Category: General

Used Nikon D50 Kit For Sale

Since Mudah.my has decided to be Susah.my (again) I have decided to post this item here, on my own blog. This is my old DSLR, fully functioning and very much loved. It’s for sale as I have upgraded to a faster camera suitable for shooting children in normal and low lighting conditions.

Here’s the same text I posted in Facebook and Mudah:

Nikon D50 kit (with 18-55mm lens)

Shutter Count: ~17636
Purchased on 1 August 2006

Great camera for beginners, and 2nd body for slow moving or static subjects. Tough body, no defect in function. Complete box, including *expired* warranty card and manuals.

Reason for selling: upgrade.

I love this camera but I am unable to bring 2 bodies out, and it has been sitting in the dry box for more than a month. Such a waste for a such beautiful body.

COD/view in Cyberjaya/Putrajaya only. You may request other areas if reasonable.

Serious buyers only please. Send me an email: ady at romantika dot name

Sorry, I don’t dare to ship internationally. If you want it shipped to other states, I might be able to consider it but you’ll need to cover the shipping cost.

Here’s a link to the public Facebook album (visible to everyone) containing this camera and other used items for sale.

Some Tips For Fresh Grads

I had to go through quite a significant number of resumes the other day, and here are some tips for fresh graduates out there.

  1. Try to make your resume short. 2-3 pages is just nice, 4 is too many. Skip that section listing your primary school results and hobbies. What good does it make if your hobby is “playing video games”? Unless of course, you’re applying for a Game Developer position.
  2. Employers take an average of 30 seconds to scan through your resume, make sure yours stands out. Put in more bulleted sections and use bold words wisely.
  3. Use professional looking email addresses. Consider something using your own name. Something like [email protected] is nice. Also, it’s understandable that popular names are hard to get so you can try putting numbers in the end. It can be your birth year, current year, or just some random number you like for example [email protected]
    Avoid these examples:

    • [email protected]: too long and hard to read
    • [email protected]: employers are still unsure you can do a good job even if you’re cool. Unless of course you’re applying for a showbiz position
    • mohd.ali@sexmagnet.com: an actual domain offered by a popular mail forwarding service. A big no-no. You get the idea.
    • [email protected]: is a freakishly long email address, even if it’s your full name
  4. The BEST thing to do is create an email address specific for job hunting. Emails are searchable, and employers might find some activity they don’t like from forums or other public sites
  5. Protect your Facebook page and any other social tools you own. Employers do scour these you know. If you’re sure you have not done anything naughty, it’s fine.
  6. In your cover letter, do not demand for an answer. Instead of “I hope to be called for an interview as soon as possible” try “I hope to be called for an interview to explain my credentials further“
  7. When someone has already emailed you to ask for your complete resume, do not use “TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN” in your reply email. It’s rude. Use the person’s name be it an HR person or a Technical Manager. Also, do not send an email with empty body and only attach a resume in it.
  8. Be firm with your answers. Do not use “maybe”, “I think so”, “Errr…”, or “Can you call back later? I am busy with something”. However if you’re driving you should tell the person calling you and ask for a callback. You are no use to any employer if you’re dead.
  9. If you have bad hand writing just like mine, try your best to write each letter at a time. It’s super easy to confuse an “i” with an “l” or and “l” with a “1” or an “S” with a “5”. When emails get bounced, do you think the employer will try again? Maybe yes, maybe not. Why take chances?
  10. Talk clearly. Even if you were sleeping, once you realize that you are receiving a call from an employer you should wake up and clear your throat. If you’re in somewhere noisy, consider getting away from the noise source if possible.
  11. If you really have to include a salary expectation (not recommended for fresh grads), do not put in a range. Put a maximum expectation and discuss with the employer once a real offer is on the table. 2500-5000 does not make any sense as the range is too wide.
  12. Last but not least, research the company and the position you’re applying for. Get as much information as humanly possible. If you ask “What position am I applying for?” it shows that you’re desperate for a job and are not applying based on your interest in the position. It is okay however, to ask more information about the company.

In summary, when contacted take it as a big opportunity even if you are not a fresh graduate. These days one job opening may have hundreds of applicants, so a simple mistake that annoys employer can mean that your resume and cover letter end up in the shredder. It’s that easy to be disqualified, really.

Always remember that the employer representative communicating with you is a human. That’s the most important thing of all.

Good luck. I hope this helps.

There Are Still Uncivilized People Using The Internet

Sad to admit, but it’s true.

I am helping a friend to get rid of a very old HP laptop but instead of throwing it in the trash I decided to try and sell it off at Mudah.my so that he can get a netbook.

I am not surprised to receive quick responses from the site, but this is evidence of Malaysian (Streamyx IP) being a moron and a pain in the butt. I am unsure of the real purpose of the coward to send a message like that. Perhaps he has no life, and send messages to every item in Mudah.my he dislike. Of course, that’s not even a real name and email.

mudah-nx9010

Here’s a link to the original spec – what is the official name again?

Get a life!

Help Find Ozzie the Golden Retriever

[UPDATE] Ozzie was actually taken by a neighbor’s friend who thought the dog was lost. Ozzie was scared of thunder and wandered around to a Hari Raya open house nearby where the house owner asked his Chinese friend to bring Ozzie home. Ozzie is now back with his rightful owner he loves. [END UPDATE]

If you hang out or live around Bandar Utama or TTDI and saw this guy please help call 012 335 2308. I haven’t heard the story how she lost Ozzie yet.

He is cream-colored, 4 years old (ask him if you meet him), about 3 feet tall and does not bark meaninglessly. He’s a lovely dog but I never met him because I am afraid of canines.

Here’s a flyer she gave to me if anyone would like to help distribute: Lost – Ozzie – Golden Retriever

You Don’t Need To Work Hard To Take A Break

Fancy a 4 days 3 nights vacation at Club Med Kani Maldives or Laguna Bay Redang with your 3 best buds?

Steps:

  1. Post or update resume
  2. Answer 2 simple questions about Monster
  3. Send email to 3 friends

Click the image below for more information. This is NOT a paid advertisement and I don’t receive anything for this post. Seriously.

Hell I wish I am eligible for this promotion 😉

Rambo 4: Bloody Movie

After getting some art supplies in One Utama yesterday, we decided to watch a movie. Since Rambo 4 is now showing, we decided to take a look especially because the last Rambo movie were released about 20 years ago.

As a child, I’ve watched all of the Rambo movies and liked each of them. They always depict a tactical and strategical soldier who has been trained to be a deadly weapon in the jungle. As far as my brain can recall, I always remember Rambo were always involved in Asia wars or conflict (in contrary to high tech wars between all the developed countries).

Rambo 4Rambo 4… not to say that I don’t like it but I feel that the technological advancement in the film industry has actually influenced this movie a lot. All the gory details are included, as the film maker tries to enhance the dramatic effect of high powered weapons.

Human flesh are splattered everywhere, people are cut in half, blown by mines, limbs cut using machetes, heads blown by handguns (and sniper gun). The cruelty depicted is real, and is necessary to make viewers understand the real situation in Myanmar at that time. However when high powered weapons are involved (.50 caliber truck mounted guns, the sniper gun) you’ll see body parts flying around and a lot of red colors used!

When I saw what the army is doing to the people I wondered, “what’s wrong with this army????”. But when I saw Rambo shoot the driver of the truck with the .50 cal gun until he became a hamburger I can’t help it to wonder, “what’s wrong with Rambo???”. In this movie he is a mindless soldier who I guess is effected by all the battles he have been in the past.

All in all – it’s a good movie to unwind yourself, and not to have to think so much. It lacks a proper plot but the action is there. However if I am a parent, I would be extra careful not to let any copy of this movie (in form of CD/DVD/downloaded) falls into my child’s hands. It’s simply too shocking and violent!

Welcome 2008, Goodbye 2007

A new year is beginning, and I am ending this year with very bad moments. I’ve been sick since last Thursday and even now while writing this post I am still suffering from the remnants of the viral fever.

I feel like a water fountain because since yesterday morning I have been sweating profusely even when I am inside an air-conditioned room. I have been feeling nauseosus most of the time, my body feels like I have been run over by a locomotive, my head feels like a melon which has been smashed again and again in an outdoor party.

This fever is certainly the worst since I can remember. Ponstan is my good friend.

Maybe I have been working too hard? I just hope that the fever will be gone 100% before I start my 7AM shift on Monday! 🙁

Turn Off Your Scooter Engine

A few days ago I received a video via email where a little girl was left on a scooter by the father. She accidentally turned the throttle and the scooter shot forward. I found the same video in YouTube:

I really feel sorry for the little girl. It must’ve hurt like hell and she must be traumatized. So if you ever take your children on a scooter remember not to left them alone, and it is better if you turn off the engine and remove the key. She was lucky the scooter did not end up on top of her. The video is not funny at all.

On a side note, please always use helmets! As you can see in the video they don’t have any helmets with/on them.

I promised myself that I will never bring my kid on a motorcycle, with or without helmets.

Checking Limits on OpenVZ / Virtuozzo

Do you use virtual server hosting for your websites? It’s commonly known as VPS. Most hosting companies now uses Virtuozzo, a proprietary operating system virtualization product produced by SWsoft, Inc.

The OpenVZ project is an open source community project supported by SWsoft and is intended to provide access to the code and ultimately for the open source community to test, develop and further the OS virtualization effort.

A couple of months ago when I have not tried OpenVZ, a friend asked me about a problem he is facing with his VPS which is hosting streaming videos and receiving millions of hits per day. He received errors such as:

  • cannot fork
  • Error running script: not enough memory
  • Fork failed

Now that I have deep knowledge in OpenVZ I know what causes the problem. The problem is that his running software and services were using resources more than allocated by the hosting company. If you are using such service, one good way to check is by executing this command:

# cat /proc/user_beancounters

The output would look like this:

   uid  resource           held    maxheld    barrier      limit    failcnt
  101:  kmemsize         473318     927071    2752512    2936012          0
        lockedpages           0          0         32         32          0
        privvmpages        1611      62436       4915       5357         40
        shmpages              1         31       8192       8192          0
        dummy                 0          0          0          0          0
        numproc               9         15         65         65          0
        physpages           887      32985          0 2147483647          0
        vmguarpages           0          0       6144 2147483647          0
        oomguarpages        888      32985       6144 2147483647          0
        numtcpsock            0          4         80         80          0
        numflock              1          3        100        110          0
        numpty                1          1         16         16          0
        numsiginfo            0          3        256        256          0
        tcpsndbuf             0       7856     319488     524288          0
        tcprcvbuf             0      95460     319488     524288          0
        othersockbuf       6660       8880     132096     336896          0
        dgramrcvbuf           0       8364     132096     132096          0
        numothersock          5          8         80         80          0
        dcachesize            0          0    1048576    1097728          0
        numfile             168        399       2048       2048          0
        dummy                 0          0          0          0          0
        dummy                 0          0          0          0          0
        dummy                 0          0          0          0          0
        numiptent            10         10        128        128          0

These info are important because it is most likely that you can’t see what configurations your VPS is running with.

Simple meanings of the columns:

  • resource – name of the resource
  • held – current usage
  • maxheld – max ever used
  • barrier – soft limit of the resource
  • limit – hard limit where the VPS will never use more
  • failcnt – fail count

The most important thing to see is the failcnt column, where in an ideal situation you should see only zeros. In this case, you see that privvmpages have failed 40 times because I on purposely lowered the memory allocated for the VPS and run some programs.

You will never be able to change the resource allocation from within the VPS but at least you know what your problem is and is a good point of discussion with the hosting company.

And oh yes, the values are in 4k blocks which means that if the setting is 4915 the actual value is 19660k (4915 * 4k). Of course this is only applicable for some, and not for countable values such as numpty.

Good luck!

Paypal to Debit Card, and AdSense to Western Union

In spite of being extremely busy, yesterday I had a chance to glance over some of my daily readings. I am excited to find out that PayPal is now allowing Malaysians to withdraw money to Visa branded debit card.

I need to check with Standard Chartered whether I can use my savings account which is a 2 in 1 account having Visa number and Visa Electron branding. Maybe the fees are lower than using Virtual Money card?

One thing for sure is that there will be no monthly fee, while the withdrawal fee is US$5.00. Just make sure you can really transfer or you’ll suffer paying the return fee. Also needs to be check is whether the local bank will impose any fee on the transfer.

Mininum transfer is US$10.00 and maximum is $US500.00 per day.

Additionally, AdSense publishers can now withdraw money via Western Union.

All you need is the 10 digits MTCN (Money Transfer Control Number) from AdSense and your ID (passport or MyKad). One thing to stress here is that the name from AdSense should match your ID for this to work. LiewCF has written a nice how-to change AdSense Payee Name.

No more bank fees for payout. The maximum payout is US$2,800.

Since I have been earning decent stream from both accounts this is indeed an exciting news for me. For Cyberjaya people – CIMB is the nearest Western Union agent 🙂

Changing Jobs

Next week is going to be my final week serving my current employer. I am leaving because I received a much better offer (and prospect) for employment with an American company. From the security field, I am crossing back to UNIX servers, with a twist – I am going to work on Oracle as well.

The hardest part of leaving any job for me is friends and colleagues. Well, not that they will be lost forever but you leave a part of your life behind. Because of work, and other commitments you’ll have less chance to meet them. It’s even harder for me since I am leaving in very good term even with my direct managers!

There are other things that needs to be taken care about, such as HR matters, tax, etc. And you’ll never be certain what’s the new place will be like. My experience in the workplace started in small Malaysian companies, then to a medium Malaysian company, then to a medium European company, and to a huge European company. I’ve never worked in a huge American company before.

To be honest, it’s a bit scary even for someone who have worked for many years. But life must go on and a man has to decide which path he needs to take…

How’s your experience in changing jobs?

Time Runs Fast

Well it felt like yesterday since 2007 came and said hello to us. And now it’s already the end of February? Wow. One of my favorite thing about February is that anyone who was born on the 29th of February actually grow older slower, only one fourth of the normal person 😉

Have any one of you actually reached your goals or resolution for 2007 yet? Well some might have done so well, like some bloggers I see in the Internet are actually already claiming themselves to be ProBlogger. Well there’s nothing wrong with that, good for them! It’s not like there exist any kind of authority to award the title. No, being a ProBlogger is not my target, although one of the reasons I blog is to improve my writing skills. I dream of writing a book someday, maybe.

Alright, so I wish everyone a happy March, a happy April, and be happy all year round!

About The New Blogger Import Plugin

I wrote a plugin to import everything that can be found from the feeds Blogger provides. Many people has emailed me since asking me why I would do such a thing, as Blogger is a great platform for bloggers. This is my answer to all of those questions.

Why do you write this script/plugin?

A simple answer to this is that my better half wanted to migrate to WordPress and she has accidentally accepted the offer to upgrade to the New Blogger (Blogger Beta back then). Next, I was looking for ways to maintain my coding skills in PHP as for the past 3 years I have been working in System Administration and security.

Do you hate Blogger/Google that much?

No I don’t hate them. In fact, I love Google so much that I am willing to work for them if given the chance 😉 I love all Google products, but when it comes to blogging I feel restricted using Blogger. I migrated my blog from that system when it had only two posts. I hope Google does not think I hate them (perhaps that’s why my pagerank stays static).

Why don’t you integrate the Haloscan import into your plugin?

Why should I re-invent the wheel? Justin has written a very good tool to do this.

Do you think it’s suitable to call it a plugin?

No. Other plugins will be used and upgraded as time goes but for this one, you can remove it after you’ve finished importing. Call it a disposable plugin if you desire.

Will this plugin work forever?

No. If Google decides to change a tag inside the feeds, the whole plugin will fall apart. When that time comes, I might or might not have the time to provide an immediate fix. So if you want to do it, I suggest not to wait.

I’ll add my answers from time to time to this post, if I receive any more. Till then, have a nice weekend.