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February 17 Happy Chinese New Year!!It's the year of the pig, and according to Megan, this year is the fire pig, or golden pig... Happy Golden Pig Year!
Congrats to Megan who will have a golden baby!
And a happy belated Valentine's day to all as well. To my wonderful family and friends, you know I love you everyday, not just on valentines day. Bruce gave me a single piece of chocolate and I love him dearly for that.
Exactly one year ago, I started this space. Mainly for the photo sharing feature, which unfortunately I didn't make full use of... as for blog posts, I simply copied them from my main blog, so there's really nothing new here. Plus I'm actually adding new stuff over at Vox, so cybette's space feels more like wasted space.
Thus I've decided to stop updating it. Bye bye now.... (please continue to visit me at my main blog or my Vox!)
A final comment on the Anna Nicole saga. (You can stop reading if you're not interested / tired of hearing about her.) If she was really that promiscuous, can any of the guys be certain he is the father? Does any of them truly care for Anna or the kid? No. They are all after one thing: the money. If there was no money involved, nobody would be fighting over the baby, her body, the house, etc. Even the mother I don't believe she has Anna's best interest at heart.
Did she bring all these unto herself? Maybe to a certain extent... but I don't think she deserved all these. She's been called a slut or b*tch. If it was a promiscuous guy instead, he'd probably be labelled casanova or playboy, neither of which has the same connotation as slut. One chiding, the other demeaning. Double standards. Uurrgh.
That's all I have to say about this topic.
.......
Once again, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
February 09 Happy and SadYesterday was our 4th anniversary. Wow, it's been 4 years? 4 good years... love you honey. We had dinner at Reunion tower for our first, went on a cruise for our second, spent time apart for our third (I was on a business trip in Finland), ... and so what did we do this time?
Woke up as usual, went to work, I dedicated a post to him, he called me a few times during the day to say he loves me (which he does pretty much everyday, except maybe lower on the mushy scale), came home, had dinner, he studied (quiz today), I napped (just plain lazy), watched American Idol (I'm rooting for Paul Kim!!), not necessarily in that order, but more or less just an ordinary day. We're an "old married couple" already... maybe we'll go somewhere nice for dinner this weekend.
No plans for Valentines day either. I think we're conserving energy (and money) for our trip next month to.... Hawaii!! First trip there for both of us. These getaways are definitely more eventful to us than some arbitrary day marked for celebrating love. No offense to those who like to go all out on Feb 14th, but we have mini celebrations for our love every day. Ok, almost everyday... we're not perfect and there are times we get on each other's nerves, and on those days we only "tolerate" each other. But at the end of the day we know we still love each other deeply and dearly. Ok this post is getting too lovey dovey... let's talk about something else.
Big news today on the death of Anna Nicole Smith. She was only 39. Lots of questions and mystery surrounding her death, and what's gonna happen to her new born daughter? Who's the daddy? Who'll end up getting the money her late husband left her (of which she didn't see a single cent when she was alive)? Poor Anna, I don't think she can rest in peace anytime soon. I was really sad for some reason when I saw the news... I've always liked her, even though she appeared crazy and loopy, there's always a sense of genuine sweetness about her. A sincere and pure heart (or as pure as one can get in her kind of world).
Perhaps she reminds me... sometimes misunderstood (although not in the same way)... sometimes viewed as irresponsible and undependable... but we're trying very hard. We just can't meet everyone's expectations. We do things differently... but our behaviours are judged as unacceptable. However I'm much luckier. For one, I'm still alive. And I have found people who understand me, and even if at times they don't, they love me nonetheless.
Take care, Anna Nicole, hope peace will find you one of these days, sooner rather than later.
February 08 An update (finally?)Anyone missed me? (Don't answer that if you didn't.... haha)
Ok, I've been spending too much time over at Vox and consequently neglected this site. But Vox is really convenient and fun. I can take pictures/videos and blog about them, all from my cell phone. Since signing up, I think I averaged one post a day. Do give it a try! The community aspects of it is great too. (No, I'm not getting any monetary or material benefits from promoting Vox :))
For my INFP readers lurking around here, I've started an INFP group at Vox, so please feel free to check it out / join and lurk there as well ;) Quite a few Voxers have joined, more than those joining the Evanescence group I've created. I was pleasantly surprised, as I thought it'll be the other way around...
In other news, Finnish classes are starting again next month. I've already forgotten most of what I've learnt previously. You'll think that working in a Finnish company will give me more chances of practicing this language, but I'm probably improving on my Chinese more than anything else. I've also bought a Living Language Italian Daily Phrases & Culture 2007 Day-to-Day Calendar (originally $12, paid $1... if you can wait, buy your yearly calendars in February!). Bruce and I are planning a two-week trip to Italy next year. It's one of those places both of us have been longing to visit. Piacere! Conoscete Italiano? Carol e disillusa. (Doesn't make much sense, I know... just trying to practice making use of the 3 phrases I've learnt so far!)
And lastly for a weather update. These two days we have highs in the 70s. Is it Spring already? Just last week we were freezing our asses off, although we did get to see some snow falling. Then again this is Texas, where pretty much anything goes for the weather. There have been times in the past where we get to experience 3 seasons over a 24-hour period.
Two weeks ago, it was kinda cold but not quite down to freezing. Which was a good thing because our gas got cut off and we had no heat in the house. What happened? Well, the previous month, when I was paying bills, I accidentally paid the electric company twice. When the next gas bill came and I saw that they have not received the previous payment, I blamed my bank (they have goofed up before and made me late on TWO credit card bills and another utility bill. Their "new" bill-pay system is terrible. arggh.) So I didn't think much about it at first. I submitted my payment regularly (not expedited), but then I guess the gas company got impatient and just cut us off. There was a letter of warning (which I didn't read in detail because it looked like the bill), but no phone calls or anything else. Do they even care about their customers? It's the middle of winter and they just cut someone's gas off like that without so much as a courtesy phone call? Before this, we were never late, and always paid in full. Even credit card companies call and try to work out payment plans with you if for some reason you can't pay your bills. Bruce said of course the gas company didn't care, they are a monopoly and can pretty much do whatever they want.
Gotta get back to work. See you over at Vox later, perhaps?
January 30 Fun with Vox, OpenID and ZooomrHave you heard of OpenID yet? It's an "open, decentralized, free framework for user-centric digital identity." In a gist, it works like this: say you want to create accounts at 10 websites. Instead of creating and having to remember 10 pairs of usernames and passwords (well, you could theoretically use the same ones, but sometimes different websites have different requirements for ids and passwords, or perhaps your desired username is taken, or...) -- you only need an URI to identify yourself. This is provided, of course, that all 10 sites support OpenID authentication.
Assuming such, your username at all 10 website is the same URI that you've selected. You will also need an OpenID provider that can authenticate and prove your ownership of the URI (possibly through a password or other credentials). Once that's established, you can use the same URI (+ credentials) to log in and get access to any other OpenID-enabled sites.
This barely scratches the surface, and for more details you can go to the official OpenID site. But the main thing I want to get to is Vox. Vox is a fairly new blogging platform by Six Apart (which also brought us MovableType, TypePad and LiveJournal). I think it is really cool the way it integrates the handling of photos, videos and audios into and in addition to your blog. You don't need a separate Flickr or Youtube account to upload your files to and then link the objects in your blog entries, you do everything right there in Vox. But if you already have those accounts, you can add and link to them too. No problem.
There's also a greater degree of control on your content. From setting permissions on individual blog posts, to who can view the various details of your profile, etc. While it is not the most powerful platform out there, the main draw I think is that Vox is EASY to use. Plus.... it is an OpenID identity provider! That is not all... Vox has partnered with Nokia to make it extremely easy for you to update and upload stuff to Vox using Nokia Nseries devices. Prompted by the Nokia N95 that I'm currently using (it can be very persuasive), I've created yet another blog: cybette's VOX (for lack of a better title).
The focus of my new blog will probably be more geeky and techie in nature, to relief some of the burden on my main blog, so I can write more about .... my travels maybe? Gosh, I can barely find the time for one blog... now two? Who am I kidding? Ah well... let's see how it goes. Maybe with the N95 it'll be more convenient to blog on the go. E.g. when I'm driving to/from work.... JUST KIDDING! Maybe not...
Lastly, with the Vox account I'll have an identity provider, and so I can finally use OpenID login with Zooomr (which I wrote about almost a year ago). But try as I might, I could not merge my Zooomr account with my new OpenID (which is actually this URL delegated to the Vox one). I've emailed support so let's see what happens. In the meantime, perhaps an upgrade to latest version of MovableType is in order, so that I can accept OpenID comments? Actually, are any of my readers using OpenID even?? :)
(This is a mirror blog. Last part about MT applies to the one hosted on my domain. In case anyone's wondering....)
January 18 Steve Jobs Does It AgainWith so much buzz and fuss around the iPhone, some other announcements by Apple actually went under the radar. For example the iTV, wait, scratch that, it was formerly known as iTV, but now it's Apple TV. The device has a 40GB HDD and ethernet/USB/WiFi connections, which allow you to sync and stream media content from Mac to TV, with 720p HD video.
Then there's another new product that, I can't quite figure out why, failed to make the headlines:
Apple Computer reported today that it has developed computer chips that can be implanted and play music inside women's breasts. The music is in stereo.
This is considered to be a major breakthrough because women are always complaining about men staring at their breasts and not listening to them.
Revolutionary! Don't you think? Hmm, I wonder where one puts the iPod which is hooked up to those iBoob speakers... perhaps the iBra? ;-)
January 15 Nokia phone in deep doo doo?New York Farmer's Wife Touts Nokia Device as "Miracle Phone"
Recently a consumer sent this testimonial via Nokia's Internet site:
"Dear Nokia, My husband is a farmer and depends on his Nokia phone very much. We recently started to call his phone the miracle phone after all it's been through! First it dropped in the pond last summer. My dad showed him how to open it up and dry it out and it started up again. Next it fell in the manure pit and wasn't fished out until 48 hours later. The best happened a couple of weeks ago. My husband didn't realize that the phone slipped out of his holster and got run over by a bulldozer! Besides for a few scratches it works as good as new! How do you like that!?! Of course none of this was done on purpose! I've heard of test drives for cars; do they have similar ratings for cell phones? Yours would take the cake!"
January 14 I wasn't going to blog about it, but......there's almost no way to avoid hearing about the new iPhone. Well at least if you're working in the mobile technology industry and keeping up with CES and other techie news.
It certainly has the "WOW factor". Even I had to take a moment and go... wow. It does have an impressive UI, which is what people see first. The all important first impression. But as you check out what's under the glossy exterior, you'll find that it's lacking in quite a few areas: 3G, OTA music downloads, expandable memory, removable battery, Exchange/Office support, 3rd party software support, WiFi, ... many of which are standard features on current Smartphones (e.g. Nokia N-Series phones. ahem.) Then again, majority of casual cell phone users won't care too much (or even know too much) about such features. So maybe it still has appeal to the masses, but I hope the general public won't fall for the claim by Steve Jobs that this phone is "5 years ahead" of the competition. If anything, it is so 5 years ago! And, it's $499 with a 2-year Cingular contract! No wonder places like Japan is yawning at the news.
Well ok, so it's not the latest technology. Still, it looks darn cool. When can we get our hands on one? Apple has a target release date of June 2007 for the iPhone. With only 5 months to go, that usually means the product is somewhat mature and their engineers are busy working on the final touches and ironing out the remaining nasty bugs. Lucky guys, eh?, working on a product that's generating so much buzz. But hey, you still have a chance to be one of them. Apparently, right after the announcement, 30+ jobs openings for the iPhone team appeared on Apple's career site. To quote Sandeep, how far behind are they, really? I'd be surprised if the phones are on the shelves before year end. Or..... maybe they are really targeting the Christmas market? Think Wiiiii...
To top things off, Cisco has formally filed a lawsuit against Apple for trademark infringement. For those unaware, the iPhone trademark is owned by Cisco since 2000, and before there were iMacs and iPods, they have already shipped the iPhone products for years. Wonder how this drama will unfold. Maybe it'll end up as the iPodPhone, or iPone, or iPhod, or iBod... yeah, it's kinda sexy after all. And in this society where appearances are, while not everything, pretty high up on many people's priority list, it is important to put out a product that looks good. Why do you think the RAZR with its sub-par software and features sold like hotcakes? Plus, there's no such thing as bad publicity, right? So the Cisco fiasco might actually help instead of harm. Hey, I'm contributing to all these by blogging about it as well. Oops.
So as we await further news on iPhone/phone-by-Apple, let's hope that Apple will be more environmentally responsible with their products, perhaps improving on their last place finish in the Green Electronics Guide. And while I certainly want Nokia to maintain the lead in the "green" poll, I also wish we will come up with more head-turning designs. Let's move from being the Toyota of phones to the Lexus of phones! (The Vertu can remain the Lamborghini of phones :))
January 09 New Nokia N-Series devices @ CES 2007 There's a wild party going on in Las Vegas right now: the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show! Sigh... wish I was there. I'll be like a kid in a candy store, wanting a taste of everything in sight. It's a BIG store though, something like 1.5 million square feet of exhibition space. Definitely wouldn't mind getting lost in there.
Nokia unveiled three new N-series devices at CES. I haven't even seen these in person before (well maybe a glimpse of a prototype of one of them...). They sure look yummy!
First up is the N76 "multimedia computer". Maybe it's inspired by the RAZR, but oh so much sexier both inside and out! Yes, I'm biased, but hear me out: brilliant 2.4" screen delivering web pages, pictures and videos at high resolution; 2MP camera with convenient capture key, as well as dedicated music keys on the cover, so you can take spur-of-the-moment pics and listen to music without opening the device. Quad band EGSM, plus WCDMA. With the usual functions of email, PIM, ... and before I forget: making voice calls! All bundled up in a pretty package made of premium materials.
Next, we are introduced to N93's slimmer sibling: the Nokia N93i. Like the N76, it also has a 2.4" display plus a whole plethora of features, but the main selling point is the camera/camcorder. Taking after the older brother, it has a 3.2 MP Camera with Carl Zeiss lens and 3x optical zoom that captures photos rivalling stand-alone digital cameras. The camcorder can record MPEG4 VGA videos at 30fps (DVD-like quality), and the media player can play H.264 (AVC) clips! Connectivity support on this baby include WLAN and TV-out, in addition to Bluetooth, infrared, USB etc.
To round up the trio, we have the N800 Internet Tablet. Is this Nokia's take on the UMPC? All I know is that it's making me drool. Linux based, it keeps the Internet at your fingertips, literally, with the touch qwerty on-screen keyboard. With automated connection features, you're always connected either via WiFi or Bluetooth (to phone). A nice widescreen 4.1" display renders webpages for your viewing pleasure in the Opera browser with Flash support. There's even a webcam for video calls! And, it's also a media player and image viewer supporting many different formats of audio/video/image ... plus, with two memory card slots, there's plenty of storage options as well.
Lastly, Nokia is also partnering with various companies to integrate popular applications and services into the N-series devices. We already have Flickr on N70/N72/N73/N80/N93.... and now we'll also have Vox on the N93i and Skype on N800. I believe they'll be available on many more N-series phones in the near future. So exciting! Now I need to go find a way to get my hands on a N800....
January 05 Snow White QueenWas listening to this song (of Evanescence's TOD album) and it conjured up images of snowy wintery places... but instead of white and bright, it was really more gloomy and dreary. Cold. Bleak. Maybe it's just the song?
It doesn't get too cold during winters in Dallas (although for me anything below 60F/15C can be considered cold. My body grew up in Singapore afterall.) And it almost never snows! So with the aforementioned imagery in my mind, I tried to find some photos I've taken that reflect the scene, but not much turned up from around here. (This is pretty close though.) Instinctively I gravitated to the pics I took on my two trips to Finland. First time was in a November, the start of winter, with the first snowfalls. Just below freezing and quite pleasant actually. The picture below left was from the second trip in a February. Full blast of cold and snow at 0F/-18C.
   It stopped snowing enough for us to take a walk (during lunch break) and snap some pictures. I was ironclad with a cashmere sweater and long wool coat plus snow boots and a really warm fuzzy hat that kept my ears covered (although they still felt like they were going to fall off).
Then I was reminded of another February trip taken four years back. That was to Las Vegas, and while it wasn't freezing, it was cool enough to warrant a medium jacket. But for a couple hours there I was completely unaffected by the temperature and was sans outerwear/sweater etc. Why? I was getting married, and didn't want anything to cover up my beautiful wedding dress! Look, my arm was blue from the cold, but I really don't remember feeling it. Perhaps it was adrenaline, or maybe just my memory failing me....
No? I didn't fool you with the blue arm? Darn, that would have given me the "something blue" that I think I lacked. Not to mention a kick-ass gown with black tulle. But it worked out well... I adore the lilac, and was actually kinda disappointed when the photographer's pictures came back depicting it as light blue instead! Dude, learn to adjust the white balance! He was still using film, so no instant feedback about the results, but still no excuse for a professional right? The above photo was taken after the event with my own (and my first) digital camera: the Oly UZi (2100). Till this day I miss it. It was faithful... especially in color reproduction. Sure, I've had 3 more digital cameras after that, including my current one with bigger zoom and more megapixels and all that jazz, but the first one will always have a special place in my heart. Along with my first cell phone, first laptop, first PDA, first computer, first car.... huh? What do you mean those are not the first loves people usually talk about? Oh ok now I remember, my true first love is the one I met back when I was a teenager. Before I had all the hi-tech stuff above...
... how excited I was when my dad (of all people) introduced him to me. On my 15th birthday. How hesitant and nervous I was during the initial getting-to-know-you period, but as time passed I grew bolder and took him everywhere with me, proudly showing him off. I fondled him whenever I had a chance, not caring if anyone was looking. In fact, he is living under the same roof with Bruce and me. He is.... ok ok ok IT is.... my Minolta 35mm SLR!!!! What a wave of nostalgia (and maybe a sigh of relief from my readers?) -- now I want to load it up with some film and play with it again. There's something magical in the anticipation of getting your film developed and having to wait to see the results.
Guess I have to thank my dad for turning me on to photography. And, well, thanks to our wedding photographer for giving me "something blue" after all. As for most of the "something new", hmmm maybe all of it, I got them on ebay. Seriously... from my dress to the veil/tiara/accessories. My husband-to-be on the other hand went into a brick-and-mortar store to get his suit! And he got it fitted and altered. Who's the bride here now? It's a long-running joke between us that "beauty and the geek" refers to him and me respectively. He wanted to get me an engagement ring with the antique mine cut (in case you didn't know, Bruce is kinda old..... fashioned), and I showed him how to research online, and we ended up getting one on, where else but, ebay! I did the research and booking for the rest of the stuff online too: chapel, photographer, air tickets + hotel, show tickets, Megan and Marc ;) We might as well have had the whole wedding online.
Haven't decided what we're going to do for our 4th anniversary, although I have something in mind to wear, and guess what, I got it on(dotted)line!
December 31 My Personal DNAAccording to the personality assessment by Personal DNA, I'm a:
 They don't give a list of the possible combinations, but after some googling, I found the following (not exhaustive) -- for "how you relate to others", you can be {Advocating, Animated, Attentive, Benevolent, Cautious, Concerned, Considerate, Dynamic, Encouraging, Faithful, Free-wheeling, Generous, Genuine, Independent, Reserved, Respectful}; and for "about you", you might be a/an {Agency, Analyst, Architect, Artist, Builder, Creator, Designer, Director, Dreamer, Experiencer, Idealist, Inventor, Leader, Realist, Thinker, Visionary}.
I think my results are for the most part accurate, although there are some contradicting areas. Oh well, it's just for fun. I still think MBTI is one of the better type assesments...
Anyway, here are some of the details from my report. If you take the test, please let me know, and maybe we can psych each other!!
You are a Creator
You are Considerate
December 27 Two RGS SongsSome of the best years of my life were in Raffles Girls School (my parents would probably beg to differ, as I didn't do very well academically during that period). Many fond memories including band practices and performances; being part of the "clan of the back row" with Alicia, Olivia and Frances (weren't we kinda rowdy?); and even conducting the school while singing the National Anthem during morning assemblies.
I usually have a hard time remembering lyrics. Take for example the National Anthem, even though we sang it everyday for years, I still don't quite know all the words (perhaps the fact that it's in Malay has a part to play as well...). When I listen to a new CD, usually by the third or fourth round I can hum along to most of the songs, but it'll be a miracle if I caught more than five lines of lyrics.
This morning I was going through some emails where my ex-classmates were discussing about the RGPS school song... but I didn't go to RGPS :) Although I think the tune of the SMPS school song is coming back to me in bits and pieces (and that has to happen before the words will come). But when they talked about the song "Dedication", WHAM, the melody hit me - WITH THE LYRICS - and rang clearly in my head! For one reason or other, these words stuck with me through the years, impervious to my otherwise failing memory.
Along with this, I started to remember another song, the "motto" song. So here they are, dedicated to all (ex) RGS girls who might come across this blog entry. I'll post the tunes later when I hunt down a nice music notation software.
Filiae Melioris Aevi!
Dedication
We have shared our morning days
And gone through all rainy nights
Even in the darkest of nights
Stars still light up our way
Tomorrow is a beautiful dream
A dream that will be fulfilled
Cross the bridge of rainbow
In search of the gold
For here we stand
Our dearest friend
Sincerely from our hearts we wish
May streams of sunlight
Shine like rays of hope
Hand in hand, we'll work and strive
For the best things in life
Filiae Melioris Aevi
Now as we remember
Strains of our school song
Call to mind our motto
Filiae Melioris Aevi
Filiae Melioris Aevi
Daughters of a better age
United by a common goal
Filiae Melioris Aevi
December 25 Christmas and other celebrations Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
You can help a child in need by sending Season's Greetings E-cards! For each card sent, Nokia will make a donation to UNICEF.
Recently, my sister and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary... of living in Dallas that is. Wow, time flies. Hmm, what have I accomplished in the past decade? Two degrees, an interesting job, a wonderful husband, close to 50 trips, around 30 performances, more than 12000 pics with 4 digital cameras (from the last 5 years or so), and 25 extra pounds (mostly from the first 5 years here). Sure there were many frustrations, heartbreaks and other setbacks along the way mixed in with sweat and tears, but at the end of the day, I look back and remember mainly the good times.
Most of all I'm grateful for having the greatest friends and family to share my life with, through ups as well as downs, no matter they're here in Dallas or Taiwan or Singapore or cyberspace... thank you, all of you.
I'm happy for my sister as well, as she finally got her work visa approval letter the same day as the anniversary. Double celebration! Next on the list: find her a nice boyfriend... ;)
What are my goals for the coming decade? Hopefully finishing my PhD, advance in my career, get my pilot's license, and see more of the world while always keeping and strengthening the ties between me and those I love. Oh, and maybe losing those extra pounds...
  For Christmas, Evana gave me something to start the ball rolling towards one of my goals! And in return is a gift of happy feet - gorgeous Coach boots. Aren't they hot? I'd probably have kept them for myself if they were in my size... well, let's hope the boots bring her luck in her (love) life!
December 22 Northwest storm, neighbourhood fireBruce and I returned happy and tired from our 4-day Seattle trip late Sunday night on the 10th. For one reason or other, we didn't watch much news in the days following our return... when I heard about the "Mt. Hood" incident from a co-worker, I didn't think much of it. Last weekend, when we finally resumed our CNN habit, I found out about the three climbers trapped on the mountain by the storm. And what a storm it was... the worst in more than a decade for the Pacific Northwest, causing a huge power outage in Washington and Oregon affecting millions of people, including Microsoft which had to shut down part of its Redmond campus. To think that if we had a slightly different travel plan, we would've been caught right in the middle of it all... either stuck at the airport with flight delays or shivering in a hotel with no power and heat. Instead, the weather was pretty nice during our trip - kinda cold but not biting; not much rain (we only used the umbrella once throughout); and it was quite foggy when we landed which worried me some (as I'll be driving) but after we got our rental car, the fog cleared and the sky remained only slightly overcast for the rest of our trip.
Around the same time the storm hit the Northwest, one of our neighbour's house burnt down. Luckily they were not home when it happened, plus the lack of winds and the quick response from the fire departments helped contain the fire and prevented it from spreading to other homes. However, their loss is still devastating, and one firefighter was badly hurt while battling the blazes.... This was a "3 alarm fire", and a total of 23 units responded to it. As I was driving home, blocked roads and flashing sirens greeted me. I couldn't bring myself to check out the scene until 2 days later... kinda have a phobia of fire and the damages it can cause.
Narrowly missing a wind/snow/rain storm (in time) and a fire (in space). Elements from opposite ends but equally powerful and potentially deadly. While I count my lucky stars, my thoughts and prayers are with all those who have been affected by these events.... as well as my family and friends, hope everyone is safe and happy. I know I don't say this enough: I love ya'll! December 07 Green Nokia phones!We make green phones! Not so much the color green (thank goodness...) but rather "eco-friendly" devices. Greenpeace sez: Apple sucks, Nokia rules. Nokia tops the list of leading electronic manufacturers on how environmentally responsible they are. Here's how the companies line up, with Apple and their iPods dead last (by a wide gap too). So please think twice before shelling out your dough on one of those ubiquitous white gadgets, and consider some of the greener options instead. (No, one of those green iPod nanos doesn't count.) Do you know that most current Nokia phones play MP3s? As well as AMR/AAC/RA/MIDI/WAV etc. On the video side, many support 3GP/MP4/RM formats with H263/MPEG4/RV/H264(!!) codecs. And several of the new S60 phones have screens bigger than the displays on iPods. You can take pictures, record videos, surf the net... my primary mode of checking personal emails is using my N73. Oh, here's the kicker: you can make and receive calls too!! Doing all this while not harming the environment too much. What more could one ask for (out of a phone, that is)?
Leaving for Seattle in less than 5 hours... guess I better go finish my laundry and start packing! Will blog from Seattle if I find the time and energy. November 27 Dotty and friendsRecently through Friendster, I got in touch with one of my GEP classmates from RGS, Jeanette (my "twin" actually, we share the same birthdate). And through her, the rest of our GEP classmates. These are girls (now ladies) whom I have not seen for ... almost 15 years! For the past couple of months, I've been lurking amongst their blogs occasionally. I remember most of their names and faces, but sometimes can't put a specific face to a name. It's interesting to read about their lives, so different from mine. Several of them are now mothers with blogs dedicated to showcasing their beautiful kids (nope, no maternal instincts rubbed off on me through cyberspace). Some with "united nations" marriages (Aussie, Swiss, Korean...). While others are happy, swinging singles (ok, maybe not "swinging"....). Living in a myriad of exotic locations like London, Zurich, New York, Australia, Noumea, and of course, Singapore (which is exotic to people like my husband!)
And all these from just a handful of blogs that I came across. Can't imagine what other surprises I might find if I dug deeper. Anyway, in keeping with the fashion theme in my last couple of posts (enjoy it while it lasts!), here's introducing Dorothy's Dotted Line. Puiming (name I remember her as) put her 7-year stint of a career in banking behind her as she picked up fabric swatches and fashion design. (Wish I had her courage to make a drastic change like that!) The result is a line of elegant and stylish fashion pieces that is professional enough for work, yet fun enough for social engagements. I'm tempted to get some of the pieces (especially the neapolitan skirt), but she has them only in smalls and mediums. While I can fit comfortably into a US size M, I find that in Taiwan and Singapore I almost always have to go up a size to.... LARGE. So Puimin if you happen to read this, please please consider making a few larger ones for those of us who have succumbed to American-sized (more specifically, TEXAS-sized) food portions and daily dose of Krispy Kreme donuts! Haha, I don't actually have KK everyday, maybe once every couple of months when someone brings a box to work, but it seems like Singaporeans have a fixation on these sugary treats, at least from the SG blogs I've come across.
In addition, my staples of jeans and t-shirts are more than adequate for my geeky job, so I may have become a bit complacent in the choices for my wardrobe. This might be a good chance to add some style in it. But enough about my lack of fashion sense. Back to the bit about twins. Looks like Karen's Alicia and Megan's Amber have the same birthday: November 18, 2004. Happy Belated Birthday to the two cutie pies! Really admire you working moms... because one can take a vacation from work, or take a break from school, but one never takes a day off from being a mom. Hmm, wish my mom was here so I could hug her now.
Drats, supposed to use this long weekend to make some progress on my doctoral research, but instead spent my time dreaming and blogging and vacuuming (it's been a while...). Gotta get my act together.
November 26 Thansgiving dreamsI must have eaten too much on Thanksgiving. That night I dreamt that I was sleeping and woken up by my cell phone ringing around 3-4am. The caller ID showed the name of my boss... I was hesitant to pick it up, wondering if he was calling to ask me to go to work (coz they don't have thanksgiving holidays in Finland and it's possible that there's some crisis from there or another site and we had to fix it here, holiday or not... but 3am??)
Then I woke up (from the dream, not in the dream) and checked my cell phone (which is usually beside me) and it was around 5am, but no missed calls. Whew. Back to sleep. Woke up again (in another dream) by cell phone ringing. Ahhhhh.... this time it was 5am in the dream. My boss again. I should answer it, perhaps something was horribly wrong. I started to get really worried.... "Hello?" "Carol.... help..." The line went dead. What the...? What's going on? Help what? Work? Save his life? Save the world?
This time I was awake for good. Scrolled through the list of missed calls on my cell phone again. The most recent one was indeed from him, but that was a few days ago, on a work day, at a decent hour. Just another one of those dreams...
Speaking of saving the world, the next night I had one of those "end of the world" dreams, as I like to call them. (I've had a few of them, all different scenarios...) It was very dark, literally and figuratively (guess I'll save the details for another place). This time, I had some special powers that I could use to save people. But because my powers were limited (starting to sound like a SciFi story now...), I could only save a few at a time, and not quite fast enough, so there were people getting killed. I was really torn between who I needed to save. Cries of help from all around me, pulling me in every direction...
All these just from eating turkey???
November 23 Pet peeve, happy feetQuote: "If drivers approaching from opposite directions reach an intersection at about the same time, a driver turning left must yield to approaching traffic going straight or turning right."
So many times when I try to make a right (at green light, not red), there'll be someone who's making a left (from the opposite direction) cutting me off, giving me a "what are you doing in my lane" look. Don't they get it? They are in MY lane! Urrrgh. One of my biggest pet peeves.
Onto happier thoughts. I did end up buying the two pairs of boots a week later. Add to those another pair of boots plus a pair of sexy pumps from Ebay. Presenting my extravagant purchases costing me a whopping total of ~$100...
 Aren't they cute? Aren't they sexy?? Ahhhh I'm being so frivolous obsessing over shoes like this. Not quite my usual style, but maybe the stress is getting to me. I decided on the boots while I was at work on a Saturday, and went and bought them right after work. Thought of wearing them to work the next day but didn't (yeah I was in office that Sunday too...). Anyway, soon after I made up my mind about the purchase, I came across my horoscope for that day:
"Fascination with the shallower things in life -- fashion, celebrities and gossip -- is a great way to waste time, but not a great way to enrich yourself. There is room for both fun stuff and serious stuff, but you have to make sure you keep a good balance between triviality and substance right now. After all, you don't want people to get the wrong idea about who you are and what motivates you. You are deeper than your current interests might indicate. Start stimulating your mind more."
Wahaha... how appropriate. Or perhaps not. My mind has plenty of stimulation already... sometimes I think it's overly stimulated. More like fried. That's why I need to stimulate the other end, my feet. Make them happy. Speaking of "Happy Feet", I'd like to watch that movie too. Looks like a cool movie, although I'm more interested in the Harry Potter trailer. There, I said it, I'm a Potter fan. Even though I've only read the first book -- in Chinese. But I'll get around to reading all of them... one of these days. Maybe when I'm retired.
November 10 Looking back on 1999Found this "quiz" thingy I did for Rhetoric class (of all things) back in 1999. Interesting to read my own responses and uncover my previous thoughts. I don't think I've changed much... (fundamentally. Superficially, yes, like growing horizontally.) Did you know me back then? How do you think I've changed? (No need to remind me of the extra 20 pounds.)
My full name is: Carol Cybette Nicole I-Yin Yiyin Chen
Most people call me: Carol
Other names people have called me: Yin, Eagle/Hawk, Math Guru
I wish people would call me: the most beautiful geekette in the world
I hate it when people call me: early in the morning (when I'm still sleeping)
My birthplace and birthday are: some hospital in Taiwan on an August day around 2:50a.m.
My colors are: blue, black and silver
My distinguishing characteristics consist of: 2 sexy moles (one above my lip and one on my neck), and a big nose
My education consists of: getting A's for subjects I enjoy and C's for everything else
In 6th grade I: was suffocating in an all girls school, that i almost wished i was a guy
In high school I: chose to study computer science to get closer to more guys, but ended up falling in love with computers instead
The names of every pet I've ever had are: black fox (dog's name in chinese), and i forgot the names of the 2 birds i had for a short while
I tend to overuse: my generosity, sympathy, emotions and credit cards
If I could switch places with anyone on earth for a day, it would be: nobody because: i love being me
Some CD's I cannot live without are: too many to list...
Some books I cannot live without are: my C++ books
To completely relax, I: listen to music and sleep face down
Some of my strange habits include: searching for myself on the web
My favorite beverages are: coke (the original, not diet or caffeine-free), coffee and long island ice tea
I am addicted to: computers and the internet
My real job is: none at the moment
My dream job is: one that pays big bucks and brings me to the most exotic places around the world
I'm deathly afraid of: not existing after death
Some things that get me all wiggly are: insects and creepy-crawlies
My real heros are: my grandparents
My fictional heros are: Hobbes in "Calvin and Hobbes"
My anti-heros are: Bill Gates and micro$oft
Something that I want to do in my life but haven't done yet is: bungee jump
My family consists of: me, my future husband, and a whole network of computers (hopefully)
Something that I lost, that I really wish I hadn't lost is: my innocence
If my house was on fire and I could only save one thing, it would be: (after saving human beings i assume) the backup of my harddisk on a cdrom, which will hopefully contain scans of photos and other memories
The way I am most afraid to die is: alone
My current theme song is: Always by Bon Jovi
One moment that changed my life was: running away from home
Something I've done since I was a kid is: look up to the skies above at night, wondering about the stars and galaxies that lies beyond
Something I want the world to know is: nobody is perfect, learn to love yourselves and others more
November 07 W00t for bootsThis year (well at least up till yesterday), I have spent less than $200 total on clothing items. And I mean anything from inner to outer wear, tops to bottoms, handbags to footwear etc. One reason is I know I have too much stuff and don't need to be adding more, another is I haven't been shopping as much as before (either online or off). But most of all, I'm afraid, is that I'm losing my femininity... I'm more excited going to Fry's than to Dillards; I peruse websites for news on latest gadgets and technology instead of latest styles and fashion; I'd rather hang a new digital camera around my neck than a new necklace.... Hi everyone, I'm Carl. I'm trapped in Carol's body.
That is, until the past weekend, when I went shopping with my sister (haven't stepped into a mall for more than 2 months **). I coaxed myself into looking at clothes again, instead of trying to find the electronics department or stores like Brookstone. My mind was drifting off to news about the latest Zune player, when lo and behold, we saw rows and rows of shoes. If there's anything that can bring me back on track, it's footwear (subtle pun noted, although not originally intended). More precisely, boots. They make up about 30% of my shoe collection, and I almost upped that ratio by buying two more pairs. However, since I don't usually impulse buy, I decided to wait and see if I still want them in a week. In the meantime, I could do some research. Like what I did for my laptop purchase a few months back, I compared brands and models and their features and prices. Digging through the virtual malls online, I uncovered more boots that I want. Must... resist... temptation... to... buy... them... all...
I'll probably get the two pairs we saw Saturday, to celebrate putting the -ette back in geekette. Yes, I'll always be a geek, but it's fun being a girl (woman?) too. I need to embrace that side of me more. Looking forward to shopping again this weekend ;)
P/S. Didn't get much time/energy to blog last week, so couldn't contribute another entry to "Texas T-bone's ExcessivelyLong Blog Post Titles That Have Nothing To Do With The Posts Week." Oh well, there's always next year, and hopefully I can get more creative the next time around!
** I take that back... I just remembered that Jessie, Gloria and I had dinner in Galleria sometime in September. But I don't think we did much shopping. I don't even remember what stores we browsed. October 31 The problem with the designated driver program, it's not a desirable job, but if you ever get sucked into doing it, have fun with it. At the end of the night, drop them off at the wrong house.The above quote is by comedian Jeff Foxworthy (fox... haha... see previous post and its comments on blog.cybette.com. 5 languages! can you spot them all?)
As for the long title, this might explain it:
 I'm trying to wean myself from writing something that has to be related to the title. It's proving more difficult than I thought...? Alright, I'll keep it to a general theme: quotes and snippets.
"I once flew a 767 with an all-male crew of nine flight attendants. Remarkably, all the flight attendants were heterosexual and married. What made this so weird was that both of the male pilots were gay. If you know the airline business, you know that this is truly a one in a million chance." -- haha cool. Happy Halloween! For more bizarre flying stories, check out 13 air travel stories that are plane spooky.
Another "scary" story, and really scary... "Today a PhD student preparing for dissertation defense “lost” all dissertation copy because the hard drive crashed. Please make it a habit to back up your research and dissertation copies. In this particular case, the computer technicians are confident they will be able to retrieve the copy. However, we have had cases where it has been costly for the student to extract the data. This is a good habit to get into no matter where you are in your research."
Received the above in my UTD email inbox. Guess what I'm doing right after this? Yes, backup. I don't have much research to back up yet, but I don't think this is limited to research... So while T-bone encourages us to write long titles, I encourage everyone to backup your long writings.
Again, Happy Halloween and happy backupping! (or rather backing up... but then that will spoil the rhyme.)
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