50 years of Independence

So, it's Merdeka celebration...celebrating Malaysian 50th years of Independence.. everywhere we see Jalur Gemilang.. we get to watch new ads on TV, and the best part is we could hear new creation of songs.. I tend to like this new song,' Warna Warni Malaysia...' by Datuk Siti Nurhaliza..

Bangga kan, merdekanya Malaysia tanda kejayaan.. Datuk nenek berkongsi cerita 50 tahun yang lalu.. susah payah orang Melayu khasnya, pengorbanan yang menginsafkan kita.. perpaduan semua kaum kekuatan kita, Malaysia kebanggaan semua..

Yet, a couple of days ago, I read this article on this Harian Metro, regarding Minah Rempit.. Melayu.. daringly, they ride motorbikes topless. It makes me wonder, 50 years from now, what do they have to say to their grandchildren.. Mungkinkah itu satu kebanggaan?

Data Analysis

I've just finished my class.. this morning it was about statistical data analysis. I found it very interesting and useful. Dr P explained the statistic just like telling stories.. Not only she described it well and indepth but also she used easy-to-understand examples.. she started with this statement, "God creates us uniquely, we vary from one another.. " then she explained the variants.. variable.. relation, comparison..to term like Cronbach Alpha, to regression and modeling. Seronok..
I've done research on SS before and I've used some of the terms mentioned. But I used because others have used them, always figuring out in mind why do we need to use those terms.. Today she cleared my doubts.. now I get clearer mind why and in what circumstances we should use the types..
At the end of the class she said this, "Please do not abuse statistic. Know exactly what u'r doing and the appropriate type of analysis involved.."
Lepas ni memang kita orang nak masuk kelas pasal regression.. banyak betul nak kena belajo nih

The LR

They say, " for the first 3 to 6 months, you should allocate your time for the LR search."

So, my life is about it, surf for content, read and read... but sometimes I have hard time trying to understand what is being written, what more if it is technical paper.

This is what I want to share.. I came across this book, "How to be Twice as Smart" by Scott Witt, and the author has written a topic on "Reinforcing What U Read: the SMART way". He listed out the following :

S - Subject: What was the piece about?
M- Material: What important info was presented?
A - Assertions: What if any, opinions did the writer present?
R - Reaction: What is your opinion of the piece?
T -Trademark: Name one element of the piece that makes it stand apart

I try as much as possible to apply his advice and believe it or not, it makes things simpler since u know now what to get from the papers.

Be thankful.. be thankful..

I met a friend recently and through her I learnt that one of the lecturers here had passed away.. died during her confinement period, baru lepas bersalin. She had cancer... one couldn't help thinking about the baby, sedih kan.

I have one kid. The one and only daughter. People keep on asking me, 'zang, tak nak tambah lagi ke? Takkan sorang je kot? Tak nak anak lelaki ke? Nanti ko dah tua kan ko sunyi.." dan macam-macam lagi.. kekadang tu rasa macam nak tembak diaorang pun ada, sebab geram giler kan.. how I hope people could be more sensitive and supportive.. It took me 5 years just to get pregnant.. so, when there are comments like that, I would answer them , "The most important is the QUALITY, not the QUANTITY!!! So they will Shut Up. It's true kan?

Bila teringat kisah kawan yang meninggal tu, I always say to myself, Be Thankful.. Bersyukurlah dengan apa yang Tuhan anugerahkan pada kita.

apabila lelaki mula bertindik..

Sekarang ni kelihatannya macam dah jadik satu trend kita lihat kaum lelaki yang remaja bertindik telinga dan memakai subang.. seingat sayalah, ikut apa yang diajarkan oleh ustaz masa zaman sekolah dulu, lelaki tak boleh menyerupai wanita..tak leh bertindik, tak leh pakai subang, tek leh pakai rantai emas... so, kalau pakai apa hukumnya ye?

Saya harap remaja kita tidak terikut-ikut budaya asing.. pikir dulu sebelum ikut.. kita kan ada budaya sendiri, lagi cantik dan punyai kekuatan tersendiri lagi berbanding budaya asing..

establishing contact

In one of the sessions during my IlQam's seminar for PhD candidates, I remembered this one speaker, Dr S. Dr S told us to communicate with other researchers internationally especially with those prominent researchers.. he said, do'nt worry if they do not reply.. the email has no face value, they cannot see you.. so I did just that. I read their journal papers of interest and I emailed them. And indeed, some of them replied and provided me with very useful input. This has given me some points to think on further for my research.

me and classes

As a PhD student, one can always sit in other classes of interest. I am always interested in attending 'Information Retrieval' by Prof Z. However, it goes concurrenly with my Research Methodology class, on Saturday morning. So tak leh lah sit in.

My friend sits in this 'Signal Processing' class and she says she is very thankful for being there in the class. Her research direction is in 'Speech Recognition' and she gets to experience the practical part from the tasks assigned. I got the chance to take part in her task, contributing my recorded voice.. so her part is to do the segmentation of the voice... very interesting..BTW, we share the same office and always have the chance to discuss on our findings, so I guess that's the beauty of it.. 'knowledge sharing'.

me and supervisors

I can claim that I have the best supervisors so far.. they are very helpful and experts in their own field.. the very first day we met, one of them said, "You do this...investigate this.... come up with a report.." The next meeting also the same thing.. so I have to write and write and write.. thinking back in one of the sessions during our PhD Research Methodology Seminar at IlQam, the instructor kept on reminding us to always write and write..

so existence of this blog is one of the means in sharpening my writing skills. I will write on anything that relates to myself...

A Mind Therapy

so here comes the challenge

i used to have an A4-sized book I called it 'my phd diary'. I write my notes in it when I attend my phd classes each Saturday. Now the pages from the book are gone... gone...nowhere no one knows except my 6-yr old daughter. I just can't believe it. I lost the notes.. the sad thing is, when I asked my daughter where she did put the pages, she simply said, "I forgot where i put it.." fuhh.. When I think about it, yes, she wanted to have that book because she always said. "mami, I want this book. It's mine." and I have always said to her, "I'll buy for you one next time." The truth is I never bought because she already has many notebooks. so, serve me right.

I remembered my supervisor once said to me, "During your phd, you might encounter many sorts of things...." I guess this is one thing sorted.