Weekend Photographer
Posted by ping at Monday, October 09, 2006, 1:25 AM
Angels Mosaic Hosted on ZooomrI was asked recently to help some friends with a mini-"product shoot" for some beautiful angel ornaments that they were making to raise funds for a Habitat for Humanity project. The first batch of photos were needed in a hurry so I had to come up with a DIY mini home studio real quick. I grabbed a roll of mahjong paper (basically big white sheets of paper) on the way home from work, thinking I could use them as a cheap backdrop. In the end, I just used an A4 sheet of paper propped up against a desk light, and the mahjong paper ended up being a pretty good reflector instead. I wish I had taken some pictures of the setup but it took no more than 10 minutes to setup and even less to tear down.
I think I didn't do too badly for my "first time". A little rough at the edges, but with a little work in Photoshop, the photos turned out okay. At least my friends seem pleased with it.
I dropped by the "angel-workshop" on Saturday and took some more photos. Response has been great for the angels so far and they are selling out fast. Great work guys!
PS: Thank you, Mosaic Maker !
Angels
Posted by ping at Tuesday, October 03, 2006, 3:40 PM
Angels Hosted on ZooomrSome friends of mine are raising funds for a Habitat for Humanity project through the sale of these beautifully made Angels. These are all handmade with love by the volunteers. Made from quality Swarovski crystals, these trinklets are available in a couple of colours such as blue, pink, green and yellow.
Available for sale in Singapore until November only. More information can be found at http://angels-of-blessing.blogspot.com/ so head on over and place your order.
Lenovo Thinkpad X60
Posted by ping at Sunday, September 10, 2006, 9:56 PM
Got my hands on a Thinkpad X60 at good price for a Core Duo 1.83GHz, 12.1" laptop with 1GB RAM, 80GB harddrive, an 8-cell battery and the Ultrabase dock. Big thanks goes out to that great friend for saving me a small bundle of cash.
I bought it intending to pass it on to my sister when she leaves for Perth next year. I figure she will be needing a laptop for school and a reliable one (to save myself from being a cross-border tech support) will be best. The Thinkpad was only marginally more expensive than the Dell and Compaq alternatives that I was considering and I hear Lenovo's support is fairly reliable. I was hoping to find a list of service centres locations in Australia, but all I can find so far is the Australia support number. It does seem like Lenovo has an online warranty support system known as the
Electronic Service Call (ESC+)
tool. If all goes well, I will have no need for it, but it is comforting to know that it exists. 
I'm currently installing all the usual software suspects on the laptop, especially my usual set of antispyware software. My sister is not the most technically-inclined of users and will need help ensuring that she doesn't thrash the laptop within 6 months of usage. I will be taking the laptop on an extended trial run. Hopefully any problems will surface quickly before it gets shipped to Perth along with my sister.
First Impressions
A Thinkpad by any model will look just the same. I have not owned a Thinkpad before but I have friends and family who do and really, I would be hard-pressed to identify one Thinkpad model from another.
The Thinkpad's characteristic all-black chassis is well-built and the screen is nice and stiff. The lack of a trackpad takes a little getting used to, but not a big problem really. The keyboard feels good and responds well. A minor gripe would be the placing of the Fn button where I usually expect the Ctrl button.
In my completely unscientific opinion, the Core Duo processor doesn't seem to be seem all that blazing fast although most of the online benchmarks have given it a good rating. The right palm rest area does run somewhat warm to the touch after a while and apparently it is a common problem . The X60 comes with the full gamut of ports and also a built-in SD memory card reader.
Unsurprisingly, I underwhelmed by the quality of the onboard speakers. The speakers sound soft even when turned up to the max, but given that Bose quality audio isn't a priority with the target user base, I can't complain. Earphones are probably the way to go anyway if I want to listen to my MP3s while I work. I don't expect the graphics on the X60 to outperform its audio but I'm not much of a PC gamer and am not too bothered.
In summary, I'm pretty pleased with the X60 so far. Battery life is great and I love it's form factor and weight. A thumbs up from me.
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So Say We All
Posted by ping at Monday, August 28, 2006, 11:23 PM
I could kick myself in the butt for missing out on TalkingCock in Parliament: We, the Citizens (you gotta love that title) last week. I was on training, and for a change, I wouldn't have needed to rush from my office in the boondocks to get there. @#$%^&?!
From the initial videos online , it looked like a night to remember.
A big thank you to everyone at TalkingCock.com and IndigNation 2006 , for that swell of pride (pun not intended) that a month full of speeches, parades and fireworks couldn't.
Happy National Day, Singapore.
Damn it, someone kick me. Hard.
