A small setback

I have been gearing myself up to put up a hydroponic sprouting of fodder grass system (that can help our farmers to grow as many as 4000 heads of cattle on 20 acres site) at MAHA 2010. Some of the info on hydroponics can be viewed here . However, due to something that are/were beyond my simple mind to comprehend, my friend has to cancel his involvement with MAHA 2010.. there goes my involvement with MAHA 2010.. Both, me and my agro friend believe we have to find a new approach to introduce our version of hydroponic for fodder grass.. a small setback..

To those who has made a mental note to see me at MAHA.. I seek your forgiveness..

I seek Allah's little favour to allow us to assist our fellow Malaysian farmer..

Chasing shadows and concluding Mary sans Mathematics

Well I had been rather busy for the last three weeks, mostly chasing shadows at my workplace, as some top management guys came to realize that I have not been given a task or tasks relevant to my previous experiences or that I was not placed where I can contribute more to the company. With recent change in top management at my workplace, I am no longer required to expend some of my energy in chasing shadows - what the famous footballing Germans were accused of doing in that fateful 2010 World Cup Semifinal game against the equally famous Spanish football team.

If some of you are wondering as to what exactly is my work in the Oil &Gas company.. What is so important that I have to be recalled back after the retirement and given a contract to continue working?. Psst.. I was not that good.. it is partly due to the fact that there are so many of us, geoscientists quitting the company to chase the rainbows in Arabian Peninsular and that neighbourhood.

Here is a small glimpse of what I have been doing/will be doing while I am still in the Oil & Gas company.. I am a geophysicist first, a geo-scientist second and a team leader most of the times..

As geophysicist, I am one of those weirdos who derived tremendous pleasures looking at seismic (sound-waves) wiggles/traces on seismic record/section, then I correlate millions of those seismic traces, correlate subsurface faults and come up with subsurface (ground or earth below the sea for our malaysian petroleum system) maps. From these maps, I make conclusion (based on geological knowledge and understanding of the area) as to whether the area have the potential to accumulate oil or gas. Proposal to drill an exploration well will generally follows based on estimated resource (hydrocarbon in place) that is economically viable to be developed. At times, the geophysicists can be so engrossed in looking at faults and other seismics thingy that they are also called "the faults finder".. he.. he

A SEISMIC SECTION A SUBSURFACE MAP

As a geoscientist, I relate these geophysical thingy to others from different disciplines such as geology, geochemistry as well as other geos.. to conjure the subsurface/ the mother earth to the engineers and people in the management.. in our attempts to optimally exploit hydrocarbon discovered or to be discovered. As a team leader, I got to lead a team of geo-scientists and sometime engineers to accomplish the same.

Hopefully I do not confuse you too badly this time around..

After my office hours before sunset, I have been busy helping my friend in his Ampang office, supporting him whenever and whatever possible so as not to let his business be overwhelmed by other peoples looking for quick routes to make super quick bucks. I even took annual leave to accompany him to see clients outside the capital. He is now promoting "hydroponics sprouting of fodder grass" to help reduce cattle fatality rates. If I understand it correctly, the hydroponics might help farmers in Malaysia to grow as many as 400 head of cattle on an ecologically ... sound, simple yet efficient.. 20 acres site..

Hydroponic sprouting of fodder grass system

Some of the days, after sunset.. I got down to help one of my in-laws business, selling second hand cars. I have sold one of my car last month and last night I sent my latest car ( he helped me to import it last month) to his house in Klang as he has friends who wanted to see the car today. He is trying to quit his current job in used cars importing firms now that he is no longer allowed to do the line of work he has been doing for the past +10 years. He took/will get commission for the sale and will be paid for handling tasks related to Puspakom, registration and etc.

Mini Cooper S

On the home front, my children have been taking over the computer and lap-top: chatting with their friends, playing computer games, FB and what-not, most of the time they were fully aware that they are depriving their father of an opportunity to update his blog. Weekends have been fully scheduled for buying daily need, chasing curtain materials and baju raya at those never-ending pre-Hari Raya sales in department stores and superstores, attending kenduries , fulfilling children needs and entertaining friends as well as the in-laws.

For quite some time I had been toying with the idea of putting up a post on some experiences I have had with peoples’ fight with cancer (in line with the demise of our beloved blogger friend, Raden Galoh) but then.. there was a cheramah at my Ampang Campuran Mosque, last Sunday morning on Transliteration of Al-Quran and the texts discussed were from surah Maryam (Mary) verses (16-26). That cheramah somehow change my mind and made me want to give some sort of conclusion to the previous post.

So here I am, skipping normal lunch which has been my habit for almost a year now(since quitting my cigarettes smoking), putting this entry as a continuation of the previous post.. a peace offering of sort to non-mathematically inclined readers... I did not expect such a good feedback on that mathematically inclined post. Honestly, that was my only one mathematical instance worthy of posting. I have no more mathematical equations to impress or baffle some of my intelligent blogging friends.

I was sort of overwhelmed by all the facts that some of the readers put up in their comments on my previous posting. I am hoping that this post will get some readers some perspectives on Mary, a very highly respected lady in Islamic religion as well as to conclude the topics related to her or her son that might be sensitive to some readers (please accept my apologies).

Below are verses of Al-Quran taken from the Surah Maryam or Mary.. a chapter in our Holy book - named after her. May God be please with her..

Relate in the Book (the story of) Mary, when she withdrew from her family to a place in the East. 019.016

She placed a screen (to screen herself) from them; then We sent her our angel, and he appeared before her as a man in all respects. 019.017

She said: “I seek refuge from thee to (Allah) Most Gracious: (come not near) if thou dost fear Allah.” 019.018

He said: “Nay, I am only a messenger from thy Lord, (to announce) to thee the gift of a holy son. 019.019.

She said: “How shall I have a son, seeing that no man has touched me, and I am not unchaste?” 019.020

He said: “So (it will be): Thy Lord saith, ‘that is easy for Me: and (We wish) to appoint him as a Sign unto men and a Mercy from Us’:It is a matter (so) decreed.” 019.021.

So she conceived him, and she retired with him to a remote place. 019.022.

And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree: She cried (in her anguish): “Ah! would that I had died before this! would that I had been a thing forgotten and out of sight!” 019.023

But (a voice) cried to her from beneath the (palm-tree): “Grieve not! for thy Lord hath provided a rivulet beneath thee; 019.024

“And shake towards thyself the trunk of the palm-tree: It will let fall fresh ripe dates upon thee. 019.025:

“So eat and drink and cool (thine) eye. And if thou dost see any man, say, ‘I have vowed a fast to (Allah) Most Gracious, and this day will I enter into not talk with any human being’” 019.026

At length she brought the (babe) to her people, carrying him (in her arms). They said: “O Mary! truly an amazing thing hast thou brought! 019.027

“O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of evil, nor thy mother a woman unchaste!” 019.028

But she pointed to the babe. They said: “How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?” 019.029

He said: “I am indeed a servant of Allah: He hath given me revelation and made me a prophet; 019.030

“And He hath made me blessed wheresoever I be, and hath enjoined on me Prayer and Charity as long as I live; 019.031

“(He) hath made me kind to my mother, and not overbearing or miserable; 019.032

“So peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again)”! 019.033

Such (was) Jesus the son of Mary: (it is) a statement of truth, about which they (vainly) dispute. 019.034

It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! when He determines a matter, He only says to it, “Be”, and it is. 019.035

Verily Allah is my Lord and your Lord: Him therefore serve ye: this is a Way that is straight. 019.036

Have a good week ahead..

Cheated..Yes! but Financial Lost..Maybe Not

One day in early 1994, a long lost friend, while we reminisced the happy days in our alma mater, proposed to me and 3 other mutual friends to invest in his 'market do talk' project. He has been talking about his commodity market project whenever he has the opportunity during the three hours we have been at the meeting place. It is not that we are not warned that this particular friend has some history of running away with the project money.... We then discussed about the project openly for some 15 minutes, nobody seems eager enough to depart with their money. I told the whole group that I was willing to give RM10,000 as a test, nobody else is to invest without contacting me first. Our newly found friend need a second chance before we wrote him off as incurable.....

Well, sure enough, our newly found friend did not answer my phone calls or SMSs right after the check I gave him was cashed. Somehow he managed to convince another good friend, who was also present in that fateful "meeting" to depart with another RM10,000. Talk about smooth talking. So we lost our newly found friend yet again..

The same month, I got involved with someone who worked in fibreglass boat making industry in Kuala Trengganu. He is a friend of my mechanics and I met him while he was helping my mechanic repairing my car. He has even accompanied my mechanic to my in-laws house in Dungun to repair my 7+ year young second hand car. After asking for his credential from the mechanic, we got on a small project to built fibreglass fish tank. I was keen on this fibreglass project as I believe there will be a niche market in luxury fibreglass catamaran which can be a very profitable venture.

Luxury Fiber-glass Catamaran

The initial investment was only RM7500 and an anticipated profit of about RM500 per unit fish tank. The initial project was for 30 fish tanks, sub contract to us from the main contractor who was contracted to do some 200 fish tanks for LKIM, Trengganu. The main contractor promised to pay directly to me and I will finance the whole project, depositing money to my friend's bank account. The anticipated profit for the project was recalculated to be in the range of RM13,000 to RM14,000, which was agreed to be shared equally between me and my friend.

We started off rather poorly, spending some RM1,500 and 5 days to build the mould for the fish tank and would be in position to build 6 fish tanks (costing at RM900 each). The main contractor would be paying RM7,500 for every 5 fish tanks completed and delivered to be transported to main contractor warehouse. We end up doing two moulds to speed up the process to catch up the agreed dateline.

After a while we made a good enough progress of making 1 boat for 1.5 to 2.0 days depending on weather. There were few small incidents here and there but we were rated good enough by the main contractor, securing us another 20 more fish tanks order.

Somehow, the main contractor got in some tight spot and RM8,000 need to be pumped into the project. I complied by sending in the money but I was not getting good reception from my better half who was not at all happy with the development. I duly conveyed my better half's apprehension to my partner and I got back my RM8,000 about a week later.

When the project was completed, I should be getting back my initial investment of RM7,500 and profit of about RM12,000 , from the agreed 50-50 share of total profit of RM24,000. However, as feared by my better half, my partner went missing from his rented house and as you all would have guessed, he has absconded my initial investment as well as my share of the profit. There was another RM5,000 cost I incurred to have my brother in-law oversee the whole project on my behalf, making my total loss of some RM24,500 from this venture.

And do not eat up your property among yourselves for vanities, nor use it as bait for the judges, with intent that ye may eat up wrongfully and knowingly a little of (other) people’s property - Al-Baqarah :188

The last quarter of the year 2004 saw me and my team on behalf of my company drilling Anding Utara-1 deviated exploration well. The well struck oil in an entirely new reservoir, metasediment or metamorphic basement, flowing about 200 barrel of oil per day.

The well was then sidetracked to penetrate another culmination some 400m from where we found oil and again the new well struck oil in the metasediment reservoir,which on drill-stem-test (DST) flowed about 1000 barrel of oil per day on 18 December 2004, just 8 days before the tsunami struck and ravaged northwestern Sumatra and western shore of Thailand.

Flare on Anding Utara-1 Sidetrack-1

This discovery got me a lump sum increment of RM35,000 and some RM700/month more than my normal increment which I enjoyed from April 2005 till 15 May 2009, the day I officially retired. This monthly increment significantly improved my gratuity and my salary for the 2 year contract job after the official retirement. Alhamdulillah!.

OK, OK, I am a sucker to fall for these investment schemes but like they say "No pain, no gain". You probably had figured out by now that I did not mathematically lost any RM as the loss from two "investments" has been offset by the lump sum increment. I told my other half those money that I had invested will probably need to be paid handsomely to yours truly and to her by those "so-called friends" on the Judgement Day.

Ooohh, Banyoooook tuuuu!!! (Ooohh, that's a lot), If that's is true...Alhamdulillah! was her only response.