Acrylic Painting- there's nothing to it

I am basically writing this blog to encourage you all who are waiting to start on painting. What you can see above is my first ever acrylic painting. here. I used to do lot of paintings when I was a school boy, about 20 yrs back. This is my first revisit to the field. I think I have done justice to the picture here.

Before starting I spent month researching into acrylic painting, reading books browsing internet etc. Believe me it doesn't give you much help. Main thing is YOU JUST START DOING IT. Until you get the feel you will not get the confidence. Once you start, things will start coming.

Bottom line is if you are hoping to start on painting go to the shop buy your stuff and start doing it. You will be surprised to see how good you are. I loved it and enjoyed. I am not gonna look back now.

When you buy the brushes buy soft quality brushes. When you buy your first set of colors it might help you to buy all in one packages which will have a palette, palette knife, varnish etc. Then it will give you a good safe start. Then you can build upon that.

Any advices needed, I am at your service

Sleep Deprivation

Sometimes, I was wondering the consequences of sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation is a form of psychological torture produces due to the lack of sleep. In other words, how will the sleepnessless affect our body?


Caption: sleep

I have been reading some articles concerned the stress issue. There is one Behavioral and Brain Sciences journal stated that the sleep deprivation effect is considered as a serious type of stress to human. If so, those people who have little sleep every night are trying to put themselves at risk.


Caption: beta-amyloid protien

There is a group of neuro scientist reported that the lack of sleep will cause the development of toxic plaques in the brain area. It seems that stress effects will put our brain at risk by increasing the toxic level. But, how? In fact, it all happens when this thing called the beta-amyloid protein in our brain react by increasing the toxic level. For your information, the beta-amyloid protein is sticky. The plaques will form when the beta-amyloid proteins accumulate together. When the toxics are built in our brain, it will start killing the nerve cells (or neurons). This is why the lack of sleep will help toxic plaques to develop in the brain, accelerating the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer is not a curable disease. It produces a degeneration effect in our brain, particularly at our memory. As written in one of my previous post (click HERE), the effect of the Alzheimer disease will usually take place when a person starts aging (getting older) since the neurons in our brain will subsequently reduce every year by year, and when a person do not use their brain well. The lack of critical thinking (or if we do not use our brain for critical thinking from time to time) will usually lead to the Alzheimer disease. Evidences from Brain Sciences journals stated that these toxic will start building up very quickly when a person stay awake for more than 20 hours.


Caption: the effects of the Alzheimer disease (click to enlarge image)

The image above depicts the results a person's brain when suffered from the Alzheimer disease. The hippocampus which controls the long-term memory is shrinked, severely impairing a persons memory function. This is also a reason of the collapse of memory in a person with the Alzheimer disease.

There are various methods used to reduce the formation of toxics in our brain. First, a group of scientist has successfully examined that this drug called the "Almorexant" will help to lower the amount of plaque-forming protein. However, the Almorexant drug is usually used to cure the insomnia disease, and I do not think you can buy this drug without doctor's prescription. Insomnia means unable to sleep. Second, perhaps the most common way to reduce the formation of plaques, that is to sleep longer everyday. This method is useful to limit the formation of toxic in our brain, or perhaps will block it entirely.


Caption: brain regions affected by sleep deprivation (click to enlarge)

Anyway, we could not stop the formation of toxics entirely since the beta-amyloid protein will be produced automatically in our brain as soon as we are awake! There is a group of neuro scientist from the Cambridge University in UK indicated to not consume pills when we have the Alzheimer disease. It is probably not an advisable approach to mitigate the effects of Alzheimer. Instead, they suggest to do plenty of exercises. Exercising is an effective and natural way to keep our body to induce a better sleep. Of course, the building of proteins (toxic) in our body is not only caused by the lack of sleep. They believe that other biological factors will speed up the process. Some biological factors include (1) the foods we consume (2) the weather, e.g. cold, warm etc. (3) mental stability, e.g. brain injuries and (4) infections from various diseases.


Caption: comparison of the brain of a normal and alzheimer patient

Overall, I think the most effective approach to reduce the formation of plaques is to sleep more and properly. There evidences from different medical journals, reported that a person should sleep around 10 PM - 4 AM, or from 11 PM to 5 AM since that is the time our body will repair abnormal cells in our body.

Pregnancy

This post was intentionally dedicated for two friends.

In this post, I will highlight some facts of nutritions with which pregnancy womens should consume during their pregnancy period. Of course, I will try to cover some restricted foods during this period. Please consult a GP (or doctor) for further nutriton and advices during pregnancy period.


Caption: pregnancy


Caption: pregnancy stage

Anyway, I have read some medical books of pregnancy, and those books suggest some facts for fertility. If you want to increase your chances of getting pregnant, you must consume more vitamins and minerals. The book stated this: "Take a good-quality multivitamin suppliment, and combined it with a wholesome diet". The book also suggest that fat is essential for fertility. It says that women need body fats in order to ovulate (a term used to describe the formation of egg in her ovary in which a baby can be formed). Women whose BMI (Body Mass Index) is 20.7 or below will have an infertile chance of 50%. This means they have difficulties in giving birth. Do not worry if your BMI is below 20.7 because you still the other 50% fertility chance. The ideal BMI level a women should have is between 23 and 24, for conception. This was what written in the paper. Therefore, please do not go underweight (and over weight). Anyway, here is a BMI calculator (click HERE). You need to key in your height (in centimetre) and weight (in pounds) to perform the calculation.


Caption: fetus

The BMI calculator is also useful, acting as a health calculator. According to the National Health Service (NHS):

For female

You are underweight if your BMI is below 19.1 (the lower the greater risk)
You are normal if your BMI is between 19.1 - 25.8
You are marginal overweight if your BMI is between 25.8 - 27.3
You are overweight if your BMI is between 27.3 - 32.3
You are severely overweight if your BMI is between 32.3 - 44.8
You are at high-risk if your BMI is beyond 44.8

For male

You are underweight if your BMI is below 20.7 (the lower the greater risk)
You are normal if your BMI is between 20.7- 26.4
You are marginal overweight if your BMI is between 26.4 - 27.8
You are overweight if your BMI is between 27.8 - 31.1
You are severely overweight if your BMI is between 31.1 - 45.4
You are at high-risk if your BMI is beyond 45.4


Caption: twin fetus

I am sure there are some minor issues related to pregnancy which we have understand already, that is the twin babies. If your (and your partner's) family tree do not have of any twins or triplets, then you will never have a twin baby. Please avoid giving birth in late 30s and 40s because that will subsequently increase the risk of breast cancer by 50 per cent.


Caption: pregnancy and water

I am aware that a mother should drink plenty of water during their pregnancy period since water is extremely important for their reproductive system, and is a natural remedy for many diseases. The usual recommendation is to drink at least 2 litres (around 8 glasses) of water a day. Vegetable and fruit juices are recommended. Please AVOID taking coffee (caffeine contained in coffee will increase the risk of conceive), alcohols and soft drinks as much as possible during the pregnancy period since these drinks are not good for your baby. Alcohol is not recommended for the father too since the alcohol-effect will have a probability in killing the number of sperms, subsequently reduces the fertility rate in the women. Besides that, consuming alcohol causes dehydration, leading to nutritient loss. Please also avoid smoking and drugs. Those are negative habbits for a pregnant mother.

An existing medical journal stated that mothers should AVOID taking large amount of vitamin A since too much vitamin A can be poisonous for your liver, particularly during pregnancy period. However, you can continue to eat green and orange-coloured vegetables / fruits (i.e. carrot, oranges). Emotional health is also impotant for fertility. Human, of course, are able to conceive during stress period, but this may result in several difficulties. There are evidences from previous research papers from the Harvard University Behavioral Medicine Centre, stated that too burden (or too much stress) will stop ovulation, and not able to ceonceive.

This are some rumors heard from some elder adults. They suggest to avoid consuming watermelon. According to them, watermelon might generate some negetive effects to the fetus, e.g. abortion. Please do not do heavy exercises (i.e. jumping, rolling on the floor, running etc.) during your pregnancy period. It may also cause abortion. In any cases, you definitely need to buy some new shoes during this period, guess to avoid slipping.


Caption: some fruits during pregnancy period

During pregnancy period, the mother should consume fresh fruits and vegetables. Before and during pregnancy period, the women should aim for 8 servings everyday. This include grains (i.e. brown rice, buckwheat, high-quality protien from organic turkey or chicken, some nuts, tofu, fish) and supply of good fats (i.e. sunflower and pumpkin seed, primerose oil and fish oils). Essential fats (i.e. avacados, nuts and oily fish) are necessary for the reproductive system in your body and is crucial for healthy hormone functioning.


Caption: food pyramid

There are a spectrum of essential minerals needed for a mother during her pregnancy period. First, she need iron, calcium, magnesium, folic acid, selenium, manganese, essential fats, zinc, probiotic bacteria and prebiotic bacteria. These are the main mineral components needed during the nine months. In addition, she need to consume foods which contains vitamin A, C, E, and some of the vitamin Bs (B complex components). Vitamin A is necessary during pregnancy period, but try not overdose. The below are examples of foods that produces such mineral and vitamins:

Folic acid: green beans, spinash, asparagus, brown rice, banana
Iron: eggs, fish, dark green-coloured vegetables, seaweeds, prunes
Calcium: seaweeds, natural yogurt, organic fish, broccoli, nuts.
Selenium: salmon, tuna, broccoli, garlic.
Zinc: seafoods, whole grains, dried fruits.
Manganese: seaweeds, nuts, whole grains.
Magnesium: dark green-coloured vegetables, nuts, vegetables, brown rice.
Essential Fatty-Acids: avacado, olive oil, nuts, fish.
B complex vitamins: brown rice, avacado, lentils, eggs, seaweeds.
Vitamin A (betacarotene): carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, spinash, broccoli.
Vitamin C: raw fruits (i.e. oranges and kiwi), any berries, broccoli, red pepper.
Vitamin E: olives, avacado, nuts.
Probiotic Bacteria: yoghurt, miso.
Prebiotic bacteria: banana.


Caption: the food chart

Of course, there are other foods (and fruits) suggested to increase the chances of fertility. Here are some examples: Avacados, almonds, figs, berries (e.g. strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries), pomegranates, brown rice, oats, seaweed, sprouted clover and sunflower, turtle beans.


Caption: breast-feeding

Breast-feeding. What is good about breast feeding? Because every mammal produces different quantity and type of nutritions (i.e. protiens, fats, minerals, vitamins etc.) in their milk, therefore, the most suitable milk for human baby is the milk from their mother. A medical book written that human milk contains at least 100 different compounds not found in formula (strongly required for the baby's brain development), which means there are never a better substitution of milk than the human milk for babies. The American Journal of Public Health reported that breastfed babies usually suffered 30 per cent reduction in illness in the first six months. Overall, human milk is good for babies for (1) reduces diarrhoea (2) colds (3) ear infections (4) vomitting and (5) fever. I am not sure of this, but rumors suggest that breastfeeding will tighten the mother-children relationship. Breast feeding is also essential for the mother to release necessary hormones whilst burning extra calories (reducing fats) and reduces mood swing or depression. I have ever read an article, stated that breast feeding reduces the risk of breast cancer. If your baby reject your milk (e.g. screaming), it means the mother is out of balance in her liver or probably causes indigestion. Please visit a GP if that ever happens. The process of breast feeding usually take place for only 6 months.

As a summary, women during their pregnancy period should consume:

1. Five portions of fresh fruits and vegetables daily. Stirfying and steaming are two recommended methods suggested when cooking the vegetables. Please drink freshly pressed vegetable juices.

2. You need plenty of complex carbohydrates (i.e. sweet potato, barley, green lentils, carrots, cauliflower, banana apples, berries, papaya, pears). You also need soluble fibres that you may get from green-coloured vegetables to prevent constipation (a very common problem during pregnancy).

3. This is probably the most essential advice. Please drink plenty of water. Expert suggests pregnant women to drink at least 8 glasses of filtered water everyday to maintain their hydration levels.

4. Consume more protien foods during pregnancy in your meal everyday. This includes: tofu, organic white meat, fish (make sure its organic fish), eggs, beas, and peas.

5. Consume essential fatty acids such as omega-3 fats. They are extremely important in pregnancy especially for your baby's brain and eye (vision) development.

6. Consume more calcium foods, such as natural yoghurt, dark-green vegetables, sea vegetables, tofu, almonds. Try AVOID high-volume calcium saturated dairy products such as whole milk, cream and full-fat cheese. Vitamin D is necessary for proper calcium absorption, but you can get this vitamin from the sunlight. So, make sure you go outdoor everyday for sunlight absorbtion (for vitamin D).

7. Consume some foods with iron. One source of high-iron food is red meat (i.e. beef). However, there are many alternatives for vegetarians or vegans, such as beans, lentils, chickpeas, eggs, dark green-coloured vegetables, raisins, prune juice etc. However, to increase your iron absorption, please consume food rich in vitamin C at the same time.

8. Consume folic acid foods, such as sprouts, brocolli, asparagus, peas and brown rice. You should consume 'some' healthy snacks to keep your sugar level balanced. Here are some examples: stewed fruits, dried fruits with nuts and seeds, oat cakes, yoghurt and olive.

Here is the summary of what pregnant womens should avoid in order to not harm their unborn baby:

1. Avoid consuming foods that may contain bacteria called listeria, such as cheese.

2. Avoid raw or partial cooked eggs as they may cause food poisoning. Also avoid foods made using eggs such as mayonnaise, salad dresing and ice creams.

3. Avoid uncooked meats. Also avoid liver products such as fish liver oils since they are excessively high in vitamin A.

4. Avoid certain fishes such as shark and sword fish. DO NOT consume more than two portions of oily fish (i.e. tuna, sardines) a week. The reason is because fish contain toxic metal that will harm your baby.

5. Avoid alcohol, coffee and cigarettes.

6. Avoid consuming peanuts if the babies siblings or parents have allergies to nuts.

7. Avoid fried and unhealthy foods that is too-fat, contain too much sugar, white rice, pasta, white bread, white pasta, and salt.

Gary Hamel: Management's Out of Date

What was the greatest invention of human mind in last 100 years? "Invention of management," Gary Hamel suggested at the World Business Forum. "Basically this social technology has been used to manage human minds to accomplish an end." But here's the kicker according to Hamel, the author of the bestselling book on business strategy, Competing for the Future, "this social technology is out of date."

Naturally as Hamel zeroed in on the human mind, he caught my interest, since he framed management as social technology. This makes sense in light of recent research from University College London, which demonstrates, "choices we make internally are weak and easily overridden compared to when we are told which choice to make." On the other hand, innovation in today's businesses requires extraordinary minds to make on-the-spot decisions... minds that solve problems, create and invent.

"Do we we really have a vision for future," wonders Hamel. "I never met 10-year-old who wanted to grow up to be a manager. It's innovation in management that allowed us to cross thresholds and create innovation."


What is it that allows for shifts? Hamel's revolutionary idea is that a new management model's required in the 21st century. Industrial Age models simply don't cut it. What do you think? Hamel's questions to get you thinking...

How can we come up with a new management model?

What if every employee rates managers?

What if every critical development task turns into a game?

What if every employee could outsource boring bits of their work?

"Management models have not changed in a long time," Hamel reflects... and he offers three concepts to change the future:

1. How to build a company that can change as fast as change itself...
"The world is becoming more turbulent faster than organizations are becoming more resilient. What usually has to happen before you can shake loose beliefs and dogmas of a company? Crisis. For instance, Kodak pushed off it's film business. Turnaround's a poor excuse for timely transformation. We have to change the way we change."

2. How do you build a company where innovation is every one's job?

Today you have to compete with everybody

• Customer inertia
• Capital constraints
• Scale advantages
• Regulatory barriers
• Proprietary advantages
• Falling entry barriers - Deregulation, Digitization, New Channels
• Growing buyer power - More Choices, Better Information

"Have you been trained as an innovator," Gary Hamel asks. "No sense putting out a suggestion box if you haven't given employees strategies to innovate. Is your innovation performance measure and rewarded?"

3. How can we build new knowledge?

"Profit per employee. We are no longer in knowledge work," Hamel says, "but in creative work. Creativity and passion cannot be commanded, but are needed. So how does this change the work of management? How can work climate be changed to generate these?

Do your ideas really matter? Do people at work really listen to you? No more than 20% of employees are engaged in their work. Why do we live with this as managers? Is it possible to change this, Hamel quizzes. He suggests one model - W.L. Gore's - Gor-tex. Why?

High ratings for employee satisfaction
People spend all time innovating and no time fighting bureaucracy.
Nobody has to show up at a meeting. Commitment is voluntary.
10% of time at work spent on hobbies.

How do you get to be a leader at Gore? If your team asks you. All of Gor-tex's against the grain innovative management strategies debunk the myth of management efficiency.

"Gor-tex is not a sloppy company," Hamel points out. "Employees are extraordinarily disciplined. This kind of organization is becoming a necessity." I think Hamel is on target. What do you think?

"What do you do and where do you start? I didn't come to give you a model," Hamel declares, "and say go and do likewise. You have to think about what you heard, deconstruct it, and reconfigure it to fit your business."

"No Gor-tex manager went to business school," laughs Hamel. "There you get your head full of old ways of thinking. Mission may be more important than money. We have to expand freedoms. We have to change cultures. Management has to transcend old tradeoffs such as freedom and discipline. How can we think of alternative ways to gain control?"

"When a new person comes to company they're careful of waterline issues. You can take a risk that will punch a hole in the waterline of this company. Each employee is rated by 20 peers... Rate by value of 1-20 in the company. Every employee is entrepreneurial and collaborative."

To become management innovator - learn from the fringe. "If you want to see change, just look at the Internet. It will change the way we manage. It will allow us to overcome design flaw of Management 1.0. Many managers are not real managers because leadership appointments come top down. Management hires in their own image. People brown nose. Power is binary. If I screw up I lose my power. A lot of power goes sideways," Hamel claims.

"How do you get power on web? By adding value. Power is always on the move. What is alternative to top down leadership appointments."

What if I have no power and can't influence others? Most of us rely on formal power.

No power - No sanctions. How do we hack it?

Through a system for recognizing and empowering "natural" leaders, Hamel argues.

• Challenge the dogma
• Explore the fringe
• Experiment - Be revolutionary

The future of management according to Gary Hamel: Organizations are less adaptable than we are. Humans are amazingly adaptable. We are born to create!

Articles published by bloggers at World Business Forum 2009 show divergent views on Hamel's call for management innovation.

Andrea Meyer: High-Value Innovation: Innovating the Management of Innovation

Bill George: Gary Hamel: We Aren't in the Knowledge Economy. We're in the Creative Economy

Braden Kelly: A Day with Gary Hamel

Ellen Weber: Gary Hamel’s New Management Model

Hutch Carpenter: Management by Community

Jim Estill: Gary Hamel - Competing with the Future

Kathy Korman Frey Will Business Celebrate, or Tolerate, Our Daughters?

Orrin Woodward: 2009 World Business Forum - Gary Hamel

Steve Todd: Gary Hamel: Slacker's Paradise #WBF09

Thoughts on Gary Hamel's view of management?

Speaking Exam

Today at 12.35 pm I sat for my Speaking Examination (MUTE) the exam costed me RM 60. There are 4 of us in the group; Nurul Huda, Nikma, Fanny and me of coz.

We arrived at the examination venue 10.40 am, (candidates need to be there half an hour before the exam start). We already planned to form the group among the 4 of us, as we know each other since the first year of study. Unluckily, one of the other group member cannot make it as the guy had to rush back to Ranau yesterday. So Fanny had been moved to join that group and her spot being replace by another candidate from the Banking Course.

At 1st my group tried to ask if there is any other way to keep Fanny in the group. But the one who in charged for the session said that, there is nothing he can do about that as he has been ordered by the examiners. With a sad feeling we "trade-in" Fanny and got a guy in returned to form the speaking group.

During our session, most of the candidates are from different faculties, Banking, Tourism, Public Admin etc. We've been isolated in a room as it was one of the normal procedures. There are 14 of us inside the room waited for our turn to be called. So while waiting for the "popped" time Fanny went to "mingle" with her new group members. Seriously, Fanny refused to "move", since she has no other options and the 3 guys looked so "katun, lawak, GillLer2" she walked to the group and talked about their possible planned for the exam session.

Exam can caused anyone to get tenseness and as we looked at the other "Quarantine" room, the candidates appeared to be so unplayability not like candidates in my room, candidates basked the session. Shared any kind of information regarding the exam among us and added with many funny stories. And for a while the tenseness are gone......just for a while...

Then......our group been called and we entered the room politely with smiling face and of coz confident...yeah...

We've been arranged to our sit and I'm the candidate C, with the point.....Malaysian Society are considered lucky....because the Government provide facilities for sports and recreations for the young people.

For Part A candidate just need to agree with the given point whether U like it or NOT... Each one of us are given 2 Minutes to prepared the reasons and support the point.

After the last candidate presenting his point, we entered the 2nd part of the exam, Part B. In this part, candidates need to discuss the best point to be chosen as the final selection. Everyone need to give reasoning why they picked the point. This part required us to argue it from as many views as possible within 10 minutes of discussion. I personally agreed with candidate A point (Nikma) that..... Malaysian society are so lucky to grow - up in this land because.....the peace and prosperity.

The advantage was from us the administration students, as we are quite familiar with the "views" of governmental areas. Alhamdulillah.... as I looked at the question, I felt relief as I have a rough ideas about the matter. I tried my best not to feel stress and control the situations. Beeped  from the Time-kipper informed us that we reached the maximum of 10 minutes for the exam.

To obtain a better grade is everyone goals in any exam, and after the 30 minutes sweated session..(Trust me)

Lastly for future candidates, get lots of reading materials related to daily matters, be ready although U are not and DEODORANT to be carried...

Sweet Dreams

Turn the lights on

Every night I rush to my bed

With hopes that maybe I'll get a chance to see you

When I close my eyes I'm going out of my head

Lost in a fairytale, can you hold my hands and be my guide?

Clouds filled with stars cover the skies

And I hope it rains, you're the perfect lullaby

What kinda dream is this?

You could be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Either way I don't wanna wake up from you

(Turn the lights on)

Sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Somebody pinch me, your love's too good to be true

(Turn the lights on)

My guilty pleasure, I ain't going no where

Baby long as you're here I'll be floating on air

'Cause you're my

You can be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Either way I don't wanna wake up from you

(Turn the lights on)

I mention you when I say my prayers

I wrap you around all of my thoughts

Boy you're my temporary high

I wish that when I wake up you're there

To wrap your arms around me for real

And tell me you'll stay by side

Clouds filled with stars cover the skies

And I hope it rains, you're the perfect lullaby

What kinda dream is this?

You could be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Either way I don't wanna wake up from you

(Turn the lights on)

Sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Somebody pinch me, your love's too good to be true

(Turn the lights on)

My guilty pleasure, I ain't going no where

Baby long as you're here I'll be floating on air

'Cause you're my

You can be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Either way I don't wanna wake up from you

(Turn the lights on)

Tattoo your name across my heart so it will remain

Not even death can make us part

What kind of dream is this?

You could be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Either way I don't wanna wake up from you

(Turn the lights on)

Sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Somebody pinch me, your love's too good to be true

(Turn the lights on)

My guilty pleasure, I ain't going no where

Baby long as you're here I'll be floating on air

'Cause you're my

You can be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Either way I don't wanna wake up from you

(Turn the lights on)

Either way I don't wanna wake up from you

Tip of the Day

Do you know:

Originally, chocolate will increase the excitement level in a person. This means that eating chocolate continuously will make us feel happy. There are also evidences stated that consuming chocolates is beneficial for our heart. This was indicated by existing research. However, a recent research published in the British Journal of Psychiatry confirmed that consuming chocolate for a period of time (i.e. 5 years) will increase the percentage of depression! Their research also suggest that consuming whole food (i.e. green vegetables, fruits and fish) will lower the risk of depression 26 per cent. Therefore, try not eating too much chocolate and processed foods (e.g. cocktail sausage) to reduce the risk of depression.

Perspective

Monday began like any other day. Steve left at seven-thirty to drive to Tennessee for a short business trip. Pamela and I decided to catch up a little bit of reading postponed last Friday because of the holiday. When I dropped David off at band, I noticed the iffy weather and threw up a quick prayer request for Steve on Facebook at 10:23. Three friends--all prayer warriors and parents of children with autism--responded: Steve's sorority sister gave a thumbs-up plus a local friend and a homeschooler in Tennessee said they would pray.

Pamela read and narrated her books while I worked on Beth Moore Bible study. The orthodontist interrupted us for a few minutes, but we doggedly got back on track. My parents called from their RV in Florida, so I talked long enough to be polite. As soon as I hung up, we tackled our work again: Pamela was reading a chapter from The World of Columbus and Sons while I read Beth Moore's suggestion that, as adopted children of God's royal family, we represent His land just as the Queen of England represents her land when visiting our country.

The phone rang again, and I fussed, "Not another phone call!" I never get three phone calls in succession, and I came close to ignoring it! I got up one more time and heard the words that you never want to hear, "Tammy, don't worry but . . ."

Steve was calling from a concrete barrier in the median of I-40 watching traffic zoom around his wrecked car blocking two lanes of traffic. He didn't even know the nearest exit much less the state. "I'm okay! I'm walking, but the beemer is gone. I just totaled it. I think I'm in Tennessee . . ." It turned out he was in North Carolina!

I could hear the passing cars through the phone and, at one point, a woman asked if he needed help! He asked me to pray for him because he was afraid someone would plow into him before the police arrived. Fortunately, the ensuing traffic jam took care of that problem.

Fearing that Pamela might become unglued if she figured out the truth, I returned to what we were doing and acted like nothing happened. She asked who called and, in a phony calm voice, I told her that her dad called to tell me how he was doing (close enough to the truth to avoid lying). Because of RDI, Pamela can read moods better and, if she had detected my fear, she would have flipped out. Navy training kicked in, so we went back to work.

As soon as I got her going on her reading, I typed a Facebook note at 11:49, thanking everyone for praying, "PRAISING GOD FOR ALL WHO PRAYED FOR SAFETY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STEVE JUST TOTALLED THE CAR AND HE IS OKAY. THAT IS ALL I KNOW. KEEP HIM IN YOUR PRAYERS FACEBOOK FRIENDS." For the next hour, people from all over the world--his friends, my friends, mutual friends--chimed in with their gratitude and prayers!

Since I was behind in my Bible study, I got back to page 97, which--I am not kidding you--stated:

Not only are you royalty but you also have been placed in your sphere of influence, regardless of the size you perceive it to be, 'for such a time as this.' Ecclesiastes 3:2 tells us there is 'a time to be born and a time to die.' God cut out those exact perimeters for you and me on the kingdom calendar so that we would be positioned on earth right now. Likewise, Acts 17:26 tells us unflinchingly that God 'determined the times set for [us] and the exact places that [we] should live.' You see, even your current location is part of the set-up for your kingdom destiny. As we learned in one of our earliest verses on providence in this series, in Christ 'we were also chose, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works everything in conformity with the purpose of His will' (Ephesians 1:11). These realizations should be stunning and marvelous to us, exploding our lives with significance.

Yeah, the timing was stunning all right . . . ten minutes after I learn about Steve's brush with death!!!!!!

For the past two weeks, our town of 4,000 people has seen one person after another die: a fifth grader from swine flu, a teacher from an aneurysm, a 10th grader from accidental drowning, a reporter (who wrote stories about my brother's reenlistment and my mom's quilt group before he moved last year) from a car accident Saturday night. Steve could have been the next! At the last minute, he decided to drive the beemer instead of Red (the Kia). Five minutes before the accident, he started to feel nervous about the road conditions: he grabbed the wheel firmly with both hands and kept his eyes peeled. The car slid on what he thinks was a patch of oil, side-swiped a truck hauling a bunch of cars, rotated ninety-degrees before plowing into the concrete barrier in the median, head-on. As it spun and bashed into the barrier several times, two things spun in his head: "Dear God, don't let it be today and don't let anyone else get hurt."

Miraculously, no other car was involved in the accident, and the truck driver could not find a single dent on his rig. Steve was shaky, stiff, and sore with a minor burn on one hand from the airbag. The state troopers and emergency teams were efficient in cleaning up the mess!

I called my closest friend, who totaled her car last year. She said that she was so worthless after her wreck that she could not have driven a half hour to get home, much less five hours. Her description convinced me to take no lip from Steve, who has been known to drive three hours with a high fever caused by the measles, telling me that it was nothing. I told Pamela that Dad missed us and we were going to visit him in North Carolina (which was another half-baked truth). Luckily, she was so delighted by the impromptu trip that she bought my excuse without question. I picked up David, asked for more prayers from my friends on Facebook, email lists, and Twitter, and drove off.

The roads were nasty most of the way: slick with plenty of rain and later fog. Every stalled car, every tow truck, every cross on the side of the road came alive as I thought about what happened to Steve. Knowing about all those people praying for us calmed me.

On the five-hour trip, I reflected upon Oswald Chamber's book If You Will Ask, which busy days caused me to put down after the first chapter. Oswald wrote, "Only when a man flounders beyond any grip of himself and cannot understand things does he really pray." Steve and I sure experienced that kind of helplessness!

Prayer to Him is not a way to get things from God, but so that we may get to know God. Prayer is not to be used as the privilege of a spoiled child seeking ideal conditions to indulge his spiritual propensities; the purpose of prayer is to reveal the presence of God, equally present at all times and in every condition. . . It is not so true that 'Prayer changes things' as that prayer changes us.

Because of Pamela, I had to stay calm: I had two choices: a very bad situation or a worse situation compounded by autistic meltdown! As Oswald pointed out, "The secret of Christian quietness is not indifference, but the knowledge that God is my Father, He loves me, I shall never think of anything He will forget, and worry becomes an impossibility." The only way I could stay calm was through the eternal perspective. As my pastor pointed out in his sermon last Sunday, we can live life in the light of the Gospel, regardless of chaotic chapters in our lives, because we know the end of the story (Isaiah 65:17). He also observed at our Wednesday night Bible study that prayer is the inverse of anxiety:

It means the more you pray, the less anxious you feel. Likewise, the less you pray, the more anxious you feel. Do I hear an amen?

That is what I experienced on Monday through prayer: hearing the whisper from God to pray for Steve's safety and ask others to pray before he crashed . . . to answer the phone, however inconvenient it was . . . to continue the Bible study and receive consolation while he was still in danger . . . to share the circumstances with those who pray so that they too could spend time with God . . . to feel at peace because God wants what is best for my family . . . to rejoice with our friends when I shared news of his safety. The first chapter of Oswald's book came alive before our eyes last Monday.

"As long as we are self-sufficient and complacent, we don't need to ask God for anything; we don't want Him. It is only when we know we are powerless that we are prepared to listen to Jesus Christ." Oswald Chambers

P.S. Once we hooked up with Steve later that day, Pamela's curiosity ignited when she saw him without the car. She asked, "Where is the gray car?" Because he very quietly explained that it crashed and because she could see with her own eyes that her Daddy was safe, Pamela took the news with great calmness. That surprised me. Two days later, she cried when she realized he had left some beloved CDs in the car along with the keys. The tears were short lived because he promised to call the towing company to see if they could mail them to us, which means she will start nagging us in about a week . . .

A Piece of Paper with Faces

During a morning class for Development Admin. subject, one of our fellow friends found a piece of paperon the flor. What so special about the paper?!? The paper showed many faces of the ladies in the group. Wow...maybe she was so bored during the lecture session, so she think Why don't she get something to do?

AMD6P1&2

Seriously speak, she really got talent in Arts. The drawing look so beautiful, although I'm not really looked like the one she imagine.huhuhu...
There are 3 or 4 boys faces...I think Haris (a.k.a BUGIS), Hamkhah (a.k.a Hamyira), Sumatra (a.k.a OMBAK)

Can u spot Me?

Research

To conduct a research is part of my task for this semester. There are many thing that need to be prepare so that the research end-up as smooth as possible. In this entry I would like to share number of things which I personally experienced with my team.

1. Get into your group 1st (do I need to say this???) As always there will be Nik, Leng, Fanny and Me.

2. Select a substantive area of interest to research. "To Study Students Awareness Towards Green Earth", the group agreed with this title after a group meeting. For our group, we've been supervised by Dr. Haijon Gunggut.

3. Prepare the questions that will serve to gain data collections. These question must reflect the objectives of the study or research.

4. After all the raw data been collected, group members need to sit together and study the results.

5. Key in all the data into related software which used for statistical analysis. SPSS will be good and practical for academic students.

6. The group then need to come out the final conclusion about thier proposal or research. Questions such as are the objectives of the studies reached the target will arised. Report about the reseach findings and final proposal need to be sent to the group supervisor.

Working in a group will always asked for one simple thing; " Team Work". A good team communication and help each other can turned difficult work to easy and manageable.

My group used to be far step ahead from the other groups, where my group already start key in the data at one point of time but some group were just finished drafting the related questions. YeaAhhh... with the helped from our Respected Supervisor, Dr. Haijon...Thank You very much. For the team, tq for the cooperation and time.

Respect For Public Institution's

As a student in administrations filed, I really respect the public institution's. It have been considered strong and credible foundation. Public Institution's within a state plays major roles to ensure the government aspirations came into reality.

I used to hate our public institutions, for me they are not serious with their job and failed to satisfy the people. Often we heard people throw complaints about the public institution services.  Times and their credibilities have been the major topics to the highest degree. To engage with public sector used to be a belting down and frustrated.

The government now realised that the public institutions need to have a major change in order to serve only the best for the public; the main client for the public sectors.

A bunch of alteration have been made from time to time and prepare the institution for a new dimension in the roles of the public institutions. Changes in terms of programes will not be complete without the participations of the public servants themselves. They need to have the sense of belonging to the institution their represent and a deepest loyalty towards the given responsibilities.

Last time, the international pasport issuance process used to take within few months to be complete. But now after few programes step into the matter, the process can be done within a day. I have experienced it when I took two of my youngest brothers to issue their pasport. Prepared all the related documents required for the process, the rest will be as smooth as you want. Coopereation given by the officer on duty really useful, and within 2 hrs we done.

Understanding from the socity towards the heavy responsibilities of the public service departments are requires. As the public service departments need to satisfy number of parties, co-operation will be at the peak of call.

In the end, we need to come natural, as the public servants are all human like us. They have done so much and lot's of drastic changes have been done into action. Recognization is the simplest thing that the people can give to appreiate the service.

Questions Create Connection

"Interrupt me any time you have a question," Patrick Lencioni urged at the start of his presentation at the World Business Forum. What a difference questions make in connecting to people! He primed the pump a tad by saying the first five inquires would receive a copy of his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. More than five leaders stood up to ask a question in throughout the large audience at Radio City Music Hall, though some didn't take home the book.

So what difference does it make to be open to questions and even to be interrupted when presenting your ideas to leaders?

Interestingly, the questions business leaders asked, probed deeper into Lencioni's expertise on team work. They also stirred audience curiosity. Inquires popped in unexpectedly throughout the presentation. Takes a great facilitator to handle questions smoothly, offer wisdom and make these work as assets.

Not only did Lencioni receive good questions, but he pointedly quizzed listeners with even more questions to ponder throughout his talk. It seemed as if we could all add a piece to team challenges. I saw questioning as a tactic to create interconnectedness between audience and speaker.

Audience questions:

Question: Many ideas are created from below and often mid-management stops flow of ideas and they never get to the top. How do leaders overcome this?

Lencioni: 1. Don't assume that leaders above you are really leading the way they want to.

2. Don't be afraid to be the one that takes the leaders upward. Be the leader who takes the kind truth to the leaders above you. Be discerning in what you take. For example, take things only from circle of influence - things you control.

Question: How do you recognize a healthy organization from outside?

Lencioni: Performance. What people who work there, and used to work there, say about it.

Question: We're adding some GenX people to our organization. What can we do to build trust with change of generations?

Lencioni: Gender, Age, and difference, makes you miss the individuality of the person. Younger people need to know they are valued at work.

Question: How do you get people to open up?

Lencioni: I typically use two exercises. Personal Histories. Where did you grow up, how many kids in family, what was greatest challenge growing up?

Use objective tool like Myers Briggs. People see a personality profile. They see people approach life and tasks very differently.

A question I would ask Patrick is: "What about using a multiple intelligences survey to find out how people are smart?" I've found the MI survey is a great tool to encourage the diversity of gifts and talents within the organization in new ways.

Question: How do you minimize politics in an organization?... In the flurry of taking notes, I did not get the answer, though it was one of the most important asked. How would you answer it?

Lencioni's Questions to leaders in the audience:

Teamwork needs to be smart, Lencioni asserts. We only spend half the time on what really counts," he adds. "What about the other half - the health of an organization?"

How would you answer Lencioni's question about building organizational health?

People do not hold each other accountable enough. Peer pressure is the most important tool of accountability. How can that be created? Patrick Lencioni said vulnerably. I have most trouble with this. I hate telling people there is something that needs to be changed. I'm a wuss. Most CEO's are wusses. Leaders do not like telling people there is something they don't like. People do not hold each other accountable enough. What works well for you as you hold others accountable in a democratic setting?

The inquiries brought greater connection between speaker and audience. How might inviting inquiries from folks in the audience work for you throughout your next presentation?

SONY is good enough for me!

Ever since my first tv, which I bought 20 yrs back, when ever I bought an electronic gadget Sony was the first choice. My house is stuffed with various Sony products. Bravia TV, PS3, DVD player, Camcorder they all are Sony.

Then came Sony Vaio, as one of the top shelf products amongst other laptop brands. Naturally I went for it. It was ok. I was happy. But recently it started giving me all sorts of graphical problems. Blank screens, blue screens,multi color strips.....then it suddenly died on me.

I browsed through the internet and very soon found out this is a very well known problem amongst some of vaio ranges. A bad problem a very bad one.This was because of a faulty nvidia graphic card.I was scared because I was no longer within warranty.
A proper repair would cost me an unbearable amount. Then I saw Sony has finally admitted this problem and offered to repair the
laptops with the problem within 4 years of purchase.

I spoked to Sony customer service with all the doubts in my head. Friendly people they were and they said they will repair it. Still I was doubtful. Then they arranged for DHL to collect it and recalled the laptop. Still I was in doubt.

They kept me in touch with text and few days after told me I need a whole motherboard replacement. Thats it! I thought. They will send me a big bill now.

Then the miracle happened. My Vaio came back today. All repaired and with a new mother board. Even had a surface clean looking like new.

I looked for the bill, then found a A4 paper.

But it was not a bill but a letter apologising for my inconvenience.How cool is that?.

I was all prepared to ruin there name as much as I could if things go wrong. Instead here I am writing in my blog praising them. They have proven me wrong. Well done Sony !

If anybody have a problem with there Vaio graphics do not hesitate to contact them. They live up to their standard. Good people they are !

This is the official Sony announcement
A statement from Sony, dated August 4th 2009, reads as follows:

"In July 2008, Nvidia publicly acknowledged a failure associated with some of their graphics processors (GPU) due to a manufacturing defect in the graphics chip packaging. At that time Sony and Nvidia jointly investigated whether Vaio models equipped with this GPU were impacted by the issue. This investigation revealed that the issue had not occurred in such Vaio models.

"However, after closely monitoring the situation, Sony has now determined that a very small percentage of computers with the Nvidia graphics chips may be affected.

"These PCs may exhibit distorted video, random characters or a blank screen due to failure of the Nvidia graphics chips.

"As part of our commitment to quality, for any customer who requires repair of their Vaio due to the Nvidia graphics processor issue, Sony will cover the cost of repair (parts and labour) at no charge during the first four years following the date of purchase of the models in question (see list below).

"In case your model is shown in the list below, we invite you to contact Vaio support to arrange service for your Viao."

Here's the list of Sony Vaio models affected:

VGN-FZ11x, VGN-FZ18x, VGN-FZ21x, VGN-FZ31x, VGN-FZ38x,

VGN-AR11x, VGN-AR21x, VGN-AR31x,

VGN-C1Zx, VGN-C2Zx,

VGC-LM1xx, VGC-LM2xx,

VGC-LT1xx, VGC-LT2xx.

Cube City

There is a difference between mindlessly checking things off a to-do list and doing things worth doing. Pamela frequently confirms the meaning of what we are doing. Recently, she started watching DVDs without closed captioning and sets the audio to either French or Spanish! She pulled out an old twaddly companion book to a kid's tape for learning Spanish words, and she reviews it for fun. Second, Pamela has started building things, mainly houses, with the Math-U-See blocks. Unlike her brother, who will never admit to how recently he put away his Legos, she has succumbed to the Lego bug. I may just drag David's collection downstairs for her! She still plans to trick or treat this year, dressed as a mom, taking her babies (Baby Alive and Baby David) out because they are toddlers now. When she flips through old photographs and asks me a question, she turns it so that I can see without hinting, "I can't see it." When we do money transactions, Pamela asks what we are doing so she can figure out if it is negative or positive. Making mathematical connections to the real world because she can easily memorize without understanding.

Volume
To teach volume, I cut out a bunch of flattened cubes (a spreadsheet I made in Excel), built them, and taped them together. We recycled some of the boxes used for calculating surface area and filled them with cubes. Not only did it give her a feel for what volume is (how much space an object takes up), building with cubes spotlights the idea of cubic units being very different from square units. We carefully took the cubes out of the box and compared it to it, side by side. We separated each layer of the volume to enable Pamela to be certain of her count.
Pamela did free lance explorations in which I gave her 20 cubes and let her figure out how many ways to create a volume of 20 cubic inches. Another variation was to take a pile of blocks, create a rectangular prism, and count the dimensions and volume. Activities like this appealed to her orderly, patterned mind. She recorded everything she did in charts to allow her to discover the formula for volume.



By the fourth example of volume, Pamela spotted the formula for volume: length times width times depth. She quickly transition from doing hands-on work to picture (even trying her hand at drawing a 3-D box) to words and symbols. Once she solidified her ability to do volume problems, I introduced one variation: being given a problem with mixed units (1 foot by 10 inches by 14 inches). She is learning to be vigilant about checking the units before labeling her drawings.

Covering a Surface
Pamela struggled with coverage problems like,

Susan needs to buy paint to cover 2100 square feet. One gallon of paint covers 400 square feet. How many gallons of paint does she need?

I realized she did not quite understand what the problem was asking so we backed up and did some concrete activities like covering a 9" x 12" notebook with 3" x 3" sticky notes (pictured left) or covering books with index cards (or cut-up index cards of a standard size to make the numbers work). When we made the leap to word problems, I knew Pamela understood when she illustrated her problem with paint cans.


The next variation I plan to address are house problems including painting or covering sides with siding (you only hit the sides, unless you have triangular shaped attics) and shingling roofs. More variations will involve subtracting out the area of doors and windows or applying two coats of paint.

Dynamic Solutions, Not Bandages

FREEBIE ALERT:
"I Love the '80s" download from Amazon. By '80s, they mean the following compositions by the following composers:

• Brahms' Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90
• Mahler's Symphony No. 1 in D major, "Titan"
• Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
• Dvorak's Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60, B. 112
• Borodin's Symphony No. 3 in A minor
• Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78, "Organ"
• Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, WAB 109 (1894 version)

Now back to your regular programming . . .
Adjusting to school has left me little time to blog our RDI journey, which we still do, of course! In fact, I am trying to incorporate dynamic intelligence into our school lessons.

A few Sundays back, a minor problem at church bothered nobody but David. I usually sit in front with the choir for half of the service, while the family stays in the pew. Steve ran eight miles that morning, instead of five, and was too drained to get off the couch! During the service, Pamela usually draws on the bulletin, sermon notes and quotes, and guest registries. While the pastor was speaking, she stood up, looking for a sharpened pencil.

Our very understanding congregation are Pamela's biggest fans. They are delighted when she speaks to them, even if, before the service, she abruptly points to someone with an eye patch and says, "You broke it!" While David (face turning beet red) guided his sister to sit down, Pamela remained oblivious to his discomfort. The lady behind him was chuckling the whole time, and I found out later that her grandson is autistic and sits behind us for that reason!

After church, David begged me to work on this problem. Two quick-fixes that get the job done in a static way are:

Plan A (Nothing more than a band-aid): Put enough paper, pencils, and lead in her purse to keep Pamela happy. This static solution (single response) will get David through church.

Plan B (A more sophisticated band-aid): Come up with a set of rules on how to behave in church and make her learn them. I will not try this plan because it is a static solution that does not promote dynamic thinking.

While we implemented Plan A, we also addressed the real problem through RDI. The underlying issue is that Pamela is not doing a good job of monitoring her actions and those of people around her and then reflecting on her behavior in comparison to theirs.

Lesson 1 - We spent two weeks people watching at every opportunity we could. Whenever we walked into a new setting, we observed what other people were doing and made declarative comments about them. We also talked about our actions.


Lesson 2 - Now, we are working on the second lesson. In addition to people watching, we figure out the kind of group we are watching. Pamela then assesses whether or not she belongs to the group. Then, she decides what her behavior ought to be. The goal is not to force conformity but to think about each situation dynamically. For example, in church last Sunday, my men were down hard and Pamela came to church with me and sat in the choir. She decided the choir was not her group, so she sat whenever we stood and sang. Later, in the pews, she decided to stand up with me for the last song (instead of sitting) but chose not to sing.

Last night, even though her dad was home and she could have stayed with him, Pamela wanted to attend my women's Bible study. When she was in the mood to explore and be apart from the group, she identified herself as not being in the group. However, at the end, when they prayed, she decided to be in the group and sat quietly during the prayer. She even said, "Amen," at the end. The beautiful expression on Pamela's face when she heard the music from the DVD cue-in will surely cheer you up if you have had a horrible, no-good, awfully rotten day.