Of Facebook....

It has been raining folks and the weather has been cool and pleasant. I sat here at the Kopitiam table at the patio and writing this. I thought that for today I would write about the social network in cyberspace, the Facebook. Malaysians are catching up on this new phenomenon in cyberspace and today I believe there are millions of Malaysian on Facebook. I was a bit reluctant to go join in at first but eventually join the gang about a year ago. When I join FB I actually did not know of how it works. I just add anyone who wanted to be my 'friend' and eventually found that it was not a wise thing to do. As I was new into it I have not found the 'hide' and the 'delete' button as yet and because it soon became a nuisance I decided to just closed my FB Account. Actually it takes awhile to learn of how to get out of FB but eventually after many tries I got out of it.

For a while I was not in this social network but then I found at the last year Hari Raya gathering at our home that many of my relatives are in it and ask me to post all those images that I had taken during the Raya. Eventually after much thought I decided to go in again and registered myself again as one of the FB person. So here I am in Facebook for more than one and half years already and still learning the best way of using this media in cyberspace for my advantage. I have been blogging since 2003 and am well verse of the pro and con of the culture of cyberspace as far as posting articles or comments and edit my posting, so that when I posted it for public reading it would be a good material to read. And later on enjoy the exchange of comments as its come. Unlike Blogging where we at time discuss in the comment column on the subject of the posting, in Facebook there are really no article but just a brief of one's thought, which would generate discussion. I thought that it is a good place to discuss issues and refreshes our memories of things but then it also has it pitfalls.

Eventually I learned that if I were to get advantage of using Facebook I must be smart in the way I select 'friend' and posted my thoughts as well as comments. It takes awhile before I got the hang of it. Soon I began to delete all those 'friend' that I felt of no use to me and that includes those insincere one. I consider those Facebook friends who refused to put his or her true Personal Profile image and true name or user-name, as person not sincere. Thus I consider them as insincere who want to be in the community but did not want to share personal information like all friends should be. I hope those folks at Facebook see to it that People who registered on Facebook put on their true identity especially their Personal Profile image and Name or User-Name on their Facebook wall. Surely they could develop software that would reject all the images that are not true or computer generated images. Only those who put their true Personal Profile image and true name or user-name be allowed to sign on to Facebook. Those who refused to do so should be rejected outright. As for me I now no longer allows those Cartoon or Avatar folks to be my friends and I have also taken a further action by not posting comments on those wall where there are Cartoon or Avatar participating in the comments columns. I felt it is an insult to my intelligent to associate myself with those insincere people who are so afraid to show their true identity and at the same time want to be part of the community in Facebook.

So folks, Facebook should be treated like a real community in the real world in that it is a place where we could share out thoughts with each other in order to make the community a better place to live and enjoy life. Like the real world it has it set of problems but the culture of a good community remains the same. In the real world we have etiquette whereas in cyberspace we have netiquette and if folks adhered to the rules then things would turn out alright. So be always guarded in whatever one does. So far I am doing alright now but continue to be vigilant on the misuses of the wall of my Facebook. I do not allow people to use SMS language on my wall and anyone using it would be deleted after a warning. I am sticking to a few friends who are sincere rather than having a thousand whom I hardly know or insincere one.

BTW folks there are some 5 millions Facebook user in Malaysia now.... Read this...

Have a nice day

That elusive squirrel again....

I sat here at my patio writing this. It was a gorgeous Friday morning with the sun just up. Surfing the net and getting lost in cyberspace, suddenly my eyes caught a moving object in front of me. It was that elusive squirrel looking for food. Most probably did not notice my presence, was taking its time crawling slowing and playing around in my little garden. It crawl slowly and almost came over to me but eventually realized my presence and run away to the other end of the garden.

I then went to the kitchen to get some cut apples and cheese to put it in the empty container hopping that it would come back looking for food at the usual place. Sure enough after a while it came back and happily enjoying it apple careless of my presence.  I have already got my camera at hand and slowly snap as many images as possible while it was enjoying its morning meals. And here I am sharing these images with all to enjoy.

Have a nice day. [Please click on image to enlarge]

The Mat...

Above is an image of a mat made of tropical leaves. It is a kind of the Pandan leaves that grows on the coastal area of the country. It is a piece of hand woven traditional floor covering made by the Malay and use indoor where once the Malay would sit on the floor to chat or enjoy their meals. Nowadays it is used more of as a decorative item to enhanced the floor space.

Have a nice day.

Nothing to do today eh!...

Folks I pick this up from a friend Facebook wall and sharing it here for all to enjoy. I think this frame should be in every home of those in their golden years. Maybe we all should try it some days. 

Have a nice day and take care.

Zaharan's world view!...

Saturday October 9, 2010. It was 10:30 AM. I am at  the Seremban R & R area waiting for Zaharan to arrive. I was to pick him up after the Sungei Besi Toll Plaza but he was not there. I call him and he told me that he is in front of the Sapura Building. That mean he is on the wrong road. I had told him specifically to wait for me after the Sungei Besi Toll Plaza between 9:00AM to 10:00AM. There is a KFC there and parking spaces. One does not stop anywhere one like on the Highway. Obviously he does not know there are other highways to the south leading to the North South Highway and did not follow my direction to the later.

I had invited him to go to Malacca with me on October 9, 2010 since I am going there for a meeting. Asmah my spouse is not coming. Just before I left home this morning he call and said that he had overshot the rendezvous place and would wait further up. I then drove the Honda and after the Sungei Besi Toll Plaza start looking for him but he was not in sight. I call him and he told me he is on the side of the road near the Sapura Building. I told him the Sapura Building is not on the North South Highway and there are many parallel roads to the south and that he is not on the proper North South Highway. I told him to take a taxi to the next Rest Area which is at Nilai but he told me that he was riding his bike[Kapcai Motorcycle]. Well obviously I could not turn around and pick him there and told him to meet at the next Rest Area at Nilai. And when I arrived at the Nilai Rest Area I found it was closed for redevelopment and there is no way to stop there and besides it is not a safe place for him to park his bike. I tried to call him but because he was riding his bike there was no way he could talk on the cell phone. At least I know the next time he looks at his cell phone he would see a missed call. I then continue to the next R & R  area which is the Seremban stop. I drove on and eventually got to the Seremban R & R area; found that it is packed to capacity with cars and folks having a break/tea/lunch. I found a car lot and parked my car. Then I got a call from him telling me to hold on. I told him that I am now at the Seremban R & R area and repeatably told him of the place and that I would wait for him here.

So here I am writing this as I wait for him. Well that is what happens when one had not adept to the culture of city living. Probably he thought that it is like Dungun or Kuantan where one could easily turn around but this is a city with millions of cars traveling everywhere at a given time. The North South Highway is always full of traffics and there is only one Sungei Besi Toll Plaza to the south. That is why I told him to wait for me after that toll plaza but it look like he has yet to come to grasp of the culture of living here. It could be my mistake but then I told him specifically to be there. I did that in writing and not through the cell phone. I post a message in his FB so that he got the correct message. Well, as the Malay saying ‘Nasi dah jadi bubor’ translate the ' the rice has become porridge'. Anyway since he insisted that he would catch up with me he rode his bike all the way here at the Seremban Rest Area. I would wait for him here as long as I could and hope that he would arrived at the right spot this time [time now is 10:50AM ] and I am having a Teh Tarik and waiting. Not to waste time I am writing this on my laptop. The Wifi here is not that good so I have to post this when I arrived in Malacca. Well that is what happens when one does not follow direction properly. We are lucky in these days and age in that we have the cell phone and could communicate. Without that there were no possibilities of getting in touch with him. I hope my friend Zaharan, a former lecturer and journalist would understand the culture of folks differs from place to place. That things changes with times and places do change too like that Nilai Rest and Recreation Area where we were planning to meet. It is now in a mess and closed from the public. So like I had related above the Seremban Rest Area is the next best place I could wait for him. And I am waiting here. Eventually he arrived. We had lunch there and then he join me on the trip to Malacca which he had not seen for the last twenty five years. He left his bike at the parking lot and I told him I do not want to know and that on the return trip I had to drop him on the other side of the Highway. I am wondering of how he is going to get to this side of the Highway to collect his Bike but thought that he is big enough to figure it out.

Well folks it is important that one do one's homework before going on any venture especially in a city like Kuala Lumpur. Even the local resident like me who have been living here for almost forty years still got lost if I do not planned my trip well ahead. BTW last September 15 Zaharan was to fly to Taiwan for his first leg of his Cycling Adventure in China. At the eleventh hours he was not allow to board the plane to Taiwan because he did not have a return ticket. So now he has almost aborted that cycling trip to China. I had told him to do all the visa things here in KL before leaving on his trip. Obviously he did not get that message well like this message to pick him up at the Toll Plaza at Sungei Besi. Because of that he had to ride all the way to the Seremban R & R area to catch up with me. Well it look like he had to learn the new culture of living in the city. Interesting eh! This story of Zaharah!!.

The first image shows me waiting for Zaharan at the Seremban R & R area  having Teh Tarik and writing this, whereas the second shows Col.Yap with Zaharan at my condo in Malacca.

Have a nice day.