industrial training part 1

here's a really belated post about my industrial training and my 3 month stay in penang... i'm not really in the mood to type a long post, therefore i'll let the pics do most of the talking... =)

first and foremost, this is where i work... it used to be agilent technologies alone but they kinda sold their semicon dept to avago technologies and they are currently sharing the same building... the working experience was beneficial i would say... it was valuable not in any technical sense but more in the sense that i was exposed to a real working environment - the "real world" as my supervisor would say...

and this is where i stayed... it cost 500 bucks a month but i shared it with 3 other uniten mates so it's 125 per person... it has 2 rooms, 1 bath, 1 toilet, a comfortable living room and kitchen and it even has a tiny balcony... not too bad and i got quite comfortable living there too... provided some memorable moments...

this here was my room for that 3 months... i slept on the top and as you can see, that's my comp... u didn't think i'd leave my comp at home for three months did you? i can't survive 3 months without my precious... =)

that place really ain't too bad... there's even a river view from my house... hehehe... and from the picture, you can see my ever trusty ride - the classic white proton saga... it's old but reliable (most of the time, anyway)...

hmm... i can't seem to post anymore pictures... i guess there is a limit on the size of each blog... so i'll make this a 2 part blog - second half coming right up!

can't forget (but life goes on...)

the events of nov the 3rd still lingers fresh in my memory. will i ever forget it ever happened? i doubt it... but i pray each night that i will have the courage somewhere in my heart to forgive them... in the meantime, life goes on...

sometime last week, a couple of days after my finals were over (i kinda lost track of time), i received a call from shell... well, good news i guess but i'm not really in the mod to rejoice right now... anyway i'll be flying to kota kinabalu on the 13th of dec to join the shell gourami business challenge... basically they (shell) will be bringing a group of asian undergraduates together to see how well we work together and how well we perform (i dun really know the tasks yet)... if we're good enough, they'll offer us a job... i'm not too optimistic right now but i'll just take it as a break... and if we're gonna be staying at any of the islands in sabah then it could turn out to be a splendid holiday... =)

hmm... my mind is blank... i guess that's it for now...

one more thing - i'm currently on my one month break which will be until the 11th of dec but i'll be rather busy this one month trying to complete my final year project... so i guess there's not much plan for having fun... =(

3rd November 2006

i have said that i will not post again till after my finals. but this is a date that i will remember for the rest of my life. on this day- my life, my family, my belief is changed and i doubt it will ever be the same again.

i would like to say that the change is a positive one. but sadly, there isn't a a worse change that i can think of at the moment. i wish i could pour out my feelings here but i will not. it saddens me to think that this will happen to me and my family.

at the moment, my heart aches as if i have lost a loved one... and i dun think it will ever heal...

another break?

it seems that every time i'm determined to start blogging frequently again, i'll post one entry and then take another long break from blogging... but it's not my fault!
my finals are around the corner... in four days time actually and my exam schedule this sem is simply just killing me... i've got one paper on the 2nd, 2 papers on the 8th and 1 paper on the 9th... i know it's just 4 papers but that 3 back to back papers is a bit too much for me to handle...

so i guess i'll be disappearing for another 2 weeks or so... rotten luck...

football pics...

this was my team during the third-fourth placing match penalties. it was disappointing to lose like this but we've gone beyond all expectations by reaching the semi-finals in the first place... and again, it was fun... =)

need to start somewhere...

at first, i was thinking of blogging about everything that happened in sequence... i mean from the time i stopped blogging till now... since i kinda stopped blogging at the end of my industrial training which was way back in june, that means i've got about 4 months of blogging to catch up and i think it will take me forever to do that. so instead of leaving everything backlogged, i might as well blog about the current happenings and blog about the things that i've missed when i have the time to...

anyway, here it goes...

the past weekend was supposed to be a bloody hectic one for me. i was supposed to have tests on thurs and fri, one programming assignment to hand in on friday, one project presentation on sat which weighs 25% of my total project and a football tournament in seremban on sat as well... packed huh?

well, things started kinda bad for me. i screwed up the paper on thurs - some really silly mistakes and some wrong definitions. then, the exam was postponed as well as the assignment due date (i've just completed the assignment). so, all of a sudden, my friday is free. that gave me some extra time to prepare for my presentation though...

then saturday came... i finished up my presentation slides at about 330am saturday morning and went to bed. i was supposed to print the slides at my dad's office but i was to lazy to go over at that time so i figured i might as well go to bed and wake up earlier to print my slides...

i woke up at 630, went over to my dad's office thinking that everything is going according to plan... i tried to open the gate and then... the key broke! can u believe it? the key broke in the lock! nevermind, i told myself... just stay cool... there must be an extra key at home... but... guess what - there is no extra key!

with that, my dad called one of his colleagues who were kind enough to bring the key over, let me into the office and i printed my slides. in the end, i was still late for the presentation but the lecturers for my session were quite 'selamba' so it was ok.

my presentation went on quite smoothly although i took 5 minutes more than the allocated time... the questions asked by the lecturers weren't to tough so i guess it's not too bad... anyway, after my presentation, it's time to PLAY!

=)

football... my personal drug of life...

i guess i need to start from the beginning about this tournament...

a while back (i forgot when exactly), i registered for this futsal tournament organized by my church in aid of the orang asli building project. i registered for fun actually and also because i haven't played in ages. at first i was thinking that it's gonna be a simple game, nothing serious. but i was shocked on the day of the tournament.

for the game, we just gave our particulars to the organizer and they divided us into our respective teams. this is to give everyone an equal opportunity (in terms of age, i guess). because we do not even know our teammates before that day and also because it's a church tournament, i didn't really have much expectation. but how wrong can i be...

the tournament was truly challenging and fun! there were extremely plenty of talented footballers and some were even state players... we had fun but i was a bit lacking physically as i haven't been playing for so long... anyway, in that tournament, my team won the silver medal! hahaha... my first futsal medal...

as a result of my performance during that tournament (hahaha... time for some self-praise) i was called to practice for the inter-church tournament which is scheduled for 14th october. honestly, i think i did perform pretty well during that futsal tournament, scoring more than a handful of goals... hehehe...

so, i went for the training as scheduled. but, this is the end of the fairy tale... i did not continue scoring freely... i did not play as well as i did during the futsal tournament... reason - we're playing field football... do you know when was the last time i put on my boots to play field football? that was like in 2002!

anyway, i still made it to the final team which is the reason why i rushed to seremban after my presentation last saturday. we made it to the semi in that tournament, losing on penalties in the third-fourth placing match. i guess i played ok in that tournament - the highlight being a sublime back pass... ok... enough self praise...

this whole football thing was good for me i guess. physically, my fitness has improved tremendously. comparing to the four years i've been in uniten, i guess i've never been as fit as this. realistically, i've also learnt that my football skills ain't that good. seriously, i once thought i could play anywhere... but not anymore...

no matter what, i still do enjoy the game and i always will... =)

i just realized something... this blog is getting way too long... i guess i'll stop here and continue on next time... i'll post a couple of pic on the football tournament soon... for now, i've got to prepare for the test tomorrow, the one i was supposed to have last friday...

so, how was my weekend? good or bad? i dunno... all i know for sure is that i enjoyed it... =)

ps: kam came back again... we went out for a drink, played some futsal... had fun... hehehe... i just wanted to mention his name so that he doesn't think that i forgot bout him again... =)

it's been too long...

hi folks... it's been a while since i last wrote anything here... and a hell lot of events have unfolded in that period of time in which i have disappeared...

the routine life of a student has returned but i guess the events of the past 3 or 4 months have changed my life indefinitely. i won't be writing a long post here as i've got a long day tomorrow and i'll need the rest tonight. however, let's just make a list of things which i would like to write about in the next few entries.

1) industrial training experience
2) final year project
3) langkawi trip
4) football
5) last but definitely the most important - ly

i would surely love to be able to post more frequently but with my schedule these days, i cannot guarantee any of that. but i will try to keep this blog alive. it is my personal space after all...

it's the end...

it's officially the end of my training...

=(

or should it be... =)

end of a chapter...

2 hour and 30 minutes more and my industrial training is coming to an end... it means much more than just the end of my training... it also means that i'll be going into my final year of studies...

will i further my studies after that? i don't know.

but if i don't further my studies, this will be my final year of classes. final year as a student. actually, i dun even have one year. i have about 8 months...

i'll try not to think of that now... back to my work... =)

final week

i'm into my final week of my industrial training in penang with agilent tech. more precisely, i've got 5 days left.

the past 3 months have definitely flew by. now that i'll be going back to the life i have been so accustomed with in kl, there is a hint of sadness in my heart. not sad really. it's more of a heavy hearted emotion. i've grown comfortable with life in penang. comfortable in the speed of life, comfortable in what i do everyday.

i think there is more adjustment required than anticipated when i return to kl. back to the hectic life of kl.

last 16 predictions

these are my predictions for those who will make it to the round of sixteen. feel free to place bets on these teams but if you lose any money, dun blame me... =)

actually, i would like to see teams like japan and the usa make it through to the next round as well. but i dun see japan making progress past brazil or australia. and usa definately could not compete with the likes of czech republic and italy. i'll have to wait till the 23rd of june to see how much i'm right (or wrong) with my predictions....

Group A
Germany
Ecuador

Group B
England
Sweden

Group C
Argentina
Holland

Group D
Portugal
Mexico

Group E
Czech Republic
Italy

Group F
Brazil
Australia

Group G
France
South Korea

Group H
Spain
Ukraine

ps: teams in italic i predict to win their respective groups.

lets hear the three lions roar!

one more day to end the 4 year wait. one more day to the greatest cup competition. one more day to the most hyped and anticipated football tournament. one more day to 1 whole month of football. =)

before the world cup kicks off, i just want to state that i'll be backing england all the way! i would've supported malaysia if one day they could make it through. anyway, i know england has their chances magnified by the press and ignorant supporters like me. i know they dun match the silky skills of brazil. but what the heck. football matches are always full of surprises. and you can't deny that this has got to be the most talented english team for some time now. so keeping my fingers crossed, i predict england vs brazil in the final! it could happen, right? by then, england would have to get by argentina, holland, germany or portugal. so i guess if they can beat those teams, they would stand a pretty good chance of making it to the semi or even the final.

ps: i would also like to see brazil, holland and portugal doing well. oh yeah, and definitely japan as well. =)

just for the record

06:06:06 @ 06/06/06

i just wanted to write something at this time and date to keep a record of this moment. some believes it to be the end of the world while some believes it to be the luckiest moment. whichever it is, the day did not start too bright for me and i'm not dead yet, so i guess it's just superstitous beliefs.

anyway, i've been away for some time as my training here at agilent has kept me surprisingly busy. and since i've got no internet connection at my temporary home now, i do not really have access to update my blog. a lot has happened though in the past 2 months but i will find the time to update it. slowly.

back to work.

a new revelation

last weekend was one of the very few weekends that i do not travel home to kl. and since i've got 2 days to burn with nothing particularly important to do, i decided to drive down to spend a couple of nights with my grandma. in making that trip, i ended up visiting my aunt (mum's sis) and my uncle (dad's bro) as well. oh yeah, and i actually bumped into my god-parents as well (haven't seen them in ages)...

well, this might sound normal to most of you but it's quite out of the ordinary for me. perhaps i should mention that i made all this visits on my own. what makes it weirder was the fact that all this bonding stuff was usually left to my sis. i'm always the cool, quiet kid that nobody notices. but i have to say, spending last weekend visiting my relatives was indeed worthwhile. there's a sense of satisfaction which i could not explain.

anyway, right now, i'm spending my working time blogging as my mood sucks. why? thank my supervisor. i dunno if i should discuss the details here. but anyhow, i guess once we start working, we've gotta have ppl skills as well right? gotta learn on ways to deal with ppl - superior or not - gotta just suck it up and get on with life. yup. it's nothing serious really, just felt as if i was wrongly blamed for some mistakes. =)

i want to cont my ramblings but i gtg cont my work... till next time then...

special moment?

01:02:03 04/05/06 (hour:minute:second dd/mm/yy)

these numbers have made it to the front page of the papers, were said to be special, have been circulated through mails and forwarded in sms'. true, they are special in the sense that these sequence will never happen again for the next thousand years. come to think of it, those of us living in this millennia will be going through many more of these 'special moments'. another one will be coming soon in the form of 06:06:06 06/06/06.

anyway, although i do not believe in any astrology or the stars and moon stuff, i do accept that it is not something we come across everyday. so wat were you doing at that very moment? me? i was on the phone with ly... =)

all about work...

here i am in my third week in penang. so, where to start?
well, work started out to be rather boring, and then i started to be busy (which was way cooler than being bored) and now, i'm back to being bored again. and guess wat? i'm blogging from the office.... =)
so, a little bit on agilent. well, agilent is a spin-off of hewlett-packard company with it's headquarters in palo alto. agilent's number one business is on test and measurement instruments. somehow, agilent, avago, hp, lumileds and philips is connected. but i dunno how. i tried finding out and the sequence is something like agilent (test and measurement) is the child of hp, avago (semicon) is the child of agilent and lumiled (leds) was a part of agilent which was sold to philips. something like that.
anyway, seeing the core business of agilent, i didn't really look forward to having my vacation training here. i mean, wat's a mechanical engineer gotta do in a electronics based factory right? i couldn't be more wrong. knowing that i was in the control test division, i figured i had to troubleshoot some instruments or do some reliability test. instead, i was put in the packaging department where the department is in charge of designing boxes! yes... boxes...
i wasn't too thrilled on my first day either. designing boxes? packaging? come on... but as i learned more about the job, it gets more interesting. we actually use a 3d software - cocreate onespace designer which is my field of interest (i really enjoy 3d design and modeling, no idea why), and we dun just design boxes... we do all sorts of mechanical drawings. the software used is similar to proengineer (the one used in uniten) but a little bit more tricky and not as user friendly. it doesn't really matter though, i've always wanted to know wat it would be like to have a job in designing. although wat i had in mind was on a much bigger scale (cars maybe?) boxes and electronic parts isn't such a bad start.
so the first week in front of the pc was a torture. just sitting in front of the monitor from 8 to 5 everyday learning the software is the sole definition of boredom. but there were moments of fun as well when they had an experiment on one of the boxes which was designed. before i say anything further, let me clarify - wat they design isn't just boxes but also the foams and fillers which is supposed to support and protect the instruments in the box. so, back to the experiment. it's called the drop test where the instrument would be packed as for shipping, placed on a hydraulic arm, raised to a certain height and dropped. an accelerometer would be mounted on the instrument beforehand so that readings could be taken.
the experiment is rather simple but there is something about dropping a package of about 20+kgs from 4 feet which excites me... hehehe...
after that, during my second week, i was really busy with loads of drawings to complete, so during the second week, work was rather interesting... but at the start of this week, there's not much to do... and i am required to write the reports for the drop tests which kinda feels like i'm back in uni... plus, my supervisor is asking me to do a project write-up, some sort of presentation which compares the old packaging method and the new packaging method. i roughly get wat he wants, but there's one prob - i dunno anything bout the old or new method. i've been given the deadline at the end of my 12 weeks, so that gives me some time to scratch my head, looking for an answer.
up till today, i've done several mech drawings, 4 drop tests and reports, started on the outline of my project write-up and some odd jobs (checking stock, going to the warehouse, inspection on foams etc). not as bad as i thought it would be. i just hope it stays that way. well, i've gotta get back to work now... till next time, bye...

schlumberger update...

Dear Nicholas,

Thank you for attending the interview sessions with Schlumberger. We did not shortlist you for the internship session, however, we are keeping your file for the Field Engineer position next year. For next year, you just have to attend the final interview session with the Operations Manager.

Regards,
Fauziah

is this good or bad? basically it's a rejection. but at least i dun have to go through all 4 interviews again next year. and at least i know the result of the interview now... =(

first post from penang...

i'm back... but my posts will be far and few... right now, i'm typing my blog in a cyber cafe (i feel kinda old and left out... everyone is playing something i've never even seen or heard about before... damn...) this is something i never thought i would do... blogging from a cyber cafe i mean... anyway, here i am and this is the reason why.... my finals ended last week (30/03/2006)and from this week onwards (03/04/2006), for a duration of 12 weeks, i'll be away on industrial training/ vacation training/ internship. as i have posted previously, i was hoping my industrial training will not be in kl. and guess wat? i got my wish! half of it anyway. at first, i was hoping to get a placement with schlumberger. and after going through 4 interviews, i had high hopes on a positive outcome. i really did. however, the fourth interview came a bit too late (24/03/06) i guess. so till now, i'm still waiting for the result of that interview. this leaves me with the only choice i had - agilent technologies. probably i shouldn't put it to sound so bad especially considering agilent technologies is a pretty good company to get attached to for industrial training. or so i've heard. i'll give my point of view at the end of my 12 weeks here.
anyway, right now, i'm renting a place with 3 other frens. it's a pretty small place with only 2 rooms but it only costs 500 bucks and it's fully furnished. with the rates in penang, i guess we can't ask for more. after a couple of days, the house is alright. not too bad. pics will be up soon.
i guess that's all i have to say about my industrial training for now. i've only been here for 2 days so nothing much has happened. all i can say is that i'm looking forward to the coming 12 weeks - this is my first time away from home for so long.
bout my previous sem, i'm glad it's over. i had a huge, huge problem with one of my lecturer. i'm pretty close to hating him. anyway, i'm glad that class is over and done with. i'm planning to write a complain letter bout him though - he tricked us in the final exam by providing the wrong formula in the formula sheet. if u want us to memorize the formula, dun give us the formula sheet! it's that simple... ok, i admit it... i hate him...
other than that, the other subjects were pretty fine... several competitions kept me busy... oh yeah, two competitions left me disappointed (einic 06 and phillips young challenge 06) but another one (indec 06) gave me a silver medal! =) actually i joined all 3 competitions with the same product and the silver medal is nothing major really. coz indec (invention & innovation design competition)is in it's first year and it is organized by uniten for uniten. so it's kinda like einic but solely focused on uniten's students.
and there is one ongoing competition - robocon 06. the actual date is on the 5th of may so the work is being continued by other members. i am planning to return to kl during the weekends to cont working on the competition. but obviously i can't do that every weekend, so i'll just have to wait and see how everything goes.
i guess this will have to end here. it's getting pretty late and i'm still not used to waking up at 7 for work.

ps: the cyber cafe rate here is really cheap - 1.50 per hour so i think i'll be doing this often if i'm not too lazy. =)

uncertainty

no time to update right now although plenty has happened in the past month. i'll find the time to bare it out soon and i probably won't be updating my blog from home, hopefully... i'll explain it the next time i blog... till then...

ps: i know i said i dun blog for others to read, but for the sake of entertaining me, can someone leave me a comment or two?

entry no 101

i've past the century mark! i've started writing in this blog for fun... but now, looking back, it has inadvertently became my diary... i've never been able to keep a diary all this while so i guess this is the only space in which i allowed the outpouring of my feelings... to reveal my deepest and darkest secrets... *devilish grin*

but truth be told, i've held back so many things writing this blog... i dun think it portrays who i really am... at times, i've written to portray myself as a jerk - emotionless and sarcastic... the only explanation i have is that i feel safer behind this mask... a mask which will never reveal my weaker side, my emotions...

lately, my writings have become shallow... i'm writing without passion... i'm writing just for the sake of keeping this blog alive... probably as a hope that some things in life will always be there - friendship, love, hope...

sadly, when i started this blog, it actually made me feel closer to a couple of my friends... every comment they left on my blog actually meant something to me... and that was my main purpose in writing this blog as well... now, i feel as though my blog is an abandoned structure... lifeless in all it's purpose... i'm not asking for more publicity or more comments... my readers are a select few anyway... i just felt as though the content of my writing lately defeats the purpose of my blog...

this is actually a mirror image of my take on life right now... everything seems dull, meaningless... everyday a lifeless routine that i drag myself through... no fire within me, no passion... everything that i once was interested in seems pointless these days... what is wrong with me?

i wanted someone to talk to... and there is someone at my side always... but i just can't let it out... i just can't talk... so i've learnt to keep myself occupied with studies, projects... something that i can work with logic and equations... shutting out my emotions completely...

ironically, here i am talking about that problem which i can't seem to be able to talk about... is this a fitting entry for my post no 101? this could be my last... no... i'll be back... but for now, i think i'll just fill this space with more shallow entries...