What's New? A reluctance to change

Things have been happening too fast. It's already approaching March and I've been appointed as the named cosec for a week,  although I'm still on my CNY break.

To sum up 2017

It's the penultimate day of the year and a lot has happened in 2017, especially in the past two months. I'm not sure if this is a characteristic of aging, but time has been flying past really really fast lately. And every day in my last working week felt like a week in itself with insufficient time to complete what I had planned for the day.

Plan thwarted

Sadly, due to my reliance on Spotify to facilitate my studying session, I've had to reactivate my fb. I didn't know the linked apps would stop functioning once fb has been deactivated.

But the good which came out of it was that I found that I could function without having an itch to check fb every free minute I had. But once I start, it's a challenge to stop scrolling and say enough! So now the principle is to restrict fb access to my personal laptop only and no other devices.

Priceless 10: Facebook after death

Priceless is...

...the moment I discovered that we can actually appoint a friend to be like an "executor" of our fb profile in case of death.

Priceless 8: HTML & CSS

Priceless is...

... the moment when I found out how to edit the copyright info at the footer of my blog in three clicks.

Priceless 3: Discovery

Priceless is...

... that moment when I discovered a scammer, thanks to Google image search.

HP Envy Touchscreen TrueVision HD webcam undetected [Solved]

I realised that my laptop's webcam (HP Envy Touchscreen TrueVision HD webcam) wasn't working after I had fixed my BSD issue last year. Whether or not it was working fine before that, I am not sure as I rarely use my webcam. The only annoying thing was when I wanted to join a video conference call and everyone else was on video except me, although I had a webcam - a non-working one.

Nexus 5 hot and not powering up [Solved]

I thought I could rest on my medical leave but while I was clearing my Nexus 5's memory to accommodate the software updates, the phone suddenly wouldn't turn on when the standby button was pressed. I tried to boot the phone but it didn't work too.

Nexus 5 surgery - I sick you also sick!

Computer Problems Round 2 (Error Code 0xc0000001)

Not long after I had restored my laptop to working condition, probably about a month or so, I had a promo email from Microsoft reminding that the free upgrade to Windows 10 was still being offered. Thinking that my laptop was touchscreen-enabled and not too old, I reckoned that my laptop could handle the upgrade. Unfortunately, halfway through the upgrading, I got the BCD again!

Computer Problems Round 1 (Error Code 0xc0000034)

Around end of 2015, I had run into some problems when installing a Windows 8.1 update on my personal laptop (HP Envy Touchsmart). The installation was stuck at 82% the night before and when I woke up the morning after, it was still stuck at 82%. As I had to rush off to work, I forced quit my laptop (I know, such a "girl" thing to do) and I paid dearly for that mistake - blue screen of death!

Nexus 5 connecting to PC issue

Today's the second time I've had problems connecting my Nexus 5 via USB cable to my laptop (HP Envy TouchSmart running on Windows 8.1). I'm so glad that I bookmarked this website, which has saved me twice!

Symptoms: After connecting Nexus 5 to PC via USB cable, switching from "Charging" to "File Transfer" on the phone results in the PC's alert sound indicating the device has disconnected. Going to "This PC", you won't find your device there either.

Solution: Go to Device Manager (Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers > Device Manager) and like the Passmark forum, my Nexus 5 was listed as "ACER Device". Clicking on it reveals a sub-category "ACER ADB Interface". Right click this and update driver, selecting the "search your local drive". For my case, there were 2 options to choose from and I chose the "MTP USB Driver".

After the driver was updated, my Nexus 5 immediately popped up as a removable drive on my PC. Voila, settled!

Thinking back, I probably needed to do this twice because of my PC 'blue screen of death' problem I had in January - which I also resolved through Google. That will be saved for another post.

My Hot Dog

I found this website where AI would determine if you're hot, from reading a HelloGiggles article and tried it out with various photos. While my own headshots yielded only "OK" ratings (hahaha... okla AI shows dependability), I was surprised with this!

My dog's photo generated using mirror image (used to be my blog profile pic once upon a time)

 And upon looking closer, even more surprised!

Finally a Mixer!

I bought cream cheese and whipping cream. Gelatin and brown sugar. An oven, butter and Digestive biscuits. Then there was something missing - an electric mixer!

It's funny how I can spend RM100 plus on other things without thinking twice but buying an electric mixer took me many procrastinating trips to the electrical store. In the end, I bought mine online through Lazada!

My electric mixer arrived in 2 days! Electrolux Stand Mixer EHSM2000 

Google Earth Day Quiz

When I first set eyes on the Google doodle of the day (Earth Day), my thought was that Southeast Asia was not drawn to scale on the rotating globe. But it was a thoughtful thing to emphasise our country and region on the globe (at least in this part of the world).

Little did I know, clicking the Google doodle would take me to an earth day quiz where upon answering a series of questions, it will tell you what animal you are. I got this (see below)!

A sotong? Encouraging

How to Export Your Phone Calendar to Google Calendar

I recently switched phones from my old HTC Sensation 4G to my new Google Nexus 5. Migrating my contacts and app information were easier than I had anticipated, thanks to syncing and the cloud.

However one of the challenges I had was the transfer of my calendar entries which I had accumulated since 2011 - many of which were birthday reminders and future appointments (the valuable entries). I tried to find out how I could sync the HTC calendar with Google calendar but I didn't find a solution (Not too sure if there is such a function). After much Googling, I tried out one of the suggestions in a forum thread and it worked! So here it goes:

Being Thankful: Day 94

I'm thankful for:

1. rest. I think the only time that I can pay back my sleep debt is on the weekends. Yes, it has come to this - such an old lady! haha
2. cool day. When it's sunny, we complain it's hot. When it's rainy, we complain it's gloomy. But I think I should make a conscious decision to be thankful for each day - at least it's not freezing cold like winter (I cannot tahan!)
3. bread and butter. Simple pleasures in life. It tasted even better (and more satisfying) than the myKuali Penang White Curry Mee I had for lunch.
4. managing to find a solution to export my calendar entries in my HTC Sensation to my Google calendar. More on that later.
5. troubleshooting my laptop's wifi problem where the wireless adapter disappears from time to time and no wireless connection is available. I sort of uninstalled the wireless adapter driver (yea, smart aleck) without first noting down its name and then panic! Thankfully I could still use the LAN cable to connect to the internet and find a solution. In the end I found a driver from the HP website and tried downloading and installing it. Thus far it works! I hope this new driver will resolve the dropped wifi issue that has been plaguing my laptop since I bought it over a year ago.

Being Thankful: Day 87

I'm thankful for:

1. my mum and the relationship we have. She is my best friend and the only person I can count on whenever, wherever, whatever.
2. having the resolve to say "no" nicely (indirectly). No, you may not take my work and pass it off as yours.
3. stepping back before answering.
4. finally getting my iWant and for a little lesser! Red Nexus 5!
5. syncing - made my life much easier. Now to audit the sync results and find a way to transfer my calendar entries!

Unboxing my red Nexus 5 D821!

Need Vs Want... Oh which colour should I get?

The past few days I have been deliberately tempting myself to get my current dream smartphone - to buy or not to buy? This is the question. And every hiccup my two current phones make becomes an added excuse to justify buying the phone! The best part is that I know all this mind trickery serves no good purpose.

Being Thankful: Day 37

I'm thankful for:

1. a weird start to the day - I reached the carpark about half an hour early. Had a craving for nasi lemak spurred by the road side stall I always see on the way to the carpark. So I parked at the corner nearest to the shops, walked to the nearest Malay restaurant to find a substitute nasi lemak, but they didn't have those nasi lemak bungkus. So I walked around the shoplots area and still no sign of nasi lemak. Ended up walking back to the front to buy a small pack of nasi lemak and walked an entire circle back to my car to repark it nearer the exit. My morning exercise was well worth the calories intake.
2. finally getting down to buying the replacement phone for mum. A little tinge of envy as mine mysteriously kept crashing and shutting down... and still is. Probably time for a recharge. But what an experience it was buying from that phone shop - so many people on a mid-weeknight! I think this will be our go to shop if we do need a phone in the future - good price for original phones.

No guilt about the caloric intake. The sambal really blew my mind (spicy giler)

Nexus Temptation

Looks like I've been hit by the tech cycle itch again and this time my craving is for the Google Nexus 5 android phone. There've been many wonderful phones in the market, like the Samsung S4, Note 3, Sony Xperia Z1, HTC One, Apple iPhone 5 etc... but they were either too popular (to the point that it has become generic), too angular, too plasticky, too expensive... and the list goes on.

Again I will admit that I may care more about the design than what's under the hood. However, it wouldn't hurt if the tech specs were great - that would  be another plus point!

The simple but beautiful Nexus 5 (white version). Image credit from Google search