restarting...

yes, it has been a very long time since my last writing. my last writing was on teacher. today, I still have sort of problem with the group of people who was given the opportunity like no others - to teach our kids on being a human being. that's is a very tall order.

it was a very busy month of June. very busy indeed. after I was given a very difficult time of choosing, I ended up with being lack of time. but again I need to keep on writing. that's how a civilisation flourish. I must find time to write. must...

machine

this particular component of a bigger machine is to cool down its product, copper rod. I had the opportunity to visit this factory as a part of energy audit process. I had a big respect to those who worked in the factory for their dedication and contribution to the nation's economy. thank you every one!

sky crappers

this is one of sky scrappers in the capital. the height is around 150 m and was built in 1985. I went there before while working with an engineering consultant firm. we were labelled as 'stupid' by the company's deputy GM for development (the same company which owns the building).

Commoners can enter the building but of course at limited areas. the company which own the building is actually is a custodian of commoners money. but several years ago there was a case where some of their senior officers took away some of the money. I don't know what happened exactly but it is a sad episode. a commoner who works in an institution which keep another commoner money has the heart to do such an evil doing.

so you cannot even rely on another commoner, I guess.

GREENHOUSE GAS RELEASED: 0.05 kg

Fukushima nuclear power plant leak plugged

I read about engineers at Fukushima nuclear power plant have finally plugged the radioactive leak. in my country, currently there is no such power plant though the is a plan towards building one in a decade or two. I'm in favour for nuclear power plant for one reason - its technology. someone told me that aeroplane is the safest transportation available. but of course if something (fatal) goes wrong, the result would be catastrophic. I believe that nuclear power plant is somehow the same. such advanced technology will certainly spin-off to other field. I hope I can contribute in realising the idea.

in the article, the most interesting paragraph is this:

"In order to stem the leak, Tepco (the Tokyo Electric Power Co) injected 'water glass', or sodium silicate, and another agent into the pit. Desperate engineers had also used sawdust, newspapers and concrete in recent days to try to stop the escaping water".

so the engineers have tried with all sort of method before they were able to conquer the problem. Mahatma Gandhi once said "freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes". I don't know the background from which he delivered such statement. but common human being do make mistake.


I believe by advocating nuclear power won't make me an aristocrat or a technocrat. I'm just a commoner who want to delve into such an advanced technology which until now is evolving in the hand of elites. 


what ever it is, hail to Fukushima's engineers for teaching the world.

construction, 'Sack Your Boss' by Jonathan Jay

above is a picture dated on July last year. the picture was taken in a site which i was directly involved as part of project management team. The picture depicts one of the most important event in any construction stage - the first pile! precede to that, there are a lot of other important things.

there are certainly lot of activities before you can turn that key and get your feet inside a finished building. there are elements of law, contract, engineering, science, technology, environment, management, lot others but i think the most important is humanity. the more I think about it, it is more and more about human and art. and I'm an engineer...

there are a lot of thing about humanity that I learned during my stint as project management team. and I think I also bit by bit discover my strengths and interests. I must live within this strength or otherwise I'll doing things that I probably hate. I remember reading a book 'Sack Your Boss' by Jonathan Jay 4 years ago on the same issue. however I realised that only a year ago, through a hard way. some of us only learn things through the hard way, I supposed.

so I should start put my strength on the run, again I supposed. but how?

sea side

last Sunday afternoon my family & i went to a small fisherman town. by the time we reached there it was raining heavily. we managed to get a shelter in a small building by the sea side. it is a two-storey building and close to a jetty (in the picture). at the ground level are food outlets while at the top are shops, less than 30 i guess, selling sea-related products. i believe the outlets are run by villagers.

there were people having their food. i don't know whether the food is good or not, but the 'ambiance' was certainly very 'delicious' considering the condition, heavy rain and by the sea side. most of the people seemed to get themselves 'busy' looking at the sea. there were also people fishing on the jetty despite the rain. i also saw kids having fun playing in the rain. i also noticed that my kids were happy. even my one year old kid is having a good time looking at the sea and the rain.

so last weekend was certainly a good one. but i'm still out of a job. nevertheless i'm also started to read a book titled 'get real, get reach' by Farrah Gray last weekend. i'll come back more about the book later.

market place, 'Let Them Eat Cake' by Danziger book

the picture was taken by me on last weekend. it is a view of a small wet market place in a remote town. this is the place where commoners buy their fish, vegetables etc. it is very small with about 20 'outlets' (or tables). however only about 70% were occupied.

it was morning and raining very heavily while my family bought some of the necessities. i stood with one of my kids looking at the rain. the ambiance was so 'luxuries'. it was cold, comfort, plus listening to the falling rain and the voice of people inside the market. i remember according to Danziger, experience during shopping is also contribute to the 'luxury' concept. as a commoner i felt luxury having my time at the market. the sound, smell, feel, sight, was very 'luxurious'. i even had a very quality time with my kid. we talked about the rain, the drain, people etc. i hope she can remember the moment too.

i should be looking more of this moment.

professional duty of care

four years ago, on the way to be a certified professional engineer, or PE, i was introduced to the word liability, negligence. then there was a concept of duty of care. now i'm in trouble. i've never heard any of those words during my study years nor before i decided to get a PE. i mean, i've never heard in the context that i'm now facing.

luckily, by that time i've developed interest in law (i've even finished several books on constitutional law, e.g. a book written by Michael Allen, Brian Thompson and Bernadette Walsh). but i'm not going to be some kind of lawyer or what but it really an eye opener. an engineer must be careful in discharging his role as, an engineer. it says when i offer my service, i owes duty of care to the man on the street. if i fails to discharge that duty (or they called it, breaches the duty) reasonably & that man suffers, so i may be in trouble. and all this can arise even if there's no formal contract between me and that man. and i may even liable if a third party suffers because my conduct. and this conduct may in in term of my action or inaction (or omission, they said). i'm not offering any advice here, and any law man out there please help me if i'm wrong.

in order to refresh my mind the following cases have great influence on what ever things that i've wrote.

• Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 - duty of care and who is your neighbour test
• Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee [1957] 1 WLR 582 - duty breached and the standard of care test
• Hedley Byrne and Co. Ltd. v Heller and Partners [1963] 2 All ER 575 - damages

all those cases were laid well before i was born and i believe they are now have stand the test of time.

i wonder is it good if all those concepts and what the history behind them be taught during the study years? i don't really know but i'm really glad if i had the opportunity to learn them during my study. those things should be able to prepare the undergraduate to be kind of 'prepared'.

so for those undergraduates, please dig deeper in what ever your field of studies. ask people around you. some say asking correct question is sometimes more important than answering correctly. i've already had my lesson for not thinking out of the box.

luxury, 'Let Them Eat Cake' by Danziger book

today i'm able to write again! this morning i read a book about luxury in a park beside a river. there i had a glimpsed of an old man picking up some plant from the river. i know no one would eat that kind of plant. i took a picture and started to think whether this old man has a good life. according to the book, luxury is now more towards experiential luxury. brand related luxury still exists but we can expand the meaning of luxury.

the book by Danziger, entitled 'Let Them Eat Cake', really makes me rethink about luxury. how i'm going to insert this interesting aspect into what can i give to the world. few years ago i did think how about giving a service, for example in engineering consultancy, plus some additional punch such as after sales or service advice.  engineering consultants seldom do this. or in my experience non at all. after they have finished a building, hand it over to the client together with operation & maintenance manual, they just go. what if they come back, take a look what has happened, look back at their design efficiency or practicality etc. i believe client will feel 'luxury'. what if....

yea, what if ...

unemployed

this is my second day without job. it' hard. nevertheless i keep on searching for money so that i can keep on paying those bills, loans, meals... my kids. i love them very much that i must strive to give them a good life, good education. i pray that they should never ever follow my hard life path. i hope that they will be able to chose a career that suit them most, do what they like most. for me, i'm stuck here with 'my' past mistake of choice.

it's very common 20 years ago (1980s), in my country, that commoners don't have that knowledge of choosing. believe me, that by the age of 17 i still could not appreciate the meaning of 'diploma' or 'degree'. i was sort of love, at that time, to get involve in something that have to do with computer, physics or architecture, or even agriculture. but the remarks a got from my family was "physics? are you going to be a physics teacher?" and "architecture? it is a recession now, you won't get a job". for agriculture, it was a big no-no. there was not enough information where actually those fields that i like can bring me in my life.

i still remember that when it came to chose for university courses, i looked at ads showing 'computer science integration'. integration? what the meaning of that word (later i found that it means a diploma program that come with the opportunity to degree level)? then i went for the interview for 'bachelor in computer science with education' (most of my family are teachers, my father too). later i found that the course trained people to be a teacher. i'm not interested so i just told the interview that i'm not going to be a teacher.

i was later found my self doing electrical engineering! it was the topic that i did badly in my physics subject! during the study i was actually told to do 'x-ray course' sponsored by the government so that i can get a job easily. i resisted, got some advice from my lecturer (whom of course, had more knowledge; she was no commoner) and stayed. nevertheless i studied electricity, graduated and work as an electrical engineer. and know what, for the last 4 years i am a licensed, professional electrical engineer. is it an accomplishment? but being an engineer, i need to work as engineer (is it true?). so i have been in the maintenance, facility management, project management, design, contract management, safety & health, resources (machines, human, finance) management etc. some where in time i excelled and rewarded but satisfied? where is physics, architecture, agriculture?

is it important that people need to work (or live) in the field they interested most? i believe it is. one day i watched this episode in national geographic about marine life. there was a marine biologist doing the talk about the thing. i've forgotten all the things that she said except that she told she had been interested in marine study from her childhood. i couldn't imagine i'm working in a field which i interested most. i can't imagine because i've never been there yet.

today, i'm out of the job, i'm still a commoner.