Oh!pEnions: 10/24/08

Low on juice

Need to get its battery changed as it keeps calling my
friend, "LOW". And during the day, if it don't get out
often into the sunlight, it does that too. So, most of the
time now, its goes for its regular light treatment until
I have the time to settle all this

Opening the XBox gun

OK, here is a quick rundown on what I think when I opened the gun. Not going to describe much as I was a bit impatient to remove the cable and play with it. Swollen hand or no swollen hand.

1. Battery compartment
There are also slots availbale to put in the metal connectors. But there is no trapdoor for the AA batteries. I guess the manufacturer was also thinking about the possibilities of making it into a toy gun if the deal for making console guns did not go through. Or maybe, they just want to be ready for it in case the gun proved too popular.....

2. Trigger
The trigger was designed to press onto the small push-button switch. If you press too hard, there is some kind of a stress relief in the trigger so that you would not destroy the switch prematurely when you get too excited during the game.

3. Vibration motor
Yeah! This gun has an electric motor with a weighted head so when you turn in on, the gun vibrates.

4. Circuit Boards
These are for the switches but I can throw it away if I want to put in LEDs instead. In fact, I can take away all the circuit boards but I would end up with a problem on how to make the small switch stay in that position for the trigger.

5. Infra-Red
Or is it a light sensor? Doesn't matter. Its going to be gone anyway

6. Lens
This is to focus the infra-red emitter (or wasit a light sensor)

7. Control cables
This is the part where I cut it. 'nuff said

System installation @ IMC

I am going to have a very busy weekend. One of our customer is expanding and they're moving out of their current office and into two new offices. This means we would have to dismantle their current PABX and relocate it to one of their new offices. As for the other office, they would be using a new system. Funny thing is, and it is always proven, that an existing Toshiba customer would always stick to Toshiba. Anticipating pricing concerns, we quoted them the new Panasonic KX-TDE system but in the end, we were not surprised they took the Toshiba system which was dearer by another 25%.

Anyway, we were happy because despite the Economy hassle, we still have some business. So, i would have to be at two sites to make sure both systems are up and fully operational by next Tuesday. This would mean travelling to two places almost 20 Kilometres apart (I think). And with the rate things are going (tables not ready, phone points mislabeled and incomplete sections) we might have a lot of problem completing the two installations. So, I might be working through the weekend and Deepavali.

The day before, we have mounted the system
and terminated all the necessary cabling. But
because the furniture were not ready yet, we
held off terminating those affected area.

This morning, after receiving the new phonesets,
we plonked them onto the van, to be delivered to
the new officein KL.

As you can see, everyone is rushing to
complete their deadline or there would
be no Deepavali celebtrations for them

I saw this guy photographing the place, which I guess must be
from the designer's office. He placed his second-hand Nikon
on his el cheapo (RM30 or so from KLPlaza) tripod and used
the timer for taking shots. So, I pitied him and lent him my
Nikon remote control, which helped him finish his job faster
but he nearly forgot to return it to me until he was outside

This used to be a roomful of island cubicles and a lot
of programmers. But there's nothing left now.

Upon arriving at the new site, we were not allowed
to do any drilling as this might disrupt everyone.
So, we have to return tomorrow morning to re-install
the phone system. But I see the potential problem as
there is the aircon right smack on the middle of the
wall. So we will have to mount the system on
another wall.

Chocolates with a zing

Wife: Here, you can have these chocolates. The girls don't want them.
Me: Really? [Eyes the chocolates suspiciously]
Wife: Yes, you can have them. There's coffee beans inside
Me: OK, munch munch krunch munch munch
Wife: Mind you, don't eat too much or you can't sleep tonight
Me: OK. Munch munch munch

[21:00]
Me: Munch munch munch

[22:00]
Me: Munch munch munch

[23:00]
Me: Munch munch munch

[00:00]
Me:Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

These leetle theengs lookz normal. hwuey!

Actually, its from Australia from one of my Sister in Laws.
One thing is, whenever any of our relatives come over, and
usually from Australia, they tend to buy loads of Chocolates
as if the whole country is making chocolates instead of those
returning flying sticks (boomerangs) and Koala bears. And
when I was there in the mid-90's I don't see much of those
chocolates about. Weird.

System down

After hearing and laughing about how incompetent techs mount systems only to have them fall off the wall, it really happened to us. It was so embarrassing because I promised myself that it would never ever happen to us. But it did.

Maybe it was my fault. Maybe because it was my tech's fault. Or maybe, it was not time to put my trusts to them. Whatever the reason was, it has already happened and it time to make sure it would not happen again. Sigh.

Still, during our morning technical briefing, my tech showed us the photos he had taken on site. And unlike most organisation, we take in the clues and signs, discuss it and then take the next course of action. There is no finger pointing and I do not encourage it either. We just learn from it.

The system fell from the wall. Note the
mounting holes. When it fell, it pulled
everything to the floor and almost the
metal trunking with it too

After much discussion, we concluded the failure
was due to the nylon mounting plug which pulled
free because the mounting screw was too short to
help secure it. Since I was not there, the only clue
was the red circle in the picture as there were no
signs of the screw on the other end.

But there is another reason. The theory was that
someone tried to gain access to the manhole in
the ceiling because the mounting hole showed
signs of stress as if it was pulled downwards. This
case has happened before from another place.
My only clue was the almost bent corner on top
of the server rack....

Package from Perak!

Ok, this is one of the (many) items I have waited for years and now, its in my hands. OK, so its not the real deal but nevertheless, I have it. Decades ago, when it appeared at the arcade machines, I do wanted to remove it there and then. And no one would want to tell me who the supplier was. And years later, when it came to Playstation, it was frigging expensive too. And so today, I got them for a song. Put it this way, its cheap and I could have bought all seven of them (but there were only three left. How I wished he would update his details).

If you are familiar with the Blade Runner blaster, you could say that this gun is an evolved version from it. But then, this is my personal opinion. Here are the reasons:
1) There is a bullet chamber above the trigger
2) The two green buttons is a similar concept to the blaster
3) Below the barrel, the design slopes off.

At 1030 in the morning, the package arrived and my
Boss took one look and remarked,
"Wah, everyday is your Birthday!"

This is what was in the package

Lots of buttons and right at the bottom of the gun butt is,
my goodness! A telephone port! Ha ha. Just joking. I am
not sure what its used for, maybe for a reload pedal

Hmm.... maybe I should remove the two green buttons
and put in the LED lights. And mayhaps, one day, drill
and make a bullet chamber above the trigger. Right,
now to remove the cables before I can start to play....

Kristine and the chicken feet

OK, we're having chicken feet with mushrooms for dinner. This time, Kristine loves it. A lot. And she went for it like there's no tomorrow. I also like them but on the different parts of the feet. Like her Granpa, she loves the claw part which I do not like except when its made into Kerabu like the ones I tasted in Kota Kinabalu which has high cholesterol. So, I only like the tall bone just above the claw. Anyway, while eating, she started to use her hands instead......