One Early Sunday Morning in Banting

We had to be in Banting very early last Sunday to visit Kakak's PLKN Kem Jugra open day. We were so early that we had breakfast in Banting town. I did not have the opportunity to really explore the town but by the look of this, despite being quite a well known town, not really a very interesting one.

On The Train, April 21, 2008

I had a Strategic Conversation session at the Legend today and took the train all the way to Putra station. Actually I stopped at KL Sentral to have quick breakfast. I’ll talk about the strategic conversation later. Now is about the commuters. I still could not comprehend as to why it is so hard for the people boarding the train to wait and give way for people on board to get down first. It is so unbelievably easy thing to do and yet it happen all the time just like today.

A young Malay couple is standing and embracing each other in front of me now. I do not know whether they are university students but old enough. Well we know the train is now standing only but do they have to do that. Y the look of it my bet is the relationship would not last six months. Shit now they are holding hands and trying to be lover dovey while facing me. They eventually got down at Kajang and my assessment of their age then was17 years old. Actually I stopped writing about them they sat next to me. Not really next to me but I have another person separating us. Luckily I stopped as I saw in through the corner of my eyes that the young girl was actually looking at what I was doing.

On The Train, April 18, 2008

A bit late than yesterday as I had to complete my e-filing. It was a Friday evening commuters on board. I was not really in a mood to write anything so I slough the whole thing until I just gave up and started to view my digital photos.

On The Train, April 17, 2008

I thought I would be early today in the end I caught the same train as yesterday. The difference is that today we had fewer commuters onboard. I spent most of my time typing old travelogue. Well I have a lot of them to finish :))

Kuala Kubu Baru

Having travelling to all major cities in Malaysia now I beginning to like small towns more. As far as local tourists are concern they mostly ignore these small towns. Or they have taken it for granted. I love these small towns because of their uniqueness and architecture. If you look closer they have more to offer. Below is the small town of Kuala Kubu Baru that we stopped recently on our way to Fraser's Hill.

On The Train, April 16, 2008

I guess the train was late again as there were a lot of commuters on the platform when I walked down. But I did not have to wait long like yesterday as the train came at 1945.

This morning due to the medication that I had to take before I went to sleep I slept through my entire journey to the office. At times in time like this I was thinking it would be fun and ok if I were to miss my stop and slept through to as far as Kepong or Sg Buloh. But that did not happen as I automatically woke up at KL Sentral. For five years all my subconscious mind and systems have been programmed to wake up at KL Sentral. Equally on the way home. I only missed once and that just because I was too engrossed typing on my laptop.

Tonight the train was as packed as yesterday and it got worse when a lot more commuters boarded at Tasek Selatan. I was just lucky I was not staring at butts incah away from my face. One lady leaning to a holding pole was actually sleeping. I hope she had a nice dream accompanying the swaying of the train as we speed towards Serdang. We arrived at Serdang at 2015 and the coach got a little bit comfortable. Looking at the faces that left around me I would be wrong to summarize that Malaysian are not a happy lots at the moment. I would not blame them when economically the prices are going up most of them have to work longer hours to survive. When I was at my sister’s up north last weekend I really was jealous of the people. They can have a quite, decent and contented live with just a quarter of what I earn. Things are relatively cheaper and no one unnecessarily rushing you to do something. The pace is slower, the traffic is slower and life environment in general is not stressful. Living in KL, being on the road alone can get your stress level in a mess.

Can KM be a tool to improve or remedy stress? Yes if it can make us work smarter, provide opportunity for us to make decision faster or getting our answer by just asking or looking for it once that resulting for us to have a not complicated and clouded mind to take home everyday. The real work life balance. Economist would probably analyze it through the whole value chain to prove that this is so.

On The Train, April 15, 2008

My body is not what it used to be so I have to be mindful. I just got sick too easily nowadays and to make it worse over the weekend I had to travel in that condition. I am not complaining though but just merely stating the fact. At least works although piling are getting better.

The discussion on the role of Knowledge Angels continues and rightly so there is the need for certain clarity. It is actually the role of Information Service professional with extra depth in coverage and responsibility. Primary day to day function would be to be stationed at the helpdesk and proactively engage the stakeholders to;

1. Create awareness of the resources and services available in the KMC
2. Answer all queries and if necessary doing an information research
3. Make sense of the stakeholder profiles and behaviour to provide a proactive and customized services
4. Aware of the current needs of the stakeholders
5. Knowledgeable in the resources and subject area of Central Banking and Islamic Finance, Islamic Economics.
6. Knowledgeable in the Internet tools and search methodology

The train was a bit packed today and my guess it was due to the heavy rain. As I got to the platform came an announcement to say that the Seremban train had just left Sungai Buloh station. This means I had just missed my train. There were still a lot of people when we arrived at Kajang station. It has been for quite sometimes already and today it was a bit obvious that the demographic of the commuters has changed a bit. Now the composition is a bit balance between races, age and even gender. Most of them are also long distance commuters, well at least as far as Nilai, that varies from students to office workers. Still the amazing fact is that KTMB chose to ignore this and sadly their service is getting worse.

On The Train, April 10, 2008

Mixed feeling today like something is wrong somewhere.

I wrote this late at the end of my train ride home. I just felt that I wanted to write something when we were at Kajang station. I think the 2100 train was juts nice for me to come home. Not many commuters and the mix are just right. The atmosphere enables me to think a little bit better. For it is always the reverse as in the morning now. For some reasons I am too tired and sleepy in the morning but I was fine in the evening. While most of other commuters at this hour were dozing and look really tired.

On The Train, April 8, 2008

I printed out an article on the Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future – post Google generation and meant to read it on the train home. I was on the fourth page when I decided to take note using my laptop of it. I knew instinctively that I would stop reading and do something else of my laptop and I was right, of course. But as I was busy typing, reading and thinking, I think, I looked up and saw a lady in front of me was writing something on her notebook, the paper kind. She kept on looking up and down as if she was observing me and writing about me. I knew she wasn’t but it would be nice if she did and at the same time I was writing about her. At least what I was doing triggered her to be thinking of something brilliant. If you had read something on NLP probably you’ll thing this is possible. A young girl sitting next to her was reading a novel. She got down at Bandar Tasek Selatan though. A Chinese guy next to me was talking to his handphone for a while and then dozed off. This is what I like riding a train during this period. The balanced number of commuters inside the coach that makes is easy for me to observe.

Kajang came too soon for me tonight mostly due to how I felt and the things that I was doing. I was a bit happy but sad at the same time. Probably my subconscious mind was working on a denial mode.

On The Train, Mar 31, 2008

Another month about to go and I am still not sure what I have achieved. I would think it is the same with everyone else. Well, I do not want to be an exception on this one LOL.

The 1915 train was packed today.

On The Train, Mar 28, 2008

Another stressful week that ended with a bang. In trying to be productive and strategic I got caught up in the middle of no where due to work related issues that came from various angle. However, I am more worried about my colleagues and I started to get things loosen up by sending email to everyone. I do not know whether I was successful in creating the right atmosphere but I saw few people became relax and not tense. The train was packed yesterday, I was not aware, I guess due to ‘technical problem’ on the part of KTMB. Despite that I got a seat when most did not want to squeeze in to seat among a couple of young guys. Today it was not bad and a bit spacious.

Knowledge Angels (KA)

KA is someone that is proficient in the area of information works and knowledge management. His or her IT skill is good enough for them to understand how certain technology is useful to their area of works. Of course they are comfortable with technology and would have any problem in adapting or learning new technology. KAs also have a good personality, people person, and could communicate comfortably in both Malay and English with their stakeholders. They are knowledgeable enough in the domain area of the organization. They take serious consideration on the need to really understand their stakeholders – not only their information needs but the behaviour and preference as well.