Equatorial Musings

I just caught another re-run of 'Saving Private Ryan' on HBO. I first watched it in 1998, which was when it came out, after my second relationship ended. I watched it again with my wife during our honeymoon in the Maldives in Nov 2004. To say this movie holds a special place in my heart is therefore a gross understatement. I've since seen it countless other times and it never fails to deliver. There are many seminal moments in the movie. One had Tom Hanks' character, CPT John H Miller, diffusing a potentially explosive situation among his subordinates by telling them his job back home. Apparently, the soldiers had been betting on what his profession was. And of course who can forget the intense 20-plus-minute opening which depicted the Omaha beachhead assault during the D-day invasion of Normandy . But to me, the key moment was when Miller lies dying on the bridge, just after they had thwarted the Germans' advance. He pulled Ryan to him and told him to "earn t...

As you know, I recently acquired a 2 nd -hand camera; a Canon EOS 300D. But by some happenstance, I chanced upon something about my camera. Apparently, it shares the same platform and almost the same CMOS (or Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor - which is used in microprocessors , static RAM , and other digital logic circuits) as its bigger and costlier brother; the EOS 10D. Because of this, it's possible to install unofficial firmware modifications (or hacks) to enable some of the features on the 10D that were disabled in the 300D. They include allowing a higher ISO setting, flash exposure control, mirror lockup, single-shot auto focus and and a host of other custom functionalities. Given that the 10D used to cost more than twice the 300D, I was of course anxious to check with the previous owner if his camera was "juiced" up. To my delight, the answer was a resounding 'yes'. Not that I've mastered the basic functions of the 300D, but knowing that my...

I've been in HR since 2001. While there have been many ups and downs, I must say I still enjoy my job. Especially my current portfolio which allows me to participate in more strategic-level thinking and doing. As part of my on-going education, and I do believe one is never done learning, I try to suss out new ideas and trends from the web that may be useful to my work, or for that matter, my life. Recently, I came across a blog by 2 HR consultants; Frank Roche and Sarah Chambers, called Know HR . While there're many websites and blogs about HR, this one stands out for its straight-talking style. The authors make it very clear they don't like HR jargon, unless they're making fun of it ; ) But they're not cynical have-beens in the HR profession. Rather, they really believe that people want to do a good job and that there are ways to motivate them, but communication is key. I especially like their recent post about the way to interview someone. Basically, you should ta...

Here's a pic of a Bali-themed unit at the condo across from my place. I think it looks quite fetching and I wouldn't mind staying there ; ) I'm also playing around with night shots. This one is taken at a high ISO setting to compensate for low light without using the flash, but its grainy. Apparently, upping the ISO results in such 'noise'. By the way, ISO stands for International Standard Organisation - go figure. For more pics, please see my picasa album: Random Pics

Here are some shots I took of my nephew and niece. I think they're not great but they're better than those taken by a digicam ; )

After talking about it for so many years, I finally bought a dslr camera. Mind you, its a second-hand one but I thought I had better try it out before plonking in serious dole on a really high-tech one. (If you want to know, I got the Canon EOS 300D, which is 3-4 years old and can deliver only up to 6.3 mega pixels of picture quality.) For the uninitiated, dslr stands for digital single lens reflex. The main difference between a dslr camera and a digicam is that you compose your shots through the viewfinder and not the LCD display. The image that you see is directed from the lens by a mirror upwards to the viewfinder. This means that you see more details of your shots and you don't have to worry about the glare on your LCD. Of course, a dslr camera also gives you more creative control as you can adjust the shutter speed, aperture value etc. If you're just gonna leave your dslr on automatic mode, you're better off with a digicam . Ever since I was initiated into the ...

Not too long ago, I was musing to myself that I needed to tweak some of my resolutions for the year. I've never been one to list down the things I should do at the start of each year. But I did so during this Chinese New Year ( CNY ) as the urge finally came upon me. I had asked 'to have the wisdom to change when the time has come for me to do so'. I've not talked about this before, but I also added specific things I wanted to do this year subsequently; like serving in church, running the marathon, among others. So far, I've served in my church and started a blog ( I count this as one of my resolutions even though it was started before CNY), so that leaves running the marathon and a few other small resolutions. Given that I'm still reeling from the toe incident, I think I should try for the half-marathon instead. At least, I can still say I've achieved half of this resolution - ha ha. I can imagine my friends thinking that this is more lame than I was when I...

In the last 1-2 years, which was the most traumatic period of my life, I've realised that there are only 2 important things in life. If you get them right, then you should be fine. If not, then there's a good chance that things will not be hunky dory. Essentially, you must have a faith that guides you and you must be careful who you marry or befriend. In this world that we live in, we are constantly bombarded by all sorts of rubbish. They're downloaded into us by what we read, what we see and what we listen to. Unless you've a moral compass, or better still a spiritual anchor, you're likely to have everybody else dump trash in your mind without you even knowing it. By trash, I mean all the self-centred, consumer-based and hedonistic nonsense that masquerades as the essentials of a good life. Basically, their bottom line is that things will make you happy and fulfilled. But trust me, things will never be able to do that. They merely fill a void that hungers for more...