From OS to OS to OS to ……

Before I begin, let’s just say that I’m a Windows person, period. And I don’t intend to rehash the Windows vs Mac thing in this blog. So there.

My first experience with Windows was circa 1995. The missus wanted to get a computer so that she could do her Excel stuff. We bought this rather bulky 486DX2 computer with a 540MB (that’s right, Megabytes!) hard disk and a paltry 8MB of RAM for something like RM5,000! And it came pre-installed with Windows 3.11– argh! The crashes and hang-ups would be so regular that we’d sometimes be expecting it to happen, and it did, without fail.

Windows 95 was next. Now, this was a revelation at the time. Completely different GUI (graphical user interface) and promises of smoother computing. Heh, I upgraded the computer to an 840MB hard disk and 16MB of RAM. Unfortunately Windows 95 wasn’t crash-proof, either.

Hello, World! It’s me here!

Hi, my name is Philip. I’m 47 years old, and have just started this blog, never too late, yes? I live in Penang, Malaysia. This is a beautiful country of about 26 million people. It’s just south of Thailand (we share a border) and north of Singapore.

I’ve been teaching piano privately for more than 25 years now, ever since graduating from the University of Arizona with a B. Music degree in the early 80’s. I’ve also become quite a computer geek since the early 90’s, starting with Windows 3.1 and now on to Vista. Building and servicing Intel-based PCs is another hobby of mine, which does bring in some good pocket money every now and then.

When I’m away from the computer keyboard, I play cocktail music at the E & O Hotel here, twice a week. A very nice and relaxing job, if I may say so (thanks, Mike!) Well, I’ve played cocktail piano for as long as I can remember, but I’ll save those for another post.

When I need some exercise, I head for the pool, which is almost every weekday. Swimming is another passion of mine. It really clears the head and I love the feel of water. Especially in a hot and humid country such as Malaysia.

Last but not least, I’m a staff member at BigBlueBall. If you want to know everything about Instant Messaging, this IS the place to go to. Besides, it has a ton of other cool stuff to check out, including Social Networking, the latest phones, a really nice BigBlueBall lounge, and on and on.

Alright, think I’ve just about completed the intro. I’ll be posting often, I hope! See you soon!