Driving Back To LA

It wasn't fun leaving Vegas, especially when you had a blast the previous night.

Before we hit I-15S, we decided to visit Oom Cun Sien in Henderson since we haven't visited him for a while. I believe it was 2 years for my dad and 3 years for me, I remembered: the last time we stayed over, my dad woke me up to let me know that a tsunami hit Aceh. Also, Ida needed to tap the internet for 1 hour to finalize her report.

We arrived in LA a little late and we feasted at President Thai.

President Thai

498 S Rosemead Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91107
Tel: (626) 578-9814

http://www.president-thai.com

This is one of the Thai restaurant that I like since the servings are not too sour or too hot, maybe the food is closer to the Teo Chew style with Thai background.

What good here? I think everything is excellent. The recommendation page is a good start.

Fun In Las Vegas

Let's leave it at that ...

Driving to Las Vegas

Vegas, here we come!

The traffic was reasonable and it wasn't crowded at all.

Timberland at Primm is closing the door and they are throwing everything away. Looking at the inventory, I gather that they will close the door pretty soon.

Warner To Sell DRM-less Music Via Amazon

From nyt: Warner lets Amazon sell their music without DRM

Checked: Rock Lobster (B-52) is now available.

Dealing With USCIS

There is no better way of spending your vacation by queuing up the USCIS line 6:15 in the morning. It was cold and windy, luckily I was wrapped up like Michelin man, waiting in line, alone, until hell broke lose at 6:30. Out of no where, 20 people showed up and queued up behind me. Amazing.

The guards were late, I wasn't let in until 7 o'clock sharp, although I should be let in at 6:45, extra 15 min in the cold. Also I was totally irked by the jackass, who checked my bag, thought I might do the federal government harm if I waltzed in with my Pentax. WTH? I can understand no knife policy, but no camera? What about embedded camera on a phone? Should I go in without cell phone? Jackass private security had no answer. But, in order for me to get in, I had to walk back to the parking lot to drop the camera in my car. Extra 15 min well spent. I waltzed into Room 1001 with the 7:15 people. Ridiculous.

It is great that the USCIS InfoPass system works for people who has an appointment at 7 or 7:15 since I walked out at 8 sharp. I will not recommend using the system to acquire appointment at 10 o'clock since you might end up meeting the officer around 12 (lunch time).

On the way home I heard, from KPCC (NPR), that someone whacked Bhutto.

Also, dad bought eee PC, the 4GB with web cam version, and prayed that it arrives before he departs for Jakarta.

Dinner at Din Tai Fung.

Post Christmas Craziness

I tried the clothes that Ida bought me for Christmas presents, most them were off-sized, thanks to the made up standard of the clothing industries. No surprises here, time to exchange the gifts.

Roads were clogged, malls were filled to the brim.

Pasadena was alright, it wasn't too crowded. But purchasing clothes was painful experience: lots of the desired size was taken, and previous coupons didn't work anymore. But nothing, could be compared to crawling for 20 min along Baldwin Ave in the afternoon and two and half hours of sneaker shopping.

Christmas

Christmas has arrived and we celebrated it at Simi Valley, this time I didn't bring anything to the table since I was preoccupied the day before.

Smells Like Teenage Spirits

Ida is here in the south land

... and we went to watch Jay Chou's world tour concert.

Lights Out

Something bad happened last night, the lights were out around 6PM and it wasn't restored until the following morning around 7/8 AM.

Most of the blocks had their light restored around 8PM but not ours.

We had to resort to the ancient activities when the light are out: swapping ghost stories and playing with the settings of my digital camera, well the later is not that ancient.

Pre-Christmas Days

Useless should be labeled to these days before Christmas. Nothing but making sure that I could leave the office till the closing of the year.

Ida will fly down for Jay Chou concert so the trip to SJ is canceled. I guess I have the time to sort the junk that I brought back from Jacksonville.

Lights are out tonight, so we are in the book store reading the past, present and future.

1929 America Before The Crash - Sloat
Secrets of The Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country - Greider
Economics Making Sense of The Modern Economy - 2nd ed - Cox
Guide to Economic Indicators: Making Sense of Economics - 6th ed - The Economist

Linux Server In A Stick

Ingredient:

1. 2GB bulk USB stick from Micro Center - 15.00
2. Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon Live CD (from ubuntu-7.10-desktop-i386.iso)

Follow the instruction at pendrivelinux.com.

Let the hacking commence ...

Perl 5.10 And Parrot 0.5.1 Are Released

According to Perl Buzz: Perl 5.10 is released to the wild. It's a nice Christmas present and it coincides with the 20th anniversary of Perl.

People from ActiveState did a great job by releasing the Win32 binary early.

Oh well, time to test the new binary and the modules.

Fixed Phone Pie Is Shrinking In US Too

Follow up on the previous posting that touts cell phone only adoptions in EU households, /. posts an article from itfacts.biz, in which scraped an article from Bureau of Labor Statistics titled: Spending on Cell Phone Services Rapidly Approaching That of Residential Phone Services.

Whew! Talking about going through 2 brokers to get the info.

Anyway, the conclusion:

1. Spending on cell phone service grows, while lower on fixed phone, the trend has been steady since 2001.
2. Spending on cell phone service is predicted to exceed fixed phone this 2007.

Monkeys Count Too

From NPR: Researchers (Cantlon and Brannon) at Duke University conducted tests to gage the accuracy of arithmetics between 2 female rhesus monkeys (Boxer & Feinstein) and a group Duke undergrads.

This is one the findings:

And they [Boxer and Feinstein] were right about 75 percent of the time.

But this is the key difference between the species:

"When you take away language from a human during a math task like this," Cantlon said, "they end up looking just like a monkey.

Scary... the monkeys would be getting at least a B, and some poor humans (most likely from LAUSD) get F.

Links:
Basic Math in Monkeys and College Students
Paper @ Duke: How Much Does Number Matter to a Monkey (Macaca mulatta)?

The Conscience of a Liberal

Bought "The Conscience of a Liberal" by Krugman @ Borders, apparently I couldn't resist the temptation of 40% off (with Border Rewards). Before I bought the book, I searched for the audio book version since I am going to be sitting in traffic a lot, but I couldn't find one, nor the audio book version of Freakonomics.

Also visiting dr Irawan to catch up with news.

Google v Microsoft

Responding to this article: Slowly Transitioning to Online Software, I believe Google needs to beef it's Google Gear in order for the customers to be able to take their document off-line.

I couldn't foresee people will go wireless and update documents using their tiny screens in droves.

But, consider this scenario: working on a compact notebook using wireless connection. Is it going to mainstream? Judging from the current wireless market (which is very anti-customer), e.g.: Verizon Wireless redefined the common English word of unlimited to limited, and highly priced product, we are not going to be there in 2-3 years.

Rearranging Junks

After resting whole yesterday, I have the energy to clean up the garage.

Nothing to brag about yet.

Retreat

Spend the night at Simi Valley again. I don't want to do it, but I need to transport my clothing back to Arcadia.

Hooman @ GG

Hooman swang by to meet In yung and I @ GG. In yung also brought a friend along, forgot his name.

Holly ...

From Marginal Revolution

Toxoplasma gondii is a favorite parasite of evolutionary biologists because it has an incredible property. The parasite lives in the guts of cats where it sheds eggs in cat feces that are often eaten by rats. Now how to get back from the rat to the cat? Amazingly, Toxoplasma gondii infects the brains of rats making them change their behavior in a subtle way that increases the genetic fitness of the parasite. Toxoplasma makes the infected rats less scared of cats and so more likely to be eaten!

Goat Hill Tavern

1830 Newport Blvd
Costa Mesa, CA, 92627
Tel: (949) 548-8428

It is called tavern but it is really a beer joint, well known for the weird selection of beers, e.g:

1. Turbo Dog from New Orleans, LA
2. Murphy's
3. ... [will update as I remember/revisit the place]
   

Swing Back

Last Friday, while stuck at ONT, I managed to create an HTML report that ties WR execution result with the application log. The report is pretty rudimentary but the script was optimized to prevent parsing old results and unnecessary loops.

I spent all hours these Monday and Tuesday, adding features to debug the fail/error execution. Finally it is decided that I need to:

1. Add screen capture prior to clicking search button, since the date objects were not filled in.
2. Stabilize the picklist object when select action is performed: add wait between data entry and tab keystroke.
   

I am going to stop eDoc SS combination search and switch back to module creation since I have been neglecting that project too long.

Back To SoCal

IMGP0940
Originally uploaded by plwizard

I insisted to arrive early at the Mineta Airport since I was bringing back a bottle of wine. Well, I miscalculated the eagerness of people wanting to travel in the morning, apparently it was not crowded until I boarded the plane at 7:30 AM.

Next time, I'll arrive at the airport around 7 when flying out at 7:45.

The flight was good and short, and it was pretty warm inside ONT. Therefore, I was surprised when I walked out and I found the nice, cold and crispy Southern California weather.

It was a clear day, notice: the picture of snow capped Mt Baldy through I-10, usually one would notice a layer of smog.

Halu Ramen

375 South Saratoga Ave.
San Jose, CA 95129
Tel: (408) 246-3933

http://www.ramenhalu.com/

I love this place, simple menu, simple food.

No Country For Old Men

Didn't do much today, Ida and I had a late breakfast and we went to watch No Country For Old Men.

[write more]

I missed a lot of good lines, especially the last Tommy Lee Jones' monologue.

And then ate some ramen at Halu.

We finished the day by watching Gosford Park at home. Saw Kelly Macdonald again.

Wooden Charcoal Barbecue House

4611 Geary Blvd. (Between 10th and 11th)
San Francisco, CA 94118
Tel: (415) 751-6336

I love it for the wooden charcoal, no matter what Hank Hill preaches about propane, the meat will not taste the same.

Hiking Again

Went hiking with Ida and the usual suspects again at Windy Hill.

The trail is located on open terrain with little coverings so the view could be easily enjoyed. I dropped in exhaustion twice since we were climbing steadily with little leveling.

Links:
Windy Hill trail map (pdf file)
The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District

Gochi Japanese Fusion Tapas

19980 Homestead Rd
Cupertino, CA
Tel: (408) 725-0542

http://www.gochifusiontapas.com/

Modern izakaya plates and a bit overpriced.

Delayed Flight

First, instead of departing at 17:25, it rescheduled to fly at 17:55, and then disinformation reigned as the time of departure was pushed several time to 18:40.

The actual departure was: 19:10.

It is pretty painful to track the historical data of Southwest 187's since FAA website doesn't provide historical data, but I managed to get the data using FlightAware.com.

Apparently the plane is late due to cascading effect. In the beginning, it was already late by 24 min, and it added another 30 min delay from Kansas City to Las Vegas, and another 20 between Las Vegas to Ontario. By the time I arrived in SJC, I have already late by 80 min (from the rescheduled late arrival).

Total wasted time: 80+30 = 110 min. Instead of arriving in SJC around 18:20, I had to wait at ONT. It is alright if I consider the price of ticket (75USD), I will have to fork more if I am to drive.

Bad Friday

Too many bad events happen today:

1. The NGS V1 deployment validation test blew up on pre-production last night, it was the same problem again. Apparently, the dot net executable that selects default printer will freeze the application if several of them (several VMs on a host) are executed at the same time. Fixed the problem: add wait time between launching WR script and sort the order of execution machines.
   
2. eDoc Importer execution blew up too. Apparently, the old client problem weren't fixed, I manage to fix the old client installation, and re-clone the client. Also, let Ed know that each origination execution is not supported anymore.
   

And I have to fly out this afternoon.

Venus T4U

Bought the case from Micro Center today.

Combination Search Project In Full Swing

eDoc SS combination search, writing Perl script to verify each scenario that's being executed with the WR execution and server log:

• Write script to parse WR execution log.
  
• Ponder: should I use sets to correlate search scenario (search criteria set) with sets of search criteria logged? Nah ... to much work. Index the search criteria using hash and compare it against the log.
  
• Write script to get log files from archives, will not get the downloaded files again.
• Write script to parse the log files for search criteria, index them and archive/delete the log files.
• Write parsing routine to extract data from search scenario files, make sure the corresponding WR script is executed successfully and it exists in the search criteria index.

Admin

• Dropping files off to online storage (originally 1.8GB left).
  

PerlIO-GZip Is Broken

Found a problem with PerlIO-GZip module (v0.17) with ActiveState Perl 5.8.4 + Win2K, apparent it doesn't gunzip a compressed file properly. At first, I suspected a bad gzip file. But the files, extracted using Winzip and GNUWin32 gunzip, are good, so I believe this is a problem with the module.

I will investigate a little more and send the artifacts once I am done with the eDoc scripts.

Currently I extract the files using GNUWin32 gunzip utility and pass the content to STDOUT for parsing.

gunzip.exe -c CompressedFile.gz

Benjies Restaurant-Delicatessen & Bakery

1828 N Tustin Ave
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Tel: (714) 541-6230

Ambiance: It is an old style sandwich shop, so old: the seniors feel like home there.
Food: Pastrami, corned beef, swiss reuben with Russian sauce for 11 clams. Yeah, it is expensive.

Dan Is Gone for Training These Two Days

Dashboard-NGS EOP

• Analyze load tests conducted by Doug based on the size of order information.

eDoc SS combination search

1. Fixed the certificate issue, the productivity of script execution jumps and more logs are being produced. Apparently WR browser event handling is not reliable for v9.2.
   
2. Verification of search result is broken due to new grid object.
3. Remove WR 8.2 and replace it with WR 9.2 on my desktop. I need to upgrade WR since I need to fix the search result verification.
   
4. Fix the verification of searches, and deploy to execution machines.
5. Writing Perl script to verify each scenario that's being executed with the WR execution and server log.
   

Admin

• While swapping hard drive for Dan's broken machine, I found that we are running out of good machines. All better Dell machines are not working, busted motherboards.

GPS

Looks like there is a no good automotive and hiking GPS unit out there. Reading the forums, it appears that Garmin 60CSx is solid unit, and I like it since it has these features (sorted based on importance):

1. High sensitive GPS receiver + SiRF III chipset.
2. Custom POIs (ability to add additional points of interest).
3. 10,000 point automatic track log; 20 saved tracks (500 points each).
4. Garmin said this unit supports 2GB micro SD but someone (Amazon) has upgraded to 4GB.
5. Up to 20 operating hours using 2xAA batteries.
6. Trip computer.
7. Water resistant to IEC 60529 IPX7 standards (can be submerged in one meter of water for 30 minutes).
8. Barometric read and digital compass.

But it has it's drawbacks (all of them are very important):

1. Need to buy separate maps, Garmin MapSource City Navigator for automotive and Topo for hiking purposes.
   
2. No turn-by-turn voice directions, only beeping.
3. Route recalculating issues for automotive purposes.

Looks like I have to get Nuvi x50, I am driving the freeways, more than hiking the trails.

Gender In/Equality

From The Economist:

Nopa

560 Divisadero @ Hayes
San Francisco, CA 94117
Tel: (415) 864-8643
http://www.nopasf.com/

I kept forgetting my due to blog this joint, never mind that I have visited it twice.
Bar: Extremely packed.
Long table: good for socializing.
Brew: Extra large Lagunitas IPA
Appetizer: Strange but tasty freedom fries.
Main: Pork chop

Nailed the Stupid Cat

Google to Bid 700 Mhz Spectrum

Release: Google Will Apply to Participate in FCC Spectrum Auction

Yay! Hope the new kid wins the bid. The playing fields is crowded by gangs of bullies.

Rainy Friday

Dashboard-NGS EOP
Conduct a small Dashboard-NGS EOP load test: sending 100 messages as quick as possible until the messages are queued and measure the time for the system to process all 102 packets and create the accompanying 385 packets.

Determined that it takes 6 seconds to process 1 message. Roughly the same to create the corresponding 385 packet.

eDoc SS combination search
Researching into result not found problem, looking at the log: the reason behind not finding the result POST ST DIRECTION equals to NE, it should be W. Implement screen capture after picklist action to see if the pick list action is being executed properly.

Also:

1. Researching into exiting WR when encountering context sensitive error.
2. IE Certificate error screen keeps poping up and WR doesn't handle it consistently, need to find a way to disable the sucker.

Chat Noir

From boing2: Chat Noir


Beware ... It is highly addictive.

Tires For Highlander

245/55P19
2007-11-30,Sears @ South Coast, Bridgestone, 180$

Jammed at 5 Freeway

This is the worst sigalert I have experienced in LA. Since it is raining in the morning and it hasn't been raining for a month, the roads are extremely slick. KPCC says: 'rash of accidents' happens. On I-5 south, around 3rd St exit in Santa Ana, an 18 wheelers and 4 cars tangled. It made such a mess, CHP has to close all of the lanes.

The are forced to open the HOV lane 1 hour later, to let people pass since the firemen haven't been able to retrieve a man stuck under the flatbed.

I missed the opening from I-5 to Main St exit when I came to full stop, and I have to slog for 2 miles in 1 hour (imagine that 2 mph @ 6 AM) to exit at the next ramp.

There goes my day, instead of 1 hour commute, I have to do it in 2.5 hours.

Links:
LaTimes.com
OCRegister.com

We are staying in Simi Valley tonight

Amazon Mechanical Turk for QA?

Researching into Amazon Mechanical Turk for QA purposes. I am getting tired of automated testing effort.

Something Is Really Wrong With eDoc Script

I parsed some log files this morning and sensed something is really wrong with the eDoc SS script execution, but there no time to inspect the execution, analysis of the EOP load test needs to be conducted too.

Give Me The Last X Records Ordered by These Criteria

While writing a script to analyze application log, written into Oracle database, I found that it is fairly hard to get the last X records using rownum after the records are ordered based on certain criteria.

Trupti Rajparia says:

[...] one should be careful when using the Order By clause along with Rownum. When Order By is used with Rownum to restrict query results, it works only if Ordered By is the primary key of the table.

Since I am not a great fan of PL/SQL (clunky POS), I decided to use Perl instead to slice and dice the matching criteria.

1. Get the INDEXED_CRITERIA from Oracle

SELECT
   INDEXED_CRITERIA
FROM logTable
WHERE
   filter criteria
ORDER BY
   INDEXED_CRITERIA


2. Get the last X INDEXED_CRITERIA (easily processed by Perl with three standard functions)
   

push each INDEXED_CRITERIA into array tempA
pop the last X records from array tempA into array tempB.
produce CRITERIA_TEXT by joining tempB with ',' as separator


3. Get the data from Oracle
   

SELECT
   REQUIRED_FIELDS
FROM logTable
WHERE
   CRITERIA_TEXT are met
ORDER BY
   INDEXED_CRITERIA


4. Process the data returned.

The Fixed Phone Has Died, Long Life Cell Phone

From The Economist: although the publisher hasn't proclaimed the death of fixed phone, I believe we know where the trends are going.

Slogging Along

Monday morning: Analyze and submit the test result of DEX Broker load test for November 2007 MS security patch.

Starter Search Combination test is launched at the end of Tuesday. After updating the downloadLogFile.pl script. Apparently the log filename renaming scheme when rolling for Maia framework is starterSearch1.log, starterSearch2.log, etc, with base file name of starterSearch0.log. This is an exception from the normal behavior of base file name X with rolling name of X.1, X.2 ...

Wednesday: Time to parse the log ... Write little script to pull logging information from the database. Need this to in order to plot the time needed between 102 and 385 packet creation.

N810: The GPS System May Not Be So Hot - Afterall

Freeman fished this article out from Arstechnica titled: Nokia N810: unboxing and first impressions.

Bad news:

• Free mapping software is disappointingly limited.
• Commercial mapping software (WayFinder) offers 36 months license. And it will be available this December
• Skype is inoperable.
• No FM radio
• No swiveling camera (for taking picture and video conference)

Unknown:

• GPS signal quality
• Power consumption with mapping software running.
  

The review of N800 cobbled GPS system itself is not very flattering. Now, should I march on with N810 or wait for the next generation of N800 with WiMax and GPS? I guess it depends on how expensive the WayFinder mapping software.

Verizon Wireless To Introduce ‘Any Apps, Any Device’ Option For Customers In 2008

Release: Verizon Wireless To Introduce ‘Any Apps, Any Device’ Option For Customers In 2008

What a baloney: any device that talks CDMA for sure. This only a ploy to get into the 700 Mhz game.

Preliminary EOP Load Test

Add finishing touch to the Dashboard-NGS project:

1. Add several bad packets (e.g.: invalid date, office code, transaction type)
2. Load test
3. Finding out why not all of the bad packets are not being logged to the database: to my horror, I found out that the dev inserts date and time into 2 separate DATE fields. The date information is inserted to one DATE field and the time portion into another one. It is not the inefficiency that irks me but the time portion is filled with mixture of 1970-1-1, 1900-1-1 or whatever as the date of the time. Sloppy code.

We are waiting for the final build for now.

BB8830?

It is a hassle to install software to simulate data modem on BB 7520 so I am looking into getting a new gear. Debbie informed me that upgrading to BB 8830 with tethered data costs USD 199.00 with no additional monthly payments. I am thinking hard now ....

Castaway

1250 E Harvard Rd
Burbank, CA 91501
Tel: (818) 848-6691
http://www.castawayrestaurant.com

Nice view at the terrace, weekend brunch ends at 3:00 PM, so it is great to lounge and eat liner instead of brunch.

I only took the side view to the hills, instead of the breathtaking view of Burbank/Hollywood since the sun was in that direction.

Black Friday

Nothing much for me, bought a belt buckle since the old one was ripped apart.

Hunting for Nokia 810 at big box stores by South Coast Plaza to no avail.
Thinking about getting MacBook but it doesn't sync with Nokia 6233 or Blackberry 7520.
Participate in Engadget Black Friday Fest and get nothing.

Bummer. Better have better plan and less expectation next year.

On the other hand, Ida was having too much fun ...

Mì La Cay

I couldn't find the address using Google, need to go back and get it.
Cross street: Westminster and Brookhurst, Garden Grove, CA

Place is a bit ghetto but the food is great. The menu is simple: on the left, egg noodles and the various sides, on the right white flat noodles with the same sides. Middle section is reserved for the non-fanatics.

I guess I am a commie since I love the egg noodles with duckling or bbq duck.

Brodard

9892 Westminster Avenue
Garden Grove, CA 92844
Tel: (714) 530-1744
http://www.brodard.net

Open:
Sunday - Monday 8:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Wednesday - Saturday 8:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Closed:
Tuesday

Get this info from Ida, we visited it for a quick break in Little Saigon. Location is tricky: the shop is located at the back of the mall. Best: spring rolls and vermicelli.

Thanks Giving Party at Simi Valley

We were celebrating Thanksgiving in Simi Valley.

Menu:
Turkey set for 6-8.
Costume made sponge cakes.
Hess Cabernet Sauvignon Select 2003.
I brought beef (couple of rib eyes and NY strips) and grilled them at Stanley's.

It was a lot of fun.

EOP Packets Generator

I don't accomplish much this week since I only work for 2 days...

On the Dashboard-NGS project:

1. Spend these two working days creating script to generate EOP packets for load test purposes.
2. Add SQL verification after script is terminated.

On another news: DEX Broker load test for November 2007 MS security patch is executed and the results are secured.

Porto's Bakery

315 N Brand Blvd
Glendale, CA 91203
Tel: (818) 956-5996
http://www.portosbakery.com

I drove for 2 hours from Santa Ana to Hollywood to pick up Ida and visited the bakery.

For some odd reasons I always get lost when I am trying to locate the shop. Remember: most parking spaces are located at behind the store at Orange street. Orange is located between Brand and Central. You have gone too far if you cross California or Wilson (assumed traveling south).

Love the cheese rolls, anything that has guava jam in it (refugi is one of them), and the meat pies.

Driving To LA From San Jose

Started at 1:40PM, armed with a couple of bottles of water, grapes, buns and shrimp balls. Arrived in LA around 6-ish.

Perl 5.10 for People Who Aren't Totally Insane

Perl 5.10 for People Who Aren't Totally Insane

From: rjbs, 1 month ago

| View | Upload your own

All the hype about perl 5.10 can sound a little intimidating. User-level pragmata! Overloadable smartmatching operator! Thread-safe refkey hashes! For Pete's sake, have you heard about lexically scoped pluggable regexp engines?

It's enough to make you think that 5.10's changes are just for the hard-core perl hackers, but it couldn't be further from the truth! The new version of Perl is full of changes that are easy to use and pack lots of useful benefits for doing plain old every day Perl programming.

We'll look at the new features, small and large, and see why you, too, will love 5.10.


SlideShare Link

BIX

56 Gold St
San Francisco, CA 94133
Tel: (415) 433-6300
http://www.bixrestaurant.com

Location: tricky (Gold is an alley not a street).
Beer selection: little.
Wine: wide on the bottles, skimpy on the glasses.
Bar: enjoy your company and the mural.
Ambiance: alright.
Appetizer: lamburger - interesting.
Main course: so-so.
The crew: amazing!

Hiking in San Jose

Went hiking with Ida and friends at The Hostel Trail.

Links:
Hidden Villa
Hostel information

Driving To San Jose

Started driving @ 3:00PM.

While driving to San Jose, I got an email that Matt finally landed on a job @ Nokia San Francisco.

Arrived at San Jose @ 9:20PM. Tired ...

What Did I Do This Week?

Did:

1. Create several modules for eDoc StarterSearch automation.
2. Research EOP packets and testing for Dashboard origination.
3. Troubleshooting LR scripts for Dashboard
4. Fixing machines in the lab
   

Accomplished: nothing. I need to get something done and back to developing the XML test file generator from XSD.

Racial Poll By Pew and NPR

Yesterday, I listened to the result of the poll conducted by The Pew Research Center and NPR at KPCC, it is an interesting report since the title itself is pretty striking.

Finally, Cosby is catching on.

Links:
Blacks See Growing Values Gap Between Poor and Middle Class
Poll: African-Americans Pessimistic About Black Progress

Playing Perl Golf

To keep my mind off (extremely miffed), I played perl golf ...

Good boy version (889 chars):

use strict;
use Win32::TieRegistry;
my $Machine = 'localhost'; # make sure the RemoteRegistry services is up
                          # and the script is executed with user within
                          # administrator group.
my $Register = 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows'.
              '/CurrentVersion/Uninstall';
$Register = "//$Machine/$Register";

$Registry->Delimiter("/");
my $remoteKey = $Registry->{$Register};
if (defined $remoteKey) {
 foreach my $appKey (  $remoteKey->SubKeyNames  ) {
   my $DisplayName = $Registry->{"$Register/$appKey/DisplayName"};
   my $UninstallString = $Registry->{"$Register/$appKey/UninstallString"};
   if (defined $UninstallString && defined $DisplayName) {
     $app{$DisplayName} = $UninstallString;
   }
 }
}
open LOG, ">$0.txt";
foreach my $appName (sort keys %app) {
 print LOG "$appName, $app{$appName}\n";
}
close LOG;

Perl golf version (388 chars):

use Win32::TieRegistry;
$R = '//local/HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft'.
    '/Windows/CurrentVersion/Uninstall';
$Registry->Delimiter("/");
my %app = map {
 $Registry->{"$R/$_/DisplayName"} => $Registry->{"$R/$_/UninstallString"}
} $Registry->{$R}->SubKeyNames;
open LOG, ">$0.txt";
map { print LOG "$_, $app{$_}\n" if defined $_ && $app{$_} } sort keys %app;
close LOG;

Automated Deployment, Part I: Uninstall The Olde Crap

To harvest the command line to uninstall an application, launch the regedit application and browse the registry tree to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall, each key afterwards is a application key, a string of characters that means nothing if it is coded by baboon(s). The crucial items are these value name of the application key and it's content:

1. DisplayName: the name of the application
   
2. UninstallString: the command line to uninstall the application.

To get all of the useful information using perl:

use strict;
use Win32::TieRegistry;
my $machine = 'localhost'; # make sure the RemoteRegistry services is up
                           # and the script is executed with user within 
                           # administrator group.
my $register = 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows'.
               '/CurrentVersion/Uninstall';
$register = "//$machine/$register";

$Registry->Delimiter("/");
my $remoteKey = $Registry->{$Register};
if (defined $remoteKey) {
  foreach my $appKey (  $remoteKey->SubKeyNames  ) {
    my $DisplayName = $Registry->{"$Register/$appKey/DisplayName"};
    my $UninstallString = $Registry->{"$Register/$appKey/UninstallString"};
    if (defined $UninstallString && defined $DisplayName) {
      $app{$DisplayName} = $UninstallString;
    }
  }
}
open LOG, ">$0.txt";
foreach my $appName (sort keys %app) {
  print LOG "$appName, $app{$appName}\n";
}
close LOG;

Usually, there are two kinds of command line, the first one is an executable binary and customized MSI script (the command line starts with msiexec.exe). If you happen to encounter the later one, you are in luck, if not, pray that the baboon put in the quiet mode in the binary.

If the uninstallation string uses msiexec.exe, just put in /quiet at the back of the string to launch quiet installation.

Half and Half

Half fixing LR scripts, half fixing/writing modules for automation. Who says live couldn't be interesting?

Moving My Junks Back, Part Deux

It was cold, drizzling and grey. What a great day to move in the furniture from the Relo Cube into the house. Also, most of my stuff is back and crammed in Arcadia. I need to start sorting out the real junks from goods.

Murakami Exhibition @ MOMA

Lisa had to work in the morning, so we started late and missed the
shabu2 line. Instead, we went to the sushi house next door and
visited the Murakami exhibition @ MOCA.

Don't be fooled by the happy colors, the message could be grim. The picture above, for example, is titled: Ton Ton Ba Puking.

Full coverage here

LOL

"All governments lie, but disaster lies in wait for countries whose officials smoke the same hashish they give out." - I.F. Stone

Reason #1 To Get SUV

One of the reasons why I buy SUV. Two more trips to go.

Unpack The Container

Surprisingly, the delivery truck shows up only 30 minutes late. The amazing thing is the fork lift that they use to move the container. It is small, yet it packs a lot of pneumatic power.

The orange straps work as expected, they keep everything from falling on me when the container is re-opened. Everything is intact, although some items have bruises.

Sleepy Day

Last night I went out with Chris, Carlon and Ruth (from Jacksonville) and people from the Santa Ana office. The dinner and conversation were good, Carlon paid for everyone.

Dan suggested me to work from home, since I am going to waste of a lot of time driving from my place to Santa Ana and up to Simi Valley to pick up my junks. Thank god that I could stay at home today, since I wasn't feeling very well from staying up all night and the gloomy, cold weather didn't help either.

I miss the coffee machine in the office... yawn... and the QA BRIO server feels that way too. Greg has to bounce the daemon to make it working again.

Deploying AV

Spend a couple of days deploying AV and the accompanying electronic policy enforcer. This experience serves as back up plan if the SMS plan doesn't pan out.

GPhone a.k.a Android

Today's big disappointments:

1. No hardware, HTC is on board but not Nokia. Sigh....
   
2. No carriers, FCC still pockets the 700Mhz until next year.
   
3. Only software (just like my prediction).
   

Well, I should wait for OpenMoko.

Decaying Code

I was presented with several problems due to software upgrade:

1. The SharePoint file upload feature using shared folder is not working anymore, and I need to upload lots of small files, the quantity kills me. Currently, uploading through explorer view in IE is not reliable.
   
2. On DashBoard project, the LoadRunner script for Contact Manager function is broken due to fixes.

Who says that code couldn't decay? Well, time to update the code.

Little Tokyo

We started our weekly pilgrimage to Little Tokyo again this morning with a little hitch: the traffic to City Hall is choked by city employees. Dunno why, but it caused major heart burns and Lisa provided detour using 3rd st. It is nice to have a living GPS system.

We went through a tunnel underneath an apartment complex using the 3rd. Interesting: I might have to come back and take some pictures.

Total wait time for shabu2 is .... approx 1.5 hour.

China's Missile Range

Very interesting graph from The Economist: China's missile range. It was presented in several The Economist articles, one of which: The long march to be a superpower.

I Thought I Only Have To Turn In EPK Today

The day started with me testing Wei's order placement script using short form, it worked great but Wei didn't input all of the data into all of available fields, causing me to second guess there might be object(s) that trigger HTTPGet somewhere. Wei did the full field recording but I didn't have time to take a look at it. Will do that once everything is delivered.

After that, for the rest of the day, I was working on correlating script (create contact) from Latisha, I didn't want to try to find out where her problem with the script lies, instead, I decided to do it again using my method. I have already recognized this problem since I have been in her shoes before. I guess it takes one to two weeks for someone to be trained to correlate LR script, and a couple of months to understand the underlying intricacies of the tool.

I guess I pay for the fact that my team is under-trained, only two people in my team (not counting the manager) know how to properly record, correlate and script LR thus we are a bit behind with the Dashboard project. My bread and butter is writing Perl/WR, it was 2 years ago I created LR script properly. The others are mainly writing in Java for FT, hardly touch LR at all.

It doesn't matter, we delivered 4 out 5. I believe I could make it by testing the fifth script this Sunday.

Price and Market Penetration of Consumer Electronics Over The Past 50 Years

From Wired magazine: Price and market penetration of consumer electronics over the past 50 years.

Check out the steep drop for DVD player.

Creating LR Scripts for Dashboard Project

Since I am going to be working solely on one project this week, I decided to lump everything in one entry instead.

Tuesday: Writing C function for parsing JSON-esque response. Since LR supports C (and other imitation of languages), I have to work with the limitation of the library. I am beginning to miss Perl's RegEx/split function.

Wednesday: Login/Logout, and OrderSearch(by Address or Order Number) scripts are done. Negative testing the scripts against available data and fixes all discrepancies found. Get feed back from Craig and implement them.
Determining work flow for updating Escrow tasks, found out that document uploading function is not working.

Thursday: Sorting out problems encountered by the teams. Record, parameterized and merge updating Escrow tasks script to the main script. Consolidates all functions that drive open order (long form) work flow into one script for simplicity. Create proper work flow from creating order, find the order within a timeout loop (take some time for the SoftPro server to process and assign order number), and update escrow tasks. 3 out of 5 scripts are done. I have overcome my quota but the target is not met.

BlackBerry Drives Me Nuts This Week

For weird reason, BlackBerry doesn't display reconciliation in the mail menu this week. The problem is solved after upgrading BlackBerry Desktop to 4.2SP2.

Halloween @ Work

Gerardo and Ronda
Originally uploaded by plwizard

Busy Monday, What is New?

Tons of little things, such as: releasing UNIX account on several machines. The heavy one: learning Dashboard application and recording the order search flow.

ATTV

Fished from boing2.

Getting File Cabinet From Ikea

Thinking about getting Galant, but bought Erik instead.

New Cube in Santa Ana (2)

The first agenda of the day: complete the LR scripts for eDoc, and they were completed before EOD. The highlight of the day: Craig called requesting assistance with LR scripts on Dashboard project. It is going to be interesting...

On the right, the cube after it was cleaned up.

Fog in the Morning

After having nasty brown soup in the afternoon, I am being served with a fog coming inland while driving down the I-5S coming into Orange County. Visibility was bad, less than a quarter of a mile, in La Mirada but progressively better once I drove pass Buena Vista.

It is nice having the ocean wind instead of the nasty Santa Ana one.

Perl Binaries Are Deployed to Machines in QA Lab

Finally, finished the deployment script after all of the problems were identified and all of the files were pushed to all of the machines. Another script was developed as added to bonus to check the free space on the C: drive on daily basis.

To do:

1. Need to consolidate and put all information (free space, IP address, etc) in XML format so I could transform it to readable format.
2. Follow up with the ePO manager, the person that setup and manages the anti-virus policies, to ignore certain files.
   

One of the machines in the lab (gabrielle) was displaying weird behaviors, it was fixed and thrown back to circulation.

The LR script that clicks the buttons and links (outside Search screen) was finished and I pimped out a strange security documentation (firewall settings, etc) to all of the QA managers.

Swimming in the Smog

As I was crawling in the brown soup, called smog, along I-605N, I was thinking to myself: what have I done? Is it wise to migrate back to Republic California?

This is my second trip to the dealer and they fixed the tire. I managed to get something done while waiting.

BTW: the wild fires are under control and it is still raining ash in Santa Ana.

Nokia N810

Fished by MFreeman: Nokia N810 gets official.

Perl Binaries Are Screwed Up

Snapshot of Perl Modules 5.8.4 are pushed to all of the machines causing the older binary to complain and shut down. Since the pNGSLauncher was down, I had to deliver the files manually to each machine.

There were many problems namely: crashed VM, FS running out of space, anti virus wracking havoc, locked files due to active processes, and file permission problem.

These problems were slowing my LR recording progress, plus I realized that I was recording the wrong environment, QA's environment was populated with an older build for immediate release, I was supposed to record on the developer's environment. No wonder I didn't see necessary changes to fulfill the requirement.

Well, at least I practiced the deployment script prior to 5.10.x deployment.

Weekly Meeting and Recording Buttons on eDoc Search Screen

Tuesday, weekly meeting day! Also the day where I cursed Outlook for loading too slow and frantically typed the status report in the morning.

Debbie got me a new phone line.

Also, today I recorded LR script for eDoc project, plus scratching my head due to weird changes on the search screen.

It's Raining Ash in Southern California

It was raining ash when we walked out from Ronda's B-day lunch.

Related link: Wildfires Scorch Southern California

Perl 5.10 Nears Code Freeze, Release

Hear, hear: Perl 5.10.0 nears code freeze, release. Couldn't wait for ActiveState to release new Win32 binary since our production is currently using 5.6.1/5.8.4. Testing and upgrade are time hogging processes.

Flood in New Orleans

Holly Molly!! We dodged this.

From IHT: Heavy rains hit New Orleans, flood areas just recently coming back from Katrina damage.

Antoine's Restaurant

713 Rue Saint Louis
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
Tel: (504) 581-4422
http://www.antoines.com/

We decided to eat here after I misread NOLA's schedule. Well, it doesn't really matter, since NOLA is 6 month back logged.

Mental note: avoid NOLA.

Parking: Abominable!
The crew: Excellent
Appetizer: Bisque (of crawfish)
Main: Lamb chop

New Orleans

• Use cab from airport, stay in the touristy area, the other side of the city is very artsy.

• Don't take flat tire insurance from your car rental if you are not planning to visit the other side of the city, I didn't scour the entire city but most of it seemed debris free. The city/touristy side is definitely free of debris.

• Careful when you drive, avoid wet spot since it could be a deep hole that could break your car axle, beware, since there are lots of them in the city.

• If you want to drive, GPS device is a must:
• Not all street signs, at the other side of the city, are restored after being blown away by Katrina.
• The streets near freeway are spaghetti like.
  

• Never come to this city in October. It rains every 5 minutes!

• French Quarter is asleep during the day.

• The hyped Pascal's Manale is alright, if you could afford yourself being a tourist nowadays, you could have the experience in your city.

• Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the longest bridge in the world.

• Any Hurricane is better than Hand Grenade.

• "Big Al" Carson is alright.

• Go straight for Bourbon St in French Quarter @ night in October.

• NOLA takes reservation for the next 6 months.
  

New Cube in Santa Ana and File Server Going Kaputz

This is the condition of the cube in Santa Ana when I walked in Monday morning. Yes, it is open and spartan, but I got a window seat.

The boxes hold the computers from Jacksonville. I will post the cleaned-up version later.

Also the highlight of today: file server in Santa Ana blew up. A new instance of the machine was brought up quickly so the work could proceed by swapping the data drive to another machine.

I suspected that the machine might have faulty drive (well, it has failed once and it was a Dell desktop after all) and hopefully I fixed the whole machine by swapping the old drive with one from a cannibalized machine. The machine was swapped and joined to the corporate domain at the end of day.

After the mess died down, the workspace had the next attention.

Transportation

Back to the land of traffic congestion last Friday night, and I need a new transportation. Enter: Toyota Highlander 2008.

I am officially an active participant to the global warming, driving mid-size SUV 80 miles daily.

Willie Mae's Scotch House

2401 Saint Ann St
New Orleans, LA 70119
Phone: (504) 822-9503

Landmark restaurant, the gov, mayor and all of the big wigs plaster their plagues on the wall. But it is significant when Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) raised 200 grand to save Willie Mae's Scotch House after Hurricane Katrina landed on New Orleans in 2005.

It serves simple southern food: fried chicken and pork chop with choices of sides such as butter bean, french fries, cabbage, red beans.

Love and recommend the pork chops with the side of cabbage with rice.

Yes, the crispy skin of the fried chicken is delicious but I like the fried chicken from Publix better.

Last Day in Jacksonville

It was smooth sailing on Tuesday: the junk was laid out, squeezed into the Relocube, excess garbage was picked up, and in the afternoon Craig showed up to pick up the grill, along with Wayne picking up the keys and the ABF Transportation person taking the Relocube away, all at the same time. :D

Wednesday, the last day in Jacksonville, we left at 11:30AM, flying to New Orleans, LA.

My Junks in 6 x 7 x 8

Hellish Monday

Everything went well on Saturday since nothing much is being done, just boxing up my stuff and papers.

Joe swang by on Sunday and helped me squeezed the sofa into the Relocube. After that, everything went crazy. I packed a third of my stuff that night, not much since I was tired from moving the couch and mattresses.

Monday was hell, although it started well, I ran errands: buying cleaning stuff and ratchets to tie down the stuff, keeping them from falling on us when we open it in Pacoima, CA. Took Michael to have lunch with people from downtown, Ray and Jen from SCM also showed up. Went home packed some more, I thought that I still have tons of space, not knowing that I was dead wrong. Later that afternoon I asked Michael for help with storing the vehicle for time being. #*?!@. After renting the car, we went to have diner, I was packing again until 3:30AM in the next day.

Last Working Day in Jacksonville

Good bye cube, smell you later.

Subversive Mom

Working Late

Yawn! Another midnight testing going on again... And the environment is totally crapping out.

Norco DS-520

MFreeman pointed out Norco DS-520 to me. Product spec: here. Additional review @ engadget: here.

My, o my, should I wait for another 4+ bays NAS from q-nap? Currently the 401 is underpowered.

Luminous eye...

Luminous eye...
Originally uploaded by fofurasfelinas

Good luck! (click the photo for full context :)

There are several reasons I like this picture: First, it is a picture of a black cat. While it is sitting on dark background, instead of blurring the subject, it is actually increasing the depth perception and the sharpness of the fur texture. Wonderful.

Glancing at the photo, I thought that the cat deliberately closing it's right eye and the person who took the picture was waiting until the cat was doing so. Wow, I thought, having a cat that could do that and waiting until it did it. What a good combination of patience and luck, I thought.

I was wrong, browsing other pictures, I realized that it was a defect. Poor thing. It is a good picture nevertheless.

Interesting Articles From WtF

Going through the magazine (online) ... I found these interesting articles:

ASSEMBLY 2007 (2007-07-30)
more info: www.assembly.org

FINLAND - SAUNA, GRIT, GUTS AND KOSSU (2007-08-10)
Kossu, eh?

I also like the article about Minna Parikka - too bad, it doesn't have any picture, besides the cover.

Joined Technorati

Mr Late Adopter joined technorati, start whoring himself to the world audience.

Technorati Profile

I Hate .*LOB

Today's lesson : I hate .*LOB.

First pain: there is no working DBI-Oracle PM for Perl 5.6. Now I have to switch to my stand alone Perl 5.8 (according to IPhang: it should work).

Second pain: the ppm GUI decided to die after buffer overflow. I know: oraociei10.dll is 91MB and gzoraociei10.dll is 30MB. So I have to fall back to the olde ppm command line.

Third pain: Oracle connection string, which one to choose? There are tons of non-working possibilities, in the end I picked tnsname.

Fourth pain: DB schema hell - each legal document type has it's own table (whiskey-tango-hotel?). Must insert additional logic here.

Last pain: getting the CLOB value (thank god - no inserting for today). Reading through the pod, tons of non-working examples and hints, I realized that:

1. Must know the length of the CLOB in advance. (select length(CLOB) from table)
   
2. Set the LongReadLen to the length of the CLOB
3. Get the CLOB (select CLOB from table) - voilà - the magic works.

WtF Magazine

Welcome to Finland - not whiskey tango foxtrot. Thanks boing2.

Link - http://welcometofinland.fi/




WtF Magazine (Welcome to Finland)
Originally uploaded by JIMWICh

Generating XML Test File From XSD, part 2

During YAPC::NA::2007, I spent some time researching into the Perl modules for XML processing (after the controversial BeerBOF), and I was confident that I could get the project done using XML::SAX.

Also: I skimmed through the XML Schema (XSD) reference page, part 0, 1 and 2 from W3 Consortium.

Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner

Love it, since it tripled the goodness of my peanut butter sandwich.

But I believe it is inferior to Anderson IPA (richer in flavor).

Generating XML Test File From XSD, part 1

Several weeks ago, I was handed a test automation project, which tasks were pretty simple:

1. Upload several XML files (for several test cases) to a folder in a UNIX machine.
2. Execute shell script to upload the files to MQ
3. Validate the messages from MQ are picked up and processed by agents,
   
4. Make sure the data is properly placed at the database

All of the test steps, validation and reporting are simply automated with the help of Net::SSH::Perl.

Fortunately, the automation project didn't end there, the company is moving forward and it is working on receiving data from other companies/software systems (source). And in order for our system to be able to properly process the XML data from the source, I was informed that the developers from our side are sharing XSD files with the source developers.

The XML files are grouped by the type of legal documents and companies/software systems, and assigned with one XSD file.

Since there are multiple XSD files are involved, it is crucial that the QA team has the capability to quickly generate the XML test files to test the processing system and provide greater test coverage.

HTML Progress Bar

This is a pretty neat HTML progress bar hack that I found while reading through Barbie's presentation on becoming CPAN tester.

Basically, it is taking several monochromatic image files and altered the width to fit the ratio of progression.

<img src="green.png" width="75.4465161923454" height="16"/>
<img src="red.png" width="4.55348380765456" height="16"/>

I implemented it to sweeten the result page.

Great Halloween Swag

Interesting and wonderful - perfect for halloween costume. Filed it under 'todo'.



fDSC_4576
Originally uploaded by silvertje

First MP3 File From Amazon

I just bought my first MP3 from Amazon... since I got a new iPod nano from Apple, plus Marketplace.org has been raving on the website several times (subtle marketing - package a news with along with commercial interest).

The front page of the amazonmp3 was pretty amazing, it began with a proclamation of "MP3 Music Downloads for Any Media Player!". Yes, I was sold on that very idea, no DRM that's lurking in the darkness and pounces you whenever it wants to.

Going down the page: I saw lots of shiny albums, skipped, not interested. New songs: 1 2 3 4 was on #4 of Today's Top MP3 songs list, some old ones from Pavarotti on the right, and bla3. I wasn't interested, it felt pre-packaged and I don't like packaged stuff unless it is cubical.

Instead, I fired up Google and looked for theme songs from House, yes, I am a big fan of the series and the theme music/songs. Hmmm, found: "Are you alright?" by Lucinda Williams. Copy the whole thing and paste it into the search text box and quickly hit the Go button.

Your search ""Are you alright?" by Lucinda Williams" did not match any products.

What? Apparently someone need to fix the search engine.

Trimming the search to "Lucinda Williams" returned list of songs and I did text search of "Are you ..." and FireFox highlighted the title, ... bingo ...

Previewing the song was a nice experience (it played instantly without asking me which player to use), but it is a hit and miss experience since I had to select Real on several instances afterwards.

Checking out the file was a painless process, click Buy MP3 button, put in my CC# and info then I downloaded the file. Did I mention that the MP3 bit rate was 256kbps? Nice. Although I would bow down if it was asking me which format I wanted it to be.

After enjoying the song, I was happy that the store sent me the purchase statement. Double nice.

Now, let's browse for more songs! Maybe I could add a wish list, buy an album and ... everything just went downhill afterwards.

First of all. Stop pushing the tiny app called Amazon MP3 Downloader. Yes, I heard it gives you a free song, but it is a stinky one: I would prefer a song from The Eagle instead. Flickr could upload multiple files automatically, so why couldn't amazonmp3 do that in-reverse?

Second, not all songs are available, I am fine since the sharks need to iron out the details, but guys: at least jot down our wish list and notify us when paper battles are done.

Third, please add a shopping cart for MP3 files. It was a shocking experience when I realized that I could quickly buy 1234 in one click.

In the end I couldn't decide if I like the store. Yeah, it was stocked pretty well, but I guess it is alright. It is still in beta shape and I hope it gets better from here.

Pissed Off While Watching The Pissing Contests

In regards to RubyForge vs CPAN - http://www.oreillynet.com/ruby/blog/2007/09/rubyforge_vs_cpan_1.html

Dear advocate:
1. Why conduct statistical analysis on the repositories? It doesn't mean anything, I think it is better to dig into CPAN, compare the similar modules from Ruby and Perl, down to the features level. Simple statement such as:

... CPAN still has the edge in database interfaces, Apache libraries and wrappers for 3rd party commercial libraries, among a few other things ...

rang really hollow. We know Perl is better since Perl started first (Come to think about it: it is one of the main reasons why I picked Perl in the first place). Identify the modules which people would like to have first and work on it (not necessary porting it since I know tons of sucky PM).

2. I maybe wrong but I am pretty sure there are missing functionalities in Perl modules, identify them and the hordes will be more than happy to cover.

3. Don't you gloat: "We don't need no stinking Tie". Some guys just like wearing tie. It makes you look nice and trim, although it means choking O2 supply to the brain.

Let's get back to work. We got lots of holes to cover, bigger fish to fry and bugs to kill.

2006 Pinot Grigio by Wine Cube

I bought this from Target because of the nice packaging. Yes, I am a big sucker for cubic boxes, especially the avocado one.

Reading from the package, this is a Target branded product filled with the goodness from Trinchero Family Estates, St Helena, CA (a.k.a Napa).

Reading further, I found this excuse: Sensible - Wine lovers in Europe have been enjoying fine wines in alternative packages like this one for years. bla3. Eliminating two heavy bottles makes the Wine Cube savings and quality yours to enjoy.... (I hope Target doesn't DCMA the content of the box). But I guess I am sold.

I'll consume this with the left over lemon and pepper chicken tomorrow, we'll see if I made a mistake.

Tweaking Blogger's Template

I spend these couple of days learning and tweaking the template.

I found that the old (a.k.a classic) template to be cumbersome, and I like the new so called "lay-out" template better. Why?

Because the new one works, somehow the classic template is not functioning properly.

Using Prototype-B as the sandbox, I formatted it like a website now.

Remote System Monitoring

While scouring YAPC::EU::2007 slides, I stumbled upon this slide: Remote System Monitoring (w. Notes)
From: rgiersig, 1 day ago

Little Project Called Prototype-B

First, created a blog. Ya, I know the name is cheesey, but that is the only logical name available at blogspot.com.
Linked some documents from Google D&S to Blogger.com for demo.
Rearranged and edited the main page.

What A Crazy Week

It started early last Tuesday, and I was feeling good when the day ended: the impossible task of figuring out the proper data was completed.

Wednesday was another story. I knew from my previous experience, working on that JSP framework, that the LoadRunner script is bad if it wasn't properly scrutinized. After looking at the testing scripts I realized that I need to fix lots of scripts. Suffice to say that it was a long Wednesday night.

I wasn't thinking straight when the test blew up on Thursday morning, and spent the rest of the day wondering what was wrong and planned on the next testing cycle.

Friday was spent figuring out how to arrange the script in order for me to quickly update it when the application is changing.

Ran several tests on Saturday, figuring out the impact of changing the script. The result is not good.

Lookup Feature on nytimes.com

Find a word you don't understand while reading nytimes.com? Fear not, double click the word to get the definition, powered by these three entities:

1. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
2. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
3. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University.

French Pantry

6301 Powers Ave
Jacksonville, FL 32217
Tel: (904) 730-8696

Great deli, serves great sandwiches and desserts. Latisha took us here for her birthday lunch, I was very happy that day.

Louie Mueller Barbeque

206 W 2nd St
Taylor, TX 76574
Tel: (512) 352-6206
http://www.louiemuellerbarbeque.com/

Got it from Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

Get Directions

Create Your South Park Character

Just found this: http://www.southparkstudios.com/games/create/

Goode Company Barbeque-Kirby

Goode Company Barbeque-Kirby
5109 Kirby Dr, Houston, TX
Tel: (713) 522-2530

http://www.goodecompany.com/goodeRestaurantBBQKirby.aspx

Brisket, brisket and brisket.

Teo Chew Noodle Place

Brookhurst and Westminster - Danny brought me here.

Need to find out the detail once I am back.

Com Tam place

1st and Harbor Blvd. Favorite lunch place, relayed by Danny

Korean restaurant @ Culver Dr

Brent took me to this Korean restaurant in Culver Dr. 5S, exit Culver and turn right, the restaurant is on the immediate strip mall left hand side).

I forgot the name but they are the only one that sell pickled crab, which I haven't had since ... I was a kid.
On the side: they have a killer kalbi too....

Mojo Bar B Que

Mojo Bar B Que
1607 University Blvd W
Jacksonville, FL 32217
(904) 732-7200

Jay Carney recommended this place. Great BBQ, but I find the place a bit soul-less.

Din Tai Fung Restaurant Inc

Din Tai Fung Restaurant Inc
1108 S Baldwin Ave
Arcadia, CA 91007
Tel: (626) 574-7068

Crab meat and broth in little dumplings, steamed. People are gaga about this place, I don't know why.

Clark's Fish Camp Seafood Restaurant

Clark's Fish Camp Seafood Restaurant
12903 Hood Landing Rd
Jacksonville, FL 32258
Tel: (904) 268-3474

Stay for the wild/nature ambiance. Food is OK.

Barbara Jeans At Wards Landing

Barbara Jeans At Wards Landing
15 S Roscoe Blvd
Ponte Vedra Bch, FL 32082
Tel: (904) 280-7522

Rapin recommended this place, awesome crab cakes!

Felix Continental Cafe

Felix Continental Cafe
36 Plaza Sq
Orange, CA 92866
Tel: (714) 633-5842

The paella, cheap and good.

Yoshino Restaurant

Yoshino Restaurant
14181 Newport Ave # A
Tustin, CA 92780
(714) 730-3888

Patrick's Roadhouse

Patrick's Roadhouse
106 Entrada Dr. - Wait, is it PCH?
Santa Monica, CA 90402
Tel: (310) 459-4544

Get it from Food Network's Dives show, the caviar hamburger looks good.

YAPC::NA::2007 - Houston

Back to YAPC again after 2004 at Buffalo.

Bunch of pictures are loaded to flickr.com

Packing Now

Start packing - get ready to move back to CA

Perl iThread

Just finished playing around with threads module. I recommend this configuration for ActiveState Perl.
Perl 5.8.8
threads v1.58
threads::shared v1.04

Both ppm packages are located @ theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca

Insomnia Strikes

Arrrgggh! Can't sleep