My Beloved

I was busy chasing rainbows.. now that I have 'lost' 3 trusted team members due to some realignment and yet to lose another one soon due to someone powerful (?) enough to enforce a policy that was rather unnatural... 'you cannot marry somebody from the same organization'!?
My usual reason for resorting to my normal act of posting something from the internet. You might have come across this but I think it is good enough for me to document it for my future reading. Hope you like it ;)



There was a time in my youth,
When Islam was only a custom.
They said “say there is no diety except God,..
And pray, you’ll go to Heaven.”

Ah, how simple, no struggle in this,
Just a word, and simple act.
Thereafter I’m absorbed in this world again,
With my ‘assured’ place in Paradise intact.

But this was not to be my fate
For ALLAH chose to guide my heart.
I learnt of a man who struggled so hard
When his mission was from the start.

The story of someone who had morals,
Spoke gently, kindness he knew.
Never fearing to say what’s right,
His conviction in ISLAM was true.

The touch of his hand was as soft as silk
To comfort a crying child.
To mend his clothes, or do the chores,
Never complaining, he always smiled.

His smell was always of musk,
And cleanliness he kept at his best.
Stark contrast with the heroes of today,
Who stink of beer and sweat.

He held the hands of his companions.
Unashamed to play with many children.
So modest, so humble, a perfect example,
That strangers could not recognise him.

His eyes slept little for nights were precious,
His prayers he treasured much greater.
To pray in the depths of night,
Seeking forgiveness, and nearness to his Creator.

He broke his tooth for me at Uhud,
And bled for me at Ta’if.
He cried for me, tears of concern,
Just so I could have this belief.

His enemies admired his teachings,
Uniting every religion, every clan.
Till ISLAM came to every corner of the world,
O, but indeed he was only a man.

To own a house, or build his wealth
Was not his main priority.
To establish ISLAM was more essential,
To bring us under a Higher Authority.

Don’t you want him to plea for your case,
When before ALLAH-The Judge-you stand?
Don’t you wish to be around his fountain,
A burning desire to drink from his hand?

So I love him more than all creation,
My Leader, my Humble Prophet.
Muhammad (SAWS) was a mercy to all mankind,
And to me, he is MY BELOVED !


To all Malaysian.. happy independence day

Am I a collaborator?

I only worked two days for the week of 30 April to 4th May.. On the 1st May my son came back with not so good news that our toyota's air conditioner has gone kaput..

2nd May saw me taking unrecorded leave ( by virtue that I worked during the weekend 21 and 22 of April ;)). I went to my foreman Ah Lai (of Ampang under the big tree fame) who recommended a friend about 200 meters from his workshop..

The compressor was found to be broken ( due to one filter that has been overlooked.. Thus putting much strain on the compressor) and need to be replaced.. Chemical cleaning agent has to be used to clean the whole system so as to avoid further complication apart from replacing all air conditioner filters.. That made me poorer by some RM 2400..

We have Friday, 4th May as an off day, a replacement for Wesak day that falls on Saturday. I went to service my mini .. and the whole thing cost me some RM 450.. I was told that the car airconditioner need to be serviced at least once every two years.. I have the feeling that the mini parts might be a lil bit more expensive than that of the toyota, hence the reason for back to back visit to car air conditioner workshop.

I took a bus trip home that Friday as there were at least nine cars waiting to be serviced at the workshop and the work on the mini was expected to be completed at 5 p.m. that day.

picture from lfslessonsasia.com

I gave the fare of one ringgit requested by the bus conductor, he took it off my hand without giving me the ticket.. I thought of doing some light reading on the bus but the incident of not getting the ticket was too heavy on my mind.. Am I considered a collaborator to a bad deed?.. due to the fact that I know the conductor is taking my money for his own good rather than giving the money to the bus company.. How do I handle it without creating a commotion?.. The conductor can always say that I did not pay up and get me kicked off the bus.

So I called the conductor and asked him to give me a ticket for my journey and I will gladly give him a ringgit for him to keep.. He was not very pleased but he gave me the ticket without taking the extra ringgit offered.

Alhamdulillah..

Have a nice day.

Save Money

I was surprised when I was informed by my friend about his exploit today.. He wanted to buy a book and went online to check on local bookstores.. one rather very famous bookstore in KL do not have it and will order for him. As you can see below he will receive the book 3 weeks from the day he place his order and the book will cost him RM 501.23.


He then thought maybe he should check on Amazon.com site to see whether he can order the same book and get it cheaper. Below is the result oh his effort.

Putting USD 10 for postage and the total cost would be USD 82.01, conversion to Malaysian Ringgit using current rate would made him some RM 250.00 poorer should he proceed to order from Amazon.com and the book will reach him in 3 weeks.

You can see that you can order two books from amazon.com for the price of one book should you get it from local bookstore.. Hopefully my bloggers friends can find this entry useful for their future purchases.

At first, I wanted to post the above two pictures and called this entry as Wordless Wednesday.. but then I guess I am not that fashionable.. being a country bumpkin.. so they say ;)

Have a good day.

Light-hearted day

I felt light-hearted this morning.. partly due to the fact that my better half has served ketupat pulut goreng (fried "glutinous rice in palas leaf") and serunding daging (meat floss bought from our Puan Zafar in Kerteh) for breakfast this morning. She has been toiling with daun palas since yesterday afternoon preparing our family favourite Trengganu fare.. ah never mind the cholesterol ;)

By the way, I heard from my Taiping friend today.. that Perak also have the same ketupat..

On reaching the office, I noticed a good friend (that I missed his presence :)) has came back to office after 3 weeks leave. We have a briefing on the drilling progress, then came the good news, our hydrocarbon gas sample has been analyzed and the corrosive carbon dioxide content found to be well below 10% . We expect that ample volume of gas that can be produced.. augurs well for our country’s electricity suppliers ;).
You probably have read that some of them have threaten to increase the electricity cost/tariff if we cannot meet their gas demand ;((

We will conduct some test soon and hopefully we can call it a day in 10 days time.

Like Ninot said.. It is time to smell the flowers.

P.s. The highlight of the day ..I contacted Ninot and we have a good chat .. and chatting with fellow blogger always make me more than light-hearted ;)

Have a good weekend..

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..

All you need to know about oils

Oops! I am not about to bore you with those hydrocarbons. Although I am in oil and gas industry but I am not going to talk about that oil.. I have received an interesting article on oils that are closer to us - our stomachs.

Gone are the days when all you had to do was choose between sunflower or olive oil. Now it seems you can buy the oil from just about every plant, nut or seed out there but should we be adding them to our stir fries or drizzling them over our salads?

Find out at a glance guide to 9 of the best.

Best oils to cook with

Top rated - rapeseed oil

Rapeseed oil contains omegas 3, 6 and 9, essential fatty acids so it's great for heart health, brain health and joint mobility. It is also a rich, natural source of vitamin E — essential for healthy skin and a strong immune system. High in mono-unsaturated fats and with less than half the cholesterol raising, saturated fats of olive oil.. it is one of the few natural oils that can be heated to deep-frying temperature without its antioxidants, character, colour and flavour spoiling. In short, one of the best oils there is and what's more — some of the very best rapeseed oils are produced right here (the clue) in Britain.

Best all rounder - olive oil

Olive oil is a great source of heart protecting, cholesterol lowering, monounsaturated fat as well as free radical fighting antioxidants known to protect the body against premature aging and cancer. It can be used to cook with up to temperatures of 180 degrees and is mild enough in flavour to be used with most dishes. However, extra virgin olive oil (the oil that is extracted from the first press) is not quite so stable so it is best used cold.

Best for tight budgets - sunflower oil

Cheap, easy to find and a great source of the free radical fighting antioxidant - vitamin E. In fact, just 1-2 tablespoons contains all your daily requirement. It is also a good source of cholesterol reducing omega 6 polyunsaturates. However, it contains very few omega 3's so if you use sunflower oil regularly, you need to be sure you're getting enough omega 3s in your diet from other sources to balance things out. A chemically stable oil, it is suitable for deep-frying but don't be tempted to re-use the oil more than a couple of times as re-heating it to high temperatures can result in the formation of trans fatty acids known to raise cholesterol and increase the incidence of some cancers.

Best for high temperatures - groundnut oil

Ground nut oil — sometimes called peanut oil has a high smoking point making it ideal roasting, making Yorkshire puddings or frying. It is an excellent all-rounder and has a very neutral, light flavour perfect for use in oriental dishes that often combine quite delicate flavours. Do be careful though as this oil is made from peanuts so anyone with a nut allergy should steer well clear.

Best for adding flavour - sesame oil

Another great source of cholesterol lowering omega 6 fatty acids light sesame oil can be used for deep frying and the dark or heavy sesame oil (made from roasted sesame seeds) adds a delicious rich flavour to stir-fried meats or vegetables. Used a lot in oriental dishes it's rich flavour works as a seasoning in itself.

Best for rice dishes - avocado oil

Avocado oil has very little if any omega three fatty acids but it is a great source of monounsaturated fats and is also rich in skin enhancing vitamin E. It has a slightly nutty flavour that is delicious drizzled over salads or rice dishes. However, it can also be used to cook with as it has a higher smoking point than many oils so it's fine to grill, sauté or stir-fry with it.

Best oils for dressings, drizzling and dipping

Top rated - walnut oil

A delicious, aromatic, nutty oil that is a good source of omega three fatty acids and tastes delicious (used as a dip along side a good balsamic vinegar) as a dip for freshly torn, warm breads for warm breads. It's also great for drizzling over salads and risottos and goes really well with white fish, meat, mozzarella and goat's cheese. However, this oil tends to become bitter when cooked and can go off very quickly so buy in small quantities and store in a cool, dark place.

Best for vegetarians - linseed oil

Linseed oil is a much richer source of omega 3 than any other oil and a great choice for strict vegetarians who need to get omega 3 fatty acids solely from plant foods. Omega three fatty acids help to lower the risk of heart disease and stroke, increase concentration (particularly in children), alleviate the symptoms of inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and they may also help prevent Alzheimer's. Linseed oil however, is not suitable for cooking as heat can make it taste bitter and it can quickly become rancid if it is not stored correctly (in a cool dark place). Studies show that if this happens the benefits are negated and possibly reversed.

Best for drizzling - hazelnut oil

Hazelnut oil is a great source of Vitamin E which helps to maintain a heart health, good skin, a healthy reproductive system and a strong immune system. Fairly pricey and not so readily available as many other oils it is worth seeking out either from your local health food store or on line to drizzle over salads, rice dishes or fresh pasta adding a delicious, subtle, nutty flavour.

This post was uploaded from an article from my e-mail group posted by Zubia Kiran.

Now you may wonder why our own beloved coconut oil and our palm oil are not listed here.. your guess is as good as mine.. this article was probably written by those who do not appreciate our palm oils... Yes! it is from Britain ;)

It is not that I am not patriotic or something .. I am too busy trying to find the other oil.

Have a good day.

On Friday Prayer

Picture is courtesy of penacindaipelangi.blogspot.com

I was at Masjid Pakistan, in Chow Kit area, KL, one Friday umpteen years ago.. there was an Ustaz who gave tazkirah in Urdu and a man translating all that was said to Bahasa Malaysia and I still remembered clearly the story that was being translated.

Moses (pbuh), in his tour to propagate Allah's religion, came to a group of people praying, remembering Allah and reading Torah etceteras.

He asked someone in the group “who are you ?”

“Oh..we are people of Moses” came the reply.

“How long have you all been here doing these good deeds in this place”

“We have been here for about seventy years”

Moses was very pleased to know those people has been following his teaching and has been performing good deeds for seventy years.

Then Allah (In His mercy) sent down an angel to tell Moses that there will be an Ummah, they will perform one deed and will be rewarded equivalent to what his people performed in seventy years.

Moses asked the angle who is the Ummah and what is the deed that is so amply rewarded.

On hearing that the Ummah is people (follower)of Muhammad and that one deed is Friday Prayer.. Moses asks the Angle to seek Allah’s permission to allow him to be a follower of Muhammad for 2 Fridays (8 days ?!).

The Angle came back and informed Moses that his wish/request was not granted as he was supposed to lead a group of people himself and Moses will be the first among his people to enter the Paradise…

Allah knows best (Wallahua'lam).

I relate this story to a friend who seldom go for Friday prayer.

His immediate respond was“Oh good !.. Now all I have to do .. is to go to Friday prayer twice.. then I will be receiving a reward equivalent to 140 years …”

The Trengganu phrase “Doh nok wat guane? (what can I/we do ?) ” immediately came to my mind then.

Have a good day.

Ustazs stories

The picture above is from flickr.

At last after so many presentations, many “burn a midnight oil” nights.. yours truly get to start that much–awaited operation.. drilling two wells (back to back) to determine the presence of oil leg.. hoping to turn two proven gas fields to two proven oil fields, InsyaALLAH… I am so excited about all this that I am going to show you a part of the digital copy of the approval that allow the drilling rig at the location..

Psst ..in all my 30+years in this business.. this is the first time I see this kind of approval ;)

I have not been updating this blog since first Ramadhan and thought I would like to share with readers some of the not so good stories gathered at the surau tazkirahs.. I am not putting these stories to ridicule anybody, they are recorded here just to remind us the condition of some of our brothers-in-religion.

The ustaz(teacher) was going to a mosque about 40 km from his place in Penang. He started at 6 p.m. hoping to reach the mosque in time for Maghrib (sunset) prayer. Somehow there was a massive jam on the Penang Bridge - a car has turned turtle and he only managed to reach the mainland at about half past 7 p.m. After travelling for sometime, he told his friend that they have to stop for Maghrib prayer. They finally stopped at a small madrasah, a small building used by Muslim to conduct their Jumaah (congregational) prayer.

There seemed to be some confusion as there were men who have completed their prayer, some who were in the middle of doing it and others who are talking (rather unhappily) about it. Somebody in the group came to ustaz and said “you are wearing a headgear that is rather tall.. may be you can solve our problem” The ustaz said he do not know much.. but the man said “you see.. our imam (the one who lead congregational prayer) stopped his prayer in the middle of sujud (prostration) and we waited and waited until somebody raised his head from sujud and quipped - the imam has ran away!”. They stopped their prayer and searched for the imam and found him to be sitting on madrasah’s verandah smoking his cigarette.

The man (who is supposed to be imam) said “I told you all that I do not know how to lead the prayer (be an imam).. I could not control my fart in the middle of my sujud.. so after I farted.. I did not know what to do.. so I jumped out of the window that was two feet away from the imam's place of prayer and sit on the verandah to cool off..

The ustaz told the crowd that they have no other choice other than to do the congregational prayer again.

This story was related by Chairman of surau committee after a very futile effort of getting ustaz to give a tazkirah at our surau.

Then there was a young man who has fallen for imam’s beautiful daughter.. he came to the mosque for most of prayers wearing nice dress with a piece of cloth (normally used as turban) on his shoulder. After months of befriending the imam, he managed to get the permission to bring his parent to ask for the hand of the imam’s daughter. A marriage quickly followed and on one fine day, the imam told all his children and spouses that they will perform congregational Maghrib prayer at the Imam’s house that day.

The young man brought out his newly married wife to go somewhere and managed to come back to the imam’s house some 10 minute after the Azan (call) for Maghrib prayer.. when he reached the house he noticed that the Imam was leading the prayer.. he joined them and stopped when the Imam finished his prayer..

Somehow his brother in law noticed that the young man prayed only two rakaah instead of the obligatory three rakaah for maghrib prayer.. this fact was relayed to his wife and the wife went to their room to tell her husband..

On hearing that his in-laws were concerned about his two rakaat maghrib prayer .. the young man said “ all of you are the same.. so petty.. I performed a prayer with one rakaat less and you all were making so much noise” ;(

Have a nice search for the night of power.. Lailatul Qadr and Selamat berpuasa to all who fast.

Have a nice weekend to all.

Dire Straits Malaysian football!?

We were talking football yesterday morning, Malaysian Football. Just when there was some sign of restoration of country’s football pride, we are given a rude shock.. we drew 1-1 Thursday night but lost to our neighbour on 6-4 aggregate…

There were talks about players being pampered too much, spoiled yesteryear Malaysian badminton heroes were quoted as obvious examples and sterling heroes such as Wong Peng Soon, Tan Aik Huang, Chin Aun, Santokh Singh, Arumugam, SuperMokh, Ghani Minhat were equally mentioned.. Then I recounted several examples of Malaysian heroes that were not pampered that did not make good ;(

IMHO, player’s success in his life as player and “life after the limelight’ is up to the player himself/herself, his/her physical and emotional upbringings/make-ups . Those around him/her would also play a part to his/her success/failure.

Talk then moved to yesteryears when Japanese and South Korean footballs were in the same league as Malaysia. They have enough money and good vision to bring in good players to their leagues to improve their lots. Malaysian league also saw football imports albeit cheaper imports for few years only to lose them for some reasons best not to be discussed here.

Then discussion moved to management.. politicians, VIP etcetera and quickly diverted to serious topic on “Rise up for Rummenigge’s revolution” written by Bob Holmes in “the Sun”dated June 29, the article concludes

“Something has been radically wrong with the way football has been run for decades and it is surely good news that something may at long last be done about it. As a fan of the underdog, this column is uneasy about the big boys running the show but the Blatters and Platinis have quite frankly left no alternative to revolution. As they used to say beside the guillotine: “Off with their heads!”.

Malaysian football may need such a revolution as far as FAM is concerned but I am not very keen to delve too deep in football politics.. I quickly switched topic and made the following suggestion to improve Malaysian football:-

“Now that we have few football clubs in England (Today’s (30 June 2011) Star reported TS Tony Fernandes, AirAsia CEO, has been linked with a 100 million Sterling Pound move to buy EPL new boys Queens Park Rangers ) that is partly own by Malaysian maybe The Malaysian part-owner can be kind and generous enough to recruit our good football players to be trained there”.

“Now listen, you have to have some level of football standard to be playing with them ” came a very curt and sharp reply.

It was then yours truly make this observation (relating our Oil and Gas(O&G) experience with our current football predicament)

“When Petronas was formed in 1974, nobody in O&G fraternity gave 2 hoots about Petronas staff’s technical ability.. Our forefathers were smart enough to put in the Petroleum Sharing Contract agreement clauses that allow PETRONAS technical staff to be trained in PS Contractors office and operation worksites. It may take a few years but now we can see out technical staff being pinched/sought out by most O&G companies. Our technical personnel are so highly sought that there are few Middle Eastern O&G companies that conduct open interviews twice a year for a few days at a time”".

The direction for Malaysian football can take a similar route.. the Malaysian part owner of those EPL clubs can lend a helping hand to steer Malaysian football in a better direction.

P.s.
Should post this yesterday.. I was hauled up to join the shopping chaos in Sogo yesterday evening, tonight have to go again to put finishing touch to Sogo shopping.. another one of my not so many Ramadhan preparation.. to complete all the baju Raya shopping before the Ramadhan. ;))) Lo and behold Sunday morning and early afternoon saw me at Sogo changing shirts that were a bit too tight and fulfilling new shopping requirement from my daughter and our helper...Arghhhhhhhh!

Have a good day and productive month of Ramadhan

Slanderous joke

Al Quran states "And why did you not, when you heard it, say "It is not right of us to speak of this: Glory to God, this is a most serious slander". (24:16)

The Prophet said:"If the Lord should protect a man from the mischief of two things, he shall enter Paradise: firstly, from that which is between his two jaws [i.e. his tongue], and secondly, from that which is between his two loins."

The Prophet said: “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last day, let him either speak good or keep silent.”

The picture(a painting) is from Google entitled "Slander Detail by Botticelli"

I am blessed with the bibik of my SIL who came to my house yesterday. She has been upset the whole of yesterday and was more than RM100 poorer for it and not to mention the fact that she nearly lost her husband as well.
Do not ask me how (there is a high probability bibik may have dialled wrongly) but for the past 10 days, most of the time she dialled her husband’s hand-phone number there was a lady answering the phone at the other end. When bibik asked why was she answering the phone of bibik‘s husband.. the lady nonchalantly told bibik that “he had been staying at her place for weeks”.
I do not get the exact detail of what ensued .. I gathered that bibik was informed that the lady is eighteen and the man (bibik’s husband?) is her husband as well and she gave her home address in Puchong, which coincidently the place where bibik’s husband is currently working.
That’s it.. bibik borrowed some RM200 from my SIL called her husband (somehow he was at the end of the line that time) told him that she is going to “ganyang” (go and destroy) the lady at that Puchong address. The husband frantically enlisted the help of his cousin and reached the house some 30 minutes before bibik reached the house in a taxi.
Before entering the house, Bibik in no uncertain term has issued her ultimatum.. if what that lady said is true.. bibik’s husband has to leave bibik immediately. On giving salam and entering the house bibik was in for a surprise, the lady in question is about eighty and has an equally old husband at her side.. When Bibik asked her why did she said bibik’s husband has been sleeping there.. the lady apologised and said she was only joking, bibik husband has never been to the house etcetera.. ;((
Again I do not get the full detail, but bibik stormed out of the house after a while and left her husband and his cousin in a hurry. She seek refuge in my house to avoid her husband as her husband is familiar with my SIL and he has been reluctant to visit her at my home..
The lady might be irritated to receive so many unwanted calls from bibik but to lead her to think that bibik’s husband is also her husband and that he has been sleeping at her place for weeks is a rather irresponsible action and slanderous.. Non?!

Have a good Sunday and week ahead

It is not fair

Those were the words she said..

I told her that since she did not fast for the whole month, last Ramadhan.. she need to "qadha” those days that she did not fast.
"No, I wanted to but I cannot" she said.
Then she repeated those words and asked me to accompany her in her fast..
That was my 15 years old daughter talking to me on her first time “qadha puasa” and that was how I got started in my preparation for Ramadan.. on fasting issue at least ;).

I remembered I have met a good friend in Kerteh (when I was there for the whole of 2005), we compared note on our development in Taddarus. We sort of compete with each other then.. I accomplished a record of sort for myself and to-date I have yet to be anywhere near that record any Ramadhan since ;((

Picture is from Mr Google

Most of you would not be too surprised with our children’s sense of fairness.
I would not be surprised if most of youngsters think differently on that Bersih issue.
Now that Titiwangsa has lost its MP, it would be interesting to find out the effect of our Prime Minister visit to Vatican and the effect of recent Bersih issue.

I was searching an image for the title when I came across the song of same title sung by Dinah Washington (somebody believed in 1950) here
If that was not too agreeable you can try Billy Eckstine

I can sure write a lot more on recent happening but I would rather heed to what Syeikh Mohammad Rashid Redha have said on Khilafiah
" We work together on things we have agreed upon, and mutually walk away from things that we differ."

IMHO, political topics are not easy for a group of people to agree upon..

Have a nice day.

Notes from Oilfinder

Today I feel I want to share little information that I find interesting in my career as petroleum geoscientist or a petroleum geophysicist as we say it in those early days.

As posted in the last entry, 1st July marked my second 2 year contract terms with PETRONAS Carigali Sendirian Berhad (PCSB), the petroleum exploration arm of PETRONAS. Alhamdulillah.

When I first joined Petronas on 1st October 1979, I was told that our Nation’s Petroleum reserve can last another 15 years with the then production of about 260,000 barrel of oil per day.

When I was supposed to retire on 15th May 2009, I was told that our Nation’s Petroleum reserve can last another 17 years with the then production of more than 500,000 barrel of oil per day (after we have reached the highest oil production of more than 650,000 barrel of oil per day).

Now at the start of my second 2 year contract, I was told that our Nation’s Petroleum reserve can last another 17 years with the then production of about 500,000 barrel of oil per day. Our petroleum exploration effort has seen some relentless effort to increase our petroleum reserve.

Successful in finding oil in the geological basement (Anding Utara well -oil from metamorphosed reservoir rock) in 2004, the nation have yet to see development and production in this unfamiliar reservoir type. With an area exceeding 250 square kilometer and a possible column of some 500m, basement reservoirs hold a large possible potential to be exploited.

Anding Utara-1 sidetrack-1 well

Oil from Anding Utara-1 sidetrack-1 well

Success in finding down-dip oil accumulation in the field declared to be gas field, results in several marginal gas fields being acquired and evaluated in our search to satisfy the nation's thirst for the black gold.

We can not say for sure that the our nation’s petroleum reserve can last another 15 years in year 2024 when PETRONAS will be celebrating its 50 years formation, but looking at the historical data and the determination of our young geotechnical scientists and engineers, there is great hope (my 2 sen opinion) that we will achieve that, InsyaAllah.

With that in mind, it is my pervent hope that parents of bright students do not look at Oil and Gas industry as a sunset industry and stop them from trying to join the industry. Our Nation’s geotechnical scientists and engineers have been pinched by other industry players (mostly in Middle East)that could not find enough personnel to get the industry moving at the level required. Thus we need a good number of qualified geo-personnel to get Malaysian petroleum industry moving at a good pace.

Here is hoping that this small input can be useful to some of my kind readers.

The raw oil shown above is a very different oil from the normal raw oil found in most wells as can be seen below.

Basement Oil from 2 wells AU-1 and AUB-1

Microwave- Why did the Russians Ban an Appliance Found in 90% of American Homes?

Today marked my second 2 year contract with PCSB... Alhamdulillah

This entry is in response to one of the comment on my last posting. I only download a part of a rather long article that can be read here (only for those with time to spare). If you do not have time to read the full entry here and just like to browse through you can read the sentences in bold and in red fonts.

If you also prefer to read something similar in Bahasa you can read it here.

Whatever you do please note that numerous researches on the subjects has been conducted and their conclusion can not be all wrong.. Happy reading /browsing!!

Convenience Comes at Significant Toxic Threat to You and Your Family
However, according to Powerwatch, a non-profit independent organization with a central role in the microwave radiation debate:
“Even when the microwave oven is working correctly, the microwave levels within the kitchen are likely to be significantly higher than those from any nearby cellular phone base-stations. Remember also that microwaves will travel through walls if the microwave oven is against an inside wall.”
New Study Confirms Microwaves Affect Your Heart
Dr. Magda Havas of Trent University says:
“This is the first study that documents immediate and dramatic changes in both heart rate and heart rate variability caused by an approved device that generates microwaves at levels well below (0.3 percent) federal guidelines in both Canada and the United States.”
No longer can skeptics claim that microwaves produce no immediate biological effects at ordinary household levels!

Microwaving Also Zaps the Nutrients Right Out of Your Food
The handful of studies that have been done generally agree, for the most part, that microwaving food damages its nutritional value. Your microwave turns your beautiful, organic veggies, for which you’ve paid such a premium in money or labor, into “dead” food that can cause disease!

How Your Microwave Actually Heats Your Food
Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic radiation—waves of electrical and magnetic energy moving together through space. EM radiation ranges from very high energy (gamma rays and x-rays) on one end of the spectrum to very low energy (radio waves) on the other end of the spectrum.
Microwaves are on the low energy end of the spectrum, second only to radio waves. They have a wavelength of about 4.8 inches—about the width of your head.
Microwaves are generated by something called a magnetron (a term derived from the words “magnet” and “electron”), which is also what enabled airborne radar use during WWII. Hence the early name for microwave ovens: radar ranges.
A magnetron is a tube in which electrons are subjected to both magnetic and electrical fields, producing an electromagnetic field with a microwave frequency of about 2,450 megaHertz (MHz), which is 2.4 gigaHertz (GHz).
Microwaves cause dielectric heating. They bounce around the inside of your oven and are absorbed by the food you put in it. Since water molecules are bipolar, having a positive end and negative end, they rotate rapidly in the alternating electric field. The water molecules in the food vibrate violently at extremely high frequencies—like millions of times per second—creating molecular friction, which heats up the food.
If the food or object place in the microwave had no water it would not be able to have this resonance heating type effect and would remain cool. Or, as investigative journalist William Thomas calls it, “electrical whiplash.”
Structures of the water molecules are torn apart and forcefully deformed. This is different than conventional heating of food, whereby heat is transferred convectionally from the outside, inward. Microwave cooking begins within the molecules where water is present.
Contrary to popular belief, microwaved foods don’t cook “from the inside out.” When thicker foods are cooked, microwaves heat the outer layers, and the inner layers are cooked mostly by the conduction of heat from the hot outer layers, inward.
Since not all areas contain the same amount of water, the heating is uneven.
Additionally, microwaving creates new compounds that are not found in humans or in nature, called radiolytic compounds. We don’t yet know what these compounds are doing to your body.
In addition to the violent frictional heat effects, called thermic effects, there are also athermic effects, which are poorly understood because they are not as easily measured. It is these athermic effects that are suspected to be responsible for much of the deformation and degradation of cells and molecules.

As an example, microwaves are used in the field of gene altering technology to weaken cell membranes. Scientists use microwaves to actually break cells apart. Impaired cells then become easy prey for viruses, fungi and other microorganisms.8
Another word for these athermic effects is the “microwave effect,” a subject of controversy that I’ll get into a bit later.

Microwave Sickness
When your tissues are directly exposed to microwaves, the same violent deformations occur and can cause “microwave sickness.”
According to Professor Franz Adelkofer, a leading scientist in the area of biological effects of EMF fields:
"There is real evidence that hyperfrequency electromagnetic fields can have geno-toxic effects. And this damaged DNA is always the cause of cancer.
We’ve found these damaging effects on the genes at levels well below the safety limits. That’s why we think it’s urgent to base our safety limits on the biological effects, not the thermic ones.
They should be based on biology, not on physics.”

Twenty Years of Russian Research Supports Microwave Concerns
The Nazis are credited with inventing the first microwave-cooking device to provide mobile food support to their troops during their invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II. These first microwave ovens were experimental. After the war, the US War Department was assigned the task of researching the safety of microwave ovens.
But it was the Russians who really took the bull by the horns.
After the war, the Russians had retrieved some of these microwave ovens and conducted thorough research on their biological effects. Alarmed by what they learned, the Russians banned microwave ovens in 1976, later lifting the ban during Perestroika.
Twenty years of Russian research (and German studies as far back as 1942 Berlin) make a strong argument against the safety of microwave cooking.
The Powerwatch article cited above summarizes the Russian research quite well, which I will duplicate below.
· Russian investigators found that carcinogens were formed from the microwaving of nearly all foods tested.
· The microwaving of milk and grains converted some of the amino acids into carcinogenic substances.
· Microwaving prepared meats caused the formation of the cancer-causing agents d-Nitrosodienthanolamines.
· Thawing frozen fruits by microwave converted their glucoside and galactoside fractions into carcinogenic substances.
· Extremely short exposure of raw, cooked or frozen vegetables converted their plant alkaloids into carcinogens.
· Carcinogenic free radicals were formed in microwaved plants—especially root vegetables.
· Structural degradation leading to decreased food value was found to be 60 to 90 percent overall for all foods tested, with significant decreases in bioavailability of B complex vitamins, vitamins C and E, essential minerals, and lipotropics (substances that prevent abnormal accumulation of fat).
I might add that this finding is supported by the 1998 Japanese study by Watanabe about vitamin B12 in milk, cited above.

The Swiss Clinical Study: Hans Hertel
Some fairly compelling evidence supporting the destructive effects of microwaves comes from a highly cited study by a Swiss food scientist named Hans Hertel. Dr. Hertel was the first scientist to study the effects of microwaved foods on the blood and physiology of human beings.
His small study, coauthored by Dr. Bernard Blanc of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the University Institute for Biochemistry, revealed the degenerative forces produced by microwave ovens on the foods they cooked.
Dr. Hertel concluded that microwave cooking changed the nutrients in the food, and that changes took place in the blood that could cause negative health effects.
Hertel’s conclusions were that microwaving food resulted in:
· Increased cholesterol levels
· Decreased numbers of leukocytes (white blood cells), which can suggest poisoning
· Decreased numbers of red blood cells
· Production of radiolytic compounds
· Decreased hemoglobin levels, which could indicate anemia
Not surprisingly, Dr. Hertel's study was met with great resistance from those with much to lose.
A gag order against Dr. Hertel was issued by a Swiss trade organization in 1992, which was later removed in 1998. But an American journalist, Tom Valentine, published the results of Hertel’s study in Search for Health in the spring of 1992.
Hertel wrote:
“There are no atoms, molecules, or cells of any organic system able to withstand such a violent, destructive power for any period of time. This will happen even given the microwave oven’s low power range of milliwatts.”
And then there is the issue of biophotons.
Possible Microwave Effects on Your Biophotons
Biophotonics is the study, research, and applications of photons in their interactions within and on biological systems. Much of the work in the area of biophotons was done in Germany. Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt discusses biophotons in our 2008 interview.
Biophotons are the smallest physical units of light that are stored in and used by all biological organisms—including you. Vital sun energy finds its way into your cells via the food you eat, in the form of these biophotons.
Biophotons contain important bio-information and are very important to many vital processes in your body. They are partly responsible for your feeling of vitality and well-being. You gain biophotons by eating foods rich in them, such as naturally grown fresh vegetables and sun-ripened fruits, which are rich in light energy.
The more light energy a food is able to store, the more nutritious it is.
If the “microwave effect” exists (as you shall see, there is a huge amount of evidence that it does), then microwaves can potentially destroy biophotons in the same way that it alters other structures, rendering your food dead and lifeless.
It seems quite plausible that microwaves could disrupt or destroy biophotons, since they are capable of breaking apart DNA bonds!
As far as I can find, there haven’t been any studies of the direct effects of microwave radiation on biophotons, but it seems like an important angle of investigation for the future.
Long-Term Effects of Exposure to Non-Ionizing Radiation
One of the basic controversies about the effects of microwaves centers on whether or not microwaves exert some sort of force beyond heat, commonly called “microwave effect” or “athermic effect.”
It is first necessary that you understand the difference between ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation.
There are two basic forms of radiation: ionizing and non-ionizing:
1. Ionizing Radiation: Creates charged ions by displacing electrons in atoms, even without heat. Examples are radiation emitted from radioactive substances in rocks and soil, cosmic rays of the sun, and radiation from man-made technology such as x-rays machines, power stations, and nuclear reactors.
2. Non-ionizing Radiation: Can change the position of atoms but not alter their structure, composition, and properties. Examples are visible light, ultraviolet and infrared waves, waves from radio or television, cellular phones, microwaves, and electric blankets.
Despite not being able to break atoms apart, non-ionizing radiation (such as microwaves) CAN cause physical alterations.
For example, sunlight can damage your skin and eyes. Overexposure to radiation can affect tissues by causing molecular damage, DNA mutations, and other changes that can lead to cancer.
The serious concern is, with all of this radiation surrounding us from cell and cordless phones, radio towers, satellites, broadcast antennas, military and aviation radar, home electronic devices, computers and Internet, we are all part of an involuntary mass epidemiological experiment, on a scale never before seen in the history of the human race.
And the truth is that we don’t really KNOW what long term, low-level (but persistent) radiation does to us—even the non-ionizing type.

But here are some of the things we DO KNOW:
· Effects at low levels can be more noticeable than at higher levels. There is something called a “window effect,” meaning an effect occurring only at specific frequencies or power densities, but not occurring just above or below them. A number of studies demonstrate effects of microwave radiation on blood cells via this phenomenon.
· For a complete discussion of this, you can read Microwaving Our Planet, written by Arthur Firstenberg, president of the Cellular Phone Taskforce.
· Cindy Sage of Sage Associates, an environmental consulting firm, has compiled a comprehensive list of studies showing biological effects at radiofrequency exposure levels far below what would be explainable as “thermic effects” and well within the range you are commonly exposed to every day.
· Resonance intensifies biological effect. Resonance occurs when a form of radiation has a similar frequency as a body part. For example, microwave frequencies are similar to the frequencies of your brain!

Have a productive weekend.

Green Iguana

I was encouraged the other day when a fellow blogger write about billion acts of green (read here)




I have been keeping this photograph for about 3 weeks now. You can see a rubber pipe about 30 inches in length with some plastic rope attached to it (after this referred to as “the contraception”).

Pictures of puppy and iguana below are from google.





Can you imagine a puppy similar to the one in the picture having that contraception firmly tied to one of its leg. That was how I saw a very tired puppy trying to lie down under a tree that Friday afternoon. I can swear to God that I remember seeing the puppy smiling to itself as she was in the process of lying down, as if it was happy to have a breather. I saw the contraception then but was not to keen to to take it out and reduce the puppy’s misery as I was not too sure it will not bite me in the process.

I went back to MIL house and inquire about the puppy.. if any boys are hurting them. The news I got was not encouraging. There were about five to six puppies about two week old being born in the rundown warehouse in very close vicinity of my MIL house. The male dog that fathered the puppies has been hunting kampong folks' chickens to feed the puppies. Neighbor's boys were seen to do things that might have hurt those dogs.

At about six in the evening I met the eldest of the neighbor’s boy and told him “Uncle saw a small puppy that has a long water pipe tied to its leg resting under a tree.. uncle think that the puppy is dying and uncle believe the one who tied the pipe will have to answer to God in the hereafter. He asked me for the location of the tree and bolted. I saw him near that tree but somehow he missed to see the puppy and I thought maybe the puppy has gone somewhere else…

At dusk on the same day, I passed by that tree and saw a dead puppy in the same position (minus the smile) as I saw him in the afternoon . It stayed there untouched for another two days and on the fourth day I only saw spools of puppy’s hair in the vicinity. The iguanas (which are rather numerous in the nipah bush some 50 meter from the tree) must have done a good job.


Talking of iguanas.. I have a friend whose mother has some hectares of virgin land(read jungle) in Kuala Kerai. One fine day he invited his Siamese friends to camp with him there. The Siamese friends volunteered to take care of the land for him for a month since my friend’s mother was still searching for a caretaker. The Siamese friends stayed there for about 2 weeks, fearing the worst my friend went back to the land. Somehow the area stinks.. and he noticed few dead animals as he traversed the land. Seeing that nothing amiss, he called his friends to enquire the reason for abruptly leaving the land.. “There are no more iguanas and swine to be caught in the area” was the reply (read no free meat supply). The absence of Iguanas means that there are no animal to eats the dead animals... hence the rotten smell of the jungle area.

In my ~20 days a year visits to Dungun and Kuala Terengganu I have on some occasions encountered swine and their offspring running across the small bushes besides the road in early morning. The reasons seems to be as there are no more enemy (read tiger) and the Malays are not eating them.. the swine thrive very well in Terengganu.

Maybe in our effort to be green, we may want to take into consideration the existence of animals which in a way contribute to our well-being.

Have a good weekend..

Our Late Bilal..

His voice was not one of those that you would invite to grace your Karaoke session.

He was our madrasah’s bilal (muezzin)

Whose voice always reminds me of the story on Bilal bin Rabah

The famous muezzin and the Prophet’s friends.

One of the people of Madinah was not happy with Bilal Rabah’s voice..

“Not melodious and good to the ear” so it was said.

So he went and made the call for Fajr prayer(Azan) that particular day

Only to have Gabriel asking the Prophet why there isn’t any Azan that morning.

The melodious call of that man did not have the sincerity to reach Angels' hearing!.

Our bilal wakes us up in Taman Bukit Teratai every Fajr

I was blessed to hear and answer his call that particular day

When he collapsed on the floor after renewing his ablution that proceed a "sunat" prayer.

That evening saw most of us ..

Reciting Yasin and doing our tahlil

At our madrasah, for our bilal

How I missed his fajr call for prayer.

May you be blessed as Bilal bin Rabah has been blessed.. Haji Zainal.

Kueh Raya Preparation

28th to 31st August 2010 saw my house, especially the kitchen to be a center of kueh raya making activities. 2 younger sister-in-law and their families came over with all the necessary ingredients for the making of Hari raya pastries. As the house owner, we only have to provide the oven and other utensils to make things happen.


MAKING KUEH MAAMOR




ONE RAYA PASTRY ALREADY PACKED




AFTER 4 DAYS PREPARATION WITH LOTS OF PASTRIES ALREADY BEING CONSUMED




Yours truly was blessed to entertain these beautiful and loving nephews and nieces.


Selamat Hari Raya Idilfitri Maaf Zahir Batin in advance..as daylight will see us Gganu bound ..

Kalau ada jarum yang patah

jangan di simpan didalam peti

kalau ada silap dan salah

jangan disimpan di dalam hati

Have a fantastic days ahead wherever you are.. take care.

A blessed and hectic Friday

Yesterday, 6th of August 2010, marked the day when the Madrasah Tahfiz AnNuriah in Taman Muda, Ampang (it is located just behind the Puteri Park, Cheras) will be used for Jumaat weekly prayer. Early that morning, I went there to see the preparation made for this occasion. I noticed that the normal al-Quran reading and transliteration has been cancelled probably because the Ustaz (teacher) was not there. There were some testing of microphones and I also noticed that the front steps of the madrasah have yet to dry properly.

I took an annual leave yesterday, not so much because I want to celebrate the opening of the mosque.. it seems to be the duty of the eldest in the family to attend to the needs of younger siblings. My wife is the oldest of the three ladies from her family that currently reside in Lembah Kelang. Since she normally take care of buying the baju raya for the youngsters from three families, I get this 'privilege' of accompanying her. Yesterday also happen to be the start of another hari raya sale at Sogo department store.

I do not enjoy much going to the very crowded Sogo sales .. but I enjoyed the implication..

To those 7 children (all less than 8 year old) from the 2 in-law families, Cik Arif and Cik Ma (yours truly & my better half) are the one(or the two rather) who buy the baju raya (although their parents will be paying for them). Two of us are their favorite uncle and aunty.. so much so if they do not get to see or hear our voices.. they are going to pester their parents to send them to our place. More than 5 years ago, I was honored to babysit two nieces since their parents went for Umrah (little pilgrimage to Mecca) and since then the two nieces has for a few times asked their parents when are they going to Mecca again?.. When asked why?.. the answer would be.."so that we can be with Cik Arif and Cik Ma again..."

If I do not go and accompany my better half to Sogo then I will get to go to numerous other departmental stores in KL, Ampang, Keramat and sometimes in Shah Alam and Kelang as alternative to that one day.. that, I believed, is not a very attractive alternative..

Yes, Alhamdulillah, I managed to get back from Sogo to reach the Madrasah Tahfiz AnNuriah of Taman Muda in time for second Kutbah... The steps has dried up sufficiently and only half of the space available in the surau been filled by the Jemaah.

I also have an appointment to see an important person in Putra Jaya yesterday evening. I got to accompany my friend who is in agriculture business.. the one that I mentioned in my previous post.. the promoter of hydroponic fodder. This seems to be a very important meeting.. a good strong support from that important person would see a lot of hydrophonic grass/fodder machines being installed on farms. This will partly solve the problem currently faced by the livestock industry in our beloved country.

That meeting will also paved the way on my friends' company role and contribution in the MAHA 2010 – Malaysia Agriculture, Horticulture & Agrotourism Exhibition. Further support in the auctioning of livestock will help the farmers - from the need of using the expensive services of middlemen. This will also pave the way to a slightly more ambitious livestock exchange which will further enhance trading of live animals and their carcasses. All the meticulous planning to arrive at this noble destination will insyaAllah be implemented with proper support from the relevant government departments, the farmers and related agencies.

The meeting started at 5:15 p.m. that Friday, the important man has ensured my friend that he will help my friend's cause and has few loose ends to settle before our request can be fulfilled. The meeting ended at 6:00p.m Realizing that it is way past his normal office hours, I profusedly thanked him for sacrificing his personal time and his response took me by surprise.. he thanked me for my enthusiasm!. Noting my surprise, my friend told me later.. "that man knew my role in the whole thing.."

On other business front,

• the labu peram thingy is not doing too well as only fews ringgits has started to trickle in.
• my long involvement in selling ubat gingseng, as always, still provide my duit kopi..

Helping my in-law on second hand cars business, he has bought a second hand car to carry him to places of business and his mini coopers is yet to reach Port Kelang . His attempts to sell my mini cooper has so far been unsuccessful. .although he has offered a price some RM 50-70k below the market price for the full specification (with super charge - turbo? and all) mini.

• maybe using of the student AP,
• using student name as owner and
• using cash -no bank loan
• the 2 year wait for transfer of ownership

is detrimental to business healths..

Not to worry though, I can always use the mini till the 2 year period expires.. after all , all members of my family masih belum puas enjoy benda Allah tu lagi..he..he

That Friday, I was also blessed to receive a sister-in-law from Dungun, another brother-in-law from Gua Musang and his entourage and some of their off-springs in my house. To top those, I was very blessed to receive normal visit from the nephews and nieces who turned out to be very mushy mushy on receiving the nice baju rayas.. just like what my blog friend Ahmad Fahmy of PakMat experienced ... and wrote about "little mercies are made of these".