The joy of being a grandfather

Two days ago the 10th of September, was the birthday of our eldest granddaughter. Maisarah, the daughter of our eldest son, turned 3-years old.

We get to see her quite often because my son and his family live in the Johor Bahru area too. It is either our son comes by our home to visit or, if we feel we miss her, then I'd just drive over to their place. It's only about half an hour away.

Maisarah is a very bright girl. With each visit, there is always something new I find out that she has learned or is able to do. She was able to stand and walk even before her first year. By two years old, she has an understanding of basic words and I could communicate with her in a simple way. Then she learned about colours and shapes. At one visit, I found out that she knows how to count from one to ten. When we next meet her, she could count to twenty. Subsequently, she shows us her ability to sing the ABC Alphabet song. The amazement never seems to cease.

A fortnight ago, we were at our son's home. I showed Maisarah a small cut on the pinkie finger of my left hand which I sustained while doing some gardening the day before. Of course, it no longer bleeds but the cut on the skin can be clearly seen. She had a worried look on her face when she asked, `Tok Abah sakit? Ada darah?'

'Sakit sikit je. Mula-mula ada darah tapi sekarang dah kering,' I replied.

Her next question surprised me. 'Tok Abah pergi doktor?' It was her look of real concern that really warmed my heart. She was able to associate the injury with the need to seek treatment. I laughingly answered that it is only a small cut and no doctor necessary.

We met up again two days ago to celebrate her birthday. After the initial hugs and kisses, she quickly took hold of my left hand and asked, 'Tok Abah sakit?' She remembered the cut on my finger!

I showed her the healed finger with the cut no longer visible. She smiled.

As always, I would try to take selfies with Maisarah each time we meet. At a suitable time later, I plan to create a collage of the photographs, to show the progression as she grows up. I have previously done one such edition last year. This time around, I brought a camera tripod because Maisarah already understands the concept of posing for a photoshoot.

After I finished taking a number of shots using the delayed timer on the mobile's camera, I was about to pack up the tripod when Maisarah said it was her turn. She wanted to set up her phone (her mummy's old faulty I-phone which now has become her toy) on the tripod. I clipped the I-phone to the holder and was about to place the tripod when she stopped me to say, 'Maisarah buat', meaning that she wants to set up the shoot herself. She then fiddled with the tilt lever of the tripod, angled the phone to face where I sat, and then, in English, remarked, 'Perfect'. Whoa... where did she learned that expression!

She then came over and sat on my lap, and we both faced the phone in make-believe that an actual selfie is being taken. Complete with the imaginary countdown and the 'Cheese!' at the end.

Three years old and I love her to bits.

We have two other granddaughters (daughters of our second son) whom we've only managed to see once. They live in Selangor and thus we are eagerly waiting for the MCO travel restrictions to end so that we can visit them too.

Grandpa's jewel

Completion of vaccination with 2nd dose

This is a delayed post. I had my 2nd dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on 11 August 2021, which was exactly three weeks from the first shot. Apparently, the interval between injections for the Pfizer vaccine is rigidly observed and of shorter duration compared to the other types.

The overall process for this second dose is very much faster than the first. I arrived at the PPV well before the allotted time. There were not that many persons lining up for the 2nd dose and I was given a queue number without the need to wait for the actual time slot. The process was even quicker since I opted to go straight to the jabbing booth without the need for another doctor's interview since I had not encountered any major side effects from the 1st dose.

All said and done, it took just around thirty minutes for the whole process. A testament to the efficient work done by all the frontliners involved. Your hard work and sacrifice are fully appreciated.

Did not have that much time to read the book that I brought

Had a volunteer snap this final pic

1st dose of Covid19 vaccine

Around this time last week, I received a notification on my mobile phone that I have been given an appointment for the 1st dose of the Covid19 vaccine to be administered at a vaccination centre set up at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in Skudai. It was a piece of welcome news after a wait of a few months although I was not duly apprehensive because I was pretty sure my turn would come. I believe the authorities have been working very hard to roll out the vaccination programme nationwide.

Yesterday 21 July 2021, I had my first dose. Pfizer.

The vaccination centre was at the Raja Zarith Sofiah Library of UTM, located about half-an-hour's drive from where I stay. Having been to the venue once before, I was not worried about how to get there. Nonetheless, I do feel for the common folk who do not possess their own means of transport. The university has a huge campus and the library is not serviced by a public bus route. This is where assistance from NGOs or community leaders would come in handy.

Reading the experiences of friends who already had gone through the process, I was expecting a smooth and quick process, around 30 to 45 minutes from arrival to exit. However, it took me significantly longer than that. But I am not complaining because I understand the tough situation the doctors, nurses and volunteers have to go through. The initial checks, screening and the actual jab were quite efficient. What took too long, for me at least, was the final waiting period while setting the appointment date for the 2nd dose. A few elderly gentlemen around where I sat were already complaining to the volunteer in charge that they had been waiting for more than an hour. I can understand their restlessness. I had come prepared with a novel to read.

It has now been about 18 hours since the dose was injected into my left arm. So far, things are looking good healthwise. I am feeling a bit of pain in the upper arm but nothing too serious, Alhamdulillah. The rest of the day shall involve taking things easy like continue reading the novel, updating a blog post and other online stuff.

Thank you to the authorities and all frontliners for doing a great job. I look forward to the 2nd dose.

At the first checking station

The 1,938th recipient for the day at 3.30pm

Accessibility to this blog (unsecure site)

I had not realised that this blog's URL is considered unsecured when it is accessed by others. I only knew about it when I tried to visit the site via links that I had placed in my Facebook and Instagram profiles. Clicking on the links would show a warning or simply do nothing.

I have checked my blogspot settings and chose the automatic https redirection option but still, there are errors. A fellow blogger has advised that individual links that I inserted in the blog may also be the cause of errors.

So, for the next few weeks, I'll try tweaking this blog's layout in search of the offending codes or links. I apologise if you see different or simplified layouts that change periodically.

Thank you.

Update 26.06.2021 : This is looking like a labouriously long process. I've run the 'Why No Padlock' online checking tool. The results say my SSL certificate is valid.

I've removed all my sidebar gadgets which are not original Blogger gadgets and may contain unauthorised javascripts. Still no luck.

Another suggested process is to look at each individual post and remove any missing or expired links. Now this is going to take some time... sigh...

Update 23.07.2021 : I have just finished reviewing the 11 blog posts in the month of April 2008 which was when I started blogging. The very first post contained a link to George Carlin's website which no longer exists. I have removed the link. Other posts have photographs that are apparently linked to bp3.blogger pages which are not secure. This is a bit strange because all those pics are my originals (i.e. not copied from others). I have removed the said pics but re-inserted them directly from my PC. Let's see if this resolves the issue. Tough days ahead to review all the other pics in this 12-year old blog. 

Online training course in the new normal

There is no denying that Covid-19 has affected the whole spectrum of society. Some economic sectors have been very badly hit compared to others. The travel and tourism industry is perhaps at the severe end of the scale as are those who make their living on daily wages.

I am not able to personally judge the severity of impact on the construction industry as I retired from active work the year just before Covid-19 was declared a worldwide pandemic. At that time, I had planned to carry out part-time work as trainer or lecturer in civil engineering and construction management. I had prepared some course notes and dug into records of past projects so that I would be able to share some of my knowledge and experience with young engineers and contractors. When Covid-19 struck, the government prohibited face-to-face training classess and seminars. Later on, when there was a slight relaxation in rules, online classes using the various group meeting tools were allowed. Even then, many companies do not place staff training as a priority. Hence, the career training market is also very much affected.

With the slowdown in business and economic activity, many new graduates find it hard to obtain employment. The government, through Khazanah Malaysia, created an initiative to train and place these young graduates into short-term employment at Government-linked Companises (GLCs). This programme is known as MySTEP21. The first part of this program is to have the participants attend a series of training classes that cover various professional and management subjects.

A friend of mine, who owns a management consultancy firm that was contracted by Khazanah to provide some of the training, had offered me a slot to teach the Essentials of Project Management. I initially accepted the offer on the basis that it would be a classroom teaching setup because I wasn't sure of my ability in holding the course virtually. I felt that my teaching skills were more suited to the normal approach because I thrive on student interaction in class. When MCO3.0 came into force, the restriction on physical classes were re-applied and I had no choice but to accept the challenge. Otherwise, I will never have the experience of teaching via online methods.

The course module that I taught was completed over 2 days last Friday and Saturday. The class contained 44 participants from various disciplines and educational background. Overwhelmingly female, which somewhat reflect the gender composition of most public universities in Malaysia. Even the two Civil Engineering graduates in the group were ladies.

Overall I think I did a reasonable job in covering the subject matter I chose to lecture about. Some of the course content prepared by the organizers were a bit heavy and too in-depth for young graduates with no job experience to digest. I tried to lighten the subject load by giving as much real-life examples as I could to illustrate the project management concepts and terminology. But whether I really did deliver a successful course can only be gauged by the feedback from the participants. It was much a learning experience for me as it was for them.

Thank you to Dr Zulkifli Hassan of ZOHL Group for giving me the opportunity to share my knowledge and experience.

Screen capture taken at the closing of class on 2nd day. Class held using Google Meet