zero as this was quite common to me, after all I do live in Pulau Tikus, which literally means Rat Island. Anyway, back to the journey to the mysterious restaurant. It really was off the beaten track, or rather it was not situated along the main road.
On first sight, it has a European feel to it, German theme notwithstanding. The restaurant or to be specific, restaurant/bar was quite small, occupying just a single shoplot. Slightly less than half of the internal floorspace was taken up by the bar, and the walls were filled with German memorabilia. The place had a warm feel to it, literally as it was quite smoky, about the only negative for the atmosphere, pun unintended.
In terms of service, we were given our menus quite promptly and the waiters were quite helpful. Not long after, we were joined by Jupes' mum and sis. As for ordering the food, we were probably a little spoiled for choice, and I was at a lost. Of course, dishes with names like 'schadenfreude with broiled schwarzenegger bratwurst with sauerkraut' did not help, or at least that's what they looked like to me. I am a guy whose eyes glaze over from prolonged reading food names with more than 5 words in them. I guess, it's apt that I settled for the mixed grill in the end. As for the rest, I have already mentioned my inaptitude with German food names, so do not expect me to recall what they ordered. I did remember that Jupes ordered something with minced meat in it and his sis ordered something with sausages.
Ordering is one thing, but waiting for the actual food to be served is another though. In this respect, I already downed my Lite Coke before the food came, and I was drinking slowly. The food did come though, eventually. Overall, the food itself was enjoyable, though I feel that some of the meat was slightly overcooked, a sentiment shared by Chong Yang.
Dinner dealt with, we got straight down to business, namely a serious discussion on what the future lies. I have to admit that this has been a bit long in coming, since I guess most of us are not too keen to discuss about the possible end. Unfortunately, we cannot continue keeping our heads in the sand anymore, since Jupes, me and Chong Yang are going to face a major exam later this year and not all of us will remain here next year. We spent quite some time discussing this thorny issue, but in the end, we still have not decided on a really satisfactory solution.
Nevertheless, we proceeded straight to the next item on the agenda. During these past few months, we stumbled upon a new business idea. To the layman, it will probably look like nothing special, but there is a reason why entrepreneurs exist, and that is to enterprise. Since this nascent idea does not have a known precedent, there are many kinks to work out. It is like building up a new software programme from the ground up, and we have to do tons of debugging for it to even look workable on paper. Despite the progress made during this discussion, it will be quite some time yet before Sautern can debut another branch of business.
Serious stuff aside, we adjourned to Tommy's place where Jupes tried to get us hooked on Google Earth. And as we found out, trying to find our own place on planet earth is no mean feat, Sautern will surely attest to that.
As always, the dinner will be somewhere off the beaten track, to dine and maybe wine where not many have done before. No prizes for guessing that McDonald's will be out of the question here. Instead, Tommy, being the experienced connoisseur that he is, recommended a German themed place somewhere in Tanjung Bungah. Well, as far as I am concerned, German eateries do not exactly come to mind when Tanjung Bungah is mentioned, so I guess I will have to wait and see.
Crunch time came in a flash and Tommy was already at my place, along with a carload of the rest of us, Jupes, Chong Yang and even Lee Xin. On a tangent, a very ironic and funny remark was made by Jupes the moment I got into the car. He was surprised by the sight of 'a rat the size of a cat' (his own words) scampering across my path as I was approaching. My level of shock was decidedly zero as this was quite common to me, after all I do live in Pulau Tikus, which literally means Rat Island. Anyway, back to the journey to the mysterious restaurant. It really was off the beaten track, or rather it was not situated along the main road.
On first sight, it has a European feel to it, German theme notwithstanding. The restaurant or to be specific, restaurant/bar was quite small, occupying just a single shoplot. Slightly less than half of the internal floorspace was taken up by the bar, and the walls were filled with German memorabilia. The place had a warm feel to it, literally as it was quite smoky, about the only negative for the atmosphere, pun unintended.
In terms of service, we were given our menus quite promptly and the waiters were quite helpful. Not long after, we were joined by Jupes' mum and sis. As for ordering the food, we were probably a little spoiled for choice, and I was at a lost. Of course, dishes with names like 'schadenfreude with broiled schwarzenegger bratwurst with sauerkraut' did not help, or at least that's what they looked like to me. I am a guy whose eyes glaze over from prolonged reading food names with more than 5 words in them. I guess, it's apt that I settled for the mixed grill in the end. As for the rest, I have already mentioned my inaptitude with German food names, so do not expect me to recall what they ordered. I did remember that Jupes ordered something with minced meat in it and his sis ordered something with sausages.
Ordering is one thing, but waiting for the actual food to be served is another though. In this respect, I already downed my Lite Coke before the food came, and I was drinking slowly. The food did come though, eventually. Overall, the food itself was enjoyable, though I feel that some of the meat was slightly overcooked, a sentiment shared by Chong Yang.
Dinner dealt with, we got straight down to business, namely a serious discussion on what the future lies. I have to admit that this has been a bit long in coming, since I guess most of us are not too keen to discuss about the possible end. Unfortunately, we cannot continue keeping our heads in the sand anymore, since Jupes, me and Chong Yang are going to face a major exam later this year and not all of us will remain here next year. We spent quite some time discussing this thorny issue, but in the end, we still have not decided on a really satisfactory solution.
Nevertheless, we proceeded straight to the next item on the agenda. During these past few months, we stumbled upon a new business idea. To the layman, it will probably look like nothing special, but there is a reason why entrepreneurs exist, and that is to enterprise. Since this nascent idea does not have a known precedent, there are many kinks to work out. It is like building up a new software programme from the ground up, and we have to do tons of debugging for it to even look workable on paper. Despite the progress made during this discussion, it will be quite some time yet before Sautern can debut another branch of business.
Serious stuff aside, we adjourned to Tommy's place where Jupes tried to get us hooked on Google Earth. And as we found out, trying to find our own place on planet earth is no mean feat, Sautern will surely attest to that.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Pathfinder
First post of the year. Has been a while, hasn't it?
The gang was busy throughout the end-of-year holidays last year, shuttling between home and Palma Housing, completing the extremely complex task of upgrading our clients database.
While most organizations would no doubt settle their programming issues with a quick call to any major software vendor, Palma Housing wanted something special.
Something so rare the last time one of its kind was seen was in the late 1980s, and never again.
The property listing database.
This, coupled with the newer Microsoft Access database (whose execution was as welcome as a colonoscopy without pain medication) made the upgrading process as profoundly painful as a knife dripping with dog poo in the arteries.
After a three month struggle, our titanic project was finally completed (inclusive of planning, coding, drinks, and a dead camel).
The most comprehensive property management database software, tailor made to only one client, Palma Housing. We present: Palma* Pathfinder.
Still, the realities of life has caught up. Upper Six is a bus-load of sexually traumatized children.
Lots of homework, projects and people to handle.
Life goes on and on. Like diluted sewage in a flowing river feeding agricultural industries.
*The prefix is exchangeable ;)
The gang was busy throughout the end-of-year holidays last year, shuttling between home and Palma Housing, completing the extremely complex task of upgrading our clients database.
While most organizations would no doubt settle their programming issues with a quick call to any major software vendor, Palma Housing wanted something special.
Something so rare the last time one of its kind was seen was in the late 1980s, and never again.
The property listing database.
This, coupled with the newer Microsoft Access database (whose execution was as welcome as a colonoscopy without pain medication) made the upgrading process as profoundly painful as a knife dripping with dog poo in the arteries.
After a three month struggle, our titanic project was finally completed (inclusive of planning, coding, drinks, and a dead camel).
The most comprehensive property management database software, tailor made to only one client, Palma Housing. We present: Palma* Pathfinder.
Still, the realities of life has caught up. Upper Six is a bus-load of sexually traumatized children.
Lots of homework, projects and people to handle.
Life goes on and on. Like diluted sewage in a flowing river feeding agricultural industries.
*The prefix is exchangeable ;)
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Sacrifices for the job, starvation and cold
Along came a competition for young entrepreneurs, the HSBC Young Entrepeuneur Awards. Since we are young entrepeuneurs it should be right up our alley. And so the wheels are set in motion, in a quest that will hopefully only end next March somewhere in Hong Kong.
Since Sautern has 5 current members, but with Song Han, being the good and very hardworking top scorer that he is, choosing to study during the holidays, it will send 2 teams of 2. Of course this is just to facilitate the rules, as we are one team in anything but name. Perhaps in this case, divide and conquer is the way to go.
There is one minor con to being two teams though. Obviously, we will need to come up with two different ideas. Correction, two good, sensible AND original ideas. Believe me you, it is not as simple as sitting down in Starbucks for two hours and fart out a random business plan.
Thankfully though, Jupes is an environment freak. It was no time at all before the green haze inspired him to an environmentally friendly idea, complete with graphs, charts and numerous figures quoted from NGOs. Basically, things that will make the average Joe glaze his eyes and go into a mind numbing stupor.
As for my team, Tommy did come out with a plan. But after about two weeks of discussion, we were still stuck at the discussion stage. So we did the best thing for this type of writer's block, invade Starbucks for a few hours and generate a very good business plan. Even though we are kind of breaking out of the typical mould for Malaysian youth, we still try to adopt our Malaysian values whenever we can, in this case the Starbucks jaunt was scheduled for yesterday, which is the last day of submittion for the contest.
Being the typical workaholic, Tommy was already SMS-ing me at about 7.30 even though I was still very much in dreamland. After sending a few SMSes of my own in a hazy state, we established 10am as the time of meeting. Location was as planned, the WiFi hazen of Starbucks. Having bought the obligatory cuppa, we sat down to brainstorm. To recap, Tommy actually sent me an idea to flesh out a couple of days earlier, and we were going to send that in. Jupes had other opinions though, and he managed to convince us that it was too simple. A short check on the database of past entries also confirmed that it is also lacking in the originality department.
Unfortunately, that means that we will have to do a complete rewrite. So much for good Malaysian values, as we now only have a few hours to complete the job. With our backs to the wall, we fell back on Tommy's original idea. A few short minutes spent on finetuning it later, Jupes and me were ready to slug it out with the sands of time. This does not mean that the other idea will be abandoned. Due to its simplicity, we might implement it in the future.
When we go about brainstorming, it is usually in a very charged-up atmosphere, since we are very passionate about our ideas. However, we were feeling decidedly frigid after an hour or so in. The reason? We were seated under an air-cond vent, an uncovered one at that. It seemed bad form to move though, so we just stuck it in. How long could it take to write a fewer than 1000word essay right? I mean, Jupes and me regularly crank out blogs that long. Well, we were wrong on all counts. Temporary writer's block seemed to appear every now and then, and that's already with Jupes doing most of the typing.
Anyway, we did manage to complete the essay. Now all that's left is to send in both entries. Amid constant hunger pangs, we sent in Tommy and my effort in first, amid constant hunger pangs. Aside from the really long list of particulars to fill in, it went without a cinch. Jupes entry though, was an entirely different matter. The WiFi seemed to freeze the moment we clicked 'send', and then there was a wait. A long wait. Basically you have three ravenous teenagers staring at a blank webpage on a laptop waiting for it to load. Time just outshone room temperature in the freezing department.
A few frantic clicks on 'refresh' managed to coax the confirmation page to load, along with a collective sigh of relief from us. By then, we have just about hung on for the short escalator ride down to the basement cafetaria. Despite not having our intended foodstalls open, we were just too hungry to care. Equation of the day - food>(starvation + cold)
Since Sautern has 5 current members, but with Song Han, being the good and very hardworking top scorer that he is, choosing to study during the holidays, it will send 2 teams of 2. Of course this is just to facilitate the rules, as we are one team in anything but name. Perhaps in this case, divide and conquer is the way to go.
There is one minor con to being two teams though. Obviously, we will need to come up with two different ideas. Correction, two good, sensible AND original ideas. Believe me you, it is not as simple as sitting down in Starbucks for two hours and fart out a random business plan.
Thankfully though, Jupes is an environment freak. It was no time at all before the green haze inspired him to an environmentally friendly idea, complete with graphs, charts and numerous figures quoted from NGOs. Basically, things that will make the average Joe glaze his eyes and go into a mind numbing stupor.
As for my team, Tommy did come out with a plan. But after about two weeks of discussion, we were still stuck at the discussion stage. So we did the best thing for this type of writer's block, invade Starbucks for a few hours and generate a very good business plan. Even though we are kind of breaking out of the typical mould for Malaysian youth, we still try to adopt our Malaysian values whenever we can, in this case the Starbucks jaunt was scheduled for yesterday, which is the last day of submittion for the contest.
Being the typical workaholic, Tommy was already SMS-ing me at about 7.30 even though I was still very much in dreamland. After sending a few SMSes of my own in a hazy state, we established 10am as the time of meeting. Location was as planned, the WiFi hazen of Starbucks. Having bought the obligatory cuppa, we sat down to brainstorm. To recap, Tommy actually sent me an idea to flesh out a couple of days earlier, and we were going to send that in. Jupes had other opinions though, and he managed to convince us that it was too simple. A short check on the database of past entries also confirmed that it is also lacking in the originality department.
Unfortunately, that means that we will have to do a complete rewrite. So much for good Malaysian values, as we now only have a few hours to complete the job. With our backs to the wall, we fell back on Tommy's original idea. A few short minutes spent on finetuning it later, Jupes and me were ready to slug it out with the sands of time. This does not mean that the other idea will be abandoned. Due to its simplicity, we might implement it in the future.
When we go about brainstorming, it is usually in a very charged-up atmosphere, since we are very passionate about our ideas. However, we were feeling decidedly frigid after an hour or so in. The reason? We were seated under an air-cond vent, an uncovered one at that. It seemed bad form to move though, so we just stuck it in. How long could it take to write a fewer than 1000word essay right? I mean, Jupes and me regularly crank out blogs that long. Well, we were wrong on all counts. Temporary writer's block seemed to appear every now and then, and that's already with Jupes doing most of the typing.
Anyway, we did manage to complete the essay. Now all that's left is to send in both entries. Amid constant hunger pangs, we sent in Tommy and my effort in first, amid constant hunger pangs. Aside from the really long list of particulars to fill in, it went without a cinch. Jupes entry though, was an entirely different matter. The WiFi seemed to freeze the moment we clicked 'send', and then there was a wait. A long wait. Basically you have three ravenous teenagers staring at a blank webpage on a laptop waiting for it to load. Time just outshone room temperature in the freezing department.
A few frantic clicks on 'refresh' managed to coax the confirmation page to load, along with a collective sigh of relief from us. By then, we have just about hung on for the short escalator ride down to the basement cafetaria. Despite not having our intended foodstalls open, we were just too hungry to care. Equation of the day - food>(starvation + cold)
Sunday, November 26, 2006
A Very Meaty World Vegan Day
A bit of a foreword on this entry, you may read the same day twice from two different perspectives. This is due to a minor misunderstanding on my part regarding the status of my Internet connection. In short, I thought my ISP screwed me again.
However, I now owe said ISP an apology and instead place the blame on the dark, dank, rat infested attic in which two telephone lines in my humble abode snake through. Apparently, the one leading to the kitchen no longer function.
Anyway, here's a recap of yesterday's events.
The 25th of November company dinner is the second one held by Tommy at his upmarket bungalow. Just like the previous on, our chef of honour was the French cuisine master trained Ooi Chuen Theang, who while Chinese, has been mistaken for a Japanese in Thailand.
The day started with me waiting for my mother and sister to rise from the soft, bacteria and dust-mite infested graves we call beds.
After dropping me off at Tommy's house, they went off to a destination I wasn't interested in. Proceeding to the kitchen, I discovered Tommy and Song Han at work preparing the main course for the night, (correct me if I am mistaken) medium-rare beef. There wasn't much to do after the pieces of halal cattle were placed in a spice infused wok half-filled with water put to boil.
If my memory serves me correct, this step was to tenderise the beef and remove the strong cologne cows usually put on when they headed for their big prom at the abattoir.
Tommy then left us to our own devices to freshen up. There was still some mutton and people to pick up. I know, people are an acquired taste, but you will start enjoying them after your first bite.
Tommy emerged, and we followed his lead in smoothly sidestepping the various pieces of wood and metal lying on the ground. In a jiffy, we picked up Chong Yang before heading to... Oh dear, I can't recall what happened next.
Well, excuse my bout of amnesia and fill in whatever you will to the three missing hours of my life to the moment we had lunch in a dilapidated building serving sumptuous and slightly unhygienic chicken rice.
Ah... Now I remember, we picked up the mutton and various chunks of organic matter and sent them over to Tommy's home before departing for lunch.
We very much wanted Peter join us four for lunch, but he didn't seem too attached to his cellphone. Frustration and Boredom conjoined and Epiphany was born. I decided to 'miss call' Peter a hundred times.
Mischievous antics aside, we finally met up with Peter at Gurney's Starbucks for a long heated meeting about our business proposals for the HSBC Young Entrepreneurs competition. Peter set forth to blast my proposal with the usual “Malaysian mentality”, “Asian mentality” and “World apathy” which made my blood boil. Seriously, I felt the veins in my neck swelling with boiling blood.
After all, if the World doesn't even want to spend good money on safer alternatives to save itself, what more can I do? Then Peter will ask me how I will change them. Then I will answer I can't change them, people have to change themselves. Then he will go back in a circle and lament the utter stupidity of the loopholes in my idea, and receive my emotionally charged response before heading to the bedroom for some – Whoa! Angry sex is something everyone should try out with their spouse.
Fortunately, the people surrounding us prevented the latter part from happening.
The discussion was admittedly, fruitful, and a thorough rewrite of my proposal is in order, particularly after finding out the proposal must not exceed 1000 words, not fewer than 1200 words. Quite certainly, I went overboard.
After terminating the meeting, we were dragged into the mall because we still had some time before the pre-dinner preparation, and partly due to a calling some of us had to answer.
I finally picked up my first (discounted, thanks to Peter's Popular Card) Edgar Allan Poe book.
It got late, so we headed back to Tommy's home. Tommy, the chef of honour, headed right to the kitchen, while the rest of us hovered over his wide-screen laptop like drooling geeks over an undressed Alienware machine.
Occasionally, some of us headed to the kitchen as ambassadorial representatives to help Tommy out with the dishes.
Somewhere around 1830 hours, Peter piggybacked to church. Me and Chong Yang stayed backed to give praise to our own gods, Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb.
Soon, my mother and sister arrived to join us for dinner. They patiently waited while Tommy slaved over the first course, fish and cheese.
The fish was marinated in lemon tinged water, then infused with basil, salt and pepper before it was sent into the oven buried in cheese.
Now drool over the picture of juicy fish topped with hot, melt-in-your-mouth cheese.
I learnt to prepare a unusual appetiser from Tommy as well yesterday. Ever heard of boiled Pepsi with ginger? Health concerns aside, it was rather pleasant.
The fish was served half-an-hour earlier than the agreed time, which meant Peter would miss out on the fish. Fret not for you weren't alone - Tommy graciously skipped this meal too as there wasn't enough fish to feed everyone.
The beef was a different story altogether. Medium-rare, topped with gravy, served with mashed potatoes and vegetables, it was much more filling than the fish. In fact, my sister ate a Chinese teacup size worth of food for breakfast this morning because of the size of the meat served.
Desert consisted of strawberries with tiramisu. A sweet way to end the dinner.
Before nine, it was all over. And the guys sat down for an impromptu lecture on the facts of life from Dr House.
I fiddled around with Tommy's computer, experimenting with various add-ons for Celestia and installing Picasa 2.
My sister took a go at it too and all too soon, it was time to leave.
Me and my family would like to give a heartfelt “Thank You” to you, Ooi Chuen Theang aka Tommy Ooi and your family for the generosity you have shown us. Not many employers would invite their employees over to their bastion of comfort for a wonderful dinner.
Until then,
Live Long Prosper,
May the Force be with You.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Thousand Miles
In just a blink of an eye, it is almost 9 months since the birth of Sautern
Enterprise. Anyone our age would have doubted the possibility of achieving such a deceptively reachable feat. Yet, along this uncertain journey, we are joined & fundamentally powered by a group of visionaries, determined to achieve what others find impossible in this business environment. I recall the days when Sautern was but a written draft on scrap pieces of paper, done during school ( Whereby I totally support the notion that the education system is definitely ineffective ), which progressed to currently become a profitable business. All this in just 9 months!
The starting of Sautern was to allow youth especially teenagers to challenge & experience the job and business market of the industries that we ventured in, providing opportunities for talented youth to utilize their talents & enhanced it to another level. Therefore we take the utmost pleasure in welcoming any talented individuals to be a part of our team. Other than that, Sautern aims to allow youth to indulge in some luxuries that are offered mostly to the rich. Activities of indulgence are occasionally organized as reward to our team who has put in extraordinary effort despite having to juggle their tertiary education at the same time.
Not many are willing to look on the flip side of the coin, specifically they are reluctant to confront the negative aspects of their business. Yet for us, we regard failure as a chance to learn, much more than what success offers, therefore any negative side of the company shall be discussed openly & frequently. If anyone has noticed, our website is yet to be complete & functional although it has been 9 months. Sautern apologizes for this awkward situation. Initially, Sautern was conceived to be a property kiosk in Malaysia. However, in the process of building the website, we received several projects for " Software Customization" from established property & banking firms. Unfortunately, this was also a double-edged sword, while giving us much needed revenue, it was an overload of work, since as a start-up, we have a lack of manpower. However, the company website will be up by December 2006.
Presently, Sautern will be focusing on its current " Software Customization" projects. Besides that, there will be a management reshuffle in a fortnight to ensure Sautern's clients a better service & positive growth for the company. Details of the shuffle will be revealed after it is announced.
Till then,
Tommy Ooi
Chief Executive Officer
Enterprise. Anyone our age would have doubted the possibility of achieving such a deceptively reachable feat. Yet, along this uncertain journey, we are joined & fundamentally powered by a group of visionaries, determined to achieve what others find impossible in this business environment. I recall the days when Sautern was but a written draft on scrap pieces of paper, done during school ( Whereby I totally support the notion that the education system is definitely ineffective ), which progressed to currently become a profitable business. All this in just 9 months!
The starting of Sautern was to allow youth especially teenagers to challenge & experience the job and business market of the industries that we ventured in, providing opportunities for talented youth to utilize their talents & enhanced it to another level. Therefore we take the utmost pleasure in welcoming any talented individuals to be a part of our team. Other than that, Sautern aims to allow youth to indulge in some luxuries that are offered mostly to the rich. Activities of indulgence are occasionally organized as reward to our team who has put in extraordinary effort despite having to juggle their tertiary education at the same time.
Not many are willing to look on the flip side of the coin, specifically they are reluctant to confront the negative aspects of their business. Yet for us, we regard failure as a chance to learn, much more than what success offers, therefore any negative side of the company shall be discussed openly & frequently. If anyone has noticed, our website is yet to be complete & functional although it has been 9 months. Sautern apologizes for this awkward situation. Initially, Sautern was conceived to be a property kiosk in Malaysia. However, in the process of building the website, we received several projects for " Software Customization" from established property & banking firms. Unfortunately, this was also a double-edged sword, while giving us much needed revenue, it was an overload of work, since as a start-up, we have a lack of manpower. However, the company website will be up by December 2006.
Presently, Sautern will be focusing on its current " Software Customization" projects. Besides that, there will be a management reshuffle in a fortnight to ensure Sautern's clients a better service & positive growth for the company. Details of the shuffle will be revealed after it is announced.
Till then,
Tommy Ooi
Chief Executive Officer
Friday, September 29, 2006
It ain't all about the money
Despite the fact that we are an upstart company, our aims are not mainly about profit. Or rather more precisely, monetary profit, since what I am about to chronicle is about something that will profit the soul.
Following on from one of the meetings mentioned here in one of the previous posts, we had another meeting with the executive director of St. Nicholas' Home for the Visually Impaired, Mr. Ooi. Save for Tommy, this meeting featured an all new cast comprising of me and Ju Ping. The purpose was to discuss the extent of help Sautern can offer to the home.
The meeting was to take place at 3 pm. Since Tommy was involved in an auction earlier on, the plan was for Jupes and me to wait in school until 2.30pm. Unlike the previous meeting, the weather this time was decidedly gloomy, with intermittent rain since morning. Nevertheless, it sufficiently cleared up enough to not disrupt our transit to the meeting place, which was at the home.
Upon reaching our destination, it was apparent though that our arrival was not exactly that eagerly awaited since the secretary had to ring up Mr. Ooi to confirm whether we really had an appointment. That was soon cleared up and we were seated inside Mr. Ooi's office in no time. The other participant to the meeting was one of the managers there.
As the home was a non-profit organisation, it had to rely on generous donations to keep it up and running. Our meeting centred mostly on this. They had a few fund-raising efforts in the pipeline, and some of them were in conjunction with the home's 80th anniversary celebrations. Besides that, we also discussed the matter of the home's website which is currently very 'raw' to quote Mr. Ooi. Please feel free though to check it out.
On the other side of the spectrum, we also spoke about what we have already done, namely the new logo and slogan. Mr. Ooi requested that we send the whole presentation of the logo to him within the next few weeks, to facilitate the integration of the logo into the upcoming campaigns.
Although it did not feel like it, the meeting ended at about 4.45pm. Before we left, we were taken on a tour to the computer facilities of the home. It was certainly eye-opening (no pun intended) to see the visually impaired use the internet like any regular Joe. The most impressive of all was the screen reader software, or rather how the visually impaired made use of it. What sounded like rapid muttering to us, was ably utilised by them to go about their duties.
After leaving, St. Nicholas', we adjourned to a nearby mamak place to satiate our rumbling stomachs, especially Tommy, who has not eaten since this morning. We had a fairly light meal, with a 'Roti Bom' for me, a 'Roti Pisang' for Jupes and normal 'Roti Canai' for Tommy. The side dishes included squid, squid roe and some potatoes. With some time to kill, we spent the next 45 minutes or so reminiscing about old times. All in all, a regular day in the lives of teenage entrepreneurs.
Following on from one of the meetings mentioned here in one of the previous posts, we had another meeting with the executive director of St. Nicholas' Home for the Visually Impaired, Mr. Ooi. Save for Tommy, this meeting featured an all new cast comprising of me and Ju Ping. The purpose was to discuss the extent of help Sautern can offer to the home.
The meeting was to take place at 3 pm. Since Tommy was involved in an auction earlier on, the plan was for Jupes and me to wait in school until 2.30pm. Unlike the previous meeting, the weather this time was decidedly gloomy, with intermittent rain since morning. Nevertheless, it sufficiently cleared up enough to not disrupt our transit to the meeting place, which was at the home.
Upon reaching our destination, it was apparent though that our arrival was not exactly that eagerly awaited since the secretary had to ring up Mr. Ooi to confirm whether we really had an appointment. That was soon cleared up and we were seated inside Mr. Ooi's office in no time. The other participant to the meeting was one of the managers there.
As the home was a non-profit organisation, it had to rely on generous donations to keep it up and running. Our meeting centred mostly on this. They had a few fund-raising efforts in the pipeline, and some of them were in conjunction with the home's 80th anniversary celebrations. Besides that, we also discussed the matter of the home's website which is currently very 'raw' to quote Mr. Ooi. Please feel free though to check it out.
On the other side of the spectrum, we also spoke about what we have already done, namely the new logo and slogan. Mr. Ooi requested that we send the whole presentation of the logo to him within the next few weeks, to facilitate the integration of the logo into the upcoming campaigns.
Although it did not feel like it, the meeting ended at about 4.45pm. Before we left, we were taken on a tour to the computer facilities of the home. It was certainly eye-opening (no pun intended) to see the visually impaired use the internet like any regular Joe. The most impressive of all was the screen reader software, or rather how the visually impaired made use of it. What sounded like rapid muttering to us, was ably utilised by them to go about their duties.
After leaving, St. Nicholas', we adjourned to a nearby mamak place to satiate our rumbling stomachs, especially Tommy, who has not eaten since this morning. We had a fairly light meal, with a 'Roti Bom' for me, a 'Roti Pisang' for Jupes and normal 'Roti Canai' for Tommy. The side dishes included squid, squid roe and some potatoes. With some time to kill, we spent the next 45 minutes or so reminiscing about old times. All in all, a regular day in the lives of teenage entrepreneurs.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Ambiguous Help
A spanking new laptop!
Tommy's impressive 80GB, Intel Core Duo laptop with 1GB of RAM could easily run circles around his old laptop.
Instead, I watched amusingly as an incredulous Tommy demonstrated to me and Chong Yang how a state of the art laptop can be brought to its knees when it is not showered with the love and care you give to a favourite aunt.
Placing both laptops side-by-side, we saw, without a doubt the old laptop booted up significantly faster than the widescreen successor.
Tommy recounted his tale:
His new laptop had been mistakenly delivered to another Dell customer - and coolly sent Tommy the bill.
Needless to say, hell broke loose, and Dell retrieved the laptop for Tommy.
Unfortunately, Dell failed to restore the laptop to its former factory setting.
There were more than 60 running processes with dubious names.
Evidently, eric (the username displayed) had been a naughty boy. Besides treating the laptop like a mucous ball, sucking every piece of tech dirt; he had been visiting the naughty Internet places too...
And that set the tone last Friday. My task was to kill and reincarnate the love forsaken laptop.
Starting with trying to reinstall Windows XP, I found myself stuck on the Product Key page. Mind you, this being a genuine copy of Windows, I immediately dived into every documentation I could find before Tommy suggested calling, the dreaded tech support.
It was nearly as bad as I thought, with the long pauses between different 'experts', monotonous classical music while on hold, and unreliable Dell people.
Not getting the help I needed from Dell, they subsequently directed me to Microsoft, where after heated clarification I was after the Product Key and not the Activation Code, curtly pointed out it might be stuck under the laptop.
So here's the summary.
I called Dell to get the Windows XP Product Key which was stuck under the laptop, that wasn't pointed out by the young, useless and oblivious Dell staff, but by an enlightened, no-nonsense middle-age lady working at the Activation Code department of Microsoft.
The only bright side, toll free 1-800 numbers.
The entire process required artificial grafting of my cellphone to my ear for half-an-hour.
Even after that ordeal, the Windows installation CD still failed to format the hard drive and remove every trace of its previous life's memories.
Apparently, karma works for technology too.
My resolve to never-ever install Windows on my new PC is strengthened.
Oh yeah, the laptop was a major distraction for the real task of the day: Making sure the database manager we are currently building for Palma Housing remains on the right path. At this resource-strapped period in our company, we can ill afford to waste time building something the client won't want later on.
Whatever needed to be said was said; and whatever that needs to be done, will be done.
Tommy's impressive 80GB, Intel Core Duo laptop with 1GB of RAM could easily run circles around his old laptop.
Instead, I watched amusingly as an incredulous Tommy demonstrated to me and Chong Yang how a state of the art laptop can be brought to its knees when it is not showered with the love and care you give to a favourite aunt.
Placing both laptops side-by-side, we saw, without a doubt the old laptop booted up significantly faster than the widescreen successor.
Tommy recounted his tale:
His new laptop had been mistakenly delivered to another Dell customer - and coolly sent Tommy the bill.
Needless to say, hell broke loose, and Dell retrieved the laptop for Tommy.
Unfortunately, Dell failed to restore the laptop to its former factory setting.
There were more than 60 running processes with dubious names.
Evidently, eric (the username displayed) had been a naughty boy. Besides treating the laptop like a mucous ball, sucking every piece of tech dirt; he had been visiting the naughty Internet places too...
And that set the tone last Friday. My task was to kill and reincarnate the love forsaken laptop.
Starting with trying to reinstall Windows XP, I found myself stuck on the Product Key page. Mind you, this being a genuine copy of Windows, I immediately dived into every documentation I could find before Tommy suggested calling, the dreaded tech support.
It was nearly as bad as I thought, with the long pauses between different 'experts', monotonous classical music while on hold, and unreliable Dell people.
Not getting the help I needed from Dell, they subsequently directed me to Microsoft, where after heated clarification I was after the Product Key and not the Activation Code, curtly pointed out it might be stuck under the laptop.
So here's the summary.
I called Dell to get the Windows XP Product Key which was stuck under the laptop, that wasn't pointed out by the young, useless and oblivious Dell staff, but by an enlightened, no-nonsense middle-age lady working at the Activation Code department of Microsoft.
The only bright side, toll free 1-800 numbers.
The entire process required artificial grafting of my cellphone to my ear for half-an-hour.
Even after that ordeal, the Windows installation CD still failed to format the hard drive and remove every trace of its previous life's memories.
Apparently, karma works for technology too.
My resolve to never-ever install Windows on my new PC is strengthened.
Oh yeah, the laptop was a major distraction for the real task of the day: Making sure the database manager we are currently building for Palma Housing remains on the right path. At this resource-strapped period in our company, we can ill afford to waste time building something the client won't want later on.
Whatever needed to be said was said; and whatever that needs to be done, will be done.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Calling Chicken
It was one of those days.
It began atypically after a lousy morning where we were late for the clients stipulated deadline for arrivals; fortunately, he seemed to have forgotten about the dateline given to us.
This was probably because, R & U, as you may recall from our various reports, frequently cancelled and delayed appointments.
Today was the first time they applied a (our) dedicated auction presentation software, FusionCore; so it wasn't really surprising the way R & U's boss was raving about our product to some VIPs.
He then asked us to give a short presentation of our presentation to the VIPs, presumably to impress them.
Chong Yang and I ended up having to adorn R & U uniforms for the duration of the event just for a rebranding exercise they were carrying out.
These guys seem pretty serious about it, splashing out good money they wouldn't cough up for FusionCore a few months ago to a promotional team, who videotaped the entire event.
These were expert cinematographers, lining shorts artistically with the precision of a seamstress sewing a flag.
The auction event began more than two hours after our arrival, therefore (technically), we weren't late.
The important point of the entire exercise was to show the important people how much R & U has progressed from its herbal remedy roots.
The most salient point though, was the auction event itself - two of the three auction houses were using FusionCore.
The third will probably be weeded out by the process of evolution.
After the event, we went out for a typical lunch at a fast food restaurant.
Nothing fancy - it was just a RM 500.00 budgeted lunch at KFC.
It began atypically after a lousy morning where we were late for the clients stipulated deadline for arrivals; fortunately, he seemed to have forgotten about the dateline given to us.
This was probably because, R & U, as you may recall from our various reports, frequently cancelled and delayed appointments.
Today was the first time they applied a (our) dedicated auction presentation software, FusionCore; so it wasn't really surprising the way R & U's boss was raving about our product to some VIPs.
He then asked us to give a short presentation of our presentation to the VIPs, presumably to impress them.
Chong Yang and I ended up having to adorn R & U uniforms for the duration of the event just for a rebranding exercise they were carrying out.
These guys seem pretty serious about it, splashing out good money they wouldn't cough up for FusionCore a few months ago to a promotional team, who videotaped the entire event.
These were expert cinematographers, lining shorts artistically with the precision of a seamstress sewing a flag.
The auction event began more than two hours after our arrival, therefore (technically), we weren't late.
The important point of the entire exercise was to show the important people how much R & U has progressed from its herbal remedy roots.
The most salient point though, was the auction event itself - two of the three auction houses were using FusionCore.
The third will probably be weeded out by the process of evolution.
After the event, we went out for a typical lunch at a fast food restaurant.
Nothing fancy - it was just a RM 500.00 budgeted lunch at KFC.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Nowhere and Everywhere
Huge announcement this week!
Sautern Enterprise has successfully closed a deal worth about RM 6000.00 this morning.
R & U (with a herbal treatment centre subsidiary), one of the major players in the property auction industry have finally decided to take the Sautern option: FusionCore.
The courtship of R & U has been a unnecessary prolonged process, with negotiations breaking down during the previous meetings over the pricing of FusionCore.
Things took a dramatic twist however, when some criticisms from important organizations criticized R & U's method of running the business. This sparked a undisclosed spending spree to re-brand themselves.
Consequently, FusionCore became a much demanded item as it will most likely revamp the entire process of auctioning in the near future (think half-a-year).
Although there were a few add-ons to the program, we have already been partially paid for our software, with the rest to be paid upon successfully integrating the software into their company.
With the deal virtually sealed, we carried on to our other client, Palma Housing, to restore their database (a server crash had knocked out and removed a vast amount of valuable property auction reports).
The database was restored within seconds, however, we were then tasked with solving a generated report mystery. Briefly described as a huge amount of wasted paper.
The problem turned out to be a mistaken field entry, which was quickly pointed out.
Our affairs at Palma were finally completed with the issuing of an invoice for FusionCore.
We then sped of to Pizza Hut where we received this interesting receipt:
The picture says it all doesn't it?
Our next auction event is on the 23rd of February, 2006, as a result of the sale of FusionCore to
R & U.
Whether you wish to see us run the whole place down, or catch a few deals of your own, come join us at the City Bayview Hotel, 9.30a.m.
Until then,
Be a dear,
Say simply nuclear!
Sautern Enterprise has successfully closed a deal worth about RM 6000.00 this morning.
R & U (with a herbal treatment centre subsidiary), one of the major players in the property auction industry have finally decided to take the Sautern option: FusionCore.
The courtship of R & U has been a unnecessary prolonged process, with negotiations breaking down during the previous meetings over the pricing of FusionCore.
Things took a dramatic twist however, when some criticisms from important organizations criticized R & U's method of running the business. This sparked a undisclosed spending spree to re-brand themselves.
Consequently, FusionCore became a much demanded item as it will most likely revamp the entire process of auctioning in the near future (think half-a-year).
Although there were a few add-ons to the program, we have already been partially paid for our software, with the rest to be paid upon successfully integrating the software into their company.
With the deal virtually sealed, we carried on to our other client, Palma Housing, to restore their database (a server crash had knocked out and removed a vast amount of valuable property auction reports).
The database was restored within seconds, however, we were then tasked with solving a generated report mystery. Briefly described as a huge amount of wasted paper.
The problem turned out to be a mistaken field entry, which was quickly pointed out.
Our affairs at Palma were finally completed with the issuing of an invoice for FusionCore.
We then sped of to Pizza Hut where we received this interesting receipt:
The picture says it all doesn't it?Our next auction event is on the 23rd of February, 2006, as a result of the sale of FusionCore to
R & U.
Whether you wish to see us run the whole place down, or catch a few deals of your own, come join us at the City Bayview Hotel, 9.30a.m.
Until then,
Be a dear,
Say simply nuclear!
Friday, August 18, 2006
Full steam ahead
Due to the unfortunate circumstances of Form 6, most of the Sautern team, ok all but one, have been shackled from doing our normal activities for the past week. The reason? The school test of course, and a minor one at that. Nevertheless, that is all in the past now, and clear skies are projected for the next 2 months or so until the next exam rears its ugly head.
Not one to waste time, Tommy scheduled a long overdue meeting immediately after school today. And for good cause too, as the goalposts have shifted during our two-week sabbatical. Things have just gotten a lot complicated and the few projects that were in stasis pending the completion of our exams have just gotten more crucial. Due to the sensitive nature of these projects, I am of course not at liberty to divulge the finer details.
Once again though, we are really looking for capable and enthusiastic web designers and programmers. Those interested can leave a message here.
Not one to waste time, Tommy scheduled a long overdue meeting immediately after school today. And for good cause too, as the goalposts have shifted during our two-week sabbatical. Things have just gotten a lot complicated and the few projects that were in stasis pending the completion of our exams have just gotten more crucial. Due to the sensitive nature of these projects, I am of course not at liberty to divulge the finer details.
Once again though, we are really looking for capable and enthusiastic web designers and programmers. Those interested can leave a message here.
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