Today's paper

What a surprise when i read the Star today, somehow i made the news. Watch the red arrow!

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/11/23/nation/5163546&sec=nation

Dukethon 2009 (E33 Highway)

I woke up very early this morning, the alarm went off at 5.15 am. The missus already woken up and that leave boboy still sleeping. After a quick shower, subuh prayer and light breakfast we were on our way to DUKE highway. Boboy was awake the entire journey from Kelana Jaya, he must be excited by our commotion this morning. We arrived at DUKE highway at around 6.30 a.m. (still dark – no sun yet) and from the look of things; we must be the early birds as not many cars arrived at the parking area around that time. I registered to run for Men Open (A) 5 km run, at first i registered Hisham bowling for this run earlier, but at last minutes he chicken out (found out later he went for Golfton@Bt.Kiara – he claimed).

Still dark sky when we arrived at 6.30 a.m.

 

More cars arrived much later.

Around 7.30 a.m. the runner are required to registered at starting point, Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor, Ministers of Energy, Water & Communication flag off the runners at 8.00 a.m. I found out later, around 2,000 runners registered for this Dukethon. I already warm up a little bit before that but the runs was extremely uncomfortable as i only can slow jog, i reserve my energy for the finish. My goal is to complete the run not to compete with other pro-runners, which we can differentiate by the singlet the wore (the amateurs like me, wore the t-shirt given by DUKE). I completed the 5 km run with the time of 30 minutes 44 seconds, too damn slow for a race or I'm getting too old this...don’t think so, age is just a number! Maybe i could better next year.

Arrived at the finish line.

Celebrating the completion of the run with boboy.

Dr. Jeong-Bae Son’s lecture

The flyer that i received stated “Postgraduate Colloquium”, but personally it’s really just a lecture. Today i attended Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jeong-Bae Son lecture on Research Design in UKM. It’s been a while, coz I've been doing my research at AEI and at home these past months. Dr. Jeong-Bae Son is from Korea but currently attach with the University of Southern Queensland in Australia.

For me it’s a refresher course, to remind me of the nitty gritty details of research process and design all over again, i need to see the small picture now and again coz I've been staring the big picture for much too long for my own good, it’s time to refresh and get back to the 1st step.

I enjoyed thoroughly the lecture, it started in the morning with the subjects of “Planning, Conducting and Reporting research”. Dr. Jeong-Bae Son gave us some useful exercise in the morning session, especially on how to formulate “Research Question(s)”, how to collect, analyse and interpret data and finally on how to write a research report. He also shared online resources and software to help us in our research, which is very useful for both Qualitative and Quantitative researchers.

The afternoon sessions was more on “Writing Academic English”, he shared with us the common mistakes that NNES (Non-native English Speaker) made in the thesis writings. The Academic English is so much different from the other English English..do you understand me Johnny English?

I wrote an email to Dr. Jeong-Bae Son for the slides presentations, if and when i do get them, I'll post it here for some of you (the interested ones).

5,000 km

I made an appointment for my 2nd service@Proton 3S Mutiara Damansara for Monday morning at 9.00 am, unfortunately on Sunday the missus received a sad call informing that one of her close relative had gone to see the maker. Innalillah..so i missed my service appointment as i only arrived in KL on Monday night. Next morning (Tuesday), i called all the major Proton service centre in Klang Valley; all are fully booked for service slots and they reminded me to book at least a day before…damn! This is like Europe, we have to make appointment for everything..we are losing our Malaysian ways..slowly.

Then i remembered to try the small but authorised Proton service shop. The nearest was at Sea Park (PJ), i called them up and I'm in luck as there were not many cars in the shop for servicing. The owner was waiting for me when i arrived at the small shop, although it is small but it’s been more than 20 years in the business. They took about 30-45 minutes to service my Exora and i was given free complimentary car wash at the end of the session. Well that’s it!! no more calling for appointment!, no more waiting for hours!, this is the shop for my Exora if i needed a minor service fix in the future.

Details and location:-

PJ Volcar Service Centre Sdn Bhd

No. 6, Jalan 21/19, Sea Park Shopping Complex, PJ.

Tel- 03.7877.6194

5,000km service cost

1. Engine oil – Petronas Syntium 800 4 Litre = RM97.00

2. Oil filter = RM12.22

3. Oil sum nut washer = RM2.52

4. Labour = FREE

5. TOTAL = RM111.74

Prepare to be amazed by Proton Exora as the cost of the maintenance is dirt cheap.