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| Wednesday, 2-Feb-2005 00:00 |
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Day 2
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My first 'proper' working day today. A slight problem in waking up meant that I only left home close to 7 am... but fortunately, the traffic was not so bad and i reached PRSS in just abit more than 30 mins.. and remember, this was at a civilised spead of 80 - 90 kph speed.. not bad ey!
Well... today was not much different from yesterday.. not assignments for me yet. Not desk yet.. no workstation what so every!! pretty damn appauling to be honest.. So I spent the day 'squatting' at my mate's cubicle. They promised that they'll sort out my place tomorrow. We didn't do much just completing a powerpoint preentation for on of the staff. It was all the standard test procedure for different tests that can be done on fuels. well... pretty boring if you ask me but kinda the basics i guess. but my field will be lubricants, not fuels. Not done any lube related stuff yet. Maybe i should get on 'how stuff works' or 'Wikipedia' after this...
Just realised that wednesday till friday is a holiday!! that means I have 4 more working days before i go for the executive induction program for two weeks by which the time i finish that i will get my first paycheck!! 
Met a few ppl today worth noting. 1) A guy at the NGV section is a Leeds graduate!! Well he graduated in 1999 so i didn't really got to see him in Leeds. 2) Met a College mate fellow Petronas Scholar. She has been here for 4 months already. She's in the building next to mine so cool!
Had an extended lunch time with lotsa inside views on PRSS and our career progression from some older office mates. Quite insightful... Sheds some light on how to manouver up the ranks quickly.
Not so useless fact i learnt today. A frank opinion from the people that actually develop the New Primax fuels available at the petrol stations: the best fuel available in the Malaysian market is the shell V-power. but the peformance comes at a hefty premium. The new Primax is better than the regular Shell fuel in a sense that the new one has what they call 'friction modifiers' that help reduce friction hence minimising power loss through friction and improving fuel economy and power output.
Forgot my camera today but will try to bring it tomorrow so that i can post some snaps of PRSS here! later guys...
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| Tuesday, 1-Feb-2005 00:00 |
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First day at work
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So, the big day came earlier than expected. The ammended offer letter i got on Monday said that my report date was the 1st of Feb... PRSS is in Bangi, Selangor hence no holiday for the federal territory day... Had a nightmare of an experience with the 'integrated' rail transport of K.L that day while trying to get home from sungei wang plaza... absolutely hate the unintegratedness of public transport in K.L. I think someone up there is making lotsa money while roads are still congested everywhere in K.L 
neeways, back to the topic - my first day at work. woke up at 5.45am... got ready and for once made it to the dawn prayers at the local mosque at 6 ish. Got back, had some breakfast and left ath about 6.45/50 am... it was still dark but I didn't wanna be late for my first day at work... supprisingly the roads were clear and i arrived in Bangi at 7.20 am!! hmm... that probably was b'cos of the public holiday in K.L...
Was kinda lost when i got there. had lotsa time to kill so i checked out the cafeteria which was conviniently opposite where i parked the car... First impression when i stepped in was.. Waaahh... this is some posh place.. it can't be the cafeteria.. must be some guest lounge or reception.. but when i read the menu on the wall behind the counter with the food prices i was taken back for a second... the food here is so much cheaper than what i used to pay around the KLCC / BSN / Wisma Central area. Cool!! so i had another breakky cos i had time to kill and i didn't know where to go...
Found the admin building soon after and was pleasantly supprised to see two other ppl waiting at the lobby as well!! I was not alone!! what was even better was that one of the guys will be working in the same group/floor as me in the Petroleum Product Group (PPG). The morning was full of briefings and talks with some of the important staff at PRSS. Supprisingly they only have about 380 staff about 250 of them are executives (degree holders). To think that we cater for the whole of Petronas' operations technology and scientific needs from upstream to downstream is amazing. Petronas has a workforce of about 35,000 around the world.
After all the briefings were done we were brought up to our work place. Unfortunately, they have no desk prepared for me yet... so i have to share this desk with the other dude for the time being. The place i'm working in is a higher security area with a seperate pass required to get in... makes one feel abit.. ermm... important!!  I was quite impressed by the exterior of the building but there was nothing special about the interior. Quite spartan at best. The atmosphere was quiet and kinda condusive for sleep.. or maybe i needed to adjust to the early hours. Petronas starts at 8 am ends at 5 pm.
The guys there weren't as i expected. Expected brainy, bearded men with white hair and lab coats but no... everyone was errm... normal looking. obviously everyone was older than me.. but supprisingly there were a few people only 4 / 5 years older than me i.e. still in the 20's... All very friendly so i reckon i'll have no problem fitting in as i settle in. My boss wasn't there.. he was away in Italy!! I'm gonna be part of the lube team - developing the lubricants for vehicle and industrial use. Seems quite interesting - at least for now. Noticed that no one wore ties at PRSS... so that saves me having to buy more ties and trying to match them with the shirts i have. They also have cool Research Shirts that i can get but i need to see someone for that. I was given the Petronas Research organiser in the morning. might come in handy later on...
Sleepy now.. bettter catch up on some sleep... 
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| Sunday, 30-Jan-2005 00:00 |
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Perception of age...
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Every morning at Petrosains we have an early morning role call. In this role call they take down the attendance of volunteers and announce any anything they need there. The cheif of operation also reads out a quote for the day and a science fact for the day. On this particular day the science fact was about the Cetane number being the measure of ignitability of diesel fuel. Usually a member of staff will elaborate on the fact but this one caught everyone off guard and no one actually really explained it well enough. Some one tried explaining it the following day but still, failed to explain what was the cetane number and how it indicates the ignitability of diesel fuel. It hit me that I did... and it took me back cos all my time at Petrosains I've felt just like the rest of volunteers - students and i actually enjoyed being back to the basics of science and how the basic principles actually relate to real life... and now with this question of cetane number lingering in my head i knew i was not like the rest.. i've got a degree in automotive engineering, I'm almost 24 years old and about to start a career as a research officer at one of Malaysia's biggest research centres and... i knew what the cetane number meant and could explain it's significance!! that was a scary thought. I'm all grown up!
Maybe it's just me being nervous about starting my new job... knowing what a cetane number means is prolly not so significant... maybe I'm just a bit paranoid... 0)
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| Thursday, 27-Jan-2005 00:00 |
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It's getting hot in here!
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It really is getting hot these days. I don't feel it much at work ofcourse but at home.. even at night the heat is quite unbearable. According to the newspapers, the average temperature in Malaysia is currently the second highest in the world with an average temp of 36 degrees celcius! this is higher than most middle east countries as the nights are cold in those places. Scientists predict this trend will continue until the end of march due to the end of the monsoons or something like that. I hate this type of weather as it causes breakouts on my face .
Was just thinking today of all the mixed heritage people that i meet during my time at Petrosains. Today i had a nice chat with a half Indonesian-Chinese, half German girl and the only thing that gave away her mixed heratige was her big stature and beautiful light blue eyes. Everything else was pretty much chinese. She spoke good english for a German... She was in Jakarta for her 6 month practical training. One thing for us to proud of is that all Indonesians think Kuala Lumpur is a better, less poluted, safer and more developed cty than Jakarta... kind praises but i don't think Jakarta is a very good benchmark... as other fellow K.L residents will tell ya - It's neither that safe nor less polluted here in K.L... though i do think it's better than Jakarta...
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| Wednesday, 26-Jan-2005 00:00 |
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Updates...
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Damn... I've not written anything for 2 weeks now!!! very poor.... Thing os, i keep on waiting for me to have the time to resize all my photos and upload them - which to be honest.. i really can't be asked to do... Hmmm.. defeats the whole purpose of a fotopage isn't it? oh well... mine will be a blog first.. a fotopage 2nd...
Ok.. what has happend during these past 2 weeks... well.. quite alot i as far as i can recall. the biggest thing was related to my new job. Due to a slight problem with my medical check up, my start date was pushed to the 2nd of Feb which is a week today. (funny how things work out in weeks for this entry!) I was quite bummed when i heared about the delay as i thought that the problem was minor and could be sorted out in no time at all.. i guess it's company policy so i can't really complain.
One good thing that came out of that is.. hmm... i get to get my car painted!! (well, my mum's car but i get to use it now!!  ) The car had a terrible white paint scheme that was deteriorating and the many years we had the car - through the very crucial years that is the years all my first 4 siblings had their driving lessons & just obtained our licenses. So you'd imagine how many bumps and scratches the car had to endure - poor thing. So we're giving it 'new clothes'. And from the last time i went to see the guy at the body shop, it'll be ready in a week! Hopefully in time for me to take it to Bangi...
Raya Aidiladha last Friday. Spent it at my grandparent's in Kelantan. Can you believe our luck when on the very day were were to head off to Kelantan, 2 of our cars had serious tyre punctures while on the road. Dad haveing the worse tyre failure with half the tyre wall gone!! I think Malaysian roads are not sufficiently safe in this case debris from construction can be found on the roads here... very unsafe and developers and the public alike should be more responsible.
The celebrations were full of 'makan' sessions. No prizes for guessing that beef was at the top of every house's menu. Somehow at the east coast of Malaysia Eidul-Adha is celebrated in a more festive manner whist here in K.L it's just like any other public holiday...
Ah.. there was a movie shoot at the section of Petrosains that i was stationed today. It was to be a 3D short film for the skybridge waiting room (so i was told) about Petrosains. The cast was quite small - only a family (obviously all actors) and a few fascilitators (2 to be exact). It's amazing how much nicer they make Petrosains to be for the video. they added props here and there, improved the lighting and filmed from perfect angles.. so i said to myself that you can never believe anything you see on tv without seeing it in real life yourself!! Anyway, during the shoot, one of the actors was late... they wanted a male fascilitator and i was there at that time so for a few hours, i was on standby to fill in the fascilitator's role for the shoot. They had someone 'touch me up' with some foundation make up... they said it was to prevent my face from looking shiny on camera but to me it was just.. errm.. very uncomfortable. I don't know how women put up with make up.. it's so uncomfortable and maked me feel very self concious! Even had to go out for lunch with make up on. Good thing the actor turned up later on and I was spared the embarrasment!! not good with video canmeras...
Finding myself having this reputation for being hyper active at Petrosains... People say i just can't stand still... I eckon it all depends on my mood really... sometimes i just can't be bothered to do anything!! we all have our days... but i prefer to be happy and bouncy!!
will try to get some picies up soon when i can actually gather enough will to do some paint shop pro-ing...
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| Wednesday, 5-Jan-2005 00:00 |
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Another day off
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Hmm... quite an eventful day today... Managed to get myself out of bed early today eventhough I was not going to work today. Got the housework out of the way early and deceded to... ermm go jogging! I know i said before that drowning is better than jogging in the KL rush hour smog... but i just had to get my heart rate up and sweat a bit... My strategy was to run only across areas where trees were abandant hence reducing the amount of exhaust fumes inhaled.
Most of my family are ill at the moment. Only mum and me were spared (for the time being). I have a reputation for having the strongest immune system in the family so lets hope it'll stay that way...
The HR lady from Petronas Research and Science Service (PRSS) called me earlier this morning informing me that I was being considered for a post there. Basically PRSS is Petronas' R&D subsidary. There was a bit of confusion about the job description initially but she called me again later in the afternoon clearing any doubts i had. The job is basically as a product tester. I get to test the products that come out of the R&D centre, mainly lubricants and fuels among other petrochemicals. They also do R&D for upstream activities eg: developing new drill heads for oil exploration. All in all I reckon its an attractive proposition. Testing has always been the best part of the development process and I enjoyed that bit the most during my undergraduate project years.
Best part is that although it's based in the R&D headquarters in Bangi, most fina;l testing will be done on site so if it's something like racing lubricants I get to go test it on track!! Cool ey... it's a good chance for me to travel (for free) and also to enhance my knowledge in my field of speciality. Sadly it isn't proper F1 engineering but hey, not many people get to be in F1 anyway...
I'll probably start in a week or so. I don't know how busy I'll be but i am thinking of continueing to volunteer at the Petrosains centre on weekends just because I enjoy the company there and teaching science in a fun way is quite rewarding but we'll see how busy i get first....
Used my handyman skills today to fix a faulty arm rest in dad's car... not really a complicated job but hey... i made a change today.. It always makes my day if i've managed to make a change/improve something that day... it feels.. rewarding!
Useless fact for today - according to Forbes magazine, Malaysia has the most billion and millionares in South East Asia (SEA) according to thier latest top 40 richest people in SEA list. The top two richest men are from Malaysia the riches being some sugar - related business guy and the second being the guy that started Maxis. 1/4 of the richest guys in the top 40 list were from Malaysia which is impressive.
Another useless fact - Last year around 450,000 cars were sold in Malaysia. A figure comparable with Thailand and Indonesia only we have a population a fraction of thier's at around 25 million. This shows how much we love our cars and eventhough cars are expensive in Malaysia, we keep on buying them. This also shows why our urban streets are always crowded! In the light of AFTA, 2005 does not offer us cheaper cars, despite the reduction in inport tariffs. What govenment will give up a big chuck of it's income just like that? This means that our car market will still have not alot of choice to offer....
Ok then... they've called me up for petrosains work tomorrow.... so it's back to work...
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| Tuesday, 4-Jan-2005 00:00 |
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A new beginning
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A new year... a new begining... Recieved news from the HR dept of PETRONAS that they're targeting a job for me by the 17th of January. They say it'll be Automotive related so that's sort of good news as i was expecting the worse - maintaining oil pipelines or pipes in a refinery.. ZZzzzzZZZ BORING!! They can't confirm until the very last moment so I'll just hafta wait i guess...
Going to be a boring week as I'll be on 'stand by' for the whole week due to the end of the school hols. They need less volunteers now plus the volunteers that were in charge of the school hols programs have returned to their normal posts... oh well... Already catching up on some reading so It's not all that bad... Also need to ring up a few friends.. and reply a few emails among a few that needs doing. Now that I can cross this of the list.
Noticed the sudden change in traffic yesterday in line with the first day of the school term... It's not so bad today I guess since less parents are staying outside classroom doors... I never really understood this as none of my siblings including myself were ever reluctant to leave home for school. Maybe I have forgotten those days but hey...
Ah... the hot topic on the internet last month... www.suprnova.org has been closed down!! DAMN... it used to be the source of all my tv series, documentaries and computer programs(and games) not to mention music. Apparently the film makers in hollywood have taken legal action towards the servers that host the links to these torrents... there are other sites that I can get my torrents from but nothing will beat suprnova for comprehensiveness and ease of use. It's sad to say good bye...
Pics are from Tahirah's wedding. She's a friend i met in Leeds and I know the husband too. It was held at FELDA's Dewan Perdana off Jalan semarak, K.L. The place was absolutely gorgeous and I wouldn't mind getting married there myself. But then again, I'd rather spend money on a honeymoon rather than a fancy wedding. Tried to upload a few pics from my Xmas weekend in S'pore but it's abit too slow the connection these days... will try again later. For now, enjoy the wedding pics.
Neeways, chin up for 2005. I do hope many great things will happen to me this year. A new chapter in my life has begun. I hope all you guys will prosper this year too. Have a good one guys....
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| Saturday, 1-Jan-2005 00:00 |
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Happy New Year Everyone!!
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Just wanted to Wish everyone i know a very happy New Year!! I hope that all resolutions for 2004 were fulfiled and hope that 2004 has been a productive and memorable one. Best wishes for he new year! Great things await us all for 2005!!
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| Friday, 17-Dec-2004 00:00 |
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Completed my OJT!!
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The world still doesn't look 3D?!
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I look like a blind man!
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Camera positioning wasn't perfect. but hey..
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Big(ish) day for me. I finally finished my On JobTraining (OJT). That means i get a proper Petrosains T-shirt (woo hu ) and i get paid in full from now on!! you see.. i wasn't supposed to work today but i guess some one didn't show up so i was called in at 10 to get in ASAP, which for me means that I'll be there in an hour... but cool.. quite glad now that's over. Managed to get hold of a few photos from a girl that was in the volunteer training with me, so here they are. I'm not in the most dignifed of poses but hey.. I'm 'truely embracing' the science... By the way, those are 3D glasses I'm wearing in some of the photos.
Also, I've just finished my article on my trip to Japan. i've for very good reasons ommitted the incident when one of our team mates fell backwards on his head which we had to call an ambulance at 3am and he had a CT scan done one his head which by the way required quite a few stitches. It also cost him all if not most of the allowance KAIT gave us.. plus he missed most of the Mini-Symposium... bummer!!
I've sent a copy of the article to the ESU of Petronas and am hopeing it's not too late for publication for next year's Siswa Petronas. In the process, I have unearthed quite a lot of 'lost' photos from my 2 years building the 2 Formula cars at Leeds. Will upload some of the nicer ones soon. I have uploaded the article, in PDF form, together with last year's article that got published in Siswa Petronas 2004. The link is: http://uk.f2.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/afif_9/lst?&.dir=/FSAE&.src=bc&.view=l .Go to the folder named FSAE. It's in there.
Nothing much else is happening though.. waiting for a few friends that are supposed to be back from Australia to call me. I'm going to a friend's wedding reception on Sunday.. hmm... probably going to the ESU on Monday to give them a printed copy of my article. Might pay the HR department a visit too...
work tomorrow so it's an early night for me again... Have a good weekend every one!!
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| Sunday, 12-Dec-2004 00:00 |
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Petrosains
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I've started volunteering at the Petrosains Centre in KLCC. the 3 day training ended on Thursday and was a very good 3 days spent! I am finally living again as i now actually meet people now... It's amazing how small the world is nowadays and in Petrosains alone I actually know 4 people from my previous schools and and a few other Petronas Scholars recognise me from the article i wrote in the Petronas student newsletter.
Work there is admittedly very tiring, standing there all day but at the end of the day it is very satisfying when you help people understand science. I might even consider a career in education now!! Plus, i've met this student from University Teknologi Petronas (UTP) who's at Petrosains over the semester break. He says that UTP is planning to start up a Formula SAE (FSAE) team and build a race car. He asked me for assistance and now I'm all fired up and excited!! It'll be very hard to do it in Malaysia, especially sponsorship and financial stuff. Expertise might be a problem but we can remedy that quite easily... I'm now looking for other students or ex-Students that have been involved with the FSAE competition to help asisst the students in UTP....
I love a good challenge!
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