Compulsory or Willingly?

A brief intro for myself: I seldom thank people for any help that I requested. I don't know, it has become a habit for me not to thank people. Not that I'm being selfish or something, just that it is hard for me to say "Thank You" to other people especially those who I am really close to. I'm pretty sure those who know me would become accustomed to my habit and not making a big deal out of it. Well, I do get cynical "Where's your thank you?" from them, occasionally, but most of them jokingly said that knowing that being me, saying Thank You is quite a task. Simple words, not even sacrificing your whole breathe to be uttered. Then why would I am so reluctant to say these 'magic' words? Here's why..

As many of you has known, I practice social engineering. That means, I study people's behavior and while at the same time, practicing things I learnt. Frequently, I do things that are not noticed by other people unless they hold up and think carefully of my actions. I don't know why I do this. Is it because of fun, thrill (don't think of any), norm or just for the heck of it? Can't even answer that myself, although for certain actions I do know the reason behind it.

The reason why I don't thank people for the help I received is because, most of the time I don't thank them verbally. People think that by saying "Thank You" is the proper way of being grateful towards the help you get. Then I would like to ask, why is that for Muslim you said "Alhamdulillah" which means "Praise be to God" instead of "Syukran ya Allah" which directly means "Thank you Allah" after you eat, drink, receive something good etc? Same analytical concept, but applied in different subjects. I don't thank people because for me, saying thank you is over-rated. You said "Thank You" and after that what? The person helping you doesn't receive anything in return, which resulted the action to be a win-lose situation (your side is winning and the person is losing). Good because you're winning but why not making it even better, both side win? So here comes the logic. I do thank people, indistinctively. That means they mostly don't realize I'm being grateful of the help they give, not in that instance of time. If I ask for your help in buying things, I wouldn't mind you racking in extra charges (with consideration of the item price, mind you) because I already accounted for your loses of energy, time and any uncountable items you may have. Or I might give you extra credit in anything that I do, I don't know. It has become an unconscious act for me to the point I don't even realize I'm thanking someone. Then someone might ask, why don't I do both? Answer is simple and I stressed again, for me saying "Thank You" is over-rated. Do you, seriously, think that those thank you big fishes give are sincere? Put yourself in this situation: You've just completed a major and critical task for your organization. In what way would you think you are really appreciated: a thank-you card/e-mail from your supervisor, or a simple after-work invitation to have a cup of coffee at any nearby stall? I don't know, people choose option 1 mostly. Me, I'd prefer 2nd option, with the reason that this option will make me closer to my supervisor and in future, might favor me in return. I'm not the type who thinks 2 or 3 steps forward. I'm just an average-Joe like most of us. It's just that for the action I take, I do it without me realizing it. And I like it, as it will benefit me more in future than in present time.

So, specifically to my other half, I would like to stress this. Even though I don't say "Thank You" for all the help you've given me, I do express it visually or psychologically. I don't become an idiotic boyfriend like many men are, I don't make a big fuss when you drive my car and doesn't look at the side mirror while changing lane, I don't even scoff when I have to pick you up from my home in KL all the way to the end of Selangor. The reason, my dearest, for my lack of expressing my gratefulness, is because I like the way you help me. You didn't see how happy I am for every help you give. All those minor things that I asked you to do (yes I can do them by myself actually) are because I want us to be able to co-operate. I want us to perform flawlessly as a single mechanism, so that we don't run into trouble once we get married. We surely don't have much time to train if we don't start now. So, sincerely from my heart, I would like to beg so that you think for a second of anything I do before lashing your whip at me. Me, being a programmer, I do think for a reason. If you weight my brain, the left part would be heavier than the right part. Go search the functions of left brain and right brain, and you'll see the reason why. Yes I know you're the right-brain type, quick with words and emotional feelings. I am learning, give me some time to mutate into 'half programmer half poet-writer'. And I would like to ask you, please be logical in every action that you take. As what programmers always say, it's easier to code right the first time than to waste your time debugging things that shouldn't be there.

I've expressed myself enough for today, I think my brain starts to malfunction. Need some restlkasjzxm;p2;sa...

VB.NET & MS Access

[imports]
System.Data.OleDb
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[read data from database]
Dim con As OleDbConnection, cmd As OleDbCommand, dr As OleDbDataReader
Try
con = New OleDbConnection
con.ConnectionString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\dbase.mdb"
con.Open()
cmd = New OleDbCommand("SELECT * FROM A_Table", con)
dr = cmd.ExecuteReader
While dr.Read
ListView1.Items.Add(dr("A_Field"))
End While
Catch ex As Exception

End Try
dr.Close()
con.Close()
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[execute SQL query into database]
Dim con As OleDbConnection, cmd As OleDbCommand
cmdAdd.Enabled = False
Try
con = New OleDbConnection
con.ConnectionString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\dbase.mdb"
con.Open()
cmd = New OleDbCommand("INSERT INTO A_TABLE (A_FIELD) VALUES ('A_VALUE')", con)
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
Catch ex As Exception

End Try
con.Close()

Why am I putting this code here? It's because I might forget this in the future. So this blog serves as my code reference site.

[note to moronic/copy-paste junkie]
If you copy this ULTRA SIMPLE code into your coding without trying to understand it, I lose all faith with your ability in programming. You might as well venture into anything that requires less analytical thinking for a brighter future.

I Have No Idea..

Ever been too pissed off to the point that you don't know what to do? I have, and I am having it right now. I'm mad, I don't know who to blame, I certainly don't have anywhere to express my anger, and most importantly is I promise to keep my anger level now (read: anger management). So here I am, instead of unleashing Hell towards somebody I am blogging about this. Thankfully, I'm a bit more cooled down..

Happy Thaiponggal (sp?) to all Indians in Malaysia specially and in the World generally. Wish you guys a prosperous incoming Thaipusam (wondering how I'm going to work the day before and the day after, roads gonna be jam-packed..)

[addition]
I've already got Metallica S&M video CD. I got it from.. erm.. you know.. I downlo.., no, someone borrowed me the CDs. Currently enjoying this near 10 years old concert. Yes I like Metallica very much *goes hiding*

A Brief Intro

Sometimes, someone asked me questions that ordinarily sounded either silly, or is considered too common (if not treated as stupid question). But at times I do think about these questions. Not merely what to answer them, but sometimes why the person asked me those questions. Either out of curiosity, ice-breaking technique (yup I'm not that friendly with new people), making small talk, I don't know. Anyway, here I list down several questions that people frequently asked me.

1. How come you can type so fast and without looking at the keyboard?
Well it started during my 3rd year at UTP. We were just recently acquired Internet connection within our residential college, and I had just installed mIRC in my computer. Free *almost* 24/7 Internet, student with ample free time, you do the math. Then I discovered that we can play trivia in certain channels (I played in #kl at webchat server). This added spices to my new addiction, trying to be in top 10 list of trivia players. Needless to say, I succeeded, with a price to pay. My study deteriorated, heh. There gotta be pros and cons in every action you take, guess like I chose the wrong one. At first I typed like other people, still looking at the keyboard. Then I could memorize the keys on the keyboard well while placing my fingers on frequently used keys, thus enabling me to type simple words without looking at the keyboard. About a month or so, I was able to type without looking at the keyboard at all, but still had to backspace here and there. Now here I am, completely not looking at the keyboard while typing this entire paragraph with only occasional mistakes/typos. Still, this is achieved with a price. I believe now I have RSI (repetitive strain injury), a condition where the muscle at your hand/wrist swollen. Painful yes, but I work using computers. Have to live with it..

2. When do you discover you like programming so much?
To tell the truth, I don't even know. I learnt programming from the age of 6 or 7, back then was using simple DOS program called Logo where you typed the command and the 'turtle' will draw lines based on what command you type (FORWARD 50, LEFT 50, you get my point). But then at that age, I didn't even know that what I did was programming, I just thought Logo is a boring computer games. My dad told me to learn Logo, I did for about 15-30 minutes. Then I took out the diskette, put in games diskette and played games like Contra, Prince of Persia, Dig Dug etc. Then during secondary school, in the annual report book I put there my ambition is 'Pengaturcara Komputer' or Computer Programmer. Still at that time I didn't know jack about programming. In fact I put computer programmer as my ambition because I thought it sounded so cool LOL. The true programming that I learnt was in UTP while taking the subject Introduction to C++ (taught by Dr Abdul Huq). That was the time where I found programming is really entertaining and fun. My second programming language was Java, learnt during Intro to OOP (taught by Mrs Rohiza and the tiger-like tutor Mrs Hasnah). Then I became hooked up with MS Visual Basic 6, taught by Dr Fadzil (Commercial Programming). I learnt ASP, HTML, JavaScript and extensive VB6 during my internship from my supervisor Gan Meng Kiat and Srinivasa Reddy. Now I'm learning .NET framework, C++, RDBMS (SQL Server) and if possible Linux shell scripting. I'm a geek, yes.

3. You always talk about computers and tech-things. Don't you have anything else to talk about?
Honestly, no. As I said earlier, I'm a geek. I find tech-things interesting, and list of night clubs to go as boring. I am a very indoor and introvert person. I can survive being in a house for a week or so as long as it has a computer, Internet connection, TV and basic necessity to live (food etc). I can talk about other subjects with people, but I'll run out of ideas quickly. So unless the person I talk to can sustain our conversation, he/she will find me looking at other things or playing games in my mobile phone. Most of the time my mobile phone is the savior on boring situation. So unless I've known you for a long time that I myself can find things to talk about, please prepare with your own idea list or you can join me in my geek world. Oh if you're the one that say bad things to geek, remember this: you won't even get Internet if it's not because of geeks. So, be nice to geeks :)

4. I see that you wear the same kind of shirt/trousers. Don't you know/follow current fashion trend?
I stress again here, I'm a geek. I don't find current fashion trend as interesting. As what I'm concern, it's enough if I have a shirt and trousers to wear. Hairstyle? I cut my hair short, to the point I don't have to comb them at all. Currently my fashion designer is Izma. She'll suggest what shirt looks nice on me, which trousers to buy bla..bla.. So I'll just take what she advises and pay. Heck, sometimes she even tells me what to wear, which shirt goes with which pants etc. I feel like I'm a celebrity hehe..

5. I can't seem to understand the way you're thinking. Why do sometimes you think differently than anybody else?
It's nice to think differently from other people. It doesn't mean I reject other people's idea or opinion. I just like to see things from a different point of view. Simplest example is my roommate Adi. I don't ignore his idea completely. Instead, I study why would he say such things. In the end, I got what he mean and I might agree or disagree with him. It broadens my perspective to a wider area, and also it trains me to be patient and a good listener. In return, I get more input and thus enabling me to see things the other way round. I guess so..

Freakin' Mouse Driver

I was supposed to already finished up installing and configuring my PC today. In fact, I've already had my XP up and running previous night and planning to install Fedora Core 5 for dual-booting purpose. But my A4 Tech mouse driver, due to some long-term grudge with WinXP, decided to play hard. I've accidentally installed Windows 2000 driver instead of Windows XP, resulting in catastrophic events to the OS. Constant reboot, unable to uninstall the driver bla..bla.. Tried rebooting into Safe Mode, to no avail. Somehow XP is not as stringent as 2000 when it comes to Safe Mode. In Windows 2000, you have the option to do Step-by-Step Safe Mode Configuration. I hadn't been able to found that feature anywhere within the XP startup screen, forcing me to frantically trying everything from 'Last Known Good Configuration' (which was not good at all) to 'Disable reboot on System Failure' (to no avail, XP still rebooted).

Popped in XP CD, tried the recovery console. Typed in 'fixboot', 'fixmbr' and 'disable agp440'. I've even tried repairing XP installation with high hopes that everything turned to normal. Succeeded, for about 15 seconds. Still, the cycle went round and round again after that. XP rebooted for all of a sudden, forcing me (who were already stressed up) to reformat and reinstall my XP. So now here I am, updating my antivirus virus definition and reconfiguring my desktop. Guess there won't be any Linux tonight.

On the other hand, went to Sungai Congkak with my UTP housemates (Adi, Azhar and Farid). Too bad Pejai couldn't join us, he was busy with his work. Had a great time catching up stories between each other. Water was not that cold, I still think Sungai Tekala's water temperature will beat Sungai Congkak's any given time. Then had our lunch at Sate Kajang Haji Samuri. Thanks to Farid who sponsored my meal the whole trip.

I'm currently searching for Metallica S&M concert video CD. If any of you happen to have this in possession and would be kind enough to lend me, I'd be very grateful. Do contact me through e-mail at zulkmie[at]yahoo[dot]com.

Till other time. Back to configuring XP..

Fresh All Over

For the first time, I've migrated my Windows OS to Windows XP. Been sticking to Windows 2000 for about 3 years, resisting the urge of trying Microsoft's 2nd latest home-user operating system. Still plenty of things to be installed and configured, but as for now my XP is up and running. After finishing with this evil OS, I'm gonna put Fedora Core 5 (or 6, not decided yet) into the 2nd partition. Should run smooth, probably.

Wish me luck!

First Post

Okay, my official first post in blogspot. Just finished tweaking things inside here. Still unfinished, yet, but being a programmer I tend to deliver unfinished result to others. So here I present, my current blog. As of my old blog, no I won't delete it. It'll serve as archival spot as well as been kept dormant so that in the even I got bored with blogspot in the future, I can quickly move to a new blog engine.

Still not late to wish Happy New Year to all. May 2007 brings prosperity to our country, with the reduction of road tax being the leader. Good start for a year, and sure hope oil price will not increase by RM0.50 somewhere in March/April heh. World's oil price has decreased over the past year hasn't it, so I don't see any concrete reason to increase the country's price other than demolishing the subsidization (sp?) by the Big-G. Based on current public transport situation, I would certainly reject any idea of increasing the oil price hehe. Up until the day I've no more heard of a story about stucked LRT, poor RapidKL bus service, incompetent taxi driver, I'll not agree with price increase.

I guess I'll stop here. Got work to do, still have to finish up that Payroll system a client requested *months* ago. Hopefully can wrap everything up by this week. Cracked my head thinking of ways to do license validation for the program, so I need some rest. Later!

p/s: the driver of WGC 5458 (maroon Saga/Iswara Aeroback) is a gay person. dude, go learn road ethics before blaring your honk to others will ya!