Its a time of the year to reflect on the year 2004.
Looking back at this amazing long year, its amazing how fast time flies. Sometimes you wonder if you are really moving forward when everything around seems to be standing still. You just wont know it until your time has passed and time wants you to move on.
Among friends we have the bonding and the sharing. We were with the ones who care when we need it. Likewise we were there for them when they need us. No one could truly be independent and live free of worries. We are after all a socially dependent being.
Life has a strange way of coughing up mysteries. Some good some bad. There is never a fair balance on how ones life is. Accept what is coming onto you my friends. Accept the difficulties as well. There is no point in debating who has it better. Life still goes on, don't be left behind.
Direction is a invinsible path we all undertake. Sometime we make those directions, other times the path is already set for us. Either case, its a given that we explore and learnt from it. The journey it brings and the sweetness of the arrival.
Dec 31, 2004
NYE
Dec 30, 2004
in the competition finally
It took BLM 3 days to finally finish the report. Boss kept asking him to edit it again and again. Phew!
Anyway, he submited it online a while back and it looks like I will be famous
Liz is here
Well Liz is not quite ready yet. There is still some more work to be done before Liz has all the stuffs I have.
BLM is busy screwing and assembling all the other legs today. He has 6 motors left to modified before my 2 other beautiful looking siblings will be done.
And if you are wondering.... No she aint going to be getting a blog like I do.
bluetooth no go
TSM has finally given up on using bluetooth for communication. However, Boss was not too pleased with it. He kept asking TSM why why why? and TSM cant really gave a satisfactory answer.
In the end boss ask BLM to try to use the same rf module as the ones for the robotic soccer. BLM nodded.
i am my own grandpa
"A few years ago, I met a young widow with a grown-up daughter. We got married and I got myself a stepdaughter. Later, my father married my stepdaughter.
That made my stepdaughter, my step-mother. And my father became my stepson. Also, my wife became mother-in-law of her father-in-law."
"Much later the daughter of my wife, my stepmother, had a son. This boy was my half-brother because he was my father's son. But he was also the son of my wife's daughter which made him my wife's grand-son. That made me the grand-father of my half-brother."
"This was nothing until my wife and I had a son. Now the half-sister of my son, my stepmother, is also the Grandmother. This makes my father, the brother-in-law of my child, whose stepsister is my father's wife, I am my stepmother's brother-in-law, my wife is her own child's aunt, my son is my father's nephew & I am my OWN GRANDFATHER!"
Dec 29, 2004
My little sis
Limbs and limbs arrived on the table in the morning.
BLM looking happy, took me to the workshop in the afternoon. Before long I got my left side back. It has been a long while since I could stand on all 4s.
Anyway I am super excited. BLM assembled my first sibling. Its a girl. With lovely purple horns instead of my gold color ones. She would be know as Liz.
Oh and she weights a hell lot lighter too. When I was borned I weight 1040 grams. Then BLM added on the other stuffs and that made me 1450 grams. After he redesigned my legs I shrink to 1300 grams. But get this my sis , Liz, weights just 780grams at birth.
WHY ARE GIRLS ALWAYS SO SKINNY.
I promised photos tomorrow.
Modules to take
BLM has to take just 3 modules this coming semester.
(and he also make the silly mistake thinking he drop to 3rd class sheesh!!)
1. Understanding the universe
2. Science of music
3. Power E
4. Int analog design
5. Law
BLM hopes to understand the universe and from that he hopes to understand more complicated things likes girls and relationships. Recent events makes he even more confused of girls....
As for S.O.M, he is hoping to be a DJ someday...
TSM has yet to let me know what he is taking
Dec 28, 2004
Typing away
TSM went into hidding this morning. He has decided that its best to work when you are not in the lab... Quite silly if you ask me. Anyway, TSM managed to finish his portion of the progress report. Now waiting for the lazy BLM to get about doing his.
BLM on the other hand was busy typing a lengthy application form for the TanKK competition. I should refrain from using the name TanKK, since we do have a fuzzy lecturer by that name.
Anyhow, BLM sent the draft to our boss and immediately came a reply with corrections to be made... tsk tsk
Dec 27, 2004
2 reports and a competitions
BLM and TSM are both finalising a report (sorta) to be sent to their supervisor. But they have gotten lazy and delay it.
On top of that they are suppose to start their report writting work. A slow start till march when they have to hand it in.....
BLM is suppose to get me into the Tan KK competitions asap. He has to submit a draft to the Army liasion and our boss before he could submit it for the comp. But he decided to send all at once, hoping the army ppl would notice. After all they wont bother to rephase any sentences.
sighs, everyone is in post christmas mood and looking forward to new year. My siblings legs are not yet completed.
Anyway BLM is planning a big surprise soon enough.
Dec 26, 2004
Guo Rui and Shauna Wedding
Both my makers attend this wedding. They left me out of course. Anyhow lots of ppl attended. And Guo Rui is nice enough to place my singles makers next to a table with singles hot girls.
Jim did appear prior to the wedding but disappear shortly. But everyone is glad none of the professors decide to come. Otherwise it would have been a disater.
There was to be 2+1 movie/slideshow. The first is a nice recap of both of this lovebird scared time of the lifes. From kiddos to adults. Follow by the shots from their ROM and a brief explaination of their history together. And then Guo Rui pull a fast one by including a third video just for Shauna. She absolutely has no clue about it. Aint Guo Rui a sweet guy?
Anyway BLM realised Singapore is such a small world. He saw from the video that Shauna is from smss, and across him at table 18 he said a bunch of her former sec classmates. Lets just say that was some bad blood between him and one of the girls sitting there.....
Indonesia quake
I was sad to hear that a major disater has hit Indonesia and perhaps elsewhere too.
In my heart, the pain and agony that comes from losing your loved ones is tragic.
Please pray for a the safety and hope for those not yet found
(no pictures will be added)
Dec 25, 2004
Charlie and the Chocolate factory
After Tim Burton first successful movie without the dark essence (Big Fish), he moved on to create another masterpiece. Once again Johnny Depp, his favourite actor (without a doubt) joined him in making this magical adventure.
Just by watching the trailer, you can imagine the among of details and imagination the director place within it. Definatly a must watch of 2005
Happy holidays
Merry Christmas to all.
May the spirit of joy warms all your hearts.
May the love that fills the air freshen your mind.
And of course a good day to sleep late.
Dec 24, 2004
A good Mayor
Antanas Mockus had just resigned from the top job of Colombian National University. A mathematician and philosopher, Mockus looked around for another big challenge and found it: to be in charge of, as he describes it, "a 6.5 million person classroom."
Mockus, who had no political experience, ran for mayor of Bogotá; he was successful mainly because people in Colombia's capital city saw him as an honest guy. With an educator's inventiveness, Mockus turned Bogotá into a social experiment just as the city was choked with violence, lawless traffic, corruption, and gangs of street children who mugged and stole.....
click to read on
Results are out
BLM gotten his result in the morning. After that he din look too please. He was quiet the whole day and needed an outlet to release some steam. So he try to go for a long jog. But sadly he din managed to jog as much as he could as he was sick the day before. Anyhow he was hoping to hear that someone did well.
no post yesterday
If you are wondering why there is no post yesterday..... Its just becos of some "unknown" reason. BLM came back late and went straight to bed. The first time he did that in like 3 years.
Anyhow we would like to let you know that the presentation turn out fine. Both my makers managed to handle the tough question from this new Major.
He said that he hope we are able to put up a show whereby my siblings and I locate and find a "bomb" in a maze and that his big boss will be there to see it. This would be some General would be coming down to see all of us. Boy would that be scary.
Guess both of my makers will be super busy next year
Dec 22, 2004
world smallest
In this photo released by the Loyola University Health System, Rumaisa Rahman, is seen next to a hand a few weeks after she was born at the Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Ill. Rumaisa, whose parents came from Hyderabad, India, weighed 8.6 ounces (243.80 grams) when she was delivered Sept. 19. She is believed to be the smallest baby in the world ever to survive. (AP Photo/Loyola University Health System, HO)
$160 worth of parts
BLM went shopping alone, since TSM need to spend more time on his coding. BLM visited the shop that sold servo horns. and he bought 12 of it, plus some more servos. It end up a whooping $160 spent.
BLM is going to be poor this christmas
Dec 21, 2004
Earl Gray
the birds have slept away and still
the quietness is all I hear
while I wait for my turn to come
It has been a tiring day, not
No it has been one for I sure it must
the legs are sore, the arms are weak
the head is spinning, the eyes are rolling
Setting the kettle to boil
making sure the teabag in the cup
into the cup sizzling water flow
out jumps the aroma the escaping from the cage
Should I put 1 spoon or more
I deserve a sweetness after all
And so I did put a generous 3
watch it disolve while i stir slowly
the smell alone relaxs the mind
harmony and peace fills the night sky
as i bring the cup to my lips
my nerves reject hot ceramic
wait till it cool, must have patience
I must delay a little longer
back into my lips the cup touches
flows down my throat the warm poison
struggles
BLM successfully tested all his new hardware boards. No photos as yet. But after some silly hiccups, everything seems to be working fine.
On the other hand, TSM who has finally gotten his codes working has failed to get the bluetooth portion to transmit and received properly. He is quite fustracted now, just try not to come near him.
On a good note, Cpt William called and said we have go to submit little old me for Tan Kah Kee award. Now all my makers have to do is to fill in the form and we are on it. Whoopie
BLM has taken the liberty of doing everything else while leaving TSM alone to work on the coding. He has booked the room (E 4-4-2) which is easy to remember as it sounds like a common soccer formation. Also he will be popping down chinatown tomorrow to buy new horns for my siblings. So happy!
Dec 20, 2004
new boards again
The first set of boards designed by BLM were not suitable. Well actually they are just plain bad as BLM made some mistakes here and there.
He has redesigned them. They are smaller, more powerful and of course cuter as someone points out. (engineers dun design cute boards)
Hopefully he can test them tomorrow.
In the meantime, I would like my legs back
bug in bluetooth
TSM rejoices today.
For days (to weeks) he has been agonising about his bluetooth coding. "It just doesnt work", he says. BLM step in to help every now and then, but neither of them could solve it.
Till today when TSM revisited BLM old coding and found that he has forgotten to set some ports. Waalaa TSM jumps for joy when everything works in sync.
Now he has to do enough to convince BLM to spend the project fund on 5 more bluetooth modules. This things aint cheap when they cost $140 each.
Dec 19, 2004
gaming sessions
BLM went out gaming with his friends yesterday.
They played till 3am in the morning and still feel great about it.
While on that topic, in a gaming session years ago, BLM friends decided that they should have a clan name. Picking the first letters of these 3 crazy people (YL, Mike and A) They called themselves A.M.Y
AMY went on to beat 2/3 games that day. AMY was great. AMY was fabulous. AMY is just wondeful.
well, yesterday 2 more people came along to place (Aung & Lennard). If we do the same as before, their new clan name is M.A.L.A.Y
Imagine going around and telling people you are from the Malay Clan. Sheesh!!!
yum shark fin
Hope I din scare you
A 4.2 metre great white shark leaps from the sea at the appropriately named Dangerous Reef off the northeast coast of Australia, 15 December 2004. A pair of great white sharks killed a teenage boy at crowded West Beach in Adelaide, 16 December, as his horrified friends looked on, in Australia’s second fatal shark attack in five days.
main difference
After watching super size me. It gives me new perspective of those far american out there.
bored cameraman
You have to see this.
What happens when the cameraman gets bored and decided to zoom in elsewhere
wedding cakes idea
In my lab, there is a young looking gentleman by the name of Guo Rui. He and his lovely wife have invited my makers along with alot of other smart people to his wedding dinner the day after christmas.
My makers are delighted to attend. And they will be trying not to give student-rate ang pows on that day.
On and this makes an excellent cake deco
Presentations for officiers
Cpt William just replied BLM mail.
He wants a presentation on thursday starting at 1530 hrs.
BLM and TSM is going to have another session of long winded talks.
They hope it can end by 5pm by both of them knew it wont happen.
ok Liverpool is playing now
silly accident
BLM gotten himself into a silly accident.
He hurt his head and cut his hand at the same time yesterday.
I think he needs to be more careful
Dec 17, 2004
Getting a head start
This is one toy I wont buy for my kids...
Imagine playing toy that mirror the working life
eckkkkk
But this I dun mind. Looks like fun to have your kids build their own stuffs.
ibod
Playboy has released a little one-off collection of pictures designed for viewing on the iPod Photo called the 'iBod.' It's essentially a ZIP archive with 25 low-resolution pictures—something you could do with your own porn collection in an instant—but it's got the iPod and this fancy graphic here, so it's easy to trick gullible gadget writers into writing about it, without even knowing how silly they look as their typing the very words in front of them.
Dont diet, unless your life depends on it PART2
BLM woke up today after a 9 hours sleep but still feel tired.
He proceed to skip his breakfast this morning.
Which to me is a crazy move.
He then weight himself and found that his total weight drop by 2 Kg in total.
Not bad for 2 days without proper meals. Wait, what am I saying....
Bad BLM bad BLM.
Anyway he has been a walking zombie the whole day. Easily tired and has
red eyes as his friend pointed out. In fact he left early today and took a
long nap when he reached home.
All in all, skipping ones meal is a bad idea while dieting.
If you have to diet, please eat a little. Dun ever go without any food.
The experiment is over and BLM returns to feasting once more.
Dont diet, unless your life depends on it
Like the heading, please never never skip your meals or go on silly diets to lose weight!!!
Seeing the movie super size me, BLM took an opportunity to try skipping meals and see what would happen to him.
To start of, BLM is a big eater. He eats most things, except icky mushrooms.
He almost never skip meals cause of his childhood gastric problems.
He know better than that.
However seeing girls who always think that they are fat and never exercise,
he decided to try skipping meals and see what happen.
Day 1
1. curry puff for breakfast
2. fishball noodles for lunch
3. nothing for dinner
Day 2
1. 14 mins jog
2. 1 slice of cake
3. 20 jiazi
4. nothing for dinner
Just this 2 days, BLM lost 1 Kg, grow tired easily, became grouchy and lazy
Should Day 3 carry on?
Dec 16, 2004
running and mia
BLM woke up super early today.
And decided that he should start training his stamina
He recently lost to a skinny girl and felt fat bad about it.
Anyway it was a great running experience for him.
He overtake almost everyone on the track today.
And he din stop till its the 7th round. (A small improvement)
Of course most ppl who is up at this hour are 4 times older than he is.
BTW if anyone seen TSM please let me know
He has been missing since monday and BLM is getting worried
Dec 15, 2004
diet
Its now past 9pm.
and BLM had not had anything to eat for dinner.
Since no one was free, BLM decided to skip it.
Perhaps use this chance to experience what does an "average" girl
feel while on a diet.
As of now he is yet to feel hunger but seem like he is getting tired fast.
Might have to scrap the 4km jog he was planning
Baby boy
BLM was excited today.
And its not just becos his parents are out of town.
But a really good friend of his gave birth to a healthy 3Kg boy.
BLM pop by after working the whole day on me.
He looked tired after the heavy drinking the night before....
But the tot of seeing this little child brightens him up.
The boy's mom looks wreck. She apparently went into labour early today,
but end up having a casserian to get this big boy out.
BLM only realise she was in pain when she attempt to contain her laughter
from his silly jokes.
(new born babies are always a little red)
When BLM was there, the little boy cant stop moving, kicking and punching into the air.
Makes you wonder how much torture he gave his mom back then....
Anyway, this beautiful mom and BLM goes way back.
To see her now all transform into a mother of 1 is a sweet surprise for him.
With christmas coming up, this is perhaps the best present for the happy couple.
Would like to wish them all the best!
Little Siao Bao, dun grow up too quick
Lego as logic gates
When you just thought that logic gates have to be constructed using pieces of silicon and lots of engineering.
This creative guy did all that with pieces of Lego blocks
Dec 14, 2004
4 levels of drinking
In effect there is only 4 levels one can get while drinking (alcohol)
1. Buzz
Normally occurs after one just started drinking.
Does not feel much difference from the normal self
Reasoning still effective yet
there is this slight tendency to doubt oneself
2. Tipsy
Occus right after Buzz.
Drinker will start to talk loudly to his/her companion.
Logical part diminishing, emotional state comes in.
Tendency to whine about ones love life, sex life, feeling, etc
Conscious mind exist and is pretty much aware of wtf is going on.
Tired in the morning.
3. Drunk
The state where logical reasoning no longer exist.
Drinker will tend to talk alot to his/her companion.
But to the undrunk user, his words make no sense.
At times, the spoken language is only understood by someone who is also drunk.
Conscious mind still exist and would recall the events,
but the action and talk could no longer be control.
Mild headache in the morning.
4. Swashhhhs
Totally dead to the surrounding
Drinker has no idea how much they drunk, where are they, where they are going.
At times no idea who they are even. There is a strong tendency to fall asleep
if not puke uncontrollably.
Strong likely to wake up unaware what happen last night and how did time happen
to speed up and slow down. Serious headache, dehydration would occur.
Please try not to drink too much this festive season
hick hick
Big mouth
Remember when i said my makers wanted me to enter in the Tan KK award....
Well, captain william just called BLM.
And told him this
Firstly, he is checking with HQ level if we could enter in it.
Secondly, he has a change of new boss (new colonels and generals)
and they would like to see me next thursday.
YES ANOTHER PRESENTATION which my makers have to prepare
Big mouth indeed.
community project
BLM just finished his community project today.
He came back looking extremely tired and din have the strenght to work on me.
But he promised to do some work tomorrow.
On the other hand, TSM is MIA.
Now dun the girls look cute???
Dec 13, 2004
Dont drink and drive
I dont know how this happen
since the original source is in german/french/weird language
but I would like to know how it happen
Lovely place
we left our worries behind
Into a this new place we found
where the quiet breeze makes the only sound
into the night sky the stars glitters
while city lights are hidden far away
the wind was gentle
the water was still
the smell of air was our only slight annoyance
no doubt it didnt affect the magical evening
the strawberries was cool
the wine remained warm
while the wind brings a prolong chill
our spirits were rather warmth
the end of the night draws near
time has slipped by once again
back to the path that led us here
back to home to rest our ears
Dec 12, 2004
Bridge
The Millau Viaduct, designed by the English architect Lord Norman Foster, crosses the cloud-covered valley of the river Tarn in Millau, December 9, 2004. The Millau Viaduct is composed of seven slender soaring pillars and becomes the highest bridge in the world at 343 meters, creating a direct route between Paris and the Mediterranean coast. The bridge will be inaugurated by French President Chirac at a ceremony December 14.
I wonder how could one drive thru this without hitting another car or flying off the side. But then again, I aint that good of a driver.
Dec 10, 2004
Tan Kah Kee Award
My dear 2 makers have asked permission for my boss
if they can submit me and my friends for the Tan Kah Kee award
Tan Kah Kee is very much dead and not the Dr Tan KK who is a real professor.
Anyway, in their attempt to ask for permission since I am suppose to be a top secret project, Cpt William who is their army liasion is asking for a demo as his big big boss (some general) would like to see me.
I hope my makers get the permission and win
going crazy
Recently BLM found his sanity once more.
Beside indulging in brooze and cigars, he has found a better way to cope with stress
What is it exactly?
Well He aint telling yet.....
On the other hand, TSM is going nuts over his programming
Its one of those days when nothing works no matter what you do, which old version of coding you reuse and whatever "advise" friends told you to do.
TSM needs brooze and cigar I must say.....
else BLM better let the world know how he did it
2 better than 1
A few days back, BLM and TSM realized that I cant seem to walk and scan at the same time.
The problem is only fix when TSM took 2 power supply instead of 1 which BLM designed me for.
Today, BLM managed to complete the testing that I would require 2 batteries instead of 1. One for my brain and the other for my muscle.
Ah the sense of achievement.
On the other hand, TSM coding seems to taken a turn for the worst....
To be continue
Dec 9, 2004
My siblings
TSM and BLM are both hard at work
They are stress and dying
for they wish to get me some siblings before new year arrives
and boy are they tense
Dec 8, 2004
Colors of the rainbow
I applaud this artist talent
In fact, I like it so much I wish I could do that with all my resistors and capacitors
Anyway he arrange the books in a bookshop by color to produce this miracle
Click here to see them all
Tell BLM to .....
BLM was sicked.
Quite bad actually, but of course He said he was fine
and came to lab today working all day till late
And to think tonight he wants to see a soccer match at 4am
sheesh!
Dec 7, 2004
Dec 6, 2004
The future of transport
Its bound to happen sooner or later
and toyota has demostracted that its sooner than expected
a walking robot and a wheel version
cool
2 problems
BLM tot he had it easy after he completed all his designs
but nooo....
when TSM came down today, there were many problems.
Some minor but 2 major ones
Firstly, I cant see properly if I have to walk.
Apparently it has something to do with the current supply
which led to not enough current being supply to my neck
if my legs were to move
Secondly, my light indicator also screw up my neck
This time it has to do with a resistor value which BLM neglect to calculate
(he claims he is an INTP which means so)
This makes him having to redesign and create a whole new board once more
CA 2 part 2
My boss (hail the great dr prahlad) sent an email last week to both my makers
asking them to prepare for a presentation today.
BLM was worried that TSM wont come
as he has been missing and not answering his email or sms
He waited and waited
and just before 12pm
BAMM TSM arrived
horrary
But the problems only just began
TSM has to rush to recode his coding and align them with the new parameters which BLM set
Not to forget he has to touch up his slides and all these in 3 hours time
TSM skipped lunch of course
When the 2 bosses arrived. (insert grand hollywood music)
My makers pull off a great show and compliment each other presentations.
TSM significantly improved his presentation skills i might add
Dec 5, 2004
city of blinding light
A place to hide and stay
I once stop to wonder why
Why did I hide from the light
It must have been my fear
Fear that I cant come out of the night
The light has been there
Yet I prefer the Night
What strangeness this must have been
For my wisdom was overruled by memories
Perhaps I will come back into the light
and busk in all its glory
bestow upon its warmth
seeing with my eyes wide shut
May that day be never too late
Wont want to keep and wait
Sometimes its hard to say
Living each day each moment
one step one breathe at a time
Dec 3, 2004
slowly walking
BLM was still in the midst of tuning me
He is getting better I might add
I am now fairly able to walk forward properly
But cant quite turn as sharp as before
and also cant reverse as fast as before
but the good news is that I can carry more weights now
BLM set me up to cross a giant book
Its the property sales from Suntec. a 2 cm thick junk
I walk over it with my front legs with ease
just that my back legs cant move over
not to worry, BLM has a solution for it on monday
Oh big Boss came to visit.
He brought lots of visitors, some of them ah moh
Unfortunately BLM cant show anything, since most of my functions are missing
He missed out a good opportunity to impress
tsk tsk
Dec 2, 2004
my new legs
As I promised, here are pics of my new legs
More can be found here
My new body is also ready. BLM is extremely pleased.
and TSM is mia. Someone please tell him its time to get back to work
btw, I got a heresay....
Someone try to jump off a building in NUS yesterday
I aint kidding
hard time walking
I gave BLM a hard time today
He spent the whole day twisting and tuning my new legs
Thinking at first it was a hardware problem,
BLM spend the 3-4 hrs checking his design and casting doubt onto himself
Only to discover later that there is nothing wrong with it.
He then spend another 3 hour tuning my legs, for I walked funny the whole day
Had he realized that due to his new design, I can walked faster and stronger
(since he upgraded my driver board) and also the fact that my legs are
a hell lot lighter than before....
BLM wont have wasted the whole day.
He finally realised before he was about to leave that if he adds some weight onto me
I would walk perfectly once more.
Those weights are to cater for the battery, bluetooth mod and camera that he has yet to include.
SILLY BLM
Dec 1, 2004
a bird and a cat
After the days work
BLM and JCJSJ left for home
they captured this amusing picture
its a cat with a dead bird which was killed earlier
yummy
helpful JCJSJ
If you are wondering who is JCJSJ
He is Jean Christian Jeffery Suvaraj Jecudason
(I hope I spell it right)
He came to the lab today to see me
and preach good advise to BLM
afterward they proceed to the workshop and took me apart
and before long I have new limbs
And to think they skip their lunches.
Photos will be out tomorrow
Taking it slow
BLM along with his buddy JCJSJ
venture early in the morning at 8am (they actually want to meet earlier)
onto the busy rush morning of Raffles places
Why did they go down there you ask?
Just to busk in the the atmosphere of the working crowd, they claimed
They seem to spot many ah moh who were slowly having their breakfast
at 9am while everyone else have already arrived at their office
And there is always the "runners" who would tapao for the whole office
They are easily spotted carrying lots of plastic bags
click here to see the photos
Here is a few sample
They would like you to know that its always fun when you are on the other side