And so it begins.

Finally, some replies to my resume applications. Got 2 interviews lined up for tomorrow. Geeze, it's been a while since my last interview, but I'm guessing that things haven't changed much; still the same old strength/weakness/5-year plan type questions. As usual, I bounced some ideas in my head while jogging tonight.

Wish me luck, y'all.

Worth the wait

My PMP class got cancelled today so I went to see "The Simpsons Movie" with my pal Casey. He managed to get tickets to the fancy smancy Director's Club for 1/2 price. So worth it. Cushy sofa seats, a hot dog and unlimited popcorn and drinks all for just $87

2 tubs of popcorn later, ooohhh...me belly. Damn popcorn. Once you get going, you just can't stop. Especially when it's a mix of caramel and regular salty. Mmmmm.

Here's a table from the lobby. The people in the upper left corner are the local celebs who voice the Chinese dub of the movie. Dude, why would anyone go to a dubbed Simpson's movie? It misses the whole point; it's like going to a Japanese sushi restaurant and ordering Fish and Chips. Comedy is one of those things that you just can't translate. I still cringe when I think about the hack job the local cable station did with the Chinese dub of "South Park"

Also in the lobby, life sized Simpsons!

Why am I looking so happy?

...coz I want to make sure no one sees me get obscene with Bart. Hey Bart, "EAT MY SHORTS!" HA!

Felt so good to be out on Saturday, went a little crazy with the credit card. Actually, it was a really productive day. I found a bunch of stuff that I'd been looking for, like a nice pair of black non-baggy cargo pants, nicely fitting sunglasses and yes, a toy.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I haven't been into toys for some time now, but this particular toy has a certain sentimental value. It's a reissue of the 1980's version of one of my childhood favorites: Soundwave! The Transformer who turned into a walkman. I wonder how many kids these days even know what a walkman is. There's actually a new 2007 version that turns into an MP3 player, but it's just not the same.

Guess mid-life is creeping up on me.

All Style, little Substance - part 2

!A while back, I wrote about the ridiculous ineptitude of my Samsung SGH-D528 phone. Today, I write to confirm that Samsung is nothing if not consistent. Presenting Exhibit B: the Samsung YP-U3 MP3 player:

This product is typical of the mindset of Samsung: designed for looks and nothing else. The YP-U3 has a sleek, simple aesthetic (sporting the look made popular by iPod) sure to appeal to many potential buyers. What kills the product is the functionality. In a word, it sucks.

Ironically, the unsuccessful "borrowing" of the iPod-esque interface is this device's worse deign flaw. The 5 buttons on the front (used for RWD, FWD, Vol Up, Vol Down & Previous Menu) are nice too look at but awful to use; they're heat sensitive so can easily press too lightly or too hard, or even accidentally press the adjacent button. And that goes for holding the device too, because any stray contact with any of the buttons will trigger them. Which means that after you've made your selection, you have to enable the KEY LOCK, which is really stupid because it means that any time you want to adjust the volume or whatever, you have to first disable the lock before selecting the button that you wanted to press. You can't just reach into your pocket/bag and press the button you wanted.

Which is actually a moot point because you you need to take the damn thing out of your pocket anyways to see where you're pressing. This is because the buttons are totally smooth and flat and provide no tactile interface at all so you don't know if you're actually pressing in the correct location, which means you can't just rely on blind touch. This problem is worse if you want to use the device in the dark because the buttons don't have any backlights.

Plus, the button labels are painted on, so what happens when the paint rubs off? You won't know where to press anymore!

Repeat: A damn stupid design. I'm just glad that I didn't have to pay for this crappy POS (well, I wouldn't have been buying a Samsung in the first place).

Samsung Sucks...has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

FOLLOW UP:

After a week of using it, I'd like to add the fact that the radio reception is pretty bad; stuck on Mono reception for 90% of the time. My old Sony could consistently maintain Stereo.

Also, there's no clock feature. Not a deal breaker but taking everything else into consideration, it's another nail in the coffin. I mean really, how hard would it have been to throw in a Time functionality? Not even Date/Time, just Time would have been enough.

Another idiot design: the microphone is located at the back. Which is stupid because if I want to record something, wouldn't it make sense for the mic to be somewhere other than the opposite side of the display and the buttons? What if I want to put the player on a table? If I put it mic up, I won't be able to see the display. If I put it display up, that means the mic gets muffled against the table.

D'oh...nuts (sorry, couldn't resist!)

After 18 years of watching my man Homer down dozens upon dozens of these pink badboys, I finally got my hands on one myself:

In celebration of the movie, Krispy Kreme has released the Simpson Donut. Mmmm, pink donut with tasty sprinkly things.....

BTW, finally saw "Transformers" today. Not bad at all for a movie that deals with giant robots that transform into cars and planes and giant scorpions. I so totally geeked out when I heard Peter Cullen as the voice of Optimus Prime; "One shall stand, one shall fall"

Oooh, goosebumpy.

Still alive...

...although hardly living.

I guess it's been a while since my last post. I'd like to say that it's because I've been so busy living it up that I haven't had time to write, but sadly the opposite is true. Well, not really opposite; I have been busy, but in the non-fun category. Work has been kind of busy, and I've been studying a lot lately.

Back in mid-July, I was transferred to another team. In terms of job security, it's an improvement (because my old project team is scheduled to be disbanded) but in actuallity, it's been a big let down. After so many years on my old project, instead of being promoted to a higher spot I'm stuck starting from square one at this new team. Now normally I wouldn't mind, but the fact is that the stuff I'm expected to learn is so dead-end that it's just heart-deadening. All that time and effort spent on learning about a system that's old and slated to be replaced. Really does nothing for me careerwise.

Which is why I've started down the road of self improvement. Resumes have been sent, courses taken and self-study books purchased. I started my first session of a PMP (Project Management Professional) Certification exam prep course yesterday. It'll come in handy because I really want to focus more on management work, and my current job title isn't really indicative of such duties (even though I've been doing lots of project planning in the last couple of years).

It's the resume response waiting period that kills me. Will they call? Did they get my resume? Was it written well enough? Yaaaargh! Right now, I so want to get the SITO position in HSBC, 'coz having such a big and famous organization under my belt is bound to be more useful than my current HK Gov't experience.

But the more I've been studying, the more I realize how little I know. It's really been a bit of downer. sigh...

Anyways, the most exciting thing I've done in the last month was a photo session for some friends of friend. Didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. Partly because the weather was just so insanely hot, but mainly because I've lost touch with portait photography. I've been doing landscapes so much that I've forgotten the feel of shooting people. Sigh again...

A final random thought. While driving to the shoot location, my friend played some old songs on her car stereo. One song that really resonated was Eric Suen's "Love Story pt 2" (孫耀威, 愛的故事下集).

Don't you love it when you listen to a song you haven't heard in ages and suddenly it seems to hit you in a whole new light? That is, because of certain experiences that you've acquired during the years, the lyrics suddenly seem so deep and meaningful?

When I listened to Eric Suen's song about 12 years ago I thought the lyrics were OK but a bit corny. But listening to it again today after certain events in my life...whoah.

Them oldies really are goldies.