Salam Lebaran Eid Fitri buat semua…

Sy mengambil kesempatan ini untuk memohon ampun dan maaf sekiranya sepanjang nukilan di ruangan blog ‘From Troy to Shah Alam’ ini terkadang ada yang mengguris hati. Sy sekadar manusia biasa, tak lepas dari melakukan kesilapan.

Perancangan hari raya esok: Semestinya kami sekeluarga akan bersembahyang sunat Eid Fitri di Surau Taman Rakyat, Alor Setar (selepas dua tahun berhari raya di Troy, NY) . Selesai bermaafan dengan kedua mak dan abah, kami akan ke Mergong untuk berhari raya dengan keluarga Ayu. Petangnya, Insya Allah kami akan pulang ke kampung halaman di Kupang, Baling, Kedah. Berkemungkinan bermalam di sana semalam sebelum bertolak balik ke Alor Setar pada hari raya keduanya.

Hari raya ketiga? Tengah dok pikiaq nak pi serbu rumah sapa dulu. Atiqah & Aqif nak kutip duit raya, hehehe…

One short of a hatrick

Liverpool fans all around the world know how HUGE is the derby game between Liverpool and Everton. I missed out on last nite’s game since I was on my way balik kampung (by the way, kami stopped at R & R Tapah to break our fast and the scene over there was like a carnival, simply love it ) .

Anyway in all seriousness, I’ve just finished watching the game’s highlights on the Net. Sure, Toress was unlucky not to get a hatrick. But one thing that caught my attention was the way he responded to Everton’s fans “supportive chanting” . I was actually quite nervous on that one incident of him staring at the fans prior of him getting a yellow card for a tackle. Jangan la ada kungfu kick ala Cantona. Luckily he managed to control his temper and walked away from the scene.

Sabar bang, might as well channel your energy for something better. Like getting some goals for the Reds perhaps? And that was what exactly he did. At the end of the game, he managed to get a brace, just one short of a hatrick…

Zakat Fitrah @ Online

I was caught by surprised just now when I was in the middle of paying some bills on M2U before balik kampung. Do you know that beginning from this year, you can pay your zakat fitrah via online. Infact, when I was googling some info about this, I found out that you can pay them via SMS too. This is super awesome, dude! Kudos to them!

Asean Skills Competition ‘08

November tahun ini, Malaysia akan menjadi tuan rumah Asean Skills Competition yang ke 7. Bg sy, ianya merupakan satu platform yang sesuai untuk menilai tahap kemahiran peserta negara sebelum mereka layak bertanding di peringkat World Skills. Dan kalau tak silap, World Skills yang seterusnya akan diadakan di Calgary, Canada tahun depan.

Penglibatan sy di dalam pertandingan kemahiran sebelum ini banyak tertumpu kepada Malaysian Skills selaku juri hakim untuk kategori Rekabentuk Laman Web (Web Design). Bidang sy lebih kepada usability atau ease of use laman2 web yang dibina oleh para peserta. Fyi, kebanyakan dari mereka datangnya dari institut kemahiran dan politeknik di seluruh negara.

Alhamdullilah, untuk tahun ini, sy ditugaskan sebagai jurulatih @ coach kepada 2 peserta negara yang akan mewakili Malaysia di Asean Skills Competition nanti. Kali ini, sy bertanggungjawab bg memastikan mereka berdua memahami sepenuhnya konsep2 dan proses2 di dalam information architecture dan design principles.

Oh ya! Baru petang tadi sy menerima surat jemputan untuk menghadiri seisi latihan pusat di salah sebuah politeknik di utara tanah air bermula minggu selepas raya. Nampak gaya, lama jugalah kami balik kampung kali ni. Salam Aidilfitri buat semua!

Harga minyak turun sekupang…

Tadi masa balik dari kerja, sy singgah isi minyak kereta kejap. Masa baru nak isi, terdengar pengumuman khas dalam radio kata minyak turun lagi sekupang. Terus tak jadi isi. Kensel. Letak balik pump tu – nasib baik guna kad. Kalau bayar cash kat cashier, takkan nak pi minta balik, ye tak? Hilang macho cam gitu.

“Esok pagi sy mai balik na, abang”. Kawan kita yang jaga pump tu sengih jer. Huish, benda2 macam ni tak boleh buat main woo. Kalau isi RM70 esok, boleh dapat kurang lebih 1 liter lebih free. Merata boleh pi kat Shah Alam tu…

Meeting ke bang?

Rabu, September 24 ‘08

1. 11:00 – 1:00 Meeting 1
2. 2:00 – 3:00 Meeting 2
3. 3:30 – 4:30 Meeting 3

Khamis, September 25 ‘08

1. 9:00 – 1:00 Meeting 1
2. 2:00 – 4:30 Meeting 2

Jumaat, September 26 ‘08

1. 9:00 – 11:00 Meeting 1
2. 2:45 – 4:30 Meeting 2

Sabtu, September 27 ‘08 – Ahad, September 5 ‘08

1. Cuti Raya, tak ada meeting. Kalau nak ada meeting pun, mungkin teh tarik session gerai abang nasi tomato kat Stadium Darulaman .

Sekian, terima kasih…

Me as UX designer

It has been 3 months now since I’m back to work. How time flies. I’m still into web development and web apps just like before. Previously, given the options, it was web apps all the way for me rather than web site . I could just zoom in on finding the right solution without worrying too much about the aesthetics value and the overall look and feel.

This approach suits me well as it is undoubtedly the most realistically sensible route considering my technical background. Problem solving always comes first, design makeover can take a back seat. But wait! Isn’t design itself is a problem-solving process. Hmmm, something to ponder upon…

However, it all changed for the better when I pursued my studies at RPI. The education helped to to realize something big when it comes to designing for the users. In today’s information-hunger society, in order for product to stand out among others, functionality and usability must blend together. That’s a no-brainer, you may say. But to top things off, we need to create that right user experience.

Opps, no. We can’t create the user experience, instead what we can do is to create the artifacts which can help us to deliver the user experience. And to achieve that, you can’t afford to focus just on the trees. Once in a while we need to pull out and observe the forest for holistic views…

Raya mana tahun ni?

Tahun lepas kat West Haven, CT. Year before di Kedutaaan Malaysia, Washington DC. This year? Alor Setar. Yes! Yes! And the best part is since my MIL has moved to Alor Setar last January, much2 better, tak yah nak pikir lagi: nak raya kat Alor Setar ke, nak raya kat Langkawi? All roads undoubtedly lead to Alor Setar this AidilFitri …

What a lovely, lovely night for the Reds’ fans!

Phew! Finally after waiting for more that four years and nine encounters in the Premiership, we (huhu), I meant Liverpool managed to put all the miseries of becoming the second best every time the team faced the Red Devils. Frankly speaking, after horridly watching how cool Tevez converted a perfect pass from his new team mate, Berbatov early in the game, I was quietly saying to myself, “Oh no! Not again”  with my head down, shaking in disbelief…

But, as they always say, it ain’t over till the fat lady sings. It was indeed very uncharacteristic (or unfortunate if I may say) of Van Der Saar to let the equalizer went in that nature. And the winning goal by Babel will definitely put some smiles on the Reds’ fans, or at least we have something to brag about before the next returning game at the Theater of Dreams .

O, how I wished I was there at the Kop’s end to celebrate the winning with all the Scousers…

Kisah Anak Perantau (Part 3) …

1998 – 2006
Soon after I got back from UK, I began my next phase of life working with one of the construction firms at Alor Setar. I didn’t spend that much time over there because starting March 1999, I secured a post as a Quantity Surveyor with the largest technical agency overseeing the infrastructure development in Malaysia (hint2).

Thus, along with my sweet Kancil, I traveled back to the metropolitan city of Kuala Lumpur after being away from her for a few years. My destination? Keramat AU3. Tak lama tinggal kat sana, kurang lebih 4 months before I moved back to stay in Shah Alam, somewhere around Seksyen 25.

2 years later, once again I packed up my things and moved to Seksyen 6. Kenapa ye? I got married to my high-school sweetheart . Ada la lebih kurang 4 tahun, we stayed there. Mind you, we were both fit that time around. Mana taknya, since our apartment was at the 5th floor, tiap2 hari kena menapak naik tangga, huhu.

Tak leh jadi camni, kena cari rumah lain. So, when my application for a spot at Kuarters Kediaman Kakitangan Kerajaan, Jalan Duta was approved in late 2004, needless to say, 2 days after receiving the keys, terus kami masuk kuarters. BESAR okay apartment tu. Boleh main futsal. Just imagine having to move from a 2-bedroom apartment to a stupendous, gigantice, enourmous 4-bedroom apartment, rasa macam pindah masuk dalam dewan lak .

By that time around, my career has taken a major turn from good to better…