Babies Days Out

Yesterday we went to Lokawi Zoo. As usual the kiddos are very excited to see all the animals yg selalunya diorang tinguk d TV jak. This is the 3rd time we went to the zoo, and this time they were enjoying the animals encounter with their cousins, Syakir and Aisyah.

Group pic before entering the zoo..it was very hot, even it's only at 10am

The kiddos are very happy to ride the so-called train.

Syakir: Abah, napa train ni tiada kuar asap?
AbahSyakir: Oooh.. sebab ni train guna enjin petrol.

Senih with Aisyah and Danial and Me

One happy elephant

...and one happy boy...Syakir

It was fun seing the elephant being fed, but the tiger was seems unhappy maybe because it was alone in the cage.

one happy girl with the sad tiger

The sun bear

This afternoon, we plan to have Ladies Days Out pulak. Will go for a facial with the sisters, Senih and Ida.

Autism

Just finished marking for one subject... Will continue to the next one.. In the mean time, I took a break before starting on the next paper. It is almost 2.15 am. I went to the kitchen. Treat myself with mee segera and a cup of coffee. Hope it can make the sleepy head away for another couple of hours. I switched on the tv. It was CSI Las Vegas, which I already watched. So, I decide to watch Oprah instead. It is about the Autism.

When come to kids, I am very sensitive. My eyes start to masuk abuk when I saw the parents sharing their stories about how to raise their autism kids. The discussion of parents talking about the heartbreak at their special children and the devastation this disorder has caused for these families. But not only that, they also talked on how it changed their life, become more patient and see things in a different perspective.

Autism is said to be mystery. 1 out of 150 baby is prescribed with autism in US. I am not sure the statistic in Malaysia. It is a difficult challenge that seems to just go on and on. It is scary to think that how would you deal with the fact when you have autism kid, and even scarier when you see their development is very slow, can't take care of themself. The worst case is
the isolation parents feel from other parents who are raising neurotypical children. Raising awareness can help lessen that feeling of being alone. If we can't help to lift the burden of these parents, it is really helpful if only we can try to understand their situation.



How to know the kid is autism? According to the physician (cant remember the name) in the Oprah's show, there are three things that we need to be aware of:

1. The language development - by 12 months, baby should start mumbling
   
2. Social interaction - show interest when you call out his name, pointing at something to attract ur attention
   
3. Physical behaviour - do they have some repetative behaviour? Eg. always bang his hand on the wall without any reason.

This website is good for more info on the sign of Autism .

In Malaysia, there is not enough effort to increase the awareness of Autism. It is important to create the awareness so that we know how to handle and face it if one has been diagnosed to have Autism. It also a great help if we can understand the kid when dia buat perangai at public. So we will not stare at them or marah2 bila dia buat bising di supermarket kaa..

I remember last semester my Entrepernuer student chose to sell book mark and put some words about Autism and share their keuntungan with the Persatuan Autism KK.

Ok, I need to continue marking..

FamilyVacation - Kudat 2008

Just came back from Kudat, yesterday. Last weekend, the marking activity was postponed. Need to take some fresh air. My brain need some rest. No red pen this weekend.

My parents arrived in KK since last week. Nowadays, my parents prefer to come down to KK during holidays. Almost all my siblings are here, except Ani. So, we plan to have a visit to our own lands end, Simpang Mengayau, Kudat.

**Update**

special pose from Nurul

tuu naaaa....

Danial and me

before sunset... too cloudy though

ayah.. kepenatan

Now, I really need to finish the marking. The progress is very slow. I am not happy to myself. Need to have a big motivation to fix my speed of marking. And Fid SMSed me, must submit the marks before this Friday. I guess that was a big motivation for me to finish the job. Ayoyo.. mcm mana lah mo kasi abis marking ni..

Red Pen Time

It is the 'red pen time' again. Time really flew very fast ooh.. It's 'the' time again where I would buy numbers of nice red pens. I like the round tips, with really nice red ink color, flow smoothly. Yeah, the pen also play a role to me while marking. I want to make sure it is 'fun' enough for me to mark the students' exam papers. It can effect my mood, u know.

This time around, I need to pull all my strength to mark almost 250++ papers. That is for three different subject, all together. Not so much? Yeah, but all 8 - 10 subjective questions? It's easily to feel sleepy and lost focus. Imagine with their artistic handwritting, jawapan yg merapu-rapu. So, I follow Az's advice.. play good music, think of happy thought.

I dont have radio in my room.. just play the music from dear laptop

Well, I hope I can remain my kewarasan, be professional and enjoying the fun of marking their papers. Ya, Allah ya Tuhanku, berilah aku kekuatan untuk mengharungi 'cabaran' yg satu ini. Amiin...

I dont like the color of the ans booklet's cover.. it's grey.. make me feel grey.. :(

Let's Exercise... our hands!

Ok, when is the last time you exercise your hand? Yes, your hand.. So, now I would like to share with you the correct way to exercise.. this one is a routine for our precious.... hands!First, stretch your right hand like this.. up and down

Tarik..tarik..

Then, dont forget your left hand..

Why need to do exercise for your hand? To avoid this..

It is known as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (nothing to do with Karpal Singh though). Last year, my dad has been prescribed to this syndrome and went to QE for Carpal surgery. The doctor said, most of the patient who has this syndrome are those who are working with the computer (of course also the keyboard lah). At first he felt numbness at his middle and index finger. Thought it is normal, he bear with it. Lama2 selalu pulak tu kebas2. He went to the doctor at SDK, the was told it was Carpal Syndrome.

I googled and found this website. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. The worrying part is it said, women are more likely to have this syndrome. It can affect people of all ages. If you have this condition you will experience pain or aching, and tingling or numbness. The symptoms are usually worse in the thumb, index and middle fingers. Occasionally they are so severe that your whole hand feels affected and the aching may sometimes extend up into the forearm. You may find one or both hands are affected. If you are right-handed the right hand tends to be worse, similarly the left hand if you are left-handed.

So you girls, babe, hot mamas, bloggers out there, dont forget to do some hand exercise, ok? Some other important info:

cv

Missing?

I am one of the supervisor of the O*M student for their final year project. Last month I sent a bunch of their thesis to the O*M office. Just know they called me that one of the book is missing. They need me to send it to their office ASAP. I checked in my office, but no, I did not find the said book. I am really, really sure that the book has been submitted to their office, and they simply said, they cannot find it.

I am very pissed off right now. Nothing more to say...

Seminar on Broadband Opportunities

Student, do not try to find me in my room at this date; 11 - 13 Nov 2008. I am at the Le Meridien hotel attending the seminar on broadband opportunities. Later lah baru saya p elaborate ya.. Need to concentrate listening to the lecture (zzzzz...)

By the way, are you the next millionaire? I am now listening to a talk by the SKMM, regarding the Networked Content Opportunities. Networked content is the next major thing in the industry. They are having this competition namely Mobile Content Challenge for IHL. Last year's winner was a group from Unimas. They received RM30K seed money to elaborate the idea and then work hand-in-hand with Maxis to further develop and put their product into market.

Potential users and customer?
We have 25 million of mobile phone subscriber in Malaysia, do u know that? And 1.5 million for broadband subscriber in 2008. Can you imagine if you are selling the In the Ayer ringtone for RM4, and if u only tap on the 1% possible customer over that 25 mil mobile phone user? Wow.. u r on your way to become the next millionaire.. u see..

The objectives of the Mobile Content Challenge are:-

1. To inspire students’ development in the area of mobility content, applications and services;
2. To encourage and inculcate an innovative and creative mindset amongst students, bridging the divide between theory & industry; and
3. To nurture a community of young entrepreneurs that are ready to embark on bold new ventures and who will develop and provide Malaysian made mobility content, application and services.

This year, the grand price is RM100K. And an opportunity working with the Maxis and Samsung to further develop your product. Next year mesti hadiah nya lagi besar, kan.

If you have the unique idea, the motivation, definitely you should take this into consideration.

The concept must be :

• Creative & appealing
• unique values proposition
• demonstrate export potential/universality

You can read more through this website, and get yourself prepared before u can join for the next year challenge. Did I mention next year? Yeah, too bad.. this year punya round sudah tutup. So, see u in next year's round ya!

I've Done It!

Surprisingly, it turns out to be ok. I started with a simple 'good morning' in different languages and in Kadazan (Kotobian Doungosuvab). As Bee suggested, confidence and feeling comfortable is very important. Therefore, I tried to calm myself, telling to myself that everything will be ok, just imagine the audience were my students. And it works!

Night before, I googled "How to introduce speaker" and found various helpful links. I learn that introducing the speakers in the right way is essential to make sure the audience know what to expect. Not only that, the chairperson need to highlight the creadibility of the speaker so that the audience will be motivated to follow and listen to his presentation. Based on the examples and do-and-don'ts from the net, I wrote my own script, practice and recite it over and over again.

As most of the advices suggested that I found on the Internet, I arrived early at the venue. Search for the protocol people and talked to the emcee, found out that he is one of my friend. I asked for the list of guest of honour, plan the flow of the activities, when to summarize the presentation, open the Q&A session, etc.

After I gain my confidence, slowly I added some jokes that I had in mind. Even I borrow the Obama's joke, and they liked it! (Later I'll share the jokes)

At the end, I think I enjoyed the whole process. Although, I really feel the nervousness rush to my body.

But if you ask me another time to do it again, I will try my best to ......avoid it! Hehehe...

Fear Buster - Stage Fright

This month, as always, is the IT Month for Sabah State. There will be numbers of IT seminar that are organized by the gov agency including UMS. Last week I received a buzz from my friend asking me to chair one of the seminar. Oh, no!

Public speaking is my forever nightmare. I don't know why. It's always ok if I were to stand infront of the students, as a teacher. To lecture an academic topics to the students..no problem! But when it comes to be an emcee, speaker for a talk, doing presentation to public or whatever related, thousands even millions of butterflies starts growing and flattering in my stomach. I used to be at a point where i’ve lost of words and i just don’t know how to continue my speech. This feeling is really terrifying. Do you have any suggestion on this? How do i make my thoughts flow?

Compering means :-"A person who acts as host at formal occations"

According to this guy, some symptoms like; tired of standing on stage, gripped by fear and paralysed by nervousness, are the signs that you have a stage fright.

He listed 10 tips to overcome the stage fright.

• F - Focus on your most powerful Experience
• E - Energize Yourself
• A - Acknowledge Your Fears
• R - Relax… BREATHE!
• B - Believe in Your Value!
• U - Understand the Audience
• S - Smile! ..Yes.. I can do this..
• T - Talk to Yourself ..I always do this, to make myself more comfortable..
• E - Enjoy Yourself! ..Gulp, How?..
• R - Rejoice!

Friends, anybody.. just wish me luck for tomorrow. I hope I won't pitam or paralyse. If somebody out there have any suggestion on the lines or script for a chairperson, you're most welcome to lend it for me.. pleeaaseee..

Discourse on The Truth Faith, Science and Common Sense: Islamic Perspective

Sheikh Yusuf Estes Malaysian Tour: 23-29 Nov 2008

Let's attend an informative talk on science and how they are explained from the view of Islam. It has been some time since I last attend this kind of talk or seminar. Maybe we can spare some of our busy schedule to slot in this event.

The speaker will be flewn from the US, Sheikh Yusuf Estes.

Yusuf Estes PhD. (born 1944), is an American convert to Islam and Chairman of "the Muslim Foundation International", an Islamic Promotional and Missionary Organization dedicated to spreading the message of al-Islam according to the Quraan, Sunnah.

When? Where?

Date:19 November 2008
Time: 7.30-10.30pm
Vanue: Auditorium Yayasan Sabah
ALL ARE WELCOMES
Organised by: CONCERN, USIA, JAKIM, JHEINS

C u there!

Part time student

Last Saturday was the last class for PLUMS student. That means I won't have the opportunity to meet the "Megamall bergerak" anymore. It was a nice and interesting experience teaching this batch of students. They are from different background, most of them are teachers and some from the hospital. I respect those who are able to give their time to study and work at the same time. It's not easy u know. Just imagine, they need to go to work during weekdays and go to class during weekends. Especially for the mums, leaving their kids at home for 7 days a week! What a sacrifice... demi menimba ilmu pengetahuan, banyak perkara yang perlu diketepikan. Semoga segala usaha dan pengorbanan anda sekalian akan mendapat manfaat yang sewajarnya.

However, we forgot to take picture, kan.. maybe somebody from the class can send me your class pics and I can post it here.

Lastly, wish u all the best!

Lost

Yesterday, Sal and I went to a food court near library to have our breakfast, when we bump into Leyana. We asked her whether Farah has delivered her baby, it was almost some time since we talked to Farah.

Ley : Oh, kesian dia.. baby nya meninggal dalam perut.
Me n Sal : Apa??! Meninggal? Aduuh.. kesiannya.. Bila?
Ley: Kamu tidak tau? 2 hari before due date dia bersalin. Itu baby tidak bergerak2 dlm perut, bila p hospital, dr kata tu baby sudah tiada.

I almost cried hearing the news. Farah is one of our colleague in the IT service department. I really feel the hurt. That was her second pregnancy. Her first pregnancy was a twin. However they were having this kind of disease - one baby is taking all the nutrition from another baby. (is that TTS). She and her hubby went to Australia to get some treatment. At the 6th month of her pregnancy, she lost the babies. Yes, both babies.

I still remember, Farah was so happy when she found out she was pregnant for the second time.

Farah: Kak, aku pregnant lagi!
Me : Iya? Wah, bestnya. Tahniah, berapa bulan sudah?

My heart is with her. Kuatkan semangat, Farah. Tentu ada hikmah disebaliknya. Moga damai mereka di sana.
Three stillborn babies..? I want to cry...

FYP Presentation

For every end of semester, we will have to attend the students' final year project presentation. This time I had given 32 slots of presentation! Banyak tuu.. each student are given 15 min to present their idea of building some system, doing some research on algorithm, or developing new computer application. This time around, we found out most of them are playing safe. Choose an easy topic and just want to get through it. Not many yang daring trying interesting topic such as builiding new local games kaa.. novel mobile application etc.

It's quite fun and informative to watch their presentation for some of the topic and algorithm are new for me. At least I can learn something from the student. But if u have to spend the whole day, sitting at the lab hearing some nonsense reason why they need to develop an online shop.. mcm mo marah pun ada oo.. reading their 'copy and paste' literature review lagi.. waa.. bikin panas..

All in all, I hope next time they will put some creativity and arts in their works. CS students are not meant to be poyo student u know..

Urgent Vacancy : IT post, Sabah

Calling to all the comp science and IT graduate. There are several vacancy for IT post to be located at the immigration office around Sabah. It is a private company servicing the immigration office. Basic salary RM1200. Pls email your resume to rosdy@mglorysb.com. ASAP.

With Helper or No Helper?

During my childhood, I remember we had helper or we also call them, kakak. But after I was in secondary school, we no longer has one. Maybe because we had grown up and able to handle the chores on our own.

But now, when I asked my hubby whether he is ok if we get a helper, he explain panjang lebar.

Misako : Lai, kalau kita ambil org gaji, ok kah?
Lai : Mo ambil org gaji? Napa?
Misako : Ya lah,at least boleh tolong2 cuci baju, bersih kan rumah. Saya kadang2 (most of the time, actually..hehehe) tidak sempat mo buat semua tu lah. Balik kerja, penat.
Lai : Tidak apalah, saya tolong cuci kain kan? Susah lah kalau ada org lain di rumah. Mo lari2 pakai suar dalam di rumah pun susah. (Kah..kah..kah)
Misako : Bah, jangan komplen aa.. kalau rumah tunggang langgang.
Lai : Kita buat lah sama2. Nanti kalau ada org gaji, kita goyang kaki jak, tambahlah gemuk. Sudahlah tidak exercise...

Aduss..terkena aku sebijik.

How I survive with three active children without helper? Well, I tell u that in another entry for sure.

Makan Time

When? 22 Oct 2008, 1 pm
Where? Penang Village, 1Borneo, KK
Why? To celebrate those who came back from their study, and to say goodbye for those who will be leaving to get his phd
Who? All CS family member..except Dr Jason..(got other activity)


This pic was grab from Yatt's. Me? ALamak, I'm the one who took the pics.. so, yes, that empty seat was mine

Explaination:

This gathering is to All-in-one celebration. To celebrate Dr. Kala and Dr. Rayner, as well as Pn. Shaliza and En. Din - came back from Glasgow. Also a farewell party to Hanafi.His flight to Liverpool is this evening.. Good luck my friend.. Nanti ko balik kami kena panggil Dr. Hanafi lah pulak..

Hari Raya ke-18

hari raya masuk hari ke 18. Masih byk rumah terbuka yg perlu lawati.

Jamuan Raya 2008

Last Saturday, 11 Oct 2008 have a jamuan Raya at our house.

The Menu:
- Ayam Masak Merah
- Sayur labu masak lemak
- Ikan goreng + sambal belacan
- Udang goreng tepung (my mom in law's special resepi)
- Acar timun
- Chicken wing goreng
- Air sirap

Who's cooking? Me and my sis, with the help of my mom IL. Hubby help to clear up the house. Nurul & Danish become the penyambut tetamu.

This one was only a small jamuan, not open house, because it has been so long time ago since I cooked for the guest. Dont really know how to estimate. Next timelah baru buat open house.

Thanks for those who were coming:
- Az n family
- Azali n family
- Jiran2 n family
- Ida n family
- my students
- Fid n hubby
- Yatt Daut
- Yatt n danial
- Cousin Fauzi n family
also my sis and bro's friends

and also for those who I didnt mention here.. nanti kalau teringat I put u in the list ya..

oh ya, the photo? Believe it or not.. we all forget about the photo..so, no one is taking the pic.. menyesalnyaaa...

Selamat Hari Raya 2008

Happy Aidilfitri everybody. Semoga Raya kali ini membawa seribu rahmat kepada kita semua. This year kami stay at my mom in law's. Though, my parents house is just 5km away.


Once again, selamat hari raya Aidilfitri. Maaf dipohon seikhlas hati.




Pixel Code Graphics

Syukur

Alhamdulillah, kita dikurniakan sebuah negara yang aman dan makmur. Semua orang bebas mencari rezeki halal di bumi bertuah Allah ini. Bersyukur atas apa yang dinikmati, walau jika hanya makan 'telur, nasi dan timun'.

Another Bundle of Joy!

This time it is a girl! It was after sahur, 19th Sept 2008, when I text my sis, Ani. To my surprise, she called my telling that she had deliver a beautiful 3.5 kg baby girl. She and hubby named her Aishah Qistina. She did called about her contraction a day before. I advised if the contraction is stronger that you can't deal it with a sleep, then it's the time to go to the hospital. As I expected, she was warded that night.

Now, my Nurul will have kawan. Before, she is the only granddaughter of her Tok Ji and Nenek Jah. To Senih, Yasir and Syakir, Congratulations! Baby Aishah - semoga sihat2 dan jadi anak yg solehah ya.

It's A Boy!

15 August 2008. My sis, Ida, gave birth for a healthy baby boy at 8.48 pm, Hospital Likas. This is her first baby, and my second niece after Syakir of Senih. Ida was accompanied by her husband for almost 4 hours in the labor room. Presenting, Muhammad Adam Rayyan bin Rosdy, semoga menjadi anak yg soleh.

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Recently, our nation has been hit by another episode of the political tsunami. Starting from the DSAI's cases, to the 16 sept of said-to-be our new 'celebration' of Malaysia day, continue with the Bukit Bendera's head of UMNO statement (I dont know who to trust until I watch the clip), and last night - the ISA in action - Raja Petra, Teressa, and the sin chew's reporter.

I do follow the politics issues, but I did not 100% support anybody. And would not prefer to discuss it here.


With all this tremors, I just prefer if you can "wake me up when september ends". By that time, I really hope nothing bad happen to our lovely Malaysia. May Allah bless our Nation.

17 Months Old Danial

Danial update :
Words - ayah, mmi - ummi, mama - makan, ka' - buka, ti..ti : dirty, tuuu - pointing at something, muska - mickey mouse magic word, abam - abg, kaka - kakak, come

He also can follow simple words, but I dont think he understand. Now he likes to play chaakk! and baby talk with gaya some more. So cute. Although he is a little bit underweight, but he one active toddler. Semoga anak ummi semuanya sihat2 belaka.

7 years ago...

Today is the 911. 11th of September. Seven years ago, the same date, I was taking my breakfast while waiting for the academician to go to the dewan for the convo ceremony. Suddenly, it was all over the news. We watched the clips of a plane crashing into the US World Trade Center. Everybody was talking about it even during the ceremony. It really was a shocked. How can a country like US been attacked by so-called terrorist. For so long we have been brain washed with to US propaganda that they are the most powerful country in the world, plus full of superhero. Superman, spiderman, hulk, you name it. They have the same origin. US.

But,

what ever US have done to the world, especially to the innocent Muslims,

I would like to send my condolence to the victim's family. I believe god has his own plan that will bring good thing behind all this. Pasti ada hikmah disebaliknya.

Semoga Allah merahmati roh muslimin dan muslimat yg gugur di dalam tragedi tersebut. Amiin.


Twin towers of the World Trade Center burning. United Airlines Flight 175 impacted the South Tower (right) after American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower (left).

Where? New York City, U.S. (1st & 2nd), Arlington Co, VA, U.S. (3rd), Near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, U.S.(4th)

When? Tuesday, September 11, 2001. 8:46 am – 10:28 am (UTC-4)
Who? Deaths 2,998 (excluding the 19 hijackers, Injured 6,291+

Credit to wikipedia

Peace

When do you think you are most in peace? I switched on the TV this morning just to kill the silence after sahur, while preparing for work. Pagi-pagi, mestilah rancangan motivasi yg biasa ditayangkan. Then there is one program talking about peace for every individual. It said that when you in peace, your brain will work creatively and new idea will come. In Al-Quran, it state that when ones read Al-Quran, it will bring peace to our heart, eventually to our mind. Bright and intelligent people should think through their heart more than their brain. Because with a peace heart will bring good idea or we call ilham. How is it be, by reading al-Quran again and again, it is a repeating activity. Therefore it activate our right brain for logic and creativity.

No wonder, I always got the ilham when I am praying. Alamak.. ndak khusyuk lah tu. ;) But, it reflect that I am at my most peace during praying. Besides, I also get solution to my problem or new idea for my research even new technique to apply for my teaching during washing the dishes, taking my bath or driving alone to fetch my kiddos. Maybe I am at peace at that moments. I think that's why we always pray people for their peace. Assalamualaikum, may peace be upon you!

Photoscape

Found this free photo editing software from Leyana. Very interesting and fun. Here some of the outcomes.

Another UMS student Murdered!

Shocking news! Very sad, another UMS student found dead at Tuaran. What happen to the safe KK? Bikin takut, mo jalan satu org kena hati2. And try not to take 'teksi sapu' or 'pirate car'. Really scary. According to the story, she was a TESL 3rd year student. Was about going back to UMS after the cuti convo by teksi sapu. But when she didnt not arrived at UMS after 3 days, her friend called her family. The police found the DB somewhere at the Tuaran Jungle. Here is the news from DailyExpress :

Tuaran: The body of a girl who was found in Kg Lugading, here, last Thursday has been confirmed to be that of an Universiti Malaysia Sabah student.

The deceased, whose identity has been withheld, was believed to have been dead for three to seven days. She was also believed to have been raped before being murdered.

Both her hands were bound with her clothes and was found facing downwards by the roadside.

According to a family member, on Aug. 22, they sent her to the Tandek minibus terminal and were surprised when one of the deceased's colleagues informed that she had for not reported for classes three days later.

They received a shock upon being informed by police about the discovery of her body. On Aug. 30, the family members claimed her body for burial.

Condolence to the family.

Baca Bro!

Recently my hubby's laptop has been infected by a virus namely bacabro. I found out that this is another version of brontok. So, I try to search some info on how to get rid of this really malicious thingy. Got this one, but has not tried it. Here it goes (I copied it from http://www.carigold.com/portal/forums/archive/index.php/t-6280.html)

apa beze brontok.c ngan .a? senang ja..bila korang jalan kan command msconfig, dia akan keluar dos pny windows dan akan tertulis bebenda merepek tuh. paling senang kalau .a ( ada file html dlm folder my pictures) tapi .c plak ada file .txt bertajuk bacabro!!. senang ja nak remove menatang ni ..tapi kena wat manual la. ini step dia. (pls click comment)


adios...
by isare.

Merdeka!

What is the meaning of merdeka from my kids' point of view?

Update

Ok, I know.. I know.. the last entry was last month. And it is really a loooong silent since then. Same old reason - busy. Ok, so now, before I run out of idea, I would really like to write about:
- Ramadhan
- Merdeka
- Convo week
- My new niece - Mohd Adam Rayyan
- Put pics of our new house
- My kids progresses

Yes, very ambitious.

But..

How I wish I've got time. The last time I want to update the blog, I'm too busy opening new tab to search for material for exams and lecture notes. By the time I want to put new entry in my blog, it's time to pick up the kids. I really admire my friends; Az, Rach, Mai. They can buffer their stories in their mind before blog it like it happen in real-time.

Good News!

Yeah, it's my turn to get some good news! Last Monday I received the PTK3 result, although it is not official yet, but I am really glad to hear that I have passed the exercise. You see, for us the gov servant, we need to take Penilaian Tahap Kecekapan course to move to next part in this career line. We need to attend two week course with some ceramah and assignments. I talked about the I Love U virus for my public speaking task. That was the longest 10 minutes in my life! First I give my speech in Bahasa for the first 5 min then, after that I switch to English to finish my topic. Never want to go through that experience anymore for this near future.

I heard there are numbers of participant got flying colors result for the PTK3. Congratulation friends, and congrats to myself too!

New Gadget

Today I received a new Laptop - Acer TravelMate 6292. Not mine exactly, but bought using the research grant money. It is installed with Window Vista. Will get some time to explore the differences between XP. Ok, that's all for now. Need to go to the Gallery for a meeting with Registrar.

CD, anyone?

No, not the music CD. This is Cloth Diapers. I am very new on CD thing, but really interested to try. At least, to save the environment and some disposable diapers budget. Found out several interesting website.

Home Sweet Home

Last Sunday (27 August 2008), we have moved to our new home at Bandar Sierra. My sisters, brother as well as in law and my hubby's friend, came and helped us to move the things. It was exhausting yet enjoyable experience. Now, by stages, we need to clear so many thing in our new house and the previous one. Need to take leave to do it, so I can concentrate tidying up without 'extra help' from the little ones, Danish & Danial. Later, if our home sweet home is ready, I will put a picture here. At the moment, you would never want to see the 'beauty'. ;)

One Afternoon with A Dear Friend

Last Thursday, I had my together-gather-session with my dear friend, Az. I tried to ask for Sar to join, but she is away in Beaufort. Haven't seen her since she left. Yeah.. I'm missing my buddies a lot. It feel lonely sometime. Well, going back to my outing with Az. Before this we always meet at CopyCat at Kingfisher. This time Az suggested 1 Borneo! Although I always want to go there, but I never been there. It's only about 1 KM from my office. Why? Simply because that 'gigantic' hypermall is still under construction. You can see the construction workers walking around at the parking lot with their safety helmet. The crane is still on top of one of its tower. If it happen a piece of plank or nail fall down from the highest floor and land on you head.. Fuh.. I'm sure it will be a front page news. But when you went inside, of course lah, macam sudah siap. They call it Sabah's Mega Mall.



By the way, despite all those imagination, with no hesitate I agreed. We went to a Japanese shop (what's the name aa..) then had our lunch at the food court. The system is quite funny, you need to buy the coupon before you can buy the food. If you can't finish the amount that you have paid, no worries you can get the refund, but only at the same day. We talked about life, children, friends. It is never have enough time when we catching up things.

Well sure enough there will be more teh-tarik-session soon.

How to be a good teacher?

Good teacher? Definition please..The teacher who inspires, efficient, helpful and informative. While searching for some reference for my classes, I found this interesting website : e-Learning in Malaysia by Zaid Ali Alsagoff a lecturer from UNITAR.

"If teachers or lecturers can answer these questions (below), they are on the way towards developing effective outcome-based approach and promoting a learning organization.

* What do I have to learn?
* Why do I have to learn it?
* What will I be doing while I am learning?
* Will it be interesting and useful?
* How will I know that I am learning what I should be learning?
* Will I have any say in what I learn?
* How will I be assessed?"

These are really basic questions that we sometimes overlook. Perhaps, if we are able to answer these questions to our students, they will be more eager to learn the stuff we are teaching/facilitating :)

Hopefully I can be one great teacher someday.. yes, someday..



Few tips from Zaid :

A FEW TIPS!

"Take your course seriously! Take course preparation seriously! Take learning seriously! Take asssessment seriously! Take your students seriously! But don't take yourself seriously!" - Zaid Ali Alsagoff

Better yet, have fun making fun of yourself during class, and make it a point that we all do mistakes. Anyway, the greatness of a lecturer or a leader is not whether he or she does a mistake (surely will!), but how he or she responds to it. If you are not doing any mistakes or failing once a while, you are perhaps not trying hard enough. Finally, celebrate students who ask you questions, even if you don't know the answer. Not only will they inspire you to learn and get a deeper understanding of the subject, they will also nurture you to become a better lecturer.

We all say funny things and ask stupid questions in our short life on this planet, but if we learn from them and move on we might just... :)

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy."
-Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
-Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
-Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"
-H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
-Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

"640K ought to be enough for anybody."
- Bill Gates, 1981

"If at first, the idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it."
- Albert Einstein

Danial is now Walking!

He started his first step when he almost 1 year old. Now he can walk confidently without holding my hand and learning to climb the steps. But the teacher at his taska still pun Danial in the walker because they afraid Danial will be pushed by the older toddler. However, now Danial know how to get out from the walker. He now know how to climb! The time really flew very fast.. my Danial is now 15 months old.

Danish and The Doctor

Last Tuesday, we went to clinic because my Danish got fever. I think it was his tonsils . When it was our turn, I asked Danish to sit on the usual patient punya bangku.

Doctor: Siapa yang sakit?

Danish : Danish! (sambil angkat tangan)

Doktor : Sakit apa?

Danish : Sakit tekak (tunjuk tekak)

Doktor : Makan apa ni jadi sakit tekak? Ais krim?

Danish : Tidak..

Doktor : Tidak suka makan ais krim? Keropok?

Danish : Tidak.. nanti demam

Doktor : Ooo .. pandai aa kau.. Berapa umur?

Danish angkat bahu. Kemudian kakak Nurul bisik,

Nurul : Empat tahun..

Danish : Empat tahun.. (sambil berbisik)

Doktor : Kena makan ubat ya. Kalau tidak nanti kena jarum. Mau jarum?

Danish angguk kepala.

Doktor : Mau jarum? (Kehairanan)

Ummi : Danish mau injection?

Danish : Tidak mau!

New Students, New Semester

It has been quite sometime since I updated this blog. Been very busy as usual. I have finished the PTK last May. Went to Langkawi for conference 9th June - Knowledge Management International Conference 2008 in short KMICE 08. Met kak Rohaida from my undergraduate class. She is a lecturer at UUM now. Luckily she rented a car and brought me ronda2 Langkawi. Visit the LI students right after the conference. Late June - Moving to a new room (previously Kak Salina's room). After that, very occupied with several meeting with Pusat Luar UMS, representing Yati whom went to India for Infosys. Entering marks to the system, checking for graduation status, final year project presentation etc. Last week, Cisco QA has came to check the Cisco implementation status in UMS. The dean has agreed to continue the program and also waiting for the paperwork to get some money to send us to training.

And now, actually tomorrow, we have a ceremony with the freshies - Aku Janji. Then, meeting the new students for some introduction to the School of Engineering and Information Technology (shall we call Computer Science instead of IT?) Next week, the new semester will begin. Will be teaching Data Communication and Multimedia System this semester.

Half of the year has gone. One of my resolution is to get some preparation done for my PhD things. But until now, have yet to decide which field to pursue. Am waiting for our Pn. Shaliza to come back and really need a discussion with her on research opportunity in computer network. Lau, Liawas, Kamel went to UK. Khairul went to Japan. I heard Maizura (Melbourne) and Mazlina to UKM this end of year. Me? Still lots of issues to think of.

Oklah.. may this semester will be an interesting one. And I am looking forward to get my PTK result. Harap2 lah lepas..

To my students, welcome back!