What have I done these last 31 days? Not much. But, I (kinda) finish this. After the first three chapters, I skimmed over lots of its words, hopped over most the pages. The whole deal just grew to bore me. It wasn't the writer, though. It's that I'm used to appreciate all cop/detective shows where the mysteries are paced to be solved in exactly one hour. Most of them covers a story line of only a few months, while the narrative of the book covers a whole lot of instances over a five year period. TV is bad for us, kid. It lowers down our reading retention.

I don't know what's next on the reading list. There is no list, actually, I like to just go where the flow is. Any suggestion guys and gals? Please, no chick lits or romance stuff. I read most of those last year, including this.

While the speaker of the post X-mas celebration was talking about the miraculous nights surrounding the birth of the baby Jesus, I couldn't help myself of thinking about the parallel scenes in the Life of Brian. Oh, the blasphemous me. :p

Well, anyway, last Saturday, I happened to wake up in time for this one fun show on a public radio. It is still entertaining to listen to the Brothers Magliozzi bantering and discussing automobile related problems with the call in audiences.

The following is one of their newest puzzlers. Think you know the answer? No Googling allowed. ;)

RAY: John and Mary are married. They agree to go out to dinner with four other married couples. So, there are five couples, or ten people, altogether.

They arrive at the restaurant, and, because there are some people who don't know other people, there are some handshakes that take place, and introductions. Anyone who doesn't know somebody will shake hands with that person. People will not shake hands with anyone they already know, and, of course, you don't shake hands with your own spouse.

TOM: Unless you're meeting her for the first time.

RAY: Right. At the end of the dinner, John asks all the people there, including his own wife, how many hands each of them shook.
He gets the following answers: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7, and 8.
There are 9 other people there, and they give him 9 different answers.

Here's the question: How many hands did John's wife Mary shake?
Now it may seem that you don't have anywhere near enough information to solve this problem. But you do.

He was a great educator during his close to 40 years of service. To many of his students, he was closer to a grand father figure. I guess what charmed everyone was his true Midwesterner personality. A fatal heart attack took him away from us on that cold night two nights ago.

Oglethorpe J. Smigley was his favorite nom de plume and was signed on every exam he wrote. He gave 5 extra points just to neatly put your name and the page number on each individual page of your exam papers. He didn't mind putting long hours to explain in more detail class materials he might miss during class, about other related problems from your other classes, even to dissuss the simplest happenings on your life. He gave recitation sessions at 4:30 in the morning almost every week. And in the end of every semester, he attended the graduation party and the graduation ceremony.

I took four core Chem-E classes from him. He knew both of my parents and also had taught my brother. He wrote a nice recommendation letter for my grad school applications, and had been following my path during those dark MS days until now. We still had small talks about each other once in a while.

Yet, it seems that I know nothing really personal about him, except that he had been a member of the local barbershop quarter, that he lived in a ranch on the outskirt of the town, and that he still drove the old Chevy SUV.

The day before his departure, I saw him sitting on his office, a life-size stuffed red parrot perching from the ceiling. The room is full of souvenirs from his students all over the world. I was thinking to drop by and say Hi but hesitated and instead walked away upstairs to my office. I still regret that.

Farewell, Dr. Hanson. Requiescat in pace. We will miss you so much.

Pengen ke Rec, lari setengah jam-an di treadmill atau delapan putaran di track.
Tapi di luar dingin sekali dan hujannya nggak berhenti-henti.
Cuman gerimis, tapi tetep aja bikin males.

Heh, besok udah Jum'at lagi.
Ada perayaan (sesudah) Natal bersama.
Males banget mau datang, cuman entar dianggap nggak solider.

Paper belum kelar.
Mesin masih terus dalam tahap pasang-memasang.
Minggu depan lab-lab yang diajar bakal bikin capek banget.
Paling nggak minggu ini masih ada yang bikin hati sedikit senang.

Rutinitas...

Googol of thanks to my computer knights in their shining armors, aka Mr. Dodol and the Google, for the advice. I finally could get into the My Documents folder of the XP. Really, it's not fun to work with 18.6 GB worth of stuff --actually, a good chunk of it could be considered as junks.

After some necessary spring cleaning, I have 4 GB of the creme de la creme and am in the process to back them up. Since the machine, for two months now, hasn't been connected to a network, and since I'm too lazy to bring it home or to bring bro's laptop to the office, I decided to just burn everything. Again, no fun, especially since I'm running out of empty CDs. Anyway, remember kids, Back Up is a 'puter user's best friend.

Okay, that makes me almost ready for a clean install of the XP. One question though, will that darn SP2 ever gonna work on my machine? Looks like time for another Googling.

Do you know how it is to finally realize that you are really your own worst enemy... and then to find out that your guardian angel, or holy spirit, or whatever it is, always pulls a gentle knock to your heart, bringing you back to live?

I don't know how many Hail Mary's I'd subconciously pulled just to get me through the day these days. So, thank you.

Okay, this is scary, well maybe not as scary as getting a BSoD. I was trying to install the SP2 for my 2002 XP Professional. Yes, that's late, but I've heard lots of nightmares from people who unsuccesfully tried to install the pack on their machines, which justifies my postponing it for almost a year (or two?) now. Hard choices, eh, it boils down to either having a less secured, virus laden computer or a non-working one.

Anyway, when the installation had been finished and the computer got restarted, it just kept rebooting itself just before reaching the welcome screen. Any ideas how to tackle this issue? I downloaded the KB 8359355-SP2-ENU from Microsoft's downloads.

Setelah diperhatikan, langit di benua ini lebih biru dan awannya lebih bergumpal. Sementara di tanah air, suasana ketika matahari terbenam dengan semburat merah jingganya --diselingi azan magrib-nya-- terasa lebih bermakna, sepertinya memanggil, hei kamu, ayo cepat pulang. Apa itu cuma berlaku di kota kecil ini dan pulau yang indah itu ya?

Nggak penting banget.....

O iya, buat Jeng Chrysalic dan Jeng Wati (Ti, bikin dong sesuatu yang bisa di-link, heheh), ini Kata Tak Terucap yang dijanjikan. Maap lo, lama, saya ternyata nggak punya mp3-nya, jadi dirubah dulu (dari wma lagi) pake segala macam program gratisan.

Texas weather during winter time is maniacal. One day, it could be hot almost as hell, the next day, fine thin layers of ice could be formed on your windshield. Heck, Houston was snowing, on the 24th, of December.

Me, I'm just glad that I found the other half of my old cashmere lined leather gloves. Now if I could find a cap to prevent heat escaping vertically and maybe a matching shawl? So much for being a fashionista wannabe.

Another terrible thing about winter this year was that it completely killed our low-charged four year old car battery. To make it worst, it was Sunday and the only open car stuff store was in Bryan. Ndoro Yadda called a towing company to bring the car up there, just to make it easier since our jumper cable is being misplaced somewhere and we were too lazy to call friends for help. Hence, the title of the post.

The whole ride to the store was full of awkward conversation between me and driver/owner. Few examples:

Him: Do you know if it stays this cold the whole day?
Moa: I don't know I haven't seen the weather report.

Him: People should drive on that side while going East and this side while going West, just in case something happen you could go the right instead coming into the ditch.
Moa: Ah yes, I wonder why the don't put any safety precaution along.

Moa: So you guys are open 24/7?
Him: Mainly for accidents. We didn't really do anything on Sunday since most of the car garages are closed.

All these while he's looking at me from top to bottom and reaching for his Diet Dr. Pepper. I don't know, I was probably just being too sensitive. Anyway, the car is fixed.

During my three weeks absence at work, I had thought that the collegues would have finished reinstalling the crucial parts of the machines, and then we could go on working on the small stuff and would be ready to resume experiments by February. Turns out, we're behind schedule, especially on bringing up the CVD reactor I'm partly in charge. In the first place, it won't be fair to put such a high hope on people, everyone here deserves some good chunk of holiday break.

This semester, it turns out I am going to be one of the TAs for a EE class, just like the previous two years. I doubt that I will enjoy teaching the lab so much this third time around. The first time was such a mindblogging and fun experience, you know, to be able to meet and interact with all these cool students and colleagues charaters, to learn how to operate cool new machines, to have such a big responsibility over people and machines, and to be the most knowledgeable person in the room ;). The second time, it was --how should I put it-- same old same old, so it was just a bit boring. But it's all different circumstances now. And from conjured experience, the students usually grew to love me, the manager already became one of my good friends, and so did the professor. So, we'll see, it might just be in my head.

To balance out the teaching load and the research load, I am taking only one class this semester. It's a 400 level Mechanical Engineering mechatronics class. An old syllabus decribes the class as teaching

Basic principles of digital logic and analog circuits in mechanical systems; electrical-mechanical interfacing; sensors and actuators; digital control implementation; precision design and system integration.

Had I taken it three years ago, I could have done a much better work fixing that doomed reactor. Due to its high practicallity, I definitely will enjoy sitting in the class and learning all these cool stuff.

Sometimes, I'm imagining the road not taken, but that should be the subject of another post.

105 Christmas-New Year vacation pics (sorted out of 600 something) are up in here.

Enjoy..., or not. :)

We couldn't say them,
So now we just pray them.
Words that we couldn't say.

Funny, ain't it?
Games people play.
Scratch it, paint it,
One in the same.

We couldn't find them,
So we tried to hide them,
Words that we couldn't say.

It hurts, don't it?
Fools on parade...
Taint it, own it,
Chase it away.

We couldn't make them,
So we had to break them.
Words that we couldn't say.

Sometimes, baby,
We make mistakes.
Dark and hazy,
Prices we pay.

I sit here on my shelf,
Just talkin' to myself,
Words that we couldn't say.

Someday, maybe,
We'll make it right.
Until that day,
Long endless nights.

We couldn't say them,
So now we just pray them,
Words that we couldn't say.

--Yoko Kano

Mom cried, I cried, my sister cried, my aunt cried, and then I got all teary when we called Dad. Whoaa, it was a heartbreaking good bye.

This past three weeks has been surreal, the people and places SIN, JKT, AMI, PKU. Until next year, guys, or when I get a chance to renew my visa.

So, this is an online good bye, for now, we're boarding in 2 hours. Read y'all when I got back in the land of the Aggies in approximately 24 hours.

...gue di sini setiap kali ditanyain tentang sekolah pasti dibilangin...

Seseorang: "Kamu tinggi tinggi sampe S3 gini nanti susah jodoh loh."

Lalu nyokap mbales orang-orang macam itu dengan:
"Ya, kau lah [masukkan nama si penanya] yang nyari'kan, sekalian yang S4 dan kaya raya."

Nah, kalo gue cukup dengan:
"Emang saya maunya abis lulus mau masuk biara jadi suster non, kok."

Idih usil banget yah orang-orang. Mau S1 kek, S2 kek, S kosong kek, kalo emang ngga nemu yah ngga nemu. Huh.

Mendingan kita bakar-bakar sate ayam lagi, yuk.

After spending 1 day in Sin, 2 days in Jkt and 11 days in Lombok, I'm finally back home in Pku. In these past three days, I've taken enough pictures of the town and the camp (told that I'm not supposed to take any pics of the camp because of this one Bule's paranoia, what a total BS), consumed lots of carbs & fat based foodstuff (tipping my toes slowly on the scale), run a few rounds of the softball field (gosh, it was so much tiring), visited dear old math teacher (now I can update "his" Friendster account with his actual picture), reformat and reinstall XP on a 'puter at home, got my KTP done (just in three hours, Mom's a civil servant), accompanied her to the traditional market (twice), been through four nosebleeding sessions (scary), driven back and forth the town (scarier). Hope I can do much more stuff in these next four days before leaving for CS.

Meanwhile, people in every corner here keep raising more fund, foodstuff and other goodies for the tsunami victims.

I'm still constantly awed about this whole blogging/journaling thing, specifically on how some of us have little or no difficulties to open up to just anyone. After almost two years blogging, it's still hard for me to write in details things that are even a bit sensitive or too personal. It's just in my nature.

Anyway, I bloghopped today and landed on this gal's I've read here and there. She is honest, too much honest, to bare her heart out for this one guy. The details were striking, it was like reading my own, if I ever jotted it down like that.

She and I, we were chasing for a fata morgana. What we thought we get, vanishes out in the thin air in a snap of time. She accepts that and moves on. Me? Reading hers builds up that confusing image once and again.


You, you know that we both really don't need this. So please, stop.

...satu keluarga bicara hati ke hati dengan Alda. Mama, aku, Ucok, Yada, minus Pap a karena dia lagi tidur siang.

"Kamu maunya apa, Dek?" kataku. "Di antara orang yang serius lulus sekolah saja banyak yang kehidupannya tetap susah, apalagi yang main-main kayak gini."

"Orang maunya berangkat ke sana, Kak..."
Yang lain keburu menyanggah, "Tapi usahanya mana?"
"Iya, orang berusaha siang malam 4 bulan ke depan ini, hari Sabtu aja pergi makan keluar"
"Apa? Hari Sabtu aja main keluar?", Yada nanya dengan matanya membelok.

"Ah, biar saja dia begitu. Tidak usah kalian marah-marahin dia. Sudah dari tahun 2000 kubilang, biar saja ada satu yang jadi telor busuk." seru Papa terbangun dari tidurnya.

Alda, anak bungsu keluarga. Dari TK emang udah keliatan beda dari tiga kakak-kakaknya yang kalem (kayak lembu juga) patuh ini. Dia itu yang paling pinter sebenernya, cuman itu, sindrom males-nya sudah kronik sekali.

Perbincangan sore itu diakhiri dengan dimulainya Alda membahas soal-soal Matematika untuk ujian Cawu-nya. Mudah-mudahan bukan tanda pertobatan semu.