Weekend Again!!

Hi, I have written a post on World Community Grid, a project which benefits humanity. Please a have look. (Added at 2349) I don't know why these two days, I have a song in my mind. It is an Christian hymn entitled I Know Whom I Have Believed. The tune of the song kept repeating in my mind. I think it may be God comforting me during this time of hard work I guess. The other song is Come Thou Fount. Now I remember the tune again. Hehe. :) Had another busy week but I thank God for the weekend. I can have my rest. Hehe. Went for CCF (Campus & Career Fellowship) at First Baptist Church yesterday. I am in the Twenties Group currently and another group member shared her spiritual autobiography. It is very encouraging to hear that. Chris Tomlin and several other artists are coming to Malaysia as part of the Passion World Tour. I have heard that the tickets have been sold out but there are some available. Not sure if I would go for it. It will be held at the Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre. The project that I am currently attached in at work will be going live soon in about a few weeks time. It is quite stable now and I hope that it will go live smoothly in August. Still busy at certain things but it's alright. I enjoy and like my job actually but I don't like the long hours. I mean, as a software engineer, I will experience that but at the same time, I need to have rest as well. Just need to find a balance. I caught the sore throat and cough again this week. Transportation The transportation of a country should be good for its people to travel around for school, university, work, to the nearest garden and to shop for provisions and clothing. Public transportation is also vital to save the environment as well, reducing the emission of cars. Cars are good for we can be more flexible to go anywhere or buying provisions from the hypermarket or supermaket. It is provides a more comfortable and convenient way of travelling across the country, to meet friends and relatives or to fetch children to school etc. At the same time, the more cars we have on the road, we may face issues such as air pollution and traffic jams. I have been part of a good transportation system while I was studying in Melbourne, Australia. Most of time, I travel by trams, trains and buses to university, church and to meet up with friends. The nearest tram stop from the place which I stay is only 1 1/2 minutes away. A lot of people also go to work by train. Some of them drive their cars to the train station and parked there for the whole day. When they finish their work, they just go to their cars and drive back to their home. It reduces time, petrol and air pollution. Most of the suburbs in Melbourne have at least a mode of transportation where it is trains, trams and buses. Even if the suburb has no train going there, there are buses or trams at their neighbourhood for them to travel to the nearest train station. And the best thing is that all the modes of transportation are under one roof, Metlink. The buses, trams and trains use the same ticketing system and thus people only need to buy a ticket and they can travel using whichever of the transportation provided whether it is trains or trams or buses. The train system also covers a wide range of distance from the Melbourne city to a suburb as far as Frankston and Belgrave. Some of the good transportation systems around the world are located in London, Brazil and Hong Kong. Malaysia's transportation system needs to be improved to a level where it reduces the need to travel by cars at a minimum level. Of course, cars are important and more convenient for going anywhere but not everyone can afford cars and especially now if the fuel prices costs higher compared to a few years ago. The current system of LRTs and buses in Kuala Lumpur should be integrated under one roof, which Rapid KL. Even though different companies are managing the different modes of transporation, the public should only need to purchase tickets which covers every mode of transportation. The transportation system in the Klang Valley should also cover more areas such as Puchong, Subang Jaya, Bandar Utama and Cheras. The nearest train station from my house is located about 10 minutes away and we still need a car to travel there. There are also very few buses which covers the area where I stay thus in this case, we still need a car to travel around even to the nearest public transportation system. Although there are buses going to the Tasik Selatan train station, it does not cover all the areas surrounding it. Before I was attached to my client site, I was working in Bandar Utama, my father fetches me there every day by car. There is no public transportation system. Only a few number of buses are covering that area. There is no train system there. The efficiency of the transportation system in Kuala Lumpur should also be improved. For examples, timetables should be provided by Rapid KL for the lrts. This will help people to plan their journeys carefully during peak and non peak hours. Buses should come more frequently and leave on time. At certain times, the buses did not come to service the required areas. Some of them need to wait for 40 minutes of 1 hour just to board the bus. A transportation system is also good if there are minimum delays. In Melbourne, the buses leave exactly at the required time and does not wait for more passengers even though there might be very few people on it. Taxi drivers also should charge the right amount and bring passengers anywhere that they require. There are incidences where passengers need to find another taxi driver because the previous taxi driver refused to take them to the required place or charge a high rate for it even for short distances. All of the employees of Rapid KL and the taxi companies should be courteous to its commuters and passengers and willing to them anytime if there are any issues regarding the system or ticketing issues. Top Songs of The Week Chris Tomlin: How Great is Our God Other Christian Songs: I Know Whom I Have Believed, Come Thou Fount Damien Leith: Night of My Life Christine Applegate: My Love Will Get You Home Il Divo: Una Noche Kelly Clarkson: Because of You Mozart: 5 Contredanses - Country S Club: Have You Ever, Never Had a Dream Come True Tchaikovsky: Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso - Allegro con spirito, March That's all from me.

World Community Grid

Hi, I have been participating in the World Community Grid since 2 years ago. World Community Grid is a non-profit program being sponsored by IBM which provided technologies and resources needed to run the grid. It is a system whereby computer resources are being used for global research which benefits the community. Normally some of these researches but may take a few years to complete, but with the use of grid computing, the shared computer resources will shorten the research duration significantly. Let me give you an introduction of Grid Computing. Grid Computing is a computer network in which each computer's resources are shared with every computer in the system¹ to perform computations in scientific research and other specific tasks. Currently World Community Grid are running these community based projects but there will be more projects which will be coming soon in the near future:

1. Help Conquer Cancer
2. Nutritious Rice for the World
3. African Climate @ Home.

My grid is currently running the Help Conquer Cancer and the Nutritious Rice for the World. The Help Conquer Cancer is a project which combines the computer resources globally to help scientists and researches to improve their understanding of cancer initiation, progression and treatment. It will also help them to develop a better treatment for cancer patients. ² Nutritious Rice for the World is a project to help farmers to breed better rice strains with higher crop yields. This is used to help the poor in which there are a lot of cases of malnutrition and hunger. This research will be able to help millions of people who are suffering from malnutrition to get the relevant vitamins and minerals from the rice developed in this project.² Come and join the World Community Grid and help the community. Just download the BOINC software from the World Community Grid and start sharing resources to help researchers to develop the right treatment for illnesses such as cancer and dengue fever and to develop the new strain of rice which benefit the poor and the community around us. It is a safe program which performs computations on the required data on the computer and sends back to the server. When a computation is completed, the software will then request a new project from the server to perfrom computations on that data. Below are some links to the resources which you may need to understand the concept of grid computing: ¹ Strickland, Jonathan. "How Grid Computing Works." 25 April 2008. HowStuffWorks.com. 25 July 2008. ² World Community Grid ³ Wikipedia on Grid Computing ⁴ Tryscience

Sunday

Hi, Another busy week. But it's alright. Just came back from church. Attended the earlier service at 9 today. I also attended the RBC Bible Conference held at First Baptist Church in PJ yesterday. The speaker was Reverend Bill Crowder, the Director of Church Ministries at RBC. RBC is the company which produces Our Daily Bread, The Discovery Series and other Christian resources. The message was on Elijah (1 Kings 18:20-46 & 1 Kings: 19-18). It was good. He also spoke today at my church, FBC on 2 Timothy 4:9-18. Is anyone perfect? Who is perfect? We are not perfect. It is the same regardless of whether we are a Christian or not. We make mistakes and sin at work, school or anywhere. We may hurt or disappoint other people or even get hurt or dissapointed ourselves. We may say something at the wrong time. We may think that what we say or do to other people is ok but to the other party, it may not be. He or she may be insulted or hurt by our words or actions. We also sinned against God. Anything that does not please God is considered a sin. Some of The 10 Commandments found in Exodus 20 & Deuteronomy include: 1. Do not lie 2. Do not murder 3. Do not covet other's people belongings 4. Do not give false testimony to your neighbour 5. You shall have no other gods before me Being a Christian, I admit that I am not perfect myself. I make mistakes. But as a Christian, I pray that through the Holy Spirit that God would change me to who he wants me to be. He would use the weak to make the strong. God knows that we are weak but through our weaknesses, He uses them to shape us to be stronger and to be more like Him. Whether or not we are good at something, God has plans to use us mightily in different situations so that people might be blessed through us. In Matthew 5:13-14, we are called to be the light of the world and salt of the earth. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 in the Bible (NIV), But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. Only God is perfect, in His righteousness and in His anger. His ways are perfect. Everything that he does is perfect. He is in control of everything. His words are perfect and holy. His holiness is perfect too. Here are some verses about God's perfectness: Deuternomony 32:4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. (NIV) 2 Samuel 22:31 As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. (NIV) Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (NIV) 2 Corinthians 7:1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. (NIV) ============================================================== Prayer Points: 1. Pray for the nation of Malaysia 2. Pray for those who are unwell or have terminal illnesses like Cancer, AIDS etc. That God's healing & comforting hands will be upon them 3. Pray that I can have a good rest. I've been working very hard. ======================================================== My favourite songs as of 20th July 2008: Chris Tomlin: How Great Is Our God, Unfailing Love, Mighty Is The Power Of The Cross Leona Lewis: Bleeding Love, Better In Time Colbie Calliat: Realize Kelly Clarkson: Breakaway, Because Of You Avril Lavigne: When You're Gone Rihanna: Umbrella, Take A Bow Westlife: Something Right Il Divo: Caruso, Una Noche, Without You Damien Leith: Night of My Life Human Nature: Dancing in the Street, I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) My favourite English television series as of 20th July 2008: CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York House Numbers Bones Criminal Minds Midsommer Murders 24 Heroes Battlestar Galactica American Idol, Australian Idol Law and Order: Special Victims Unit Ugly Betty My favourite anime series as of 20th July 2008: Sergeant Keroro Slam Dunk Captain Tsubasa: Road to Dream Yu Yu Hakusho Jigoku Shoujo: Season 1 & Season 2 Solty Rei Blackjack La Cordo Doro Primo Passo Things I would like to have: (Note that these things are not a must) IPhone 3G Black Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Sony Bravia LCD TV

Another Exhausting Week (Supposed to be published on 12th July 2008)

Worked until 10 on Thursday. Felt very tired on Friday. I must have stretched myself a little. Hehe. Sometimes I think that working late, is it really worth the effort? It may be worth to do it for our client / project I guess. But my health? But I like my work as a software engineer. It is the long hours which I do not like. Not until too late. Maybe 8 or 9 is still oh kay but not until 10. So rested myself yesterday. Watched animes and Daddy Day Care.

Fortunately, I do not have to work in the weekend. I even go for a jog on yesterday. This is the picture that I took in Taman Sri Permaisuri:

Lush Greeneries at Taman Sri PermaisuriDucks at the lake at Taman Sri Permaisuri

Please have a look at this video: How Great is Our God in Youtube. It is a very nice song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb7YRfXgqVU.

Back to work tomorrow again.

Verse(s) of the day
Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,

who have been called according to his purpose (NIV)

Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (NIV)

1 John 4: 16-19

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us

A Very Exhausting Week

Hi Everyone,

Slept for about 11 hours yesterday. Woke up at 1230 this afternoon. Began my day by watching animes and MTV on ASTRO. I worked until very late on Wednesday, until 11. I have been working late for these few months. It is very exhausting. The current project will go live in a few weeks time. I am going back for another project activity tomorrow and perform another task as well.

Presented by Spiritual Autobiography to the CCF Twenties Group yesterday. Had some very encouraging responses from my cell group members. We also prayed together. I just read 2 Kings: 5-9.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will meeting again in the Wimbledon Tennis Finals. From what I see, I think Roger Federer will win at Wimbledon this year but anything can happen. It's going to be an exciting match. The same goes for the Ladies Finals. Serena and Venus Williams will be playing.

Here are some of the prayer points that I will suggest this week:
1. Pray for our nation, Malaysia
2. Pray for those who are suffering from terminal illness such as HIV/Aids, Cancer etc and those who are in poverty etc
3. Pray for our walk as Christians - living testimonies to others
4. Pray for myself, to find time to study God's word and to pray

Verse(s) of the day:

Ecclesiastes Chapter 2: 26 (New International Version)
Verse 26: "To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gatherinf and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind." (NIV)

Psalm 1:1
Verse 1: "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers." (NIV)

The traffic jam at Jalan Raja Laut (1927), 1st July 2008

The traffic jam at Jalan Raja Laut (1926), 1st July 2008

The traffic jam at Jalan Raja Laut (1917), 1st July 2008

Lunch: Roast Chicken with Black Pepper Sauce, 1st July 2008