Life of an Engineer

Whats the latest?

Last weekend I was able to again cook Thai Curry, this time using Panaeng Curry Paste together with my tried and true recipie.


The result was a success, although this curry was very spicey. I added less pumpkin, as the pumpkin tends to soak up the curry. Will try again with yellow, and red curries :)

I came accross an incredible Psalm as I read my bible this evening; Psalm 139: v1-4

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down and are acquanted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue, behold O Lord, you know it altogether.

It carries on v13-14

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my sould knows it very well.

And finishes in v23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!

Meditate on that!

In other news, a funny sighting in New Market!

Crazy Crash

Most of you who know where I live will also know that the intersection right outside my house is one of the most dangerous in Auckland. Its also funny that down the road, is another of the most dangerous in Auckland.

Anyway, having lived here for so long, I have seen and heard some pretty big crashes and near misses, but none as big as this.


The police arrived within 5 minutes of the crash from all 3 directions! at the same time!


Despite being a very asian van, the driver was not "asian" in the chinese sense. So I couldn't just blame it on asian drivers

Microsoft SharePoint

Recently I have started working with SharePoint. Its basically product which helps teams collaborate and manage documents. But that of course is an extremely high level and basic overview. Getting started wasn't too difficult, here are some things to refer to, to get started.

From Code Project: SharePoint Quick Start FAQ
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Blogs

Official SharePoint Team blog

Some blogs I found from looking around the NZ SharePoint User group

Darryl Burling's Blog

Gary Payne

Zac Smith

Gavin Barron

Matt Smith

Ari Bakker

How to Survive the Credit Crunch

Heres a very good article I found over at MSN Money:

http://money.msn.co.nz/money-expert/?blogentryid=415852&showcomments=true

Money Expert

Crunchonomics: 12 things to do to survive the crunch
21/05/2009 5:17:00 PM, Diana Clement

The credit crunch is set to get a whole lot worse. Or so say economists who predict unemployment is going to rise from 4.8 to 8 percent.

Ouch! That's scary. Anyone's neck could be on the block. But there are ways to survive the crunch with your savings intact.

1. Make yourself invaluable at work. Who would you fire if you needed to cut costs? Would it be the person you can't do without or the one who whinges about change?

2. Build up a rainy-day fund. Three months' living costs give you breathing time to find another job.

3. Add a string to your bow. That means acquiring additional qualifications or experience. Depending on your line of work, you may need to study part-time or you may be able to shadow someone at work to expand your skills. You'll impress your employer and make yourself more employable.

4. Overpay your mortgage or personal loans. This will allow you to take a payment holiday if you lose your job. It's nice to be three months ahead on payments if you can manage it. You'll pay less interest. But do check the fine print to see if this is allowed.

5. Cut out non-essentials one at a time. It's hard to go from spendthrift to tightwad. If you budget, you can cut down excesses slowly.

6. Review expenditure that can get out of hand like grocery buying, power and phone bills. Shopping around can save a lot of money. So, too, can taking simple steps to reduce power and water consumption. You can also quit the gym and re-engineer your wardrobe to make more use of what you already own. Using the Internet is a great way to cut down on costs. You can compare prices and shop for bargains. But beware of buying stuff you don't need on sites like TradeMe. Even better, become a seller.

7. Socialise for less. Hire a DVD and watch it at home with friends, have a pot-luck dinner, make one drink last all evening, meet after dinner for dessert to save on restaurant meals, or go to galleries and free exhibitions. There are endless ways to have a good time and enjoy the free things in life.

8. If you can't get ahead financially, get help from a budget advisor. It's free. The Americans call a budget a "spending plan". And if you think of it that way it's much easier to stomach. This will help you plan what spending is essential and what you can ditch.

9. Earn more. Negotiate a pay rise, get a part-time job or set up a business on the side. Even if you work one night a week in a bar or restaurant, the money will soon add up. If you're smart you can even convince yourself that the work equates to a night out.

10. Be smart with your credit cards. If you always pay off your credit cards on time, you get interest-free credit for up to a month.

11. Rent out a spare room. These days people want more rooms than they have members of the family. If you have a spare room, find another flatmate. Foreign students sometimes pay as much as $250 a week for a room and food.

12. If you're into the property market up to your neck, sell off your least-profitable properties before the bank comes knocking. You can always start again.

Magic Johnson turns 50!

Magic Johnson, voted one of the 50 greatest basketball players of all time, the greatest point guard to play the game of basketball, and according to ESPN.com, the one player that might be better than Michael Jordan. Over his career, he averaged 9.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 11.2 assists per game and revolutionalized the game, introducing the face-paced "showtime". He won 5 NBA Championships in the 80s beating out his rival Lary Bird.

He's my favourite player. At 6 ft 9, he had the size of a power-forward, one-on-one skills and versatility of a swingman, and the ball handling skills of a point guard. His most stellar performance came in his rookie season playing in the NBA Finals. The Lakers were up 3-2 against Julius Erving's 76ers, but with Kareem Abdul Jabbar sustaining an injury in game 5, he was likely out for the rest of the series. Many expected the 76ers to run over the Lakers in the next games on their way to an NBA championship. Magic however, started at center in Kareem's place, and recorded 42 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, and three steals, in a 123–107 win, while playing guard, forward, and center at various times in the game.

Over his career, his game was characterized by no-look passes, pin-point alley-oops from halfcourt, and game winning clutch shots. In my opnion, there has been no one more fun to watch to play the game.

Thai Green Curry Chicken - Serves 4-6

The other day, I found a stir fry cook book, and of course all the pictures looked really good, so I decided to commit to learning how to make some of the dishes. Last night, Kathy and I made some Thai Chicken Green Curry. The dish turned out way way better than I thought, and it is extremely easy (this was the first time I have done anything like this)

Ingredients:

700g Chicken - cut up into bite sized bits - can be thigh or drumstick or even breast

2 tablespoons peanut oil
80g Green curry paste (can substitue red curry, panaeng curry or other Thai curries here)
400ml Coconut milk

1 medium onion - sliced thickly (or thinly if you prefer)
1 large red capsicum - chopped coarsely
1 bowl of mixed vegetables
1 bowl of pumpkin (optional) - chopped into bite sized squares
teaspoon of shredded fresh basil leaves

What to do:

1. Heat the oil in the wok. Stir fry the chicken (in batches if necessary) until browned. Remove from wok. The chicken does not need to be fully cooked.
2. Heat the remaining oil, stir fry the vegetables until onion is soft
3. Return the chicken to the wok
4. Add the coconut milk, curry paste, and stir until mixture boils
5. Sprinkil basil

Update on Recession and Redundancy

A few weeks ago, I blogged about my company making cuts. The entire week after the announcement was made, the entire team's productivity and morale hit rock bottom. The big wednesday (a reference to the recent Lotto Jackpot) was preceded by a Tuesday outing where we all took a half day to do one last big social thing together. We had lunch in New Market at this Spanish (I think) place offering $10 lunch specials which was completely funded by the Snack Box (Cheers Stephen!!). Then we were off to Panmure for some 10 pin bowling. And next we went off to watch a movie: Ice Age 3. And finally to top it all off, drinks at Garrisons. Where all events were paid for by our awesome team leaders Simon and Jacqui!

Anyway. Big Wednesday came and our team of 16 was cut by 5. Including me... sort of. I offered to work part-time including working some extra days for free. Why did I do it? Many reasons, I think Olympic Software is a great place to work with an fantastic team in ASD. The actual work I do is very satisfying (most of the time anyway). The office is just a 10 minute run away, and the hours are very flexible. But ultimately, I want to serve people. In my previous blog entry, I asked what Jesus would do. After some thought, I think he would be serving people wherever he could. He would probably have been struggle financially too, and would need to be giving to others from what he had, not out of his abundance but out of love for fellow man. And thats what I'm striving to follow too.

So with that, my 3 days a week starts today! What will I be doing in my spare time? I was made the unofficial official social coordinator for my team, so I will need to plan events, and ideas to boost morale. Then theres volunteer opportunities available from Habitat for Humanity and Salvation Army that I have long been intrigued by. And then theres sharpening my programming skills, maybe learning some SharePoint, or looking through MCPD books, or even FireFox development... Then theres my excersise, my running, my basketball. But Most of All, I want to look at my time off as a kind of Sabbath. In the Bible, God ordered people to rest from work, which is for our own good. What do we do on a Sabbath? Build our relationships! With God, with our family, and with our friends. So if you haven't seen me in a while and want to catch up, I would love to meet up, drop me a line!!

Are you switching to 2Degrees?

2Degrees just launched and it seems like the latest buzz. Everyone is itching to switch because everyone hates Vodafone and Telecom. I mean, who likes networks that charge exhorbant prices and forces you to stay with all these switching costs?

2Degrees' pricing is half of that of Vodafone and Telecom, and it has very good deals for prepaid customers topping up giving them an extra 100 free txt messages for a $20 top up, plus 50 for every $10 after that.

I think however most consumers will wait to see what Vodafone and Telecom does before making a switch. I was very tempted to switch but after quickly calculating the costs, Vodafone still provides the cheaper alternative with their TXT2000 and BestMate offers. 2 Degrees have started off at taking all the low-volume consumers who spend less than $20-$30 per month.

If nothing else, prices are sure to drop and service should improve in a market where consumers have been bullied for years. Are you switching?