Happy 6th Anniversarry

Today marks our 6th years together-gather as husband and wife. It has been SIX wonderful years living together-gather. Teringat pulak when we decided to come out with a blog of ours. Jenuh la nak pikir nama apa nak bagi utk blog ni. In the end after a few potential names we finally decided to name it "Together-gather". Since its going to be our blog, our stories.

Anyway, lets continue where we left before. We got engaged on July 14th 2001, about 4 months after we were back from Guinea. The merisik was done while we were still in Guinea. Balik2 make sure dpt kerja dulu, then baru proceed with the next step in our relationship.

Our nikah day was on May 25th 2002 and the kenduri was held the day after. The other reception was held on June 1st 2002. On May 29th 2002, Mr hubby sat for PTD exam. Rezeki orang baru kahwin, he passed the exam. Mr hubby joined gomen service in January 2003.

September 2002 Mrs wifey got pregnant. 9 months later, Harith Arsyad was born on May 31st 2003. Tak lama dah nie besday dier... :D tau what he wishes for his birthday? A birthday in Disney and a Cars birthday cake. Selain tu, mintak birthday party at school. Amboi la, dah pandai demand... :) We'll see aper yg termampu ayah and mama tunaikan ;) At least birthday party at school dah ditunaikan.

Last year, we celebrated our 5th anniversary in Bali. Since it was our 5th anniversary, we got ourselves new wedding bands. Pergi Bali pun ber2 je, kira honeymoon la... Harith tak la dilupakan terus, we went to Bali again in November 2007 and that time bawak Harith lak. Bali is a very nice place. Semua ader, nak beach, mountain, kpg scenery, or even shopping, name it... semua ader! Mrs wifey seronok shopping je kat sana. Millionaire shopping, mmg la syok! Tapi kat US lagi la Mrs wifey kelabu mata. Nampak semua benda murah2 je. Kalau kat KLCC, keluar from Marks & Spencer 2-3 bags, kat US leh penuh satu bonet with the same amount of money spent. Opss!!! off topic plak...

Anyway, where are we gonna celebrate our anniversary this year? Let's blog about it in next entry once we are back from wherever we will be. *wink

Political Science

There's been a lot had happened to Malaysia's political arena recently. Starting from 12th General Election last March 2008 which have been a hot topic discussed at various levels, until recently few days back when the former PM denounced himself from UMNO. There's a lot of pro's and con's from the aftermath of all the events in the political arena. Well, lets not talk about the political scenario back home. I'm not an expert to address my gestures towards the political games, generally.

Anyway, one of the subject I'm currently enrolled for this trimester is NSP Issues in Research and Policy Analysis. It's basically viewing NS issues that drives domestics and foreign policies from a retrospective view of political science.

- Maxcy Hall, UNH main building where the Political Science Dept is located

The Political Science Department of UNH is among one of the highly regarded college in the States. The late Dr. Caroline Dinegar was behind the success stories of the department. Her vast experience when she serves as Foreign Affairs officer at the US State Department was remarkable. She served for two years as director of the Peace Corps in Malaysia in the mid 70's. Yes! In Malaysia after the May 13, 1969 incident. She was there assisting Malaysia to recover from the traumatic event.

What did really amazed me is what the late Dr Dinegar brought back from Malaysia, place it for display at the Department of Political Science of UNH. These 2 posters in Bahasa Melayu and Chinese was used during the 4th General Election 1974 that witnessed a 87.7% majority of Barisan Nasional with PAS as part of the alliance. To some these posters are just another political posters, but personally I was really touched by it. I can't really describe the feelings the first time I saw it. I really wished the unity spirit is still there within us Malaysian.

Deep down inside I still have faith that what ever the political scenario is in Malaysia, we are all still united as Malaysian, regardless the races, cultures or religions. That what makes us Malaysian unique from the rest of the world.

United we stand... together-gather we...

Birthday at school

This little man celebrated his birthday at school 10 days earlier. Got a memo slip few weeks ago from his teacher. Initially they would like to celebrate Harith's birthday on the 30th of May (his birthday is on 31st, tapi jatuh hari sabtu). We requested to do it earlier coz we won't be around on the 30th. So they celebrated his birthday on the 21st. Tercapai la hajat Harith nak birthday at school :D
















- memo slip










- chocolate chip cupcakes
* since org dok bertanya, yesss... cupcakes nie buat sendiri










- thank you card for his frens











- goodies for his classmates

Sudoku

Am back with Sudoku. Bought this book from Barnes & Noble. Btw, B&N kat sini senyap sunyi la. Tak riuh and penuh cam Borders. Maybe psl borders kat dlm mall kot, while B&N in its own building semata2, jauh dari other outlets. Tapi ia amat besar and luas... besttt!!!

Mula kenal Sudoku nie backed in year 2006. Time tu hampir semua budak webteam main bende nombor nie. Dok challenge saper berjaya settle paling cepat. Yg beria2 Kevin and Damien jek, siap screenshot results!!! hahaha... Rasernyer record Kevin yg pegang kot. Kevin and numbers, maner boleh dipisahkan!

Dulu main online, now main dalam buku je. Pernah gak main dlm my dopod, tapi cepat pening kepala. This is my 2nd Sudoku book. Yg 1st tak abis pun buat, tinggal kat m'sia. Skrg nie byk masa lapang, biler dah boring ngadap laptop main la dgn nombor2 nie plak.

Pre: Together-gather Happy 6th Anniversarry

We have known each other ever since our college days. That was around the year 1995, when we were both doing our Freshman and Sophomore years in a small college in Kuantan. Both of us were doing the same major. However, at that particular time, we only known the existence of each other. Meaning that, there are not even a single conversation came across us. Senang kata, time tu memang tak berkawan la. Both belongs to different groups, ada common friends tapi tak pernah berkawan.

Year 1997 economic crisis seriously has big impact on us. We were among the unlucky who didn't got the chance to further our studies in US. Sure ingat sampai biler2...

Both of us then continued our studies in PPP-UiTM. We were in the same class. That was somewhere in May 1998. We officially became a couple end of February 1999. Skip the zaman percintaan, it was more or less the same experience with other students. Pergi library, tengok wayang, makan2...

April 2000, we finished our studies and started looking for work. Our 1st employer was a solution provider company, situated in Tmn, Tun. Yup! we worked in the same company. Mrs wifey got the job and dragged mr hubby to join as well. May 2000, we were both then sent to be based in Conakry, Republic of Guinea, West Africa. 1st job, posting overseas. Tak dpt belajar ke US, pergi kerja di Africa pun jadi la... It was a greaaATTT experience. Hidup di negara yg mundur, rakyat masih ramai yg hidup miskin. We gained a lot of working experience with this company. Limited resouces, semua kena buat sendiri. From angkat kotak2, install OS/softwares, buat inventori, minutes meeting, scripting, printing, etc...

August 2000, we went for a company trip in Morocco. Tak jauh, same continent, about 5 hrs flight from Conakry. Tour, sightseeing, and shopping in Casablanca, Rabat, and Fez. Our 1st jln2 overseas.


- in front of the Royal Palace in Rabat


February 2001 was when we finally decided to seek for new experience, new job. Backed for good in Malaysia. On the way back, we made a stop in Paris. We arrived early in the morning at Charles De Gaulle Int. Airport. Together with us was a family we knew in Conakry (also leaving for good).

Together-gather we extended our journey to London. Stayed in London for 4 days. Sempat la jenjalan and covered few famous attractions in London. Sang "London bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down..." while we were on the bridge taking pictures, boat cruised along Thames river, shopped in Oxford st and Harrods, and of coz tak lupa tried the black cab, double deck bus, and subway.

Then we flew back to Paris, and stayed for another 4 days. Jenjalan lagi, pi Eiffel Tower, Louvre museum, notre dame and tak lupa shopping :D. That time, France was still using French franc, much lower currency rate compare to current Euro. We also had the chance to have our 1st Disney experience in Paris Disneyland.

March 2001, safely backed in Malaysia. Home sweet home...

to be continue...

Cross Impact Analysis

Cross-impact analysis is a method for revising estimated probabilities of future events in terms of estimated interactions among those events. A concept introduced by Theodore Jay Gordon and Olaf Helmer in 1966.


In their initial application of cross-impact principles, Gordon and Helmer developed a game for Kaiser Aluminium and Chemical Company in the mid 1960s called Future. The company produced many thousands of copies of the game and used them as promotional gifts in conjunction with its 100th anniversary. The game, which is long out of print, involved a series of cards, each depicting a single future event. The cards were given an a priori probability of occurrence, based largely on Gordon and Helmer's judgment. Then a die was rolled to determine whether or not, in the scenario that was being constructed, the event "occurred." In the game, the die was an icosahedron with numbers written on the faces to correspond to the probability that that face would be turned up. If the probability shown on the die face was equal to or greater than the event probability, it "occurred." (Gordon)

It is a common methodology or approach used in multidiscipline to understands an event by identifying the cause and consequences. It is widely applied in researches by academicians, researchers, analysts and actuarial. Basically, cross impact analysis is about probabilities. The field of study can be apply in various disciplines such business / economics, political science, applied science and even national security. Many might have the perception the toughest part is doing the calculations of the probabilities. Don't be surprise that is not entirely true. The toughest part is actually at the initial stage; understanding the problems / issues and identifying the possible events deriving from the issues. Once the issues are properly addressed and identified, calculation will comes later easily. Not saying its really easy, but it'll helps a lot when issues are all being tackled.

An interesting case study can be illustrated from this mind game.

Side note: Joey, pinjam case study... Thanks.

Favorite Characters

Harith, like other boys of his age memang ada minat towards certain cartoon/tv characters. Masa umur dia around 1 to 2 years old minat benar dengan Barney the Purple Dinosaur. Barney is really a good show for children development. It has a very interesting approach to educate children with alphabets, numbers and good manners. Harith learned a lot from Barney.




- 2 yrs old birthday cake

Dah besar sikit, Harith was introduced to Thomas and Friends. Harith becomes Thomas the Blue Engine #1 fan ever since. He owns almost every single VCD/DVD of Thomas' series. Mainan toksah cerita la. Boleh kata most of the main characters dia ada. Ada satu kedai Choo Choo Train at Great Eastern Mall, Ampang used to be our weekend escapade almost every weekend. Masuk kedai tu confirm dapat habuan. Activity books and baju Thomas pun dia ada. Even during his 3rd Birthday party, we had Thomas as the theme. Birthday cake, decorations and goodies pack for the kids are all Thomas and Friends. Sampaikan kawan-kawan yang dah memang tau minat Harith towards Thomas hadiahkan dia Thomas toys. Macam-macam ada la. Even kat States ni pun dia still minat lagi, walaupun dah slowdown.


Lepas Thomas, dia minat characters from Disney Cars pulak. Lightning McQueen and the gang. Susah juga nak cari toys ni sebab dah off-season. However, later on nasib baik la Toys r' Us tetiba keluarkan balik mainan Cars ni. Sempat la beli a few. One of Harith's cousin ada character Mack the Truck tapi beli masa Cars tengah heat la. Mana la nak carik, dah merata pi jenguk. One day kebetulan ada kat Bangsar Shopping Center, merayau la tengok kat one of the toy shop dalam tu. Kebetulan pulak ada jual Mack. Apa lagi beli terusss. Bila dah datang States ni, takde la nak bawak semua mainan dia. Tapi bila kat sini, perasan the selection was wide and the price is cheaper. Start la collect semula Cars characters ni.


Now dah nak masuk 5 years old ni dah pandai minat benda lain. Sekarang ni dia dah start suka Hotwheels cars and Ben 10. Nasib baik la benda-benda ni tak mahal kat States. Hotwheels boleh beli 99 cents je. Ben 10 characters pun affordable. Ben 10 ni kat Malaysia boleh tahan mahal gak la. Jam Ben 10 ni, which known as the Omnitrix costed around RM110, and kat sini jual around $15 je. Punya la jauh beza. Anyhow, nasib baik gak la sorang je hero buat masa ni. Tak la parah sangat...

What's Your Favourite Color?

Most people have their favorite color. Ada macam2 reasons orang bagi untuk justify favorite color masing2. Ada yang kata memang color zodiac, ada yang dibesarkan dengan color tu and ada yang simply just suka color tu. There's also some articles saying that colors represents the characteristics/personalities of an individual. Some people are obsess with their favorite colors till they dressed in their colors, decorate their house in their colors or even drive a car of their colors.

Both of us don't really have a specific color to go with. However, when it comes to home deco, it'll always comes to Green as our preference. To blend it with, a choice of earth based color cames in. For us, the concept of mixture of green and earth color makes the environment within the house feels cozy and soothing. Nak cari furnitures with such color pun senang. Even it can be blend either with modern or conservatives type of furnitures. However, not every part of the house must looks green.



Back home in Malaysia, both of us drove Red color cars. Red color cars ni senang nak maintain. Kalau kotor pun tak berapa obvious. Furthermore, red color on cars nampak elegant.







- red kembara dlm kenangan










Look at this blog, boleh agak la kot what is our preferred color. Does the theme color reflects our preferences?
Well, what's your favorite color?

Happy Earth Day

Every year on April 22nd the Americans especially the environmental activists celebrates Earth Day. Kebetulan memang musim Spring, pokok-pokok baru nak start keluar daun / bunga. Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Founded by the organizers of the first April 22 Earth Day in 1970, Earth Day Network promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide.

Earth Day is the only event celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities. More than a half billion people participate in Earth Day Network campaigns every year. Even dalam Facebook pun ader. Friends have been superpoking Earth Day, gone green with each other in Facebook :D

Hari ni masa hantar Harith ke sekolah tengok atas meja yang biasa letak notices for parents ada deretan pasu-pasu plastik yang kecik dan comel. Rupanya dalam last week, Harith and his friends at school ada projek tanam pokok. Knowing anak teruna kami ni, mana la dia nak cerita benda-benda macam ni kat mama and ayah. Rasanya sebab tu la most of the time the teachers bagi notes / notices to the parents.

This is the picture of Harith's first plant. Lets hope it'll last long enough. Knowing us, pokok-pokok yang kami cuba tanam, memanjang je tak menjadi.

Happy Earth Day to all....