Discreet Thoughts

Simpang 3

2010-12-19T23:52:00.003+08:00

Ada apa dalam fikiran ku?
Masa Silam, Masa Kini, dan Masa Depan.

Apabila difikirkan masa silam, keputusan-keputusan yang telah aku buat, memang tidak boleh disesali. Namun perasaan "Jikalau" itu tetap ada. 5 tahun lalu, aku dipersembahkan dengan 2 pilihan, Sukan atau Akademik.

Bukan semua orang boleh dapat peluang sebegini. Aku bertuah kerana pada masa itu, masa depanku tampak cerah, aku boleh pilih untuk melangkah jauh dalam arena sukan ataupun mendapatkan Ijazah dari universiti. Aku pilih kedua-duanya.

Pada ketika itu, aku rasa aku boleh melakukannya, iaitu menjadi seorang 'Student-athlete'. Dalam fikiranku, memilih untuk melakukan kedua-duanya sekali bukanlah sesuatu yang susah. Dari zaman sekolah lagi aku telah lalui situasi sebegini. Bagaimanapun, ternyata, jangkaan aku meleset sama sekali. Zaman sekolah dengan Zaman Universiti sangat berbeza. Begitu juga dengan menjadi atlit negeri dengan menjadi atlit negara.

'Student-Athlete'. Nampak di situ, Pelajar dahulu Atlit kemudian. Walaupun Athlete bermula dari A, tetapi hingga takat ini, belum lagi aku nampak orang menggunakan istilah 'Athlete-Student'. Sebagai seorang pelajar, memang kita patut mendahulukan pelajaran daripada hal-hal yang lain. Itulah yang telah aku lakukan sejak dulu. Masa sekolah dulu, aku lebih banyak menghabiskan masa di gelanggang pertandingan berkhidmat untuk negeri yang tercinta. Meskipun begitu, apabila tibanya masa peperiksaan, segala pertandingan akan diabaikan.

Tidak sama apabila berada di menara gading, aku tidak mampu untuk meninggalkan kuliah untuk pergi ke latihan dan pertandingan. 1 semester panjangnya cuma 4 bulan, sekiranya aku ada pertandingan besar, aku akan memerlukan 2 bulan untuk memperbaiki permainan aku untuk menghadapi pertandingan itu. Maka besar kemungkinan juga dalam masa 2 bulan itu, aku tidak akan dapat menghadirkan diri ke kelas. Di situ, aku akan ketinggalan dalam pembelajaran, dan efeknya akan terpampang dalam slip keputusan di akhir semester nanti.

Begitu juga dengan tanggungjawab sebagai atlit negara, tidak sama dengan menjadi atlit negeri. Jurulatih negara akan menekankan bahawa latihan tidak boleh ditinggalkan 'at all cost'. Maruah negara akan dipertaruhkan ketika berada di pertandingan luar, begitu juga dengan duit rakyat. Aku pernah diberi amaran beberapa kali kerana tidak hadir ke latihan.Ya lah, orang lain datang latihan 5 kali seminggu, tapi nak nampak muka aku 3 kali seminggu pun susah.

Gombak ke Sunway adalah dalam 45km. Kalau tidak ada kesesakan lalu lintas dan aku bergerak selaju 120km/j sepanjang perjalanan, aku boleh sampai dalam 30-40 minit. Tapi kelas aku habis pukul 5pm, latihan bermula pukul 5pm juga. Nak tak nak, pilihan perlu dibuat.

...lain kali lah sambung.. malas pula nak tulis panjang-panjang.. hahaha!

Christmas has yet to arrive

2010-12-17T10:53:00.007+08:00

Ok, so after spending a couple of months trying to learn on how to create a program using Visual Basic Application from scratch, i think i'm done.

It's basically a user form. As i said before, it's sounds simple, and it definitely is simple. hahaha

So that up there is the first page. User will browse for the pricing sheet by clicking the browse button. Then, user can easily retrieve all the data that is needed by clicking the 'Retrieve' button. Hence they don't need to use the copy-paste option anymore. :p

Next would be of course the next page. Here, Overview of the project should be written by the users themselves. This is because every project is different, so the overview should be different. -_-" and yes below the would be the total price of the project that will be proposed to the customers or clients.

After that should be some preview of the items and price selected to be proposed to the customers. Users can add comments below to be put into the proposal. Once everything is done, user should click "Generate Proposal" to generate proposal. >.<

Tadda! i know it looks lame.. hahaha but it's a business proposal, it should look like this. straight forward and everything. *patting my own back*

I don't think this thing i created here fulfilled the requirements that the boss wants, but i'm just gonna give it to them and let them try it out first. will wait anxiously for their feedbacks. *that's a lie, i'm cool.*

Till then, good bye, good luck, and good riddance.

Christmas is Coming

2010-12-15T17:34:00.008+08:00

I will try to write in Bahasa Malaysia in this entry. why? Because i'm a GANGSTA! haha

hello pembaca-pembaca semua. Apa khabar kalian? diharap kalian sihat-walafiat sepanjang waktu.

Setelah genap 2 bulan saya berada di bumi Singapura ini, secara jujurnya, tidak banyak pengalaman baru yang telah saya tempuhi. Hanyalah terpaksa menyesuaikan diri dengan kehidupan di tempat baru. Keadaan sebegitu bukanlah asing bagi diri saya.

Namun, apa yang saya dapati selama saya berada di sini ialah memang saya tidak sesuai menjadi seorang graduan Sains Komputer. Bukan tidak layak, cuma tidak sesuai. Minat saya terhadap bidang ini hanya terbatas kepada mengagumi(mengkagumi?) teknologi gajet-gajet terbaru. Selok-belok tentang bagaimana cara pembikinan sebuah perisian komputer semua bukanlah termaktub dalam minat saya.

Memang pada mulanya saya berminat dengan cara-cara menggodam komputer, mencipta perisian komputer, mahupun menjadi pakar dalam sekuriti pengkomputeran. Akan tetapi, semua benda di atas memerlukan dedikasi untuk dipelajari. Dedikasi itulah yang saya tidak ada. Seperti untuk mahir dalam matematik, kita perlu berlatih dengan latih tubi dan sebagainya. Saya tidak pernah rajin dalam hal-hal berlatih ini. Mungkin itulah sebabnya saya tidak pernah mendapat markah yang cemerlang dalam peperiksaan akhir. Bukan mungkin, tapi memang itulah sebabnya. haha Saya hanya mampu skor dalam Quiz-quiz ataupun tugasan yang diberikan oleh pensyarah kerana benda yang ditanya adalah berkaitan dengan ilmu yang baru saja dipelajari, dan bukannya benda yang dah lapuk. :P

Jadi secara konklusinya, setelah 2 bulan pergi pejabat, cuba menyelesaikan tugasan yang diberikan oleh majikan, saya dapati, minat saya terletak dalam bidang lain. Tapi siapa tahu, 4 bulan akan datang ini akan memberikan anjakan paradigma (saja nak pakai perkataan ini) kepada minat saya dalam selok-belok Sains Perkomputeran. Putus asa bukanlah satu pilihan, cuma kemalasan menjadi halangan

Saya akhiri dengan peribahasa yang telah lama ingin saya guna tetapi tidak kesampaian,

Hangat-hangat Tahi Ayam

Internship

2010-10-31T16:24:00.002+08:00

Hello again. It's my 3rd week here. So far life's okay. Internship is also okay. Nothing to shout about. Tasks were given to me from day 1 but up till now, still no progress. How sad is that? Haha

The director of the company requested for me to design a program that enables the sales team to make a proposal or a write up for their customers, by clicking the requirements that their customers asked for. Basically, he wants an automatic proposal/write up generator to make life easier for the sales team.

I know it seems to be fairly simple. But that's really a challenge for me since i'm not as gifted in programming like most of my friends in campus. (If only I was Mark Zuckernberg back then would be cool LOL) Plus I've been out of the game for so long that I forgot most of the things I learn in class. I didn't know where to start, I could only imagine how it would work in the end product. So there I was, stuck for the most part of my first 3 weeks interning for the company. To make it worse, I didn't have anyone to turn to.

The company that I'm interning for is actually an engineering company. Their product caters a niche area in the energy sector. Hence, most if not all of the staffs there have an engineering background. But none of them know a lot more about computers than I do. Even my supervisor there can't help me if I'm having trouble in completing the task. So yes, it's a torture, there's no help around, the only help I can get is from the internet. But google can only do that much.

I didn't whine, I just kept my head down, and searched for answers in the world wide web. I think I've explored the internet in the past couple of weeks more than I did the last 12months. So far, to no avail. But the good thing is, I'm under no pressure at all from the boss. He's quite a laid back fella. He just hopes that I can complete it by the end of this year so that the company can use the solution at the start of next year.

So that's basically it, my first 3 weeks interning for the company. I just hope I can find the solution soon as possible. Tomorrow would be the start of November, so December is coming by fast. I don't want to burden myself thinking about the workload during that time. It's holiday season! Hahahaha

Till next time. Chow.
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My First Post As An Alien in Singapore

2010-10-25T13:55:00.001+08:00

Hello! Finally my first post in Singapore! I'm actually stealing the company time so I guess I'll post more later. :)
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Light Up Light Up

2010-09-18T00:26:00.001+08:00

Depressing.
I've never felt this depressed before. A part of me is gone, albeit only for a while. Drowned myself in sorrow for the longest period of time.
It's personal, yet opening up seems to be the only way. The thought of facing each day without haunts me. I need my beacon of light to shine me through this darkness.

"Run"

I'll sing it one last time for you
Then we really have to go
You've been the only thing that's right
In all I've done

And I can barely look at you
But every single time I do
I know we'll make it anywhere
Away from here

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

To think I might not see those eyes
Makes it so hard not to cry
And as we say our long goodbye
I nearly do

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

Slower slower
We don't have time for that
All I want is to find an easier way
To get out of our little heads

Have heart my dear
We're bound to be afraid
Even if it's just for a few days
Making up for all this mess

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Music Used to Mean Something

2010-09-02T02:07:00.006+08:00

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I take a look at my life
And realize there's nothing left.
'Cause I've been blasting and laughing so long
That even my momma thinks that my mind has gone.
But I ain't never crossed a man that didn't deserve it.
Me be treated like a punk, you know that's unheard of.
You betta watch how ya talking
And where ya walking
Or you and your homies might be lined in chalk.
I really hate to trip but I gotta lob,
As they croak, I see myself in the pistol smoke.
Fool, I'm the kinda g that little homie's wanna be like,
On my knees in the night
Saying prayers in the street light.

We've been spending most our lives
Living in a gangsta's paradise.
We've been spending most our lives
Living in a gangsta's paradise.
We keep spending most our lives
Living in a gangsta's paradise.
We keep spending most our lives
Living in a gangsta's paradise.

Look at the situation, they got me facing,
I can't live a normal life, I was raised by the state.
So I gotta be down with the 'hood team,
Too much television watching, got me chasing dreams.
I'm an educated fool with money on my mind
Got my ten in my hand and a gleam in my eye.
I'm a locked out gangsta, set tripping banger
And my homies are down so don't arouse my anger.
Fool, death ain't nothing but a heart beat away,
I'm living life do or die, what can I say?
I'm twenty-three now, will I ever live to see twenty-four,
The way things is going I don't know.

Tell me why are we
So blind to see.
That the ones we hurt
Are you and me?
We've been spending most our lives
Living in a gangsta's paradise.
We've been spending most our lives
Living in a gangsta's paradise.
We keep spending most our lives
Living in a gangsta's paradise.
We keep spending most our lives
Living in a gangsta's paradise.

Power in the money, money in the power,
Minute after minute, hour after hour,
Everybody's running, but half of them ain't looking
It's going on in the kitchen
But I don't know what's cooking.
They say I gotta learn
But nobody's here to teach me.
If they can't understand it, how can they reach me?
I guess they can't,
I guess they won't,
I guess they front,
That's why I know my life is out of luck, foo!

We've been spending most our lives
Living in a gangsta's paradise.
We've been spending most our lives
Living in a gangsta's paradise.
We keep spending most our lives
Living in a gangsta's paradise.
We keep spending most our lives
Living in a gangsta's paradise.
Tell me why are we
So blind to see.
That the ones we hurt
Are you and me?
Tell me why are we
So blind to see.

That the ones we hurt
Are you and me?

Unlocking your Huawei E220 modem

2010-08-14T05:26:00.001+08:00

Have you ever subscribed to Celcom broadband before? Did they provide you with a Huawei E220 HSDPA USB Modem? Have you ever wanted to switch subscriber but don't want to waste your money in buying a new modem because you thought that you could simply use the available Huawei E220 modem?

I have. But as I suspected before, I couldn't simply the modem that Celcom gave to me.

Consequently as a result, I've been using my Nokia N97 as a modem for the past couple of months. Yes, such a waste of device to be using the cell phone just for the sake of turning it into a modem. Hence I've search far and wide to find the answer in unlocking the Huawei E220.
It was a trial and error process until I’ve found a link from one of the forums I Googled (If there is such a term). So let us cut to the chase and go straight to telling you how to do it. It’s pretty simple but I think I just got lucky. Try it at your own risk.

1st Step:
Go to http://www.dc-unlocker.com/downloads/Huawei/Huawei_E220
2nd Step:
Click the Download : E220_Dashboard_WIN_HOSTB107D05SP00C03 link and download .zip file.
3rd Step:
Make sure your modem in connected and run unzip the file downloaded before running it.
4th Step:
Just follow the procedures and you are done.

That’s it, pretty simple isn’t it? Now you can use your Huawei E220 with any Internet Service Provider without any worries. But as I said, I think I just got lucky, just by upgrading Internal ZeroCD Dashboard was enough to “unlock” the modem.
If you dared to try, it’s at your own risk and I won’t be held responsible if anything happens to your modem.
Just my 20cents.

Damned if I do, Damned if i don't.

2010-08-12T04:52:00.000+08:00

This is it, 2:49am, Thursday August 12, 2010, trying for the first time to write a bit on what’s going on inside my head. After so long, yes, very long indeed, I finally managed to do it. Not that I don’t have anything to write about, I was just plain lazy.

See, at first, the only thing that made me want to have a weblog was that, I was so impressed with the writings by some of the people around me. Their effortless and their confidence in the language they use is something that I envy of. I felt that I would never be able reach that level since most of the time (all the time actually) I can only use laymen terms. Hence I made it a point that, in order to improve my language either in Bahasa or English, I need to practice. But practice is not one of my virtues. Laziness, instead, is my sin.

Blah blah blah, so let’s get into it. What is it that bothered me so much that I am able to write this? I don’t know. Probably I’m just too bored. But then again, what can I write here without compromising some of the security issues that comes with writing a weblog? Some of my friends disagree when I put up my present location on Facebook via Foursquare. They surely denounce me if I go rambling on about my daily life in the internet. And without a doubt, it won’t be cool, LOL.

As I write this, my head’s thinking about an article that I read last month in a magazine, it’s about how Google is going to take over the world and basically you’re a dead meat if you’re on the G-list. Whatever information that you put up in the internet will remain in the internet forever. Skipping on telling you on how it would remain, because it’ll take more than a weblog to explain it, I’m just going to tell you that it is definite true and you should believe it. That is why there was so much of hesitation from me to have my own weblog. Think about it, once it’s up there in the internet, anyone which is everyone will have access to it. Think about the privacy issues, think about the information that you are giving to the geniuses around the world that are more than capable of misusing them. Maybe it doesn’t sound scary enough but it may affect you in the future.

However, having a weblog of my own let me explore the impending creativity inside me that is itching to be let loose. Writing something will give me some satisfaction in any dissatisfaction that I may have encountered. I know I’m not the only one. Admit it, you do too. Try scrolling down through the status updates in Facebook (that’s the only networking site that I’ve actively joined since Friendster became lame), you can see most of the status updates are about the ordinary Joe’s and Jane’s displeasure about something. Telling the whole world that “My boss is such an a-hole” will get you in trouble, but you still do it because it pleases you.

So what’s the point here? Well, it’s just my 20cents.

Thoughts

2009-12-20T04:21:00.000+08:00

I woke up in the middle of the night to find myself thinking, “What have I done all my life?” I could not answer the question. Maybe the question was wrong, maybe the question should be: “after more than 2 decades of living, what should I accomplish by now?”That is a simpler question and rather easier to be answered.

I like to think that I am destined to achieve greatness, or at least something. Yet, disappointments came knocking like there is no tomorrow. Just when I thought I could achieve something, I fell short, I was halted even before I reach the starting line, without being able to prove that I really could. I hate it when that happens. Deep down I really know that I am able, I am better than this, but why? Why when it mattered most, I always found myself facing a brick wall, a glass ceiling, et cetera, call it what you want.

I am actually sad of not being able to show the world what I am capable of, I am sad that of all the potential I have, I could not fulfill it. What a waste. Literally, what a waste, because when I look back, a quote from the article Legacy of Regret for Saudi's Top Diplomat in NST(19/12/2009) came across my mind:

"You see the amount of water, you think you can hold something in your hand, but it falls away. Sand is the same thing. So unless there is something to hold in your hand and to point to as a success and as an achievement, then you have done nothing."

IF ONLY I WOKE UP EARLIER THAT DAY.

About Me

2009-03-14T23:58:00.000+08:00

Hello, Mohammed Zaim Zulfadhlie Said is the name given by my parents when i was born.
5th of May was the date.

I am their 3rd child out of four.

My father is a government servant while my mother works in a private company.
I came from a humble town of Kota Kinabalu which used to be known as Jesselton during the English Era and also Api-api when Japan occupied the territory.
I grew up there and lived there most of my life until I finished high school (proud Sabah Collegian) and had to enter International Islamic University Malaysia which is situated in the Malaysian Capital of Kuala Lumpur to further my studies.

I like cars, i like gadgets, i like sports, i like a lot of stuff.

This is me. ->

This is an image that represents myself. "Cool, Soothing, Beneficial"

Educational and Career Goals

2009-03-14T23:55:00.002+08:00

I'm majoring in Bachelor of Computer Science under the Kulliyyah of Information and Communication Technology of IIUM.

I think this is the right field for me since I have always been interested in technology and there is no better place than IIUM to obtain my degree. The international environment here makes me love this place more. But no matter how much I love studying here, I can’t run from the fact that there will always be incompetent lecturers working in any educational institution. It’s not that they don’t master their subject well; most of them just don’t know how to project their thoughts or ideas so that the students will be able to fully understand their teachings. There may be other obstacle that I have faced as a student here but this is one of the things that I just have to contend with, at least until the university decides to improve their teaching staff.

Leadership has constantly been my key strength when faced by a problem. Taking control of things during duress never really is the problem. Only when it comes to scheduling that I may face a bit of a headache. But I’m still working on it now so I can improve myself as a person.
Most of my achievements didn’t come from Computer Science but rather from the co-curriculum activities that I’ve been participated since I’ve joined IIUM, more precisely in sports.
I hope to see myself as a successful person in any field of Information Technology. It doesn’t matter whether it’s in the Security, Networking, Programming, Artificial Intelligence or any related IT fields. I just want to succeed so in later years, i can look back without regrets. I want to obtain my degree first then continue to masters before going into the industry. That way, I will have enough knowledge and be more confident in stepping into the “real world”. I know it is unorthodox to pursue my masters before getting any experience in the industry, but in my opinion, this is the way to go as i go by the principle of "learning before leaping".

IT Project Management Tips

2009-03-14T23:55:00.001+08:00

Based on all the knowledge that I've gathered from the PMIT class, there is one very useful tip that people in general can benefit from which is “Triple Constraints of Project Management”.

Even though I’ve learnt it from the early part of the class, the importance of the Triple Constraints can’t be overlooked. Scope, Time and Cost, these three things will determine whether a project is a successful one or a failure. This is because satisfying all these three constraint will make any project a successful one. Every one of these constraints are actually interconnected where if one does not satisfy for example the cost, the time will be affected, thus making life harder for any project manager.

Therefore, to be a good project manager, one must look carefully into the Triple Constraints and not to belittle the influence it has on a project.

To add to the Triple Constraints that I mentioned earlier, here are the general advice that I’ve learnt during the PMIT class on managing Project Team:
• Be patient and kind with your team.
• Fix the problem instead of blaming people.
• Establish regular, effective meetings.
• Allow time for teams to go through the basic team-building stages.
• Limit the size of work teams to three to seven members.
• Plan some social activities to help project team members and other stakeholders get to know each other better.
• Stress team identity.
• Nurture team members and encourage them to help each other.
• Take additional actions to work with virtual team members.

And here are some of the benefits that I have gotten from the PMIT class:
• I have acquired knowledge and skills that are essential in becoming a good project manager.
• My understanding of the importance of good relationship with other team members in a project is better now.
• I’m much more confident in talking in front of an audience.
• I’m not afraid to take on the challenges of becoming a real project manager some day.

Reflections on IT Project Management class

2009-03-14T23:49:00.000+08:00

What do you like best about the course?

I like it in the sense that the course teaches me how to handle a project if I was to be given one. It can be a helpful guideline for me in the future. I learned a lot from this course and the fact that it made us do many presentations add more fun into the course. These presentations had help me with my communication skills and also developed my self confidence. To add to the list of what I like best about this course is that this course has been a two-way learning from the start. The lecturer allows me and the rest of the students to express our views and she will accept it during teachings.

What do you dislike most about the course?

What I dislike about this course is that contrary during lectures, the examination or tests have been strictly according to the book. We can’t express our own ideas even if it’s actually usable or rational.
We can’t even use our own words to explain things when needed and that is very frustrating for me because I’ve never been the sort of student who memorizes word for word from the book. When I understand things, I like to interpret it with my own words because it shows that I do understand things rather than just memorize it.

What are your proposed suggestions to improve the course delivery and content?

In my opinion, more discussions are likely the best way to improve the course delivery and content. Also maybe we can add practical assignments so that students can really feel what it is like to be in a project.