makumaro.net

Weather Systems

• Listening to: Utada Hikaru - Hikari *

Can hear the pitter patter of rain outside now.

Rain is rare in Melbourne. For a couple of years now, the state of Victoria has been on water rationing. Fountains have been switched off, car washing is limited only to commercial washers and you aren’t allowed to leave the pipe running when you’re watering your garden.

Was watching the clouds roam by today. Melbourne was exceptionally windy today. Windy enough to blow you off your feet were you the unfortunate soul just right in its path. Heard it howling whole day long. There were massive black clouds, moving like a yatch through the sea. Swiftly they passed my window by.

The sudden interest in clouds today was due to hurricane Katrina hitting th coast of the US (east coast if not mistaken). It’s awe inspiring yet frightening to know that nature can be that destructive. 240km/h winds that can practically rip houses apart. I still recall watching The Day After Tomorrow and probably learnt a little about weather systems. Heh, somehow you know it’s always going to rain when the weather warms up a little (literally wearing 3/4 pants at home today). Also recall my brother (the one who’s good at geography) giving me names of the different types of clouds (cumulus?) and how pressure systems can cause clouds to form and cause rain. I still remember that the eye of the storm is cold because of the high (or was it low pressure?) ejecting all the heat upward through the funnel. A little confusing so I might sort it out a little later.

Discovered an interesting fact today. You’d probably know that hurricanes (or storms) are named after people. Did you know that they are named after people in alphabetical order throughout a year? Did you also know that they alternate between the genders, so if this storm is Katrina, the next storm is a guy with a name starting with L. They have a predetermined list for this, which you can find on Google.

Heh. Work is interesting.

Networking

• Listening to: Enya - Orinoco Flow

Was at cousin’s place just a block away a couple of minutes ago. Heh, went there to setup a wireless network for the girls. Each has their own laptop but only one broadband connection, so me being me, offered to set them up a wireless network. I used my salesman’s pitch to say how convenient it would be with a wireless network in the place. No clutter of wires and while the initial outlay was slightly pricy, at least it was only a once off cost for the convenience of being able to surf the net together.

Hence I arrived with all the equipment (bought from one of the computer swap meet location at Moorabin, which I just newly explored today) at my cousin’s place. Heh, mucked around with my youngest cousin’s laptop first (as being the fastest one of the lot, I’d expect the least downtime from a computer reboot). I was tickled in my mind when I saw the time stating 8pm. That’s Malaysian 8pm for you. It was highly amusing because for the first year or so in Melbourne I also stuck steadfastly to Malaysian time on my laptop and would duly add 2 or 3 hours to the clock depending on which season of the year it was to get Australian time.

I’ve always had the concepts and theories for setting up a wireless network mapped out in my mind. I guess this was just an opportunity to try it out. Recall always willing to help people out with solutions to their computer problems. Just haven’t been this excited about it for a very long time as it’s a solution to something I’ve never really experienced before.

Anyhow, managed to get all the PCMCIA wireless cards working fine. Had a little hiccup with a Windows 98 machine but nothing a reboot can’t solve. Secured the network by restricting access to the router and now everyone can chit chat online at their own discretion.

Yum. Wish I had ADSL when I was in first year university. Heh.

Lazy Sunday

• Listening to: Vanessa Williams - Colours of the Wind

Nothing much happening these days. Things come in order of priority. Work takes up most of my time, then there’s the social commitments, my daily readings and series watching. When all that’s done, I don’t have much time left to tinker with other things.

There’s always a positive outlook of things, even if they seem very dour to begin with. I spent 9 months selling fish (almost), but at least during that time, I could tinker with this website, assemble computers and do other miscellaneous things that I currently don’t have much time for. I’m thinking back to kindergarten, when I used to while away the time with toys and daydreaming. In primary school I’d sketch my textbooks to the brim with all those imaginations of robots and starships from whatever TV show caught my interest back then. I still recall as a kid, sitting through an hour of ‘adult’ TV, shows like Macgyver or Airwolf felt tediously long as I never had that long an attention span. Heh, and they were usually night time shows if I recall correctly. Most usually I’d fall asleep half way through an episode and be whisked off to bed (hehe, I’m a much heavier load to move off a couch or sofa these days).

Still desperately holding on to simplicity in life. People think of having beach houses to spend the weekend at, or going on some trip to South America etc. These are part of the experiences some people are happy with. I’m wondering at times what I’d be happy doing and remember fondly. Life is so global and so intricately intertwined now. Culture is becoming more global and everyone seems to assimilate a part of someone else’s culture these days. Heh, sometimes it seems so large I just want to shy away from it.

Spring should be here soon.