Lenovo Ideapad S10 - Upclose!

I just bought a Lenovo Ideapad S10. It's one of those new netbooks which is running on the Intel Atom processor. It's really small and portable - the LCD is only 10.2" but running a resolution of 1024x600. It came with a 6-cell battery which last over 4 hours. Here's some close up shots of this amazing device.

Lenovo Ideapad S10 in the free Pink/Gray sleeve

The Lenovo Ideapad S10 - White

Left side

Right View - a lot more ports

The right side also contains the Kensington Lock slot

The "elusive" 6-cell Lenovo Ideapad battery

The 6-cell battery pack adds an extra 2 rubber feet

Its angled and lifts the back portion of the S10. This leaves a gap for more airflow but does change the side profile of the netbook.

The OneKey Recovery button is unique to the Lenovo Ideapad S10 netbook. A powerful and also dangerous feature. Be sure to set a password to prevent accidental reset to factory setting - thereby deleting all your data.

The uhm... Power Button...

Integrated Webcam

I took these pictures with my old Canon Powershot G3 digital camera that was lying semi-retired in my drawer. The pictures were then transferred to the Lenovo Ideapad S10 via a USB compact flash card reader (the onboard card reader only reads SD sizes or smaller). These pictures were then edited in my Photoshop Elements 5.0 on the Lenovo Ideapad S10 itself. Finally, this blog entry was also written on the Lenovo Ideapad S10. I did this to try out how useful a small device like a netbook would be for simple photo editing and text typing. It worked surprisingly well.

The keyboard layout is a little small for extended tying but that is to be expected. The screen is also kinda small for editing large pictures.

My Lenovo Ideapad S10:

• Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz
• 2 GB RAM
• 160GB Harddisk
• 6-cell battery
• Microsoft Windows XP SP3

Hello 2008!

2007 went really fast. Looking back, there were so many changes in my life. Key thing being an addition to my family.

Javier is now 6 months plus. He has started on solids, learned to crawl, has a strong bite (but no teeth yet), can understand some simple language, loves bathing (playing with water and trying to catch the floating foam), loves jumping with me supporting his weight, and loves mumbling his baby talk. He misses me when I go to work and smiles when I come home from work. About 80% of my free time is spent on the kid. I really thank God for blessing me with a kid, my wife for being able to cope with both work and the boy and also thank my mum for helping me look after him while we are at work.

At work, the project that I am working on has taken on a sense of urgency toward the end of 2007. The team has grown somewhat in terms of resources and we now have a small cliche of colleagues working on this. However, users are getting some jitters. I do hope that in 2008, the project will come to some fruition.

Haven't decided on 2008 resolutions yet.

Halo 3 : Finish the Fight!

Been attending the Halo 3 Believer events for the past month. The Halo 3 Believer events are a set of events organized by Microsoft for the Halo 3 launch (which was September 25th, 12noon in Singapore). You answer a Halo related question on Microsoft's Xbox Halo 3 website and an email is sent to you revealing the location to show up for a Halo 3 Believer kit. There are 4 questions on different days for 4 pieces of kit - Combat vest, long sleeve t-shirt with UNSCDF logo, cap, and wrist band with Legendary logo. Having a complete set entitles you to a Halo 3 themed Tagger bag which you collect on launch day when you buy the game.

My ISP, Starhub, also had a promotion for a Halo 3 Xbox 360 limited edition console. The catch? I had to sign up for 24 months of Premium plan but that works out to be only S$400+ for the console when compared to my current plan. Pretty darn good deal. Apparently, the Halo edition console had fixes for the dreaded Ring Of Death that plagued the early Xbox 360 consoles. Longest I played on the Halo 3 Xbox 360 console was 12 hours... and it still felt only slightly warm. However, the console did not come with the HDMI AV cables. Which means I am not enjoying the full 1080p HD format yet. I called up the support line and was told that it is not in Singapore yet.

Finished Halo 3 last week on Normal and will try Legendary next. Online co-op is pretty fun! The Theater option was pretty fun. It allows you to move around a recording of your game play and take snapshots and also clips. These are in HD format (1920 x 1080 pixels) which is good enough for an A4 (about 8R) sized print.


Baby Javier is coming to 4 months old. He is getting heavier and needs more attention now. He seems to know his surroundings and can recognize me, my wife and my mum (who is helping me look after him - thank God & thank mum).

Baby Javier is Born!

Finally found some free time to update.

Baby Javier was born on 17 June 2007. One week ahead of ETD!

Wife and I went into the Gleneagles labour ward around noon time. She opted to try without the epidural and went with the laughing gas. But, when the contractions came, she found that she could not breath in enough laughing gas and promptly threw that away. Finally delivered without gas nor epidural! Good job! Well done!

Baby Javier came out with one eye open and a thumbs up! Got his first taste of pain with a vitamin jab and he promptly cried!

He had some jaundice and had to stay a couple of days for the treatment.

Coming back home, its been a endless repeat of the same routine. Variations of: sleep, feed, change diapers, bath, cuddle. We got a confinement lady to help out. Being a hands-on dad, I found myself doing the bathing, feeding, and diaper change. Yes.... diaper change.... somehow, I am ok with his poo. But I guess, only with HIS poo. Hahahhaa.

Well, its been about 2 weeks since he came into this world. I am beginning to understand his signs. 3 Basic signs:
1) The hungry look - mouth open and looking around to suckle. Wakes up on average twice a night. 3am and 6am.
2) The poo look - red faced and trying to push it out, legs go straight (found out that I could hold both his hands and help encourage the bowel movements).
3) The "I want a hug" look - basically whimpering and cries.

Anyway, my mum is trying to learn too. And she should be taking over my duties once I go back to work. My wife is still trying to cope. Recovery from delivery and milk production really tires her out.

The pictures are still in the camera and have not been downloaded to the PC.... hence no picture updates yet... :)

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Arrakis - Dune - Desert Planet..... Reading this again (3rd read probably). Artwork above done with tutorial and inspiration from Greg Martin.

Week 33

Right now the baby is 33 weeks old in the womb. June 26th corresponds to week 40. The gynae told us to be prepared 2 weeks in advance - week 38. This means that we have about 5 more weeks to go! Wow! That's really fast! Geez!

We have not prepared the "Grab Bag" - a bag of essential items to bring for admission. Here are some of the things that will be needed:
1) Marriage cert
2) Front button dress for the mum - easy breast feeding
3) Jacket to keep the mum warm
4) Mittens and booties for the kid
5) Laptop to keep me occupied ;)
6) Stemcord bag for the stemcord blood collection
7) Hospital admission pack - we pre-registered
8) List of allergies for the mum - the usual NSAIDs plus some others
9) Camera to shoot the first shots of the kid
10) Clothes for 3 days
11) Slippers
12) Toiletries
13) Baby suit for discharge
14) Probably some other items that I have missed out!

And we have not decided on the boy's name yet! So far on our list:
1) Benson - Ben's son! Hahahha
2) Jonathan - God's gift
3) Christopher - just came to me a moment ago and I have googled and it means: Bearer of Christ
4) ... more to come...

The kid does respond well to music. He does move about quite a bit and loves to twist and turn. He does not like loud sounds and will literally freeze up. We are calling him by a generic name "Boy boy" and so far he is responding to that - responds more to the mum then to me though....

Oh, one more thing, bumped into an old AIESEC friend from my uni days while waiting to see our gynae. Jessine! She's planning to have a number 2 soon. Same gynae. What a coincidence!

Third Trimester

Currently my kid is in his 3rd trimester. His weight is normal and he seems to be responding well. I can tap and call out to him and he will kick back. Right now, we are visiting the gynecologist at Gleneagles Hospital once in 2 weeks for basic scan and monitoring. This would then increase to weekly visits nearer to the last month. So far, the scans are coming up normal.

I am also attending the antenatal classes with my wife. We are at lesson 4. The classes are held at Thomson Medical and conducted by Mrs Wong. The classes are very informative and detailed. She really explains the processes that happen in the delivery room and ward in detail. The classes are always full! Parking can be a hassle at times. I have learnt:
1) How to message the various aching muscles.
2) How to breath during delivery (yes, the husband needs to know so as to guide the mother along).
3) Why certain things happen (like when they pause ½ way…)
4) Why some old wife’s tales are such…..
5) How to play and communicate with the baby while he is in the womb

List of items to buy before the end of May (kid due in June):
1) Baby cot
2) Playpen (skip?)
3) Stroller
4) Car seat
5) Diaper changing station / cabinet
6) More bottles
7) Baby clothes
8) Baby blankets, mattress, pillow, etc for sleeping

We’ll probably try to use as much hand-me-downs as possible. Will also need to arrange with mum on how to look after the boy.

One of my classmates is expecting hers in April, one colleague due in May, another colleague due in June also, and a friend from church is having hers in December. Looks there is a mini baby boom in 2007.

At work, the project I am working on is making good progress. It should launch somewhere in the later part of the year.

Well, all other aspects of my life and all trace of free time is now concentrated on the boy.

Hello 2007!

2007 will be a challenging year ahead.

My biggest challenge would be becoming a father. It will be a struggle to find time for my personal pursuits as well as to provide lots of attention for my kid. But still, I am looking forward to this. Its like taking on a whole new chapter in my life. I do hope and pray that the child would be healthy and obedient. Due in June 2007.

I will also be learning some 3D modeling for fun. I have started with Blender 3D, which is an open source. I have it installed on my Mac and so far its been pretty fun to use and seems to be quite versatile.

My photography equipment have been idling in my dry box. I will be trying to get at least one good shot a month in 2007.

I hope to continue with my energy at work. 2006 proved to be quite an achievement juggling requirements and an impossible timeline. I really do want it to be a success and I guess so do all parties involved.

I probably did not spend enough time in 2006 in meeting up with old friends. So my sincere apologies. Especially so for some who have made quite a good impact on me in the past. I hope to catch up with all of them in 2007.

Lastly, I hope to pick up a new language in 2007, if time ever permits.

And so here are my targets for 2007:
1) Be a good father
2) Learn 3D modeling
3) One good shot a month
4) Continue to have drive, energy and passion for work
5) Catch up with old friends
6) Learn a new language