The Reader

CYCLEFEST PUTRAJAYA 2009

InsyaAllah, saya akan hadir dan mungkin menyertai majlis ini.Kepada peminat basikal atau mempunyai anak-anak yang berminat untuk menyertai karnival basikal ini,sila lihat detail saperti tercatiti didalam borang penyertaan.

CYCLEFEST PUTRAJAYA 2009
8 FEBRUARI 2009 (AHAD) 2:00 PTG HINGGA 6:30 PTG


Pembayaran yuran penyertaan boleh dibuat di tempat-tempat berikut :

a) Dewan Serbaguna Presint 8,Kompleks Kejiranan Presint 9 & Presint 16, Putrajaya

b) Unit Sukan dan Rekreasi, Bahagian Perkhidmatan Komuniti, Jabatan Perkhidmatan Bandar, Aras 3, Blok B, Kompleks Perbadanan Putrajaya, Presint 3, Putrajaya (03-8887 7063 / 7092 / 7547 / 7439)

Borang penyertaan,Download BORANG CYCLEFEST PUTRAJAYA 2009 (FINAL) .

NB: Thanks Azizi for the info given at PERs blog.

Note about the photo:The members of Putrajaya Easy Riders who are 50+ years old.

Lost & found!

"Adib,I want to tell you a story,"said my friend after our solat at our surau(mosque)."Yes, I love stories!.Go ahead..I am all ears for you".He is the chairman of our surau who just led the subuh prayer.

Below is what he told me:

Last Sunday I went to my kebun(orchard) and someone invited me to 'menjala ikan'(catching fish by casting a net) in the river next to my kebun.The first throw,I caught a fish and the next throw I caught a few fish.But the third throw,I not only threw the net, but my ring also flew into the river!

Oh My God,how am I going to search for my ring?The water in the river is chest deep! So I got out of the river anc called my guru and asked his advice.My guru asked me to get some salts and read Al-Fatihah 21 times and threw the salt into the river where I was doing 'menjala ikan'.While in the river I threw the net a few times,hoping that the ring might get caught with it.After a few throws,I felt frustrated that I am going to lose my ring.To dive and look for it is impossible-the river water is a little muddy and I can't see the ring if it were right in front of my eyes.So I walked up to the bank of the river.On the way, I stepped on something that felt like a hard object.I kept my foot on it and asked my friend to dive and get the hard object under my foot.He went down for it and up he gave me my ring back.Subhanallah!!!

This is the barakah of Al-Fatihah!

By the way, can you write this special episode in your blog?

Yes, I will,insyaAllah.

NB: My friend Razali has written a very good  note on Al-Fatihah at his blog.

From PalmOS to Symbian

One week has gone by since I migrated from using Treo680 PalmOS to E71 Sysmbian smartphone.Honestly,I was in doubt whether I made the right decision about this move.I still love my Treo680 with PalmOS, but over the last 7 days,I began climbing on my learning curve and so far I have been enjoying the ride even though on some occasions I have to change my old habit like touching the screen and pushing the wrong button.

One thing that worried me most was the data(contacts,calendars etc) in my old phone.Can I get them to my new phone.Each has its own OS and I synced the data using different pc platforms(Treo on macOS,and E71 on PC on microsoft).Even though I am the heavy user of smart phone, but when it comes to really techie stuff, it is beyond me.So,I invite my gadget buddies[from palmx community] to attempt the data migration. Alhamdulilah,in about one hour, my friends Dr Azmi and Nazley had managed to do it.To celebrate the occasion and to thank my friends,we had a delicious nasi padang at Sari Ratu.Thanks guys:-)

A week is too short to make  a real meaningful comment on this E71, but I began to like it.It has many apps for communications and social networking, not to mention that it syncs with Microsoft Outlook.

By the way,I am still a tourist in Symbian country..

Change or Die

The following excerpt from Malaysiakini prompted me to write a note on this topic,again:

Umno must change or face 'death sentence'

Jan 25, 09 5:32pm

Umno must change before the people pass a "death sentence" on it, said Home Minister and party supreme council member Syed Hamid Albar.

More than three years ago I have written a note on similar topic.The link is here on Change for the Better.Most people want to change for the better but there is a glaring lack of sense of urgency to do it.Change normally takes place when things have gone so bad that it is already too late!

A favourite magazine of mine,FastCompany has a special topic in its issue 94,May 1995.The link is here for you to read.I am not talking about UMNO here(my blog is always apolitical) but I wish to point out one important factor about making change.It is SENSE OF URGENCY!Once we have identified and defined what change we wish to make in our personal lives or business,just DO IT!

In August last year,I wished to change the way I do my physical exercises.Previously,I normally jog or do brisk walking once a week.I realised it is not enough,so I decided to take up cycling.With the helps(motivation/supports) from friends,I now cycle at least 10km every other day.You can read my planned change here.Prof John Kotter has written many books on change.

More than seven years ago,I seldom read Qur'an.A year before my Hajj,I got a teacher to teach me how to read Qur'an with proper tajweed.From there on, the interest began and now I read Qur'an quite regularly.It is your choice: To be better or to remain wherever you are now.First, there is a big inertia to change and you will face all sorts of hurdles(mostly from your own doings/habits).Three things are required:Determination,discipline and a lot of patience.

Now, I am contemplating on my business change.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

To all my Chinese friends and readers of this blog,may I wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year.To others,have a good holiday and I am going to visit my Chinese friends' houses tomorrow.

Another ride at Putrajaya Wetland

I was very happy when our Tok Penghulu of Putrajaya Easy Rider(PER) group told us that we are going to Putrajaya Wetland this morning.There were ten of us and we cycled almost 20km- a different route than my first time.I am very grateful to Allah swt who has given me another chance to ride my bicycle and clocked accumulative total distance of 211km for this month.Below is my cycling log:

Period	Time	Distance (km)	Avg Speed (km/h)	Ride Count
Month of January	15:06:53	211.28	13.98	17
Month of December	15:23:36	203.63	13.23	16

Today, my friend Khairil joined us.I hope he enjoyed his ride with PER group.My thanks to my cycling buddies who helped me to fix my car's punctured tyre.You guys are great!For detailed stories of my cycling,kindly visit my bikex blog.Below is the photo of the members without Aliff,the photographer.Hopefully,next month,we are going to ride at Paya Indah Wetland.

Book: The Story of The Prophets

I bought this book in Makkah during Ramadhan 2007.It contains a lot our prophets' stories which I have not heard or read before  my student days and also during the kuliyyah I attended when I started my working life.It is written by Ibn Kathir and published in English by Darussalam for SR45.May be you can get this book in Malaysia.

There are a lot of stories in the Holy Qur'an to be our guidance:

[12:111] There is, in their stories, instruction for men endued with understanding. It is not a tale invented, but a confirmation of what went before it, a detailed exposition of all things, and a Guide and a Mercy to any such as believe.

[7:176] If it had been Our Will, We should have elevated him with Our Signs; but he inclined to the earth, and followed his own vain desires. His similitude is that of a dog: if you attack him, he lolls out his tongue, or if you leave him alone, he (still) lolls out his tongue. That is the similitude of those who reject Our Signs; so relate the story; perchance they may reflect.

If we have time to read newspapers,magazines and other books,why can't we allocate a time in a day or in a week to read religous books that matters more to us than those that we enjoy reading but have little value to our lives.

First entry of my 2009 journal

For this year,I have chosen to use a 'monologue' diary which cost about 40% of my previous moleskine diary.The choice was based mainly on the better layout of the daily pages.When it comes paper quality and binding,moleskine is still superior. For my journal,I still prefer the moleskine classic notebook but for this year,I have chosen the blank pages over the lined pages.By so doing,I hope I could be more creative in writing and recording my personal journal.

From my past two years experience in journaling using moleskine notebook,I only used on average about two notebooks in a year-just about 30 sen per day.

Yesterday was my first time using a blank moleskine with some sketches as shown above.

The WoW-Factor!

Lately,Tan Sri Mahyudin was talking about the missing wow factor in UMNO.It reminds me to examine whether I have  the wow factors in my life.By the way, what are the wow factors in our lives? I think it depends on how one determines or defines his/her  the wow-factors.So, yours may be different from mine.

When I visited my friend one morning at his office,he immediately told me,"Let's get out of here.Take me any where interesting!".I don't blame him because he is working for the same government agency for the last 30 years!

Some jobs are really boring.One of the ways to add wow-factors to our lives is add some life enrichment activities.Somethings that we love doing it for fun! Not only for fun but we also must have a few wows in our working or business lives.Two years ago,I took up photography by buying the first DSLR in my life!It surely added some colours to my life.Early last year,I bought a mountain bike and now I look foraward to every wekend for my next ride!I even tried water color painting, but it did not take off well due to my lack of artistic talent.Whatever it is,we must make an effort to explore where we can add a few wows in our personal lives as well as in our business lives. 

Whatever you do,never get stuck in the rut and not doing anything about it.It is all up to you to make your life more interesting.Over to you:-)

Happy Birthday Black Beauty

It was not love at first sight.At my age, I do not trust my eyes very much.However, I trust my heart more.After tough bargaining with the previous owner,I paid for Black Beauty and took her home.When I brought her  home, my lady made some noises because I already have a White Beauty collecting dusts by her kitchen.I don't blame her because she knew that I did not ride my White Beauty as I should be.Now, another iron horse going to rust...(by the way,I can't afford a real horse)

 Today,I proved her wrong.For the past three months,I have been riding my new bike which I called The Black Beauty(just like the famous horse in a book) almost every other day.Last November, I logged in more than 100km and last December I logged in for more than 200km.As of today,I cycled more than 140km for this month,January,2009. According to my friend Col Azudin,boys first love is their bicycles.Women only comes second.In my case, it was the other way around.I was taken away from my family to live and study at a boarding school at the age of 12 years old.So,I did not do much cycling. Last night,I asked my son when did I first buy a mountain bike?He told me about ten years ago after I bought him a Morales BMX bike from a shop at White Chapel,London.He still keeps his Morales BMX until today.I hope he can join me cycling mountain bike because I need a partner to cycle around my neighbourhood.On weekends,I join my riding buddies at Putrajaya or any other places they arrange from time to time,like FRIM as an example.

Today, my Black Beauty,its technical name is Trek3700, is one year old.So far,it serves me well.I bought it on 18/1/2008 and it cost me then RM1300.With helmet,gloves etc, I think I already must have spent about RM2000.The maintenance cost is very low because I am the engine that pedals it every other day now.But the benefit cost ratio and ROI are very good-it makes me exercises at least three times a week.At my age and body weight,the good doctor advised me not run -either you swim or you cycle,he said.I hate going swimming so my only choice is cycling.During my corporate days,I took up golf like everyone else, but my handicap remains 24 almost forever. To my Trek3700@Black Beauty,Happy 1st Birthday.I will take you for a cuppa at our local mamak shop this late afternoon to celebrate this anniversary!

Let me share with you some lessons learnt from my cycling in the last three months:

1.For something new and may be dangerous,get in slowly-keep my eyes and ears open and use my 'legs ' to test the depth and the temperature of 'waters'.

2.Do not assume you know a lot of it-observe and listen to others.Read a book and talk to veterans.

3.Start small and 'pedal' up the learning curve at your own pace.

4.Achieve small and quick wins to give confidence and keep score.Plan,do.monitor and control.

5.Enjoy the ride with your buddies.

6.Write about it.Here is my blog on cycling.