Cobwebbed blog

Facebook is really killing off blogs (at least for me).

This blog of mine is full of cobwebs (metaphorically speaking).

I wonder if I should get back to blogging?

Facebook killing blogging

I have not blogged for almost eight months now. And I blame Facebook. That, and my lack of enthusiasm to blog down my thoughts. Maybe, I will start blogging again.

Maybe...

Happiness

You can buy delicious food,
but you can't buy a good appetite.

You can have many friends on Facebook,

but you can't buy true friendship.

You can buy a good mattress,

but you can't buy a good night's sleep.

You can buy a house,

but you can't buy a home.

You can have all the money in the world, 

but you can never buy true happiness.

Project management case study of sorts

Imagine this scenario.

You are asked to do a favour. You are to carry out a certain task which needs to be done in a short space of time. You are very busy with a lot of other commitments, yet you oblige to help out. You get the task done, even though you are not thoroughly happy with it because of the time constraint. Then a few weeks later, you are called up on the pretext of a discussion. No agenda for discussion was given. Neither was any other information on the said discussion. It turns out the discussion was a meeting to assess the task that you did. The task was given to a so-called external expert to evaluate and comment. The expert presented his assessment. You are told that what you did was not good enough. The meeting was then concluded without you having any say or comment.

How would you feel?

I blog, therefore I am

Alhamdulillah, my spiritual journey to the two holy cities went well. My faith grows stronger and firmer with the pilgrimage. I will jot down, insya-Allah, my experience in the two holy lands in the coming entries.

This is just a short note to say that I have been able to access my blogs again. Hopefully, I can blog at least once a week. So to my cyberfriends who have been asking where I have been all this while, fret not, I never actually went anywhere. I wasn't able to access my blogs after I returned from my haj, and ironically, I enjoyed the time off blogging. In a strange kind of way as blogging was to me a few years back, non-blogging is kind of liberating. So, to paraphrase the mechanist natural philosopher, Rene Descartes, "I blog, therefore I am."

In the meantime, I would like to take this apt opportunity to wish all my Chinese friends, Gong Xi Fa Cai. Have a great Chinese New Year celebration, and may the coming year be prosperous and full of happiness.

Hot air

I got this from an e-mail I received from Encik Ibrahim Apandi Tuan Yaacob, my former student advisor from my UK days. I have come across this story many years before, and I thought that since I got this for a second time, I would share it with everyone.

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She reduced altitude and spotted a man below. She descended a bit more and shouted, Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago but I don't know where I am."

The man below replied, "You're in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You're between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude."

"You must be an engineer," said the balloonist.

"I am", replied the man. "How did you know?"

"Well, answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I've no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help at all. If anything you've delayed my trip even more."

The man below responded, "You must be in management."

"I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?"

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you're going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise which you've no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems."

Where can I get this?

I received this picture in my e-mail. Any idea where to get one of these delicious-looking keyboards?

This amuses me

From time to time, I find something in the Internet that I find amusing. And the following is one of them...

A blogger's dilemma

I have things that I wanted to blog on. But by the time I look at the dashboard, I have run out of things to write even before I started writing.

I want to keep blogging. But every time I put my fingers on the keyboard, I realise that I don't have the words to say.

I will be back when I find the words.

So much to blog about, so little time

There are so many things that I want to blog on. Unfortunately, time constraint left me without the opportunity to finish what I started. Oft-times, I would find myself blogging about something, and later unable to finish the posting. I could only finish the posting later, and as a result, there are times I would post the entry a few days later than planned.

I guess, in this instance, it's better late than never.

Wolverine trailer - not!

Just for laughs.

Pain in the head

I have been having high fever since yesterday evening. Part of my head is throbbing. I guess that's my body protesting for some rest.

In spite of the pain, I managed to get quite a few things done today. Having said that, I do feel somewhat exhausted.

Unlike previous weekdays, I'm planning to go home early to rest. Hopefully, by the time of tomorrow's forum, my fever and migrain will recede.

Exhausted

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then my blog entry today (aside from this sentence and the title above) will be represented by the following picture:

New look

It has been a long while since I changed the look of TeropongSkop.

I hope that this new look is fresher.

Do note that I am still doing changes to the blog's layout from time to time. Some of the links have yet to be added, but will be taken care of in the not so far future, insya-Allah.

Enjoy, and as I used to say (and haven't said in quite some time), keep on coming and I'll keep on blogging.

Soldiering on

Looks like the first month of 2009 has come and gone. Time sure flies when you are occupied. I am not sure how I will cope with my workload this year. In spite of challenges (anticipated or otherwise), I will try to soldier on and give it my best.

I can only pray that I be given the strength and good health to do so.

Out of the loop

Sometimes I just feel that I am out of the loop with some of the goings-on around me. On the one hand, it is good because I can stay focused on what I am doing. On the other hand, I just sometimes feel lost. Some people say, ignorance is bliss and that the less you know, the better. But I just don't feel right about not knowing what's happening.

Oh, yes. I felt the same thing some time back.

Silver lining

One of the positive things that came out from my losing my data is that I am more organised than before.

Alhamdulillah.

Yes, indeed there is a silver lining.

Facelift

Sometimes after a while, you'd get tired of the same old things. That's why, from time to time, I'd change the way the blog looks. I'm not much of a programmer. Even if I am, I can't afford the time to do so. That's why I just use the template that Blogger provides.

So, I hope you all will find these minor changes pleasing.

Spoilt day

Just when I thought that the series of "bad luck" plaguing the office were over, another one crops up. Yesterday, I arrived at the office around 3 o'clock after giving a lecture at ILKAP in the morning. As I was nearing the office, I had already planned the many things I wanted to do when I get to the office. Unfortunately, I nearly blew my top when I found out that there was no electricity, again. This is the third time this problem has occurred. [Click here and here for the earlier occurences]. And this time, it is not a mystery. Someone forgot to pay the electricity bill.

This whole electricity problem, not surprisingly, just spoilt my otherwise good day.

Not enough hands

So many things happening at the office and university at the moment. Not to mention some personal stuff too.

It is days like these that I wish I were like Doctor Octopus.