Internal HDD Error!!

3/30/2009 03:04:00 PM

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This post was initially supposed to be about my wonderful trip to Camerons. Unfortunately, due to my own clumsiness and carelessness, I sort of let my hard disk go swimming in water, thus resulting in the following error message when booting my computer

Internal HDD Error!! 
No bootable device found!


Aaahh... 

It seems that i need a new hard disk every year come March. My last hard disk also crashed approximately one year ago in March as well. This time however, I was not as fortunate to have DELL support service to fix / replace my hard disk because my warranty has expired. The saddest part is, I couldn't even ask them where is the nearest service center's location where I could send my computer to. This is because after verifying my Express Service Code when making the service support call, I was only given TWO options which are as follows

press 
#1   -   To extend your warranty as it has expired
press
#2   -   to end the call.

So as you see, I'm back to square one of spoilt computer, with no hard disk. Because of that, I am currently running on somebody's external hard disk turn onboard hard disk as a temporary solution. Somewhat like an organ transplant for my computer. Truly grateful for my friends who have been so supportive and creative in coming up with a solution for my predicament. 

Anyhow, am hoping that my hard disk will be fine after spending several days in the drybox. Otherwise, hope that I'll be able to source for an IDE hard disk to replace the old one in order for me to continue using my lappie. I know it's probably high time to change my laptop and get a new one, but should not waste what we have especially when it's still working. 
Will wait as patiently as possible for the day when my Inspiron 6000 gives up on me and it's finally time to get my dream laptop.




AUDREY

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Monkey-ing experience

3/27/2009 12:48:00 AM

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Among one of the new things which I've tried out lately is wall climbing. This is of coruse thanks to Dean's suggestion as one of the things we could do during mid semester break. So on the agreed time and date, the four of us (Camy, Ivan, Dean and myself) made our way to camp5 at 1Utama shopping mall.

We started off with Bouldering where we learnt how to traverse [basically move sideways around / across the wall] and climb upwards. To be honest, I was rather scared when bouldering. This was probably because of the fact that there was no harness to hold you in place, and the landing of a fall would depend solely on the landing matt as well as the falling position. A rather challenging activity I would say. However, despite my described fear, bouldering actually gives more freedom to move wherever and however in whichever direction preferred by the climber. 

We eventually moved on to doing Belaying which i enjoyed more than Bouldering. However, as I was kind of tired out doing bouldering, I didn't manage to do much Belaying. Had my share of being the person on belay [climber] and the belayer. But since I was slightly lighter than the climber, I skidded quite a distance towards the wall before I could find my balance again with Dean's help.  

By 7 pm, we were tired out, with slightly achy arms, and i guess the worse part was hurting toes. The hurting toes were a result of squishing them into really super tight fitting climbing shoes. Uaaaahh.. It was like imprisonment in the form of shoes. Despite all that, I would still say that the four of us were definitely happy, satisfied and worked up a great appetite for our next destination after wall climbing which was 

CRAB FEAST


Another wonderfully contented day to remember. :-)




AUDREY

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A new beginning

3/19/2009 04:39:00 PM

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So since mid semester break is just around the corner and most of us have finished our tests, the four of us decided to go for a full scale makan outing followed by Karaoke. Of course Dean was rather hesitant initially as he has an upcoming test on friday morning. So after much persuasion by Camy, Ivan and myself, he finally agreed to join us.

When it comes to food, all of us are definitely up for it no matter the distance. So off we headed for Bercham [slightly further down from Ipoh Jusco] to have a "All You Can Eat" steamboat dinner. We were totally starved and dived right in to the food selection corner taking everything and anything which could be eaten. All the food then went straight into the boling pot, or on the barbecue pan.

Approximately two hours later, we were stuffed with fish, sausages, 'siu mai', chicken wings, fishballs and the free flow ice cream. All thanks to all the yummy yummy food that each of us took turns cooking. Dean and myself specialize in chicken wings and fish while camy and Ivan specialized in sausages. Of course, we took turns cooking stuff in the steamboat pot as well.  We could barely move at all by the time we were done. All of us except Camy that is, who managed to down 3 large bowls of ice cream and still seem very active. *Salute you Camy!!*

So after breathing abit and getting the bill, we headed on to our next destination which was Embassy Karaoke in Jusco where the 'emo' session began. We sang so many songs will I lost track of how many. There were R & B songs, end of the world [jiwang] songs, oldies, boy bands of which we took turns singing. Some of which were songs long forgotten since our primary school or high school days. Of course there were times where we went off pitch or off tempo, but you can say that's where the fun really is. Hehehe.. 

The ultimate surprise was when Camy suddenly asked everyone to pause and announced that it was my birthday... (^_^)
For the first time, I actually had a late night outing with my friends to welcome the first few moments of my birthday. It was a truly wonderful and memorable experience and of course, the greatest part of it was to have Camy, Dean and Ivan with me to welcome my birthday. Definitely one of my best uni memories - despite having a little *sexy* voice today from all the Karaoke. 

THANK YOU GUYS!!!

Am glad that I turned 22 with all of you people with me to make it special, wonderful and so memorable. With that, today marks a new beginnning for me to start anew, with new resolutions and most importantly new hope. 

Once more, thanks again to my 3 fabulous friends who have truly made my day. Will be looking forward to spending the remainder uni days with you guys making more memories to cherish. 


PS: Thanks also to all you other people for the wishes and prezzies (^_^).





AUDREY

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Magic Plastic

3/15/2009 10:45:00 PM

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Due to my blurness and forgetfulness, I locked my self out of my room ~again~, for the fourth time this semester. I seriously need to make a spare key to be kept somewhere already.

Anyway, since I locked myself out, and my roomate would only be back by 10++ pm, it was highly unproductive to actually wait about 3-4 hours before she came back. Fortunately for me, Dean and Ivan offered me two alternative solutions. 
1.    Pick the lock using a folded plastic sheet 
      (those used for the front cover of project binding)
2.    Break the door down if first alternative fails.

Well, fortunately for me, the first alternative worked, but it took quite a long time of trying though. And of course, I had to learn + practice how to do it with the common room door first before I could try it on my own room door. It's really a very ordinary sheet of plastic as you can see here



But seriously, after trying it myself, it isn't all that difficult to open the door with the plastic sheet once you get the hang of it. That sorta explains how people's things can get stolen so easily without signs of the door being forcibly open. 
Need to get some new padlocks!!
- Especially for my room door.

So thanks to both Ivan and Dean, I learnt a new skill today, plus I didn't have to spend 3-4 hours waiting outside my room till my roomie returned. Yeay!!! 
Thank you both soooo much. Gona have to belanja you all makan before the mid-semester break.



AUDREY

Checkpoint Motivation

3/14/2009 11:47:00 PM

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It's been raining cats and dogs again today. The first round of morning showers started when I was in the middle of my morning jog. Unfortunately for me, I was at the other end of the lake, so I had no choice but to continue running back to my car. Oh well, at least I did manage to jog one round of the track despite getting drenched.

The second round of rain started just 15 minutes before we were scheduled to leave for church..*sigh - such a nice weather to sleep*
As usual, we were having a dillema of what to have for dinner after sunset mass service. Ivan finally suggested that we have McD's. Which was a rather good suggestion after all, because I managed to get something as my motivation to study for my Multimedia Network test.

So here I am, back in my cozy room, wishing I were in bed under the blankets, but studying at my table instead. 

Of course I have a great source of motivation right in front of me to get me moving along. :-P


Apple pie, apple pie, thou art the sweetest, yummiest source of motivation. (^_^)





AUDREY

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Dust Management

3/07/2009 01:07:00 PM

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I make it a point to maintain my 'Clean as I go' policy, especially with regards to the cleanliness of my room. Priority of course is to the cleanliness of my study table. Afterall, that is where I would be spending most of my time be it to study, complete assignments, destressing with computer mini games or surfing the net. I wipe my table once with every two days and I would say each and every item on it serves a certain functionality. Unecessary items are of course kept in the closet or drawers. 

But lately, I've been getting this weird rash on my right hand and it's only centered around the elbow and  eyes. Which is totally weird and doesn't make sense at all. It gets really really itchy and trust me, scratching doenst help at all, but instead makes it even worse. From observation, it normally gets to maximum irritation level when I'm in my room at the study table. This would basically narrow it down to two possible factors. 
1) The rash is a reaction to stress and tends to get worse as my level of stress increases 
(not good for me when it's near tests and exam time)
2) There's just something that's causing a reaction around my study table area. 
(yet to be identified)

So, to put my mind at ease, I made a mini cleanup project today to clean, dust, wipe, and sweep and mop the floor of my room. Everything's feeling squeaky clean and so far, no further reaction apart from the one two sneezes when i was sweeping the floor. Lets hope it stays that way. 
Back to work now for my projects and assignments. (^_^)






AUDREY

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Very early morning agenda

3/06/2009 03:43:00 AM

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It's 3.35am and I'm still awake,  AGAIN~~~. (Of course I took a power nap just now from 9.00pm -1.00am).

Suppose to be studying for my Power Electronics test but I'm so not in the mood. The environment is super nice though. Really quiet and nice for studying. Of course it's also very nice for sleeping and my bed is calling me..Or should I say seducing me to go sleep... Uaaaaah... 

This is the result of having a 'Bleeding Brain' from my Power Systems II test. Moral of the story and new resolution. NO MORE super last minute studying and cramming of info. It somehow tends to make one forget the important and simple facts when actually sitting for the paper leading to a panic black out and subsequently, brain malfunction.

With that said, this Power Electronics 2 paper is going to be my last 'Super Last Minute Studying' paper for this sem and next sem hopefully. Now back to studying... Aja Aja!!

AUDREY

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