Opportunities

Took leave yesterday to attend an interview at the eastern part of Singapore with a Japanese Company, Y.

Had a hard time taking leave because there was some technical problems with an environment which is not under my care and nor can I help much. Managed to smoke saying that I have family matters to attend to and I certainly cannot change the date.

The interview went pretty smooth but overall it took me close to 2 hours to finish it. 15 minutes to complete form, 15 minutes wait, 30 minutes of written test, 15 minutes of waiting and 30 minutes of an interview by an Indian lady and Japanese man. Talking to the Japanese is a killer as I have to speak slowly and his English is too soft and not really understandable. Overall, the interview went pretty good and I feel confident. Nonetheless it is up to the interviewers to determine whether will I be accepted.

After the interview, I went next door to another company to pick up a goodie bag for helping with a survey. The liaison person, after hearing what I was there for, offered me to join his current company as there are a few vacancies. So far no news from him. Lunch time today, the girl from P call me again, telling me to go for another interview but I am unable to take leave till like last week of March due to my boss.

Hoping to land a few more interviews and then hopefully find a new job and leave here.

Champions League Update!

Yes! Hooray!

Congratulations to Barcelona FC for kicking Chelsea (Smelly) out of the Champions League!

A sore loser in Jose Mourinho who cannot admit that his team has been outplayed and the goal they scored is probably a poor judgment of the referee in awarding a penalty kick to them.

Justice has been served!

Courtesy at MRT!

Had a bad time this morning at the MRT.

I was walking towards the ‘turnstile’ with my card in hand and a guy just in front of me. He managed to not tap his card on the reader or bother to check his card was detected successfully. I was too close enough to release it last minute and tap my card on the reader for him. For him, coz the gate does not open, reached back and tap his card successfully. However, the gate only opened once for him to pass.

Hence I went to the station control to resolve the solution. However, a middle aged lady who is on my right side was having difficulties taping her card successfully also went to the station control. I was there first but she threw her card at the counter and then placed her card on the reader. I was pissed off and said loudly to her, “Do you know how to queue or not?”. She apologized to me but I was still unhappy. It was so obvious that I was in front and she threw her card down like a dog to claim her territory.

This is so typical of Singaporeans!

Proud Owner of PS2 (slim version)

Hee. Made my big purchase yesterday. I can say that it is a bit of impulsive buying but I do not regret making the decision. However the dealing with the dealer leaves much to desire.

The package is supposed to include 10 free games and I have emailed him a list of games I wanted but he did not bother to read it. So on the spot, I chose 10 games from his list but the list is small and incomplete. Certain games such as NFS Most Wanted, The Sims 2 and Harvest Moon are not to be found and he own me 2 games and say the games are swappable due to his small list. I will probably get 2 games and swap about 2 games from him.

Anyway the PS2 slim version is so small and the feeling is so great. Played War of God for about 30 minutes last night, it is violent, bloody but it is not your usual typical slash and hack game. Some puzzles and you can play mini games as combo to finish up the enemies. Great game! Not recommended for the weak heart and under 18.

Champions League Update!

Yeah. Good news in Champions League.

Arsenal outgunned Real Madrid in Champions League 1-0 with the game at Real Madrid home ground, the San Bernabeu stadium. This set up an advantage when the return leg is played at Gunner’s home ground at Highbury.

Meanwhile, Chelsea lost to Barcelona 1-2 at Stamford Bridge which gives Barcelona a huge advantage when the return game is played at Barca’s home ground, Nou Camp.

Yeah! Down with Chelsea! Gunners forever!!!

Legal mp3?

A asked me about buying mp3 from a particular Singapore site (sorry, no free advertising for you). I am all for supporting buying things legally etc. However for mp3, especially since it is sold and downloaded digitally, how do we prove that this particular mp3 is legal? The website, I assume, should be legal and bought the licensing and rights to sell the mp3s. As the consumer, how can we prove that this particular mp3 is legal whereas the other are not? Should we keep a recipt, a transaction record? What if the company lost all the records and hence all its customers are now being branded as downloading mp3s illegally? Discussed briefly with a colleague and it proved inconclusive.

Digital Rights Management (DRM) software can fix this issue but with the advent of mp3 players, if the software do not allow legal transfers to such players then the consumers will be stuck with mp3s that are stuck to wherever they download the mp3.

If you can fill me in on the above topic, do leave a comment! Thanks!

Useful Tools!

Some useful websites I came across which I think it is a good idea to share with everyone!

I am not advertising on their behalf but they are genuinely useful to both me and A so here are they! I try to categorise as best as I can and update them whenever I can.

Internet Hard Disk / File transfer

www.transferbigfiles.com

Spyware Removal /Antivirus

Spybot (Spyware removal)
LavaSoft Ad-Aware
Trend AntiVirus


XML Programming

http://www.javaworld.com/jw-04-2000/jw-0407-advsax.html

Games Information / FAQ / Tips

http://www.gamespot.com

http://www.gamefaqs.com

Techonology in General

Prefetch with Mozilla Firefox? Truth or Myth?