Finger knitting bracelets by Nabil

Nabil is into finger knitting. 

I knit / crochet a lot so one day he requested me to teach him how to finger knit. He said it is the simplest method that he observed among all string-related-things that I did. It took him only 3 minutes to understand the basic. 

In the next few minutes, here it is.

Nabil gave me finger-knitted bracelets for Mother's Day. I wore it straight away, on the Mother's Day eve. How cool is that?

Homemade Sugar Body Scrub for Teacher's Day

My kids made (the above).

Nabil chose peach essential oils.
Nazreen chose strawberry EO.
Nazran opted for lemon EO. Our house smells nice that night.

They jot down some wishes, cut the string and tied the strings to the mason jars themselves. They feel proud to be able to give something handmade/homemade to their teachers this year.

Fake sleep

Nowadays, whenever I asked him to pick up his toys or bottle off the floor, he will pretend to be sleeping until I walked away.There were times he fake sleep while standing up. lol.

(Sneak peek)

The stress level is high.

1M4U : Collecting used items for Free Market @ PPR

I am currently managing a volunteer activities under 1M4U programme. Among others, it includes a Free Market, where we gather used items from everybody in the office and give them away at the selected PPR.

Please click for a larger image

If you want to donate used (or new) items, please contact me. Collection period is from 11 to 25 May 2015. The Free Market will be on 30 May 2015.

Thank you...

...for your interest in IMO :)

Now you know such thing exists.

Mentoring a colleague with limited vision

I am working with a special officer, Norain. She has a limited, B2 vision. 

I am so excited to explore her cool reading gadget, see how she work using the laptop with Job Access With Speech (JAWS) - a software that talk back and see how she manages everything. This is new for me. 

Ain taught me the meaning of strong will and determination. She is very excellent in her work. She usually completed her task on time. Alhamdulillah for this valuable experience, and the great colleague.

Today is..

..my birthday.

Nabil, the great asssistant

My parent in law has a satay restaurant in Parit Raja, Johor.

During our last balik kampung trip, we had our breakfast at the restaurant. Nabil went early with my parent to set up everything, around 6.30am.

When we arrived at 10.30am, we was pretty exhausted. He said he has helped Tok Umi (my MIL) to take order (photo below) and clear the table. GOOD JOB, NABIL!

One must have a high level of confidence to do what he did there. I am impressed by his social skill at this age.

Pop Corn Magic

My husband bought me this.

Just put in a handful of kernel in the silicone container, pop it in the microwave for two minutes and your popcorn is ready. You could coat it in any flavour you like.

1. Air-popped popcorn has only 31 calories per cup; oil-popped popcorn has only 55 calories per cup. When lightly buttered, popcorn contains about 133 calories per cup. Popcorn is a whole grain, making it a good-for-you food. Popcorn contains fiber, providing roughage the body needs in the daily diet (Source : here)

There. So you wont feel guilty about eating.

Door-to-door service

Today, my office library has visited my division for their Door-to-Door Service (read, a group of librarians push a trolley full of books and you can borrow any four books for two weeks). I LOVE THEIR VISIT! I took the opportunity to return the magazine I borrowed earlier (how cool is that? - they sent the magazine to you and they collect it from you when your are done reading it). If that does not make the laziest person to read at least one book in one year, I dont know what else does.

The interesting part of this service is the librarians not only bring books from our library, they are bringing books from the National Library's collection too!

I borrowed two books from the National Library. 

Keep it up library!

Good neighbour

If you have been reading this blog, you know I have good neighbours. I know they will be there whenever I needed them, no matter how awkward my request is. This was last week:

Never in my life I AM SO HAPPY TO SEE THE C**KR***H in a plastic container. Nabil was so happy to get that thing for his science experiment the next day, he smiled in his sleep.

Magazine delivery

My office library will notify everybody via email on the latest magazine available in the library. We just have to pick up the phone, call them and the magazine of your choice will be delivered to your room within five minutes. I just got these delivered to me. Excellent service!

I missed this issue of The Economist earlier because I was away attending Research Methodology course for two weeks.

Work-life balance.

Nabil's English Project - My Picture Dictionary

Watercolour pencil and thick black outline make his work looks neat.

Huge Mind Map Assignment 04 : The Conclusion

I was truly grateful to be chosen to perform this task. It was a quantum leap for me. From mindmapping / sketchnoting on A5 to visualised the whole discussion of the top management, on huge papers, for TWO DAYS. I thanked  Alvin Ung, the author of Barefoot Leadership, who has hand-picked me for this task =)

Yes, I know, no blue box on my face

Allah knows how panic I was a week before the event. I didnt know what to anticipate. 

But I did it. Right until today I cant believe I've nailed it! I need to improve on the colour scheme, layout, font thickness and everything. I am still learning. 

This was during the wrap up session. Mr. Ung presented every map to the management, to recap what they have been discussing and debating from the first day and night until the end of day two, and to see whether they have achieved the objectives of the retreat, by looking at the content of these mind maps.

Some of the maps are ok. Some not even up to my standards, but considering the time given, the intensity of the discussions and the size of the paper, I am quite happy with the outcome. 

Huge Mind Map Assignment 03 : The Tools

The most crucial tools for me for this assignment are Kurecolors and a big fat black marker. Grey Kurecolor is important for shading purposes.

My tools. Kurecolors are mine. The rest are provided by the organiser. 

Huge Mind Map Assignment 02 : The Artist Platform

I finally posted this two-year-old draft because I have promised my English teacher today that i will show her the huge mind map. Today is the last day I see her and my handphone was running out of battery. 

First, read about the Huge Mind Map Assignment 01 (here).

Huge mind map assignment - sounds interesting, yes? I was invited to be the mind mapper / sketch noter for the top management meeting in Malacca. The instruction given was simple. Mindmap the whole thing. 

And "the whole thing" is actually a long list of discussions and debates on international trade, import, export, GNI, GDP, investment, local industries, SMEs and the list goes on.

This is the spot where I supposed to work. I called it The Artist Platform. It is located in front of the hall. 

This is the view from the Platform. Well, that was during group presentation. Before, the boards were not there. I need to see their faces/mouths in order to capture everything they said. Mindmapping is about capturing the gist ON THE SPOT.

This is the (self-proclaimed) artist at work. In her most decent position. I was writing, colouring and drawing like mad because I need to stick the paper onto the wall, once the last person finished his last word. They will go through the map after the discussion. 

The initial plan was for me to draw directly on the paper pinned to a panel but the panel is quite high and I am short +_+. So the markers slanted down a bit and no ink came out after a few strokes. So, I opted for a platform.

The platform comes with the gravity. 

Sweet revenge: food

I was feeling under the weather for almost two weeks. 

I didnt do much house chores during that period. My neighbour came and helped me to fold three baskets full of clothes and after that she hanged another basket of newly-washed clothes. What would I do without you, Maton :)

Good neighbour is hard to get.

No, that's not what this entry is all about.

(Well, I have this tendency to talk about something else first whenever I blog about food)

After two week having lunch/dinner at my parent's because I was not feeling well, last weekend, I woke up and the first thing I did after Subuh prayer was mixing pizza dough. Nazran helped me to bake pizzas. This is the second one. The first one finished in a minute. I spread tomato puree with Herbes de Provence, capsicum, tomato, chicken bits marinated in barbecue sauce and cheddar cheese.

Then we had what Kelantanese called colek.

My mom went to the market and bought us young mangoes. 

My version of colek (fruit dip) is the mixture of soy sauce, coarse sugar, shrimp paste and grounded bird's eye chili. You'll taste sweet, sour, salty and hotness from the chili in every bite. 

At night, I made fruit cocktail with mango pudding. No photo.

MRM's Design Competition 2014 and 2015

I have told you that I am a registered designer with Malaysia Design Council or Majlis Rekabentuk Malaysia (MRM) (here).

Last month, my Secretary General, the Board Member of MRM was invited to the Prize Giving Ceremony for Design Competition 2014 and the Launching of Design Competition for 2015. She couldnt attend so I have attended on her behalf. 

The Hon Deputy Minister of MOSTI addressed the crowd and oh boy! doesnt he the funniest politician you have ever met! He is so humble, down to earth and extremely FUNNY! 

Actually I have the plan to participate in 2014's competition. I have drafted the entry in India and plan for my husband to submit it on my behalf but I was quite busy in India and I couldnt finished it on time. Not my rezeki, it is okay. After the prize giving ceremony, the Deputy Minister launched the new design competition for 2015. You can get the details here. 

Then, we were invited to visit the showcase by the winners. I was very surprised to see the level of execution by the students when it comes to their prototypes. Some of the prototypes looks like it was manufactured in a factory! (well, most of industrial design schools has workshop with all these machines and special cutters for prototyping purposes, fyi).

One of the winners is my junior in KAED (below, right). I snapped his photo and sent it to a few lecturers in KAED, including the Dean himself, who happened to be my active WhatsApp companion. You make us proud, brother!

Hard to sleep at night?

My brother introduced me to MIT OpenCourseWare a few years back. I found it very useful. I could listen to lecture (audio / video) on any subject, be it economy, art, architecture, physics. Anything. 

My lullaby every night.

Please donate if you found it useful :)

The Boyfriends

Ayam percik

One night, I planned to prepare healthy meal for my family, so I marinate some chicken parts in blended onion, garlic and ginger, then I grilled it.

But then I saw aplenty of coconut milk in the fridge +_+

Soon, it become ayam percik Kelantan.

Presenting paper to experts

I presented a paper on Remanufacturing Industry in Malaysia to a large group of experts on remanufacturing industry from France, Germany, other European countries which I cant remember, Qatar, UAE, Japan, Singapore, China and a few others.

This was during a Post-Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing Workshop, organised by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

It was so awkward. 

So many questions coming from the experts. Lucky I have a few local industry players in the crowd. They helped me to answer questions related to the practical/technical aspect of the industry.

Alhamdulillah.
(Photo credit: Dr. Rijal)

Malacca : Night walk @ Boardwalk, Malacca River

I wanted to go to kedai mamak downstair to buy a large bottled mineral water. My roommate, Khid, wanted to tag along. That was at 10.00 pm.

We went down. Bought a mineral water. And she asked me if I wanted to see Malacca River. Who would say no to up-close views of Kampung Morten? So we started to walk at the Boardwalk. And talk. And walk. Until we saw this. 

We walked for another few kilometres then we took a cab back to Ramada. That was 12.30 am and I brought back an empty mineral water bottle +_+

Informative Stairwell Competition : The before

My office held an Informative Stairwell Competition last year. Each section need to beautify their stairwell and make it informative to encourage people to opt for the stair. I am always a fan of Active Design. This project quietly encourage us to make healthier choices.

I was selected to be the project leader. I googled some images and took photographs of other floors which has painting works in progress (*strategy* start late and look for inspiration) and presented it in the meeting. These are some designs-in-progress by other sections:

My section agreed to have a minimalist approach, simple, not too colourful as kindergarten's wall and have relevant information about our division (the important point of this competition is - the information). They even agreed with the idea of painting the floor with dark colour since the tiles were badly stained. No scrubbing work could take the 30 years old stain off the old tiles. No point of having interesting wall, but dirty floor. Gitu konsepnya.

So, these are the BEFORE and my quick rendering during the discussion, taking into consideration their ideas. Once we FINALLY agreed on the colour scheme, I can feel the excitement across the meeting room! 

Well, I think I was the only one worried about the whole thing because the final design involves specialty paints. Epoxy for the floor and glow-in-the-dark for the edge of the tread. (the staircase is black, so we plan to apply glow-in-the-dark paint on the tread edge so no one will miss the step during emergency). Great idea, huh?

Then I went paint-hunting.

Malacca : Happy hours

I had a pack schedule during the mini-lab in Ramada Malacca two weeks ago. BUT. BUT I can still find time to go to Ramada's spacious gym. 

I woke up early, solat and went to the gym. I spent one hour there before I had my breakfast and prepared for the lab at 8.15am. I really enjoyed the view outside.

During the break in the evening, I changed to my gym attire, went straight to the gym. I spent almost 2 hours there, had my dinner and prepared for the lab.

It was a time well spent.

Malacca : RMK11 LFM & CI Workshop @ Ramada

I have attended a mini-lab to prepare the Logical Framework Matrix (LFM), Creativity Index (CI) and other components under the Blue Ocean Strategy for proposed projects under the Focus Group (FG) on Remanufacturing Industry for the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020). (ya my work is mouthful like that)

Since the FG Lead was away on Day 01, so I took charge on the FG. This is the best group I've been working with so far since it consists of experts from the academia (Dr. Rijal, Dr. Yusof and soon to be Dr. Halim), standards expert (Dr. Wan) and expert from remanufacturing field itself, the businessmen duo, Mr. Safwan and Mr. Rahim.

Their presentations were excellent!!! Well, how can it be otherwise since they are the experts in this country :) It is truly a privilege to develop this new industry in Malaysia with all of you, guys. Really hope I will return to this unit, develop remanufacturing industry with the team until 2020 and beyond, when I am back in October 2016.

Eh, why October 2016? Stay tune.

Nazreen's Note

Active kids

Dinner in bed

I have promised myself to leave my office on time everyday. It means 5.30pm sharp, I supposed to be walking to the punch card machine. Usually I have 3 meetings everyday and some stretches until 5.30pm or 6.00pm or even after 8.00pm. That means I will put my work on hold. Every.single.day. 

It is also hard since my division is preparing one of the Strategy Papers for 11th Malaysia Plan. Extremely important document to chart the development of our nation from 2016 to 2020, and beyond.

I am paying the price since 3.00am this morning (Saturday). I bring home my outstanding works, try to do it in between cooking, managing the kids, doing the dishes, entertaining calls (yelling actually) from the President because I have not completed my report, sweep the floor and the list is endless. 

I didnt even know what is right, anymore. Both seems wrong.

To come home early everyday and put all the works on hold? 

(meaning coming home early with thick documents, but stay up until morning to complete the work and spending weekends like TODAY, in front of the laptop and didnt have time to see what my kids were doing)

or

To complete everything at the office so I can have my family time at home, after work and during weekend. (meaning, I go home late)

Well that's not the point actually.

I just want to post this. My husband prepared me a dinner on bed.

...because I havent finished my work. And I have another two more reports to go.