where I speak out my mind
tips
Editing PDF, anyone?
Apr 19th
Mrs. J shared a useful tips on how to browse for spreadsheets in her blog. And, I happen to have something to share here too… Read on! 
It all started last Friday, when suddenly I received a ‘talian-hayat‘ from my colleague, Azy.
“Aku nak anta NOOP to contractors, tapi masalahnya dalam tue ada costing details.”
“Oh, aku cadangkan ko, scan as PDF then email”
“Tapi nnt besar la plak kan”
“Oh, tak2, ko pakai PDF compact, it should work! Takpe2, nnt aku balik opis, aku tolong k”
“Okeh”
When I got back to my workplace, I found that “scan-to-pdf” approach is no longer practical, as the total page is a whooping 73 pages. And, as far as I know, to be able to edit the PDF, is using Adobe Acrobat Professional.
“Hmm, pc ko ada internet access?”
“Ada2!”
“Cantek, meh ke tempat ko“
Next, with the help of my all-time-favourite-search-engine, GOOGLE, the “search-and-pin” operation begun. Yes, I found not one, but many of them. Unfortunately, all of them are shareware (read: you need to buy it to access full features), which is pretty useless.
I was about to give up, when suddenly I found wikipage that compile all the softwares related to PDF. NICE! It suggests three sites; PDFescape, PDFfiller and PDFVue. Of all three, only PDFVue manages to pass through the proxy.
I was so excited to finally, discover PDFVue; it is user-friendly, working and most importantly, it`s FREE !!
So, friends, if you happen to have a PDF that requires some editing (rotating/deleting page, or even putting comments), I highly recommend PDFVue. What you need to do, is just to upload your PDF file and do the editing online. Right after you save the changes, you can click DOWNLOAD button, and within minutes (well, still depend on how fast your connection is.. ;p), your edited PDF is ready in your PC. There is no need for installation or any sort of payment. Good luck guys, and happy editing!!
p/s: Feel free to give a try on other two, and perhaps you can share your experience here!
Reviving the ‘dead’
Apr 14th
Yes, you read it correctly sir! I managed to revive the deads!
It happened last week, when suddenly, without any reason, my main portable harddisk failed. I tried several apporaches; connected it through different pc, using different cable, and even different way of booting pc. All of them led to same ending; I couldnt access it.
Just when I was about to give up, I remembered something important; a very useful DOS command!
CHKDSK
I used this particular command, extensively back in UTP, as power breakdown happened regularly, resulting in windows error during startup. CHKDSK if used properly, will check for the harddisk file structure and repair if any. Simple, yet brilliant command. I like it!
Quickly, I plugged the portable harddisk back and waited patiently for the windows to assign the drive letter. I purposely left it before going lunch, just to make sure the sytem stabilized. Next, through command prompt, I performed the ‘operation’ on my beloved portable harddisk (inspired by my wife’s favourite tv series, Grey’s Anatomy)
Alhamdulillah, the ‘operation’ went well.. The ‘patient’ has been saved.. and still breathing as we speak ! 
So guys, whenever your harddisk becomes inaccessible, don’t simply throw it out. Berusahalah dulu ya !
Ganbattene ! ~
p/s: I managed to revive Afifie’s harddisk too last week, Alhamdulillah. So that’s TWO!
Survival guide for Melati’ans Part II
Mar 3rd
This part is the continuation from Part 1, written few weeks back.
LRT (RapidKL – Kelana Jaya / Terminal Putra Line)
Being the second last station doesn’t guarantee you a hassle-free trip every morning to KLCC. I started to notice the hike in number of commuters soon after government decided to increase the fuel price few months ago. And ever since, it is getting worse, with no sign of efforts taken by RapidKL to resolve this. So, as the old saying kept saying; if you can’t beat it, you have to join it. And, with that thinking in mind, I have thought of my own way/strategy to get onboard. Muahaha! Here’s the drill;
Typically, LRT station will have two platforms; Platform A where the train heads towards Terminal Putra (TP), and the other one is heading to Kelana Jaya (KJ). Being orthodox’ers, people would just go to Platform B, provided you start queuing before 0715, otherwise you could just waste your time standing waiting there. For the unorthodox’ers, they would proceed to Platform A without any hesitation. If you happened to be one of those unorthodox’ers, congratulations, you have made a wise choice for the first part of this cheat strategy.
Next step? You could just simply board any incoming train, and keep your fingers crossed that you don’t have to get down in TP. Alternatively, you could take my advice here; make use of deterministic approach (purely based on my experience since last year) or, analytical approach (which sometimes works better than the former).
My so-called “deterministic” approach assumes similar concept with bus; we know where the bus is heading, based on the numbers located above its windscreen.. LRT has three digits; first denotes whether it`s the front or back coach, while the last two digits are the one that we should look for. They could give us ‘hint’ whether the passengers need to step out @ TP. Compiled below, is the list of numbers of good, 50/50 and bad trains. (Again, sometimes it works and, sometimes it doesn’t)
Good (high chance that you DON’T HAVE to step out @ TP)
02, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 3350/50 (this train has both good and bad record, so give a try at your own risk)
03,06,10,21,34Bad (high chance that you HAVE to step out @ TP)
04,05,16,31
On Platform A, you guys need to understand the mechanism on the rotation of LRT; they move in circle, connecting TP (Gombak) and Kelana Jaya. With respect to our case now,one needs to guess understand the situation in TP. Maximum number of trains that could be in standby mode is two, so if the other train is being emptied, the other one will surely will be filled up. So, if there is one train heading towards TP (from Platform A @ TM station), and somehow, there is another ‘empty’ train on standby mode, then you are on the right train (as in, you dont need to disembark the train and re-queueing the long queue). The trick is to spot for this ‘lucky’ train. What I usually did, is to observe the train arriving at Platform B. If there is a ‘ghost’ train (empty, yet doest not stop @ TM, purely to serve W.Maju station onwards) then you are advised to board the train arriving at Platform A. The chance that you have to disembark at TP is LOW, but don’t come back to me if it doesn’t work later. Haha. Well, at least you have some strategy, rather than pure gamble
My take on this? I love this train-guessing game… I surely do miss it especially since I’m no longer one of TM residents.
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