iQuest Studios

Remember what I posted about a month back? When I thought I am overcommitted. Looks like my fears are coming true.

Let’s start with last Wednesday (23rd Apr), shall we? It was cross country nationals, and as per expected, we went out for dinner after the event. I reached home at about 11PM, showered, checked my email and went to sleep at around 2345.

I woke up at 6AM the next day, in preparation for school. I had my physics A Levels SPA (Skillset B) that morning, and guess what? I forgot my 30cm ruler and I drew my axes wrongly. Forward to end of school, popped down to the Apple Support Centre to send in my MacBook Pro for a diagnosis (the battery basically had almost leaked all its charge), reached home at about 3:30PM. Then went out again at 6PM to catch a show, Shakespeare 24, to support my friends. I reached home at about 11PM again, and once again I slept near midnight.

Next day (Friday), was a school day yet again, so I had to wake up at 6AM. Sat for a chemistry class test, which, as you guessed, I had no time to study for. Fast Forward to end of school. Went down to race 1500M for our school Track and Field event (which I got 5th position). I thought I could go home then, but then an urgent Inspire meeting suddenly cropped up, and I stayed in school till 9+PM, without any dinner nor lunch. I finally reached home at 10+PM.

Saturday was not so bad, and I spending pretty much the entire day doing random stuff on my laptop, which I collected from the Apple Support Centre in the morning. BAD CHOICE (I will explain why a bit later). But I managed to type in the updated (after the emergency meeting on Friday night) Logistics budget for Inspire in the afternoon. Then I went cycling in the evening, and that was my first ride in like almost 4 weeks. I pretty much wasted the entire day. (Ok, take it as a rest day :p)

And today is Sunday! A check on my to do list, and I realised how much stuff is still incomplete and should have been done yesterday. I quickly settled some of my Project Work stuff in the morning, and started on a revamp of my Greenwave project website in the afternoon. A weak Internet connection coupled with hot and humid weather is definitely a killer. At the same time, I started work on a competitor’s portal for our Greenwave project (which involves organising an environment related competition). Worked all the way till now (and not going to finish anytime soon). And guess what? I have not done a single tutorial yet! So I am pretty screwed for next week.

The frenzy doesn’t end today. Tomorrow is the 5000M event for our school’s Track and Field Meet. And after that, I have got another Inspire meeting scheduled (”follow up” of our emergency meeting on Friday night which only 5 people attended). Which probably means I am not going reach home anytime before 9PM tomorrow. And I was supposed to have my Faculty Committee Interview tomorrow, but due to the fact I am taking part in the 5000M event, it would have to be pushed to an earlier timeslot or a later timeslot.

Then on Tuesday, it’s my friend’s birthday, and also Ben and Jerry’s Free Cone Day! So we are going to pop down to the nearest (and hopefully the most deserted) Ben and Jerry outlet after school. (I am praying that my Fac Comm interview isn’t rescheduled to Tuesday)

Thank god I have got a break on next Wednesday and Thursday. (Wed is our school Track and Field Finals while Thurs is Labour Day holiday). Though I may probably have to pop down to the Apple support centre again to replace the parts (yup, I think the parts are just being shipped) one of the days. (waiting for the technician to call me) Then Friday is my A Levels Chemistry SPA. (I just hope I don’t screw up the titration value too badly)

Well, what a hell week it has been, and I can’t believe I am still wasting time posting this. Back to work, soldier!

Till next time,
cheers

Tags: busy, faculty committee, greenwave, inspire

Ever wondered how my workspace looks like? (probably not, but nevertheless, here’s a chance to find out)

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As you can see, I have my Macbook Pro hooked up to a secondary monitor, with a dual screen setup. I find the extra screen estate really valuable when doing coding. On one screen, I will be running Dreamweaver, and on the other I will have Safari open, so I can quickly make changes to the code and refresh the end product. Dual screen setups basically increases productivity by a lot, and that’s why when I am out on the road, I feel very handicapped without my secondary screen. By the way, the thing my laptop is sitting on is actually an old flatbed scanner that is no longer in use. I have also propped my MBP pro up at the back, so as to raise it to the same height as my secondary monitor and to allow for ventilation at the same time.

To the left of my Macbook Pro, you can see my external hard disk, which is connected to the Apple aluminum keyboard on the keyboard drawer. I mainly turn it on once everyday to run a Time Machine backup.

Then besides my external hard drive is my speaker. I am sorry that my sub woofer and my right speaker is out of the picture, but you probably can tell that I am barely cutting it as it is. Anyway, it’s a Creative speaker, which I brought end last year as an upgrade to my old speakers, which were quite screwed. I hardly use my speakers anyway, as I have my iPod connected to a stereo system in my room.

Then you have my second Mac, the Macbook. It may seem to be independent of the MacBook Pro, but it’s not entirely true. I have hooked up (wirelessly) both computers through a useful utility called teleport, so I can control that Mac with the same Keyboard and mouse I use to control my Macbook Pro. In fact, I have set it up so that I can control the entire setup with any of the keyboards/trackpads/mouse connected to any one of the Macs. So basically that Mac acts like a third screen, though the applications that are running on it is separate from those running on the MacBook Pro. I use it to run some background tasks (such as converting videos) and extra web browsing screen estate. (The cool thing about teleport is that it also supports file drag and drop and clipboard copy and pasting)

I doubt you can see it clearly, but I have a custom built desktop PC tucked away at the bottom right. (the thing that had an Apple sticker on it). That is my gaming machine (I removed bootcamp from my Macbook Pro as I found Windows XP to be a waste of space) and backup server, where I dump the older files.

When I need to, I would either boot the Macbook into Windows XP, or turn on the desktop and hook my secondary monitor to it, mostly to test how certain pages look under Windows IE. I believe that a workspace layout really really boost my productivity on the computer.

Just a random post. UPDATE: I ended my 4 week cycling hiatus with a 40KM ride today, and I feel so much better now.

Till next time,
cheers

Tags: macbook, macbook pro, teleport, workspace

Ok, time for a personal update on my life.

Yesterday night was A-D-Na, our faculty outing. It was quite an enjoyable night, though the food wasn’t as good as I thought, and the fact I got caught for underage drinking. I mean, I have been drinking a wide variety of alcohol ranging from beer to mojitos since 15, and I don’t see how a shot of Tequila Sunrise can hurt. Moreover, the alcohol content was really low. (Actually I wanted to try the Long Island Iced Tea, but it was too expensive for me. Just as well.) Anyway, the activities were rather fun, though I only got one picture so far to show for it (I probably should add a camera to my very long list of to-buy things)

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Don’t ask about the shaved head. Anyway, that picture was taken during the competition for the best dressed person, which sadly I lost. But I do realise something. Wearing shades with a black shirt, red tie and a shaved head gives a very nice image. Seriously. Like someone out of the Hitman/MIB/The Matrix. Pity it would be too strange to wear shades indoors.

Anyway, haven’t gotten much chance to train cycling these few days. In fact last time I cycled was like 2 weeks. Not good. And probably no chance to cycle till Friday. Blame the weather and my commitments. I hope to be able to maintain a average speed of 43 - 45KM/H for about 20KM by the City Duathlon, which is on the 8th June. So this gives my about 7 weeks to really train my cycling.

And I am trying to learn to play Lux Aeterna on the piano. And this is with only a grade 1 piano certification. But I believe I can do it!

Ok, enough for personal updates I think.

Till next time,
cheers

Tags: adna, athena, cycling, fac outing, Lux Aeterna

Hey guys, check out this video for Requiem For A Tower, which is the orchestra version of Lux Aeterna.

Till next time,
cheers

Tags: Lux Aeterna, requiem for a tower

Let me list a few changes that I have made to my site. Firstly, as you can see, I have changed the Wordpress theme, and now I am using my own modified version of iTheme, created by N.Design Studio. I have replaced their Aqua styled background (from Mac OS X Tiger) to a Mac OS X Leopard Wallpaper. The wallpaper has also been made to scroll with the page, instead of being static. There are a few other minor tweaks that I made to the theme, and I am still in the process of modifying theme for a complete Leopard feel.

Secondly, I have rewritten my “About Me” page, with a few more “interesting” details and facts about me. So you can go check it out if you are bored. I am just going to start rewriting my “Products and Services” page, as I find it very messy with large chunks of text.

Thirdly, I have moved away from using WP-Online Counter to using Google Analytics, which I find provide a much more in depth analysis on exactly what people do on my site. For example, I know that since Apr 12th, as of posting time, I have 282 visitors, with 574 page views, which means each visitor, on average, view 2.04 pages per visit. Also, 86.88% of the visitors are unique visitors and visitors to my site spend an average of 1M46S on my site. Of course there are much more details such as locations of my visitors and the browsers they used etc. , but I shall not bore you with details.

Yup, that’s roughly all the changes made so far. Keep a lookout for further changes and updates to the site.

Till next time,
cheers

Tags: Google Analytics, iquest, itheme, site