Andalusia at West

Memory Lane - The Pilot of Flashbacks

2012-02-03T19:53:00.000-08:00

Today, four years ago, I landed in The United States of America on a quest to find my Andalusia at West. Today's date is February 4^th 2012, but the date I landed in US four years ago was February 3^rd 2008. The reason I still say that "it is today four years ago" is because by the time I landed in US February 3^rd 2008 it was already February 4^th 2008 in Malaysia. So my sense of date is not lost.

I have no picture for that memorable day as I didn't expect I would be writing about it in a memory lane for my own motivation to go to back to The US. My plan was to write about it as the starting point of my life in the promised land. Apparently the promised land is playing hard to get and has been asking more from me.

Nonetheless I would be writing about something that might be good for those who would like to take a budget but worth paying trip to the entertainment capital of the world - Los Angeles.

As I arrived in LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) I went downtown^[1] to stay in Cecil Hotel [Google Maps Link]:

Cecil Hotel on the Google Maps

The hotel looks descent enough from the outside:

Cecil Hotel on the Google Maps street view

But it really is a budget but worth paying for hotel. The rooms are big and clean enough to be considered small hotel rooms. But the showers and toilets are shared. No wifi in the room but it is reliable enough and free in the lobby. I chose the hotel because it is the cheapest in LA downtown, close to an LA Metro Rail station, and a walking distance to many LA's hotspots. The hotel actually appeared in one of Astro's documentary channel on something like 'the best bargain in LA'. If I'm not wrong it might be one of the episodes of The Lonely Planet.

You can find a review on the hotel in:

http://www.tripadvisor.com.my/Hotel_Review-g32655-d276208-Reviews-Cecil_Hotel-Los_Angeles_California.html.

And I've capture the most reliable, honest and open-minded review:

[ Best Review]

Let me remind you that this is the downtown of the third highest crime rate city in US. So it is advisable to explore the area during daylight and stay indoor after 5pm.

In case you flew all the way from Malaysia and looking for Malaysian Food in California, you can find one in Alhambra. I have documented it in one of my week's journal:

The Week's Journal (Oct/27 - Nov/2 2008)

Alhambra is a separate municipal in Los Angeles County, but you still can reach it using public bus services or LA Metro Rail. Just Google for "City of Alhambra".

And if you go to Disneyland in Annaheim, Orange County, you may also want to pay a visit to an Indonesian Warong Pojok in Garden Grove. You can find it in the same week's journal entry of mine.

I stayed in the hotel for two days to shop for some cheap winter clothing. In a future posting I would write about another budget place to stay in Santa Monica near Los Angeles. This was the hostel where I stayed few months before that memorable day I landed in America on the quest for Andalusia@West.


^[1]	Downtown in US refers to city center. This may cause confusion as most Malaysians refer the word downtown as the outskirt of the city.

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UPNM's Excellent Academic Award (Anugerah Akademik Cemerlang) 2011

2012-01-15T20:00:00.000-08:00

December 23^rd 2011 UPNM organized its first academic award at Putrajaya Marriott Hotel. The categories are research, book writing, publication and teaching. I proudly nominated myself for three of the categories. But too bad I didn't win anything. It is tough to beat those seniors who already have strong track records.

Me and the bunch at the table:

However, Miss Khadijah from the Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering had won one of the Teaching Award. Congratulations to her for proving that young people can!

As consolation for those who didn't win anything like me, we also got something:

Its a 4GB SanDisk

..,,//\\,,..

AKEPT's Program Pembangunan Kepimpinan Tunas Akademia

2012-01-12T22:44:00.001-08:00

I had involved a lot with politics during my service in MMU but I didn't hear anything about AKEPT. Even though I'm not really that young but I'm still required to attend the Tunas Akademia program from December 19^th to 21^st handled at Palm Garden Resort Putrajaya. I also just found out that UPNM is actually the Secretariat for Zon Tengah.

The main target for such program is to ensure that the academics, especially the young ones, are inline with the government's inspiration. It is not entirely politics but the stress is also put on their academic competency.

One of the talk.

Me during my group presentation of our discussion outcome. It was presented by Miss Hajar from UiTM.

...numwmWMWmwmun...

The Week's Journal (Dec/12 - Dec/18 2011)

2011-12-12T22:25:00.000-08:00

This blog has been ignored again. It looks like I can never find a free time if I would only be updating this blog when I'm free. Well, I cannot let that to happen any longer.

UPNM SLAB Training Module 5 (Dec/12 - Dec/13)

For the comeback, I'm updating this boring life of mine with the SLAB course module I attended this week. This round the course is about managing and analyzing data in qualitative research using NVivo. The course is pretty interesting. If only I have learned this technique before, my masters research may not have been so messy.

The course was conducted by Associate Professor Dr. Roslani Embi from UiTM. The interesting thing about him to me is the fact that he got his PhD from Virginia Tech, USA. He actually encouraged us to pursue our PhD in US. It is a lot easier to get through US system as the students will be given a 2-year course specifically about what they are supposed to do for the research. Unlike British system which just let the students to suddenly fly high on trial and error basis. However, Malaysian PhD candidates rarely choose USA for placement due to some trivial reasons like interview for visa, GRE, TOEFL, etc. It is true that US requirement is more stringent but that is NOT the reason why our PhD candidates did not choose US.

Electrical & Electronics Engineering Department FYP Presentation (Dec/14)

It was time for UPNM's EE students to get grilled by the lecturers and proved that they are ready for the project work in the next semester.

Official Opening of General Tun Ibrahim Library UPNM (Dec/15)

UPNM's new library has been operating for almost a year but the official opening had just been taken place this Thursday.

Some pictures to show the atmosphere around the ceremony:

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ICSECS' 11 at UMP June 27-29th, 2011

2011-07-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

Just few days before I went to Singapore for that last KTM ride from Tanjong Pagar, in the same week I attended The Second International Conference on Software Engineering and Computer Systems (ICSECS’ 11) in University of Malaysia Pahang (UMP). The conference was in cooperation with The Society of Digital Information and Wireless Communications (SDIWC).

I never knew before that UMP was running in a place that was used to be an industrial area. The staff and students housing is in a housing area with apartments. It reminds me when I visited University of Malaysia Kelantan (UMK). Since it was running in a shop lot area, walking around the campus is like walking for shopping in Kota Bharu. That was walking in UMK. Walking in UMP, on the hand, is like walking in a SME area.

The conference was great and full of colors. There are presenters from Mexico, Japan, all over Middle East, some from Europe and many others. The conference received more than 500 papers but only around 200 were accepted, which means the acceptance rate may be less than 40%. That is what it takes to be ISI and Scopus indexed and published in Springerlink proceedings. My own paper, which was on UML and design pattern, was actually rejected five times by other conferences and finally accepted by ICSECS after so much polishing and revising.

The interesting part in this conference is that the conference chairman (or chairwoman), also the lady dean of the Faculty of Computer Systems and Software Engineering of UMP, was actually my cousin. The more interesting part is that she knew I was there and she greeted me, and I didn’t immediately realize that was my cousin. What a shame!

Well, that’s how absent-minded I’m. Anyway, this is her photo with some VIP-s in the conference during dinner. The dinner was in Bukit Gambang Resort we all stayed.

Associate Professor Dr. Jasni Mohamad Zain (middle) with the VIP-s

And some other pictures at the dinner.

Me with some ladies from the committee and two guys from Japan and Egypt

The gentleman with songkok is Rahmat Widia, from Indonesia, who is a PhD student of Prof. Jasni's - he happened to sit next to me during the conference opening

The short me being sandwiched by Ben Sadeh (left, from Norway and now an exchange student in NUS) and Kai Evenli (right, from Austria)

...qqqoooppp...

In Memory of Tanjong Pagar KTM

2011-07-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

It is very sentimental to many that KTM has ceased operating from Tanjong Pagar Station, Singapore. I won’t make any political nor racial statements here today about this historical event. I trusted Tun Dr. Mahathir. If he says okey to what Najib’s administration is doing, I’ll say okey too.

I remember taking KTM train twice to Tanjong Pagar when I had to finish my masters thesis. I had to go to NUS and NTU to extend my literature review as requested by my external examiner. Those were my sentimental memories with Tanjong Pagar Station. Now my thesis feels like incomplete again.

I took the chance to experience the last KTM train heading out from Tanjong Pagar on June 30^th 2011. The trip started in KL Sentral 9am to Singapore, arriving at Tanjong Pagar a little after 5pm. Then coming back to KL at 10pm and arrived at 6am July 1^st 2011.

Enjoy some pictures I took from the training starting from JB Sentral until Tanjong Pagar. In some of the pictures I don’t really know what I was snapping at, but those snaps can never be taken from a KTM train anymore.

RTM TV crew interviewing passenger for a documentary of this historical event

New JB Sentral Station

A view of JB from the train just about to enter Selat Tebrau

A view of Singapore from the train just about to enter the island. Can you see the controversial big fresh water pipes below?

Traffic at Tambak Johor

The border in the middle of Tambak Johor

Woodlands Checkpoint from a distance

At Woodlands Checkpoint

Singapore MRT track crossing KTM track from above

Singaporean lifestyle - condominiums

More condominiums

West View Primary School

Some famous building?

A glimpse of the crowd in Bukit Timah Station that I managed to catch. At night there was a much bigger crowd.

A few Singaporeans taking pictures from outside of Tanjong Pagar Station

One of KTM locomotives at Tanjong Pagar

A proof that I was actually there

The other side of Tanjong Pagar Station

A view of the old Malaysian Custom checkpoint area - with an unwittingly posing (Malaysian) policeman

KTM Tanjong Pagar sign board

Front view of Tanjong Pagar Station

From Tanjong Pagar KTM, I walked to Tanjong Pagar MRT, from where we can find Masjid Al-Abrar just a walking distance away. It is now, sadly, just part of a terrace shop lot along Teluk Ayer Road:

Masjid Al-Abrar

Masjid Al-Abrar and Tanjong Pagar MRT in Google Maps

This historical event has sentimental value to the Singaporean as well. On the way to Tanjong Pagar, I have a Chinese Singaporean lady sitting behind me, taking the train just to take some last pictures of Singapore from the train. On the way back there were so many Singaporeans lining up along the road and highways to snap the last train coming out of Singapore. In Bukit Timah Station there was a huge crowd.

Night crowd inside station

Night crowd along the track

The old Malaysian Custom checkpoint, again

I thought my train was the last KTM coming out of Tanjong Pagar, but the very last one was the one operated by His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, The Sultan of Johor. They had a special marching out of the last train to be piloted by him.

The very last train heading out covered by a long banner

KTM even gave certs to those who ride the last train, but I didn’t manage to get it. So I took its snapshot to share it with all of you.

The certificate of history

Next, you may want to,

read this article from Singapore Straits Times about Sultan of Johor driving that last train, or
if it is not in their archive anymore, you can read from my local copy of the same article, or
enjoy a YouTube of the farewell showing the long crowd line-up at Bukit Timah:

...oooOOO000OOOooo...

The Quest Continued

2011-06-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

It has been tough and miserable, but the quest for Andalusia at West goes on. May be you don’t understand what I’m talking about. It doesn’t matter I’m just saying it.

My first attempt for the quest failed terribly due to some unforeseen crash of the world economy. I’m back in Malaysia now, resuming my life as an academic, now in The National Defense University of Malaysia. Hoping my next attempt, by the will of Allah s.a.w. will be fruitful and less unorthodox.

The fight will continue. Either I reach The Andalusia at West or the end of my life.

This blog too has been left un-updated for so long - more than two years. That’s how frustrated I was. But life goes on. This blog accompanies me with the quest. The plan was to write this blog from US, but plan can change, not the destination.

More details and stories in the coming flashbacks. For now, here is the picture of the entrance of my current university.

And the picture of the Sungai Besi Camp gate, where the university is in.

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Back to Midwest

2009-04-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

It has been long since I last updated this blog. The posting on the Indonesian restaurant was the last one. It was hard to write in a tough situation in California where I tried my best to look for a job placement for my CPT for MUM Compro degree.

Now I'm back in MUM campus in Fairfield, Iowa. Let's talk about the hardship of job seeking in California some time later after I actually get a job. I have to set my mind away from the hardship in order to continue focusing on job search.

Now that I'm back in campus, the Computer Science Department has given me some job to do so that I don't accumulate too much debt in my loan. Having to do the job just means that I'll have free food and place to stay, but nothing will be coming into my pocket. After 2 weeks or so doing some support jobs at the Computer Science Technical Support, the department gave me a teaching assistance job. Perhaps they realized that I have 10 years of teaching experience.

I was given TA job for the 2 preparatory classes for MUM's Compro program - FPP (Fundamental Programming Practice) and MPP (Modern Programming Practice). FPP is basically Introduction to Java Programming, and MPP is Java programming with some flavor of enterprise level programming. I couldn't disclose how much the TA pay is, but I can just say that, converting to Malaysian Ringgit, it might be more that what I used to make as a full teaching lecturer in MMU - the MMU lecturing job was 40 hrs a week minimum, while this TA job is 20 hrs a week maximum. The sad thing is that half of the pay has to be used to pay for my room and dining hall meals.

Check out some pictures in the class. The first picture is me in the class with one of the student (Compro grad student), Ramzi, from Jordan [Facebook]. I took one picture with him because he was in the best recommended dressing code for MUM students - long sleeve shirt and tie.

wwvvvWWVVVVVVWWvvvww

The Week's Journal (Oct/27 - Nov/2 2008)

2008-11-09T15:03:00.000-08:00

There are quite a bit of things happened this week and I think they are worth putting in this blog.

Job Fair at Irvine

On Monday October 27^th, I went to Dice.com job fair in Irvine. I was hoping to find a few employers to get some interview for my CPT placement. It was a little disappointing though because there were not many companies there. Dice.com wasn't so successful to attract them.

Job Fair at LA & The Indonesian Restaurant

Tuesday October 28^th, I went to another Dice.com job fair in Los Angeles. On the way I had to go to a Staples center to print some résumés. Near that Staples center I found this Indonesian restaurant:

It was my first time eating southeastern dish close enough to Malay dish since February this year. I was so happy that I think I want to help them promoting their restaurant. I feel that they are serious with their business since they have a website. This is their address, phone number, the website and Google Map location:

Indonesian Food Warung Pojok,
13113 Harbor Blvd.,
Garden Grove, CA 92843
714-638-8716
http://www.warungpojokindo.com/

And this is another picture of me, Ms. Eriza the manager, and an uncle who I suppose is the owner of the restaurant.

Now about the job fair. The one in LA was better than Irvine. I managed to get some numbers and promises. I even queued up a long line to talk to a representative from UCLA. It turns up there are quite a number of openings match my skill in UCLA. More than in most companies I already applied with failures.

The two job fairs didn't turn up like I expected. But I learned something. Compared to recruiters, direct companies are more open to the kind of work authorization I have. Almost all recruiters turned me down once they heard that I only have F1 visa. But those non-recruiter companies, they just asked "would you be able to prove that you are allowed to work in US if you are hired"?

The First Distance Mid Term

Saturday November 1^st, I had my first midterm for my first distance education course, Distributed Computing, in Riverside. It was a long round trip drive of about 100 miles just for the test. The question was on JSP, servlet, remote method call, etc. I answered all questions and hoping to get most of them correct.

While driving back from the test I realized I saw rain for the second time in California. The first one was during the Lakewood open house. That how dry California is. But, there was another significant rain on the election day November 4^th.

The Malaysian Restaurant

Sunday November 2^nd, I still had the car I rent for the midterm. When I was in the Indonesian restaurant, I learned that there is a Malaysian restaurant, named Yazmin, in Alhambra, Los Angeles CO. I Googled it, found it, then I drove to LA late that day and arrived on time for dinner to go:

I'm helping this restaurant's business too by providing you, my visitor, with their location and contact should you come to LA:

Yazmin Malaysian Restaurant,
27 E. Main St.,
Alhambra, CA 91801
626-308-2036

And this is a picture of me and Mr. Lee, the restaurant owner. There is a picture of Pak Lah in the restaurant in his visit to LA.

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The First Aidil Fitri

2008-10-11T21:40:00.000-07:00

My journey in "The Promised Land" started more than half year ago in February 2008 when I started my journey to Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa, as a Compro student for February 2008 intake. I should have written this journal by that time but I didn't have time. Anyway I think it is good to start the journal in this blessed month of Syawal 1430. After all, Aidil Fitri is the chief of the days in a year. I'll do flashback to write my stories about my life in Fairfield, Iowa, when time comes.

It was Syawal 5^th 1430, equivalent to October 5^th 2008, just before dusk, I was with a few Malaysian students here in Southern California and a few officials from Malaysian Student Department, Los Angeles. The place is called Rosemead, perhaps around 5 miles from downtown Los Angeles. It was Aidil Fitri gathering organized by MSD.

The busiest hours had passed, so I'm left with a few that came late. It was good, though, because I think if I came during peak hours, I won't be able to chat closely with Mdm Hamidah Abd Karim, the Education Vice-Consul of MSD LA - the lady standing in the picture. Sitting in front of her was Omar, from USC, and another student was Nazmi whose head was blocked by Mr David, a local at the housing area. Omar and Nazmi happens to be Kelantanese. Coincidence?

Another photo of me, Omar and Mdm. Hamidah...

The day before at Lakewood

There was another Aidil Fitri celebration the day before at Lakewood, near Long Beach and nearer to my place, Garden Grove. This was organized by MIFNA (Malaysian Islamic Foundation of North America). There were more and tastier food.

There were more people too. Not only Malays, but also non-Muslim Malaysians. Here's another picture of people I meet. There are some non-Malaysians including invited VIPs.

The actual 1st of Syawal

On the actual Syawal 1^st (October 1^st), I took my chance to do the Aidil Fitri prayer in Los Angeles because there is almost no Malaysian other than me in Garden Grove area. I went to Los Angeles Convention Center in my baju Melayu, hoping if someone from Malaysia recognize the attire would greet me for Aidil Fitri. But obviously there was no Malaysian there too. I only meet an Indonesian couple.

The journey was: I left home at around 4.30am, took the first OCTA bus to Long Beach, then took the MetroRail Blue Line to Los Angeles. I was just on time to join the prayer at 7.30am; luckily the Blue Line stops close enough to the Convention Center. I performed Subuh on the train!!! Take a look at some pictures at the Convention Center. Los Angeles mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, gave a speech after the khutbah.

And the picture after...

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The Life Story of Muhazam in the West

2008-09-01T20:34:00.000-07:00

My life in the USA started here in Fairfield, Iowa. I arrived at the campus of Maharishi University of Management (MUM) at around 9pm local time February 7^th 2008, fetched by an Ethiopian MBA Accounting student, Henok, from the Mt. Pleasent Amtrak Station.

I lived in the campus, in that small city of Fairfield, until September 15^th 2008 when I checked out from the campus and headed to Galesburg, Illinois, to the very same Amtrak station where I first arrived in Illinois. I headed to California for job search as required by the master program I enrolled in MUM, Compro.

Behind me in the picture is the Golden Dome, a symbol of Transcendental Meditation (TM) Movement.

--oo<><><>oo--