Istidraj

We all know that knowledge is nur or light and it definitely wouldn’t shine those with dark hearts, but we see some people who gamble, drink alcohol can be very successful, on the other hand we still live in the hardship. We all know that those who do the good deeds, loyal to the Almighty will be eased their path to success, but we know some people who do not perform the solat have very profitable business, on the other hand we still face the massive obstacles in our life moving us away from the sweet of success. We all also know that Islam is the truth, but we always see non-muslims are more successful and muslims are still the poor struggling to live.

Have you ever wondered about this? Why this kind of thing happens in this world? The answer is simple; istidraj.

What is istidraj? Istidraj is defined as a situation where someone is kept getting bless from Allah in terms of success, money and all sort of worldly things abundantly and continuously in his life although he is not a loyal slave of Allah, making all kind of sinful acts and never ever ask for forgiveness from Allah dragging him to be further away from the nur of islam.

Normally, those who get istidraj are those that never make islam as their way of life and never put effort to be close to Allah.

  

There are lots of examples where people get istidraj in their life such as Qarun. Do you know who is Qarun? Qarun is a very rich and wealthy person living few hundreds years ago. It is narrated that there is no one can lift up the box that contains keys to all his treasures. This shows how tremendously rich this person.

The story of Qarun can be found in Al-Quran. He is the wealthiest person during his time, all his businesses are successful and all his investments are expanding. As time goes on, he becomes richer and his wealth is growing significantly. However, when Prophet Musa comes to him to remind him that all his wealth is from Allah, then Qarun arrogantly answers, “No, these are from my intelligent”.

Look at what he has said. Qarun is obviously dragged further away from Allah, although he is getting all kind of things that most people are dreaming about. Not just that, he also insults the followers of Prophet Musa ranging from the poor and slaves.

Do you what happens to Qarun at the end? He eventually is buried deep into the Earth subsurface together with all his wealth that he has been boosting all the time. Does that what we want at the end of our life?

  

Thus, don’t ever worry when we fail after trying. Don’t give up easily and keep on trying. Our faith in Allah is the most important thing that we need to maintain and protect. If we can build strong faith in Allah, whatever comes, any type of problems we face, we definitely can get it through well. Indeed, Allah likes to test His faithful slaves. There is another interesting story that can be cogitated.

There are 2 fishermen in a village. The first fisherman is a non muslim and the other one is a loyal servant of Allah. Every time when they throw their fishing net, the non muslim fisherman will say his goddess name, on the other hand, the muslim will recite bismillah. However, when they pull their net, the non muslim fisherman get lots of fish, and the muslim fisherman almost get nothing caught on his net.

An angel sees the situation and asks Allah about it,” O’ Allah, what has happened? You gives the disbeliever more than what your loyal slave”.

Allah answer,” The disbeliever is surely will go to hell. Thus, it’s merely nothing to give him something that is valuable in this temporary world. However, my faithful slave will be given paradise, therefore, We like to test his faith”.

When we fail in doing something, doesn’t mean that we will continuously fail in our life. Keep up the good effort, InsyaAllah, Allah is the most merciful, He definitely will give something meaningful in our life. Thus, it is vital for us to have faith in our Creator.

   

As a matter of fact, when we are facing any kind of problems, we actually should be grateful since Allah is still close with us. The problems are test as a sign of love and attention from Him towards us. Do you want these temporary worldly things and in the Hereafter, you will be punished forever. Ask yourself; do you want to get istidraj? I guess we all have the answer.

Translated from a note.

Short Holidays to Taiping and Petrosains Dino Trek 2 Jusco Perda

close to nature gives some sense of peacefulness and tranquility

As I mentioned in my previous entry, I have quitted my job at Bumi last week. Before starting my new job, I decided to take few days off and went back to my beloved village, Kg Parit Mat Ali. I took night train to Parit Buntar and arrived there around 4:45 am. My parents together with my lil bro, Bai and my cousin's daughter, Widani came to pick me up at the train station.

one of my sources of happiness is from my beloved family

Honestly, I didn't have detailed plan and things to do list for my short holidays, but it turned out that my time was packed with activities. My lil sister suggested me to take them to Burmese Waterfall at Taiping on Saturday morning, few hours after arriving at village's home. It wasn't a really bad idea, so I drove my family there. Unfortunately, my dad couldn't join us due to business matter. It definitely would be fun if he's around, enjoying the cold fresh water flowing from the virgin Bkt Larut rain forest.

After the waterfall, initially we planned to go to the zoo but then it started raining, so we changed our plan. Instead of zoo, we went to the Perak Museum, the Malaysia's first museum. The museum is little bit different compared to my last visit. Now, it has bigger exhibition area, the museum authority just opened new exhibition section, showing the cultural stuffs. It's kinda interesting exhibition. We spent about 1 hour at the museum, after buying some souvenirs, we headed back home.

at the new exhibition section

another new exhibition section

interactive dinosaur exhibition

The next day, Sunday actually was a day that I planned to meet my dearest with Widani and Bai. Recently, Bai becomes interested in dinosaur, thus I thought it would be nice to take him to Petrosains Dino Trek 2 Exhibition at Jusco Perda, accompanied by me and my beloved lady. Bai and Widani had a very great time there, they really enjoyed the things in the exhibition. The best thing while we were there, colouring contest was organized by the exhibition team. Bai joined it and Widani was too shy to join. Everything was provided, my lil bro just need to colour the dinosour drawing the best he can. At the end, he was announced to be the third winner. Congrat bro, u did a good job competing with way2 smaller kids in the contest..c",)

electronically powered robotic t-rex

paying full attention to produce the best piece of colouring art

at the playland next to the Dino Trek

Fake Alien Video

Have you seen above video? The video basically shows two Russian guys who found unidentified species dead body with a skeletal huge-eyed head, which was thought as a corpse of an alien. The footage was uploaded and went viral within just few days in Youtube. However, website 7d.org.au claimed that the video was fake and I also thought it was totally gay. By the moment I watched the video, I knew it's a staged video. They were not shocked at all finding the alien body and their acting didn't seem to be natural at all.

Locals initially thought the corpse was a body of an infant and police started the investigation to identify the alleged owners of the video. After questioning them, they confessed that they have created the corpse using chicken filled with bread and even painted the corpse with alien colours. However, both of them are safe from any type of legal punishment since their act can not be considered as crime under Russian law. They might come back with another alien type video, just wait and see.c",)

First Time: Dorayaki

Have you ever heard about Japanese famous traditional pancake, well-known as dorayaki? If you are fan of doraemon anime, you definitely have seen and heard about this type of cake. I have been longing to try this cake for quite awhile myb since I was a child, at the time when doraemon was very popular. I actually was one of those kids who will sit in front of tv when the clock almost showing 7:00pm to watch my fav anime. Unfortunately, I didn't know where to get it. I thought I can just get it in Japan since that's where doraemon come from. At the end, I started to realize that I was wrong. Apparently, dorayaki is also available in Malaysia at hypermarket like Cold Storage, Tesco and Carefour.

dorayaki that i bought with peanut butter paste.

 Last week, for the first time in my life, I bought a dorayaki at Cold Storage KLCC. I thought it would cost me just for few cents, but then I have to pay RM 2:00 for a dorayaki. It's ok I guess, otherwise I'll never ever taste it. Normally, Japanese will fill the dorayaki with red beans. However, at the hypermarket, there are few type of dorayaki paste available to chose. Since I dont really like red beans, I bought the one filled with peanut butter paste. Honestly, the taste is ok, I'm not quite sure is it the original taste or just the taste of dorayaki at the hypermaket. After eating it for the first time, I'm not even tempted to taste it again. c",)

two pancake patties wrapped around the paste to make dorayaki

Last Day at Bumi

Last Friday (April 15, 2011) was my last day working at Bumi also known as (BAB). I had mixed feeling about leaving the company, part of me feeling sad and the rest feeling very happy and excited. It's not that i dislike the company, I love it. The working environment is great, people around you are very friendly, even the high level employees. The company treated me well and honestly I feel that Bumi is the perfect work place for me at some point except for a thing that i really hate; one HR senior manager. I didnt get along very well with him, myb not just me, myb my friends feel the same. Anyway, thanks Bumi for all the experiences and lessons, it was such a great honour for me working there. It definitely one of the most unforgettable memory for me although for just a very short period of time.

It's still a long journey for me in this working world. Just graduated from the uni, that doesn't mean i need to stop learning, it's a continuous process. From Bumi, I will jump into the blue company. I recently got the chance to talk to the manager, he literally advised me to prepare myself mentally and be ready to continue learning cz in the company, learning it's an ongoing process that you couldn't run away if you wanna stay. Wish myself luck with the new company. Hope everything will turns out great there. I knew it's not gonna be easy, so i need to get ready at full throttle.

Alkali Metals: Group 1 Periodic Table

Periodic table?What the heck is that? I first learned about this systematic arrangement of Earth's elements back in 2003 when I was in F4 at my secondary school. I was pretty amazed with it, never really thought about it and I was eager to learn more. In uni, I got the opportunity to explore more about this scientist's innovation. Unfortunately, after few years, I can't really remember much about it. I should be disappointed with myself.

Recently, I started working as a part time tuition teacher teaching chemistry for F4 and F5. Now, I have the chance to review back about this, whether i like or not, I have too, otherwise I would standing in front of the students rambling instead of teaching the syllabus. Among the groups in periodic table that really fascinate me is Group 1, which is also known as alkali metals group consisting of Lithium (Li), Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), Rubidium (Rb), Caesium (Cs) and Francium (Fr). These group of metals are very reactive and as we go down the group, the reactivity increases. This is due to the distance of electron valence of the elements become farther away from the nucleus causing the effective nuclear charge on the electron valence to be weaker. Because of this, it is easier for the elements down the group to release the electron valence to form stable electron configuration.

This can be seen by experiment that is shown in the above video. This actually the best part of it. Experiment what make science really fun thing to learn. When lithium is thrown to the water, it moves around the surface of the water and produces 'hiss' sound. Then, when sodium is placed on the water surface, it moves faster and melts and spreads around the water surface. "Hiss" sound also can be heard. On the other hand, for case of potassium, the movement of the element on the water surface is very rapid with 'hiss' and 'pop' sound and it burns with lilac flame. Here we can see the trend how reactivity changes as we move from the top to bottom of the group.

Above video shows the reaction of water with alkali metals until the fifth element of the group. Ever wondered what will happen when we mix water with francium, the most reactive alkali metal element in the Earth? Check out below video and you decide whether it's true or fake.c",)

Twin Baby Talk

Are you guys familiar wt twins in above pic? Have you all seen them before in youtube? Act, their video went viral with millions of people viewed them talking in their own baby twin language. That's a really adorable, cute and funny video, no wonder it received millions of views within just few days and the family of the twin was invited to Good Morning America tv morning show. If I'm not mistaken, the video was also featured in Ellen show. If you haven't seen the video, go and search it in youtube, it's worth spending few minutes watching both lovely kids talking myb about the missing sock and how to open the fridge to get some ice cream.haha.lolz.

Anyway, collegehumor.com came out with great idea translating their conversation in language that we can understand. It's so funny and i bet nobody wont expect this kids actually are so damn genius discussing about the world current situation in Libya. What a great parody. Save the world for our future generation.c",)

Check the video below.

Fav Android Apps

I am a fan of Android platform. Most people might choose iOS based gadget like ipad and iphone, but I beg to differ. I have been using Android phone for more than a year, and I'm pretty satisfied with it. I bought my beloved Nexus 1 since it was first time available at Canada. It was pre installed with Eclair. Then, Froyo was out and I updated my phone automatically with the Android 2.2. Recently, Android 2.3.3 also known as Gingerbread is available. I cant wait for the automatic update, I did it manually, pretty simple and I'm happy with the lastest version of Android in my phone although the near field com (NFC) might not be used for the next few years.haha

Anyway, below are my fav Android apps. Most of them, I have been using since the first time I got my phone. I am totally dependent on these apps. I can say that I'm lost without them, my life would be different when I couldn't these apps in my daily activities.

1. Handcent SMS
A messaging app which allows u to customize the look with themes, backgrounds n many more, more than what u can do with the stock/built in messaging app. This app gives you freedom in decorating ur type/style of sms and it actually unleash the experience/power of messaging with Android. The best thing that I like about this app, it has SMS pop up feature which SMS will be shown automatically when u receive it without having to open the app or even the inbox.

emoticons are available but need to be downloaded separately

2. Angry Birds
I'm so addicted to this game. It's a funny game with bunches cute little animals. It's not a complicated game, easy to play, even my little brother knows how to play it. Basically, u just need to kill and destroy all the pigs that hiding in their fortresses after stealing the birds' eggs. It might be easy, but strategies are needed to finish it. Because this game is so popular, the developer created another version of Angry Birds which are also available in Android Market for free. Also check out Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Seasons.

3. Advanced Task Killer
Also known as ATK. It basically a tool to kill running applications. This is an important app bcz some apps will automatically start once u turn on ur phone. If u do not kill the apps, data will be transferred without u even aware of it.

4. Droid Wallet
A great app if u want to keep track ur daily expenses and budget. It's really useful for me since I have been trying to record my daily expenses in the last few years. With this app, it makes my job easier since it's everywhere wit me. I can easily update my expenses after making any of them. Very convenient!

5. Mail [Yahoo]
I use my yahoo mail since I was in secondary school and it's the email that I register for my facebook account. So, i frequently check my yahoo mail inbox and with this app, it's available at my fingertips. Fast and easy, great app!

6. Facebook
I used to have itouch. Although I said that I'm a android fan, somehow I prefer to browse facebook using my itouch facebook app than this android version. Recently, I sold my itouch for some reasons, so this is the only facebook app that i have access to especially for uploading mobile pics. Lucky me, I'm not a hardcore user of facebook.

7. ColorNote

App that I use to write down important things such as to do lists n few info that i thought i might need later in the future. If u'r familiar with outlook, u might find this app pretty much similar to notes feature in outlook. The only thing that differentiate them is this app is in ur Android phone.

8. Engadget
I am tech savvy guy (perasan..haha), that's why I am a reader of Engadget. I usually get update about the current info tech from this website. It's a great app, providing similar reading experience although with smaller screen.

9. SportsTap
I'm not just a tech savvy guy, I'm also a sport man(perasan lg..:). This is the app that I use to get latest updates of any sports related things such football results, news and few more.

As u can see from the print screen of the app, u not only can get updates about football, u also can get updates about golf, nfl, mls n few more. But for me, I mainly use it for football purposes.

10. World News
This app I just downloaded recently after reading about it in the web. It's an awesome app. This app gives me opportunity to read magazines and newspapers from around the world on my phone in a mobile version. U even can  read harakah from this app, isn't cool?

Lamborghini Aventador: The New Beast From Italy

front view of the car, very tempting

BEHOLD the new car from the Italian supercar manufacturer, the Lamborghini Aventador. It's actually the successor of Lamborghini Murcielago, one of the most successful Lamborghini product, sold about more than 4000 with 2007 hold the record with about 276 units were sold around the globe. The new model will be available this summer at around $370 000. In comparison to the other supercars, that's pretty cheap actually for a supercar like this. It was officially launched recently at Geneva Motor Show 2011 and received very warm response from car enthusiasts for all the good reasons. 

rear engine position gives better stability while accelerating

Below are info about the car.

Name: Aventador LP700-4

Origin of the name: Inspired by a fighting bull bred by the Don Celestiono family in 1993 in town of Saragozza, Spain.  

Engine: 6.5 L V12 producing whopping 691 hp

Body: Carbon fibre (similar material used for F1 car and figther jet)

Dry Weight:1575 kg (decrease in weight due to use of carbon fibre)

Time: 2.9 s to 62mph (100kmph)

Top speed: 350 kmph

Rim: 19" front tyre and 20" rear tyre

fully electronic meter

typical Lambo wt scissor doors

Source: www.aventador.com

Rambles

One of the most nerve-wrecking things for me is giving a presentation especially in front of those superiors with expensive set of clothing, heavy chronograph watch and a pair of genuine leather shoes. I don’t know why; I just simply don’t feel good standing in front of them. It’s like I don’t get the respect that I wanted from them. I feel that they pretty much look down on me. Plus with my bad English speaking ability, it worsens the situation. It has happened couple times already.

Something need to be done, otherwise I’m not going anywhere. Whether I like it or not, giving presentation to the superiors would be one of the regular things for low-level employee like me. So, I need some kind of plan to improve it. I’m trying but there’s not much improvement. I guess I’m pretty much still at the same level like before.

Feral pigeon looking for a food, captured at Stanley Park, Vancouver.

I do realize that I have to put away the nervous feeling while presenting. However, it isn’t as simple as ABC. I still remember, in my final year at UofA, I have to take a course where I just need to give two presentations to pass it. For my presentation preparations, I made the slides as early as I can so that I can rehearse my presentations a lot of times. I even made script for each slide, what I should say from the beginning till the end of the presentation and I memorized every single words of the script. Sounds pathetic, doesn’t it? Honestly, it did help me a bit. At the end, I should be grateful, at least I passed the course and it definitely gave me some kind of valuable experience presenting technical researches.

My latest presentation at my workplace went ok, I would say. It’s better than the previous one. I received pretty similar comments from the manager whom I honestly really hate since my first day at work and caused me to just simply ignore his comments. He always thinks he’s such a funny guy. I don’t get at all what kind of shits he talks about. He probably think he makes really good jokes, but not for me and for other as well, I hope. Maybe because he’s the manager, that’s why some people laugh with him although things that come out from his mouth are not funny, like at all. Lucky me, I will never see his face ever again next month.

Whatever happens to that guy, I still have to improve my presentation skill. As time goes on, I’ll make sure there’s improvement. Little by little, at the end, I hope I can master it. I wish someday, I could stand in front of the audience, with a good body gesture and eye contact and make them enjoy listening to my presentation/talk/ speech. God’s willing.