Tuesday, March 29, 2011

A unique way of presenting a case study





This semester I teach Integrated Case Studies course to two different batches of students. The first batch consisted of the final year accounting students (full time) and we are currently on the 12th week of the semester, so I have seen countless presentation of the case studies performed by 11 small groups in the class. As for the second batch, the students are mature and working students who studied part time for this accounting degree. 

Today is the first presentation by the first group and I was immediately surprised when they decided to present the case in the form of mini documentary. This kind of presentation has never been done by my undergraduate students and this is just one fine example to illustrate how creative and resourceful the mature students can be. To tell the truth, the movie is quite hilarious especially the first part (where you can actually see the extras hanging around in the office when they are not supposed to be there) and the third part (where from out of nowhere a little girl seems desperately trying to give the handphone to the boss of the company). 

I am very tempted to give them full marks for their ingenuity but I have not seen the other groups presentations yet. I am definitely will be looking forward to the next week presentation by another group of mature students.

Special guest speaker for my classes - Nahdatul Shima



Today I invited my friend, Shima to give talk to both of my ethics and case study classes. She works as a manager at the Media Prima Bhd., the largest media conglomerate in Malaysia. Specifically she is an internal auditor under Corporate Governance and Risk Management department which is closely related to what I am currently teach to my students. Students were unnaturally enthusiastic during her lecture, asking her lots of questions regarding business ethics. Some of them even asked about the job opportunity at Media Prima since all of them are in the final semester of their study. Shima told me that within after one hour of her talk she has already receive three resumes from my students!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

New cat mansion in Tok Wan's house

Those four kittens inside this mansion must be the lucky ones

Tupperware Party at Tina's house



This evening Tina and Enol held a Tupperware party at their house. Enol's auntie demonstrated the alternative way of cooking a pizza inside a pot, which to my surprise tastes quite good. Afterwards she presented the business model of Tupperware to the ladies. Jo bought some of the Tupperware products because they were sold at the discounts.

A visit from fellow Lancastrians



 
Today Haslinda and her family visited us at our home. They just came back from the UK a couple of weeks ago. Ilyas has not seen his former classmate Danial and his older brother, Imran for more than a year. We had plenty to talk about and after three hours there are still more things to talk about. We promised to them that we will visit their house when it is ready.

Limited Editon Lat's Kampung Boy

One of the stalls inside the Istana Budaya is selling Lat's best selling books so I took the opportunity to buy the Limited Edition set. Only 1000 copies were printed and each book has it's own personalised and original Lat's signature. The price is RM200 but I don't mind because it's a collectors item. Ilyas and Maisarah also like the books and they managed to finish reading them in less than an hour.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Lat Kampung Boy the Musical




Tonight Jo and I are watching a musical theater titled "Lat Kampung Boy' which is based on the life of Malaysian most famous cartoonist, Datuk Mohamad Nor Khalid or better known as 'Lat', a short form of 'Bulat' which means round. Istana Budaya has been transformed into a huge drawing canvas and it feels like we are inside the drawings itself. Even the seating boxes inside the theater are not spared either, with famous characters created by Lat peering down towards the stage. 

The theater itself is not bad and I particularly like all the scenes involving Lat's father and Pak Samad. The stage arrangement is very innovative and some of the songs are quite catchy. The musical itself is quite lengthy, more than two hours I think. But we were treated with a nice surprise when Awie, the actor who plays Lat announced to the audience that the real Lat is among us and then invited him to come on stage. The full house audience gave him a standing ovation and I think Lat must be very proud of this masterpiece on him.

Klang Valley Mini League 2011 First Match: BAT 0 - 12 Pisang FC


While waiting for the Liga Alumni to resume its 2011 season, BAT squad decided to join the Klang Valley Mini League 2011. There are six teams competing in the league and all the matches will be played every Saturday. Any team can join this league and there is absolutely no restriction on players registration. Basically, anyone can play in this league. And this is what we discovered in our first match, in a quite painful manner, really. Our first opponent are Pisang FC, the name itself sounds very tame but to our horror does not reflect the team at all.

I'm unable to watch this match however, but from the match report given by Firdaus and Madun, apparently we were playing against a team of foreigners, mostly Africans, with two players suspiciously look like Malaysians. Madun told me that one of the players even looks like Adebayor, tall like Adebayor and has a hairstyle like Adebayor. In the first half we let in 4 goals, and 8 more in the second half. Firdaus said we lost 0-11 but then I cannot imagine any of us will diligently write down the score line once it past the double digit number.

This coming Saturday we are going to play our second match in the league. Can't wait!

Team stats:
Asyraf (GK), Madun, Ciput, Taufeq, Pak Lah, Epul, Ale (Defenders), Paan, Ayie, Shidi, Mujahid, Kudin (Midfielders), Jose, Fazli (Strikers) Firdaus (Unused Substitute)

Congratulations Fasya and Izzy


My cousin, Fasya has just delivered her first baby, a yet to be named daughter, and we paid a visit at her house in Shah Alam. Her sister with her family were there as well as Tina and her family. Fasya's parents also there to take care of her. Congratulations to them and may they have more children in the future.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Ustazah Elsa

Visiting Hafiz

Yesterday my brother in law, Hafiz, was knocked down by a car when he was trying to cross the road at the zebra crossing in Ampang. The car sped away leaving him lying down on the side of the road. Luckily a good Samaritan managed to send him to the nearby hospital and contacted his father. The doctor examined him and although physically he seems to look okay with some minor scratches and bruises, the real worry is whether he is suffering from any internal bleeding. The x-ray diagnosis cannot find any fracture but he did have some bleeding from his ear and nose as well as vomiting when he tried to eat solid food. The dizziness remains and he is still weak and needing a lot of rest. The culprit has not been identified yet and we could not locate the person who helped him during the incident. Maybe we are not supposed to find out who they are, just as a constant reminder that angels and demons are always amongst us in our daily life.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Drama Band - Babak Pertama

ANSARA Taiping 3 - 3 Black Shirts FC

This match can definitely qualifies as a strange ones. This is the second time we play against Black Shirts FC and revenge is on our mind. And it looks that way when we led through a penalty goal by Fazli. Then strange thing happens. The referee just could not stop giving penalty kicks to the opponent. They missed the first one so we were still leading 1-0 in the first half. I was playing the first half but decided my contribution stops right there after the referee whistles to signal the end of the first half.

In the second half, the referee decided to awards two more penalties to the opponent and they didn't waste the gifts this time. On top of that they manage to score another goal through a freekick. Fazli reduced the gap by getting another goal with a little help of deflection from the Black Shirts' defender but it was the brilliance of Kerambit which makes the difference when he wriggles through a couple of defenders before passing the ball to Fazli.
We continued to press on during the third half and Fazli got his hattrick to make the score even for the second time of the game. We intensify our attacks to capitalise on the tiring opponent but there were many chances went begging. So in the end we managed to get a draw from a game that has 4 penalties in it. Unbelievable.

Squad: Asyraf and Firdaus (Goalkeepers), Anuar, Madun, Ciput, Shaz, Kamarul, Pak Lah, Kudin (Defenders), Kerambit, Ayie, Shidi, Zainal, Eby, Afiq (Midfielders), Abe, Fazli, Jose (Strikers)
Goals: Fazli (3x)
Assists: Anuar, Kerambit, Afiq
Yellow Card: Ciput

LBJB Invitational Tournament 2011







During the school holiday, for the first time ever, LBJB decided to hold a one day invitational tournament for all age categories, namely Under 8, Under 10 and Under 12. Six teams participating in each category; two LBJB teams, two Junior Soccer School teams from Petaling Jaya, one team from Taman Bangi and one team from Putrajaya. When all the matches have been played, LBJB won both Under 10 and Under 12 categories. Unfortunately both Under 8 LBJB teams did not qualify for the final match. Ilyas was in the LBJB 'B' and even though they managed to beat Junior Soccer School 'B' through a penalty goal by Hisham, they lost to Putrajaya by the same scoreline. So for the third and fourth placing match, LBJB 'B' came face to face with their 'A' team. Hadif of the 'B' team performed brilliantly to score a very nice goal and in the end ensured that 'B' team will be in the third place. Junior Soccer School 'A' won the Under 8 category with their main striker Haziq, Ilyas' schoolmate when he was in Liverpool Moorside School, became the top scorer with 5 goals. Haziq even scored a hattrick during the final.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

A weekend workshop cum holiday at the Tiara Beach Resort, Port Dickson









I had to attend a faculty workshop at the Tiara Beach Resort, Port Dickson for three days and two nights so I thought that I might as well bring in the family. As for today, while I'm inside the meeting room, Ilyas and Maisarah had tons of fun playing and swimming by the pool side of the resort. I joined them later late in the afternoon and after dinner I sent them back home at Bandar Baru Bangi because Ilyas has a football tournament on Sunday morning.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Maisarah with her new birthday present: A Fuji Instax Camera



Thank you Tok for the present!

Maisarah 6th Birthday Party









We were looking for a suitable place to have Maisarah's birthday party when Tok offered her apartment. Jo took in charge of almost everything and Julie provided the birthday cake and the cupcakes. Maisarah really enjoyed her party and she single handedly cut her birthday cake into slices to be distributed among the kids. The goodie bags were custom made by Jo as she personally sew each individual bag and replaced the chocolate wrappers with the personalised greetings from Maisarah. Makes me wonder what else Jo will do in terms of her personal touch for Maisarah's next birthday party. At least we have one full year to figure it out.