Friday, March 31, 2006
Software Development Process
I made an estimate of 6 to 8 weeks for the conversion. And remember at the same time, we all have to take the new release development cycle into consideration. Also we have to take into account that the new UFO will "contribute" a tons of pleasingly surprise sweet bugs!!! We encounter about 2 - 4 so far during the trial period.
This reminds me of one of the most basic principle in software development: new features or enhancements must be backward compatible with the old codes. If you cannot make it compatible with the old codes then please don't coin it with the same name as the old framework, only different by the version number.
Should I quote one of the famous quote of software development principle in its parody:
"Human brain should be open for extension but close for modification"
If all fail, this is what depicts the reason of that failure:
News Flash: Whitney Houston is a Real Damned Mess
What makes me surprises is the guy who turned Houston into this mess. Think about how superhuman Bobby Brown's dark force must be, to take one of our generation's greatest singers and turn her to a babbling, slobbering mess. I am not talking without concrete evidence. Take a look at the photos below:
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
You've Got to Find What You Love
In short, his idea is that life is short so don't waste your time living somebody else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition for they already know what you truly want to be. Everything else is just secondary.
I think I should do what he's been doing when he has to make a tough decision. He always looks in the mirror in the morning before going to work and asks himself "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And if the answers are "No" several days in a row, then he knows he needs to change something.
Could I add that if today were the last day of my life, what would I want to do. 24 hours is not enough to do a lot of things.
First, I would call my parents (they live so far away now) to say thank you. Thank you for raising me up and make me the man I am today. And tell them I am so proud to have them as my parents.
Then I'll meet as many friends of mine as I can. Specially the dorks here at PROS :-). It's been a privilege working with you guys.
That's all I could think of right now. That sucks. Probably today is not my last day then.
And I think I should enjoy all the food made by Toris too. Thank you for making such a great dinner tonight. We really love them.
A samurai once asked Zen Master Hakuin where he would go after he died. Hakuin answered 'How am I supposed to know?' 'How do you know? You're a Zen master!' exclaimed the samurai. 'Yes, but not a dead one,' Hakuin answered."
So what would you do if you knew today were your last day?
Monday, March 27, 2006
Framing Your Photos
The use of frame can turn an otherwise plain photo into a pleasing one. Objects for frame are usually foreground elements such as tree branches, a window frame, a door, arches, a fence or rows of trees, etc...
For example, those photos are taken from a park.
In this one, the frames are: the bottom row of flowers and the middle one as a dividend for the photo. The branches of trees serve as a frame above. In addition, frame is used here to isolate the main subject, which is the metal sculpture in the middle, and create an interesting composition.
When composing a shot, keep your eyes open to foreground objects to be used as a natural frame. If necessary, you may need to back up or kneel down a bit, or zoom in to include your main subject within your chosen frame.
here are some more example
Hope you enjoy next time you take a picture of nature!
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Dog Horoscopes
DogHoroscopes.com has a comment about me:
You have lots of nervous energy and love a game of any sort. This year prepare yourself for active times, but don't get off to a premature start until the go ahead signal is flashed. You hate to be criticized since you are so sensitive, but you must also watch your own attitudes and actions so as not to hurt those closest and dearest to your heart. You are always devising new ways to get more attention. When you hide under the bed or shiver uncontrollably, someone will come to your rescue and that will make you smile. You have regal and engaging qualities if you want to use them. But your friends think you are too proud and arrogant (although it is usually a sign, a secret sign, of your love.) The Sign of the Crab makes you a lover of home and you never stray far from home. You love luxury and good food and you will find the best chair in the house and declare it yours or lay claim to the middle of the bed no matter who else tries to sleep there. You are also very territorial and protective of your home. Pity the defenseless delivery person who thinks you are "so cute" and then finds out you will do anything to defend your premises and its occupants. With the Moon as your guide you are the ultimate romantic and you are the eternal optimist. You never get discouraged and this makes you a cherished companion since you are able to cheer up your dear ones. Maintain a simple and healthful diet since your digestion and gastric troubles must be watched carefully. This will be a fine year for you and the only cloud will be the absence of a friend. Your lucky number is 2, which of course, is the perfect lucky number for this year. Your favorite color is violet.
Pretty accurate, except for the part that I am not very protective of my home :-). I welcome *anyone* coming to my house. Um... I already forget when it is the last time I bark!
Have a nice day playing golf, tennis, basketball or whatever you play.
Funny quote:
"If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons." - James Thurber
Friday, March 24, 2006
Help me - The Song Stucks in My Head
I've been listening to the song for 2 days. And it stucks! It's just an ordinary song. The lyrics is so so but somehow manages to take over my brain. I think I'll probably get a migraine if I keep listening to the song one more day.
Once, not so long ago,I had "Who Let the Dogs Out" stuck in my head for an entire day. I'd hum it in meetings, even alter the lyrics to match the situation (e.g., "Who left the milk out!"). It was probably the longest 24 hours of my live.
But that's water under the bridge. You want to know why songs like "The Macarena," "YMCA," and that damned baby-back ribs commercial get stuck on repeat. Professor James Kellaris from the University of Cincinnati believes "cognitive itches" are the reason. This isn't a real itchie-bitchie, but rather a fancy-sounding metaphor for falling victim to catchy but annoying tunes. Just like real itches, the only way to get rid of a cognitive itch is to scratch it 'til you are satisfied. And by "scratch it," I mean *sing* or listen to it until you're teetering on the brink of insanity.
As for why certain tunes get stuck while others don't, there's no definitive answer. But the reason may have to do with repetition. The more you hear one chorus, beat, or whatever, the more likely it will burrow into your subconsciousness.
As this article from the BBC states, Kellaris found that 97-99% of people are susceptible. Additionally, women tend to be more vulnerable. Apparently this affliction is an epidemic :-). Maybe a telethon would help. So long as the Baha Men don't perform.
For scientific explanation, go to WebMD site for more info.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Amazing 3D Sidewalk Painting
Julian Beever is an English artist who is famous for his art of the pavement around Europe. In this collection of photos, Julian shows off his talent in chalk drawing skill, which, when viewed at a proper angle, the drawings will appear in full 3D. The effect is convincing enough that pedestrians would try to avoid "holes" drawn on the streets, girls in bikinis appear to lift their legs in the air in front of you, and much more cool stuff!
Check it out!
"Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" ~ Patrick Henry
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Hi My Name is Bo Bo
My mom just tells me today that i have cancer. I don't know what it is but i think it's bad 'cuz she cries a lot when we got home. She hugs and kisses me like she is going out of town tomorrow. Oh... wait a minute, I think it has something to do with me going to a vet office every week. They have me drink some stinky stuff and put me in a funny looking machine. I lost most my fabulous hair after a few weeks.
Hold on ok, somebody knocks on the door. Let me go check...
hey, it's my best friend "Pan-fried Dumpling". She's only 3 dog years but she is very smart and active, always jumps up trying to get my mom's attention every time she comes.
Hi, Bo Bo, I am worrying for you. So I tell daddy and momy take me here to see you.
How are you... Oh give me a hug ok?
Hi Gyoza(ahem it's in Cantonese for "Pan-Fried Dumpling" ok), mom tells me i have cancer and it's bad.
What is it, never heard of... Are you gonna be ok?
I don't know. But i see mom cries so I think it's bad news. Something got into me Quiaxa, I am sick dear. mom says I may have to go somewhere far away from here.
Hey, don't be stupid heh? I'll be alright overthere, wherever it is. I'll bark your name Gyoza.
I don't know what to do to help you. But I'll pray for you everyday ok Bo Bo. We'll be missing you.
" Every step I take, every move I make
Every single day, every time I pray
I'll be missing you
Thinking of the day, when you go away
What a life to take, what a bond to break
I'll be missing you"
PS: Bo Bo isn't mine and neither is Gyoza. But I love to have them... I just wrote this article for my poor friend Bo Bo.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Pimp Your Shell
I tested these tips with Bash shell version 2 and above.
Most of the time, when working in s shell we see the following shell staring back at us:
bash-2.04$
If you happen to be root, you have the a "nicer" prompt:
bash-2.04#
In fact, several Linux distributions have tried to replaced this boring prompt with more colorful and informative ones.
The basic:
You change the prompt's appearance at the command line by:
%export PS1=”%”
This will create a prompt with exactly one character “%” staring at you.
So if you export
%export PS1=”Hello Worl%”
Your prompt will become:
Hello World%This is interesting but it's just dry and static text. Why don't we add some additional info like username, current path and hostname into our prompt?
%export PS1="\u@\H%\w%"
This will give us the following prompt:
dly@nhatrang%~/download%
You get the picture? You can pretty much tell bash to display everything at the prompt. Those available infomation like current user name, hostname or current path are indicated by the slash "\" like C syntax!
If you want some more fancy stuff in your prompt here is the list:
\d Date in "Wed Sep 06" format
\e ASCII escape character
\h First part of hostname (such as "mybox")
\H Full hostname (such as "mybox.mydomain.com")
\s The name of the shell executable (such as "bash")
\t Time in 24-hour format (such as "23:01:01")
\T Time in 12-hour format (such as "11:01:01")
\@ Time in 12-hour format with am/pm
\u Your username
\w Current working directory (such as "/home/drobbins")
\W The "basename" of the current working directory (such as "drobbins")
\$ If you are not root, inserts a "$"; if you are root, you get a "#"
How do I color my prompt?
Adding color is simple. first, we design a prompt without color. Then we add some special escape sequences recognized by the shell to display part of the text in color. Usually, there are background and foreground colors, bold or not. And we have 8 colors to choose from.Colors are selected by sandwiching numeric values between a "\e[" and a "m".
If we specify more than one numeric code, we separate each code with a semicolon. Here's an example color code:
"\e[32;40m"
So if we want to pim the previous prompt, it would be:
%export PS1="\e[32;40m\u@\H%\w%"
With 32 as the foreground color and 40 as the background color.
Look at this grid as for your color reference.
This should yield the following format:
dly@nhatrang~/download%
We don't need to include the background color setting of 40 as black is the default color already.
What if you want to bolden the text, simply insert "1" which means brighter, bolder text.
%export PS1="\e[32;1m;\u@\H%\w%"
To get
dly@nhatrang~/download%
Friday, March 17, 2006
2006 JavaOne Conference - A "trip" to build a dream on
Even though it is not official yet, but my manager has come to my desk and announced that they are sending me out to the annual JavaOne Conference at Moscone Center in
The event lasts from May 13th to May 16th. I am still not sure how long I will be staying in
I have selected the session: TS-3456: Spring Web Flow. This is a newly developed and added module to the famous light-weight container Spring framework. Keith Donald, the main guy/architect behind Web Flow will give a presentation about his “baby” and later on that day we will have a chance to converse with his team.
Being in the conference and meet the masters in Java world has always been my jovial dream. I hear that Craig McClanahan, Joshua Bloch and Rod Johnson, and a bunch of hard-core developers from Apache will also be there. I was thrilled by when I got the announcement from the management and I certainly responded with alacrity as it will be a unique opportunity to titivate my Java skill!
"Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. There is an idea, Mr.
Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof." -- "V" in V for Vendetta
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
XOXO - Besame Mucho
I’ve been lying here all night long wondering where you might be.
I saw your Mama and I showed her the ring.
Man on the television said something so I couldn’t sleep.
But I’ll be all right, I’m just missing you.
And this is me kissing you:
X’s and O’s,
In a letter from home."
Letters from Home - John Michael Montgomery
I listened to this song on the way to work this morning. I have always wondered why X's and O's symbolize hugs and kisses in love letters. And here is what I found after doing some googling. Read on and enjoy.
Hugs and kisses is defined by a sequence of the letters X and O, for example: XOXO, XOXOXO to express the affection of lovers at the end of a letter or email.
Some interpret the letter X as the crossed arms of hug and the O as the puckered lip of a kiss. Others interpret the X as the four lips of a kiss and O as the four arms in a hug. The latter is more commonly accepted as most of my friends say so.
However, hugkiss.com claims that the X originally came from the symbol of the Christian cross and the first letter of Christ in Greek (Xristo). This dates back to mostly the pre-literate period when people used the letter X as a trusted symbol to sign a document! Later on, it became a tradition that the signers would kiss the X letter , pretty much the same way as one would kiss the crucifix or the bible, or the fingers after making the sign of the cross. Thus, the X became the symbol of a kiss in modern times.
The O letter is something of a mystery. Some say it was because the Jew tried to avoid using the X symbol of Christ so they used the O instead! Hard to believe heh? I think it's more reasonable to think the O as the symbol of two arms making a circle around another person.
All is well and good, but just want to let you know that if you wander somewhere with three flashing neon X's on a marquee, you'll be probably seeing a whole lot more than just hugs and kisses!
And the song continues:
Like we ain’t scared and our boots ain’t muddy, and they all laugh,
'Cause she calls me "Honey", but they take it hard,
'Cause I don’t read the good parts.
I fold it up and put it in my shirt,
Pick up my gun and get back to work.
And it keeps me driving me on,
Waiting on letters from home."
For all brave soldiers of the United States Arm Forces in Iraq.
Monday, March 13, 2006
Pho Shizzle
Texas-size super bowl of pho (tô xe lửa) is as big as a full-size flower clay pot with full of hot source, boiled bean sprout and onion. From coast to coast, wherever Vietnamese community goes, there are always at least a couple of pho restaurants opened to served. This soup somehow manages to sneak into the dictionary of American with a funny, non-punctuation pronunciation. My family once owned a phở restaurant back in Vietnam. Our phở bò kho (beef stew) was among the best in town (Ninh Hoà, about 40 miles north of Nha Trang)!!!
Pho originated from the northern side of Vietnam (probably at the dawn of the 19th century) and began spreading to southern Vietnam in the mid 1950's after the French was defeated and the eventual partition of the nation.
Speaking of styles in pho, there are actually several ways to categorize:
Regional styles have:
- Phở bắc (northern style): distinguishable by a wider noodle
- Phở nam (southern style): using a thinner noodle,
- Some people even claim that there a "cetral style (Huế)", but I personally never seen one
- Pho Gà (Chicken-based pho)
- Pho Heo (porky)
- Pho Bò (beef) (grand daddy, tranditional style)
- Pho Bò Kho (beef stew)
- or even vegetarian pho.
- Seafood style also known to exist
Veggie delight pho with tofu substitutes the meat
Pho Bò (Beef, can be served raw then dip in the super hot soup bowl to delicately process the meat or "tái" in Vietnamese.
Pho Bac in my opinion somewhat emphasizes on a bolder and spicier flavor while Pho nam is sweeter with added a lot of bean sprouts and fresh herbs (or my American friends call "grass" and "mint").
Some photos of the "green" herbs we add into the bowl of pho
By the way, naming convention for pho restaurant is pretty unanimous:
- With a number: numbers can indicate two different things: A restaurant opened in a year indicate the name. Some of them are "Pho 54", in Houston we have 'Pho 2000" etc... Or, the restaurant opened in Vietnam before immigrating and named after the street number. For example "Pho 24" (I am not sure about this name tho). Some don't care for the number but take the street name instead, like "Pho Cong ly", "Pho Cong Hoa", "Pho Tu Do" were pretty big names in Saigon before the war.
- A restaurant named after its owner. This is rarer but quiet mundane now specially for some new opened restaurants: "Pho Binh", "Pho Nga", "Pho + your name, your daughter name, your dad name" etc.... I think this style of naming convention is self-indulgent and ordinary.
And if you live in Houston, you should try a bowl of "Pho Thai Binh Duong" (pacific Ocean Pho) super bowl. They don't name the restaurant for nothing: their proudly served super bowl is the biggest I ever seen. I wish i could have some photos handy to post. But believe me, I've seen some even ate 2 bowls of this size.
Nothing would be more delightful than having a big hot bowl on a cold day when you could just enjoy the soup forgetting about your sweat dripping down along side your face into the bowl (ewww!!!). Nothing could beat that...
Cheers and go get some phở my friends.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
A trip to Museum District in Houston
Spring break is here in Houston, but the weather doesn't' give us a break today with humidity reaches nearly 90% and temperature is top 85. Living in Houston for almost 8 years now but I don't really explore it much. So I decided to pay Houston's museum district a visit this weekend to learn more about Houston and take some pictures around.
The Houston Museum district is one of the two main recreational districts in Houston. The other one is Theater District housing visual performance art shows and exhibit. The district is centered on the pink-colored Wyndham-Warwick Hotel and the adjacent Mecom Fountain. The Museum District also houses Rice University, the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research and Hermann Park which includes the Houston Zoo and the Miller Outdoor Theatre. The Museum District is also near the University of Saint Thomas. Some of the museums include:
- The Holocaust Museum
- Houston Children Museum
- Houston Children Museum
- Houston Museum of Health and Medical Science (located in the medical center. Houston's Hermann Cancer Center is the world's the largest and most modern, state-of-the-art cancer center.)
- Contemporary Arts Museum
- and the Museum of Fine Arts
This one i think was taken from one of the Delphi temple in Acropolis, Athen :-).
Yeah... we all stole from them Greek.
Early stone statue version of Venus (Aphrodite). Most of modern sculpture based their work on this style of posture.
During the classical period the Greek artists replaced the stiff vertical figures of the archaic period (like Egyptian's sculpture if it could help you to visualize better) with three-dimensional snap shots of figures in action. While the archaic sculptures appeared static the classical statues held dynamic poses bursting with potential energy. The overall patterns of immobile muscles were developed into a complex universe of tension and relaxation. The ancient Greek sculptors had finally achieved balance through the opposing action of the human muscle groups. Most of Greek sculpture in this period involved around a unique technique called contrapposto: The appearance of weight shift in sculpture by the depiction of counter-positioning, in which the body relaxes on one side as the other side takes on the weight of the body and tenses up.
Like this one form the modern age:
There are also lots of paintings from the 15th century.
Hermann Park look from Terrance Plaza
The Sam Houston Monument and Circle frame the Heart of the Park's north end; the area known as the Lake Overlook, which fronts Hermann Park's McGovern Lake, forms the south end.
The Heart of the Park's central and most prominent feature – the 740-foot-long and 80-foot-wide Mary Gibbs and Jesse H. Jones Reflection Pool – is flanked by two pedestrian plazas that are situated between the Sam Houston Circle and the Lake Overlook. Bordered by 80-year-old live oak trees, shaded walking paths of decomposed granite, and groupings of new benches, the Pool also features a cascade created by the gentle flow of water down a series of stepped surfaces. Its black bottom was designed to enhance the water's reflectivity.
Reflection Pool look from the main entrance North - South
Located by the left side of the park is a Japanese garden.
From what I have learned this particular garden is a daimyo style, and includes a tea garden, a kaiyushiki stroll garden, and a scroll garden.
The entry garden is a dry landscape garden.
japanses garden often mimics nature. Thus, the garden itself represents a mini ecosystem, lanscape. Stones are islands, streams are rivers. The design of the garden also has to follow certain feng-shui rules.
Imagine you are standing on the sea (black moonstone) and the boulders are the rising landscape of Japan. The bamboo flowing in the wind represents the sound of the ocean.
Through the gate straight ahead there is a welcoming lantern, a gift from the city of Chiba, Japan. This five-piece lantern was carved from solid granite. The aperture of the lantern focuses the spirit of the garden. There are three stone lanterns, ishi-doro, in this garden.
Stone lanterns play a significant role in Japanese gardens. They represent time. Usually, there are several lanterns are placed in a garden to remind visitor of the time present.
Curved pathways in the garden are covered with crushed stone similar to moonstone. The arbor is a place to sit, meditate and clear the mind of other thoughts. It is also special place to wait until called to tea ceremony in the teahouse.
Before entering the teahouse, tea ceremony guests walk along this path which the host will have moistened to appear damp with morning dew. This path is hence called the dewy path or roji.
Next month, April 7 - 8 is the tranditional Japan festival. Our dojo will put on a show at Hermann park on those days. Some of the activities are rice pounding, Kendo and Iaido performance. Come here again to see my post for the event!
This is the miniature railroad running across the park. The railroad covers almost 100% of the park's circumfence and also there are seperate tracks running across the park.
Perhap you and your special someone can pedal the swan boat on this 21 -arces McGovern Lake. Boats are for rent at $7 per hour.
In the middle of the park is a 35-foot high hill. Frisbee can be played here or you can just run up and down 'til you pass out.
So many pine trees... and green grass
Or... practice your acting skills onstage at Miller Outdoor Theatre
That's it for now... phewww.... I'll be back next time with photo from Japan Festeval (also in here Hermann park).