The Canadians Like My Hair

Yesterday I had a presentation on "Improving OSS Customers Experience" to the officials of CIDA (Canada International Development Agency) and TAF (The Asia Foundation). The presentation which was conducted in English, gladly, was a successful one. The CIDA officials was very much impressed.

I really love the habit of the foreigners (more specific: americans). It is the habit of appreciating people even in the simplest form such as SMS. to Mr. Adam Day (TAF) and Mr. Robert Langevin (CIDA), thank you for the appreciation.

By the way, there was also an interesting small talks. Mr. Robert said very early before i began the presentation that he really like my hair. He also said that I looked very much "an IT guy". That was not the first time I heard that, many people said similar. I still don't have the clue which cause that impression, was it because of my hair, my face or my cool IT gadgets (notebook and PDA). ha..ha..ha..

I was accompanied by pak Nanang, but the canadians has a quite different impression on him. The canadians said that pak Nanang looked very much "a government guy". (me, laughing at the floor. pak Nanang, peace yo..).

The Sixth Sense of Lala

oh my...
it happened again, Lala saw "the invinsible" last night. i was not there at the moment, i just tell you the details from Bunda Lala.

last night, Lala wanted to play with our maid, which was already aslept in her room. her room is upstairs (backside of our house), just above the bathroom. Lala ran just in front of the stairs, starts calling her name, "mbak Atul..." repeatedly. Bunda Lala and her mother (Oma) just stay still in front of the tv.

suddenly, the calling stopped. Lala ran quickly to Oma saying, "takuuuut, itu di kotak mainan, mbak Atul bukan ya?". Oma and Bunda Lala stunned, because definitely there is no one there (kotak mainan is just beside the stairs). Lala herself didn't seems to be afraid very much. She asked Oma, "ayuuk Oma, ayo ikut lihat...". of course Oma did not wanted to see such sightings :)

well, it happened again. Lala's sixth sense again detects the invinsible, but this time Lala has been very good in combining sentences. when it happened, it will surely scares Bunda Lala :)

The Wonderful Lebaran

Lebaran is surely wonderful. Bunda Lala's parents are visiting us here in Yogyakarta. so, here are the pictures of joy from them. also, there is a picture of my sister in law, and of course: LALA.

Best Friend Forever

here is the picture of Lala and Keisha. they always unexpectedly meet each other in many places. I think they will be best friend forever.

Smartcard PC/SC Programming with C# .NET

I am so overwhelmed with smartcards!

last midnight, I finally fulfilled my quest on how to communicate with smartcard through PC/SC (not by direct access through the serial ports). I previously did intensive research on OpenSC and OCF (Open Card Framework). With OpenSC, I'm stuck because of all of my cards were unsupported (my card is Gemplus Xpresso and Oberthur). With OCF, well, the framework in Java took quite some efforts for me to implement it :)

Since the last several weeks, I have been intensively also in learning .NET, especially with C#. so why didn't I explore this PC/SC access with C#. C# is my future coding skills, I intend to be really good with C# (as I did with Delphi). After a long quest, thanks to Mike Yeager who contributes a code samples of interfacing PC/SC with C#.

Let me give you the snapshot here, it is still a very simple example. the quest of smartcard with .NET continues... :)

Another Lala's Adventure

I have some pictures of Lala, but the events occured quite some time ago (I haven't got the time to upload it). the first is on Kebun Raya Bogor, when I took a long holiday on Independence Day. Secondly, Lala loves singing very much, picture taken when my health councellor finally celebrates his most wonderful day of his life. enjoy :)

Avanza Returns

you can see in the pic, my car is now restored in its original condition. thanks to Wawan H. Prabowo, a KOMPAS reporter, who has a great gentlemanship. he is the one which made this repairs possible.

you might curious to know where he made the repairs. it was a "classic" workshop, but the owner has a special technique on mixing car paints. the workshop named "Janto", located in Gedong Kuning, just south of Rejowinangun intersection, in front of Fajar Mobil. the repair costs around Rp. 450.000 (so does Nascomo, Astra), but the paint quality is exceptionally good. the new paint match exactly as the previous one.

feel free to talk to the owner, he is a nice fellow to talk to. as the idiom said, "never judge a book by its cover". the idiom describes this workshop very well.

Overwhelmed with Handbags!

yesterday afternoon, one cabinet-sized package has just arrived. oh dear, it was one of the biggest package fully loaded with handbags. as you can see in the pic, I was quite "overwhelmed" with the handbags. processing on each item is quite time-consuming, I even hadn't had the chance to take pictures on those items.

curious on the items? I shall have it uploaded to Prestise by tomorrow.

E-Government Summit 2006

It was a great annual event, held by Warta Ekonomi on September 14, 2006, in Inna Garuda Hotel Yogyakarta. I was very much looking forward for this event, because it (originally) presents the Governor of DIY Province and Fadel Muhammad (governor of Gorontalo Province). I also love the theme, "Reformasi Birokrasi dengan Teknologi Informasi". unfortunately, Fadel Muhammad was not present. yes, I'm not saying this event is great because of the food :)

Despite of the boring beginning, it has a very glamorous ending, which is the ceremonial of e-government award. It has great lighting effect, and great soundsystem (they use Rocky's soundtrack). This was the first time I saw Jaya Suprana as the master of ceremony. he conducted in a fun and relaxed manner, filled with small jokes.

on my way out, they give away merchandises. they give away the most recent Warta Ekonomi magazine, and also a Cisco t-shirt. again, unfortunately, the shirt is not suited for my size :D

The Haircut

Lala is having her pony cut. she is enjoying every step of the process. checkout the pic. the pic is taken through the mirror, so you can guess where the haircut is done :)

Wonderful Weekend

I just had one of the most wonderful weekend. on Saturday, I started my long delayed hobby, Fitness and Swimming! Bunda Lala is now joining the fitness club in Novotel also. Since Lala will be in school until afternoon, we will be freely enjoying doing fitness together :)

as always, on Monday we spend half of the day in UGM, accompanying Bunda Lala selling the handbags. of course, my task was to accompany Lala. Its not "a walk in UGM", since I have to carry her :) I had a very stiff muscles, but it felt great, because Lala was very happy, not even cried or upset.

in the afternoon, we were back again in Novotel. but this time, its swimming time for Lala! checkout the pictures, she was very happy and excited to get started. at first, she's happy playing with the water, but unfortunately, the water is very cold, she is freezing. she finished very early. after the swim, suprisingly, Lala ate plenty of food. I guess the swim made her very hungry.



Its another great weekend, looking forward to swim again with Lala next week.

The Icon of Prestise Handbags

The Renovation

Huff,
the long weekend has been full of excitement. we are doing a renovation in our home. the primary objective is to create a "mini boutique" in the livingroom. yes, we are doing this as the first step prior to setup a true store downtown :)

besides of the livingroom, my bedroom is also "upgraded". i now have a working table, which was previously used as a dining table :))

checkout the pic below, its my new livingroom :)



we are having a Grand Opening, more details available here. I welcome you all in my home :)

Lookout! Nagrek Driver in Action!

we travel to Jakarta through the south route. last 2 years, we select the north route (pantura), so we think its okay to select south route for now. i myself has traveled through this route using motorbike. well, apparently, the south route is not just another "ordinary" route. the area named "Nagrek" has its uniqueness :)

Travelling through Nagrek is very challenging. the path is inclining 45 degrees, the road is bumpy, and full of heavy vehicles (bus, puso, double-trailer, container trucks, etc). those trucks moved very slow because of the heavy load. danger will happen if the trucks don't have enough power to climb, engine will shut down, so do their brakes. one said that, brakes system in diesel vehicles relies on its power source from the engine. please correct me if i'm wrong.

so, there is was, becoming a Nagrek driver for over an hour. I race with the trucks. I had to keep my RPMs high, so that I can make quick maneuvers any time if I have to overrun the trucks, or if something happened with the trucks in front of me. The adrenaline is high along the route, so I passed Nagrek without I even noticed.

travelling through Nagrek consumes many energy, and very stressful. so we prefer it would be better to take the pantura route. I also think timing is essential. if you travel from Yogyakarta in early morning, avoid the south route, because it will be dark when you reach Nagrek. most of the heavy vehicles travel at night, so you will need to compete against this.

so, next time you meet me, I am a "certified" Nagrek driver :)

The Harsh of Jakarta

my first day of vacation in jakarta was not a good one. after a full 12 hour drive from Yogyakarta, i had not get enough rest. I slept only probably 1 hour, because Lala was "rewel", tired. after shopping full day long, i got stuck in a full traffic jam. i was somewhere near "three-in-one" restriction area, so everyone is trying to get into a "safe" alternate routes. it was a very very very very very very very terrible traffic jam. i experienced the worst frustration ever. i think everyone frustrated and loaded with anger.

at that moment, i remember that this was one of the reason why i don't want to live in jakarta. i made a commitment that i will never travel if i had never been there before. trust me, you don't want to get cought in jakarta's famous traffic jam.

jakarta is really not suitable for living. jakarta is only good for a short vacation or shopping. a consultant once said, jakarta is worth living only if your earning is rp. 15jt monthly :)

"Teroris Juga Manusia"

i could not find the proper english-version of "teroris juga manusia". LALA has always been a "terrorist", especially in the afternoon until midnight :) she always play-around on many things (also destroyed many stuffs), interact with her parents, and so on.

checkout the picture here. it was taken on yesterday morning, when we were in gadjah mada, accompanying Bunda LALA (she is selling the bags). during the period, LALA is very happy wondering around, seeing many things. Of course, as I expected, Lala became tired (so do I) and fell asleep in my lap (=pangkuan).

at that moment, the "terrorist" turned into an angel. Embracing Lala suddenly lifts all of the fatigue within me. My feeling turned into happiness as I see her face sleeping beautifully.

thats it. I cannot describe feelings well enough in english. so i hope you get the picture :)

Not Quite 2 Years Old

checkout this pics. is a 2 years old child can show such pose?

Another Bad Presentation

I done it again: another bad presentation.
I have done many many presentations, even to foreigners. but I still get nervous on each presentation.

On my Business Communications class, I was the only one who conduct the presentation in english. but because I'm not preparing myself well enough, I did it badly. My voice are trembling and mumbling, I can't even control my breathing. One plus point, no other did it in english besides me, but I should be better next time.

Tips on Taking TPA Exam

I am very grateful that my revised TPA (Test Potensi Akademik) score is 593,86. The passing score is 500, so I passed the test. I was lucky that my score was above average. But as always, there is some fellow who achieved over 600. Gosh, how could he have done it...

ok, actually this is the score for my second TPA. I joined the TPA Score Improvement program held by MM GMU. there I got quite some useful tips and strategy on how to complete the test successfully. Here is some of the most useful tips:
1. Memorize the fraction list, and the procentage equivalent. eg: 1/8=0,125=12,5%. memorize it from 1/2,3/5,1/6 and so on until 8/9. trust me, this is VERY USEFUL.
2. Memorize the square of prime numbers. most preferebly, memorize ALL of the squares from 10 to 30. you will surely benefit from this when you're dealing with sequencing problems.
3. Problems repeated. Bapenas don't have the time to recreate new problems, so you will most likely find similar problems as you would find in many TPA guides. You should AT LEAST exercise every types of problems. You will definitely get at least two benefits: First, enhanced ways of problem solving, and secondly, of course the answer to the problem :)
4. Although you wanted to achieve more on your arithmatic part of the test, don't oversee the rest of the test. What will help you boost the score is the first (verbal) and last part (spatial) of the test. You will MOST LIKELY encounter very similar problems in TPA guides (a 100% match). so searching for the answers would be invaluable.
5. Lastly, don't get overexcited on solving for one problem (especially arithmatics). If you can't finish it in 1 minutes, GUESS IT. My mentor said, random guessing is not good. You should be consistent in guessing answers, stick to one choice (eg: A) for the unfinished problems.

For the #1 and #2 tips, if you're able to finish the first part of the test, write down EVERYTHING you have memorized on the problem sheet. this greatly reduced the time to recalling the numbers. You simply just flip the paper and got the numbers. On my first attempt of test, I don't do these tips. This is why I failed. hope you will be better than me.

Oh one more thing, the cost for this score improvement program is Rp. 500.000. it is quite a lot of money. but the terms follows: full refund will be given for students who attend the program and passed the test. hehe, this is really challenging, the saiyan-super within me is overwhelmed with the spirit to pass the test... :)

As always, Tetap Semangat!

Edinia Prestise

The business has been moved to a newly created blog, named Edinia "Prestise". All updates on items are now available at http://prestise.blogspot.com

Looking forward to see you all there :)