Gerakan Bawah Tanah - Mr. GBT

I have just finished reading " iWoz ," a book about Steve Wozniak. Tell me, you know that name right? Okay, for those who don't, Steve Wozniak is the cofounder of Apple Computers with Steve Jobs. Woz is the actual guy who built the Apple computer. This is a book about an engineer and his dream. He did do something about his dream, though. He made it come true. There are many great "lessons" in the book. I really like his view on many things, such as (engineering) ethics. He is an engineer's engineer. Anyway, you have to read the book yourself. There are some things I don't like about the book, though. For example, there some things repeated many times in the book. It is not exactly repeated, but it was said before. Or, maybe because I did read many Apple books before so some of the facts are already known to me. (There are some things new to me, or to most readers.) Or it's because I am an engineer and he's an engineer. Having said that, I still ...

Last Friday afternoon was a great one for me. I finished marking all my student papers. I just have to signed the grade forms, which I did that afternoon. There was a lunch and informal meeting attended by many faculty lecturers. I didn't take notice of what being said. Hey, I was there just for the food and a little chat with some people. Three students were looking for me. Two of them wanted recommendation letters from me and another student (Architecture student!) wanted to discuss about tech bulidings. After that I decided to go to a music store. As I drove the car to the store, I noticed that I took the long way there. (It sounds like Supertramp's song, "take the long way home".) I chose longer streets but less traffic. I didn't mind. In fact, I kind of enjoyed the ride. I went to the music store, looked at some guitars, basses, amplifiers, mixers, and stuff. While I was looking at some guitars, a person came to me. He said, "You're Budi, right?...

It is getting more and more difficult for me to access this blog. I don't know why. I've tried to update this blog for the last three or four days, but could not even get the login prompt! If this is the case, then nobody will be able to access this blog. Even if they can access this blog, the content is already out of date. The thing is, this blog has been listed as 1 of 10 popular blogs in Indonesia last year by Tempo Magazine. Granted, at that time there were not that many blogs. Thus, this blog stood out. But these days there are better blogs (don't you think?). I even write more often in my Indonesian blog instead of this one. Is this a sign of fading out? I hope not, but if you find this blog is less updated you know the reasons. I still want to write in this blog though. I have to write this fast, worrying that I could not even publish this entry. (I should try one of those off-line blog editors. Suggestion?)

I was tired (from working with my computer, trying to mark students papers) and wanted to take a nap for a few minutes (but taking a book with me???). I put my iPod on and listened to a song. And then, bam, ... I just got the urge to write something down. Here's what happened in my head. You know, I want to play this song live in a performance. (I was listening to "She's so young" by The Pursuit of Happiness.) In fact, I should write a list of songs that I want to perform and just do it. It is possible now since I did two gigs last month and there are several venues waiting for me. If I write the list in a piece of paper, it might be gone. (Well, it happened several times. I lost my to-do list.) I should just write it in my blog. Perhaps even enlist people to get help in the performance (like getting a band). I had to get up and started to work on my computer again. Damn you blog!

I like to tell my students to save their money and go abroad, just for a short vacation. It's not that there is no place in Indonesia worth to go visiting, but there is a very good lesson abroad. For example, when I did my research for Bandung High Tech Valley, I went to Silicon Valley, Malaysia Super Corridor, India (but have not gone to Bangalore yet), and Singapore. I want to smell the coffee in these places. First of all, you can see how other people live. True you can learn this from reading books, blogs, or watching television, but being there is different. There are so many things that cannot be captured by all of these. For example, for political reasons or (media) company's policy the writers cannot write bad things about the object they're talking about. When you go to these places, you can see things for yourself. You can see how clean/dirty the place is, how un/friendly people are, how things work in these countries, and other things. Second, when you interact w...

Today (4th Jan 2007) is the first day for me to work after a long holiday trip with my family. I think this year will be a busy year for me. Of course, I hope it will be a good year for all of us. Let's start the things to do for today: 3 simultaneous meetings in 2 different cities (I can only pick one - the most important) 3 project reports to review (picked only one, the one with tomorrow as the deadline... ha ha ha) 3 article requests from magazines and newspapers (deadline to short, declined) 2 articles to read (related to the report tomorrow, ... ah no time to read! will ask for review) 2 student thesis to review (will do that tonight) (too many) student papers to mark (will do that this weekend) 1 music practice tonight (... hmm, tempting; but I guess I have to decline) ummm... what else? So, readers ... brace yourself. I am going to move full steam ahead ... Ready, Set, Go!

My kids bought "Guitar Heroes" games for their Playstation 2. It's a game about following guitar (rhythm, lick, beat) by pressing the proper buttons. The songs they have to follow are (classic) rock songs, such as "Smoke On The Water" (Deep Purple), "More Than a Feeling" (Boston), and many more. After playing the games they asked me if I can teach them to play guitar. Hah! Finally. I taught them a few basic fingering and (three finger) picking (ala classical guitar players). It was hard. (What can you expect in one lesson?) Now, they appreciate their dad. Hah! I showed them "smoke on the water" and they were impressed. Last week, they bought the sequel - "Guitar Heroes 2". It has more great songs, such as "Carry On Wayward" (Kansas), "YYZ" (Rush), "Surender" (Cheap Trick), and a lot more. Woohoo... More great songs to teach them. To bad, we are going on a vacation today (planning to travel to Malaysia a...

Yes, it's that time of the year(?) again. Everybody wants a piece of me, again. I mean it in a good sense. Here's the deal. Many people phoned me, sent me SMS, email, etc. They wanted (and still want) me to give a seminar, presentation, answer interview, write an article, or whatever. It seems that these people have deadlines to meet. I guess it's the end of the year again, where people must submit their progress report. Some of them even have (leftover) budget to spend. Or, to be exact they have to spend the budget but don't know what to do. The easiest thing is to do a seminar. :D Anyway, I am busy myself with documents to write (review, read). For the last few days (about one month, to be exact), I haven't had a chance to read newspaper! They just come and move from my to read stack to papers to throw. I still write blogs though. The thing is, I make it a habbit to write everyday ! So, people, if you ask me to do something and I decline, you know the reason. I am...

This month I appeared in a couple (I think more than that) magazines. The funny thing is that I didn't know about it. For example, I was waiting for a train in Jakarta's train station and my eyes captured a glance of a magazine. In the cover there was my name. What they hey? So I bought the magazine. Oh, it was an interview I did a month ago. Then yesterday, a group of undergrad students smiled at me and showed me their thumbs (good thing it was their thumbs, ha ha ha). I asked them what made them excited. They told me about interview in another magazine, with a picture of me holding a guitar and an Apple iBook. (Look at the picture below.) Oh, that was another interview I did last month with Oskar Syahbana . A few days ago I did presentation for a telecommunication operator. Next week I am going to do another one. Lots of people to please. ha ha ha. Phew ... becoming a celebrity is not easy. People talk to you and you don't know them. You're in a disadvantage position...

For the last few months I have not been able to finish reading a book. This makes me feel guilty. But, what can I do? I think I am in this position because: I've got too many things to read, not just books; (newer) books keep coming; the book cannot keep my interest to keep on reading until the end (does that mean newer books are not that good compared to old ones? I don't think so); I've got (new) things to learn quickly, which means I don't have the time to read details in the book; I used to enjoy reading books cover to cover. I even finished reading a book in one day (during weekend). Some of the books made me forgot what I was supposed to do (my job). Ha ha ha. They captured my full intentions. Ah ... those moments. Can anybody suggest a good book to recapture that moment?

your voice sounded better on the phone I don't even know who you are would you call me again? I don't want to talk, but I just want to listen your voice sounded better on the phone maybe I don't get many calls but I bet others will say the same I don't want to know who you are but I just want to listen (to your voice)

Yesterday I invited some friends to come over to my office after hours to just jamming. My idea is to have friends and write music. A friend brought his guitar. Another one brought his voice. Another one provided his office space :D Well, it didn't turn out as I expected. I thought we could write songs, toss some ideas, and the like. But, we ended up just playing around with music, sang some cover songs - unfinished most of the times, and basically just did everything but wrote songs. Maybe everybody was so shy to toss ideas. I did toss some of mine, but the others were not interested in songwriting. We were just having fun. A friend told me that I should do the songwriting alone. Once it is done then it could be discussed in public. I guess he is right. Although, I thought getting together would generate ideas and fresh view. I guess songwriting is a private process. What do you think?

I am trying to write songs, but having difficulties in writing lyrics. So, I am going to use this space as an experiment board for my lyrics. Here goes my first stab. Let me know if you can write melodies to this lyrics. I want it hard rock (like Def Leppard or Whitesnake). Ha ha ha. But pop song is okay. I heard you on the radio I heard you on the radio You didn't say your name but, I know it's you I heard you on the radio You said things are not the same but, it was because of you I heard you on the radio You said I don't care but, it is untrue Home is too sad for me After all you did to me I just can't take it anymore I heard you on the radio You said you want me home but, it won't be soon but, it won't be soon ... soon ... soon ... soon [Budi Rahardjo, October 20 - 2006]

I am looking for references that show current (and possibly) UNIX market share. Especially, I am interested to see the composition of these UNIXes: Linux (which distro?) AIX Sun Solaris HP UX (does this have a future?) others? Basically, there are people and companies who are planning to migrate (or stick) to UNIX but they want to get the global picture. Pointers, anybody?

I'm a Chevrolet Corvette! You're a classic - powerful, athletic, and competitive. You're all about winning the race and getting the job done. While you have a practical everyday side, you get wild when anyone pushes your pedal. You hate to lose, but you hardly ever do. Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

One of the things I like about watching live music DVD is the story behind the show. Like right now, I am watching " Whitesnake - Live - In The Still of The Night " DVD. It's a great DVD! In case you don't know, I like Whitesnake. That's why I like Stupa , an Indonesian rock band, because they play Whitesnake covers. David Coverdale, Whitesnake singer - core person, is a powerful and clean voice rock singer. He's probably a singer's singer, if you know what I mean. The live show is great, but I love the Documentary part of the DVD. It makes me understand more about the setup of the live show. Exciting. (Last time I was excited about this when I was watching Peter Gabriel's DVD.) David Coverdale is supported by good musicians and of course, fans. Good stuff. All songs in the DVD are great, but for some reasons I like "Bad Boys" better. It's a great live performance song. I'dl like to explain more, but couldn't. It is frustrating. ...

Where are you, happiness? How do we know if we've got one? Is it in a form of laughter from friends and families? Or is it that blinding light shining through in the dark? Or is it the sound of silence when you are alone? Tell me more ... Got happiness? We want one ...

I love the Internet! I do. I was reading something and read "the pursuit of happiness". That words remind me of something. Oh yes. They reminded me of a band with the same name, " The Pursuit Of Happines " or TPOH. It's a Canadian band, if you're wondering. (Being in Canada for a while, I got used to Canadian bands. They were great!) I remembered a song I loved so much back then, but could not remember the name. No worries. The Internet can help me. Alas, search engine did not help. Try searching with "the pursuit of happines" gave wrong results. I was almost frustrated, but in the end I found what I was looking for, easy enought, at tpoh.net . The song I was looking for is " She's So Young ". It's a beautiful pop rock love song. (The lyrics is not that great. It's too simple, but the melody - guitar chords to be exact - keeps on ringing.) I found the song elsewhere. To my surprise, info on TPOH is also available at last.fm . ...

I've been using Last.FM to keep track of songs that I played in my computer. It creates my own top chart . But I noticed that there is a problem; how to differentiate artists with the same name. For example, in the 70s there was a band called " Angel ". Apparently there is also an artist by the same name. (See this page .) The statistics for "Angel" is incorrect. For this particular example, the description of "Angel" is the rock band, but the top songs came from the newer artist. Another example, is " Angels and Airwaves " the same as " Angels & Airwaves "? A small difference. The names refer to the same band, but computer cannot distinguish them. In last.fm, the tag " Angels and Airwaves " contains a message saying that the tag is incorrect and we should change it to " Angels & Airwaves ." To solve this problem there should be an index of all artists and songs in the world. We could use the index to i...

I would like to say goodbye to Steve Irwin, the Australian Crocodile Hunter. News of his death shocked all of us. Many times I enjoyed watching him on Animal Planet . Sometimes I have to watch with both eyes closed, because of his daredevil action like "hugging" crocodiles. We all love him. He's a truly Australian ambassador to the world. Steve Irwin, thank you for making the world a better place. Your contribution is your ticket to heaven. May you rest in peace.