Nothing is going to stop me from my destinyy…y…..hmm, why does that sound familiar? I just hope either Maxis or Digi is coming out with more attractive packages so I can get one for my Hong Kong trip. I reckon the camera is good enough to replace my DSLR cos’ I feel like going light and easy.

IPhone 4

Moron

I was furiously fuming in the mouth yesterday, unable to speak. It has been more than a decade since I last spoken to him. A long time ago, when I first joined the Facebook bandwagon, I found him through the throng of long time friends and I added him without any thoughts. After all, I didn’t have any strife with him back on those days although he was always the action-hero dude sitting at the back of the class.

His statuses were always bizarre, always obviously relating to his dick or nightly activities. I guess his online alter-ego is the greater manifestation of his reality self. I shouldn’t really care, he’s been the nutcase moron for as long as I can remember. My only mistake was assuming that everyone would grow out of it. Damn, was I wrong! On my last couple of posts in Facebook, he relentlessly wrote comments on them with his notorious style. Probably he was just trying to kid but I wasn’t really getting those jokes.

I sent him a message, asking him to stop commenting obscenely on my posts and this is what I get.

what the fuck if i do?? what will you do?..what u dare to do? what you fit to do? what u capable of doing? pls get violent…pls get violent… u stupid dumb shit camel fucking keyboard humping son of a bitch..if i catch u in ipoh during the break..u’ll have a freaking supprise..hope u worked out these few years..else it wouldn’t be pretty for you..

Yes, I saw some photos of his, with biceps and all. I guess he forgot one mistake that most people make. Muscles without brains usually end up as slaves. Moron.

When I was younger, I always thought movies are predictions from the wise about the future and I was right. The giant sinkhole that appeared in Guatemala, is a concrete proof that the 1959 movie, Journey to the Center of the Earth were really trying to tell us about a gargantuan void beneath the earth’s crust that houses extinct dinosaurs and living things.

Giant sinkhole in Guatemala

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070226-sinkhole-photo.html

There is a technique called double buffering which we could turn on from Form object itself. However, under certain conditions, this does not work for me. So, after further researching into the topic, I’ve found another solution; That is to implement double buffering myself.

There are two events we can override in the Form object namely, OnPaint and OnPaintBackground. What we are trying to achieve here is to repaint the background ourselves before the Form redraw the child controls. First, we override the OnPaintBackground and make it does absolutely nothing.

protected override void OnPaintBackground(PaintEventArgs e)
{
    // Do Nothing
}

Okay, here comes the interesting part. We will now declare a buffer to keep the background drawing, changing it only when the Form resizes. Needless to say, this would save a lot of reloading and redrawing of the image from file.

private Bitmap _dblBuffer = null;
protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e)
{
    if (_dblBuffer == null)
    {
        _dblBuffer = new Bitmap(this.ClientSize.Width, this.ClientSize.Height);
        Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(_dblBuffer);
        g.DrawImage(_backgroundImage, 0, 0, this.ClientSize.Width, this.ClientSize.Height);
        g.Flush();
        g.Dispose();
    }

    e.Graphics.DrawImage(_dblBuffer, 0, 0, this.ClientSize.Width, this.ClientSize.Height);

    base.OnPaint(e);
}

protected override void OnSizeChanged(EventArgs e)
{
    if (_dblBuffer != null)
    {
        _dblBuffer.Dispose();
        _dblBuffer = null;
    }

    base.OnSizeChanged(e);
}

That should do it. The flickering should have dramatically improved after this. The code is not perfect, so do post it in the comments if you  have any suggestions. By the way, if anyone knows how to preserve the codes tabbing with SyntaxHighlighter Plus, please drop me a mail. It seems to remove all my tabs after I save the post.

“I’m pretty sure the guys above have some pretty solid reasons for it.”
“It’s the standard company policy.”
“Please fill in the feedback form and include a photocopy of your I.C, front and back, and we’ll get back to you in three days.”

Okay, I copied the last one from a Singaporean movie, Just follow Law. But nevertheless, they are some of the most common responses. It reminded me of a quote by Albert Einstein,

“Insanity is about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

I can’t blame them. Many a time, they are practically forced to follow the standard procedure. “It’s the policy, we can’t change them.”, they explained.

Bureaucracy has it’s fair share of drawbacks. While having SOPs and policies help to manage the day to day operations with a proven track record, it does discourage flexibility and swift decision in the employees. This is especially true when they are being abused and used as an excuse on a routine.Take our TM tele-operators as an example. I can almost memorize their standard dialog by heart.

“Sir, can you pull out the cables from the modem/router and your PC, restart the PC and then plug the cables back?”
“I’ve done that. This is not the first time I called. The previous operator has asked me to run the preliminary diagnostic steps. Can you get a technician to come and support me?”
“Yes, we will do that, sir. But this is our standard policy. We have to run through the diagnostic steps first before we can escalate it to the higher levels.”

Sounds familiar? I am usually kind to operators because I know they are too, earning an honest living. However, my patience runs thin when year after year, the support quality remains the same. I’m not furious with the operators. I’m angered by the fact that their superiors have not noticed the problems. Having operators without the slightest clue about the technical domain is like hanging a Welcome-To-Insult-Me-Because-I’m-Dumb signboard on your back. I remember one particular conversation with their technician.

“I have problems with my upload. The download is fine, just that the upload is less than 50kbps.”
“Sir, why do you need the upload?”
I was dumbfounded but answered him nevertheless, “I need it because it affects my game experience.”
“Which game you play, sir?”
“World of Warcraft”
“Oh, sir. That game doesn’t require you to upload anything.”, he answered me confidently.

At this point, it was too much for me to handle and I slammed down the phone.

Recently, I stumbled upon a blog, maintained by a singaporean taxi driver. Further reading revealed that the blog actually gets up to a million hits per month. That is one phenomenal success by my book. The cab driver turned out to be a professor who has lost his job at a research institute he worked for 16 years and was unable to secure any other jobs in Singapore. Because of that, he resigned to a job which is still widely accepting candidates: A taxi driver. Not only his journals were well written, they were also well flourished with experiences he get from his cabbing job. I enjoy reading his writings not just because they are excellently written or for the fact he is a professor, but because of his courage of picking himself up from the ground and not giving up (In Singapore, a taxi driver’s job is the last resort for most citizen, thus, it is often regarded as the lowest rank of the society structure).

Ultimate Hypocrite

However, as with many other famous blogs, Cai Mengjie’s is no exception from hypocrites as well. While some flamed and hurled hurtful suspicions at his intention for starting the blog, some seemingly showed care and respect to the author. But how many comments are actually genuine, I thought to myself. I prefer to be a silent reader, appreciate each and every entry with my own interpretation and understanding of the moral found within.

So, here I am again, starting out as new guy in a overly empty office block. Funny that even after all these years, I could still get excited at a new job. The office is spacious and the temperature is decently conditioned and my desk is much bigger than what I had previously. I can already hear my desk welcoming me to the cubicle world. Oh, and the coffee here are awesome.

Bringer of Life

I especially enjoyed this morning. It started with a drizzle and stopped right when I reached my office. Some days, things work for you like miracles and I’m not complaining.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, folks!