temporarily insane ver.2

Remembering Steve Jobs

The bold, the brave and the talented - that was how one person on tweeter described Steve Jobs. Apparently, Pres. Obama also expressed the same sentiments. 

My first encounter with Apple products was the Macintosh in the early 1990s. It was my first time to use computers and it couldn't have been better. I was in awe of the graphic interface and the potentials of what a computer can do. He continued to change the way we do things with one product after another. It really made me think that the impossible really is possible.

I admired Steve Jobs for pushing himself and his team in creating the most innovative products that have changed the way we do things. He has pushed industries to constantly innovate and at the same time fostered competition that allowed companies to push themselves to the edge. Thank you Mr. Jobs for everything! You had left a great company behind who I believe will continue your legacy! You were the driving force but now you have become its foundation. You will live on through your employees and through people who looked up to you and are ready to change the world just as you did. 

source: apple.com

He will always be remembered as the regular guy who took the world by storm, revolutionizing the way we view media and technology, and how such products are now part of our daily life.  

Thank you and R.I.P.

Structured Procrastination

In yesterday's newspaper, an article was written about the Ig Nobel prizes. It celebrates the achievements of mad scientists who had not changed the face of science in an earth shattering way but who still contribute to the pool of knowledge. Their research and methods may be considered unorthodox but it still makes people think. One of the awardees was John Perry, a philosophy professor at Standford University who was awarded the Literature prize for his "theory of structured procrastination".

When I saw this, I immediately knew that I would be perusing the Internet in search of his theory. I found an old article of his written in 1996. In it, Professor Perry stated that as procrastinators, we are still effective human beings getting things done even though what we accomplish is not the most important tasks on the to-do list. He pointed out that procrastinators cannot be described as doing absolutely nothing because if they were then we should be calling them couch potatoes. Instead, what procrastinators are doing is merely channeling their energies into completing tasks that are less important to the one that really needs to be done. According to him, procrastinators are still hard workers but maybe not for the right reasons.

One of his recommendations was to choose important tasks that can easily be replaced with even more important tasks. In that way, when a new important task comes along you will be bound to finish the planned important task to avoid completing the new important task. Perry described it as being able to "to recognize and commit oneself to tasks with inflated importance and unreal deadlines, while making oneself feel that they are important and urgent. This clears the way to accomplish several apparently less urgent, but eminently achievable, tasks".

In some ways, this online post is similarly my not so important task to avoid tackling the most important task - finishing a school paper.

Reference:
Perry, John (1996), "How to Procrastinate and Still Get Things Done", The Chronicle of Higher Education, 23 February, [Online], Available: http://chronicle.com/article/How-to-ProcrastinateStill/93959

west-east mtr interchange

 

Wrl_line

Today the new interchange will be in service. The west rail line will extend from nam cheong to hunghom. this means I only have to switch once to get to uni. I'll be able to try it out tomorrow when I go to work. Haha something to look forward to on a Monday :P From what I've read from the MTR announcement, the cost will still be the same as before and it will also be much faster. I think about 10 minutes will be reduced in travel time. So if I normally travel 45 minutes, it'll now be around 30-35 minutes. yeey!! minsan nakakapagod din magbiyahe even if the public transportation is efficient and I don't have to switch 2 to 3 times!! sometimes it's because of these factors that I would prefer to work from home. ...