Meanwhile In Indonesia

10 July 2006 | Hisham | | Recent News
 
Greetings from Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Arrived this morning, I'll be here until tomorrow for a presentation concerning work and work-related work stuff. The good news is I got some pictures. The bad news is that the pictures were only taken when we reached our hotel room.
 

Today The Light Switch...

02 July 2006 | Hisham | | Family Pics, Recent News
 

Switches are attractive items... Tomorrow the world!!!

Earlier today Irfan realised that he has a new super power: the ability to reach any high switch on the wall with his hands (albeit on tippy toes). So all morning he's been all over the house flipping switches. Lights. Fan. Forcefields. Directed-energy weapons. Life support systems.

But the best thing all week has been his newfound skill of asking to use the toilet when required. Many thanks to Irfan's Tok & Opah for teaching their grandson while Ain & I were at work last week.

 

Blog Upgraded

27 June 2006 | Hisham | | Recent News
 

This is the first entry using the new version of the content management system Pivot 1.30 RC2, as opposed to the pre-upgraded 1.24 version of old.

So I might as well say something meaningful.

I can't think of anything at almost 1 am.

So I think I'll put up an image for your viewing pleasure.

Image Not Found
 

HaXX0rzed!!!

26 June 2006 | Hisham | | Hishgraphics.com, Recent News
 
This is the first entry after the site was hacked and evil and vile javascript and php codes were written into the blog's templates and database files.

Many thanks to Fairiz Jafar of EasyNet Interactive, our webhoster, for noticing and monitoring the trouble almost a full day before I contacted him for help. His help on a Sunday was very much appreciated, getting the site back up. Two of the most recent entries were lost, but it's no big deal. The Hishgraphics web journal is back online.

Click here to read a description of what happened in the Pivot Support Forums.

It was a long weekend, needless to say.

But I said it anyway. *sigh*

 

Afternoon Storms

26 May 2006 | Hisham | | Recent News
 

For the last month or so, the late afternoons, before the onset of dusk, is usually time for heavy rainstorms. They're so heavy that sometimes, the hills in front of the apartment on the other side of Pandan Indah are totally obscured. Lightning tear across the sky. Thunder shakes the windows.

Each time it hits, there would come a time during the storm when the lightning and thunder would coincide, which indicated that they were extremely close. This could be very disconcerting up here on the tenth floor.

But today something new occurred. Not only there was an extremely bright flash of lighting coinciding with a loud thunderclap. The event also producted a strong electromagnetic field which caused my computer CRT monitor's colour to go all purple.

Fortunately, a quick usage of the monitor's degauss function immediatedly rectified the problem. Thankfully the computer wasn't damaged in any way.

 

It's Been A Year Already?

23 May 2006 | Hisham | | Family Pics, Recent News
 
Alert! More happy years ahead!
 

Surrounded by War Machines

28 April 2006 | Hisham | | Recent News
 
It was a long, tiring four days at Defence Services Asia... and here's a collection of my personal photos of the event. There I was trying to sell the map generator and pilot task management system while surrounded by missiles, rifles, tanks and other things that can blow you up. It was a great experience and can't wait to get another opportunity at doing it again.

 

Check It Out

27 April 2006 | Hisham | | Recent News
 

Click on the thumbnail to see a work related image.

I'm in a newsletter!
 

A Website I'm Working On

01 April 2006 | Hisham | | Recent News
 
Here's a website I've been working on the past month. It's come a long way from minimal HTML code, simple CSS, placeholder images (which constisted of the Cylon raider "Scar") and the words "Text coming soon, bitches." on some pages. It's still far from being fully operational. I'm hoping it'll be 95% ready for public viewing by the middle of April.

Comments? Critiques? Tuna sandwiches?

No, seriously. I'm kinda hungry.

 

There's A Dragon In The House

23 March 2006 | Hisham | | Recent News
 
Half past ten post meridian equals no sunlight or its dim red afterglow outdoors. Thus if lights are out indoors, it's dark.

Last night we were about to go to sleep when Irfan asked for his Dinosaur book (Das Reich Der Dinosaurier. Gee, I wonder where I bought that for him) to read. It was out in the darkened living room according to memory so I told him, "Go out and get it."

He said, "No, I'm scared."

What? That's never happened before. "What are you scared of?"

"It's dark. There are dragons."

Ain and I both looked at each other. She then asked again, "Why are you scared?"

"There are dragons outside." He doesn't pronounce it "dragons", not does he say "dwagons". It's more of something in between, like "dr-wagons", which I find pretty amusing.

So, I had to go out into the dark living room, braving against the dragons to retrieve Irfan's fallen book. The deed was done without much problems, though I was disappointed I didn't see or have to fight off Trogdor to get to it.

Maybe someday I will.

 

Another of Irfan's Uncles A-visiting

02 March 2006 | Hisham | | ACS Memories, Recent News
 

Tonight was the first time Irfan met his Uncle Kok Soon, my former schoolmate from way back when Knight Rider was on TV, and perhaps even before. Irfan immediately took a liking to him, trying to impress him with his dinosaur book, his toy cars and his familiarity to the lyrics of the Firefly theme. We had light meal at mamak shop before that, then headed back to our house for a chat. It was great having Kok Soon as a guest for the night, talking about trials and tribulation of life, perseverence, spirituality, xenomorph facehuggers and such. Before midnight, he had to go home back to Bukit Antarabangsa.

Click on the thumbnail to view a larger image.

Dinosaur Book Readers
 

Asian Aerospace 2006

26 February 2006 | Hisham | | Recent News
 

While I was at work at the Asian Aerospace 2006 exhibition way down in Singapore, I took photos of some of the exhibits. Walking around the corridors, I realised that I needed a better camera. Preferably one with at least 4 megapixel doohickey. Oh, and also one without a broken battery cover panel.

 

Stuttgart Pics

25 February 2006 | Hisham | | Recent News
 

As promised here are some images from my weekend walkabout in Stuttgart. I thought I didn't take a lot of good photos there because of my need to walk quickly to cover a lot of ground, and searching for internet cafes so I could communicate with Malaysia 7 time zones away.

 

South of the Border

22 February 2006 | Hisham | | Recent News
 

And I don't mean down Mexico way, amigo.

I'm now in Singapore attending the Asian Aerospace 2006. It's tiring. I've been sweating by the bucketloads all day. My legs are just about to pop out of their sockets. Especially after taking the MRT to various parts of the city sending off my colleagues, having dinner and trying to purchase bus tickets back to Kuala Lumpur for Friday morning.

But the best part was seeing the brand new Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 strutting its stuff for the onlookers in an all-encompassing deafening roar above us. Although I did not get pictures of it in flight, witness the monster's image from its Wikipedia page:

Superjumbo
 

Outbreak

21 February 2006 | Hisham | | Recent News
 

It was all over the news when I was in Germany. The H5N1 had been detected in dead wild swans at the northern coast of the country. The H5N1 virus, as all but those hiding incommunicado in underground bunkers since 1962 would know, is the strain of bird flu virus that can and has infected humans if they consume avians.

Now, less than 24 hours back in Malaysia, what do I hear? Gombak chickens within, of all places, the capital city of Malaysia have been detected with the deadly strain of virus, and more have been culled in the immediate vicinity.

And I would like to stress about the infection of the Malaysian chickens:

It's not my fault.

;-)

 

Hotel Ochsen Post

20 February 2006 | Hisham | | Recent News
 

I got back from the airport today from a training in Germany. While there I stayed at Ochsen Post Hotel in the village of Tiefenbronn not too far from Hausen, where I had my training. The hotel is right in the middle of town, where dozens of dummies are placed on trees, walls, lamposts and roofs, which heralds the oncoming Carnival. One thing the hotel has an abundance of is atmosphere. You have to be there to experience it.

 

It's Been Awhile Since I Saw...

14 February 2006 | Hisham | | Recent News
 
...SNOW! Thirteen years. Here we are again. Damn it's cold. And the Autobahn is jammed up. And Hausen seems to be a really nice, quaint litle hamlet.

Pictures will be up when I have the chance.

 

Like a Leaf On The Wind

11 February 2006 | Hisham | | Recent News
 
I've been waiting to see Serenity since last September. When I checked the schedule at the time, they said it would be shown February 2006.

Yesterday, there I was on the ground floor across the brightly-lit hallway from the video store at One Utama mall, ignoring the school of people wending their way past me. There, with the rest of the new releases on the front shelf, was the Serenity DVD.

Which sadly means, I wont be watching it in the theaters any time soon.

Or ever.

/me shakes fist at local movie theaters.

 

Returning to Form, but Slowly

08 February 2006 | Hisham | | Recent News
 
I still can't believe it.

I'm getting my passport renewed. I'm buying cold weather gear and one of those new-fangled bags with wheels and a retractable handle (which is pretty neat). I'm brushing up on things like "planetary gear", "autorotation", "rotor profile drag" and "combining gear box". I'm planning how best to absorb the teaching techniques of the course so I can teach others how to operate the avionics hardware effectively. I'm trying my best to figure out how to get the test model installed in time for the Defense Services Asia exhibition in April.

And I'm reading the online version of Rotor and Wing magazine.

If I can pull this off, I believe I can start buying trade paperbacks again every month.

 

Hey, It's Still February 1st here!

02 February 2006 | sila | | Recent News
 

Just a quick little entry to wish my yope (a.k.a. Hisham) a happy happpy haaaaapppy birthday!

I realize it's already going on 5 AM February 2nd in Malaysia, but it is now almost 4 PM February 1st here! So technically, I'm not late! Well... maybe a little...

Happy birthday to the best brother ever, from both Ayah Cik and Wan Cik Dik. Love y'alls..