A reflection on staying online

More than half of office workers use sites like Twitter and Facebook for personal use during the working day, and admit wasting an average of 40 minutes a week each.

One in three of the 1,460 office workers surveyed also said they had seen sensitive company information posted on social networking sites, leading to fears about how workers use the internet.

Philip Wicks, consultant at Morse, the IT services and technology company who commissioned the survey, said the true cost to the economy could be substantially higher than the £1.38bn estimate.(Telegraph)

Above news article made me to think about my internet usage.

Discussion about advantages and disadvantages of the use of Internet is a sort of boring topic, commonly found in the study of foreign language schools. But I have to say that the emergence of social networks enables people to extend their contact list, discussing an issue in a wider scale and conducting a campaign for and against something up to a global level, at the expense of their private time, which can be used more effectively in other ways, in order to upgrade the working position and family welfare.

Probably, most individuals have their intended life time achievement. Obviously, I never think about myself to become a famous blogger or a great twitter user with a thousand of followers. If not, why have I been spending a colossal amount of time in front of computer, by clicking facebook and twitter links? At this point, my reflective practice came into an action to judge my next step. The verdict is that I need to change sooner rather than later.

Reflective practice is a continuous process and involves the learner considering critical incidents in his or her life's experiences. It is also associated with learning from experience(Wiki)

A few months ago, I had to struggle tremendously to complete my tasks at work. It happened after wasting my time on-line uselessly. Learning from experience means less time on-line, planning to do mandatory jobs in a fixed time frame.

I like this quotation.

“Change will never happen when people lack the ability and courage to see themselves for who they are.” (Bryant H. McGill )

My opinion is that people should need to upgrade their social environment and working situation from time to time whenever possible as part of the quality of life improvement process. It is not the right way to stay in one community life long. I came across some people from far east who were confined in the group of same people, even after residing in Britain for years or decades. I am wondering what would be their point of living in Britain. It is very reasonable that the government introduced the Knowledge of life in the UK exam for settlement status applicants, encouraging them to learn briefly what the Britishness is.

We are social-beings. There are some people who enormously enjoy the virtual world for many reasons, one of which it would be a result of withdrawal from the community after not achieving any positive communication. That model is common among immigrants. For a temporary basis, involving with on-line community seems an effective for a loneliness. But what would be the long term effect? How much have I lost because of Facebook, Twitter and cbox?

Camera buying skill

The whole yesterday morning, I did on-line research on current digital SLRs, thinking to buy one. I also bought a couple of photo magazines to get some idea. I know many amateur photographers are crazy to buy Nikon D90 for some reason, even though it is one of the entry level cameras. It would be a copycat phenomenon among a group of people. To be honest, I am not the one who is keen to try a relatively expensive development, at the expense of my monthly investment.

I found out that Nikon D-3000 has acceptable specifications with a reasonable price to me. So I decided to get that one, which was introduced in July 2009 in Britain. I drove to the town centre. When I got to Jessops, I changed my mind to take Sony alfa 230 instead. Sony is rather new in digital camera world, I think. My friends normally prefer Nikon and Cannon. But I think Sony is attractive, extremely compact with a light weight. Moreover, the quality of image of Sony camera is excellent, according to several independent reviews. Next thing is that it is cheap. So I took it. I did also purchase 70-300mm zoom lens. It was nice to take test photos instantly at beach once I came out of the shop.

But I found out that there was no "live view" mode. The LCD screen was only for setting and viewing the photos taken. I must admit that I have a poor knowledge in Digital SLR camera although I used Nikon and Cannon SLRs since I was 18. I wrongly assumed that all dSLR had got a live view as its compact counterparts. In fact, my friend Vista mentioned about "live view" yesterday morning that Nikon 3000 had no such mode, but in Nikon 5000. I neglected her statement which was my mistake. The whole evening, I tried to take photos using view finder, leaving me with some eye ache.

This morning, I went back to Jessops and I did exchange with Sony A330. Now I am happy with new camera. It has got quick AF live view. That means that A330 can provide rapid camera performance without any delay for capture. Hopefully, photos will be available on my picasa web album shortly.



Updated 26.10.09

Please click : Some sample photos I took today

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Holiday in Barcelona

Holiday means gong somewhere. I chose Barcelona. This Spanish city with UNESCO world heritage sites is decorated with a combination of ancient buildings and modern architecture. I stayed in the Front Air Congress Hotel which is 4 star with gym and spa. I must say £55 a night is relatively cheap, compared with the same grade hotels in England. The only drawback was that it was not in the down town. I had to take the bus 72 route from hotel to the centre of Barcelona. It was only Euro 1.35 per ride( one journey £2 in London). Saving money, I bought 2 days travel card, enabling me to take bus and metro as many as I wanted. Their underground network is rather smaller than London counterpart. Basically, no need to worry to lose the way for someone who has been familiar with London transport system.

During my stay, I made new friends. I met a couple from Toronto in hotel restaurant. Both of them were well over 60. They were in Paris before Barcelona. We chatted and later we enjoyed the dinner together. Spanish fine red wine boosted our conversation. Next morning, a young girl called Yumi from Japan asked me something in the hotel lounge. She was on her own. She visited her friends in Oxford for 7 days before coming to Spain. She was a sale assistant from Nagoya. We took sight seeing bus together. She was quite friendly. The only issue was her English with many pauses and stops. But it did not matter for that evening when we enjoyed Spanish foods and then went to spa.

You can see some photos I took.



the view from Montjuïc ( 'Hill of the Jews')


Cruises. Barcelona has a major port in Europe


A women statue who I don't know.


Columbus monument


Date trees


Casa Mila' or La Pedrera (built between 1906-1912)

More photos, click here


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The most annoying things

The most annoying things

I came across an article on the telegraph. “The most 100 annoying things in Britain: Poll.”

The followings are top 3 out of 100.
1. Chavs
2. People driving close behind you
3. People who smell

Full list at Telegraph

I totally agree that chav is in number one position.

Chav (pronounced /ˈtʃæv/ Charver or Scally (In northern England), CHAV) is a derogatory term applied to certain young people in the United Kingdom. The stereotypical "chav" is an aggressive teenager or young adult who often engages in anti-social behaviour, such as street drinking, drug abuse and rowdy behaviour. They are often assumed to be unemployed or in a low paid job, although it is incorrect to assume that all chavs are working class, as chavs belong to no distinct social class. Chavs typically wear tracksuits and hoodies made by sporting brands such as Nike and Adidas and listen to mainly MC and some have been known to listen to Rap, R'n'B, Hip Hop and Techno. (Source: wiki)

(This is for someone who is not familiar with the meaning of chav.)



An example appearance of chavs (source: telegraph.co.uk)

Basically, once I see a group of teenagers with above appearance on my way, I would walk on the other side of the street. That is what my experience taught me. It was near the royal infirmary in west Yorkshire where I lived. A group of teenagers asked for a cigarette. I said I did not smoke. They shouted “F....... Chinese”. What a coincident. Next day, a girl from that group was visiting on the ward to see her sick grandmother who was under my care. She disappeared in a minute once she found out who I was.

Another time, a group of teenagers threw at my car with stone at near Prince Regent Station in east London while driving at about 8PM. I pulled over. They ran away. I rang 999. Police patrol arrived in 2 minutes (Police must be very aware of the situation in that area). Police man checked my car if any damage. Nothing found. They did not take any action. I think teenagers’ behaviour depends on the many factors, such as social class, parental guidance, environment they grow and many more. In fact it is a wide social science topic, I believe.

“People driving close behind you” and “People who smell” ranked number 2 and 3 respectively in above public poll.

To be honest, I do not bother tailgaters too much. Once I have a chance, I let high speeders to take over.

Am I annoyed with smelly people? Absolutely not. Of course. It is my job seeing sick people who have various smells. In fact, some particular smells help establishing a diagnosis in certain conditions.

This is my list of annoyance.

1 Chavs (as above)

2. Noisy self-closing fire door. Because of poor manufacturers or brainless builders, in most NHS buildings I lived previously, the doors shut with a bang, making walls vibrating. Unable to sleep at day time during night on-calls, risking care of patient.

The old closers with above appearance still being used in many places are really bad. The Geze brand fixed in doctor's room at work is the worst one. It shuts the door slowly until about 4 inches away to close completely. After that, it bangs the door, making a loud noice and vibrating walls. No easy way to adjust the door to close gently. (Photo credit to : http://www.locksearch.com )

3. Windows Operating system. I have no choice. But it needs update all the time. In the middle of an important task, it has been asking to restart. Loading and shutting time are ridiculously long. I frequently need to switch the power off.

4. USB memory stick. Very useful. But every time, I need to be careful to put in a right way after one USB socket has already torn.

5. Patriotism/Nationalism

6. Road work. Now it is road work season, I believe. Everywhere, road works. In most sites, workers start their jobs in morning rash hours and finish after evening peak time.

7. Accidents and motor break-downs during rash hours. I sympathise the innocent victims. But I think it is a sort of lengthy investigation in each incident. I feel police and emergency services should have a better tools and system to get job done quickly.

8. People who asked me “Where did you originally come from?” I believe I have to answer that question as long as I am alive and living in Britain, regardless of my nationality.

9. Gordon Brown. Until a few months before this economic slow-down, I remember that he kept saying British economy was still going strong while manufacturing industry has been shrinking year after year with many factories and firms moving out to eastern Europe and China. Of course, Britain mainly depends on service sector. Until when? Who knows?

10. Putting feet on the table. Unfortunately, I start having this practice.