HELLO TAMPA BAY RAYS

The flight on Southwestern was ok, when the leather chairs made you kept sliding down the seat. A full flight. Sat in between two burly American in work suits whom monopolized the armrests made me sitting straight with arms folded. Bad for the joints. For your information its Ramadhan, and mind you, i'm fasting...thus by passing the orange juice and hard fretzels. Luckily i only had to endured them half way untill touchdown in Phoenix. Arizona.

Quickly i move seats by the window. Its a free sitting from Pheonix to Tampa. Pheonix is like a 'wadi' in the middle of a huge desert. What a glorius view...of the tail end 'Grand Canyon'? I had a middle aged lady next to me...busy reading....everybody seems to be reading something. Phones were prohibited only on take-off and landing...other than that you are quite free to use. The window sitting gave the best view of things along the way to Tampa, FL.

The view over Tampa was glorious...modern city by the sea facing Gulf of Mexico....white sandy beach, lagoons and marina of Tampa Bay, home of the Tampa Bay Rays...Runner Up of the American Major League Baseball 2008 Championship. Even the Tampa International Airport was impressive.

Upon landing i have just half an hour before the Conference starts...hopped on to yellow cab and straight to the hotel. I walked in with my bags as they are having the tea break after the Opening Speech. I did not miss much. Registered myself at the counter and introduced my self to Erin. Phew! what a journey and i made it.
It feels like in the movie Around the World in 80 days!. Anyway i have a few days to immersed myself in the Conference and also to enjoy Tampa.


hamid

Journey into the Unkown

Hi, i'm writing again...after a long break due to hectic schedule of work, work, work, aidil-fitri, open houses, assignments, training, assignments, meetings, kursus haji and minding 'the weekends 'asrama' kids' and the new addition to our pet "cat-family"!. A lot of new development since not to forget the near miss "puasa enam - syawal".

Back to the Tom Bradley Airport, "THE TERMINAL" like movie scene where i had to spend the night, due to 'someone' negligence. It 12.30pm that i managed to get online to contact people back at the office. On my YM, i saw a few images of office mates online...but none responded except for Azmi, our technical head..who was in a meeting. "Mi, get Nani online, need to tell her i'm stranded in LA Airport and its pass midnight after a long 16 hours flight.". I did shout at her in my messenger....though with out the voice! Tell that travel agent girl what happened!....Poor Nani....i'm shooting the messenger...am i? Missing the last flight out from LA to Atlanta is one thing, but having to drag your bag from Terminal 1 to Terminal 5 at midnight and later to find the ticket counter Southwestern Airlines closed in another.

A help from a janitor get me to buy via Southwestern Airlines 1-800 tol free number the first flight out tomorrow morning at 7.30am. Its my best option, direct flight from LA to Tampa, FL via Pheonix. It cost me USD399 (RM 1396.50) on my credit card. The lady on the other end of of the phone simply can't spell my name right, so i had to spell letter by letter as in A for America, B for Bahamas, D for Dallas, U for Utah and L for L which she got it on her own....for ABDUL...HAMID RAHMAN. The same thing for credit card billing address 55 JLN 2/6 Tmn Setapak Indah, Kuala Lumpur....It's hell!

But her patience was admirable. She then said, Congratulations Sir! your card was accepted and told me to write down the Booking Number so i can present it ct the check-in counter tomorrow morning. She mentioned me to be at the check-in counter by 6.30am. A sigh of relief and suddenly i felt dead tired. Thanking her i wandered off. Found a spot and then decided to go to the men's washroom. Pushed in the trolley into the handicapped toilet, and eased my self. Had a quick warm shower that was refreshing....before finding a spot to rest.

Could'nt sleep, i was at the check-in counter at 4.00am...to my surprise already a que is building up. Counter opened at 4.30am...self checked-in using the 'Booking number' was a breeze. At 6.30am i'm already checked-in for Tampa. Its Tuesday morning 16th September 2008. The opening day of the Conference with Welcome cocktail at 5.00pm. Its a 3 hour flight still....Can i make it on time?

hamid

NIGHTMARE at THE TERMINAL

15th September 2008, 10.30p.m. Tom Bradley International Airport, Los Angeles is where it begins. It was when my short joy of puasa on a long haul flight HKG -LAX ended and my nightmare started. According to my itinerary as set and confirmed by MAS KLIA Airport staff i have ample one a half hour before my connecting flight to Atlanta and Tampa on Delta Air.

Upon checking in i was told by the Delta Air people at terminal 3 that their last flight out was BLOODY FULL! I was aghast and shocked definitely felt my heart skip a beat! How's that happened? The lady calmly said that my agent did not reconfirm my ticket booking as i had missed my flight the day before (which was due to disruption by typhoon Sinluka in Taipei).

What shall i do next? Is there any other flight out? NONE she said, till tomorrow (16th Sept. Wednesday) at noon, and if i'm interested she can booked me on immediately, but i have to pay extra. Why? i can't get the same price as the one booked by an agent...i have to pay an extra of USD600. Damn! my agent and damn! MAS KLIA people i said to myslef!.

My next question was is there an earlier direct flight to Tampa from LAX? She said YES but on Southwest Airline at Terminal 5 that leaves tomorrow morning at 7.30am. I asked for Southwest contact number and she quitely gave me their 1-300 tol free number. Thanking her i made my way out of the arrival hall towards Terminal 5. With some help i got on to the terminal bus towards Terminal 5, its the bus last round trip for the night. By then its already 11.30pm.

Upon arrival i rushed in to get to the ticketing counter but was stopped by a guard informing its already closed! I can't contact my office as my phone already dead out of power. I thought i use the number to call the tol free number. It really is free and to my relieved get to talk to someone from Southwest Airline for tomorrows ticket booking. I have to use my credit card to pay USD393 for the ticket, which i had to spell out every alphabets out for her to get my name, billing address right. Upon acceptance she gave me a ticket confirmation number write down and advised me to be at the ticket counter latest by 6.00am tomorrow.

Thanking her i have 6 hours to kill. Half the mission accomplished now i had to find a place to spend the night, get connected and inform home base, PSSB Cyberjaya. Found a quite spot in the arrival hall of Terminal 5 with two other people sleeping (perhaps waiting for their next flight out) and tried to access the net.
Suddenly i felt like a cast with Tom Hanks stranded at an airport in THE TERMINAL, minus the leading lady Catherine Zeta Jones!. ...(look out at the poster guys!)

My Mac detected a signal but u need to subscribe T.Mobile service...luckily they have a day subcription of USD 9.90...again my credit card to the rescue. Seconds later i'm connected and on goes my messenger YM to find out who in office back home is online....

I need someone to shout at!

hamid

JOY OF SHORT PUASA ON A LONG HAUL CX880

Its 2.00pm Monday afternoon 15th September '08 and the typhoon is brewing in the air at KLIA Departure Terminal. I confronted a MAS officer on my flight MH094 with my boarding pass and printed travel itinerary. They now looked bewildered and loss for words. After some serious arguing with MAS Airport people on my being left behind MAS Flight 094 rescheduled 12.30pm flight to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) via Taipei on the 15th September 2008. I stood my ground and they could not find answers to my having a boarding pass, thus my name on their system and was not contacted and accounted for.

A few officers later, they agreed to put me the next available 6.40pm flight MH074 to Hong Kong and drew me a skimpy itinerary on computer print out. I was put on a connecting flight Cathay Pacific CX880 from Hong Kong - LAX. I thought i was on may way and the worst was over. The flight KL - HKG was uneventful except the ever curious Hong Kong girl next to me and for the kind attention of MAS stewardeses when knowing that you are going a long haul trip on Cathay and fasting. I was given extra 'kurma' and 'bekal' from MAS for my Cathay trip. I does help to pacify a bit the the typhoon category4 to categrory 1 in me. Hey! MAS your international flight crew saved the day for your airport ground staff blunder!.

CX 880 was a 12 hour flight mostly through the night, thus enable me to eat and refereshed during this Ramadhan trip. I had the shortest 'puasa' aboard the flight when 'fajr' or sunrise was around the International Date Line over the Pacific and 5 hours later began landing in LA at around 9.30pm local time Monday 15th. thus my shortest puasa 'breakfast' or berbuka.

The joy of flying ended immediately upon landing and face the American Immigration, where your photo and finger print taken and everything else goes through the scanners - bags, laptops, handphones, shoes, and belts . It gave you the impression of the high 'sense of insecurity' that thay havein the US.....that triggered my next Nightmare!



hamid
alor setar

AMAZING MH094, GATE C36 AND SINLUKA

September 14th 2008 was a rare day that's going to be etched for good in my memory. Its the day that i was supposed to travel to attend a conference entitled "Innovations in Managed Learning Services 2008" in Clearwater, Tampa Florida, US. The trip was to take me to Los Angeles via Taipei was in the end cancelled because Taiwan is being strucked by thypoon "Sinluka" that forces the closure off all outbound and inbound flights. So there goes my trip.

The beautiful thing about this was that i was given a boarding pass in KLCAT check in counter and set me boarding ERL to KLIA at noon that Sunday. Upon reaching KLIA and passed through the Immigration i headed straight to gate C36 to board. Amazingly no one was around and it was dark. Walking back bewildered i saw a news announcement on TV saying all flights through Taipei has been cancelled and to be rescheduled. I don't know where the other passengers went? A check at flight schedule indicated that it was rescheduled at 3.00am tomorrow. What? What do i do now? they put me in a hotel?

Upon checking at the transit counters it was mentioned that they would'nt know when it will be able to fly through Taipei, but was suggested to come back tomorrow at the same time. They mentioned the same goes for Saturday's flights. Grumbling (@11#???) why wasn't i informed when i checked in? I was advised to get back my luggage back from the Begage Reclaim and headed home while contemplating of getting another carrier that can bypass Taipei. As contacting our Travel Agent (SIME DARBY TRAVEL) was futile on Sundays, another amazing phenomenon (I have more on them next), i have no choice but go back home and wait till the next day assured that i'll be contacted. Sad that no one informed, nobody from our agent available to help, i made my way home...but happy that i have another day to spend with my wife on 'berbuka puasa'. I was worried that i cannot get my connecting flight in the US reconfirmed.

The next day, (Monday) i finally managed to talk to our Travel Agent after 9.00am, and was advised to go to the airpot. At around 11.30pm when i was about to leave for KLIA (which is 2 hours away), and again after the 2nd 'good bye' and 'safe trip' wishes by my wife, a call from our agent through Nani our company secretary informed me that the reschduled is departing at 12.30pm! which made it impossible for me to get on the flight. Too short a notice, i'm still at home. As fate wants it, flight MH094 departed with 265 people onboard without me. I could not 'figure out' why they (MAS) did not see my name on their systems (my boarding pass is the evidence) and could not contact me much earlier (confirmed by my agent - no record of being contacted by MAS on their system) when they say they have contacted all, AMAZING!

Arriving at KLIA later started another drama, the real Typhoon!

rgds

hamid

Alor Setar

Of OREOs and KURMA in BPL

Hi, its about time for a new input. Today is the second day of Bahagian Pengurusan Latihan (BPL) Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia training. We had a full attendance yesterday, even though later it develops into an 'OREO' biscuits scenario..(kejap ada, kejap tak ada), which is expected of in BPL. Being the center for all KKM's training planning activities, and understaffed, its understandable to have officers being multitasking and attending multiple meetings in a day, even in between their own professional development training.

It's a compact 3 day version of ICMS Adoption Phase 1 training that was given to the colleges. We started off with Let's Change and e - Learning Theories...How i wished all the relevant people to be around as this slot really drives the principle, reasons, justifications and the theoretical framework of ICMS initiative that would evolved BPL into the e-Learning world.

We are having the training in a big meeting room thus the atmosphere is a bit more relaxed as compared in PD or Alor Setar. Everyone loved the Vista and Meta-search engine sessions. Dr Tunku of UIA research team joined in mid way to observed. Other than managed to discuss job issues, she managed to observe the on-goings and learn a few new tricks. 2nd day started off with GO BLOG session by Azleen. It got the day to a flying start and hoped the high spirit to fly the entire day, knowing that we are training in Ramadhan. 

We have another stressful Phase 2 before Raya time. As my boss Dr. Abu used to say, we may look as serene as a 'White Swan' on water, but the webbed feet is paddling 'like mad' underwater. While training in BPL, we are developing and putting the final touches to Phase 2 module ('THE' icms engine)

To my team ...my gratitude! Stay as cool and sweet as Ramadhan's KURMA.

abdul hamid

BPL

11 September 08

Bubbles of Euphoria in Port Dickson

I thought July was busy but so too is August. Why? everyone is rushing to beat 'the traffic light' i.e the beginning of Ramadhan, thus the need to get most of the ICMS Adoption Training (Phase 1) done in Kolej Jururawat Masyarakat Port Dickson (KJMPD). Again I thought Alor Setar's training was fun, but it turned out 'extraordinary' in Port Dickson. We were worried sick how are we going to manage PD, and that, made us planned the training flow more relaxed, segmented and simplified.

The enthusiasm of PD's people 'shoots out of the ceiling', and they are 'as eager as a beaver'. Everyone is excited to be on the training and do not want miss anything. We got to know someone had to miss it anyway due to work commitment...and Suhaimi 'being suhaimi' obliged to replace the classes if there are takers!

Everyone now knew where they stood, in terms of their 3 TPCK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) bubble sizes. Most have a big Content Knowledge bubble, smaller Pedagogical bubble and tiny Technological bubble that never did intersect each other much. We kept our fingers crossed, that these bubbles of knowledge will slowly grew and merged, thus making some 'sense' to them when integrating technology into their teaching. 

We are on a mission to change, get them be creative and later ready for ICMS adoption.

The Euphoria of Bubbles of knowledge in PD is just amazing!...and we trainers are bubbling on the lips just to manage this "eager adults" and we have a few more days to go.

abdul hamid

kjmpd 

thursday 28th August 08

CRAZY JULY - MONTH of THE TALENTED 'SNAPPERS"

Hi, it has been a busy July. Class on Fridays and Saturdays (not to mention assignments) and weekdays full of meetings and module development and business intelligence work. This is made worst by having your first family nephew getting married and being the 'favourite' uncle, in a NO WAY of 'not being there' situation. 'Being there' means being the 'saksi' on the "Akad Nikah" ceremony on the 17th, the "Bersanding" on 27th and "menyambut menantu" on the 2nd of August. Partly it's a learning experience and the opportunity to meet everyone (well almost) in the family from Johor and Terengganu side. 3rd week into the semester, i've already missed a class....hmm. Two more events looms in the horizon that gonna make me miss class again.

July closed with a great event for Prestariang when we managed to pull off a great stunt of staging "Snap-A-Job 2008" Carreer Day for 3P program, which made our boss 'Doc' smiles from ear to ear. Congratulations to Azleen the 'Taiko' and the 'Ah Moys", 3Ps and the rest of the clan. Great coverage on PSSB, even when one can see some journalists already being 'hooked' and overwhelmed by Microsoft presence thus making them unable to differentiate between who is the lead actor of 3P and who plays supporting role. But its nothing unusual about that, when comes to picking glory...a pity...As Jimmy famous tagline puts it...'muntah darah'!. But we know where the 'brains' are, the 'script writers', the 'directors' and 'producers'...its with US! 

You know what? the event really provide an opportunity for us to observe some real hidden talent our people have. Among the glaringly talented were the MCs in the making through Izzat and Adura (though i kept worrying she might blurt out her 'kelantanese' accent over her cool 'controlled' sultry voice). The 'busy bee' Aini, bustling through the floor to fix 'everything'. The 'skilled' videographer, capturing everything in High Definition. 'Ms Quickfix' who tirelessly try to fix all chain of events but this time fail to rid of unwanted guest from VIP room. Ms Mee Mee who sweetly man the mother booth but can be 'brutal' at times to students coming for stamping of forms. The 'back up MC cum 'doa reciter' cum 'dorm warden' for guest students. The elegant 'Usherers and usheretes' doing 'uncontrolled ushering'. 3Ps whom manage the 'employers' well. We also have our very own 'Nabil' of 'Lu pikir la sendiri' who manages the career talk and lucky draws, that sometimes makes you laugh but most of the time made you mad. All these talents save us from hiring Doc, thus save us the precious dollars! Perhaps if we need 'pesilat pulut' we have one in Razak, complete with 'blangkon' the javanese traditional head cap he bought in Bali. Even our shadowy technical team, and trainees did well when most did not have enough sleep. I enjoyed myself greatly mingling with the VIP guests to the extent of noticing them admiring our 'black low buttoned' event shirt!

One good thing though..the event have brought us ever closer together. Bravo PSSB!

hamid

REGISTRATION DAY in KJMPD

It's been a while since i wrote last. Our ICMS project team members split into two groups, with one headed North to Kolej Pembantu Perubatan Alor Setar (KPPAS) and another down South to Kolej Jururawat Masyarakat Port Dickson (KJMPD) for the students REGISTRATION DAY!

SAM our Project Director lead the Northern team with Suhaimi, Jazz and Yusri, while RAZAK, our ICMS Project Manager 'shuttled' thru space to lead the South bound team to PD in his RM8 roundtrip NGV driven 'SOYUZ''. Aini, Azleen, Syikin and 'yours truly' struggled to keep up with his 6.30am launching time on July 1st 2008 into orbit to PD (he even beat the earliest local staff to be at the gate of KJMPD at 7.45am by 15 minutes flat!)

It was an exciting day when you get to see 180 new students from different parts of the country. They came in cars full of family members. For once i saw excitement in KJMPD. Crowds with 'high hopes' on their faces. It was the first time i got to see the college security guard had their hands full, managing the traffic, giving directions and managing queries. We managed to get our car parked inside the college compound when others had to park outside, thanks to Syikin's 'WINK' n 'SMILE' tactic to which the guard quickly showed us in, to the envy of crowd! (now we knew..).

Back to business, our mission was to observe and record of the on-goings in terms of the processes each new students went through to register themselves. Syikin even ROLE-PLAYED as a new student on the registration day. This is to help us better understand the task that each college staff involved and to identify what their roles were. We need this details in order to 'map' with the features of CMS that will serve their needs, roles and task in the future so as to eliminate redundant processes, tedious paper work and time consuming activities of registration. I hoped that this will help my team better developed the 'training materials' on CMS adoption to suite their tasks and roles to become a real customized "Task-based CMS Adoption Training" modules, of which is the essence of Prestariang's training principles.

We talked, walked, asked questions and socialized with parents, new students, KJMPD's principal and staffs and of course seniors. Seniors played an important role in welcoming, assisting, ushering and making freshies 'feel at home'. The college took the opportunity to put up some 'meaningfull exhibition' to inform parents and visitors of their activities and roles. Here i met an ex-Paloh Hinai girl (a school along Sg.Pahang up river in Pekan, where i used to serve back in the late 70's).  I caught the "Pekan Accent' loud and clear just to find out that she is Pi Hussein's (my former colleague) kin. What a small world.

What a glorious day and experience. We also got to meet our 'KJMPD models" whom had adorn our ICMS Portal. (how delighted they were to find out that they were online for the world since last three months without knowing). My thanks to everyone...we stayed till 4.30pm before returning to Cyberjaya. 

We have a lot to do judging from the 'vanilla'.

hamid

cyberjaya

CLOSE ENCOUNTER

We've reached the end of the journey of the ICMS Adoption Training (Phase 1). The last session was on the "World of Ethics and eMail" with respect to the use of online resources for educational purposes and also the proper way of doing citations. We've used American Psychological Associations (APA style) as the standard. In fact all training modules was designed to map against ISTE NETS (International Society of Educational Technology's National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers) which will be elaborated on in Phase 2 of the adoption training.

The whole 5 day sessions, starting from Induction to Basic ICT and Change Management; the objective, the flow of training, reasons for the need to change and what KPPAS are in for in this ICMS venture was revisited. Followed by Concepts of eLearning; Relationships of eLearning and ICMS; Theory of eLearning; "What they've got themselves into" and the need for change. I've highlighted that 'they are the CHOSEN ONE' (among all MOH nursing colleges), they are the 1st to be exposed and trained on this in the whole country, that they being honored to lead and venture on to the eLearning territory. The 'early adopter' among the 'mainstream majority'. The checbric mechanism instituted did its job of reminding these adult learners of the knowledge and skills that they acquiring.

The feedback form (the off form) indicated they've learned a lot. Some admitted that the training surpasses their initial impression and expectation (that they won't be getting much). Some says the 'eLearning Theory' session opened their eyes, some liked the 'What's in the Hat' session as it helped initiated their creative juice to flow. The rest liked 'Intro to Vista - (thus felt more comfortable with their new laptops), 'Interactive Teaching Aid' using spreadsheet and 'Snag the Grabber' and most of all the 'GO BLOG'!. Suhaimi was kind enough to share extras on pdf-ing skill.

I can't imagine how they are going to be if they were to do Authoring...in Phase 2. As usual all good things must come to an end....I shared my 'Did You Know" - KPPAS version with loud and sweet Yanni's instrumental  on Yusri's borrowed Altec Lansing speakers and woofer, as an 'icing on the cake' on this CLOSE ENCOUNTER (closing end).

We had a small but  memorable ceremony of 'prize giving' of an unannounced competition for the attendees in form of Best Blog and Best Presentation category. MohdTuah.blogspot.com by Mr Mohd Tuah won the best blog, followed by RoszanSapon's  by Mr Roszan and Tok Kau by Mr Zaidi. Best Presentation went to Ms Norul Hernani of the HELMINTS (the cacings), followed by Mr Jamarudi's "Abdominal Inspection" and Mr Norizam's "Apsepsis Hand Cleaning Procedure" was third. I wished i could get to see all but time was limited.

Everyone who attended were given a Certificate of Attendance and group photo (which arrived from HQ just in time - TQ the amoys) by Mr Yu the Acting Director of KPPAS. They are looking forward to the next Phase 2 session. You know what?, i've met and made friends with all them in just short 5 days....i think we are of the same wavelength. I revisted my Science knowledge learned and taught years ago in the 70's and 80's.  Again i'm proud of the team and things made easier by one reliable guy in Alor Setar by the name of Yusri.

 

Well we've done our part, and I think now its over to you SAM and RAZAK!  ;)

hamid