A New Beginning

Another year has just come. New hopes, new wishes and new spirits will color this very new year. 2010 would be an exciting year I guess :).

Looking back to past year, there are things happened and I'm so glad that I have passed through another hard year. Actually 2009 would be the most impressive year in my career as I had finished some projects and still be able to take some certifications.

Certifications I was able to achieve on 2009 are listed below :

1. JNCIS - M (renew)
2. JNCIA - E
3. JNCIS - E
4. JNCIA - FW
5. JNCIS - FW
6. JNCIP - M
7. JNCIS - ER (renew)
8. JNCIA - JUNOS
9. BSCI - 802-901

Among all my listed certifications above, I am very proud on passing JNCIA-JUNOS because I took it only a few months after it has been made available. I think I don't have to talk much about it but anyone who knows the nature of IT will know that it proves something I'm able to do. However it's not a merely certification that can determine an engineer skill. So I'm very glad that in 2009 I was given a chance to work on some interesting projects for Indosat, Telkomsel, Telkom and XL.

My last project is still continuing to 2010. It's a firewall migration projects for Excelcomm GPRS network. This project alone has taken almost all my time and energy. I even have to spend my christmas night on XL site because of it.

And meanwhile my boss was so kindly this time, by asking me if I want to take JNCIE - M earlier this year, I refused straightly. It would be a complete suicide if I took the offer, because although the firewall and router shares the same OS - JUNOS, but the behavior and limitation is very different. And there is another reason I reject this offer : in the year 2010, I will enter another vendor environment - Alcatel.

And I hope in this year, my company will grant my request for joining ENS training. The only expired certification I have in the year 2009 is ENA. And it was not because I don't want to renew it, but my superiors rejected my request on the beginning of 2009 for extending ENA. They argued that my company is no longer sell Extreme products so I was too lazy to take any further comments.

And since they offered the chances of having ENS training just a few weeks ago, I surely wouldn't missed it. Hope they can approve my request for it and make 2010 a completely exciting year.

Happy New Year Everyone ^_^.

Soft Opening New Datacomm Office

Today is a good day and is chosen as the day of soft opening our new office in Mampang, Jakarta. While almost our company employees are there, attending the event, I chose to not attending it. The reason is quite simple, if it is a celebration, then there is nothing for me to celebrate yet. And besides, it was only an invitation, not an obligation so I must have a choice, mustn't I?

Rather than joining people in a party, I would prefer to do some JNCIP lab exercise. My exam will come in less than three weeks. And I haven't 100% confident that I will pass it. I'm different from the other colleagues who manage to pass it in term of field job experience. There are several respectable colleagues from Datacomm that have passed the JNCIP. But almost of their time are spent for doing JUNOS configuration, either in lab testing in our office or in customer site. So it's not quite a surprise that they are be able to pass it.

My story in Datacomm is quite different. From the beginning I join Datacomm, I was told by my boss to do many different kind of projects. While it is exciting, the consequences is that I must always have to look back on things I've done. It's impossible to remember all things I've done. Well, I'm still a human after all :P.

In the last meeting, my boss praised me for having many Juniper Certifications. Yes, among all engineer, I have collected the most. And it's because I always took JNCIA before taking JNCIS that make me able to be like that. I know that one of my colleagues is very proud of passing JNCIS without taking JNCIA first and I admire him. But I know I'm not a very special and intelligent person, so I decided to take the basic first before advancing the next level. I always took JNCIA as practice. So when the score is high, it would make me comfortable to take the JNCIS later. After all, I'm not the kind of person that believe success can be reach instantly.

But what is the impact of having many certifications to my career? Many will surprise that my career actually not as good as my certifications number :P. It took me more than three years working in Datacomm before my boss promote me to be a consulting engineer. Well, most engineer manage to reach that position in only 1,5 - 2 years. The secret is they are focused to do only one thing so they are faster to be an expert in their field. So I'm not consider myself as a very highly successful employee. I think I'm average but that doesn't matter since my purposes is different from the other.

Many people join the company for pursuing their career (equal to money, of course). Some people are overdoing it that sometimes they don't even care that they humiliate themselves in front of others. It's not a secret as in every companies, everybody wants to look good in front of their bosses. While they hold knive in their back, it's a different matter. As long as the bosses don't know, usually they will achieve a good position. It's a fact, a sad fact.

But I'm really happy in Datacomm I don't have to do that kind of practice. There are many toys and things to learn here and I'm so happy right now I'm able to get acquainted with them eventhough I'm not the expert of all. There are always people in my company who have more expertise than me. And for them we should also admire their achievements, that they have taken the long road to be in that position.

Edifier Speaker Update...

Just realise today that Edifier has discontinued some of its products, include S5.1 speaker. It's so pity because I think this model is a very good speaker system in its price range. But Edifier has added a new speaker series, they call it C series, into his line. Let's see what improvement Edifier made for the new series ;)..

The C series, unlike previous Edifier series, featuring separate amps for more better design. We do know that separate amps usually is present in home theater speaker system. It's a good idea for implementing this idea in multimedia speaker systems. In theory, separate amps will bring less heat to the subwoofer (as amps usually integrated there) and this will preserve the life of amps component. The front line up C series is C3 speaker. Just take a look at this beauty below!


Here is the details of Edifier C3 speaker

Specifications:

* Total Power Output: RMS 8W x 2 + 30W
* 8" Woofer Driver Unit
* 3.5" Mid-range Driver Unit
* 13mm, silk diaphragm
* 16.6Kg for single gift box

Features:

* 2.1 channel multimedia speaker with external amplifier
* Stand-alone 48 Watt external 'component' amplifier
* Complete wooden housing for all speakers
* Electronic Intelligence Distortion Control (E.I.D.C) inside
* Built-in MCU control with multifunctional digital display
* 8 inch driver for subwoofer with 2-way designed satellites
* Magnetically shielded drivers for all speaker

And Edifier also added S530D into its S series line. S530D is intended mostly for audiophile and music lover as its design is simple but elegant. It's equipped with a very nice-looking wired remote control and small wireless remote control. In fact, it is being said that the development of S530D series took almost 2 years. Enough said, just take a quick look for its appearance and you'll fall in love with it :P

Very nice and sturdy look as all speaker are made of wood! But how about the specification?
Below you'll find what you're looking for...

Specifications:

* Power output : RMS 35W x 2 + 70W (THD=10%)
* Signal to noise ratio : >85 dba
* Input sensitivity : PC: L/R: 600mV +/- 30mV
* SW: 200mV +/- 30mV
* CD: L/R: 720mV +/- 30mV
* SW: 330mV +/- 30mV
* Frequency response : L/R: 158Hz ~ 20kHz SW: 20Hz ~ 130Hz

Features:

* Luxurious 2.1 speaker system with 8 inch subwoofer
* Wooden MDF housing for all speakers
* Magnetically shielded drivers for all speakers
* Switchable dual input ports for audio source with different output power
* Multifunctional wired controller with 2.5 inch LCD display (dimmer included)
* Headphone output on wired remote controller
* Master volume controls both speaker output and headphone output
* Volume booster for extra power output
* Separate bass and treble adjustments
* Multifunctional wireless remote controller included
* Coaxial and optical inputs

I easily fall in love with both speaker system. If only I had had enough money.....

Gong Xi Fa Chai!

Gong Xi Fa Chai! May this year brings us more prosperity and good fortune :).

The best thing about new year holiday is we have time on our own. We can use it anyway we like, whether use it for rest, for playing games, for listening to music, for watching anime or for workout as much as we like :D. It's rare occasion for me to be able to use time for things I want to do and not things I have to do.

So sad, this holiday will over so soon :(. But anyway, this new year must be filled with new spirit and new soul. May the best happens in this year ;).

Ophiuchus, the 13th zodiac...

Hey, do you know there is another zodiac in western astrology which is not being used?
Ophiuchus is the name of the forgotten zodiac. It is symbolized as human holding a giant snake. Not a pleasant picture :P...

If ophiuchus is counted in the western astrology then there will be change like what we can see in list below :

• Sagitarius -> 22 Nov - 21 Dec -> change into -> 18 Dec - 18 Jan
• Capricorn -> 22 Dec - 19 Jan -> change into -> 19 Jan - 15 Feb
• Aquarius -> 20 Jan - 18 Feb -> change into -> 16 Feb - 11 Mar
• Pisces -> 19 Feb - 20 Mar -> change into -> 12 Mar - 18 Apr
• Aries -> 21 Mar - 19 Apr -> change into -> 19 Apr - 13 May
• Taurus -> 20 Apr - 20 May -> change into -> 14 May - 19 Jun
• Gemini -> 21 May - 21 Jun -> change into -> 20 Jun - 20 Jul
• Cancer -> 21 Jun - 23 Jul -> change into -> 21 Jul - 9 Aug
• Leo -> 23 Jul - 22 Aug -> change into -> 10 Aug - 15 Sep
• Virgo -> 23 Aug - 22 Sep -> change into -> 16 Sep - 30 Oct
• Libra -> 23 Sep - 22 Oct -> change into -> 31 Oct - 22 Nov
• Scorpio -> 23 Oct - 21 Nov -> change into -> 23 Nov - 29 Nov
• Opiuchus -> N/A -> change into -> 30 Nov - 17 Dec

So in this case, my new zodiac will be Gemini...? Well, if I take a look at my personality trait, then I conclude that mine is classified as 100% Cancer. So in my opinion then, maybe Ophiucus won't be able to participate in western astrology anyway. The current version is already correct, we don't need to enhance it by adding Ophiuchus into it....;)

I'm back!

Just come back from a trip.
There are many things I learn from this trip ;).
There are many coincidences too, for example
- in the departure and arrival, I sat beside a pregnant woman.
- in the departure and arrival, I sat near the window.

I met new friends in this journey. They are japanese. It's really nice meeting new friends from another country. This is a little step forward for me. Maybe someday I'll have my own way to go abroad, leaving this country for a while, searching for "gold" :P..

The fact that salary in Indonesia is very low make me sometimes think why must I waste my time here anymore? There are many beautiful countries there promising me more. But I realize that leaving my country is not a easy as it seems.

Personally, I think Indonesia is a very beautiful country. It's just the government that's very lousy in developing this country. Sad but true.