Happy Birthday to my Dad

090620 KL Butterfly Park 07, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

Today happens to be my Dad's 63rd. However, we thought we will take him out for dinner tomorrow for a 2 in 1 thing with Father's Day. First thing, I drove to PJ Hilton for a Haematology Study Group Meeting. We spent the whole morning discussing protocols and I must say, compared to the sessions in the years past, this has been the most fruitful.

We actually touched almost every aspect of Haematology, but the gist of it is the the plan to standardise the trefatment for adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. Looking back, the treatment response has been rather disappointing and it is about time that we be more aggressive in terms of chemo regimes. It will take a few more sissions though to get things rolling although from the looks of things, Hospital Ampang will be going ahead as early as July with the new plan.

Lunch came next, after a good chit-chat, I decided to take my camera out in the afternoon. Last year, I went to the Butterfly Park in Tasik Perdana, KL with my gear and was disappointed. Most of my snaps turned out blurry or out of focus. I think the problem was the aperture I was using was too wide, narrowing the depth of field. As a result the focal plane become very small. So in English, aperture (assigned a an f number) is the diameter of the opening on the lens to let light in. The smaller the f number, the wider the aperture, the more light gets in. The maximum aperture is usually indicated at the name of the lens. The main advantage of wide aperture is the ability to increase the shutter speed. The higher the shutter speed, the less like the image become blurred.

However, there is a price to pay for wide aperture. The wider, ie, the smaller the f number, the narrower the plane of focus become. Image falling before or after the plane will become out of focus.

The mistake I made was thinking with the smaller f number and the higher possible shutter speed, I hope the image will be sharp. Unfortunately the focusing on my camera can be tricky sometime. As a result, around 75% came back unsatisfactory. This time around, I increase the ISO - sensitivity of the camera to light, and shot at f8 to 11. I think the results this time around is much better.

Later in the evening, I attended the Medical Department Annual Dinner. This year it was held at Holiday Villa Subang. The highlight was definitely Sanjiv's rendition of "Sound of the Falling Rain" as a tribute to KL Goh. It was hilarious. Iqbal's 15 minutes of stand-up wasn't that bad either. I got to also go on stage to pick up my Badminton's winners medal.

I think I need a new car!

Maybe a van as I can't really stand my kids jumping up and down in the back of the car! This morning, I looked at the milage and it registered 70000! That was in miles, not km OK!

Forgotten also to pin up the pics I snapped on my mobile from the board yesterday! Be sure you guys voted for the right one!

A Fruitful Day

Breakfast at Chawan .... Nasi Lemak!Managed to recover from my trip back from Melaka. Started the day by taking my children on their school run. I brought my Mum with me to send Irfan to his Pingu School in Bangsar, had breakfast with her at Chawan. I then visited Bangsar Village to see my picture with Idlan first hand. A couple of weeks back, we had our picture taken in a competition. It is for a charity celebrating Father's Day. They were looking for father and child look-a-likes.

Should you guys be passing Bangsar Village by any chance by tomorrow, please vote for us. We are pair number 54! Definitely look a like one!

After Bangsar, we fetched Idlan and headed for Damansara where we had lunch. We also booked a table in Marche to celebrate Father's Day with the family. It will also be my Dad's 62nd birthday on the 20th. After sending everyone back home, went to the post office to renew my driving license, sent my car to the garage for a quick look since the warning lights kept coming on indicating the boot was open when it clearly was not. It only started since we sent the car for service last Saturday.

I then went to make a police report for insurance claim. I had my windscreen chipped while driving a couple of weeks back. Went to the traffic station in Taman Dagang. Everything went smoothly and all finished by 4.30. The only hitched was the investigating officer was out and I have to return tomorrow to pick up the report.

We then packed up to move some stuffs to our weekend house at Taman Cemerlang. Did the garden, and now I am suffering from it, not before going out to buy groceries and dinner. That's what I call a fruitful day ..... time to head for bed!

Back from Melaka

Dataran Pahlawan - Melaka Megamall, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

After attending two and a half day of workshop, I am finally back. The actually workshop was pretty good. It was basically about Clinical Epidemiology. It was designed to prepare us before we start teaching the medical students about the subject. The learning curve was steep and at the end of it all, I was pretty knackered.

Inside the MegamallAs I blogged earlier, I wished that the management invest more on the resort hotel since the potential is enormous. Maintenance was pretty lacking. A few of my coursemates actually had to change room because of the condition of the room. The last session today was basically for us to present a mock research we were doing since yesterday.

I left Alor Gajah after lunch and by 3 pm, I was already home. I took a nap right through the afternoon after that.

Last night, I drove to Bandar Melaka. It surprisingly took longer that I expected. Plus the traffic congestion and taking wrong turns, it took me a good hour to reach the parking lot at Dataran Pahlawan. The place was pretty good for a city this size. Most of the outlets were there, plus karaoke bar, multiplex cinemas and bowling alleys. There was also rows of stalls selling crafts. The actually mall was big as it stretched underground across a whole length of a field. Unfortunately, there were not many people during weekday nights. The famous Jonker Street was practically empty. There were hardly anybody at the Eye on Malacca. Surprisingly, there were more people out when I drove back than going in.

I have taken tomorrow and Friday off, so I will be taking my Mum out when I send Irfan off to school tomorrow morning.

A Famosa, Melaka

Dinner at Golfer's Terrace, A Famosa, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

I was asked to attend a "Train the Trainers" course at A Famosa, Melaka. For an early start tomorrow morning, we were asked to travel down there today. The traffic going down was surprisingly light considering today is the last day of school holidays. It took me just under 1 and a half hour between leaving my Mum's house in KL and actually rolling my luggage into my room.

The dining area at Golfer's TerraceThe Main LobbyI spend yesterday reeling about coming. I really was not keen. Hopefully, the easy journey down here signaled a good start. I was told, the course is basically about epidemiology. The attendees will be asked to teach the Medical Students in the coming few month concerning the matter. The lectures will be conducted by speakers from the Julius Center in Utrecht, Netherlands.

Checking in was smooth. I sort of like remember the place from my trip back in 2006 with the family where we rented a bungalow in the compound. That was the first real outing with Irfan. He first learned to walk here. There was also a swimming pool at the bungalow. That's where Irfan had his first outing at the pool. He has been addicted ever since.

For dinner, I walked round the block at the main reception building. That will also be the place where I will have the lectures tomorrow. The buffet restaurant is called Golfer's Terrace. The spread was pretty basic. I had some salad and spaghetti. Was rather tired anyway.

My RoomThe hotel room was also pretty basic. I have a queen-sized bed. There is no wi-fi, but luckily I got my E71 hooked up to Celcom HSDPA. The were only basic TV channels. I thought I will have some coffee before bed.