Narrow Escape

I almost died this morning.

I never thought I would be in a near-death situation like this.

But it did happen.. in a split second.

I am still shaky from the incident.. but recovering slowly.

I am lucky to be unharmed.. and still alive.

Alhamdulillah.

PhD Call

This morning, I received a letter from my good old faculty. (For those who don't know, I am currently doing my Masters at the Faculty of Education, UiTM Shah Alam).

I was offered to attend an interview for PhD level (January 2011 intake) even though I never applied for it. But looking at the time and day, I'll have to pass.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

Hari Raya Aidilfitri is just around the corner and the campus grew silent once again as the students left for their long-awaited break. Soon, the university staff will also leave the campus to celebrate Eid. As for me, I had applied for leave starting this Wednesday until September 19th (I wanted to finish marking students' assignments before the leave).

Eid is a day of celebration but I am not that enthusiastic about Eid anymore, especially now that my mother had passed away last June. Sure, I bought two new pairs of baju Melayu but it's only to be worn at the university's Eid celebration on September 23th (the old ones are far too shabby).

But enough of all that. I did not mean to spoil your Eid mood. Therefore, I would like to wish all my students (and ex-students) and also my readers:

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI

MAAF ZAHIR & BATIN

Drive safely. Think of your loved ones ;)

Ignorance

As I had often stressed to my BEL311 students, be careful of what they write (anywhere; in their blogs or Myspace/Facebook) because one of the characteristics of written language is its permanence.

Want proof? Just click at the image in this entry. Write something like this and you will be in BIG trouble.

Subhanallah.

Selamat Berpuasa

Ramadhan is here once again.
Let's chase after the great rewards promised by Allah in this holy month.

Selamat berpuasa, everybody ;)

D'Trans Grooming Session

I found out about this event from my ex-students: Zul and Syamil (DBST Part 5) who happened to be the organizers, so I encouraged both of them to promote this event to my ACB6K2 students (since it is related with their BEL499 course). More than half of ACB6K2 students will attend the event with me.

In order to attend an interview, one have to look their very best. They have to look professional. But I'm not sure how women should prepare for this big day (in terms of proper attire and make-up). So this event basically saved my life!

Oh, and I heard that the speaker is the image consultant for the Prime Minister's wife. I'm so looking forward to this.

Anyway, here are the details of this event:

Date: 8 August 2010
Day: Sunday

Venue: LT1
Time: 8 AM - 1 PM
Tickets: RM8

If you are interested, please contact:
Ros: 012-4371988
Elina: 013-7458095

or simply register at Speaker's Corner ;)

P/S: D'Trans is also having a car wash tomorrow for only RM5 per car. And my car badly needs washing ;)

IT Support

I found this cleverly written mash-up between relationship problems and IT Support in my e-mail so I wanted to share this with all of you. Enjoy! ^_^

* * * * * * * * * *

Dear IT Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a slow down in the overall performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications that had operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 un-installed many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, but installed undesirable programs such as EPL 5.0, NBA 3.0 and ESPN 2.0. And now Conversation 8.0 no longer runs and House Cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,

Desperate

* * * * * * * * * *

Reply:

Dear Desperate,

First keep in mind; Boyfriend 5.0 is an entertainment package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system. Try entering the command C:\ I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME and download Tears 6.2 to install Guilt 3.0.

If all works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

But remember, overuse can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Late Night Teh Tarik 6.1. Late Night 6.1 is a very bad program that will create SnoringLoudly.wav files.

Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-Law 1.0 or reinstall another Boyfriend program. These are not supported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have a limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider additional software to improve memory and performance. I personally recommend Hot Food 3.0 and Lingerie 6.9.

Good Luck,

IT Support

Moving On

A new semester has arrived. A new chapter in my life. A new beginning.

I have new groups to teach this semester: BMD1D3, ISD3E1, CSD3S3 and ACB6K2.

I want to move on with my life. Therefore, the condolences have to stop. Thank you.

She's Gone

The life support machine beeped furiously.

The family members stood around the hospital bed, watching the unconscious 53-year-old mother. Even though her eyes were closed, it was transparent that she fought to stay alive. This was evident because she slowly moved her lips in a silent scream and weakly gripped her husband's hand who was in tears, struggling to whisper holy words in her ear.

The whole family were unable to hold back tears as they read the Yasin. Occasionally, they glanced helplessly at the life support machine which continued to beep noisily in the deathly silent ward. The noise grew slower and the eldest son began to fear that it is going to stop soon. But he tried to be positive; so he imagined that everything will be all right.

Eventually, just as he had feared, the life support machine grew silent. Silent tears poured down the faces of the family members. She's gone.

So much for positive thinking.

I had watched this scene before in a TV drama. I never thought that I will actually go through the same situation. And I never imagined that it would be so heartbreaking.

Tonight is the last night for tahlil. I couldn't help feeling empty :(

Beloved Mother
Habibah bte Mohd Ali
5/11/1956 - 27/6/2010

I will miss you, Mother. Rest in peace.

Al-Fatihah.

Want to study in UiTM Segamat?

For SPM leavers who wish to further their studies, why not study in UiTM Segamat? We have a special offer just for you. Starting next semester, a new course will be introduced. The new course is Pre-Commerce (PD003). It is only offered here in UiTM Segamat. SPM leavers year 2005 and above are encouraged to apply.

So what are the pre-requisites?

To apply, you will need to have four credits:

Bahasa Melayu (compulsory)

Pass: English and Maths

Credit: 3 other subjects (core or elective)

Students who have passed this program are entitled to pursue their studies in one of the following diploma programs in UiTM:

Perakaunan, Pengurusan Perniagaan, Sains Pentadbiran & Polisi, Pengurusan Hotel & Pelancongan, Pengurusan Maklumat, Pengurusan & Teknologi Pejabat, Seni Lukis & Seni Reka, Komunikasi & Pengajian, Sains Sukan & Rekreasi

Closing date for all applications is before 25 APRIL 2010.

Get the form HERE, complete it together with a copy of your IC and a copy of your SPM results to Kaunter BHEA, UiTM Johor Kampus Segamat or Encik Hisyammudin, Pegawai Eksekutif BHEA Kampus Larkin as soon as possible.

* * * * *

Reasons why you should come and study here:

1. Economical study fees

2. Serene & peaceful surroundings (I personally love foggy, misty mornings here)

3. A truly conducive environment for studying

4. Fully equipped TEC (Technology-Enabled Classroom) complete with air-conditioner in every classroom

5. New academic buildings and classrooms to cater to the growing number of students

6. Gunung Ledang is just 45 minutes away.

7. You could meet Hanis Zalikha here :P

Basically, you will ♥ studying here ;)

Klinik Drift in UiTM Segamat

I just love campus life. There are so many happening events this semester and these two are some of them:

Selangkah ke UiTM

Yesterday, the results of SPM 2009 were announced in secondary schools all over Malaysia and I would like to congratulate those who did well in this important public examination.

So dear students... what do you plan to do now? Work? Or study? Your best bet is to study.

Well, instead of continuing your studies in Form Six at any public schools, would you like to further your studies at UiTM?

UiTM Segamat will be holding an expo at Dataran Segamat this weekend (March 13th and 14th) intended to help these school leavers decide their future. Lecturers will be consultants there to help you choose your pathway based on your examination results. All you have to do is bring your examination results and your IC.

Or, if you can't wait to see what programs are eligible for you to apply, you can always click HERE. Print it, and bring it to the expo this weekend for consultation with the lecturers.

See you there :)

MITEK 2010

MITEK is here once again. In fact, it starts tomorrow!

Dear students, don't forget to attend

Minggu Terbuka Kolej (MITEK)

Date:

3 - 7 March 2010

Venue:

Dataran Seri Bendahara
UiTM Johor

Have fun! ^_^

My D3D1 Students

These are my BEL311 students for this semester.. the girls from BMD3D1 (Diploma in Banking). They are very special because 1) I also taught them BEL260 last semester and 2) they are very obedient.

click to enlarge the image

I never get to teach the same group twice, but miraculously this is the first time. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. But the good thing is: I already know their names by heart. You might notice that there is not a single guy in this class. Initially, two guys wanted to enter this group but they had backed off when they saw that there are so many girls ;)

Students from UiTM Segamat will immediately know where were these two pictures taken ;)

To my D3D1 girls, choose only one picture from the two provided here (since I can't decide which is the best one), download it to your PC and then upload it to your blog entry. Write an entry about your classmates according to the given numbers (about 4 or 5 sentences for each person). And don't worry, I promise I will give the original pictures (all of them!) after the break.

Due date: 21 February 2010.

P/S: Happy holidays, everybody ;)

Live Like We're Dying

This is definitely my favourite song at the moment. Not because of the fact that he's coming to Malaysia, but the beautiful lyrics and the catchy music definitely stands out on its own.

It's currently played on this blog. Enjoy ;)

LIVE LIKE WE'RE DYING LYRICS by KRIS ALLEN:
From Kris Allen's new album, Kris Allen)

Sometimes we fall down and can't get back up
We're hiding behind skin that's too tough
How come we don't say "I love you" enough
Till it's too late, it's not too late

Our hearts are hungry for a food that won't come
We could make a feast from these crumbs
And we're all staring down the barrel of a gun
So if your life flashed before you
What would you wish you would've done?

[Chorus]
Yeah, we gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start thinkin' it
Every second counts on a clock that's tickin'
Gotta live like we're dying
We only got 86 400 seconds in a day
To turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em while we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

And if you plane fell out of the skies
Who would you call with your last goodbyes?
Should be so careful who we left out of our lives
So when we long for absolution, there'll be no one on the line

Yeah, we gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start thinkin' it
Every second counts on a clock that's tickin'
Gotta live like we're dying
We only got 86 400 seconds in a day
To turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em while we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

Like we're dying
Like we're dying
Like we're dying
Like we're dying

Yeah, gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start thinkin' it
Every second counts on a clock that's tickin'
Gotta live like we're dying

We only got 86 400 seconds in a day
To turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em while we got the chance to say
Gotta live--like we're dying

[Bridge]
You never know a good thing until it's gone
You never see a crash until it's head on
All these people right when we're dead wrong,
You never know a good thing till it's gone

Yeah, we gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start thinkin' it
Every second counts on a clock that's tickin'
Gotta live like we're dying
We only got 86 400 seconds in a day
To turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em while we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

Like we're dying
Like we're dying
Like we're dying
Like we're dying

We only got 86 400 seconds in a day
To turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em while we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

Ceramah

Dear students, tomorrow there will be a talk by the famous Crime Analyst, Mr. Kamal Affandi bin Hashim. He will give a speech entitled “Hindari Daripada Menjadi Mangsa Seterusnya”

Date: 6 February 2010
Venue: Dewan Sri Temenggong, UiTM Johor
Time: 8.30 – 11.30 p.m.

It's open to all staff and students. So tell your friends about this event.

Sembah Takziah

kepada
Duli Yang Maha Mulia
Sultanah Zanariah binti Al-Marhum Tunku Ahmad
Sultanah Johor

Serta Kerabat Diraja, Kerajaan Negeri
dan Seluruh Rakyat Negeri Johor Darul Takzim

di atas kemangkatan
Al-marhum Duli Yang Maha Mulia Baginda
Almutawakkil 'alallah
Sultan Iskandar Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Ismail
Sultan Dan Yang Dipertuan Bagi Negeri Dan Jajahan Takluk
Johor Darul Takzim

Pada 22hb. Januari 2010 bersamaan 06 Safar 1413H

Semoga Allah S.W.T. Mencucuri Rahmat Ke Atas Roh Almarhum
Dan Dihimpunkan Bersama Orang Yang Soleh

To all students and staff of UiTM Johor, please show your respect by wearing a songkok with white linings (for men) and white tudung (for women) this week.

Ladies Night

Starting this semester, the Sports Unit of UiTM Segamat is organizing a Ladies Night every Wednesday night specially for female staff and students. So ladies, here's your chance to be fit without worrying about appreciative male eyes ogling your every move as guys are forbidden to be anywhere near the Sports Centre every Wednesday night.

Here are the details:

Date/Day : Every Wednesday night beginning 13 January 2010
Time : 8.45 p.m. until 11.00 p.m.
Venue: Kompleks Sukan, UiTM Segamat

For enquiries, please contact Cik Nor Ashikin (07-9352495) or Puan Azah/Cik Adilah (07-9352043).

P/S: Did you guys notice the new Sports Unit building built just in front of the gym?

Lightning Speed Connection

I learned something new today.

Last December, I had upgraded my Streamyx (512 kbps) to the new Streamyx Combo (1 mbps) package (with a free Aztech cordless phone). And after the upgrade, my Internet speed were no different and I began to get upset. The connection speed test says that the best download effort to my PC via the new connection is 0.92 mbps, which is very fast. (You can check yours here).

The thing is: each time I used the Internet, pictures and web pages took a very long time to load. Farmville took about half an hour to load fully. (Yes I do play Farmville). I was ready to scream my head off because it took so long. At first, I thought it has something to do with the hard disk (it's almost full!) but it's really not.

It so happened that I noticed my old friend who's currently online on YM. So I asked him about my PC problem and he simply asked to see my print screen. After sending the print screen of my desktop to him, he said that all I had to do was to remove some of the icons in the task bar tray. Simply remove the ones that I don't use; his exact advice is to remove my Winamp agent, Ares and uTorrent. After I followed his instructions, I clicked on Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome once again. The changes were truly shocking and really obvious. In an instant, my Internet connection is super duper fast!!

My friend said that when you are online, you really have to choose. If you want to download a movie, then do it while the computer is idle and you are not doing anything. If you want to surf the Internet, just remove the icons in the task bar tray that you did not use (in my case: Ares) uTorrent & Winamp agent). This just proves that we'll be learning from anyone about anything at anytime.

And oh, use Google Chrome because it's lighte.

Seminar for Young Lecturers

I just got back from attending a seminar. The name of the seminar is Higher Education Professional Training Programme for Young Lecturers.

The seminar was conducted at Hotel Grand Paragon (it's located right in the heart of JB city) from 7-10 January 2010. I met many lecturers from various fields during the seminar. Besides UiTM Segamat, UTM Skudai, UTHM and USIM lecturers were also present.

Basically, the seminar gives us young lecturers exposure to what we will face in the future, about our career, classroom management, research procedures and opportunities. The talk by experts in their fields were really enlightening.

All in all, I really enjoyed my stay in Hotel Grand Paragon (it's a 5 star hotel!) and the food served there were really delicious. I also enjoyed the swimming pool and the steam bath. If I have to attend more seminars like this, I am more than ready to attend them ^_^

A New Semester

Happy New Year!

Well, another new semester has finally arrived. This semester, I am in charge of three classes. I will be teaching BEL311 to BMD3D1 and also BEL260 to both CSD2S1 and CSD2S2.

BMD3D1 is no stranger to me as I had taught this group the code BEL260 last semester. All of them are girls, and they are very, very obedient so I don't have to worry about their discipline as they already knew what I'm like in class and they are aware of my expectations to them. In addition, I already knew their strengths and weaknesses and I know their names too. There are only 24 of them and I can easily identify names to faces.

To be honest, I am really surprised that I got my ex-students back, so this is my first time. The only thing I'm not sure is whether they are thrilled to have me back as their lecturer or not.

As for CSD2S1 and CSD2S2, both classes have an equal mixture of boys and girls. I haven't had Computer Science students for a long, long time; so I am looking forward to teach these two groups. Let's hope that they will be able to absorb what I am going to teach them in order to get good grades.

It's going to be a short semester, so I hope I will be able to plan my lessons accordingly.