With so many end of financial year sales, I have had the urge to spend. To spend or not spend?

Have you spent much this EOFY?

His efforts in music were overshadowed by his accusations of child molestation, plastic surgery and baby dangling antics. But no one can deny he IS one of the greatest artists of all time. The influence he had on music, how he revolutionised music videos, pioneered dance moves and his awesome songs should take better focus.

Just like James Brown, MJ had his fair share of trouble. I’ve always appreciated his music. It’s a pity the younger people don’t really get to appreciate him properly, but I’m glad I was lucky enough to be around when he was at his peak.

Source here at NYTimes.

One of my favourites. I like a lot of other ones too.

Steve Jobs, who has been on medical leave from Apple Inc. since January to treat an undisclosed medical condition, received a liver transplant in Tennessee about two months ago. The chief executive has been recovering well and is expected to return to work on schedule later this month, though he may work part-time initially.

Mr. Jobs didn’t respond to an email requesting comment. “Steve continues to look forward to returning at the end of June, and there’s nothing further to say,” said Apple spokeswoman Katie Cotton.

Source from Wall Street Journal (WSJ)

This is an official letter released by PR.

Ruth Ann Hale, APR
Director, Media & Community Relations
(901) 516-0600
haler@methodisthealth.org

June 23, 2009

For Immediate Release

I am pleased to confirm today, with the patient’s permission, that Steve Jobs
received a liver transplant at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in
partnership with the University of Tennessee in Memphis. Mr. Jobs underwent a
complete transplant evaluation and was listed for transplantation for an approved
indication in accordance with the Transplant Institute policies and United Network
for Organ Sharing (UNOS) policies. He received a liver transplant because he
was the patient with the highest MELD score (Model for End-Stage Liver
Disease) of his blood type and, therefore, the sickest patient on the waiting list at
the time a donor organ became available. Mr. Jobs is now recovering well and
has an excellent prognosis.

The Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute performed 120 liver
transplants in 2008 making it one of the ten largest liver transplant centers in the
United States. We provide transplants to patients regardless of race, sex, age,
financial status, or place of residence. Our one-year patient and graft survival
rates are among the best in the nation and were a dominant reason in Mr. Jobs’s
choice of transplant centers. We respect and protect every patient’s private
health information and cannot reveal any further information on the specifics of
Mr. Jobs’s case.

James D. Eason, M.D.

Program Director, Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute

Professor of Surgery, Chief of Transplantation, University of Tennessee Health
Science Center

Source is here.

Pot with some balls prior the boil.

The beef. It was pretty good quality for hotpot.

Some seafood. I think it was calamari or squid. Don’t remember because I didn’t eat it.

Vegetables! Awesome in the hotpot soup.

Balls! Tofu fish and pork balls with chinese mushrooms are my favourite.

Thinly sliced pork. All the meats are thinly sliced so you can just woosh it around in the boil a few times and it’s cooked an ready to down into the stomach. 〜シャブ、シャブ〜

Hot flame! These butane gas cookers are so convenient.

Tissues to wipe my grubby face after hotpot. Nissin noodle tissues!

So convenient. Dump everything in, wait a little and bam! Food is ready.

My mother on the left, and aunt on the right.

Some of the condiments I used to make my own hotpot sauce. Satay sauce, plus this Korean beef sauce and a bit of garlic = WIN orz.

Don’t forget the japanese buffalo sauce. Not bad for hotpot either although it’s usually used for BBQ style food.

I have to say, eating hotpots or korean BBQ style meals are awesome to do with friends and family. Very communial and everyone can catch up. For some reason, last few weeks I have been pretty busy and have not had much chance to eat with the family. Think it’s because I’ve been stuck in my room studying.

Japanese people call it Shabu Shabu (シャブ、シャブ). Hongkie’s call it “Dar Bin Lo”. But it’s usually known as either hotpot or steamboat. Which do you prefer?

Image snagged from Dannychoo.

iPhone 3.0 is out. Grab your update via iTunes. You will need iTunes 8.2 for this. Why would you want to upgrade? Stability improvements, some new features – so why not? It is 250Mbs so be careful if you’re about to get capped.

iPhone OS 3.0

When does iPhone OS 3.0 come out?
It officially comes out for all iPhone and iPod Touches on the 17th 18th of June. You need iTunes 8.2 for this, which is out now.



What does it bring to the table?
Newerer and betterer – isn’t that enough for you? For those who want detail, the laundry list of features is available from Apple’s website.



Do I have to upgrade?

You don’t have to, but, it is *strongly* advised. There’s stability and performance benefits, plus 3rd party app compatibility. Not to mention the snazzy features. It doesn’t cost anything, so just upgrade. Don’t be one of those people us geeks laugh at when we can see you aren’t even running the latest version, pfft.



What’s this I hear about a “Gold Master” of the iPhone OS 3.0?Whilst the public gets OS 3 on the 17th of June, developers received the download today. They need to make sure their apps work with the final version of the OS before it goes live, so they have the exact same version as what will be released on the 17th. The same build number and everything. For all purposes, this is the final, proper version – not a beta. Because some of us are nerds who live for this stuff, a week and a bit is excruciatingly long time to wait, so we’ve seeked out this “Gold Master” and already installed it on our iPhones.



Can I install it and be safe?
Yep – it’s the same version as what will be out in a week’s time to the public. That’s why it’s called “Gold Master”. You can always erase and install again when the public version comes out, but it’s going to have the same build number anyways. It isn’t chained to the developers account either, so there’s no restrictions. Just don’t try going back to OS 2.2.1 or earlier, chances are that won’t work.



Do any apps not work in OS 3?
Most good developers would have already updated their app for 3.0 by now. If they haven’t, they will in the coming days, otherwise their app will be turfed off the App Store. Going by my experiences so far (a full 3 hours, hah), every 3rd party app works well.



How do I get this Gold Master?
Hit up an iPhone developer buddy, or turn to your favourite nefarious sources. You didn’t hear it from me. *wink* Tip: Put your iPhone into DFU mode. This will wipe your iPhone clean and give you a nice fresh OS install, with no issues. I also recommend not restoring from your backup. Unless you’ve got important messages in there or something, just set it up as a new iPhone once you’ve finished restoring. That way there’s no legacy cruft left over. Your apps, contacts, emails, music and photos will all sync over from iTunes.



Does tethering work?
Out of the box – no. The carrier needs to push out an update to its subscribers to say “yes, we will let you suck at our mobile data teat”. Because the thing isn’t out yet, this obviously hasn’t happened. It’s only a week away, so keep your pants on.



What about MMS?
It is confirmed to work out of the box, with no modification necessary on all telcos here in Australia. Yippie. Pictures of drunken shenanigans can now be received from your poor iPhone-less friends.



Will my telco support tethering my iPhone for mobile broaband?

* Optus & Vodafone: Yes – Apple put up their logos on a screen of telcos that will support it, so expect more info on that soon.
* Telstra: Not right now. They haven’t said anything, but chances are they’re being their usual self and will do something when everyone else has it and they’re the only one without it.
* Virgin: Dunno – I would presume so, as Virgin are just Optus in disguise, but there’s nothing official.
* 3: Well 3 don’t even sell the iPhone, so no dice for you guys. However, there may be a hack coming soon so you guys can use it. Keep your eyes peeled for more info in the coming weeks.



What about my 1st Gen iPhone? Does it get to party on?
It can be upgraded to OS 3.0, yep. You miss out on MMS though. You also need to wait until you can jailbreak and unlock it. Right now there’s no method to do this on iPhone OS 3.0, but not long after the public release, there will be a way. DON’T UPGRADE VIA ITUNES. If you do this, you will re-lock your phone to AT&T and it will be useless until a jailbreak comes around.



Can my iPod Touch get this new OS?
It sure does. It comes out the same day as the iPhone version, Jun 19th. It’s gonna set you back US$9.95 though (probably AUS$14.95).



Oh man, why do Apple screw the iPod Touch users?
Apple hate you because you’re cheapskates that should buy iPhones. Or some stupid accounting rule that Apple must abide by or else Steve Jobs goes to jail. One or the other, take your pick.

Procrastination yields wonders as you spend all your time surfing and not studying.  Stumbled across this dream setup.  Clean and bright.  Perfect environment to design and work in.  The guy is a professional photographer using Nikon D3 and performs all his editing on a Mac Pro with 2×30″ Cinema displays.  Talk about ballin’.

iSight. Apple does not make these anymore.

Mac Pro. Xeon Quad Core Power!

So few cords. It’s awesome.

The shelves. Lots of books it seems.

I have this keyboard thanks to my girlfriend. Pretty slim and small. Typing is not bad, but the best thing is it’s bluetooth.

I also have 3x Western Digital external hard drives, except mine aren’t firewire and are black and not silver. Also they aren’t the same ones. I like the old circle light design better.

Decent setup. Expensive gear. Bose headphones too.

Also a good one.

This guy has some cool mounts for his monitors. VESA arms and mounts are so expensive!

More pictures of the mounts

This time, the setup from the pro photographer (first few pictures) was pretty insane and quite pricey. That’s a lot of expensive gear there. I wonder if photographers really make that much money to justify the gear?

Would you spend so much on your workspace?

Recently I’ve been trying to decide if I should invest in a decent office chair. I use some pretty shitty ones and they cause me all sorts of grief with my back and neck. I have the mStand for laptops which help with laptop screen height. Alot of people say a good office chair is a good investment. What do you think?

This is the Herman Miller Aeron. Regarded as one of the best chairs for office use with excellent lumbar support. It costs about $1500-1800AUSD. Excessive indeed. More info here

Group shot. Obviously I did not take it, since I was in the picture!

Arrived in style in Vel’s Beemer!

Interior of the BMW. The key mechanism is quite interesting.

The groom.

5 minutes!

One of the better photos of Ken on the day.

Michael.

Niggy with some girly balloons.

This shot is all class.

One of the gang’s old high school mate. He came up from Sydney to visit.

Our groups very own financial advisor.

Throwing of the bouquet.

Dong’s so happy. No breaking beds now.

Dong’s shoes. Notice how he spent all the money on wedding and the ceremony in Korea so he could only polish the tip of the shoe orz.

More conversing.

Dong.

Sam from Sydney.

Some laughter about the ceremony and the session.

Ken fiddling with glasses.

Group shot.

The church. Although not as pretty as the All Hallow’s church, which underwent renovations, it was still quite nice.

Dong and his best man.

Massive group shot.

Girl group shot.

History of the church.

The outside of the church looked awesome in sunlight.

Jason’s genuine Hello Kitty tie from Japan.

Jason.

Jason’s poser car for the day. Beautiful machine. Love the look of it.

RX7 FD Series 8 with lip kit and rear diffuser. Not really digging the wheels, but very nice offset nonetheless.

So Kobe is on road to win his 4th championship ring in the NBA.  I haven’t followed it for a long time but with the new free to air sports channel, I could follow a game here and there.  I missed following the NBA and my god has it changed.  I watched NBA back in the late 90s.  Back then, all the hype was on Jordan, Pippen, Malone, Mourning, Shaq, Barkley, and Ewing just to name a few.  Then it was Iverson, Garnett and Kobe.  Now its Kobe, Lebron and Howard.

It seems the LA Lakers are dominating in the finals.  Winning 3 games to 1 so far out of a 7 game final run.  This Sunday is game 5 and possibly the game to seal Kobe’s 4th NBA playoff win.

I always thought Kobe was Number 8.  What happened to that?

Just like Jordan except his tongue isn’t big enough to stick out.  A lot of people compare the two.  Jordan v Kobe.  If you look at them play, both are scoring machines.

Kobe’s Shoes.  Obviously Kobe Bryant Nike shoes like most sports stars these days.

He won game 4 and also got Man of the Match.

If you watched the video, did you notice how HUGE Dwight Howard’s body is?  He has a small head but a huge body.  No wonder he is so tough to play against.

Have you followed any sports but have forgotten about it since?

Miriam at Sono. We sat there deciding what to order. Variety was good and of course we didn’t want to order stuff you can usually order, like Teriyaki chicken.

I don’t look so happy, but I was. I was just ill at the time. This has been why I haven’t gotten around to posting much lately. Sickness and the fact I have to study for exams is not a good combination.

Girlfriend being quite impatient.

If you eat at a Japanese restaurant and ordered sushi or sashimi, its a must to order Japanese green tea as well. Between tasting each type of fish, you should drink the tea so you can properly taste the different fish you ordered.

Dan introduced this to me a while back. Pickled cucumber and seaweed. Really good appetizer.

Seared salmon nigiri. Half raw and half cooked. The best way to eat it. However, it’s $9.80 for 2 nigiri. Rather expensive but oh well, the salmon was very fresh and fat.

One of my other favourite dishes at Sono. Agedashi Tofu. Umai~!

Sushi & Sashimi!

This is the sashimi set we ordered. It was a large platter that cost about $45 AUD. It’s considered expensive, but the fish was so fresh, you could see different colours on the fish, especially the Kingfish.

Soft shelled crab. Apparently very tasty. Wish I could eat it. Miriam devoured all three. It was soaked on a vinegar sauce so it made it very easy on the stomach.

Some readers may be thinking that I would of acquired my nasty food poisoning from the seafood, but as a matter of fact, I already fell ill prior to going to the dinner. Also I ate very little, since I was feeling unwell.

Sono has also opened in Portside and a lot of people say it’s better there. Is it better at Portside or CBD?

Also the first photo was taken by the waiter. It’s hard to know whether waiters can operate fancy cameras. Do you ask waiters to take photos of you if there is no one else that can?

I think it’s important if you want photos, because there is obviously no point in just taking photos of food without you actually being in a photo at the restaurant.

I’ve been severely sick lately and have pretty much been bed-ridden for the last 4 days.  There is no worse time to get sick as I have exams coming up and coming week is study week.  I had originally worked out a study timetable, but obviously that is now out the window, and I have to cope for D-Day.  What makes it worse is I caught a stomach bug, AKA gastroenteritis – usually from eating something incorrect, unclean or not cooked properly.  Essentially food poisoning.  So for the last 4 days, I’ve been residing on top of the toilet seat every 10 minutes working very hard.  To top it off, the fever that comes with it was persistant and would not subside no matter what drugs I through at it.  I even resorted to taking both Ibuprofen & paracetamol together but still not much luck.  Luckily the most aggressive phase is over and I’m feeling a lot better.

So for the last few days I’ve been eating Congee.  Congee can come in many forms and can actually taste good but since I have a stomach bug, the doctor ordered me to cut everything out of my diet.  Well everything fun.  Little meat, nothing oily, nothing spicy, no dairy, nothing fried and definitely no takeaway or fast food.  So I resorted to eating white congee for the last 3 days.  Definitely a painful thing to do considering you are hungry from emptying your bowel every 10 minutes but can’t stomach proper food and congee is the same consistency as what you are emptying.

The doctor prescribed Roxythromycin (an antiobiotic) for my gastroenteritis. Surprisingly I didn’t know it could be used for that.

Also had to take a stool sample, which I would not show here, but the doctor gave me all the tools, cups and trays that makes it much easier. Took it to pathology and hope to get a result to see what it is. In the mean time, I am to take the Roxide so if it’s just a common bug, it will clear it soon.

So after a few days on the antibiotics, I feel a whole lot better. Still have to stick to my crappy diet, so decided to have a few slices of BBQ pork, which I heated in the oven and was careful in taking the fat out. And some rice with some hot chicken soup.

Feel a lot better now I have had some proper protein.

This was probably one of my worst cases of food poisoning. It’s definitely something I don’t want to go through again. Definitely not fun.

Have you had food poisoning before and does it happen often?

Beef Enchilada (Beef mince, beans, tomatoes, chilli sauce and salsa wrapped in a tortilla) with Amigo’s Delight (Rice, salad, olives and chicken strips in Mexican style grill).

The dish Nam ordered – Beef Enchilada and “Chimi Changa”. I have no idea what’s inside a Chimi Changa.

Ming’s Dish – Chimi Changa and some corn chips with cream cheese. He also ordered some awesome starters and sides.

Beef Tacos. $24 AUD for 3 tacos. This was not really worth it.

Nam pigging out on an Amigo’s Delight I couldn’t finish. Look at him go.

Ming and my unshaven self. Do you shave on your days off? I know some people don’t bother on their weekends. I used to only shave once every 3-4 days. Now I find myself shaving every 2-3 days.

Ken & Beer.

Nam super happy that he is eating Mexican. He has a thing for Mexican food.

Fruit punch. It tasted like watery pineapple juice.

Overall, the meals were average. I didn’t think they were spectacular at all and to be fair, Mexican in general isn’t that great. Except for very sloppy meaty tacos. I didn’t think it was worth the average price of $25 AUD. We spent $220 as a collective, which was a fair bit for only 4 people.

As mentioned in a previous post, it’s close to exam time. So what better time to procrastinate? As with most students, most people will procrastinate the most during or before their exam time. Do you feel the same way? I have a habit of trying to organise my notes, my desk, my house, and cleanup things I have never touched for the past 12 months. It seems I get a little obsessed about preparing a clean environment to study in but not actually doing the study.

Added a whiteboard to the office so I can try to organise myself better and remind myself of important things.

In the process of cleaning up all the wires around the room and sorting out what was needed and what was not.

Look at this mess. Wires, books, paper, files, tools everywhere. I had this jammed in the cupboard before, but finally decided to clear it out and get rid of useless junk so I can put other random junk in the cupboard / wardrobe.

The newly hung whiteboard. It’s been useful so far letting me know the ridiculous amounts of work I have to do.

My boxes of Apple accessories. Although I really like the design and look of the Apple Mighty Mouse, I have to admit it’s probably one of the worst mice I’ve used in terms of sensitivity and the fact the scroll ball collects gunk and stops working.

My mac fixed and picked up from the Apple Store. Had some problems that tore my head out with Time Machine, but that’s fixed. Now it runs so smoothly when I process high res photos.

The 24″ Ultrasharp and the Mac. Dell monitors are good value for money, but the crapness in colour replication really is getting to me.

Projects I want to start, but never have enough time for.

More wires. I really hate wires… seriously.

Photo editing.

My desk when it’s in a mess due to assignment or study. Does your desk also turn ugly when you are busy?

Desk is all clean and enjoying some fried rice I made with some chinese soup. Was so delicious. Good weather, listening to music and doing some design work.

The desk as it is now.

What does your desk look like? Care to share?

One of our good friends, Dan visited Brisbane for the weekend and we had a lot of fun over the last few days. So much that I even forgot to study. Being close to exam time, I started thinking about my study plans but that obviously went out the window. Dan arrived on Thursday, but I was too buggered to go out and meet him since he his arrival in Brisbane was delayed until 10:30pm. The next day after work, everyone gathered at my house and we bummed around, eating, drinking and playing Guitar Hero World Tour, as well as Rock Band.

Su bought the food and it was pretty awesome. Friend chicken or pork and rice with vegetables, and other random stuff.

More pictures of the food.

Uncle Dan!

Liew & the wasted Ken.

We started up Guitar Hero and everyone joined in. Have you played Guitar Hero World Tour or Rock Band before? Some people hate it, but I really like how everyone can play. Really good as a group activity. Better than playing Final Fantasy for hours on end when you have visitors that fall asleep watching you play.

Dan & Su

Camille & Luke

Su doesn’t look happy about something.

Jamming!

iSmarts is definitely an exciting thing to watch.

Next day we went to Portside for lunch. Fish & Chips there were good and prices were very reasonable, unlike most other restaurants in Portside.

Fresh seafood!

Vel waiting for her order to arrive.

My Fish & Chips. It was delicious but I couldn’t finish it.

More fish & chips. Do you like fish & chips? I heard Redcliffe has the freshest seafood and the fish & chips there are really good. I have tried them once but was many moons ago so have since forgotten what it’s like. Maybe will trek over one day.

Fish Burger!

Vel with her massive platter. Ken & Vel shared it but still could not finish it.

This potato scallop was huge. I nearly couldn’t finish it.

Dan & Su at it again.

This is typical between Dan & Su. Su here getting smashed for eating too much.

Gangster Niggy~

Some group shots

Expression says it all.

Someone falling asleep after lunch.

Haha.

Vel and Me.

Epic fail face nigs.

Finally some photos of me thanks to Su.

Su, Vel & Me

Ice Cream!

More Ice Cream

Popped over to Vel’s house after seeing off Dan and we played with her new puppy – Lilly.

Puppy walk.

Jason & Lilly. He wants a puppy now.

Miriam & Puppy

Lilly & Vel

Jason thinking about getting a puppy