Just a simple guy living in a complex world.

I’m still here (if you were wondering where I was this whole time)! I just have been crazy busy doing nothing and getting ready for work on Monday! Yep! WORK! Finally… after five years of schooling and five months of job-hunting I’ve been able to land a job. Therefore, over the past few weeks I’ve been reading up on design patterns such as abstract factory pattern, frameworks such as Spring and Hibernate, and going through Java concepts. I’m super excited to learn and master all these skills that I will be using on the job.

I have also been busy with closing my jointly-owned condo in New Westminster. It’s called Plaza 88 at Marinus and it’s a two-bedroom and two-bathroom 817 sq ft apartment. I’ve learned so much on how to choose a mortgage, the buying and closing processes of getting a property, and all other relevant things that I needed to do. Just a warning to all of you who are planning or will be purchasing/renting a property later on–be careful with your attorney fees! That’s all I’m going to say… you can speak with me if you want more details.

I have also tried to stay healthy and fit over these past couple of months. A month ago I purchased the Nike+ sensor that tracks my run time, distance, and how much calories I lose (I don’t really look at this because I’m trying to gain weight!!!). I love this piece of technology! It also allows you to set goals so that you are always motivated. Other than running I haven’t been doing much weight training, which I’m hoping to start doing soon…

Well that’s it for now! I’m currently at Delani’s, a coffee shop in North Vancouver, and am going to go eat Indian food with my love. Happy six months babe!

…

Don’t you wish your old beat-up computer was just as new? Running like new several months down the road, without having to reformat it? Well you can help your computer perform its best by following these very simple steps. Before I list out the steps, here’s why I decided to write this article. Since February 2008 I’ve been an Apple guy, following most of Apple’s products. Lately, however, I’ve been using a PC and remember how easy it was to use it. Currently I’m running on an older Dual Core PC on Windows 7. After using it for a while PCs, like any other computers, will tend to get slower, causing frustrations–and who likes being frustrated? Several reasons why your computer performs worse and worse is because of installations, files occupying disc space and all the other unnecessary junk! We will assume that you do not have any virus or spyware on your computer. To eliminate this you need to install anti-virus and anti-spyware software!

So if you’re using Windows here are three things you can do to help your PC run faster.

1. MSCONFIG – Remove unnecessary start-up programs. You will undoubtedly install programs on your PC over time. Those installed programs will sometimes allow themselves to start up automatically whenever you turn on or restart your computer. After a while of installing programs you will get many start-up programs causing your computer to run very slowly. A quick fix is to actually stop those programs from starting up automatically. Click “Start” button > “Run” > Type in “msconfig”. A system configuration pop-up will appear. Click on the “Startup” tab. Here you will see all the programs that currently have a start-up status. Deselect the nonessential programs. Make sure you absolutely know which programs to deselect. Deselecting an essential program can disrupt your computer. As you can see I’ve deselected Acrobat, iTunes, MobileMe, etc. because I know I don’t need to run these programs all the time.
2. CCleaner – ccleaner.com – A “Crap Cleaner” software you can download for free at filehippo.com that allows you to… clean all the crap from your computer. The more you use your computer the more unnecessary files will be kept and therefore will slow your PC down. For example, just by surfing the Internet you could have many many megabytes (MB) of temporary files. In addition with this application you can also clean up your registry. It will help you clean up all the unlinked/unused registries. Be sure to backup your registry before you go ahead doing this! CCleaner allows you to backup your registry very easily.
3. Defraggler – piriform.com/defraggler – Another fabulous freeware by Piriform that allows you to “defrag” your computer. Defragmentation is the process that reduces the amount of fragmented files in systems. As you install and uninstall programs, or add and delete files you will get chunks of files scattered throughout your hard drive. These fragmented files make it less efficient for your computer system to locate the files it is looking for. Defraggler is very similar to the built-in defragmentation application found on Windows OS.

With these simple steps and tools you will have a better experience with your PC.

YIKES! That’s all I can say at the moment. TSX has seen red for three days straight — with a 5% loss over those days. Now I wish I didn’t splurge on AIG and CENX stocks last week. By the way, CENX released their third quarter earnings just yesterday and they did pretty well, yet managed to falter with the market. YIKES! YIKES! YIKES!

And what?! Luongo injured? He was playing a couple games injured?! Should he even be that dedicated this early in the season? Come on Bobby Lu. Let’s heal a bit quicker, shall we? By the way last night’s game was a gongshow. It felt like I was watching game six of the Canucks and Blackhawks series. Ouch… (even I can’t believe I went there)

I had my first Microsoft interview on Friday. I’m really hoping it went well and that I’m given a chance to prove myself again during the second round in Redmond. Overall the first interview was about the interviewer getting to know who I was, my past experiences, and how I think in around 30 minutes. Before going into this interview I really had no idea what kind of questions they were going to ask. Microsoft is famous for their puzzle and thought-provoking questions. So, I did my research beforehand. I practiced solving puzzles, reviewed my Java and C++ and went over some design questions. Since I applied for a Program Manager position which was more of a designing software role than a programmer role, I had a design question. My challenge was to create a GPS for a 16 year old novice driver. I think the trick was to ask a lot of questions and talk out loud when trying to solve these types of problems. The interviewer wants to hear and understand your thought process.

I don’t know how it went, but whether or not I get through to the second interview I’m grateful for the experience and the chance to practice my interviewing skills.