All Packed Up

Semua barang dah packed, masuk lori and tunggu nak ship. Few people tumpang the shipment

baru sampai

pakcik ni kuat gila. umur 55 tapi angkat barang2 berat selamba je

loading up

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bye... see u in few weeks

The Love Story

"You've got mail, the three most powerfull words"

Bila terbaca tag kawan2 pasal meaningful movies ni, tetiba teringat lak kat this one particular movie. It's a romantic comedy genre. You've Got Mail, movie gabungan Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan after Sleepless in Seattle. Kena pulak timing dgn dekat2 nak Valentine's Day ni.

It was in 1999, when this movie was shown in the cinemas during Valentine's. Even though it's V-day, tapi we were not celebrating it, becoz at that time we were just "teman tapi mesra" *wink wink. We went to KLCC for this movie. We went straight from Shah Alam with the legendary Tredia to KLCC.  

It was really a nice romantic comedy movie with both Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan being cute. The storyline mmg cukup menarik, sesuai dgn zaman2 IT. Emails, chatrooms.. It really interesting when people you met almost everyday tu sebenarnya your virtual lover/close friend online. 

On the same day gak, Raplh Lauren launch their new perfume - Romance in KLCC. Teringin sgt nak beli, tapi time tu baru lepas shopping mende lain. So hasrat dipendamkan sajalah until year 2001 when we got the opportunity to buy the perfume in Galeries Lafayette in Paris. Sampai hari ni, perfume ni still jadi our favorite and mmg we always have the stock in hand.

And Feb 14 marks the anniversary of together-gather blog...

Farewell 2008, Welcome 2009

Alhamdulillah year 2008 we were blessed with many good news. Things have been smooth sailing through out 2008 even though kami dok merantau. Dalam tahun 2008 ni jugak la, we had the chance to travel and shop around the US. Merasa gak la pegi Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando, visit Joey in Ohio, tgk Independence Day fireworks kat Chicago, Niagara Falls and few trips to DC and NYC.

The best part of 2008 is when we received the good news - mrs mama pregnancy. Semua orang excited with the long awaited news including big bro littleman.

Dlm 2008 ni jugak dpt jumpa kawan2 yg lama tak jumpa, tapi boleh lak jejak kasih kat US ni - En Yahman, Nancy and the boys, the Afdal's, Aca & Tinie, labu & vogue, senor eriq, and Joey. Meet new friends in West Haven/New Haven and surrounding, NY and DC.

Littleman pun dah start sekolah and adapting well in school. Mr ayah pun doing well so far.


Year 2008 ended with mr ayah and hiekal went to Times Square, NYC to celebrate New Year with 1 million other people there. The weather is freezing cold (around -14C) and orang punya la sesak. Not advisable utk bawak budak, and please dressed warm enough to be there. It is advisable to be there early since NYPD will block all entrance to Times Square by 4.30 pm. Cukup la pengalaman sekali ni je celebrate New Year kat Times Square dlm keadaan yg beku.


Moga 2009 ni akan dimurahkan lagi rezeki utk semua..

Farewell 2008, Welcome 2009 to all.

Snowy December

Last weekend we were hit by a massive snow storm. Start dari hari Jumaat sampai la hari Ahad. Ada break kejap around Saturday at noon. Last Friday siap sekolah tutup sebab the bad weather. The weekend before this dah ada sekali snow fall, tapi tak la byk sangat. Probably around 5 inci je. But this time, dekat satu kaki gak la. However, it was not as bad as last year.


During raya haji pun its snowing and chilly. Takde entry masa raya haji aritu sebab we had nothing happening on raya haji. Pagi2 pegi sembahyang raya kat Yale, balik dari sembahyang raya terus buat final exam. It was a busy week for mr ayah with the final exams and term papers. Mrs mama pun mmg malas nak prepare anything for raya haji. So end up, our raya haji mcm tak beraya la. Dah la last year beraya haji atas flight.

Sementara ada snow ni, sempat la mr ayah dgn littleman main snow blkg rumah. Tapi takat main snow ball fight je la. Maybe next snow fall boleh try buat snow man lak. Normally around January snow lagi byk.


Nak kata best winter ni, tak best mana pun. Kalau takat rasa winter seminggu dua ok la, tapi kalau nak harung the whole winter season, hmmmm. Dah cukup kot. This will be our last winter. Bila lagi nak rasa winter tak tau la. Maybe masa mr ayah sambung PhD nanti? Who knows... ;)

Genap setahun

Dah setahun rupanyer kami menetap di bumi Amerika ini. Nak kater kejap je maser berlalu, kadang2 terasa lambat la jugak, hehehe...

20th December 2007, bersamaan dgn Hari Raya AidilAdha... 2 keluarga en. Hamzah dan en. Zainal berkumpul di KLIA menghantar pemergian kami sekeluarga ke USA. Why we chosed to fly on the morning of Hari Raya??? The reason was, so that none of our family members have to take leave to send us to the airport ;)

The day before, we were in mrs. mama's sister's house preparing the Raya dishes. Littleman pulak tiba2 tak sihat that day, muntah2 sepanjang hari, sampai dah lembik. Later that night before balik Keramat, we decided to singgah klinik kanak2 dr. ting in puchong sbb risau tgk keadaan littleman.

Littleman kena masuk air 2 botol. Lama jugak kat situ nak tunggu air dlm botol tu habis. We went home around 1230am. Sampai Keramat, sambung last minute packing. Terus bawak turun luggages siap2. Tido around 230am, and bangun balik around 430am to get ready to go to the KLIA. 2 cars, mr ayah drove the terano while mrs mama follow from behind with neo. We took the new highway, Jln Tun Razak-Putrajaya. Time tu baru sgt bukak, toll pun belum kena lagi. First time gak try highway tu, tapi mmg dah tau kat maner last exit sbb dah biaser nampak.

Arrived in KLIA about 645am, serentak dgn mrs mama's families. After checking-in we all gathered at KFC. Littleman dah tak nampak mcm org sakit, alhamdulillah... dpt pulak jumpa cousins dier, mmg terus sihat la. Dalam kepala littleman, dier ingat the cousins pun akan ikut dier naik plane. So when it was time to say gudbye, melalak la dier... Jenuh berdukung pulak lepas tu. Plan nak lepak golden lounge pun tak jadi coz dier ngamok!!! Until dlm flight pun masih tak ok. Nasib baik we were seated quite behind, so takde la kacau org sgt.

The journey was smooth. Eventhough littleman rajin jugak ke depan ke belakang saying hello to every passangers. Having Just for Laugh on inflight entertaiment really helped a lot. Mr ayah awal2 lagi dah dengkur... tak cukup tido mlm tadi.








Transit in Arlanda airport, Stockholm sekali lagi littleman mengamok. Dier mengamok psl tak boleh keluar from that area. Just 1 hr transit, so we cannot go anywhere... Habis jadi perhatian dlm tu. Crew yg nak take over duties pun dah pandang semacam, mcm dah target plak this littleman gonna give them trouble on the flight. He did, but not for long... he fell asleep later and only wokeup when we safely landed in Newark airport. Dgn muka terpinga2 tu... "we did it! i did it, mama!!!" hehehe...

At arrival hall, few m'sians dah tunggu, sambut ketibaan kami. We then straight away went to abg yus's house for dinner. We had nasi ayam. Later went to Zakir's house, where we menumpang stayed until we moved to our own house. Luckily we managed to get into our own house after few days later. Thanks to the International Services Office of UNH sebab rekomen rumah ni. Dpt tuan rumah lak yg sgt baik hati.

Its been a year now, skrg sibuk lak counting days nak balik....

Its Thanksgiving Day

Its a day to share the kindness and thoughts. Its a day to give thanks to others.

Thanksgiving ni actually is a Northern American celebration and holiday. Kalau ikut History Channel, the original idea of Thanksgiving is to celebrate the harvest festival in fall/autumn. Kira mcm pesta menuai kita. Its the time when the Americans celebrate and express their thanks for all the efforts. Kononnya it was first celebrated in the year 1621. Thanksgiving also marked the 25 days countdown to Xmas.

But now, its kinda like a tradition where the American family, dined in at their home and festive themselves with the best meals. Traditionally turkey mesti kena ada, and variety of pies for desserts. Normally the American family will dined in on the eve of Thanksgiving day, which is the fourth Thursday of the month of November. Kira mcm "makan besar" on Chinese New Year's eve la.

People from all over the States will travel back home to be back with their family. This is another big thing selain dari Xmas for the Americans. Ada gak elemen balik kampung diorang ni. Tgk dlm news katanya there will be more than 41 million people traveling for the Thanksgiving. Hebat jugak.

There's another new traditions after Thanksgiving known as the Black Friday. It will a BIG SALES all over US. The stores will be opened as early as midnight after Thanksgiving sampai the weekend. We already have our plan with vivavouge and family plus mr Shan to head down to Woodbury Premium Outlet for Black Friday. All of us really looking forward for this trip. Walaupun kena travel jauh, tapi Black Friday punya pasal kami teruskan perjuangan...

We don't really bother about Thanksgiving since we're not celebrating it. However, for those celebrating it, Happy Thanksgiving.

Sejuk....

Rasanya mcm baru 2 week plus we went out to the park to enjoy the fall environment. Tetiba lak, dlm this week weather jadi makin sejuk. Temperature skrg ranging between 6-9 degrees centigrade. Mlm kadang jadi negative. Snow belum turun, tapi kadang dah ada flurries. Sembang dgn Joey, kat Ohio snow dah tebal. Kalau keluar rumah skrg dah start pakai baju at least 3 lapis dah pun. Pokok depan rumah kami pun dah botak dah, abis dah daun. Last few days, atuk landlord ni clearkan daun2 yg gugur. Byk jugak bila dah kumpul, bertimbun dlm beg sampah.


Kalau mlm lak nak tido confirm kena pasang heater. Tapi we still managed tak pasang main heater, takut kena bayar heater mahal. As an alternative, guna la portable heater ni dulu. At least bil elektrik tak la semahal harga minyak. Maybe dah masuk December nanti start kena pasang kot.

Littleman ni pulak dah mmg jadi routine dia balik sekolah nak pizza. So, nak tak nak kena la mr ayah redah dgn motor pegi beli pizza dlm sejuk2 tu. Kalau ada kereta atuk landlord tu, boleh la jugak mengorat pinjam kejap.

Kadang tu risau jugak, especially bila dgr dlm news area northern CT and MA (termasuk Boston) kena tornado warning alert sebab angin kuat sangat. Cuaca sejuk2 mcm ni, mula la start rasa alangkah bestnya dok kat Malaysia. Takde masalah nak pikir2 pasal sejuk ni. Tak payah kusut pikir nak ada baju utk season apa. Takpe... sabar... tak lama lagi dah nak balik ni...

Beautiful Fall in CT

The weather was nice,though a bit chilly. Nasib baik la angin tak berapa kuat. Balik dari Yale-New Haven Hospital, Anis dtg pick up kat rumah. Destination: East Rock Park Summit, Hamden. Dekat je pun dgn New Haven ni, around 15 minutes drive je.

Once sampai kat summit tu, we were mesmerized by the beautiful view of the park and the aerial view of New Haven town. Dari atas ni nampak la area Downtown New Haven. Budak2 la seronok kat sini. Main berlari sana sini. Harith dgn Amin sakan la. Alyssa yg baru 18 bulan pun sama gak nak join abang2 dia ni berlari. Siap ada sorang budak pompuan ni, join diorang sekali sampai tak nak balik la. Seronok tgk diorang enjoy berlari. Biasanya main dlm rumah je, sekali sekala dpt lepas kat park mmg la seronok.

We did take pictures while we were there. Cantik sungguh la tgk daun2 kat pokok2 yg dah mula tukar kaler jadi kuning and merah. Ada lagi yg still hijau, and ada juga yg dah takde daun. Bila hari dah mula gelap, kami pun gerak balik.

Fall is really beautiful, tambah pula dgn berita gembira lepas kami balik dari Yale-New Haven hospital hari ni, it really makes our day.

Sambutan Aidilfitri 2008

Kami kat sini raya sehari awal dari Malaysia, on Sept 30. Sehari sebelum raya kami dpt sms dari kawan2 kat sini katanya New Haven Islamic Center declare raya on Sept 30. Dpt sms tu pun dah agak lewat ptg around pukul 4.00. Nasib baik la kami dah beli segala keperluan groceries yg patut utk prepare juadah pagi raya. So, dari ptg tu, mula la mrs mama sibuk di dapur masak rendang ayam buat pertama kalinya.


Patutnyer hari Isnin tu just nak prepare semua ingredients je la... blend siap2 aper yg patut. Alih2 kena masak terus... Menu takde variety maner... setakat rendang ayam dan nasi impit kuah kacang. Ader gak plan nak masak pulut, tapi tak sempat. So pulut tu malam esoknyer baru buat.

Solat raya tahun ni buat kat Coxe Cage, Yale Uni. It's an indoor stadium yg cukup besar utk tampung jemaah yg ramai pd pagi tu. Even though earlier solat raya patut mula around 7.45 pagi, tapi imam tunggu gak la sampai the stadium tu agak penuh baru mula. Dlm pukul 8.15 pagi baru sembahyang.

Our 1st day raya here not bad juga. The guys yg pegi sekali sembahyang raya dgn mr ayah, singgah rumah kami later for breakfast. Laku juga rendang ayam dgn sambal kacang mrs mama. From our house, kami pegi open house rumah kak liza/abg amir. Dah ramai dah kat rumah diorang masa kami sampai.

After lbh kurang 2 weeks lepas raya pun, bahang kemeriahan still ada lagi. Ada aje jemputan open house dari orang2 kat sini. So far kami sempat pegi 3 rumah je la. Yg lain tu tak sempat nak pegi sebab buat on weekdays. Mr ayah dah la kelas belah malam, so tak de chance la nak pegi open house yg buat masa weekdays tu.

Community sini pun ada plan Hari Raya Gathering utk Connecticut chapter. Buat kat German Hall, UNH on this coming Oct 26th. Will update on that in another entry...

Salam Lebaran dari Connecticut

Kami ingin mengucapkan Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, maaf zahir dan batin... buat keluarga mr ayah di Keramat, keluarga mrs mama di Taiping, paklong mali di bota, paklang farul di Canada (outstation la pulak... kesian aiman raya tanpa ayah), uncle lod di Johor Bahru (tahun nie tak dpt cuti raya), uncle Kanip di India (semoga kapal berlayar dgn selamat), cik ura di Seberang Jaya (bekerja di hari raya), saudara-mara, dan juga sahabat handai yg berada di perantauan serta di Malaysia.

Bahang Hari Raya

Pejam celik dah half way through kita lalui bulan Ramadhan ni. Terasa cepat pulak masa berlalu tahun ni. Probably due to the daily routine and the weather here yg dah mula sejuk, sampaikan takde la terasa sangat berpuasa masa siang hari.

Kalau kat Malaysia sure orang dah mula sibuk nak beraya, especially shopping baju raya and order kuih raya. Jalan TAR / Masjid India sure sibuk tak ingat punya, lebih2 lagi over the weekends. Kami punya style, kami suka ambik cuti sehari in the mid week to go for shopping. Senang sikit, orang pun tak ramai and nak parking pun senang. Kami ni sebenarnya tak berapa gemar nak bersesak2 and berebut dgn orang. Rasa mcm berserabut je.

Kuih raya pulak, normally kami beli je. Bila je masanya nak buat kuih pun. Rasanya zaman sekarang ni orang ramai beli je kuih instead of buat sendiri. Teringat arwah nenek prepare kuih2 traditional kat kampung, especially her signature bahulu ikan. It was done in a very traditional way. Bakar kuih bahulu atas dapur kayu api, mana ada pakai oven ni. Kuih2 traditional lain yg arwah nenek buat dulu termasuk la agar2 kering, halwa maskat, kuih bakar and kuih putu kacang. Rasanya tak pernah jumpa orang jual kuih2 traditional ni except for kuih bakar and putu kacang.

Kalau kat radio sure dah start keluar lagu2 raya. Kami pun dah mula download lagu2 raya ni since awal puasa lagi. Saja je nak kasi mood tu datang. Hehehe. So far rasanya lagu2 raya lama gak la yg rasa sedap didengar and ada feel bila dengar. Normally kalau orang yg merantau ni cukup sensitif bila dengar lagi Dendang Perantau, tapi mr ayah rasa lagu Kepulangan Yang Dinanti by Aman Shah lagi touching. Well, it depends to the individual taste anyway.

Dalam sibuk nak beraya ni, jangan lupa pulak tunaikan Rukun Islam yg ke-4. Sekarang ni dah mudah since kat shopping complex dah ada kaunter utk bayaran zakat fitrah ni. Tahun ni kami punya zakat fitrah kat New Haven Islamic Center. The approach is a bit awkward, since kita cuma masukkan duit ($10 per person) dlm envelop yg disediakan and masukkan dlm peti yg disiapkan. Takde la wakil NHICCT yg tunggu utk terima zakat kita tu. Masa kat Guinea dulu lagi kelakar, dtg jumpa Imam masjid lepas sembahyang, bagitau yg kita nak bayar zakat fitrah. Dgn French yg berterabur, ntah dia faham ke tak apa yg kita cakap. Main angguk je... :D

Pada yg sibuk dgn persiapan raya tu, berbelanja la dgn berhemah dan berjimat cermat. Gunakan la duit bonus tu dgn bijak. *wink

Farewell Summer, Welcome Fall

Sekejap je rasanya Summer. Cuaca betul2 panas cuma dlm sebulan je. Its normal for the Northeastern part of the States, especially kawasan New England ni. End of Summer ni maksudnya dah nak mula la Fall. Fall is finally here already. Daun2 kat pokok pun start nak tukar kaler, even some pokok dah start luruh dedaunnya.

Mula Fall ni, mula la new session for mr ayah and littleman. Mr ayah masuk new trimester, and littleman akan masuk sekolah baru - Forest Elementary School for Kindergarten. 3 days before littelman starts school, the school called saying that littleman's medical checkup is not complete. Dulu diaorg jugak yg check medical checkup form tu and said dah ok. Kali nie cakap psl takde blood pressure and urine test plak! Budak baru nak kindergarten nih! Anyways, we managed to settle the issue except for the eye test. Eye test tak dpt buat psl littleman takmo duk diam.

Kejap je masa berlalu... Tinggal lagi 2 semesters je lagi, Mr ayah akan tamat pengajian. Littleman nanti tak sempat pun nak abiskan his Kindergarten dah kena balik M'sia. Tak kisah la, yg penting dpt bagi dia exposure before dia masuk sekolah rendah nanti. By the time balik M'sia nanti sempat few months je kot nak masuk tadika.

Bye2 summer... welcome fall... welcome Ramadhan...

Makan2 and MRI

Last saturday we had makan2 session at one of the m'sian house here. It was a farewell for a guy who is going back (for good) to M'sia bumi tercinta. Dgr je nak pi keluar, littleman la org yg paling excited... psl dpt keluar rumah :D Kesian betul la littleman nie, since summer break nie mati kutu duk umah jek!

The farewell was held outdoor, ader bbq sekali. Food mmg bykkk... potluck, and we brought dessert. Crowd... the usual crowd plus few others yg kitaorg tak pernah jumpa.

Ader this one guy, baru balik from M'sia. Balik for 3 mths, jaga mak dier sakit. Balik ke US, he told others about his mom's treatment. His mom ada kena buat MRI, and ada lah salah sorang nie mcm kagum M'sia dah ader MRI. Wah!!! dah baper tahun tak balik M'sia nie? Ke tak amik port psl perkembangan di M'sia? Mr ayah once did MRI in 1997 at Ampang Puteri. We believe MRI technology had arrived in M'sia long before that.

Sorry aaa takde gambar on this event. Tak terpikir pun psl nak amik gambar, so tak bwk camera :D

Aku seorang Kerani

Last week, I was contacted by the Assistant Director of International Graduate Admission of the Uni. A very nice gentleman. He told me that the department is currently in need of an extra hand since they are shorthanded and the work load is growing. Semua ni pasal nak kejar for the coming Fall and Winter intake. Straight to the point, he straight away asked me whether I can do a voluntary work in their office.

After a short meeting dgn dia, he lays out his expectations and I put forward my limitations. Both of us agrees to a point, and I agreed to lend the extra hand that he needed. Furthermore, I felt terhutang budi jugak kat dia and the Director of the department. Banyak diorang bantu masa tengah sibuk2 nak apply masuk UNH ni dulu. And I know they are very efficient people.

Maka pada hari Selasa baru ni, mula la my voluntary work at the International Graduate Admission of the Uni. Basically semua keja2 administrative and clerical je. Susun and simpan files. Settle surat keluar masuk dan lain2 tugas yg diarahkan dari semasa ke semasa. I was paired up with a Croatian guy, kira dia jadi mentor la since dia memang working student kat situ.

Kebetulan masa tengah nak settlekan surat2 offer, ternampak satu nama yg familiar. Alhamdulillah kawan sorang tu pun diterima masuk to this Uni jugak. Akan ku tunggu kehadiran kau dgn family next year. Tahniah!

Overall its a great experience working even though kira buat keja amal je, since tak dibayar gaji. At least boleh la isi masa lapang since utk Summer ni I'll be focusing purely on my research project and Jenjalan US part2 yg seterusnya...

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?

Spring is finally here

Lately weather is nicer and warmer. Saja keluar pi kedai Salvage Road belakang rumah nak cari curtain. Salvage road tu actually kedai perabot. Dah 4 bulan duduk sini baru nak cari curtain. Bukan tak boleh beli awal2, tapi takde yg berkenan. Kat kedai salvage road tu jumpa la curtain yg sesuai utk kitchen. So skrg nie kitchen je yg ader curtains. Area lain masih kosong je, tapi takpe, semua tingkap mmg ader blinder.

Since the weather getting warmer, the boys berani la keluar rumah pakai seluar pendek. Angin sesekali kuat juga bertiup, so jacket mmg tak boleh miss. Kalau dah lalu depan ShopRite confirm la kena singgah, Harith mcm biaser sambar HotWheels. Nasib baik la takde jual Ben10 or Cars kat situ. Setakat hotwheels takde la teruk sgt poket kena kikis.



Later lepas balik dr kedai blkg, dpt phone call. Friends ajak join picnic kat West Haven beach. On aje... Lagipun bukan ader buat aper pun kat rumah. At the beach, macam2 jugak la activities buat kat situ selain acara wajib, makan2. Ada yg main volleyball (dlm bulatan), kids main baling2 pelbagai jenis bola, korek tanah pun ader. Weather makin sejuk pulak lepas tu. Control macho je la Azrul and Harith yg selamba berseluar pendek itu. All in all, it was fun and enjoyable.

Needs and Wants

Kat US ni banyak gak la gadgets yang best and up-to-date. Harga pulak kira reasonable and even cheaper kalau nak compare dengan the one that we have in Malaysia. Its kinda cheap actually, but the thoughts of spending the allowances for those gadgets, not really a good move. Better spend the money elsewhere.

Some of the gadgets ni sebelum beli rasa macam best je kalau dapat, tapi bila dah ada, takut tak fully utilize. For instance, game console mcm Nintendo Wii or PS3, takut before beli berangan je nak main. Bila dah beli nanti, tak de time nak main, or even worse, asyik main sampai tak buat keja lain. Either options are bad, I know.

This dilemma reminds me the Psychology 101 class during Undergrad years, the dilemma is actually a conflict to fulfill your needs and wants. Even though, I never enjoyed the class due to the lecturer, but it suddenly does make some sensed. Needs are the those requirements to fulfill the basic necessity of life; clothes, shelter and foods. In contrast to the wants, its for of fulfillment of the desire. What ever it is, its all falls back to the basic. Bak kata pepatah Melayu, "Ukurlah baju di badan sendiri". Its almost true in respect to the peribahasa, lagipun buat apa ukur baju untuk orang lain pakai.

Among my wishlist are as follows:

1. Nintendo Wii or PS3 - both at the range of $300

2. GPS Navigator - around $200 *dah ader dlm e90. just need to purchase navigation function, peta leh download free
3. HDTV - around $500
4. iPhone - 2 options ($399 - 8Gb or $499 16Gb)

5. Taylormade R7 golf set - around $399
6. Prince O3 Hybrid Hornet Tennis Racquect - $99

Side notes: Selection handphones kat US sangat la tak best. Not like the wide range of selections macam yang kita ada kat Malaysia. Sini handphones semua basic, kalau nak extra features pun cuma ada Blackberry and iPhone je la.

I'm sure the other half of together-gather pun ada her own wishlist...

Bila Musim Berubah

Without we even realizing it, it has been Spring already. We hardly can tell the differences since area New England ni sememangnya keadaan selalu je sejuk. Even though dah masuk Spring, the temperature never goes above 60 degrees Fahrenheit or kalau dalam Celcius around 15 degrees je. Tapi ni dah kira cukup panas dah untuk kami sepanjang kami tinggal kat sini. Kadang yang buat sejuk tu is the gusty wind. If you're reading this Joey, kami tak tau la kalau area kau tu still sejuk lagi ke tak. As we said, tunggu kurang sejuk baru nak naik tempat kau.

Masuk musim Spring, maksudnya masuk la new Trimester. University of New Haven ni guna Trimester system. Which means that each Trimester ada dalam 3 bulan je, and it coincide with the seasons too. Just imagine, baru je masuk kelas sebulan setengah dah masuk mid term exam. Dah la Graduate classes ni we are expected to be ready prior to classes. The classes was more on facilitating discussions based on the required readings. Sometimes it turns out into a debate dalam class. I have no reservations on that, I even enjoyed the classes. So far, Alhamdulillah I made through my first trimester; Winter 2008, here with a result yang agak menyenangkan hati.

Spring 2008 ni, I'll be taking another 9 credit hours or equivalent to 3 subjects. Nasib baik this trimester semua electives subjects. Nak kata padat sangat jadual, tak jugak. Nak kata sikit sangat 3 subject pun, tak jugak. Basically 3 subjects for a trimester is just nice for a Trimester system. Tapi boleh tahan heavy jugak la subject yang diambik ni. Harapnya boleh bawak la this trimester dengan jayanya.

Academic Period :Spring 2008 Trimester
NSP611(01) : NSP Situational Evaluation and Failure Analysis Models
NSP613(01) : NSP Issues in Research and Policy Analysis
NSP644(01) : Cross-Impact Analysis: National Security Future Issues

Bila kira balik, exactly ada setahun je lagi kami kat sini. InsyaAllah kalau semua berjalan lancar, around this time kami dah sampai balik ke Malaysia. Rasa macam suntuk je masa. Harap semuanya berjalan lancar, and sempat la kami berjalan kat US ni.

Our lunch

As usual, we had our simple lunch around 5pm. Normally cuma masak 2 lauk je. Both of us tak cerewet sgt pasal makan, except for me who doesn't eat fish. Azrul mmg senang, masak je la aper sajer, semua jalannn... hehehe... Harith pulak, being cerewet on memilih makan, he most of the time tak makan nasi. so boleh la masak lauk ikut our selera yg gemar makan pedas.

3 months in US, our selera still towards M'sian food. Luckily senang dpt spices and other ingredients, so still can masak and taste the same. tak mcm masa duduk kat Guinea dulu, most stocks sendiri bawak dr. M'sia. Menu hari nie ayam masak merah and sayur goreng sos tiram. simple, tapi mengenyangkan. Yg penting kena dgn our selera. Joey, if you're reading this post, ada berani nak try recipe ni? :D


Since duduk kat US nie, hari2 memasak. walaupun dah seharian keluar berjalan, penat... balik umah still memasak. kalau kat M'sia jgn harap la... mesti makan kenyang2 dulu kat luar... hahaha... patut la tong gas tahan berbulan2. even maser jual whole set dapur (dapur+tong gas+cabinet), the condition was as good as new (nie komen from org yg beli the set). Btw, we sold as much as possible our furniture and appliances before dtg US.

Siang yang panjang....

Woke up as usual on a beautiful Sunday morning. It supposed to be a beautiful sunshine day, except for strong wind is expected through out the day. The strong wind is said to carry a cold temperature, estimated around 20 Fahrenheit. However, that does not really worry us much since we have a car this weekend to drive us around. Before getting ready for the day, boot up the laptop to get more interesting news regarding post-election. Que sera, sera...

Sedang elok tengah baca news tu, rasa pelik gak bila perasan the time display on the laptop dengan jam dinding kat rumah differ by an hour. Bukak la Connecticut local news, and got to find out that, it is the effect of Daylight Saving Time (DST). Apa dia DST?

Daylight saving time (DST) is the convention of advancing clocks so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less. Typically clocks are adjusted forward one hour near the start of spring and are adjusted backward in autumn. Modern DST was first proposed in 1907 by William Willett. Many countries have used it since then; details vary by location and change occasionally." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time)

Since Spring is coming anytime soon, I guess here comes the changes. We are now advance an hour compared than previous. No wonder during last Friday prayer, there was an announcement saying that the following week Friday prayer will commence at 1.00 pm.

Logically, the 1 hour difference doesn't really gives a big impact. However, since this is our first encounter, terasa juga la siang tu panjang. We did realize this when we were at Westfield Connecticut Post Mall, masa tengah tunggu Harith main kat indoor playground, kami tengok jam baru pukul 4.00 pm. Rasa macam dah lama je keluar. Once we got back home, we still feel that the daytime is longer than usual. Normally during Winter, by 5.00 pm, dah masuk waktu Maghrib, except for last week when Maghrib is at 5.40 pm. Hari ni, pukul 6.20 petang pun langit still terang benderang. We are adapting well so far. Cuma siang tadi je terasa panjang...

Together signing off...