Project Antara Phase 1 - Completed (Level 1)

View of the rear pool from my room..


At night with little light..




The combination of lights (blue & yellow) in the main hall..

MIDI Recording for Good Friday

Easter (Friday) is coming and we've some surprises to prepare.. including drama with some music.. It might not sound so great, but this is the first time we actually have the music recorded. We have our ex-choir-instructor to play, and for the recording, that's where I come into the picture.

I'm using the Cakewalk Music Creator 3.. Just trying it out. The trial version is 30 days.. enough for me to export to MIDI and replay it at the keyboard. ^_^


Recording in progress...


Setting up the instruments...


A bit of headache coz not so familiar with the software. ^_^

Spent 2 hours for the first song, but 20-1 hour for the next 5 songs.

Digital Eyes

At last.. got a call from the service shop.. My camera is finally done..
Finally.. can take more pictures.. ^_^

The house is the first thing I'm taking..

Garuda Indonesia Incident

Another catastrophe occurs in the beginning of the day.
A Garuda Indonesia Boeing 737-400 flight GA 200 crashed during landing, setting fire off on board.


















Here is the list of accidents of Garuda Indonesia since 1950.

Broken Camera

The dearest digital camera got knocked on the stairs @ Seri.. causing the lens cap and shoot button loose; ended up bringing it for service. Thus, I can't take pictures now.. -_-

Better research for new cameras now while waiting for the news to see if my camera can be fixed or not (or it is too expensive to fix)

Thinking of Canon A Series now.. ^_^

Moving in

We're now moving into the new house; lots of things to move, and we also noticed that we've got lots of garbage in the house too.. ^_^

Not everything is ready yet though, the stairs are not 100% complete (only some pieces of the glasses installed), dining table is not here yet, and lots of stuffs to unpack.

Having family dinner at the new home though.. ^_^
Happy Chinese New Year...

Nani's Birthday

It's Yohanni's birthday at the beginning of the month.. Some got invited to her house for dinner...
Had good laughs there...

Guess what.. she's cooking.. ^_^





We do look a bit formal isn't it? this doesn't look like academy award at all...

Spirit 2nd Anniversary

Spirit is a monthly bulletin initiated by the teenagers to share information about the church. It has gained popularity for the past 2 years.
And 24th Jan 2007 was the 2nd anniversary of Spirit. I myself and some seniors have joined the team not long ago; but the celebration goes on today.
We made ourselves caps with the logo on it.

Pak Tung-Tung

Check out what the daily cartoon of the local newspaper is trying to say.

The road home

Ever wonder why it takes a damn long time to get to Medan from Binjai? or vica versa?



This picture was taken in front of Makro, Medan; where I would say that this is one of the source of traffic. Once it rains, u'd better think of another alternative ways, which not many knows.. ^_^

Quite strange why the government doesn't really fix this. Well they did fix it and the same shit appears again in less than a month. They simply just not fixing the root problem.

As my dad's short singing: "itulah Indonesia..."

Happy Wedding for Wilhan

Another pal is having is now married.. The world seems to spin faster than I thought. ^_^


May this new family be blessed with the best.

Had the reception @ Benteng, Medan; and there were tons of old friends we haven't met for quite some time.

Christmas 2006

Merry Christmas everyone.. Here's how things were going on @ Binjai Methodist Church


Look at these cute little Santas ^_^


And the dearest teacher with the tambourine girls. ^_^


Have a very merry Christmas.. May the blessing of God be upon u all. ^_^

Licensing the Republic of Indonesia

Have u all heard of the government have signed an MoU with Microsoft regarding licensing legal software in (all) government institution?

This means the government will be paying Microsoft lots of money just for the license. In conjunction, Microsoft will also give away 35,496 MS Windows 177,480 MS Office license worth 676 billion Rupiah (US$ 1=Rp 9,065)

However the lisences are valid ONLY if the software is installed in a Intel Pentium III class processors. That means if they upgrade the hardware, the lisence is not valid anymore. At present time, how long would u think a P3 computer can last? Running Windows XP?

And still the gift from Microsoft will not cover all PCs in the government. It is estimated that the government will spend another Rp 400 billion for the lisence of the rest of the PCs for the next 2 years.

I personally find this ridiculous...
If I am allowed to ask the question "What are the primary functions of computer in (most) government agencies?" I would say office use.. And I bet that almost all users have no idea how to make use most of the great features of MS Office or Windows for all it matters.

They are just typing reports, making calculations in word processor and spreadsheet; some (and little if I may say) use it for presentations (in a bad design). In which all of it can be found in OpenOffice.org. I'm not against Microsoft as I say they make good products, but considering that the people (who work their asses to live AND pay tax) are still suffering in this country. That tons of money can be diverted to other aspects. It makes more sense buying a nuclear warhead to protect this country than spending on lisence... (It's just a joke.. haha..)

Almost all (or should I say "all") features in MS Office that the government officials are using are in OpenOffice.org. They don't know macro or .NET integration for all that matter; they're just using it to type letters.

Get half of the lisencing fund to train all the users is enough I suppose. Or perhaps throw a US$ 3 million dollars to a professional developers to make a much better Linux operating system in Indonesian?

Can it be that even Microsoft has learned how to bribe in this country? That it has been in the blood of the government to be bribed to get something? Who knows.. ^_^

1-week remote site trip

1 week of remote sites trip.. This time, we're going to 3 units: Blok Songo, Duri, and Dumai.

Took train to Rantau Prapat, got picked up until Blok Songo; 2 days there and continued to Duri by company car.

On 11.44 AM December 13, 2006 I was officially in the Riau province (I've never been this province)

Had a lunch stop at Arowana, a malay food restaurant (damn good)

Took pictures on top of the oil tank at Dumai..


With the IT manager...

Discussions with Erdy...


One whole weekend not being in Medan office.. Yay... ^_^
Happy weekend...

Online remotely

I feel like I'm in Medan office despite of the hundreds of kilometers from Medan. The network is up here. I can remotely use my PC at office using my laptop. And the best part is.. getting connected to the internet at high speed even in a remote place where I didn't even imagine of doing it at the first time I came here.

Going to another 2 remote sites for the next half week. Don't know if I can get online there or not. I should though.

As long as I have music

I was surprised when some of the old choir friends asked for a gathering, and ended up deciding we're going to sing the favorite song during the choir: As long as I have music

So we had 3 sessions of practice and we're up to the show on the 10th Dec for one of the Christmas service.

When the world seems far beyond me
And I have no place to go
When my life seems cold and empty
And I feel I'm all alone

Then a song that I remember
Helps to ease my troubled mind
And I find the strength within me
To reach out just one more time

For as long as I have music
As long as there's a song for me to sing
I can find my way, I can see a brighter day
The music in my life will set my spirit free

When the road is dark and lonely
And I feel I want to cry
When the dreams I keep inside me
Seem to fade and almost die

Then I call upon my music
And it helps to dry my tears
And I know that I can make it
I'll go on despite my fears

This song does calm my heart when shit happens. ^_^
Plus, it has a good old memories in it.

The opening of Bro Computer

First day of business... The launching...

Don't forget the foods... ^_^

Bro Computer

Something I really forgot to post in blog..
Tomorrow, on 1st Dec 2006 we (the 3 cousins) are opening a computer shop in Binjai.

This was the second night we've been hanging around late preparing things.

Even all the older generations were there to help.






Yeah.. My picture is not there obviously.. I was holding the camera. ^_^

Big day tomorrow. Everyone's invited. ^_^

Unqualified Bond...

What would u imagine out of Bond? Definetely not the Daniel Craig. Even my dad knew and complained of how not suitable Craig was in Bond. Not to mention the bad storyline in Casino Royale.

Took the chance with the family to watch it yesterday and it turned out that it wasn't worth the time and money. I miss the tense situation and hi-tech gadget in Golden Eye or those by Pierce Brosnan; I miss seeing Bond messing around with Q's lunch and inventions..



Got home at 10.50 and found out that SWAT was showing on TV; so my dad said: "If I knew 007 was that bad, I would have been staying home and watch SWAT on TV." Haha..

What a dissapointing Bond...

Fire!!!

Fire at the opposite side of the road of the office...
I know nothing.. I just went out to see what's going on..

Here are some pictures by Ronny.

Reviving dead HDD

Got a 200 ways to revive harddisk (PDF) and tried a simple one: shaking it hard, plugged it back in and wallah.. it's spinning again.. I'm backing them up again now..

The HardBox blew up

Bloody hell, my harddisk just blew up before my eyes.. I was doing some work and suddenly a tiny boom just shook me.

I'm screwed up.. Everything I've been working on, movie collections, e-books, junks, and the worst: the Youth Camp 2006 video recording, in which I have no copies of it. 160 GB is gone..

Protests on Bush's visit

The US President George W Bush is coming to Bogor to meet the Indonesian President SBY on this coming 20th November. However, as many of the Indonesians have noticed, that protests and demonstrations have been going on rejecting Bush's visit. Despite of the only 10 hours being in Bogor, there has been relatively big budget projected for his visit.

What I'm trying to point out is that the number of protests going on across the country; that I have no idea what on earth they are thinking of condemning Bush for coming to Indonesia. I've seen on the news people using the name of Islam to say inappropriate words towards the guest, even some are trying to use spiritual powers to deal with Bush upon his visit. This is ridiculous.

Haven't we been taught to respect our guests? President SBY visit the US last May and September and he was greeted very well, and with not a small budget from the US government if I may say. But why would these Indonesians trouble about it? I could even see the leaders of some Islamic political party, the members of the House of Representative are condemning. I wonder how this country would ruin should they lead the government.

How many productive hours these people have wasted by just going to the streets protesting such useless thing? They could have done more important things than telling what the president should do while they are not doing their part themselves.

Boikot of US products
And here is a more ridiculous part of the demonstration; some people wants to boikot all US products. These guys obviously can't think and should they lead a country, it would be off the map in no time. Let's take a simple example of our living products; what can be done without anything made or initiated by the US scientists? Say computers? U don't want to use DELL, let's use computers made in Taiwan then, OK.. Fair enough, what operating system? Windows is obviously a US product and I say it's bullshit if the government wants to erase Microsoft from Indonesia..

Personal or Religion
I don't understand why most (all if I may say, because that is what I have been seeing all this while) of the wild and nonsense protests are from people who take Islam. I believe Islam is a peaceful religion; I have wonderful Muslim friends who I think are much better than my Christian friends. I suppose it's just people misinterpret things a lot.

btw, hope Bush is coming to bring a better situation for both countries.

Flu and fever

I'm terribly sick now.. Damn fever.. Can't enjoy myself.. :-(

Project Antara update

Time for a little sneak-peak of the new house..
All credit for my bro for the designs ^_^

Front view...


Rear window of our room...


View from our room...


Level 4...

The upset stomach

I could hardly sleep well last night, or this morning for that matter. I had this strange dream of the SAP system; that I was trying to do a goods issue process order, but the system kept showing errors that I didn't even remember. Consulted with the MM guy and we ended up trying and trying. So there went my good night sleep; such a discomfort of sleep last night.

However, the dream was not the point. I have learned that it happens often when I'm at my limit, that I'm going sick or physically/mentally unhealthy soon enough. But life went on and I had my shower.. getting prepared for another day of work.

When I got into the bus, suddenly this weird pain started stabbing my stomach and getting worse in minutes. For almost an hour in the bus I was fighting the pain and ended up loosing my energy that I could hardly walk straight.

At the office I had arrived at 07:50 and it went much better; but in 10 minutes it went wild again and I couldn't work this way. I asked for permission to see doctor at 10. He said it was something I ate wrong.

So here I am.. back in the office where everyone in the department thought I was not coming back. ^_^

Feeling better now.

IT discussion to off-topic

Had some discussions with the IT Manager; initiated from the need of a proper backup procedure for some servers. I stated the need of another PC-turned-into-server machine for backup purposes, where scheduled backup will be executed on every server with the target path pointing to the backup server.

The discussion continued to some IT related conversations and ended up talking about something else from the company's procedure to how to manage your financial planning. However, I have enjoyed the chat since the closest friend for the past half day was the PC.

It's raining

Seems that it has come to the time of the year where it rains a lot. I can see ponds all over the road; and in many places (especially on my way back home) the the water covers the entire road up to 20 cm. I could imagine that I'm actually in a boat instead of a bus.