Home – Page 2 – Rain D Librarian

Does it take a long time to learn something new? Not necessarily so ..

13 Jun 2016rindraramliLeave a comment

Wanted to share this vid on learning a new skill and practicing it. By the way, I got this from my son’s Grade 2 teacher 🙂 I had the chance to watch it and I would like to recommend to those who want to pick up new skills / expertise to try this method out.

Video entitled – “The first 20 hours – how to learn anything” by Josh Kaufman. Some of the points he mentioned:

Set aside 45 mins each day to practice it consistently for a month or so
4 simple steps to rapid skill acquisition:
- Deconstruct the skill: Decide exactly what you intend to do, look into the skill and break it down into smaller and smaller pieces
- Learn enough to self-correct: Eg: Refer to 3 to 5 books, DVD titles etc but don’t use those as procrastination ‘tools’. Learn just enough that you can practice and self-correct / self-edit.
- Remove practice barriers – Stay away from TV, Internet, etc
- Practice at least 20 hours – There are frustration barriers. Commit to practicing at least 20 hours. Stick with practice to reap what you sow.
Barrier to skill acquistion > Its Emotional NOT Intellectual. Feeling scared, feeling stupid … but if we put that practice hours ….

There you go. I’m gonna try this and see how it works. Let see:

Learn a new language (Arabic) .. i’m still rusty
Learn the nifty features of Adobe Photoshop
Get MS Excel skills to Intermediate level

and the list goes on ….

Hopefully this has benefitted you in one way or another. Good luck trying. And Thank you Josh for the encouraging TED talk.

Ramadan – KAUST 2016

6 Jun 20169 Jun 2016rindraramliLeave a comment

Alhamdulillah, today, 6 June 2016, is the first day of Ramadan. Ramadan Mubarak to all my family members, relatives and Muslim friends. May this month bring you bountiful rahmah, barakah and forgiveness. May ALLAH swt gives us good health and strength to do our ‘sawm’ and ibadah. Ameen.

For my non-Muslim friends, here are some useful links about the holy month of Ramadan:

Ramadan
Ramadan 2016: Five ways to show solidarity and respect to people observing the Islamic holy month
Ramadan for non-Muslims: An etiquette guide

Last night, the Terawih prayers started in the Grand Mosque (KAUST):

Also noted that the dates are starting to ripen …

Other useful sites:

Ramadan – ArabNews
- Beginners Guide Ramadan, a precious gift for Muslims
- Ramadan, a precious gift for Muslims

Foody stuff

30 May 2016rindraramliLeave a comment

Once in a while, the family would taste the sumptuous local food available in neighboring Tuwal. Tuwal is a little village just outside of KAUST. One of our favourite dishes: Bukhari Rice with Grilled Chicken. 1 packet of rice and 1 packet of chicken would be sufficient for 5 of us, Alhamdulillah.

Sharing: Why video games shouldn’t freak parents out — ideas.ted.com

21 May 2016rindraramliLeave a comment

Read this article and found it interesting, especially when you have an 8 year old boy who’s into PS3 🙂

An advocate for educational video games realizes that our kids might actually learn more from Civilization, Minecraft, Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. Everything changed at a lunch with the legendary game designer Sid Meier. For years, I’d been making the case that we should borrow from the games kids love to create new kinds of…

via Why video games shouldn’t freak parents out — ideas.ted.com

Relocation -to pack or not to pack

14 May 201614 May 2016rindraramliLeave a comment

Flashback: 2009 (Before the move)

Preparing for the BIG move was quite a headache. We are given weight quotas for sea and air freight. We had to decide the stuff that would be brought over from Singapore over to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

I’m a sentimentalist; my other half more pragmatic. In this situation, pragmatism won over the other one. Only the ones that were needed most were shipped. Before the packing day arrived, my wife had an idea to create a space where we would gather all the stuff for air / sea shipment. This was done to reduce confusion. The packers would just pack those in the ‘staging’ area.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

So, the day finally came for the packing:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Shipment arrival in KAUST:

Delivery day: I requested the men to assist me in unloading and unpacking plus placing them in the rightful place: pots and pans in kitchen, clothes in the respective rooms and so forth. I was thankful and grateful for all the prayer(s) and help for the smooth delivery of all our goods/stuff. Wouldn’t have done it without my wife’s initial planning, coordination of the logistics departments in KAUST and the freight companies.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Out Fishing :)

13 May 2016rindraramliLeave a comment

Fishing@RedSea. Tell you the truth, I never had any fishing experience. So you can imagine how fast my heart was beating when we headed out to sea, the Red Sea 🙂 My local friends taught me how to catch fishes using just a bait and a fishing line (without the rod). They’re the experts and me, novice/amateur. I didn’t manage to catch any but the other guys caught some while others caught seasickness (unfortunately). At the end of the whole trip, my mother got wind of my ‘escapade’ and ‘ban’ me from ever going out for open-sea fishing. Looks like I’ll be going to be pier / jetty if I ever wanted to do any fishing.

Purrfect … it’s a feline thing

30 Apr 201630 Apr 2016rindraramliLeave a comment

Today, I got my cat registered. Cheetos is her name. While her owner was out doing the registration stuff, she was having a good cat-nap.

IMG_3236[1]

IMG_3235[1]

This is picture of her energized self:

Cheetos

Meow and see you later 🙂

Fishy ‘business’

23 Apr 2016rindraramliLeave a comment

In the previous blog post on my experience in eating in a Fish Restaurant, here are some snippets of my very first ‘fish-eating expedition’ with a few friends. We didn’t paint the town red 🙂 but we managed to get a good open-air spot in the restaurant. Soaked in the atmosphere and indulged in some good ol’ fish food.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

By the way, I decided NOT to include the pictures of my 3 piece chicken meal 🙂

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”

23 Apr 2016rindraramliLeave a comment

Life in the University town has never been boring. Apart from working and studying, there are lots of events and recreational activities provided for the residents. Life here has evolved from the early days to present. Such events are platform for nurturing friendships and understanding among residents who come from different countries (more than 75 nationalities) and walks of life.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

saudi-national-day-celebrations_13304902285_o

the-annual-artists-of-kaust-exhibition_13304905795_o

the-annual-flavors-food-festival_14037197226_o

Source: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjUnLJWK.

Community life snapshots:

activities-for-families-and-kids_13291980245_o

professional-level-9-hole-golf-course_13292212743_o

frequent-supervised-snorkeling-and-diving-trips_13295861814_o

pool-with-a-view-of-the-red-sea_13292357774_o

a-myriad-of-community-and-cultural-activities_13296440224_o

access-to-two-gyms-for-intramural-sports_13292146063_o

student-services-common-areas_13292161783_o

Source: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjUo8vCg

We (my family and I) participated in some community events; making quality time for family despite our busy schedule. (Work and school life). Here are some of our pics:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

A new episode

22 Apr 201624 Feb 2018rindraramliLeave a comment

After close to 3 weeks since I arrived (2009), I got the nod to move into my house in the University town. One of the benefits of living on campus is the reduction in commuting time. It drastically shorten the traveling time from home to work: from 1.5 – 2 hours (by bus, from Jeddah to campus) to just around 10 minutes (cycling within the campus) 🙂

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

My first abode – after arriving from Jeddah

My family was still in Singapore. I was all alone and missing them lots. I would skype with my wife and kids during the weekends or at night. Hearing their voices helped a little in reducing my loneliness over here in the initial stages. Me and my wife were never far apart for more than 1 day since we got married; the only time when we were apart was when she was giving birth to my kids. This temporary separation was very hard on her and she used to cry at night when the children were asleep. (Reason: she didn’t want the kids to see her sad and demoralize them).

One of the ways to combat loneliness was to hang out with your office mates after working hours. Sometimes we visited one another or ate at the fish restaurant located in small town just outside the campus. I remembered the first time eating at the fish restaurant, I ordered a 3 piece chicken meal while the rest ate fish and rice. That chicken meal, I bought from a ‘fast food’ joint just across the restaurant. My friends looked at me in amazement. Luckily they (restaurant) didn’t kick me out for eating food bought from elsewhere. I have to admit I’m not a big eater.