HAJI K PERSONALISED ZONE: July 2008

25 July, 2008

Early Morning Beauty

Alhamdulillah... Thank You Allah for this beautiful life... Nothing much I want to share in this post.

Just a reminder that the last day for submission of photos for the Photographic Competition 2008 in conjunction with His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaullah's 62nd Birthday Celebrations has been pushed to 31st July 2008. Good luck to everyone.

I would also like to convey my personal greetings and congratulations to Yang Arif Dato Paduka Awg Hairol Arni bin Haji Abd Majid and of course to my dear sister Datin Elinda as one of the recipients of Darjah Paduka Mahkota Brunei Darjah Kedua from His Majesty The Sultan dan Yang DiPertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam. Keep up the good work.

One photo I wanted to share today although it is not related to the articles above. As I was warming up my car's engine this morning, I saw this and grabbed the camera...

24 July, 2008

Breast Cancer Awareness

Today, I received an email from a close friend regarding breast cancer awareness and after reading through it I thought of sharing it with all of you out there. I have also surf the internet to find out the truth of the content in the email. I will post here both sides of the judgement as extracted from internet and let you decide which action to take... to follow it or to ignore it?

Here is the First Extract. This one was copied from http://www.vif.com/users/triomed/breast.htm

Some time ago, I attended a Breast Cancer Awareness seminar put on by Terry Birk with support from Dan Sullivan. During the Q&A period, I asked why the most common (and what seemed to be deadliest) area for Breast Cancer was near the arm pit. My question could not be answered at that time.

This email was just sent to me, and I find it interesting that my question has been answered. I challenge you all to re-think your everyday use of a product that could ultimately lead to a terminal illness. Precaution? I certainly hope so. A friend forwarded this to me. I showed it to a friend going through chemotherapy and she said she learned this fact in a support group recently. I wish I had known it 14 years ago. I just got information from a health seminar that I would like to share.

The leading cause of breast cancer is the use of anti-perspirant. A Concentration of toxins that leads to cell mutations: a.k.a. CANCER. Yes, ANTI-PERSPIRANT. Most of the products out there are an anti-perspirant/deodorant combination so go home and check your labels. Deodorant is fine, anti-perspirant is not. Here's why: The human body has a few areas that it uses to purge toxins; behind the knees, behind the ears, groin area, and armpits. The toxins are purged in the form of perspiration. Anti-perspirant, as the name clearly indicates, prevents you from perspiring, thereby inhibiting the body from purging toxins from below the armpits. These toxins do not just magically disappear. Instead, the body deposits them in the lymph nodes below the arms since it cannot sweat them out. Nearly all breast cancer tumors occur in the upper outside quadrant of the breast area. This is precisely where the lymph nodes are located.

Additionally, men are less likely (but not completely exempt) to develop breast cancer prompted by anti-perspirant usage because most of the anti-perspirant product is caught in their hair and is not directly applied to the skin. Women who apply anti-perspirant right after shaving increase the risk further because shaving causes almost imperceptible nicks in the skin which give the chemicals entrance into the body from the armpit area.

PLEASE pass this along to anyone you care about. Breast Cancer is becoming frighteningly common. This awareness may save lives. If you are skeptical about these findings, I urge you to do some research for yourself. You will arrive at the same conclusions, I assure you. Thank you.

Katrina Scott
Asst. Director of Sports Marketing
Univ. Maryland

End of First Extract.

On the other hand, I found some objections to the above finding. I call this as the Second Extract, which I copied from http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/antiperspirant.html

Breast cancer remains one of the top killers for women, but there is still a lot we don't know about the disease. What we do know, however is that this misleading and unintelligent warning letter has little basis in reality.

If you do, as the letter says, "some research for yourself," you will undoubtedly find that this letter doesn't stand up to scrutiny. This warning is very similar to the warning about shampoo causing cancer that was circulating about the same time. Here are some specific problems with this one:

No published medical research has suggested, let alone proved, that antiperspirant use is a risk factor for, much less the leading cause of, cancer. The leading risk factors for breast cancer are gender, age and family history of the disease.
Lymph nodes clear some toxins from the body. But, they are not released through sweating. There is no evidence that ingredients in antiperpirants is toxic or causes DNA damage.

About half of breast cancer cases (not "nearly all" as the letter claims) occur in the upper outer quadrant because that's where the bulk of breast tissue is. The focus of cases in this area has nothing to do with the lymph nodes.

Men are about 100 times less likely to develop breast cancer because they have about 100 times less breast tissue.

Razor nicks may increase the risk of infection, but not cancer.

The American Cancer Society recommends yearly mammograms for women over the age of 40 as the most effective defense against cancer. BreakTheChain.org recommends against relying on anonymous, randomly forwarded chain letters for mecial advice.

End of Second Extract.

As I said earlier, its up to your judgement to decide what you want to do after reading this post. I just hope you have a happy and enjoyable life. May Allah bless us all.

21 July, 2008

Bingka

One fine day while I was bloghopping around, I came across a receipe to make bingka. I am not sure what its called in English but I am sure its not "Pudding". Anyway, I showed the receipe to the kids and told them that I wanted to try it over the weekend.

Apparently, one of my daughters got excited and told her school friends about the plan. Later that day, she asked me if she could invite some of her friends to come over on Sunday.

So, on Sunday (20/7) afternoon, two of my daughter's friends came over. In fact, one of them brought along a receipe book, which she borrowed from her father. But, I told them I have only bought the ingredients for bingka.

We started this interesting activity at around 2.30pm. They helped each other to prepare the ingredients and I helped them to run the mixer machine and the hot oven.

By around 5.00pm, I took it out of the oven, nicely cooked and ready to be served. We had our bingka and ice cream for high afternoon tea.

Enjoyable? Of course, it was.

preparing the ingredients...

one of the COOKS...

pouring the mixture into the baking tray...

the result...

i almost forgot to take the photo until most of them were eaten up...

ps. I do not know why the top portion becomes harder. But, the kids enjoy that part of the cake.

19 July, 2008

Bon voyage

The family hopes you have a good trip and will arrive safely. I know that sooner or later, I will have to let you travel on your own. Hope you will enjoy your time there.

the new travel information screens at the airport, sponsored by BSP

notice that the word BRUNEI is in 3D

pose with teteh...

have a safe journey...

15 July, 2008

Awards of Academic Excellence

The family had a little ceremony to present the awards of academic excellence based on Mid Year Examinations.

Actually, I was pleasantly surprised to see the improvements in their results, that I decided to give them a different surprise. So, without anyone knowing, I went for a buying spree and then bought some paper-backs to wrap the items nicely. I hid the presents in a secret room, waiting for the right day to come.

One day, I told everyone to dress up. Then, we gathered in the living room. The guest of honour for the little ceremony was none other than Cikgu Dk.

It was a joyous occassion, full of smiles and thankful to Allah. Yeah, I love my family so much.

excellent improvements with 4 distinctions...

achieved excellent result as the top student in her class...

excellent results on her 1st 6-months in secondary school...

proudly showing off her presents...

time to unwrap the presents...

enjoying the fruit of her hardworks...

he received a special gift too - a one night stay at a posh hotel in Gadong...

13 July, 2008

Baking Cookies

They were excited to bake their own home-made cookies. So, one day I made their wishes come true.

Although tired after coming back from office, I mixed some dough for them. Is it called dough or is it called cookie mixture? Whatever la ah... Well, its the instant-type plang tu. It says on the instruction box to add butter and egg. Initially, I thought I could use the simple mixer - pakai tangan (using manual mixer), but I was wrong. I ended up using the big Kenwood mixer.

The 3 girls were eager to help. Each of them took turns to mix the dough and then I gave each one of them a tray to put their cookies on.