My Brother's Wedding Convesation - 2

Yesterday, was at home to witness the conversation of my brother's wedding preparation again.

Some parts of the conversation that I wanted to highlight :

D=My Father
B= My Brother
M=My Mother
[Note] = My comments, in italics.

(1) About the timetable for the day :

M : So what is the program for the day, April 15th, right ?

B : Yes. The ROM will be at 12.30. Then will be the buffet.

D : Buffet until what time ?

B : They need to re-arrange the place for the wedding dinner at 5pm.

M : So buffet is about 1 to 3 lah.

B : Yeah. Still need to book the registrar. [Note : They wanted the ROM Ceremony to be on location, instead of at the ROM]

M : Haven't confirmed yet, ah ?

B : Not yet [Note : Huh ? Haven't book ? Wait not free, then change everything lah ?]

M : Then morning ? The timing for the ceremony

[Note : My brother was thinking for a full 20 seconds before answering]

B : By 11.30am have to leave the house.

M : How about the morning ?

B : 1 hour for tea ceremony enough ?


[Note : Hmm.. Wonder what has been planned, and what hasn't been ? Does he know which are the "critical paths" and need to book first ? ]



(2) About the Wedding Dinner Tables :

B : Ten table for you all enough ?

D : If you can only give then, then I will adjust my guest list. This one after New Year can think one.

B : I reserve 2 tables for my helpers, the girl's side need 14 table, so 10 for you. If you don't need so many, the remainder will give to the girl's side.

M : You pay for the girl's side ah ?

B : YES. We paying for the whole dinner ourselves.

D : Usually, when giving tables, give the girl's side same or less than the boy's side...

B : My girlfriend already ask her parents to reduce the number of guests. They are big family, what to do ?

D : It is not about the number of guests they have. They are big family, or they have big business, it is their own side to settle. But you do not have to give so many.

B : They actually ask for higher, but we negotiated lower.

M : Also, usually, the girl's side ask for tables, they don't ask for "gifts".

D : Yes, they want higher, but do they have the right to demand for it ? You should know how to talk to them. Normally if you give them what you can, if they want more, can, they just pay for the rest. You just have to help them book the tables.

B : (loudly) YEAH ! IF DON'T GIVE, THEN THEY DON'T MARRY THEIR DAUGHTER TO YOU LAH !

D : If want to say that, then nothing to discuss lor. If it were me, I would have already thought of how to reason with them. What is the point of making their children suffer in debt for the wedding, then no money for house and children ? Is this the way to love their daughter ? Why you never think before hand, how to talk and how to approach ? If it were me, I will have ways to get them to agree to my terms.

B : YEAH LAH ! YOU VERY SMART LAH ! I VERY STUPID LAH !

[Note : And he proceeds to pack his things to leave the house. Say need to go somewhere. It is raining cats and dogs at that time.]

After he left, my parents were then talking to each other.

Commenting that he must have been the girl's side wanted everything and he just agreed. Like he had no choice. Boss's niece lah ! Cannot think for himself one ?

And that why he do or say things, never thought about parents' feelings ah. They demand, must give ? Never consult with own parents ? Must approve one meh ? Both parents can don't agree, then ownself go and elope lah ! Never say that to him only.

Tell him how to deal with people, for his own good, get scolding from him. Happy event like this must turn out this way. Everything give in to the other side. Give suggestions, thinking it is discussion, he blame us for making things difficult for him. Shouting at us everytime.

Then might as well just inform us what to do, don't bother to discuss. But then, himself cannot settle all the things and cannot plan properly. Leave it to him lah.

Long time no see

My work looks to be an uphill tasks. Just got some negative comments from bosses about my past year's work.

Nevertheless, I shall look forward and learn from this episode. Afterall, what is the worst that can happen ? I become bo-chap, and get fired ?

These 2 weeks has been very turbulent for me. Helping my boss take care of a colleague who is "politically" weak. I have almost become a logistic cum warehouse manager.

~*~*~*~*~

My new toy hasn't been giving me a smooth time either. Just realized, stupidly, that my Video capture card doesn't include hardware encoder. So I will have to depend on CPU power to do video compression.

Encoding one channel to mpeg4 using most available codecs occupies the CPU at almost 100% already. And quite a lot of lost frames as well. What more of 4 channels ?

However, there was one that did the job at about 30% CPU utilization and no lost frames - Pegasus. But I will have to pay... (anyone can give me a registered copy for free ?)

Am very tempted to use batch files, and use AmCap to do the capture. Simplest solution of all, and able to capture 4 channels simultaneously. Problem is, it is not able to use any other codecs, and the output is huge AVI files.

Well, maybe just buy a big HDD and just clear out the data every few days of driving.

And now, to find get a casing that can fit under my seat, and a good power supply.

Oh and the PCI riser card is ridiculously expensive !!!!!

My Toy - Updated

My Video Capture Card Arrived !



It now sits on my EPIA :



And I am connecting this to one camera first. This is my first cam :



It can fit into a 1x1x1-inch box. I think it will fit nicely behind my rear-view-mirror.

And now, the most important part is to get the software working. Currently looking for freeware/shareware where I can :
- configure up to 4-views per screen,
- superimpose date/time and other data,
- allows me to configure it for unattended recording


After this is the power supply issue in my car.
Hmm... Ok, baby steps, baby steps.

Me at Work with my New Toy

Ok. So I have gotten my new toy. What do I want to do with it ?





My first requirement is to make it a multi-channel DVR for my car.
I guess this will explain why I want it much smaller than a normal PC. And also why I want a fanless board - to reduce noise.

Still waiting for my Video Capture Card from the supplier.

Will attempt to make the whole thing work on WinXP first. If performance is not good, then I will attempt Linux. Afterall, I am no Linux expert ; Do the easy one first.




Initially, booting up without any software installed takes about 45-50 seconds.
POST - 9 seconds (include auto-detect IDE for CD-ROM. Will be out in actual deployment)
WinXP Splash screen - 10-15 seconds.
Starting of OS till desktop available - 25 seconds.

Not a very good speed for embedded system.

But I am running it off 128MB for now, and have just disabled all useless services. I think upgrading to 512MB will make it load faster.