Training, Learning and Exciting!

The Thank You Post

2009-06-27T15:06:00.007+08:00

I'm probably not the best practical student they had but I appreciate everything they taught me. Thank you very much.

The tools.
A blue Staedtler Gel Roller 467 F.
A humble Nokia 3110c.
An A6 Benchmark notebook.
A total of 1,141 pictures were taken during the training, infinite amount of knowledge, and 7 billions memories gained.

End of The Road

2009-06-26T23:02:00.005+08:00

I have completed my industrial training!

Hot topic discussed today before the roll call: Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett's death.

I thought En. Arief was not coming to the office today, but after the roll call, he called me on the phone and asked me to wait in front of the office. He was going to pick me up and we were going to the Semenyih Exchange.

Encik Arief's Beemer.

We went to Semenyih as today is the last day for one of the staff, Hj Bahari (check this, this, this and this post). He is now retired by the time I wrote this sentence. Encik Arief, Encik Johari the RNO Kajang Supervisor, Hj Bahari and me then went to Staffield Country Resort, Beranang and En. Arief treated us lunch.

Encik Arief chatting with Hj Bahari.

Heading to the restaurant.

It was going to rain.

Oh Wow.

After the prayer, I waited for the E-side Unit guys since I promised them to check their PC. Without the PC, they can't check the air pressures inside the manholes. And the PC has been dead since the thunderstorm, like the other PC that I just fixed.

I waited them until 4:15pm when I decided to start saying goodbyes to all the members of staff. Oh wait, not all. I only managed to meet Encik Zakaria, Kak Anum, Kak Shazlin, Kak Khatijah, Encik Wahid, Abang Rafli, Abang Nik and Encik Arief.

I did not get to meet the staff, I was attached to like Encik Abdullah Fiber, Abang Sham Jumpering, Encik Zainal D-side, The E-side guys, Encik Azman, Encik Gannesh and Encik Pannir since they all went out to work. Too bad. I sms'ed Encik Abdullah and asked him to send them my salam.

Oh, I will still have to submit the QCC project slides and Encik Arief will probably ask me to come to the office next week to complete the task. Extended industrial training? Hmmm...

And there will be a "Jamuan Perpisahan" on the 16th for Hj Bakri, Hj Bahari, Mr Vincent and another guy I didn't met during the training, as they all retire this year.

More Work Towards the End.

2009-06-25T11:19:00.020+08:00

"Baiklah, staff Telekom boleh pergi buat kerja, yang kontraktor sila tunggu di kenderaan masing-masing kita nak buat audit peralatan" said Encik Johari, the RNO Kajang Supervisor, at the end of today's roll call.

Suddenly, the air was lacking inside the meeting room as all of the docket contractors took a deep breath, worried if they did not have enough equipments with them. So they brought all of the responsible staff for the "spotcheck" to their cars, bikes, mpvs and lorries. There are cases where the jumper wires were punched into the blocks using screwdrivers, making the pairs broken and unusable.

The vehicles.

Encik Zainal inspecting the tools.

The eversmiling Mr. Samy, well, smiling as usual while being inspected by Pn. Shazlin.

Encik Omar's bike.

Mr. Thula's lorry.

Abang Kontraktor yang mengeluarkan peralatan dari poket 4-dimensi-nya.

And we have a winner. A Road Sector.

While I making myself busy checking out the contractors vehicles, Encik Dollah Fiber asked me whether if I want to follow him to Kajang Prison again, to check yesterday's problem, and to help with the cabinet's door.

Just after putting back the door and getting ready to get back to the exchange, Abang Sham came for ADSL jumpering at the same cabinet. We had to open back the door and closed it back after he finished his work.

In the evening, while I was relaxing at the meeting room, Encik Arief came. I showed him the presentation slides. He said okay and way better than last year. But then he asked me to put more stuff to the slides as he stuffed me with more stuff. Heh. Oh no, I'm going to be busy tonight and tomorrow.

Last year, they had an amazing project unfortunately, there was not enough "mojo" in the slides. He said if they need help next week, they will ask me to come to the office. Prolly I will have some questions for the industrial training report too.

Tomorrow shall be my last day~

3

2009-06-24T21:33:00.009+08:00

Me: Encik busy kah? Kalau busy tanda je semua satu.
En. Arief: Hmmm... ape plak satu? Satu bukan markah paling rendah?
Me: Oh ya ka? Kalau macam tu encik tanda je semua lima.
En. Arief: Tak logik... tak logik...
Me: T___T
Me: Encik busy kah? Kalau busy biar kosong je comment & suggestions tu.
En. Arief: Jap tengah fikir ayat power.
Me: T___T

...while asking my supervisor to fill in and complete the supervisor's E form.

So today started as usual. After the roll call, I started to complete and modify the slides En. Arief asked me to do since last week. But then Encik Dollah asked me to follow him to Kajang Prison as he needed my help to open the cabinet door.

Final Week

2009-06-23T15:13:00.010+08:00

Relaxing...

My supervisor, Encik Arief is nowhere to be seen since last Wednesday. Attending meetings and courses they said. I need more data to be included in the QCC project slides. I just continue writing the industrial training report, reading stuff from the internet, and saving the post-nuclear war world in Fallout.

Encik Zainal can finally check his email and whatnot.

But hey I managed to fix the staff's only public computer after almost 2-months being left untouched by the staff for some unknown problem. It's the network card. It became problematic after the major thunderstorm that hit Kajang last month.

Oh, happy belated birthday to my Streamyx connection.

And I got a few more days left. Funny how time flies.

The second person I met in TM Kajang on the first day (first was the security guard), my acting supervisor, Hj Bakri have started to take his leaves until he is officially retired in the middle of next month. I will not be seeing him this week so I would like to thank him for his guidance and for his every brilliant decisions he made during the roll calls that I attend every morning without fail. From what I heard, all the staff and contractors respected him very much for his witty remarks and wise decision making.

QCC

2009-06-15T16:42:00.018+08:00

I'm attached directly under Encik Arief now who is one of my host supervisor and the big boss of RNO Kajang. He asked me to join him at the main office so that he can explain what am I going to do for the next two weeks. He asked me to help him and the RNO Kajang Team to prepare the PowerPoint slides for the QCC (Quality Control Circle) Convention which will be held early next month. After he gave me the materials and explained what should I do with the slides, I just sat at the meeting room (refer the visiting lecturer post) and planning what should I do with the slides. That includes internet surfing too ahah!

I can decide the group's name and design the group logo - with Encik Arief's blessing that is. Of course he will not allow a group logo with a fiery skull, or an evil looking giraffe. I would like to have both combined - an evil looking fiery giraffe's skull but it probably will cause heart attack to other participants during the presentation day. He asked me to be creative. He wanted a letup-letup punya slides.

I started quite slow, I got the whole week to do it.

In the afternoon I left the office quite early at 12:00pm with the boss permission due to an important family event that I have to attend. Went back to the office at 3:30pm and headed for the another office block which is usually empty. I sat at Encik Abdullah's table, but then an hour later, he came in with casual attire. He's going to a bank to fix a problem although he's still on his break. He will officially on duty tomorrow.

As I reached the secondary office block, I was greeted by the foul stench of durian leftover. That's Encik Zainal D-side table. Lucky he took a day off as this only means trouble for the person responsible (Nama dia Encik Iwan & Encik Wahid!). Not only they did not properly dispose the leftover, they did not left any for me.

Making myself comfortable at Encik Dollah's table.
See the fiber optic cable on the left as he is the (only) Fiber Unit staff.

So I took the opportunity to report my problematic Streamyx connection at home. It has been down since Friday's evening and no one wants to look at it T-T. But this morning during the roll call, they said that there was quite a lot of problem with cabinet F048 which is my cabinet. The line got up again in the evening.

HSBB stands for Harun Salim Bin Bachik.

2009-06-12T22:41:00.003+08:00

Super rare and magnificent scenery at Menara TM. Cannot see anything? Blame the hazy condition we're having now.

I thought I'm going to stay at the office again, so I opened up my notebook and I found out something - The wi-fi button was turned off. When I turned it on, voila! I'm online. Read some interesting articles, news, Mafia Wars, emails and whatnot. Silly me for wasting a day or two for not knowing that the wi-fi button was off ahah!

Encik Arief and Encik Bakri were in the same room, Encik Bakri thought something about management to Encik Arief. You see, Encik Arief is quite new. So, as an experienced supervisor, En. Bakri explained to him on how to run an exchange and be a successful manager.

The RNO (Regional Network Operation) Kajang's number one and number two brought me together for their breakfast.

Later at eleven, En. Arief asked me to follow him;
"Par, kejap lagi kau ikut aku..."
-"Alright boss!, pegi mana?"
"Aiya, ikut ajela. Pegi Menara."

Owh pergi Menara TM. Ingatkan nak ajak minum-minum aje. Aku okay aje kalau bab ikut....
Ehem! He asked me to follow him to Menara TM as he got some matters to be solved there. But then I realized about my shoes, the pair that I usually wear for site works.

At the Menara.

Hazy.

We arrived at Menara around 12:15 and the staff already left for lunch as it is Friday. So Boss decided that will meet the person at 2:30pm, which is after lunch. I met like 2 dozens of Encik Arief's friends there.

First day memories!

After the Friday Prayer at the surau, we went to meet the staff Encik Arief was supposed to meet and headed to TM Exchange Sg. Way as Encik Arief had to pick up some equipments for the staffs. I met Pn. Shahida, the lady whom I reported to during the first day. Very nice lady. I asked him about another Uniten student who is currently doing his training at Sg. Way Exchange.

"Nampak happiee je dia dekat sini..."

TM Exchange Sg. Way.

Later before I left the exchange, I bumped into Tam. A fellow Uniten student. We registered together at the exchange. Nampak happiee je dia kat situ ahah!

Alone in the Dark.

2009-06-11T22:22:00.001+08:00

It's the second week of school holiday and staffs took the opportunity to spend quality times with their family. The word is; Langkawi. Like everyone was heading there, leaving me, the only practical there sitting alone in the office room, counting the ceiling boards, watching the construction workers completing the 3rd floor of the 10-storey building meant for the Kajang's Court, playing Jenga alone and practicing my vocal for the next Malaysian Idol.

Everyone is in the holiday mood even the new order of telephones and Streamyx are reduced so by helping the staffs at the MDF will leave them with no work to do. Even Encik Dollah was not there to answer my questions.

I just sat at a corner, turned on my trusty old laptop, adding stuff to my report.

Who says it's all fun going around?

After two days of doing nothing we had a training session for the staffs and some of the contractors this morning. Finally, something that I can write into my logbook! Ahahhahahaha

I'm so happy because I'm running out of ceiling boards to count.

So the management decided to use this one equipment that enable the staffs and the contractors to update directly the pair numbers at the cabinets to the main server at Brickfields. Usually, the will have to report any change to the MDF and they will manually update the pair numbers and whatnot.

Encik Arief giving the opening speech and introducing the Cikgu.

Everyone was busy learning the device.

The instruction pamphlet on how to use it.

3 staffs from the ANOC together with a practical student came early in the morning to teach the everyone how to use the device.

Encik Azman E-side yang buat-buat tak paham dan buat-buat kekaguman hahah!

Later we went to Restoran Sate Kajang Hj Samuri which is located just across the road. A treat? Nay, we went to a cabinet for practical lessons.

Encik Zainal D-side and Encik Maarif Doket BRI & PRI supervising the contractors.

The practical student who is always ready to answer your question.

Nice pose!

Encik Arief had asked me a number of times to come to his office for some work. Office work = boring but I'm going to the office anyway for the remaining two weeks since I have been to all the units available in the exchange.

End.

The Visiting Lecturers Came This Morning.

2009-06-04T12:58:00.010+08:00

Explaining what I wrote in my logbook to the visiting lecturer.

The visiting lecturers from Uniten came this morning at 9.45 am. If you didn't realize, I wrote "visiting lecturers" because not one, but 3 lecturers came. Pn. Ayuniza, Pn. Sharifah Azwa and Pn. Yanti. I brought them to Encik Arief for the meeting.

So here is the visiting team.

Encik Arief explaining about the activities they put me through. Thanks boss!

The visiting team leaving the building.

After they all left the exchange, I just sat at the office until lunch time and did nothing because everyone had left for work. T______________________________________T

Telekom Malaysia and The Chamber of Secrets Part II.

2009-06-03T17:41:00.018+08:00

The manholes are usually filled with rainwater so the usage of SCUBA sets are advised.

Morning roll call with everyone this morning. Everyone means the usual TM staffs and contractors from Kajang plus the TM staffs from Semenyih Exchange, contractors for Beranang and Broga and the installation contractors. So the meeting room was packed.

As the roll call was in progress, a VIP came in, the AGM for PJ, Kajang and Bangi Network Operation. I finally met the person whom I was asked to report to in the industrial training offer letter. He was here to hear any complaints from the staffs. The roll call ended at 9.30am where everyone rushed to start their work.

Synchronized manhole-opening exercise.

Going around Kajang with Mr. Ganesh and Mr. Pannir this morning. Suddenly, Mr. Ganesh stopped in the middle of the road, near Bangunan Dato' Nazir where the famous Sate Kajang Hj Samuri restaurant is located. While I was still thinking the reason why they stopped here, they both went out of the van, and arranged the cones on the road to divert the incoming traffic from the van, just before the next batch of cars from Kajang town arrives after the traffic light. It was a magnificent moment seeing both of them went out of the van in sync. One one the left side, the other on the right side.

There was a lot of water inside the manhole so it took sometime to pump the water put.

They both wanted to check for... for... what's "bocor" in English? Hmmm... they both wanted to check for gas/air leakage in one of the cable in the manhole under the road. So after opening two manhole covers (for one manhole), they pumped out the water from it using the water pump. Then after 15 minutes, Mr. Pannir went into the manhole. Mr. Ganesh asked me, "Mau masuk?" which I responded with "Hell, yes!". "Guna kasut ni". He gave me a pair of rubber boots. Without asking for further permission and waiting for other instruction, I climbed down into the manhole.

Heh, I'm like a WWII German soldier after wearing the boots.

Inside it, Mr. Pannir explained about the cables and showed me how they detect for any air leakage from the cable. One contractor who was working at a nearby cabinet even stopped by and teased Mr. Pannir by saying "Selamat pagi Cikgu..." from the manhole opening. Yes. A good teacher he is.

The water was draining fast.

This is a manhole. Probably enough to store weapons and ammunition in preparation for war against the Skynet's robotic soldier.

An old 30-something years old copper cable covered with mud.

This show how amateur I was. Experienced staffs somehow did not get their clothes dirty. By the way, I thought mama was going to cane with a rotan for the dirty clothes but sejak menggunakan pencuci yang berjenama, tiada lagi masalah kotoran degil. Malah mencuci pakaian adalah lebih menyeronokkan.

Then, we head back to the exchange as the work was done. Mr. Pannir brought me to the chamber under the MDF (again, last time with Mr. Vincent on the 2nd week) and explained everything about the cables.

"Maintenance holes" they said, concerning for the equality of both genders.

2009-06-02T19:02:00.014+08:00

Encik Azman asked me to follow Mr. Ganesh and Mr. Pannir today as they are going to take the reading of the pressure in the underground cables at Arked Mara Kajang with the contractors who are responsible to transfer the cables to a new manhole.

The contractors were already there and as soon as we arrived, they opened up a couple of manholes and started to read the air pressure inside the cable. Note that basically, the air protects thousands of wires inside a cable.

"Should I turn left or right?"

Opening up a manhole.

We found a trapped worker inside the manhole!

There are valve stems on the cable tips like the one found at vehicle's tires.

Checking the pressure.

Again, with another measurement device.

Later, the bosses from Kajang Exchange came to have a discussion with the contractors. From left is the big boss, Encik Arief who is my supervisor, the one with the skullcap is Encik Bakri who is also my supervisor (he's going to retire in a couple of weeks), and En. Johari, who will takeover Encik Bakri's position after he's retired.

This is the newly built manhole. No thick cable inside.

Discussing the progress of the multimillion cable transfer project.

Me approving the quality of the manhole cover. Heh!

In the evening, Encik Pannir asked me to follow him to the Compressor Room and he explained everything inside it, the compressor machine, the airflow meter, and all of the team's equipments inside the room.

Going Deeper Underground

2009-06-01T17:57:00.004+08:00

Starting today (Monday 1st of June), I'm attached to the "Team Kabel E/Side & CGPA" (Exchange Side Cable and CGPA Unit). The unit has 3 members of staffs Encik Azman who is the mastermind, Mr. Ganesh and Mr. Pannir. This is one of the most respectable unit because of their "tough" work, which is mainly deals with underground cables, the manholes on the roadside, in the middle of the road, or anywhere they want to put it.

So Encik Azman is the one who plans and direct everything but usually he helps the other two. He drives a small, fast and nasty scout car that makes sure he arrives to the site on time to check for the problem background and plans on how to solve the problem before the other two comes with the larger, well-equipped, equipment carrier. Below are the two vehicles - The scout car and the equipment carrier. Behold!

tadaaaa...

Today I went with Encik Azman to a couple of sites where they need to transfer the underground cables from and old manhole to a new one. One is at Arked Mara, Kajang and the other one is at the junction heading to Taman Sg. Jelok where the Kajang Prison is also located.

At Arked Mara, there is currently a river widening and deepening project going on so a new cable pier crossing with greater height was built. So the task is to move the cables from the old pier crossing to the new pier crossing. TNB and Maxis already completed their part and only TM is left.

The river widening/deepening project in progress.

A long long time ago, before the existence of Medan Sate Kajang and the Sate Samuri Restaurant at Bangunan Dato' Nazir , Medan Arked Mara was one of the center of sate stalls.

TNB and Maxis already completed their work.

For the Sg. Jelok site, new cables are needed to be installed underground but the main problem is, the manhole is directly under a busy junction. They need to open cut the road but this is the problem their having as they need to divert the traffic to somewhere else which is still an unsolved mystery.

Cables.

It is said that the manhole which is located under the car in the picture is deeper than any normal manholes.

The cost for the cable transfer project at Arked Mara is around 107,627,921,878,277 Zimbabwean Dollars (ZWD). The one at Sg. Jelok, well, I probably going to spend all night writing the numbers in Zimbabwean Dollars....

V is for Victory

2009-05-27T23:56:00.002+08:00

Picture taken through a window at the MIR space station. See the clouds down below. No earth surface can be seen though. Today's activity: spacewalk!

I have something to confess. About the previous posts about my practical at TM Exchange Kajang, I lied. I'm currently doing my practical at the Russian Federal Space Agency (Федеральное космическое агентство России). They have sent me to the MIR Space Station The picture above is the proof.

Heh! You need to rotate the picture upside down and you'll see it is the room of the exchange building, the same as the one in one of this blog's banner. There is no more MIR space station too.

Allright, here's something weird. From about a dozen of TM cars and vans in the exchange, only one went out at 9am today.

See the supercool, supersleek, supernice, el magnifico blue sportscar? That's mine. The world's record holder for six consecutive years for the fastest car to pull in and out at any Uniten COE's narrow parking spaces.

Encik Abdullah (Fiber): Attending a course. Minus one Kembara.
Encik Zainal (UG, Untergrundbewegung): Attending the same course. Minus one Vanette.
Encik Azman (GPA, Gas Pressured Alarm): Attending the same course too. Minus one Kancil.
Encik Khairul (UG): Unhealthy. Minus one Vanette.
Mr. Tamil (UG): One week break. Minus one Vanette.
Encik Ma'arif (ADSL): Installing data until 6am in the morning. A bit late for work. Minus one Vanette.
Mr. Panni (GPA): A day off. Minus one Vanette.
and some other not usually used vehicles.

Hurray for reduced carbon emissions.

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.

I've been asking Encik Dollah Fiber and Encik Sham about the newly built cabinets labelled with the letter "V". (Other cabinets are labelled "F" for fiber and "R" for RDSLAM). Both of them were also not quite sure with the letter "V".

So Encik Hisham called Encik Iwan the RDSLAM guy while we were somewhere doing the ADSL jumpering.

En. Sham: Wan, what's the "V" cabinets are for?
En. Wan: The new MSAN (Multi Service Access Node) cabinets with IPDSLAM equipments are labelled with the letter V.
En. Sham: Owh alrite, sankyuu!

Just about a minute after En. Sham hanged up. He suddenly called En. Iwan again.

En. Sham: You lied to me. I've thinking about the letter V. You know the name of the ADSL test gear we are using is Optimus? Then the letter "V" must be for "VOLTRON".

Heh, one of the many amusing remarks I had everyday.

Missing In Action

2009-05-25T18:51:00.023+08:00

Sorry about the nails but I've lost my nail clipper.

For those who care, I did not update this blog because I'm busy adding additional stuff to my log book, coloring the big Tyrannosaurus Rex I magnificently drew inside it, in preparation if my visiting lecturer suddenly turns up at the exchange main gate. I also need to update my other 7 blogs heh!

What I did last week were mostly repetitive tasks such as resetting DSLAMs and fine cards, servicing the fans inside about 400,000,000 cabinets around Kajang which under the responsibility of ONLY Encik Dollah Faiba, listening to the explanation about the different types of cabinets, the equipments, observing the contractors configuring the cabinets inside the COT rooms, nasi lemak in the mornings, my skin turning darker everyday, predicting whether it's going to rain or not... etc etc (Non-technical readers may find these super-boring).

Servicing the fans.

Checking the equipments.

So here is something interesting. Since I started my practical here at TM Kajang. There's always a flock of pigeon hanging around under the Menara Ibusawat Kajang. I have been wondering what kind of magical properties under the tower that attract the pigeons and some other birds everyday.

There is probably not enough worms to cater them everyday but they never failed to come under the tower everyday. Maybe they're genetically modified birds by secret agencies that carries microchips to tap the telephone conversations broadcasted by the tower. But then last week, all of my doubts were answered when I saw one of the UG staff (Untergrundbewegung), Mr. Panni, did something that most of the staffs here doesn't have the skill to do it.

"A way of saying thanks for my good life and rezeki"

Here's the highlights of what I did for the past one week.

Wednesday:

Went to a factory at Sg. Chua and witnessed the fastest talker in the world complained about how her factory was unable to make phone calls for a week. She complained for every telephone she got in the factory that the job details were as thick as a telephone directory. Usually these problems will be handled by the contractor but Encik Bakri asked Encik Dollah to check it out. Problem's solved just by turning on the socket for the keyphone equipment. Who turned off the switch still remains a mystery to the factory.

Thursday:
Encik Dollah took a one day break so I followed Encik Sham for some ADSL jumpering. A staff from Semenyih took his position but unfortunately he won't be able to cover all the cabinets in Kajang, Semenyih, Beranang and Broga.

Friday:
I did something that was amazing but I cannot remember it.

Monday:

Encik Dollah explaining about the equipments inside the COT room.

Cabinet here, cabinet there, rushing here, rushing there. Encik Dollah gave a tour inside one of the COT room. There are currently 3-4 COT rooms here and new ones will be located at the current office as the office will be moved to somewhere else.

Tuesday:
Encik Dollah went for a two day course at Kuala Lumpur so I'm following Encik Sham until Wednesday.

That's all folks!

Manic Tuesday?

2009-05-19T23:31:00.002+08:00

I thought I would be late for the roll call this morning. Left my cellphone at home and I had to turn back half way to the office. But I made it somehow.

Started the day by going to a couple of cabinet to check the fans for the fiber equipment inside it.

Checking the fuses.

Encik Ahmad the contractor later joined us at a cabinet as he needed Encik Abdullah to reset the DSLAMs.

Then at ten, staff from Silver Ridge (the company who deploys the Huawei-brand cabinets throughout the Peninsula) came to remotely troubleshoots a dead cabinet. Huawei even sent a staff from China.

The Silver Ridge staffs (the two on the left) and a Huawei staff from China. The center guy can magically generate commands from his fingers. And he can type super fast.

A TM planner also came to the MDF with a team of contractor to put some new cabinet inside the COT room. So it was a busy day at the MDF. As I'm following Encik Dollah Faiba everywhere he goes so I was in the MDF.

Encik Dollah will be responsible for the ISDN test gear after Mr. Vincent retire in a couple of month or less. So there was a quick lesson.

In the evening, we went to the stated dead cabinet at Kompleks Perhentian Kajang at Jalan Reko.

Hmmm, Encik Dollah works alone. But I'm sitting in the backseat. It is because I'm a super VVVVIPractical Student.

Mr. Vincent joined us and together with the 3 staffs from Silver Ridge and Huawei, we went to the cabinet. So there was Encik Dollah the fiber specialist, Mr. Vincent the ISDN specialist and me, une attelage-randonneur.

Everyone in action.

Mr. Vincent told the Huawei staff about how difficult to determine the ports on a newly deployed MSAN (Multi Service Access Node) cabinet nearby. See the other staff at the background keying commands to configure the cabinet.

While waiting for the cabinet to run a data test, we went to a Mamak restaurant nearby. Everyone ordered their drinks and the staff from China was holding the menu and when Mr. Vincent asked what he wants, he said he does not know anything in the menu. So to be safe, he just ordered an iced lemon tea.

He read the menu for the fried rice and noodles, not the drinks.
Kung Fu Noodle, Hong Kong Noodle... that probably sounds familiar to him. But I don't think he can find them in China.

I would like to ask him a lot of things but he does not understand English well and he has a very thick Chinese accent. I thought it was a good chance for me to practice my Mandarin. Unfortunately, I cannot remember anything from what I've learned 4 years ago. Only 3 phrases that I can remember which definitely irrelevant to use between males; "Wo ai ni", "wo ke yi he ni chi wan can ma?", and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

Oh wait. The last one is not Mandarin.

After finishing the test, we went back to the MDF. The staff went to settle just a little bit more stuff at the COT room while I just hang out at the MDF. Encik Zakaria (the MDF staff) received a call asking whether he is calling Kajang Police Station. After that, Encik Zakaria, traced the number using the online system and found out the number was from:

The End.

I spell fiber differently

2009-05-18T23:05:00.004+08:00

Starting from today (Monday) I will be following Encik Abdullah Faiba (Fiber) for two weeks. Before this I thought he is a silent, mysterious lone ranger but I was wrong. He is quite talkative, knowledgeable and the only person who drives a 4-wheel in TM Kajang which certainly proves him as qualified Paris-Dakar Rally driver. He is a very busy person since he is the only person who responsible for every cabinet that starts with the letter "F" in Kajang. That's around 200 cabinets. So who wants to see his Truckasaurus?

Tadaaa...

After we had our breakfast at Taman Kantan Permai, we stopped at a cabinet. Encik Dollah (Abdullah) opened all the doors and starts to explain everthing inside the cabinet. I mean everything.

Each line card is quite expensive and can only cater 8 subscribers.

Later we went to check a cabinet at Kawasan Perindustrian Sg. Chua and headed back to MDF. Encik Dollah remotely accessed the cabinet from the MDF and ran through some configuration for the cabinet.

I don't remember how many notebooks he has.

The cards inside the cabinet. The pink ones resemble the undetected cards.

Here's an SDF (subscriber's distribution frame) at a condominium just behind Winny Plaza at Sg. Chua we went today.

End!

237.

2009-05-15T19:15:00.023+08:00

From today's edition of THE STAR (Metro section, Central) (May 15, 2009)

Kajang hit by violent afternoon rainstorm [Full article with pictures]
THE freak storm which raged in Kajang for nearly two hours on Wednesday caused extensive damage to various parts of the town and the housing estates in its vicinity.

Roofs were blown off and trees uprooted. Fortunately, no one was injured....

Today's number of jobs for the Docket Teams:

- 237 -

I heard that the yesterday morning's "dockets" of 179 had increased to nearly 450 in the evening.

So back to today's dockets, 237.
Docket teams: 10 (they're contractors, not TM staff)
Again as a reference, the usual docket for a fine day: 50-65.
Red dockets (which has surpassed the time limit): 58
Yellow dockets (which has a little more time before becoming red): 54

If 239 dockets were divided to 10 docket teams, then everyone will have 24 jobs to be settled. Unfortunately, the dockets are based on areas. One team of two persons which covers Jalan Cheras has 85 dockets.

Encik Justman (Jasman). The contractor responsible for Jalan Cheras area. Jalan Cheras is the area where most contractors tried to avoid because of the complexity of the houses, the kampung-like area, high concentration of people living there and only the most experienced person can handle the area which spans to Taman Rakan Cheras. By 2pm, he had 90 dockets.

"Nak mati dibuatnya!"

If each docket can be solved in 1/2 hour (which is amazingly fast), and working non-stop from 9am to 6am, the maximum they can get is 18. But how to solve 85 dockets with new problems being reported every minute? The contractor needs more worker or help from outside. Unfortunately they picked neither option.

But I'm with ADSL jumpering team of TM. They are not affected from the weather except they had to delay some jobs if it's raining. There maybe an increase of new application of Streamyx internet connection probably because the subscribers want to check the weather forecast. If the weather is too hot, probably they need internet to google for "Panduan Solat Minta Hujan". If it's the rainy season, probably they will google for the telephone number of Bomoh Tolak Hujan to help them move or delay the rain if they are having an important outdoor events.

While struggling with a cabinet, an Installation Contractor came as he had to jumper (connect) new telephone lines. ADSL (Streamyx) jumpering still are under TM staffs.

Today's ADSL jumpering: 43
After dividing into 2 ADSL jumpering team of Encik Ma'arif and Abang Hisham, Abang Hisham got 30 ADSL jumpering tasks to be done. However, from the 30 jobs, we only need to do 4 NEW jumpering as the other 26 of TERMINATION tasks were given to Encik Zainal of UG (he usually helps Abang Sham) and he will try to complete as much as he can on the 26 ADSL termination. Termination process is quicker than new connection as the new connection's works are more tedious.

One of the place we went today was the largest prison in Malaysia, the Penjara Kajang (Kajang Prison). The area is so big that there is one or two Taman inside it, the Maktab Penjara, a newly built mosque and large area of undergrowth.

The main entrance to the largest prison in Malaysia.

The walls of the main prison complex. According to Abang Sham, the one without the barb wires on top is the wall for the women prison (Penjara Wanita). Women inmates didn't bother to waste their time or even try to climb the wall.

The cabinet. Getting there from the main gate took 1000 times longer than jumpering the ADSL.

Masjid Penjara.

That's the end of the my 2nd week with Encik Zainal and Abang Sham. I was assigned by my supervisor, Encik Bakri to Encik Zainal of UG (Untergrundbewegung) at first but since he spends more time at the office, I followed Abang Sham.

Next week I'll be following the mysteriously quiet and hardworking lone ranger, Encik Dollah Faiba. His real name is Abdullah. He's in charge on all of the fiber equipments and connections in Kajang. Encik Bakri said "Kau ikut je mana-mana dia pergi. Dengar ni, mana-mana je dia pergi".

Thank you to Abang Sham for his stories, guidance and all the teh Os. Thank you for the lesson on "How To Scare A Tollgate Girl". Now who wants to learn this?

Oh yes, "faiba" is the romanised Japanese spelling of fiber (ファイバ). I wrote "faiba" more in my life compared to "fiber" which I only wrote during the final exam of Data Communication and Network.

End of week 6.
My visiting lecturer will be Pn. Ayuniza Bte Ahmad.
Eh? why ar? After I clicked 'submit' after updating the name of the lecturer went missing?
Thank you very much.

Too much work.

2009-05-14T19:21:00.018+08:00

The usual docket or jobs for the contractors for fine(hot)weather days are around 50-65 dockets. But as expected, since it was raining like hell yesterday, the number of dockets for the morning is:

179

A for Abang Hisham and me, we need to do 22 ADSL jumpering in the morning compared to the usual 8-12 because we had to do the yesterday evening tasks together. 22 ADSL jumpering but how do we managed to do it? By good planning.

We went to a workshop first since the plastic cover under the van was opened. Probably after we drove through the flood in front of the TM Exchange yesterday. As it hit the road, it made a loud screeching sound. When other staffs gave a weird look at us, Abang Sham just yelled at them. "BARU PASANG TURBO!".

While we were busy with the jumpering at a cabinet at Saujana Impian, a light green Toyota Avanza stopped and a lady came out to us.

Lady: Tumpang tanya...
Me: Ye?
Lady: Nak tanya kenapa Taman Damai dari semalam la takde elektrik.
Abg Sham: Letrik??? Kami bukan letrik, kami AIR...
Lady: Oh bukan letrik? Tapi ni kan van Telekom?
Us: ????

Abang Sham tried to confuse the lady but in the end we were the ones who were confused by the lady.

Hmmm... it seems so... weird.

This post was meant to be published on Thursday.

Nama saya Rain~

2009-05-13T20:42:00.014+08:00

It was raining heavily in the evening.
...

Nope. It was a major thunderstorm. It prevented me and Abang Sham from doing nine of the evening's ADSL jumpering. But let's start with the morning activity.

In the morning, Abang Hisham gave me an odd task that I think it will never be written in the report. The task required a responsibility, skill and concentration. The task was done in 20-minutes.

Abang Sham asked me to drive his sports car to a car wash. I drove the car to the car wash and Abang Sham fetched me with his TM's van to continue our jobs.

In the evening, while we were having lunch at a restaurant, it began to rain. My mom called me on the phone and asked me whether she needs to unplug the modem connection. I said yes. I'm a heavy internet downloader that since 4 years ago, my PC will be only turned off during thunderstorms or if I left the house for more than a day. Suddenly, it rained heavily. The restaurant workers were quite worried with weather and then one of the worker yelled in north eastern Malay accent.

"MARI TGOK BELAKE POKOK NOK TUMBANG..SIKIT LAGI YE NOK KENE KETE NAZA RIA TUU..."

Or in simple English, it would be translated as;

"Help! the aliens have landed! Run for your life. We're doomed!" (^ㅂ^)

A tree fell just behind a Naza Ria. Missed it by a few feet. And if it fell to the opposite site it will certainly hit another car. A strange site it was. We can see the TV antenna and the rooftops being blown away.

Everyone was quite worried while Abang Sham and I enjoyed our lunch.

After an hour, the rain stopped and we patrolled the area. Abang Sham even went to his house which is situated nearby to check if his roofs were also blown away. There was quite a number of trees fell on the road which definitely blocked the flow of the traffic. One tree fell on a telephone pole with a distribution point.

The aftermath;

Even the entrance to TM Kajang was flooded.

Looks like tomorrow will be a busy day for the contractors and the docket teams.

The Exterminator.

2009-05-12T19:13:00.016+08:00

So that's the meeting room cum office of Kajang Exchange. Posting it here as a proof to the picture I posted in last week's entry. It's empty since everyone was on duty. The management office and the call center is located at another building and I don't like the sight as there a some robots, calling and answering phones. Heh sorry!

See the chair near the window? That's where I sit everyday during the roll call and since last week, where I waste my time while waiting for the staffs getting ready to work. Looking through the window, I can see the construction workers rebuilding the Mahkamah Kajang.

Abang Sham got his revenge on some ants, living happily inside a cabinet at Taman Mewah Indah. After finishing a cabinet at Taman Sutera, Cheras and as we were heading to Jalan Semenyih, we stopped at a Giant Supermarket and Abang Sham bought a Fumakilla Hit-Z insectiside. It is for killing cockroaches but he said it's better for the ants. Last week, we went to the cabinet and he had been bitten in the face and ears by the ants. He just can't stop complaining how painful the bites were.

F048

2009-05-11T20:19:00.009+08:00

Followed Encik Zainal as Abang Sham had to renew his Goods Driving License(GDL) somewhere this morning. Encik Zainal did a couple of Abang Sham's ADSL jumpering since he had nothing to do. One in Jalan Cheras and the other one at Jalan Semenyih. So I read the job's detail the follwing line got my attention; Batu 12 1/2, Jalan Cheras, Kajang - Cabinet F048.

Cabinet F048. There is something with the number "48" to me that is irrelevant to describe it here. In the previous posts, one can find that I even put my punch card at slot number 48. But there was something else about this cabinet.

Cabinet F048 is where my telephone line and my Streamyx connection were connected. It is located near to my house and so I had to hide myself from my neighbors and my neighbors daughters.

- Baik!

It's because they're too supportive.
They may even put up some Bunga Manggar and play Kompang if they saw me.

And since I know where my connection goes, I did something else:
While Encik Zainal was busy with his work;

:Swiftly changed my connection to a known 1Gbps slot:
I'm now downloading the whole internet into my hard disk drives.

Hah! It's not that easy! And I don't think there's 1Gbps slot there.

A part time job?

2009-05-09T18:30:00.006+08:00

I went to a house in Semenyih this morning to help a lady format his son's PC. It was not part of the job TM does but during my attachment with Encik Mahmud of the Semenyih's docket team, she asked me whether if I can help format her PC.

She called me a couple of days ago and asked me whether she needs to send the PC to my house or I will come to her house. I chose the latter as I said her 15 years old son can learn how I format the PC. Unfortunately, a driver CD was missing and the PC could not detect the Ethernet controller and hinders it from connecting to the internet. Lucky I had my notebook with me and she was using a Dell computer. The drivers can be easily downloaded from the support website.

Oh wait, 15 years old son? When I was 15 I already wrote the full program for Asimo. JK!

I am a year older~

2009-05-08T23:31:00.003+08:00

The sitting arrangement in the meeting room/office definitely looks like this.

I saw some extra familiar faces sitting outside the meeting room upon reaching the gates on Wednesday morning. It was the staffs from TM Exchange Semenyih. It was the roll call for the Kajang, Semenyih, Beranang and Broga staffs and contractors. The meeting room was packed with around 70 people, some stood up as all the chairs were taken. The meeting room was a TM Point so there are a lot of chairs left before they moved to a bigger TM Point somewhere in the heart of Kajang town.

The roll call last for an hour and a half, where the last 45-minutes was for only the TM staffs from Kajang and Semenyih. Problems regarding all area were discussed, contractors were blamed for not doing job good enough. For the TM staffs period, the patrol tasks were discussed. More technical problems such as problems on cabinets and call center. Got a muscle cramps on my backside for sitting on a not so comfortable chair.

On Thursday, something unexpected happened while Abang Sham was busy checking a cabinet. The cabinet is located beside a monsoon drain, and suddenly his puncher fell into drain. He was like a Jedi Knight, losing his light saber which made him defenseless. So I offer myself to go down into the drain and pick his wet puncher. Besides I wanted to see what's inside the covered part of the drain. I really hoped that there will be an amazing alien living down there.

The place where the incident took place.

Did a 3 1/2 backflips to reach the bottom of the drain. Nadia Comăneci would be jealous if she was there.

Hmmm... Nothing interesting. Not even a human remains can be found.

On Friday morning, I followed Encik Zainal as he had to supervise some contractors on changing a new telephone cable. He was quite unhappy as the contractors did not complete their tasks seriously as they messed up the connections.

5 contractors, one TM staff, one practical student, a lorry, a van, a cabinet, 20 "pairs" but tens of hours due to the lack of effort from the contractors

A helping hand is always welcomed.

Later we went to check on more contractors doing their job nearby with underground cables. They opened a number of manholes but Encik Zainal was quite unhappy as the contractor left a manhole opened without any sign or cone. He asked them to put a cone or close it to avoid any risk of harming unexpected human (or releasing a prehistoric undead creature that consume human blood).

Hello? Is there any super evil monster living down there?

No sign to warn the danger.

That wraps out some of the events on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Friday was my birthday too, thank you very much.

The road that connects Jalan Cheras and Silk Highway

2009-05-05T20:09:00.011+08:00

Encik Johari, the boss of TM Exchange Semenyih (which is under TM Kajang management), announced that the night patrol will be started again since there are quite a lot of cables being stolen in Semenyih area. The staffs from Kajang will patrol the Semenyih areas with the staffs from Semenyih especially the area where there is a high number of cases reported. Some felt uncomfortable since they have to patrol the kampung areas in the thick jungle of Semenyih, Beranang and Broga.

During our breakfast, Encik Zainal and Abang Sham told me their experiences patrolling areas in Kajang. Encik Zainal nearly hit a naked man during his patrol. The man slept on the road. But Abang Sham's experience of patrolling a kampung road at Sungai/Simpang Balak was more interesting. So Uniten students and lecturers (I know one or two lecturers using the road as a shorcut from Jalan Cheras to Silk Highway) who are using the Kampung Simpang Balak road. Here's what Abang Hisham and his partner encountered.

Don't worry, it was not a ghost that Abang Sham met.

BUT IT WAS A GHOST!!!

Yes, a pocong ghost in kain kapan was standing at the roadside near the tunnel under the Silk Highway. The one you take to go to Jalan Cheras or Balakong after exiting from the Sungai Balak toll. Since Abang Sham drove a TM's Kancil, he felt that the pocong was so near to him. I usually take the road too and quite worried after hearing his story.

There were other encounters by other staffs, such as seeing strange light in oil palm plantation, a staff saw a woman standing behind his partner who was busy checking a cabinet, hearing the scary, hair-raising, heart-melting cries of the Langsuirs and Pontianaks. Even worst, the cries of loneliness from the Pondans in Kajang town centre.

After seeing the timetable for the patrolling task, both Encik Zainal and Abang Sham were quite relieved since they were not tasked to patrol at 1230am to 4am period. Since they need to go to work on the next morning, they can sleep soundly at night.

I'm thinking of reducing my posting frequency to 2-3 posts per week as I'm doing some repetitive tasks at TM - cabinets, Streamyx jumpering, watching staff joining cables, and sitting at a corner and do nothing. I will try to invent a new language to fill my time while waiting for work starting from tomorrow.

I really would like to follow them, but as I remember, CIDB insurance will not cover any accident caused by ghost (i.e. demam, disorok hantu kopek, ditangkap basah lalu kena kahwin paksa dengan orang bunian, kena gigit pontianak or menjolok buah cempedak di luar pagar dengan hantu galah).

The answer to uno più uno is...

2009-05-04T21:09:00.016+08:00

TWO!

So I'm back to the Kajang Exchange and attached to Encik Zainal now, Encik Zainal UG. What the hell is UG I didn't bother to ask yet. Prolly underground. He's quite an important person here, and spends most of his time doing paperwork. But in the morning, I followed him to check some staffs joining some cable somewhere at a kampung area.

Did I mentioned he's important? Oh yes. He moves around in a nasty gray Nissan 350Z and listens to Hot FM. A GRAY NISSAN 350Z. Can you believe that? Believe this!

Tadaaa....

Some pictures.

A staff heating a cable joint to open the outer layer using a blow torch.

Encik Mahadi demonstrating the true meaning of "bergayut".

Took some pictures to waste my time.
A plant ate my finger and now I'm busy learning how to write using my left hand.

In the evening, Encik Zainal was busy doing his paper works so he asked Abang Sham to bring me anywhere he wanted to go. Okay Abang Sham dressed up and have hair cut like Danny Zuko. Oh wait, Abang Sham IS Danny Zuko. He is super-talkative and friendly that my brains couldn't think just to hear him talk.

Help! my ears were smokin'

He just loves to talk but at least I'm not bored with his tall tales and work experiences. Here a comparison between a normal person and Abang Sham.

Me: I wonder what one plus one is.

Normal person: Two!

Abang Sham: A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, there was this one kid named Anakin Skywalker who lives with his mother Shmi. He was a young, talented young kid blessed with amazing abilities. So one day, there was this strange bald black man, Morpheus who came to him and said he is "The One". After convincing him that the evil Skynet were producing robots to destroy the humans, Anakin agreed to join the Fellowship of The Ring, to help destroy "the ring" that makes Skynet superstrong.

Unfortunately, during his journey, he met a maniac called The Joker. The Joker beat him near death but he was saved by the police. So he was healed and moves around in artificial limbs and people called him Robocop. Anakin lost his memories and need to learn from the basic. So he picked up a children and learn how to count. Everytime he counted to two, he will received a call for help. So he can only count until two. That should answer your question of one plus one~

Just imagine how is it like if I have 73 complicated questions per day. ヽ(´▽`)/

That's Encik Zainal, trying to absorb what Abang Sham was saying.

End of day 21?

Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye!

2009-04-30T23:43:00.006+08:00

Something weird today. Encik Kassim somehow looks 20 years younger. What makes him younger? Hmmm let see, no grey hair, always smiling, laughing and what's that? Never saw that before. A backpack.

A backpack???

"Iyolah, dah ado laptop dah skang nih..." said Encik Kassim everytime the staffs teased him with his backpack, carrying his newly-acquired Asus Eee PC.

He's like Mozilla Firefox internet browser who just had an add-on added. ^ㅂ^

It was a tiring last day at TM Semenyih. But it was Mdm N. Siera's and family warmth and friendliness that made the day quite interesting. She's a Portuguese I think. We had been to her house on Tuesday to check his internet connection. After checking, looks like the password wasn't working so we asked her to check with Streamyx Customer Service.

Today we received her report again and we went to her house. We checked her internet connection and thoroughly this time and looks like there are quite a lot of problem - rusted telephone cable, POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) problem that we had to asked someone at MDF (Main Distribution Frame) to change her POTS, problematic telephone wiring, socket and splitter. So after En. Mahmud had finished fixing all of the problem, we finally can connect to the internet - but only from the test gear. Not from her modem. So again we leave her to settle her problem with the customer service.

M'aider

After lunch, she called En. Mahmud and again, she and her niece (who just arrived from somewhere) asked us to come and help us with the customer service. Upon arriving at her house, we were greeted by a Malay lady with a tudung, which is Mdm N. Siera niece. Oh what the hell, we're living in Malaysia so there was a mixed marriage in her family. Her name is Kak Suhaila and she was quite talkative and like the family, friendly. The two dogs that Mdm N. Siera has already knew us and they were just like don't care with our presents, not like on Tuesday, which they barked like hell, which made En. Mahmud quite scared (he had an experience being bitten by a customer's dog, which traumatized him till today).

"We be friends?"

So after more troubleshooting, we finally solved her problem after using about 3 modems. 2 of it was configured with fixed IP by Encik Ahmad during testing for the PPPoA (Point-to-Point Protocol Over ATM) connection at the factory in previous post, so the on the last modem we reset the setting after remembering about what Encik Ahmad did.

Kak Suhaila asked for my phone number so later she can contact me to help format Mdm N. Siera computer. I said no problem and it is not considered a part of TM services but I'm the only person they knew who they thought can help them. m(_ _)m

After we had cleared all the jobs listed in the dockets, Encik Mahmud dropped me at the exchange and we gave a farewell thank you to each other. So I picked up my punch card and drove to TM Exchange Kajang to meet Encik Bakri, my acting supervisor to discuss on the next week's plan.

Back at slot #48 at TM Exchange Kajang.

Here are my thanks;

First and foremost, my thank will go to Encik Mahmud the super hardworking TM staff, super strong, super agile, super friendly and super funny. Some says he's the biological older brother of Lewis Hamilton, The Stig, and Karamjit "The Flying Sikh" Singh due to his super neat driving skills and the same dark skin color. Except he drives TM's van.

Then my thank will go the ever friendly Encik Kassim, the Bubble Shooter Gamemaster who I usually had very nice and amusing conversation during lunch break. Okay I admit, I like to talk to him because I like to hear his funny Minangese accent. ヽ(´▽`)/

I also would to thank this people.
The ever smiling Hj Bahari who is the superior partner of Encik Kassim.
The mysterious Hj Hamid who is very serious in doing his job.
The "kakkoii" Encik Rosli.
Mr Santheran, who is Encik Mahmud's partner who had to work in the boring MDF for two weeks as I took his place.
The super big and tough, a Cyberdyne Systems Model 101-looking Encik Ropandi who I think can easily beat Arnold Schwarzenegger.
And everyone else at TM Exchange Semenyih.

Until we met again when you guys had to come to the roll call at TM Kajang. ^ㅂ^

Bye-bye-baicha!

End of day 19.

Twas Hot!

2009-04-29T23:26:00.013+08:00

It was too hot that I took a bath in my own sweats.

As usual, we left the exchange at 9am and went to a cabinet at Taman Tasik Kesuma, Semenyih. There was a problem that left us spending 2 hours to fix the problem. It was amazingly hot day that I was sweating like a dog. My handkerchief was all wet that I had to dry it up before I can use it again. En. Mahmud also complained how sweaty he was. I finished up a bottle of mineral water before noon not like usual which can last until the end of the day. To make thing worst, there was a fresh cat dropping nearby.

Such an eyesore.

After lunch, we went to a shop just a couple of block away from the exchange. The telephone cable which spans across the busy road at Pekan Semenyih got snapped. So to put a new cable, En. Mahmud asked the help from Hj Bahari and his partner, Encik Kassim. The other post saw Hj Bahari with Mr. Satheran as Encik Kassim did not come to work.

Kenn Li Trading, which reminds me of Ken Lee.

So to pull up the new cable, the traffic had to be stopped and the task was given to me and Encik Kassim for the other direction. After the traffic stopped, Encik Mahmud ran from the other pole across the road bringing the newly connected cable to Hj Bahari which was on the other pole.

Encik Kassim demonstrating and showing off his skill of connecting wires at two schoolchildrens.

The finished product.

Later, we went to more cabinets (do I have to say that over and over again just to show how busy I am? Blerrghh...)

There was one last cabinet for today, Streamyx connection problem. The sky was quite dark and cloudy as it looks like it was going to rain. As I was checking the customer's phone number on the distribution side in the cabinet, there was suddenly a lightning struck somewhere nearby which tripped the power supply to the cabinet. There was a snapping sound and a very loud scream form En. Mahmud. Not to worry, he was just too shocked. I was too but it was because of his loud scream, I had an adrenaline rush that I suddenly made a perfect 10 points backflip.

Turning on the tripped power supply.

Later we went to customer's house where a mother, a Chinese lady complained that he can't stand his son for blaming her for the Streamyx disconnection.

Lady: Aiyoo! ini budak tiap-tiap hari mau bising marah sama saya. Saya tak tahu apa-apa.
En. Mahmud: Hah ni dah okay apa...
The boy started Cabal Online, a MMORPG game.
En. Mahmud: Lepas ni dia tak kuar bilik la.
Lady: Ya la, dia mesti tak mahu makan sama saya. Masa rosak dia boleh keluar makan dengan saya. Nanti dia mesti suruh saya tapau saja.
Boy: :Some Chinese conversation:
Lady: :More Chinese conversation:
En. Mahmud: Apa lu olang cakap?
Lady: Dia cakap dia tak tahan woo kalau takda internet. Saya kata kalau ada apa-apa tanya sama Encik. Bukan saya.

Encik Kassim avec his newly acquired Asus EEE. Asus ええぇ?

Tomorrow should be my last day at TM Exchange Semenyih. I will try to meet En. Bakri during lunchtime at TM Exchange Kajang to confirm on next week's plan. It was raining in the evening so expect a thick docket for tomorrow.

End of day 18.
Byebyebaicha~

Whether the weather be cold, Whether the weather be hot, We'll weather the weather, Whatever the whether, Whether we like it or not

2009-04-28T21:12:00.006+08:00

Somebody turn off the air-conditioner please!

Spent about 4 hours in a very cold server room of a factory, trying to figure out what went wrong with the slow internet speed the factory is having. A small server room but with 2 units of air-conditioner blowing sub-zero air feels like we're in a cold storage room.

The day started with me admiring some posters on the wall, while waiting for Encik Mahmud printing and sorting his dockets. Then Encik Kassim approached me and said;

"Huh! Actually the monetary problem is the only source of mental problem. Other than that are only temporary problems"

"Kehilangan orang tersayang - Hah ini masoalah ekau~ makwo laghi~".
（‐＾▽＾‐）オーホッホ

So Batman and Robin left the exchange at 9am in the morning. After a quick breakfast, we went to check the usual cabinets, fixing problems according to the job dockets. We had an appointment with a customer set at 10am, to fix his Streamyx problem.

Unfortunately, 9:50am, I got a terrible stomach ache that I had to ask En. Mahmud to send me back to the exchange after the appointment. En. Mahmud asked me to go a mamak restaurant nearby to do my business.

*^_^*

While walking back to the van, after I had finished my business and En Mahmud just also finished fixing a problem there, I saw a small Kancil approached En. Mahmud. The driver said something and left. Encik Mahmud gave me a weird unsatisfied stare to me and said that was the customer that we are going to have an appointment with. Such a rough and arrogant guy he said.

Since the third day at Semenyih Exchange, Encik Mahmud has left the responsibility to check Streamyx connection at customer houses to me as I can easily detects the problem. It is because I have 4 years of settling my own Streamyx problems. Usually I found out the customers tend to make small mistake such as mistyping their own user login and password, messing with the default setting or not connecting the cables properly. \,,/(^_^)\,,/

Some customer are nice, warm and friendly while some are arrogant and hot-tempered.

So we went to his house and checked his Streamyx connection and everything went fine with the test gear, except he can't seem to remember his password for the Streamyx dialer. We asked him to call the customer service to reset his password and he was asked to wait for another a couple hour. He started to express his satisfaction to the customer service in front of the two of us. Then I explained to him that usually the default dialer password and the email password given by TM are the same. So he tried a password he remembers and voila, he finally can browse the internet. That's after about an hour.

Still unsatisfied with his wireless router which he bought. I tried to access his router to check for any error but he also can't remember the password. So we left him. We had done our part - to get his internet back. Other than that - his email's password, his router configuration, according to En. Mahmud, are his problem that he has to fix himself or find someone responsible.
┐('～`；)┌

Big but there was an uncomfortable smell.
Wikipedia: Charoen Pokphand Foods

Next we went to a big factory at Beranang to check the slow internet connection. Encik Mahmud asked for a help from a contractor who are more familiar with PPoA problems. Upon meeting the contractor at the factory, I instantly recognized the contractor, Encik Ahmad, who usually came to my house to fix my Streamyx problem once or twice before.

Looking for the modem.

Encik Ahmad also complained about how small the keyboard is.

So we were doing our business at a very cold server room for 4 hours and finally the line got up at a preferable speed. Skipped my lunch which I think as a part of my diet program.

Here's a trivia. After 7 days at Semenyih, I have received one can of 100 Plus, a bottle of mineral water and today I got a can of Lemon 7 Up after repairing a grocery store's telephone line. ヽ(´▽`)/

End of day 17.

This is a catchy blog entry title

2009-04-24T23:08:00.005+08:00

I thought the practice of sipping your hot drink using a small plate has become extinct about 15 years ago but I was wrong. Encik Mahmud still enjoying his Nescafe Tarik every morning using a plate. Σ(ﾟДﾟ)

In the morning, after completing some of the routine of checking the cabinets, we went to a customer house, which was written in the report, was unable to access the internet for a month now. Upon arriving at the house, Encik Mahmud asked me to bring the laptop, the test modem and a new modem. However, all the equipments were unused as En. Mahmud easily found the problem, the user name at the Streamyx dialer was not written completely. 5 minutes of our precious time was wasted.

We went to yesterday's Distribution Point in the bushes as the work was unsettled and extra hands is needed. Encik Mahmud asked the help from Hj Bahari and Mr. Kesathevan to help him to assemble a new wire which spans about 300 metres from a pole located on top of a hill to the one in the bushes.

Linny, Tuck and Ming Ming discussing on how to save the world.

Only Mr. Kesathevan can withstand the atmospheric difference. Or at least, the height. The pole somehow requires an extra long ladder.

Then I realized Hj Bahari's unique enhancement that he has - An extra long ladder that when you're on top of it, you can feel that there is an atmospheric pressure difference of 0.5atm. ^ㅂ^ Mr. Kesathevan climbed the ladder to cut the old cable and then they both went to the pole in the bushes.

Tuck and Ming Ming said: "This is sewious~"

Hj Bahari pulling the new cable.

This procedure is called "Joloking the cable". The bamboo stick aka galah is one of the equipment available at Hj Bahari's van.

Sofa, so nice~

In the afternoon, we went to a sofa factory to check the phone connection as the was no dial tone. While waiting for the boss' daughter to open up the door to the room with the telephone socket, we sat on the most luxurious sofa available at the office lobby. We actually chose to sat on the most expensive looking sofa and prayed that the boss' daughter came a little bit more later as we're enjoying ourselves. ( ﾟ∀ﾟ)ｱﾊﾊ八八ﾉヽﾉヽﾉヽﾉ＼ / ＼/ ＼

Later in the evening we received a call from the customer that we went to her house in the morning. The problem was, she suddenly cannot to the internet after restarting her computer. Again when we arrived, En. Mahmud asked me to bring all his stuff. Then this time, En. Mahmud asked me to check the customer's PC for the problem. Just in a second after I clicked on the Streamyx dialer, the problem was detected (I have 4 years of experience using Streamyx ehem!). Just after a press of a button, the PC can be connected to the internet again. ヽ(´▽`)/

The customer somehow pressed the spacebar before writing her username, and I saw the space. 5 more minutes was wasted at the same house.

We covered one of the staff's area since he could not come to work.

A wood factory with a large chimney that one usually thought it only available in sci-fi movies or computer games.

On top of a pole in a Malay village somewhere at Sungai Semenyih.

Before I end up today's post. I have one good news and one not so good news.

The good news:
For running around Semenyih with Encik Mahmud, helping him with the cabinets, the ladder, jumping up and down opening the old phallus-shaped cabinet (I didn't bother to ask the specific name of this type of cabinet), completing two dozens of docket and new installations, I have lost 2 kilograms. （・∀・）

The not so good news:
For running around Semenyih with Encik Mahmud, helping him with the cabinets, the ladder, jumping up and down opening the old phallus-shaped cabinet (I didn't bother to ask the specific name of this type of cabinet), completing two dozens of docket and new installations, in scorching sun, I am 48.785% darker. （・Ａ・）

Today ended with a bowl of ice kiwi-longan.

End of day 15.
Byebyebaicha~

Got a smile in my heart from you~

2009-04-24T01:45:00.016+08:00

Just as I turned left heading to TM Exchange Semenyih this morning I saw "The Man"! - The person that I've been "hunting" since yesterday. So without delay, I pulled the handbrake of my sports car and did a 180-degree turn. Just like a paparazzi I snapped a number of his picture before I headed back to my destination. (^.^)

What's so special about this Alam Flora's sweeper? Details at the end of the post.

Went to only 2 cabinets this morning because we had to attend a customer's house since she got a Streamyx connection problem. Thought of going to a Chinese auntie's house, we were greeted by a "lenglui"!!! A University of Notthingham Malaysia Campus (which I will refer as UNOTTI for short after this, a homonym to "You Naughty") student renting a house at Bandar Sunway Semenyih.\(^o^)/

So I just waited outside and let Encik Mahmud finishes what I thought just a simple problem. But after 20 minutes, there was no sign of En. Mahmud. Jealously was growing inside me as I thought he was having fun chatting with the lenglui. I thought it was a miserable decision to wait outside. (-_-)

But then I saw the girl walking towards me and I pumped all of the blood inside of my body to the English section part of my brain so that I'll be prepared if she has something to say.

"Encik itu suruh awak bawa laptop dia dan modem baru~"
(That mister asked you to bring him his laptop and a new modem)

....

Took me some time to understand what she was saying at first. Then after the neurons inside my brain worked out, I realized she spoke in a completely pure, perfect and flawless Malay. (^_^')

So I grabbed the laptop bag and the modem from the van and went inside only to find out En. Mahmud was sitting on the floor trying to figure out what happened. He asked me to open up his laptop to test the connection. I put my hand inside the bag, trying to pull the laptop but I couldn't find a laptop inside the bag. After exploring the bag, I found a small pouch sitting in a corner inside the bag. OMG! TM issued 'Asus Eee PCs' to their technicians. (o_O)

The keyboard is too small for me anyway. Trying to press a button resulting me to write the whole letters on the keyboard. Imagine how small is that.

We failed to settle the problem. We left the house to check the cabinet. However after changing the ports we went back to the house and this time, I didn't wait outside. After struggling for some time connecting and reconnecting the wires, the connection went A-okay in such a mysterious way. The girl smiled at last. Encik Mahmud took the opportunity to check his TM's "saham" using the girl's laptop. No other time to check it he said, hoping his RM3.70 per unit saham will go up to RM4.00 per unit. (^.^)

That end up the morning and we went back to the exchange for lunch break. Note to myself: Try to google the Facebook of the lenglui later today.

Jacqueline Vector Phi resting under a van in the hot afternoon.

In the evening we went to about a dozen of cabinets and a number of customer houses, settling the problems as stated in the job dockets. It was quite a hot day I even ran out of my supply of bottled fresh water and starting to dehydrate.

Checking a telephone connection problem at what seems to be a storage area.

Behind a shop at Pekan Semenyih.

So there was one distribution point on a pole which is located deep inside a bush. A very nice thick bush for snakes and wildboars to hide. Or at least thick enough to hide an Ewok's village or some illegal immigrants. (^.^)

But luckily, there was no snakes, wildboars, Ewoks or illegal immigrants in the bush but there was an ant colony on the pole. Encik Mahmud had a hard time preventing the ants from running all over him.

Near the end of the day, we went to a very old Chinese woman house. When we arrived, she just bought a cooking gas tank from a seller and was pushing slowly (struggling?) her wheelbarrow with the tank. So when we met herm Encik Mahmud made himself looks like he was in hurry, the lady decided to leave the wheelbarrow unattended to show and open up her house which is about 100 meters away.

After she lead us to her house, she tried to leave us there so that she can continue to bring her tank back. Encik Mahmud asked for a ladder and she suddenly scolded him as she was quite worry someone may stole her cooking gas tank. While she was cursing and going to the back of her house to bring the ladder, I went out and ran to her wheelbarrow and brought back the tank. Not to heavy since it was in the wheelbarrow and leave it in front of her house. She was quite happy to see that I helped her. (^.^)

Lastly, we went to a cabinet next to UNOTTI at Jalan Broga. Hah! I met the student this morning and later I went to the university. And we called it a day.

Stopped by Tesco Kajang on my way back home for an icy treat.

So the Alam Flora's sweeper is Encik Sazali, one of the son of the late Allahyarham Tan Sri P. Ramlee. The son that was mentioned in "Anakku Sazali". Before this, I usually saw him sweeping behind Mubarak Store near a Chinese Temple in Kajang but about a year ago, he just went "missing". Now I know he got himself a new area to look after.

"Sazali - Name of main character in 'Anak-ku Sazali' / 'My Son Sazali' (1956). P Ramlee won 'Best Male Lead Role' at the 4th Asian Film Festival in Tokyo for playing dual roles as a caring father and his spoilt son. P Ramlee also had a son named Sazali. Unlike in that film, real life Sazali was a humble man employed by 'Syarikat Alam Flora' that managed garbage disposal in Kuala Lumpur." (Ehem! Kajang actually).

End of day 14.

Day 13 <--- Poor choice of a title

2009-04-23T04:30:00.000+08:00

I shall call you Jacqueline Vector Phi (Φ).

I was greeted by a cat this morning when I arrived at Semenyih Exchange. (^∀^*)

As expected, today together with En. Mahmud, we went to a dozen or more cabinets around Desa Mewah, Bandar Sunway Semenyih and the Tamans nearby the exchange. We also went to a number of houses to check their telephones and modems.

A gift from a satisfied customer. (^ω^)

Fiber optic equipments inside a cabinet.

We went checking the progress of reassembling and connecting about 30 telephone lines after a tree fell on the telephone wire, pulling a pole down and disrupting the telephone service. The Bangladeshi contractor needs to have every house phone number so that he can connect the correct service number. So he asked every tenants of their telephone number. He had problems with houses with no one at home. Later Encik Mahmud asked him to go the exchange and pick up the list of telephone numbers and their corresponding houses.

Remember the evil plan I mentioned yesterday? So there was Encik Kassim playing the game. Honestly, he's very good at it. When he went to work, I took over and played it for some time and...

Highest mark for this week. ヽ(＾Д＾)ノ゛

At the MDF, Mr. Vincent had a trouble printing the jobs docket when the PC hanged up. So I did the CTRL+ALT+DEL thingie and he asked me to taught him how to do that. Later, before I went home, I taught him and he wrote a note on it. He gave me something nice to read in return.

F.A.M. Player Selection Criteria

Mr. Vincent was quite active in football when we was younger and became the secretary of the Football Association of Selangor (FAS). I don't know whether if he is still holding the post.

Before I end today's post, in the morning, I saw someone who I know doing his job at Pekan Semenyih. So later during the lunch break, I thought of hunting him for a snapshot but I failed to find him. Maybe later I'll hunt him down again. But I found something even more interesting - cheap slippers. Bought two pairs of it. One pair for Friday Prayer - pink in color. Yeah, I know guys don't wear pinks but to prevent my slipper from being stolen, it was a hard decision I had to take. It has to be unattractive. (T-T)

End of day 13
For some reason, I had to "samak" my "tapak kasut".

Kabhi Kushi Kabinet

2009-04-21T22:28:00.003+08:00

Explorace 4: Semenyih

There was a roll call today. There was none yesterday as Encik Johari possibly attending the roll call at Kajang Exchange. So right after the roll call, equipped with my notebook, a pen and a bottle of plain water, I hopped on to the Batmobile, getting around Semenyih with Encik Mahmud. We went checking the cabinets and customer houses fixing their lawnmower's nuclear reactor. Hah telephone problems of course! What's with the lawnmower with a nuclear reactor? (*^ω^*)

Encik Mahmud checking a cabinet.

Encik Mahmud checking another cabinet.

Encik Mahmud checking yet another cabinet.

Guess what Encik Mahmud is doing?

Back at the Semenyih MDF, today Mr. Vincent from Kajang Exchange, still doing the jobs since the staff who actually manages the MDF is still on a training course. Today, he was not alone since there is another staff, who is actually, Encik Mahmud's partner in crime. Honestly I forgot his name. He was not healthy so he was assigned at the MDF. Unfortunately, he knew nothing about the MDF so Mr. Vincent taught him how to print the docket list, the Streamyx installation order, how to read the bars and etc as what he taught me before. A good teacher he is as he like to share his knowledge no matter who you are. (*^-^)ノ

Learning... learning...

In the evening, we went to a house which there was a problem with the distribution point (for non-technical person: Something at the top of the telephone pole). Encik Mahmud needs to check the pole so he brought down the ladder from the van. The next thing I know, he was already on top of the pole. Whether he climbed the pole super-fast or he just teleport to the pole with the ladder just to make people believe he climbed it. I believe that he has the superpower to teleport anywhere he wants that science can't explain. (^o^)

Every TM Exchange should have this. A very good therapy for relieving stress.

One thing that makes TM Semenyih different from TM Kajang or maybe some other exchange is that it has it's own form of entertainment. In one of the older PC in the office which is always be turned on, a very simple, bubble shooting flash game, which somebody put it in the PC. The members of staff loves the game very much (Not all, 3-4 person). Every time they walk pass the PC, they will play it. After 20-30 clicks, they will continue to do their job and leave the game as other staffs will come by later to continue the game. Relieving their work stress I guess. It's better than sleeping at work. (-.-)Zzz

One staff is very good at it. Encik Kassim. A very friendly Minangese (Minangnese? Minanganese? Minangarian? Mangaka? Mari Meminang?) who speaks with Minangese accent. So the plan is, I'm going to wait until he plays the game and collect around 100k points, then after he left for work, I'm going to continue his game and write my name in the top 10 list. "OMG! The practical student beat us!!! We're impressed. UNITEN does generates professionals" (^^)v

Evil plan: I have it.

Expect more cabinets in tomorrow's post.
Byebyebaicha! ＼(^o^)／

End of Day 12.

The Dynamic Duo. Sort Of.

2009-04-20T21:45:00.005+08:00

I thought I'm going to be stuck at Semenyih's MDF, after lunch today, Encik Mahmud asked me to follow him doing his jobs at the cabinets and subscriber's house. I was like Robin, who was finally being asked by Batman to help him. Wanna see our Batmobile? Wanna see it?

TADAAA!!!

So today was my first day at TM Semenyih, after being instructed to report there by Encik Bakri, I arrived as early as 8am in the morning. Looking for Encik Mahmud, Puan Makcik Cleaner said he is in the MDF room which also where the office is. So there was only one person in that room, En. Mahmud, printing the dockets and the new installation orders. So what Kak Anum said about the super-hardworking man may be true after all. After an introduction, I sat a corner and wait for En. Mahmud to ask me to follow him.

An antique teleprinter that can be found at TM Semenyih. Can be sold at e-Bay for a few hundred bucks I think.

Unfortunately, the only staff who manages the Semenyih's MDF went for a two days training somewhere at PJ. I was informed that Mr. Vincent will come to help at the MDF after he finishes his work at Kajang. At around 10am he came. Encik Mahmud asked me to help Mr. Vincent at MDF in the morning and I will be following him in the evening. I was like "Oh no! Not another MDF work." (T-T)

Mr. Vincent having a hard time identifying the NTA.

Semenyih's MDF is quite smaller compared to Kajang and the terminal blocks are lightly labelled so doing jumpering will take more time. Even Mr. Vincent considered this quite difficult and time consuming as he has to refer to the manual, to find the correct "NTA/LEN" pairs.

Mr. Vincent also asked me to print the dockets and Streamyx orders and sort it according to the responding teams and also asked me to answer any phone call. For being the first day, I pass almost every call to him if the caller wants to talk to any TM staffs here since I don't know any of the staff. He asked me to do that since in the afternoon, he had to fetch his son somewhere and I was left alone in the MDF room. Such a responsibility I had today. The manager of Semenyih's MDF. ＼(^o^)／

Encik Mahmud at a cabinet.

After lunch, when everybody got back and getting reading to continue their jobs, Encik Mahmud finally asked me to follow him. So we went to 3 cabinets and 2 customers' houses to fix some problems. Encik Mahmud is an old but still strong and does his job fast and efficiently. He drive the van like a rally driver, never braked for the bumps and took the corners at 100km/h. It was like a roller coaster ride. But obviously, he wanted to finish his works early so that he can help other teams that has many more dockets to be settled. All the bumpy rides are good for the abdomens anyway. (・∀・)

Looks like I'm out of words.

End of day 11.

Telekom Malaysia and the Chamber of Secrets

2009-04-17T21:15:00.001+08:00

Mr. Vincent gave me a tour in the underground chamber

After completing a dozen of new Streamyx order (jumpering the wires, tollgating), and I was just about to read the frontpage of the Harian Metro which Kak Anum brought, Mr. Vincent asked me if I'm free. I said yes and asked me to follow him for an underground chamber tour. : (^_^) :

The trap door that leads to the underground chamber

OMG! I thought he had completely forgotten it. He opened the trap door and a warm, funny smelling air came out from it. I was so excited thinking that there will be Prince Nuada of the Elves and his sidekick, Mr. Wink from Hellboy: The Golden Army hiding down there. Or at least some funny and cute looking creature that I can bring home and raise as a pet.

So it's like another floor down there. Not like the narrow and cramped with cables like the ones under the normal manholes. By removing the cables on the left and right, one can drive the newly introduced Proton Ixora comfortably. But our tour just only a few meters since there was UWFUS (Unknown water from unknown source).

Can also be used as an atomic bomb shelter.

There was also loud banging sound down there. Mr. Vincent asked me whether if I know where the sounds came from. I said it came from the piling works from the Mahkamah Kajang next door. WRONG! It was the sound of cars hitting the manhole covers on the road above.

Cables from the Main Distribution Frame on the upper floor.

Mr. Vincent explained about the cables down there, where it leads, about the gas pressured alarm, about the water pump which is now failed to work as we saw the waters down there. I just went Uuuuhhhhh.... and Aaaaaahhhhh, amazed by the scenery and the knowledge gained. ＼（＾＾）／

:Amazed:

Remember the previous posts about En. Zack's missing wire puncher's nut and how I managed to find it? Well I'm sure he's grateful as he is quite happy, being able to use his beloved Siemen's block wire puncher. Today he gave me his brand new TM's shirt! Issued to staffs and since he's not wearing it, he gave it to me. A souvenir! ＼（＾＾）／

I'm going to wear it during the next Friday prayer to show off to everyone. HAHAHA

---

From today's Harian Metro.
"Mayat Tersangkut Pada But Kereta"
The accident happened yesterday near Kajang. So the car was towed to Balai Polis Kajang, which is just opposite TM Kajang. Since the police station had no space, they just put the car on the parking lot on the road in front of TM. I spotted the car when I got back from the lunch break and took a picture of it.

The traces of blood are still there and the durians the victim bought are still inside the car's boot.

Around 3pm, Kak Shazlin came and asked me to help her unloading a brand new vacuum cleaner and an oven that she bought using the money she collected from TM staffs from the Kajang Exchange and the Semenyih's Exchange. Both are for the big boss, En. Arief who is going to have his wedding reception tomorrow. （　´∀｀）

Women - They are very good in wrapping gifts compared to men.

Today was my last day at Kajang's MDF and next week I'll be following a staff from TM Semenyih to learn how they fix the problems at the TM's cabinets scattered in Semenyih. TM Kajang relied on the contractors for this kind of jobs but in Semenyih, TM staffs are still doing the jobs.

I would like to thank all the MDF staffs, Mr. Vincent, Encik Zakaria (Zack) and Kak Anum for their guidance. Here's a picture of us together.

Gambar Hiasan

End of day 10.

Day Something-something

2009-04-16T18:30:00.007+08:00

This morning, according to Kak Anum, was the first time ever En. Arief raised his voice, showing his dissatisfaction towards the contractors. It happened when a contractor came quite late, during the role call. When he entered the meeting room, a staff asked him how many "dockets" he had settled the day before. The contractor just said "I can't remember". Again when asked, the same answer was given.

En. Arief got angry and instructed every contractors to write their daily activity log and submit to him at the end of the day. He said that the question asked before can be easily answered if they wrote their log. Everyone sat quietly because they did not expect that En. Arief can be angry like that.

---

I found it!

I found En. Zack's wire puncher's nut! :v(^_^)v:
It fell from the puncher after a staff from Cheras borrowed it. I found it lying innocently under a fiber optic's cabinet. I put a smile on his serious face today.

Later Mr. Arief visited us at the MDF and had a little chat with En. Zack and Kak Anum regarding the contractors attitude towards their work. And I finally got his email address after forgetting to ask him for a number of times. :Update the COE IT site with host supervisor email:
: ＼（＾＾）／:

At 1230pm En. Bakri came to the MDF. We thought he did not come for work today since he's nowhere to be found during the role call. He said that next week I will be assigned to TM Semenyih so that I can follow a TM staff to settle the problems in cabinets around Semenyih. TM Kajang doesn't have any TM staff to do that job since they have given it to the contractors. I maybe assigned to En. Mahmud. When I asked Kak Anum about him, she said that he is a super-hardworking TM staff. :(゜∇゜):

So today I took some pictures while punching the wires. Kak Anum must be wandering why do I took too long to punch the wires.

1. Check the bar number as stated in the order/report.
2. Find the pair number and remove the old wires.
3. Preparing to punch the new wires which is connected to the NTA.
4. Punching the wires.
5. Voila!

It requires patience and alertness to do this job. Not forgetting the strength to push the ladder, not afraid of heights since the "Bar" starts almost 3 metres away from the ground. Once I punched a pair of wires just to find out it was on the wrong bar.

That's it for today. Tomorrow will be my last day at the Kajang's MDF.

Day 8: The Rectifier Room

2009-04-15T20:29:00.006+08:00

The mail was received at 740am in the morning. I thought the plan was scrapped. But luckily I have everything in drafts and will be posted one by one.

Today, things went a bit hot during the roll call session. En. Bakri was disappointed with the Telekom contractors and he wished that today, the contractors will change their attitudes and get all the job done within the time limit. It was a long roll call session.

Upon entering the MDF, Mr. Vincent found UPoWfUS (unidentified patches of water from unknown source; I made that term HAHA) near the wires. This can be very dangerous especially when dealing with electrical equipments. Upon further investigation, he found that the water came from the air-conditioning unit inside the rectifier room.

BILEK RECTIFIER
(Notice the old B. Malaysia spelling since the building was built during the prehistoric times)

Just before he closed the door to the room he asked me whether if I wanted to see what's inside the room. I said I don't need to see it...

Just kidding! It was a once in a lifetime offer that I couldn't reject (and also because I want to see everything inside the building that I admired so much since the past 24 years HAHA) so I entered the room. There was some equipments (It's the rectifier of course) which TM use to convert AC to DC to give life to the telephone lines.

Mr. Vincent also said that he will give me a tour in the underground chamber. The chamber spans to the underneath of Stadium Kajang. OMG! that's so far away (at first I thought that way but after calming myself, I realized that Stadium Kajang is just across the road! HAHA. Kak Anum said before that there is not enough air inside the chamber so one may faint or sesak nafas. I was very excited and could not wait for Mr. Vincent to give a tour.

Mr. Vincent and his test kit.

Unfortunately, there was no underground chamber tour as Mr. Vincent was too busy learning how to use his newly acquired ISDN test kit. :(T______________T):

In the evening 3 staffs came to the MDF to connect some ISDN lines. They cheered up the MDF with their funny and harsh jokes and making fun of each other. One staff borrowed En. Zack's wire puncher and somehow made the nut on the puncher loose and missing it somewhere. He swept the area which he thought the nut fell with a broom but failed to find it. :(･_･ ) ( ･_･)ｷｮﾛｷｮﾛ:

Must be hard for En. Zack to have his trusty wire puncher he had used for years became unusable. And someone else broke it. I myself tend to be very "kedekut" to lend the items I love very much. :（；_・）:

Day 2: Jumping Telephone Lines Cables

2009-04-07T20:18:00.009+08:00

Kajang, with a population of 295,400 (as of 2008)for city proper and 539,561 for metro, is a city in the eastern part of Selangor, Malaysia. This town is also the district capital of Hulu Langat. It is located about 20 km south of Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. Kajang has a population of 539,561 consisted of Malays 51.3%, Chinese 38%, Indians 9% and other ethnic groups 1.7%. Kajang's main population centres are Bandar Mahkota, Cheras, Bandar Sungai Long, Bandar Tun Hussein Onn, Cheras Perdana,Taman Prima Saujana (straight from Jalan Cheras), Taman Kajang Perdana (Kajang Highlands) and Taman Sepakat Indah I & II (Sungai Chua).

-Wikipedia (Kajang)

Encik Zakaria checking out the MDF rack.

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing En. Zakaria (En. Zack for short, not officially though). One of the three Kajang's MDF staff. He was absent yesterday. So today I met him. He has been working for TM for quite some time. He is a quiet person and very serious in doing his job.

He explained in detail the structure of the MDF, how important the MDF is and so on. MDF is where the customer's telephone lines are connected to the equipments at the exchange.

The only thing that I don't like about him is that when, he asked me to help him to punch the wires on the BAR side, he treated me like I've been working there for 30 something years. He did his part fast and keep asking me whether I've done punching the wires so that we can move to the other wires. Phewww, I sweated in a fully air-conditioning room. Mistakes happened when I tried to be hurry but just some minor ones. Not something that threaten the national security though. (・∀・)

Another thing is that I was eletrocuted for a number of times especially on the Northern/Canadian type of terminal block. Just a bit of electricity coming to your body but enough to make you feel shocked and disturbs your balance while on top of a ladder.

Kak Anum then explained the differences in Streamyx jumpering where the wires were connected to the DSLAM ports before going to the BAR. At 5pm, more new installation orders came in which resulted that I went home at 5.45pm, helping out En. Zack.

End of day 2.

Reporting for Duty.

2009-04-06T21:55:00.000+08:00

Thanks to Google, getting to a place is 1000 times easier~

Woke up at 530am in the morning to go to TM Exchange, Sg. Way PJ, reporting myself there. So at 630am, I headed to PJ. Took the LDP Highway but as usually reported in the radio, the LDP was jammed packed with cars; Monday morning rush.

After an hour and a half stucked in the traffic jam, I managed to arrive at the 'kedai mamak' opposite of Wisma FAM, next to the TM Exchange at 8.00am. After I had my breakfast of roti canai there, I headed straight to TM Exchange.

I went to the first floor of the exchange building after reporting and asking where can I find the person stated in the offer letter to the security guard. I met a Chinese guy. He was waiting outside the closed office which I'm heading to. I asked him what was he doing there and he said he's going for industrial training. Then I asked him which university he came from and he said... UNITEN. After properly introduced to each other, we had some discussion about Uniten while waiting for the office to open. It's Tham, a 3rd year student.

A staff came at 9 o'clock and opened the office. So after standing for half an hour, we can finally relax on the sofa and wait for a properly dressed man that we hope to be Mr. Kamaludin (The person that we have to report to) to arrive.

However, only TM's technicians came to meet the staff. And at 10am, I decided that I can't wait anymore and asked Tham (the other Uniten guy) to follow me and meet the staff. She told ask that Mr. Kamaludin won't be coming today!

She politely helped us by informing our host supervisors that we're reporting for duty. Tham will be reporting to his supervisor at the stated TM Exchange while I headed back to TM Exchange Kajang to report to Encik Bakri or Encik Arief. So since Encik Bakri's name was first mentioned, I decided to report at him. We waited for almost 2 hours for a 10 minutes' task.

At 11am I arrived at TM Exchange Kajang. Again, after reporting to the guard I went looking for Encik Bakri. So then I met En. Bakri, my host supervisor. I have two host supervisor (HSV). One is En. Bakri who's the number 2 in Kajang's Exchange and En. Muhammad Arief Abdullah, the big boss. En. Bakri will retire in June so En. Arief will be my HSV after that.

So I'm going to be assigned to every department in TM Kajang for every two weeks. General rules were explained like the working hours, dress code, etc and etc. At first, En. Bakri was going to put me in the call center but somehow he brought me to the Main Distribution Frame (MDF). I was quite shocked upon entering the room seeing one big rack with like a million of wires on it.

:Shocked:

Inside the room I met Kak Shazlin who is one of the staff at the call center, helping Kak Anum, the only staff to work that day, to pick up the phones. Kak Anum was too busy running around the room jumpering the wires.

So after En. Bakri left me there, I asked Kak Shazlin explained a bit about the MDF although she did not work there. Later, Kak Anum introduced herself and I asked some questions about the MDF although I'm not sure what to ask.

TM: Connecting People (Nokia's slogan)

When I got back from lunch, Kak Anum thought me how to punch the wires to the different type of blocks, how to find the bars and pairs by reading the order sheets, etc and again, etc. So I helped her until about 530pm, which I left for home. She gave me a punch card too~

I did not ask or talk much during the first day. I was quite shy and trying to adapt myself to the new environment.

End of Day 1.

Industrial Training Briefing

2009-04-05T07:34:00.000+08:00

Date: 03.04.2009
Time: 1500-1700
Venue: BV1 & BV2

Briefing by Mr. Zainuddin , Mr. Suhaimi and AP Dr. Azree.