100th post

Yup. I should have already hit this number way, way back. But back then, I wasn't really as active on the blog, considering how some months went by with only 1 or 2 posts. Anyway, it's finally the 100th post. Life carries on as usual.

A whole lot of  construction work is going down in my neighbourhood as of late. The overgrown trees in the  carparks and the areas near the flats are finally getting a trimming. The hawker centre stalls near the supermarket were all closed, possibly for cleaning. Thankfully, the delay between waiting to cross the  road at the  traffic lights has been reduced. I could have sworn waiting for atleast 5 mins for the green man to show up at the traffic light a few weeks ago. There was already a small crowd together with me, and eventually we all just gave up waiting and crossed the road.

Last weekend went by without a hitch. I ended up missing out on attending the Pink Dot 2011 event (there's always next year!), as I decided to go to the animation and film screenings of the graduating batch from ADM. I really enjoyed all the different films, and some stood out as crowd favourites judging from the applause at the auditorium. I managed to snag a few goodies from the screening event, along with snagging a few bites from the buffet table :)

ADM Show 2011 book, containing details of the works done by the graduating batch.

Cards and brochures given out at the screening.

RAM, EA and IPPT

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Last week, I went ahead and got myself an extra 2GB of RAM from Sim Lim Square. I wasn't able to find the low-profile version of the RAM I was looking for, but I decided to just get the normal one.

I've been trying out  video editing on programs like Premiere Pro and After Effects, and I have to say, it feels so much better with the extra memory. I'm just happy my computer doesn't lag as much before when I had to encode videos and get errors messages about low virtual memory and the like.

In other news, I've finally jumped into Empire Avenue. It's basically a virtual "game" where you can  invest  in people or brands and you get rewarded with virtual currency. The community is what makes this a totally interactive experience, and people have to be consistent in being active not only on Empire Avenue, but also on their respective social networks (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, Blogger, Youtube). Why? Because the more active you are on your social networks, the more rewards you'll get, and it will also make your portfolio seem valuable for others to invest in, so to speak. Pretty interesting facets at work here.

Last night, I finally booked my IPPT. It's just one of those things that I have to clear, and I don't really have a choice. Hopefully, all goes well on the 25th. 

And then, about a few hours later after booking it, I saw this:

Yes. I'm scared.

Dusting out the computer

I've finally gotten around to taking apart my desktop computer to check the dust build-up just a few hours ago. Cleaning is always a slog, but this wasn't that bad.

The first time I got to cleaning out the insides of my computer was about a year ago, and that ended up being a dusty mess. There were  literally dust balls the size of my fist hidden inside the computer parts,  clogging up the slots and most importantly, blocking the ventilation holes.

Imagine this dustball, multiplied by infinity, and you've got a potent mix for a sneezing marathon. Oh, and also the trapped heat could fry your computer.

Ever since my Pentium 4 computer died from overheating due to the insane amount of dust (and also due to a failing hard drive), I've decided to atleast take apart  my current computer every time the school holidays come along, and check if everything's still working properly. It's time I got the screwdriver and tissues out, once again.

Removal of the screws from the back of the processor.

One the side metal panels, with the ventilation area covered with dust.

Another side panel.

The interior. Thank goodness for cable ties.

Power supply.

Hard-drive covered with dust.

Fan for the graphics card. The heatsink below the fan was filled with dust, couldn't entirely clean it out.

I thought I almost broke it when I yanked out my 2GB ram module to have a closer look at the part numbers. 

Well, 2 hours later, my computer is now back up and running. The grinding noise from the internals has gone away, and so far everything looks  good. Now, if only I can get my hands on a Kingston 2GB KVR667D2N5/2G...

64-bit os? Maybe :)