The Reader

Food: My favourite from O'Briens

One of the my favourite western food that I enjoyed eating at any time of the day..It is not cheap but I could afford them today because tomorrow,I hope to get my salary;-)From the look of it,this sandwiches look nice and healthy.Hopefully,we may look nice and healthy as well... Lately I am more careful what I am putting into my belly because I heard a few of my peers are getting sick from over-eating and lack of exercises.Have you ever heard of Malaysians died of starvation?

Below is an old photo I snapped a few years ago at the same place.

Book: The Notebook

When my dear friend Gukita mentioned Nicholas Sparks in his comments at my Facebook,the writer of the novel The Notebook,it reminds me of it.Immediately,I checked it up in my bookshelf and there it was staring at me.I pulled it out and checked the small note I usually wrote inside the novel.It reads: Bought at KLIA on my first visit,27th July,1998!

After reading the novel back then,I recommended it to my wife and she throughly enjoyed the love story and almost choked and tears flowed towards the end.This novel opened my heart to read most Nicholas Sparks's novels later and another favourite of ours was Message in The Bottle.Both of us went to see the movie.My recent read was The Lucky One.

Another thing that triggered my consciousness after reading The Notebook was about having a notebook,a personal journal that I keep writing until today.A few days ago,I started reading the novel for the second time-just to savour the beauty of the nice prose written by Nicholas Sparks and at the same time to get deeper  insight into the story...

Below is the photo of the novel,taken in 2006.

Photos: Playground

Bored of walking?

"Adib,don't you get bored just walking?Why not join me for golf?",asked my dear friend.I told him I have given away all my golf sets leaving only one wood for old time sake;-)

From my short experience and little knowledge in walking for my fitness and health,there are three factors that contribute to my enjoyment in walking-the place,the walking and the company.IMHO,the first factor is how I walk.Second the conversation along the trail and third the ambience of the place.

Below is one such place that I keep going there..behid Lanai,Presint 8,Putrajaya.. "Sometimes the most ordinary things could be made extraordinary, simply by doing them with the right people." — Nicholas Sparks.

 

Belief in God and The Hereafter

During last Monday kuliyyah at Masjid Al-Hasanah,Bangi Dr Hashim Mihat told us about the research done by University Oxford on the people's belief in God and The Herfeafter (akhirat).The research concluded that it is in human nature(fitrah) to believe in God and the akhirat.It is not an acquired belief;it is already embedded in their souls to believe in God!

If anyone has the copy/URL of the said research,kindly let me know.

Dr Hashim then read Ayat 16-48 of Surah Ar-Rum.He also mentioend Ayat 28 Surah A'-Li'Imran ,Ayat 51-52 Surah al-Maidah and Ayat 46 surah An -Anfal.Many of these ayats refer to Allah's Creations.Below is one the beautiful creations I saw yesterday morning..

 

Let us ponder on the above mentioned ayats...may Allah guide us and keep us on His Siratul mustakim,insyaAllah.

Green building?

I just love the high ceiling and glasses at the roofs that allow sunlight to penetrate through..Please see lighted spot on the chair below.

This is the foodcourt at RASA,Alamanda,Putrajaya where I usually go for my simple meals of nasi padang or chicken tepayanki and iced peach tea..Here is a link to Green Building Index.

Here is an example of a building painted green here.

Britain may plunge into pothole crisis ?

The modern car is one of the most sophisticated machines ever created. Dozens of control systems and computer processors work together to ensure it works seamlessly and effectively day in and day out.

But machines do break down occasionally. The technical team of The Otomotif College (TOC) is here to offer advice and help troubleshoot car problems

The team of seven trainers, led by Allan Cabiles (pic), has collectively 30 years of experience in a wide range of car makes. The TOC Team prides itself on keeping pace with the ever-evolving automotive industry. Its trainers undergo training sessions with a network of 800 industry partners across the country.

via star-motoring.com

Honestly,I do not wish to blog about potholes in Malaysia.The Star already mentioned about it and in my place, there are too many of them not adequately attended by the local authority.Not only that the trees and the grasses are not well cut and maintained.

This news reminded me of what Caliph Omar said that if a horse breaks its leg because of a pothole in Baghdad,he is responsible for it!In Malaysia, the responsibility goes around the musical chairs-everyone blames everyone else!

Too many cars!

I used to live one kilometre from Bulatan Kampung Pandan for more than 25 years since 1984.At that time there was not even a traffic light junction there.And I could commute to my office JKR HQ in 15 minutes.Those were the good old days...

Yesterday,I heard there was a big jam leading to KL from the south.The PLUS highway and MEX highway came to a standstil.Someone commented on the blogsphere that it was triggered by the closure of SMART Tunnel.My original plan to go to KL was differed to 12pm so that I won't get entangled in the traffic jam.When my wife asked me how come we have two highways PLUS and MEX from the south to KL and yet we still have traffic jam?Putting on my engineer thinking cap,I explained that the two highways meet at Bulatan Kampung Pandan before the traffic can enter the city.If that point gets congested or grid-locked around it,the traffic will soon pile up.From the traffic tweets I read, some people got stuck for 3 hours.

Looking back in the 80's,my family has one car.Now,my kids have their cars.Some of my friends have got 3 or 4 cars!My conclusion is that we just have too many cars on the roads!In the 90's we said we didnot have enough roads,but as soon as we completed one MRR2,it got congested in no time.So what is next?

Now, I have moved to less congested area located about 30km from KL to spend the rest of my days..

Photo: Trees and shadows..

The trees remain the same thoughout the day but not their shadows.The shapes of the shadows change with time as the sun goes up and goes down.And at night,it just disappears and becomes one with it.When the tree ceases to exist,the shadow is not there anymore even on a sunny day!

A few million light years awayfrom planet earth,many galaxies exist without human knowlwedge before.Now we know.What we don't know does not mean it is not there.Knowing is just like seeing,hearing or feeling..

Therefore the  shadow is no evidence of the exitence of the tree;neither the tree creates the shadow on its own existence.All those exist are at the Will and Pleasure of Allah swt.-al-Fakir Mohd Adib Noh.

Cool ambience for morning walk..

Yesterday,my wife and me walked here for about 50 minutes.Like Jack and Jill,we went up a hill but did not fetch any water fro 3km...However,we sweated really good-nice views and cool place to have a walking talk with your life partner..It is located at Taman Saujana Hijau,Presint 11,Putrajaya,Malaysia.