I and family caught a nasty virus that kept me in bed for 3 days with high fever and muscle aches. The joint and muscle aches are still here 5 days later, and will persist according to the doctors until later this week. So I'll continue to be popping pain killers like Dr. House.

So I don't mind if people avoid me for this week. I wouldn't want anybody else to catch it.

Recently when playing basketball,  I've eased up a bit  and mostly content to shoot outside and play conservatively cause my shoulder is still sore (old recurring injury) and my knees are starting to feel weak. This is definitely not fun, so I've started a daily rehab routine to build back up the strength in my arms and knees.

This dude is like 39 and playing int the NBA and this dude just started on Team USA and is 35. So no excuses. I won't be hanging on the rim again like when I was 18, but I should still be able to drive and play decent defense at least in a few months.

These days you can find basic exercise routines on the Internet if you don't have major injuries and want to do basic rehab privately. Found this Plone powered site which had some routines that I remember doing several years ago.

Good news also for SS17 folk, the local courts are fixed and now have nice transparent backboard. There are also lights, bright enough at least to shoot around at night (too dark and dangerous for a game though).

I hate dust, cause I'm allergic to it. In Malaysia, where it's humid, house dust builds up quickly. Worse it's the fully grey organic kind which gives me cold like symptoms. By the end of this month, I should have almost no paper clutter left. All other clutter is now organised into covered boxes. It doesn't reduce dust, but it helps me clean it up.

Dust is bad for computers too, this is the filter after a month on my server case:

Some tips on reducing paper clutter:

• Important documents, scan it and file it away. Most of the time, you only need to provide a copy. Having access to digital copies, makes it easier to find and quickly print out.
• Business cards. I find it funny that people with USD 599 phones with IR, WiFi, Bluetooth etc. don't have a business card in VCF ready to beam or send via bluetooth from their mobile. It's the quickest way to get your contact details to somebody else. It's also an open standard.It will even be on their phone already, which is the most likely place they will look up a number to call. Until more people realise this, you'll just have to get into the habit, of adding the business card into your phone as soon as possible. Then chuck it away, if it's not important to add, chuck it away. Don't build up a collection, in today's digital age, it's silly to look up a number in a stack of cards.
• Bill statement, after payment, chuck it in the recycle bin. Most statements you can check online anyways, or request for if it's really important.
• Liberally throw away stuff. If you haven't read a pamphlet within a week, you'll probably never going to read it. Chuck it in the recycle bin.

After a week and a half, the amount of paper clutter in my recycle bin. So many trees.

Surprised I couldn't find an entry for this in Wikipedia.

What is it? It's when you tend to get sick on weekends and on holidays.

An article from Guardian UK elaborates on it more.

Getting sick or just feeling tired doesn't help reduce stress, as work just piles up if you don't recover by the time the week start.  If you're an IT worker, if you're tired, you just can't think and that is a major productivity killer.

For me this mostly started after having kid, I just didn't have any chillout time, and if I did, it ended up being exhausting rather than relaxing.

I already started one of their suggestions which is to ensure you do something to relax/calm down on Fridays. A partial solution for me is to regularly schedule Friday evenings for basketball, followed by a massage.

On massages

For me due to sports, I usually associate massage with physiotherapy. Reading some local cartoons such as "Durian Life or Lat", I often see that in Malaysia massage has sexual connotations eg. massage parlor. Possibly it's why people think it's not a good idea. Trust me on this, if you're having headaches and are stressed out, arrange an appointment it will work wonders.

What you should look for is so call "Blind Massage" centers in your local neighbourhood commerical area. These are clean, simple establishments run by blind people and it's male to male and female to female. It's about RM30-40 per hour for full body massage. I suggest you chose the pressure point (or shiatsu) option, as you will not need to take any clothing off for those that have reservations. Not only is it a good way to relieve stress, you're also helping out the local blind community businesses. It's also a good way for IT people to better understand why accessibility is important.

On accessibility

Did you know that Gnome was presented the Helen Keller Achievement Awards?

Plone also meets or exceeds U.S. Government Section 508 and W3C's WAI-AA standards for sight and motor impaired individuals.