Romancing Rocks

I was busy planning this fact finding geological fieldtrip in Labuan and Bintulu from 13 July until 20 July 2012. The purpose of the trip was to collect data required for us to prepare a "Guidebook" for future fieldtrips. Although numerous fieldtrips have been conducted in these two areas, we have promised our management that this field trip would relates more to our daily work as three of us are involve on the subject matter on daily basis.

I am only showing you a few pictures of our three days stay in Labuan in this post because I thought you might get bored with too much rocks. Maybe I will put up more similar posts and pictures later.

Please note that these picture are considered an intellectual property of my friend, Mr Yap, and any use of them for any purpose is strictly prohibited. i.e. you have to get my permission to use them.

On my way back at Tg Layang Layangan beach.
Yes! we do worked till sunset ;)


At Kg Ganggarak.


Now! what happens to the Ophiomorpha?.


Cuestas near Bethune head.


Los conquistadores de las cuestas

At Tanjong Kubong


Figuring the waves action at Tanjong Kubong


Now! how do these sand beds get to be vertical?


At Layang-Layangan beach


Near Tanjung Layang-Layangan


"Kelaparan - Jalan jalan cari makan"

For Muslim friends.. Selamat berpuasa di Ramadhan yang Mulia.
Have a nice weekend to all.

Makan makan at the office

Today we organised an office lunch to celebrate the success of two of our exploration wells. I was happy as one of them is the one that my team has drilled at the start of 2012. All geoscientists and non geoscientists working on Malaysian acreages was invited to join in the thankgiving celebration of Peninsular Malaysia Exploration team (XPM).
I was caught by surprise when a cake was put up for the XPM staff that celebrate birthdays in May, more so because we already have one earlier...rumours has it that one satisfied customer (read boss) has used his own money to show his appreciation.. Alhamdulillah..
You can see that a small part of the cake has been consumed by one hungry birthday boy even before a picture can be taken. Burpps! I am getting older.
Have a nice day..

Want to live to 100? And stay healthy too!

I have received this rather long article from a practising medical doctor friend, Abdullah Daud and thought maybe it will be good for my blog readers as well.

11 Habits That Will Help You Live to 100
Healthy Steps to a Longer Life

One of the biggest factors that determines how well you age is not your genes but how well you live. Not convinced? A study published in 2009 in the British Medical Journal of 20,000 British folks shows that you can cut your risk of having a stroke in half by doing the following things: being active for 30 minutes a day, eating five daily servings of fruit and vegetables, and avoiding cigarettes and excess alcohol.
While those are some of the obvious steps you can take to age well, researchers have discovered that centenarians tend to share certain traits in how they eat, move about, and deal with stress—the sorts of things we can emulate to improve our own aging process. Of course, getting to age 100 is enormously more likely if your parents did. Still, Thomas Perls, who studies the century-plus set at Boston University School of Medicine, believes that assuming you've sidestepped genes for truly fatal diseases like Huntington's, "there's nothing stopping you from living independently well into your 90s." Heck, if your parents and grandparents were heavy smokers, they might have died prematurely without ever reaching their true potential lifespan, so go ahead and shoot for those triple digits. Follow these 11 habits and check out Perls' lifetime risk calculator to see how long you can expect to live.

1. Don't Retire
"Evidence shows that in societies where people stop working abruptly, the incidence of obesity and chronic disease skyrockets after retirement," says Luigi Ferrucci, director of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. The Chianti region of Italy, which has a high percentage of centenarians, has a different take on leisure time. "After people retire from their jobs, they spend most of the day working on their little farm, cultivating grapes or vegetables," he says. "They're never really inactive." Farming isn't for you? Volunteer as a docent at your local art museum or join the Experience Corps, a program offered in 19 cities that places senior volunteers in urban public elementary schools for about 15 hours a week.

2. Floss Every Day
That may help keep your arteries healthy. A 2008 New York University study showed that daily flossing reduced the amount of gum-disease-causing bacteria in the mouth. This bacteria is thought to enter the bloodstream and trigger inflammation in the arteries, a major risk factor for heart disease. Other research has shown that those who have high amounts of bacteria in their mouth are more likely to have thickening in their arteries, another sign of heart disease. "I really do think people should floss twice a day to get the biggest life expectancy benefits," says Perls.

3. Move Around
"Exercise is the only real fountain of youth that exists," says Jay Olshansky, a professor of medicine and aging researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "It's like the oil and lube job for your car. You don't have to do it, but your car will definitely run better." Study after study has documented the benefits of exercise to improve your mood, mental acuity, balance, muscle mass, and bones. "And the benefits kick in immediately after your first workout," Olshansky adds. Don't worry if you're not a gym rat. Those who see the biggest payoffs are the ones who go from doing nothing to simply walking around the neighborhood or local mall for about 30 minutes a day. Building muscle with resistance training is also ideal, but yoga classes can give you similar strength-training effects if you're not into weight lifting.

4. Eat a Fiber-Rich Cereal for Breakfast
Getting a serving of whole-grains, especially in the morning, appears to help older folks maintain stable blood sugar levels throughout the day, according to a recent study conducted by Ferrucci and his colleagues. "Those who do this have a lower incidence of diabetes, a known accelerator of aging," he says.

5. Get at Least Six Hours of Sleep Each Night
Instead of skimping on sleep to add more hours to your day, get more to add years to your life. "Sleep is one of the most important functions that our body uses to regulate and heal cells," says Ferrucci. "We've calculated that the minimum amount of sleep that older people need to get those healing REM phases is about six hours." Those who reach the century mark make sleep a top priority.

6. Consume Whole Foods, Not Supplements
Strong evidence suggests that people who have high blood levels of certain nutrients—selenium, beta-carotene, vitamins C and E—age much better and have a slower rate of cognitive decline. Unfortunately, there's no evidence that taking pills with these nutrients provides those anti-aging benefits. "There are more than 200 different carotenoids and 200 different flavonoids in a single tomato," points out Ferrucci, "and these chemicals can all have complex interactions that foster health beyond the single nutrients we know about like lycopene or vitamin C." Avoid nutrient-lacking white foods (breads, flour, sugar) and go for all those colorful fruits and vegetables and dark whole-grain breads and cereals with their host of hidden nutrients.

7. Be Less Neurotic
It may work for Woody Allen, who infuses his worries with a healthy dose of humor, but the rest of us neurotics may want to find a new way to deal with stress. "We have a new study coming out that shows that centenarians tend not to internalize things or dwell on their troubles," says Perls. "They are great at rolling with the punches." If this inborn trait is hard to overcome, find better ways to manage when you're stressed: Yoga, exercise, meditation, tai chi, or just deep breathing for a few moments are all good. Ruminating, eating chips in front of the TV, binge drinking? Bad, very bad.

8. Live Like a Seventh Day Adventist( just an example and article written for American )
Americans who define themselves as Seventh Day Adventists have an average life expectancy of 89, about a decade longer than the average American. One of the basic tenets of the religion is that it's important to cherish the body that's on loan from God, which means no smoking, alcohol abuse, or overindulging in sweets. Followers typically stick to a vegetarian diet based on fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts, and get plenty of exercise. They're also very focused on family and community.

9. Be a Creature of Habit
Centenarians tend to live by strict routines, says Olshansky, eating the same kind of diet and doing the same kinds of activities their whole lives. Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day is another good habit to keep your body in the steady equilibrium that can be easily disrupted as you get on in years. "Your physiology becomes frailer when you get older," explains Ferrucci, "and it's harder for your body to bounce back if you, say, miss a few hours of sleep one night or drink too much alcohol." This can weaken immune defenses, leaving you more susceptible to circulating flu viruses or bacterial infections.

10. Stay Connected
Having regular social contacts with friends and loved ones is key to avoiding depression, which can lead to premature death, something that's particularly prevalent in elderly widows and widowers. Some psychologists even think that one of the biggest benefits elderly folks get from exercise the strong social interactions that come from walking with a buddy or taking a group exercise class. Having a daily connection with a close friend or family member gives older folks the added benefit of having someone watch their back. "They'll tell you if they think your memory is going or if you seem more withdrawn," says Perls, "and they might push you to see a doctor before you recognize that you need to see one yourself."

11. Be Conscientious
The strongest personality predictor of a long life is conscientiousness—that is, being prudent, persistent, and well organized, according to The Longevity Project, coauthored by Howard Friedman and Leslie Martin. The book describes a study that followed 1,500 children for eight decades, collecting exhaustive details about their personal histories, health, activities, beliefs, attitudes, and families. The children who were prudent and dependable lived the longest, Friedman says, likely because conscientious types are more inclined to follow doctors' orders, take the right medicines at the right doses, and undergo routine checkups. They're also likelier to report happier marriages and more satisfying work lives than their less conscientious peers.

Thank you for trying to take care of your goodselves even though if you have skipped a lot;).

Have a good weekend!

Retirement?!

I do not know what came over me when I made a promise to my respected blogger friend, that I will write something on topic of retirement this time around. Maybe I was envious of his predicament(?).. Maybe my friend knew that I have a deep seated wish to have my own place where poor and needy children can improve themselves. Come to think of it I did talk to him the raison d'etre of my involvement with food production thingy that has more or less put me in a lot of heartaches.. to get a few acres of land for tahfiz and agricultural activities to co-exist in a symbiotic manner.

A few years before my 55th birthday (the day most of Petronas staff retires) two of my colleagues came to me( at different times and locations) to talk about retirement.

The younger one, albeit some seven years my junior, came up and talked to me on his retirement plan.. to retire from Petronas and become an unpaid mosque or surau caretaker and as always, Q & A session ensued:-

Me: " So you think you will have enough for you to retire gracefully then?".

Him: " If you want to talk about enough.. It will never be enough!"

Me: " Have you ever tried to stay in the mosque from dawn prayer to midnoon prayer?"

Him: " No, I have not but it would not be too difficult, would it?"

Me: " I have tried and failed miserably and I have yet to see someone who has successfully do that in this modern time, maybe those students in Tahfiz can easily succeed.. But try it first before rejecting an offer to work when your retirement time comes".

Him: "May be I should try to do that one of these days".

Me: " No harm checking to see whether you like the task you set for yourselves first before you embark on it full time, I heard it is easy to loose money when we retire and go into business doing something we are not familiar with.."

Him: " That is what I heard also and that why I want to quit and stay out of trouble.. Stay in kampung's mosque".

Me: " I heard a story that one successful businessment in KL who built a 200,000 ringgit bungalow in a remote fishing town.. And leave his business to his two capable and qualified children( after mentoring them for more than 2 years) just after his bungalow get completed and furnished.

Him: "Don't tell me he came back to KL again after that!".

Me: " After exactly two weeks of being a Tok Siak (caretaker) of the biggest mosque in the town ( a walking distance from his bungalow).

Him: "what happened exactly.. The kampung folks ostracised him?."

Me: " Nothing of that sort, he was treated like a big man.. A tan sri of sort treatment.. but the fishermen talk about weather, who catch most fish for the day, who was not able to go to the sea.. Those small talks, laissez faire life .. He can take it for a few days, but after a week, he started to miss his business friends, his mosque friends in KL, Those talks that he was used to.. challenging talks, technical talks, KLSE etc etc talks.."

Him: " Now what do you proposed..? " He sounded a bit exasperated....

Me: " It looks like you do not need so much money.. Come back and work as a geoscientist that you have always been.. Take half of your salary and you probably can hire more than 10 Tok Siak to do the work that you have set to do yourselves .. That way Petronas get to keep its experienced geoscientist.. You get the reward of getting more than 10 Tok Siak in more than 10 mosques.. Tok Siak job would then be a well paid job in the kampung etceteras.. And you get enough money to pay most of your bills"

Him: " hm.. Sound good but I am not sure that I will sacrifice half of my salary to get more than 10 Tok Siak.. Even if I want to"

Me : " That is a good problem to have.. non?,".

As for the older colleague, three years my senior.. He wanted to buy a taxi and be a taxi driver whenever he do not have golf games on..
He do not really need more money as he have been working oversea for quite a long time where he has been highly paid. As always, a Q & A followed:-

Me: " Don't you think being a taxi driver is a rather taxing job for a geoscientist that is used to work in an air- conditioned room looking at the desktop computer screens (geoscientists used high end computer with at least two monitor screens) all day long?".

Him: " Maybe tiring lah but that one is only a front.. to while away time waiting for my friends to finish their daily tasks and join me at the golf clubs".

Me: " Careful .. our mutual friend Encik A said that he get one invitation to join golf games a month when he retired from working as compared to more than ten invitations a month while he was working in Petronas ".

Him : " Oh what happened exactly?".

Me: " Nothing much.. But then people tend to forget you when you are not around or they thought you are enjoying retirement and do not feel good asking you out for a game of golf .. ".

Him: " Oh oh! then I might as well continue working if my service is needed".

Me : " I think I am also going to do the same..when my time comes".


I did advise them not to get involved in business sometime during the interactions.. and in contradiction I do get involved in one that is not my expertise... thinking that it is for the good of my country and my religion etcetera..

Ah by the way, I started the day with the good old ketupat palas goreng ( wrapped in Kelantanese style) and rendang ayam.. Daun palas was bought from Kuala Dungun wet market last week and our Chinese neighbour who is nearest to our kitchen get to sample about nine ketupat.. Mokwang thought that the smell might be too tempting for the family and the recipient later confirmed her thought.. Luckily our two Chinese neighbours, living on the right and left sides of our house, are out working;)

Have a fantastic and fabulous weekend / days ahead to all!

Nicknames

I was guilty of not been up to mark as far as blogging and blogs hopping were concerned. Was rather busy with the latest exploration well (3rd well in a back to back sequence).. the drilling operations commenced tremendously well.. blessed with a big drilling jack-up that can be put into operation even in two meters of December tides.. while other wells have to wait-on-weather (cannot be fully operational). With that situation all eyes were on my team and as a team leader I was more or less have to be on my toes most of the times.. as always.. excuses :) ...

A verse in The Book told not to Defame Nor Call Each Other by Offensive Nicknames.

Qur'an 49:11 Surah Al-Hujurat (The Inner Apartments)

O you who believe! let not some men among you laugh at others: it may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): Nor let some women laugh at others: it may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames: Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness (to be used of one) after he has believed: And those who do not desist are (Indeed) doing wrong.

I used to have many nicknames.. When I was in standard 1, somebody who wanted to spite my elder sister called me Awang Leper ( Flatfaced? Boy) . This nickname, a modified version - Wan Sharif Leper, stayed with me whenever I went back to Pulau Duyong. So if you happen to visit Pulau Duyong in Kuala Trengganu, famous for boat-making and recently as venue for Monsoon Cup.. There bound to be some folk around my age that know me as Wan Sharif Leper ;)

At the age of thirteen years old, I was blessed with the opportunity to study in Sekolah Dato' Abdul Razak (SDAR) , Tanjong Malim. I was accompanied by my uncle and was left just after he sorted out my registration and got me a place in the hostel. I must have missed my family and friends very badly then as the leader of hostel room then (was En. Kamaruddin Ahmad who later became a lawyer and a one time Selangor wakil rakyat) noticed my loneliness or longing. He told everyone in the hostel room that I behaved like a "pungguk rindukan bulan". Translated to be "an owl that missed the moon".. Corrected by my anonymous reader to be " like a nightjar longing for the moon".. Many rhaks to that kind reader.....A phrase used by the Malays to describe someone that missed one's lover terribly.

So that was how "orang bulan" (moon man) name was brought about and that was the nickname that I was known by my schoolmates and later brought over to varsity and even to my workplace. Although there has been some modification such as OB, orebule, Marc Bolan, Awang Bulang or just bulang etceteras, The name " orang bulan" is well remembered by my peers and juniors in SDAR. For some of you who have requested my email.. you would might have noticed that my yahoo email is orebule@yahoo.com ;) an email address given to me by our group email coordinator Wan Kamaruddin or TokWan Din.

On my first day in USM, I felt nice that new friends started to call me in full name.. this situation only last for one and half day.. a friend by the name of Salman Ahmad ( now a Datuk and is/was an ambassador to Australia) who were then approaching my hostel noticed me and called me by my nickname from a distance of some 20 meters for all my new friends to hear and so the nickname stayed with me for some of my close friends in USM;).

I do not know about other places but in Pulau Duyong (Trengganu) used of nicknames were rampant when I was there.. There were three Wan Ali on the island.. Wan Ali Semin (cement in English) earned his living by making objects using cement, Wan Ali Gemok (Fat Wan Ali) was the fattest of the three.. And my father who was a carpenter in boat-making was known as Wan Ali Tukang.

Having Muhammad as the most popular name on the island.. We used to have all kind of Mat or PakMat.. Some nicknames can sound unpleasant.. As name of animal can be the acronym like Itek(duck), Ayam(chicken) and some nicknames go after character.. ghogeh (flip- flop?) and jangok (always smartly dressed).. honestly most nicknames normally describe trades one was in and the nickname were used sparingly to identify the right person and were seldom used to humiliate anyone.

There were also three Muda who were selling sundries on the different location of the island. One was rather tall and went by the nickname of PokDe Tinggi(tall), one was very plump and went by the name of PokDe Gemok(fat) and the other was rather short and went by the name of Pok De Renek (short). PokDe Renek played an important role in my life for he was the one that extend his hand to allow my family to take our need from his sundry shop and pay whenever we have money.. We only managed to pay all our debt to him after my elder sister started working if not after I started to work.

Yes, the monetary debt we owed to PokDe Renek, we do managed to pay ...(borrowing from a phrase from a song "To Sir with Love" by Lulu) but how do you thank someone whose kindness has allowed a family of six to put foods on their dining table for more than twenty years..

May Allah blessed his soul (I came to know that PokDe Renek has passed away some years ago just before his nephew became my sister's son in law).

Have a nice productive day and stay safe.

A week that was

The second exploration well penetrated some oil and gas, a side-track well was drilled to prove enough resources to quickly develop the discovery. The sidetrack well reached final Total Depth on the fourth week of November and some tests were conducted. The result did not come in as expected and the well was plugged and abandoned a few days ago.
Last week there was not much activities that need my attention and I took a breather (a week off from work) to visit my beloved mother and relatives in Trengganu, armed with the knowledge that if everything goes as per plan, my third exploration well for 2011 will be drilled before middle of December.

Through my better half efforts I went to a masseur to relieve the nagging pain in my right shoulder only to find out that my right arm muscles has been twisted and the elbow was not in its proper place. This somehow threw my planning haywire as I need to get my arm massage every other day and those days coincided with the days I planned to be in Kuala Trengganu. I have to skip a few visits to my relatives places and also have to abandon my planned Kkalang Maras' visit (fortunately for me, I did not tell my blogger friend in Kkalang Maras of my intention to visit him);(

I did not plan to go off line.. somehow the massage thingy did not allow me sufficient time to properly visit my own blog.. least of all to go blogs hopping.. The other significant happening was birthdays celebration organized my niece for her two children.

The food and birthday cakes

How to get this thing to work?

When can we enjoy the food?

Ooh.. my fingers

At last the birthday boy got to cut the cake

Let me show you how it should be done!

Let me do it on behalf of birthday girl

Ain't we hungry?

Other than the curry puff, all food served were homemade...the birthday cakes were homebaked by my niece who children were the main actor and actress for the " belated birthday" celebration. For those who graced my house the other day. ...the kueh lapis Sarawak served then was also from her effort.

The above pictures were taken before the arrival of our neighbours who somehow shied away when the pictures were taken. When asked as to why they did not come earlier.. “Ah.. We felt a bit embarrassed lah” came the polite answer.

Although the celebration was planned to be conducted together during the daytime.. my grandniece was not very cooperative then and we end up conducting part of the celebration in the evening.. after her much needed sleep ;)

Cut it nicely

Slowly do it..

Let me help you.

Have a nice day

2nd Notes from oilfinder

I have had a rather busy time - chasing rainbows. Last year's plan was for me and team (after this shall be referred as we or us or our) to drill one (1) exploration well in 2011. By July we has an offer we cannot refused :D (read: we have been asking for it and we got one of the biggest marginal gas field in Peninsula Malaysia). The condition for the award meant we need to fast-tracked our activities and we ended up agreeing to drill 2 wells in 2011.

End September saw us drilling our first well (well-1) searching for oil - down dip of the discovered gas (oil leg -our jargon). After having some share of good fortune with drilling (read: not too much non productive time, no loss time incident or wait on weather/tool/personnel) -we have not been too successful with our search for oil leg in our primary reservoirs ( read: finding only gas and water). While drilling through a deeper (yet to be tested) reservoirs -our secondary objectives -our ever so cheerful petrophysicist has already casted her pessimism that all deeper reservoirs accumulate only water or the reservoirs are water wet (dry - our jargon).

We have not been so fortunate with our 'borehole' - we can not take procedures to ascertain the fluid contents of these reservoirs in normal way - using wirelines. We have to use TLC {not "tender loving care" but tough (conditions) logging tools} that not only cost more but also requires more time to successfully perform the required tasks.
The well is a successful well after all - 'our last ditch' effort saw us adding an estimated resource of about 7 million barel of oil from 0.8 metre of sand. This also meant that we have proven ' the concept of oil container' - and may in all finality add a few "tens if not hundreds' million barel of oil that can be recovered from that field.

The oil from Well-1

We hardly have time to breath our sigh of relief as a week after we reached the final total depth of the first well, we spud our second well using the same drilling rig. We kept on adding new 'data to be acquired' plan for our second well since we wanted this well to be last well to be drilled in a radius of 4 km circle i.e. we want to acquire all required data to allow us to 'handover' the area to development department to develop and produce the oil.
Then came a bombshell- a well planned to be drilled after our second well in another region is not ready to be drilled and guess who have to 'salvage the situation'. I quickly informed the team about the situation and some dissatisfaction have been voiced out on this fast tracking thingy. We even called ourselves 'pasukan bomba dan penyelamat'.

Not to be outdone, I dropped my own bombshell - 'let's get another three wells ready to be drilled by Q1 2012 ' ;P.

They negotiated here and there but they relented when I told them that I will personally be doing all the documentation for these three wells. Unknown to many I have already solicited 5 wells from the other three units in the team- with this decision we will have at least 8 well candidates to push us into 2012 and beyond :D.

Last weekend saw us in Awana Genting discussing our Exploration Project Meeting where we discussed and laid down our past & future projects and analyse our performance. I did not commit any the 8 wells, knowing very well I will again be called upon to play the role of 'pasukan bomba dan penyelamat'. ;)

Saturday night, after a whole day exhaustive meeting, we have 'Retro Gala Dinner'.

The bosses were asked to show their talent at a karoake session.
Future bosses were also welcomed to show their talent.


Ayoh Wang was also secretly asked to render a song by the MC, who also happen
to be a member of our team. After hearing so many songs and knowing that I could not do worse damage to the party, I relented and obliged them with a Malay song, I popularised in Sudan as "tayammum" - It was not 1970 song and as you can see I did not even properly dressed for the occasion - trying hard to keep out of the limelight. Not too successful though...


I must have been singing rather badly.. as you can clearly see.. there was another guy in the background trying his level best not to allow me to 'spoil' the party with my rendition ;).

There .. I have sufficiently told you that I was bogged down in this search for oil thingy... another one of my feeble attempts to apologize to my blogger friends for not 'contributing comments' to their many postings.

Have a nice week ahead..