Fallen Ray

I have a laptop which i rarely use. I bought it on 2007. It has 12 inch wide-screen monitor, celeron mobile processor with 512 MB memory. The top cover has some scratches because i often brought it along. That’s why, one day I put a sticker cover with superman logo there. Then, i gave him a brand new name, the icetop (S logo on top of laptop).

Since i got new ones, blackie and silvie, i barely use icetop anymore. Icetop is still good enough for small jobs like preparing presentations, doing homework and such mobile tasks.

Well my point is, technology has a very short life time. Two-three years ago it was a big shot, and now it become part of history. Especially when we’re talking about computer. PCs and laptops for some people are considered a luxury, a high-end consumer product. We’re not really aware that we never use them effectively.

I mean look at how many hours per day we use a PCs. Open the task manager, at average we only use 10% of CPU and 25% of memory. You know, sometimes i thought it’s a waste. All of my computers and laptops become outdated even when they still work fine.

A wise man says, “Which would you prefer? Broken down by overwork or Leave it unused, dried hung up and goes rotten“?

Imagine PCs as human, every time they only do small tasks. Most of days they just sit, idling, doing nothing. When the payday come, they demand the highest salary.

So, I mean why don’t we just use them like a slave for every single second until they broke down into pieces

The best way to “spend” your PC is for charity. In one of my class, i have to present about distributed computing. After some researches, I bump on a very interesting project. http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/. It has been there for years. I didn’t know it until just now. Why everyone tried to hide it from me?

“Donate the time your computer is turned on, but is idle, to projects that benefit humanity!“, quoted from main homepage. All you need to do is register and download a software. This software works just like screensaver.

I want my laptop to do lots of works before outdated. Electricity is considered cheap. Internet connection is flat rate for unlimited usage. This is a perfect solution for me. Whenever i’m not using my laptops, i would keep them turned on. Let them help World Community Grid fights against cancer, drugs, aids, and whatever. I don’t want my silvie or blackie or icetop to be idle for even a second. Bwahaha *evil laugh*.

Case closed. Don’t waste your PC’s life, ever! Or you’ll be sorry…. ever!

Title: Kurumi
Artist: Mr.Children

Kore kara KURU MIrai (Future that will come upon)

nee kurumi
kono machi no keshiki ha kimi no me ni
dou utsuru no?
ima no boku ha dou mieru no?

nee kurumi
dareka no yasashisa mo hiniku ni kikoeteshimaun da
sonna toki ha dou shitara ii?

yokatta koto dake omoidashite
yake ni toshioita kimochi ni naru
to ha ie kurashi no naka de
ima ugokidasou to shiteiru
haguruma no hitotsu ni naranakute ha naa
kibou no kazu dake shitsubou ha fueru
soredemo asu ni mune ha furueru
‘donna koto ga okorun darou?’
souzou shitemirun da yo

nee kurumi
jikan ga nanimokamo araitsuresattekurereba
ikiru koto ha jitsu ni tayasui

nee kurumi
are kara ha ichido mo namida ha nagashitenai yo
demo honki de warau koto mo sukunai

dokoka de kakechigaetekite
ki ga tsukeba hitotsu amatta botan
onaji you ni shite dareka ga
moteamashita botanho-ru ni
deau koto de imi ga dekita nara ii
deai no kazu dake wakare ha fueru
soredemo kibou ni mune ha furueru
jyuujiro ni dekuwasu tabi
mayoi mo suru darou kedo

ima ijyou wo itsumo hoshigaru kuse ni
kawaranai ai wo motome utau
sou shite haguruma ha mawaru
kono hitsuyou ijyou no futan ni
gishigishi nibui oto wo tatenagara
kibou no kazu dake shitsubou ha fueru
soredemo asu ni mune ha furueru
‘donna koto ga okorun darou?’
souzou shitemiyou
deai no kazu dake wakare ha fueru
soredemo kibou ni mune ha furueru
hikikaeshicha ikenai yo ne
susumou kimi no inai michi no ue he

tell me, Kurumi
What do you see looking at this city
How do I look to you now?

tell me, Kurumi
When I start to hear the sarcasm in someone’s kindness
What am I to do?

Remembering only the good times
though it makes me feel like I’ve aged a sum
But you gotta be one of the gears
trying to get turning
You can have only as much despair as you have hope.
but still, my heart trembles at the thought of the future
‘what’s going to happen?’
I try to imagine.

tell me, Kurumi
If time will eventually wash it all away
then life must be a simple affair.

tell me, Kurumi
since then I haven’t cried once
but, neither have I had many good laughs

Somewhere I did up the buttons wrong,
by the time I notice, there’s one button leftover
and similarly one button hole, in need of a button
If you find meaning in finding someone then fine
you can have only as many partings
as you do encounters
still my heart trembles at the thought of hope.
everytime I encounter a crossroads
I’ll fret over which way to go but…

Eventhough I want more than I have now
I sing for an unchanging love
that’s what makes the gears turn
with the burden of more than I need,
making a dull grinding sound
you can have only as much despair as you do hope
and still my heart trembles
at the thought of the future
“what’s going to happen?”
let’s imagine
you can have only as many partings
as you do encounters
and still my heart trembles at the thought of hope
guess there’s no turning back,
so I’ll go on, to a road without you.

I join cloaking membership site recently. I figured out that i need dedicated server to execute my plan. Not sure if it’s gonna make me cash or not. I surely thought it would be much better for my head and for my wallet … if i can get an affordable, okay, cheap, okay once again, CHEAP dedicated server web hosting.

I look around. My first choice is ayksolutions.com. They run a very nice deals. 53Ghz Core2Due with 4gb ram, blablaba for less than $150. That’s fucking cheap. I run as fast as i can to compose a mail to their support. Within few hours i got a reply. Nice pre-sales support, i like it. I checked out what he said. He said that he would need 5 more people to buy that batch so that price can come effective. Sucks, i need to wait. I tell him okay, put me in the waiting list.

After couple of days, which is yesterday, i got a new mail from them. The server can not be ordered, for whatever reason. I’m quite disappointed here. Their in-stock servers were just out of budget for me. Fine though, i’m looking for others.

I buzz up a new friend i met from forum. He’s cool and nice person. We chat around 3-5 hours or so. He would introduce me to the guy he bought his server from. Nice person, wasn’t he.

While waiting, i checkup webhostingtalk forum. I saw lots of pretty nice offers. My eyes instantly lands on an offer from joe’s data center. It’s very very attractive. AMD Phenom 9650 AMD Phenom 9650 Quad Core, 4GB RAM, blablabla. Wait, i talk to my self, this package includes half bandwith than ayk, but much more powerful machine. I don’t use much bandwith, so that’s cool. What is the price??? … $99.98 per month. Shit! This is fucking fuck cheap. I immediately send a mail to Joe. Got reply within minutes. Wow, that’s damn fast. Wait wait, i need to cool myself.

I haven’t deal with hardware lately. So i need to educate myself. I opened up 5 or more thread. Read them until my head spinning. Compared specs and prices. I read over and over. Trying each of their order form and see what’s there. I spend around one hour just for doing this. Result is NONE. No offers even come close to Joe’s. None, nada, nill, nul, zero.

I confidently put my order this morning. Paid $128 (1st month + 10 days for something-period). He said my server will be ready in 24-48 hours. That’s acceptable, i think. BUT… but he, Joe, was lying. That’s totally a big huge lie. Joe, you shouldn’t promises what you can’t keep. He lies lies lies.

I got a notification from him 8 hours after i placed my order. Less than 24 hours. That was frickin awesome!!! My job wasn’t done yet, and here come my brand new server. Shit. I immediately stop my work and start installing things.

Soon, I got problem another on my IPs. I asked Joe. Always, reply came within minutes. My God! I’m starting to think that i’m his only customer. That’s it, i got no complain just bunch of compliments here. Now, if you need cheap dedicated server web hosting. Just ask me. I’ll help you.

I’ve been bidding much on ebay, yahoo auction, sitepoint and also dropped domain lately. I know there’s tools out there that can help you snip and win an auction in very last moment. But well, you cannot have this feeling of being thrilled … the suspense. It’s uncomparable That’s how i have this habit to closely watch an auction until the end.

I will share you my greatest trick of doing this, which is how to automatically refresh web page. Disclaimer, you must have enough spare time to do the same thing Ready? Run or download and install opera web browser. Right-click and press “reload every”, click “custom” … fill the form and gotcha, finish.

If for some reason or other you didn’t like having opera, here’s a list of other ways to automatically refresh web page:

• Download Mozilla Firefox. Install Tab Mix Plus add-on. Right click on a page and select “Reload every…” and … that’s it, figure out the rest by yourself.
• Install Check4Change plugin for FireFox. This add-on has more feature than Tab Mix Plus. Ie. Giving alerts you in different ways of changes in text on watched page. I can select text in title and it giving alert when auction item changes, even if the tab is not active.
• Use Firefox and iMacros.
• Get Avant browser. It has feature for eBay.

Remember my motto, pressing F5 twice is one too many. Bwahaha.

The only Basic for Pro…

My Professor decide to hand me his MacBook Pro. It start with small talk that i want to learn lot of new things. Again, i remind ya that i like challenge. Yah, Mac OS. I never used it before. I thought it will be a good experience for me. I said that to my Prof, half bluff, i mean half serious -_-v. He agreed easily, and lend me his MacBook Pro (Pro, may I emphasize, Pro). Now i got my ass surprised and excited at the same time.

Few days later, which is today. I post on this blog, from this virgin MacBook Pro! (ahem, Pro). It got silver color, so let’s call her Silvie. Brand new shiny Silvie is still empty inside. Hoho, I gotta fill her with a loooot of applications with my whole heart I browse around the internet. I’ve tried Borland Delphi, Microsoft Visual Studio, CodeGear Delphi 2009 (current best). Now, i demand Delphi on Mac.

I spend my valuable time, browse pages over pages. One thing catch my eyes. RealBasic.

www.realsoftware.com/products/realbasic/
Cross-platform that really works | REALbasic
REALbasic is a rapid application development environment that enables developers to create high-quality, native software for Windows, Mac and Linux. …

Ow, man. “Basic”, makes me remember my younger days. QBasic, GWBasic, Visual Basic. It’s called “Basic” because it’s for noobs. That’s what i thought. I’m pro now, so this is not for me……… buuut, let’s give it a try.

I won’t tell you how i got this baby. Let’s assume it suddenly installed on Silvie. In my head, I got an application that i want to code. So i run through the menus and tool bars. Through dialogs, options, and help pages. Like a restless warrior, fighting on the desktop and dashboard. The only things that calm my mind is “a place for my head”.

I say, wow, and wow. This is just what i want, what i need. Delphi / Visual Basic for Mac, for Linux, for Windows. RealBasic doesn’t cease to amaze me, just like Silvie do. Intuitive interface, drag and drop, code completion, helps. Just like Delphi! Well, not as good. But, but … this is the closest so far.
Stop drooling over. I’ll share you a bit.

This is the workspace

And this is after a couple hours of work. Shot of source code editor showing splitter library, i download somewhere.

See that. The ‘real’ basic. A strong point is that you can easily develop multi-platformed application. Especially for desktop. I highly recommend. The community is still starting to grow. Don’t expect much, unless you got bunch of $$$ to spend. If you want to make specific-OS desktop application, which demand high customization, beautiful interface, etc etc. I strongly recommend, use other. The most popular one on your target platform. It will make your life a lot easier.

RealBasic, The only Basic for Pro… a real Multi-Platform RAD

*edit, resize screen shot*