Garage Sale

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Senangnya Menjadi Sponge(Bob)

Mungkin ini adalah pertama kali saya menulis kembali di blog pribadi semenjak merantau di Australia. Sibukkah saya? Mungkin iya. Tapi sebenarnya ada beberapa minggu bahkan bulan jeda antara orientasi dengan kuliah. Pertanyaan selanjutnya, seberapa antusias saya belajar di Australia?. Jawabannya jelas sangat antusias. Kemudian beberapa rekan imajiner saya bertanya, sulitkah kuliah di western culture?.

Pertanyaan yang sebenarnya teman-teman scholar lain akan setuju menjawab "ABSOLUTELY!". Mungkin pendapat saya akan berbeda dengan rekan scholar lainnya, meskipun mereka satu universitas dengan saya. Tapi pada umumnya saat semester dimulai artinya teman-teman dan mungkin mahasiswa lain sangat 'terlihat' sibuk. Ini dapat diindikasikan dengan jarangnya mereka 'menikmati hidup', bahkan saat weekend sekalipun. Frankly speaking, sebenarnya kuliah di Australia tidak susah-susah amat. Materinya juga tidak terlalu mengerikan. Mungkin yang menjadi kendala mencerna materi kuliah hanya bahasa.

So, kenapa bisa dikatakan kuliah di Australia dan western countries lainnya bisa dikatakan susah?. Mungkin cuma satu kata untuk menjawab pertanyaan di atas yaitu ASSIGNMENTS. Sadar tidak kalau saya menulis agak beda?. Apa coba?. Huruf capital?. Obviously, yes I did. Bisa lebih teliti lagi?. Ahaaa....benar saya menambahkan S dibelakang ASSIGNMENT. Iya benar sekali bahwa pendidikan tinggi di Australia dipenuhi dengan tugas yang bisa dibilang tidak manusiawi. Dan kabar baiknya (namun bagi sebagian orang buruk) adalah the assignments ini mendapatkan porsi yang luar biasa besar misalnya 50% dari total grade. Kembali membahas tugas yang 'tidak manusiawi', awalnya saya lega ketika melihat sekilas spesifikasi tiap unit yang saya ambil. Tiap unit hanya ada dua atau maksimal tiga assignment tiap semester. Lega tersebut sirna ketika seiring dengan semester berjalan, setiap assignment beranak pinak. Misalnya unit A yang dikatakan cuma dua tugas, ternyata tiap tugas ada empat sub-tugas (bukan soal ya, tetapi sub-tugas). Most likely sih jika saya ambil empat unit dalam satu semester, roughly, saya memiliki total enam belas tugas. Ternyata kesulitan dari assignment tidak hanya berhenti sampai kuantitas tugasnya, namun masalah nyata dalam tugas di universitas adalah soal yang diberikan cukup mendalam. Belum lagi seperti saya yang mempunya background akuntansi yang kuat, sangatlah berjibaku dengan unit yang bersifat teknis misalnya java programming dan database sql. Iya benar anda tidak salah dengar, saya seorang 'nekater' yang kuliah S2 dengan berlandaskan background yang sama sekali tidak berkaitan dengan unit yang saya ambil di S2.

Bagaimana ceritanya saya masih bisa bertahan?. Lucunya saya menemukan metode ini secara tidak sengaja. Saya memperlakukan setiap assignment yang saya kerjakan sebagai latihan untuk ujian. Latihan dengan tujuan saya akan mengerti dengan mengerjakan tugas-tugas tersebut. Hal ini mungkin tidak disadari telah membentuk kita from scratch into something. Apakah saya menjadi terbebas dari ketidaktahuan terhadap materi kuliah?. Tidak juga, namun setidaknya dengan harapan kita bisa menyelesaikan tugas dengan baik, kita 'diperkosa' untuk tahu. Sekarang saya sadar bahwa saya adalah sebuah SPONGE yang menyerap pengetahuan dari 'kesulitan' yang bernama ASSIGNMENT. It is impossible to master every single knowledge, but at least we are not a scratch anymore. Bagaimana dengan grade?. Sejauh ini tidak mengecewakan. Percayalah, kalau kita berangkat sekolah dengan niat seadanya, sering kali semangat kita juga seadanya, padahal apa yang akan kita kalahkan tidak sehebat yang kita dengar. Jangan percaya jika kakak kelas bicara "kalau you kuliah di LN, grade credit itu udah bagus, pass sudah cukup". Please saya tidak mau mengajarkan untuk menjadi sombong, namun bagaimana mungkin kalau kita sudah kalah dalam pikiran sebelum mengalahkan hal yang belum kita hadapi langsung?. Jangan membatasi kapasitas anda sendiri. Lakukan yang terbaik, baru kita lihat hasil panen seperti apa yang akan kita dapat. It is not such a big deal, kalau sudah berusaha keras namun nilai kita masih biasa-biasa saja. Namun alangkah sayangnya jika sebelum berusaha keras, kita sudah membatasi kapasitas kita.

Okay, tanpa berbusa-busa saya akan melanjutkan menyelesaikan tugas-tugas yang telah menanti. Sekali lagi tulisan ini bukan bertujuan untuk menjadi lebih tau dari orang lain. Tulisan ini juga bukanlah hal yang paling benar dari yang lain. Opini yang baik adalah opini yang disampaikan. Sebaliknya opini yang buruk adalah opini yang tidak tersampaikan.

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Bridge Over Troubled Water

When you're weary
Feeling small
When tears are in your eyes
I will dry them all
I'm on your side, when time get rough
and Friend just can't be found
like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

When you're down and out
When you're on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you
I'll take your part
When darkness comes
and pain is all around
like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

Sail on silver girl
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on the way
See how they shine
If you need a friend
I'm sailing right behind
like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind

=========================
Initially, I heard this song from friend of mine, tante Oci. Then it has become more familiar in my ears when David Foster recycled it into album named "David Foster and Friends". In that album, this song was sung by Josh Groban and Bryan McKnight. Moreover, I love this song much for two reason. Firstly, the lyric is so encouraging because it delivers friendship topic as well as love. Secondly, I am very keen on singing this song in the next performance in my office.
T_T

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Women in The Workplace

In the recent five decades, women have emerged as the skillful workforce. Moreover, recently, many CEO positions are held by the female leaders. Furthermore, from middle-level manager to low-level labor, there are so many female workers in the workforce. For example, the women have dominated over the men as blue-collar-employees in cigarette factory in Indonesia. Obviously, the women has come up to become a financial support for their family, or even they serve as a breadwinner. However, there are not only benefits related to working mother, but also some considerable drawbacks. It is my belief that the women may work in the office as the men do with some exceptions and I will address my thesis by considering the obvious advantages and disadvantages.

 

First of all, the women and the men have different natural skills. For instance, in a general sense, the female employees are more meticulous and they have senses of art more than the male employees. It does not mean that the women's ability outstrips the men's, yet they have their own talents. Therefore, some positions suit with the female employees instead of the male workforce, such as designer and general affair manager. Furthermore, in the developing country, especially low-income families, fathers serving as a breadwinner cannot earn enough money and they need a financial support from their spouse. Surprisingly, this condition does not happen merely in developing country. According to recent news, mothers in USA has started to work in order to provide their family needs because USA undergoes a considerable financial crisis. For example, since USA government has been shutdown for 3 weeks, the government employees are unpaid while their daily needs have to be fulfilled. The mothers, whose the husbands have taken unpaid leave in USA, have emerged to become heroes. In addition, in some developing countries such as African countries or Asian countries, there are a lot of widows and single parents with dependents. It means that they must provide their family by becoming entrepreneur or workers in factory and farmland, unless they will experience starving.

 

On the other hand, there are some considerable drawbacks related to the women in workplace. Firstly, in terms of childrearing, the mother's time for taking care their children has decreased since they have worked in the office. Obviously, toddlers need abundance of affection from their mother because they undergo a crucial-developing stage. Consequently, the absence of their mother will probably affect their  psychology, such as secure feeling. Moreover, mother obviously should be the closer role model for their baby because toddler in this stage tends to imitate their surrounding behavior. Furthermore, the number of divorce has risen since five decades, especially in the family in which the mother works. It is alleged that the absence of the mother in family probably lead to divorce. Moreover, the number of affair also has jumped dramatically since the women entered the workplace. In addition, money is associated with power. Therefore, the women who earn much money tend to dominate over the men in their family in terms of problem solving and decision making. It possibly leads to debates, fights and everyday turmoil.

 

In conclusion, women entering workplace have some benefits, such as financial support. However, there are some considerable drawbacks, which are women's domination, divorce, affair and family turmoil. I firmly agree that the women may work, provided that they have to focus on their family and children. Family comes first, doesn't it?

 

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How to back up and restore your Windows 8 Activation

This guide will describe how to backup and restore your activation in a few easy steps in case of a worst case scenario and you have to reinstall Windows.

1. Go to C:\Windows\System32\spp\ and backup the store folder as this turned out to be the only folder you need to make backup of (verified by myself)

Attention:
The store folder might be hidden, open up Folder options from Control panel and choose View tab, select Show hidden files and folders + uncheck Hide protected system files

Attention 2:
Make sure to verify that the store folder contains these files and folders!

1 file named data.dat which is hidden
1 file named tokens.dat which is visible
1 folder named cache containing a file named cache.dat

2. Re-install Windows

3. After Windows is re-installed I suggest running a new Command Prompt as Administrator where you need to type in slmgr -upk to uninstall the key so the status changes to Unlicensed

4. After step 3 you need to reboot in Safe mode and easiest way is by using msconfig via Run. Choose the Boot tab and then Safe boot-Minimal, apply and restart when prompted

5. After the PC has rebooted in Safe mode open a new Command Prompt as Administrator and type net stop sppsvc to stop the Software Protection Platform service (sometimes you can get a message that it's already stopped and not running)

6. Go to C:\Windows\System32\spp\ and replace the current store folder with the backed up one (I just copied the folder and pasted over the old one replacing the files altogether)

7. Go to Run and use msconfig and choose Normal boot under General tab this time, apply and click restart when prompted

8. When restarted you can see that the watermarks are gone and by checking the usual slmgr -dli/dlv/xpr commands in Command Prompt you'll see that it worked and you're activated + by checking the Volume Activation Management Tool 2.0 you'll see License Status: License renewed and Genuine Status: Genuine

CLICK FOR PROOF --->10rr8up.png<--- CLICK FOR PROOF


I have tried and verified this with Windows 8 Enterprise Edition x64 a couple of times and typing from my activated PC again. I could literally do this all day
This solution should be possible to do with any edition of Windows 8.

And now that this is confirmed to work, taking backup and restoring the activation in Windows 8 shouldn't be a hard thing to do and should work beautifully once we buy Windows 8 and activate it legit when it ships.

As for now enjoy all the testing and use of Windows 8 with confidence!

Here's the nice tool mentioned in another thread to use to check statuses:

Volume Activation Management Tool 2.0 - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl....aspx?id=11936

PS.

IMPORTANT

The solution will likely 100% fail if you make changes to hardware and re-install Windows and then trying to restore activation again, but this have been the case since the Vista days.
And also you can't activate one edition of Windows thinking you can use the backup for another edition later.
The activation is tied to your specific hardware and OS edition, so keep this in mind.

I would also like to clarify that now that we're activated with the KMS solution the activation is valid for 180 days, nothing more nothing less. There is no magic behind this backup solution that could expand the period further then the 180 days without re-activate via an KMS server eventually.
Once we buy the retail version of Windows 8, backing up the activation would be a more permanent solution given that you don't change the hardware or OS edition along the road which means you have to reactivate and backup again.

EXTRA IMPORTANT

It has come to my attention that installing certain hardware drivers will break the activation on Windows 8 forcing you to reactivate. One way to prevent this from happening would be to make sure everything is installed and up to date before activating and then take the backup. That way when you have reinstalled Windows and the hardware drivers it should work just fine restoring activation later.



If you have come this far and still reading this then congratulations you deserve a gold star. You should have the knowledge to backup and restore your Windows 8 activation without problems by now and understand what this is all about.
Thank you for taking the time to read all the way down here, it will save much time for both parties!


.: The information contained in this thread is for general guidance regarding backup and restoration of activation in Windows 8. I, JaguarXJ12 will not be held responsible for loss of activations if something goes wrong :.

source: http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/35737-GUIDE-How-to-backup-and-restore-Windows-8-activation

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Idioms (Again)

• Not everyone's cup of tea
• Break a leg
• Busy bee
• easy as pie
• as mad as hatters
• for a song
• couch potato
• string attached
• the lesser of two evils
• it goes without saying
• Average Joe
• Plain Jane
• Sharp as a tack
• Cry baby
• Good for nothing
• a pretty penny
• a penny saved is a penny earned
• mint condition
• bag of bones
• cutting edge
• bleeding edge
• etc

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Simple Idioms

There is no doubt that idiom is essential to make your speaking up. However, you should deliver it appropriately unless it would lead to chaotic conversation. Furthermore, idiom doesn't always come with sophisticated phrase. I'd like to share simple idioms which I have read before for as follows:

1. To die down - to become more quite; to diminish; to subside
2. to come about - to happen; to occur; to be caused
3. to stand out - to be noticeable; to be prominent; to be clearly seen
4. to break down - to fail to function; to stop working properly
5. to fall through - to fail to occur; not to happen
6. to get ahead - to make progress; to succeed
7. to get around - to travel; to move about
8. to hold on - to wait; to pause
9. to open up - to talk honestly and freely
10. to come up - to arise
11. to break in - to interrupt
12. to catch on - to finally understand
13. to look on - to watch; to observe; to be a spectatore
14. to settle down - to become calm,quite, or peaceful; to begin a normal; stable life
15. to show up - to arrive; to appear
16. to take after - resemble; to look like
17. to go without -not to have; to lack
18. to turn into - to become; to change into
19. to get over - to recover from
20. to turn to - to ask help of; get advice from

Could you help me to organise the other idioms?

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