Christmas Eve

Today is the Christmas eve. Throwing a party tonight and I think it's time for sharing and giving. Hope my niece/nephew and relatives will enjoy.

Happy holidays.

Ho ho ho Merry Christmas 2008!!!

Tiger Airways Service

Some delayed incidents on tiger airways.

Wish there is a centralized place to keep track of budget airline service.

Or do budget airlines really care for their service?

http://www.asiaone.com/Travel/News/Story/A1Story20081222-109683.html


OTHER DELAYED FLIGHTS

- TIGER Airways flight from Bangkok to Singapore was delayed on 15 Jun, for more than 30 hours.

Stranded passengers were told that the aircraft had a 'landing gear' fault, one of them said.

- SOME 150 passengers had to sleep in the departure lounge in Bali after their 2 1/2-hour Valuair flight to Singapore on 22 Jun was delayed for 15 hours.

The delay was caused by two mechanical problems, the airline said.

- WHAT was supposed to be a two-hour flight to Phuket ended up as a seven-hour flight.

Tiger Airways flight TR152 was delayed for five hours at Changi Airport's Budget Terminal on 23 Feb because one of the six exit signs in the plane's cabin was not working.

Countdown To my First Car -Toyota Vios

Estimated countdown of my first car -- Toyota Vios

MSSQL 2005 Cluster Installation

A brief steps on setting up MSSQL 2005 SQL DB Installation in a Microsoft 2-node Clusters.

1. Login to node1.
Click setup.exe
Install the SQL DB services.

2. Upon completion on node1.
Login to node2.
You need not have to install the DB services.
Just install the client tools.
Please note that the C:\program files\microsoft sql server\ folder will be created automatically at step 1.

3. Applied sp2.

Presto!

COE $2

COE has dropped to $2. COE is the certificate to own a car in Singapore. So that means eventually it is cheaper to own a car. But resale value will be lesser.

Delete Windows Files Permanently Eraser

Try www.heidi.ie or www.dban.org

Download the eraser tools. It's free. Very nice tools.

This will help to eliminate embarrassment moment like the recent Hong Kong's actor Elison Chan nude pictures circulated online.

Oracle Level 12 tracing

We can enable level 12 tracing by
exec sys.dbms_system.set_ev(&sid, &serial, 10046, 12, '')

and then stop it with
exec sys.dbms_system.set_ev(&sid, &serial, 10046, 0, '')

Normal level tracing
execute sys.dbms_system.set_sql_trace_in_session (&sid,&serial,true);

How To Flash the WRT54G v8 / WRT54GS v7

This guide was obtain by googling. Alternative, from dd-wrt.com

How To Flash the WRT54G v8 / WRT54GS v7


1.
configure your local lan ethernet address to 192.168.1.100 and connect your local ethernet to your WRT54Gv8/GSv7 on one of the 4 switch ports
2.
plugoff the power cord from the WRT54G v8/GSv7
3.
push the reset button while replugin the power cord and hold the button for about 20 seconds
4.
open your browser and open http://192.168.1.1
5.
use the firware upgrade dialog to flash vxworkskillerGv8.bin / vxworkskillerGSv7.bin
6.
after the dialog is shown that you need to plugoff the power cord, remove the power cord and replug it in
7.
wait for about 1 - 2 minutes
8.
plugoff the power cord again and replug it in.
9.
enter "tftp -i 192.168.1.1 put dd-wrt.v24_micro_wrt54gv8.bin" on your local windows console and press enter
(for linux, tftp 192.168.1.1; mode octet;put dd-wrt.v24_micro_wrt54gv8.bin)
10.
the file will now be transfered to your router and be flashed. after this is done, dd-wrt will automaticly boot and you can reach
your router at http://192.168.1.1

WRT54G ver 7 firmware hacking

Forget about hacking WRT54G ver 7. Because they don't use boadcom chip. ROM is only 2MB which is insufficient to store for some drivers upgrade.


Other version might work though.

You can refer to dd-wrt for other models upgrade. Good luck.

E-concierges like Globeshopper, Comgateway and vPost

Citibank's Globeshopper, ComGateWay & VPost
http://www.borderlinx.com/citi/sg/en/index.html

You will need a Citibank credit card to register using the above page.

As for ComGateWay, for Singapore residents, you will need a Amex, DBS or HSBC credit card.

http://www.comgateway.com

https://www.vpost.com.sg/vpostusa05/index.html

Reference:
http://www.zest.sg/forum/shopping-f14/citibank-s-globeshopper-comgateway-vpost-t22.html

Strike 4D!

First time in my life history, striking a 4D number. Consolidation prize.

Something nice to share with family with Haagen Daz ice cream.

Hurray. When will be the next?

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/stocks/movers_index_dow.html

Who is in MSSQL

USE Master

DECLARE @dbid INT
SELECT @dbid = dbid FROM sys.sysdatabases WHERE name = ”

IF EXISTS (SELECT spid FROM sys.sysprocesses WHERE dbid = @dbid)
BEGIN
RAISERROR (’The restore cannot be done’, 16, 1)
SELECT ‘These processes are blocking the restore from occurring’ AS Note, spid, last_batch, status, hostname, loginame FROM sys.sysprocesses WHERE dbid = @dbid
END

Source: http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2007/12/07/sql-server-fix-error-3702-cannot-drop-database-because-it-is-currently-in-use/

Quick way to verify SMTP server

Source From: http://www.garnetchaney.com/how_to_telnet_to_a_mail_server.shtml

SMTP - To Send Mail

To send mail:

1. Bring up telnet
2. Type "open (your mail server here) 25"
3. This will connect to your mail server on port 25 (the smtp port) SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.
4. Type "HELO (site you want the mail server to record you connecting from...this can be anything you want)" Some mail servers do not require this line.
5. If you want the mail server/receiver of the email to know who this email is from type "MAIL FROM: yourname@whereever.com (replace this with whatever you want)" **Note: Some mail servers require this line...if you get an error that blank sender is not allowed than use this command.
6. To tell the mail server where you want your mail to go to type "RCPT TO: (where you want the mail to go)". **Warning: If you incorrectly enter the destination of the mail it will be sent to the postmaster of the receiving server (usually the mail server will give you an error informing you that the user does not exist and that this message will be sent to the postmaster).
7. Then type "DATA"
8. The mail server will give you specific instructions on how to terminate the message (usually a "." on a line by itself) you must use this or else you will not be able to send the message!
9. Type your message
10. Then terminate the message with the appropriate character
11. At this point you generally type "QUIT" to disconnect as your message is sent.

There is always a good time to buy stock

There is always a best time to buy stock. This is nothing more true than now. Dow Jones closed overnight lossing 500 over points and for the past week already lost about 1400 pts. It's below 10000.

I am to share my portfolio of stocks that I would love to invest provided with spare cash :) wish...

I am sure I can manage a return of at least 10% for the next 2 years.

Source: Marketwatch.com for the portfolio management.
Number of stocks are solely my preference. Everyone should have their own. Just like individual preference for colours/cars/food etc....

MCP certified

Today marked an important day in my IT career as I manage to add an additional certification to my resume that has been rusty since 1999 for a Microsoft last certified cert.

Well done. Keep it up!

CD Rom playing not smoothly

My PC DVD-ROM was not operating efficiently lately. I used to have this month for many years. And I have been bearing with it until recently I manage to find a solution and the problem of it.

I used to play Command and Conquer and the video clips seems to flick and not running smoothly. The DVD led light was blinking quickly, working very hard.

Not until recently, I became fishy and wanna nail down the problem.

Presto! Set the IDE channel in your PC, Start--> Program--> Control Panel--> System--> Device Manager

Looking out for Secondary IDE Channel (Assuming your CDROM is there!)

Set the default DMA mode to PIO.

In my case, my cdrom is only PIO.

It does the trick.

Lesson learnt on Budget Airlines

My first experience with budget airline was back in 2004 with Ryanair flying from Belgium to London for my honeymoon. It was so exciting and looking forward as I book the ticket online back home in Singapore and fly all the way to London, complete my Europe tour and then back to London via Ryanair. The experience was good though.

Thereafter, I have tried several trips from Senai, JB to Kuala Lumpur by Airasia. Also, on a company trip to Ho Chi Ming with Jetstar Asia. Most recently I got on a personal trip with one of the local budget airlines.

The experience wasn't very pleasant at all.

I booked my ticket for family of four last month to fly to Bangkok scheduled this December. My booking experience through their website is not pleasant. I have made several 'expensive silly' mistakes such as clicking "yes" for the extra baggage which inccur additional $10 fees for each way, which means $20(both way) * 4 = 80 on the additional luggage. All because that I did not read the selection option carefully. My fault I admitted.

Then, on proceeding with the payment in the summary screen, I wanted to know how much it cost for the insurance as it was not stated. I have to perform select & deselect for insurance option to see if there is any fee difference and ended I had paid more but without insurance coverage. Upon calling the customer officer, they insisted that I did not choose the insurance option. Then how come I am still being charge more as the price remain same? The website only showed the lump sum of price without the break down as in how much it cost person per sector in the final screen or the reservation e-ticket.

Also, this airline has changed my departure schedule and notifying their customers via email. They have arrange for an hour delay of flight. What happen to people who don't check their email or if the email was lost or went into spam etc...? Is this a professional service to notify customers on change of flying schedule? How about any compensation or refund for those customers who cannot make it for the changed schedule?

Last but not least, booking a budget airline early does not guarantee a cheaper fare but waiting for their anniversary or other promotion will guarantee you a very much more better deal.

Lesson learnt.

Anyway, found some article talking about relevant budget airlines to share.
http://talkback.stomp.com.sg/forums/showthread.php?t=41551

Digital Photos Develop

This is my second experience developing digital photos. Last was like 8 months ago. The shopkeeper then already advised me to be careful about cropping.

The same mistake made again as I have long forgotten and was kinda of rushed today.

Basically, the ratio for 35mm equivalent is usually 3:2 while my digital camera Ixus uses the 4:3 ratio.

TKPROF

tkprof SID_ora_xxxx.trc SID_ora_xxxx.prf SORT=PRSDSK,EXEDSK,FCHDSK

How to- Perform a Oracle session trace

DBMS_SYSTEM.SET_SQL_TRACE_IN_SESSION(SID, Serial#, TRUE);

Head And Shoulders Pattern

Something worth to share if you are into Technical Analysis.

Source: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/head-shoulders.asp

Head And Shoulders Pattern

A technical analysis term used to describe a chart formation in which a stock's price: 1. Rises to a peak and subsequently declines. 2. Then, the price rises above the former peak and again declines. 3. And finally, rises again, but not to the second peak, and declines once more. The first and third peaks are shoulders, and the second peak forms the head.

Back to Pengerang

A nice short break over the weekends from Fri till Sun. Took a day off and manage to get across the causeway without much hassle as the traffic has not build up yet. Kids really enjoy as their cousins were back too to have company.

Back to Singapore was not too bad, just an hour jam in Malaysia custom. Thank god.

kupprdp: worker process DW04 started with worker id=4

This occurs when one is doing a full export using Oracle 10g datapump expdp.

At the backend it actually creates a master table with MAXTRANS 30 which is obsolete in Oracle 10g.

Error can be ignored and have to check with metalink

Rename files using Perl expression

A wonderful solution posted. It help me for renaming files in Windows.

You see, I do some photos downloading from camera and usually the software will takes care and help rename the files automatically.

However there are times that I am stuck and need to rename these files in a batch. I do not have to do it individually (100+ or 1000+ files if not)

Glad that we have a solution here by Perl.

http://www.evolt.org/article/Renaming_Files_with_Perl/17/351/

Taken from URL above. Cheers.

#!c:\perl\bin\perl
#
# Usage: rename perlexpr [files]
use File::Glob qw(:glob);


($regexp = shift @ARGV) || die "Usage: rename perlexpr [filenames]\n";

if (!@ARGV) {
@ARGV = ;
chomp(@ARGV);
}


foreach $_ (bsd_glob(@ARGV, GLOB_NOCASE)) {
$old_name = $_;
eval $regexp;
die $@ if $@;
rename($old_name, $_) unless $old_name eq $_;
}

exit(0);

JP Morgan run

Participated in JP Morgan 5.6km Run.

Started at 6pm. Took me 48mins 48secs to complete.

Wow..what an old man. Slight improvement on last year's record at over 50mins.

Forex

http://www.singaporeforexforum.com/books-/-seminars-/-workshops/134-rewhich-book-are-you-reading-now.html#134

From "FXOperator"
Collection of Forex books is:
1. Profiting With Forex by John Jagerson and S. Wade Hansen
2. Beat The Odds In Forex Trading by I. R. Toshchakov
3. Mastering The Trade by John Carter
4. Day Trading the Currency Market: Technical and Fundamental Strategies To Profit from Market Swings by Kathy Lien
5. Technical Analysis of the Currency Market: Classic Techniques for Profiting from Market Swings and Trader Sentiment by Boris Schlossberg

Don't have the Trading In The Zone, borrowed from library.

Uncle Kim Choong passed away

My uncle, Kim Choong had passed away on 18 March 2008.

May he has peace & God blessed.

My mentor passed away

Last Friday, got a news that my uncle has passed away. He was my mentor. He has encouraged me to come to Singapore to work while I was very young, still schooling. It was rather emotional as I attended his funeral on Sat and later the cremation at Mandai.

Memories of what he had told me flows into my mind vividly as I recall the past. He had brought me around S'pore and to Changi airport, introduce me around chinatown. Then I introduced my wife (girl friend then) to him too.

Do treasure for your loves ones when you can.

NPV and IRR

Net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR). Both NPV and IRR are referred to as discounted cash flow methods because they factor the time value of money into your capital investment project evaluation. Both NPV and IRR are based on a series of future payments (negative cash flow), income (positive cash flow), losses (negative cash flow), or "no-gainers" (zero cash flow).

Source: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA011136321033.aspx?pid=CL100570551033

Malaysia Election 2008

One of the memorable Election to be remembered in years ahead.

Finding rows between nth to mth in Oracle

select *
from
(select a.*, rownum rnum
from
(select id, data
from t
order by id) a
where rownum <= 151
)
where rnum >= 148
/

select * from (select t.*, rownum rnum from t where rownum <> 140
/

Stocks with high dividend

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/news/0802/gallery.dividend_stocks/index.html

Wrigley
Emerson Electric's
Federated
Abbott's
Pepsi

Recommending 3 books

I was researching in amazon.com for books in technical analysis.

Do have a read.
http://www.amazon.com/Technical-Analysis-Stock-Trends-8th/dp/0814406807

The first one is John Murphy's.

Second -->
Technical Analysis of Stock Trends, 8th Edition (Hardcover)

The last one is Bruce Kamich's "How tech analysis works."

US Trading account

Yesterday marked an important chapter in my life. I opened a US trading account. If everything goes fine, this will be a remarkable start in my trading. One good instrument given is that US market allows stop limit price which most of the markets in asia does not offer.

Allow developer to create sp but not granting db_owner role (MSSQL)

How to allow a developer to create procedures without the db_owner role?

For MSSQL 2000,

GRANT CREATE PROCEDURE TO [user]

GRANT ALTER ANY SCHEMA TO [user]

CrossOver

Source:http://www.investopedia.com/university/movingaverage/movingaverages4.asp

The second type of crossover occurs when a short-term average crosses through a long-term average. This signal is used by traders to identify that momentum is shifting in one direction and that a strong move is likely approaching. A buy signal is generated when the short-term average crosses above the long-term average, while a sell signal is triggered by a short-term average crossing below a long-term average. As you can see from the chart below, this signal is very objective, which is why it's so popular.

A small steps to Technical Analysis

"A journey of thousands miles begin with a foot steps"

I always believe that. I hope that I can consistent and persistent in my voyage in learning technical analysis.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crossover.asp
An example of a crossover would be when the security line breaks through its 25-day moving average which may be a signal to buy the stock. Some of the indicators that use crossovers are "moving average" and "Bollinger bands".

Retail stocks

Taken from "Morning Star" website.			Morningstar Stock Grades
Stock	Mkt Cap $Mil	Sales $Mil		Growth	Profit- ability	Financial Health
Chico's FAS, Inc.	1,548.0	1,755		B+	A	A+
Industry Average	1,377	1,873		B-	B+	A-
Gap, Inc.	13,957	16,027		D	A-	A+
Abercrombie & Fitch Company	6,684	3,660		B+	A+	A+
Limited Brands, Inc.	6,268	10,883		C+	A	B
American Eagle Outfitters	4,844	3,033		A-	A+	A+
Urban Outfitters Inc.	4,341	1,403		B	A	A
J. Crew Group, Inc.	2,563	1,301		A	C-	C
Hanesbrands, Inc.	2,199	4,454		D	B+	A+
Foot Locker, Inc.	1,897	5,607		D	A-	A
Aeropostale, Inc.	1,738	1,506		A-	A+	A+
Ann Taylor Stores Corporation	1,351	2,406		B	B+	A+
Buckle, Inc.	1,244	588		C	A+	A+
Men's Wearhouse	1,209	2,134		B	A	A+
Collective Brands, Inc.	1,118	2,951		C-	B-	A
Gymboree Corporation	1,026	883		A	A	A
bebe stores, inc.	968	675		B	A	A+
Pacific Sunwear	726	1,496		C-	A-	A
Tween Brands, Inc.	724	970		B+	A	A
Dress Barn, Inc.	721	1,432		B-	B+	A
Charming Shoppes, Inc.	664	3,099		C+	B-	A
Zumiez, Inc.	537	367		A+	A+	A
Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc.

Shares market crashed

Let's talk about shares. It has gone down about 20 over percents average for all global bourses from London FTSE, France to Asia Hang Seng Index, Tokyo Nikkei, Singapore STI, Shanghai, India, Australia etc...

How to pick a good stock?

I believe in fundamental. One measurement I like is BVPS.
(http://www.investopedia.com/university/ratios/bookvaluepershare.asp)

Book Value Per Share - BV

=	Stockholders Equity - Preferred Stock
	Average Outstanding Shares

It will be rare and you will be lucky to find one share that is trading below this figure.
In theory this is what is the valuation of a company but Mr Market never rate it such way and prices are usually driven by demand and supply and also emotional.

My poor little girl got stitches on forehead

My girl slipped while wearing socks and knocked against the edge of wood and got her forehead cut.

The laceration is about 3cm.

4D strike

Weekend uncle 'san su' drop by our house. He striked a 4D consolidation prize and this was the first time he striked since he visited our new house.

Wonder when is my turn?

Querying who has the sysdba privilege

select * from v$pwfile_users;

New Year Resolutions

Hope the day will come that I can earn enough to support a car.

Already past 30. Kinda of old. Wonder when will I have my own car.