Sometimes, looking at the political party of our country, I wondered, is there anyone questioning, especially in the grass-root level.

Some party, IMO, is made for the presidential candidate, meaning that for most peoples, the party is identical to that one single figure, usually a charismatic leader that people follow because they believe he is a saviour who will miraculously made their life more convenient.

The party then become like a vehicle only. Should this one leader die, I wonder how long will they survive or get a replacement.

Which comes to the current president. IMO, his party is the same. If he won this election again, I wonder how they’ll do in the next election, because presidential term is limited to 2 × 5 years only.

… and regret about not going out today.

Tomorrow is my cousin’s wedding day. 幼馴染と結婚しますよ. ちなみに, お爺さんがあんまり認めない昼メロ的の設定. ええと, そこまでは無いけど.

Well, that just means, no time to check price, and no time to buy a new DVD drive, curse it.

In addition, wedding is troubling even to those who doesn’t get the bride. As extended family, we’ll be participating in various standing role. Ah, in addition, my father is the eldest son and seems to be doing the event consultant too. Well, fits his attitude.

Tomorrow, I hope I could bring my notebook with me. Such time, I could wish for a netbook, but I’ve decided, no buying netbook before Windows 7. We don’t have free upgrade program here and a Windows license could as well took more than half my monthly nett income.

By the way, talking about netbook, from the models I saw yesterday, excluding Vaio P, my favourite design is of course HP Mini Note. I prefer design of 2322 (CMIIW) than 1000. I wonder why they raise the specs, yet choose the uglier design.

There’s a computer sales event this week. It’s the first of the three major computer sale event here.

Went there with friends. One of them want to buy a new notebook, on a tight budget (netbook is not included, too small). Other than the budget, time is tight too.

In short, we arrived, and is very lucky to find a parking lot close by. Then, a few rounds around the place to gather the pamphlet with price list and make a circle to discuss which is in the limit.

Finally, we decided on an Acer notebook, forgot the unit type, but Windows is not included. As much as I want to recommend installing Vista… I want to recommend Windows 7 actually, but it will expire in August, while she’s not the type that want to bother reinstalling it later I think. Another friend, her sister, is with the XP faction, insisting it’s better than Vista.
Why no Mac ? Well, the budget is under USD 700. Mac don’t stand a chance.

Well, I’m in the group that has low survivability in conflict, so I stepped back.

Because the time is tight too, I don’t have enough time to go around and look for things I want to buy myself, such as a new DVD drive to burn my downloaded films.

When I got home finally, nobody is at home. I thought they’re going out. But later I heard from my brother that my mother is in the hospital. Apparently her ulcer disease is getting worse lately.

An article this morning in RWW (?) mentioned about a security issue. Most peoples still opt for convenience than security by using the same passwords everywhere, so it’s easier to remember.

This ticks me to try something. I listed my passwords in about 30 places I still actively use. Site that use alternative login method such as OpenID is excluded. Similar password is counted as one (variation includes capital letters and underscore).

I admit, I also used same password in several sites, although overall I had unique passwords for most places.

Then, I want to run a statistic function to see the variability. Should be a piece of cake, right ? Except that…

Anyone mind to give me a clue what’s the name of the statistic function for that ? As I said, I failed statistic and not even understand what standard deviation is used for in real life application (^_^;;)

Today, we had a meeting with head of the editorial department. More precisely, we’re gathered there to talk about why the number of titles released is under the target (17 titles per week, 68 per month).

Yes, we’re performing poorly and we really need to close up the “debt” of titles published late.

We did get the chance to talk about our side of the problem though.

There’s also problem in the new workflow, such as the IS application we use is modelled by the textbook production workflow. Then, the print job order to the printing company is ordered ahead by the production department (by procedure, it should be ordered when all materials is ready).

Then, the every troubling problem shadowing us this year. We’re damn lacking of new titles to publish! There’s many concern, but I guess the worst obstacle is censorship. Blame it to the over-sensitive crowds here that will starts making headline if we had kissing or nakedness in our products. On the other side, some publishers, such as Square, demand that there’s no modification made to the pictures.

Overall, the meeting got fun when we browse around the data. I got my name into the query a lot (until the boss pity me and ask for other volunteer), the two comic magazine editor continue their rivalry with the “I edit more page than you” game, etc. Ah, there’s also ice cream treat for the end of this month.

The higher ups also sounds eager to help us contract worker to get permanent employee status as soon as possible by this year.

Now, they also asked us to find program. One of the proposed event is a gathering with local comic artists, which is given to the younger editors. No exact date is set, but I guess we have to start thinking about what kind of events it will be.

Cancelled going out today, so I’m rather bored at home.

But since the weather is cool, before humid when the rain just starts, I decided to take a stroll around and bring home this :)

http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=2fd2ff43-2a38-47bc-9415-e65b1eb836ff

Since Facebook already have their own widget for commenting, I kind of thinking, Windows Live should have it too. But rather than making their own widget, maybe first implement it to systems that are more widely used, JS-Kit or Disqus for example, so we can use our Live ID to login and comment.

IMO, other than giving more exposure, let’s see it in a more pessimistic way. Developers are lazy to develop such things. Facebook had large user base, but Live ID, it’s difficult to know where it can be used outside Microsoft’s sites. Even MS internal blogs need separate registrations.

So rather than waiting for them to develop it themselves, MS should give out ready to use products too that uses Live ID.

Also there’s a lot of website providing widgets, such as FriendFeed, MyBlogLog, etc. This can be implemented using web gadgets, Live Space’s architecture supports it. But just waiting for the developers to develop a gadget took time too long IMO. I think, the Live team should actively approach other service providers and help in providing these gadgets too.

Then, how about opening up the comments in Live Space to other authentications ? So far, I think the only authentication supported is Live ID. How about cooperating, or even outsourcing the commenting system to use one of those already available commenting services ?

Disclaimer: I didn’t follow dev.live.com, so some of the things I mentioned might already be available.

The shop in Plasa Indonesia is not open yet, but this one in Plasa Senayan is ready. Had this for lunch.

Personally, I think the taste is softer than similar menu from other restaurant that I tasted before. Could be suggestion, but had to say this one fits my taste.

Plus they serve tea with milk in the menu. Never saw that written right in the menu. :D

The pattern looks pretty in my opinion.

Can’t wait for Friday. Of course, this branch of Kinokuniya book store also have several 天地人 story book to tease our special guest.

My trip out today is firstly to take my magazine. The bonus booklet this time is illustration of 12 Chinese zodiac for the Chinese New Year event. Well, something she’ll love in my opinion is this. The illustration for the Chicken (her zodiac) is illustrated by one of her favourite illustrators, Kuramoto Kaya.

I’m the type that goes into impulsive buying if it’s about notebook case. The only thing standing between me and the bag is that I don’t have enough money, and that my mother would kill me if I bought another.

Found an interesting one though, in a stationary shop. It’s the slip case type without much padding, so I’m a bit worried. The price is not so expensive too, about Rp.110k (less than €10). That, and a mesh mattress for my office chair actually.

But since my yearly bonus is not much (because I’m not a permanent employee yet), maybe I had to hold back.

I also can’t find any store selling Palm Centro for decent price around here anymore. The low popularity seems to even make the chain stores not keeping this brand in stock.

By the way, situation is not so pleasant in home this afternoon when I’m leaving. My cousin, who moved to a new profession for a few month, already had around twice my salary. He probably works in sales, while I’m in the slower lane of desk worker.

But this made my family starts to give pressure that I move to the job that could pay for my living instead of where my passions is in.

By then, I postulated, my dislike against successful peoples is not because I’m jealous, but because their success made my family to start pressuring me.

Not sure if it’s in my house or not, but in this morning’s dream, I saw that place. In a corner of the large house, there is a large room. Left to the walkway, there’s a pit, probably about the size of my bedroom, lowered around 2–3 metres down.

Inside is a lot of books stacked. Not well organized library style on shelves, but stacked around the place like in storage. Then, there’s a small room at the further end of the place, for more privacy, although the design inside looks more like praying room for me.

Saw several old archives of documents (such as school transfer file I didn’t remember).

At least, new place. I also visited that back street though, the one I went through to go to a course there in the city, and medium sized street connected to it. A glimpse of the street where I took train too.

Tried registering for a news site’s commenting system. But then, I forgot the reason in the first place why I never registered earlier despite being occasional reader there.

Sensationalist journalism (at least in my opinion) is not my style. Yes, that type of news where the writers try to sounds witty and cynical, throwing provocative words to catch attention of the also want to sounds witty group of readers.

Now, if the commenter are supposed to keep up with the atmosphere. Well, understandable, just like shop owners would want their customers to keep the mood they made.

But, not my rhythm and I definitely won’t catch up with them.

So, I had the mail that I can sign in to My Phone.

After signing in to the web, the instruction asked me to download installer for my phone. The web interface won’t be available until the first sync though.

Through the not so reliable 3G connection here, the installer is about 556kb worth of cab file. Installed it, run and go for the first sync.

Like sync to Outlook, there’s option of which files can be synchronized. Contacts (Live People contacts not included), Calendar, Tasks, Text message, Photo, Video, Music, Documents. Storage card files are excluded.

Took some time, but all 71kb (yes, I don’t have many entries) is copied to the web storage.

Tried the web interface now…

My first complain is on the Calendar interface.

• There’s no use of AJAX as in Live Calendar, but I can live with that.
• No option to set start-of-week, it stays on Sunday despite being the Seventh Day.
• Usage of 12-hours clock format instead of 24-hours, thus I found that I had to move my attention from number pad to the alphabet keys (not to mention, AM is well split apart in QWERTY layout).
• Date and time is set on the same text box instead of separate. Just a bit troublesome, besides, I can’t see the time at a glance because it’s out of the box.
• On Day view, they could at least default the date start to the day displayed instead of leaving it blank.

An ironic thing on the Contacts. The default placeholder for contact picture is… that blue guy from Messenger, and even the frame copied Windows Live’s.

By the way, it’s not true that the phone will be synchronized every night. At least, there’s an option to set when the synchronization would occur. The maximum amount of auto sync is once a day, but can be set to weekly also.

Today, the new employees (contract workers) are sent to a training on corporate value, the things such as company history, vision and mission.

Some parts are not that boring, at least the trainer admit it thoroughly that the corporation we work in is stingy about money. They used to have a movie production company and TV station too, but it’s disbanded or sold to another company, most likely because of un-readiness of their culture to handle the cash flow nature of those two businesses.

Another interesting bit is that the Gramedia book store standing on Gajah Mada street is their first. Yes, I wondered too because it looks so old and located in position much different from the rest (most of the stores are in shopping centres).

The talk about plan in the future and profit… my comment is “is that plan made before or after the economic depression ?”

Anyway, doesn’t really enjoy the training because I still had two edits to finish. Then there’s the talks about covers too, which my manager would say do it quickly. Lots to do tomorrow. But here’s an excerpt of contact mail.

do you also has the publishing right for the novel version there in Indonesia.

Well, to tell the truth, I’d love to have the novel version published here too. But alas, that division is very much dead because the sale is too low. *cries*

A mail came from our manager, stating… tomorrow there will be meeting for all editors talking about… where the hell is the scripts for March and April.

Now, just for the record, March and April for some are unrealistic target because the cover approval would probably take longer. But this is for reporting to the higher ups, showing that “yes, we had planned products for each month according to the corporate annual target”.

Suddenly felt really lazy. Yes, I had seven scripts edited, but I kept those in my drawer because if I submit it now, more proofs will come and definitely giving great stress seeing those piling up.

Recently, I’ve been thinking of switching my phone (HTC S730) with a Palm Centro device. Sounds like a downgrade, but I like to try different devices. Well, I know MWC will start in two days, besides, I’m still waiting for the receiving of my yearly bonus payment.

Today, I went to Roxi. It’s a local shopping mall dominated by mobile phone stores, a good place to look for a good price if you had confidence in your haggling skill. Most of the shops are retails, not big name chain stores.

So, I learned something. If the phone you’re looking for is Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG, or any other major brand name, you’re fine. But trying to look for more minor player is a pain.

As I mentioned before, they’re not chain store, but retail owned by personals. Rather than keeping stocks of brands with lower sales, they prefer taking stocks from more well known brands.

Thus, among probably 100+ stores, I found only one Centro, a second-hand item.

Valentine day, so yes, I had my personal event.

I also installed Windows 7 to an IBM Thinkpad X40, an old device and doesn’t support Aero. The summary of problems is as follow.

• Audio driver not working. Installed from the drivers salvaged before.
• Aero doesn’t work.
• Wireless modem is not recognized. Crucial, so I borrowed the notebook and install things in my home.

But the device works smoothly. Loading does took longer time than my PC, but this is a lower powered machine, can’t expect much.

Will write more later.

[Update]

• The video driver, Intel 82855, seems to have a known issue (at least among users). The party in responsibility here (read: Intel) doesn’t seem to give any support yet.
• Language transformation keys in the keyboard doesn’t work. I think I’ll buy a mini CD later and update the BIOS to the latest Japanese version.

Human seems to be programmed to be bored. Do the same work every day, and you get bored. Eat the same thing every day, and it won’t be as tasteful. Stay around stinks long enough and your nose is bored enough it doesn’t really care anymore.

Although I’m not sure the design is made as motive for people to do innovations in mind, but it works.

Here came the great philosophers and thinking minds with loyal duty, the peoples we recognize as comedian.

That away, sometimes, as we got real bored, we enter that phase when anything is alright as long as it’s new (man hunting and extreme games are born from this perhaps). It doesn’t matter if the innovation is plain stupid, as long as it’s new, and we can play with it as soon as possible.

The novelty will worn off, but at least we had our time of entertainment :D

By the way, I still doesn’t understand what pass in their mind when innovating something like wasabi-tasted ice cream.

Sometimes, I wonder why peoples could hate others so much just because of their sense of belonging.

Okay, I admit I had negative sentiment against over-reacting fanboys, or against Google and Apple. But I think I do it in a more “gave up on them anyway” attitude and just avoid contact.

But this is different. There are peoples who could hate another group because of beliefs (not limited to religious or ideological) they had. They could hate the group like their family is killed or something, just because they drink of the “media’s poisonous tongue”.

Example is the hatred against government and politician. Together with apathy, they starts badmouthing government like staple jokes, without trying to see the situation.
The enemy is source of all sorrow, if we kill them, the world will be better. Why such attitude ?

It’s like, someone who want to hold abstain in election and not do any of their own political attempt to make things better, have no right to complain, that’s what I belief.

Well, there’s also those countries considered like empire of the devil on this planet right ? Everyone think they’re the source of sorrow and take things really personally. No, not talking about terrorist countries.

This morning’s dream, or at least I think it starts around 4 in the morning, couldn’t be that long to start on midnight.

I went to that office building again, in my dream city. Been some time since I last dreamed about those places again.

Met with old friend from the previous place I worked in. I can’t remember well the topic of conversations, but it’s related to career and permanent employment as far as I could recall.

The colour is not so cheerful though.

Probably this is because I found out through LinkedIn that my manager when I worked there had moved to another company.

By the way, what I do in the dream ? Cleaning up my CPU on the sofa, brushing out dusts.

Windows Live Calendar have a feature to let you receive daily e-mail with summary of your schedule. Kind of useful if you do scheduling full time with Live Calendar and need to see it in mobile device.

An elephant solution, true, but better than none for now. Hell, Google licensed ActiveSync, why can’t Microsoft do the same to their Live services, earlier. Interesting though, the announcement is crafted carefully, avoiding any use of the word Exchange, nor ActiveSync, but resorted to saying SyncML. Go figure.

Back to topic, one of the mystery I met with using the daily mail schedule is that no mail is coming at the promised 4 a.m. time. I contacted the tech support, with not really any result.

Then… I guess the reason showed up. The daily e-mail seems to use Windows Live Alerts. Now, Live Alert had feature called silent time (or so) where the user could set time where the alerts won’t come (e.g: when sound asleep). I used to set mine at weekdays 22.00~05.30.

This seems to suppress the notification e-mail.

Delete that rule, and it works fine now. :D