The Eagle Has Landed!
Poor Man’s Starbucks Substitute
Greetings Earthlings!
I’m back in the USA working for my previous employer. But my first week back was quite scary! I was ill with a very high fever of 103.2f (39.57c for my non-American friends). Also I was developing weird blisters all over my lower right leg, which I learned was due to infection. I’m staying with a friend’s family currently but even they had no idea just how sick I was or they would have insisted on a hospital stay. I had to take several cold water showers (during the USA’s winter!) to keep my fever under 104 (can have stroke or seizures at 104!). So ironic; i survived 3 years in 3rd world countries, just to return to the USA and become nearly critically ill. Anyway I’m 80% well now 
Work is going very well. This is my second week back on this office. Everyone remembers me and I them. My official title is “Software and System Support Administrator”. Meaning I am doing a ton of project management integrating advance tech throughout the government. I’ve 3 key projects but I want more. I’m thinking to as my boss for 2 more projects.
My first paycheck is on Friday: hurray! This means I cam afford Starbucks at times. I’m currently drinking office brewed coffee, and it’s not that good. See my cute cow mug filled with overly-creamed coffee above? Oh well…
It’s 2010 so as it is a new year I will clear my spam settings. I think I’ve no more enemies.
We had a mini snow storm! It been so long since I’ve seen snow! But one thing: I’m freezing even dressed in sweaters and thick pants! I’m still a Spring/Autumn person I guess.
OK enough for now. Congratulations to Christine for getting married!!!! I’m so sorry I missed the wedding! :-S
Cheers!
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Posted via my iPhone
Definitely Lost in Translation!
Greetings, Humans! I’m currently in Taipei! I can say this is an interesting place, even though I’ve seen so little of it. It’s really too bad that my friend Janet (aka Interplanet Janet aka My Sista from another Mista) is still stuck working in Vietnam! 
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How often do you guys travel internationally? I’ve done a lot of travel over the years to a lot of countries, and I’ve come to recognize one thing: when traveling to Asian countries, where the languages are not based on what Americans refer to as the English Alphabet (A-Z, a-z), one becomes instantly functionally illiterate!
When you enter the airport, every intercom announcement is in Japanese or Chinese or Korean; you are just lost. Every sign posted is in a non-English Alphabet language. Even my TV remote control’s button labels (e.g., “volume up/down”, “channel”, etc) are written in Traditional Chinese! (and having studied Chinese, I can tell you, Traditional Chinese is much harder than Simplified Chinese!).
Ok, in airports, maybe there will be English under the native written languages, but sometimes not! Thank God for the Men/Women toilet pictures–pictures are universal!
Ok, as I’m traveling, I cannot approve comments for this blog for a few days. So please forgive me, and do not think your comments were lost! As always, when you comment, the comment will appear on your browser window to show how it will appear, but in fact it is in a holding queue waiting for my approval, assuming it not auto-go to spam.
Some people don’t believe me (why?? it’s my blog: I should know how it works, yes?). Here is a test for you: make comment…see it in the browser…close the browser, reopen the blog, and….it’s gone! (because it is in the holding queue waiting approval).
Normally I’m pretty fast for approvals (a benefit of having Blackberry, and constant internet access). But, as I am traveling…please be patient!
Take care and be happy!
Ready For a New Decade!
No, that is not my photo, but I hope to shoot one like it!.
After 28+ trips to Singapore, this is the first one I will get to see the fireworks at the Singapore Flyer!! I can’t wait!
I’m all checked in at the hotel. I’m now enjoying some free WiFi at my fav cafe, while waiting for my friend to get off from work. It will be another stroll along orchard for their great holiday lights and then we head to the flyer!!!
Please have a great New Year’s Eve!
Dork Tower
HiHi, Everyone! If you like fun, geeky cartoons, check out Dork Tower. Just click the Cartoon Above. >_<
Posted using ShareThis
AstroBoy!
Ok, tickets bought! Two days more, and I’ll be back in Singapore for interviews on Friday and Monday. Thx Jen and Eric for letting me use your sofa and home wi-fi! 
SOLD! MacBook Not For Sale!
Hello, I’m selling my yummy MacBook to a lucky person, at a substancial discount of only Rp 8.5 Juta! Here are the details and pictures of it and the accessories (click the photos for larger images):
The Machine:
- Aluminum MacBook (not the white one), only 6 months old. VERY good condition and upgraded!
- 4GB Ram (came with 2GB, and I upgraded it to 4GB)
- Intel Duo Core Processor 2GHz with 3MB L2 Cache
- Mac OS 10.6.2 (the newest Snow Leopard with current updates installed)
The Accessories (included for free):
- Wireless Mighty Mouse (cost me Rp750000)
- Wireless Remote Control (cost me US$29)
- 2 Spare Batteries (for a total of 3 batteries!) Each battery lasts 5+ hours for more than 15 hours of life without the charger! (cost me US$99 each for a total of US$198)
- VGA adapter (cost me US$29)
- Snow Leopard Upgrade DVD (already installed, but nice to have; cost me US$30)
- Lots of software suites installed: Adobe Photoshop CS4 Premium, Photoshop Lightroom (I’m a photographer), Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 Professional Edition, Adobe Flash, Dreamweaver and Adobe Acrobat (true Acrobat, not merely Acrobat Reader). Or if you prefer, just use the Snow Leopard DVD and wipe the laptop clean for a fresh new start.
The Pictures:
The only item I do not have is the original box. If you have a serious inquiry, leave a comment with contact information and I will reply promptly. I do not mind to meet within Jakarta, so you may inspect things first hand, if you are prepared to buy at that time after inspection upon your approval of what you see. I will finalize the sale by Tuesday, December 29 (I’m heading back home to the USA, so I have to act very early next week to sell.)
Even without the accessories, the price I am asking is heavily discounted (to sell quickly). With the extras, this is a super deal, thus I am reluctant, but willing to negotiate on the price for friends of friends. Hope you can understand.
Cheers! Rodney
Wookiees Exist!
I am convinced Chewbacca lives in the room next to me. I share a bathroom with 2 other roommates. Every time a particular roommate showers, there is tons of long hairs clogging the shower drain!
The house boy cleans the showers in the afternoon, but after Chewbacca showers in the evening, more clogging long wookiee hair is there! The poor house boy cleans up again afterwards.
I swear that roommate sheds more hair than a golden retriever!
^_^
Lost in Translation (and Transition!)
Just like Bill Murry, I’m sitting on my Singapore hotel bed, just pondering and wondering. Ok ok, I can’t complain. All is actually going very well here! I still have one more job interview to go, but I am not sure when it will take place, forcing me to extend my Singapore visit an additional week, as well as change my flight ticket.
This place is sucking me dry of my limited cash, but it is a worthy investment! At least I love this place, so that helps. Free high speed WiFi also does not hurt. Anyway, take care everyone, and wish me further luck!
Now what am I doing? Drinking groovy grape soda, and watching “Hannibal” on HBO and “Kung Fu Panda” on my MacBook… how’s that for a combo?
Cheers!
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
This is my table at Batan Waru, a cafe near my home in Ubud, Bali. Notice I can only afford a hot chocolate. I go there for the Wi-Fi. But, what’s wrong with this picture? What seems out of order? Go ahead and look: I’ll wait. *~ waiting ~*
No, the spilt sugar is not what is wrong. Let me give you a hint: why is my Uber-Sexy BlackBerry taken apart? Why can you see its front AND its back cover AND its battery at the same time??? Because it got soaking wet!
Here’s the story:
I carry my BB in my hand everywhere I go. After two bottles of water, I had to go to the men’s room. To free my hands, I was holding BB between my chin and neck and DUNK!
BB fell into the toilet (the water was CLEAN, thank goodness)! I fished my phone out of the toilet and wiped it dry as fast as I could. I tried it out to see if it worked, but the screen now is blinking on and off, and the far 1/5th left side is entirely dim while the remaining 4/5ths was nice and bright. Water stains were all inside on the LCD. Now entire thing is blinking like a lightbulb that is about to die. When I tried the buttons, none did what they were supposed to: water has saturated BB’s inside.
After lots of CrackBerry.com forum searching, I found that the fastest and best way to dry it inside is to actually place it in a container of uncooked rice, which absorbs water even faster than silica gel!
So here it is, just before being covered over with rice, like King Tut’s tomb is covered by Egyptian sand….
But it will rise from it’s rice grave (probably in 1 or 2 days) like a vampire. Maybe I should name my BB “VampBerry”
Don’t worry, everyone. This is not turning into a BlackBerry blog. It just seems a lot of drama these last few days has been involving my BlackBerry. I’m still thinking of a name for it. Any Ideas?
Are We Kryptonians?
Ok, if you read my last blog post, you realize just how much I love my Uber-Sexy BlackBerry Bold. I loved it enough to lick the thing clean of weeks old bacon grease! Now that’s love! How many of your “significant others” would lick you clean, even if you did taste like bacon?
Well I’ve upgraded the BlackBerry Messenger to version 5.0 (allows for chatting between blackberries, like yahoo messenger, only it’s directly BlackBerry to Blackberry). There is a new option with version 5 for adding new people: Barcodes! Above is the barcode of Kevin Michaluk, of Crackberry.com. Your current BlackBerry (with BBM 5.0, and a camera) can scan the barcode, and add him instantly. This saves you from giving out private info (our BlackBerry PIN numbers, which uniquely identifies our BlackBerry to the BlackBerry Universe) to people, yet allow them to add you anyway. VERY Cool.
But, I was thinking. This unique-to-your-blackberry barcode sort of reminds me of a complex version of Kryptonians’ (people from the Planet Krypton, home of Superman, dweebs!) family symbols! How cool would it be to pay RIM (maker of BlackBerry) to use the Superman Logo (which is really his family’s Kryptonian Symbol) as your own unique BlackBerry barcode? I’d better rush before Shaq beats me to it!
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Sent from BlackBerry©