The passing....

A few years back, I remembered feeling sad as I watched her.. slowly drifting away from us. But physically she was with us and those few moments that she was herself was cherished by everyone. It was heartbreaking to see, my grandmother, the most independent person I have ever known, who brought up 16 children into successful adults, being bathed my father, arguing with him like a little child, crying and pleading not to leave her but to stay with her in Kuching. I know it's hard for my father to leave but he'll be back he assured her, and he did, several times..we all did.. but not yesterday.

It was sudden and brief my aunt said. Only a handful of her children were at her side. The others were not in time. She is now at peace and may Allah rest her soul. It was sudden yes but not unexpected. She was getting weaker this past few years but we thought she would still be here for Eid. We were going to take one last family picture but it was not meant to be.

My heart goes to my father, as I see him trying to hold back his tears in front of us when he received the news. I know how bad he wants to be back, to prepare for the funeral, but it was not to be. The flight is full and the earliest is tomorrow morning. I pray that he will be in time to see her before the burial. He said that it's ok, if he's late to just go ahead but I know he still wants to see her one last time.

Life still has to go on. Eid will still be here. But it won't be the same.

Al-Fatihah, Hjh Ayot@Rokayah Rajak (1926-2008)

more here

-awanis-

Ramadhan and Eid

Ramadhan has been uneventful. Everything was same old same old except Asa lost quite a bit of weight and his tummy is definitely smaller. Certainly an adjustment for Azalia because she's so used to 'parking' her leg on Asa's tummy whenever he carries her around. The weightloss has inspired Asa to fast longer. ader hati nak fast for one year. I told him to go slow first and start with puasa enam. Nazar Azalia selamat pun belum habis lagi.

There's not much prep for Raya. I've never really got all excited about new baju raya and stuff when I was small anyway.(Mak je yg excited and see it as a must... then again.. we had to buy new ones anyway, the only time we wore baju kurung was during raya..) Since this time around I have loads of baju kurung for office and kenduri and stuff and there are a few which have only seen the light of day once or twice.. I've decided no new ones for me.. just those. Ala this time balik Kuching pun.. they've never seen my baju kurungs anyway. Asa has two new baju melayu from my brother's wedding so none for him too. And Azalia has tons of dresses which she only wore once or twice and since they are all very lovely sayang kalau tak puas pakai so non for her too (although I am planning to sew her one baju kurung but till today I have yet to do it.. potong dah.. jahit je belum.. so let's just hope I start sewing soon ok)

This year it's raya in Kuching and I am very very excited. I love going back to Kuching because my dad's family are so huge and things will be noisy and chaotic and tiring but that's how gathering are suppose to be. I love my mom's side too but since 6 siblings is way less than 16 siblings.. of course abah's side is much more 'happening'. hehehehehe. Azalia can also play with my cousins and nieces which is great because she can play with girls!! yeay!!. On my mom's side there are only boys and I think she's getting lasak like the boys too now. Nothing wrong with that since I was a bit of a tomboy myself when I was little(until primary kot)..a tomboy with long hair because I hate short hair... kakakakaka.

So that's all about our Ramadhan and the upcoming Eid. I know I have been blogging a lot less lately but this is due to playing with Azalia at night and when we're not playing she usually hogs the computer to watch her cartoons. And I don't really like blogging at the office.

So Happy Ramadhan everyone and Eid Mubarak.

Rising Oil Prices, Malaysia (part 3): Is electric car viable? Chapter 2..

Sori Eddie, why I talked more about renewables is bcos you will only really go greener if you change from from fossil fuel to renewables. Grid energy using fossil fuel is just the same as burning petrols elsewhere. But if your grid taps into renewables (hydroelectric most common in Malaysia), it's practically Zero Emission. Don't you worry about climate change?? Hurricane Gustav and Ike and the flooding that we currently experience in Malaysia is just the tip of the iceberg. Don't we want to leave the earth without our grandchildren suffering the results of our misdeeds? But this should belong to a totally different topics..

Ok let's talk numbers. I believe it's really is 100,000 miles = 160,000km
How long is that? 160,000km / 20,00km per year = 8 years
Spread the EV (Electric Vehicle) battery premium; RM20,000 / 8 yrs = RM2500 yearly

I pay petrol around; RM360 monthly x 12 = RM4320 yearly
Assume I can save 7 times worth petrol if I go electric.. (1)
If I drive EV, I only pay; RM4320 / 7 = RM617
So I save on petrol; RM4320 - 617 = RM3702 yearly

Yearly I actualy net saving going EV; RM3702 - 2500 = RM1202 yearly.
By the time I need to replace battery, I have; RM1202 x 8 = RM9622

That's already half the cost of the battery premium. That is assuming that you really need to replace it. They might last longer though, but degraded quality. Kinda like you cellphone battery (I believe it's the same technology). Let's say with R&D they can reduce the battery cost to only RM12k, well you just need to top up RM2500.

Also, maintenance of electric motors should be less than combustion. With everything else equal, you don't need to change the engine oil, air filter (is it?), gearbox oil that often. Plus, regenerative braking, DC air-con. Cool~ Think big scale Tamiya engine..

So bottom line, is it worth going greener for RM2500 premium in 8 years time in the future? You betcha =)

P/S: (1) I got the source from Wiki, from US market condition. Might not be the same scenario here, but I believe it should be close in terms of relativity.

Rising Oil Prices, Malaysia (part 2): Is electric car viable?

Referring to my friends blogs on Proton's project on Electric Cars, I have to strongly disagree with him. Electric cars are the future! It's like education; you have to spend on fees (rolling out initial investment), you have to study hard to get the good results and you won't reap the benefit instantly.

But government have to support the project by giving the proper infrastructure. They can extend recharge points to all petrol station like they are doing with NGV, or at least Petronas. The idea is to get as many petrol alternatives as possible so that overall we have a lot more petrol alternative of fuel (Diesel, NGV, now Electric).

On the going greener, I agree with we have to go nuclear/renewables to reap most benefit from electric car development. Like Iran! Yeah, if only US will back off than harassing Iran on use of nuclear technology. I haven't talk renewables here like Solar or Wind technology or Wave technology. Yes they are still expensive compared to fossil fuel, but with rising cost of fossil fuel and decreasing cost of renewables via govt incentives (tax exempt on component import & mass productions) they might prove viable someday. Personally, I did my final year project on wind turbines and their cost will be able to compete fossil fuel in 10 years or so (mind you, it was 2 years back). Hell, they might be able to challenge the price as of this moment. Problems is, with rising oil price, material cost also increases. (Most lightweight materials is made out of petroleum products).

2004 article on Wind Energy cost comparison

Battery technology is still weak, but I'm sure they will improve over time. In time, with proper R&D they would be able to make it lighter and last long (like Energizer or Duracell comercial.. Hehe).

But do you know that my biggest fantasy would be to tap into lightning electricity. Finally we can use up all the thunderstorm we have locally for good use. =)

Guys if you are concerned citizen regarding this issue please read more on the websites that I linked as below:

Better Place: regarding electric car project
US wind power market research