Another Birthday Today

Today is my Birthday :)

But instead of doing my own thing and having my own plan, My family will be having a family gathering + dinner at my mom's new house. My Whole Family, including my uncle coming up from the south and all the cousins in the honor of my grandpa's birthday. Sure I might not have the chance to personally celebrate my new job yet, or having the change to take my computer to Pantip again to have them solve the lingering problem...

That have to be later, but still I do not mind spending my brithday this way.

This year I did accomplished what I have been trying for the last five years by finally landed a decent job.

My Saving Grace

Today, with a pure stroke of genius, while I was walking to the office. I recall that I still have my old harddisks, those that have the old data I kept before I move them to the newer drive because they began to freeze up after prolonged usage.

However, I have to wait till I got back home before I can est my theory. I can plugged the old drive into external box and plug to my computer via USB port to transfer the older stuffs into my new drive. Sure it won't be as updated as the busted one but at least it will be something. Plus I do not have to spend a good chunk of money to obtain the old data. Sure it might be one or two years ago before I retired those drives which means I will not have the more recent stuffs. But it's the old one I really longed for.

Good thing that I did bought this external box. It does save me from having to turn my computer off to cool down the drive to make it work, I can just turn off the box and wait.

I just hate it though, that Windows never have the 'No to All' functions for copying. It would save me a lot of grief when tried to copy folder filled with pictures over and over again because I don't know which haven't been copied...

My Worst Computer Woe Yet!

For the past few days, I notice that my oldest harddisk is acting odd. And it was what I was afraid of... It is getting bad.

It was slightly too late to copy everything to new drive. I was able to save a few stuffs. At least I was able to save my Trillian chat log and the gay stories that I have save since a long time before.

Now I have take it to a company that specialize in data recovery. And they call me later that I would have to pay 6,000 Baht for data recovery if they can do it and that I want what was recovered.

I will have to keep backup data on to DVD more often...

Finishing The Last Harry Potter Book

In my usual tradition, I had finish the book in one day (more or less... well I kinda cheat, because I had downloaded an e-Book version and read the first seven chapters before actually getting the book) I pick up the book today around 13:00 because I have to work today *grumble* but I did sneak some reading on the computer while I was at work.

I will not give it away, much, except to say:

First, the book soon start off with a Bang, which is quite unusual for the whole series.

Second, my idea about Snape's action was right, that he did what he did under Dumbledore's order.

Third, the book was really taking a different turns in the whole series. Many characters were dying left and right.

In the end, I don't think we ever get to know the important of Harry's eye color though...

So did I like the book? It was a different feel from the earlier books, just like life were simpler when we were younger. It was not a happy journey as before but it was enthralling nonetheless.

At least it was a happy ending though...

Another Episode of Steel Cage pulled Open

I just bought another pair of shoes. Although it is a dress shoes, a rather essential item for me since I have no comfy shoes to wear to work anymore.

It is a brand called 'Stone Sheep' with the wide tip style that I never like but the narrow tip that like did not have the soft padding. Not to mention that the wide tip style did not have any decor or pattern. But I cannot be choosy...

So I just spend 1,575 baht on a pair of shoes that I did not really fancy about other than they are comfortable.

Rainy Monday

It start raining just around the time I am about to leave work and it had not stop just yet.

Time like this made me thanks my lucky star that I commute on the Skytrain route. I do not drive nor have the desired to as well. I would hate to get stuck in the heavy traffic...

I like it that I can use the mass transit to get home as fast as I could. For now I cannot wait to start my new job. And also for Saturday to come so I can pickup the 7th Book *wink* *wink*

Harry Potter the Movie :)

I finally have time to go see Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix today and... I have a mix feeling about it.

Start with the good: The actresses who portrait Luna Lovegood and Dolores Umbridge did a fantastic job, bringing their characters to life. They certainly play their parts well and very believable, from Luna's airy voice and manner to Umbridge's annoyed cocky smile and the slight crazy manner. The Thestrals looks great as well and it was just like how Rowling describe them in the book.

Now the bad: Like before, the story had been cut, paste, and change to make it fit into the 3 hours movie. Bellatrix seems too demure in the movie compare to how she was in the book. I think they should have played her more but I guess they wants to focus to the Darklord by then. I also did not like how the training room was portrait... It just bare room with antique mirror wall... I just wish they would dress it up to be more like a mix of warm color room with floor to ceiling bookshelves on one size and training props on the other but I guess they just did not have time for that... And don't let me get started on Dumbledor's costume. They still use that ugly nightgown like gray color robe for the third times. I would prefer the regal red robe that Richard Harris got in the first two. This is just strange... Not to mention they actually remove the half-moon spectacle too.

Overall it was quite an enjoyable experience except for the 20 minutes of advertisements and I meant "AdvertismentSSS" , now I cannot wait for next Saturday for the book to release.

Letting the Cat out of the Bag

I told my boss in the morning, of my decision to accept my post with British Council. She did not say much except asking me when will I required to start. I told her the truth, that they want me to start as soon as I can leave. So we agreed on me leaving at the end of July to begin my new job in August.

It was not until after the office hour, when I was still slave away correcting a particularly long resume with horrible written English, that she give me a piece of her mind to my leaving. How detested she was with my looking for new job. I did not reply anything to her, partly because I was concentrating on finishing my work so I can go home, it was already 20 minutes pass the official work hour. Another part is because I know better than to say anything. She might not intentionally make it personal but I did get annoyed. She spoke as if she owned me and I owed my life to her or something.

Also, I am not very good at stringing out words to retort in confrontational situations. Sometimes I wish I could but I know I should not burn bridges when it could be useful in the future. Otherwise, if I would give her a piece of my mind after carefully choosing the words, it would not be just burning the bridge but rather a complete annihilation :pp

I was sorely tempted though, to say that if she did not like my behavior then perhaps I should not come to work at all then. If she continue with her snide remarks... that might eventually be said...

Time to Celebrate!!

I Finally Landed the British Council job!!! Not the Customer Relation position (although according to the manager, I was on 'reserve position' which means if the person they choose decline the position I would get it) but IT assistance position.

I will make just about as much money as the first old job. But I will save more, at least from the transportation, since I can and will Walk to work :DD

o-Back from Hospital-o

I just got back from hospital. British Council need my medical exam paper, so I went to a near by hospital with my mom. It went along smoothly, although the doctor who examine me is a bit fem. :p With slightly long nails in some fingers which I do not think that it was appropriate for doctor...

Anyhow I got the paper, and I cannot wait till tomorrow to tell my soon to be ex-boss that I am quitting :p

Work in Progress: The Finishing Touch

The deed was done yesterday, I finally upgrade the computer. I went to Pantip Plaza with my younger brother who offer to accompany me, since he wants to go to Acer service center at Pantip with fix his office's notebook.

The upgrade was done but I must make one thing clear. I Love FireFox to death, but I hate how I have to reinstall every Themes and Add-ons, every Friggin' times I reinstall XP.

And don't get me started on the drivers and games and so on... But... after all said and done, I do like the faster machine and Overlord play very smoothly now. I am looking forward to really putting it through it's pace once I regain my stamina

The First Interview and Overlord

Earlier in the afternoon I had my first job interview with British Council. I think it went well, I was lively, quite articulate and add a few jokes here and there.

Before I leave work for interview, my boss, again, express her displeasure with my taking leave to do a job interview. I do understand her feelings but this excessive (although not that much) guilt trip is not going to win me over. Luckily, I am quite impervious to her tactic (not sure if it was really a tactic though). Afterall, at this point in time, I am the priority, not the firm, and definitely not her. Of cause, I am not stupid enough to tell her all that :p

As for Overlord, it is a new game, in quite the same vain as Dungeon Keeper, but in Action-RPG style and in open world rather than the personal dungeon. This game is the reason that I wants to overhaul (not really an upgrade, since I replace all the performance related pieces :P) my computer. That will happen this weekend. It will punch a serious dent in my saving but man... I WANTS IT!

So the full review of game will be commence After the overhaul ;)

The Busy Days and My Pepsi Woe

It was quite busy at work for the pass few days, I did not even have time to slack off or go to the bathroom :p

The workloads were quite constant... Especially in the afternoon. It was nice that I was not bored out of my mind but I do not like it that I have to go home late because I have not finish my works...

To make the matter worst, today I drink a bottle of Lemon Pepsi and it made me feel sleepy two-three hours later... I still do not understand why caffeine drinks make me sleepy... My friend think it was because of the low blood sugar, cause by the caffeine induce my body to burn off sugar that I consume. That might be the case, when I have iced-coffee with double chocolate donut. However, this noon I have wanton noodle and yakisoba for lunch :p Anyway... I guess I have to be more careful next times.

I am quite excited about tomorrow though... The judgment day finally arrive!!

The Shapeshifters

I finally went to see Transformers today and I was not disappointed!

The visual is very good indeed. The cinematography is very different from the other movie I have seen lately... I guess it's Michael Bay's style. Still, I must compliment the special affects teams, they did a very good job of making the 'Transform' sequences looks very convincing. It must be one hell of work process to pull it off. What mesmerized me the most were, of cause, the Transform sequences. I especially like the mechanic sounds that happen when they transform, I wish those were available for download somewhere... It would be perfect to use with my cell phone.

It was indeed a refreshing experience to see a fun big budgets Sci-Fi movie at the height of popularity of Fantasy movies.

I also bought the reserve ticket, dated in the next two weeks, for the new movie, Harry Potter: The Order of The Phoenix :P

My Daemon

I saw this at Paul's blog, since I am a suckers for this sort of things I have to tried it for myself and below is the result.



I guess the person who should help assess myself would be Nordic... But I am not sure how regularly he check out my blog :p

On another news, British Council call me again today to set up the interview appointment for IT assistance position. Too bad it will not be on the same day as the Customer Relation job... Now I will have to ask for two days leave... At least I will go on the later half of the day...

I also asked them about the working hour and working days. Since BC is an language institute, they work 7 days a week but each employees will work 5 days a week. For CS position, working hours will be 10:00-19:00 which is not bad in my case, since I live near by. They was not sure yet about the working hours of IT position but I can ask that in the interview.

Got Bitten by The Computer Bug

After finish trying the Overload Demo, I have the urge to upgrade my computer.

It will be a total overhaul, since I have my eyes set on the dual core series. I am still deciding whether to get AMD or Intel. This meant the mainboard will have to be replaced as well as the RAM. I also would have to buy new harddisk... since I have filled up the 250GB one :p

Then I will have to replace the display card... That one won't be too much trouble to decide.

I had done a rough calculation, the total cost will be around 20k baht. Plus I will have to re-install XP... I better prepared for that as well...

An Update on BC and a bit of Ranting

BC called me again in the evening to set up the interview appointment.

It will be two weeks from now, exactly two weeks too actually... Hopefully, I will be able to land this job. Since I don't think I would survive this current job... I am simply not pleased with the fact that I usually get home around 19:00 every workday...

I also got grilled by the new boss, over my poor grammar. I Know that my grammar is far from perfect. I think Torn, the English teacher by trade, could attest to that. I do not think it was that bad.

I still do not understand why the business correspondents have to begin and pretty much comprise with phrases and not sentences. Also the heavy use of present perfect tense... Maybe I can bum a quick grammar lesson from Torn ://

My Good News

British Council call me late afternoon, saying that I pass the written exam and would I be interested in the IT assistance position as well, since I have background in IT dept. They can use the application I already sent for the IT position as well.

I told the caller of course!! I would be happy with the IT position as well. And I added that I live very close to the office for the position I applied for. It will be very convenience for me to commute.

Then the caller said that she will add a note in my application for the interviewer that I will doing the interview for two positions.

I guess this means that I will expect to hear from them soon for the interview appointment. I can't wait to get back to my comfort zone :)

My Shameful Secret

It was a rather shameful admission but I must confess that I am now a fan of the reality show 'So You Think You Can Dance'

I have always been a fan of ballroom dancing. I always love to watch the ballroom dance show or movie. Of cause, this means I do like the movie 'Shall We Dance' and the one that Vanessa Williams stars with the Latin heartthrob Chyanne that I forgot the name right now :P

Therefore, I love it when they perform ballroom or Latin dance. Just this latest episode (on the local cable anyhow), Benji and Donnella had randomly pickup Cha Cha Cha step. They perform brilliantly. I like Cha Cha Cha step ever since I take up ballroom dancing class as PE during one semester :) After learning all the Waltz and Foxtrot, we finally learn Cha cha cha. I actually love
this step, just by the lively music and steps.

However, I has not been inspired enough to actually take dance lesson... I am still rather reserve about actually dance with a woman :p As a gay man, I would prefer to dance with another man :p

The Shopping Day

Today finally arrived, and I ended up spending about 3,500 baht on IT and computer items :P

Let's see... Starts with Memory Stick Pro Duo 4GB at A&L shop in Silom for 1,800 baht. Then when I walked into the Commart show, one of the booth near the entrance sold vertically-assemble plastic CD rack for 10 baht for each box (6 pieces) and get 2 boxes free for every 10 boxes. So I buy ten and paid 100 baht for twelve pieces. And then I walked around looking for memory card reader. I found one cost 90 baht which later seems to be broken, bastard...

After that its time for the main course. I walked to the Creative hall section and walk into the outlet section and found that the speaker set that I want is still on sales for 1,290 baht :D. The one that I bought is Creative Inspire 2.1 T2900. It has larger speakers and subwoofer than my current one. The feature that was a very present surprise for me is the one on the volume controller. It has headset and microphone socket which allow you to plug in the headset when you need to without having to fiddle around the back of the tower case and unplug and replug the cables :DDDD. Now I can finally watch some certain movies with sound and not afraid of embarrassing myself :P

So... 1,800+100+90+1,290=3,280 baht. Although I might have to buy the memory card reader later... I guess I would hold back for now.

I guess spending money really does bring me joy of some certain level. I guess it might have something to do with the illusion of having some control over some aspect of life... I couldn't help grinning and smiling when I walk away from the event hall holding one big box of the speakers and a large plastic bag full of the CD racks.

Now I have installed everything, reorganize my CD collection a bit and move things around to make room for the new items. Everything looks quite better now :)

No More Fantasy of Thai Airways

Today is the day Thai Airways release the results of the examination. My name is not on it.

To be honest... I am not sure whether I would like the job... I have never been a detail-oriented person and to do admin job does not seems to bode well with me. The only thing that attracted me to the position is the chance of working with Thai Airways and perhaps a chance to grow in that company. That chance has been shot down so I hope I will get a call from British Council soon...

I have something to look forward to though. Tomorrow will be the day I can go to buy the new set of speakers so I can listen to music and watch movie on my computer with ease. And not having to keep adjusting the volume. Also I have found a shop that sell Memory stick with cheaper price than my regular shop by about 400 baht. I guess I have to go buy it there...