# Friday, July 29, 2005
Yesterday was filled with mixed emotions alternating between rage, optimism, impatience and hope.

I found out about the drama currently unfolding in Ghana yesterday afternoon after someone passed me those "help raise money" emails. I received it one day late and it pissed me to no end because someone hadn't thought of using  paypal or other easier money transfer mechanism to lower the barrier of participation. International Money Transfer is so costly that even people that want to help cannot do so. And the information in the emails are inadequate for people to make a proper judgement whether the case is legit.

If you are asking for help, cover all the angles of questions that people might ask.

I grew impatience with the whole thing and called directly to Mexico City to find out what's going on and work with them to setup the financial mechanism and information package; opening up the whole process.

Open up, share the process with everybody, keep people informed and updated, answers questions, lower the barrier of participation, appreciate and acknowledged others' contributions. 

Humbug.

Anyway. Let's seek to it that she's safe. Aiesec doesn't leave Aiesecers behind.
posted on Friday, July 29, 2005 9:24:57 PM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [1]
# Thursday, July 28, 2005
dodyg says:
are you talking about overthrowing a government/
YG says:
not really overthrowing, even though it sounds interesting
posted on Thursday, July 28, 2005 7:42:55 PM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [0]
# Thursday, July 21, 2005
Life is still a bitch. There is nothing new to report about except the unrelenting demand and pressure on my time and energy reaches the peak this week. I will either cracked or come out a diamond  :)

Anna said goodbye last weekend, going back to her base city after a long assignment in this city by the lake. I didn't promise her anything and she didn't ask me too. It was bittersweet. She is  deeply committted to become a surgeon, I need to complete what I set out to do. And nobody can get in our way, including each other (what a sad concept)

All good things must pass.
posted on Thursday, July 21, 2005 6:56:37 AM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [2]
# Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Be sure to visit all the options under "Configuration" in the Admin Menu Bar above. There are 16 themes to choose from, and you can also create your own.

 

posted on Wednesday, July 20, 2005 10:00:00 AM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [0]
# Tuesday, July 19, 2005
"Hewlett-Packard said today it would lay off 14,500 employees, almost 10 percent of its staff, in the next year and a half and freeze its pension plan for new and existing workers who have not vested in it yet." (NYTimes)

HP is trying to recover the damage of Calry Fiorina leadership.
posted on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 6:05:08 PM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [0]
# Monday, July 18, 2005
I finished Harry Potter book I pick from Chicago library  in one sitting starting from early Saturday morning to Sunday morning.

This is the best book in the series so far.

J.K Rowling outlines the essence of the whole series in this sentence nearing the end of the book.

"It was important, Dumbledore said, to fight, and fight  again, and keep fighting, for only then could evil be kept at bay, though never quite eradicated..."

posted on Monday, July 18, 2005 7:25:17 AM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [1]
# Wednesday, July 13, 2005
"Prosecutors have decided to reopen the case of Griffin, who was convicted in 1981 in the murder of Quintin Moss, a 19-year-old drug dealer who was shot to death. Griffin maintained his innocence to the end, but was put to death in 1995.Now, many people, including some members of Moss' family, believe him" (CNN)


posted on Wednesday, July 13, 2005 10:50:08 AM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [0]
This must be the best moneymaking business ever. You ask your customer to pay 90 dollars for the privilage of running 26.2 bloody miles.
Event The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon
Category Marathon: US Residents
Registration ID 10790692
Registrant First Name Dody
Registrant Last Name Gunawinata
Registration Date 07/13/05 12:28 AM
Address: Chicago, IL 60610
Gender: M
Birthdate: 4/20/1978
Email: dody@nomadlife.org
Day Phone: 312-543-8670
Evening Phone:
Country of Citizenship Indonesia
Age on Race Day 27
T-shirt Size Medium
Is this your first marathon? No
Number of Prior Chicago Marathons 1
Are you a Wheelchair participant? No
ChampionChip Number
How do you prefer to receive your final confirmation details? E-mail
How did you hear about this event? Website
Friend/Family Email Address (1)
Friend/Family Email Address (2)
Friend/Family Email Address (3)
Will you be paying with a Mastercard No
posted on Wednesday, July 13, 2005 10:36:59 AM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [1]
# Tuesday, July 12, 2005
posted on Tuesday, July 12, 2005 9:03:58 PM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [3]
# Friday, July 08, 2005
Later on today.

(sorry, this one got delayed; my meeting with that POS is delayed yet again)
posted on Friday, July 08, 2005 7:14:11 PM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [0]
"President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told his new police chief on Friday to boost cooperation with foreign security agencies in the fight against al-Qaeda-linked terrorists blamed for three bloody attacks in the country since 2002.

Susilo made the comments in a speech at a ceremony to inaugurate the new head of the force, Gen. Sutanto" (The Jakarta Post)

You don't usually hear an Indonesian President says 'foreign security agencies' and 'cooperation' in the same sentence. He is acknowledging the fortituous collaboration between the Indonesian police with Australian Federal Police in rolling up JI's cells in Indonesia.

posted on Friday, July 08, 2005 9:11:31 AM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [2]
"I've returned home to receive several emails/messages asking if my family and friends are ok. Nomadlife is listing those AIESECers who are safe..everyone is caring. In disaster, like the Tsunami, we realise how great huumankind can be -heroes, caring, thoughtful, supportive, survivors. Lets hope these attributes continue." (Adam)

This type of sentiment is the one that keep me going. We are in a community and an alliance of the good, the brave, the insightful, the compassionate,..

posted on Friday, July 08, 2005 8:47:38 AM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [0]
# Thursday, July 07, 2005
Al-Qaeda managed to completely overshadow the issue of poverty in Africa  being raised by Live8 in one coordinated attacks. More coverage on nomadlife.org.

Pride, Fuck yeah !!!
posted on Thursday, July 07, 2005 9:05:15 PM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [0]

"at the office, lots of sirens, can't see anything except the ambulances racing by. "

I'm glad she's safe.

posted on Thursday, July 07, 2005 7:07:59 PM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [0]
# Tuesday, July 05, 2005
posted on Tuesday, July 05, 2005 9:49:24 PM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [3]

 afan.gif

This is my chinese name, the name I was born with. Dody Gunawinata is actually a second name, an Indonesian one, which doesn't have any correspondence to the chinese name.

The first part of the pictogram is my family name, 'lim' (which means forest). The second part symbolize the generational hierarchy I hold in my clan, 'ri' (which means sun). The last part is actually my given name, f'an (from f'an r'en = common  people). My family and close friends back in Indonesia would use my Chinese name and call me 'a f'an.

Dody Gunawinata is a uniquely Indonesian name. My first name is not very common in Indonesia and usually they are written as Dodi. My last name has its root from Sanskrit and I think only my immediate nuclear family has that last name. It was given by an Javanese wiseman that's a friend of my Dad. All my school friends and virtually everyone outside Indonesia know me by this name.

Here's a kicker, you all know about the Chinese concept of Feng Sui (literal translation : wind and water), a concept of harmony and balance in every day life. I just found out about 10 minutes ago that all my families' given name characters have be rewritten except mine. Yup, my dad, mom and three sisters name's last character have been changed. Phonetically their name still sounds the same or similar, but the characters underlying the name were changed. This change is deemed necessary to fit better with Feng Sui.

One of the Chinese fisherman that got stranded in my island was actually a Feng Sui master and he did the calculation for my family. Apparently he thought that my character still fits and I don't get a character change. The old dude just told my parents to pass along a single advice: "Your aspiration is high and noble, just watch your temper. Learn to be more patient.".

posted on Tuesday, July 05, 2005 7:11:14 AM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [2]
later on this week...
posted on Tuesday, July 05, 2005 5:49:29 AM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [1]
I just acquired a beautiful pizza stone for my kitchen which will enable me to make better phizza than usual. In honor of this new addition, I am declaring this week as a pizza week, inviting friends to pizza dinner every other night each with different recipes. We'll explore the various classic pizza (Napoletana, Cappricosa, Quattro Stagioni) to the modern recipes in home made pizza base. I might be able to finally  create a proper 'pizza di Angela',  a  maddeningly delicate and delicious  thin crust pizza recipe from Angela's family in Firenze (only her nonna can make it perfectly). We'll see.

The easiest way to bake pizza would be using the fabulous Presto Pizza Oven which at 45 dollars is a wise investment. You can create a crusty even pizza in no time. However, I prefer to master the old fashioned oven because it is available in every kitchen so I can make pizza virtually anywhere.


posted on Tuesday, July 05, 2005 3:00:39 AM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [3]
# Sunday, July 03, 2005
posted on Sunday, July 03, 2005 7:38:42 PM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [0]
# Saturday, July 02, 2005
It has been my tradition for the past five years to get tested for HIV every year. I got the result today, negative. Life goes on.

It is though a macabre ritual that I can't really get used to although this time, the rapid HIV test give results in 30 minutes instead of the normal a couple of days. The statistic tells that 1 in 4 HIV suferrers do not know that they carry the virus. If you are single and sexually active, there's really no way to know if that mamasita is not a carrier. Even if you are being responsible, there's always that small risks of winning that HIV lottery.

Ignorance in this case is not bliss.
posted on Saturday, July 02, 2005 10:59:40 AM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [0]
7 days - 78 miles. 22 miles short of the 100 miles target. Results: lost 5 pounds, sour feet and knees.


posted on Saturday, July 02, 2005 10:58:01 AM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [0]

http://www.restorewtc.com/ gives a useful explanation on the design evolution of the new World Trade Center tower (freedom tower).


newwtc.jpg
(Design Observer)

They should have adopted this design instead if they can't figure out on how to make a decent tower.

posted on Saturday, July 02, 2005 12:00:18 AM (Egypt Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #    Comments [1]