Saturday, February 16, 2013

1 Utama is the Largest

As a bachelor, I like to hang around in shopping complex just to pass time. One of my favorite shopping center is 1 Utama [Wiki] in Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia:


There are a few reasons for this choice. One of it is that I felt 1 Utama is the biggest shopping mall in Malaysia. Many people think another shopping mall in Malaysia, Mid Valley Megamall [Wiki], is the largest:


However, I think 1 Utama is the largest after they made the new wing extension. My intuition was confirmed by CNN after I saw this sign in 1 Utama:


You can read this link from CNN:
And please also read this Wikipedia entry. Wouldn't you be so proud being Asian as all the 11 top 10 largest malls in the world are all in Asia? And wouldn't you be so proud being Malaysian as 3 out of those 11 top 10 are from Malaysia? Read on:
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Monday, February 11, 2013

Memory Lane - That Day I Took A Suicidal Walk

Yesterday, 5 years ago, it was my first Sunday in US. The sky was clear but it was really extremely cold. Later in the day I saw in the Weather Channel that the temperature was -16°C. Then someone told me that it usually coldest when the sky is clear because the clear sky is due to the dry cold air from north pole. It won't be so cold when it is snowing because the process of snow crystallization actually releases heat (exothermic).

Something I really remember about this first Sunday was that it was the day that I decided to take a walk to Fairfield's Walmart. It was 4 km walking round trip. I invited the 2 of my most recent friends - Murzal and Julian to join me. They followed.

Fairfield Walmart on Google Maps [Latitude = 41.005075, Longitude = -91.983485]:


You can compare with the location of MUM [Latitude = 41.017802, Longitude = -91.967338]:


It was so cold that we had to stop for shelter a few times including in a coin laundry shop. Luckily we were fetched - go and back - by a gentlemen driving his family to Walmart too. They told us the weather was so cold and it could kill and walking like that was suicidal.

Back at the campus I took this memorable picture in front of McLaughlin building, the building where the Computer Science Department is:


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Thursday, February 7, 2013

Memory Lane - Is It Already 5 Years?

It is February 7th 2013. Today, 5 years ago, I arrived at Maharishi University of Management as a master student in ComPro program. Two days ago, the same year, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the consciousness based education university himself, died. How time flies.

I recall that it was late night of Thursday too. The next day, Friday, I first time met the two Indonesian super fast coders - Murzal and Julian - when I was walking in the snow looking for the Argiro Student Center for breakfast. We were looking for a place to perform Friday prayer too. I wonder where they are now. Too bad I have lost all those memorable pictures.

Realizing how time makes fools of us all, I remember another quote from the same website (http://simpledirectoryanalyzer.orbiter-g.com/):


Not only that this quote is good for students, it is also good for me who wishes to pursue the quest for Andalusia@West. May Allah swt layout me a way.

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Friday, February 1, 2013

Will I Ever Have Time for Blog?

Two days more, one year ago, I wrote my last last blog post. It is amazing how time flies and how promises are hard to keep. As an academic, I want to write. But would I ever have time for this blog?

Earlier this week I happened to surf for a freeware on applications that can analyze directory content. I found this site:
I found the software that I was looking for, but I was also struck by a random quote that the page displayed when I saw it:


It occurred to me that I might not have put enough effort for this writing, and it might indicate that I'm lacking great mind. I pray to Allah s.w.t. give the time.

I have made my quest for Andalusia at West a lifetime pursuit, why not the blog too?
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