Daily Scribble

Moving to RAID

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My computer is dead.  Windows refuse to restart.  The computer keep rebooting itself on the XP logo screen.  I was horrified, worrying losing all my data.  Hardware failure is not a big deal, you can always replace the broken parts.  However the data inside the computer is irreplaceable.  Luckily all my hard drives are intact, only the Windows itself is corrupted.  It will only take me a few days to re-install Windows and all my usual programs.  However, I feel a bit uneasy to format my C: drive.  I want to keep all the data in case there is something important.  So I have to buy an extra hard disk to copy over the data.

Since I am already buying more hard disk, why don’t I fix it once for all, so that I can have a peace of mind.  I upgraded the motherboard to one that support RAID and bought more hard disk space.  RAID stands for redundant arrays of inexpensive disks.  The idea is having two hard drive running in parallel mirroring each other.  In case of a disk failure, you still have a complete set of data.  It is a hardware solution, works much better than backup software.  Now I know my photos, my personal records and my mp3 collections of every Chinese CD released in the past 20 years are safe inside the hard disks, which have over 2TB capacity in total.

Daily Scribble

Boast about the past

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Old man loves to boast about their past, telling stories about their gold days.  Pat’s dad used to serve in the army, he always tell us his army stories.  He is very proud of he won the first place in the army shooting competition.  Unfortunately he last the trophy or medal or whatever certificate, so he couldn’t show us the prove.  Every time when he told me that story, I intuitively assume he is just boasting like other old men.  I think Pat also secretly doubt how trust worthy the story is.

Today I bring him to the shooting range to have some father-in-law, son-in-law bonding.  The last time he had touched a rifle was 40 years ago.  His skill is a bit rusty at first, but he regain it fairly quickly.  Provided that he haven’t fire a single shot for many years, his marksmanship is actually very good.  He can put all ten rounds into the black circle, something that I can only archive on a good day.  Now I have no doubt that he had won the shooting competition.  Taking into account he has age quite a lot, I am pretty sure he shots better than I do when he was young.  He looks so proud when he show the target sheet to Pat after we got home.  I guess he must be very happy today.  Not only that he enjoy shooting, he also proved his past glory.

I guess shooting is like riding a bicycle, once you learn the skill, you will never forget.

Daily Scribble

Immunization

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It is wise to take immunization and vaccines before traveling to third world countries.  Those places are so poor in hygiene that have many deadly diseases.  I just visited the travel clinic today before my trip to India.  I guess India is not a very healthy place, I have to take 7 different vaccines, Tetanus, Diptheria, Polio, Hypatitis A/B, Typhoid and Dukoral.  My arm is sore and numbed for having poked by 3 needles.  The vaccination is not cheap, I have to pay almost $300 just for the vaccines.  The most expensive one vaccine is for Malaria, one pill per day for the whole trip and the pill is $5 a piece.  Actually, there are cheaper vaccine for Malaria, just that the expensive one has least unpleasant side effects.  Luck that the company is paying for it.

There is a parsimonious manager in my company.  He is so cheap that when he book air ticket, he will take a transfer instead of direct flight to save $100 for the company.  I wonder when he travel to India, which Malaria vaccine did he get.  I bet he would take the cheap one over the expensive one.  If he suffer from the side effects, like nausea, vomiting, abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, headache, dizziness, insomnia, would he regret not spending the company’s money?

Daily Scribble

Sardine

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We have heavy snow fall last night, the streets are covered with snow this morning and the road condition is pretty bad.  Many people left their cars at home and take the sky train to work.  I have to go to downtown this morning, so I am one of the crowd in the sky train station.  The sky train rail is covered with snow, which the computer auto pilot system cannot handle, so for the first time, I see sky train drivers.  The single seat at the front of the train is indeed the driver’s seat.  There is a hidden control panel under the windshield.  Since the train service is limited and more than usual train riders, the station is full of people waiting to get on the train.  The trains are so full that I can only manage to squeeze myself into the 3rd train.  I feel like I am in a can of sardine fish.  On a normal day, the train is not totally packed even on the rush hours.  People can still move around quite easily.  Last time I feel like a sardine was riding the HK MTR, I never thought the sky train can also be this full.

Daily Scribble

Indian Visa

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Everyone traveling to India need to apply for a visa.  India is famous for their bureaucracy, so the apply for a visa needs to fill out many forms.  First I have to get two Indian passport size photo, which is difference size than a Canadian passport.  Then I have to get two letters of reference, one from my company and one from the company I am visiting.  I also have to fill out a from provide detail information on my trip, answering irrelevant questions, such as how much I make.  I feel that is an invade of privacy, want the Indian government wants my salary for?  On what ground that they think my salary is related the nature of my travel?   At last, I have to fill in the real application from, which ask not only my information, but also my parent’s information.  How can where my dad was born be related to my trip?

India always boast their success in outsourcing in the high tech industry.  They claim they will be one of the major economy power in the world.  If they really want to go global, they really have to reform their traveling policy.  They have to be more welcome to the foreigners.  We go to you place to spend money, why you set up so many hurdles not letting me come?  I can understand why USA have a tight visa policy, because they have the problem of illegal immigrants.  No one wants to immigrate to India.  I am pretty sure everyone travel to India for work wants to go home as soon as possible.  They don’t have to worry about we will be staying in India illegally.  Why can’t they just grant us visa free entry to save everyone’s trouble?