Unplanned Trip

Remember my last post about my canceled trip? I guess it was a blessing in disguise. It was because of it I was able to see my sisters' lives in JB. I got a taste of how is their life there. A lot of insight also. Went to a few places in Skudai. And a few places in Melaka. Will blog about it some other day. With pictures...

MS Access limitation

Microsoft Access by design was not designed to be used for such large size storage of data or to keep a large number of records. By default, there is a 2GB maximum file size on a mdb file, and a 32768 maximum number of objects that can be stored in it. If you are thinking of having 100,000 records in a ms access database, I would recommend against it.

Here are some more interesting statistics for your information:

Attribute - Maximum
-----------------------------------------
Number of characters in a table name: 64
Number of characters in a field name: 64
Number of fields in a table: 255
Number of open tables: 2048 - Actual max is less, since access opens some by default
Table size: 1 gigabyte
Number of characters in a Text field: 255
Number of characters in a Memo field: 65,535 when entering data through user interface; 1 gigabyte when entering data programmatically.
Size of an OLE Object field: 1 gigabyte
Number of indexes in a table: 32
Number of fields in an index: 10
Number of characters in a validation message: 255
Number of characters in a validation rule: 2048
Number of characters in a table or field description: 255
Number of characters in a record (excluding Memo and OLE Object fields): 2000
Number of characters in a field property setting: 255

Refund!

The disrtuption of my plan causes me to seek for refund for my flight from Johor to Bali(Denpasar) and Bali to Singapore on the 17 Nov(Take off :0030 ETA 0300 ). Yes!! Midnight and arrive early in the morning. Never been to Changi Airport, so I decided to see what there is to see early in the morning there. I've planned to take the earliest MRT from Changi to Kranji, which is 6.00 am. Meaning I have 2 hour plus at the airport.

Everthing gone in smoke... Now I need to plan how to get my refund from the airlines. The refund from Airasia was surprisingly fast.

http://www.lionair.co.id/travelinfo_reservations.htm

Conversation with God

God: Hello. Did you call me?
Me: Called you? No.. Who is this?

God: This is GOD. I heard your prayers. So I thought I will chat.
Me: I do pray. Just makes me feel good. I am actually busy now. I am in the midst of something.

God: What are you busy at? Ants are busy too.
Me: Don't know. But I can't find free time. Life has become hectic. It's rush hour all the time.

God: Sure. Activity gets you busy. But productivity gets you results.Activity consumes time. Productivity frees it.
Me: I understand. But I still can't figure out. By the way, I was not expecting YOU to buzz me on instant messaging chat.

God: Well I wanted to resolve your fight for time, by giving you some.In this net era, I wanted to reach you through the medium you
are comfortable with.
Me: Tell me, why has life become complicated now?

God: Stop analyzing life. Just live it. Analysis is what makes it complicated.
Me: why are we then constantly unhappy?

God: Your today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday. You are worrying because you are analyzing. Worrying has become your habit.That's why you are not happy.

Me: But how can we not worry when there is so much uncertainty?
God: Uncertainty is inevitable, but worrying is optional.

Me: But then, there is so much pain due to uncertainty.
God: Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.

Me: If suffering is optional, why do good people always suffer?
God: Diamonds cannot be polished without friction. Gold cannot be purified without fire. Good people go through trials, but don't suffer. With that experience their life become better not bitter.

Me: You mean to say such experience is useful?
God: Yes. In every term, Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lessons afterwards.

Me: But still, why should we go through such tests? Why can't we be free from problems?
God: Problems are Purposeful Roadblocks Offering Beneficial Lessons (to)Enhance Mental Strength. Inner strength comes from struggle and endurance, not when you are free from problems.

Me: Frankly in the midst of so many problems, we don't know where we are heading..
God: If you look outside you will not know where you are heading. Look inside. Looking outside, you dream. Looking inside, you awaken. Eyes provide sight. Heart provides insight.

Me: Sometimes not succeeding fast seems to hurt more than moving in the right direction. What should I do?
God: Success is a measure as decided by others.Satisfaction is a measure as decided by you. Knowing the road ahead is more satisfying than knowing your road ahead. You work with the compass. Let others work with the clock.
Me: In tough times, how do you stay motivated?

God: Always look at how far you have come rather than how far you have to go. Always count your blessings, not what you are missing.

Me: What surprises you about people?
God: When they suffer they ask, 'why me?' When they prosper, they never ask 'Why me'. Everyone wishes to have truth on their side, but few want to be on the side of the truth.

Me: Sometimes I ask, who am I, why am I here. I can't get the answer.
God: Seek not to find who you are, but to determine who you want to be.Stop looking for a purpose as to why you are here. Create it. Life is not merely a process of discovery but a process of co-creation. You are my co-creator.

Me: How can I get the best out of life?
God: Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence.Prepare for the future without fear.

Me: One last question. Sometimes I feel my prayers are not answered.
God: There are no unanswered prayers. At times the answer is NO..

Me: Thank you for this wonderful chat.
God: Well.. Keep the faith and drop the fear. Don't believe your doubts and doubt your beliefs. Life is a mystery to solve not a problem to resolve.Trust me.. Life is wonderful if you know how to live. 'Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that took our breath away!

Blacklisted, Barred from leaving the country!!!

I was prevented from going out of the country on the 14th. By the immigration Department. The first question they asked me:

Immigration: Do you have any letter?

Me: huh???? What do you mean?
Immigration: Do you have income tax?
Me: No. (Thinking to myself, I don't even qualify to be taxed)
Immigration: Wait ar.. Let me ask somebody first.
Then he went and ask somebody. I guess must be his superior.

Immigration: Do you have any outstanding loan? MARA?
Me: No, but ptpn?
Immigration: That must be it... You go back and settle you loan first. Right now I''ll go and help you unload first. Then we went to the check in counter to get my luggage back.

WTF!! I never got any letters from PTPTN and now I'm blacklisted??
I know I should have settle my loan but they never sent me any letter to tell me how to settle my loans. Anyway, I've been to their website to check and my name is not listed. Now after I went back to check, my name appeared again. *&^^%


Then I emailed them at penyata@ptptn.gov.my requesting for details. Then there was this reply from siti_aishah@ptptn.gov.my which is surprisingly quite fast and polite asking me to go to www.ptptn.gov.my and click on eFES to check my details.

Quite efficient.

One night in Skudai.

Yesterday reach Senai Airport... The flight was ok except for some minor turbulence. But one thing I don't like is the pain in the air when the plane was descending.

Then my sister picked me up and went to their apartment in Desa Skudai. Traffic was terrible compared to Sibu. :) But not as bad as in KL. We have dinner at around 8 plus. Not bad la the food.

Today my flight to Bali is 1330. Wanna go for breakfast now.

Windows Mobile

Just updated my blog template last night. Now everything is gone. Especially the links to many interesting blogs and sites. I guess I have to do it again.

Anyway since I'll be going to Bali this week, I need to update my PDA. I installed WorldMate Live. After installing it, I found that I have this popup each time i restart my PDA. The file 'WMScheduler' cannot be opened. blablabla....

I looked the installed directory, Storage Card/Program files/WorldMate and the file is there. After much searching, the solution is pretty simple. But I dont like it, cause I have to install it into the main device itself and I don't have much memory to support it.

While searching for the solution, I also looked at a few softwares that could edit the registry in Windows Mobile. Here are the two programs that I found. This is taken from:http://www.inspectmygadget.com/2007/07/17/how-to-hack-your-windows-mobile-registry/

Mobile Registry Editor: runs on your desktop and connects to your device using ActiveSync. Once you have this installed, connect your device via ActiveSync and click on one of the folder to the left. If the right side refreshes, you have a connection.

Being a desktop application, it is easy to navigate and make changes using your keyboard and mouse. As I don’t make many registry changes away from my desktop computer, I would generally use this.

PHM Registry Editor: runs on your device so you have free reign over where and when you make changes to the registry.

It has a nice interface and is quite easy to use on our little Windows Mobile screens. PHM Registry Editor works a little faster for me than Mobile Registry Editor did.

Back up and restore the registry in Windows

This is taken from MS support.

Manual steps to back up the registry in Windows Vista or in Windows XP

Windows Vista
1. Click StartStart button, type systempropertiesprotection in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
User Access Control permission If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
2. Wait for Windows to search for available disks and most recent restore points. In the System Properties dialog box, on the System Protection tab, click Create,
3. Type a name for the restore point and then click Create.
4. After the restore point has been created successfully, click OK two times.
Note If System Restore is turned off, click to select the local disk, click Apply and then click Create.

Windows XP
1. Click Start, click Run, type %SystemRoot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe, and then click OK.
2. On the Welcome to System Restore page, click Create a restore point, and then click Next .
3. On the Create a Restore Point page, type a name for the restore point and then click Create
4. After the restore point has been created, click Close.
Note If System Restore is turned off, you receive a message that asks whether you want to turn on System Restore now. Click Yes. Then, in the System Properties dialog box, click to clear the Turn off System Restore check box, click OK, and then repeat this step.

Restore the registry
Manual steps to restore the registry in Windows Vista or Windows XP
Use System Restore to undo registry changes in Windows Vista or in Windows XP
Windows Vista
1. Click StartStart button, type systempropertiesprotection in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
User Access Control permission If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
2. In the System Properties dialog box, on the System Protection tab, click System Restore,
3. In the System Restore dialog box select Choose a different restore point, and then click Next
4. Select the restore point that you want to use, and then click Next.
5. Confirm your restore point, and then click Finish System restore restores the selected Windows Vista configuration and then restarts the computer.
6. Log on to the computer. When the System Restore confirmation page appears, click OK..

Windows XP
1. Click Start, click Run, type %SystemRoot%\System32\Restore\Rstrui.exe, and then click OK.
2. On the Welcome to System Restore page, click Restore my computer to an earlier time (if it is not already selected), and then click Next .
3. On the Select a Restore Point page, click the system checkpoint. In the On this list select the restore point area, click an entry that is named "Guided Help (Registry Backup)," and then click Next. If a System Restore message appears that lists configuration changes that System Restore will make, click OK.
4. On the Confirm Restore Point Selection page, click Next. System Restore restores the previous Windows XP configuration and then restarts the computer.
5. Log on to the computer. When the System Restore confirmation page appears, click OK..

Public Forum

Last Saturday I went to attend a public forum by Mr Tan Kee Hian.

He holds an MBA with High Distinction from the Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar). He also holds a BSc (First Class Honours) in Mechanical Engineering from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London (John Samuel Prize; Imperial College Award; Shell Scholar). He did his "A" Levels and was an ASEAN Scholar at the National Junior College in Singapore.
He lives in London, but will spend eight months of the year in Asia.

When Mr Kong called me to go for the forum, I was a bit apprehensive. He told me the speaker would be someone with a MBA from Havard. So what I thought to myself. Even Khairy is a Havard Oxford graduate and what he said did not reflect his education at all.

Anway I told Mr Kong that I would give it a try. After my badminton game of course. And potluck dinner at Miss Yongs. :)

I reached MPI at 7.50 p.m. Accidentally went to the church because I was passing through it. And I thought the forum was in the church. After a few steps, I suddenly remembered that the forum was held in MPI, not at the church.

It was after listening to it that I realized that the speaker was no ordinary person. He was a Shell scholar and was a consultant with the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) for Malaysia.Btw he is a former classmate of Daniel Ngieng, those of you in Sibu would know him.

Btw here is a link to show how much he charges for one session.

The title of the forum was Outlook for Sibu. Or something like that.
Will blog about it later.