I tried adding the alias line in “.profile”…didn’t work. After googling, I found that needed to add the line to “.bashrc”.

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ShamWow is creeping into our life…even to our local Wegmans.

Update: I checked out the two singers’ site…they are pretty funny. I think I like them.

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Last night’s dinner…yummy!

Ingredients (for two people):

• 5 – 6 Large Scallop
• 1/2 Portobello Mushroom
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup Arborio Rice
• 1 – 2 clove Fresh Galric
• 1 can of Chicken Stock Soup
• A pinch of Saffron
• Olive Oil
• White Wine
• Water

Instructions:

1. Put oilve oil in the pan and heat low
2. First, start with thinly sliced garlic…until they are lightly golden
3. Put the heat to medium and throw chopped scallops, then, a bit later, chopped portobello mushroom. Sprinkle a bit of white wine, salt & pepper.
4. When scallops are half-way done, put arborio rice in the pan
5. Once the rice is well coated with olive oil, dump a can of chicken stock soup and add a pinch of saffron.
6. Let rice simmer and absorb liquid; add water if needed until rice is cooked al dante

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I’m mostly satisfied with Design Studio’s Portfolio component for Joomla….not perfect though. I’d like to see the following improvements in the near future. Maybe I’ll hack it if I can’t wait for the next version:

• Bug fix: on the module link…the link path needs to contain correct category path. Currently, all the link via module belongs to “websites” category
• Include title tag with the item title for each thumbnail in the module
• Bug fix: pagenation in category pages.
• For item page, I’d like to have the name of the item have the same tag as the category page’s title (so I can apply the same CSS style)
• more “general” class name assignment for multiple small image tag (instead of item ID specific) which differentiates from a larger image (in the category page)
• tag the credit link section so that I can modify its style

If I hack the component, I’ll make the hack available for download.

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Even though the site isn’t quite complete I decided to go ahead and made it active.

So, I made several modifications from the original design. The big one is the main content of the hompage is now thumbnails of most recent work instead of main navigation. I realized that I have top navigation and text navigation to identical locations already…another duplication of the navigation is just too much. So I listed little more useful info instead.

Final design:

The original design:

The site is, again, using Joomla CMS. However, I changed my portfolio component from JPortfolio to Portfolio Design. The main reason fo the switch is JPortfolio lacks a module. Another reason is while Portfolio Design is Joomla 1.5 navtive, JPortfolio is Joomla 1.0 legacy. Also, Portfolio Design seems to be actively developed while JPortfolio project seems to be paused.

I’m pretty happy with Portfolio Design’s component, except that currently version doesn’t have pagenation activated. According to the author, the feature is buggy and it will be fixed for the next version.

Hopefully moving my site from GoDaddy hosting space to my home server shorten the loading time a bit.

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最近AMDの６４X２でサーバーを復活。前のサーバーはSempronやったからだいぶ高速化したはずやねんけど…けどやねんなぁ。

最初はKVMスイッチ使わんとVPNでメインマシーンからサーバーマシーンにアクセスする予定やってんけど…とろすぎ。ルーターのMAXスピードが１００Mbpsやしなぁ。アプリケーション開くたびにイライラ。で、結局日本で７年前に買った１９８０円のKVMスイッチも復活。やっとVGA卒業してDVIをエンジョイしてたのに、またVGAに戻っちゃった。DVIのKVMは高い。まだ買う気にはなれへん。今持ってるKVMが７年前で２０００円せんかったしなぁ…かなりのお買い得商品やった。

でだ、DUALのサーバーを直でアクセスしてても、なんか物足りひんねんなぁ。むっちゃ遅い、ってわけじゃないねんけど、メインマシーンのPhenomのQUADコアに慣れてしもたから、なんかしっくりこうへん。

かといって、QUADのマシーンもPHOTOSHOPのCS4はスカスカいってくれるわけじゃないねんなぁ。やっぱVISTAが悪い…と思う。サーバーの設定終わらして、データーの転送したらメインマシーンはWindows7にアップグレードしようと思う。ハードのスペックはそんな悪くないはずやし。PHENOMのQUADでメモリーもDDR2の1066で４GBあるし、グラフィックカードもちょっとヘボ目やけど、RADEONのHD3450でオンボードじゃないし。やっぱVISTAが悪い…ということにしておこう。

今後の予定としては、次に旦那さんのガレージ用に一台作ろうかと。サーバーのDUALのCPUと２GBのメモリーをそっちに廻して、サーバーにはメインマシーンのPHENOMを。メモリーは２GBを4枚買って、サーバーとメインマシーンに４GBずつ足そうかな。で、メインマシーンにPHENOMIIを…なんて思ってるわけですね。モニターも今使ってる20インチのワイドスクリーンを旦那さんに使ってもらって、23インチにアップグレード！

まあ、ケースとかPSとか、とりあえずハードは一通りそろえなあかんから（もうスペアのパーツはない）夏頃ですかね、金銭的には。

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I’ve been waiting for this for a while. Now I can synchronize my bookmarks from anywhere! At home I don’t have any problem using just Firefox. But at work, I can’t get a way with that. Hence, I soooo wanted this in IE…now I have it, hooray!!!

No longer I have a need to export my bookmarks/favorites. I can instantly copy them to any of my computers (I do build computers & switch OS quite frequently…one less backup process for me…that means a lot).

Love you foxmarks!

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So our big boss doesn’t like GoToMeeting. Luckily, as a part of production department, I don’t have to ever touch GoToMeeting.

While ago, Louis mentioned about Skype as an alternative solution to the company telecommunication system. I think it’s a great idea. I subscribe Skype at home, and I love it. I can call my mom in Japan (or pretty much all over the world) unlimited for $10 a month. I have to pay extra for call cellphone in Japan, but still, their rate is much cheaper than any other phone companies around. I also bought a phone number which cost me $30 per year so that people without Skype can call me. So I pay $150 a year for a home phone system with Skype.

Now, that’s a world unlimited plan. If you aren’t so international, then you just pay $3 a month and you can call anywhere in the U.S. & Canada (landline & cell phones) up to 10,000 minutes every month. With a phone number purchase it’s $66 a year or $5.50 per month. You can’t beat that price.

So the main issue with using Skype at work is that they need a call center. Skype doesn’t offer the call center service. BUT, their is a third-party app for that. PrettyMay offer a call center app for one-time fee of $500 (for unlimited “agents”). It’s not exactly cheap but how long does it to take to recover the cost if we terminate the current phone system…I bet not too long.

The only downside I can think right now for switching to Skype is that when Internet connection is down our phone system go down with it. But then the company can keep a one phone number for such event.

I’m sure you’re wondering “How come she’s talking about Skype, I thought she was gonna talk about GoToMeeting?”…it’s coming. Hold on.

So, I was reading the Big Boss’ blog, chuckling at the red kettle picture…couldn’t help myself picturing having a red kettle on his head.

Then, I was wondering what other web conferencing apps available now a days.

I run into Yugma. GoToMeeting cost $468/year with annual contract. Yugma (there’s a free version but I don’t think that’s suitable for the company) costs $149/year for a simlar plan. I was like “Hey, that’s really nice”.

Then, I saw Yugma SE. Yugma offers an app so that you can integrate Skype & Web Conferences. The app seems to have some limitations (SE version can’t schedule meetings) but still this integration will encourage clients / prospects to use Skype & enable us to provide cost efficient support via Skype.

Just a thought that came out of the red kettle.

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Forget I had to work on V-day…that turned out to be nothing compared to other BSes we had to deal with last night.

1. Right before I was ready to work, sump pump in the basement started acting funny. No hubby at home. Should I be “fashionably late” or let basement flood? I took my chance and went to work (lucky my hubby came home right after I left)

2. As soon as I arrived at work, one of the three waitresses working tonight called. Turned out the guy giving her ride to work (who also works in the kitchen) was stopped by a police officer who took his license plate away, and they had no way of getting to the restaurant. So I went downtown to pick them up

…mind you, V-day is one of the busiest nights for the restaurant. Time is extra precious.

3. So I picked them up, came back to the restaurant, running behind for prep to open the restaurant, phone constantly ringing for last minute reservations and takeouts. I turned on the computer/cashier…huh? Let me turn that thing on….what? Come on…turn it on!!! I saw the power switch flashing but no sound of CPU fan, or hard disk spinning. I unplugged the computer completely, plugged it back again…nothing. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

No computer for the night = no cashier, no credit card payment, no orders though computer = write down every order by hand, copy the order by hand and send them to sushi bar & kitchen manually, calculate the bill by hand, get the credit card information from customers (again by hand) who cannot provide an alternative payment method (and explain why we had to do this tonight)…why? why on V-day?

My guts told me it’s just a dead power supply. I went downstairs to grab an old computer and gutted out its power supply. I brought the PS upstairs, and check to see it’s compatible….damn, I need a 12 volt 4-pin plug…no good. I called a geekie friend…nope, he didn’t have any spare 20 pin + 4 pin PS either. I made another call to a not-so-geekie friend and asked him to run to BestBuy and grab a power supply.

After an hour of the opening, the guy came to the restaurant and told the bad news, “they only had 24-pin PS”. So the night went on with lots of handwriting papers flying around.

Around 8 pm, we hit a bit of break. My boss was like “What do we do for Monday? We need the fr*&king machine running by then. Can you go to BestBuy and buy a computer?” hmmmm…..you mean like now? “Yeah, right now.”

So I’m at the BestBuy wearing the restaurant’s uniform, buying a “pre-fab” machine. It kills me. I DO NOT BUY “pre-fab” desktops. BUT I just don’t have time to order parts and get them ready by Monday morning. Grrrr…it would’ve been another WONDERFUL opportunity to build a machine if we still had CompUSA (we don’t care about you Circuit City, because you sucked even before you went bankruptcy)..damn you, CompUSA!

As I glanced at prettied up pre-fab machines, which I know their inside are all made up with crappy parts, I made a call to the guy who sold us the POS system asking for the spec requirements. “NO VISTA” were his words. What? No Vista? “No, we can’t have Vista 32- or 64-bit, no XP 64-bit either.” “Are you f*#&ing kidding me?!” Yes, I said those words out loud, exactly (he’s a friend…so informal conversation is allowed). Where am I going to find an XP machine at 8 p.m. in Rochester?!

So I went the other side of the computer section floor, hoping I find some geeky salesperson who hasn’t heard me go wild on my cell. oh…there is one. “How can I help you?”

“I need either an XP machine or one that’s down-gradable to XP.” I saw his look…okay, I know I’m being impossible here. “Well, all the HP are out because they stop supporting XP entirely. Maybe a Dell but we can’t guarantee anything there either.” A big sigh, I couldn’t help myself. I’m thinking, okay, the only choice I got now is take down my server I just build, configured, and moved all my data last night, work pretty much all day tomorrow to erase all the work I just did and install XP, POS, configure network, and restore the data…oh, crap!

I must have looked SOOOOO miserable. There was a very awkward silent moment. The salesguy broke it, “How come you need XP so bad?” Do you wanna hear my story, do ya? You asked for it, here it goes.

So I bitched. I went and told him how our POS can’t run under anything other than 32-bit XP, how we have very little time to get a suitable replacement, it’s so crappy this thing is happening on V-day, and this all started because we can’t find a stupid 20-pin & 12 volt 4-pin Power Supply. “20-pin & 4-pin PS, you said?” he interrupted. That’s right, why are you interrupting me? I’m not done yet….then I looked up. He’s smiling. He’s SMILING!!! I was like “NO YOU DON’T!!! I sent a guy here earlier and he said you guys don’t have any” He just said “Follow me”.

And there it was…it was a 24-pin & 8-pin power supply, BUT they are BREAKABLE to 20-pin & 4-pin. Finally, there was a light. “You are HEAVEN” is what I told the guy. He liked that so much he had to bring me over to his supervisor and ALMOST made me repeat what I just told him. I said “You get that compliment only once.”

I rushed back to the restaurant, replaced the power supply…and voila! Our system was back on again…at 9:30p.m. 30 minutes before closing. I entered all the orders for the nights into the computer, then closed the cashier.

If we’ve gotten the power supply at the first trip thing has been a bit easier…but you know what, it’s better outcome than if we didn’t find the power supply at all. Because if we didn’t, I wouldn’t have the time to type this story this morning but saying goodbye to my beloved new web server instead.

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It all started with redesigning this site layout a bit. When it was done, I couldn’t help myself redesigning my portfolio site (which is currently off). Meanwhile, I completely forgot that I was building a new machine which was on hold for a week because I got a defective power supply that keep zapping me.

BTW, the zapping power supply is Antec Earthwatts 380 watt…it’s cheap (I bought it at $34.99 now it’s $59.99 so it’s not that cheap any more) and when it’s NOT deffective it’s decent. Antec claims it’s “quieter” but it creates not-so-loud but very annoying high pitched noise in the backgound. So I don’t recommend it. Get a Corsair instead, I think I saw one with similar spec selling $29.99 or $39.99 after rebate at newegg.com.

Now I got the replacement power supply, luckily without zapping feature, I got the new machine that I need to configure. My plan was to make this new machine my apache server. Now I need to move over the data from a server running under Vista and now I’m thinking to move over my sites hosting with GoDaddy too.

GoDaddy is getting slower and slower every fre*#ing day seems like…is it just me? I have a suspicion that they are making the cheapest hosting plan (basic shared hosting) intensionally slow so that people will switch over to their new grid hosting which is a bit more expensive. Just a wild guess…am I being paranoid here?

In any case, now with all these new plans, I got handful of stuff I need to do before I can actually implement the new design for my portfolio site. So www.fuyuko.net will be down not just a couple days…more like a week or two.

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