Pat's Daily Notes http://www.patvandiest.com/ Patrick G van Diest on Ordinary Things en-US Copyright 2009 Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:59:42 +0630 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Imaginary Tutorial Books Publishing Inc. ]]> http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/11/imaginary-tutorial-books-publi.html http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/11/imaginary-tutorial-books-publi.html Twittering fantasy make-believes tales Twitter Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:59:42 +0630 Jogja, Twitter, and Food Fest! I always had new wonderful experience whenever I went to Jogja. Last weekend it was my fourth time there. It was my third one this year alone. This is once again, a work related trip. Nevertheless, it was so much fun. 

Although I had to prepared for the exhibition and workshops that was held in Yogyakomtek at the Jogja Exhibition Centre, sightseeing and culinary trip in between work load is inevitable. Jogja will always be a beautiful and exciting city. This time it was Gudeg Batas Kota, Sate Kambing Samirono, Gadjah Wong, and Alun-Alun that became the stopping place for me and the guys to enjoy the experience of Jogja.

Wonderful thing happen yesterday, in one of the workshop session, being a twitterholic I couldn't resist to update and interact with my fellow Twitters. Thomas and Lala is one of my Twitter/Blogger friends in Jogja. Realizing that I was in Jogja, they think we should meet. Plus, They being in Jogja Food Fest they let me to pick up the menu, and they offer to brought it to me in JEC. I thought it was a joke, until I can't believe my eyes that they were right there at JEC!
]]> http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/11/jogja-twitter-and-food-fest.html http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/11/jogja-twitter-and-food-fest.html blogging daily notes Food fest Jogja Meetup Twitter Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:49:14 +0630 10 Hal Yang (Mungkin Tidak) Perlu Anda Ketahui Jarang sekali saya melanjutkan "rantai pesan kaleng" dalam suatu komunitas jejaring sosial di ranah maya ini. Apakah itu lewat e-mail, bulletin board, forum atau apapun. Umumnya saya akan melewatkan aktivitas seperti ini begitu saja. Tidak, bukan karena saya merasa ekslusif atau semacamnya, hanya saja terkadang pikiran saya terlalu melanglang buana dalam urusan lain hingga saya melupakan bahwa seseorang telah memberikan tongkat estafet dan saya seharusnya meneruskannya kepada orang lain. Sok Sibuk? Pastinya Sok Sibuk!

Fajar Jasmin Sugandhi (teman baru saya yang sangat menyenangkan) kemarin memberikan mandat untuk membuat posting yang bersifat viral mengenai 10 hal yang mendeskripsikan saya. Hari ini saya mendapat banyak waktu lowong untuk memikirkan serta membuat postingan ini. Lagipula, sudah waktunya saya menambahkan entri pada blog yang cukup tandus ini.
]]> http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/10/10-hal-yang-mungkin-tidak-perl.html http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/10/10-hal-yang-mungkin-tidak-perl.html blogging daily notes posting tags things viral Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:33:23 +0630 Pendidikan yang Memerdekakan merdeka.jpg
Hari ini negara Indonesia merayakan ulang tahun kemerdekaannya yang ke-63. Kali ini saya berusaha menulis dengan menggunakan bahasa Indonesia, bahasa Ibu yang diajarkan oleh orang tua saya dari sewaktu saya kecil. Kali ini saya menulis untuk bangsa Indonesia.

Jika saya bilang bahwa tema dari post ini adalah "Apakah kita sudah merdeka?" mungkin sangat klise sekali dan sudah cukup membosankan untuk disimak. Namun, saya tidak akan pernah bosan mempertanyakan hal ini kepada diri saya sendiri. Kita sudah merdeka dari penjajahan selama 63 tahun berturut-turut, tapi pada kenyataannya dalam sejumlah ruang, kita belum merdeka, atau paling tidak sebagian besar dari kita belum merdeka. Kemiskinan, akses kesehatan, akses pendidikan, kesetaraan, dan sejumlah permasalahan lain membuat kita menjadi bertanya pada diri sendiri, "merdeka itu apa?"
]]> http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/08/pendidikan-yang-memerdekakan.html http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/08/pendidikan-yang-memerdekakan.html education freedom indonesia Sun, 17 Aug 2008 21:34:25 +0630 This June Random Notes Facebook or Myspace to notice that I haven’t blog in ages. You probably see me much often on Twitter rather in here, and for that I’m so sorry.

So let’s just move on to random stuffs that I’ve been meaning to discuss right now. In regards of the Cessna plane crash that happens two days ago, I give my big condolences to the family of the crash victim.

Move on to other topics, Germany against Spain on the finale of the Euro 2008. Thank God they were the team that managed to go to the final. They were two of the rising teams in Euro. So this will be a good match I presume. Although there’s news that David Villa and Michael Ballack will not played, I hope it didn’t spoil the excitement of the game.
 
Mac OS X and Apple. After all this years, I can’t separate my life from this two. Now with the emerging of Mac OSX86 I found myself working 80% of my time in Leopard. This is a good thing. I don’t have that much money yet to buy a nifty Macbook Pro (which is in my wish list of things to buy), but at least I can be more productive now that my desktop is filled with Leopard. The only problem is, I can’t perfectly connect the IndosatM2 modem on it. That’s a glitch.

Okay, that’s all for now. See you soon. Very soon. :)
]]> http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/06/this-june-random-notes.html http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/06/this-june-random-notes.html blogging daily notes disaster Euro 2008 update Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:05:27 +0630 Nation Awakening Through Education
So, it’s been a while, yes? Of course! Aside from the fact that I am very busy (I know, such a cliché excuse), I haven’t managed to write a single post for this past months. Some lack of motivation? Probably. Not enough resource? Not quite. I actually have tons of topics that I like to discuss

What’s new?  Nothing much. Jakarta seems much dull these past months. The gas price will be up starting this June. That upset everyone of course, including me. I think this kind of policy makes the government very unpopular. Yet, they always use the “hey! We don’t have any other choices, you know!” excuse to finalize this thing.

Back to the Nation Awakening Day theme. I went to see Bill Gates lectures and speeches when he visited Jakarta earlier this month. Such a total nerd that guy is. Okay, I concur, he is a brilliant man; I acknowledge that from his speeches. But, he doesn’t have that Steve Job’s charisma. He talks like a professor, no witty comments, no small talk, and no jokes whatsoever. He’s a tech guy, not a sales person. Yet the topic he presented is interesting. I’m fascinated with the Microsoft focus on technology for helping countries via education, healthcare, and economy.

What this country need is a good low-cost education system. You know the “Nation Awakening Day” marks the day the “Boedi Oetomo” organization was created. This for us symbolizes the arising sense of unity of Indonesian as a nation back then. The Boedi Oetomo consists of well-educated young man who studied in STOVIA that eager to make a progress through that organization.

Education is the fuel that can lead us to advancement in every field that we want. Through education we can achieve great things. With education, we can be a better nation.
Yet, a large percentage of Indonesia is still illiterate, many government funded schools logistic are poor and/or damaged, and to have a good educations means you have to spend a relatively large amount of money. So this reality right now is quite flawed. Only rich people can afford good education since it’s so damn pricy.

Well, I hope the government raises their spending percentage of education, since the last time I check, they didn’t give it much thought on that.

So to Bill Gates, when you said technology that could help education, all I can ask is: “would it be affordable for us as a developing country? Will it help us achieve a low-cost education system?”

Okay, probably that’s all for now.  Dinner waits. My last though to all of you Indonesian, it’s been a 100 year since a couple of bright young men thinks that “hey! We’re a great nation, let’s join together and arise!” yet life was so simple back then. But now, with all this technologies that we can easily use in front of our eyes, what would you do to make Indonesia a better nation?

]]> http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/05/nation-awakening-through-educa.html http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/05/nation-awakening-through-educa.html daily notes indonesia nation technology Tue, 20 May 2008 23:08:58 +0630 on Comparing Films Rotten Tomatoes after I watched a DVD. This habit which started like a couple of months ago is kind a fun. The simple reason that I did this is I want to compare my review of the DVD to the global consensus that form as a rating in Rotten Tomatoes.

To my surprises, sometimes the margin scores from me and the so-called Rotten Tomatoes reviewer are quite wide. Like the last movie I watched, Cashback, an indie-flick about a boy meets girl theme covered in artsy cinematography. I myself think the movie was okay, not so great, just okay. If I converted my review, I would say it was a 75% rating movie. But surprisingly, Rotten Tomatoes meter just gave it a 45%.

No, I’m not an expert of cinema. I enjoyed films and only take the fun of it. I don’t curate movie like those expert. Because I have a certain beliefs that movies should be a medium for you to enjoy it, not took it very seriously (except for Fight Club, it wasn’t a movie, it is a way of life, I believe in Tyler Durden… :)

I said these to many of my friends. I don’t like movies that makes you think hard about the storylines. Movies were made for entertaining people. I watch a movie to be entertained, not to push my brain to the limit in finding the elusive meaning of that movie.

But it’s just me. That’s how I enjoy films.

Those reviews on Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t affect me though. It just come as a reference for me. I know you can’t debate about individual taste of a certain film. Yet, sometimes I just want to know what other thinks, what’s their take about it, and how that films affect them.

How about all of you? Do other reviews affect you?
]]> http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/03/on-comparing-films.html http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/03/on-comparing-films.html daily notes films review storylines Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:22:21 +0630 Si Unyil and Today's TV Shows Kick Andy’s rerun. In that show, Andy invites some of the great puppeteers from the 80’s and 90’s. These guys (and girls) brought a meaning in educating children through television shows.

With all of today’s crime, sex, and violence in television content, let us take a deep breath and go back what would it feel like back then in the 80’s. There was this kid Unyil, he’s just like you and me, he goes to school, he has adventures with his friend, you know, day-to-day life. He got his own show back then. A puppet show. The show that every single kid who got TV was eager and can’t wait to see. Okay, he is a puppet. Lame, if you see it nowadays. But back then, that show was a cultural phenomenon.  That show teaches us wonderful things, from moral issues, health, education and everything else.

I lived in those glory days of positive televisions. Yes, it kind of sucks where you can only watch one channel back then (TVRI). But, the good side is, they filtered what they want to broadcast, so in a way they provide a couple of quality shoe in term of content.

Ah, I’m tired of comparing it to these days TV show. Somehow, I blame them in expanding violence, moral, and all that family problems.

Call me conservative, I don’t care. But TV Stations please give today’s kids good educating shows that were you know... meant something good for them in a long run. Please guys, I beg you, there is other goal other than ratings you know, like educate your frickin nation for example?

]]> http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/03/si-unyil-and-todays-tv-shows.html http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/03/si-unyil-and-todays-tv-shows.html daily notes education tv shows unyil Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:09:59 +0630 Ankle Problem: Episode Paling Menyakitkan di Hidup Di dalam perjalanan hidup seseorang terkadang kita harus mengalami satu atau dua hal yang sangat menyakitkan. Baik itu sakit secara batiniah ataupun sakit secara fisik. 

Saya baru saja mengalami sakit yang sangat menyakitkan secara fisik. Ceritanya begini: Kemarin pagi, saya hadir di JCC pada saat acara Microsoft Server Wave 2008. Acara ini merupakan acara peluncuran besar-besaran dari produk Microsoft yang terbaru yaitu: Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, serta Visual Studio 2008. Disitu saya dengan beberapa redaksi bertugas meliput acara tersebut. 

Acara pembukaan berlangsung di Plenary Hall. Karena tempat sudah penuh terisi, saya dan teman-teman kemudian mencari posisi di tribun atas dari Plenary Hall. Untuk mendapatkan gambar-gambar yang penting saya terpaksa ke bawah dan mengambil gambar langsung di bawah panggung. 

Setelah mendapatkan gambar-gambar yang penting, saya kembali lagi ke tribun atas. Disana setelah menulis beberapa catatan penting, saya berniat kembali ke bawah untuk mengambil gambar band Dewa (kebetulan Dewa menjadi artis penghibur pada acara pembukaan ini). Nah pada saat turun tangga tribun, ruangan gelap dan semua orang menumpuk ingin melihat Dewa. Pada saat itulah kejadian naas ini terjadi. Saya salah menginjak salah satu anak tangga, sehingga saya terpeleset dan kaki kiri saya tidak jatuh secara benar. KREK!! bunyi itulah yang jelas saya dengar (padahal satu Plenary Hall terdengar hingar-bingar oleh suara lagu Dewa). 

Terjadilah musibah ini. Kaki kiri saya sakit sekali. Walaupun begitu, saya mencoba untuk jalan. Ternyata masih bisa meskipun sakit. Merasa masih dapat beraktivitas, saya melanjutkan lagi kegiatan peliputan acara ini. Mulai dari meliput salah satu breakout session (oleh Steve Riley, seorang pakar keamanan dari Microsoft) sampai acara private interview dengan beberapa Product Manager Microsoft. 

Selepas peliputan, saya kembali ke kantor. Disana hal yang diduga itu terjadi, setelah membuka sepatu, kaki saya bengkak luar biasa dan semenjak sampai di kantor saya sudah tidak bisa berjalan lagi dan harus dipapah.

Setelah pulang (diantar oleh salah satu teman saya yang baik hati), saya langsung pergi ke rumah sakit untuk mengecek keadaan internal kaki saya. Setelah di rontgen ternyata tidak ada tulang yang patah (Thank God), hanya (hanya?) terkilir saja. 

Lalu datanglah pengalaman itu. Di dekat rumah saya ada salah satu ibu yang memang ahli dalam urusan urut-mengurut. Saya sudah berpikir bahwa mau tidak mau, hal ini harus terjadi. Saya harus diurut. Dan yang lebih parah, saya harus diurut dalam keadaan bengkak. Karena seyogyanya, bila ada seorang yang terkilir, ia harus segera diurut sebelum pembengkakan terjadi (tentu setelah dilihat bahwa itu bukan patah tulang ya. Karena kalau patah tulang malah tidak boleh diurut).

Mungkin satu RT mendengar teriakan memilukan dari saya. Saya tidak peduli. Kemarin malam, saat diurut itu adalah saat paling menyakitkan yang pernah terjadi di hidup saya. Sakitnya begitu mendera sampai saya pusing sendiri.

Menurut ibu itu, hal ini harus dilakukan untuk meluruskan kembali urat-urat yang bengkok. Setelah selesai, kaki saya diikat dengan perban agar tetap lurus. 

Saat ini, saya masih belum dapat berjalan dengan benar, masih dalam tahap penyembuhan. Saya masih melakukan terapi jalan. Untung saja saya masih dapat berjalan ke komputer. Karena hampir semua aktivitas saya ada di komputer ini. :) 
]]> http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/03/ankle-problem-episode-paling-m.html http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/03/ankle-problem-episode-paling-m.html daily notes kaki terkilir urat Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:31:34 +0630 Alternatif Akses POP3/SMTP Gmail Menggunakan SSH Tunneling Mozilla Thunderbird lagi, khususnya untuk digunakan pada account Gmail saya.  Alasannya sederhana, saya lama-lama bosan juga menunggu waktu tunggu untuk membuka halaman web-based Gmail.

Kebetulan teman kantor ada yang menggunakan Portable Thunderbird. Aplikasi menarik ini dia gunakan untuk segala keperluan mobilitas e-mail, termasuk di dalamnya, account Gmail miliknya. Menurut sarannya, Thunderbird cocok digunakan untuk menarik e-mail dari Gmail.

Namun, sangat disayangkan… untuk alasan sekuriti, ternyata port pop3 dan smtp Gmail secara default ditutup oleh admin network kantor saya. Teman saya bisa mengakses Gmail karena memang dia minta request khusus kepada sang admin. Bisa saja sih saya merequest kepada sang admin untuk membuka port tersebut, namun saya urung untuk melakukannya dengan alasan bahwa ini merupakan proyek eksperimen saja (hanya untuk coba-coba, biasanya kalau sudah 1-2 bulan saya akan bosan dengan sendirinya).

Tadi malam, setelah pusing menyelesaikan deadline artikel (yang tiba-tiba datang bagaikan air bah), dan tidak tahu mau ngapain lagi (pulang malas, tapi belum ngantuk juga), saya iseng lagi mencoba koneksi Gmail lewat Thunderbird. Saya teringat teknologi SSH tunneling yang dulu sempat saya pelajari dan coba-coba sebentar.

Oke, googling sedikit, riset sedikit, ngoprek-ngoprek sedikit, salah-salah...banyak. Akhirnya! Saya berhasil melakukan koneksi ke Gmail melalui tunneling via SSH. Begini cara sederhananya menurut pengalaman saya:
]]> http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/02/alternatif-akses-pop3smtp-gmai.html http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/02/alternatif-akses-pop3smtp-gmai.html daily notes internet software gmail network pop3 smtp ssh tunneling Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:05:02 +0630 Vista's Second Chance
With it's first announcement of the Service Pack 1 release, I think Windows Vista would make a good choice for newly desktop system. I know I had experience one myself. Windows Update improves many things that early Vista release lack of. Still, is it enough to convince user to change their mind about Vista.

Been trying those Windows Live Apps and I can say that so far so good. The Live Mail was okay, the Live Messenger though a bit bulky seems nice too. Unfortunately, I can't connect Live Writer to this weblog. But I think this is a Movable Type problem since I do experience this on other stand-alone blog editor.
 
Why the sudden change Pat? You know, I still use XP on daily basis, but still, I want to have new perspective on Vista other than what other people think about. It's like giving your ex-girlfriend a second chance in relationship, probably they would do better this time around, and I wrote this with an optimistic feeling around this issue.]]> http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/02/vistas-second-chance.html http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/02/vistas-second-chance.html daily notes Live Vista Wed, 06 Feb 2008 10:51:22 +0630 Last Sunday's Punk Rock Night talking about the new nifty Macbook Air, I want to tell you a story about my first concert of 2008 right now. Boring and pointless story? Well, it might be for you who don’t have soul! Ah just kidding there. But seriously, this story will be fun, promise!

So back to the story, I promise myself in my spontaneous-unwritten-2008-resolution-list that I had to watch more than three concerts this year. So last Sunday, would be my first one. That day I was as sick as hell, I got this flu that kept my nose feeling it’s going to blow every instance (well it did blow and I sneeze a lot, but unfortunately it blows every time that I’m not ready).

Nevertheless, I force myself to watch MXPX "Live in Concert at Senayan Basketball Hall A",  since I have bought the ticket (it’s somewhat expensive) and since I like MXPX. Funny story with MXPX. I know them back in the 90’s (well, late 90’s to be exact). They had this one-hit-wonderful radio playing song called “Chick Magnet”.  However, that’s not the case, I like them by the fact that they are somehow punk rock, and they have this very cool singer, Mike Herrera.

No I’m not a big fan, I occasionally listens to their album singles that they release every now and then (they had eight albums by the way). The only full album of MXPX that I like was their “Ever Passing Moment“album. That my friend, I believe is the best album they have made so far.
]]> http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/01/last-sundays-punk-rock-night.html http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/01/last-sundays-punk-rock-night.html daily notes awesome concert punk rock Thu, 17 Jan 2008 14:19:20 +0630 This Saturday again by this flu. And again, it came in a not so very right time. I can’t be sick, I have to watch MXPX tomorrow evening.

Well anyway, I am planning to watch this new Indonesian movie called “Kawin Kontrak”, I thought  it will be a funny movie, I’ve seen the trailer later this morning and  since it has Lukman Sardi on it. I like Lukman Sardi’s acting. But Rifie has different take about this movie. Well thanks Rifie for the heads up.

And the Kompas.com website has problems today, now it came back to the original design, and the forum is down too. I am planning to contact somebody there later. Probably a technical problem, I’m okay with it since it was on their beta stage. You know, problems occured, man.

And people of Jakarta, do you not realize that in this couple of days, the temperature seems to be getting back on it’s state a couple of months ago? I mean back in late December and early January, the weather’s seems going to be raining, rain, flood, and rain again. But these couple of days, the damp, hot, and humid temperature has return once again. Now I write this in my room with sweatiness all over me. Well, BMG, what do you have to say for this?


Now Playing: Trivium – The Crusade
 
]]> http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/01/this-saturday.html http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/01/this-saturday.html daily notes concert music weather Sat, 12 Jan 2008 18:50:42 +0630 Soft (Re) Launch Kompas.com kompas.jpgJumat, 11 Januari 2008 tepat pukul 00.00 WIB, Kompas.com melakukan soft launch disain terbaru websitenya. Kali ini tidak hanya disain yang diganti, namun banyak juga feature-feature baru yang ditambahkan pada Kompas.com. Meski baru dalam versi beta, tapi saya rasa sudah cukup stabil.

Dari segi disain dan feature, tampaknya Kompas.com sudah agak-agak web 2.0 dengan tampilan yang dilapisi dengan AJAX. Berita-berita juga sudah terbagi per kategori yang memudahkan pembaca untuk membaca sesuai dengan minatnya.

Channel-channel yang ada pada Kompas.com ini meliputi:
  1. Kompas Cetak. Channel ini bukan channel baru (bahkan disainnya juga masih disain lama, mungkin belum diganti), merupakan website yang memuat edisi koran Kompas dalam bentuk halaman web. Sangat bermanfaat buat mereka yang belum sempat membaca koran hari ini.
  2. Kompas Mobile. Website layanan mobile persembahan dari Kompas.com
  3. Kompas Images.  Website berita foto Kompas yang memuat foto-foto jurnalistik beserta berita singkat di bawahnya.
  4. Kompas TV Kompas TV Website berita jurnalistik dalam bentuk file-file video yang dapat di-streaming langsung oleh pengguna.
  5. Seleb TV. Mirip dengan Kompas TV, hanya saja website ini lebih mengkhususkan diri dengan berita infotainment.
  6. Gramedia Online. Website E-Commerce dari Toko Buku Gramedia. Anda bisa melihat catalog buku-buku yang tersedia dan jika Anda tertarik, Anda dapat langsung memesannya secara online.
  7. Forum Kompas. Nah ini nih yang menarik, website ini merupakan forum diskusi Kompas mengenai berbagai macam hal yang ada di sekitar kita. Di sini Anda dapat berinteraksi dengan member lainnya dan saling berdiskusi mengenai berbagai macam topik. (Kebetulan saya didaulat untuk jadi admin disitu, hehehe....)
Yah itu dia beberapa feature baru yang ada di Kompas.com. Untuk beberapa feature memang masih ada kendala disana-sini tapi itu wajarlah (website baru gitu loh).  Sukses selalu buat Kompas.com deh!
]]> http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/01/soft-re-launch-kompascom.html http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/01/soft-re-launch-kompascom.html daily notes internet blogging kompas website Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:40:51 +0630 Lately (Update No.2)
So this couple of weeks I am:
]]> http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/01/lately-update-no2.html http://www.patvandiest.com/saves/2008/01/lately-update-no2.html daily notes daily things dvd tv shows Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:58:36 +0630