Improvised Dividers in iCal

Because I cannot wait for the Leopard.

Free stuff I cannot do without: Actiontastic

Alright, forget what I wrote earlier today about dragging items from OmniOutliner to the iCal to-do pane. The manual syncing manoeuvre I recommended does not hold a candle to a new application I found: the sleek, simple, integrated Actiontastic.

Like kGTD, Actiontastic is based on David Allen's Getting Things Done. (Unlike kGTD, it does not require you to purchase OmniOutliner Pro.) Actiontastic allows you to collect data quickly, organise your tasks by project, as well as set contexts for each task. Best of all, it syncs with iCal and is compatible with Quicksilver. It even syncs with the iPod.

Tasks are easily collected via Quicksilver with the Actiontastic plugin. You can specify which project and context the task belongs to by using ">" and "@" respectively. For example, if you type in Quicksilver:

Borrow "March of the Wooden Soldiers" > Comics Appreciation @library

Borrow "March of the Wooden Soldiers" will get sent to the project Comics Appreciation with the context library. Sweet....



Tasks collected via Quicksilver get sent straight to the inbox in Actiontastic.



At your leisure, process the tasks by hitting the "Play" button on the bottom left of the screen. You can then sort it into a project (or single action) and allocate a context.



Plan your projects in the "Projects" pane. The first item in any project is considered a "Next Action". You can drag items to order them.



And it will be automatically updated in the "Contexts" pane.




And when you are done, hit the "sync" button at the bottom right and it syncs with iCal, creating individual calendars for each of your contexts.

The syncing works the other way as well: if you change something on iCal, it syncs right back to Actiontastic.

It is fast and the interface makes sense to me: the best kind of app. Thank you, Jon Crosby!

STOP PRESS! REGION-FREE MACBOOK!!!!

Region madness no more! There is a solution!!!

I don't know whether it is because of the latest version of VLC (release 0.8.6c) or if it is because of Mac OS X 10.4.9 (check out the comment in this forum), but, dang it dang it dang it, it works!!!!!

VLC played my region 1 and region 3 one after the other without a hitch! Afraid that it only worked because it changed the region coding of my supposedly unflashable MATSHITA DVD-R drive, I loaded up DVD player and inserted a disk of the "wrong" region, and I was relieved to find out that I still had all 4 changes to make.

Oh my goodness, I need to celebrate....

Steps:
1. Download the latest version of VLC (release 0.8.6c), and/ or
2. Do a software update (Apple > Software Update)

[Aside: your computer may start crashing after updating to 10.4.10. If so, download the airport extreme update here.]

OmniOutliner + iCal = the low-tech, free way

One of the limitations of using iCal to organise my work-life is that I cannot organise by project and context concurrently.

Is it a little confusing? Let me explain it a little better. For example I have two projects: to clean my room and a course that I need to pass. If I organise it by project, this is how it looks.

1. Clean room
• Buy mop (Next action)
  
• Research best way to remove coffee stain
  
• Clear out top shelf
  
2. Pass course
• Buy textbook (Next action)
  
• Read online notes for class
• Read textbook

If I were to organise it by context, this is how it would look like.

1. @town
• Buy mop
• Buy textbook
2. @home
• Read textbook
• Clear out top of shelf
3. @computer
• Research best way to remove coffee stain
• Read online notes for class
  

At present, my to-do list in iCal is organised by contexts, but it doesn't give me a good overview nor a platform to plan the details of each individual project.

kGTD (kinkless Getting Things Done) + OmniOutliner Pro solves this problem in a way that is nothing short of beautiful. Check out the video here to see how it works.

In a nutshell, what kGTD + OmniOutliner Pro does is that it allows you to create a list of projects in OmniOutliner, allocate contexts for each task within each project, and even allocate "Next Actions". When you hit "sync", all of that gets synced with iCal, with individual calendars created for each context.

But OmniOutliner Pro costs US$69.95. (Educational price US$49.95)

I may purchase it some time in the future (or wait for OmniFocus); meanwhile, I'm going to steal the idea and implement it with the OmniOutliner that was bundled with my MacBook instead. What I'll do is plan my projects in OmniOutliner, then drag the tasks into iCal under the right context.

OmniOutliner:



For example, I can drag "Get a haircut" under my Make-over Project in to the to-do pane in iCal under the context @town. And viola, there it is. Manual syncing! Haha!

The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde

I'm on a bit of a Jasper Fforde roll, but this third book of his fell slightly below expectations for me. I think it was a lack of dramatic action. This novel is set in the well of lost plots, a place where wannabe books are formed and re-formed before they are published.

If I dare say, the first book is all action, slight diversion; the second book 50% action, 50% diversion; and the third is all diversion, slight action. I like the second book best.

Though I must admit that that had had and that that debate had had me rolling about the floor laughing.

My Singtel broadband plan is only 226k?

Check your broadband speed here.

Strange, isn't it, that I'm getting 226k when I'm paying for a 1Mbps plan?

I recently downgraded from a 3Mbps plan to a 1Mbps so that I could save $13 a month. That $13 a month was my latte factor, since I could easily get by without that extra 2Mbps in speed. (Now if I can squirrel that $13 away before spending it on something even more frivolous, like March of the Wooden Soldiers or something.)

But I felt the drag and so I was curious about the speed I was getting, so I went to check it out on CNET's site and it told me that I was chugging along at the half the speed of a 512k. Hmm.. strange, isn't it?

While I was walking from the train station today, I had the brief thought that an eternity of non-existence is more desirable, or at the very least, more plausible than an eternity of happiness. Why do we think that God owes us happiness? Those who believe in heaven go around brandishing their right to be happy, their right to a happy ending. But what are we, really, except mortal breath caught in dust?

I'm worried that I'm becoming too much of a realist. Faith, hope and love elude me. I cannot believe in what I cannot perceive. When I passed out after giving blood quite a few years ago, for that fifteen minutes, I was nowhere. I had no consciousness, no spirit, no soul. What makes me think that I should have an eternal soul?

My dad's hair is thinning. I see a patch of baldness beginning in the centre of his head, extending outwards, the way we rot from the inside out, given enough time. And I am scared.

My mood is a see-saw

Is that how you spell see-saw? I rarely see the word in print. It used to be an integral part of my vocabulary when I was in kindergarten — "Do you want to play see-saw or play swing?" was just about the extent of my decision-making abilities.

Anyway, what I am trying to say about the see-saw is that my mood is like one, a see-saw that is; although, if you wanted, you could also say "a swing", or even "a slide"; or heck, it could even be the entire playground, sand and all.

And the reason why my mood is a see-saw (or swing or slide or entire playground..) is that just ten minutes ago, I was really happy and exuding positive energy from having had an interesting conversation this morning, and then I read an email that made me sad, in that dampening way, and suddenly the world doesn't look so primary-colours cheery anymore, just a dull shade of gray and sepia (for variety's sake).

I hate it when that happens. So I try to be flippant until the feeling goes away.

Unconfounding the after

How do you tell if words such as after, before, and until are subordinating conjunctions or prepositional phrases?

IF "AFTER" IS FOLLOWED BY A CLAUSE (i.e. includes subject and verb), IT IS A SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTION. IF "AFTER" IS FOLLOWED BY AN OBJECT, IT IS A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE.

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

• Charlie will wait here until sunset. ("until sunset" acts as an adverb)
• It will be some time before summer. ("before summer" acts as an adjective)
• After that effort, everyone doubts whether she can win. ("after that effort" acts as an adverb)

SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTION

• Charlie will wait here until we finish the test.
• It will be some time before the seasons change.
• After she did so badly, everyone doubted whether she could win.

Source for examples: The Tongue Untied

Incoherent mumblings, Tummy rumblings

I've been so hungry recently — I must have worms!

I had three crackers for breakfast and I was hungry by eleven. So I power-walked to the canteen at noon where I greedily consumed a plate of rice with a side of ladies fingers, chilli chicken and mapo tofu, which made me postprandial on the train-ride home, but that didn't stop me from popping open a pack of cheezels for a snack at three.

Now it is five minutes to five, and chubby hubby has me wanting both laksa and a hot savory pie at the same time. (Pic below by chubby hubby, the blogger who always manages to make me hungry and languish at 1. my lack of a kitchen, and 2. my inability to cook even if I did have a kitchen. Oh, woe.)

Somebody give me a curry puff.

On moods

Moods show the writer's attitude.

There are three moods: indicative, imperative and subjunctive.

The indicative mood states an actuality. ("The sun is shining today. You may want to bring your shades."

The imperative mood makes requests and gives commands. ("Please settle down and get to work.")

The subjunctive mood is used with only two types of verbs — be and were — and they are only used with two types of sentences:

1. Statements that are improbable or contrary to fact.
2. Statements that express a wish or request, an urgent appeal or demand.

If I were [not was] you, I would not dig my nose in public. (improbable)
If I were [not was] a butterfly, I'd thank you Lord for giving me wings! (improbable)

It is important that everybody be [not is] at the meeting early. (expresses a wish)

On verb tenses

On verbals

What are verbals? Verbals are hybrids that don't act as verbs in a sentence. They look and sound like verbs, but they function as adjectives, nouns and adverbs in a sentence, so don't be fooled.

Participles are part verb and part something else, and function as adjectives. There are two types of participles: present participle (verb + "ing") and past participle (verb + "ed").

Let sleeping dogs lie. (present participle)
Exhausted from my three hour train ride, I fell into bed. (past participle)

Dangling participles are participles that point awry.

Babbling incoherently, the nurse wrapped a blanket around the baby.

Gerunds (verb + "ing") act as nouns.

Running up the slope the last six months has given me calves of iron.

Remember to use a possessive pronoun before a gerund.

I was upset about our leaving so early in the morning. (use possessive pronoun)

Infinitives (to + verb) issue commands, gives instructions or make requests. They may act as a noun, an adverb, or an adjective. Somtimes they are even omitted.

I want to go home! (noun)
We come to bury Caesar. (adverb)
Harry was the first guy in our crowd to marry. (adjective)
Please help me make the bed. (omitted "to")

Verbals are deceptive things.

Travelling for three hours a day

makes me sick. Motion sick, bus sick, train sick, crowd sick.

Lolly! Lolly! Lolly! Get your adverbs here!

indubitably...

Unconfounding the is

Identify is in the following sentences.
Is it a main verb, a modal verb, an auxiliary verb or a linking verb?

1. Bill is drinking far too much for a person of his size.
2. Mary is extraordinarily happy.
3. Smole is walking her dog.
4. Mis_nomer is fed-up with grammar.

is drinking/ is walking
AUXILIARY VERBS. is is an auxiliary verb when it helps to change the tense of the main verb.

is happy/ is fed-up
LINKING VERBS. is is a linking verb when it is a being verb.

On sentence functions

Four types of sentence functions: declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory. (Acronym: d.i.i.e.)

By the way

Buying the latest Harry Potter at Kinokuniya when it was launched yesterday has cemented Kinokuniya as my bookstore of choice. Everybody got ten percent off; the bookstore also gave away book vouchers with the purchase: $15 for members and $10 for non-members.

Those are the kind of rewards and perks that makes everyone happy, members and non-members alike.

Two books by Jasper Fforde

Fforde's stuff is funny. I read two books by him recently, The Eyre Affair and Lost in a Good Book.

The Eyre Affair took some getting used to — did Fforde just talk about jumping into books and kidnapping the main character (Jane Eeyre, to be precise) ? — but once I got used to the extent to which Fforde suspends my disbelief, I enjoyed the ride better.

By the time I got the second book, Lost in a Good Book, I was rolling about in laughter. Let me be the first to say it: some of the jokes are really really silly; but gosh, if read in the right frame of mind, they are funny in a nerdy kinda way. The main character's name is Thursday Next, a thirty-something year-old female who is a bit of a mix between Lara Croft and Bridget Jones. Doesn't that make you want to read the books already? ;)

I love Thursday's dodo, Pickwick, who says "Plock-plock". And the bookworms who spit out apostrophes and punctuations when frustrated. And the secret lives of fictional characters.

It's a crazy ridiculous world!

---------------

Find it in a library.
Singapore: The Eyre Affair & Lost in a Good Book
Rest of the world: The Eyre Affair & Lost in a Good Book

Interjection!

After that post on clauses, we need a break. Presenting...

________Interjections! By Schoolhouse Rock!

On clauses

A clause is like a phrase, except that it has a subject and a verb. There are two kinds of clauses: independent clauses and dependent clauses (also known as subordinating clauses). Independent clauses can stand alone as a sentence, dependent clauses cannot.

Mis_nomer ate a sour plum, and she made a funny face.

"Mis_nomer ate a sour plum" is an independent clause because it can stand alone as a sentence. So is "she made a funny face". (and is a co-ordinating conjunction.)

A dependent clause has a verb and subject, but it cannot stand alone as a sentence. It has to be attached to some other part of the sentence.

I had just alphabetized the cards when they fell on the floor and scattered everywhere.

when they fell to the floor and scattered everywhere is a dependent clause. It is dependent (or subordinate) to the independent clause in the sentence.

There are three types of dependent clauses.

An adjective clause is a dependent clause that acts as an adjective. It is sometimes known as a relative clause because it uses relative pronouns (who, whose, whom, which, that).

That man, whom I went to school with, walked right past me.

The Harry Potter book that I want has just been released.

whom I went to school with modifies "that man"; that I want modifies the "Harry Potter book".

An adverb clause is a dependent clause that acts as an adverb. An adverb clause is used with a subordinating conjunction (after, although, because, once, until, while, whenever).

Whenever Eric comes to visit this blog, he leaves a thoughtful comment.

Whenever Eric comes to visit this blog modifies "leaves a thoughtful comment" (verb).

A noun clause is a dependent clause that acts as a noun. It can be the subject, predicate nominative, appositive, object of a verb, or object of a preposition.

What Billy did shocked his friends. (subject)

Billy’s friends didn’t know that he couldn’t swim. (object of a verb)

Billy’s mistake was that he refused to take lessons. (predicate nominative)

Mary is not responsible for what Billy did. (object of a preposition)

Everybody is sad that Billy drowned. (predicate adjective)

Suitably confused? Me too. But take a deep breath, there's just a little more.



Clauses can be divided a different way. A restrictive clause is essential to the basic meaning of the sentence; a nonrestrictive clause can be eliminated from the sentence without changing its meaning.

The car that I was driving was stolen
The car, which was stolen last Saturday, has been found.

In the first sentence, that I was driving is essential to the meaning of the sentence; hence, it is a restrictive clause. In the second sentence, which was stolen last Saturday is extra information; hence, it is a nonrestrictive clause.

Use that to introduce restrictive clauses and which to introduce nonrestrictive clauses.

Alright. We're finally done.

[Get the book.]

On nouns: Intermission

The tune is catchy like anything, but it is missing one component in its definition: IDEA.

Thanks Brian for pointing me to the Schoolhouse Rock videos. :)

Last day

Last day at school today. The teachers and students were so sweet — I still have unopened gifts from my colleagues in my backpack.

The last four months passed by in a flash. It takes up so little space on a calendar, yet it felt so long. It feels as if I've been here ages. I've gotten angry; I've yelled at them; I've pleaded; I've given pep talks; I've messed up; Everyday I learned what I should not have done; I've laughed at their antics; I've smiled when they were sweet; I've told stupid jokes; I've taught them words with four syllables; I've shown them my multi-colour socks.

I've got a little stake in them.

Nevertheless, the students acted up in typical fashion today. One of them balled up a classmate's script and threw it out of the window. Only the co-teacher was in class then — I was out buying pastries for my colleagues — and nobody saw what happened. And of course, the students covered each other's backsides.

It is a slow uphill battle, sometimes a thankless task, sometimes a fulfilling one.

On phrases

A phrase is a group of words that acts as a particular part of speech but does not have a verb and its subject. There are four types of phrases: prepositional phrase (most common), the participle phrase (formed by combining a participle with related words to descibe a noun or pronoun). appositive phrase (a noun/ pronoun that gives details about another noun/ pronoun), and absolute phrase (a noun + participle).

A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends with a noun/ pronoun. They act as either adjectives or adverbs to describe a noun/ pronoun. These are some examples.

• up the hill
• during the terrible storm
• for me
• with his son
• after our dinner

Prepositional phrases that act as adjectives are known as adjective phrase (Several friends from my job are getting together tonight); prepositional phrases that act as adverbs are known as adverb phrase (We'll meet at the restaurant at 8p.m.).

Participle-type phrases (that is a word I made up to help me remember so don't use it on a grammar test) are phrases that are formed by combining a participle with related words to describe a noun or pronoun. They include:

Participial phrase
Fleeing from the sudden storm, the pinickers sought refuge in the gazebo. (words in italics modify picnikers)

Gerund phrase
Singing the night away helped mis_nomer forget her troubles. (Singing is a gerund. It acts as a noun.)

Infinitive phrase
To go home is my only wish right now. (To go is an infinitive.)

Another type of phrase is the appositive phrase. An appositive is a noun/ pronoun that gives details or identifies another noun or pronoun.

My favourite book, a dog-eared copy of "The Hours", has accompanied me on many vacations.

Copy is an appositive that refers to book. The appositive phrase is a dog-eared copy of.

And finally, the last type of phrase is the absolute phrase. The absolute phrase are made of nouns/ pronouns, followed by a participial and any other modifiers. Absolute phrases contain a subject and no predicate. They modify the entire sentence, for example, "Joan looked nervous, her fears creeping up on her."

[Get the book.]

On complements

Although sentences are complete with just a subject and predicate, some sentences need something else to complete their meaning. These additional parts are known as complements.

There are five types of complements. Under complements that elaborate on the object, there are direct objects, indirect objects and object complements. Under complements that elaborate on the subject, there are predicate adjectives and predicate nominatives.

Direct objects are used with transitive verbs. In the sentence "I dribbled the basketball," basketball is the direct object. It receives directly the action of the verb.

Indirect objects are also used with transitive verbs, but it comes before the direct object and answer the question to whom? or for whom?. For example, in the sentence "Mis_nomer gave Milktea the keys to her new car," Milktea is the indirect object. (Note that with indirect objects, the word to or for is only implied. If it is included in the sentence, "gave to Milktea," "to Milktea" is a prepositional phrase and Milktea is no longer an indirect object.)

Object complements elaborates on or gives a fuller meaning to a direct object. For example, in the sentence "Mis_nomer gave her friend Smole twenty dollars," her friend (noun) elaborates on the object of the sentence — Smole. Another example of an object complement may be found in the sentence "Mis_nomer painted her toenails blue." Blue (adjective) elaborates on the object "toenails".

Subject complements are used with being and linking verbs only.

Predicate adjectives comes after a linking verb and describe the subject of the sentence. For example, "Mis_nomer is certainly boring," boring is a predicate adjective.

Predicate nominatives are like the predicate adjectives, only that they act as nouns or pronouns. For example, "That man over there is Jim," Jim is a predicate nominative.

[Get the book.]

One day in the life of a 'cher

I make it a point not to talk about work, but sometimes I break my own rule.

Today I was peeved. Three students didn't show up for class and I had to go hunt them down 20 minutes after class started. When I barged into the hall where they were monkeying about playing badminton, they scurried like cockroaches. I marched them back to the classroom, where they subsequently started doing everything to irritate me. They were thirsty (of course) and transfered water between water bottles, spilling water everywhere; they sat in the wrong places; they merrily unwrapped lollipops and ate them; one boy sat with his pants down at his ankles because he was hot. (He did have shorts underneath.)

Gracious. Sometimes patience only goes so far.

But two of the boys in class were sweet. They saw me fuming at the back of the class and said to me, "'cher, you very qi gei, is it?" (qi gei means frustrated in Hokkien.)

I nodded and said, "Yes."

"Come, we ask you question so you won't be so qi gei." And they got out of their chairs and walked towards me to ask how to write their compositions.

Sweet little things.

On subjects and predicates

By definition, every sentence must have the following:

1. a predicate (usually called a verb)
2. the subject of the verb
3. the words must contain a complete thought

Rather than giving the definition of what a complete and simple subject is, let me show you.

The hungry fruitbat sucked on a tomato.

"The hungry fruitbat" is the complete subject; "fruitbat" is the simple subject.

"Sucked on a tomato" is the complete predicate; "sucked" is the simple predicate (verb).

If you have trouble locating the subject of a sentence, locate the verb first (sucked), then ask yourself "who or what sucked?" The answer is the subject.

Ged'dit?

[Get the book.]

On conjunctions

A conjunction joins words in a sentence. There are three types of conjunctions.

Co-ordinating conjunctions are but, or, yet, so, for, and, nor. You can remember them with the acronym boysfan.

Correlative conjunctions come in a pair. They cannot stand alone. Examples are both/and, either/or, neither/nor, not only/also.

Subordinating conjunctions are used at the beginning of dependent clauses. A dependent clause is a group of words that has a subject and verb but cannot stand on its own.

After I brushed my teeth, I went to bed.

"After I brushed my teeth" is a dependent clause. "After" is a subordinating conjunction.

Please keep still so that I can cut your toenails!

"so that I can cut your toenails" is a dependent clause; "so that" is a subordinating conjunction.

And with this, we come to the end of the parts of speech. The next series will deal with sentence structure.

[Get the book.]

On prepositions and interjections

Here's a clue. Prepositions are about the "position" of something — in, out, under, above, etc. The official definition is that it is a word that links a noun or pronoun to some other word in the sentence.



Blimey! Interjections are words that stand alone. They express surprise or strong emotion.

[Watch the Schoolhouse video here.]

[Get the book.]

Rumbling and cantankerous

I'm cranky-hungry. The kind of hungry where I all I can think about is that empty space under my rib cage, and how much better I'll feel if it weren't empty.

Gotta run. I hear the microwave beep...

On adverbs

While adjectives are words that modify nouns/ pronouns, adverbs are words that modify just about everything else (verbs, adjectives, and even other adverbs).

Yesterday the quite befuddled Jim very happily posted a misplaced comment on this blog. Perhaps he has already deleted it.

The adverbs are yesterday (modifies the verb posted), quite (modifies the adjective befuddled), very (modifies the adverb happily), happily (modifies the verb posted), perhaps (modifies the auxiliary verb has), and already (modifies the verb deleted).

Adverbs modify words in terms of manner (happily), time (yesterday), frequency and probability (perhaps), duration and degree (already).



There are two categories of adverbs. Conjunctive adverbs (however, therefore, nevertheless, moreover) and Intensifiers (very, extremely, kind of, more).

Conjunctive adverbs join two independent clauses:

I have to take a grammar test in a week's time; hence, my blog is full of grammar.

(Keep your finger on the term "independent clauses". We'll get to them in a later post.)

Intensifiers, well, intensify. :)

Streetdirectory.com has too many ads

It has so many ads that I don't "see" a single one of them. So everyone loses; users, advertisers, and even streetdirectory itself, when they start to lose users because of the frustrating user experience.

Cat

On verbs

Verbs are words that express action or being, and they are quite a bit more complicated than what we've done so far. For one, there are four categories of verbs and they seem to influence and help each other in their job. But once you wrap your mind around verbs, they actually aren't that difficult to understand.



The first two categories are easy: action verbs (jump, sit, run) and being verbs (am, are, is, was). Action verbs may be split further into transitive and intransitive verbs.

Transitive verbs are defined as words that take on an object. If you can ask whom? or what? to the verb in a sentence, then the verb is transitive. For example, "carried" in the sentence "I carried the injured boy to the ambulance" is transitive.

Linking verbs (or copulative verbs) are words that can substitute being verbs. For example, in the sentence below, "tasted" is a linking verb.

The soup tasted too spicy for me.
The soup [is] too spicy for me.

However, in the sentence below, "tasted" is an action verb.

I tasted the spicy soup.
I [is] the spicy soup. X

Helping (auxiliary) verbs are verbs that can join the main verb to express the tense, mood, and voice of the verb. The words in italics are examples of auxiliary verbs that affect the tense of the main verb.

She is singing.
She has been dancing the entire night.
She did not write love poem.

A special class of auxiliary verbs are modal auxiliary verbs (can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will, and would). These verbs do not change form for different subjects. They affect the mood and voice of the verb.

I can help!
I may help!
I will help!
I must help!

Tomorrow we do adverbs.

[Get the book.]

Intermission: a notice about the "read more" tag

Ramani of Hackosphere has provided a solution to the problem of the "Read More!" tag appearing on every post.

The problem arose because every site that uses the "read more" tag that Ramani wrote accesses a script in his account. Recently, it has running into bandwidth problems.

Hence, Ramani has kindly given us the script to include in our own blogger templates. Include the script below just before </head>.

<script type="text/javascript">
function toggleIt(id) {
post = document.getElementById(id);
if (post.style.display != 'none') {
post.style.display = 'none';
} else {
post.style.display = '';
}
}

function showFullPost(id) {
var post = document.getElementById(id);
var spans = post.getElementsByTagName('span');
for (var i = 0; i < spans.length; i++) {
if (spans[i].id == "fullpost")
spans[i].style.display = 'inline';
if (spans[i].id == "readmore")
spans[i].style.display = 'none';
}
}

var fade = false;
function showFull(id) {
var post = document.getElementById(id);
var spans = post.getElementsByTagName('span');
for (var i = 0; i < spans.length; i++) {
if (spans[i].id == "fullpost") {
if (fade) {
spans[i].style.background = peekaboo_bgcolor;
Effect.Appear(spans[i]);
} else spans[i].style.display = 'inline';
}
if (spans[i].id == "showlink")
spans[i].style.display = 'none';
if (spans[i].id == "hidelink")
spans[i].style.display = 'inline';
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function hideFull(id) {
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if (spans[i].id == "fullpost") {
if (fade) {
spans[i].style.background = peekaboo_bgcolor;
Effect.Fade(spans[i]);
} else spans[i].style.display = 'none';
}
if (spans[i].id == "showlink")
spans[i].style.display = 'inline';
if (spans[i].id == "hidelink")
spans[i].style.display = 'none';
}
post.scrollIntoView(true);
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function checkFull(id) {
var post = document.getElementById(id);
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Thank you Ramani.

On adjectives

Adjectives are easy. They are defined as words that modify a noun or a pronoun. Adjectives describe. For example, in the sentence "It's a beautiful day," beautiful modifies day (noun).

There are two types of adjectives, and you can remember them by the acronym A.D. (first syllable of "adjective").



There are two types of articles, definite (the) and indefinite (a, an).

Determiners makes specific sense of a noun, for example, seven apples, these rambutans, that monkey.

Quiz of the day. Identify "that" in the following instances:

(1) That rambutan is very hairy!
(2) That is a hairy rambutan!

The one who gets it right will get a paragraph of positive affirmation. :)


[Get the book.]

On pronouns

Alright, now that we've talked about the different types of nouns, let's look a little more closely at pronouns.

Pronouns are defined as words that takes the place of a noun. Instead of writing: "Mis_nomer is an exciting wonderful blogger! Mis_nomer blogs about grammar all day long!" You could write: "Mis_nomer is an exciting wonderful blogger! She blogs about grammar all day long!"

"She" takes the place of "Mis_nomer", a proper noun, and hence is a pronoun.

Now, there are different types of pronouns. I've categorised them under "Person", "Thing" and "In-between". (Ok, no laughing about the "in-between" category.) Take a look at this diagram.


Here's a quick run-through on what each means.

Personal: I, She, He, You
Possessive: Mine, Hers, Theirs
Reflexive: Myself, Herself, Themselves

Demonstrative: This is ludicrous!
Interrogative: What in the world are you talking about?
Relative: This is the blog that became boring and died a natural death.

Indefinite: Everybody, Anybody, Somebody, Someone, Everyone

I remember my nouns and pronouns with this mnemonic: I go to N.C.C. to do P.T.I. (Don't ask me what the "I" in the P.T.I stands for 'cos I don't know.)

Tomorrow we'll do adjectives!

[Get the book.]

On nouns

Something bothers me. I don't know if I should change; although, even if I were to decide that I should, I don't know if I can.

"Although" in the prior sentence is a conjunctive adverb — it links two indepedent clauses, as opposed to to a subordinating conjunction that links dependent clauses.

Thinking about grammar calms me. It forces me to think about insignificant bits of speech, utilising every brain cell in my tiny space so that none can run amok. Grammar takes up too much RAM for that. It is a good thing.

But I really should start in the beginning when talking about grammar, and the beginning is always the noun, defined as a person, place, thing or idea. The way I organise it, there are three types of nouns, those that deal with names, counting, and compounds. Check this diagram out.



Under "Names", we have pronouns, proper nouns (Singapore) and common nouns (country). Under "Count", we have count, non-count, abstract and concrete nouns. Self-explantory stuff. Under "Compound", we have compound nouns (National University of Singapore) and collective nouns (audience).

This is easy enough. Tomorrow we will do pronouns.

[Watch the schoolhouse rock video on nouns here.]

[Get the book.]

At Starbucks

My job has its perks. :)

Google Pedometer

I am always on a quest to calculate the distance of my runs. When I was still on a PC, I found the perfect solution to measuring distance in MapEdit. It was offline, fast and fairly easy to use once you figure out the GPS-centric instructions.

But since I've moved to the Mac, I've lost my trusty distance calculator of choice. MapEdit does not load on a Mac. I've been much too lazy to use the PC in the living room or map-and-string, so I've been estimating the distance of my runs based on the time.

But no more! I'm so happy with my discovery I'm surprised I could start this post with such a level and factual tone. I want to dance on the tabletop because GOOGLE PEDOMETER NOW HAS A SINGAPORE MAP! I blogged about Google Pedometer in August 2005 (Gosh, was it that long ago?) and back then, only the US maps were loaded up.


Google Pedometer is very easy to use. Just click "Start Recording" on the left of the page. (See purple arrow on pic on left.) The button will change to say "Recording..." Then double-click to add the first point of your route, adding subsequent check points in the same way. Easy-peasy eh? :)

Google Pedometer even gives a running tally of the distance logged so you can say, "Ah! So I did hit the wall at 5km!"

This is a lovely 6.6km run I did recently to the fabled Lower Pierce that I've been neglecting to add to my running log because I did not know how far I ran. Like I said earlier, NOT ANY MORE! Whoohooo! Dance with me now! :)

PAssion Run 2007

I like the bright orange Saucony PAssion run tshirt. It seems like it is made of an even lighter material than the Standard Chartered Run tshirt. Smole and I hung out the end of the lucky draw, but we didn't win the threadmill. I already had plans where I was going to put it in my house. Ppth.

I also bumped into a colleague. I'm pleased with myself — I actually recognised her from her back! But she wasn't that hard to spot because she was in a red top while I melded into the sea of orange.

Smole and I did better this run than at the Milk Run. The Milk Run was embarrassing. We "hit the wall" at 5km. 5km! How embarrassing! But we did much better today — thanks to two training runs during the week — and I'm proud of us.

Running in the morning makes me mellow. I bumped into an old friend this evening and I could hear the warmth and familiarity in my voice when I said hello to him. I wasn't scared about the awkwardness of not having met in a long time, nor worried about what to say; instead, I just was. It's a nice feeling.

I really need to run more.

"How to organize a public library"

From How to travel with a salmon and other essays, by Umberto Eco.

Post dedicated to the rambling librarian of Singapore.

1. The various catalogues must be housed as far apart as possible from
one another. All care must be taken to separate the catalogue of books
from that of periodicals, and these two from the catalogue by subject;
similarly, the recent acquisitions must be kept well away from older
collections. If possible, the spelling in the two catalogues (recent
acquisitions and older collections) must be different. In the recent
acquisitions, for example, "pajama" should be spelled with an "a", in
the older, "pyjama" with a "y". "Chaikovskii" in recent acquisitions
will follow the Library of Congress system; in the older catalogue the
name will be spelled in the old-fashioned way, with "Tch".

2. The subjects must be determined by the librarian. On their
copyright pages the books must bear no indication of the subjects under
which they are to be listed.

3. Call numbers should be impossible to decipher and, if possible, very
complex, so that anyone filling out a call slip will never have room to
include the last line of numbers and will assume they are irrelevant.
Then the desk attendant will hand the slip back to him with the
admonition to fill it out properly.

4. The time between request and delivery must be as long as possible.

5. Only one book should be released at a time.

6. The books distributed by the attendant after the request form has
been properly submitted cannot be taken into the reference room, so the
scholars must divide their working life into two fundamental aspects:
reading on the one hand, and reference consultation on the other. The
library must discourage, as conducive to strabismus, any crossover
tendencies or attempts at the simultaneous reading of several books.

7. Insofar as possible, no photocopier should be available; if such a
machine does exist, access to it must be made very time-consuming and
toilsome, fees should be higher than those in any neighborhood copy
shop, and the maximum number of copied pages permitted should not exceed
two or three.

8. The librarian must consider the reader an enemy, a waster of time
(otherwise he or she would be at work), and a potential thief.

9. The reference librarian's office must be impregnable.

10. Loans must be discouraged.

11. Interlibrary loans must be impossible or, at best, must require
months. The ideal course, in any event, is to ensure the impossibility
of discovering the contents of other libraries.

12. Given this policy, theft must be very easy.

13. Opening hours must coincide precisely with local office hours,
determined by foresighted discussion with trade union officials and the
Chamber of Commerce; total closing on Saturday, Sunday, evenings and
mealtimes goes without saying. The library's worst enemy is the
employed student; its best friend is Thomas Jefferson, someone who has a
large personal library and therefore no need to visit the public library
(to which he may nevertheless bequeath his books at his death).

14. It must be impossible to find any refreshment inside the library,
under any circumstances; and it must also be impossible to leave the
library to seek sustenance elsewhere without first returning all books
in use, so that, after having a cup of coffee, the student must fill out
requests for them again.

15. It must be impossible on a given day to find the book one had been
using the day before.

16. It must be impossible to learn who has a book that is currently on
loan.

17. If possible, no restrooms.

18. Ideally, the reader should be unable to enter the library. If he
does actually enter, exploiting with tedious insistence a right, granted
on the basis of the principles of 1789, that has nevertheless not been
assimilated by the collective sensibilty, he must never ever -- with the
exception of rapid visits to the reference shelves -- be allowed access
to the sanctum of the stacks.

The very fat book that I borrowed from the library and subsequently lugged all over town

Guess its title. :)

Disconnect

I'm strangely disconnected from myself these days. I feel caught up in an endless spiral of whats and hows — what time do I have to be where to do what? — and going through day after day without the slightest idea why. I find it hard to pin joy down. I do the things I remember that trigger this fleeting feeling — I run into the setting sun; I have dinner with a friend; I talk on the phone; I read a funny book — but all it does is touch my soul for the briefest moment, and then it leaves, abandoning me to a vague feeling of emptiness that is not quite fully empty.

The heart is a muscle. It grows stronger with exercise. The more you love and care for someone in a selfless way, the stronger it grows and the more capable you become of love. I know this for a fact. And also this: that mine is choked with selfishness. Once in a while something breaks through and I care for someone other than myself, and then I worry if it is too late, and then I write posts like these.

I have the mind of a machine that calculates, nay, predicts the future with startling dispassionate accuracy.

Unix for Mac OS X by Dave Taylor and Brian Jepson

Easy to understand. But I am quite sure that I will forget everything I've read in a month since I no longer work for a company with a server I may access, and I don't foresee myself printing, surfing, transferring files, or doing email from the terminal.

I only hope I remember these.

cd Go to your home directory
pwd Find your working directory.
/user absolute pathname
user relative pathname
../user backtracks one directory
ls list files
; command separator

And these too.

ftp something.org.sg
put filename
get filename
quit

Milk Run 2007

These two boys were adorable..



At the start line: all the students had lollipops


Man on unicycle. His vampire partner hidden behind him.


Vampire partner dancing. He's scary.


Run!


At a particularly narrow and congested part of the route: space only for two abreast.


Run!


Run!


Picturesque eh? :)


Running by the old dame.


Students on the other side of the river.


More students.