GMB Ruth Sahanaya

Got a CD Giving My Best Ruth Sahanaya  with original signature of Ruth Sahayana herself.

I’ve had this CD for a couple of weeks and just opened it. Totally forgot bout it.. –_-

QVGA Pocket e-Sword

Okay.. new problem comes after installing the new ROM update of HTC Touch Diamond. The display of Pocket e-Sword seems to get wrong.

I posted a thread at XDA-Developers forum and found out that it's the .NET Compact Framework 3.5

I hope there will be some sort of fix for this.

Anniversary of Metro

It has been exactly 12 years since my parents started their business. Mom & Dad are at Jakarta for family wedding and anniversary, so I'm taking initiative to get a cake for everyone there.

Ubuntu in 22 days

I haven't checked the website for months it says that a new release is coming in 22 days. ^_^

Halo @ Medan

I had a lunch appointment with an old friend and waiting for his pick-up at the office gate and saw something remarkable optical phenomenon. At first I thought it was a rainbow, but a halo would fit it better.

So I took the chance of taking the picture of it with the phone.




This one was taken by another colleage.

Free development tools for Windows platform

This might be too late to post this, but anyway...

If you are working on Microsoft Windows platform and wanting a free development tools to develop system, this would be one of the list.

1. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition for IDE
2. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express Edition for database engine
3. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express Management Studio for database management
4. Paint.NET for image processing (additional plugin for icons)

These are the tools/technology that I have been using to develop applications and I pretty much enjoy it.

Google Map with GPS

Downloaded Google Maps for mobile devices yesterday but forgot to test it out until this morning.

With the 3G network, it's even faster than my internet connection when it loads the images. I was evern more thrilled when I turned on the GPS, it just works. ^_^

This was my last location before I lost the GPS signal as I entered the office building. quite accurate. The only problem is that Google does not give enough detailed view of maps in Indonesia (as in not updated and not enough resolution). But.. good enough for now.

Screen Capture Utility for Windows Mobile

Ever feel like capturing the screen in your Windows Mobile device?

I found out this little tool that will just do the job; it's free of course. ^_^

And listening to local radio at Mix FM (90.8 FM) screen capture; I like the colour mixing in the interface. ^_^

Chinese in Windows Mobile

I'm trying to read Chinese characters from e-Sword and found out that by default, my device does not support them. Did some search and found this site. Just download the Chinese fonts and install it. I was depressed as it didn't work at first, but I got the idea or restarting the device. Walla.. it works.

I have been receiving some messages (SMS) with Chinese character in the past and couldn't read it. We'll see later. Usually those kind of SMS come during Chinese New Year. ^_^

The New HTC Touch Diamond

At last... I got myself a brand new HTC Touch Diamond and sold out the old Xda O2 IIs that I bought on August 9, 2005.

PDA Reset

Bad day as I arrive in Rantau Prapat.. I dropped my PDA Phone and accidentally initiate phone reset. All of my data including important contacts, appointments, notes, and messages are gone.. forever..

I have not been synchronizing my phone with my laptop for months since I recently formatted my laptop and decided not to install pirated software. I'm now using my original Windows XP Home Edition, OpenOffice.org, Paint.NET, and lots of other free stuffs.

Anyway.. back to the phone, I'm so stressed out and suddenly so not in the mood to do anything. I plan to get another phone as I return from this trip.

Remote site trip: Dumai

I'm heading for Dumai in this week to implement the weighing system. I could say that it's mature enough to go live in Dumai site. We're still dealing with some problems in handling material FFB for other sites though. Hope that I can finish it while implementing the system in Dumai.

How fast do you type?

76 words

Lessons from Kung Fu Panda

I’ve seen this movie in cinema few weeks ago and I can say this is one hilarious movie that worth the penny to watch. Lots of valuable lessons can be taken from the story.
I got a forwarded email today about the lessons that people can learn from this animation movie that concluded pretty much everything that can be learned from this movie. Took the liberty of translating it to English.

The secret to be special is you have to believe you’re special
Po was desperate as he hadn’t been able to break the secret inside the Scroll of Dragon, which was simply a page without any writings. His father’s words were the one that actually brought Po back to the spirit and look at himself in the positive side. When we think of ourselves as special persons, then we will have the force to do special things; just like Master Oogway said: “You just need to believe”.


Go after your dream
The fat panda who could hardly move actually mastered Kung Fu. How many of us that actually gives up and fails to reach our dream obstructed by our own negative thoughts? Like Master Oogway (again, he’s the wise) said: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery, but today is a gift; that is why it is called the present”. Don’t let ourselves be blocked by failures of the past and fear of the future. Fight and be grateful for the present that God has given to you.


You can’t develop someone before you believe in his/her capabilities, and yours too
Master Shi Fu was reluctant in training Po; he viewed Po as hopeless fat panda. But the condition turned 180 degrees after Shi Fu was convinced by Master Oogway that Po was really the Dragon Warrior and Shi Fu was the only one who could train him.


As teacher or parent, one thing that must stay away from our mind is labeling that this kid has no chance to change (or hope for it matters); it is very easy for us to consider others have no future. Troubles often cause us to lose confidence that we can still guide them.

Every individual learns with its own way and motivation
Shi Fu finally came to realize that Po would be motivated and expressed his full skill if there were food had come into the picture; that Po couldn’t go through training methods the 5 had gone through.


So does every child. There might be different learning styles and the combination of those styles make everyone having a unique learning style; so does the variations of motivations in each and every people. When we forcibly standardize the process of learning, it is assured that there will be kids in risk.

Overly proud of child/student/self will blind ourselves of the true conditions, even leading them to the wrong way
Master Shi Fu loved Tai Lung, his first student so much. He formed Tai Lung such way to fit his (Master Shi Fu’s) hope; giving him the dream that Tai Lung would become the Dragon Warrior and inherit the highest of Kung Fu. Unfortunately, Shi Fu didn’t see the evil side of Tai Lung and had to pay a great price, even nearly lost his own life.

Often we possess the false image of our own child/student/self; and sometimes deliberately putting more lies into the image by allowing channel of information that only suits to our ears, discrediting other true and valid information channel only to please our heart and mind. When we possess the wrong image, we will head to the wrong direction.

Life is full of bitterness, but don’t let it stay in your heart
After betrayed by Tai Lung, Shi Fu never again showed his price and love towards his students. The worst side of bitterness is that we can’t feel nor share love.


Family is very important
In the worst and desperate time, Po was welcomed warmly by his father. It was for his father as well that Po could resolve the secret of The Scroll of Dragon and became the true Dragon Warrior. Have we expressed our support towards our family members?


God Bless.

Methodist Church in Tanggerang is asked to cancel their Sunday service

In the times where I've felt so much comfort, here comes problem that really disturbs my mind.
Got this email from local Methodist mailing list.

Hari minggu 22 Juni 2008, bertepatan dengan pertukaran mimbar Hamba Tuhan GMI Distrik-3/II, sekelompok massa yang meng-atasnamakan masyarakat Gelam Jaya, datang konvoi meminta kami membubarkan ibadah minggu yang sedang berlangsung. Kronologis kejadian sebagai berikut: Sekitar pkl 07.30 pagi massa mendemo Gereja Katolik yang baru buka, yang terletak di komplek yang sama. Pihak Kepolisian datang memberitahukan hal ini, meminta supaya kami bijaksana dan berhati-hati. Pak polisi berkata “ kami tidak minta supaya ibadahnya dibubarkan, tapi menyerahkan pengamanan sepenuhnya kepada pihak gereja, mohon dupaya ditanggapi dengan bijaksana” Jam 08.00 WIB sebagaimana biasanya kami memulai ibadah. Kebetulan kami sedang melakukan minggu PRMI yang pertama sesudah 12 tahun GMI SolaGracia berdiri, dan semua petugas ibadah PRMI. Pengkhotbah adalah ibu Pdt. Lismawati, dan saya sendiri berada di lantai 2 mengajar anak sekolah minggu. Jam 08.30 WIB massa datang, lebih kurang 20 sepeda motor, dan berteriak “ ini juga gereja …..bakar …. Bubarkan……. “ mereka membawa batu besar di tangan mereka. 3 orang perwakilan minta bertemu dengan pimpinan gereja, (Pdt. Sabam tugas pelayanan di GMI Maranatha Tebet) lalu majelis meminta saya dengan didampingi Lay Leader Jemaat (Bpk. B. Lumbantoruan) bernegosiasi dengan ketiga perwakilan tersebuut. Dalam negosiasi tersebut mereka tetap menuntut supaya ibadah dibubarkan, karena keberadaan gereja ini juga tidak ada ijinnya (katanya). Mereka mengancam bahwa massa akan mengamuk dan melempar, dan lain sebagainya …. Setengah dari jemaat kami keluar karena ketakutan (walau bukan ini yang saya harapkan – tadinya saya berharap jemaat semakin teguh bertekun dalam doa – di dalam gereja). Akhirnya kami minta diberi waktu untuk beribadah hingga jam 09.00 WIB, sehingga boleh dikatakan ibadah kami hanya 1 jam saja. Pengakuan dari perwakilan massa dan pengakuan dari pak Polisi, bahwa kami hanya imbas dari persoalan Gereja Katolik, karena pengurus Katolik mendesak massa dan berkata “ kalau kami dilarang, mengapa yang lain boleh”, sehingga GMI Sola Gracia, GBI El Rapha, dan Kasih Abadi Ministry ( 3 gereja) yang jam ibadahnya sama dengan Katolik, jadi sasaran massa, sedangkan HKI, dan GKPS, yang masuk jam 10.00 pagi tidak diganggu lagi walaupun mereka sama dengan kita beribadah di ruko. Kami melakukan ibadah ke II jam 6 sore seperti biasa, tanpa ada gangguan apa pun. Kami tidak mempunyai bukti photo, atau rekaman Video tentang insiden ini, karena jemaat kami terlalu “takut” untuk melakukannya, dan tiba-tiba semua mengaku tidak punya HP yang ada kamera atau Video (biasanya sih ada, lucu ya…) Sebagai istri gembala sidang, saya harus mengatakan bahwa jemaat kami Di GMI Sola Gracia saat ini, sudah mulai ciut, dan ketakutan, karena ini adalah pengalaman mereka yang kedua kalinya. Saya pribadi tidak “takut” sedikitpun, namun saya sedikit”tawar hati” karena ternyata jemaat yang kami gembalakan, nyalinya tidak sebesar omongan alias belum siap mati untuk Kristus (he…he…he…). Karena itu mohon dukungan doa para bapak/ibu, jemaat sekalian. Kami kini mempunyai dua tugas yang maha berat, yang pertama masalah internal yaitu menyembuhkan trauma dan mengembalikan iman jemaat, dan masalah eksternal yaitu status hokum dan sosial kemasyarakatan rumah tempat ibadah kami ini. Untuk masalah eksternal ini, mungkin Tim Hukum GMI Distrik 3/II sudah harus mulai “menggeliat” dan kita harus bersinergi menyelesaikan masalah ini. Kemarin Sola Gracia yang mengalami, mungkin esok lusa GMI yang lain, kenapa kita harus menunggu? Ada baiknya pro-aktif dari pada reaktif… Mohon tanggapan dari Tim Hukun … What should we do? Terpujilah Allah yang sudah melepaskan kami dari jaring maut. Mohon terus mendoakan kami. Minggu depan gembala sidang dan lay leader ada di konta-Palembang, kalau sampai ada kejadian yang sama, siapakah perpanjangan tangan Tuhan untuk membantu kami ? In His Grace

Someone did a short translation here or here.

Form Border and Title Bar of .Net WinForm

I came across a case where I've got to display a form right under another's control and found out that the Left and Top property is based on the Form, not the screen. Thus, the form border height and form title bar height must also be considered in the codes.

Here are the codes:

'in VB.NET

Dim BorderWidth as Integer = (Me.Width - Me.ClientSize.Width) / 2

Dim TitlebarHeight as Integer = Me.Height - Me.ClientSize.Height - 2 * BorderWidth

//in C#

int BorderWidth = (this.Width - this.ClientSize.Width) / 2;

int TitlebarHeight = this.Height - this.ClientSize.Height - 2 * BorderWidth;

Fortunately, other guy had solved the problem.

Open Source Library

I've been searching for open source library system for the past 2 weeks and finally concluded that I'm going to implement OpenBiblio in the church library.

The first step is changing the operating system from the pirated version of Windows into a legal Ubuntu copy. ^_^

I came across few nice other open source OPAC and ILS in the Internet; here's the review.

1. OtomigenX
   This Indonesian-made library system is nice and sleek, but I've got some errors for simple tasks like adding new bibliography records at first experience.
2. Senayan Library
   A web-based library automation system which is one of the open source projects that supports IGOS. I find this system very robust. However some of the AJAX features are quite annoying:
• lots of message boxes (JavaScript) that displays silly information like "Welcome to Library Automation, <Username>" and user must click the OK button
• The page goes black (supposed to be some kind of animation) every time I click something; perhaps the developer wants to express that the system is loading but it's kind of annoying to me

Of course there are more open source projects that can be more complex, but I'm looking for something simple enough to be implemented in a small library. So the winner for now goes to OpenBiblio.

I'll update with the result when I'm finish with it. ^_^

Open Source Church

I wrote a small desktop application that runs on top of Microsoft .Net Framework and now I don't feel like implementing it in the church's library.

I promised them of that system long time ago and I don't feel much of confidence lately, moreover this naive thoughts of legalizing the software in church.

I've been thinking of implementing open source systems to the church. I wrote this post some time ago and still no action has been taken (even from myself, I don't know why.. Perhaps the fear of rejected and not able to convince the council that they shouldn't use pirated software.)

I just spoke out with some close friends of installing Ubuntu into two of the computers in church (the administration and library).

Happy birthday Mom

Years passed by and my mom is now 48. Happy birthday Mom. We love you so much.. ^_^

A fresh Sunday

Woke up fresh this morning despite of late sleep last night. Went down and rush to wish my mom a 48th birthday and a happy father's day for my dad.

Schedule for today is not so relaxing.. Got 2 church meetings today, a friend's wedding reception to attend in the evening, and mom's little birthday cake ceremony. :-p

Happy weekend. ^_^