Showing posts with label lifestyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lifestyle. Show all posts

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Newest acquisition: Converse OS 1974 OX


Kalau sudah berhubungan dengan sepatu kets apalagi Converse kayaknya hati ini langsung bergejolak :p Sepatu Converse tipe ini pertama kali saya liat di salah satu toko di Jakarta kurang lebih sejak 1 bulan yang lalu. Dari pertama kali lihat, saya langsung suka sama sepatu ini. Yang menarik adalah kombinasi warna electric blue navy dan warna merah maroon. Plus bahannya adalah kulit bukan kanvas seperti tipikal Converse All Star. Sayangnya kombinasi tidak ada bujet plus nomer yang kekecilan membatalkan rencana akuisisi pada saat itu. Mengingat kebiasaan di toko itu yang selalu menjual barang-barangnya secara terbatas saya langsung pesimis bisa memiliki sepatu itu.

Tetapi kemarin pada saat ke Bandung dan mengunjungi cabang dari toko yang sama di Bandung ternyata sepatu itu ada lagi. Dan nomer dari sepatu yang dipajang, ajaibnya ternyata sesuai dengan nomer sepatu Converse yang biasa saya pakai (9.5). Apakah ini sebuah pertanda? :D Finally with a little begging to the missus, I was able to acquired it :) Rencananya sepatu ini bakalan dipake sebagai pengganti sepatu Converse army canvas yang sudah menemaniku sejak 5 tahun yang lalu sebagai sepatu jalan sehari-hari.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Manohara: Love to hate


Siang ini pas lagi asik showering di kamar mandi, terdengar handphone berbunyi-bunyi. Tampaknya wify lagi sibuk jadi nggak angkat telpon. Berhubung lagi tanggung di kamar mandi ya udah didiemin aja. Nggak taunya hp bunyi teru-terusan, ya udah takut ada sesuatu yang penting cepet-cepet beresin di kamar mandi terus keluar. Lihat hp ternyata my sister missed call 4 kali. Males telpon balik, aku sms saja tanya ada apa. Nggak berapa lama dia telpon balik:

Me : "Halo"
Sister: "Halo Bang. Bang tau enggak sarung hp blackberry manohara?"
Me : "Oh iya tau" (soalnya suka nemenin wify nonton gosip di TV jadi tau :p)
Sister : "Iyah itu yang blink blik gitu. Yang ada batu-batunya. Itu ada yang jual dimana yah?"
Me : "Di Ambas ada deh" (Soalnya yg aku tau di mall Ambassador banyak jual aksesoris yang kayak gitu)
Sister : "Bener di Ambas ada? Soalnya gue lagi ke sana nih sekarang"
Me : ??!! (Soalnya my sister work and live at Jepara, how the heck she already here?)
Me : "Bener ada, soalnya di sana banyak tuh yang jualan aksesoris hp"
Sister : "Oh ya udah gw kesana. Thanks yah Bang, bye"
Me : "Bye"

Tidak berapa lama sempet liat di acara gosip bagaimana sekarang lagi trend tas Manohara di kalangan para wanita. Dan sekarang udah ada trend lagi sarung hp Manohara. Adik kita yang satu ini benar-benar out of nowhere dan sekarang menjadi the hottest celebrity di Indonesia. Oh Manohara, how much we love to hate you.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Catatan pasca tawuran massal mahasiswa di Jakarta

Hosted by imgur.com
Ini sebuah catatan tentang sebuah kejadian yang sebenarnya sudah tidak baru lagi. Saya jadi tergerak untuk menulis ini setelah melihat acara talk show di pagi hari dari sebuah TV swasta kita. Dengan tema talk show itu mengenai tawuran massal mahasiswa antara UKI dan UPI YAI yang sebelumnya terjadi. Tamu yang diundang pada saat itu adalah perwakilan dari kedua PTS tersebut serta (CMIIW) seorang lagi dari sebuah LSM pendidikan.

Saya buat singkatnya apa yang terjadi dalam perbincangan yang terjadi kemudian:
Pembawa acara : Seperti biasa menggiring nara sumber atau tamu ke tema yang diinginkan, yaitu dengan cepat (sesegera mungkin) menghentikan kejadian ini agar tidak terjadi kembali.
Perwakilan PTS : Berbicara ke kiri kanan atas bawah tanpa menyentuh apa yang menjadi esensi dari yang ditanyakan oleh host. Dengan kata lain menghindar.
Perwakilan LSM : Berbicara mengenai sistem pendidikan kita yang to be honest nggak nyambung sama tema talk show saat itu.

Berikutnya semua tamu dan nara sumber keluar dan datang kemudian tamu berikutnya yang salah satunya adalah rektor dari UI bapak Gumilar R Somantri. Sayangnya kesempatan yang diberikan pada pak rektor untuk memberikan pendapatnya mengenai masalah ini sangat pendek sekali. Namun dalam waktu yang pendek tersebut, pak rektor memberikan sebuah tanggapan yang paling mengena dalam masalah ini. Apakah tanggapan beliau, akan saya bahas berikutnya namun sebelumnya sedikit saya tanggapi mengenai pemilihan tema dan cara pembawaannya dari TV tersebut.

Jelas sekali bahwa apa yang diinginkan dan menjadi tema dari talkshow adalah bagaimana menghentikan tawuran antar mahasiswa tersebut secepat mungkin dan tidak terjadi kembali. Tema "menghentikan secepat mungkin" tampak jelas dari bagaimana pembawa acara mengarahkannya pada pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang disampaikan pada saat perbincangan. Penekanan terhadap hal ini mungkin didasari dari besarnya berita ini di masyarakat dan kerugian material yang diakibatkan dari kejadian ini juga dapat dikatakan yang terbesar. Jadi "urgency" untuk segera secepat mungkin menyelesaikan masalah ini menjadi tema utama yang diusung pada acara tersebut.

Mari kita berpikir sederhana. Kedua lokasi kampus yang terlibat tawuran praktis dapat dikatakan saling bersebelahan. Penyelesaian termudah (dan tercepat)? Pindahkan salah satu kampusnya. Problem solved. Dan itu memang apa yang kemudian terjadi. Pemerintah meminta (atau tidak meminta) salah satu kampus untuk pindah dari lokasi. Tapi apakah masalahnya semudah itu? Apakah dengan memindahkan fisik mahasiswa dan bangunannya maka kejadian seperti ini tidak akan terjadi lagi? Bagaimana dengan kampus lain yang bertetangga? Akankah menjadi bom waktu yang siap meledak suatu waktu? Apakah demikian cara pemerintah atau kita melihat akar dari permasalahan ini? Bahwa tawuran itu terjadi karena kampus mereka saling berdekatan?

Disinilah kemudian apa yang disampaikan oleh pak Gumilar R Somantri menjadi sangat menarik. Kita lihat Universitas Tarumanegara dan Trisakti kemudian Universitas Padjadjaran dan WiyataMandala. Mereka juga saling berdekatan, tapi apakah pernah sampai terjadi kejadian tawuran massal. Tidak. Saya tidak akan mengutip dengan tepat apa yang dikatakan oleh pak Gumilar R Somantri namun intinya adalah: Pihak perguruan tinggi (dan sekolah) memiliki tanggung jawab untuk menyediakan lingkungan belajar yang terbaik dan kondusif bagi mahasiswanya. Jangan memikirkan keuntungan semata dengan memanfaatkan semua tanah kosong maupun ruang yang ada sebagai kelas dengan tujuan untuk menampung sebanyak-banyaknya siswa agar mendapatkan sebanyak-banyaknya keuntungan tanpa memberikan ruang gerak bagi siswa-siswanya untuk belajar dan berekspresi secara positif.

Kita lihat keadaan kampus yang ada saat ini. Keadaanya bisa dikatakan sumpek, saling berhimpitan antara kelas, furniture, mahasiswa sampai parkir motor, mobil, tukang parkir, tukang kaki lima semuanya saling berebut tempat. Apakah tersedia ruang dan fasilitas untuk mereka berdiskusi? Mengerjakan tugas bersama? Berkesperimen dengan apa yang telah diberikan dosen mereka? Mengekspresikan diri mereka dalam lingkungan intelektual dan akademis? Apa yang kita pikirkan seandainya kita menjadi mahasiswa di tempat seperti itu? Saya rasa kita akan datang hanya untuk absen saja. Hanya itu, karena untuk melakukan hal lainnya sama sekali tidak tersedia ruang dan kesempatan di sana.

Mahasiswa merupakan fase dimana energi yang dimiliki sangat berlimpah. Tugas pendidik dalam hal ini untuk mengarahkan dan memfasilitasi mahasiswa agar memanfaatkan energi berlebih ini untuk hal yang positif. Apabila energi berlebih ini gagal tersalurkan dengan cara yang intelektual dan akademis melalui sistem pembelajaran yang diberikan di kampus, maka energi ini akan pecah tumpah ke berbagai arah. Karena itu ketika saya pertama kali mengetahui kejadian ini, yang pertama kali muncul dari pikiran saya adalah: kok bisa mahasiswa yang tawuran ini masih memiliki cukup energi untuk berbuat hal seperti itu? Dikampusnya mereka ngapain aja sampai masih punya energi untuk tawuran?

Jadi IMHO akar permasalahannya bukan pada lokasi gedung. Tapi bagaimana setiap sekolah dan perguruan tinggi komitmen dengan tanggungjawabnya pada proses mendidik siswanya menjadi yang terbaik yang bisa mereka capai. Meraup keuntungan sebanyak-banyaknya dengan menjejalkan sebanyak mungkin siswa tanpa mengimbanginya dengan memberikan sistem pengajaran yang baik, pengajar yang berkualitas dan fasilitas yang baik sama sekali tidak akan bisa jalan. Mahasiswa akan menyelurkan energinya ke hal-hal lain yang belum tentu baik untuk mereka.

Seperti yang biasa saya katakan pada mahasiswa saya: Sebelumnya Anda pergi ke sekolah menggunakan motor bebek dengan kecepatan 30 km/jam. Sekarang Anda jadi mahasiswa Anda dibekali dengan motor balap. Masihkah Anda mengendarainya dengan kecepatan 30 km/jam? Selagi mereka memiliki energi berlebih, mereka harus memanfaatkannya semaksimal mungkin. Dan tugas pendidik untuk memastikan mereka untuk mamacu hingga kecepatan maksimalnya dan berprestasi di lintasan balap Grand Prix bukan di balap jalanan liar.


*Photo courtesy of Elshinta.com

Monday, February 25, 2008

Car Free Day February 2008

Photobucket

Yesterday I had a chance to try my friend's Dahon VD6 for a test ride. Fortunately, that day was a Car Free Day, a one day monthly event where cars and motorcycles are not allow to enter the street of Sudirman, Thamrin all the way to Monas from 6 AM to 2 PM. This event usually held on the last weekend of the month. The uncrowded street then used by pedestrians, cyclists, and families for recrational activities.

There is no special preparation for me, just use my airsoft helm (Protech helm), my Lowepro backpack and of we go. Together with my wife and her Dahon ht661 (see my previous post) we start late around 9 AM, while many people and events are already begun from 6 and 7 AM. After cruising around the street and meet fellow folding bike owners and took some photos we decided to went home and have lunch at Gado-Gado Bu Aam near our home around 12.

The ride with Dahon VD6 is nice, one shortcome is the saddle that is too hard. It really uncomfortable for a long ride or when the road is not that good. And after riding my bike's wife (16" wheel and hi-tens frame) before, you can really feel the difference that come with the 20" wheel and light alumunium frame of Dahon VD6. Next week I'm planning to go to Tamansari where there are some bike stores that sell Oyama folding bike and test ride it.

Folding Bike Fever part 2

Photobucket

I have a habit of doing intense research of something I want before I decided to have it. And internet is a very important source of doing research and it has been for many things I have at this moment. And when I decided to have a folding bike, i go nowhere but digging in the vast resource internet has to offer. Two most important sources for me is Sepedaku (Indonesia bicycles forum) and Id-Foldingbike (Indonesia folding bike mailing list). Both offer important informations for me to choose what folding bike I will have. And right now they are 3 options in front of me, buy one of my friend's Dahon folding bike or buy a new Oyama folding bike. The other option is to buy 2nd hand Hasa F1 folding bike. They all have the same price.

My friend's Dahon actually is a streamlined Chinese Dahon KA062, a version of 2004 Dahon Vitesse D6. The other options is to buy a new Oyama folding bike (a Taiwanese brand) type Skyline Pro that some said it is a copy of Dahon Speed P8 (but with 7 speed). While Hasa F1 is a little bit out of reach because not many people own it and so it is hard find a used one on sale at a reasonable price.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

[Photos] Hambalang Hills


A photo session with friends from Lensa.Net. Model featuring Amel.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

My Flickr photostream


One of my hobby is photography. I was one of the student that start the first photography extracuriculer activities in my high school (SMA 14 East Jakarta) in 1992. Then I went to Department of Journalism in University of Padjadjaran (Bandung) in 1993 and learn journalism photography.
My first camera is SLR Canon AE-1 with Tamron 70-210mm lens from my father. I took mostly journalism and human interest shots and most of it in black and white film. After that camera then I switched on to SLR Minolta Dynax (i forget the type) with kit lens. This camera has been my companion in my college years. By the time I graduated I sold it.
When most of my college friends work in media company, I choose a different path and spend of my post college year in IT sectors being an instructor and graphic designer. At this moment I hardly use my photographic skills and just use a Canon pocket digital camera for graphic design work purpose I have that time.
After spend several years at Bandung I moved on to Jakarta. Having better financial income then I managed to buy my first DSLR, the Nikon D50 with 18-55mm lens and begin my old hobby again. After about a year I decided to buy another DSLR this time a Nikon D80 with several lenses. What I enjoy from my hobby is the time when I gather and have photo hunting/session with fellow photographer friends in various exotic areas. So it is not just taking pictures but at the same time we travell to beautifull places that some of it I never visited before.
At the moment I do not own DSLR at all. I recently sold my D80 for other hobbies and decided to went hiatus on my photography hobby. So now I have a lot of time to review my old photos and decided to begin uploading it to my Flickr account. I will post update here everytime I upload a new photo at my photostream.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Folding bike fever

With my wife's new folding bike :)

First time I know about folding bike is from one of my airsoft buddy when we were actually talking about GPS devices. That was about one year ago and that time I was so consume with my airsoft hobby that I did not give it too much attention altough it is stick in my mind from that time. Recently my wife talk to me about having bike at home and we agree having bicycle will be fun for us. And then one of her friend introduce her to the folding bike. One talk lead to another and yesterday my wife bought her first folding bike.


Test riding the new bike :)

The bike is Chinese Dahon HT661 with 16inch wheel with blue finish. I took on a test ride and I immediatly like it. The practicallity and a lot of fun possibilities that come with it are very interesting. Lets say that I can bring it with me to the office (even ride it to the office), take it inside the car trunk, go to some places (Kebun Raya Bogor, Ancol, etc) and when we arrive we can use it instead using the car. Or imagine this: I ride it to one of the Jakarta-Bandung travel station, fold it and put it inside the travel car's trunk, go to Bandung. After arriving in Bandung, unfold the bike and ride it around the city. It is a lot of fun isn't it? How about going to Yogya by train or to Bali by plane? It only weighing at 10-12 kg so it is easy to carry around after you fold it.


The folded bike in the corner of our room. Looks good with my blue Adidas Superstar :)

But then again this is my wife's bike and it has only 16 inch wheel wich is perfect fit for my wife's size but not for me. My wife said I looke like a circus bear on bicycle when I ride it. So I guess I will buy myself my own folding bike with 20 inch wheel that should fit me well. Look forward for posts about folding bike and bike travel next.
In the mean time here are some link to bike community in Indonesia:

  • Sepedaku : Indonesian bike community forum. They have dedicated sub forum about folding bike.
  • ID-Foldingbike : mailing list of folding bike enthusiasts in Indonesia.
  • B2W Indonesia : Bike to Work community in Indonesia.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Seven Medical Myths

These are something that you're likely to get from your mother or mother-in-law the 1st time you accidentally complain about small unimportant headache...and you already know they will say the same thing no matter how old you are right now.
  1. Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. Actually it means your body need liquid about 8 glasses a day. That means any liquid from food, fruit, juice, drinkwater, etc. So you do not have to drink water 8 glasses a day, just try to have liquid minimal as much as 8 glasses a day.
  2. We use only 10 percent of our brains. This assumption was made back in 1907. Just think what kind of equipments and how deep is medical science 100 years ago? Now, with all technology in neuroscience, experts believe we use more than 10 percent. In fact, high-tech methods of studying the brain have not identified any inactive areas.
  3. Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death. Every parts of our body need energy to sustain their function. This include tissue regeneration. Once the body shutdown, there are no source of energy left. And then the dehydration of the body after death can cause retraction of the skin around hair and nails, giving the illusion that they have grown.
  4. Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight. Statistic says that rate of myopia (nearsightedness) is higher right now then it was centuries ago when people read in candlelight. Read in dim light can cause eyestraint and difficulty focusing, but never causing permanent effect.
  5. Shaving causes hair to grow back faster or coarser. Study shows it was wrong. Newly grow hair lacks the fine taper seen at the end of unshaven hair, making it appear coarser. And the fact that it hasn't been exposed to light may make it seem darker than other hair.
  6. Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals. Studies in England and the U.S. have found little in the way of interference and few serious effects. The study showed that no interference at all in 300 tests in 75 treatment rooms. In fact, some reports said that the use of mobile phones by physicians was associated with a reduced risk of medical error or injury resulting from delays in communication.
  7. Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy. Some said this is because some substance called tryptophan. But the amount of this tryptophan in turkey is the same as it is in cheese and other meat product. And the true factor is: any big meal can make you sleepy because of a decrease in blood flow and oxygenation to the brain. And then, of course, there's the wine.
*The facts above was taken from a study published in the December 2007 British Medical Journal re-written by Dr. Andrew Weill, MD. You can go to his website for good information in health & medicine.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Walk your fiancée on a leash



Goth who walks fiancée on a leash is banned by bus driver who told him: 'No dogs allowed' the Daily Mail

It always becomes a hot topic about how people choose how they live their life. Not just about culture they took but also how they practice their spiritual believe (religion). I always believe as long as whatever you choose to believe or to do does not hurting or bothering the way I live my life, it is Ok.
In Islam there is one verse from Quran that definetly describe it well: "Lakum dinukum waliyadin". Roughly means: "Your religion is for you only and my religion is for me alone". So I do what I choose and you do what you choose, everything is fine as long as we do not interfere with each other believe.
Well back to the story above. The girl said: "...It's my culture and my choice. It isn't hurting anyone...". And I must say that I agree with her......even how weird it is for me.

University of Padjadjaran Reunion


My friends exchanging phone number

On 20 January 2008 I went to my almamater reunion back in Bandung. Not really into the event, just met with some of my college friends and having some good time. Fyi, I finished my undergraduate from University of Padjadjaran in Bandung. Majoring in Journalism from Faculty of Communication class 1993.
I did not bring my DSLR camera and this shot was taken with my Nokia 6120 camera. I will post new pictures as soon as my friend mail it to me.

Monday, January 7, 2008

What's new in new new?

There are only 3 days that I celebrate. First is my wife birthday, our anniversary and Idul Fitri day. Occasionally if I don't forget, my mother birthday and perhaps my future kids birthday. So fyi I don't celebrate new year even my own birthday. So shaking my colleagues hands and saying happy new year on our first day job after long holiday is kind of bothering me.
Heck, whats so special about new year? Its just the same as other days. It just a work of some king from Rome (Julius Caesar) who like to play with days, moon and sun. And of course want his name to be part of it.
So what are new in this new year for me? First the important thing, my status is now married. Yes, finally it happened. I married my college lover and I guess I'm a lucky man now. :)
And on 30 December 2007, I bought a new pair of snickers. I have a couple of Converse shoes before. And that day I bought a new Adidas Superstar (with blue stripes). I like the old skull look of this one and kind of remind me of my 80's era. Actually I almost didn't buy this shoes but my wife convinced me and I'm lucky she did that because I really love it. I bought it at a discount store. The suggested retail price is 800.000 IDR and I bought it at 350.000 IDR. So it was quite a bargain for me.

My new Adidas Superstar

The other new thing is on the last day of 2007 I bought a new cellphone. And that is a Nokia 6210 Classic. It replace my Sony Ericsson K618i. Actualy I never into Nokia and always have a Sony Ericsson as my cell phone. First, the SE W610i is the first on my list. But the product has been discontinued so it was hard to find a new one on the stores. But after reading reviews and hear my wife's opinion (she knows about cellphones better than me), I know the Nokia 6120 Classic is a best bargain. It cost around 2.000.000 IDR (roughly the same as the new SE W610i) but with a lot a better features. The one that really caught me is that Nokia 6120 already support HSDPA (3,5G). This is important as I connect to the internet in my home using my cellphone as my modem. The other features that I really find it useful are: has FM receiver (I never had a cellphone with FM receiver before, my wife always laugh about this), support Micro SD up to 2Gb (useful to store my musics and listen to it at my own convenient time as my wife hate my musical taste) and the camera is not so bad. I think the 2Mp camera is better than my previous SE, it even has flash on it. And lastly it uses an OS (Symbian 6 ver.3) so I can install various applications.

Nokia 6120 Classic