I work in IT and don't worry you are not getting advice from me about how to live your life. Today I have been introduced by one of my work colleague to watch "The last lecture" on youtube by a computer science professor called Randy Pausch. Sadly he died of pancreatic cancer couple of days ago on July 25th, 2008.
Before his death he delivered a very powerful lecture called "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams". The content of the lecture use his own life experience and his own childhood dreams to explain how one can inspire others (as well as oneself) to achieve their dreams.
He has covered many items within his presentation, He also uses some very good quotes to emphasis his points. "We cannot change the cards we were dealt, just how we play the hand" to describe how he tries to cope with his final months of his life and not in self-denial about his cancer. Some techi humor quotes "I have experienced death bed convergence.. I have just brought an Macintosh" . There is even advice to young ladies getting into a romance relationship “Just Ignore everything they [men] say, only pay attention to what they do”.
Anyway I better stop here , just click on the youtube image below...
Friday 1 August 2008
Friday 11 July 2008
On 1st July 2008 looking back on 1st July 1997
July is one of those months which reminded me about certain event. For me it is the handover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese sovereign. Nowadays I live in Cyprus, not only I don't get my 1st July holiday, I rarely hear any news about Hong Kong. The only way I keep in touch with what's going on is via the Internet and the weekly conversation on the telephone with my parents.
In my own way to commemorate the Handover , I watched the BBC Documentary series "The Last Governor" on youtube. The documentary series consists of 5 parts, each series with very catchy names. "A Democratic Time-Bomb", "Restraint in Difficult Circumstances" ,"Lewis Carroll Country", "Loosening the Screws" and ,"Another Balls-Aching Week".
For me watching the series is like going back in time and seeing the entire event unfold again. Yes it is documented from Chris Pattern perspective and yes Pattern has been portrayed as the hero of the day and the Chinese PRC is portrayed as the bad guys. In reality politics are never that simple.
I remembered in 1995 Legislative Council not only I went to vote on the, I even went to help pulling votes for one particular candidate. Even though the candidate I support lost his seat, it was a very beautiful day for Hong Kong.
Even up to today, critics are still divided on how Chris Pattern handled Hong Kong in the final days of British Colonel power. I think people should also think that what Chris Pattern did was what he thought was for the good of Hong Kong people at that time, against very aggressive opposition from China, as well as within some part of Hong Kong community, he stuck with what he believed in rather than taking a easy way out. He genuinely tried to help Hong Kong through those uncertain days. You can doubt his ideology but shouldn’t doubt his good intention.
In my own way to commemorate the Handover , I watched the BBC Documentary series "The Last Governor" on youtube. The documentary series consists of 5 parts, each series with very catchy names. "A Democratic Time-Bomb", "Restraint in Difficult Circumstances" ,"Lewis Carroll Country", "Loosening the Screws" and ,"Another Balls-Aching Week".
For me watching the series is like going back in time and seeing the entire event unfold again. Yes it is documented from Chris Pattern perspective and yes Pattern has been portrayed as the hero of the day and the Chinese PRC is portrayed as the bad guys. In reality politics are never that simple.
I remembered in 1995 Legislative Council not only I went to vote on the, I even went to help pulling votes for one particular candidate. Even though the candidate I support lost his seat, it was a very beautiful day for Hong Kong.
Even up to today, critics are still divided on how Chris Pattern handled Hong Kong in the final days of British Colonel power. I think people should also think that what Chris Pattern did was what he thought was for the good of Hong Kong people at that time, against very aggressive opposition from China, as well as within some part of Hong Kong community, he stuck with what he believed in rather than taking a easy way out. He genuinely tried to help Hong Kong through those uncertain days. You can doubt his ideology but shouldn’t doubt his good intention.
Monday 23 June 2008
... As long as it is black
You can choose any colour you like as long as its black...
This is what happen recently when I want to ask someone to "tailor make" a home office unit for me. We went to this shop and we show the shop assistance a drawing and dimension of the furniture we intended to get, he then explained to us that the furniture can only come at a particular sizes. We than ask for some cupboard and shelves...Again the same answer.. "this can only fit to such and such size and that can only fit to such and such size" At the end we looked at what they have come up with...guess what it doesn't fit the room dimension at all...
what is the point of tailor making furniture then...
This is what happen recently when I want to ask someone to "tailor make" a home office unit for me. We went to this shop and we show the shop assistance a drawing and dimension of the furniture we intended to get, he then explained to us that the furniture can only come at a particular sizes. We than ask for some cupboard and shelves...Again the same answer.. "this can only fit to such and such size and that can only fit to such and such size" At the end we looked at what they have come up with...guess what it doesn't fit the room dimension at all...
what is the point of tailor making furniture then...
Saturday 14 June 2008
DIY Long weekend
In this part of the world long weekend means Saturday, Sunday and Monday off, no work. I remembered when I was in England, the definition of long weekend also mean Saturday, Sunday and Monday off in addition the sky will become pitch dark with clouds and it will rain for 3 days starting from Saturday morning. I wish this is the case in Cyprus now with 3 full days of rain fall to fill up the dry reservoir.
I just remember another thing about what people do in the UK for the long weekend, yes the good old DIY. For me I am planning to do some "investigative DIY" too for this long weekend. Last week I brought a digital receiver along with a satellite dish so that I can watch satellite TV. The grand total for both the dish and the received come at around 222 Euro. (for Cyprus it is a very good offer). The receiver is a dreambox. For those reader of this blog who don't know about dreambox receiver. it is a machine which interpret the signal received by the satellite dish to a TV output. What so special about dreambox is that it uses a free open source computer technology called Linux to run the receiver. Effectively it is using a mini computer to do the signal interpretation.
Why I am saying I am doing "Investigative DIY"? well it is because I am not actually installing the dish. I am trying to do as much investigation as possible so that when the installation person come, he/she can actually able to complete the job. The most difficult task is to get cable from the roof top to the TV room on the ground floor.
Some of my friends and colleagues ask me why I am so much silly spending time on it, shouldn't the person installing the dish should carryout the investigated task? Well the simple reason is because I want the installation guy to do it the way I want it to be done. I don’t want to be push around by others.
I just remember another thing about what people do in the UK for the long weekend, yes the good old DIY. For me I am planning to do some "investigative DIY" too for this long weekend. Last week I brought a digital receiver along with a satellite dish so that I can watch satellite TV. The grand total for both the dish and the received come at around 222 Euro. (for Cyprus it is a very good offer). The receiver is a dreambox. For those reader of this blog who don't know about dreambox receiver. it is a machine which interpret the signal received by the satellite dish to a TV output. What so special about dreambox is that it uses a free open source computer technology called Linux to run the receiver. Effectively it is using a mini computer to do the signal interpretation.
Why I am saying I am doing "Investigative DIY"? well it is because I am not actually installing the dish. I am trying to do as much investigation as possible so that when the installation person come, he/she can actually able to complete the job. The most difficult task is to get cable from the roof top to the TV room on the ground floor.
Some of my friends and colleagues ask me why I am so much silly spending time on it, shouldn't the person installing the dish should carryout the investigated task? Well the simple reason is because I want the installation guy to do it the way I want it to be done. I don’t want to be push around by others.
Sunday 25 May 2008
Unexpected Trip, unexpected kind of fun
Does it ever happen to you that some friend of yours find out some special offer to go on a trip abroad in the last minute and you have decided to take up the opportunity in the very last minute?
It wasn't my first time to Rhodes, but it was still great fun. I remembered when the vessel left Lemesos port I was imagining that all my colleagues at work are still slaving away at work, while I am having a lovely cold beer!
We arrived at Rhodes at around lunch time on Saturday, the weather was hot and we spent the entire day site seeing in the Old town Rhodes. It was definitely good to be away for the weekend.
Sunday arrived very quickly and we have to headed back to Cyprus. On the hold it was a very nice trip.
Yes it happens to me about 3 weeks ago when a friend ask me to go on a short cruise trip to the Greek Island of Rhodes. We left Cyprus at around lunch time on Friday. We took the cruise ship Salamis Glory and it set sail to Rhodes.
It wasn't my first time to Rhodes, but it was still great fun. I remembered when the vessel left Lemesos port I was imagining that all my colleagues at work are still slaving away at work, while I am having a lovely cold beer!
We arrived at Rhodes at around lunch time on Saturday, the weather was hot and we spent the entire day site seeing in the Old town Rhodes. It was definitely good to be away for the weekend.
Sunday arrived very quickly and we have to headed back to Cyprus. On the hold it was a very nice trip.
Monday 5 May 2008
TV talk show in Cyprus
Let me tell you something about my secret Friday life: Sometime I come home early, sit next to my wife and watch day time talk show.
The fact that I watch TV talk show you may categorised me as a sad person... the fact that the talk show is in Greek and I don't actually understand Greek at all, may even make me a very sad person. When I find out what the topic of talk show , I realise I am actually not as sad as those people who actually understand Greek and watch the show.
On that Friday the grand topic of the debate was "Is it okay to sleep with your boss to get a promotion/ move up the corporate ladder ? "
I didn't ask my wife into details of what lines of argument have been discussed in the talk show, I can't really see any real valid line of argument anyway. The only thing I realise is that one of the female talk show guest was defending her line of argument and justifying it is okay.
I personally is a little bit short of ideas in relation to justifying the for side. May be if someone is working in the sex/adult entertainment industry, his/her boss may need to give a promotion assessment.
Anyway last Friday I start watching my James Bond DVD collection for the nth time instead.
The fact that I watch TV talk show you may categorised me as a sad person... the fact that the talk show is in Greek and I don't actually understand Greek at all, may even make me a very sad person. When I find out what the topic of talk show , I realise I am actually not as sad as those people who actually understand Greek and watch the show.
On that Friday the grand topic of the debate was "Is it okay to sleep with your boss to get a promotion/ move up the corporate ladder ? "
I didn't ask my wife into details of what lines of argument have been discussed in the talk show, I can't really see any real valid line of argument anyway. The only thing I realise is that one of the female talk show guest was defending her line of argument and justifying it is okay.
I personally is a little bit short of ideas in relation to justifying the for side. May be if someone is working in the sex/adult entertainment industry, his/her boss may need to give a promotion assessment.
Anyway last Friday I start watching my James Bond DVD collection for the nth time instead.
Wednesday 9 April 2008
My First Blog Entry
Welcome to my blog .
To be honest I don't how to start and I don't even know what my blog should be based on. I suppose I just want to based on something I want to talk about. It can be as general as just saying something I have done today or may be writing something I am interested at computing, painting , site seeing, etc..
anyway do come back to my blog and see more
Ivan
To be honest I don't how to start and I don't even know what my blog should be based on. I suppose I just want to based on something I want to talk about. It can be as general as just saying something I have done today or may be writing something I am interested at computing, painting , site seeing, etc..
anyway do come back to my blog and see more
Ivan
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