Geeks day out....

I received an sms from Amran today, for an invitation for buka puasa with Mr. Mokhtar, and why not I say. It would be great to have dinner with the old gang again. It has been a while since all the geeks meet up for a get together. And of course, these macho geeks won't possible admit that we miss each other's company. We are geeks, but we are not gay.....

Of course, smoking comes naturally among us. Besides being geeks, that's what we have in common. Though some of us don't smoke. Which is good, but they might as well did, cause all the second hand smoking makes them as good as a smoker too. As you can see in the picture, there are a few boxes around to gobble on the smokes after dinner. The itenary was, food, smoke, food, smoke, desserts and smoke again. Chit-chat and smoke again. Hmmm, what else, taking picture session and smoke, smoke, smoke....jeez, we will die early. And I don't need no crystal ball to predict this....

Some was not able to come that day. But we managed to get some good geeks to come and had good fun. Among the DHIT gang was Ami, Jeffry, Munir, Amran, Hasfa Juliana and the man of the hour, Mokhtar who organized the whole thing. Thanks dude.

Ami later had to leave early. We continued our little party at Starbucks.

I had an awesome ice-blended mocha while chatting to jeffry about my python book he wanted to borrow. "No, not python the snake but python the second most sexiest programming language." While Mokthar and Amran had a battle of wits on the chess table. Not sure what Ju was doing, but she was just being sweet as ever and mingling around. So happy she decided to join us that evening.

The day ended at close to 11 P.M when Starbucks starts to clean up and roll down their gate curtains. It was a nice day out together, for us geeks. And I hope we can meet up again really soon. Selamat Hari Raya people....and maaf zahir dan batin.

Final Lap in DHIT

"This is my final lap in DHIT, joey", uttered my former CEO and friend, En. Zul when he brought me for a nice lunch in One Utama after a meeting with Solsis. I have so much respect for the guy, and I was sad to see him go. I never understood what he meant by that emotionally, or understand what he was feeling at that moment in time. I was just glad that I don't have to be in the office and even more happy to accompany him to buy some jazz CD's and window shopping for high-end stereo system. But I could see that his mind was wandering, else-where.

Today, is my final lap in DHIT and for the last few days, I've been slowly picking up my personal belongings to bring it home. The picture attached is my last table in DHIT. As you can see, I've stacked my books to be conveniently picked up when i walk home that evening. As i gather my stuff, nostalgic memories of all my old-timer company friends who used to be here flash through my mind. Dr. Yusseri, Ami, Jeffry, Pian, Abah, Muniq, Arfa and Yukhairi....and the fun times we had covering each other in the office, playing computer games and troubleshooting hacking attempts by outsiders. Then I remembered how we brought in other members of the DHIT family. Abah and I personally wrote the test questions and tested their exams. Smart people and people I've learned to love as friends along the way. Megat, Mokhtar, Amran, Hakim, Fiza, Yati, Syirman, Apai, Arina, Ju and Aida. These are all technical people that I thought had their own skill set and potentials. Once, in DHIT, I had hoped that they would carry our Linux philosophy and learned our culture. I also thought alot about those who have done so much for us, Kak Nik, Kak Ayat, Suria, Fiza, Kak Intan, Pasita, Fairul and Ina. Then, it struck me, I'm missing them already.

Maybe, that was what En. Zul was thinking before he left. Maybe, this is what he meant by, "this is my final lap in dhit, joey". Maybe this is what he was feeling while making his last turn towards the exit lane. I can't be certain what was going through En. Zul's mind at that moment. But for me, it is a feeling of despair, a feeling you get when leaving your family for a long time, a feeling so unfamiliar which resides between happiness and sadness.

It's not leaving the job that I hate, it's the feeling of leaving your friends. I feel that a little bit of me is in everything in DHIT. The server's that I have configured, the codes, the papers, the presentations and the manuals that I have written, the chairs that I have sat, the tables that I have used and the people that I have touched. And I would definitely take time to pull myself together at my new job before I can live without a day thinking about it all.

Suddenly, En. Zul's anology of Formula 1 race track makes sense to me now, because to think of it, life is just like a racing track. You go round and round the same track for a while, making your share of friends and enemies and every racer always have to make the turn on next corner or else they will crash. But when you reach your last lap, you have to take the exit lane. Separate yourself from the other racers and then later start on a totally new race, a totally new track, with totally new racers, making monotonous rounds again, gaining some friends and enemies again, while absorbing every knowledge and experience along the way.

Sure my new job in Mimos would have a lot to offer. A permanent job, a scholarship fund for my PhD and the other medical benefits. But it will never get to buy the friends and experienced I have gotten from DHIT. And that's about the only thing, I am greatful to be apart of DHIT. Stealing En. Zul's famous words of wisdom, "This is my final lap in DHIT, fellow colleagues and friends". Thank you for your friendship.

Parking, the get rich quick scheme

Last thursday, i went to the bank to withdraw some money for the week. So I went to the local Shah Alam bank. Yes, the nice peaceful town of Shah Alam. Shah Alam has always been a homely place to live in with good people in a slight kampung(Village) setting.
This is probably the only Bank in 60KM radius where you can do real banking chores. But recently, Shah Alam turned into a City. And I guess this made Shah Alam a bit busy.

The recent changes in Shah was parking. Suddenly, everywhere we go now, we have to pay for parking. You go mamak (indian food stall) at Seksyen 9, you have to pay parking. You go Mcdonalds at Seksyen 9, you have to pay parking. I guess 50 cents an hour is not much when you know this will be used "efficiently and reliably" by MBSA(our local city council) for maintaining our lovely city.



But can someone please tell me who approved this ridiculous thing about parking right next to a bank that everybody have to go to. Its not 50 cents, its 2 dollars. The thing is, everybody needs to use the ATM machines in the Maybank building. On average, a person spends about 2 minutes taking his money and leave. I guess, this is one of those get rich scams, buy a land next to a heavy populated building, get MBSA to run summonses on road side parking and charge people extremely ridiculous $2 per entry for a 2 minute parking. I prefer the meter parking cause its fair. I guess someone was thinking about money when they approved this land to be a parking lot. This is a bad example of a civilized nation, while our gas prices are hiking, our parking is also becoming more and more ridiculous.
Fortunately, the bank opposite to Maybank is not doing the same, BCB seems to be nice and not have such ridiculous things. And conveniently, road side parking is okay over BCB's side, but not okay on the Maybank's side. I guess if people park on the road side, how is Suasa Efektif(M) Sdn.Bhd. gonna make money right. I tried to park right outside where I used to park, but less than a minute out of my car, MBSA goons are out there to summon me. I ran straight back to my car to park my car at the Shah Alam Library infront of maybank to get a parking for the price of a 2 minute walk. I just refuse to pay for something so unjustly capitalizing.