ah ok lah

Strawberries

2009-06-28T18:07:00.003+01:00

My strawberries are really doing well. 100% organic. It initially started out with 2 plants about two years ago and now I have a whole patch.

This is my

post.

Join
Do visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Visit to Edinburgh castle

2009-06-27T21:05:00.003+01:00

Warning: Loads of pictures. May take ages to load on slow connections.

Some pics of Edinburgh castle from our last trip. A visit to Edinburgh will not be complete without a visit to the castle. It's at the Western end of the Royal Mile.

A bit overcast when we visited it. The sun came out later.

There are two statues at the castle gates. The one on the left is that of Robert the Bruce. Have you heard the story about him and the spider and "Try, try, try again". Look it up on Google. Not sure who the other statue is of.

The Argyle Battery

The Scottish Monument from the rear

Brother and sister

My son

Mons Meg, a huge cannon

Just look at the size of the cannon balls

Looking down the turret

Stained glass in St. Margaret's Chapel, the oldest building in Edinburgh castle.

The well

The cannon

Coat of arms

Scottish War Memorial

Gargoyle looking down

Another battery

Outside the castle

Panoramic view from top

Michael Jackson - The King of Pop

2009-06-26T21:42:00.005+01:00

I was sending my kids to school today and I was listening to local radio station Mercia. I wasn't paying much attention and I thought I might have misheard when I heard Andy Goulding saying that Michael had passed away.

After dropping off the kids, listening to the radio I learnt that the King of Pop has really passed away. He was just 50 years old.

I used to joke to my students that when we were kids, Michael Jackson was still black. It was true, we grew up listening to ABC, Ben and I'll be there from the Jackson 5 days. I remember break dancing during my school days to the tunes of Billie Jean, Beat it, Thriller and Bad (Yes! I am from that era). It won't be wrong to say that he was a big influence and brought happiness to a lot of people all around the World.

Rest in Peace Michael.

Dr. Mahathir's blog down

2009-06-24T02:28:00.005+01:00

Just noticed that Tun Dr. Mahathir's blog - Che Det is no longer up. For those who didn't know Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad was the fourth and longest serving Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the post for 22 years from 1981 to 2003.

AS someone who likes to keep up to date with the latest development in almost everything, Tun Dr. Mahathir started his blog in 2008 and it became hugely popular soon. He raised some really controversial issues in the blog.

I am not sure why the blog went down. Does anybody have any information?
The website mentions that www.chedet.co.cc is available.

Don't tell me he forgot to renew the domain.

First Commentator
Angel

Introducing Raja Rahawani and Precious Times

2009-06-21T01:27:00.008+01:00

A few Malaysians have settled down here in Coventry and now call it their home. One of them is Raja Rahawani. She has been here in Coventry for nearly 14 years now.

Affectionately known by the younger Malaysians here as Kak Raja, she is a really really talented lady. A fully qualified professional practitioner in holistic therapies, she offers reflexology, aromatherapy, Indian head massage, thermo auricular therapy and holistic living lifestyle.

She also works as a Mobile Therapist and offers 'Home Visits' especially for ' Post Natal clients and vulnerable clients who needed treatment in the comfort & convenience of their own home and familiar surrounding (e.g especially referral cases such as post rehabilitation MS client, post rehab stroke/ bypassed, etc). However, it's for Lady Clients Only .

In 2008, Kak Raja offered Remedial Massage, Reiki & Reflexology to Multiple Sceloris (MS) patients at the Neurology Unit (L:4), University Hospital in Walsgrave, Coventry for more than seven months. It was specially funded by a charitable organisation based in London called 'Life For 4 Living'.

If you are interested you might want to try out the taster sessions / workshops in health and beauty as well as pampering and relaxation sessions. I also learnt recently that she is a qualified perfumer and makes her own perfumes. That's so amazing.

She recently launched her website, Precious Times and I wanted to help create some buzz about her business. The premises are located at 146, Walsgrave Road, Coventry CV2 4AX.

Now for the best part. Kak Raja has agreed to give reader of my blog an Exclusive Offer (June, July and August 2009). You can choose from:

Up to 5% discount on initial treatments or
a mini holistic facial or
a taster back massage or
a hand massage.

All you have to do is mention my blog to Kak Raja.

Please refer to the Precious Times website for more information.

UUM website hacked

2009-06-18T01:08:00.006+01:00

Just went to the Universiti Utara Malaysia (Northern University of Malaysia) website to check some contact details and was shocked to see that it had been hacked, apparently by some hackers from Indonesia. They left some political messages on the screen.

This is not the first time the UUM website has been hacked and it's surprising that don't seem to have learnt the lesson. The University was one of the most innovative in Malaysia and they were quite proud of their IT services. The hype may have actually attracted hackers to target them.

Anyway, hope they get the site up and running soon.

First Commentator
Angel

Festival and blog awards

2009-06-15T11:37:00.008+01:00

The Festival of Social Sciences starts today at the University of Warwick campus. I am supposed to be the official blogger and twitterer for the festival but unfortunately my wife is still stuck in Berlin and I have to take care of my son as he doesn't have nursery today.

So I have come up with an arrangement - they send me pics and info and I post them up from here. Hope it works out.

If you are on Twitter, you can follow the festival twitter page @socscifestival

Moving on, I have recently received some blog awards:

The first one is from John Harris (Bokjae)

Another one is from good friend Nana.

Thanks a lot guys. I really appreciate it.

How to get your own unique Facebook username?

2009-06-14T10:31:00.003+01:00

If you are on Facebook you can now get your own unique username. I got my own yesterday. Previously our Facebook profile url would have lot of characters: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=751145254. Now it is http://www.facebook.com/dilipmutum.

Unfortunately the username Dilip was taken and so was Adam and I had to settle for the 'dilipmutum'.

I also got one for my wife as well as she is busy with her workshop in Berlin.

Is that a invasion of privacy? I am sure she won't mind.

Anyway, if you haven't got your own unique user name, go to the Facebook username page and see if your name is still available.

Warning :
You can't change the user name once you have chosen it. In other words, you will be stuck with it forever. So make sure there are no typos. Also is that cute, funny or obnoxious name something you might want to be associated with in a few years from now.

Think about it. Go on and get your name before someone else does (they probably have, unless it is really unique).

Gardening, blogging and Pink roses

2009-06-14T02:30:00.006+01:00

Some people like playing golf. Others would rather lie down on the couch with a cool beer and watch football on TV. Well, my favourite pastimes are gardening and blogging (and recently twittering) - not necessarily in that order. Sometimes my wife reminds me that I am doing a PhD and that I may be doing these things when it is not exactly my "pastime".

Anyway, it's a sunny Sunday here in Coventry and I am doing two of my favourite pastimes - blogging after spending some time in the garden.

I blogged about my yellow roses last week and these are my pink roses that just started flowering.

This is a Hybrid Tea rose - Doris Tysterman.

I had planted some flowers in the front of the house as well but haven not been taking care of them and as you can see, needs a fair bit of weeding.

Petunias and Begonias

This is my

post.

Join
Do visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Top Entrecard droppers for May

2009-06-09T18:34:00.002+01:00

Here are the top Entrecard droppers on my blog for last month.

Yellow roses

2009-06-07T15:54:00.005+01:00

I have only three rose plants but they are doing really well. I expect to have all three bushes blooming by next week.

The yellow roses have a slight pinkish tinge on the edges. What do you think?

Hybrid Tea Rose - Sunblest

My herbal garden is doing really great as well. Besides my mints and rosemary, I now have basil and coriander growing as well. Nothing beats fresh herbs on your dishes.

This is my

post.

Join

Do visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

First Commentator
Shaine

Google celebrates tetris

2009-06-06T19:00:00.003+01:00

Did you notice something strange with the Google logo today?

The special doodle celebrates 25 years of one of the most addictive computer games ever. Russian Alexey Pajitnov created the game in 1984 and apparently he didn't make a single ruble out of it.

Official blogger and twitterer for the Festival of Social Sciences

2009-06-05T16:03:00.003+01:00

The Faculty of Social Science here at the University of Warwick is organising the Festival of Social Sciences, which will run on the campus from the 15th (Monday) to 19th (Friday) June this year. I somehow got involved and am now the official twitterer for the festival.

Do check out the official blog to read about the festival including the preparations, information on events and view pictures, etc.

You can also follow the festival on Twitter @socscifestival.

A day at the park

2009-05-31T00:55:00.005+01:00

This was taken a while ago when my father-in-law visited us. It was really windy that day and even though it was sunny, it got a bit chilly.

It is at the Memorial Park on Kenilworth Rd, Coventry, CV3 6PT.

The eagle dance?

not easy jumping carrying a kid who weighs 16Kg.

The pictures came out quite well, especially the jump shots even though they were taken using my compact Kodak C913.

First Commentator
Yazid Idrus

Moving next door maybe

2009-05-27T15:32:00.004+01:00

After being left unoccupied for several months, the house next door was finally bought by one of our neighbours. Apparently he got a great deal as the previous owner was desperate to get rid of it. The new owner set to work almost immediately. With his team of builders and a skip in front of the house. The first few days was pure torture with the drilling, knocking and dust hanging in the air. We even had to complain to them to keep it down.

Fortunately they seem to be nearing the end of their renovation work. I was curious and went to see what they have done so far and I was amazed at the quality of work. Plus the fact that they achieved all of it in such a short time.

Even though it's the same size as our house, the rooms look bigger and really great. Not only that, they have removed the jungle of an eyesore which was their backyard with a new paved patio. They are also paving up the front of their house and created a driveway. This is bad news for us as this means loss of our extra parking space. I had wanted one for our house as well but our landlord had refused.

Our new neighbour want to put it up for rent and I was pleasantly surprised when he enquired whether we would be interested to move in. Of course I didn't promise anything but the prospect of bigger rooms, brand new fitted kitchen and nice bathrooms and of course a driveway in front is really, really attractive. I guess the deciding factor would be the question of monthly rentals. I am not sure how much they want for the house but if it's not a big jump from what we are paying now, we might actually move in next door.

First Commentator
D

Angels and Demons Coventry

2009-05-14T12:02:00.004+01:00

Nothing to do with the new movie starring Tom Hanks based on the novel by Dan Brown.

This is a sculpture on the walls of the Cathedral Church of St Michael’s at Coventry depicting the archangel Michael and Satan.

Close up

BTW, has anyone seen the movie?

First commentator:
MuzEju

Edinburgh Trip 1

2009-05-11T18:24:00.006+01:00

Of all the cities that we have visited here in the UK, I think that Edinburgh is the most beautiful. It is also the one with the most character.

We recently spent 4 days there and stayed in our favourite hotel chain - Travelodge. Our decision to stay at the Edinburgh Central at St. Mary's Street turned out to be right choice. It was right in the middle of the Royal Mile - between Edinburgh castle and Holyrood Palace. The hotel staff were really friendly and helpful and we didn't have any problems during our stay apart from the fact that the lift was out of order a couple of days. I got some exercise walking up and down the stairs.

You can see that we enjoyed the trip or otherwise I would have been ranting on about the broken down lift. I was great to get away from it all - from the stress of our research work and I didn't access the Internet even once for the whole four days. Though it did drizzle a bit now and then, over the weather was great all the while we were there.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

Trying to make sense of the map

Tattoos anyone

The Scottish Parliament

Gates to the palace

Arthur's seat

Balmoral Hotel

The Royal Mile

St. Giles and Statue of Adam Smith in the distance

St. Giles' Cathedral or the High Kirk of Edinburgh

Top Entrecard Droppers for April

2009-05-03T14:46:00.006+01:00

Thanks guys and do drop by again.

Swine Flu and Winnie the Pooh

2009-05-03T01:11:00.004+01:00

Another forwarded mail. Thought it was really funny.

On a more serious note, the Swine Flu is one in the long list of the diseases which have jumped to humans from animals - AIDs, Mad cow disease, Foot-and-mouth, Chicken flu and now Swine flu.

Apart from AIDs, apparently all the diseases are from domesticated animals reared as food. Maybe we should all go vegetarian.

First Commentator
Emila Yusof

Azaleas brightening up my garden

2009-04-19T07:00:00.004+01:00

The small garden in front of my house was looking a little dull and I found the perfect flower to brighten it up - dark pink Azaleas (Rhododendron sp.).

Bought these flowering shrubs at the green grocer near our house. I have no idea about the variety or the species of Azaleas. Don't they look lovely?

Join

Do visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

First Commentator
Susanne

In defence of Pak Lah

2009-04-14T23:08:00.005+01:00

Tun Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi stepped down as Prime Minister of Malaysia two weeks ago and people already seem to have forgotten him. I am quite disappointed that nobody seems to have anything nice to say about this man.

Nearing the end of his tenure, it seemed like almost everyone was after him. I heard a number of Malays complaining that he had weakened the position of the Malays. On the other hand, the Chinese and the Indians were unsatisfied with him as well.

I guess the problem was that when he was made the Prime Minister, Malaysians expected great - almost impossible things from him. They expected him to wipe out corruption from the country, increase transparency, improve human rights, freedom of the press, etc. etc.

The fact is that he did. The press in Malaysia has never been this freer. He also initiated several campaigns to reduce corruption including the "Saya Anti-Rasuah" campaign. Whether these were successful or not is debatable.

Almost anyone who had to deal with Government agencies will tell you that the level of service quality had improved tremendously as compared to the previous Mahathir era. Of course certain departments have a long way to go before they achieve Bersih, Cekap, Amanah dan Toleransi (Clean, Efficient, Trustworthy and Tolerant).

One of the main reasons I have a soft spot was because I once was in huge trouble and I wrote to him directly as a last resort when all my efforts to solve it were in vain. I was really amazed when he (or his secretary) actually directed the Government officials involved to solve my problem with a letter copied to me as well. All this happened within two weeks. I had actually sent letters to other officials as well but no reply till date.

So what went wrong?

People suddenly realised that they could voice out what they felt and I guess the blogosphere had a role in this. This is illustrated by the fact that a few prominent bloggers were elected to the Malaysian Parliament. It suddenly seemed like Malaysia was filled with corruption and scandals. While the fact is that these had been happening from before, only that these were just rumours that went around via word-of-mouth and rarely read and analysed by so many people - common citizens. So opening up the media might have done him a lot of harm and he couldn't put a lid on it after people had tasted the fruits of freedom of speech.

Another thing that really hurt Pak Lah was the strained relations with the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad. There are several reasons and I wouldn't want to go into it. Tun Mahathir has a lot of admirers in Malaysia and even outside (including myself) and you can imagine the impact of every word against his successor.

Most people also blame Pak Lah's son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin for pulling him down. I have not seen any proof that Khairy was ever involved in any wrong doing but I guess a lot of the older politicians were wary of his rapid rise in influence.

Last of all, I blame his PR people for failing him. They totally ignored the blogosphere as well. Pak Lah certainly had a image problem. I am sure everyone has received a forwarded email with a picture of him falling asleep at some event or the other. In the end, everyone got the impression of a PM that didn't care. I wonder why his people never did anything about this. I know of a couple of brilliant old professors who have the same problem and used to fall asleep at all the academic meetings. All the people around knew their problem but just ignored it because they were aware how brilliant they were. However, it's different in the case of a politician, more so the Prime Minister of the country. For them, image is everything.

I guess I could go on and on but I am sure there are a lot of others like me who are sad to see Pak Lah go.

First Commentator
Emila

Vist to the West Midland Safari Park

2009-04-11T00:28:00.003+01:00

Writing about the 'Great places for a day out with the family in the Midlands', I sudddenly realised that I had not blogged about our visit to the West Midland Safari Park. The park is just an hours drive from our place but we had never visited it until my wife's cousin visited us last June.

It was an amazing experience. I mean have you ever had a giraffe come to your car.

Remember to grab a packet of the special diet animal food available at the ticket stalls. Several of the animals come right up to your window and you are allowed to feed them.

Water buffaloes cooling off

Cheetah

Lions lazying around

Some face painting

We really enjoyed the Sea Lion Encounter at the Seal Island Exhibit Pool as well. Forgot to take pics.

I great day with the family and the kids really loved it. Will definitely be going there again.

Spring is here when daffodils bloom

2009-04-05T19:51:00.006+01:00

I haven't done a Green Thumb Sunday post for quite sometime because I haven't been doing any gardening at all.

Anyway, the first flowers to bloom were the narcissus. They look lovely.

Over here, the yellow daffodils flowering everywhere signal that spring has arrived.

My daughter's daffodils which she planted from bulbs also started flowering and I helped her transfer from the pot to the ground.

I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD by William Wordsworth (1804)

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
and twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
in such a jocund company:
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
what wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Join

Do visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

First Commentator
BabyPink

Timex on Zappos

2009-04-02T22:52:00.004+01:00

As you might have guessed from the title, this is a review of Timex watches on the Zappos site. Let me tell you about how I got there.

While browsing through the watches in one of the shops in the city, I came across some Timex watches and it brought back some memories. I suddenly thought of the day in school during my teenage years when one of my friends came to school with this chunky watch and he showed us how it glowed through the dial as compared to ours which had small lights from our sides - it was a Timex watch. I was crazy about gadgets back then as well and that was my objects of desire. Funnily enough I never got to own one though.

Anyway, I was thinking that I should probably get a new watch and of course I thought of Timex watches. Looking for reviews, I came across the Timex watch collection on Zappos.com. I found the customer reviews really useful and I like the fact that the site does not hide the negative reviews about the products.

I am not really looking for something "geeky" with a lot of buttons and loads of functions - just a simple looking watch. Going through the various designs and reviews, I kind of like the Timex Expedition Traditional Leather and the price is not that bad at all ($56 on the site). Unfortunately for the time being only Footwear and Bags are available for international shipment from the site. US customers will find their free shipping, 24/7 customer service and 365 day return policy really attractive. I wish we had that kind of customer service here.

First Commentator
Rani

Forwards mails, friends and heaven

2009-04-02T10:01:00.004+01:00

A friend forwarded me this nice story explaining why he forwards emails:

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.

He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.

When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.

When he was close enough, he called out, 'Excuse me, where are we?'
'This is Heaven, sir,' the man answered.

'Wow! Would you happen to have some water?' the man asked.

'Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up..' The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

'Can my friend,' gesturing toward his dog, 'come in, too?' the traveler asked..

'I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets.'

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.

After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence. As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book....

'Excuse me!' he called to the man. 'Do you have any water?'

'Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in.'

'How about my friend here?' the traveller gestured to the dog.

'There should be a bowl by the pump.'

They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it. The traveller filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog. When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.

'What do you call this place?' the traveller asked.

'This is Heaven,' he answered.

'Well, that's confusing,' the traveller said. 'The man down the road said that was Heaven, too.'

'Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's hell.'

'Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?'

'No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind.'

So. Now you see, sometimes, when we wonder why friends keep forwarding stuff to us without writing a word. Maybe this will explain it.

First Commentator
Laymen's Views