A.P.P.L.E

LiewCF wrote a review on his blogging workspace. It’s freaking cool to see the workspace of a problogger or full time blogger. LCD monitors, laptops, printers…all looks so professional. Hey, have you ever wonder how my blogging workspace look like? Well, it’s nothing special but at least I feel like sharing with all my readers here.

First of all, I would like to tell you that, I blog both in the office and at home. At home, my blogging workspace is a little corner in my bedroom. It is also the “server room”, as the router modem is also located here.

This is my main blogging workspace. A very limited space, as you can see. I use my laptop for blogging and designing purposes.

• BenQ Joybook A32 - surfing web, blogging, chatting, designing…
• laptop cooler - underneath laptop, keep it cool
• mouse - more convenient to navigate around rather than using touchpad
• webcam - for video chatting with Orange
• USB hub - laptop only has 3 USB ports, need extras
• table calender - marking some dates
• stationery holder - only put those that come in handy
• cellphones - erm..nothing special
• hand rester - the black bone looking cushion, seldom use it though
• portrait - me and Cherry
• toilet paper roll - why? because I always need it

And behind this, I have my desktop PC. It’s my alternative blogging workspace. Although most of the time, I use this PC for download and gaming purposes. However, this PC works as a server for network printer or file sharing.

Really nothing special, no LCDs, no subwoofers, no all-in-one printer/scanner.. All these peripherals are real old.

• LG CRT monitor - small and bulky
• CPU with 1 CD-ROM and 1 DVD-ROM running on Intel P4
• Logitech webcam - my first webcam, low quality
• Speakers - real old since my 2nd set of PC (This is my 3rd PC, the other 2 is gone for good)
• Keyboard - lasap (dirty) but good for jamming
• Mouse - not mine actually, I exchanged with Orange
• Aztech ADSL WLAN router - without this, I can’t online.
• Canon BubbleJet printer - seldom use it now and I haven’t replace my spoilt cartridge.
• Canon scanner - below the pile of papers.
• Stack of CD-R - beside the scanner
• Drivers and tools - my tools for fixing computers, at the lower portion of the table.
• Telephone - for the Internet line.
• Clock - easy to see the time.
• Pen holder - put some pens and pencils, although seldom use.

And this is where I blog now - the place I blog in the day time during weekdays. In other words, my office.

• Compaq CRT monitor
• CPU
• keyboard
• mouse
• headset
• pen
• plant decoration
• calendar

So, these are my blogging workspace. How about yours?

By the way, this is what my lasap keyboard looks like:

Not clear enough? Let’s zoom in…

That’s a gamer’s keyboard. Notice the W E A S D letters are gone? If you play games like CS or DotA, then you should be familiars with those keys..and look at the almost-gone F G H and gone J K L letters? that was caused by playing O2Jam..lols…It was Orange’s actually..I like the feeling of pressing that keyboard, so I take it home with me.

Do you still remember the BlogDay 2007 Event I posted earlier? Yup, today is 31st August! The BlogDay! And I’m gonna introduce 5 new blogs which I found interesting to all of you here!

[1] AprilCherrie

Blog URL:
www.aprilcherrie.com

Author:
AprilCherrie, a Malaysian Chinese girl who loves anime, surf the net, taking pictures. Found that she shares almost the same interest like I do. Surprisingly, she plays MapleStory and O2Jam too! She works with Astro as web developer and also accept freelance job.

Blog Nature:
It’s more about the author’s life style, anime/comic, games, food - a variety of food, and many more. Lots of original good pictures included and kinda entertaining. Very sweet layout! AprilCherrie, sounds like Apple & Cherry, which is me and my sister. Interesting blog!

Snapshot:

[2] Cherry-Mix

Blog URL:
cherry-mix.blogspot.com

Author:
Cherry, my real life sweetie little sister. I’m the one who encourage her to blog. Her main blog is cherry-fruitie.blogspot.com, which I helped to modified the layout. And later with a bit of teaching, what a fast learner she is, she started another new blog, which is this Cherry-Mix, by modifying the layout all by herself. A good start for a person with designer dream.

Blog Nature:
Be warned! A very girlish blog! Very cute and attractive colors. Sharing of very original things/photos of her own. Creative in writing blog entries too! If you like cute stuff, this is definitely for you! A quite new blog, so it takes time to have richer content.

Snapshot:

[3] LeeChien

Blog URL:
leechien418.blogspot.com

Author:
LeeChien, my old schoolmate back in high school. We used to be classmates in our Junior year and later we were no longer in the same class during our Senior year just because we were in different streams. She started her blog just few months ago, sharing lots of interesting pictures, which will keep you always entertained. I’m glad that she got influenced by me a lot inthe blogosphere! And because of blogging, we become closer.

Blog Nature:
Simple, clean and nice. Although the blog is still young, we don’t want a good blog to die down. So show some support by visiting her blog frequently. If a blogger get good support, he/she will produce better blog, in sense of quality, in the future. A worth visiting blog!

Snapshot:

[4] The forgotten Milk

Blog URL:
terababy.blogspot.com

Author:
terababy, a cool tech guy from Beijing, China. He’s a software engineer, Web 2,0 guru and a LifeHack fan. He is a free man doing his own business at home and focus on flexible Information Management System. He had developed big software projects and loves to spend time with his beloved wife and cat when he’s not in front of his computer. So sweet!

Blog Nature:
Also quite a young blog, but really useful and informative for those who want to customize blogs, or other hacks. I found this blog when I was browsing for blog hacks. Basically, a clean design and really good information, even though it is a new blog. Very nice blog!

Snapshot:

[5] Free Photoshop Downloads

Blog URL:
freephotoshopdownloads.blogpsot.com

Author:
Justin. Can’t find any introduction about him and he is new in Blogger, according to the Blogger profile.

Blog Nature:
Why am I introducing this? Because I love Photoshop. There’s hell lots of Photoshop blogs out there but why this? Because this blog is new! And I like the articles, eventhough there’s only 2 posts. Guys, this is a real new blogs. I actually came across this blog in YouTube, where Justin posted a tutorial vid there. I bet in the future, this blog gonna have more useful information for Photoshop lovers. Bookmark it today!

Snapshot:

BlogDay2007

Yesterday, I was busy switching my blog from Blogger classic template to new Blogger xml layout. Changing layout again? Yup. I started this blog early January this year, and pass eight months, I’ve made major changes to my blog layout for 4 times, including this! Whenever I find a comfortable layout, I will try to adopt it, hence many times of changing layout.

The very first version of A.P.P.L.E was hosted under old Blogger classic template. Then Neonplanet convinced me to swap to new Blogger, also known as Blogger Beta. I did managed to swap it and just changed the background images for the following months. Until I saw the blog template from Pannasmontata. However the templates available there are only suitable for Blogger classic template. In order to use that cute template, I switched back to the old Blogger.

Reasons of why I switched back to Blogger Beta:

• Good navigation handling. I like the “Older posts”, “Newer Posts” navigation at the end of each page.
• Label function. You can easily add a label widget and it will automatically display all labels.
• Search widget. This allow your visitors to search your blog content with provided keywords more accurately.

However, it is so difficult to modify the html xml codes, if compare to the classic template. In order to have what I want, I searched for blog hacks and implemented them. There are a lot of genius out there providing free blog hacks. As long as you pay attention to the instructions given, you will have what you want.

Within 8 months, these are the layouts that I’ve changed. Notice, I always change the acronyms…I think I will not change it anymore. I’ve found the best one…and that will be the final meaning of “APPLE”.

February 2007 v1.1

March 2007 v1.2

April 2007 v1.3

Late April 2007 v2.0

June 2007 v3.0

Late August 2007 v4.0

31st August is our Malaysia national day. I guess I won’t do much for this day, and I’m not gonna “celebrate” like those people out there, such as counting down in the crowd or watch any parade shows. I’m not so “patriotic”. I think to show one loves his/her country, he/she doesn’t have to “action” so much during the National Day. Be a good citizen, don’t create disaster to the community, that’s more than enough. Because by that, the country’s image will be good, thus, making an impressive country.

And what a co-incidence? On 31st August, it’s also the BlogDay. It’s the 3rd BlogDay so far. By the way, what’s BlogDay and how can you celebrate together in the blog sphere? Here’s the answer (quoted from www.blogday.org):

BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. On that day Bloggers will recommend other blogs to their blog visitors. With the goal in mind, on this day every blogger will post a recommendation of 5 new blogs. This way, all blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, previously unknown blogs.

What will happen on BlogDay?

One long moment on August 31st, bloggers from all over the world will post recommendations of 5 new Blogs, preferably Blogs that are different from their own culture, point of view and attitude. On this day, blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, unknown Blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers.

BlogDay posting instructions:

1. Find 5 new Blogs that you find interesting
2. Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending them as part of BlogDay 2007
3. Write a short description of the Blogs and place a link to the recommended Blogs
4. Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st) and
5. Add the BlogDay tag using this link: http://technorati.com/tag/BlogDay2007 and a link to the BlogDay web site at http://www.blogday.org

———-

Okay, so on the 31st of August, I will be introducing 5 new blogs here.
Hope everyone of you who own a blog, can join this wonderful event too!
I never tag anyone before, so I guess this is a good opportunity.
Hmm..let’s see who to tag…okay, I’m gonna tag 5 person, they are:
1. Camy
2. Jess Sophia
3. Jimmychin
4. LeeChien
5. SpookyGrace

So, hey guys…remember to recommend 5 new blogs on 31st August.

BlogDay2007

I’ve been telling Orange that I’m addicted to blogging and even encourage him to start try to have a bit of fun by blogging. This morning, one of my visitors came and left me a message, so I went to his blog to take a look. And I found this interesting entry “How Addicted to Blogging Are You?“. Yet another interesting “rating” from Mingle2.com. I’ve taken the test and here’s my rating: