Cikgu! Oh! Cikgu!

I had an early start last Thursday. A lecture starting at 8 am. It was fine for me but the turn up at the beginning was, should I say, had potential to get bigger! I was used to start on the dot, and really did not mind students trickling in after. I was a student once, and we occasionally had other priorities - I got married in my Final Year, so you can guess what my views on things were. Always an eye at the big price, should I say.

But that was not the theme of this piece, even though I was playing the Cikgu role then. During lunch, while rushing in between my Day Care and a meeting, I heard a voice calling my name. And it was not the way I used to her it. MOHD HARIS FADZILLAH! That was my full name, and the name I was called back at MRSM. It turned out to be my old History teacher from my Terendak days. I did not recognise the lady until she introduced herself as Cikgu Azizah. Even then I had problem lacing her. Only when I got home to talk to Anita that I realised who she was - Anita went to the same school as well.

Apparently, her husband now run the new staff cafe at UMMC. She was still teaching in Negeri Sembilan I think, and was on leave that day when she saw me. I was sure we will bump into each other again from time to time. Anita said, it was not a surprise that people still recognised me as I hardly changed over the years. Once, I had a school-mate from primary who recognised me. Maybe it had something to do with my memory rather than anything else …….

More Westin Pics

I was asked to put up more of the pictures from the stay at Westin Langkawi. A lot of people was interested in the pictures of the room. Unfortunately, I could have taken more, but I did not. So, let just see what I have .....

Westin Langkawi

Had the chance to spend a weekend at this swanky hotel in Langkawi. Hardly a secluded paradise as it was within walking distance from Kuah town, but the place appeared serene enough. A 5-star establishment as it say on the brochure, the room for me at least do live up to the standard. The room I stayed in was very comfortable, right next to the main lobby, overlooking the swimming pool and the sea. Well, being an invited speaker does have its perks.

I took a later flight out as I was at work earlier and only arrived at the hotel around 10 pm, in time to catch the last supper. Tired, I soon retired to the room. Comfortable with a nice shower. Internet was not free however, but there was always my iPhone as a tethered modem. I woke up very early the next morning to make final adjustments to my slides before heading off for breakfast. The breakfast was very nice, with selections of Western, local and Japanese food. Had a combo of nasi lemak and cheese omelette. I spend the morning attending the academic program, which finished by lunch. The lunch was pretty basic however, a simple buffet. Nothing to shout about. I soon got ready for the trip on the cable car - as per previous entry.

On return, after a quick shower, I took my camera out and had some mocktail while enjoying the sunset. Dinner came next, followed by a movie. And then football. The mocktail was nice. I had it by the pool. Unfortunately, as the beach was facing due south, there were limited spot to catch the sunset. I was joined by a Pharmacist from PPUKM, and we had a pleasant chat. I did not have the time to enjoy the pool however, but on exploring, there was a separate pool for family and children, complete with fountains, as well as wading pool next to the main infinity pool. The place was also full of ramps, making it children friendly. 

I spend the evening sipping on cocoa and watching television, relaxing to the evening breeze and sound of the ocean. All in all, I had a nice evening. I wish that I can take Puan Anita and the boys with me, as I was sure they will have a blast by the pool. The food however could have been better, as apart from breakfast, it was pretty basic. The Sunday morning I spent packing up and getting ready to fly home. We were catching the lunchtime flight, arriving at home just before 3 pm. At least I get to do something later in the afternoon.

You can drive this away for RM 888 per dayView from my seat over Kuala Lumpur on the flight homeI must say, the itinerary was full when I was there. During that short a time, it was rather difficult to come up with an impression to tell others about what to expect. The place certainly got potential. Oh! Forgotten to mention that you can rent a car during your stay there. You can either be chauffeur driven in a BMW or drive one of the convertible Mini Cooper the hotel owns. The problem was, it will set you back a cool RM888 per day for the service…….

Saturday Teach-In

Dr Zanapiah

Yesterday, members of my Haematology team at UMMC were invited to participate in a new initiative by the Academy of Medicine. It was a teaching program for the more junior member of the Medical fraternity as well as students and non-Medical Doctors. It was held at the academy’s impressive brand-new building at Jalan Tun Razak, right opposite Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

 From chatting with the Academy staffs, I learned that this was the third of such meetings. The first couple attracted about 100 participants. The event yesterday was attended by more than 180 attendees from various backgrounds as diverse as Medical Students and General Practitioners.  I also recognised a number of our Medical Officers from UMMC attending the talks. The morning session was basically a series of didactic lectures. I kicked things off with a talk on clotting disorders. This was followed by my Boss, Prof Gan, who talked about emergency in oncology care. The morning session was finished off by my former colleague, Dr Zanapiah from Hospital Ampang, who spend about 45 minutes talking problems in blood transfusion.

My Boss, Prof GG GanYup! I was there.Dr Bee finally get to pack up. He had so many fans. I must confess that they were more participants than I anticipated. I pitched my session mainly for Medical Officers doing a Masters program. But since most of the attendees were Medical Students, I had to slow down the pace and explain a few more things in I needed to. I ended up needing to leave a big chunk of the talk out to keep to the time. At the end of the sessions I felt that a lot of people benefited from the talk. We had some lively discussion before lunch.

 The afternoon session was an even more intimate shop in smaller groups. The participants were divided into three, with me taking one and Drs Zanapiah and Bee picking the others. The group then swap around after 30 minutes. My session was on bleeding disorders - they don’t call me Bloody Doctor for nothing. Certainly I openned a few eyes on the concept of von Willebrand disease and haemophilia. The next trick was trying to upload the slights. Ending of the session I realised that I prepared around 150 slides, all in Keynote rather than PowerPoint. Converting them created a bit of an issue. The slides did not convert properly, especially the one that were heavily animated.

 For those of you who attended this session yesterday and wanting to download the slides please click on the following link that will take you to the Haematology Unit website. The file will be in PDF form. I only managed to upload a handful of slides due to bandwidth issue.

 Concerning the running of the session, I felt that the organisers did not anticipate such big turnout. We were short on food, and I ended up almost skipping lunch. Zanapiah was told off taking extra kueh during breakfast, which was amusing. We also realised that there were no members of the Academy were present apart from a couple of secretaries. Even though things ran smoothly, it could have been a lot better. Maybe a member of the Academy could end up in the morning introducing the speakers rather than us being left on our own to organise things. Nothing much, just a courtesy show of face.

 And in the future would be more than happy to participate again. Maybe I will be there a bit better knowing the demographic of the attendees. For those interested, this Saturday kitchen at the Academy runs every first Saturday of the month covering all the main topics in medicine. The next talk in February will be on the Dermatology. I am sure that you would be able to find more information from the Academy website.

Renovations done

Well, almost. All we needed now was to fix the internet - the signal was pretty weak in the room downstairs- and to install Astro b’yond. The floorings were done, so was the painting and fixing of the new tables and cabinets. I had to replace my trusty old Black & Decker cordless drill - it mysteriously went off on the day I tried to fix the IKEA table. I was now equipped with a new and bigger drill - don’t take it the wrong way ….

Irfan of course helped with the screws and the paintwork.