Site Was Down?

I woke up this morning to an email from my blog server, SquareSpace. Their server in the middle of Manhattan was flooded overnight, due to Sandy. Ne'er thought that thousands of miles away, I was feeling the brunt of it.

The power to the server were patchy and as a precaution, the node was powered down. The site was expected to be down for a few hours until the issue with backup power were sorted out. From what I gathered, it didn't take them too long to get that organised.

When I checked the traffic details, it was clear that the numbers were down. It didn't matter however, as the status of my blog was not at the top of my priorities looking at the devastation in New York. By the afternoon, service was resumed and the blog was back up, running as usual ....

Post Call Blues

Post call had always been a mixed bag for me. I have been a doctor for 15 years now, but there was no hiding that bit of elation when you knew that your call was over. Slight change though in private practice as you were still in direct charge of the patients you admitted, but at least you could sort of like predict why the next time your phone ring. And you knew that it would less likely be from the Emergency Room.

So, the call last night was OK. Most of the admission came during a more sociable hours. One ICU admission, but the patient was pretty stable once there. But I still felt that lack of sleep come the afternoon after. At least there was no clinic this afternoon, and I was doing some paperwork, as well reading up on the latest gossips and news.

It looked like it was going to rain soon. And that would mean horrendous traffic jam again. I couldn't go to the hospital any earlier than 3pm as the road I used would pass in front of Sri KL, and there would be rows of parents picking up their children just after three. The traffic? Forget it. These affluent folks were really bad when it came to being gracious on the road. In fact, they tended to be the worst …..

So, I had to wait for a while at the apartment before I drove back. I think it would take me an hour and a half to finish the rounds later. With a bit of luck, I would reach Gombak before Maghrib. And then dinner, and a bit of sleep hopefully.

Forstall leaving Apple

I was about to leave the apartment for the morning rounds, but couldn't resist the urge to get this entry across, having woken up to this news.

No, it wasn't about Sandy pounding the Big Apple. But Apple itself, having an internal shake down.

The blogs had been abuzz about the friction at the top between Scott Forstall and the other Senior VP at Apple. Scott was in charge of the development of the iOS, and it became clear that the iOS 6 did not innovate as much as it was expected. Not to the extend that Jelly Bean did compared to the previous iteration of Android.

Add to this the debacle that was the Apple Maps, and the writing was on the wall. It was rumoured that Scott was more keen to move Apple towards a more skeuomorphic - real-life imitation - design elements, while the other gurus, Sir Jonny Ives included opposed this. Clearly somebody had to go.

Announcing the news while the US was looking forward to Sandy and the Presidential election was a touch or PR genius. The announcement also included that the SVP for retail, John Browett was also leaving. He had just joined Apple less than a year ago, taking over from Ron Johnson, the real architect behind the Apple retail store experience. Mr Johnson is currently the CEO of JC Penney, and was recruited as a highly prized asset across.

Will this signal a further change at the top of Apple? Bob Mansfield was due to leave, but was invited back to be the special advisor to Tim Cook. Maybe Bob was giving the company an ultimatum as far Scott's tenure was concerned.

Either way, Scott Forstall is leaving and Apple had to move on with things. He will officially leave some time next year, and for the interim, Craig Federighi would overlook both the OS X and iOS.

Chilling In

After a rather busy afternoon, the admission rather slowed down after I returned to apartment for a shower. So, I was caught in two minds. Should I go back to the hospital and hang around the lounge or just chill out at the apartment. With the breeze outside - it was raining heavily earlier in the evening - I felt just like killing time at the apartment rather.

The only problem was, I was rather starving. They were a few microwave dinner which Anita had stocked up in the fridge, but I felt like having so,etching different. How I would murder a bigger or two. McDonald's was just a five minute drive away, but I really couldn't be bothered.

Xmas Came Early at Old Trafford

I must confess that I felt asleep right free Ramires scored the equaliser last night. I got a feeling that United would start to close shop, get the off-form Cleverley off and tidy up at the back. I fully expect to wake up this morning to a draw.

And did I miss all the drama? After watching the game - recorded on DVR - I agree that Ivanovic should be off, but to get Torres given the marching order, and Chicarito coming off the bench to score an offside goal, Christmas definitely came early for us United fans.

The Chelsky supporter were understandably upset, and later came the claim that the ref said something out of term to the Chelsky later just added more spice. I didn't think that we had ears the last of this. I fully expect more news to come out of both camps. Which make for an otherwise uninspired start to United season click into gear.

This weekend - Saturday evening - would see United playing Arsenal at Old Trafford. This should be another interesting spectacle. Will we be lucky again?