End of Semester Party

I love surprises especially when it involves food! On the last day of our class meeting, my students from EOP section 34 gave me just that, a surprise end of semester party. In the beginning of the semester, everyone showed up on time but as time went by the trend started to change. At first only a few started showing up later than expected and then the number kept growing. So, on the last day, almost half of the class was late. I was wondering why and when I asked those who were in the class, they gave me the usual answer "they are on their way". Normally I would say something like " never mind, let's start and just ignore those who are late" or sometime it was harsher than that. Luckily on that particular day I didn't say anything harsh because later on I was told the reason they were late (mostly boys) because they were cooking! How sweet. Like I said, I am glad I didn't say anything bad because if I did I would have felt really terrible. They took time and great effort to actually make fried rice and curry puffs. Yes! Those boys made them! I was informed that Faisal made the curry puffs and Epi (Firdaus) made the fried rice. I am sure the others helped a lot too. Since the girls live on campus where they are prohibited from cooking, they couldn't cook anything but they provided drinks and I believe they bought a big brownie from the Secret Recipe too. Anyway, I was and still am very touched by their gesture. We had a blast on that day and you can see it through the following pictures. Thank you very much kids ;)

Above: the wonderful brownie

Epi's fried rice

Faisal's curry puffs

Syamil (our photographer) was busy taking pictures

Everyone was excited to get something

Look at Syamil, still busy taking pictures when everyone was going for food

Me, with the girls

Me, with the guys

The guys posing for a rugby magazine:)

MOHE Briefing

All good things must come to an end. I am not sure if working with company X is entirely a good thing for me but it certainly is coming to an end. But before the end is here, I was sent to attend MOHE's briefing on student data collection at PICC yesterday. The session was specifically held for all private higher learning institutions. Last year they did it according to zones and I attended the one for the east coast zone which was held in Terengganu. Due to financial reason the Ministry has decided to do it annually at PICC only.

In the letter of invitation, it was stated that the session would start at 8.30 am and end at 5.00 pm. The driver picked me up at 5.30 am and we raced to KL in the darkness of the dawn. As expected we were stuck in a jam at 3 places along the highway between Ampang and Cheras. The driver was not happy with the jam because he didn't want me to be late. Surprisingly I was more relax probably because I had a hunch that the organizing committee would serve breakfast first and I was also confident that I was not the only one to arrive late.

Sure enough, when I arrived around 9 am, every body was still enjoying food in the lobby and I was told that the briefing would start at 10 am. Well, patience is always a good virtue. Since I was starving, I helped myself with a plate of fried rice noodles and lots of fruits.

The first session was quite interesting and many participants asked questions at the end of it. Then all of us adjourned to the next ball-room for lunch at 12.30 pm. The letter said the lunch break would be from 1 to 2.30 pm but it was changed to 12.30 to 2 pm instead. I am not sure whether the second speaker was boring, or I was too full, or I was just sleepy because of starting the journey so early, I really had trouble keeping my eyes opened through out the afternoon session. I wonder if anyone noticed me nodding many times. Finally at 2.45 pm the briefing session was over. Guess what? There was more food! Many people die due to starvation around the world but in Malaysia people die due to the opposite reason.

Since I was still full from eating lunch, I remained seated in the hall with a few others in the row behind me. A few minutes later a guy who looked like a technician at PICC told us to go ahead and take the fressh flowers which were used to decorate the stage. He said " If they are taken, they will be thrown away". I thought the Ministry had financial shortage but why such wastful thing to do. They were beautiful peach colored roses and yellow daises. I took 6 stems of the roses home and they are in my kitchen at the moment.

Since I thought I would be ready at 5 pm, I told the driver to go to wherever he wanted to go as long as he came back by 4.30. He decided to go to our HQ in Cheras and I had to wait for an hour or so for him to get me. It was not too bad because I had a chance to talk to my colleague from different branches. It was raining really hard on the way home but thank God we arrived safely in Kuantan around 7.30 pm.

Free at Last

Teaching will not make us millionaires but it certainly gives more satisfaction than money can buy. After doing it seriously for the past 3 months, I finally finished grading the finals and keyed in the grades into the system which the University uses. Overall, the grades are fine and the curve looks normal. These are the wonderful students I taught last semester and I hope to get more of the same kind next semester. Happy holidays kids.

Exam Workshops

Usually workshops for final exam preparation would be held in KL due to its central location. However, this time around it was held in Kuantan, at the Grand Continental Hotel from March 5 until March 7. Between 60 and 70 lecturers were involved and I was selected as one of the secretariat members. The schedule was packed, from 8.30am until 11 pm, with short breaks in between. I thought of commuting from home to the hotel for the 3 days it was held, but it was kind of silly because KPTM provided us with rooms. It was such a torture looking at the refreshing and inviting swimming pool which was right outside of our workshop hall! Below are pictures of some of the participants. Any faces which are familiar to you?

Amazing!

I received an email from a friend showing the following pictures of a bridge being built over the Hoover dam in Colorado and the cost to build the bridge is US160 million. Here's the quote from the message:
"When complete, it will provide a new link between the states of Nevada and Arizona. In an incredible feat of engineering, the road will be supported on the two massive concrete arches which jut out of the rock face. The arches are made up of 53 individual sections each 24 feet long which have been cast on-site and are being lifted into place using an improvised high-wire crane strung between temporary steel pylons. arches will eventually measure more than 1,000 feet across. At the moment, the structure looks like a traditional suspension bridge. But once the arches are complete, the suspending cables on each side will be removed. Extra vertical columns will then be installed on the arches to carry the road. The bridge has become known as the Hoover Dam bypass, although it is officially called the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, after player from Arizona who joined the US Army and was killed in Afghanistan. Work on the bridge started in 2005 and should finish next year. An estimated 17,000 cars and trucks will cross it every day."

Attractive Recyling Bins

Attractive Recycling Bins at Changi Airport

As I went through some articles about going green in the Star yesterday, it reminded me of the cute recycling bins I saw at Changi Airport in Singapore not too long ago. Why can't we have something similar around here so that people will be attracted to use them. Later on when my family and I stopped at Narita Airport, I saw the following bins. I must say that they are not as attractive as the ones in Singapore.

Water Soluble T-Shirt

Notice the holes on both sides of the shoulder area? That used to be filled with the water soluble black strips. Simply amazing!! I wonder what company made those shirts.

Last Wednesday (24 February), we had an AGM for our co-op. As an incentive, all members were givenRM5 mil (ooops, just RM5) each. Those who came early (yup, including yours truly) received another incentive in the form of a t-shirt. Since we do not get many incentives from our co-op, such trivial gifts made us feel proud and grateful (yes, we are the grateful bunch, not Grateful Dead). I was so excited to wear the t-shirt so as soon as I got home, I threw it into the washing machine and started a load of laundry. Later, when the machine was finished spinning, I noticed there were a lot of black pieces that looked similar to a piece of paper being washed, scattered all over the bathroom floor. I quickly checked the laundry and the first thought that entered my mind was, NAJLA or HANNAH. They must have put some piece of black paper or crayon in their pants pockets! After a very close check I noticed that the newly acquired t-shirt was completely torn at the places where black strips used to be. OMG! It is a water soluble t-shirt! Not to mention that all my white and light-colored clothes got stained by it! I thought only vitamins are water soluble. Boy, I learn new things everyday.