A Post for Mama

Hi everyone! I haven't had the time to blog lately. Been absolutely, super busy. However, today is a special occasion. In fact it's a double-special occasion.

For those of you who somehow didn't know (I doubt so), today is Mother's Day. That is a cause or celebration. But today is also, my mum's birthday! *party whistles and confetti*

So I just wanted to say. Happy Birthday and Happy Mother's Day to you, mum!! Double yay for you. =D Wish you youth always and that you will grow old gracefully and according to God's grace. =)

After all these years, she still looks the same =)

Malacca Field Trip: PPMSB

A Short update: Sorry for the long hiatus. I have been really busy. Tiresome weeks lately and more to come, I foresee.

Here is one of the reasons I love Civil Engineering in UTP: Awesome field trips!! =)

We have been to many field trips throughout our study in UTP. Lemme see... Langkawi, Ayer Tawar, Temenggor and Grik, Kajang, and the most recent... Malacca!!

Previously, all the accommodation were horrible. Langkawi - weird dormitory, Ayer Tawar - mosquito-infested camp, Temenggor and Grik - (Day trip)... Well, Kajang was so far the best. We were in a 3-star hotel. I thought that nothing could top that. However, what greeted my sight was...

Looks impressive from the outside

The door doesn't look promising...

Looking better...

Private bedroom section!

Personal bar counter!!

Little lounge with free Astro!!!

Everly Resort, Malacca, is a 4-star hotel. With a private beach of its own. =) However, the catch is that the beach is pretty small and boring. Nevertheless, great for a field trip standard.

The day before the visit was spent just hanging out and going around Malacca, courtesy of our lab technician, Mr. Khairul Anuar. We went to ride the Taming Sari (name of the "keris" equivalent of the Excalibur). We got a discount just by showing our IC. Oddly, the international students don't get any discounts.

On board the Taming Sari

It's basically a revolving structure, that's why it's build this way...

The view from the top

This picture is blur due to the constant rotation, but the city of Malacca looks nice from the top

By the way, the Taming Sari ride is located near the Dataran Pahlawan shopping complex. We wanted to go to Jonker Walk to try all the night food. Unfortunately, all we saw was an empty street. T_T

But still, the main point of the field trip IS to visit the plant... right? So for formality's sake, I shall post up a picture of Petronas Penapisan Melaka Sdn. Bhd. Which by the way, has the best HSE practice amongst all Petronas companies, which was the reason we went to visit them.

This is the Cogen system structure... (blah x3, technical jargon)

That is all for the Malacca trip, more to come soon! (and hopefully more frequently!)

The Other Side of the Coin

This just in. A response from an Egyptian (not the ones involved). It is always important to hear the other side of the story before we come to any conclusion about anything. Anyway, here it is:

Assalumu Alikom/hi Dear friends and colleagues,

Off course all of you have heard of the incident that happened last
week in Taman Maju. So, as Egyptian, I felt assaulted by this Metro
newspaper and with the suspicious looks that changed from friendly to
unfriendly from some people.

So here's the true story, and for you who really know will know I am
not bluffing here,
Few days ago before the incident, my Senior Mohamed went to a cobbler
asking to fix his shoe, the guy took it and promise to fix on time,
later on, my friend came back to take his shoe back ALONE! And the guy
asked for 30 RM which is too much if you know, normally just 5 RM,
anyway... My friend refused to pay this cost and asked to reduce, and
because he had a high-pitch voice and muscles body, the cobbler felt
afraid and raised his knife in front of his face and threatened to
hurt him. So yeah, my friend cursed him and went back ALONE!.
He later on told the story to another Egyptian and they went back same
day to fix this issue for good, And when they went back they were
surprised that the cobbler still angry with his knife and when the 2nd
Egyptian tried to calm him down, he attacked him with 3 stabs in his
forearm, And later on you'll see.

They went back afraid but mad! Those 2 Egyptians are like gym guys and
practice regularly and when the re-told what happened to their gym
friends! They insisted to go with them and either communicate with the
guy or fight with the guy! (They were mix of international and not
sure but I think there was 1 local). And when they went there, one
thing led to another and a fight started between the cobbler and his
friend and those UTPians.

The International UTPians may have cause some damages to his shop!
Then they went back after the other shop resident started to be
attention ed of the noise! And the cobbler went after them but the UTP
security stopped them ( fact & you can ask head of security).

That's all so far!

Concerns:
1- Are Egyptians.. Bully people? No we are not! Malaysia has been my
2nd home for 3 years now and I never saw something like that before!
2- Why did they send people to whack the cobbler and his shop? They
went to speak, but the guy took to a whole new level.

My Doubts:
1- 1st of all, I know that this newspaper Metro is a tabloid which
means don't expect they will write the truth! They want to create a
big bang.
2- The cobbler or the newspaper said 12 Egyptians! Well, Just 2 and
other Internationals went in his favor!
3- Do you think my senior would just go and kick his ass for nothing!
Why! We'r well educated people not bullies or attackers! so wth
4- People have been passing the link up to 150 people per email!
What's wrong with you people! IF YOU ARE MUSLIM DON'T YOU KNOW THIS
VERSUS:
(Quraan - Arabic Version)
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن جَاءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَإٍ
فَتَبَيَّنُوا أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَىٰ
مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ
( سورة الحجرات , Al-Hujraat, Chapter #49, Verse #6)

(Translation - English Version)
O ye who believe! If a wicked person comes to you with any news,
ascertain the truth, lest ye harm people unwittingly, and afterwards
become full of repentance for what ye have done.
(Translation - Bahasa Version)
Wahai orang-orang yang beriman! Jika datang kepada kamu seorang fasik
membawa sesuatu berita, maka selidikilah (untuk menentukan)
kebenarannya, supaya kamu tidak menimpakan sesuatu kaum dengan perkara
yang tidak diingini dengan sebab kejahilan kamu (mengenainya) sehingga
menjadikan kamu menyesali apa yang kamu telah lakukan.

So why don't you research a bit first before you fasten into sending
wrong info and creating conflict between locals and Egyptians whom by
the way is one of your course mates and you might be hurting their
feeling! I am just saying!

This newspaper is skank! And all of you know it! So why are you still
believing it!

I am not saying the 2 TWO Egyptians might not be wrong!, They might be
wrong Yes and if they were proven wrong, they should be punished
whatever it takes! But it's not our decision, there's local Police
invistagating!

If I wish to leave you with anything! I would say GOD BLESS US ALL :)

--
Best Regards,

Egyptian X

I have censored his name in this case, just in case he wouldn't want this to be published. However, I feel that this gives us a whole new perspective on the situation.

Fact or Fiction?

This extracted from myMetro, the online newspaper, translated by me (sorry for the poor translation),

IPOH: Purely on the notion that they were unhappy with the prices offered by a cobbler, a group of international students from Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) in Seri Iskandar, savagely beat up a cobbler while he was having a meal at a restaurant last night.

Roughly about 8.45 p.m., the victim, Zalmi Abdul Ghani, 35, was having a meal at a restaurant beside his shop in Taman Maju, Seri Iskandar, when he was suddenly attacked by around 10-12 Egyptian students who came in two cars.

“I was having dinner with one of my friends that night when that group of students without warning, suddenly rushed towards our direction and attacked us with sticks.

“The only thing my friend and I could do, was to use our hands to protect our heads from being hit.

“After a few minutes, these students escaped the scene in two cars. Sadly, not even one of the locals helped us before my friend and I went to Hospital Changkat Melintang for treatment,” said Zalmi when he was contacted by Harian Metro yesterday.

Zalmi, the father of four, said that he managed to identify one of his attackers because two days prior to the alleged incident (last Tuesday), the alleged suspect came to his shop to get three pairs of shoes mended.

“I know that the (alleged) suspect is a student from UTP he always comes here. last Tuesday, he (the alleged suspect) came to my shop to mend three pairs of shoes that were spoiled at their soles. “He inquired about the price and I told him that the price is roughly RM 15 per pair.

“Whereas on the other hand I have charged RM3 for another pair of shoes that had only minor damage to the soles, but the (alleged) suspect got angry and told me that the price was exorbitant, and asked me to lower the price to RM 20,” said Zalmi.

Zalmi said, he asked the alleged suspect to go to another shop nearby to inquire about the prices. “He went away for a while but after about 10 minutes later, he came back to my shop and demanded that I fix his shoes for RM 20,”

According to Zalmi, when the alleged suspect came back to his shop the second time, there was another customer who was in the shop. When he (the customer) saw the behavior of the alleged suspect which was demanding and utterly disrespectful towards Zalmi, he (the customer) asked the suspect to leave.

“At that point, the (alleged) suspect began to hurl abuse at me in English, but I ignored him (the alleged suspect),"

“But I lost my cool when the (alleged) suspect shouted ‘f** Malaysia’. “I lost my patience and grabbed the suspect's hand, and together with another friend and warned him not to speak in that manner,” said Zalmi.

According to him (Zalmi), the suspect got into his car and after making a U-turn, stopped in front of his shop and warned that he would return while performing a vulgar gesture.

“The most disappointing thing was that the UTP management instead persuaded me to retract my police report that night simply because they did not want this to be a big issue,” said Zalmi.

Kasdi Ali
kasdi@hmetro.com.my
2010/03/06

How true is this, I have no idea... But this seems to be the thing going about UTP. Will confirm it as soon as I can.

Edit: The Egyptians had a talk with the ESU representative for Egypt this afternoon. The reason for the talk has yet to be confirmed.

My Car...

My car battery, for the umpteenth time has died...

We have been conducting diagnostic tests with no results. Even the mechanic the other day could not determine the cause of this problem. But one thing for sure, this is definitely a car wiring problem. Time to call in a car wireman.

Right now I just need the time to actually get the car jump-started again so I can get it for a thorough check-up.

Boycott!!

Come to think of it, if anybody says UTP is a boring place, that simply just isn't true. Why?

This just a few days ago...

"Cafe de Jernih (v5 and Pocket C cafe) has taken over Village 5 cafeteria in its entirety."

In other words, this means that they have kicked out the 3 "staple foods" of many UTP students, namely the Nasi Lemak Kukus stall, Western Food (which incidentally serves an immensely popular dish called "Alabama Chicken"), and the V5 Water World stall (which sells another favorite - "Air Mangga Madu"). The new vendor has since replaced these stalls with mediocre versions of the previous favorites.

This move is definitely questionable. The obvious intention to monopolize the entire cafe to maximize profit is instead covered up with a total lie that the tenants in question failed to pay their rent. Considering the business these 3 stalls were getting, I hardly think that situation would be possible.

Anyway, I'm not going to that cafe anymore until they change the vendor. This is simply called tyranny and I'm not going to stand for that and let them have their way. We, UTPians need to show them the power of the people!

Timeless Classics: Wacky Wheels

I wonder how many of us remember the first computer game we played... I guess one of the first games I played was on a 486 kB RAM computer that runs on DOS OS. Used to play them very often: Raptor - Call of the Shadow, Battle Chess 1 and 2, and most memorably a game called Wacky Wheels.

This arcade-style game, developed by Beavis Soft and produced by Apogee Software (creater of Raptor and Duke Nukem!) in 1994, is basically a Go-Kart racing game similar to that of Super Mario Kart. The game also features a selection of a handful of cute animals (shark, tiger, duck, camel, etc) to select from.

Lineup at the starting line

Why does this game rock?

1. For an old game, it actually features a lot of game modes. Single Player Race(duh!), Multi-Player Race (split screen/online/LAN cable direct), Wacky Shoot-out etc.
2. Lets you use collectible hedgehogs and bombs to take out or distract ur opponents.
3. Has a game mode that lets you go around shooting as many ducks as possible in a 2-minute timeframe.
4. What could be more fun than facing off with your friends in a deathmatch mode (similar to FPS games), using cute animals.
5. It's OLD SCHOOL!

Overwhelm your opponents with ammunition...

... or just go duck-hunting!

One fatal mistake and you're out! Oh well, at least you have 2 lives more

Recently I got my hands on it again, so I guess I'm gonna start shooting some ducks and racing some animals.

p/s No ducks were hurt in the production of this game.

Why I Like It Longer

A Few Days In the Week of A Helpless Romantic

Day 1:

It wasn't an easy thing to admit. In fact, the very thought of it embarrassed me so. But with each passing moment, it was getting harder to deny. After gazing upon IT that very day, I knew in my mind... LONGER... was indefinitely my preference.

Note to self: I need to get this out of my head before people start to call me a weirdo!

Day 2:

Just for the very fact that it was longer, I longed to just go back to that same corner... just to take a peek, to catch a glimpse of that long, slender, and *argh!* "What am I thinking?", was all my rational mind could say to forestall this nagging urge in my head that was slowly taking over. Before I knew it, I found that my feet had dragged me subconsciously, until I was right in front of IT!

Day 3:

I think I must've blacked out or something. I can't seem to recall what happened after my feet dragged me in front of IT... I need to take some time to recall.

(after a few hours)

I still can't recover the memories of what happened in detail, however I vaguely remember staring at IT for what seemed to be eternity. I knew it was impolite to stare, but tell me, how can one help but to gaze at such a beauty? IT had all the qualities I was looking for... tender and delicate features, yet exuding strength and character from its interior... beauty only befitting that of a supermodel and... most of all, it was actually LONGER than the rest!!

Day 4:

I find myself going to that corner and that place everyday! What is wrong with me? Why am I so obsessed with IT? I am thoroughly ashamed when I think of all the weird looks and stares I get from people who pass my way. No, they don't understand! No one can truly begin to even comprehend its beauty... the beauty that only comes solely because IT is longer! In fact, if I may say this, it's the LONGEST of them all!!! (smug look of triumph)

*Sales attendant interrupts*

Sales attendant: "S-Q me ar, Mister... If you not going to buy the phone, then go away! You chasing all my customer away lah!!"

me: _|''''|O**

*Looks at empty pockets*

me: (to self) LG Chocolate BL40 worth RM 2199!!! How to buy lah?! Need... to... save...

Heading Back

I'm typing this LIVE from my former office's public computer. I'm currently on my way back to UTP. Today, I move from the land of high-speed internet into the valley of medieval technology, from free time to busyness.

Nevertheless, there is much to be done, much to be accomplished, and a legacy to be left before my official departure from UTP. I hope I can post more frequently on this blog once the semester starts...

This is the last entry from civilization...

*buzz beep beep*

*static*

Absence of Productivity

I've been back in JB for a while now. It's so nice to be finally in a position where I can be absolutely relaxed and "responsibility-free", so to speak. The few days in which I have experienced the absence of productivity has allowed me to think things through and figure out what I need to focus on next semester, as it will be a tough one for me, and the others.

Anyways, I will be trying hard to study more next semester as I have many killer subjects. At the same time, appreciating my final year in UTP. Going to really miss the study life (of course, by saying that I don't mean assignments, tests, and reports!). And after that it's off to the working life...

Anyways one thing at a time. Right now still trying to solve the mystery of whether the final report hard bound cover needs to have the UTP logo on its front... That being done, then I would need to print out and bind those books immediately. T_T

Anybody have any idea how to solve that mystery?

Lesson Learned

Something I came across a few weeks ago while hanging out with my cousin. The infamous Jaya Supermarket in Seksyen 14, PJ that collapsed during renovations. Kinda reminds me of one thing. This is what your life would look like if not built on the Solid Rock...

Oh, if you actually enlarge the picture, you could see a digger stuck up there in the rubble.

Away...

I have been away for quite a while... since I've been on leave from work for about 1 week plus. Just only got back today, and since I don't have internet access elsewhere.

Went on a trip up north to Perak (how ironic, since I will be going back there soon again. But the next time will be for a more gloomy purpose) with the family and church staff. It was a trip of BIG eating. I ate like crazy and even didn't realize I ate 5 and a half bowls of rice on one occasion. XD

Anyways, I got to be doing my final report for internship now. Kinda stuck... and I don't really have any direction with regards to anything next semester. Pray for me.