The Computer Story

Dear Diary,

Had a 1-hour phone chat with a friend few minutes ago and he was suggesting that I join him to apply the Duke-NUS GMS again... Some subjects keep recurring, isn't it? Haha... I used to think about medical missions when I was much younger but somehow, that part of me has all but gone cold. Earlier, I came back from dance class... Hmmm... the girl whom I asked to dance with last week was not around today. Was really hoping to know her a little more. Nevertheless, dancing was still fun. After dance class, drove down to City Hall for dinner and the beautiful night lightings seemed to illuminate my mood, haha... Ate late dinner with a friend before proceeding home.

There was a surprise appraisal for me today but thankfully, my boss rated me better than my own self-rating. =) Thank God that I am coping well at work thus far! ;-) Sadly, can't help feeling that for many of us, our self-worth are subtly affected by the world's perception of us. Whether positive or negative, we must keep God the centre focus of our lives and not be arrogant or pessimistic respectively.

The weekend that just passed was satisfying. After much waiting, I got my new Toshiba Satellite Pro notebook computer at the Sitex 2008 fair in the Expo convention centre. On that Saturday morning, I braved the immense crowd and scoured the exhibition halls. I went in prepared with the computer specifications all decided already. The first round was to just collect leaflets so I could do comparisons. There were just so many promoters and there was even an occasion that a guy from Fujitsu and a girl from Lenovo were practically tugging at my arms! Both speaking to me at the same time because I happened to pass by the transitional area between a Fujitsu and a Lenovo booth! I told them to write their names on their leaflets and that shut them up. That's the best way to stop promoters at their tracks. They basically want you to find them personally if you are buying their brand of computer so that they can earn commission.

By the time, I went through the booths, I kinda narrowed down to either the Packard Bell or Dell Inspiron 1525 or the Toshiba Satellite Pro L310 - A450. Eventually, after the promoter Liwen managed to get the discount I wanted, I bought the Toshiba lap-top at just $1099 (student's price). The entire package was excellent. I got a computer with the latest Core 2 Duo Intel chip, free upgrade to 3GB RAM, Bluetooth, Microsoft Vista Business Edition, free Windows XP downgrade program disk, free Norton Internet Security program, free Norman Security program, a free 4GB thumb-drive, a free optical mouse, upgrade to 2-year warranty and a Canon Pixar A145 printer-cum-scanner. =) As I bought a $1100 Harvey Norman (expiring in 2 months' time) for just $916 from someone, I effectively just paid $916 for my notebook. If I manage to sell my printer, it will just be barely over $800.

I spent most of Sunday afternoon, transferring data from my more-than-7-year-old Fujitsu Lifebook to my new Toshiba Satellite Pro. I guess I am a pretty fortunate guy. When I was just 8 years old as a primary 2 student in 1988, I was already using a computer. It was then a XT-8088 which had no hard-disk and ran on MS DOS 5.0 operating system (OS). We used the 5-and-1/4-inch diskettes at that time. Later on, we had the AT-80386 model with hard disk and ran on Microsoft 3.1 OS. It was the era of the 3-1/2-inch diskettes.

After that, it was the AT-80486 (IBM) running on Windows 95 OS. The Pentium came along with the Windows 98. By September 2001, I purchased my own computer for the first time in my life which was $2700 Fujitsu Lifebook running on Windows Millennium Edition (ME) which lasted till last Saturday (29 Nov 2008). It is still working but I have relegated it to "public use" at home. The Fujitsu lifebook is probably one of the most amazing machine, lasting so long... which meant I spent just less than $380 per year for personal usage. That laptop is a transitional model, so it had 9-pin port, USB ports, Infra-red capability, 3-1/4-inch diskette drive, DVD ROM player, ...

I never quite use a Windows XP program at home because the previous one ran on Windows ME and now the new one runs on Windows Vista Business. Anyway, this is my second big-ticket purchase since I started my new job in August. The first one is my car. ;-) Just a diversion, I am actually currently reading a book "Jesus of Nazareth" by Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) and it is a very beautifully written book. Okay, it's pretty late now. Goodnight.

God Bless,

Andrew