Batch 8 Intern Farewell

Razif, Shida, Ikram and Azie had been with DANAU since December 2008. Their internship period ended formally on the day of the opening of Nordin Group, 15 May 2009. As usual, we would have a simple outing to mark the successful completion of their internship. Pictures of our outing can be found here. Appreciation of their contribution can be found at our DANAU Blog, here.

I still owe similar posting for Batch 7 Interns. Their internship ended in December 2008. To Wani, Wana, Suraya, Nadia, Nad and Fieza, I will do that in the next few days on our DANAU Blog.

The Red Maze Opening Pictures

I made a posting on the Opening of Nordin Group by the Chief Minister of Melaka on our DANAU Blog last week. You can read the posting here. Pictures of Datuk Seri Mohd Ali touring The Red Maze can be found here.

Other opening day pictures will be posted later on our Flickr-based photo directory called Images from the World of DANAU ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaudigital ).

New DANAU Blog

DANAU has a new blog at http://www.danaudigital.com.my/blog. From today you will find DANAU-related postings at this new site. We are still in the process of improving our new blog but it is readable. Below is the first posting which I made on our new blog yesterday.

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April 2009 marks a new beginning for DANAU. We moved office from K-Economy Incubator to our new office at the Nordin Group building.

Our new office is special in many ways. First, it is located in a single building that is shared with four other main companies and firms, namely, Adillah A Nordin (Advocates and Solicitors), Emilda Architect, DAMA Design + Build and NeuroMaju. Secondly, the building has a very distinctive red-bar design on its facade (designed by Emilda Architect). For that, I call the building The Red Maze. And for that too, our new address becomes:

DANAU@TheRedMaze, 82 Jalan TU2, MSC Cybercenter @ MITC, 75450 Melaka

The Red Maze

Do visit us at The Red Maze.

Danau Wall Climb Challenge #4

We had a new climber in Adillah last Friday. Not bad for a first timer, she managed to get past tile #5, the average height of our climb on the first week. Perhaps she would try again this week. For the rest, there were some improvements but no major breakthrough. Too bad, we may try something else this week or back to the wall again.

Danau Wall Climb Challenge #3

It is no surprise to find us at the wall again this week and today is the third consecutive week of our visit. No major achievements for all of us today and as expected Ikram (the climber on the right in the picture above) is still at tile #5!

Next week will probably be our last visit before we try something else there. It is definitely not boating!

Danau Wall Climb Challenge #2

We were at the wall again last week seeking to improve our last achievements. Individually we made some progress. Azim managed to hang on to the horizontal tile, which is the hardest point to pass before getting on to the two final vertical tiles at the top. The other top climbers, Azmin and Thony were slightly behind Azim.

Azim, at the most difficult point.

And yes we will be back again this week in another attempt to reach the top of the wall. This challenge seems to have rejuvenated our interest in our after-work outdoor activity after badminton became a bit too routine and progressively less challenging.

Danau Wall Climb Challenge #1

Our challenge, the static wall climb at

Ayer Keroh Lake Recreational Park

After months of regular weekly visits to the Badminton court, it was time for us to try new things, something more challenging, and with a different kind of excitement - the static wall climb. The venue was the climb wall at Ayer Keroh Lake Recreational Park.

After a short safety briefing by the instructor, Azim was the first to ascend the 30 feet or so vertical wall. He only managed to get to the top on second attempt, and subsequently on the third attempt. Nevertheless, Azim, with only about 45kg of personal baggage to carry up with him, was the first to get to the top.

Azmin and Thony on the way to the top and down on
the second attempt. They did not have much personal
baggage to carry with them too!

Not so successful climbers were Ikram, Razif, Hasanah, Shida, Azie, and yours truly. It looked like these people had any of the following reasons for their failures - too much weight to carry up the wall, legs not strong enough to push the body upwards, or fingers not strong enough to grip the wall insert and pull the body upwards, or all of it.

Ikram (red shirt) almost at the limit of his climb.
Razif failing to clear the hardest part of the climb.

Hasanah and Ikram attempting another climb.

The more successful climbers had a go at the more challenging section of the wall. Only Thony managed to climb the furthest. But, all of will be back again next week to conquer the wall. I guess there will be a few dumbbells and hand grippers in the office next week to strengthen the arms and legs, and the grip! We will also have another challenge next week - to get Hajar to climb the wall.

If you are looking for a relaxation of a different kind try I would certainly recommend you to try the wall climb. It is not as physical as it may look but you will certainly discover your level of fitness very quickly. It should be quite fun when you come in a group like us. It only costs about RM5 per person (we had many tries).

2008 Company Trip - Bangkok

2008 has been a truly defining year for all of us at Danau but more so for me personally as a person heading the company. Not only did we manage to deliver all of our 2008 projects successfully but most importantly I was able to see the direction in which the Company is heading more clearly now. As the saying goes "The future belongs to those who can see the future". When the road ahead is always under construction it makes you feel a bit better knowing that you have a clearer view of the future! So this trip to Bangkok was a reward for all of us for what we have achieved in 2008.

Grand Palace, Bangkok

DAY 1. Our first stop is the Grand Palace, one of the most recognizable tourist destination in Bangkok. Although not as big as the Forbidden City in Beijing, the experience is certainly more intense, well for me at least. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the buildings are huge and very close to one another. Plus, the color is also a very striking color.

Azim, Hasanah and Hajar at the Palace entrance

Ramayana as depicted on the walls of one of the building in the Grand Palace

The next stop is the boat ride on the Chao Praya River. This is probably the most exciting and adventurous experience we had during the trip considering that we did not make it to the 'Thai Girls Show' this time! The one hour trip has many facets to it. When you consider that the boat operator does not provide you with any life jacket, traveling along the Chao Praya River with your eye sight almost at water level will certainly make your heart beats faster. Things get a bit more relaxing when the boat enters the canals connected to the Chao Praya River. That is when you will get to see the 'staged floating market', fish feeding, etc.

Boat ride participants not paying attention to the floating market lady,
rather, anxiously looking at a dog which is about to jump into our boat!

The boat is powered by a car engine!

The Jim Thomson House Museum

DAY 2 begins with a visit to the Jim Thompson House Museum. The museum consists of many small Thai houses, all of which are different. There is no single camera shot that can capture the ambiance of the place. You simply have to be here to appreciate the museum. This place is a must for me.

Azim and Thony finding it difficult to concentrate
on what our guide says!

After lunch at Makyah Muslim Restaurant, next stop is the MBK Shopping Center. The laddies just have to do what they do best, shop!

Thony, Azmin and Azim at Siam Square

Day 3. Chatuchak Market and the Children Discovery Center is the order of the day. I did not go to the market so I can't really comment on it. However, the discovery center falls short of my expectation. Lonely Planet should revise it's recommendation in my opinion.

Azim and Azmin inside a soap bubble at the discovery center.

The rest of the day is spent on shopping, again, and doing other things

Adillah, Anas and Adlina taking the Tut-Tut to avoid traffic jam.

The kids looking different in Bangkok.

Day 4. All smiles and it's time to go home.

Before check-in at the airport

Thony preparing to view partial solar eclipse from the plane
in case our flight is delayed. Azmin with our GPS needing to
find out when the plane travels over his hometown Taiping.

Final note:

Adillah at The Gift Shop @ Jim Thompson House

Last but not least, we say thank you to Adillah for taking time to understand Bangkok before we even had the time to think about Bangkok. Where to go, eat and stay, hotel booking, flight booking, how much money to bring, where to shop, ... you name it. You are the most efficient travel agent we ever had. Will definitely engage you again next year!

Zaharim

Azmin's Birthday

Today is Azmin's birthday. It is also our first day at work after the long Hari Raya holiday.

Selamat Hari Raya

Salam Aidil Fitri, Maaf Zahir & Batin

Happy Birthday - Nur Nadilah

I would like to wish "Happy Birthday" to intern Nur Nadilah Mansor (aka Nad) who is celebrating her birthday on 29 September.

Happy Belated Birthday - Nor Hafizah

Happy belated birthday to Nor Hafizah who is currently doing her internship at Danau Digital. You have the same birth date as Anwar Ibrahim!

Graduan Baru

Tahniah diucapkan kepada Thony, Azmin dan Azim yang telah menerima ijazah Sarjana Muda Sains Komputer daripada Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) pada hari Ahad, 10 Ogos 2008. Tahniah juga kepada Shahrir yang pernah menjalani latihan industri di Danau Digital pada tahun 2006.

Farewell to Intern No. 12, 13 & 14

We had a small and simple ceremony, a bit of makan-makan and some speeches to mark the end of Latifah, Shi Rho and Nana's internship at Danau Digital on Thursday, 26 June 2008. They had been with us for about two months and had helped us in many ways. They were very pleasant, polite, and soft spoken. But most importantly is that they had carried out their duties well, and, with passion and determination too.


We made a trip to Menara Taming Sari to end our day at the office. None of us had been up the tower before so everyone was quite excited about it. The view from the top was extremely interesting. A muddy river trying to find its way to a muddy sea, and plenty of colourful, not so colourful and wanting to be replaced roof tiles for you to see so what more can you ask for! After all, we ONLY had to pay RM10 (after discount for MyCard holders) to go up there.

The day, however, still belonged to the Interns. To Latifah (Intern No 12), Shi Rho (Intern No 13) and Nana (Intern No 14), on behalf of Danau, may I say that it's been a real pleasure to have you with us for the last two months. We hope you have learned something while with us and good luck to you in your future undertaking.

Shi Rho, Latifah, Nana

Terima Kasih

Saya telah membuat beberapa posting yang terdahulu (lihat posting-posting di bawah) bagi merakamkan rasa terima kasih kepada warga Danau dan mereka-mereka yang terlibat di dalam menjayakan perlaksanaan Program Latihan Rangkaian Bersepadu ICT Negeri Melaka bermula daripada 1 Mac hingga 21 Jun 2008.

Saya mohon maaf kerana tidak berkesempatan melakukannya lebih awal setelah posting saya yang pertama dibuat pada 2hb Jun 2008 yang lepas.

Adillah A Nordin

Memang sukar untuk saya menulis penghargaan ini kepada Adillah kerana terlalu banyak sumbangan dan pengorbanan yang telah beliau berikan kepada Danau untuk memastikan perlaksanaan Program Latihan Rangkaian Bersepadu ICT ini berjalan dengan baik dan sempurna. Daripada hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan kewangan, pembelian cenderahati, pemilihan hadiah untuk peserta hinggalah ke pengurusan pendaftaran peserta dan pengendalian latihan semuanya tidak terlepas daripada penglibatan dan pandangan beliau.

Sering kali Adillah terpaksa menyusun kerja-kerja guaman beliau untuk terlibat sama dalam perlaksanaan program ini di mukim-mukim. Ada kala kerja-kerja guaman beliau dibuat ketika program latihan sedang berjalan. Saya rasakan hari-hari yang mana beliau tidak dapat hadir seperti ada saja yang tidak kena.

Apa yang tertulis di dalam posting adalah terlalu ringkas untuk menyatakan penghargaan saya kepada beliau kerana saya rasa tanpa beliau tidak mungkin Danau akan terlibat di dalam Program Latihan Rangkaian Bersepadu ICT ini.

Ila, thanks.

Hafizah

Hafizah sentiasa membantu saya pada hari-hari beliau tidak mempunyai kuliah di MMU, Cyberjaya. Hafizah pendiam orangnya tetapi tidak teragak-agak untuk membantu peserta bila-bila masa sahaja. Terima kasih Hafizah kerana sentiasa melaksanakan tugas dengan tekun.

Lim Shi Rho, Latifah & Nur Azliyana

Shi Rho, Latifah dan Nur Azliyana (Nana) adalah pelajar dari USM dan UKM yang menjalankan latihan industri di Danau daripada awal Mei hingga akhir Jun. Mereka bukan sahaja telah menjadi fasilitator di Taboh Naning, Rembia dan Telok Mas tetapi telah banyak membantu saya (Thony) menyemak soalan-soalan kuiz, mengendalikan perisian Kuiz ICT di peringkat akhir, menguji 'Internet Treasure Hunt' dan menyediakan peralatan untuknya.

Terima kasih saya kepada Shi Rho, Latifah dan Nana kerana telah menyesuaikan diri dengan begitu cepat dan melaksanakan tugas dengan cemerlang.

Aida

Aida memang tidak pernah melepaskan peluang untuk bersama kami di sepanjang perlaksanaan Program Latihan Rangkaian Bersepadu ICT ini. Walaupun Aida hanya menjadi fasilitator tetapi kehadirannya sentiasa memeriahkan suasana di kalangan fasilitator-fasilitator yang lain.

Di akhir perlaksanaan program ini Aida telah membantu kami menguji 'Internet Treasure Hunt' untuk memastikan perjalannya lancar. Aida, terima kasih kerana sentiasa mahu bersama kami di samping menceriakan suasana program.

Azura Majid

Azura selalu menjadi fasilitator bagi program ini pada hari-hari yang mana beliau tidak mempunyai kuliah (atau peperiksaan) di UPM, Serdang. Semenjak dua bulan kebelakangan ini beliau telah bersama-sama Danau sepenuh masa bagi membantu kerja-kerja saya di Planetarium Negara dan kerja-kerja penyediaan Kuiz ICT Peringkat Akhir.

Azura dan rakan-rakan yang lain telah memeriksa soalan-soalan kuiz yang disediakan bagi memastikan ayat-ayat dan ejaan ditulis dengan betul, menguji perisian kuiz yang dibina oleh Thony berfungsi dengan baik, menyediakan bahan-bahan untuk 'Internet Treasure Hunt' dan sebagainya.

Terima kasih saya kepada Azura kerana sanggup mengorbankan cuti hujung tahun pengajian untuk bersama-sama menjayakan perlaksanaan Program Latihan Rangkaian Bersepadu ICT.