Recap 2007

I'm never really a big fan of New Year. It just happened to be the start of a randomly chosen counting system. Hmmm.. I think it's not random, but what is the significant of the first day of the Gregorian calendar? It's not the end of winter, not the day of longest sunlight, not the day the sun is closest to the equator... Can someone who knows tell me?

Anyhow, it's a good day to reflect. So I'd do so.

A good thing about writing diary or now blog is that it helps to retain memory. So I can look back and say "Hey! I did that and it's cool, let's do it more!" or the opposite. Here are the list of things I recalled, in no order.

• I started watching 20mins Sitcom because it is not too long and is funny. Started with "How I met your mother" and then "The Class" and currently watching "The War at Home".
  
• I had the longest moustache and goatee since I last clean shaved on November 17, see my photo taken on 23/12/07.
  
• I started jogging and cycling. And I enjoy it.
  
• I went to Europe the first time in my life and presented my first international paper. This is blogged about a lot in September 2007 and here: Amsterdam | Modena | Venice & Florence | Pompeii .
  
• I went to Shanghai for the final translation job with the company and had a blast shopping. It was a pity I didn't write much about it.
• I had a holiday back home for 2 weeks. Sweet!
  
• I modelled UWA in 3D took a lots of pictures of it. It started as a photo popup, and later become a full modelling.
• Our UWA team got into the top 3 of Google 3D campus competition (Aus/NZ).
  
• I started using Google Reader with 39 RSS subscriptions and reading friends' blog is easier than ever. I also have a shared reading list here and on the sidebar.
  
• I met up with my cousin in Perth.
  
• I become a pseudo-vegetarian - vegetarian on normal days and while I'm cooking, whatever on special occasions and when others cook. Constipation is history.
  
• I finally had a plan to finish my phd and was working hard towards it. Started seriously writing the thesis.
  
• I got a song dedicated to me, or more accurately to my heroic twin.
  
• I got a book with my name and stories in it when the author left us.
  
• I switched bank for high interest online saving, from BankWest to RaboPlus.
  
• I met my minister and helped up with the 50th Merdeka Celebration of Malaysia in Perth Convention Center.
  
• I made several huge posters using my Chinese text art program - Winthrop Hall, Shih Ching & Rina's engagement and Joe's wife birthday. Maybe I can make it commercially viable.
  
• I ate out a lot this year, the most frequent in my life to the point that me and my housemate ran out of places to eat. Taka, Hawker Cuisine, Big Bowl Noodle House, Analakshmi, Stuzzico Pizza, Subway, Dragon China (聚龙阁), Bateman Fish Head Mee Hoon and Utopia are some which I like.
  
• I organised youth events for AMWA and made some new good friends.
• I took 5179 shots of photos and videos!
• I blogged 103 entries to this blog.
• I donated blood the first time in my life.
• I did not join Facebook.
• I joint Adsense in July and had 2,992 page impressions, 9 clicks, 0.30% page CTR $1.08 page eCPM and $3.23 profit.
  

This list may grow when I remember things.

And now it's new year. 2008. Happy New Year! And hope it'll be a good one for you and me.

How I met your Mother theme song

I really like the CBS sitcom "How I met your Mother", so today I decided to play the theme song with my guitar. I did some search on internet for its chord and found that its name is "Hey Beautiful" by The Solids but had no luck with the chords. So I cracked it myself and here is the guitar chord. Sounds pretty like it.


C C#
A C#m F#m A D F#m Bm E
A

Tab:

C C#
|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-|-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-|
|-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-|-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-|
|-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-|-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-|
|-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-|-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-|
|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-|-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-|
|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-|-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-|

A C#m F#m A
|-5---5---4---4---|-2---2---0---0---|
|-5---5---5---5---|-2---2---2---2---|
|-6---6---6---6---|-2---2---2---2---|
|-7---7---6---6---|-4---4---2---2---|
|-7---7---4---4---|-4---4---0---0---|
|-5---5---4---4---|-2---2---0---0---|

D F#m Bm E
|-2---2---2---2---|-2---2---0---0---|
|-3---3---2---2---|-3---3---0---0---|
|-2---2---2---2---|-4---4---1---1---|
|-0---0---4---4---|-4---4---2---2---|
|-0---0---4---4---|-2---2---2---2---|
|-0---0---4---4---|-2---2---2---2---|

A
|-0---------------|
|-2---------------|
|-2---------------|
|-2---------------|
|-0---------------|
|-0---------------|

Happy Birthday to me

It was my birthday on Wednesday. I'm 28.

This year birthday came a bit unexpected. I was busy with things and suddenly I realised my birthday was approaching in less than a week's time. I went to get myself a portable hard drive on Saturday as I've been thinking about it for awhile. My internal hard drive is giving me a bit of problem and I didn't have enough storage space to empty it and give it a good formating. I suspect the file index table is the problem as I can copy a file to the drive and read it, but once I move the file within the drive, it will not be accessible anymore... Anyhow.

My lovely housemates Yeeting and David got me a chocolate mud cake at slightly before midnight. It was a surprise. Yeeting and I were watching our new found pastime How I met your Mother in my room while David was studying for exam. And half way through the show David suddenly came in, turned off my light (and I thought "thanks, that'll make the cinematic experience better") with the cake. :D
It was very nice. And I haven't had mud cake for a long time.



It took us 4 shots to get the cake into the photo, haha!

Stayed up late that night and Liangliang called me at 2am+ as she got the daylight saving the other way round. Haha!

I didn't go to lab as testified by Shih Ching on the day. Had a bit of Birthday blue thinking about my life, uncertainty and work after PhD.
In the evening I went for a cycle along Matilda Bay. Fantastically refreshing.

Then I decided to have Stuzzico pizza at East Perth. So David and I drove there at 6:30pm and found it's closed by 6pm. Bugger! Then I remember there's another branch on Hay Street closer to the city, so we went there and found out that they are close too.
Disappointed, we walked about that restaurant area and found the Love and Care Cafe which often caters for Malaysian event. So I decided to give it a try. We had Mee Goreng (fantastic, spicy, the sauce is great. 5/5), Mee Soto (Ok, rice cube a bit tasteless, 3/5) and a Nasi Goreng L&C (fantastic, fluffy rice, 5/5) and air bundung with cincao.
The serving of food is quite small, so two of us easily finished the three mains. It was very satisfying.

Then at about 8pm, Rina, Shih Ching, Jason, Lilian and later Alex came with a homemade cake by Rina. Rina called me and let me know she'd come but I didn't think about what to expect. So it was a crowd and a cake I didn't expect. Thank you so much.


Green tea icecream cake with my name in chocolate. :D~


I thought this shot is really cool - two different shirts about PhD and me caring about nothing but the cake.


The cake is really delicious with full flavour of green tea. If you want to taste it, check this website for Rina's new venture - cookies2sushi.
To my nerdy brain, the name sounds like a program that takes cookies and chucks out sushi. Ooo... look at the inside of the cake.


Thanks everyone who send me blessings through sms, msn, phone, email, physical gifts, transferred hug, and telepathy thoughts.


p/s: I went to Stuzzico again today to nail the pizza I missed. The rocket/salmon pizza is absolutely awesome! Highly recommended. Best pizza outside of Italy I had. I'll try the prosciutto pizza and panini next time.