Choul and Pig Emoticon = Fail

I was chatting with Choul on Gmail chat since her YM wasn't working. So, as we chatted, we found out that typing smileys ( eg. :), :( ) now animate and morph into full-blown square emoticons. While spamming her with smileys and frownies (that's :( and :) ) I discovered that the shortcut for the pig emoticon is :(:). The fun bit comes when Choul tries to do the same, it doesn't work, it becomes a half-assed pig or rather, just the pig's nose forms.

Needless to say, bengang jugak la Choul hahahah

Business on the 'Net and Dell LCD blues closure

Today was quite a busy day. Firstly, I went to Companies Commission to register a new business to enable me to run some other form of businesses and one of them is buying and selling on the internet, in preparation for selling my design services online and internationally. Last Saturday, I went to an eBay Entrepreneurship Seminar, a free one that is, so I didn't expect much but mostly general tips, but hey, any knowledge is good knowledge right? I did learn that eBay is more intuitive than ever now, and it should be easier for anyone starting out. And on Friday, I applied for Public Bank's Visa Electron debit card, since I read testimonials that this is the only card you can use to withdraw your Paypal cash directly from the ATM. Pretty cool, but then I heard it takes ages to complete the registration, and it might take weeks or months. They say it'll be done in two weeks. I doubt it. Hopefully, by taking these small steps, I'm getting closer of reaching my goal of selling my design to local and international audience.

In the afternoon, a Dell logistics agent came over to bring in the promised replacement for my replacement, and he was the same guy who sent the 1st replacement on Friday. He was quick to ask me whether the monitor is broken, and I just nodded while mumbling "It's faulty". This time the box is different, with a big label that says "Refurbished Goods". After checking out the other labels, I found out that its no longer a 2408WFP, but its a refurbished 2407WFP-HC. I was worried since its refurbished but all worries went away when I hooked it up my PC. Ahhh, the pure evenly lit white screen you get when opening a blank browser. I just needed to make some color adjustments and the monitor now works great. Most importantly, no more shitty DVI port errors that go into power saving states that are impossible to fix unless you use a port OTHER than DVI. My prayers have been answered. :)

In the evening, we had dinner with my bro-in-law, sis-in-law and the kids. Their treat, unfortunately (or is that fortunately? heheh). Either way, great to spend time with my other family.

Oh, before I sign off, I just submitted an entry for MINI Space's 4th Competition entitled "Always Open". Basically, you create and design a wallpaper, or background as they call it, and submit up to 9 of your designs. I submitted only 1. Here it is:

So, if you like this design and you have time, please head on over to my profile page (Click Here) and vote for my design by clicking "I like it!". Thanks in advance.

Cat Shit One Trailer - Bunnies a.k.a Killing Machines

Like cute bunnies? Check
Like guns and lots of guns? Check
Like a desert setting? Check

Cat Shit One is a supposedly an upcoming animated series, but I can't resist posting this here, I mean who could resists bunnies of modern warfare!

Twitter Cartoon

While I was EC dropping, I came across this video on How Sweet It Is. Sums up pretty well, don't you think? I'm quite impressed by the production quality of the animation though.

Dell LCD Blues

A few days ago, I had to endure the pain (I know, dramatic) of having my Dell LCD (2407WFP-HC) die on me (link). I loved that monitor, it was a bliss to design or do photo-editing on it. The color reproduction was great. Too bad, it died, and as I checked Dell's site, I found out its no longer available, which means even if I do get a replacement, its going to be a successor model, which is a good thing right? Well, not quite. You see, Dell usually brings out the best models (IMO) when it first comes out, then it gradually decreases in quality probably because of cost cutting measures. Well, that's my assumption, but I can back up that statement, even if it might be mere coincidence.

There's no problem with Dell's support center though. Really, I've had NO problems at all dealing with Dell on the phone, be it the sales department or the customer support. I've bought laptops and monitors, and they're quite helpful with their advice. Customer support? Well, this is my first time, since most of the products are quite robust and I haven't got any problems until now. So, I explained on the phone, to a guy called Roy, that my 2407WFP-HC just died when I was using it, it just went blank. He asked a couple of questions and soon, I was giving details to get my replacement LCD, a quick and painless process.

I got my replacement two days later, and as I suspected, its the newer 2408WFP, which includes several other input options including double DVI, HDMI and Displayport. Fortunately, it still has the memory card reader on the side which works very well for me to transfer photos from the camera quickly. As excited as I was, I didn't need all those input options, I just want a high-quality monitor I can design with as that's what I do.

As soon as I switched it on, I breathed a sigh of relief, "Alhamdulillah (Praise to God), its not my PC". Then as I entered Windows XP (Yeah, I'm too lazy to upgrade), I went straight into Firefox and I noticed one thing, that the colors are unleveled, like on a white screen, from the left its more purplish, its white in the centre and on the right side, there's a slight gray tint. I thought it was just an optical illusion, but no, it wasn't I tried every angle, took a number of pics, tried a number of colors to make sure. Yep, the backlight was bleeding, mostly from the top right and bottom left corner and because of that, it creates a slight color shift. And this me viewing the screen straight on, so its not a viewing angle colour shift problem.

I called Dell again, that I wasn't satisfied, as I need the monitor to not have any color shifting as design is my work, and design is why I spent a lot on procuring a 2407WFP-HC instead of el-cheapo monitors that shift colors like Mystique changes identities. Of course, Dell support didn't make a fuss about it, and he agreed (this time a man called Ivan) to give a replacement, which should be coming this Monday. I asked him if I could use the monitor until I receive the replacement, and he said "Sure".

And now comes the reason why I'm so fired up to type this blog post. I just found out that the 2408WFP has an issue, a very annoying issue, that can annoy you to death if you use your computer a lot, like me. So, I switched off the monitor manually via the power button to grab some lunch, and when I get back to turn it on, a window pops up saying "Enabling Power Save" and blank goes the screen. There's no possible way of turn it back on. It just says there is no signal coming from the DVI cable. With the laptop, I did some googlin' and I found out that there are a number of people with this same issue, and its because of using DVI, which is the best possible input I can use when hooked up to my PC. I use an Nvidia 8800GTS so its more than capable of powering this monitor.

Apparently, it can be fixed with a reboot, and thats what I did with my troubleshooting instincts. All is well, with the bootup screen and such, and the Windows XP loading screen. Just as its about to enter the logon screen, it goes into POWER SAVE mode. Damn! I did the same thing over and over again, and I never get to see the logon screen! What a load of crap for what's supposed to be a high-end monitor. My last resort was to use VGA input instead, and now thats what I'm on. Bottom line: There's a bug/problem/error with the 2408WFP's DVI port that I never had with the 2407WFP-HC. Why bother jamming up so many ports when the DVI is as good as useless?

Enough of ranting, I'm getting a replacement tomorrow, but I'm not getting my hopes up high as its a 2408WFP issue. I just hope I get an LCD panel that is more consistent than this rainbowish piece of crap.

Intuos4 The Win

Dang, Wacom has just released their new Intuos4 models, and it looks absolutely beautiful and this time its all black, unlike the grey Intuos3. The only option I had was grey unless I purchased the special edition which is conveniently named the Intuos3 SE, but alas it was expensive and most importantly, it wasn't sold here in Malaysia. The thing is, I just got my (updated or upsized, rather) Intuos3 a few months ago, and now they launch a new one. Some of the features I personally like include:2048 levels of pressure -
Just a gram of pressure is needed to register your input, which is outstandingBlack -
Its black, and its glossy, and its black!Detachable Cables -
Since its ambidextrous in design to cater for both, right-handed and left-handed users, they had to have the option to detach the cables, and now the cables are attached via micro-usb. Awesome!Size -
My current Intuos3 is great in size at 6x11, it fits well on my desk and is even in wide screen ratio. The only problem is, it doesn't fit my laptop bag, which fits my 15.4" Dell Studio 15. I used to wonder, why use a laptop, when a desktop is better. Now I'm hooked to the laptop, and I wanna bring my Intuos3 with me, for those outdoor sketching, if you know what I mean. The new Intuos4 Medium (they categorise it by labels now; Small, Medium, Large, and Extra Large respectively) is 5.5x8.8, which cuts off width to 14.6" compared to the 6x11" 16.5".OLED labels! -
That's right, OLED custom labels for your ExpressKeys. No longer do you need to fumble with trial and errors, you can just customise the label on each ExpressKey. Now I know what the heck I'm pressing, and what does that mean for me. That means now I'm gonna start using the ExpressKeys!

Of course there are other features like the Touch Ring (a replacement for the Touch Strips) and the pen holder doubles as a nib store now.

What I don't like is the price, an Intuos4 Medium is priced just under USD500, and that converts to roughly RM1800-2000. The only way I'm ever going to afford this is if I sell the current Intuos3 I'm using (6x11) and the 4x6 I won in Foldees contest. Sell them both and perhaps I can get the cash needed to buy ONE Intuos4 Medium.

Hmmm, oh well, enough of my drool post. If you're interested, you can get more details about the intuos4 at http://intuos.wacom.com.

And yeah, I'm a sucker for Wacom products because of its quality and functionality. I'd rather be called a fanboy than recommend any other brand for tablets.

Get it at Amazon:

What a day

What a day it was yesterday. Early morning, as Choul was about to leave for work, I discovered that the left rear tyre of her car is flat, and that flat is no ordinary flat mind you, its the type that needs to be mended. Off we went to the nearby Caltex to fill air in the flat tyre. Got back and I decided to replace the tyre with the spare tyre in the boot. Fortunately, the spare tyre was a-ok, we just had to fill it up a bit and off she went to work, late, that is. I had the flat tyre in my car boot, with the intention of mending it in a workshop right after work, but the weather wasn't permitting.

Then, when I got back home, I switched on my PC, just to continue my dropping cards and checking up on Facebook and Twitter, when suddenly my monitor went blank. I thought it was my PC, but the PC was still running fine. Next thing to do was to troubleshoot the problem, and so I tried hooking up this laptop to it and use that monitor as a duplicate display. As I expected, nothing came up, my Dell 2407WFP-HC has officially died on me, and its not even 2 years old. I was panicking, since its an expensive LCD and its discontinued, and I am not in the position to spend much on fixing the monitor, particularly because I've spent so much on fixing up my car last month, naturally, I want some cash to save. I don't know where's the receipt, but after checking my emails, I found out that it comes with a 3 year advanced warranty, whatever that is. I just hope I don't need to pay anything, as I need the extra cash and I need to use the PC!

This post was typed in the dark, with the laptop, in zombie depressed mode. Please don't mind the horrific grammar or sentence structures.

Wish me luck.

Update: I just got a call today that I'm getting my replacement before 5pm tomorrow. Hope they still got old stocks of the 2407WFP-HC.

Entrecard Experiment

I just registered myself for Entrecard about a week or so, but I never really did tried doing mass droppage on the blogs like what most Entrecard power users are doing. I just did spontaneous droppings (that sounds wrong) on random sites that I come across. After researching (note: googling) on Entrecard and blog posts about Entrecard, I found out that you can drop 300 cards a day. So, yesterday I decided to try it, just to see if the traffic on my humble blog would increase.

Well, firstly, I didn't quite exactly get the 300 drops, I was stuck at 206, I'm not particularly lazy either, I was fired up to get that 300 drops, but alas, Streamyx (Malaysia's premium monopolising "narrow" broadband) can't load 10 pages without causing some timeouts in Firefox. I mean, yeah, I installed Entrecard's Firefox toolbar, which is a great tool really, just not that good for slow connections. Out of the 10 tabs that open, probably around 5-6 loads up fine, and sometimes even if a site loads fine, the Entrecard widget is just not there. I'm still trying to figure out whether thats a connection fault or the blog author's fault.

I did get several unique visitors, and several card droppers as well, thanks very much for checking out my site. My traffic of one digit has touched two digits now, and thats a big improvement for me, since I rarely touch 100 visitors a week.

The other big benefit is, I came across a lot of interesting blogs that cover several genres, which is truly very cool, but not cool for work productivity.

ANYYYway, what I'm saying is, what Entrecard is claiming about better traffic is true, but not without your own effort. I have put both my sites on Entrecard now, and that means I can make 600 droppings a day, but I don't think I can do that anytime soon unless I get an ultra fast internet connection, somehow.

Again, thanks to the card droppers. Appreciate it a lot. At least now, I'm inclined to be more active with blogging quality posts.

Lawak Hakim

Got this from a forwarded email:

Tiga lelaki, seorang ahli falsafah.. seorang pakar matematik dan seorang pelawak ditangkap atas kesalahan mengendap itik buat projek,

Lalu hakim berkata..

"kamu boleh menanyakan satu soalan kepada ku.. kalau aku dapat menjawab... kamu akan ditahan di penjara.. tapi kalau aku tidak dapat menjawab, kamu akan dibebaskan..

Ahli Falsafah mula berkata..
"Saya mahukan Yang Arif membawa sebuah buku falsafah yang lengkap dari Socrates.. Jika Yang Arif berjaya membawanya.. saya rela dihukum".

Lalu Hakim mengarahkan pekerjanya pergi mencari buku yang diperkatakan.. lalu buku itu di
berikan kepada ahli falsafah untuk di sahkan.

"Ya benar sekali ini lah bukunya yang Arif."

Lalu Ahli Falsafah dipenjarakan.

Kemudian giliran pakar matematik mengajukan pertanyaan.
"Cuba jawab 1253*254-45557+(5454*25451) dalam masa 5 saat..".
Sambil menekan kalkulator dengan pantas.. Hakim memberikan jawapannya.. dan ternyata tepat..

Lalu Pakar Matematik pun dipenjarakan..

Giliran terakhir pergi kepada pelawak..
"Berikan saya sebuah kerusi yang mempunyai 7 lubang ditempat duduknya!". kata si pelawak..

Apabila kerusi disediakan.. pelawak itu duduk dan tiba-tiba melepaskan kentut yang kuat..
Lalu dia berdiri dan bertanya kepada Hakim..

"Yang Ariff.. dari lubang mana kentut saya tadi keluar?"

Setelah membelek kerusi dan melihat lubang yang berada tepat dibawah punggung si pelawak tadi..hakim berkata,

"Kentut mu keluar dari lobang yang ketiga dari sebelah kanan ini..".

"Salah!!!" Sebenarnya kentut saya dari lubang punggungku ini !!!".

Pelawak itu kemudian dibebaskan

Bodoh tak bodoh hahaha

My money's on the shark

Because the shark has more teeth and a shark is magical.