Lancaster Morecambe Badminton League - League Match Five

Tonight we played against Torrisholme A at home. It was a good game, as we won 11-7, the exact scoreline like last season at home. The similarity doesn't end there as I also won 5 sets to 1, just like last season. Brenda and I have also won both sets 15-11, 15-13 just like last season. The differences are in the men doubles results. Last season Paul and I drew but this time we won both sets 15-6, 15-7. Tim and I won both sets last season but this time we split 15-10, 9-15, our fifth consecutive splits to date. Perhaps, our opponent were already understood pretty much of our tactics and in the second set they just utilised them.Maybe both of us should play with our left hand during the second set instead!

Al-Fatihah

This morning I received a call and an e-mail from my former Lancaster Uni-mates. Apparently our batchmate, Shahrol Nizam Yusof has passed away this morning (Malaysian time). Last time I met him was last March when my family and I went to KLCC and met him with his family near Aquaria. He was with Petronas (play for Petronas basketball team) and his wife (a former Lancastrian too) is also a friend of my wife. He got two lovely daughters and his wife is heavily pregnant right now.

He suffered a heart attack in his house in Taman Kosas, Ampang and was buried in his hometown in Kedah. He was 31 years old, same age as mine.

Al-Fatihah

*pictures courtesy of Azlan Nache

5 Questions

I've been tagged by my old (and best) friend Afida, so here it goes:

5 things in my bag:
*notebook (year 2006)
*pens (with lids missing)
*puncher
*highlighter (yellow)
*papers (mostly rubbish)

5 things in my wallet:
*cards (library, credit, debit, sports, photocopy, rewards, IC)
*driving license
*money (coins mostly)
*notes (small details like phone numbers etc)
*picture of Maisarah (I must have misplaced Ilyas')

5 favorite things in my favorite room (I dont have favorite room so I choose living room)
*TV
*Manchester United scarf
*Family pictures
*Laptop
*Books

5 things I would like to do
*Spending more quality time with my family
*Travelling to Europe with my family
*Finishing my Phd on time
*Publishing 3 articles in top journals
*Finishing developing my own website

5 things I'm currently doing
*Researching
*Blogging
*Playing badminton
*Playing backgammon
*Using Facebook

I only knew few blogger friends. So if you are reading this, Idlan, Wan Huzaini, Durra, June and Roheida, you guys have been tagged!

Lancaster Morecambe Badminton League - League Match Four

Tonight we played against Hest Bank C, a team that got promoted from Division Three last season (they were second in that division). We are not sure what to expect but strange thing was happening to our men doubles matches. The ladies double won both their matches and Paul and I won our first set 15-8. However, during our second set, everything went wrong and we surrendered the set easily with a score of 5-15. As for our second men doubles game, Tim and I again won our first set 15-9 and we were leading 12-7 in the second. But somehow we managed to lose 12-15. This is the fourth time in a row Tim and I split our matches. But thing is getting better when I partnered Brenda. We won both sets but it was close. We won 17-15 and 15-12.

In the end we won 13-5 overall. So that makes three wins and one lose so far. Not bad at all.

Body Fat Part 3

It has been 2 months since I last step onto that weight machine in Boots. So last Thursday (the last day of fasting month) I went there with full of confidence that my diet regime plus the fasting month will seriously make my body lean and fit. Just for a record, my weight last July was 81.4kg and last August was 79.8kg. To my surprise and horror, my current weight is 78.4kg, a reduction of only 1.4kg. Basically thats only a reduction of 23 grams per day! I've only managed to reduce 3kg of my body weight for the past 4 months!

And to rub salts to the wound, my B.M.I is 25.9 which still falls under the 'Overweight' category. And my body fat is getting worse, it's getting from 20.4kg(July) to 20.7kg(August) to 22.8kg(now). In term of percentage, it is getting from 25.1%(July) to 26%(August) to 29.1%(now). It hovers between 'Average' and 'Poor' now.

There is only one conclusion from this experience: something is wrong with that weight machine in Boots!

Visiting friends on the second day of Raya

At the end of the first day of Raya

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

New friend

Every Monday and Wednesday, Ilyas and Maisarah will receive a visit from Sebastian, their German friend. He used to be in the same class with Ilyas in the pre-school but now he is in Ellel Primary School, another school nearby. His mother works in the university and she needs a place to accomodate him from 3.30pm until 5pm on those two days. My wife and I don't mind because at least Ilyas and Maisarah will have someone to play around with. Perhaps learning a German word or two in the process!

Lancaster Morecambe Badminton League - League Match Three

Tonight we play against one of the strongest team in Division Two, Hest Bank B. They were actually got promoted last season due to becoming runners-up. However, their team A got relegated from Division One and the rules say that you cannot have a second team in a higher division than your first team. So team B remains in the Division Two, happy to beat other teams all over again. And that is what they did to us tonight.

Last season they beaten us 13-5. This time it's getting slightly worse, we lost 4-14. I drew both my men doubles (with Paul 15-9, 4-15 and with Tim 15-12, 10-15) which is quite an improvement since last season I lost all sets. But I'm not so lucky with Brenda, we lost 10-15, 7-15, compared to last season when we split.

I am not looking forward to play again with them at their home ground sometime in January. We lost 2-16 last season, our worst performance.

Car Boot Sale and British Honesty

I received this email today, forwarded by our LUMSS president:

Subject: Help in contacting a possible member

Hi

A Malaysian student bought a 'dinner/drinks' trolley from Greenhalgh Car Boot sale, Blackpool last Saturday (October 6th). The couple who sold it to her have visited the University today, as they noticed after they'd that it was incomplete. They have left the missing items with me. I was wondering if you would be able to contact your members in case it was one them. As this student is planning to leave at the end of the year I am assuming that she's a Postgraduate.

Regards Xtine

Christine Jones
International Students' & Money Adviser
LUSU Advice
Bailrigg
Lancaster
LA1 4YA

Tel: 01524 593769

We already knew that Malaysians here are famous for scouring Car Boot sales every Sunday but I'd never knew that someone would travel more than 30 miles just for that purpose. I guess it was a special occasion or it could be that Car Boot sales in Lancaster no longer have any surprises in store for her (judging from what she'd bought, she could be right). Or I could be wrong, this Malaysian might be from other university which is quite near to Blackpool. Another thing that struck me is how much further this British couple is willing to deliver this missing item. They could just leave it like that, after all they were selling old items and these things are expected to missing a few parts here and then. The travelling cost (mostly car fuel) to Lancaster might offset any profit that they made from the sale of this item, but then, that's British for you!

Breaking Fast in Lancaster Part 5

Main course

Dessert

Today we were invited to break fast in Huzaini's flat, along with several other families and friends. It was a lovely dinner, plenty of food to enjoy. After the dinner, the ladies went to other flat to discuss ermm... ladies matters and the kids were in another room to play with each other. So the husbands were left to do something healthy and beneficial, like 'exercising' their fingers with carom pieces.

LUMSS and KULM meeting

Today both Lancaster University Malaysian Students' Society (LUMSS) and Kelab UMNO Lancaster Morecambe (KULM) had their meeting in my flat. They were discussing on the Raya events to be held sometime next week or two. My wife is the LUMSS Vice President and hence the meeting's location. I just sat near the table whilst taking this picture. :)

Breaking Fast in Lancaster Part 4

Today, for a change, we break our fast with fish and chip. But it is not just an ordinary fish and chip, it is an award winning fish and chip. Apparently Hodgson's Chippy of Lancaster had won the National Fish & Chip Shop of the Year back in early 2006. Considering that there are over 11,500 chip shops across the UK, it was quite an achievement. I arrived at the shop around 5.50pm and people are already queueing outside the shop. Honestly there is indeed a difference between their fish and chip with others. The chips are not soggy and the haddock fish was simply delicious and covered with crispy batter. Tomorrow the Malaysian Students' Society will prepare 'nasi paprik' for the iftaar gathering at the mosque. If I had to choose between the two, 'nasi paprik' will always be the top favorite... hehe.

Manchester Mystery

Yesterday I received a parcel addressed to me (which is a bit unusual since EBay or other packages are always addressed to my wife). When I opened it, a brand new Manchester United third jersey with its label still attached came out, the black one, the one that I've always wanted to buy but could not afford it. But strangely, there is no note or invoice attached to it. Just the shirt and a blank piece of paper. The sender address was written on the packaging itself but there is no name. I looked up the address on the internet and found out that it belongs to a company in Plymouth. No one emailed me so far telling me that they bought the shirt and need to use my address for the delivery yet. How strange. It is tempting to treat this shirt as my own but I will wait until someone finally give me a call and clear up the situation.

Lancaster Morecambe Badminton League - League Match Two

Last night was our second league match, an away game to Ingleton B. We lost 4-14 to them in the previous season but hope is high since our win against Kirkby Lonsdale B last week. There was a last minute withdrawal from Paul Taylor due to some illness and he was replaced by Mark. Mark used to be an A team player until he suffered from knee injury. He is back now and has proven a major asset to the team.

My first match was with Tim and we had a very close fight in the first set in which we were narrowly beaten 16-17. We should have won that because in the second set we won it easily with a score of 15-9. My next match was with Mark and it was a breeze where we won 15-10, 15-4. Last season I played twice with Brenda against Ingleton B and we drew 2-2. This time we drew again with a scoreline of 8-15, 15-2. Overall, we managed to beat Ingleton B 11-7 and this makes it up for a long journey (17 miles or so) just to get there. In addition Ingleton Community Centre only had one court so we had to take turn to play. I finally arrived home at 12 midnight.

Mathematic question (or is it Accounting?)

I received this email a couple of months ago...

Kamu pinjam RM50.00 dari A dan pinjam lagi RM50.00 dari B. Maka kamu telah meminjam sebanyak RM100.00 dan kamu kini membeli sepasang kasut yang berharga RM97.00 dengan wang tersebut, dan bakinya masih lagi ada RM3.00. Dengan duit RM3.00 itu, kamu pun bayar hutang A =RM1.00 dan B = RM1.00. Manakala RM1.00 kamu simpan sendiri.

Maka hutang kamu dengan A dan B masih ada sebanyak RM49.00 lagi! Jika hutang kamu dengan A(RM49.00) + B (RM49.00) = RM98.00 dan campur dengan RM1.00 yang anda simpan sendiri = RM99.00! Di manakah RM1.00 lagi pergi ?

It helps if you think of this problem with asset and liability in mind.....

Blackburn Rovers Reserve 1 Manchester United Reserve 0

Today Huzaini and I went to Christie Park, home ground of Morecambe FC to watch a reserve game between Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United. The kickoff is at 7.00pm but Maghrib is around 6.50pm. So we broke our fast with a chocolate bar and then performed prayer next to the car. After that we bought the ticket (only 3 pounds for adult) and went inside the stadium. We were in the standing section but decided to sit anyway to have our dinner first.

Both teams feature young players although I noticed that some of them looked a bit older. The only notable star among the Manchester United players is Dong Fangzhuo although his strike partner Febian Brandy looks promising. And I thought that Stephane Henchoz was among the Rovers defenders, but I was wrong. Rovers took the lead with a penalty and maintained it until the final whistle. Manchester United was granted a penalty too but Rovers keeper managed to block the shot. Attendance for the game is 493.

I've been to Manchester United, Manchester United Reserve and FC United of Manchester games. Now the only team to watch is Manchester United Under 18. I've been to Old Trafford, Christie Park and Giant Axe. Now the only stadium to visit is Deepdale. Probability of Manchester United Under 18 playing in Deepdale is maybe near zero but who knows.....

New Arrivals

The past few days have been hectic for us Malaysians in the Lancaster. There have been several new families arriving together with single undergraduates and postgraduates to start new semester in a few days time. More are coming today and tomorrow. Hopefully everyone will arrive safely here, although I heard that one family missing their entire luggage. It happens sometime but usually the airport authority will find them and send the luggage right to their doorstep. Let's hope this is the case.

I got new neighbour now. A Malaysian family with two young children. The husband and wife used to be my juniors when we were undergraduates here. Yesterday my family and I took them to a car boot sale and shopping in Asda. They already have a car, bought from one Malaysian family leaving yesterday. £300 for a 1996 Ford Mondeo is quite a bargain honestly.

Breaking Fast in Manchester

Still sizzling hot

Yesterday Bong's family and my family went to Manchester to send two of the postgraduates to the airport. One of them is going back for good and another one is going back for Raya. Afterwards we went to my friend G's house near Whalley Range before goig out again to break our fast at a restaurant near Rusholme. This area is full of halal restaurants and shops and we were basically spoilt for choices. Finally we decided to try this one shop named Sizzler. I ordered 'Mix Grill' consisting a variation of lamb, chicken, kebab and other stuff all grilled and lumped together on a plate. Of course it was too much for me to handle so I split it with Bong. On our way home there was an accident on the M61 highway so the traffic was heavy. We finally managed to get back to Lancaster around 11pm.

Breaking Fast in Lancaster Part 3

Last night we went to Imran's, a new restaurant opening in the town with a couple of families and friends. They serve buffet style and charge only £4 for adult and £2 for kid under 10. Anything you can eat. Basically they have the usual suspects such as pilau rice, naan, samosas, kebab sausages, lamb curry, chicken curry, vegetable curry, dhaal, salad etc. The food was nice and we had an enjoyable evening.

Breaking Fast in Lancaster Part 2

Last night we were breaking fast in our flat with friends.

Shipping to Malaysia

For the past few months we have been helping Malaysian students especially postgraduates moving their belongings to the ship container as they have finished their study and are going back home for good. We thought of doing it differently, rather than waiting until the end of my study, we would send them bits by bits to Malaysia. This way, our small flat will not be too cramp with all the stuff and encourage us not to spend more on something that will be problematic to bring back home later on. These two large boxes cost us 58.48 pounds for shipping charges and will arrive at my parents' house in two or three months time.

Kuih Raya Making Session has begun!

Spiderman helping Sarah and Kakak June preparing the cups

Ilyas and Sarah proud with their masterpiece

Lancaster Morecambe Badminton League - League Match One

Today is the first league match for 2007/2008 season of Lancaster Morecambe Badminton League. I am still playing for Bailrigg A in Division Two. Last season we were fourth in the league. Our first match is an away encounter against Kirkby Lonsdale B, who were third last season. We lost 5-13 whilst away and drew 9-9 at home to them so the expectation is not that high. Besides, this is our first competitive match and most of us are still a little bit rusty.

But what a nice surprise it is, when we suddenly won both our men and ladies double matches. We are getting more confidence and suddenly we are cruising to an eventual 13-5 win. Paul and I won 15-9, 15-8, which is better than last year when we split at 15-12, 10-15. Tim and I repeat our last season result when we drew at 15-12, 6-15 (last season we split at 15-17, 15-9). And Brenda and I improved a little bit when we drew at 15-2, 7-15 because last season we lost 12-15, 7-15.

Next week match is an away against Ingleton B. We lost 4-14 last season but I had a feeling that this time it will be different.

Sarah Scratched!

Sometimes life can get tough at the preschool. I picked Sarah today in the afternoon and to my horror found her face full of bruises and scratches. Apparently some little girl decided to play rough on her. From the picture you can see injuries on both cheeks, nose and above lips. I guess the other girl might be jealous of Sarah's cuteness. She didn't make a fuss about it though, acting like nothing had happened. Thank God it is nothing serious.

Breaking Fast in Lancaster

Last night, we were invited to one of the postgraduates' house (Novia, June and Fidah) near the town for iftar. They cooked Mee Bandung as the main course. Simply delicious! By the way, those 'pisang goreng' were cooked by my wife :)

Reduce Re-use Recycle

This picture was taken near Lancaster University sports centre. I know in Malaysia we have 'Kitar Semula' which means Recycle but I wonder if they are focusing on the reduce and re-use as well.

Blackpool at Night

Last Friday Huzaini's family and my family went to Blackpool right after we break our fast. There has been a fireworks competition and Illuminations festival (where the streets were bathed in lights during the night) near the beach. After watching the fireworks we went to Promenade to enjoy the lights. There are lots of amusement parks there so we went into one to play some games. It was a good night out.

Congratulations Prof Tai!

The Minister of Higher Education has appointed YBhg. Prof. Dr. Tai Shzee Yew as the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Community & Industry Relations) of Universiti Putra Malaysia. The appointment is effective from 1 September 2007 to 31 August 2010. He was my tennis double partner since 2003 until the day I left for the UK. He is a very active sportsman, playing badminton and tennis every alternate days. I can count with my single hand the number of time I managed to beat him in a single match as he always had the upper hand. And to think that he is nearing his 50s! He is even my guarantor for the computer loan that I took to buy this notebook that I'm currently typing on. Well done Prof!

Work of Art

One of these colourings was made by Ilyas. Can you guess it? Well, it's the right one. The left one is made by Haziq, his classmate. I guess Ilyas is not really an artistic person, but who knows, he might be the next Jackson Pollock ;)

Ramadhan

Today is a third day of Ramadhan. The weather has been nice, not too hot and not too cold either. I just looked into the prayers timetable and noticed that in the beginning of Ramadhan the Fajar prayer begins at 5.01am and Maghrib prayer begins at 7.36pm. At the end of Ramadhan the Fajar prayer will begins at 5.55am and Maghrib prayer will begins at 6.30pm. Since the Hijrah calendar is moving 10 days forward every year, fasting in the UK is becoming more like in Malaysia, in term of time for breaking your fast. I remember when I was here back in 1995 until 1997 where Fajar prayer starts around 7am and we break our fast around 4pm right in the middle of winter. You don't even feel the hunger, just the coldness. In few years time, the daytime during Ramadhan will be getting longer though. Maghrib during August will be around 8 to 9pm. Even worse, during the July it will only begins at 9.50pm. I guess it's about time the Malaysian or even Indonesian government started to advertise to the whole Muslim community in the UK to have their Ramadhan holiday in their countries during those years!

Finally...

Finally....

...Ramadhan is here....most blessed month of the year

...my research data has arrived via email...busy period has began

...found time to write a little bit on this blog...will try to keep updating it more frequently

...Rooney can play again

...Saha can play again

...Ronaldo can play again

Dschinghis Khan - Rocking Son Of Dschinghis Khan

First Day at School

Today is Ilyas' first day at Moorside Primary School. He looks smart in his new uniform and pretty excited on making new friends and playing in a new classroom. He is a big boy now!

Michael Jackson - Bad

Weird Al Yankovic - Fat

Moving On

Last weekend the whole Malaysian community helped Jasmin and his family to move to their new rented house. In few days time another family will be going back home and this time it might take several days to finish transferring all the stuff inside the fourth floor flat to the storeroom provided. Where are all the undergraduates when we need them? :)

Madonna - Like A Virgin

Weird Al Yankovic - Like A Surgeon

EBay

Just bought a Yu-Gi-Oh GX card album from EBay. So I dedicated this song to myself...

Skuad Harimau Kembali Mengaum!

Malaysia are champions of the Merdeka Tournament again after a lapse of 14 years. Full story here.

Amazing Trick Shot

What is your Brazil name?

My Brazil name is Ahma Da Costa.

My son's Brazil name is Ilyildo.

My daughter's Brazil name is Maisarerto.

And my wife's Brazil name is Akhiano.

What's your? Click here.

New couple in Lancaster University

Last night my wife and I invited a Malaysian couple who had just arrived here a couple of days ago for a dinner in our flat. The husband is going to do a PhD in a Political Science (I think) and the wife will be pursuing Master in Project Management. They don't have any kid yet so concentrating on their study should be no problem. Both of them are PTD (Pegawai Tadbir Diplomatik) officers working under one of the agencies in the Prime Minister Department. Apparently there are 43 different agencies under that one Ministry alone. Now that is something new for me.

Gregorius - NMKY (Finnish YMCA 1979 version)

Village People - YMCA (1978)

Roxette - Crash! Boom! Bang!

Lakeland Maize Maze

Today my family and I went to the Lakeland Maize Maze with three other Malaysian families. It is situated near Lake District. We went to the car boot sales first, of course, and Ilyas managed to buy himself Power Rangers videos and DVDs, a Digimon toy, a Bionicle toy and several Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Sarah got herself few shirts (one of them is a Burberry bought at 50 pence!) and several toys too. My wife got some Kenwood travelling steam iron, a Levis jean and other stuff. I bought myself several DVDs (special edition of Reservoir Dogs and Final Fantasy, and a complete collection of Taken) and a hard cover Hannibal Rising at 1 pound. There were actually two giant car boot sales in that area (Carnforth) but since our inital plan is to visit Lakeland Maze, we had to forego the other one. Maybe next weekend, hehe.

Lakeland Maze itself is an interesting place to visit and bring your family. I've already uploaded several videos in Ilyas and Maisarah YouTube account. Their main attraction is of course their corn maze which is quite huge. Every year they designed a different maze. The first two years were in the shape of a farmer and his dog, and a pig. This year they created a tractor maze and a mini maze in a shape of a corn. We decided to take a mini maze challenge because the main maze will takes about 1 1/2 hours to finish. I think we spent half an hour on a mini maze. At the end of the day, the kids enjoyed themselves to the fullest and that's what important.

A pig maze

A farmer and his dog (sideway)

This year maze, a tractor and a corn

This is the clue, printed on a fridge magnet

Roxette - The Big Love

Badminton - A Dangerous Sport?

We played badminton last night as usual and I was eager to try out the 2GB Memory Stick that Owen lent to me. Turned out it has a capacity of 70 minutes of recording. That's quite a plenty. And what a night it was. Huzaini managed to break his fourth racket, this time by smashing it onto Maulana's head. And the whole thing was recorded and proudly uploaded in the YouTube. And he managed to hit Maulana's head again later on. After he went home, Maulana just realised that his head is actually bleeding. After recent injury to Asmadi and now to Maulana, our badminton session suddenly becomes a battleground. Time to wear a protective headgear?

The racket fits perfectly to Maulana's head... hehe

Ouch!

Exactly at 0:10 Huzaini hit Maulana's head...

followed by breaking his racket at 0:24

and hitting Maulana on the head again at 0:36

Roxette - Joyride

Roxette - Dangerous

New Beginning

I'm busy uploading all the necessary softwares in my recently formatted laptop and creating all favourites links back in my browser. It is fun! Like painting on an empty white canvas.

Roxette - Almost Unreal

Starting All Over Again

Well I sent my laptop to the computer guy in the library and asked them to reformat the whole thing. It's better that way, start clean. It is just plain luck that I have decided several weeks ago to treat my laptop as a transit station rather than a permanent station for all my files. A bit unfortunate though that I didn't managed to transfer my recent files (consisted mostly of pictures and videos taken for the last couple of weeks) into my two separate external hard drives but it could be worse.

On an different note, I just had a discussion with my new co-supervisor and he had plenty to talk about my research questions. He didn't think it was enough and want me to exploit the data for other research questions. I had to ask my main supervisor though about this because we have been working on this one for several months now. This sounds like another reformat. Uh-huh.

Roxette - The Look

Computer Virus

My notebook has been infected by a virus last night. I didn't know what happened really. I just came back from a badminton session and wanted to browse the internet and suddenly there were several pop-up messages that telling me my computer has been infected. I got suspicious and just close all those messages when I realised there are several new shortcuts on my desktop that I didn't recognise. The notebook suddenly crashed and rebooted but when the Windows started again, the usual wallpaper is gone and replaced by a strange warning sign. I immediately disconnected from the Internet and did Ad-Aware scan and Symantec virus scan. Through Ad-Aware I found several Spywares but the computer is running so slow that I had to abandon the Symantec virus scan.

At this moment I'm starting the Symantec virus scan again and if that doesn't resolve the issue, I'm going to bring my notebook to the tech guy.

By the way, I'm writing this using my office computer. Since I did all my work in the office, nothing is lost, plus I had my dissertation backup in my thumbdrive. And I already did a backup for all personal files in my notebook to two separate external hard drive before this virus attack. So if worst case scenario did happened, which is reformatting my notebook back, I will only lose several new pictures and movies of my family, which I think some of them have been already uploaded into our YouTube and Fotopages account.

I think this virus attack happens when you click some of the pop-up messages that appear when you browsing the internet. Will investigate this further.

Roxette - Spending My Time

Helwa Lancaster

The Malaysian ladies in Lancaster have been really active in their 'usrah' and gatherings for the past few few months. They even have their own blog site http://helwa-lancs.blogspot.com which includes several interesting articles and pictures of the members. Well done to them!

Roxette - How Do You Do

R & R

Arghh... please come back soon R & R!

Roxette - It Must Have Been Love

Lancaster City FC (2) FC United of Manchester (1)

What a match!

When we arrived at the Giant Axe Stadium, there were thousands of people in red shirts and scarves and very few in blue (the actual attendance is 2247). I had just started to think that it is becoming like a home match for FC United. Their supporters came with flags and singing songs throughout the match and I was struggling to find any Lancaster City fans. The match itself was also a bit one-sided. FC United were attacking all the time and Lancaster City were realy struggling. Only on certain occasions they managed to make a counter attack and from that they managed to get a lead through a header. And then back to defending until the half time whistle.

In the second half, FC United resumed their attacking mode and only through sheer luck and the inability of FC United strikers to do the finishing did Lancaster City managed to got hold of one goal advantage. The match continued to become a one way traffic affair until several minutes before the final whistle. Some of the supporters have started to went home when suddenly Lancaster City managed to muster a counter attack. The Lancaster City striker found himself face to face with FC United keeper and he kept his cool to slot home the second goal. I was still celebrating when FC United scored a goal which I think came straight from their kickoff. The match became alive yet again and now FC United have doubled their attacks. They got another chance when one of their players executed a bicycle kick shot that was just few inches wide. And then a final whistle came. What a relief and what a joy for Lancaster City fans, including myself. And Ilyas was happy because he can play Transformers toys with Haziq for nearly two hours.
Huzaini, Haziq, Ilyas and me.

The kickoff, Lancaster Castle at the background. Strangely enough, the dugouts were situated away from the Main Stand so the players and the staff had to cross the pitch before the game and during the halftime.

Roxette - Listen To Your Heart

David Beckham scored in his first start for LA Galaxy...

and then he assist Landon Donovan..business as usual

Roxette - Fading Like A Flower

New Freezer

Today I got a new freezer for my flat. Well, not actually new but rather was given by one departing postgraduate. Until now, I have a tiny compartment of freezer in my fridge to stock several weeks supply of frozen chickens and fish. What about icecream then? Well, we just eat them straight away after we bought it.

Now with the new freezer that is the equivalent in size to my current fridge, I've already started to imagine all sort of frozen foods that I can put inside it. Such as chocolate icecream, strawberry icecream, toffee icecream, caramel icecream, vanilla icecream and not forgetting mocha icecream. Seems to be in conflict with my resolve to lose weight though....

Padhyangan 6 - Tenda Biruku (as recommended by Idlan, hehe)

Contract Agreement Part 2

Today I signed the contract agreement with Grant Thornton. Hopefully I will get the data in two weeks time and be extra busy for the next few months.

Dschinghis Khan - Samurai (with altered subtitles of course!)

Books Part 2

Today I received a book from Amazon titled 'The Sword of Attila by Michael Curtis Ford'. Which makes the number of books in my collection that has not been read yet to 44.

No. More. Books.

Hmm.... latest book by Steven Pressfield... 'The Afghan Campaign'... sounds interesting.....

Bok'Teh - Bining

Old vs. New

Today I bought tickets to watch a football match this Saturday. It is a Northern Premier League Division One North match and it is between Lancaster City F.C. and F.C. United of Manchester. Both clubs have their own colourful histories even when one of them just formed in 2005. Lancaster City F.C. was founded in 1905 but recent years saw them relegated two divisions below due to financial difficulties.

F.C. United of Manchester (try reading their name from right to left) was founded by the supporters of Manchester United who decided to create their own football team following the Malcolm Glazer's takeover. They got promoted twice during their first two seasons.

Now both of them are together in the same league and they are going head to head this Saturday. I went to the Giant Axe Stadium office (I saw a pennant, Lancaster City vs Manchester United - 2005 - wow!) and bought tickets for two adults and two kids (Wan Huzaini is going to watch together with his son, Haziq) as I am thinking of bringing my son, Ilyas as well.

The officer must have thought that I'm going to bring my wife and two kids as he said, "Well, I think I will give you a family package, you don't have to pay for the Main Stand Seat (worth £8 altogether!), but don't tell anyone OK". So I only need to pay for the entrance tickets (£6 for adult and £3 for kid) and received a complimentary seating section. They still have a standing and uncovered section, which is no longer allowed in higher divisions. These four tickets are still cheaper than a single ticket I bought when watching Manchester United last year which resulted in 0-0 scoreline. Really looking forward to this game. Stay tuned.

Dschingis Khan - Hadschi Halef Omar (with altered subtitles!)

Batch Reunion

My former MRSM schoolmates are planning a reunion sometime in 2008. I won't be able to attend it because it will means spending close to 2,000 British Pound Sterling just to buy tickets back to Malaysia. But I'm helping them in creating some sort of reunion book, where all the contact details of each and every one of us are collected together with the current pictures. Can't wait to see their faces after 14 years. At the moment six people have already responded so that will leave 251 names to go....

Badminton Stunt

Family Tree Part 2

I have installed the Legacy Family Tree Deluxe 4 on my computer. Tried it once and did not like it. So I bought another geneology software, Family Tree Maker 2006 Deluxe from EBay. It arrives today and I'm going to test it soon. I heard that it can converts my old file into the new one. So hopefully I can recover what I have collected and stored so far in that old file and save me lots of time.

Tunak Tunak Tun (with altered subtitles!)

Body Fat Part 2

Today I went to Boots again to confront that weight machine. It is exactly one month since the shocking revelation that I was in fact overweight. So I braced myself and put some coins into it and waited for the printout.

Some good news first:

1. I managed to reduce my weight from 81.4kg to 79.8kg (a 'whopping' 1.6kg (or 2%) decrease).
2. My B.M.I is currently 26.1, a 0.5 point decrease from 26.6.

err... that's it.

Now for some bad news:

1. I'm still overweight. If my B.M.I is over 25, I am still considered overweight. Rats!
2. My body fat increased from 20.4kg to 20.7kg (from 25.1% to 26%). So it is still between Average and Poor.

I don't understand this. I managed to reduce my overall weight but my body fat is increasing instead. Things that I did over the months are playing badminton three times a week, skipping dinner almost every night, eating less of chocolate and chips and walking around the university whenever I had the chance.

So assuming that I maintain whatever that I am doing so far and if reduction in weight is a linear progression, I should be able to attain my ideal weight in two months time. Plus the Ramadhan is coming. So I will only say this to that weight machine in Boots, "I'll be back!"

Ultimate Warrior! Wuarghhhh!!!!

Contract Agreement

Finally, Grant Thornton has sent a contract agreement to my supervisor. Once it is signed and send to them, they will send the data to us, and I can start crunching them like mad. But when we studied them closely, there is no mention of data exclusivity in the contract as agreed earlier on the phone. Now the university officer is going to look at it and decide whether we can proceed with the signing or do we have to ask Grant Thornton to revise it back. Considering that it took me more than 3 months of calling their people almost every week just for them to send this contract, I don't know whether I will be willing to wait much longer for the data. The wait continues...

The Offspring - Pretty Fly For A White Guy

Coming and Going

Last night my wife and I invited several people to our house for a dinner. Bakri and his family are going back to Malaysia after he successfully defended his thesis during his viva last month. And so is June, who has just finished her Master degree. Several days ago Syarifah Raihan, a UKM staff arrived here to do her Phd in Linguistic and at the moment she is staying in Nana's flat, which is in the same buiding with us. We had our dinner and also had our pictures taken. Hopefully there will be a big reunion in 5 or 10 years time in Malaysia where everyone who has been in Lancaster can gather together just to relive that sort of muhibbah feeling we have at the moment.

Our badminton YouTube page

This is one of the game that I managed to upload at YouTube. You can watch them all at www.youtube.com/lancasterbadminton

This particular match is interesting because Din and I were leading throughout the game but somehow got beaten by Asmadi and Wan Huzaini at the end (This is Part 1, you need to watch the Part 2 to see how frustrated I was). So it does remind you that every single point matters and you'd better make sure your serve is in all the time.

Husband vs. Wife

The Silent Treatment

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake me at 5:00 AM " He left it where he knew she would find it.

The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. The paper said, "It is 5:00 AM . Wake up."

Men are not equipped for these kinds of contests.

Relatives

A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word. An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position.

As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically, "Relatives of yours?"

"Yep," the wife replied , " in-laws"

Women's Revenge

"Cash, check or charge?" I asked, after folding items the woman wished to purchase. As she fumbled for her wallet I noticed a remote control for a television set in her purse. "So, do you always carry your TV remote?" I asked.

"No," she replied, " but my husband refused to come shopping with me,and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally."

Words

A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day. 30,000 to a man's 15,000. The wife replied, "The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men...

The husband then turned to his wife and asked, "What?"

Creation

A man said to his wife one day, "I don't know how you can be so stupid and so beautiful all at the same time. The wife responded, "Allow me to explain.

God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me;

God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you!

Who Does What

A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning. The wife said, "You should do it, because you get up first, and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee." The husband said, " You are in charge of cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee."

Wife replies, "No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee." Husband replies, "I can't believe that, show me." So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says ..........."HEBREWS"

And lastly...

God may have created man before woman, but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.

***Received it from a female species, but I guess you'd already figured that out, didn't you...

Minmi - Sha Na Na

sekali tengok muka macam Maya Karin

dua kali tengok macam muka Maya Karin

tiga kali tengok muka macam Maya Karin

empat kali tengok macam muka err... Maya Karin

err..lima kali tengok...errmmm muka macam Maya Karin

tapi bukan Maya Karin yer...

Nikmat Dunia

Japanese Transformers with corrupted subtitles (again!)

Blink 182 - All The Small Things

Happy Happy Joy Joy

My daughter Maisarah is happy today because she got a new My Little Pony. Now she has three of them.

My son Ilyas is happy today because he got a Transformers Bumblebee. He is already asking whether we are going again to Toys'R'Us tomorrow. I suspect he is already eyeing another Autobot.

My wife Joanna is happy today because she has her own PC now. Now she doesn't have to wait for her turn to online shopping, err I mean online surfing.

I am happy today because my team, ANSARA Taiping managed to avoid relegation in the Division Two Alumni League. We received a walkover since SAHOCA decided not to play at all. They have committed to another tournament and they don't mind going down to Division Three. Well, we don't mind staying in Division Two either.

Long Rally Part 3

Family Tree

I used to create my family tree using a software bought in Low Yat Plaza. I think it was a Family Tree Creator Deluxe by Mindscape. My geneology database became so big that it covers more than a hundred family members. Unfortunately I lost the CD and as a results I cannot open the file. That was two years ago. Now I'm going to start again, this time I will make sure there will be a hard copy of it. I bought Legacy Family Tree Deluxe 4 over the Amazon and it arrived today. Haven't got time to install it yet. This is going to be a long term project so I'm not going to rush it. Hopefully it will be something that my children can learn about their ancestors.

Indian Thriller with 'revised' subtitles - Especially for Izri ;)

Dschingis Khan - Dschingis Khan (with the altered subtitles!)

Birthday Gift

Today my family and I went to Fleetwood Freeport, a retail park about 30 miles from here. There is a sale at The NEXT and my wife managed to get a few bargains. And when she went to the Wedgwood shop, she found the Wild Strawberry cup collection that she has been looking for. I let her bought them. When we arrived home, her new Sony Ericsson K810i has already arrived. I guess her birthday which is due next month came a little bit early. I don't mind actually, better early than accidentally forgot about it!

Long Rally Part 2

Done that, did that

10 things that happened today:

1. ISS (Internet Something Something) people came to my flat to inspect our internet connection data point. Something is definitely not working and he promised to come back tomorrow morning with some of the repair tools.

2. I renewed my mobile phone contract and got my wife the new Sony Ericsson K810i. It should arrived tomorrow. Her birthday is next month so I guess I'm safe for this year.

3. I called and put my name for dentist registration. Apparently you had to wait for available places before you can go visit the dentist. I'm going to put the whole family into that registration thing.

4. I picked up my Indonesian friend, Maulana from Westmorland General Hospital in Kendal, about 23 miles from here. He got a screw removed from his foot. He broke his leg last year and the doctor had to put some steel and screw to strengthen it. The bone is OK now so I guess the screw already served its purpose.

5. I received 'The Darwin Conspiracy by John Darnton' today from an Amazon seller. Several days ago I received 'Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child'. I don't think I will be able to read these books this month. There are two books I'm currently reading and the progress is very slow.

6. Got the rental DVDs today, 'My Super Ex-Girlfriend' and 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning'. Probably going to watch them tomorrow.

7. Did some 'adjustments' to my website www.ligaalumni.com. I put State flag beside each team's name. Going to tweak some more tomorrow.

8. Had a two hours session with the badminton club. Had to play doubles with three ladies. Hate it! Cannot smash!

9. Created a YouTube account for my children. You can go visit www.youtube.com/ilyasmaisarah

10. Ate karipaps made by my wife and the children. The most delicious karipaps ever!

Bass Hunter - Boten Anna (with corrupted subtitles of course!)