MIS @ NUS

Finishing my masters within the next half a year at the National University of Singapore.

I started Masters of Information Systems at The University of Melbourne in 2002, as a year and a half degree for a full time student. Things got interesting - to say the least :) - and now I'm aiming to complete the 'outstanding' degree by May 2008. Thanks to Universitas 21, I'll be doing a minor thesis at The Department of Sociology at NUS (subject to approval from uniMelb).

During the last semester that finished in November, I informally attended the postgraduate subject (Sociological Theory and Social Reality) on theories in Sociology. The reason why it was not counted towards the completion of my MIS, is that the administration at UniMelb took too long - about three months - to sort out the enrolment. They concluded that if I want to complete my degree at NUS, as opposed to uniMelb, I'll have to do 3 subjects instead of two. I wasn't happy about that, but it is what it is... The one good thing in all that, and unusual, is that at NUS school fees are charged per semester, as opposed to per subject. This meaning that even though I had to do 3 subjects, by doing them all in one semester, my fees would be considerably less then at uniMelb.

Then last month when I thought about which three subjects should I take. The idea of attending uni three nights a week between 6:30 and 9:30 together w/ the full time job just did not 'digest', as I don't want to completely rearrange things on my plate. Luckily, I remembered the possibility of a minor thesis, which was discussed with DIS before leaving.

Next semester is approaching quickly, it starts on the 14th Jan. To enrol officially by getting my minor thesis approved in time, I'll have to do more then just wait to get an approval that I have requested at the beginning of December.

can...!

birth-month shopping

After one year plus here, I get to taste some of the famous Singapore culture 1st hand; the shopping culture:

Save from losing/breaking stuff, I should be shopping-free for a while. This being the month I was born in, it felt kind of like receiving lots of prezos... - albeit, most from myself...

At the beginning of the month, with few of running colleagues from work, I went to the New Balance shop - the marathon running colleague has 40% discount during November. I am a new NB fan. At the shop they got us running on a treadmill to determine a correct shoe. I got two pairs and running shorts.

Few weeks later, for birthday I got the watch. Also got the new jeans that have been in the closet for couple of months, finally trimmed (my ass size/lag ration makes it impossible to get a new pants that fit 'out of a box').

As the phone died the in washing machine, last week I got Nokia E51 - awesome.

Then on the weekend, after a year plus since having initial idea, I got the Boston Birkenstok - perfect for flat footed teacher, also quicker at getting ready in the morning as no need for socks. To make the best of the shop wide 40% discount, I also got Teva sandals, swimming gaggols and two pairs of Mizuno running shorts. My Dad´s birthday is coming next month, so (at danger of ruining the surprise) I got him a pair of NB as well.

Getting a good use from all this goodies, will make it a happy year...!

Oct-Nov bullets

-Another round around the Sun to be added to the total tally. Goes w/o saying, it was quick, very quick, guess the quickest yet.

- Rodo Mile's dear wife gave birth to their 1st child today at 6am CET. My niece Petra was born on a very lucky day :) - Zivila...!

-I moved to the apartment next door. The new guys are great and all.. We have swimming, bBall in common amongst many other things, but I still like the have my own privacy, my own mess, my own choice... guess I'm too old for all that flatmate thing...

- As there is 8 new IF around, there's always choice of doing something w/ someone... : e.g. throwing a party across two 3-bedroom apartments and the level 8 lift lobby that is in between them:


or travelling: Cycling trip at Pulao Bin, a small island of Singapore's east coast:


- I completed my 1st semester at NUS, albeit just as an outsider sitting in at the Sociological Theory and Social Reality .

- The competition at NTU, I took the students for was really good. On one side we were lucky at time, on the other quite unlucky at the last round to finish 4th overall out of 12 schools in our division: 1% point difference behind the 3rd place, and 5% behind the 2nd. So close yet so far away... On the bright side we had fun preparing for it.

- I'm getting more and more into running. Went for another 10km run where we as a corporate team (NP) finished 3rd. This got us a $50 reward each. The run was huge w/ some 10000 participants. My time was 1h. In the another event, we as the School of ICT won the Poly's inter-department relay.

- ...and we came 4th at Poly's inter-department dragon boat race:


- Last Saturday (the 17th), I spent more then half an hour looking for my phone. I found it at the bottom of the washing machine. It was playing submarine. After blow drying it, the SIM card was the only thing that survived. Unfortunately, all my contact info was saved in the phone memory - all lost. The phone has picked the nice smell of the softener :)

...!

run Zo run

Distance: 10km
Time: 47 min and 51 sec
Position: 52/232

At first, I did it only for fun, not caring about placement. But once I figured that I actually run as a representative of the school, I decided to run as quickly as I can.

The 1st proper run was just few weeks back, after I got back from the brief Cro visit. Though I swim basically every day, I haven't run at all in the few months before the run. And so it was rather crazy to set a goal of keeping up with marathon running colleague, even though he said that the run was only a recovery run for him as he just ran a half-marathon few days earlier.

First 5kms was nice and easy; the last couple was a real struggle accompanied with a, now funny, in-between-ear conversations about stop-cannot stop... I give credit to the ego for not letting me stop, and finish 25sec behind my marathon colleague. As far as I can remember, this was the most exhausting physical thing I ever did... - nothing left in the tank - nice...!

From NP running

Paid holiday - ctd

It still feels like a paid holiday, I (still) like it...

My new contact kicked in from the start of this month. When I got back from Thailand holiday, it was nice to see the bank account balance after the 4 pay-checks have been payed in at once (including 3 months of gratuity at the end of the first contract).


CONTRACT NEGOTIATION

For all that negotiation fuss, I got the new mattress, and a choice to fly to Croatia instead of to Australia. Also, few hours of 'scolding' by the school Director and 'black listed' myself, so that, IMO, there is higher possibility of snowing in Spora, then me receiving an anther contract extension come next February/March.


LIVING ARRANGEMENT

I got news that I would be getting two flat-mates. One would have been ok, two - not acceptable. Having been accustom to the freedom and comfort of living in the huge 3-bedroom apartment by myself, and having an opportunity to host visitors, I didn't like the idea of having to share it with two fresh Princeton graduates. Though we might become the best of friends, I still prefer if they live the next door. So I'll probably end up moving out into an apartment in which an air-conditioning does not work, and a possibility of having to share it with students - it's about possibility vs certainty: a student/s might come for a semester, roommates are confirmed for one year.


NEW LAPTOP

Couple of months back, as though Santa heard me, I got one of those two-core, w/ 1G of ram (most ppl got the newer model with 2G of ram - so much for Director's favorite slogan during 'scolding' of 'we are all equal'). Though, I was pissed at times with the slowness of this current machine (which I am still using in the office, as I haven't registered the new one which I am now using at home) ...all of a sudden, since I got the new one, I got much more patient with the old one - guess convenience/choice of having two machines must of had something to do with it.


CURRENT TASK

Currently, I have some tasks in preparation of the teaching materials for the next semester.

Though most time (should be) is spend on the RFID project for the coming 'Open House'. Projects objectives are: tracking the movement of potential students around the facilities, and correlating students' showing at the Open House with the eventual student enrollments. Also, to enhance students' experience and help with the management of the event.

In addition to this, I am exploring the possibility of using Second Life to teach OO concepts.


NEXT SEMESTER

-Teaching
It starts on 15th October. I'll be again teaching OOAD2 (Object Oriented Analysis and Design 2) and a new subject for me, Project Management - both of them have over lapping content, also they share the dryness of Sahara.

-Competition
Together with Patrice, a colleague, leading a team of three students to a Java programming/strategy competition at NTU - virtualXgame; and problem solving by writing an algorithm at NUS - algoMania. Team name is Machinegun; with a motto, coined by JackKee: 'for truth and love, justice and hope; for the future' ...!

BS Father

Here Napoleon Hill summarizes his lessons in 7 minutes. No need to spend time and money on all that other hippie-happy BS materials as they are all - mainly just - repackaging the same ideas that he 1st published back in 1937.

You like it, but it's still bit confusing. No worries, here's the elaboration of the main points from the book - bullet format, simple...!

Ps: As I have mentioned before when writing about The Secret, I would not be surprised if my religious friends out there might say that they know of an other book(s) which far out dates Napoleon Hill's one - I would love to hear your comment on it - again, this is (only) a personal perspective.

Pessimism to Opptimism - in seconds

Last night, the net connection was not working down here in the lobby. System message was that my lap top's IP was not registered - thought they changed some settings while I was in Thailand, and that reason is behind the fact that I have not registered my new lap top yet.

Now, got back from dinner, and this is my in-between-ear conversation:

- [picked up the laptop] going down only for a while to check the mail/news
- no point going, the net doesn't work down there
- only one way to find out
- if it didn't work last night, it's not going to work tonight
- what's the point of NOT going?
- Pessimism...!