Sooo many things...

Well, so I didn't update the whole of last week cos for the most of the week, I was trying to setup a pilot plant dryer. That meant standing outdoors in 10 degree (celsius) weather and rain for 3 of 4 days. On the fourth day (Thursday), I was originally slated to return to the Windy City but unfortunately, the dryer had more problems than expected and my return was rescheduled to Saturday. It's a real challenge to extend your wardrobe which was packed for a 3 day trip and make it last for 6... I won't go into gross details but I thank whatever gave me the inspiration to pack extra underwear...

Just for my own future references and for any engineers out there, the sequence I did on the pilot dryer was as follows (Warning technical stuff ahead):
-START TECHNICAL STUFF-
1. Check the electrical connections for the control panel
2. Check the alarms and interlocks of system
3. Fix all mechanical/electrical problems

Issues I faced were:

1. VFDs mis-wired. The VFD for the mixer was wired to the feeder screw.
2. Faulty explosion panel on cyclone.
3. Wrong burner DPS.
4. Missing potentiometer on burner motor.
5. Lots of miswiring in the Control Panel.
6. Stupid control panel display.
-END TECHNICAL STUFF-

So because we didn't managed to resolve all the issues by Saturday afternoon last week, here I am, back in the plant to iron out all the kinks. Luckily, most of the problems have been solved in the last two days and basically when I arrived today, I just got to play around with the dryer and saw what corrections were made.

But even on my return to the plant, there were problems. I had a 735am flight so I left my home at 530am, figuring that since O'hare was only about 50 miles away, I had plenty of time in the morning. Unfortunately, it seems that a journey of 264000 feet takes 2 hours in the pre-dawn Chicago trafficc. That works out to be slightly below 30 miles per hour. No chance of me getting a ticket at those speeds. Needless to say, I had to take the next flight which was at 11am. The good news is that I completed about 25% of Mario & Luigi:Partners in Time while waiting.

So that was my week in a nutshell. I'll try to post pics sometime soon. And here's some insight into the game of Dota for the uninitiated. Cheers.

P.S. Go BULLS!!Beat Miami!! (Halftime score:59-30 Bulls)

Light Hearted Stuff

I'm goin to Loudon, TN tomorrow and so before I leave, I'm here to leave you guys a couple of cool/funny vidz. The first up is this Pen Spinning Vid. I always knew Asian kids could do this kinda of things, but these guys are really really pros. I can't even imagine how'd they do it, but I guess that's something else for me to do at the workplace during lunch!
Incidentally, Americans have never ever seen this sort of things in their lives before. I was doing the normal pen spin in school once and people were just staring and going like "Woah". And again at work, someone asked me, "Were/Are you a batonist?". Talk about different ways to spend time in exams...

Okie the next vid is in Chinese. It's a parody of Zhang Yi Mou's latest film, 满城尽带黄金甲 (Autumn Remebrance) that's slated for a 2007 release (I believe). It's NSFW and contains boobies. And it's long, but it's funny as hell. What better way to improve your chinese by watching South Park characters talk about boobies? Enjoy.

Okie that's it from me for now. Maybe I'll post in TN, who knows.

Nothing Much to write about

People have asked me if I intend to stay in the States. I have always answered, yes, but only to gain job experience. After all, America is the land of opportunities and from what I hear, home still has a "look oustide for talent" kind of mentality entrenched in the work force. Perhaps this will change as the old guard steps down and people like me step up to become future important people, but I cannot help but feel as if the whole world is fucked up every I look. In the States, you have this (8 minute video about how Bush has authorised near tortue and is basically a lying douchebag):
At home, you have the person who keep creating political posts for himself (because we are not ready to take over). And all around us, we see war in the Middle East, religious tensions in Europe, genocide and massacres in Sudan.

It's all very WTF. I guess I really can't say that living here is worse than living anywhere else. I'd just settle for living with friends and family. They are the most important parts of your life, not any state nor country that you reside in.

Quick Updates

Warning, the following link will only interest you if you are 1. A JiGoPek (Dirty Old Man) or 2. Have a potential to become 1 and/or 3. Like School Uniforms (on Girls, Jap girls). If you do NOT fall under any of the above mentioned categories, this Short Treatise might not be to your tastes. Having said that, I wonder how many of my readers will bookmark that website I just linked to... I can think of at least 3.

I've been dissing Lenovo for the last couple of posts but I'll give credit when it's due. The tech support was blazing fast(!) in returning my laptop to me. I sent them my laptop, along with the network card via DHL last Tuesday. It got returned to me, all fixed up, on Friday. Wow. 3 day support. That's a rare rare sight indeed. Albeit it was only a 5 minute installation at the most (if you could unpry the goddamn rest pad), judging from the pictures in the Lenovo manual.

Lastly, I'm going to TN next week to observe the installation of a pilot dryer. The boss told me very explicitly to NOT blow anything up. Hopefully, achieving that goal will take 0 effort on my part. I'm kinda busy this week as we have a deadline to meet on Friday so this might be the last post till the weekend.

10W97WY

I am case #:10W97WY. My frustration has been numbered and duly noted in the Lenovo system. A mere alpha-numeric designation cannot even begin to describe the agonizing process of getting my laptop to be wireless enabled. Such a freaking pain. I just hope they can get the laptop back to me by next week before I fly to Knoxsville.

With this, I (feverently) hope that my Lenovo will come back to me all fixed and ready to go and I can put this whole saga behind me.

In other news, step 1 of my plan has been completed. Unfortunate but predicted obstacles have been revealed. I wonder how this is going to pan out.

Tech News

So Google bought Youtube and as the article says, reactions to the deal are very varied. It'll be interesting to see how Google actually makes money off of Youtube, although I doubt that even if Youtube/Google is sued into closure, the legacy of viewing media online will end.

Well, my Lenovo (IBM) saga is still continuing. I bought a wireless adaptor card of the laptop but no matter what I tried, I couldn't get the laptop dismantled to instal the card. Calling tech support was of no benefit. All they could do was read the instructions off the online manual and tell me,"If you can take off the keyboard sir, the wireless card panel is right underneath." And Lenovo pays people to say this? A simple automated voice message that says "ALL YOUR BASES ARE BELONG TO US" would do the job equally well. So now, instead of being able to setup my laptop like 2 weeks ago, I have to send it to Lenovo to install the damn adaptor for me and then wait for them to send it back. WTF is that all about?!

Oh well, at least if I do it soon, the laptop should be back by the end of the month. Then I can retire this Toshiba for good.

Phonetically Speaking...

I'm sure some of it is right. But if I were to play the game, I think I would have to physically force my face to remain straight. Unfortunately, those people who don't enough foul language of hokkien origins will not be able to get the following clip, but for those who do, it's hilarious. Enjoy. Kudos to Ah Seng for pointing this gem out to me.

メイタンテイコ-ナン！！柯南名侦探

Wow, I love Detective Conan and now there's a Detective Conan Drama coming out? That's too good to be true. Especially with it's bevy of babes. Here's the trailer. Enjoy.

Many Musings

The first and perhaps most important, BE VERY VERY CAREFUL when you order a Lenovo (IBM's former laptop/desktop business to you out of date cretins). The website is very deceptive. Apparently, the laptop I just (as in 1 month ago) bought doesn't come with an integrated wireless network card as a standard package. Why is Lenovo so stone-aged I don't know, but if you go to their website, and try to order a Z61M, you'll have to read very closely to even understand if they are bundling the network card with your laptop. In fact, even after reading it like 4 times, I still don't understand if it was a miss on their part or misleading advertising. But still, I think it's irresponsible for Lenovo to use such confusing options on their website.

But let's move on from a company that, despite their huge business, has a lousy setup to an up and coming start-up. It might still only be restricted to sales in Singapore at the moment, but you have to dream big and aim far andFleamarket!has all the makings of a sleeper hit site. So go and check it out!!

Well, speaking of Singapore, when I first came to the States, I was intent on getting a job here after graduating and then work a bit for experience before returning home. Nothing beats friends and family and local food. However, after taking a look at the recent turn of events, home has just turned a shade more worrisome. Since this blog is not political, I'll leave it as that, but I'm sure that what's been reported is just the start of something much bigger. Paradigm shifts can occur instanteously, let's see how this whole thing plays out.

最後は僕のりょうしんだ。最近はかれらから”仕事を勤めてるから、かのじょを探しなさい”の感じだ。僕のりょうしんはとてもとてもいい人だけど、これでやりすぎるよ。僕のみらい、僕のあいぼうはじぶんでさがす。ほかのひとはじゃましないでよ！ハイ。。。

When I work a little bit more, I will post a comparisons type of post. Till then, I leave you with a piece of advice, Sukeban Deka is absolutely discontinous and illogical. Watch it only if you like Japanese babes (who also happen to be part of the Hello Project).