My Cat just Died...

This morning I heard my wife talking to my maid, She told her that one of my cat passed away yesterday. So sad..

What I don't like about having a pet, that I have to deal with this kinda stuff, you know, dead stuff. The cat was a very happy, male kitten. His age not more than 4 months old. He was the curious one. The one that always bite me whenever I gave him food. Even if I just sitting still, he still bite me! hahaha so funny of him. Sometime he also chews my finger. Today I can feel the dark cloud surrounding the rest of the pack. They were all so quite. Not so playful as they use too.

I have nine cats in the pack. And one other cat that doesn't belong to the pack. So total of ten cats. Six of them we're just kittens. And Five of the kittens had a very bad flu the past two weeks. But this one kitten really can't stand the cold. He don't want to drink the medicine, because of the mucus on his mouth and nose, he can't smell the scent of his food, so hi lost appetite. My sister tried to gave him food through an insulin but it just don't work.

Everyday he's just getting thinner. It was so sad to see him like that every time I got home from work. He just sat there on the sofa, or some time I found him inside the bathroom with slime came out from his mouth and nose.

Yesterday I saw him near the koi pond, he was walking wobbly, then I realized that he is thirsty, so I took him by the neck (a proper way to carry a cat), and I gently put him near his drink. And he just collapsed. I remember when I held him, he was so skinny, I felt no weight on his body. So I believe that he just don't have the strength to stand up. Not long after that, I went to work.

Thats the last time I saw him. She was buried yesterday. I came home late yesterday, and his aunt were sleeping beneath the dinner table, she was so quiet, she didn't even move when I say hi. I know that something is wrong. But I ignored my senses...

So long "Anak siro kecil orens" (Shiro's orange little daughter), I'm very sorry if I ever treat you bad. It was very fun to know you. You will always be a member of the pack. And every time a go to the backyard, I will always remember how you chewing at my fingers :)

This is him with his twin brother..hahaha I really can't tell the difference between the two of them. Their so identical. His brother survive the Flu without medicine.

Collabo with The Amazing Dika Toolkit

Finally,

I got the chance to collab with my friend, Dika Toolkit. At first I was like thinking how can I upgrade my skill on Koi drawing? Since it seems to stuck and stop for awhile. So I drew it as a sketch at first, and no matter how hard I've tried to make it look realistic, It always ends up with a cartoon kinda feel. Hahaha. I guess I just have to deal with it. So I add my character on the Koi, and make a cartoon wave on it. After I Inked the sketch, then light bulb lights up!

F**k! I should send this Koi to Dika! and see what he'll do! And so I did. After a few hours, he sent me back the drawing..and VOILA!!!

It is so much better then I could ever imagine...Enjoy :)

My so called meeting speech

I wrote this on my sketch, it is a prologue for my yearly meeting with all the members of Guru Educational Toys. Hahahah it was very weird that I wrote it in english when I know that it will be delivered in Bahasa.

" It's been a fucking hard year for al of us...the drama of we have to split from our founder company. Power struggle on the production line. the downfall of our marketing (power). The finance report that puts us almost in the state of bankruptcy..

But somehow we still here!

Despite the odds, the gruesome monsters, all those emotion and never ending drama, etc..we are still here!! Our loyal customer still looking for us, still buying our (what you all may think as an overpriced) products. And what most important for me is, we haven't lost anyone on our team.

(pause)

This company have stood for more then 8 years, but for me it is still an invant. We are still learning how to crawl. Especially in the last 9 months. We were reborn. We are facing again all of the challanges that all of the new company have to face.

But we have two thing in advantage. Two things that somehow we seem to take it for granted.

(pause)

The first one is our products!!
Our products for the last months have been a benchmark for all Indonesian wooden toys. Now everyone wants to copy us. Even our main rival has the same product quality as ours.

The second one is..although you all mey not bealive this, It is ourselves...especially..it is you! Not me! NO! You guys! I bealive a great company should have 4 (four) things! FOUR KEY PERSONS!

1. A great marketer
2. Person who is incredible in handling product line
3. A higly detailed finance
and last but not least
4. Is a person who trully loyal and passionate to support all of us.

Yes the four of you! I can leave the company at anytime and I guarentee you, that the company will still be running like nothing is happen. That is how amazing you four really are.

(pause)

I know that there are doubts that clouds you, something that scares you, thoughts of "we never will be as good as we use to". I know how you all feel. Now what I want you to know is, I bealive that this storm will be over soon and the four of you will help me to row this ship to the promise land.

So now, every week in this December, we will have a meeting, where I want to hear all the progress report from all of you. I want to know what are the challanges that you face. But not only pin points it, I also want you to suggest me how can we overcome the challenges.
That way we can face 2012 with our best arsenal. I want the meeting/presentation focus on our future, yes you can talk about the past but I dont want you to be carried away by it. We will be talking about goals, challanges and all the things that can make Guru helthier, and also we will be talking about our rivals. "


hahahahah thats it...and its not me if I didnt draw n what suppose to be a texts..ahahaha

Steve Jobs

This is will be my hardest post yet...

Steve Jobs just died

I jumped off my bed when I read the news on my iPhone, I surfed every net confirming the news. And its true. My wife also shocked. And I accidentally hurt her. I ignored her, and chose to stay speechless in the bathroom and twit about it. Not knowing she's crying in the room feeling unwanted... I'm very sorry for that. I really didn't mean to..thats how the news hits me. Thats how deeply emotionally I get towards this...

This post will not talk about Steve Jobs biography, I will write about how Steve impacts me.

When I was young, well I'm not that old actually, about 15 years ago, I was at high school. I used to think computer is piece of crap! C'mon! Its suppose to be making life easier! Computer is like a spoiled little brat! You have to build piece by piece, it was hard enough to pick the right parts, even harder to build it together. And if that thing got a virus, its doomed! I don't want a computer! But I have to have one since I took Art School at collage. So I have this big PC running AMD Athlon (its a chip where acts as the brain inside the computer, not a very smart one, but strong enough). For years I didn't want to upgrade the computer. Cause all the parts were inside that big box! No easy access whatsoever! It had billions of viruses, crashed so many time, power supply burnt...bwehhhh!

Then in 2002, my dad took me to a computer store, and asked if I want to upgrade my computer, or even buy a new one. He use an Apple computer when he was in collage, so he is the first person introduced me to one. He bought me a Power BookG4....and I was like...THIS IS IT!! It was clean, simple, powerful! I remember Steve said in one of his keynotes, "The customer didn't want to know about the hard part, so lets make their life easier by making a product thats really dedicated for them"..Thats it! No more right click refresh, I can upgrade my Mac such as adding more memory to it by only losing same screws, easy access. Really does makes my life easier! Thanks dad. After that, I got a job and I can buy my own Mac now :)

I'm the kind of person who really wants to know whats going on in the kitchen? So when I like one specific product, I would like to know who build it. So thats when I know about Steve Jobs. Bla bla bla yada yada yada I've done research about him...man this guy is amazing! Couldn't find a word to describe that. One of his speech that really impacts me is the one where he delivered at the Stamford University. Two sentences changed my live completely "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life" and "Quitting from Apple is one of my best decision ever" !!! He quits Apple!! Than he came back rescuing it from bankruptcy! Steve is a perfectionist when it comes to products. Theres one story where his wife, Laurene, wants to buy a new washing machine. She have to do so many research and comparing so many products and presented to Steve. Then he chose the most efficient in electricity usage, water waste etc. For one rich people he really knows how to shop.

I learn so many leadership from him. He is a visionaries and he will make sure that his vision will come true! Steve's idea is like a spark in a tank of gasoline, look at iPhone! That one sophisticated phone that were created by the underdog phone company at the time, really create a great fire in the phone industry. Now all major phone company are racing to beat the iPhone. Great company starts from a small team! Apple really started from his garage by only three genius masterminds, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne. On one of his biography, he said that a great team is not about large number of people inside it to win the fight! But how you pick a handful of people that share the same interest, same dream and same spirit with you.

Then the tablet (you know, that computer where you can tap the screen using a stylus!). I lose faith in tablet, I love to draw but no tablets can really fulfill my standard. It was slow, thin, and the stylus didn't act exactly how I wanted. YEP! Here comes the iPad! It was huge again! Everyone wants an iPad! And every company wanted to have one just like that! It was perfect (for me). I can sketch, I can write, play games, maybe will be the device to help me teach my kids how to read one day.

Every time Apple released a new device, they took the environmental  issue seriously. The MacBook box its getting smaller every release. No more thick instruction manual. So thats mean more space on the cargo ship, less fuel!

Right now I'm running a toy company, a small one. And I try my best to be a better leader for my employee, try my best to create the best products for all the customer, and also reducing my production waste. I learn all of that from Steve.

Its funny when someone is so great, really makes you like knowing that person even though you never meet him. And right now, Apple fanboy or not, the world just lost one incredible person who makes our live easier by creating these devices that really works for us. "I don't have to fit myself to use the product, it fits me!" Jonathan Ive (Head of Apple design team).

Btw, for those of you who watched the latest keynote presentation, can you imagine hows Tim Cook, Scott Forestall and others feeling knowing that Steve is dying in the hospital? phhfuuuhhhhh...

May you rest in piece Steve, thank you for everything. You made my life and everybody else's esier with your creation. You changed and set the bar so high in the tech world.

Below is my early sketch of Steve Jobs, using SketchBookPro on iMac. Its actually my first try on the Mac App Store.

Let's talk iPhone.....4S

mmmm let see now..where should I begin with this one..It's always a challenge for me to write a review about Apple's latest product, because somehow it tends to draw many of those haters out there to leave such a rude comment about it! What the... dude?? If you chose to use another device thats your choice! This is my review, and I'm writing about something that I love, that I really know and what I've seen, heard and expirienced it first hand. So be gone haters! Go find something more important to argue about. Theres more to life then just hating.

Ok..heheheheh what an opening ey??

Last night, 4 Oct 2011, 9.57 (Cupertino, California)...well its midnight here in Jakarta! My wife was already sleeping, I'm online with my friends Pati (@fertpolin), Gunan (@gunantyo), and Erik (@EriecYevado) via twitter and whatsapp! our heart were pumping fast, hands were sweating, I held my thrist so I wouldnt go to the toilet to take a pee-pee cause I wouldnt wanted to miss a thing of this increadble event. We were talking rubbish on twitter can't wait for the presentation to begins. The feeling reminds me of my first day at kindergarten.

This is the moment where Tim Cook will be addressing himself as the CEO of Apple! (Dont ask how I feel about Steve Jobs resegnition). And for most of the people, this is the moment where, they thought the new iPhone will be realesed! The iPhone5!!! HAHAHAHAHAHHA I can imagine how they feel when its actually iPhone4s ! Many people will be dissapointed in this. But c'mon people..didn't you see the patterns here? iPhone, iPhone3G, iPhone3GS then iPhone4? So it's obvious that the next iPhone is iPhone4S not iPhone5!

From the look of it, it still featured the same design as the previous iPhone4, I bet many people were angry about this..but theres a monster chip inside, an A5 CoreDuo chip! It will make the iPhone runs apps faster, smoother graphic and of course the most powerfull iPhone yet!

Next one is the camera. I always uncomfortable when reviewing a phone's camera, maybe bacause I find that was not important, but since I found out the fact that 90% of my photos in iPhoto were taken by iPhone camera, so...here it is, the iPhone4S has 8MP camera with autofocus,tap to focus, LED flash and also Face Detector! The front camera still VGA. For video recording it will produce HD (1080p) up to 30 frames per second. For most people, at least for me, maybe it will be the best camera video.

One of the most, or I think it will be the one that most people happy is that iPhone4S uses GSM and CDMA frequency!

Thats it...everything else is just the same as iPhone4, one more thing, dont forget that the letter "S" behind 4 and 3G at the time, stands for "Speed" so its obvious the main changes is the chip inside it.

Booooooooooo!!!!!!

But wait!!

Theres iOS5! It will be the most powerful mobile phone operating system yet (I bealive this is why those haters hates me...screw them!) I assume that all of you readers are already know about iOS5 so I'm not going to write about all of it feature (go find it on www.apple.com/ios). But there's one very very and I mean VERY interesting feature.....it has a name..."it" its actually a woman...and her name is Siri. She's like a secretary inside your iPhone. Just ask! Siri will do the rest! Sounds like Tony Stark stuff ei?? But its true. Siri is a virtual assistant implanted on the iOS5. She's smart, you dont have to remember or said the right sentence to make her do what you ask for, such as "how's the weather today?" you can ask her "should I bring an umbrella today?" and Siri will show you the weather forecast for today. Lets say, your friend ask you out by sending you a text messege, Siri will read it to you, and you can ask like "do I have anything on schadule on (let say) Friday?", Siri will check on your iCal and inform you, you can even ask her to reply the messege and set the calender for your date! Siri remembers everything your wife, your personal data, your schedule everything....a bit creepy thou hahahaha....can't wait to meet her..

Right now Siri is already an easy target for those haters...poor her...we'll see...

iOS5 will be free for download on your iOS devices on the 12 of Oct 2011. And it runs on iPhone 3GS, 4 and (of course) iPhone4S, iPad and iPad2 also...so sorry since I dont have iPod touch, so I dont know wich iPod touch can runs iOS5...sorry.

iOS5 also features iMessage (like BBM on Blackberry) between iOS devices, Notification center (like Android does) say bye bye to those annoying pop up notification while we're throwing Hadouken on StreetFighter Volt, newstand (Another name for newspaper store) and iCloud (new and improve version of mobile me).

Suggestion? Honestly for me, if I''m using iPhone4 right now, theres no strong reason to upgrade to iPhone4S. Since the features in iOS5 whats important. And I think iPhone4 still strong enough and fast enough to handle iOS5. It will survive for another year or two. BUT!! I'm actually using iPhone3GS right now and I encountered so many lag-ing and app crashing, and it still iOS4. Still good thou..But I'm not sure what will happen if iOS5 is installed. I'm considering upgrading it to iPhone4S :)

Well, I guess thats it...iPhone4S will be available for some country on the 14Oct and more on the 21st. I forget the coutries...sorry...And its the fastest distribution ever. Thanks to Tim Cook!!





The image above were taken from Apple official website

Blogging from iPhone

Test test...Hi! I just found out that theres an App for Blogger.com on iPhone. So...before I sleep, I would like to give it a shot! Shot....

Mmm too bad it doesnt has a preview feature..

The Amazing Dika Toolkit04 !

  Ok for this one I'm gonna try my best to write this in english.

  The year was 2002 when I first met Andika Nugraha aka Dika aka Toolkit04, almost the same year when Linkin Park launch their second (but mostly known their first) album Hybrid Theory. There he is talking about Linkin Park all the time, wearing a yenkees New Era cap just like Mike Shinoda back in those days. And also joins in a band where mostly did a cover of Linkin's songs. We were in the art school together at that time. Dika was my junior. When me and the other guys were busy experimenting with mix media, Dika only does vector art! "I can't draw" he said (yea rite!!). Most of his art were inspired by Linkin Park! One day, our faculty were asked by the university to help them decorate a basketball event. And we saw this mini feature from Linkin Park's Meteora album, a short documentary about how they created the Meteora art. And right away I'm thinkin' that "we have to force Dika to do this kind of stuff with us". So we bought like...mmm...maybe 5 panels, and I asked him to make a typo art and also some doodle vector on it. And he nailed it perfectly! Just as we all wanted!

  Time went by, most of us still doing art for living, me? I'm doing boring office stuff, wich somehow I'm pretty good at it. And Dika still busy making art about Linkin Park. Well I have to admit that me and the guys were worried, we worried that Dika will stuck like that..we worried that no one will ever notice his art! Because once he works 9 to 5, his work is not as good as it suppose to. Still amazing thou..but not as amazing as all his Linkin Park arts.

  Linkin Park is always a major influence in his life! Mike Shinoda specially. He even began to look like him! hahahahah..

  And then came the day...when LP (its quite exhausting typing Linkin Park) The Thousand Sun Tour scehdueled for Jakarta, Dika printed a giant poster of his art for them to singed on at the Meet and Greet behind the stage. (This is what I think) Since there were only one item allowed to bring to the signing, so Dika only brings his sketchbook, and the giant poster were brought by his friend. By the time the poster is presented infront of Mike Shinoda, Mike was like freeze for a moment...and banging the table several times...he almost speechless for a second there "um....um....um" he said. All eyes on Mike. He was amazed by the poster, he was amazed by the art on it. He called one of LP's tour manager I think, and ask him to give his email address so that Dika can send him the original file of the poster!! WOWWW!!!! An so he did, the file was sent and immidiately Dika recieved an email from the LP's manager saying that Mike is very interested with his art, and wanted to see his portfolio. Maybe Mike will use some of Dika's art for Linkin Park!!!

  See his twit below !



  NOW HOW'S THAT FOR "KEEP LIVING YOUR DREAM" THEORY ?????

  I was amazed by this, I'm happy for him (one lucky creative bastard!) and whats more importanly is his way of believing in his dream is the most awesome thing ever! I had a dream once, but I'm not living that dream anymore..after this I have to bounce back. Bealive me, if you do whatever it is you love, I dont care how weird or radical it maybe, I'm sure it will be the one that you most enjoy! There is no such as success story where the people who made it didnt enjoy what their doing. Now I'm sure that if I kill my dream, might as well I kill the most important thing in my life.

  Thank you Dika, it was very inspiring for me. Here are some of his LP arts! And the link of his DeviantArt page. Oh and by the way...this is actually the second time I featured Dika in my blog, the first one is on the "The Place WHere I should be"...kinda creepy...hahahaha

http://toolkit04.deviantart.com/