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You Know You Grew Up Eating Indonesian Food When…

your guests ask why you have various types of sambal (chilli sauce) in your home.

Left to right: sambal terasi, sambal Lampung, sambal Dua Belibis, sambal ABC, dodgy chilli oil, Chiu Chow chilli oil.

When I first moved to Australia, I didn’t realise that Indonesians’ affinity with chilli is unusual. It wasn’t until a Singaporean friend said to me “Wow, you Indos sure put chilli in everything,” before I poured a large amount of sambal Lampung on my slices of pizza.

Citysearch.com.au On Nintendo DS

This is my first attempt at using Opera on my Nintendo DS, recorded using Panasonic Lumix. The video was edited using Kino with sound effects from The Freesound Project. For the record, I did my best Indonesian accent, notice the ‘rrr’, the ’sss’, and the ‘d’ replacing the ‘th’.

I had a go at browsing Citysearch.com.au to see how it looks like on a handheld device. I think the site is still quite usable, the default CSS works fine. Business Finder HTML chunk need to be moved further down so verticals content is served first. Spoiler: starting from 5:00, I was trying to figure out how to click a link using the stylus and it took too long after 2.5 minutes, so I stopped the video. If you got bored, fast forward to the end where I gave myself an applause. Spoiler 2: at around 2:40, my brother made a voice cameo appearance by asking for the bus timetable.

Shelfari Bug Report

I like Shelfari. I like it a lot that I even bother creating a bug report video.

In this video, I edited my profile, set my location to VIC, and saved it. Shelfari then displayed the correct location (VIC), but then I switched the screen to another page, and returned to the location details. This time Shelfari displayed just VI. I repeated it again with a different page and the same problem occured.

Please pardon the low video quality, I used Windows Media Encoder and Any Video Converter.

About a month ago, I contacted Shelfari and told them about a bug on their edit location functionality. I received a reply from their community manager and was asked whether I still had the same problem and that she couldn’t reproduce the error. I replied the email, confirming about the problem and provided a list of step by step instructions. I didn’t hear back from Shelfari since then.

Fast forward to the present, the bug is still here. I understand that this kind of bug might not be as important as other things on their priority list (like OpenSocial). But I guess as a huge fan of Shelfari, it’s the least I can do to help. On the other hand, if they open up a public API :)… imagine the possibilities.

Update (17/06/2008): Shelfari launched a new version today, nice look and feel touch up, plus lots of other updates. The edit location bug is still there though, should I create another video report with the new version?

Update (18/06/2008): Someone from Shelfari notified me via email that the bug is logged but didn’t make it to the release. I’m glad that they contacted me, thanks!

Quotes From Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture

My favourite quotes from Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture - Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams (video):

We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.

Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome.

I probably got more from that dream and not accomplishing it than I got from any of the ones that I did accomplish.

You’ve got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work.

When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care.

Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.

Head fake learning is absolutely important, and you should keep your eye out for them because they’re everywhere.

The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.

It’s pretty easy to be smart when you’re parroting smart people.

It’s very important to know when you’re in a pissing match. And it’s very important to get out of it as quickly as possible.

Until you got ice cream spilled on you, you’re not doing field work.

I can’t tell you beforehand, but right before they present it I can tell you if the world (his students project work) is good by the body language. If they’re standing close to each other, the world is good.

If you’re going to do anything that pioneering you will get those arrows in the back, and you just have to put up with it. I mean everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

Somewhere along the way there’s got to be some aspect of what lets you get to achieve your dreams. First one is the role of parents, mentors, and students.

And he (Andy Van Dam) said, Randy, it’s such a shame that people perceive you as so arrogant. Because it’s going to limit what you’re going to be able to accomplish in life.

You just have to decide if you’re a Tigger or an Eeyore.

I have a theory that people who come from large families are better people because they’ve just had to learn to get along.

Loyalty is a two way street.

Syl said, it took me a long time but I’ve finally figured it out. When it comes to men that are romantically interested in you, it’s really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do. It’s that simple. It’s that easy.

You can’t get there alone. People have to help you and I do believe in karma. I believe in paybacks. You get people to help you by telling the truth. Being earnest.

I’ll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short term. Earnest is long term.

Apologise when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself.

Don’t bail. The best of the gold’s at the bottom of barrels of crap.

Get a feedback loop and listen to it. Your feedback loop can be this dorky spreadsheet thing I did, or it can just be one great man who tells you what you need to hear. The hard part is the listening to it.

Don’t complain. Just work harder. That’s a picture of Jackie Robinson. It was in his contract not to complain, even when the fans spit on him.

Be good at something, it makes you valuable.

Find the best in everybody. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out.

Be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity.

It’s not about how to achieve your dreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.

I think the most important message from his lecture is that leading your life the right way is never just about you, it’s about you and the people around you.

The way Randy passionately talked about life reminds me of Roberto Benigni’s character in Life is Beautiful, albeit a slightly more arrogant version :).

Update (26/07/2008): I checked my blog comment alerts this morning, and learnt that Randy just passed away. In my mind, I had always hoped that he would beat the cancer… somehow. Rest in peace, Randy. Our thoughts are with your family and friends.

Quotes By Morrie Schwartz

My favourite quotes from Tuesdays With Morrie (video):

The Syllabus

pg 10

“Do I wither up and disappear, or do I make the best of my time left?”

The Audiovisual

pg 18

“Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do”; “Accept the past as past without denying it or discarding it”; “Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others”; “Don’t assume that it’s too late to get involved.”

pg 21

“There are some mornings when I cry and cry and mourn for myself. Some mornings, I’m so angry and bitter. But it doesn’t last too long. Then I get up and say, ‘I want to live . . .’”

The Classroom

pg 33

“I’m on the last great journey here–and people want me to tell them what to pack.”

pg 34

“Have you found someone to share your heart with?” “Are you giving to your community?” “Are you at peace with yourself?” “Are you trying to be as human as you can be?”

pg 35

“Dying, is only one thing to be sad over. Living unhappily is something else. So many of the people who come to visit me are unhappy.”

pg 36

“I may be dying, but I am surrounded by loving, caring souls. How many people can say that?”

pg 40

“Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn’t. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted.”“A tension of opposites, like a pull on a rubber band. And most of us live somewhere in the middle.” “A wrestling match. Yes you could describe life that way.” “Which side wins?” “Love wins. Love always wins.”

Taking Attendance

pg 42

“The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it.”

pg 43

“So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”

The First Tuesday We Talk About The World

pg 51

“One day, I’m gonna show you it’s okay to cry.”

pg 52

“You asked about caring for people I don’t even know. But can I tell you the thing I’m learning more with this disease?” “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” “Let it come in. We think we don’t deserve love, we think if we let it in we’ll become too soft. But a wise man named Levine said it right. He said, ‘Love is the only rational act.’” “‘Love is the only rational act.’”

The Second Tuesday We Talk About Feeling Sorry For Yourself

pg 61

“Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people to trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too–even when you’re in the dark. Even when you’re falling.”

The Fourth Tuesday We Talk About Death

pg 81

“Everyone knows they’re going to die, but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently.”

pg 82

“The truth is, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”

pg 83

“Because, most of us all walk around as if we’re sleepwalking. We really don’t experience the world fully, because we’re half-asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do.”“Well, the truth is, if you really listen to that bird on your shoulder, if you accept that you can die at any time–then you might not be as ambitious as you are.”

pg 84

“Even I don’t know what ’spiritual development’ really means. But I do know we’re deficient in some way. We are too involved in materialistic things, and they don’t satisfy us. The loving relationship we have, the universe around us, we take these things for granted.”

The Fifth Tuesday We Talk About Family

pg 91

“If you don’t have support and love and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don’t have much at all. Love is so supremely important. As our great poet Auden said, ‘Love each other or perish.’”

pg 92

“This is part of what family is about, not just love, but letting others know there’s someone who is watching out for them. Knowing that your family will be there watching out for you. Nothing else will give you that. Not money. Not fame. Not work.”

pg 93

“There is no experience like having children. That’s all. There is no substitute for it. If you want to have the experience of having complete responsibility for another human being, and to learn how to love and bond in the deepest way, then you should have children.”

The Sixth Tuesday We Talk About Emotions

pg 104

“If you hold back on the emotions–if you don’t allow yourself to go all the way through them—you can never get to being detached, you’re too busy being afraid. You’re afraid of the pain, you’re afraid of the grief. You’re afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails.”

pg 105

“I thought about how often this was needed in every day life. How we feel lonely, sometimes to the point of tears, but we don’t let those tears come because we are not supposed to cry. Or how feel a surge of love for a partner but we don’t say anything because we’re frozen with the fear of what those words might do to the relationship.”

The Seventh Tuesday We Talk About The Fear Of Aging

pg 118

“Aging is not just decay, you know. It’s growth. It’s more than the negative that you’re going to die, it’s also the positive that you understand you’re going to die, and that you live a better life because of it.”“You know what that reflects? Unsatisfied lives. Unfulfilled lives. Lives that haven’t found meaning. Because if you’ve found meaning in your life, you don’t want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more. You can’t wait until sixty-five.”

pg 120

“You have to find what’s good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking back makes you competitive. And, age is not a competitive issue.”

The Eighth Tuesday We Talk About Money

pg 125

“These were people so hungry for love that they were accepting substitutes. They were embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But it never works. You can’t substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship.”“When you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you’re looking for, no matter how much of them you have.”

pg 127-128

“If you’re trying to show off for people at the top, forget it. They will look down at you anyhow. And if you’re trying to show off for people at the bottom, forget it. They will only envy you. Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone.”

pg 128

“Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. When you do, you won’t be dissatisfied, you won’t be envious, you won’t be longing for somebody else’s things. On the contrary, you’ll be overwhelmed with what comes back.”

The Ninth Tuesday We Talk About How Love Goes On

pg 133

“I’ve got so many people who have been involved with me in close, intimate ways. And love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.”

pg 136

“Part of the problem, is that everyone in such a hurry, People haven’t found meaning in their lives, so they’re running all the time looking for it. They think the next car, the next house, the next job. They find those things are empty, too, and they keep running.”

The Tenth Tuesday We Talk About Marriage

pg 149

“If you don’t respect the other person, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don’t know how to compromise, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can’t talk openly about what goes on between you, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don’t have a common set of values in life, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike.” “And the biggest one of those values.” “Your belief in the importance of your marriage.”

The Eleventh Tuesday We Talk About Our Culture

pg 156

“Every society has its own problems, The way to do it, I think, isn’t to run away. You have to work at creating your own culture.”

The Audiovisual, Part Three

pg 163

“Be compassionate, And take responsibility for each other. If we only learned those lessons, this world would be so much better a place.”

The Twelfth Tuesday We Talk About Forgiveness

pg 164

“There is no point in keeping vengeance or stubbornness. These things I so regret in my life. Pride. Vanity. Why do we do the things we do?”

pg 167

“Make peace. You need to make peace with yourself and everyone around you.”

The Thirteenth Tuesday We Talk About The Perfect Day

pg 173

“That’s what we’re all looking for. A certain peace with the idea of dying. If we know, in the end, that we can ultimately have that peace with dying, then we can finally do the really hard thing.” “Which is?” “Make peace with living.”

pg 174

“As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away.”“Death ends a life, not a relationship.”

pg 177-178

“There is no formula to relationships. They have to be negotiated in loving ways, with room for both parties, what they want and what they need, what they can do and what their life is like.”

pg 178

“Love is when you are as concerned about someone else’s situation as you are about your own.”

I read Tuesdays With Morrie back in 2001, this book is a humble reminder every time I jump on the wrong direction in life.

This book is my bible.