Wireless Communication (C341) - What a Chore!

C341 sure bores me. The module description differs from what I am touching on. Every week, it is covering wave theory and more wave theory! This week, the lesson objectives are Analog & Digital Modulation, Sampling & Quantization. Sounds so exciting and this is the fourth week only. Help.

Singtel's MIO Mobile

Wikipedia: "Mobile VoIP will become an important service in the coming years as device manufacturers exploit more powerful processors and less costly memory to meet user needs for ever-more 'power in their pocket'."

Nowadays as people travel more frequently, a need to stay in touch economically with family, friends and colleagues back at home has surfaced. Voip or Voice over Internet Protocol is a technology that has the ability to provide such service at low cost. If you have not been living in caves or hanging around with the Flintstones, you would probably have heard of such services like for example, Skype.


Just 9 months ago, I received a Nokia E61i from an uncle as a gift. This phone is awesome and one of the most used feature by me is probably the ability to connect to wireless access points. With it I check and reply my emails, do instant messaging and most important of all make VoIP calls. VoIP calls on your mobile save you big bucks, no kidding! Currently I am a Singtel user and I subscribe to their Mio Mobile plan, which require me to pay a mere $10 on top of my subscription fees. With this service, I can make unlimited amount of VoIP call to any local number(when I am connected to a wireless access point and the fact is you can easily find one nowadays with the Wireless@SG network implemented all over Singapore). Just last month, I made a total of 36 hours of outgoing call (34 hours estimated to be VoIP) and my total phone bill came up to approx. $50. Cool!

I would highly recommend that you get this service (especially CGLs), if you have a wireless enabled phone and that you are on the Singtel network. The money that you save for an entire year, can easily cover your year-end retreat + shopping. LOL!
More details of the Mio Mobile plan: http://home.singtel.com/mio/mio_mobile.html

Safest Place To Be In

Just read about this and thought it was interesting.

Did you know that being part of a church gathering is the safest place to be!

Statistics tell us:

1. Do NOT ride in automobiles: they cause 20% of all fatal accidents.

2. Do NOT travel by air, rail, or water: 16% of all accidents happen on these.

3. Do NOT walk on the streets or sidewalks: 14% of all accidents happen to pedestrians.

4. Do NOT stay home: 17% of all accidents occur in the home.

5. Only .001% of all deaths occur in worship services in church, and these are related to previous physical disorders.

Hence, the safest place for you to be at any time is church!

The lesson is: Spend more time in church! IT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE!

Dell XPS M1330

I really need a new laptop... My old beat-up Fujitsu S6240 is driving me crazy by the day. After sending for servicing at Fujitsu's service centre, now it's only running at 512mb of RAM instead of the initial 1Gb. Well done, Fujitsu.

Anyway, I have been looking around and a classmate recommended me to get the Dell XPS M1330, in which I went online and tried to 'build' my own. Here are the specs:-

1. Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor T7250 2.0GHz, 2MB Cache, 800 MHz FSB
2. Genuine Windows Vista(R) Home Premium 32 bit (English) DVD Media Included
3. 13.3" UltraSharp Widescreen WXGA (1280X800) Display with TrueLife (2.0MP Webcam)
4. 4GB (2X2048MB) 667Mhz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
5. 160GB SATA 7200RPM Performance Hard Drive
6. Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Combination Drive with dual layer write capabilities
7. NVDIA(R) GeForce(TM) 8400M GS with 128MB GDDR3 dedicated graphic memory
8. Intel(R) 4965AGN Wireless-N Mini-Card
9. Dell(TM) Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module

It cost only $2244.86! One of the highlights is the hard drive that is running at 7200RPM! Fast read and write capabilities. If finances allow, I would get a 9-cell battery too (+$308.16). That would be like running on steroids. Let's hope this will happen in the near future.

Any kind soul would like to donate to Buy-Desmond-A-Dell-XPS fund, please call 1900-912-BUYXPS. LOL.

11 Rules to Life

An excerpt from the book "Dumbing Down Our Kids" by educator Charles Sykes.

Rule 1 : Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10 : Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

The Race

"Quit! Give up! You're beaten!"

They shouted at me and plead.
"There's just too much against you now. This time you can't succeed!"

And as I start to hang my head in front of failure's face.
My downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.

And hope refills my weakened will as I recall that scene:
For just the thought of that short race rejuvenates my being.

A children's race-young boys, young men-how I remember well.
Excitement, sure! But also fear; It wasn't hard to tell.

They all lined up so full of hope each thought to win that race.
Or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.

And fathers watched from off the side each cheering for his son.
And each boy hoped to show his dad that he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they went! Young hearts and hopes afire.
To win and be the hero there was each young boy's desire.

And one boy in particular whose dad was in the crowd,
Was running near the lead and thought: "My dad will be so proud!"

But as they sped down the field across a shallow dip,
The little boy who thought to win lost his step and slipped.

Trying hard to catch himself his hands flew out to brace,
And mid the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face.

So down he fell and with him hope --He couldn't win it now--
Embarrassed, sad, he only wished to disappear somehow.

But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face,
Which to the boy so clearly said: "Get up and win the race."

He quickly rose, no damage done, --Behind a bit, that's all--
And ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.

So anxious to restore himself --To catch up and to win--
His mind went faster than his legs: He slipped and fell again!

He wished then he had quit before with only one disgrace.
"I'm hopeless as a runner now; I shouldn't try to race."

But in the laughing crowd he searched and found his father's face:
That steady look which said again: "Get up and win the race!"

So up he jumped to try again --Ten yards behind the last--
"If I'm to gain those yards," he thought "I've got to move real fast."

Exerting everything he had he regained eight or ten,
But trying so hard to catch the lead he slipped and fell again!

Defeat! He lied there silently --A tear dropped from his eye--
"There's no sense running any more; Three strikes: I'm out! Why try?"

The will to rise had disappeared; All hope had fled away;
So far behind, so error prone; A loser all the way.

"I've lost, so what's the use," he thought. "I'll live with my
disgrace."
But then he thought about his dad who soon he'd have to face.

"Get up," an echo sounded low. "Get up and take your place;
You were not meant for failure here. Get up and win the race."

"With borrowed will get up," it said, "You haven't lost at all.
For winning is no more than this: To rise each time you fall."

So up he rose to run once more, and with a new commit
He resolved that win or lose at least he wouldn't quit.

So far behind the others now, --The most he'd ever been--
Still he gave it all he had and ran as though to win.

Three times he'd fallen, stumbling; Three times he rose again;
Too far behind to hope to win he still ran to the end.

They cheered the winning runner as he crossed the line first place;
Head high, and proud, and happy; No falling, no disgrace.

But when the fallen youngster crossed the line last place,
The crowd gave him the greater cheer for finishing the race.

And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud,
You would have thought he'd won the race, to listen to the crowd.

And to his dad he sadly said, "I didn't do too well."
"To me, you won," his father said. "You rose each time you fell."

Now when things seem dark and hard and difficult to face,
The memory of that little boy helps me in my race.

For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win, is rise each time you fall.

"Quit! Give up! You're beaten!" They still shout in my face.
But another voice with me says: "GET UP AND WIN THE RACE!"


Prov 24:16
16 "For a righteous man may fall seven times
And rise again"
NKJV

Sugar Cane Juice from Sugar Canes

Hard pressed.