Blogger and I

Recently found out that Blogger turns 10 next month. It made me think about my blogging experiences and how it has changed my life. I had actually forgotten but after checking out my first post, I discovered that I am also going to celebrate six long years of blogging very soon as well.

I had been following various blogs and commenting on them for quite sometime when one fine day in the September of 2003, I started my own blog with Blogger and wrote my very first post . And as they say, the rest is history.

In the beginning it was more of a hobby and I used to post anonymously. I just used my nick name and a profile picture of me snorkelling in Redang.



I made a lot of blogger friends from all around the World, some of whom are still blogging while others have simply disappeared without a trace. Many of my old blogging pals have since then moved onto Wordpress and their own domains, while I stuck with good old Blogger. I have seen a lot of positive changes since Google took over blogger and I guess my decision to stick with Blogger has been the right choice.

Later on, I gradually lost my anonymity and started posting up pictures of myself, friends and family. It also became a place for friends and family to find out what I had been doing all the time.

The year 2006 was a landmark year in my life. I took the very huge decision to quit my comfy lecturing job at a public university in Malaysia and moved to the UK. I was a stay-at-home dad for a year -changing diapers, cooking and hoovering among others while my wife was away at the university. As I was looking after the kids, I couldn't go and get a job outside the house. Was really frustrating, depending on the meagre allowance that my wife received. One of the lowest points in my life.

As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, I noticed that other people were making money from their blogs (at least that was what they were saying), I decided to give it a go.

Becoming a full time blogger changed my life entirely - I started several other blogs with focussed themes including my car blog - Auto Lah, Freebies - on free stuff on the net and my technology and gadget blog - Adamok.net. I was also blogging more frequently, sometimes making as many as 7 posts in a day on various blogs.

Being able to contribute to the household expenditure did a great deal for my self-confidence. In the process, I started dabbling with CSS, web site design and search engine optimisation. This later helped me secure a part time job as a web developer in one of the centres in the University of Warwick. Web advertising projects followed. Since then I have worked with various companies including 3 mobilebuzz and bmw-web.tv among others.

Blogging has been a wonderful experience and quite rewarding as well. However, more was yet to come. In 2008, my PhD proposal to the Warwick Business School to study the attitude of consumers towards blogs was accepted and I received a scholarship as well.

I am now about to start the 3rd year of my study and have discovered so many interesting aspects about this wonderful online interactive media. I still have some way to go before I complete my research. One thing is certain though - I will still be involved in this intellectual cyberspace which we call the blogosphere in one way or the other.

First Commentator
Daddypapersurfer

MCS BBQ 2009

The Malaysian Coventry Society (MCS) recently held their annual barbecue party at Cryfield Pavillion, University of Warwick on the 4th of July. The weather was great and though the clouds looked threatening at times, it didn't pour down until much later in the evening.

There were games for the whole family and of course loads of great food.

Here are some pics:

























The BBQ party was a great success.

What the hell is Twitter?

It comes as no surprise that so many people are curious about Twitter. After all, it's constantly in the news but I have had so many queries about it, I realised that most people have actually no idea what Twitter is all about.



For those who didn't know, Twitter is a social networking/ micro-blogging service. It's called micro-blogging because you are allowed only to post up to 140 characters which is displayed on your twitter profile and also sent out to your subscribers who are known as "followers".

If you have already set up your Twitter profile but don't seem to have many followers you might want to read "Why people don't follow you on Twitter".

This new phenomena has resulted in whole new set of words, which I guess will soon be included in the Oxford dictionary. These include among others:

• Tweet: A post/ update on Twitter
• Tweeting: To post a tweet on Twitter
• Twitterer: Someone who tweets.
• Tweeps: Friends on Twitter, which I guess is derived from "Peeps".

The reason why it is tweet not twit and tweeting not twitting on Twitter is quite obvious.

One warning though - it's really addictive and sometime back I was tweeting like crazy everyday. In fact, I was the top twitterer in Coventry for quite sometime but I slowed down a bit now and have fallen to the 4th rank according to Twittergrader.

Anyway, follow me on Twitter @admutum

Not a bed of roses all the time

A lot of people reading my blog seems to think we are having a lot of fun here in the UK. In fact, several people back in Malaysia seem to think that doing a PhD in the UK is a big long vacation and we are all having fun here.

I guess it's kind of easy to get that impression looking at the big second hand Mercedes Benz car the students bring back, all the happy photographs posted on Facebook and blogs - of going to Paris, Rome and La Rochelle.

Despite the fact that I blog and twitter constantly, I am actually quite private. I prefer to keep some things to myself. Apart from my wife, I guess no body will ever know the problems we went through and the tears we cried.

Doing a PhD is not easy. We knew that but we still decided to go ahead and enroll for the PhD programmes here at the University of Warwick - both of us, with small kids. My son was just 3 months old when we moved here to the UK. Furthermore I took a huge gamble, resigned from my comfy job and decided to pay for my studies on my own. I didn't know how but we just went ahead. As they say, when there's a will, there is a way.



With God's blessings I received a scholarship for my first year at the Warwick Business School. That was the honeymoon period and the first year passed without any problems. Then the second year came and we found out that I would have to pay for the 2nd year of my studies on my own. Right now the fees is £10,900 for overseas full time students. That does not include other living expenses - food, petrol, insurance, etc.

That was hard - I had to take up several jobs. At one time I was actually working at 4 different places and doing different things including developing web sites and teaching at the University of Warwick. We even had to dig into the little savings we had back in Malaysia. And I had to study, do research and write papers at the same time. That was really hard.

Recently I was informed that I got the studentships for the next year. Praise be to God. I realise that most of our problems were related to money. However, there are other things as well that money can't solve.

I am sure we are not the only ones with a problem. Probably, many others doing a PhD here have it worse. I know of several PhD students whose relationships broke down, spouses passing away, having miscarriages and even mental breakdowns. I sometimes wonder how some of the Malaysian doctoral students managed to get on.

We are nearing the end now but still have a long way to go. We have survived and we will continue to fight as I am sure others have. We are really happy when our older colleagues finally pass out and we learn that they passed their viva without any or minor corrections. Gives some kind of hope to us still trying to find our way through the literature and various theories.

When we were totally stressed out, we took time out, going on family vacations - to rejuvenate our batteries. I guess that kept up sane. We also supported each other and pushed each other when we had to. All the time trying to be optimistic and smile. Having religion does help and though I have always been spiritual, I am more so now. I don't want to get into arguments with Atheists but I know God exists even though I can't explain how.

I am going off on a tangent here and I don't want to put people off from doing a PhD. Just want to say that it's definitely not a bed of roses but it's not something impossible.

First Commentator
Chics

Strawberries

My strawberries are really doing well. 100% organic. It initially started out with 2 plants about two years ago and now I have a whole patch.



This is my

post.

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Do visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Visit to Edinburgh castle

Warning: Loads of pictures. May take ages to load on slow connections.

Some pics of Edinburgh castle from our last trip. A visit to Edinburgh will not be complete without a visit to the castle. It's at the Western end of the Royal Mile.


A bit overcast when we visited it. The sun came out later.


There are two statues at the castle gates. The one on the left is that of Robert the Bruce. Have you heard the story about him and the spider and "Try, try, try again". Look it up on Google. Not sure who the other statue is of.




The Argyle Battery


The Scottish Monument from the rear


Brother and sister


My son


Mons Meg, a huge cannon

Just look at the size of the cannon balls


Looking down the turret


Stained glass in St. Margaret's Chapel, the oldest building in Edinburgh castle.




The well


The cannon


Coat of arms


Scottish War Memorial


Gargoyle looking down


Another battery


Outside the castle




Panoramic view from top

Michael Jackson - The King of Pop

I was sending my kids to school today and I was listening to local radio station Mercia. I wasn't paying much attention and I thought I might have misheard when I heard Andy Goulding saying that Michael had passed away.

After dropping off the kids, listening to the radio I learnt that the King of Pop has really passed away. He was just 50 years old.

I used to joke to my students that when we were kids, Michael Jackson was still black. It was true, we grew up listening to ABC, Ben and I'll be there from the Jackson 5 days. I remember break dancing during my school days to the tunes of Billie Jean, Beat it, Thriller and Bad (Yes! I am from that era). It won't be wrong to say that he was a big influence and brought happiness to a lot of people all around the World.



Rest in Peace Michael.