Aggies 12 Longhorn 7

We won!

Aggies beat Longhorns (the best rush defence) by rushing them!!! All the hype of Aggies to attack via air to avoid the rush defence was just a camouflage. Aggies beat 't u' on their own turf and on their own terms.

We gig'ed em!!!

The latest progress

Activities are fast and furious nowadays.
Reaching typical floors at the other end.

Aggies vs Longhorns (2006)

For first time after few years under new coach Dennis Franchione that I am really looking forward to this game knowing that we had a real chance of matching tu 'mano a mano'. The manner that we played but lost this seasons to ranked teams (except Nebraska - we'll getcha next year Badrul!) was what that make me real proud to be an Aggie.
Gig 'em Ag.

from ESPN;

Texas A&M Offense vs. Texas Defense

One of the most productive ground games in the nation faces a run defense that is giving up fewer yards per carry than any Division I-A team. The winner of this battle will greatly increase its chances of coming away with the victory, and the Longhorns appear to have the edge heading into the game. Texas will line DT Frank Okam up over the outside shoulder of QG Kirk Elder or SG Grant Dickey, making it difficult for the Aggies to double team him. Though Elder and Dickey rarely make mistakes, they don't have the strength or burst to regularly block the powerful and quick Okam one-on-one. Co-defensive coordinators Gene Chizik and Duane Akina can afford to line Okam up there because NT Roy Miller plays with good leverage and is big enough to anchor the middle. DEs Tim Crowder and Brian Robison are explosive, and they should make it difficult for Texas A&M's offensive tackles to seal the edge. With the front four wreaking havoc, the talented linebackers won't have to fight though a lot of blocks on the way to the ball carrier. In addition, SS Michael Griffin plays with a mean streak and flies to the football so the Longhorns have the talent to slow Texas A&M's ground game.
The question is do they have the discipline? Stephen McGee is an excellent option quarterback who reads defenses well and has the speed to break the long run when they give him a seam. The Longhorn front seven is aggressive and its linebackers have overrun plays at times. If McGee sees this when the Aggies run option, he will tuck the ball away and get upfield. Backup RB Mike Goodson also has excellent speed so Texas' perimeter defenders can't afford to collapse on McGee and give Goodson the edge when he's in the game. Finally, Texas A&M should stay committed to the run even if it sputters early. RB Jorvorskie Lane has excellent size and he runs hard so he should have some success wearing the Longhorns down. Defenses are most vulnerable to breakdowns in assignments and tackling when they start to tire, so the chances of the Aggies breaking a long run should improve as the game progresses.

Rewang - Then and Now

Tradition of Rewang

Written by Haswari Ali (translated by me)
Rewang - Then and Now

Its been a very long tine since I last went for rewang. The last being a few years ago, that's being a wedding of family members. In my teenage years, we would go for any rewang chores during the school holidays, mainly due to the fact, I have to accompany my grandma to relatives or neighbours wedding preparations.

Everyone has duties to perform in rewang, be it in the kitchen, inside the house, the bridal suite, bridal dais and the visitors tent, depending on your choices. If you tend to be tired performing those chores, one could always find the omnipresence of 'Kuih Bahulu' (local fluff cookies) dipped in either black hot coffee or cold red syrup.

I could still recall sitting on the long timber benches for peeling the onions or meat cuttings and also the nostalgia of metal flex chairs for proper table seats. Nowadays we could only get the boring white plastic chairs. Even then, the chairs are only allowed to be used on wedding reception days. Its almost an accepted trend today that the visitors tent, chairs etc would only be set up on the day itself and taken back the day after.

Well the rewang culture has slowly eroded from the minds of today's generation. In its place is the emergence of 'Catering' culture and the impersonal touch of serving meals. Gone were the togetherness and community spirit.

iKON

iKON

The rewang interpretation in Malay Language - I promise to translate this later.

Crashed and Burnt

Finally, the dreaded things happened to my trusted (not anymore!) nx6110 laptop. Exactly 11:35am, July 10th an abnormal behavior was detected while trying to open a Word document. It took longer than long for that simple PQP (Project Quality Plan updates I've been working on for the last week or so) pages to load from C: - I thought nothing out of it and leave the laptop as it is because I had to attend another appointment outside. On my way out, someone upstairs growled because a print job was sent to her PhotoSmart printer, and my unfinished draft PQP was neatly printed on a glossy photo quality paper!

I didn't think much of it later on but only upon my resumption of works in the evening, there was this feeling of detachment with my laptop. And as I was about to logoff for the day, the laptop sort of giving me a glimpse of final goodbye - a faint transparent warning window without any text, just a symbol of red X and OK box. After the last click of the mouse, it suddenly dawn on me that I won't be seeing the similar feature on the screen again forever. True enough, as I restarted the, the Local User Profiles was no longer valid or corrupted and with it went along my access to most of my personal files (and the PQP too).

As I write these sentences, I am reminiscing the time when me and my laptop started together. To the 'system7' Local User Profile config file, wherever you are - Thank You.

Black and White

Yaris

I've been given the opportunity to drive around in this cute compact car. Not to be driven near the dunes although its been tempting me more times than I could remember.

First Cast

We commenced a major milestone in our construction activities today. The casting of 1.5m thick Raft Foundation. 12 Hours of continuous pour of concrete!

Lament

So much to write, its becoming unwritable.
So much to say, its becoming silence.
So much to do, its becoming undone

Am I up to the task?
We'll see, we'll see

Slot Them In!

Excess earth on the bottom of the -3 meter were cleared away to prepare the shoring for panel installation.
Upon reaching -3 meter level, the concrete panels for shoring began to be installed. Each panels were slotted in one on top another as the bottom slid down.
A nice verticle embankment after the panels were neatly installed. Next will be the Dewatering!

Door Of Opportunity

Intermission

I was down with the Flu. A combination of a) abnormally late nights out in cold January desert, b) a string of unsuspected extra holidays, c) sudden freedom on wheels, and of course d) that long mission trip to Fujairah where the carpet bugs hit.
For two days my long hardened (yeah!) body was battered to the bed with only a couple litre of mineral water bottles and suspiciously ineffective band of medicines. Someone might have come by and done several amputations to my limbs without me realizing it. Only by the third day, I finally managed to drag myself to sit up and look around the cell like bedroom, kicked the empty mineral water bottles out of the way and walk out to the kitchen room.
On the fourth day I watched DVD - Family Man : starred by Nicholas Cage and Tea Leoni. I managed to hold on until the last few scene when the character Jack shouted across the crowded terminal departure gate in his last attempt to convince Kate to stay (for a cup of coffee? Not!) - "we are married, we lived in Jersey, we have two kids. Annie is precocious because she speaks her mind....." I could hold it anymore!
Must be the Flu!

Here Comes The Panels

As the H-beams been driven and the surrounding areas been excavated, another phase of the Shoring works started to take place.
Concrete Panels of 1200(w)x1000(h) began to be delivered.Smaller JCB was used to trim further the spaces between the H-beams. In an almost vertical manner, excess sand material were cleared to make way for the installation of the concrete panels.

Playing in the sand

As the Crawler moved sideways driving down the H-beams for the shoring, Excavation works commenced from the center portion. The Activities now resembles a real construction site, after many months of idling.

Big Trucks came and gone within a matter of minutes. Just imagine small kids playing in the sandbox by the seaside and scooping large quantity of sand away to dig holes or build sand castles. How easy it was. The same here.

In no time, the site has changed its elevation to -3.00 meter.

Happy New Year

To all of you that read this blog either by accident or you really like my blog entry or ? Happy New Year 2006! A good friend of mine treated me to a nice New Year bash and to catch up on old times. Actually a good way to spent the evening by reminsicing the past years and resolving the future.

Pile Driver

The Crawler began shoring pile operation by driving 12meter H-beams into the ground along the perimeter of the site. Here was the first test driving of H-beam done in the middle of the site to establish the correct speed and soil bearing conditions.

It took half a day to complete this first stretch. But then please don't look at the trees! We had to 'trim' the trunks and parts that 'interfered' with the vertical locus of the green pile machine hanging from the crawler rig.

1.2 meter approximate distance between H-beams to receive 1.2meter(w) x 1.0meter(h) concrete panels before the excavation operation.