The Reader

Alhamdulilah..

Thank you Allah for everything...

Let me first thank Allah Subhanahuwata'alla for His rahmah to me and my family.Today I am 60 years old and joined the Warga Emas(Senior citizens).As of this time (4am),I am still around and healthy;I still have my mother,my wife and all my children plus two  new additions of daughter-in-law and a grandson.Thank You my Lord for everything and please continue to guide and protect me and my family  and don't leave me alone to my self even for a moment.

To my mother, sister and brother,thank you for your love and care.To my relatives and my friends,thank you for your great support and companionships.May Allah reward you well,insyaAllah.

Thank you to my dear loving wife for being with me for the last 35 years.May we continue loving and caring for each other until our last days,insyaAllah.

To all my readers,thank you for reading my blog and you du'a..

Here is the latest gift from Allah to My family.Alhamdulilah.

 

Labyrinth weirs..

Weirs at Taman Empangan,Putrajaya


Labyrinth weir :A labyrinth weir uses a trapezoidal-shaped weir wall geometry (plan view) to increase the weir length. They are versatile structures and can be modified to fit many applications.A weir ( /ˈwɪər/) is a barrier across a river designed to alter the flow characteristics. In most cases, weirs take the form of a barrier, smaller than most conventional dams, across a river that causes water to pool behind the structure (not unlike a dam) and allows water to flow over the top. Weirs are commonly used to alter the flow regime of the river, prevent flooding, measure discharge and help render a river navigable.

Live the moment?

‘Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment.’ ~Thich Nhat Hanh

It is very easy to make the above statement,any statement for that matter.It is more difficult if we have our personal problems that drag us every where we go...We have a few baggages from the past and we still worry the outcomes of the future.

As I grow older,I am also worried about my health but I am enjoying the best while I am still healthy.And that is what I undertood by living the actual moment.

If you have the above atttitude as most of us do,may I suggest you read this free ebook-7 Ways to Live Your Life to the Max.It is a free eBook in pdf file~250pages but it contains a lot of wisdom for everyone.If you have the time to read only one book before the end of this year,please read this one-highly recommended.

As muslims,our very existence is to perform our ubudiyyah to Allah and seek His pleasures -peace only enters my heart when I surrender to the  Wills of Allah and obey His commands.

Blogging Best Practices: The Power of Personality

We hope you're enjoying our series of posts on Blogging Best Practices! Each Thursday, we've been debuting a new post designed to help you create great content, share it with the world, and become a better blogger. Check out other posts in the series here! Recently, we discussed how letting your personality shine through your blog posts can help grow your audience. Today, we're back with three easy steps to make your blog even more dynamic: Embrace storytelling. Even the most professional blogs benefit from sharing anecdotes from time to time, so don't be afraid to make it personal. Stories create connection, and go a long way in keeping your posts fresh, interesting, and easy to relate to. Invite people into your daily life, and watch your readership grow. Include a photo of yourself on your sidebar. Creating an area on your blog's sidebar with a recent photo and a few short sentences about yourself and your blog is a fantastic way to welcome people to your blog, and it makes a great attention grabber. Check out our step by step instructions for adding a photo to your sidebar, here. Not keen on having a photo in the sidebar? Add it to the body of your About page instead! Showing your face helps your readers to know who you are. Promote with charm. If your blog is connected to Twitter and Facebook, then you already know how to share your posts (if not, check here and here for an easy how-to). Take your sharing to the next level by turning on the charm. Injecting personality into your tweets and Facebook posts increases your chances of capturing your followers' attention, and getting them to click your links. Whether your niche is parenting, fashion, finance or entertainment, your personality is what makes your blog unique, setting you apart from the sea of other bloggers on the Internet. Don't be afraid to let it show!

via everything.typepad.com

Here is a note from Typepad on how I could be a better blogger.Honestly,from feedback I got so far,I am seen in many ways-as many as my topics of interest.And my interest varies from books,cycling,engineering,flowers....I got a big laugh when someone thought that I work as a cyclist in Putrajaya!A reader asked me whether I am a professional photographer?

One thing that I shared with the article mentioned above is about story telling.I love to listen to a story and also I love telling stories to others.When I coach project managers,I always use stories.Not only for business ,but I also use stories to convey messages to my wife and children.

On my niche,I have no ideas whether I have one in my blog postings.If you noticed any,kindly let me know.The way I see it,I just tell the stories as I go along..

If you read Quran,Allah told many stories of the people of the past and we can learn a lot from these stories,insyaAllah.

Illegal foreigners

If you live in Klang Valley,everyone can see the big presence of foreigners living in our country.We welcome the good ones who wish to gain employment here but some of them who came through the back doors and who paid toll should be sent  back.We have enough crimes created by the locals.My congratulations to the authorities for taking actions against corrupted officers who allowed this to happen.These crooks made money at our expense by creating more bad elements in this country.

Below is the related news...

The Star Online > Nation

Published: Tuesday September 25, 2012 MYT 7:31:00 PM
Updated: Tuesday September 25, 2012 MYT 7:32:09 PM

Four immigration officers jailed for taking bribes to let Indonesians in

By NURBAITI HAMDAN

SHAH ALAM: Four immigration officers were found guilty by a Sessions Court here on Tuesday for taking bribes in exchange for allowing easy entry for Indonesian nationals into the country two years ago.

Md Shahrizal Che Dan - convicted of 31 bribery counts totaling RM51,760 - paid the heaviest price of the lot when he was sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM361,400.

The court ordered Md Shahrizal, 27, to serve additional 34 years and six months imprisonment if he failed to pay up.

His colleague Mohamad Izuwansyah Samsuri, 26, was sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM261,950, in default 25 years and six months in jail.

Mohamad Izuwansyah was found guilty of 25 bribery counts involving RM31,690.

Two other officers Nor Shahazlina Sulaiman and Mohammad Huzzail Ahmad were each sentenced to three years in jail and fined RM14,500 (in default, one-year jail) and two years in jail and fined RM10,000 (in default, six-months jail) respectively.

Nor Shahazlina, 26, and Mohammad Huzzail, 32, were found guilty of a charge each.

They committed the offences at a house in Taman Palm Grove, a petrol station, and several Public Bank, Maybank and CIMB Bank branches around Klang between April 20 and Sept 25, 2010.

All were charged under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009.

Judge Asmadi Hussin, in his ruling, said the defence failed to raise reasonable doubt in the prosecution's case.

DPP Nik Haslinie Hashim asked the court to mete out a heavy deterrent sentence.

“The public interest is far more important than the personal interest of the four accused. The country (at this time) is already facing an influx of foreign immigrants. They (as Immigration officers) were supposed to carry out their job honestly and responsibly,” she said.

The court allowed a stay of execution on the jail term but ordered the fines be paid.

Lawyers representing the four accused were Aminuddin Mohd Ramli, Amir Khusyairi Mohamad Tanusi and Mohamad Fozi Md Zain.

At last ,I am wired again..

If my memory does not fail me,the first time I got wired to the Internet was way back in 1995 when I became a Jaring subsriber.At that time I could only send email to five people!It was not the bandwith issue but that was the number of my friends who have their email addresses then!To receive email at that time was a great thing like me now receiving a postcard from a dear friend.The world of written messages had turn upside down.Now,I hate to recieve so many email spams.

Last Sunday,my son got my house wired with services from Unifi.My neighbour has done more than a year ago but I was comfortable with streamyx then.As they say,better late than never.Wow,it was a great improvement compared our previous stremyx.Not only that, given a new phone and connection to TV service.TM has come along way since I got to know Jabatan Telekom way back in the 70's..For somone's experince in this Unifi thing,please read this link.As of today,with two days of experience on Unifi connection,I was very pleased that I could download Quran very fast,see video clips better and surf faster.

Almost two decades had gone by since Malaysia started having Internet.Now,almost everyone are having their mobile phones.My hope that we donot become addicted to small or big screens,lest we forget all these are only tools and not our masters.I am sad to note that many people prefer to look at their mobile phone screen than to talk to one another even when they are in a group,sharing the same table or in a car!

Photo:Grey weather photography

One of the latest thing I learnt about taking photo was making the best of it in a given weather condition.When I arrived at the Taman Seri Empangan,the weather was overcast and the sky was grey.It was very good for my Saturday walk with my wife.As I was passing the bridge,I took my iPad2 and snapped.The metallic and concrete structures blended well with the weather-and I love it!

My gang of cyclists called this bridge as The Forbidden Bridge.It happened many years ago that we cycled along this bridge without authority approval.We were chased by the guard!This bridge is not for public use-only for maintenance work.It is sitting elegantly above a series of weirs.More photos here.

 

Old bicycle..

This photo reminds me to be grateful for all those beautiful bicycles that I have and I can still cycle for fun and exercises...Just be grateful for what we have and ride on..C'est la vie..

Cempaka Car Parfum

While doing my Saturday morning walk,we stopped and smelled a few cempaka flowers.I picked two-one for my wife and one for me.I put mine betwen my ear and and my head!All the way,I could smell the sweet kenanga flower smell...

When I returned to my car,I put them as shown below...Now I have a natural fragrance in my car.

In less than a few hours,the shape and colours faded away but the fragrance remains...

Lesson learnt: Don't live your life in a hurry..if you see something nice,just stop for a while.It may delay you arriving at your destination but you will arrive there happier..

C'est la vie..

Below is the stairs leading to the Jambatan Seri Gemilang.Beautiful architecture but badly maintained!!!

Note: I made a mistake on the name of the flowers.It was not kenanga but cempaka.Thanks to Azlina for your correction.

Dia yang membentuk rupa..

Dia lah Allah, Yang Menciptakan sekalian makhluk; Yang Mengadakan (dari tiada kepada ada); Yang Membentuk rupa (makhluk-makhlukNya menurut yang dikehendakiNya); bagiNyalah nama-nama yang sebaik-baiknya dan semulia-mulianya; bertasbih kepadaNya segala yang ada di langit dan di bumi; dan Dia lah Yang tiada bandingNya, lagi Maha Bijaksana.

(Al-Hasy-r 59:24) | <Embed> | English Translation

Semasa mencuba iPad2 saya mengambil gambar bunga-bunga di depan rumah kami,saya terlihat keindahan "lukisan" bentuk daun yang terlekat pada daun-daun bunga yang di tanam dan jagai olih isteri saya.Begitu hebat dan indah sekali ciptaan Illahi untuk kita renung dan melihat kekuasaan dan keindahan ciptaanNya!

Every leaf has a similar 'drawing' on itself.It must be embedded by the Creator Himself-it can not be anything else.Let us enjoy the beauty of Allah's creations but never forget The Creator Himself.

Segala pujian milik Allah,Al-Khaliq Rabul 'Alamin,Yang kita mesti dengar dan mesti patuh.