Journey to the Past

A co-op student started her term in a big company. It was her first work experience, and she didn't quite like how she felt in the first few days. After a lifetime surrounded with friends, she felt the need to go out of her way to be friendly with all her new seniors. First of all, she learnt all their names. Then she started to communicate face-to-face, rather than via emails. Then, feeling decidedly more comfortable, she started giving nicknames to her colleagues and call/email them by that nicknames. She felt they could be on a friendlier term when she did this. Her colleagues, not knowing why she suddenly called them by shortened/different names, felt that she was being rude. It didn't help that one of the nickname she gave was actually the name the colleague was bullied with as a child (in another culture). So it seemed as if she was mocking them. It is sufficient to say that her relationship with her colleagues did not improve, and they only talked on a need-to ba...

Monday, 4.30 PM Me : (shutting down computer) My boss's boss : (walk past my cube, look at my bag, look at his watch) Me : (but.. but.. ) My boss's boss : (keep walking..) Me : (.. I came in early this morning...) My boss's boss : (not even in my sight anymore) Me : (...) My inner self : Uhm.. can I leave now?

When you start RDC, you can choose whether you want it to run in full screen mode or not. On the RDC connection window, click on "Options" -> "Display". For full screen mode, slide the remote desktop size option to the max, until it says Full Screen. Do not select your monitor resolution, as the RDC would then start in window mode. Running in full screen mode will allow you using the same keyboard shortcuts as you usually use. ALT+TAB will shift between applications on the remote computer. START+D will show the desktop of the remote computer etc. Which is great, but that means that the shortcuts won't work between our local computer and the remote one. We can always use a mouse, but programmers generally prefer keyboard shortcuts. So, how do we set so that the shortcuts work even when we are on RDC? For our normal shortcuts to work, RDC must be just another application. So it needs to be in non-full-screen mode. To change back and forth between full-screen ...

Flexo from Consumerism Commentary asked a good question today: Can you be an entrepreneur in your spare time? There are strong arguments for maintaining a relatively secure job while laying the groundwork for your own business. With a stable income, you can fund your endeavors. With benefits from your day job, you don't have to worry about making enough money from your side work to support you if you encounter medical emergencies. On the other hand, there are some reasons why you can't be a successful entrepreneur if all you can devote to the business is your spare time. The more aggressive your goals, the more risk you must be willing to take. Hah! I am averse to risk myself. I like the idea of me being a risk-taker and reap benefits of the challenges I take. But in reality, I like the consistent and the familiars. I guess that's the reason I am not an entrepreneur myself. Flexo then continues to argue that while trying to launch a successful business, don't expect to...

Last Friday, my company held an annual golf tournament. Being new and not knowing anyone yet, I decided to join in, hoping to know more people during this time. Of course, I warned the coordinator that I never stepped in a golf course, so rules etc were nonexistent as far as I was concerned. Heck, I only knew golf from reading Dan Doh!! On the tournament day, it was cloudy in the morning. I started to regret my registration. Also, I realized that playing on a golf course meant I had to walk around in "forest" for hours. I hated exercises (still do). What on earth was I thinking when I registered? Hhhh.. We all went to work in the morning, and at about 11 am, we headed to the golf course for lunch before the game. My mood got better after that. The sky cleared. I found out that some of my colleagues didn't know golf either. And I knew one of my teammates (phew!). After trying it out, golf turned out to be pretty fun. Okay, it was fun only when I hit the ball - which didn...

After a month full of parties and lazing around in Indonesia. I came back and was ready to tackle my real life. I went to work and found that things were different. It was so different, that on my 3rd day coming back to work, the company decided to shut down the software department. About half of the Vancouver employee was let go. It came as quite a shock. But I found that I was okay. My co-workers were very supportive. this was my first lay-off situation, and they gave me encouragement by telling their stories. It took a while, but I found a job. It is a very interesting position (as Build Coordinator) for an auction company. I am looking forward to start working there. Vacation is almost over.

I hate waiting. I don't hate the time spent waiting. For example, if I am baking a cake that will take 1 hour, I am fine with sitting around waiting for it. Or if I have a project that needs requirement from some busy people, then I spend quite some time waiting for their answer. But the thing is, in the meantime I can do something else, whether it's productive or totally self-centered. I don't mind the fact that my creation will be delayed as a result of waiting. Except in some extreme cases, usually the time frame is still acceptable. I am also not bothered by the fact that I will receive a gadget later than I thought. Instant gratification was not part of my bringing, so ordering product online works for me best (no line-ups, cheaper price, no commuting time... what more can I ask for?) ^_^ But I hate the uncertainties that waiting entails. Sitting beside the phone waiting for news about a sick family member, or the result of a product launch, or a job offer... those ki...

If you drive at all, you would have noticed that the price of gas climbs up steadily over the past few weeks. It has hit $146.xx everywhere, and some gas station has stopped the 3.5c discount. Yaiks! If this continues, I will have to really find a work-from-home job type... The gas price has really hit me hard. My only consolation is that I have a hybrid, and I even got a rebate from the eco-rebate program (which has since been dropped -- see the news here ). Hhhh... at least I can justify the purchase even more now. My area is a newly developed one, where buses run infrequently, and you need 2-3 transfers to get anywhere. Even if I want to take public transit, I have to drive and park somewhere first. There is no way I am taking only buses to work!

To find out whether a user exists or not in a Linux machine: *    grep username /etc/passwd or *    id username To give a new user access to Linux machine: 1. Login as root user 2. Run this:     $ /usr/sbin/adduser new_user 3. Set a new password:     $ passwd new_user     (and put the password when prompted) To give them root access: 4. Edit the /etc/sudoers file     $ vi /etc/sudoers     User_Alias YOUR_GROUP = new_user     YOUR_GROUP ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL To test whether the new_user has been granted root access, run these two commands:     $ su new_user (user should be 'new_user' now)     $ sudo su (user should be 'root' now) If the conditions above met, then new_user has root access. If the new_user want to use public/private key gen authorization: 5. Change your user to be the new_user     $ su new_user 6. Create ~/.ssh/...

A friend of mine found out that I always did my own taxes manually every year. He then pointed me to StudioTax , a free tax preparation software for Canadian. This software is really powerful and convenient. When you run the program, it asks for your province of residence and the kind of claims you will make. If you study, you will claim T22. Workers claim T4. If you have savings or investments, you will receive form T5 from the bank. There are also selections for charity, RRSP, etc. Once you have made your claim choices, the screens you need to fill are very simple. It is basically copy-and-paste from your forms to the screens. The software will put the informations on the correct columns. If you make mistake, it will give you warnings before you generate the NETFILE file. It usually takes me about 30 minutes to fill one form. But with StudioTax , I was done in about 15 minutes or so. And that was my first time using it. If I have to do it again, I am sure it would take me less time....