Laptop plans have been set back by about a month or two... and here's why.

Intel has recently announced the launch of its Intel Core 2 Duo processors for desktops (codenamed Conroe) and for mobile platforms (codenamed Merom). These processors are faster and cooler than even the fastest Intel and AMD chips currently on the market. Although clock speeds haven't gone up significantly, which is how Intel chips usually speed up, these new chips do more per clock cycle than any previous chip. This allows for lower clock rates which translates to lower power consumption, and thus a cooler chip.

So... how does this affect laptop plans? Apple is expected to announce a new line of Macbook and Macbook Pro laptops (and possibly iMac desktops and XServe workstations/servers) based on Intel's new line of processors at the 2006 WWDC in early August. Now... why would I want to buy a Macbook Pro based on Core Duo technology that has just been made obsolete? So... no new laptop for Lawrence for another 2 months =(...

Anyway, on another note, I just found out how I can get a Macbook Pro that normally retails for S$4288 for less than S$3200! I'm referring to the 15" 2.16GHz Macbook Pro. This notebook sells retails for S$4288 on the Apple Singapore website. NUS sells it at S$3799 to their students, and CMU sells it at about S$3700 (after currency conversions).

So, here's the big one. Apple Developer Connection membership allows its members significant hardware discounts for a limited number of purchases per year. Student membership comes at US$99/year. Eligible ADC Student Program members in the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan may take advantage of a special, one-time hardware discount per lifetime (non-renewable and subject to change). Note: You can take advantage of this one-time discount once per lifetime. So I guess it wins to be a cat in this case.

Anyway, a student member from the USA gets to buy this same system at only US$1999, which after conversion works out to be significantly less than S$3200. So, ADC Student membership here I come!

My sleep cycle is screwed, so I'm up when I need to be at Pasir Ris at 9:15 tomorrow to go sailing. =( Shall go try to sleep again soon, but its hard when you have a runny nose as well, and you're not particularly sleepy cos you just slept from like 8pm until 2am.

Anyway, I hope you guys like the background music. Its one of the songs from one of the CDs I listen to when I'm in a pensive mood. heh.

I went to visit my grandfather this evening. He just turned 90 not too long ago (about a week ago actually). And so he's not been in the best of health lately. He just recovered (kinda of) from cancer after an operation and aggressive radiation therapy. The doctors say its too soon to tell whether the cancer is really gone, and we'll just have to wait and see. Recently also, he's been having a bad cough, but he doesn't want to go see a doctor.

Anyway, I was just thinking about it in the car and I realised that this could possibly be like the 3rd last time I'd ever see him. I still remember when I was younger, he used to fetch me home from school somedays. He'd go marketing and get the freshest fish and meat and bring it over to my house, where we'd end up playing chinese checkers and he'd beat me soundly everytime. As I grew older though, his visits became less and less often especially after we moved to Upper Serangoon and then even further away to Queenstown. I only saw him maybe once every 2 weeks when we visited, and sometimes even less. But well... Just hope that he stays healthy and strong for a long time to come.

You guys rock my world =).

Science and Technology Minister Kusmayanto Kadiman told reporters that Indonesia did receive bulletins from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre and Japan's Meteorological Agency after the earthquake, but "we did not announce them".

"If it (the tsunami) did not occur, what would have happened?" he said, without elaborating.

Go figure.

Was driving home after dropping Chee Ching and Feng Yi off, and Class 95 was playing the nicest songs! Songs that brought back all sorts of memories from sec sch and JC and had me singing along all the way home =).

How nice.

i managed to resist from posting for a whole week's worth of weekdays. ok actually, it wasn't so much resisting from posting rather than being able to muster the determination to come here and start writing.

its been an interesting week anyway, what with Sui Sen's need for instant gratification and all. an online meeting on monday night led to a pool + movie + lan outing on tuesday at lucky plaza and fengyi's place. wed was cable skiing and well, thursday was recovery day =). we celebrated my grandfather's 90th birthday last night. and somewhere in the middle, had to deal with problems of a more erm... personal nature.

anyway, its one month and one day to the day i'm flying off. time to start cleaning up my room!

So, its the end of a crazy sleep-deprived week for me. Tuesday and Wednesday were World Cup Semi-Final nights which were spent online and watching the matches on Ch 5 at the same time (until 5-6am depending on whether the match went to extra time). Thursday night was spent timing the finale video (to make it somewhat 2min 30 secs) until 3am. Friday night was erm... indiscretion on my part, when we DOTAed until 2am.

Saturday night was DSTA @ MOS + World Cup 3rd/4th Placing @ Liang Court Macs, after which we decided to wait for the first bus/train, and I went to church directly so I ended up reaching home at 9am+. After sleeping 2 hours, I had a lunch appointment at Bugis, and assorted activities that followed ended up with me reaching home at about 7pm. Went online for a short while, and realised it was time for me to go if I wanted to get to cold storage before it closed and to meet the guys at 10pm. So, I left the house at about 8:45pm.

Ended up at Daniel's place, played Winning Eleven 10 until 2am (when the match started), and watched the match in its entirety. Again, we decided to wait for first public transport, so I snoozed for about an hour while some of the other guys played Winning Eleven 10 again. Left shortly after 6am, caught a train and bus home and crashed at about 7am, only waking at about 4pm+ just now. So... wow, what a week its been!

World Cup finals was exciting mostly. The match started off at a rather gripping pace thanks to a dive in the Italian penalty area and the resultant penalty. Zidane was lucky to convert the penalty given the way he kicked it (it almost bounced off the crossbar). The Italians were really the better side though in the first half, and they equalized about 10 minutes later. However, the rest of the match was not particularly exciting, except for Zidane's headed attempt and Buffon's even better save. Of course, there was the absolutely disgraceful head-butt from Zidane, and he totally deserved the sending off. All in all, I'm glad Italy eventually won the ensuing penalty shootout (and the World Cup).

Details of Sui Sen BBQ have been finalised. 24th July 2006 at Fengyi's place. Sounds like its going to be fun.

I was just reading blogs late into the night (I'm waiting for photos to upload), and I was remembering the past (its been a nostalgic evening). So, I went to look at my old blogs, just for old time's sake.

I've had 5 blogs so far, all of them now deceased. Everytime I let one of them die, I promise myself I wouldn't come back to this somewhat exhibitionist world of blogging. After all, as a friend once said, how real can one be in a blog? Don't you just write what you want people to see (think Johari window here)...

Inevitably, there always comes a time, when I've just so much to say and so much to share. Be it experiences, thoughts, feelings, quotes, photos... And the next blog comes along.

All this blogging however, has brought at least one good thing. I can look back and feel, even just fleetingly, exactly how I felt 4 years back. I completely forgot how I used to play games with this classmate back in RI on our Palm PDAs via IR, and we had to try so hard not to laugh out loud while playing. I completely forgot how we would clear the back of the classroom during recess, set up a "net" of chairs and play ping pong tennis using our calculators (I'm sure this gave the bookshop auntie good business selling calculators). I've completely forgetten the whole myriad of feelings experienced in JC.

Old blogs are just like keys to the past, unlocking chests of memories - some good, and of course, some bad. Somehow though, its always the bad that makes me appreciate the good more.

But maybe this is just an excuse to start my next blog =p.

Anyway, speaking of old memories, tonight brought back lots of them. Of course, there were memories of the pre-departure course and OBS - I mean, who could resist savouring the moment when they were playing all those videos. Little things just floated back - the games we played on the cutter, the games we played late into the night, the laughs we shared, and that chat - sitting on ponchos, looking out at ships passing through the channel. At the same time, tonight brought back a whole different memory - the memory of a successful function.

Back in JC, we called all events we organised functions. My function was Orientation. Preparations started in June and lasted through common tests, promos and holidays, culminating in Orientation proper in January the following year. Imagine the feeling after the 5 days were all over. Imagine the euphoria, relief and at the same time, this yawning emptiness inside. Yups... tonight was a reminder of that.

I must admit, I came to our pre-departure programme with quite a bit of cynicism. I mean... how fun could it have been? I still remember the suggestion to go for dinner together on the second and third days, both of which never really materialised. However, the days went by, things happened, and here we are now (think dinner after OBS - we just didn't want to leave so soon; think 4hr dinner at NYDC after a full day of rehearsals).

In this whirlwind of events, it is easy to overlook the impact each and every individual has made in my life. (This is starting to sound like an awards speech, but here goes anyway.) I'd like to reserve special thanks for my watch mates who were always there and always friendly (even when I was crawling in and out of the tent at 2am). This thanks also goes out to my co-emcee, who single-handedly made emceeing so much easier. And of course, thanks to everyone else, for always accomodating, tolerating, working and playing together.

In the years to come, I guess memories of the whole DSTA programme would go the same way as the rest of my memories - locked up in some chest deep in my head. However, I hope that this here would be the key to bring back, however fleetingly, memories of all of you.

So yes, co-emcee, I'm going to cherish the few mths before everyone flies off to their respective unis =).

Things I wanna do:

• Go to Fengyi's place and LAN!
  
• Go sailing with you guys
  
• I heard news about a Sui Sen BBQ? (let's make it happen!)
  
• Just hang out and get to know you guys better.
  

So... let's make it happen guys!

And just for memories' sake, here's a picture. Remember the multitude of cracking noises? =)