Matlab

Since I'm an engineer.... Therefore I should blog about something educative, something like Matlab perhaps? Haha... Just a lame post anyway, showing you all what's this year engineering matlab project is about...

Well, this year, we're doing a study of human gait... Please don't ask me for any further details in it as this is a field of biomedical engineers, which i'm nowhere near of... Haha...

The project starts something like this:

1. You need to capture frame in a movie file(.avi file) and display it to the user. Some further explanation: Movie files are actually consists of multiple shots of photo over a very short time span.. An example will be using the burst mode photo taking or so called best pic in sony camera and take some continuous photos, and flip through those photos very quickly. You'll notice that the person is actually moving.. Haha... Bad and lengthy explanations. Sorry for that. Anyway, here's what it looks like initially for the program: Well, the user will be given a chance to actually set the width and height of the frame. But I won't go too detail about that.

2. Next, the user will move through the frame by pressing enter, or b+ enter to move backwards.... Once the user found a lengzai position, he'll grab the picture like this:

Notice the cursor there? The user will select a centre point of the man and a point above the man's head to crop the image out, and change it to gray scale.

3. When the image is cropped out, the user will be asked whether he's satisfied with the cropped image or not. If he does, he'll need to identify which run and which state is the picture in. Some further explanation: This avi file consists of 2 run, aka 2 walking cycle. Within 2 walking cycle, there's always 5 different state, such as pulling your leg up, when your leg just touches the floor and so on.. Yea, pretty much like that....

The occurence of those states will be plot in a separate graph. From the graph, you can roughly read that state 5 will occur twice, both in frame 45 and frame 80.

4. Finally, some calculation will be done and the data will be written into an ascii file. Hmm.... Just imagine that as a normal notepad file to write data in.. haha

Er.... Picton?

Aiyoyo.. i damn lazy to blog la.... Partly because sleeping is my 1st priority.. and secondly... I'm sick.. Lolz... I'm always sick for some reason-.-'' hmm... therefore, i'm in the stage of sleeping therapy to heal my flu now.... Hopefully it's not bird flu...

Well, Picton.... Nothing much to blog about.. It's just a small harbour town... There're so small shops nearby the harbour, where you can have some food and so on... There's a expensive looking restaurant there though.. I didn't go in, so i'm not that sure about that....

Well, there's a ship museum at picton there... too bad I'm in a rush and therefore i can't visit it... Anyway, here're some photos...

This's the ferry i took to Wellington.. 9 storey high... Mostly consists of car park anyway. The passenger floors start from level 6/7. But the food inside is... half a piece of roti canai is NZD2?.. I still remember paying RM0.90 at Malaysia.. lolz..
Some random boat photos...

Photo of the beach at Picton.. not sure whether you can swim or notThis is epic... Perfect Peace.. Hmm.... Something which i long for

Sunny nei~~ Sunny nei~~ Bye bye

Wellington, Capital of New Zealand

After a long long time, i have finally decided to update my blog again... To be honest.. this blog will only be updated during holidays .. I just couldn't spare my beloved sleeping time for it during uni days :P

After taking a 3 hours ferry ride from Picton, i arrived at Wellington in the evening.

Wellington is quite different from Auckland, at least that's what i think..

The night life at Wellington is definitely more interesting compared to Auckland...

Or maybe I'm not living in the central of Auckland, so I can't really feel the lifeliness of Auckland.. Haha..

During my stay there, i stayed in a hostel very near to the town hall, with a bar beside it.. To many, it might be a plus point... But I don't really like drinking anyway, neither do i enjoy getting drunk. Getting drunk is seriously... lame. so yeah.. Anyway, all the above is just personal view, don't flame me for that please.

I didn't do much back in Wellington. I just go around sight seeing, that's all. Among the place i visited is the Te Papa Museum, the national museum of NZ... It's quite a big museum with 5/6 storey.. The exhibition includes formation of Nz, earthquake.. and so on... One of the more significant ones will be the fight of Maori rights... This world is unfair... There're bound to be ethnics being oppressed...

Don't miss out the mini garden in the Tepapa Museum as well as those artificial cavern too...

Besides that, i went to look around Victoria University(if i'm not mistaken). Nice building they have there...Their law faculty.

Not to forget is the Parliament building... Astonishing architecture involved there.... And a nice church just nearby..

And the train station

That's all for now :P

At times of difficult...

Going backpacking is not very pleasant at all, considering the fact you don't have cars, you don't know about the surrounding and so on. All you have with you is just maps and at times, kind hearted locals who are willing to guide you out.

However, at times, you still ended up not knowing where you're or not sure where you're going. During these times, you'll feel tired and panic. Maybe to some who're strong in will, they will keep on trying to find the way, but sadly I'm not one of those people. After walking aimlessly in Christchurch searching for the backpacker, i seriously just feel like giving up. I prayed hard to God, praying that a taxi will show up somewhere and bring me to that place. And not long after that, a taxi turned up, and stop right in front of me, waiting to see if i want to go up or not. I turn down the offer, and continue to pray that God will lead me to the backpacker as I had been walking so long and I don't really feel like spending the money. God again answered my prayer and eventually lead me to the backpacker. This's just one of the event where God blessed me through difficulties.

As I travel more, I come to realise that God is indeed a God of Love. You might have make alot of mistakes in your life, but God will always forgive you and guide you through your life. All of us are sent to this world with a purpose which God planned for us. God will not send you to this world just to live a miserable life. All the challenges waiting for us are actually helping to shape us into the person which God planned, to fullfil the purpose God has intended for us.

Therefore, praise God for blessing me through my life; bless me and shape me into a person to serve Your purpose.

The Chase for Doulos

MV Doulas, the biggest ship which sells books, set sail to Auckland for it farewell visit last month. I went there on the 1st of July, but sadly it set sail off right in front of me. The ship was supposed to set sail on the 1st of July. Not knowing about that, I tried to go to the ship. The ship was originally docked at the viaduct there for public to visit, but before it set sail, it went further down to a docking area near Harbour Bridge for repair/replenish food supply or some other reasons. So, it would mean an extra hour of walking back and forth from the viaduct to the harbour bridge, just to see it set sail.

Therefore, I took up a boat and rowed all my way down to Wellington to meet up with it :P. Haha... I'll write more about Wellington trip later. Basically, I went up to Picton from Christchurch and took a ferry to Wellington. So, finally at Queens Wharf, I went abroad Doulos. Hurray :)

Doulas has changed since I last visited it long time ago. It used to have a larger area open to public and a nice coffee shop selling nice coffee and muffin, that's if my memory is correct. Haha. Anyway, Doulos sells alot of books related to Christianity. The bible there was sell close to US price, so it's relatively cheaper compared to the bible price in Malaysia or New Zealand. I always wanted a leather one, but I end up with a hard cover one instead as leather bible is quite costly.

It was a short visit anyway, and I wave goodbye to Doulos with a cookie which I bought from the ship earlier one. The cookie was delicious :P too bad i forgot to take picture.

On a side note, Doulos will no longer set sail after this final sail... So farewell to the ship then.

Picture later, but not much picture taken on the ship la. :P

Christchurch

Ok... For some reason, I'm in serious bad luck back in Christchurch. Haha... So here it goes, and I will tend to complain abit during this post, so do bear with me.

Arriving at Christchurch late at night, I ended up spending the night at the airport. It wasn't pleasant at all, and I ended up totally blur the next day.

So the next morning, I went down to Christchurch early in the morning. It's so expensive to take buses without student discount.. $7 dollar per trip to go down to the city. Reaching early at Christchurch, I've not much breakfast to choose from. So I went to eat McDonald instead. This's the frustrating and angry part.

I ordered hot-chocolate, but i ended up getting Coke. Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough, or I didn't listen carefully enough when the salesperson repeat orders. All this thanks to the person who's vacuuming. Drinking coke early in the morning wasn't that pleasant as the weather is cold. After finishing, I took the lift down. (You can't expect me to carry luggages all the way up right, I still have a long trip ahead). I press the lift down, and it ended going up. Weird indeed. The stupid part is, i met up with the sales person again on that floor. That floor wasn't open to public, it was a store. So he was like asking me: Did you press up? I was close to the point of exploding..... But I still replied: I pressed down... Maybe I'm thinking too much.. This sounded as though I can't differentiate between up and down. Sad...

Feeling afraid that Tekapo didn't have much food supply, I decided to buy some from Christchurch before going up to Tekapo. So i obtain a map from the i-site and decided to go to Pak N Save. The i-site officer told me Pak N Save is a street away from the New World, but for some reason, I can't seem to find it. After walking back and forth around New World, i decided that I'll just buy there. It's really lame holding a map and get lost. I ended up walking till the highway. haha.

After that, I go up to Tekapo and come back down Christchurch. The bus was... super late, and I was standing in the cold weather at Tekapo waiting for the bus. Not only was the bus late, it was super cramp and packed. Quite uncomfortable ride, but some people went down along the way, so the situation became better.

I ended up in Christchurch around 1.5 hours later than the given time. And to make matter worse, the backpacker which i stayed in turn out to be very very far from the city area. So I ended up walking and walking and pausing along the way, trying to ask people where exactly is it. But it seems-.- nobody knows. I chose it cause it was rated the highest ranking among BBH backpackers, but it was a mistake not to take distance into account. So next day, i gave up and took a cab to catch my bus to Picton. I caught a taxi halfway between the city centre and the backpackers, and it cost me $9.40. lolz. But the backpacker was nice and cosy, and cheap for the service it provides. Worth it if you've a car. And on my way back to Picton.....

Lake Tekapo

Lake Tekapo is the highest altitude lake located in New Zealand, probably with one of the most stunning view as well.

Lake Tekapo is roughly 3.5 hours drive from Christchurch. The bus which i was on actually took a longer time to reach time, but the estimated time was given as 3.5 hours. The drive from Christchurch to Lake Tekapo gives you the chance to view beautiful scenary of the countryside, with shallow rivers occasionally along the way.

When I arrived at Lake Tekapo, it was sunny. Praise God for the nice weather. So it wasn't that cold at that time. I stayed at YHA Lake Tekapo, and the person in-charge was kind enough to answer all my random questions before the trip. Thank you so much Mr Yau. The room was nice and warm and you actually get to see the lake from your window. Nice view indeed.

Anyway, I will give a brief picture of Lake Tekapo town centre. There'll a supermarket there, 4 Square Supermarket, i-site, dining places which includes Japanese, Chinese and Western cuisine. There's also souvenirs shop and so on. So basically, you won't die of starvation during your stay there.

Sunrise at Tekapo

I didn't do much basically at there. The original planning was to go to a skiing side 2 hours drive from Lake Tekapo provided there are people who are willing to give us a ride. Sadly, nobody seems to be going there. So, i end up walking around the lake at the first day. There's also a plan to go stargazing on that night, but due to the cloudy weather, it was postpone to second night.


On the second day, I went further abit and walk to the dam. It seems Tekapo is a hydro-power generating place. Then walk on and go to Church of Good Sheppard. A small church just by the lake side. Stunning view if you look outside of the window. The sun shines upon the altar as well. It's indeed a magnificant place to glorify God. Walking on I came upon a sheppard dog statue which was built to remember the contribution of dogs in taking care of the sheeps.

Later in the afternoon, I ended up going to the hot pools. It was nice. You can see snow-cape mountains in front of you while seeing trees at your back. It seems as though nature is so close. View wise, it is better than the Rotorua Polynesian Spa, and cheaper somemore. Haha....

At night, I ended up going for star gazing. It's a trip up Mt. John (if i'm not mistaken) where you actually have the chance to observe stars and moons within the observatory dome. The equipment was owned by the University of Canterbury. The tours ended with a cup of nice and warm hot chocolate :) Too bad I didn't get the chance to observe Aurora, but if I do have chance, I will go there again for the Aurora.

Next day morning, it went totally foggy. So I just go to the lake side, pick up a stone and write some words on it. The stone was placed together with all those written by previous backpackers who travelled to YHA Lake Tekapo. After that, I went back to Christchurch.

To those of you who're interested:
The price of the hot-pool is $12 dollar for student, and $21 including skiing if not mistaken.
The price of star-gazing is $68, but $5 dollar discount if you're YHA members and some other members.

Photos will be up soon. This's gonna be a loooooooong post :)