Making no SENSe again

The System Event Notification Service stopped working again late last night. K asked me to sleep and work on it today when I got back to the office.

I had a bad experience with this problem in the past. No network, no System Restore, no anything. I worked until I felt tired. This morning, I was awaken by the honking of dad'd Mercedes.

I saw people gathering outside the office and I decided to skip breakfast and open the door. I forgot the alarm code and the alarm sounded. Ms. Ng who just arrived entered the correct code to disable the alarm.

I bought some buns for breakfast. No the best choice for breakfast but the nasi lemak stall was not open (mental note: it is not open on Monday.)

Then I did some digging. I found this. I wonder how I missed this in the past?

So, no need to format. I am connected to the internet. I am back in business. As I told my KPY, Google and me make a powerful combination.

Praise God!

Do not take things for granted - Drag and Drop

Do you Drag and Drop? I do. And I do it very often too. I Drag and Drop files from one folder to another. I Drag and Drop mails from one folder to another. I Drag and Drop many times a day.

Some times, I lose the Drag and Drop functionality. The mouse still works. Of course, I can still right click to Copy or Move, right click on the destination and then select Paste. But it's very frustrating when something you do in one cool mouse gesture now requires so many clicks.

Today, it happens two times. I logged off and logged in again and it didn't work. I restarted the machine to regain the D&D ability. Then it is gone again!

I have checked many websites with many different opinions on this. Some suggested spyware, worms, etc. I don't think I have any. I trust Kaspersky and Advanced System Care very much. In this aspect, I adhere to the adage that you use what you trust and trust what you use. Otherwise, don't use. Same with people. If you 'use' ('use' here means delegate, ask for help, depend, etc. Not the commonly used 'used' when it comes to people) someone, don't doubt. If you doubt, don't use. But I digress.

Some people also suggest re-registration of the DDE DLL. Some suggested to reinstall Windows. No way.

Then I found this Tech Arp article. My Escape key was stuck! I pressed it once to release it and I am back to may all powerful able to Drag and Drop self.

Thanks. I didn't have to pull out any of my already scarce hair.

Praise God!

Google Calendar - How can you not love Google?

I added the PT meeting dates for the next semester to the Yahoo! Group Calendar. I wanted it in my Google Calendar (which is sync to my Outlook and in turn my iPAQ.) There is no direct way to do it. Yahoo! Group doesn't allow Google Calendar to read it. So, I did it the manual way. I exported it into CSV and then imported it from Google Calendar. One short sync and I have it in my Outlook. The next time I sync my iPAQ, I will get it there too.

Then I noticed something I didn't know before. I set an SMS notification of 7 days before the monthly meetings. When I checked an existing meeting again, I noticed the notification has been changed to 1 week. Hey, neat.

Then I found out I could click on Quick Add and type "Dinner with family next Wed 7:00 p.m." and an entry was added with the Subject "Dinner with family" on 31/12/2008 at 7:00 p.m. Talk about reading my mind. It even offer an option for me to "undo" in case that's not what I wanted.

Google just makes it so easy. And once again, remember, their motto is to "do no evil."

Now can you dig that?

"You have not paid your credit card bills"

I have lots of bills and debts. We are working to fix this. We are on the way to recovery (for the umpteenth time.)

I was busy as usual this morning and once I finished a conference call with people from US (NJ and CA) and Penang, I received a call which almost made my day.

A lady with accurate Chinese pronunciation called me and told me I am overdue in my AmBank credit card. I was wondering, what AmBank credit card? I never had any AmBank Credit Card. She then gave me a credit card number that didn't register in my mind. She told me the card was applied on 16/08/2008 with an address in Damansara. A transaction was made for the purchase of a notebook in IOI Mall on 25/09/2008. The amount was RM4,864.

I wasn't upset. I was calm and was sure it was a mistake. I was a bit annoyed though. My mind went the speed of thought (that's faster than the speed of light) to trace who could have done that. Nope. I have not given my information to anyone I could not trust. I asked her why she spoke in Chinese. She said it's near Chinese New Year and so the bank wanted to talk to Chinese in Chinese. Hmm ... alarm #1 sounded.

Next, she tried to repeat what she had already told me (perhaps hoping for the desired panic effect in me.) I stopped her. I told her to just go to make a police report. She suggested I do the same and promptly gave me a number to call. 03-7966-1004. I asked for HER contact number. She said her number is 03-7952-0903. Her name is Ah May and her extension is #218.

I dialed the "lost card report centre" and a female Chinese voice greeted me. Chinese again? (Alarm sounded louder.) I asked her where that is. It sounded like a busy office. I told her I received a call about a credit card I didn't have. She said she wanted my full name. (Hey, she wanted my details.) I told her I'd call back and hung up.

The Bible said counsel of good friends are helpful. So, I immediately look for one of my closest friends - Google. (Do No Evil is their motto, now can you dig that?) I did a search on the phone number of the "lost card centre" (notice I put them inside quotes.)

I was not surprised to see news linked to the phone number amidst some product with that SKU. Apparently, this is a scheme. The credit card was the bait. When you call up wanting to clear your name, you give all the informtion to those helpful people in the "lost card centre." Then, they will tell you there was an information leak and hence the fraud. They will advise the victims to transfer their money to the account of a police inspector for safekeeping. I cannot imagine why anyone would do that but apparently some did and they never got the money back.

Police reports were made but these people are still active. Too bad they chose to mess with a friend of Google.

When you are called and told about a credit card you don't have, the best thing to do is to check with the bank itself. They will tell you if there indeed such a card. Not the "lost card centre." Next, consider lodging a police report.

The road ends here for the schemers as far as this friend of Google is concerned.

A news article can be seen here. It's a China news website. It's was taken from Sin Chew Daily dated 12/12/2008. I just wonder how they got my contact number.

What The Church Should Learn from Google

What The Church Should Learn from Google

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You gotta love Google

I kept my blog entry open and hibernated my notebook.

I then resumed it without checking if I had internet access in the departure hall.

When I finished and tried to post it, I realized I wasn't connected to the internet!

I then connected it and the blog was POSTED after I went to the previous page (before the KLIA welcome page.)

I was dreading to have to retype everything.

Google is good.