PREPARATION TO THE NEXT WORLD

Some people said, "Life begins at forty" and some said, "Life begins at fifty" ....
Is there any significance to the figure 40 or 50 ??
Or is the figure is just a mere justification to one's bad intention and actions ??
Or it is just a reminder to those who has not realised that the age is catching up on him ...
And there is still a lot of responsibilities that he or she has not performed yet ...
These are : Responsibilities towards mankind and the Creator ....
Let us just ponder with a clear and open mind ...
Whether we are in the 20s, 30s, 40s or 50s years old age bracket, age does not matter any more ...
Have we not seen people (friends and relatives) who passed away at the early age ...
Some of them are are much younger than us ...
Of course some are older than us ...
But does it matter much ?? The answer is crystal clear : IT DOES NOT ...
What actually matters to us ??
It is whether we have discharged our responsibilities rightfully
according to the commands of our Creator ... this is what matters ..

Despite us consuming what had been given to us as rizk...
Enjoying the life and comfort of this world...
We should not forget to prepare to meet Him any time without warning ...

It is just like being on an Oil Rig to perform some assigned task or work ...
Life activities will go on as usual; everybody is doing their assigned business ..
But...
When an emergency siren is activated on the rig;
Everybody will hurry to their assembly point and ready to evacuate the platform ..
Leaving everything and every tool and equipment that they are handling behind...
So...
We should treat living in this world as what we do when being on an oil rig ..
At least on the oil rig, there is an emergency siren ...
In this world, the sirens had long been sounded through many signs and h
appenings occurring daily around us and all over the world ...
It is whether we have taken the heed to prepare for the emergency evacuation or not ...

If we have not make any preparation yet, let us start doing it now ...
Have we fulfilled all the requirement stipulated in Rukun Iman ...
Have we fulfilled all the requirement stipulated in Rukun Islam ...
Have we enjoined good and forbids evil ...
Have we discharged all responsibilities towards those under our care ..
Our families...
Our relatives ..
Our staff ...
Our friends ...
Our business clients, associates, competitors ..
Our fellow countryman ...
etc..

If we have done our best, Alhamdulillah ...
If we have not...
It is still not to late to pay the dues ..
As,
we will be questioned on how we discharge every single thing that the
Creator (Allah) had given us...
The age... the money... the time ... the wealth (wives & children) ... etc. etc..
So we have to prepare for the Final Examination in the next world...
As, no one is either too young or to old to die ..
And no one could bring forward or backward the time of his death ..
And the date and time is only known to Allah, the All Mighty..
So, let us prepare for the time where we will be moved to the next world ..

Ya Allah... Grant us the good tidings in this world and in the
hereafter and ward us from the wrath (infliction) of the hell-fire...
Ameen Ya Rabb 'A-lameen.

SAFF CONSULTANTS

That's the name of my company which was formed in 1995. Alhamdulillah, until now, the company has grown from 3 staff to about 15 now with two main services offered to the clients vis. Consultancy and Inspection & Testing Services.
The word SAFF actually came from Surah As-SAFF one of the 114 surahs in the Holy Quran Al-Kareem. SAFF means Rows or Barisan in Malay Language. It is also signifies a straight row when muslims perform their congegational prayer..
What has been expected by using the word SAFF is that all staff will be united together towards achieving one goal and having the same mission in giving the best and quality services to the customers.

Let us hope what that has been expired by the founder come true... Ameen..

AFKassim/TSPulai..

KETUPAT PALAS

Just one day before the recent Hari Raya Celebration, I had visited my sister and brother-in-law (BIL) at Kpg. Panchor, Pantai Remis, Perak. It is a norm for me to visit them before hari raya if I do not intend to come home for hari raya due to a very short holiday.
My BIL normally prepares ketupat pulut during every hari raya. It is one of the special food made of glutinous rice which is normally sought after by people in the northern part of the country (Kedah, Penang & Perak) especially during hari raya.

The glutinous rice is initially boiled with coconut santan until about 90% cooked. The rice is then filled into the daun palas and folded into a triangle shape. The 90% cooked ketupat pulut is then cooked or steamed to fully-cook the pulut inside the daun palas.


Once cooked, the ketupat is then (normally) served with rendang ayam, rendang daging, rendang kerang or serunding.

fuaad/perak..

BETTER POTRAIT SHOOTING

AFK Potrait

By doug_clist, CNET Contributor

It is one thing to take a picture of a person, and another to snap a portrait. A good portrait has the ability to convey the subjects' state of emotion, and possibly even reveal a hint about their thoughts. Here are five simple tips for better portraits, so gather your friends and family members for a fun shoot.

1) Depth of field

If your camera has manual controls for setting aperture, adjust it to about F3.5 or below. This creates a shallow depth of field which causes blur background while keeping the subject sharp. This focuses the viewer's attention straight to the subject. If your camera doesn't have manual controls, try scrolling through the scene modes--generally there will be a portrait mode which optimizes the camera's settings for taking pictures of people.

2) It's all about the communication
If your subject is too tense, the picture will probably reflect it. Unless that is the effect you want, you'll have to talk to the person in front of your lens and loosen them up. Crack a joke or talk about the weather. If you know the person well, chat about things that interest him/her. They will start to relax and that's the moment you start snapping.

3) Level it
Get to the eye level of your subject. For children, squat down to take pictures of them. If your adult subject is sitting down, then you need to sit or kneel in order to his/her eye level, too. This makes them more relaxed since they don't have to raise or lower their head to look at you, which may look unnatural (and make your subject uncomfortable).

4) It's in your eyes
They say the window to a person's soul is through the eyes, and this is especially true for portraiture. Try to fix your camera's focus on the subjects' eyes as this creates a more appealing picture than focusing on their noses or ears. If your point-and-shoot has only one focus point, frame the eyes within the focusing box, half-press the shutter to focus (don't remove your finger yet) and then reframe your shot before pressing the shutter button down fully.

5) Environment
If your subject lives in an interesting environment, use wide-angle lens to capture the surroundings in your shot. This will give your viewers a better understanding of the subject and create a more visually interesting picture as well. But don't try to cram every item available into the shot--this may clutter the image and draw attention away from the person you want to portray.

extracted from an e-mail digital photography post to me..

SUNSET VIEW FROM UTM TECHNOVISION PARK

I was driving along Jalan Skudai-JB on a way home to Taman Sri Pulai from Batu Pahat today. It was already 6.40 p.m and the breaking of fast is just about 25 mintes away.
As I turned into Jalan Pontian, the sun was about to set and the bright ray poked into the eyes of drivers who are heading towards Pontian. I was lucky as I had my polarised sun-glass on ..


The skylight was wonderful and I could not snap the scenery as there are a lot of vehicles on the road - everybody is rushing home to break the fast (I assume..). With about 15 minutes left before Maghrib, I turned into Taman Universiti junction and right to the UTM Technovation Park. I drove to the end, passing two security post and stopped in front of UTM-MTDC Office. At, last I could get a few shots before rushing home to break my 23rd. day of fasting...

Eralier in the morning when I was in front of the office, the sun was about rising. The sun was so bright that it looks as is the is a fire ball hanging from the sky ...


TTeratai..

THREE-LEGGED KITTEN

Never Give-up or Despair ...

My house has been a place where tamed stray cats had made their homes. Cats come and go and we try to provide food and shelter whenever we could.
Two years ago my daughter had bought a cat but later on decided decided to leave it at our house. About two months ago, this cat which we called Oren (because of her orange/white colour) had given birth for the third time to five kittens. All the kittens are normal except for one which has only three legs or limbs.

The Balancing-Act

So, since birth, this three-legged kitten has been struggling especially during feeding time where she has to compete with her siblings to milk. She has always been the loser as she had to balance herself only with three limbs. She did not give up that easily... she has to survive... The mother cat normally seen to spend sometime with this 'special' kitten after the other four kittens had moved away. So, there are lessons to be learnt from a cat's family too...

Oren seems tired after feeding time

We will try our best to ensure that this three-legged kitten will pull through the difficult time growing up with her siblings despite her handicap.
As life has got to go on and the survival of the fittest will always prevail so we have to offer our helping hand to assist the handicapped to survive too ...

3-legged kitten struggling hard to clean herself and balancing ...

MASJID JAMEK SULTAN ABDUL AZIZ, PJ

I used to remember there was a small surau or mosque at Jalan Templer which I had been to years ago. The mosque has been replaced with a new one and almost 100% completed.
The new Sultan Abdul Aziz mosque was named after one of the earliest Sultan of Selangor. It will be officially used during this coming Hari Raya prayer.



Note : The above photographs were taken using SAMSUNG SGH-D780 EDGE TRI-BAND Handphone built-in 2MP-camera.

P_Jaya 19-09-2008