Friday, December 26, 2008

Research, Futsal dan Krismas...

Phd....


Bicara yg dah ada phd:


"Buat PhD nie takde break...w/pun cuti, tapi pikiran still pikir pasal PhD.Dah antar tesis , dah viva barula cuti yg sebenar2nya"
"In doing PhD, you will have more down moments. It's a very common situation for PhD students"


Ini pulak pelajar yg dah writing stage:




"Dah nak abis dah...tapi data tak ok sgt..kena buat eksperimen balik utk dpt data yg ok"




"Something wrong with the model, I have to validate it again"




Me?


Cuba mencutikan diri tapi asyik pikir research..Mane tak pikir sbb menyedari model yg dibina ada kelemahan..Bila pikir balik, bagus juga tahu awal2 drpd terus 'syok sendiri'....


Lebihkan usaha dan berdoa utk ke tangga kejayaan.....Think positive Naja!


Futsal....

Oleh itu, satu cara utk take a break, hari nie gi main futsal..tak pernah2 main futsal..Dulu main bola kat tepi rumah atuk adala...Itu pun lebih kurang 20 thn yg lepas...
Masa main tadi semput! stamina kurang sgt...Bola pun main sepak jek...he..he...
Takper..bersukan utk kesihatan...


Krismas?

It is a huge celebration here……two weeks of holiday. Although I know about this celebration since I was young, but I really don’t think about it….Just knowing that Christmas is about santa claus, north pole, jesus birth and of course Christmas songs…
But since I was here, I began to see in depth this celebration…
Especially when there was a cristmas tree in my son’s nusery and they learned how to sing Christmas songs (boleh tergugat akidah kalau tgk senikata lagu nie)
And in tv, there are a lot of movies (like The Polar Express and Elf)
that want the children to think that if they do believe in santa, then they will feel and see the existence of santa….
So what the chritsmas is really mean…
Definitions of Chirstmas on the Web:
Christmas is an annual holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus. It refers to both the day commemorating the birth, and also the Christmastide ...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chirstmas

And who is santa claus?
Santa Claus: the legendary patron saint of children; an imaginary being who is thought to bring presents to children at Christmas wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, or simply "Santa", is a historical, legendary, and mythical figure in ...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Santa
Think the two words: imaginary and mythical.

One day, when I went along a bookshop, there is a book with title: Is Jesus a man or God?

I didn't read the book but here are ayat from Al-Quran related to the question:

Translation for surah AT TAUBAH, Verse 30-35:

[30] The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Al-Masih the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the Unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth!
[31] They take their priests and their anchorites to be their lords in derogation of Allah, and (they take as their Lord) Al-Masih, the son of Maryam; yet they were commanded to worship but One God: there is no god but He. Praise and glory to Him: (far is He) from having the partners they associate (with Him).
32] Fain would they extinguish Allah's Light with their mouths, but Allah will not allow but that His Light should be perfected, even though the Unbelievers may detest (it).
[33] It is He Who hath sent His Messenger with Guidance and the Religion of Truth, to proclaim it over all religion, even though the Pagans may detest (it).
[34] O ye who believe! There are indeed many among the priests and anchorites, who in falsehood devour the substance of men and hinder (them) from the Way of Allah. And there are those who bury gold and silver and spend it not in the Way of Allah: announce unto them a most grievous penalty.
[35] On the Day when heat will be produced out of that (wealth) in the fire of Hell, and with it will be branded their foreheads, their flanks, and their backs, "This is the (treasure) which ye buried for yourselves: taste ye, then, the (treasures) ye buried!"



The translation in Malay:


[30] Dan orang-orang Yahudi berkata: Uzair ialah anak Allah dan orang-orang Nasrani berkata: Al-Masih ialah anak Allah. Demikianlah perkataan mereka dengan mulut mereka sendiri, (iaitu) mereka menyamai perkataan orang-orang kafir dahulu; semoga Allah binasakan mereka. Bagaimanakah mereka boleh berpaling dari kebenaran?
[31] Mereka menjadikan pendeta-pendeta dan ahli-ahli agama mereka sebagai pendidik-pendidik selain dari Allah dan juga (mereka mempertuhankan) Al-Masih Ibni Mariam, padahal mereka tidak diperintahkan melainkan untuk menyembah Tuhan Yang Maha Esa; tiada Tuhan (yang berhak disembah) melainkan Dia. Maha Suci Allah dari apa yang mereka sekutukan.
[32] Mereka hendak memadamkan cahaya Allah (agama Islam) dengan mulut mereka, sedang Allah tidak menghendaki melainkan menyempurnakan cahayaNya, sekalipun orang-orang kafir tidak suka (akan yang demikian).
[33] Dialah yang telah mengutus RasulNya (Muhammad) dengan membawa petunjuk dan agama yang benar (agama Islam), untuk dimenangkan dan ditinggikannya atas segala agama yang lain, walaupun orang-orang musyrik tidak menyukainya.
[34] Wahai orang-orang yang beriman! Sesungguhnya banyak di antara pendeta-pendeta dan ahli-ahli agama (Yahudi dan Nasrani) memakan harta orang ramai dengan cara yang salah dan mereka menghalangi (manusia) dari jalan Allah (agama Islam). Dan (ingatlah) orang-orang yang menyimpan emas dan perak serta tidak membelanjakannya pada jalan Allah, maka khabarkanlah kepada mereka dengan (balasan) azab seksa yang tidak terperi sakitnya.
[35] (Iaitu) pada hari dibakar emas perak (dan harta benda) itu dalam Neraka Jahanam, lalu diselar dengannya dahi mereka dan rusuk mereka, serta belakang mereka (sambil dikatakan kepada mereka): Inilah apa yang telah kamu simpan untuk diri kamu sendiri, oleh itu rasalah (azab dari) apa yang kamu simpan itu.


Semoga Allah menetapkan dan menguatkan iman kita...Amin


.................................................................

Gambar2 permata hatiku..


Adik dah pandai makan guna sudu...tapi tgk2 nanti separuh makanan atas meja

Ikram seronok dpt naik bas....

:)


Saturday, November 29, 2008

Presentation lagi...

Emmm...I think I've made a number of formal presentations since I've been a PhD student...

I took about one month just to prepare a presentation...this was a situation when I was a few months started my PhD..Why I took so long?...
English....yes....english...

When I was a master student, I was still remembered how I just read from my slides during an international conference in KL. The reason was I couldn't elaborate my research in English....

Now I think I can cut the time of preparation to one week..I think now I've started to explain something in English without much preparation.....still not good..but I can see a progress...cai yo cai yo....
Last week, I gave a presentation for Autole 08..a conference for asian top univeristies in engineering.. A lot of engineering students from UoA entered this conference....biasala....supervisor suruh masuk..kenala masuk..dah dean suruh supervisor suruh student masuk....he..he..
But I think there were no students from UM. UM represents Malaysia as a top Uni in Engineering but I didn't see any of their students...emmmmm

I saw some interesting presentations.....
Some were formal (like me)
Some were interactive ( I want like this)
How this presenter can explain his presentation in an interesting way make me feel teruja...
He was talking about parallel computing which I have background about it. When I went to presentations about computer science make me feel 'rindu'...In UKM, at first I was appointed to be a tutor for comp science deparment and the head of deparment at that time wanted me to pursue my study in computer algorithm....yg dengarnya sgt susah....But lastly I'm a tutor in industrial computing department because my master's thesis was more to quality control...Since then, the faculty make a rule that if a student is a computer science student, she must do a thesis in comp science too..not like me...

So here I am .To fullfill a requirement for an expert in real-time process control for my deparment in UKM, I do a research to help process engineers to utilize past data to detect future abrnormalities in aluminium processing in real time. Hope I can use this technique to other processess too...

But to be a PhD student in engineering give me a new experience...But sometimes it's quite difficult to answer a question like "Is it difficult to be a woman engineer?" How I know because I'm not an engineer..he..he....tak terexplain yg kita nie tahu engineering sikit2 jek...


Now, I'm waiting a response from a process engineer yg mintak2 dilembutkan hatinya utk membantu dari segi data....tolongla saya..tolongla saya.....kalau pikir2 balik..mcm win-win situation..kita tolong kaji data dia, dia cuma bagi data....data yg dah lepas pulak tuh..data yang mereka akan delete pun..jadi...tolongla saya bagi data tuh..kalaula dia paham..emm....


Akhir kata, saya 'present'kan gambar2 terkini Nadhirah yg melaram pakai spek besar (spek yg hayatnyer telah tamat sekarang.)




















Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Dakwah

After a few situations, I think I should seriously look at dakwah..
"9/11...it's a controversial date"...I just said eem....and smile...(because in my mind, I was hardly think on what should I said but nothing was coming out)
"Hari raya is a day after Ramadhan"..ooo so you're happy that the fasting month is finally finish..
I said yes...emm..when I think it again, my answer is like I'm so happy because I dont have to fasting ...ish...ish..I should said that I'm so happy to get the opportunity to be in Ramadhan..ish..ish...


I've just realised to have knowledge about giving dakwah to prepare myself in the future..especially living in non-muslim country....
And I think articles from http://islamtomorrow.com/articles/ are very good to get important knowledge in answering those 'questions'.

One of the articles :
____________________________________
Bismillah Rahman Raheem
May Allah guide all of us to His Truth, ameen
"Harsh Questions Help Newcomers to Islam!" - Yusuf EstesMuslim Institutional Chaplain
Salam alaykum:
Something amazing has been happening with our dawah project. We can't believe it. Allah has Blessed us so much to be successful in our latest project for spreading Islam to the non-Muslims. They are actually coming to attack us, and then - all of a sudden they are making the shahadah and entering into Islam.
I call the project, "Answering the Harsh Questions Against Islam."
People everywhere are saying and asking horrible things like:
* Allah
* Quran
* Muhammad, peace be upon him
* Women's Rights
* 4 Wives for men - but only 1 for the women
* Marriage to 9 year old girl
* Terrorism
* Suicide Bombers
All of these questions and more have been coming to us in email and in the streets and over the phone on a daily basis.
So, I took it upon myself to bring about the common sense answers for these questions in plain and simple English language based on the teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah (way or teachings of Muhammad, peace be upon him). And it is working. This is actually helping the Muslims to do the correct dawah. Allah has almost definitely caused us to get involved to promote the true message of Islam on the same methodology as that of the prophet, peace be upon him.
Examples of Harsh Questions - That Helped Them Become Muslims After Attacking Islam:
In London Ontario, Canada a young man stood up after my talk in a masjid, dealing with the harsh questions. He asked, "Why do you pray to a black box in the desert?" -->read more at
http://www.islamtomorrow.com/articles/harsh_questions.htm

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Besday Ikram and Netball

-->Happy birthday Ikram :) 10/10/2008


Ikram dan train..


Ikram dan coklat..
Ikran dan senyuman..








Ikram now is 4 years old..A big boy...in his childhood centre..he is known as Train boy..always talk about train, play with train and draw trains. Even his teacher asked him to draw trains for his friend......



Semoga menjadi anak yg soleh ye ...;)






-->Netball


Although i didn't have enough sleep at night because Nadhirah got fever, I still had enough strength to walk to the sport centre in the city to play netball..aik anak demam pun tinggal ke?...he..he..



Actually, it was like a time out for me....I need a fresh body and mind to face my sick daughter and my PhD (sbb dah 4 hari buat cuti2 sendiri..).....Terasa masa main netball, stamina punyala kurang....teringat pulak masa main persahabatan gan polis wanita..dah berusia...tapi relak jek..kalah teruk team saya....w/pun dah berlatih berbulan2..berbagai2 strategi dah belajar..tapi bila jumpa polis..jadi kelam kabut.....maklumla masa tuh budak 12 thn jumpa dewasa antara 20-40..mahu nye tak gelabah....:).....

Last sekali, tgkla gambar adik yg dah mula pandai bergaya..team netball hari tuh dan jalan2 ketika org lain sibuk kat opis..he..he...


Adik pakai baju mak ke?
Time out utk mak...Netball
Cuti2 sendiri....

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Resipi agar-agar roti...



In this post I would to share a recipe for agar-agar roti.
I got this recipe from My Resipi http://www.myresipi.com/top/detail/4608

I just copy and paste the recipe here and only add some information.

Bahan-bahan ( 12 biji acuan pudding )
4 keping roti
2 biji telur
1/2 cawan susu pekat
1 tin susu cair (170ml)
8gram serbuk agar2
1/2 cawan gula - bleh kurangkn
2 sudu besar butter/marjerin (cairkan)
31/2 cawan air

Cara-cara
1) Didihkan air,serbuk agar2 n gula ke dalam periuk.
2) Blend roti,telur,susu pekat n susu cair. Kemudian masukkan dalam periuk agar2 yg sudah didih td.
3) Masukkan butter/marjerin dan kacau rata sampai agak2 pekat.
4) Tuang dalam acuan. Bleh la letak pewarna apa2 kat atas tuh dan lorek2kan dgn lidi.
5) Masukkan peti ais beberapa minit sebelum mkn...dah siap...
6) SeLaMat MeNcUbe....




------My comments-------



0) Senang, cepat dan boleh buat ikut citarasa sendiri..Cth agar2 roti org buat..amik kat My Resipi




1) If you see the original post in My Resipi, they use the original colour for the agar2 powder. But I used red colour (tak perasan pun masa beli tuh). So the output is pink (merah campur putih susu)..I think it's ok because I don't have to put 'pewarna' because the look was just nice..mcm warna sirap bandung.


2) I used 7 gram agar-agar powder as every one packet of the swallow agar2 powder (picture 1) contains approximately 7gram. It turned out to be just ok. Boleh dipotong dan dipegang. Tapi agak susah la pulak nak carik agar2 powder jenama nie atau jenama2 lain. Terlepas pandang atau memang tak ada kat kedai2 yg biasa pergi (foodtown, tai ping, lim chour). Kalau ada sesiapa terjumpa kat kedai2 tersebut atau kedai yg boleh dipergi dgn jalan kaki atau naik bas, silala beritahu ye...




3) Dalam langkah ke-3 iaitu tunggu sehingga agak2 pekat, memang subjektif sikit. Cuma pd pendapat saya, campuran tuh mula pekat sikit bila telur yg dimasukkan dah mula nak masak..Jadik bila rasa telur semua dah masak, kira okayla kepekatan tuh..bolehla diangkat..Masa nak tunggu pekat pun tak lama..sbb bukan nak tunggu sampai likat (mcm puding jagung)..cuma pekat...mungkin dlm 15-20 minit...tak tgk jamla pulak masa tuh..tapi kejap jek




4) Kalau guna bekas besar, lambatla sikit nak beku..dlm 2-3 jam jugak...jadi kalau nak cepat makan, gunala bekas2 comel mcm dlm My Resipi tuh..cepat sejuk kut..dan comel...


Akhir kata, sesiapa yg gemar agar2 kentang pasti mengemari agar2 roti nie sbb rasanyer lemak dan manis..

Selamat mencuba dr saya (terutama utk my neighbour..he..he...)




Picture 1-->





http://swallow-globe.com.au/eshop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=14

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Lebaran Ini 2008



Lebaran ini..



Kerinduan masakan mak terubat jugak bila makan nasi himpit gan rendang yg mak buat dan pos dr M'sia..
* Rendang kegemaran..Thank you mak!

kalau org johor, nasi himpit tak sah kalau tak sklai gan sayur lodeh..

Memandangkan tauhu dan tempe ada jual kat Foodtown (baru perasan baru2 nie). W/pun mahal sikit, sayur lodeh punya pasal, takper..

So..bgn kul 4.00 utk masak...jeng jeng..jadila sayur lodeh..he..he..


*Sayur lodeh..


suami kata mcm mak masak..ish..ish..harunya..suami kalau dia kritik makanan memang honest..kalau tak sedap..memang tak sedapla....dia akan beritahu apa yg kurang..tapi kalau sedap dan dia puji...memang banggala sbb memang sedap betul..he..he


boleh jadik food kritik dia nie...

Sayur lodeh mak memang sedap..Mana taknyer..resipi atuk nie...ikutje la satu2..mesti jadik...



Siap masak agar2 roti....dah jadi fav pulak la skrang..tak yah guna oven dan muai..byk dpt....dan rasanyer memang saya dan anak beranak suka..tapi agar2 powder nie susahnyer nak dpt..hari tuh gi beli kat kedai Toupu (betul ke eja?) kat Albany...singgah kejap lps belajar buat nasi tomato dulu

Dah cari agar2 powder kat lim chour, tai ping dan foodtown..tapi takde plak..ish..ish..

*Agar-agar roti

So raya pertama lebih kepada mendengar takbir dirumah kerana suami penat sgt kerja semalam. Sayur lodeh dan agar-agar roti yg dah masak lebih simpan dlm peti jek..


Tapi hari kedua dpt gak beraya....bestnyer..

Gi umah yg nampak train nie, memang Ikram enjoy la...

Nadhirah pun seronok...dah tak takut org dah..tak yah warming up....agaknyer dah besar kut..dah setahun dah...

*Adik melaram gan spek mata itam


Dan semalam...Mapsa punya jamuan raya...

Mcm2 makan..tapi terlepas nak makan sayur lodeh dan nasi hijau tuh..sbb dah kenyang sgt dah...tapi semua makanan sedap2 berlaka...Ikram dan Nadhirah dok makan muffin jek..

Gambar2 nie dptla gambarkan keadaan jamuan semalam...Alhamudulillah..Ikram tak susah sgt nak control..Nadhirah pun relax jek...




*Celebriti karpet merah ??




*Abg nampak letih
*Adik pun letih gak ye.

Apa yg penting lebaran ini, kita dpt mengukuhkan silaturrahim..

Semoga diri ini sentiasa beringat utk istiqamah dlm segala amalan yg dilakukan....






















Saturday, September 27, 2008

Ucapan selamat..

One day in Ramadhan:
*: "Salam..Taqabbalahhu minna wa minkum"...
#: Blur kejap..
*: "Oh in Iraq, when we meet each other in Ramadhan we said Taqabbalahhu minna wa minkum. It means : Semoga Allah menerima amalan ( amalan dan ibadat di Ramadhan) kami dan kamu (tapi dia sebut dlm english la)...
#: "ooooo"....
Then today I read this from http://www.zaharuddin.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=612&Itemid=72 dan antara isinya:
---------------------------------------------------------------
4) Mengucapkan selamat dan mendoakan antara satu sama lain ;
Tiada masalah untuk menggunakan apa jua kalimah, asalkan ianya mempunyai maksud yang sama. Bagaimanapun, kalimah yang digunakan di zaman baginda SAW adalah "Taqabbalahhu minna wa minkum" ertinya : Semoga Allah menerima amalan ( amalan dan ibadat di Ramadhan) kami dan kamu".
Disebut dalam sebuah riwayat :
قال واثلة لقيت رسول الله يوم عيد فقلت تقبل الله منا ومنك قال نعم تقبل الله منا ومنك
Ertinya : Berkata Wathilah, Aku bertemu Rasulullah s.a.w pada hari raya dan aku katakan pada baginda "taqabballahu minna wa minka", baginda menjawab : Ya, taqabballahu minna wa minka" ( Al-Baihaqi, rujuk perbincangan di Fath Al-Bari, 2/446 )
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Oooo baru tahu..Sblm nie tak tahu...byk lagi nak kena belajar nie..

Syawal..
Kini
Kehadiran Syawal semakin dirasai..
Namun kehadirannya bermakna perginya Ramadhan..
Adakah aku bergembira menyambut Syawal tahun ini?
Ya, aku pasti gembira kerana berpeluang merasai bulan Ramadhan sblmnya..
Tahap kegembiraan ku pasti lagi tinggi
jika pengabdianku dan amalanku padaNya meningkat di bulan Ramadhan
jika visi dan rutin hidupku berubah ke arah penghayatan Islam yang optimum..
Ya, apakah tahap kegembiraan ku pada Syawal kali ni..?
Apa yg pasti aku pasti merindukan Ramadhan..
dan mengharapkan kegembiraan yang berganda pada Syawal akan datang..sebagai tanda aku telah membenarkan pernyataan jika di atas..
Ya Allah ampunilah dosaku..
Ya Allah terimalah amalanku dibulan Ramadhan yang mulia ini....

Najah
28/9/2008

Thursday, September 18, 2008

One year old - Nadhirah (5th September 2008)

We're presenting........

......Nur Nadhirah Nabihah Mohammed Reza..........



The journey began 2007....


Four months before Nadhirah was born, we safely arrived at Auckland. We received wonderful help from Mohammed Minhat's family and lunch was provided by Kak Yati's family.


Then, with Kayron's help, we managed to open a bank account and the best thing was my supervisor met my family after that. I think from that meeting my supervisor started to know that I was pregnant.


When I know I was pregnant, of course I was very happy. But in my mind, there were thousands of questions keep coming to me.


Should I go to Auckland after giving birth?How much does it cost? Does it affect my study?


Some stories and advises that I got :


"During our time, the cost was free" (before 2003)


"My friend who was just giving birth also get free maternity services" ( I think she was under NZ's grant or she started before 2003)


"When I was doing PhD, my supervisor said that you should avoid to get pregnant" (But I was already pregnant when she told me her story and was facing the morning sickness)


Then I asked a doctor


"Doctor, could you please check me weather I get Placenta Previa (uri bawah)"

"It's too early to check that"

" But I really want to know as I got Placenta Previa during my first child. I will further my study soon and I want to calculate the cost"


"My friend who was in Autralia, her maternity cost was covered by insurance"

"But Dr, I'm going to NZ, and they said it was not covered by insurance :("

The good news was my plancenta was at a right position...


So we decided to go to Auckland and giving birth there..


The changes of immigration's policy give more benefit to PhD student as they get domestic fee (that's why elaun naik 100% tuh I think) and their partner will get a working permit. So for my understanding, if you've two years working permit, you're entitled for free maternity services. But for student? You've to pay....ada pro and con laa....




To make the story short :


If you choose home birth, the cost will be much less..

If you choose auckland city hospital, the cost is about 3,600 (including tax)
If you choose other places than auckland city hospital for giving birth, the cost might below 3,000 but if you've complication, they will still send you to auckland city hospital and of course the cost might be higher..


(the cost migh be changed now)


So we choosed auckland city hospital and we also choosed not to stay there after giving birth. It means, after 4 hours from giving birth, we should arrange to go home. Otherwise I might have to pay another 300 for staying in the ward.



Before the 4 hours ended, I didnt have enough energy to get up from bed (byk darah kuar kut) but a nurse asked me to clean up myself (signal bersiap utk balik kut..he..he...). With the help from my husband, I went to a bathroom which was just inside the labour room. Then, I think, why not mandi wiladah (mandi slps melahirkan) terus. Suddenly, I got a huge source of energy after taking the bath (patutla kena mandi wiladah nie, segar) but the nurse keep asking me, " are you ok?"....dia risau sbb sblm masuk toilet mcm tak larat jek....

The first week of pantang we got delicous food from akma, kak yati, kak zakiah, ijah & makcik dan Fariza..Terima kasih la byk2...tak lupa juga Nadhirah's clothes..comei2 baju yg dibagi..

Aduhai..puteriku sayang.....itu kenangan lama...saja nak berkongsi pengalaman..anugerah tuhan nie sebenarnya tak ternilai harganya......satu amanat ...satu tanggungjawab....Semoga menjadi anak solehah ye....:)

Mak nie menulis blog pulak pagi2 nie..bukan apa, carik mood utk buat keje..(boleh mcm tuh?)..berjujuk keje nak kena buat...satu-satu dtg..apa2 hal pun stay calm..he..he...apa nak masak mlm nie..ishh nak nengok resipi pulak..bila nak start keje nie....:)



Wajah2 terkini adik:


Alaa..tertutup pulak mata adik nie...






Seronok betul ye adik....


Lagi aksi pakai tudung..

Inilah besday kek saya....made in Foodtown..belum apa2 abg Ikram dah serbu dulu..tak sampai braper minit adik (tgn yg bawah) dan abg (tgn yg atas) dah mengabiskan coklat2 kat atas tuh..kejap jek lawa kek tuh...



Apapun adik, Happy birthday to you!!!!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Motivasi

How to stay motivated?




I'm now in the mid phase of my PhD. Lately, I'm having lack of motivation so that I've been searching from the internet to look for some sources that can increase my motivation.




#First, I found this from http://www.zaharuddin.net/:




"Kita semua perlukan motivasi, motivasi yang unggul adalah motivasi untuk mendapatkan redha dan syurga Allah.
Sebagaimana nabi dan sahabat baginda. Allah s.w.t mencatatkan betapa bermotivasinya mereka mengejar keredhaan dan syurga Allah dengan firmannya :-
خِتَامُهُ مِسْكٌ وَفِي ذَلِكَ فَلْيَتَنَافَسِ الْمُتَنَافِسُونَ
Ertinya : "tempat penamat yang harum semerbak kesturi (syurga); dan untuk yang demikian itu hendaknya orang berlomba-lomba" ( Al-Mutaffifin :26 )




Jadilah dan kejarlah redha dan pahala untuk kehidupan selepas kematian. Rancanglah dan fikirlah.
Jangan jadikan pujian manusia sebagai motivasi unggul kerana ia akan mencelamu dikemudian hari.
Jangan jadikan duit sebagai motivasi unggul kerana ia akan hilang dan habis.
Jangan jadikan pangkat sebagai motivasi unggul, kerana ia juga akan tamat dan dihasadi.
Jangan jadikan keluarga sebagai motivasi unggul, kerana ia akan mati jua.
JADIKAN ALLAH, RASULNYA DAN SYURGA YANG DIJANJIKANNYA SEBAGAI MOTIVASI, NESCAYA ALLAH TIDAK AKAN MATI DAN JANJINYA TIDAK AKAN MENGECEWAKAN.



Membiarkan orang lain sahaja yang bermotivasi dalam memperolehi pahala bukanlah sifat orang beriman. Jangan biarkan kata-kata negatif orang terhadap sesuatu yang baik untuk akhirat anda, membantutkan semangat. Jadikan ia pendorong dan motivasi "












#The Second source is more specific to PhD students (the full article is at http://www.pgoracle.uea.ac.uk/node/155):




The seven secrets of highly successful PhD students*
Researchers who know and make use of these seven secrets get through their doctorate more quickly, and just as importantly are happier, according to the Staff Development and Training Unit, Flinders University, Australia.


1. Care and maintenance of your supervisors


2. Write and show as you go: This is show and tell, not hide and seek


3. Be realistic: It's not a Nobel Prize


4. Say no to distractions: Even the fun ones and the ones you think you must do


5. It's a job: That means working nine to five but you get holidays


6. Get help: You are not an owner-operator single person business


7. You can do it: A PhD is about intelligence and persistence




I've read the full articles for both sources and YUP...I'm more motivated now :))




Next post: Nadhirah's birthday


Sunday, August 31, 2008

Macam-macam

In this post I would like to talk about many things..

Firstly..Nadhirah...got fever...and now rashes..may be it is an allergic reaction..I still have to figure out what was the cause...so sad to see her so quiet, weak and cry frequently...One night, she woke-up many times because she felt uncomfortable. Then the next day, I struggled with editing my report. It was so hectic and full of tension to be in this situation. What a pity for Ikram because he had to face this situation...sabar ye...utk mak dan anak sekali...Thanks to my husband for helping me in this situation..

Secondly..PhD...I'm now entering my first 6 months for my second year..slow progress...why? because the direction of my research is not very clear..I got some data but it didn't work with the proposed method...a few weeks with full of trying...I tried and tried again...but...no positive results...very frustrated..very....But at one time...after discussing with one of my group member, I suddenly got some idea (Alhamdulillah)...why not try like this...and it did show something.....I make a report and sent it to my supervisors. After editing the report based on my supervisors' comments (during Nadhirah was sick), I sent the report to process engineers.. and now I'm in a waiting moment...Do they like the idea...does the idea work? Hopefully, they will give a positive response so that I can go on to validate the idea...Positive response means the direction of my research is clearer and many things is awaiting for me to do after that.. I must be very very busy....Doakanla berjaya....

Thirdly..fasting..last year I was not fasting...Got a baby a few days before Ramadhan..Nur Nadhirah Nabihah...This year..yup! fasting...Hopefully my fasting will be up to one level..this level hopefully:
Puasa paling istimewa, menurut Imam al-Ghazali, iaitu puasa yang ditambah lagi dengan puasa hati daripada semua keinginan yang rendah dan fikiran keduniaan. Inilah puasa yang paling tinggi darjatnya dan puasa semacam inilah yang dikehendaki Allah, BeritaHarianOnline.

Fourthly..Bread pudding...My favourite...if there is bread..90% there will be bread pudding..

So today is the latest version..put some cashews..


Nadhirah was looking at the bread pudding...she has just relieved from a fever teething (I think)..Now, she has had rashes...Get well soon adik...Miss your keletah..

Lastly...Selamat Berpuasa semua !!!!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Poster dan gigi

What is the relationship between poster and teeth?
Well they are the topics that I would like to talk about in this post:
My posters and My daughter's first tooth..


-Engineering Postgraduate Poster Competition 2008

One of the main reasons I entered this competition is that to visualize my research.
A Prof said during a prize giving ceremony for the competition:
" Poster is a brief description of your research"

Another Prof said:
"Try to balance between figures and words..
Do not use small fonts...sometimes it is very hard to read..
Use a good combination of colour"
This is general advice that I got after the competition.

Before the competition I went to course about:
"How to make a good academic poster" at SLC.
It was a very good course as the facilitator showed me some examples of good and bad posters.
After went through some editing processes based on comments from my husband (thanks cunyu!) and also my supervisor, here is the result:

(click to enlarge)

It was not really an artistic work. It was just a poster that I want the audience could understand the main idea of my research. I think I know what make other posters were better than me. They visualized every sections of the poster. I only put more focus on the result section. I should try to visualize other sections as well.

When the mood of making poster was still there, I was thinking to submit a poster for auis poster competition for Ramadhan. I had started to collect information even from journals from science direct. I'd found journals about effect of Ramadhan for smokers, for diabetes, for sportsman etc...Then I remembered some info from an Ustaz who said that Ramadhan is a month of changing ourself. 30 days of fasting and doing only good things are actually the best way to change our 'tabiat'. Tabiat is not easy to change but with 30 days of training, it is possible for us to stay in a way that we want to change. A good training too for smokers. I forgot the source of the info but I used the concept of transformation in my poster. However, as the info must be accurate, I couldn't finish the poster with so limited time. So this was the result on the due date (15/8):




:) tak sempatla...tu jek yg mampu...


-Gigi saya

Now, My daughter's teeth.....
After waiting so long (when Nadhirah nearly one year), finally her teeth have come out...
Can you see them? Have a look...:)




(click to enlarge)
Tengokla..saya dah ada gigi..:)

Friday, August 15, 2008

Happy Birthday to ME!!

Yesterday was my birthday...

The day when a cute baby (perasan jek) was born 29 years ago..at my atok's house in Pontian.

On this day, my elder brother (4 years old) got his first naughty sister with so much desire and thinking.

We did a lot of activities together since my younger brother was born 4 years later.

Since my parent's house was built in front of my atok's house when I was 9 years old, we used to play many kampung and non-kampung's games with our cousins like:

teng teng

Belon acah

polis polis

rounders (used tiang katil and bola tenis ayah)

football (satu pasukan gan abg)

Badminton (siap ada liga lagi)

getah

.......etc lupa dah nama...

Well, it was before my brother went to a boarding school (MCKK) and since then the liga for badminton was not really work as my brother was the mastermind.

How about schools?

Sek Tengku Mahmood Iskandar (II) was my primary school. This school is quite popular not only because of the name (using kerabat diraja name) but also its performance. Well, I quite active in sports (netball, volleyball, bola baling ) like my father and netball is my favourite sports until now. Our school was netball's champion for ten consecutive years (if I'm not mistaken) during that time.

Well, moved to kampung also make me moved to a nearer school which was sek men ren kayu ara pasong, Pontian. My father was also a teacher there. Less active in sports make me bigger than before. One acitivity which I do remember until now was a story telling competition (in BM). I represented my school with title "Puteri raja berkahwin dgn labi-labi" he..he..Until now I still remember accurately the story.

........Time goes by...and now I've already had two little children. Mcm tak percaya dah jadik mak orang....lagi tak percaya tgh buat PhD.... PhD nie kadang2 membuatkan mak orang nie rasa nak balik zaman kanak2 dulu...ingat main dan main jek..he..he...

Well, hopefully this year, saya akan lebih menyayangi diri saya, keluarga dan sekeliling. Sayang for me means if I do sayang myself, I should fulfill my rights like do anything because of Allah. I should fulfill my resposibilities as a wife and a mother if I do sayang my husband and my children. Hopefully, all the sayang that we give to others will make us lebih disayangi-Nya..InsyaAllah.




Pictures of Ikram and Nadhirah...

1) Saya tgh makan..yum ..yum..

2) Saya suka senyumla.....;)
3) Ikram dan wool adiknya..
Happy birthday mak...

Monday, June 23, 2008

How was Malaysia?

Apa khabar org kampung?

Ikram has been thinking about cik su, mimi tok, atoks etc. since we were here..sian dia..
Two weeks in Pontian, Johor and two weeks in USJ, Subang gave opportunities to Ikram and Nadhirah to know their family.





Pic 1: Ikram melihat2 kapal terbang sblm pulang ke Malaysia



Nadhirah..first time met her relatives. Cried very loud at first but few days later, she always smiles, smiles and smiles…





Pic 2: Nadhirah with her father while waiting for departure



The food was GOOD although the price is going up…
The weather was also good, not too hot.
The conference was also OK. Had a chance to meet a lecturer that gave an idea about what I should do about my research after finishing my PhD.



What else? Oil prices…had a chance to queue up in a long line before 12.00 a.m. and we asked for a full tank. There were a lot of people and we even saw a situation where a Kancil’s driver filled diesel instead of petrol, so the driver have to suck out the diesel from his kancil.
All in all, hujan emas dinegeri org, hujan batu dinegeri sendiri, baik lagi negeri sendiri. We’re HOMESICK!!!!

PhD?
I’ve started my second year in Malaysia..he..he..
Not fully holiday in Malaysia because the first two weeks I did some data analysis to an Industry and the work is still going on. A statement from my co-supervisor’s email to the industry’s people, “Nazatul is on holiday, but…..”….Kena kuatkan semangat betul utk buat keje…
Few days before coming back to NZ, I received an email from my supervisor that told me a few things that I should do. For my own benefit actually..However, a first week here, I used only 20% or 10% of my time for doing research…Help me!!!


Good to be back to Malaysia. Wish to see all of you again. May be in NZ? Dtgler NZ..holiday..:)




----------------------------------------------
More pictures:
Nadhirah with her mak sepupu, cik Effa



Nadhirah and Ikram with their Tok Ayah





Nadhirah with her Mami tok, Cik Sha and Cik Su






Ikram and Nadhirah with Ayah Jih




Nadhirah was playing with her sepupu, Nazif





Nadhirah with mak Nor and mak Faizah. Thanks to my sister, faizah and my mother (not in the pic, how come?) for taking care Nadhirah while I was attending the conference.

Nadhirah and her mother during majlis pertunangan her uncle, pak Udin....Tahniah pak Udin !!