Gadgets

I am not a gadgets person. My Sony Ericsson W300i has kept me happy since 2006. Its sleek, it has a nice colour screen and very good audio quality.

It never occurred to me to buy a smart phone or even a touch screen phone although everyone around me is carrying one. Most of them are even well into their 3rd or 4th smartphones. I never felt I needed one.

When Terry signed up for a mobile calling plan and got a free iPhone 4s, he let me use it. He wanted the minutes not the smart phone he said. I was a little sceptical. For one, it was much bigger than my Sony and well, I was very out of touch with hi-tech gadgets like the iPhone!

It took me some time to get used to using a touch screen and the idea of “applications” and being connected to the internet 24-7. I can’t believe I am saying this but I find the iPhone 4s very handy indeed! Definitely not just a pretty little toy.

Oh how I love my iPhone 4s, let me count the ways:

1. Facebook. Need I say more?
2. I like using the iPhone to create my digital shopping list every week. I can even tick off items as I shop. I used to scribble on random pieces of paper which ended up everywhere. Now I can save some trees too (ahem!).
3. I ride the bus everyday. With the Maxx app, I can check the bus arrival board of my stop live from home and plan to start walking accordingly. No more watching helplessly as my bus drives away right in front of my eyes across the street. Not a good way to start the day I tell you.
4. The iPhone 4s is built with an 8 megapixel camera which is comparable to, if not better than many digital cameras. Coupled with the WordPress app, I can take pictures and upload it into a draft post straightaway. No cables, no transferring from camera to laptop, no excuses for not blogging!
5. Have you heard of the Genius Scan app? It lets you take pictures of documents with the iPhone camera and convert them into PDF files. And you can email them immediately too. How handy is that?
6. I keep a daily food and exercise journal on MyFitnessPal.com. Its iPhone app enables me to keep track of calories throughout the day as I eat! It works, I have been shedding pounds steadily. But that’s another story for another day.

The only downside is the relatively short battery life. With my usage, I have to recharge my iPhone battery pretty much every night. I guess I can’t complain since its performing so many tasks at once.

I’m really impressed with the iPhone 4s and I’m glad I finally get to use one. I’m outdated, I know. I’m still not a gadgets person. I wouldn’t care less if the iPhone 5 comes out tomorrow, I’m sticking with the 4s until it decides to die on me.

Lament

Like most days, I typed away in front of my computer today trying to progress with my work as much as possible.

With at least 5 windows open at a time, I tried to multi-task between making the numbers and equations tally on an excel worksheet, referencing at least 3 academic articles on PDFs and trying to make sense of it all in a word file which somehow has to emerge as something “brilliant”. Somehow.

So many aspects to report, so many technical complications to explain and so much to solve, I begin to wonder how I could manage to link all ideas and concepts in a systematic manner. At the moment, I have so many  different word documents written on different days on various topics related to my work and I fear at the thought of trying to compile them all nicely in one continuous document, with good structure, flow and formatting. And sound brilliant too.

Oh and not to mention, it must have a complete reference list and proper citations within the text too. This is the part I drag the most when it comes to technical writing. It is not enough to know what you write about, you must also remember where you first read about it and give due credit by citing it. Otherwise, you’ll get penalised for plagiarism, very serious offense.

This slows me down a lot, spending time trying to dig through hundreds of journal papers in my “collection” and pin point the exact piece for every few lines of text I wrote. Making sure formatting is consistent and up to standard throughout is quite a headache too. I get quite put off by the task of writing my thesis because of these.

Which then procrastination comes into the picture. And then I complain. And I whine.

Sometimes I just sit there wondering why I wanted to do this in the first place. Questioning if this will ever get done.

Then I thought, at least I have a powerful word processing software that is Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel to speed up calculations and Endnote as my efficient citation management sidekick.

Imagine having to do ALL this using only a typewriter….with no delete or backspacing function. Or formatting tools. How did people do anything without a computer? How was it done 30 years ago??

I am fortunate to be in the 21st century.

With that, I snapped out of it and got back to work.

Disastrous Yet Inspirational

The Japanese has long been known for their discipline, excellent manners and technology. During my 10-day visit in Japan last year, I get to see and experience their way of life firsthand. Always courteous, orderly and on time. Garbage bins are scarce in cities and streets but yet, it was difficult to find even a piece of litter anywhere. On the elevator, I saw people automatically keeping to the side (usually left) so that they don’t block other users’ way. By the second day in Japan, I found myself following their example too.

I was also especially impressed with their public transportation systems – their trains were always on time and the networks and routes were complicated but systematic. Although sometimes the trains were crowded during peak hours, I have never seen one single person being pushed when going on or off a train. The ticketing machines were efficient and fast too. Talking about the machines, almost everything speaks and interacts with human users in Japan. Although I couldn’t understand a word but it shows how well-advanced the Japanese are with their technology.

The recent earthquake (11 March 2011) in Northern Japan was the strongest to ever hit Japan and 5000 times stronger than the one in Christchurch. To add insult to injury, a massive tsunami followed soon after and swept away the entire city of Natori in Sendai – including  houses, cars, farms and thousands of its residents. The quake was so strong it even shook the city of Tokyo violently although its hundreds of kilometres away.

During such disastrous moments, still the Japanese did not fail to inspire. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake shook numerous skyscrapers in Tokyo yet none of them fell. None. Nadda. Nil. I think that is just amazing. The number of casualties would be significantly more if not for their excellent technology in building construction design.

The Japanese were hit by a string of deadly disasters but yet they did not behave disastrously. No running hysterically. No pushing their way through to get aid. No jumping queues to use the telephones or toilets.

Just no dramas.

Everything was still orderly. They even kept to the “keep to the side while on elevator” rule when sitting on stairs, stranded. These are earthquake victims we are talking about. Truly an excellent example of the Japanese spirit and civilisation. My highest salutations.

(I can only imagine if a disaster of this scale struck Malaysia. Oh the chaos…..)

Waiting for a turn to contact loved ones at the public telephone booths - in orderly queues.

The trains stopped working. No one felt the need to force their way through the barriers.

Stranded victims keeping to the sides to ensure the stairway wasn't blocked.

No chaos in aid centres. Just discipline and patience.

Women and children first means women and children first.

Victims walking home calmly. None felt the need to run amok.

All images from: http://www.chinasmack.com/2011/pictures/chinese-netizens-admire-japanese-post-earthquake-behavior.html