Don’t Panik – Eugene’s Delicious Blog will be moving house shortly.

We’re moving to a spanking new server! So what does this mean?

This site may not be accessible during that time. What time? Well, I’ve not decided yet but it should be soon, like this weekend or next! But I’ll make an announcement. Emails to me may fail to be sent, bounce or disappear completely.

Stay tuned!

As people grow older, they tend to forget and in some cases, try not to even remember their own birthdays. Maybe it’s the reminder of our mortality and human beings. Three-score and ten, or four-score years if we have the strength is the span of human life. Perhaps even worse this year with all the gloom and doom people around and the economic mess the world is in doesn’t make things any easier.

As this junction in time, there is an unexplainable feeling of richness and wealth. It’s not because I make a big paycheck every month. It’s not because I’ve a big bank account. It’s actually kinda empty. I’m not debt-free, in fact, I’m almost working for the bank. I feel rich because of what I have. Not what I couldn’t have. Not what I want to have. This new year, many Chinese consulted geomancers, did things that will help usher in a Bull run in the year of the ox… some sort of prosperity wish. I did neither. I have what the Lord has promised and His promises are sufficient for me. My darling love of my life and my little home on a small patch of lawn. Good friends, here and some thousands of miles away. This is richness beyond measure. Surely as the Lord says, I will bless you till your cup overflows. Some people have lots of things. I think I’ve lots of joy and happiness. Heh, even mastercard can’t buy you that. So like the lyrics in Matt Redman’s song goes, Even on the road marked with suffering, Blessed be the name of the LORD.

Equally priceless and all the more richer, is the ability to be a blessing to others. That’s legacy. “Yes, oh Lord, establish the works of our hands” and like the Psalmist in Psalms 90 says, what kind of legacy are we building with our lives. I think I did good here if you read what the members have said. I’m humbled and grateful, amazed and glad that somehow, in this big, big world of ours, I made a little difference in a few people. That is legacy.

Happy Birthday to me and now, let’s get on with this legacy business!

Had a super relaxing Monday — not at work but at a Fish Spa in Pavilion KL. What’s a fish spa you ask? Well, the easiest way I can describe it is that you get to be fed to the fishies. Simple as that. Stick your limb (usually your legs and feet) into the water and watch the piranha-like fish swarm all over, get tickled and nibbled into fits of laughter and then, supposedly your feet will be smooth like a baby. Did it work? Well, it was ticklish, it was enjoyable once you get used to it and finally, my feet felt slightly smoother.

With the explosion of Digital cameras, digital video recorders, iTunes, MP3 players, Youtube and more, storage of digital media is going to be very important, if not downright critical. How many people do you know who really backup what digital media files they have? It doesn’t need to be photos or videos. I know this entry is filed under Photography but digital media can mean documents and spreadsheets as much as photos and video. It can also be your digital audio collection.

Primarily, the backup we’re talking about is just a second copy of your information somewhere else. Where? Well, anywhere other than your PC is good. I don’t agree much with same PC backup (and generally, many users can’t tell the difference between physical drives and partitions, etc). So the question is where and how to store the backup.

WHERE?
The most simple location is probably very ubiquitous, the USB drive (aka thumb drive, usb stick, etc, etc). With drive capacities at 32Gb and beyond, and at affordable prices, it makes is ideal for users with limited amount of information. My parents for one can do with a 4gb USB drive. If you have more stuff to backup, get a portable or external hard drive. Here are some that I know of that users have had good experiences with: Western Digital MyBook Essentials or Seagate FreeAgent Go if you want something portable. For larger disk capacity, Western Digital Essential, Home or Studio or Seagate’s FreeAgent Xtreme make good buys. For heavier disk storage and on a networked environment (like me), you can go with a Network Storage Appliance (NAS). I recommend QNAP’s TS-209 or Synology’s DS-207. Those on a tighter budget can opt for DLink’s DS-323 or single drive versions of the QNAP and Synology models I mention previously. However, those require a bit more know-how to setup and manage. Me, I run a custom built NAS which is actually a dual-core box (speed doesn’t matter) with 8-SATA disk ports (these matter, RAID is not required) and 4GB RAM (this also matters). Read the full entry to see how it is setup.

HOW
This is as important as where because if you don’t store your backup properly, you’d find yourself in trouble when you need the backup. Generally, most people can get by with weekly or even monthly backups. We aren’t large corporations needing daily or hourly backups so a week or so is good for 99% of home users. Some probably can get by with once a month. If using a portable hard drive, make sure you keep that in a safe place. I’m not going into backup software but because I don’t use them myself — primarily, my goal is to mirror (copy all) the data across to another disk. I use Acronis TruImage to backup the system drive but applications can be re-installed, data can’t so my focus here is on data. Firstly, ensure your data is stored logically and in an organized drive. This makes backing up easy. My favorite tool is robocopy. It works very reliably, and the ability to monitor folders for changes is invaluable. I use robocopy to copy from my network PCs directly to the backup server regularly. If you want a prettier utility, there’s Allways Sync.

Quite alien looking I must say but with a 100mm macro lens and 25mm extension tube, it’s easy to see why!