2018 Banana Fruit Progress

Whenever a tree I plant produce a fruit, it is a joyful moment. It doesn't matter how big or how many fruit I can get. It is like making a property investment, and the investment produce a good result. Of course, one will want to maximize the profit of the investment. I can prepare the next batch of banana trees. So, do my current and future investment.

Two of my cotton banana trees already bear fruits. The current picture of the banana fruits on 27 Sept. 2018.

The first to bear the fruit is on the left. The closer look of the banana fruit is as below:

The first to bear the fruit is on the right. The closer look of the banana fruit is as below:

This time, I put more nutrient soil at the base of the fruit to ensure the fruit has enough nutrient.

A couple of weeks later, another tree also bear fruit. However, I am not so sure what kind of banana tree is this. The tagging I put at the base of the tree is missing. It looks like a lemak manis banana.

The banana tree is the smallest and lowest among the three banana trees. It as a pleasent surprise to see it bear fruit at such a small size. Hence, I put more nutrient at the base of the banana tree. Although the number of banana pieces are small, I hope they will be big and fat.

It is a big surprise to find out that a fourth tree has bear fruit. This is the gold banana tree.

However, this is the thinest tree among the four trees. I hope the nutrient soil I put is enough to ensure the fruit size is satisfactory.

The most important thing is my family will get a 100% organic fruit!

Pilgrim to Mekah for Hajj

Malaysians pilgrimage to Mekah for Hajj is handled by Tabung Haji Malaysia. Every Malaysian pilgrim must go through Tabung Haji Malaysia, TH. In TH, there are a group of people who will administer, assist and manage the pilgrims. This is called Muasasah. This year, the cost to go for Hajj through Muasasah is about RM10,000.

Some people who want a better service can go through Hajj packages handled by Malaysian travel agencies. There  are only a limited number of companies who have the license to provide the package. You can find out the list of companies from TH. This year, the cost to go through a package is about RM35,000. Each pilgrim who want to have the package service must also pay Tabung Haji Malaysia for RM10,000. Therefore, those who get the package service must pay RM45,000!

What are the similarity and differences?
The activities, travel and lodging at Arafah, and Madinah are the same.
However, during staying in Mekah, the hotel by package is closer to the Kaabah which is less than 100m. There are many advantages being closer to the Kaabah. You can quickly and easier to go back and forth from the hotel to the Kaabah. This is essential for those who have weak legs. Hence, you have more time and energy to spend at the mosque. The food is also better by package.

For those who are young and healthy, it is okey to go through Muasasah. From my brother's experience, he only missed one day to go to the mosque during zohor and asar. He went the Hajj from 25 August until 21 September 2018. While his older companions who are retirees, always miss to go to the mosque for the same period. The age and energy are important factors for religious activities.

Is it worth it?

Beside the cost above, you should prepare some extra money to ensure a smooth activities such as:
a) money to rent electric scooter if you cannot walk through tawaf or sai'e which is about dirham 50.
b) money to rent carriage service if you cannot walk through tawaf or sai'e; saie is about dirham 500, tawaf is about dirham 300 x 3 (wajib or compulsory)
c) money to buy souvenirs

Strategic Thinking is Important

I bought my first house when I was 26. And I bought my 2nd house and live in it when I was 29. At the age of 45, I moved in to a more comfortable house which is gated guarded. The housing area also have a club house with a swimming pool and gym. I hope I can retire in the next 15 years and live in the present house.

I am not from a rich family. But, I always like to think strategically due to my hobby to play chess. A lot of people would like to think tactically. This means they would like to work hard, and accumulate a lot of money in order to buy their dream home. Some people hope that they stumble upon a project with a huge profit so that they have enough money to buy their dream home. Little do they know that without strategic thinking, these tactical mindsets are easily refuted by the property market.

When I was working as an engineer, I rode a Kawasaki KIPS to go to work. Everyday, I have to stop by a traffic light at Perling junction which is no longer there today. When the traffic stopped. I always calculated my expenses, and how much and fast I can accumulate my capital.  My salary was RM2,000. While a two storey house of 22' X 70' was about RM140,000. Based on my expenses and contribution to parents, I can only accumulate about RM600 every month. I will need about two years to accumulate the deposit or down payment to buy a house. However, the interest rate at that time was very high. Hence, the monthly payment was very high. Thus, an excess of RM600 per month is not enough to pay the mortgage. In addition, house price kept increasing. So, I would need a longer time to buy a house.

My second goal at the time was to buy a shop lot so that I can retire conveniently. This tactical calculation is a lot harder to achieve than buying a house. My conclusion, I cannot buy a shop lot with my present job, and by using tactical thinking only. So, I decided to further study while refining my strategic thinking for real world applications.

Cotton Banana Bear Fruit Again

Last year, one of my cotton and gold banana trees produced fruit, click here and here.

It was a pleasant surprise on 19 July 2018 when I found out the second generation of cotton banana trees already bear fruit. This is the 3rd time my banana trees produce fruit.

The tree may not be tall nor big. But it is sufficient to bear fruit.

On 28 July 2018, another cotton banana fruit bear fruit as shown in the picture below. The new banana fruit is on the right which is still fully in heart banana.

It is shorter than the banana tree on the left (3rd banana tree bear fruit). So, I don't expect the 4th banana tree will produce more brushes than the 3rd banana tree. Anyway, it is a huge bless to see another banana tree bear fruit.

It looks like the second generation produce more fruit than the first. This is a good example of work hard first, enjoy the prosperity later!

Strategic Investment is more important than economy timing

It has a while since my last entry. Upon completing my hard bound thesis, I had a bad health. Everything I ate was bitter. I was only able to eat five to six full mouth of rice during lunch and dinner. I also had difficulty to sleep whether at night or day. I may tell my solution to my health problem in the next entry.

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to search google earth. Then I remembered to relook at my current house location. It is available now! Then, I zoom out my house location so that I can see the surrounding area. Looking at my house, it is strategically located close to UTM, a new 2nd link exit, and a new route to Gelang Patah.

The Gelang Patah new route is via Pulai Indah. It is already opened. The route will be officiated on 25th August 2018. The 2nd link exit is at Pulai Jaya. It is only 1.2 km from my home. The road and flyover are already completed. However, there is a land issue which the developer cannot solve. The developer already passed the responsibility to the state government. The government promise to solve it within three months.

It took me about ten to fifteen minutes to reach UTM depending on the traffic. Lately, it takes a longer time to reach UTM due to increasing traffic. And, the return journey from 5 pm is getting worst. It takes about 30 minutes to get home. Once the 2nd link route is opened, the traffic could reduce about 10% to 15%, hopefully.

Anyway, being at the center of the location, I am really fortunate to buy the house.

One of the Activities When I am Bored

As white, what is your move?

Aircraft Tracking in Malaysian Airspace - Avoid Another MH370

The whole country was in shocked when MH370 was missing from Malaysian airspace to the unknown destination on 8 March 2014. In fact, some of us are still grieving. It is the unknown destination which make it harder for the related families to accept the fate. A few of them are still pursuing the matter.

A few months before the airplane was missing, my friends and I were planning a new project to keep track any aircraft in Malaysian airspace. One of the reasons to track the aircrafts is the information is not shared by DCA Malaysia nor military of Malaysia. Although aircraft traffic information is available to anybody (from FAA perspective), in Malaysia, there is no well known hobbyist group which accurately keep tracking the aircraft traffic for the public.

There are a few advantages to keep track the aircraft of our interest. For example in case of MH370, the above diagram shows that if I am the relative of one of the passengers, I will question Malaysian authority, why the aircraft is diverting from its flight path. The alert from the public will ensure the authorities are always at their toes. Although the transponder was terminated, the flight diversion already appear in the screen. And the future flight path can be projected where MH370 should reenter Malaysian FIR (Flight Information Region). Once the authorities are being alerted, Malaysian Military have no choice but should have sent a fighter jet to investigate.

Currently, my research team is lacking of any research grant to develop a complete nation wide monitoring station for the public. Luckily, being an electronic engineer, we still able to continue our research and development at minimum cost. We are able to develop relevant electronic equipment from scratch to minimize the cost.  And we are also working together with a local company who are interested to commercialize the system. The company is responsible to develop the GUI, database, server and security of the system. While my R&D team should focus on the hardware. We are looking forward for any party or individual who want to donate or invest in this project.

Due to limited budget, we tested the system at the roof top of my house instead of at a permanent station.

I want to check the signal strength from my house.

My children were also interested. But I did not allow any of them to climb for safety reason.

From Skudai, Johor Bahru, Johor, the system can detect aircrafts up to Negeri Sembilan and Kuantan, Pahang.

This is what we have tested at the northern region. The GUI shows that it is possible to monitor aircrafts up to gulf of Thailand. And we already formulated several ways to monitor aircrafts up to Andaman sea.

I hope my team's work can prevent any future MH370 incident. Any donation or investment can help our research group to commercialize the services and prevent future incident.

For more information, you can visit my university blog from time to time at http://zulfakar.fke.utm.my or specifically for the time being at http://zulfakar.fke.utm.my/in-the-news/aircrafttrackinginmalaysianairspace-avoidanothermh370

Mydin Mall at Taman Mutiara Rini, Johor Bahru, Johor

Mydin just launch its sixth shopping complex in Johor. It is located at Taman Mutiara Rini. It is a strategic place to be since it is next to Taman Universiti, and Taman Tun Aminah. In the future, there will be highway exit from Taman Mutiara Rini to the 2nd link highway. The GPS coordinate is @1.5155876,103.6349022.

The entrance:

There are three levels.
The main hall with stage performance:

The second floor where the Mydin store is located.

There are many small shops in this level.

 The third floor where the clothes sales are. I didn't spend my time on the 3rd floor.

The best of Mydin Mall is the food court. There are plenty of choices of foods to choose.

The best thing about the food court is the sittings are located to an open space. We can see Mutiara Mas houses from the open space. The wind blowing is comfortable. There are also plenty of tables and chairs.