Edo Random Thoughts

It's not about what you see, it's about being seen

2011-05-18T00:15:00.000-07:00

Image (c) http://www.sxc.hu/ user: reuben4eva

It's starting to get dark. I turned on my car's lights.
"Man... you're getting old. Can't see those cars already?"
My friend was mocking me.
Of course I still can see those cars. That's not the problem. It never was.

I learn that many drivers may not see me. That's my concern. When I uses my sun glasses, it can be hard to see when I drove through a tunnel. Some drivers may not be able to see me, and that's dangerous for me.
Sometimes in our life, not being seen is a bigger problem than can't see the others.
When your boss walk through the hall, you will notice even if you don't see him yet. There's a moment of silent that we can feel.
But does your boss see you? When there's a vacant position, will he notice that you can be promoted to fill that position? Or you prefer to choose being invincible?
It's not always about what we can see.Sometimes we need to be seen.

GPS: Will we stop for direction too?

2011-01-31T17:29:00.000-08:00

Cellphones is already taking us away from our surroundings. Many Blackberry users don't spend much time with people near them. At least that what we have in Indonesia. They heavily use BB messenger, IM, emails, and other applications instead of communicating socially with people around them. It brings far people closer, but push nearby human beings away. Probably that's why Nokia no longer use 'connecting people' as their tag line.

The most favorite feature on my new Android phone is the GPS navigation. Garmin GPS Navigator probably the most popular GPS navigator. If you are a pro, you probably would think to use a specific device like that. I don't use GPS that much, so my Samsung Galaxy 551 is good enough. To be honest, it's good but not 100% reliable. It predicts travel time from my home to office in 19 minutes. Something I do everyday in 1-2 hours!
However, I don't feel that I want it to be better. Will we also stop asking people for directions?

Devices get smart: we are close to judgement day already?

2011-01-31T16:48:00.000-08:00

Recently I purchased my first smartphone ever. I choose Android platform. I chose Samsung Galaxy 551 as the phone model. In short, I quickly add my Gmail account. I have several Google hosted email accounts, and I want to get all the emails on the device. That's why I chose Android at the first place.
I was amazed to see how all my Google data can be sync to the phone. Once I logged in, I saw all my contacts downloaded. Wow! I love cloud computing!

This is fun. That also makes me think: can we have all our preferences on the cloud? Imagine this: where ever we go, all electronic devices around me will know our preferences. When we stay on a hotel, we simply give our credential.

The air conditioner will know the temperature we like.
The TV will suggest channels and shows we prefer. Something like YouTube does.
The water heater will adjust the temperature.
The light will dim just as bright as at our home.
and so on.

Wouldn't that be great? However, I understand that it might be scary too. Do we get close to Judgement Day?

Dikontrakkan rumah tinggal

2010-10-13T17:46:00.001-07:00

Jika anda butuh untuk mengontrak rumah di kawasan Bukit Golf, Cimanggis mungkin dapat mempertimbangkan mengontrak rumah saya ini. Rumah ini baru dan belum ditempati, kondisi masih asli seperti pada saat serah terima dari developer. Kami belum bisa menempatinya dalam waktu dekat, jadi akan kami kontrakkan lebih dulu.
Lokasinya dekat dengan akses tol Jagorawi, dan untuk keperluan sehari-hari bisa ke Cibubur atau jalan raya Transyogi/Cileungsi. Di dalam kompleks juga ada sport center dan Starmart.
Bagi peminat serius, dapat menghubungi saya di 0817-654-5074. Tanpa perantara.
Kami mengontrakkan rumah ini minimal 2 tahun.

Foto Rumah

Spesifikasi

Luas Bangunan/Luas tanah: 65/96
2 Kamar tidur
2 Toilet
Carport

Peta Lokasi

Jika anda tidak dapat melihat map di atas klik di sini untuk membuka Google Map di browser anda in a larger map

Do You Pronounce Correctly?

2010-05-04T02:48:00.000-07:00

Late last month, I went to Singapore. No, not as a tourist. I have a training there, and to get certification for Autodesk Revit Architecture. I always like Singapore. It is a nice country. Very clean, neat and has everything in order. I usually don’t have any problem about language in Singapore. It’s not that my English is excellent. But I can communicate with most people there.

However, this time I did feel some difficulties in communicating with the taxi drivers. Don’t get me wrong, the taxi drivers are very professional. But communicating with them is not always easy.
The time I arrived in Singapore, I took a taxi to Symbiosis, Fusionopolis Way. Either the place is not so popular or it is a new place, the taxi drivers looked confused and ask:
“where?”.
“Fusionopolis…”
“Huh?”

Luckily, I had the map from someone in the office, and printed it. I show it to him, he needed a few minutes before actually know where it is. Lesson number one: The taxi drivers don’t know every location. Even Singapore is not that big, some area is not always popular. Unless you go to somewhere popular like Changi or Orchard rd. Four times I took taxi to that place, none of the taxi drivers know the location!
This experience, made me feel that I need to write or have a map for every place I want to go in Singapore. So after I get to the hotel, I wrote down the hotel name and address. I was right! I had this conversation when I need to go to my hotel:
“To Balestier, Fragrance hotel”
“What hotel?” He looked confused…
“Fragrance, in Balestier”
“I know Balestier, but I don’t know there is a hotel with that name…”
I handed him the hotel name and address I wrote before
“Oooo… Pa gan… I see… see… “ Then he continues talking
“You are not from Singapore, aren’t you? Your pronunciation is not familiar to me…” Then he is smiling…
“Nope, I’m from Indonesia”
I don’t have that problem with the other taxi drivers. So I believe it’s not completely my pronunciation. I pronounce it fraygrnss. Just like in the dictionary. Well, more or less… probably not 100%, but I believe close enough.
From this experience, I now I need to prepare myself to mark my map my destinations. If I don’t take taxi, at least it will be easier when I need to ask someone. And my (also yours) pronunciation might not be clear for some people. Even if you come from English speaking country!

Generation Instant

2010-05-02T21:49:00.001-07:00

I’m not sure who are the advertisers trying to impress. They are creating new ‘cool’ words. Gen-X, Gen-C, etc. They are using Gen-C to describe people who visit their new mall. How come you call them ‘Generation Creative’ or generation something by places they visit? I would like to call this generation something to: Gen-I. Generation instant.
People today don’t want to wait anymore. They don’t enjoy the process involved to achieve something. They want the result. And they want it fast. Can’t you believe that small stuff like slow internet connection can easily frustrate them? If they have to wait for a few more seconds, they are going crazy!

If you see the advertisements, the media, all are selling the same thing. You want to get healthy? You can buy juice in a box. No need to wait. You can buy almost everything in a can these days. Even if you can’t cook, you can impress your husband and kids by using ‘flavour enhancer’ like MSG. There are some health consideration of using MSG. But who cares. They’ll put it more than necessary just to impress people. Why do they need to give effort to be a good cook if you can do it within five minutes? And they who are actually can cook, will advertise and create some recipes for that ‘flavour enhancer’. Why not? Cheap instant things do sell!
There are nothing can compare the fresh juice. In some countries who are not very lucky like my country, they probably need to can their food, to make it lasts longer. The poor thing about it, they manage to sell their not-so-fresh food with a label. So now people who can get fresh things, thinking ‘It’s not cool if you don’t buy expensive and not-fresh thing with that label!’
Take a look around you. Do people around you prefer to use instant solution, even there are better solutions for it? Do people like to DM you via facebook or Twitter than calling you or come to talk to you?

Blog Baru :)

2009-11-29T19:38:00.001-08:00

Sesudah beberapa lama menggunakan WordPress, akhirnya kembali lagi ke Blogger ;)

Seperti yang pernah dibilang Ilman, blog pribadi gak usah pake hostingan. Ribet. Ada benarnya juga. Jadi saya memutuskan untuk pindah blog. Berikut domainnya gak saya pake lagi. Karena lama-lama kok kurang sreg dengan yang lama :D Plus… sambil bantu-bantu mempopulerkan domain web.id. Dan tentunya… murah ;)

Beberapa waktu yang lalu, saya dua kali mengalami ‘unidentified error’ di hosting saya. yang pertama lama dan sangat mengganggu. Lama baru hosting saya memberi kabar masalahnya. Sesudah masalah kedua muncul, saya mulai frustasi. Soalnya satu blog masalah, yang lain ikutan masalah. Yang ini saya diskusikan di forum ProBlogger, mereka bilang ‘ganti hosting aja!’.

Ah, tapi cukup lah. Keluhan soal hosting lokal udah banyak. Apalagi hosting Indonesia terkenal suka rewel. Ngelarang script ini-itu lah… Daripada puyeng, saya pindah ke blogger. Gratis, space besar, reliable (ketimbang hostingan kemarin), dan saya gak puyeng sama masalah teknis upgrade platform WP, plugins, dll.

Blogspot lovers, jangan buru-buru pindah ke WP. It’s not that good anyway…