Meeting Relatives

Today i went to my grandma's sisters to greet them (it's a Chinnesse tradition where younger people have to come to the older people and greet them. Most of them are done in the Chinnesse New Year Celebration, but it will be a good one if you do it regularly). At noon, we had a ceremony and then followed by a lunch together at home. At 4 PM, we went to the train station and got back to Jakarta. The train was 30 minutes delayed from the departure schedule, but it came to Jakarta faster than i expected, so it's even.

I better get some rest, since tommorrow, i will go to work again and do some regular activities, such as coding, reviewing, analysing, and bug tracking and fixing. This also ends my January blog entries.

First Time in Ci Walk

I began my journey to Bandung with the train at 9.30 AM and we got there at 1.30 PM (it's kindda late, since it was rainning, so sometimes the train has to reduce the speed in order to prevent a slip). We were picked up by a driver and he took us to my uncle's house and we had a lunch there. At 4 PM, i got my first experience hanging out in Ci Walk (Cihampelas Walk), it's a place where teenagers usually go there to hangout, watch a movies, shopping, or eating in some places. The place was quite nice, but not as big as a mall. It's like an Orchad in Singapore, of course smaller in size and price list. We had some talk there for some time while drinking juice and also some cold ice moccachino in Chinamoon (Please correct me if i did some typo on the name). After that, we got back to my uncle's house and had some chats with the other and then we picked up my other uncle in the train station and we drove to Sandy's place where we will spent our night there.

Driving in Jakarta

Today i had my second change to drive a car in Jakarta. I had to go to Pondok Indah Mall II to get some gifts for my auntie in Bandung which will have a ceremony in Tuesday for her new house. We will go to Bandung at Monday and we will be back at Tuesday (i know i will be tired, but at least i can have some fun there). So i drove to PIM and went shopping for about three hours with my sister and then we go to my place to get some clothes, since i had no preparation to leave to Bandung, since i didn't know that on Monday, we will have a day off (it was announced at 5 PM and i already packed everything and bought my laptop and also my clothes early in the mourning). We came back to my auntie's house at 9.30 because we had a traffic jam and i was kindda confused because i never drove in Jakarta at night before.

Hangout

Today i went to several mall around Jakarta with my sister and her friend, Dino. First, we went to Plaza Semanggi to play billiard in Gillian. I was totally outscored. It was normal, since he had a routine schedule to play with his friends twice a week, while i don't have one. Mostly i go to pool place at Saturday with Adi and Budi. After playing billiard, we went to Plaza Senayan to buy something for Dino's friend. I also bought a valentine card for my girlfriend. After taking Dino's friend back to his apartment, we went to Plaza Indonesia to play bowling for about two games in eX, a nice place to hangout where most teenagers came here at weekend. Next, we went to restaurant to have dinner with my cousin and his girlfriend. After having dinner, we split up, because Dino had to go to another place to play billiard again with his friends, and we went to my cousin's friend and we had some talk there and finally, i came back at 11.15 PM.

So for today, i have visited three new places that i have never been there before, Plaza Senayan, Plaza Indonesia (eX), and one sea food restaurant. It was one full day of hangout. Tomorrow is a chinnese new year celebration and also Markus will be leaving to Deutch for three months. I hope he had a wonderfull and safe trip until he arrives at the expected destination.

Gaim 2.0 Beta 2

Gaim has released another version towards their 2.0 version, Gaim 2.0 Beta 2. It this beta version, the user interface section has been upgraded and become smoother, though there aren't any major changes on the default window (as you can see in the screenshot). The status picker is now smaller than the one in the first Beta version and it's readable now.

One thing that makes it simple is that it can logged in with many accounts, for example, i can activate my MSN and Yahoo account both in one window, so i can see all of my friends just by using 1 application, Gaim. It will make my memory consumption smaller than before. You can see my screenshot of using 2 accounts simultaneously. In the upper section, it's my MSN's contact, while in the lower section, it's my YM's contact.

Gaim also enables us to set the privacy settings, which doesn't exist in the 1.5 version. We can start logging in invisible or available just as the default setting. It's great to know that the feature has been implemented.

One note, Gaim 2.0 Beta 2 hasn't include video nor voice support (from gaim-vv development), but it will be implemented in the Gaim 2.0 Final version (let's hope it will be). For now, just enjoy Gaim 2.0 Beta 2

Gidic

There is a new Indonesian project on the Sourceforge's project site, called Gidic. It's a simple offline English-Indonesian and Indonesian-English dictionary application. It's available for free and released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It has already support for audio pronounciation, so it's suitable for those who wants to try to learn the pronounciation of Indonesian/English words.

It's almost the same as my project at my office, which also has some pronounciation features using TTS (Text to Speech) engine, but with different language (Deutch). I would like to give a big applause to I Wayan Suryadarma who made this application and i hope it will bring benefit to Indonesian and other people who want to learn Indonesian/English language. In the project website, it's noted that he needed some help to improve the application, which are categorized :
* Software Developers [new code, fixes, etc...]
* Editors [manuals, articles, dictionary editors]
* Artists [Icons, images, splash, voice record]

Anybody interested??

Blogger's Status

I just logged in to my Blogger account and there is a notification about a possibility of outtage in 25 of January. Then i saw a link to Blogger's status page where all the notifications about Blogger is written there. From there i saw another link which i haven't visited again for a long time (Blogger Known Issues). I saw that Blogger has been improved very well up to now and they have many major problem (mostly related with browser compatibility). I hope they will fix all of them and add some new facility, such as advanced search, undelete deleted comments, import from other blogging tools, etc. Go Go Go Blogger.....

Uploading Photos

Today i'm uploading my girlfriend's photos at her account at Friendster. She took them while she was at Singapore, Beach, and some other places. I also added a new URL for her account at friendster. It's simpler than having to remember her User ID. I hope i can finish all the process today, since she sent me some pictures and they are big in size.

Celebration Party

Manchester United finally can celebrate their winning match against Liverpool which ended with 1-0 victory due to Ferdinand's header in the end of the match (90'+1). The match was kindda borring at the first half, since MU was totally trapped by Liverpool's midfielder. Nistelrooy and Rooney couldn't even shoot a ball. It suddenly changed in the second half, where MU was starting to strike back and they started to attack Liverpool by substituting O' Shea with Saha.

They ended their 0-0 score at the end of the game, when Rooney was fouled and then Giggs take the free kick and deliver a great curve ball to the penalty area. That's the time when Ferdinand had a header on it and Reina couldn't keep it out of his net.
Three minutes later, the celebrations comes true. Manchester United have defeated Liverpool and their run.

Read the match report at ESPN

Super Sunday at Old Trafford

There will be a great super sunday match between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford. Both team have a different situation. MU was very inconsistent in the last 2 weeks, while Liverpool has won most of their last matches, but still no one can predict how the match will be, since football can't be predicted as simple as that. Sometimes, all the predictions can be wrong.

MU has lost some of it's player because of injuries, but still, they are big club and they want to make their fans happy, since they have lost 1-3 to Manchester City in their last derby match. This will be a good time to have a celebration party at Old Trafford

New PHP Packages

I recently found out that PHP has released an update to their packages, PHP 4.4.2 and PHP 5.1.2 which fixes some bugs and update some libraries. I just download it but i didn't bring my flash disk right now, so i'll just save it for today and i will copy it tommorrow. Let's hope this package fixes your problem (if you develop a web-based application)

Code Review

We had a code review today and i'm the author for this session and i got a lot of defect that should be fixed as soon as possible, while maintaining the bug as minimum level, since i have to rewrite most part of the code and now we have to deal with other module that should be finished today :(

Slow Connection

Today, the Internet connection is very very slow, even for local connection. I think there's a problem in the server, because we can't update the bug tracker located in our server. It took some time (or probably time out). Let's hope tommorrow will be better

Finding and Fixing Bugs

All i did today was finding and fixing bugs in three different modules. It was a lot easier, since we use BugTracker.NET to track which one is open/close bugs. Before we use this, we have to write each bugs found and we should finish it as soon as possible, since more bugs are coming in.

I have talked with the creator of BugTracker.net also about the features, and he replied it quickly. I have also added some new query to the application for my own need and now it's published, so everyone can use it.

It's Not Solved Yet

I tried to upgrade to the latest kernel available from Slackware's repository, 2.6.14.6, but still the problem occured. It always hangs up after starting the hotplug services. When i revert back to 2.6.13, everything goes fine and it will boot smoothly. It was strange, since i used the same gcc version, same /etc/rc.d/rc.modules file, and others, just a different kernel version. I suspect that the kernel itself is the trouble maker by not supportting one or more modules or the hotplug services. I need to add some modules to the /etc/hotplug/blacklist so it won't be loaded, but i don't have this kind of experience for now, so i'll start by investigating /etc/rc.d/rc.modules to find out what modules which might be the main problem.

Updated Package

Finally my problem will be (i hope so) fixed, after Patrick Volkerding released another update for the kernel packages, which is now compiled using GCC-3.4.5. It's another version 2.4.32 and also 2.6.14.6, the latest version of 2.6.14.x generation. He has also update the X11 packages, but the new package is not suitable for 2.4.x kernel version, so i should stick with the 2.6.14.6 kernel package in order to use the new XServer.

Meanwhile, IPW2200 has also some updates, regarding to the driver and IEEE80211 subsystem. I have downloaded them and i will test to install it on the new kernel. I hope nothing bad happens and the upgrade process will be smooth like before...

First Experience with Bajaj

Today i went to Ciputra Mall to have some reunion with some of my friends from Jogja LUG (Linux User Group) which is now at Jakarta. They are Afnindar, Jaya, and Deddy, but unfortunately, only Afnindar came to the event, because Jaya had some urgent reason and i didn't know about Deddy. I met a new person, Suwidi, which i only knew him through Yahoo Messenger. He was also from Jogja and he joined us today and we talked for about 2 hours in Mac Donalds while having lunch together.

I went to Ciputra at 11 AM using Bajaj, a traditional public transportation in Jakarta. It was originally a vespa, but it was heavily modified so that it could take passengers. I got a nice one, since the chairs was still in good shape. This was my first experience with Bajaj, since i have never used them since i got in Jakarta. Maybe my next target will be public bus or mikrolet?? Who knows....

Waiting For CSS3

Right now, i'm waiting for the upcoming CSS 3 Specification which includes many new and interesting stuffs, such as curve corner code without using images. It's now possible under CSS3, but for now, most peoples is using small images for the curve section. It has a lot of new stuffs. Check it out in CSS3's official website

BugTracker.NET

There is some bug tracker available, both OpenSource or commercial. One of them are BugTracker.NET, which is an OpenSource application but it was developed using ASP.NET. The author has confessed that he wrote this application using TextPad only, but it's quite good. It has a simple user interface, so you would have no problem to get used to it.

Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5

After leaving Thunderbird behind Firefox for few months, right now they are equals again, after Mozilla Team has released their latest version of Thunderbird, 1.5, which can be downloaded from some mirrors.

Here's what's new in Thunderbird 1.5:
* Automated update to streamline product upgrades. Notification of an update is more prominent, and updates to Thunderbird may now be half a megabyte or smaller. Updating extensions has also improved.
* Sort address autocomplete results by how often you send e-mail to each recipient.
* Spell check as you type.
* Saved Search Folders can now search across multiple accounts.
* Built in phishing detector to help protect users against email scams.
* Podcasting and other RSS Improvements.
* Deleting attachments from messages.
* Integration with server side spam filtering.
* Reply and forward actions for message filters.
* Kerberos Authentication.
* Auto save as draft for mail composition.
* Message aging.
* Filters for Global Inbox.
* Improvements to product usability including redesigned options interface, and SMTP server management.
* Many security enhancements.

For detailed, please see Rumbling Edge's post

Cleaning Up Wiki

Few days ago, our LUG wiki was striked with heavy spam and today i had restored them (actually i delete them directly from the server). It's kindda hard decision to make some protected access on wiki, because it should be public and everybody can edit them directly, but if this condition continues, we don't have any choice rather than giving password only for authorized persons who is responsible for the task.

Home Alone

I stayed at home today, because the girls (and Sandy) wanted to buy some food for breakfast this morning, and i thought it will not take long, so i watched DVD (i watched a Korean movies, "a Moment to Remember") alone. It was a great movie, and i suggest that you (who reads my blog) should see it. They came back at 1.30 and then we had lunch together at home (skipping the breakfast). After that, we packed our luggage and go to other place to say goodbye and then we went to the train station to leave to Jakarta.

I arrived at Jakarta at 6.15 and then we went to PI (Plaza Indonesia) to have dinner, but we changed our destination to Taman Anggrek, and we had dinner at Ta Wan. I arrived at my place at 9.10, unpack everything, and then wrote this blog :)

Sports Day

It was my sports day, since i played 2 (almost 3) different sports in one day. The first one is billiard, when i played with Sandy, my cousins at Hangout. We played for about 2:47 hours there because we had no activities at home, where the girls were leaving to FO (Factory Outlet) to go shopping. When we came back, we watched DVD movie, but Sandy and me sometimes slept at some parts so we miss some of them. I watched XXX 2, the next level and i was suprised that the main actor was not Van Diesel again, since he played great at the first movie. After that, we watch Coach Carter, which was a good basketball player at Richmond High School and he was offered a job as a basketball coach, but he had to deal with some bunch of kids who has little attitude, so he started the season with some strict contract, but somehow it didn't work until the last minute (which i hadn't see, but Sandy told me about the ending). It was a great movie to watch.

At night, we (Sandy and me) played basketball at BPK Penabur. We played 3 on 3, continued by 4 on 4 with Sandy's friends. I was kindda shocked, since i have never played basketball again since October (perhaps more than that), but amazingly, i'm not that tired, even though we played almost 2 hours. We came back at home at 10.15, but we bought some food first and after taking shower and dinner, we played card with the other cousins at Sandy's house. We played until 1.22 AM and then we go to bed. We almost go to bowling place, but we thought that the place would be closed, so we canceled it.

Cards All Day

Cards were one of the activities that always being played when we were in Bandung. We played cards all the time and when there were spare time. We played "Speed" or "Fastest Game", "Hundreds" and "Cus" or "Chapsa" (in Indonesian, it will be 13, because each player will get 13 cards and it has to be played with 4 peoples, not more or less). It was fun and we always laughed everytime we played cards, mostly when Michael and Andre was around. Both of them are so funny.

Travelling to Bandung

Tommorrow i will go to Bandung with my mother and my sister and today i will leave to my aunt's house. I have packed everything, but right now, it's raining heavily, so i can't get back to my house and get a cab to my aunt's house. I think i have to wait for sometimes until the rain is dropping their latest drop :)

I will stay at Bandung until Tuesday, so until then i won't be online (i think). I'm enjoying Bandung for a while. My last visit to Bandung was over than last year i think. I also haven't met my cousins over there, so this is my best chance to visit them and have fun there.

Opera 9.0 Technology Preview

Opera 8.51 has gain it's reputation as one of the fastest and safer browser, and Opera is not satified with that achievement and they want more than that, so they released Opera 9.0 Technology Preview which includes many enhancement from 8.51. The detailed changelog is also available.

Please note that this version is not the final version and it maybe unstable. Use it for testing and development proccess only, don't use it on production proccess. Have fun with Opera 9.0 TP :)

KDE 4 to Support Apple Dashboard Widgets

For those KDE lovers as i do, this news is surely a great news and the next KDE 4.0 is deserved to be installed on most desktop, since it will be better than Windows's desktop (at least than XP or perhaps Vista). Please refer to the original article or the blog which covers the news. Go go Go KDE 4.0 :)

Supermal Karawaci

Today i went to Supermal Karawaci in east Jakarta. It was one hour trip from our office, because we went at about 4.30 and we were looking for Gundam mini kit, but most of them are sold out, so only one of us who bought that toy. The mall wasn't as big as Taman Anggrek, but it was quite long and some of the store hasn't been opened yet, so some space was still reserved.

First Day in New Year

Today is my first day in new year, 2006
everything is so different here at the office, since some of the people are taking their off day (Rudi, Mark, Roderick, Adi, Budi, Inge, and Yuni), so it's quite silent here in our office. Some of them will be available tommorrow, and the other will follows and they will be all here by 9 of January, when we will hold of some party again :)

Happy New Year 2006

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2006
Wishing you all the best for this year, next year, and in the future. May all your wishes, hopes will come true in this year.