I've been out of Tokyo for the last few month as a result of work. I've probably fallen off the face of most of my social networks during that time and at the same time, I kind of enjoy the peace and quiet from people. I used to be really busy every weekend meeting up with people somewhere, attending events. But it is nice to spend a weekend home.
I woke up, spent the morning doing some research, went out for a jog, came back, had a steak dinner and had the best sleep ever. I naturally woke up at 8 am today feeling particularly great. This is something that I need to repeat more often.
Spend time, doing productive things, go to bed tired from hard work and wake up great. This is how life ought to be lived.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Deploying to AWS doesn't make sense (not just yet)
I've been mulling the thought of deploying a webserver to Amazon's AWS service as of recently and I've been running the idea through my head multiple times and something just didn't sit right. I've been playing around with a webhosting service for the past year to see what it is like to work with a webhosting service and came to the conclusion that the lack of control is a killer data portability; it is easy to create a blog and write on it, but it is a real pain in the rear to back it up and be able to move it elsewhere should I want to. The other problem is the limited control of software installation I can do, meaning that I would be completely limited to whatever the service provider has installed. This is where Amazon's AWS service comes in.
Amazon's AWS is basically a server instance that you can use, it is very much like having your own computer to play with, install an operating system and then do whatever you want with. I've been doing calculations on price for such a service and the numbers don't look favorable for a single "Small PC" instance which runs for about $744/year. At that price, I could buy a stripped down computer for far less and turn that into a usable server for at least a few years. Transitioning to AWS only would make sense if I needed signifcant computing power beyone what I would provide from home.
I'll be looking into buying a new computer to play with at home.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Rusty Debating Skills
I lived in Sendai for the first 3 years of my life in Japan and one thing about living in Sendai is that people don't generally debate and disagreements are often avoided. Moving to Tokyo was rather different as being good at making arguments is important, especially when working in a company.
I, unfortunately, have not developed my Japanese debating skills and for the lack time spend among English speaking peers in Japan, I have found that my debating skills gone rusty and the "thick skin" that one needs to survive a debate has also gone thin. In effect, I believe that I've lost some mental agility and stopped keeping a pool of readily accessible information in my head to make arguments because I've had no need to before. Information retention is terrible at the moment, though some might attribute this to the aging effect, I refuse to accept that as an excuse.
Especially when it comes to dealing with upper management, when making persuasive arguments is especially important for these people to sway executives and push their career upwards. If you want to do well in a career, having good debating/persuasive skills (balanced with it not being aggressive) is absolutely important.
To be honest, I miss my old philosophy class in high school where we used to debate on a variety of topics at 7 am. Sure we would be sleepy as hell, but it was a lot of fun back then.
I, unfortunately, have not developed my Japanese debating skills and for the lack time spend among English speaking peers in Japan, I have found that my debating skills gone rusty and the "thick skin" that one needs to survive a debate has also gone thin. In effect, I believe that I've lost some mental agility and stopped keeping a pool of readily accessible information in my head to make arguments because I've had no need to before. Information retention is terrible at the moment, though some might attribute this to the aging effect, I refuse to accept that as an excuse.
Especially when it comes to dealing with upper management, when making persuasive arguments is especially important for these people to sway executives and push their career upwards. If you want to do well in a career, having good debating/persuasive skills (balanced with it not being aggressive) is absolutely important.
To be honest, I miss my old philosophy class in high school where we used to debate on a variety of topics at 7 am. Sure we would be sleepy as hell, but it was a lot of fun back then.
Playing with some new styles
I've been using the old blog style for ages and figured that it was time for an update. I have no clue when it comes to website design so I just decided to play around with whatever they had on blogger. Not too excited about the new look because I think the templates they have here look too goofy. I'll just suck it up since I can't go back to the old design now and I think that most people that read blogs anyways do so through google reader (and if you don't, you should!)
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Kick ass and then become a consultant?
Into the second week of October and already cranked out more than 20+ hours of over time. If this was Canadian style flex time, I'd have 3 vacation days stocked up. But this is Japan, so I'll be taking overtime pay instead.
Been working on putting together some software for a project for wafer level analysis. I use a newer language compared to the older guy I work with, Visual Basic vs Python. Programming lightening fast while I have most of the base engine of my detection engine up.
The problem here is that by the end of this year, my stint in Kagoshima will probably be over and my work will need to be passed off to the guys here to continue. The problem is that no one can program in the language that I use. They'll have one of the guys eventually translate the algorithms into their native language.
Interestingly, I really do wonder how often do cases such as these occur, where one guy is able to do a good job that the other guys that follow after can't keep up. I best that this is how a lot of people start their contracting gigs.
Thursday, October 06, 2011
Steve Jobs has Passed
In an instant, this is the only news that is making the rounds on the internet. The iconic Steve Jobs is gone and there is a void in the world of technology.
Some links to postings about Steve Jobs from notable people:
Outpouring from the internet is simply massive right now.
Some links to postings about Steve Jobs from notable people:
Outpouring from the internet is simply massive right now.
Is a crash on the way?
I know for sure that a huge rally is probably not on the schedule, but there ought to be either a crash or stagnation in the stock market. So long as you have the timing right, selling calls during times of high volatility would be smart to me. I don't hold any short positions yet (I wished I did) just because I haven't had time to do sufficient time to get myself into the right positions.
Of an interesting note, the venture business in the US could be looking to take a hit in the slowing economy and this is something that I'd like to keep an eye on.
As for now, the yen is sky rocketing like crazy. What that means to me is that I'll be looking in ways of putting in more over time to make more cash and sell yen for other currencies because I think the yen is over values.
Of an interesting note, the venture business in the US could be looking to take a hit in the slowing economy and this is something that I'd like to keep an eye on.
As for now, the yen is sky rocketing like crazy. What that means to me is that I'll be looking in ways of putting in more over time to make more cash and sell yen for other currencies because I think the yen is over values.
Monday, October 03, 2011
From Kagoshima to Tokyo and back again
Finally got back to the home after 2 months in Kagoshima. Getting off the plane and getting into the city, I realized that I was facing some culture shock from being back. All the people and tall buildings... the other thing I missed while being back is good country food.
I eventually made it back to my apartment and found that I had left a light bulb on for the entire 2 months. An interesting experience but when I did power calculation, having that light bulb on for 24/7 over a month it cost about $24. It's pretty amazing how much power a light bulb draws over the course of a month, more than the fridge I have.
But to be honest, most people don't have their lights running at home for 24/7. Interesting lesson.
The mail box at home was stuffed to the brim with fliers for all sorts of things, especially girly stuff like manicures, hair salons and frilly clothing- nothing that a man would need. Sexist marketing at it's finest? Quite possibly so.
I also dropped by the office today and saw one of my old managers and his greeting to me was:
Manager: "Welcome back. You look thinner. You okay? Maybe you should see a doctor"
Apparently I have a rather interesting work place.
I got back and picked up a $800 LCD monitor and had it shipped off to Kagoshima for me to use for programming. I even had it shipped by air. One of those perks about working in a large corporation.
I eventually made it back to my apartment and found that I had left a light bulb on for the entire 2 months. An interesting experience but when I did power calculation, having that light bulb on for 24/7 over a month it cost about $24. It's pretty amazing how much power a light bulb draws over the course of a month, more than the fridge I have.
But to be honest, most people don't have their lights running at home for 24/7. Interesting lesson.
The mail box at home was stuffed to the brim with fliers for all sorts of things, especially girly stuff like manicures, hair salons and frilly clothing- nothing that a man would need. Sexist marketing at it's finest? Quite possibly so.
I also dropped by the office today and saw one of my old managers and his greeting to me was:
Manager: "Welcome back. You look thinner. You okay? Maybe you should see a doctor"
Apparently I have a rather interesting work place.
I got back and picked up a $800 LCD monitor and had it shipped off to Kagoshima for me to use for programming. I even had it shipped by air. One of those perks about working in a large corporation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)