Thursday, January 17, 2013

Doa for study and research

These are the powerful doas for me. Recite it whole-heartedly and feel the aura. Specially dedicated to kak yanti as she requested long time ago. Sorry kak, I forgot!





Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Back-to-school blues

Yesterday was the first day of Spring 2013 semester. Time flies.. I'm now in the 6th semester of my study. I don't know what I'm thinking, I just forgot to buy notebooks for 3 classes I enrolled this semester. umm.. it's like.. hey! what the..!

To my surprise, I had blues on my first day. I don't feel like to go to school, I feel like I'm a small kid who doesn't want to go to school. Even, Alya is better in managing herself when she went to babysitter.

"bang, camne ni, rasa macam taknak g school. dahla lupa beli notebooks semalam masa kita g shopping. tak ingat langsung!"

"kenapa plak?"

"entahla, takut jumpa SV sebab keje yang dia suruh siapkan masa winter break tak siap"

"la.. abis selama ni sayang buat apa, abg ngk hari2 buat keje"

"memanglah, i rasa pun i tak buang masa sgt masa winter break ni tapi keje still tak siap. tau tak, dalam masa 1 jam i boleh karang ayat tak sampai satu perenggan pun. i xde skill menulisla bang. lambat.. bila i baca research paper, i nak tulis statement die guna ayat I sendiri tapi i tak dapat lari dari struktur ayat die. tak tau nak menjadikan ayat tu suara kita sendiri. rasa macam ayat die dah paling perfect, nak ubah tang mana? last2 cari synonym for some words. x best, tu yang jadi lambat."

"yang, sebab tulah org buat PhD bertahun-tahun."

"huh.. nanti kalau terjumpa SV nak cakap ape?"

"rileksla sayang, SV pun x siap keje die gak"

"haha.. lawak"

p/s: he always know how to cheer me up even though he is not an academician guy.




Thursday, January 10, 2013

30 minutes exercise!

Let your body move...

Sitting All Day Is Damaging Your Body

Come on, come on...! bring in more positive energy!

 




Sunday, January 6, 2013

Setokin bulu

Suatu malam ketika seorang isteri diserang demam selsema dan pening-pening lalat keletihan menunggu kepulangan suaminya dari masjid yang tak kunjung tiba. Tiba-tiba..

Suami: Assalammualaikum.
Isteri: Waalaikummussalam.. yeay abang dah balik.. kenapa lambat sangat hari ni bang? Ingatkan kereta rosak ke, abang jumpa kawan ke.. ishh...
Suami: Sorry yang.. lambat sket sebab abang tanya soalan kat imam tadi.
Isteri: Wah, terernya abang.. Imam faham ke soalan abang? hehe.. tanya in person ke public dalam kuliah tadi.
Suami: Ish.. mestila faham. Abang tanya depan semua oranglah..
Isteri: Wah, hebat sungguh. Apa yang abang tanya sampai lambat betul nak habis.
Suami: Abang tanya imam pasal ambil wudhu' dengan menyapu setokin.
Isteri: Eh, abang kan dah tau pasal tu? Siap ajar I lagi..
Suami: Memanglah, saja nak dapat kepastian. Ingatkan jemaah lain dah tau, abang fikir soalan abang ni macam "lame" lah. Rupanya semua tak tau.
Isteri: Aik, takkanlah tak tau.. bukan ke..
Suami: Tau memang tau tapi kaedah diorang ada yang salah. Ada yang bangun pagi, solat subuh, ambik wudhu' macam biasa tapi bila part basuh kaki, brother tu sapu setokin die je.
Isteri: Hmmm... patutnye kena ambil wudhu' yang sempurna dulu kan, basuh kaki betul-betul, pastu terus pakai setokin. Dan bila die nak solat zohor, wudhu' dari step pertama dan bila part kaki, baru boleh sapu setokin atau kasut kan bang?
Suami: Betul sayang. Lagi satu cara sapuannya macam mana?
Isteri: Hari tu abang ajar just sapu hujung setokin dengan air.
Suami: Tadi imam ajar cara yang betul. Sapu setokin dari hujung jari hingga atas buku lali, gerakan ke atas tau.
Isteri: oo.. ye ke. salahlah apa yang I buat selama ni?
Suami:  Takpe, kita masih belajar. Lepas tu, tempohnya pula berapa lama?
Isteri: Entah... ada tempoh tamat juga ea..
Suami: Kita boleh buat sapuan setokin selama 5 waktu sahaja dari wudhu' yang sempurna. Tapi untuk musafir, dibolehkan selama 3 hari. Sebab tu sebelum abang pergi kerja, abang akan ambil wudhu' yang sempurna, pakai setokin dan pastu salam dengan sayang. Untuk solat Zohor dan Asar kat tempat kerja, baru boleh sapu setokin.
Isteri: Oo.. habis tu kalau kita kat rumah tak pergi mana-mana, lepas wudhu' pakai setokin bulu camni boleh tak sapu setokin nanti?
Suami: Boleh.
Isteri: Alhamdulillah.. dapat ilmu baru. Terima kasih bang.
Suami: Sama-sama..

Rujukan formal: http://fikrahhalaqah.com/hukum-sapuan-ke-atas-stokin-ketika-berwuduk-adakah-dibenarkan/

Friday, January 4, 2013

Latex

Rasanya researcher2 sekalian dah biasa dengar pasal Latex kan. cewahh.. researcher tu.. hehe.. Tapi rasanya benda ni glemer utk mathematicians je kot, sbb ada seorang kawan di UK, die bidang Sains Komputer tapi still guna Microsoft Word utk penulisan tesis. Pelik memang pelik sbb rasanya bidang diorang ni memerlukan byk gak equation2 math. hmm.. (wondering why sambil garu2 kepala yg memang gatal sbb kelumumur, sejuk weh nak mandi n syampoo rambut hari2 di tgh2 musim winter ni..)

Okla, sebenarnya just nak btau, kalau ada siapa2 nak install Latex dlm personal laptop or PC senang saja caranya. Just pergi ke link ni http://www.tug.org/texlive/, pastu klik download, klik install-tl.zip (untuk pengguna window, umm.. rasanya korang sume guna Window kan, kalau bukan, klik the other option k..), pastu extract the zip file, cari file install-tl. klik kat situ dan install. senang je tp amik masa sketla.. kurang 1 jam kot, sempatla korang nak makan biskut kering cecah air nescafe (gulp.. sedapnye, kepingin rasanya tp kat sini xde jual biskut tu..)

Sebelum ni tak taula pulak blh install sendiri, yelah kat US ni kan ketat sket psl install menginstall ni, no pirate2 at all, sume berlesen2 bagai. for the previous laptop pagi-pagi i letak je kt opis technician, suh diorang installkan, pastu petang amik n tinggal pakai je. recently, i beli laptop baru gara-gara sakit hati jiwa n raga ngn laptop lama, lepas install latex trs jd lembab n lembik abis.. mana taknya processor AMD Dual Core je korang. Harap je skrin besar 17.3" kemain, tapi.. hampeh, sesuai utk tonton movies je.

So, utk student2 PhD zaman ciber ni, spec laptop yg sesuai dgn kita ialah Intel i7, 8GB, Windows 7 atau 8. Buat masa skg ni, cukupla kalau nak run latex, matlab and other programs. Screen size plak 14" dah sesedap rasa dah and berat dalam 4 pound lebih tu dlm kategori laratlah kita nak mengusung ke sana sini. Brand x kesah apa2 tp yg tgh glemer di US ni Asus, Lenovo, HP, and Dell. Take note ok. hihi..

Semalam i sibuk apply travel fund utk attend satu conference di Penn state, beriala buat personal laman web, ala yang professor2 ada tu, laman web professional, incl CV, publications, grants, teaching, etc. sbb style di sini mmg cmtu, kalau korang nak apply g workshop or conference diorang akan mintak URL kita. macam good-good je kan. rasa mcm x layak lg kot, pangkal Dr. pun xde lagi. haha. layankan jela.. kalau sudi, jenguk sini:  http://norazalizamohdjamil.wordpress.com/.

I guna wordpress je sbb free, x sempat sgt nk explore benda2 lain. Kalau UMP provide satu sistem personal laman web utk lecturers kan bagus, nampak formal sket. If korang nak buat jugak guna wordpress, blhla tanya i kalau ada masalah. bende ni pening gak nk edit. nak buang button leave comment je, habis masa sejam. Takkan I nak org komen bwk my list of publications kan. Eh, kalau korang tau provider selain wordpress yg lagi best, btau i ea.. hihi.. yang penting FREE.

haish.. sebenarnya nak cerita pasal latex je, ni dah melalut2 ke tempat lain plak. ok, cerita balik pasal latex, actually nak jot down my own notes utk i refer any other time. sebab selalu lupa kalau nk apply something, fikir nak letak usepackage ape, function ape.. alright. here we go..

1. Mengaler perkataan dengan kaler merah.


\usepackage{color}

\textcolor{red}{??The number-average chain length is the normalized first moment ($x_N=p^{(1)}/p^{(0)}$) and the mass-averaged chain length is the ratio of the second to first moments ($x_M=p^{(2)}/p^{(1)}$). The polysispersity is the ratio of mass-average to number-average ($I_{pd}=x_M/x_N$).??}

2. Set one-half inch margins on all sides
\usepackage[margin=0.5 in]{geometry}

3.  Single spacing
\usepackage{setspace} 
\singlespacing

4.  Set my font to Arial throughout the entire document.
\usepackage{helvet}
\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault}
 

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

4 ways to motivate yourself after a break

Do you find it hard to start again your work after a break? Well, I suspended my work for about 11 days due to Christmas and New Year holiday, plus a short vacation and entertained some guests at our home. It such a long break, huh? I cannot continue my work at home at all because you know Alya, she is such an active girl and an attention seeker,  and yesterday I find it hard to continue back my work. I have no energy, the motivation just disappeared nowhere and I just couldn't focus! haishh..

But Alhamdulillah, today I got my strength back. So, here's an overview of the 4 key points of what I did to increase my inner motivation.

1. Solat tahajud & solat dhuha
I missed these solat sunat during the breaks and I need to start it again. It's not esasy to get up in the 2/3 night, take wudhu' and pray. Ask Allah's guidance and help. The biggest enemy is our own self. If you win, you can feel the difference.

2. Read PhD blogs
Read about PhD articles or other people's experience. My favorite blog is  http://drotspss.blogspot.com/. Thanks to Dr OT because his writing makes me feel to work harder.

3. Read your thesis/report
Just read your thesis or your own writing for PhD once, then read it again. Read it again and you will find that you will add some words automatically and edit it.

4. Read surah Al-fath
This is the surah that tell us about victory and I find it is so inspiring. "Marilah menuju kejayaan!"

In shaa Allah.. May Allah keep us in the right path to His jannah. May Allah make this PhD journey as a reason for us to stay close with Him. Amin Ya Rabb..





Siri menjelajah Amerika: Musim sejuk 2012 di North Carolina

We took a vacation to North Carolina for two days during winter break. Yes, we need a break! When other people having fun traveling around the world, mood nak buat kerja pun berkurang. Tak caya, buka je FB semua post kawan2 pasal berjalan-jalan ke sana sini. hmmm... ape lagi, mulalah mengadap komputer  buat research, bukan research utk PhD tapi mencari-cari tempat yang best dan sesuai untuk di "explore" ketika  musim sejuk ni. At last, jumpalah satu aktiviti yang sangat2 mengujakan "SNOW TUBING!!"

Hanya  mengambil masa 3 jam perjalanan, x sempat nak kebas bontot pun, cuma jari2 je yg kebas sebab kesejukan. On the way balik, singgah sekejap di Chimney Rock. Patutnya visit Chimney Rock ni ketika musim luruh sebab dapat lihat daun2 bertukar warna ke merah, kuning, oren, purpe etc. Tapi dah sekali jalan tu, singgah je la.. We had so much fun, though. So guys, enjoy the video..