The Reader

Johar's camels...

A friend told me this story during our teh tarik session to-night:-

Johar was entrusted to deliver nine camels from a point A to a point B. After some time he got tired of walking ,so he took a ride on one of the camels...

During the journey, he felll a sleep a few times ...Suddenly, he woke up and started counting his camels.He was afraid that one or some of his camels may have gone astray.To his unpleasant suprise , he discovered that he managed to count only eight camels.He then got scared-one of his camels must had gone missing!

To make sure that none of his camels gone missing again, he decided to walk with his camels.As he walked back and forth to count his camels, to his pleasant suprise, he now has nine camels back instead of eight. After walking for some time,again he got tired and took a ride on one of his camels...

To make sure that he wouldn't lose another camel again, he started counting while he was riding on a camel.
To his horror, now his number of camels counted only eight. He had not a clue how one of his camels gone missing again in the middle of the desert....

Again, he alighted from the camel he was riding and started to walk back and forth counting his camels.To his suprised(again), now he has nine camels back like before.To make sure that he wouldn't lose any camels, he continued walking until he reached his destination.

After my friend finished telling this story, all of us had a good laugh at Johar.Then , I interjected:

"Johar could be anyone of us";-)

Note: Interpret anyway you want.

Macusers Meeting to form MyMUG

As a supporter of macusers community, herewith I attach the invitation to all of you.The photo above was taken by Azul :-

From: "evian_007"
Date: Fri Sep 26, 2003 4:14 pm
Subject: Important meeting for MyMUG

Things are taking shape for the soon-to-be-formed Malaysia Macintosh Users Group.
There will be a meeting to set up a Proterm commitee to oversee the setting up of the
MUG and registering it as a society. Details are as follows :

Date : Saturday 4th October 2003
Place : AppleCentre at Great Eastern Mall,Jalan Ampang,KL
Time : 2.00 pm
Everyone is invited.

In case ,you may want to know,I use both mac and pc for business and pleasure;-)

Chequered jacket

When I was in London two weeeks ago, I went to Debenhams looking for a new chequered jacket.The one that I was wearing was more than ten years old but I still wear it. Honestly,I donot know the reason why-more than 50% of my shirts are chequered of many colours..

The last time I shopped at Debenhams,Oxford Street was more than ten years ago.Now, it has a cybercafe on the top floor.I was so happy to see one jacket that I liked. But my happiness was short lived- the shop didnot have my size S40.So I came back home with the old jacket that cost me GBP 30 then.The new price is GBP 79.90!The price almost triple over 10 years.Btw,I have got a few old worn out shirts that I still wear them-somehow I just feel very comfortable wearing them and just cannot throw them away.

When I told my wife that I am taking her to Debenhams tommorrow( Monday 29.09.03), she told me that I must be joking.I told her that since I failed to buy a new chequered jacket,so I am going to try again.She still didnot believe it until I showed her the newspapers that Debenhams is open for business tomorrow at Berjaya Time Square,next to Imbi Plaza,KL!

Talking about old clothings, just check your wardrobes and see for yourselves how many old shirts, trousers, jackets, dresses,scarves etc lying around untouched for a few years.It is NOT easy to part with them because our clothes are very personal to us and some have emotional ties to us.However, I believe that you can take half of them to give away to charities of your choice. It also will help you to get more space for your new clothings.

I posed this idea to my wife a few months back and the answer is ....Have a guess?
Lesson learnt: I may have a good idea, but it takes efforts and even sacrifice to transform that into action,what more to make it a success.

Note: I have no stocks/shares and no interests whatsoever in Berjaya Group of Companies.

Special Message about my Yahoo IM and Bloggers List

My apologies to some of my readers who tried to get my consent to add them to my list in my Yahoo! IM.I have received your requests but accidentally have deleted them:-( The old engineer sometimes becomes absent-minded;-) Could you please resend them again. I am sorry for any convenience caused.Worse, I seldom 'on' my Yahoo! IM.

Two fellow bloggers have pointed out to me that I misspelt their blog URL's.My typos also include some missing words in my postings.My mind tends to work faster than my typing.To my generation,we seldom do our own typing-mostly done by our PA or secretaries.If you discover I miss a word or two or misspelt,I offer my apologies and please point out to me via email.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Greetings and Salam to You.

All animals are equal

I was glad to read in the newspapers front page yesterday about our PM speech at the UN. He called for more democratic process at the UN Security Council.And that reminded me of the famous qoute by George Orwell in his book The Animal Farm," All animals are equal.But some animals are more equal than others".It is still true until to-day.

When I was in the Upper six in 1972, my teacher Cikgu Faridah asked us to write about the same thing-the UN roles in maintaining world peace and order.We discussed what UN should be and that it.As a young man at that time, I was very idealistic and hoped for a better world during my life time.Alas,looking back for the past three decades, the sum total of the wars and human miseries must, IMHO ,HAVE exceeded the WW11!

I have heard many times about the ideas and proposals to make UN better than what it is.But in all honesty,I donot have high hope as when I was twenty years old anymore...

Online Book: The Ideal Muslimah

For the benefits to those who wish to read the book online,here is the link.

I am sorry, I could not tell you where to get this book in Malaysia.

My special thanks to Gabra for informing us of the URL of the book mentioned above.

The muslim polishes his soul through worship

The muslim is obliged to take care of his soul,so he starts to polish it and refine it through constant worship and awareness of Allah swt, night and day.He is alert to devious tricks and deceptive whispers of the Shaytan and if,in one moment of human weakness,evil thoughts come to him from that source,he remembers Allah swt and finds his way back to the Straight Path.

{{ Those who fear Allah,when a thought of evil from Satan assaults them,bring Allah to remembrance,when lo! They see aright}}( Qur'an 7:201)
Therefore ,the Prophet s.a.w used to tell his Companions:"Renew your faith." He was asked," O Messenger of Allah,how do we renew our faith?" He said,"By frequently repeating lailaha illa-Allah."

The muslim seeks to strenghten his soul through various kinds of worship which he performs out of obedience to and fear of Allah swt,such as reading Qur'an carefully and with understanding,and remembering Allah swt with humility,and praying correctly and with presence of mind,and other kinds of worship and spiritual exercises,training himself to adhere to different acts of worship until they become second nature and he cannot do without them.Thus he develops and enhances his feelings until,in most cases,he becomes alert and aware,conscious that Allah swt is watching him in public and in private,so that he never mistreats the people he deals with and he never deviates from the True Path.

Note:
The above text is taken from page 45 of the book entitled The Ideal Muslim written by Dr Muhammad Ali Al Hashimi.(ISBN:9960-672-05-0)I recommed you to buy this good book published by International Islamic Publishing House.Website: http://www.iiph.com.sa . I bought this book in Makkah for SR 35.

The Network is personal

In mid 90's, I came across a cryptic message from technopreneur Scott McNeally that said:
The network is the computer.

Only a few years later I understand the meaning of it when I got myself connected to the Internet in July ,1995.

I was made to understand that Harvard Business School MBA students started their networking even before they arrived at the campus.The point is ,whether you are in business or in governement,your network is a powerful infrastructure that facillitates your work.From my personal experience,more than 90% of my business came from my friends or people within my network of business associates or friends in government.Like it or not,politically correct or not,it is the people you know who give you the business or will assist you in your business or personal life.In some cases, certain members of the network are stronger and closer to you than your own family members.

In the event, you change job or move to another organisation or even starts your own business, the network goes with you and not the organisation. That is why I said," Network is personal". You build it and you maintain it and it is yours forever...

Albert-Laszalo Barabasi talked at length about the new science of network.You can read it in his book entitled Linked. For more details how to network for business, just read chaptrer 17 The Naked Leader by David Taylor.Personally, I also write about the nature of network at my school alumni.

Whatever it is, when I meet a young man, I will tell him to network by yesterday because you may need it to-day!

Outdated lecture notes

During this age of Internet,some students may know that their lecturers may be using outdated materials especially in the fields of science and technology.When I did my degree in the 70's, we wouldnot have noticed the difference,but nowadays the students can be more updated than their lecturers.

I am sad to hear from my son that his lecturer is too lazy to update his lecture notes!

New knowledge is being created everyday and they are being reported and archived everyday.If the lecturers are not using the Internet and other resources,most likely his/her notes will be outdated on the very day it was written.

I graduated as an engineer in 1976. The knowledge that I got from my lecturers at that time may be already 10 years old.That brought the knowledge back to 1966. What kind of engineer I would be to-day if I donot update my knowledge through readings,seminars,courses,discussions etc? One thing I am very sure that I will be an outdated engineer by now. I got registered as a profesional engineer more than 15 years ago. There is no system in place to ensure that I remain relevant and qualified for my profession.In certain western countries, a professional must submit his application every 3 years to renew his profesional membership,but not yet in Malaysia.(for engineers).

My questions:
1. Have you encounter a similar experience like my son?
2. What efforts have you take to remain relevant and current in your profession?

The formula is easy

"How come I am not rich yet?",asked my friend. "Why should you be rich?",I asked him back.
Then,he started telling a long story about him attending a few courses looking for ideas and ways to get rich.
"What was the last 'get rich talk' that you attended?".He replied: Think and get rich!
(I thought of telling him to join Pak Man Telo Skim,but decided not to.)

I am no expert on how to get rich especially if it is to get rich fast.I told him that he won't get rich by doing what he has been doing(working in a bank full of other people money) and only thinking to get rich!Thinking cannot create a change. You have got to do something about it that could make you rich.I recommend that he study rich people and find out how they become rich.I know a few that I won't follow their ways just to be rich.

In general,the formula is easy.There are many books that tell us how to stop smoking,how to reduce weight,how to get rich ,how to be closer to God and many,many hows. The difficult part is doing things to initiate the change,to achieve the change and to maintain the newly acquired change.A few months back, I was looking for a way to improve my writings.One of the formula is to read a lot and to write a lot!That is the hardest part.Just like my dear friend who aspires to be rich but his activities will not make him rich.When he told me he is too lazy to clean his own house and prefers to pay others to do it,I told him jokingly that he is already a rich man.Honestly, I don't think he will be rich as a result of his own effort.Of course,unless he wins a lottery or someone gives him a few million ringgit.

Last year,someone asked me whether I have read Rich Dad,Poor Dad.I replied yes and she told me that there is a lot of sense in that book. I agreed.It appears like common sense;but how many us really follow common sense? We spend more than we earn.We borrow too much money to be paid from our future income. We used credit card that charge us 18% a year and happily save our money in banks that give us 4% interest.We waste many,many things in order to satisfy our life-style.The list goes on...

To cut the long story short,just ask yourself :Do you really want it?Really,really want it?? If NOT, it will remain a dream or 'cakap kedaikopi'.

Note: And this posting reminds me of publishing my own book by year end.I have written about 100 short notes beginning Aug.,1997.The title is Cerita Kedaikopi;-)